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Monday, February 28, 2022

An Incomplete List of Awkward Situations (Part III)

When you're getting toilet paper in a public restroom, and the squares rip off every few inches, so you have to keep spinning and tearing and spinning and tearing just to get enough for a little dab, but with all the effort you've put into getting your toilet paper, it sounds to your fellow bathroom-goers like you've just had the poop of the century, and you're gathering thirty yards of toilet paper to finish with. 

Likewise, when you're in a public restroom, and you can't find the end of the toilet paper, so you keep spinning the giant roll round and round, but it's JUST. NOT. THERE! and you have to tear into it like a savage to create your own TP start. 

When the toilet paper is behind your head in the stall.

When you have 30 minutes to get a sample to the hospital lab, and in the final five minutes, as you make your way down the corridor, someone from high school sees you and wants to stop and chat. Meanwhile you hold a brown paper bag of specimen and wonder if they know what's inside... because there are only so many things a person delivers to a hospital lab in a brown paper bag...

When you get to the counter at the lab, and no one is there, so you get to just stand there with your brown paper bag and smile at everyone in the waiting area, wondering if you should start a game of "Poop or Semen?"

When you're out walking and a dog starts following you and misbehaving - running out in front of cars, pooping on people's lawns - and everyone thinks it's your dog.

It's not my dog, I swear!

When you're at a drive through, and the person in front of you has finished ordering, but they're not pulled forward enough for you to get to the ordering box, and the employees are trying to talk to you through the speaker, and you have to yell from your window, "Hold on! I'm not there yet!"

When you open a new puzzle and you find pieces that are stuck together and you have to wonder if that's cheating (while also secretly celebrating that there's less work you have to do), and then you go out of your way, through the sorting process, to make sure that those two pieces don't get separated. 

When someone "likes" your social media post three seconds after you post it, but it's six paragraphs long, so you know they didn't read it.

When your friend at church has something really weird going on with her hair in the back, but she's on the other side of the chapel, so there's nothing you can do, but you know that she would want to know, so you try typing out a text, but "You have a weird lumpy thing going on in the back of your hair, just thought you'd like to know," doesn't seem like a very nice thing to say to someone, so you just let her have lumpy hair. 

When your friend at church has lumpy hair, and you know she would want to smooth it out, but you can't figure out a good way to let her know, so you start wondering if you should text the 60 year old man sitting behind her and say, "Hey Brother LastName, will you smooth out Friend's lumpy hair for me? Kthxbye."

__________________________

If that's not awkward enough, you can find more here:

Awkward Situations Part I

Awkward Situations Part II

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Accounting for the Accounting

The other day my son Googled me. I think the results blew his mind. I feel like Nicky has a lot of respect for me, which is a trait in him that I find so endearing, but he still has limited vision as to who I am as a person - being his mom and all! As he combed through the search results, he said things like:

- Mom! There’s an article written about you on the internet! It has our family picture! It’s not really you, though, right?

- Are you like a motivational speaker or something? No, that can’t be you!

- Wait! Did you study accounting? Why on earth would you study accounting? That’s not you, is it?

This all made me laugh as I explained to him that yes, there was once an article written about me online, I’ve given talks and presentations in lots of places, and yes! I did study accounting! 

Nicky knows I have a blog, but he doesn’t read it. Someday he probably will (but I’m glad to know he didn’t find it by Googling me). In case he ever ends up here and hasn’t figured out why I studied accounting, here is the story…

When I was a senior in high school, I really struggled with figuring out what to do after graduation. I narrowed my college choices down to two: Westminster College or LDS Business College - two very different schools. 

Westminster was my first choice, but the tuition was atrocious! I had a scholarship there, but it only covered a small fraction of the cost. I ended up switching to LDS Business College where my scholarship covered full tuition and books and even gave me the perk of being able to buy a few pencils from the book store. 

Of course, what ultimately helped me decide where to go to school was prayer, but I have to say, I had a hard time discerning the answer because my best friend was also going to LDSBC, and I wasn’t sure if I was being led to go to school there or if I was just doing what was easy. 

LDSBC was a quirky but exciting school. It has since been relocated and renamed, but when I went there, the college was in the historic Enos Wall Mansion in downtown Salt Lake City. 

You guys! I went to school in a mansion! And it was so cool! It had elegant staircases, servant passageways, an old elevator, fireplaces, a carriage house, and a ballroom (in addition to a bunch of boring areas that looked like traditional classrooms). 

