Blog title

A few people have asked where I got the Princess on the Steeple name for my blog. It actually comes from my favorite Bob Dylan song "Like a Rolling Stone". The songs words struck a cord with me about how sometimes you are on top of your game and then it all falls apart, and you look back seeing how great you had it. How conceit and pride comes back to bite you... so enjoy things while you have them, remember the good times, and don't make enemies on your climb.

Like A Rolling Stone

Once upon a time you dressed so fine

You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"

You thought they were all kiddin' youYou used to laugh about

Everybody that was hangin' out

Now you don't talk so loud

Now you don't seem so proud

About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely

But you know you only used to get juiced in it

And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street

And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it

You said you'd never compromise

With the mystery tramp, but now you realize

He's not selling any alibis

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes

And ask him do you want to make a deal?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns

When they all come down and did tricks for you

You never understood that it ain't no good

You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat

Ain't it hard when you discover that

He really wasn't where it's at

After he took from you everything he could steal.

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people

They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made

Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things

But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe

You used to be so amused

At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used

Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose

You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?

Pumpkin Carving

Jenessa and I went to the YSA FHE on Monday and participated in some good ole' fashioned pumpkin carving. We decided to actually put some thought into it this year and planned out our designs before we came. It made us look obsessive. We came with our own tools and cool designs. People kept commenting on how artistic we were. I mean come on people, Plan ahead! We were planning on doing a skull with an eyeball poping out but I got lazy and didn't want to alter the drawing, and carving took was a lot more difficult then I thought it would be.

At the Shell station they were giving pumpkins away for 6 gallons of gas. So we got some lowering gas priced pumpkins. It made me a little happy for once to fill up the car. Jenessa carved the eyeball that was supposed to fall out of my pumpkins face.

Here is me giving a little love to the pumpkin.

The final product. Not to fancy... it could use some work.

Voting

I am a nervous wreck this time with voting. Serious. I had to hide my ballot because I am so hung up on who to vote for President. Like it actually matters in Washington. Obama will win. Last time I was so strong in my vote for Bush and I don't regret that action and am still in the 29 percent who support him. I think my "moral" code for myself doesn't allow me to choose something important without having a strong conviction that that decision is the one that I really want. I really like Joe Biden. That is the only thing that is drawing me towards Obama.

Jenessa and I even tried eni-meani-minee-mo. I then retracted that idea because women and men fought for the right to vote and abusing it like that would be pathetic.

I filled out the rest of my ballot with relative ease. Like usual it's mostly republican.

I guess this is a request for people to post five "real" reasons I should vote for their candidate, with no negatives about the opponent.

Trunk-or-treating

I went to trunk-or-treating at the church this Friday with Cameron, Jayden and Ashlyn. We had such a blast. There was bingo, carnival games, a chili dinner. I was totally impressed with whoever planned it. If I was a kid it would have been the time of my life. Ashlyn went as a princess, Cameron was a vampire, and Jayden was a 50's poodle skirt girl. Jayden won best costume. I dressed up as a cat and Jenessa was a cheerleader. My Mom went as an athlete.

As we were leaving Jenessa and I both admitted to wanting a bag of candy ourselves and were plotting on how we could go trick or treating for Halloween. We thought masks might work. DANG BEING A GROWNUP! Is it wrong that I am 23 and still want to participate in activities for children. My Mom was totally against the idea. She said she would buy us the candy. But that just isn't as fun.

My favorite moment of the night was with Ashlyn. It didn't dawn on me she was 3 and probably had no clue what we were doing. I thought she would just know! She is so smart for her age I forget how little she actually is. So we get to the first car, and I was like, "What do you say?" and she looked at me a little confused and was like, "thank you." It took us a good five minutes to get the "trick or treat" going. But she was totally amazed at the fact she just held out her little ghost bag and got candy!

She "shared" her candy with us the rest of the night.

After we had a sleepover and read scriptures and watched Annie. Poor Jayden was so tired she fell right to sleep. The kitten slept right next to her the whole night.

Speaking of the kitten. Since I was dressed up as the cat I came in the room and was talking to the kids and then I look down and the kitten is totally freaking out and hissing and puffing herself up. Her little teeth showing. I forgot I had my costume on... the little thing ran away and it took us three hours to find where she was hiding.

Where is the Dam square?

