Garlic

This week I enjoyed a wonderful dinner with a good friend and her family.  It's so fun for me to enjoy dinner with other humans.  (My usual dinner routine includes standing at the stove or sink, eating directly from the pan or off the cutting board.) The food was so good and included an abundance of garlic. The next morning as I met up with the treadmill I perspired garlic.

It reminded me of a time another friend came to stay for several days.  One day while I was at work she made a HUGE pot of spaghetti sauce for the two of us to enjoy for dinner. I could smell the sauce as I walked from my car to my apartment.  When I got inside I discovered that my sweet friend had chopped three heads of garlic as well as every other vegetable she could find.  She was having so much fun using my new kitchen gadget chopper that she just kept going until there was nothing left to be chopped. The sauce was terrific and luckily some friends dropped by and were happy to enjoy the abundance.

For several days after, every morning as I would dry my hair the smell of garlic would fill the room.

Perfect Grill

Ever since I bought my home I have been on the lookout for the perfect grill.  It needed to be sturdy, good quality and small. I have found plenty of small grills but they always felt like they would melt once the burner was lit. I was so pleased to discover this little R2D2 unit. Seriously, it looks like something from Star Wars or Wall-E.  It's plenty big enough that I could cook for guests but small enough that I can move it around without help.  In fact, one of the best things about this grill is that it is portable. The stand folds down and the entire thing easily fits in my trunk. 

Have grill will travel.

Product Manager

A little over two weeks ago I was called into our director's office where he outlined to me a plan for the future of our team.  After describing all of the changes he was planning to make he informed me that he intended to make me the manager over our biggest and most far reaching product.  Our website.

I have been heavily involved in the design, development, building and training of the website for the past four years.  I have sacrificed my time, sleep, fun and brain cells to help launch the website in English and soon in Spanish and Portuguese but through all of that I was never the one who was 'responsible', which, to me, just means I didn't get to make the final decision. Well, that has changed and I am very excited about this new opportunity.  I have big plans.

I am sad to no longer be involved in some of things I did in my old job and feel like I didn't really have enough time to learn all that I needed to or could have. I am excited about the opportunities I have to learn new things with this new assignment and hope that I can learn them quickly enough to have a positive impact on th product, which ultimately will bless people in many countries.

I have been very blessed in my career and recognize from where those blessings come.  Our Heavenly Father certainly has a plan for our lives and blesses us with talents, abilities and opportunities to fulfill that plan.  I would have chosen something different for my life and on occasion feel sad that things didn't turn out as I had hoped  but feelings of gratitude are always close by when I consider what I have been blessed with instead.

Encephalitis

Although the term "encephalitis" literally means "inflammation of the brain," it usually refers to brain inflammation resulting from a viral infection. The severe and potentially life-threatening form of this disease is rare. - Mayo Clinic

I often allow myself to feel that horrible things happen to other families and then feel caught off guard when they happen to mine.  However, such challenges have a way of allowing things to surface that may have gone unnoticed or unappreciated. For example, since the day I first met her, I really liked my sister-in-law but now I have tremendous respect for her and marvel at her strength. She is a perfect match for my brother and will be his greatest strength as he recovers from a very scary and difficult illness.

*This photo is one I took of them as part of their engagement pictures.  It was taken a little over a year ago.

Nutty

I recently had to have a window replaced in my home.  It's the largest window in my house and is about fifteen feet off the ground. The company I have been dealing with is NUTTY!

