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By Rachel, on November 2nd, 2010
There are a lot of things that fall into the category of Not Awesome. For instance, getting a cavity filled. Or maybe having a huge zit pop up the day you have to give a presentation at work. Or perhaps cleaning up barf in the middle of the night. Or most of Katy Perry’s music. I think we all have our personal lists.
However, there are definitely a few things that top the list of Things That Are Not Awesome.
EXHIBIT A:
A little over a week ago as we were driving home from Sunday dinner at my parents house an ENORMOUS 4 POINT BUCK jumped right in front of our SUV. Seriously, enormous! Of course, there was no avoiding it and we slammed right into the poor thing. This deer was so big that our SUV didn’t kill it on impact and he tried to struggle up and run away, causing me to scream and cover my eyes in horror thinking this poor animal was slowly dying right in front of me. He did manage to limp away, and I can only hope he was quickly out of his misery. None of us were hurt, which I am very grateful for since people have been killed in accidents like that.
The car was still barely drivable, but when we took it into the shop the next day they said it was the worst deer damage they had ever seen. $6,000 worth of damage. Holy mother of marmalade, that was about twice as much as I was expecting! Thank heavens for insurance. The entire front of the car had been shifted, requiring some major work.
Well! As if that wasn’t enough, behold Things That Are Not Awesome, exhibit B:
 Yes folks, this is our other car. Four days after hitting the deer with our SUV, some dude hit the gas instead of the brakes and slammed into Brady while pulling out of a parking lot.
HA! Hahahahaha! It’s almost comical! I’m expecting a personalized thank you card from the guys at the body shop any day now. Their kids are going to have a fantastic Christmas thanks to us. You’re welcome, kids!
Thankfully, technically we aren’t at fault for either accident, so they will both be covered by insurance without our premiums going up.
But seriously, who has time for this crap? But as the saying goes, when it rains it pours, right?
By Rachel, on October 29th, 2010
A little over a week ago we roasted the last s’mores of the season. We heard a rumor that bad weather was a-brewin’ so we ran for the hills (literally).
I have learned a valuable lesson this year- the more time you spend in nature, the longer the season seems. In past years, I remember always saying “the summer just flew by!”, or something along those times. Autumn usually seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. But the reason the seasons passed by so quickly is because I spent them confined by the four walls of my cubicle or my house. Of course every seasons seemed to blend together!
This past spring we resolved to enjoy summer to the fullest. We traveled, we spent time on the swings at the park, we picnicked on blankets in the backyard. But more than anything, we hung out in the mountains near our home. We purchased an annual pass to the canyon- the best $45 we’ve ever spent- and went to town. (Although not literally. I suppose it would make more sense to say we got out of town, but that wouldn’t convey the intended meaning, you see.) We hiked, we biked, we camped. We (mainly the little one) threw rocks in streams and reservoirs. We (mainly the little one) collected leaves and breathed fresh air and got filthy. But most of all, we ate. Roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, tin foil dinners, and fancy Dutch oven meals. Funny how the mountain air can make everything taste divine, no?
It was one of the best summers of our lives. So good, in fact, that we decided to continue it right into fall.
So this last week when we roasted marshmallows for the last time before an enormous, wet pile of snow was dumped on us, it was bittersweet. Sweet to know we had made so many memories, but bitter to know the good times had to come to an end.
We’re not much of winter outdoors-y people, you know. But maybe we’ll have to learn to be, because this whole being-cooped-up-in-the-house thing isn’t working out so well for me.
The canyon sure did put on a beautiful closing act for us, though. The pictures don’t do it justice. Good golly, I can’t wait for fall to come again.
Next post: I will tell you why I haven’t posted all week. In other words, things that are not awesome.
By Rachel, on October 21st, 2010
Lately the husband and I have been completely fascinated with the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan and Pakistan. I can’t explain it, really. I think it started when we read The Kite Runner, and then A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by the Afghan author Khaled Hosseini (amazing books, if you haven’t read them yet). For some reason the culture, the people, the horrific situation, all captured our attention. Since reading those books we have sought after anything we can find about that part of the world. We’ll frequently pick up an edition of the New York Times at school at peruse the articles about the never-ending war in Afghanistan, the people, the soldiers, and so on. In a way, we developed a love for the culture and the people, even though most of what we were reading was fictional.
