Continue reading »]]>

I finally made it to see the “The Muppets”  It was such an awesome movie.  I found myself transported to my youth.  I remember always watching The Muppet Show on television with my dad so I dragged him and my 18 year old nephew.  My nephew didn’t really catch a lot of the references to the past and I don’t think he really understood the complicated relationship of Kermit and Miss Piggy; but he enjoyed it also.  My dad and I however were constantly laughing.  I don’t think we were really laughing at the jokes as much as remembering a time when things seemed a little slower, happier and definitely younger.  All in all I give the show 4-1/2 stars.  Yes it was that good.  It had some great messages about family, friends, love and growing up and letting go.  It was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.

Continue reading »]]>

So this year I decided to create my own Chrismas card using photoshop. However, the card wasn’t the standard size of the envelope but it was a nice first try. As I sent out the card I realized that the art of ‘pen pals’ and ‘greeting cards’ in the mail is falling to the way side to ecards. We should do our best to preserve the United States Postal Services by sending a personalized letter once a month.

Continue reading »]]>

Where are you Christmas? The holiday is almost here. With Steve unemployed it does make it hard to be in the Christmas spirit No matter how many angels I grab off the Angel Tree it has not helped me find Christmas. My world is changing and I am rearranging but does that mean Christmas changes too.

I will not give up so for the next week I am going to do my darndest to get find Christmas. So to start I have decided to try to share some of the seaon.

The Iraq war finally came to an end this week. I was never for that war and had many arguments and hurt many relationships over my strong feelings about the most idiodic war that was. As it came to an end Stephen Colbert paid tribute and I thought I would share.

Continue reading »]]>

So recently the has been a firestorm and negative statements about the ‘Kardashians’, but I am here to ask “How are the Kardashians any different than the Duggars?” Are they not both famous for having accomplished nothing much. Do they not both expoit their families for financial gain? How are they so different other than the size of their family. Do they not both receive corporate sponsorships for their reality shows. But the Duggars are held on a pedestal while everyone tries to knock down the Kardashians.

I found it rather amusing when the ‘liberal’ media went after President Obama for stating that he felt ‘Keeping Up with The Kardashians’ was not an appropriate example for his 10 and 13 year old daughters. As a guilty pleasure television and KUWTK viewer, I have to agree with the President. It is not appropriate for little kids. They do come off a little disfunctional and they are also mostly all adults so the conversation is along those lines. They are definitely not Sesame Street.

However, I have given much thought to this. You can hate them or you can love them or you can actually be indifferent about them but I think at least the Kardashians are a genuine family. So many think a family is one who worships together or gets together on holidays or for Sunday dinners. But I think the Kardashians are a good example of a family the actually works despite it’s dysfunction. They do get involved in each others lives and are there to support one another. Sometimes the truth may hurt but at least they are there to tell each other the truth and not blind themselves from it. They may not always like or agree with what they do but in the end they know they can count on each other.

Sure they are fame hungry and sometimes they put fame above the family but I have been witness to those who would put religion or idealogy above family or fear of judgement and also career (which is another way of seeking fortune similar to fame). I guess it is important to keep up with our own families. And when that is impossible then at least there are friends you can count on. My best one being I the form of a spouse…right Ham Ham.

Continue reading »]]>

So the husband starting letting his mustache grow.  I must admit it is not my favorite characteristic.   When I asked about it, all I was getting is “Movember is here!”  I had all sorts of ideas running through my head about Movember. I thought it was the month that mormons we allowed to grow facial hair due to the hunting season. Well silly me; Movember is actually real. It is used as a way to raise awareness for mens health, specifically prostate cancer. Because my dad is a surving prostate cancer patient I now totally support the facial hair under his lip. (Which has been promised to disappear come December).

 So for my part I encourage men to make sure to turn their heads and cough and get a PSA count to make sure the levels remain normal. If caught early you can beat prostate cancer.

Continue reading »]]>
Steve and I joined my dad last Sunday for a nice slow ride around Strawberry Resevoir in the boat that he lovingly calls “Queen Mary”. It was fun to see my dad’s face light up as we came into the Renegade dock for a potty break. There was another boat at the dock and the lady in the boat told my dad how much they liked his boat. To be honest it is a no thrill fishing vessel.

