Shortie

Just a quick hello! Wanted to make one last post for August. Its been a fun month :)

I started web design!!! Well ok it's not really web design, it's more like web page customization. I'm not writing HTML code or anything, BUT it is still pretty cool. This is only the 3rd one I have ever done and it's by far the best. I'm still playing with it and getting it to where I love it. Once it's to that point I'll link here you can see it :)

Also, I've been playing around with making business cards again. I made some in high school and more recently for my sister-in-law's home business. Vista print does a thing where you can use them to design business cards for other people and the will give you 25% of the sale. Maybe I'll talk to some local businesses and see if that is something they would go for.

Well I hope your August was good. Ready or not here comes September!

Busy Again!

I haven't written for a while because I am finally busy again!

Eli came back to Utah last Saturday. His apt wasn't ready for him though so he's been staying with us. Its been really fun to have him around. He moves in to his new place tomorrow! It is good timing, because even though its been great having him here, a tiny 1 bedroom place is really not big enough for 3 full grown people. The poor guy has been sleeping in my laundry room :( And with him on day shift, and Richard on night shift, my sleep schedule is a total mess. I'm excited to help him set up his new place. He got some great hand-me-down furniture from some friends.

Also, I've had a creative outlet! Richard and I have started making "SteamPunk" stuff. Together we are working on or have made: a set of goggles, a leather bound survival book, some jewelry, and modified Nerf guns. (With Eli here we have had some pretty massive Nerf battles) My favorite part is antiquing everything.

On top of everything, I got a free picture editor and I have been teaching myself photo editing. :)

I hope to add pictures of our crafts soon but first I really need to get a new camera. Buying new electronics kinda stresses me out though, so it may be awhile.

Bugs

Story 1

In order to get any circulation in our house we have to open up the front door. I put it off as long as I can but eventually the stuffiness gets too much! I hesitantly open the door. WHOOSH! We get a wave of fresh cool air! Then it happens Do Do Doo DOOO The worlds smallest bugle sounds. An adorable little bug with too many legs and a Napoleon hat that is a bit to large for him calls: CHARGE!! and just like that the RolyPoly advance begins.

I have tried reasoning with them, "Why are you coming in here? There is nothing for you to eat in here. I keep it dry and clean. All this march will result in is your death!" I scoop them up in little handfuls to toss back in the lawn as I lecture them, "Everything you need is out here. Your lives out here are good!" But every night they come back. They are getting so used to this routine that they have stopped rolling into little balls when I pick them up!

I really don't mind sharing my home with a bug or two. In fact I have the cutest little spider (Charlotte) who keeps a tiny web between the stove and pantry. However she is self reliant! If I don't catch the rolypolys they just die. I vacuum up their poor little skeletons all the time! Charlotte ate one of the rolypolys the other day though and I almost threw her out! She is only supposed to eat the bad bugs. Richard said it wasn't her fault the rolypolys are stupid. I'm going to just have to be better about getting them out of the house.

Story 2

Contrary to popular belief I do not love all bugs. Mosquitoes, earwigs, and black flies make the hate list but at the top of this hate list sits the "Giant Roving Spider". After living with someone who grew up in Oklahoma (AKA Land of the colossus bugs) I have found I have to describe what huge is. Huge, when it comes to spiders, is anything that can't fit on a nickle. This particular batch would have trouble fitting on a 50 Cent piece. Roving spiders are wolf spiders and the like. Who a) grow way to large and b) don't build a web like a normal spider and sit in it but prowl around all creepy like!

Well these hideous monsters think its funny to hide in my bathtub. But not just in the bath tub. They hide in the curtain too so that when I'm all naked they can try and jump on my face! The worst part about these evil giant roving spiders is they just wont die! I'll try and scald/drown them with the water but they just run around like they are enjoying their bath. They just laugh at me when I try and us one of my shoes to kill them. I had to upgrade to Richards boots. Richad hit one 6 times with a Drain-o bottle before it finally died.

Most of all I am nervous because I cant tell the difference between a wolf spider (just looks deadly) and a hobo spider (deadly). Also this other type of spider keeps showing up it looks like this:

I finally found out what it was. It's a wood louse spider. (one of the just looks deadly). But this made me wonder? What is a wood louse? Turns out that wood louse is the ugly name for rolypolys! So now I have extra reason to get them out!

Oh and something of interest. If you remember last time I was at the coast Richard and I found under water rolypolys! They are called wood louses too. Look at how big they get though! YIKES!

Another Weekend Success!

With both of us being on night schedule getting to the post office is unusually difficult. We finally woke up around 3:40 pm. (Oh! Side note: a great system for telling what the equivalent time it is for us take the actual time and subtract 8 hours. For example if its 5 pm on the clock its 9 am in our morning.) I leisurely wander out to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. Then I see it -- the stack of boxes and envelopes. OH NO! Quick what time is it.... 3:40. What time does the post office close on Saturdays?... Uh... RICHARD! WHAT TIME DOES THE POST OFFICE CLOSE ON SATURDAYS?! ... No response. For as tiny as our home is sound does not travel well. I try yelling it again one more time and finally track him down. "Quick Honey! When does the post office close today?!?! At 4? Quick run! Run! We can make it! We can make it! We dash out the door, rush all the way there, run in the doors with 3 mins to spare and.... The post office closes at 2 on Saturdays... Really? Oh Well...

Hey what are all these tents set up on main street for? All of the shops on main had come out on to the street! Our favorite was the Happy Harbor Bread Co. They were sampling their sourdough bread. BEST EVER!!

In California there is the Redding Bakery and they make a loaf called the Extra Sour Dough Stubby. It is really, really good! Since I have left home however, I have tried multiple sourdoughs with no luck. Happy Harbor Bread wins! Its actually has a quite different texture than the Redding kind but I have to say its got that AWESOME sourdough flavor! Turns out the baker at HHB is from Sanoma County CA :) If you are in Utah you should definitely buy some. Here is the web site: http://www.hhbreadco.com/

We hung out with Richards family that evening. It was a smaller turn out then usual which was nice because Richard and I got to spend some quality time with Paxton, Wyatt and Kysa, our cute little nephews and niece. It finally just sunk in for Paxton that Richard and I are moving to Hawaii. He spent half the time we were there shaking the magic 8 ball so that it would say that we weren't leaving and would stay in Utah forever. They are some of the few things I actually will miss when we leave.

Salt Lake Daily Deals sends me emails for discounts on local things to do. This is one of the ones we got! It's wall to wall trampolines! We jumped for an hour! It was another 'you are more out of shape than you know' wake up call. We had soo much fun though! It had been 10 years since Richard had been on one and somewhere around 6 years for me. They have pits full of foam bricks that you can jump into. Getting out is exhausting!

We returned home sweaty but triumphant! Happy Weekend Everybody!

Farmers Market!

Finally made it to the Bountiful farmer's market today! It was packed! Its good to see them so well supported, but it gets a bit overwhelming too :) I got some awesome veggies! Got a yummy cucumber (they had samples), a bunch of baby green onions, 2 zucchinis and a yellow squash. It only cost me 3 dollars :) That's awesome for high quality produce in Utah. I've paid twice for old worn out product in the supermarket. So hooray and thanks farmers of Utah!