Feeling Blah

BLAH...BLAH...BLAH...BLAH
THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL AFTER THE HOLIDAYS.  

Everything is busy and happy during the holidays and than it slows down to nothing.  The weather is just cold and I feel  blah, and it's just boring. I do love the month of Jan for a brand New Year and a fresh start,  but I  just think that until Spring gets here the months are long.

  You probably dont really care to know about it, but I am going to tell you anyway about something that is really going on ....... that's the humor of this post.

 Ever since  the middle of Dec I started noticing these little brown things on my desk that looked like brown rice when I first got to work. Not really thinking to much of this at  first I would just clean them off  and go about my day.  But than I started seeing them everyday and there was alot more of them too, so it was getting a little more obvious. I cleaned my desk thoroughly inside and out, did all the little things that were neccessary to discourage any little friends from paying me a visit. Me and the other 2 girls in my office started comparing notes,  and it was confirmed that we all had  mouse poop on top of our desks. Boy they sure had a good time running all over our desks at night, funny no work was getting done to help us though.  So my boss ran to the store during lunch that day this was Dec 23rd and bought some mouse traps. It was kinda funny  here we were setting mouse traps with cookies for the bait on our last day of work before Christmas.

 We had a good time as we joked and laughed with Missy (my boss)  about snapping her fingers in those darn old traps but she was the only brave one.  Than I got a laugh out of Linda the other girl  because she wanted to set a trap right on her desk by her phone  because she didnt think about any of the gross details until I mentioned it. *Sigh* I truly, truly wonder sometimes.   We are indeed a office full of blondes.

Sing " Three Blonde Chicks instead of Three blind mice" ha ha.

 We were going to catch us a Christmas mouse.  The  traps have indeed caught a handful of mice since than. But it was me that brought it up to there attention that the mouse trap that takes care of  this rodent problem  "outside of the office" had disappeared. So I think this problem will be resolved pretty quick....I hope anyways.  Well I hope you enjoyed my little useless story about what is really going on.

 But if anything exciting happens I will be sure to post about it.....but until than bye!!

Manti Pageant 1987/What summer means to me Story #6

My mom gave me a perm  on Thursday July 16, 1987 when we were thru and she took the curlers out of my hair I had little tiny ringlets,  it reminded me of the Lion on the Wizard of Oz. Saturday July 18, we left to go down to the Manti Pageant. Dad and Mr. Byington were fixing the car and we couldn't go until the car was fixed. About 3:00 we were finally ready to leave we got all the way to Spanish Fork when all the boys went into McDonald's to go to the bathroom and we did some necessary shopping at K-Mart,  we kept driving  till we got to Manti.
 There was already tons of people, we parked the car and was standing around the car deciding if we should eat our hoagie sandwiches or not. No one was very hungry so we packed up and found us a spot on the lawn. Me and Brett was playing Blackjack speed 2 and card tricks. Mom had to  take the boys to the bathroom again and after a long time Brett went to go look for them. He came back and said he couldn't find them so we went to look for them together, there was a mile long line at the bathrooms so we decided to check the car and sure enough they were there eating a hoagie sandwich. We ate ours than too,  By the time we started heading back and got back to our spot on the lawn the pageant had just started.  The pageant was about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, the Nephites and the Lamanites.

We had already decided to stay and find a place to sleep down there instead of trying to drive back late at night, we drove around for a long time and finally went to a park. The three boys got beds made up in the car, we put plastic out on the grass with some quilts to go underneath us. Brett slept in a sleeping bag, I had just my quilt, and mom and dad had thin blankets over them. I was trying to sleep but I was shivering so bad and I felt nauseated (the joys of being a girl every month). My mom told me to go sleep in the car, I tried to sleep sitting up on the floor with my head on the seat. It had been a long night and when it was finally morning I was still cold even after sleeping in the car,  Tim needed to go to the bathroom first thing and he asked if someone could go with him, but mom just said he would be fine to just go by himself. He got disoriented and went looking in the wrong direction when he was trying to find our car . Mom had to go chase him down and bring him back, Nathan was bawling because he wanted to go home and he was freezing. I was becoming a mad irritated sister as well,  Finally after a long slow moving process we finally was all packed up and ready to go. We stopped at a park in Spanish Fork and  mom cooked eggs, bacon, hash browns and we ate on the picnic tables. We sat under the crab apple trees and layed under the trees on our quilts and swung on the swings.

