R.I.P. Lilly

I recently found out that the family dog was put to sleep. It was a bit of a surprise to me because everyone forgot to tell me about it, and I didn't find out until about a week later, but I don't really blame my family. They've been super busy and so have I. Communication just kind of fell through the cracks. Any ways, I thought I would post about our beloved dog, Lilly.


Lilly was not a perfect dog. In fact, she had quite a few negative traits. She was territorial, cranky, and lazy, but she loved her family and she protected them ferociously from everything from shadows and leaves in the backyard, to the occasional deer, raccoon or squirrel. She was also great to sit in your lap while you were reading or watching a movie. In a lot of ways, she was kind of like a cat.

Lilly was also a fantastic mother. She was a purebred Maltese and so we decided to breed her a few times. She had some adorable puff-ball puppies that were a joy to play with, but they soon left to other homes which was always hard. Lilly was protective of her little babies and took good care of them. Shortly after giving birth to her last litter several years ago, she developed an infection and had to be spayed. Immediately after she woke up from the anesthesia she climbed into the box with her puppies and continued to nurse them despite the pain she must have been in. That is true dedication.

Lilly was also a great companion and friend to my mother. All of the five children have moved in and out over the last decade which is always hard on parents when they realize they are quickly becoming empty-nesters, but Lilly was a constant companion for my mother. She would excitedly greet her when she came home and impatiently wait for her by the front door until she came home. She was indeed loyal.

Recently Lilly started developing cataracts and was going blind in addition to going deaf. She was also becoming incontinent and her intolerance to children was only growing worse with age, which was a great concern now that there are a couple of small grandchildren. Her quality of life was deteriorating and we were worried that she might bite one of the babies, so the decision was made to put her to sleep. She was indeed a flawed dog, but aren't we all flawed people? She had her negative traits but she also had traits that we loved. Despite Lilly's bad habits, I will miss her because she loved me and was always happy to see me whenever I came home. It was hard to come home for Thanksgiving this week and not have her excited bark greet me as I walked in the door. There was also no living vacuum to clean up any accidentally dropped bit of turkey. Indeed, it was very sad to realize she was gone, but I believe she has gone to a better place where she can run around and protect people from the big, bad invisible boogie men that only she could see to her heart's content.

R.I.P., Lilly. I will miss you.

Sugaring

Disclaimer: Today I am going to be blogging about something rather personal that maybe not all people will find appealing, and by all means don't read this post if you think it may make you feel uncomfortable. I will be talking about body hair removal.

I am constantly in search of new hair removal methods. I hate shaving because I have smooth, hair-free results for only one day, and it's very irritating on my skin so I can't shave every single day. I've tried nearly everything short of laser hair removal which I may invest in some day if the technology improves. It works best on people with dark hair because the laser is attracted to darker pigmentation. Being blonde, I'm kind of out of luck.

I've been waxing for some time now and have been only mildly impressed with the results. It takes a lot of work, and it really hurts. The results do last longer, which I like, but I always have an issue with ingrown hairs afterwards. It's probably because I do it on my own and I have not been formally trained on how to wax properly. I may have better luck with a professional, but I'm a poor college student. I don't have that kind of money to blow on waxing every month. Ingrown hairs are typically caused when you break the hair above or below the skin surface instead of completely removing it by the root. If you remove hair by the root, it grows back with a blunt edge rather than a jagged one that can get caught and start growing back into your skin. Ouchie. Shaving causes ingrown hairs, too, because it leaves the hair with a sharp edge. Have you ever looked at a blade of grass after the lawn has been mowed? Your hair looks like that.

One day while browsing the internet for better waxing techniques or prevention/treatment of ingrown hairs I stumbled upon something rather interesting. Apparently there is a procedure called sugaring that is less painful and just as effective as waxing. The best part is you can make the stuff at home using ingredients that everyone has in their kitchen. The other major benefits to this method are that it doesn't require cloth strips, you use it cold, it's water soluble, and you remove the product with the grain of the hair, not against. The latter technique makes it more likely that you will remove the entire hair at the root and not just break it off like typical waxing. Therefore...fewer ingrown hairs if any.

