My Rant About Honesty

Several weeks ago I was out looking for a table and chair set. After looking at several stores I set my GPS for Big Lots hearing that they had a couple. As I pulled into my parking space a man was pulling out beside me. As I was walking into the store I noticed a wallet on the ground. I tried to wave the guy down but he wasn't looking back. So I took the wallet inside and left it at the front service desk. Let's just say I'm glad I found it instead of someone else.

Flash forward to today. I went to the library, walking in I noticed some money laying on the sidewalk. It was right in front of a car with a man sitting in the drivers seat, so I called out, did you drop some money? He couldn't hear me so I repeated and as soon as he started talking I knew he was a BIG FAT LIAR. He said that yes it was his and proceeded to get out and take it, saying that he'd been looking for it because he had some tickets to pay. The way he talked I could tell he was spinning a story. It was a five and a ten and he offered me the five. I said that's not my money. Anyway the situation made me totally upset. It was so completely obvious as soon as he started talking that it wasn't his but I didn't know what to do, call his bluff? And now because of that schmuck some person is out of $15 and I feel partly responsible. I should have just taken the money inside to the librarians. So my message: BE HONEST.

Dishonest people are ruining our world. Just last week I was taking out the trash and saw a man and woman looking closely at my car. I walked over and asked if I could help them. They said there was a red mark on their car from someone else's car door. I told them it wasn't me. Thankfully someone else was outside and named out the other red cars that typically park here and she said she thought she had parked next to another one. But what's sad is, they had absolutely no reason to believe me because of the liars out there.

Caleb and I have experienced this. One at night we walked outside a complex we were living at in Provo and one corner of our bumper had been crushed. No note was left, just nothing. We paid $600 of our own money to replace it when it wasn't even our fault. So my plea is please, be honest. If everyone in this world was honest then our world would be soooo much better off.

I love my new library

It's been awhile. But here are some books I've read over the last couple months. The list might be missing a title or two, and the descriptions might be a bit vague (I don't have the best memory) but it's here nevertheless. By the way, a note on my new library. I LOVE IT. It has a great movie and tv series collection (unlike Provo Library where everything was picked over ALL the time). It is close to our apartment. It has lots of great new titles. And I just love it. I visit lots and use their free Wi-Fi. The only thing I don't love is their library catalog, sometimes it doesn't always respond well to my search requests.

Note: Halfway through the post I couldn't select the titles to italicize them. Any suggestions? Or is that just Blogger being weird? Also there aren't any pictures of the books. They aren't cutting and pasting, just like last time.

1. Not my Type: A Single Girl's Guide to Doing It All Wrong, by Melanie Jacobson: If you like LDS Fiction and romances then you should read this. It took me about 50 pages to get into it. But then I couldn't stop until I finished. I love a good romance and this one does a good job of capturing some of the awkward and uncomfortable situations you might encounter.

2. Poison Study by Maria V. Synder: Really enjoyed this one. For one, I love the occupation of food taster. Yes it's possibly fatal, but think of all the foods she gets to taste. This fascination might be a result of not eating lunch. But...they really had food tasters back in the day and it kind of makes sense that they choose a convict for the position. I wonder if the President has a food taster?

3. Magic Study by Maria V. Synder: A sequel that wasn't quite as good as the first book, but not bad.

4. Fire Study by Maria V. Synder: Again, a sequel that wasn't quite as good as the previous two, but not a bad read.

5. The Christmas Quilt by Patricia Davids: An amish romance which you can read in approximately three hours, which is what I did when visiting my sister and she took a nap for three hours along with baby Matthew. Good use of my three hours.

6. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: I liked it but I would have liked it better without all the sensuality and edginess of the content. Like I've said before I think this is becoming too prevalent in young adult fiction. There are sequels to this one but I can't decide if they're worth pursuing.

7. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling: A biography. Definitely not what I would normally read. But it was a good pick me up. Written by the actress (and script writer and producer) who plays Kelly on The Office, I laughed throughout. Not belly laughs, but definitely chuckles. Beware the F bomb and I don't agree with everything she says. But I loved reading it. And I think you should read it too. Mindy tells her journey from childhood to where she is now through ancedotes that are quite funny.

8. The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams: This one is about a girl raised in a polygamist society. Again not something I would typically grab off the shelf. But I did and I thought it was well done. Quick read (2-3 hours).

9. Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams: So I picked this one up since I thought The Chosen One was so well done. But I didn't really like it. I hated the ending. It was creepy. The one cool thing about this book is that it takes place within one day (with flashbacks to other times) which must have been tricky to write.

10. Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick: This one is more of my typical read, end of the world young adult survival book. Decently written. Hate that it's the first of a series and new so I have to wait a year for the next one.

11. Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted: Didn't even finish it I disliked it so much (I got about halfway through and realized it was past redemption). Basically I feel like the author re-wrote Little Women with an extra "modern-day" sister written in. I love Pride and Prejudice re-writes and I thought this would be like one of those. Negative. Bad idea, bad writing.

12. Love? Maybe. by Heather Hepler: Everything you expect from a young adult romance. It's like watching a chick flick as my sister says. You might know what's going to happen but sometimes that's just what you need.

Long overdue: Christmas, The 24 Hour Move and other stuff

Ice Skating over Christmas Break

This is going to be a fabulous post, already I can tell. I uploaded a bunch of pictures and thought (silly me) that I could cut and paste them into a coherent order. I've done it before, but apparently it's not gonna happen this time, so a post that was already overwhelming, long overdo, and completely random is now out of order as well. So instead of a nice story that takes you from one image to the next there will be a bunch of images with captions instead.

At P. F. Changs with my co-workers from Nu Skin reading my gignatically awesome going away card.

In Salt Lake, shortly before leaving for TX with Sarai and Dustin, and Micaiah and Michael. Caleb and I took Micaiah up for "Family night" since it was going to be our last chance to see Temple Square before leaving UT. But it was really an excuse to get her there so her boyfriend could propose. She said yes!

This year Caleb and I went to his home in Washington for Christmas break. We had a blast and got to do lots of fun things. Micaiah and Abby on our snowshoeing adventure.

Me and Caleb, snowshoeing. We totally clash, but it would work for Valentine's day.

Christmas morning: After photo

All gathered around the computer Christmas morning to skype with Elder Stones.

Skyping with Elder Stones.

Karen and Jared's two little boys, Kai and Jaxxon. So cute in their Christmas pjs!

Christmas morning: the before photo

Three wise men bearing gifts in our reenactment of the nativity story.

Mary and Joseph (aka Karen and Jared).

Hilarious, isn't it? Pretty sure Caleb might be upset at me posting this picture, but how can I resist? It's priceless and will probably be used for blackmail in the future.

In Texas, they have a restaurant with my maiden name. We're going to have to check it out one of these days.

The ocean (or to be precise, the Gulf of Mexico), one of the perks of moving to TX.

Caleb when he came down for his interview.

Houston. I hated driving through Houston. We were in our U-Haul towing our car on a trailer behind us and we hit the outskirts around 5 ish, the middle around 6ish and let me tell you it was miserable. Thankfully we don't often have to drive there.

The portion of our drive between Dallas and Houston. It reminded me a LOT of Kentucky.

A real live Mater! This was in Moab. We stopped for gas and realized one of the tires on the U-Haul was about to burst. Had to have someone come change the tire.

Our U-Haul.

Getting the tire changed.

All my friends and co-workers at Nu Skin. I was sad to leave these people. They became family during my 3 1/2 years there. They sent me away with goodie bags full of snacks and treats for the road and money for gas. In short, they spoiled me.

Me and Jenn at work. Sporting my awesome cowboy
hat from friends Tina and Mary.

Tina and Mary at P.F. Changs. They put together an awesome "care" bag for me. The items all had notes with them, for example a puzzle of Utah--so I could remember what it looked like. Giant reeses cups--because everything is bigger in TX. Roach killer since I was afraid of bugs in the humid weather, etc.

Landon, Erica, and Erin at P.F. Changs.

My closest friend at Nu Skin, Dana. We may be close to 20 years apart but that didn't stop us from becoming fast friends.

Marco and Ryan at P.F. Changs.

Nate, Jeron, and Joe at P.F. Changs.

Random? Totally! Coming soon a book review post, a new nephew post, and more random stuff.

It's official, we're moving to Texas!