This story seems like the message here is my family always disappears when they wander away to go to the bathroom, (ha-ha) but this was always the kind of fun that I always had with my family and the things that we did while I was growing up. Summers to me are sleeping out in the tent in the backyard, eating dinner outside on the picnic table, we always did that with the whole family in  the shade of our huge trees mainly because the house was always hot and we didn't have air conditioning except for box fans in the windows. Eating  lots  of watermelon  and corn on the cob, I always  associate those with summer. We always had a lot  from our own garden besides corn we had peas, zucchini,and tomatoes and various vegetables  too. Apricots, cherries, and plums from our own fruit trees,  lots and lots of  homemade apricot jam, and canned tomatoes, and peaches. I remember our kitchen floor was always sticky from all the canning my mom and dad did even though my mom mopped the floor, it was  so sticky it could rip your shoe off of your foot.

I got kidnapped!!/Story #5

Its winding down to the last couple of weeks till my birthday.  This will probably be my last story, from my journal. I had  fun telling my stories from my past, I might not of interested everyone but it was just a thought of trying something different. This happened around my birthday in 1987 We were going to be moving from our Clinton house that summer that we had lived in for 17 years.

I was in the kitchen trying to get my mom to go somewhere so we could get out of the house, when my dad called from the living room "Oh Jackie" I knew that voice that somebody was here for me but I didn't hear the doorbell ring. I went walking in the living room and my friend Jill was standing next to the wall. The next thing I knew I had a bandanna over my eyes and my hands were tied. I was put into her car and they took me up to Fruit Heights where Jill's aunt lived, still blind-folded  and tied up for the whole ride.

 They had all got out and left me in the car. Than Jill came running out "Jackie why are you still sitting here?"  My thoughts were "Well nobody helped me to get out of the car." When I got to the house there was a bunch of people there, some of my friends were still coming later, but a lot of people I didn't know but they were Jills friends.   I was  blindfolded when they took me down some skinny small curly stairs into  the family room, when they untied me it was decorated with balloons, crepe paper, presents, and a big Happy Birthday sign. We had a barbecue out on the deck, and there was a lot of food.  When I opened my presents I got a lot of makeup and fingernail polish. Candy, notebooks, markers, and the best of all to me was some Goody banana clips all different colors, they were the coolest thing in the 80's for hair.  I had a white cake with pink trim and 3 roses, and white frosting. They were all gathered around the bar and sang.

We played the Embarrassing moments game, The bean game  where you say things you never did, and watched a movie on the satellite channel. We had talked about going to the 49th Street Galleria, or Lagoon but realized how late it was and everything would be closed soon. We went to 7-11 and got a bunch of pop, and candy, there was people coming and going the whole time, and doing different things. After midnight two people  were dared to go across the street, switch shirts and than come back . When we got in trouble with the neighbors, we were all scared and ran in the house to hide  we thought "oh no" a search warrant. But Jill was mostly scared what trouble she would be in with her Aunt when she found out. We all eventually fell asleep all over the furniture.  Alot of my friends went home early the next morning but I stayed with Jill to help clean up the house again and do the dishes. We spent time talking and had a bowl of Cocoa puffs, we both stayed till about noon when we left to go home. Me and Jill went and apologized to the upset neighbor and he was really cool and nice about it.  It was definitely a surprise birthday,  I felt so awkward in the middle of the night I got really sick and had to lay on the bathroom floor for at least an hour, Just the mixture of all the sweets and food.

Disneyland trip/story #4

I am going to tell about another one of the journal entries that I wrote about, it was when my family went on our very first trip to Disneyland. It was also around my 12th birthday when it was the time that we went. The reason for the trip was because Brett was on a All-star soccer team and they were playing in San Diego.

Early in the morning on Tuesday July 20, 1982 Grandma Bingham called and wanted to  know if we were ready to go, she said they had the camper on the back of the truck and everything in it. My Grandpa and Grandma and uncle Kevin were coming with us . My mom said that we hadnt sold our car yet so we couldnt get the money to go.  That morning we went to look for a car but couldnt find a good one so we went over to their house to talk to them to see what we could do. They offered to give us the money that we needed (six hundred dollars) to go. We went home and loaded up. Our stuff was already packed so we planned a meeting spot at 1:00 pm.  It was more like 3:00pm by the time that we got there. We realized that we had lost one of the sleeping bags off of the top of the car. So my dad and I went back to look for it.  We had borrowed some sleeping bags from the Wayments and they were nice enough to let us borrow them. We found it in the ditch a little ways from Skagg's which is a  drugstore like Walgreen's now where the meeting spot was.

