Something I'm Not So Great At

Keeping my phone handy. I guess i suck at it. I got told last night after a semi-long pause, that I now had a good reason to have my phone on me and I should make sure I do. LOL! Well... okay! BOYS! Do they just think they get to have our attention at their will? I guess so. I'm going to have to try harder in that department because I have never been good at it.

My Fantastic Morning

My morning actually dates back to early Saturday morning when I look over at my water bottle by my bed and want a drink but before I grab for it I notice this dark thing in the mouth piece on the straw- I look closer- Yep, pretty sure that's an earwig. SICK! I take it upstairs, wash, sanitizse, run through the hot dishwasher.
Last night I get the water bottle out of the dishwasher and fill it up. This morning at 3:30am I awake very parched. I reach over and grab the water bottle and think, I should look for any earwigs- NAH... what are the chances. I suck in water- SICKEST THING EVER!!! There was an earwig in the straw AGAIN!!!! FREAKING AGAIN!- Are you kidding me!!!!! I obviously freak out like a crazy person- spitting it out. SPITTING MORE, MORE, MORE! Rubbing the inside of my mouth with my sleeve over and over and over again. SERIOUSLY!!!! Grossest thing ever! I wanted to swear! Then I get up and go to the bathroom and a stupid red spider graces me with it's presence on the floor. I am eyeballing it and scared and wondering how I can kill this thing, it runs under my bath mat just where it's folded a teeny bit and I stomp on the mat to kill it. SUCCESS! It gets flushed. I got back in my room and obviously creeped out by the events that just unfolded I pull all my covers off. HEre's the thing, I rarely see bugs in my rooms, RARELY! Anyway... I pull back all my covers and NOTHING. Phew! I run upstairs and get an actual drink of water from the tap- bug free! Go back to bed. Can't sleep because i keep "feeling" bugs on me and so I finally get up and go in and take a bath. I grab my towel to dry off- a big black spider falls off of it. I freak out and chuck the thing. It was my last towel. There isn't another one there. I am eyeballing the spider so I know exactly where it is. It crawls up the side of the tub- THAT I AM IN, and I just across the room to the other bath mat and look up. On the wall in front of me is another ginormous black spider. I whine the phrase "Are you kidding me!" I look back and the other spider is now climbing in my bathtub and I am looking at his gigantic friend on the wall so I start to think- how I am going MURDER these two so I can calm down and get ready. I grab my handy dandy hairspray and pretty much go to town on the one on the wall while loads of hairspray is running down the wall I think -I'll clean that up later! I soak him and he doesn't move- probably because he can't and hopefully is dying a slow and miserable PARALYZING death! JERK!!! Then I go grab a shoe and moosh it. I proceed to the bathtub to take care of intruder 3. He is no where to be found. SERIOUSLY!!! Does someone just want to crap on my face this morning? I might not even notice. I look and look for it and think... CRAP! I have to find this thing or there is NO WAY I will get in this tub again and I can't go around bathless and stinky and GROSS! It's been about 45 minutes at this point and I wanted to get to work really early cause I am leaving early to go up to girls camp. UGH!!!! I decide to get ready but I keep looking in the tub periodically. I couldn't find him and I had to leave. Everywhere I walked I felt like I kept seeing spiders. I got in my car, started it and started to cry. I sat there and cried like a little baby over my horrific morning. Good FREAKING morning to me!!! I was so tired on the drive in that it worried me I would fall asleep at the wheel so I tried to leave the AC cold but then I'd get chills and it was NOT GOOD! Luckily I made it in safely but currently there is a stupid blasted spider in my bathtub/bathroom thinking it outsmarted me. I hope it's enjoying itself because I'm about to call Dave to go down and find it and MURDER IT, and if he doesn't, SO HELP ME that thing will not survive this day!!!!! A spider WILL NOT get the best of me.

20 Minutes of Butt Kicking!

Okay... if you want an amazing workout for a short time each day... I have one for you! Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. OH. MY. HECK! AMAZING!!!! Did I say it was amazing? GOOD.. because it is. I have been getting up in the mornings and doing it... ROCKS. It's only 20 minutes. 20 minutes of BUTT KICKING!!! I have been sore, but in places that I don't usually get sore, like my back and my butt. Yep, my butt. It's sore. As a side note, you use your butt muscles to do way more things than you realize. TRUST ME!

Overspray

So... you know that Endust spray duster stuff that is AMAZING and it sprays air and cleans your keyboard and other electronic stuff? Well, I used it this morning to clean out my electonic hole puncher and it was like someone threw me a party in my cubicle- confetti everywhere. So... I just went to town and sprayed off my desk. Well... at the time we were all laughing and a couple people thought this was so cool and I told this, it's purpose to clean your keyboard/lap top not your whole desk and we all thought this was funny.... WELL...
Here I am like 2 hours later and I have this stupid taste on my lips that I CANNOT get rid of. It's like I sprayed them with hairspray or something. DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND... I WAS NOT trying to clean my teeth and/or mouth, it must have just made it way all over me. YUCK!!! I can't get it off. Basically I will be getting no kisses tonight. LOL! I wouldn't kiss these lips so I'm sure no one else will want to either. Ha ha ha...

Being Me

I'm kind of having one of those days. You know, those days when you just feel happy- for no reason at all. I had one of these night last Friday night. I was home alone. It was nice to have a night alone with no plans to just do nothing. I made me some salmon on the BBQ and watched some Alias while learning to make a pretty sweet looking bracelet on YouTube. I just felt good. It was like I was on this spiritual high. Once I realized it I was like... Thank you Heavenly Father. I just really really liked being me. I kind of feel that way today, maybe not as much as i did Friday, but I do feel that today and it feels good.

