Krazy Kitty

All the Cool Kids Lay in Bacon Grease While Watching General Conference

2011-04-02T22:05:00.001-07:00

Today was the beginning of General Conference. A weekend where we as Latter-Day Saints gather together to listen to the counsel of our prophet and other various leaders. The sessions today were so great. I think it was the first time that I have ever watched them without falling asleep. I am usually so tired, that try as I might I always seem to awaken during the closing hymn needing to wipe the drool off my face. I thought for sure that that was how today was going to go as I was up late last night writing that nonsensical post.

My alarm started going off at 8:30. I always set my alarm a little bit earlier than I need in the hopes that I will actually get up and maybe shower before conference starts so I am not just sitting in my dirtiness all day long. But of course when my alarm goes off I immediately start touching my hair and face and convince myself that I am not that greasy and can keep sleeping. So my alarm kept going off and I kept hitting that snooze button as if it had stolen my lunch money. Five minutes before the the start of Conference my dad comes into my room and says "Hey you gonna watch Conference?" In my head I begin thinking to myself, "I could keep sleeping, after all the Sunday sessions are the important ones, right?" But out loud I just grumble, "I guess so. Where are we watching it?"

He responds, "Your mom and I are just gonna watch it in bed on a laptop." This sparks my memory. I have a laptop literally a foot from my bed on my ottoman. All I would have to do it roll over to watch conference. Of course that was a lot easier said than done. I laid in bed telling myself, "Okay roll over on three. One. Two. Three.... That was a good build up, lets actually roll over this next time." After a little while I finally accomplished my task and had successfully started watching Conference. I thought this was a genius idea. Just watch Conference while laying down in bed. I thought for sure I would fall asleep but figured that was okay because I would be listening while I slept.

At this time my mom came in and asked if I would like some oatmeal and receiving a positive response she returned with a bowl of oatmeal and a few strips of turkey bacon. Usually I hate bacon but have discovered recently that I actually enjoy turkey bacon... weird I know. So here I am bundled up in my bed eating oatmeal and watching Conference like a total queen! I finish my food and move my bowl and paper towel that had been holding my turkey bacon and discover this!
The bacon grease had soaked through and stained my awesome sheets that I am kinda obsessed with because they are so soft and amazing. Not only were my favorite sheets stained but my bed smelled like bacon, which for some people, like my friend Jessie who ate 45 strips of bacon in one sitting as a personal challenge, would love, but I kinda wanted to vomit. However vomiting required me getting out of bed so that didn't happen and I just continued watching Conference in the stench of bacon but I was not happy about it. In fact, I normally would have been like this:

If you can't tell as my artist skills are kinda non-existent, those blobs are flames! Just had to clarify because I wasn't even sure what they were and I am the one who drew them! But as I was saying, I would normally have been like that but as we were watching Conference I felt that I needed to reign it in a bit and was actually a little more like this:

Okay I think this drawing REALLY needs labels. That is a golden halo on my head and have pretty white wings that allow to fly through those soft fluffy clouds... but I am still a little upset as is evidenced by that lovely face! Anyway that was the gist of my story. Conference today. I was super tired. Still managed to watch it and stay awake the whole time! Stained my sheets with bacon grease. Laid in bacon stench for a few hours but was semi-okay with it. I know you guys are thinking "What an amazing story!" and I don't blame you! Anyhoosier I was so proud of myself that I stayed awake for both sessions! Yay! But someone did not!

Of course as soon as the closing prayer was said and done he magically woke up and began stretching. I guess I am just more righteous than him... and humble apparently!

You Would Have to be Crazy or Just REALLY Bored to Read this Whole Thing

2011-04-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

So I have been stalking peoples blogs like a crazy person. Not even people that I know because that would be totally normal and not creepy. Stalking all these blogs reminded me that I have a blog that is feeling lost and neglected out there in the world wide web. This realization hit me and I had the sudden urge to post immediately, even though it was 1 in the morning and I really should go to bed in an attempt to get up at a decent time, so that when people call me at 2 in the afternoon I don't sound like cracked out hobo... at least not any more than usual.

I sat there for about 10 minutes thinking about what I could possibly write that would be even remotely interesting and came up with nothing. So I gave it another hour and still came up with nothing. Now here I am at 2 in the morning giving up on my attempt to be a functioning member of society tomorrow in order to write a blog post on absolutely nothing. Yeah, that's right you just wasted all that time reading this and there is no point to it. Sorry. But not really because I am not done yet. You could be done, I guess. If you don't love me enough to listen to me ramble on. Yes, I pulled the, "If you loved me you would do this" card. Moving on to the next pointless topic.
My family is on a diet. We have finally become so disgusted with our obese-ness that we are making our feeble attempts to regain control. It is going alright, some days I do really well and others... well lets just say I wouldn't be opposed to shanking someone with toothbrush for a piece of cake. It always seems the worst at night. Its as if I am two separate people. Daytime Katie usually has control from noon-8pm. Nighttime Katie has control from 8pm-4am. Daytime Katie is so good. I will eat all the right food and tell myself this is so good for you. You are an excellent person. You are so good at taking care of your self, so responsible, and did I mention pretty? I go on like this all day in my head until that lowlife nighttime Katie takes her shift.
It is almost as if someone flips a switch. One minute I will be off in my own la la land about how great I am, an dhow great this diet is and then *BAM* I am huddled in the fetal position in the corner of my room basically foaming at the mouth for my need of baked goods. But as we are on a diet we do not have any baked goods nor the means to make any, so I just sit there foaming at mouth looking wild-eyed. As I sit there I go through a mental list of everything we have in our snack cupboard: giant pixie sticks, trail mix, gum, airheads, 2 year-old fruit gems, my dad's bag of Werthers hard candies. I keep going through the list in my head hoping that I just forgot that I baked a chocolate cake and put it in the snack cupboard.

