Monday, February 28

oh duh

i say a lot of dumb things 
most the time i don't even realize how silly i sound 
a couple days ago we were driving down 3rd west 
we had just been to target and were heading north 
if you've ever driven you know that some parts of that street are sketchy 
particularly once you cross the railroad tracks 
at that point most of the stores are 
small car shops, mexican restaurants, and run down furniture stores
well in the middle of now where is this darling cookie shop
MyDoughGirl.jpg 

amanda: 'sam don't you think that little cookie shop is out of place'
sam: 'where?'
he's not nearly as observant 
amanda while pointing:'over there the one that says doug h girl'
that's a weird name don't you think?? 
what do you think it stands for 
doug hit girl 
doug hump girl 
doug her girl 
hm.... 
sam: 'actually babe i thinks it dough girl'
amanda: 'yeah your probably right, duh!'

Saturday, February 26

and so we fought

I don't want this blog to be a 'look at me i'm so cool' blog
or a 'my life sucks, feel sorry for me blog'
i hope that i never come across like i'm bragging or looking for attention
that's not my intention ever
i use this blog to share random thoughts and events
and am really sorry if it ever comes across any other way

tuesday i finished "the help"
it was a fantastic book
it came out a year ago and i've been wanting to read it for about that long
if you haven't read it, do you'll love it
so thursday i started another book.
(i've really been loving to read while doing the elliptical or bike lately)
my mom gave me and all my siblings a book on communicating


it's specifically about communicating in 'critical conversations'
as i read the beginning pages the book nailed 5 situations i'd been in recently
so after i had put in my time on the elliptical i packed up and headed home

all week i'd been looking forward to thursday
mr. r had 3 test plus a quiz on thursday and i couldn't wait to have him back
i expected him to be ready to hang-out, catch up etc.
but he wasn't
he was drained and incompetent
one bad comment lead to another and all the sudden we're both so upset
pretty much over nothing
our fights are always pretty mild
and we never go to bed mad at each other, we try to but never can
everything just spun out of control
we were literally fighting about nothing
the worse part about being married to mr r. 
is he is the most wonderful sensitive man
he's always the one to come and make things right
i'm the prideful brat every time
it's usually my fault we are in a tiff anyways
and he always fixes it

good thing i'm reading a book on how to communicate better!!
i have to add
we have friends who claim they have never fought
which is amazing
but sometimes i'm grateful for these little tiffs
we've probably only had 1-2/year married
but they make us so much stronger
after we work it out the unity is a little bit stronger
our love a little bit deeper
and our understanding for each other that much better

Tuesday, February 22

declutter

I must have spring fever(who doesn't) because I can't wait to get home and clean
Spring cleaning
I love our little house but it lacks in storage
we have one tiny hole in the wall 'closet' which barely fits our coats alone
we've had to get creative and be organized in order to find space for anything
well as we all know organization is a constant thing
you can't just organize once and be done forever
what happens when you buy something new??
you have to find a place for it
well it's time to pull out the drawers, open the cupboards
i have to empty them all out
and make my piles
keep, donate, trash
i always have the hardest time knowing what to keep
so what I haven't worn it for a year-it's the top I wore to christmas dance in 2002
which was also my first anthropologie experience
this is a pretty pathetic example
here's another;
I have a stuffed animal(I know I said this wasn't pathetic)
it's my first recollection of buying something for myself
my mom had me save enough money to buy it
sometimes I think I should never get rid of it... but what should I do with it?
what if somebody else could love it?

how do you decide if you can get rid of something?
not just clothes, but letters, tokens, things from your childhood etc.?
or if you've decided to keep them what are you doing with them?



Thursday, February 17

saying goodbye

a week ago I said good-bye to cardiac rehab
you know how when you have a birthday you don't really feel any older 
it was similar i didn't really feel any different 
and i still don't 

i loved walking up to the trax stop each morning 
the world is so peaceful during that 7-8 o'clock hour
not to mention beautiful
i love watching the sun rise
however on days like today, after a fresh 2-3 inches of snow i don't miss walking

i loved helping people 
typically you get two types of patients 
those that are grouchy and mean because they are sick and in a hospital 
and those who are pleasant, patient and willing to do what you ask
i'll miss both types 
i enjoyed the challenge of making the grouchy ones like you 
and i enjoyed the ones who thought you were bff whenever you knocked on their door

i had some great coworkers
they threw me a fantastic going away party 
after i showed sam my presents and told him about it
he told me i should have quit long ago... 

Tuesday, February 15

discovery

this week i downloaded my first app
when i first got my itouch sam downloaded every app i could ever need
and more 
but he missed one
and it's my new favorite
if you have an iphone or itouch you gotta check it out 
it's called the 
nike training club 
there are four different components for training available 
 
the workouts are hard!
they are great for being at home 
you can do them with little equipment or no equipment 
it tells you what to do while letting you listen to your music at the same time
it has video clips if you aren't sure how to preform a move 
and it has three levels 
the more you use it the more you earn tips and feedback for nutrition and exercise 
i'm really excited to be able to run to the track 
and then do a workout outside 
make sure you check it out 
you won't be disappointed!