Recently we took turns reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. People, read this book. I let it sit on my nightstand for weeks, procrastinating cracking it open. The thought that it was a true story kind of turned me off. There was no way it could be as interesting as the other books I had read, right? Wrong. Truth is often stranger than fiction, and this book was outstanding.
Just a little background- Greg Mortenson was a nurse by trade, but his passion was mountain climbing. In the 90′s he attempted to scale K2 in Pakistan, the second highest summit on Earth. His attempt failed, and he ended up getting lost in just about the most unforgiving wilderness on the planet. He was saved by poor Pakistani villagers and discovered they had no school for their children. Despite the fact that he had no money himself he promised he would build them a school. That promise has turned into a lifelong quest to help bring education and hope to impoverished villages in the Middle East, which in turn has promoted peace for the entire world.
The crazy thing is that this guy was building schools in the area- for girls, no less- during the rise and power of the Taliban. Educating girls was unheard of, and what he did to make it happen was extraordinary.
One of Brady’s professors last semester talked about this book, saying that it should be required reading for every student in America. The book has actually become required reading in many universities and government organizations. The book is well written and tells the story simply and clearly, without any agenda or strong bias. However, it taught lessons of perseverance, tolerance, sacrifice, hope, love, the value of education, and so many other things. I learned so much about the people of that region. I will admit that there have been times when I have been frustrated hearing about the ongoing war in Afghanistan and have thought that we should just give up and let them destroy themselves. This book reminded me that there are so many good people there. Sadly, there is also a lot of evil and hatred born in that part of the world. But there are even more good, kind, hard-working, peace-loving people who are victims of poverty and war. I wish so much there was more I could do to help them.
There were parts of the book that just blew my mind and parts that broke my heart. Mortenson was in Pakistan on 9/11, and the response of the people in the villages brought me to tears.
I can only hope to be as brave and selfless as Greg Mortenson and the poor villagers in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are trying to make the world a better place. I think this book offers valuable lessons on war and peace and what it means to really be a hero.
Have you read this book yet? If so, what did you think?
By Rachel, on October 19th, 2010
When we were kids my little sister pronounced the word “grumpy” as “dumpy”. One of my parents would say something like “ooh, somebody’s grumpy!” and she would muster up her dirtiest look and shoot back, “I not dumpy!”.
Today, I am dumpy. However, I don’t mean “grumpy”, I’m not necessarily in a bad mood. I think dumpy describes it best: kind of down in the dumps.
I made a promise to myself yesterday morning that I would be a bright, shining ray of positivity all week. No complaining, no negative thoughts. Even if I couldn’t muster up rainbows and butterflies, I was determined to at least be optimistic with a rock solid good attitude.
Well, clearly, things aren’t going according to plan. Maybe next week. One of these days I will become a disgustingly optimistic person, but today is not that day.
Yesterday was rough. Definitely a Monday. I was tired, I was burned out, I was unmotivated. I spent a portion of my morning sitting at my desk, staring out into space with glassy eyes, trying to find my “happy place”. At some point I Googled “daily motivational thoughts” to see if that would get me going. I felt better after going home and going for a nice walk outside with the family. The exercise and fresh air invigorated me and I resolved that today would be better. I had high hopes because I had a full schedule today, and I knew staying busy would be helpful in staying motivated.
Fate had other plans for me though and it feels like I’m being beaten down slowly. Not a total K-O, mind you. I haven’t received that punch in the gut that sometimes happens when we have a bad day. Just a gradual, steady process. I had a small disappointment in my personal life (hey, I’m not going to put everything out there. Sorry, Internet.). Then my morning sales meeting went rougher than I had hoped. I was presenting with the boss there which made me nervous, leading to the I’m-blinded-by-fear-so-I’m-rambling-on-and-ohmyheck-what-am-I-even-saying?? type of presentation. Then the two weekly webinars I was supposed to conduct today- a great way to get leads- had no attendees. Suddenly my schedule became wide open with nothing productive to do, which tends to hurt my motivation. Then, I followed up with a lead that was potentially a great sale (in an effort to stay motivated and a “go-getter”), only to find out they decided to go with another company. THEN, a lady I sold to last week decided she wanted to downgrade what she purchased and be refunded for the difference.
Well!
(I just realized I sound like a terrible salesperson. I swear I’m not that bad! But it sure is feeling like it today…)
So here I am, having dropped considerably far from the optimistic high I started on this morning. As kids, my parents would tell us to “throw our grumpies away”, which eventually morphed into “throwing our dumpies away”. So, I want to know, how do you do it? How do you throw your dumpies away? What are your methods for “getting back on the horse” when things aren’t going your way?
