Dang Animals

So today I was down in my room; as I started to leave I heard the rustling of a plastic sack in my laundry room (like an animal was in there). I stopped and listened....still rustling....not my imagination. So what now? I'm a woman...instead of trying to get rid of the mouse I pounded on the wall to make it run away...and then I ran away. So I NEED to do laundry (I still haven't caught up from vacation). So I (bravely) open the door and shake the sack a little to see if it's still in there. No movement - it's gone. PHEW! So I hurry into the laundry room to get a load done before my imagination gets the best of me. Then as I start the water in my washer...more rustling. So (being a woman) I jump up on the dryer and start shouting at the thing in the bag that's trying to escape. The bag is RIGHT next to the door. Actually it partially covers the door. So as I'm screaming at the bag and trying to get the nerve to actually go over by it so that I can get out, I'm further scaring it and it's really trying to get out. I finally got up the nerve to run out the door. So I ran upstairs and called Jon to tell him that we have a mouse in our laundry room. When I told him it was in the bag he says "Well honey, it's going to be roaming around our house if it chews it's way out of the bag...you're going to have to take care of it." That's NOT what I wanted to hear. So he says "Well, think of someone you could call. Is Ross at work? He'd come take care of it for you." So I called Ross...no answer. Now what? So I thought of the trash can in Justin's room - we were going to throw that out anyway, now's as good a time as any. Oh, but wait...the bag hangs so low that I would have to PICK UP the bag to put it in. That's not good. So I finally found something I could just slip under the bag. I kept saying to myself...I don't want to open the door, I'm scared. Then I remembered a book I had been reading about a woman who, for her whole life, had been scared of going down into the cellar in her house. Then a tornado came and she and her children HAD to go into the cellar. She prayed to find a different way, she told Heavenly Father that she was scared. Then she got the impression "You'll just have to do it scared." So I decided to "JUST DO IT SCARED" (not quite a Nike slogan...but it'll do) :) So I opened the door and saw a shadow go flying across the room. So I slammed the door and thought "What in the world was that?" I figured, just my imagination getting away with me. So I opened the door and slammed it real quick again...it wasn't my imagination. It was a bird. How in the world a bird got into my house, I don't know. I will post a picture later of what I fashioned so that I wouldn't have to "shew the bird out with a broom" like Jon suggested. That bird was pretty freaked out, I didn't want to get anywhere near it. Now that I found out what I was doing wrong to post pictures, my computer won't read my SD Card. :( I nailed a bed sheet on my wall (up to the ceiling, down to the floor so that it goes straight from the laundry room to the bathroom...I took the screen out and opened the window, so the bird could fly right out...but I think the bird got scared and is now in our ceiling. Sorry this post is so long...it was a traumatizing day for me. :)

Blog Question!!!

I have a question for someone who knows what they are doing on this "blogging stuff". In my Stampin' Up! blog when I post pictures they come up as html codes (or whatever you call them). In the actual blog is shows up as a picture, but I have to upload my pictures one at a time in order to put directions in between the pictures (otherwise I can't tell where one picture's code ends and the other begins). Is there anything I can do to fix this? It takes so long to upload a tutorial when you have to do it one picture at a time. (Thank you in advance).

You know you're a woman when...

This afternoon I was watching Jon play Mario Kart when the boys said that they were hungry. I started to make them Ramen Noodles (one of their favorites...and one of mine 'cause it's real easy). I put the water on to boil and went back to watch Jon. Not long after Jon turns around and starts yelling "FIRE!" I thought he was just being a dork until he jumped up and went sliding through the kitchen (socks don't make for good traction). Thankfully we had recently purchased a fire extinguisher for the kitchen. "You know you're a woman when..." as soon as the threat of danger is over my first thought was "Oh, man, I JUST cleaned this!" I had just cleaned the stove yesterday, and MAN do those fire extinguishers make a mess (but, thankfully, they do the job).

