Enough is Enough

Before I get in to today's post, here's yesterday's picture (Day 30-Jan 30):


This is my wonderfully clean kitchen. I hadn't had time in a like a week to really keep up with the dishes and other stuff piling up on the counter, but yesterday I had some time and finally got it looking nice again. I love the feeling of a clean house. Hopefully once I'm done with school I will have a clean house more often. Ok, ok, the cake pan that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher is in the sink, but since you can't see it it counts as being perfectly clean!

Today's picture is a place I've come to know too well over the last couple of months (Day 31-Jan 31):


I've spent a ton of time here at this clinic and the hospital connected to it (that doesn't have a sign) in the last 2 months trying to figure out this ovarian cyst thing. After the intense pain on November 30 and again last night I'm about ready to tell them to just schedule the surgery. I went for a final (hopefully) ultrasound today at the hospital, I think that's number 3 but then theres the accompanying CAT scan which was great fun! Haha, it might have been if you didn't have to drink gross stuff! Guess we'll see what the doctor has to say now, too bad he's not in the office until the 11th!

Let Him In

The past two or three days I've been thinking a lot about how I can let the Savior be more involved in my life and let him help me with struggles I have. I think because of my perfectionist personality (which I hope my kids do not inherit) I want to do everything on my own and for myself which can really put a damper on life and make it stressful and seem a little hopeless. Today as I've had a few minutes to play songs about the Savior on the piano and listen to a few while I made dinner I've pondered what I can be doing to invite the Savior and Spirit into my life a little more and let them help me, even if it's just with the everyday grind of life. As I was making dinner I started listening to The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean and the last two lines of a verse and the chorus of "The Innkeeper" really hit on how I have been feeling. They say:

He lets us choose each hour of each day,

If we’ll let him in to stay.

Let him in, Let him in,

Let the joy and hope begin.

Let him in, let him in,

Let the peace on earth begin.

And whether it be in your world today,

Or a crowded Bethlehem inn ,

Find a way, make him room,

Let him in, let him in,

Let the peace on earth begin.

Let him in, let him in,

Let the joy and hope begin.

Let him in, let him in,

Let him in, let him in.

So then as I continued to think while I made dinner I realized one way I can let the Savior in is to be better about my personal scripture study. Russell and I read from the scriptures we got for our wedding every night, but I haven't taken the time lately to read on my own and I think personal scripture study can give you insight you don't get anywhere else, thanks to the invitation you have given the Spirit to whisper a testimony to you when you simply open those scriptures and dive in. So my picture of the day is my scriptures, and I hope to be able to find a few minutes each day to sit down and read them so that I can rely more on my Savior's help to get me through this life and back to him rather than doing it on my own.

Day 28- Jan 28

It's been snowing crazy today, it's like a mixture of hail and snow and I do not like it. The picture of the day is of the Papa John's pizza Rachel bought us while Russell helped her get her new Mac set up all nice. I do think she was more interested in the boy texting her than her new computer though...haha. She will love her new computer and Russell and I loved the pizza. Papa John's is by far my favorite pizza now, their crust is amazing!

And in sad news.....when we came home today I noticed that apparently my doormat has blown away!!!!! I couldn't find it anywhere outside, but hopefully it is under the snow somewhere. Hopefully I didn't wait three years for that doormat only to have it for one month!!!

One of Those Days

Today has been one of those days. You know, the kind when you just want to pull the covers back over your head when the alarm goes off and ignore everything that goes on. But....I got out of bed, and I've been grumpy the entire day. We got called to be assistant nursery leaders today which will be fun I think. I wish I had gotten to know some of the ladies in the ward better before I wasn't in Relief Society anymore, but I guess I will just have to go to enrichment and things.

Here's my picture from yesterday- Day 26-Jan 27:

I was supposed to go to the bridal show with Keera and Noelle for work from 9-5 yesterday, but they decided they didn't need three people there, so I received at the store instead. We were definitely in need of some receiving action. This is the back room when I got there at 9. Those boxes go three stacks deep to the left, plus the separate stack in the back of the picture goes about 6 wide and three deep. I got the pile in the front of the picture down...after 8 hours! I enjoy receiving a lot though. Especially when it's really noticeable that I'm getting something down. I had a good time since I didn't have to worry about what was going on on the floor, I just got to receive. Another perk is seeing the new product before everyone else!

