Double Tagged

This week I got tagged twice, once by Carma and once by Tia. I'll start with Carma's first:

FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME:

1. I have an extreme aversion to hawaiian haystacks. The last time I got violently ill, hawaiian haystacks was the food I was so lucky to see twice. Now, the very sight and smell bring back that queasy sensation...
2. I have issues with people who are just too perfect. I might be jaded, but I rather like flaws, both in myself and others. If you don't seem to have any, it just makes me A. hate you or B. wonder what kind of crazy big flaws you are so embarrassed about you have to go to such extreme lengths to cover them up. Perfect people also give me a queasy sensation...
3. I like safety. I may have married the adventure-seeking adrenaline junkie, but I personally enjoy having both feet planted firmly on the ground. I think it's a good match: Keaton does crazy things and injures himself, and I remain uninjured so as to better nurse him back to health. It works out, really.
4. I hate school. Okay, most of you probably know that, but I just thought I'd throw that one out there. Learning... it's okay. Trudging up to an overcrowded campus to participate in an hours-long session of hoop jumping? Not so much my thing. (Yet I still do it. Go figure.)
5. I share my side of the bed with my puppy. It used to be no big thing, he'd be at my feet and I had plenty of room. These days he's gotten more bold and has started pushing the boundaries. One morning soon I expect to wake up on the floor. Never thought I'd have my place usurped by a pint-sized canine, but nevertheless...

2ND TAG:
THE NAME GAME

1 . YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Melissa Jetta
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Peppermint Sugar. Wait, wait. Peppermint Suga. Sugah. That's better.
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
C. Smi
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Red Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Renee Ogden
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Smicr (Lame!)
7.SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Green Doctor (Dr. Pepper. I improvised on this one a little.)
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
John Glenn. Wait a minute! My nascar name is an astronaut!
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
Pink Suede Cinnamon Bear
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
McMurray Dean (That's kind of a stretch, my mom doesn't have a middle name!)
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 6th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Kaufman Kingston
12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Autumn Rose. Okay, that sounds like a trashy romance novel name!
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Raspberry Socksie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Spooner Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Writing Thunder Tour

Oh, and I'm going to personalize this tag by adding one more:
16. Your celebrity couple name: (half of your name, half your significant other's name, mixed together in whichever order sounds best.)
KEASTAL!!

Tag: Carma (for the name game, you don't have to do the other one again!) and Carolanne!

Standstill

We don't know if we're coming or going. Literally. The people who were supposed to be buying our trailer have all but vanished. They won't answer our calls, and it has got us wondering if they didn't qualify to live in the trailer park for some reason and are too embarrassed to say so. In the meantime, we're in that limbo between where we are and where we need to be! It feels like it's time, we're ready, we've got our foot outside the door...but we're stuck. Can't really move forward or backward. We're re-posting our trailer ad. If our current buyers don't resurface, it may be that someone else out there needs it more.

Transitions

We've had quite the week. It seems that we have a lot of new things to get used to, the first being the loss of my aunt. The funeral yesterday was beautiful, her son Steven gave her one of the most touching tributes I've ever heard. She was buried next to her parents in Preston, where we released balloons in her memory. She would have totally loved it.

The second noteworthy thing that happened this week was Brandon getting his mission call. He's going to Bellum Brazil (I think that's how it's spelled!) and he leaves in June. We are all totally stoked for him but his mission is right on the equator by the Amazon, so we're expecting him back with a tan (or a major sunburn.) I'm really proud of his decision to go, I think he'll do great.

On Friday, we got an offer for our trailer, so we're going to be moving! We've got a contact on a little house we can rent in Syracuse until we find the house we want to buy. We didn't know how long it would take to sell it, and we're really excited to be moving forward. This is just the first step in a lot of big plans. It will be hard to leave our little trailer, it's been home for 2 1/2 years! That's almost as long as I've lived anywhere recently! (Moved to Plain City in 2001, moved back to Clinton in 2003, got married and moved to Clearfield in 2005, etc.) So this is right on schedule. We have a hectic two weeks of moving ahead of us, but we're ready.

