Joy O' Joy!

I've been trying to loose weight lately. Wait. Let me restate that. I've been trying to lose weight practically all my life. I just don't try very hard. This summer I broke my arm and because I had a lot of problems with it swelling, I had to sit around with it elevated above my heart alot. Regardless, (and this is the best excuse I have come up with in a while for being fat) I gained 10 pounds over the summer. So I've been trying harder since school started to lose. Since I get up at 4 in the morning, I usually am in bed by 8:30 or 9pm. I decided since I go to bed so early, I need to eat earlier, so I usually try to eat at 5pm, and I usually eat a bowl of cereal. Sometimes I might slice up a banana to go in the cereal. I try to watch what I eat during the rest of the day also and usually eat a salad or a tuna sandwich for lunch. Anyway... Halloween is coming and you know what that means. Now normally I don't have a problem with having candy in my house. I always have candy. In fact we don't have a cookie jar, we have a candy jar. But I never eat it. Until now. The past 3 days I have been eating one of those bite-size Almond Joys followed by a bite-size (3 pieces) package of Whoppers. Thank-goodness it's only bite-sized. Because what I really want to do is go through that entire jumbo package of mixed Halloween candy that I bought at Sam's and pick out every single Almond Joy in there and eat it in one sitting. I don't do that - not because of the reason you might think - I don't do it because then I wouldn't have one for tomorrow! :0)

The Circle of Life

Tonight we were moving furniture because I'm having my carpets cleaned at 8am tomorrow morning. My husband was putting some stuff by one of our den doors and all of a sudden he called me to "Hurry and look out the window!" I looked out and saw two young coyotes coming in our backyard. We only have a temporary fence due to some construction going on below us (see post "A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On".) The coyotes were coming in to get the wild rabbits that we have all over our backyard. You might say, "Ah, poor bunnies!" but I say, "Hooray for the coyotes!" because I'm sick of all the rabbit poop all over our yard. We also have a field hawk that tries to get the rabbits, but he's not big enough to carry them off so he only kills them. All I can say is, "More power to you Mother Nature!"

Woo-Hoo!

Woo-Hoo!! I found my Visa Card!!
Did you look and look real hard?
Yes, I looked and looked real hard
But gave up on finding my Visa Card.

So where did you find your Visa Card?

Did you find it in the chair?
Did you find it on the stair?

I did not find it on the chair,
On the stair or in the air
I did not find it here or there.

Where I found it was the floor!

The floor you say? Behind the door?

Behind the door- it was not there
Just on the floor under the chair.
The chair I sat in just today
The chair I looked in every way
Today I sat there, then I stood
The card must have been stuck real good
When I arose the card fell down
Then when I found it I jumped around!!

Now Visa I do not have to call
For I have never phoned at all.
One lesson learned - wise words for you
When you use your Visa
Put it up when you're through!

...Now I wonder where my Seminary keys might be?.......Hmmmm....

Move Over Dr. Seuss

Epitome of Sweetness has inspired me to write a poem:

I cannot find my Visa card -
I've looked and looked
and looked real hard.

Did you look under the chair?
Did you look up in the air?

Yes, I looked under my chair-
In the air, by the stair,
I looked in boxes, cans, and trash,
I looked in places I like to stash.
My Visa card I find it not
This all makes me so distraught!

Did you look under the sink?
Did you, did you?
Think, think, think!

By the sink I looked and looked
On my dresser, in my book,
In all my purses, pockets, drawers,
Under beds, and closet floors,
I cannot find my Visa card
It hurts my brain to think this hard.

Give up now and you'll be free
Just call Visa, and you'll see
They'll replace it - good as new
And then send it right to you.
When you do this then you'll find
Your lost card and peace of mind.

Where is My Visa Card?

Okay, I finally bit the bullet and asked for new Seminary keys. I still am sure my Visa card is somewhere in my house, because I called Visa and asked what my last transaction was and it was an online transaction I made at home. So where are they? Do you have any ideas? Please leave a comment and give me some more ideas where to look.

A Clothes Horse?

