Random Thoughts

Last night I ended up having a little bit of "quiet" time; my 3 girls were in bed and Aaron had taken Noah for a "night out with Dad." (They went to Wendy's to eat Frosties and then to Target to buy Noah some new socks. Ah, quality time.) Ordinarily I would've turned on the TV but I decided instead to do a responsible thing (the dishes) and an irresponsible thing (bake & devour peach crisp a la mode). While busying myself in the kitchen, I noticed the extreme quiet of my surroundings (quite unusual for this house) and I found my brain wandering in all sorts of directions.

First of all, I am truly a happy person as the blog title suggests, but for some reason I found myself getting angry in my head over bizarre things: (Dangit! Where the heck is the nutmeg? WHO TOOK MY NUTMEG?)

Once I realized it was I who was responsible for the nutmeg being put away in the wrong spot and not some mischievous goblin, I felt sorry for directing my anger and non-curse words at, um, nobody, and this led me to recall a situation wherein I was cursed at.

It was 1998-1999ish; I was at work managing my precious CD Warehouse on a sunny afternoon. A vicious gang of thugs (I mean regular-looking Provo kids) had just purchased a few CDs from me but had done a fair share of loitering in the process. As they exited the store, the unreliable door security sensor thingy started beeping loudly, and the boys continued casually out the door. I said something like, "Hey, wait!" and rushed out the door, where they were already getting into their car. I said something about how I was going to check their bag to make sure that it only contained the CDs they'd purchased, that they were de-sensored, and that another CD hadn't "accidentally" made its way into the bag. To this the lead thug replied, "Back off, B*!" right in my face, got in his car & drove away. I got part of the license plate but was too shaken up to remember 6 whole digits, I guess.

The first thing I did was to call the cops, who of course couldn't do anything for me. The second thing I did was to call Hubs, who probably wanted to beat the living daylights out of these punks who'd dared talk to his woman that way, but really the only outcome of that phonecall was mass hysterics on my part. I cried and kinda freaked out... all while my coworker/subordinate with oodles more retail and shoplifting experience than me stared at me like I was a freak. Crying over being called a B*? Gimme a break (she said to herself). This girl had worked at several music stores in an actual city and had dealt with much worse, on countless occasions... so I was a little embarrassed about my theatrics. Needless to say, that coworker quit a few months later because she had a serious issue with me being her boss... too bad; we were pretty good friends up until she quit... and then she never talked to me again.

When I told my mom the shoplifter-thug story later that day (possibly amidst more tears; who knows) she chided me, "You should never run out into the parking lot after them! They could've had a gun!" I assured her that it was Provo.

So back to last night: after reliving that story in my head, I ran out of things to think about and began singing Mr. Roboto. By Styx. A classic.

Thus ended my "quiet time" and I turned on the TV, delighted to find The Office. "I'm not really a superstitious person. Just... stitious."

In other news (not that you've heard any yet), we're going camping tonight.

In still other news, yes I'm still on a diet - I just opted out of dinner tonight in favor of peach crisp. Hey, calories are calories. I'm down about 8 pounds and counting.

Thank you very much-o.

Overheard at the watercooler

Yesterday Noah & Molly had picture day. (And half-day to boot! Party on!) In the car on the way to school Noah told me, "This morning when I woke up and got dressed, I smelled that new yummy smell in our house [just-refilled Febreze air freshener] and it made me have a big smile on my face. So today when it's time for pictures at school, I'm going to think of that good smell so I can have a really good smile for my pictures."

Awesome.

Also yesterday I overhead the following conversation between Zoe and Lucy, while they were playing with some stuffed animals:

L: "These dogs always fly on an airplane for one second of money."

Z: "One second of money? Wow, that's a LOT!"

Immediately following this exchange, Zoe pranced down the hall singing, "Tea for you and tea for me! Tea for you and tea for me!"

Clearly, they speak each other's language.

So here's the reason for the lack of pictures lately (I know that the above pic is not the most flattering of my young'ins): my camera is still missing. I'm not sure how long it's been gone, but I know I had it in late August, and probably early September. I haven't yet turned my house inside-out looking for it; I just assumed it would "show up" on its own by now. But it's not in any of the usual spots (the most cluttered places - yes, I've checked them).

Have you seen it??

So there it is. I was checking my blog stats and noticed that a "came from" page was a Google search for "ponyparty paradise." Why someone would search that, I don't know, but if you type it just like that, your first hit is my blog! How bizarre. This is in reference to a pair of past posts, PonyParty and Paradise. Would love to have kept going with that alliteration...

