Lovey Valentine's

I thought I had better put up a Valentinesy background before the end of February came and went. It's such a short month! I was at the store a few days ago and saw some Valentine's cards and wished I was in Elementary School again so I could buy some. I certainly still could...perhaps I will put it on my grocery list.

The funny things dogs do...

I love my dogs. They are practically my kids. I also love other people's dogs almost as much. Here are some thoughts to put a smile in your head and a laugh on your face.
1. On the way home from work early in the morning, I saw a teeny tiny chihuahua booking it down the street towards me. At first I was worried that he would get hit, but then I noticed he seemed to know where he was going because he turned full speed at the next street and kept booking it. Teeny chihuahua's run hilariously.
2. We went to have a movie night with Josh's sister tonight. (We watched Despicable Me. So cute.) As we pull in the driveway, we can see two little beagles along the side fence looking at us. When we get out of the car, they started to howl and get so excitedly loud, probably the whole neighborhood hears it. Needless to say, Amanda and Kagan do not need a doorbell. (P.S. They continue this behavior even as we're inside the house because they get so excited. Adorably loud.)
3. We recently got our little Gimbles a harness because he pulls too hard on his collar and has given himself some pretty nasty looking scabs on his neck. Poor thing. Gimli is a special dog to begin with, but now we call him our special little harness dog. He is just so sweet and dumb it fits him. Right now, for instance, he is chewing on a bone, randomly getting up to move every now and then, and wagging his tail because he's so happy with himself and the situation. (Pippin is under a blanket. His cavern and hiding place. Like an ostrich, he doesn't think anyone will find him as long as he is covered.)
So funny : )

January-The Monday of the Months

The start of a year. I don't make new years resolutions. I kind of feel that if we are all making daily goals for ourselves, we are doing something more productive than beating ourselves up for not losing 10 pounds by the end of the year. So I guess my new year's resolution is to make daily goals for myself. Yesterday's goal was to not freak out over the little things. Which still did happen. I got upset because Josh put lemon pepper seasoning in my turkey chili. Really stupid thing. It ended up tasting great by the way. And today, I can do better. Here's to daily goals
P.S. I kind of stole your new blog site Lindsey...I can't ever get my blog to look right and these templates help a lot. Yours was so darling I had to check it out. : ) loves.

Four Thanksgivings

This year Thanksgiving was a little different. Josh and I were blessed to be able to see a lot of family - extended and immediate - and literally had four Thanksgivings.
Thanksgiving 1: An early taste of all the delicious food that means "put on your stretchy pants and buckle down for a third serving of sweet potatoes."
On Sunday, November 21, we shared an early Thanksgiving with Josh's mom and Josh's siblings, namely, Casey and Becky and their children, Kaya and Jamison; Amanda and Kagan; and last but not least, Braden, the youngest Robison. (punctuation?) Josh fried his first turkey (it was a pretty big deal, we read up on it for a few days before to make sure we weren't going to burn the house down) and it was delicious. I made potatoes and sweet potatoes. Becky made stuffing and gravy. Amanda made a graham cracker dessert, and Sue made my favorite pretzel Jell-O. It was good to spend time with them...a great way to start the week : )
Thanksgiving 2: The real deal.
Turkey Day Thursday we spent at my MorMor and Papa's house with my mom's side of the family. Amazing food, including a bacon mushroom salad I surprisingly loved and Josh will continue to salivate over provided by my Aunt Brooke. Jonathan and Tricia drove from Colorado to be here so that was a treat. He and I played flute and piano together at the request of my Papa. Later that evening, Rachel and our cousin Kirsten came over to spend the night so we could wake up to a day of Black Friday shopping! Yes, I agree it's one more way to commercialize Christmas, but there is no harm in saving money on Christmas gifts.
Thanksgiving 3: Black Friday and a Thanksgiving with Josh's dad and grandparents
Every year Josh and I go Black Friday Christmas shopping together. We pick out each other's Christmas gifts (not much of a surprise on Christmas but we still love it) and just spend the day together. This year I went shopping with Rachel and Kirsten starting at 5am, got home at 9:30, and then went shopping with Josh. We got home around 12 and took a 3 hour nap! After the nap we went to Josh's grandparents house and had pizza for dinner with Josh's dad and uncle/aunt/cousins as well. After we ate, we decorated his grandma's tree. This was probably my favorite thing that happened all week. It was neat to see all of her ornaments and find out any meaning behind them. Josh's grandma is a very special lady and you could tell she was so happy to have a lot of her kids and grandkids there to share in helping decorate the tree.
Thanksgiving 4: Nana's house and the Great Leslie
On Saturday night, my family and Josh and I decided to visit my Nana and have a Thanksgiving leftover dinner. I've decided that throughout all these indulgences, I have consumed about 2 sticks of butter...the thought made me briefly reconsider making chocolate cookies yesterday, but only briefly. Anyhow, my Nana is an amazing woman. She grew up in Hollywood and as a result, loves these spectacular old-timey movies. The one we decided to watch is called The Great Race All of the Luke children love this movie. It was a staple on road trips, so how could someone not love it? Well, we had two new Great Race viewers, Josh, and Jonathan's wife Tricia. I think the breaking point for both of them was when the main character, The Great Leslie, gives a sultry, sensual stare at Natalie Wood, and someone producing or directing had the bright idea to make his eyes actually sparkle. Well, Josh became quickly jealous of this eye-twinkling ability and we decided to go home. Blaming it on my needing to prepare a lesson and the snow storm coming. I will still insist at one point or another that we finish the epic film.


