Sunsets

Jason had to work on Saturday and I didn't want to be home alone all day with Clara again so I had him take us to my mom's. She was taking Lily and her friend to see Wall*e so we tagged along. Two movies in one week... That's more than Jason and I have seen together in 18 months. But what's the point of being at my mom's without anyone to talk to? We thought it was totally stupid, like I don't even know if I'd rent it. But that was just me. I also missed lots of the movie because Clara wanted to run up and down the hall smiling at everyone and making them laugh at her. Afterwards I had fun swimming and visiting with my mom.

Clara gets a little high-strung if she's tired and sugar only makes it worse. After too little sleep and too much sugar, she was out of control last night as we were leaving a wedding reception. I love her pursed lips in this picture and if you look closely, you'll see scratches all over Jason's forehead and neck, where Clara was "tickling" a little too roughly.Obviously this face doesn't get old to me... or Clara. I took this picture of our little family and said, "Smile!" I laugh every time I look at it.Four little kids were in dreamland as they got to do dishes at Grandma's tonight.We saw a beautiful Arizona sunset tonight. I tried to get a picture of it out the car window as we drove, I just stuck my camera out the window.
Then I took some more pictures from my porch.

From 1 Nephi 1:20 "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance". Clearly beautiful sunsets are tender mercies of the Lord.

Luck or Life?

Last night my mom watched Clara while Jason and I went to the Temple. Our Temple attendance as a couple has been few and far between over the last six months so it was quite nice to have him with me. How can you not love going to the Temple? Simply being in the Temple makes life better. Afterwards we went to Outback after the following persuasive conversation:

Jason: So, are we going to go eat somewhere?
Anna: Like where?
Jason: Outback
Anna: No, we don't have $50 to spend on dinner.
Jason: It won't be $50. Plus, I worked 80 hours this pay period.
Anna: Um, so, that just means we are going to be that much less negative this month. Plus, even when you graduate we wouldn't be able to do that.
Jason: Don't worry, I'll get a second job when I graduate so we can eat out.
Anna: I'd rather have you around than eat out.
Jason: I wouldn't.

He told me we needed to enjoy life while we still had money. We have a great financial balance in our marriage. PS I know it seems like I talk about money a lot, and I do. But it is just something I like to talk about and even if we weren't poor, I'd find plenty of other ways to incorporate money into my posts. And even if I had millions, I'd still be a bit tight. Ask Jason if you don't believe me. :) Besides, money and financial situations aren't really a private thing in my life and we kind of make fun of ourselves all the time for our situation which has created much laughter at our bank account's expense.

You might remember our last Outback experience... It was horrible as far as the food goes (which, I do believe that's why I eat out...). This time, everything was going pretty well until they brought my steak. I order my meat medium-well. But my steak came out pretty black on top. I cut into it and it didn't have the slightest hint of pink in it. I really don't like complaining and I wasn't looking for a free meal. I asked our waitress if the steak looked med-well to her and she said it didn't and she'd go talk to the manager. He came over to talk to us and I told him I didn't have time to wait for another steak and that I'd be happy to pay for my broccoli and salad. I told him we didn't need dessert, but he insisted. He was super nice, took my meal off the ticket and gave me a piece of cheesecake. He handled it very well but I still feel like a whiner, especially since a very similar thing just happened. I can think of three explanations for this frequent recurrence (not being happy with my meals when I eat out):
1. I'm a food snob. This is very likely. I have high expectations when I eat out. Obviously my expectations for Taco Bell aren't what they are at Outback, but I still have expectations. It just seems like in the last few years, I have eaten few meals out that were totally satisfactory.
2. I'm negative. I hope this isn't the problem. I tried to be nice and I was nice to my waitress and still left her a good tip. But I am not going to be quiet and pay for a steak I wouldn't eat. Oh, and trust me, I overcook all my meat, so for me to think this was overcooked is saying something.
3. I have bad luck and get in these types of situations far more often than the average person. Do things like this happen to anyone else every other time they go out to eat??