When we were little we had this trivial pursuit genius edition game that none of us knew the answers to any of the questions. We would spend minutes trying to find something we thought the other person "might" know. Unless you grew up in the seventies, when the game was made, you were totally out of luck. Our favorite question was... Where is the Dam Square? It caused a lot of ruckus the first time asked. But just so you know... it's in Amsterdam.

Weird...

Carrie is that you? I was stalking on Facebook and I came across this picture. The girl in the right hand corner looks like you but I don't remember you ever saying you worked at Tomasito's. Do you have a twin...

In other randomness. I got another part time job to help me pay for school this winter. I am thinking I am going to take out loans. I am working as a Mother's Assistant to this sweet woman with three kids. I help with chores and cleaning, watching the kids, helping with school work. Let's hope it works out. I really don't want to be scrubbing toilets at 4 in the morning in Rexburg.

oh! Jenessa is home. Hooray!

South Fork Skokomish Trail

So we began our journey after searching for unmarked roads on roads that randomly switched from paved to unpaved and were a little challanging for my friend Crystal's, she is in the blue, little four door Kia. There was only one other car parked there, and we saw a whole bunch of hunters driving past us. Along the trail we saw only two other men the whole time. It was a little late in the season to be hiking but we had some fantastic weather. It was literally the perfect day to go for a hike. The leaves were falling and shifting color. It made for a fun crunchy sound as we walked. Along for the adventure was my friend Lisa. She is getting ready to serve a mission in Spain.
These were some awesome fungus we found. They were in the shape of lilies. There was some other cool things we found along the way too, like a hidden waterfall, a velvet purple mushroom, and some bright orange coral fungus.
Neat little bridge. Bridge to no where?
Me hanging out by the river. Bad hair day? Yes... I think I am having a bad hair decade. We went off the trail and walked about 200 ft down to the river to enjoy the scenery.
My trusty boots. In these boots I feel confident walking through anything. I don't even think twice! I would say my boots are one of my most favorite pairs of shoes.

It was decided that we should cross the river. Why? Who knows. It was only hypothermic temperatures and a little chilly out. So why the heck not? What you don't see is how sharp the bottom of this stream bed is. It felt like knifes cutting into the bottom of my feet. The water was really shallow thankfully and I stayed the most dry of the three of us.

So that was my Adventure. I had a really great time and would recommend this trail to anyone in the Olympia area. It is about 30 minutes from Olympia. It was relativily easy and was flat most of the way It would be easy with children. The worst was at the beginning. We only went about three miles in but the trail spans about 10 miles, 20 back and forth and it had a lot of areas to overnight if you wanted to go backpacking.

For more pictures you can check out my facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71320&l=40588&id=1063307519

A New Addition

So I came home around noon from work to Mom saying... "Don't be mad." I've heard those words a few times before and usually recognize she has done something that will make me mad... like put sea shells on a beloved painting or sponge paint hours of my work. Well she led me to the laundry room and was like... it's behind the washer. I was really hopeing for a dead mouse.

Well I saw something black and furry... it was another cat.

So, may I present, Sofie:

In other non-cat related news... I am working on a painting.

I've still have to paint the village and boat. I haven't painted much, so I know it isn't steller. But it is my first attempt since I got home from my mission. It is of a fishing village in the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. I really love old wood boats.

And today after ten days... my Mom finally beat me at Settlers of Catan. I guess I got a little too cocky and helpful. Now all I have to do is beat my Uncle Al to make myself feel better.

The Work! Pussy Puss.

So I decided to let the cat sleep in my room. I was hesitant because lately he has taken to pooing on the comforters. Like yesterday I smelled something raunchy in his room and so I cleaned out his litter box, but then my mom saw him on the bed and he was trying to hide the nasty deed. Weird cat, he was standing in front of it and I swear he was trying to put the pillow on top of it. Last night I left the Jack and Jill doors open between our bedrooms, yes he has his own room, and then showed him that he could go back and forth with no trouble. So around 10 I put him on my bed and for the first time he actually stayed. So we slept until about 4, then he decided to wake up and wanted to be pet, and since this cat never lets me really pet him I relented and gave him a good klappe until about 4:30. Then he crawled under my comforter and slept another half hour. He proceeded to attack my toes after. I turned on some X-files and threw him out of the room. I finally fell back to sleep around 5:30.