Well I now have 3 dresses being shipped to my house for me to try on to see if they will work for the wedding. Thanks to everyone who sent ideas and links for me to look at. Have you ever watched one of those Sci-Fi movies where it shows the future and everyone is dressed the same? Now whoever wrote that and thought it would be realistic? Because I can tell you right now it's never going to happen - we're all too vain. Even in situations where a people are supposed to dress in the same things, ie: scrubs, uniforms, jumpsuits, etc. - you still see people trying to do different things so they can look better. I had a nurse in the rehab hospital where I spent almost 2 weeks when I had my knees replaced, who wore scrubs everyday, but she would color-coordinate her scrubs with the wig and the clogs she wore. Usually her clogs and wig matched - hot pink, lime green, etc. My mother uses an expression to describe someone who loves clothes. She calls them a "Clothes Horse". I wonder where that expression comes from and how it was coined. I mean, a "Clothes Horse"? Like a horse who wears clothes? Or a horse - like gymnastic equiptment - that someone uses to throw their clothes on because they're too lazy to hang them up? A horse made out of clothes? Clothes made out of horses? What? All I know is we love clothes. One of my daughters used to keep a calendar in her closet when she was in high school so she could write down the clothes she wore to school everyday. She also had a list in her closet of what outfits to wear - what goes with what - so she could work out every possible combination. That way she could go almost a month without wearing the exact same outfit twice. Last Sunday I was trying to remember what I had worn to church the previous Sunday but couldn't remember. I have to wear a dress everyday to teach a class, so it's hard to think a whole week back. I told my husband I needed a calendar in my closet so I could at least write down what I wore to church each week. There used to be a woman at church and it seemed like everytime I saw her she was wearing the same dress. I knew that it wasn't the only dress she had, but figured she couldn't remember what she had worn the week before either. I hope people don't look at me and think, "Yikes, is that all she has to wear - just those 2 dresses she wears every other Sunday?"

LOST

I've lost my Seminary keys. It's been over a month (and maybe more) since I saw them last. I have looked everywhere....and nothing. Someone borrowed them from me but I think he returned them. What I can't remember is if my new supervisor also borrowed them? I've thought of 2 more places to look and then I don't know. Then yesterday, I realized that I didn't have my Visa credit card in my wallet anymore. I have looked everywhere for that too, including 4 bags of trash that were in the garbage cans (that was an especially thrilling experience). While I've been sitting here I've thought of 3 more places to look for it. After that I guess I'll have to call the Visa Center and tell them I'm an idiot. What is really frustrating is that I don't lose things. I am pretty much an organized person. I know where most everything is (except my keys and my Visa). By the day of the wedding, I'll probably have lost my mind also. Hey maybe that is what people will say when they come to the wedding and I am naked because I couldn't find a dress to wear - "Pssst, did you hear she lost her mind? That must be why she is naked!" (See previous post.)

The Emperor's New Clothes

Remember that fairy tale about the Emperor buys some new clothes and they are "magic" and only - is it smart people? - can see them? So in actuality he just walks around naked while everyone tells him how great his new clothes are. Well, I guess that is what I'm going to have to do for my son's wedding, because I can't find a dress anywhere, so I'll just have to go naked! Maybe I'll just tell people my clothes can only be see by people who are what - smart? have class? Maybe they could only be seen by people who don't pick their nose, or only by people who wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, or by people who don't steal towels from hotels. Anyway - BE PREPARED! I'M GOING NAKED TO THE WEDDING BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING TO WEAR!

A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On...

Our house sits on a cliff and from our backyard you can see the whole city. Recently some new home construction has started down below us. Up until now it has mainly been just noisy as the graders have gone about making the land level, etc. Now they have started on the cliffside. This is mainly due to neighborhood meetings we have had with the developers over our concern about their development and whether it will block our view and whether they will make the cliff stable and able to withstand erosion. What they are doing is digging out the dirt, putting huge cement blocks in to make a wall, then putting some of the dirt back on top of the wall. To look at it, it looks very strong and stable, so I hope it is. But enduring the work process is something else. My house is going through many mini-earthquakes all day long. This has been going on for several weeks. For the past two days they have been next door below my house. It's kind of funny, at first I would think, "Sheesh! I can't stand this any longer!" Now I hardly pay attention anymore and the other morning I was so tired and decided to go back to bed for about an hour (I get up at 4am to teach a class at 6am). When I lay down I could feel the house shaking and could hear the roar of the engine and the beep-beep-beep of the machine (I have no idea why it beeps unless it is backing up?). I guess either I was really tired or the noises and shaking lulled me to sleep because I actually did fall asleep for at least 40 minutes or so. Next week they will probably get to my house. Each of my neighbor's fences have collapsed during the digging. We were going to put up a new fence but decided to wait until this construction was done - thank goodness. My husband and I are laying bets to how much of our backyard will also collapse due to the digging. One of the outcomes of the neighborhood meeting is that this construction company will restore our backyards and our fences. We'll see. All in the name of progress!