Puffles aren't Popples

Yesterday was so funny.  Today, less so.  So good news first.

Gabe, T-La's oldest, had some woodworking projects to do for his Cub Scout badge and PaDray, being good at those type things (carpentry and such), got asked to help him.  He was THRILLED.  I think he had a lot more fun than poor Gabe who really wanted to play with BoyKid like his brothers were.  They also brought their "Puffles" to show us.  I was hoping I had heard wrong and they had brought POPPLES, but then I realized it was 2010 not 1985.

Puffles are from Disney's Club Penguin and are NOT "pals who pop out of pockets."

But I love those boys.  I don't have nieces or nephews but being their "CousAunt" makes me feel like I do.  They were hilarious.  Eli was dancing to Justin Bieber for us, his main "move" being cartwheels.  Sort of break-dancing. Mostly like gymnastics. But MOST like jumping around like a kook. SO funny and cute.

And Gabe did awesome on his pinewood Derby car display and picture frame.

And then there was TODAY. BLEH.  Had to wake up early for a root canal. SO that hurts.  Then a psych evaluation for Medicaid so that's sad in another way.

But now I am just sitting around watching Toy Story 3 (which is GREAT) with the family. but hurting.  But still it was something I needed to do... my tooth was hurting pretty dang bad.

The birth of the MWPCC, the Gnome Rehoming, and Steamed Cabbage... TRIPLETS?!?!

Oh SO many projects! And not all of them work projects. In fact, MOST of them NOT work.
But hey! Happy results so far.

Here goes: So, I started this club.  Mostly for sugar glider people, but also for your basic small exotic (ferret, rat, dwarf hamster, what have you) people.  And for once not just an online thing but a dare to meet in real life and pray I am not too sick for said meeting thing!

The Mountain West Pocket Critters Conference

Click here to check out
The Mountain West Pocket Critter Conference!

Yep, and we had our FIRST PARTY/MEETING THIS WEEKEND! And it was fun!  I planned it and still it worked out and I had fun with out being too terribly stressed.  We talked about stuff, had games with prizes, a gift exchange, soup and swap, made emergency kits for our critters, and watched in combined glee and disgust as our babies hunted juvinle Hissing Cockroaches. Yuck, I know. It was funny.  And we all had fun!  And the club is STARTED at last.  Finally we have a sugar glider group in Utah. And I made it happen! And everyone can run with it.  The next one will be at someone else's house and somewhere else the next. But I got it going and I am just... proud of myself. *TOOT* <--my own horn

And then there is Steamed Cabbage.  I am shopping thrift stores, restoring old Cabbage Patch Dolls and then making them Steampunk!  I am learning how to sew in order to do it (all handmade clothes). Yes, I am a geek, I do things backwards. 1. go pro with a title. 2. Become obsessed with idea 3.learn skill for hobby.

And my new secret (well, semi-secret. *I* am telling you I'm behind it!) hobby. Rehoming Gnomes. Hee hee hee hee!  It's part prank, part game, part social experiment, part publicity stunt, part insanity.
Wanna help? Spread the word! Or send me your gnomes to find places for. (You know, all those gnomes you have. Ha ha!)

So there you go.

OH, but one more thing. Haiti. That's not a hobby but has been on my mind, I guess on everyone's mind.  I have always assumed when I got to that point in my life I WOULD adopt... kids from Romania, to be specific.  But now, well, it's got me thinking maybe my children will end up being from Haiti.  It's an odd thought.  But it has me thinking a lot about the Haitian people.  Praying for them a LOT.  And gathering medical supplies for them.  If you want to help, here is a good, trustworthy way: Help Send Volunteers to Haiti! Thius is the "Healing Hands for Haiti" that you may have heard about.  I know 2 people with them... one of the ER Docs and their Press Secretary is my friend and she gave me that link.

If I had an air popper it's name would be Frank Bennedetto and if I had a Camaro it's name would be Bumblebee

But my Microwave IS named Mrs. Bennedetto, for the record. Happy Labor Day!!!! And it really was! Yay!

Only now it is past bedtime and I need to, like actually wake UP for work so I might need to go to bed soon as I HAVE taken pills for that, but BLEH because I am not in the mood to sleep and am using my time so wisely *cough*watchingMASHandplayingonGaia*cough* Yeah, okay, I will update tomorrow. SIGH. BORING. Stupid bed. Stupid non-sleep. Stupid morning.

So yeah, Rinny decided we should go FISHING. Because SHE is so windernessy? I don't know, she just decided that that is what one SHOULD do for Labor day and after convincing Padre to take her she tried to get ME to come (at FIVE IN THE MORNING. HA!).