Now the question is why on earth did I do that. I think I am a reasonable person. But why did I choose to allow the cat to wake me so early, give him attention when he makes it a point not to give me any, and then make me lose sleep. If he had been a child or another adult I would have totally woken in a sleepy stupor and yelled.

I need to find better use of my time.

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite Holidays. I think it may be my actual favorite. It used to be St. Patricks day, but then I found it had no real enjoyment or premise with Leprechauns not being real and all. I love Halloween because it really is all about giving and enjoyment. What could be better for a child then getting to play after dark in a fun costume and getting candy. It may have been the Hallmark people and retail stores invention, but it was so kind of them. The whole concept of Halloween kind of goes over the head of Norwegians. They think it is all about being scary and tricking people and wearing goulish costumes. No people. Be princess's!

Halloween is the one day you can legally pretend to being something silly without getting weird looks. And you get to do a community service project. Little kids knock, you give them candy or something to that effect and they say thank you and you feel good about yourself and that you added to that childs enjoyment. Now honestly they aren't going to send you a thank you card, but in the cup of excitement you added a drop to the whole.

I was going to be Pippi for Halloween, but the costume required work. So I bought some black cat ears for four bucks. I am going to try to make myself into a skunk. Put a white streak in my hair. I put the ears on a few days ago and walked up to the cat. He totally freaked out. He hunched his back and puffed himself out. Now I put them on and run after him, it makes for great fun. I saw him attacking the ears during the middle of the night two nights ago.

I can't wait for the 31st!

Her? Observations...

This is my view from my window. If you look really well you can see a whole bunch of white wooden crosses in my neighbors backyard. This has always creeped me out. What have they buried? Children, Grandparents? If they are animals, some one has a serious problem. Even in Of Mice and Men they wouldn't let the crazy strong guy have a puppy because they knew he would kill it, which he did anyway and the girl right along with it. I know they have a puppy. Maybe I sould call the Animal Cops. I love that show btw, animal cops, ha. Who would take them seriously at the precinct.

I dyed my hair. I think it looks pretty nice. A little dark but it should lighten up.

Does anyone watch Project Runway? That is like one of the only shows I still watch. This season has been a little lame. No one really has stood out as a great designer. Kenley has the biggest mouth in the world. Serious. I think she managed to tick off all the judges in one swipe. I was furious that they let her even continue to try for the finale. I really hope Leanne wins. She is a Portland native. Plus she seems to be the nicest and talented of the bunch.

Greatest Product

Nice package.

I once read about a man who made millions by being paid by dairy farmers to buy manure from them and then processed it and sold it as fertilizer. Making money both ways. Brilliant. Then today I found the next greatest business idea. Selling tap water. Not just any type of tap water. New York City tap water. I came across this while looking through my favorite packaging design blog, thedieline.com. I wish I could come up with something this clever and stupid. Can you use clever and stupid at the same time? I guess, I would call Adam Sandler clever and stupid. Whatever. Buy tap water from one of the dirtiest cities on the planet.

http://www.tapdny.com/

Updated Blog

I finally got around to making a blog background. It took me long enough. I totally stole a girls idea for a top background image. She made one on Copenhagen that looked pretty awesome so I just took some of her elements, replaced all the buildings and the boat and put things in the exact same spot. Denmark... psssh. I had to add all my friends again on the side. It took forever, and if I left you off tell me. I didn't mean too.

On Monday I went to Powells books with my friend Lydia from High School. It was a blast. I drove downtown Portland for the first time. I only went the wrong way on a one way road once. I think that is some semi-form of an accomplishment. I will honestly admit I am a poor driver. I have given up on the fact I will ever be good.

Lydia and I went to a book reading by this Catholic woman. The book was all about Acedia. A word meaning a feeling of darkeness and lazyness. It was a sin. Pretty much she wrote a whole book about one word. She could have just called it depression and got on with it because that's what from the description of the word and her readings it meant. She really hated her dead husband. She kept ragging on him. Lydia said she does it in all her books. It was really annoying her. If my husband, if I ever get one, died I would at least try and say nice things about him instead of writing books about how he gave me "Acedia".

Lydia and I are going to start practicing violin together. She is going to help me out and she is going to get her fingers moving again. Lydia was in Poland this past year studying violin at a university in Krakow. The girl has some amazing talent.