I'm shore I have Diabetes

I've decided.

If you look up on the Internet you'll see I have all the symptoms.

I have to go to the bathroom all the time (lets ignore the fact that I drink 2 full nalgene bottles at work), I am lethargic, and I am always in a sugar low (meaning... I WANT/NEED sugar NOW).

Doesn't that mean I have diabetes? I don't want to get out of bed in the morning (except weekends). I just want to lay their and dream instead of going to work and... well... working. Then when I do get up, I just want to lay around and read new books or watch TV while crocheting or doing puzzles. See? Lethargic.

And every time I pass candy, chocolate, or fruit... I MUST take a piece. Its the rule. My body demands it.

Definitely Diabetes.

I'm also pretty sure I have Celiac Disease. You can read all about it on line.

I'm irritable if people don't do what I want, I sometimes have stomach problems (especially after eating too much pizza), and I had unexplained weight loss two years ago (I really wish I could explain it cuz then I would do it AGAIN!).

I read that 1 in 133 people have it and 90% of them don't even know they have it. How is this measured? If they don't know they have it, why don't the researchers tell them? Obviously they know in order to have the statistical information. Right?

I believe them even though about 75% of statistics are made up on the spot. Engineers are notorious for this.

I did it the other day... The bridge depth is about 98% shorter than recommended but its close enough, right Arvid?

To end this post, I want to show you what Akiko brought us back from Japan. I also wanted to show some pictures of the wedding, but the format isn't compatable with the computers at work.

Its a small chocolate square with a cracker attached to the back. Very tasty but kind of strange.

I think they put the cracker so they don't have to put as much chocolate. (Notice there are only 2 left? I ate the rest at work and would have eaten the last 2, but knew I wanted to take a picture at home.. see? Diabetes)

The demise of my poor alarm clock

This is the alarm clock I've had since... oh sometime in the 1800's. The original bright pink color can be seen if you turn it upside down and look at the underside. As you tip it back and forth, you can hear something that sounds like sand pouring through the electronics.

Poor clock. I haven't been able to set the alarm or change the station for years and it takes 20 minutes to set the clock because the buttons have become sqirly. But the other day when the lights flickered, the buttons gave up and would no longer respond, no matter how much I coaxed. I thought about waiting until midnight and plugging it in then, but I decided it was time. Time to move on.

I received this clock for my 13th or 14th birthday in preparation for going to Seminary. I very clearly recall the day as it was the first time I received only practical items as presents . Now I appreciate those type of presents, (presents=love, just FYI) but at the time it is a little disappointing. You feel grown-up but a part of you wishes you could go back to being a child and get a new doll or lego set. (My parents had also just finished building our first new house which probably had some bearing on the type of presents I received :-)

Now I have a boring five dollar clock from Walmart that doesn't even try to be spiffy, seeing how I'm not willing to shell out for anything grander.

Good bye old clock. We've been together 20 years, through high school, college, mission, more college, home, and Vegas. An era has passed.

And now I have a picture of you, something I never would have thought to do without my blog!

Exciting Biking Developements

I rode my bike on Saturday and DIDN'T FALL!!

This is quite the accomplishment. I've been very nervous about falling since Dan (Melissa's husband) put the clipless pedals on my bike (shown to the right). Melissa had me try them out at her house and I was doing well until I came up her driveway. It's pretty steep so I stalled out, panicked, couldn't remember how to get out, looked at Melissa, said "I'm gonna fall" and fell over. The panicked look on my face must have been priceless.

So.. then I practiced getting in and out around my neighborhood. It was hard because I was trying to remember to always get out at the bottom of my stroke because I thought that's how it was done. But when you are coming to a stop, that's the leg you have your weight on.

Discouraged, I came back to my house, up my driveway, had my left food out of the clip and promptly fell over to the right.

Its OK to fall over on your bike when you are 7 or 8, but definitely not when you are 32!

Needless to say, I have been very nervous to try it out again. I even dreamt that I went crying back to Melissa asking her to put my old pedals back on... Drama Drama Drama.

I decided I would just go to the library and back home again. That was it. Nowhere else. Just 10 mile round trip. You can do it!