I decided that it was worth a shot and made up the concoction in my kitchen. The process is a lot like making caramel and it goes better if you actually have a candy thermometer. I accidentally ruined the first batch, but the second turned out alright. I allowed it to cool off for several hours and then gave it a whirl. I admit I was extremely shocked. I was skeptical that it would actually work, especially since I was removing it in the direction that hair grows instead of against it like typical waxing. I applied it and then ripped it off as directed. It still hurt a little but it was much less painful than waxing because it grabbed onto the hair but not my skin. Best of all, the hair was gone! I examined the used product and saw tons of little hairs sticking out and they all had the root intact! Quite frankly, it blew my mind how effective it was. I have only been able to test it so far on course hair from my underarms and bikini area, but I will soon be testing it on my legs where my hair is finer. The downside to this and all types of waxing is that your hair has to be at least 1/4 inch in length or it won't work well. I've got to give my leg hair some time to grow but I'm excited by the prospects.

If you are interested in doing your own sugaring here is how you make it: take 2 cups of regular granulated sugar and mix it with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Heat it to boiling and then reduce heat to around 240 degrees or so. This is where a candy thermometer comes in handy because you want to cook it for about 25 minutes at a "firm ball" stage. When it's finished it should be a dark amber color. Let it cool for about 15 minutes in the pot and then poor it into a Tupperware container. Put it in the fridge to cool down completely. Once it's cool you can take out a chunk (put your back into it, it's not easy to get out) and then roll or squish it into a ball. You may want to use latex gloves because the moisture from your skin can make it sticky. After you form a ball flatten it against the area you wish to remove hair. Apply against the grain. Then lift up an edge of it enough that you can get a grip on it and then quickly remove in the direction of hair growth. You can reuse the same ball of product until it becomes too sticky to work with. Just roll it back up and reapply. After you're done you can just remove any excess product still stuck to your skin with a damp washcloth.

Hopefully some of you may find this as handy as I did. I'm still just amazed that this actually works, and I'll be playing around with it for a while. If I find any better tips I'll post them.

I'm On a Boat! No, wait...I'm On an Airplane!

This weekend was a momentous occasion for me. I finally got to fly in an airplane! I'm 26-years old and I've never been on a plane before until now! Peter and I were intending to drive out to Sacramento California this weekend for the blessing of his sister's baby on Sunday, but a very generous family member bought us plane tickets so we wouldn't have to drive. I admit, I was nervous to fly for the first time and I had butterflies in my stomach all throughout takeoff. Peter made fun of how hard I gripped his leg (I don't think it was really that hard, but one of his greatest joys in life is to tease me). The flight took about as long as it takes to drive to my parents' house in Bountiful from where I live in Logan, which is a lot better than the 10+ hours we were originally planning on. It still amazes me that we can safely launch people into the air several thousand feet above the ground at speeds around 700 mph. I was lucky enough to have a window seat, and I got to look out over the world and see cars and buildings on the ground growing smaller and smaller below me. After watching the campy safety video and hearing them repeat over and over again to turn off all electronic devices, I was reminded of a Penny Arcade comic from a few years ago...
I wonder why they really want all electronic devices to be turned off? Do they interfere with the controls or something?

We landed in the Sacramento airport without any incident because everyone must have had their Game Boys off. We didn't check any luggage so we were able to proceed directly to the rental car terminal and then for the hotel we were staying at. One really annoying thing about Sacramento is that there are a lot of one-way streets. We were not aware of this, and as we were looking for our hotel and a place to park, we made a wrong turn and started driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Peter made a quick U-turn as soon as he realized his error, but it was too late and the flashing blue and red lights of a squad car blazed up behind us. We promptly pulled over and waited for the officer to approach our vehicle. He was a pleasant fellow and didn't give us a hard time, especially since we were from out of town. He made sure Peter didn't have any warrants out for his arrest and then gave us directions to a place we could park our car. I found it amusing that Peter managed to get pulled over by the police within the first hour we were in California.

Although our time in Sacramento was short, we had a great time. It's not very often that all of Peter's siblings get together, and it was wonderful to meet our new niece for the first time. She's a real cutie!

And to all of my family who live out by Sacramento that I didn't get to see this weekend, I'm very sorry! I wish I could have seen you, but we really didn't have any time! We're going to try and come out there next spring, and hopefully see you then.

