Lunch

I took my little sisters to lunch today. Emma is the youngest. She is ten. We all ate A LOT of food. She turned to me and said, "I now know what adults mean when they say they are too full to go jump on the trampoline."

Stout Christmas Party

I did a post for my family blog with a play by play of the family talent show we had on the 21. It was so fun! If you want to see it, go here.

Grammy-cakes' Christmas Present

Each year, my mom's family all goes over to my grandma's (Grammy-cakes as I more often call her) for Christmas dinner. She is a fabulous cook. She is so good in fact that she spend a lot of her time catering. She is quite renowned for a lot of things, actually. Like cinnamon rolls. And eclairs. And scones. And lots of other things. Anyway, after dinner, we open gifts. Last year, I watched as all the grand-kids openned their piles of gifts. All she handed me was an envelope. I was a little bit confused but she didn't let me open it until all the gift openning was done. I have a really hard time waiting to open things that are addressed to me, so it was a chore to wait, let me tell you. Well, I opened the card (which was what my mom and two aunts also received) and inside was an invitation to join her at 6:00 a.m. for the Macy's day after Christmas sale and for breakfast! I felt like a snot because I was the only grandkid that got invited to go, but that wasn't going to stop me from going! It was such a fun morning. Not only were there absolutely fabulous sales, but I got to go shopping with my grandma, my mom, and my aunts. They can be so crazy! I have never seen three women shopping so furiously in my life!
This year, we got the same invitation, except my sister and cousin got to come. That made it even more fun! Alana wandered around with only a pair of shorts for the first hour. I hadn't really noticed because I had turned crazy like my mom and aunts. But then I went around and helped her get all caught up, mostly because she liked a lot of what I got so I just ran back and got some for her. It was such a fun morning. I felt kind of bad for the sales associates because she had to call for back-up and it still took forever to ring everything up. The aunts still went crazy, though my mom seemed to reign things in this year. But I guess it's not hard to be going nuts wehn evrything you like is only $5! I love Macy's!

Surprise Call

So yesterday I got into the office and I had six, yes SIX!, phone messages! That never happens! Most of the time, I have one, maybe two, or none. Anyway, one of them was from one of the bosses asking me to check on the status of an order. So I naturally called the company with receipt in hand. They picked up after the first ring, which is unusual. "Hmm," I thought to myself. Then a recording of a woman's sultry voice came on. "Whoa!" I thought yelled to myself. I had misdialed and reached an escort service! That will teach ME to start paying attention when I am dialing!

Ice Cream Cones

I always wondered how ice cream cones were made. Now I know... I must give credit to the BFF. She sent this to me in 2003. I jsut haven't been able to get rid of it.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I ask for nothing for myself. I just ask that you give my mother a son-in-law.

Sincerely,

Amanda

Red Sweat Pants

I wear a red fleece blanket (thanks Katie!) wrapped around my waist at work. That way, when I walk around the office, I am still wearing my blanket. It's like a fleecy skirt. I get super cold. It keeps me snuggly warm. Well today, a kid from high school came into the office. You know, one of those really good looking guys that never even knew you existed back then. But then they recognize you later and you think "What in the heck? You DID know I existed!" Well, we chat every now and again these days. He does business with the boss. Anyway, he spotted my red lower half. I stood up and he let out a sigh of relief. Then he said "Oh good! I thought those were red sweat pants and I was thinking 'Wow! You are really just letting yourself go!'" Red sweat pants? Really? I have never owned a pair of red sweat pants.

