Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother, Lisa Lindsay, is turning 38 years old tomorrow! Yes, she had me when she was in fifth grade. She has taught me how to use coupons and save my money, how to make fried eggs and sew on a button, and how to laugh in every situation—it's never the end of the world. I'm hoping to soon be able to say she's taught me how to play the piano! Ha ha. We'll see how that goes. She makes the best sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, hot fudge pudding cake, and lasagna, and food is what really matters in life.:) And since the accident and hours in bed, she's acquired a gift for knowing "what not to wear." She is the fashion expert!:)

The Flood

Last night, on our way home from the McKell Family Reunion (my mom's mom's side of the family), we got a call from the bishop asking where to shut off our water because our basement was flooding! All I heard of the conversation was Dad saying, "Oh crud. Oh, crud," so I knew something bad had happened. A family in our neighborhood had been on a walk by our house and saw water shooting up in the air. They hurried and called the bishop to see if he had our cell number to know how to get into our house. We gave the bishop our garage code, he hurried and called his wife to get the pump, and luckily the family that saw the water has a shop vac, which sucks up the water from the floor. The water was pouring into my room through the window well.

When we got home, our wonderful friends were running around moving the furniture out of my room, wringing out towels, lifting up the carpet in my room, and sucking up the water with the shop vac. I was amazed at how much water just the cement under the carpet and padding had absorbed! (The pictures show the wet carpet resting on cans with fans underneath. I'm not sure where they put the padding, but they took it all out to dry. The fans are still running with the door shut and the window open, and I'm sleeping in the queen-size bed we have in the other part of the basement.)

Here's where the whole part about being blessed comes in—last Saturday I did a major cleaning of my room, lifting everything up off my floor and putting them on my desk and dresser. I'm known to start big projects and not finish them, so I've had stuff all over my floor for the past couple months. Ever since April I've had the contents to my 72-hour kit on the floor below my window, waiting for the moment when I would strategically squeeze everything into my backpack. Last week, I finally took the time to put it together and then moved it into the other part of our basement. My big maps had been on my floor and piles of papers and a bag of Argentina memorabilia. I am so hugely blessed that only one book and some mail and a few papers got soaked. It was amazing for how much could've happened!

And when I heard my room was filling with water, my first thought was, "I hope my LASIK receipts are okay!" Right before we left for the reunion I read a letter from my flexible spending account saying they couldn't track when I'd used my card for my LASIK eye surgery. In order to prove I used my money correctly, I need to fax them copies of my receipts or else I have to pay the amount back! So I luckily found the receipts right before we left for the reunion and was all set to fax them in, but decided to wait until we got home that night. I'd set the two receipts side by side on my bed. When I got home, they were the first things I looked for but only found one of them! So I looked and looked and then said a prayer, and thought to look under my bed again in case it'd blown off when all my furniture was quickly shoved to dry ground. The receipt was a little smooshed, but I found it!:) I was SO relieved.

Me and My Mom

The "content to be cute" look.

The "just try and look as hot as us" look.

The "electric shock but still breathing" look and the "you know you want me" look.

WORDS . . . words

Have you ever stopped and thought about how differently we internalize life? How the guy sitting next to you on the merry-go-round or on the metro can overhear the same conversation as you but he hears one thing while you hear another? How word association in and of itself triggers each of us to make that word an emotion, something entirely it's own creation? And one author may be furious or frustrated about the same thing that leaves another author elated or calm. Ever thought about that? Oh, and for all of you who still owe me money, I'm ready for you to pay up now. I've got plane tickets to buy!! How did those words make you feel? :)

Girl Talk! Slumber Party!

This is me trying to keep up in the blogging world. Last weekend . . . or was it two weekends ago? Oh no. I don't know. Anyways, we had a Relief Society slumber party. Get this. We didn't go to bed until 5 a.m. Then I had to get going with my Saturday at 8:30 a.m., and I was definitely realizing, "Hey I am not 18!" (Christine: I still wear the shirt you made me!!) The party was at my enrichment counselors Amber's house and her little sister has sugargliders, which are the little creatures we're holding. The funnest part of the night was throwing M&Ms and Skittles in each others' mouths and trying to catch them. And then I loved The Sisterhoof of the Traveling Pants. That's when 5 a.m. rolled around.

