Halloween Heist

^{Someone stole ALL of the pumpkins from our street last weekend-4 days before Halloween! What’s up with that?  In the past you’ve only had to worry about bringing in your jack-o-lantern early on Halloween night if you didn’t want it hauled off.}  

^{I am pretty sure whoever took that 30 pound pumpkin off our porch must have needed it more than we did.  I was even a little relieved when I realized that meant I wouldn’t have to spend an evening scooping all those pumpkin guts or come up with a creative way to carve it.   I bought that pumpkin not because I love Halloween, but because it seemed the right thing to do.   That’s what grownups do.  Sometimes they pretend to love a holiday even when they don’t.  My kids would have been so proud.}

^{This reminds me of another Halloween when the kids were young and we had the coolest pumpkins ever.  We had turned our pumpkins into a perfectly stacked jack-o-lantern totem pole.   It was awesome!  As a matter of fact it was so awesome someone snuck it off our porch prematurely that Halloween too.  We lit it and set it out when the first trick or treaters arrived and our pumpkin stack disappeared within a few minutes.  It was there when we answered the door and then one or two of minutes later when the next group rang the doorbell it was gone.  Only that time we were sad to lose our pumpkins.}

^{So remember when you drive through a neighborhood tonight and it looks like a bunch of Halloween Scrooges live there because there are no jack-o- lanterns, don’t judge them.  Some pumpkin burglars are probably to blame.}

Good News!!!

I am quite tired of watching the news.  With the upcoming presidential campaign it seems all that is on the news are negative things about the candidates and it is getting old.  It has even gotten to the point that I am starting to despise some of the news anchors that I used to really really like. 

But the other day this story in the news caught my attention:

This isn't "new" news, as the results of this study actually came out last March, but for some reason it was in the news this week.  Hearing this made my day :) and gave me a little faith that maybe things in the world aren't quite as bad as I have been thinking.

Peace of Mind

 

 

October is breast cancer awareness month.  You cannot go anywhere without seeing an ocean of bright pink trying to bring this to our attention. 

 

Obedient soul that I am, and thanks to my mother's example, I have always been faithful about getting my exams.  Apparently my friends and neighbors don't all feel the same because for years Utah has had the second lowest rate of mammograms in the country.  

 

I don't think about it often, but I do during October, because I really could be the poster girl for early detection.  About this time 4 years ago I was diagnosed with an early stage breast cancer (DCIS- the same kind of cancer Ann Romney had).  Luckily it was discovered and treated while it was small.  It is one of those cancers that is 99% curable when found early, but had I not gone in for a routine mammogram that cancer might have grown inside me for years into something really bad before I would have felt it in a self-exam.  Unfortunately, going to get that mammogram caused me to have a lumpectomy, a mastectomy, and breast reconstruction with a tissue expander and implants.  I even had some complications that required the removal of the implant, being completely flat chested on one side for months, and then going through the entire reconstruction process over again.  It was frustrating and it required a lot of patience, but I still feel fortunate because that mammogram may have saved my life.

 

Everyone thinks it won't happen to them especially if they have no risk factors.  Not true...I did not have a single one of them, except my gender. 

 

This experience has turned me into a bit of a mammogram bully.  I have little patience for women who make excuses to not go in for a mammogram.  I am always shocked at the intelligent women my age who will announce to their friends that they have not had a mammogram for several years...or ever, and seem proud of it.   It's all I can do to not grab these women by the shoulders and shake them while saying, "Are you crazy?"  Then I stop and say a silent prayer while I gently suggest they stay up to date on those routine checkups... because you just never know.

 

I learned a lot going through that experience, but the most important thing I learned is that each time you go in for a routine mammogram, colonoscopy, etc. and get a clean bill of health, the peace of mind it provides is priceless. 

 

 

 

What Goes Around Comes Around

Today, I received a simple request, “Hey, mom the next time you send a package, could you send me a scarf?  There is a brown and tan scarf in with all the winter stuff.   It would be really nice to have.”

 

What Mitch doesn’t know is that old scarf has been everywhere with us.  From apartment, to apartment, to house, to house, to house.  It was worn by a missionary three decades ago.  It was a gift I sent to Ray while he was serving in Michigan.  After he returned home it was placed in a box of winter accessories and kept there until a few years ago when Mitch discovered it and decided to wear it snowboarding.  Not really for warmth, but more for fashion, because it was retro.  And now he wants it sent to him…to keep him warm this winter.

Ray is a pack rat.  I am not, but every once in a while there is something I am really glad we hung onto.  It did my mother heart good to think that something used by a wonderful missionary long ago is going to be used again to keep another wonderful missionary warm. When he comes home with it I will definitely put it away for safekeeping.  You never know, another missionary might want it someday.

Summer's End

Where did summer go???  The kids are back in class, the temperature in the morning is dropping, and the other day I saw this...

 

In case you can't tell what he is doing, it's this...

Even though the daytime temperature is near 90, preparations for the Christmas/winter season are under way in Salt Lake City.  While I love, love, love Fall, I am a little sad to think that summer is over :(

Just sayin'

^{Ray and I just finished a 48 hour detox/body cleanse.  Not sure whose great idea it was, so not sure who to blame.  What I ‘m pretty sure of is that the food we have eaten for the last 2 days is the food they serve in Hell.}  

Technology

We bought a new car.  Well, not really a new car, it’s used, but new to us.  It has a lot of new and awesome technology with so many features we are not sure we will ever be able to figure them all out.  It has keyless entry, heated and cooled seats, a rear window sunshade, ambient lighting (no kidding), adaptive cruise with collision warning, intelligent access (IA), and more.  When I get in the driver’s seat I feel a little like I'm in the cockpit of an airplane with so many lights and buttons, and I knew it was only a matter of time before some gadget in this car would get me into trouble.

So… not long after we purchased the car we went on a little road trip to the Wasatch Front.  Ray drove as we went to Provo where he had a meeting to attend.  Our plan was for me to then run some errands leaving him in Provo and he would get a ride up to SLC where I would meet him.  We arrived, he jumped out of the car, I moved into the driver’s seat, and took off.   I drove several miles and got to my first stop.  I pushed the button to turn the car off, gathered up my things, then notice that the “key” (that is not a "real" key) was not in the cup holder where I generally put in when I had driven this car.  It was then that I realized Ray had the IA key in his pocket and had taken it with him when he got out of the car to go to his meeting. 

Apparently, once the car is started, the vehicle will remain running until being turned off by the start/stop button even if the "key" is no longer in the vehicle.  I was stranded, and there was nothing I could do about it!  Luckily, I was able to catch my dad at home and he was able to rescue me.

Since that happened I decided it would be a smart idea for me to read the owner’s manual.  Sure enough, right there on PAGE 235 it warns you that something like this could happen.  There is even a solution to this problem if you are quick enough.  You see, there is a fast restart feature that allows you to restart the engine by pushing the start button within 20 seconds of switching the vehicle off, if you happen to discover the "key" is not present in the car (which means I am not the only one who has ever done this).   That seems very James Bond-like; to think that you actually have 20 seconds to fix a problem before something bad happens.

I must be more old fashioned than I think I am.  Is it really a bad idea to have a key that you actually put in the ignition???  I sorta like the idea of having a designated place it has to be while you are driving. 


This experience has me a little freaked out by all these new-fangled gadgets in the world today.  I can only imagine the trouble I could get into if I had a smartphone with all its advanced computing capability.  I am sure it would only be a matter of time before I accidently pushed a button on it that did something bad.