But after growing up with the OCD parents who would always freak if we got our ski boat marked up, it is rather nice to not have to worry about the boat as we approach a dock.

It was an enjoyable day and we actually had a lot of action and managed to get 8 fish in the boat. We are purely catch and release so for all we know it may have been the same fish at times. I had a huge moment on the boat. I actually held my first fish while Steve took out the hook. As I watched the fish come up out of the water into the boat they would jump around, jerking back and forth. I would hold it firm while Steve tried to take the hook out and that darn fish would still force through a flip or too. Then finally after we released the hook (and snap a picture or 2)

I would place it in the water. One perticular fish I thought might not have made it. He just sat there for a minute and then he finally swam away.
It was at that moment that I felt like that fish.

Steve and I had been trolling through life at a pretty steady rate and didn’t seem to have a care in the world.
Well then the universal forces that be, cast out and somehow that damn lure grabbed hold of us. We have been flipping and flopping around not really sure what was going to happen.

I feel like we have been placed back in the water and we can either decided to keep on swimming or just float to the top. I am not sure that hope always floats because sometimes you have to take hope and swim with it. As long as you keep moving and don’t just tread water in place, we can get to the other side.

I think Dori the fish said it best, “Just Keep Swimming, Just keep swimming, just keep swimming”, I finally get it.

2 Quotes I stole from Facebook Statuses:

1. When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place.

2. If you look at life like a piano where the white keys represent happiness & the black keys represent sadness. As life goes on you realize the black keys make music too…

Continue reading »]]> The end of the summer is nigh. I must admit I am sort of glad. I am already looking forward to the rebirth of spring because this summer has been one of those summers that will not go on the books as the world’s greatest.

It started out with such hope. We had made the decision to forego any big trip and spend our time visiting State and National parks. We began the summer with a Memorial Day outing to Escalante Petrified Forest State park and a 3 day weekend of adventure.

However, as soon as we rolled into our campground the camp host came to ensure that we were the correct reservies and then proceeded to talk our ear off. 45 minutes later the forty mile per hour wind started and it did not stop until Monday morning as we were packing up our campsite. We were able to see much of the National Grande Staircase.

If our life was a novel that trip would have definitely been considered foreshadowing for the summer to come. Our camping trip in June had to be cancelled due to a late spring and 5 feet of snow still sitting on the Alpine Loop in American Fork Canyon. So we played some golf instead. However, Steve came home on June 29th with the news that his company was going through another downsizing exercise and this time he was one of the casualties. The news definitely took the wind out of our sails for the rest of the summer. We decided to proceed with our plans of visiting Mesa Verde National park over the 4th of July. Which suprisingly was great weather and a nice time.

It was nice to drive through our favorite part of the state – South eastern Utah.

We finally spotted our first wild bear.

We also spent a weekend up in Park City for the Food and Wine Classic another outing that was planned before the bad news of June 29th.

This time we participated in a hike.

As well as the grand tasting.

We postponed our Glacier National Park trip and stayed home over the 24th of July. We were hoping to take the waverunner out but the stupid thing didn’t seem to want to cooperate. A little more golf and

Salt lake City exploration.

We did manage to make another trip up American Fork Canyon to Granite flats. Suprising enjoyed nice weather and a well needed weekend getaway.

As we geared up for another camping trip to Payson lake we soon realized we were going to have to cancel the trip due to a death in the family. We managed to get out for a couple more rounds of golf.

So now we are left with one last weekend get away up the Mirror Lake highway.
It happens to fall on our 18th anniversary. Nothing more romantic than the rugged out doors for 3 days to celebrate our years together. So this has been a summer I would soon like to forget but at least it was a summer with my bestie whom I love dearly.

I guess we will take the lessons that we needed to learn from this summer. Grateful for our health and Nuskin, we will make our own happiness and soon another door will open. Already looking forward to next summer and year 19. Although I have to admit while writing this post and looking through my flickr photostream I have to admit this summer was not as bad as I thought it was.

