On the Home Front

Sorry, I have been neglectful. I worked Monday through Wednesday and am just now having a chance to sit down and compile some thoughts. Plus nothing to write home about happened so I was just waiting for material. Enough excuses.

Phil has received 6 secondary applications out of the 13 schools we applied to. We labored extensively writing essay after essay. Refining and editing until we were satisfied with the final result. I say we, because it really was a joint effort; I wrote some, he wrote some, and then I conceded that he needs to be the main voice since it really is his gig. We returned 5 applications and decided to withdraw from Florida. They are a state school and were quite nosey with their questions, not to mention ridiculous in detail. "What schools have you applied to, give the date you applied, the application status and your intent..." or this "Name the doctor's you know, where they went to school, when they graduated, what they are practicing...". Silly. We decided not to waste our time, who wants to go to Florida anyway? (No offense)

Now, I am finally off to enjoy the rest of the week. I don't know how I hammered out 5 days/week in hygiene, my shoulders are protesting and I am mentally not engaged by the 3rd day. Yay for part-time! I try not to rub it it to Phil. He had his time...

That is all, I told you nothing exciting happens in our life. We are living to work and waiting anxiously for more applications to come through. And we are lying in bed stressing about the changes that come with medical school. Changes we can't foresee until we know where we are going. All in good time.

Work

Blogging is a lot of work. Do you know that? I feel this pressure to produce and be clever and witty and entertaining. I am sitting here with my friend the computer, wasting so much time reading other's blogs (I love it but really, it is a time waster) and here you are wasting time reading mine. Why do we do it?

I need to post several recipes on my other site and feel the pressure there too. I snap pictures of every meal, prompting Phil to ask when can we just eat and not capture every morsel I prepare. Good question. I feel the pressure to come up with meals for my family and yours too! Good meals that satisfy and are healthy and wholesome, easy to execute.

So why am I here complaining? I have work to do! A house to clean, laundry to wash, dinners to plan, blogs to post and recipes to write, pictures to take. It never ends. What will happen when I have more responsibility? More mouths to feed, more clothes to wash? Nothing. Nothing will change. There will always be a deadline, always be pressure. And I will still do it.

And I will like it. No. LOVE it. Especially if littles are involved. My littles.

There is pleasure in the grimy mundane details of life. If you find it.

And mine is waiting in droves, heaped up like dirty pieces of clothing scattered about the bedroom, overflowing from the basket that should contain it. Not a metaphor but reality.

Excuse me. I have work to do.

Since I am a List-y Person...

20 years ago I:

1. Was 5 years old
2. Growing up small town in St. David, AZ

3. Was climbing trees, making mud pies and playing probably everyday with my super fun cousins

10 years ago I was:

1. 15, still in SD and crushing on various local boys
2. probably thought I was really cool, but wasn't
3. Still hung out with my cousins and BFF's Marsha and Kara
4. JV'd on volleyball and softball

5 years ago I was:

1. Married to Phil for 1 1/2 years
2. Domesticating our first little home (after the apartment)-2 beds/2 baths/1090 sq. feet of coziness

3. Working for a spineless Dr. who shall not be named, since he fired me when I got accepted to hygiene school
4. Went on my first European vacation to Germany

3 years ago I was:

1. 22 years old.
2. Freshly graduated from hygiene school and working full-time at University Dental as the lead (only) hygienist)
3. trying to get preggo with our first-succeeded 2 months later
4. Had moved into our second home, just 2 miles down the road from our first

5. Was a primary teacher and loving it

1 year ago I was:

1. 24 & still healing from the loss of my boy (still am-it doesn't end)

2. Blogging!
3. Just getting comfy with my calling as YW Pres, returning from Girls' Camp
4. Still working full-time for 2 docs supporting our family while Phil just graduated from ASU

So far this year I:

1. Have cheered my hubby on as he working his butt off studying for the MCAT
2. Am still YW Pres-I think I got it down now.
3. Developed a stronger faith in God & my religion, still trying to understand His plan for me.
4. Applied to 13 medical schools across the country on behalf of my dearly beloved
5. Tried, tried, tried to get pregnant. Haven't.

