The Playlist

Thanks to Sammy and Linda! I found out how to post a playlist. The bad thing about that, well and about a blog in general, is that I am finding that it can take a lot of time. I am here at my parents house where I can freeload off their wireless internet. Toby is here with me and has been whining for a half hour because he wants to go home. I am going to be a terrible mother! I keep telling him "just a minute" and patting his head - like that is enough attention so he'll be quiet.

Anyhow, I just spend over an hour looking at songs and filling up the playlist. This blogging stuff is really fun but can be time consuming! There are so many other things that I could be doing this fine Saturday afternoon . . . taking down the Christmas lights on the eves of the house, laundry, helping Scott with the crown molding . . .

Well, now I've made myself feel guilty so I'd better go do something productive.

My Cubicle

Linda once said that when she thinks of me at work, she pictures me in an office. Unfortunately, it is not so. This is where I spend the majority of my life. I am lucky in that I have the corner cubicle so I have windows directly behind and to the side of me as well. There is a lot of natural light and it's nice and warm in the summer. The bad news is that in a few months we are being moved into the new building and then I will have an interior cube with an office directly behind me! No natural light at all. I think I might shrivel up and die. Or, I might be more productive because I won't be able to watch the Real Salt Lake soccer players on the practice field just out my window.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O_5ef49N5I

Anybody know how to get a song to play when a blog it entered? Linsee - you know how - teach me.

1995's Greatest Hits

I borrowed this from my cousin Sharon. She always has such fun Blogging ideas.

Here is how it works: Go to Pop Culture Madness and scroll down to where it lists the decades of Billboard Hits. Then click on the year that you turned 18. Copy and paste the list of 75 hits into Notepad BEFORE you paste it into blogger, so it will remove the formatting. Then you BOLD the songs that you liked when you were 18 and strikeout (or fade out) the ones you didn't like or know.

I decided to do 1995 which was when I spent most of my 18th year. I have a September birthday so I'm going to do 1995 instead. And, I really didn't get into music until college and 1994 was my first fall semester! I decided that I couldn't just bold the ones I liked because how would you know the songs I really adored? So, those are highlighted and red.

1995's Greatest Hits
1. Cotten Eye Joe - Rednex
2. One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey & Boys II Men
3. I'll Be There For You - Rembrandts
4. Take Your Time (Do It Right) - Max-A-Million
5. We've Got It Goin' On - Backstreet Boys
6. This Is How We Do It - Montell Jordan
7. Boombastic - Shaggy
8. Run Away - Real McCoy
9. I Could Fall In Love - Selena
10. You Gotta Be - Des'ree
11. Better Man - Pearl Jam
12. Fantasy - Mariah Carey
13. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? - Bryan Adams
14. Fat Boy - Max-A-Million
15. Ants Marching - Dave Matthews Band
16. I Wish - Skee-Lo
17. The Woman In Me - Shania Twain
18. Thank You - Boyz II Men
19. I Like It, I Love It - Tim McGraw
20. Jeremy - Pearl Jam
21. Hey Lover - LL Cool J
22. Any Man Of Mine - Shania Twain
23. Kiss From A Rose - Seal
24. Come And Get Your Love - Real McCoy
25. What Would You Say - Dave Matthews Band
26. Sexual Healing - Max-A-Million
27. When I Come Around - Green Day
28. Tootsie Roll - 69 Boyz
29. I Believe - Blessid Union Of Souls
30. Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) - Scatman
31. Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio
32. Everything Zen - Bush
33. Big Poppa - Notorious B.I.G.
34. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root
35. I Got Id - Pearl Jam
36. Let Me Be The One - Blessid Union Of Souls
37. Bizarre Love Triangle* - New Order(*US release, it came out in the UK, and the rest of the world in 1988. It only made it to #98, according to Billboard Magazine!)
38. Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nikki French
39. Colors Of The Wind - Vanessa Williams
40. Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number - Aaliyah
41. The Bomb! - The Bucketheads
42. Boom Boom Boom - Outhere Bros.
43. New Age Girl - Dead Eye Dick
44. Lightning Crashes - Live
45. Good - Better Than Ezra
46. Tonight Is The Night - Le Click
47. Run-Around - Blues Traveller
48. December - Collective Soul
49. Hooked On You - Silk
50. Short Short Man - 20 Fingers
51. Waterfalls - TLC
52. Roll To Me - Del Amitri
53. Carnival - Natalie Merchant
54. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) - Whitney Houston
55. Creep - TLC
56. Dreaming Of You - Selena
57. Good Intentions - Toad The Wet Sprocket
58. Misery - Soul Asylum
59. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2
60 Girlstown - Supercat
61. (I Could Only) Whisper Your Name - Harry Connick, Jr.
62. Hurt - Nine Inch Nails
63. You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette
64. Baby Baby - Corona
65. Buddy Holly - Weezer
66. As I Lay Me Down - Sophie B. Hawkins
67. Baby - Brandy
68. Lick It - Roula
69. Hand In My Pocket - Alanis Morissette
70. Seether - Veruca Salt
71. I Kissed A Girl - Jill Sobule
72. Let Her Cry - Hootie and the Blowfish
73. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
74. I'm The Only One - Melissa Ethridge
75. Wonderful - Adam Ant

