Time on my hands

Mom and the sisters drove to Eugene, OR this last weekend to have a Perry family reunion of sorts. They had a fun time, and mom was LOVING Bandon! I wish I could have gone to Bandon because I love it there, but I am not so sure that I missed anything at the reunion. On Tuesday, Sue, Jimilu, Roxy and Hector all came back to our house to stay for a few days. It was fun to have some company in the house for a little while! They all left on Wednesday and Thursday, so the house is now back to its quiet self. I wanted to get a picture of mom with her sisters while they were all here, but it slipped my mind. So, I decided to put an old picture of 4 of the 5 sisters up. Don't they just look like sisters?!



While mom was gone, I did go up to Carson City like I said I would. It was a fun day to just shop around by myself. I had to get a few things for mom's birthday (which was tuesday) so I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got those Green Bags. Anyone ever try them? They looked cool so I thought we would give them a try! We are experimenting to see just how long a banana and a peach will last in those bags. Should be interesting! I also got her a new shirt which is pretty cute. For me....I ended up buying myself two new shirts! YAY! More luck than I had in Reno a while ago! One is a dark green polo shirt, love it. The other is this beauty:

You can't really see it in this picture, but I think its cute. It was a happy day, and I got to eat at In-N-Out too, which was just fabulous!

For my mom's birthday one of the other things I gave her were some placemats for our kitchen table. She has been hunting for blue ones and hasn't been able to find anything. So...while in Carson I stopped by Joanne Fabrics and picked up some blue gingham tablecloth material. I brought it home and made it into placemats for her! They turned out pretty good I think! Pretty easy and now I can say that I have made them. I made eight total, so that is pretty good. Happy birthday mom!!

Little more relaxed

Things are feeling a little bit better now. I got a packet of stuff from the U about classes and everything for my master's program that starts in August. I was getting slightly worried because everyone else at the school has already been registered, and I hadn't heard a thing about what I needed to take or anything. Luckily, an adviser sent out information this week. I got a list of classes and signed up for them. SO...I now have some stuff to do in August! It makes me feel a little more relaxed to know that I have a plan and to know kind of what I need to be doing come fall. Even though I am signed up now and relaxed about that, I am still nervous about starting the program. Unsure of what to expect, how things will go, what to do and where to go are all weighing in on my poor little mind. I am sure that once I get there and get into the grove of things, it will be better. One thing that is still a little unknown...housing. I have yet to find an apartment to live in come fall. Little scary you might say? YES! I looked and looked before I left Utah for the summer but everything down in Salt Lake only had immediate openings, meaning noone would commit to sign me for the fall. SO...I have been without signing a contract for two months now. I go back to Utah for two weeks at the beginning of July, and my goal is to find something suitable to live in and sign a contract. I HAVE to have someplace to live! If anyone knows of any good apartments in Salt Lake near the University, let me know!!

Yesterday I spent literally ALL day babysitting. I was supposed to go from 8 to 4:30. But, the parents called and extended me till 6 pm, which was fine. Well, 6:00 came, and went, and the grandma that was supposed to pick up the kids never came. Hmmm...at 6:30 I called the grandma and noone answered. OKAY....so I waited and waited some more with the kids. At 7 she still wasn't there. I called her again, no answer. Hm...so I found her cell number and called it, no answer. MAN. I honestly was beginning to think I would be there all night! Finally about three minutes after I called her cell phone she called me back saying she was on her way to pick the kids up. At a little after 7:30 pm, the grandma came and I was relieved of my duty for the day. 11 and a half hours babysitting. Man oh man. The kids were good, so that helped definitely. IT was just a little bit of a long day!

Last week I did survive babysitting the 4 kids under 5 yrs old. It actually wasn't bad at all. The baby slept quite a bit, and one of the girls only cried for about ten minutes. Other than that, I think we did alright! The girls seemed to have fun, which is always a plus! All four of them are very full of energy though, thats for sure!!