Speaking of bad luck... I have another issue that I wonder if it's just my luck or life. Almost every time I mail a rebate in, I get a card back saying I didn't submit everything. It angers me just thinking about it. The last one I did was for Microsoft. I got a letter saying that I failed to mail in a copy of the invoice for one of the products (you had to buy two different products to qualify for the rebate). They said they got one, but not the other. Funny that my invoice was an e-mail and BOTH products were on it. I called and the guy was like, "Oh, I'm not sure why they sent you that letter. We'll send your rebate out." Then, I just got another one from SanDisk saying I didn't mail in my original UPC and they need it. WHAT? I mailed it in and don't have it so now it will be seemingly impossible to get it. I copied everything I mailed in and the UPC is there. What am I supposed to do? I will try but why does it have to be pulling teeth to get anything right these days? So I wonder, does everyone else have these problems or is this just proof that my luck in these types of situations does not favor me? Or maybe I just pay more attention to things because I'm such an obnoxious scrooge. Who knows.

FOF

Five things Clara loved about this past week:


::::: Drinking chocolate milk from a straw with Jason.
[This picture is so sweet it makes me want to cry...]


::::: Cooking blocks. She even threw a fit on Thursday when I wouldn't let her bring the pot of blocks in the car.
::::: Watching her first movie in the theater. I don't really like Clara watching TV, at all. But I figured an hour and a half a week isn't going to kill her. Besides, it was free and we needed something to do. The movie playing was Charlotte's Web and Clara was so funny. She loved her popcorn and got super loud and excited at different times during the first 30 minutes or so. She got a little restless, but still was good. We left about ten minutes early because she had to go to the bathroom and I wasn't about to walk back in for the last ten minutes.

::::: Daddy getting home just before bed.
::::: Filling the toilet with toilet paper. What could be more fun than that? Maybe I should try this out. It must be fun, otherwise every kid wouldn't attempt it at some point.
Five things I loved about this past week:

::::: Working less, although now I have some catching up to do this weekend.

::::: Jason coming home from work to put Clara to bed on Tuesday. (He hasn't seen her since Tuesday and I'm pretty sure I'm about to go crazy not having my night relief. I told Jason I'd probably be crazy if I had to do this with more than one kid if they all chose the same day to be little sintkers. He just looked at me wide-eyed. :)).
::::: The gas bill for our house in Utah being only $7.92

::::: A little cooler weather. Wednesday it barely sprinkled and it was overcast so we played outside for a little while. Clara was so mad when we had to come in.


::::: Answers to the "little" prayers that could've potentially, if gone unanswered, made for a bad week.

Sewing

Welcome to my Thursday.Perhaps this is why I always thought it was a bad idea to try to sew while Clara is awake. :)

Other News

In other news, life is dandy. Jason had a huge test in his tough class (Circuit Analysis, formally known as Electrical Networks) yesterday. He's had hard classes before, but he convinced me he did not understand a single thing he was learning in this class. He is genuinely worried about passing the class, which obviously makes me nervous. At least before his worries were getting a C and not a D. They got their exams back and not only did he pass the test, he nearly aced it! Yup, this one definitely deserves to be a refrigerator decoration for a long time. In case you can't read it, let me get a little closer.Way to go honey, you're a freaking genius! Now as long as he can get at least a 50% on the next test and a 50% on the final, he'll be right on track to getting a D.

And I'll give an otter pop (I know, we live large in this house) to the first person that can correctly tell me what made this dent in my wall.

