THROUGH MY EYES

Sharpie Art

2011-06-01T09:13:00.002-06:00

By Lisa Kins

My amazingly talented sister draws pictures using Sharpie permanent markers. One of my favorite flowers is the tulip and of course my favorite color is purple. Lisa new this and was inspired to draw this beautiful pic for me. Love it!
If you wish to see it in person you are welcome to come veiw it as it is proudly displayed on my wall.

Best 35th birthday EVER!

2011-04-18T18:45:00.006-06:00

As you may know Saturday the 16th was my 35th birthday. Not something I was really looking forward to.

I did take Friday off from work to get my yearly physical (I admit not so much a fun bday activity) and I also applied for my passport! One step closer to my trip!

Other then my Friday activities I had absolutely nothing else planned. I envisioned staying home, watching Netflix, & being depressed. But that did not come to pass as the best thing happened Friday night. Chris (family from Honeyville) called to see what I was doing for my bday. When I told her I was doing a whole lot of nothing she informed me that she had a surprise planned for me. Now, normally I don't like surprises, but this one turned out to be one of the best surprises ever. All Chris would tell me was that we were going to Layton. I know...Layton! What is in Layton? As Em so poignantly pointed out that she couldn't recall anyone ever announcing: "now that I've won the Superbowl I'm going to LAYTON!"

Before heading to Honeyville Saturday morning I recieved a card snail mailed all the way from England! Yes, England! It was from my darling friend Tony. We've known each other for maybe 3ish years. Someday I hope to meet him in England. The best part is that in 4-6 weeks I'll have my passport so I can!

(If you look close you can see the envelope says "Royal Mail" & the stamp is of the Queen. Very cool if you name is Kins.)

I should have known that my card could have been a sign as to what the rest of the day was going to bring.

Turns out the whole day would be a British day. Perfect day for me!

After meeting Chris we drove to Layton to this fabulous British fish & chips shop. It was run by authentic British chaps! It had a little restuarant that you could get real English fish & chips served in the traditional paper. They also had a few souvineer items to purchase. Chris said I could get whatever I wished for. I chose this darling Union Jack piggy bank. I'm saving my $ for my cruise or trip to England in it. The $5 came in a bday card from my cousin Em. She specifically sent it so I could use it for my trip. Perfect that I have a darling piggy band to store it in. I decided to call him Jack.

(This pic is out of order but I also bought myself a vintage spoon ring....details to come.)

At the fish & chips shop I also got some tasty and not so tasty British treats. I sent this pic to Tony and he authenticated the fact that: Yes, you can find these treats in England & yes, he has personally eaten the chocolates biscuits and the curlywurly. For all you who are curious a curlywurly is a carmel and chocolate candybar. The yellow thing is pineapple taffy. As far as tasty as opposed to not so tasty the list is as follows:

Tasty: curlywurly, taffy

Not so tasty: chocolate tea biscuits.

The reason that they are called biscuits rather then cookies must be cause they are not sweet at all!

We didn't get fish & chips cause Chris had something else planned for lunch, but don't worry I'm good to go if any of you feel the need for some English fish & chips.

Chris headed North again back to Ogden to the most fablous, little restaurant that I've ever been too. We went to a vintage tea room for English tea! The restuarant is called:

VINTAGE RESTAURANT & TEA ROOM

2436 GRANT AVE

OGDEN, UT 84401

801-425-4879 OR vintageutah@gmail.com

You can also "like" them on fb: facebook.com/vintageutah

You walk in and the place is just barely bigger then my apartment but it's just perfectly cozy and not crowded at all that you don't notice much. The decore and ambiance is just brilliant!

The walls are painted lavender and decorated in beautiful little girl pretty princess dresses and tea pots hang as a border. Everything is old and just beautiful. They use real china tea sets to serve with. As you can imagine not a lot of the dishes match. My tea cup and saucer matched each other but did not match Chris's. It was just so darling.

Of course their speciality is tea. They handed us 2 baskets of tea to smell. They have ONLY 60 different flavors. I ended up picking "blackberry burgandy." It was so tasty. I always forget how much I love tea until I drink it....."oh yeah, I really like tea."

Here is a pic of me pouring some tea for Chris

They also have big floppy gorgeous hats all over that you can wear as you enjoy the tea for a more authentic British experience. Here is me modeling a hat while drinking tea. I'm so talented. :)

They also specialize in parties. While we were there the owner was hosting a birthday party for a 3 year old girl & 4 of her friends. All of the girls got to pick a pretty dress to wear. They even had gloves and tearas or hats to choose from. After choosing one dress all of the little girls wanted to pick another dress. Rather then loosing patience the owner said "oh it is very common and proper to change dresses betweeen courses." Of course with that kind of endorsement they all had to change dresses, and change dresses they did. All of the girls changed between the tea and scones, & soup with cheese sandwiches, and on and on. It was so cute and extremely entertaining for Chris and I.

Besides the tea Chris & I also had sandwiches. I choose a seafood croissant and Chris had a chicken salad croissant. But wait for the best bit.....dessert.....

For dessert we had....wait for it.....

Princess Diana's wedding cake! The owner found the recipe online and now you can have a peice of Princess Diana's wedding cake in UTAH! It was a fruit cake made of fresh fruit. Very very tasty. It defintely deserve the official Kins "Delish!"

After eating we browsed the few souviner & gifts the Vintage Tea Room sales. That is where I found my beautiful vintage spoon ring. (refer to pic above)

It was truely a brilliant, taylor made birthday for me. I had the most fun! Thank you Chris! You done good!

Born October 15, 2010

2010-10-17T06:50:00.004-06:00

The berries are here! Hannah and Javen Knight were born Friday morning!

Hannah weighed 4 lbs! She is doing great! As you can see she is breathing on her own.

Hannah

So so little.

Javen Knight weighs 5 lbs 6 oz.

Javen

Javen's Aunt Meggie said that this CPAP is just helping him breath. A lot of NICU babied have to use it.

Em is doing great. Rex is "beaming." I haven't heard how Maleah is but I'm sure she is good to. I just can't wait to so visit my newest cousins.

33 weeks

2010-10-09T07:21:00.003-06:00

Em and the berries at 33 weeks. She is measuring 40 weeks since there is 2 babies in that bump. I can't wait to meet my newest cousins. They are due on Thanksgiving but the goal is that they stay where they are until at LEAST the end of October. I'm so excited!!

Proud to be a veggie head!

2010-10-01T06:59:00.003-06:00

Today is the start of WORLD VEGETARIAN MONTH. I've been a vegetarian for just over one year. It's one of the best things I've ever done. Over the last year I dropped 20 lbs and my acid reflux has all but gone away. The beauty part is that I'm not contributing to the need for killing floors. I'm proud to be a veggie head! Try it for 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, or for life.

WTF!

2010-09-19T14:59:00.002-06:00

So, I met a girl at the laundramatte just now who decided that I was the person that she wanted to tell her whole life story to today. Ironically the gist of her story is that she is 27 years old, Mormon, not married, not endowed, has given one baby up for adoption, and hates herself cause she can't live up to the expectations of the church! Let me tell you just how hard it was for me not to say:
"What the fuck! Are you kidding me? For your sake GET OUT! Are you hearing yourself? There is so much more to life then some brainwashing bullshit!" Don't worry, I managed to hold my tongue, but I'm a little bit pissed at myself that I did. If this offends any of my Mormon friends or family...well now you know how I really feel!

37 ODD THINGS ABOUT KINS

2010-09-17T22:51:00.005-06:00

1. Do you like Blue Cheese Dressing? Of course who doesn't like moldy cheese?

2. Have you ever smoked a cigarette? yes

3. Do you own a gun? No for sure not! I'm not allowed to have deadly weapons.

4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? None, we never drank Kool-Aid growing up. Although I do like blue berry Kool-Aide in The triple B. Here's the recipe in case you don't have it yet. 1 pk Blue berry Kool-Aide,1 bottle Everclear,2 letters Squirt. Mix together and enjoy. Warning: you will be drunker then you've ever been.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No, when you go as often as I do you get over the nervousness real fast.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Gross, mix-matched left over animal parts!

7. Favorite Christmas Movie? I really don't like Christmas

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Water

9. Can you do push ups? For sure not.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? Rings, ironically I don't have any right now. Boys where is my diamond?

11. Favorite Hobby? Reading

12. Do you have A.D.D? No, I just take caffeine so it may seem like I do sometimes.

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? Glasses but only to drive.

14. Middle name? Ann

15. What are you thinking about now? That I'm super tired and I'm fixin to get a tired headache.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, Green Goodness, V8

17. Current worry? None at the moment

18. Current hate right now? The fact that my feet are dry.

19. Favorite place to be? In my bed asleep

20. How did you bring in the New Year? By getting very very drunk! You can scope out the pics if you wish.

21. Where would you like to go right now? Some place warm. I'm freezing at this moment.

22. Name two people who will complete this. I have no idea

23. Do you own slippers? Of course, I have tile floor and it can get a bit chilly in the winter.

24. What color shirt are you wearing? blue

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I never have but I imagine that I would.

26. Can you Whistle? Yes

27. Where are you now? Home

28. Would you be a pirate? No

29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Always by Stevie Wonder

30. Favorite Girl's Name? Rehtaeh Ann

31. Favorite boy's name? Not sure

32. What's in your pocket right now? Probably cat hair. It's EVERYWHERE!

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Talking to my ex on the phone.

34. What vehicle do you drive? The best, most coolest vehicle EVER! A 1993 Geo Metro! It comes with rust, duct tape, zip ties, and nearly 200,000 miles but it still runs baby! You can't beat that shit!

35. Worst injury you've ever had? Not sure but the most painful would be sciatic nerve pain. That will kill ya! Thank God for good drugs.

36. Do you love where you live? No, I very much dislike it.

37. How many TVs do you have in your home? 1 but it is only connected to a DVD player.

Web Cam

2010-09-17T06:52:00.004-06:00

Big news! I bought a web cam! They are actually pretty cheap. I go mine for only $16 at Best Buy with a $10 gift card I had. If you have a web cam or decide to run out and get one cause of this amazing post I'm on skype.com look me up. My skype user name is bellahkins.

Playing w/ my camera

2010-09-05T10:27:00.005-06:00

It's the most fun having a computer that I can upload pics on!

Here are some from the last few days....

Canon, he's not fat, he's just fluffy!

My baby Moshe! I love this little person more then I ever thought I could. He pointed to me & said "Hedder" Thursday night. It was plane as can be & with absolutely no prompting from me or his mom! I'm telling you the kid is a genius. He gets that from me!

Ginormous chair at work on Hawaiian day! Yes we do work....sometimes. :)

EPIPHANY

2010-08-29T12:39:00.008-06:00

I HAVE ASKED MYSELF MY ENTIRE LIFE:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I HAVE AN ANSWER....

THERE NEVER WAS ANYTHING WRONG WITH ME!

13 BOOKS!

2010-08-27T18:16:00.003-06:00

I found this great place that sales used books here in Logan.

It's called Jenson BooksYou go in and they give you a grocery bag. You brouse & fill up your bag. Then...here's the best part: They only charge you $7.00 for all the books you've been able to fit into the bag! I heard about them on the radio & mentioned as much so I got an extra $1 off. Can you believe it! I got these 13 books for $6.38! The place isn't flashy or well organized but for book fanatics like me it's a little peice of heaven. I'm telling you. You've gotta scope this place out.

27 weeks

2010-08-27T11:50:00.002-06:00

Can you believe the berries have existed for 27 weeks? Em said we're hoping for at least a 35 week gestation. So that means as few ans 8 weeks to go!

Em's baby shower that I'm giving her is on Sept. 11th, 2010! I can't wait. I have the food and decorations planed but I need help with games. I would like to have 2 games to play. Any ideas?

New

2010-08-21T07:26:00.002-06:00

I finally did it....

I bought a new computer! I'm so excited. Now I can watch movies and upload all my fabulous pics. I've been saving for a while for a computer at Sam's Club but when I went in they had sold out of the discounted one I was saving for. I decided to scope out Best Buy and got this computer for a deal I feel just great about. It's a "eMachine" which I know nothing about but as I'm not supper tech savvy it seems to be serving me just fine. Yippee!

Getting things done!

2010-07-25T07:25:00.004-06:00

Here is a short update: (Mostly for Chris)

I'm getting some of the things on my "To Do List" checked off!

I've been renting a storage unit for $25 a month which isn't too spendy. Trouble is I've been paying this for the last 5 1/2 years for stuff that I don't really need. Obviously! I haven't needed it in 5 1/2 years! Yesterday I finally got completely emptied it out. I'm sad that I've wasted $1650.00 on this stuff purely for sentimental reasons and laziness but no more!
You might be wondering where I took all my stuff. I tried to take it to Deseret Industries but they were closed for the Mormon holiday yesterday. I left it by the unloading area and as I was leaving a security guard drove up to me and told me to go take my stuff back! Are you serious! It's DI! Apparently DI doesn't take donations! Anyway, I ended up taking my stuff to a fabulous local thrift store called "Gammies." It's located at 521 N Main here in Logan, phone number 435-755-2198. The lady was so thankful for all the stuff I brought. I ended up buying 4 shirts & 2 overalls for Mo and the lady wanted to give them to me for free. I insisted that I pay for them so she gave them to me for the unbeatable price of $2.13! If you're looking for a thrift store in Cache Valley definitely support "Gammies!"
The next thing on my list was to call the companies I pay $ to each month and ask for better deals. The beauty part of working for loyalty at Qwest is I know what to say to get a deal. I called Comcast and they knocked $20 off my bill each month for the next year! Yippee! You may wonder why I don't have Qwest internet since I work for them. We don't offer internet in North Logan...yet....
With the help of my darling cousin Em I figured out that I have $250.00 each month that I have no idea what happens to it. I know, ridiculous! I set up direct deposit for this $ to go into my saving rather then to me. I'll get to England or on my cruise in no time at that rate.
Lastly I got on the year long waiting list with "Hanbury Manor." Hanbury Manor is an apartment complex that offers affordable rent for low income people. The waiting list for the 1 bedrooms really is a year, but I'll wait. I toured the apartments and they are so darling. I can even have pets! Plus there are washer & dryer hook ups! Good thing I have a year to save for such a purchase. :)
Lastly, I can't believe that everything I own fits into my studio apartment minus the Geo of course! It's refreshing to not have so much baggage weighing me down.

Twins

2010-07-11T10:31:00.003-06:00

12 years, many fertility treatments, 1 adoption & a lot of ups and downs later.

My amazing cousin Em is finally pregnant......

With the help and miricle of modern medicine she is now carrying

TWINS

1 BOY & 1 GIRL!

They are due Thanksgiving day!

Family reunion 2010

2010-07-11T10:16:00.006-06:00

Hartvigsen Family Reunion 2010

It was at my favorite pavillion this year. Yippee for the Kawanis pavillion!
A pic that I actually like of myself. That's new! And Em of course.

Enjoying the river. It was a futile attemp at cooling off. Well that's not completely true cause my feet were cooler for sure. (Sorry this pic is on it's side. I can't figure out how to turn it.)

The next generation learning to love the river.

Walking to work

2010-07-11T10:04:00.003-06:00

Some times I like to walk to work. I really should everyday but, ya know I'm lazy.

