Unfortunately...

I got the biggest kick out of this. You'll have to try it yourself as it's quite entertaining. Go to Google and type in "unfortunately, [your name]" and don't forget the quotes. Here's what I found:

• Unfortunately, Noelle is not a music librarian and could not understand all of the road maps found in sheet music.
• Unfortunately, Noelle's feelings about home -- or rather, her hometown of Rose, Oregon -- were changed forever the day Thomas Sutton broke her heart.
• Unfortunately Noelle fell victim to the ball last night. The field was a little damp and covered in goose poop last night, which may or may not have added to any body malfunction.
• ... unfortunately Noelle is likely to miss the game against St. Mochtas.
• Unfortunately, Noelle didn’t think to ask about the condition of the radio until they were half an hour into the flight.

I just can't tell you how unfortunate it really is that I'm not a music librarian. I'm still wondering who Thomas Sutton is. And I hate to think of the words "falling" and "goose poop" in the same context. I'm OK with missing that game against St. Mochtas, though. I'll worry about the condition of that radio later.

Monday Pick-Me-Up

This made me smile when the DH forwarded it in e-mail. Enjoy!

Mrs. Salty's Peanut Butter Pie

I volunteered some time ago to help our friend Tina make desserts for an auction at her son's school. I originally only signed up to make one, but as it got closer, it was clear that Tina didn't have enough help, so I ended up making three. I have tons of great chocolate recipes, but they already had too many chocolate desserts, so I had to come up with something new. Tina suggested something with peanut butter, so I searched on Food Network and found a peanut butter pie recipe. The funny thing is, I keep thinking it's "Mrs. Salty's" pie but it's really "Mrs. Salter's" pie. I like my name better, so that's what I'm calling it. I think it turned out pretty good (assuming you like peanut butter). I made it again for a get-together tonight, but this time, I added some chocolate. Chocolate just makes everything better, doesn't it? Here's the original recipe:

Mrs. Salter's Peanut Butter Pie
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 graham cracker crust, store-bought or premade (I bought oreo crust)

Directions
Whip cream with 1/4 cup sugar. Mix all other ingredients until smooth and fold in whipped cream until well blended. Pour mixture into a graham cracker crust and chill for several hours before serving

I Win! I Win!

I'm a little competitive, but only on things I think I can really do well at. I had no idea that I'd be winning contests at the doctor's office, though. Who would ever think of it? And who would ever want to? I mean, who wants to have the highest blood pressure they've ever seen in someone still standing, or the highest cholesterol of anyone without heart disease? It's just not the place to get competitive.

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, where I mentioned a list of symptoms that generally boil down to the fact that I just don't feel that great. The doctor did a blood draw and the general stethescope listening and sent me on my merry way. Last night, I got a call from said doctor. I wasn't asking to participate in the contest, but apparently I won for the lowest Vitamin D levels they've ever recorded in a patient. Lucky me! I win!

The bad news is that I have dangerously low Vitamin D levels. The good news is that just about everything I complained about can be attributed to low levels of Vitamin D. I also found out that it's quite common to have low levels and that it can manifest itself in much the same way that thyroid and blood sugar problems show up. Vitamin D also contributes to an overall healthy immune system, so people with higher levels do better at warding off colds and flu and are less likely to develop many types of cancer, including colon cancer (and who'd want that?!?).

So, I'm starting on perscription strenght Vitamin D supplements and hope to feel better soon. It won't improve quickly -- the doctor said I should come get checked in 6-8 weeks to see if the levels have gone up noticably -- but it will improve over time. That means, I should be feeling more myself over time as well. And that makes me feel like I really did win.

Highlights for another week

It's been another whirlwind week. Work actually turned out to be extremely difficult, so I was very happy to have some nice things going on outside work. My DH was great the day after my company laid off a bunch of people. He gave me big hugs and took me out to Bick's for dinner. I had my favorite, seafood curry. No one on my team got laid off, but there was a lot of drama and plenty of questions for me to answer. I guess another highlight is that no one on my team got laid off last week.

This weekend, the DH and I hung out with the nephew here in town. We started out Friday evening with dinner at an Italian restaurant and then books and bed. Saturday, we hung out and ran errands and did grocery shopping and all the while, the nephew was a great sport and had a good time with us. We also played with the Wii and watched movies. The nephew shared one of his favorites with us -- Star Wars Clone Wars. It's a cartoon and we liked it. I was impressed with the nephew's knowledge of space and I was certainly glad that I like Star Wars. I think that he enjoyed going out to breakfast with us and getting McDonald's for lunch. After all that cruddy food, we ate dinner in.

Tonight, the DH and I got to help a couple in our Ward that we're friends with. They needed help with their satalite TV and called in a frenzy. This from a couple who wouldn't call for help if a meteor fell in their backyard. We had a great time joking around with them and I called the helpdesk after fiddling with the remote for 20 minutes didn't work. All in all, we had a great time with them and we figure we can help them out any old time.