I keep forgetting to write down some of the funny things Clara does. So here I go with that...
[] Every week at Scouts we say the promise while doing the sign (making a peace sign with your arm straight up in the air). Clara, tries to copy us but only does it with her pointer finger.
[] Lately she's been fascinated with turning her lamp off and on. I taught her not to pull it off (which was funny too, I talked to her about it and then when she'd pull it and it'd move, she'd push it back towards the wall before playing with the switch) so I don't mind her playing with it. Tonight she was doing it but in preparation for her flipping the switch off, she'd close her eyes first. She thought she was funny too because she'd laugh at herself.
[] I was trying to get Clara to mind me and I try to be patient and I try to let her make the decision. I know she's still learning so I give her a few chances to mind. Today she wasn't minding, so I said, I'm going to count to three and you need to do this otherwise blah blah blah. She ignored me, so I started counting with my fingers, and when I held up one finger, she looked at me and held up her finger too.
[] Clara is getting more and more clever. And she uses her way of telling me she has to go to the bathroom to get away with it a lot. It's so frustrating because I don't want to get mad at her when she says she has to go and doesn't because I'm afraid it will discourage her from going on the toilet. Tonight she said she had to go, so I took her and she just sat there looking down. She refused to look at me, knowing I'd ask her if she was done or if she had to go and she'd have to get down and go to bed since she didn't. Also, when we were at Red Robin Friday night, I took her and she didn't go, but stared at the TV they have in there (you could see it perfectly from the stall we were in). About five minutes later, she said she had to go again, so I went and the second I sat her on the toilet her eyes became affixated on the TV and she never went.
[] She loves to give Eskimo kisses, especially when she's hyper. She's a bit viloent when she does it, so you have to be careful.
[] She loves to play the piano. She likes to sit by herself for a bit, but then she wants me to sit by her. She doesn't want to sit in between my legs and she gets so mad if I try to play or if I won't sit next to her.
[] She loves to run away from us when she is naked. It is SO cute to see her skinny little buns and legs bounding away.
[] She'll do things, then stare at me waiting for me to laugh. It's like she knows if she can get me to laugh at her, she won't be in as much trouble.

Emotional Buyer

I am what I would call an emotional buyer. It takes me far too long to make even the simplest purchasing decisions (which is why I sometimes wander the store I'm in for over an hour). And when I do make a purchase, it is on my mind forever. I wonder if I should've (is should've not a word?? this is not passing spellcheck) just not bought what I did and then I go through another internal decision process regarding returning the item. I'm working on this because it is ridiculous. I try to make quick decisions and if I opt to buy something, I try to forget about what it cost and know that in a few months I'll forget I even had a dilemma. Obviously, the more expensive something gets, the more difficult this is and the more emotionally invested I am in my decision.

Rewind my life a few weeks ago. My trusty little freezer died.

It was a good freezer. It was given to me and I thought it was about 10 years old. I noticed the inside tag told a different story. Holy Cow! This thing lasted nearly 17 years. Anyway, I didn't want to spend the money on a new freezer. But it is SO hard going from having one to not. I'm guessing it's like a cell phone. If you never have one, you don't really know the convenience you're missing out on so you are not phased by the absence of it. On the other hand, after relying for years on a cell phone, I can hardly imagine having to live life without it (pathetic, I know). Such is the case with my freezer. Not to mention my savings in one year from buying in bulk and shopping sales is about what a freezer costs.

Saturday night I asked my mom if she'd go look at Spencer's with me. I love Spencer's. The sales atmosphere is a bit annoying, but in the end I've always felt like the service is great and the prices are the best. We've bought every appliance and bed we own from there. I also like supporting local businesses. Anyway, they really didn't have much of an option. Basically I had six choices: three different sizes and in each size I could either get frost free or manual defrost. After about 45 minutes of asking the salesman questions, getting the price lowered a smidgen, asking my mom questions and calling Jason, I decided I'd buy one. (I called Jason and asked him if I should buy one. I knew what he'd say, but his reasoning? "Yes, I don't want a crazy wife anymore"... hmmm). On Tuesday, they delivered my new freezer. It was pretty dirty and I noticed a dent along the back, but I was trying really hard not to be too obnoxious. I said, "Was this not in the box?" And one of the delivery dudes seemed a little irritated. He said with a rude laugh, "Yeah, I just took it out." Okay, I thought, I'll do a thorough inspection after you leave, jerk.

