What's in your wallet?

One of my favorite stories to tell when asked about my top worst dates is when I went out with a kid named.....well it started with a "G" and ended with a "uillermo". Yep. It was quite the name. One of my favorite parts about this date was when he ran out of things to say and in his nervous efforts to fill the silence emptied all of the contents of his pockets on to the table at the restaurant and proceeded to tell me about every item found on the table and in his wallet.  I heard about the comb he carries, the gas station the receipt was from, and the gum he spit out right before he picked me up. Oh and who could forget the wadded up tissue from last week's cold? It was quite the treat. Then he asked me to empty out the contents of my purse and continue this activity. I declined explaining "Over the mysteries of female life there is drawn a veil best left undisturbed".

Last year in May I was called to the primary. In august I decided I needed to switch purses and emptied out the one I was currently using. I laughed at the contents and took a quick picture. All of the things I used in primary. Tonight as I was in a rush to walk out of the door I poured the contents of my bag out onto my bed once again to get rid of extra weight. The contents made me smile yet again. So in the spirit of laughs and bad dates I will push back the veil and share with you the oh so mysterious contents of my purse.

August 8, 2011

The thing that gets me the most are the ear plugs and the exacto knife. I mean let's be real now. You never know when you are going to need either one of those things around children. They are MUST HAVES! ;-)

January 2, 2012 (I can't believe it's 2012!)

I lost the exacto knife and scissors (and apparently an earring), but as you can see, not much has changed. Funny enough, there was no wallet or money either times! My purse has gotten larger but only so I can accommodate the atlas and extra koosh balls. Who knew 8 year olds were so in love with geography!? With the silly putty, candy, and tissues constantly in tow, at first glance you'd think I was a mother. No. Just a prepared primary worker.

Music Monday

This song is what I have been listening to for the last few the last few days. Whenever I start to feel down or sorry for myself I quickly turn on Happy by Never Shout Never to combat the feeling. Actually I listen to this song all the time! It is one of my favorite love songs. Much more my style. I can not listen to this song with out smiling and singing along at the top of my lungs. It just makes me....Happy!

Everyone needs a happy song. And if this song doesn't work I turn pull out the big guns! I turn on The Cuppy Cake Song. No one-I don't care who you are- NO ONE can listen to this song and not smile. Happy Smiling!

A happy thought

How can you not smile at a face like that? Seriously!

The Lord really does love me!

After reading the following email all I have to say is neener neener!

Bishops,

Due to the upcoming weather conditions, we are cancelling Sunday church services for all units in the Columbia Maryland Stake.  Please encourage members to be safe and hold a devotional as a family on Sunday.  As discussed, once the storm passes, please report to me how your members weather the storm, conditions of missionaries in your unit, and the condition of the meetinghouse.  This storm may provide a great opportunity to serve others.

Thank you.

James Mitchell

And here's a picture of milo and me to celebrate my canceled talk!! YEHAW!

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,
      I have neglected you lately and I am sorry. Why? I have a great explanation! I am tired! I have been working and loving my job. But boy does moving furniture into a house, out of a house, or from one room to another room and then back to the original room wear you out! Hanging drapes and pictures perfectly level and straight is my new specialty. (ok maybe I'm still working on the perfectly part). But what I have been learning is as you bring more into your life you have to let go of something else. I am not saying dear blog that I am letting you go.....But I do for see a little more neglect in the near future. Especially because the only things I have had to blog about lately are color swatches and carpet samples. It's not much but here's a little something to tell you that I still love you and think about you often!

 

With Love,
Deborah

Lately

I feel like the last two or three weeks have been a blur that I have been constantly running through and getting to the next thing. Most of those things were very enjoyable but they were one right after another. There was the rose ball, finals, NYC trip, Southern VA trip, etc. Today I had nothing to do and it was WONDERFUL!!!! I didn't go to work, I didn't get out of my pajamas (well until FHE), and I didn't do very many productive things and I didn't care. Anyway, here are some pictures of the things I have been up to.

The Rose Ball

I was on the planning committee for the rose ball this year. It is a formal ball for all of the adults 16 and older in our stake. We get a live jazz band, great food, great decor and have good old fashioned fun. My father and I taught the dance lessons before the dance started and Tressa helped me SO much by jumping in the help me judge the dance competition during the band's intermission when the original judge got sick. The committee was busy but it was so much fun!

Bowling during the week Jana was visiting

Seriously, I love this girl!

My favorite part of this picture is that it is completely candid! Glen had just bowled a strike and we were...ehem, laughing at him. But it looks like we are his adoring fans!

