Some Miscellaneous thoughts and my love of ICE CREAM

WHOO-HOOO! Two blogs in the space of an hour! Who would'a thunk it?! And THIS one is going to have PICTURES!!!!!!

I wish I had taken a picture of the rainy days we had a week or so ago. It's amazing to me -- we went from those crazy snowstorms to RAIN in the middle of January no less. Whew. No wonder the poor trees don't know whether to bud or not. :-) Recently though we had a bit more snow (wonderful, heavy, wet, snowball/snowman snow) and in the dusk towards near-dark, I took the following picture of the little tree in our front yard:

It's pretty blurry (I didn't use a flash) and it WAS twilight (oooooh that word makes me think of the book series, which I really enjoyed, like half (most of?) the country). But oh my, the tree was so pretty with that beautiful coating of heavy snow, I took another picture with the flash on:

It wasn't full night yet, but a camera flash at twilight will give you that effect. Still it captured the tree a little better and caught some of the snowflakes as well. I just loved how thick and frosting-like the snow looked on the branches. And I admire how brave our little tree was! Brrrr, it was COLD.

Thinking of things cold, I wanted to say a word or two about one of my greatest loves: ICE CREAM. I love it. I'll eat it whenever I can get it. I almost always have a box of it in my freezer. For that matter, so do all my brothers and sisters (well at least I know for a fact that my sisters do! hahahahaha). We can thank our parents (and especially our dad) for that. Ice cream was one of our most favorite family desserts, and our dad used to fondly recount stories of ice cream -- like the time he had a major brain freeze and fell over in a dead faint (or was that my uncle who fainted?), or the time he and his two brothers each ate a 7-scoop cone (that was a 7-scoop cone EACH, I repeat). Who could not love ice cream with such fine examples?

Well I have to admit, it's also been my weight downfall. If it wasn't for eating ice cream before bed every night I'd be a size two (HAH. THAT'll never happen on this medium-framed body). Oh okay, I eat other things too that put me at my current weight range. "Sigh." I've been trying to give up my extensive ice cream habit and haven't had any luck until lately. And how, pray tell, did I manage that, you ask?! Cost. Irritation. I hate it that they are now selling ice cream in an almost-quart-sized-box for the price of what should be a half-gallon-sized-box. Does that make sense?

Just look at it. Puny. Tiny. Almost half the size it used to be. Oh okay, you can't really tell from the picture. (I love Dreyer's by the way ... creamy, smooth, rich ... mmmmmm). But honestly, don't you agree? I understand the reasoning behind it: people won't buy ice cream if it gets too expensive, and there's no way to keep making it at the prices we're used to (so they say). So here's a brilliant idea: shrink the boxes down and keep the prices what we're used to! Yeah, that'll work. And it does ... well we the Buying Public don't have much of a choice, do we? I just wonder, do these companies really think they're deceiving us? I saw this happen with my favorite boxed cone: they used to be nice big things. Then the company shrank the size of the cone. Then they shrank the size of the ice cream blob, and thinned out the chocolate coating. It's now child-sized and the quality has decreased. So ... of all things, I find it's harder to buy my ice cream in those puny boxes than it is to go without. I will buy it ONLY on sale and ONLY when I can't stand it anymore and have to indulge. Who woulda thought the economy would help me out, eh? And have you noticed? They are now shrinking the cereal boxes. I wonder what's next?

Well on a completely different tract (and just for fun) here's a picture of Cowboy in Heaven. Nothing like a guuudddd neecckkk wrruuubbbb, eh?

I wish I could've caught him at the height of his joyfulness ... he turns his head completely sideways and pushes against you hard, to get into the rub. Mmmmmmmmm.

Hello ... it's musing time

Well hello -- here I am again! It's been a while. :-} That little spectre in the back of my head that keeps whispering, "You've got nothing interesting to say" has kept my fingers off the keyboard (well, off this little blog-site, anyways - my hands are on the keyboard ALL DAY LONG for work).