At around 2am I cave and eat a couple handfuls of my dad's candy huddled in my corner of seclusion. When I awake the next day I don't remember much of what happened the night before having passed out from the sugar overload. I only have the partially sucked on piece of candy in my hair and a blanket of wrappers to remind me. Nighttime Katie, ever the irresponsible drama queen that she is left another mess for daytime Katie to take care of.

Okay so maybe I dramatized that a little bit but it is currently 2:30 in the morning and the drama queen nighttime Katie is well into her shift, so it is to be expected.
Okay this blog post is extremely long. So lets keep going, shall we?
Kristi and I are currently writing a book together. It will be comprised of slightly dramatized stories of our childhood. Not too dramatized though because lets face it, we were crazy. So far Kristi has written nothing and has not even read what I have written. So much for being a famous author! Its not as if she is in her final semester of college dealing with finals and moving back home... oh wait, she is. Never mind then... she will get around to writing in about a week after she graduates! But back to me, I have written a couple chapters. I just need Bozo(Kristi) to hurry up and read them so she can add stuff to them. When we get one of them the way we like it I will post it on here as a sneak preview for all of the 2 people that read my blog... and probably all 0 of you that made it this far into the current post. I don't blame you for not making it this far. It would take a real survivor to have gotten through all that nonsense. Anyways that is all I can think of to write at the moment. I am sure that daytime Katie will look back at this in the tomorrow and curse nighttime Katie for making her look like an idiot... again. Oh well, I am over it. That's her problem.

Interview Jitters

2010-08-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have an interview with Cisco tomorrow! I know that I am what they are looking for and that I could do an excellent job. Hopefully this all comes across in my phone interview! I don't enjoy talking on the phone because I like to actually see the person and be able to interact with them. I have a hard time allowing my personality to shine through in a phone conversation. Something that I apparently need to work on by 1:30pm tomorrow! hahaha... Well wish me luck... we will see how this goes. If this doesn't work out, I know that there will be something just as good if not better waiting for me just around the corner!

Celebrating the Fourth on the Third, Fourth and Fifth

2010-07-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

I love the Fourth of July. It is one of my favorite holidays. It is a time for us to ponder on how blessed we are to live in a free country and on the many men and women who have paid with their lives to ensure that it continues to be free. It is also a time for overeating and blowing stuff up... that is my kind of holiday!

This weekend I have experienced more fireworks than I have in the past 10 years... probably combined. We began our experience on Saturday night. As we live in the heart of Mormonville, the fireworks display in Idaho Falls was held on the 3rd so as not to disturb the sabbath day. A little strange for me but alrighty... it just means that I can enjoy the fireworks a day sooner!

In Idaho Falls they shoot the fireworks up over the river. As Outback steakhouse is also right by the river, we decided to eat at Outback a few hours before the show and then relax on their grass to watch the display. Many of our fellow ward members had the same idea, as did our bishop. The fireworks were very good. We could feel the explosion rattling in our bones as we laid there watching them. Literally the second the fireworks ended our bishop drove by waving goodbye. Man, he sure got out of here fast... we all thought. We looked around, seeing the thousands of people all around us, we too booked it to our car to hopefully beat some of the rush.

The Fourth itself was looking to be a pretty tame day. The plan: watch The Phantom of the Opera. What really happened: We heard about a fireworks show down in Pocatello and booked it down there. We crammed into Ryan's little car and drove down to Pocatello to meet Stacy's brother and watch the fireworks. We made a pit stop in Fort Hall(the Indian reservation) for Stacy and Ryan to pick up some mortars and other various explosives.

We then continued on down to Pocatello. The fireworks show was pretty good. Their fireworks seemed to be a little bigger than the ones in IF but they weren't constant and the show still did not last as long as the ones on IF. So... IF:1 Poci:0. We then blew up some of our own fireworks to keep the celebration going followed up by a midnight run to Dennys.

I realize that this blog post seems never ending but that is how the celebrations have felt this weekend! Today we are having a barbecue at the park... because you can't truly celebrate this great countries independence without grilling up some hot dogs. Tonight is going to be quite a bit of fun. We have quite a few of our own fireworks to set off. A few of them may be a little south of the legal border, so lets hope we don't get busted! ...but if we do... I am sure anyone reading this blog would know long before I could post it on here!

Anyways... long story short... America is awesome as is this weekend.

Relaxation... Sort Of

2010-06-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally hit! It has been so warm this week. I just love it... but it does make this whole still being in school thing more difficult. Totally fine though because I graduate exactly a month from today! Woot!