Playing on my iPod This Week (Mar 6) -- Neko Case, Middle Cyclone

I saw that my friend Ed was listening to Neko Case and was reminded that she had a new album out. The new album is Middle Cyclone. I love Neko's style and sound. She has such a haunting voice that I really enjoy. I've listened to the album a couple of times now and I'm liking it quite a bit.

I couldn't really find a single from the new album, so this will have to do. It's still interesting.

To Sleep Perchance to Dream

I had the most disturbing dream last night. It actually kept me from going back to sleep.

In my dream, I noticed that there was a little bit of green in my belly button. I pulled on it and nothing happened. Then I got a really good grip on it and pulled the little green sprout, and the large seed it was sprouting from, and the 2-3 inch tiny thin root out of my belly button. I had to grip the sprout just right and tug for a while, but it finally came out. The seed looked about the size of a large grapefruit seed. I was both relieved to have gotten it out and completely repelled by the fact that it had been there. And how had it gotten that big?!?

Seriously, this dream was worse than any when I've been chased by bad guys in the dark, been a month late for a college final, or been in the middle of some other catastrophe.

Highlights...

It really has been a good, busy week. It started off with our weekly Family Home Eatin' with the usual suspects. We really enjoy the company of those folks. On Tuesday, I had a stake relief society presidency meeting where we got more plans in place for our women's conference in April. On Thursday, we were going to home teach, but instead we spent a few hours at the hospital ER where one of the women we home teach was admitted when she lost consciousness. She's fine now and out of the hospital, but that certainly added to the excitement of our lives for a couple of days.

On Saturday, we headed out to Monroe with Beep and Bop to see our friends, the Momma's Boys. We had a fantastic dinner! I'm very lucky to have friends who are such great cooks. Nicole made corn chowder and homemade rolls (divine). Dan made the most amazing dessert of grilled pineapple, mascarpone cheese, nutella, and toasted hazelnuts. I never knew these things could be so delightful together. You can read Giada de Laurentis' recipe here. After dinner, we had a great time talking and playing fussball, ping pong, and pool. I think I could really enjoy pool if I got a little more practice.

On Sunday, I got to go to my own ward for church. I like ward conferences, but they take me away to other wards and I prefer going to my own ward, so this was a good thing. We then had a very low key Sunday with no other plans. The DH got a long nap and I caught up on some of the ABC TV shows that I can't see on TV due to the Dish Network issues with Fisher Broadcasting (Booooo! as said by the witch in Princess Bride). And now we've started another week...

Did You Know...

This provided the teacher in me with plenty of food for thought. Specifically, I was thinking how important it is for all of us to learn to be good critical thinkers and problem solvers. We need to learn to be flexible and adaptable. It's important that we know facts (like learning about history and math), but the biggest impact that information will have on us is in helping us to create a framework on which we can build the problem solving and critical thinking.

Create

I've been thinking lately that I've not been putting time into some of the things that make me happy. I've just been working and going with the flow. This needs to stop. I need to be more deliberate in choosing what I do and making time for the things that matter most. I need to create more. I need to read more. I need to exercise more. All of these things make me feel good about myself and make me better at being good to others.

This is my thought for a Friday.

Let's Look at the Bright Side

I love this interview on Conan. It does put things in perspective to some extent. Unfortunately, embedding is disabled, so you'll have to watch this on Youtube.

Everything is so amazing and nobody is happy...

Highlights for the past couple of weeks

I've still been having trouble posting regularly, but I'm trying to get back in the habit. The last couple of weeks have been full of fun and friends and all kinds of good stuff.

• For President's Day weekend, we went to Seabrook (20 miles North of Ocean Shores on the Washington coast) for a bit of a getaway with friends. We loved the house and little community that they've built there. And the bed was amazing. Patrick and I are trying to figure out how we can get that same mattress at home now.
• Extra time with my husband because of the weekend away. I don't know why, but we both really like going on road trips together. It's great to be in the car and have good scenery along the way.
• Our friends Carolyn and John got married last Friday. It was great to go to their wedding and share the joy with them.
• Carolyn's friends Serge and Linda came up from Las Vegas and we had a great time visiting with them.
• I enjoyed seeing some old friends from working at Microsoft at the wedding parties. Carolyn is working in the group I used to work in at Microsoft, so we now have several mutual friends.
• I had lunch with Jan and Julie, former collegues at Microsoft, yesterday and had a great time catching up. I was so lucky to work with great people while I was at Microsoft and I still really miss them.

That's the short version. I'll try to get to posting some pictures of the beach trip when I'm home one evening.

You're It!

I got tagged. This is how it works: go to the pictures folder on your computer, go to the sixth file, go to the sixth picture, post it, then tag 6 people.

This is a picture of the Chaco pueblos in New Mexico. In 2004, Mom, Dad, Ann, and I went to Santa Fe for Christmas. On the drive home, we stopped here. It was really cool (and kind of cold, too).

I'm now tagging Daddy Shark, Bop and Beep, Lucy at An Ordinary Mom, Lizzy at My Ice Cream Diary, the Accident Prone Lefthander, and Becky.

My Mom the Blogger

It took a while, but my Mom is finally blogging at Grammy's Place! Go check it out and give her some encouragement.

