Fiddles, Basements and Randomness

I have been so involved in playing around in my new Facebook account that I have neglected my blog. I am so ashamed. I am here to make amends though, that is if I can think of anything to keep you updated about. I guess that the funnest thing that I have done in the last few weeks is go and see the performing group Barrage at BYU-I. It was fantastic. They are a fiddle group from mostly Canada. But they do more than just fiddle. I was completely floored when they started doing things like Russian sailor dances WHILE they fiddled. It was amazing! When I play my viola, I can't be moving a whole lot or it just doesn't sound right. So, to see them dancing and hopping and fiddling, no less, I was awestruck. I found myself gripping my seat and trying really hard not to shout out (Rex wanted to know if I was turning into a "groupie"). I was also amazed at the fact that even though there were 5 fiddle players playing the same thing all at once, it only sounded like 1 instrument. Even now, I am shaking my head at how wonderful I thought the whole thing was.

We finally bit the bullet and hired someone to finish our basement for us. Rex just doesn't have the time and we really want it done. Even though I am hating the Rubbermaid containers stacked clear to the ceiling in the Family Room, having a completed basement will be so worth it.

My list this week is not going to be a list of my favorites, it is just going to be a list of random things about myself that many of you probably don't know.

• Animals- I cannot and will not watch a movie or read a book where an animal gets hurt. I don't care what kind of animal it is. I don't care if a person gets the snot beat out of them. I can't watch it if an animal gets hurt. I can't watch Marley and Me. I don't like Fox and the Hound. I won't watch I Am Legend. I don't even like Man from Snowy River. That being said, I am reading Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul and every single story has made me bawl. I have to take a break between each story and recover.
• Automatic Doors- I have a phobia of automatic doors (like at the grocery store) not opening automatically. I know that is weird but it is true. I always make sure the shopping cart goes out first (obviously- who goes out backwards of the store with their shopping cart in tow.)
• Toes- I cannot stand to have my "pointer toes" pulled or stepped on. Even the thought makes me hurt. You can do whatever you want to the other ones, but don't touch my "pointer toes." (Are they really called pointer toes? You know which ones I mean...)
• 4th of July- This is my favorite holiday. Not Christmas, not Thanksgiving, not my birthday. I have a whole wall in my Living Room dedicated to a Patriotic theme. I bawl every single 4th of July at everything- including Clydesdale horses at the fair. What a bawl baby I am on this day.
  

Maybe I have revealed more about myself than I wanted to but I couldn't think of much else to say and I have been thinking about my weird quirks lately. Anyway, now I have shared them with all of you and I feel even stranger......

Happy New Year!

I know I am a few days late in posting for the New Year but here I am anyway. We had a great New Years Party at my Mom and Dad's house. We were actually up until 2 AM! I haven't stayed up that late since I was single. And since it was so late, most of us just slept somewhere at Mom & Dad's house. We sure had a good time though. We played lots of games like Cranium (ask Aunt Chris how to swim) , Apples To Apples, Imaginiff and then we did some Karaoke. Anyway, it was great. I love to play games as a family.

I had kind of a strange incident happen to me a few nights ago. I think I got into something I was allergic to. I couldn't sleep at all that night, I kept jerking awake and I was very nervous and jittery. So, I got up to get a drink and I felt like my lip was fat. So, I went to check it out and my left eye was severely swollen and the left side of my lip was numb. Weird huh? So, then I really couldn't sleep- probably because I was scaring myself. I was sure I had had a stroke or something equally horrible. But the next day, I was fine. My lip still doesn't feel normal although it and my eye aren't swollen anymore. Kind of scary!

I'm not going to do a favorites list on this posting because I am in a hurry and I can't think of anything anyway. I didn't take any pictures on New Years Eve so here is a picture of my wish for Spring/ Summer to come early (even though I know that we need a lot more snow to survive...):