I am loved....

If you ever hear me complaining that no one loves me, remind me to read this post. If it doesn't remind me that I am loved, I don't know what will.....

Last Friday, I went to visit my most adorable niece, Malena. I may have mentioned her before. My mom, sister (mother to Malena) and Malena picked me up at the airport. I haven't seen Malena in just about seven months and to a nearly four year old, that might as well be an eternity. But as soon as she saw me, even with no prompting from an adult, she recognized me and came running, with outstretched arms. She was my constant companion for the next three and a half days!

She held my hand in the parking lot, everywhere we went. At Costco, Kohl's, and Sunflower Market. We played all sorts of fun games together. We played with all her "kids" (aka stuffed animals). We had tea parties while drinking water from plastic cups with plastic spoons. We read stories of a daddy that is afraid of monsters and a giant that becomes king. We had a parade throughout the house, using a drum and noisy-makers. She let me use her barrettes and sleep in her big girl bed. She rode her bike in the neighborhood and we followed her "sister" (a middle school-aged girl walking in the neighborhood) around the block. We had such a fun time.

She turned four and had a princess birthday party. She planned it months ago. It had to be pink and purple. She insisted on a pinata. Her cake was chocolate and included cup cakes. Her mom spent hours making the cake--a pink castle with glittery purple turrets. Malena woke up and was so disappointed it wasn't chocolate. She jumped up and down when she saw her pinata hanging up outside.

As I was getting ready to leave, I told her good-bye. She burst into tears and told me not to go. I told her I had to go home....Darrell was waiting for me and missed me, my house missed me, I had to go to work. She told me she wanted to go with me. I reminded her that her mommy and daddy would miss her. She told me that Grandma and Pop could live with her mommy and daddy. I told her I would come and visit her again.

I called her when I landed back in Arizona and she was excited to talk to me. I told her I got home okay and Darrell was happy to see me. I told her I would call her again and visit her later.

Today, her grandma told me Malena wouldn't sleep in her bed, since Aunt Stephanie was going to sleep in her bed. This morning, she was convinced I was coming back and she should keep her bed waiting for me.

I guess she really does love me!

I also have friends at home who love me....my friend Lucinda called me several times this weekend, with no return call from me. She drove past my home and saw my car in the driveway--when it should have been at work. I wasn't available on Facebook, which was rather uncharacteristic. I didn't show up at church and didn't have a substitute for my Primary class. I guess I forgot to tell her I was going out of town. She was so worried, she and her husband came over to our house during Sunday School. Darrell was home, but in no mood to answer the door. But she was persistent. What Darrell didn't know was, she had talked to a homicide detective in our ward who advised her to check out the house and call the police if there was a foul odor (good thing I washed the dishes before I left!). Darrell finally answered and Lucinda felt relief immediately. We weren't murdered by local drug lords! I'm guessing from now on, I will give my friends a better idea of where I am if I go out of town!

But, I know I'm loved.

PS--I'll post photos of my weekend when I figure out how to transfer them from my camera!

Hi Malena!

I don't know if I've mentioned my niece, Malena, before. If I haven't, sorry.

She is the cutest thing ever!

Here are some of the things that endear her to me:

At Christmas, she asked me, "Aunt Sephernie. Where's your hubsband?"

She and her dad (former Army special ops guy) went to Costco. She saw the jewelry counter and said, "Oh, look at the sparklies!" Her dad said, "The sparklies are for mommies." Malena replied rather matter-of-factly, "Little girls like sparklies, too!"

My sister and brother-in-law have birthdays ten days apart in April. Malena got to "plan" their birthdays. I think she got to choose where they ate, what kind of cake they got, and the presents. Malena's birthday is in July. She turns four. Malena has been planning her birthday since April. (Imagine this in little girl voice--I do a pretty good version in person) "I want a princess party. And it will be pink and purple and red. I want a pinata. I want a chocolate cake with cupcakes. I want to have [names of ten friends from church] to come to my party. I want [giant list of toys that she wants--longer than the receipt you get at Fry's when they have their case sale]."

Yesterday, I got an email from my sister. The subject was "hi." I opened it. It read, "i love you malena" She is practicing her typing. You can't start too soon.

One night, as she was saying her prayers before bed, she said, "Bless mommy to keep me safe. Bless daddy to be nice and give me fruit salad."

She obviously loves fruit (see above). My sister has told her, "Malena, you can have more fruit after you eat all your chocolate cake." Jennilyn (the said sister) may be the only person in the history of the world to utter those words.

The Easter Bunny came to her house while she was at church. It had snowed that day. She told her parents that her daddy had to be the Easter Bunny since there weren't any bunny tracks in the snow. Do you think she'll fall for the tooth fairy?

That little girl is as cute as a button. And I love buttons. I am going to visit her for her princess birthday party in two weeks. I can hardly wait.