Here are 2 of the views I get to enjoy on my walk.
Cache Valley mountains are lovely

A definite LOL author!

2010-06-14T14:55:00.003-06:00

I recently discovered a new genre in writing, the travel memoir. I stumbled upon this genre at Border's Bookstore. The title: "The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific" by J. Maarten Troost caught my eye. Now who wouldn't be interested in a title like that. The best part is that Troost is hilariously hilarious! He makes living on an atoll in the middle of no where sound interesting if you're into a diet of ONLY fish and using the Pacific as a toilet & a swimming hole. I've also read his 2 subsequent books. "Getting Stoned with Savages, A Trip Through the Island of Fiji and Vanuatu" & "Lost on Planet China, One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation."
If you have a library card I've donated my copies of these books to the North Logan library so you can check them out for free. :)

GOING PRIVATE

2010-06-04T19:02:00.003-06:00

I've decided to make my blog private so if you would like to be on the "in list" send me your email and I will add you. My blog will be private as of Saturday June 12th.

Baby Animal Days

2010-04-11T17:53:00.003-06:00

My family came up to Cache Valley to play with me yesterday. We went to the biggest spring event here in Logan: BABY ANIMALS DAYS at The American West Heritage Center.

Of course there were plenty of tasty treats for sale. I had to buy some rock candy. Oddly enough I was the only person in our group who likes rock candy! Weird huh? Sugar on a stick! What is there NOT to like?

Our group minus Deb cause she was taking the pic. L-R Holly, Megan, Me, Mo (in stroller), Em, Rex, Maleah, & the sheriff guy on the horse who rode up behind us unbeknown to us and snuck in the pic.

Holly told me to get on this tractor for a pic. This prissy pose was how I automatically posed. Not the traditional tractor riding pose I guess as everyone thought this was so funny.

My favorite baby animal! Mo! Yes, he is Jesse's son! He's so chill and laid back that at 6 months he can give the "hang loose."

Holly was brave enough to ride the mechanical bull! She had trouble getting on the thing so she channeled her gymnastic days and this was her hilarious mount! Well done!

Maleah was not so excited about being on the bull herself so her fabulous dad climbed on up and helped her. Cute! I love great dads!

Maleah riding by herself. Not so fun. :(

It was such a fabulous day! Everyone had such a great time!

Shut up & listen

2010-04-08T06:39:00.006-06:00

As all of you know I've been trying to find a guy who might be interested in me as a person for a long time. I haven't really had much success in this area at all. I've pondered this dilemma a lot and have absolutely no insight as to why guys are not interested in me other then I'm not a "classic beauty." I feel I'm pretty open minded and not at all picky when I comes to being interested in a guy. My approach falls under the: "if he is interested in me then I'm interested in him" theory. You'd think this would be a good approach but alas it apparently has many unexpected innate faults to it.
That being said there are a few things on my "deal breaker list." The one I've run into lately is that I value the skill of being able to talk as well as being able to listen. Many people know how to talk endlessly but sometimes they don't know how to balance this out by shutting up and listening. How does anyone learn anything about the world if they don't shut up and listen once in a while? If you're at all interested in any of the other 8 billion humans sharing this rock we live on you have to listen to them once in a while. As anyone who knows me knows that I'm chatty, but I try very hard to shut up and listen to other people once in a while. I hate it when I'm explaining something and someone interrupts me and starts talking about themselves. I try very hard not to do this. If I do please tell me to shut up and listen.
This may seem very vague. What I'm trying to say is that if a guy is interested in me then I'm interested in him. I just understand don't how he can be interested in me if he won't be quit long enough to let me talk. How is he supposed to find out about the person he is interested in....."me?" Exactly, he can't!
Ok, I'm done venting now. Thanks for listening (reading).

Life is good!

2010-04-06T06:34:00.002-06:00

I have so many happy things going on right now in my life. I thought I would share them with you.

Megan, Emily, & Maleah are headed to Logan this Saturday for a fun filled birthday celebration. April is Megan's, Maleah's, & my birthday month. Deb & Mo are going to join us for Baby Animal Day at the American West Heritage Center & then dinner. It's going to be the most fun. How could it not be. I'll be with people I love. It doesn't get better then that!
In May Megan will officially be Dr. Megan. Wow! Time to party!
Spring is just around the corner. Wait a minute...shouldn't it be spring now? Apparenlty not in Cache Valley. We got about 7 inches of snow last night. But this just means it's going to be warm very soon right?
I've lost 24 lbs since becoming a vegetarian.
I get my one and ONLY cavity filled next Tuesday. This is big news mostly cause I only have ONE cavity and that I have dental insurance to get it filled. Yippee!
I'm genuinely one of Mo's favorite people. Of course I knew I would be but it's great to see him be so cute and darling with me. You have no idea what it's like to see his face light up EVERY TIME he see's his Auntie Heth. AMAZING!!
I have a great job. Yes I dread going everyday but once I'm there I don't mind it so much.
YES, LIFE IS GOOD!

Yet another Pagan holiday weekend.

2010-04-03T09:01:00.004-06:00

This may or may not be interesting to you but it is to me. The Christian holiday of Easter originates from the Pagan goddess of Eostre or Eastre. She was the goddess of dawn, spring, and fertility. To find out more just Google it or you can click on the fab pic here on my blog for more information. Happy Eostre everyone.

What I believe....

2010-03-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

I just had an interesting conversation with my cousin about living what you believe and being true to yourself and your life. Perhaps a bit too generously my cousin stated that I seem to do this well. This prompted me to think about what it is that I actually truly believe in. This is what I know to be true:

Whatever energy even in thought we put out into the universe comes back to us! If you give love, happiness and joy that is what you receive back. None of us live in a bubble. We effect everything and everyone we come in contact with, which then in return effects us.
I believe we experience life to learn. In this same regard I believe we experience multiple lives cause as anyone knows there is so much to learn. How could anyone learn much of anything in just one short trip here? One go at this doesn't make any sense to me at all. This life I am learning all the different aspects of being a Caucasian female in America at the beginning of the 2nd millennium. That limits my experience so much so that the only thing that rings true to me is that this is only one of many lives I've experienced, all with something new and different to learn.
We choose to live each life with a life plan and a reason for being here. The concept of a life plan seems a bit daunting but don't worry cause I believe we come to this life accompanied by many souls to help us along the way. Spirit as well has human guides.
I also believe that people are put into our lives not by chance but on purpose and for a reason, as a catalyst to learn from each other. If that reason is completed then it is ok to move on cause there is someone else waiting that you've planned to spend some time with so that you can help each other learn something new. What could be more exciting then this? This has certainly been true for me as I have experienced many chapters (neglected & abused child, devout Mormon, lesbian, alpha fag-hag, student, pseudo married, single & promiscuous, want to be Jew, & the list goes on....) in my life. I've shared & leaned from all these experience with a great variety of people.
What is true for my life does not have to be true for someone else. All truths are valuable to whomever believes in them.
I just had an epiphany as I'm writing this. My core believe is that we choose to experience life so that we can learn. Everything else that I believe leads back to that core belief and is just commentary. Albeit very interesting commentary as I'm quite gifted with the skill of rambling on.

3 MONTHS LATER......

2010-02-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

I PASSED TRAINING!

My 100th post....

2010-02-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

On 12/19/2008 I posted my first post to this blog. Wow, & now I have reached my 100th post! This is a big moment for me for some reason. I'd like to take this moment to thank all my loyal followers & especially those who leave comments. It's the comments that motivate the blogger to blog. Ok, I just made that up but it's the comments that motivate THIS blogger to blog. For my 100th post I decided to do the new and improved 2010 getting to know questionnaire that is currently circulating on the social networks, blogs, & through email.

2010 GETTING TO KNOW YOU

1. Tennis shoes or boots? Ya know what is even better then either of those? Flip Flops! Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
2. What time did you get up this morning? 6:20 a.m. I slept in. Normally I'm up by 6-ish & 5:30 a.m. if Canon thinks he is going to perish from starvation before I get up at 6.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "Hangover" Funnies movie I've seen in a really long time.

4. What is your maiden name? Kins, come on people you need to help me find a man!

5. What is your favorite TV show? And again, I DON'T HAVE TV!

6. What do you usually have for breakfast? Oatmeal

7. What is your middle name? Ann

8. What food do you dislike? Devil beans a.k.a. green beans. I mean why do people like eating food that taste like dirt? I'll never understand.

9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? No CD, my play list, yes the one you're listening to right now...you're welcome. :)

10. What characteristic do you despise? Nothing, I'm Kins & I'm fabulous!
11. Favorite Clothing? Well right now my "skinny pants" cause they are actually to big and fall off my ass.

12. Anywhere in the world on vacation? Anywhere that a cruise ship can go. As soon as I find that man that ya'll are helping me with I have big plans of doing a cruise honeymoon. I'm taking donations for this. Just let me know if you need my address.

13. Are you an organized person? Kins organized? Yes! Other folks organized? No!

14. Where would you retire to? Southern Utah of course!

15. Whats your most recent memorable birthday? Getting drunk on Triple B at Harri's house last year. Good times!

16. What are you going to do when you finish this? Post it on facebook.

17. Furthest place you are sending this? Not sure cause I don't know who all reads my blog cause ya'll don't leave comments! For the next 100 posts lets change that. Shall we?

18. Person you expect to send it back first? No one really

19. When is your birthday? Isn't that a little personal? April 16th

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Morning for sure. Have you ever seen me function after 1 p.m.? Exactly, cause I don't! But 6 a.m. & I'm good to go!

21. What is your shoe size? 11-12

22. Do you own any animals? No, but I share my life with 2 little boys of the feline species.

23. Any news you'd like to share? Yes, tomorrow morning I will have my blood drawn for my 3rd and hopefully final AIDS test! Damn Nigerians!!

24. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? I don't remember. A nurse perhaps

25. What is your favorite flower? You should all know this by now. Purple tulips and lilacs.

26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? None at this moment. That's pathetic, I should plan something.

27. How is the weather right now? Ummm...it's Logan...BLOODY COLD!

28. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My doc's nurse.

30. Favorite drink? H2O, & ice tea

31. Favorite restaurant? Tandoori Oven, I love really spicy Indian food!

32. Hair color? Light brown with more and more gray everyday. Oh, the trama!

33. What was your favorite toy as a child? My stuffed rabbit that my Great Aunt Ruth gave me for my 1st b-day. I still have it! Yes, that means my rabbit is celebrating the big 33 come April 16th.
34. Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter? Fall in Cache Valley, Spring in Southern Utah

35. Chocolate or vanilla? It depends, vanilla ice cream for sure.

36. Coffee or tea? Cold: Tea; Hot: Coffee

37. Wish you were still young? When was I young? I have no recollection of that.

38. Do you want your friends to email you back? Yeah, or post it on there blogs or fb

39. When was the last time you cried? Yet again it was at work a few weeks ago. Total and complete meltdown. I know nice impression at a new job right. Thank God K-Lo was my manager at the time. He's brilliant in dealing with Kins drama.

40. What is under your bed? A saucage cat also known as Canon.

41. What did you do last night? Slept, what else would I do at night?

42. What are you afraid of? People knocking on my door & not being understood.

43. Salty or sweet? Depends on my mood

44. Best quality you have? Even with all my personality quirks people usually like me probably because I genuinly find the other 8 billion folks that I share the Earth with to be interesting, & who doesn't like someone who is interested in you? It's also worth noting the fact that I'm just plain FABULOUS!

45. How many years at your current job? 3 WHOLE MONTHS! And loving every minute of it. Ok, that's a complete lie, but it is a great job.

46. Favorite day of the week? Saturday cause I don't have to do anything on that day if I don't want to. Doesn't get better then that.

47. How many people will you send this to? Everyone who reads my blog or clicks on the link on fb
48. How many will respond? I have no idea. I'm hoping many.

49. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Of course, I love learning about other folks. It reinforces my belief that normality should be measured using me as the baseline. :)

Half way

2010-02-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm half way through the 4 week assessment phase at work. The assessment phase determines if I get to keep my job or not. I have to pass on 3 different statistical numbers. As of yesterday.....

I'm passing in all areas! Yippee!

2010-02-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

So ya know how I was trying to sale my elliptical for $300? Well, no one liked that price so now I'm trying for $100. Let me know if you're interested. If I like you I might even cut you a deal. :)

The pic is not of my elliptical but mine looks exactly like this one.

I WORK FOR QWEST!

2010-02-06T07:56:00.001-07:00

High speed internet is a necessity these days. I know I couldn't live without my computer. Well actually I could, but I wouldn't be as happy & neither would you cause you wouldn't get to read my fabulous blog....

As most of you know I now work for Qwest Communications & I love it. I work on commission. If you're already a Qwest customer & need to make changes to your account or you're in the market for any of our products & really who isn't?

High speed internet
Land line phone & long distance
Direct TV
Verizon wireless

Please use me as a referral. It's easy! Rather then calling Qwest's regular customer service number dial.....I'm giving you time to pull out your cell phone to save this # in your phone book...........
Ok, ya ready? Dial:

1-866-8YOUCAN
OR
1-866-896-8226
&
GIVE MY CUID#
HKINS

It that easy to get great deals & help me pay my bills. The only thing you really need to remember is 1-866-8YOUCAN & HKINS. So easy!

My trying life....

2010-02-02T07:30:00.001-07:00

Tragic news: On Sunday at about noon a truly horrific thing happened...I ran out of ice tea!

Great news: I replenished my ice tea supply. I now have enough Lipton ice tea mix to make 14 gallons of ice tea! A life time supply? Probably not, but for sure I'll make it through the summer.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support & love through this trying time of mine. We all suffer in our own ways but it really helps to have support at times like this.

Food Inc.

2010-01-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Deb, Jesse, & I watched this documentary last night called "Food, Inc." I still can't stop thinking about it. I can't believe this is how our food is produced. You may not change the way you eat after watching it but at least you'll certainly be more educated. More importantly you'll be able to make an informed choice about what you're putting into your mouth.
If you have Netflix you can stream "Food Inc." or have it mailed to you. Let me you know what you think if you've seen it or decide to.

1st day.

2010-01-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the 1st day of the assessment phase or as we call it at Qwest "do or die phase." My performance over the next 4 weeks determines whether or not I get to keep my job. I have to average between $700-$1000 in sales every day (NSR) to pass training. Here's the good news. I pulled in $1400 yesterday. Great start!

I decided to include this pic of Canon cause he is a cutie patootie..

Life is good...