Playing on my iPod This Week (Feb 3) -- Gomez

I really enjoy the band Gomez and have especially enjoyed the album How We Operate. The DH likes it too (and I think he'd even admit it in public). I think they have a really interesting sound and I love that they don't sound the same on every song. I can actually listen to the whole album without getting bored.

I love the song How We Operate... and hope you do too!


I also love the song girlshapedlovedrug because it has the best lyrics. But don't go looking online for the lyrics. When I did it gave me some crazy compter virus site. You can't trust that!

Highlights for the last month?

Even though I had a lot going on, there were still several highlights over the last month. Here's the good stuff:

• In mid-January, I got to hear Michael Pollan speak at the Seattle Arts & Lectures. In addition to being very entertaining, he also got me thinking. I'm now looking forward to reading some of his books. Thanks, Kathleen, for loaning me one!
• Later that same week, I made the trek over to the U district to hear Julie Beck, the General Relief Society President. I really enjoyed her message about how none of us really get to live the "dream" we thought about as young girls. It was a very nice reminder that although life doesn't often turn out as you thought it would, it can still turn out quite nicely. I left feeling pretty good about my life as it is now.
• Last weekend, the DH and I got to help celebrate a friend's birthday at Luau. The restaurant is really fun and the food is fantastic. We also got to see some folks we don't often run into, so that was fun too.
• On Saturday, also last weekend, was the Seattle Mathlete's baby shower. Beep did a fantastic job of planning, creating, and decorating. You can see more of what she did here. I loved the chartreuse theme, but the very best was her invitations and the onesies that she embroidered with the same bird she put on the invites. She's brilliant!
• Later that weekend, the BIL, Brent, came to town for some business. Since his business just happens to be my business, we got to hang out some. It was pretty cool going on a client call with him.
• Last week was super hard, but another hightlight was finishing two HUGE projects that had completely unreasonable deadlines. It feels fantastic to have them done and out of the way.
• This weekend, I finally got a pedicure that I've been wanting for weeks, but just couldn't find the time to do.
• My Sunday was actually very relaxing and I didn't work at all. That's the way it's supposed to be.

What have your highlights been? Enquiring minds want to know!

Coming Up For Air

Ah, it's been quite some time since I posted regularly. This month has been especially difficult and busy at work, I've worked well past 9:00 most nights and the last three weekends, and a couple of nights past midnight this month to get everything done that had to be done. Most of the really difficult things should be behind me now. Of course, you know how it is with work. Something's sure to come up, but I'm quite certain it won't be as difficult as the last few weeks.

The DH has been particularly supportive while I've been having to work so hard, so I thought I'd reward him with some cool t-shirts. I love Threadless, so I found a couple I knew he'd like. He's particularly fond of toast and bacon (not necessarily together, but that would be OK too), so there are the cool T's that I found for him.

And, because great minds think alike, the DH thought I might need a little pick-me-up so he bought me a really cool sweatshirt. If you're not familiar with the logo, it's for the fictional coffee-shop in the TV show Gilmore Girls. He tolerated a lot of episodes of that show before it went off the air. He's such a good guy!

And, earlier in the month, he found this really cool and unique vase at the consignment shop around the corner. It's wonderful.

"All About Us is Din"

This morning, I saw a new president sworn in. The world is in economic turmoil. There is war all around. Many in the world and the nation are suffering.

We live in a great nation. We have a peaceful transition of power. The process was followed from start to finish. I don't live in fear that my vote does not count or is not counted. Men prayed at the inauguration.

Many have died for this day. We are not always right, but the constitutional republic is a beautiful thing.

On My Bookshelf

Tinkerdoodle lent me the book Persepolis, a graphic novel by a woman who grew up in Iran until she was shipped out to boarding school in Austria. Marjane Satrapi was only 9 years old when the revolution took place in 1979. She depicts how the changes that took place happened through the eyes of a child, but with the depth of an adult seeing it all in retrospect.

I enjoyed the style of the graphics and thoroughly enjoyed the story. It gave me more insight into life in Iran. I also listened to Rick Steves talk about his recent trip to Iran and the filming of a documentatary about Iran. I must say, it's left me wanting to learn more. I feel like Iran is severely misunderstood by Americans and I'm ready to learn more.

I highly recommend Persepolis and look forward to reading the next installment, Persepolis 2. Once I've read the second one, then I'll watch the movie. It was a big hit at Cannes a year ago and got quite a bit of press when it was in theaters here, but I didn't get to it then. It may have been the French with English subtitles that made me think renting it might work out better for me. I'll let you know how I like the rest of the stories.

Sharing Some Crafts

These are two of my favorite Christmas crafts.

The first is the pair of lounge pants that I sort of made. I had some help from my mom and sis, but I started them and I finished them, so they were made by me. Right? Right! They were a gift for my SIL and she's worn them, so they must be OK.









The second is a craft made by my crafty friend, the Duchess. She's pretty darn good considering that her specialty is fiber arts. Aren't these the cutest magnets? They totally fit my design sensibility too. I just love them. Plus, they look fantastic on the message board that my sister crafted for me!