And for today, here's my picture. Day 27- Jan 27:

Since I've been in a bad mood all day I don't have a great picture. But it's a picture of my clean coat. For some reason my coat gets super dirty and I've been meaning to wash it for several weeks. The problem is it takes about 2 days to dry, and it's the only coat I have with pockets to walk in the freezing cold weather to class so I have to wait and remember to do it on a weekend. I guess I could invest in some gloves and wear another coat, but oh well. Anyway, I finally remembered on Friday to throw it in the washer as soon as I got home from class, and today it is clean and dry and ready to keep me warm tomorrow!

Finally Spent It!

Day 25: Jan 25: Everyone at work has been making fun of me for a couple weeks now because I hadn't spent the giftcard we were given for reaching the Christmas sales goals. At least, I think that's what it was for. Anyway, I have been agonizing over what to buy with mine, and finally decided that I should get an album to do my 365-Day book in. Then I had to agonize over whether to do it 8x8, 9x9, or 12x12. After some quick math on printing costs, I determined that printing the pictures the size I needed them for the smaller albums was going to cost somewhere around $140 and printing them 4x6 and using a bigger album would cost $35. So.....the decision was made, and today I finally bought an album and some things to make a title page for my 2008 365-day book!

Chili's

Day 24- Jan 24: We went to Chili's tonight since we got a gift card from Rachel. We love Chili's, especially the Chocolate Molten Lava Cake!!!! Of course, we had some. It was great to be able to enjoy a nice meal out since we have been trying to save money by not eating out. Thanks Rachel for our treat!

Day 23- Jan 23

Yesterday was one of those go to school, go to work days. Nothing too exciting, so I took a picture of one of my favorite knick-knacks, the glass flower I made. It's probably the coolest thing I've ever made. We visited a glass museum on our trip to New York the summer of 2005 and my mom and I made glass flower while we were there, it was awesome to get to pull the glass and everything.

And.......I got tagged by Keera!

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.

C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: I was 11, living in Oklahoma I believe, and in 5^th Grade.

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Read for managerial economics
2. Try and empty the hallway of stuff at work
3. Write on my blog
4. Go to Chili’s for dinner
5. Go to bed early

5.Snacks I enjoy:
1. Baked Lays
2. Milky Way’s
3. French Fries
4. Pop-Tart’s
5. Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Buy a new house and pay it off, buy myself a new car, a new Outback for Russell, save the money for college for my kids, make my scrapbooking room like the ones in the magazines, buy the grand piano I want, go shopping a bunch, and save the rest.

3 of my bad habits:
1. Leaving cups on my nightstand.
2. Biting my nails.
3. Letting my naps turn into sleeps.

5 places I have lived:
1. Spanish Fork, UT

2. Cypress, TX
3. Bartlesville, OK
4. Broomfield, CO
5. England

5 jobs that I have had:
1. Archivers.
2. BYU Custodial
3. Philly Connection
4. Piano Teacher
5. Pretzelmaker

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. I would love to know how to paint graffiti-style
2. I want to drive a semi for one day
3. I wish I had a cello
4. I want to learn to surf
5.I want to learn to snowboard

And now I tag........Drumroll......Britni, Julie, and Lisa.
Today's picture will be posted later, I already know exactly what it will be!

Extra Tag!

Camille, I'm so sorry I forgot you, but you are tagged too!

Two Interesting Finds

I found two things on other blogs I read that I wanted to share. The first is a definition of scrapbooking from Stacy Julian that really brings the idea of scrapbooking to life to me. She says:

You see, the term scrapbooking does not just refer to the assembly of pages. Scrapbooking actually describes an ongoing, multi-dimensional spectrum of activities that begins with an awareness of your life, followed by a desire to photograph and record your day-to-day experiences, ultimately resulting in scrapbook albums that are overflowing with perspective-laden layouts, each of which contributes in some small way to the story of your life and heritage.

A really neat idea if you ask me. She really dives into the process beneath scrapbooking rather than just the outward appearance of scrapbooking.

The second thing I found is a little survey about husbands. I thought it was really neat and didn't know if I would ever get tagged to do it, so I'm just going to take it upon myself to do it instead. Here goes.

