a fantasic watchless week

well, this post may not jive completely with its title, seeing as how i have much more than a week to catch up on. but i hope that you, the two or three friends or family members that read this blog, will forgive me for that. ill just run through some of the things that stand out to me from the last month. first off, and i know some of you (mike) are sick and tired of hearing me talk about running. but when i think back on the last month, well, of course my last half marathon comes to mind. usually i like to be superficial and meaningless on this blog. but i really learned something amazing. and its cheesier than every cliche and cheesy movie you have ever seen. but its true. and it was important for me. so ive been working hard training for this half. the other two i did this year were hard and fun, but i fell short of my goal both times which i really really hated. anywho, i had set some limits for myself in my mind and i was certain that there was no way i could do what i did. i didnt run super fast by any means. but i ran much faster than i thought i could for 13.1 miles, and totally demolished my goal time. people, do not put limits on yourself. its true. you really and truly never know what you might be able to do. yes, it seems silly, but it was an important moment for me. so theres that. i had a great thanksgiving with my roommate and her fam, which is a very eclectic collection of personalities i must say. i was thoroughly entertained and enjoyed myself with her kooky funny aunt and grandpa. december flew by fairly uneventfully...the usual fun old people stories, lost dentures in bras and the like. i won a toaster oven at our staff christmas party which was an historic moment for me. ive only won something that i really wanted one other time in my life- a limited edition yazoo single for being a member of EIS, or the Erasure Information Service. so that was pretty spectacular, and i did a good job avoiding the jealous looks from staff members that didnt win a big beautiful shiny toaster oven. we had insanely crazy weather up here (snow) which brought with it all sorts of excitement. i got to drive my roommate to work which was sorta fun. mostly cuz she freaked out every time i sped up faster than 15 miles an hour and yelled "are we sliding?!" or "is this ice?!?!" aaaahhhh roommate. we had a spectacular and well attended sweater party, with the most amazing egg nog ive ever tasted and lots of lovely sweaters. i lucked out with my christmas travels this year and made it out of pdx on one of the last flights before everything closed down. i wont bore you with details, but i almost got stranded in reno (thanks to my friends who kept me text entertained while i was sad and stressed about not getting to slc and advised me to put $20 on black while i was stuck in reno). anywho, i won over the nice lady at the southwest counter with my sweet vulnerability and she got me to slc. thank you lady. and she was so very patient too. i mean she was dealing with a lot of stressful things and annoying rude people and none of the things were her fault but she was so calm and nice the whole time. it made me feel good about people that are nice and can keep their cool always. it really makes life better. so i made it home, had a wonderful time with the fam. i got a freakin nintendo ds, which had never in my life crossed my mind and i didnt really know what it was, but turns out its pretty fun and awesome and thank you to my dear bro in law dan who wanted so badly to help choose a present for me this year (cuz usually he is left out of the equation when it comes to getting my presents) and did a fantastic job. ive never been a sudoku fan but lo and behold i really love it now that i have a cool fun little stylus to write with on my little screen. i got lots and lots of delicious candy, ate amazing homemade egg rolls, cinnamon twists, fudge. luckily there was a huge new gold's gym just down the street from my parents (not suprisingly, almost empty the three times i went. poky just doesnt strike me as a big gym going town) so i didnt go completely insane with inactivity. oh goodness what the crap am i going to do when i have kids and cant go to the gym all the time? i better freakin marry a really rich guy so i can have some decent workout equipment at home. oh and i actually really truly enjoyed driving in the very snow covered roads. i like a little slippage when there arent many cars around. oh yeah, church back home in vancouver got cancelled two weeks in a row cuz of crazy weather, but i got to go to church in utah so im pretty sure im more righteous than the rest of my ward right now. i wonder how long it will take them to catch back up. maybe never. hmmmm. the trip back to utah from poky was very scary, I 15 sucked, we almost slid into a flying J tanker that was sliding and fishtailing all over and i am not gonna go off on the ridiculous utah drivers that flew past us on the freeway in little tin can cars, cuz this is a happy blog. i had one last wonderful day with daney and dan and mason, the most adorable sweet one year old on the planet. i had to post a pic with him and his kissy lips. that boy likes kissing. oh my its precious. ya i just noticed i pretty much didnt take pics of anything but him. oh well. anywho, we had amazing sweet pork salads at costa vida and i must continue my search for a similar restaurant here in the couv cuz they are pretty much the most delicious food ever. my trip back to pdx was much less fraught with disaster than my journey to slc, and i was pleasantly surprised when i arrived at the airport by two wonderful people with cupcakes, chocolates and a balloon. (i was only gone for a WEEK! i love you people. i have the best friends ever) and then flowers and licorice from another friend a half hour later upon arriving home. honestly, it was almost a little bit more impressive than when i came home from my mission. but not quite, cuz you cant beat all the nieces and nephews with signs and balloons. sunday was business as usual, good meetings, etc. then sunday night, i realized i had not been wearing a watch over my whole blasted vacation and it was so wonderful, but monday....it would be time to put it back on and go back to real life. its always so bittersweet. its great to be home and have my stuff here and not be living out of a suitcase, and just be back to life. but also, i wasnt quite ready to go back to the daily grind. but thank goodness my daily is not too much of a grind. the old people always make me laugh, and it helped that i only had a 5 1/2 hour day. ya its a tough life. oh and my trip home makes me want to cut my hair so bad (thank you "what not to wear") cuz its so much more fun and easier. so heres a couple pics of hair id love to have but people wont let me have.

