Errands

I took most of the day off today since I'm way behind in using my vacation days and if I don't get on the ball there will be four weeks of it that just go poof! We can only carry over 240 hours (ok, it's not "only") a year.

So, I felt so free driving around to banks, Costco, gas station, dry cleaners, post office, and perhaps sneaking in an ice cream cone. (-: I felt kind of like a Mom. It was great to turn up the stereo, refrain from answering the phone and just plain do what I wanted to do.

Even though I worked a little here and there, it felt like a pretty good break.

My boyfriend and I were able to go and see a chick flick that was pretty funny in the afternoon take a nice walk in the evening.

Great day and a holiday weekend to follow.

Kudos to Costco - cookie recall

Kudos to Costco because they sent me a voicemail and a letter telling me to bring back the raw Toll House cookie dough!

No questions asked, they just took it back.

I've never been pursued this much for a refund, but I now have a lot of confidence in the "system" Costco uses for their logistics and customer tracking.

Plus, I now have $7.99 in my pocket and I had eaten a batch or two of cookies from that big raw cookie dough tube. So, it was a win-win.

Confession and Memory Lane - Pride and Prejudice

Ok, so, this is a confession and a trip down memory lane. Oh, and this is a confession from a Mormon, but the term is used loosely and not religiously.

Yesterday I was at Costco and went to the aisle that I frequent only every six months. It's the one in the middle that has all the kids books, novels, movies, DVDs, etc. I'm not a shopper, but for some reason I spend about 30 minutes in this aisle every time. As I make my way around the circle I keep adding, and then subtracting, items from the cart. I'll keep finding something better or I'll find the CD version of the book and have to decide which one is either cheaper (book) or more practical for my life in traffic (CD).

Either way, yesterday was one of those very expensive days. I bought the C.S. Lewis book collection, the new Ken Follett book (World Without End), a yoga/pilates DVD set, Atonement, John Adams, Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. What? The "what?" is for the last line. I don't know what got into me, but I had the sudden need to own the two movies that all of my sisters and friends love - Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice.

A few years ago one of my roommates got in a car accident and was at home for a while before returning to work. She watched Pride and Prejudice all the time and often asked me to watch it with her. I always declined because I really wasn't interested in the "people dressed like that" and "talked like that." Prejudice from Rebecca? Anyway, a couple of years ago, my brother and his wife lived with me and encouraged me to watch the series with them. I remember thinking that I should be able to handle it if my brother enjoyed it. Long story short...we stayed up all night so we could finish the entire 6 hours. I really liked it, but never figured I'd watch it again.

So, after having an extremely productive day on Saturday, I decided to pop in the DVD around 6 p.m. and as was expected, I watched the entire thing. I loved it! Perhaps I'm just socially delayed, but I'm understanding these movies a little more each time and the outfits didn't bug me as much. It's amazing how much they still do relate to our society even though those moments of pride and those moments of prejudice may manifest themselves in other ways. We place so many limitations on ourselves.

I don't see myself becoming too enthralled with the array of movies that depict these past times, but I will most likely be open to one that I would have shunned in times past. After all, I did read "The Pillar of the Earth" by Ken Follett recently and it's about knights, monks, and castles. Soooo not what I'm interested in.

Just for memory sake, I'm going to throw in a photo of the "Victorian Club" that was formed by my sisters and our friend Marcia way back in the 1980s. We had a few little gatherings, but I couldn't tell you what they consisted of because it wasn't quite my thing. In actuality, there were probably 1-2 meetings and the rest of the time it was primarily everyone looking at the Victorian catalog to find refined ways to decorate their bedrooms.

Ok, I'm the one that is not wearing any lace and didn't prepare a proper hair do.

Cookies Anonymous - clean for 14 days

Yep, I've made it 14 days without cookies. I've also lost a total of four pounds over the last couple of weeks which isn't really anything on my frame. The real trick is substituting with something better. Today I brought a big bag of pre-cut and pre-packaged carrots and celery to work along with yogurt and an orange. I ate some of all of them. However, I did take a break to go buy a big BLT for lunch so I could truly fill up.

The next item I have to omit from my intake would be peanut M&Ms. I bought a massive bag at Costco and ate it all in one week. So, the cookie thing was great, but I think I was able to do it only because I had another crutch.

Hopefully this week I'll be able to have celery and peanut butter as the crutch instead of all these tasty substitutes. And, I'm done walking Pepper and so this means more creative exercise options and obscure walks to fill that requirement.

Pressing forward!

Downsizing

So, I donated my big stereo system to the Goodwill the other day. The tape decks weren't working (even though I never used the tape decks) and the display wasn't showing what CD was playing or the radio station numbers.

I went into Costco the other day and found this cute little set of speakers. You just put your iPOD into the back of it and it will play. Pretty cool. Look how small it is.

I've been using it as I've been painting this weekend. Thank goodness. I was going to pay someone to paint my place, but realized that I could paint it myself and save over $1,000. It's not so bad listening to the music and just giving myself 1 room a week to paint.

However, the fumes are getting to me.

Merry late Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It's January 4th and I'm barely writing my yearly Christmas letter. It seems that it comes faster every year! But, here it goes...

2007 started out fairly stressful. Work stressed me to the point of my first gray hairs. As a result, I decided to make work a lower priority even though I still go everyday to manage expectations, people and projects. Responsibility isn't all that it is cracked up to be, but we all have to experience the "greener pastures" for at least 5-6 stressful years, aye?

This year I didn't take many trips. Those I did take involved seeing family members. My youngest brother graduated from high school. There's almost an 18 year gap between us! That means that 2009 brings my 20 year high school reunion. Gasp. I'm finally experiencing those weird feelings of being old. However, my first haircoloring erased some of those strange feelings. ..temporarily.


We've had a few family gatherings, but none with everyone. A few of us met up in San Franscisco in the spring to cheer on the BYU Rugby team in a national championship game. BYU came in 2nd place again. All of my brothers (and Mom and some cousins) were there and all participated either as alumni athletes (cheering) or in the game (Craig).



Craig made it to the All American team again and played a great game at West Point in New York. Mr. Adam Brett Clark is making his debut on the team this year and will be the 4th, and last, brother to play on the team. His high school team won the state championship and so hopefully that carries over in Utah. Go BYU Rugby!

The largest event of my year was actually a project that took a few hundred hours out of my life. I converted all of the old family videos onto DVDs so that they could be viewed and shared by all. I had finished the project and backed up on appropriate hard drives only to have two hard drives fried in the same week. Not good. Luckily, the second time around was faster and more efficient with a new round of technology at my disposal. I also compiled all digital photos and videos to date. Let's just say that 10 copies of everything gets old after a while. Costco photo center became a close friend. I got my time back and they got all of my money. (-:

I'm teaching little five year olds at my church. In the past, kindergarten was my least favorite grade, but these little people grew on me. This year I will be teaching 10 year olds. That is typically the age I enjoy working with, but I'm sure my work will be cut out for me.

Other than that, life moves along. I always appreciate interacting with family, friends church members and some co-workers. Thanks to all that stay in touch. I'm a little slow at times. Does everyone get a couple hundred emails a day like me? By the time I get home from work, I'm completely technology weary.

2008 is shaping up to be a great year! Hopefully there will be wonderful news from me and wonderful news to me from you.

Happy New Year and keep in touch, Rebecca

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