Ben Folds

I like Ben Folds. I wasn't as big a fan of 'the 5' but I like the solo stuff a lot. This song is interesting. It's been around for a while but I just saw the video for it for the first time today. I really like the opening piano part with the cello. The song is called Jesusland, which may be offensive to some people, but looking past the title, if they can, those same people would probably agree with what he is saying. Take a look:



So, what do you think? Do you think it is inappropriate? What exactly is he saying?

15 month check up

We took Ana to her 15 month well baby. If you remember, her last appointment the doc was concerned because she was so underweight. But she is 19.2 pounds and 31 inches tall. The doc just figures she'll be skinny like her dad and not too worry. Developmentally she's fine. They asked if she can say 5-15 words. She says about 25. recent additions: "cookie" and "bubble". She walks great, carries things, pushes, pulls, etc. And she babbles all day long. She's looking great!

Love Package

Dave took Ana to the store this evening. I thought he was just going to get a movie to watch, but he came back with this:

Isn't he cool?

Educated voting and what not

What is the best way to be an educated voter? I found this the other day and thought it was interesting. How do you find the the information you need to make your voting choice? Really, tell me, I want to know.

It's not the money, it's the recipes...

Erin recently bought me the new Fountains of Wayne cd. This is the video from the first track on the CD.



Didn't turn out exactly like you thought it would did it? I haven't spent the time with this cd that it deserves, I need to get it into the cd player in our car. I think I'll do that right now...

I love this song

This song was mentioned in the comments of this post, and I saw the video of it tonight. I cried. I know some may not like country, but if you're a parent, you'll appreciate it anyway...

Sunday Morning

I know, I'm a little behind the blogging. And I don't have any new pics to post and so much to tell about. Today, I'll just tell you, for your amusement, about my Sunday morning. It really is funny in retrospect.

The morning started out like any other. I felt like puking, got a bowl of cheerios down, and got breakfast for Ana. At about 10:30, I wasn't feeling so well, so I laid down in bed for a little while. (We have church at 1:30). About a half hour later, Dave broght Ana in the room so he could get ready for his meeting at 11:30. Just as I was deciding to roll out of bed, Ana pulled on our dresser just right and it tipped over on top of her. She started crying, Dave darted in from the front room and I jumped out of bed. Luckily, a CD player on the floor caught a lot of the weight, and she is just fine. I think she has a bruise on her cheek, but thats it. Okay, move on. I was asked to do sharing time last minute, so once Dave left for his meeting I put Ana in her chair for her snack and started working on it. Once Ana was done, I put her in the tub. After a few minutes, she started acting like she was going to poo, so put her on the toilet while she cried out her poopy. I went to get wipes, and while I was wiping her bum, my Visting Teacher called. While I was talking to her, Ana walked away, and I noticed a small pile of poo by her, and back in the bathroom. Okay, I'd have to call my VT back. I wiped Ana's bum, put her back in the tub, cleaned up her small piles and call my VT back. After I get done talking to her (its a little after noon by now), I look in the tub and there is runny poop all over. And Ana is playing with it. "Okay, Erin, don't puke, don't puke." Get Ana out of tub, put diaper on her. Scour tub. Gag and dry heave. Scour tub again. Fill back up and put Ana back in. Okay, by the time I get Ana scrubbed, again, and out of the tub, its 12:45, I'm still in my pjs, I haven't got past defrosting the hamburger for dinner, my sharing time wasn't done and Ana and I still need to eat lunch. So, I start making dinner, when the phone rings. Its the Primary chorister, she's sick and won't be at church. "Okay, bring your stuff over, we'll take care of it." Then Dave called, "do you need me to come pick you up?" he asks. "I need you to come home." So he gets home, fed Ana and got her dressed while I finished dinner, finished my sharing time, got dressed, put on some mascara and brushed my hair, got our church bag together, and tried to eat a PBJ without barfing. We got to church at 1:35, and walked up to the front row - the only empty place. Whew, we made it. Another Sunday morning.

