Oh, Mortimer...

Even though I am sick, Bruce and I maintained our tradition of watching "Arsenic & Old Lace" for Halloween.

If you have never seen it, you really should.  It is a classic!  And is super funny to boot!

Dinosaurs

Well, the blog transition has been completed (clearly), so if you're reading this, welcome to our new home!

I am playing hooky from work, though can it really be hooky if I'm actually sick and lying on the couch slipping in and out of consciousness?  Either way, I'm not at work.  Bruce is though.  I wonder if I'll ever refer to Bruce by his actual name on here... it's such a habit to call him by his blog alias.

Anyway, in the spirit of being sick, I thought I'd share this funny take on the Nyquil slogan I came across a while ago...

For those of you who don't know what the original version is, it goes like this:

"Nyquil.  The night-time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold, medicine."

the funny version goes something like this:

"Nyquil.  The night-time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, holy crap there's a dinosaur in my kitchen, medicine."

Yay for being hopped up on medication!

Thanks for helping me sleep, Nyquil.

Dinosaurs and all.

New Address

So, I've had this blog of mine for 6 years or so now.

And since I'm married now, and not the only person who writes on here, I've decided that I am going to change the web address that links to this blog, so that we can fully transition into a blog for two (one that isn't listed under my maiden name).

Hopefully we'll still see you guys over there, and we'll still have it linked to our Facebook profiles (or I will anyway).

The change will happen on Wednesday or so, and the current web address will no longer link here.

The new address will be nathanlisascholes.blogspot.com

See you then!

Busy bees

This past week was a busy one, filled with work, school, birthdays, pumpkin carving with the youth in our ward, baby showers, church (we got a new bishopric today) baking, some cooking fails, super early morning grocery shopping trips (6:30 is a great time to go, it's empty), movies with friends, Norwex parties (they have amazing stuff!), video games, studying, a trip to Utah last Sunday, and so much more...

This is how I justify not blogging this week...

What was that?

I do not have a good memory for certain things.

I can remember big events, general memories, song lyrics and movie quotes (because of course those are important and deserve space in my brain...), but I have a really hard time remembering specific details.

Things said in conversations, specific things I've read, tiny details of a situation, basically anything that makes a situation unique.

It's actually pretty frustrating.

There have been many, many times where I'm talking to someone and they mention a previous conversation or situation and I literally do not recall the instance at all.  Sometimes I will recall a snippet after they fully detail it all out for me, but that's actually pretty rare.

I really wish I could remember things better than I do, but it's only getting worse the older I get.

Just keep swimming

Our fishy buddy Gus died last Friday.

Bruce bought Gus about a month before we started dating, and he's been a good little pal for him.

It was sad to see him go, and we aren't likely to replace him with another fishy friend any time soon.

So RIP Gus.

All drains lead to the ocean.

Carving

Bruce and I are carving pumpkins with some of our friends tomorrow evening.

Carving pumpkins is probably the only good part about Halloween,  which is admittedly not my favorite of holidays.

Now I just need to decide what I'm going to carve...

The Interwebs

I've been trying to increase traffic and followers of my other blog, so I've joined Pinterest and Instagram.

It's all very new and kinda weird to me, but it's fun to get it out there, though I am sure it will take a while for it to actually be effective.

Here goes nothin'!

Seeing is Believing

I am such a lucky duck.

I get to see my husband quite a bit during the week.

With me working from home, and Bruce's school schedule putting him in classes on Monday and Wednesdays, it means that he is home on Tuesdays and Fridays (he works Thursdays).  So, unlike many couples who only see each other in the early morning hours and evening, I get to see him a lot on at least Tuesdays and Fridays.

It hit me today that many couples do not have that luxury, and it made me incredibly grateful that we get to see so much of each other.  Even if it's just a quick kiss, or a "hello" as one of us goes to get a glass of water.

I'm grateful for the time we have now before he starts a full-time job and is away most of the day.

Thus it begins

Today had felt incredibly long.

And while I know that, realistically, there are 24 hours in today, just like every other day, but I'm convinced that somehow, today cheated and procured a few extra his and such them in somewhere.

In other news, Bruce made his first ever solo batch of cookies. Not just his first ever with me, his first EVER. The man had never made cookies from scratch by himself before...I was stunned. I've been doing it since I was about 8.

He did a great job though, and everyone at the court if honor tonight must've thought so too, because they disappeared right quick.

I have an exam for my final class of my term this week. Cross your fingers and wish me luck that I pass it on the first attempt! Hopefully all the reading and studying will pay off.

As the confetti settles

The weddings are done.

Kelly and Vlad (not his real name...just like Bruce isn't really Bruce's name) got married on Friday in the gorgeous sunshine in Memory Grove Park in Salt Lake City.  The weather was perfect, and many friends and some family were able to make the impromptu trip to see them get hitched.

The bride looked beautiful in her dress, and they both looked supremely happy to finally be married.

I'm glad I was able to make it down to be with them.

Ashley and Wilson were married yesterday in the Idaho Falls Temple.  They were actually married in the same sealing room that Bruce and I were, which is also the same sealing room where John & Annake were sealed...so thus far, that room has sealed us all to our spouses!  Which is kinda fun.

They had a nice luncheon following the ceremony, and then their reception was at The Rose Shop here in Idaho Falls.  Such a fun place!  Everything looked beautiful, and ran smoothly, though I am sure that my madre-in-law is thrilled to have everything done and to not be planning a wedding anymore.  Weddings can take a lot out of you.

The bride looked gorgeous, and they both couldn't stop smiling, I know they are going to be extremely happy together.

All in all, the weddings were fantastic, and both couples are doing great!  What more could you ask for?

Mystery

Let me first and foremost say that this is Bruce writing and not Lisa. Of the few times I have wrote on here my mode of speech is different than Lisa's and I guess there has been some confusion.

