Tagged! Again....

So, I often read other people's blogs and see the tags and think, "That was fun to read, but I don't think I will do it." But I always end up doing it! I am such a push over! So, here's another one...

Here's how it goes:

You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don’t have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you’ve been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers.

Middle name: Michelle (here it goes)

M: Music Lover

I would love to say that I love all music, but that is not true. There is a lot of music that I really do not like. But when I find an artist I like, I tend to stick to them. I love to see bands live, and love it even more when I know the lyrics to the songs they are singing. I love to get a new CD and listen to it till I know all the lyrics to all the songs. Then I like to listen again for phrases that stick out at me. My Fall Out Boy CD is number one for that right now.

I: Intelligent


I don't want this one to sound like I am boasting or anything, really. I do think of my self as being relatively intelligent. I can hold my own in most conversations. I know what a lot of words mean. My spelling isn't great, but I can usually figure it out. I like learning about the world and how things work. I understand most pop culture references, even some that were before my time. It may not sound like much, but it makes me feel good about myself.

C: Cautious
I over think a lot of things because I don't want to make a wrong decision. Some things I go over and over in my head to see if there was another way to go. Some times I do all the figuring in my head before I say anything out loud, and sometimes I say everything out loud in hopes of getting another opinion. Now, I know that some of you are thinking that I am anything but cautious, and in some respects, that is true. I love to do crazy things, and say crazy things, but in the long run, I am a very rational person.

H: Helpful

Sounds like a nursery answer. "How can we help our family?" "Doing the dishes!", "Cleaning our rooms", "Not hitting our brothers even though they totally deserve it!". Right? But I love to be helpful. I love to know that something I have done has made some ones life easier. I am not a door mat though. I will not just let you tell me what I have to do. And I will not volunteer if I do not think I have the time and energy to do it. "When we're helping we're happy!"

E: Empowered

I am not actually sure what makes me empowered, but I like the ways it sounds, and in the definition it sounds like I should have a super power of some kind, and I like the way that sounds.

L: Little

I am a small person. Two people at work today commented that I am short. One even asked me my height. In high school I thought I was 5' 4" but when I started going to the doctor more after I got married, I found that I am actually 5' 3". I am shrinking at 23. Yay. Not that it is a bad thing really. If I was much taller, I would be eye to eye with Nik, and I like that he is taller. I always liked that I was the favorite dance partner when we were learning swing, though that did result in lots of bruises. It was still tons of fun!

L: Lollipops

I hate lollipops.
There are maybe two kinds of suckers in the whole world that I like. The idea of pure sugar that tastes like cherry cough syrup, on a steeek, does not appeal to me. I like Dum-Dums (no comments from the peanut gallery) and I really only like, maybe 3 flavors, and only for about half the sucker. Oh well.

E: Extra

As in extra E, cause I did this one already. I did the extra L, but you can see what happened there. I was obviously not made to have such a long middle name. It should have been Eve or something. But even then there is a extra E. I am doomed to the extra E. At least my first name just has one. Oh! And my last name only has one. But that means I have 4 E's in my name. I am totally hoarding all the E's. Maybe I will do it on purpose now. Name all my kids E names, with double E's in them. That way there will be no E's for anyone else. Hahahahaha!!!

Oops.

Ok, someone else's turn now.

(Oh, and just so you all know, I originally miss spelled Intelligent up there.)

Poll Results

Well, its unanimous. Indiana Jones is the Must-See movie of the summer. Now, there are many more movies coming out in the months ahead, and I obviously just picked the ones I am interested in. Please feel free to let me know if there are other movies you are waiting to see. I know that Nik can't wait for the new Batman and that my brother Jeff is salivating over Iron Man.

Thank you to all those who voted, and keep checking back for the next poll!

Human Stupidity

It is time to vent about work. Everyone, please take this as friendly advice for the next time you go to the bank.

As most of you know, I work at a bank. Or a Credit Union to be exact. I have been here for just about 3 months now, so I figure I have the gist of the job figured out. There are still some things that I haven't mastered and some things that I don't need to know because of my lowly teller position, but for the most part, I get it. And I definitely know what bugs me.

1. The sign that says "Please wait here for next available teller" is not there to look pretty. It is serious. Please wait HERE until I am available. I do not become available just because the last guy leaves. Besides possibly still having his personal account information up on my computer, there are things I need to do to finish up the last transaction before I am ready for the next one. And nothing is more nerve wracking that having some stranger watching from less than two feet away. Please, wait at the sign until I call you over. Promise it won't be more than seconds.

2. If you are depositing large amounts of cash (which I hope all of you are able) please know how much is there. Count it three times if you have to. When I count it and you don't know how much is there, you have no room to pitch a fit if I put the wrong amount in you account. To freakin' bad. Also, the deposit and with drawl slips are there for a reason. It provides us both with proof of the transaction. If there is a problem and you didn't fill out a slip, there may be nothing I can do for you. From the other side, if you don't fill out a slip and my drawer is off, I might get in trouble if we can't find the outage. Be kind, rewind.

