Movie Time

Here's my confession:  I had not--until two weeks ago--seen any Harry Potter movie except for #7 Part 1.  I have only read the first two books and then couldn't get through book three.  Yet...I was commissioned to be a friend's "date" at the midnight showing of the final movie on opening night. 

It's because I'm so cool.  That's why.

So, in an effort to get caught up, my friend (N.) and I crammed seven movies (because I had no idea what was happening in the movie when we saw #7--the longest 2.5 hours of my life--so I had to rewatch it) into a two week period. 

Like 16 hours of Harry Potter.

Which is a lot of Harry Potter, as it turns out.

But I did it.  And I went out on my "date" with N.  And I had an enjoyable time.

When she originally asked if I would accompany her, I was okay with the idea of getting out. 

Note: I rarely say no when it comes to getting out of the house without kids.  This includes 10 mile runs, last minute dinners, midnight showings, all night shopping sprees and a host of other activities that I wouldn't necessarily do if it were just me.

Then, sometime this last week, N. said that we needed to get our t-shirts made.

T-shirts?  I was not aware of any t-shirts we would have to wear.  I did not want to be one of those crazy people showing up at a midnight showing.  Dressing up was not in the original contract.

To which N. replied "But if you don't dress up as something then you'll look like an idiot."

Right. We certainly wouldn't want that, now would we. So...I made my t-shirt:

And N. made hers, which took two t-shirts and an hour and a half and some choice words muttered under our breaths.

But by 9:30, we were headed out the door and on our way to the movie complex where we would...um...look for something to eat and wait. In our semi matching shirts.

Yes.  I felt very cool. I was wearing, more or less, a matching t-shirt with my buddy.  And I'm over the age of 10.  Why would I feel like everyone was staring at me like I had just walked in from a Trekkie convention?

We were thrown out of Iggy's because we tried to come in with Jamba Juices and apparently, our t-shirts made us look like we were the type to sneak liquor into  a liquor serving establishment.  But, on our walk across the parking lot to Chili's we hid our Jamba Juices in our purses, and had no problem.  Except for when we took the Jamba Juices out of our purses once we were seated and then it looked like we were the type to sneak in liquor in Jamba Juice cups. 

I mean, isn't that something you'd do if you were underage, not 30?  Just a thought...

At Chili's we managed to get a free appetizer AND a free meal.  I'm not entirely sure how we did it or if we'd ever be able to replicate this kind of performance ever again.  And then N. told the waiter that we "hooked him up" with a nice tip, but upon further calculating (why, yes, I do have a degree in math) in the parking lot, we realized it wasn't really that much of a tip beyond what we would have given him. 

To which we giggled hysterically across the parking lot to the movie theater.

Once inside the theater, it was like watching a freak show at the aslyum.  There are some crazy fans out there with some awesome costumes. 

And then there are some crazy fans out there with some terribly bad costumes. 

And then there was the scarecrow and the Victoria's Secret angel that I was sitting near. 

I must have missed that part of the series where the scarecrow and the angel meet at Hogwarts...

The movie was good.  It tied everything together nicely.  Having not read the books, I was a little surprised by some outcomes and surprised by things that didn't happen.  I was a little taken back by the girls next to me who were CONVULSING when someone died.  Not even a main character.  Someone secondary to the story.  But they were sobbing uncontrollably. 

Which of course got N. and me giggling hysterically again.

And then got N.. a nasty "Please stop talking" from the guy next to her.  Which of course made it so incredibly hard to keep from giggling again.  But we managed to hold it together for the sake of those who who have hearts.

Which, apparently, isn't us.

We got home at 3:30, and I felt into a deep slumber considering I had been up since 5:30 the previous morning.  Luckily the kids stayed awake late that night, so I got some decent sleep too.

And I nominate myself as being the bestest friend that anyone could have. 

Because I'm cool.  That's why.

Postcard From the Edge

Hello.

It's been a while hasn't it? 

Here's what's been going on since we last spoke:

--I ran my usual race on July 4th.  I did not, however, pee my pants.  This is the fifth year in a row I've run this race and it's become a favorite no-miss race.  As in, even though it started at freakin' 8:45 in July and it was hotter than snot, and the organizers (if you can call them that) are so beyond disorganized it drives me crazy every year and the t-shirts totally suck, I will be signing up next year.

