So, livejournal has been great, but the designer in me needs more customizable options. Thus, I have moved my blog over to blogger. This blog will be up for a while longer, so if you've missed something it'll still be there to read. From now on, come visit me here: http://alijoy313.blogspot.com/. And yes, I designed the look of my new blog. It's pretty neat looking if I do say so myself.

Sometimes I think that I am becoming immune to the weird people at the library. I mean, after awhile nothing is as weird or fantastic as something as I've seen before. Then of course there are days like this last Thursday that remind me that people can still surprise me.  My favorite was this man in an electric wheel chair. From what Tommy said he seems to come in quite frequently and is rather nice. The odd thing about him is that he takes his dog around the town with him. He's a small dog and sits between the man's feet. (I don't know what kind he is, mostly because I don't care about dog breeds.) Anyway, if you look at the dog and then at the man you'll do a double take, because they look alike. I don't know if it's the man looks like his dog or visa versa, but whatever it is it really is quite bizarre.

I also try not to judge everyone who comes into library, but once they come and talk to me I have a rough time not categorizing them. A group of people came in to get internet access. Because they were not members I had to set up a password for them. I think there were four of them, maybe five but either hearing or comprehension or both were not their strong suits. When I get the print out to assign them a computer and password I then circle their computer number and write their password at the top of the slip. Then as I hand it to them I say "You are on computer x" at which point I direct them to approximately where it is "and your password is xxx, all lowercase letters." Ok, as you see this not really difficult to understand. Well, these people required me to say that at least three times before they went off in search of their computer. Most of them had dreadlocks and grungy clothes, then based on their comprehension ability I'm thinking they must still be high or the drugs have fried their brains. It was just weird. I wish I could have taken pictures of them, to prove my point.

I had a wonderful 4th of July. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures. I woke up at 5 am so that I could be up at Evergreen Park by 6 am for the Lion's Club annual 4th of July breakfast. I have done this for three years now and absolutely love it. Once I got there I helped set up tables, tape down table clothes and put salt and pepper on the tables. Then I joined the pancake group and got to work.  We started mixing the batter with enormous wire whisks. What a mess that was! Then they found us some drills with some mixing bits and things went a little smoother. I worked with two people from my ward, Briar and Seth. They were a lot of fun. Basically I switched between pouring batter on the grills and flipping pancakes. After about an hour or two we really got it down to a system. We made pancakes from about 7 am until 11 am. I'm sure we served like 3,000 people. That was about the amount we did last year and it felt even more crowded this year. By the end of our shift we started getting bored so we made some creative pancakes: the bat signal, happy faces, letters, mickeys and shapes. Then I walked home, which was a 1.1 mile walk. Oh, I almost forgot. So, I was basically just walking between the two grills and the buckets of batter. Can you guess how far all total I walked? (I know, it's like a bad story problem.) I walked .5 miles. The space I had to walk around was no more than 10 feet. Interesting huh.

When I got home I took a shower and had lunch. I took a shower because I had pancake batter everywhere, even on my legs. It was gross! Then I took a three hour nap - ah what bliss! Then my friends Katrina and Aaron came over and we watched Star Wars Episode IV. I'm getting in the mood to watch Episode VI on Friday night. We had a BBQ for dinner and then followed it up by teaching Aaron how to play Canasta. (We played again on Sunday and both he and Katrina are getting pretty good.) Around 9 pm my sister, Melissa came over and we all walked over to Sugarhouse park and watched the fireworks. They had some really neat cascading ones this year. On a random note, it seems like for at least the last 5+ years I have sat within ten feet of my high school madrigal partner. I think it's a rather odd coincidence. When we got back to the house we played more Canasta, until midnight when we were all too tired to continue. All total I walked just shy of 4 miles. It really was a fun holiday!

Reading romance novels really is good for your health.

Here is a clip of a six part show discussing the role of romantic fiction in women's lives. It takes about an hour to watch all six, but I enjoyed it.

•  How cute my niece is. I saw her today and she is just cute as a button.

• My brothers are great dads. It's fun to watch them all get into the role of fatherhood, whether it's with their own kids or someone else's.

• Why no one sits by me at church. I play the organ, thus I have to save my seat in the audience. For the last couple times however, no one has sat within 10 feet of me. I mean come on, who else would leave their bags and SHOES under a bench? I know my shoes don't smell, so it can't be that. It also didn't help that my friends didn't save my seat when I had to play the piano for our first meeting. I was forced to sit on the second row all by myself without my stuff because there was no room for me on my row.

• I love homemade raspberry ice cream.

• I am in the mood for some Indian Braids at Rocky Mountain Pizza.

• How awesome the cinematography for the old version of The Thomas Crown Affair. All I can say is wow!!!

• Honk! the musical. I went with my friend Beckie to see this yesterday and I am still laughing. It was a great show for the whole family. It is the story of the Ugly Duckling. I've been watching clips on youtube today, just to reminisce.

• The cute boy who played the cat in Honk!. He practically stole the show. And on top of it all he was a great tap dancer!

• I love Marcia Lynn McClure!!! This last week I read The Prairie Prince for the first time. It was cute. Then I reread An Old-fashioned Romance. I think I am an MLM addict. I should go to meetings - oh wait, they're called book clubs.

• The Incredible Hulk. My oh my! I really liked this movie. It was just a fun time. I need to see it again.

• Edward Norton is my new favorite hottie. I think I have watched the kiss scene from The Illusionist 20 times this last week.

• Why isn't The Gnomemobile one of the more famous Disney movies?

• Why can't people just support you in your decisions? Why do they feel they should tell you what to do or that they know better?

• Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange was a delightful retelling of Persuasion.

• I wish there was going to be more Mick St. John.

• Why do people only want to help you with what they want to help you with? Why don't they want to help you with what you need help with?