My classes tomorrow are canceled because of the Newel K. Whitney summit, so I am headed down to Utah for some fun and relaxation. I am gonna lay out by the pool and soak up some rays. (Not too many though! No worries, I will be bringing some major sunscreen.) I will also get to see Craig this weekend! I haven't seen him in so long. I can't wait! It is bound to be full of fun and some good laughs!

It will be nice to get out of Rexburg for a little while and relax. Unfortunately, I can't relax too much. I have to keep studying for the CCNA. As much as I wish I would just magically know all the information, it doesn't seem to be happening. I am for sure gonna have to crack down on my studying! I guess that means I know what book I will be "enjoying" poolside.

It's All Coming Together

2010-06-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last week my new cluster was accepted and I went in to talk with someone in my advising office... again. Finally I heard the words I have been dying to hear, "You are all set for graduation. Congratulations!" I have been so stressed trying to jump through all of their hoops... and attempting to crawl under a few of them, it was such a relief to finally hear those words. Looks like I am all set to get out of here... and they are even gonna let me take a degree with me!

I can't wait to walk across that stage! The only worry now is to avoid tripping... but lets be honest its me... so the real worry is how to trip with grace, class and in a way that says, "I'm a college graduate, baby!"

I miss my friends...

2010-06-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Being one of last ones to graduate out of your group of friends is no bueno. It is so sad to be in the same place as they move on with their lives, meet new people and have fun without you. Don't get me wrong, I still have friends up here in Rexburg, but some of my bestest friends have graduated and left me over the past couple semesters. Stevie, Brooke, and Craig... I am talking about you! How dare you guys leave me here! You should have stayed so we could all enjoy another semester in one anothers presence!

I miss late night chats with Stevie back when we shared a room. We shared our hopes, dreams, aspirations and deepest fears. We used to play shadow puppets, she would hold her rubber duckie and my hand(snake) would gobble it right up! We always got the biggest kick out of that! I loved that I could corrupt her with my amazing music taste aka. Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana! (You are SO welcome Kyle! haha..) I miss all the times that we dressed up in crazy outfits and ran around town taking awesome pictures. Our foray into dating services will forever be ingrained in my mind... thanks a lot Brooke! Although our dates were AWESOME, somehow neither of them resulted in marriage... or even a second date! hahaha... I miss you Stevie and am sad that we didn't get to spend more time together your last semester.

Brooke I just love you! You are one of my best friends! I miss all of our slumber parties and random adventures. From going to the cemetery at 3 in the morning to celebrity stalking in Hollywood, we always had a blast. I loved all of our pranks that we attempted to pull on different people with varying success... hahaha. The most epic part of my last summer was when we pulled off the most amazing surprise visit! That was one of the funnest weeks of my life. I miss our paint/mud wars. Those will be some of my favorites memories from college. I miss our "Core Four" adventures staying up until the wee hours of the morning "making memories," as Mike would say. I miss you so much Brooke and wish you were still here with me! Either you move to San Jose or I move to Phoenix... we have to make this work!

Craig you were the light in my life! I miss our arguments over tv shows and movies (and your lack of taste in both!). I will always think of you and our midnight adventures whenever I pass a Denny's. It still kills me when you send me a text or facebook message saying "Dennys?" You know that I am always down! I miss our movie nights and chilling on the 70's porn couch. I miss our awesome game nights. I even miss you dragging me to happy holiday films, "Everybody's Fine"... really Craig? That was not happy in the slightest. I miss our random road trips to Utah, Pocatello and Arizona. I could always count on you to be up for a spur of the moment trip! Basically, I miss you and need you to come visit because I am having some serious Craig deficiencies.

Miss you guys tons! We legit need to have a reunion stat!

I Am Ready but Apparently BYUI is Not

2010-06-15T22:03:00.000-07:00

So there has been major drama this semester over me graduating. It started within the first couple weeks of the semester. I went in to the advising office, as I had for the past few semesters to ensure that I was on track for graduating at the end of this semester. Only this time I was told a different, less cheery, story. Apparently I still had a couple classes that I needed to take that every previous adviser had failed to mention. Awesome, right?

It turns out that I still had a class for my minor and for my major. To solve the issue with my minor, I dropped it and condensed it to a cluster(a half minor). I then had to pick up another cluster, luckily I had all those education classes from way back when I thought I had the chops to be a teacher(hahaha... yeah that would have never worked!). The major class was a different story, there appeared to be no way around having to stay another semester to take ONE class. I begged and pleaded and made my way to the head of our department's office and he took pity on me! He was able to swap the class out for another class that I am currently taking! He said, "Katie, I know you. I was just like you when I was your age. I liked to play a lot more than going to class too. Now, if I do this for you, you can't succumb to the nice spring weather, you need to go to class." Luckily for me, the weather hasn't been that great!

It seemed everything was back on track for graduation... until I went to see my adviser again today. Apparently, one of the classes for my education cluster had been pulled from my generals. Now my generals were incomplete. I just can't win! BYU-Idaho just doesn't want to say goodbye to me(and who could blame them!). I mentioned that I had already received my Associates degree so that my generals didn't really matter any more. The advisers and I had a good laugh about how I had found a loop hole that apparently no one had thought of before. I thought maybe I was in the clear until things turned serious and I was told that I needed to take another class.

