A non-rant

I believe that every good (or snarky) rant post should be followed up by a praise post. Okay, I just made up that belief, go with it. Can I give high praise to the creators of TV premier week? Applause. It is my favorite holiday because I am a would-be actress/director/producer. I have DVR full of fictitious friends to catch up with. Mer and McDreamy, Sue and Will, Bones and Booth, Bob and Jillian, the 4 nerds and the hot chick. It is so good to have you home again!

While I admit to loving only 50% of the Glee episodes thus far this year, I was so pleased to see a Brittany S Pierce-centric episode. She and Sue share my award for the best lines ever. (I think my cat reads my diary.)

So praise for the return of the season. It is nice to have an incentive to get my homework done faster!

Mind Clearing Rants

I have had some things on my mind recently, and feel the need now to clear it. This blog is my pensieve… I might be reading Harry Potter again…

Rant the First
Dude who was in the car next to mine this morning was smoking. While I find this a super nasty habit and cannot believe that people still smoke, I do believe he has the right to kill himself slowly if he so chooses. However, as a person with asthma who gets sick around smoke, I dislike this nasty habit greatly. I do take great umbrage, though, when this dude felt it was okay not only to flick his cig butt out the car window, but he did it so vehemently that it hit my car and missed coming in my open window by mere centimeters. Dude has no right to do this with a lit cig butt. “Keep your trash in your car, not mine. The world is not your ashtray.”

Rant the Second
State of Utah why do you have a law that you have no intention of enforcing until someone flaunts in on national television? Polygamy is against the law but is not enforced unless there are other circumstances associated with the case. That is until the polygamous family is dumb enough to go on a reality tv show and tell the world all about it. Leaving my moral judgment aside I have a judicial point of view on this. I do believe that people who break the law should face the consequences of their actions. Their actions might not be hurting anyone, fine, but their actions are against the law in the State of Utah. Polygamists, if you do not want to live by the law, lobby to have it repealed. State of Utah if you are going to have a law, then enforce it. Sure there are really bad people out there who break laws that hurt other people, I understand this, but enforce laws equally.

Rant the Last
This is a touchy situation for some. I do not pretend that I am an authority on this subject, but this is my blog and my opinion. Can someone tell me in words that will make sense why people are so riled up about a religious organization wanting to build a place to worship? I am talking, of course, about the proposed mosque in Manhattan. Some call this the Mosque at Ground Zero; however it is 2 blocks away from those buildings. Now I understand why some might feel it is a bad idea, I understand why some think it is a great idea. I personally think it is a religious place of worship and do not think the location matters. I do not believe it is an insult to the memory of those who have suffered or those who died in the September 11 attacks to build a mosque close to the World Trade Center. I do not get it. Are you telling me that not a single peaceful, actively practicing Muslim was killed in those attacks? The terrorists who perpetrated this gross attack were not following the teachings of the Muslim religion or they never would have done it. These people were radical extremist and terrorists. Saying that all Muslims are terrorists is like saying polygamists are Mormon. It is just not true. I believe these protests are religious persecution and it is discrimination. Would the argument be the same if the Catholic Church wanted to build a Cathedral or the Jews a Synagogue? I doubt it. So why the fight over a Muslim Mosque? Every religion has crazies, it does not make the whole religion crazy. What is next? Because there are allegations of priest misconduct toward young men in the Catholic Church, no Catholic churches can be built in the vicinity of schools? That just is counterproductive and I think these protests are too.

Deep Thoughts ... by Starbuck

Embellishments are better in crafting and scrapbooking than in stories.

Civic Duty

There are these new ads playing in Utah about Election Day. They make me laugh so hard. I wish I could find one online to share, but alas I have not been able to. Funny. This couple, I believe she is pregnant, share info about Election Day. One ad I have seen is about early voting, another one they walk up to their normal polling place only to find it locked. She exclaims "But I was excited to perform my civic duty!" She then makes her husband check the door again only to find it still locked. I do not know why I laugh so hard, but I do!

