Awkward Conversations

I've had some pretty interesting interactions lately:

(photo by Tota Odds)

Last week, I was taking Duvick for a walk to 7-11 to return our redbox movie. On our way back, around 9:00 pm an old lady with her hair in a mess wearing her bathrobe spoke to me as I walked past her yard. She was watering her flowers. "My dog died today," she said.
I kept walking and respond, "that is so sad - I am very sorry."
She said, "it is sad. my other dog died last week."
At this I stopped walking. "Are you okay?"

This woman proceeded to talk to me for awhile. At first I wondered if she was just a crazy person. After all, who begins a conversation (in a bathrobe at 9pm) with a perfect stranger by telling them that her pet has died? As I spoke to her, I noticed her next door neighbor sitting on his front porch videotaping people as they walk by, video taping me actually... I left with Debbie's phone number and a business card for her veterinarian. Apparently they are the best in town - they even cremated her second dog for free.

(photo by eduard titov)

Last week I answered my work phone, "Hello, you have reached ACSl, this is Hannah. Can I help you?" That's my always response. At least I don't answer, "Welcome to your Gurnee drive-thru Starbucks, what are you drinkin'?" like I sometimes did accidentally back in the day.

"After a little pause, a man asked, "is Tonya Harding there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, can you repeat that please?"

"I need to get in touch with Tonya Harding please."

At that, I started cracking up and told him that there was no Tonya Harding at this number.

"Isn't this Colorado Springs?" he pleaded. "Yes, yes, but no Tonya."

"Look, I admit that this sounds odd, but I really need to speak to Tonya Harding. I think she works in member certification."

"I'm sorry sir, let me see if I have her listed on my sheet of in-house extensions."oops. "I deeply apologize. Tonya is extension 251. I am so sorry, I thought you were performing a prank call."

He seemed to be an understanding sort of man. After that I didn't answer any phone calls for the rest of the day.

Thanks for hangin' on if you're still reading these...

(photo by see seven dog)

A few days ago my next door neighbor stopped by. She and her husband seem really cool and we've talked about getting together for dinner or something some time.

"Hey Sara!"

"Hey, I just wanted you to know that we're having a party tonight," she said.

"Wow. Thank you soooo much!" I said with a huge smile and mild excitement.

"Yeah, sure. I just wanted you to know that we'll be having a lot of people over pretty late. And we don't do this very often, just a couple of times a year. So we'll probably be outside eating and drinking late. I just wanted you to know."

"Oh, that is so thougthful of you. I really appreciate it." I felt like banging my head against the wall.

"You and Landon can come if you want. It's my birthday." she said.

"Thanks a lot Sara. Happy Birthday, and thanks again for letting us know about your party. Have fun!"

I felt like an idiot. I haven't been to a party in years and years. The whole hermitish lifestyle that I live I think is making me so strange. I realized that last week I didn't leave my house at all Wednesday and Thursday and Friday after a trip to Walmart and the grocery store I was determined to avoid leaving the house for the rest of the day - that was stressful! I'm a little concerned that i'm getting both socially awkward, and also completely desperate for any sort of human interaction - which isn't a good combo, really.

Climbing American Fork

Yesterday we went rock climbing after church. We usually go rock climbing on Sundays because the crags are surprisingly not crowded on Sundays. A lot of the great climbing near Salt Lake is in Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. However, no dogs are allowed in these canyons because they are the water source for our town. So we still climb there, but we try to go places that Duvick can come with as often as we can. Yesterday we drove just a bit south beyond The Point of the Mountain to American Fork Canyon. Last time we came here was with Janelle last September!

Landon is so awesome. And we met some neat people. And got to put our feet in the river again. It was fun.

yikes. sorry all these pictures are smudgy.

The limestone has really neat features - isn't it beautiful?

I love this.

On our drive home we saw some amazing sky

And mountains too, of course

Free TCBY Frozen Yogurt in Sugarhouse

All Sugarhousers, some sweet friend from our local TCBY has given me a BOGO coupon and asked me to share it with friends!

So here you go:

Sorry to all of my dear out of town friends that were salivating over my TCBY Frozen yogurt blog post earlier this week - no soup for you. This coupon is only for the grand re-opening of our new and hip TCBY joint out here across from the dollar theatre. 

Thanks, dear generous TCBY friend. You will def. see me and the Mr. again before this summer ends! 

More of Paperless in 2010

Replacing the Zip-Lock

(i made those peanut butter cookies last night. very yummy. recipe here)

Since we are determined to waste less, I've been wrapping our sandwiches in cloth napkins for our road trips, backpacking and climbing adventures. I liked it. I like having a napkin with me to catch the crumbs and wipe my hands and face after food - you know, i'm kinda sloppy. But my Mountain Man (who has been SOOOOo sweet to humor me....as usual) hasn't been a big fan, because it does make the bread dryer/staler here in the dry mtn. climate. 