So... the other thing... I gave into the natural man. I got a tanning pass about a month ago and burn me at the stake, I like tanning. Plus, my confidence went up. I'm getting a pretty good tan and it feels good for the summer. Now when I go to Hawaii I will look good. Maybe I'll fit in :).

The Dating Game...

Okay, so there is this guy who I was really thinking I liked a few months back. I really kind of liked him and I was excited about him. Well I'll keep this long story short and say that he flaked on me BIG TIME. Well, it was kind of disappointing but I did what I do best and put up my draw bridge, threw peraunas in the moat and moved on without looking back. Well Friday night he decided to come back. I've been talking it out with him but I'm a little confused as to what to do. I want someone to be there for me like I am there for them. Someone who I can trust. I don't trust him anymore. I don't know how much I ever even did trust him. We were in the beginnings. Tonight he has been trying to talk me into picking things back up where we left them. I can't do that. He said that "if getting to know each other better is too big of a risk for you to want to take than I'm just going to have to get major creative to find a way to let you know this isn't a game for me". That was kind of a good answer. He told me that if he didn't really have feelings for me than he would just tell me it was good knowing me and move on, but that isn't the case. Anyway... I just don't know what to do. I kind of explained some of my past horrifying experiences and where it has left me so hopefully he would understand that just ditching me is not a good idea. It's a good way to get you a one way ticket out of my life forever. Anyway... I guess all I can do is pray and let the Lord help me out cause he knows all the answers. I have to say that this guy is really pleading his case. He even wants to make up this lunch date we were supposed to have right before he flaked on me. I just don't know. How do I know he won't do it again. GEEZ.. one day will someone come along that will stick it out for the long haul, that will think I am good enough. I have to believe that. Even though moron after moron keeps proving otherwise. I know there is someone and Man is he going to be lucky cause I will love the crap out of him!

VISITOR...

Today is a BEEEEYOOOOTIFUL Day. So... here's why. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business working like a busy bee and I look up and there is someone peeking their head around the corner at me. My eyes get HUGE and I say (a little louder than I should) HEY!!!!!!! He laughs and walks over to me. I wanted to get up and give a giant bear hug. I GOT A VISITOR!!!! It was a previous boss of mine who I adore and MISS! The funny thing is I was going to email him today kind of a funny email asking him what is wrong with his boy J. I just addressed it in person. LOL. He invited me to come out and stay with them. They live in Hawaii. I guess if I come I get a date out it with his son. SCORE! I've seen him, he's hot! But I told him I still want to go out with J again. LOL. Anyway... it was so good to visit with him. It totally made me all smiles. It was the best suprise EVER!!!


It's all about the little things in life and the little ways in which people help you feel loved. Life is about building each others self esteem after all.


OH.. AND... one of my FAVORITEST people in the WHOLE WORLD is coming to visit the end of this month. One of my bestest friends ever- Katie the Kanuck. And I need to tell her to bring me that amazing candy bar I love from canada... Ewwww.... I should get on that email. Gotta run....

Treat Your Children as you Would a Guest in your Home.

I thought that this was funny. I heard it in another amazing TALK by Jack R. Christianson about Self Esteem, it's called "Man is that he might have joy. Seriously, if you have never heard this talk, listen to it. It's amazing. I love it. I have listened to it 3 times just this weekend. But I love Jack Christianson. At the end of this funny clip I am putting a list of things he talked about also that is SOOOOO amazing for any parent to read, even if you don't want to read all this, read the end...

This is by a radio personality named Emma Bombeck...

On TV the other day, a leading child psychologist said parents should treat their children as they would treat their best friend...with courtesy, dignity and diplomacy.

"I have never treated my children any other ways," I told myself. But later that night, I thought about it. Did I really talk to my best friends like I talked to my children? Just suppose.....our good friends, Fred and Eleanor, came to dinner one night and......

"Well, it's about time you two got here! What have you been doing? Dawdling? Leave those shoes outside, Fred. They've got mud on them. And shut the door. Were you born in a barn?

"So Eleanor, how have you been? I've been meaning to have you over for such a long time. Fred! Take it easy on the chip dip or you'll ruin your dinner. I didn't work over a hot stove all day long to have you nibble like some bird."

"Heard from any of the gang lately? Got a card from the Martins. Yes, they're in Lauderdale again. They go every year to the same spot. What's the matter with you, Fred? You're fidgeting. Of course you have to go. It's down the hall, first door on the left. And I don't want to see a towel in the middle of the floor when you're finished.

"Did you wash your face before you came, Eleanor? I see a dark spot around your mouth. I guess it's a shadow. Do, how are your children? If you ask me I think summer school is great for them. Is everybody hungry? Then, why don't we go into dinner? You all wash up and I'll take up the food. Don't tell me your hands are clean, Eleanor. I saw you playing with the dog.

"Fred, you sit over there and Eleanor you can sit with the half glass of milk. You know you're all elbows with it comes to milk. There now, your host will say grace.

"Fred, I don't see any cauliflower on your plate. Have you ever tried it? Well, try a spoonful. If you don't like it I won't make you finish it, but if you don't try it, you can just forget dessert. And sit up straight or your spine will grow that way. Now, what were we talking about? Oh yes, the Gerbers. They sold their house. I mean they took a beating but....Eleanore, don't talk with food in your mouth. I can't understand a word you're saying. And use your napkin."

At that moment in my fantasy, my son walked into the room. "How nice of you to come," I said pleasantly.

"Now what did I do?" he sighed.