My Husband:

• What is his name? Russell (I hear he goes by Russell-muscle at work though!)
• How long have you been married? 7 months today!
• How long did you date? 4 months (that is, if dating includes after you are engaged, otherwise about six weeks.)
• How old is he? 27
• Who eats more sweets? I would have to say him, but mostly because in the last few months sweets haven't been super attractive to me.
• Who said I love you first? He did. And then he worried and worried for 8 days until I said it back.
• Who is taller? Russell, by a foot!
• Who can sing better? Me. But he really loves to sing. He does a pretty good job actually. And.....he can make up some funny songs instantly, especially to the tunes of hymns during sacrament meeting.
• Who is smarter? I'd say Russell. It seems like he knows the answer to every question I have, or at least knows where to find the answer.
• Who does the laundry? Mostly him actually. I seem to go to work and when I come home I have clean clothes!
• Who pays the bills? Russell, even though I'm the one in the finance classes. It just seems like the Husbandly thing to do to me I guess.
• Who sleeps on the right side? Depends on your view of the bed. The right side when we are laying down is Russell.
• Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn.
• Who cooks dinner? Mostly me.....he does offer to make it a lot, but I never know what I want.
• Who drives? Mostly Russell, unless I'm dropping him off somewhere. Which is funny, he doesn't like to drive at all, but he drives because he thinks the boy should!
• Who is more stubborn? I would say me most of the time. I have only found him to be stubborn about a couple of things.
• Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
• Who asked who out first? He asked me out, but I basically told him to. His message had the line "Too bad we are strangers or we could get together and play some of the games we are talking about." And I wrote back "I think messaging back and forth for a week classifies us as not complete strangers, but we definitely wouldn't be if we played some games." And then, we didn't even play a game on our first date!
• Who proposed? He did, after a very long, agonizing weekend.
• Who has more siblings? Russell, he has lots of step and half siblings.
• Who wears the pants?I think we take turns, depending on the issue.

So that's some things about Russell. Now I will tag the only people I know with husbands who read my blog sooooo....Holly, Shelley,and Mom you're tagged!!!

Day 22- Jan 22

Yesterday I spent about 3.5 extra hours at work since a coworker decided not to show up for her last day. I got to work at 2 and stayed until 5:30 (half an hour after I should have left since someone decided to buy $300 of .14 cent clearance paper!) I finally left to go pick Russell up from work 45 minutes late. Then on my way home Desi called to see if I could come back since no one else would answer the phone. So I drove Russell home and then went back to work until 10. Desi had stayed for 3 hours extra, and we couldn't have Melanie all alone. So here's my name tag from work to symbolize a crazy workday. If you look close you can see Noelle's name underneath mine, I guess that means if I need to be the district manager I could just pull off my name and do be Noelle! Haha. Oh, and good thing I did the go-back's when I got there at 2 so that whoever closed would not have basket's-full to do. Too bad the go-back's were full again as soon as I got back to work to close!!!!

Happy Holiday

We had a pretty lazy holiday. We got up early and went to the temple which was great. We had slipped out of our habit of going every other week or so and it was wonderful to be back there again. Sitting in the temple makes me feel so safe. Safe from temptation, safe from stress, safe from everything in the world. We just might go again on Friday.

We spent the rest of the day just doing whatever really. Russell helped Rachel get things sorted out for her computer and I worked on some homework. We played Ticket to Ride twice and Carcassonne twice (Russell won everything!!!) and had a good time.

Here's the picture for Day 21 (Jan 21):

I learned how to play Carcassonne today. I'm still working on playing all of Russell's games and this one turned out to be really good. Not as good as Ticket to Ride, but it was fun to play twice which gave me one time to figure the game out, and another time to actually come close to the same score as Russell!

Day 20 (Jan 20)

Today I made roast and potatoes in my crockpot with my grandma's recipe. This is the only way Russell will eat potatoes (because they actually taste more like meat since they cook together!). It was super delicious and a treat for us. Roast is expensive so we've only had it two times since we've been married, but we love it!

Finally Finished

I finally sat down and finished these two layouts I've been working on forever today. I've posted the bridesmaids one a bunch, but it is finally finished with all the elements. I do have to punch out the letters for Britni's copy next time I'm at work, but the rest are ready to go!

Freedom!

The post earlier was actually the picture from yesterday, I just didn't get home from work until after midnight! So here's today's picture (Day 19 - Jan 19):

The elephants are FREE!!! They have been living in boxes since we got married and we finally got around to putting a shelf up for them today, thanks to a gift card to Lowe's from my parents for Christmas. I did underestimate though, telling Russell that they would all fit on one shelf. I apparently have lots of elephants even though I only have about half of them with me! So some are scattered around the house until we build another shelf.

This picture is just for fun. The Quilted Bear finally had the winter set for our ladder when Russell went after work yesterday, so I found this surprise when I got home from work late last night! They also had the Valentines and St. Patrick's day ones so we have them too! I"ll post pictures when we put them on the ladder.