93%

I only missed one question on the multiple choice section of my O-Chem test I took today. I guessed on at least 3 questions so 66% guessing is ok with me. Probably Monday or Tuesday I will get the results back on the write-on portion. I will probably end up with an A or A- on the test. That feels pretty good after the last test.

okay, my blogging is lagging a little (or) I have a really good excuse

I debated whether to confess my little secret to the blogging world. But, I think its time. Mostly because it is consuming most of my thoughts and actions right now, so how can I not blog about it? I am a little nervous, because of my history, but I suppose I'd probably want to blog about that too, so here it goes...

I'm pregnant. About 8 weeks. Due the first week in June. Haven't gone to the doc yet. I'm actually really, really excited about it. See, I had a miscarriage earlier in the summer. It was really hard on me. For one because all of my married siblings were pregnant at the same time, me included, and then I miscarried and they are all still pregnant (well, except the two that just had babies...) One sis is due in Dec, and another sis and my bro's wife are due end of Jan. I was also due the end of Jan. But, at about 9 weeks I had a miscarriage. I also had a miscarriage before Ana.

So, why, Erin are you choosing to write about your pregnancy? Because there is a big difference between this pregnancy and my miscarriages. A difference that was also there when I was preggers with Ana. Both times I miscarried I didn't feel any morning sickness, fatigue or any other symptoms. With Ana I was dead tired and mildly puke-y for the first trimester. So, with this pregnancy, before I decided to spill the beans, I wanted to be sick. At first I thought it was in my head... That I was wishing to be sick so I noticed every little queasiness or bout of fatigue, but last week in hit me. I am definitely pregnant. I hardly have energy to read blogs, much less clean my disaster home or do my dishes. I was so tired this afternoon that even though Ana was awake, I let her wreck havoc on my home while I dozed for 15 minutes. I usually feel really queasy in the morning, mildly so in the afternoon, and pretty good by evening - except by then I'm dead tired and can't bear the thought of an hour's worth of dishes to do. Which is why I decided we are going to use paper products until the dishes are done. And probably for a while after that.

So, there you have it... My little secret. I suppose if history repeats itself, I'll blog about that too. But I feel like this one's a keeper. Hopefully...

it's about time

It's time for another post. I don't really have anything amazing to talk about today though... Let me think...

Well, while I am thinking I will just tell you that there is another mystery photo on its way. I haven't taken many pictures like that but it will be a fun time.

I still haven't thought of anything great to tell you about the last couple days so I will just tell you a little about what I did today.

At 6:00 AM I went on-campus to continue training for the research I get to be involved in until April when I graduate. Right now I am working on becoming reliable compared to experts at measuring certain stuctures of the brain from a bunch of MRI scans we have. Here is a sample of what I was looking at for my first 1.5 hours of the day.

I came home after going to one class from 7:45-8:45. Then I took a quiz online for about a half hour, ate a bowl of cereal and went back on campus.

On campus again I did my pre-lab for O-Chem lab, read through the real lab to make sure I didn't mess up when the time came, and walked across campus to turn in some registration stuff for the scouts in our ward to get a required merit badge in November.

From there I went to O-Chem for an hour, then stress management, then back to O-Chem lab from 3:15-5:40.

Erin picked me up from class, Ana laughed when she saw me, yelled "dada," ran to where I was and gave me a hug. She's cute. Then we went to Arby's for some curly fries and stuff like that.

I got back home at 7:00pm and here I am now. I still have to read Hamlet for class tomorrow, I haven't started, so that's pretty much what I will do until I can't stay awake anymore. Tomorrow I start at 6 with more MRI's!

Ana Update

*She's 15 months old now. Crazy!

*She's generally happy now that she can walk. She walks all around the house, making a happy mess as she goes.

*She can say about 20 words. Her lastest additions are "uh-oh" and "fishy" (for goldfish crackers).