Okay, now I *like* to camp actually. But fishing, not so much. I like my fish sandwiches pre-murdered, thanks anyway. And spending time with just Padre and Rinny... sometimes not... safe for my psyche. Anyway, there is very VERY little worth getting up that early. So I said no and let Rinn and Padre have a Daddy-Daughter-Date on their OWN. Heh heh.

I went back to bed till around 10-ish. Hee hee hee! Then after some general lazing and animal stuff (bird cages, replacing Tortuga's filter pad, talking to my sugar babies, etc.) me and Mali textingly made some plans! Wee! She would show me her school (because, really, without proof, how am I to believe my friends are REALLY grown ups with grown up jobs? HMMMM?!), maybe do some shopping, and go to Transformers that I REALLY was needing to see. It was a good plan. And I was READY to go.

Till BooBonic, my gerbil, turned SUICIDAL! I was all ready to leave, pretty much, when I glance at Boo to see her PUSHING on the ball bearing of her new water bottle WATCHING it drain out and down her arm like "oooh look what I can do!" Her old bottle was sticking (which is why I replaced it) and I think she really was, just fascinated by the fact that SHE could MAKE the water come out like that. Gerbils really ARE pretty curious and bright little critters. Most rodents are (like rats) Smarter than HAMSTERS anyway.

But I was furious, considering wet litter kills gerbils ALL the time (they are desert animals and their respitory systems do NOT handle that well) and could have caused her sister, Latte's death last October. I grabbed her out of there so quick and yelled "Are you TRYING to die?!" and replaced her Carefresh with what little was already upstairs and put her back.

She was probably rather confused and being yelled at for making such an interesting discovery. Poor thing, but she scared me. Dumb baby. I have gotten very attached, even though she isn't a sugar glider, I LOVE her and do not want to lose her! She only just turned 2 this past June. (However, their life expectancy IS only 2-4 years... though I am planning on her exceeding that, dang it all because she just NEEDS to. She's a good girl! And our house is a little fanatical about our animals anyway. I wonder how those statistics take into account things like Not breeding them, mixing own food for optimal nutrition, etc.)

ANYWAY, after Boo and her Suicide Watch issues Mali and I took off south to her school! I was much impressed (but think that you should hang like test tubes and MASH-like still stuff behind those 4 sinks if they insist on being called a "LABORATORY." Maybe Pinky and the Brain in a cage. Something more laboratory-worthy than, like, 4 sinks in a nook. Geez. hee hee!). Both with the grownupness of HAVING a CLASSROOM of her OWN... and with the goofy stuff of having enough standies, toys, etc. in the room to make it seem like an extension of HER. Hee hee hee! It was hilarious to me. I don't know why it just IS, okay?!

Then we went to the Provo Town Center (or is it Towne Centre? I forget, were they trying to be old English? Like Ye Olde Sweets Shoppes?) to buy our tickets to Transformers. Then, having secured those we did the Mall thing and talked about, you know, STUFF... cuz we are girls... and Mali bought some pretty sweet Celtic music and I decided that I was in a terribly PATHETIC demographic in that even though I am NOT anxious to have children...

I AM a little anxious to DRESS those random children in Hot Topic onsies that have Optimus Prime on them or The White Stripes. Because, really, how cool of babies would I have? THE COOLEST. And they will be rocked to bed by rock that is cooler than lullabies and they will probably quote movies as their first words. Because THAT is how cool my babies will be.

If, you know, I end up ever having some. (Or 500 of them. [Cool] BABIES EVERYWHERE!)

So we shopped and talked and then decided we should get food but not before we found THIS! Okay, first of all, that's just AWESOME. Second of all I think I can make an awesome picture of her disappearing as she touches it, like animated which will amuse me to no end. Why yes, yes, we ARE geeks. But still! Weee!

We went to Bona Brasil for Pao de Queijo... but I must say it was kind of a disappointment. It's like they are different EVERY time. Usually that doesn't matter because they are still FANTASTIC, just different (sort of like German Pancake, you know how it just changes every time even when you follow they EXACT same recipe?) but these ones were just not that great. I mean, they were still okay (and the lemonade was great) but certainly not heaven, and so it was sad! Sometime, Mali, when I get a really good one I am going to save it and make you taste THAT. Because, well, that just was not the same.

Not that you HAVE to like Cheese rolls, it's just... yeah. hee hee!

Anyway, we actually went to the movie then and despite some reviews to the contrary (Eric Snider, who I usually tend to agree with completely, yeah, we part ways on this one) I LOVED IT. I mean, I was a fan of a kid, so I expected to like it. But not as much as I DID. There WAS a lot of jumpy random robot fighting where you would normally be like "who is fighting who?" except that true to Transformers style they usually began by yelling out their opponent's names, which made me laugh, but was also appreciated.