So those were our four Thanksgivings. Each one I am grateful for and grateful that we have that many special people in our lives to spend holidays with.
To end the week, Josh and I built a snowman in our front yard yesterday. We decided to name him Dick Butkis, after a famous football player whose parents obviously did not love him. (Football and Sunday go together for Josh, hence the name).
It's a little grainy because it was taken on Josh's phone and it was snowing, but here's a better one that I took today.
Happy Holidays!

Conglomerate Post

Seeing as it's been since July that I last posted, I have a lot to "catch up" on, if the things I talk about could indeed be described as having to be told. Mostly they are just thoughts and not necessarily things that have happened...
Numero uno: I absolutely dislike freshmen. College freshmen! I had no idea I may have acted that way...but isn't that always the case? At the University of Utah, I do imagine the maturity level of freshmen there as compared to BYU is marginally significant. So I can give myself some comfort in that knowledge. But if I were good at math I wouldn't be in this position. The math class I am taking is stuff I started doing in elementary school through my sophomore year...anyway, let's just say we aren't the brightest crayons in the box in that auditorium. I could rant on about how the two most annoying girls sat behind me yesterday, but this subject has already had too much undeserved typing devoted to it.
Dos: Lately I have enjoyed getting little craft ideas, but that's just the thing, they are ideas. And they float around in my head waiting to come to fruition, but I don't exactly have the most amazing craft supplies. My next idea: a craft closet with every little sharp razor, spool of ribbon, and scrap of fabric my heart desires (also a sewing machine)......I'll start with garage sales. Hopefully that will get me somewhere.
Tres: I love my job (and am happy to be back with it!). I think I've posted about it before, but the people I've met through working at Rise have had such an impact on me. The best part is that it's an ongoing thing.
Quatro: Josh and I are glad to be back home. It's good to be with family : ) some not so happy things have happened, but in the end when we really stick together and care for each other, things will turn out alright.

exciting things are happening!

