Blueberry Bags and Ice Machines

We have a full freezer.  Apartments freezers aren't very big anyways, and when you grow up in an LDS home, you can't really avoid stocking every available space with food.  This is why we have a full freezer.  It was so full in fact, that our bag of blueberries ended up sitting on top of our ice machine.  That wasn't a problem until...

Yep.  Now if you look a little closer,



...you will see that the bag appears to be stuck.  At first, I thought it was frozen.  I was wrong.  Somehow, the bag became intwined in the ice machine.  Fantastic.  I tried pulling it out, but thought I'd rather tell maintenance "some weirdo needs help getting a blueberry bag out of an ice machine" instead of "some weirdo needs help getting a blueberry bag out of a BROKEN ice machine."

So, I made the call.  First of all, I don't think he (Mr. Maintenance) understood what I was talking about.  He told me to turn off my freezer and then take the bag out.  (See, the word TAKE is a pure give-away...he has no idea what he's dealing with.)  The problem with that is that I don't know how to turn off my freezer (Mr. Maintenance also doesn't realize WHO he's dealing with).  I finally found some sort of dial and switched it to zero.  Two hours later...still freezing.  I called again.  This time, he asked which apartment I was in.  When I gave him our number, he immediately changed tactics and said he'd come up.  I'm guessing they have a bulletin board with my face tacked up, warning all maintenance workers to use caution when dealing with me. 

An hour or two later, not one but two workers stopped by to help resolve my issue.  You can imagine how idiotic I felt explaining my problem with a lame "I don't know how it happened" tacked to the end of my narrative.  Luckily, they simply removed the ice machine, pulled out the bag, and left with a reminder not to use the contaminated ice from the next few batches.  I made sure to gush over their expertise so they would remain just as friendly when my next fiasco arrives.

Moral of the story:  Take heed when stuffing your freezer.

The Missing Piece

I applied for a position at Luis' school that I was really excited about. I applied over a month ago, but it has taken the hiring authorities many weeks to finish up with the process. I just found out yesterday that I did not get the job. I was really hopeful for that job so I'm sure you understand my disappointment. I saw this today and was reminded about certain things I need to remember during this phase of my life. My favorite part is the end.

The Missing Piece

Machine Monsters

When Luis and I got married, I switched to his bank account.  However, everytime I've gone into that particular bank, Luis has been the man in charge.  Today, I had a check to be deposited.  After Luis talked me through the process beforehand, I decided to be bold and go it alone.  Since there are fancy machines in the lobby, I decided to try that.  Luckily, no one was around when I walked up so I could take as long as I needed without being labeled.  That lasted mere moments before other savvy bank-goers appeared.  I did just fine right up until I had to put the check into the machine.  That monster started beeping at me as it waited for my check, thus letting everyone around me know how long it was taking me to figure out how to get my check in.  "You just slip it in lady!"  Since the beeping blared worse than a school fire alarm, even the parking lot customers knew about the idiot inside.  The beeping went on for an agonizingly long time as the people next to me stole candid glances my way.  It was torture.  Who knew the check had to be pushed all the way to the right?  I do now!

Then, later today I was picking up a Redbox flick as my treat for being a good little housewife.  I got my oil changed, updated our insurance, and purchased our groceries.  I even called maintenance about our bag of blueberries currently intwined in our ice maker (wait for that on another blog installment).  Now Redbox, I have done before.  Please... sooooo easy right?  NOT right!  Come on, you know what it's like standing behind someone at Redbox.  Customers have the right to take as long as they want, but inside you're thinkin "Hurry it UP already!"  Reminisant of the bank, there were witnesses nearby to observe my unability to function in the modern world.  Not my fault when the machine didn't recognize my selections or my debit card.  There was a segment on the Today Show the other day about how we all tend to turn into our mothers.  Thanks mom.

Staying at Home

As I have had some time to stay at home over the past 21/2 months, I've come to enjoy the many great perks.  So, here is my list of great things that can happen when you're home alone all day long.

1.  I have the option of watching America's Funniest Home Videos before Saturday Night Primetime.

2.  I wake up to see Luis off to school and then secretly sneak back to bed and enjoy several more hours of sleep.

3.  I can bake dozens of cookies that I pretend to give away to neighbors who, conveniently, aren't home.  Sorry, Lu, it looks like we have to eat them ALL!