But if it had JUST been robots and cars and eye-candy, even though it WAS cool, it wouldn't have been that great, but it was FUNNY. Mostly because Shia LaBeouf. He seriously CARRIES it and is so likable and awkward and FUN. He is becoming one of my favorite actors, I think. Also, I swear he IS BoyKid. "I'm a child. You know, a teenager." Hee hee!

Also for some inexplicable reason certain things struck me so funny, like the evil cop car, Barricade ("to Punish and Enslave") yelling "ARE YOU USERNAME LADIESMAN217?!" I seriously laughed so hard I thought I might pee my pants. I DIDN'T, mind you, but that... was just... SO FUNNY. WHY?! WHY IS THAT HILARIOUS?! I can't even type it! It makes me laugh so hard!

It was a GLORIOUS summer flick. I definitely intend to BUY this one. And I have disturbingly serious crush on Optimus Prime...

but I did 20 years ago so this is nothing new. SIGH!

"He's Pixelated!"

Today I woke up to find my head in agony and my neck was almost immobile. Since I was just in the office and not on a day camp I ended up calling in [dead] to work... and calling in for an appointment with the physical therapist. And it was a very long and painful visit. Apparently I REALLY needed it but it sure HURT and I left with pages of new exercises to do. SIGH.

Other than the horrid state of my neck and head, I decided to use this day to get some things done. Cleaning cages, doing laundry, some extra house stuff... that kind of thing. I also am watching a couple movies that need to go back to the library.

It's funny because what I am watching is Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. I wanted to rent it because I actually kind of LIKED the remake, Mr. Deeds, with Adam Sandler, despite strong possibilities to the contrary. It was funny and cute. But what is TOTALLY surprising me is how CLOSE it turns out it was to the original! I had no idea. I am liking it very much, by the way. Old movies rock, ESPECIALLY ones with people like Gary Cooper.

Although, they BOTH remind me of the extremely BETTER Hudsucker Proxy.... one of my favorite movies EVER. The Coen. Brothers. are. GENIUSES.

"You know, for kids!"

Just fyi, Mr. Deeds (the original) is where the term Doodling came from. I think that's pretty significant, eh?

Yes, my blog is educational! hee hee hee!

Later now. I just had a Creamcicle-like thing! Luckily it's a semi-okay one. AND I also exercised today. So I don't feel too guilty. Hee hee! Not that I am HEALTHY or anything but today wasn't too bad, goal-wise anyway.

Talked again to Fresno about Transformers and He-Man and stuff. We spend WAY too much time in the 80s.
OH, but clearly I can NOT marry Fresno. SO HILARIOUS. (Thanks, Sherpa... or, you know, originally, TIME.)

Prayers and Rants (a volatile combo, probably...)

I am having a hard time because I want to post the silly stuff, the family stuff. But I am more than a little preoccupied. So first off let me ask you to please keep my friend Amy and her husband Dave in your prayers. Some of you have heard me talk about Ames before. She is basically my sugar glider MENTOR. She and Meg (one of my OTHER best online friends) run my suggie home online, the Sugar Glider Alley and I love her dearly. She is truly a FRIEND, not just "some girl I know online." Amy is wonderful and an inspiration and caring and a tremendous Christian and a great human being.

Also, by the way, we have discussed a little about the church. Some of her best friends are LDS and she wrote me on my mission. And I could totally see that, well, turning into something maybe someday. But even if it never DID it wouldn't matter... she really is one of those amazing true followers of Christ, no matter the faith. Anyway, not the point...

This weekend her hubby Dave was in a really horrific accident while talking to Amy on the cell. She heard the crash, heard him scream. When she wrote she was on her way to the hospital and didn't even know for sure what happened yet. Just that they had to cut open the car and helicopter him out and that he was in a hospital in Indiana that was still over an hour away from where she was when she was writing. And that she didn't know when she's be back online to update (understandably so!), she had just left the gliders with as much dry food as she could and left.

All she has asked for is prayers. I am going to put their names in the Temple, too. But, yeah, I am sure extra prayers, even if they are from a friend of a friend, well, they would help? So, please... Pray for Dave and Amy. Because I can't think of anything else to do. <:"O(

SIGH.

So, ummm... the family thing was actually FUN. Even amid the dysfunctionality.