This is supposed to be a poem I think, but I typed it in my outline for my lesson today so sorry... it's in list format....

a. Children learn what they live:

i. If children live with criticism they learn to condemn.

ii. If children live with tolerance they learn to be patient

iii. If children live with ridicule they learn to be shy

iv. If children live with encouragement they learn confidence

v. If children live with security they learn to have faith

vi. If children grow up with fear they end up standing at the end of every line

vii. If children live with praise they learn to stand alone and lead their parade even if it’s raining

viii. If children are spoiled with indulgence and permissiveness, they grow up full of compromise and greed

ix. If CHrildren are given challenges and responsibilities they grow up with values and goals

x. If children grow up with optimism they will grow up believing they were meant to fly. Born to be Queens and Kings.

xi. If children live with hate they will grow up to be blind to beauty and true love

xii. If children grow up with love, they will live to give their love away and become blind to hate

xiii. If children are reminded of all the bad in them we see they’ll become exactly as we’d hoped they’d never be

xiv. But if we tell our children we’re so proud to wear their name they’ll learn to win believing they’ll achieve their highest aim. Because children live what they learn and learn what they live.

Question...

Is Root Beer Pong an appropriate work entertainment activity?

satan vs Jesus

On friday Miley and Alex were playing with this ruler that was broken. Okay... they were slightly fighting over it so My Mom took it away from them. Somehow they got it back so I took it away. Miley comes up to me with her big cute puppy dog eyes and is telling me how she wants to play with it. I wouldn't give it to her so she slams her hands on her hips, tilts her head, opens her eyes REAL wide and looks at me for a second then goes "Tahnee... when you be mean you're letting satan win. When you be nice you let Jesus win. You letting satan win right now cause you being mean!" LOL! How do you argue with that? I seriously just laughed. She just kept standing like that, looking at me like that. She was not amused. She was trying to teach me a lesson and i was just laughing at her. LOL.

Best Grandparents Award

So, my parents came up today. We went out to Tooele to visit Grandma and Grandpa's graves and put flowers on them. It was a lot of fun. On the way back we drove up to Ophir so Dave could show us all his house he lived in before living in Stockton. I seriously loved Ophir. It's a mining town. I'm pretty sure it is listed as a Ghost town. It was so cute though. I should have taken pictures. Sorry. Anyway... when my parents decided to come up to spend the day/night with all of us they came fully equipped with a tent. They decided they wanted to camp out with the kids. How sweet is that. Because it is winter in almost June and raining, they set up camp in the garage. We brought down all the mattresses because cement is not in the same category as grass or dirt.

My Dad said to me just before this picture, "Are you sleeping out here too?" I thought about my nice warm cozy bed just down the stairs and easily said "Nope, it's all you!" He laughed, then said "Well, this is the years first camping trip." LOL.

Next, to finalize the indoor camping adventure Dave made indoor smores. If you are curious how one makes indoor smores (Dave style), you take a cookie sheet, line it with wax paper, put your mallows on it and bake it until golden brown. Take them out and mash them between two chocolate covered grahams. Like so...

BTW... Dave and Nic bought this table in March but the chairs have been on back order (NEVER order anything from Ashley Furniture- unless you want a nightmare) so... they have their regular chairs set up to the table. Only in the Rubow house do you hear the phrase... "Go stand at the table and I'll bring you one." LOL. As opposed to, "Go SIT at the table and I'll bring you one."And two little bums washing up before bed.

It was a great day and the adventure is still going on. We'll see how the camp out goes tonight (wink, wink). I have to say that I have the best parents in the world. They are always trying to do things that will make the kids happy. They love the grand-kids. They seriously win the Best Grandparents Award, hands down!

I'll be sawing logs, thanks!

Okay, I am not making fun here, but his made me laugh. So Ihave this page of leathers that I need a temple engineer to locate in a temple for me. I was told he was coming to the COB today so I was going to give it to him to take back and then I wouldn't have to mail it. I just got this email:

Brother ________ & Sister Nielsen,
I will be arriving into SLC tonight at 10 PM.
I have to be at the SLC airport by 800
AM tomorrow Friday the 27th. If you please bring
me the items that I am to take with
me to The Temple I will be staying
at the following hotel:

Fairfield Inn
230 Admiral Byrd Road
SLC801-
355-3331

So basically I have between 10pm and 8am to get them to his hotel. UH... pretty sure I'll be in bed. In Santaquin. LOL. He's a super nice man, but it made me laugh when I read this. I just politely let him know I would mail them to him.

Birthdays and Benched

First of all... Yay for Scotty!
Second of all... kind of funny little story. I went during lunch to do initiatories cause I feel like I've been an ornery cuss at work lately and I knew that would help. BTW... it did, it does :). Anywho... I was on my last name and I notice the very last time I said the sister's name that her birthday is on Sept 13th. How sweet is that? (For those of you who don't know- it's my bday), it made me smile inside, so when the sweet temple worker finished I said to her:
"hey, she and I have the same birthday" (enter big smile)
She smiles, looks intently at the paper "Oh really.... you were born in 1809?" (enter big smile)
"No...(laugh, laugh, laugh-in temple voice of course) but September 13th."
She just smiled and winked at me. It was sweet and funny. Ididn't even think of the year. Can I just say how much I love being in the Temple. I'm one lucky girl cause not only do I get to go whenever I want to and as often as I want to, I get to work on them as well. I just feel humbled and priveleged and loved by my Savior. It's like the best lunch break to go over there, with watching TV downstairs on 3L with my boys a close second (wink wink).

Oh... speaking of my boys, here is a funny little conversation I had the other day. They came to my desk to say Hi and one of them is gathering people for his one day softball tournament in Blanding. He says to me...

