100 Days of Gratitude: Day 23

Today, I'm grateful for unusual sights.

This is what I saw on my way to dropping Chris off at school:

That's not just any bird...

It's a wild turkey! How cool is that? I don't think I've ever seen a wild turkey in the city, unless you count the zoo, which I don't.




He finally got tired of me looking at him and flew away...

Way away.


Chris said, "Take a picture of my hand mommy!"

(Consider it done.)

Little things like this really make me happy. Something unusual, something cool, just a little something to remind me that our world is wonderful and life is too. So that's what I'm grateful for today.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 22

I hate dealing with money. I really do. But today I'm grateful for not one but two things related to the gruesome task of budgeting and managing money.
First, several months ago, the fantabulous Miss Anna made me a ledger-style spreadsheet to keep track of our expenses. I knew exactly what I wanted, but couldn't find a template for it anywhere on the web. (It's so rare that Google lets me down.) So Anna created a custom Excel spreadsheet that does everything I need it to do. It's awesome, and I love it, and I love that she was willing to make it for me.
Second, I'm grateful for the RS financial seminar I attended last Thursday. It was entertaining, eye-opening, and unlike any other financial seminar I'd ever been to (yes, I've actually been to a few). It gave me hope that in spite of a few, er, challenges, we really can get where we need to go financially. I'm very grateful for that.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

(I totally forgot this was sitting in my drafts folder - I'd tried to upload these pictures a few days ago but kept getting errors from Blogger. So I guess I'm posting pictures today afterall!)

I did get a picture of pink ponytail man, but I wasn't sure if I should post it or not. Since you asked though...

Bushy mountain man beard:

And dainty pink bow:

Voila.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 20

Today we had family over for what was supposed to be an Easter picnic but ended up as a gathering at our house due to rain. I so enjoy our extended family. Today I'm very grateful for them.

I didn't realize until everyone had left that I forgot to take pictures (!) so no pics today!

I'll answer the questions about the Culture Pass soon. :)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 19

Today I'm grateful for the Cultural Pass, which made it possible for me to take my kids to the Arizona Science Center for FREE. We had a great time.

I loved this Labyrinth. Maybe it's not for walking on...

... but we couldn't resist.

This is a slice of an actual brain. I think stuff like this is fascinating!

You had to throw the balls into the nose, and then every few minutes it'd "sneeze" them back at you. The kids thought that was hilarious!

After all that, it's definitely pizza night.

A Clarification

I think I may have given the wrong impression about my definition of gratitude. Since this has come up more than once, I thought I'd reply. I put the Book Babe event as it's own post, simply because I wanted it to be it's own post. I wasn't trying to say I wasn't grateful for it. :) I was very grateful to go. I'm not sure why, I just wanted that post to exist on it's own, independent of the gratitude list.

Plus, I thought "Book (Babe) Report" was a better title than "100 Days of Gratitude: Day X". I'm easily motivated by things like that. ;)

Book (Babe) Report

I know this isn't a gratitude post, but I'm still going to say that I'm grateful Shannon Hale has saved me a ton of time by already posting a fantabulous blog about the Book Babe event. Why write about it myself if I can send you over there? Plus, all my pictures were either too far away...






Or too blurry...






But hers rock. So if you want to read an entertaining post describing the event, you've come to the wrong place. You need to go HERE. ;)

But I'll add a few things. First, this was the line I saw when I got there:






The line continues on around the corner for about twice this distance. It moved pretty fast though. There were fans of all ages, but the biggest groups were women around my age and young adults. There were a decent number of men too, but my favorite was the guy with a mountain man beard, a Hawaiian shirt, and a ponytail tied with (I kid you not) a dainty pink ribbon. It was the only girly thing about him. And it was odd.


Oh, and there was a baby there with a little onesie that said "Book Baby." I thought that was pretty cute, but I also thought you've gotta be nuts to bring a baby to something like this - predictably the mother had to stand up with him a lot throughout the event - but to each her own. This was also the baby that got pelted with a t-shirt (you did read about that at Shannon's post HERE, right??) and I saw it happen. Fortunately the baby was okay and the mom thought it was funny, but the guy who threw the shirt was mortified. That's the part that cracked me up!


Anyway, Shannon Hale emceed the event, and she is an absolute riot. Have I already made it clear that she's the whole reason I went? I know people were stoked about Stephenie Meyer (you should've heard the crowd scream when she came on stage) but I just wanted to see Shannon. She was awesome! She set the tone for the whole event: relaxed, impromptu, hilarious. It was perfect.


The best part was the author panel:




I could've listened to these people talk about writing all day. It was funny, encouraging, and inspiring. I loved it!