4.  No one knows exactly how many naps I have taken throughout the day.  (No honey, I didn't take any naps today.  I'm pretty tuckered...let's go to bed.)

5.  I can now name all 23 local colleges, along with their phone numbers, addresses, and programs.  I also know all the nearest denture replacement facilities.

6.  I can rent Spanish Traveler CD's from the library which means I can finally ask for a bellboy the next time I'm in Spain.

7.  I can pretend to be an American Idol contestant when I'm singing around our apartment...oh wait, I do that regardless.

8.  I can take multiple naps a day (um...did I already say that one?)

9.  I can have gloomy hour all day long!  I am trying to save money you know.

10.  There are 2 full hours of I Love Lucy reruns from 12 -2, and I can watch the whole marathon.

11.  I can learn the fine art of "Peeping" each time my neighbors walk by.

12.  I can watch the news at 7am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, 10pm, AND 11pm.  By the end of the day, I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow!

13.  I can make hand puppets and pretend to be a ventrilaquist.  No audience needed.

14.  I realize just how much I love my hubby when he walks through that door.


What do YOU do?

Artists

Did you know that Luis is an artist? 

He is actually very good. 

He started this project back in Utah, and unfortunately, it won't be done for a long long time.  He spends so much time studying that he has very little time for anything else. 

However, below you'll find two other drawings he's done using colored pencils. 

Sadly, I have not his skill. 

A few months ago when Luis and I taught the 4 year olds in primary, we needed puppets for a story.  Here's what I came up with.

I think the children were frightened.

I Can Blog About Measuring Cups

I've been wanting to post this for months now, and finally, here it comes.  Years ago, I bought collapsable measuring cups for the day I would some day need them.  I've been using them since January and have been astounded at how well they stack together when I put them in the cupboard.  My other measuring cups don't do that.  Well, one day when I was doing the dishes, I noticed that 2 of these marvelous cups stuck together a bit.  So I did a little experiment and found...they are magnetic!  Who knew?  (Okay, apparantly Luis knew.)  I just thought that was pretty spectacular.

Labor Day Campout

Every Labor Day, our family has a traditional campout.  However, ours is a bit different than usual campouts seeing as how we don't leave our backyard.  In keeping with this tradition, Lu and I had our own "Ferguson style" campout.

We began Sunday night with getting our air mattress ready and making some lucious lemon bars.  As Amber would say "Yumm-o!"  Unfortunately, the pump had to charge for 12 hours.  More importantly, however, the lemon bars turned out luciously.

Next, we played the ever classic, Jenga!  Like usual, Luis won.  Someone needs to give me tips on how to beat my husband at games.  He wins EVERYTHING which I find rather annoying.  Look at his concentration.  I just kept laughing and shaking (which, by the way, is not a good move in this game).

Since our pump was unavailable, we decided to leave the campout sleeping for Monday night.  The next morning, we had another Ferguson classic, blueberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon. 

(Oh yeah, the letter thing below is a Luis specialty.  These stand for either Luis & Ashley or Los Angeles.  You pick.)

Unfortunately, Luis had to study most of Labor Day (blah), so I cleaned.  (I must say, there is something strangely satisfying about cleaning out a closet.)  Later in the day, we used our free bowling coupons to pay $8.99 for bowling shoes.  Looking at these pictures, I would say Luis has a lot to learn from my expertise.  Just look at that form!  Look at those scores!  Yep, my business mind is thinking that it's about time to begin advertising bowling lessons.

Finally, we were able to pump up our mattress for our "campout."  I''ll say right now, that these things look a lot more comfortable than they actually are.  Why we thought it was a good idea to trade our fluffy pillowtop bed for this rock is beyond me.  Well, we got ready for bed, turned out the lights, and plopped down for the night.  As innocently as possible, I then did my best to convince Luis that he needed to get a good night's sleep since he had a big test the next day and that I wasn't sure if he would be able to sleep very well on this board.  We then took an anonymous poll and found out that one of us wanted to sleep on it and the other one... not so much.  We decided to stay.  One of us fell asleep right away.  The other one of us woke the sleeping one of us and we traded in for our bed.  Can you guess who did the waking?  That's right!  Poor soft skinned Looie.  After all, he DID have a big test the next day.  (Am I good or what?)