I need a goal!

My work is doing this whole "Healthy Holidays" thing instead of "Maintain Don't Gain" (which I loved). And this week I am suppose to come up with a goal following the "SCAMPI" rules.

I don't know what my goal should be. I would say exercise, but that is so cliché, though it is a good goal. Or maybe journal writing, but that is kind of lame. Or I could take one of my failed plans for 2009 and make it my goal, but do I really want to fail at the same thing twice (not that I haven't done that before, but still).

***So give me ideas for a goal!***
It must be able to follow the "SCAMPI" rules (click on the underlined "SCAMPI" to see the rules).

Thanks and peace out.

This time already?

CO-OP DAY!! Apparently, I have not been so good at blogging, because it is co-op day once again....
This month I got:

• 1 loaf Stoneground artisan wheat bread
• 16 oz. black beans

• 7 bananas
• 8 apples
• 5 clementine oranges
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 cauliflower
• 4 green peppers
• 3 avocados
• 1 3lb. bag yellow onions
• 1 bok choy

Delicious!

And here are some pictures of when I watched Hazel a couple of weeks ago.

I purchased a Minnie Mouse dress-up doll at the D-Land and Hazel loves it and always wants to play with it when she is over.
Well, apparently Nova also thinks it is a great toy.
And it took every once of willpower for her to resist. She is a good dog
And because I was taking pictures of my cute dog, Hazel thought I needed to take a picture of her, me and the dog. Well, I couldn't get Nova to come sit and stay by us and take the pic. So this is what I got. I think it is a mighty cute picture of both of us.

Well, until next post.

Co-op Day!

Yesterday was co-op day.

Here is my haul!

This month's food was:

• 1 loaf Stoneground artisan wheat bread
• 16 oz. rice

• 7 oranges
• 8 pears
• 6 apples (Utah-grown)
• 1 broccoli
• 3 red bell peppers
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 8oz. mushrooms
• 1 5lb. bag russet potatoes
• 1 bunch asparagus

And I must say, I love the bread. When I first saw it I was like "really?", but now I want MORE! SO YUMMY!!!

I love my co-op!

Exciting Day in Jenni-land

Back on April 1st, I moved over to be the engineering/construction person for the watershed planning section of the engineering division. I was excited to move and enjoy being in the position I am, however it is a higher stress job than I had before. I dream more about work and I basically feel rushed all the time. Why am I telling you this? Well, part of my job involve me going out in the field (which I used to LOVE!) and today (much like yesterday and all last week) was one of those days. HOWEVER! today I saw a little rodent like animal digging a hole. I was fascinated by it and took 11 pictures of it from the car (I didn't want to get out and scare it, but mostly I didn't want to go out in the cold before the lady I was meeting got there. (It was really cold.))

Here is one of the many pictures I took.
It was really cool. I don't know what it is, but I think it is a gopher. I think I need to take some classes or read some books on animal and plant identification...
The second part of the exciting day in Jenni-land was coming home to this. Kitty PotPie just hanging out on top of the fridge. She is such a cute cat and makes me happy when I see her, pet her or think about her. She may hate the outside world (Sorry again about the attack, Christie.), but she loves me!
And of course, here is the dog. She is ALWAYS happy to see me. And usually I am happy to see her and play with her (we learned some new tricks last night)
When I finally got home today to stay (I got an allergy shot and went to a couple of little shops and blah blah blah), I made pumpkin pies for my work party on Thursday. I would have made them tomorrow, but alas, I won't get home until about 7:30p or 8p tomorrow and I have to make "healthified" cupcakes for my healthy lifestyles class, which is on Thursday night.

I think they turned out really well. And I am getting better at making crust, which makes me happy.

Another event in my "exciting" day was burning my forehead on a cookie sheet while I was rotating pies (I only have one oven rack, hence the rotation). I had taken out one pie and put it on the range and then bent down and smacked my forehead into the cookie sheet I put the pie pan on. My depth perception has been even more off than usual...
It really freaking hurts! And while I was icing it, I got a brain freeze. So looking at this picture all I can focus on are the bags under my eyes, now I know some of that is genetic, but I think a lot of it is due to the circumstances described this post's first paragraph. *sigh* oh another side effect of me being a stress case is I can no longer think of the proper words or spell, so that is awesome. But really I don't feel stressed ALL the time, just 75% of the time at work (the other 25% of the time, I am driving or talking to co-workers or walking or eating lunch or reading stuff) And I have gotten better at leaving work at work (except the dreaming of work part), so I am not so stressed at home (who could be with an adorable kitty and a PITA dog?)

