By small and simple things

So last summer while we were trying not to melt in Boston, we stopped at a mall kiosk selling zipper purses. We were quickly approached by the kiosk salesman, who being the smarmy salesman type, struck up a conversation.

"Where are you ladies from...CIN-ci-na-ti?"
"No, we're from Wyoming."
"Oh. I do not know where CIN-ci-na-ti is, but I like to say it."

He told us he would cut us a deal if we sang him a song from where we were from. So my mom, sister, and I launched into "Home on the Range." Then of course to get the price he was offering, we had to buy 4. Then if we bought one more he would give us one free. He kept saying, "What about little Suzy in Wyoming? She needs a Christmas present!" We ended up with six coin purses and a really fun memory.

So on Saturday when I misplaced mine at Target, I was more upset about the purse than what was inside (not money; I use mine to hold chapstick and nail clippers and other flotsam that ends up in the bottom of my purse). I knew it was dumb, but the purse was a tangible reminder of my experience on that trip.

So as corny as it sounds, I said a little prayer that someone would find it and turn it in to customer service. And someone did.


"And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only. But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them?"

Things that make me awesome

* I just fixed my wireless network all by myself. Okay, I used the trouble-shooting website. But no geek squad, no computer nerd friends, no tech support in India. Even better, everyone in the house can now get on the network.

* I fixed a schedule not only by adding all the lines, but by noticing that it went from July to September. That may not make sense to anyone else, but it made the project manager happy.

Okay, so that's all I got. But I'm pretty excited about the network. Internet is a beautiful thing.

Label the available

People should come with warning labels. I'm tired of flirting with guys who turn out to be married (or engaged or dating seriously or otherwise taken). I'm tired of thinking a guy is into me only to find out he's that nice to everyone. Maybe this girl had it right.

P.S. -- How awesome is it that you can access all those old Letters to the Editor? I just found out and it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Me, 7:45 a.m. today:


Me, 7:45 p.m. today:

Life's a journey; enjoy the ride

Yesterday my papa turned 50. I, being the respectful daughter that I am, bought him an Old Guys Rule t-shirt. He, being my papa, loved it. Today when I called to talk to the family in general, the first thing he told me is that he's 50. I said he was taking it remarkably well. I loved his answer: "Well, the only alternative to being old is being dead." That's my dad. Having a bad attitude isn't an option. I like to think I picked up some of that optimism, though I haven't perfected mine as well as he has.

Other reasons I think my dad is the greatest:
* He eats ice cream with a fork. You could always tell when dad had gotten into the ice cream on his lunch break because of all the little fork marks. We as kids used this to our advantage--if we ate with a fork too, we could always blame him for sneaking into it. Oh, and he always has to test the ice cream to see if it's "poisoned." It always is, so he generously offers to eat it for us so we don't have to suffer.

* He introduced me to the Muppets and the Beach Boys. As a result, I was the only 8 year old on the planet who thought that the Beach Boys were better than New Kids on the Block (which they are, but no 8 year old thinks that). He also got me hooked on BYU football by taking me to the 1996 BYU vs. Texas A&M game.

* He is an incredible example of service. It seems like he's always getting called in to help people move or give blessings or anything else he's asked to do. He's always done his home teaching too, which is something I admire as an adult attempting to visit teach.

* He's always willing to listen. I remember calling him one Friday afternoon when I was having a really hard time at school. He listened to be cry and complain for a good hour while I'm sure he had other things to do. He handled a lot of late-night panic I-can't-do-this calls too. He also listened to my beanie baby business plan, my "nobody will ever love me" post break-up whining, and my crazy idea about moving to California.

Happy birthday, Dad!

Nothing but sincerity reaching out as far as the eye can see

I went to a pumpkin patch last night for the first time since I was...well, I don't remember the last time, so I'm sure I was quite young. First we explored the corn maze.

This was the first maze I had been to with living corn. And because it was living (and probably because it was a ridiculously small and simple maze), they wouldn't let you cut through. Anywhere someone had tried, they had put up signs saying "Farmer Kenny is sad because someone couldn't stay on the path." Farmer Kenny was sad a lot.

The pumpkins themselves were pretty picked over. There were some really cool bright orange ones that would have been awesome in a black light, but they were all mushy so we didn't get any of those. We did find lots of others that we liked.

We finally narrowed it down to one each (with the encouragement of the staff, who wanted us to leave because it was getting dark. They had to check us out by lantern light.)

Then off to carve! I hate the scooping out part, but the carving itself is detail-oriented enough that I like it. Here's the results:


Mine is the tall skinny one. It's my tribute to Twilight. (The guy has a pointy vampire tooth, in case that's not clear in the photo. My friends were teasing me about my x-rated pumpkin.)

So now that I've carved a pumpkin, I'm officially over Halloween and ready to move on to Thanksgiving. Who's with me?

World on fire

This week was interesting. The smoke made my eyes itch and throat sore and head hurt. But because I was not one of the nearly 1,000,000 people evacuated, I knew that it could be worse. So I tried to keep the complaining down.

Other weird things happened. For some reason, I didn't get tired at night. I stayed up until 1 at least twice without even realizing it because my body never said "you're being an idiot; go to sleep!" Even weirder, I wasn't tired during the day either.

And have you ever noticed how when you can't do something, it makes you want to do it? Last week I had to force myself to the gym, and only made it twice. This week I couldn't because of the smoke, and all I wanted to do was go running.

The worst day was Wednesday. Headache + cramps + who knows what else = grouchy Mindy. I spent the morning apologizing to everyone because I knew I was being rude and horrid but I couldn't stop. I hated it. And then, that afternoon my mood just lifted. I didn't do anything; all of a sudden I realized I didn't want to yell at people anymore. I was still a little unsure of myself, so I went to Institute rather than Bunco (better a dark classroom where I wouldn't talk to anyone than a group of friends I might offend). And that helped too.

And now the smoke has started to clear. Here's hoping this week will be much better.