(Side note: my grandma also went to LDSBC).

When I started at LDSBC, I had a few college credits already. My intention was to just get my associate’s in general studies and then decide what to do next. I was rather directionless. After my first semester, I had a feeling I should look into getting an accounting certificate. It made no sense to me as I had zero interest in accounting. In fact, it sounded so boring and so awful that only a legit nudge from the Lord could get me to even consider such a thing! The prompting was not subtle. I could not push it from my mind, so I had to act on it. 

I met with my academic advisor and found out that if I swapped a couple of elective credits for accounting classes, I could easily earn my certificate alongside my associate’s degree. So I did!

I ended up actually liking accounting. Surprisingly, it made sense to me! I thought accounting was math, but it was more like a form of organization. I did really well in my accounting classes and even excelled in my business law class!

Business law!!!

Me!!!

(Now, I don’t remember anything I learned in accounting or business law! It’s gone! All of it! The only thing I recall from business law was that my instructor one day said, “You can’t take sour Winder milk and mix it with fresh Winder milk and expect to still have fresh Winder milk!” I happened to work for Winder Dairy at the time, so I knew what was meant by "Winder milk," but to the majority of the students (90% of whom were from outside of Utah, many from other countries) “Winder milk” made no sense. They kept asking “What is a Winder?” Because to them, you had cow’s milk and goat’s milk, so apparently a Winder was something from which you could extract milk. Well, the teacher just kept ignoring their questions about Winder milk and saying, “It doesn’t matter! Just remember that you can’t get fresh Winder milk that way!” And I have no idea what that had to do with anything, so thank you, Higher Education). 

After I graduated from LDSBC, I didn't transfer to another school. I prayed about it and felt like I should wait (you can read more about how that turned out here).

A few years later, I was hired out of 26 applicants for a job in my local school district. One of the reasons I was selected was because I had an accounting certificate. I had to oversee the budgets for six different special education programs (among various other responsibilities that my education at LDSBC prepared me for). 

I didn't work at that job for very long, but while I was there, I put all the money I made in the bank (in response to another prompting). While all of this was happening, I was trying to have a baby and couldn't, so I thought I might be saving money for IVF or adoption. Instead, after a couple of years, we were blessed with Nicky, and the money I had put away was what allowed me to stay home and raise him. 

I'm now able to say, "Ah ha! That's why the Lord pushed me in that direction!" (I like when I get to see those things sooner rather than later, but there are plenty of life's whys that I'm still waiting to unfold). 

So for my son who asked, "Why accounting?" I didn't know it, but it was for you

Saturday, February 26, 2022

How I Study the Scriptures

When it comes to gospel study, I don't follow the same routine everyday, but it usually goes something like this - an actual scenario from Friday:

I have 12 tabs open in my gospel library app that I move back and forth between.

I decide I want to jot down some notes about Isaac and Rebekah. 

I grab a notebook from the bookshelf, drop it on the couch, then go into the kitchen to fetch a pen. The pen is purple. 


I go downstairs and get the freshly laundered sheets out of the dryer. I take them upstairs and put them on my bed.

I decide I should wash our pillows, and in prepping them for the laundry, I start to wonder whether I should replace two of them. I do a few online searches to see if the store still carries the pillows I like.

I remember that we have Saint Patrick's Day pillow cases for our kids, so I get those out and give them a little douse of Febreze so they don't smell like stuffy, old linen closet (not that I even have a linen closet - it's one of my house's biggest flaws).

I haul the pillows down to the basement for a wash. 

I go up to the kitchen and decide I want to listen to a Janet Jackson song. 

I tell Alexa to play the song. 

I jam to the song as I walk in the living room, where I see my notebook sitting on the couch and remember that I was going to write down some notes about Isaac and Rebekah. 

I can't find my purple pen. I get a different pen.

I jot down two bullet points before it's time to go pick up my girls from school.

Three hours later I find my purple pen sitting on the dryer. 

I'm pretty sure this is how scholars are made.

Friday, February 25, 2022

Living the Dream

When I was a kid, I used to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory a lot. I'm not sure why, though, because I remember being really scared of Willy Wonka on the boat in the tunnel, and I was troubled by Augustus Gloop going up the chocolate pipe, and let's not even mention those oopma loompas! (I was also terrified of Dumbo, E.T., and Gremlins, but I watched those all the time, too, and even carried around a stuffed Gizmo). 