I had the slow cooker on the stove cooking dinner (thankfully that didn't get ruined) and when Jon extinguished the fire it got up under the lid and into our soup...that's 2 for 2, I'm never making soup in the slow cooker again (the first time I ruined it because I didn't know you were supposed to soak the beans....ooops).

Then, we had to open all the windows (in the middle of a Wyoming winter) and turn the fan on so that we could breath.

So I managed to ruin lunch, dinner, my clean kitchen, our air quality, and my favorite pan all in about 2 min. That's got to be a record. On the plus side it could have been WAY worse. My nose was stuffed so I wasn't able to smell the smoke, thankfully Jon was home so it didn't burn down our house, or worse.

Stampin' Up!

Just thought I'd leave a quick note letting anyone who's interested know about my other blog

stampin123.blogspot.com

It's going to have updates about Stampin' Up! promotions, as well as ideas for cards, scrapbook pages and other things similar to that. And if you are ever interested in purchasing any Stampin' Up! products feel free to visit my new Stampin' Up! Website:

karenegeland.stampinup.net

SLACKER!

Sorry, I've been so busy...well, busy at first, and then just trying to find my brain after that. ;) I don't remember if I wrote about the Christmas concert...if I did, sorry, you can skip this part. I was the pianist for the ward Choir this year. (After not having a piano for the last 4 1/2 years...it had been about that long since I'd even played on a piano...so needless to say I was a little out of practice). Then they throw some Sally DeFord music at me (anyone who plays the piano will sympathize with me). We did "While Shepherds watched their flocks by night" (go look it up on defordmusic.com - seriously, I was like "AHHHHHHHH!") It was hard enough to begin with and when I finally started feeling like "yeah, I can do this"...she changes to 4 sharps...I just started laughing...you know, one of those..."yeah, this is NEVER going to happen" laughs. We did "Still, Still, Still" (I had never heard that song before, but I liked it). "Joseph (I was not His Father)" (from "The Forgotten Carols) - I LOVE that song. A really beautiful arrangement of "Silent Night" (go check it out at www.marknewmanmusic.com). Then a week before the program (as I'm fighting a losing battle not to lose my mind) I find out that they were expecting me to play the piano for their music as well. It all turned out well though. I'm glad that Heavenly Father doesn't get tired of listening to His children though. For about a month I felt like I was doing that thing that my kids do...the "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom...." until you're just like "WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?" I had been so nervous the first time I played for the choir, my hands were shaking and sweating. It's REALLY hard to play the piano like that. This time I was a nervous wreck before the program. But during the program I was surprisingly calm. I'm glad that Heavenly Father listens to things that are important to you at the time, but in all reality are of little consequence.

Then Christmas with the family. It was so GREAT! (Of course it didn't last anywhere NEAR long enough). Which reminds me. Ranee' tell DJ I still want a copy of that song he wrote alright? That's your job for today. :) It never ceases to amaze me how year after year after year people can get us the perfect gifts. Especially loved the gifts from my Grandparents. Home-made Apple Sauce and Salsa and bags of Potato Pearls (don't know who invented those, but they should get a prize of some sort) and kitchen utensils. And Grandma took the money that she would have spent on our presents and gave it to (sorry, I don't know the name of the charity) a charity that uses it to buy goats and chickens and other things that people need (really need...not need like we need a new computer or phone or whatever). What better gift than that? A gift that shows the true meaning of Christmas and there are no flashing lights and ringing bells and batteries to replace. If you really think about it...name the presents that you got from 5 different people...any 5. Chances are you can't.

And I just wanted to share a few of the thoughts that I heard today.

Resolutions...have you made any? (And don't give that lame excuse "I don't make them because I never keep them") write them down. I saw a cute idea of someone scrapbooking their resolutions. First page, they make a list of 10 resolutions (or you could do more or less depending on how motivated you are) then take a picture of you completing that resolution then journal it.

