Happy St. Patty's Day!

So, I know this is a day late, but I'm also a dollar short, so it all works out... I've always preferred St. Patrick to St. Valentine. Few reasons, 1. If we need commercialism to remind us to show our love to each other, Chris and I need to have a long chat. Just bring home a bouquet of tulips any other day, not when Hallmark tells you to and they've tripled the price of roses which aren't even my favorite flower. 2. Thanks to my dad, I have Scotch/Irish roots (I know, like you couldn't ever guess with my blonde hair, blue eyes and extremely pale skin.) and 3. St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, that is a hero in my book! (I know, I know, total myth, but let's pretend.)

This year though, I have another reason to prefer St. Patrick over St. Valentine. I kept it quiet to almost everyone, but on Valentine's Day I failed the written Utah Master Esthetics exam. Yep. I received a 74% and 75% is passing. I then proceeded to drive home from Sunset in a crazy snow storm and then sat on my couch and cried. I studied so hard, it didn't even cross my mind that I would fail. I still chalk it up to test anxiety. Anyway, I apparently have a thing for holidays because I rebooked the test on St. Patty's Day. I didn't sleep the night before and I was shaking so hard through the whole thing I had to keep my hand glued to the computer mouse, terrified I would accidentally mark an answer wrong due to shaking. And I Passed! The luck of the Irish was with me and this time I scored in the 80s. Well above passing. So, now I am officially a Master Esthetician. My huge goal for over a year and a half. My next goal is to become a licensed instructor.

Another fun thing was dinner last night. I've never talked about my cooking because I geneally hate to cook. I have never made anything in tribute to St. Patrick's Day, but as many of you know, I have a lot of extra time on my hands. (ironic that I am laid off from an esthetics school days before I receive my license- I have my license, but I'm not in the industry) I was watching Rachel Ray and usually I switch the channel because her voice makes me want to shoot myself and I want to rip out chunks of my hair everytime she says "YUMM-O!" but the dinner she opened with caught my attention. Reuben Stuffed Potatoes. Basically taking all the fantastic elements of a reuben sandwich and making a twice baked potato with it. I love a good reuben, especially the sauerkraut. So, I tried it and they are fantastic. Not only did we really like them, Chris took one for lunch today. The ultimate test! He almost NEVER eats leftovers. So, below are pictures of my great dinner:

Babies!

So the Best/Lake family was blessed to receive two babies in 7 days. On the Lake side Stuart and Kristen had their little boy and on the Best (my sister's last name now is Abbott) side Anna and Tom had their little girl . They are both so cute. I can honestly say that Dylan is the cutest newborn I have ever seen. I keep forgetting my camera when I see Dylan, I promise to get pictures at least at the blessing! Below are pictures of the Abbott family:

Digging to China

After the yard sale while I was cleaning everything up (which took much longer than putting it all out) the dogs played in the backyard. Apparantly Scotty thought he might be happier living in China. The hole is so big, Olive disappears when she goes down to check it out.

Yard Sale Fun

So, after a long day of sitting out with our yard sale, we got bored. The yard sale was great for us, but there wasn't a ton of people. It was about 30 minutes before end, so we decided to tie the balloons to Olive- Jamie and Justin's miniature beagle. Here are the pics. Below that are also items still for sale if anyone is interested.

Antique Coffee Table

Antique Student Desk

Computer Scanner

Flat Screen TV

TV tray set with holder

Commercial Landscaping Fabric

Yard Sale Etiquette 101

If you decide to take your dog with you to see yard sales. Make sure it doesn't pee on anything! And if it does, offer to pay for it! Below are picture of an item tat I threw in the trash as soon as a dog decided to mark it and the owner left. People never cease to amaze me (sigh...)

Yard Sale Saturday!

Chris and I are trying to declutter our house. Many of you know we want to put our house on the market soon, just to see how it goes. I know you all are thinking that with the current economic state, that we are crazy. But, to be honest, we're sick of owning. We liked it better when we weren't worried about yard work.

So, we are having a HUGE yard sale on Saturday from 8am-2pm. Our renters Jamie and Justun are contributing as well as our friends Noelle and Erin. So, if you need something, chances are we have it! Some of the highlights include:

2 TVs - one flat screen
TV stand
2 cd/dvd towers
vacuum
2 loveseats
lamps
a few large framed pictures
car stereo
oversized tv tray set with holder
dresser and matching night stand
large free standing jewelry chest
75+ Books (i'm so proud of chris!)
lots of DVDs many unopened
New in box: Fondue set, 5 tray food dehydrator, rice cooker
all kinds of clothes


Hope to see some of you there!

March...in like a lion out like a lamb...

So, I haven't posted in a long time. Lost my camera cable and I also honestly can't think of exciting things that have happened lately worth blogging about. Well, now I am in a mood and while this probably isn't worth it, I am blogging.



For the first time this is almost like a journal entry. I am not perfect, well know fact, but there is one thing I particularly dislike about myself. I cave. Someone confronts me and my brain, instead of thinking things through and standing up for my prospective, it goes immediately into panic mode. And I feel terrible and apologize all over myself and do everything I can to make whoever it is happy. Afterwards I always feel frustrated, nothing was reallyresolved besides me agreeing and apologizing. No one hears my perspective. This, I feel, makes people questions my integrity and my skills and talents. But, then I am hesitant to talk it out later because I am afraid I will just be perceived as making excuses for myself. It happened again today. I just wish people would realize there are two sides to every story and that everyone has different communication styles. How you think you came across to me may be very different than how I perceived what you were saying and vice versa.



There, I have gotten off my soap box for the time being. And no, this doesn't involve Chris. :) We have disagreements down to a science. I scream and yell for about 5 minutes while he sits quietly and once I'm through, we talk it out.