do you wonder what i do?

these last 2 weeks i've been in macon, georgia for work. last wednesday when i arrived, the place looked like it was still weeks and weeks away from being complete. (no before picture, sorry!) but, today when i left the center, it looked like this:

and it may not look like much to you ... but it looks like a center that's up & running to me. goal accomplished.

for two days last week i sat in the car outside the center to "babysit" our contractors. apparently some people think they don't have to work unless they're being watched? so i watched them cut a hole in the wall for a door, install the ceiling grid, paint, carpet, install fixtures in the bathroom, and take a lot of smoke breaks. but it obviously worked, because today, when i left, all of the construction was completed and we now have a certificate of occupancy and business license (10 stops later ... and one of them was at the jail, whoops!), and we're ready for the kids to start on friday. yahoo.

check out these stars

on friday we took the kids to chuck e cheese for some game-playin fun. how's this for some cuteness?

{avery, zoe and julez sportin their new star specs}

in no particular order

i decided that i don't need to write a whole big post in order to throw some pictures on my blog, so forgive me if this seems a bit disjointed ...


a couple weeks ago mia's family was in town, so we took her niece mini-golfing at the indoor "glow in the dark" place. too bad she's not looking at the camera. but it was kinda fun.


i was in tulsa this week looking for some new property for work and i stopped in at hobby lobby. i was on the hunt for some specific lavender ribbon, which i couldn't find at any of the craft stores near me. anyway, this guy was in front of me in line. he totally creeped me out! just thought i'd share.


while i was in tulsa, kim's family and i went to the zoo. this jaguar was right next to the glass so i took his picture. check out those monster paws! the only thing i'm bummed about is that this is the only picture i have from my tulsa trips ... and i've been there 3 or 4 times. next time i'm definitely taking my camera and i WILL take some pics of me & kim ... i have to!

and then i thought i'd share this picture from last night. avery & zoe in their new piggy pajamas. super cute girls!

march madness

i was trying to get a picture of avery and zoe to text to my mom for her birthday on friday, but zoe wasn't overly cooperative. so these will have to do. happy birthday to the best mom ever!

in other news, the buffalo grove singles branch was dissolved yesterday. it was strange. now we'll be joined with the schaumburg stake's singles branch. i have mixed emotions ... i think it could be great. i hope it is. we'll see, i guess.

and, my march madness basketball brackets went down the toilet this weekend. thank you, kansas and villanova.

what to do with a good idea?

in tulsa a few weeks ago, i was driving around looking for a good place to buy a couple good cookies so i could deliver on a promise made to a couple super cute 4-year olds. i passed kupcakz (http://www.kupcakz.com/), turned around, and went right in. it smelled heavenly and tasted almost as good.

my thoughts turned to the owners of the store (after i thought about how that name would score high in scrabble with those k's and a z!), and how they went from an idea to a physical store with customers and all. then my thoughts turned to other good ideas and how they come about. like the magical color-changing kleenex in hotel rooms. the last 5% or 10% of the box is a different color kleenex, so the housekeeping staff knows when to change the box without having to pick it up and check every time. pure genius!

so what do you do with a good idea? i have a few that i've kept to myself all along, not wanting someone else to steal the idea. but is it worth it? should i pursue copyrighting the ideas and/or selling them? one idea i've had (which, by the way, i think will be the biggest hit if/when it comes out in the world) is to make a system where a _____ and a _____ will use the same mechanics so that a person can use one _____ _____ to _____, _____, _____ and carry the _____. the _____ _____ would be made of _____ so it can reach any temperature, and will still be functional as a regular _____ _____ in any house.

18 years ago, when i was in 6th grade, we were asked to come up with an invention. not being very creative on my own, i decided rather than make up something new, i'd just improve on someone else's idea. (after all, how many brand new ideas do we have now? not many, i'd venture. most are just improvements over the best thing we currently have.) so i wrote up an explanation (complete with drawings) about how instead of transferring car seats from car to car, worrying about whether they're installed correctly, blah blah blah, we should just build children's post-toddler car seats into the seats in the car. like an armrest/cup holder that folds up to be part of the back seat. and lo and behold, someone else had the same idea (probably my 6th grade teacher!). and now there are improvements to that improvement.

so, rather than wait for someone else to comeup with what i already have, any thoughts on what to do with my good ideas?

i'm international!

i've been reviewing my live feedjit this morning. most of the time i can tell who's viewing my blog based on where they arrived from (facebook, direct, from another blog) and the physical location (utah, illinois, arizona, montana, oklahoma ...) but not today! i had a hit from europe today. how exciting. now i need to put my nancy drew skills to good use and find out who it is!

speaking of being international, i need to get a passport. it's time, don't you think? toronto 2010 for the trip this year? what do you think josie?

must go, time for tulsa fun!

wake up call ...

this morning i received an email at 6:42 am from my boss, "are you irritated that i haven't finished your performance evaluation yet?"

i wanted to say "i'm mostly irritated that your email at 6:42 am woke me up", but i didn't.

i told him i didn't care about the performance evaluation unless it was holding back my big fat raise and that i assumed he'd tell me if i was doing something wrong.

he followed up with "nothing wrong, in fact, you are doing very well, which i don't say enough ..." and other nice things.

i can't complain about a wake up call like that.