no outlet

while i was running tonight, i passed a dead end road that had a sign "no outlet" at the intersection. and i am amazed and a bit disgusted that this thought seriously crossed my mind: "i wonder if they put "no outlet" instead of "dead end" because they were offended at being called "dead" ends, like its offensive to them, the dead ends, or something". seriously??! seriously. thats the silly PC world we live in. and sometimes it really and truly annoys me.

the perfect storm......ish.

a gorgeous autumn evening in the northwest + awesome sleek new running tights + loud, incredible new music + a very emotional life situation + questions on my mind + lonely, unexplored suburban roads with lonely, beautiful mansions on them + pent up anger from someone smashing into my car in the parking lot + a solid chunk of uninteruppted time = a completely amazing run + passion for running outside reclaimed after 3 months of treadmill running + a good, bloody heel and bloody good hills + a very delicious and unexpected pina colada slurpee from a thoughtful friend

cheap skin

well first off, i have to give a shout out to blue and white square, cuz they assured me that if i took the time to post tonight, that it would be rewarded. so thanks, guys. i expect you to make good on your promises. so i havent too much to say except that i think i have cheap skin. im ok with it, i mean we all have our trials and blessings in life. there are some people that are blessed with gorgeous, smooth, olive skin that has never seen a sunburn or a zit (think nordstrom quality skin), and then there are those of us that have skin with three color options: white, red, and freckled, and which consistently breaks out in the same annoying spots over and over (think dollar store quality skin). im not complaining here, folks, cuz i know we are all God's creations and i feel very blessed just to have a healthy, able body. im just making some observations. my skin has gotten me by just fine in my 29 years and i really have come to terms with my freckles and im ok with them. but i have a new skin thing going on lately and i think its to teach me a lesson. i thought i just kept getting spider bites, since i live in the basement. but i was getting too many of these ridiculous annoying itchy spots all over and decided that since ive not seen a single spider in weeks, its unlikely that they are bug bites. so of course, i googled it, and it turns out i probably have some sort of skin condition or allergy thing. and ya know what, im gonna bet that its caused by gluten. i say that mostly cuz i secretly mock the girl at work who is super over the top about any kind of contaminants or unnaturalness in anything she consumes, of course gluten included. i mean, this girl seriously came to work with a different type of water container every day for a week cuz she heard different reports about all kinds of crap that is in whatever type of container she had brought the day before. anywho, i know that gluten allergy is real, but i just sorta thought she was being a little dramatic about it. so it would serve me right if i have my own stupid gluten thing going. and also cuz bread is my favorite. suck. so apparantely ill have to be choosing between delicious pastries and non itchy/bug bitey all the time skin. darn.