My list of fabulous things happening to me in the next month is pretty full!! I was sitting in my living room, thinking, and then realized my head was happy. Here's why:
1. Today I approached my boss to tell her what day I planned to be my last. August 13th! That's less than a month away! That was the first lovely occurrence of the day, and I felt like a burden was beginning to lift off my shoulders.
2. I received a message from my wonderful flute teacher who taught me while we lived in Louisiana. She will be performing in Santa Cruz at the Cabrillo Music Festival and I get to go to one of the concerts to see her! Today I perused the website, cabrillomusic.org, and listened to a few clips here and there, and it made my heart feel full. I regret to say that I did not bring my flute to California, and I had the strongest urge to play!! I'm definitely kicking myself for that...but I was extremely excited to start planning the trip to Santa Cruz.
3. My birthday is coming up. I love birthdays. They mean cake, and presents, and mostly love from people who care. Also, it means our next trip to San Francisco is coming up soon : ) Josh and I are going to see the impressionist art brought to the de Young museum from the Musee de'Orsay in France! I am quite excited for this little excursion, and hopefully it will help me make up my mind a little as far as a major goes...(I am most definitely still undecided)
4. Josh and I are going on a date tonight as we do every Friday, but they never get old : ) And he is currently impatiently stating that I should get ready or we will never leave! So have a lovely evening : )

negative and positive thoughts

So, depressing thoughts first so I can end on a good note. I think I've expressed how I am not a fan of my supervisor at CPC. She can most assuredly be counted on to be rude; her gas tank of tact always blinking on empty. Recently, the branch has made some changes regarding another employee and where they think her most useful. I noticed last week when my supervisor called this particular woman into her office to discuss something behind closed doors. This usually means that individual is in trouble, or there is something about to happen. In this case it was the later. This employee was moved from one department to another, and without any prior notification to myself, I was told she would be taking over my desk and I hers. I had no immediate problem with this. My desk was smack dab in front of my supervisors and the hole she burned daily in the back of my head was throbbing for relief; however, I was never told exactly what I would be doing now that I was moved. The conversation and concern was directed solely at the employee who was changing departments. I was told I would possibly be taking over a different group of paperwork, and that was it. Today I was confused. I admit, part of it was my fault in not asking what my specific jobs were, but I felt jostled. I realized I missed the people I usually sat around and directed my questions to. I realized I didn't really know if this woman had taken over my responsibilities and I hers. It didn't seem as if she was doing the things I had done. Nothing was explained. So I assumed my regular tasks and asked around if anyone needed help with their things as I usually did. Later, I heard one of my fellow employees ask our supervisor if I was still helping with a certain department. Her reply,"You guys get comfortable with distributing the workload amongst yourselves and we'll use and abuse Sarah for the other stuff while she's here." And later, she walked right by my desk and said to the employee seated next to me," Feel free to ask Sarah to do whatever you'd like her to." Never once telling me directly that she would like me to help the other employees with their workload, which in fact I had been doing since the first day on my job. Come to think of it, she never told me what I should be doing from that first day. I got the jobs that eventually became routine by asking for them in the first place. I wish now that I had approached her to tell her she could speak to me and that I had ears. And I don't care if this seems over-exaggerated, she clearly does not do her job well if she cannot communicate with the employees she should be supervising. Now that my desk is further away and she cannot see every little thing that I do, today she walked by and around my desk more frequently than I'd ever seen her approach that particular side of the room. She is a micro-manager in every way except that she does not ASK. She merely makes me feel low and stupid by reprimanding and correcting after the fact, not explaining and understanding before. I do my job, and I do it as damn well as I'm capable, even if it does involve stuffing envelopes. I never remember feeling this much anger towards a person...She's entirely a troll.
Which brings me to a happier note. I am re-reading Harry Potter 6 at the moment. The movie that came out last year has been my favorite so far, and even in the first few pages I had forgotten how much they excluded from the movie. It's been fun to not remember certain things that happen and get excited about it all over again. I wish I could go to the amusement park and try some butterbeer...mmm. I imagine it tastes like butterscotch or something. (I just realized this paragraph could be read quite easily in a British accent. Even the words enclosed in parenthesis). haha
Josh and I have a pizza night a week. Or maybe two. But usually we don't have a set day to get a pizza. We just decide that we want it one day. Today happens to be that day! And the thrill of pizza night is still as amazing as it ever was. I also typed this as a status on facebook and decided there were too many ways to say I was excited for pizza...I ended up putting down maybe the fifth or so thought that came to my head. Why can't I just say what I mean? haha...