3. Our security measures are in place for a reason. We had you set up a password for a reason. We ask you your password for a reason. Please do not get mad if I ask you your password. Just give it to me! Anyone who has suffered from fraud of some sort, should appreciate this action.

4. For all intensive purposes, you only have one account number. Yes, I know, many of us have multiple accounts at multiple banks. But here is what I am getting at. When you come to me and say "I want to move some money into my checking." That is not a different account. That is a different suffix. Quit telling me you have four accounts. You have one account that has a savings, a checking, a money market and you have a car loan (for example). Its all under the same account. Trust me.

5. No matter how funny you think you are. When you are getting $50 cash back and I ask you how you want it back, you do not say "In hundreds." Its not funny. You are not so much more clever than me that I will think "Oh, he wants hundreds, I should pull some out of my drawer." I know you are just getting $50, and if you don't say something I will give you two twenty's and ten. Deal with it.

6. It is not my fault your checking account is in the negative. When you opened the account we told you that if you spent more money than you had we would charge you a fee. Every time. If you wrote 5 checks and the third one takes your account in the negative, so you are charged 3 fines, it is not my fault. You should have been watching your money closer.

Ok, I guess that is enough venting. Please take this information to heart, and feel free to pass it around. Maybe some day people will learn.

True color?

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Orange

You're a bold, confident orange. A warm, powerful color that indicates a strong, welcoming personality, orange is the mark of people who are social and extroverted by nature. Vibrant, with an upbeat attitude, you have a bright, inviting demeanor. Energetic and fun-loving, you're a real friend-magnet. Your easy charm and unassuming manner make you the sort of person people want to meet and get to know better. Well-rounded and fun to be around, you enjoy helping others, so it's no surprise that orange also symbolizes attraction. Orange is an extraordinary color — for an extraordinary person.

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

Catch up #2

Told you there would be more. There is always more.

Wrestling

Nik is teaching little Noah to wrestle just like the big boys. Spencer has just about mastered the art of living room wrestling and just won the Belt in a 2 on 1 tag team match with Noah. It was intense! Here are some pictures from a recent match in F's living room in which Allie decided to step in and help Noah.

The back breaker!
In the pain!
Pile Driver!
Then Allie steps in to help Noah...just in time!

You can see that Allie is a natural as well. This should be interesting....

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Painting!

The following pictures are some refference shots we took last night for another painting Nik needs to do for class. I picked some of my favorites and I am going to ask all of you in blogger land to help us pick the best one for Nik to paint. Please take in to account the lighting, contrast and value of the objects in the shot, and the composition. Also, if there are parts of one that you like, let us know. You can just reffer to them in numbers. Thanks for your help!

Look forward to the feedback!

Oh! If you haven't read the Catch Up from below, check it out!

Catch up

Today I am going to use my very long, slow day at work to play catch up with the photos and events I have neglected in the last couple weeks. There are still some pictures on my camera of things like Sofia's blessing that will have to wait some more, but most of the stuff should be here. The events are in no particular order.

Angie's Bridal Shower!

My sister-in-law Amy threw this great shower for her bestest of best friends Angie who got married last month. It was a swingin' party and we played all sorts of fun games and ate some great food. Amy even got me my own pizza with out tomato sauce, so I could eat too! Here are some pictures from the night:

This is Angie, doesn't she look so cute in her boa!
Here is some of Amy's (and my) family that came to support the bride. They have known Angie's family since the dawn of time.
These are the friends of the bride, but unfortunately, I do not remember their names. I do know that cute, pizza covered smile belongs to my niece Kara.


One of the games we played was to make toilet paper wedding dresses. I had never actually done this before, but it was so much fun. Our team had two models, one is Kristin, (two above) my niece, and the other is future brother in law, Gerold's, daughter (directly above), but I can't remember her name! She was so cute though!
This is Kristin's dress all done! Blushing bride!
Here is Angie's dress all finished. Her group went all out! It was amazing.

I am not posting pics of the gifts, some of them are not appropriate for the younger audiences. They were good though!

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Pizza Night!

We were invited over for a date night at our friend's Stephanie and Dan's house. Well, kind of. They were house sitting for Steph's parents and it was at their house. Big house. Very big house.

We started the night with a tour, which lasted a couple hours. That's another poke at how big the house was. Then we got our pizza on! Dan made this amazing dough and we got to roll it out ourselves. We all brought a topping (Nik and I brought pepperoni and artichoke hearts) and when the dough was rolled out we loaded on the toppings. As we finished Dan put them in the oven. Below are pictures from that night!

Here is the gang rolling out the dough.
Spencer, his wife Jess and our hostess Stephanie.
Miss Lisa and her Date. Some one fill me in on his name...
Nik is being some sort of Vogue pizza maker here. I think he would call himself Iron Chef Nikimoto.
Spencer showing off his mad pizza skills. And amazed on looker Jess.

It was good times.