• Homemade cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven are amazing!

• Why is it so hard to decide on a movie to watch the evening you want to watch it?

• The Last Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn was a nice diversion this last week.

• Why do somethings that start out as a good decision in the beginning turn out to be a bad decision in the end?

• Why is it once you hear the Imperial March that you can't get it out of your head?

 

A week or two ago I went to the airport to pick up my friends. On the way, I looked out my window toward downtown and saw that the top of one of the buildings had blinking blue lights. As I got closer I was able to read that it was the Walker Bank building. I pointed it out to my mom (who was driving because, as most people know, I don't like to drive. I can and will drive, I just prefer others to. But ask anyone I've driven with, they will tell you that I am one fantastic navigator). She said that the Walker building has been the weather forecast beacon for the city ever since she could remember. She couldn't remember what the different colors meant or the blinking, but she remembers seeing it when she was younger. Now, I think that I am a very observant person, but I had never noticed this phenomenon before. So, I went home and looked it up (after I picked up my friends of course).

The Walker Building had been used to tell the city what the weather was going to be the following day. However, several years ago they were forced to put a stop to it, due to some city or air regulations. I didn't really follow that part. Well anyway, in the last year or so they were able to put the tower on the historical register and rebuild it. Which they have done. As of March of this year, the building has continued it's long standing tradition. It again tells the city what the weather will be like tomorrow. By far this is one of the coolest things I have learned about our city.

Here's the guide, if you want to know:
Blue means clear skies
Flashing Blue means cloudy skies
Red means rain
Flashing Red means snow.

It's about 9:30 pm and mom and I have just put in a good evening's worth of work moving rocks. Yep, we were at it again. And I thought my fingers hurt this morning!!! Now my palms are sore and red. If I'd worked much longer I might have had blisters. Thank goodness it gets dark! Here are some more pictures, after we stopped tonight.

We all laugh at the thought of prisoners moving rocks up a hill one day and then down the hill the next. When we think about it, it really is rather funny. When you experience it - not so funny.

We are xeriscaping  our backyard right now. This means we are getting drought tolerant plants and making sure it doesn't need a lot of water. In the end the it will be awesome. In the beginning and the middle, it feels a little like prison. Last weekend mom and I dug an 's' shaped trench through part of our backyard. Just to give you an idea, we only dug about a foot deep and no more than two feet wide. All total we dug up enough dirt to have dug up a coffin 6 feet under. It was a lot of dirt! Then we went to Walmart and bought three bags of river rocks. (You can see the rocks in part of the trench.) Rocks are expensive, so we started small and thought that every time we went to Walmart we'd just pick up another bag or two. Seeing how long the trench is we figured this would take all summer to complete. We also bought some plants this last weekend and started planting them around the area. It doesn't look like much, but in the end it will be neat.

On Sunday, I think, my brother Ryan told us about some free rocks down by his house. I guess someone had just dumped a pile of rocks that were free for the taking. After realizing how expensive rocks are, we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity. Ryan could help us at noon yesterday, so that's when we did it. We piled our trunk and his trunk full of rocks, in the blazing noon day sun I might add. We emptied his trunk of rocks on the parking in front of his house. Then we went back and filled his trunk again and then emptied it on his parking again. Then we went back one more time and filled his trunk full of rocks. Oh, I forgot to mention that we picked up and moved all the rocks by hand!!! We then went back to my house and unloaded all of the rocks from his trunk and ours into my backyard. Then mom had to go and Ryan left shortly after. It was exhausting work!

After dinner last night, mom and I discussed moving the rocks and I said that I would be ok to do another load or two of rocks, seeing as how they are free and all. So, off we went back to the rock pile and loaded our trunk. It went a lot slower with just us two girls doing it. Then we took it back and unloaded it. Mom stopped by one of our neighbors on the way home and borrowed a bike pump so we could pump up the wheel barrow's wheels. So, she pumped up the wheels while I unloaded the trunk. (On the way home we were wracking our brains to figure out who we knew that had a bike pump. We even went so far as to consider stalking one of the many bikers we passed on the way home to see if they had a pump.)

It was about 8:30ish at night when we finished and I again said that if the rocks are free I could handle doing another load. So again we went down and filled up the trunk and then came back and unloaded it. By the time we were finally finished it was after 9:30pm. In the whole process I only managed to drop a rock on my foot once and I smash my fingers several times, only one time bad enough to start it bleeding. And I can't describe adequately how sore the pads of my fingers are. And the worst part of it all is after at least four hours of intense labor I gained a whole pound and a half. What the . . . it's just not fair! Mom lost a pound though, good for her I guess. I just hope I built some massive muscle. I doubt it thought.

Get excited, today was library day and after weeks of regular patron weirdness I have something new. A tall man came into the library today. He was probably 6 ft something and was pretty skinny. I think he was in his fifties, but I didn't ask him. He was wearing forest green pants, a white collared shirt, a green jacket and a big, white cowboy hat. His face was longish to begin with, but to accentuate the longness he also had a longish goatee. So he came up to the desk and said to Tommy, "I eat sit ups for breakfast." And then he left. It reminded me of all of those Chuck Norris jokes, except this was real. It was funny!

Also in other wonderful news my little niece was born yesterday early, early in the morning. She is so cute and tiny. Here's a picture of me holding her.

Ever since I watched the first season of Heroes I have loved the art in it. I love the sketches and the pop art/comic book style of it all. Issac did some great work! My most favorite was always the sketch of Peter and Simone kissing in the rain under the red umbrella. Well, I found a high resolution version of it online yesterday, so I just had to make a new background for my computer. The quote by the way, is from The Lake House. And as always if you want a larger copy just let me know. If your monitor is a different size just give the resolution and I'll crop it.