There were a few other nicks and lots of dirt, but knowing new things can't stay new forever, I decided to try to not let it bother me. I'm one of the most anal people I know so it takes a mental effort to try to find a happy medium between me and the average person. Jason came home and I wanted him to look at it knowing he'd probably say something to lessen the irritation (for some reason when people say things with the voice of reason, it calms my emotional upheavals). Things were fine until he pointed out the top of the freezer. I got on his car and saw this. Oh my my, I was furious! After all the time spent deciding on what to buy, emotionally preparing to make a big purchase and then questioning the condition when it was delivered and this is what I get! Part of my irritation was that I just paid a ton for something "new" and it looked worse than the floor model (PS I tried to get the salesman to sale me the floor model for a lower price, which makes this even more ironic). I was emotionally prepared to spend the money under the condition that I got what I expected. The other part, possibly the bigger part, was being lied to. The freezer is not new out of the box and for me to ask that question and be told it was (okay, maybe it was "out of the box" but it wasn't new, so they weren't totally lying, just deceiving me... which is the same in my book) just makes me want to scream. I hate it when people try to take advantage of me (trust me, I have a long list of these types of stories).

This morning I called Spencer's to complain and my salesman was busy, but I was told he'd call back. At the end of the day, still no call. So I called again and my guy was the one to answer the phone. He didn't ask questions, just told me they'd replace it or give me cash back, whatever I wanted. He offered $40, but I was like, no way, I want a new one. So then, like a good salesman, asked what I wanted for me to keep it. I said $100. $100 it was. Theoretically, I should be happy. But because I'm an emotional buyer, the $100 doesn't make me feel better because I'd already prepared to spend what it originally was to cost, for what I originally imagined I would get. I didn't spend 45 minutes deciding if I wanted a scratch and dent freezer for $100 less, so now I feel like I am stuck with an outcome I didn't adequately (or emotionally) prepare for. I know it's stupid, but that's how my head works people. By the way, if someone offered me $100 to come put dents in my freezer, I'd be happy to oblige. I know, so it doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint, it's all about the emotions. Now I just wonder if the guy knew he was giving me a beat up freezer and was trying to get away with it and that's why they were happy to meet my demand or if it was customer satisfaction at it's finest. I guess is the part where I'm supposed to be a good person and give him the benefit of the doubt.

Cry Me a River

I had a good day, I really did. I got lots done while Clara slept, Clara "helped" me do the dishes, I went to my meeting, got gas and went to the grocery store. But I have a few things to say...

I saved my first gas receipt that was over $40 because I couldn't believe it (it was in California, so I was eased into always paying more than $40). Today I got gas and it was $51.05. What? For some reason it never registered that with gas where it is I'd be paying over $50 a tank. I guess these days that's what happens when you go 2 weeks on a tank of gas... gas goes up another 20 cents a gallon. I probably have one of the smallest gas tanks they put in cars so I am sure plenty of you would like to tell me to cry you a river (trust me, I already have). I wonder how long people that were barely making it before are going to keep making it. I know, I know, we kind of fall into the "barely making it" category, but if needed, we could liquidate our meager 401(k). Or I could sell my left big toe or get a fifth job, so no worries. :) But it just seems like at some point, something has to change.

And then there are grocery store lines. I ALWAYS pick the wrong one. It's probably due to me making such an effort to try to get in the fastest line, which is obviously a talent I lack. I consider the age of the people in the lines, the speed of the cashier, whether there is a bagger, the number of people in front of me and the amount of items they have. But somehow, I always watch people walk out before me that should've been behind me. I did it again today. It was close. Until the cashier charged the people in front of me for 32 stalks of celery instead of 2 and had to get a Manager to help correct it.

Once I finally got checked out, I headed to the car. It really didn't feel like Summer to me until a few weeks ago. But today I realized why they put heat advisory warnings on the news. Because it's hot! I'm not normally out and about in the afternoon and now I know why I'll continue to avoid it. I can't believe how hot the inside of cars get.

But like I said, it's been a good day. Because really, gas prices and being a bad grocery store line picker are no reason to ruin a perfectly good sweltering hot Arizona summer day. :) Clara agrees.

