It's okay to play with your food

Sometimes it's okay to play with your food. Like when you have four legs and are this cute:

 

I wish you could hear the noises he makes. They didn't come out very clear on the video, but it's hilarious! He growls at his food - like a Bear. His name definitely suits him.

And that, my friends, is one more reason I truly love my dog. 

 

The List of 300

A friend of mine told me about her brother-in-law's single brother. He has made, and published on the web, a list of 300 must-haves his future wife must have. Some of the items include hip girth (for child-bearing, obviously), weight, height, preferential hair color, and skin tone. 
To him I say, "Ha! Like you have 300 qualities any woman in her right mind would want!"
And then I thought, "Could I even come up with 300 must-haves in a mate?" The answer: nope. 
Really, there's only one must-have on my "list." He needs to love the Savior and the gospel more than he loves me. I know if he loves both of those more than me than I'm taken care of. :o) Other than that, I couldn't really come up with must-haves. 
There are certainly some I'd-like-to-haves, but the one must-have far outweighs any of those. It seems to me he wasted precious time coming up with 300 must-haves for his stupid list when he could have spent that time looking for a good woman and be married by now. Idiot! 

Halloween 2010

My friend, Juliann, and I went to a party at Spring Haven on Halloween. It was a blast! Although, I think I might have ruined her night because I refuse to dance and large crowds kind of weird me out. But we dressed up and had lots of fun! 
She was Fiona (from Shrek) and I was Snow White. A couple of princesses going to the "ball" to find our "prince" (ha ha, yeah right). I also got some really neat pictures of the sunset from that night. It was kind of stormy, so there were lots of clouds and then a flaming orange sunset that turned parts of the sky a dark pink.
Here are a couple of picture of the girls:

 And then we had to do a sexy (or awfully scary, in my case) pose:

And then the one where I look freakishly huge from the waist down (lots of poof in that skirt!):

My brother-in-law, Ron, is a big kid at heart and he takes the kids out trick-or-treating every year. This year was no exception, and he loves to dress up as much as they do. Here is Amanda, Ron, and Andrew:

My nephew, Ryan, is only 11, but he told us a few weeks before Halloween that trick-or-treating was stupid and he wasn't going to dress up and go. Smart kid! So Mom got a picture of him and I said, "What's Ryan dressed up as?" Mom said, "Nothing. He came over as himself." I really didn't think he'd go through with it, but he did! Here's Ryan:

My favorite part is that he's standing smack in the middle of our family room and kitchen, and the TV is in the shot. Fantastic picture, Mom! :o) I love it! It's so realistic. 

Ryan's little brother, Ben, dressed up as Harry Potter. So cute! 

'

And last of all, the sunset from that evening (looking west out the back of our house):

I'm not really a fan of Halloween, but I must admit this year wasn't all that bad!

In need of a translator

I'm in need of a translator. Someone who can translate boy talk into girl talk and boy actions into girls actions. Or maybe I just need a boy to girl/girl to boy dictionary. When he says this, it means this. When he does that, it means that. Does such a thing even exist? 
Seriously, how do people ever get married? I think I've asked this in a previous post, but still wonder about it. It seems so freaking impossible because I have no clue what guys mean when they do or say stuff. It's like I'm in a foreign country, but stranded without a language dictionary. I can't even ask where the bathroom is or figure out how to ask for schnitzel. 
One of my friends says I'm totally oblivious. We went to a Halloween party together (still need to post pictures of that) and met a few guys. According to her, they were all into me. I thought they liked her! I wondered why she didn't get their numbers. She didn't ask them because (she says) they weren't interested in her. Coulda fooled me! I had no clue what was going on. 
Somebody needs to be a professional translator for me. Otherwise, I don't stand a chance. 

So ... I lied

Anyone a member of the big box stores? I am. And I join them both because they have different items and each one has certain things that are a must (i.e. shampoo or deodorant or soap, etc.). You can't beat the prices, so being a member really does save me money, even though I have to pay the dang fees every year. 
Well, that said, I get annoyed when people at the gas pumps give you a shpill about how they've lost their card or suddenly realize they left home without it or they grabbed the wrong wallet. Yes, believe me, I have heard every one of these sob stories while standing at the pump. 
I had to fill up my car with gas tonight and these two kids (a couple, probably in their twenties, I'd say) driving like bats out of you-know-where drove up to a gas pump (the wrong way, might I add - oh that drives me CRAzy!). The guy hops out of the car and asks the lady on the opposite side of the pump if he can use her membership card to buy gas because he lost his card. She said no, jumped in her vehicle, and pulled away. (Lucky her, she was already done pumping gas and ready to roll.)
I KNEW, just KNEW, he was going to ask me next. Sure enough, he turned to me and asked to use my card. I said, "Sorry, I'm a business member and only certain people can use it." LIE! I LIED!!! Under normal circumstances, I would feel bad about lying and kick myself over doing it for weeks until I felt like I'd repented. In this case, NO GUILT WHATSOEVER!!! (We all know very well he never had a card to begin with, right?) 
He shook his head and asked another lady across from him if he could use her card. She said something (couldn't hear her), he came back with, "It's just a matter of swiping it", and she said no again. He calls her the B word along with a few other obscenities and moves on to the guy across from me. And he does what?! Yeah ... he gives that rotten little jerk his card so they can get a cheaper price on gas than they should have! Grr!!! I wanted to smack the guy across from me until I saw that he was an old man. He probably thought the jerk was going to beat the crap out of him if he didn't give up his card. 
I don't know why stuff like that irritates me so much. Other than the fact that I'm paying a fee every year to use those services and feel like I shouldn't have to pay the fees so I can give my membership card to other people that I don't even know so they can have them, too! Not gonna do it! 
So ... I lied. I'm a liar. Hopefully, it's not one of those sins that commits me to hell. I'd like to think I earned an "invitation to Satan's house" rather than arriving there by default because of one lie to a selfish jerk to prevent him from using my membership card.