Let me just rant for a moment about this. I have mentioned before that both sides of my family has SERIOUS issues. Mom's side ostracizes my awesome, but lesbian, aunt Shy and her girlfriend from all events but invites evil Uncle Slime the horrible husband of Mom's spineless, battered-wife sister, Aunt Doormat. Padre's side ALL sided with the jerky brother Uncle Rude when he and Nurse Popcorn FINALLY divorced after YEARS of verbal abuse. Nurse Popcorn stayed and stayed and stayed with Uncle Rude and kept encouraging him to take his meds as he (like the MAJORITY of both sides of my fam) is mentally ill, but when he was refusing and was getting MEANER, even her BISHOP encouraged her to divorce him. They FINALLY did and the situation was SO bad you would have thought that the family would have said "it's about time, we completley understand" but NO everyone in the family, even though they all talked about how horrible Uncle Rude was suddenly blamed Nurse Popcorn for EVERYTHING and then started disowning OUR immediate fam (and one other family, the Idaho Js)... not because we hated Rude (because we were pretty NICE, really) but because we DIDN'T suddenly hate Nurse Popcorn! AND that we didn't HATE RUDE AND POPCORN'S KIDS (who are some of our best friends in the family having grown up together and spent every summer together) because THEY didn't HATE THEIR MOTHER!!!!!! FREAKING RETARDED.

HOWEVER, Mom's side is, surprisingly getting better, though. But this family thing activity proved to me that Padre's ISN'T. Because we get to the church and everyone is sitting squished together... leaving Squall, one of Rude and Popcorn's kids, and her 2 adorable kiddlets ALL alone on a bench. Sarsa (her sister) hadn't even come, but Squall HAD tried. It was like she had the PLAGUE. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT?!

So, my cousin, just a few years older than me was sitting there all by herself (she was married to this guy, G, from Mexico. He seemed awesome. Then a couple years ago he turned totally abusive. She had to run away and was even in a shelter awhile with the kiddlets. YIKES!It has been CRAZY. (p.s. not that anyone supported her since, you know, she still didn't hate her mother)), nobody was even TALKING to her! (later the kids of the Idaho J's did, but that's it) It PISSED ME OFF. I got up during a hymn and sat with her. Which was super fun! We haven't played much since she got married to G. And her daughters were HILARIOUS. They had that Color Wonder paper and markers that just color on paper (not pews or laps) and JanBrady, age 5, was drawing me things like

"this is a mommy dog and this is her puppy. They are riding a scooter. Here are their knee-pads. They each have to have 4 because dogs have 4 knees. The baby puppy has to wear a helmet. The mommy doesn't because she is a grown up and they aren't the law and she only has one. But BOTH of them have a handle. But (she giggles) the handle for the baby doesn't even TURN the scooter, she just THINKS it does."

AWESOME!

And this is clearly a Mommy sheep and a little girl sheep and a Mommy pony and a baby girl pony (though the first she drew was the baby pony and I was thinking she was REALLY good and was drawing a warthog.) and a cow. The cow is a little creepy. Also...

"The baby pony has orange eyes because the mommy has yellow eyes and the daddy has red eyes but I am not drawing a daddy, okay?"

Me and Squall are planning to go out to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix together, we decided. And to hang out more. Because she is bored and I forgot how funny she is. Plus also, her kids crack me up.

Anyway, Uncle Bob and Aunt Maralyn have been serving missions all this time and have MOSTLY missed the drama (though they still side with Rude, mostly) and so me and Squall mostly enjoyed the talks... or at least I enjoyed playing with the kiddlets DURING the talks... and then we went back to their house and talked to their neurotic conure, Tee (he is bald since the first mission) and played with kids (who DO talk to you regardless) and ate VERY good cookies. Me, Rinny, Mom, Cynthia & Leslie (our youngest cousins), Squall and her girls, and couple other little cousin's children all sat together away and had a great time by ourselves. We talked about boys (as Squall is FROM Fresno, umm, yeah) and movies and work. It was fun! SO SUCK ON THAT, IDIOT FAMILY! And we are TOTALLY hanging out more. Yeah!

I have to say though, that I am glad I am in one of the 2 families in the extended families does NOT hate Popcorn. Because she is cool. And so are her kids. SO THERE!

Also, guess what... I LIKE my Aunt Popcorn, who is super intelligent and a nurse and cool...

AND if *I* were her I would have divorced Uncle Rude, like, 30 years earlier than she did. GEEZ.

But I have a MILLION times more respect for her and her decision than Aunt Doormat who Uncle Slime cheated on... and she forgave him. And he did it again... and she forgave him... etc. Plus I kind of believe he may be a pedophile, though that is more from a creepy feeling I get when I see him around kids AND because of other things "in his past" that our family just does not talk about because that is how they deal with things... pretend everything is, and always has been, PERFECT.