"Seriously?!? Am I ever getting out of here?!?!" rang through my head as I sat there dumbstruck. Then I had another stroke of genius and suggested just revamping my education cluster. So... I had to make the treacherous up hill walk to the Hinckley building, 3rd floor, to the education advising center. I swear everyone in the advising centers know me really well, I see them almost on a weekly basis!

Once I arrived all huffing and puffing from over exertion, I had the delightful opportunity to explain my long confusing situation to someone else. I didn't have any more education classes to use for this cluster and was a little scared they would tell me that there wasn't anything that they could do, when the head adviser suggested I use one of my CIT classes in the cluster. What? CIT and ED classes together? Who would have thought? She just told me that I had to write a very convincing story of how the CIT class fit with the ED classes and how the combination of those classes would assist me in my career goals.

I had no idea how they were related but I just started writing and put my immense BS skills to work. When I finished, everyone was impressed with my awesome BS skills, as they should be! The head adviser immediately approved my cluster and I just had to take it down to the main advising office for them to approve it. So fingers crossed that they accept it! I was told that would accept it because they want to get students like me (super seniors) outta here! I will keep you all updated on the drama that is attempting to graduate from BYUI and just know that if this marvelous plan fails, I will channel Veronica Mars and uncover another unknown loop hole... hopefully one that does me some good!

Well Golly Gee

2010-06-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

It has been such a long time since I have sent a lovely blog out into the world. I would say that I have been much too busy with school and wrapping things up in preparation for graduation... but I don't want to lie to you, we are friends after all. I have been doing the required work and then chilling with friends and catching up on a bunch of tv shows. I have definitely hit the mark... super senioritis has hit! I need to get out of this place! I know that once I graduate I will miss all of the good times had here and the amazing people that I have met... but for now I cannot wait!
BYU-Idaho is a great place but it is time for me to move on with my life. I need something new in my life to challenge to me, I have kinda fallen into a rut and need to mix it up a bit. If only the weather would warm up so that we could do fun stuff and have a semblance of a summer. Today was really nice so hopefully that will just continue!
I am currently studying to take the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) exam. I swear this test is gonna be the end of me! I am steadily doing better on the practice exams but still have quite a ways to go before I take it in the beginning of July. I am losing steam on it but am going to redouble my efforts and hopefully pull this thing off! The Computer Information Technology faculty have been a great help to me in studying. They go out of their way to ask me how I am doing and how they can help me. I can go to them at any time to ask them questions and they are always willing to sit down and explain it to me. I will be sad to leave my little nerd "family!"
Sorry I don't have anything totally awesome to say... maybe someday I will have amazing stories to tell... just stick around!

Mid-Semester Crisis

2010-02-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

It happens every semester. You are tired and burned out. You are procrastinating at a level that is unimaginable to who you were at the beginning of the semester. The mid-semester crisis has struck again!

I started out so good! Getting my homework done way in advance, keeping up with all my reading, maintaining a clean bedroom, working out at the beginning of my days... but that has all gone out the window.

My car of motivation has just about run out of gas and is just idling towards the end of the semester. I don't want it to be like this anymore. I feel like I am just living a half life and that I am being buried by the things that I keep putting off.

I am going to be better! I am going to get my butt back into gear. I was much happier at the beginning of the semester because it all felt so new and like anything could happen. I was doing everything that I was supposed to. I am going to get back to that.

The semester isn't over yet. There is still time to turn it around and open up many new possibilities. As I began writing this entry, it was merely as a way to gripe about how unmotivated I am. As I finish this entry, I am excited at the prospect of beginning again.

I just need to get back to what I was doing and those feelings will come back; the feelings that anything can happen. Because it can.

New Years Resolutions: An Update

2010-02-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

I had planned to do an update on the first of every month but things have been crazy around here. I figure better late than never though! I have been doing pretty good on my resolutions thus far... YAY! As a reminder to myself and to you(who I am expecting to hold me accountable), I will list each of my goals again along with an update on my progress.

1. Read the Book of Mormon cover to cover- I have been reading pretty regularly, but I definitely need to be reading it more. In order to finish by the end of the year I need to read at least a page and a half a day... a little behind but I am well on my way!

2. Exercise at least 4 times a week- I have been doing really well on this. As my readers know, I and some of my friends joined a local gym here in Rexburg. My original goal, as stated, was to work out 4 times a week, but I have actually been going 5 to 6 times a week. It has been going great!

3. Graduate College- I am doing really well in all of my classes and graduation is definitely looking good!

4. Eat dinner at home at least 4 nights a week- This one has been kind of rough. There isn't much to do in Rexburg so my friends and I usually go out to eat pretty regularly. But I have managed to do this one! My friends and I even made a goal to not eat out at all this next week. We are going to go Sunday to Sunday as a way to save money and eat better.

I am excited that things have been going so well. Hopefully I can keep it all up! 1 month down, 11 to go! Thanks for all your help and support!

Ian Will Pump YOU Up!

2010-01-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

As per my New Years Resolution I have joined a gym here in Rexburg. I realize that we have a gym on campus for free but it is always super crowded and the machines aren't really top notch. So a couple of my roommates and I drove down the hill to World Gym and signed up! We have been going for a couple weeks now and I am really enjoying it. (As much as you CAN enjoy exercise anyway. Let's face it, nothing beats sitting on your butt all day watching TV and eating.)