Missing Houston Musicians

Day 18 (Jan 18): My picture of the day is of pictures of me and the two greatest men I've ever known (that is besides my husband, my dad, and my grandpa's!) These guys make music the most enjoyable thing ever and make me just want to do play all day everyday! For some reason today I have really missed being able to talk to them and to be around them constantly. They are not only great teachers, but great friends and mentors as well.

Economics

Have I mentioned lately that I don't like economics??? There is something that changes in economics between high school and college and I haven't figured out what it is yet. I loved my high school economics class, but this managerial economics class I am in along with economics 110 I took sometime in the past have totally changed my opinion about economics in general. Maybe someday I will figure this out.

Two More Days Including Heavenly Haircuts

Day 16 (Jan 16): By the time I got home from work last night I was super tired so I didn't post, but Russell did make for a good picture-of-the-day. Most nights he stays up and waits for me.....even if I don't get home from work until after midnight. Once or twice though, including last night, I come home to find my wonderful husband zonked out. I don't even think he notices he falls asleep!


Day 17 (Jan 17): Today I got a wonderful haircut! It's been 5 months since I had one and I could not wait any longer. I do however think that one side is a tad bit longer than the other, I can't figure out if it was just how it curled under or if it really is shorter. Then I gave Russell a much-needed haircut tonight and he looks great!

Catch Up

I was pretty sure I was dying yesterday, so now I have to catch up on my posts. Here's yesterday's picture.

Day 14 (Jan 14): Yes, it's my pillow. I spent most of the day there after a wonderful drive to school and back since when I got there I felt ten times worse than when I left the house. I came home and slept until 4 while watching every TV court show there is, then I went to bed again at 8:30. Crazy, I know. Today I am feeling much better though.


Day 15 (Jan 15): Tonight Rachel game over for dinner and some Wii fun! We played DDR and Mario and Sonic Olympic Games. It's pretty funny to watch Russell play DDR, although I bet it's fun to watch me too! We haven't found time to play a lot lately so it was nice to get some gaming in tonight.

Employee Crop

Day 13 (Jan 13): Here's the expansion of the page I posted a while ago. It took me 4 hours at the employee crop to make three of these layouts! But.......now Cooper and Cymbre will have it for their scrapbooks. So much for getting anything else done. I would have stayed longer and gotten more surprises finished, but I wasn't feeling good.

I printed one picture wrong, so that is why there is a blank spot. When it's not Sunday I will have to print another one. I was trying to keep the Sabbath day holy.


Sis.....Do you want a copy??? If you do I can make you one.

Mrs. Scrapbook

Day 12 (Jan 12): For work tonight I went up to Salt Lake to a bridal show at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Keera and I worked it all night, but Keera didn't want to take a picture with me, so she took one of me and Diana, who I love! We were at the bridal show telling everyone about our new stationary line called Yours Truly which enables people to make their own invitations or announcements to fun things like weddings. It's actually a pretty neat line we have.

And....my hair is extremely long. Now that I've seen a picture of myself I have a priority to get it cut this week!


And.......here's a random story. We went to Walmart this morning and as we were leaving Russell backed up and we heard a loud crunching noise. Russell said "Oops, I ran over a penguin!" I was like what????? Turns out it was a big pile of snow.

Because I Need to.

Day 11 (Jan 11): Here's my picture for the day. I'm so glad my Mom bought me Snood for my DS. I used to love to play this game when I was a kid on the computer but could never seem to beat Dad's ultimate high scores. This one has different levels in different countries. So far I've made it through the USA and Peru and I'm working on Egypt. The controls are a little harder without a mouse, but it's still a fun game.

Sweet Smells

Day 10 (Jan 10):I love the smell of my house when I have a candle burning. I especially love that I have a house now so that I can actually burn the candles instead of just collect them in college apartments. I burned this one today while I was home doing homework and it made my house smell of delicious strawberry's. I almost had to dig in the fridge and find some strawberries to eat!

Identity Crisis

Day 9 (Jan 9): Today I didn't do anything great, so I decided I would take a picture of one of my favorite things. This is Mammoth.

He is one of my FAVORITE elephants. Maybe right below Pinky. My Daddy brought him to me after a trip he went on. He is super snuggly. Sometimes he has identity problems though and, like the mammoth in Ice Age 2, believes he is a opossum. I like him both ways!

A Surprise in my Cereal

Day 8 (Jan 8): Coco Krispies are one of my favorite cereals, which are very few in number. I really don't like cereal at all except for the select 2 or 3. I haven't been excited about a cereal box prize in a long time, and maybe it was the fact that I didn't even know this box had a prize in it, but ZAP out popped a little electronic game as I poured cereal for dinner tonight! I though wow, that's actually a really cool prize, I didn't even know there was one in this box. Anyway, you have to try and throw the football to the receiver without it being intercepted.