"Oh.. and I decided, whoever bats the worst is SITTIN' THE BENCH NEXT GAME!" (capitalization for emphasis) He laughs cause he thinks he's funny, I laugh cause I think he's funny too.
"Yep, so glad I'm not on your team. You were that kid in school everyone hated weren't you?"
His jaw drops, AS IF he is shocked by my question. "WHAT!?!? No, everyone loved me, and I was good."
"Yeah, well in elementary school when the teacher makes you all line up to pick teams, you were the first one picked weren't you. You were never the last one picked."
"No, I was the captain." LOL!!! (wasn't expecting that)
"Jerk!" Enter horrific childhood memories for Tahnee.
SOOOO... he wants to play softball on this team that I have connections to, so I tell them yesterday... "If he comes to play, make everyone line up and pick teams and pick him last. Better yet, flip a coin for who has to have him at the end. Wait... even better, bench his butt on the second game and tell him he batted the worst." LOL!!!

He's really not full of himself, and such a sweet guy, but it was a funny conversation.

CUTE!!!

Tonight we were outside while the kids rode their bikes up and down the street. Miley's shoes kept falling off so I took her in to get her "running shoes" on. When we walked back out she turns around and says (keep in mind she is 3)
"know why I like you Tahn?"
"Why?"
"Cause you so cute." Then she smiles this big smile and runs off.

Talk about warming the heart!!!!

Turbo-legs

Today... I walked with Wes and Rahspody to the second bus stop. We had almost five minutes. I clued them in on this and of course this made them want to walk faster. Being that they are both taller than me... here is your mental image for the night...

Rahpsody (tall), Me (short), Wes (Tall-er than me). Rahpsody (legs moving semi fast), Me (legs moving twice as fast as semi fast- we're talking two steps to her one LONG FAST step), Wes (fast moving legs). Both of them totally oblivious to the fact that this was WORK for me to keep up with them and that my pride was sky high as I wanted to stop and yell "HEY! Freakishly tall people!!!! Little short person here totally out of breath ready to puke!" But of course.. pride won... AGAIN!

Slurp...Slurp...Slurp

This is a little story of Boy and Girl and Superiority...

Our story starts at about 9:30 am when Boy meets Girl to move plants to 3L. Blah blah blah...
Boy (teasing girl about long commute): Santaquin is by Panguitch.
Girl (with an 'are you kidding me' look on her face): Um, no.. that would be by Cedar City.
Boy: No it's not, I ran a race there, it's right by Santaquin.
Girl: Um, SERIOUSLY?! No, it's down by Cedar, just over the mountain from it.
Boy: Nuh-uh! I swear it's by Santaquin.
Girl: Whatever, it's by Cedar, just over the mountain on the east side. You're from Monticello, shouldn't you know this?
Boy continues to argue his ridiculous point, while girl mocks and laughs.
Girl: I"m right on this one, Google it.
Boy: I'm going to. (pulls out his phone).
Girl (in all her infamous brain power): WAIT! Let's bet on it. (hmmm... will boy take the bait.. I hope so cause I"M SOOOO WINNING THIS!)
Boy: OK!
Girl: What should we bet.
Boy: A drink. And by the way (enter attitude here. The "I'm so winning this" attitude- even though he's not) I want a Mt.Dew!
GIrl: Okay, but I should probably decide what I want, since I'm totally winning this bet. I'll have a slurpee.
Boy: There isn't a 7-Eleven around here. At least you can get a Mt. Dew anywhere.
Girl: Hmmm... sounds like a personal problem.
Boy: (laughing out loud)

Tap, tap, tap... Boy googles it.

Drum roll please........It's totally by Cedar, just over the mountain on the east side.


I try and I try to tell people not to mess with me.... but... they never learn. What's a girl to do?

Seriously!!!

It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to get home on the bus tonight. 2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES!!!!
The end.

Why has the Lord brought me here today?

I just finished listening to this podcast by Sheri Dew (whom I adore) and she said that several times during the day we should ask ourselves this question. I thought... how awesome is that? That is like giving yourself the opportunity to have a moment of reflection/reality check/ make better decisions. The talk I listened to is called "Awake, Arise, and Come Unto to Christ. AMAZING!!! I have really come to love Sheri Dew the past few months of my life. She also talks in here about choosing Holiness. Above all- choose holiness. Walk away from the world and choose to be holy. If you have itunes, I recommend downloading this podcast. It's free.
I'll tell you, I'm definitely a work in progress, and I know I have made some horrifically poor choices in my life, but I'm just a simple daughter of God trying to get back to my Father in Heaven, and I'm a work in progress. Heavenly Father isn't finished with me yet. See... this I hve come to hold onto- this idea that he isn't finished with me. While others may be, he isn't. One thing I know for sure, it is harder to forgive oneself than to forgive others. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this but... you know how you go through something with someone else, and you get hurt- in a way you never realized possible, and then when you see that person you not only feel hateful feelings for them, but even worse than that, you feel hateful feelings for yourself? I believe this is a tragedy- in more than one way- I also believe that in these moments we show our true character. I hope to always live up to the character that I hope to one day have because that is all you can do... and I think this is part of what Sheri means when she says to stop and ask yourself "Why has the Lord brought me here today?" This simple question gives you power to come out of your natural man and be the person that the Lord knows you can be, the person you hope to one day become. A person of influence for good and not bad. I'm not good at this, but again, I'm also a work in progress. I want to be a person that builds others up, not tear them down. Like Jesse is always telling and I truly believe- Life is about each others self esteem. It's true. If you are building others up, you are building the kingdom of God. If you are tearing others down, you are tearing down the kingdom of God. One thing I know for sure, I have loved the Lord for a very, very, LONG time- and he has loved me even more- even when I haven't deserved it. And I want to be a builder, not a tearer downer.