Anyway, from Willy Wonka, I developed two childhood dreams - neither of which had anything to do with going to a chocolate factory.

The first dream was to hang out in bed like Charlie's grandparents. I thought this looked so fun! I remember watching the movie and thinking that was the life - to just sit in bed all day foot to foot with three other people. 

WHAT?!?

I tell ya, Kid Britt was wiggety whack! 


I've since decided that this is no longer my dream. I'm also kind of mad at Grandpa Joe for being an invalid for years but suddenly being able to hop out of bed to go eat candy. That's pretty sketchy, Joe.


My other childhood dream from watching Willy Wonka was to stir laundry with a big paddle. 


I can't explain it. Here's a movie about a kid who gets to go to a chocolate factory full of treats beyond his wildest dreams, and four-year-old me is like, "This makes me want to stir a boiling vat of laundry with a big stick!"

Earlier this week I got to fulfill that dream. While I was setting up for my brother-in-law's funeral luncheon, I was putting table cloths on the tables, and a lot of them had stains. I went to the Relief Society closet to find more table cloths and found more and more with stains. I've helped with a few funerals over the past few months in my ward, and I've also borrowed the table cloths for personal use, so I feel like I've become very close to those table cloths and their stains - enough so that I could even tell you which stains were from the most recent event. 

Long story short, in looking at the stains, I wondered how many of them could be fixed with a little TLC, so I started hauling all the table cloths out to my van so I could take them home. Scotty has learned to just go with it and not ask too many questions, but I know in his mind, he was going, "Oh great... what is she doing now?"

I brought home 26 table cloths and spot treated them. Then that night, I put them in my bathtub and soaked them overnight in OxiClean white revive. 

Because of the large amount of table cloths, I had to find a big stirring stick, so I took my broom apart and used the broom handle. 


I stirred the table cloths around every hour or so and texted my sister-in-law that I was fulfilling my childhood dream!

Not sure what she though my childhood dream was... but I informed her of the inspiring laundry-stirring ways of Charlie Bucket and his mother, and she seemed mostly supportive. 

Anyway, I accidentally broke my broom handle, and now I know for next time that the wooden oar in our garage is probably a better option. 

I spent all day Tuesday washing and drying the table cloths, and then sorting them into "Relief Society Quality" and "Elders' Quorum Quality." Then I watched Hamilton whilst folding them. 


Full disclosure, at the time this photo was taken, I was just laying on the floor being lazy, but at least I folded some table cloths before I gave in. 

And thus my dream was fulfilled, and 26 table cloths are a little bit whiter, albeit not perfect, but the treatment did wonders! 


Thursday, February 24, 2022

20 Questions

1. Do you prefer writing with black ink or blue ink?

Black

2. If you could learn a new skill, what would it be?

To play the fiddle and to rap battle

3. What was your favorite book as a child?

There isn't just one book, but some that come to mind are The Boxcar Children, Wait Till Helen Comes, and The Witches. 

4. Do you prefer reading paper or electronic books?

I love both. There's something fun about picking up a copy of a book from the library and watching the pages turn and progress as you read. But I also love the ease of e-books, and I love that when I use the Kindle app, I can touch a word and look up the definition, see the percentage of the book I have read, and highlight passages and have them linked to my Goodreads account so I can look back at them any time, even after the book has been sucked back into the library's e-book vortex. Also, e-books are great companions for late nights when I need to keep the lights low so my posterity can sleep. 

5. What is your favorite item of clothing?

Hoodies and stretchy pants

6. Do you like your name? Would you ever change it?

I used to hate my name. Brittany is a stuck up name, and growing up, there were often girls named Brittany in shows who were bratty and mean (Alvin and the Chipmunks and Recess to name a few). But now I'm pretty indifferent about it. I wouldn't change it because that's too big a decision to make. I've named four humans already. I don't need to name myself. 

7. What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

Hot dogs and hamburgers with peanut butter on them

8. What can you see outside your bedroom window?

Pretty boring stuff. My yard. My neighbor's yard. An ugly tree. A road. 

9. Do you keep a journal?

Yes. I've always been a documenter. Journals, notebooks, photographs, blogs... It comes very natural to me to keep records of things. 

10. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy?

Crunchy

11. Do you like ice in your drinks?

Yes unless it's canned or bottled soda because it just goes flat over ice. If I go to an event and they serve room temperature 2 liters next to a bowl full of ice, I'm not even tempted. 