Yesterday I:

1. Attended 5 hours of church meetings
2. Fasted and prayed really hard
3. Made whole wheat pancakes with fresh fruit for dinner
4. Vegged on the couch with Phil, reading and watching the telly
5. Worried about the YW in my ward
6. visited the neighbors

Today I:

1. Slept in until 6:30!
2. Cleaned up the dishes from yesterday
3. Went to a doctor appt.
4. Spent way too much time on this post!
5. Will be late for work
6. Will make Chicken Fajita Tostadas for dinner and take pictures so you can make them too!

Tomorrow I:

1. Am temping in Queen Creek
2. Will make drafts of future recipe posts
3. Will tackle the laundry and read another book
4. Have a fun activity with the youth
5. Not make dinner since Phil volunteers at the hospital and I don't get home until after 7 and will be late for mutual

In the next year I:

1. Will have paid off all of our extraneous debt-student loans, saved for a newish vehicle, saved for a rainy day
2. Want to be in medical school and will incur more debt than we know what to do with
3. Want children!
4. Am excited to see where we will be-physically and family-wise.
5. Will probably be adjusting to our new life-poor students, lonely wife/hopefully mother
6. Living frugally

In 3 years I:

1. Will be well adjusted to medical school life-hopefully
2. Will have happy children, a happy husband and a happy me
3. Be proud of my husband for tackling 2 yesars of med school and will be seeing patients
4. Be proud of myself for tackling 2 years of med school for the wife and managing our home and family with ease, grace, faith and happiness

In 5 years I:

1. Will be 30!!
2. Will be starting Phil's residency (not me personally but when you are married-everything is together!), only 6 more years to go!
3. Probably will be in another state, another adventure
4. Will still be poor students with children and more debt
5. Will be a master at frugal living-and hopefully loving it!
6. Will be looking forward to the end of school and the beginning of our new life with the Doctor and the process of paying off the crazy, insane, monstrous debt school will require.

Utah: A Pictoral Review

I was perusing through the Utah pics we took and most of them are from Steph & Dave's wedding, which I will leave for their viewing pleasure, of Bryce Canyon crap-just lovely nature pics with minimal human interest or subject, of the elk farm behind my mom's house or of the many animals she owns-the horse, her two Yorkie poos and the cats. What is wrong with us that we neglect to take pictures with US in them??

So for your viewing pleasure and proof that we only take pictures of everything but ourselves (at least no one can call us narcissistic) I present the following:

This scene reminds me of the vultures in "The Jungle Book".

"Eh, what you wanna do?" " I don' know, what you wanna do?"

The obvious: One of the above birds in flight.

The Natural Bridge, literally a natural phenomenon, hence the title Natural

Oh, wait! A human subject! Albeit not a very chipper human but still. I think she was still ticked that they paid $25 to enter the park when they were only going to drive around for an hour or so. Don't worry, she got over it. After her husband teased and threatened her to cheer up.

Self-explanatory.

Beautiful Darlin', my sister's horse. But should really be my mom & Link's since they take care of her. (♥ you Ness!)

My mom's remaining children, romping in the yard. I love how Phil captured the little bum nip.

I discovered my dream house was really located in Ephraim. But I don't think I can handle living in small town Utah, so we captured this for future plans. It is grander than it looks, not that I am into that or anything. I want a single level home with a basement, the brick is lovely with lots of land around and I love the steep pitched roof.

Ha! I guess I lied. One picture of humans! Forgive me.

Utah

We left Thursday afternoon to Utah for a very special reason. Steph, Dave & Matthew were getting sealed in the Manti Temple.