why i have been avoiding this

ok so mayyyyybe i feel a bit of pressure to update my blog since most of my friends have updated several times since my last post. but i thought that the length of my last post and inclusion of pictures would suffice for quite some time. but i find myself longing to post something. anything. so ill tell ya....ill tell ya somethin on a topic ive been avoiding all around-politics and the election. democracy is a beautiful thing but i cant freakin stand another retarded political ad. im not gonna go into specifics about what my beef is with these ads cuz itll just get me all worked up and angry then i wont be able to sleep, and im gonna reach my goal of being asleep by 1030 tonight, dangit!! anywho, im sick of it all and im sooooo over hearing politicians, cuz HONESTLY, does anyone really believe what they say!?! the freakin implementation of these 'plans' they create never goes as promised and im just fed up hearing silly, well thought out and powerful , yet insincere, speeches that mean nothing. . (this is why i avoid political discussions, cuz its the one thing thats guaranteed to make me negative. and i hate that) but i will say, i THOROUGHLY enjoyed some solid SNL making fun of politicians tonight. i like it when they make fun of both sides equally. cuz it makes me laugh and doesnt work me up into a cynical, annoyed, frustrated frenzy. it just makes me laugh. a lot. so thank you, SNL. and i truly cannot believe how much tina fey looks exactly like sarah palin.

