4th Of July!

Hope everyone had a happy fourth of July! I know, I'm a little late posting...usually I love posting mumbo jumbo on my blog, but when events back up, I don't look forward to playing catch up. So, anyway, my 4th of July was quite relaxing. We closed the store for a couple days before and I finished up my drapes that have been looming for like 8 months now, and we had some family in town so we just hung out and played at the parks, ate lots of good food and of course, lit some fireworks. I was a little bummed out leading up to the 4th because as a family we have gone to Lake Tahoe for the past few years and enjoyed the amazing fireworks lake side. My parents equate it to a spiritual experience...which I don't know if I'd go that far, but it does instill a tremendous sense of pride for the country we live in...and Tahoe holds a special place in my heart because I got engaged there 4 years ago. :) It turns out we had a great time just being together and laughing and playing games and building lincoln log villages.

Pump it Up!

I learned about this indoor bounce world called Pump It Up when we went there one night for mutual and have been talking about getting our family together to go there sometime. Well, my sister and her family were in town the end of june and so we decided to rent it out for an hour and go wild! It was soo much fun! They have giant blow up slides, an obstable course, jousting, boxing, basketball and whatever your imagination can dream up. It was a blast. When we first got there I felt a little embarrassed when the lady asked us how many kids there were. Luckily we had little Russell, but HEY, we all act like kids...does that count? So we had our little "adult party" she called it. Here's some shots and video of the fun!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What IS that?

Did anyone guess spinach pasta? I know, it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie that could come to life at any moment. I've had the baking bug bad these last couple weeks. I made rolls, whole wheat bread, (which by the way, makes the BEST grilled cheese..) and then the spinach pasta. I've only made pasta once before...no, I take that back...I've WATCHED the pasta making process once before and it looked like fun to add spinach into it. So, three hours and a bicep workout later we finally had dinner. It was like 10:00pm before we even ate. You have to like knead in flour, let it rest, knead in more flour, let it rest...let's just say if I would have read through the whole recipe first, I wouldn't have bothered. It was a lot of work for some funky colored noodles. It reminds me of a friend who used to hate cooking, she said it was because it took so long to make and then was devoured in minutes. I'm siding with her on this one. NEVER AGAIN! I guess if I did it in a mixer it would have been much easier--so maybe I will do it again, because despite the hassle and time they were DELICIOUS!

Pick-Up Trucks

Alright, so this happened a couple weeks ago, but I remembered it and told Brian the other day so I thought I'd share it with you. I was coming home from work one day and waiting at one of the 50 billion stop lights I get stuck at..(sometimes I count how many times I really have to stop at a light and have contests from day to day...but then it gets depressing counting all the precious time i'm wasting.)

ANYWAY...out of the corner of my eye I saw this guy in a truck waving his arm around. He was motioning me to roll my window down. I thought for a second and then rolled my window down to see what he needed. He asked me how to get to a certain street from the one we were on and I had no idea. You'd think after 4 years of living in Sacramento I'd know my way around, but no. Anyway...I told him I knew he could get there from the freeway but we were a few miles away from there. Then the next thing he asked me was, "Is that a wedding ring you're wearing?" I said, "yes." Then he was like, "awww..man...I know where I'm going, I was just trying to work my magic." Wowsers...then I really didn't know what to say...I just kept chanting in my head, "green light...green light.." Then he asked me if I was happy, I of course said yes. What a creep. Then after what seemed like eternity the light turned green and I zoomed away.
So, there you have it. The ultimate 'pick-up' truck.

Tagged!

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

Rejoicing for summertime between 7th & 8th grade. I was never much a fan of school and LIVED for the three short months we had in between. As I look back though, middle school was definitely the most fun. I won't even tell you that my husband was just getting home from his mission ten years ago, that's another story. ;)


2. What are five things on your to do list?

a. Make it through this week. I must admit, even though I took a day off, I have yet to recover from the mountains of drama going on and on and on and on...
b. Go on a date with my hubby...(yes it's on my to do list since I'm such a homebody, I like to stay in on the weekends and he wants to get out!)
c. Finish my living room curtains.
d. Wash & vacuum my car..
e. Clean bedroom #3 (that's been on the list for as long as we've lived in our house...it's the perpetual 'thing to do' when all others are done, hence the reason it's been so neglected.)


3. What snacks do you enjoy?

During the summertime, FRUIT! Especially berries and watermelon...mmmm...also apples and cheese (don't knock it till you've tried it..), and natural cheetos (sounds like an oxymoron I know, but they're tasty).


4. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

QUIT MY JOB!! Get a great financial advisor and invest the majority of it to keep giving me back...then I think I'd go to culinary school just for the heck of it and open a bakery. Sell my house and buy a better one, maybe not a bigger one, but a better one, with a big backyard, and then I'd buy my doggie back. I am a cheap skate at heart, so I'd mostly hoard it and watch it grow.


5. List three bad habits.

a. I love to bake sweets. Not normally a bad thing, but lately I've been trying to watch what I eat and so I've had to fight the urge to play with flour and sugar.
b. I don't talk about my feelings. Again, not normally a bad thing except that once it gets to be too much I can't really function properly.
c. I enjoy teasing my husband to the point that he gets irritated...definitely a bad thing. :)


6. Places you have lived.

Grover Beach, Nipomo, Provo, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova



7. List five jobs you have had

a. Flyer girl (you know those annoying fliers on your doorstep? Yep! That was me! As a cute little 10 year old, it was a good gig.)
b. Hallmark Employee
c. MTC cleaning supervisor...yes, a blue vest girl. Someone had to keep that brass shiny shiny!
d. Bookstore manager
e.


8. List five things people may not know about you.

a. I love roller coasters! The faster and higher the better!
b. I sweat A LOT! Something I just found out about myself in the last couple years...I've always lived in mild weather so I thought I never sweat but in the heat in Sacramento...well, let's just say, triple digits and I are not friends.
c. I enjoy doing "handy man" jobs.
d. I love a nice relaxing bubble bath, but can only handle it for 15 minutes, then I'm done.
e. I can wiggle my ears.

Bible?

Alright, I just have to share this for all you book-ies out there. We've been going through our store to send out books we have an excess of and one of our great employees asked me if he could type in the ISBN and it would tell him the author to look up. Well, the book was The Oxford Study Bible and I happened to know the author to avoid him doing extra work. It's just listed under "bible" for the author and he told me he was tempted to look the book up under "God."
So, maybe you had to be there, but it made for a much needed Friday afternoon laugh!

SUMMER OLYMPICS

I've been getting excited these past few weeks for the Summer Olympics to start. I know August is still a couple months out (thank goodness!), but I love watching them on tv; Summer especially! One day, I'd love to go to the opening ceremonies and catch a couple of events. I'll have to get over my issue with crowded places, but then I'M GOING. After watching this video and knowing my aversion to crowds and maintaining personal space...China is far from my dream Olympic experience. So, I'll happily watch this year's events from the cheap seats in my living room.

Just Call Me Deputy...

I love my job...heh...rrrright. So it's not what I would have chosen to with my life, but it pays the bills. In fact, the more I think about it, it's not that great at all, but it definitely keeps me on my toes.

FOR INSTANCE...

Last Friday we had a guy come in who looked a little shady, (which I feel a little bad about judging him so early on, but it was justified by the time he left.) He bought some books with a temporary check, but I didn't think anything of it until he came in to return them. We have a check clearing machine that approved it so I gave him cash back. Well, come to find out when I was in the back he came again and wrote ANOTHER check and then returned a book on that receipt. DEFINITELY SHADY! So, we decided we wouldn't be accepting his checks anymore if he came in again.
SOOOO, today he strolls in and a few of us recognized him and came up with our plan to refuse his checks and the next thing I know he's leaving the store with a larger stomach than when he came in...(and a little pointy too!) He had put a book under his jacket and left!

NOT ON MY WATCH!!!

We've had theives before, so I'm a seasoned veteren when it comes to confronting loonatics. I chased him down and said, "GIVE ME THAT BOOK BACK NOW!!" He was around the corner by then and trying to get on his bike when I saw him reach under his sweater. At this point I thought, "great, he's gonna pull out some sort of weapon and I'm gonna die for a stupid calculus book." Not the blazy of glory I was hoping for. Well, lucky for me he pulled out the book and threw in on the ground and I said, "You just stole that book!" And do you know what he said, "uh, yeah, sorry."
Oh, sir, thanks for the apology, you know what, you keep that. You almost got away anyway. PSH! Was that supposed to make me feel better?? So, I yelled at him a little, told him I'm calling the cops, and to never come back again. I hate having to deal with these situations. And worse, I just felt violated.
Sadly, the story continues. HE CAME BACK!!! Didn't I tell him I'd be calling the police!?!? I guess it's true what they say that crooks are stupid. He came to sell back some books and the employee I had doing them called me over to deal with it. Yeah, and I dealt with him for good!!! You could tell he was a little shocked to see me again. :) ha! That's right, I may be a woman, but I could have taken him!

Need A Good Laugh?

Here's some waterslide fun!

Scouty

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