A Simple Day with My Man

I took the day off.

I needed to spend some time with my man.

And so that's what we did.

We spent time together this morning talking and being close to one another.  Then, we went to breakfast at The Coral.  After that, we went on a long drive out to Carefree/Cave Creek.  We didn't stop anywhere other than Circle K for drinks.  We just drove.  We just were together.

On the way home, we went past the new Phoenix temple.  They are completely finished with all of the concrete panels on the exterior!

That means that, shortly, the angel Moroni statue will be put on top of the spire.  When the Gilbert temple was at this same stage last year, it was only 4-5 days later (essentially almost just over a weekend) and they were installing the angel.  So, next week sometime, it will probably happen on our temple too!  I'm so excited!

We got home and Melon Man went to bed finally.  In a little bit, we're going to go to dinner somewhere.  And spend some more time together.  And I need that.  And I think he does too.

My Hot New [Temporary] Ride!

When I arrived in Columbus on Monday, the original car I had been assigned had no car keys in it.  So, I hoofed it back to the kiosk and instead, I got this HOT Dodge Challenger in Candy Apply Red with a Hemi!  It was seriously a hot car.  It reminded me of the Dodge Charger Melon Man and I had when we went to Utah for Dylan's ordination, but not as nice.  This was more of a muscle car than that one.  But, they both still went fast!

I told my co-worker, Jessica, that I could not wait to get it out on the open road and put the petal to the metal.  I must have been being watched over though as that whole first day, the only time I actually got to "GO!" was 1/4 of a mile from our hotel and I was at the front of an intersection.  Bummer!

But, the next morning came and we headed out on the freeway to the office and I let her rip.  As soon as I had a clear view of about the next 2 miles and the road was straight, that was it.  I was gone.  We hit 90 miles an hour and it didn't even feel like we were above 65.  It was awesome.  We made it to our exit so quickly that I was actually sad!

Sadly, today, it was rainy and so it wasn't safe (not that it ever really is) to lay it out and go.  Oh well.  It was probably for the best.  I don't admonish speeding or breaking the law to do so.  But, this one time, I just had to try it out.  I surely did not want to get a ticket though!

Epic Fail

Today, for a team building activity while in Columbus, we went to this pottery studio called Clay Space.  We were going to be painting some pottery pieces and then fire them while we were there.  I saw this nifty piece and thought it would make a nice decorative piece, so that's the one I chose.

Here are some of my co-workers (Maria, Jessica, and Jason) working on painting their pieces.  I think I need an iPhone - the quality of those pictures are WAY BETTER than mine.

This is David working on painting his vase.

The anticipation and the concentration...

Once all of our pieces were painted, they were placed in the kiln.

The kiln needs to get up to 1900 degrees for the technique to work properly.

Once the kiln is fully heated, the worker opens the lid and moves quickly to remove the pieces from the kiln. 

They put the piece into a garbage can that has been lined with newspaper.  There is something about the newspaper and oxygen that does something to the hot paint and creates the "art" on the piece.

When the piece is first put inside the can, it is so hot that it instantly catches the newspaper on fire.

They hurry and place the lid on the can.  Here they are putting another piece into another can.

We had to wait around for about 90 minutes while the pieces cooled in the cans, so we went outside and this is the "mural" that is painted on the side of their studio.  It actually looks really neat in person.

There is also this cool old building next to the studio where they build sets for movies.

It was finally time to take the pieces out of the cans.  As you can see, all of the small pieces turned out pretty cool.  They were all painted with metallic paint and that's how they turned out....

...but, when you look at mine, it is SO UGLY.  It didn't go metallic at all!  It's an awful gray color.  It's supposed to be red and gold and blue.  But nope, it's awful!  I was so sad!  A creative thing for me to do and then it fails.  Epic fail to the max.  I asked why it didn't work and they didn't know.  But, I personally think it's because the kiln was supposed to get up to 1900 degrees, but it only got up to 1700.  And, the fact that my piece was really thick, versus the others not being thick - well, I bet that's it.

