Sam loves his deal sites.  Woot (one of his favorites) does a shirt a day.  This was today's shirt and I thought it was hilarious, so I decided to share it with you.  The theme was "meat."

The Vending Machine

So, here is a story that some of you know, but some of you don't.  Recently I have been asked about this experience by a couple of my siblings, and I thought it would make a pretty good blog post.

When I was about 8 or 9 (we lived in a trailer park), there was a vending machine near the manager's house.  Being the sugar addict that I am, I would often buy candy from the vending machine.  This particular day my brother, John, was tagging along with me and my friend.  He was begging me to buy him something too.  I kept telling him no.  He had his own money.  Why should I buy him candy?!?  When I got to the vending machine, he was still right by my side.  I put my money in, and as I pushed the button of the candy I wanted, he pushed what he wanted too.  And then, a miracle happened.  My candy came out, and so did his.  Wait, it gets better...someone had the idea to push the coin return, and I got my money back. 

We weren't stupid.  We continued putting the money in and pushing as many buttons as we could at the same time, to maximize our buying power.  By this time, my sister Sandy had joined the fun, and another friend, Joey.  (We fondly referred to him as yellow teeth...weren't we so kind?!?)  Within a few minutes, we had the entire vending machine emptied.  Best day of my life!  We divided up the candy and each had a bag full.  I remember walking around the neighborhood living up the moment.  I started my candy binge with one of my least favorite kinds of candy, a nut roll.

Delicious...not.  By the time I was about half way through the candy bar, I started feeling really guilty, along with my sister, Sandy.  (John was apparently void of this feeling at his young age.)  Despite our friends', and brother's utter confusion, we confessed what we'd done to our mother.  She told us we needed to give the candy back and pay for what we had eaten.  We took the candy back to the manager and gave him the money we owed.  Yes, we made the right choice in the end, and yes it felt better than having a whole vending machine's worth of candy. 

Fall Break

Fall break was fantastic this year!  Sam and I went to Washington D.C. to visit my sister and her family, and of course, to see the sights.  My parents went with us, or we went with them, but we bought our tickets first, so they went with us.  It was so much fun!  We did so many things and I loved it.  I won't bore you with too many details, but I'll try to post some pictures...Sam's pictures (I didn't take many myself).  If you ever go to D.C.  I highly recommend going to Mt. Vernon, getting tickets to go up the Washington Monument, and hitting Arlington.  I love the changing of the guard and there are some cool things to see there.  We walked around so much that my legs were sore a couple of the days (and I consider myself to be in pretty good shape).

 There are some pictures for you.  If you'd like to see more you can check out my Dad's blog, or apparently his facebook.  He's much more diligent about getting pictures out than I am.  And just fyi, there was one day we didn't have our cameras because we went to the White House, so yes, you are only getting a taste of what we did.  Also, many places don't allow pictures.  But it was a great vacation and it was so hard to go back to work.  Such is life.  Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

So here is the new kitchen...I love it!  It is almost all the way done, just have to install the dishwasher, get a new light for above the sink, and fix the hinges on one door...you'll see what I mean...

This is the old kitchen...obviously (I hope)

Destruction process...so much fun

New cabinets are in...no molding, handles, or knobs

Finished product...excepting those few things I mentioned at the beginning....Isn't it lovely?!?

Back to Work

Well, the summer is over.  And it has been for a couple of weeks now.  I started working last Monday.  I'm working at a high school...yay!  Probably my favorite age group to work with.  So far the teachers and staff at the school have been great!  Some of the secretaries I've encountered at other schools have been a little bit condescending.  So, I'm liking my new assignment.  Plus I love the high school schedule...minus the getting up early part, but it's worth it to be done so early. 

The summer flew by, as usual.  Seemed to be pretty uneventful.  But we did have some good vacations to California, Colorado, and the Uintas.  Also, we finished painting our whole upstairs...that was really awesome.  Vaulted ceilings are not the most exciting thing to work with when it comes to painting the house.  Love them otherwise. 

The past couple of weeks, Sam has been diligently working on getting our kitchen cabinets made.  I think I helped a lot too, but of course he's put more hours in.  I do know that I could not make cabinetry my profession.  Wow!  The process that they go through to finish cabinets and doors is insane.  You put stain on to wipe it off.  You lacquer and then you sand it off.  You lacquer again and then you sand it again.  You put a glaze on and then you wipe it off.  And, of course, you put another one or two coats of lacquer on.  Very tedious.  Sam's standards relating to cabinets are much higher than mine, so he's made most of the choices for our new kitchen cabinets.  It'll be great when it's all  installed...which should be within the next week.  I'll take some final remodel pictures then.  It'll be really nice...I'm excited.

