Tagged Again

So, Carly tagged me to give you six things you dont know about me...I've literally been thinking about this all day long and still haven't come up with six things, but hopefully they'll come to me as I go along.

1) I'm a closet OCD. It isn't very bad and I try to keep it under control as much as possible, but every once in a while it sneaks out. One of the big ways that it hits me is counting things. When I'm bored, when I'm nervous, when I can't get to sleep, I count the most random things. My most regular thing to count is the dashes that make up digital numbers on clocks, to see how many dashes make up the current time. For example, right now it's 15:21...that's 14 dashes. The time with the most dashes in it (12-hr time) is 10:08...it has 21 dashes. I do this one a lot when I can't get to sleep. I also count steps taken from one place to the next.

2) I kind of a list maniac. I make lists for EVERYTHING. Chores, errands, shopping, goals, gifts, etc. If I mess up on a list, I start all over again, because I like my lists to look nice...that kind of goes along with fact #1. I get so much joy from crossing things off of those lists as I get them done. And if I'm going to be leaving the list for a while to come back to it later, I usually rewrite the list to only include the thing I still need to do, so it will look nice and neat when I get back to it.

3) I want to adopt a child. I believe that there are a lot of children out there that don't have loving homes, and that Nathan and I have more than enough love to give. I'm also very VERY against abortion (yes, I went there), so if I was ever given to opportunity to provide an alternative to a friend or kid in that position, I would gladly do it. Ideally, we would have our first child naturally, and then adopt one of the opposite gender a couple years later, but we'll see what happens. I don't know why I feel so strongly about this, since no one in my family has ever adopted, but I have several friends who were adopted.

4) I am constantly singing. If it's not out loud when I'm home alone or in the car, then I'm singing in my head. Sometimes I even mentally sing the random thoughts that are running through my mind. I'm really not sure how much other people like my voice, so a lot of times when I'm in public (like at Young Life and not leading songs) I will sing like I have no musical talent what so ever. But I absolutely love to sing, and there's never a song very far from my lips. I blame you, Ike.

5) The sound of chewing bugs the heck out of me. I don't know why, but if someone is chewing around me and there are no other noises to drown them out, it makes my skin crawl. It's just NOT an appealing noise! And the worst of all of it is gum! Not only does it make that regular chewing noise, but it also snaps and pops. It's even worse if the person thinks that it's cool to chew and pop their gum with their mouths wide open! Gross!

6) I get into a lot of different hobbies and do them constantly for a short amount of time and then move on. This probably drives my family nuts, but I get super into a lot of different things and then get distracted, busy, or burnt out on it. And then the worst part is that I feel guilty about it. It has kind of made me nervous to start up new hobbies, especially ones that take some sort of investment. And yet I keep doing it. Oh well, it makes me well-rounded, right?

There we go, not too shabby, eh what?

It's WHAT time?!

So ya know that whole "Daylight Savings Time"? And ya know how that gives us an extra hour of daylight, not to mention an extra hour of sleep on the night it switches over? Well, I was really looking forward to that extra hour of sleep, especially with working my first weekend of day shift AND having 3 performances this weekend. Basically, I needed that extra hour of sleep. But here's the problem....

I forgot.

Thankfully, it was the "fall back" time instead of the "spring forward", or I would have been really hosed. As it was, I got to work this morning, put my lunch in the fridge, and look up to see my partner grinning at me and saying, "You forgot, didn't you." Forgot what?....aw *&$%! You mean I could have slept another hour?! Of course, everyone was nice enough to offer to let me go home for an hour, but I knew there was no point since I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway. Plus Scott, the dispatcher I was relieving, was going to have to work a 13 hr shift because of the time change. So I decided to be nice and relieve him an hour early, since I'm getting off at 2 hrs early anyway. I just hope he'll be that nice to me some day!

But oh man, that extra hour of sleep would have felt soooooooo good.

In other news, our second performance of Anne Frank went amazingly well last night. Friday night's performance left a LOT to be desired, but last night kinda rocked. Things flowed so much more smoothly. The couple of actors who were forgetting their lines on a regular basis had worked hard yesterday to get their lines down and did a great job. And there were none of those awkward pauses where someone forgot their next line, filled with us standing up on the stage trying to look like we were suppose sitting on our thumbs staring blankly at each other. All in all, it was the most rewarding run through we've had so far, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we keep it up.

Speaking of the play, Carly mentioned to me that she saw my picture in the front page of the Baker City Herald the other day, along with some of my fellow actors. The reason I mention this is to tell you about a lovely little tradition our departments have. If you are a member of dispatch, the police department, the sheriff's office, or any of the many fire departments, and your picture is on the front page of the newspaper, you have to buy everyone ice cream. I think it's so you don't get too cocky. So, as my partner delighted in reminding me, I now have to buy ice cream for anyone who comes into dispatch...I see those little dixie cup ice creams in everyones future.

