More random stuff -- from my brain to yours!

• I love Cook's Illustrated and their anal retentive recipes. I love that everything is scientifically tested and I adore how snooty they are. I accidentally bought a subscription to their online site (because I forgot to cancel after the free 14 day trial.) So I thought I'd share with you that they ranked dark chocolate chips and Nestle came up last -- as in not recommended! I had no idea that after all of my years of baking, I've been using the wrong chocolate chips. I'm sure you'd like to know that #1 was Ghirardelli 60% cacao, #2 was Hershey's Special Dark and #3 was Guittard semi sweet. Go forth and shop, then bake and report back.
• I'm so, so, SO looking forward to General Conference. I love everything about this weekend -- hearing meaningful and profound messages from our leaders, having a reason/excuse to relax, and yes, many opportunities to snack.
• But after this weekend, I'm calling Comcast and giving up all of the channels I have above my channel 67, which includes KBYU. I just don't watch them and I can watch Conference online or at my mom's. It's just too stinking expensive to pay all of that extra money each month for one channel.
• And while I'm talking about Comcast, I love their new commercials, especially the one that says "ROTFLOL'ing." Makes me happy.
• Today's rant about Facebook: I wish you could appear offline to some people but still be online to others. Yeah, I want to block someone but not enough to delete them as a friend and no, it's not one of you. Oh and still hating all of the dang quizzes that appear over and over. Makes me never want to take a single quiz because I don't want to inflict a huge list of quiz results on all of my FB friends. I liked how before you could say "less" of something like less notes or less quizzes. Wish they'd bring that back.
• After about a month long drought, I have had many Mr. Crushworthy encounters over the last several days. In case you were wondering, he's still quite fabulous and dreamy. He also helped me be a superstar at work today, which is always a good thing.

What I thought about while I was doing my hair:

1. Why Facebook keeps showing me updates for some people and never for others. I really don't care to wish a friend of a friend a happy birthday every single day. Um, hiding you now, sorry...
2. How much I love the super animated sister who seems to always lead the choirs at those general meetings - watching her lead the closing song during Saturday's YW broadcast made me SO happy.
3. And while I was thinking of that, I thought of how much I loved Sister Dalton's talk about purity.
4. And while I was thinking of THAT, I thought of this recent Blog Segullah post that I just loved and you all should read.
5. Chrissy -- love her.
6. Why my Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran tastes "different" this time. It's like it's not as crunchy but it's not stale. Just seems like they under toasted it or something. But did I return the box to the store? No.
7. Why my mom's face swelled up for no apparent reason yesterday. We're wondering if she's developed an allergy to nuts.
8. Why the movie "Ghost Town" had to throw so many f-bombs in there. So not necessary and it wasn't even that great of a movie. Two thumbs down.
9. My sister saying goodbye to her friends in her ward at church yesterday. I ache for her because goodbyes are the worst.
10. The rat and baby that were living in my next door neighbor's bag of squirrel food in her outdoor closet. She wanted me to help her get it out of there (she's pushing 80.) All I did was suggest she call a guy in our complex. I should have taken a pic of it happily ensconced in the bag but I was too busy keeping my exit route open so I could bolt. But seriously, she gave the thing an all you can eat buffet - why WOULDN'T it nest in there???? SICK!!!
11. How I needed to blog all of these things before I forgot and hopefully will not be late to work. Um, gotta go.

How to get through a 2 hour American Idol in about 45 minutes

I know I'm going out on a limb here but really, American Idol bugs me. Yes, it's a cultural phenomenon and I usually love me a cultural phenomenon. Yes, 30 kajillion people vote each week so that means everyone else loves it. I usually end up buying songs from the winner and runners up but most of the time, I fast forward (FF) nearly the whole show and here's why:

• I think Ryan Seacrest is smarmy and I really don't like to listen to him talk. I especially hate it when he and Simon "fight." It comes across so mean most of the time. When Ryan opens his mouth, FF!
• Whenever Randy doesn't like someone's performance, he usually starts out with a "how are you feeling tonight, dawg? You feeling alright?" If you hear that, you have just given a horrible performance. You'd think after all of these years, he'd come up with new material. Whenever Randy starts to talk, FF!
• Paula, Paula, Paula. I really try hard to like her because she's all kinds of crazy and I sort of feel bad for her. But she is such a train wreck and cannot speak in complete sentences most of the time. It's just sad and I'm embarrassed to even watch her. Whenever Paula starts to talk, FF!
• The cheesy commercials the contestants do are lame! FF!

