Snow and a new dog

It snowed most of the weekend. We woke up to just over a foot this morning. I'm very thankful that we have plenty of wood to keep us warm this winter.
Saturday, after we got done stacking wood in the house, I spent most of the remaining daytime molding chocolate. I was very shocked that I didn't gain any weight when I weighed on Sunday because I ate quite a bit of the chocolate. Experimented putting orange oil in the chocolate, which turned out really good. I also molded white chocolate and mints. I tried a s'mores idea I had as well with the melted chocolate and they turned out really good.
On Sunday, Carma and I went up to the house of one of the members in our ward and brought a dog home with us. We already have two labs, but this dog, who is a lab mix, was just so tiny, skinny, malnourished, and timid that we had to bring her home. She is such a sweetie. Ryder, my nephew, is coming home tonight and then he can giver her a name. Carma and I have just been calling her "little girl" and "sweetie" for the time being. She is supposedly about a year old, but is only half the size of our dogs. She is very weary of humans. Every time we come near her she cowers. Hopefully she'll learn to trust us fast.

Happy Birthday Mickey!

1928 Mickey Mouse's Birthday: The comical activities of squeaky-voice Mickey Mouse first appeared on the screen of the Colony Theatre in New York City. The film, Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie," was the first animated cartoon talking picture.

Those who know me know that I am a Disney lover. I have Disney songs on my iPod, lots of Disney movies in the house, and we play Disney trivia games at home. I love Disney! Disney has a lot of stories with good morals and fun, uplifting music. I can always count on Disney to chase away a bad mood.

Gearing up for Harry Potter!

Carma and I are hosting a Harry Potter marathon for the YW in our ward a week and a half from today. We are making wizarding treats including chocolate frogs, cauldron cakes, butterbeer, and more. We are also making our own Harry Potter Pictionary and Harry Potter Trivia games. To do this, we are watching the first six movies and analyzing everything. I have also been searching through all seven books, plus The Tales Of Beedle The Bard, to find extra trivia. I have a feeling that by the time we actually get to do our marathon, Carma and I will be completely Harry Pottered out. I'll try to take lots of pictures to post after the marathon is over.

Veterans Day History

The U.S. President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed an Armistice Day for November 11, 1919. In proclaiming the holiday, he said
"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with lots of pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations."

The United States Congress passed a concurrent resolution seven years later on June 4, 1926, requesting that the President (Calvin Coolidge) issue another proclamation to observe November 11 with appropriate ceremonies. An Act approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday; "a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."

In 1953, an Emporia, Kansas shoe store owner named Alfred King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. King had been actively involved with the American War Dads during World War II. He began a campaign to turn Armistice Day into "All" Veterans Day. The Emporia Chamber of Commerce took up the cause after determining that 90% of Emporia merchants as well as the Board of Education supported closing their doors on November 11 to honor veterans. With the help of then-U.S. Rep. Ed Rees, also from Emporia, a bill for the holiday was pushed through Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law on May 26, 1954.

Congress amended this act on June 1, 1954, replacing "Armistice" with Veterans, and it has been known as Veterans Day since.

Although originally scheduled for celebration on November 11 of every year, starting in 1971 in accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Veterans Day was moved to the fourth Monday of October. In 1978 it was moved back to its original celebration on November 11. Since this change, there has been a trend against being closed on the holiday. It began with businesses (excluding banks) and in recent years some schools and local governments have also chosen to remain open.

A nephew filled weekend

On Saturday, I went out to NNU with my sisters Carma, Joyce, and Cathi, and also my mom. We went to see a play called "Noises Off" that my nephew Gregg was acting in. Had a great time with a lot of laughs. We stopped by our other sister's house, Becca, to see her and her husband and little baby G. Joyce left our house on Sunday, and Sunday night Becca, Mike, and little G came up so Becca could work on a project. We got to spend a couple of hours with a happy G. Nephews are great!

Do you show your lack of vocabulary?

Part of my job description states that I answer the phones for the company I work for. I act as the receptionist, and therefore I transfer the calls instead of helping the people that call myself. This would normally be a stress free part of my job, but as I work for a collection agency some of the debtors that call our office are terribly upset. Today we had one such male debtor call in. He proceeded to threaten our company and swear at me. He knew that I was the receptionist and that I was not the one who had called him and that I would be able to do nothing for him but to transfer the call. Though he knew all of this, he still felt that by acting this way towards not just me, but three of our collectors would get him somewhere.
This incident reminded me of a lesson I learned as a teenager from one of my church youth leaders. I wish I could remember the name of the leader that taught this to me as the lesson has stuck with me for many years now. The lesson is this: those who use vulgar language are simply showing their lack of vocabulary. They are using one small word in place of many words or sentences to describe how they are feeling. To those around them they seem unintelligent and incapable of expressing themselves in a clean, non-repulsive, non-offensive manner.
I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this has never shown their "lack of vocabulary" in their verbal or written correspondence with others.

Election Day!

I hope everyone takes a few minutes out of their day to go and vote! I don't think that anyone can disagree that our country needs to have some changes made. Regardless of your political views, we all need to take up our patriotic duty and vote for the candidates that we each feel will best serve our states and our nation. Please, go vote. I hope to see the "I Voted" stickers on many people throughout the day.

To those who do not wish to vote, please keep in mind that not voting and then complaining about who won or lost is very unattractive. If you wish to put your two cents in and expect people to listen to you seriously, then you have to participate! This can be said for other situations, and not just about voting at the polls on election day.

We got our photos!

On October 23, 2010, my sisters Joyce, Carma, and I had a fun-filled day with the wonderful photographer from Heath Photography. We spent an hour and a half at the Old Idaho State Penitentiary and a few "snuck-in" shots at Boise's Botanical Garden. Here are just a few of the photos that were taken.

Weekend Update

I hope that everyone had a safe and fun-filled Halloween!

Friday night I went to a LB (letter boxing) event at Pojo's. I had a great time and got to meet more LBers who were passing through town. They were a wonderful family who share a common intrest in carving stamps and LBing. It's always so great to meet other people who love to do some of the same things as you. I also got to talk more with some LBers that I had met a week previous at another LB event.

Saturday, my sister (and roommate) worked hard on cleaning out our shed (I helped a little :P). We burned some pine needles, weeds, etc. around our house in preparation for the winter, and got our wood piles covered.

Sunday was spent relaxing. No little kids in our house to take Trick-or-Treating, and since we live on a mountain highway, no Trick-or-Treaters to come to our house. It was the perfect day to just relax by the fire and keep warm.