The Nasty Food Diet

Usually around 9:30 or 10 in the morning, my stomach feels a slight ping of hunger. This is very normal since I eat an early breakfast. Sometimes this ping is subtle if I'm out at a job site or other running around, but if I'm at my desk, not really moving, it's more pronounced. I've started bringing fig newtons for my "10 o'clock snack time". I don't really like their texture or taste, so why do I eat them? First of all, they're cheap (if you buy generic). Second, they're good enough that I can eat them to get rid of the hunger, but they're nasty enough that I don't eat the whole sleeve. I was trying to explain this logic to my boss. If I had a sleeve of cookies or a bag or M&Ms, they would be gone, probably by 8 AM. 5 fig newtons (or until I start to gag) will get me through to lunch time.

Why am I going off about fig newtons? What if there was a diet focused entirely on the foods you hate? Imagine how much weight you would lose!

The Big Three Zero!

Happy Birthday Bevan! Actually, it was yesterday, but after all that partying, who has time to blog? Well, not so much partying, but still a lot of fun. Last year, I went all out and threw Bevan a big party with all his friends. They watched the game and ate wings, dip, cake and BYU "Cougar Craze" Ice Cream. I guess I knew that couldn't be topped. How's this for celebrating your 30th birthday: he worked all day. We did meet up with his parents at the outlets at Park City for some birthday shopping and (better yet) birthday eating. Thanks Beverly and Lloyd! We went home to a wonderful surprise, Tom, Kim, and the kids made him a birthday cake! It was the only thing missing! You can't tell from this picture, but the number "30" was spelled with candles.

There were so many candles, in fact, that Tom pulled out the blowtorch to speed up the process. We all love the blowtorch because it's used for many things: lighting fires, lighting birthday candles, and roasting green chilies. The typical, functional cabin blowtorch.


Now, I have to live with the fact that I'm married to a man in his 30's... which is wonderful! I love everything about him, including his amazing positive attitude. Which is good, because when I turn 30, I'll probably be crying.

Random Acts of Violence?

No, not really. In my last post, I was a little too quick to proclaim how much I liked winter. A few hours later, on my way home from work, I was driving under the Highway 40 bridge when a snowplow up above was plowing chunks of snow and ice off the bridge. 45 feet below was my car. This was the result:



Ironically, I was thinking how my dad, just a week earlier, told me that I should fix my rock chip. Huh. Wait until he sees these pictures. It wouldn't have been so traumatic if it wasn't a blizzard outside. Fortunately, the next exit was an auto glass store. That was a good thing, because it didn't get any better. Enter: crabby auto glass man. He said that my VIN indicated that my car was manufactured in Canada and none of his suppliers carried Canadian windshields. What? It's a Civic! What's the difference? Apparently there was a difference so he told me to call a dealership, who told me to call another mainstream auto glass store. I came full circle! They claimed the American windshields were interchangeable, although the crabby man said they weren't. I decided to take a chance before ordering a $450 Canadian windshield. This morning, I drove down to Salt Lake to the OTHER auto glass store because the crabby man refused to order an American one to see if it would even fit! 45 minutes and $150 later... I had a brand new windshield! The American one fit perfectly. It's proof that both countries can co-exist! Good thing I didn't have to drive around in this anymore:

If I went over a bump, tiny glass fragments would fall out. It was very disconcerting. Those nice boys in Salt Lake vaccumed out all the glass fragments before I left to drive up the canyon. What a day!

Afterthought: I called UDOT to complain about their plowing practices. He said that he was sending me a claim report so UDOT can pay for it. Sweet! I guess it happens quite a bit.

Early Snow and Voter Fraud (kind of)

The weather outside was frightful last night, but it left us with about 5" of the fluffiest snow this season! I don't know what it is about fresh snow that makes me want to pull out the snowshoes or x-country skis and go tromping around in it. I did not have this point of view last April when I was praying it would just melt already! This excitement will wear off quickly, but for right now, I'll think it's a novelty. Driving wasn't bad, but I wish I had the snow tires on. Of course, once I get them on, it will warm up to 50 degrees and stay that way for many weeks.
On Monday, I went to Salt Lake for some business errands and decided to drop by the Salt Lake County Building to vote. It had been a couple years and I had not bothered to change my registration yet, but I tried anyway. In order to vote early, you have to fill out a card with your info and give it to the attendant. I put down my registration as they knew it. He entered that into the computer. Then he took my photo ID and wrote that info in the voter's log. Not only did I have a different last name, but also a different address. He didn't even blink an eye! These Salt Lake pollsters are ultra observant. I totally though I was busted for having outdated information. Here's a picture of my favorite water bottle displaying my success.