Bon Voyage

We are leaving to go to England in just over 24 hours. Sally says that means I can start a count down. We will spend 4 days hunting family history sites (ok so mostly grubbing in cemetaries). I'm excited we will be staying in this quaint, cute, little place: http://www.hawkchurch.com/. Well, providing that we can find it. The directions on Yahoo maps included: "turn onto local road". Which local road is what I'd like to know!!! This will also only occur providing that one or both of us figures out how to drive our super fabulous rental car:



Then we will be staying on a house boat for a week.
http://www.canaltimeunionwharf.com/

And then the last 4 days in London. Complete with tickets to see Midsummer Nights Dream and Merry Wives of Windor at the Globe Theater.

Tag, I'm It!

My friend, Charlotte, tagged me to write 6 unspectacular (otherwise known as quirky) personal qualities about myself. Here the tag rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

(I think she only did this because she is looking for a good laugh and she knows that I am border line crazy.)

1. I love cemetaries. Especially really old ones. I go on vacations just to visit cemetaries. I visit cemetaries when I don't even have relatives buried there. I spent an entire morning at the cemetary in Venice last year (I took at least 50 photo's of masoleums/headstones). What can I say, I love cemetaries. I'm on my way to England on Friday. We will spend the first 4 days doing almost nothing but Stonehenge and cemetaries. Heaven.

2. I adore buying shoes. I have alot. Sometimes I buy super fabulous shoes that aren't my size.

3. Curiosity killed the cat was a written about me. I once bought a "bucket of dirt" on ebay "guaranteed" to have "genuine" Australian Opals in it. (I didn't really expect to get opals, I just wanted to see if they would really mail me a bucket of dirt...sadly, no. Just a ziplock bag with about 4 or 5 dirty rocks in it.) Who knows, it could have been treasure.

4. When I was a child, I convinced my nephew and my little sister that we should dig a swimming pool in the back yard because my dad wouldn't get a real one installed. I don't even like to swim. (This was a very BAD idea...the parentals did NOT approve.)

5. My mom made my sister and I dolls (Raggedy Ann & Andy) for Christmas a few years ago. Now when we go home to visit, we both bring the dolls with us and make her "tend" them. She is also required to buy them Christmas presents so she doesn't hurt her "grandchildren's" feelings.

6. When I used to have to travel with my old boss (she is now retired), I would volunteer to book our plane tickets. Then I book our seats on completely opposite ends of the plane and let her think they were the only seats available. This is simply because she ALWAYS wanted to talk about work. I like to read on planes. And not about work.

Do we have to stop? This is really fun. And I could make a really, really, really long list.

Now for the tagging part...since 2 of the 4 people I know with blogs were either a) the person who tagged me or b) tagged by the person who tagged me. I will only be tagging 3 people - Erin, Corinne & Lisa J. (if she has a blog, not really sure).

Marriage Proposal

So last night at a neighborhood block party I was hosting, I got a marriage proposal. I will add this to my list of proposals. (By far it is my favorite so far!)

I have a friend in my ward named Caleb. Caleb and I sit next to each other in Sacrament Meeting most Sundays and cuddle. He likes to share my pashmina (fancy name for shawl). He thinks it's a "blankie". He likes to play with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus finger puppets in my bag and he thinks I have bring good snacks for him. Sometimes he lounges in my lap. Caleb is about 4 years old.

Last night his dad found me at the block party and asked if I had seen Caleb yet. I said no. He then started laughing and told me that Caleb was going to ask me to marry him. Apparently on the walk over to my house, Caleb wanted to know where they were going. When the parents told him to my house, he was very excited. Then he said to his dad, "She doesn't have a husband right?" (we've had this conversation at least twice...he's very concerned that I don't have a husband and/or children.) His dad answered that he was correct. Then he announced, "well, I'm going to ask her to marry me. I mean if I don't do it who is going to?"

Sure enough, a little while later, here comes Caleb. And sure enough, he asked me to marry him. I told him he needed to get all grown up and then if he still wanted to marry me, he could ask me again. To which he replied, "Ok." and went back to playing with his friends.

Priceless.

And really, why wouldn't that be my favorite proposal...the other two were a) a drunk man at the restaurant where I wait tables and b) a guy in the laundry mat in Logan who had a "vision" when I walked in that we were "supposed" to get married. I really don't know why I haven't said yes.