As part of our package we receive two free training sessions. Yippee! So I scheduled a time to meet with the trainer, Ian. He guided my roommates and I on our weight loss goals and how best to achieve them. Told us what we should be doing everyday and what our ideal heart rate range is. He was so informative!

On my next meeting with Ian, he took me on a walk-through of the gym. This was very helpful because many of the machines just looked like a bunch of twisted metal torture devices. It turns out that they are twisted metal torture devices but at least I now know how to properly use each one! Enemies beware!

After each new machine that Ian showed me, he would turn to me with a big smile (as if he had created the machine or something) and say, "How do you feel about this machine?" What the heck? What do you want me to say? I hate all the machines. I didn't put on a bunch of weight because I love to workout! But after every machine I would say, "I love this machine, Ian. Thank you for introducing us. You will definitely be invited to the wedding." Well, not those words exactly... but trust me those are better!

"I Am Damn Harry Potter!"

2010-01-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

This morning I awoke in my bed in Rexburg. I laid there wishing that I did not have to get up quite yet. 7:45 am class is much to early... especially during a Rexburg winter! As I laid there, stretching, something began tugging at the corners of my mind. Suddenly it all came flooding back. One of the strangest dreams I have ever had and let me tell you, I have had some CRAZY ones!

The scene opens in a Costco. I am there, along with several of my friends and family. The Costco is closed yet we are all there playing around and shooting at each other with sniper rifles. I suddenly get this overwhelming urge that I need to hide and protect myself. I run over to the clothing section and begin burying myself down into the great masses of clothes.

My aunt comes over to me and begins uncovering me. "What the heck?" I say.

"Katie, you need to get over there and help them fight those aliens!"

"I can't! The aliens are here for me. I need to stay here and protect myself. They can handle themselves just fine but I cannot be sacrificed!" I exclaim.

"Katie, get over there now!" she yells. I extricate myself from the clothes and stomp off in a huff towards the fighting.

"FINE!" I scream. "But the aliens are going to kill me first because I am damn Harry Potter!" I begin running with reckless abandon towards the far end of Costco. As I am running, I turn to my left and begin running down a darkened aisle. I see shadowy figures running in the distance. I sped up and began chasing down these shadowy figures.

Once I catch up to them, I realize that these are the aliens that are trying to kill me... and I have nothing to defend myself. I turn tail and run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. The aliens were in hot pursuit. My fastest was not fast enough and they were soon gaining ground on me. I knew at any moment they were going to catch me and go through with their dastardly plan.

Just as I was about to lose all hope, the wall to my left slides open and bright white light beams down on me as fog billows out of the opening. A disembodied voice says, "Come to us, we can train you to fight them." I had no idea who they were but I was much more willing to take my chances with them.

I turn to go in and feel as if I am being sucked in by some kind of vacuum. As I was being pulled into the portal I can feel the enemy aliens' fingertips brush my ankles. I had just barely made it to safety. This next part of my dream is a white, foggy blur. All I remember is that the beings that trained me were of a rival alien sect.

I walked out of the portal triumphantly. The white light glaring from behind me as the fog billowed around me. I was ready to take down some aliens!

Then I was snuggling with some guy on a cloud watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform on a larger nearby cloud. The End.

Dreams are so funny!

Rexburg or Bust!

2010-01-02T22:32:00.000-08:00

It has come time to return to school for yet another semester. For the first time in a great while, I am not eager with the anticipation of returning to my beloved Rexburg. Usually at this time I can barely contain my excitement at returning to the 'Burg, as we so lovingly call it. I am just plain tired. This break seemed to fly by and I feel even more exhausted than I was before the break.

I am not looking forward to the LONG drive back to Idaho. I only hope that we have good weather the whole way and that there are no more semi-truck incidents. (Once was way too many times too many!) I am writing this from the floor of my bedroom at home, just wishing that I had another week to be here at home. There are so many other things that I wanted to do. I just ran out of time. I kept thinking, "I will do it later. I have plenty of time." Sadly, my time has come to an end.

I have put off the drive back as long as I dare. Kristi and I were supposed to leave this morning, but we hadn't packed and were just plain tired. So we pushed it back until tomorrow. I wish I could push it back another day but sadly, tomorrow is the day!

I am sure once I get back to Rexburg I will be fine. Although it is freezing and covered with snow, I have great friends there that make it all worth it. I hope this semester is as good as, or even better than those prior to it. My college career is ending and my life will change... hopefully for the better! I would like to leave having even more great memories. Something to look back on and laugh about with my future children. So ready or not Rexburg... here I come!

My Cat is Bulimic

2010-01-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

I was just laying in bed staring at my computer trying to think of what I wanted to write today. I kept thinking and thinking and thinking... nothing came. As I was getting frustrated, my Mom calls me from the other room. "Katie, jsklfjaslkj fjflsfjlas sjlkajlf hj kasjdh and I can't do it." I had no idea what she had said... but I knew that it required me to get out of bed. I was more than a little bitter at having to get out of bed, but me being the amazing daughter that I am *wink* did just that.

"What did you need my dear, sweet mother?"

