Summer Fun

The husband finally convinced me to put down my book and go outside for some fun. We decided to round up some friends and go play frisbee golf on campus.
Here's a sweet action shot of the husband:

One of the friends (and me in the background, but don't look):

The husband trying to explain to the guys the next "hole". They look a little confused.

Another one of the friends (who ends each throw in a girly ballet pose. This picture shows him entering this pose.):

These last few pictures are for our niece. In order to travel around the world, she created a flat twin (a notebook with her picture on it). This gets mailed around to people she knows in different places. We received her flat twin and decided to take her frisbee golfing with us. These are a few pictures with Flat Emma.

What a joy to have a relaxing and fun summer afternoon.

Pizzalog #2

If you haven't already, you should read Pizzalog #1 which describes a little about why I am doing this. And now with #2:

I was delivering pizza one night, and I was taking an order to a small house in a small town just outside of Logan. As I was walking up to the door, a small child came over to me, dressed in a long sleeve orange shirt, overalls and flip flops. The child had long-ish blonde hair and a cute face. Pushing a stroller, the child came over and showed me the doll in the stroller. I knocked on the door and the child's mother came to the door. "Your little girl is so cute!" I said after receiving payment for the food. The mother responded, "He's a boy."

Let's be honest. Do you let your only child, a boy, push around a doll and a stroller?

Pizzalog #1

As most of you know, I deliver pizza to pay the bills. Like many jobs that have person-to-person interaction, sometimes weird things happen. I'm sure that many of my friends get sick of my stories because they all start like this: "One day, when I was delivering pizza...". I recently realized that you, my blogging friends, rarely get to hear these stories. I have many in my archived memories (which I often have a hard time retrieving, ask the husband) so over the rest of my time working pizza I will try to remember all of my wonderful stories and share them with you. We'll start with the most recent.


Last night, I was delivering pizza. Our store closes at 1 on Friday nights, and around midnight we got a call for an order close by. It's a good neighborhood, and it was my order to deliver. Hoping for a good tip, I packed up the pizzas, breadsticks and the Diet Coke and headed out the door. I got to the house within 20 minutes from the time they called (this is normal for us). Picking up the credit card slip for them to sign, a pen, and all their food I headed to the door. I knocked. Waited. Knocked again a little louder. Waited. (After working pizza for 2 years, it's easy to tell if anyone is coming or if anyone is there. Sometimes people order pizza then run to the gas station to get a soda or whatever. Or they order while on their way home and we beat them.) At this house, the main light was on and I knew someone had to be home or they would be back soon. I rang the doorbell. Waited. Knocked again, long and hard. No response. The next step in this case is to call the number that they called from. I did this 3 times with no answer. I called the store at which I work to ask the manager whether to bring the pizzas back or what to do. He said to try knocking again. Leaving the food in the car and taking only the credit card I went to the door again. This time as I neared the door I noticed that their blinds were up a little bit so I peeked in. I was suprised when I saw a woman asleep on the couch. Knowing she was there I knocked and knocked and rang the doorbell. Peeking in, I found she was still asleep. Laughing, I called the manager again to ask what to do. He told me to step inside and try to wake her with my voice. "Okay," I said, "I'll call you back." I opened the door and said, "Ma'am?" No response. Not even a twitch of the hand. "Ma'am, your pizza is here," I said a little louder. She snored a little louder. Standing there in shock I decided to touch her hand, thinking that would surely wake her up. It didn't. I squeezed. I patted. I practically yelled trying to wake her up. Nothing. By this time I'm thinking this is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me.
I called the manager again, who in turn called the store owner. Since she had paid with a credit card the debate was whether to leave the pizza inside the door or bring it back to the store. While I was waiting I decided to get a head start back to the store. But they told me to leave it there so I turned around and went back. Peeking inside, I saw she was still asleep so I knocked. Peeked again and saw her hand twitch. This was the first movement I'd seen of her the whole time (including when I touched her). I knocked again hard and continuously for about 10 seconds. Peeked in yet again and she had moved off the couch! A few seconds later she came to the door, completely out of it. I hand her the credit card slip and ask her to sign it and she sets it on the couch and takes the pen and food to the kitchen. She came back about 20 seconds later with a piece of pizza in her hand. "Do you know where the thing to sign is?" I respond, "I think you dropped it on the couch." She goes back in the kitchen. Thinking she doesn't have a clue what I said I stepped in and grabbed the slip. "It's right here, ma'am." Handing it to her, I pointed out the spot to sign and the spot to write the total. When I got it back, she had slashed out the tip line, written 4.00 on the total line, wrote the total (the wrong total, adding the tip completely wrong) on the signature line, and signing where the delivery persons id is supposed to go.

Amazing.

Still Alive

It has been a while (yet again) since I last posted. This time, my excuse is that I just haven't felt like writing. I still don't really feel like writing, but you guys deserve an update.