--Also at the parade was this lady.  Dressed in the EXACT same shirt, only in red.  But her shorts, her early 90's socks and shoes, her 80's hairdo were all there in their glory.  And she did not read my post from last year, because she was still as annoying as she was then.  Next year, I'm bringing her a bag of saltwater taffy and telling her to sit down and let the little kids enjoy the parade.  Wade said that she and a little boy caught a frisbee at the same time and they looked at each other for a brief second before she yanked it out of his hands.  She will be referred to as Crazy Parade Lady from here on out.

--Swimming lessons started this week, which is simultaneously the most beloved and most hated two weeks of the summer.  I love that we have something to do every day that requires little effort or money, but I can only stand the pool for so long.  Unless I'm sitting by the side of it, looking up every once in a while from my book to determine that my kids' heads are above water.  With A. being two and half fish, I'm in the pool, making sure A. doesn't tread into too deep of water or going down the one waterslide over and over again and I'm cooked at about an hour.  A. could stay forever.  J. is a little more reserved and tires out about the same time I do, which means that every day, I have to drag a screaming two year old out of the pool gates.

--Last year, I started the trend of wearing a rash guard (a shirt that is treated with a sunblocker) to the swimming pool.  This was in an effort to save my pale skin from crisping to the point where my marathon training would be put on hold.  I undid all this effort on marathon day when I sustained the worst sunburn I had had in years.  Many kids have rash guards, but in Utah, they are a little harder to find in affordable adult women sizes.  HOWEVER, this year, I found a really cute one and still consider it the best purchase I have made in swimwear in my entire life.  No more burned back.  No more finding unsuspecting strangers to slather on sunblock.  Genius! 

--A. and J. are at that age where I think if we were to have a third kid, they'd gang up on it and eat it the minute I stepped into the shower.  I've heard of people having to lock their babies in the bathroom with them so that the other children don't harm it.  I can kind of see why.  In fact, I a little worried that they're plotting to eat me if I close my eyes.

--I was accused of failing to provide the caliber of facebook statuses that my fans are accustomed to and thus the pressure to provide something enlightening, yet humorous, is getting to me.  I'm at home, most days, and there is only so much that differs from a day to day basis. 

That's it, folks.  Hope all is going well on your end. 

The Annual Family Reunion

It was our annual reunion on Saturday.  Unfortunately, no vampires showed up.  In fact, except for a troop of lost golf carts, no one else came to crash the party either. 

However, upon looking at the pictures from the Year of the Phlebotomists, I realized that this year's reunion was...

EXACTLY THE SAME.

Minus the vampires of course.

There was the sleeping station, and the snow cones, and the cotton candy.  We all brought our own dinner--of which I pilfered some from other tables.  We should just combine our side dishes so that we can taste each other's specialties.  There were some rousing games of horseshoes and blankets spread out for impromptu naps.  A water fight that ended up in a real fight. 

That's a first, actually.

Someone--simultaneously both unexpectedly and expectedly--announced their pregnancy.  Two potential new mates came to check out the fam.  One didn't fare so well.  The other one jumped right in.  There were conversations and games.  More food.

For the first time in 10 years, I didn't bring out my book to read. 

This was actually one of the better reunions.  Not that some are bad.  Just that some seem to be very draining because of the ages and personalities of your kids.  I'm in a pretty sweet spot right now in that J. is old enough to run around and play with cousins virtually unsupervised.  A. is so independent that she found her own things to do for the entire day.  I just had to make sure I could see her at all times. 

Which wasn't that hard because of her shocking red hair.

And before I knew it, it was already 5:00, and I hadn't been pestered by either child for anything more taxing than a drink of rootbeer. 

And NOW I get why everyone loves the reunion!

Book Review Sunday

Book: The Rebellion of Jane Clarke
Author: Sally Gunning
Pages: 320

I resisted reading this book until it was the last one left on my bedside table from the library.  While I really enjoy history, I haven't delved much into the Revolutionary War and so I wasn't as anxious to read this one as I usually am when it's about World War II. 