*She jabbers all the time. The other day she was playing in the kitchen and I said "Ana, what are you doing?" She came around the corner and jabbered some answer, and then turned right around back into the kitchen to continue playing. (Apparently, it meant "I am unrolling the wax paper mom...")

*I made this toy for her today out of a mixed-nuts can. I put a slot in the top and she loves to put game pieces in the top. She played with it forever today.

*She likes her new coat. And its a good thing because its getting cold in Rexburg.

*At play group, she just likes to watch the other kids. I always thought she'd be more fiesty, but if someone takes away her toy, she just looks confused.

The things I learn in O-Chem

Today in O-Chem my teacher played this video at the first of class.



What else can I say after that? Nothing I could type now would ever seem funny after what you just witnessed.

date night (a.k.a We have the best babysitter)

For his general arts requirement Dave chose to do a theatre appreciation class and therefore is required to go to all the plays on campus. Its great, because I really enjoy theatre and its a great excuse for a date. Last night was the first one: Wait Until Dark. It was really good. I'd seen the movie years ago, but hadn't remembered anything except that the heroine was blind and at the end her apartment was dark. Seeing the play was really cool, though because when she darkens her apartment, the entire theatre was in complete darkness. It made it kinda spooky and intense, but not too scary, as I don't really like scary shows. It was a lot of fun.

What is even better, I don't have to worry about Ana while we are out. Our neighbor's daughter just turned 11 and she is the best babysitter ever. She loves Ana and when she comes over, Ana runs to her. She even cleaned up Ana's room and vacuumed the hallway. She takes such good care of Ana and Ana loves her. Its so nice not to have to worry about what is going on at home when I'm out on a date.

usedtocould

When I was in high school, I used to spend most of my time down the street at the Hicks home. We would make short movies, music videos, watch movies, play music and all sorts of other stuff. Jared taught me to play the guitar and we had a great time with it. I also played the drums a little bit with them. The first song that I ever played just like the drummer in the real thing was from Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me. Maybe not "just like" the real thing but you get the idea.

Things have been busy for me since I got married and we've had a baby. Now that I am not working for a little while and have a little more time, I am realizing that I miss that more musical/creative part of me. I am interested to see what you think of the song. The video that was good quality on youtube doesn't allow posting in blogs and all the other versions of the video have sound that is horribly off, and it annoyed me. So, I found this wonderful youtube gem of a dancing mechanical mule set to "valerie loves me"

It may be wierd but we are mostly focusing on the song right?



When I used to play a lot I knew mostly Weezer songs, Fountains of Wayne, Everclear, some Beatles, a couple songs from the Cure, and Material Issue as well. I knew every song the band 'For Now' played (i was in it) and a few 'Fixit' songs as well.

Oh well. Enough of that. I need to go visit my friends again.

txting epidmc

Okay, I have to rant a little bit. Its true I have sent a text message or two in my day. But thats probably about all. I think the text message craze is undermining the importance and art of communication. I was perusing the Scroll (school newspaper) today and I came across an article about texting. Allow me to quote a student featured in it: "You can do it in class, in the library, while you're talking to other people, or even in the two seconds it takes your date to get in the car." Automatically I thought to myself, "that would be the last date I would ever go on with that guy." Besides the obvious rudeness of texting while on a date with a girl, why is he just waiting in the car for his date? I think it is very sad that communication with others has been reduced to this. This guy (and it was a male student, a Business major, evidently, but that is another post...) obviously knows how to make those around him feel important. Dave and I have a friend who got dumped via text messaging. Of course, they also got together via text messaging, and most of their relationship consisted of it. Now, I do think texting has its place - but 27 out of 100 students admitted to having 10 or more text conversations a day. A girl featured in the article said, "It's nice ... when you don't really want to talk to someone." I think with the loss of communication came the lost art of common courtesy and compassion. Well, I could go on, but I think I've got it out of my system now...

At breakfast today...