Workout Update:

It's time to report on my fitness goals! I've done really well these last few weeks to avoid soda. I've only slipped up once. I didn't work out every day I had it scheduled, but that was due to poor time management on my part. I need to be better about that because if I don't get up and go the gym then Peter won't. It's not just my health on the line, it's also Peters.

I will definitely try and be better about it this week.

Resolution

I am once again trying to get into better shape, and I'm dragging Peter along with me. We're both getting far too squishy. I get in a little bit of exercise every day just biking back and forth to school, but I need more than just 15 minutes here and there. I keep a detailed calendar on my computer so that I can keep track of my classes, assignments, appointments, and study time. I am also using it now to schedule in time to work out. I'm starting to become one of those people who has to schedule everything. In fact, the other day Peter got onto my calendar and entered in "Spend time with Peter" onto it. I laughed when I came home and found it. He argued that because it was now on my schedule I had to do it. I thought it was really cute. Any ways, I just thought I'd share my new workout schedule in case some of you may be inspired to do something similar.

Monday - Budokon. It's an intense mixture of yoga, eastern martial arts, and meditation. Really gets your blood pumping.

Tuesday - Cardio at the gym and weightlifting. I like to alternate the equipment I use from day to day. One day it's the treadmill, next it's the stairclimber, etc.

Wednesday - Tai Chi. Yeah, I know it's that thing old Asian women do in the park on Sunday afternoons, but it's really beautiful how it flows like a dance, and it's very relaxing. Just perfect for a mid-week workout.

Thursday - Cardio at the gym and weightlifting again.

Friday - Workout on the ball. It's a great total body workout. Not just your abs.

In addition to exercising regularly, I am also trying to eat a little better, too. I recently made the decision to stop drinking caffeine, and I decided to go one step further and make that stop drinking soda entirely. It's nothing but sugar and carbon dioxide. Two things your body does not need. I'm also going to eat more veggies and have fish once a week.

With school, and the craziness of normal life, I don't know how well I will be able to keep up with this, but it's important to keep trying and not give up. I've already noticed some benefits to eating better and working out. 1.) No caffeine crash. I'm not cured of feeling really tired, but it's requiring me to adopt a regular sleeping pattern. School has been throwing off my circadian rhythm and I need to correct it. 2.) I have better focus at school and when I'm studying. I have an attention problem, especially when I'm required to focus on something I don't care about. Regular exercise, for some reason, helps me to better engage my mind into my studies. 3.) I feel happier/better. Exercise releases endorphins, and eating well helps give your body sustained energy. 4.) Better body image. I've only recently begun a regular exercise routine so I have not yet seen any changes in my physical appearance, however I have noticed a correlation between mind and body. When I work out, I feel like I look better, even if all I've lost is half a pound.

Every other week I plan on reporting on my and Peter's progress. My hope is that we will maintain our motivation this way if we can look back and see the changes that have occurred overtime. Today is Thursday, so as soon as Peter gets home from school it's off to the gym! Woo!

October

I guess we weren't busy enough with midterms because we've managed to pack in a number of events and projects so far this month. To start with, Peter spent the first weekend in October at the Society of American Foresters convention in Orlando, FL. The main goal was to try and find a permanent job, but unfortunately he hasn't heard back on any of the interviews he did. I guess the market for forestry jobs is tighter than we thought. At least while he was down there he got to visit his uncle Michael and aunt Lisa and their three kids. He came home and told me that that was the best part of his whole trip to Florida. He may not have come back with a job, but he did come back with some fun stories. One worth sharing occurred when he happened to pass the Geico booth at the convention. Geico is one of the big companies that sponsors the SAF convention, and last year they gave the winners of the Quiz Bowl Geico toasters (because toasters are cool, right?). Utah State won last year so Peter came home with a lovely toaster that cooks the outline of the Geico gecko into your toast. Well, when Peter strolled past the Geico booth this year he heard some laughter directed towards him, so he decided to check it out. They explained why they were laughing and held up a bobblehead of a Geico caveman from their commercials. I have to admit...the resemblance is uncanny.They gave him one for free in exchange for a picture of him holding the bobblehead. I laughed my butt off when he produced the bobblehead and told me the story.