Update:  I had left my piece in the car overnight because I knew I was taking it in to work the next day to be shipped home so I wouldn't have to carry it on the plane - especially since it looked like a bong.  Well, I got into the car the next morning and it was broken!  The neck at the top had broken right off somehow. Oh well, I'll just glue it back together and re-paint it whenever it arrives.

Update #2:  My piece of "ART" finally arrived on May 1st.  It was broken even more.  Not from being damaged in shipping, just from being fired or whatever.  I kept it on my desk at work for about 10 days saying I was going to take it home and glue it together and repaint it.  Yeah, didn't happen.  I finally decided it just wasn't worth it and tossed it.  :(

Getting Close to the Top!

On my way home from work tonight, I decided to swing by the temple really quick and check out the progress.  Luckily, it's pretty much right on the way home from work, so it wasn't out of the way.  The sun was almost down, and I hurried as quickly as I could, but by the time I got there, it was too dark to take a picture, so I just looked and kept driving.  But, these pictures were taken earlier in the day by the Simonsons, who take a lot of pictures for the LDSchurchtemples.com/phoenix website.

Essentially, there are just the top two sections and the spire left!  Those are small sections, so I would suppose they will be done before I get back from Ohio next week.  Here is a picture of what it's supposed to look like when it's done for comparison...

One thing I did notice today is that before they put all the concrete walls up, it sure didn't seem very big.  Tonight though, it seemed GINORMOUS!  I couldn't get over how large it seemed.  There is also electricity on inside now.  It was a little lit up this evening.  They haven't installed any windows yet, but I'm sure that will come soon so they can use A/C once it starts getting really hot in the summer.  

I cannot wait until it's done!  I'm so excited to be able to go to the temple now a LOT more frequently!

Almost to the Top!

The concrete panels on the temple are almost complete to the top!  So exciting!  It's actually looking like a real temple now!  It's supposed to be complete after the new year some time.  We're hearing that they will likely do the Gilbert and Phoenix temple dedications at the same time...wouldn't that be cool?!?!

Closet Purge

Last Saturday, we decided to go through our closet and clean out all the clothes we don't wear.  What a task.  I hate purging clothes.  It's emotionally really difficult for me.  When I was growing up, we didn't have a lot.  My mom had to sew clothes for us kids to save money.  So, when I buy clothes now, as an adult, I don't like to spend a lot of money on them, nor do I like to get rid of them.  But, our closet had gotten so full (on my side mainly) that you could barely squeeze another piece of clothing onto the rods.  I wish I had taken pictures before we started pulling clothes out, but, I didn't.  Oh well.

As I folded every piece of clothing, I categorized it and logged it for our taxes.  This was just too much stuff to not track.

Dog was a little confused.  He wasn't quite sure what was going on and why we were doing all of this.  He just sat there and watched.

After we pulled everything out and went through all of it, we had a huge pile of clothes on the living room floor, two huge piles on the back of the sofa, and in the end, 7 large bags of nicely folded clothes to donate.  There were things in there that I'd only ever worn once.  And, sadly, there were things in there that neither of us had ever worn for one reason or another.  Someone will get some nice things.  Today, we dropped the bags off at Goodwill.  We would have taken them to D.I., but it's so far away and I was just so exhausted from this week that I didn't think I could drive all that way today.  So, Goodwill, it was.  When the ladies pulled the bags out of the back of the car, they were amazed that everything was all folded and nice.  I bet they see all kinds of crap just thrown at them, so this was probably a welcome surprise.  I'm glad I was able to make someone smile, but also to help somebody in need of some larger size clothes at a good price.

Now I just need to take some pictures of the closet without all of those clothes!

Temple Update

It's been about 3 weeks since my last temple update and there has only been a little bit of change on the outside.  It seems to be going really slowly for some reason.  I'm not sure why.  But, they have finally gotten the concrete panels up on the bottom part of the base round part and are finally starting on the next upper level.

 

For comparison, this is how it looked three weeks ago, on March 11th:

Haven't Posted Much Lately...

