What a Hick!

It is official, I am a hick. I tried to get away from it by moving to a metropolitan area, learning to give directions by street signs not by "that big tree". But there was one thing I had not anticipated, having to duct tape my car. The ultimate sign of a hick, using duct tape to hold your car together. It happened to me yesterday.
I was going to my sister-in-laws house to babysit for her. I pulled out of the drive way and I was driving down road when I hit it, my next door neighbor's mail box. Not head on, just with my passenger side mirror. It's nearly happened several times in the months that I have been here. I tend to drive too close to the edge of our road. Anyway, I stopped and got out to check out the damage. The mail box looked fine, nothing cracked or broken. But I went up to door and rang the door bell. (See Dad those lectures about admitting to things when they happen did stick in my head.) I told them who I was and what happened and I didn't see anything but if they noticed something let me know. Then I went back to my car to check it out. Yeah my car took the brunt of the damage.
My passenger side mirror was broken. The glass wasn't broken and the mirror until was still attached by the wires. The arm the holds the mirror to the car was intact. The mirror until just needed to be reattached to the arm. So I went and bought some black duct tape and put it back together. And it is holding just fine, but it makes be me officially a hick.

My Say

If you don't want to read the ravings of a frustrated 24 year old female stop now.

Well since you haven't stopped reading here goes.....

I'M SICK OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THE PAST!!! How many times a day do you think, oh I remember when gas was such and such, or milk used to cost, or the government used to. Now after you think that do you say to yourself, oh well and move on or do you get frustrated and whine and then move on. It's okay to think about the past to get frustrated with the present because it's not the past. Now I have to admit that I'm not perfect at this I wish I could do that things I use to before I was sick. But my rant is more about people complaining about the situation of the USA. Go figure I'm ranting about people ranting...

Anyway, first off is the gas prices. I hear constantly about this, okay the cost is higher than it used to be and it's jumped up a lot in the last few years, but guess what it is still available to us. It's not rationed, it's not gone, we just have to pay more for it. This one also bugs me because I used to work with pricing gasoline. People say that the people owning the pumps are the ones making that money. Yeah right! They make jack squat, and anywhere from 50 cents to 1 dollar (depending on what state your in) per gallon goes to state taxes. The feds also take out another 20 cents. Yes that can make life a little hard, especially for those on tight budgets. My husband and I have certainly felt it. But with a little planning we've managed to make it work.

Secondly, the government. With the up coming elections we are watching closely to who stands where and what may happen. But why do we complain that we are no longer the country we once were. If we were I would be really worried. Change is essential to life. I'm not saying that we as a country or the government is the best but once again it is better than other places. If we weren't a good country then why would people be dying to get in, illegally and legally. I don't agree with some of the policies that the government has made about dealing with immigrants. Such as giving social security to illegal immigrants. That's a bad business move because there is no way to track it properly. I mean they do pay into it. If you have a job, and the employer does taxes withdrawals you pay them whether your legal or not. But if your not legal you can't file for a tax return. Which is fair in business but governments are not business. I'm not saying to take everything laying down, we still need to be active in understanding what is happening. But you are not the US of 1940 it's 2008 life is very different and so is our government.

Alright I'm not with ranting for now. I'm going to leave you with a quote about perspective. It's out of the book "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". Gimli was speaking to Legolas after the battles of Helms Deep.
"Strange are the ways of men, Legolas! Here they have one of the marvels of the Northern World, and what do they say of it? Caves, they say! Caves! holes to fly to in time of war, to store fodder in! My good Legolas, do you see that the caverns of the Helm's Deep are vast and beautiful? There would be an endless pilgrimage of Dawrves, merely to gaze at them, if such things were known to be. Aye indeed, they would pay pure gold for a brief glance!"

Harley Davidson Dad

Janelle took some pictures of Dad all dressed up on his motorcycle. Then dad sent me some copies asking me to edit them. This the picture I was given to start with.

What he said in his e-mail, "I think the first picture (looking at me from my left side) is the best. But I thought you might want to play with the first 2 and do some editing out of the background before I decided which one to send out – whenever I do send it out." So I did what I thought what he looking for and I sent Dad these pictures.