Wayland Weekend

My neice, Erin, and her family came to my house last weekend to visit. She brought her husband, Nathan, and the cutest little boys ever! (C.J. age 6, Ethan age 4 and Ben age 1) My sister, Sally and I took them to the zoo and then we had fun at my tiny, tiny little house. Check out the pictures.

C.J. - Erin - Ethan

Sally created a game for the boys to play at the zoo. Each of them had a notebook and when we saw the animals that were written in the notebook, they got to put a sticker in the book. Sally found these really cool, puffy, glitter stickers. The boys loved it. We kept having to add more animals to the notebooks, because the boys kept needing more!!


C.J. on the Carousel.


Sally, Ben, C.J. Ethan, Erin


CJ, Lyn, Ethan spotting some monkeys.

Sally & Ethan on the Carousel.


CJ & Lyn


The Wayland Family with the Giraffes.
Ethan, CJ, Erin, Ben & Nathan


Ben loved the bird show. He kept clapping and clapping everytime they brought out a new bird.

Inevitable

After taking my mother on a 4 day roadtrip, I even more firmly believe that it is INEVITABLE that I will be crazy someday. Hopefully, far away in the future. But I'm afraid it's closer than I think.

While on said roadtrip, we had a great time tracking down some pioneer trail sites and going to a show in Jackson Hole.

However, on the last day of the trip I awoke to the following conversation:

Mom: "Did you use the bathroom last night?" (very accusatory tone of voice)

Me: "Yes" (somewhat confused)

Mom: "Why did you change the toilet paper roll around?" (again very accusatory)

Me: "What do you mean, change the toiler paper roll?" (There were 2 brand new rolls in the bathroom the night before upon check in. I thought it was strange that we would need to change the roll. I knew I hadn't used that much toilet paper.

Mom: "Well, somebody went in the bathroom last night and put the toilet paper on 'backwards' and left it so that when I went to the bathroom it all fell off the roll and puddled up on the floor."

And since apparently it couldn't have been the maids who clean the room who "put the roll on backwards"...it was obviously me who had time to do that in the middle of the night!!

When Did I Become An Accountant?

It has been incredibly busy at work. My boss and I have been working on our budget for next year. This the first time that we have done the budget by ourselves without the assistance of two former employees (who did alot of the work before). And we did it in 3 1/2 weeks instead of the normal 8 weeks that it usually takes. In addition we are moving to new offices. So it has been a bit frantice over the last month. The question I keep asking myself each day is:
1. When did I get a degree in accounting because I think I would have remembered that.
2. Did someone really put ME to work on a $6 million budget? I mean Sally had to drag (and I mean that literally) thru math in High School and College...so whose bright idea was this.
3. I really don't get paid enough to do math.

So to all those accountants out there, (I seem to know quite a few when I stop and think about it). Please come and take your job back...I don't want it.

The Little Farmer Inside of Me

So any of you who know me well, know that while I grew up on a farm I have spent the last 16+ years trying to suppress the part of me that is fascinated by watching things grow. The farmer wants to grub in the dirt, which then gets under the finger nails and ruins my manicure. Again the dirt ruins my pedicure...not to mention what dad would have to say about my gardening footwear...seriously, he would not approve of reefs and shovels in the same patch of dirt. Speaking of shovels, they make my back muscles hurt. But I could no longer suppress the fascination with watching things grow. (Even though it seems that I am now committed to a rather extensive watering process every day.) Now that I've finally given into the impulse it seems that I have unleashed a MONSTER.

I really am convinced that while I know the DEFINITION of the word MODERATION...I really have no concept of how to IMPLEMENT it into my life. I may need to work on that at some point.

All of this leads up to the fact that I planted a garden. You would think that a single person who lives alone would plant, I don't know two maybe three tomato plants or something, but not me.

I'm the proud owner of:
- lettuce
- spinach
- cilantro ( 3 bushes )
- basil (currently 3 plants and probably up to about 8 by the end of the week)
- rosemary
- lemon tyme
- dill
- radishes
- peppers ( 3 bell / 1 lemon something or other)

and last but not least

-tomato plants (9 of them to be exact)

What exactly do you think I'm going to do with the tomatoes from 9 tomato plants? I'm afraid I'm going to be that crazy garden lady at church looking for cars that are unlocked so she can put a sack of tomotoes in for the people when they come out of the church. My only consolation is that, so far, I've been able to resist the urge to plant zucchini. Heaven only knows THAT would get out of control in a real hurry.