Some of you may think these sausages look/are gross. You may be right, but I definitely don't agree with you. They are 100% processed, pre-cooked, greasy goodness. I do like them a lot but that is not the only reason I am posting about them right now.

After I got back from class this morning I put a few in the microwave for breakfast. (No, I didn't eat before class. My day started at 6 today and I didn't have time. I'm working on it.) Anyway, as always, Ana really wanted some of the sausages because if Dad is eating some, they must be the coolest, best food ever. I fed her a few pieces but wouldn't let her hold them because of the aforementioned greasiness and the fact that we still have some half folded clean laundry on our couch. She started trying to grab the pieces I was putting in her mouth and just as I thought to myself something like "She will just have to accept that I am putting it in her mouth for her..." - I don't remember what I was thinking exactly, basically something about me being in charge - so, just as I thought that, she grabbed the piece of sausage from my hand and ran away giggling with a huge smile on her face.

Our 15 month old baby outdid me. Maybe I should get used to it...

Confession #3 - Am I the only one?

Or do other moms have a problem with over-emotionality. For example, I was driving through the Wal-Mart parking lot, perusing for a spot, listening to country radio. A song comes on about a boy who is asking his girlfriend's dad for her hand... The guy sees all these pictures of her as a little girl - dressed up as Cinderella, playing in the sprinkler, riding a bike for the first time, etc. And he realizes that in her dad's eyes, he's just stealing Cinderella. So there I am in the parking lot, listening to this cheesy song, bawling my eyes out. It was pathetic really. Things like this happen frequently, particularly when involving family tenderness. Hallmark commercials, and even my friend's wedding do it to me too. (Dave is always quick to point out that I didn't cry at our wedding, but I cry at everything else.) So, I ask again, am I the only one?

I can hear the bells (or) my husband is really cool

I was really tired yesterday, so I laid down to take a nap while Ana was napping. Dave left to go to Hollywood Video to rent a Wii game. When he came home, he had a surprise for me. THE HAIRSPRAY SOUNDTRACK!!!! He knew how much I loved it, read my post and decided I needed it. Isn't he cool? I love the CD. Thanks, Dave. You are so my favorite husband ever!

You can't stop the beat

Dave and I went on a date last night. Shocking, I know. We don't venture into that realm much. Mostly because we usually decide we want to go only a few hours in advance, and then can't find a babysitter. But, last night we put Ana to bed and went to the 9 o'clock show. Dave's nephew (and finacee) came over and watched a movie at our house, and we brought them milkshakes.

Anyway, we saw Hairspray, and I loved it. Here's a run down... First of all, its a musical (rated PG) so that makes it about 10x better in my book. John Travolta plays an overweight a woman (by the by, the part he played has always been played by a man on Broadway), Christopher Walken as his/her husband and Zac Efron (from High school musical, and we all know how I feel about that) the heartthrob of a teenage dance show in the 60s. Overweight Tracy Turnblad gets to dance on the show, changing the face of the show forever, much to Beauty Queen Michelle Pfieffer's (and daughter) dismay. Add the racial turbulance of the era, featuring Queen Latifah and Amanda Bynes who falls for a black dancer (much to her Christian mother's dismay). Music, dancing, and a whole lot of fun! I loved every minute. I'm pretty sure I want to own in when it comes out and I think I might just convince Dave that I need the soundtrack. And I'll listen to it all the time. And I mean all the time. And I'll probably be dancing too. Just so you know.

PS - Dave, we really should go on dates more.

B101

Remember in Businuss 101 when my group couldn't think of an idea for the commercial we had to do? I remember. No one thought of anything so I did. It is a bit of ... lets say ... bathroom humor.

Now, that wasn't really too bad was it? I just remembered this video existed earlier today, we made it about 3 years ago. It may not be the most appropriate but honestly who doesn't need a little more fiber in their diet? Anyway, I think that's enough for one post.

zrrbtts

Ana tonight learned how to "zrrbtt" my tummy. I was laying on the floor, and she came and pulled up my shirt and blew a raspberry on my stomach. It was really funny. Then we laughed and she kept doing it...