I am thinking about going to Carson City tomorrow to shop around. My mom is gone this weekend, so I thought a shopping trip would be fun for me, plus I need to get her some little things for her birthday which is next week. HOPEFULLY I can find something good to buy for me, unlike the last few times I have gone shopping in Reno. Maybe Carson will be better, cross your fingers!!

Activities

Saturday my mom and I were finally able to plant their garden. Its taken weeks to get stuff ready but finally...plants are in the ground! YAY! I have to say that yes, I did get sunburned (apparently I don't know how not to) but not as bad as it was last time. We planted corn, tomatoes, spinach, potatoes and carrots. It was a good end to last week to be able to have stuff actually planted so it can start growing. Hopefully we will get something by the time I have to leave in August!

On sunday I made wonderfully yummy chex mix things. They are gooey and sugary and good! The recipe makes a TON, so I cut it in a third, and it still made a huge amount. We will probably be eating it all week long.
Also today I made homemade strawberry jam. I must admit that after having had homemade and store bought jam, I really do like homemade SO much more! It is just better. I also like the freezer variety better than the cooked variety...it just tastes fresher to me. So, thats what I made, homemade freezer strawberry jam. Its yummy!!
I am also a bit excited because I kind of have a job! A friend needs help babysitting this summer a few times a week for a few hours, and called me up. I told her sure and so now I am off to babysit again. It feels a little weird, like babysitting is something that highschool girls do or something, but that is alright. I am not above it and it will be nice to have something else to do. She has 4 kids, all under the age of 5 which could prove to be a challenge, but we'll see. I'm excited for it. Also I got another call this week to babysit for another lady in my ward. Wow...all at once I am a hot babysitter. Who knew?! So that will be put on my agenda for next week.This is a vinyl sticker that I put up on Saturday for my mom. It looks pretty good above her door. Just something new and fun for the house!!

Review

Who would have thought that we would get a solid week of rain in Fallon? Definitely not me! BUT...we did. We also got hail. Here is a picture of said hail. Doesn't appear to be much, but trust me, it was bigger than it looks. After the week of rain every day and freezing cold, it has been nice to be back to normal temperatures around here!

This week has been filled with...not too much really. At the end of last week I helped my mom finish packing up her classroom (she has to move schools) and somehow we got it all done. Its sad to be leaving her room, but I guess change always helps sometimes. On Tuesday mom and I went to Reno and had a girls day. We went shopping for lots of things, although we only came out with a new pair of pants for her, a new pair of shoes for me (see pic) and a seat thingy for my grandpa for fathers day. Oh and strawberries, those we can't forget. They are so delish!

Anyway...about the shoes. I have been needing new black dressy shoes for a while, so that was on the list. I found these ones at Mervyn's and they were an excellent price. They are not my normal style of shoe, I haven't been so jazzed about the whole wedge fashion lately, but they felt really good on and mom said they looked really cute. So...I got them. Hopefully I can break out of my ways and feel okay wearing them!

Today has been filled with work. I have decided to start running again, so I got up this morning and hit the road. I have this horrible habit of pushing myself too hard and too far right at the very beginning of running or exercising, so I was trying very hard not to do that. I felt it a little, but I definitely think I did some good self control to not push too much! Hopefully I can keep this up and make it a daily thing. Lately this house has been in major spring/summer cleaning mode, so today was another day to mark another item off the cleaning list.

I also made zucchini chocolate chip bread. It turned out pretty good, except the chocolate chips all sunk to the bottom. I even dusted them in flour before I put them in the batter! So, anyone have any suggestions on how to keep this from happening again???


I have been thinking lately about different things that I can do to my hair, just for fun. I have tried straightening it, flipping it out, curling it under, crunching it. I think I like all four of those options. Today I decided that I had some time and I would be creative. So...I curled my hair. Normally my hair has been so long that it takes hours to curl with a curling iron and the curl never stayed in place for longer than about 10 minutes. I thought I would try it today and see how it would work with this new short due. Personally, I think it turned out pretty well, AND it didn't take an hour!!