But water? Yes to ice! Fountain drinks? Yes to ice!

(FYI, I'm currently soda sober... again). 

12. Do you like reading? What was the last thing you read?

Do I like reading?

Yes. Yes, I do!

Today I finished a book called Doll-Baby by Laura Lane McNeal. I'm almost done with I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys, which I started yesterday. 

13. What would you do if you found $50 on the ground?

Assuming I get to keep it and still be considered a moral person, I would treat myself to lunch and then hightail it to Ross to buy new salt and pepper shakers* and a doormat. 

14. What can you hear right now?

A pulsing in my left ear due to fluid (see #40) unless I tip my head to the side and the fluid shifts

15. What word best describes you?

Annoyed

16. Do you like spicy food?

Mild spice is okay. Just a little hint of heat. I can't handle much. 

17. What do you regret the most?

Not learning how to play the piano

18. What is your dream job?

Choreographer, author, therapist, and audiobook narrator all in one. I also think it would be awesome to be a licensed therapist slash hairdresser so I can make people look good and sneak some therapy into them, but I don't actually like doing hair. 

19. What do you hate to spend money on?

Spices! They are so expensive. Today I had to buy 4 bottles of obscure spices, and it cost me over $20! Every time I have to add a spice to my grocery list, I cry a little inside. I get them from the bulk bins at WinCo whenever I can. 

20. What time do you wake up in the morning?

75% of the time I wake up between 5:00-5:30. My ideal wake-up time would probably be 6:30, but my bladder doesn't hold that long, and if I wake up after 4:00 a.m., I have a hard time going back to sleep.


*If you know about the great salt and pepper shaker Christmas scandal of 2015, I must inform you that the lid of my salt shaker broke a few weeks ago, and I am now again in the market for new S&P shakers about which I am extremely picky. 

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

February Reads

February is almost over, and even though there are still a few days left, I wanted to go ahead and post my book list for the month. Here are the books I finished in February in order:

A Familiar Sight by Briana Labuskes

Source: e-book from Amazon First Reads

Summary: People are dead, someone is missing, a child psychopath is being held for murder, and a sociopath consultant steps in to figure it all out. 

Content: A little PG-13, but quite mild in language and violence for this genre

Review: ***

Final statement: Meh.


The Daughters of Foxcote Manor by Eve Chase

Source: audiobook

Summary: A multi-generational gothic tale in which Sylvie, who was abandoned in the woods as a baby, discovers her origins.

Content: Some sexual content

Review: ****

Final statement: This book reminded me a lot of Kate Morton’s novels but about 200 pages shorter!


The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright

Source: e-book

Summary: Chellamuthu is kidnapped and sold to an orphanage and then sent to America to be adopted. Based on a true story.

Content: Grandma stamp of approval

Review: ****

Final statement: I avoided this book for years for dumb reasons. It’s really an amazing story, and if you read it, be sure to follow up with some interviews with Taj. 


Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate

Source: audiobook 

Summary: Katie cares for her grandmother in her final months and learns from her grandma’s example and life experiences. 

Content: Squeaky clean

Review: ****

Final statement: This is a slower-paced book and quite sweet.


The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester


Source:
“Reader’s Choice” shelf at the library

Summary: A story about female pilots in WWII with an haute couture mystery. 

Content: Wartime violence and circumstances, some sexual content, and 6 instances of strong language (which is so weird to me because other than those 6 'F' bombs, there's really no other language).

Review: ****

Final statement: This book was not at all what I would have expected from the cover. 


The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel 


Source:
audiobook

Summary: A young woman, who was kidnapped as a baby and raised in the forest, uses her knowledge of the wilderness to help save a group of Jewish refugees. 

Content: A couple of sexual encounters

Review: ****

Final statement: I accidentally read two WWII books in a row again.


Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane


Source:
audiobook (another "Reader's Choice" selection)

Summary: Lila kills her husband after uncovering a secret... but wait! What if he's not actually dead?

Content: Some language and sex

Review:***

Final Statement:  I'm very undecided as to how I feel about this book, so three stars is usually a safe rating. 


Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde


Source: paperback from the library

Summary: A teenage boy befriends a 92-year-old blind woman. 

Content: I would let my grandma read this. 

Review: *****

Final Statement: I went into this book with no expectations, as it's not a popular title, and I really liked it. 


