Slang Gang Word of the Day

April 27: Dr Google

A person medically qualified by Google's search engine to diagnose symptoms of sickness.

Mrs. Smith: My son has Dengue fever. I searched it on Google.

Dr. James: Really? That's what Google says? Send him to emergency immediately!

Dr. James: *note to self: Mrs. Smith's Son is fine. Mrs. Smith however has a case of Dr Google.

**and you thought only you did this!**

Monday - Missionary Update

I was instructed by Splenda Daddy to make sure I do a post today informing you of the changes for our missionary's updates. See, I guess there are some people, who only stop by on Monday's and only for Elder L's emails and might have missed this.

At any rate, if you didn't get the 411 - Elder L has been transferred and his P-day, oops I mean, Preparation Day is now Saturday's.

Thus, Saturday's will become.......... waiting for clever title to come to mind.......um.....er.....hmph. Nothing.

Saturday's will have his weekly email and we'll leave it at that.

If you are just tuning in and was looking for his weekly update, click here.

The Diva has reared her head

I am now officially entering the world of a girl. There is drama, there is drama and there is even more drama.

'Nuff said.

The Fabulous Four Reunite! - Brazilian Style

My BFF cousins all got together last night for a reunion of sorts. I might have mentioned before that growing up, there were four of us very close in age. My brother T, my cousin T, her brother A and then me. We really did call ourselves the Fabulous Four and we were a tight group! Here it is 40 something years later and we still love getting together. Now, we just don't get to do it as often, but at least with our spouses! We could totally get together every weekend if a certain couple didn't choose to live clear across the freakin country! Marines, Schmarines! Whatev!

At any rate, they were in town and we did the only thing the Fabulous Four could do. Find a great restaurant, with great food and then proceed to be loud, obnoxious, and generally a pain in the you-know-what to all our servers. Oh wait, that was just me. The rest behaved like the perfect, mature adults that they are.

So who exactly are these BFF's?
T and R - the clear across the county dorks

TNT - who live south of me, but within a reasonable minutes drive

N and A - who live embarrassingly close and who we do NOT get together often enough

And then me sans Splenda who was still recuperatingSome might question me leaving him home, but hey, this was a Fab Four reunion! Splenda can totally take care of himself for a few hours for crying out loud. Besides, I had my niece over babysitting Sissy and figured she was good enough to babysit her Duncle D too!

We met at Tucanos
which is a Brazilian Steakhouse. This would totally be R's idea. He has probably spent as much of his career in South America as he has anywhere else. The food was fabulous! However, I did have my own little server that not only harassed me about how much I was packing away (rude), but then let me harass him back.We affectionately called him my main meat man.

A few hours into this great time, the usual birthday stunt was pulled. You know, someone at the table pulls a server aside, tells them that someone at the table is having a birthday so the restaurant staff will come and humiliate them. Last time, it was one of the T's who was our target. This time? I was the victim! Double rude! I had no choice but to be a good sport and enjoy it!

Obviously, I am not too vain since I even posted these pictures of me that are less than flattering! I blame the subject and not the photographer. When you don't have great subject matter to begin with, hey, you get what you get. And for the record, I was ONLY drinking water. Okay, a little lemon in it, but nothing harder than that, despite my facial expressions. Thanks N for the pictures! (my camera batteries died early in the game)

A few hours more, and we finally decided that perhaps we needed to call it a night. Hugs, hugs and more hugs. Talk of an east coast visit, a road trip to Vegas, a white water canoe adventure and the usual promise of keeping in touch, which we all actually do thanks to freakin facebook!

I went home absolutely happy as a lark! A long time with some of my very best friends ever. The only thing missing was Splenda. I couldn't even tell him everything we talked about, there was just too much.

Can't wait for the next opportunity for a Fab Four reunion!

Fiction vs Non-Fiction - My own discovery

I used to be a voracious reader! I would read everything and anything except for Sci-Fi.