This week, I was at "the DI" (Deseret Industries Thrift Store - owned by the Mormon Church) and I found an old outdoor table cloth. I bought it for $1.00 and the wheels were turning in my head. You will see me buying fabric at the fabric store rarely. I really think that as often as I can, my materials should be as re-purposed as possible. So.... the table cloth is my water-proof layer, and the outside is fabric from a pair of old J.Crew khakis that have ripped so badly up the butt-seam that they are not repairable. 

I came home and immediately fashioned my own sandwich bag. Now, this is not at all my original idea. I have seen tons of these on etsy. I ran through a few drafts to find the best technique for me.

Mine is the only one I have seen with a folded velcro closure, which I thought would make food stay more fresh than the others I've seen. Although, a zipper may be best, but I'm just not ready to put that kind of money and time into these little friends.

This one is a bit sloppy because I was in a hurry to get it done so Landon could pack it for his climbing trip that evening. Being completely honest, I haven't measured a thing yet when it comes to sewing. But my seams, though a little haphazard, are usually a bit tidier than this one!

The inside can be brought out for easy cleaning. The re-purposed table cloth brings back memories of tye-dying on the pic-nic table during my early 90's childhood, and Fourth of July celebrations with my grandmother and lots of watermelon and homemade ice cream!

Tree House

I'm not much into design, decor, and things like that. Not only do I lack skill, but I seriously lack resources and it's not really a huge priority for me, truthfully, to make over my house. Maybe some day it will be. Maybe if I ever have a child I will have that nesting urge that so many of you women do. Maybe if I become a  "home-maker" this will be a higher priority for me. Maybe if we some day buy our own home and plant some roots I will paint some walls and get some design inspiration. Maybe some day we will pay for television and HGTV will give me a nudge - probably not.

So I'm not sure if this is weird or wonderful. To me, it is wonderful...

I wonder the process... Do you have to make sure the bark is all off first? If there is still bark on there, won't it fall off as the tree gets deader and deader? Is it painted black, or did the branches actually grow and die that color? I don't know, but this place looks wonderful. I love the tree branch canopy. Love love love it.

I LOVE the idea of bringing trees INSIDE of the house. Of course, no trees should be killed for the sake of  home decorating. So only dead trees. But I love some of the ideas I have seen:

A new "taste" on Frozen Yogurt

In the last two weeks we have been to two self-serve, soft-serve yogurt joints. We had a coupon for each in the mail and I made sure to snatch them - buy one get one free ICE CREAM! What more could a girl want? And Landon was surprisingly into it. Usually these type of coupons make him call me a "sucker" for falling victim of the marketing ploy and going to spend money somewhere that we never would have gone without the coupon. But I didn't hear a word from him - I think my hunny might have a weakness for ice cream (I would go as far as to say that Landon is to ice cream as Hannah is to coffee).

Anyways. I was blown away by the first place we went. A new local self-serve yogurt place called YoWay. When we walked in, the place was filled with ultra modern decor and bright colors. I was confused at first until I saw other patrons helping themselves to a cone/bowl and perusing the wall. Oh!!! There's ice cream on the wall!!!  (how would I have known?) signs would be helpful.

Last week we went to the grand re-opening of a TCBY down the street that has now morphed into one of these self-serve technicolor yogurt places. 

The flavors were wonderful and creative and you can have as much as you want!

Then there are a gazillion toppings to choose from. From fresh fruit, to cereals, candy bars, to nuts and all kinds of sauces. Wow. My guess is that children would need serious supervision.

And then, the moment of truth:

See, they charge you by weight. TCBY was .39/oz.

With our buy-one-get-one coupons at both places, our grand total was a little shy of $5. And Landon didn't even pile his bowl high and get crazy. We decided that $5 was about what we would think reasonable to spend for both of us at an ice cream joint. $10 seems a bit out of hand! We wouldn't go back without a coupon, that's for sure. 

Our experience at these self-serve modern yogurt joints was pretty fun. You should check one out if you have one near you!

The dungeon

We have an amazing little room in our house. It's laughable, really.

Our house was built in 1917 when these Utah homes were heated by coal through the winter. So we actually have a storage place for coal on the side of our house, and a little opening into our "shelf basement" that is built into the brick of the house where whoever lived here 90 years ago would shovel the coal into the bottom of the house in order to keep all 4 rooms of this little Bungalow heated.

Every house on our block has a shelf basement. It's a scary place, really. The ceiling is so low that Landon can't stand up straight in the room at all. Being 6 inches shorter than Landon, I can stand up between the boards - but this weekend while I was making the bed, I banged my head pretty hard more than once. Ours is surprisingly free of spiders. And someone not too long ago "finished" the basement with drywall and carpet, which is much better than our neighbors' houses, I am told, that have dark basements with broken concrete floors.

Being as our place is so very little, we decided to use our (VERY SMALL) second room as Landon's study instead of a guest bedroom. So the double bed had only one place to go except storage, the basement. dum dum DUM!

Follow Me:

it's okay if you laugh.

or cry.

but please still come to visit!

ha!

trying to get a privacy curtain here

uneven steps

I had to get a little creative to make this room function in the way that we needed it to.

I hung a curtain from the pipe in the ceiling to cover the back of the room. 

