Happy Thanksgiving!

Twilight

I have to admit I was worried... worried that I would have to sit outside all night in the cold on cement, worried that I would be an old fart and fall asleep, worried that I would loose the tickets... worried that it would bite (haha--that's a funny).

Fortunately all it was was worry. I found out that we could get wristbands to reserve our place in line so we didn't have to go to the theater until 9:30 and then we waited just a few minutes until we were seated. We were 227+ in a line of 400 so we got in in the middle of the line and got good seats all together. We even managed to get an extra ticket for my friend Marci who got OUT OF HER PAJAMAS and came down to join us at the last minute (as a matter of fact, there were two seats next to us that never got filled). After 15 minutes of heated discussion over who would sit by whom, we finally got in our seats and settled down to wait the hour and forty-five minutes until the movie started. We played "Would you rather" while we waited... funny.

When the movie finally started, we were all hooting and hollering. It is corny in places and what was up with Carlisle--creepy. And most of the guys in the show need a stiff bristled brush and a haircut. But for the most part it didn't bite. We laughed in inappropriate times and the whole of the audience spent a large portion giggling when the "sexual tension" began to build because they knew where it was going... hehe. It was annoying the way the camera kept panning around them every time they were gazing into each other's eyes--which was often. And then there were the close-ups of their eyes the rest of the time...

Scout insisted on pretending to be our British cousin and she spoke with a condescending accent all night. Oh--she planned to take garlic cloves and sit in line with them around her and fling holy water on people as they walked past us but we restrained her. Her friend was going to put a lightening bolt scar on her forehead to go to the premier last night but when we saw her she had chickened out. Haha... Afterall, it was supposed to be Harry Potter's premier last night. Then, during the movie as Edward confronted Bella about being a vampire, Scout said loudly, "he's a VAMPIRE?" It was pretty funny.

It was good enough everyone, even BNLFan stayed awake. She took pictures of us in line but she's still asleep so I can't get her camera yet--bah! Why do I have to get up? Anyway, after the movie we went to Denny's for breakfast and then came home to collapse. I was so tired, I could feel myself literally "falling" asleep. It was weird. But I was awake at 6:45 to read scriptures, even without my alarm clock. Go me! I mean, Go back to bed now, me!

There ain't no gaps

Ha! No gaps in my knowledge. Right. This test is WRONG.

There Are 0 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge: No Gaps! Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge: Philosophy Religion Economics Literature History Science Art

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Gearing Up

I'm gearing up for a big day...er, evening. BNLFan_1, Scout, N and I have tickets for the midnight showing of Twilight. They want to get in line at 6 p.m. I'm not looking forward to that--6 hours of standing in line in the cold outside a movie theater? Insane!

Musings

Scout and N tried out for the junior high Mock Trial team this past week. The competition was pretty intense. This morning the teams were posted and hurray! N made the team. Scout already knew she made it... at callbacks they said, "So, are you going to be a witness again this year or will you be a lawyer?" So she was pretty confident. I'm proud of her that she said she'd try lawyer. She loves being a witness, though, and she's good at it. She loves tripping up the unsuspecting lawyers. She's quick on her feet and can usually get them confused. I keep telling her she can do it as a lawyer, too. Maybe she can make a witness cry... that would make her day. She can be pretty ruthless with her cutting wit--and I mean that in a good way (she reads this occasionally and I don't want her to think I don't recognize and even, dare I say, covet her tallent).