I'm proud to say that I got some sewing projects finished over the last week of summer break.  Curtains in my living room and a coat I started last October.  Rest at ease, Mom. 

Sunday Evenings

I love Sunday dinner at my mom's house.  Fortunately, I get to eat there with most of my family every other week.  Well, I guess it's only half my family.  But still, a good time.  We usually play a game or two after we're done eating.  Last night we were reminiscing and decided to re-visit our childhood instead of playing games.  Here's what we made...

I'm sure many of you don't know what this is.  You're probably not a Carter.  It's a potato bug house.  Still confused?!? Shocking!  When we were young we made mazes out of legos and put potato bugs in them to see if they could find their way out.  Sounds stupid, I'm sure.  But, it entertained us for hours as children, and for a little while last night.  Not all of my siblings participated in this activity.  I think it was mostly the younger ones.  It was fun to remember how awesomely creative we were as kids!

You bet we found a potato bug and put it in!

Did I mention I cut 13" off my hair a couple weeks ago?  Ugly picture, I know.  But I am loving the short hair.  I forget how nice and easy it is.  Man I look scary in that picture!  (It's the only one I have of my fabulous new hair...this was from the first day too!)

And no, our house is not finished yet.  They've just been mudding and sanding.  Trust me, you're not missing anything without pictures of it.  But, it is looking good and they should be done today.  And then Sam and I get to clean and paint. Yay!  Anyone want to help???

Days 15 and 16

It seems like our house really might be finished by this weekend.  They said they will have to come Saturday to put the texture on the walls, but otherwise they will probably be done tomorrow.  I know!  I am surprised too.  But, I'm a couple days behind, so I hope you're ready for a lot of pictures!

There is no longer a hole in our bedroom leading to the loft.

The wall is almost completely done.

They got a lot of the new ceiling mudded.  Those were all things that they got finished yesterday.

When I got home today, my house looked a lot different.  I am loving it!

They started mudding around the new part of our bedroom wall, I know, it's hard to tell in the picture.  You'll have to take my word for it.

The wall is now completely back up, withe some more mud on it.

And, this is what the kitchen now looks like.  I know, it needs some paint.  It's got a multi-colored thing going on right now.  But, isn't it awesome?!?  It's way more open and light.  I LOVE it!

Last, but not least:

t

The last little bit of wiring that Sam did.  There was an outlet in one of our cupboards that he is moving to the wall.  So, yes, he's made some holes in the wall, and sure he's taken down about 5 cabinets, but it'll be okay.  The holes will be covered by the cabinets and the range when we move it back.  I guess he knows what he's doing since he works in a cabinet shop and they always do these things when they install.

I'm really loving the way that our house is turning out.  I can't wait til it's all finished.  Of course, I'm not really looking forward to all the dusting and deep cleaning that will be required when they stop sanding everything.  But, I guess it'll be worth it!!

In answer to a question

No, we're not rebuilding the loft!  They will finish what will be the new ceiling while the loft floor is still there....for convenience.  They will tear out the loft floor last, so that they don't have to mud and sand the ceiling on ladders.  You will understand when it's all done, but just imagine that the old floor is not there.  Where the can lights are will be the new kitchen ceiling.  Maybe it'd make more sense if you'd seen our house before.  I don't know.  I guess you can wait for the finished product pictures.

Day 14: the fun conitnues

So, it seems like an eternity since we started this fun little remodel.  Though there aren't many pictures to be shown, a lot has been done.  The electrical work is finished, which is a miracle!  Most of it Sam was able to do himself.  I'm sure that will save us a lot of money.  So, I didn't take pictures of the day to day work on the wiring.  Not all that much to look at, I promise.  Yesterday the construction guy came over to start putting our house back together.  Yay!  He thinks he'll be done by Friday (in a couple days)...I think it'll be great if he's done by Friday the 11th of June.

See!  Our can lights are in (wired by Sam) and we have a ceiling!  Yay!

And this was a wall that we tore down. (Kicking myself for not getting before and after pictures of this wall.  It had some amazing texture on it.  A Quarter inch thick in places.  We decided it'd be easier to build the whole wall from scratch than try to sand the texture off.)  So the wall is half built up again already.  Happy day.

