Make the World a Better Place

I am currently a resident of the state of Utah. Utah has a thrift organization that is comparable to Goodwill, or Salvation Army called Deseret Industries. People bring in their old stuff/junk/crap and others pay money for it. One man's crap is another man's...crap. So each ward in each stake of the church does service at these centers and it was my ward's turn. Now, normally I would just pass the sign-up sheet in Relief Society on to the next person with a very valid excuse in my head like, "That's Tuesday night, I'm usually pretty tired on Tuesdays." Or "I would love to serve but DI sometimes has lots of crying children and my hands get grimy when I look through the t-shirts." Thus, preventing me from attending a service opportunity. Well, I have been feeling a little blue lately and I keep hearing quotes and suggestions about how your troubles seems to go away when you serve others.

The point: I signed that sign-up sheet and I marched down to Deseret Industries with my latex gloves to serve Utah's thrift comunity from 6 to 8 pm.

Result: My troubles did not melt away, but I do feel good about my time spent at DI sorting and matching Mens, Womens, and childrens shoes. There are two reasons for this positive feeling. First, I was helping the needy, clothing the poor, serving my fellow man etc. etc. etc. Second, I was ridding the world and indeed the entire thrift community of many bad pairs of shoes. I took the liberty of throwing away every faux flower, plastic beaded, rhinestone studded shoe I saw. I probably threw away 5 pairs of off-white, square toed, low-heeled, size 6 1/2 pumps, 10 pairs of black clunky clogs, and at least 20 pairs of orthopedic sandals. Who is wearing all these bad shoes?! And who, in their right mind, would ever buy a pair of heels made out of colorless acrylic??!! Let's just say that if there are any grandma's who are planning to pick up another pair of elasticized, flat beige orthopedics, they are going to have to look somewhere besides the St. George DI.

A success

I decided on lemon raspberry. This is from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com and it was a very thick dense cake but I thought it was good.

Thanks to my family and best friend for making me feel so loved on my birthday!

I am not afraid of spiders.

Thank goodness.
My roommate and I found this living very near our front door last weekend... It is about the size of my palm.
We decided we didn't want to know anything about it, like does it eat small rodents... or children?

Birthday Cake?

I want to make my own birthday cake. (Is that ok, mom?) So I've been looking at cake recipes and now I don't know which one to make... The problem is that I love chocolate and when I get an excuse to make a cake, I always choose to make chocolate. I know I would like other cakes, but it's so hard to pass up a good chocolate cake. This time I am determined to not make my classic dark chocolate cake and try something else.

These are some of the ideas I've been looking at

This is a Layered Reeses Peanut Butter Cake from PickyPalate.blogspot.com
Looks Sooo Good.

Also: Lemon Raspberry Cake

I can't decide

I've seen your 9 to 5 take away all your dreams

Lately I've been thinking a lot about why I chose my field of work. Not necessarily just mine but everyone's. It seems that lately everyone I talk to is not doing what they want to do, myself included. Why do I go to a Hospital everyday and help doctors by testing their patient's hematology and chemistry levels? I thought it was what I wanted to do, right? I like science, Med Techs have great job security and decent pay. But really, why am I doing this? All day at work I think about what I would be doing if I didn't have to be here. Diane, my trainer at work says that she always wanted to be gemologist, or a cosmetologist. She loves rocks and she loves hair. Why does she come to the hospital everyday too? Dave, another one of my trainers, was a pastor in a church, and then a psychologist, so why does he too come to the hospital everyday instead of doing something he loves like psychology or theology? I look at them as they talk about their past dreams they have long since given up and it truly breaks my heart. I have a few theories but none of them really explain why so many people fall into the trap of doing what is easiest instead of what makes them happy. I think it is probably a combination of fear and laziness. I vow to never fall into that trap. For now, this IS what I want to be doing. I am still too young in this field to reject all it has to offer and I know that there are things for me to learn and to love, I just have to find them.
However, there is nothing in this field or any other that can lure me from what I really want to be: a Mother.


Elena Marie Moreno, My niece. Born August 30, 2008

Mammoth and Sandiahhhhgo

I recently returned from a trip to California for a family vacation and a roommate's wedding. I truly had to say goodbye to the best roommates ever and Congrats Lexi and Andrew!
Hopefully someday I will again be able to call California my home.
Photo of the week goes to- Jackie! Nice.