School is out for the summer, and neither of us are taking summer classes. I'm excited for that, sort of. This entire past week I have done hardly anything. If I'm going to survive this summer I definitely need to get my butt in gear and start some projects or something. Like my research for grad school. The problem with that one is that I've done the fun part. Now I need to do the boring things like search the web to find data and read journal articles. I dread the latter. They make me fall asleep. So, to keep from going completely insane because of my research, Mark and I decided to do a few touchups in our house. It's fine the way it is, but good is good and great is better. So, we bought a new light fixture for our pool table room. Already that room is really coming together. We have a few more ideas, but we have yet to decide on much else. Anyone like to paint? We can probably use the help sometime.

Our other plans for the summer are a lot of weddings, a few vacations, and working pizza the rest of the time. We sound busy, but we're not. Trust me, I would know. Anyway, I'm curious about how many people actually read my blog. Usually there's not much to comment on, so I understand why you don't leave comments. Today I'll ask a few questions that you can answer in the comments section. Sound good? I thought so.

1. Do you like to paint? (And would you want to help us sometime this summer?)
2. What is your favorite meal? (And can I have the recipe?)
3. What is your favorite vacation spot?

I Looked Out My Window And What Did I See?

DUCKS!

...and a cat.
Have I told you that I love my new house?

Brain-Stress Deadlock Disorder

I hate thinking of titles for my posts. It's probably the hardest part of keeping a blog, and today that is the thing on which I will blame my infrequent posts. That and a whole lot of homework. This semester I have been blessed with a lot of time to finish my assignments and projects (etc.), but these last couple of weeks have blown me out of the water. I thank my teachers for extended due dates and simplification of homework.

Sometimes I get so stressed out about everything I have to do that my brain goes into a deadlock. The stress makes it impossible to accomplish anything and not accomplishing anything causes stress. There are certain techniques to avoid brain-stress deadlocks (a term I came up with myself) which include (but are not limited to): not procrastinating your homework, keeping a formal calendar of all assignments and due dates, making a checklist of everything that needs to be done (in order of most important to least important) along with an estimate of how long each item will take, and keeping a clean home. I sort of failed on a couple of these techniques and ended up in a tough spot. The only way (or so it seems) out of a brain-stress deadlock is to hunker down and get something done. It is usually better to start with something easy or not very time consuming. Work your way up from there. And then write a blog about it. That's how it usually works for me.

p.s.

it's april fools day. hope you had a good one!

also, that was my friend's test... congratulations laura!

News

Best Day of My Life!

Yesterday was the best day of my life, except for the time that we removed the fireplace and went to Weinersnitchel (I wrote about that in my journal as a kid, labeling it "the best day of my life"). Anyway, I got to go see Arlo Guthrie in concert! I grew up listening to this man, and it was sooo fun to go see him live. He even came to my small town for two nights in a row. (We have an elderly population.)


Plus, there was a double bonus. One of my best friends EVER came to visit and go to the concert with me. She wasn't sure she'd like it, since Arlo's high time was in the 70's, but she ended up really enjoying herself. Now if that isn't a testament to good music, I don't know what is.

We tried to catch the band at the bus after the show, but we were one minute too slow. At least I got to sit on row 4 and watch him work his magic.

Here is a picure of Iki and Ica (that's what we used to go by - Iki is short for Nikki, Ica is short for Jessica). Thanks, Iki, for coming up! It was so good to hang out with you. Love ya!


Post-Edit:
I just want you all to know that I almost met Arlo Guthrie tonight (the night after I went to the concert). We were on our way home from somewhere and I asked Mark to humor me and take me to where the bus would be. Unfortunately, Arlo had left about 2 minutes before we got there. But I did meet his son, Abe Guthrie. I suppose that will have to suffice.

Best Invention Ever

http://www.fruper.com/

Description:
Tired of that same old monotonous water? Bored with water that doesn't look like futuristic alien mouthwash? Need to make your midnight bathroom appointments more exhilarating? Then you need to get the LED faucet light attachment from ThinkGeek. You can turn any faucet in your home into a streaming fantasia of techie-bliss in just minutes. How does it work? Just attach to the end of your faucet (universal adapters included), and when the water flows through the magic chamber, it simply turns on the LED array and illuminates the stream with soothingly powerful hues.

Blue/Red LED - Normally streams BLUE LED's until the water temperature hits 89 degrees after which the LEDs turn RED (now with a brushed chrome finish)!

Features:
* Chamber with LEDs
* Batteries pre-installed plus a set of spare batteries (uses G13-A style watch batteries)
* Instruction Sheet
* Two universal adapters included. (fits most standard faucets in USA. Not recommended for faucets outside of the USA.)
* Dimensions: 2.25" tall, 1.25" diameter.


And it's only $9.95!!!

The Cure for Spring Fever

Snow. For one week after a full week of pure spring weather. Instead of feeling happy, like you want to go outside and play, you will feel depressed and it will be much easier to stay inside and do your (insert relative job here - for me, homework).

I found the cure. See, Mom? I do know everything.

Virtual Tour

This is for you, Aunt Carrie. Thanks for commenting on my Facebook status today! :)

Here we start with the outside view. (It is a beautiful day today!)

The next couple are what you would see if you walk through the front door.

I'm working on a project over here. Please excuse the mess, and note the rock band guitars and drums. Come play!

Or if you don't like rock band, there's always these! For a complete list of what you can play when you come to our house, click here.

