A Series of "Did That JUST Happen?" Events

First, a warning - this might be a long post (since I haven't written in a few weeks), so if you want to read the whole thing and look at the pictures, make sure you have a few minutes to do so. You might actually make it through my entire play list of songs while reading this.

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the gas station to get some gas... and take a picture of the price of gas, because I thought the picture might last longer than the price itself.


Yes, this picture is already outdated. But I was flabbergasted. I hadn't seen prices this low for ten years! And then, when my little car was done filling with gas, I was even MORE amazed at what was being debited from my account.

YIKES. I had to take a picture of THAT too, since it probably won't last either.

Those of you that talk to me on a regular basis know that I've been messing with the idea of getting a new car for several months now. A month ago, I went with my brother to watch him lease a car - he was trading his car in for something with all-wheel drive. Mostly I was curious about the transaction, and how it would work, in case I decided to eventually trade my car in too. Talking with the salesman led me to the conclusion that I could probably get more out of my car if I tried to sell it myself, then use what I made off that sale as a down-payment. Made sense, so I decided to give it a try.

Only, I never got around to it.

I put off cleaning my car out and was too busy (or lazy?) to go get estimates done of what simple repairs would cost. I did a little research to see how much my car was worth, but that's about it. I thought maybe I'd see how I fared with one more winter in my little car. But then it snowed last Monday morning - and that decided me. I was on the phone with the guy who sold my brother his car by 2:00 that afternoon. By 4:30, he had worked the numbers and came up with a pretty decent trade-in deal for me, and a car lined up for me to look at. At 8:30 Tuesday morning, I went and picked up my new baby.

It's a Nissan Rogue SL, Phantom White, with pale gray/tan cloth interior. It has a Bose sound system with a 6-CD changer, a moon roof, it's wired for bluetooth, and most importantly - it has ALL-WHEEL DRIVE. I drove it in the snow this past weekend, and it handles beautifully. I feel safe driving in snowy and icy weather for the first time in three or four years! Yes, I realize I have a car payment again... I loved not having one for the past four or five years, and enjoyed a little extra play money. But a little more safety - and the "new car" smell - is TOTALLY worth it. Plus the fact that even though she takes mid-grade gasoline, I will fill up for a cheaper price than the last time I filled up my Sentra with low-grade gas. Huh. Anyway, I haven't named her yet, so I'm taking suggestions.

Speaking of this past weekend... I spent Friday night at the Grand America hotel with my mom and sisters. The Grand is the only 5-star (or 5-diamond, depending on the review you read) in town, and my sister Kate works in the spa there. So we got KILLER discounts on the room rate and spa treatments! (We got pedicures.) Pays to know people, I guess. But I've always been curious about that place, and it didn't disappoint. It was amazing. The rooms were HUGE, and the bathrooms were incredible. We shared two rooms (since there were five of us) and the views from the rooms were awesome. Kate showed us around a little, and we ate dinner at the restaurant there - the Garden Cafe - and the food was delicious. We sat in the hot tub, and ordered a movie (which cut out right in the middle, but they sent someone up to fix it for us. Very professional, but kind-of embarrassing since we were all lounging in our PJ's by that point). We ordered room-service for breakfast - again, YUMMY. It was so fancy! We had a great time together.

*SIGH*

Reality kind-of stinks after a weekend like that. BUT - I still have my new car to drive! HOORAY!

The Good News and the... Exam

So I went to the doctor on Monday to follow up about my cholesterol... the doc put me on me on medication to try and bring it down, because it was at a whopping 156. (Apparently they like your 'bad' cholesterol to be under 100. My 'good' cholesterol was perfect.) When I went into the exam room and the doctor sat down to chat with me, he realized that the lab never sent the results of my blood work back to him, so he went to have his assistant call and have them faxed over. While we were waiting for the fax, I decided to ask him about something I've been struggling with for a a couple of years: I can't sit in any one position for very long without pain. If I DO sit for too long, it hurts to stand up. I thought it might be a bruised tailbone or something, until a few weeks ago, when I felt a kind-of grinding sensation near my tailbone. Huh - that can't be good. So I asked the good doc about it. He said, "Well, I can check it out for you. I know it's not the best area to want to be checked..." He trailed off and gave me a sort-of half-smile. A half-smile that sort-of made him look like George Clooney. NOT HELPING. "I could send you for an X-Ray, but I'd kind-of like to check it first out so I can order the correct one." "Ooookaaaayyy..." I say.
This is a very nice man. VERY nice man, probably in his mid-to-late-forties, very professional, very soft-spoken and kind, and very married. He explained to me that I could leave my 'undergarments' on and he would be okay to try to locate the source of my pain. So I thought, why not - maybe we can do something about this pain thing. So he left the room, and I did it - I disrobed from the waist down, leaving my undergarments on and a thin paper 'shield' around my waist, and waited, red-faced, for him to come back. When he did come back, he had me stand on a stool and turn around, and he started putting pressure on my backbone and tailbone, gently explaining to me what each bone was that he was feeling. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't until he got to the lowest bone - the coccyx - that I felt any real pain. When he put the slightest pressure on that bone, I got a jolt of pain. "Yep, yep, that's it right there. Ouch." At this point, I'm just mortified and red all over. "Okay," he says, "I'll order an X-Ray of the coccyx for you. If it's actually broken, and it's a clean break, there's not really a lot they can do. If it's fractured and there are misplaced bone fragments, then we'll talk about your options." I step off the stool. "Okay, sounds good," I say. After he left, I got dressed and tried to compose myself. It's not that it was un-pleasant, it just wasn't very... pleasant. I kept telling myself that he's a doctor and I'm sure he's seen it all.