No So Charming Restaurant Experience

So the last restaurant experience was labeled as "Charming". This one...not so much. Tonight an old man I have never seen before peeked his head into the kitchen and yelled, "Where's the can?"

Seriously, we all just kind of looked at each other. I finally asked, "you mean the bathroom?" Sure enough that's what he needed. So classy.

Ten Random Things About Me

I have some friends who did this on their blog and it looked kind of fun so I decided to try it.

1-vacation planned this year (I know it's shocking that it's only one-but I'm always open to suggestions-*wink*)
2-new nativities (I mean "Christmas Pictures") added to my collection last Christmas.
3-months until my trip to England.
4-styles of drinking glasses in my cupboard.
5-pillows I sleep with in my bed.
6-months to my 35th birth month.
7-more shifts at the restaurant in May.
8-great neices and nephews
9-months since I purchase a new pair of shoes. (once again I know it's shocking but try to contain yourself.)
10-weeks until the new Twilight book is released for sale.

Restaurant

So I have this part time job at a little mom & pop restaurant here in Salt Lake. I got the job to help pay for my trip to Kenya. That was AFTER Sally and I decided on the spur of the moment to go to Venice for a week...and we all know that Sally and I are required to pay a fee to get OFF the island of Burano...But what are you going to do when you have a condo in Venice for the week and all you have to buy is your plane ticket-and pay the fee to get off Burano. So to replace the money I started working 3 nights a week at this restaurant. I quit about 2 days before we left to go to Kenya.

Well, when I got back from Kenya I didn't really want to be on the schedule regularly, but I keep filing in for people. (I like to say and think it's because I'm nice, but really I can't walk away from the money. I mean really...$20 an hour on average, I choose when I work, I don't work if I don't want too and it's only a few hours at a time. I mean really, you can't beat that with a stick!)

Last night I thought I would die laughing. This little old man who comes to eat about 3 times a week (and always has the same thing) came in. He got a table with a new waitress (she's been there a couple of months). But she doesn't usually work on nights when he comes in. So when she asked him what he wanted to eat, he couldn't remember what he orders. He said it's been so long since he actually ordered he couldn't remember. Then he told her "Well, d--- it somebody back there has to know what I like!" Then the waitress found me to ask me what he wanted, I told her and then walked into the dining room. When the old man saw me he said, "Oh, good...you know what I like." It was sooo funny!!!

Elephants

My nephew was learning about elephants in school this week. He is 10 years old. For one of his assignments, he had to answer the question..."Where do elephants live?" His answer was Asia, Africa and Kenya. He insisted on listing Kenya because he has seen them on my safari. Then he proceeded to tell his teacher that she was wrong, Kenya is NOT part of Africa, because his Aunt had been there and had showed him the pictures of the elephants. So cute!!

World Record Holders

Emily Mickelson and I officially hold the world record for the most smoothies. Last night we had 7 smoothie makers lined up in the kitchen at the church and we made smoothies for 120+ people. I think that's pretty impressive.

P.S. I believe that I am also part of the team that holds the record for the most people on an inner tube, floating in a swimming pool...how many was that??? I keep thinking somewhere in the low 20's and then I think...Is that even possible? But as a true McKnight, I think we will call it 22 people. Erin - Didn't you document with pictures? I only want to see them if it proves me right that we had 22 people. ;0)

My Pet Giraffe

Tonight I was sitting here talking to my 10 year old neice Brandy. She asked me what kind of pet I liked. I told her that I don't really like any pets. She then asked what kind of animals I liked. I told her I like giraffes and elephants. She told me that maybe I could get a pet giraffe. To which statement I asked where would I put a pet giraffe...her reply was truly unique. She thought for a moment and said, "well, if you had a really tall chimney...". I thought my sister Sally and I were going to die lauging! Talk about funny.

Top Ten Reasons I Might Be Getting Old

The top ten reasons I think I might be getting old. In no particular order. I mean seriously, if you don't have kids why do you have to get old?

1. It's Friday night. I'm surfing online at 9:30 and waiting until it gets to be "late enough to go to bed." Which at this point is 10:00 p.m. or maybe 9:45 if I finish this blog by then.

2. I turned down an offer to go watch movies with friends tonight because they weren't starting until 8:30 p.m.

3. I thought the friends lived too "far" away. West Jordan. But upon further reflection I hope this is a continuation of being a "Sugarhouse Snob" NOT because I am old.

4. I've had 6 Dr. visits since January and two more in the next two weeks. (I'm hoping that since I had surgery in mid-February, this counts as "post op" and not old age.)

