Uplifting Moments

On Friday, I was motoring along the West Yellowstone Highway when my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Sally from Sassy Floral and I am on your porch with a floral delivery."

"Oh!" I said, trying to hide my surprise, "How nice!"

"Can I leave it with your neighbor or on the doorstep?"

"Uh, I'll be home in 3 minutes, you can just leave it there."

I was just 3 minutes from home. I pulled up and there was this sitting on the front steps.



(sorry, I didn't take a pic on the front step. it's freakin' cold here!!)

Spencer had sent me flowers. Just because. It sure brightened my day!

Busy work: Done

Fortunately, this busy work has been productive. I have been toiling over my converted bookcase and I think that I can say, with confidence, that I am DONE! Having been foiled by weather, children and my own hurdles, it has taken almost 3 weeks. But I am finally DONE! Creatively, I had some issues with color and design that slowed me down a bit (my own fault) but I just HAD to finish. So now it sits in the garage until the smelly fumes of aerosol dissipate. The spray-painty hands and toiling in the cold garage are done.

And the other beauty I made this morning?



Courtesy of Super Saturday.** I really didn't feel like going, but I had already paid for the project, the time was set aside for it and I knew that it was something I would complete within the time frame allotted. Very, very pleased with the fruits of today's labors. Whew. I'm going to take a nap.


** Super Saturday**
For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, Super Saturday is where we women of the Relief Society get together and work on these personal projects, socialize and usually throw in a humanitarian project, like making quilts or hygiene kits (which we did today). And there's usually soup. On the posters reminding us women of the activity, it's usually spelled 'Souper Saturday'. But I thought that might be a bit confusing without the explanation.

Oh, the Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint. (LDS Church). Founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, the Relief Society is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world, claiming more than 6 million members in over 170 countries and territories. (thanks to Wikipedia for the concise and easy definition)

Jumping the gun

I have mixed feelings about when Christmas decor is displayed. First of all, I love it. I wish we had a larger time frame to have the place decorated. But it seems that stores just can't wait to get the holiday stuff out there. Maybe it's so blatant to me because I haven't been exposed to it for 4 seasons. I saw Christmas phrase plaques (Joy to the World; Believe; etc) at Sam's Club in September. Sep.tem.ber. I'll give them a little slack, though, seeing as how buying in bulk is all about 'being prepared'. But all the other stores? Mid-October, about the 15th, and all holly & berries break loose! Halloween things go on 25% off and early Christmas sales start. (backing up even further, I saw Halloween candy August 29th. Stuff that in your trick or treat bag!)



The reason for my mixed feelings? I kind of feel like Thanksgiving is getting shorted. I'll admit that November 1st, I listened to my all time favorite Christmas song, 'Silver Bells' by Elvis, just to feel a little in the spirit. But now my fall leaf garland and harvest themed wreath on the door almost feel out of place. I have driven by no less than 3 houses that already have lights up. And as I drove down Main street on Wednesday, there were wreaths on the lamp posts and a huge scroll-like garland thing strung across the first intersection. Really?


I know that in Canada, Thanksgiving is earlier; so Christmas festivities and decorations start sooner, like the beginning of November. But that's fair, no more holidays for them until Christmas! I guess I'm just an advocate for giving each holiday a fair chance. Though look at me, I didn't have one ghost, witch or skeleton gracing my porch. Halloween, I don't give it a fair chance. One, because I really really like a harvest theme; pumpkins, fall leaves, hay, and gourds. And two, I'm lazy. When I can decorate in September and leave it all up until Thanksgiving, who wouldn't want to?



But all this early Christmas stuff is really trying my patience. September to New Years; favorite time of year, hands down. Seriously, I am past excitement and moved strait onto giddiness over my Christmas decorations this year. I themed. Yes, I themed. So if I can wait until the day after Thanksgiving, everyone else can too!

The pretty preview

The view from my gym

Even after four years in Egypt, I still found some things "cool". Let me explain. In the summer, we take our 6 week R&R to the States. It's bound to come up where we live.