Ahem. Moving on to the kitchen/dining area.

/laundry room.

/computer/music room.

Back into the living room, we have stairs.

At the top of the stairs: a morin-khuur and a ukulele.

The hall at the top of the stairs leads to three rooms and has a nice corner closet.

The pool room:

The bathroom:

The bedroom:

(Complete with walk-in closet!)

There you have it. Next time, let's make it not-so-virtual, eh?

Gettin Back In

School started again today. Last week was our spring break, and I spent most of it just being lazy. Already I can feel my mind start to drift away to motorcycles and warm beaches. Rather than listen to my professors, I daydream about the day when school is finally out. I think I'm burned out for the semester. My classes used to be fun and intriguing. Now they are all a bore.

Classes? Work?

No thanks.

Guitar Hero? Board Games?

Bring it on. I wish...

The Day That Got Better

Today started out see post below. However, as the day went on, it got a little better. I made it to my 2nd class of the day (which is boring and hard, but if I miss a lecture than I'm totally lost and will never catch up) and I also made it to work at the pizza place (joy.).

The good part about today? I joined the community orchestra. And I went to my first rehearsal with them. And it was pretty much amazing because I haven't played an upright bass in three-and-a-half years and I have been aching to play for at least two years and I finally got to play and it was amazing, but now my arms and fingers are tired from playing the amazing bass and I'm really excited as you can tell by this amazingly long run-on sentence. Also, run-on sentences are easier to type because you don't have to worry about punctuation and capital letters and such so the buttons are easier to push and I think I'll start typing in run-on sentences for the next couple of posts and I'm wondering if that would bother you? Just kidding. I'm not that talented.
I think my fingers still have a bit of adrenaline from playing the bass again. Ahhh.. it just feels so good, ya know? Maybe you don't know. But don't take my word for it! (That's what they used to say on Reading Rainbow. Remember that show, anyone? It was da bomb.) Anyway, I just wanted y'all to know that my day got better.

(Insert emoticon smiley face here.)

Sick day.. like a snow day, but not

I really don't like being sick. Also, I really don't like missing school. Therefore, today is not one of my more favorite days.

The Weekend

Well, thanks to my Aunt Carrie, I figured out what to do on Saturday. (Thanks for the invite, Carrie, I had a blast.) I surprised my mom by coming down to her house on Saturday night. There was a party celebrating the return of my uncle from Afghanistan (hooray!), and my mom didn't invite me because she "knew I couldn't come anyway, so why invite?" But I went anyway. And she didn't know until I was standing in her kitchen. See?



Priceless.


During the course of the night, I played with my cousins (see above - isn't he so cute?!), visited with aunts and uncles, laughed a lot, and had one of grandma's delicious eclairs smashed all over my face and up my nose. Later on I scratched my nose, just to find dried chocolate frosting. Thanks a lot, Aaron and Sam! (You big meanies!)


On Sunday, I went to church in my mom's ward, where it just so happened that my second cousin (whom I love dearly) was having her baby blessed. So, I got to see all of the family that I normally only get to see at funerals. It was nice to see them in a positive place. That evening, we celebrated my sister's birthday with a dinner at mom's house.

Thanks for the party, fam! I had a great weekend!

The One With the Time

I'm referring to myself, not the husband. You see, the last two homework assignments I had only took me about 20 to 30 minutes each. Not too bad of a work load for a graduate student. The husband, on the other hand, gets homework assignments that take him 15 hours each. That leaves me as the one with all of the time in the world. I don't even know what to do with that much time! Somehow I find a way to waste it, though. (*Cough* *Facebook* *Cough*) Today I think I'll vacuum out my car, and maybe wash it again (even though I did that a few days ago.. Unfortunately, it rained dirt yesterday). After that, I'll take a nap.

Any suggestions for tomorrow? Here's my list so far: babysit for an hour in the morning, have old roommate and her husband come play games in the evening... and that's it.

I Want To Write

But I don't know what to write about. So, I'll tell you how my week has been going.
Sunday:
Church was really good. I have to say that Relief Society class is my very favorite. There are so many wonderful people in my ward, and that is such a great time to get to know them.
Monday:
On Monday I went to school. I didn't have to work on Monday night, so we got a couple of Redbox movies. (There's free rentals on Monday with a promo code. Two credit cards = two free movies every Monday night.) We watched Max Payne. It's a pretty good movie, though I wouldn't rate it in my top ten. We also went shopping with my sweet mother-in-law who was looking for furniture for her new home. That was fun, and once again I was surprised at Mark's fashion intellect. He's way good. (If you want to hire him, I'd be ok with that, and he'd really love it.)
Tuesday:
Tuesdays are usually pretty chill. I have a class in the morning, and another class in the late afternoon. The rest of my time is spent either doing homework or private tutoring. Usually I work at 5. This Tuesday was no different.
Wednesday:
(Yesterday.) Had school again.. And work. After I got off work, Mark and I finished most of our Saturday chores that we didn't get done last weekend. Then it was time for bed.
And that brings us to today, Thursday:
My one class that I have on Thursdays was cancelled, but I still had to come to school (for my tutoring job). On the bus on my way to school this morning, I was talking to my friend, Robert, who has a disability and works on campus in a food court. I told him I was headed to go tutor and he said, "Oh, you must be good at that." (p.s. I've only spoken with him once before, at which point he said I must be good at statistics when I told him that was my major.) He's such a sweet guy; I wish everyone were as outgoing and friendly as many of the people with disabilities. It would make everyone's lives so much more pleasant...especially on the public transportation systems. So, I went to work and realized that it doesn't take much knowledge about the actual subject to be a good tutor. More than once today I was asked a question that I couldn't answer by myself. When this happens, I turn them to the book and their notes and have them figure it out. Everyone learns more that way, and it takes the stress off of me. After work I watched an episode (or two) of Flight of the Conchords (which is a really funny show). I should be doing my homework, but I feel like I have so much time to do it that I just don't feel like working on it. Hence, I am writing a blog post.