Anyway... those are my thoughts tonight.

R.I.P.P.E.D.

Seriously... best workout EVER! I decided not to renew my Golds Membership and to instead take some of the community classes here because they have enough to keep me busy and they are close. I went to spinning, but I don't know if that is really my thing. Maybe if my butt would stop protesting I might like it more. I LOVE ZUMBA, but I already know that. Payson high has the outdoor track and an indoor track for free. Also, this morning I tried this class here in Santaquin called R.I.P.P.E.D. It's a total body workout. I was majorly curious. OH.MY.HECK. I'm in love. The sad thing is that they only offer it once a week. WHAT THE HECK! I looked it up online and you can become an instructor. I think I will seriously consider this. They do an 8 hour training and then you get your certificate and everything you need to be an instructor. I think that would be fun to do. Of course I'd have to get better at it, but I can. I can do anything I put my mind to. There aren't any trainings here in Utah, but there is one in Vegas in June. Hmmm... something to consider I guess. I do love to work out and I'm not kidding this class was amazing!

CHECK IT OUT

What a Day

I've been wanting to post about his but I keep forgetting to take a picture of the note so oh well. The other day I had an appointment I had to go to in the morning so I was late to work. When I got to my desk there was a donut with a note that said "Yeah, we're pretty much the coolest people on the planet." LOL... seriously... it made my day. I really did chuckle and smile. I just thought it was sweet and a nice thing to come to work to. I was going to put a picture of the note but I keep forgetting to scan it. Sorry, you'll just have to imagine it. It's not hard, most guys write the same, just imagine the sentence in small clumsy boy handwriting- though it was on a purple post-it. LOL- that's what you get when you dig through a girls desk for something to write on.

OK...

Triumphs for today:

1. I read the whole Book of Mormon today. (ha ha... okay, it was just the book "Mormon" in the B.O.M, but I just couldn't stop reading and I read the whole book and it was awesome)
2. We (the interior designers) have a storage room on 3L. Today, Myself and two of the interns cleaned it out. It has desperately needed it since I started and with all the Ogden stuff, it FOR SURE couldn't wait any longer. Talk about dust. Holy Smokes. And I climbed up on the top shelf and was crawling around... enter triumph #3...
3. No SPIDERS in the storage room! NOT EVEN 1!. Not even a dead dried up one. NONE!!!! Woo Hoo! (I was a teeny bit worried about that as I was crawling around handing boxes down to he ladies.
4. I made it through the whole day without getting dirt on my face- well, at least not big noticeable spots. (okay... this is where I tell you about a not-so-triumph moment... I walked out of the storage room, through the shop up the stairs to 2L, passing people with the two interns- look in the mirror and there is a big round spot on my right breast. DUST. But seriously... I had on a darker brown shirt and dust is white and I might as well have had a sign on me in neon lights that said "LOOK AT MY BREAST!" We laughed so hard. Oh the men I passed. So Sorry. LOL.

We worked our buts off in that room. We didn't finish all of it, but we will. For lunch we went outside on the beautiful grounds and at lunch and laid on the grass. What a beautiful day!

Settling?

This morning I went shopping because I need some more clothes. Really what I need is to go up with my favorite sister in law and shop in Park City. That is coming soon. It's actually fun to shop now that I feel better about how I look- translation: now that I've lost so much weight. Ha ha... it's true. Anyway.. it's a bit frustrating. My favorite style is Urban and I love the store Urban Wear in the mall. The problem is that style now days is so immodest. Everything is sleeveless and see through. Not appropriate for Garment wearers. I ended up buying two new shirt from Aeropostle, which I love and it always seems to be where I end up. Anyway.. tonight I am going to have movie night with some amazing friends and I am so excited. I actually need to get going. I'll return and report. It's gonna be some of my favorite guys and girls on this planet... sure to be a ball!

Alabama and Misty

This has been on my mind A LOT lately. Misty lives in Huntsville, although they have been lucky so far and haven't had a tornado hit Huntsville, they are coming really close to them. It's kind of scary, especially when you watch these videos. Misty and Brad are about 1.5-2 hours north of Birmingham. They said there were tornados as close as miles away from them. It's so sad what the people of the south are going through. You just never know when something so devastating is going to strike. You just never know. The Tuscaloosa video broke my heart. My hand was over my mouth just watching it.

Birmingham , Tuscaloosa

Donuts and Chocolate Milk?

You know how sometimes people can do something for you and you think... Really? You would do that for me? And that is usually followed by... I don't deserve this... Well, I have these two amazing guy friends at work, and let's just say, today they did the unthinkable. For me. They dug through the trash for me to find a paper we threw away that I was in too big of a hurry to remember to grab and while putting out a fire at work I realized I needed it, and I told them that I would dig for it, but they didn't let me, they did it for me and I felt so bad. Tomorrow they will get chocolate milk and donuts, I know... not really a comparable act of kindness, but they kind of like donuts and I kind of like them... soooo...

