DEER!!!!

So, last night, I woke up at about 2:30 to go to the restroom, and saw Shawn standing there, looking out the window. Our bedroom window looks out over the ridge right across from Hill Air Force Base. There is always a lot of wildlife back there. Well, last night, we saw a big buck all by itself. It came right by the house, and we ran over to the office, and the buck literally walked 5 ft. away from us (obviously there was a wall) but still!!!! It would stop and get something to eat every few steps. It was amazing seeing something wild so close, and it not knowing it. It had a rack on its head with 2 points and the other side 3 points. I wished I could have gotten video of it, but I just wanted to enjoy nature without having to worry if I got it well enough, and purely just to show someone. It was so cool, and I love sharing moments like that with my husband

Nibbins

Nibbins, after he climbed up my pant leg, up to the arm rest of the couch

staring at himself in the little mirror he has on the floor

His "nest" in the drawer in the bathroom

He happened to get to some of my papers briefly before I shooed him away.

All the papers on the fridge look like this

By biggest pet peeve (ha ha. pet peeve, get it?) is the Bucher's bird "Nibbins" Since we live here, I have to live with him and he gets super annoying. It starts in the morning, when he begs for food like a dog. He will fly closer and walk around and eventually fly on my shoulder, climb down onto the table and start dipping his head into my bowl. I will shoo him away and he will fly onto the top of the cabinets and start shrieking his brains out! He likes ALOT of attention and will shriek until he gets it. If you walk into another room, he will shriek. If you are in the same room, and want to watch t.v., then he will climb down his ladder onto the floor and walk over to where you are and climb up your pantleg and perch himself by your arm or head and sit and happily poop all over you. If you are reading a book, he will come over and start nibbling on it (hence, the name nibbins) and if you leave paper, books or cords lying around, he will very much chew those up too (that was the demise of my old earphones) If you put any kind of paper on the fridge, the edges will be chewed up. He doesn't want bird food either. He insists on people food. When we have our sunday omelet in the morning, he has to have one too. When we have dinner, he must have whatever we are having. He even eats meat. Cannibal bird..... He likes to be scratched under the neck. If you go near his nest (a drawer in Frank and Lesli's bathroom) he will hiss at you and try to bite. If you close the drawer to his nest, he will sit and make weird annoying sounds on purpose until you open the drawer back up. About an hour ago, I could hear him happily chirping and pushing whatever is on the counter, off. He loves to take the fortune cookies in a tin on the table, out and push them off, he also loves to push mail, measuring cups, keys, etc... He also loves to chew through the breadbags on the table to get to the bread to enjoy. I have to set the butter up higher because he likes to dip his beak in it. One thing that he really loves is.... his reflection. He is a narcissist. He will sit and stare for hours. He will eventually start pounding his beak in it and make a little squeak to the rythm that he is creating. He also chews through his little perches in his cage, and they have to be replaced often. All in all, I feel like I am watching a child sometimes, and have to attend to the bird often. I hope you enjoyed my stories of the bird today.

***Video of how the bird sounded all day long!***

Things I have to do for my job

Original

I didn't have a heck of a lot of time to do this one, or it would look better, but I am getting better at it.

Okay, so I have a stupid mannequin. The arms go straight up. I didn't think about that when I got it, so I just have to deal for now. If I could, I would just get a different one, but money is tight, so I just have to improvise.

My work in paint

original

retouched

original

retouched

I just wanted to share something that I do quite often. I like to perfect my skills in regular old paint. I like to do it so that I can enhance the background, or showcase the item i am selling on ebay. I took a couple of pictures that I had a little fun with. It is my sister's boyfriend and I just HAD to. I will post some pictures of an actual listing that I did on ebay that looked really good. I don't have Photoshop (I wish that I did so bad) So I figured I would just get good at paint. It is super hard and takes me hours to do, but it is really fun, and definitely gets some good laughs.

2009 is starting to look up for us

We lead the craziest lives for real. Nothing ever turns out quite like we had hoped or planned. Shawn was going to do a really formal dinner for a charity event that Paris Hilton is hosting up in Sundance this weekend, but all of it kept changing, and so we decided to not do it. The job that I applied for sounded awesome at first, but ended up being not quite like I had planned. Shawn's job didn't end up being the same thing that was told to him. But......... even though all of the things we ever engage in are not as good as we hoped, other good things shine through. When one door closes, a window opens. Shawn is one of the culinary adjunct professors at the Art Institute of Utah. I believe this is a door that will open up to great things for him and for us. Even though I am still unemployed now, will probably mean that something better is waiting in the wings for me. I am really grateful, even if it means for the bad things that happen. I am grateful that my life is the way it is. I would not want to trade it for someone else's. Just thought I would share that tidbit