It took me until 11am to finally get up the courage to head out. Melissa told me I should get out at the TOP of my stroke. This made it much easier, especially since I was usually clipped out about 200 feet from the stop light :-). There was no way I was going to fall over again.


There were tons of high school kids dressed up like Anime characters at the library (they were showing an Anime film there), so I didn't feel too out of place walking around in my fancy smancy bike shoes and outfit.

Coming back I felt so confident that I took the long way around.

A funny ending of this story would be if I had fallen coming up my driveway, but I DIDN'T! HA! After Melissa told me she clips out and walks up her driveway, I was clipped out before I even turned the corner. No funny ending here.

With my spandex pants, riding outfit, and clipless pedals, I'm quite the picture. Now if I could just get the body to match.

Single Awareness Day (SAD)

I shore think I'm funny.

I know pictures make the post (at least in my case), but I forgot to take pictures of my SAD activities because I was having so much fun! Ahem. Fun on SAD day... hard to imagine I know, but I did it with lots of help from my friends.

Both Pat and Eliza's husbands were out of town so they came over to my house for a semi-spa night. I say semi because we each did our own spaing. Not that I minded. With my personal space issues (bubble) I even have a hard time sitting on those massage chairs that knead you... Something is touching me! Ick.

I wanted to have Round Table Pizza but ran out of time (its SO far away, probably 10 minutes) so I looked on Google maps (took 10 minutes cuz I have dial-up) and found Grazziano's pizza just up the street. I asked the guy on the phone for something that would appeal to a bunch of ladies. He slowly told me about each of their specials, hoping I would stop and buy one instead of making him list every single one. HA. I'm patient about food.

I ended up getting three different kinds, but the big hit was the California Pizza (shown here.. THANKS Pat for the picture) They put avocados and fresh tomatoes on AFTER they cook it. Perfect for a bunch of ladies! (OK, so it was only a hit with the old ladies, Pats daughter and friends weren't quite as impressed)

We watched "Singing in the Rain" and talked and ate (Eliza brought DELICIOUS peanut butter fudge (I never knew u could make that! All this time I've been missing out), Pat brought chips and guacamole) and I played with Eliza's little boy. He shore thought the little Bonn Bonn fingernail polish bottles tasted good. The pumice stone tasted nasty. I could see it in his face EVERY time he tried it.

I do feel bad about Pat's daughter and her friends not having fun things to do at my house. I forgot about all those beads and tissue paper flowers they could have been crafting upstairs while us old ladies enjoyed the quiet downstairs :-). Alas it was not to be. I know those kids had fun with soaking their feet, sitting on the massage chairs and painting their toe nails but I failed in the "time off from children" part of spa night.

We'll do better NEXT TIME, right?

YW Root Beer Tasting

I forgot to take pictures during the actual event so all of these are staged.. in case you can't tell.

My cohort in YW (the first counsilor) had to work this week and so I volenteered to do a root beer tasting party along with Personal Progress. Don't quite know how that all fits together, but with Young Woman.... it doesn't really matter!

We actually have a pretty amazing band of MiaMaids and I will be sad to be losing a bunch of them this year. They really are good to me when my lessons are plah. I just remind myself that I don't remember any of my YW lessons so we're all good.

Truth be told, I actually had never HOSTED a tasting party before, only participated. As lists are so fun (I think so), I will list the things I learned.

1. Put a bunch of rootbeer into girls and they get VERY silly. I had nine different types of Root Beer and even though they only got a small shot of each kind in a dixie cup for the actual taste testing, adding Root Beer floats sends it right to their heads. They start laughing and snorting and burping and mixing. Kinda acting like boys.

2. The way to the Mia Maids hearts is to burp louder than them.

3. It only takes one fifth of a can of Root Beer for 6 people to have a shot. If you don't realize this, you better like Root Beer because you just might end up with 3 cases of cans, 8 glass bottles, and 2 2 liter bottles of the stuff. And if you didn't realize you really DON'T like Barqs Root Beer and none of the mothers will let their kids take it home because it have caffeine, you might have a problem. As my sister said, "Its just your Root Beer food storage". Right, I'm good for 20 to 30 years.