Well, since I seem to be getting more negative, I should really go to bed. And don't get me wrong, today was mostly an excellent/exciting day. I really was so freaking happy to see the gopher! And my allergy shot didn't hurt and isn't red (yet) so that always makes my day better! PLUS! I have graduated to one shot a month! Granted, I have to go 3 weeks in a row, but after that ONCE A MONTH!!! I have been looking forward to this day for like a year! (okay so not like a year, but an actual year.)

nighty-night blogger-land

I HAVE A PORCH!!!

So my dad called me today at 5:10p and I rudely said "let me call you back" as I was in the middle of writing a letter to encumber $400k+ that I needed to get out ASAP (I finished just as my director was walking out the door, so I barely got his signature on it, before I emailed it to the UDEQ). SO then I rushed to my health class (I get points for work if I go and points=$$) and as I am leaving there at 7:19p I call my dad to say "what did you need? I just left work after TWELVE hours of being there". (I didn't even leave for lunch, I went to a presentation for lunch).

Well he plays dumb and just says he wanted to say hi and asked me what I am doing this weekend. So I say "working on my porch?". So he says "well I don't know if I will be able to come up" So I say "whatever you do is fine by me, I have other projects I can do instead, no biggie". (now I say this sadly, but I don't want to be ungrateful, because I know people have lives, and my projects are not always at the top of the list, plus I really do have other things I can do, I just really really really wanted a porch roof before the snow.)

WELL! As I am turning the corner to go to my garage, I see my porch light was on, and I think, "hmm that is weird". And then I notice that I have boards connecting my posts. And I think oh my dad was here and put up the boards. BUT he put up MORE than just the boards, he put up the roof sheets (?) as well!! YIPPEE!!

So of course I called to thank him and then I found out my brother helped too (THANKS STEVEN!!!!)

BEST FAMILY EVER!!

Here are some pictures.
I wanted the sun to be able to reach my porch, because I am a sun lover, so we opted for plastic sheeting. AWESOME! And we will eventually drill holes in the boards in between posts, then I can hang things. But I am so excited to not get rained on while unlocking my door or having to shovel snow off my porch a zillion times a day.

**oh and that is not the moon in that picture, it is my flash reflecting on a rain drop.**

THANKS AGAIN DAD AND STEVEN!! LOVE YOU GUYS! (and Annie and Bonnie and Anthony and Gloria) (oh and the rest of my family, they're are helpful too, they just didn't build me a porch roof or allow their loved ones to build me a roof)

Quilts

This post has been in the making for like, oh, 5 months.

Here are a couple of quilts I made this year.

This quilt was for Natalie. She is due this month. But I had to give her the quilt in July, because she moved away and was back in July for some business.
It was a simple tied quilt with a basic binding.
This quilt I started in June and then Holly had her baby early, so then I stopped working on it for a while and then her baby shower (well, Josh's baby shower) was yesterday so I picked up working on it again. I barely finished in time, but it got done.

Now it has Decepticon and Autobots logos on it, because Josh's Dad, Eric, had been trying to convince Holly that "Megatron" was a good baby name. Luckily, Holly did not believe him and now has a son named Joshua Allen, which is a much better name.

We will not discuss how much time I spent on this, but it was worth it. I really like how it turned out.

Now I am done crafting for a while and need to clean my house...

Happy Co-op Day!!

Today was this first time I received my co-op food. I was a little worried, but I figured for $14 I could try it once (you sign up for it and are not obligated to order each month, so no commitment which I love).

There are currently 51 pick-up sites ranging from Nephi to Ogden and I guess they add a new site almost every month. But mine is in a pavilion at the north end of my park, so ~3 blocks from my house, I didn't walk today (I was out running errands). But I think I will try and walk next month.

And here is all the food I received for $14!

I got the "Harvest Share", which included the following:

• 1 loaf Stoneground artisan wheat bread
• 16 oz. lentils
• 4 avocados
• 10 Golden Delicious apples (Utah-grown)
• 9 pears
• 8 bananas
• 1 head cabbage
• 2 lbs. carrots
• 2 eggplants
• 3 lbs. yellow onions (Utah-grown)
• 2 spaghetti squash (Utah-grown)

WOWZA! that is a lot of food! BUT looking at next months shares, I think I will get the standard share so I can get 6 lbs of meat for an extra $9, though with that share I get one less veggie, so who knows what I will end up ordering... (I have until the 6th to decide)

I really do think everyone should sign up for it, with the following warning, you never really know what you are going to get and you will have to think of ways to use it.

