mandaloo . com

i pulled a five-year-old move this evening and accidentally touched the hot stove. the fingerpads on my right hand are not feeling so well as a result. this does not do much to improve my image in the kitchen. jeromy said that we need to mandy-proof everything. i’ve been a mess of stubbed toes, jammed fingers, bites, bruises, etc. lately. bleh.

guess what i’m doing tomorrow? right… counting more trees. i’m sooooooooooo ready for fall. luckily, my boss doesn’t think we’ll work very late due to the crazy intense heat.

the family reunion this year was awesome. smaller crowd, but it was still good. i love watching all of the older family members and the grace and poise they all have. such a lovely group… and it was nice to be able to write the family name on my name tag this year and not just be a girlfriend. i truly feel so blessed to have become an official part of the bunch. i made a mental note to try to bring something for auction next year, as the auction last weekend didn’t bring in as much as it usually does. jeromy and i were thrilled to have bidded on and won one of the hand-painted saws his aunt brings. from what i understand, the saw was actually used back in the day by jeromy’s grandfather and his grandfather’s brother. the saws have been kept all this time and now, aunt fern paints beautiful scenes with flowers on them. it’s such a great idea and we are tickled to have one to display in our home.

it’s quakecon week this week/weekend. and while i usually go for as much of the event as i can, i don’t know if i’ll be making much of an appearance (at all) this year. i simply have too much to do and there are shoots pretty much every weekend in august. besides… for the last year or so, jeromy and the boys just gripe about things (games not working, computers not working, etc.) the whole time and it makes me feel like i wasted my time (i distinctly remember jeromy saying that he wasn’t going this year after the let-down 2007 was, but that seems to be forgotten). but we’ll see. jeromy and i are making dinner for the missionaries tomorrow night and then he’ll be off to quakecon. gosh knows when i’ll see him after that. he has to sleep sometime, right?

dad has a couple of interviews set up for the near future… we hope that good news shakes out of all that soon.

our dogs are getting lazy … well, lazier than normal. we need to get back into the habit of walking them more. we had taken it a little too hard on turco one night, so we kinda cooled it for a while. but now, they’re getting unusually slothful. then again, they are bassets. doing nothing is what they are good at. heh.

the grass in the yard is almost dead, so jeromy has been doing a good job of trying to water regularly and bring it back to life. it’s crunchy and yellow… just add water?

another word i don’t like… moist. it makes my throat feel funny just to say it.

i’m counting down to some big changes in life right now. it won’t all play out for a good while, but we’re planning and getting ready. just in general, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel gives hope and makes things not seem so bad. happy anticipation is a good thing. there’s a lot to be thankful for in the present and there’s a lot to look forward to in the future.

nina got a job. i’m very very very happy for her – she’s one of the wittiest, smartest, funniest people i know and i’ve been in awe of her and her abilities since i first met her back in the day. i’m super glad for her and hope that this opportunity will be everything she deserves.

how many days till hockey season starts?