Successful Naps

Deeds--I know I don't write that much but a lot has happened in "Animal Crossing" so I thought I would give everyone an update. Last week was the "Bug Off" where the Town Creature that collects the rarest bug wins a trophy from the cameleon. I am the two time defending champ so I wanted to defend my trophy. But of course I cheated. I keep a stash of rare bugs in my basement then just when the contest was about to end I dropped off a rare butterfly that beat the next best animal by two points. Later in the mail my trophy arrived and I placed it next to the other two gold trophy's. Julie was very proud of me. This week I also hit a huge milestone of depositing 1 million bells in my bank account. I was sent the gold credit card from the bank in recognition of this feat. I decided with so many bells I would go into the city and see if they are selling any new high end furniture at Gracie Grace. However they were still selling the ugly candy furniture still so I guess I will keep saving my money. I did buy a green shirt and motorcycle helmet for Joseph since he likes me to send him anything green. He also wants me to sell him the dingaloids but I just end up selling them. I had not been in town for awhile so I also got my shoes shined and a new haircut. I am down to just two fish to catch to have caught one of each. Once I catch these two elusive fish then I will be awarded the Gold fishing pole. OH also I was shopping at NOOK's and they had the silver bug net for sale. That is very rare and it is the first time I have seen it. I tried it out but I don't see how it works any better than a regular net... BTW I thought I would like Drake the new duck in town but then he started talking smack about Pinky the panda so He is off my mailing list!!!

Thoughts--I think my Brother Ben is a "NUTBAR"

Words--From Jim Gaffigan talking about naps, "There are those people who don't take naps...what are they called?...successfull..."

Twitter Mind Control

Thoughts: I woke up in the middle of the night and somehow (Don't Try and wonder why) I thought wouldn't it be nice if I could give Twitter updates by mind telepathy. That way if I woke up from some weird dream in the middle of the night, I could Tweet it to everyone without having to get up (FYI I do not have a Twitter account but I would consider if they had a telepathic option).

Words: Barry left me a message yesterday saying we should all call ourselves by our middle names. AND not only that but that we should use a more endearing form of the name per the following;

Troy Vincent =Vinny

Barry James = Jimmy

Stephen Thomas= Tommy

Asif...well we haven't figured out Asif yet.

..

Deeds: Friday night Sarah came over for a sleepover to play with the kids. We got the legos out and I build lego people of Vinny, Jimmy, Tommy and ? The next morning for the first time in years we had a yardsale, participating in the community yard sale. All of the organizing from the past weeks paid off as we had a lot of good stuff to sell. I learned a lot about yard sales since I grew up doing it with my Dad every summer. We sold a lot of stuff really cheap but still made $82. The rest we gave to goodwill. Julie is going to use the money to buy closet shelves for the kids rooms.

I am a closet organizer...

Deeds--I took off work on Friday and Julie and I did something we have needed to do (Not sure we really wanted to do) for a long time. We went through every kids closet and the basement closets. Pulled everything out. Organized it. We found their were five categories of stuff.

1. Trash (You don't want to see a picture)
2. Yard Sale/Donation items --->
3. Items we are Keeping-to actively be used --->
4. Items we are keeping-for sentimental value that need to be put in storage
5. Unknown (usually ended up in category 1)

We also cleared off any shelf or bin that had toys in it. With four kids and over a decades worth of stuff this was a monumental task. We started in the morning and did not wind down until almost 7:00pm. Afterwards we all watched the "LDS" movie "Church Ball" and ate ice cream until bedtime. It was exhausting but extremely satisfying to have it done. Of course the best part was spending the whole day with Julie!

Thoughts--A couple of observation about the whole process.

• We found that we actually have a lot more closet space than we thought
• We are already talking about keeping some child toys for our "Grandkids". These are toys the kids no longer play with but are such favorites we want to save them for possible later use.
• Why is it so hard to throw away that random piece of plastic, game or puzzle piece that looks like it goes to something. Yet after going through every game and toy none of these "pieces" seem to go to anything. So in the trash they go. Still I have that nagging feeling that I am going to find the item they go to and kick myself for not saving them. Still if they have been at the bottom of that bin or closet for the past 4 years unused, I think we can live without them.
• Its funny what you can have a sentimental attachment to. Its almost always because it reminds you of someone (especially our kids) or a place in time. Baby things are really hard to part with because almost all of our kids used the same things and it reminds me of when they were babies (Tear rolling down my cheek...). Julie and I allowed ourselves to keep one bin of these "items" for "Grandkids" usage.

Words--After this project we made sure it was clear to the kids (Joseph and Seth) not to dump out all of the organized bins or trash the organized closets. We will see if that actually happens as it never has in the past, HENCE the need for this full day project.

No I am not a Secret Agent

Deeds--So I go through the Target check out line yesterday and the cashier points at my security badge for work and says hey you have the same name as my nephew. I go "Steve?" she says "nooooooo" so I look at my badge to make sure I know my name (Does she have a nephew named Vorhauer?). I see that on my badge it says "Stephen" so I ask is it Stephen? She says "YES!". Then she asks why I have that badge and says "Are you a secret agent?". Now I have worked around this area for over 10 years and for the last 10 years I have always worked at a location that requires a security badge. Their are TONS of office buildings all around this Target and I would guess that almost every location requires a security badge. But apparently this is the first time she has seen a customer wearing one so she keeps asking about it (and she is serious...). "Do you work for the government?" "No". "Are you in a top secret location?", "No". I simply said, its just a security badge and that most office buildings require you to have one.

Thoughts--I was able to replace the harddrive in our computer (since it crashed last week); install Windows XP; get the wireless internet back up and running; reinstall all of our programs; YET for some reason I can't get the sound to turn on...Windows troubleshooting just asks me in 10 different ways if it is plugged in...Computers just annoy me.

Words--Sam Gunderson emailed me a two page letter yesterday that contained a very Humble testimony he had written. In reading in the Book of Mormon I came across this scripture which seems to fit his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ perfectly; Alma 34:31 "Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repend and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemtion be brought about unto you."