Important Day

Today is Kathryn's birthday. Happy Birthday Kathryn! Angela and I were talking the other day about how we are lucky to like all of our sibling's spouses. My family knows how to pick the good ones. :) When Ryan came home from his mission he didn't seem too interested in finding a wife. But then he met Kathryn and I was pretty impressed. I will never forget Ryan's comment when I asked her what she looked like. He said, "She's skinnier than you." Apparently Ryan just wanted to marry someone skinnier than me. Ha ha. Fortunately, Kathryn beats me in a few other categories as well. She's also much kinder and more patient than I am. We are glad Ryan found Kathryn and that she agreed to marry him so she is part of our family. I know, they've been married for several years now, but it doesn't mean I'm not still grateful she's around. I couldn't have hoped for a better wife for him or a better mom for their kids. I hope she had a happy day up in the mountains.

It is also a significant day for Clara. It was her first official day in Nursery. She's been going for the last few months with Jason or I staying with her. As we were leaving for Church I started getting sad. Then when she was being restless during Sacrament, I was looking forward to the break. And then when I dropped her off, I got sad again. I only checked on her once after that and then Jason checked on her on his way to Priesthood. In the middle she was kind of crying by the door, but one of her teachers took her in the hall and showed her that I wasn't there and then she seemed to be fine. Wow, I have a kid in Nursery. That sounds a little weird.

Since my other family members were not around today, we didn't go to my mom's for dinner. We just had dinner here and it was kind of fun to relax with our little family. We are looking forward to being able to do that when Jason doesn't have homework weighing on his mind and I don't have work looming over me. But I enjoyed the lazy time nonetheless.

Friday & Books

We haven't been too busy around this house doing things other than working. As a result, I'm on track to hit my goal of trying to make one tank of gasoline in my car last two weeks. Unless I make an unexpected trip tomorrow, I'm right on target, hooray! However, on Friday, Clara and I went to take care of a few things at KS then to my mom's to swim. It was perfect. It was obviously hot enough outside, but the water wasn't too cold or too warm (I'm sure Arizona is the only place that pool water gets too warm). Since I was swimming, I didn't get any pictures. But Clara loved the pool and it felt good to swim around and get a little exercise. I am pretty sure my next house needs a pool.

On Friday night Jason got home from work early, well 5:45 is early relative to when he's gotten home every other night this week. Clara hadn't seen him since Wednesday morning so I figured we needed to go on a family outing. We went out to eat and then went shopping. I decided it's not a good idea to go shopping with Jason. I have a hard time buying things, especially lately, but Jason makes me buy anything I'm considering buying. We had fun though and got home way too late for Clara.

In other news, I've finished a few books in the last month. A few weeks ago I finished These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. I can't remember if I already talked about this one, but if I did, it's worth mentioning again. I couldn't put it down and don't remember loving a book this much. Okay, I loved the story of Twilight, but I appreciate the actual writing in this book too, not just the story. So anyway, one of my favorite things about this book was how "naive" Sarah (the main character) was. Her descriptions of things were so literal. To me the way she spoke was similar to someone learning a new language. They say things and describe things exactly how they are and avoid cliches. I thought that added such a great dimension to the author's writing. And I couldn't help but embrace the love story. Then again I always love characters or relationships that I can personally relate to.

My next book, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, was better written in my opinion. Although These Is My Words had plenty of sad, tearful moments, such moments in this book were on a totally different level, which makes me hesitate to say it was a better book. It takes place from the 1970's to the early 2000's in Afghanistan and my goodness gracious it makes me proud and happy to live in America. The intentional oppression against women pales in comparison to the unfortunate and somewhat unavoidable events that took place in the late 1800's/early 1900's as Arizona was settled. Again, I thought the author was amazing, particularly his analogies and descriptions, but the events were somewhat unsettling and disturbing. This was intensified knowing it was probably pretty close to reality in that part of the world. There were times I felt like I couldn't handle it anymore and almost stopped, but Angela and Rachel both liked it so I knew there must be a reason why. It ended in a beautiful way, but it didn't make the emotions I felt as I was reading disappear.