Anyone want to come take me out for ice cream? I have a coupon for a free cone from McDonalds!

Another Fun Giveaway!

I read this on my friend Kellie's blog. She's so cool and fun! So here's the giveaway:

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you.

I get to pick what I make for you, but it will be especially for you.

But here's the deal:
~
1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (But I'll try to make something cool:)
2 What I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 You have no clue what it will be.
5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog
and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

So come and play along!

To Mark, My Love

Mushy stuff.

The Best Part of Baking Up

Is Batter In Your Cup! (Or bowl, but cup rhymes.)
*That was to be sung to the Folger's commercial song.*

That's right. I finally got around to making my Amish bread. And it is going to be delish! You know how I know? I tasted the batter. I know, I know, it has raw eggs in it. But I've eaten many a batter with raw egg in it, and you know what? I'm fine. Smart, even.

For this batch of "Amish" bread I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Instead of instant vanilla pudding (which is the reason I don't think it's Amish - instant pudding) I used instant chocolate pudding, and I added mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
You want a piece of this?
Get on over here, baby, and taste this goodness. It'll be ready in 45 minutes.

My First Giveaway!

You lucky dogs, you! About 4 days ago (about=exactly) I announced that I would be giving away Amish Bread starters. Now, I've already gone through 2 phases of the bread and I really shouldn't make any more for quite some time, so I have 3 Whole Starters to give away. Isn't that something.
Down to business. Being the nerd that I am, I used a statistical software package to choose the winners (because that is true randomness). I forgot to decide before seeing the results whether to truncate the numbers or round them, so I took a vote in my office and they decided to truncate. Here are the results:

5.089600 (Jeff #5)
4.141414 (Kellie #4)
3.760981 (Faye #3)

To claim your prizes, you must contact me somehow (Facebook is fine) and give me your address. I'm looking into the mailing issue, so we'll see if that will work out (for both Kellie and Faye). If mailing doesn't work, then the runners up are LeAnn and Fezzik. Also, if you don't want the starter, let me know. I'd hate to force it upon you.

A New Metaphor

Winter is Like Pregnancy

It can be beautiful.
It can be enjoyable.
It can be fun.
Many can stand it multiple times,
Some cannot.
Often it is miserable,
And you want to die.
Ultimately, you are glad that it happened,
And that it is over.
Because now you can enjoy newness
With greater appreciation.

Thanks to the Cache Valley wind for inspiration.

Now I'm Embarrassed

I know, it has been too long since my last post... again. I have very few excuses and all of you mothers out there who have a million things to do each day and still get in your daily blog post would just think tsk, tsk, who does she think she is? She's just in college and probably has WAY more time than me! and it is to you that I am most sorry. It would have been my mom, but I call her all the time so she's the only one who knows what's up with me. Therefore, it is you. And I am embarrassed and ashamed of myself. For tonight, as I signed in to write a post, I noticed I had 10 followers (that's a huge deal to me, p.s.). And one of them is Motherboard. Thanks for following me! You're awesome. (She's the only follower that I haven't actually met, and she's really popular. This makes me feel special.) Enough about me and my lack of writing constantly.

Life these days is going grand. Hmm.. What else to say? ...School is kicking my buttocks this semester. I don't feel like I have that much to do, so I overschedule myself and am way more busy than I ought to be. The actual schoolwork isn't horribly hard, just mediochre hard. And two of my classes I enjoy going to. The third is at 1:30 in the afternoon, and it's just a bunch of theory. Sadly, I fight to stay awake every time. In fact, I think that all universities should be closed from 12:30 to 2 (and stay open later to make up the difference) so that we can have a siesta. I strongly believe that learning will increase, and all will benefit. All in favor? (Raise your hand.) Any opposed? I didn't think so.

I also strongly believe that people should not send their children to the door to pay for the pizza, unless there is a check written out (that includes the tip). With other payments, your children do not know to tip the driver. And that makes my life difficult. Like tonight, when the dad was on the phone and had the kid pay with a $50. I had to give back $24, hoping the dad would intervene and give $1 or $2 back (low-to-average), but no. He walked away. Maybe he did it intentionally. I guess if you don't want to tip your driver, have the kids pay. Good plan. If your kids come to the door, I'll know how you feel about me and I will tag your file so we don't deliver to you anymore. (I can't actually do that, but I've wanted to a couple of times.) Also, for those of you who don't know how much to tip your pizza driver (at least in Utah) it goes like this: $1 or less kind of stinks, $2 is average, $3 is good, and $4-$25 makes a happy driver. There you have it. Any questions?