This Saturday Peter and I worked on another fund-raising project for the Forestry Club. We spent the entire day out at Deseret Land and Livestock doing stand exams. We basically looked at trees all day. We broke off into teams and I of course got paired up with Peter. We walked around the woods and recorded data of tree species, diameter, height, etc . The tough part of the project was that our plots were located on the north slope of a mountainside. I spent most of my energy trying to stay upright and not tumble down the mountain. There was also a good 4-6 inches of snow on the ground which made for even more treacherous footing. I'm not well known for my balance or coordination so you can understand how I might have stumbled a time or two...or dozen. It was pretty cold, too. If I wasn't moving, I was freezing. I did have fun learning more about what Peter does at work, although he normally doesn't have snow to contend with. I also enjoyed looking for animal tracks in the snow. I found deer, elk, and moose as well as snowshoe hare, and some canid track that looked too big to be a fox or coyote. Unless some hunter's dog got lost it could have been a wolf. We were relatively close to the Wyoming border and there have been reports of wolf packs crossing the border recently. I'm no expert on animal tracks so I can't say for sure, but the thought is kind of exciting.

So to recap, Peter got to go to Florida and I learned about stand exams...and that I'm married to a caveman, which is something I've suspected for years. :)

Goodbye Summer

Our awesome bonfire!

The autumnal equinox is tomorrow, so what do you do to celebrate the last weekend of summer? Why, go camping of course!

The Forestry Club at Utah State had a fund-raising project lined up with the USU Outdoor Recreation Center this weekend. We had to backpack into the Blind Hollow Yurt on Friday and help split and move firewood to be used for the winter. It was about a 3 1/2 mile hike in, which is not a challenging hike by any means, but I was breaking in my new internal-frame backpack so I was pretty pooped by the time we got to the yurt. The hike was beautiful, though! The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn and we hiked along some beautiful ridges that looked out upon the Mount Naomi Wilderness. I am so lucky to always be near a national forest no matter what time of the year.

We got to the yurt around 5:00 p.m. and spent the daylight hours working on our project. The rest of the evening was spent eating and just kicking it in the yurt with the other members of the forestry club. It was a blast! The next day Peter and I had to leave early so that we would have time to hike out and then drive to Bear River in the Uintas where we were meeting our two friends, Nick and Kelly, to do even more hiking and backpacking.

I have noticed a trend in the hikes that I go on with Kelly. They usually end up with us getting caught in some big rainstorm. This time, however, we came prepared with rain gear. We took the East Fork of the Bear River trail that leads up to Allsop Lake in the High Uinta Wilderness. It's a nice level trail, and not very technical. We were hoping to get to Allsop, but the weather prevented us from attempting a higher elevation. I was also pretty pooped from already having hiked that day. So, about four miles into the hike we broke camp and set ourselves up for the night. As we moved about putting up tents and gathering firewood we could hear elk bugling to each other in the distance. I love to hear elk. They make such an eerie, otherworldy sound.

Because it had been raining off and on that day, it somewhat inhibited our efforts to make a fire, but not for long. By the time night fell we had a raging bonfire going, despite the rain. A group of people on horseback passed our camp who looked pretty drenched, and we offered to share our fire with them, but they were in a hurry to get off the mountain and declined our offer. If I had been them, though, I totally would have stopped. Our fire was awesome.

After eating dinner and "chewing the fat" for a few hours, we called it a night and climbed into our sleeping bags. I was exhausted so it didn't take me long to drift off to Dream Land, but I hadn't been asleep long when I was awakened by a rumbling crash and the sound of rain pelting the roof of my tent. I laid awake for a while counting the time between flashes of light and the loud cracks of thunder that followed them. I was a little nervous being out in a thunderstorm since we had never tested our tent's waterproof capabilites before, but it held up like a champ. It rained hard all night long but we stayed warm and dry. Thankfully the rain stopped right as soon as we got up and broke camp, and it remained clear throughout the rest of our hike out.

I didn't get to see much wildlife on this hike which is something I always hope to see when I'm out in the woods, but we did see a lot of deer and moose tracks, a few squirrels, and I even spotted a bald eagle. It was interesting to see the effects of the fire that had desimated that area seven years ago. The bones of old dead pine stood all around, but they were surrounded by hundreds of little baby aspen no more than a yard or two tall. In a few years it will be a huge aspen grove, and you will hardly be able to tell that a fire had destroyed that area not too long ago. I love how Mother Nature works like that. Today I'm feeling pretty stiff and sore from all of the hiking, but it was a lot of fun and it was great to see Nick and Kelly again. I'm glad they have remained our friends even after work ended this summer.

