How Boring Can You Get?

Annette tagged me for this tag, which should be at least somewhat interesting and insightful, but really mine is NOT.  The reason is because I do not take pictures and I currently have not a single picture saved on my computer (husband recently emptied everything off of here so that I could continue to blog without it shutting down every 3 minutes).  

For this reason I asked Greg to follow the instructions on his computer so that I could:  Post the sixth photo in [my] sixth folder.   He said it was actually the sixth in the sixth in the sixth, which I do not understand except that I know that it probably has something to do with the fact that he takes loads of pictures.  So aren't you dying to see the photo?  Well, here it is!

Wow!  Fascinating!  This is the shot of one of the bodies they're making for a client (it's called a puzzle car, I assume because it is made in pieces and then welded together? And I am unaware of exaclty what part this is.).  I will say that it is quite beautiful, as you can see the aluminum is most excellently well polished with that stripe sanded down the middle.  Plus you can see the awful glass cubed wall (with many of the cubes missing) that lines the side of the shop at Greg's work reflected in it.  (for more pictures, and especially if you're interested in buying a Cobra -- and YOU KNOW YOU ARE -- go here.) 

How exciting!  Well, speaking of exciting things, we found a way to make a little extra money, thanks to a good friend of ours, and I have spent Monday and today frantically typing up articles.  20 of them at 500 words each.  I still have three to go, so I'd better sign off.  But first let me say that typing up ten thousand words about pendants is not my idea of a good time.  Yes, that kind of pendant.  For each article I am given key words such as "opal pendant" and then I write about it, with that much information given as direction.  What a joy.  What a blast.  Let me stop blogging so I can get back to something FUN.

 (and I really hope to catch up today or tomorrow with you all!  I've been missing you, especially since I've had you right under my fingertips this whole time!  But look how disciplined I am!)

She's Younger and Faster

. . .And that's why she tagged me. I've mentioned before about Olivia, who I babysat along with her twin sisters when I was first married. I gained invaluable experience from that "job" (it wasn't work, mostly pleasure) and made some really invaluable friends. They are a wonderful family.

I am dying a little because not only is Olivia in JR HIGH now, she recently had a birthday and I think she must be thirteen! AAK! How old am I!! So Livvy keeps a blog (a great one, private though) and she's tagged me. I'm going to do this tag because it was fun to read Olivia's and also in hopes of receiving forgiveness for all the times I yelled at her when I was babysitting. Oh wait. I never yelled at her. That was back before I knew you could yell at kids. Lucky Livvy!

This tag is full of the vaguest questions imaginable. So vague, in fact, that I was unable to call on my imagination for such a monstrous task. But I did have fun. And I really enjoyed how there were apostrophes in all the wrong places throughout the questions, like in the middle of the word "were" when it didn't mean "we are." It added greatly to the entertainment factor. Plus her answers were great, too. Sorry, but I edited the entertainment factor out of the questions. I answered these last night:

Where is your phone? On the stairs where it belongs.
Where is your significant other? In the living room where he belongs.
Your hair color? blond gone horribly wrong (read: dark)
Your mother? is short and wise
Your father? is tall and fitter than a man his age (or any age, really) should be.
Your favorite thing? Nothing general about this question. Food? Blogging? Reading?
Your dream last night? Do most people remember their dreams every night? If so, no fair.
Your dream/goal? to have patience
Your hobby? Um, I'll give you a hint, it's the main thing you know about me. (Besides the living in Poland, although that is certainly one of my hobbies. One which I'm pretty good at. Better than you, for sure. Don't worry, though; I'm sure if you tried, you could be good at it, too.)
Room you're in? The library (really a room full of piles of books and papers.)
Your fear? I'm fearless. Okay, being eaten by a dog.
Where do you want to be in six years? Same place I always want to be. Wherever I'm supposed to be.
Where were you last night? in the living room having a makeshift Sacrament meeting and Primary because David was too coughy to go to church so we all stayed home (a downside to having church forever away)
One of your wish list items? Don't you read my blog? SHELVES!
What you're not? an elephant
Where you grew up? Utah until age 11, California after that. And usually in my house.
The last thing you did? Well, I just scratched my nose. Swept the stairs.
Your TV? Fine thank you. How is yours?
Your pets? non existent (we're away from home too often!)
Your computer? poor and old
Your mood? tired
Missing someone? Always. There's a list.
Your car? In the garage in desperate need of a washing.
Something you're not wearing? a wig
Your summer? ended a while back
Love someone? Hmm. Nope.
Your favorite color? PERIWINKLE
When was the last time you laughed? Right after I typed Nope. (I'm being honest here. and really, what kind of question is "Love someone?" unless you're asking Lucifer, answers shouldn't vary all that much.)
Last time you cried? Wow! I can't remember! That means it might have been more than two days ago! Definitely some sort of record.