And one last item of business: I am addicted to Amish Friendship Bread (which I do not believe is even Amish, as it requires a box of instant pudding from your local grocery store). Oh, it is so moist and sweet and sugary and delightful and.. and... mmm. It is my taste bud's best friend and my butt's worst enemy. Just the way I like it. Sort of. But it's really good. And in 4 days I'll have some starter batter to give away. It sounds like in 4 days I'll be having MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! Umm, just comment and you qualify. And if you win, I hope you're close or something because I'm not sure if mailing it would work. Winners will be chosen randomly using the statistical software package called R, using a uniform distribution having bounds 1 to n, n being the maximum number of commenters. Good luck! And thanks for reading.. and following.

Thanks For The Love, Tiff

I just want everyone to know that I was blessed with one of the most amazing friends ever, and I've known her since I was a kid. Yesterday I was talking to her on the phone, telling her my dreams of being a blog star. This is what she said about me on her blog!!!

Hey Jessica! You told me that you wanted your blog to be one that was read by tons of people and commented on by even more! That you really wanted to be somebody. I wanted to let you know, you are more than 'just somebody' to me. You are a best friend/sister, and a wonderful example of how I want my life to go! You've always been there for me, even when I was less than pleasant, and you never gave up on me when it was easier to just walk away. I love you more than you will even know. You're a daughter of God, and a truely good one! You're more than 'just somebody' to God, and you are more than that to me!!

Thanks for the love, girl! I love you too!!

Back In Bit-ness

Ok, people. My little sister just convinced me to try again at the marathon training thing. If you didn't already know, I tried a couple of months ago to start running. However, my heart rate gets quite high, and I get very out of breath when I try to run. Here is how she convinced me:
(In text messages)

Mel: When is that marathon? And how long is it?
Me: I'm not running it..
Mel: Why?
Me: My heart doesn't work as well as it's supposed to.. But if you want to I'd cheer you on!
Mel: Well that's lame. I was gunna start training today to go with you
Me: I'll walk/jog it with you, but running is not physically possible for me
Mel: When is it? If its soon I wont be able to run it either but I could walk/jog
Me: Moms birthday.. Sept. 19.. (New text message): You going to run it?
Mel: I want to but I wanted to go with you
*At this point, I realize she kind of wants this as a sister bonding thing. When I first asked her to join me, she said no, but now she's saying she wants to go with me. *Tug at heartstrings..**
Me (the pushover): I can try, but it really scares me when I run.. Maybe we could do a jog/run combo instead of walk/jog
Mel: Ok! You gotta start training though to get your heart strong
Me (trying to get out of it): I'll try.. It would be cool.. You know a marathon is 26 miles, right?
Mel: Ya I know! I'm starting training today
Me: Ok

Oh, the things I do for her...

Seriously, Dreams, Knock It Off

I've decided there must be something wrong in my subconsciousness. I constantly have really bad dreams. The last one I told you about was humorous but also quite violent. Violence and death seem to be my dream theme as of late. I constantly have dreams that someone is trying to kill me, and I have to run away. Sometimes I dream that I am the scary one. The other night I dreamed I was a murderer, and the night before that I turned into a monster (or something else really scary - I couldn't see myself) right in front of my niece. It scared her and she started crying. I was only trying to hug her, but my appearance scared her half to death. Last night I had a dream that my husband divorced me and wanted to marry one of my best friends. (That one had a happy ending though, thankfully. He changed his mind and got back with me in the end.) Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night needing to piddle, but I am just too scared to get out of bed (at which point I make Mark get out of bed and walk to the bathroom to turn on the light for me, or else I start crying (I'm totally serious about that)).
Do you constantly have dreams that scare you? Or is it just me? Does anyone know any "mother tricks" to help me have better dreams more often? It makes the days a lot harder when I don't get very good sleep. It's a good thing I don't have kids, or I would be one cranky mama.

A New Year

So much has happened since I last posted. We got home from Portland safely at about 2:30 in the morning. At one point we almost got hit by a semi, but Mark's brother was an excellent driver and kept us safely on the road without hitting the semi.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent it in Logan with 2 of Mark's brothers and their families. 6 small children in total. Little kids are so cute! One little girl was too tired to open presents. She said so herself, which was pretty funny.
Christmas weekend Mark and I went to SLC to spend a little time with my family and wish my cousin a happy marriage (congrats again, Tera!). That was also a good time.
We got Rock Band from the elves, a wet-dry shopvac from Mark's mom, clothes and plentiful other things from my parents, a game and gift card from Mark's dad, and we got a couple more video games for ourselves. Overall, we got spoiled. Thank you everyone!

New Year's Eve was celebrated at work. Not too exciting, but at least it was busy so we could make a little money. Also, I got my midnight kiss. :)

2 days later, Mark and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. We're still together and quite happy!