I have just been so busy that it's hard to find time to blog.  I WILL add some things but they will have to wait until the craziness that is the last 10 days before Prom is over.  However, I had something super duper happen today.

Take a look at this....

What about this...times two...

What do these two things have in common?

A friend of mine at work asked me yesterday if I'd lost more weight.  I told her I doubted it.  She told me she really could see a difference, especially just recently.  Well, today I had to park in a different area of the parking lot and it just so happened that I could stop by the Fitness Center at work and use the scale.  Now, it's always a little higher than what the doctor says, but I just go by it so when I actually go to the doctor, it's a pleasant surprise to be even lower.

Well, with all deviled eggs I ate on Easter, I thought for sure I'd be at the same crappy weight I've been at for the last 2-1/2 months (less the 2 pounds I just recently lost last week).  However, when I got on the scale, I was shocked to learn that I'd lost another 5 pounds!  So, 7 pounds in about 10 days.  I was so happy, I could hardly contain myself!  Hopefully this plateau is gone for a while!  That makes a total of 40 pounds lost since the beginning of September!

So, what do the potatoes have to do with all of this?  Well, about 12 years ago, I went on the Atkins diet with Mr. Spock.  (Wow...if only I'd known then what I know about my body and protein!)  Well, I lost 83 pounds in 10 months.  But, at first, the going was hard.  When I'd finally lost 20 pounds, we were in the store and I was complaining that I didn't see a change.  I didn't feel any different.  It was then, that he went over to the produce area and brought back two 10 pound bags of potatoes.  He handed them to me and I asked him why he was giving those to me when he knew we didn't eat carbohydrates anymore.  He told me he wanted me to feel what 20 pounds actually felt like.  I was slightly impressed.

Then, when I hit 40 pounds lost, the same thing happened in the store again.  But this time, it was two 20 pound bags.  And I could really tell this time.

So, although I didn't go to the store today and pick up two 20 pound bags of potatoes and carry them around the store, I did recall how great that felt and it inspired me to smile a little more today!

I recently was able to buy some shirts in a size smaller than I've been buying them in.  That was nice.  I'm down a size in jeans/shorts too.  It's just sad that 40 pounds doesn't really make that much difference in clothes sizes though when you're this heavy.  Hopefully another 10 pounds or so and I'll see a bigger change.

I never thought giving up meat and beans and all that other protein stuff would really work for me, but I guess it has.  Finding out I have gout wasn't the happiest thing in my life, but making this change has really been for the better.  I've lost weight, I don't hurt from the gout, and I can walk all the way in from the far north parking lot to my desk on the far south side of the building without having to stop now or be out of breath.  Yay!

I have a bunch of "Goodbye Gout" boards on Pinterest with recipes of gout-friendly vegetarian meals I have collected.  Here are a few of my favorites so far that I have tried and LOVE.  Clicking on the recipe name will take you to the recipe.

The Mushroom Melt - SERIOUSLY - the BEST grilled cheese sandwich I have EVER eaten (photo and recipe courtesy of ClosetCooking.com)

Asparagus with Feta Cheese - make without the lemon zest and juice - unless you love lemon (photo and recipe courtesy of OnceUponaChef.com)

Spicy Stir Fried Broccoli Stems - be sure to read my comment on cutting the broccoli stems (photo and recipe courtesy of KalynsKitchen.com)

Green Onion Green Chile Rice - a nice comfort food (photo and original recipe courtesy of KalynsKitchen.com)

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad - only use half the olive oil it calls for (photo and recipe courtesy of SweetSavoryLife.com)

Seriously...looking at these pictures, how could you NOT become vegetarian!?!?  They look SO GOOD!  And, all of these TASTE GREAT!

I plan on continuing to blog about my progress with becoming "gouty vegetarian" in hopes that it will help others who are struggling with this very painful problem.  But tonight...I'm just going to enjoy the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment of losing 40 pounds and knowing I'm no longer carrying around those two 20 pound bags of potatoes!

Temple Update

Drove by the temple site tonight on my way home from work.  Just felt the need to go somewhere sacred.  It's amazing how even though it's a construction site still, you can feel the difference and know that this is a special place.  I felt peace.  My heart was full.  I can't wait for this sacred building to be complete so I can go there often.