The last couple of years, I haven't spent the time. Really, it's a matter of priorities and I found that if I had to choose between going to the gym or laying in bed and reading a book. I choose the gym. I also noticed that my tastes in books have radically changed. When I was younger, I would read lots of fiction, romance etc. Now, however, it no longer appeals to me. To be brutally honest, the only non-fiction writer I read is her. And not only do I love her as a person, but I "get" her writing and her characters. Since I know her background, I also know where some of the inspiration comes from. Thus, it is interesting to me. Her latest bookwas particularly intriguing to me since I knew her daughter had spent time in Romania serving in the hospital and orphanage so I really knew the basis for the experiences of the character. It was more real to me than fiction normally is.

Well at the last book signing she did, I saw a small little book on sale for just a couple of bucks. Those around me said it was a great book and outlined the premise. I thought it sounded interesting and for a couple of bucks, I bought two copies. Once for me and one to give as a gift.

The book?
The Wednesday Letters by Jason F Wright.
The premise is that the married couple dies and their children find these letters that husband has written to wife every single Wednesday since the day they got married. Some family secrets come out, and in the end there is a lesson on repentance, forgiveness and redemption.

Sounds good right? eh, okay I guess. While it was a quick read, and had a great message, I think I've realized that other than hers, non-fiction books just feel too contrived for me. I want a REAL story. I want to read about REAL things, REAL people and REAL situations. Give me a biography, and I am in heaven. That's probably why I read the newspaper every single day (and not on line - real ink and paper), read People magazine (debatable about realness, I know) and have discovered the joys of other's blogs. Unless you are lying on your blog, then me no likey.

I've discovered, I'm no good with fantasy. No good with pretend or made-up. I want something real and something true. I've discovered I am no longer a fiction reader. Just the facts ma'am!

Missionary Update - On Saturday???

Subject: Tranfers!!

Family,

Well family, here is some news! I was taken out of Radimadi, but to a place not too far away. I was transfered to Osorno haha. My sector is called Francke. I am pretty sure that you guys will be able to look it up in google and see how it is, but it is a small sector with a much better house than what I have. I was called to be a District Leader here. There are 4 missionaries in my district. A sector called Obejería and Centro. It actually is really really cool here! My companions name is Elder Gomez. He is also from Honduras! He has about 1 month and a half in the mission, so I will also be ending his training. I am not going to lie to you guys, there is a lot of work to do being district leader, so it keeps me really busy.

I am sure that you guys are probably wondering why I am writing to you guys on a Saturday. Here in Osorno, the Pdays are on Saturday. So from now on I will be writing and hearing from you guys every Sat., not Monday. This is only here in Osorno haha. Downtown here is really awesome. There are tons of stores and big buildings. This is where I will be buying my jacket and some other stuff that I need. I took out 60,000 pesos for right now. I am not sure if I need more, but that should do for now. I should be expecting the package soon and will be getting it a lot faster now that I am close to the Office.

I am loving the mission right now that is for sure!! Basiclly to sum up what a DL does, is everyday Tuesday we have a District Meeting. I direct the meeting, and give a class to help the missionaries in one or more aspects in the work. Also every Wed. Thru, and Fril. the missionaries call me and give me the information of their work, for example how many lessons they are teaching and stuff like that. I then give those to the Zone Leaders. I also do what is called Inter changes. When my companionship along with another, swap for a day. This is done to be able to help the missionaries in the sector.

Today we have a baptizm!! His name is Jaun Pablo. He is about 30 years old but way cool! I am going to have to send you guys pics the next sat and everything. He wants me to baptizm him. Also, his cousin now has a baptismal date 30 of May. Slowly but surely we will be able to talk and convert all of his family.

All in all things are going great here on the mission. The time is flying by and the experiences are amazing. I still dont have any information about when I call you guys :( That is going to have to be the next Pday. Anyway I hope that you guys have a great week. I am looking foward to hearing from you guys soon! Love you guys and miss ya!

Elder Catmull

P.S. My comp doesnt have anyone that writes him. That would be really nice if you guys could send him a package :) Thanks for your love and support.