4. To make the activity go slower, try giving them a breather between each sample. I had 2 little girls helping me out (daughters of our leaders) so between the 3 of us, we had each sample ready and out in 50 seconds (give or take). I had planned on serving the Root Beer out of the kitchen into the RS room, but the dumb scouts were having a court of honor in there. As it was, I forgot to give them each a glass of water to rinse their pallet after each test (which would have extended things) and had to hang up a sheet I had brought so we could hide behind it and prepare the samples.

5. Along the lines of helping the activity go slower, make sure they have PLENTY of time to decide which is their favorite and which they DON'T like. Then when they finally see all the different types of root beer you have on the table, they remember that they LOVE the more expensive glass bottle kind even though you distinctly remember them discussing how it tasted like DIRT from the Dixie Cup. Apparently once it gets out of the bottle, all the good flavor is gone. AND, 2 or 3 picked the Albertsons brand as their favorite which they conveniently forgot when preparing the root beer floats. For some reason, at the end of the activity all the A&W and Mugs was gone but the Albertsons, Safeway (Vons), and Big K bottles were still there.

6. Bring wet wipes. Root Beer is STICKY and using a sheet to mop up spills just doesn't cut it. Of course being in the kitchen would have made everything better (dumb scouts).

7. Smiths sells IBC AND the Weinheart brewed stuff. If you don't realize this, you might pick up Weinheart instead of IBC thinking you have IBC but you didn't so you could have had TEN different types instead of just NINE. And, of course, the girls lament that fact since they all LOVE IBC (its in bottles so its SO much better (see 5)).

8. Its over much quicker than you had planned (see 4 and 5) so if your wonderful cohort is not there with ice cream for floats... everyone kinda stands around and drinks which type of Root Beer they suddenly remember they like (see 5). When the ice cream does arrive, they fill themselves with ice cream and Root Beer and start being very silly (see 1).

All in all I learned alot. I thought it was tons of fun and I have so much left over that I could do about 20 more parites. Anyone want to hire me for an FHE or RS activity?

P.S. This is my favorite picture. I don't have much patience with how LONG it takes my digital camera to take pictures and so I often take the camera down from my eye and THEN it flashes.

Its a knack I have.

A Stamp with A name on it

And that name is MINE! (I thought I had this set to post yesterday... oh well, it will have to be this morning)

It came. And I saw. This is what I saw. Don't they know that packages with multiple stamps have bombs in them? Isn't that what I've read and what they tell you to watch out for? I'm sure I saw it on TV.

I opened it anyways. And here is what was inside.

See that paper torn from the Reno yellow pages? That is what my stamp was wrapped in. Talk about ghetto. I guess this is why the Nevada Board of Engineers uses these people, they're cheap. But wait, see the stamp next to it with a little elephant on it? Yes, each time you order from these guys you get a FREE "Wacky" stamp... as they call it. An elephant holding a heart for Valentines Day. That sure is WACKY!

I guess they aren't that cheap if they are giving away FREE stamps.

And here is the REAL stamp. (Upside down of course so u can't read the number and make ur own and start stamping plans for structures which then fall down and I get sued)Funny thing is, I don't feel different. I may have a Civil Engineer stamp but I'm still me. Don't know what I expected. Perhaps a beam of pure engineering knowledge shooting out of my stamp right into my head.

Sigh. Didn't happen. Guess I'll have to continue to muddle through and rely on Arvid for everything.

But lets look on the bright side. Now I can be sued! Although Melissa's sister-in-law (a lawyer) did say they would probably go after the company cuz I don't have deep pockets.

Phew.

When You get a craving for Rolls, Resist.

The other evening I got a craving for rolls. And not just any rolls, the beautiful crescent rolls shown in my new cook book. I also wanted to use up the wheat flour I had bought so I can use my new grinder.

This of course, was at 8pm. Plenty of time to mix, let the dough rise and be pushed down, rolled out, rise again, and cooked before I go to bed at 10pm!

Ya right.

While the dough was supposed 2 be rising, I went running. When I came back an hour later it hadn't risen at all! I couldn't decide what to do. Put the dough in the fridge? Roll them out? Freeze something? So, I showered to give me more time to decide.