As far as tagging, I'd really like to read answers to these questions from all of you. Maybe you can just choose one question to answer in the comments? Except not the "Love someone?" one because it will be way too easy to tell by your answer whether or not you're Lucifer, and you maybe don't want everyone to know that.
Bonus points for anyone who answers ALL the questions on their blog!

Something Funny and also Seven Ways in Which I am OCD

So I'm kind of sick of hearing about me, but I'm doing a tag. If you're sick of hearing about me, too, then watch this and skip the tag. But if you do want to read the tag, still watch this. It made my husband cry, and he doesn't do that a lot. I didn't cry, but I did laugh a lot. (Oh: Greg laughed till he cried.) I'm stealing it from our friends the Woods.


Chef Cooks 'Dream Omelet' From Recipe That Came To Him In A Dream

I've been tagged by both Heather and Pam, so I'm doing this since I like you both (if I'd been tagged by bloggers I hate, I would be much less likely to comply). It's actually supposed to be about unusual things about you, but as I made my list, I realized that many of them were at least semi OCD.


So I was thinking, "Yeah, I'm kinda quirky, I think. I'm sure there must be plenty of endearing little nuances I have." (And then I started thinking, "Is nuance the right word? Can you apply it to someone's quirks?" And then I looked it up and found that you sort of can't, I think, but decided I don't really care because it's a pretty word and I want it in my post. Much pretty than the word "quirk.") So I decided to ask my family (each individually). Number one below will be a record of their adoration of my individuality. After that, I thought it better to come up with some on my own.

1. I asked everyone, "what's something different or weird about me." After a moment's thought Evie said, "Your face!" Look what we're raising. Tsk tsk. I hope we haven't completely ruined her. David said, "That you try to make me do all the work in my books, even the stuff I'm not supposed to do yet." Greg said, "You have to tell them that you get mad at me if I eat the last brownie or cookie." (I wish I could deny this) Yes, they love me. (to his credit, though, Greg also suggested that I mention that I never get nervous around people, no matter how famous they may be, but I'm not going to mention that. Or is it too late?)

2. I can't be within 3 yards of anyone who's eating if I'm not eating as well. For some reason I can't accept the crunching and sloshing for what it is: eating noises, and all I hear are bad manners (even with people in my family who always chew with their mouths closed.) For the same reason I also can't stand to be the only one in a room eating. I have to leave the room. Like when we're watching TV and I go for a midnight bowl of cookie crisp with peanut butter, I have to eat it in the kitchen even though Greg wouldn't mind at all if I ate it right next to him on the couch.

3. I am the pickiest person on the planet about how groceries are packed. I am annoying about it, and if I try to restrain myself from commenting on someone else's technique or reorganizing things, well, I am incapable. (Not the stranger ahead of me in line, or anything, just the person I'm with.)

