Funny Memory Knocking at the Door

 Why do the memories of all the crazy things you say or do stick with you from YEARS past?  Yet when you try to recall that person’s name, your old address, or something else of MORE importance…you just can’t remember? I guess that's just how life goes. And for that,

I don't think this memory will ever leave me........

So! Since it has come up to the forefront of my mind today (and forever), I thought I'd share. Thankfully I have learned to laugh at the memory, assuming that everyone else has forgotten about it....except me of course.

Here we go:

2 years ago when we were getting ready to move into our house, the previous owners gave me and my realtor a quick breakdown of funky little things the house had/didn’t have. Cuz every house has that one nob you have to turn just right, or the washer you have to kick before it starts working ;) hah.

 

The "tour" was helpful especially since our house has a pool with a really old pump that we had no idea how to work. So we're half-way through the "tour" and the previous owners, my realtor, and myself are standing there talking and….

 

Ok, let me just put it out there that one thing I know about myself is that I talk too fast and slur my words and sometimes I am not really sure what I’m going to say when I'm speaking, so sometimes my words come out weird or…come out when I didn’t mean for them to….. ahem…

So we’re talking about the keys. My realtor says “Do you have the house key?”  to which I respond (and here we go).....

 “Yeah, but we’re going to get the locks changed tomorrow.  Cuz my dad told me that’s the first thing you want to change when you move into a new house because you never know WHO had a key to the house and don't want them coming back to ………..and……..I trailed off……..

I'm standing there thinking....“Oh. My. Gosh.  Why did I just say that? and…….holding… my… breath..  I look….into straight faces and no one is saying anything. Crap.  For reals Shaleice, you might as WELL have said “I’m sure there’s someone crazy in your family who has a key who I should be worried about breaking in and stealing all our stuff so that's why we're changing the locks -- to keep them out!!” …. Glad THAT wasn't offensive or anything... Thanks for the house. See ya.

I had serious need for a bag right then.....

 

My realtor comes to my rescue after a few (extremely long) silent seconds: “So should we go take a look at the backyard?”   (Just like the movies -- someone is embarrassed FOR you and changes the subject).

So now I can laugh, but at that time...holy, talk about awkward.  Glad that's over and we can move on.... to more awkward adventures that await I'm sure ;) haha.   

We live and learn :)

DOG: yes or no?

A long time ago... 2 years to be exact...Dustin and I were considering whether we should get a dog or not.  We had a few...ok like 3... conversations about it and........that was pretty much the end of that fleeting desire.  I was...well....not so much for it.  (ok, totally against it, haha)  But Dustin, thanks to his friend Aaron who had just gotten a new dog, was convinced whole-heartedly that we should also get one.

Sidenote:

I'm obsessed with hanging onto emails from mine and Dustin's past. Some people hang onto hand-written letters but since we don't have too many of those (thanks or no thanks to technology) I hang onto emails.

So today as I was looking thru my assortment of emails, I found one of the three conversations we had about getting a dog. haha. I re-read it and just laughed at the ridiculous-ness.  I emailed it to Dustin and he loved it too.  It's just a funny little something, and actually a very logical little something too.  I'm glad I found it so that if the "decision" about getting a dog (right now in our lives) ever comes up again, I can whip out this email and (humorously) present the "not right now" logic

Enjoy!

Shaleice:

DUSTIN, THIS GIRL IS NEXT TO ME AND SHE STARTED SINGING “I WEAR MY SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT, I WEAR MY SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT..”  HAHAAHA.  SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY PART OF THE SONG THAT EVERYONE KNOWS. LOL

(Dustin and I can NEVER recall the rest of the lyrics of that song)

Dustin:

hahaha. it is the only part of the song that people know. :) You can listen to it a thousand times and all you will remember is that little part. :) 

HOw art thou my love?  Want to go swimming when you get home? and get a dog also? I want one... one that will not shed... like Aaron's dog... :) PLZ>>>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shaleice: 

 What a little punk!!! Haha. I don’t really wanna go swimming, because the pool is still a pond my Love.  AND I definitely do not want a dog. ….why do you want a dog?  Please list the reasons.

 Dustin:

1. Man;s Best Friend

2. Protection for my family.

3. Because we are protected with it, we can have babies now (Dustin REALLY wanted kids right off!)

4. Fun and Playful

5. If i get locked out of the house again, I have someone to confide in. (ahum, yeah story there)

Good enough?

