More complaining

Ok, so as you know, I have some interesting neighbors. Now that the nice weather has arrived, we spend a lot more time outside, and so do our neighbors. Especially in the evening. We play in our back yard, and they sit out on their front porch. That is a common thing to do around here, just sit on your front porch. I can understand people who live downtown doing that, because there are always cars driving by, and probably interesting things happening. However, for all intents and purposes, we live on a court. And like a court without the circle. It's really just a shared driveway. Really, not much goes on down here. Anyway, our backyard borders their front yard.
So there have been several times as we have been outside or as we have had the door open that we can hear them talking. One day, and I don't think I'll forget this one in a while, I was inside and I heard one of my neighbors cleaning out her car, and her 5 year old was with her, and she started yelling at her kid, and she said at one point, "you'd better watch your (and at this point she inserted an unpleasant word) mouth." So it's a big case of do as I say, not as I do over there.
Anyway, as we were playing tonight, our neighbor had a visitor, and she and he were sitting on their porch talking, and talking rather loudly (They are of the talk loud enough so that everyone within a mile radius can hear you variety.) Anyway, so she is using some very unpleasant language, like really bad stuff, and using a lot of it. To give you an idea, within just a few minutes, I was thrown straight into an R rated movie. Now, I don't want to hear that stuff, but I especially don't want my 3 year old to hear that stuff. He repeats just about everything. Anyway. I just am sad that common courtesy has exited from society these days. So I guess that's just one of the fun things about living in this neighborhood. Oh well. Life goes on.

Chaps my hide

So today I was driving by my local fire station. This is the same station that I bought a Christmas tree from last year. It was a little more expensive than I had wanted it to be, but I figured that it went to a good cause, so it would be ok.
Today I found out what that "good cause" was.
Was it a new fire truck which literally costs a million dollars? Was it new gear for the fighters, which costs $100,000 per fighter? Was it new tools? Was it for training for the fighters?
Close.
It was for a new sign in the front entrance. You know, with those television screens like you see in sports arenas- on both sides! This sign is probably the nicest one in the city now. It has the one at the mall beat by a zillion miles.
So seriously- this is what you are going to use my money for?
Now, I like giving to charity. It makes me feel good. I wish I had more money so that I could do more. However, I also feel like I want to stipulate where my money goes to. Has anyone seen Stranger than Fiction. Where the Maggie Gyllenhaal character only wants to pay taxes if they go to the things she agrees with? I kind of feel that same way, except that I pay all of my taxes. But I don't want to give to BYU these days because I want all of my money to go to scholarships, not to building new sports plexes. Ok, they could use my money to make the buildings up to the new earthquake codes too. But not new sports buildings that affect the people who only see college as a segue to professional sports.
So I guess that makes me only a sort of good person. I'll give, but only if I can be judgemental about the things that they do with my money. BUt isn't that kind of my right? If I had stock in a company I would get a say in what they did with the company wouldn't I? (Once again, I am getting this information from a movie- Mr Deeds. I'm in a movie mood today aren't I?)
So that's it. I just wanted to complain about how the fire station used my money, and say that next year we will not be buying our Christmas tree from them.

A Love Story

So I don't recall the first time I ever had a Harry and David Truffle. I do recall when I fell in love with them. It was last summer. My mom had some at her house and I had a few, and decided that out of all of the vice foods you can have, (is that a valid phrase?) this is one of the best. I was at the time living with my in-laws, and about to go crazy. So one day my sister in law and I were at the outlets and we decided to stop by Harry and David. They had truffles on sale, so I picked up a few bags. The sales lady mentioned that they freeze really well, and I said, freeze them? Are you crazy? Aside from the fact that I was pregnant, and starting my latest phase of stress eating, (which has lasted almost a year now- yikes!) I was a little concerned that if they got put into the freezer where I was living, they would be eaten by someone other than me. It's not that I mind sharing food, it's just that these are well, Harry and David Truffles. I grudgingly shared them with Jesse with a firm warning that if he ate more than one at a time they would be hidden from him. These are not the kind of food that you snack on. This is not like when I grab a handful of Hershey's kisses to eat while watching tv (can anyone guess why I have put on so much weight in the past 5 years?) These are to be savored. Just last night I had one, and then Jesse offered me something else to eat, and I turned him down because I still had the glorious taste of truffle in my mouth and was not ready to end that.
So anyway, we went up to the outlets this past weekend, and stopped by good old H&D, and picked up a few bags of truffles. (One of them did make it into the freezer this time.) And there you have it, my love affair continues. They stay upstairs, because I'll be honest, these days I feel like stress eating all day long. Mint ones are my favorite, and I am always saddened by the fact that they do not sell bags of just mint ones, however, the mixed bag that has mint in it makes all of them taste a little minty. So that is nice.
So your homework assignment is to go and procure yourself a Harry and David Truffle if you have never had one. It always leads to good times.

Lizzie

So yesterday we came home from church to find that Lizzie had left us a little surprise. As it turned out, Jesse had left the door to the storage room closed last night which is where her littler box is, so she could not get to it. As a result she had to do her business elsewhere. However, smart cat that she is, do you know where she picked to be her make-shift litter box? Our bathroom, right in front of the toilet. What a smart cat. If only the lid was up... Meet the Parents anyone....?

Duckie curtains

So a month or so ago I decided that I really needed curtains in the baby's room. I would rock him in the middle of the day, and the sun would shine right through the blinds and into his eyes. After shopping around I figured that with the coupon I had, I could buy the fabric and make the curtains for much cheaper than I could buy them pre-made for. Also, they would be a cuter fabric than what I could buy. So I went to my local quilt shop where I had a coupon for 50% off one cut of fabric. That was a pretty good deal for me since I wanted to buy 8 yards of fabric. I went to JoAnn's and I bought some backing fabric (once again using a 40% off coupon) and then I got to work.
I have decided the curtains are not fun to make at all. They turned out ok, and looking at them from a distance they are fine. It's only when you look closely that you notice that one panel is longer than the other, the side hemming is a little crooked, etc. etc.
But I was proud of myself. I had never attempted curtains before, and lined ones was a pretty ambitious way to start.
So that was a while ago. I just now got the pictures up.
In other news, Nate has been falling out of bed lately. It's unfortunate because we just moved his bed to the other side of the room, so the side of the bed where he is used to having a wall now is just empty. It's a good thing it's not a long fall. So now we either need to turn his bed around, or we need to put a rail up. I'll let you know how things pan out.