Juicy Fruit

I bought Anders a pack of Juicy Fruit today at the store. We opened it up, and lo and behold, the good folks at Wrigley have changed it to yellow! This is probably old news to most of the civilized world, but I had no idea. Good call, Juicy Fruit! I never was a fan of the mysterious beige color of yesteryear. Let us all consume more artificial colors! Now, if they could just make it taste good for more than 45 seconds. More aspartame, I say!

Done Deal

This last Wednesday we became home owners yet again. After much last minute stress and a few thousand dollars in unexpected closing costs, we have ourselves a house. We went there yesterday to get some official cabinet measurements, so it's all starting to roll along. I keep imagining how wonderful it will be to have my own house again. I'm very thankful that my mom is willing to let us stay here in the meantime. Having said that, I'll be glad to have dirty dishes in the sink and not worry about it bugging her.

We met a few of the neighbors yesterday. They were all very nice, and happy about someone moving into the house. Apparently it's been empty since August. They said there are almost 300 kids in the Primary. Anders is going to have a complete meltdown. There are 40 Sunbeams! Anyhoo, we're both feeling very ready to move on. I think living with my mom for the last couple of months has been good as far as transition. We were really sad to move from Springville, but now we're ready for whatever comes next. (I must admit to still being in mourning over good old Camelot, though.)

We'll document our progress as we work on the house, so you'll all be seeing plenty of pictures in the near future.

-Katrina

ps- I used to assume that everyone could tell the difference between when Nils writes or I write- but since Holly thought maybe Nils told Courtney to "work it, baby" concerning the workout video (it was me, by the way) I thought I should decipher between he and I. Just for reputation's sake. :-)

Photographicalaciousnessocity

Yeah, that's right. It's a word, OK?! It was a mild day today (relatively speaking) so I dragged the kids outside for some pictures. 72 Photos later I didn't have a single one of them where the kids are both smiling and looking at the camera at the same time but I got some pretty good ones nonetheless. Is that one word? None the less... I digress. Here it is. Rock on.

Who's With Me?

I just checked the weather forecast for the next ten days. After tomorrow, rain and snow showers until next Thursday. I'm seriously considering moving to Florida. Is anyone else a little affected by this eternal winter bleakness?

Since yesterday was the first time in weeks and weeks that wasn't arctic, the kids went outside and rode bikes for about an hour. It's been a long, long time since we ventured into the great outdoors.

Send the Pain Below

You ever have one of those songs stuck in your head all day but you love it and want to hear it again and again? I've had a song in my head for about a week now and I can't get sick of it. It's called Send the Pain Below by Chevelle. I must have listened to it 30 times so far. I recently discovered Chevelle and I really like most of their music. I'm into quite a variety of music but I particularly like edgy rock that has kick to it. This song definitely fits the bill. The other cool thing about them is that despite their ability to rock it hardcore, I haven't heard a single swear in any songs. You can check out 'Send the Pain Below' here and hear for your self. If you like the song, check out some of their other music. Good stuff. Just thought I'd share that.

Other bands that are relatively new to me and sounding great:
Fallout Boy
Dashboard Confessional
Panic at the Disco
Good Charlotte

If you share my taste in music, be sure to check out 1.fm, available as a website or in the iTunes radio section under Alternative Rock. It's probably my favorite place to find music that really rocks. It's like the Liger of Radio Stations. Not into my hard core trash? 1.fm also has a great classical station available. I dig that, too.

-The Nizzlito.

Waterproof Flash Drive

A year or go or so, I bought a Sandisk Cruzer Mini 256 MB Jump Drive/Flash Drive/Thumb Drive/USB Drive thingy. Why are there 76 names for them? Anyway, this week I accidentally left it in my pocket when I put my jeans in the dirty clothes hamper. The magical laundry elves came and did the laundry and then Katrina called me at work to tell me that the jump drive was probably ruined. I thought "Oh well, I can get a newer one that's eight times the size for the same $40 I paid for it originally." I got home and saw the jump drive that one of the laundry elves had left out for me. I plugged it in and- It was completely functional. In fact, I didn't even lose a single file from the device. So next time you get your jump/flash/usb/thumb drive dirty, just throw it in your pocket and let the laundry elves put it through the wash. Actually, wouldn't recommend that but I'm pretty impressed with my little jump drive.

PS- I know that Katrina is the head laundry elf but I'm just so amazed at how every time I'm running out of underwear my drawer is magically re-stocked. She's got to have magical creatures helping her out.

-Nils

The Mundane

I have nothing exciting to write about, but Nils has taken over the last few entries. I figured I better get my two cents in before he takes over completely. Tee-hee!

So we're starting to get some estimates on how much it will cost to remodel our wee house. Holy poop. I think in almost any other circumstance, $20,000 would seem like a whole lot of money. We see it slipping through our fingers very quickly with all of our little projects. Here's what we want to do: New kitchen cabinets, counters, sink, laminate flooring in said kitchen, new carpet throughout house, new doorknobs and light fixtures. Then with all of the time and money we have left over, we'll get around to finishing the basement. Good grief.

We've had a sick household this week. My mom teaches kindergarten and first grade reading, so she's always a disease carrier. I got a nasty cold, Anders got pinkeye in both eyes, and my mom has had some mystery illness and has been home all week from work. Let's talk about pinkeye for a moment, shall we? What an itchy, goopey mess it is! It spreads like a muthah! I had to pin poor Anders down, manually open his eyes, and drop medicine in them. Talk about hysterical mayhem. Granted, Anders tends to overreact, but seriously...does anyone like having a foreign object forced into their eyes? Be gone forever, pinkeye!

In good news, I've been feeling the baby move a lot lately, and Nils has even felt her a few times. Yesterday I saw her shift from one side of the belly to the other. It's so weird to think that she's just a few inches long but can kick and stretch and roll around; it makes all the puking seem insignificant. Of course I can say that now that I'm feeling better! I have to admit, even the third time around, I'm quite enchanted by it. Talk to me in three months, and I'm sure I'll take it all back. :-) We are still at a loss for names. I'm waiting for a name to appear to me in a vision or dream, because I just have no idea what to name this kid.

Boring blog entry: Done.