The Sound Track of My Days

Remember when you were a teenager and you would record the radio on your crappy AM/FM radio? And you would hit play, stop, rewind, play so you could figure out the words to all your favorite songs?

I even would use my dad's fancy Pioneer head phones, turn the music up really loud, and write down the lyrics (or what I thought the lyrics were).

Well...I still do that.

Sorta.

Now, what I do goes something like this:

I'm watching TV and hear an interesting song. I grab the closest pen and paper and the remote. I rewind the TV (I really LOVE my DVR!) and frantically write down as many of the lyrics as I possibly can.

Next, I run into our home office and pull up Google.

I type in as many of the words that I could decipher and hit enter.

Most of the time, I find the song this way.

If not, I type something like this "song in Law and Order 5/24/09."

I love this! I have been introduced to some of my favorite artists/songs this way.

Hem-Half Acre (a Liberty Mutual commercial)



Fisher-Beautiful Life (Toyota commercial)



Landon Pigg-Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop (Some car commercial-I think. Nope a diamond commercial)



Teddy Geiger-For You I Will (Love Monkey)

Craig Cardiff-Smallest Wingless (I don't know where I heard this, but it was recently--I remember now--it was blog I read about a stillborn baby)



I could go on and on. But I won't.

Suffice it to say, I'm glad for modern technology.

A little shameless self-promotion

Hey, what's a blog if it isn't a little self-centered?

So, today is my birthday and I thought I would briefly recount some of my memorable birthdays.

The first that I can remember is my 3rd birthday. Back in 1973. And, yes, that really is the year I turned 3. I KNOW! Who'da thought? I don't know if I remember the birthday as much as we have photos of it, so I remember the photos. I had a smiley face birthday. We played games--probably ring-a-round-the-roses, London Bridge, and button-button. We got big, yellow, smiley face suckers. I sort of remember they didn't really have a flavor, other than sugar. My mom made a round chocolate cake with a smiley face on it. It was a fancy birthday.

The next memorable birthday was my fifth. If I could take back one action from my childhood it would be not putting the Kirby vacuum away. You see, a couple of days before my fifth birthday, I refused to put the vacuum away. Not because I was being a bad kid. I think I was just procrastinating. My mom had asked me several times to put it away and I was being slow. She finally told me that if I didn't put it away right then, she would cancel my birthday party. Yeah, right! SO....when she told me she was canceling the party, I remember sobbing, "Look Mom, I'm putting the vacuum away! No mom, you can't do this! Mom look, the vacuum is put away." No luck. No party! I just realized that perhaps some other moms may have been mad--they had to try to return birthday gifts to the store. Some other moms were probably pretty happy--they could use my example to get their kids to clean up.

When I turned eight, I had a pretty good birthday. The theme was a paper doll party and all the kids were supposed to create a paper dress and wear it to the party. Most of the kids had butcher paper tracings of a dress that they had pinned to their regular clothes. My mom was so cool--she sewed (with real thread and everything) a dress for me and my sister out of variegated tissue paper. I think she used a pinafore pattern. We were the best dressed! I still remember my friend Julie Dean brought her uninvited brother--Jason Dean, who gave me a sling shot. I was a girlie girl (hard to believe, I know!) and wasn't too thrilled with a sling shot. My mom told me it was probably what he wanted the most and that's why he gave it to me. My brother, Todd, who had just turned three, gave me a Slinky. He cried when he realized he didn't get to play with it, so my mom had me give it to him. She told me she would buy me another one. Do you think I will get one for my birthday this year?

On my twelfth birthday, I had a swimming party. I got to have more swimming parties than anyone else in my family since I have a summer birthday. Todd's birthday is also in the summer, but he's a boy and for some reason, they don't like swimming parties as much. I think this was the year that Shelly Espersen's hair turned bright green. You know those really blond girls whose hair turns green after a summer of swimming? Well, for some reason, Shelly's hair went from toe-head blond to sea-foam green that after noon. To keep from having everyone see her bright green hair, she would hold her breath and stay underwater as much as possible. I think that only made matters worse. We ended up leaving a little early to save her from too much embarassment.

We moved from Germany to Tucson a couple of weeks before my sixteenth birthday. My mom had a party with all the teenagers in my ward before we moved. It was at the church in the cultural hall on a Saturday. I don't remember too much about it, but I remember it was good to see my friends before moving. Then, on my real birthday, we were staying in the Radisson Inn on Speedway in Tucson, while my parents looked for a house. We would get up, eat breakfast at the buffet (I got sausage links, bacon, french toast, and strawberries every morning), swim to our hearts' content, and watch TV--we were obsessed with multiple channels and commercials (AFN--the military's version of TV consisted of one channel, no commercials, and older programming). The night of my sixteenth birthday, I got to choose where we ate--Pizza Hut or KFC were the choices. I chose Pizza Hut. I think I even got to have the last piece of pizza.