4. I always always always wash my hands first thing when coming home from anywhere (I think this might be fairly normal). The kids do too, of course. I also wish I could wash my hands four times during each grocery shopping trip

5. I couldn't pronounce my "r"s until third or fourth grade. In first grade my best friend's name was Rodney. He couldn't pronounce his "l"s. We called each other Wodney and Wisa. About a year ago for some reason a song that I'd learned in elementary school popped into my head. I'm pretty sure I hadn't sung it since then because I started singing out loud, "♪Abwaham Lincoln was a poow fawm boy♫, bown in the gweat midwest.♪" That was one of the strangest experiences I've had in a long time. (after years of speech therapy and thousands of recitations of "the rabbit ran around the tree," I got the pwopew pwonunciation down)

6. I sometimes look under my bed when I'm scared. Maybe everyone does this? Last night I was folding socks standing by my bed and I was pretty sure someone was going to grab my leg from under my bed, so I quickly dropped down to see who it was. We never keep anything under beds, which makes the searching for the sixth sense girl sitting under there quick and easy. By the way, she's never been there when I looked. Including last night. I've never felt disappointed about it, either.

7. Running out of ideas so... my favorite part about grocery shopping is gliding on the cart in the parking lot. It's especially good if the ground isn't flat. I get it moving really fast and then jump up and hang on the handle and just goooooooo. I sometimes do this in the store if I come to an empty aisle as well. I never see other people do this, but they must, right? I'm pretty sure everyone does this, and if they don't they should. They don't know what they're missing.

Okay, I don't really like tagging people because I hate making people feel obligated or annoyed. Instead I will tell you seven people that I think it would be interesting to read a list of quirks about. Then if they decided to write a post about them I'd be glad.

Kazzy from Kazzy's Ponderings
Liz from Jagardowie
Tyra from My World
Jess from Normalcy is not really my style (got you, Sister Whipple! You blog stalk me, I'll blog stalk you!!)
Adam from News and Nothings with the Lees
Jill from Thou shalt not whine
and I'll tag Ev, too so she'll have something to blog about at Evie's Magic World, soon to be renamed to Happily Evie After, I believe.

Mom Tag

I've seen this before, so when Andrea tagged me on it, I thought I would do it, even though it really needs a 3 or 4 year old to make it great. A sassy 6 year old works too, I guess. David's answers are first, then I did Evie, too.

What is something mom always says to you? "David, bring Aaron's blanky, and his pacifier" "Clean up"

What makes mom happy? When we are peeling the potatoes. You said that it was a blessing. "cards from me"

What makes mom sad? (after 5 minutes of thinking) When I play too much games on the computer. "When I fight with David"

How does mom make you laugh? When you tickle me, and tickle and tickle, so giggly. "by saying something funny on accident"

What was mom like as a child? "She was cute and sweet and nice. "silly, I guess"

How old is mom? 82? "31"

How tall is mom? 22 cm (after poking me and counting from my feet to my head) 'metr osiemdziesiat siesc. That might be really tall, I dont' know."

What is mom's favorite thing to do? She likes to play with Aaron outside, kind of. And checking emails. "bake and read"

What does mom do when you're not around? She plays with Aaron. "watches TV"

If mom becomes famous, what will it be for? That you exercise every day and you change Aaron's diaper. "for fun"

What is mom really good at? She's very good at checking emails. "making dinner"

What is mom not very good at?  I don't know."Polish. Speaking Polish"

What is mom's job? Teaching me at home. For now. "she doesn't work, oh, oh, oh, taking care of the kids"

What is mom's favorite food? Everything? Sweet and sour chicken? "not pizza...enchiladas?"

What makes you proud of mom? That you teach me how to jumprope, kind of. "she doesn't get frustrated very often"

If mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? She would be Cinderella ([I asked him why]because you have like a sweet little voice and you have a nice dress)"Velma--you look lik her, but you're different"

What do you and mom do together? Play games. "play games, learn and jumprope."

How are you and mom the same? We're both funny (giggle, giggle) "we both have glasses. We're the only girls in thefamily"

How are you and mom different? I'm smaller and she's bigger. She's a girl, I'm a boy. And she wears earrings. "you have pierced ears and I don't. And you're big and I'm small."