So hey all you fellow-bloggers, especially those of you who are more blog-savvy than I, is there a way to keep yourself from coming up on search engines? Fortunately, most of what I've had to say has been much more generic and not as likely to come up for the average Googler.

RB's

A couple days ago I received the following email from my brother. This kid is hilarious.

Hi There,
So here's kind of a funny story...

My roommate Austin, our friend Eric and I occasionally go to the Arby's that's down the street from my house. Every time we go, Austin and Eric jaw back and forth about who could eat the most regular roast beef sandwiches. So we said, OK, one of these times that we go we will have a contest between these two to see who can eat the most in 30 minutes. I volunteered to pay for half of the bill just because I wanted to see this gross experiment in eating which would be entertaining and really funny. Yeah I know, kind of ridiculous. So then it sort of turned into this thing we joked about, 'The Great Roast Beef Off by Zac B Productions', that's what it was called.

So last weekend I was sitting around with said 'contestants' and I went to the Arby's website. I then thought it would be funny if I wrote to Arby's and asked if they wanted to participate. (What I find amusing is weird, I know.) So I filled out the website feedback with all of my info and I explained how I wanted to promote the roast beef sandwich. I also wrote a good amount of nonsense about how I thought it was important that Arby's bring the roast beef sandwich back into the limelight. I briefly explained the contest, claiming that I had a few more participants (8 total) than we actually did.

So, fast forward to this morning and I get a call from Arby's regional director of marketing, calling in regards to the Roast Beef Off. It took me by surprise obviously; I was holding back laughter the entire phone call. Whatever I said in my email had them sold on this. She was very interested in this 'contest', and wondered if we would like to hold it at the grand opening of the new Arby's at Mesa Riverview on Oct. 6th. She asked me about my experience in eating contests (I may have claimed in my original email to be a eating contest promoter), and she asked what I was asking Arby's for. On the spot I really didn't know what I needed Arby's to provide. I mean what would be in it for them to give us all the roast beef sandwiches we wanted? I haven't really thought this through on a professional level. I also didn't have 8 people in the contest. So I got her number and said I would be in touch.

Anyway that's the story. It's not going to happen that weekend, since Eric K. is going to be out of town. I told him about it and he wants to do something in the future so we are going to call them back. So, I may have a career in promoting eating contests. Just kidding.

Truly Random,
love, Zac

The BIG 10

Ten

years ago today, this picture was taken; my favorite picture from that day. It's a picture of Hubs, next to the luckiest girl in the world.

I sure love this guy, & I do more every year.

Happy Anniversary, Hubs!

HIJACKED!! (Happy Anniversary)

This is one of my favorite pictures from when we were dating a little overr 10 years ago.

This is a somewhat hostile takeover of Sara's blog. This is her husband Aaron. After numerous "password reset" attempts and answering security "challenge" questions I have successfully gained unauthorized access to this blog. Though this is the largest security breach to date in the local blogosphere, it is with good intent and I feel therefore that it is justified.

My only regret is that after logging in I stumbled upon a similar post that Sara had authored but not yet posted, so I got an unfair sneak peak. Hope I didn't minimize it girl.

SO 10 big years. A DECADE. Here is some interesting info that I found...

Researchers ([John R. Hayes, Complete Problem Solver (Lawrence Erlbaum) 1989.], [Benjamin Bloom (ed.), Developing Talent in Young People (Ballantine) 1985.]) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, painting, piano playing, swimming, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. There appear to be no real shortcuts: even Mozart, who was a musical prodigy at age 4, took 13 more years before he began to produce world-class music. In another genre, the Beatles seemed to burst onto the scene with a string of #1 hits and an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. But they had been playing small clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg since 1957, and while they had mass appeal early on, their first great critical success, Sgt. Peppers, was released in 1967. Samuel Johnson thought it took longer than ten years: “Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.” And Chaucer complained “the lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.”

Now I would hardly attempt to claim that I have any expertise in this marriage business, but I think this statemt is just about right for Sara. She has a remarkable talent for knowing and understanding me as a spouse and Father. She knows me and knows what do help make my life better. She wants to make my life better. She creates such a well rounded atmosphere in our home for our children and provides them with a patience and nuturing that I could never even remotely hope to posess. Sara, I just wanted to tell you how much you mean to me. I never imagined I'd have it so good. Happy 10.

Monday Update & more good deals...