Today school starts again. Wish us luck! Only 4 semesters to go.

Snow

In Portland it only snows once every other year or so. Except for this year. I think the snow loves my face. The morning of my graduation we got 6 inches of snow, making it hard for us to get to campus, let alone have my loving wonderful grandparents come in from out of town. Now I'm sitting at a laptop at the kitchen table of my brother-in-law's apartment, looking out the window at the blizzard outside. For the 4th time this week. We wanted to go to OMSI today (which is supposedly a really cool science museum, but I wouldn't know - I've never been) but because of an inch of snow, the museum closed down. And the Portland drivers? Don't even get me started. They have no idea how to drive in the snow. And the lines to buy chains for their tires are ridiculously long. I only see one positive aspect to this craziness of snow: this apartment is on a steep hill and we have a great view of the road, which means we get to watch the people slip and slide down the hill and crash into trees because they don't know how to drive. And that can be funny.

Portland

We're here! Mark and I are here in Portland visiting his brother (and his family). Remember the cute baby with the amazing sunshine in the hospital pictures? We're with them.. and that baby is SOOO dang cute! In fact, as I sit here typing, I am only using one hand so the other can hold this baby-smelling little treasure. Seriously adorable. Anyway, as some of you may know, Portland got an inch of snow yesterday. And when that happens, the whole city shuts down. Eric came on the bus to pick us up from the airport. We got to the airport right as the trains shut down (the switches and switch defrosters were frozen). Anyway, the trip from the airport to their house that should have taken 20 minutes ended up taking 5 hours. And it was really really really cold. But we're here now, and warm, and having fun. Yipee!

Cousins and Husbands and Dreams. Oh My!

Last night I had a visitor in my dream (probably thanks to trublubyu's dream giveaway). It was my cousin. He and I were good friends all growing up, but he lives in Idaho now so we don't see each other often. Anyway, it was nice to see him again last night. Sort of.
He and my husband were trying to blow up a bank with a nuclear bomb. And I knew it. And of course I had to save the bank, so I was calling 911 pretending I was talking to my mom so that Mark wouldn't get mad at me for snitching him out. You see, the cops had been looking for them for a while, and when I found out it was them, I was MAD! I just had to turn them in. I don't remember if the cops ever showed up. But I do remember that when my cousin shot the bags of chemicals with a paintball gun (to scoot it over a little bit for a better position) it blew up and he got burned. Really really bad. Serves you right, cousin. As for Mark, he never caught on that I was on the phone with the police and not my mom. And then I woke up.

Let the Good Times Roll

Or bend. Whatever is your preference I suppose.

This is my friend, Mary, whom I met in Yoga class this semester. She's good at things like this.
Oh, and the other two pictures (the blue shirt ones) are me.

Also, here are the pictures that I promised would come after I recovered from the delivery. Here is my question: usually when you see the new one you know right off whether it's a boy or girl. This one I'm not so sure on. Ideas? Name suggestions?

Delivered

This picture was taken with my phone (pretty good, I know). Real camera pictures will be coming, but I just couldn't help myself! YAHOO!!! (Can't type much today; my fingers are sore.)

I Want to Share

From Moosh In Indy and HP Computers; A Giveaway! I love things things. I stole the rules from her blog so you can see what this post is about. Take it away, Moosh In Indy!

HOW TO ENTER (these are my rules, and they only apply and qualify you for the giveaway here, at mooshinindy.com):

I want to know. Who would you share all this magic with and how would you do it?

1. Compose a post on your own blog, telling me what you would do with $6,000 worth of the latest HP technology. Who would you share with and why? Creativity counts, but it’s not everything. I’m going to be awarding this prize package to whomever captures the magic of sharing the most. Don’t have a blog? Go ahead and compose your entry in 200 words or less and post it here in my comments section, leaving a valid email in the email field. Video entries on YouTube, posts on MySpace and Facebook will also be accepted.
2. Somewhere in your post mention and link to HP’s Magic Giveaway along with a mention and link to this post on moosh in indy. When your post is published, leave a link to your entry, wherever it may be, with your name and valid email address in the comments section below.
3. Contest is open NOW! and will run through 10 p.m. EST December 9th, 2008. Comments will close at 10 p.m. EST on December 9th, 2008. So get to it.
4. That’s it.

THE NOT SO FINE PRINT:

• My family, friends and people I know in real life are not eligible. Sorry dudes. It’s just not fair. But you are more than welcome to enter any or all of the other 49 giveaways. (Although you can only win one.)

• Anyone who doesn’t fall into the above category, in any part of the world, is eligible to enter.

• All taxes will be taken care of by HP.

• You must SHARE part of the prize package with someone who isn’t you, preferably someone who doesn’t even live in your house. While I have no way to police you once the prizes leave my doorstep, I can assure you that if you don’t share, bad juju’s will follow you all the days of your life. Okay, so I can’t even promise that, just don’t be a selfish jerk okay? You’re a lucky fool if you win all this stuff. PAY IT FORWARD.

