Grandma's Birthday

My grandmother turned 90 on August 13th and we partied like crazy. OK, as crazy as you can party with a 90 year old. The night of her birthday we went to her favorite restaurant, Mandarin Gate, at Oak Tree Plaza in Seattle. Her younger brother and sister were both in town for the occasion. By the way, when I say "younger", I mean they are 84 and 80. But about my grandma, when my mom left I was only five years old. My dad had a job where he had to work crazy hours (he had to be there at 4 AM) and I lived with my grandparents for three and half years. What I'm trying to say is that my grandma is the first mother figure that I remember. Anyway, happy birthday Grandma!

Grandma at the restaurant


Me and my Uncle Jeffy


Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Darlene


Auntie Shirley (Grandma's sister) and my daddy



Aunt Melinda and Uncle Arnold (Grandma's brother)


On Saturday we had big party and my Uncle Ron and Aunt Melinda's house in Kent.

Grandma's cake


Grandma and her neighbor for 40 years, Carolyn


Uncle Jeff, Martha (Carolyn's daughter) and my dad


Grandma blowing our her candles



My grandma is the co-founder of a group call Garfield Golden Grads. It is a group for those who graduated from Garfield High School in Seattle more than 50 years ago (she's the class on 1937!!). This is a small group of members who were there.

Not my usual, but nice...

So this one is not from ldsplanet.com, but it is a good one. This came from a friend who's office sends out an email to introduce new team members. This is the new team member's own blurb about himself. Are you ready? Make sure you don't have any liquids in your mouth, I would hate for you to choke. Oh, and any spelling errors are his, not mine.



Hullo! *offers a paw to shake*

So what do I do for fun? Well, I co-administrate forums where we talk about Klingons, the bumpy headed aliens on Star Trek, and how they would actually work in terms of Biology, Sociology, Linguistincs and whatever geeky academic stuff we can manage to bring to bear. I also run a group in Second Life for Star Trek collaborative creative writing (though we just call it roleplaying), in an alternate universe where everyone is an anthropomorphic talking animal, like you might see in a Disney cartoon. Anthropomorphics is fun because your chose of what animal to make your character helps to communicate their personality in an interesting way people don't always think about. Sometimes I dress in funny costumes go out either to a university parking lot and challenge people to games of rock, paper, scissors, or into the forest and hit people with sticks, though they people I do that with prefer to call that "Live action roleplaying".



This may not have come from my usual source, but I'm almost 100% positive he is one dating site or another, like maybe iliveinmymomsbasement.com.

Is he serious?

Yes, I believe he is. Another gem from ldsplanet.com found by my friend Kellie. I'm not going to add any of my own commentary to this, because, well, it speaks for itself. Thanks, Kellie!



Male
37 years old
5' 9" tall
Average build
Light Brown hair - Blue eyes
Caucasian
Good looking
College (education)
Sales (occupation)
Divorced
Has 3 children, lives with 3
Regularly attends church
Temple Recommend

A little about me...
Hi! Flirts are OK AFTER u know me. Due to my past experience in marriage, online dating, & amount of flirts/msgs/chat invites, make sure u wanna contact me. Please read

NON-NEGOTIABLE
Desire for & pro-active in healthy, nutritious lifestyle for yourself & your kids
Currently active in church
Healthy self-esteem
Knowledgeable & pro-active in your basic house duties
Aware of importance of & pro-active in being physically attractive to your husband
Currently live in USA
Financially responsible
No debilitating emotional/social disorders
Young-at-heart, but worldly wise
Aware of & pro-active in role as wife & mother

SOMEWHAT NEGOTIABLE
Bi-Lingual
Have 1 child(no more than 2, possibly none)
Church member 1yr minimum
Be of foreign descent(or non-caucasian)
Not older than me
Enjoy cooking
Temple-worthy
Have basic, normal lifestyle, but always ready for spontaneity (unplanned wknd trip)
Know value of & enjoy wearing good scent/fragrance

PREFERENCES
Long hair
Sense of style, classic preferred, but understand that I don't think we MUST be the same in everything
Musical or other creative/artistic talent
Sense of humor, prefer dry humor
Like to entertain, have parties, etc.
Like vintage/classic music or movies

How I feel about the Church...
Only member in my family, but that's OK....I'll just make my own BIG happy Mormon family! wink wink But naturally I have testimony of the Gospel and have always been active since joining in 1995 and I love the Church. I've had several callings, the most enlightening was Stake Clerk for almost 2 years. Currently a Sunday School substitute.

Anyhoo, about the "A little about me" section, I ran out of characters and had to edit alot, keep it to the point. It makes me seem hardcore and cold, but I'm actually very casual and fun! No, really. I used all 1250 characters and had to leave out my dry, witty commentary.
I will post more info soon. In all honesty, I am more easy-going than the "A little about me" section leads you to believe, but if you've made it this far, then you probably don't really have a problem with "A little about me" section anyway! haha
Also, I invite differences, to a point. Everyone is different and all relationships are a bit of give and take, but 2 people must have some basic foundational similarities. But for example, about my preferences, if you nailed everything in my NON-NEGOTIABLE section, then my other PREFERENCES become nearly null and void. hehe See? I'm not so bad! haha
Send me a msg, K? =)

What I do for fun...
Within church standards there's pretty much nothing I would not do if the opportunity arises! I believe in atleast being physically active, fit, and eat "good for ya" foods, and I drink lotsa water. Read "Nutripoints" by Dr. Roy Vartabedian. But I know when to indulge.