"Rascal ralphed in the other room and I need you to clean it up." For those of you who have been hiding under a rock the past 15 years, Rascal is my cat... and I may be a little obsessed with him. Keep checking my blog, there is bound to be a post all about him one of these days!

I walk into the kitchen expecting to see a big pile of nastiness and that Rascal (or Rascoliosis, as I like to call him) had fled the scene. Well the big pile of nastiness was there... but so was Rascal! I was surprised to find him still there. There he was chowing down some more autumn colored cat food not even 2 feet from where he had thrown up said autumn colored cat food. He just threw up, why the heck was he binging out again? The little freak!

"Rascal, what the heck?" I say to him. He just stares at me. "This is disgusting!" He just stares at me. "Why couldn't you at least throw up on Kristi's bed again?" He grins at me... not really... but I like to imagine that he did!

I throw down some paper towels on top of the mess to begin picking it up. It soaks through the paper towel and coats my hand... I legit almost ralphed myself. (Maybe then I could have called Kristi in to clean both messes... hmmm... an intriguing thought) Rascal just stares at me as clean up the nastiness he had expelled from his stomach. I love the guy, but he is as helpful as a bowl of oatmeal.

I am going to have to sit down with Rascal and talk to him about his Bulimia and skewed self image. All this throwing up is not good for him. He is already quite thin. He needs to focus on getting better and maybe someday he will see what I see; a freeloading sack of fleas. Just kidding, I love you Rascal!

New Years Resolutions

2009-12-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

Tradition has it that at the beginning of each year we make goals. These goals can be anything from spiritual, physical or emotional. Everyone makes goals in the hopes that they will acheive them and have a better life. I, like many people, set these goals, work on them for a few weeks and then forget all about them until the following New Years.

This year, I have decided to do something a little different and use this blog to help. I will set a few goals that are important to me. Each month, on the first, I will write a post as an update on how I have been doing on accomplishing these goals. I figure this way my goals will be constantly on my mind. By posting how I am doing on these goals, it will make me accountable to myself, as well as to you. It will keep me on my toes!

My goals for 2010:
1. Read the Book of Mormon cover to cover
2. Exercise at least 4 times a week
3. Graduate college
4. Eat dinner at home at least 4 nights a week

These are only a handful of the goals that I would like to acheive but I know that the more goals I set the less I will be able to accomplish. I will focus my attentions and efforts on these four goals this year and add more in the coming years. I certainly hope that through this method I will actually be able to acheive my goals.

A new year is a fresh start. I hope that all of you will take advantage of this opportunity to set goals and make 2010 an even better year than 2009. I have greatly appreciated everyone's kindness and friendship this past year. I would not have been able to make it through with out you! I love you all and will see you next year!

"I'm Gonna Text Judy On My Zipit..."

2009-12-30T22:32:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago I received a call from my Father. He was blabbing on, all excited about something he had seen on Hak 5. (some nerdy tech show) On this show, the people hacked a hand-held instant messaging device and converted it to a little mini computer. I asked my Dad what the name of the device was. He couldn't remember at first but I instantly thought Zipit. "Zipit?" I say. "Why yes!" he exclaims. I got excited at this point because one of my favorite YouTube personalities, Fred, has a Zipit and promotes it. Fred has many videos and YOU should watch them. So funny!

So today, I awake to the sound of my phone ringing. I groggily answer, "Hello?" "Katie, get out bed and get your butt in here!" My Dad had called to wake me up. I stumble into his room and he says, "Today is the day!" "What?" I say. He merely says "Zipit," and I know what he is thinking. I settle down on his bed and we start watching the episode so that I know what to do. I begin to follow along as I watch. I struggled to find the proper downloads to load on the miniSD card that I would put in the Zipit.

Everything was going swimmingly until I loaded the Linux image on the miniSD. The driver I had installed to allow me to access the Linux files from my Windows machine was not working properly. I could not open the card and put on the additional needed files.

The next step was to try and access them from a Linux machine. So we installed a Virtual Machine of Ubuntu Linux on my Dad's laptop. We tried opening the card on there but did not know all the proper commands to open the card. PAIN IN THE BUTT! My Dad kept going on about how great it was that I was getting this learning experience. Not so much. I was bitter that it wasn't working and may have sworn quite a few times.

We still have not gotten it working which is extremely frustrating because Hak 5 made it look so easy! I guess I will have to work on it some more tomorrow... lame! I hate the work portion. I just want to have a cool little mini computer. I mean, come on... who doesn't? Hopefully I will have it working tomorrow and can look SUPER cool on my Zipit... just like Fred!

SEX has a Price Tag

2009-12-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

Today is my mother's birthday. She is an amazing woman whom I revere. I could wax eloquent on her many virtues but my sister had beat me to the punch. Rather than compete with her beautiful words, I will let her blog post stand as a representative for what I would have written. (To see Kristi's post on our wonderful mother click here.)

Instead I would like to describe the entertaining evening that we had celebrating the day my Mom deigned it time to come down and live among us lowly humans. (haha... now she sounds like an alien or something... maybe she is... but that is another blog post all together) Our neighbor Sara-Lynn came over, as well as my aunt Amy and cousin Heather. We had several games to choose from. (and snacks! SO many snacks!) We settled on Encore. A game that Heather had brought over.