2 Great Things...

Two great things happened yesterday. Well, there were more than 2 but I am chosing to share two of them with you right now.
1. I have been SOOOOO sick this past week. I won't get into the details, but I think I had/have the stomach flu or really bad food poisoning. I was so sad on Friday cause it was the worst day and I didn't even eat anything, well, if you can call a cup of broth and an orange eating something, then I did, one of my favorite people Leilane was getting married on Saturday and I have been looking forward to going. She has been so good to me and helped me through so many things lately and I just love her so much. I prayed my guts out that I would be well enough to go, but even early sat morning at 6:30 I was up and my whole body ached and I could barely move and I was just feeling like crap. Again, I hit my knees. Well I woke up at 9:30am and guess what? I felt SO MUCH BETTER. No aches. At. All. So I went. I think the Lord gave me a "get out of sickness card" for like 6 hours cause I slowly went downhill, but I was well enough to go see her get married and I was SOOOO grateful.
2. LEILANE GOT MARRIED!!! YAY!!! She was so happy and so beautiful, and it was so happy and so beautiful. And I have to tell you that the sealing was amazing. Joe J. Christiansen was the sealer and he was so wonderful. He accommodated us non Portuguese speakers and did part in English and part in Portuguese. Daniel's (Leilane's new hubby) parents (Elder and Sister Villanova) were there and I have to tell you they were so cute. I loved them. I watched them and how they care for each other, how his Dad was so caring with his mom and seemed even protective over her, but not in a bad way, in a "this is my pride and joy" kind of way and I just loved it. After the sealing she did this thing that is so small, but hit me so hard, she walked over to him and they spoke for a second and then he hugged her and as they stood there arm and arm watching everyone, she had her arm around his waist and his suit-coat gripped in her hand. She was holding onto him. It's simple and small but it said so much to me. Anyway... as I watched them I thought... That is how I want to be with my husband, and I know I will be. We will love each other that much, and he will be my pride and joy and I will be his and I look forward to that day.

Anyway... it was a great day! I loved it. And I spent the whole time with my wonderful friend Melanie and as always we laughed a lot, and as usual, we both agreed that WE are funny people. Every time we hang out it's like a party! I love her.

Perspective

Of course there were a lot of things about Conference that struck me, but one was making 2 lists; A To Do list and a To Become list. I decided to make one of each for both home and work. I find this very motivating in my life, especially the "To Become" list. If you haven't done this I recommend it. I won't share mine with you because then I think it will diminish it, and I will always worry that I'm not measuring up in everyone's eyes, when really all that matters is how I measure up in my own eyes and the eyes of the Savior. The thing for me about the "To Become" list is that you work at it everyday, and you can't just check those things off the list- you strive for them everyday and everyday, if you do it right, you add one piece to the yourself that will one day end up being that person. I love this idea. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the new Narnia movie... Extraordinary things only happen to extraordinary people. I'm deciding to be an extraordinary person, and so extraordinary things will happen to me. I believe this is my choice, and it's all about how you look at. It's all about perspective. Like in Alma 5- I need to picture myself becoming the person I want to become. The mind is a very powerful thing and if I can learn to picture myself doing and being the person I want to be, even the person I want to look like, it will happen. Mind over matter. I really believe this, this is something Nic has been trying to drill into my head and I think it sunk. One thing I need to do is to look at myself in the mirror and tell myself one good thing about me every morning. Nic challenged me to do this and I haven't done it yet, but I will start tomorrow. I got a present from the best friend I have and will ever have, Jen, it was a make up kit from Mary Kay. When I opened it up, there was this cute little card attached to the mirror that said "You are beautiful!" Of course as I read it I could see myself and I cried right there. It just touched me, and I knew exactly why she did it. And I thought as I cried, THAT is the kind of friends I need to have and keep. She is amazing, a true disciple of Christ and I love her so much. Anyway.. that's where my thoughts have been today.

Last Couple Months...

Wow... It has been a long time since I blogged. Life has been busy, good, great, different- all good things. Here's a list of some highlights of things that have happened to me in the past couple months:

• Started Voice Lessons
• Play Basketball Every Week
• Karaoke Every Week
• Started Dating
• Held Hands (that's all you get of that)
• New Job Duties
• Made New Friends
• Lost Weight
• Got Hate Mail Sent To Me (I feel bad for this person because they don't understand what it means to love like the Savior-but it's okay- I only care what the Lord thinks of me)
• 2 Best Friends Left Work (Jen and Melanie) and now I don't get to see them everyday (sad)
• "Put myself out there"
• Got a New Nic-Name: "My Leading Lady"- ahhh... cute (not because of my blog either)
• Told Many Times I'm Beautiful (If you know me, you'll know what this means to me)
• Believed that someone when they said I was beautiful
• Decided that some people are in your life only to make an appearance- and that's okay-even great!
• Pet someone else dog (I cringed and was CLEARLY VERY uncomfortable- but I did it-eventually. I hate pets in the house and dogs licking me and jumping on me).
• Let someone touch my feet and didn't hate it (this is huge)
• Have a maybe date when the weather is good to Silver Lake to Moose-watch (dream come true)
• Was playing games with friends and left to go buy the game "What's Yours Like" and saw a shirt that said "All I Do Is Win" on the front. I bought it and put it on and walked back into the party with that shirt on. Of course I was laughing my head off and everyone else was like "oh my heck... really? You bought that just to wear in here?" To which I replied "YEP... and worth every penny!" I wore it the rest of the night and every chance I got I would throw in "yeah, cause all I do is win". LOL!!!!
• FINALLY won a "House Party"
  

Anyway... it's been a great couple months. It hasn't been perfect, but Heavenly Father is DEFINITELY taking care of me and has been for a long time, I just didn't always see it that way. I do now. And I am so grateful that he sometimes let's your heart break because he has something in store for you that is miles better than what you think you maybe might need and what you think maybe might be best for you. The biggest thing I learned in the last few months is simply that I KNOW NOTHING and GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING and HE LOVES ME SOOOOO MUCH! And even if he were the only one... It would be enough for me. But I know he isn't. That's the beautiful in life- there are people that get to be in your life for life, and others that just get to make an appearance- and that's okay.

That's my update. It's kind of lame I know... but there is too much to just start writing it all out. Plus... it's kind of personal still... but I'll keep you posted.

Love you all...