calling in sick. ie: i have no excuse to not post today

so for the first 3 years i worked at good ol' CPCC (Cascade Park Care Center), I did not use one single sick day. not one. (refer to prior posts to see how long i had my last non sick streak, broken this year) it was mostly cuz im very healthy, but also because im the only speech therapist there and its near impossible to get an oncall speech therapist last minute and so basically my peeps dont get therapy and its just crappy. so i just never called in sick. but since we got another part timer, i can finally call in. which is lucky cuz i got horridly sick a few months ago. but its nice for days like today, when i have a pretty crappy cold, which would normally never keep me away from work (my philosophy was always, if i can manage to get up and walk around, im fine to go in to work). but since i know i have a backup, im calling in dang it, cuz im blowing my nose and hacking every 2 seconds and i just dont feel well. also, since i worked yesterday with this nasty cold and one of my patients said "ew you are sick. dont come in tomorrow, i dont want your germs". ya super nice of her. haha. no really its true. im learning that staying home is sooo not just about feeling icky, but not getting medically vulnerable people sicker. so im home. and figured itd be a good time to post. now, peeps SAID they want more pics, so....um..ok. i guess i will. so theres a pic of big ben there. i just had to put that up and pay homage to the good ol favorite caldwell childhood tune by roger miller (eng-uh-land swings like a pendulum do, bobbies on bicycles....yada yada..the tower, big ben....yada yada. if you dont know the song, look it up and listen. its a great one) anywho we flew to london and then had enough time to go do a quick tour of some sites before our train through the chunnel to paris (ya, that "tube" or subway thing sure is handy and quick) so we went to westminster abby, parliament, etc. it felt sufficient cuz those things are cool to see, but not things you just want to sit and stare at and reflect on life like in the alps or the national gallery. so i was ok that we did a quick tour, although was a teeny bit sad to not get to see buckingham palace. but i suppose it looks just like the pics. anywho, so we then took the train to paris which was pretty cool, although obviously you cant really tell you are under water. you are just in a tunnel. anywho, we went to paris, had a couple of days there including the louvre (see the pic. and in case yall didnt know, i really love self inflicted pictures. did i already post that somewhere? see i cant remember what ive put here, on facebook, or on my family website, so forgive me for not doing the research and possibly repeating myself) we also happened upon mass at notre dame which was pretty rad and i got some video but that felt funny. but i heard the bells of notre dame and yes its an absolutely incredible building and i enjoyed being there. my buddy and i wanted to see different things so i went to the rodin museum (an amazing museum with most of the sculptures outside in the gardens (including the thinker and other very intriguing works)), a very small and uncrowded monet gallery in a cool old house (which i absolutely loved. mostly for its out of the way, non crowdedness. i couldnt stand the huge crowds around the mona lisa and other paintings in the louvre, which is why i didnt spend much time there. i think its ridiculous, cuz they arent even that incredible. sorry, leonardo). anywho i just wandered around paris and enjoyed hearing the little tikes in the park speaking french. we then met up again to go to the eiffel tower at night which was truly awe inspiring and worth every minute of the wait. we decided to go to the top and i highly recommend it, but only in an off season. the ride up in that lift is pretty freakin rad and exhilerating as you see paris get bigger and smaller at the same time. its crazy. so it was a pretty amazing day. next morning, we flew to venice. i spent my birthday there and had an amazing time. and i must say i agree with rick steves-if theres one city where you dont try to "see the sites" but just wander around and get lost, its venice. call me crazy, but one of my favorite parts of our trip was getting up early and running around the cities (oh, we didnt actually stay in venice, but just outside it. so heres a pic of the cute street that i ran up in the morning) k i think this post is gonna get boring quick, so ill try to be a better summer upper. from venice we took a train to geneva, switzerland and stayed there a night, then took the train in to interlacken the next day. wow. indescribable, that train ride. thats when i fell in love with switzerland. we found an absolutely adorable little bed and breakfast in this cute little village and then train/bussed/cable carred around and enjoyed every single second of the pristine beauty. oh, i forgot to mention, in the geneva train station, i told my buddy i was just gonna go look at the watches cuz we had some time. ya, long story short, i sprinted up the stairs to the platform with my amazing new swiss military watch just as the train was pulling away, and my poor nice travel buddy whit was standing there with my stuff. luckily there was another train in an hour and guess who should ride on it with us, but the whole dang swiss military i swear. ya the train station was full of them and they freakin had their huge guns and everything. i couldnt get close enough to see what watches they were wearing though :) so switzerland was my favorite place on earth. period. oh, and yes due to some miscommunication, i missed the cable car back to our little village but a very nice swiss man gave me a ride back and thats a whole nother story. so the next morn, i had to fly out to london cuz i had a 5k tree-athalon (fun run) id registered for and tickets for wicked. so my buddy stayed in switzerland and i headed out. the 5k was the funnest ive ever done, met some great people, got my best time ever and loved it. wandered around london, LOVED the national gallery, watched the brits in trafalgar square and all the excitement there (amazing street performers, soccer kids, etc), got last minute tickets to "stomp" which was thoroughly enjoyable. and then, sadly, flew back to the states the next day, sunday. and was back at work monday morning. so that was the trip. and now my plan is to have at least 10 days just in switzerland and austria next year. so there ya go peeps. ps ill have you all know i did not NOT repeat an outfit and also did NOT check a bag (at whit's request, but im sooo glad i didnt, it worked much better, but id definately do a backpack next time as the rolly wheels of my carryon are annoying in train station booths, etc). so im a pretty expert packer, as you may ascertain from this experience. k thats all.

oh, and....

ok so apparantely the pics dont show up the same in the blog as when you post them....so ignore my "top left, top right" descriptions in that other post. i suppose you can just figure it out by looking at the pics. you are intelligent people.

