A few thoughts

• The key to moving past listening to only Christmas music is to switch immediately to show tunes. I recommend Mamma Mia or the Legally Blonde the Musical soundtrack or whatever your favorite happens to be.
• USA is showing a day long marathon of the movie "Elf" today. "You sit on a throne of lies" is probably one of my most favorite lines. If you need to smile today, go turn it on.
• I still haven't sent out my Christmas cards. I'm annoyed with myself but I can't figure out what sort of letter to include. I will mail them. I just don't know when.
• My holiday break has been very relaxing. I haven't shopped once. I've cleaned stuff that needed cleaning. I've watched a ton of DVDs. I've had lots of fun play time with friends. I'm working on my second jigsaw puzzle. I really really really don't want to go back to work on Friday.
• I've decided I am a low-brow baker, not a fancy baker. I can't do the ganache thing. Just give me a normal butter/powdered sugar/a little milk frosting and I'm happy.
• Speaking of that, does anyone have an idea what I can do with a bowl of chocolate ganache? I really hate to toss it after all of the work it took to make it.
• And still speaking of food, I really enjoy watching the Barefoot Contessa. She has that "Martha" vibe but I also think she'd be fun to hang out with. Rachael Ray? She just looks mean even with the "I'm so cute" grin. I really love the Food Network, by the way.
• My friends invited me out to dinner with them tonight: two married couples and me. For some reason, it just feels weird so I'm meeting up with them afterward for dessert and games. New Year's Eve is just such a "date" holiday to me -- not my favorite.
• Have I mentioned that I don't want to go back to work on Friday?

I'm no longer dreaming of a White Christmas

It snowed most of the day on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. I can't believe we had an actual white Christmas. Here I am at my mom's house on Christmas Day.


It's beautiful but driving is a mess and now it's raining/sleeting. I'll be glad when I can pull into my parking lot without worrying about whether or not I'll get stuck.

Christmas was relaxing and fun. After the presents, we ate leftovers from our Christmas Eve family party, watched movies and I did a puzzle. Here are pics of me and a few of my favorite presents. My dear friend Kim got me this WAY cute Brighton purse. I can hardly wait for spring/summer to use it!

My sister gave me the gift card to CPK and my mom got me the new Guitar Hero. My cute niece Makenna had to slide into every picture she could (and she's the girl who used to only let her mom photograph her.)

Callie gave me this super fun game. It's kind of like Monopoly and Settlers of Catan all rolled up into one. Plus it's based in the Washington farmlands. I mean, how can you go wrong with that??? I want to play it again now.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

As a little gift to you, my lovely blog friends, I'm sharing my most favorite Santa picture ever. It's my nephew Jaxen (not quite 1) my sister Jaylene and my niece Makenna (2.) Let's hope you and yours are a little happier than Makenna when Santa arrives tonight:

With lots of love from snowy (yes it's snowing again -- another 3-4 inches just this morning!) Washington,

Jeanelle

I love Barry Manilow.

I'm not sure if I've admitted my deep, abiding love and affection for Barry Manilow on my blog but it's true. I totally love him. I heard his new Christmas song on the radio this morning and immediately downloaded it off of Amazon. It's so fun, cheery and happy. Yes, it will be on my 2009 Christmas Mix!

Here's part of the song when he was on Jimmy Kimmel recently. Watch this and go download it. You know you wanna!

Weekend Roundup

I braved the ice and snow on Friday and drove in to work. The only people in my office were my boss, another VP and me. My boss and I did my performance review - it went great. He let me leave early too which is always a bonus. I finished my shopping and picked up groceries, in anticipation of being snowed in at some point during the weekend.

After blogging on Saturday morning (I still can't believe I posted a pic of myself w/o makeup!), I went to brunch at Salty's with two very dear friends, Ida and Lily. We started this tradition last year as our Christmas gift to each other and it's such a treat. The food is amazing and the views of Seattle are incredible. The best part was when we left, our waiter said he was surprised we ate so little considering how long we stayed. Girls always like to be told we're dainty eaters. Here we are with one of the many nutrackers they have throughout the restaurant during the holidays:

It started snowing Saturday at about 3 PM and by the time I had to leave for tithing settlement and our ward's Christmas party, it was like a blizzard out there. I thought nobody would show up for the dinner and was amazed to find the entire gym filled even though there was about 4-5 inches of snow on the ground outside. (Snow is different in Western WA. Trust me.) We had a great time and nearly every college girl I love was there, which was wonderful. Including Callie:

Church was canceled today because of the snow. So I spent the day making fudge, another round of caramels (praying I didn't mess them up again!), more caramel chex mix, and Oreo truffles while watching movies on my laptop (love multi-tasking.) The fudge is perfect AND I made it without a candy thermometer, thank you very much. We truly live in a winter wonderland right now. See below:

And finally, all of the lights on my tree have been staying lit. I love it.

My favorite things of 2008 -- my bed

I heart my bed.

It's not the bed frame/headboard that I love because it's nothing special and a hand-me-down. My bedding is pink/white/khaki stripes from Crate & Barrel and it's very cute but the thing I love most is my memory foam mattress topper.

Sleeping on it is just my idea of heaven. When I went to Hawaii, my sister's bed had one so I had to buy one as soon as I got home. I found this one at Costco. (Well, Kim picked it up for me -- thank you again Kimberly.)

They have a funny foamy odor at first but that goes away pretty quickly. Mine came with a mattress pad-like thing you put over it so the topper stays in place and doesn't shift off of your mattress. It makes my bed even taller, which I like. And even when you wake up at 6:30 AM on a day when you could sleep in, you still wake up looking like this.

I really, really love my bed.

Treats galore

This is how I've spent the last 36 hours:

Making one batch of caramels. Verdict: I made these last year and they were perfect. This year's batch looked great until I went to cut them today and they were hard as a rock. I should have asked Santa for the Williams-Sonoma digital candy thermometer. I'm trying to decide if I want to make another attempt after having to re-melt and throw away the first round.

Making one batch of Chinese Noodle Cookies. Verdict: awesome as usual. They are haystack type things with melted butterscotch & chocolate chips, chow mein noodles, rice krispies, peanuts and marshmallows.

Making two batches of toffee. Verdict: good and great. I didn't cook the first batch long enough so it's a little too blonde. Second batch is perfect. Easiest recipe ever: sugar, butter and water. It's pretty much no-fail. Ignore the crumbs on the counter and the accidental Hoody product placement (not used in the toffee.)

Making one batch of The Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Candy Cane cookies. Verdict: Eh. I like the way they look but the cookie is a little bland for my taste. I don't know that I'd make them again.

Making one batch of Peppermint Meltaways. Verdict: YUM. Excellent texture plus they're good a few days later.

Making one batch of peanut butter topped ritz crackers dipped in chocolate almond bark (they need a name.) Verdict: these totally rock.

Making two batches of Caramel Chex Mix. Verdict: Perfection. My coworkers are getting this for Christmas.

And it's been snowing most of the day with more on the horizon. Hopefully I'll be able to deliver all of this stuff sooner rather than later. And surprisingly, I've not felt like snacking. Maybe it's like when you work at Krispy Kreme, you lose your craving for their donuts?

My favorite things of 2008 -- best PBS Jane Austen movie

I was in heaven from January-April of 2008 because nearly every Sunday night, we were treated to a Jane Austen movie on PBS. I loved it! I watched all of them: Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey as well as Miss Austen Regrets (which was not my favorite - at all.)

It was difficult for me to choose my favorite out of this list. I loved Persuasion. I loved the story, the longing and the scenery. Wentworth was so dreamy too. But truly, my favorite is the new version of Sense and Sensibility. The casting was absolutely perfect and I love that it was a longer version than the Emma Thompson movie. I loved it so much that I bought it on DVD and it's still on my TiVo too.