I don't follow any sports/teams, etc. but like to play sports and keep my kids active/motivated. I am a musician but never lived the "musician" lifestyle. I play piano(like Jerry Lee Lewis) and sing(like Harry Connick Jr) but I am eclectic. I also enjoy playing banjo, guitar, etc.

Now actual "about me" fun facts.
LOVES:
Playing with my kids
Teaching my kids
Cashews
Dark chocolate
Avocado/guacamole
Hush puppies(the shoes r OK too)
Seafood in general
Kiwis
Magnolia trees, evergreens
Harry Connick Jr
Frank Sinatra
Mel Torme
Gypsy Kings
Django Reinhardt
Stephane Grappelli
Jerry Lee Lewis
Los Lobos
Old-school jazz
Beat poetry
Chopin
Tschaikovsky
Vince Guaraldi(Charlie Brown music)
Play tennis
Growing interest in soccer
SOBE Nirvana
Cooking, trying new foods
Spicey foods
Vanilla rice milk
Blue and Green
Photography
Moosetracks ice cream
I'm a human spell-checker
I LOVE word-play
Currently writing children's book
For more info ask!

The short list

Here is my short list of things I love about my new mansion(pictures to follow once I'm actually unpacked)

I had the blinds in my living room open until just a few minutes ago without worrying that everyone was watching me. I'm not paranoid, I was on the ground floor on a main walkway at my old apartment.

Actual cupboard and counter space in the kitchen. I don't have to keep food and dishes in the linen closet anymore (officially named the lantry). I do have one more huge box labeled kitchen and that makes me a little nervous, but I think my linen closet will remain safe.

I have been doing random loads of laundry all weekend long. And I don't have to watch the clock and then go drag it all across the parking lot when its done. As a matter of fact, I left a load in the washer overnight and then put it in the dryer this morning on my way out the door to go to church. Because I could.

I'm sitting on the couch right now and the TV is not in my face. It's a good ten feet away from me all the way across my mansiony living room.

I have a craft room. OK, most people would call it a dining room, but not me. It's not unpacked or anything, but it will soon be a craft room. I do have a new (to me) table thought so if you want to come over for dinner, I'll clear it off and we can eat there, as long as you're alone. I only have two chairs.

I have a storage closet on the deck. It's little, but all my totes full of holiday stuff and some other random stuff is in there with room to spare.

When the cable guy was here yesterday he programed my remote so I can control the TV with it as well. As in power and volume. I know it has nothing to do with the mansion, but it makes me happy.

The walk in closet in the bedroom clearly belongs in this mansion. I'm not done unpacking my clothes yet, but they love their new huge home as well.

And last, but certainly not least, the bedroom. Yesterday afternoon Nikki and Erin were watching a movie and I was so tired that I was loopy. Nikki suggested I go lay down for a little while before going to meet my visiting teachers to clean the old apartment. I walked into my bedroom, closed the door, and took a nap. Nikki came and knocked and door to wake me up when it was time to go. Can't so much do that in a studio, can you?

And one other random happiness moment. The New Moon trailer was released today.

Because I promised LeeAnn

My favoritest ex-roommate LeeAnn has pointed out to me that my blog is in serious need of an update. As usual, she is right. However, I'm pretty sure my life is dull so I have had to struggle to come up with a topic. I've been sitting here in my teeny tiny living room watching the cinematic masterpiece My Fake Fiance (I love ABC Family Channel movies) and I was thinking about how I will not miss my lack of space. And there you have it...

THINGS I WILL NOT MISS ABOUT MY LITTLE TINY STUDIO APARTMENT

It's a studio. I never knew how much I liked doors and walls until I didn't have them.

The laundry room. It might be nice being able to do all of my laundry at one time, but I still have to drag it all over there once I finally remember to get quarters.

Cat on a leash. This is a person, a place and a thing. The person would be the super creepy guy across the hall who ties his cat up on a leash on his patio. The place would be the spot where Erin texts me from whenever she comes to pick me up. As in I get a text that just says "cat on a leash". I never have to wonder where she is. The thing is obvious. It's the cat that is on the leash. Did I mention that Mr. Car on a Leash randomly yells and screams obscenities. He's fun.

My upstairs neighbor. Pretty sure there is a step aerobics class up there every evening. And when he smokes it smells like I have been sneaking cigarettes in my living room. I promise, I haven't.

Nice but weird girl with the dog next door. Her name is Laurel and she is nice, but so odd. I got home one day last week and parked next to her car. I almost had a heart attack when something in it moved. She had the seat all the way down and was asleep in her car. It was 5:15. PM. Was she too tired to make it the additional 50 feet to her door? That and her too big for a studio apartment dog jumps on me. We know I feel about that, right? If I wanted to pay with a dog I would get one of my own.

Living right across from the pool. What part of pool closes at 10:00 and the gate is locked do people miss? All I'm saying is if you have to climb over a fence to get in that just maybe you shouldn't be there. If by some insane chance you missed this hint you should at least be quiet while you are drunkenly swimming in the middle of the night.


Having no room for anything. Speaks for itself, right?

Stay tuned for the follow up entry in two weeks entitled WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW APARTMENT. It will include pictures.

My friend Shannon made this comment on my scary post about the quality of men on dating sites. For anyone interested, here is the article she mentioned.

And now my Visiting Teaching is done for the month...