There has been a lot going on around here lately... not as much in this house but in my sisters' houses! As for this house, on Saturday we did a reorganization project in the loft, to make a space for my treadmill and a space for our bedroom TV. We acquired a free old but awesome TV from Jamie, who's moving and preferred to get rid of it than move it. It's a great fit in our bedroom! And although it's a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down (originally at my parents' house), it still works great!

Kate had her baby last week, adorable little Paige, who we are all so excited about!! And Jamie is moving this week from 40 minutes away from my house, to 2 minutes away, which is very exciting too! Her daughter is starting school this week at my kids' school too, fun fun.

So with my minor involvement in my sisters' exciting changes and then also finding time to process the 30 lbs of Utah peaches sitting on my counter (some will be canned, some will be frozen, some will be baked into pies!) this is turning out to be a busy but fun week.

Speaking of fruit, I was just at Fry's again and they have strawberries on sale! 10 for $10! Pints of course. So, this means that in addition to the peaches I'll also be making another batch (or 2... or 5) of strawberry freezer jam, to last us through the winter. Oroweat Country White Bread (our favorite!) is also on sale right now; 2 loaves for $5. This is a good price; full retail is up to $4/loaf for this stuff these days.

Oh -- in other news, I lost another 2 pounds for a total of 6 so far! The diet is going great! Long live Weight Watchers!

News!

Someone had her baby... and she's sooooo cute!

(I don't have any of my own news to share so I'm sharing someone else's; hope you don't mind!)

Great deals!

If you live near a Fry's grocery store you should go there for milk and handsoap!

I was there today and their half-gallons of skim are on sale for $1 each! (10 for $10 but you don't have to buy 10.) Same thing for Dial soft handsoap, all different nice scents for $1 each. So I bought 6 of each! (6 milks & 6 soaps.) I have no idea how long this sale lasts.

I am NOT a good bargain shopper but it's nice to come across deals like this, especially when they're items I always need anyway.

So far so good...

This is the actual scale I have; it's from Hammacher Schlemmer and it's awesome! Love this thing! My Dad got them for everyone for Christmas a few years ago; thanks Dad! And um... no I do not weigh 188.6!

I'm happy to report that the diet is going well. I had been eating so much dessert over the past few months, I was just positive I would not have the will power to stick with 20 points a day -- but I have done pretty well. I've gone over points a couple times but only by a little bit, even on the weekend! Only after about two days I realized that I was already in "the zone" ... I mean a good mental state -- dieting without really having to try TOO hard, and really not wanting to snack on junk all day. I have rediscovered an old fave of mine, SlimFast shakes! They must've reformulated their chocolate powder because it is so much yummier & creamier than it was several years ago. I blend one scoop with about 1 1/4 cups of milk (it's a little too rich with just one cup of milk) and I add a banana and 4 ice cubes. All in all it's 4.5 points, pretty darn filling, satisfies my chocolate fix and gives me a good serving of milk!



These past 5 days or so have really been full of other pleasant surprises, for example: a light beef hotdog on a regular bun is only 4 points! Salad can be kind of filling! I can bake 24 luscious cinnamon rolls and only eat one of them! I can bake 40 mini-cheesecakes and only eat... well I think 5 of them... okay so I didn't do so hot yesterday. But that's okay because I still lost... drumroll please...




4 pounds!


(Go ahead & cheer for me; I'll wait...)

Granted, my "starting weight" was a little high... on the high end of the ever-flutuating spectrum... so it's probably more like I lost 2 pounds... but that's still pretty good considering it's only been 5 days. I know that most weeks will be less successful than this one, but it's a great boost to lose a bunch at the start like this.

By the way, why on earth would I bake things like cinnamon rolls & mini cheesecakes when I'm supposed to be dieting? For one thing, I love to. And, the cinnamon rolls were for my friend Laura's birthday on Friday, and I gave some of the extras to Kate. The mini cheesecakes I made to bring to choir on Sunday -- I'm the choir director and I feel like I have to feed them sometimes. Really it's just a good excuse to bake fun stuff.

And P.S. -- I may give you weight loss updates from time to time, but this will not be the permanent new theme of the blog or anything. [sighs of relief!]

Recipe of the month

So I've had this blog for about 6 months now, and I've only posted one recipe that I can recall. But I plan to make it a monthly event. And, having food on the mind quite a bit these days, I thought it would be a super time to post one!