I am working hard getting ready for a big Primary Christmas party. We are doing a "Super Saturday" except it has to be on a Thursday. Anyway, I need some advice... We are meeting from 6-8 (or 6:30 if we don't feed them). Santa will be there--the REAL Santa. He lives in our neighboring ward, if you wondered. Anyway, we are making fleece quilts for a service project (our YM and YW volunteer at a homeless Christmas and they take the blankets there). For the moms we are making a recipe book, for the dads we are making a secret safe. For sisters we are making a shrinky dink necklace and for brothers we are making a color your own hacky sac. We are also making FHE bags. They are little muslin bags with little objects in it that represent stories from the scriptures. We have a dove (Holy Ghost, Noah), fish (loaves and fishes, fishers of men, Jonah and the Whale), snakes (Adam and Eve, Moses healing the Children of Israel), baby (Moses, Baby Jesus), pirate swords (Nephi, Ammon), tree (tree of life, Adam and Eve, parable of the olive tree), rock (wise man and the foolish man, Samuel the Lamanite), and gold coin (betrayal of Christ, tithing). Can you think of anything else I could get to put in there that wouldn't cost much? I need to keep it to about $10 for 50 of each item. I have some magnifying glasses already (another Primary activity) but I can't think of a good scripture story to go with it. Also, is we were to feed them, what would be an appropriate menu? I don't want anything hard/expensive because I am already overwhelmed with the whole activity. I have one councilor on a cruise and another battling a vicious case of shingles. She's young and shouldn't have it AND arthritis at the same time. She's been out 6 weeks and will be out at least that many more, poor thing. So it is left to me. Fortunately I have a new councilor called--yup. I have 3 now. Just like I said I needed when I was called. Hmmm.... She'll function as a councilor until Tammy is back on her feet then she will move to chorister while still a member of the presidency so she can come to presidency meetings and do sharing times and stuff like that. Brilliant!

BNLFan_1 got asked to Senior Cotillion last week. She's pretty excited. It's a formal dance so she needs the dress. Yikes. The funny thing is her date is named Cory Christensen. She says he can't figure out why that would make her feel uncomfortable. Anyway, she has to hurry and answer him because he wont talk to her in the meantime. She asks him direct questions and he puts on his headphones or turns away. Weird. Anyway, I think she's going to deliver a pizza with YES spelled out in pepperoni. It's borring, but it's easy since she's got connections at the Pizza Place. She has a recital tonight. She's getting so good on the cello. I can't believe she's my daughter.

H is in the school choir. The holiday season is approaching so she will start having her concerts. Yip. I mostly look forward to the Festival of the Trees. They sing there every year and I am going along to buy scones and bawl over the trees. Nothing says Christmas like a sad Christmas tree. No really--I love it and look forward to it every year.

M is about to loose her last tooth. It's kind of sad to see all the "lasts" come and go. But then I shake myself and remind myself how nice it is not to change poopy diapers.

Frank's Letter November 19, 2008

Here's a link to Frank's latest letter...

He's doing so well!

Sister Fun

I went on a fun hike with elle_cossette yesterday. She took me to her Rivendale. It was beautiful. We had fun trying to figure out our new cameras. So here's another before and after ad nauseum picture post :)

This is an interesting arched tree... I think it had broken but it looks like it grew this way. The first picture is way too dark but I liked the frame of the heavier limb in the top left corner, as well as the shape of the arched trees. And, I was trying to use the "shapes" technique, as well as the "rule of thirds" that elle and I learned at our photo class at Inkley's this week.
Before:













































After:














































Again, the canyon where we were hiking was very dark for that time of day (11 a.m.) so the first picture is very dark but I wanted the sunrise over the crest of the hill.

Before:













































In order to get any detail, I had to kind of wash out the picture. Someday when I learn photoshop better, I am going to come back to this and make it look right because I think it could be very interesting.
After:














































The canyon was very chilly, to say the least. I was fascinated by the frost on the leaves.
Before:




















Just by upping the light, the colors really popped.
After:





















My big project was to get the water to look soft, which takes a slow shutter speed. But without knowing what we were doing, we took a lot of pictures. Then elle got a shot that worked. I coppied the settings and started to have some success. It would have been better with a tripod, of course, but this is good enough for this trip. Besides, I'm not sure I'm up to a hike with a tripod yet :)
Before:





















After:

Fall Fun

Scout spent some time in the backyard this weekend, raking all our bazillion leaves into a big pile for M and H to play in...

Cowboy Caviar

This stuff is yummy...

Cowboy Caviar

5-6 tomatoes

2 cans shoe peg corn (this is super sweet white corn that I haven’t ever been able to find in cans. I just use white petite corn from the freezer section)

2 cans black eyed peas drained

1 bunch green onions or more

¼ to 1/3 bunch cilantro

3 or more avacados

1 pkg Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing

Combine all the ingredients then pour the dressing over the top and stir to combine.. I usually put less oil than the direction for the dressing and add water instead… about ½ and ½.