You can see evil all around us, turn on the news...it there...go almost anywhere...it's there. All it takes is to open the pages of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Ensign, the Friend, or the New Era to remind us that we are here for a purpose.

Every night before you go to bed write how you've seen the Lord's hand in your life today.

This touched me. There was a brother who stood up to bear his testimony today...the only problem was he only speaks Spanish and most of the ward only speaks English. He got up to the microphone and stated that he needed help (that's all I understood). Then another brother from our ward started to translate for him (even though he had not done any type of translation in the last 15 years or so). The first brother wanted his testimony to be understood, so the other brother wanted to help. I thought it was sweet.

And my favorite thing that I heard today, was actually from a young woman (in her teens). She said that she noticed as she walked around the school that people weren't happy. And when you look at the people that are...they are the ones that KNOW. They know why they are here, who they are and where they are going. Then she said (and I quote)

"THERE'S NO EXCUSE NOT TO BE HAPPY"

Company Party

We didn't think that we were going to get to go to our company party since they had decided to put the Ward Christmas party on the same day...although we didn't find out about it until after we had RSVP'd to the company party. Since all the people we know are either in our ward or at Jon's work...we didn't know if we could find a babysitter. Many thanks to Heidi who took the boys to the party and then to her house until the middle of the night :) Disclaimer: the events are going to be in chronological order...I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything.

We got to the party late but it was alright Nannett saved us a seat (Yeah again! I HATE sitting by people from Jon's work that I don't know and don't have anything to talk about), so I was very glad to see her and her hubby there with a bunch of their friends. We started off with crab legs (I don't think I've ever had REAL ones before...they were very fishy, but good) and then I got brave enough to eat an oyster...it was interesting. I was getting a little worried that my mouth wasn't going to let me swallow it though, it was quite slimy." :P Then not long after we started eating the salad someone started yelling "Who has a phone?!?!?! Someone get a phone!!! Find a phone!!!!" So (obviously) we turned around to see what the problem was. Apparently a guy at the table next to us (She was yelling he's choking...I don't know if he had a heart attack? Maybe a stoke? And they just thought for a minute that he was choking) almost died (he actually might have for a minute, I don't know) but he was VERY white and not responding. Thankfully Jon's company employs people who are also trained EMS/Nurses...one of whom was sitting at our table, so they were able to get there immediately. The paramedics were still called and took him to the hospital. They started losing his pulse again. I felt very sorry for his wife who was sitting next to him. I said a silent prayer for the both of them. Then (seeing as how I'm related to my Mom and sudden adrenaline rushes make me break out in hives) I broke out in hives...just after I ate some crab and the oyster so everyone thought that I was allergic to seafood. Jon kept asking me if my throat was closing off. He kept watching me even after I explained to him that it was just the adrenaline...he's cute that way.

Then we finished our meal of prime rib (real tasty, you could have cut it with a butter knife it was so tender). Then a dessert that was delicious! But so rich that even I couldn't finish it. They had a Wii tournament that Jon entered. They did the Mario Kart racing and the Wii Sports shooting. Jon won (yeah, maybe a little pride in that sentence) lol. He won a Wii, some controllers and the Wii Sports game. (So I guess the money we had to pay to go there was worth it. Then we went to get our VERY tired boys who slept WONDERFULLY all night long. :)

Topher Says

Jon was sick today, so he stayed home. I have to play for choir, so I had to take Topher with me. I started playing the introduction of a song and I was almost to the part where the song starts when Topher looks at the choir in a loud voice says "HEY! YOU GUYS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SINGING!" Everyone was laughing so hard that they couldn't come in when they were supposed to so we had to start over. lol :)

And in order to convince Topher that I needed to play by myself, without his help, I had told him that I need to play so that the choir knows what they are supposed to sing. A part in one of our songs is a capella. When we got to that part Chris (in a panic-y voice) says "Mom, you have to play the piano, they won't know what to sing."