 Shaleice:

LOLOLOL :)  That was funny.   Well I’m sure you already KNOW that I’ve made a list of reasons why we should NOT have a dog.  ….ahem:

1)     If you think a little runt of a dog is gonna protect us, I can just SEE the burglers picking the dog up by the tail and throwing it over the fence or squishing it.  That’d be the end of THAT brilliant plan.
2)     Man’s best friend---notice you never hear WOMAN’s best friend.  Someone must have discovered a long time ago that the woman and dog don’t get along. Period.
3)     Am I not fun and playful enough that you have to get a DOG to assist with your needs?!!?  It’s ME or the DOG.  And if you DARE start to say “dog” you’re out in the “doghouse” Mr!!!
4)     Someone to confide in? hahaha.  Since when do dogs talk?  Unless you speak dog-ese? ;) I guess you’d have to learn a new language then ;)
5)     They destroy things – the backyard grass would end up as nice little mounds it dug.
6)     They slobber all over…everything!!
7)     It would pee in the pool!  Hellooooo yellow pond water  lol!
8)     If it didn’t pee in the pool surely it would drink all the pool water which would eventually dehydrate it (all that chlorine) and it would end up dead. 
9)     Heck, It would probably drown in the pool
10)It provides target practice to all our neighbors with bb guns.
11)It would keep us up all night just barking away at stray cats
12)I would get jealous of all the time you spend with it and take drastic measures.
13)Chances are we’d forget to feed it and then it would be dead on our porch when we came home.
14)What do we do with it when we leave on vacation?!? Ship it to Flagstaff?
15)Hello to vet bills---shots, haircuts, and neutering!
16)We would have to buy EIGHT DOLLAR DOG FOOD!!! Hahahhaha.
17)YOUUU would get to pick up doggie poo but would probably forget and then our yard would be covered in it.  And when our pool is nice enough to swim in, our guests would open the back door and get a nice smell of doggie manure right before they stepped in piles of it on the way to the pool.

…other than that, I couldn’t think of anything ;) lol

Dustin didn't respond after that. hahah.  Not because he didn't have anything to say, but the email was time-stamped a little bit before we both got off work so he probably didn't have time to reply. ...maybe ;)  No matter the excuse, I won that little debate ;)   

Muahahah.  Mission accomplished! ;)

Lord I Would Follow Thee

"Life is perfect for none of us. Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life. May we recognize that each one is doing [his or] her best to deal with the challenges which come [his or] her way, and may we strive to do our best to help out."

—Thomas S. Monson, "Charity Never Faileth"

 

President Thomas S. Monson - what an inspired man.   In a small part I believe I have acquired this perspective over the course of my life.  I know at times I have been perfect at keeping this perspective and have caught myself judging something a person does, BUT thankfully this is something that I do not regularly struggle with--speaking of judging/criticizing others.

Growing up I was constantly setting personal goals and this was one of them. Much of the credit for this motivation goes towards my wonderful parents, leaders, seminary teachers, and friends at school, and of course my husband :).  Also, Young Women personal progress had a huge impact with training me on the importance of stepping back and taking a look at my life -- evaluating, changing, and molding myself into who I want to be.  I'm still working on becoming more and better.  I always have new things I want to try, do, and become so I know it is an ongoing thing :)

I once heard a statement in high school seminary or college institute, that I wrote in my scriptures...somewhere :)... that went somehting like this:

The most difficult battles will be fought within the silent chambers of one's own soul.

And that makes me think....and has made me think time and time again, that we really have NO idea what people go through in their personal lives, so who are we to judge?

I always think about 2 examples John Bytheway gave in one of his talks:

--The woman who comes into work and looks less than ready for the day... some are quick to judge how awful she looks and will begin whispering among themselves.  What they don't know is that she was up with her sick child all night. 

--The crazy driver on the road who cut you off -- first reaction may have been to scream and yell at them -- 1) They can't hear you 2) if you have kids in the car, WHAT an example you just set  3) Perhaps that person is frantically rushing to the hospital because they just learned their spouse was in an accident.

The song "Lord I Would Follow Thee" fits perfectly:

"Who am I to judge my brother when I walk imperfectly? In the silent heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see.  Who am I to judge another? Lord, I would follow Thee."

In this last General Conference, one thing that really made an impression on me was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's address where he gave his interpretation of the Savior's question to Peter:  

Do. You. Love. Me?  

If so, then the call is clear: do and become who the Savior would want me to be and do it with HIS help in HIS time and way.   This past weekend,my determination was renewed:  

 

Lord, I would follow Thee.

It's the Little Things that Bring a Smile

So...I analyze things and am super picky about small details especially when it comes to crafts and decorating. So with life, every once in awhile I take a step back and analyze-- where I want life to go or who I want to become or just how things are at the moment.