Collage

These are a few cool pictures I took - well I think they are cool.

Easter Jeep Safari

We just got back from our 3rd Annual Ontiveros-Bishop Moab trip. We had such a good time. I will document my trip here but then you should probably check out Linda's blog (if you are a member) because she'll have as good or better narratives and pictures.

We started out on Wednesday afternoon. With the dirt bike in tow, we headed out - destination KOA campground, Moab, Utah. We were packed with lots of cold weather gear since Easter was so early this year. Sure enough, the evenings and mornings were bitter cold. Linda brought a little space heater that we used to warm our hands each morning and evening because without gloves or hands in pockets, they made it to painful rather quickly.

On Thursday morning we headed to the toy rental shop. We rented an ATV for Dan and a Rhino for me and Linda. Scott said that he liked us in the Rhino because he didn't have to worry so much about our safety while we were playing in that. We had a blast!!! That thing is so much fun. The best part was a sandy road that had little slalom hills that we flew over, sending all the gear in the back all over the trail!

After a half day of trail riding, we headed into town to return the toys and do some grocery shopping. We decided this year that we would eat breakfast at camp, make sandwiches for lunch on the trail, but have dinners in town. We have attempted twice now to fix a dinner back at camp with pretty lousy results. Ribs at midnight accompanied by cold potatoes is not the best meal.

Friday we rode a trail called Secret Spire. The picture at the top of this post is the spire. The best part of this day was that it was girl driver day. We specifically picked a trail rated 2 (the lowest rating) so that we could have a chance to drive. I had a blast. I am amazed at the way jeeps are built and how they are geared. Scott had to keep reminding me that I was not driving a car and that I was in 4Low which meant I could just sit back and let the car do the work. No breaking on those downward hills, "just let the engine do it". It was a really great experience and I was grateful that the boys were so sweet to sit back and let us drive for a day - they must have been terribly bored - well, except that they could give us instruction on how to drive and we were totally amenable to it!

Friday evening we headed to the big vendor giveaway - we didn't win anything in the first half hour so we decided to go to dinner. We ate at our favorite stand-by, Miguel's. It is a great Mexican place that doesn't look like much from the street but is fantastic!!

Big Saturday is the culmination of a week's worth of excitement. All the jeeps line the streets ready to be led with police escorts out of town. The locals and the non-jeep tourists line the streets and take pictures. It's a giant parade and nowhere else will you see so many jeeps! Our trail for Saturday was a 4 rated trail - 7-mile Rim. Wow! I could do this one over and over, it was a beautiful trail. We had sand, slickrock, trees, sagebrush, rock monuments, and creek beds. It was lovely. The weather was warm enough for no jackets and windows down but we kept the tops on the jeeps so the dust didn't cover the inside of the jeep like years past.

