Tell You [a] Little Story

Sweaty palms, shaking, yelling at the tv, heartache. American Idol was intense tonight! (If only.) (Go Jazz, I guess.)

Read this story through to the end, if you can stomach it. I think it characterizes evil in its purest form. That's an oxymoron, to be sure, but if this isn't as evil as it gets, I don't know what is.

Oh my goodness, I am so excited. Yesterday morning, feeling resigned to the fact that we were not ever going to find a house in our price range with all the things that we want -- older home, 5 bedrooms, good neighborhood, a space in which Steve could paint, big backyard, workable kitchen space, high-ish ceilings, aesthetically pleasing architecture, just to name a few of our most critical requirements -- we made an offer on House Number 2 that I described here. It does not meet several of these criteria we wished for, but we loved that it was close to good friends of ours, and we thought we could live there and make it work. Yesterday afternoon my good old buyer's remorse set in, and I started to hope that the bank and the IRS and the seller wouldn't accept our offer. This morning, I thought maybe we should cancel our offer before they accepted it, but Steve thought we ought to find something better first. The chances of that happening were not great. We have been really dili

Steve didn't know my Dramarama reference in the last post. I was surprised -- didn't that song get all kinds of radio play? Did you know it? Play this lovely video, see if you recognize the song, and count the misspelled words for a little evening diversion [one before I go to bed!!].

Isaac: sleeps on the floor, in a major thoroughfare of the bedroom, with his head under the blanket. This morning, on the way to the boys' closet to fetch some pants, I stepped on his nose. Stephen: is on his way to Boise to be sworn into the Idaho Bar. He and I cannot seem to find a house that we both want to live in, which is kind of a problem, because we want to live in the same house. Norah: learned the word no-no yesterday as she spilled out the box of generic Lucky Charms on the kitchen floor. I've said it to her a few times since when she's doing something she shouldn't, and her face gets all wrinkled up and she starts to whimper. Saying "that's a no-no" to my daughter hurts her feelings. Aaron: has a tooth growing in at a good 45 degree angle. It takes up much space on the bottom of his mouth. Braces, braces, braces. Elliot: can convince his younger brother(s) every time to put all their money toward whatever it is he wants to buy. Of this moment,

We're back in Arizona and it feels like HOME! We went to our house for what may be the last time ever -- such a good home, why didn't somebody buy it sooner? -- and noticed the power wasn't working. The breakers were on, so I called the power company. Me: Our power is off in our vacant house. Arizona Public Service lady: No it's not. My computer says you have power. Me: Yes, it is. Her: Did you trip the breakers? Me: Yeah, I did that. Her: You need to trip the breakers on the inside of the house. Me: There aren't any breakers on the inside of the house. Her: I guarantee you there are. Me: I guarantee you there aren't. Her: We'll send somebody out, but you'll probably have to hire an electrician to fix the problem, whatever the problem is. You'll have to be at the house when our technician comes and it could be anytime today or tomorrow. Me: Not gonna work. Like I said, there are no breakers inside, so why would I need to be there? Also, I am half an

Congratulations to Steve who is now certifiably licensed to practice law in the great state of Idaho. See it for yourself here. Apparently, my brother Ryan also took and passed the Idaho Bar, which explains his recent bout of overworkedness. Hooray for Steve. Two states down, 48 to go!

Tonight we went to look at a house, and came away the proud owners of this circa 70's luggage set. I'm especially fond of the carry case on top, which will forever after be my toiletry bag/carry-on bag. How did it all go down? The owner of the house is a recent widow and has moved into a nursing home. Her children picked out a few of her belongings and left the rest to gather dust throughout the house. Someone will have to be hired to remove and clean out this house before the buyers move in. However, there was some cool stuff! I walked into the room where these suitcases were stacked up, and said, "Oh these are so great!" The realtor/neighbor/home teacher/trustee of the estate said, "Take them. They're yours." "Really, can I pay her for them?" I asked, trying to be respectable, but knowing he would refuse. "Not at all. Take them, and don't be embarrassed." Well, I wasn't embarrassed, and neither were the kids. They grabbed t

How many sugar cookies is too many sugar cookies to eat for breakfast? Which of the members of my family want to join us in a camping trip to Arches/Zion/North Rim/Moab this late July or early August? Why do I prefer lists and random notes to writing a cohesive blog post? How do I overcome my dread of writing, as in, a personal narrative? Did Alyssa have her baby? How do I encourage my children and other beloved family members to understand their great worth? What will I learn from General Conference this weekend? How long will it take for the members of our church to embrace President Monson wholeheartedly? Who will be the new apostle? Isn't it great that there are apostles? Am I a snob if I don't really want to live in Orem? What is it about Orem, anyway? What class should I take first with my free tuition benefit? Is plucking eyebrows something I shouldn't still be doing? Don't you think if you make a comment it should be in the form of a question? Has anyone ever b