By Rachel, on October 12th, 2010
Last night I was fortunate to get together with my two closest girlfriends from high school (GNO! OMG!). We were all on the dance team together and have been besties ever since. I practically had an out-of-body experience though during our conversation when I realized what we were talking about. Let’s compare and contrast, shall we?
Senior year topics of conversation:
1. Boys
2. Clothes/Accessories/Make-Up/how hot we were (ha)
3. Dancing
4. Where to party
A sampling of conversation topics from last night:
1. Where to buy the best produce
2. Dishwasher residue and how to get rid of it
3. Frugal nursery decor
3. Leaky breasts
Gah! Say it with me people… OLD!
Likely future topics of conversation:
1. Our cats
2. How to stay “regular”
3. The latest Snuggie fabric print
4. Where to get the best Early Bird special
By Rachel, on October 11th, 2010
For the record, I am not a crafter by nature. In my spare time I’d rather read a book, hang with the family, eat, sleep, clean, exercise…you get the idea. But lately I have had this extremely strong and odd desire to craft. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have no Halloween decorations, and since my child is starting to get old enough to notice things like that I feel like a bad mother for not making things “festive”. Whatever the reason, this last weekend I decided I would get my craft on. The husband was out of town Friday night, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.
In preparation for the big event I perused craft blogs for inspiration. All of them spouted off things such as I finished this project before my son woke up from his nap! Or, this hardly cost me a thing! I had all the materials on hand and just threw this together while dinner was in the oven! Isn’t it darling??? So with a false sense of confidence I embarked on my journey.
Since I am not a crafter, I hardly have any supplies on hand. The only thing I had was a grapevine wreath that I bought about 3 years ago because it was on clearance for like, $2.00 and I thought I would morph into a craft-machine. Big shocker, the wreath sat in my basement for 3 years, still in the bag it came home in. The lack of supplies meant I had to go to the craft store. How fun!, I thought as I loaded my daughter into the car. A girls night out!
I decided to stop by the dollar store first to see if I could pick up anything there for cheap. To me, the craft store is like that weird kid in high school that you are forced to do a project with. It’s uncomfortable and awkward and full of crap, making you want to turn and run but you try to stick with it because surely there is some redeeming quality to them, right? While navigating my shopping cart Claire found a spider decoration she could not live without, so I stood in an insanely long line to buy it. While there, an old couple behind me decided to strike up a conversation about how adorable spiders are and how much they love them (gag!). When the nice old man mentioned that they run a daycare I couldn’t help but glance at his wife, whose empty eyes were gazing in opposite directions. She looked about a year away from gift wrapping her cat for Christmas. I am still bewildered as to how anyone could drop their child off at their house…
After the dollar store it was craft store time. If the dollar store is the weird kid in high school, the craft store is the head cheerleader. She sure looks pretty and friendly, but she is a cold, hard biz-natch. I spent over an hour wandering the store, searching for tiny things such as hot glue gun sticks in a sea of millions of thingamabobs and do-dads. I picked up some Halloween decorations on sale and decided to get some small pieces of fabric while continuing my search. At this point, Claire was starting to get antsy. I grabbed two giant bolts of fabric and wrestled them and the shopping cart to the cutting counter, narrowly missing being run down by a polygamous woman and her sister-wife. To keep Claire from shrieking and jumping out of the cart, I absentmindedly handed her one of the Halloween decorations I had picked up as I attempted to get the bolts of fabric secured into the shopping cart. Not two seconds later- CRASH! The glass Halloween decoration slipped from Claire’s wiggly grip and smashed to smithereens on the hard floor as a hoard of judging mothers looked on.
After cleaning up, apologizing profusely, sweating profusely, and finally finding all that I was looking for, we made it to the eternal check-out line. I managed to keep Claire happy by singing “I’m A Mean Old Witch With A Hat” about 20 times as an obviously annoyed gay couple looked on. We were nearing bedtime and I was starting to feel (and probably look) slightly crazed. $40.00 later we made it back to the car, only to discover my interior lights were on for some reason. Thankfully, the battery was fine and I got the kid strapped in and items in the backseat. I went to gleefully jump in the driver’s seat, happy to finally be released from the glittery and aromatic aisles, only to forcefully smack my forehead on the top of the doorway. I couldn’t help but think that it was a fitting end to a frightful evening.
