Spiderman

It's getting that time of year when as the weather gets warmer, the spiders start coming out. And as anyone knows, I am terrified, almost to the point of anxiety at times, of spiders! Every 3 months I pay for Dan the Spiderman to spray my place, inside and out, for spiders. Not only does he do that, but he goes the extra mile with me. Dan changes all my many, many spider traps around the apartment. He makes sure he doesn't throw them away in my trash, but takes them to the outside trash. If I need something from under the stairwell or furnace room(because everyone knows those are prime spots for spiders to lurk), he will get it and check it to make sure no spiders are on or in it for me. He has known my extreme fear of spiders since he first started coming(about 4 or 5 years ago). Initially, while he was spraying away, he tried to have a friendly chat about spiders with me. As he spoke for a few moments, he abruptly stopped because I looked like I was about to freak out at any moment. So now, he never talks spiders with me. I'd always been told that if you fear something, you just need to get more educated about it to overcome that fear. So I proceeded to find out more about spiders, especially the hobo spiders that are so prevalent in this area. Well I got on the web-site. Not only are there huge pictures of these ugly, scary creatures(while my heart was pounding and my breathing became more labored), but there were pictures of people who had been bitten by them. They were covered in these dark purple, blue, and red vein-like bruises radiating out from the area that had been bitten. And there were a few who had to have their fingers or hands amputated! Needless to say, this did nothing to diminish my fears! If anything, it freaked me out more! But through the years there have been less and less spiders I see, thanks to my hero, the Spiderman!

Sound of Music

My main purpose with this post was to see if I could figure out how to add a video clip to a blog. So we'll see how it goes.

The Sound of Music has to be one of my all-time favorite musicals! Not only is it filled with intrigue and love, but the music is so darn catchy! My friend and I were able to attend a Sing-Along up at the outdoor theater at Sundance. It is one of the most fun memories I have! The movie was on the big screen and various people had dressed up as characters from the movie. We had a costume contest and were given instructions on how to react to the movie. As we came in we were given a goodie bag filled with paraphernalia to be used throughout the movie. Before it started, we were taught actions to the Do-Re-Mi song. Then throughout the movie we were given permission to bark when we saw Rolf(for the dog he was!), "aaww" everytime Greta came out and "boo" when the Countess came out, not to mention the fun things in the goodie bag to use at certain times(a confetti popper for when they first kiss, fake Eidelweiss to hold in the air while swaying, etc...). It was a blast! I hadn't seen that much action from audience movie-goers since The Rocky Horror Show which had been a midnight movie at the theater I worked in many years ago(and we had to discontinue that since it made such a mess on the floor!)! Anyway, last year, my friend gave me a puppet goat that sings the Lonely Goatherd song for Christmas! I laughed and laughed as I played with the goat. So that will be my video attempt:

Single Awareness Day

I'm not sure when exactly that Valentine's Day became Single Awareness Day to me(probably 30...that's a major "getting older" year). When I was in grade school, I loved decorating my Valentine box! And then I signed all my cute cards and individually picked who got which card (always being daring to give a card that had the word "love" on it to a cute boy). Next I remember in junior high that my friends(three best friends) and I would make so many goodies(especially pink frosted sugar cookies) for each other that we would make ourselves sick from eating it all(at that age the word "limit" is not in your vocab). And all through these years my parents always made sure I got some kind of Valentine treat or card! Yet with all those positive experiences, I still have chosen to call Valentine's Day: Single Awareness Day. The longer I am single, the more aware I get! (Don't get me wrong, I am totally okay with being single and am enjoying it while I can!) But one does tend to have a hint of bitterness on a day that constantly reminds you of your status! A few years ago some friends and I decided to have fun with Single Awareness Day. We had a "Past-over" dinner at someone's house and left a seat next to us empty awaiting our husbands[for those not familiar with Jewish tradition: The Jews celebrate Passover with a dinner and they leave one empty chair for Elijah(because he's coming before the Messiah comes)]. We did this for a few years but now life just keeps getting too busy to even get together. Although I do try to stay out of the public as much as possible that day and night, so I don't have to see all the sweet things couples are doing for each other. I guess if I was absolutely honest about it, it's called jealousy! I'm glad it only lasts for that one day out of the year! (okay maybe 2 days because I'm not fond of the other "couple" holiday,New Year's Eve, either!)

Digital vs Traditional

As many of you know, I switched from traditional scrapbooking to digital scrapbooking. Here are a few reasons why:

So as you can clearly see, digital scrapbooking saves me a mess and space! I love it! Recently I purchased a laptop solely for my scrapbooking. Now I can scrapbook anywhere!

Facebook

Recently, I signed up on Facebook. Wow, is it addictive! I am having a riot finding people from my past who have helped shape a part of my life! I'm finding people from schools, workplaces, former wards, and my mission! But it's one of those things that can take up my time and I'm spending way too much time on it! But it's so new to me, I have to! So eventually, I'll have to learn to curb the amount of time I spend on it. It's a great memory booster and it makes the world seem a bit smaller. Plus it's nice to be remembered!