Which one was your favorite???

Why???

• Why do youth speakers start every talk with "for those of you who don't know me, my name is..." when their name was just announced and it's also listed in the bulletin?
• Why do schools get a late start because of snow and ice but businesses don't?
• Why do actresses feel the need to pose in nothing but a tie on a magazine cover?
• Why do treats taste even better at Christmas time?
• Why is Saturday Night Live so boring and unwatchable?
• Why can't I download that "Make me a wish" song from the car commercial where the shoes fall from the sky?
• Why do TV weather people jump around to different networks all the time?
• Why can't I come up with a gift idea for my boss?

I have decided... (aka it's time for a rant.)

This is what I have decided: I will never again pay full price for books. I went to B&N last night to try and find a few gifts. I picked things up but put them down again, saying to myself, "this is $10 cheaper on Amazon..." Why do they charge so much when you know a company as large as B&N could probably get the same volume discount as Amazon (I'm guessing -- who really knows what either company sells.) But it bugs me that bookstores charge so much.

And while I'm ranting...I was supposed to be in a class for work yesterday and today but got lost looking for the building and was 10 minutes late. When I got there, they said they were overbooked and I couldn't stay. I drove 24 miles one way in horrible rush hour traffic only to be told to turn around and go back home. Nice, huh?

Now let's have some good news: Mr. Crushworthy called yesterday. Yep. Still dreamy.

My favorite things of 2008 -- best song lyric

We're nearing the end of another year and I've begun to compile a list of some of my most favorite things of 2008. Today, as the blog title attests, is "best song lyric."

Like everyone else, this year I loved listening to "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. The best line in that song goes like this: "I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted."

I may or may not have thought that line when I would see a certain cute boy at work. I plead the fifth.

Second favorite lyric of the year is from the same song: "scooch on over closer, dear...and I will nibble your ear." It's lovely when sung by Jason but even better coming from my 4 year old niece Natalie.

Here's the video -- it's the second line of the song, in case your name isn't Callie and you don't have this and every other song memorized. ;)

Suh-WEET!

My new laptop has arrived and it's lovely. I still have to figure out how to fix my old computer long enough so I can get my iTunes stuff off of it but at least I am back online.

And speaking of sweet, I'm doing a cookie exchange with people from church. 17 people signed up! We only have to put 8 of our treats on each plate but do the math, people! That's a ton of treats!! I took the easy way out and made Denae's blog brownies, rather than a more traditional Christmas cookie. I still need to frost them but I'm doing one pan with red frosting and the other will have the traditional green. (Sorry to ruin the surprise if you're part of the exchange.) I don't think I can get 68 brownies out of each pan so I'm planning on baking one more half batch. Sigh.

But another problem? I'm not going to work the next two days because I have a class. I can't give these treats to anyone at church, obviously. What am I going to do with them? Maybe they'll freeze???

Some good things that happened this week

So I've had 4 straight days of cruddiness but there have been some good things this week too. I thought I should capture them to help remind me that life isn't always crappy.

1. I became an auntie again! My sister Jaylene had her 4th child, a son, early this morning. For awhile it looked like he would be called Stryker (I know, I know) but he's going to be Carsen "Vroom Vroom" James instead. (Four year old Makenna added the Vroom Vrooms.) I just got back from the hospital where I snapped this picture with my phone. He only weighed 6 lbs 8.5 oz and I think it's all in his face - he has the best cheeks! You can't see it but his hat has a gold skull and crossbones. Nice! There is nothing like holding a brand new baby.

2. Last Thursday's Office was probably the most hilarious one I've ever seen. From Michael saying Pam's chair was "urkelnomically correct" to Andy stepping in manure in Dwight's kitchen and later getting hit in the head with a ball thrown by Mose to Angela giving Andy a huge kiss right after he took a big bite of his tuna sandwich, it was a laugh a minute episode for me.

3. We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting today. It was just what I needed.

4. I was able to see my dear friend Michelle while I was at the hospital tonight. Her husband is the one fighting lung cancer. He's been in the hospital for a week and I'm worried (if you'd like to pray for him, his name is Rick.) She's staying very positive so I'm trying to rely on that. So while the fact that Rick's in the hospital doesn't count as something good, seeing Michelle was good for my soul. I love her.

5. It only cost $19.50 to fill my gas tank yesterday.

And finally, I've saved the best for last: my laptop is on its way. Wahoo!

I used to love my Christmas tree.

Most years, I adore my Christmas tree. I bought it 3 or 4 years ago from Fred Meyer, on sale. It's a pre-lit artificial tree and a slimline style which is completely perfect for my tiny living room. I love a fake tree because I don't own a truck to haul home a live tree and I don't have a garage to let it dry out in. I love that it's pre lit because hanging lights is one of my least favorite things in life. I also love the fact that my fake tree does not have spiders on it nor does it fall over in the night because it's too big for its stand.

There are some things I don't like about a fake tree: the lack of tree smell, the fact that you can see metal where wood should be, and it's not a Noble Fir (my personal favorite tree.) I have an addition to that list this year. I hate the fact that an entire row of lights will not stay lit.

I have been working on this tree for the past 5 hours, on and off. I've taken it apart and put it back together again, plugging and unplugging everything. My arms are completely scratched up (one more thing I hate about fake trees -- they're scratchy and I will likely have more horrible scars on my arms because of today.) I've shed more than a few tears of utter frustration and that same stupid section is still unlit.

What this all means is I'm giving up and I'm going to start hanging my lovely ornaments on a tree that's not fully lit. Oh and I'm buying a new tree next year.

Will you all do me a favor? Please go give your fully lit tree a hug. Let it know how much you love it because like Joni Mitchell, Amy Grant and many others have sang, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

p.s. Oh and my computer is still broken. Hug your working computers too after you get done hugging your tree. Thank you.

Payback!

Because I've been a jerk all week, my home computer just decided it no longer wants to boot up (some sort of "chipset heat sink" problem that is apparently prevalent in my type of computer.)

I talked to my nice computer sensei at work and it could be a quick/free fix or it could be a new motherboard and he said I could bring it in and he'll try to fix it. The good thing is, I knew my computer was getting ready to give up the ghost so I ordered a laptop the day after Thanksgiving (thus bringing to an end my year of excessive spending on electronics.)

But the moral of this story? Don't be a jerk! It always comes back to bite ya!

p.s. My coworker confronted me right after I got to work yesterday. I sincerely apologized and expressed my regret for being such a jerk and she seems to be fine now.

Sometimes I'm a jerk.

I try hard to be a good person but sometimes I fail. Big time. I will now share two items that will prove my jerkiness.

Let me preface this first anecdote by saying that the sales associates at Penneys should always address you as "would you like a gift receipt?" because apparently their computers are so antiquated and stupid that they have to void your sale and then re-ring it if you happen to ask for your gift receipt mid-sale or after. And they complain and act majorly put out if you ask for it too late.

Reason #1 I'm a jerk:
Tuesday night I was buying a gift at Penneys and for the 2nd time in 5 days, the sales clerk did not ask me if I wanted a gift receipt. On Black Friday, I forgot to ask until the sale was complete so that's my fault. Yes the sales clerk should have just given me one rather than give me an excuse but it was Black Friday so I didn't push it. But last night, I remembered to ask! I was so proud of myself! But the poor sales clerk didn't know what she was doing and proceeded to take ten minutes to try and figure it out before she finally gave me the "we'll have to redo the entire sale" spiel. I now had 20 minutes to get home, pick up my sweet, elderly neighbor and get us both to Enrichment on time and I was at least 25 minutes away from home.