*sigh*

Next time I think I'll just suffer.

Oh, and my cholesterol? Down to 71. Hooray for modern medicine.

It's December Already??!??!!?

This morning I went outside to scrape off my car, and only ended up needing to wipe of the windshield, really. It's supposed to be 53 degrees today. WELCOME... to December in Utah. It'll probably snow tomorrow.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did - it was really small, just my immediate family, minus Mar and Jesse and Addie, who were with Jesse's family in California. We missed them! But it sounds like they had a blast there, so lucky them! :) Anyway, I helped my mom make pies (well, mostly I rolled out the crusts and poured the fillings in when they were ready), and I also helped her put the stuffing in the turkey... she bought these cheesecloth bags that the stuffing went into, and then the bag of stuffing went into the turkey - hands down, THE most disgusting thing I've done in my life to date. I held the turkey open while my mom and I both shoved the bag of stuffing into the turkey, juice leaking everywhere... UGH, I want to throw up just thinking about it. But it turned out really yummy! My brother Mike mashed real potatoes (YUM), and my sister Kate made yams, complete with brown sugar and marshmallows on top (YUM YUM)! It was quite the feast. Since I didn't have to work Friday, I just lounged around... I don't think I got out of my PJ's until after 2:00 that afternoon, it was such a nice lazy day!
Now, it's back to reality... time to pay the piper! I have to go back to the doctor today to see if the cholesterol medication he gave me is working, and I'm signing up for spin classes this week so I don't burst out of all of my clothes from too many Holiday goodies!

Happy December!

Gratitude

I can't even believe that it's Thanksgiving this week! I was out walking my dogs tonight, my ears ringing from the cold, my breath visible in the night air, and I wondered - where on earth did Summer go?? It wasn't that long ago that I could walk my dogs at night in capris and a t-shirt. Now I have to bundle up!

But I got thinking... I was walking past all these homes that had Christmas lights up, and I've been listening to Christmas music off and on during November, and I realized how much I really love this time of year, in spite of the cold weather. I started a mental list of all the things I'm thankful for, and I thought I'd share just a few.

Family - I have the best family in the world! I love them all so much - parents, siblings (including my one brother-in-law), my adorable niece, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins-in-law, second cousins, third cousins, my grandma's cousins... I love them ALL, so much! I feel so blessed to be born into a family like this one. My best friends are my brothers and sisters and cousins.

Friends - I have fantastic friends. True, a lot of them are family members, but I have some WONDERFUL friends that I've had since high school, college, and ones that I work with now that I can't imagine my life without.

My Job - Even though I complain about it from time to time, I am SO grateful for the opportunity I have to be working at a good firm and having a steady income, especially in today's economy.

Modern technology - like my cell phone that lets me keep in contact with family and friends and my car that gets me from A to B. I'm also thankful for modern medicine - I truly believe it is divinely inspired (most of the time, anyway) and it is a blessing to have doctors and medication for anything from the flu to childbirth. I never would have made it as a pioneer... I'm too much of a wuss. I need hot showers and a car to drive.

Speaking of hot showers... I'm thankful for the roof over my head, hot showers, and an abundance of food and water.

There are many other things I'm thankful for and am blessed with, but I just want to mention one more - perhaps the most important to me - and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so very thankful for a 14-year-old boy who had a deep desire to know which church was true, and had the faith to know his prayer would be answered, and was eventually given the charge of restoring the fullness of the Gospel to this earth. I'm so thankful to be a part of it, and for the knowledge I have of its' truthfulness.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I love you all! :)

Nap Time

Thank you to everyone that has been so supportive this past week - it was a hard one! But grandma's funeral was yesterday, and it went well. It was a beautiful day, and I loved seeing all my cousins and aunts and uncles. I have the best family and friends ever!

I took an extra bereavement day off work today, to try and put myself back together emotionally. But instead of staying home and being depressed, I went to my sister Marianne's house and baby-sat Addie all day. I could not have asked for a better pick-me up! I have the cutest niece in the whole world, seriously. I got to Mar's just before 9, so she could give me some instructions. She told me that Addie should be about ready for her morning nap, and then I could feed her a bottle around 10. But instead of napping...

She did that for probably 15 minutes or so! I was laughing so hard, I just picked her up and played with her until around 10, when it was time to feed her. She fell asleep while she was eating. She's such a talented little baby, too - she can sit up on her own already!

She just makes me melt! It was the perfect thing for me to do today - hanging out with Addie all day long. NO ONE can be unhappy around her.

Seriously, you can't even be unhappy just looking at a picture of her, can you.

I thought not.