The Great Disease of 08

We've been passing a bug around our house for the past month or so. I've had it for 3 weeks (and I don't usually get sick), and the kids and Sam have had it at least once. We ended up having to take Soni to the pediatrician on Friday to have her checked out. She has bronchiolitis and the beginnings of an ear infection. They gave her four different medications, and we were told that we need to give her pulmicort breathing treatments until cold and flu season is over. When exactly is that? So, every morning we need to give her all the medicines. Those of you with children know it isn't exactly easy to give kids of any age medicine. It's like trying to give a rotten banana to an orangutan.

As soon as we left the doctor's office, we got a voicemail from Aubrey who had picked Andi up from school. Apparently Andi had a fever and wasn't feeling good at all. You know those parents of kindergarteners that just send their sick kids to school and end up getting everyone else sick? Yeah, that's us. Hi. Sorry.

Because of the pestilence we skipped church again today, making it the 17th week in a row we haven't made it, and the 48th week in a row we haven't made it on time. Oops. We're supposed to speak in church next week, so we're planning on both of those streaks ending. Hopefully.

Etsy Shop

Sam has been trying to figure out some things she can do from home to make some money. Since my suggestions of helping out Prince Mike Okoye from Nigeria and selling one or two of the children really didn't work out, she found something different to do. So, after putting some thought into it and getting stuff ready, we've opened up an etsy shop. (It's kind of like an eBay store, but you sell stuff you make instead of your Scooby Doo lunchbox from 1982 that you found while cleaning out your parents basement.) Here's the stuff we're selling so far:

We have a vinyl cutter thingy, so we can cut out decals (that's the best word I can come up for it) that you can stick on your walls or car windows or whatever. If you ever need any of that stuff just let us know and we can hook you up.

So, there you go. That's our attempt at working from home. If you see something that somebody else might like, let them know because word of mouth is cool.

You know you're in a blog slump when...

...Avid readers of your blog start tagging you because your blog has become boring. Okay, so I know that's not the reason that Teresa tagged me for this, but let's face it, the Carters have definitely be slacking off on our duties to entertain as of late. Anyway, Here it goes...




1. Where did you first meet your husband?
We met at Ricks College. Yes, when we met, and the entire time we attended it was Ricks, so I don't want to hear any corrections about BYU-I. We went to Ricks. Anyway, we were in the same Book of Mormon class, and had it not been for a broken molar, we probably never would have met at all. Funny story. I sat in a seat clear accross the room from him the first day of class, the second day of class I had to miss for an emergency dentist appointment, and that just happened to be the day they were making up the seating chart. Yeah, I know like we were in Elementary School, we had assigned seats. When I went to class the following time, "my" seat had been taken, and the only open seat left was next to "the guy in the plaid shirt".

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?
I'm guessing it was something totally profound. Ya know, a lot like "Is anybody sitting there?"

3. Where was your first date?
Cameron and his roommates had gotten coupons out of the Scroll (the College newspaper) for half off bowling. However, you had to use them on something retarded like a Tuesday night. So, that's what we all did. Cameron and his roommates got dates, and we all went bowling. It was lucky we even got to go though. I accidentally turned him down when he called to ask me out. How does that happen? Well, I was so excited that he had FINALLY asked me out (I'd been trying to convince him to do so for an entire sememster, and bupkus) that I had forgotten how he had phrased his question. He had asked if I was busy that night, and I thought that he had asked if I was free that night. I said yes, and quickly realized my mistake by his reaction. Glad a blonde moment didn't ruin it.

4. Where was your first kiss?
Our first kiss was on our second date. There's a long embarrassing story that involves me being a contestant on a Singles Ward version of "The Dating Game", but I thought because of that, Cameron would be expecting a kiss that night. (Did I mention we had also been in the same ward the whole time?) Anyway, I wanted to kiss him, but didn't know how to go about it. We were on my porch outside of my apartment (with his roommate, his roommate's date, and his roommate's cousin in the car waiting for him) and I decided to just go for it. As a result, I kissed his upper lip, and top front teeth, was so embarrassed, I looked at him, said "well, goodnight" and ran in and slammed the door, leaving Cameron extremely confused outside. I guess you can say it could have gone better.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?
Well, we started dating in January, were engaged by March, and were married in June. I guess you could say that was short.

6. Where did you get engaged?
Unofficially we got engaged at my apartment. Kind of like a joke, it was mentioned he should hook me up with his younger brother, since we were the same age. But, we decided to get married instead. I picked out my ring when I went to Star Valley to meet his family, and when we went back to pick up my ring, the jeweler didn't know Cameron hadn't proposed, and made him put the ring on my finger. I gave it back to him shortly after leaving the store, and Cameron officially proposed a little while after we got back to his folk's house. It was very impromptu, but sweet nonetheless.

7. Where did you get married?
We were married in the Bountiful Utah LDS temple. I wanted to get married in a white temple, so Cameron went to the bookstore, bought small pictures of all plausible temples, and we threw them up in the air. Bountiful was the only one that landed face up, so that's how we picked it.