I was very skeptical of Encore at first. The basic gist of the game is to be able to sing at least 6 words of a song that has to do with the topic or contains a specific word. The first team to run out of songs loses. Now I have a VERY difficult time remembering tunes of songs if it isn't playing at the time or if there is any other noise... and remembering lyrics? haha... yeah right! So lets just say when it came down to the other team choosing a player from our team for the player vs. player section... I was likely to be chosen for my poor lyrical skills. As Heather so kindly put it, "We need to pick their worst player. KATIE!" Thanks a bunch Heather, you couldn't even pretend to have a difficult time choosing?

The game continued on, my team making up many new lyrics and even new songs! Kristi forgot it wasn't her teams turn and started singing a song that she had worked so hard to remember... poor, poor Kristi. My team held no sympathy for her and stole her song. (Cool dance moves included.) I must admit though, the highlight of this game for me was when we all burst out singing "I am Proud to be an American" at the top of our lungs. We even stood up and threw our arms up in the air and danced around. We all got the chorus down just fine... however were unable to remember the part with the word that we actually needed... haha... oh well.

I am not really sure how we got on the topic, but then we started talking about this video that my Mom had shown for a Youth Fireside. It is entitled "SEX has a Price Tag" featuring Pam Stenzel. So of course we then put it in and watched the whole hour long video. It was very informative, if not somewhat terrifying. You should have seen the faces of these kids. They looked an awful lot like this.

That Pam Stenzel really knows her stuff. Either that or she is a great horror writer. Most of what she was saying was enough to turn anyone off from sex. Seriously, I survived scary movie month with only a few lingering scares but this video will haunt me forever. Don't believe me? Watch it yourself. I love this video, Pam is pretty funny, but don't count on the comedy to lesson the horrors to be heard. Make sure to have your blankie and favorite stuffed animal close at hand- and your boyfriend FAR FAR AWAY!

Mr. White Volvo Man

2009-12-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Although my family has moved to Clovis, my Dad still works in San Jose. So every week we have to pack up and travel the 3 hours up to San Jose. I LOVE San Jose, I really do, but I HATE the constant traveling back and forth. I hate having to pack up my crap, load it in the car, drive up there, work pretty much non-stop for 2 days and then drive back. It is miserable but I try not to complain about it too much because my Dad enjoys working and it allows him the opportunity to still support his family despite his disease.

But what REALLY gets my goat are the other drivers on the road. I realize that I am not the best driver. I even have a letter from the DMV to prove it! ("You may think you are a good driver but...") These other yahoos on the road though just blow my mind. Here I am just happily driving along, rocking out to Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, when this guy in a white Volvo zooms in right behind me from the other lane, totally cutting off the car that had been just behind me.

I speed up a little so that I can get over to the other lane and let the idiot in the Volvo pass me. Apparently, I wasn't going fast enough for Mr. White Volvo Man. He was right on top of me. Which was really brave for him, as I was driving a giant Expedition. I keep checking my rearview mirror to see if he is backing off at all... but NO. There is no where for me to go, the other lane is packed full of cars. I am not about to speed up any more. Visibility was low due to fog and rain. We were in a very windy pass and I was already going 5 over the speed limit.

I check my rearview mirror one more time; just in time to see Mr. White Volvo Man throw his hands up in the air as if to say, "What the heck?" I normally am a very calm person but this just infuriated me. We are not all as suicidal as you, Mr. White Volvo Man. I found myself thinking spiteful things about him.

Who did this guy think he was? His time was no more important than anyone elses and the way he was driving he was going to cause an accident. Why did he think he was so cool? Sure he did have a Volvo like Edward Cullen... but his Volvo was definitely not silver. It was a wannabe Edward Cullen car! I finally get over to the other lane, this whole thing had taken place in less than a minute. As soon as I get over, Mr. White Volvo Man zips by going about 90 miles an hour.

I was relieved to have Mr. White Volvo Man out of the way and continued on my way. Belting out the Hoedown Throwdown, my anger already diminishing. Moral of the story: If you are going to buy a Volvo and drive up right behind people... at least get a silver one. That way people think you are Edward Cullen in a rush to save Bella... again.

ANOTHER Slideshow? Really?

2009-12-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

I awoke to the sound of my father's voice this morning. "Hey Katie, can you come help me?" I groan and roll over, hoping that it is just a dream. "Katie, I need help with my lesson." I begrudgingly extricate myself from the warmth of my bed. I walk into the kitchen, wiping sleep from my eyes, "What do you need me to do?" He asked me to make a presentation of pictures depicting Christ's life. He wanted it to be about 4 minutes in length.

Funny thing is, I had already created just such a presentation about 5 years ago. For my Laurel project I spent weeks gathering pictures and assembling them into a 4 minute presentation. I then prepared a fireside with several speakers and played my presentation. I suggested we just use the same one. Unfortunately, we could not find it.

I had to create the same presentation that had taken me several weeks in an hour. It went a lot quicker this time because I had a better program and I knew how to find pictures more quickly. I was able to pull it off! It turned out great! I kept teasing my Dad that I could have put any pictures in the slideshow as long as it had decent music he would never know. I told my Dad that the slideshow was full of pictures of me holding the "thumbs up" pose.