Let's Talk About the Book of Abraham by Kerry Muhlestein


Source: audiobook on Deseret Bookshelf Plus

Summary: A quick book in which Dr. Muhlestein reviews some of the theories as to where the Book of Abraham may have come from. 

Content: Scholarly, historical stuff that makes your brain hurt

Review: five stars for the research, three stars for my actual interest in most of the content

Final statement: I read this book the week that we began studying Abraham in Come Follow Me. I was expecting more of a commentary on the stories of Abraham rather than the history of how the text became part of our canonized scriptures.

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright


Source: e-book

Summary: A Cambodian woman living in a municipal dump learns to read in hopes that doing so will help her save her chronically ill child. 

Content: Grandma-friendly

Review: 3.9 stars 

Final statement: Of the two Camron Wright books I read this month, I liked The Orphan Keeper slightly better. 

The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester


Source: audiobook

Summary: A tale with two timelines - one with Estella in the 1940's trying to make her way in the fashion world of New York after feeling France, the other with Fabienne discovering the truth about her grandma's past. 

Content: Sex (but be happy for the characters because, as seems to be the case in many books, it was the best sex ever, and they never knew it could be like that! So they had to do it all the time). 

Review: 3.5 stars

Final statement: This was a good book, but it also had some plot elements that had me rolling my eyes. 

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The book I'm most likely to recommend for February is:









Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Twelve Things from the Past Week

For the past week, I’ve been on the run non-stop. It’s been a bit hectic. I’m very much looking forward to a few hours of calm on Wednesday while my kids are at school (then when they come home, we have all our Wednesday stuff - choir, dance class, work meetings, and youth activities). At the end of every Wednesday, you can find me laying on my bed staring at the ceiling, oblivious to the sounds of my children running wild on every level of my house because I’ve completely shut down from exhaustion and blocked out their existence. But Wednesday during school? Bliss. 

Here are twelve things that have gone on in the past week:

1. My brother-in-law passed away in a car accident 

2. I was super sick and blogged about how I was feeling better only to discover right after I hit “publish” that I was not better at all, and I spent two more days suffering 

3. We upgraded Nicky from a Gabb phone to an iPhone, but there were problems getting the new phone activated, so we spent an hour on the phone and then two hours at the AT&T store while they tried to figure out what was wrong (they never figured it out, so we had to start from scratch)

4. I had an eye exam and ordered new glasses

5. We learned how to play Viticulture

6. I helped clean up someone else’s throw-up in the middle of church

7. We had a funeral 

8. I soaked 26 white table cloths overnight in my bathtub in a whitening treatment, then washed and folded them

9. My kids had no school Monday or Tuesday - thus we experienced four straight days of “I’m bored,” “Can we go to McDonald’s?” “Can I play on your phone?” and fight after fight after fight.

10. I took my girls to get haircuts and Nicky to his dental check-up

11. We had 2.5 social events (the .5 is one we cleaned our house and cooked dinner for and then had to cancel)

12. I bought a bookshelf from the DI, hauled it home, cleaned it up, and dragged it upstairs into Zoe and Eva’s room

I’m tired. 



Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Lately...

In health...

Today I feel like a million bucks. I just got over a tummy bug that lent me a weekend (and a Monday) of pure misery, so to wake up today feeling a little more normal is cause to rejoice! I plan to celebrate by going to an eye exam and possibly taking a trip to the thrift store (depending on my energy level - I've been pretty fatigued and likely won't have any energy left after 10:00 a.m., but I feel amazing regardless).

One of my New Year's resolutions for this year is to get an annual physical - which I tend to never do. I called and scheduled it yesterday, so I feel like a champion. I anticipated being scheduled about 6-8 weeks out, as tends to be the way of annual physicals, but nah. It's over three months from now! 

In puzzles...

Here are some of the puzzles we've done in the past few weeks (and by "we," I mostly mean "me" because right now, I'm the dominant puzzle builder. We take turns. Sometimes Scotty will do most (or all) of a puzzle, and other times I do most (or all) of a puzzle).

This one was a gift from my friend Cassie

This one was a gift from my friend Shannon

I bought this one while Scotty was on Brocation a few weeks ago

This one was a gift from my sister-in-law Amber

The puzzle above was missing four pieces and had two sets of duplicate pieces.  


A lot of puzzle companies are great to replace puzzles when pieces are missing, so I checked their web site and found their replacement policy. They sent out a new (but different) puzzle, which I started building yesterday.


In holidays...

