Christmas Time

Here is our 1st christmas at our house. We won't be spending it here, but you can't not decorate! This saturday we are going to San Diego! I can't wait! I'm not really thrilled about the drive. Josh has given me two lessons on how to drive stick and on the last one I freaked out. He made me practice in a crowed parking lot and it was a horrible experience. I froze up, i couldn't concentrate and I was so nervous that I would hit a car. I couldn't function. So Josh might be driving the whole way down which sucks for him. A week in snow and ice is not long enough for me to learn how to drive stick. Its too much pressure! If I was a guy it would be different because I would have an interest in this sort of thing and wouldn't have fear either.

On a happy note Im super excited to go to Disneyland (and Josh too) with my family! Disneyland at christmas time is a family tradition. We always had a blast each year and I'm sure this year will be fun as well. Disneyland has been Michelles main topic of conversation lately. It will be so nice to spend time with family.

I'm most excited from a break from work. I have had to work a lot of 12 hour days lately since it is catalog and CHA time. On top of that its Christmas time which makes life even more busy. I really need a break to refuel.

Let it Snow

It has been snowing all of the sudden here. We took these last Sunday after church. I wasn't sure if we were "keeping the sabbath day holy" by shoveling snow, but I asked Josh and he said it was ok because you have to do it. If you don't shovel you get an icy driveway. I was then reassured that it was ok because the whole neighborhood/ward was out shoveling too. It was actually kind of cool because we got to meet more neighbors.



I thought shoveling would be a lot more fun, but its really not. It is not a girl task. You have to have a lot of back and arm strength and I lack in those areas. So i shoveled a bit of the driveway and walkway and Josh did the rest. He is the best!



All done!

Kitties

The Kitties are so cute! I can't stand it. Above is a picuture of me attempting to make a "holiday craft," with the help of Yeti and Gnarly. They are so curious and want to get into everything. They love to play and wrestle with each other which is Josh and I's main entertainment now. If they aren't going crazy over a toy mouse or a string they are wrestling with each other. Its hilarious how kittens play!!!



They love to be picked up and carried around. They also love to sleep on your lap whenever you are sitting. Then when you sleep Yeti turns into a cat scarf. She wants to be right up in you face or preferably touching your face. This wakes us up. She is so sneaky about it. All of the sudden you are peacefully asleep and then BAM cat scarf! She doesn't quite get that we don't enjoy it as she does. Gnarly is the good cat at night. She curls up into the cat bed and falls asleep.



Today was a big day for them. We let them outside for the first time. But they didn't really venture off of a one foot radius on the porch because of all the snow. But it was so cute to watch them flick their paws after cautiously touching the snow.

I'm so happy about our cute kitties!

Auto bailout—Really?

Reading the business section of the news lately is a lot like reading an obituary filled with people you know. I read the “news” everyday when I have a few minutes at work. Lately I have had to just skip over the business section because it has really begun to bum me out. With headlines like “Office Depot to Close 112 Stores” and “Horsemen of the Apocalypse Spotted Riding GMC’s” my buzz gets harshed pretty quick. Business news headlines should just all read “Bad” until things get better, then they should read “Good.”
That brings me to the current crisis: The auto industry bailout. Are you guys supporting this? The last funny SNL Weekend Update I saw had a segment called “Really?” where they talked about the Wall Street bailout and how lame it was that the CEOs just got a get-out-of-debt free card. I would like to apply that thick sarcastic “Really?” to the current auto industry bailout plan, or as Fox News reports, auto industry “rescue plan.” Rescue plan? Really? Short of Ford, GMC, and Chrysler magically turning into Honda, Toyota, and Subaru—there is no rescue coming. These geniuses of modern capitalism decided to fly on three separate corporate jets to Washington to beg for money they so desperately needed. Really auto industry CEOs? Private multi-million dollar jets? Well played. The bill will more than likely pass and the nation will sigh a collective gasp of relief. A year from now one of the three will be gone (my money's on Chrysler) while the other two try to cannibalize the putrefied remains only to awake one morning with an insatiable appetite for brains and a major accounting problem when they try converting all their American dollars to Japanese Yen. That’s right we are going to have two huge auto industry Japanese zombies on our hands. But hey it’s not like we didn’t pay for the zombies so shoot—it’s all good. I wasn’t in full support of the Wall Street bailout plan, and I’m still skeptical that it will actually work, the auto industry bailout however—totally lame. These three mega-corporations have been operating on a failed business model for decades and now we get to pay for it. Not only did we get shafted by the crap product these guys have been turning out, but now we get to help fund additional crap products. The purpose of the bailout is to save jobs and help buoy up the economy. But come on—throwing billions of dollars at these companies isn’t going to work. They have shown us year after year their complete incompetence in running a business. Look at Ford’s current line-up of vehicles, huge SUV after huge SUV, and then a complete line of gigantic trucks. Ford’s new tag line should be “Built Ford Tough—on your walle...and the environment...and the economy...” I found this ad on AdFreak.com and it’s pretty hilarious. It’s a PG-13 ad so try not to be too offended. Anyway if anyone out there has a good explanation of way the auto plan is a good idea, by all means let me have it. I’m trying to change the headline “$25 Billion Auto Bailout Passed” to “Good.”