they say the funniest things

My peeps, that is. 

For example . . 

The other day we were playing a game where I say the beginning of a popular phrase and the residents, as a group, finish it.  Things like "Practice makes _________" (perfect), or "A friend in need is __________" (a friend indeed).  Lots of good old ones I've never heard before and that I can't think of right now. 

One of them is "Time is _________."  The answers are "the best healer" and "of the essence."  

We have one resident who is tiny, so cute, and from the east, with a thick eastern accent.  She is from a town called "Cutler" but according to her she is from "CUTluh."  She answered "Time is _______" with the word "skass."  I'm thinkin "Skass?  Time is skass? What the heck?!"  I repeated it back to her and she said, "Yeah, time is skass!"  I said "Oohhh, okayy" and moved on.  Then one of the managers came into the room just to listen in and I said "Hey, listen to this - I just learned that 'time is skass' . . ?"  She said it a couple of times and thought about it and then said "Scarce!  Time is scarce!"

That gave us a good laugh.

Yesterday we were talking about travel and I asked the residents to think back to the first time they took an airplane.  I'm not allowed to say "Do you remember?" but I wanted them to think about it.  

I asked one gentleman where he flew the first time he took an airplane trip and he said "TO THE AIRPORT!!"  Oh dear goodness he thought he was so funny!  We all did.  Another good laugh.

They are hilarious.

what we did in March

Did I really not blog all of March?  Geez lou-eez.  I'm not even sure anything happened!  Let's see.

Oh.

BEN TURNED TWENTY-SIX!

His birthday was on a Sunday and I was still feeling crummy from surgery, so we decided that we'd throw a little party the following Sunday.  But in the meantime . . we ordered a custom cake from Coldstone and paid for it online to eat on his actual b-day.  I was going to pick it up on Sunday after Church (already paid for, not breaking the Sabbath, right?!).  We ordered a "Petite Cake" for $8.

I went to pick it up after Church the next day and they hadn't made it.  The poor girl working called her boss and then told me they could offer me a "Small Cake" and a six-pack of ice cream cupcakes.  Well, all of the "Small Cakes" were Devil's Food and Ben doesn't like that so I asked if I could just have a refund instead.  She called her boss and then told me I could just take any cake I wanted.  So, I took the biggest one they had!  Normally $40 and we paid only $8.  And I wrote the birthday message on it myself when I got home (so ugly!).

 We had a great party for Ben with some friends the next Sunday.  Homemade treats this time.

My parents visited us for dinner and ice cream as part of Dad's birthday celebration.  Have I mentioned that I love living so close to my family?!

We went to the Creamery . . but are you surprised?

And we went to see "Lamb of God" on Easter Sunday.

stop-light pick-up

The best thing happened to me today.

I was sitting at a stop light with all the windows half-down because it was so warm. I was also listening to music and blowing my nose, the most attractive thing i do. I felt like I was being watched - you know the feeling - so I looked to my right and the guy in the next car was looking at me. Ethnic. Mid-twenties. Nice car. Smart/studious-looking. I think "whatever" - awkward eye-contacts with cars next to you happen every so often - and I go back to just sitting there. Then, I hear him saying "Excuse me!" so I roll down my window and he says "Excuse me, would you like to go get coffee with me or something if you have the time?" And as the light turns green I say "I'm married! Sorry!" and drive off.

Either he is really desperate or I am super attractive when I blow my nose.

what we did in february

Maybe I'll make blogging a regular part of my life in March.  For now, here's what we did in February . .

We went to the Creamery.  Just once.  We are looking forward to the warmer months ahead when we can make visits to the Creamery a weekly habit.

Another flu bug passed through my work community, so activities were shut down to prevent germ spreading.  When activities are shut down, I have nothing to do, and I happened to get a Saturday off!  Ben and I took advantage to grab some good eats in Berkeley.  This is cremini mushroom, onion, mozzarella, arugula in a lemon vinaigrette, ricotta salata pizza!  Talk about a mouth-full.  The ice cream flavors are Rosemary Pine-nut Praline and Rose Vanilla . . . different, yet completely delightful.

We celebrated Valentine's Day!  Ben bought me one pound of See's Candies Nut & Chews.  That gives him 1,000 husband points a day for a whole month. 

Some residents and I had fun dancing during our Valentine's Day social at work.  I got a big hug after this dance.

I had surgery!  I had a laparoscopy last week to remove some cysts.  Mom came up and took such good care of me.  Then I came down with a cold and I was just miserable!  I really hate that kind of stuff, and I don't know what you think, but I'm pretty sure the hospital look is just not my best . . 

Ben and I finished season 3 of Downton Abbey.  I really love Downton Abbey and I can't wait until season 4.  After finishing season 3, though, . . REALLY, DOWNTON ABBEY, REALLY!?

Ben and I will just have to be content in our love and calling each other "dahrling" in English accents.

Ben had a fantastic time at some work training in NYC.  It was more like a workation because he got to see a show on Broadway, visit Rucker Park, and eat at lots of yummy restaurants.  He even brought me some macarons from La Maison du Chocolat, one of my fav places from Paris.

Here's to March!  :)

what we did in January

It seems as though I have made an exit from the blogging world.  This is me . . making an entrance!

Here is what we did in January.

I bought myself an iPad!  And, well, . . I love it.

We moved!

Just about one mile away.  I'm even closer to work now, and we didn't think that was even possible!