 New York Trip/reunion with the girls from my Laurel class in Maryland

All of the girls from our group of friends in Young women are back on the east coast again (minus Jana). So to celebrate, we all got together and took a road trip to New York City. It was fabulous! We did a lot of eating, shopping, walking, talking, laughing, and not very much sleeping. Okay, I did a little more sleeping then the others, but it was all for their sakes. We know that I turn into a monster when I am sleep deprived.

Double dates with my favorite friends

HA I just realized this is the first date I can remember being on since I graduated from BYU-Idaho. Jana flew in for our trip to New York and came home to stay a week with me. We got together with good old glen and his friend Reggie and did a double date of making smores and chocolate covered strawberries.

Making homemade chocolate covered strawberries! Heaven on a cookie sheet!

I don't have pictures but I also took a friend down to southern VA to a modeling shoot last weekend. She had a really good time which made the quick trip so worth it. I told her on the way home that I was not doing any more road trips for a while after she suggested we do Boston next. But of course, I am already planning to go to northern VA this friday. It's only an hour away so I am not actually counting it as a road trip. I am so glad that I am done with the craziness I called life for the last two weeks. But it was all so worth it! And let's face it, when am I not running from party to party?

You're Beautiful, but You're No Beauty Queen

Last year at BYU-Idaho I took a class to make me a first class group therapist. The whole class was basically one big group therapy program. I am now a believer of group therapy. HA I think everyone needs it! Anyway, we took turns running group for that week and practiced different models and theories. We also ran our own therapy groups outside of class with BYU-Idaho students.

We were assigned homework each week to prepare us for the next therapy session. One of the assignments was to describe each chapter of our life as if it were a chapter in a book. Then we were to take one of those chapters and rewrite it in a way we wish it would have happened being prepared to share it with the class the next week. The other day I ran across my "table of contents" for this assignment and thought I'd share it with my blogging class.

The title of my Book is:

"You're Beautiful, but You're No Beauty Queen"

Chapter 1: The Second Child

Chapter 2: The top Kindergartener

Chapter 3: Training Bras and Tardy Slips

Chapter 4: Running the High School

Chapter 5: Where in the world is Virginia?

Chapter 6: Moving....again

Chapter 7: The Sales Man

Chapter 8: Big Choices for a Little Woman

Chapter 9: Moving on and growing up

Chapter 10: A Bright Future

Now, keep in mind most of the students were in the 19-21 age range and so they thought 10 chapters would be sufficient. However, to tell my story I need at least a few more. I maybe would change the name of a few of the chapters, but this is what they were at 7 am on a Wednesday morning last year. What would your chapters be? Think about it. Yay for therapy!

Nothing to write about....what to do?

Today has been a bit of a blah day for me which really puts a cramp in my blogging idea's style. So I decided that because everyone likes a good picture I would enter my library of over 5,000 pictures and pull one at random to blog about. Well, here it is:

This was January 3, 2009. Tressa Lee had just gotten her key to her very first college dorm and was trying to open the door. As you can see from her face in the picture, she was not very successful. LOL Actually, we had built it up so much with pictures and videos to document this momentous occasion, that it was a hilarious let down when it took her five minutes to figure out how to open her door.

Boy am I grateful for the opportunity to have had Tressa come to BYU-Idaho with me. She really made my time there 200% better!

Well was that fun? Let's do it again!

This is a picture of half of the shoes in my closet. I was going to blog about how a girl can't get to many shoes but never did. I was trying to organize my closet when this was taken and found I could fit all my shoes in there only if I just threw them all in with out any organization. It makes for an adventure when trying to find a matching pair to go with your outfit, but hey! I've always loved a good challenge and not many people see the inner workings of my closet anyway.

While we are on the subject of shoes, here is a picture of my latest love and bargain.

I don't have many places to wear them to, but they sure are fun!

There you go. It wasn't anything exciting, but it was a blog post.

Tressa is going on a mission!

Today Tressa's mission call came!!!! It was a blast! Watch and see! Pay very close attention.

And Take two:

So basically, I made a fake mission call for Tressa. I decided to do it about an hour and a half before she came home to open the real one. Elizabeth read her mission call to me over the phone and I typed it up. I had a little trouble with the envelope because it was to big for EVERY printer we had in the house! I think it turned out ok!

I have so many comments on the video. I was so nervous that everyone laughing in the video before she even started reading would give things away. And the second thing (probably my favorite) is that Mr. Right was in the video in footie pajamas! HA I love it!

Tressa is going to the California Carlsbad mission!

Just Checking In

Amy and I took a day trip to TN. I'm having the time of my life. Best idea ever!

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Non negotiables!

There are just some things when looking for a spouse that you can not compromise on. Sure you can forgive the nail biting, the receding hair line, and those few extra pounds. But when it comes to the important stuff I say, "Stand your ground men! (or in my case woman) Stand your ground!"  