2010-01-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the update from recent events from the life of Kins:

I love the company I work for. My job at Qwest is incredibly hard as I'm not a born sales person, but I'm catching on & things are going ok. I'm still in the practice phase of my training which means my stats don't matter YET. The assessment phase which determines if I get to keep my job or not starts on Wednesday. The assessment phase is 20 days long. I have to sale on average at least $1000 in net sales revenue (NSR) per day to pass training. This might seem easy but it's not. Friday I only had a NSR of $400 & yesterday I had $1100. Send good vibes my way that I'll do well & I'll easily pass training. I really want to keep this job!
The best news about work is that if we pass training we get a new coach (supervisor). I was assigned to someone that I wasn't really stoked about having as my coach. I was actually really stressed about the whole situation for a couple of reasons. The response of EVERY person I told who my coach was going to be gave me the huge-deer-caught-in-the-head-light-eyes followed by an uncomfortable silence then finally they would say "you'll be fine." Very reassuring! Even folks on his team told me that he was a Nazi! Awesome! Well here is the good part. As of yesterday he no longer works for Qwest. I have no idea why but I am glad to say that I for sure will have a different coach after training. Yippee! I'm feeling very hopeful.
The best news is that since I now have health insurance I'm getting all of my neglected medical needs taken care of. This Saturday I actually have an appointment with an optometrist! I'm especially excited cause I know I need glasses. It's not a good sign when you can't read a stop sign until your right on top of it. Good thing I know what shape they are. :) Actually my drivers license has one of those pesky stipulations on it that I have to wear corrective lenses when driving. Course my present pair of glasses are scratched and broken. They have been for years. The prescription is so old, more then 5 years that I don't think they are actually useful so I don't wear them. Good thing I never speed.
I also have a physical scheduled for February 17th. Come to find out my doctor won't continue to prescribe my meds until I complete this physical. Nice! Course his office didn't inform me of this until AFTER I had been out of meds for a week and was in the "freaking out & crying for no reason at work stage!" Great impression to give at a new job. Don't worry I got a temporary prescription to last me until my physical in a couple of weeks. After all of this is done I'm going to get my dental needs caught up to date as it's also been about 5 years since I've seen the dentist as too.
All in all I'm feeling pretty healthy & optimistic about the future. I got my taxes done last weekend so I'll have funds to also get the Geo's heath up to par so I can get her registered in February. I'm also considering buying a new netbook so I can upload my pic with my fabulous new camera. Tires for the Geo are a priority but the draw of being able to browse Google Earth is very tempting. I absolutely LOVE maps and Google Earth is the ultimate map! Well see....

Religious device=BOMB!

2010-01-22T07:01:00.001-07:00

Frum (observant) Jewish teen mistaken for a terrorist! A TEFFILLIN BOMB! WHAT?
Click on the pic to read the article by CBS.

Meeting Holly

2010-01-01T10:02:00.001-07:00

The day after Christmas Megan, Brandon, & I met David's new girlfriend Holly!

( Holly & Me)

We met for breakfast at The Blue Plate in SLC.

(Megan being Megan)

Cute Holly!
She was even wearing purple! Of course I liked her the minute I saw this.

Holly modeling the ketchup & pepper.

Megan in all her glory & me laughing at her.

This was supposed to be the serious pic. Megan "almost" made it through the shot without pulling a face.

Ok, that's better. Good pic.

Holly & I sharing a "purple day."

Yes, us Tolman's are tall. Holly actually is average height.
Pretty girl!

After breakfast I rung David to let him know that I very much liked Holly! I like that she knows who she is and makes decisions about her life according to that. I'm possitive that she & David will help each other be the best people that they can be. They have the same values which is so important in a relationship. All in all I told David that I approve. She's a keeper. I hope she felt the same about us

I'm in business...almost!

2009-12-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have the BIGGEST & BEST NEWS! I have been propelled into the 21st century! Thanks to the huge generosity of my family I am now a proud owner of a very snazzy digital camera! I know! I was shocked & overwhelmed too! I've taken a lot of pics of my 3 favorite subjects Mo, Canon, & Daphney of course! They're oh sooo cute!
At this point you may be wondering "well, where are the pics?" Good questions. The reason you see no pics is because as myself & my camera are part of the 21st century my computer is not. I have Windows ME on my computer & come to find out my camera requires Windows XP. Oh, well. As with everything becoming tech savvy is a work in progress & I'm one step closer.
Don't get to discouraged cause I'm going to see if Deb with let me upload my pics onto her computer so ya'll can see them as I know you're all so anxious to.

Einstein logic puzzle

2009-12-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

At work this week we did this logic puzzle as an ice breaker. I thought it was fabulous so I decided to share it with all ya'll

Albert Einstein once posed a brain teaser that he predicted only 2% of the worlds population would be able to solve.

IMPORTANT FACTS:
1. There are 5 houses, painted in 5 different colors.
2. In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
3. These 5 owners drink a different beverage, smoke a different brand of cigarette, and keep a different pet.

NECESSARY CLUES:
1. The British man lives in a red house
2. The Swedish man keeps a dog
3. The Danish man drinks tea
4. The green house is next to, & on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Camel drinks beer
13. The German smokes Marlborough.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who drinks water.

The question is, who keeps the fish?

This is not a trick question - it is a genuine logic puzzle. Good luck!

Answer: http://www.begent.org/einstein.htm

Or scroll down

Here's the matrix: The German in the green house owns the fish!

1st House	2nd House	3rd House	4th House	5th House
Norwegian	Dane	Brit	German	Swede
Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Dunhill	Blend	Pallmall	Marlborough	Camel
Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Cats	Horses	Birds	Fish	Dog

Week 2 of new job at Qwest

2009-12-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the new job update. I'm still loving my new job, but of course who doesn't love training? We play games most of the day. It can't get more fun then that right? I'm in week 2 of an 11-13 week training period. To continue my job at Qwest I have to pass training. I mostly feel confident that I will, but every now & then I let worries about not passing slip into my mind, but I quickly chase them out. There are 21 people in my training class & I really like all of them. "All" really means 2 of them drive me absolutely nuts! I've decided to take this opportunity as a challenge to improve myself! I'm trying to be a better person by being more tolerant of people who annoy me & I'm trying very very hard to find positive things to focus on. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Life just keeps going...

2009-12-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in a really long time. I guess I haven't had much to say. Actually I feel like not a lot of interesting stuff has been happening. Of course how boring and mundane you think your life is at times it still keeps going. Here are a few highlights from my life as of late.

I quite my job at Call Assist! Yippee!! Actually that deserves a double YIPPEE! I quit Call Assist on Nov. 24th. Don't worry I have another job at Qwest. I start on Monday. I'm way excited. It's going to be a challenge cause it's very sales oriented & sales is not a strong skill of mine but I'm ready to make it a strong skill. The beauty part is that I only have to deal with one call at a time rather then 3! Brilliant!
In my week & half vacation I've mostly been chillaxin. I've watched many many Red Box movies & have been reading a lot. I discovered the beauty of ordering books on amazon.com. They have a great Jewish selection, much larger then you can find here in Mormonville. I ordered 4 Jewish fiction books from amazon. ALL 4 books only cost $1.07! Of course you have to pay shipping and handling which brought my grand total to $17.03! Funny huh? Ok, let's review: 4 books = $1.07 S&H = $15.96. Still a very good deal so I'm happy & a bit amused.
I spent Thanksgiving with family. The night before Thanksgiving I stayed at Deb & Jesse's house. It was so fun to play and bond with Mo. He might be the cutest baby ever. I bonded with him by reading to him and he bonded with my by expelling much bodily fluids onto my shirt. For sure I'm his favorite Auntie now, no question!
I ended up having 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year. I must mention that this year was my first Thanksgiving without actually eating turkey. I've recently converted to vegetarianism. I didn't miss the turkey but I did miss the nostalgia of it. Ok, I'll admit I did miss the turkey with ranch & the week of turkey sandwiches that follows Thanksgiving day.
The first dinner was with Jesse's family. They're fabulous! They're very loud, talkative, & there is many of them. The minute I walked in the door Jesse's grandpa said "make yourself at home." No prob, I was completely in my element with a bunch of almost crazy people laughing and talking all round me. There was a lot of teasing, laughing & a general feeling of welcomeness which is so much like my family. They were even ok with me spilling a large glass of water all over the beautifully decorated table before the dinner even started. Opps!
The second dinner I went to was at my Aunt Marda's house. The house was bulging with people. I would guess that about 30 people were there. Of course it was noted that the crowd was a bit "small" this year! The best part was when my cousin Jana not so nicely kicked me out of my seat at the table cause she wanted to sit across from her daughter! I thought she was joking at first when she told me to move, but oh no, she was serious. It was quite funny. I'm hoping to bring it up in following years to make her feel "guilty" about being rude. :)
I do have exciting news. Deb & Jesse are moving to Logan in 2 weeks! They have already found a cute house. It is even cheap and close to campus. The best part for me is that it has a stoop & a small porch! Can't you just picture me sitting on the stoop holding a glass of wine, laughing and carrying on in all my glory! I can't wait. I'm so excited to have them close. I can't wait until they actually get here.
I'm finally getting over my cold but my ears hurt like mad! It's mostly my right ear but my left does hurt sometimes too. I've tried to see the doctor a couple of times but they can't fit me in. They keep telling me to go to insti-care but I can't afford that. Grrr! I'm a bit worried that my ear drum will rupture or something horrendous like that will happen. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
One last thing. Poor Canon & Daphney have been trapped in the house for about a month. This isn't from the cold weather but from the 2 huge black dogs that my upstairs neighbors have. Poor little shuges. My apartment is just way to small to be stuck here all the time.

The good & the bad.

2009-11-13T03:26:00.000-07:00

The Bad: I've been sick for 4 weeks! I know it seems like forever & it feels that way too. Trouble is I don't seem to be getting better. I tried to go to the doctor 2 days ago, but couldn't get in on account my doc has been deployed (he's in the military) & the clinic doesn't have anyone taking his appointments. Awesome! Perfect timing with flu season & all. The clinic suggested that I visit the Insticare. I went over there & found out that they needed $80 just to see me & there appointments start at $120. Fabulous, since I don't have insurance & I'm currently trying to pay off $700 in medical bills already. I decided to just go home and suffer it out. Hopefully I'll start feeling better soon.
The Good: On the bright side I got a new job at Qwest. I start December 7th. I'm so excited as I've been unhappy with my job at Call Assist for quite some time now. Qwest has a set hourly pay so I can count on a certain amount for my paychecks! This will relieve so much stress for me. Just knowing that my check is going to be "somewhere between" $300 & $800 isn't cohesive to successful financial planning. It's way to much stress not being able to pay my bill even WITH a full time job! The best part is that Qwest even has reasonably priced health insurance ($36 per month) that I will qualify for after just 30 days! I hope I succeed at this new job. It's hard to leave what you know, but I feel really positive & excited about this new opportunity.

Finally....

2009-11-02T16:30:00.001-07:00

They're finally here! What you've all been waiting for....
PICS OF MOSES CLLOYD LAGRANDE STEVENS!

He was born on October 5th, 2009
7 lbs 11 oz & 19 inches long

On Oct. 24th, 2009 Deb, Jesse, & Mo came to Logan to visit me. We went to breakfast & then we went to Harri's house for a visit. Harri's daughter Sharri let me use her camera to get some pics of Mo to post for all ya'll.

Isn't he CUTE!

The above pic is Mo after taking nearly an hour to drink 3 oz. of milk! Can't you just see the "I'm done" expression on his face?

Above is Deb & Mo. Cassee, Harri's oldest daughter is making a cameo.

This is a cute pic of Mo, Shari, & Riley. Riley is Shari's son. He's just one month older them Mo. I'm so amazed at what just 1 month makes. Mo still looks like a new born but Riley looks almost like a little man...almost. ;)

Mo's foot. If I have anything to do with it Mo will never put socks on dirty feet! SICK!!

Mo with his tongue out.

Normal range!

2009-10-21T03:51:00.001-06:00

I've been having weird cravings lately & since Deb is no longer pregnant I can't blame it on her anymore. I've been craving spice, citrus, & vinegar so much that I've cause sores in my mouth. I guess one shouldn't eat an entire jar of peperoncinies in one sitting huh? Course my brilliant cousin Dr. Megan did bring up the fact that I am a Tolman. We tend to have vinegar in our blood not to mention the fact that I am my mother's daughter. She has been known to eat an entire jar of hot peppers on many occasions. Regardless of all of this I decided to mention my craving to my doc & he decided it was time to find out if I'm diabetic. I got the results of the blood work back yesterday & my blood sugar levels are in "normal range." Yippee!! I'm not diabetic. That is great news. Now if we could only get my blood pressure down....

Changes

2009-10-11T06:21:00.000-06:00

I'm a firm believer in that all things happen for a reason. No matter how big or small, important or unimportant they may seem on the surface there is always something to be learned.

Not important...

2009-10-06T11:21:00.000-06:00

I love this quote! It expresses how I feel at this moment so well...

"Two tears in a bucket, mother fuck it"-The Lady Chablis from the movie "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil"

I thought I would be in SLC bonding with Mo after his birth, but I have been informed that I am not important so I will change the cat litter instead. And yes, I know I'm whining & being immature, but that is about all I can manage to do at this moment.

My Great Uncle Art

2009-10-06T10:59:00.000-06:00

Sunday morning my grandma's brother Arthur Hartvigsen "graduated," (as his little sister my Aunt Marda would put it.) Death is always sad for those left behind, but I can't help think of the joyous reunion that took place when Uncle Art finally got to go home. I know that his wife, Aunt Norma, his parents, my grandma & many many others where there to welcome him. My thoughts and prays are with his all those left behind.

You can read his obituary at: http://ads.heraldextra.com/articles/2009/10/06/obituaries/349571.txt

She didn't call...

2009-10-05T22:38:00.000-06:00

Actually Deb did call just now to let me know that Moses was born this afternoon at 3:41 p.m. He weighs 7 lbs 11 oz, 19 inches long, & has dark hair like his mom. I guess a second birth partner wasn't needed after all. As far as I know the whole family is doing fine. Congrats Deb, Jesse, & Mo!

Waiting for Mo.....

2009-09-28T03:57:00.001-06:00

Waiting for Moses Clloyd LaGrande Stevens:

He is due October 11th so all that we know is that he certainly WON'T be coming on that day! As the day approaches I've had to do a few things to prepare.

Deb & I have agreed that she will ring me to let me know that I must start driving south when her contractions have become a bit regular but are still far apart. This is a good plan cause I anticipate it will take me about 3 hours to get to Deb & Jesse's house considering all the variables of packing, traffic & who knows what.
I've made sure that Deb has multiple #'s to reach me at.
I have a list of things I have to do once I get the call: Pack, get gas, & remember to drive safely!
I put in my time off request from work months ago.
I found someone to feed Canon & Daphney while I'm away. Thanks Sammie.
I've tried to prepare by reading many books about how to be the best birth partner that I can be.
Try to keep up on my wash & house cleaning for the next two weeks so I have enough clean cloths & Sammie can find her way into my apartment without inflicting too much physical or psychological pain on her. Side note on this one: I still have to do my wash & clean my apartment. :) I'm banking on the hope that Mo won't come today.
I still don't have a camera but I don't think I'll be able to get one before Mo comes so I guess I can cross this one off. :( Plus I still don't know if I can upload pic onto my computer. I keep forgetting to ask the Geeks I know (Andy, Matthew, & Tommy). If any of the wifes of these geeks read this tell your husband to ring me please.
And now we wait................

What do you think?

2009-09-23T17:10:00.000-06:00

As everyone knows who knows me I don't have TV. The beauty part is that actually isn't true at all. Thanks to the very generous Melissa & Andy Spencer I do have a TV. They also gave me the very computer that I type all of my wonderful blog posts on. Without the Spencers the world would never have discovered how fabulous my life is. "Fabulous" can also be read as "boring," just for clarification purposes.