And last but not least...big news...we do not have a worthless dog! Which is highly exciting, because we were starting to wonder! Yesterday Nathan went out bird hunting with our friend Will and took Bandit along as a flusher. Until now, the only time we've taken Bandit out into the field has been with my dad's dog, Lizzie. The only problem is that having another dog along was a little distracting for Bandit, because all he wanted to do was either run or play with Lizzie...or both at the same time. But yesterday, being the only dog in the field, Bandit became a bird dog. Evidently he scented down a pheasant, pointed it out, flushed it, sniffed it out when Will shot it, and then flushed it again. Unfortunately, the shot size the boys were using was too small and didn't get the job done on the pheasant. But the important part is that Bandit is a great bird dog! Now it's just a question of whether he will retrieve when we actually down a bird. I wish I could have been there to see him work yesterday, it's so much fun to watch a dog's best instincts kick in like that.

The latest pic of Bandito with his favorite toy...what a ham!

That's all for now, stay tuned!

Looking Back

I know, I know...Halloween has already passed. But everyone is still talking about what they did for Halloween (me: slept, went to rehearsal, came home, slept) and the Halloween candy is still definitely in abundance. The more I hear my co-workers talk about what their kids did for Halloween, the more I realize...kids today have it so freakin' easy!

Around town, there were several events going on that allowed kids to safely (read: easily) get their candy. Starting early, the businesses on Main Street all have candy available, one of the retirement homes has a "party" where kids can get candy, and a couple of churches have a "Trunk or Treat". This means that kids can now hit up the equivalent of about 20 houses without leaving an area the size of approximately 2 Baker City blocks (which are smaller than normal city blocks).

Which brings me to my point...what happened to the old-fashioned tradition of schlepping yourself through multiple neighborhoods in town in order to EARN your candy?! Back when I was young enough to go trick or treating, we always went out, after dark, to several houses in various neighborhoods, just to half-way fill my little pumpkin bucket. We braved dark corners, possibly freakish people, and questionable decorations, possibly doing so in rain or even snow (not exaggerating)! We never had things like the Main Street businesses or "Trunk or Treats", where all the candy converged in a small square area.

Speaking of "Trunk or Treat"....anyone else find this even mildly disturbing? Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% positive that it's all on the up and up, and that it's a wonderful idea, but think about it. "Here little children, come to my vehicle trunk and get some candy!" (push, slam, evil cackle) For those of you who have ever seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, this brings to mind the Child Snatcher...you know, the stringy, long-nosed man dressed in all black that enticed the children with candy then trapped them in his jail cell on wheels. Yeah, kinda dark, but it makes me giggle.

Anyway, those are my last thoughts on Halloween 2007, I promise. I simply can't wrap my mind around the fact that it is already November, and that we have less than 2 months left in 2007...crazy! And can you believe I saw my first Christmas commercial of the season last night...it's not even past Thanksgiving yet!!!.......but that's a whole 'nother rant. ;)

Back to the Land of the Living

Last night was my last graveyard shift. Now I get to go back onto day shift for 4 months! Which is great, because I have missed my friends...you know, the ones that have started saying, "Lindy? Lindy who? Didn't she fall off the face of the earth?" I start my dayshifts on Friday, so I have 2 days to get my body back onto a "normal" sleep schedule. This should be interesting, because I've found that I have started having an incredibly hard time sleeping when it's dark out. It will also be interesting because this will be the longest amount of time on day shift since I started this job. Could be fun!

Also this weekend is the opening of "The Diary of Anne Frank", the play I'm in. It plays Fri-Sun at 7:00 pm, both this weekend and next weekend, at the Baker Extension Building. It's kind of surreal to be in a play again after more than a year away from the stage, when I use to be involved with at least 4 plays a year. It's also kind of odd to be on the stage with people who haven't had any formal theatrical training. I'm not saying they are better or worse than those who HAVE had this training, they just don't have the same tools at their disposal, and I can definitely see the difference. The one who is the most fun to work with is Camille, who is playing Anne. She just plays the role so incredibly well, she's a joy to watch perform. This is the first time I've been in a "community" play. It's definitely been a fun experience. Hopefully Nathan will be ok with me being in more plays in the future, because I've really missed it. Eventually, I would LOVE to direct a play, because I've always felt more in my element in the director's seat than on the stage, but until that opportunity comes along, I'm enjoying just being involved again.