pseudo "europe trip post", more to come

so for those of you who are dying to see pics from the trip (thanks for caring, dana and anne) i will post some quick ones here and then be more thorough later cuz im about to keel over from exhaustion right now. so heres one from each city- top left, murren, switzerland, where i absolutely want to live NOW!! so incredible, like a fairytale, then top right, london-trafalgar square, right by the national gallery, my fave part of london, where i saw incredible paintings including THE monet ive always wanted to see, and many others i didnt know i loved, then bottom left, eating pizza in venice, bottom right, me and whit (my travel buddy) when, after much research and an expensive cab ride, we arrived bright and early at the paris branch for church, and ummm...no one was there. not a soul. there was the plaque with the church name on it, and big huge locked doors. so either they all went inactive or changed the time without letting the website know. anywho, good times. ill post more later peeps, i promise. but it was the best vacation of my life, fyi. :)

three rad weekends in a row and facebook

ok frik i just gotta do this dang post. i wanted to wait till i had lots of time to make it good but that so is not happening so you'll all (the two or three people that may read this) have to settle for a substandard post. all in all, i had three totally awesome, fun, challenging, unique weekends in a row. and i joined facebook and i got 130 friends in less than a week. i love technology. anywho, so the 3 weeks ago, i got to drive to idaho for the big caldwell fam reunion in island park. got to spend lots of time with the whole fam, play H ball, a rad new game i learned on a pool table, and just enjoy the pristine environment. fairly uneventful, but thoroughly enjoyable. the following weekend was the portland to coast relay. ya that needs its own whole post. basically my team of 11 other ladies and i walked (speed walked, mind you, which can be more tiring and soreness inducing than i ever would have imagined) 127 miles from portland to the coast (umm, hence the name) in relay fashion. it was a huge event and super fun and our silly GPS system literally tried to guide us STRAIGHT OFF A CLIFF! seriously people, i know i just said i love technology, but come on GPS, dont try to kill us humans. it was very comical cuz it did not tell us to turn anywhere that there was actually a road even one time. it was always into the trees or something. ya. so im over GPS systems. (ya, of course it reminded me of the office episode where michael drives the rental into the lake. one of my fave office moments of ALL time) anywho, we successfully made it in 29 hours. so it was fun. then the next weekend i flew to SLC, and drove to poky for the half marathon there. that was fantastic, a great event and im getting better at not spilling powerade on the volunteers as i run by and grab and drink. then i got to go hang out with my sissy and nephy and bro in lawy and help them pack and eat all their food so they didnt have to pack it (its reasonale to have chicken and spaghetti and sandwiches for dinner right?) oh, i cant believe i forgot to mention how i got a free upgrade from a crappy little tin can car which i booked to a rad big nissan Xterra. ya its fun to be single and use my powers of flirtation to get cool stuff. ok so that never happens. i think he felt sorry for me cuz when the nice concierge girl asked if i wanted a bottle of water i responded with "yes, please, im starving!". ya. im retarded. i couldnt remember the word for really super extra thirsty and so thats what came out. anywho, that was my AWESOME weekend trilogy and i think i may keep the streak going cuz right now i gotta go pack cuz im flying to london tomorrow morn for a fun little european tour!! yay. k bye.

Wool Slippers and other marvels or "my fourth post"