Work no more

Friday is my last day at Melaleuca. Why? -



1. Erin Suggested it.
No, I am not kidding. Yes, I was very surprised as well. After all the times that dumb stuff happened and I really wanted to quit and find another job only to hear Erin say something like, "Dave, you really need to stay there. It works perfect with your schedule and you get more money there..." It really gave thinking about it a different feel this time.

2. It's been busy
This is the reason Erin suggested I quit really. She saw me getting more stressed than I was admitting or even noticing myself. Here is a quick run down of last week - work 30 hours at Melaleuca, taking 14 credits (including O-Chem) on a short semester system, starting to do research which will require about 12 hours a week, doing mutual, going to scout training.

3. The job changed
I was used to lots of change at Melaleuca, but I wasn't ready for this one. For those you who don't know, I used to listen to people's phone calls, evaluate them, and then sit down with them one on one for a 15-20 feedback session. One day they said we could no longer do one on one feedback, we just email a numerical form to their supervisor and never talk to any of the other associates all day. Anyway, there is a little more to it than that but it just came down to the fact that I no longer enjoyed the main part of my job AT ALL. I might have been able to work through the other things if I still loved it.

I am not bitter with Melaleuca, it was just time to do something different.

So, we have enough money to make it through the end of the year. I will be a tutor or something like that on campus starting in January. I will get to talk to people face to face again and help them work through problems; it will probably even make me feel smart sometimes. For now, it will be great to have all that time back for me, Erin, and Ana - oh, and homework too I guess.

*i love*

*Ana's smile. She's been really happy the last few days. Its cute. She seems so big to be walking and talking. Her little voice is really cute.

*that Dave's last day at Melaleuca will be Friday. It'll be good for him to be able to have a little more time to devout to school work and other goals he has for the year.

*having friends over for dinner. Dave's nephew is coming tonight. Not only does it give me motivation to clean, but I love being with friends.

*how we rearranged our living room. It doesn't look nearly so crowded as it did before.

*Dancing with the Stars. We watch it online which means I can't vote, but its fun to watch. Even though some of the girls dont' wear very much.

*getting up before Ana to read my scriptures. It makes the day go so much better, and I don't have to think about it the rest of the day.

I'm that guy

When I first came to Rexburg before the mission in 2001 it was the first semester of the school being officially BYU-I. Either I didn't pay attention very well, or there just weren't nearly as many married students. Actually, I am sure both were true. I remember there being a couple married guys in one of my 100 level classes that talked about having a kid or kids. I wondered to myself, "What is taking them so long?" I don't know that I was critical of them but I did think it was weird once in a while that they were married and already had kids.

I am in my last general class right now - Theater Appreciation. There are something like 24 girls and 4 boys in the class. I wasn't quite expecting that. Also, I think I am by about 5 years the oldest person in the class. I don't think anyone in there other than myself is over 19. I am now that guy that I wondered about when I was a freshman. Ana is over a year old, I will be 25 soon and will graduate in April. It has been interesting for me to watch them interact with each other throughout the class. Maybe I will tell a funny story or two about them or just try to paint you the picture I see every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:15-4:45. It is such a change from the classes I am used to taking right now. The other day the professor actually said the words "extra credit" when talking about the grade in his class. He gave us the topic for every single question on the test a few days before we took it. I will have to let you know more about the class later. One last thing on the class - my teacher Omar Hansen has been in a few TV movies and played a cop for a while whenever they wanted one on Days of Our lives. He was the lead in a few plays at the Globe theater in LA as well. He is pretty animated and funny.

