National Pie Day!!!

Yesterday was National Pie Day!!! And well being a pie maker, I have decided that for the week I am going to be sharing the joy and happiness that comes from a home made pie. (Also, because I have enough frozen pumpkin in my freezer to feed Africa for 2 years...)

So yesterday we dropped off a pie to our good friends whom are sick. They were home so we left it for them with a little note. I got a call later, and Sarah said our little treat left made her day! I love being able to make someone feel like live is great.

How are you going to spread happiness this week?

Head engineer at NASA...

Yesterday was my 24th birthday. Since about December, I had been having little moments of panic! In high school I had created a dream list of things to do before 25, and well turning 24 meant I only had a year to complete the list... I was some where when someone made mention of my impending birthday, and I mention how I was panicking about my list. This wise person told me, "Our high school versions of ourselves don't think to realistically, so give your self a break. How many 24 year olds have you heard of becoming head engineers at NASA?" Well, how many have you heard of?

I did a quick search and found the head staff engineer at NASA's Mechanical Engineering Branch, Rodger Farley. I then did a search for him, and found that in 2008 he had been working in Aerospace Engineering for 28 years... That means even if he graduated with his BS at 18, he did not attain the goal. I guess if a man can not do it then I sure as hell can not. (Even due to the amount of equal opportunity B.S. out there women in engineering still are not getting the high level jobs, but that is a tangent for my other blog Worldly Rhetoric...)

This morning while I was getting ready, in my water aerobics class, and then getting ready for the day in the locker room, I thought to myself why not make a new attainable list of things to do before 25?! I have seen on other blogs list like '1001 things to do in 1001 days' or whatever. So, why not a 25 before 25!! I have 364 days to do it all!

25 by 25

lose 50 lbs (10/50)

graduate

finish 4 of the 12 knitting/crocheting projects I have started...

publish a research paper

go 10 days with out spending any money

go on a date with Brody once a month (1/12)

read my scriptures more regularly

run a 5K in 30 mins (in Nov I did one in 46 mins)

work out 3 times a week for 10 weeks straight (0/10)

attend the temple 10 times (0/10)

have 100% visiting teach for the year (0/12)

organize and keep organized my office

take a box to Goodwill monthly (0/12)

save $1500 (have $1500 in savings)

deep clean the kitchen bi-monthly (0/6)

dust monthly (it is so dusty in Pullman!!) (0/12)

finish Tree of Life afghan

make a habit of getting up and out of bed for the day with the first alarm

have a baby/get pregnant

ski a Black slope (currently a moderate blue skier)

put pictures in our picture frames

finish our wedding/honeymoon/anniversaries scrapbook

keep the living/family room clean for a month

keep a weekly journal (0/52)

Kiss and tell Brody I love him, and a reason why DAILY (0/365)

Duck Shooting!!!

A few months ago I was talking to my good friend, Sara, about free fun date ideas, and she told me about duck shooting. Since, that I had been looking for a wooden/plastic duck for an evening out. I finally found one a a thrift store in town. Then finally after weeks of having this duck, I called Sara and we got our families together and we had a hootin' n' hollar of a time!

Moroni and Joseph ready to go!

On the train tracks...

Joseph, Brody, and duck and the duck sign...

Moroni with the duck (His dad, Ross is in the background)

Joseph and the duck

Cute little Mary and the duck

Brody and I with the duck

Moroni petting the duck

Joseph decided the duck didn't like the snow

The duck tried to rob the bank...

A duck pond?

Feeding the duck

The duck in its natural habitat...

The Wagstaffs! We love this family!!

Things We Count...

Brody and I have a few things that we like to count when we are out and about. They range season to season and place to place. It might be a little weird but we find great joy in it.

• Subaru's at the Coop (We count cars that are in the parking lot and the block around the Coop)-> Most ever: 18!!!
• Uggs around campus (I especially like the freezing weather, little to no clothes and the Uggs to "stay warm")-> today 15
• Girls wearing items that you would swear they bought at a Lingerie shop (this is fun when the weather warms up, but it is still decently cold out)
• On road trips number of out of state vehicles (you have to pay attention to what state you are in sometimes...)
• Wildlife (I am a city girl, seeing deer on the side of the road still amazes me!)-> Best ever: The Pullman Moose
• Pregnant women (mainly at church and church functions, you never realized how often there is a significant amount of any ward population that is pregnant at anyone time until you count! We also count out and about if we see more than 4)
• People wearing Premier Designs Jewelry (I sell this stuff and I never noticed that 60% of the people I see wear it... Hopefully it is because they purchased it from me!)

That is about it I will update it as we add more things to our counting list.

Pictures

We had "family" pictures taken before Christmas, and we just got them and I have finally had the chance to go through them today. So here are a few of my favorites. We had fun getting them taken, even though it was 36 degrees down in Lewiston when we had them done.

A New Year, A New Life!

Happy New Year!!! I can not believe it is 2011!!! I remember when it turn from 1999 to 2000 and everyone was concerned about Y2K and all of the computers and banks were going to crash... Ah the good olde days...

I was listening on NPR today and now the new worry for this year is information, Cyper warfare. OOOhhhh! I am so scared! Honestly, though people! Be smart! Don't post your address on Facebook, your vacation details, your phone number, mothers maiden name, last for of your social... The list goes on. WE have all heard of phishing, and know that WE are supposed to protect our personal information. So, then why put on the internet, all your personal information!!! Because we are 'social networking', LAME!! Have you heard of the telephone? Call your friends and tell them that you are going to be in the area and make plans. Your friends don't answer there phone? Send a PERSONAL email! Is your society really this daft?

NPR was also talking about mobile banking. I see how this is a great convenience, honestly if I could just snap a picture of a check and have it instantly in my back account, I could save a lot of time, money, and gas!! I have looked into for my business, but to have it I have to get a credit card for $50,000!!! That is the about amount I have paid for my B.S. in Material Science!! Which, is in loans, which means I already have that amount in debt, so why would I want a CARD worth the amount of my engineering degree?!?! Also NPR talked about how some phones store all of your information needed to hack your account... Lose you phone... Lose ALL you money, your identity, your life... I think I will stick to going to the bank, plus I like the tellers. Go to the same back often, and the teller knows you by name, and that is always nice.

After all the troubles of a new year, comes all the goals and resolutions people make. I have made a few, some of the classic ones, lose weight, get out of debt, etc... I have also made some resolutions to better life! I have read a few books during this vacation (no traveling = time to relax = time read non-text books!). They all had underlying messages about how to get a hold of your life, finances, health, weight, whatever. And so I decided, one day I want to own a house, have no debts, and go on long vacations, so why can't I?! This year we are working to achieve that. And we are starting will our waistlines and wallets. I never really ever correlated the two, but oh my are they!