Thursday, March 27, 2008

Holy Crap! I've been Tagged!

Okay, so Tari tagged me! Of course I had stopped reading her blog because she never updated it, and then when i wasn't looking, she tagged me!
So I'll try to do this some justice.

10 Years Ago: I was going to college at Westminster and living at home and probably working for Convergys where I would try and retain just a little piece of my soul before they crushed it all out. I was all sorts of dark and depressing too, don't forget that.

5 Things On My To-Do List: Read some more blogs, get a better job, go to my stupid weight lifting class, look busy, make some awesome Salmon Pasta for dinner!

5 Snacks I Enjoy: What snacks do I not enjoy? Marshmallows, hostess cakes of any kind, Ranch Wheat Thins, chocolate, ice cream (what? Desserts = snacks to me!)

5 Places I've Lived: Murray City, UT, Littleton CO, Orlando FL, Sandy UT and Taylorsville UT

What Would I Do if I Suddenly Became a Billionaire: After I gave my job the finger (metaphorically, of course) I would buy a huge house, with a pool and hire a personal chef and trainer. I would buy a really cool car like a mini or some Hybrid so that while I look down on the poor people I can feel that I'm doing good things for the environment.
After that, I may spread the wealth, give family and poor people some money or whatever, but that's after I'm earning like $50,000 a day on the interest from the loads of cash I have in the bank!

5 Jobs I've Had: Residency Approver, Refund Issuer, Customer Phone-In Punching Bag, Sales Clerk for Big Box Company, Cash Register-Runner for the Little Guy

5 Things You Don't Know About Me: That I'm a chronic liar (or am I?) I love Hannah Montana! (Hey! Some people might not know!) That I have a phone phobia when talking to strangers. That INVU because URAQT! My head is filled with so much celebrity info that I can't remember why I headed into the kitchen.

Now I tag: Whoever! I don't want to put any pressure on anyone unduly, so just if you feel the urge, post some randomness about yourself!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Can It Be? 18 Months?


Oh my little girl, you are SO big now! You said with clear distinction "Shoe" yesterday. You are starting to really mimic things we say, or at least try to, where you used to stop talking if we tried to get you to repeat a word. Now you know that you're trying to communicate!
Easter was a blast! We did a little "practice round" with the plastic eggs in the living room, but boy were you happy to find these little treasures outside! You looked so adorable in your little pink dress and you curls running around in the bright morning light and finding all the (completely unhidden) eggs. You were even happier to find out that in some eggs, there was chocolate. And the heavens opened and the angels wept with joy.

You are now officially in nursery at church so your father can quit being such a baby about how hard it is to watch you, because I have to watch 4 kids you are so much worse! But I actually have to try and teach those kids something, at least with you, it's all about making sure you don't scream too loudly. But with our first week in nursery comes the first week of getting the Treat Bucket. I have to fill it with nutritious snacks for babies. I can't get you to eat any nutritious snacks, so I don't see why other people's kids should get anything from me!
Speaking of eating, I don't know what to think of you. I thought I figured out the trick to getting you to eat macaroni (ketchup!) but the trick only worked once, you have now figured out my game. I was so clever, I kept giving you things to dip into your ketchup and you would eat them! Now you just eat the ketchup and throw the food onto the floor. Thanks for that by the way.

You are so getting more lovely (possibly because of the hunger pains you must be feeling) but you hug! you hug me! Usually it's you hugging other people and trying not to actually touch me, but the other day you ran up to me and put your stubby little arms around my legs and it wasn't because you were afraid of something! Hurrah!
Now that you are starting to grow out of your 18 month sized clothing we've hit a snag. There aren't too many items of clothing in the next bigger size. And what we do have, is definitely summer wear. And March? It's not very summer-like. So I'm hoping that you can squeeze that tummy into your old clothes for just a little while longer while I figure out how to make a weeks worth of outfits out of 2 outfits. I think it might take some cash and going to the baby section in ShopKo (they have the cutest stuff!)

With the approaching warm weather comes "doing things outside" and so I've been trying to take you outside more whenever I'm home. You love it. There is nothing funnier that you running down the sidewalk. Although it gets less cute when you are headed for the street, which is where you always head. Which is weird. i know the yard is not green and lush, but it's got to be better than blacktop, right? So keeping you in the backyard is a must, behind the fence. Your fascination with rocks and the sprinkler heads is good watching. I think you'll definitely be a rock collector when you've out grown trying to put them into your mouth.

It's been a hard and interesting month, but you're weathering the storm quite well!

Love ya!

Mama

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Laugh like you mean it

Looky Daddy had this post and it was so funny that even though my boss was waking past my desk at the exact same moment, I still had to laugh outloud. Good times.