Last week I received my preliminary jury qualification questionnaire. The month I possibly could serve is November. I have a trip to Chicago planned the first week in November which I had to claim on this qualification. I have never served on a jury, in fact a few years ago was the first time I was ever summoned; I was not chosen. So when I saw these dates I felt like this lady "But I was excited to perform my civic duty!" I assumed they would just excuse this term of jury duty all together since I had a conflict. However, I just received an e-mail saying that my qualification has been accepted with my request to be excused the first week okay'd. Which means I might still get to perform my civic duty! Voting and possible jury duty in the same month... am I the luckiest American ever?! I know there are some who would not consider me lucky, but oh man I am excited!

Hot Breakfast

I am a cereal girl. I have never really been a fan of hot breakfast. Hot breakfast is usually served with pork products which I cannot eat. Of course there are substitutes for these items, but most of the members in my family who cook think of these items as the devil's food, they prefer poison (bacon.) So I just usually avoid hot breakfast as a rule. But since having surgery all I can think of in the morning is pancakes!! I want pancakes. This is odd for me. There really is no reason, nor is there a reason for me blogging about it. Just a craving. Odd really. Today I was driving down the road and it kind of smelled like burnt toast, not sure why. But all I could think was "Oh I could go for some pancakes right now!" hm...

1 Down

359 to go. September 1, 2040 that house is mine!! MINE!!!

My house, that I do not live in yet, is in Midvale a few blocks from my folks place. It is the house my Mom grew up in. My grandparents owned it for years; my aunts have lived there for a long time now. My name is now proudly on the title and I just made my first mortgage payment. My aunts will still live there until July when they will move out to live in an apartment or retirement community and I will take up residence there permanently (well until I move to Delaware for my high paying dream job... just kidding... I am not going anywhere.)

This house is old, it needs some fixing up, but I love it and could not stand the thought of it leaving our family. I have so many memories of walking in the door and smelling cinnamon rolls that Grams had just baked and she always had cookies in the jar, or playing Colored Easter Egg with my cousins on the front porch, and even being told to behave or I would get the strap. The smell of the shop out back is what I always imagined is what my Grandpa would smell like (I never met him.) The only really bad memory I have in this home is once I was asked to go out to the shop and get something. What I was not told is that Uncle Jim had shot a deer and he had it in the shop to bleed out. That was terrifying. You would think it would have put me off of deer meat forever, but I actually love it. I remember fondly sitting with Grams a few days before she died. She had been sick for a while and we took turns sitting with her so Aunts Colleen and Della could get a break once and a while. She turned to me and asked why Uncle Lee was in the light bulb. I knew the veil was thin and she was going to leave us soon. She died a few days later and I can still remember the mortuary taking her body. And while this could be a bad memory, I hold it dear to my heart, because I had so many good years with her and it was time for her to rest. I remember working in the garden as a kid and now as an adult I take pride in it. We had some of the best tomatoes this year and, child please, that cantaloupe that Aunt Colleen grew... oy it was good.!

So this house is mine, and while I do need to preserve these memories, in time I need to make it mine; make new memories. I am excited for the house, sad the aunts are moving out sooner than later, and anxious for a new chapter to start.

Blog Stalker

I have this blog that I stalk. Just one, really. I mean the other blogs I follow are of friends or family that know I read them. But this one blog is a friend of a friend who does not live here in Utah. We have met, I know her, she knows me, I am 95% sure if we saw each other on the street we would recognize one another. But we do not know each other very well. I was reading my friend's blog one day and saw a link to this friend of friend blog and checked it out. I have been hooked ever since. I always squeal with excitement when her blog is updated, I think she is funny with a touch of snarky thrown in. Her blog makes me happy. I usually want to comment on some aspect of her post, but talk myself out of it because there is something about remaining an anonymous blog stalker. It made me think about my own blog stalker, you know who you are, who had a conversation with me one day about my 101 goals. I was like "Dude, how do you know about my 101 goals?" "I blog stalk you." "Oh, huh, creepy." So I am now that creepy stalker of friend of friend. So friend, thank you for having fun and snarky friends for me to stalk.