1. When I called to arrange for someone to come measure the window I was pressed to guess the size of the window even after explaining to the woman that I had no idea and was not at home to make a more informed guess. From my guess I was given an official quote.
2. When the guy came to more accurately measure the window he showed up without a ladder (even though I was very clear when I called that the window was at least 15 feet off the ground.) 
3. He had asked the woman who made the appointment with me if he needed a ladder and was told 'no'.
4. He left without measuring the window, indicating he was going to get a ladder and would be back. After an hour I called the company asking when I could expect him. I was told that I would need to re-schedule because it was a two man job. 
5. When I indicated I would like to reschedule I was told they would have to call me back because they were uncertain about when a two man team would be available. 
6. After not hearing from them for a couple of days I called them.
7. After finally making an appointment and arranging to take another day off work, two guys showed up.  One measured the window and recorded the measurements, the other stood and watched from the other side of the fence.
8. Once accurate measurements were taken I received an accusatory voice message from the woman I spoke to originally (the one who pressed me to guess the size of the window) indicating the window was larger than I had told her and that I had failed to inform her that it had a grid? grate? (whatever the white things are that make the window look like lots of little windows) and with that they couldn't honor the original quote.
9. When they came to install the window there were three guys and one ladder. One of them left to get another ladder. This time he actually came right back.
10. They struggled to get the old window out and the new window in. They kept saying "this is a  four man job." 
11. When it was over they had put a hole in the siding.
12. Once the window was installed I prepared a check to pay them. The lead guy indicated that they didn't have the right paperwork and asked if I could drive over to their office to pay.
13. I went to their office at nearly two o'clock. The door was locked and there was a sign on the door indicating they were at lunch and would return at one.  
14. After running a few errands, I returned. This time the door was unlocked and I found someone inside at the desk. After looking through several piles of papers she was unable to locate the invoice and asked me if I knew how much I owed. She then contacted someone to meet me at my house to look at the siding. 
15. After the guy looked at the siding he said he would get the materials he needed and then make an appointment to come back. I told him that there would be no appointment. I had already taken three days off work in this process and I wasn't taking another day - he would just have to come back and get it fixed.
16. Now, several weeks later and the siding has not been fixed.
17. I called yesterday to see why and to get an idea of how much it would cost to replace the glass in the screen door that spontaneously combusted last week. (I know you're wondering why I would consider making another purchase from this nutty place.  Well, because it's very close to my house so I don't have to drive out of my way, and, I thought, "how bad could it be if I drop the frame off myself and then go pick it up?"
18. Well, the gentleman who answered phone couldn't answer any of my questions. Finally he said, "I'm just helping out by answering the phone. Can I take your number and have someone call you back?"
19. No one has called me back.
20. However, when I arrived home from work this evening I had a voice mail message from one of their workers. The message went like this. "I had an appointment to come measure your screen door for new glass. I'm here at your house and you are not.  You are going to have to reschedule your appointment."

After listening to the message I laughed. They have been in business for years and I am scratching my head wondering how but then I think probably because of people like me who even after all the nutty-ness I'm still going to find out how much it will cost to replace the glass in the screen door. I'm also considering sending a copy of this post to the owner.

Salad

This has become my favorite meal.

Lettuce, raspberries, cashews and raspberry vinaigrette.

To make the vinaigrette I mix equal parts of raspberry syrup (from Bear Lake, of course) and red wine vinegar, and then add olive oil to equal the combined amount of the syrup and vinaigrette. I then add a few cloves of roasted garlic and muddle them to help the flavor incorporate.

Spontaneous Combustion

or shatter.

Out of the Woods

My little brother has been seriously ill.  Happily, he left the hospital today and hopefully will be back to his normal self very soon.

His normal self.

Crunched Car

Lately, my schedule has been so tight that I don't have time for anything unexpected. However, having my car crunched one morning while on my way to work proved to be a good thing.  With the repairs my car looks better than it did before the accident. I was without a car for a few days which was a bit of an inconvenience but I learned that public transportation can be enjoyable. I also enjoyed catching up with my neighbor who generously allowed me to catch a ride with her a few times.  My insurance company was so responsive and helpful. My car was repaired and returned to me in less than a week.

This Week's Randomness

Women's Expo - Again this year I was asked to teach some workshops at the Women's Expo at the Davis Applied Technology College.  This is the third year that I have been asked to be an instructor and while I don't mind teaching the workshops the timing made it rather challenging. Somehow I had the dates mixed up so it ended up taking a chunk of time out of two Saturdays instead of one.

Tired - I spent this week training some folks who traveled here from Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia. It was such a pleasure to spend the week with these out of town visitors but boy am I glad the week is over.  The schedule was tough. I left my house each morning by 6 a.m. to go to my office to print the training materials, arrived at the training location by 7:30 a.m. to set up the room, conducted training until 5 p.m., returned the room to it's original state for other groups to use in the evening, drove home, worked until about 1 a.m. on the training materials for the next day, crawled into bed for a few hours of sleep only to start the whole thing over again the next day. By Friday I was barely hanging on.

Power Outage - Last Friday I left work early thinking I could beat rush hour traffic and get a head start on all the work I still needed to have done for the week of training ahead. When I arrived home I discovered that the power was out. I wandered around looking for things that could be done without power.  After sorting laundry, dusting and emptying the dishwasher I decided I would create a power-free workout. Typically I walk on the treadmill but for this workout I did step aerobics using a very high step. I walked like an old person for the next four days. The power was out for several hours and put me way behind.

Planting - One of my responsibilities in working with the Primary is to plan activities outside of Sunday meetings for all the kids to enjoy. The ward activities committee had planned a Saturday morning breakfast that included planting flowers around the church building.  I thought it would be fun to have the kids work together to plant flowers in the beds closest to the room we meet in each Sunday. It was so fun to spend time with all of the kids. They were so excited about planting the flowers and loved the 'treat' we made for them - gumdrop cookie flowers on a stick. The girls squealed every time someone uncovered a worm.  It's funny how long something as simple as digging a small hole can take with little people.