Time to shut the pie hole? Nah ....

A friend posted a status on Facebook that read something like this: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth. Yep, I said it!" 
DID NOT EVEN PHASE ME. 
Until ... she starts getting reamed by some chick who thinks she knows all about our doctrines and theologies and history and blah blah blah. Whatever. 
Normally, I'm not so outspoken (believe it or not). No, really. I'm not. I'm more of an observer. I don't put myself in the middle of things and DEFINITELY avoid conflict at almost any cost. This is true and my mom will vouch for me. (Was that the proper usage of vouch? Hm.) 
Anyway, I got on a high horse with this chick. She was saying that our doctrines and theologies and history were not Christian. Therefore, the members of the church aren't Christian. Hello?! Do you hear yourself? 
A) We are called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a reason. Um, that reason would be because we believe in Christ. Duh! 
B) The definition of a Christian (in the noun sense and thank you dictionary.com) is: a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity; a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ.  
I'm not sure what got under my skin so much, but I posted several responses to this person and will now be the better woman and ignore her stupid antics. Some people are just out to prove themselves right or fight for their own agenda. Whatever, lady. You can have it your way.  It won't dissuade me from knowing what I already know.
So let me state clearly here what I know to be true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true AND living church on the earth today. That doesn't mean other churches have no truth; it only means that they don't have a fullness of truth because they do not have the proper priesthood, proper authority, or living ordinances to make it so. There doesn't need to be any Bible bashing or scriptures thrown in anyone's face over it. We can (and are) respecters of persons and treat others with the love and kindness Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father show to us. We are not perfect people, but the Church is full of perfect principles and doctrines because ... dun, dun, dun ... they are the Savior's principles and doctrines. Gosh, how incredibly amazing that we would be Christian and abide by Christ's principles and doctrines and do things the way He would do if he were on the earth today! How ingenious is that?! 
Is it time to shut the pie hole then? No way. I won't respond to her nonsense anymore, but I will definitely take more opportunities to stand up for truth as I know it.

Bath time and puppy love

Bear hates getting a bath. He's really good throughout the process, but I can tell he hates it. He also gets a little ... hyper once it's over. He runs through the house like a maniac trying to get dry. It's hilarious to watch! 
Well, last night Bear needed a bath - big time! I put him in the tub and really scrubbed him good. He didn't shake any of the water off until I was done (thank heavens!), but he jumped right out of the tub once I'd squeezed the excess water from him. 
As predicted, he wanted to take off running. However, I had the bathroom door shut. Poor dog! He stood there looking at it longingly. I made him wait until I got out of the shower instead. :o( He was NOT happy with me. 
In return, when I did let him out, he jumped on my new couch and soaked it and then scratched at the door to the upstairs hoping Mom would save him. Eventually, he ended up under my bed (one of his many favorite spots to hide). 
When I was finally ready for bed, I said out loud, "All right, Bear. I'm getting in bed. If you want to sleep with me you'd better get up here now." He came right out from under the bed (still very wet). I picked him up and put him on the bed. 
And then he did something I've never seen him do before. He burrowed under the covers until he looked like this:

Ha ha ha! That big ball is Bear buried under the covers. 
Well, I couldn't let it go at that, so I tried to get his picture under the covers. I dug and dug and finally ended up with this shot:

That's his left front paw and he tried to swat me away. I was relentless though! 
And that is how I got these pictures:

At which point, I realized how mean I had been to Bear by making him stand around in his sopping wet hair. So I let him have all the covers (except for the bedspread on my feet - be reasonable!) and we quickly drifted off to sleep. 
He eventually got out at some point during the night because I was in the covers and he was cuddled up outside of them next to me when the alarm went off. What a funny little creature! He cracks me up. And that's one reason I'm glad we have a dog. 
I jokingly said to Mom one time, "Bear sure likes to cuddle and have his belly scratched when we're laying in bed. If I were married and my husband said, 'Cuddle with me.' I'd say, 'Are you kidding?! No! Get away from me.' But when Bear kicks me or scratches me and I know he wants his belly scratched, I give in every time." That's got to be real puppy love, right? 
Maybe, just maybe, one day I'll love humans as much as I love that little dog of mine.
 

Learn to listen!

Over the weekend, my mom and I found a steal (yeah, it was more like highway robbery) on a new sofa and chair. My brothers, David and Jon, are helping me pick them up tonight and move them in. Just what they wanted to do on a Monday night for FHE, right? 
Anyway, last night *I had a thought that I should get everything moved out of the way so they could get the old couch out and the new couch in without too much hassle. I didn't want to be the cause of any unnecessary swearing. 
(*I say "I" because it's never really me that has these thoughts.)

Because it was late and I was tired and had a headache and (insert any number of excuses/reasons here), I didn't follow up on that thought. My brother-in-law, Ron, came to help David get the old couch out and moved over to his house this morning and, in the process, had to move everything in my kitchen and a box behind the kitchen door. Apparently, per Mom's email this morning, "the box fell apart and there were books, paper, music, everything all over.  I picked up what I could." Her exact words. Great. 
When will I learn to listen?! If I had just listened to the prompting to get things taken care of last night and not been selfish about getting some sleep or whatever else, everything would have been done before they got there this morning and my house might still be in some kind of order. Things like this happen all the time. It's not an uncommon occurrence. I need to practice more patience and do the things that come into my mind without dismissing them as MY thoughts. Obviously, Heavenly Father keeps trying to talk to me and I'm so busy trying to make sense of the big things that the small stuff (the important stuff) gets overlooked. Bah! Learn to listen, Katie! Save yourself the trouble. :o)