I guess that's all for now. But there will be plenty more coming up!

Best Night Ever!!!

I have no idea how to start this post. So much to say...

We found out before we left that we would be able to take our camera. So I am already excited. I worked in the morning, then helped Lou in the afternoon, then Nik came with dinner and we hung out til we needed to go home and change for the show. Admittedly I am nervous that we would be late because we left Lou's the time the doors opened. There were two opening bands, MuteMath (pretty good) and Alanis Morisette (Amazing) so I knew we wouldn't miss Matchbox 20, but after we left Lou's we had to go home and change, then we hit a bunch of traffic and took some wrong turns, not to mention the mad house that parking was. I still can't believe that the E Center gets away with asking $10 for parking.

Anyway, we made it just as MuteMath was going on, but spent that time looking for ear plugs because we forgot ours. I was so mad! I even thought about it! But the only place that was selling them was the Merch desk, and they were $2 a pair! Rip off! Last time, the concession stands had them for a buck, but this time they were all out. We settled for wadded up toilet paper. Oh well. It helped a little.

We were back in our seats before MuteMath was off stage and didn't leave the for the rest for the show. Alanis Morisette was amazing, but Nik looked like he was in pain for the majority of it. He says he likes some of her stuff, but he is like me and only knows what is on the radio. She played all of that, plus a lot of stuff that I had never heard before. She really is an angry girl rocker. Some of those songs were pretty heavy. Good though. Oh, and during the MB20 show they said that she is being inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame today. I am sure that the moose and geese are happy to have her. Sorry, that was mean. I like her and I think she deserves this. Yay for Alanis!

When the main event started I got really excited! Matchbox 20 was my very first concert. My mom got me tickets for my birthday in high school, but didn't necessarily want to come with me, so she had my best friend Talina come with me! It was great! And this time I was with Nik! Yes, that is a good thing. I was so excited to have my camera. We have been to three shows lately that we didn't know we could bring our camera too. I didn't want to miss this one! The couple in front of us was recording all of the songs on two different cameras. We started talking to them and found out that they were at the Mika show too, and had some videos up on YouTube. I am going to look for their stuff from last night while I am at work today. I only recorded bits of the songs that were my favorite. Took lots of pictures though. Which brings me to the rest of my post. I am going to leave the description of the show to my photos. They are nothing amazing, and I couldn't move around to get a better shot. But they were tons of fun to take. Enjoy!

This pink boa is from when she sang part of the Fergie song "My Humps". This version has been on the radio and is like 7 minutes long. Luckily she only sang the first verse. Funny though.

I have never really found Rob Thomas attractive, but he doesn't look half bad with his hair shaved. Just a thought.

This is right at the end of the third encore song "Push". I had been waiting all night for this song, and when the show ended and they hadn't played it yet, I was so sad. I had to wait till the end of the end! Put they played it!





The guy playing the guitar in the back is from SLC. Yay!

"Discussion"

I would like to preface this with a statement. I think we are equal on this subject. I only make the argument to show that there is little difference between the two. Thank you.

Ok, so the other day Nik informed me that in a while (possibly a year or so) there would be another WOW (World of Warcraft) type game coming out that he wanted to play. If you don't know WOW, that is fine, I actually envy you a little. The post should still make sense with out the knowledge of Hit Points, Mana, and Quests.

I told him that was fine, I just wanted him to put a limit on how long he played each day so that I would not lose him for days at a time, to this game. He said he would, but said that he would still want to play it all the time. I reminded him of the days of WOW when we were dating and how little I got to see of him when he was on a high level quest or playing online with friends. He laughed and said that it was like when I watched Gilmore Girls. I laughed and said that it was no where near like when I watched Gilmore Girls.

To make an already long story shorter, the basic argument from Nik was that yes, he may play games a lot, but at least he changes up the games. He doesn't jut play one game all the time. Sometimes its a video game like Madden, or Rock Band, or Ping Pong. And sometimes it is a computer game like Age of Empires or ....(sorry Nik, I can't really think of any of your other computer games). But I ALWAYS watch Gilmore Girls. Nothing else.

I laughed at that, because I watch tons of other shows! Trust me, I watch a lot of TV. He said I didn't watch any new shows, but I am watching the new episodes of One Tree Hill and America's Next Top Model with Vivian every week. I even get out the house to do it. Plus, I watch a bunch of shows on the Style Network, like Clean House, or How Do I Look, and on TLC like What Not to Wear. And I have developed a taste for the BBC as well, I like You Are What You Eat and Bargain Hunt. I very rarely watch two of these shows in a row, and honestly, I don't want to. I get bored.

We argued back and forth about whose time-passing habit was the least pathetic. I talked about how he is basically dead to me when he plays games, and how I will always change the channel if I am watching a show Nik doesn't like that has more than 10 minutes left. He talked about how he will play the games I like, or don't hate as much when I am there watching, and will play on the computer so that I can watch TV.

I really think that we are even on this one. We just like to argue. What do you think?