I have recently discovered one of those non negotiables for me. My mother scoffed at this one but I am serious. I mean it!

Say we are at my house and decide to go out to eat, but the only thing left in the garage to drive is my sister's manual transmission beater. You look at me and say "Babe, I can't drive stick". First of all don't call me babe....and second, I'll drive but I'll be going alone. Unfortunately if you can not drive stick it's a deal breaker. I think it goes along with wanting to feel like the feminine one. If I can drive a car better then my significant other it ruins it for me.

To those of you men who are reading this and can not drive a stick. Don't feel badly about yourselves. Everyone has to start from some where. There is still time for you to learn. Heck! Come on over and I'll give you a few pointers. But don't come holla until you've got it down.

I'm just kidding. I will still date date you if you can't drive a stick.....but really.

Lent

So I gave up facebook for lent.

I need to get a lot done and I knew I spent a lot of time on it but I didn't realize how this would impact my daily living!

I am sitting here trying to study and every time my mind wanders or I get bored I instinctively start to type facebook.com into my web browser. I stop myself. Nope, I can't do that anymore.....then I sit there, staring and bewildered. I am completely out of options to waste my time! I take a few breaths and get back to reading about the bipolor II, hypomanic, mild disorder or Aspergers and autism.

If there is one thing I have learned from this it is I need to expand my pointless interests to things other then who's writing on who's wall and what so and so has to say about my status. Maybe I will try to get into WoW or some thing.......No, definitely not.

Anyway, This is a cycle that happens about every 20 minutes. I thought, "Hey! That's fine! I'll go stalk my fav blogs instead of my fav facebook walls". COME ON PEOPLE! I want to waste my time and it's hard to do when I have to read the same posts over and over. Updates! UPDATES! Blogging is just not as entertaining and instantaneous as facebook. I am going a little crazy here. It's probably just with drawls. I'm waiting for when I start getting jittery and irritated. That should be fun. LOL Kidding!

I am doing pretty well if I do say so myself! One day down! 45 more to go!

Oh Paradise

I should be sleeping. But instead I am writing this post about my adventures this weekend that I probably wont finish and will never post. Yep, I'm already sick of it and going to bed. (But I'll post it just for fun anyway). Good night gang!

To All the Deborah Haters out there

I have been sorting though old boxes of high school stuff for what seems like forever! Really I just need to sit down and not stop until it's done! Anyway, I found a letter from a friend that I have kept for about ten years! I love it and thought I would share it with you.

In case you were wanting a little back ground, in high school writing letters back and forth was big with me and my friends. I had written Will Tyson a letter and he just never wrote me back. So I wrote him another letter to tell him I was annoyed by that. Granted I saw him every single day multiple times a day. HA So why him writing me a letter was so important I have NO idea! HA I remember I showed it to my mother and she laughed out loud. I was so upset because who was he to say a Deborah Hater club even possibly existed! HA I didn't get the point until much later obviously. Now I laugh every time I read it!

Day 30-a picture of you today and 3 good things that have happened to you today

So I had this plan. Today was picture day. I was going to get up, shower, spend extra time on my hair and make up, and then take a beautiful picture for my blog.

We all know that my plans ALWAYS work out perfectly! They really are the best plans if I do say so myself. This morning the alarm went off and I popped straight out of bed and into the shower singing the whole way! NOT! I pushed snooze about three times before I just turned it off completely. "Your public awaits Deborah" a little angel on my right shoulder said. Then a very attractive woman on my other shoulder who looks like This:

Said, "We're sleeping. Do us a favor and go tell the public they can keep waiting." Then we rolled over and slept for another beautiful hour! That's how it really happened. Promise.

Yeah, I'm not a morning person. So instead of the beautiful glamor shot I envisioned for today's post you get this.

Enjoy!

Picture of me today: Check
Three good things that happened to me today....Hum....Let's see....
Today was a pretty regular day. But it was a good day for sure and I was very happy!

1. I got a letter from my missionary! I just love her! Seriously, I read her letter and laughed the whole way through it. I wish everyone had the privileged of knowing Brittany. First: because she is the greatest. And second: Because then every one could laugh along with me envisioning her saying everything in her letter with her fun quirky personality!


2. I had a great time at FHE! Here's a little some thin' some thin' for you to share in the fun.

Me and my new friend Amy going head to head

3. And At 11:15 pm I my Valentine FINALLY accepted my invitation to be my Valentine! He was pretty late, but what can I expect? He's a hot MES!

This concludes the 30 day challenge! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I know I did.