They have started framing some of the inside walls.  They are still working on the concrete panels for the spire portion.  President Ritman told us recently that they are not going to announce when the angel Moroni will be placed on the spire so it will not cause a large crowd and draw ire with the neighbors.  I'm sad about that, but it's okay.

In the Blink of an Eye

It's amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye.  One day things are as they always are.  The next day, devastation.  That's how the last 24 hours have been.

Yesterday at church, I had a couple of moments where I saw one of our young men and it caused me to think.  It made me think about how truly good he is to his dad.  How he helps him through his physical ailments without complaint.  A couple of months ago, his dad wanted to share his testimony one Fast Sunday.  Alan has Muscular Dystrophy and it's really hard for him to walk.  Jared walked his dad up to the stand, helped him up the stairs, and then patiently sat and waited for him to finish so he could help him back down the stairs and then down the aisle to their pew.  That's just how Jared is.

A few months ago, Alan helped bless the Sacrament...alongside his son and another young man.  It was difficult for Alan to get up out of his seat to a full stand, but Jared helped him and the Sacrament didn't start until they were ready.  Jared helped him get seated back down when they were done, and then he helped him up again when it was quickly time to stand right back up again.  That's just how Jared is.

Jared and his dad moved into our ward about 2 years ago.  His mom had passed away a few years ago and it was just him, his dad, and his brother - but mostly just him and his dad usually.  He and I would trade winks and smiles almost every week letting him know I was proud of him up there on the stand blessing the Sacrament.  During this time, I have been giving Jared crap about his shaggy, long, flippy-do Bieber hair.  I offered to cut it many times.  It was always hanging in his eyes.  One Sunday, he showed up to church and it was short!  I was shocked - yet so pleased.  I made sure to tell him how great he looked and he beamed that I had noticed.  That's just how Jared is.

Yesterday at church, one of the other Priests in the ward was blessing the Sacrament.  He made a few mistakes and rather than turning to look at the Bishop to see if it was okay, I noticed Jared quietly point out to the other Priest where he'd made the mistakes and he guided him to do it again.  He didn't need to have the Bishop tell them to redo it because it wasn't perfect.  Jared knew it needed to be perfect and he helped someone get it perfect - in a loving manner.  That's just how Jared is.

Fast forward to today.  I had been home about 45 minutes when I thought I heard my cell phone ringing.  It was ever so soft.  Soft enough that I really though I was imagining it.  But, it really must have been the Spirit whispering to my soul so I could hear it.  It was my good friend, Candace, calling.  I'd missed the call, but called her right back.  The moment she answered, I knew something was wrong.  She asked me to come to her house right away because she didn't want to tell me the news on the phone, but that someone in our ward had died.  I rushed over there immediately.  The whole way there, I kept praying that it wouldn't be someone I knew.  Moreover, I begged Heavenly Father that it wouldn't be one of the youth.

When I got there, she told me that Jared had passed away today.  I was SHOCKED, to say the least.  She told me what happened and I was so in shock that I really didn't hear much of the story.  I later had to ask her to tell me again.  Essentially, he came home from school today, laid down for a nap, and never woke up again.  I guess his momma came and told him his time with his dad was up and it was her time with him now.

I am really struggling with this.  I don't have kids of my own, but this really hurts.  No parent should have to bury a child, but these kids ARE my kids and so it hurts to know that he has passed on and that the other kids in our ward are dealing with this too.  The one good thing that we talked about tonight was that we believe families can be together forever and that although we are saddened about this happening, we truly believe he is in a much better place, with the Savior and our Heavenly Father - and with his momma - and that we will see him again some day.

Jared - on the other hand - is probably going, "Wait, what the crap?  I'm done?  What a rip.  I'm gonna miss Prom this year.  And, drat, I just got the Jeep I wanted!"

I'll miss you Jared - until we meet again.  And...I bet your hair is just perfect there - no matter how it looks.  Love, Sister V.