The Reynolds Rapsheet: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Kissin' Frogs

I hate dating. Or maybe I should say I hated dating. Sometimes it seemed like such a rollercoaster or sometimes more of a game. My dating time was longer than that of many of my friends so I had some real winners.
There were those dates with guys that I actually was quite interested in - rare, but definitely worth persuing (Steve was one of these). The kind of date that leaves you hopeful for more. You analyze every detail of the date to see if he was "into you" or not. In my case, I would lay awake and worry and think. I would try to encourage other meetings when I looked my best. One time I even walked to a building I had a class in, even though it was cancelled, just so I might bump into Steve.
(As I write, the phone rings and changes my ending to this post)
I had many bad dates. I should write a book about them. There was sheep boy - someone I asked out to an institute dance, but shouldn't have. I had the hardest time 'breaking up" with him even though we weren't dating. Then there was the time I (or rather a date with me) was the Christmas present for the son of a coworker. That was one of the more painful (literally) dates since he was a black diamond skier and I get along better with the bunny hill. Let's just say that even the ski patrol were laughing at me as I looked up from one of my more dramatic wipeouts. There was the blind date with a friend of the governor's son. We went with the gov's son and a big group to a comedy club (not funny) where the comic ended up making fun of me then we ended up playing laser tag in the gov's mansion where my date ditched me and I kept looking for some secret closet somewhere so I would be able to avoid my date. I could go on, but I won't.
My point is that I hated dating. Steve and I have discussed how glad we are to not be in the dating process. We like dates with eachother, though.
When we signed our listing agreement our condo was on the market within hours. Steve told the realtor that if this was a date he'd say, "Isn't this going a little fast?" And the comparisons began.
Trying to make yourself/home attractive. Making the right connections. The first date/showing. Feedback on what your date/potential buyer thought. Etc etc.
We just finished our first weekend on the market and have one offer and another potential offer. Without going into much detail I will just say that it feels like dating again. Offer. Not acceptible. Counter-offer. They weren't so sure so they called and tried to see what our bottom line was and kindof submitted an offer. We said no way Jose. So as I started to write this everlasting post we weren't "dating" anymore. The realtor called and said they accepted our initial counter offer so I guess we are "engaged" but I am still holding my breath because we haven't been dating very long. If all goes well we will be "getting married" on May 11.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

An overwhelming fear of... fowl

It seems like things from my past have been coming back to haunt me lately. First Ariel, and now the birds. I was at my parents' yesterday and we drove to the park to feed the ducks. It was all innocent enough. Isaac was feeding the ducks and seagulls. The birds were eating the bread. My Mom and I were enjoying ourselves, even though it was pretty cold. I urged Isaac to move further down the sidewalk to feed a different group of ducks that included some big geese. The geese were really big. Bigger than the rooster that attacked me while I was tracting on my mission.
That is really the issue. I don't like aggressive birds that are bigger than, say, a parakeet.
While tracting in Howell, MI my comp (Sis. Hunter) and I happened upon a "flock" (it must be late 'cause I don't even know if that is the right word or not) of chickens. We walked through the middle of them and knocked on the door. No answer. But the chickens had followed us down the driveway and a large rooster was crowing and getting all excited about something. As we walked back down the driveway, the rooster was advancing so I started backing up and then it started pecking at my legs and jumping and squawking and trying to scratch my legs with it's feet. I was kicking and trying to get away but it wasn't working. I reached for my bag and pulled out an extra copy of the Book of Mormon and hit it as hard as I could. My plan worked. (At least for a minute then it attacked Sis. Hunter). I was left with bloody shins and a ruined pair of nylons as a souvenir of my encounter.
Maybe this explains the lump of fear that started rising in my throat as these big geese started advancing toward me intent, I was sure, on pecking the living daylights out of my shins. Or maybe they just wanted the bread.

On a very unrelated note, we listed our condo. Click here to see the details. We had someone come and look today.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Channeling Ursula the Sea Witch

Alternate Title: I must be the meanest person on earth.

My twin sis told me I needed to post about this.
Growing up, my little sister loved The Little Mermaid. Consequently, I have way too much of it memorized--a fact that came to my attention while cleaning up garbage around our condo. (Other people's garbage.)
There are bushes around our bedroom window and a deck right above the bushes. Some of the local kiddies decided it was the perfect grotto for playing house and collecting "treasures" (junk). I had had enough of it, so I decided to clean it up.
I was amazed at the effort that they put into making a little place to play house. They swept all the landscaping bark away and made a path which they lined with straw-looking weeds. They hung hats on the water meter that looked like they'd been lost and buried under the snow. There was a broken planter box filled with broken toys. A broken bird feeder hung on the bushes. Berries and broken forks were laying on our window sill. I thought, "Look at all this stuff." I could almost hear Ariel singing..." Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?" as I Grinch-like crammed it all into a large garbage bag.
So there you have it. I am the meanest.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Can't think of anything creative for a title.

The last few days have made me feel like I live in crazy town. I usually only feel this way on Mondays. It has been a week of Mondays. Days of trying to get things accomplished and trying to get back on track what the weekend undid. Daylight savings didn't help.
I was grateful for a little comic relief from Isaac. He was tapping his plate or something so I started on a little rant about how "they" were going to have to come put me in the crazy wagon and take me away to a quiet place blah blah blah.
Isaac's reply: "What are you talking about?"

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Milestones in 3's

Steve turned the big 3 - 0. So here he is, Mr. "Arrrr" the choir teacher with his cake.

It kindof looks like him, doesn't it?

Kate turned 3 months old. I can hardly believe it.

Isaac likes to hold Ka te, but only until he thinks of something else to do (which usually isn't long). I also caught Kate on video being very happy and excited about something, maybe it is the thought of all the work we'll have putting our house on the market.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Wowee!!!

I almost even hesitate to post about this... but here it goes. I think by posting this it kindof makes it feel more official, even though it still feels so big and so scary and in some ways so undecided. I am pretty sure we are moving to Heber. (If you know Newbold family lore you know that pretty sure means that there is a chance we might not, as in "I'm pretty sure the car will make it to Wyoming" even though it didn't. Famous last words.)

For the last few years Steve has been putting his feelers out for other opportunities, just to see if those were options to even consider in his career, but nothing has ever come of it. Because the legislature cut some of the education budget statewide, many districts are not hiring and others are cutting way back. There is a position at Provo High that would be closer to where we are currently, but because of $$$ it won't be a full time position. If that ended up being the route we took it would qualify us for WIC - not the best option right now, but still something to explore. Right now we feel that our strongest option is to stick around at Wasatch High and move to Heber to avoid any more close calls in the canyon. It would also cut out 90 minutes of commuting for Steve and give us more time as a family.

The plan is to take this month and get our condo ready to put on the market so we will be able to sell it before we move sometime this summer. June would be our ideal month to move since Steve doesn't have school or BYU classes, but who knows what will happen.
Right now we both have so many conflicting emotions and ideas it is hard to distinguish what really feels right. In the back of our heads we wonder if this is really the right time for this. Will this be a permanent move to Heber? With the cost of living/housing being higher up there, will we be able to afford something that will be in a good neighborhood with good influences on Isaac? Will we be able to sell our condo for enough? It seems like such a big move and it seems like we went from discussing it to "here we go!"
Any advice or thoughts from an outside perspective?