Our leader only got lost once and we considered the trail a success. I think the boys enjoyed the obstacles on this trail though they weren't as exciting as last year. However, because they weren't as exciting as last year, Linda and I didn't have to worry that our men were going to end up at the bottom of a ravine - good by every one's standards.

For our last dinner out we visited a restaurant up on the top of the hill. It used to be the home of a multi-millionaire miner and had a beautiful view of the sun setting over Moab.

We got home yesterday afternoon, the dogs still remember us, we're back at work today, and the laundry awaits. Boy those weekend vacations just go by way to quickly!

My babies

I had to do another entry for today because I took this cute picture this morning of my babies. I realize that I am 100% certified, dog person! I will say this, there has been no dressing of the dogs but there is a set of doggy stairs up to the bed (you probably noticed) and we like to let them sleep with us. I can't help it. When you have little guys this cute how can you bear to shut them out at night? As I write this, Jake (the terrier) is curled up in my lap with his chin resting on my arm and Toby is sitting beside me with his front paws on the arm of the chair. If you have dogs you'll understand this unconditional love that dogs are so good at sharing. I never would have thought it from me but boy, these puppies melt my heart!

The Renovation

Well, here are the pictures of the renovations. I tried several times during the week to take picutres with my phone but of course, the quality was terrible. So, today I cleaned my house, made my bed, and here are some pictures of how things look now. I debated showing the old along side the new but I suppose you can just scroll down to see the old pictures.

Here is the way the front of the house looks. We have a new front door, a new walkway, no plants, and the beginnings of four new pillars instead of the old iron ones.

The front room, with new paint, new updated rock, marble tiles and new curtains. I really l like the way this room is turning out. Oh, and a new floor that isn't quite finished yet.

This is the bedroom, and our new bed. I've never had a real bed before with a headboard and footboard, also, from the other direction looking into the hall and my favorite room, the closet - does having a walk-in closet and a bathroom make this a "master suite"?

Here is the computer room.

And lastly, the hall bathroom.

House Mess

Well, I told you that I wouldn't be a great blogger - we just don't have anything interesting going on! The only constant for us is work, my choir, and home renovations. We have been working on the upstairs and I think Scott is just anticipating being able to work on the basement which he says will be the fun stuff!

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd post some pictures of the progress we've made. I don't have pictures of the house to upload yet so I'll just give you the befores - you'll have to wait for the afters. This way I get credit for two posts!

This is the house as it looked when we bought it in September 2006. Last summer we pulled out the lawn and plants and poured a new cement walk way out to the sidewalk rather than having it go diagonally to the driveway.

The living room - We removed the filthy carpet but, notice the lovely rock fireplace and the beautiful vertical blinds and the fake wood floor.

The beginnings of our bedroom. It started as two rooms along the back of the house. We decided that we would rather have a large room with a decent closet so you are looking from the old master, through the wall and into the old spare bedroom.

This picture is the old third bedroom upstairs, now the only spare room upstairs since we combined two. It has become our computer room/study/den

Here we have the hall bathroom. The picture is a bit dark but the cabinet is the old dark 70s wood with the marble laminate top.

So, there you have it. There will be new pictures of these rooms posted . . . sometime. Maybe early next week to give me daylight to get some good pictures. I also need to clean my house a bit so that I feel good about posting pictures (my room is a bit of a mess at present!).

PS - I keep trying to get all the black - closing paragraph stuff back to left justified but it's not working. I need more practice.

My First Blog

I think this should be a subject in elementary school - or maybe college - "Blogging 101". I'm a little nervous. What if I don't have anything to say? How do I put on pictures? What if I waste all my spare time writing?
But Linda says everyone who is anyone has a blog and I'm a sucker for peer pressure. (does this thing have spell check? Am I going to have people commenting all the time about my misspellings?)
I'm trying to put on some pictures, I'm not sure if they are working . . . We'll see.

Ah, the happy couple 5 and a half years ago
Our family: Toby (poodle-papillion - almost 3) and Jake (yorkshire terrier - 9 mo.)
Our first visit to Hawaii, this is Maui Me and my sisters at the youngest's (Rachel) wedding
Scott and his siblings at the 2nd to youngest's (Jeff) wedding