Letter to a Kind Stranger

To whomever cleaned up the horrible mess from the rez dogs,

Thank you for your kind service. I really meant to clean up the mess but I kept putting it off for a few reasons. Like I was scared that the dogs would attack me. Or that spiders had built nests in the blankets. Or all kinds of strange diseases were brewing back there.

Mostly, I just really didn't want to go out there and do it by myself.

And then this morning I woke up to a spotless backyard of red dirt and nothing else. Bless your heart.

Since I don't know who you are, I can't repay your act of kindness but I can promise to never let it happen again. That way you are also safe from dogs and spiders and diseases.

Sincerely,

The appreciative teacher housing tenant

Story Time....

Since yesterday's time restrictions kept my description of the crash relatively short, I thought I should provide a few more details today.

Saturday morning, I decided (along with my friends Angie and Andrea), that we should make a trip to Cortez, Colorado. Cortez, while not a city of substantial size, does boast a Wal-mart and actual restaurants to sit and eat in. So we decided to make the 1.5 hour drive.

The morning went well..the Wal-mart run was successful, we caught a few volleyball games and had lunch at a Chinese place. Then in early afternoon, we decided that we should head back to Blanding.

As we came up over a hill, I noticed that there was a car stopped in the road, preparing to turn left. They had their blinker on and you could see the brake lights so I wrongly assumed that Angie (our fearless driver) noticed the warning signs as well. As we got closer and I realized that she was not stopping, I started yelling. At this point, she decided to swerve and veered left. (Sidenote-I still have no idea why she veered to the left but it turned out to be our lifesaver because on the right was a 30 foot drop which, as you can imagine, probably wouldn't have turned out so well).

So she veered left while the truck was still turning left. We missed the truck as well as the driveway they were turning into, and I realized that we would be hitting a 5 foot drop going about 60 mph. I think I yelled out something like "oh crap" right as we went airborn. We flew a little bit, landed hard, and then drove into a fence.

It was scary, it hurt pretty dang bad, but we are all safe. Looking back, I know that there must have been some divine intervention leading to some of the things that happened:

1. Angie's strange veer to the left...who goes left, across traffic, when the car you are trying to avoid hitting is turning left?
2. Apparently we hit the edge just right and we were going just fast enough to fly rather than do a nose-dive
3. Angie's dad was only 10 minutes behind us and so he pulled up and helped us take care of everything
4. And obviously, the fact that we are all safe in what could have been a pretty bad ending

I'm incredibly grateful that everything turned out okay and that we have someone watching over us. I do wish however that there was some video of what we did, cause I have a feeling it would have been pretty cool to watch.

If you think this looks cool


you would have enjoyed being in the car with me on Saturday.

Note: It was an accident, we are all safe, it wasn't my car, and yes, it hurt

Did you see how I did that?

In case you wondered, there is only one theater in Blanding. And it only has one "screen" and it plays one movie weekly. It may also close unexpectedly due to vacation, football season, hunting season, or anything else that brings excitement to the town.

The good news is that it is open again this week (the family was in Florida last week) and it is playing Bride Wars! A little late for Valentine's Day but I'll accept it.

Hurrah to girls night!

Just in case you need another reason to go to Paris, this might be it:


Strolling through a marketplace in Paris looking through a million bins of buttons sounds awfully nice right now. A lot nicer than sitting through a meeting that is bound to last over an hour.

Bad news...the rez dogs have built some sort of home in my backyard that consists of blankets, old beer cans, shoes, dolls, and other odds and ends.

Worse news...today is the day that I am finally going to clean it up so that I can be rid of them.

Pray that I don't get attacked..and that no poisonous spiders are living in the nest...and that I don't get some kind of disease from touching the trash. Just pray for me in general.

I had a dream the other night that I was getting married...and we decided that we might as well get married in the temple within the week. I mean, who wouldn't want to plan a whole wedding in less than a week?

Unfortunately I did not see my future husband's face so I still have no clues as to where to find him...but I'm prepping myself just in case!

Happy Friday the 13th/Valentine's Day/President's Day

I find it amusing that these days are right after each other this year. And I am super excited this year for a couple of reasons:
1. I am feeling way better today (you may have noticed that I've been missing for a little while...after a couple days of sickness I am starting to feel like myself again)
2. I gave up my diet for the weekend and had cookies for breakfast (don't judge me...I couldn't help myself!)
3. One of my favorite people will be here visiting me!

Who wouldn't have fun with Megan in town?!?!
4. We are totally having a movie marathon of chick flicks...we are deciding right now between Bride Wars, He's Just Not that Into You, Confessions of a Shopaholic...opinions?
5. An extra day off of school on Monday-4 day work weeks are the best
6. I'll get to sing Martina McBride's Valentine at the top of my lungs and not feel weird about it

Happy birthday to the most amazing woman I know, my mom...

She is the most hard-working, loyal, determined, loving, and lovely person that I know.
She may have been through a lot in her first 51 years of life but she is more beautiful and wonderful because of it.
Happy birthday to not only my awesome mother, but also one of my very best friends.

Bonus! Actual Pictures!

Remember how I live out in the middle of nowhere?


With only one friend?

(Sidenote-I thought I kinda looked like a cute little elf in this picture!)

And I drove up this super scary road full of switch backs?


But ended up here which totally made it all worth it...


P.S. "here" is natural bridges...go sometime, it's pretty amazing

You better believe I'll try this!

Homemade Fun!!

Mostly I just did this because Nicole is super creative and I wanted something from her! But here goes...look forward to something from me!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. That gives me a good eleven months to get it done!
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange (but don't expect my gift to be too strange because I am not good at coming up with strange things:).

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!*

Going on a yedi hunt...

Two of my favorite people are coming to visit this weekend.

It will be a weekend filled with:
-laughing so hard we cry
-good talks
-millions of games
-acting silly
-hunting for skinwalkers-cameras ready!
-talking about anything and everything


Those of you that know my cousins Liz and Julie will understand that this weekend is sure to be filled with more fun than anyone should have in one weekend!

You may have noticed that my new blog layout includes a number of adorable pictures of birds. And most of you may not know that I have a secret obsession with birds that was not pointed out to me until Angie came to my house and asked why I had so many wooden birds in random places around my house.
(Now that I think of it...I have always said that if I never get married and am forced to spend the rest of my life living by myself, I would like to be known as the bird lady rather than the cat lady).

I realized after visiting with my cute grandma, that I get my obsession from her (is that something that can be passed down through genes?). She has birds and birdhouses spread throughout her house. So while I don't look like her (she's only like 4'11 and tiny) and I don't have her temperament (she's super sweet), at least I can say I got something from her!

I need more money...any ideas on how I can get some?

And keep in mind that I'm living in the middle of nowhere so picking up a second job isn't really an option for me!

I'll be anxiously awaiting any ideas you have to offer....