 We drove till 7:00 that night where we stopped and ate and rested, we were still in Utah at this point.  We kept going till it was really late at night and we were all tired, we stopped at a KOA in Cedar City. The next morning we left between 5-6am. It was nice for us kids, we had the seats laid down in the station wagon so we had a nice bed to lay out and sleep and eat candy and fruit and drank lots of water. We played alot of games too!  

When we got to California we camped in a little campground right next to Disneyland. We got there about 6:00pm. Me and my whole family walked down the street to find a store but stopped at a hotel, we took some ice and I put some of it in a pocket on my shirt and let it melt because it was so hot. The next morning we went into Disneyland, I rode the Matterhorn, the submarines, the safari boat, and the World of Tron, the Monorail and a bunch of other rides.   My Grandma and Grandpa Bingham were really tired and they had left early to go back to the campground,  but we had stayed till about 9:00pm and saw a little bit of the Disneyland parade.  We  went back to have cake and ice cream and watch the fireworks from the campground. When me,  my mom, and Grandma  were all in the campground bathrooms getting showered and ready for bed the fireworks started going off, they scared us half to death when we heard the first boom, they were right over us and they were big! They made all three of us jump out of our skins! My poor Grandma just about had a heart attack.  On Saturday and Sunday the 24th and 25th was when  Brett had his soccer games.  They had lost 2 games, won the third game and lost the last game.  That was a very special birthday to me, I never would of thought I would be celebrating my birthday in Disneyland in a lifetime!!!!

Daddy Daughter Date/Story #3

Since it is Father's day tomorrow,  I thought that it would be appropriate to tell this next story.  I found my journal that I had written alot of little entries about.  I found one about my Daddy Daughter date, I was 11 yrs old,   it is a activity that the LDS church does for the youth at that age .    So I was  excited that I had something written down that I can share about my dad. It was on Jan 31,1981 and the date was fun. I got to wear Brett's cowboy shirt because it was a Wild West party. I  wore some pants and boots and a side piggy tail.  I had to give a talk and we had to introduce each other I said "This is my dad Malin." We had for dinner sloppy joes, vegetable sticks, jello, homemade Root beer and ice cream sandwiches. We played some games, they were Peanut catch wagon races, and we had to bring our Baby pictures which my friend Bridgette  and her dad won Sugar Daddies. We played Wanted Posters which mine said "Malin Johanson dish washer is a  wishy washer " Because he worked at Hobart.  We also played darts and I got one all by myself with my eyes closed. There was square dance music and at the end  there was a box with a bunch of flowers in it and I got a yellow one which is my favorite color to take home.  I just want to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day, I appreciate and love him very much.

Lost Pictures/Story #2

  I met my friend Brandi when I was working at Hardee's, we worked the morning shift together alot and she was a supervisor, and thats how we became friends.  Some of my high school friends were working at Hardee's as supervisors as well and thats how they pulled the strings and I got an interview.   I really took to her and felt so bad for her and the hard life she had.  She talked so highly of one of her friends Kyle and how much he meant to her. When Kyle got home from his mission in Sept of 1993, because we were both friends with Brandi, the three of us hung out together.
 Brandi was getting married to Jeff on Oct 31,1993 and it was a very small ceremony.  We had went to go get our pictures taken as couples at the JcPenney in the Ogden City Mall that exact day they got married.   I will never forget on Nov 4, 1993 me and Kyle had a misunderstanding and we were no longer friends, It was the saddest time of my life.    Me and Brandi  were supposed to go get our pictures about 2 weeks later. We both went back to the mall  to pay and select the ones we wanted   but only half of the pictures was there. It was like my friendship with Kyle had broken,  so the pictures were lost. The lady at the studio had no history of  any pictures of Kyle and I together. We asked her to double check and she said there was no negatives, nothing!!!!!  I gladly accepted and paid for what pictures I could get of my friends. It was indeed a mystery to me at that time.