I decided to roll them out anyways. I had them on cookie sheets sitting on the warm oven by 10:30pm. Then it was off to bed after setting my alarm for 1:00am.

They had risen enough to cook by then. If I had been awake enough, I woulda probably pulled them out before the 30 minutes cooking time was up or turned the oven down. They got pretty brown. But I basted them with butter, ate 2, covered the rest and went back to bed. In the morning they weren't TOO hard so I put them in plastic bags to try and soften them a bit.

Lets just say they taste good with Jam.

Lesson learned... don't start dough so late on a work night!

(This is a picture of only 1/3 of them. The rest were eaten pretty fast. Next lesson learned... HALVE recipes or you will end up eating WAY TOO MUCH!)

Holy Ghost Game

We played the spirit game in YW the other day and it didn't work too well. Probably shoulda explained things a little better. But it got me thinking.

I remember an FHE a LONG LONG time ago where we played this game. Everyone wanted a turn at being blindfolded. This time it was Nathan and I was the one chosen to be the Holy Ghost. I stood fairly close 2 him and softly told him the way to go. Everyone else was loudly telling him to go in different directions. He listened for a little bit and then yelled my name and said "Come over here!". I said "I'm right here!" Nathan reached out, grabbed me and pulled me close 2 him in a tight hug and said "I'm keeping Melanie right here next to me. Now where do I go?"


I still remember the feeling. I shore loved and looked up to my brothers!


Wouldn't it be great if we all grabbed the Holy Ghost and kept him right next to us?

Diving Right in to Sewing Troubles

As an Engineer (or maybe just as a Melanie), I think I can do anything, figure out a anything, and essentially make anything. No planning, just GOING FOR IT. (This is the perfect time to tell you that I have a number!! Yes, I now have a number with the Nevada Board of Engineers. In a week or 2 I will get my stamp. Just thought I'd let you know)

So last Sunday I decided to make a bag for the army toys that have been laying in the middle of my work room for... who knows how long. (I know how long, but I'm not telling you because then u will judge me) I decided I wanted a drawstring bag and I would line it so I it would look like I spent more time on it.

As a drawstring bag, you need to have button holes to string the string through. So I went for it. This is my first and second attempt (They are pretty messed up if you can't tell from the picture. My camera isn't very high tech). My sewing machine (Grandma's Green Bernina... ya, it's pretty awesome) has a lever that you push to help you make buttons, but after reading the directions (um... so I read them AFTER I had already made my first 2 attempts), you still have 2 do all the work urself, backwards, forwards, and holding the material in one place.

Here is my third and fourth attempt. I think it all finally came together in the last attempt. The third one was worse.

Of course, being the great sewer that I am, I didn't notice I had gotten the other side of the bag in on the action as well (again, icky picture). Mm... I r engineer. I'm not undoing my best button hole. So, I just cut as close to the button hole as I could, cutting a swatch of material out of the other side. It was at the top so I just decided I would make the top seam a little deeper.

I sewed merrily along the top rolling everything under. It kinda made for a fat seam.



Finally, A bag! One small note. Notice there is only one string? Yes, the plan was to draw the string on both sides and have it close. Um, heeelllloooo... engineeeeeeer... you need TWO strings to do that! Right. I'll just string another one through later.

Oh yes, and the gathering along the top when you try and close the bag doesn't gather very well. Probably too much bulk in the seam.

Its OK, this was the exception to the rule of my wonderfulness. I really am Smart (it IS my middle name) and next time I make a bag it will be SMASHING!

Besides... it works. All the Army guys are safely stored in a Yellow Bag.

A Nail Story

I thought this was pretty funny. Akiko IM'd me today.

Because of a submittal due Monday, we worked over the weekend. Akiko wasn't able to work long on Saturday so she came in on Sunday as well. She is going to Japan for her brothers traditional wedding and wants to look her best.

Akiko: I don't like my nail which I did on Sunday... I worked until evening and many nail salon closes at 5 o'clock, so I could not choose the best salon. I went the salon next to my apartment since I could see it open. a Vietnamese stubble-faced old man did my nail. he was wearing T-shirt with cute lovely monkey. He did my nail without paying attention since SUPER BOWL was broadcast on TV. I wanted him to color my nail with natural color, but he screamed "no color!!" when he finished my nail extension. He might wanted to consentrat TV .