Coldy Woldy

I have never been one to enjoy cold weather. And yet, I have lived my whole life in places that have frigid temperatures in the winter time. Utah: the best snow on earth. That is, if you like to ski. I used to love to ski. My dad took us up almost every weekend when I was in fifth or sixth grade. I was a little hot dogger. Then I didn't go again until I was a junior in high school. This boy asked me on a date and we went to Alta (he was a big time skier). While he was going down black diamonds, the wind was blowing me over while I was standing in line to get up the bunny hill. No longer a hot dogger. I never did like hot dogs... I decided I would no longer embarass myself by going skiing. Then I went to Poland. Freezing cold Poland. It was negative a million degrees for six whole months. I would sometimes wear five layers of clothing. And I was still freezing. I think that is where my hatred blowy cold weather was solidified. Sometimes I will walk outside and freeze - not from the cold weather - but from fear that I will have to go tracting. Don't get me wrong, I loved tracting. My trainer somehow tricked me into liking it, which was a good thing because we spent a lot of time doing it. But tracting meant that we had to spend a lot of time outside. And this was a real problem. You see, I was told that I should buy boots in Poland because they would make them especially for their climate. Well, that was really good advice...for people who don't have sasquatch feet! My feet were too big, so my ankles were exposed for the duration of the winters. Also, three months before I went home, the zipper on my heavy coat broke. So, rather than buying a new one, I used my spring coat. Bad idea. So I guess it really is my own fault I don't like cold weather. But I guess we are in for the long haul. I suppose I should buy some boots this year since Americans make allowances for sasquatch people among them. I just hope I don't have too many more terrifying moments where I think I have to go knock doors...

Festival of Trees

Thursday last week, I dragged Mason to The Festival of Trees. I never seem to hear about things that are going on in the community. I suppose that is the result of "hermitage" but we'll never know. Anyway, my friend informed me that there was a tree donated in honor of his brother. So, I really wanted to see it. I just have to say that I cannot believe that I have never been to the Festival of Trees! I went once when my sister played the piano but I didn't really know what the event was for. All of the trees are donated, decorated, and then sold. Entry to the festival is $4. All proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital. I was an emotional basket case. I couldn't help but cry when I saw pictures of those for whom the trees were donated. Mostly they were or had been patients of the hospital. I love Primary Children's. I love the statues and the art. I love that it is a place especially for kids.

This was my favorite tree. It was called "On the Reef" or something like that. It is made of rocks with sticks connecting it. It was so amazing! It would have been even cooler if they had turned it into a fountain... But I think that would have been going a little overboard.
Mason was scared of the Grinch tree with the large Grinch. I told him it wasn't real, but sometimes there is no convincing that boy of anything. I tell you what.

I am grateful that there are so many people who are willing to volunteer their time and donate to such a wonderful cause. I think next year I will have to venture out and figure out where to sign up to volunteer.

From the Brink of Death

This is my office plant. I inherited it when I started working here a year and one month ago today. Thats the longest I have consecutively held the same job. But never fear, I was a student before then and a meanderer moving from place to place. So I had a reason. Anyway, this first picture is of one of the three depraved nubs that made up the office plant when I arrived. As you can see, this one hasn't really recovered. It keeps growing more little nubs. I found it dry as a bone and on "the brink of death."
I'm a little bit weird. I feel bad for plants. When trees are cut down, it makes me sad. (We have a fake Christmas tree). I really hate forest fires because all the plants die.
So when I saw the condition of my poor little inherited office plant, I had to start operation plant revival. Ok, so all I did was water it and set it by the window so it could enjoy the limited sunlight. But look at it now! It's a little champ! AND it has four blossoms. Blossoms! It's nice to know that my plant revival and the recyling I am doing at work is making my office a little more green. And now we won't be labeled office plant killers.

I'm not sure how to make it stop leaning so much. "Lucy, is this guy bothering you? It looks like he is leaning." I rotate it so the sun hits different parts. Meh, I dunno.

The Shunning

A few weeks ago, my bishop got up to make an announcement. He started off by talking about how when the ward went to Nauvoo last year, they also visited Amish country. Apparently, they have a custom of "shunning" when someone has done something wrong. That person is singled out in the congregation and everyone else is to "shun" them until punishment is satisfactory. Well, he and his wife had been in the airport returning home when his wife picked her sunglasses up off the register counter and put them in her purse. When she arrived home, she realized that said sunglasses were, in fact, mistakenly stolen. His announcement was that we all needed to shun her until the meeting was over.