Anyway, back to the TV. I do have a TV, it's just not connected to any television providing source. Don't fret, the TV is connected to a VCR & until last weekend a DVD player. I don't watch a lot of movies on a regular basis but on occasion I enjoy a crazy movie marathon such as the one I had this weekend. These movie marathons happen once every 2 or 3 months-ish. This weekend I watched 6.5 movies. I say 6.5 cause I didn't get to finish the last movie. My DVD player has had issues for along time. It's main issue was freezing during a film. While this was very annoying I usually could get it to stop freezing long enough to finish a movie most of the time. All well & fine in my book until this last weekend when it decided it had played it's last dvd.

Now I'm left with a huge decision: Should I buy a new DVD player? I don't anticipate that I will be in a movie marathon mood again for quite some time but it's nice to know that I can watch a movie if I want to. Now I don't even have the option.
I've scoped out DVD player online & in the weekly adds. It looks like DVD players are going for around $30 these days. My dilemma is that $30 is a fair amount of money to me & watching a movie is not a necessity one can't live without. So I ask all my faithful blog followers. Should I buy a new DVD player now or wait until I feel another movie marathon coming on? Grrr....I'm so not good with such decisions. What do you think?

Hurting.....

2009-09-22T12:01:00.000-06:00

The hardest thing that I have ever had to do is watch those I love hurt.

My brother is an introvert and has a bit of a hard time communicating & asking for help. This morning I discovered that he had posted 2 videos on youtube as a way to communicate. What he couldn't say to us, his family, he was able to say to a camera. I am thankful that David was able to find this venue to reach out and ask for help.
I just wish I didn't feel so helpless & could fix the hurt.....

Parties!

2009-09-19T12:40:00.000-06:00

I've been waiting all week for this day to get here & it's finally here! It's a big day filled with 3 different parties.

The 1st one is at 3 p.m. today. It's a bridal shower for my friend and co-worker Amanda. She is getting married on October 3rd & we are showering her with gifts at the Olive Garden today. Yippee.
The 2nd is a company work party. Call Assist is actually doing something nice for us. Surprise! They've hired the Pauni Catering to cater a luau. This party is at 5 p.m. at Willow Park so I plan to only order salad at the Olive Garden...hey ya can't beat free food! You may recognize the Pauni name cause they were a recipient of an extreme makeover on their home a few years back on the popular show "Extreme Home Makeover."
The 3rd & final party is tonight at 9 p.m. It's a bachelorette party for Amanda at the Eagles Club. I may or may not attend this one. We'll see.

Gotta run & start getting ready. Fun times ahead. :)

I could never kill a cow.

2009-09-09T17:47:00.000-06:00

"Downed Cow: This story will change your life."

Deb has been considering becoming vegetarian for a bit & told me tonight that she has officially decided to. The turning point for her was a story that she read in a PETA catalog while she and Jesse where dinning at a vegan restaurant in SLC. She shared the story with me & I found the article on line. I read the article and am completely horrified & very saddened. I've made a personal decision to follow a new rule as to what I will eat. My new guide line is: If I could kill the animal myself then I will eat it. I've already cleaned out my pantry of all food containing meat. I had a grand total of 6 cans of different soups & stews. I marched the 6 cans upstairs and gave them to my neighbors.
I've also taken the PETA pledge to explore vegetarianism for at least 30 days. You can take this pledge at the PETA website under "30 Day Veg Pledge" if you're interested. I feel really good about this decision & I'll let ya'll know how this life change goes.
If you're interested in the article the title "Downed Cow" & the picture are links so just click on them.

Life right now....

2009-09-06T05:04:00.001-06:00

First of all thank you Jenny, Melissa, Abbie, & Deb for commenting on my last post. It really means a lot that people care. I think it's important to not just care but find ways to show that you care too. Even a silly little comment on a blog can do that. Thank you!

I haven't been writing lately cause I've been in this weird funk. My job is entirely to stressful & I've grown to desperately hate it. Unfortunately this negativity is seeping into other areas of my life. I've been wavering between complete apathy & being depressed most of the time. Truth is I probably need my meds adjusted. Don't worry I have an appointment with my doctor on the 15th of this month. Let's hope he & I can figure something out. Since I've been having a ruff go of it lately I just haven't had the desire to write. I don't like being negative & hating everything. I certainly don't think I need to share this attitude with the world so I've started writing in my journal a bit. I've also tried to make a conscious effort to focus on the good things in my life which there are many. I've actually made a list of these good things. Here's a bit of what I've come up with and am calling my "positive thinking" list:

I have survived the half dozen lay offs my job has done this year & I still have a job.
Any job is better then no job in this economy.
I have a place to live.
I have electricity & water in my place to live.
I can pay my bills and still have a bit left over to buy a thing or two that I want.
My car is the SHIT! Rust and all. Gotta love the Geo! It looks like hell, but I own it out right and it just keeps going and going.
Canon & Daphney make me happy.
I found a wine that I like. That's actually not entirely true cause Jesse found it for me. I've always wanted to like wine & now I have a favorite, "Wild Vines" strawberry.
I have one person in my life that I know for certain loves me unconditionally & I never thought that that was possible.
I'm going to be an Auntie very shortly.
I finished reading the Torah (only the Five Books of Moses) 2 days ago & I completely understand it.
Everything I've learned about Judaism I love. It speaks to my soul somehow & I yearn to learn more.
I am still having new experiences and leaning new things daily. For example I had Indian food for the first time recently & am now a devoted fan. I believe new experiences are an essential part of life.

As you can read I have an abundance of positive things going on in my life & I am very thankful for each of them. I truly believe that whatever energy you put into the universe will come back to you, so I'm trying to focus on the positive and send that good energy out. Trouble is even with all my effort I've still been a bit depressed and stuck on the negative things lately. I'm trying very hard to fight this, but as everyone knows life is HARD & sometimes it just weighs you down. So far the best I can do is just be apathetic about most things & take one day at a time.

No comments...

2009-08-21T04:34:00.000-06:00

No one comments on my blog anymore. So, as I'm feeling a bit apathetic about life in general I don't think I'm going to keep my blog up any longer. There's really no reason for me to write if no one reads it.

Phone etiquette in my utopia!

2009-08-14T03:28:00.000-06:00

You will not believe what happen this morning at 2:13 a.m. My phone rang! I know you're thinking "it must have been an emergency." I was thinking "why so early" as I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that a phone call is an invitation to talk NOT a demand. If you've ever tried to call me you know that I rarely answer my phone. Of course I'm not heartless or unaware that there are sometimes when one really needs the person on the other end to answer NOW so I follow a simple rule to deal with such situations. If you ring and I don't answer ring back straight away & I will answer. In my world 2 consecutive calls means someone is bleeding, crying, or walking down the road completely drunk and only dressed in slippers (I have Harri to thank for that memory).
So this morning when I got the call at 2:13 a.m. I of course did not answer, but when I got another call at 2:15 a.m. I did as this was a clear SOS call. You will never guess who was calling me at such an hour, so I'll just tell you....Anthony! I know you're thinking who is Anthony? Anthony is a guy from my past. He was one of my random hookups from my whoring stage last year! I know, right! Why would he be calling me and what emergency could he need my help with? My first question when I answered was "are you in trouble?" To my annoyance & very little relief he just wanted to talk! Apparently he thought that 2 in the morning was the perfect time for warm fuzzy conversation! I think not! Don't worry I informed him of my phone etiquette rules. Hopefully he will follow them from now on. Of course now that you know you must follow them as well. :) Now if I could only get the rest of the other 8 billion individuals on this planet to get in line with my phone etiquette philosophy I believe the world would be a much happier place. Just in case my phone etiquette rule is unclear here is a recap for you:

*A phone call is an invitation to talk NOT a demand! If it's an emergency ring twice, one call shortly after the other. If there is no emergency wait for me to return your call with my own invitation to talk, which of course you don't have to accept.*

Ohh the pain!

2009-07-24T20:47:00.000-06:00

I spent this morning in the ER. Ok, don't panic! It wasn't anything hugely dramatic just EXTREMELY painful! Wednesday night my lower back went into spasm causing sciatic nerve pain. For all of you wanting to know but not wanting first hand knowledge, let me tell you... sciatic nerve pain is the WORST PAIN that I have ever felt. It's the kind of breath stopping, black out causing pain that no one should ever feel! Lucky me I've had this pain a few times before. I had it the most severely back in 2003. That time I made the trip to the ER in an ambulance cause I could not move at all. This time I knew what was up and could move a bit, albeit slowly so I drove myself to the ER. After they loaded me up with a muscle relaxer, steroid, & a narcotic they sent me on my way. Harri came to the ER to drive me home. I didn't faint this trip and I no longer am having to remind myself to breath. Progress!
As I mentioned this pain tends to cause you to stop breathing when it is at it's most severe. As I'm sure you know not breathing causes oxygen deficiency to the brain witch is never a good thing. I actually fainted from the pain in 2003. In retrospect it is kind of a funny story. I lived with my friend Adrienne at the time. She was the one with me at the ER that trip. After many hours spent in the hospital bed I had to go to the restroom really really bad. Being a good friend Adrienne tried to assist me in this task. The whole task was quite a trial for both Adrienne & I & not very successful. With much effort I was able to get myself onto the toilet but not off of it! With Adrienne's help I managed to get up just enough to cause excruciating pain to radiate through what felt like my entire body. The next thing I knew I was on the tile floor dripping wet. I had fainted and collapsed to the ground during my attempt to become vertical. The wetness was from Adrienne pouring water on my face in an effort to wake me up. When I was coherent enough to realize what had happened all I can remember thinking was "Fuck, now I have to try to stand up from the GROUND!" I couldn't so I eventually crawled back to my bed.
Back to 2009...I'm doing much better now. I still hurt but at least I can wipe myself now without assistance, and of course in a situation like this unassisted bathroom trips is the true measurement of success!!
Thank God I've been blessed with a high tolerance to pain. :)

My Auntie Shower...

2009-07-22T17:11:00.000-06:00

My Auntie shower is almost here! Ok, really it's Deb & Mo's baby shower but since I'm in charge I fully plan on being the star of the party! I mean really who else would be center of attention if not ME! I've been handwriting the invitations for the last few hours. They're taking a bit longer to complete then I anticipated. It's on August 22nd at 2p.m. in Salt Lake City. We're inviting friends to this shower cause Deb's family is having a separate family shower on the August 15th. Trouble is Deb is a bit of a hermit so she doesn't have a village of friends to invite, so the guest list is mostly MY family. :) It really is an "Auntie Shower!" Of course my family is fabulous so it will for sure be a good time even if it's just Deb, Megan, & me.

Yummy recipe:

2009-07-16T15:14:00.000-06:00

Here it is! The recipe you've all been asking for. Ok, just 2 people have asked for it, but that is a pretty big fan club for someone who doesn't cook! The following is the recipe for the tasty dessert salad that I made for the Hartvigsen family reunion. The very salad that I'm modeling to the right.

~Delish Dessert Salad~
1: 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1: 12 oz tub frozen whipped topping
1: 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1: 21 oz can cherry pie filling
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
3 large bananas sliced

*In a large bowl combine milk & whipped topping, mix till well blended. Fold in pie filling, bananas, pineapple, & nuts.

Easy, easy & so tasty. Let me know if you try it. :)

My summer vacation 2009!

2009-07-13T10:07:00.001-06:00

Here it is! The post you've all been waiting for! Real non-camera phone pics of my fabulous weekend summer vacation. Don't get so excited that you're hyperventilating. Just channel all of that energy into fabulous comments. Enjoy!

I went to SLC Friday night, July 10th, so I could go to the yearly Hartvigsen Family Reunion early Saturday morning.

This is Deb & I before I heading to the reunion. I like to call this pic "bosom buddies" for obvious reasons. If it's not obvious to you then....mmm not sure what to tell ya about that one. :)

HARTVIGSEN FAMILY REUNION 2009

(Lion's pavilion)
My grandma Margaret Mina Hartvigsen Toman was 1 of 15 children. The decedents of those 15 children have a reunion every year in Utah up Springville Canyon at Kelly's Grove. This year it was at the Lion's pavilion. I've gone to this family reunion nearly every year of my life. Growing up we never had funds to go on extravagant family vacations so the reunion was our summer vacation every year. It was a huge deal to me. Something I looked forward to every summer. I recall making my list each year of things I needed to take in June! The reunion is usually held the second weekend of July each year! I still look forward to it just as much now, although I don't make a packing list a month in advance any longer! Over the years I became close to a few cousin in particular & look forward to seeing each of them every year. I tried to get pics of most of the folks on the favorite cousin list. Ok, now that I'm thinking about it I missed a lot of people but the memory card was full.

On Saturday we have a pot-luck lunch. Mmm my favorite!! This year I brought a yummy desert salad! It was a big hit with us Tolman's but not a lot of the other folks were brave enough to try it. Oh, well at least I like it. Delish!

This is my 1st cousin Tommy (Tom-Tom) & his way-to-cute son Carter.

My 1st cousin Emily but I've called you Em as long as I can remember & her darling daughter Maleah. Maleah was a huge fan of the salad I brought! At least I have one fan that appreciated my silly attempt at cooking!

This is my mom's 1st cousin Kristy, my Great Aunt Marda's daughter. I've always thought that Marda's daughters were the epitome of "beautiful." Isn't Kristy just gorgous? Exactly! Plus she has the funnest personality & the most amazing memory! Hmm, I'm just a bit jealous.

My Grandma's sister, my Great Aunt Shirley! This year she ended up finding out that I'm no longer a member of the Mormon church & she was totally fine with it. Gotta love people who love you no matter what! I wish everyone could be more like Aunt Shirly.

I asked Em to take this pic of me and my 2nd cousin Jason. In preparation of this pic Jason told Em to count to 3 and then take the pic. This is the moment that I realized Jason's big plan....

of getting rid of the pie in his hand by depositing it on my FACE! Yeah, I don't think so Jason!

This is after he promised to be nice.

My 2nd cousin Abbie & me. We're the same age and we've always been pretty close. Her and her husband Jeff are some of the funniest people I know! She used to blame me for her kids cause I would tell her that she was going to get pregnant & then she would! After this amazing psychic ability of mine worked with her 1st 2 children she told me I had to keep my pregnancy predictions to myself. Interestingly enough she still ended up with 2 more kids with NO help from me.

My 1st cousin Megan and her nephew Carter. Megan & I are super close so there are just way to many stories to tell you about her. To many to choose from. She is a pharmacist so she is my go-to person for anything medical. Thanks Megan!

Jenny, my 1st cousin Tommy's wife & Carter's mom. I've gotten to know Jenny quite a bit over the last year. I just love her. I'm so glad she is my cousin. She is a genius on holistic & alternative health care. It's so fun to talk to her about Deb's pregnancy since Deb really wants a no drug birth.

Tommy, Jenny, & Carter. Aren't we Tolman's just cute!