I have never been to Texas, unless you count the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Caleb and I will be moving there in just 10 days! Caleb accepted a job as superintendent for a home builder just outside of the Houston area. He is excited to work in a job that's more applicable to his major and we're both excited for a new adventure. Ever been to Houston? Know anyone in the area? We'd love to hear any tips or advice.

November ran away!

November is over? What?!?! How'd I miss that? Being out of town, working on a ton of birthday boards, and other things kept me from reading a lot last month. And something tells me this month is going to be the same. Which is sad, because I miss reading.

But here's what I did get to:

1. Crossed by Ally Condie: The sequel to Matched. To be honest, I didn't love it. But it wasn't bad. I prefer Matched. I was talking with my sister about it and it's one of those series where the story continues from book to book, rather than there being a definite ending (like the HP series, where each book ends). And I kind of wish each book had a more definite ending.

2. Mastiff by Tamora Pierce: I really enjoyed this one. It was long (like the others in the series) but I liked that it was long. It was never boring. Tamora Pierce has a knack for blending description into her writing so that you don't even realize it and everything just feels like action. Also, I like Farmer, the new main character introduced in this trilogy finale. He's very likable and quirky and fun.



3. Entralled by numerous people: This book is a collection of paranormal short stories. I had the chance to read a few of them but not all. I wasn't overly impressed. But I think that had to do with the medium. The only other short stories I've read were in high school and college, and then they pick out the very best ones. So I had in my mind that each of these stories would be nuggets of awesomeness, when really they turned out to be like chapters from a book and you're left wondering where's the rest of the book.

Thanksgiving in Kentucky

Caleb and I went home to Kentucky for Thanksgiving and it was SO wonderful! It was great to spend time with family, not have to go to work and enjoy good food. We did so many fun things while we were there, too. Like ice skating, laser tag, bowling, seeing the Christmas lights at the horse park, fishing, and a hayride.

In this video Caleb and I are helping our 3 year old nephew try to ice skate. He was so funny. He kept trying to do it by himself, but never really got the hang of it. But he did great for a 3 year old!! He would hold on to the side and then mostly be alright.

On the wagon, getting ready for our hayride! I don't think Caleb was quite ready for the camera. (Dad's a pro at driving the tractor after giving hayrides for the corn maze crowd this fall)

I was out running errands with my mom and sister and Caleb called to say he caught a fish! But not just any fish, a 23 inch catfish! He was so proud. I joined him at our pond when I got home and caught a fish too, but it was only 5 inches and not worth keeping.

Caleb frying up his catfish!

We didn't get a ton of pictures because we brought our camera but left the SD card in our computer at home. Thankfully my mom took some and sent them to me. Now we're back at home and counting down the days until our Christmas break when we'll be in Washington with Caleb's family.

I think my reading addiction is under control

Actually I'm not sure that's accurate. I think the real reason I didn't read as many books in October is because I was busy. Working extra hours at work and other activities kept me from reading as much as I'd like to. But it didn't stop me altogether. Here's what I read in October.

1. Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters: Remember in my last book review post I mentioned reading this, as it's a sequel to Generation Dead? Well, I tried really really hard to finish it, but I just couldn't do it. For some reason I lost interest. Maybe it was the pacing. Anyway I treat books like food sometimes. With food, if I don't like I don't eat it. Why would I? I'm just wasting calories on something that I'm not even enjoying. If I'm not enjoying a book, why continue wasting my time reading it when there's another book out there that I WILL enjoy?

2. Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce: Rereading can be fun. Remembering all the parts you forgot, etc. I enjoyed Bloodhound and am excited to pick up the newly released sequel number two from the library. (What do you call the third book in a series?)



3. The Death Cure by James Dashner: I really liked The Maze Runner and Scorch Trials wasn't bad either and I liked the The Death Cure, but it wasn't as strong as its predecessors. However, it was still a good read and overall an interesting series.



4. Room by Emma Donoghue: I imagine this book was a struggle to write. And I also wonder if she actually talked to people that have been in this situation. Thinking about it I should have looked to see if there was an intro or conclusion that maybe says so or not. It's heart wrenching in places (most places actually) and told from a five year-old's perspective. Check it out.

5. Variant by Robinson Wells: This book was interesting. Although I don't think it's too well known. Published in early October this dystopian young adult novel reminds me of The Maze Runner a little bit. It's not perfect (but what is?) but definitely worth checking out if you like this genre.