Now, I'm attempting to read The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It's taken me all week to read 18 pages. So either it's not a very good book or I just read two amazing books so I need some down time to be able to lower my expectations slightly. If anyone has read it, please tell me it gets better so I can get the motivation to pick it up and finish it before my next book club! Oh, and I also need some more book suggestions. So tell me your favorite books so I can read them and then post my completely opinionated remarks about them. :)

FOF

Five fun things Clara did:
1. Made a rainbow with her milk (I should've known there was a reason she wasn't making a peep while I was working)

2. Helped me make banana bread. She loves to stir.

3. Picked her nose... with both fingers (all the time).

And as if that's not fun enough, she'll pick your nose too. I was having a talk with her about doing something naughty and she was just staring at my nose and ever so slowly and gently, she went to put her finger up my nose. I laughed, woops.

4. Played with playdough

5. Took her dog for a walk. My mom got her this dog for her birthday and until now, she'd pull it too fast so it would never "walk". Now that she's figured it out, she walks around and around the house pulling it. She will pick it up, hug it and give it kisses. For some reason, however, if she picks it up, she has to put it on the tile, not the carpet, to get it in the right position for walking. I'm glad she likes it so much because it might be as close to a pet as she ever gets. Five reasons I laughed this week:
1. Jason telling me (after he'd ranted about some political junk), "I feel like I should get into politics so I can beat somebody up."
2. I have a habit of putting my fork and glass on my plate when I'm finished eating. It must come from being a waitress. Anyway, the other morning Clara was having a hard time telling me what she wanted, to keep eating or to get down. So I told her I didn't understand her and asked if she was done eating. This is what she did. 3. Jason thinks he's hilarious when I ask him to get Clara dressed. It's like a competition to him to see if he can put the most opposite items together, just to see my reaction. Thankfully, it was just PJ's this time, so I just laughed.

4. Jason's work has implemented a policy that if you ride your bike to work, you can wear shorts. So Jason drives to the grocery store next to his office, parks and rides his bike across the parking lot. Smart alec.
5. Clara loves to tickle me: feet, stomach, neck. Well, the other morning she went to an all new level. I was on my tip toes getting something out of my cupboard and I feel two little hands opening and closing, one on each bum cheek. I promise, I have NO clue where she got that one from. Oh, I laughed.

Anna According to Google

I was tagged a while ago for this one and we all know that I like to talk about myself... The only problem is I am indecisive and I can never have a one or two word answer for these types of things. I have to overexplain everything (okay, so maybe I just like to talk). So here are the questions and my answers using pictures from Google (too bad we can't google answers to prayers, because everything else I need an answer for, I google it!):

1. Age on my next birthday: 2. Place I want to visit (this should be a place I don't want to visit, that'd be easier):
Europe, all of it

And anywhere other than Mexico, California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada or New Mexico. I don't get out much. :)

3. Favorite thing (besides the given of family, sleep, etc.): pedicures/foot rubs

4. Favorite food (I love food in general and it would take days to list my favorite foods, so I will just list my favorites that I have not had for a while and I don't get often):

BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad from Cheesecake Factorypicture from Cheesecake Factory's site

Sweet Potato Fries

picture from here

5. Favorite place:
Probably Southern California (although anywhere without the internet and cell phones also appeals to me); everytime I'm there, it's so easy to let go of reality 6. Favorite color (it depends on what, clothes, furniture, car, shoes, etc.) but my biggest obsession is probably: 7. Nicknames: Anna Banana

8. College major:

Accounting (for a career)

picture from here

and

Computer Information Systems (for fun, I'm a dork)picture from here

9. First job:
Waitress (I worked for years for my dad doing various things, so this is my first "real" job) picture from here

10. Concerts I've been to:

(As the Refreshments)

These are just some of them. Believe it or not, I am not a big fan of concerts. My guy friends in high school loved concerts so we were always going to a concert and then later I got taken on several dates to concerts.

11. Name of past/present pet: Jason and I have never and probably will never have a pet. But when I was little we had a dog named Bruno.

I tag Angela, just to annoy her because she doesn't like these but I love her and my dad because he doesn't have a blog, but I think he should start one. I should start a petition for it, because everyone would love to read about his experiences at DI.

And for those of you wondering:

Not my test, not pregnant, not wanting to be and not trying. I was legitimately SICK, but better now.