We were so grateful to be able to witness this special day with them and be able to visit with all the Gunnell siblings and visit my family as well. Utah was gloriously cool in the mornings and nights with warm (hot to the wimpy Utahns) summer days.

We visited Bryce Canyon and enjoyed the 9 hour drive up and back again. (not!) That is the worst drive ever! Although I had it easy sitting and snoozing in the passenger seat as Phil commandeered our trusty little Sentra, which we can drive up to Kanab on one tank.

More pics to follow; I need to be productive and make some money, off to clean in Gold Canyon!

One Quarter

June 19th, 2008 I hit the quarter century mark. Scary. Phil took me out to dinner at Caffe Boa per my request where we had a lovely dinner. Because I am a foodie I will list in detail what we had for your gastronomical pleasure.

I chose the Agnolotti Boa Handmade ravioli filled with a blend of grilled portabella and cremini mushrooms in a mild sauce of tomato, herbs, and a touch of cream and Phil indulged his inner cave man with the Kobe Beef Burger; a ½ lb burger, grilled and topped with organic Point Reyes blue cheese and caramelized shallots; served with Yukon gold wedge cut roasted potatoes with fresh thyme and oregano. It was quite tasty.

And when we returned home I was attacked.

See below photos for evidence.

SURPRISE!!!!!
My dear sneaky husband planned a great surprise party and with the help of family and friends we had a wonderful evening. I was "welcomed" home with 8 cans of silly string, some of you had a great aim!

Phil found this awesome Happy Birthday hat that I had, no got to wear throughout the evening.

We had deliciously decadent chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

And for the viewing pleasure of the attendees I was to take out my frustrations on an unsuspecting Superman Piñata. With my poor, weak aluminum broom handle, that unfortunately did not survive.

For the record, Superman lived up to his name. He was super strong and resisted the forces my arms were giving him. He tried to escape the noose several times and lost his head in the process. After my broom handle gave up the ghost I told Phil to grab the bat from the garage and then instead of passing it to me, he proceeded to beat the living daylights out of Clark Kent. And candy spewed forth across the yard, smacking our guests and launching into the cul-de-sac.

With the carnage and brutality and humiliation over we headed indoors for some games. After our kind and supportive guests left a family fight broke out. It was not pretty.

Thankfully silly string is really fun to clean up.

The Host-In Review

Synopsis:

"The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a future with the fate of humanity at stake. Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time." Taken from Amazon.com

I bought this book because of the author's name and from my love of her previous works "Twilight". I did not read reviews and worry about the quality of the story. Just add to my Amazon cart and awaited shipment.

The book arrived and I began and subsequently finished in a 24-hour period (Phil made me come to bed and despite my best efforts-I had responsibilities). There have been complaints that it is slow and hard to get into. I admit there seems to be more of a drag as the author is setting the scene, informing you of pertinent details and familiarizing you with the alien invaders. It is deeper and the characters are real and more than the two dimensional reads from Twilight.

You may scoff at the notion of alien invaders but really, are vampires and werewolves any different? This is not Twilight. This book was written for adults, not the swooney love sick teenager that Twilight caters too. (I put myself in that category as far as the books are concerned-loved them). It is more emotionally developed and makes you think. Whenever I read a good book, it stays with me for a few days and I find myself thinking of the characters and putting myself in their shoes. This book made me examine my own relationships and the decisions I make.

It is a more intelligent read and touches on topics of humanity, personal growth, prejudice and environmental adaptation. It is not as romantically intense as Twilight and is a very clean read, passionate kissing mentioned but not exploited. Normally I can begin to unravel the plot as the book goes on but it wasn't until the last chapters that I could see where she was going.

Overall, this is a good read. Drop your expectations from Twilight, this is different. Deeper, more involved, a slower pace but a steady one. I will continue to purchase her books by her name alone. Stephenie Meyer knows how to tell a story. One deep with drama and emotion.

Buy it.

Have you read it? What did you think?