I am writing today about a man who appears close to my age. I am going to name him Henry. Every Monday and Wednesday I basically live in pocatello for most of the day. I commute from Idaho Falls for an hour early in the morning to Pocatello. When I get off the bus it is my usual routine to goto the closest building which I frequent first to use the computer lab. Within the last two weeks or so Henry waits outside this building everytime I walk up to enter.

Henry is a very pleasant guy and he is always there holding the door open for people. Not just by passing, but waiting there for the early hours of the school day (7-8am). As far as I can tell he is a student here and possible has a mental handicap. But he is nonetheless a charming and well-behaved chap. I have on occasion in the last two weeks stopped before and asked how his day is. We talk briefly and pass.

Today he is sitting outside the door on a landscaping wall holding a single pink carnation.
Even as I am writing this in the computer lab on campus, I can look out my window now and see him waiting with the flower. I don't mean to seem strange in this manner of observation, but it is nonetheless interesting.

My mind has played out different scenarios. It is quite obvious that he could have been holding open the door for the last two weeks for a woman of his affection who happens to enter the building around the time I do. It could appear that finally Henry wants to perhaps ask his bonnie lass out on a date. Or perhaps they have been friends or more for awhile and this is the only time of the morning to see her.

Perhaps he has an unhealthy obsession and he is not as charming and well-behaved as I surmised. Of the very ritual and mundane parts of my morning, Henry is just quite simply a mystery. Whoever he is or whatever he is doing, I just hope its a good day for both him and his bonnie lass. I would be very upset if Henry was in fact a ill-willed or obsessive character.

Epic Wedding Week

My bestie is getting married.

She and her fiance have been planning their wedding for mid-late January.

As of this morning, they decided that they were going to push the wedding date up.  To the end of this month!

Easy peasy, I started working on some of the things she needed from me, I had already ordered my dress, so that was going to be fine, though the colors had slightly changed, so I would likely be wearing something I already have.

Fast forward a few hours...

The wedding is now on FRIDAY!  This Friday!

So I'll be getting stuff together for my sister-in-law's bachelorette party on Wednesday, borrowing my grandmother's car, heading to Utah on Thursday, attending the wedding on Friday, driving back to Idaho, and attending my sister-in-law's wedding on Saturday.

This is going to be the epic week of weddingness!

Tired of Tires

The Justy needs at least 2 new tires.

Harvey (Bruce's car) could do with some new ones too.

But at the moment, the Justy is in more dire straights.

So today, Bruce decided he was going to go suss out some new (used) tires for the guy.  He left the apartment around 8:30, but was back almost immediately.  Harvey had a flat tire.  Ironic, no?

He spent the next hour or so trying to convince the tire it really did want to be removed and replaced by a spare we have, ultimately, Bruce won, though it was a tough battle.

And off he went in search of the new (used) tires.

I got a call a little while later from him saying that he couldn't find the same size tire we had, but that the gal at the store said these other tires should work fine, but they were snow tires (2 of them studded), and we'd have to buy all 4, not just the 2 we needed.

Well, since the car really does need tires, we bought all 4.

On my lunch break from work, we too the Justy over to the tire center at Walmart for them to put the new tires on, however they informed us that because 2 of them were studded, they could only put the front ones on, which were the tires we needed replaced anyway..so whatever.

We went home, expecting it all to be done a few hours later.

Well, about an hour later, we got a call from Walmart saying they couldn't put the tires on because they were the wrong size.  And that they actually couldn't only put 2 of the 4 tires on because the tires all had to be the same size, and the tires we had on already were a different size than the ones we just bought.

Good grief.

We called another mechanic to verify the information, and received the same diagnosis.

We decided to take the tires back to where we got them, because not only had they been wrong about the tires being able to work, they had actually misled us with the size of the tires themselves.

Talk about frustrating.

I spoke with my supervisor at work, and he allowed me to leave work early so we could deal with the problem together.

We went back to the tire place (where they don't give refunds), and informed them of their sizing error, what we had been told by 2 different mechanics, and asked for...yep, a refund.  At this, the gal called the mechanic she had previously called (who told her the size would work), and was told yet again that it would work.

So we decided to go talk to the guy in person.

We explained the situation again, that 2 other mechanics said it couldn't work, and that we were becoming frustrated with the run-around.  We were reassured that the tires would work, that they could even put on the studded tires, and things would be peachy.

So we drove back to Walmart to pick up the Justy from where we had left it, returned to the mechanic, and dropped it off with the new tires.

An hour or so later, we got a call from this mechanic, explaining that the tires would not work because of the size (sound familiar??).

We were both beyond frustrated, tired, and cranky (well, I was cranky at least).  The guy however, was very helpful and explained the issue (it involved the factory specifications for the tires versus what we had on...I'll spare you the details), he even called the tire gal and she agreed to give us a refund.  On top of that, he didn't charge us for the labor used to put the tires on and off again.

So we drove back to the tire place, got our refund, and came home...with the car in much the same condition as before...after dealing with it all for about 8 hours for Bruce, and 5 hours for me.

The joys of older cars.

Older, smaller cars.

Yeah...

Cars.

Slicing

I had a slice-n-dice incident with my index finger yesterday.

Apparently, it wanted in on the mandolin-slicing action that the apples were enjoying, and proceeded to get in the way.  Resulting in a very painful cut.

It has been a unique challenge trying to avoid using it when I do things like...oh, typing for example.  Not a barrel of laughs.

I did put super glue on it to keep it closed (after band-aids proved to be frustrating), although the glue tore off sometime during the night (ouch!), So I am back to just having the cut out there in the open, constantly making me think I have something smeared on my finger...

Nope, that's just my blood.