So I reacted as any mature, Christian, 41 year old woman would react.

I threw a little hissy fit.

Another sales woman came up to show the girl how to do it but she stalked off because I was such a jerk. I apologized to the 2nd sales clerk and said "I'm really not mean, I'm just late and tired of waiting and I really am sorry." She took care of it in less than 2 minutes and was very kind to me, even though I didn't deserve it. I felt like a jerk. It's not her fault that Penneys computers suck. I've worked retail so I've been on the other side. I need to remember how I felt last night the next time I want to snap at a rude sales clerk.

Reason #2 I'm a jerk:
I work with someone who is not very good at her job. She spends most of her day asking me or my friend how to do simple tasks that she should know how to do. Most of the time, we can take it. However, Wednesday was not a good day. I went to work crabby and my friend was crabby as well. We stood in the kitchen and snipped and griped about the "bad" coworker after she had left to go get lunch. Well, guess what? We stood there saying mean things long enough for "bad" coworker to come back and overhear part of our conversation.

I'm such a jerk.

She was more mad at my friend because she only heard me agreeing and not saying much but that's no excuse. I know better. I shouldn't talk about people like that - it's mean. I would feel terrible if someone did that to me so why did I do it to her?

I've learned my lesson. I'm going to be more kind. I'm going to be more careful about the things I say. I'm going to treat people as I would want to be treated. I'm going to try and be less of a jerk too. Wish me luck!

My most favorite Christmas songs

Since posting about my most despised Christmas songs ruffled a few feathers, I thought I would try and calm everyone down with a list of my most beloved Christmas songs. I think I'll first list my favorite albums (um, CDs??) and then go to individual songs.

Fave Christmas CDs

• Merry Christmas -- Mariah Carey. This would be a desert island CD for me. It's perfect from start to finish. Not one song is a "skipper."
• Cool Yule -- Bette Midler. Such a fun CD. Her versions of "Mele Kalikimaka" and "I've Got My Love to Keep me Warm" are two that I play the most. I ignore the Christmas version of "From a Distance" however.
• A Christmas Album & Home for Christmas -- Amy Grant. Her first two CDs are my most favorite. "Heirlooms" on the first CD and "Breath of Heaven" on the second are the standout songs for me.
• Noel -- Josh Groban. I love this entire CD. His version of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is absolute perfection.
• This is Christmas -- Luther Vandross. I love Luther and this CD would be perfect except for the "My Favorite Things" error in judgement.
• Christmas at Home -- Donny Osmond. With the exception of two songs, this is a really great CD. One song was on my naughty list a couple of days ago and the other is the ridiculous "Who Took the Merry out of Christmas." I know it makes my friend Kim laugh but it makes me hit the skip button. My favorites on this CD are "Come to the Manger" (shout out to Grandpa H!) and "Baby What You Gonna Be" which we sang in junior high choir. I love that song!

Fave Christmas Songs (besides those mentioned above)

• We Need a Little Christmas -- It's not really Christmas until I hear this song by Percy Faith and his orchestra. This song makes me very happy.
• Baby, It's Cold Outside -- I'm partial to the Zooey Deschanel/Leon Redbone version from "Elf" but I also enjoy the Rod Stewart/Dolly Parton version and the Vanessa Williams/someone else versions too.
• Pine Cones and Holly Berries -- The Osmonds. I make my friend Michelle sing this as a duet with me as we drive to Portland for our yearly shopping trips. This is another "happy place" type of song.
• Merry Christmas from the Family -- The Dixie Chicks and Rosie O'Donnell. Not a song for children since it starts out "Mom got drunk and dad got drunk" but I love, love, love it.
• A Marshmallow World -- Lots of people sing this song but the Dean Martin version is the best (not the one I linked from You Tube where he's totally drunk and slurring the words, however!)
• Winter Wonderland -- I love the Jason Mraz version I linked last week but the Collin Raye version is fantastic and features backup vocals by the Beach Boys. So fun! I also really love the Louis Armstrong version -- it's very romantic and would be great to slow dance to (I'm guessing!)
• Tinseltown and That's What I Want for Christmas -- SHeDAISY. The rest of the CD is way too wacky but these two songs are so good. Tinseltown is a great one to sing along to and the latter is a nice, romantic song for Christmas.
• O Holy Night -- Point of Grace. Kim introduced me to this song when she had some of our YW sing it a few Christmases ago. Beautiful harmonies.
• Silver and Gold -- Vanessa Williams. This song is just smooth, relaxing and beautiful.
• Hard Candy Christmas -- Dolly Parton. Now I know this song is probably a little depressing to some, but I love it. Classic Dolly and just so pretty.

Okay, I think I'm done talking about Christmas music. Finally. ;)

Things I Love About Christmas

After yesterday's negative post, I thought it best I counteract with a post full of positives. Besides the obvious (celebrating our Savior), here are some things I love about the Christmas season:

1. Singing "Angels We Have Heard on High" at church. It has the most fun alto part ever (well, it's right up there with "Let Us All Press On" but it's pretty good!)
2. Christmas pajamas from Wal Mart! I hope you are all buying yourself a pair because they are only $10 and they are so cute. I've bought a different pair the last three years. This year I got these darling pink ones. They are cotton and comfy and I wear them well into spring, usually. The picture up above is from two Christmases ago when we got coordinating pajamas for my mom, sisters and me. So fun!
3. Christmas candles! I used to sell Salt City Candles and I love digging my candles out. My favorite holiday scents are Christmas Trimmings (which is great to burn if you have a fake tree -- it's tree-like but not TOO much) and Victorian Christmas (which is sweet and spicy and just yummy) but my most favorite thing to do is burn a Candy Cane candle while burning an Evergreen candle. It's the BEST combination.
4. Fun ads in the paper every week! I love seeing what's on sale.
5. BAKING! I love looking for the best recipes for fudge or snowball cookies every year. (And if you have the perfect fudge recipe, please share! I'm really still looking!) This is also the time of year for Caramel Chex Mix. I'll add the recipe at the end of this list. I think that might be what I make for the girls at work this year. It's so good and very festive with holiday M&Ms.
6. Christmas movies!!! I have three favorites: Elf, The Year Without a Santa Claus and then my number one most favorite is White Christmas. That is the movie I watch while wrapping my presents. I can't wrap a gift without it on in the background.
7. Time off from work! We get the 24th through the 1st off -- paid! Wahoo!

What do YOU love about the Christmas season?

Caramel Chex Mix

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 cups rice chex cereal
4 cups corn chex cereal
1 cup peanuts or mixed nuts
1 cup M&Ms (holiday - add as many as you want, really)

Mix cereal and nuts in a large bowl, set aside. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with Pam. In medium saucepan, combine butter, karo syrup and brown sugar. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Allow to boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda, then stir. Pour over cereal mixture & mix together then pour onto cookie sheet. Cook for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir to break apart clumps. When cool, add M&Ms.

Most despised Christmas music

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I'm also writing my testimony about visiting teaching for the December RS newsletter. Again, too much of me in such a short time period!

Okay, finally, here is my promised post about my least favorite Christmas songs!