See?
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As an aside, there were lots of cool goodies and handouts there. I didn't really expect that at a fundraiser. It was all donated, even the cost of printing the program, so every last dollar from tickets, the raffle, and the auction went to the Book Babe. And let me tell you, the auction raised a LOT of money. Shannon got most of the details right on the higher priced items, but I don't think anything went for less than $2200. This was all stuff generously donated by Stephenie Meyer. All told, I think it came to around $30,000. I don't think anyone was more surprised by that than Stephenie herself.

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And can I just say, I have a soft place in my heart for Stephanie Meyer now. I enjoyed reading her books, but I'm not a huge fan the way so many people are. I just found her writing too unpolished to generate that kind of adoration. But seeing her up on that stage, the target of rock-star-like fame, and clearly uncomfortable with all the attention... it has to be overwhelming. She's very nice and handled herself fine, but I got the feeling that if she could've blended into the background like most of the other writers there, she would've been perfectly happy to do so.

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Okay, I got sidetracked. What was I saying? Oh, stuff. I like getting stuff. In addition to a lovely program we got a free comic book, bookmark, and a couple of sample CD's from the bands.
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Beyond that, the free stuff you got depended on the kind of seat you bought. Some people got one signed book from each of the authors present, plus a signed poster. Others of us (read: those of us in the cheap seats, hoorah!) received one randomly-selected signed book. The organizers made it clear on their website that we would not be able to request books or trade. I was fine with that. I mean, it's a free book, I'm not going to complain.

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I wasn't real excited about the book, which was the tactic I took to avoid disappointment. I was expecting to get a book by some author I'd never heard of, and perhaps be a book I wouldn't even like. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

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This is what I walked away with:
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Do you see that? Do you see it??? Not only is it by the author I wanted, but out of all her books, this is the one I would've wanted. I mean, how cool is that?

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And here's her signature:
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Let me tell you, I saw a lot of these author's signatures and most of them had this one thing in common: you couldn't read them if you tried. I only know that's Shannon Hale's signature because they say it is. (Note to self: practice scribble-style signature for future book signings of my yet-to-be-written Great American Novel.)

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Honestly though, with as many books as they sign I can see the advantage to a signature like this.
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So that's my Book Babe Report. It was a blast. I really enjoyed not being the only author groupie there. Bands come to town and I couldn't care less, but the right author comes? I'm there baby. Yeah, I'm a total book nerd. And proud of it! ;)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 17

We have awesome neighbors. Specifically I'm talking about the neighbors just north of us (when I'm on day 86 and getting desperate for ideas, I'll start talking about the rest of my neighbors). They're quiet, friendly, and their yard is always well-kept and beautiful (they probably wish they could say the same thing about us). Their oldest son plays with my boys all the time, and they've even watched our pets when we go out of town.

They also give our neighborhood a cool farm atmosphere. I don't want to live on a farm. I don't want to be miles away from the nearest store (or the nearest anything) and I don't want all the work that goes with a farm. I mean, I can't even keep up with our grass. But there's something cool about hearing the sounds of a rooster and chickens. Our neighbors have a chicken coop with plenty of residents, so we frequently get to hear a rooster in the morning.

These residents were recently kicked out, however, by a baby bull.

You read that right. My neighbors have a baby bull. Three months old. They got him for free from a friend who's closing down his farm. So they kicked the chickens out of the coop and moved the bull in instead. He doesn't have any horns yet, so he just looks like a calf, but he does like to head butt things.

And moo. He moos a lot, and I think that's sooooo cool! I love listening to it. And I figure I'd better enjoy it while it lasts, since he's basically steak on hooves and won't be around for much longer.

At first, I think our neighbors were trying to protect us from the fact that they only plan to fatten him up for a couple more months before converting him into food storage. Well, we may be city folk, but we've never been wishy washy about where food comes from, and we've passed that along to our kids as well. They don't seem any more upset about the cow's fate than we are.

Meanwhile, several times a day, this is what I get to hear:

Awesome. So that's what I'm grateful for today. Cool cows and great neighbors.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 16

Impromptu Mandala

I almost forgot again! Years ago, Aunt Katy gave this drawing easel to Ben for his birthday, and we have all loved it. We use it all the time. Okay, maybe this is cheating and shouldn't really fall into the "I'm grateful for this" category but I have about two minutes to spare so there you have it. ;)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 15

I know not everyone has access to a great fruit market, so today, that's what I'm grateful for. If you haven't been to Superstition Ranch Market yet, it's worth checking out. Like the grocery stores, their produce prices fluctuate. This is NOT a second hand store, which sells produce on the verge of expiration. This is a store that specializes in produce and makes no effort to impress you by looking fancy (thus saving you money). More often than not, the place is packed.

This is what I bought last week:

Grand total: $5.43

Best sales that day were strawberries, a one pound container for 50 cents each, and green bell peppers, 5/$1.