Ponch and Matching Socks

Have you ever played Go Fish with socks with the "Chips" theme song playing in the background? I have. Yesterday Nicole brought home literally more than 250 socks to be paired. The socks came from her family's home, from her mom, dad, and two youngest sisters. Nicole's mom passed away last week and was sick for about a year and a half, so little things like matching socks slipped down farther and farther on the list of importance. So yesterday, Tracy, Nicole, and I had a race to see who could make the most pairs. I got a little distracted with "Chips: Season One" playing on the DVD player. Now I see that it was a plot to get me to lose. I LOVE Ponch and do believe the love affair started back in 1985 . . . when I was 4. The three of us sock sorters ended up with about 100 pairs and 50 spares. Not bad.

Clockwork

It's been a couple days, but I finally have time to write about Monday—the day that ran like a beautiful clock made in Uruguay. I have a clock from Uruguay, so I know who smoothly they run. I have to share because it was an amazingly fulfilling day.

7 a.m. Wake-up
7 a.m. Push snooze
7:23 a.m. Get up and eat
8:00 a.m. Talk to people who are awake too and eat some more
8:45 a.m. Grocery shop
10:00 a.m. Start dinner
11:30 a.m. Edit a BYU project
1:20 p.m. Email the finished project to Mel!!!
1: 30 p.m. Eat lunch
1:45 p.m. Drive to eye appointment
2:30 p.m. Hit Lowe's and Target—I finally found my dream trash can!!
4:20 p.m. Drive to hair appointment
4:30 p.m. Get my mullet trimmed
5:00 p.m. BBQ the chicken and finish making dinner
7:00 p.m. Eat dinner with the fam
7:30 p.m. Pick up more food from Rose
8:00 p.m. Take dinner to my friend Nicole and hang out

And then the rest is history! I did everything I needed to!! It was a miracle—a Monday miracle. How I edited that beast in two hours is beyond me. I definitely had help from above.

This Week's Highlights

1. Almost tripping down the stairs after saying the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting today. I did a simple surfing move and glided on my slick heels with my arms out for balance. Yes, it was terrifying, and yes, I was so, so grateful I did not hit the ground and have my skirt flip up.

2. Going to my first demolition derby! Yes, it was very much a cultural experience. (Do you like how I keep saying "yes"?) Every round of smashing and crashing, each one of us in our group of five girls would pick a different car to cheer for. Just to increase your pride for the female sex (of which many of us are a part . . . sorry Brad), a woman driver made it to the finals! Once she got out of the car, we had a hard time seeing that she was a woman, but they said her name was Shelly or something. I guess that proved she was a female.

3. Seeing my dad's side of the family Saturday night! Every year for the Fourth of July, we get together to eat yummy food and play games and, most importantly, allow the men to be boys. They usually tweak their throwing arms and pull their hamstrings--when they get together, they all think they are 20 years younger. Uncle Dave brought a baseball mit that shows how fast the ball was thrown. They had fun with that, and luckily, everyone left uninjured this year.I just love seeing everyone and talking and playing. Aunt Carrie's stick game was SO fun, honestly! :) But I'm never surprised with Carrie's games--they're always a hit.

4. Tubing down Cardiac Canyon at Cherry Hill. I just laugh the whole time, because I get stuck under every waterfall and the whole ride takes 15 minutes instead of 3. One time with Dee, it took about 30 minutes and boy did we have fun!

5. Getting people wet at the Kaysville Parade. I absolutely love 4th of July in Kaysville!! It doesn't quite beat our traditional Rushforth BBQ and pool party in Downey, but it comes in close second. It's helped me not miss the good old days so much. The parade always ends with fire trucks soaking the crowd, street sweepers completely drenching everyone with their huge spray, and people on local businesses' floats dumping buckets of water on us or squirting us with water guns. All the nearby neighbors hook up their hoses to reach Main Street and fill up baby pools with water for refilling water fight paraphernalia. It's so awesome! I love how the whole community, old and young, plays in the street and runs around like crazies. My favorite moments were dumping my water bottle of water on Nate's head and running up to my friends' float to steal water and being attacked with water guns by at least five people on the float and by my one friend in the street. I couldn't open my eyes, so I was just blindly dunking my water bottle in one of their ice chests for water. Then the parade ended, and I had to wring out my shorts the whole way back to the car.

(PS: Sorry there are no pictures. I know how boring that can be, so thanks for reading anyway!)

The Line-up

As some of you know, ove the past 3 weeks, about 10 different people have approached me to ask if they could set me up. Now I already know that I am going to get some hate mail from some of you I've denied because I said I wasn't doing anymore blind dates. Well, I gave in and then the flood gates broke. Where are all of these guys coming from??? Or I mean, where are all of these match-makers coming from. Four of them set me up with the same 2 guys!