Creepy, huh?

This room is also a spare closet,  laundry room, and storage.

that's our dirty laundry

view of the "ceiling" from the bed - I think that is the bottom of the kitchen

Hope this doesn't scare you away! 

If you want to come visit during ski season, you can have a free "room", great company and my delicious cooking, but we'll make you earn your keep by shoveling coal.

Veggie Meat

In our effort to be responsible consumers and eat only ethically raised meats, we end up eating a lot of vegetarian around here. Which isn't bad. We still get plenty of protein. But one thing that I have desperately been missing is breakfast sausage. We can find free-range chicken and grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs, organic butter, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc...but when it comes to breakfast sausage, I think it has been years since we've enjoyed it here at the McBrayer household.

So we decided to just give this little guy a try. Landon and I do not really do meat substitutes in our meals at all. If we are eating vegetarian, then we made sure to have some protein-rich beans or quinoa or something. We don't toss in meatless chicken and tofu - it just feels weird (nothing against that stuff, though).  So this was a rare whim for us.

One morning we decided that a hot breakfast would hit the spot. So I threw together a family favorite of ours (from when we lived a little more carnivorous), "Jasper County Hash". When I squeezed the "sausage" out of the tube, I was a little surprised, though I"m not sure why. It just looked like refried beans, actually. I had a hard time breaking it apart - the beans were extremely sticky. I threw in about a tsp of butter and turned the heat up a bit and was finally able to break it apart and get it cookin. It's weird that this stuff doesn't really need to cook at all - it's just beans, after all. Then I cracked and scrambled the eggs with it and it looked like it was supposed to. 

The Hash tasted pretty good. Now, I couldn't tell if I was just enjoying it because it sort of smelled like breakfast sausage and I wouldn't know the difference anyway because it's been so long since I've enjoyed some. Or maybe it's actually pretty decent. Landon said that it "tasted weird". It's something that i think we will be willing to try again some time! 

Don't be afraid; just believe

Yesterday morning during my Bible reading in Mark,  I came across this verse that I never took much note of before.

Many of us may recall the woman who touched the cloak of Jesus and was healed from her lifetime of bleeding because of her faith. Well, do you remember that she touched Jesus among a huge crowd of people who were following Jesus as he accompanied the "synagogue ruler", Jairus, to his house to heal his dying daughter? Along the way, the woman touched Jesus and her faith healed her. Jesus spoke to the woman and then continued on to help his man's daughter. Men rushed to Jairus and said, "Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more?"

Jesus ignored these men and turned to Jairus and said, "Don't be afraid; just believe." (Mark 5:36)

He then goes to this man's home and raises his twelve year old daughter from the dead.

Yesterday I received an email informing me that I didn't get the job at the Ouelessebougou Alliance. I was in major dismay, as I am now working only part time at ACSI, which is very little pay (i NEED a job NOW!) and I thought that this job with the Alliance was perfect for me. I was already very emotionally invested into the organization and very excited about possibly working for them. I guess my mind-frame was that the job was already mine. Which was foolish, I see. This position would have utilized all my skills and experience and fits my passions and my heart so perfectly; I still can not imagine something better. I was so frightful - if this position is not for me, then what is?

And after I received the email from the Alliance, and after I sifted through these thoughts, the thing that came to my mind was what Jesus had said to Jairus when the men told him that his daughter was dead, "don't be afraid; just believe."

Although my faith and my trust are not always steadfast, my God is.
I will not be afraid.

Climbing in "Secret"

(we climbed the cliffs behind me, opposite the lake)

Cecret Lake is a beautiful mountain lake nestled between quartzite cliffs at the top of Alta Ski Resort. Only a mile hike from the highest parking lot, it is a crowded destination over the weekend, especially with the very hot temperatures we've been suffering in the Salt Lake valley.

It was a beautiful hike full of wild flowers, streams, and my favorite smell in the world: pines in the sun!

Most people were just taking a Sunday hike up to the lake. I had to laugh at all these people with their trecking poles and hiking boots - this mile hike was very undemanding on a well worn trail. 

(view of Cecret Lake from the cliffs)

The lake was beautiful. I can only imagine the freezing temperatures as this lake is made entirely of snow melt. It is, after all, located in the middle of a ski resort. 

We saw many meandering streams leading down into the lake (and coming from the lake)

We even saw snow that was dirty and compact from the ski season (some with fresh ski tracks, even!)

We climbed on a few walls. One was above the lake, with beautiful views. Our stay there was short because the only other party on the wall was a family of 6 (adults) and they were ridiculously obnoxious. 

We went to a second wall that was just below the lake with a bustling stream, snow, and a lot of other climbers.

 

I wish I had pictures of Landon climbing instead of me belaying while he is climbing. I tried to take a picture once (with landon's cell phone - we forgot our camera again), and almost pulled landon off the rock for lack of climbing slack. So, no pictures of climbing, sadly.

Here's a picture of my mountain man reflecting on yet another wonderful day on the mountain. Actually, I think the words coming out of his mouth at this time were something about how he would "huck that cliff" come ski season.