Frank's Letter November 12, 1008

Here's a link to Frank's latest letter...

Wooo Hooo!

I can post!!!

I am subbing at the local high school this week and have been unable to post because of stupid web blocking software. Like I would blog anything inappropriate! hehe... watch me!

Anyway, I got around it. Because I am a computer wizard. And they aren't.

I'm sitting here in the German classroom, listening to Dennis the Menace--a mess in English, but surprisingly amusing in German--wondering when I get to use the ONE German phrase I know... "kommen zum essen." So far it hasn't been necessary to call the students to dinner, but I hold out hope.

Next period I get to teach BNLFan_1. Yeah!

BNLFan got in a crash this morning. Fortunately it wasn't her fault and she and the two girls she drives were fine. I admit a certain ammount of relief. Since everyone has to get in one accident, at least hers was minor and not her fault. I came up behind her about 2 mintes later on my way to school so I calmed her down and took the other girls to school for her while she waited for the police. She was cited for not having her insurance information with her. I'm sure she has it... she just can't find it in the mess of her car.

Oh... Scout and N tried out for mock trial yesterday. I'm so glad they did. Scout loves it and so will N if she gets the chance. A TON of kids tried out this year and she, being a "sevie" (read seventh grader) is a long shot but she has a long pedigree of Mockers, as we like to call ourselves. When she went in there one of the judges said, "Are you Frank Zigmunt's sister?" so hopefully that is a good thing... It helps that the coach grew up in Dilbert's home ward and we were friends with her SIL in Texas. Small world.

It has been the worst week to sub. After I agreed to sub I realized it was early out all week for the elementary school so the youngest two are home at 1:40 but I don't finish here until 2:20. oops. I've been scrambling to find places for them to go. So far so good... two more days to go.

I heard from Frank today. I will post those e-mails later.

Weekend Fun

I took some time off this week to go away with some of the ladies from my ward. They do a scrapbook retreat every year at this time. I don't scrapbook. I repeat... I DO NOT SCRAPBOOK. But they were kind enough to let me tag along and do my own thing while they preserved memories. They had quite the setup. Even I was impressed. They moved all the couches, chairs, ping pong and foos ball tables out of the way and set up folding tables, extension cords, power strips, computers, printers and supplies and scrapped from 9 a.m. until 3 a.m. for 4 days. Some of them even got 6 pages done!

We ate the best food... crab quiche, Asian lettuce wraps, black bean pineapple salsa, Sweet Pulled Pork salad, etc... I was in heaven. I'll post recipes one of these days. Anyway, between all the chick flicks, chocolate, giggling, scrapbooking and general silliness, I had a really nice time.

I sneaked off one morning and took a few pictures that I really liked so now I will bore you with the results.

First I drove down the road a space and foudn this old barn. It was pretty cool so I took a few shots. Here's the before:

And after I edited it:

Then I decided to get "artsy" and I took a few more. First before:

Then after the editing. I really like how the detail on the wood pops out:

Then I walked around the side of the barn and saw this hay barn. First the original, out of camera:

Then I tried it in black and white.

Then in color.

A bit further down the road was this old house. It was totally cool inside, with peeling wallpaper and broken windows and stuff but I couldn't get a good picture. I need to learn how to use my camera better. I was trying to manually focus but I couldn't figure out how to turn off the auto focus so all those potentially funky pictures turned out crappy. The outside pictures were just okay.

Before:

And after. To do this one, I made a color copy and then a b/w copy and made the b/w copy opaque so some of the color showed through. I liked the feel of it:

The I went furner down the road and saw this old Porterville Meeting house that had burned down. I tried to get closer but the fence was locked and no one was around to ask except this deer.

Here's the original of the meetinghouse:

And the post-edited house.

It had been about a half an hour so I decided I would go back to the cabin in case anyone noticed I was gone. I drove by this bus on the side of the road twice before I got the guts to go back and take pictures of it. I wanted to ask the homeowner if it was okay but again, no one was around so I quickly snapped a few. Here's the before:

And the after:

But my favorite one is this:

So, all in all, not a bad group of pictures for 30 minutes of snapping.