With all of that being said, my favorite contestants are Adam and Danny and I will continue to zip through watching the show each week just because I want to hear their performances. Hopefully, my FF tips will help you make better use of your time in the future.

Graceful, I am not

After work last night, I drove to my mom's to bake lasagnas for my fun dinner & games party at Kim's. Why? Mom has two ovens and she got this adorable, tiny little puppy I was dying to meet (name is still to be determined.)



Anyway, I walk in carrying the two pyrex 9x13 pans on top of each other, looking at the tiny 1.5 pound furball sitting on Mom's chest and I step up to go into the family room toward the kitchen and don't notice that Mom has put a 12 inch high piece of wood across the doorway to keep the puppy from roaming around the entire house. I went flat down on my face and immediately thought "I broke a tooth." I start bawling like a baby because my mouth and chin hurt and I was sure I wrecked the lasagnas. Thankfully, I had tight-fitting lids on the dishes and they were fine.

My face however, was not. I had a small bump right away so Mom got me some ice. When I got to Kim's, she could barely see anything. But by the end of the night? Here is what I looked like:

Why is it that I fall when I'm making food for other people?? At least my hair looks good, right?? ;) It's about the same today -- swollen on the inside of my mouth and still, a lovely and vibrant shade of purple. My teeth are fine, thank goodness.

Anyway, I had a fun night last night because Callie brought Andrew home to meet us. We all loved him immediately -- he's great!


These two guys were also there -- I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to be around both of them. Greg is on the left, Robert is on the right. Love them. (This pic is from Wednesday night when Robert came home from his mission.)

Well, it's Stake Conference weekend and I'm getting ready to meet Tyler for lunch in a bit. I'm not sure I can do much to disguise the bruise. I think I'll create a story to explain it. Maybe I was in a bar fight? Hmm. Better, more creative ideas are welcome in the comments.

A sweet reminder

All of the meetings
All of the time spent in prayer
All of the headaches
All of the time spent trying to devise meaningful programs
All of the activities
All of the time spent planning activities
All of the worry
All of the nights spent chaperoning dances
All of the tears
All of the staffing challenges
All of the times feeling unsupported and alone at the top

All of those not-so-fun memories are forgotten when a former Laurel called me today to talk about a situation she's dealing with. Now a mature 20 year old and one of those girls who doesn't feel the need to reach out much since she graduated from high school, she called me because I was the first person (after her mom) she wanted to discuss things with and to get advice from.

Phone calls like the one I got today make everything I struggled with while I was a YW leader totally and completely worthwhile. I'm so grateful I've gotten a lot of reminders over the years (and continue to from extra special girls like Chrissy, Jamie, Callie and Kara.)

I am blessed.

What I did today

• I went to work and spent the entire afternoon totally irritated with a lame coworker. Why do some people refuse to do their own job? Seriously. Why?
• I checked on my NCAA bracket. I'm in a bragging rights only pool with a bunch of guys and I didn't do too badly. Oh and BYU? Way to go.
• I made two of the Pioneer Woman lasagnas for a little gathering tomorrow night. Yes, two. I have my window open to air out the food smells. I really hope it smells "normal" in here by morning.
• I hid my eyes in embarrassment watching Michael on the Office tonight. Oh. My. Goodness. And poor, poor Jim.

And...that's all I did today.

Emotions of the day

Thrilled: One of my most favorite missionaries comes home tomorrow! I can't believe it's been two years. I'm going to the airport and then over to his family's for dinner tomorrow night (hopefully my Primary peeps are not planning on a Weds night meeting!) I can't wait to see him!

Curious: I ordered some stamping stuff and UPS said they delivered the boxes on Friday but guess what? The boxes weren't there when I came home Friday after work. I called Stampin Up and they are re-sending my entire order (which wasn't small.) I've lived here almost eleven years and have never had anything stolen off my porch. Why now???

Excited: My sister Jenilee was at the Honolulu Airport today picking up our niece who was coming in for a visit and just look who she met!!! (Bridget, this pic is for you!)

In case you don't watch the show, it's Hurley from Lost. This was taken with her cell phone and lifted off of her Facebook (thanks, Jen!) She said he was really nice and friendly. I'm so glad she met someone from her favorite TV show before she moves home. Which brings me to my next emotion...

Happy: Jenilee and her family move home in about 3 weeks and my friends Tyler and Jeni will be home from their European adventure around the same time. I'll love having both of them relatively close by again!

Pleased: My mom is getting a puppy this weekend -- half Pekingnese/half Shih Tzu. It will be nice for her to have a little companion.

Thoughtful: Michelle posted a wonderful blog entry today -- go read here. See if it makes you think a little too.