100 Things

Here I am, posting my list of 100 things, as instructed.

This was fun- you're supposed to copy the list to your blog and then bold the things you have done.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own

Dear Computer...

I hate you. You only work sometimes (I wish I could only work when I felt like it), you randomly decide to eat programs that have been on you for years. Your mouse only sort-of works and your keyboard is too slow. It takes 5 tries (sometimes more) for you to connect to the internet, even though the little light display on my cable modem says you are connected (I think you are taunting me)and sometimes, you decide not to connect at all, no matter how many times I restart you, kick you and curse the heavens. You are a useless, pain in the neck, lump of junk. I hate you.

Sincerely,
Erin

Please don't be offended...

I work with extremely amusing people. I spend most of my day avoiding doing any real work (because my work is highly annoying) and instead laugh with my curriculum department co-workers. We are probably the most annoying pople in the office, but I don't care;it gets me through the day.
Some of the more entertaining moments have been as I respond to questions that begin, "Please don't be offended, but do Mormons...." You see, I am the only Latter-day Saint in the entire company (shocking, I know-after all this is ARIZONA!)and apparently word spread pretty quickly. So, now I am a living, breathing Encyclopedia of Mormonism. I am asked something that I find highly amusing("So, Mormons only attend their own schools right? That's what those buildings next to the high schools are? Right?")at least once a day but today was the BEST. The absolute BEST. I am still trying to figure out how I can write this in such a way that the Ensign will publish it, because the WORLD needs to experience this.
Now, do please remember that I live in Arizona. There are Latter-day Saints everywhere around here. So, imagine my surprise when, as I was talking with my fellow Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, she asked, "Please don't be offended but, I was curious...You know the show "Big Love"? Is your life anything like that? I mean, if anyone would know-you would."
It took me about 30 seconds to figure out what she was asking me. First, I couldn't remember what the show 'Big Love" was and second, I couldn't figure out why she thought I would "know". Turns out, "Big Love" is about polygamists. Not the scary, pedophile polygamists you see on the news, but polygamists who live in suburbia and lead, basically, normal lives. And, she figured I'd know, because SHE THOUGHT I WAS ONE. The entire time I have worked with this woman (MONTHS) she has thought I was living as a polygamist and she finally got up the courage to ask about my, assumed, 'alternative lifestyle'. I. about. died. I could not stop laughing. It was terrible; such a 'teaching' moment and I couldn't BREATHE because I was laughing so hard. She was so confused-she kept saying "I'm sorry!" and "What is so funny?!" When I finally got myself under control, I explained that A) I was not a polygamist, niether of the sort one sees on the news nor of the "Big Love" variety and B) No Latter-day Saints were. I explained about the various groups that have very similar names and call themselved "Fundamentalist Mormons" etc...She turned BRIGHT RED. I figured she was going to appologize for asking, but instead, she said "Oh NO! When I taught history and we talked about religions I ALWAYS taught that Mormons were polygamists!" She spent the rest of the day telling people in the office, "Did you know that Mormons AREN'T polygamists? Really! Ask Erin!" I think she was trying to make up for all the students she had inadvertently misled...
This is my life. Never a dull moment.

In Which Erin's Faith In Humanity is Restored

As a teacher, I have long been dismayed by the rudeness of today's youth. For reasons I do not understand, kids are just rude! They are rude to each other, they are rude to their parents and teachers, they are even rude to complete strangers. I don't understand. I know many children who are not rude or disrespectful;but I have observed that many more little people than can possibly be healthy for society are rude. So, I have had much fear for the future of humanity. If kids are growing up in a world that permits that kind of rudeness, what is the world going to be like when they are in charge!? Shudder. BUT, this week, my faith in the future of the human race was (at least temporarily) restored. One tiny person, with very large ears, outside an Arizona convenience store, restored hope for the future.
I was at the convenience store purchasing a very large, caffeinated drink-it's how I survive my job. As I got my very large, caffeinated drink, I noticed a very small boy, with very large ears, following his mother around the store. He touched nothing. He did not demand candy. He did not throw a fit of any kind (in contrast to the several other children also in the store). He did remind his mother that school started at 8:00. Too cute. Anyway, I got my drink. I paid for my drink and I found myself following this boy and his mother out the door. Unfortunately, the door was of the swinging variety and the very small boy did not hold it open and it swung back and nearly decapitated me. I heard small boy's mother say "Honey, you need to make sure you hold the door for people!" (Points to mom!) As I came out the door and walked to my car, small boy with large ears came running over and said:
"I'm thorry! My mom thaid I thould have held the door!" (he had a lisp! So. Cute.).As he skipped back to mom, I asked, "Can I keep you?"
Okay, I didn't really say that, but I wanted too. What a sweetheart. It made my day!

8 Things About Me

I have been tagged... So, here goes!

8 TV show I like to watch...

1. Antiques Roadshow
2. This Old House
3. Monk (we get the DVD's from the Library)
4-8. I really don't like TV. Maybe if we had cable...