Sandi (left), Lindsy (right)

After pot-luck there is usually some sort of craft for the children to make if they're interested. Of course being the crafty person that I am I usually end up at the craft table for a bit. This year everyone was making bead necklaces and bracelets. As I was making mine I was visiting with my 2nd cousin Lindsy & getting to know her new sister-in-law Sandi. At one point Sandi set her beverage down on the table and immediately proceeded to dump the entire contents of her cup on both she and I. Funny! Even funnier was when she said there was a little "sommin sommin" in her drink. Of course I said "where is the bottle of this "sommin sommin", hook me up!" Lindsy, Sandi, & I then went and had our own version of a family reunion in Aunt Shirley's camper. Good times! Course it was amazingly hard for me to try to "act" sober after that as I'm such a light weight when it comes to alcohol. This whole situation created some great laughs and now is one of my fondest family reunion memories: "Remember that time Sandi and I got completely smashed and tried to pretend we weren't! Fun times!!" I guess I did a pretty ok job at acting sober, cause even Megan who knows me the best and has seen me drunk had no idea that I had 3 shots of vodka on board until I told her later. :)
Thanks Deb for letting me borrow your camera!

This post has inspired me to start a charity. I'm calling it:

"HELP HETH GET A REAL CAMERA FUND"

All donations can be sent directly to me. Hey, it's such a worthy cause. :)

Family....

2009-07-10T04:01:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited cause today is the first day of my summer vacation. After working for about 5 hours this morning I'm heading south to play with the people I love. Tomorrow is the Hartivigsen family reunion! Of course the rest of the weekend I'll be hanging out with Deb, Jesse, & Moe. Fun times ahead! I can't wait!

Don't worry, I'll post a big exciting post about my adventures on Monday.

Happy Birthday!

2009-07-04T09:27:00.000-06:00

Today is July 4th. Most people think of it as Independence Day, but I think of it as my little brother David's birthday. Today he is 30! Wow...that make me freaking OLD! Isn't it just so lovely that the entire nation celebrates David's birthday with fabulous firework shows? How altruistic of an entire nation. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!!

Pregnant!

2009-06-29T04:39:00.000-06:00

No, not me but it seems everyone I know is pregnant! The "prego club" currently includes:

Deb (best friend & sister)
Jaylene (her parent's took me in my last year of high school)
Shealyn (Jaylene's little sis)
Candle (1st cousin)
Shari (Harri's daughter)
Becky (Harri's sister)
Jody (co-worker)

Of course there have been many who recently lost their membership to the "prego club" only to be promoted to the "baby club."

My sausage

2009-06-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

Here is a cute pic of Canon from this morning. I was getting ready for work. Daphney & Canon were on my bed grooming themselves. As you can see Canon was laying on his back trying to clean his belly. I grabbed my camera phone. I tried to get a pic of him while he was grooming himself but that wasn't working so said "Canon look at Momma." This is what I got. He's such a poser! :) When I put my phone down he immediately went back to licking himself. Funny baby boy!

I'm freaking out just a little bit...

2009-06-27T12:49:00.000-06:00

You will never guess what I just discovered! Ok, I'll tell you all about it.....wait for it.... ok I found the BEST HARD WATER AND SOAP SCUM REMOVER. Alright first of all you must know that I haven't cleaned my shower in, oh about the entire 4 years that I have lived in "the shoebox" studio apartment that I currently live in. Shhh! Don't tell my land lord. She's a clean freak. But seriously I had very built up hard water and soap scum covering my entire shower. I decided to tackle the situation the other day. I sprayed a thick layer of 409 cleaning solution all over my shower and let it sit for like an hour. Whipped it off but under all the cleaner the gray soap scum and hard water remained! I then looked online to see what tips I could find. I found many people suggesting using vinegar. One online person suggested using vinegar with regular dish soap mixed in a spray bottle. The dish soap helps the vinegar stay on vertical surfaces. I decided to give it a go. I bought a spray bottle for $.97, a gallon of vinegar for $2.47, and used my regular el-cheapo Ajax dish soap. I sprayed down my shower and let it sit for 10ish minutes. Went back with regular sponge in hand and starting wiping. Guess what!! Everything just wiped away, soap scum, hard water and all! So easy & so cheap. No elbow grease needed!

Sad day!

2009-06-24T15:43:00.001-06:00

Something sad happened today. My friend and co-worker Harri quit working at Call Assist. As you might imagine I'm all torn up about this. I will miss sitting next to her for 8 hours a day. She quit because she got a better job with benefits and higher pay at Cache Country Carpets. She has worked there previously so she knows she loves the job. Of course I am happy for Harri cause she truly HATED working at Call Assist but I will sure miss her terribly. I'm a bit envious that she never has to worry about "phone time" again! Good luck Harri!

*Harri, if you read this don't think you're getting rid of me entirely. I still know where you live & I plan on chillaxin a bunch at your house. Don't forget to let me know when Clay makes something fab for dinner...I can be there in less then 5 minutes!*

Canon & Daphney's new pet

2009-06-18T16:29:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Chris sent me home with one of the beautiful flower arrangements from Cori's weeding. The flowers were in a 2 gallon glass square vase. As flowers tend to do they started to wilt. This prompted me to wonder what should I do with the vase? I had a brilliant I idea.....

I got a pet for Canon & Daphney.....a betta fish.

He's red and seems happy with black rocks and white plastic foliage as his new home. Of course he looks fab as well. Canon & Daph don't seem too interested in him thus far. Of course this may be a good thing. Now I just have to think of a fun name for him. Any suggestions?

Ellsworth & Nelson rehearsal dinner

2009-06-13T08:16:00.000-06:00

Back in 1998 when I went to Dixie I became friends with this fabulous boy Erik Ellsworth. Wow, I can't believe it's been 11 years!
*Erik at family rehearsal dinner, after a few beers.*

Since 1998 his family has become my family. I'm so loved. :)
Today his little sis Cori is getting married to Brandon Nelson.

*Cori at family rehearsal dinner working on a beer.*

Thursday night Chris (the Mom) called me and left a message that I was welcome and expected to be at all the family wedding stuff! Yippee for that. Now I just have to figure out how I can be in charge. :) Last night was the family rehearsal dinner. I spent the evening in Honeyville at the Ellsworth home wrapping 100 sets of plastic knives, forks & spoons into napkins, & tying pretty lavender ribbon around each one. Fun stuff!

Most importantly I got to bond with Chris and Kari's sisters & Kari's Mom. Kari's Mom decided it was her job to turn me into a smoker. She's this 70 year old eccentric lady who kept offering me cigarettes. So funny! Of course all the family are truly fabulous!

Today is the big wedding day....must get ready!

Feeling a little crafty

2009-05-30T17:17:00.000-06:00

I got this crazy idea yesterday that I wanted to MAKE things for Mo. First of all you must know that I don't make anything! I like crafts & usually catch on pretty fast, but I just don't have that drive like some right brained people do to create all the time. I don't consider myself crafty or creative, but I can pretend right?
I decided I wanted to make burp rags for Mo. I looked online for an easy stitch that I could sew by hand as I don't have a sewing machine. I discovered the "blanket stitch." I watched a You Tube video, found a snazzy tutorial on a craft blog, bought the needed items, & am now on my way to sewing cute things for Mo to expel bodily fluids onto!

Adoption

2009-05-25T04:20:00.000-06:00

My cousin Emily and her husband Rex are wanting to adopt. If you know of anyone who wants to place a baby please let them know about Em & Rex's site. To see their site click here or on their pic.

Busy

2009-05-24T11:52:00.000-06:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post recently. I've been consumed with reading 2 books about the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints) folks that live above me.
Scary stuff but very interesting. I recommend both books. "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop & "Church of Lies" by Flora Jessop. If you want to borrow them from me I'd be more then happy to send them to you.
Anyway, I've posted 4 post this morning about what has been going on in my life recently. Each one is riveting and worth reading...I'm sure. :) I hate it when people post more then one post at a time cause it's just so much to read but please scope out my posts and leave messages. Love the messages!!

eBay opps!

2009-05-24T11:35:00.000-06:00

So as you know if you follow my blog I'm going to be an auntie to Deb & Jesse's baby Mo. Because of this I've turned into this crazy baby obsessed person. Don't worry I still don't want children myself....I'm not THAT crazy!
I've been scoping out baby stuff online, & yesterday morning I decided to scope out eBay. I've never really looked on eBay before. I found some way cute stuff so I decided to set up an account and bid on a few things. What's the harm...for sure I'll get out bid right?
WRONG! I bid $76.00 on the 4 in 1 crib in the pic & won! Trouble is I didn't really want to win it! If you know anything about cribs you know that $76.00 is a steal of a deal for a brand new 4 in 1 crib. They normally run from $250.00 to $450.00. Trouble is, & I didn't know this before bidding, the shipping and handling is $99.00! OPPS! BIG OPPS! I get paid on the 5th and would have had the $ then but not now. Hopefully my landlord won't cash my rent check straight away. Opps!! Well, the crib should be in my storage unit within 2 weeks just waiting for Mo to get here...in OCTOBER!

Playing in SLC

2009-05-24T11:20:00.001-06:00

After I went to my cousin Megan's wedding the weekend of May 15th-17th I headed to play with Deb & Jesse.This was the first time I had seen Deb since she found out that her and Jesse are having a boy. Of course we went baby boy shopping like mad! My cousin Emily told me of a fabulous store called Kid to Kid. It's my new favorite store! I bought Mo a slightly used car seat for a mere $25.00 & of course I bought him a whole bunch of darling cloths! So much fun!

This is a pic of Deb, Mo, & Jesse after we had a delish breakfast at The Olympian Restaurant, our favorite dinner in SLC.

On our shopping spree I had to introduce Deb to the Old Navy flip flop. I think I converted her! I'm pretty sure she is a life long fan now!

Tolman & Evens

2009-05-24T11:10:00.000-06:00

On May 15, 2009 my favorite baby cousin Megan Tolman married Brandon Evens!I don't have any pics of the happy occasion due to the fact that I don't have a camera but I managed to steal these 2 pics off facebook.

This is a pic of some of my extended family at the Bountiful Temple right after the wedding. I was late so that is why you can't find me in this pic. This is most of my Uncle Larry's & all of my Uncle Tom's families.

The reception was beautiful...wish I had some pics. Once Megan gets around to posting some on facebook I'll steal some and post them here.

It's a.............

2009-05-11T15:24:00.000-06:00

This just in: Deb and Jesse are having a baby......

A boy...it's a boy...it's a boy...it's a boy!

A little taste of the South

2009-05-08T16:17:00.001-06:00

I hate vending machines! I'm of the opinion that vending machines are just filled with over priced junk! Because of this belief I try not to purchase snacks out of the 2 vending machines at my work except in extreme emergencies or great moments of weakness. One of these moments occurred a few weeks ago. While I was in the work break room I noticed that the vending machine contained a new & different type of potato chip. A chip brand and flavor that I had never ever seen before. The new chip was Zapp's potato chips "Spicy Creole Tomato" flavor with "Tabasco." Gross huh? Yeah, that was my first thought too, but I went against my good judgment and decided to give them a try. I bought some & was even brave enough to bust the bag open. Let me tell you...I'm so glad I did cause they were the most fantastically flavored potato chips I have ever had. I'm not kidding! I liked them so much I bought another bag. While I was enjoying my new snack I was smart enough to write down the website on the back of the package. After work I came home and did some investigation of where this taste explosion came from. Not surprisingly Zapp's potato chips hale from Louisiana. Authentic Southern Cajun flavor! I was was even more pleased to learn that they have many tasty flavors that they will ship anywhere in the continental US. The best part is that Zapp's is quite reasonably priced. I bought 8 bags for $24 including shipping & handling. That's only $3 a bag for flavors like "Voodoo Gumbo," "Spicy Cajun Crawtators," & " Cajun Dill Gator-Tators." I love trying new things & I'm even more excited when I find something fabulous and worth telling everyone about. If you're feeling a bit southern order yourself some Zapp's chips. I reckon you'll be glad ya did! I give them the official Kins stamp of approval....DELISH!!

Find Zapp's at www.zapps.com or by clicking on the word "Zapp's" in this post.

Poor Baby D

2009-05-03T12:04:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've been told that my fans are anxiously awaiting an update on my "exciting" life. Well here's a story for ya'll.....
It's all about my little boy Daphney:

Friday morning I was standing naked in front of my shower waiting for the H20 to get warm when I heard the most horrid, deep male voice grunting behind me. Of course I was terrified that someone was in my apartment & had found me in my birthday suit. I turned round in a startle and only found Daph behind me. How can such a little body make such a horrid noise? I'm not sure, but he sure was. I guess he was unsuccessfully trying to vomit. I wasn't too worried cause on occasion he has been known to have stomach issues after eating to many treats or something of the like. Anyway, I was relieved that I wasn't being attacked, asked Daph if he was ok and proceeded to take my shower. Daphney left the bathroom so I thought everything was ok. When I got out of the shower I found Daph on my bed curled up & "acting funny." I'm not sure how to describe how I knew he as "acting funny." Just that I did cause I know my boys. As I was running late for work I asked Daph again if he was ok, resulting in a sad look from Daph, & I headed to work.

When I got home from work Daph was still in the same place as he had been 8 hours earlier. While this may be normal for Canon it is not normal for Daph. The thing that really made me worry is that he didn't even get up at all for his after work treat which he loves. I decided to inspect him for any wounds from a cat fight. I found what looked like to me a hurt whisker on his right paw. It looked like a white hair that had been curled and had split ends. When I tugged on it Daph cried out in pain. I also found a small cut in the same area. I put hydrogen peroxide on the wound and hoped he would be ok.

The next morning Daphney was still not acting himself. I wasn't sure what to do. I had to work so while at work I asked by friend and fellow cat owner and cat lover Melissa Whipple what she thought. She said she had a bad feeling about D and I should take him to the vet. Course I hesitated cause I have no funds for such things, but I decided to ring the vet and see if they had any advice they could offer over the phone. The lady on the phone said, "well you should really bring him in. Can you be here in 10 minutes?" I was at that very moment in my car parked in the parking lot of my work. I said, "yeah." I drove like mad home, barged into my apartment, grabbed the animal carrier, threw Daph in it, & then drove like mad to the vet, & yes I made it in the required 10 minutes."

You must know that Dapheny hates the vet with every cell in his body. He spent a few days on dialysis a few years back at the vet because of complete kidney failure. It was the worse and most complete kidney failure that the vet had ever seen but as Daph is a miracle kitty and a fighter so miraculously he lived. As a result of this experience every subsequent vet visit is a bit traumatic for both Daph and I alike.

When we got to the vet the tech asked if I could take him out of the carrier to weight him. When I finally got him out he was completely sopping wet with urine, & I mean SOPPING! Daphney had completely emptied his bladder in his carrier as a response to the fear he was feeling. Of course I was also now wet as I was holding Daph! Fanbloodytastic!! There was urine everywhere, all over Daph, me, the carrier, the bench the carrier was on, the floor, and of course the scale I had to put Daph on. After we got a weight the tech stuck us in an exam room with the promise that she would clean up the mess that D & I had just made.

In the exam room I grabbed paper towels and tried to clean up some of the urine. The tech came in to find out exactly why Daph & I were there, took Daph's temperature and even offered to rinse the D's animal carrier off in the tub. I asked if I could give Daph a bath in the sink while we were waiting for the doctor to come in to examine him. She said yeah and she would grab a towel for me.

Poor Daph now had a hurt paw, was dripping wet from urine & fear, & now was being drowned in a sink of water by his only protection from all of this....me! The tech brought a towel in for me. As I was drying Daph off the doctor came in to examine him.