Throughout 1996, I told all my friends they were invited to come to my surprise 26th birthday party. It was my little joke. Well, my friends and family planned a party for me. It was at John and Matt's condo and almost every one of my friends in Tucson was there. It was a great surprise and was so much fun. I should start planning surprise parties for myself again.

The next year, I had moved to Phoenix. My birthday was on a Monday evening and as was the tradition in my ward, the fifth Monday of the month was a dance. My roommate, Arlissa, had made a french silk pie, from scratch--we used to make all sorts of fancy food--and we needed to find people to come over and help us eat it. I asked a few people over, including a guy we had just met--Darrell Lund. He came over and ate his entire piece of chocolate french silk pie and the rest, they say, is history. The funniest part of that story is that Darrell hates: 1-Chocolate; 2-French; 3-Silk; and 4-Pie. Poor guy. I can see it as if it were yesterday. He really was trying to be polite, but I think he may have thrown up a little. :)

Obviously, these aren't all of my birthday memories, but a few that stand out. Thank you all for the wishes that you sent me and allowing me to talk about myself.

XOXO
Stephanie
a/k/a "The Birthday Girl"

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick Happy Father's Day to my dad!
He's the hardest worker I know.
A couple of years ago, he came to my house.
For his birthday.
And worked in the attic.
In May.
In Arizona.
Thanks, Dad, for all you do!
I love you!

Intervention

I need to tell you all that I am an addict and won't be around as much for awhile.

I am breaking away and will complete a twelve-step program.

I hope to be clean and sober when I return.

It won't be easy, but I know that in the long run, my life will be better.

I'll be able to spend more time journaling on my blog.

I'll spend more time with friends and family.

I'll be a better wife.

My health will improve.

I'll conserve more electricity.

I appreciate your understanding and thoughts on my behalf.

PS...I am trying to cut out Bejeweled Blitz and Bouncing Balls from my Facebook activities.

It's a miracle!

(Cue: Chorus of angels singing)

A few days ago, as I was listening to the Today Show, trying to wake up for the day, I heard something that proves that scientists must have recently discovered the cure for every disease, ailment, and ill known to man.

You may be asking yourself why you have not heard the same news I did.

Well, if we're being completely honest, I didn't hear it ON the Today Show. It was a commercial DURING the Today Show.

And no one actually SAID that scientists had discovered the cure-all.

The commercial was for a prescription that you can get from a doctor that will change your life.

If you have "eyelash hypotrichosis," the "medical" name for inadequate or sparse eyelashes.

Yes. You heard me correctly. You can now get a topical prescription to make your eyelashes longer and fuller. So now for, get this, a mere $120 a bottle, you can achieve the same result as my $6 mascara. And you can do it by using a drug that was intended to treat glaucoma, a real disease.

I googled "prescription for fuller eyelashes" and came across a real "news story" where the "reporter" interviewed the wife of an opthamologist who is quoted as saying what can only be described as one of the craziest things I have heard in a long time: “And I always wanted longer lashes but eyelash extensions are just too expensive.”

REALLY?!? I didn't even know that was a possibility. So, to find out more about this insane option, I googled "cost for eyelash extensions." Who knew that for only $250 you could get eyelash extensions that last two months and that the "refills" are only $50? That's $500 a year. And it takes about two hours to be extended. And you can't use mascara while the extensions are attached. Well, I would hope not, for all that time and money!

In researching this, I went to the website for the drug. The website also provides valuable information about Juviderm and Natrelle--the latest in Botox and boob jobs. Apparently, those afflicted with "eyelash hypotrichosis" also must suffer from "parenthesis" a/k/a wrinkles and improper "breast aesthetics."

Wow, the website gets better and better! They have the "Evolution of Lash Enhancers," which is a hall of fame of historic moments from 4000 BC--yeah 6000 years ago!--to the present time. There is a before/after gallery, including Brooke Shields' journey from sparse, anemic eyelashes to full, supple, and sexy eyelashes.

Oh. And if you dig deep enough, you will come across the warnings:

Important Safety Information

• May cause eyelid skin darkening which may be reversible, and there is potential for increased brown iris pigmentation which is likely to be permanent.
  
• There is a potential for hair growth to occur in areas where the solution comes in repeated contact with skin surfaces.
• If you develop or experience any eye problems or have eye surgery, consult your doctor immediately.
• The most common side effects are an itching sensation in the eyes and/or eye redness.
• You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA.

So, just to get this straight, your eyelids can turn dark, your iris can turn brown, you can grow hair anywhere that has contact with the solution (don't accidentally drip some on your upper lip), you can develop eye problems, your eyes will itch and turn red, and Oh-yeah-we-don't-necessarily-know-all-the-side-effects-so-tell-the-FDA-about-anything-you-experience.

Or you can keep wearing mascara. Which, when I searched google, doesn't come with an FDA warning.

It's a good thing the drug companies have this "eyelash hypotrichosis" under control.