However, I found this to be a very interesting read that I learned a lot from.  Jane lives on Cape Cod with her father, her step mother and a host of siblings that she helps tend for.  Her father has arranged a marriage between "aging" Jane (22 years old) and his new business partner, but Jane is apprehensive about the set up.  She refuses the proposal and is sent by her father to Boston, headquarters of the brewing Revolutionary War, to make her own way in life.

I only have my basic high school education in the Revolutionary War and I didn't know that there was such opposition among the colonists.  Some were Loyalists to the British rule and others were anxious to make their own country.  The picture that is painted in school is that everyone who came over to America wanted to leave the rule of the British empire and that isn't so true.

Weaved among this story is the underlying tensions that existed between the Torys and the Rebels.  While I think Jane took a long time deciding which side she was on, it wasn't paramount to the story.  She thinks everyone is human and deserves the same basic rights, regardless of what side they're on.  In the end that's what prevails.

This book was a definite surprise and I'm glad I resisted the urge to return it to the library unopened.

Anniversary Trip/Lunatic Triathlon

This last weekend, Wade and I went on a little trip to central Utah for our anniversary.  It seemed apres pro, since that is where we met and all.

The idea was to go mountain biking for the weekend. When I was looking on the internet for reservations for a hotel room, I noticed that there was a triathlon that weekend as well.  Friday night to be exact, and who could resist that?

Not me.

So Friday afternoon we set off for the bustling metropolis of Price, Utah after my gracious parents arrived to watch the kids for the weekend.  We ate dinner at Wingers, about the only change in town in the last decade, and then I got ready for the triathlon. 

It was a reverse tri, so I ran first and swam last.  We had driven the courses for both the bike and run, and I felt a little less nervous, but I was still a little apprehensive about biking in the dark.  The run was pretty good.  I ran it about as fast as I run most of my 5ks, around 27 minutes--which isn't bad considering it was 10:30 at night, I had just eaten, and it was unfamiliar course--and then, I hopped on my bike. 

For starters, my chain kept dropping whenever I put it in the hardest crank, so I only had 7 gears to work with.  Also, it was DARK.  So unbelievably DARK.  And the roads were small-town maintained.  There were rocks and gravel and potholes. 

I had to slow it down big time on the bike, which is a shame because that's really the discipline I shine in, and by the time I hit the pool, I was shot.  I had no energy left and I didn't think I'd be able to swim the 300 yards, but I flubbed my way through it.  I finished 40th overall, in women, men, and relay teams.  I don't know exactly what this means.  I know there were more than 41 people who did the triathlon, but I'm not sure how many.  It was not the most organized event I've ever been to.  I was more tired at the end of this race than I was after 100 miles on my bike and so I didn't really care where I finished.

After the race, we went back to our hotel and I laid in bed, starving because they had no food at the race and I didn't have the foresight to bring food with me.  Finally, I fell asleep, but I didn't sleep nearly as well as I thought I would have considering how worn out I was. 

Saturday, we slept in and then made our way to the mountain biking trail I had found online.  It was billed as one of the best trails in Utah and I sort of ignored the whole "intermediate-advanced" rating it had in favor of experiencing it.  We had to drive through Cleveland--which I only know exists because I have a very storied history with a guy from Cleveland that I may or may not share at some point--and ran into ANOTHER herd of cows.  It seems like every trip we go on, we run into a herd of cows.  The scenery isn't really anything to look at until you get to the parking spot.  And then it hits you.

We biked 21 miles through some of the prettiest stuff I've ever seen and it was a lot of fun.  However, some things should be noted:

(a) Up until about 3 months ago, I had been truly mountain biking zero times.
(b) Since three months ago, I have been truly mountain biking exactly three times
(c) None of these three times classify me as an "intermediate-advanced" mountain biker.
(d) Wade, as in most things he does, still out biked me.
(e) Four hours on a mountain bike is akin to about eight hours on a road bike.
(f) There are snakes (LARGE snakes) in the wilds of Utah that are not identifiable on the internet.
(g) I did not exactly fall off my bike, but I came close.  A number of times.
(h) I may have had a minor melt down at mile 10.  Apparently, I was a little tired and I was biking with Bionic Man, who needs no rests or food and after my upteenth run in with a tree that managed to jump out onto the trail, I sorta lost control and threw my bike down.  I blame the fact that I had burned something like 1000 calories at 10:30 the night before and I was on my way to burning another 1000 calories and I only had a sausage mcmuffin for sustenance.  I have a sensitive blood sugar level.
(i) This would also explain why after we were done, I thought that Wade was trying to starve me because he wasn't hungry and I thought I was going to start gnawing on the table leg in the hotel room at any minute.