I was thinking about that "little spectre" today -- the insecurity which gets in the way and causes me to play small. I read once that we do no service to our fellow man (woman/humankind) when we play small and don't put our grandest self forward. I now believe this is true, though old habits die hard. I used to believe that it was important to tone myself down so I wouldn't make others feel bad, or less, or maybe just incredulous. Or maybe make fun of me. Now isn't that the silliest thing?! Playing small cheats everyone out of the best we have to give. Or maybe not even our best -- maybe it's our semi-best -- but even our semi-best can be worthwhile to someone, right? It's so funny: I read all of your blogs a lot and enjoy every single one of them, though sometimes I get soooo intimidated by the wise essays, the humorous stories, the great pictures, or just the stuff I find fun to read. "I want to write like that!" I think, or "She always makes me laugh and cheers me up!" I smile, or "Look at that cute kid! How'd she get a picture like that?" I ponder. So inevitably what follows, if I'm not careful? OF COURSE! "I can't write/ponder/photoshop/take pictures/ [you fill in the blank] like that. I better not write at all." ACK!!! Yep, THAT is why I am sitting down RIGHT NOW and stopping the nonsense (by writing this entry) instead of going to the Rec Center to exercise (oh okay, I'm still going to the Rec Center ... after).

Well, this is a bit of a confessional. And since it is, I might as well lay it all out there, eh?! We all have character flaws which may be our stumbling blocks, right? Mine is THE WHIP. Or more accurately, THE FLOGGING WHIPS. Hahahahahaha! Several years ago (WOW! I think it's six years ago already!) I went through one of the infamous ... what are they called? ... oh yes, impact seminars. My dear friend, Wendy and I just call it "The Cult." She and I went through it together -- all the way through, all three levels. Talk about living through Hell! (oops, sorry). It was one of the most painfully difficult experiences of my life. It was almost one of the most ... well ... impactful. I guess they named those things correctly, eh? I see lessons and insights from that experience almost daily. BUT! They have a very real emotional danger potential, which is why I would never, never recommend one outright. There's no denying it was the correct thing for me though, especially at that time in my life. "Sigh." I guess they can be a good/bad thing. :-) I'd never send someone I loved into one without a lot of prayer first, though.

Anyways, I digress. One exercise we did worked to assist us in figuring out our greatest (or one of our greatest) negative behaviors. Something that was a real stumbling block (as earlier mentioned). My memory is hazy, but seems like we had to act out that behavior (sort of). It was very revelatory. I nailed mine right on: it was the flogging whips. Have you ever heard of those? There's a particular religious group that uses them extensively (can't remember what group they are ... but I remember one of the dudes played a role in the book, "The Da Vinci Code"). They flog their back with whips that have chips at the end, punishing themselves for imperfections and whatnot. Well that's what I have done all my life: flog myself with unseen emotional whips for my imperfections. Hahaha! It's a wonderful joke-yet-not-a-joke between Wendy and I. You'd catch me playing victim: "Oh I'm so [this that this]" and Wendy will laugh and say, "Whip! Whip! Whip!" And then I will laugh because it's true. I had the whips out again. And then I have the choice to put the little whippers away (or not, which is the playing small part). I'm really grateful for that knowledge gained about myself! I can continue to change. Knowledge IS power, right?

The good thing is, our flaws don't have to define us or hold us back. We can choose to work on overcoming them, right? And THEN -- yeah, I LIKE this part: THEN they become our stepping-stones!!!!!! So I think I'll close this and do another little blog, just because I should. I want to talk ice cream for a minute anyways. :-) :-) :-)

SNOW DAZE

Oh ... MY ... GOSH!!!!!!!! Snow snow snow snow snow snow snow ... everywhere I turn there is SNOW!!!!!! We have been dumped on in a huge way here in Orem -- something that we don't see all the time. It usually snows a ton in Salt Lake, Ogden, Bountiful, Brigham City ... all points North, in other words. And here in Utah County we get about half their amount ... usually. BUT NOT THIS JANUARY! Hahahahaha!!! The joke is on me, this little California girl who (even tho she's been here for 15 or so years) hasn't been able to give her heart to it. Would you like a preliminary peek?