This doctor was new to me and Daph but she was great. She was very understanding of all the trauma that was going on and seemed genuinely concerned about Daph. She examined his paw. I showed her the "hurt whisker" & she said, "that looks like a tendon to me, do you mind if I shave his paw to get a better look at it?" Wait what did she just say....A SEVERED TENDON!! I said "that was fine" & off she went with my baby boy. While she was gone I realized how much pain Daph must be in and started to cry. To stop the crying I focused on the fact that I was covered in cat urine and now stunk. I look off my jacket and put it in a Chico bag that I had in my purse and waited for the doctor and vet to return. When they did finally come back Daph looked a bit different...
He had this huge white and blue cast wrap on his leg. I know the pic is horribly blurry. I'll tell you why this is the only pic I have of Daph with the cast in a bit.

Turns out Daph did indeed sever his tendon in a fight and the tendon came through the wound and was poking out. Poor little boy! The doc cut the protruding tendon off, put some antibiotic ointment on the wound, & wrapped his leg up. She gave me some oral antibiotic that I have to give Daph for the next few days to prevent infection. I also have to take him back in 5 days to make sure he is healing ok. As I put Daph back in the carrier, grabbed all my urine drenched stuff and prepared to go pay my bill I wasn't sure who was more traumatized....Daph or me. This whole visit cost a mere $100! Ouch!! Good thing I wasn't laid off last week with the majority of my co-workers. Looks like I'll be visiting Harri's house a lot in the coming weeks for nourishment as I now have no budget to actually buy my own food. Although I am glad that I took Daph in even if it did cost a lot cause a severed tendon seems pretty bad and quite painful. After I paid the bill Daph & I headed home.

As a side note after D & I got home I rung my friends Melissa & Andy Spencer. We had plans to go to Anggie's for a late birthday lunch for me. I told Melissa about the new & not so popular "perfume" I was trying out & told her that I needed to quickly jump in the shower before I met them. I did finally make it to Anggies smelling much better & absolutely starving after this little adventure. Before I left for Anggie's I took the above pic of D with the cast on his arm but realized it was way blurry and figured I'd just get another pic to post after lunch.

While at Anggie's I of course told Melissa & Andy all about my morning. The best bit of this whole thing is that when I told them the white hair turned out to be a severed tendon Andy nearly passed out right there at Anggie's!! When he came to he said that all noise went silent, and everything turned to black! Funny stuff! Note to self..."never say severed tendon in Andy's presence." :)

After lunch I went home to check on my boy. I found him in the window and about 6 inches in front of him was the cast! He had managed to get it off his leg! When I said "Daph what did you do?" he just looked at me with the "it was annoying me" look on his face. Silly boy!

On a positive note Daph seems to be doing ok today. He is limping but other then that he seems like his old self.

A big flop!

2009-04-26T05:02:00.000-06:00

As you may have known I did a catalog party for Harri sailing products from her business in Thirty-One. (Refer to my blog post "You're Invited!) The catalog party ended on Friday the 24th with a ONE order! :( The one order came from Heather White. Thanks Heather. :) She got a discount cause my catalog party was scheduled off of her home party. Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed but this just validates the fact that I am not meant to be a sales person. Pa-shaw pa-shaw!

My birthday week!

2009-04-19T11:38:00.000-06:00

I was born April, 16 1976. That means that this past week I completed my 33rd year of life. As always I was completely spoiled & felt very much loved and adored. Here are the high lights from the week of celebration.

Please don't be to harsh regarding my picture taking ability.

1st I'm not a master or even an amateur photographer.
2nd The only camera I have is the one on my phone.
3rd and most importantly I was completely drunk while taking most of these pics

Thursday was the 16th and my birthday. I went to work but about an hour into my shift Harri had the most brilliant idea ever.....

(Harri at Angie's. When she sees this she is going to be pissed...no makeup!)

Birthday breakfast at Angie's Restaurant! We told our managers that we HAD to go, & off we went! Thanks Manda & Janet for not firing us! :) Angie's is the absolute best diner in all of Cache Valley. If you're ever in Cache Valley and need some grub this is the place to go. Don't forget to order some hot chocolate. Angie's hot chocolate is a must...don't pass it up. It's the best I've ever had!

(Me at Angie's on my BDay.)

I was showered with gifts & warm happy birthday wishes all day on my birthday. Thank you everyone for making me feel so special!

Of course the real partying started on Saturday the 18th. This was the day of my much anticipated BDAY BBQ!

Deb, Jesse, & MoJo drove from SLC. They were a bit delayed due to the SLC marathon mile marker #22 that was stationed right in front of their apartment! Funny stuff! Rather then waiting for all 7000 participants to run past Deb pleaded to the officer of the law that was stationed in front of their apartment. She informed him that they had to get out. His response was "good luck with that!" Followed by a laugh! Seriously!! After Deb stood there long enough to make him realize that she wasn't taking that as an answer he finally conceded to help her and Jesse get on their way.

They made it to Logan in good time....Jesse drove! :) We even had time to make a trip for some breakfast to....you guessed it....Angie's!

Then we made a stop at the liquor store and got some beverages for the BBQ.

The BBQ was at Harri's house. She went all out for it. Of course the decorations had a purple theme & there was more food then even a small village could eat.

Not to mention more "beverage" then I could consume although I gave it my best effort! One of my co-workers gave me a fabulous recipe for tasty beverage that will totally do the job in getting you completely fucked up. I can testify it works!

*Fabulous BDAY BBQ Beverage Recipe*
(The BBB)
2 liters of Squirt soda
1 packet of blue berry Kool Aid, other flavors can be substituted
1 pint of Everclear 100 proof alcohol!!

Poor out about 3 inches of soda into a glass to make room for the Kool Aid and alcohol. Add Kool Aid packet & Everclear to remaining Squirt in 2 liter bottle. Quickly put cap back on bottle. Be careful when you open the bottle cause it will fizz all over the place. I suggest opening it in the sink. Poor BBB over ice and enjoy! Good times ahead! Here's the best part. You can't even taste the Everclear!!

I would like to think that since I ONLY invited my closest and dearest friends that I won't forever hear about my ridiculous drunken behavior, but alas these ARE my closest and dearest friend so I can pretty much GUARANTEE that I will never hear the end of what an ass I made of myself. Fucking love you guys!

Clay was in charge of the actual BBQ! He is an amazing cook so of course everything turned out perfect! He cooked BBQ beef and pork with my favorite "Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce." The meat was so tender. Yum!!

Harri's youngest daughter Ashlee was there to eat and laugh at me of course! Cute girl! She's my fave & she shares a birthday with my sister Lisa. Cool huh?

My manager and good friend Manda came. She made this fantastic pasta salad. It was delish!

She also showered me with fabulous presents! My favorite was the purple flip flops of course. They even have purple glittery sparkle on them. And as any former fag hag knows glittery sparkles goes with ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! Well done! Thanks Manda!!

Course my darling Amber Brown was there. Her husband Julius even made an appearance but I didn't get a pic of him. Amber gave me the most fantastic present. A "Grow your own hermit crab." It's a hermit crab that you submerge in H20 and in about 10 days you have a fabulous "Herriette the Hermit Crab" pet for your very own. She was orginaly "Hazet the Hermit Crab" but I took the liberty to change her name to "Harriette." Much better don't ya think? After the 10 day bath Harriette will be 600% larger then she started out as! Wow!! Here's the best bit. If you take Harriette out of the water she will shrink down to her original size & you can grow her over and over again! Fab!! Love it!

Painting done by Deb

As I've said already I was completely spoiled & showered with birthday gifts. All of which I appreciate but they're are a few gift that mean especially a lot to me. I received 3 paintings & a 1 book of original poetry! I have such talented and gifted friends. Now don't forget the the pics of the paintings are pathetically taken with my camera phone and don't even pretend to do justice to the real beauty of the paintings in real life.

Reprint of painting by Janet Hall

Tulips are my favorite flower. My former manager gave me reprints of 2 paintings she had done. They are stunning in real life. The red tulips was turned into a greeting card by my friend Melissa from work. She got all of my co-workers to sign it.

Reprint of painting done by Janet Hall

The purple tulips Janet just gave me. It is so stunningly beautiful in real life. I'm for sure going to frame it and hang it on my wall. Gorgeous!!

Deb also gave me the first copy of her 1st book of poetry. Deb is a gifted and talented writer and poet. I feel so honored that she would give me such a gift. I know that for those who are artistic their art is part of them. Janet said that giving her art away is like ripping her part of her heart out. Wow, that is intense! I don't really understand this emotion as the only poem I've ever written was just the other night and completely inspired by a bottle of wine. I appreciate those who do have talent and who have chosen to share it with me.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING MY BIRTHDAY SO FABULOUS! I LOVE ALL OF YOU DEARLY. I HOPE I CAN RETURN SOME OF THE LOVE & APPRECIATION THAT YOU HAVE SHOWERED UPON ME THIS LAST WEEK!

One bottle of wine & a keyboard

2009-04-17T15:32:00.000-06:00

One bottle of Kosher wine
I now can say what I think
This isn't working
Is it?
Don't you agree

You're not here
I'm not there
We never will be
I'm sad more often then I'm happy
We must let each other go

Please don't be nice
It hurts so much
I'm starting to cry
I might love you
Alas in this life I will never know

(This is the first poem that I've ever written. I don't care if its not good or even "real poetry." It is how I feel right now.)

YOU'RE INVITED!

2009-04-15T03:38:00.001-06:00

I'm having a catalog party & you're invited!

My friend Harri has decided to be a consultant for a company that she believes in and is so excited about: Thirty-One. I'm supporting her new business by hosting a catalog and online party.

You may be wondering what Thirty-One is. "Thirty-One was derived from the Old Testament, where Proverbs 31 describes a virtuous woman who exhibits hard work, wisdom, encouragement and care for others."

Thirty-One sales fabulous purses, bags, & home decor. Click on any of the pictures or italisized words for a direct link to Harri's Thirty-One website. Scope out the fun items in the adult catalog to find something for yourself or a good friend.

For all of you moms out there Thirty-One just recently published a new 31 Kids catalog. I'm especially excited about this cause the minute Deb & Jesse find out if MoJo is a Moses or a Josephine I'll be ordering all sorts of darling monogrammed items.

Some of the items in the 31 Kids catalog include bibs, fold & go organizers, changing pads, aprons, & much more!

Here's the best part: The customer special for April is $1 embroidery for all items in the 31 Kids catalog! Yippee!!

Please help me have a successful Thirty-One party. Here's how to order:

Visit Harri's Thirty-One website http://www.mythirtyone.com/7229
Shop & pick out all that you want
Text, or call Harri with your order at 435-890-8964
Email Harri at melindaharris12@hotmail.com
Or contact me to order
You can order from NOW thru April 24, 2009!

Have fun shopping!!!

Ohhh...the pain!!

2009-04-12T14:10:00.000-06:00

I've had a headache everyday of my life for the past 33 years. I am not exaggerating this statement in anyway. I truly wish I were. It's just a fact & reality of being me. It's amazing what a human being can deal with and become accustomed to.
I believe I inherited this ailment from my Great Aunt Marda because she has suffered the same for her entire life. However, she learned self hypnosis and relaxation techniques to help alleviate hers. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I recall my Aunt Marda actually doing a hypnosis exercise on me to help with my severe headaches. Hypnosis wasn't as beneficial for me as it was for my Aunt Marda as 25 years later I'm still suffering!
I tell you all this because I am now dealing with the 4th migraine that I've had in the past 2 weeks. If you suffer from headaches you know that even 1 migraine is 1 too many. Even though I can say with all honesty that I have had some form of pain in my head every single day of my life, 4 migraines in 14 days is a bit much even for me. I have no idea what is causing all of this. Is it the change in season, allergies, stress, or what? I wish I knew so I could stop this terrifying trend.
On a positive note I did make it to Smith's after my second migraine and spent $30 on 3 different sized ice packs to deal with my headaches. This may have been the best $30 that I've recently spent as cold on my head seems to be the only thing that really alleviates some of the pain along with heavy doses of ibuprofen & acetaminophen. In the winter I've even been known to put snow in zip lock baggies to use as ice packs on my head....whatever works huh?
If you have any suggestions or miracle cures for chronic headaches send them my way. In the mean time I have big plans to bury my head in cold compresses in hopes of surviving the storm that has taken over my head!

Just what I needed!

2009-04-05T12:48:00.000-06:00

I went to Salt Lake City yesterday to play with Deb, Jesse, & baby MoJo. Of course we had the most fun as we always do. I spent way too much money, but it was so worth it. My mini trip to be with those that I love & love me unconditionally was exactly what I needed. You can't put a price tag on that.
Please click on the olive colored words for more information about store or product.

Here are the high lights of my trip:

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in the historic downtown Trolley Square for lunch. I had chicken marsala. It was way tasty, but for sure not near as good as the chicken marsala that Amanda makes. Don't worry Amanda promised me that the next time she makes it I'm invited! Of course I'm going to hold her to that promise. Delish!
We then scoped out some of the fun shops in Trolley Square. We went to Cabin Fever. A shop that sales all these weird retro and nostalgic things. I bought "A littlt Golden Book classic" book for MoJo. I got he/she "The Shy Little Kitten" to teach MoJo about the other small member of the family...Muni Cat. I can't wait to read the book to MoJo.
I also picked up the cutest little cards for Deb & MoJo's baby shower. I know it is many months away. I mean we don't even know the gender of the baby yet! But when you find the perfect cards you have to buy them right? Beauty part is the cards will be great for either a Moses or a Josephine. Cute! Deb thought they were perfect too! I so had to get them!
We then found the most fantastic organic products shop called Trolley Green Giant. They sale all organic and natural products. They even sale my beloved Chico Bag! Most of their health and hygiene products are from a company called Bubble & Bee Organic. Deb ended up buying some lip balm. After I tried hers I was sold & had to have my own tube. Here's the best part! If you have a lip balm with you the Trolley Green Giant will let you trade it in for a FREE Bubble & Bee Organic lip balm. I'm all about free so I ended up trading my Burt's Bees pomegranate lip balm for a Bubble & Bee karma apple. Good choice! I also purchased an unscented lip balm as well. If you're looking for a really great lip balm I defiantly recommend Bubble & Bee Organic.
We then headed over to the Trolley Taffy Station & bought some yummy old fashioned salt water taffy. Salt water taffy is a tourist novelty item in Salt Lake City because of the Great Salt Lake. Course I'm completely fine with this cause it's yummy!
After all this shopping we just went back to Deb & Jesse's house & did some serious chillaxin.
On a recent trip to Arizona Jesse purchased some kosher wine for he and I as we're both interested in the Jewish religion. We opened the bottle to assist with the serious chillaxin that was going on. Yippee for fabulous kosher Arizona wine. :)
After more chillaxin I headed north and got home at 10:30ish p.m. It was an all around fun day.

Saturday mini trip

2009-04-04T07:24:00.000-06:00

I decided I deserve a Saturday mini trip to Salt Lake City to visit Deb, Jesse, & baby MoJo. I know I'll have the most fun no matter what we end up doing...time to get ready! Yippee!! Send safe driving thoughts my way please.

Grrr!

