So I was a little bored in the kitchen this past weekend…staring into the pantry and wondering what the heck to make for dinner when my mom suggested Fettuccine Alfredo. Now, while that sounded good, I always like to change things up for the family, so they don’t get bored…okay, so I don’t get bored with the same old food. I also didn’t have fettuccine noodles so I improvised and the family gobbled it up.Here’s what I did to make this yummy creation: Continue reading
I know, what a strange title for a blog post…but it’s fitting and let me tell you why.
So, we went on a vacation, not a long one, but one to central Idaho to meet up with the real Andre (you’ll meet Andre in another blog posting) and her family as well as visit Sagle, Idaho, the town Cheyenne was living in when the whole story started. Continue reading
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| BYD Security on the job |
BYD security is amazing, I think… What is it you ask? It’s Big Yellow Dog Security, yup that’s right, Big Yellow Dog who also happens to be named Crazy Mandi.
It’s a twenty-four hour service, seven days a week and could possibly save your life…um, well more like probably take my life in my case, but regardless it was activated in full last night and it went something like this:
Me: Dead asleep until BYD security’s alarm went off.
BYD (aka Crazy Mandi): Woof, thump, claw! Woof, thump, claw! (the pregnant BYD lodged herself under my bed and was fighting to get out and do her job)
Me: Eyes fly open and I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. BYD has gone off randomly before.
BYD: Woof, thump, claw! Woof, thump, claw! Woof, thump, claw!
Me: Struggling to see because I sleep with my contacts in, can’t find eye drops.
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| In training |
Hubby: Deep voice from bathroom, “What’s going on?”
Me: You activated BYD because you went in to the bathroom! Glance at clock, 3:30 a.m.
BYD: Woof, thump, claw! Woof, thump, claw! Woof, thump, claw!
Hubby: All I did was belch!
Me: “Dang, stupid pregnant dog! Mandi! Stop!”
Teenage son in other room: Snore…
BYD: Woof, thump, claw!
Ding-dong in the distance
Hubby: “What?!”
Me: Jumps out of bed to find out that BYD Security has emerged at the same time. Trips, but recovers, and reaches over to grab lounge pants while trying to avoid activated, pregnant, and fierce BYD only to fall over said laundry baskets that were there to remind me to put away the clean clothes in the morning…
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| Her best “You talking to me look” |
BYD: WOOF! Darts down stairs leaving us in the dust.
Teenage son: Snore…
Me: Finds lounge pants and throws them on not knowing or caring that they are probably inside out and backwards. Stumbles down stairs.
Hubby: “Wait, I’m coming!”
BYD: WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!
Me: Peeks out side window to see that a cop car is sitting in front of my house with its lights on. I blink and then remember that teenage son is upstairs sleeping and other son is four hours away at school. Deep sigh.
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| Spying on neighbors, and yes there are holes in my fence. |
BYD: WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!
Hubby: “Hold on, let me grab her!” Struggles to find the off button on BYD only to realize there is none.
Teenage son: Snore…
Me: Opens door slowly, and officer steps back. Probably because I can’t fully open my eyes because I never found my eye drops. Secondly because I likely had green gasses coming from my mouth from the mexican food I’d eaten the night before. And finally, I’m sure, because my hair looked like a batch of monkey’s had their way with it.
BYD: Growl, woof, struggle!
Officer: Um, I’m sorry to wake you, but I just wanted to let you know that your garage door is open and since it allows access to your house…
Me: I blink and recover quickly. “Thanks…”
Hubby: “Crap!”
Officer: “Just want to let you know…” Saunters away looking over his shoulder.
Me: “Oops…”
Hubby: Releases BYD security and heads towards garage.
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| Yup, that’s what I’m releasing upon the world |
BYD: Woof! Bark! Snarl!
Me: As hubby returns I shrug. “Must have been all the margaritas I had last night, sorry.”
Hubby: “Um, you only had one…”
After it was all said and done, and BYD Security had settled down I realized the full magnitude of what I’d done. In just a few short weeks I was expanding BYD Security and I was now going to have to change my name, move, and assume another identity. Because once the new owners figure out what they’d gotten, well, yes, they’d try and return the product to it’s original source.
Teenage son: Snore…
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| Resting after her BYD Security call at 3:30 a.m. |
BYD: This morning: Snore….
Me: Making third batch of coffee…and begging for you to forgive me for all the typo’s I’m sure this thing has. Brain still isn’t function properly yet…
It was only yesterday that his first words were da-da, it was only yesterday that he was pulling all the socks out of the drawer just because.
It was only yesterday that he started playing football and it was only yesterday that I was sitting on the sidelines cheering him on.
It was only yesterday that I walked upon the football field in his senior year, and gushed with pride as they announced his name. It was only yesterday that I watched him walk down the aisle and get his diploma and it was only yesterday that he began his college journey.
I blinked…
It was only yesterday and I blinked…
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| The disappointing candle… |
So I was at a friend’s house the other day and upon entering their home with their daughter by my side, a brief smile emerges on the daughter’s lips only to be replaced by a frown. A wonderful aroma drifts before me and I take a deep breath. “Cookies.” I think to myself. “Lovely homemade sugar cookies to be exact.”
“Oh,” the daughter says with annoyance. “It’s just the disappointing candle.” She explains to me that when her mother burns the candle it smells like cookies. Cookies that she craves only to find out they don’t exist.
I blink and smile politely. “Ah, it’s just the candle,” I say to myself. “Just the candle that’s making my mouth water, nothing more.”
Then I began thinking. How many times in life have I entered a ‘so called home’ and been disappointed because what I thought was there really wasn’t? I was lured in by the scent, the smell that was enticing me to taste only to find out that what I thought was there wasn’t. I had gotten myself so worked up for the taste of the ‘cookie’ that I didn’t even pay attention to the details. There were no cookies sheets sprawled out over the kitchen counters. The mixing bowl and spatula were neatly put away. There was no oven timer beeping in the background as a reminder of what was baking. There was no plate piled high with the sugary delights. There was nothing but a simple candle burning on the countertop. A single candle on the countertop creating an illusion of something greater, tastier.
Life is full of disappointments, packed full in my opinion, jobs, marriages, friends. Am I paying attention to the details or am I just scratching the surface? Am I living my life as the disappointing candle? Am I just luring others in with what they see on the surface or am I really producing something for them to take a hold of? Would God or another walk in and say, “Oh, it’s just the candle?”
I don’t want to be the disappointing candle. I would rather expose myself for who I am and let other see and taste the real me. Sure I am full of faults; sometimes I add too much salt to the mixture and leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Sometimes I add too much sugar and leave your head spinning in a sugar-educed comma. And sometimes, only sometimes, I am just perfect and you want to come back for more.
Original post on Lisa Lehrke Wiedmeier facebook page Oct 5, 2010.
Okay, so I received a fortune cookie when Glenn and I went out for Chinese food last month and it got me thinking . . .
My cookie read: “The coming month shall bring you much happiness.”
I received the cookie in October, so November, according to my fortune cookie is supposed to bring me happiness . . . What is happiness?
I decided instead of letting my cookie determine that November would bring me happiness that I would instead, once a day, figure out what brought me happiness. An experiment of sorts, if you want to call it that, to figure out what is my happiness and maybe help you find yours.
So for the next thirty days I will be finding something, anything that brings me happiness and write about it. You, of course, as my friends will have the privilege of learning what makes me happy and in turn maybe might look at your own life. Sometimes we are so busy in our everyday lives that we forget about those simple little things that bring a smile to our face and a spring in our step, laughter to our ears and a warm contentment to our heart.
May this inspire you to do the same—What’s your happiness?