GO UTES!

What more is there to say?!
Utah! (click here)

What should you do when you have a crazy neighbor?

Do you take it out on your kids by not letting them outside because you are worried about how crazy they 'could' be, or do you let your kids outside hoping your mind is exaggerating the situation? Why did we feel like the answer from our prayers was Not to move a few months ago?!.......

Beware of Gift Card Giving

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays; you need to be careful that the cards you give will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards might be worthless come January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as ‘Bankruptcy Planning’. Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.
Circuit City - (filed chapter 11)
Ann Taylor -117 stores closing nationwide.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine’s – 150 stores closing nationwide.
Eddie Bauer – closing 27 stores, more after January.
Cache - closing all stores.
Talbots – closing specialty stores.
J. Jill- closing all stores (owned by Talbots).
GAP – closing 85 stores
Footlocker - closing 140 stores, more after January.
Wickes Furniture – closing all stores.
Levitz – closing all remaining stores.
Bombay – closing all remaining stores.
Zales – closing 82 stores, 105 more after January.
Whitehall – closing all stores.
Piercing Pagoda – closing all stores.
Disney – closing 98 stores, more after January.
Home Depot – closing 15 stores.
Macys – closing 9 stores after January.
Linens and Things – closing all stores.
Movie Galley – Closing all stores.
Sprint/Nextel – closing 133 stores.
JC Penny – closing? Stores after January.
Ethan Allen – closing 12 stores.
Wilson Leather – closing all stores.
Sharper Image – closing all stores.
K B Toys – closing 356 stores.
Lowes – closing ? stores.
Dillard’s – closing ? Stores.
There’s probably more-be careful or just avoid gift cards this year all together.

Job Application

PARENT- Job Description

POSITION:
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Long term, team players needed, for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work
variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The rest of your life.
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, and embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:

None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:

Get this! You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them
become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left.
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that
you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:

While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered;
this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love,
and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

** AND A FOOTNOTE 'THERE IS NO RETIREMENT'-- EVER!!!

eventually

I suppose I should post Halloween before Christmas is here! I don't have much time now, so I will just post MY Halloween Friends and blog later! These are great ladies that I love being friends with. While we don't "hang out" and we don't go to lunch together, they are all woman I know I could turn too if I needed too and they would be there for me or my family.

my wonderful neighbor

my wonderful visiting teacher (was!)

my wonderful running partner

"I've Been Hit"

watch out... no make-up-SCARY!
Home project war wound! I was stepping on the board outside to break it into a smaller piece so it could fit in the garbage, it broke alright and then flew into my face....Owee!
I can't even open my mouth to smile and it hurts to talk and eat! Although, the eating thing is probably a good thing, and maybe some would think the talking thing too! ha!
Can I have a band-aid?

Working hard

Finally,we have our laminate floor done in the second room, the baseboards are up and all is well! Tomorrow, I will paint the little hole marks (already filled) and we will hopefully have our room done tomorrow as well. A big thank you to Jared's friend in the Spanish Branch, Brother Becerra for so graciously helping us. I spent the afternoon getting the last few doors and trim painted. Oh happy day! Last week I pulled and pushed everything out of the office and pulled and pushed shelves back into the office to create my second storage room. Now, the "food storage" room has only food in it and this second room has all my "non-food" storage stuff in it! So, things like cleaners, extra dishes, t.p., well you get the point. It will be SO nice when I can get everything to it's new place and organized. The goal: by Thanksgiving....

New Calling

Now that it is official, I have another calling....Home Preparedness Person-I don't know if I should put 'specialist' because I am not there yet! I am excited about it and will have a blog especially for it, so feel free to check it out!
prepare2-day.blogspot.comThis calling is also over the Block Program in our community, so there is quite a bit of work involved in this callinng. It is a good thing my other two callings are low key! Hope everyone has a good Sunday, time to go to dinner- Mexician food tonight-Yummy!!!
Oh ya, got a whole new visitng teaching list and partner (the whole ward did actually!!). I loved my sisters from my last list, I had different partners throughout the years, but had my sisters for almost 5 years!! I will miss seeing them, but am also really excited for my new partner and girls! They are all woman I have actually wanted to know better, so it will be fun.