Day 3: umm...

So there really hasn't been much change the last couple of days.  I know I thought it'd be awesome to do daily pictures and updates, but it kinda looks the same.  I'll post a few pictures and point out the changes for you.  It seems like they are a little stuck on the electrical changes that need to take place.  Yeah, our kitchen was, apparently, the central location for all the wiring in our whole house.  You think I'm joking?!?  Not so much.  So, currently things are at a stand still. 

This week has been a fun one, however.  Got my tires rotated today and had to buy two new tires, even though it has been less than two years since I bought my tires.  My car's alignment was pretty jacked up...got that fixed and am looking forward to another repair.  Something to do with a bent something or another that has to be replaced!  Good times.  Next week should be better.  Only 7 more work days til summer vacation...WAHOO!!!

See the fancy new can lights they've put up?  Not that they actually work right now...but hey, I guess it's progress.  And I think they tore the ceiling off since the last post.

Remember those dry wall patches in the entry hall way?  Those are being mudded and will eventually look like the rest of the wall.  Cool! 

So, yeah, that's basically all the progress I've seen the last couple of days.  Might be taking more meals at our parents' houses the next couple of weeks.  It's gonna take a while before things are less dirty (dusty) and more usable.  Hopefully, in the end, it'll all be worth it....

Day 1: Demolition

So, we are having our 6'11" high kitchen ceiling vaulted to match the rest of our living/dining room area.  They started work yesterday.  They got most of the demolition done...I think.  From what I hear, that's the hardest part.  I hope that's so.  Although, as they uncovered the walls that were there and the ceiling, I think they found some wires that may make the electrical more difficult than anticipated.  Isn't that always so???  Honestly, when we got the bid, I figured it would be more than they quoted us, and maybe take longer then they said.  But, we're okay with them working late, so maybe they will get it done within the week (still not holding my breath).

Here are some before pictures:

We are super sad to be losing our completely useless loft.  Well, at least I think Michael is a little sad that we are taking his room and making it part of our kitchen.  Sorry Michael...but I don't think Nora would like to live there with you.

And some pictures from the end of day 1:

Lazy Days

I feel so totally lazy today.  I need to go to the gym but so far I've just been lying in my bed.  In fact, I even ate my dinner in my bed.  That's how lazy I feel.  So many things I should be doing but instead I'm blogging...

It's still cold outside.  Fortunately it's not snowing.  It's just super windy which makes me really cold.  Here's a couple of my favorite things from the week:

• the first thing is the grand opening of Winco!  It's just down the street from my house.  I am a huge fan of Winco and have been since my mission in Oregon...so long ago....  I didn't brave going to Winco during the day Monday, but Sam and i made a trip that night at 11:30.  It was great!  The lines were short and we got all the deals and, of course, some of my favorites from their amazing bulk section.  Man, I love that place.  It makes me feel like I'm in Oregon when really I'm here in Utah.  I forgot how much I love it.

• secondly, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."  I've been wanting to read these books for a while, but the first one was always checked out from the library.  (I can't read books out of order, so even though the third or fourth one would be in, I never got it.)  I knew it would be an easy read, what I didn't know was how funny it would be!  It totally made me laugh out loud.  Good times!  It was kind of nice to take a little break from reading "Lord of the Rings."  I would honestly recommend those books to anyone, although I've only read the first two.  It makes me want to see the movie.

• last, but not least, is merely the fact that I've had good gym attendance this week, excepting today...but I'll go...eventually.  I've even been really good about doing cardio, even though it depresses me that it's too cold to run outside AND it's May 6th.  Guess you can't have it all.

It was snowing off and on all day today.  That makes me really sad.

Random thoughts...

What happened to the nice spring weather?  Good thing our "mini-reunion" was not this week.  So cold!  As I was walking into work today, I almost got blown over.  No joke.  The wind was so strong and cold.  I thought I was done with my winter coats for the season...nope.

What's with people my age having 4 kids?  It makes me feel old...I am old.  But still...it's crazy.  I guess they got married young...something I never had a desire to do.

This year is my ten year high school reunion...that's weird.  I really AM old.  Neat-o.

I just hope the weather warms up....and the price for flights goes down...and that I don't die from carbon monoxide poisoning.  Now is the perfect time to test our, supposedly, "perfectly in order" heater.

And anyone who cares can thank Tracy for my blog remodel.  She wanted to make me look cool or something...at least on the web...