I edited them on Dilbert's laptop and the coloring seems to be off a bit. I think the monitor is different on his laptop than what I am used to so the pictures seem a little too vivid now. I will have to go back and edit them again, I think. It causes me a bit of concern... Whose monitor is reading the color values correctly--his or mine?

Hahahaha... stolen humor

I stole this from A Family Fordever... laughed till it hurt...

I wish I had this kind of talent!

Election Day

I don't have anything to say about the elections... We'll get what we deserve. 'Nough said.

I had a blast yesterday, working as a TST in our county elections. I was more than a little scared--the training was good but they kept warning us about how important it was that we had the machines assembled and working properly in time for the opening of the doors at 7 a.m. They told us it would be a madhouse all day and NOT to bring anything to pass the time with because we would be BUSY all day. I was a little stressed about it all coming into the situation pretty green.

We went to the election location, which happened to be an LDS Chapel, late Monday night to set up the room. There were 4 of us TST (Touch Screen Technicians), setting up 25 machines. It went off without a hitch. Then we went home, knowing we had to be back there by 6 a.m. to rock--n-roll.

I got back to the church by 5:30 yesterday, thinking it would be good to get a jump on the final assembly of the voting machines. We had to install the printers and memory cards and run reports on the machines all before the polls opened at 7. As it was, we were ready by 6:50 with no problems we couldn't solve on our own.

When the doors opened at 7, there were a couple hundred people in line. We quickly got them through the registration process and got them voting. By 8:15 they were all gone and there was no waiting. It was like that the rest of the day--slow but steady. We didn't have to change any tapes or anything. It was uneventfully boring. By 8 p.m. we were all exhausted, but we quickly ran our reports, took down the machines and restored the building to it's pre-voting condition :). We were home by 9, which isn't bad at all.

It was really interesting to be part of the election process. I really enjoyed it--except the long hours. The company was GREAT. I had a bunch of really wonderful people to work with. Our personalities seemed to be really similar, which tells me there is a certain kind of person who works the polls. We laughed the whole day through. I also enjoyed seeing my friends and neighbors come in to vote and getting to chat with them for a few minutes. BNLFAN_1 stopped by with goodies for me and Dilbert came by to vote before work (after getting the kids off to school for me). It was a good time.

One thing made my day... I was visiting with two young clerks, asking them about when they graduated from high school because they were wearing Davis High School Drama Department sweatshirts. They said they graduated last year so I asked them if they were in the drama class I subbed for last year. They weren't, but from there we started talking about music and stuff and I mentioned that I had a son on a mission. They didn't believe I could have a son that old (they said I looked too young. I love them!) so I went and got Frank's picture from my wallet. They looked at it and their eyes got big. They looked at each other and said, "That's Frank Zigmunt." (only they used his real name, of course.) "Yeah. I'm Frank's mom." "NO WAY!" they giggled. They knew Frank from Gypsy Sister River and had been to his concerts. They asked about all the band members and wanted to know where they were on their missions. It was kind of nice seeing how highly they thought of those boys. And what a small world. I can't wait to write Frank and tell him hi from his groupies.

Frank's Letter November 5, 2008

Since the letter is so long, I am posting a link to my other blog where I have included the whole novel... Enter at your own peril.

Dressing Up

The weather was perfect... in the 70's. Of course that is the warm before the storm we will be getting Saturday night/Sunday. They're talking snow for voting day on Tuesday. Blech. Anyway... Another year's costume crisis averted. But there's always next year for a major meltdown.

bnlfan_1 went as a 50's housewife to work to make pizzas. She even wore pearls, heals and stockings. Yuck... to make pizzas?

Scout was a secret agent. She embraced the part too much, I think. She decided the police utility belt was way too convenient and didn't take it off all night, although she decided she could use one more handcuff pocket to carry her cell phone in.


Later, BNLFAN_1 went and put on my nerd glasses and the Dr. Who scarf I made for Frank Zigmunt trying to be Dr. Who but, yeah, no...


N was Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris sleeps with a night light. Not because he's scared of the dark, but because the dark is scared of Chuck Norris. They tried to make Chuck Norris toilet paper but it didn't work because Chuck Norris doesn't take crap from no one. In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

H and M went as Beauty Queens (In the middle is H's friend Marissa). H really embraced the whole blond bombshell thing. Love those DI dresses...