Hello my name is Steph, and I am a blog stalker.

The Go-To Music

I have a few CDs that I turn to over and over again... they are my favorites. One would think I would get sick of them, but that does not seem to happen. My main genre of music, of course, are showtunes. I play Jane Eyre over and over!! It is my most played CD in my iTunes library. Then there are the CDs that I turn to when I am in a specific mood: Dreaming Wide Awake, Wicked, The Drowsy Chaperone, Next to Normal.

Of course I am not only a fan of showtunes. I will listen over and over anything by Barenaked Ladies and I like their new stuff now that they are a 4-man band. Then there are the specialty CDs, the ones I play when I am in a very specific mood: My Chemical Romance when I am feeling super funky, Alanis Morissette when I am really mad, Dixie Chicks when I feel a little bit country, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (trilogy, trilogy) when I just need quiet time.

What is your go-to music? Why?

Bits and Pieces

• Today the home phone rang and the caller ID said "Phone Scam"... good one coach!
• This one friend of mine, Peggy, had this blog post the other day that made me so very very happy. Please take some time to read her ramblings on getting old, particularly number 3.
• I have had a headache for a few days now, I think it is because I am not on pain meds any more.
• There is this fun new mindless game for my tom-pooter that is kind of addicting. It simply involves growing and breeding frogs. I have wanted an aquarium of fish and frogs for a while... thanks tom-pooter.
• Recovering from surgery is the perfect time to watch all seasons of Grey's Anatomy.
• The bad thing about watching all of the seasons of Grey's Anatomy is that suddenly every stomach pain is a perforated bowel.
• The other day my cute little Mac was sitting on my lap. All of a sudden she decided to stand up and ended up falling off the chair backwards and landed on her head. It was an impressive flip, she has a future as a gymnast, but it also was good to get our hearts racing.
• My first house payment is due October 1, I own a house, it is very ... adult of me.
• I do not live in said house yet. But I still own it.
• I went back to school to get a Certificate in Human Resource Management.
• I did some research recently for a family home evening about school. When I found out what someone with my experience, a certificate in HR, and an MBA makes as a Human Resource Manager (salary) I almost puked from unbelief and joy.
• Of course I will have to move to Delaware for the high HRM salary.
• My mom is in Seattle for a week, she left today, I miss her already.

The Chaz and Miranda

I have had a surgery before similar to the one I had Thursday; in 1997 I had a lapro surgery to get rid of some endometriosis that has been plaguing me for some time. The surgery hurt, the recovery was a bit bad, but I felt so much better when it was all done.

Well Thursday I was overall pretty calm about the whole thing. I was excited there was an end in sight. My biggest fear, honestly, was the Dr R was going to get inside and see that nothing was wrong with The Chaz (my gall bladder) and just close up shop. The Chaz and I have been fighting since February. I have had a CT scan, 2 ultra sounds, 2 x-rays, and a HIDA scan that all came back normal. NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH ME! Except that every time I ate anything I got sick to my stomach, I had a constant pain in my side, and there were other side affects that are not appropriate to talk about on ones blog. Even though the tests all came back normal I knew something was wrong. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, and I could not take it any more. Well I had visits with 4 doctors before one of them said that it sounded like my gall bladder was not functioning right even though the test indicated it was.