Photic Sneezing Update

My mom is a photic sneezer...that explains it. Dominant trait...about half my siblings have it. Makes sense.

Oh, and I loved that the comments on my last post started with T saying I was a freak and then everyone else said they, or someone they knew had it! So funny!

Photic Sneezing

I, along with 30% of people, suffer from photic sneezing. You probably have no idea what that is. Basically it's when you sneeze because light gets in your eyes. For me, it's really just the sun.

Here's what i learned from the world's most reliable source, Wickipedia:

"Photic sneeze reflex is an autosomal dominant hereditary trait which causes sneezing (due to naso-ocular reflex [1]) when suddenly exposed to bright light, possibly many times consecutively. It is also referred to as photic sneeze response, sun sneezing, photogenic sneezing, the photosternutatory reflex, being photo sensitive, allergic to the sun, ACHOO syndrome, and Achooism,[citation needed] named after the sound made when sneezing, along with its related backronym Autosomal dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome. The condition affects 18-35% of the human population.[2]

The first mention of the phenomenon is probably in the later work attributed to Aristotle (Problems, book XXXIII).[3]"

Hereditary...interesting. I think one of my sisters has it, I don't know about my parents or other siblings. I just want to say, "Yes, it is a real thing."

I always said I was allergic to the sun!

It's been warm this past week...well after it stopped snowing. I hope it stays that way. Warm. I like the Spring.

Ammendment I

I totally forgot the most exciting part of our spring break! I can't believe it...

- we felt an earthquake. It was about 300 miles away in Mexico, at the epicenter it was measured to be 6.9. It lasted for over one minute...cool huh?

One more thing, but less exciting:
- the second time we were at the beach we saw a couple dolphins.

I think with the addition of those two things, I have now satisfactorily covered spring break.

Spring Break

So this year for spring break, Sam and I went to California. It was a good time...overall. We stayed with Sam's sister, thanks! His nephew is super cute. Loves to scowl at people...it's so funny. He'll totally scowl at you and then laugh and smile.

Here are a few quick highlights of our trip:

- learned a new, and kinda funky way to play rook...I was called a "Rook Purist."
- ate home-made fried ice-cream...a delicious treat.
- went to the beach a couple of times...the water was cold, but still fun and beautiful.
- went to the fashion district, very interesting...they sell a lot of tight jeans and shirts, purses, shoes, and yes they even have lingerie stores...skank-a-licious...we bought nothing.
- stumbled into the fabric district...much more my speed. Crazy amounts of fabrics there, crazy prices. It was great! There were quite a few items that tempted my there, but I refrained and only walked away with serger thread for me and my mom...only a dollar a spool. (Talk to me in person and I'll rave about the fabric district for 20 minutes. I told Sam we're going every time we go to Cali from now on...lucky him!)
- I finally ate the infamous Tito's Tacos, pretty good...a Rosenthal tradition.
- drove by Bubbi's house...I hear it looks the same.
- and we watched the Biggest Loser, of course I've been keeping up with the season...yay for voting Melissa off!

That's my spring break in a nut shell. Ironically, the only picture we took was when Sam's car hit 100,000 miles on the drive home. Yes, I was lazy when it came to taking pictures. Oh and thanks for dinner, Mare! It was great! Oh, I guess the last thing to mention is that Megan performed a 15 minute concert on her "drum set," including such hits as, "Santa Wants You to Love."

Heater Saga

So, we finally got the work on our old GE heater done. I guess it wasn't work on it so much as just replacing it completely. Well, it did get replaced, and so our basement is warm. Unfortunately, our upstairs is still cold.

I'll be brief in my ranting. I did yell at the company at least one more time before anything got done. They came at 8:30 one night to replace it. They got it half done and then Sam and I went out of town. They were scheduled to come back monday and do it...apparently scheduled appointments mean nothing. Oh wait, I knew that. They DID call us tuesday night to see if they could come by...it was at 11:30 pm. Like we would want them coming at that time of night to work on it. Genius pantses!

And they actually came wednesday afternoon to finish the job. Yes, Sam missed more work. But it's done. Now if we could only get the Lennox fixed. We did call the warranty to have another company come to check the Lennox. they almost sent CDM over again!!! Seriously?!? Hopefully we'll have better luck with this other company. Such fun!

So, I went to a high school to interpret for a meeting. When I walk in the lady in charge says, "What grade is your student in?"