• The winner must provide me with a real street shipping address, P.O. Boxes will not be accepted. Items you choose to share can be shipped to the person directly at no cost to you (and is actually preferred. Who doesn’t love getting magic surprises in the mail?)

• By entering, the winner agrees to provide me, within two weeks of receipt of the prize, a 250 word story (at least) on what happened when they shared one or more of the products. Their story will be posted on moosh in indy. at a later date. Stories from those who were surprised with the magic would also be fantastic. Pictures optional, but strongly encouraged. I won’t post any personal information without permission.

• I have been using (reviewing, coveting, checking out) the hardware (dude, I don’t get to keep any of this stuff) but they will all be restored to factory/like new condition before I ship them.

• I will pick and announce a winner December 9th, 2008 at 12 a.m. EST.

I will be the sole judge and my decision is final. I cannot be bought with promises of cookies, lavish riches, goods, products or services. So don’t even try. Okay, so you can try, but just know it won’t work.

So, here's my entry. As many of you know, I am a college student who delivers pizza to pay for school and living expenses. Also, I'm starting graduate school next semester and a laptop and printer would be mighty handy. Everything else in the package is extra to me. As a pizza deliverer, I get to drive around town and see all sorts of homes and happenings. A couple of weeks ago, one of the houses that I often drive past caught on fire and the family was devastated. I still can't drive past that house without wondering where they are staying and how they are doing. Granted, they hopefully have insurance, but who wouldn't love to get 3 computers and a bunch of other stuff FOR FREE, especially right after your house burns down. This is the family I would pass everything else on to. During this Christmas season (especially with the economy the way that it is) it's really hard to feel poor. I don't know this families financial situation, but I know that if I were in their shoes, I couldn't be happier knowing that strangers are thinking of me and praying for me.

New Baby

The sun'll come out tomorrow! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow... there'll be sun..

Do you know why? I do.

My Dad! He's the best. When I was young(er than I am now) and just getting into piano lessons, my daddy promised me that if I kept up with piano and music, he would buy me a piano. So, tell me now. Why does the sun come out tomorrow? Because my piano is being born into my world tomorrow!!! I've made an appointment with the delivery crew, and hopefully the birth goes well. He/she (we haven't found out the gender yet) might come right on time or a couple hours later. The longer it takes, the more painful it is. But when he/she is born, it is all worth it. This will be my second baby. (My first is my motorcycle. She's a beaut, but she's getting to be pretty old.) (Come to think of it, my first baby is my car named Baby. She's also a beat up beaut and getting old. Second is Mota (would have been Moto if she were a boy) the Motorcycle. And third will come tomorrow - name and gender to be decided upon arrival.)
You might think I'm crazy comparing the arrival of these inanimate objects to childbirth, but I'm not crazy. After all, many people have dogs that they call their children. They even let them eat at the dinner table! At least I keep my babies where they belong. Also, think of my items and childbirth in parallel: you're excited to receive it, it's hard to wait for, causes you stress if it gets injured, nice to sit on, etc. Too bad they don't make widgets with pictures of a piano (car, moto, etc.) coming closer to you (getting bigger) as the arrival time gets closer! I would be ALL over that. Pictures of the beautiful baby coming tomorrow or the next day (or whenever I recover from the delivery)!

Stuff

I feel like there's something really important that I should be doing right now, but I can't think of what it is. (I just remembered what I was supposed to do... Dang! I wasted so much time this morning - now when will I do that thing I was supposed to do?! *Inserted a few hours after making this post.) So, instead I'm going to do something fun. I'm going to give back the love - comment style. (I found this idea on Crazyland, and it looked fun.)

Rule 1. List the first 10 people who have commented on one of your blog posts. (Except that I only have a few faithful commenters, so I'll just put as many distinct blogger commenters as I can find.)
1. Kellie
2. Carrie
3. Fezzik
4. Linabean
5. Perception
6. Slipper
7. Rose
8. Lauren
9. Manda Jane (Private)
10. Tiffani
(Sorry, Mom, I couldn't use you, my most faithful commenter, because you don't have a blog.)

Rule 2. The meme questions: 10 blogs - 15 questions
1. What is your favorite post from #3's blog? Dear Old Jasmine. Fezz hardly updates her blog but she's hilarious and it's great when she does. So, though I know her life is fun and exciting, I must settle for this funny post.

2. Has #2 taken any pictures that have moved you? Pretty much every single picture she puts up of her boys moves me and makes me miss them even more than I already do.

3. Does #6 reply to comments on their blog? As far as I know, no.

4. Which part of Blogland is #4 from? She's from my group of high school friends.

5. If you could give one piece of advice to #7 what would it be? Umm.. Keep posting about your sons because I rarely hear about what they're up to.

6. Have you ever tried something from #9's blog? I've tried to be a photographer, but I'm not.

7. Has #1 blogged something that inspired you? Indeed. Kellie is a great example to me of how to be a good mom.

8. How often do you comment on #10's blog? Every time she posts (so, about once a month).

9. Do you wait excitedly for #8 to post? Of course! She's another one of those never-posters.

10. How did #5's blog change your life? Well, Perception likes to make deep posts, and just by reading them my mind opens to another level.