So today is Halloween...and I have the night off. Granted, I will have rehearsal until about 10:00 pm, but I'm still excited that I have the night off because that means I won't have to deal with all the little twerps that are going to be out and about town playing pranks and causing general mayhem...right? Ok, maybe not. I thought last night was going to be the lull before the storm, that it would be a fairly relaxed night. Instead, we had several runaway juveniles, mulitple medicals, and an insane guy who just WOULDN'T GO AWAY! When I heard about our first contact with him right before I got on shift, my first comment was, "I bet we'll hear from him again tonight." How right I was. I think we got about 4 more calls on him. So having tonight off is exciting. But at the same time, there's the slightly twisted dispatcher side of me that thinks that it would be a ton of fun to be on shift tonight because of all the craziness that will probably happen...and it's a pity to miss out on all the fun! Ah, the twisted things we find entertaining.

Well, it's about time to do the press log, take out the trash, vacuum, and then head home. Hasta!

Halloween!

I absolutely love this time of year. There's snow on the mountains, there's a chill in the air, the leaves are falling, it's hunting season, and it's time for Halloween! And for the first time, I actually get to host a Halloween costume party. I'm so excited! The party is this Saturday night and there's SO much to do between now and then!

Thanks to Martha Stewart's website, I've found a bunch of great ideas for decorations, snacks, and drinks. I don't necessarily like the lady, but you've got to hand it to her, she's pretty crafty. Some of her stuff takes a rediculous amount of time, energy, and resources that I simply don't have, but once you sift through the fancy stuff, you can find some easy and cheap goodies.

Here's some of the ideas I've found:

• Print out back images of rats, cut them out, and tape them on the walls where they meet the floors to look like rats are running through the house. (templates courtesy of Martha Stewart)
• Print out mini black images of bats, cut them out, tape them to the inside of a lamp shade.
• Carmel apples
• Freeze water in a surgical glove and use that as the ice in the punch
• Cut the tops off of small pumpkins, clean them out, put candles in them and place them on the front steps of the house as lanterns.
• Shred cheese cloth and hang it from the windows to look like old curtains.
• Cover all the furnature with white sheets to make the house look abandoned.

Those that know me best know that I am kind of obsessive about making lists. Before starting any project, I always list out the things that I need to do (clean the house, mop the floor, wash the dog, dust, do dishes, etc). I absolutely love being able to cross things off the list as I get them done. Then, if I have accomplished things on my list and am going to be leaving the list for a while, I re-write the list out, sans the things I've already done, so I have a neat and tidy list to come back to. Yeah, it's weird, I know. But it's the ONLY way I remember the zillions of things I need to get done.

Needless to say, I have a big ol' list of things I need to acquire/accomplish before the party. Thankfully, I have a couple of friends who have graciously volunteered to help decorate on Saturday before the party, since Nathan is unfortunately going to be at a Beav's game in Corvallis with his dad for the weekend. I'm already starting to whittle away at my list as much as possible. Tomorrow, Dana and I are heading to Boise to get our costumes, since Baker is woefully devoid of Halloween costumes. I'm planning on being Marilyn Monroe ala "Some Like It Hot". The blonde hair, the white dress, the red lips, the works. Dana hasn't quite decided what she wants to be yet, so it will be fun to help her pick out some costumes to try on!

I'm super excited about having this party at our house. It's the first actual theme party that we've had since our Housewarming Party in March, and I absolutely LOVE finding excuses to host big parties. I think I get it from my parents...I know for a fact that I got my "the more the merrier" mentality from them. And I just happened to have the weekend before Halloween off.

On top of the having the party, I'm also thoroughly tickled about having all weekend (Fri-Sun) off without having to travel anywhere. I have every other weekend off, and for the past 3 months or so, I have been traveling every single weekend I've had off. I've missed being able to go to the high school football games, hang out with my friends, spend time with my husband, etc. Even more exciting is the fact that the only time I plan on traveling in the next few months is the night before and day of Thanksgiving. Yay for staying home!

Oh, and I just have to say again how excited and thankful I am for the blessing of Carly and Shem's new daughter, Stella. It was a hard labor followed by a c section, but both Mama and baby are healthy and beautiful!

That's about it for now.

October Babies

First of all, I just want to give a shout out to my friends who have had/are having babies this month. Three friends, in fact. The first is Cassie Steele (use to be Morrisey) who had her adorable daughter Jadzia Joy Steele on the afternoon of October 15th. Jadzia is absolutely beautiful. Congrats Cassie!

The second friend is Lynds Riehl, who I went to college with. She was induced on the 14th, but I haven't heard yet how little McKenzie is doing. Hopefully all went well with that family!

And the third is my friend Carly, who is being induced TONIGHT!!!! I can't wait to see pictures of Stella and hear that Carly came through the birth with flying colors. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you, Carlsons!