Random Person: "OH WOW! Egypt! That is so exciting and exotic! How do you like living there?"

Now, here's my dilemma. How truthful do you want me to be? I'm an honest, to-the-point person. I'm a person that doesn't put on a front. I can also be kind of snarky. How honest should I be? You know all they want to hear is how wonderful & amazing it is to live abroad. Should I unload the un-romantic side, or just smile and nod? I do a little of both. Here was my standard answer.

"It's really the opportunity of a lifetime. I get to explore amazing sights whenever I want. But you know, I also never thought it would feel so normal. Get up, get kids ready, go grocery shopping, etc."

They think of my life as being on vacation and why in the world would I want to waste any time back in the States. That's usually where our conversations would end. Any further and I'd be forced to shove ice picks in my ears.

A normal life. Where grocery shopping for dinner can take all afternoon. Why would Seodi's carry that particular pasta today when I've seen it there every other time? Or trying to find a needle in the city that might as well be one huge haystack. Or the power and water is out for the umpteenth time this week and "Insha'allah bukra" it will be fixed tomorrow.

I still got up, took kids to school, paid the bills and even went to the gym. (that was a habit begun in the last year there) They have a Gold's Gym in Egypt. I found that cool. I don't like the gym, I hate the gym, honestly. Why would I go to the gym? Because I had a great gym buddy (thanks Sar) and a goal. To meet that goal, I had to meet the gym. So one day, after a grueling work out, Sara & I went out on the balcony of the gym. It was on the 9th and 10th floor of an office building that included a bank, children's clothing stores, the X-Ray office, a pharmacy and a vacant Dunkin Donuts shop. I think a sandstorm or something had just blown through because the view was extra clear. We scanned the horizon and there we could see both the North and South Saqqara pyramid complex. Fortunately, I always carried my camera with me. (you never know) And so was born a paradoxical picture. A snapshot of my every day life; a view from the gym. Looking straight at the oldest structure on earth. Yeah. For a little while, I was cool like that.

South Saqqara

North Saqqara; the step pyramid

Same view, only zoomed out. They're really there, I swear. Look along the horizon, ignore the smog. (this was a clear day, people.) You know how things look differently in a picture. I have awesome zoom on my camera. Just like Typ0

And the view looking North. If those buildings weren't in the way, the Great Pyramids of Giza would be visible. Darn civilization.

Our Mini-moon!

No, I'm not talking about baby bums. Spencer's last weekend here, he surprised me by whisking me away to some Mayan ruins. Yes, and they exist right here in Rexburg. About a mile down the road, at the AmericInn.

I thought Spencer was acting a bit . . . funny. We had discussed having a date night that weekend, just the two of us. I started urging him that we needed to find a babysitter, trying to figure out what we wanted to do, where to go, etc. He just kept saying, "Oh, we'll figure it out." It was Thursday night, I told him we needed to figure out something, fast! He finally caved and said that his mom was watching the kids and that, since we would probably be late, it'd be a good idea to pack their pj's, toothbrushes, etc.



Ok, good! I kept needling him for input on where we should eat, what we should do. He just said we'd 'go with the flow'. Whatever that means. Well, mid-afternoon on Friday afternoon hits, and he says to pack my bags, we're leaving! He'd arranged for his mom to pick the kids up and finally revealed that we were staying overnight somewhere! We drove a mile down the road and pulled into the AmericInn parking lot. Not very far, but hey, when we had leftovers from dinner and no fridge in the hotel room, we just drove back & put them in the fridge at home.



We stayed in the Mayan Ruins themed room. (and i discovered a fridge behind the door painted to look like a crumbling wall.) Fireplace, jacuzzi, king size bed, and a huge TV. To add more icing to the cake; Spencer got up early, picked up the kids and let me sleep in. I stayed all morning; had a leisurely breakfast, luxurious bath and precious alone time. I felt so pampered!

