31 and more than that butterflies

I am here at work writing a 3 hour daycamp on butterflies for 5 year olds. That's a lot on butterflies! We are making butterflies out of coffee filters, butterflies out of paper plates and toilet paper rolls, butterflies out of paint, catapillars out of paper chains, and the catapillar to butterfly life cycle out of pasta.. and ourselves. TOO MANY BUTTERFLIES for one day!

A few days ago I turned 31. THIR-TEE-WON! Whiskey Tango Fox Trot?! I'm old. (However, I have a super awesome boyfriend, so I don't much care. (Yes, MyNigerian)) But the day was pretty awesome.  My mom, BoyKid, Rinny and I went to Macaroni Grill for lunch. YUMMY!  Then, I went with the sybs to Color Me Mine. I made a gnome and a light switch cover for my glider room.
Then my whole fam went that night to Divine Comedy and laughed our heads off.

So there you go... my day. And my birthday and yes, I am still sickeningly in love with MyNigerian.

OH! And I got 3 new hermit crabs! That brings my new colony to 5! Maroon 5, Weezer, Archie McPhee, Jack, and Tolei!  They are all quite characters, too!

How far will Kipluck drive to Get fried balls of dough? TO THE CAPITAL BUILDING!!!!

Yeah. So this week some major ups and downs. First a silly tidbit. Rinny and I had to be at the UEA Convention for work plugging or Field Trips, trying to get high schoolers into The Fairchild Challenge, networking with groups who might give our kids some events to go to for their "Environmental Immersion day," and collecting an inordinate amount of free pencils and whistles. Woohoo! Anyway, after that I really wanted to splurge and get something yummy. As in hush puppies and fish at Long John Silver's which I was pretty sure there WAS on State Street in the Sandy to Salt Lake area. So I figured I would just drive till I saw one.

Well, after awhile even though I pretty much knew there was no way there was a Long John Silver's on that street, it was like playing Chicken with myself. I WAS going to drive the whole street. And so, yeah, ended up at the Capitol Building to take pictures. hee hee!

I love the Lions. And the other statues. And the funky angles (I just adore architecture anyway)! And the random Spanish lady asking me if the Brigham Young in the capitol was the same as the prophet. (Si.).

So, that was Friday and some silliness. Earlier in the week was a bit more emotional.

First, there was Josie. The very first person who called ended up being the PERFECT person for her. A young Grandma who wanted her as a cherished pet. She will live with kids and grandkids to play with (which is much better than goats and sheep who she never really liked and with whom, well, she was the lowest on the totem pole. See how she ate?
This was how she ate EVERY DAY. UNDER the trough, picking at crumbs. MY PRINCESS should NOT have to grovel for food!) Josie is a PEOPLE Goat. She thought she WAS a human kid and liked playing with the neighbor girls (my mom's surrogate grandchildren). Also, Josie HATED the cold and wet and would have been miserable in the snow and yuckiness, especially with less people to visit her... and now she will have attention everyday with a warm goat house (and a lady who admitted she will probably end up inside the house more often than not this winter!) and her fluffy dog bed again. And all this farm stuff is moot anyway since they were going to sell her and who knows who'd buy her! But probably not someone THIS AWESOME.

Even with those scriptures about sheep and goats that now make me purse my lips a bit Heavenly Father surely answers prayers for little goats. I know he did. My mom and I were praying so hard and then this lady... and she hugged me 3 times when she met Josie and told me how beautiful and perfect she was (and she IS but I am glad SHE knew!) and told me all about her missionary son and hugged me again and talked so sweet to Josie and she was just... PERFECT. She is EXACTLY an answer to prayer. Pretty much the only way God could have topped this was to make this better was to magically give ME my own farm to keep Josie on.

But He's not Santa Claus or the Genie... He's Heavenly Father. And He obviously loves his GOATS as much as His SHEEP after all.

(Which totally reminds me of a story I am putting in the other blog. YES. A church story about Goats. Kinda. Hee hee!)

But I sure will miss her.

Then I went to my house (because sometimes I try to visit my OWN house and take care of things (even though my awesome roomie is caring for everyone) to make ME feel better.) after a trip to the Pet Store. I was missing Josie and decided to just poor that into my other pets. So I decided my little gerbil Boo needed some spoiling and hadn't got a new chewing treat in awhile. So I bought it and went home to her... to find her dead.