And then Dad e-mails me, "I was thinking just about cutting out the car and mailbox in the background – bring the eye’s focus onto the scary guy on the bike." I roll my eyes and start to work on the following picture

As you may or may not notice the car and mail box are gone. You just have to love what you can do with a computer and a digital picture. Once again I send an e-mail to Dad, with this picture attached. His response was, "Well I was thinking just cropping it out but this looks even better." My first thought was "Gee Dad. If you just wanted it cropped why didn't you say so??" Then I realized he was please with the work. So I created a couple more variations and called it quits for the day. The credit for great photos, like I said, goes to Janelle. She was able to get a wonderful shot that I was able to work with. It was much easier than some pictures I've had to do.

It's all in the Genes

Oh the joys of family. This past week has been filled with family fun. Last Sunday Fred and I went to my Mom and Dad's house to enjoy the afternoon and a great meal with them. Oh did I mention that Benjamin and Janelle came down with adorable Julie. Ben had a conference in Indy, since his work was paying for the trip down and the hotel room in Indy, why not take the family. So they swung through and spent some time with us. Cousins Ryan and Ashley also came over to hang out so it was a pretty fun day. I of course ended up getting tired and sleeping through our movie of choice (Lilo and Stitch) but apparently I needed the rest. The most of the week days past without too much incident. Wednesday Fred and I went to his parents to help them with some projects. Fred was in charge of trying to fix a computer with Rick and I was busy ripping wallpaper with Viki. Thursday was Temple night and some new move-ins to our ward were in our session. It's a nice young couple who have only been married for 6 months. Fred has know the husband (Jared) for several years and Jenny in from Arizona and just moved here right before the wedding. So she is as lost and knows less people than I do. We ended up talking in the locker room for a good 20 minutes and we hit it off. It was great to talk to a person in a very similar situation. We both appreciate that stories people tell us about when they first moved here 5 years ago, or when they got married 8 years and three kids ago. And the sisters in our ward are wonderful but to have someone your age, newlywed, no kids, and understands the hardships of teaching your husband that dinner isn't always red meat and potatoes... Well it's just comforting. Not to mention Jenny and I have similar senses of humor, and Fred and Jared get along well too. Hopefully we will start enjoying time together, and having more friends in the church.
Oh my how I have rambled. Friday night was a special treat. My Aunt Sheri and Uncle Bill came into Louisville to see Ryan and Ashley. Since neither my parents or me had seen them in a while and poor Fred never met them we decided to have a big ole dinner together. The restaurant of choice was Joe's Crab Shack. What a fun little place, a little too loud, but fun all the same. Before Fred and I could go to dinner we had to pick up my Dad at the airport because his flight has just come in and the battery was dead in his car. Poor Dad :( After everyone got there, and introductions were made and hugs all around we of course put in our orders, and then the lights went out. When all of a sudden YMCA by the village people came on. And there were two of the waitresses starting to dance. And by the chorus so was Sheri. As shown below:
I knew Sheri was capable of being crazy but any outside would be astonished. She is Graduate Journalism Professor for BYU. She dresses in suits and is always well put together. So it must be in the genes. Something genetically strange...as there is with my entire family. And those who marry in are not safe from this deformity, just look at Ashley. Of course her's could be coming from the baby she is carrying.
Saturday and Sunday was spent with the Kaestners. It was Stake Conference this weekend so it easy to plan a get together. After Saturday night session Fred's parents took all the "Adults" who came to the session out for dinner at O'Charleys. No little ones, just the siblings and spouses. It was rather nice and fun to spend time with them. I really feel that I'm starting to fit in, and contribute to their stories and conversations. Sunday was the 2nd Annual Kaestner Family Chili Cookoff. We all brought in different chilis and had a set of missionaries be our judges. I won the most original recipe. I think mine was the only one that didn't use canned chili beans which I personally had never heard of until this week. It was also October Birthday, day. If that makes sense.... Adam, Rick and I were the guest of honor this month. Our birthdays are 19,20, and 22. If we can get someone born on the 21 we'll have a small straight. :) It was a fun day of family and food. I spent family game time asleep in one of the bedrooms but it had been a really rough day for me. Not just pain wise but some other dumb stuff I did. Like burning my hands on chili and getting onion juice in my eye. Oh well I'm doing better now.
I believe that is all from our "Krew" I'm going to go spend some time with my wonderful husband who make my life amazing, and full of love each and everyday.