Continue reading »]]>
Two weeks ago I received word that my cousin Penny’s husband had passed. They had been married 24 years. It really wasn’t until about 4 years ago that we started getting closer and hanging out a little more. Golf was the driving factor and beer really helped the cause as well. Up until a weel ago I was a funeral virgin. I had never attended a funeral and because I did not participate in any of the services when I was young I developed a phobia and did not even attend viewings as I grew older. I would always just send my sympathy.

I felt like this time I had to do it. I owed it to Chad. It was heartbreaking because he was only 4 years older than me and my cousin Penny was so heartbroken and lost without him. We pondered the loss for a few days and on the following Wednesday Steve, my mom and I took dinner over and that is when the real loss hit me. I was an emotional wreck. I wish I could say it was all because I missed Chad but there were so many other things whirling around in my head that it was making me a basketcase. Funny thing about feelings, they are a lot like speed bumps. You might not always know they are there but you sure feel them. If you are not prepared they can really knock the wind out of you.

It resurfaced old feelings of not having children that I thought were long tucked away. The thought that when Steve dies I would be alone. Yes, I would have my surrogate son Tyler but it is not the same. It made me think of relationships and who would come to my service and honor me. Relationships that I have not continued to work on. It also made me really think about Steve’s relationships with his family – which honestly are non existant. How would I break the news and would they even care. So many thing were playing with my emotions. I guess as we grow older we take death a little harder. No wonder my mom cried for 2 days recently when their pet rabbit died. I get it now. I also understand why we have funerals. It is a way of finally saying goodbye and letting go of all the emotions that are whirling around. I just hope I don’t have to go through this for another 45 years, but that is just wishful thinking.

Continue reading »]]> Well another lapse in posts. We are 3-1/2 weeks into the lay off/unemployment. I must say that I am starting to feel a little unsettled. I know intellectually we are going to be fine but it is the small reality in my head that keeps sending little fits of insecurity through me. Luckily the relationship is able to handle it. We are both trying to be rational enough to understand where each others irrational is coming from and so far it is working. It helps that Steve has stepped up and helped out around the house quite a bit. I must say I haven’t gone into the grocery store for 3 weeks now.

I found this picture so fitting because the retards in Washington and the duchebags.. woops I meant Tea Baggers are playing games in Washington while so many suffer because there are no jobs.
 
On the other hand, last week was a fun week at work because I got to install and set up a Business Objects Enterprise server and we had a couple of consultants come in and work on a proof of concept for my company. IT was great to feel useful and interact with consulants. It also made me miss consulting …hmmm.,maybe…????

By Thursday there was a little sadness that I encountered. I finally made an appointment with a doctor for a complete physical. (not the sad part) I went mostly to relieve some of my fears about my memory loss I was encountering. Because I watch way too much Grey’s Anatomy and my grandma suffered from Alzheimers; I was feeling like I was getting an early onset. My doctor didn’t seem to agree but we will see what the futre of the test results reveal. While I was waiting to give blood my nephew called all upset and he just kept asking when I could come home from work. I finally got him to calm down enough to explain to me what was going on. He explained that his pet rabbit Roger was dead in the back yard.

It was his rabbit but my dad had adopted it and it lived at my parents home.

I have to admit I was really sad myself. I used to call him ‘my bunny’. I would always enter my parents home from the backdoor so I could visit the little guy. He would always come to me because he realized I was the one that would dig his favorite pieces out of his food to give him. So I went to help my nephew bury the rabbit. I ended up having to call Steve to come help roll him up in the blanket I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

The week was topped off by a nice weekend. Lazy with just enough of things to do that it didn’t get boring and it went by way too fast.
Steve and I decided to do a lazy Friday night topped off with Real Time with Bill Maher. Saturday we woke up and went downtown to the SLC Farmers Market.

We bought some fresh tomatoes, basil, bread and garlic. Saturday night we went to my cousins house for dinner which was enjoyable. Unfortuneately, the 2 cats and dog has played havick with my allergies.
Sunday we went out for 18 holes.

It was at times frustrating; it was also enjoyable. I do love the sport although I am struggling again with my driver this year which tends to throw the rest of my game into a roller coaster ride. We finished the weekend with homeade briscetta and pasta, pinot grigio and True Blood and Entourage. This is the greatest way to end a weekend and gear up for the following week.