Sick

Hmmm... I'm so sick right now. I hurt. Everything hurts from my head to my throat to my whole body.I just want to lay here and cry. And my heart hurts too. Especially because my boys are SUCKING (the Jazz). What I wouldn't give for a Jazz comeback right now.

Crystal?

SOOO... yesterday I was made aware of these boxes that were shipped from a Temple to an old employee here in 2003. I opened them and they were chandeliers. So... this morning Melanie and I brought them down to our floor and inspected them to see if they were real Crystals. Well... they were, and so... I made a neclace. And then I said to my co-workers (with a gigantic smile and cheesy face) "who needs a husband when you got this. I'm done! SATISFIED!!!" So Melanie took my picture so I could show you all. WE were laughing so hard. By the way... I hate this picture. But... I wanted you to see the REAL crystal neclace.

It's Official...

Okay... We have a good news/bad news situation on our hands here.
I had my first voice lesson last night (I started taking voice lessons) The good news is that I am not tone deaf nor am I a pitchy singer. The bad news is... I dont' really have any. I just wanted to use the phrase "We have a good news/bad news situatuation on our hands"... cause I think it's funny. But I will tell you... I was so excited to come home and announce "Welp... It's official... I AM NOT TONE DEAF!" and smile REALLY BIG. Cause really... I had no idea before I went. I didn't even know what to expect. Now, I am so excited, even though I tried to talk myself out of going ALL. DAY. LONG. But.. I just said to myselt, "Tahnee. You are going and you are going to like it!" And so I did. I did turn down a foot massage yesterday though. But I thought about accepting- that's progress, right? I'll get there... baby steps.

A New Tahnee

Tomorrow, I officially start voice lessons. Part of the new Tahnee. No holds barred. I have always wanted to take voice lessons cause I am self conscious to play my guitar for anyone cause I don't think I have a very good voice. A friend in my ward does voice lessons so... I decided to go for it. It's time to become a person that is not self conscious and afraid. I am self conscious about way too many things. I need to stop this. It's time for a change. I might even get brave and get a pedicure. Letting someone touch my feet... that's HUGE for me... but... it's on the list of things to combat... Soooo.... baby steps... baby steps...

Painting

Here is the painting I started that night I woke up at like 2:30am sad. I finished it last night. It's watercolor.

Thanks to Aundrea and her Therapy Chair

Dear Aundrea,

Thank you for having a Therapy Chair! And a great listening ear. You, I LOVE!!!

Tahnee



Yesterday was kind of an interesting day at work. Let's just say I came out of a meeting feeling 50% IRRITATED and 50% THRILLED. So I pay my good friend Aundrea a visit and vent, in her therapy chair. It was great. I laughed, I yelled (as much as you can yell while whispering, so okay, maybe no ACTUAL yelling, but there were hands flailing and faces being made and teeth gritting- all while talking in a whisper tone- it was like Whisper-Yelling). Then I'd laugh and throw in a sarcastic joke, cause that is who I am.
Last night, or more like This morning I woke up at about 2:30am and couldn't go back to sleep. I just couldn't stop thinking. Not about work. You know when you just miss someone so much you can't stop thinking about them- that was me. I had to stop doing that, So I got up and got out all my water color paint stuff and started painting. It's good therapy for me. And now it's home waiting for me to finish.
This morning on the way in I was listening to my Ipod. Thanks to Sarah, I have adopted her idea of pumping myself up in the morning with music. I am creating a playlist of songs that keep the thoughts away I don't want to have, and bring in the good thoughts- the uplifting thoughts that seem to say "YOU CAN DO THIS- You are friggin' Tahnee Nielsen!" I found one to add to my list... I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. OH. MY. HECK. Great song! If you haven't heard it... give it a good listen! That song is so much of how I feel.

The Angel in the Marble

I was listening to a talk today and a quote was presented by Michaelangelo in which someone had asked him how he makes such beautiful sculptures, to which he said:
"I saw an angel in the block of marble and I just chisled until i set him free."
This hit me kind of hard. This is how the Lord is with us in this test of life. He also said of his sculpture of David this...
"It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn't look like David."
Okay... so... again, this hit me hard, because this is what the Lord is doing with me, Tahnee. See... I look at it as we all start out as a block of stone. The Lord looks on me, Tahnee, and sees this angel, and he begins to chip away anything that doesn't "look like Tahnee". And it hurts, sometimes so bad you can't feel like you can go on, but you can, you just have to lose that thing because it doesn't "look like you" so it has to go. Sometimes it doesn't hurt, there are the smoothing times as well as the chipping times and those feel so good, but there has to be both to be perfect. Just go with it. It's for the best. What if David had been left unfinished or with a big block on his face, would he be beautiful or unflawed? NO. SO... in reality, the chipping is only chipping away our flaws. The things we all want to get rid of.