5. I bought TWO season tickets to the opera this year and am contemplating getting them for the symphony.

6. I'm spring cleaning my house. Which includes washing walls and the consideration of a carpet cleaner.

7. I carry a bag to church and I don't have any Sunday callings or "children or tids or titty tats". For those of you non-conversant in "baby daniel" that is "children, kids or kitty cats".

8. I have more great-neices and great-nephews that most of my friends have neices and nephews. (A total of 8 if Corinne would get a move on.)

9. I watch the news (for the weather report) more than any other tv program.

10. I have "doillies" (or some other form of linen stuff) on 2 of the 3 pieces of furniture in my living room. Not to mention the linen table cloth on the wall in the living room, the framed baby bib my grandma crocheted in my living room, the large red doillie on the in the dining room or the framed lace my grandma made in my office at work.

I've Been Tagged

Charlotte tagged me (and it made me laugh out loud). You were right Char, it IS right up my alley. In fact I read about it first on Heidi's blog and thought to my self, "Self, I hope Charlotte tags you because this could be fun." So here it goes...

This is what you do.

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

I've been planning a trip to London this fall, so the nearest book is "Frommer's London 2008" (with fold out map).

The fifth sentence on page 123 of this book reads:

"Live out your fantasy: Choose an ancient Egyptian funeral barge or a 16th-century Venetian boudoir."

While it has nothing to do with Charlotte's non-existent cat's intestine or Heidi's mating flies, I do think it may be very appropriate for me. Plus, I really think I would enjoy staying in someone's 16th century Venetian boudoir...not so much for the funeral barge...I did have all those nightmares after we went to see "The Mummy."

For those of you with the curiosity of a cat (like me), the sentence above is describing the Blake's Hotel in South Kensington. Categorized as "VERY EXPENSIVE" by Frommers. But they do provide robes in the bathroom. I mean who wouldn't pay extra for that.

Since I think there are only 4 people who read my blog (Charlotte being one of them), I'm tagging Corinne & Erin. (Heidi, since you liked the tag so much you can consider yourself tagged and you can do it again if you want!)

P.S. Heidi if you are reading...do anything but spend a week in Gulf Shores, AL. All I have to say is it might make the infamous road trip to the Grand Canyon look like a really good time. My friend from Texas calls it the "Redneck Riviera." After visiting, I have to admit, I agree.

Technology Junkie

I don't know about any of you, but I am definitely a technology junkie. I LOVE new toys. For several months I've been wanting to upgrade my cell phone. My nephew called on Friday and wanted to know if I had an extra phone because his was broken and he wasn't eligible for an upgrade for several months. I decided that was as good of an excuse as any, so I went to the Verizon store on Saturday and got a Blackberry. Which is super cool. And red. And really pretty.

So Saturday night (keep in mind it was brand new), the phone keeps beeping ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously about every hour or so it is beeping at me. I can't figure out why and I can't figure out how to turn it off. Eventually I realized that it beeps everytime I get a new email. Which is fine expect for the junk mail that comes apparently all of it between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. I seriously have got to figure out how to turn that alert off. Hopefully soon.

My Funeral

While at a family funeral today, I decided that when I die, I don't want to have any flowers on my casket. I want to have all my shoes lined up on top of the casket.

Indiana Jones

In Sacrament Meeting today, one of the talks that was given spent 5-10 minutes of the talk recounting the last 30 minutes of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. Quite frankly I can't even remember what the woman was talking about, once she started in on Indiana Jones I was just trying not to make eye contact with anyone sitting near me. Really all I can say is "Wow!"

Winter White

This week I did one of the most impractical things I have done for a really, really long time. To preface, I had a very LONG week. Filled with a ton of meetings at work, my boss coming to town, more meetings, and the president of the company coming to town. Wednesday was the day filled with the most meetings and was the longest of several long days. I knew that I would need to wear a suit. I also knew that my only pair of decent looking black dress pants (much to cold for a skirt) were linen (speaking of much too cold)! Not to mention that the only pair of heels I own that are 16 hours heals are olive green (also a very impulsive and impractical purchase from several years ago). Note: For those of you unfamiliar with the process...all the shoes in my closet are rated based on the # of hours I can wear them without having to change. Now, based on the fact that the heels I wanted to wear were olive green meant that I had to wear my black suit...otherwise, they REALLY wouldn't match. So in the interest of looking professional for my all day meeting schedule Wednesday and not having to limp home in my heels, I went shopping Tuesday night.