8. How did the reception go?
Not very well. I woke up that morning with a migraine as a result of all the stress and emotion from the day before. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that we got married on Friday, and the reception was on Saturday. Anyway, I had a horrible headache, and was nauseous the entire time at my reception. I almost threw up when I ate my bite of cake for the picture. I think Cameron may have been worried he had made a mistake when he saw the "sick" side of Sam. The Star Valley reception was better, except for the old lady that asked how I was related to the groom. Yeah, all dressed in white, veil and all, and I had to explain that I was the bride. Go figure!

9. How was the honeymoon?
It was good. My mom found a discount vacation package that included airfare, and hotel in Reno, Nevada. So, that's where we went. We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Reno at the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino. Cameron wasn't old enough to rent a car, so we couldn't go anywhere that wasn't in walking distance, but there were many all you can eat buffets in the area, so it was good. When we didn't want to leave the room, we would watch tv, and ended up seeing a few episodes of "the Monkees" old TV show. It was especially funny to tell people that we went to Reno on our honeymoon when we lived in Fallon. Even funnier when Dylan was born in Reno. Wasn't quite as romantic as the first time we were there, but we were glad to be there anyway.


Okay, so now I tag: Brandon, and anyone else that might want to do it. Good luck!

Reality Shows

I was watching TV the other day, and I saw a commercial for a show that I thought looked...interesting. The name of the show? Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.

The contestants include Tiffany, Danny Bonaduce, the kid from Diff'rent Strokes that isn't Gary Coleman, Frank Stallone, and Screech. I don't plan on watching the show. I just think it's funny that there is apparently nothing that these people won't do to get on TV. I came up with some ideas for former celebrity reality shows.

Hammer Time: People line up to hit "celebrities" in the face with a hammer. Hosted by M.C. Hammer. The celebrity who withstands the most hammer hits wins a cameo in an upcoming independent movie.

Where Are They Now? Former child stars are placed in remote locations and have to find their way home. They get a five minute head start before the rabid monkeys are released.

Witch or No Witch? Is Tonya Harding a witch? She is thrown into a lake to see if she floats or sinks. If she floats, she's a witch!

We have found a witch, may we burn her?

Twilight

Sam told me that I have to read Twilight before the movie comes out. She told me this back in July. I realized the other day that the movie comes out next month. Since the book is longer than the comics section of a newspaper (which is all my attention span can handle), I decided that maybe I should start reading it now so that I'll be about a quarter of the way through the book by the time the movie comes out. The past couple of days I've made it through three chapters, and here is what I've gotten out of it so far:

The main character in the book is Elisabeth [create your own last name], but she goes by Bella. Why does she go by Bella? I don't know, maybe it's because she wants to confuse people when she first meets them with the Elisabeth/Bella thing, and while they're busy pondering that she picks their pockets. At the beginning of the book her mother kicks her out of the house and she has to go live with her father, who works for the secret service in Washington. It talks a lot about the rain in Washington, and I always thought of that area as being kind of sunny, so the book must be set in the future after the oceans have risen 40 feet due to the melting polar ice caps.

On Beth's (I'm gonna call her Beth from now on, just for kicks) first day of school, she meets some kid named Matt who has two classes with her and follows her around everywhere. (Turns out Matt followed her because he's trying to convince her to invest in his friendship bracelet business.) I kind of lost track of where the book was going from there. I think in chapter three she met a boy named Eddie who is good looking, except for his pale skin and bags under his eyes. Turns out his washed out appearance is due to the fact that he is a professional gamer, and he plays Halo3 fourteen hours a day trying to increase his world ranking. Also, he is addicted to meth and PCP. Something happened where Beth almost got hit by a car, but Eddie saved her because he's a wizard or something. After Eddie saved Beth from the car, he realized how short life can be and decided to profess his love for Matt to her just so he wouldn't have to hide it any more.

That's as far as I got in the book. I hear that the rest of the book goes something like this: Beth finds a magic apple in her backyard (see the cover picture) that gives her the ability to read minds. She is faced with the decision to use her new-found powers for good or for evil. At first she uses the ability for good, as she plays matchmaker at her school between people who were secretly in love with someone else, her first set up being Eddie and Matt. Eventually she tires of making other people's lives easier, and starts using her power for evil. It started with cheating on a test or two, and eventually grew to finding out the innermost secrets of those around her, and posting those secrets on her My Space blog.

At the climax of the book, Beth loses her mind reading ability as she snacks on the apple when she is unable to find a misplaced bag of Cheetos, not realizing what she has done until she reaches the core. In an effort to retrieve her gift, she plants the seeds from the apple if her back yard, hoping to grow another magic apple tree.

The second book in the series, New Moon, tells about Beth's cultivation of the tree as it begins to produce blossoms (see book cover below), and her thirst for the power she once had.

I wonder if the movie will be anything like the book.

Sharing

If mom leaves her stuff lying around, it means it's up for grabs right?