so ever since my mission, where they dont have carpet, i am addicted to slippers. i love them and always wear them at home. and ive gone through many a pair in my day. but i have discovered the cadillac of the slipper world. wool slippers, and more specifically, Haflingers. oh my goodness. i was sceptical. see, i usually get those big compfy squishy slippers which are great for a while, but after a few washes, they get icky and flat and honestly my feet would always get too hot. but i still wore them. well, those of you slipper fans out there who have gone through the same trial, you need not suffer any more. it is amazing how wool makes for the PERFECT temperature foot. they are never hot or cold. and they are so comfy and sturdy and im truly in love. while im on the shoe topic, as far as flip flops go, ive got an incredible brown leather pair of flojos that i bought at hastings video in logan utah like four years ago (an impulse buy, dana and dan, that i have thanked myself for every single day!! so ha!) and they are still by far my favorites and look like new. i seriously wear them constantly in summer and they show no signs of breakin down anytime soon. so i highly recommend them. oh crap, i just somehow busted off the "0" button on my laptop and it now looks ridiculously white trash. crap ive had this laptop for like 6 years and hes my buddy. i cant bear to upgrade but i really dont know if i can tolerate looking at that big gaping icky naked button spot. i wonder if superglue would be bad. jeff, care to advise me? superglue is another one of those marvels i cant live without. it amazes me how it instantly just bonds things together. how do they engineer this stuff? and ive definately glued my fingers together more than several times. oh double frik, i just realized that the "0" button also houses the right parenthesy (how do you spell one parenthasie?) and i use it a lot. curses. when it was just the 0 it wasnt so bad, but parenthasee?!?! come on!!! well, thats all ive got for now.

The biggest longest funnest slip n slide ever. my buddy brian has a big ol house on lots of acres and a nice not so gentle slope and he made an amazing slip n slide last weekend. he even dug a huge hole in his backyard and made a big pool at the end. it was AWE-----SOME!

"Tag" or "my third post"

Rules1: Each player starts with 8 random habits/facts about themselves.2: People who are tagged need to write a post on their blog about their eight things and post these rules.3: At the end of the post you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.

1. i am very strongly opposed to chain letters/emails or anything even remotely resembling said entities. However, i must admit i enjoyed reading suzie's and dana's responses to the "tag", and since there was no mention made of any royalty in foreign countries or me receiving a part of their lost fortune in this little tagging game, i decided to give it a go. oh, and im sorry to friends and family who love chain letters and emails, but i only do the bare minimum when it comes to email responses. i have never, will never respond to or forward chain emails. thats just how i roll.

2. i am not much of a board or card game player (id rather just hang out and chat and laugh. sometimes playing games feels like a chore to me. and yes, i can get a little competative and annoying also) but i must say i LOVE the game of scrabble and yes, am a member of the online scrabble community (scrabulous.com), although i havent been able to play in months. theres nothing like when you first see that bingo just appear amongst your letters, and then when you find the absolute PERFECT spot on the board to play it. yes, nerd central, i know.

3. i really look forward to my 20 minute morning commute in to work every day. partly because of the delicious baggie of frozen fruit (sometimes peaches, mango, pineapple, all kinds of berries. i mix it up. how did i never know about frozen fruit before??!) and almonds i eat every single day while driving and cuz its mostly freeway and i can just look around at the beautiful trees and contemplate my life in vancouver, washington. k mostly its cuz of the fruit.

4. i am continually amazed by the power of music in my life and its effect on me. lately ive been investigating (who says that research stops when you finish grad school? im doing some serious experimenting here) the kinds of songs that overcome fatigue and give me that extra drive to keep peddling, running, lifting, pushing, whatever i am doing at the gym or on the road. (currently, the veronicas, some rob zombie, muse, pearl jam, hot chip and the ting tings are the front runners). however, i am also amazed at the incredible workings and little nuances of the human body and how seemingly minor things can really have a huge effect on performance.

5. i cant resist little notebooks. at this very moment a totally adorable little green notebook with an elastic around it is laying on my desk. so cute. so serene. did i have a purpose for it when i bought it? heck no. but i absolutely could NOT resist it.

6. i learned how to make the most amazing jumbalaya yesterday. it was de-freakin-licious. and i really really want to see if i can make a slightly healthier version, cuz truly, good fuel in makes a difference, but i just dont know if its gonna work out. cuz its rather perfect as is.