Marty—Karen (co-worker) set me up with Marty and invited us to a BBQ at her home last Saturday. He's late 30s to early 40s. No one really knows his age. He's a doctor. Seems like a good guy. He called today about another date, but I haven't called him back yet. I need to get to know him better before I say anything.

Bryce—Jeremy and Scott, two of my good buddies, set me up with this 28-year-old architectural engineer. We went out last night, and I rode a motorcycle for the first time!!! Don't worry. I held on tight. :) I see another date with him in the future.

Tyler—Emily Slater, Dave Herd, and Carrie Romney all had their hand in this, and none of them knew each other. It's a longer story, so I won't tell it now. We're going out in an hour. Blue Iguana for dinner and then paddle boats! Can't wait to meet him.

Simonson—Teresa Bowman set me up with this guy in his late 30s to early 40s. Why is that age group so mysterious? I can't remember his first name. He's been in CA going to film school. I gave in to this set up because this guy's dad actually tried to set us up when I was interviewing with the Rotary Club to go to Argentina! Hah! Go figure. Teresa works for the dad. Date TK.

Christian—Tori is setting me up with a guy she met while she was studying in Nauvoo. He's in Korea right now, but when he gets back she's working her magic.

Ice Boy—Dr. Treft is my eye doctor, and he asked if he could set me up 2 Mondays ago when I was in for my check up. Strangely enough, he tried to set me up with the guy I went out with last year who rubbed ice on his lips!!! Maybe I should give him a second try. :) I said no thanks, that we'd already gone out and things didn't work out.

Temple Boy—Grandma Lindsay overheard some ladies talking about how one of their sons was 27 years old. Grandma's ears perked up. "I having a darling granddaughter who's 27 and single. I'll bring you a picture of her next Tuesday for you to show your son!" And she did. I don't think this one is going to happen, though.

Blair's friend—Grandma Newbold met one of Blair's friends at Blair's wedding two Thursdays ago. He asked how he could be part of our family. She said that there are only a couple of ways and that is through her remaining single granddaughters! When he heard I was 27, he backed off though. Fine by me. I have enough to deal with right now. I think he was 22 or 23.

If I've left anyone else out, I appologize. And I know Cynthia and Michelle and Sarah have been chomping at the bit, so if you would like to set me up now with the guys you'd been thinking of, you may. Updates on these guys will definitely be coming.

Seeing through Wax Paper

The same day my authors came, I had LASIK eye surgery. I left work right before 1 p.m., hurried home to shower to get all traces of make-up, mousse, lotion, etc., off of my body, and dressed quickly. Mandy picked me up and we headed to the clinic, which is about 45 minutes from my house. I wasn't too nervous at that point—mainly excited to know it was really happening. I'd been planning on it for about a year, once I heard my company offers flexible spending—tax-free money for any medical expenses that you pay directly out of your paycheck over the course of a year.
They soon had me all comfy in my booties and shower cap. I took the valium they offered me, but I'm not too sure it did what it was supposed to. Once they had me lie down, I started to get more tense because they instantly dove right into the surgery. It was a little crazy to think about what was happening, but my eyes were numbed with numbing drops, so I didn't feel anything. My right eye was first, and it went really smoothly. I do admit, it was way hard to stay staring at the flashing light—my focal point. I couldn't tell where my eye was looking until the doctor would tell me to keep looking at the light! It was like being under water and not knowing which way was up and which way was down.

The left eye had minor complications. The blade wouldn't lock into place. (I found this out when I saw the video Mandy took of the surgery. She had my camera and was in a room with a TV showing my big eyeball on the screen.) The blade is made up of two pieces, sort of like a zipper is, and so they had to push a lot on my eye to get the top piece to fit into the bottom piece. I felt that, but I first heard the nurses saying stuff like, "Am I caught or are you?" That was not pleasant. It felt like forever! My lower eye lid also got in the way of the blade, so it got a little knicked but it didn't hurt. They told me I have smaller eye lids than most. They are daintly eye lids. It's always interesting to find out new things about yourself. And then it was over! And then it was like looking through wax paper.
Here I am walking down the hall to leave. The goggles were hard to see through. But who am I kidding. I really wouldn't have been able to see very well if I'd had them off! I had to keep them on the rest of the day and then sleep with them on every night until this past Monday night. Waking up the next morning was amazing! I could see perfectly. Blurriness would come and go, but other than that I could see. It took a while to get used to not looking for my glasses after I'd wash my face at night or when I'd wake up in the morning. I can't get over it that normal people see this way without thinking twice. I LOVE being able to see!!!