2009-04-02T04:33:00.000-06:00

I'm having a bit of a rough go at it. There are a lot of negative things going on right now in my life. Each thing on it's own merit is really nothing but all of them combined is really giving me some trouble. Here's my issues:

It is April and I still have to shovel snow every fucking day!
I'm having "digestive issues." I'm sure you prefer not to hear details.
I have PMS really really bad. I just want to scream & yell at someone. Any volunteers?
I've already had 1 migraine this week & I'm trying to get another at this very moment.
Tony is in another country & I'm having doubts that all that he professes is true.
The "Harri & Kins Show" got split up! This is the biggest one bringing me down as it makes going to work sooo much harder! Fuck work!!! I feel like I'm in morning. Yes, that's how bad it is!

Don't worry I haven't given up completely & I'm not a danger to myself.
I'M JUST IN A REALLY FUCKING BAD MOOD!!

Update on " He finally found me!"

2009-03-31T04:02:00.000-06:00

Thank you everyone for all your love and support. You're kind words mean so much. Thank you!

I have the best news. I decided to tell Tony the whole hideous truth. I didn't lie. I just got a bit dramatic, which of course is sooo out of character for me. (If you believe that you don't know me very well.) I explained to him that I'm female and that on occasion we tend to get dramatic, emotional, & just plain barking mad. He totally understood & everything is back on track!

He finally found me!

2009-03-28T06:03:00.000-06:00

The perfect guy for ME finally showed up!
And of course in grand Kins tradition...I FUCKED IT UP!
I didn't know it was possible to hurt this much.....

Ya ready for it?

2009-03-25T04:07:00.000-06:00

I have the most fantastic news that I have just been itchin to announce:

Deb & Jesse are pregnant!

Yes, I'm going to be an Auntie. Finally! The baby's due date is October 11th. Seems like forever away.
I hope to be the most fantastic Auntie EVER! The baby is only 11 weeks and I've already bought 2 of my favorite children books for it, "The Berenstain Bears" & "Curious George." I've decided to be in charge of teaching it the love of reading.
I'm just so excited!!!

I'm ready!

2009-03-24T16:20:00.000-06:00

The official first day of Spring was last week but here in Logan we still have snow on the ground! I am so tired of the cold and have a severe case of Spring fever. Even though Logan still seems to be in the dead of winter some signs of Spring are starting to pop up. My co-worker Amber found these fabulously huge, juicy, delicious, & perfect strawberries at Smith's Marketplace! She was kind enough to bring them to work to share. This strawberry is the one I got to eat. You can't tell from the pic but it is the largest strawberry that I have ever seen! It was so yummy, just like having a sweet sunny day in my mouth. :)

The fabulous strawberry inspired me to purchase summer flip flops! Amber introduced me to "Old Navy" flip flops. Here's the best bit of the whole adventure. They're amazingly cheap. I bought these 2 pair for $5! Now that isn't $5 each but a mere $2.50 each! Amber assures me that "Old Navy" flip flops are the absolute best cheap flip flops out there. She says she has never had a problem with the thong bit ripping through the sole. Well see, but for $2.50 who cares if it does, right? Now if it were only warm enough to wear them.

I have an extreme urge to paint my toe nails....must go. :)

I'm an Aries

2009-03-19T17:29:00.000-06:00

I found the following description of someone born under the astrological sign Aries. After each paragraph I've written a thought about it & how I feel it applies to me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aries

March 20th to April 20th

Strengths: Adventurous Energetic Courageous Confident
Weaknesses: Self-centered Short-tempered Impulsive Impatient

Yes, I agree that both list describe me, although I've tamed my temper, I rarely get angry. Course I do get annoyed often. But I don't think annoyed is really the same as angry. Is it?

The moment you come across an Aries, the first thing that comes to your mind is his/her friendly nature. The friendliest person in your neighborhood will most probably be an Aries personality. People having an Aries profile cannot tolerate injustice, always fight against it and will defend the weak. Aries, The Ram, is the first sign of the zodiac, considered to be the infant representing birth. Just like an infant, he is also aware only of himself and his needs. However, he is not selfish. It's just that he is totally ignorant of the fact that his needs may be causing you some inconvenience.

The above paragraph is very true and describes me well. I'm extremely friendly. I get along with most people and most people genuinely like me...I think. I'm for sure not selfish, but I do get annoyed when I need attention & I'm ignored. Even if that attention is an inconvenience to the person I'm asking it of. When all else fails I've learn to just tell people to pay attention to me. Works every time.

The innocence of Aries people is enough to cover their, sometimes, aggressive behavior. This naiveté brings fearlessness, while at the same time making them highly vulnerable. They trust people easily, get hurt in the process, forgive and forget, and then, trust again. An Aries person is beyond shrewdness and fallacy and can never lie, not even to save his life. He is what he seems to be. Qualities like subtlety, diplomacy or modesty just don't gel with Aries symbol. An Aries can be calm, wise and serious, but not before he has gone past youth.

Very much me again. I do trust, get hurt, forgive & forget, to only get hurt again. Very painful, but I never seem to learn. Oh, I'm such a bad lier. Most of the time it doesn't ever occur to me to lie even if I will get me out of trouble. I am what I am. I'm not hiding anything. Could this be why I can't find a guy? I'm just not good at pretending. If you know me you know I have absolutely no tact!

He/she is pretty impatient, but liberal with money and material things. Frankness, lack of stability, fear of physical pain, optimism and impulsiveness are some of the basic Aries characteristics. One of the warmest and the most generous zodiac sign, Aries always prefers fame to money. He/she may get extremely angry in a minute, but the anger seldom lasts for a long time. Aries people never nurse a grudge and completely forgive and forget. They will never let you know that they are hurt.

I do value generosity as one of the most important qualities in myself and others. When I'm in charge I am very impatient. When I say now i mean NOW!

They are never shy of apologizing, but they will be hurt if you remember the harsh words they said in anger, but didn't mean. Gossip does not interest an Aries and for him/her, people are either black or white, without any shades of gray. There is one thing an Aries can never fall short of, conversation. He/she can speak about anything & everything under the sun. He/she lives in the present and is a realist, yet believes in miracles. Aries chase success, not waiting for it to fall in their lap, and don't accept defeat. Failure can never keep them down.

I never have been able to understand why something I've said may have offended someone. Never do I mean to offend. I just speak my mind and people take that offensively sometimes. The gossip bit does not fit me. I'm all about a good juicy story. I'd like to think I'm a good conversationalist. Hope so.

Most of the Aries people are involved in business or creative arts or are involved in planning and organization. If an Aries does something for you, don't forget to express your gratitude. Otherwise, he will be deeply hurt. However, that would not stop him from helping again. Aries usually stick to their opinion and won't listen to anything they do not believe. They have a contemplative side to their personality. The simplicity is blended with the blind passion of a born crusader. Aries is mentally strong and always one of the pioneers.

I'm a master planner and organizer. Really I've planned 2 weddings. Neither of which were mine. The gratitude bit is oh so very true. Not a lot of things hurt worse then doing something for someone from the heart and them not being great full expressing their gratitude. I do listen to peoples opinions but it is true that I rarely change my mind once I'm set on something. If everyone had the same opinions how boring would that be? Exactly!

Now I ask all ya'll who know me. Does this description of an Aries personality fit me? How about my insights and perceptions about myself. More importantly how about my perceptions of how I am viewed by others? I'm I close or completely making shit up in my head?

Truvy was right!

2009-03-16T16:00:00.000-06:00

"Time marches on and sooner or later you realize it is marchin across your face." -Truvy from "Steel Magnolias"

Yesterday I had an event happen that confirmed the wisdom and truth of the above quote. I'm so torn up by this occasion that I must tell you all about it.
First a memory: Growing up I recall many things about my Grandmother some pleasant, some not so pleasant. The specific memory that I am referring to here is her sitting in a chair, the muscles of her chin strained so that her chin stuck up & out. In one hand she would be holding a hand held mirror. The other hand would be occupied by a pair of tweezers. She would sit like this ready & focused. All this was to accomplish but one task....chin whisker removal! Growing up I didn't give much thought to this ritual. It was just something that Gram did. Then a few years back while in Missouri for my brother's wedding I recall my mom doing this exact same thing. I thought, "oh no, it must be genetic." Apparently as the women in my family age we start growing these very course whisker like hairs out of our chins. How unsightly! Of course these offending hairs must be removed straight away. Here is the worst part of this whole horrid tale. Brace yourself. Ya ready for it? Yesterday I found my first chin whisker!! Oh, the trauma! I'm way to young for this. I'll only be 33 next month for God sakes! I found my first gray hair a short 3 years ago and now I have to deal with chin whiskers! What genetic defect does this all stem from? Don't worry I removed the offending whisker the moment I found it, but alas I know it will return & I'm sure it will bring along friends. I'm way too young for this!!

-In lieu of flowers thoughts of condolence welcome in the comment section.

May the guilty one raise his paw!

2009-03-13T17:44:00.000-06:00

This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. in a bit of a panic cause I was running an entire hour behind schedule. This daylight savings thing is really throwing me off. Anyway, when I finally managed to pull myself out of bed I started my normal routine only to be halted by small gray things ALL over the floor. I'm a bit near sighted so I didn't know what exactly I was looking at. I initially thought that Canon or Daphney had carried in some weeds on their fur from their night cat adventures. When I thought more about this it didn't quite make sense. Logan in still blanketed in a foot of cold white stuff, not to many weeds about to bring in. As I made my way to the bathroom I inspected the mysterious gray "things" further only to
discover that what lay all over my floor were FEATHERS!! Yes, bird feathers were everywhere. As I entered the bathroom I found the poor bird the feathers had previously been attached to. The poor thing was laying in front of the shower where either Canon or Daphney decided to leave it. It completely broke my heart that one of my boys had killed such a small innocent creature. I know it's a felines innate behavior to stalk, hunt, & kill but it still tears me up every time. I also realize that cat experts say that domesticated cats leave dead animals as "gifts" for their owners, but alas this is one present I wish I were never given. If only Canon & Daphney could understand this.

My baby boys:

2009-03-13T16:36:00.000-06:00

CANON & DAPHNEY

Most of you know that I have 2 little boys, Canon & Daphney. Yes, Daphney is a boy & no he is not confused about his gender...I was when I named him. Needless to say I thought he was a girl. Anyway, Canon & Daphney are the joys of my life. They completely fulfill all of my maternal "instincts." They have been with me for 8 years now. We have survived everything together. If you've ever had a pet you know that animals have very distinct personalities & will give so much more then they ever take. Canon and Daphney are not lacking in either personality or in bringing me happiness and joy. Daphney is a very sophisticated gray tabby. His mother was abandoned in a garage when her former owners vacated the house & left her & her small family behind. Sadly she starved to death feeding her 3 babies to keep them alive. I found Daphney in the abandoned garage when he was about 4 weeks old. Daphney loves everyone. If you come for a visit expect to have a gray fur ball on your lap about 90 seconds after you've sat down. Daph's adventurous, he loves to go outside. He'll often be gone on day long cat adventures, but he seems to return just about the time that I start worrying about him. He's eternally patient with me and Canon both. He'll wait for days patiently for me to give him food, water, or whatever he needs. Often times I'll go into the bathroom to find Daph just chillaxin waiting for me to notice that he needs a drink. He enjoys me filling the sink up a bit for him to get a fresh drink of H2O.

Canon of course is completely different. I adopted Canon from "Four Paws Rescue" at our local "Pet Smart" when he was about 8 months old. He was so small and scraggly I just knew he was meant to be mine. He is no longer small. He now weighs 20 lbs! And for sure his is not scraggly either. He is the biggest orange fur ball you may ever see...if he lets you see him. He is completely a Momma's boy.

Canon absolutely does not like anyone except me. If you do get a chance to know Canon's personality you'd love him. He is extremely dramatic. I often say that if he were a human he would be a gay man with a huge feather boa and a diamond studded tiara strutting his stuff. Canon loves to cuddle and have his belly rubbed. He is very talkative and must be the center of attention. If he's not you'll hear all about it. He enjoys going outside but only to sun himself. Of course a "princess" does not do real physical activity. They just lay about having everyone wait on them hand & paw. :) Canon also enjoys the sink beverage. Rather then me filling the sink up for him Canon prefers to just drink out of the faucet.

THEY'RE SO STINKIN CUTE I CAN BARELY STAND IT!!

If I could only breath.

2009-03-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Eight months out of the year, from about March to November I live my life in a world of agony. I generally want to scratch my eyes out with sand paper, put cotton in my tear ducts to stop them from watering, attach a Brillo pad to the back of my tongue to make scratching my throat easier, and find some mid evil torture instrument to stick in my ears all in hopes of relieving, if only for a moment, the constance itching I experience from allergies. If this sounds simply horrendous to you then I can assure you that you have never suffered from seasonal allergies.

I've suffered from seasonal allergies since I was a child but as I've grown older they seem to be getting worse. I never new what exactly I was allergic to. Just that I AM allergic to something cause I'm completely miserable. A few years ago I found a fantastic coupon in the back of the "Bridgerland" phone book. The coupon was for an allergy test at Summit Clinic for only $10 bucks! I made an appointment straight away.

The coupon was for a skin prick arm test of 16 different common allergy causing agents found in Cache Valley.

Eight agents were put on each arm. On my right arm I had such things as, trees, molds, cats, & dogs. On my left arm I had mostly different types of pollen. The tech puts these agents on your arm and then makes you sit still for an eternity. I think it was 10-15 minutes to wait for the results.

My right arm had absolutely no reaction at all as I'm not allergic to any of the agents I was tested for on it. My left are was a completely different story. About half way through the test my arm was inflamed and itching like mad. Of course you're told "don't scratch." By the end of the test I was begging the tech to just cut my fucking arm off!! Surprisingly enough with such a dramatic result you'd think I was allergic to all 8 agents but nope. I'm just extremely allergic to 2 of them.

The offending culprits were "Timothy grass" & "False Ragweed." As I'm sure you're thinking this very moment as I was all those years ago "what the fuck is Timothy grass and False Ragweed?" I've never known the answer to that question until this very morning when I decided to write this brilliant post about the things that haunt me. Don't think I don't know when I'm around them cause that I do! I just never knew exactly what they looked like. I Googled images to post here & now I finally know exactly what it is that makes me so miserable. Good thing both Timothy grass and False Ragweed are so abundant in Cache Valley!!

The offending Timothy grass:

Great news: Timothy is the grass that grows so nicely and COMPLETELY surrounds my apartment! Fanbloodytastic!!

The hideous False Ragweed:

Don't worry, False Ragweed is also interspersed among the Timothy that is considered the "landscaping" surrounding my apartment.

After finally seeing these pictures all I can say is thank God for "Clairatin", & "Puffs Plus" with lotion. Both of which I buy in bulk at Sam's Club! Only 7.5 months left to go.....

Highlights from my week:

2009-03-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Ok I know ya'll are just torn up inside wondering what has been going on with Kins. Wait no further. Here are the, sometimes a bit dull, events of my life this last week.