I love schmaltz and sap, honest I do, but I have a list of Christmas songs that I really dislike. Some are specific versions of songs but others are just the song in general -- doesn't matter who sings it! The following is in no particular order:

• Christmas Shoes - Newsong. ICK ICK ICK! A major eye-roller, as my mom and I would say. I hate songs that were written just to make people cry. I can't believe there's an actual movie (and a sequel to that movie!) as well.
• Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt version only. I think it's because my mom hates it so much and it's rubbed off on me. I like the Madonna version just fine.
• Jingle Bells - the barking dogs version
• Most anything by Trans Siberian Orchestra (with the exception of Christmas Canon) and Manheim Steamroller - I know many of you will disagree with me but I call this "angry music"
• Same Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg. Way too depressing to be a Christmas song.
• Mary, did you know? Major melodrama -- way too much.
• Anything on Rick Springfield's Christmas album. I bought it for a friend last year because she just loves him and it has got to be the worst CD ever. EVER. Okay, this particular song I linked is dedicated to the troops so while I appreciate the thought, it is seriously a bad CD.
• Christmas in America by Kenny Rogers. Blech. Plus I think he does the talking over the music thing partway through. Say it with me people...blech.
• Feliz Navidad. I mostly tolerate the original version but the Jon Secada version? BAD.
• You Make it Feel Like Christmas by Neil Diamond. I don't totally hate the song but hate the way Neil says ChristMASS.

Note: O Holy Night used to be on my "list" because people sing it who have no right singing it (meaning they aren't good enough singers) or they oversing it completely. I've since changed my, ahem, tune and I like it a lot more now.

And another song category? Songs that are not Christmas songs so quit calling them that! (I really hope all of the "Warm" music station program managers are reading my blog right now.)

• Get Here - The Oleta Adams version is my favorite but seriously there is not one bit of Christmas in that song.
• My Favorite Things - just because it talks about packages tied up in string and says the words "sleigh bells", doesn't make it a Christmas song! Who started this anyway? They need to be smacked around a little. Oh and I specifically linked a version sung by Dionne Warwick. Not my favorite singer.
• Seasons of Love from Rent. I've read the lyrics and I still don't know how that one became a Christmas song. I've never seen the play or movie -- maybe the song is played during Christmas time or something???

Okay - your turn. Agree or disagree? Anything I've forgotten?

The Jeanelle Show

Sometimes I go for months just living my life and doing my thing, staying in the background as much as possible. But every so often, a so-called "perfect storm" begins to brew and I find myself in the spotlight a little too much. Let me explain by sharing what I've been up to and will be up to this week:

• I performed the musical number at Sacrament meeting today -- I sang a duet with a very fun friend. I had to sing a little part all by myself, which was frightening because I'm a choir singer, not a soloist. However, nobody ran out of the chapel holding their ears so I think it was okay.
• We were a presidency of two today in Primary and since our secretary has been trying to get released for 4 months so she can concentrate solely on being the music leader, it meant a lot of running around for me. I conducted, did the secretary stuff and tried not to panic when our Nursery leader came in and said she was the only one there today. Thank goodness another nursery worker showed up eventually.
• I'm reading a Christmas story during the program at our Enrichment Christmas party this Tuesday.
• I'm singing in a small group during the program at our Enrichment Christmas party this Tuesday.
• Oh and I'm also now one of the MC's for the program at the Enrichment Christmas party this Tuesday.

That's kind of a lot of Jeanelle in a three day period, don't you think??? I'm a little sick of myself and it's not even Tuesday yet.

I'm co-hosting a bridal shower at work later this week and the mom-to-be was just diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Anyone have a tried-and-true yummy and also sugar free dessert recipe I can make for her?

VERMIN!

Yes, I know, this is my second post today but I am too freaked out to even think about sleeping.

I live in a ground floor condo and have a storage closet outside my front door. It holds a collection of a dozen Rubbermaid totes filled with holiday decor, a couple of coolers and a fan.

At about 9 PM tonight, I started pulling out the totes containing my Christmas decorations. I was following my mom's advice and just taking out one tote at a time, unpacking it, then going back outside to get the next one. About halfway through this activity, I started leaving the storage closet door open in between going in and out of my house.

An hour and a half later, I finally made it to the bottom. So I reached into the dark unknown to grab the last tote and...gulp...a RAT ran out of the closet, across my slippered foot and into the dark and rainy night. I really wish it was a squirrel or even a mouse but alas, it wasn't. UGH!

I didn't scream but I slammed things around to hopefully scare any of his friends out of there. I really don't think he was living in there because I don't think he could have gotten in there with the door shut.

I hope.

More bad news of the night? I discovered that my totes of Christmas decor were mostly filled with stuff that is no longer my "style" so I've got a big box ready to take to the DI truck this week. Thank goodness I still love my Christmas tree & ornaments -- that's going up tomorrow.

I heart Amazon.com

I'm here today to share something fabulous that you may not have discovered yet -- downloading music from Amazon.com.

After you install the downloader, whatever you buy moves automatically into your iTunes plus the files are mp3's so way more flexible than the iTunes version of songs. I love iTunes - don't get me wrong, but Amazon.com sure has some smokin' good deals. For example:

• 50 CDs for $5 each. I just downloaded the Jason Mraz CD. I noticed they also have HSM3, Camp Rock, & Coldplay CDs on that list. Lots of good stuff!
• Michael Buble's Christmas EP is only .99 cents today -- for all 5 songs! iTunes has it for $4.95.
• There are tons of CDs for $7.99 and under -- the Twilight soundtrack is only $6.99 (iTunes is charging $11.99.)
• Most of the top single songs are only $.79 each!

Anyway, I totally love Amazon.com for this and many other reasons. So you should totally check out the digital music feature. Let me know what you buy!

p.s. Our Thanksgiving was wonderful and the meal was perfect. I shopped for 7 hours yesterday and got about 1/4 of my shopping done. The crowds were WAY worse than previous years. I started seriously disliking people yesterday. Now I'm trying to gather enough energy to get all of my Christmas decorations out. I wish I could be like Samantha from Bewitched and just wiggle my nose and have everything done. Wouldn't that be heavenly???

Nagging Twilight thoughts plus some other junk on my mind

Twilight: Did anyone else notice Multnomah Falls, which is located in Oregon, not Forks? And wasn't that the Columbia River we see when Edward and Bella are up in the tall trees? I could be wrong but I spent every summer as a kid making the drive to Hood River, OR and so both of those sights are pretty familiar to me. I know I'm a dork for noticing stuff like that. Oh and I'm seeing the movie again tomorrow night. And I'm, um, rereading the book.

I went to see Annie Get Your Gun at a local high school on Saturday. So fun. I love the music in that show and the female lead was so good. I love me some good theater! Wednesday night I'm going to see Beauty and the Beast with four of my favorite people. Yay!

Sunday was a very good day. We had breakfast together as a Primary presidency, which was so fun (and yummy.) At church, I was able to see four girls I love who are home from college. One came back to where I was sitting midway through Sacrament meeting just to give me a hug and sit by me. It was wonderful getting to see all of them again. I'm so grateful for my time serving in the YW organization at church. Such a blessing!

Dancing with the Stars -- I know Brooke is probably going to win but I just love Lance and Lacey. And did you see the Bachelor commercial? Jan 5! So excited!

Thanksgiving -- I'm making mashed potatoes (from Cook's Illustrated - can't link), PW rolls, and then our family's favorite dessert. We call it 1-2-3 pudding but you might call it something else: flour/butter/walnut crust followed by a layer of cream cheese/powdered sugar/cool whip followed by a layer of chocolate pudding followed by more cool whip? You know what I'm talking about, I'm sure. I think there will be 12 of us? Not really sure... I'm just looking forward to four days off.

Oh and my first call of the day today? Yes. The man, the myth, the legend, my boyfriend, Mr Crushworthy. He also came over last week for a visit. I'm not as twitterpated as I used to be but he's still pretty darn dreamy.

And because I love you all, here's a little Kristin just to make you smile today:

We Have a Winner! Plus a Twilight Review!