Pasta Salad

1 pkg rotini
1 bottle italian dressing (small-medium)
1 packet of dry ranch dressing mix
vegetables as desired:
cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
broccoli
sliced black olives
bell peppers: green are cheapest but yellow & red look pretty!
zucchini
red onion, chopped small
parmesan cheese

Cook pasta; drain & cool a little. Mix ranch packet with about 2/3 of the Italian dressing; toss mixture into the pasta. Add all vegetables, then add as much more italian dressing as it needs to be moist. It depends on what you prefer, and how big your bottle of dressing is! Last time I used the whole bottle but I had done a little more than one pkg of pasta. Sprinkle on as much parmesan cheese as you like.

Not hard to make, and great for luncheons or showers!

Things to remember...

Water and gum are my new best friends.


Chocolate is not a foodgroup, and should actually be viewed as a delicacy.

Bread actually tastes pretty good dry.


Apples are yummy!


What else ya got for me? 'Cuz I'm hungry.

Apparently, it's time.

It has come to my attention that I have a pooch.


Not that kind.


The kind that caused someone at church on Sunday to ask me if I'm pregnant. (I'm not.) Luckily, my feelings weren't hurt (seriously, really not at all!) because the inquisitor is a kook and someone whose opinion I value very little. And, it helped that not 5 minutes after the query, I was told by someone else how fabulous I looked in that dress (by someone whose opinion I value more than the kook's). That dress is one of my favorites, and in it's semi-empire-waisted way, apparently caused a larger abdomenal bump than usual and brought to light the approx. 8-10 lbs of "summer weight" I've put on this year.

Weight Watchers and I have had a decent relationship. On my first attempt in 2005, I lost 15 pounds and came to within 5 pounds of my marriage weight; no small feat considering that I was a bit thinner than normal at my wedding. Since 2005, my weight has gone up and down near the range of my pre-WW size, but I've gone on WW a couple other times & lost 5 pounds or so when I've wanted to.

For some reason, ever since about April of this year I've stopped caring about gaining a few pounds, and suddenly my weight is now about 4 pounds above my pre-WW 2005 weight and until now I haven't felt the slightest bit of motivation to do anything about it. Part of the reason for this is that most of my "skinny clothes" still fit me! It's a real phenomenon, but I can wear most of the pants I wore when I was 10 pounds less than this... I think because they're mostly lowriders and my new weight is in my tummy, just above my pants. This is a shift from prior weight-gain experience, but as we all know, carrying four children, two of them being twins, causes changes in the ol' proportions department.

Having said all that in my usually wordy way (I type fast; what can I say), the bottom line is: I think I will be starting back on WW very soon. Maybe tomorrow. Okay, tomorrow. There, I said it. I'll sign back up in the morning. Not just because of one kook's comment, but also because of my kids' constant poking at my squishy belly, and then the glimpse I caught today of myself in my sideview mirror as I leaned out to order my Taco Bell lunch.. there was too much chin there. We all look thinner from the front. The side or diagonal view is not so flattering.

So today I'm enjoying one last fattening day (for a while, anyway) of some of my favorite things:

Breakfast: a muffin from Paradise Bakery, and some cookies.
Lunch (my very favorite fast food lunch): a double-decker taco supreme, a caramel apple empanada, and a medium Dr. Pepper (light on the ice). And some leftover Texas sheet cake from yesterday's Labor Day fun at my parents' house.
Dinner: TBD but I betcha it'll be non-diet! Followed by more Texas sheet cake. The rest of it, to be exact, so I can start dieting in the morning!

I'll feel like I'm starving, 24 hours from now, but I've done this before and I know it gets a little easier after the first few days of deprivation. I'll let you know how it goes...

Wish me luck!

You have to get one!

**NEWSFLASH**

Layers Clothing is having a big summer-end sale! The best deal they have going on RIGHT NOW is that all of their swimsuits, which are usually $60, are on sale for $25!! There are SO many cute ones to choose from. I bought the red one about a month ago (before it was on sale, unfortunately) and I love it!

Now, I must be honest & say that as well as my new red swimsuit fits and as well as I like it, the fabric seems to be minorly sub-par. It is well made but the fabric seems to be more prone to snags than some other swimsuits I have. So, try to stay away from running it through the laundry with anything that has velcro...

But for $25, I think I may have to get me another one of these. They are so cute! Click here and scroll down to the swimsuits and take a look!

They're not even paying me to advertise but I think they should!

May I also recommend the "Classic with a Twist" tee. I have it in black and it's my favorite t-shirt lately.