When Dr R looked inside she could not even see The Chaz at first. The Chaz was hidden behind so much scar tissue and other adhesions. This is why it hurt. The Chaz (back up, maybe I should explain now that Chaz is not a good enough name for my old gall bladder... it now is The Chaz because it seems to fit a bit more now!) did not look right; The Chaz had to go! Endometriosis causes organs sometimes to adhere to other organs in an attempt for the body to "cure" itself. While Dr R did not see any endo lesions (hurray for small miracles!) it is very likely that this is the cause of my adhesions. So Dr R cleaned out the adhesions and scar tissue, took The Chaz out, made sure everything else looked fine (my appendix, etc.) and closed me up.

The staff that worked with Dr R were incredible. So I walk into the OR, and I suddenly get nervous. I mean really nervous. Dr R came over and held my hand until I went under. She really is a great surgeon. She listened to every concern I had and told me my options, gave her opinion, and then fixed me! I would recommend this general surgeon to anyone who needed one. So why am I not using her name then? Well I do not have her permission to do so but if you needed me to tell you personally who she is I would be happy to.

So the Miranda part of this post. Who is Miranda? Now that we all know who The Chaz is... meet Miranda. If you have not see the movie Serenity, please see it. I mean come on, space cowboys!! The character River has a bit of a freak out moment and is triggered to remember a code word deeply embedded in her subconscious: Miranda. I shall not ruin the punchline and tell you who or what Miranda is, but rather the funny line that leads us to why Miranda is pertinent now. After this freak out that River has, her brother Simon, thinking Miranda might be an alter ego of River's says, "Am I talking to Miranda now?" At which point River gives the most classic "Are you kidding me Big Brother?" look. Well narcotics do funny things to me. One night I had taken some meds for pain and Besty looked at me and said "Am I talking to Miranda now?" This post today is brought to you by Miranda and the memory of The Chaz and the letter H.

I can eat and not feel super sick (except for last night because I think I ate too much at the yummy BBQ we had.) I know what was wrong with me is now fixed. My abdomen is sore, understatement of the year, and my back hurts because it is working a bit harder now that I cannot move my core!! But I feel better. I instantly felt better! The Chaz had to go!! Miranda can stay for a few days, mostly because I cannot believe how much I actually hurt after doing small things like taking a shower, and then once she is gone I know I will be fine. There is an update on The Chaz and Miranda, now I think I deserve a small nap or maybe some ice cream! :)

Farewell Chaz

Downtown wins!! I think it is hilarious to name my gall bladder Chaz. So farewell Chaz, I hardly knew ye... I doubt I will miss ye!

The story of Chaz: Remember Charles in Charge from the late 80's? When Charles bumps his head he turns into Chaz... his evil counter part. I loved this character!! So when I was trying to come up with a nickname for Downtown, 'Chaz' was my first suggestion. She did not think it was funny, not a fan I guess!! So now my gall bladder which is making my life a living (fill in any bad word here) is now my evil twin named Chaz and will be removed today. So farewell Chaz! When he is gone I hope to be able to eat food without getting sick. When he is gone I hope to be able to live my life not in constant side and back pain. When he is gone I am going to have a tomato sandwich! When he is gone I will be off of pain and nausea meds on a daily basis. If I could write a song about my Chaz, it would be something like the Dixie Chicks song Goodbye, Earl! Because Chaz has GOT TO GO!!!

The Right Thing?

Monday Besty and her Hub and I all went to a movie, we saw Inception. For those who have seen it this might make you laugh. For those who have not, please allow me to give a little of the story without giving anything away: The story is about dreams and the possibilities held within dreams. To explore dreams at times, sedation is used. The rest of the story hangs on this basic premise. At the end of the story (which was good, but oy I feel like I need to see it again to grasp it all!) Besty leans over and says something like "So are you worried about going under sedation this week?" UM... I AM NOW!!

Too Connected?

I remember a day when I did not have a cell phone or email account or blog or facebook page... I remember that day well. How did we ever live without them? Now I have not totally gotten lost in the online social networking... I still do not really know what Twitter is or how to Tweet. But I wonder how we became so reliant on these electronic formats of communication (she asks as she blogs!) Yesterday afternoon visualize this picture: I was sitting in a chair on my laptop next to my father who was on his laptop who was next to my brother who was on his laptop who was next to his wife who was playing on the iPod Touch who was next to my mom who was on her laptop who was next to one of the kids on another iPod Touch. We really are living in a material world and I am a material girl.