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Olive Garden
2. Cheesecake Factory
3. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant (Scottsdale...best gyros ever.)
4. Astro Burger
5. Subway
6. Cracker Barrel
7. Out of
8. Ideas

8 Favorite Places to Shop

1. Quilts Etc...
2. Deseret Book/Seagull Book
3. Barnes and Noble
4. Zoe's Quilt Shop
5. Any antique store
6. Joanne's
7. Sam's Club/Costco
8. Target


8 Things That Happened Yesterday

1. Laundry
2. Dishes
3. Vacuumed
4. Sam's Club
5. Worked on the quilt
6. Went for a walk with Isaac (yippee for good weather!)
7. Mopped the floors
8. Watched "Get Smart" (funny!)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward Too...

1. Actually having vacation days
2. Christmas
3. Isaac finishing school
4. Finishing my quilt
5. Trip to Europe (see number 3 and then number 1)
6-8. I am so boring.

8 Things On My Wish List

1. Getting out of debt (only student loans left! Woohoo!)
2. A puppy (or Clancy...hint.hint.)
3. EQ6 (Quilt design software. I am a nerd. I'm okay with that.)
4. Treadmill
5-8. I've got nothing.

So, there you have it. I am really boring. How did I get so boring? Have I always been this boring?

Wait A Minute . . .

I would just like to say that I post stuff that is meant to spark conversion and insight into peoples lives and there are no comments. I may not be as grammatically correct has Erin but I try to get my point across. Erin posts about her lack of self image and the whole world comes out of the wood work and posts comments. What is up with that?

Exercise? Who needs Exercise?

Today, I did something I swore I would never do. Of course, I only swore I wouldn't do it because I knew I would be unhappy when I did and why would I want to torture myself? I, as a general rule, try to avoid activites I know will make me unhappy. And, generally speaking, it's a good rule. So, why did I cave this time? I don't know. Why did I ignore the voice in my head that said "Erin, you really don't want to do this"? I don't know. All I know is that I never, ever should have given in to the impulse. I never, ever should have stepped on that scale.
BAD IDEA! WHAT WAS I THINKING?
I'll tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking craziness, that's what. I was thinking, "It's okay that you work at a job that requires you to sit on your rear end all day, immobile. It's okay that you live in HADES and, therefore, do not go outside to do anything even remotely active. It's okay that the 'gym' at your apartment complex is usually inhabited by very scary, large men who "socialize" by grunting numbers at one another as they lift impossibly heavy objects. It's okay that, because you are home by yourself all the time, you eat constantly. It's okay that your clothes all make you look like a sausage. It can't possibly be that bad." And, I, like an idiot, actually gave in to my crazy self-talk and got on the scale. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't bad. It was worse than bad. It was, "I might actually weigh more than a baby cow" bad.
Now, I don't know which is worse: Knowing the awful truth, or knowing that I probably won't do a darn thing about it.

Why There Is No Hope For the "Bailout" Package

My explanation for the failure of the "bailout" law/package is simple, welfare doesn't work. Have we not realized that just giving money to irresponsible people hasn't and won't work. Just look at the bailout/welfare program that the government refuse to change. We have been giving money to people with basically no strings attached for years and not helping them to make better life choices so that they don't need welfare money anymore for their paycheck. Welfare recipients are now dependent on that money. There is no incentive for them to actually go out and get a job or to stop having kids so that they can get more money each month. The same thing is now happening with the various financial institutions throughout the country. They are all now making claims for why they deserve the free money. There are no restrictions on the money that is being handed out. There is no incentive or reason for these companies to change there ways and do what needs to be done to get themselves out of the hole they put themselves into. AIG is having another retreat here in Arizona for there people. The resort is saying that the room bill will be something like $200,000 or more. I am sorry but this is the 21st century use a new invention called a telephone or even a little fancier, video conferencing, to "train" your employees to lose more money. Just look at GM they were bailed out once and now they want to be bailed out again. They haven't changed their business practice at all to make sure they don't need any assistance, they have become reliant on the government to come in every time they are stupid and give them money. Instead of being like Toyota and making cars that are good and what people want they just sat back and relied on old people to buy the newest model of what they have been driving for years.
On a similar venting topic, why spreading the wealth is also a bad idea. Don't get me wrong I think everyone should have the basics of life but not if it means I have to work harder so that others don't. My favorite bumper sticker that I saw in Kansas was "Work harder, welfare people depend on it". We need to start changing our mentality from handout society to one that has a proven track record of success, helping hand. Think of it this way if we are spreading the wealth and just giving away services then the law of gravity takes affect and people can climb out of there current problems. Instead if we gave people a hand by educating and training them to be self sustaining then we can bring them up out of their situation instead of them dragging the ones that have had success down. We are always talking now about building more sustainable buildings, well not help make people more sustainable as well. Lifting people up the ladder to were you are is safer than climbing down.