Newness Squared

Okay, I just wanted to draw attention to my new masthead. Most of you have already seen it, but I just have such a little crush on it. I love the colors and the way that things blend (except that part that doesn't. Curse you Photoshop!) I seriously spent a lot of time this weekend just staring at it. That was of course, when I wasn't staring at my new fish (see how this works, when the fish are interesting, they are mine, when they are lame, they are Husband's.)

Did I mention the new fish? My brother, who is a fish expert, heard that we only clean our tank once or twice a year and almost had heart failure right there. I guess we're suppose to clean it every week. Every week? Are you kidding? When we had a cat, he was lucky if we cleaned the litterbox every week and that thing stank! The fish tank doesn't bother us if it's all grimey, because we're like that. Anyway, my brother came over on Saturday and helped to clean it. He also knew that most of our non-guppy fish had died/were eaten and so took me and Hayley to the pet store to view fish. My brother spent a lot more time diciding what out tank needed then I even thought possible. Meanwhile Hayley was trying to run through the store and take things off the shelves. Note to self: No trip inside a store is ever too short not to get a cart.
So after getting 3 bags full of different fish our tank is full to the rafters. There are 3 fish that zoom back and forth and up and down all day long. If I had known there were fish like this, I would have gotten some long ago, because these fish, they make it so interesting to stare at the tank. I spend a good 15 minutes Saturday night just watching the fish. Not the the TV, not playing with my daughter or reading a book. Watching the fish swim. Back and forth and back again. I think it's probably just that I'm easily entertained now that I watch so much Hannah Montana on the Disney channel. But man, I even had think "Okay, you're just watching fish, go to freaking bed!" and it still took another 5 minutes before I left! Like the fish were going to start a conga line just as I turned the lights off. They probably did, just to spite me.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Ice Cream Week


So this has been an ice cream kinda week here are the rockstar mom palace. Grocery shopping Monday evening I brought home nice things like pizza and marshmallows and thanks to Niki, I know the pleasures of Ben and Jerry's Cinnamon Bun ice cream. It's like a cookie dough inspired ice cream, as it has chunks of cinnamon bun dough with swirls of cinnamon strudel. Let me tell you, I am not a cinnamon person, but this is pure decadence. So I got me some and that night after Hayley went to bed I picked up my spoon and the pint and sat on the couch and went to work. I finished it off without meaning too. I did feel slightly sick but oh it was worth it.
The next day was Erika's birthday, so we went to lunch, but Erika was in no mood to go back to work, especially not on her birthday and so we decided that we needed some more ice cream. We went over to Cold Stone and I got my usual of Cake Batter ice cream. I can't put into words how much I love to eat certain things that you are suppose to bake before they have been baked. So that was the second day in a row that there was ice cream involved.
Today Erika decided that work was killing her and off to lunch we went again to La Puenta's (not that one that burned down, the one just south of that) and ate smothered burritos. We decided that since we were here, the least we could do was to eat some fried ice cream. After we split the creamy goodness I realised a pattern, I'd taken a few days off in between, but my ice cream splurge was continuing. i pointed this out to Erika and she reminded me that tomorrow I'm joining her family for birthday dinner which will, more than likely, involve ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

So I ask you, is there such a thing as too much ice cream? At what point will I die of sweet cream poisoning? And of course, will you wheel me around after I've lost the ability to stand upright due to my ice cream obsession?

Bringing the Sexy

Watch Matt's new video and vote for him on yahoo's "Who's Next?" section.

Come On Get Higher

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Me and the Rockstars Get on Fine

Matt Nathanson was one of the openers for Lifehouse here at the Depot. I’m not a Lifehouse fan, but we all know how much of a fan girl I am for little Matty. I had never been to the Depot and since I wasn’t a Lifehouse fan I figure no one else would be either, so I wasn’t worried about tickets. Lucky for me, my friend Trish is a little more anally retentive and she went and got us both tickets because the show, it sold out. I wanted Magen and Erika to come again and for Niki to join me in my Matt-love, but alas, it was not to be. So Trish and I arrange to meet downtown at the Gateway mall, since that’s where the Depot is! Who knew? So just over an hour before the doors are suppose to open I get there and check out the line. There were about 25 people in line, but it was freezing and Trish and I were hungry! So we headed over to the food court and ate and the dude at the Chinese food place tried to steal Trish’s credit card by inaction, and if she had not tried to use the ATM, we might not have known it was even missing. Seriously. We sat in front of this guy for about 25 minutes while he held onto her card and didn’t say anything! What a jerk! So after that we made it into line about 6:50 pm, thinking they would open the doors at 7 sharp and then we’d be fine. Unfortunately the line was now about 150 people long, so we got in the back and waited. And waited. And waited. 7 came and went and while the depot employees were trying to get things streamlined by going down the line and checking IDs for hand-stamps (21 and over my friends) but we were all grumbling at this point. Trish and I were right in the driveway for the valet parking, so we got to be very close to many fancy cars, which we had an intense desire to vandalize in some way. Perhaps we are more like teenagers than we’d like to believe.

Finally the doors opened after the venue people explained to us that the opening band was late for sound check and we all rushed in. As Trish expected the first spots to go were along the sides in chairs and up by the bar, so while the front of the stage was pretty packed, we were able to get fairly close on the side. Not an amazing spot by any means, but decent. Of course that wasn’t taking into account the rude drunks that had gotten pretty good spot right in the cent near the stage. They had to keep leaving to get drinks. I think they went back and forth about 8 times. I’m sorry? Can’t you go sit at the bar? I’m sorry that while pushing your way up front, your beer spilled, but that’s the chance you take when you’re a moron! Oh well.
Then of course standing right in front of me was the she-male. I swear that even with the dangling earrings and the sparkly vest-shirt (shest?) that this was a man. She was heavy set with a buzz cut, so imagine my surprise when I saw a woman’s face. She was probably in her 50s and a good 4 to 5 inches taller than me and this woman couldn’t’ keep her head still to save her life. She kept tilting it with the music, so while for a minute, I’d have a good view and then, tilt! Good view is now just a view of the she-males buzzed head!
Trish and I were ready to hate the opening band, called Honey Honey, since they were the reason we had to stand in line outside for an extra 25 minutes, and when they came out, I thought at first they were about 12, turns out it was just my view, as the lead singer is taller than me. They were so awesome. They explained that they had just gotten out of the car after the drive from Colorado and had not even had time to change their clothes. They had a very bluesy feel to them, which I’m sure was accented by the fact the lead singer also played an electric violin and the banjo! The drummer was so adorable, so goofy and animated, here’s their myspace http://www.myspace.com/honeyhoneyband definitely worth checking out. If I hadn’t needed my cash to get out of the parking lot I might have bought their EP. They won me over very quickly. The lead singer was so endearing, but there most memorable song is called “Screw” It was a very sweet soft sounding song about how “I’m not using you, you just look like you need it” So good times.
Then it was Matt. The band came out and was getting the equipment set up and I saw this spiky head backstage, and my heart skipped a beat! Which was a little weird, but I knew it was him! Hurrah! He came onstage to loud applause and seemed like he was really having a lot of fun. They started the rocking with “To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts” and “Gone” I really have to hand it to Matt, he is excellent at dealing with loud drunks, the crowd was eating out of his hand. At one point he asked the balcony how they were and to keep drinking because the “more you drink, the better we sound.” When he asked the middle of the balcony how they were the applause was intense and he said “If you’re sitting there, we sound like Led Zepplin.” Next came “Princess” which I love, but I was sad because he didn’t start off by playing “Jesse’s Girl”, since I have so many bootlegs of him doing that, it’s my favorite. But then just as I was getting over that small disappointment he put it in as a bridge/sing-a-long! He did the second verse as well so that more people could sing along, I loved it! Then they finished up “Princess.” He introduced “Come on Get Higher” saying how it was a song to try and steal a little of the sexiness that you get from Usher and Ricky Iglesias. I liked this song a litter better solo, I really got into it when he played it in Provo. Still, very, very good.
I believe he played “Falling Apart” next, which is excellent live, but is very lacking on the album. It was a this point I was sad that I can’t get the same thing from listening to his new album. I love almost all of those song, and have since before they had titles and finished lyrics, but getting that album was such a let down. It feels like all the emotion has just been sucked right out of the songs. It seems very overproduced to me, and since it took about 4 years for the album to come out, I wonder if that’s what happened. It makes me so sad, because these songs are heartbreaking and wonderful, but you don’t get that when you listen to the album, they sound very plain and lackluster and they aren’t! It’s crazy!
He followed that up with “All we Are” and told us that while he likes Denver, it’s not Salt Lake and we deserved a happy song and since he only has written 2 of those, they are very special. I love this song, which has been on TV a bit. I heard it on NCIS and I was so excited but Husband didn’t understand. That’s my Boy! He’s making it in the big time!
He introduced “Detroit Waves” as the song he wrote when he was battle rappin’ in the streets of Detroit. He also added a bit of “Kids in America” so that we wouldn’t have to deny ourselves the sing-a-long. It was super cool. This is one of my favorite new songs, which I’ve loved since the first time I heard it. But once again the album doesn’t live up to the intensity you get hearing him play it. You may think I’m just one of those people that just can’t appreciate the music if it’s not being played just for me, but I’m listening to songs from Matt’s last album right now and they are beautiful and poignant and that’s the reason I love Matt as much as I do, so it definitely makes me very sad to lose this connection with the new songs.

