Two interesting things

A sad thing

While driving home last night, we listened to a radio piece on NPR about hate crimes against people who have stickers on their cars for Obama/Biden. We have a magnet on our car. It was a sad choice for us to remove our magnet to insure our safety. We decided not to put our opinion literally on the street, but to keep it in our conversation, on our blog and in our vote. Isn't that sad? Since we have double jeopardy being a mixed race couple and having the magnet, it was a hard choice, but one we took seriously.

On a lighter note.

Today, I stopped by the UPS Store to pick up a package and I was so excited, not knowing what it was. It had "Longaberger" stamped on the outside of the box. I thought, "Someone bought me a basket. How great." I couldn't think who it was or why they would be buying me a Longaberger basket -- no birthdays, no holidays, hmmmmmm. I threw it in the car unopened because I was going to be late for work. At a stop light, the curiosity got to me an I opened the box.

Bummer, it was a life jacket for our DOG. The Doggy Store had used a Longaberger box to ship it. Pooh.

Kewl Little Giveaway

Here is a great contest by a really good photographer, see if you can enter and win. Go see some of her kewl pictures.

Columbus Day Weekend

Squirrel hunting—two words I never thought would come out of my mouth in reference to my weekend activities, but there you go, I said it. Friday, we drove up to Springerville, Arizona to stay in my Mom’s house before she had it winterized. Tarzan went with his new sidekick Toy—“Me hunt squirrel” I asked if he was going to hunt “moose and squirrel” with the appropriate Russian accent—he didn’t think it was funny. The wind blew, the rain fell and still Tarzan and sidekick hunted with dog in tow.

I slept in until 10:00 a.m. read my book, went to the drug store (Oh, if you are not from Springerville you can’t appreciate that comment—I went to the drug store—if you want to find something to spend your money on, they have it at Western Drug. They have everything you could ever want there from hunting paraphernalia to fabric, ribbons and patterns along with all the other drug store type stuff you would ever want. It is amazing.)

They shot 5 squirrel between them. Tarzan gutted, cleaned and prepared them for the freezer – showered and went to bed before the sun went down.

6:00 a.m. Sunday off they went again and got more squirrel (no moose). I watched old movies and read my book “The Fourth War.” I graded papers and napped. It was glorious. Monday we cleaned Mom’s house and washed our sheets and towels and came on home.

I commented on the way home that I wished every moment of my life would feel just like I felt at that moment. Relaxed, no worries, not thinking about politics or the economy, no worries about any of the sisters in our ward or my kids or grandkids…..sigh!

This Week’s Events

Lousy: Wrecked car 2 weeks ago
Good: Tarzan found a used Lexus that we could afford

Lousy: Someone threw large cement pavers through the double paned, tinted sliding glass doors at our rental property the day before the renters were to move in
Good: Insurance paid for it

Lousy: They stole all the light fixtures and ceiling fans we had ready to be installed.
Good: Insurance paid for it

Lousy: The renters in our other rental property had marital problems and changed their minds about renting from us
Good: They forfitted their deposit

Lousy: No renters
Good: New renters the next day for $100 more

Lousy: Tarzan put the first dent in the Lexus
Good: I still love him

Men and Their Toys

Have you ever been working with a man and had him freeze in his tracks because you asked him a question about something that he had not been thinking about?

Did he become incapable of working and sputter, “uh, uh” and get a little irritated?

Have you ever been working with a man, while he tried to get a piece of big-fancy equipment to work so he could blow out the leaves from the porch, and you got the broom and swept the area clean before he could get it going, and then he was disappointed that he didn’t get to use his blower?

Have you ever been working with a man, while he was trying to get a sprayer to work so he could spray an even layer of cleanser on the refrigerator you are cleaning up, and you got a bucket of water and a bottle of spray cleaner, and cleaned it before he could get his sprayer to work?

What is with guys and their need to have “the right tool do to the job?”

Good Things Happen To Me

It’s not very fun to write about the good stuff, but I have to say that good things have been coming my way. Here are a few of them.

• The doctor who charged me $50 for a no-show when my car wouldn’t start took the charge off my account
• I wrecked my car and have been driving a rental--the rental company gave me a free upgrade
• We found a wonderful painter who is not overcharging me
• We found a carpet layer who is great and did not overcharge us
• We found a laborer who is strong and grateful to have work so we can afford him as well
• We have rented all of our rental property
• I did not get a lung infection this time when I had my recent allergy attack
• The dog is housebroken
• We found a great place to buy appliances new and used
• I love the classes I am teaching
• My grandchildren e-mail me every day
• We have money in the bank
• Tarzan and I really like each other
• Direct TV gave me Showtime free for 3 months
• I find life solutions in the Book of Mormon
• I have lost 6 pounds

A fun hour

I saw this on Lindsey’s blog (she is my cousin’s daughter) and thought it would be a great way to spend an hour. And, since Lindsey was so kind as to share the instructions for how to create this gem, I thought I would follow suit. Now you too can make a photo mosaic all about YOU!

How to:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an imagen (I browsed, lots of pictures not just the first page).
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
d. Copy the mosaic image (right click, save image as -- or just drag image to desktop) to your computer.
e. Upload image to blog and voila!

Here are the questions:
1. What is your first name? Sandi
2. What is your favorite food? Tacos
3. What high school did you go to? St. Johns
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Brad Pitt (lame, I know)
6. Favorite drink? Virgin Margarita
7. Dream vacation? Italy
8. Favorite dessert? Peach Cobbler
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Writer
10. What do you love most in life? Tarzan
11. One word to describe you? Excited
12. Where do you live? Arizona
(Credits: 1. Pencil Sandi, 2. Taco Bell Mascot Statue, 3. Basilica of St. John, Selcuk -Ephesus, 4. Gizmo, 5. Brad Pitt, leaving Venice, Italy with Angelina Jolie and their children, was in town to promote his new film, 6. If You Like Virgin Pina Coladas... (Day 58), 7. Positano, 8. I Have A Sweet Tooth!, 9. Fifteen accounts of life, death, and everything that interferes., 10. Ahora estoy leyendo, 11. Young At Heart, 12. Tse Bighanilini, 13. Spider of Darkness)