I actually did wash early this week. I think it was on Monday that I accomplished this task. You may be wondering why I would include this as an "event of the week." Well let me tell you...I fucking hate doing wash! So to actually get it done in a timely fashion is definitely note worthy!! Good job Kins, good job.
I went to Sam's Club to pick up a prescription refill. I have to do this frequently cause I'm on about a gazillion different drugs. This particular prescription was only $12.00 for a 3 month supply. Yippee for cheap drugs! Anyway, after hitting the pharmacy I wandered around a bit. Here's the beauty part. I ended up dropping a mere $160.00 when all was said and done. What the fuck did I buy?
My fabulous Chico Bags arrived in the mail today. Luv them! If I had any funds left I'd be all about going shopping so I could use them, but alas refer to previous "event of the week."
And here is the most important event of the week & the real reason for this post.... Ya ready for it? The guy I fancy at work finally pulled his head out of his ass after not talking to me for a whole week. I guess he finally decided that he had stuff to say to me again. The best part of the whole dramatic story is that when I asked him why he was ignoring me he said "what? you're the one ignoring me." Then he proceeded to explain to me how offended he was that I walked right past him that morning with my nose in the air acting like a snob! I may be a lot of things but I have never in my life been accused of being a "snob." Bossy...yes! Nosy...yes! Intense...yes! Snob...NO! I'm forever amazed & often entertained by peoples perceptions of me. Funny stuff!

Help save the Earth

2009-03-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

I found this new fabulous product! Ok, that's a bit of a lie cause I actually found it with the help of 2 other people. Either way I'm still very excited and must tell you all about it.

The product I'm so excited about is reusable grocery bags! As you probably have noticed ALL the stores now sale them. Well let me tell you about 2 more ways that you can buy them.

The first picture is the "red bag" (click on the words "red bag" & you should go right to their site.) If that doesn't work their site is redbagmovement.com (copy & paste). Anyway, my cousin Julie posted a post on her blog about these bags a bit ago & I got all excited about them. They sale for $7 per bag online and can hold up to 25 lbs. of groceries! Trouble is they only come in the color red...who would have guessed it? I have this brilliant idea to print something fabulous on them such as our family crest, or some other family related item to sale at our family reunion. Julie & I are working out the details right now. All idea contributions welcome if you're part of the Hartvigsen or Tolman clan, or even if you're not & just have a fabulous idea to share with me.

Julie sent me a sample of the "red bag" in the mail the other week so I could see exactly what we're dealing with. I was showing the bag to my Earth conscious manager Janet at work. The minute I opened the bag up she pulled from her purse another version of a reusable grocery bag. "The Chico Bag" (again click on the words " the chico bag") Their site is chicobag.com. (copy & paste) The Chico Bag is a bit cheaper for all ya'll on a budget. It's only $5 per bag or 5 bags for $20. That makes them only $4 each...nice! And here is the best part...ya ready for it? They come in a variety of colors including my must have PURPLE!!

These bags would make fabulous presents! I mean really who doesn't want to help preserve the Earth and create less trash during their stay here? Exactly! I'm thinking perfect wedding, open house, birthday, Hanukkah, or Christmas presents. Don't be surprised if this is what I give you this year as a present for your special day whatever the occasion might be.

I would really like feedback on this post. Is anyone else as excited about these fabulous bags as me? Did you scope out the site links, or buy any? Let me know.

Deb & Jesse don't worry your bags will be at your house in 4-6 business days. :)

Just cause I knew you were dying to know.

2009-02-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

If I tagged YOU, it's because I want to know more about YOU!
Find out if I tagged you at the bottom of this post.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No, but I was named after a wedding chapel in Las Vegas the "Wee Kirk O' The Heather Wedding Chapel" Bruce Kins (not my sperm donor) and my Mom were married there when I was still a wee embryo. True story!

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
I'm sure it was just a few weeks ago. I generally cry every month when I'm PMSing...and usually at work! Warning: I'm due for a good cry here in about 2 weeks.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No, my friend Ryan Simsich once asked me to stop writing him letters cause he couldn't decipher my chicken scratches! Rude huh?

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Tuna pickle. I'll even share the recipe...ya ready for it? Tuna, pickle, & lots of mayo. Delish! Fab on bread or crackers.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
NO! Thank God!!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Absolutely! I'm fucking fantastic!

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Maybe!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes and their lovely.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not in a million years for for a million dollars!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Cinnamon Life Cereal.

11. WHATS on your IPOD?
Nothing, I don't have an IPOD. I actually don't really understand what an IPOD is nor do I care to learn. Technical ignorance is bliss and a whole lot cheaper then having to have every gadget out there.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Depends on my mood. I just bought some amaretto, brownie, black berry, & coconut ice cream from "Cold Stone" today.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
I think probably there hair. At least this is what I remember most about people. If you dye it often then I tend to only recall the color it was when I met you. It's like my brain won't photo shop the new color over the original. ie...Heather White at work is forever changing her hair but she will forever be blond to me. Hmm...I wonder what color her hair really is now. I'll have to notice.

15. RED OR PINK?
Neither....PURPLE!

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOU?
The fact that I don't know why guys don't fancy me. God damn it, I'm hot aren't I?

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Deb of course. She has half of my brain and sometimes it would come in handy. Luv you Deb!

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
Yes, for sure. Have you met me? Noisiness & bossiness are 2 of my best qualities.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I'm wearing my skinny blue jeans. No shoes but I do have purple and white striped socks on.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Elton John's "Honky Cat" on the radio.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
"Purple Mountain Majesty" of course! I promise it's a real color and it's as fabulous as it sounds.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
In nature: lilacs. On me: my signature scent is "Victoria's Secret Love Spell." In a home: turkey cooking on thanksgiving morning!

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My sister Lisa

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Yes, I love Beth!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Hmm, I don't have TV but if I did I sure as Hell wouldn't be watching sports.

27. HAIR COLOR?
This is always such a hard question for me cause my hair is that in between color. It's blond, brown, & red all at the same time but non of them too! I guess it depends on the hair sample it's being compared to. My drivers license says brown, but who really knows. Oh, and don't worry my genes are slowly adding gray to the mix as well.

28. EYE COLOR?
Tolman blue.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, I can't imagine putting something on my eye and leaving it there!

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Pot luck for sure!

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings. I don't like scary movies. I was permanently traumatized when my mom let Lisa, David, and I watch "The Shining" when I was 7 years old!!

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
"He's Just Not That Into You" with Deb in SLC. Good movie!

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Purple...more of an eggplant really.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Depends on where I am. In Logan I prefer autumn. In St. George spring. Phoenix winter for sure.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Depends on who's giving them. If it were "K...y", never mind I'll keep that to myself.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Lisa

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Deb

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
"Obsession" by John Douglas

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
The picture is of a white kitten but on it other then my mouse is my summer Nalgene bottle, a pen, food crumbs & a piece of paper. Perhaps I should think about cleaning my desk.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Again, I don't have a TV.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?
White noise. Like the sound a space heater, humidifier, or fan makes. I have to have at least one of these going to be able to sleep.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles I suppose.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Just over the border in Illinois when Lisa got us lost. Yes, we got lost and ended up in another fucking state!

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I don't think so.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Payson, UT

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
All ya'lls

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
I'll let you know after we meet. "Where the fuck is he already?"

Blogger Tags: Amanda, Daria, Jenny, Janet, Emily, Eliese, Deb, Shealyn, Ann, Julie, Ali, & anyone else who feels like filling this fun questionnaire out.

Work buddies, really so much more!

2009-02-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the 2 people that help me make it through work everyday.

The beautiful and infamous; via my blog & other stories you'll have to ask her about, Harri. Can you believe she's a grandma? I know, me neither.Harri modeling how we look for 7 1/2 hours a day. Multiple headsets are oh so very sexy!! I'm thinking about wearing them out and about. Perhaps guys will hit on me more...or not!

My darling and extremely photogenic Amber Brown. I'm so jealous of people who look amazing in pics cause I generally look...shall we say "not so fab."

Yes, this is a pic of Amber's ass. Let me tell you the story. Out of the blue Amber asked me if I knew where one could by "fanny panties." I swear to God this is a true story. After I asked her what the fuck fanny panties were, and was able to stop the hysteric laughing that resulted I had sense enough to demand a pic. Apparently they are padded underwear worn by folks that were not blessed with natural padding. Who knew! Amber obviously!! She has absolutely NO ASS!! Here's proof that she needs some extra padding! For identification purposes her gluteus maximus in on the left side of the pic.

I love you Harri & Amber more then you'll ever know.

You'll have to ring me for now...

2009-02-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Remember all the drama I had when my old cell phone broke and I ended up with this not so spiffy red Samsung as replacement. Yeah, well the phone issues continue. I have now had my new cell phone for probably a month-ish. I'm not tech savvy so I'm still getting used to it. Ya gotta understand I had my Razr for over a year. I was quite comfortable with it...I miss it. Anyway the current phone issue is the fact that my phone CAN'T send or receive text messages! GRRR....I'm a textaholic!! One month I sent and received over 1800 text messages! "Good job Kinz for buying the unlimited text package!" Anyway I've now spent about 4-ish hours on the phone (thanks Harri for letting me camp out on your couch so I could use your land-line) with tech support at T-Mobile trouble shooting absolute everything we could. Not to mention the fact that I drove to the T-Mobile store to replace my SIM card in an attempt to fix the issue. Alas, the issue is still not even close to being fixed. The T-Mobile engineers have to work on my "network from the back end" now to see if they can fix it. This should only take a mere 72 hours, but may take up to 10 business days!! Good thing I've worked in way too many call centers and completely understand what it's like for customer service and technical support to try to fix a problem that exist hundreds of miles away over the phone. Needless to say I'm a very very patient customer when I'm talking to someone in a call center. But in my head I'm thinking "FUCK JUST FIX IT!" So until further notice I can't be reached via text. You're gonna have to ring me.
Disclaimer: I still believe a phone call is an invite to talk not a demand so if you want to get a hold of me ring me, leave a message, & I'll ring you back if I want to. :) Of course in the case of an emergency the 2 consecutive call rule still stands. Ring me twice, one right after the other and I'll pick up because someone must be dead or stuck in snow bank...(go ahead, ask Harri about that one.)
Warning: Do not use this stand by emergency ringing technique in non-emergencies please. I don't care if you burnt dinner, I'm probably sleeping for God sakes. You can tell me the whole dramatic and smelly story later when I do care.

How I feel......

2009-02-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

"I AM A ROCK"
As sung by: Simon & Garfunkel

A winters day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
Ive built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
Its laughter and its loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Dont talk of love,
But Ive heard the words before;
Its sleeping in my memory.
I wont disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

Happy Valentine's Day.....

2009-02-12T04:03:00.000-07:00

FUCK THAT! HAPPY SINGLE AWARENESS DAY!

Weekend Mini Trip South

2009-02-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the baby shower for my cousin Tommy and Jenny's new son Carter. Of course I wanted to go meet the newest Tolman so I left Logan Saturday morning and made an event filled "mini trip" out of the whole thing.My day started at 4:00 a.m thanks to my 20 lbs orange alarm clock that goes by the name of Canon...thanks Canon!! I left Logan at about 7:30 a.m. I arrived in Salem around 10 a.m-ish. I went straight to my cousin Emily's house cause the shower wasn't until 11 a.m. Em was making deserts for the shower and realized she forgot to buy mini marshmallows for one of the deserts. I offered to run to "Fast Gas" gas station to pick some up. While I was looking for the marshmallows I discovered that "Fast Gas" had my absolute favorite gum: "Extra Cool Green Apple Gum". Now you must know that Logan, or Cache Valley for that matter hasn't had even one package in the whole county for nearly 2 years. I can say this with great certainty cause I ALWAYS check whenever I'm in a store that sales gum. Needless to say I was ecstatic to see that Fast Gas had 11 packages just hanging out on the shelf. I bought all 11 packages!!

We then headed to Jenny's mom's house for Carter's shower. This is a darling picture of my cousins Emily (L) Megan (R). Aren't they beautiful! Now why didn't I get some of those beauty genes? Megan being Megan...completely spastic! Can you believe she is going to be a doctor in a mere 15 months? Yeah, I know......

Me and Carter....so perfect...him not me. Course I look fab too. :)

The newest Tolman! Well done Tommy and Jenny! Well done!

My Great Aunt Marda holding Carter.

My Great Aunt Shirly doing some visiting at the table.

*****
After the shower I headed north again to Deb and Jesse's house to stay the night. Deb and I planned to go out to eat. It's always fun to go to SLC cause they have so many restaurants that Logan doesn't have. Deb and I love seafood so we decided to go to "Red Lobster." As we were headed out the door Jesse came home so he got to go with us. Perfect timing!

This is what I had. It's called the "ultimate feast." It was a bit spendy but oh so worth it! Delish!!

For desert I wanted something fab. I was thinking ice cream, particularly ice cream that you can't get in Logan. As we were driving around looking for something fab we stumbled upon the most fantastic frozen yogurt shop "Spoon Me." They specialize in "natural frozen yogurt"....whatever that is. They have 3 flavors, natural, green tea and acai. I had natural and acai mixed with pineapple, kiwi, & blackberries. Truly delish and completely fab! If you're ever in SLC you must stop at "Spoon Me." It's located at 532 E. 400 S. in Salt Lake. Seriously give it a go. I'm for sure going to be a return customer. Yum!!

Deb and I then decided to help make "He's just not that into you" the weekends top grossing movie. Total chick flick, but so funny and cute. I for sure want to see it again. Loved it!!

After the movie I decided that I needed to purchase yet another copy of the book that the movie is based on. I have purchased this book twice previously, but I keep lending it out cause it's so brilliant. Trouble is the people I lend it to never return it. I now own my third copy of the book. Well worth it? Yes! Cause reading it is like having a secret way of decoding guys right in your hands. If you are a women for sure get your hands on a copy. Maybe if we all become aware of why guys do or do not do things perhaps guys will shape up and start treating us like we should be treated...with respect. Actually that will probably never happen but at least we're on to them now.

I also ended up finding some other books I wanted to purchase...of course! Really I should not be allowed inside bookstores. It's a sickness, really it is! I just can't help it.....
I started reading this book this morning and am completely fascinated by it thus far. Actually I have big plans of continuing my reading as soon as I finish this ridiculously long post.

I scoped this book out the last time I went to SLC & couldn't resist buying it this time. Can't wait to read it.

Deb and I got home at 10:30 pm. from our adventures. Good times but I was completely exhausted! Don't forget that Canon had waken me up at 4 a.m. I went straight to bed and slept like the dead. Thank God for that cause I was beyond tired.
*****
This morning Deb & Jesse cooked breakfast. Deb found this fabulous recipe for Greek taziki (sp?) yogurt & cucumber sauce. Yum! Deb made sausage and eggs and Jesse was in charge of the hash browns. So tasty and fabulous.
After we had breakfast we just hung out and I tortured Deb and Jesse by making them listen to many of the songs on my play list & singing along to them. There is nothing like a live Kins rendition of "Jambalaya!"

Deb busted out the hookah....to deal with my singing? Perhaps. :) This is a tradition every time I go to SLC. Don't worry we only use hookah tobacco cause Deb doesn't want any of that "other herb" in her hookah.

Jesse being Jesse! I love you Jesse!

Then I decided it was time to head home. Deb and Jesse walked me out to my car. This is Deb being fab.

I gave Deb & Jesse one of my 11 sacred packs of "Extra Apple Gum" as a parting gift cause I love them. Jesse decided that the occasion deserved a special dance of appreciation. This is Jesse preparing for the dance. Inspiration is coming........

And....."the apple eagle" is born!!!

That was my weekend mini trip south. Good times!