This is looking out over the driveway where I pull up my car (we have two driveways: one that goes up to the carport section where Ruth parks her car and a second one that goes up to the extended carport section where I park my car ... I can't even remember how it happened that Ruth got the "enclosed" carport space - hah). The giant ridge in front is the snow piled between the two driveways. And beyond the second ridge is the snow built up on our neighbor's lawn, and then THEIR ridge before their driveway, and on to the next lawn ... etc. Do you get a feeling for it? WheeeeeEEEEE!!! Everyone has been doing some SERIOUS shoveling, yessir!

But I have to tell you a secret ... as much as I've been hating the snow ... I MAY just change my mind and come to really ... rather ... gulp ... like it! And all thanks to my good friends & co-workers Steve & Margaret. Yessir, today they gave me a lesson in the thrill of doing parking lot donuts!!! Oh okay, we didn't really do donuts -- we fishtailed. Over and over again, to teach me how to feel a slide so I can learn to correct and not be so scared. And speaking of scared, I WAS DEFINITELY scared to begin with! But you know what?! Oh man I hate to admit this ... it was FUN. I liked it a lot. In fact, I want to do it again. Hahahahahahahahaahaha!!!!!! Can you stand it?! Here are some pictures Margaret took while we were having my lesson:

We started out by going in Steve's car, and he skidded & spun & slid several times so I could get a sense of it. Whoo-ee! What a feeling when you feel that car start to slide and your stomach bottoms out. Nothing like it. Hah. Steve's really, REALLY good at this game:
Then we went back and got my car, and it was my turn:
Steve was in the passenger seat pulling on my hand brake so the back tires would lock & the car would skid, and Margaret was in the back seat enjoying the ride (?), and taking pictures for me! THIS is a monumental occasion, you know.
After a few times I was surprised at how much more natural it felt, and a lot of my fear started to go away. That's very cool! Margaret got out and took a picture of us trying to go into (and out of) a skid:
And as you can see below, we helped do our part to chew up the snow in the parking lot, and alter the natural beauty of the pristine, unmarked snow (hah):
As I said before, I hate to admit it - but I may actually come to like snow season. HAH! I wish I'd caught a picture of Margaret too but she was -- well -- behind the camera. "Sigh." Here are some more pictures of the snow outside our home, and Cowboy having a ball (literally & figuratively):

Looking south down our street (that's the sidewalk you're seeing - notice the almost-covered mailbox):
Cowboy, after digging out the ball I kept throwing into snowbanks in the yard:
Digging FOR that ball:
Walking the path Ruth and I dug for Cowboy in the front yard. Poor Ruth - she's dug those paths out three or four times so far -- I've dug them out a couple of times. That shows you who rules, eh? The dog! He has no trouble whatsoever jumping through the snow when he wants to play, but put his delicate bum down onto that snowpile when he wants to go poddy? NO WAY:
Hence, the pathways. And this next picture is for you, Deb - seeing as you love to take pictures of your feet wherever you are! (Which I think is a cool idea). I had to retire my old, OLD boots (you can see why) and now I'm sporting a new pair of not-so-pretty-but-they-sure-don't-slide shoes:

I have to admit it's been fun to play in the snow (having the right clothes & shoes helps a lot) and I've even enjoyed some of the shoveling I've done (not too much because a couple of TERRIFIC Young Men and a MOST EXCELLENT NEIGHBOR are helping to keep our walkways shoveled for us - bless them!). And NOW I'm learning how to drive in the stuff ... so ... I guess I'll have to stop singing my swan song: IS IT SPRING YET?!