dad

This is my dad.

He's got a bit of a goofy grin in this photo, but it's kind of his personality all the same. :)

I took this photo on his birthday a week ago. 

There was a time just over eight years ago where we didn't know if he would make it to his next birthday. He had an infection that lead to an anoxic brain injury. After about three months in hospitals and care centers, he was able to come home. His life, and our whole family's really, was quite different after that. He had driven himself to the hospital in April, but when we brought him home, he could no longer work, drive, walk without a walker, or use his hands very well. He also has short-term memory loss and trouble speaking. But he is still with us, and that's the most important thing. I am very grateful for that.

The last few months, he has had some other health problems. He has to go to the doctor for a test tomorrow. I'm hoping and praying that the results are something that is easily fixed, but I know there is a very real possibility that it is something very serious. I'm worried.

dangerous brownies

I discovered some dangerously yummy brownies. I've made them several times since I came across the recipe on Pinterest, and I love them more each time. They never last long. Seriously, how can something that starts with this:

 



 be anything but amazing?

And here's a little pic of the finished product:

Now Devry Richins of Four Sous Chefs describes these brownies as "sinful", but I stand by my "dangerous" description. They are very fudgy, but the chocolate taste is very light, so you feel like you can eat the whole pan in one sitting - and it's extremely hard not to do just that! :)

Go here for the recipe and better photos of the finished product. You won't be sorry! Or you might, if you become addicted to them like me! Ha ha!

good times

Last Friday night, I went out with some friends for a girls' night. We went to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, dessert at a yummy cookie and ice cream place, and then we saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Here we are in the mostly empty theater:

Aren't we cute? (I took it with the front camera on my phone, and so it's really low resolution, but it's all I had, so what can you do?) I liked the movie, even though it was different than I had expected. I don't know what exactly I expected, only that it wasn't that! Parts of the movie take place in other countries, and the scenery in those shots, really made me want to take my camera up in the mountains or some place and take a lot of scenery shots. I just may have to do that one day soon.

It was so fun hanging out with the girls this weekend! I love Gaston, and I always have a good time with him, but there's just nothing like being silly and stupid and laughing my head off with the girls. I think we were the noisiest ones in the restaurant! Actually, I know we were! I'm so glad we went out!

my goal

I don't know about you, but I tend to never keep New Years resolutions. I try, and then fail. I actually seem to do better when I set a goal other times in the year. Weird, I know. However, just these past couple days, I've decided to set a goal, and I hope I can achieve it. I've decided that I won't start any new projects this year until I finish the ones I have started. Or at the very least, I'm not to start anything new until I have finished a project. This may be very hard for me to do, as I always have ideas of things I want to do/create, and I want to start them right that second. (Patience is not one of my strengths.) And then the other projects I had been working on fall to the wayside for a while. Right now, I have quite a lot that I am in the middle of. Just look at this list:

• Halloween quilt
• minky quilt
• rag quilt
• mini album about my Florida trip in 2012
• 3 mini albums about my Disneyland trip with my sisters (1 for each of us)
• Project Life type album with older photos
• The History Project
• favorite photos album
• a surprise album for someone (I don't think she reads this, but you never know)
• December Daily albums from 2012 & 2013

Not to mention all the cleaning and organizing that I really need to do. And the cards I make for card drives and whenever I need them. Oh and Project Life, which I am in my 6th year of doing. (And I still love it!) And I may have missed some things. See why I sometimes say I don't have time to work? And it's exactly why I'm never bored at home! So if you hear me talking about starting a new project, remind me of this goal. I may or may not listen. :)

I actually started a new blog. I don't know why, since I don't update this one very often. But since I now have a decent internet connection, I decided that I wanted a place to share my crafty creations, and then I would keep this blog as more of a personal one. So I'll see how it goes. And if either of the two of you who I know read this want to see my creative endeavors, then I hope you will join me over at my creative mess!

Well, I'm off to work on a project. Don't worry, it will be one from the list! Maybe. :) Thanks for reading!

sightseeing

As I was leaving work today, a man stopped me to ask me for directions. He had an accent, so I knew he wasn't from around here. I told him I would try to help, but I am not the best at giving directions. He wanted to know where the Great Salt Lake was on the map posted on the street. It was just a map of the city, so I told him it wasn't on it. He asked where it was, and I told him north of here. He asked how long it took to get there and was there a train, or could he walk, or would he have to drive. I know it's too far to walk, but I honestly had no idea. He then asked isn't going to the lake special? I really didn't know how to answer that. I've lived here in Utah my whole life, and I vaguely remember going there once. So that got me thinking and wondering about other touristy things we have around here that I've never seen, or haven't seen in a long time. Maybe I need to take a day and play tourist around here. It could be a lot of fun. 

P.S. My birthday was good, despite my poor attitude. And then the day after, Gaston and I went to the Tulip Festival, and I got some great photos. If I ever blog from a computer again, I'll have to post a few. 

Thanks for reading!

it's the little things

I went outside this morning and found balloons tied to the fence. Totally made my day. I'm not exactly sure who did it, but I have my suspicions. It sure is hard to stay grumpy when people are so nice.

pity party

My birthday is this week. I'm usually so excited and expect everyone to treat it like a national holiday and cater to my every whim. Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration.

This year, however, I'm a grump about it. In a way, I would just like everyone to ignore it. I don't want to be reminded that I'm getting older. But then I would probably be upset if that really happened. I was seriously considering taking my birthday off Facebook so people wouldn't remember. But I haven't. Yet. I haven't been on Facebook much lately, and I may not get on it until next week. See? I'm a grump. People have asked me what I want for my birthday, but I really don't know what to tell them because I just don't want to think about it. I did tell Gaston that I want a cake from Baskin-Robbins and that's pretty much it. I was also hoping to set a wedding date by my birthday, but it's not looking like that will happen., which is one reason I'm not looking forward to my birthday. I've just had a hard time acting happy when anyone mentions my birthday.

I know there are a lot of people who struggling with much worse things in their lives. My sis who lost her husband, my friend who lost her grandparents at the hand of her cousin, my 10-year-old former neighbor who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and several other people I know who are fighting various forms of that terrible disease, just to name a few. But I can have a little pity party for myself every once in awhile.

But actually, I did start to feel a little better about my birthday the past couple days. I'm meeting a friend for dinner tomorrow night, and I'm going to lunch this week with a couple coworkers. That helped. I'm happy I get to spend time with my friend tomorrow; I haven't see her since around Christmas. I wasn't planning on taking a day off work for my birthday, because I need to be a little careful about how much time off I take this early in the year, but I just might take Friday off. That would make me happier too.

Anyway, if you've made it this far in reading my ramblings, I'm impressed. But don't feel like you have to comment on anything. It's just nice to write out some of the things that have been on my mind. Therapeutic, even.

And if you wish me a happy birthday, I'll try not to be grumpy about it. But no promises. :-)