If you need our new address just let me know . . to like, you know, send us a housewarming gift or something.

I've had a couple of fun projects keeping me busy.

These curtains were about 7" too short so I bought some fabric and lengthened them.  I am super pleased!

Most of the frames are still empty and now I'm on a hunt for the perfect prints to fill them.

We joined a gym!

A brand-spanking-new 24 Hour Fitness opened up the weekend we moved about 1/2 mile from us.  We got a great membership deal and we are loving the gym!  I have become a religious "BodyPump"-er . . can you imagine me in a class with a dumbbell?!  *Enter grunting noise here.*  

This month is now more than half-way over . . sometime I'll let you know what we did in the month of February.

merry little christmas

  There are a lot of really good things about my job, and quite a few not-so-good things . . one of them being no vacation days and another being any time the residents are sick, I get sick too (I am just now recovering from two days with the flu)!  BUT, I managed to smile/beg/coax my way into getting three days off for Christmas and we just had a splendid time with my family in Merced!

For our Christmas presents to each other, Ben and I bought tickets to see the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker.  It was awesome, if I do say so myself!

It was my parents' turn to host the Rowan Family Christmas Eve party and Ben and I were in charge of games.

Aunt Ellen won this Willie Mays "The Catch" Christmas ornament and Uncle Creed was so happy.  The game was "Who Can Name the Most Christmas Songs in Two Minutes" and Aunt Ellen was a shoe-in.

 The next game was two teams against each other in a race to unwrap all the Hershey's Kisses first . . while wearing mittens.

Then we played "Throw the Marshmallows Through the Christmas Wreath" and whoever got the most through in 30 seconds won.  Good times.


The usual "program."

Tommy wrote a *very lengthy* poem about his favorite soccer team - Manchester United.  It was hilarious.

Ty played the bagpipes.  Did you have that at your Christmas party?

Grandma read from Luke 2.

Then it was time for presents.  All the ladies received stained-glass pendants hand-made by Grandpa.

Christmas 2012

Christmas morning - I think we set a new *late* record with 8:00 AM.

Mom & Dad both bought each other new sheets.

Traditional Nerf guns in the stockings.

Emily bought everyone a present at the "Secret Santa Store" at her school.  Dad got a new tool set!  It was tender.

I got Ben this Colts Huddler.  No, not Snuggie,  Huddler.

My adorable new apron from Randy & Sandra.

We got to Skype with Elder Rowan, all the way from Pascagoula, Mississippi.  He's doing great, folks!

Before we drove back to Walnut Creek, I wanted to go "shopping" at Grandpa's Glass Shed and pick out a few more pendants.  Pretty awesome, huh?

~

The day after Christmas, my old roomie, Mckenna, had her wedding open house just down the freeway.  She looked totally gorg and it was awesome to see her and Joanna/Jack/new baby Molly!  Sometimes I wish my roommates and I could all live together again for just one week and it would be so much fun.  ...  But then I remember how I got annoyed by them and I'm glad we are happily married, living with our husbands, and still great friends!  ;)

Christmas Beginnings

Christmas time is here!  And it is so fun to decorate!

We love our little pre-lit four-footer!  At Christmastime last year, we gathered all of Ben's personal Christmas ornaments and when we unwrapped and put them on our tree this year Ben was so happy I thought he might cry!

Also, Ben's sister Kristi made this angel tree-topper and gave it to us last year.  Isn't it so perfect?

Kristi also made us these Christmas stockings and gave them to us when we got married.  They are too cute!

Ben's other sister, Ashley, made us the advent calendar.  Apparently it was a pretty big deal in their house growing up because I have heard so much about it!  The poem reads:

December first to Christmas is the longest time of the year.

Seems as though Old Santa never will appear.

Untie a candy every night when the Sandman casts his spell,

And Christmas will be here by the time you reach the bell.

Ben can recite it by memory.  You should ask him.

I sewed a piece of candy to each date's little circle thing and we get to take one off each night.  Attached to the final date is a bell that we can ring on Christmas day!

I am super impressed by Ashley's cross-stitching; the advent calendar is gorgeous.

I made this pennant banner one night and I am really proud of it!  Just a little ribbon, some cute paper, some hot glue, and a brown colored pencil!

I love our Christmas centerpiece, too!

Okay new topic.

Ben's company had their Christmas party on Saturday!  It was at the Exploratorium in San Francisco - how cool is that?  The dress code was cocktail attire/black tie optional and that proved to be a bit of a struggle.  I borrowed a dress from Mom and two from a friend in the ward, as well as some jewelry and tights.  I decided to actually try things on the night before which wasn't smart because nothing was really working.  Two of the dresses, I couldn't even zip up!  That has never happened to me before.  So it was like 9:30 the night before and I'm swearing off of ice cream (but not really) and wondering what to wear.  We decided we could go out shopping the next morning before I went to work but that was kind of stressful, so we were looking online to get an idea of where we could go and what we would find.  Then we saw that Kohl's is open until midnight, so we got out of our pajamas and back in our jeans and did some late-night shopping!  We had such great luck!  We found an adorable, affordable dress.

The party was fun.  Good food, good live band.  It was just so fun to have a dressy night out with Ben, and of course, I got to meet all of his co-working and they all raved about Ben's work.  No surprise there!

And last but not least, on Sunday we had our traditional Christmas sugar cooking decorating evening.

YUMMY!