First and foremost, thank you so much for commenting and entering my fun little drawing. I hated to only pick one winner*. I went the highly scientific route and wrote down the names of all 16 commenters, cut them into strips, folded them and then put them in a cute little bucket that my friend Jazzy left on my doorknob the other day (loved the pumpkin muffins, Jazzy!) I drew out a name and (drumroll please...) the big winner is the sweet, thoughtful and talented JILL! Jill, please email me your address and I'll get your CDs and other fun surprises into the mail soon. More to come on Christmas music -- I want to talk more about your favorites and my LEAST favorites.

Okay, Twilight. The movie.

I loved it!

I really tried to go in with low expectations. I knew it wouldn't be as great as the book. I knew I'd find fault with some of the casting. But you know what? I thought it was wonderful, entertaining and very faithful to the book. I would totally pay to see it again.

I thought Cedric (yes I know his name is Robert Pattinson but he will always be Cedric Diggory to me) was perfect as Edward. My mom was telling me today that she didn't think he was beautiful enough but I said "who on earth really is?" Brad Pitt & George Clooney don't look 17. Kristen Stewart was perfect as Bella. I liked her much more than I've liked Bella throughout the books.

It was fun going on opening night. People screamed and clapped several times, which was fun. Everyone applauded for the Harry Potter preview too (still can't believe we have to wait until next summer! grr.) The other thing that was great was that our theater was so organized and tried really hard to ensure everyone who came together could sit together. We sat next to some 30'ish ladies with homemade signs pinned on their back that said things like "I would let Edward bite me" or something like that. Nice.

Some random comments:

• I really hope they pull some Hagrid-like special effects to make Jacob taller for the next movie because he's way too short now.
• The only person I thought they messed up on was Rosalie -- she just wasn't quite right but everyone else was perfectly cast, I thought.
• The movie dragged a little in the middle, I thought...a little too "let's just stare at each other so everyone knows we're in love" or something.
• I totally missed the Stephenie Meyer cameo. I'm so disappointed in myself!
• As I was watching the movie, I found myself more and more irritated at Breaking Dawn and how the characters turned out. I sat there watching Bella and Edward and I thought "those are not even the same people." I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn and I'm not going to start now because it will just irritate me. And who reads to be irritated??? Not me.

Anyway, go see it. Wait for a matinee if you must but if you loved the book, you will more than likely love the movie. And if you live nearby, invite me to come along.

* I hate to only pick one winner so I would love to send my 2008 Christmas Mix CD to anyone who wants one. I love sharing what I love! So if you want one, send me your address (if you know I don't have it already, anyway.) I'm serious too. Send me your dang address and I'll mail you a CD. Then you can listen to it and think of me as you sing along or hit the skip button because you hate my taste in music!

Giveaway reminder!

If you haven't commented on my previous post yet, go comment now! I'm going to draw one winner sometime after 9 PM Friday night (probably well after considering how I have tickets to the 8 PM showing of Twilight but you get the drift.)

So come on, enter! I'll surely make it worth your while (well, if I choose your name, that is.)

Here's another video of a song I own and so very much enjoy.

People, it is time!

For what, you might be asking? Christmas music! Well, that AND a giveaway.

I love Christmas music. Love it! If you were to call my cell phone, you would hear Christmas music instead of a boring old ring. I have an extensive collection -- over 450 songs in my iTunes and that doesn't include the CDs I haven't gotten around to adding.

I tend to like all kinds of music -- ultra traditional but also very contemporary. Really, I like anything that puts me in a happy, giving, let's make cookies and share them with the world kind of mood.

Now to the giveaway: I was putting together a playlist of my favorite Christmas songs this year and I thought it would be nice to give away a CD of my favorites to one of my 16 readers. I will also throw another surprise or two into the box, just to make this a fun Christmas treat for someone.

If you'd like to win, just comment one time and tell me your most favorite Christmas song and why. Comment away until 9 PM Pacific this Friday, Nov 21. I'll announce the winner in a post Friday night or Saturday morning.

To whet your appetite a little, this song could possibly be on the CD (it is my ringtone, after all!)

Time for another random list!

It was my Mom's 70th b-day on Monday. I wrote in her card that I'm grateful she has taken such good care of herself her whole life so that she can be around to have fun with me now. Here's a pic of her with my niece Rylee, taken on her b-day.

We have puppies in the family! My sister's pug & Boston terrier, had 5 puppies on Halloween. Apparently, these mixes are called Bugs. They still haven't opened their eyes yet but they are pretty little and cute -- 4 girls, 1 boy. All are brindle colored and will be ready for sale this Christmas, if you're interested.

I watched the CMA's last night. Taylor Swift was not so great live but I loved the dress change and Miley's BF/the guy from the Love Story video coming out at the end of the song. I also loved seeing Shania onstage again and I teared up when she did at the warm welcome/ovation she received. I'm a great sympathy crier.

Speaking of crying, I got caught up on Grey's Anatomy and I still cry whenever Denny shows up. I think Denny might be one of my most favorite TV characters of all time...maybe 2nd only to Larry Paul (from Ally McBeal -- RDJr. I adore him.)

Last TV comment -- I cannot stand the blue team on Biggest Loser (Heba/Vicky, specifically.) I commented on Jill's blog this week that I wish they would just take the two people with the lowest percentage of weight loss for the week and then vote one of them out. No more of the manipulations, game playing, water loading, etc. Just let this show be about weight loss, please, NBC!!!

I'm having computer problems. I got the blue screen of death when I plugged in my iPod Touch to sync it. I turned it back on, did a quick backup (it took 90 minutes!) just in case. Tried again to sync but the same thing kept happening, however, only with that iPod (remember, I have 3.) My super smart computer sensei here at work gave me something to try but it didn't work. This kind of stuff just stresses me out and it kept me up past midnight last night! Not good!

I still haven't unpacked and I'm not feeling any sort of urgency to do so. I'm in no rush because it's not like I'm in need of clean summer clothes in November.

I'm going to a high school play tonight -- they're doing Fame! "I'm gonna live forever! I'm gonna learn how to fly (high!)" We sang that song as a junior high school choir and I'll have to really restrain myself to keep from singing along with the kids onstage. Wish me luck!

A post-vacation check list

I've been home from Hawaii since Sunday night and just tonight turned on my computer for the first time. I'm so not ready to be back in the real world! I don't have the energy to do a major recap on my fabulous vacation but thought I'd share a little check list of the things I wanted to do or accomplish on my trip.

1. Get some rest.

Check! Even though I have all of the kids and the darling Zoey dog in bed with me here, I averaged 8-10 hours of sleep every night while I was there. I loved it! But now I've reverted to my old habits and I'm back to my regular 5-6 hours a night. NOT ENOUGH!

2. Bond with my darling and sweet nieces and nephews.

Check! Love these kids so much. They are the best kids -- really fun to be with and so dang loveable.

3. Go to the beach.

Check! We went twice - I loved it and I think I'd be happy sitting on the beach every day of my life -- as long as I have an endless supply of celebrity magazines to read (I was too scared to bring my Kindle to the beach.)

4. See lots of wildlife.

Check! More about these amazing guys later but besides sea turtles, I also saw got to see dolphins as well as a cockroach! Lucky me!

5. Get a tan.

(Sorry, no picture!) Hmm. Half a check! I came home with a sunburned back and a slight flip-flop tan on my feet but my suncreen worked a little too well everywhere else.

6. Spot cute surfer dudes

Oh, I'm kidding. Not Speedo guy. But this next guy was pretty easy on the eyes!

7. Try out new recipes on my sister and her family.

Check! We made a pot roast that was a lot better after we left it cooking all night and ate it the next day. My favorite new to me recipes were a beef stroganoff in the crock pot and Boni's cinnamon rolls. It is so much more fun to cook for lots of people than it is to just cook for me.