Sunday, February 13

birthday 2011

i had a birthday not too long ago 
i can't remember a time that i've felt so special as i did this year 
there wasn't one event that or gift that made me feel that way 
we didn't do anything to out of the ordinary

you know how sometimes your birthday turns in a birthweekend
we started celebrating last friday 
we went to our families favorite chinese restaurant 
it has a HUGE room where my entire family can fit 
the little kiddo's can run around and don't have to sit still the entire time
the food is delicious 
sam loved eating left-over chinese all week long
i love simple parties because if allows you time to talk and hang-out 
i got to sit next to my grandma 
she made me feel special by bringing me a favorite birthday treat 
kolache's 
you probably haven't ever had one or heard of one 
it's a pastry and it's declicious, i had four 
apple, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry 
(singing 'underwater style with all the kids)
sam surprised me with an afternoon of shopping 
we went to all my favorite stores 
i felt so lucky to find clothes that actual fit!
then he took me for a much needed polish change 
i was surprised when two of our closest friends joined us 
for dinner, dessert and games all night long 
we got addicted to just dance, and had to buy our own the next day

random people at church new it was my birthday 
they went out of their way to say it 
family and friends called and said the nicest things 
the richard's treated us to a delicious feast 
mama richards made both desserts that i suggested 
they were so yummy
(the richards' have the tradition to say why you love the person 
who's birthday it is, luke loved me because I'm his brodder) so cute!
everyone's presents and comments were thoughtful 
heart felt sincere comments that melted my heart 
my last birthday treat... 
one of my YW and a leader surprised me with chocolate fondu!
i scraped the bowl clean. 

i hope this isn't a brag post 
i'm writing the way i did mostly for myself 
selfish i know
but i was so touched this year 
and that's what i want to remember the most 
how much love i felt.

thank you thank you thank you!

Wednesday, February 9

the red rocks

have you ever been to see the REDROCKS??!

they are fantastic!
it's no surprise that they get more spectators than utah basketball

 they play really fun music all meet long
everyone dances and cheers
the girls are extremely talented
the team is ranked in the top 5

well guess what??!
it's your lucky day
I have a stack of free tickets
you want one??

2-11 Washington
2-18 Michigan
3-4 Florida

Monday, February 7

random

I think it was pretty obvious
 that with the new year I had high hopes to blog more frequently 
I loved re-reading a years worth of posts 
it's so convenient to have the story and pictures together in one spot 
so I tried to put my 'people pleaser' behind me 
I tried to not worry so much about what people thought about my post 
I tried to stop competing with some of my favorite blogs to read 
and I tried really hard to just be me (why can that be so hard??)
writing what's important to me 

well it's been 3 whole days since I have written a post! ;) 
and I'm too lazy to upload the pictures from the weekend 
but I have a few random thoughts that have been passing through me today 

it was my birthday and it was one of the best birthday's i've ever had
(more later)
today I thought for sure my fish, Red was dead 
our stairs are finally completed, come on over!
I have just one day left at cardiac rehab, I hope I can get through it 
my friend went into labor today, 
and I can't wait for the time that I get to experience that feeling
(not an announcement)
our power was out for about 3 hours today, of course right when the sun went down  
resulted in reading my book using 2 candles while sitting on the floor 
and I'm totally experiencing an extreme weekend hangover

Hope you had a happy monday!! 

posts to come: 
birthday
menus 
what i'll miss about work

Thursday, February 3

don't come knocking on my door

I came home from work yesterday
with our stair well leading to our door looking similar to this..
nobody was around to explain what was going on 
and considering it was 20 degrees outside 
waiting around outside wasn't an option I had to get in
I climbed over our railing and carefully lowered myself into the pile of mess
later that day I heard a lot of noise outside the kitchen window 
mr. s was climbing in the window
so for the rest of the day we used the window to get in and out

I wonder what our neighbors thought
we'd have to walk through their yard to get to our window 
for all you criminals our window is locked and the screen back in tack
because now we have this to get in and out instead
we have to keep the tarp covering it unless we need access to our door 
it is such a pain to move the huge, seriously huge dirty and kinda heavy tarp 
so I do ninja moves every time I come and go.

their replacing our top four stairs because they were falling apart
makes me grateful for full functioning stairs 
everything is so much harder when you have to propel yourself to get out the door 
all the sudden taking the garbage out is the hardest chore
but good news the cement should hopefully be dry tomorrow 
our stairwell should be good as new(literally)

Wednesday, February 2

happy groundhog day

february 2nd, happy groundhog day
I don't think that the groundhog ever predicts winter's over 
but it's a fun tradition 
and with the 20 degree weather outside I think I could predict that winter's not over 
here are some classic flicks from 'groundhog day' 
thanks to my brother for always watching it