The Mouse

This little adventure can only be fully appreciated by those who know me well and know just how much I hate mice.  They are dirty, creepy, disease ridden little creatures and I have never thought that they had any place anywhere in my house, ever.  At this point I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor of my room waiting for my bed frame to arrive.  We also had two fat yellow cats that lived with us: Toby and.. I don't remember the other one's name.   

I was laying in bed, I was still in that comfortable half awake, half asleep state and was avoiding getting up on my one and only day to sleep in.  Somewhere far off I kept hearing a scratching and scuffling noise.  After a little while I began to wonder what the noise was.  Slowly I pulled myself out of my warm blankets enough to look blurrily around the room.  I didn't have to look far.  Just above my head, within arms reach of my head, I saw a little grey mouse chewing on the edge of a cardboard box.  I flew out of bed and down the hallway so fast that my feet barely touched the ground.
I rushed into the laundry room where the two yellow cats lay curled up on top of a pile of towels.  I grabbed Toby off  the pile ignoring his loud meows protesting his rude awakening.
Upon reaching my bedroom I saw no trace of the mouse but I now heard scuffling noises coming from under my desk.  I stood on the only available chair in the room and yanked the desk away from the wall at the same time dropping Toby nearby so that he could chase the mouse.  Toby never caught the mouse, but he did give it good chase and eventually they made their way out of my room-- which was fine by me. Eventually I think it either got out of the house or got caught in one of the numerous traps we had set around the house. 

The Fire

Another story from my past.....

One evening my roommate made little tins of banana bread which had spilt a fair amount in the oven. She had to work very early and we didn’t use the oven very often, so she figured she would clean it up when she got off work the following day.

The next morning I sleepily stumbled into the kitchen thinking that tater tots sounded like a tasty breakfast and turned on the oven to preheat. I then left the room to go down the hall and get ready for work. After a little while (it really wasn’t a very long time at all) I smelled something that seemed not quite right. I walked into the kitchen to find it filled with smoke. Heart pounding, I rushed over the oven and yanked open the door to see orange flames leaping up getting larger and larger. I slammed the door shut and did the first thing that came to mind. I started to yell. Loudly. I wanted my roommates to come help me. Now, I’m not a screamer, even when the giant crow nearly came in the window I didn’t scream; so this really shows how terrified I was. Then I remembered that I was the only one home. Trying to calm down I ran to the fridge and began pulling everything out until I found the baking soda. I must have dumped the entire box on those flames but at least they went out. For a little while all I could do was sit there on the kitchen floor shaking and holding an empty box of baking soda. And that was the first (hopefully the last?) kitchen fire I have ever started. I then proceeded to put away all of the food I had pulled out of the still open refrigerator.

The Crow

So as I was going through some files and cleaning out my flash drive I came across a story I had written a couple of years ago that made me laugh pretty hard.  I don't know if it would make anyone else laugh.... part of the reason it was so funny to me is that I remembered the experiences so vividly.  The first one is about a crow.  I don't like crows, I think they are kind of creepy.

Early one Sunday morning I was leaning against the kitchen counter gazing idly out the window thinking about nothing in particular when a giant crow suddenly slammed into the partially open window. Its talons curled over the inside of the ledge and I could hear its beak tapping on the window as well as the huge black wings flapping against the glass. It seemed to be trying to fit its large form in through the narrow opening of the window! I ran back toward the hallway and in my panic tripped on the edge of the carpet where I could do nothing more than watch this massive dark shape flap and tap and finally fly away leaving nothing to indicate it was ever even there. I sat on the floor a moment in shock then got up and shakily closed the window. My roommates laughed and laughed when I later told them of this experience.  They were amused. It took me a little longer to be as amused as they were.

(Insert clever blog title here)

Zions!!

 

 

Emerald Pools-- upper pools

 

Grateful

This week I am going to be grateful for opportunities.  Opportunities I have had to have experiences that I would not have been able to anywhere else.  Living in southern Utah has given me a chance to go places and see things that I may not have otherwise have done.  It has given me a chance to get a unique perspective on life "outside the bubble".  Having the roommates I have the past school year has given me a chance to find a silly, happy side to my personality that I have heretofore not been confident enough to express.  Having the terrible roommates in the past (last summer in particular) has given me a greater appreciation for the good ones.
I am grateful that I have been born into the gospel, I shudder to think where I would be in my personal life without the guidance and the standards it provides.  Although I do not fully appreciate just how much it can really do in my life I hope that one day I will get to where I am able to.  I am grateful for the opportunities that I have had to meet people through visiting teaching and church activities that I may not have gotten to meet or know.  I am grateful for visiting teaching in particular lately because I have met people I would not otherwise have gotten to know, and learned to appreciate the friendship of others that I did not previously fully appreciate.

I love the springtime

I love the springtime! It has so many good things to enjoy....

The flowers are beautiful

 Dying easter eggs is fun

Did I mention how much I love the flowers?

 I don't like wearing shoes.

Hiking! What better place can one think of to hike than southern utah!