My Dad was very excited to have the presentation for his lesson. Sadly though, he didn't get to use it! The DVD player in the room we were in did not have a remote and we were unable to access the beautiful presentation. Also, he wasn't able to use the bulk of what he had planned for his lesson because of this DVD player debacle. He did pretty good despite this through the great input of his class. Also, he is just plain awesome... like me!

Haaaave you met Ted?

2009-12-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been set up out of the blue? Having a lovely evening when *BOOM* someone says, "Hey, have you met so-and-so?" I seem to be getting a lot of that recently. It seems that I just give off the "I am single and desperate" vibe. It seems to be a common experience for me lately. I can't ever come home without someone attempting to find me that special someone.

Just tonight, we had some family over. Uncle Frank walks up to me and says, "When can you come meet Ted?" Then my Aunt Jemima gets excited and says, "He is the Bishop's son. He is your age and still single. How great is that?" I kind of laugh thinking that this is a big joke. But no, Aunt Jemima was DEAD serious.

She went on to describe why the situation was perfect. Ted is in a different ward than I am and he goes to a different school. This is perfect because if things go bad we will never run into each other. If things go well, I can see him when I am home.(Oh goody!) I just smile and nod politely, and laugh some more before quickly changing the subject.

I am only 22 years old. It is totally fine that I am not married yet. I am in no hurry. I am not offended that everyone keeps telling me that they have found the "perfect" man for me. I know that they just care about me and want me to be happy. I am happy and perfectly content with where I am at this point in my life. But I do enjoy hearing about all the "perfect" men to be found in Fresno. So keep it coming!

My family could definitely give Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother a lesson on being a wingman. "Haaaave you met Ted?"

**Names have been changed for confidentiality

Wallwork Family Photos

2009-12-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

My Dad recently had a really strong desire to assemble a slideshow for his father. As my Dad is blind, the fulfillment of this desire was placed on the shoulders of my sister and I. At first we complained a little, saying there were other things we would rather be doing, but it became kind of fun in the end. There were many steps to be taken to get this project off the ground.

Step One: Gathering Photos
We knew that our Grandpa had been scanning the old photo albums and storing the photos on his home computer. In order to gain access to these, Kristi and I geared up in our very best ninja costumes and waited for the dead of night. We scaled the side of our grandparent's home and dropped in to their computer room from the ceiling. We had underestimated the security of their home and Kristi almost lost an arm to a laser beam. Luckily, I was able to disarm the lasers pretty easily. (Never buy your laser beam security system from WalMart!) After that, it was a simple hack into their mainframe to gain access to the precious pictures. We made our quick escape back up through the ceiling and drove back to home base.

Step Two: Inserting Photos into Slideshow
There was a MASSIVE amount of photos! Some so old and yellowed that we couldn't even tell who was in the photo. I was given the task of putting the pictures into the slideshow and going through and getting rid of the photos that were duplicates or too difficult to see. This was a daunting task as there were over 1700 photos! Me, being the supremely lazy person that I am, or as I like to call it, "efficient," just clicked through the photos quickly checking for duplicates. Surprisingly, my foolproof method missed a few of copycats. Looks like I will have to go back and do battle with the duplicates once more!

Step Three: Picking the Soundtrack
I didn't have much to do with portion. (Thank goodness!) I merely showed Kristi how to work the program and let her loose! Usually I would love to be the one choosing the songs but with that many pictures the slideshow came out to be almost 2 hours!! That requires quite a few songs! No way I could handle that pressure, especially with my Dad breathing down my neck. (The breath is one thing but his impatience is another!) Kudos to Kristi for pulling it off... or almost. She came so close but miscalculated the length of the presentation and the music cut off about a minute before the end. OOPS!

Step Four: Burning to a DVD
I first had to render the slideshow file to an .avi file. This was extremely simple and just done with the click of a button. Unfortunately it took forever for the slideshow to render. Then I simply brought the .avi file to my Mom and she cast some magic spells over it and BOOM! we had a DVD version of the slideshow!

Step Five: Presenting the Slideshow
We were all exchanging gifts at my aunt Amy's house. My Dad kept saying, "Where is Grandpa?" "Is he in the room?" Like I said earlier, my Dad is blind, so he was unable to see that his father was just a couple chairs away from him. He had my uncle Dave put the DVD in the projector and the familiar slideshow began to play. Everyone loved it! It was so fun learning more about my family's past through the old photos. We mentioned in the beginning that the slideshow was almost 2 hours long and that everyone may not want to watch the whole thing... but we did.

Step Six: Further Editing
Everyone wants a copy of the slideshow! Before we burn more copies though, I think I will go through and remove the duplicate slides. That should also solve the music issue!

This was a great project and it came at the right time of year, when all the family is together and we can all enjoy it. It has helped me feel closer to my family and brought back many fond memories. Below are some of the pictures found in the slideshow!

A picture of my grandparents. I just love them!

All of my Dad's brothers and sisters. My Dad is the big guy in red!

My mom with her awesome crimped hair... and my Grandma in the background.

My cousins, Spencer and Steven, and I on Halloween!

Hanging out at Grandmas! Ian, Spencer, Me and Kristi!