Zoe is obsessed with Groundhog Day. Last year, she insisted on going to school dressed like a groundhog. I wondered is this going to be a thing? Sure enough, it is a thing, and I was required to provide groundhog hats and masks for both Zoe and Eva this year.

-----

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I can report the following:

Nicky remains single.

We only had to make one Valentine's Day box.

It's an axolotl

I wanted to make a fancy and fun Valentine's Day dinner for my family, but since I wasn't feeling well, we had Kraft macaroni and cheese, which in all honesty, was more of a hit than anything I could have made. Because kids.

I bought the board game Viticulture for Scotty's and my Valentine gift. 

I wanted something Valentine-y to hang on my front door, but I couldn't find anything I liked, so I got a Christmas wreath on clearance at Michaels for $5 and slapped some heart ribbon on it. 


-----

Since Easter is later in April this year, I feel like there's actually time to decorate for Saint Patrick's Day! I'm not making it a priority, but if I happen to stumble upon a cute shamrock doohickey, I might just go for it!

(I do have two Saint Patrick's Day decorations in a box somewhere).

In parenting...

Sigh... 

I can't even.

In learner's permits...

Nicky has his learner's permit and is learning the ways of the road. I usually let him drive home from school everyday, and sometimes we take little detours. Yesterday I had him go through the drive-thru at McDonald's (gotta teach those important life skills!) and then I had him go through the car wash where I let him eat his spicy mcchicken behind the wheel. 

So many milestones happening around here!

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Things the Kids Say: Episode 14

Zoe: Mom, what's rum?

Me: It's a kind of alcohol.

Zoe: So hand sanitizer?

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"I'm never going to grow a beard because if I drive a motorcycle, I won't be aerodynamic."

-Nicky (who has refused to shave his face since Christmas and currently has a creepy, little mustache)

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Me (reading a news headline): "U.S. Surgeons Transplant Pig Heart Into Human Patient"

Nicky: So he's part bacon?

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"I have the power to smell butts from far away."

-Eva

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"I realized that people like me more when I'm not being annoying."

-Nicky

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"Mom, you better get used to us being naked because we're cats now!"

-Zoe

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"Grandma, when you die, I need you to tell me what it's like to be dead."

-Eva

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"Mom, you look older than normal."

-Nicky

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"What's up with this sassy grandma music?"

-Zoe, while listening to "Shoop" by Salt-N-Pepa 

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"Who's this sassy, old lady?"

-Zoe, while listening to "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga 

(there is so much old lady sass around here)

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"I like [Uncle] Tim's new look. He looks like he's from a sitcom."

-Nicky, when Tim grew a beard


Monday, February 7, 2022

I Have a Lot to Say About Waffles (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: I'm not normally a cold person, but today I'm cold. Luckily it's not the "oh no, I'm getting sick" type of cold. I'm just cold. Brrr!

Fact #2: Today I had one goal - make waffles! I have succeeded. Holla. 

Fact #3: I don't like waffles much, and I don't really like making them, but I have some waffle-loving kids (Zoe in particular). I also have several bags of pancake/waffle mix from the Food Bank that need to be used up, so I've been making large batches of mini waffles to freeze. 

I made a big batch last weekend, too, and they've already been eaten.

Fact #4: One of my COVID 2020 purchases was two mini waffle irons, and they come in handy for this.

Fact #5: Now Zoe is happy because she has waffles galore. I am happy because I can repeatedly say, "Go eat a waffle" whilst laying on the couch doing nothing. 

Fact #6: Couldn't you just buy Eggos? Yes, I could. But 1) Zoe specifically asks for "waffles that are not Eggos," and 2) I'm using up stuff that needs to be used up.

Believe me, I'm not above buying Eggos!

Fact #7: We went to see Hamilton over the weekend! I thought for sure one of us would get COVID and not be able to go, but we all made it! 

Fact #8: It was fabulous, of course, but of the three times I've seen it on stage, this was my least favorite cast and the worst seats. 

Fact #9: That night, I brushed my teeth in the dark, and I accidentally used my face scrub instead of toothpaste. 

It was absolutely awful. I could not get the taste out of my mouth even after switching to actual toothpaste. 


Fact #10: I love the song and music video for the Church's youth theme this year: Trust in the Lord. Give it a watch! 

Thursday, February 3, 2022

The Word

Last Tuesday:


Last Friday & Saturday:




Monday & Tuesday of this week:


Yesterday: