The Return of Orville Burnenbacher

Apparently Jeran has been holding out on me. Hiding his candle under a bushel. Withholding his secret talent.

I have long known that Jeran has claimed to be able to make popcorn in a pan on the stove, which is something I had never seen done (seems strange in retrospect). So the other day, he finally demonstrated his mad popcorn popping skills.

Pan + oil + heat + kernels + lid = Amazement! and Popcorn!

(As an aside, my reaction seeing this was just like when I learned that you can make syrup instead of buying it or the first time I ground up wheat! Wow!)

Jeran made a batch of very perfect stove popcorn with fewer kernels left than microwave popcorn usually has and none of it was burnt. He flavored it with some butter-flavored salt and it was pretty darn good. I think we'll make those yummy popcorn balls some time now.

As for the name, Jeran says "Orville Burnenbacher" is a funny nickname he once had but he definitely didn't live up to the Burnenbacher part this time!

Thanks for the demonstration and popcorn, Jeran!

Go Diego Go!

For a while, Diego has been exhibiting signs of urinary tract problems (If you don't want to know, don't read on). In the last few months, we have cleaned up a few wet spots and wet things when he decided the litter box didn't seem near enough. His discomfort has come and gone over the last few months so we have just been keeping an eye on the situation.

On Saturday, Diego was acting moody and really uncomfortable. That night he seemed to be in more pain than usual and meowed plaintively a lot during the night. The next morning we got to clean up more wet spots but this time add blood and vomit to the urine. We took him to the vet and he seems to be doing a little better now. He is on medicine and seems to be recovering. Unfortunately, he will probably have to be on a special diet for about the rest of his life. The vet gave us special food that will help him and he won't touch it so far so that should be interesting.

The poor guy has been banished to the kitchen until he starts using the litter box again and stops bleeding. Hopefully it won't be long before we get the goofy old Diego back! He was up and moving about for the first time this afternoon. Go Diego go!

Other thoughts:

• All that practice I had over the years getting cats to swallow pills really paid off.
• I am pretty good at guessing average healthy weights of different dog breeds.
• I hope Jeran was joking about making Diego walk on a cat treadmill.
• It is tough to decide what dollar value you place on your pet's life.

Thanksgiving

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Atlanta to see Kara and Sam. It was a lot of fun. Some of the highlights:

• I went running with Jessica
• Jeran won Masterpeice without even playing
• Jeran discovered the thrill of Airsoft
• We got to work in the yard/garden, which I sometimes really miss
• I got to eat lots of pickles and cheese (Yumm!)
• We ate and ate and ate and it was super good food
• We made a fancy and delicious drink (with pomegranate, lime, and orange juice ice cubes)
• It was so fun to see family and share the holiday
• Had a very successful shopping expedition
• I love remote controlled overhead lights

It was a blast! I love my family! Here are some pictures:

A lovely Thanksgiving dinner

Napping after dinner

Our pretty, yummy drink

Jessica's flower arrangement

State Fair

Photo is from Georgia National Fair - unfortunately I forgot my camera (again!)

We went to the North Carolina State Fair for the first time this year. It was a crazy place with hundreds of game stands where you can try to win life size stuffed dogs and inflatable baseball bats. There were also tons of food stands - everything from sausages to hush puppies to snow cones to cotton candy to almost every fried thing you could imagine. Some of the more popular fried items this year were the deep-fried Snickers and Reeses, but also available were deep-fried Ho-Hos, deep-fried pecan pie, deep-fried mac n' cheese, deep-fried cheeseburgers, deep-fried pickles, and the newest addition, deep-fried butter. The blood is curdling in my veins just thinking about the massive amounts of oil that must have been used at the fair this year. It was my goal to try a deep-fried pickle and it was mighty tasty. I liked it a lot.

We watched a BMX bike show. It was pretty amazing but very loud and gave us headaches near the end. They did some awesome stunts on those little bikes - from back and front flips to 360s and 720s and even more stuff that I don't know the names for.

Somewhat surprisingly, I was really eager to see all the farm animals. At the fair, I made sure that we didn't miss any of the key animal buildings. Inside each, I took deep breaths and marveled at how comfortable the smell was and how much it made me think of home and Cache Valley. I loved seeing the long rows of cows - down this row, all the nice honey and tan colored cows, here, the black and spotted cows. I loved the miniature donkeys and the prize winning steers, the silly goats and the neatly-shorn sheep.

Actually, I was shocked how much I enjoyed the entire atmosphere - the animals, the smell, the Wranglers and boots. Who knew I would feel so comfortable around all that! I think my thanks must go to many places: the county fair, Emily, having horses and goats, being around animals at other times, going to school next to a dairy, just growing up in Cache Valley, etc. I suppose this means I am a country girl at heart and never really acknowledged it.

Anyways, we had a great time at the fair. It is always fun to go out and do something different.

Green Corn

So yesterday, I was playing through some old piano music and trying to get Jeran, who was sitting at the computer near me, to sing along. He, of course, refused and I, of course, called "Join in!" when starting every single song I thought he might know.

I came across the old classic She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain. I played the first line then interjected, "Green Corn!" as I always do before the next line. Jeran about fell out of his seat.

"What did you say?! Green Corn?! What are you talking about? You are supposed to say 'Choo-choo'."

"'Choo-choo?' No one says 'choo-choo'. Everyone says 'Green Corn'."

We then got into a short debate about why we would say either thing. Jeran argued that the song is about the railroad tracks being built and the train coming along, which is technically correct.

I argued that my entire family sings "Green Corn" because during one family road trip, we had that old brown song book and we were singing this song and I hollered, "Green Corn" because that was the next song in the book. From that time forward, we all sang "Green Corn!" in all the pauses of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.

So who was right? Jeran, obviously. But he will never hear me say anything there but "Green Corn".

"The Secret Stash"

This reminiscing is dedicated to my little sisters.

When I was younger, probably from ages 12-17, I had a nice bedroom. It was very neat and organized. A place for everything and everything in it's place. That saying makes me smile a lot because it just feels so good, but that is the best description you could possibly give of my bedroom at that age. The main reason my room was like this is that whenever I was in my room late at night, putting off doing homework, I would clean my room or at least a part of it, like organizing the things under my bed, etc. Anyways, it was a tidy room (I'm not actually sure this is actually relevant but it seemed like a good opportunity to explain the setting).

Like most young people who have siblings, I felt I needed a safe place to hide things, such as the little hard-earned money I had. It should be a place where I would not forget about but that no one else would ever find. I needed a secret hiding spot in my room. Not that I was worried about anyone taking anything, but you I just felt the need for privacy and a really great secret spot for stuff.

At some point I discovered that perfect spot and dubbed it "The Secret Stash". It was a hiding place so good, so secretive, that it would never be found. I know this because of the countless times I invited Jessica and Alyna to go through my room searching for it. Oh, how I would taunt them with it! "You'll never find The Secret Stash!" They were seriously curious about it and so I don't recall them ever passing up an opportunity to let them look for it. They looked everywhere! I gave them a clue every few months but after years and years of never knowing where it was, it was decidedly the best hiding place ever.

Mostly I kept money there but there were a few other things, including at one point a humiliating and incriminating list of boys I had had crushes on throughout middle school. Finally one day, I decided I didn't need The Secret Stash anymore. I told my sisters where it was. It was a big reveal for me. It was probably the biggest, best secret I had ever had - and it was great because 1) it was my secret to keep or tell, 2) there were people who wanted to know it, and 3) it didn't really matter whether I told it or not. So of course I kept it bottled up for so long. Even I am impressed with how long I had that secret place. Now the secret was out.

So now you are probably wondering where my secret stash was. Here it is: I had discovered that my radio alarm clock that sat on the vanity didn't really need batteries in it and so I started keeping stuff in the battery compartment. I also had two speakers that had battery compartments and those were also used. It was brilliant! At least it was when it was a secret. Oh well. I don't know why I thought about The Secret Stash, but the other day it just popped into my mind. Ah, nostalgia... Thanks for listening :)

Work and more work

What have we been up to lately?

I have worked. Basically full time every day for the past month. I have had a lot of work to do (yay!) and have managed to keep caught up. Jeran has also worked full time for the past month. He started a class or two and is trying to get some experiments worked out that will help determine what his thesis project will be. That doesn't seem to leave a lot of time for other things.

In most of his spare time for the last month, Jeran has been working on fixing the various things on the car that are stopping it from passing inspection this year. It was actually a really long list! We are really fortunate that we have two cars so we can take such a long time to get the old 1990 Honda back up to par. Jeran replaced a half-shaft, fixed old wiring, replaced bulbs, fixed seat belts, installed new headlight covers, and fashioned a new bumper-securing device. It has been a lot of work. Hopefully today it can pass inspection!

Of course, after a few Saturdays of working on the car, it was determined that we really need an exterior outlet in the front of the house so one day was spent on that. Fortunately, our friend Adam came to help Jeran out. It was a HUGE help to have him here! I got so much done since I wasn't having to pull on wires or install the outlet box, etc. Thanks Adam! It is pretty nice to have the box outside because Jeran uses the compressor and halogen light a lot out by the cars and now the front door doesn't have to be ajar and let the bugs in. Hooray!

I recently cleaned out my drawers and closet and I sure missed having sisters around to help me with that! It is a lot easier to get rid of clothes when there is someone close to you who might want that favorite old shirt than when you put them in a box and drop them off somewhere.

We are debating whether to go to Utah in December. There are many reasons we want to go. Mom and Dad get home from expatriating in Europe, my cousin Mand'y's wedding, Jeran's brother Rylen's mission farewell, snowboarding, general family-ness, Christmas... And there are a few reasons not to go: money, Jeran's work and possibly finals?, and getting someone to take care of our cats. Who knows. You never know what a few months will bring.

Happy September! I can't believe 2009 is already 3/4 over! In the nerdy part of my mind this reminds me that every year that we get closer and closer to overlapping a certain hundred year mark. I know this is a dumb concern, but I have had to think quite a bit about it when working with my work data. Here it is: So you are keeping track of people and their birth dates and some people tracked in the database systems are old, like DOB in the 1920's. Sometime these dates are stored like '04-19-21'. So in ten or so years, issues like this will start making my job a bit harder. When you see this date then, you have to wonder if it is this century or last. People's data isn't removed from these systems just because they die. Anyways, just a small insight into the kinds of thing I spend time thinking about while working. :)