Then “Wedding Dress” I heart this song, although I liked it just a touch better when it was “Winter Dress” but it makes more sense this way I guess. He added some lyrics, I don’t know if it was a different song or just some new improve, I wanted to remember the lyrics, but now I can’t :(
Then of course the single that most people know “Car Crash” It’s been so fun to hear this on the radio, every time I get so excited that they are really playing Matt. He deserves it. Once again I’m a snob and like the early versions of this song where the chorus is a little different the best, but it’s a great song and should definitely make him famous or at least get people to buy that CD.
“Answering Machine” the standard closer. As he was telling people the song-a-long lyrics he told us “They don’t make any sense, but neither does REM… and I love them.” I think he added the love thing just because the Utahns would lynch him if he made fun of REM. But he does love REM as he will throw a little “Losing my Religion” into one of my favorite songs. It was fun and I decided that since I couldn’t really see through the she-males shaved head, that I would sing the whole song, not just mouth the words as I so politely did through the whole concert. Didn’t make a difference, but was a bit liberating. He announced he would be signing things back by the merch booth after his set and after Lifehouse played. I didn’t come to see Lifehouse, so I was a super friend and went and got Trish a new Matt shirt for her to wear, I hope it looks awesome on her (I’m sure it does) it had an answering machine on it! Get it? Ha ha! These two cute girls behind us, whom Trish had offered to trade places with since she was taller thanked me. I’m not sure why, they said “because you were here!” so for what that’s worth, I’ll take it.
I headed back to the booth which was stuck in a corner. Only one way in and one way out. There were so many girls waiting to talk to him! It was nuts and I had to ask someone I didn’t know to take my picture with him. I had him sign my “Slow but Speeding” EP which I figured was the neatest most rarest thing of his that I have, even though it’s not that neat.

I asked him if he had gotten used to being an opener again, since you know, I read his online journal, so I know the first show in Seattle, he had to really work to win over the crowd and it was a little strange for him after coming off his headlining tour. He said he had and it was getting better. He forgot my name again and I razzed him for it. I’m also such a nice person that I told him he was wearing the same shirt that he wore when he performed at the radio station here. You know, because I like to make rock stars feel stupid about thier clothing choices. I also decided to tell him that I’m a ridiculous fan girl that I found a belt buckle online to replace the one he broke, but it hadn’t arrived (oh, I’m going to kill me some online retailers) and that I “felt bad about it” and he looked maybe a mixture of surprise and fear, well, he didn’t show the fear he must have been feeling, but he seemed to think that my trying was really sweet. So the stranger took my picture and I tried to tell him that he had really won over the crowd, but all that would come out of my mouth was “All these people love you” so, yeah. My brain doesn’t work too good sometimes. So I left the surging mass of girls and was about to leave in triumph when I looked at the picture on my camera. I had my eyes closed. So I got my butt back into the line and tried not to be too pushy since I had already talked to him. After a bit I got to the front and said “Me again! I was blinking! Redo!” and some other stranger took my picture. He gave me a big hug (and I melted then I died) and I told him it was just like that time in Colorado where I just kept coming back again and again and again. And I had told him silly things like I loved him and that he was hot. I then rolled my eyes and said how long ago that was (3 years?) and he said how much we had both grown. It was super cute.

I decided to just hang out and listen to at least the first Lifehouse song, since I had paid all this money to get in the door. Matt was still signing and talking to people and then there was a group of older people (one of whom looked like a slimmer George Lucus!) that he stopped and talked to for a bit. He started to walk away and saw me and kinda waved and I waved bye to him, it was totally sweet. Then, I was trying to make my way out after the ridiculously long Lifehouse song which I didn’t recognize until the very end and Matt was also on his way out, there were two girls who were trying to talk to him and I was trying to get around them so I could leave (although to be honest, since Matt was right there, I wasn’t trying too hard) and then they asked me to take their picture with Matt. I agreed and the first picture was just a close up of his face since the picture screen on the camera was totally black due to the poor bar lighting at the show. But then I took another picture and everyone had their eyes open and it was really sweet. So I got to walk passed Matt on my way out and I didn’t even stop him to talk to him again. Mostly because he kept getting snagged by other people, but I didn’t stop and wait just to tell him the new things I had thought of since last time or all the things I wanted to tell him but forgot since he makes me so flustered. I just let him go. And hopefully he won’t be gone too long again and then I’ll make sure me and all my friends have tickets to that glorious occasion! Viva La Matt!
Not a bad picture, finally!