How do you know mom loves you? Because she plays games with me and she tickles me. "she loves playing with me and And she's just my mom."

This is really meant to be for one kid, but I wanted to include Evie's answers to have a bit of seriousness. She and David TOTALLY tag Brian B., Isaac J., Lily D. (or her little sister), Ethan W., Ella (KC's niece) and Zeeb (or Calvin) K.--only if their mothers want to help them out, of course, but we would LOVE to see what they think of their mommies!

**David actually thought I was 82. I asked him to be serious (he was joking for many of his answers) and he said "83?"
**Yesterday the kids peeled potatoes for the first time, and were excited about it. I was very glad because I abhor peeling potatoes, though I love eating them, and I now have my own potato peelers. While we were eating I told Greg that the kids had peeled the potatoes for me. David jumped in with "mom said it was a blessing". I took some convincing, but I guess I DID say that. Good reminder that kids will always remember more of what you say than you do.
**I have neither a sweet little voice nor a nice dress, but I am like Cinderella in some ways--I do slave away all day, and I did win me a handsome prince!

Caught Me!

I've been tagged. I just wasn't fast enough to get away. I really hope Anne's motives for tagging me were not to contrast our "where were you 10 years ago" and rub it in.

What were you doing a decade ago?

I was a newlywed! (here's the rubbing it in part: Anne was in Korea toward the end of her mission, and her sister was a newlywed; therefore, her sister didn't wait for her to come back from her mission so she could attend the wedding...) We were living in Orem in a nice little studio apartment. Greg was still going to school and working at the MTC. I was working for the Pettys as a "mother's helper." The twins were about 8 months old. My life was like a dream. Then I started taking Accutane...(dum dum, DUM!)(or should that be: dumb, dumb, DUMB!?)

5 things on my "to do" list:

Oh! It's right before bed, so this is easy:

1. publish this post
2. brush teeth/wash face
   
3. undress (because, really. Who wears pajamas?)
   
4. read/pray
5. sleep

But during any given day my list would be MUCH more exciting, like this:

1. shower and get ready for the day (this is embarrassing, but when I make a real to-do list, when I have lots of stuff to get done, I actually list this, but everything separate, i.e. shower, fix hair, make-up, so I can cross off more stuff)
2. clean kitchen(Monday), or bathrooms (Tuesday), or vacuum (Mon, Wed., Friday. but usually only happens twice a week. Sometimes once.), or thoroughly clean living room (Thursday) etc.
3. wash, hang, fold laundry (every day 1-2 loads--think European size washing machine, American size family-sort of)
4. deal with kids (feed, help with homework, read to/with, scream at etc.)
5. Get dinner going

Enlightening, isn't it?

5 places I've lived:

1. Orem, Utah
2. Burbank, California
3. Rexburg, Idaho
4. Provo, Utah
5. Mielec, Poland

That's really all!

5 (I mean 6) jobs I've had:

1. phone surveyor
   
2. mother's helper (Austins)
   
3. Rick's college library cleaner
4. Nanny
   
5. Head Start assistant teacher
6. mother's helper (Pettys)

It seems silly to only put five if I could put six and have all the jobs I ever had listed.

5 things people don't know about me:

1. I sucked my thumb until I was 5 or 6 and I was unstoppable until my dentist custom made a retainer that put spikes on the roof of my mouth and made it impossible. To this day the roof of my mouth is higher than normal, and my thumb won't fit in the indention there, but I bet if I took David's (6 year-old son) thumb and pushed it on the roof of my mouth it would fit like a glove.
   
2. I have always LOVED to sing, never been very good at it, and lately shock myself more and more often to hear that I'm off key.
3. I used to be really good with kids.
4. I was an extra in one episode of The Wonder Years where you can see me dancing like a dork (but you can't see that Fred Savage stepped on my foot about 17 times).
5. I made Lech Walesa laugh once.
   

I don't believe in tagging anyone who's not related to me, and they've already been tagged, but if you read this and want to be tagged I would LOVE to read your answers to these questions!