This is what I picked up today (you can see we go through fruit more than veggies - we tend to eat canned or frozen veggies the most).

Grand total $5.89

Strawberrries are still on sale. Green peppers are up to 2/$1 - still a great price.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 14 (ahem)

As I was getting ready this morning, I realized I forgot to post yesterday. Dang it! Ah well. I was thinking about it and knew what I was going to say, I just forgot to actually do it.

Anyway, before I say what I was grateful for yesterday, I have to give a little background. First, I'm not a big TV person. Most the shows on TV are either stupid, boring, or offensive. The ones I like I'd rather watch on DVD so I don't have to put up with the commercials (which inevitably drive me up the wall). Even the shows I would probably enjoy I figure just aren't worth my time. Time is limited and there are other things I'd rather do. We have one TV in our house, and even if we miraculously become millionaires one day, we will always only have one TV. Ben once asked me if he could have a TV in his room. I laughed. John said the reason they couldn't have one in their room is because it's too expensive. Not so, and I wasted no time explaining that to them. I tend to get kinda snotty about my irritation with television - I'm working on that. Kinda.

So when I first started hearing about this digital transmission stuff, I was irritated. A lot. First I thought we were going to have to buy a new TV. Now, the one we have is just a regular old box TV. Not a flatscreen or any of the other fancy things it could be. It's a TV and it works and that's all I care about. The idea of having to waste good money on a new TV ticked me off. (No way was I going to get cable. )

Then I heard about the converter boxes and the coupons (thanks goes to my rich Uncle Sam) and got less irritated. I could live with $10 out of pocket for a box. Whatever.

We finally got a box and Brian hooked it up and we see this gorgeous, clear picture and all these extra channels (for free baby) and I thought, "Hey, that's pretty cool." I wouldn't say I was grateful because I don't really care how clear my picture is or how many channels I have. All I ever watch are movies or shows on DVD. But clear is nice. I wasn't complaining.

End story #1.

Story #2.

Twice a year, we watch General Conference on TV. Channel 61 to be exact. Fuzz center of the universe. My cup of static and crappy reception overfloweth. So, twice a year, I have a passing desire to get cable. All I want to do is be able to watch conference without static breaking it up every 30 seconds or so. (Okay, I might be exaggerating a little. But just a little.)

So do you see where I'm going with this? Saturday we go to watch conference, and glory be! It's clear! I can hear the speakers! No static AT ALL!!!! Oh halleluiah!! This chick is now officially grateful for digital transmission.

Miracles do occur.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 13

Today I'm grateful for relative financial stability. Things aren't perfect, no where near perfect actually, but they could be far worse. I personally know way too many people who have been seriously affected by this crappy economy. Well, with rising prices I guess we've all been affected. We've felt the pinch over here, that's for sure. But we have a job and a home and I'm deeply grateful for that. I try really hard not to take it for granted.

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 12

Today I'm grateful for convenience food. I generally don't want to cook dinner on Friday nights, so that's when I turn to something like frozen pizza or hot dogs. Easy. The kids are happy. And there's pratically no clean up. What's not to like about that?

(I got the picture off Google - I'm too lazy to take pictures today too.) :)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 11

Today I'm grateful for random acts of friendship. Tuesday night was full of unexpectedly seeing people I don't normally get to see or visit with, and two days later it still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. :)

100 Days of Gratitude: Day 10

Okay, this is a big one!!! Oh my gosh! I was wondering what I could blog about today, but now I know!

We haven't exactly been telling people this because we thought it'd never really happen and didn't want to start a rumor going, but... for some time now we've been talking about moving to Texas. Brian even looked into a transfer to Dallas and last week was offered a position at a branch there. We didn't think it'd be that easy (or fast!), and started getting cold feet. We didn't know if we should take it because we weren't sure if we'd be able to sell our house in this crazy market. But a realtor friend of ours had a client he thought might be interested, so he brought them over last night. This morning he called to tell us they made a cash offer, for just a little less than we were asking, but it's a cash offer and close enough and we're taking it!!! I can't even believe it! Freaking Dallas!!! Well, we won't be living in Dallas itself, but one of the burbs. We're going to start by looking close to Brian's brother. How cool is that???

I'm excited but nervous too. I'm going to miss everybody! But you don't need to worry about missing us, because I'm totally kidding.

Heh heh.

You do realize what day this is, don't you?

Which brings me to my real item of gratitude for the day: Google. Where else can I take two seconds of my life to find the top April Fool's jokes of all time, and get inspired to try a little practical joke of my own? I've pasted a couple of my favorites below, but if you want to see more you can go to the link here. Happy April Fool's Day!!

#5: San Serriffe

1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semi-colon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.

#8: The Left-Handed Whopper

1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

1976: The British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.