11. Do you know any of your 10 bloggers in person? All of them!

12. Do any of your 10 know each other? The high school friends know each other. And the relatives know each other. And some of the high school friends know the relatives. And Kellie is cool.

13. Out of the 10, which updates more frequently? Kellie and Carrie. Everyone else is pretty hit and miss.

14. Which of the 10 keep you laughing? Kellie and Carrie are hilarious! They always have such funny stories and comments. Sometimes I wish I had kids and a crazy life so I could have funny stories too.

15. Which of the 10 made you cry (good or bad) tears? Carrie, mostly. Especially when she tells sentimental stories about her boys. I just love them so much!

Any of you are invited to do this. Let me know if you do because I'd love to read 'em!

Retreat

I know that this is totally going to let everyone down, but I feel the need to tell you. I'm retreating from the marathon for this coming summer. Here is my reason: my heart. I've been hoping it would get better with time, but it hasn't. You see, every time I run a mile or more my heart rate gets excessively high (like, over 180 which happens to be the max heart rate for the next age group down). I don't really know what's causing that - my guess is that it's my exercise induced asthma. Anyway, I'm sad to have made this decision, but I think it would be better that I don't have a heart attack or something while I'm running a marathon. If you wish, I can continue posting each week the running schedule for that week. Also, I am totally willing to walk/jog the whole way, but running is just not physically possible. Thank you for all of your enthusiasm. And please, let me know if you want that schedule posted weekly.

By Request

My dear mother told me that if I am bored I should post about my exciting news. That's right, people. I'm not pregnant. And that's not the exciting news...

Drum roll, please.

Who: Jessica Anderson
Jessica Anderson-Anderson
or Jessica Anderson²
When: December 13, 2008
Where: Utah State University
Why: Because she's smart
What?




GRADUATION!!!

And you're all invited. If anyone wants to volunteer to be my personal reminder to get out invitations to my graduation, please feel free.

I should also inform you that I have been accepted into Utah State's School of Graduate Studies in the Statistics program. This will start in January. Currently I'm working on choosing a research advisor so that I can get started on some research right away. Anyone else excited? I am!

ReAlLy BoReD!!

It's true. I am really quite bored right now. And I don't know what to do about it. Would you like to see what I do for homework?





There you have it. Nothing (for the most part, anyway). Actually, I do have some pictures from assignments I have recently turned in. But I don't think those would interest you since you probably wouldn't know how cool it was even if I told you. So instead, I played around and made a few pretty pictures for you!


Cool, neh? Ok, so maybe not.. How about this one?
Alright. I get it. I'm lame. But I don't care that these pictures are lame because I'm bored. Oh, that I could transport from home to school in the blink of an eye so I could sleep in and only be on campus when I actually have class!!!

Bucket List

Things to do before I kick the bucket:
1. Go skydiving
2. Raise enough happy children
3. Visit all of the temples in Utah
4. Learn Spanish
5. Return to Argentina
6. Go to Spain
7. Live in another country for a month or more
8. Become a prominent (or at least a good) statistician
9. Contribute to research of a disease
10. Run a marathon (or two, if I survive the first)
11. Be the best wife I can be to my wonderful husband
12. Stay in Hawaii for a week or two
13. Teach Young Women's (Divine intervention needed here)
14. Publish a paper in a journal
15. Be carefree, yet still responsible
16. Quit stressing the small stuff
17. Be a great cook
18. Be a good homemaker
19. Get into the habit of baking break weekly
20. Be constantly worthy to meet my Savior
21. Have a love affair with the Word of God
22. Have really long hair
23. Join a band playing the bass
24. Spoil my grandchildren
25. Live in the moment so the moments don't pass me by

Amazing Game

Yesterday I played a game of cutthroat in racketball. First off, let me say that I suck at that game, and have lost almost every game I've played (I'm taking a racketball class on campus currently). Anyway, we had about 25 minutes until class was over and there was an open court, so me and two other girls decided to play cutthroat. At first, one of the other girls was whomping on us. However, once I got warmed up it got really close. The game lasted 35 minutes! (That's really long for beginning racketball players.) And I was late for my next class. But, guess what.. I WON!!! It was so much fun (not just because I won) and now my body is sore. I can't wait until next week when I can play with them again! Also, I wish I had video of me rockin' the court. One word: Amazing.

Complainy

I would have written a lot more in the past week, honest. But I have been far too complainy and I didn't want to destroy your happy lives with the frustrations in mine (unless, of course, I called you and told you all of the bad things that happened this week - then I did want to destroy your happy life with my frustrations). I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, knowing that the Lord is just trying to humble me and mold me into a better person. But sometimes it's just so hard to be happy. You know what I mean? Don't get me wrong; the whole world hasn't come crashing down on me.. yet. It's just one small thing after another. And those tend to pile up quickly; when it rains, it pours.

One thing I do to keep up my spirits is sing. Last night I was singing Christmas songs and church hymns in the shower. I felt liberated. Free. The cares of the world couldn't reach me in that shower. And when I got out of the shower, I played Guitar Hero (on medium instead of hard, because I needed a stress reliever, not a stress builder). That also helped. What do you do to help you through your hard times?