That being said, Nathan and I have decided that we're not allowed to have an October baby. As much as I think there need to be more Libras in the world, there are several reasons for this decision and I think you'll agree with us when you hear them.

First, almost half of my side of the family was born in October. And if they weren't born in October, they were born in February. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but that's sure what it feels like! Adding one more person to the October group just seems a little silly to us. For Heaven's sake, it's starting to get hard to keep track of everyone with an October birthday!

Second, October happens to be baseball play offs. As the guy on tv has grown so fond of reminding us, "There's only ONE October". Nathan is an avid baseball fan and grows slightly frantic at the idea of having to possibly miss not just one playoffs game, but possibly many more after bringing the baby home. And I really don't want to have to get angry at him for running out of the room while I'm in labor to check on the score of the game! After all, stress is just suppose to make the process more difficult, and I don't think I need that.

Third, outside of my family, October seems to be a very popular month to have a baby. Why not January? Or August? Ok, I have to admit, it would be nice to not be in the end of your pregnancy in the hottest months of the year. But a month besides October would be nice.

Now that I've written all that, NO, I'm not pregnant! This was just brought on by 3 of my friends having babies this month. And if the time comes and it turns out we're going to have a baby in October, no, I'm not going to be angry. Amused, not angry.

Congrats again to those who have just had a wonderful addition to their families! If only you all lived closer!

Birthday Fun

Evidently the fact that I haven't written about my birthday activities has left some of my readers with a considerable amount of angst (cough cough Rachael cough cough) so I figured I'd take up some of my last couple of hours at work doing so.

My birthday actually seemed to stretch on for DAYS. Which is by no means a bad thing. Weekend before last, on Saturday I believe, some of our friends came over for dinner (my mom's world famous taco mix) before starting on brewing beer with my husband. Before dinner, my friend Brandie presented me with a present and a cake, stating that Saturday was going to be my early birthday since we had no idea when we would get to hang out again. So I opened my present from Brandie and Issac, we had dinner, ate some cake, and I ran off to work for the night.

Fast forward a few days to Wednesday night (day before my birthday). I'm once again at work all night. Nothing real spectacular happened, but we had some fun calls that night. The next morning (Thursday, my bday), I get home, say good morning to Nathan, make myself some tea, and then go into the living room with Nathan, who had decorated the room with a "Happy Birthday" banner and balloons. I opened my presents...lots of fun stuff including, but not limited to, Mel Brooke's "History of the World Part I", an electric blanket (I get cold sleeping by myself when I'm on night shift), and a Smith & Wesson Lady Smith .38 Special pistol (yay for having firepower against lions and tigers and bears while hiking, oh my)! I then went to bed and slept until around noon-ish.

At noon, I woke up, took a shower, started some laundry, then went into town to spend a little bit of my birthday money. I got a holster for my new pistol and a bluetooth headset for my cell phone, for when I'm driving. When I got home, I proceeded to pack for Arizona and get ready for work. At 5:30 pm, I met Nathan and some friends at Barley's for dinner...they got to drink beer, I didn't. Then it was off to work, where Nathan brought me home made cheese cake...YUM!

The next morning (Friday), I got off work at 7 am, jumped in my car, and drove to Boise to meet my mom for our flight to Arizona...but not before a quick stop and Barnes & Noble, an absolute must whenever possible. We flew to Arizona to visit my grandparents, had dinner at the Outback Steakhouse that night, and went to bed. On Saturday, Grammy, Mom and I went to Tubac, an artist village south of where my grandparent's live, where I spent the rest of my birthday money and we had lunch. Sunday was my Grammy's birthday, so we spent the day at Kitt Peak Observatory, an astrological observatory complete with the HUUUUUUGE telescopes. Pictures will be up eventually. Then it was dinner at a local italian restaurant, back to my grandparent's and (over 30 hours after last sleeping) off to bed.

Monday morning found us packed up, showered, and enroute to the airport, where Mom and I jumped on a plane home, only to get stuck in Salt Lake airport for about 2 hours before heading to Boise. So instead of being able to get home and take a nap before work last night, I got home at 6 pm and had to be to work at 7 pm. Thankfully, I now only have 1 1/2 hours to go before I get to crawl into my nice warm bed...only 23 1/2 hours after I woke up yesterday morning. You would think I would learn my lesson, but evidently not.

Thankfully, this is my last bit of traveling for quite a while. These last two months on graveyard have been brutal because every weekend I haven't been working, I've been traveling. This means that I haven't been able to stay anywhere near my graveyard sleep schedule, which is very tough on a body. The last weekend in October, I actually have the weekend off and get to stay home!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So don't ask me to do anything or go anywhere!

So there it is...my birthday "week". Nothing too fancy, but nice, none the less.