7. i am known at work for having a different hairstyle every day. yes i get sick of it and have to constantly change it up. i adore bobby pins. i mean, i LOVE them. i am currently sporting the "assymetrical" haircut. ya when i got back from getting it cut, i saw a coworker, and i said, "i decided to try the assymetrical thing" and she said "oh. thats cool. hey wait, one side is longer than the other!" so ive found since i had this cut that assymetrical is apparantely not a commonly understood term. anywho, today i actually pulled out the ol curling iron and had a grand time with it and a headband. yesterday i had "russian day" when i rat my bangs a little and pull em straight back and pin back the sides and wear big earrings and tight pants and i suck in all day. its awesome. ya. i love hair and id be lying if i said i hadnt seriously considered going to beauty school in my spare time and becoming a hairstylist. and yes, i actually researched the cost to put extensions in, all the way down my back. i was absolutely going to do it. but its 2 grand. so i think ill hold off on that one.

8. i never get sick. almost never. and im grateful for that blessing of good health, but come on! i never get to use my sick days at work cuz i cant bring myself to call in fake sick to work. i have used two sick days in my three years here (i broke like a 6 year non sick streak with that), and they dont continue accruing past 10 days! ya its very crappy. ya i know, by posting this im just asking for it. a big ol nasty virus of some sort. yikes. and this tag has officially taken me 4 different sessions over a week to complete. wow.
and ummm....guess im breaking the rules cuz i dont know enough bloggers to tag them. the few i know are the ones who tagged me. so sorry, guess this thing dies with me.

nursing home moments or my "second post"

so...having gotten the "first post" intro out of the way, theres a bit of pressure as to what topic to delve into for my "second post". well i have been "tagged" (apparentely this is some fun blogging game) by a person who will remain nameless. do not fret, nameless person, i will certainly address this "tagging" issue and post my 8 tidbits, but i just cant do it tonight. my eyes are burning like the dickens cuz i need to take my contacts out and i want to talk about my favorite little nursing home right now. so i just wanted to share a few of my favorite moments from work lately. one of my favorite ladies confirmed something i have always felt and didnt know how to put into words. she wheeled herself down to the beauty shop, which didnt open for another 45 minutes, and was just sitting outside waiting. i asked her if we could go work until it opened and she agreed but really wanted to be there when the beautician got there because "you just dont feel like a person until you get your hair done". it made me chuckle and quite frankly i have to agree. then as we began working and reviewing some things from prior sessions, (ie: her injury- a fractured tailbone, etc) she says "dont break your butt. its terrible". good to know. the other day i was walkin past a lady and saw an hilarious interaction. she was just sitting at her door, watching people go by. totally content. then a worker stops and asks her why shes not wearing her oxygen. she states plainly, of course, that the "cord is too short and doesnt reach....and i want to watch the people go by". THIS WOMAN CHOOSES PEOPLE WATCHING OVER OXYGEN!! ok so if that doesnt make you wanna go visit and cheer up some old folks, well,...you are a horrible person. hahaha. today, the crowning moment was the visit from the llama. oh yes my friends, a llama. Rojo the llama actually. best behaved llama ive ever encountered. he just walked around the circle where all the folks were and they laughed and petted him and just loved it. it was adorable. llamas in the nursing home- whod have thought? anywho, i enjoy my job a great deal. and now i must go take out my contacts before i go blind or something. stay tuned for my "tagged" responses. oh man you guys are so excited for that.

My "First Post"

Is that what everyone puts for the title of their first post? its reasonable i suppose. well, ya'll, ive not done myspace or facebook or any of those other high faluting (10points for whomever can tell me how to spell faluting. i dont feel like opening another window and going to my favorite dictionary site right now) internet friend site thingys. (k lds linkup doesnt count, right? cuz its like, a mormon thing) but i was chatting with my sister in law and i thought, "what the heck. why not just start your own dang blog?!" so here i am folks. and be forewarned that my typing has evolved over the years into what you see here: minimal puncuation and capitalization. i just never type professional stuff anymore and i rather prefer the lower case. so if you have ocd about that, i suggest not reading my blog. well, this has been a thrilling first blog post experience. i hope you will come back and visit again soon. ill try to put up something interesting.