She had JUST died. The Roomie had seen her acting just fine just the night before. I had to pet her to even be sure she WAS dead because she looked just asleep, but not responding to my voice. I started crying so hard. There were some of those tears in there for missing Josie. But truly, Boo was the BEST Gerbil.

Most gerbils hide when people tap on the glass. BooBonic came out of hiding when you tapped. She would come to the top level to visit you. She would often follow the dogs in her ball. The Roomie works with the disabled, and her main client, J, loved Boo. She never once bit him or anyone else, not in her whole life with me. He loved to help care for her and it was part of his routine. Boo actually became the smallest animal in their Pet Therapy Program! She was so patient with children and the disabled. She was active to the end. She never slowed down or was arthritic. She got a few grey hairs, but other than that, she was very healthy as an old gerbil. I know she likely died of old age... she looked just like she was sleeping. When I burried her, she looked like she was sleeping still. I marked her grave with a stone painted like a pumpkin for one of Rinny's TV spots, then labeled with her name and dates.

She was sweet and funny and a WONDERFUL gerb. I will miss her terribly.

Lifestyles of the Funny and Famous

This past week has been a hard one. I had to give up my Josie girl and do a week long camp. I have been sick, physically... and depressed terribly over my little goat. I miss her. She doesn't belong at that farm, in a swarm of other goats competing for what little food they get right now (stupid hay crisis), one of many, dirty and forgotten. Josie deserves to be a PET. A family pet who is pampered and adored and loved and spoiled and fed fresh hay and grains and only the best nutrition (and maybe a fruit loop or 2 as treat.). I hate that she is there, crying and alone. And I hate that I am working on the other side of the property with 11-14 year olds and stressing out and crying every night.

It was a good class. The kids were funny.

But it was a struggle. And I was hurting a lot and being very ill is not helping.

ANYWAY, finally the week was over... and with it ended the Summer Day Camp Season. Next comes the Field Trip Season. But there is a break in between. And on Friday was -TA DA-The Brian Reagan show!

Oh the perks of clout... of my SISTER. Friday,we totally got in early for Brian Reagan because of Rinny. We got recruited to "VIP services" awhile and were able to lay blankets down on the platform.

Here is the thing. I took pictures and a few videos at Brian Regan. Of where we were, of Rinny accidentally parking in front of his tour bus so we looked like stalkers blocking them in, of us driving around in golf carts, of the crowd coming in all scary like a zombie movie, of Mali and Katie (of the Chums!) chillin' and giggling, and, of course, of BRIAN REAGAN! So why aren't they posted? BECAUSE THEY ARE LOST!!! I have been using the search function and everything and the files are just... gone. So, there you go. BUT, just know this, HE WAS HILARIOUS!!!!!!

As for the fame of my sister, remember how awhile ago she did Good Things Utah and taught them ice cream and Peanut Butter Play Dough? Well, they REALLY liked her and asked her back to show some crafts. When they asked for some ideas she might do she gave them a list and rather than PICK they said "okay, maybe 5 more shows." TGP PR people are THRILLED and are calling her the "face of Thanksgiving Point." Our DEPARTMENT is happy because that makes us and our classes look cool.

But yeah, Rinny is famous again and GUESS WHAT, indirectly, SO AM I! Because she assigned me to make the examples! SO, when you watch this clip, know that *I* decorated those pots (badly... don't look much at those) but she made the flower pens, *I* made the paper chain calendar (CC, yours and my friend Ellie May's birthdays are on that thing), she made the Capri Sun bags, she sewed the lunch bags but I DECORATED them (one with Yo Gabba Gabba! Yes, Thai, I fully credit this new level of obsession to YOU.), and she made the book covers but... the books covered are mine? Yeah. We rock.

OH, ALSO, just another TGP thing, in case you didn't know Tuesdays in August are $2 Tuesdays. That is, like Cheaper than *I* can get you in! $2 for ANY VENUE even the uber expensive MUSEUM! Now, mind you there are very few Tuesdays IN August left and the lines are HORRENDOUS, but still, just letting you know.

("I want my two dollars... CASH!")