8. Spend quality time with my sister.

Check! We had a great time hanging out. I love you, Nenny Nee! Thank you for letting me stay with you.

Okay, that's all for now -- more to come, I promise!

The most popular girl on the plane

I brought my new Kindle on the plane and I think I might have sold two of them. My seatmate and several of the flight attendants were full of questions and two said they are going to buy one before the $50 coupon on Oprah.com expires tomorrow. I wonder how I can get Jeff Bezos to give me a commission? Or at least a free book? Anyway, love the Kindle. LOVE IT!

Hawaii is wonderful - a little cloudy but low 80s and lovely. Today was grocery shopping, WalMart, doing math homework with almost 10 year old McKenzie and helping at Nathan's class. I spent an hour showing kindergartners how to make spiders out of pretzels and marshmallows in a non-air conditioned classroom. Good times. We're going to trunk-or-treat at the church in a couple of hours. Tomorrow? Not sure. Maybe the beach.

I haven't taken a single picture yet. Will tonight, for sure!

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me*

* Name the Primary song and get a gold star! ETA: I just realized the actual song title...ding dong! I remember it as the first line...sorry for the lack of challenge!

A few months ago, I bought a ticket to spend 10 days in Hawaii visiting my sister Jenilee and her family and I leave later this week. Saturday night, Jen called and she sounded funny - like she was trying to be more upbeat than she felt and she was talking fast. She told me she had some news and that she had prayed for me before she called.

Uh oh.

Jen and Matt have Army friends who need a place to stay ASAP and Matt invited them to move in this week. Jen and Matt live in a smallish townhouse with their four children. Add the Army friends and that makes 8 people in the townhouse, not including their super cute dog. Check out her Halloween costume.

I told Jen I had to think and that I'd call her back on Sunday. I immediately felt like I should postpone my trip. Besides the obvious space issues and me wanting to have the "perfect" vacation, I'm selfish. I want my sister and her family all to myself. It just made sense to postpone my trip until after the holidays when there'd be more room at the inn.

After crying most of the day, I called Jen Sunday night to let her know my decision and before I could tell her, she said she had more news. She had just gotten home from church where she had been asked to sing during her friend's Gospel Doctrine class. She received many compliments, including one from a woman Jen has been slightly irritated with (a long story that I won't get into here.) Jen started telling this woman about our predicament and guess what? This woman has a studio apartment she needs to rent out and the Army friends can move in whenever they want.

So, to sum up, I'm still leaving for Hawaii this week, Jen's friends aren't homeless, Heavenly Father loves me and he answers prayers even for silly things like my vacation.

To treat myself for spending most of the weekend crying, I bought a Kindle.

I've been wanting one since they came out but had exercised significant restraint for several months now. Then Oprah had to come along and send me over the edge with her extra $50 off deal. I also took advantage of the free trial membership for Amazon Prime to get $3.99 overnight shipping so it'll be here tomorrow. I am thrilled with the idea of getting on the airplane completely book-less. THRILLED, I tell you!

Now if I could just find the other half of my bathing suit, my life would be perfect.

Where've I been?

Well, I've been around. I'm just without anything of substance to blog about. I'm not promising anything with this post either. It's just been sort of blah in my life lately. But here are some things I'm thinking about:

• Five days from now, I will be in Hawaii, loving & spoiling these kids. I cannot wait!
  

• I ran into a girl I grew up with at a meeting this week. We're exactly the same age (41.) She is pregnant with her 9th child. Seeing her, pregnant again, filled me with mixed emotions. Of course, I'm happy for her. She's a wonderful person, happily married and I know she's raising good and happy children. But part of me was a little bit freaked out. NINE CHILDREN! Holy cow. How does anyone do that? Yet another part of me was a little bit jealous. Jealous for me, for others I know who would love to be pregnant and can't and so on. It just makes you wonder how one can be blessed with so many children and then I'm here forcing myself to be more and more accepting of the fact that I will likely never have a child of my own. Hmm. Okay, the pity party is over now. Let's move on.
• I feel like baking something to give away to people I love. I cannot bake the thing I want to bake (carrot cake cupcakes) because I'm out of carrots and grocery shopping is not sounding appealing.
• Did anyone else get the new Crate and Barrel holiday catalog? I want to order about half of the things in there. Oh, to be wealthy...how would it be?
• I don't know who I'm going to vote for. I'm so completely torn this year. I tend to lean a little more on the Democratic side but I truly just vote for the person I think is the most qualified and will do the best job. I'm just not sure if that person is Obama or McCain this election. I'm usually way more decisive about these things but not this year. Oh but I loved the Sarah Palin rap on SNL last week. Hilarious. I can't get it to embed but click on this link and go watch it again.
• Speaking of Gov Palin, I'm irritated that people are hassling her about her wardrobe and the $$ that was spent. If she was campaigning in her own, regular-girl clothes, she'd be knocked for not being stylish enough.

And that's all I've got! Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!

Guest Post: Headphones

Editing to add: TBA is my friend Tyler who is married to the darling Jeni. They are currently living in Germany until they decide to wander back into my neck of the woods. Every so often there is a burning issue he feels needs to be discussed. Today, it's headphones. Please humor Tyler (and me) by commenting. Thank you!

Hi all - its TBA again.

In the world of Ipods (and yes, the Microsoft Zune), headphones have become very important. The standard ones that came with my Zune when I first bought it were awful – very uncomfortable. So I spent a little extra $ to buy some premium headphones – the little bud kind that fit in your ear. They are very comfortable but I am still having major problems:

1. My headphones ALWAYS get tangled up. Sometimes I have to sit there for 5 minutes trying to get them untangled. I try my best to wrap the cord around my device when I am done, but somehow it seems to get tangled up again. What am I doing wrong here??? Are my ‘premium’ headphones not so ‘premium’?
2. The ear buds are nice but they don’t stay in when I am exercising. I wonder if my ear buds are too small, maybe they should fit tighter in my ear. Or should I just get the standard headphones to wear while exercising.
3. Sometimes I wonder if I should listen to music/podcasts at all while I am exercising or riding my bike to work. Maybe I should go for more quiet time. (Yes, I ride my bike to work…it takes me 5 minutes. I can barely get through one song if I am lucky. )

Does anyone else have headphone problems or is it just me?

This Year's Primary Program -- A Top 10 List

Without further ado, the top 10 reasons why this year's Primary Program totally rocked.

10. Each child started their part by saying "I am a child of God."
9. They knew most of the words to the songs and when they didn't, they sure looked cute standing there.
8. Our Primary President's brilliant idea to have giant chocolate chip cookies afterward as a thank you and as an object lesson on service. A huge hit.
7. Nearly everyone who came up to tell us how much they enjoyed the program said it was the best one they'd ever seen. Want to know why? Read #6.
6. The kids wrote their own parts (well, nearly all of them did.) So nice to have them personally invested in what they were saying!
5. Nobody threw up. It was touch and go there for a little while. Seriously. I had to run one kid out when the adult he told about his need to hurl looked at me and gave me the deer in the headlights look. I didn't wait for her to do anything and just grabbed him and ran.
4. Basic gospel principles taught by 3-11 year olds including important topics like God is our father, families, temples, missionary work, prophets, baptism.
3. A 5 year old boy saying his part at the microphone when we weren't even sure he was going to do it. Such a triumphant feeling for all of us when he got brave and did it!
2. Great teacher support & wonderful attendance at our Saturday practice.

And the number one reason why our Primary Program rocked this year?

1. Beautiful children singing each and every word of "I am a child of God." Then later in Primary when they got to choose a song to sing, both Jr and Sr Primary chose to sing it again. You haven't lived until you've heard a child sing that song. Truly.