On to what you have been waiting for - they mystery picture

The mystery picture was part of my bike, I think mostly the 2nd picture gave that away. But I like to think of it as more than just part of my bike. It is the sweet spot. My friends and I used to joke about how some of our bikes have what was called sweet spot suspension. The frame is two seperate parts that pivot together at the sweet spot. That is what I was looking for specifically so if Steven would have guessed I am sure he would have got it. Not too exciting but it was just a warm up.

As far as the picture from the mission reunion, I pretty much blew that one. But, there will be more to come.

Cute Magnets/Thumbtacks

I loved making these magnets/thumb tacks at my mom's house. They are easy, cute, fairly cheap and kids can do them too. Here's how if you don't already know.

Materials needed: Clear flat marbles (found at any craft store and Wal-mart. You can get small ones or big ones. I use small ones.)

Scrapbook or other design or colored paper

Modge-Podge

Glue Gun
Magnets or Thumbtacks

Step 1: Place a marble on the paper where you want the design to be. Trace and cut out

Step 2: Modge Podge the bottom of the stone. Press the paper onto the stone, design side down.

Step 3: Modge Podge over the top of the paper. Let dry

Step 4: Hot glue a magnet or thumbtack onto the marble.

Tada!

We made mostly magnets with bright blues and pinks at my moms. I made these ones at home and did some with thumb tacks since I use a cork board a lot. I made these 6 in less than an hour. Cute way to add holiday accents to your home.

Conference thoughts ...

My favorite talks for General Conference this year:

Elder Wirthlin: For a few years now he has been one of my favorite speakers. It seems he always talks about something applicable to me. Though he has a hard time speaking, his words are very eloquant. Read some of his past talks - they are excellent! Charity is the pure love of Christ and we all need to possess it. Increase you love for God and your love for others. You show your love for God by loving all his children. I was really touched by Elder Nelson's action of love by supporting Elder Wirthlin during his talk.

President Eyring: I did not expect him to be the new counselor, but it really fits. Remember each day what the Lord has done for us. Write it down. Gratitude and testimony will grow in abundance.

Sister Beck: Do Less! The church is not asking us to do it all, they are asking us to do the essential.

Elder Bednar: We need both clean hands and a pure heart. They are seperate. They come through repentance and the sactification of the Holy Ghost. This is one that I really want to reread. .

We're home...

from a really fun weekend. We left Friday afternoon and went to Salt Lake for Dave's mission reunion. He got to see a lot of people from the mission and his mission president, so it was worth it. We left it a little after 10, and drove to Rupert.

Saturday we watched General Conference with Dave's parents. He got to go to Priesthood Session with his Dad, which he really liked. His sister does a pumpkin patch every year with a ton of pumpkins. She decorates it really cute with scarecrows and even picture posing boards. We went over in between sessions of conference to pick out some pumpkins. It was really windy but so cute to watch Ana try to pick up all the pumpkins. Thanks Amy!

We also got to see Dave's nephew that just returned from a mission in Costa Rica. It was neat to see him and get to look at his mission books and ask him about it and stuff.

Sunday morning we drove to Pocatello to spend that day with my fam. I had some sisters in town from Logan, Boise and Caspar, WY and it was really fun to see them and their kids. We also made some really cute magnets that I'll take pictures of and post how to do them and stuff tomorrow. They are really easy!

We watched all the sessions of conference. We're so lucky to get to be able to watch it on TV. Its getting late so I'll post more about that tomorrow. It was a good fun weekend, but for Ana's sake, I'm glad we're home and back into a routine.

Mystery Foto 1

So, what kind of a blog will mine end up being? I really don't know. I can't think of many times lately when I have been hit with the urge to start writing. I have thought recently about how much I like telling stories. You know, just normal type stories. I am sure I could come up with a good story once in a while for you.

I am going to my first mission reunion in three years tomorrow night. I hope a few people I know will be there. I am planning on taking a mystery picture at the reunion to post here for your guessing pleasure. As a warm up we'll start with this:

This is actually a really hard one. Maybe you need one more picture:

If you can guess what it is I will buy you the special blizzard of the month from DQ and put it in the mail, either that or maybe eat it myself - and think of you as I enjoy.