ANYWAY, sorry for the family rant. Seriously, for all the complaining I do about arguing with my Padre or my sister being such a germaphobe, sometimes I have to step back and think I am pretty dang blessed to be in as NORMAL of a family as I am, considering what we COULD be.

Of course, on both sides, the pendulum swings pretty far BOTH ways... besides the abusive husbands, closed-minded busybodies, and various other "issues" we also have quite a few Mission Presidents, heroes, and kind hearts who serve everyone they can...

So I guess our family tree has a generous mix... I just hope not to be one of the bad nuts!

OH! But JanBrady was cracking me up while we ate too. She saw one of those little white butterflies and told us all to look at it. Rinny said "Oh! Why don't you go catch it?"
JanBrady said "No. I think somebody should PHOTOGRAPH it." which I LOVED so I handed her my camera and told her to go ahead. She took pictures for about 15 minutes and said "you can delete them all. She was too fast!" There were about 10 pictures of empty grass. However a little while later she was very excited to show me a small centipede on her finger. "Don't you think we should photograph it? It's the smallest one I have ever seen!" What a sweet little naturalist! Hee hee hee!

On the way home, Fresno called and my family got to wonder what the heck I was talking about when the one side of the conversation involved the name of He-Man's cat when he was still cowardly (Cringer)... which he confirmed in PRIESTHOOD today. Because, you know, they learn important stuff there. hee hee hee hee!

p.s. back to the kid thing.... wanna hear something pretty BIG? When I got home the Roomie asked what I thought about her deciding to have a foster kid. As in a HUMAN one. She has been getting a really strong impression about it. I told her that, honestly, I think that could be pretty GREAT. And I do. I don't know why. You'd think that would sound like a HORRIBLE thing to possibly add to my life. But, I dunno, if it ends up happening I think it would be a really GOOD thing. Is that weird? I mean, it wouldn't really be ME... but... yeah, it just sounded really right when she said it. So, hey, I will let you know if I will be getting a mini-roomie anytime soon. Wacky, eh?

Attack (and Subsequent Marriage?!) of the Clones

Status: Still Stressing and Depressing...
BUT less so then yesterday.

So, by way of update on the boy, I just got off the phone with Fresno. I told him I was having a Depression time (true) but was excited to see him (true?) and then we spent the majority of the 2 hours talking and giggling stupidly about Onesie underwear, Wonder Twins, and snails. We talked about serious stuff, too, like the frustration of his job and the fact that he actually put in his offer on the California house for his cousin and friend. He is waiting for it to be accepted, but basically is just planning on buying it regardless, for them to live in and he will move here. Because he just takes care of people he cares about. I just hope he isn't doing too much, taking on more than he should.

Which, by the way, brings me to something else I wanted to say. It doesn't make more sense, but I wanted to clarify, I am NOT afraid that Fresno will run when he realizes what a mess I am, emotionally. I am afraid he WON'T find out what a mess I am until we are married and will in a sense of exceptional, Fresnoesque, loving loyalty just stick with me but not ever be really happy. And I want him to be really happy.

(He WILL however, never find anyone as *entertaining* as me. Mostly because he has a really really SILLY sense of humor. But I just don't know that goofy entertainment is a good trade for emotional stability.)

Okay, anyway, so today I got a wedding announcement for someone I was best friends with back in high school, Stephie Burr. It's been a long time, but Mali saw her (on BYU campus, I think?) anyway she got us connected again. So Stephie sent me an invite with the picture of her and her hubby-to-be. Can I just say CReEeePY?! They are, like, TWINS! They have the SAME FACE! He is a Bald version of her! And the way they posed, and the shirts, well, they even looked the same that way. I am very tempted to scan it in and PhotoShop her hair onto him just because. Now, even though Roomie Lark totally agreed they look like clones, she DID talk me out of giving said artwork to them as their wedding gift (Even though I would find a cute frame to put it in.)

Sadly, that means I need to find a cool present. Because, well, she was a good friend, even after high school. It was only post mission that I lost track of her. So yeah, I will find her something cool.... but SECRETLY I *will* think it is creepy that she is marrying herself as a bald man for as long as I want. Hee hee hee hee!

I am a wicked person. *blush*So, this has been entertaining me ---->

Yes. That is the real guy. And the other real guy. And the other real guy. And the guy in the car is THE Karate Kid. And the real other guy is really that guy. Awesome, huh?

I *heart* YouTube.

I should go to bed. It is not, as you may have noticed, "before 1" per my goal. It is, well, 2:30. I feel like crap. Unfortunately, not like sleepy crap. Just regular crap. Speaking of, who would let their kids play with THIS?