And now, I need a nap.

I fell off the roof!

My superstar visiting teaching companion said the funniest thing recently. We were talking on the phone and she didn't sound like her normal peppy self. I asked her how she was feeling and she said "well, I fell off the roof today." I said, "you WHAT?" She said "oh that's how I say I started my period."

I laughed hysterically.

Today, I was talking to my sister Jen in Hawaii (where I will be in 13 days) and she said "I fell off the roof today." Since I am Gullible Gertie, I said "you WHAT?" And then we both laughed hysterically.

It really is kind of enjoyable to describe "that time of the month" by saying you fell off the roof. Here are some fun examples:

• I was doing sharing time in Primary and I fell off the roof.
• I fell off the roof at work today - it was awful!
• I woke up in the middle of the night and I fell off the roof.

Feel free to comment with some other possible scenarios -- it's really very fun.

Visiting Teaching

I'm a rotten visiting teacher - truly. I'm not just saying that for the people who know me to say "oh Jeanelle, that's not true." Because really, I sort of stink at it. A few years ago, I was given a really fantastic companion who makes me better. She makes the appointments, I teach the lessons and occasionally bake treats. It's a perfect mix.

About six months ago, this woman I knew as a youth moved into my ward. She's no longer attending church regularly, which is sad because she is an amazing person with many talents and spiritual gifts. I told my partner that I wanted to request her for our route. She concurred so I called the RS President, made the suggestion and waited. Finally, her records showed up and we got her on our list.

On our first visit, the three of us talked for nearly two hours. We heard her reasons for not attending church and told her that our ward was different than the one she moved from, the one where she felt invisible. Her birthday is this week so my stupendous partner called this morning and said the sister was free for lunch and could I meet them. Of course, I ditched work and did just that. We had so much fun! The sister said during the visit "I haven't had visiting teachers in so long - this is so nice." It made me feel really good to know that the gesture of lunch meant so much to her (and I take zero credit -- all of the glory goes to my partner.) I'm hoping and praying that she will let go of the hurt and anger that is keeping her from regular church attendance. I'm not expecting to "save" her but I really love the idea that our visits might matter a little bit.

Exhausted

I've been home from church for 15 minutes. I'm in my pajamas already and eating some leftover Key Lime cheese ball from the Tastefully Simple party the other night, while my dinner begins to cook.

Why am I comfy and stress eating so soon after church, you ask?

Well, today was our first Primary Program rehearsal. I'm sort of "in charge" of this year's program. It went well but, holy cow, I'm wiped. I have to find seats for 3 or 4 more kids and to write parts for those same children. It can be done but it's still more work. Not yet ready to even attempt it though today -- tomorrow will be here soon enough. It's going to be an early to bed night. I can hardly wait.

By the way, have you even tried the Tastefully Simple Key Lime cheese ball? Seriously fantastic.

Happy

This morning, I had to pick up a cake at Albertson's for a bridal shower I co-hosted at work today. As I was leaving, I noticed the guy behind me because he was buying some sort of canned beverage that he needed ID for. (It was 8:30 AM!!!) Anyway, I would describe him as Snoop Dogg Jr: same cheekbones, same oversized parka & saggy jeans, early 20s.

I walked outside to put the cake in my car and Snoop Jr walked to his car a couple of spaces beyond mine. Then he turned and said (and I quote) "Yo, your perfume smells real good. I could smell it in there" as he pointed toward Albertson's. I smiled, said a sincere thank you and drove off, laughing.

I've gotten other compliments on my perfume before, also at Albertsons. Maybe the store smells so bad that my lovely scent just freshens everything up? I wear Happy by Clinique and have worn it for probably 10 years. I love it and I think it really does make you happy so you should probably try wearing it.

Or maybe just tell me what perfume you wear?

Numbers

My week, so far...in numbers:

26 thank you cards made for whomever I decide to give them to.

2 in person visits by my boyfriend (he's still so dang dreamy but for about 36 hours, I thought I might be ready to move on. Then he came over this morning and, well, the crush is intact.)

71 dollars spent at Target on nothing of substance

2 miles walked today! First time I've walked in way too long and it felt great. Except when it didn't.

3 compliments from coworkers about how happy they are to have me in this new office area (I am basically a joy to be around, if you weren't yet aware. LOL)

2 hours spent watching TV (not nearly enough! My TiVo is stacking up.)

13 food & drink items to be made tonight/tomorrow for my upcoming Tastefully Simple party.

And it's late - better get busy!

What I Loved About Conference Weekend

1. Watching all four sessions with my mom from the comfy confines of my living room. I love technology!
2. Getting a Priesthood Session debrief from both Barry & Tyler (who will be guest blogging again soon -- watch for it!) So grateful that Boni & Jeni married such fantastic men.
3. Elder Perry's talk about living a more simplified life was just perfect.
4. Eating this for breakfast yesterday! Yum! Thanks, Mom!
   
5. That incredible Primary choir -- I cried during every one of their songs. I loved feeling the power of their testimonies as they sang. Almost as much as I loved watching the one boy correct the other boy for not standing the right way during their last song. Ha!
6. I didn't take notes yet but I loved the talk by the Sunday School presidency guy who talked about knowing the people you teach by name. That has been a priority for our Primary presidency and something I've always strived to do in all of my callings. A little validation now and again is a good thing!
7. Having my 77 year old neighbor over to watch the Sunday afternoon session was a treat. She knows lots of fun MoTab facts and pointed out at least 7 times that one of the men looks (to her) exactly like Niles Crane from Frasier.
   
8. Elder Oaks' talk about reverence -- it gave me SO much to think about. I've never really thought about how I should be going into Sacrament meeting and sitting down and just pondering or preparing to partake of the Sacrament itself. Something I'm going to work on!
9. Sister Dalton's talk was one I can't wait to listen to again. I loved the pictures of her and her counselors and the little hike they took into the mountains for their first presidency meeting.
10. I loved being reminded of things that I know are true and feeling the love of my Heavenly Father.

Three Items of Business

#1
It was a normal Wednesday morning at work, about 8:30 AM. I was answering email, listening to the new Jennifer Hudson CD I downloaded last night (jury's still out but I like most of it) when I look up and see the most amazing sight coming down the hall toward me. I'll bet you're wondering who or what that could be...hmm...

If you guessed, Mr. Crushworthy, AKA my boyfriend, then you would be absolutely, 100% correct.

He said "I knew I'd find you." (Please recall I moved to a different area of the office last week.) He brought with him the guy he works with whom I hadn't met yet.

They just came over to say hi. (Please recall he works in a different building about 2 miles away.)

They didn't come for a meeting or anything - they just had some free time and came over.

I KNOW! (Say it in your best Monica Geller voice!)

We chatted for awhile and then they left. I looked & felt much cuter today too, which was great except for one item, which I will address next.

#2
I woke up with a huge pimple on my jawline on Monday. I used to have bad skin. I don't have bad skin anymore because several years ago I went on Accutane. It was icky medicine but I have great skin now and I love it. This thing growing on my face is so huge and disgusting. Thankfully, my hair covers it most of the time. I'm beyond ready for it to be gone.

#3
Let's talk TV! (And if you're wondering, no I don't sleep enough.)