So I wish you all a very happy autumn! Now, get out there and enjoy those fall colors! They won't last long!

Back in the Saddle Again

Let's see here...what's been goin' on recently. Hmm...well, Peter and I officially moved back to Logan on the 17th. I say officially because there was a lot of back and forth for a while. It's nice to be home. I love the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and I miss living and working there, but...Logan is where I keep all my stuff, you know? That very same day my sister, Sarah, gave birth to her baby girl, Ella. She's a beautiful, healthy, blonde baby and I'm so happy she's come into our family!

Me holding little Ella.
They made me wear a mask because of the Piggy Flu.

That's niece #2 for me. Number 3 is awaiting her grand entrance in the next few weeks. I'm so excited!

Then on the 19th we packed our bags and headed to California! Our ultimate goal was Anaheim, but we took a little detour and went to the Stanislaus National Forest and Calaveras Big Trees State Park. We camped overnight in Stanislaus with intentions to get up early and drive for 30 minutes or so to get to Calaveras...

My fabulous, new backpacking tent!

However, we had a little road block....

Stupid trucker...

Stupid, weak tow truck.

A trucker tried to go up a twisty, narrow mountain road in the middle of the night only to discover that his semi was too big for the road. He failed to notice the "Vehicles longer than 25' not advised" signs along the way. So he got stuck and tried to back down the road, but only managed to get himself even more stuck. We were stalled in traffic for nearly four hours because the first tow truck they called couldn't pull him out so they had to call in an even bigger one, but it had to come from South Tahoe. It was really inconvenient, but we got to meet some interesting people while we were waiting for the road to open up.

The picture is a little funny because
I put it together using 3 different photos.
If you look closely you can see Peter
standing at the base of the Sequoia.

After we finally got to Calaveras, I got to see my first Sequoiadendron giganteum, or Giant Sequoia. It was amazing. Pictures don't do those trees justice. They're huge! It was very awe inspiring to stand at the base of one and just gaze up and up and up.

After our little excursion to the woods, we headed to Anaheim for BlizzCon. Yes. I am just that nerdy. For all of you non-gamers out there, BlizzCon is the annual convention Blizzard Entertainment has for their products Starcraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. Peter, myself, and my little brother, Jacob, were all lucky enough to score tickets. So we spent a few fun-filled days hanging out at the convention, getting sneak peeks at upcoming releases and expansions of WoW, and best of all hanging out with some of the members of our guild on WoW. I don't think I would actually make the trip just for the convention. It's really the people that we go to see. Peter and I have been in the same guild or at least in a guild with the same people for about 4 years or so. They've become cherished friends and we really enjoyed spending time with them outside of the game. I realize a lot of people may think this is weird or geeky, but I don't care. I have met some truly awesome people through the game that I never would have gotten to know otherwise.

From left to right: Kevin, Jaime, Jack, Jacob, and Peter.

Our guild leaders Gary, and Kim,
as well as Kevin our fabulous French Canadian!

All the members who came to represent our guild,
enjoying the last night of the convention.

After the convention we blitzed back home on Sunday so that we could be home in time for our first classes of fall semester that started on Monday. Not only is Peter starting the final year of his undergraduate work, but I went back to school as well. I haven't been in college since 2002 and it's weird to be back in school again. It's also very exciting! Most of my classes are boring like my biology course, but for fun this semester I am taking an intro to Shakespeare course that I think is going to be a blast! I'm totally going to own this semester.

The downside to being back in school is that this may be the only year I am at USU. After Peter graduates he's going to be looking for a permanent position with the Forest Service, and we have no clue where in the world that will take us. Hopefully I will be able to finish my degree at another university, but it's just frustrating to not be able to make any kind of longterm plan. I guess this is what I get for putting off school for so long.

So wish me and Peter luck! It's going to be a really busy year, and it's going to take a lot of work, but I think it's going to be filled with a lot of exciting things as well. Like Peter finally getting his bachelors and hopefully getting a permanent job! Which means I may finally get the puppy I have been waiting 6 years for! Yay!