Akiko then drew me a picture and showed me the old man with stubble. She said he really did SCREAM!

I just think of that lady comedian Anjelah Johnson with getting her nails done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o

I have to tell you that the REAL reason Akiko got her nails done (and eyelash extensions!). Apparently her brother is marrying someone younger than her and her sister (Akiko calls her VERY young at 25) and since her future sister-in-law's sisters are even younger than that, Akiko and her sister decided that they didn't want to look like old fogies.

:-)

I'm excited to see all the pictures she'll bring back of the traditional wedding.

Sliding down the Stairs

You know your mother always told you not to leave things on the stairs. THIS is why.

When you stumble down the stairs early Saturday morning to turn off the alarm on your phone that you forgot to turn off the night before, you might just slip on a shelf (yes.. I said SHELF) sitting innocently on the steps and slide the rest of the way down the stairs. A few days later you have a beautiful bruise. Man, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

In our family bruises always look lovely. We could draw them on ourselves. Emily first came up with the idea using dried out/almost dead markers. Now they have washable markers that work pretty well because you can blend the colors nicely. Of course, older bruises are easiest. Just some brown rubbed around. The couple of day old ones are the prettiest. Take the yellow and green and mix together in the middle with some brown on the outside. Then you put a couple of dots of purple for the broken blood vessels and your bruise is complete! The best is starting with a real one and making it larger. Its pretty hard to draw new ones because the blue and purple markers just aren't the right color.

Yes, its a wonder my parents didn't get hauled in for child abuse towards Emily. Can you imagine? "Just wash her!! They'll come off! Notice she doesn't have any where she can't reach?"

Fun with Spree

After coming back from New Mexico, Spree has decided he is the boss and he doesn't like the way things are going in this house. This is how he expressed his displeasure.

Nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, and parents should be around to speak with him and give him treats and take him out on on their shoulders keeping their heads as far away from him as possible. This shows the proper respect for his strong beak. He also has decided he doesn't need to do anything to get treats, they should just always be there for him. And he should be able to come and go as he pleases out of his cage and all his reflection friends need to be out to greet him. If you hide the birds in the TV cabinet because your tired of the mess he is making in front if... BEWARE!

And NOBODY, I mean NOBODY clips his nails. NOBODY!

See the consequences in the pictures. Let this be a lesson to you all!

Notice the blood on my breast and the wreckage of puzzle pieces strewn across the carpet. This is what happens to those who mess with THE BIRD. (My nails may now be clipped but no one will dare try again I'm sure)


So, anyone want a fun, interesting, pinhead bird? He will sing to you in the morning, want anything he thinks your eating until he sees its either vegetables (unless he thinks that carrot is a Cheeto), soup, fruit or milk. He will bite you and yell at your visitors. Oh yes, and poop on you too.

UPDATE: After realizing he wasn't going to get his way, he has become a little better. Its taken a while for him to adjust from being in New Mexico with all those people. I had NO IDEA it would be like this. For a couple weeks there the guillotine was out and there was going to be one less bird in the world.

Another Puzzle Tale

(These next few posts will be what I prepared while my taker-pictures-off-of-the-camera-and-putter-onto-the-computer cord was in New Mexico... ie, rerun for those I talk to on the phone)

The other day I was working on a puzzle. Do you know how frustrating it is when the outside edges don't working out? It was one of those wood puzzles that are hard to tell if the pieces actually fit together or if you "gently" forced them. So, I eventually just did the inside and left the outside for the end. I rearranged the pieces many times until I finally got it all to work (I admit the last piece was ... well... FORCED into place)

Here it is in all its glory, finished and sitting on my table.

But wait... what is this I see sitting next to my masterpiece?

Are those DUMB puzzle people trying to make the puzzle even harder?

Dan said at least I wasn't the one with the 3 MISSING pieces.

I suppose I should be grateful.

What a puzzle.

(I wrote "S" on the backs and gave them to Spree to chew to pieces. Unfortunately, now he thinks he should get puzzle pieces every time I sit up to the table... You can't win dealing with a brain (and I use the term loosely) the size of a pinhead.)