First Day of School

So the first day of school went fine I guess. I'm not super excited for any of my classes yet, but it is amusing to watch Rick play conquer club throughout the entire three hours! Wow! I had managerial economics, organizational behavior, and orchestra today. The weird thing is, now that I'm in some of the core classes of the business program we add classes as envelopes instead of picking each one individually. Definitely helps save time in the registration process so I like that a lot. The thing I don't know if I'll like is that basically all the classes are in the same classroom.


Day 7 (Jan 7): Welcome to room 2105 of the JKB on BYU campus. The picture of the day. Not the best picture in the world but it will have to do since it's hard to get a picture around more than 30000 students! I basically spend from 8-11am in this room Monday through Friday, with one exception for an hour I believe. It is a nice room, but the walls aren't super thick so I could here other classes going on. I think that will drive me crazy all semester. It does however have access to outlets for all students, which will be nice since we are required to take our laptops everyday. We'll see if I come to love or hate this room and the 40 or so students that I meet there each morning.

Day 6

Today I made these little tokens of love to put in Russell's shirt pockets when I iron them. I can't wait for him to find the first one, I hope he enjoys them. I've had the idea and the stuff to make them for months but haven't had time to sit down and do it.

We went to Larkin and Allyson's ward today since they were blessing there twins. What a spiritual experience. They are lucky to have two sweet spirits in their home.

Days 4 & 5

It has been snowing here all day. Luckily I took my car for it's oil change at 9, right when they opened. Otherwise it would have had to wait and then, according to the guys there, I wouldn't have a car! I called into work because I'm trying to get over my sickness before school starts on Monday, since I will actually need to stay awake during class. So we've spent the day inside playing games, taking naps, and doing laundry.

Day 4 (Jan 4):


Kool-Aid Tropical Punch. It's basically the only thing that I took into my body yesterday. I felt terrible, and nothing sounded good, or tasted good besides this Kool-Aid. I believe this picture is of my 5th or 6th glass. Very refreshing. I did keep trying other things, but nothing worked. My head was killing me, my eyes were burning, my throat hurt, and I couldn't stop sneezing. I guess that's a recipe for Kool-Aid relief.

Day 5 (Jan 5):


Relief! Even more than Kool-Aid! I got this and another version of Sudafed while at Walmart this morning buying some notebooks so I'm ready for school on Monday. I didn't know if I should get this sinus one or the cold one, so I bought both since I had many a symptom listed on both. I chose to try this one first because of my burning eyes and it worked! Not only did it make my eyes stop burning, but it made my nose empty of it's junk so that I could actually take a much needed nap! Thank You, Sudafed.

Day 3

I've felt sick all day. I did however manage to sort and put away all my scrapbooking supplies. I do need to find a better way to store paper, scraps, and the things I have for Caleb's scrapbook but everything has a place for now at least. In the process, I found that I have a ton of ribbon. I'm really into using ribbon lately, so I guess that's a good thing. It's a perfect embellishment for many pages! I do have an abundance of pink and brown, due to my wedding, so I might need to branch out and get some other colors for quick and easy use.

365-Day Book+Day 1+Day 2

I saw on one of the scrapbook blogs that I read the idea to take a picture a day for the whole year and then make a scrapbook about it. So I decided I would do it. But I forgot yesterday, so I took two pictures today. One is from an activity from yesterday though, so it will work out. You take the picture and then have a small blurb about why you took the picture. Anyway, that's one of my new years resolutions. The other is to practice and be ready to try out for the orchestra at temple square in July/August when they do auditions. So far the practicing is going great. I practice while Russell works out each night. Hopefully we will not slip once the new semester starts.

Oh....and in order to keep track of my pictures and thoughts about them for my book I'm going to post them on my blog each day (hopefully!). Then when I get time to actually make the book I will have it all logged.

Here's Day 1(Jan 1):


This is a picture of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland. I think I'm addicted to this game. You have tickets from certain cities to others and then you have to build your trains. It's probably my favorite board game I've played with Russell and we started off the new year playing it twice last night. We love the time we spend together playing games, I find it much more useful and interactive than watching t.v. together.

Day 2 (Jan 2):


I bought my books for the coming semester today, and here they are. I'm excited because even though they were expensive, I only have one for each class this semester, and......they are thin!!! That makes a backpack sooooooooo much lighter! I'm excited for the new semester. I really enjoy being in the business classes (even though I do complain a lot)!