"Mama"

is Ana's new favorite word. She likes to call my name when I go into the other room, or even when I'm holding her. Sometimes when I'm holding her, she'll look away and say, "Mama!" and when I call her name back, she looks at me and smiles. Gotta love that! I had a presidency meeting last night and Dave had a test at the same time, so I took Ana with me. When he finished his test, he picked her up from where I was. He told me later that when he brought Ana home, she kept calling my name. She looked down the hall and in the kitchen for me. When I heard that, I couldn't be mad that she wasn't in bed when I got home, even though it was 10:00. She wanted her "Mama."

piano girl

The other day, Ana really wanted to play on our piano...

I love her dancing. I have another video that was pretty cute, too, and you can hear her singing in it. And yes, she wears just a diaper quite often around the house.

CDs I really want

So,yesterday I was in Wal-mart looking at CDs and came across these CDs. I usually listen to country music, so of course, that is what section I was in. I really like Kenny Chesney's new song "Don't Blink" that is on this CD. Listening to the samples it sounds like the songs are pretty personal, and I like emotional songs like that. (I'm known to cry while listening to the radio.) Rascal Flatts has always been a favorite band of mine. There album "Me and My Gang" came out a while ago and I didn't love the title track so I never paid too much attention but a lot of the other songs that have been released are really good. "Stand," "What hurts the most," and "My Wish" are all really good songs. Still feels good is there brand new CD, and I just want it because I really like them as a band. And then the Trisha Yearwood greatest hits has some excellent songs on it, including a family favorite that is packed with memories "She's in love with a boy." That'll have to be another post because that would be a long trip down memory lane. But there are a lot of songs that are just great. I'm generally a fan of greatest hits CDs because they seem to be always worth the money you pay. Instead of paying $12 bucks for 6 good songs, you pay for 15 good songs. Usually I end up taking CDs I have and making my own collections anyway and then rarely listen to the album itself. I really want Brad Paisley to come out with a greatest hits CD because he has had a ton of way good songs that I like a lot. The other problem with "hits" albums is there is an occasion when a song that you love, doesn't make it onto the disc, but then you can download that one song and burn a new CD, so thats cool. The Sara Evans Greatest Hits CD that comes out next week probably won't be too bad either.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do like most types of music. Country is my favorite, mostly because of the lyrics. I like simple, real life songs, and I think most country portrays that. I used to love Faith Hill, but she's a little to much pop for me now. I like the the stuff that was big when I was younger mostly - george strait, garth brooks, trisha yearwood, etc. But Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley, though they are more recent.

*i love*

My Crock Pot. I've used it 3 times in the last week and I love it!!! We have 1:30 church, so it is especially nice on Sunday. I just throw whatever in and we have dinner ready when we get home. Yesterday I did this rice and chicken bake - really yummy and easy! I wasn't sure how rice would do in the Crock Pot - especially because I used Brown Rice, which is by far my favorite kind. But it turned out really well. I just added some extra water and some butter so it didn't stick to the sides, and it was quite tasty! Here's the recipe

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I cut them into strips)

1-1/2 cups brown rice

4 cups water

3-4 tbl butter

1 package Onion Soup Mix

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

Combine ingredients. Cook in Crockpot on high for 3 hours or low for 5-6 hours.

I am always looking for easy Crock pot recipes. Please share your recipes or websites that have good ones.

How it started

I only started my own blog because Erin needed help learning to do youtube posts. She didn't want me messing with her blog so here is one of my own, complete with Reggie Miller, Weezer, and the Muppets. I don't know how diligent I will be with posting things. I don't know what I will post. Erin has a great time doing this, and I love reading what some of my other friends have posted as well. So, I guess today is the day I go public. I have a blog. And I am somewhat committed to posting regularly.

Hopefully someday soon there will be something entertaining or informational here.