Catch-up. Sort of.

Okay, it’s been forever. I’ve been delaying this post because really, there is nothing to report. Things are winding down from the holidays, I’m back to the grind in the office, and there’s nothing newsworthy to write about other than this: Jon and I spent a good hour about a week ago rounding up all the pens in our apartment and whittling them down. Since he’s always going to medical conventions and stuff, we’ve accumulated lots of pens. And notepads. And paper weights. And mini-hyperbaric-chamber keychains. I gave a ton of it away to my sisters as stocking stuffers last year for Christmas (so mad at myself for not taking pictures of the loot…let’s just say that a lapel pin in the shape of an IUD might have been involved.) Anyway, this particular occasion we were focused on the pens. They were everywhere. We rounded them all up into one huge pile, I allocated a notepad for each of us, and away we went. We separated them into three separate piles: Ones that don’t work, ones that “work but who cares?”, and ones that work that we wanted to keep. The “work but who cares?” pile went with Jon to his office (though not before he went sifting through to make sure I hadn’t snuck in any of his favorites). The ones we ended up keeping, I’m happy to report, all fit nicely into two (2) holders. No more no less. Here’s a before picture:





And there is no ‘after’ picture, because even I know that once you start taking lame pictures of pens just sitting in tin cups, you have a real problem.

Jon’s last trip was before Christmas so it’s been great to spend a couple of uninterrupted weeks with him. Our weekend was really nice – a trip to our favorite steakhouse, Pinnacle Peak (oh, you haven’t been there? That’s weird. You should come visit so that we can take you). The steak was the best I’ve ever had. I say that every time, but I really meant it this time. Literally the best steak I have ever had. And I don’t use the word “literally” very lightly. Doesn’t it bug you when someone’s all “I LITERALLY jumped out of my skin” or “I LITERALLY cried my eyes out” ? That really bothers me. Anyway, then on Saturday we went shooting up in the mountains. Jon got a new .22 with his Christmas money and has been itching to break it in. Minus him getting us temporarily stuck in loose dirt, then cutting his hand while clearing away rocks and branches in order to get us un-stuck (it’s southern Arizona, you can’t just go grabbing shrubbery), it was a really fun outing.

Here’s a picture of Jon shooting his new gun for the first time:



And the Pepsi can that I blasted with my first shot – kudos to Jon for the fantastic photo skills. Srsly. Blow the picture up and you’ll see what I mean:

Really impressive, considering that the old Powershot A520 can only take one picture every thirty seconds. You've only got one chance at a picture like this. I only wish that the photo I attempted to take of Jon receiving his diploma had turned out so well. I was under a lot of pressure, okay??

And a video of me throwing out a few rounds:




You may very well be wondering how I keep my eye shut while shooting, since I'm not capable of closing my left eye independent of my right, and let me tell you - it's about two-parts scotch tape, one part Jon's hand. Once I get sick of all the eyelashes I'm losing, Jon steps in.

And finally, a picture of the poor target that I created by drawing little animals on blue paper and taping it to a used Advent calendar (compliments of my mom. Thanks, mom!):

The gun hasn't been sighted properly yet, and it shoots high and to the right as you can clearly see. I don't want to talk about it. That's supposed to be a squirrel in the bottom left corner. I don't want to talk about that, either.

Once we finished shooting at that particular spot, we drove even further up the mountain and the scenery completely changed. All the saguaros disappeared and it really looked like African Serengeti – tall yellow grasses and gnarled trees. I should have taken a picture. But I didn’t.

After that we went to Target and bought a long-awaited popcorn popper and rice cooker. How have I gone so long without either of those things?? Growing up we had a tradition of making popcorn and drinking soda while watching America’s Funniest Home Videos every Sunday night. It was the only day of the week that we were allowed to drink pop. Once we got older, the tradition evolved into popcorn and soda while watching X-Files, instead. Anyway, I could not be more excited about my popcorn machine – it has already been used twice since I got it. Two days ago.

Could anything be more delicious than a brownie? How about a brownie with a rice crispy treat on top of it? I found the recipe here and to answer my question: No. Nothing could possibly be more delicious than a brownie with a rice crispy treat on top. Jon and I whipped up a batch right before sitting down to watch Pride and Prejudice on Saturday night. Love that movie.

Sunday we subbed the 4 year olds in Primary. It went well, minus the fact that I’d counted on having them draw pictures of ways they can choose the right and the church library was CLOSED. Closed! The library! On a Sunday! Closed! On a Sunday! So Plan B; we let the kids pretend to be cats for the last 15 minutes of class. As one little girl left with her parents when church was over, I overheard the mother ask "How did you like your new teachers?" and the little girl exclaimed "They were SUBstitutes!" Aw. Little kids can be so cute.

Anyway, there it is. That catches you all up to speed while demonstrating that I probably shouldn't really even have a blog to begin with. I'm sorry my life is so boring.