Sunrise

People ask me why it is that I live in Utah. Well, there are a lot of reasons-- most of them having to do with family-- but this definitely counts for a LOT of the why I stick around this state:



Sunrise, just outside where I work (greenhouse in the foreground). Gorgeous!

No, I Have Not Dropped Off The Face Of The Earth

I just went AWOL for awhile. :)

Thursday through Sunday, I went here:


And here:


And here:


And here:


And camped with this in my backyard:


I love Arches National Park!

Wordless Wednesday

My work buddy.

And as an added bonus for today:

Monday Revisited

I had to scrape the windshield at 6:20am again this morning. Ugh.

Ron came out to put some stuff in the trunk of the car for me before I left this morning, and the hatchback handle broke right off. Ugh.

I double-checked the calendar. It isn't Monday anymore. Unless I'm missing something (likely).

Maybe tomorrow will be a better Tuesday.

It's Official

Winter has arrived. At least, it has arrived According To Suz. Why, you ask? It's because I had to scrape the $@#%! windshield this morning at 6:20am. Ugh.

And then I discovered a very large crack running through my windshield. Ugh.

I just checked... yup, it's a Monday.

Experimenter Update

I got Violet a set of kid-friendly test tubes on Saturday. You would have thought I'd bought her the most amazing, expensive present ever, judging by her reaction. :) She spent HOURS putting all kinds of things in the tubes. She used up all the olive oil I had in the kitchen, just about used up all the food coloring, and had fun dissolving things from Tylenol to Polident in all the tubes.

This morning, she opens the freezer, and pulls out her blue jelly shoes. "Wow! Check it out, mom! They're frozen!"

I told you she has a love affair with the freezer...

Texting Conversation

Regarding her bus schedule to get home from school:

Kayla: Ugh so ill be waiting a lot i guess?
Me: About a half hour today. And if you miss it, you would wait a half hour for the next one.
Kayla: Lametastic
Me: LOL
Kayla: What?
Me: "Lametastic". :)
Kayla: Psh i always use that word! its in my dictionkayla

One Tough Mama

That's me. One tough mama. At least, according to some clowns last night...

Before the soccer game started, we went to this little carnival thing going on outside the stadium. Some clowns on stilts were running a game-- they had one of these thingamajigs where you take a heavy hammer and whack a pad to try to get the bell on top to ring.

I convinced Ron to try it-- he got pretty close to the top.Then I decided to try it.

I remembered the wise words of my father, who taught me how to chop wood as a child. "Put the force into your downswing," he used to tell me, "Wait until your hands are in front of your head." So I did just that. And hit that sucker about 2/3 of the way up.

The clowns started ribbing all the men around the area, because my hit was better than most of the guys who tried. Ha! They kept calling me, "One tough mama!" and urged all the men to come and best my score.

Too funny!

New Stadium

The first game for the Real Salt Lake was played last night in the brand-new Rio Tinto Stadium. Ron and I enjoyed watching it, right there in the stands! It's an incredible stadium-- I don't think there is a bad seat in the house.



It's everything a soccer (football) game should be-- lots of action (including three yellows and one red card!), goals from both teams, and great saves from the keepers. The only thing it didn't have was a win for the RSL. It was a tie, 1-1.

One of my favorite parts of the night? Ten minutes before kickoff, the sprinkers came on. The crowed just roared. Too funny!
We capped the night off with mugs of hot chocolate and cherry pie a-la-mode. Mmmmmmm...

Irritation

I am in a grumbly mood today. Last night, Lu went to babysit for the single gentleman down the street (the widower with three little boys). He said he would need her from 4:00-10:00pm. Okay, I thought... 10:00 is a little late for a school night, but it should be ok.

At 10:40, after his not answering Lu's texts and calls, I went over to the house and sent her home to go to bed.

The gentleman shows up at... drumroll, please... 12:30am.

He was a bit surprised to see me in his house. I let him know that Lu cannot be out that late on a school night babysitting, and that she will not be able to sit for him again if he cannot be home at a decent hour.

He was apologetic, and vowed that it would never happen again.

What would you have done in this situation? And should I let her sit for this gentleman again on a school night?