Dear Readers

     It is so nice to know that there is some one out there reading my blog. I enjoy hearing comments like, "I love reading your blog!" or "I've been keeping up with your blog!" It keeps me blogging knowing that some one is actually reading it and enjoying what I have to say. Today is the last day of the 30 day challenge! (Finally!) I apologize for my late posts the last few days but today is also going to be a late post. The topic is a picture of you today and 3 things that happened to you today. Since it is about 1:30 in the morning I am not about to take a picture of myself and really nothing has happened yet.  Check in with me in 15 hours.

So Basically I am blogging you to tell you I will blog you later! Love ya! Call me!

Day 29-3 Wishes

Here's a quick one for you!

Three wishes......

MY first wish is to have unlimited wishes!
My second wish is to have unlimited funds to travel and do humanitarian service missions.

My third wish is to make dairy good for you!

And because I have unlimited wishes my fourth wish is to be able to hold my little hot mes of a nephew whenever I want to!

That's all for now.

Day 25-A photo of something that means a lot to you

I have a lot of stuff. When my parents moved me from my apartment in Idaho to the east coast my mom thought, "We can fly out and bring extra bags to fit all your stuff in".... My dad thought "we can bring the van and there will be plenty of room to spare!"

 This is a picture of the van from the front seat. They took the back seats out and left only the captain chairs that Rach and my mom are sitting in. The rest of the van was packed from top to bottom and I still left things behind. My father says I am a pack rat. I say, I've been living on my own for 7 years! However if I had to choose only a few things from everything in that van this is what I would choose. Probably even over my scriptures! Those are replaceable (and of course I have them memorized!), but these are not.

I take these things every where I go and to every place I move. The bear and the necklace were gifts that were given to me by very dear friends of mine. I wear that necklace on very special occasions or when I need a little extra comfort or strength. The photo albums contain pictures of people that I love and adore. I love looking at these pictures over and over again. And the picture frame.....It is usually displayed in my room or in my living room and people are always asking me who that little boy is. And so I tell them. He's one of my best friends' baby. I love him and think it's one of the cutest pictures ever. He is actually much older now but it reminds me of happy things and so I keep it in there. Actually it also reminds me of a time I went to go get my picture taken as a 7 year old. The photographer told me to think of something that made me happy and I thought of kittens. I don't really know why but that picture reminds me of that story.

The only thing missing from this picture is a notebook of letters between me and my friend Leslie that I had saved for years. It got lost in my move out to Rexburg January 2008 and I have been heart broken about it ever since. I would probably pay quite a bit of money to have them back. So to you out there in the universe who may have found that notebook! I am willing to pay if you just send it back to me.

And there you have it. A picture of things that mean a lot to me.

Day 20-Nicknames

This will be a quick one so no stress.

I've never been big into nick names although I have had quite a few in my time. I LOVE my own given name and I LOVE hearing people say it. But then again who doesn't. Maybe because I think this is why I prefer to call people by their full name or their First and middle names at least. It is very common to hear me answer the phone and say ,"Donald Kelly, how in the world are you!" or "Tressa Lee, I am so glad you called me." Some people take a while to get used to it but I think secretly they love it!

Back to my nicknames. I have gone by:
Cookie
Funky Monkey
There was turtle something or other....
Deb
De' Bra Allred
Babe (gag me with a spatula. I obviously have developed a bad taste in my mouth for this one)
Hot lips (yeah I was in middle school and no I hadn't kissed anyone yet)
Hot Mamma (We went through a phase where everything had hot in front of it)
Dream Girl
Mahi Mahi
Utah ;)

But the one that that has really stuck and is the only other one I naturally respond to besides my name is Beti.

This name was given to me by the J-squad (I'm including Lindz, Ricky, and Texas in that category) when I moved to Maryland. They were very welcoming and everyone (except for the original J-squaders I think) had nicknames.

The J-Squad. Julie, Jana, Jessica

 Jana was trying to get my number the first sunday I came to church and was in a hurry to get to her family before they left her. She asked me what I wanted my name to be and said it had to be short because she didn't have time to type it all into her phone. This was before the days of T-9 when you had to put in a letter and wait for the phone to clear so you could put in the next letter. I was trying to think fast and said Betty! So she typed in Beti and that is what I was known by in the ward until I graduated high school. The bishop's wife still calls me Beti to this day and I LOVE it.

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

Every one needs some time to look forward to! If you don't have something get something! Even if it's just going shopping with out the kids that is something good enough.

I am looking forward to starting my field work with the UMB. I will be doing counseling a little more and getting wonderful experience. I will also be that much closer to my master's degree! WAAAHOO!

I am looking forward to holding my little nephew of course! Oh it kills me that Utah is so far away.

Oh! and I am looking forward to my mother coming back and to finding a full time J. O. B.

There you have it. My post for today. What are you looking forward to?