YouTube Tuesday

This theme is not as easy as I thought it would be. I have many great YouTube video favorites; but one that will appease the masses, stretch across generational boundaries and find something that will be a crowd pleaser, not so easy. I wasn't looking for an 'easy day' (well, maybe I was). I just had so many in that file, and usually, when I get together with someone, one of us has an "Oh, you have to see this video" moment. And I thought this could be a way to share it with a bunch of people all at once, instead of waiting until we're in the same room. 'Cause frankly, that ain't happening for 98% of my audience. So, I chose a couple for some specific people today.

Connie, this one's for you. And by the way, doesn't that guy look like Taylor Hicks, except better?



For my sisters. Sorry you'll have to click the link, this video can't be embedded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5YbfFszlI

And for all my Egypt comrades; what up, homeslice? Yeah, you know you like it, Sara!




And last, but not least, this one's for me. Have you ever watched The Soup? That show is what keeps my light on, gives me the fuel to keep on keepin' on and has me guffawing for a solid 30 minutes. Seriously though, this one may be a generational thing. (and I only say that because my mother reads this blog, too.) Love ya, Mom!!



Seriously, I have it DVR'd every week. Subscribe to WatchTheSoup on YouTube. Shouldn't I be receiving monetary compensation for this free endorsement?

aaaand, one more. go now. you know you want to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKZ4ZJ49QHc

The Reason is you

Ok, it's one week into this beast called NaBloPoMo and things are going pretty good. I'm really not sure why I'm taking on this challenge of posting every day for a month. I believe in quality posting, not quantity. But I saw it as a challenge that I wanted to try and so I'm tryin' it.

One of hubby's tasks while he was home was to get the desktops set up. Yes, we have two desktops. One downstairs called Monstro that the kids can use and my little red baby upstairs called Little Red. (yeah, original) I love Little Red; if you go to your bookshelf and pull out a dictionary, that's about the size of my computer. And it's a desktop! (dell studio, if anyone's curious.) Anyway, the real reason I started talking about that was . . . um, I think I lost my train of thought. Ok, hubby's task was to set up my computers aaaand, yes, I have been enjoying having it set up and all of my bookmarks back. Before we left Egypt, hubby's other task was to group all of our digital media into one place. Pictures on one external hard drive, music on another, you get the picture.

I flipped Little Red on and there were all of these pictures from Egypt that had made the dump to my EHD (is that a real acronym?) but for some reason, not wiped from my computer. I made sure we cleaned up afterwards. Oh well, I have been tripping down memory lane the last week. I'm not getting teary or sentimental. Egypt will never be viewed through rose-colored glasses by me, no matter how hard time tries to soften the rough edges. I miss my friends and acquiantances and the memories we made. I don't miss this.

That was me trying to give Jacqui a bath in the morning. Our water pressure sucked big time. So much so it looked like it sucked most of the water intended for my kid's baths back into the tank. Big pain in the . . . you know where. The case usually was that our landlord had turned off the water pump overnight and the tank would take half the day to fill, so if I could give kids a bath between the hours of 11am and 2pm, the water pressure was fine. (that was actually when I would do laundry b/c the water would only trickle out of my washing machine as well.) But let's play the Glad Game, my precious Pollyannas, I can now bathe 3 kids in 20 minutes flat. Bathed, scrubbed, dried, dressed and brushing teeth. (the fourth showers herself. big kids are great.)

I call this "Truck 'o' Meat". Oh the unsanitary! (mode of transport) Yum.

The Lost in Translation signs. I considered getting business cards for Spencer with this sign on them! Nah, not really. (yes, really.) This was at some horse stables by the pyramids. 'Cept the horses didn't look as healthy as that 'stud' on the poster.

Really, I could go on forever, I've got 4 years worth of it! Anyway, I guess I'm just saying that I'm grateful to be here where I am now; a house with a yard, great water pressure, clean meat and a blog on which to share it all with you!