Sunday, we slept in again and then made our way down to breakfast and headed home.  It was exactly the trip we needed to recharge our batteries.  However, next trip we go on, I'm requesting just a few days at the beach where we don't climb mountains or ride them.  Just sit and read a book.

Best Decision Ever

I came home one day to a note on the table:

"He called!"

With a phone number.

And I had a choice to make.  Do I call back or don't I?

I took a chance and called back.  What did I have to lose?  Besides, I had already told my mom how I had fallen in love.

With someone I had just met. And would probably never see again. And knew next to nothing about except for that he had the worse driver's license picture ever!

It was awkward and I felt a little uneasy after the phone call.  So the next day, I called again and I said:

"I'm really sorry about our conversation yesterday and I don't know if you have a girlfriend or not, but if you wanted to go out next time you're in town, I would really like that."

Of course, I said this all to an answering machine.  Because that's how I roll.  And then I promptly put him out of my mind because I figured he had a girlfriend.

Which he did.

And because I had one of those sorta boyfriends.

So when he called two days later--Friday night--and we decided to go play miniature golf, I had no idea what would happen.

Or that I was the revenge date when he found out his "girlfriend" had a date with someone else.

And I'll admit I was a little miffed when he didn't call on Saturday because I really liked him.  I liked him more than I liked my sorta boyfriend.  And I thought we hit it off.  But when he didn't call, I figured he didn't feel the same.  So to console my broken heart, I took a nap Sunday afternoon so that time would go faster until I could go back to my sorta boyfriend and my evening job that sucked all the joy out of the summer between my freshman and sophmore years of college.

(And because those were the days when I took Sunday naps.)

(I miss Sunday naps.)

My spirits were lifted--considerably--when he called Sunday afternoon because it was too hot to drive back to his job in a mine in central Utah in his tin can of a car.  We talked for close to two hours.  And decided to go out again the next weekend.

Because evidently, he broke up with his girlfriend on Saturday night.

Hence the no-phone call.

Five months later, I said yes when he asked, his hands shaking while he looked up at me from one knee.

Six months after that, I said I do. 

Even after I met the whole family.

And even after he whispered to me that he thought he was going to throw up and I thought "Please, not on the dress!" I might have even giggled at the thought of showing up to my wedding in a dress covered in the groom's breakfast.

And even when it meant that I wasn't going to go to Hawaii to school or I wasn't going to be a firefighter or about 100 other things I had dreamt I would do before I took the big plunge.

It was the best decision I ever made.

Happy 10th wedding anniversary Wadeomonkey!  I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow.

What's for Dinner Wednesday--Joy Bundles and Rice

Source: Taste of Home Magazine
Difficulty Level: Easy

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
4 green onions
1 tsp minced fresh tarragon or 1/4 tsp dried tarragon
8 turkey bacon strips
1/4 c butter, melted, divided
2 c uncooked long grain rice
2 1/4 c chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c lemon juice
3 T snipped fresh dill or 1 T dill weed
2 tsp grated lemon peel

* Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally (seriously?  I have no idea what that means.  I just sliced them the long way so that they looked fileted). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
*In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese (I used neufchatel cheese, which is the same only with 1/3 the fat), onions, and tarragon; spread over chicken.  Roll up from a short side (jelly roll style); wrap each with a piece of bacon; place seam side down in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.  Drizzle with 1 T butter.
*Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Broil 4-6 inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned.
*Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring rice, chicken brother and garlic to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-18 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.  Stir in the lemon juice, dill, lemon peel, and remaining butter.
*Serve chicken over rice; drizzle with pan juices.

I didn't cover the chicken, nor did I broil it.  That step seemed to completely leave my brain.  I was trying to do three things plus keep tabs on the kids and so I missed it.  Otherwise, I thought it was an amazing dish.  It tasted a little like Chicken Cordon Bleu.  Very tasty and simple to make and Wade, who was not home for the meal, enjoyed the leftovers for lunch.