Beautiful Day

As I was driving in to work today I decided to give my ipod a try. I haven't listened to it in months. I put on good o'l Lee Dewyze. Remember him? Remember how I used to start the morning with him singing "Beautiful Day" to me. Well... this morning, on my way in I thought... I can listen to Lee... I love Lee. I miss Lee. So I put on "Beautiful Day"and let me just tell you that I belted that song out. It got me a little choked up and it hit me. The saying that Sarah put on my sign she gave me at Christmas "In A World Where You Can Be Anything... BE YOURSELF!" I felt like myself, the myself I actually like, for the first time a long time. I made me think, and I pondered on this for a good portion of the way up. A LOT of good things have happened in my life the last month or so. I have become closer to the Savior and stronger in the gospel than I think I have ever been, and that is a great thing. I have wanted to be someone different, recently. I was willing to do anything to just be someone different. I still struggle with that, BUT... this morning when I let Lee sing me my song, it's like the light went off inside me. I think I just haven't been myself for so many months, for such a long time, because I lost sight of who that is and who I want to become, that when I put in that song... it took me back. It also made me think of D.C. because I listened to it in the morning when we were out there. It made me realize... I don't need to completely change who I am to be something/someone different, because there are things that I do like about myself. I just need to find myself again. Spiritually I have been doing that and I feel like I am building a firm foundation there- which I cannot and will not live without again.
I CHOSE... to be myself cause even though there are those out there that hate the person I am, there are those that see me for who I really am and not for the mistakes I make. It's like Moroni with Pehoran, Alma decides that Pehoran has become corrupt and only cares about himself and has become this awful person and he writes him a letter totally judging him and Pehoran, in a gentle way replies to his LONG accusation and basically says, if you really knew the situation you would not have censured me. I have learned so much from this story of Moroni and Pehoran because a lot of times this happens, I do it myself, but I have decided to try to stop doing this. I decided to try to implement the motto into my life that I can only hope others will implement into theirs when dealing with me, and that is this:

Be patient with me, the Lord is not finished with me yet.

Let's face it... everyone is human and no one understands everything and we are all on this our own individually journey full of mistakes and lessons and trials and triumphs and we need to just be patient with one another because God is not finished with any of us yet. If he were, we wouldn't be here anymore. It's hard to do this... I know, but it's worth a shot. I guess I just think that my one wish for this new year would be for people to look at me this way... and if that is what I expect, then I should do the same.

SOOOO... In a world where I can be anything, I chose to be myself. Cause some people like myself... I'm just sayin'. And... I chose to let Lee sing to me every morning again too.

Grrrr... I hate getting my butt kicked!

I went out tonight and my date kicked my butt at bowling- Grrr.... it sucks being a competitive girl and losing... TWICE! I wanted to yell "THAT'S IT! AGAIN!!!!", but... being the girl, it's not really nice to demand they spend MORE money on you. So I dropped my head in defeat and swallowed my pride and slowly put my ball back. Stupid bowling! I forgot how much I liked bowling.

Anyway... Aundrea... this is for you... there will be no little "cookies" in my future, IF you know what I mean (wink, wink). LOL!!!! I'll come up and give you details Monday.

Dinner and a Movie with the girls

Let me introduce you to two of my favorite people. This is Melanie (smelly-melly) and Leilane (Leilane-Tahnee). These are the wonderful girls I get the pleasure of working with everyday. I sure love them. I know I have posted about them before, especially Leilane because Melanie and I tease her mercilously, but she is a good sport and loves us. We went to dinner and a movie and had a guy take our picture for us. I'm glad cause it turned out so cute. Just to clarify, we call Melanie "Smelly Melly" because it rhymes, not because she smells. Cause she doesn't. And I call Leilanie "Leilane Tahnee" because for years my brother had called me that because a long time ago a friend left a message on our home phone about her friend who was named Leilane and Rustin thought it was the funniest name, so he started to call me "Leilane Tahnee" so when I started working with Leilane and she tried to come up with nicknames for me that sounded like her name, I just started calling her my nickname. I really do love these girls. They are great friends and make everyday at work a party. We even have a very own reputation of being entertaining (we should probably learn to talk/laugh/tease quieter) and I'm sure the 11th floor misses us desperately. ha ha...

HELLO 2011!!!

Although I had a fun night on New Years Eve, I have never been so happy and excited to leave a year behind me as I am to leave 2010!!!

I had a dinner date on New Years Eve and I was able to go to The Family Tree restaurant in Santaquin. I have always wanted to go (since I moved there) but never had the chance, and I did on New Years Eve. We were the only 2 people in there, but who cares. It was great company and great food. I was pleased. Then off to a party. It was lots of fun. We played Mafia (they killed me on the 2nd round- rude. I barely knew anyone at that party) and The Office Clue- I got to be Jim Halpert cause I'm a little bit in love with Jim. Okay... I'm A LOT in love with Jim. One of the girls at the party and I were discussing this and she said the most amazing comment- and I totally agreed with her. She said "If Jim was a real person- I'd pretty much do anything to be with him- Even go fist to fist with other women." I laughed... and agreed. I also think that about Castle. Rick Castle... I get twitterpated just thinking about him. LOL- J/K. It's nice to have hollywood crushes.

Anyway... it was a fun night and great to say hello to 2011. I think this will be a fabulous year (fingers crossed).

Sunday I taught the Relief Society lesson. I have been preparing for quite some time as I new it was going to be my turn when I was called in to the presidency. It was kind of funny cause Jesse and I were teaching on the same subject- coinidence- so we gave each other information. I did about 4 different outlines trying to fit in everything I wanted to tell them. The topic was on Getting the Word of God IN you and not just ON you (to sum it up) and how important Searching/Pondering/Praying is. So... as you can imagine, there was a pluthera of information. Plus... this is what I have studying my guts out for the past 2 months. I ended up printing off talks to give them to take home and read in their spare time so I didn't have worry about getting it all in. The best ones I had were as follows:

Healing the Wounded Soul- Jack R. Christiansen (if you have talked to me in the past 2 months I'm sure you've heard ALL ABOUT this one).
Covenants and Sacrifice- Henry B. Eyring
God Wants a Powerful People- Sheri L. Dew (I have been talking about this one a ton too!)
Constant Companion- Jack R. Christiansen
The Transforming Power of Faith- Richard G. Scott
Good Better Best- Dallin H. Oaks
God and Human Tragedy-how the Lord transforms tragedy into triumph

Anyway... I loved studying for that lesson and I loved teaching it.