Heater Issues

For those of you that don't know, we've been having major issues with our heaters and even bigger issues trying to get them fixed. Thanks to our home warranty it's relatively cheap for us to get them fixed, it's just a matter of dealing with possibly the worst company ever.

After not showing up for TWO appointments we had set to get it fixed today (this is after a lot of crap we've had to deal with...paperwork not being sent in, inaccurate diagnoses, etc.), I decided it was time for me to step in (up til now, Sam got to deal with them). Sam had taken the day off work to be here for them to come. They told us it would be an all day project. An hour and a half after they were supposed to be here, Sam called them to see what was going on. They fired a technician and so they weren't able to come at the scheduled time. Did they bother to call and let us know that they wouldn't make it? Oh no! Even thought they said they knew they wouldn't make it at 9 this morning. So the rescheduled for the afternoon and Sam went to work. When I got home from work (7:30 pm), they still hadn't come...or called. So, I decided to give them a call.

I can be pretty mean when I feel like it's necessary. Today was a long day. I was tired, grumpy, and hungry. Poor, poor lady who answered the phone when I called to complain....

Warm Weather

Today was such a nice day! Yay! I got to go for my first outside run...and I made it a long one. It was so nice to actually go somewhere on my run instead of trying to keep my balance on the treadmill at the gym as I watch whatever movie they happen to be playing at the time. And they do not always pick running-friendly movies. Ever tried running to "Bedtime Stories?"

I don't know if you have ever run in a "cardiocinema," but it is not the easiest thing. They make it all dark and have a movie playing on a big screen. It took me a while to get used to running in that type of a setting. It makes me totally off balance. I think it might be caused by the glaring red lights on the treadmill contrasting with the darkness of the room. At first it made me sick to try to run in there with the red lights in my peripheral vision. Eventually I got used to it, but there were plenty of times that I almost fell down due to a loss of balance...so fun!

Just glad it's actually warm enough to run outside again...at least for now.

Easter Candy

This is a shout out to my mom. A few weeks ago, at Sunday dinner, we were talking about holiday candy. I mentioned how I am disappointed with the candy industry. I hate that the holiday candy selection is mostly regular candy in holiday wrappers. It seems like when I was a kid we could get different kinds of candy during the holiday season. Not just snickers in pastel wrappers or pastel colored m&ms.

Ever since that conversation my mom has been buying my unique-type of Easter candy that she has found at the stores. As a result, I left Sunday dinner tonight with glorious bag of candy. My mom must really love me!!! Thanks mom!

Blast from the Past

This post is dedicated to my brother, John....

So, the other day I was remembering an event from my childhood. When John and I were younger we were watching some Disney movie. It may have been Aladdin...I'm not sure. Whatever movie it was, it had a preview for Disney's newest feature film, The Lion King.

During the sneak peak of this, soon-to-be-released movie, they showed typical things. You know, artists drawing the lions, beginning stages of making the movie, etc. One of the lines during the preview was, "Disney's 32nd animated feature film, The Lion King."

John, who was pretty big into wild cats at the time said, "I don't care if that movie is only 30 seconds long, I want to see it!"

I laughed right out loud and told him how he had misunderstood what it said. Good times!

Hearts to John!

Whose Mom are You??

So, I didn't think that I looked older than my actual age, but some events this week have made me re-think that estimation of myself.

The Junior High School I work at was having a book fair this week. I decided to go check it out and see if there was anything I needed to get. I sometimes feel like I should support my place of employment. I went to the book fair and I found this awesome cook book. It was "Quick and Easy Chicken recipes from Scratch." I decided I would buy it. As I was paying for the book the cashier, a PTA volunteer, told me about the raffle they had if you bought a book. Then she says, "You can just put your student's name on this ticket and it'll go in the drawing."

Really?!? I look like the mom of a junior high student? That would mean I had a child at age 15. I told her that I don't have a student at the school and that in fact I work there. She was like, "Oh, well we have a separate for faculty and staff that you can enter."

The very next day, I was taking a little break during second period. You know, just getting a drink, going to the bathroom, walking around a little. As I start walking down one of the main hallways this man turns to me and says, "Whose mom are you again? You look so familiar, I just can't place your face with your student."

Seriously??? I said, "I don't have a student here. I work here. If I did have a student I would've been 15 when I had the child...so nope, just an employee. Thanks though."

So...what can we conclude from this? Either I look about 32 or I look like the type of person that would get pregnant at 15. Thanks for making my week, Ms. PTA volunteer and Mr. Choir Teacher.