In the midst of all this craziness was Valentines Day. I just want to take this moment to appreciate the wonderful, supportive husband I have. He sent me flowers at work and took me to the Union Grill (our reception was at the Union Station, so that is a special place for us.) He has just been the best, letting me cry on his shoulder and giving me the random hug when I needed it. He didn't try to rush me into feeling better and he let me talk his ear off about Ellen (a fitting tribute to her, I think) and I really appreciated it.

So much more to come! I have a feeling 2008 will be great for us.

Hard Day

This morning as I was preparing to attend church, I recieved a call from my mother, telling me that my Aunt Ellen was being lifeflighted to the University of Utah hospital. She had complained of a bad headache only a few hours earlier, and had her son Todd take her to the hospital. When she arrived, they did an MRI and found that she had bleeding on her brain. They then took her by lifeflight to Salt Lake. She was coherent until right before they arrived, and she slipped into a coma. I spent the afternoon with my younger siblings, and we all waited for word. Around two o'clock, my mom called again and said that the surgery she had undergone had gone well and they were waiting until she stabilized to give us more news. Another hour passed with no other word, and I called again. My mom was sobbing. They had only just taken her out of a second MRI, where they found that the bleeding had not stopped and there was nothing more that could be done. They told us it was only a matter of time.



Keaton and I gathered the kids together and drove the long miles down the interstate. When we got to the hospital we were allowed to go and see her to say our goodbyes. This is an experience I wouldn't wish on anybody. She had most of her hair shaved from the operation, and her face and head were badly bruised, and there was a long line of stitches and staples along where her hairline used to be. She was breathing through a tube. She looked...crumpled. A far cry from the high-strung, excessively talkative woman I've always known. It was jarring.



They took her off the ventilator around six thirty this evening. So far I've had no other word. In the hours since I left the hospital, I've thought long and hard about my aunt and the little memories I have and the life she lived. She never had it easy, she never really caught the break or windfall that every person imagines when they are young. She worked hard as an elementary teacher, a single mother, and the eldest of six kids. She was only 54, close to retirement. She had dreams left to fulfill. But she lived a good life. She had faith in God, in her family, in the Plan of Salvation. I fully trust that what awaits her now is far better than any plans she could have made. She is going to be reunited with her beloved parents. She won't be lonely ever again. I find comfort in that.



On the way to the hospital, I heard this song ("For Good," from the Wicked soundtrack) on the radio. I'd heard it before, but it seemed to make more sense to me today.

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a skybird

In a distant wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you,

I have been changed for good.

Recipes

Since the beginning of the year I've been trying to be better about cooking dinner instead of going out to eat, which with my schedule can sometimes be a struggle. But besides time, I've also run into another roadblock: what to cook? The crock pot is a miracle worker, but the dishes all tend to be similar, and it can get old after a while. So I've been thinking back to the good old days when I had a wealth of culinary-minded roommates. They each their specialities, all of which I've really missed since I've been married. (Heather's chicken chalupas, Tia's spinach pie, Carolanne's taco soup, Ann Maries turkey deluxe and chicken croissants, etc.) and then I thought, Hey! I need to devise some way of obtaining these recipes! And get more! So if any one is interested, I'd like to do some sort of recipe rotation. If you have any ideas, post em here and maybe we can get something going!

Enter Three Witches

So since January is already over, I decided it was time to post my review for January's book of the month, Enter Three Witches. I'm not going to say much about it (Still essayed-out) but I do have to mention that if you've ever had trouble deciphering Shakespeare, this is a great place to start. The terrible deeds and eventual undoing of the Macbeths is chronicled by a teenaged girl, the Macbeth's ward and daughter of one of the first thanes (earls) thought to have betrayed King Duncan. (No, my dog did not get named after the murdered king.) As the story progresses, so does Mary's insight and maturity as well as her courage. I found it a great read, and would recommend it to anyone (even if you have no intention of reading Macbeth.) Also, it sheds a hopeful light on the aftermath of the Macbeth horror, which I found refreshing. I learned a lot about the culture in which Shakespeare's masterpiece was set, which was valuable in and of itself.