By Rachel, on October 8th, 2010
Not to be a downer or anything, but I’ve had a running list in my head of Things That Must Go. So here you go:
1. Cinnamon Twists from Taco Bell. Today I went through the drive-thru and the girl happily informed me that the cinnamon twists were free for “customer appreciation”. Score! But wait- when I started eating them I realized these weren’t a good gift. These deep-fried, sugar coated pieces of deliciousness were an abomination! Why? Because they are so deceiving! Because they are basically flavorful styrofoam you think that these morsels are light as air and can’t possibly contain loads of calories and fat, so you keep eating them. Cut to 20 years down the road and I have to have a cardiologist on speed dial.
2. Noisy office chairs. I don’t need my coworkers receiving notification every time I move. It’s made me all self-conscious because this chair is so freaking loud I feel like moving too much is disruptive, ergo the odd hip cramps throughout the day, which in turn make me limp like a 90 year old. Am I going to need a hip replacement in addition to heart surgery?
3. 40 hour work weeks. I’m fairly certain we can get the same amount of work done in 35 hours a week, tops, dontcha think?
4. Daily commutes. Someone out there has GOT to be working on some sort of teleportation invention, right?? Screw a new version of the iPhone, I need a teleporter!
5. Nightmares. The kiddo woke up screaming 3 times last night. She’s still too young to really vocalize that she had a nightmare, but if she inherited my genes I’m pretty confident the poor kid is being chased by giant spiders that want her to eat her kidneys and force her to take a calculus test while she sleeps.
6. Thinking too hard to try to accomplish a blog post. Oy, it’s Friday (OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS I AM SO HAPPY IT IS FRIDAY WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS MY JOY!). Time to veg. Peace out.
By Rachel, on October 7th, 2010
This is a total cop-out for a blog post, but I enjoyed reading this so much that I just had to share. My coworkers probably think I’m nuts now for laughing like a hyena in my office, but good golly this made my day:
http://www.finslippy.com/finslippy/2005/11/i_was_reluctant.html
If you don’t read this blog already, you should. It is one of my all-time favorites.
Enjoy!
By Rachel, on October 4th, 2010
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the biggest changes with my new job is that I work with almost all men. I work for a small company right now, but we work in a building with a number of different companies occupying the offices around us. Not only is the company I work for male-dominated, almost all of the other surrounding companies are too. (The building houses technology based companies, which in my part of the world is not popular among the ladies). It’s kind of odd to me, since at my old company there were probably equal numbers of men and women.
Now, at my new job, I’ll go to use the restroom and the lights are out, the toilets are sparkling and haven’t been used as evidenced by all the seats being left up by the cleaning crew. The men’s restroom, on the other hand, sounds like there is a perpetual party being held in there. As the door swings open when someone walks out I can hear all sorts of laughter and talking. I wonder if they have a disco ball and drinks being served as well?
So today, I was heading to lunch and stopped by the restroom (deserted, as usual) and crossed paths with a couple of guys exiting the men’s room. They smiled and nodded, probably thinking I was a visitor or something since I wasn’t wearing my badge. Afterward I went into the break room to grab my lunch from the refrigerator and happened to run across the same guys. When I opened the fridge and they realized that I was not a visitor but a bona fide employee, one man exclaimed with wide eyes, “Holy crap, a GIRL is actually working in the building?!”.
Now before you get all worked up and cry sexism!, I will defend him by saying that he was being completely facetious, as I’m sure he has noticed the severe imbalance in the sexes and was probably genuinely surprised to see a female.
However, I don’t think I could’ve summed up the overall feeling I’ve had since starting here a month ago any better!
Well said sir, well said.
By Rachel, on October 1st, 2010
A while back I was flipping through one of the parenting magazines that I mysteriously became subscribed to and came across an article about children saving the lives of others. I didn’t have time to read the whole thing right then, so I kind of flipped through and glanced at the pictures. One picture caught my eye of a cute little family of four young boys. I glanced at the caption, “So-and-so with their four boys- Tregan, Lincoln, McCade, and Kreyson”. My very first though was, well whaddya know! People in other states like made-up names for their kids too!
Cut to a few days later when I sat down to actually read the article. The very first line read, “So-and-so, of Saratoga Springs, Utah…”
Ha! I should’ve known better.
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