This week I realized how kinda neat the little things in life can make someone, like myself, so happy. 

Things like...
 

Washing your hands expecting to get that nasty pink soap every public bathroom uses, BUT instead finding Foam Soap. Hooray! :) I love that stuff!

Having your husband come by for lunch just because he wants to see you, even if he already knows he'll only see you for 15 minutes before he has to leave.  
Love that boy.

FINALLY discovering where all those awesome movie/commercial voices come from.  Check out the Top 100 voices on voices.com . Click on a few to listen.  It's pretty cool :) Dustin showed me this website.  People who have naturally awesome voices post their talent here and then companies/people hire them. Pretty cool huh? :)

Other people's parents. At my job I get to review applications and gosh, I sometimes wonder out of ALL the names parents could possibly choose to name their kid, they choose a name like: 

Rufus  
(I'm sorry, but automatically my mind turns to the words bark, whistle, rollover, and good dog.)
and
First name: Fancy   Middle name: Free
(True Story. I'm sorry but....why?!?)

 Being thankful for some little blessings in life like a warm blanket in the winter, air conditioner in the summer, a soft bed, hot shower, loving spouse, food to eat, church I love and believe in, and a happy home.

Random answers on applications when students are asked to describe their previous or current job.  Today’s answer…..was grand:

Employer: JJ’s pet store (changed name)

Job title: groomer

Job description: Being Awesome.

Haha. Now THAT was awesome.  Someone who actually has the guts and brilliance to put that on an application is, well, awesome :)

 And lastly, once again realizing that I have been blessed with such a wonderful family and great friends who inspire, teach, lift, serve, and bless.

Take a moment and write down a few things that just flat-out make you happy no matter how ridiculous they are. I promise you'll walk away with a smile. :)

Straight or Curly?

Last week my sister Bre needed a "hair model" for a salon job she was interviewing for.

I of course said I would LOVE to let her do this uncooperative hair of mine ;)

She had to wash it, then blow-dry it while styling with a round-brush.

(It's always a little bit weird having my sister wash my hair, haha, but since I've been her "model" before so...not SO weird anymore.  .......I like the sound of that.....model...  ;) hahah.

When I got home I had to rush and get ready for our ward talent show.  Hair done? Check. That was awesome.  Dustin kept telling me how nice I looked... totally the hair :)

So maybe I'm alone but....I've never been one to take a ton of time to do my hair.  In fact...sometimes no time at all. I get up for work at 5am, throw it in a pony-tail or messy-bun and call it good.  My logic is "Why would I want to spend 10 more minutes of my hair when I could actually be sleeping for that 10 minutes?" hahaha, ridiculous I know . I CAN'T be alone out there though ;)

I HAVE noticed though, that when I look good, I feel good. -- More confident rather than feeling like..well um....crap. haha.

A few weeks back , I got my hair thinned.  And I mean THINNED.  At first I cried, ( I really did).

But now I love it.  SOOO easy to do.

HELLO, WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THIS LIKE 15 YEARS AGO?!?

(I mean, I've had my hair thinned before....I've just never taken the plunge to get it THIS thin.  

Again...why on Earth not? ....I have no idea...

I asked Dustin to take a picture of me.

And boy, when that kid gets goin with the camera, we end up with not 1 or 2 pictures,

but 8 or 9 pictures.

And then he starts going all paparazzi on me 

which is why we then end up with all sorts of pictures that look like this:

And this:

 And ok Dustin, that's quite enough:

Phew!

So for the "CURLY" part of this post...

My hair used to be SUPER curly...I mean, we're talkin ringlets when I scrunched it with mousse.

Now though, it's just got these poofy waves....... blah.  

It's kinda cool sometimes cuz I'll go to sleep with my hair wet and then wake up to some fun curls.

I'll grab a curling iron (I actually use a straightener to curl my hair), curl a few pieces,

and voila:

I don't know what I was doing with the face there...probably that weird high school kissy face thing. haha.

Ok people, I'm trying to show you the HAIR here.:)

I found this peacock piece glued to a piece of felt at Michaels.

I then glued it to an elastic headband :)  Creative? Nah, too simple to be creative. 

They had everything pretty much all put together.

Other side....of heaven ;) haha

So I can't decide if I like it curly or straight better?

I guess it will depend on the day.  

For now, because I love my sleep soooo much, unfortunately most mornings will call for that dredded up-do! dun dun dun! 

Enjoy the pictures while you can.;)