HAPPY NEW MATTRESS DAY!!!

HAPPY NEW MATTRESS DAY, EVERYBODY!!*
*New Mattress Day varies for everyone. Don't be sad if it is not your New Mattress Day, because that day will come for you as soon as you save up for a new mattress and have it delivered.

As you can tell, Kitty PotPie is VERY excited for a new mattress. She was calling everyone and telling them how she was brimming with excitement. I practically had to rip the phone out of her paws to make her stop. How annoying!

Nova was also excited, even though she is not allowed to be on the bed (that privilege is only for Jenni and KPP)
When she learned she wouldn't get to sleep on it, she dropped her tennis ball in disgust and became very sad.
And here is the new mattress. It is SUPER tall! Now I had a tall bed before, but this is like 2-3" taller! Wowza!

Now you may ask, "why are you still awake?" Well the answer to that is, I need an allergy shot and the bedding is being laundered, but once those things are done, I will be asleep!!!

Random

Last night as I was telling April when KPP's birthday is (she said her cat was 5, but KPP is 5 and Meow is her mom, so has to be older than 5), I realized that my pets have funny birthdays.

KPP's is February 3, 2004 (2-3-04)
Nova's is June 7, 2008 (6-7-08)

CRAZY! How did I end up with two pets that have sequential numbers as their birthdays?

And now for two pictures of Nova...

We went on a walk last night and I took a ball. On our way home, we played fetch in the park and I guess she got tired, because she just laid down by her ball.

But she is always good and looks up when I say her name.

Now those pictures are cute, but I took them for the ball. It is COVERED in slobber that is lathered up so the ball is WHITE! And that my friends is why I bought the ball chucker or make her carry the ball home. GROSS!

Weekend Projects

Since I have moved in my house, I have dreamed of the day I get a roof for my back porch. WELL!! That day is coming soon! I now have two fancy posts!

FANCY!I also shingled Nova's house. This is the best looking side. I am happy with my job, though I ran of nails, so it is not finished. I just need two more nails!
This is the other side. The top shingles are not lined up nicely on this side, so some of the tar is exposed, but hey, it is a dog house! and my first solo shingling job!
Here is the ridge. They shingles need to melt together. Maybe I will take my dad's suggestion and blow dry them.

I also cleared a lot of plant matter from my backyard. But I didn't take pictures of that.

It was such a great weekend! I loved the weather and hanging out with my dad. Thanks dad for all your help! Can't wait until you can make it up here again to help me finish my roof!

October Already?

Well, it has been a while, but here is an update.

Shane, Tamaran and I competed in an "engineering iditarod". We did not win overall, but we did win some prizes and we had a pretty sled.
I burned my finger making the sled. It hurt and I will have a scar, but the pretty sled was worth it.
This last Tuesday I went to the zoo with the AF Omans, Hazel and Meadow. There is a baby elephant at the zoo. It is seriously the cutest baby anything I have ever seen. And pictures do not do it justice, it must be seen in person.
Here are Gloria and Hazel. Gloria was trying to hide, but alas I am fast with the camera.



This is my first project. It is a check structure. It stabilizes the channel invert. It is pretty and AWESOME.
I went to the Home Depot today to get some stuff and this is what was in the parking lot. Hilarious.
Here are my cute plants I got today.
Cute.

Swimming

The Liberty Park pool closed to the public on Monday, which meant they stopped chlorinating and today it was open for the dogs.

I thought Nova would enjoy swimming in a pool, instead of the gross pond across the street and indeed she did.

I took her frisbee, and I am glad I did, because there were so many tennis balls floating around that she would have had a hard time. But with the frisbee she always knew which toy was her toy.She was a natural in the water and had no problem jumping into the deep end (after getting used to the pool). I wish I would have taken a picture of her jumping into the pool, because it was really funny.


There were two other chessies at the pool (seen below on the left). They were a lot curlier than Nova, but they had to same jump into the pool.


After the first hour, she stopped shaking after every time and only shook every two or three times.
She was a very happy dog. I am going to have to take her swimming more next summer.
After two hours of swimming, she was still ready to play, but about an hour after we got home she finally tuckered out and we napped for hours. It was a great Saturday.