Angry Birds

Speaking of my tom-pooter... raise your hands if you have experienced Angry Birds... Hands raised? How addictive is this game? The premise of the game is simple: the pigs have stolen the birds eggs and now the birds want revenge and to try to save the eggs. So for the game you slingshot the birds to kill the pigs. I like this game because I get to kill pigs. Now for the tens of readers I might have you may or may not know that I am allergic to pork. So killing pigs is kind of fun for me. I like pork, the taste that is. I like the flavor of bacon; sometimes on Christmas Eve I will have a bite of my brother's bacon... and suffer all night for it. And now I feel like I am smack dab in the middle of Fiddler on the Roof: Oh we suffer, we suffer in silence... So with this game I no longer have to suffer in silence. Eating pig hurts me... so now I have an outlet to hurt back!

Greetings

My niece Sissy and I are pals, or we used to be until I got the iPad. Now the greeting I get when we see each other instead of "Hi Steph!" I get "Steph where is your tom-pooter?" tom-pooter=computer=iPad. I have been replaced in Sissy's heart by a tom-pooter. I guess I do not blame her, it is pretty cool!

Speaking of Fairies

As my readers will know, my SIL Kate is a great photographer. Well she comes by it honestly as her Mom, Ruth, is one too. Ruth will be in town for an Enchanted Forest Fairy Portrait Day. She will be in town only October 1 & 2, so if you are interested book sooner than later! The info is on the flier, or you can visit Ruth's website: http://photographybyruth.com/. Or as the flier says you can call Kate for help: 801-722-9825

The Sourdough Express

The Sourdough Express arrived at my house last night at about 10:30. I have a good friend who travels for business. A. Lot. He sent me a text that told me he was just leaving San Fran with some bread for me, and what was too late to come on by? Um, never too late for Sourdough!! I am not saying that in order to be my friend you must bribe me with Sourdough from San Fran... but it does not hurt! Thanks J!

Feeling

Photo by Kate Johnson Photography

I kind of felt like this yesterday. This is Squitch's kid Goose. Granted my shoes are black, my pants were black, and my shirt was white. But I felt like a princess sliding up next to the bar in my very first ballet class. I tied my very first pair of ballet slippers on my feet and I swear I felt like a little princess in pink. Especially when Stephanie had us pull out our imaginary crown (mine was sterling silver with fuzzy pink boa pieces all around) and our pretty necklace (again silver with a brilliant Princess Cut Diamond) and we got in first position.

This class is, of course, being taken at the studio I am working with The Learning Circle, LLC. I started with a stretching class which actually was pretty hard with my current gall bladder issues. But I am glad I did both classes. The ballet class is an entry level for adults. I was the only one in the class (besides Mom who observed mostly) who had never done any ballet before. I did not understand any of the French, but I did do a pirouette by the end of the night... not like Mikhail can, but still I held my own.

Today... well today my legs are on fire and laughed at me when I wanted to go up the stairs, but I had a ball and cannot wait for the next class! I am glad I made this goal with my 101 goals!

Afternoon Nap

I do not think I gave enough credit to my Kindergarten teacher with her blue mats, graham crackers, and milk cartons while I was in Kindergarten. In fact when I was younger I sometimes fought against nap time. WHAT WAS I THINKING??

Today has been a rough day overall. So at lunch time I went to get some chicken (one of the safe foods right now) and then pulled my car to the back of our parking lot. Opened the windows and laid my seat back. What a glorious nap!! I wish I could go back and tell Kindergarten Steph to stop raging against the nap machine! There comes a day when we want the blue mat, graham cracker, and milk carton again!