*It was a HUGE surprise to see this in my in-box today! In fact it was in work's email so I wouldn't have normally seen it until Monday, but I just happened to open it today. Not surprised he is in a leadership role. He has some natural ability there, though he would never be the first to admit that. Now, off to send a package to the comp! : )

Junior Prom - 2009 - The Tuffster is a P.I.M.P!

Uh huh, yeah, that's right, that's my boy!

Junior Prom was Friday night and he has been looking forward to it for awhile now.
Got his tux Thursday, checked it Friday morning to make sure everything fit right. I must say, well done Tip Top Tux. I'd love to provide a link, but they aren't on line, dang. However, they are a great little Mom and Pop shop out of their home. Any tux, any style, complete with shoes for 39.99. Fantastic deal! If you are in the market, you know how to get the deets from me.

The plans for his group kept changing and changing and they didn't have final set plans until early afternoon on Friday. For the record, that made.me.nuts! But whatever, it's not my prom now is it?

He got all spiffied up and let me snap a photo
Then off he went to pick up his date K and back again for me to get ANOTHER photo.Aren't they cute?

Then they were off to meet their group for dinner. They had reservations at 5pm at Macaroni Grill. THE place to be for prom! At 5:30, I got a call from them saying that they were lost and could I direct them? HUH! Wha? How do you get lost going about 5 miles from our house? Okay, I ask them where they are at, and they are now in South Salt Lake - WAY FAR AWAY! After about 10 minutes of me trying to orient and direct them, we hung up. Me on the way to get Splenda, them to hope that the others in their group were already there and still had the table.

Now tradition at our school is that the Junior's promenade. This year, as is in year's past, it was held at the State Capitol, which is a gorgeous building!
Inside the rotunda where the dance is held, are two big grand staircases. The one on the west side of the building is where the juniors line up, have their names announced and come walking down the stairs. Parents typically come for this part and snap photos and I was not going to miss this chance! Making sure Splenda was settled in and taken care of, I picked of Tuffy's BFF's mom Lori, stopped for the Shark, and off we went.

The capitol building is in downtown Salt Lake so we had a little drive. We didn't know exactly when they were going to DO the promenade and since none of the kids would text us back to tell us, we were just taking the chance that we'd catch it and not miss a thing!

Parked, hiked in the rain and listened to Shark tell me how I really could have parked closer. Why the heck did I park so far away? See all those empty parking spots? If your going to go in the front door, you park in the front and blah blah blah. Actually, it was funny. And all three of us were NOT dressed up, Sissy was on my hip with her ugliest blankie. We were a pretty hawt group going in there.

As soon as we get into the rotunda, we can see they have already lined the kids up and they are just about to begin! We get to the front of the crowd, and position ourselves to the side. Yes, there's B, Tuffy's BFF, and right behind him is Tuffy. Sweet! There were smart enough to get to the front! Next thing you know, it's their turns repsectively, and I'm snapping away. DID ONE OF THOSE OF HIM ON THE STEPS TURN OUT????!!!!!! Caaarraaap. Hoping Shark got one.The Shark comes through, and no that is NOT Tuffy's date, it's B's.

Called the kids over with their dates and we chat for a minute and snap a few more pictures.Tuffy and his date K

Tuffy and his bestie B



And of course, I needed a picture of me with my date as well!
Yes, we are the Prom Royalty! (and once again, The Shark is an amazing graphic genius!)

After grabbing a brownie for the Sissy, waiting while B's mom got some photos of him and his date, we finally let the humiliation of my child end and we headed home.
Interesting that in year's past, you almost couldn't even get in position to get a picture of your kid on the stairs because of all the parents packing the place. This year, I think I could count on one hand the number of parents I noticed. Why is this? It's a cool thing that they only get to do once ever in their whole lives! Why not come support it? I don't know. I don't get it.

I did find it interesting that attached to their Prom tickets was this:A flyer on NOT driving drunk!
No worries with this boy of mine and his group. A passel of good kids. After the dance, they were too late to go to the comedy club that they had planned on, so instead they hung around at the grocery store getting soda's. How much trouble can that be?

Tonight is the follow up. Movie, dinner and the comedy club. Good Times!