7 GUILTY PLEASURES

1. Reality TV. I tried really hard not to get sucked into it but to no avail. But I'm a big enough person to admit it. Some of my favorite reality shows include but are not limited to: Real World/Road Rules The Challenge (I LOVE THIS SHOW!), America's Next Top Model, The Hills, American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance. There really are more -lots more, but it would just be embarrassing to list ALL of them.

2. LDS Romance Novels. Okay this isn't a current guilty pleasure, but I used to LOVE these books. Anita Stansfield, Michelle Ashman Bell, Jenni Hansen, Jack Weyland. When I was a teenager a good LDS novel about some girl with cancer and some guy with family issues was second to none.

3. Ice cream. Cold Stone. Cake Batter. Raspberries. Gotta Have It size.

4. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls right after Leah goes to bed.

5. Reading in bed. I used to do this all the time before I was married. I would wake up on Saturday morning and read for hours. I think I have done this twice since I've had a child; and I really shouldn't have.

6. Cookie Dough. Baked cookies are fine. But the quickest way to my heart is with a good batch of raw chocolate chip cookie dough.

7. Getting in the car and going. Yes, I know it's a waste of gas, but I love being alone. And I really love being in the car alone. Just driving and being alone is wonderful- especially if it's raining.

This post was supposed to have 10 guilty pleasures, but I could only think of seven.

VEEGLE

I found this website called Veegle.com. It's a website about random, but substantiated, facts. Here are a few:

Wisconsin mother and college student Keely Givhan spent six days in jail for unpaid library fines. - LaCrosse Tribune, 3/2/08

A Sicilian court has ruled that an accused Mafioso can go home because he was too big (462 lbs.) to fit through prison doors and in an prison bed. - MSNBC, 3/12/08

The odds are 1 in 23,483 (.00425%) that you will be wrongly declared dead this year as a result of a data entry error by the U. S. Social Security Department staff. - San Diego Union, 3/20/08

Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan public libraries now offer check-out of video games for all major console game systems. The hope is that more kids will discover the library. - Detroit Free Press, 2/17/08

Oceanside, California teacher John Corcoran admitted that he taught high school for 17 years without being able to read or write. - 10 News (San Diego), 2/14/08

By the end of 2008, more than 50% of the world's population will own a mobile phone. - The Week Magazine, 2/22/08

Every blue-eyed person on planet Earth has descended from a single common ancestor with a genetic mutation who lived 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, according to research at the University of Copenhagen. - San Diego Union, 2/14/08

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giulani spent nearly $60,000,000 on his failed campaign. He won only one delegate. - The Week Magazine, 2/15/08

An 80-year-old Hungarian woman, Julianna Farkas, leaned over a barrel of sauerkraut to scoop out a portion. She was overcome with the fumes, lost her balance and drowned in sauerkraut. - San Diego Union, 2/12/08

Dirt contains bacteria that helps fight depression. - The Week Magazine, 12/28/07

Okay so here's the real reason I posted this. I am bored. The end.

2 BLOGS IN 1 DAY

Lucky you! Well, in my wanderings I found a website called www.freerice.com This is a really cool website that helps the everlasting problem of world hunger. When you go to this site it has you answer vocabulary questions: "introductory means:" then prompting you with 4 different definitions. Each correct answer donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.

Easy huh? Ah yes, but now to the address suspicious nature of so easily giving away this rice. At first I thought this was total bunk. "Yeah right," I said to myself as I proceed to prove how awesome my vocabulary is (who really cares if this actually donates rice to hungry kids, I'm a pretty good Definer, Webster should hire me), "I need to Snopes this." Because we all know that Snopes knows everything. So, to Snopes I go! Huh, it's true. A computer programmer thought this up and the website is a sister site to poverty.com. Apparently, the bill is footed by random advertisers who's names appear on the bottom of the screen. The rice is donated by the UN World Food Program , and organization that in 2006 reached more than 87.9 million people in 78 countries. I think it sounds pretty legit.

So, next time your thinking, "What can I do to help end world hunger?" Go to this site www.freerice.com and actually do it. 20 grains of rice adds up pretty quickly. And I'm smarter for it too: S*M*R*T

ONE WEEK

Well they've made it! One week! Our fish have survived the first week of living with the Quinneys. I think now I can officially induct them into our family. Our fish are now Rosy Fish-Quinney, Raya Fish-Quinney, and Luma Fish-Quinney. Do you think they look happy? I think they look happy. Oh, aren't they cute?

Going, Going, Gone!

I couldn't stand that tongue as the first thing I saw on my blog a single minute longer. So, while I have nothing to post about today, I need to get rid of that awful sight. Now presenting: RANDOM PICTURES THAT WILL REPLACE THE UGLY ONE THAT USED TO BE AT THE TOP OF MY PAGE.


Last night was the monthly McGee Family Home Evening / Family Fun Night (we alternate months between FHE and FFN). This month happened to be FHE and Aaron and Nicole gave a wonderful lesson on faith . It really was well done; spawned some good thoughts and conversation, I think. Anyway, here are a few shots of the fam (minus some very key players - you know who you are). Oh and some pictures that were not taken during this event have also made an appearance.

Educational Moment

At first when I google'd ST. PATRICK'S DAY it pulled up, of course, wikipedia. And while I have, in the past, found some of wikipedia quite useful I decided to go for the History Channel's version. I think it's a little more... well... documented. By the way, does anyone else find the above picture of a 3 Leaf Clover Tongue disgusting? Sick.

St. Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Once a pagan himself, St. Patrick is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. The modern holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.

At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland to remain imprisoned. After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice-which he believed to be God's-spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation-an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. During Patrick's time as a missionary, he infused traditional Irish ritual with Christianity. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish.

Many associate St. Patrick with the banishing of snakes from Ireland with only a wooden staff by his side. In fact, the island nation was never home to any snakes. The "banishing of the snakes" was really a metaphor for the eradication of pagan ideology from Ireland and the triumph of Christianity. Within two hundred years of Patrick's arrival, Ireland was completely Christianized.

The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a Catholic holy day. In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a very different sort of leprechaun than the cantankerous little man of Irish folklore. This cheerful, friendly leprechaun is a purely American invention, but has quickly evolved into an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.

What the...

I don't think I really got the test right. I mean, maybe I answered as best as I could but I REALLY don't feel the test got my personality correct; I think I just failed an inkblot test. Oh well.

Inkblot Results

Tickle's Original Inkblot Test

My Result: Imagination

This means you have a deep desire to use innovative ideas to enhance your life and influence the world around you. This drive influences you far more than you may realize on a conscious level.


Your need to be innovative drives how you look at new opportunities and the kinds of experiences in life you choose to have. On an unconscious level, the reason you may be so driven by imagination is your fear of destruction, the opposite of creation. When you are unable to create due to restrictions imposed by your environment or even ones you unwittingly impose on yourself, do you feel trapped or confined? You may find these feelings of unease only get better when you find another outlet for your imagination.


With such a strong creative orientation, you are willing to entertain a broad spectrum of ideas at any given time. The world is a fuller, richer place because you can contribute new ideas to any experience. Your natural curiosity inspires those around you and encourages them to come up with ideas they wouldn't have thought of without your help.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=inkblotogt&c=50652

Fwoshie

We have decided to give our aquarium another try. After 2 months of just listening to the water trickle into the tank I broke down and bought a few fish. Let me introduce you:

given name - nickname - Spanish translation
Rosario - Rosie - pink
Luminosa - Luma - bright
Raya - Raya - stripe


We bought 3 glowfish from a pretty sweet little aquarium store over on 90th south and 9th east. Now typically, I tend to want to get angelfish, tetras and betas. But they have a tendency to really not like our water. Let me illustrate; we have gone through about 1 fish in the last year because our water hasn't been at EXACTLY the right levels in regards to ammonia and stuff. Along with that and a bad case of ich we lost 1 beta, 1 swordtail, 3 tetras, 2 platys, 1 molly, 1 frog, 1 albino bushy-nosed pleco, and a batch of experimental goldfish (I don't remember exactly how many). Of course, we didn't add them all at once, we did things by the book... but our little fishes just would survive.

This is a last ditch effort to see if we can revive the idea of keeping an aquarium. We let the tank sit for 2 months without any fish to make sure it got through it's bio-whatever-cycles, had the water tested... AGAIN... and bought the hardiest fish known to man. Apparently they use glowfish as testers in polluted waters. These guys can survive anything.


As a side note Leah LOVES LOVES LOVES these 'shishees.' She says hi to Way (Raya), Buma (Luma), and my personal favorite Fwoshie (Rosie - wouldn't it just be easier to eliminate all the extra letters she's putting in there?). As we leave the house, Leah has taken to saying goodbye to the fishes and waves to the tank.

Released

Well it finally happened. I've been released from my calling as Primary Chorister. And we didn't even have to move to get it done! I think I've mentioned it before, but I know most people will think I find this as a relief (as I'm sure they will now that I won't be complaining about it so often) but now that it's actually happened I don't know if I am relieved. The last few months I had finally started to enjoy the calling again and now I don't have it anymore. I guess that's what happens when you finally come to terms with things, they change. And of course, now it really makes me sad that I took this awesome, albeit extremely involved, calling for granted for SO long. I taught for the last time yesterday and was surprised at how sad it was for me to think that I won't be teaching the gospel to these children through song anymore.

So onto the next event, what'll it be? I am excited to see if I have other skills. I can't wait to see what is in store for me next.

Yea!

I'm so happy! Our new camera came today. After many great suggestions (really just one), we decided to go with a camera that no one recommended. This always makes me a little nervous. I mean a camera is a pretty big purchase and they are so important. Really. I mean, I didn't have a camera for about 2 weeks and I felt like I was missing out on all these cute and fun things that were happening. Things that will never happen again. But I have one now, and I will never be without again... well, at least until this one breaks. By the by, if you want to buy a new camera DO NOT get a Pentax. They are wonderful cameras for the first 18 months to 2 years. Then not so much. Well,ours (and all the reviews I read of people who owned like models) still took great pictures but would not usually hold a battery charge for longer than 1 hour (I'm not kidding, near the end of the life of the camera it wasn't even 15 seconds), but when it did the camera took 5-7 seconds to reload after taking another picture. So frustrating!

Well, without further ado here it is... the new smart (but still easy to use for us dummies - ME!) KODAK EASY SHARE Z812 IS. Sigh... it's my new friend.

Hmm...

It seems I am going through blog withdrawals. I feel that after blogging almost every single day for the past month that I need to continue on in some sort of consistency. That probably won't happen, but I am bored of NOT blogging. So while this post will be of no interest to anyone, not even me, at least I am doing it. I feel like I'm itching some sort of Blog Bug. Oooh oooh - to the left a little - a little more... Ahhh. Alright, Blog Bug Itch is gone. For now.