This is where the impracticallity comes into play. As I was shopping, I found a perfectly acceptable pair of lined black dress pants. The only problem being that they were about an inch too long (all my dress pants are hemmed to go with heels approximatly 2 1/2" tall). Because in a perfect world I would be 5'7 1/2 " tall instead of my actual height. In order for these pants to work, I would have to wear the 3 1/2" black heels which I KNEW are not 16 hours shoes from past miserable experiences involving running thru an airport. And I also knew that there was no way I was going to take them (the pants not the shoes) home and hem them. So I pressed onward.

The next store I went too had several options for purchasing black pants. As I gathered them all up for a trip to the dressing rooms, I walked past a rack in the back of the store that had "winter white" dress pants...on sale no less. On impulse I grabbed a pair and continued into the dressing room. I'm sure most of you have figured out what happened next...I fell in love. Of course, I went home WITHOUT the practical black dress pants that would have matched 8 of the 10 suit jackets I have in my closet. And of course, I went home WITH the "winter white" pants that match 1 of the suit jackets in my closet...red wool.

This brings us to Wednesday morning. Where I wake up, get dressed for the day (including 1 pair of red heels on my feet and another in my hands because both of them are 6-7 hours shoes and I figured if it really went 16 hours I had some red flats in the car). I opened my front door and what do I find but a brand new snow storm. So now the dilema is how to get to the car without ruining the brand new "winter white" pants. Next to the door is a pair of rubber boots in a lovely cheetah print. Incidentally, another rather impractical purchase which makes me want to "roar" every time I wear them. Now I am walking out the front door wearing the cheetah boots, roaring under my breath, packing 2 pairs of red heels and did I mention that the only way to save the cuffs of the "winter white" pants was to tuck them into the cheetah boots? In order to keep a really acurate visual, remember that I am wearing a suit at this point.

You may think that was the end of the story, but really those of you who know me well will understand that could not possibly be the end. After a long day of meetings, I am now in a hurry to leave the office and get downtown to another meeting. The Board of Directors I work with has been in the office most of the day at the meeting and we are all rushing downtown. I thought all the board members were on their way and I was the only one left to leave the office. So I once again put on the cheetah boots (ROAR!) and tucked in the pant legs, grabbed the red heels in my hands (pair #2 having been left in the car) and headed outside....where I ran into the President of the Board coming back into the building for something he had forgotten.

At least I wasn't "roaring" out loud.

The Relative Game

You may be asking yourself why I would post this incredibly amusing picture on my blog. And I agree that's a very noteworthy question...A good friend of mine, sent me an email today with this picture that in her words "might solve all Mick's problems."

Now the game!

We play this really, really, extremely quirky game in our family...called "The Relative Game". It started out on the night before a family wedding...I can't even remember who was getting married, but JoAnn, Mick and I were talking about the fact that the person marrying our family didn't really know what they were getting into...I mean really had they met "Aunt Cackle" and various others? Then JoAnn and I started comparing relatives against Mick's and the game was born.

Basically, the rules are:

1. The person with the weirdest relatives wins (or looses...depends on your perspective.)

2. You HAVE to claim even the most obscure relatives who may in any way be "loosely" related to your side of the family. And when we say "loosely" we mean loosely. IE. Mick has to claim his sister in laws, grandmothers, long lost son AND a lady we know from home who used to live in his parent's ward...you get the idea.

So now we play this game fairly often. Always when we are having a family wedding and various other times, just because we can...not to mention that it TOTALLY amuses us.

(BTW...Mick usually looses the game, well, unless Ernie is playing. She has the BEST trumps.)

New Year's Eve Extravaganza

You may THINK that extravaganza is quite a strong word to use to describe a New Year's Eve party...but if you do, you have never attended our party. This year was kind of small...only 45-50 people came. But we had fondue like always...2 kinds of meat, 3 kinds of cheese, pizza fondue, 2 kinds of carmel and of course, chocolate. It's always tons of fun with tons and tons of old and new friends, games, noise, fire works, etc.

Once again proving that I am a very cool Aunt. I may have taken the children toilet papering after the party was mostly breaking up. Hey, they needed an adult so they didn't get in trouble for breaking curfew. ;O)

Today it was back to work. That was not very amusing. But it is a necessary evil. If I'm going to travel and play somebody has to work to pay for it. And apparently that somebody is me. Happy New Year to all of you.