• Pushing Daisies tonight!
• CSI Miami is probably the stupidest show on TV. This week's episode where the human trafficking girls are all locked in a cage, all dressed in pristine white sundresses, about to get in a big dirty freight truck but then Horatio Caine is hiding behind them and comes out to arrest the bad guy? SO STUPID! I'm done with that one.
• Biggest Loser - I still don't have a favorite team but I'm enjoying this season. I think I like the two mother/daughter teams the best.
• Amazing Race! I love it! I like Starr and her brother and the divorced women so far. My mom came over and watched it with me on Monday, which was very fun.
• Desperate Housewives - I really liked the 5 year flash forward!
• Survivor - something I keep thinking about is how kind the hottie resident was when he was talking about the gay guy having such an obvious crush on him. Hottie resident could have been mean and homophobic but instead he said the gay guy was his friend. That made hottie resident even hotter (hottier?) in my eyes.

Things I love at the end of a long week

1. Sweet cinnamon pumpkin anything from Bath and Body Works: I bought the foaming soap tonight and I use the plug-ins all year round. It's one of my most favorite scents.
2. Extra money in my savings account: My boss surprised me with a cash award this week. Total shock-a-roo and so incredibly wonderful. I really do work for the greatest guy ever.
3. A great sale: Hershey's baking chips (semi, milk, cinnamon & Reese's) are on sale at Albertson's, 10 for $10 and then you get another $3 off so they were $.70 a bag each. I love a bargain almost as much as Jill does! :) The cinnamon chips are GREAT in snickerdoodles! Trust me.
4. Two new Taylor Swift Songs: I am just loving "Love Story" (video will be at the bottom) and "White Horse" that played during Grey's Anatomy last night (not yet available.) She is so good!
5. Starting the day out right: I exchanged several fun emails with Mr. Crushworthy this morning. Seriously delicious.
6. A budding romance: Someone special to me is very happy and I love it! I smile huge whenever I get her updates.
7. A wonderful friend: Kim and I finally got together after hardly talking all week and it was so fun! Panera, shopping (I found shoes, she found clothes), See's, a stop at Albertson's (see item #3!) and just catching up on all of our news of the week was pure heaven. A great way to end the week!
8. New TV shows on the TiVo: I loved "The Office" and "Grey's Anatomy." Re: the Office...I'm not sure which line was my favorite: Creed's "That wasn't a tapeworm" or Ryan's "I still haven't processed 9/11." I also enjoyed Michael carrying Pam on Jim's macbook around the office, Michael falling down the stairs trying to get outside to say goodbye to Pam and Phyllis taking over as head of the Party Planning Committee. (And seeing Angela as a trampy girl? Wow.) It is the best show on TV. And why I loved Grey's? This picture says it all.

Now go watch this darling video and have yourself a nice weekend.

8 Items of Interest (including a Mr. Crushworthy update!)

1. Today, I had the opportunity to go on a little field trip during work and hang out with Mr. Crushworthy. Or as my boss announced, "let's go visit your boyfriend." There was a picture of him with a blonde on his desk. It must have been his cousin. The faux-hawk has been reined in considerably since I saw him last. (I'm sure you were wondering.) He has to wear a suit at work and today he was sporting cuff links. He is seriously dreamy. I just wish I'd worn a cuter outfit. Live and learn.
2. I loved Warren Sapp and Lance Bass on Dancing with the Stars last night. I really liked Lacey Schwimmer, even though she's going to make Len blow a gasket all season long. I'm guessing the comedian will be gone tonight or possibly Kim Kardashian, depending on how strongly people dislike her. Just thought you'd like my prediction.
3. I fixed my internet by removing a little thingy that was in between the cable and the splitter. Not sure what it was there for but without it, my internet works all the time (novel concept, I know.)
4. I was up all night coughing. Seriously. All. Night. Long. I'm taking nyquil caplet things in about 1/2 an hour. It will not happen again.
5. Clay's officially gay. Not a big shockaroo.
6. I'm listening to Oprah in the background and a couple has $90K in credit card debt. How on earth do they sleep at night?
7. My mom picked up this cabinet for me from Ikea -- mine is a single and will be like a little pantry off of my kitchen. Yay! My cabinets in my own kitchen aren't even deep enough for cereal boxes but this is.
8. Kristin Chenoweth, one of my faves, is coming out with a holiday album next month. I seriously cannot wait. Her last CD, As I Am is what I've been listening to a lot lately. I think Mr. Crushworthy is my Taylor, the Latte Boy. If you don't know the song, watch the video. If you do know the song, please feel free to sing along with Kristin.
   

A good day in Primary (or the I had a "I would be an okay mom" realization)

Okay so I have to toot my own horn about Primary yesterday. This is basically a journal entry but a good story...read on, please...

An 8 year old girl named "Mary" was in the hallway crying to her mother and Primary teacher yesterday when she was supposed to be in Sharing Time. I stopped to check on her and her mom said she didn't want to be at church today. She has a father who doesn't attend church regularly and they are kind of hit and miss attendance-wise. The teacher said she was going to take her to the bathroom for tissue and I stayed and talked to the mom.

The mom (who has 5 kids total) then said her two younger kids can manipulate her into leaving church early and she didn't understand why her older kids weren't able to do that (no meant no with the older ones.) I told her "go to class - she can't manipulate you if you're not here." The mom said "are you sure?" I said "yes, we'll take care of it."

She left, the teacher came back with Mary. The teacher (a mother of six children who, frankly, should have known better) then said "I really think Mary isn't feeling well because she's not usually weepy like this." I told them Mary's mom had gone to class so Mary needed to go too. She started to cry again and I offered to take her on a walk around the church so she could get some fresh air and feel better and teacher could go back to sharing time.

Mary put her hand in mine and we walked around the church building. We talked about being in the third grade and how her teacher likes frogs and how I broke my wrist rollerskating when I was in the third grade. We passed Kim's husband who asked Mary if Sister Shaw was being bad in Primary and that's why she had to walk me around the building. (very funny!)

We got back to the Primary Room and it was time for class. She didn't last long and soon was sitting on her mom's lap, crying in the mother's lounge. I asked her if she would come and help me with the secretary stuff because I was doing double-duty yesterday. I told Mary her mom needed to go to Relief Society and the only way she could do that is if Mary came and helped me. So she did.

We figured out who was at Primary and who wasn't. We assigned the talks and scripture and prayers for next week (she got a prayer assignment.) I got in the message that it's hard to find kids to give the talks because lots of them don't come every week. We sat in the back and sang the songs and she stopped looking sad and started smiling.

I won't let her skip class again next week but I feel like I handled this situation the way it should be handled. She ended up leaving Primary smiling and happy and hopefully, those good feelings will carry over to next Sunday.

My favorite thing? The fact that she wanted to hold my hand the whole entire time we walked around the church. It was nice to be needed.

Another Fabulous Pumpkin Recipe

I've had a cold all week - annoying! It's raining today - also annoying! So after sleeping in until 11 AM and then spending the afternoon running errands in the rain with mom, I've got the rest of my Saturday all planned out. I'm back in my PJs, I'm going to set up my brand new free-to-me living room TiVo and then I'm going to make some of the best pumpkin cream cheese bread for my mom and sister. It is fantastic and looks SO pretty when it's cut and on a plate (this is a great treat for your visiting teaching people!) And it's totally like a dessert too - really moist and just yummy.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

Filling:
1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Bread:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly grease two 8x4x3-inch loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 egg, and the vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Into another bowl, sift 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. Put pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat well. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the pecans or walnuts, if using.

Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter.
Bake in preheated 325° oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely. Pumpkin bread recipe makes 2 loaves.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 1 tab grated orange peel in the filling but I just switched it to vanilla because it sounded gross to me with orange flavored filling.
• Don't try to make just one big loaf instead of two smaller loaves. Trust me.
• Don't stress out about dividing the batter between the two pans. Just eyeball it.
• When you put the pumpkin on top of the cream cheese layer, it's totally okay if you still see the cream cheese stuff. It bakes up just fine.
• You're gonna love this!