Exploding Biscuits/Story #1

I thought I would try and do something a little fun for a month  up until my birthday which is next month,  I would try and tell a different story once a week about things that really happened  in my past. I didn't want to offend anyone or make me a target for teasing. But just to have some fun.

When I was in high school my family  had moved from the house that we lived in for 17 years in Clinton.  While we were in the process of waiting to move into a rental home in Clearfied we lived with my Aunt Connie for a brief time.  One night for dinner while we were living with Connie my mom was going to make little personal pizzas out of Pillsbury biscuit dough. She needed to go to the store and get everything to make them and so I went with her. We must of been in a hurry or it was late in the evening because we didn't grab a cart. We just grabbed all of the items that we needed for the meal and carried them all over the store in our arms. I mean between the both of us we could handle it right?
Well that's we thought, but the longer we stayed in the store the cold biscuit cans started  to warm up to our bodies. The more that we tried carrying everything in our arms the harder it became because one of us dropped a can and guess what those Pillsbury cans are great for doing?   POP and those biscuits exploded all over the floor.  We were trying to clean up the dough mess up off of the floor, when another can hit the floor. POP  those biscuits exploded all over the floor. Trying to clean that mess up another one did the same.  By this time me and my mom are just laughing uncontrollably,  we looked like we were crying we had tears just a streaming down our faces.  Somehow we managed to finish  and got thru the check out and  home.  But I know we were both still laughing with still some tears  as we re-told the story to everyone and days later each time we re-told it I know I did.

Memorial Day Memories

Grandma Johanson invited me to go down with her to see the Manti pageant. We rode the bus down when I was 10 years old. That was the first time I ever saw it, and was a special trip that I will always remember.

When it gets closer to Memorial Day I begin to start thinking of the loved ones in my family that have passed on before me. All of us has at least someone that we miss that has left us to return to our heavenly father. I think of my Grandma Johanson especially and how much I miss and love her very much. Whenever I see the Iris flower it reminds me of her. It will always be my reminder of her and how much she meant to me and I cant wait to be with her again.

Every year as I was growing up her whole backyard was filled with beautiful flowers and Iris flowers of every color. Where there wasn't flowers, she had fruit trees. She was my favorite Grandma and she always did so much for us. The way she wrapped presents was always wrapped with her thoughtfulness, you always knew how much she loved you because of her special touch. It wasn't just a present it was her heart. She taught me a valuable lesson of giving presents to others with that thoughtfulness. I was very close to her and she was the best person on earth to me. When I was 14 years old I had written my grandma a letter. I came across this letter in my drawer a couple of months ago and it means a lot to me now. When it was getting her final days she was giving a lot of her things that she had kept back to those that it would mean something too. It is a little long but I felt I wanted to share the current events that was happening at the time about everyone in my family, Enjoy.

Dear Grandma Johanson,

Hi, How are you? I'm just fine and so is everyone else. How's everything out in Ogden? Is everything been okay? Everything out here in Clinton is just fine. My Mom's still working and I've been babysitting a lot to buy school clothes. Brett is doing fine on his paper route. Brett has eczema on his feet and has medicated cream. My mom spends a lot of time working. Tyler he's getting fatter and bigger. He can roll really good and likes to get on his knees and rock back and forth he's so funny. He also has one tooth on the bottom gum he's had it for a couple of days. Nathan's been doing really good going the bathroom on the toilet. All day he goes without one accident. He's doing really good. Tim is just fine, he likes to play Lego's and trucks. He's already picking out toys for Christmas. My dad is fine too . He's really busy in Scouts and his ankle is doing just fine. The swelling's gone down quite a bit. Me, I am busy babysitting for my aunt and mom. I'm making pretty good money, over a hundred dollars that's the highest I've ever made. I hope you and Don are getting along just fine and that you don't have any problems. If you do let us know.

The real reason I wrote is because I CARE about you. Your the sweetest Grandma anyone could ever have. Thanks so much for making us a quilt for my bed when I get married. It will help me out a lot when I get married. Every time I see it on my bed I will think of you and your thoughtfulness. I will take good care of it. Thanks for the cards and money on our birthdays. I took good care of the doll quilt and blankets and sheets for Tender love my doll.

I have them tucked away where no one will get them dirty. I will always keep them even when I get to be 50 years and older. Thanks so much for all you've done for me and my family. Hope to see you soon. I LOVE YOU!! Love Jackie