Ladies' Night In

Josh went up to Hoodoo this weekend to camp and ski with the scouts, so my friend Heather planned a fun get-together at my house last night for some of the other women in our ward. This is the second major party Heather has organized to be held at our house, but I wish we did it more often! My least favorite part about parties is the organizing, and my favorite part is the having people come over, so in my opinion it was perfect.

Heather had the yummy idea to put together different types of fondue. Unfortunately, my day really got the better of me, so Heather wasn't able to come over ahead of time like she had planned to get everything ready. But I think it worked out well because then everyone was able to pitch in and help out cutting, mixing, and stirring.

Here is (mostly) everyone, before we dug in:

 

It was so good! And it was nice to put our fondue pot to work for the third time since we got it for our wedding. We also watched "The Time Traveler's Wife," which was better than I thought it would be. I was glad I read the book long enough ago so that I couldn't remember all of the details, so I wasn't too disappointed with the things that were left out.

It was definitely a great way to spend some of my Joshless time! Thanks, Heather, for all of your preparation and for the great idea of a Ladies' Night!

Jammify!

I got new jammy pants! Mostly it's because my jammy pants with the hearts on them finally ripped (I've been wearing them since the first time I was in college, so it was probably time for them to go), but also because I haven't bought new pajama pants for. . . well, I can't remember. Lately I've resorted to wearing my sweatpants to bed, which just isn't as comfortable.

Plus, these jammy pants have tvs on them, which I feel is fitting.

Here is Mr. F, showing her approval by shedding on me:

LOST with the ShepAlders

In honor of the final season premiere of the coolest show on tv, Josh and I threw a LOST party last Tuesday and had a few friends from the ward come over. We have been looking forward to this forever, and were super excited.

Josh got into the spirit by putting together this Dharma Initiative-inspired spread:

Isn't he amazing and detail-oriented? I thought these were so cool looking!

Here's a closer look:

When first reading this label I thought it said "barely-flavored" rather than "BARLEY-flavored," and I had a good laugh. And don't worry-- no talks with BishBrenn needed since our beer is strictly of the root variety.

I thought the first episode definitely delivered (flashing sideways?! My mind has been blown again!) I'm sad for the end of LOST, but excited to have all my questions answered.

Words of the Week: Council vs. Counsel

A few years ago someone gave me the book 100 Words Almost Everyone Misuses and Confuses. The other day, I ran across this book again (just sitting on our shelf), and figured it would make a good blog post.

Here are a couple words that are commonly confused:

Council: noun  1. A. An assembly of persons called together for consultation, deliberation, of discussion. B. A body of people elected or appointed to serve as administrators, legislators, or advisors. C. An assembly of church officials and theologians convened for regulating matters of doctrine and discipline (ie the High Council). 2. The discussion or deliberation that takes place in such an assembly or body.

Counsel: noun 1. The act of exchanging opinions and ideas. 2. Advice or guidance, especially unsolicited from a knowledgeable person. 3. Private, guarded thoughts or opinions. 4. A lawyer or group of lawyers giving legal advice and especially conducting a case in court.


Council, counsel, and consul have similar pronunciations but are never interchangeable, although their meanings are related. Council refers specifically to a deliberative assembly (such as a city council or student council), its work, and its membership. Counsel pertains chiefly to advice and guidance in general and to a person (such as a lawyer or camp counselor) who provides it. Consul denotes an officer in the foreign service of a country.

"Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."

This afternoon I was trying to do some reading, but discovered that one of my "textbooks" was actually loose-leaf papers in need of a binder (it's possible that I did that intentionally because it was cheaper, but I don't remember now). So, I conscripted Josh to help me find a binder in our ridiculously messy garage.

We didn't find a binder, but I did find some other fun stuff about which I had completely forgotten.

Firstly, I randomly found this in a box of stationery:

So I know what we're eating for dinner tonight! (Cornmeal muffins equal a meal, right?)

In a different box, I found these:

My GRE vocabulary flashcards!

In the summer of 2006, I took a GRE prep course from a kid whom I strongly suspect was younger than I was. When I finally took the test, it was in a building that was under construction (yeah, jackhammers and the whole bit) so it was difficult to pay attention, but I only started stresscrying once (which I consider an achievement). As soon as I was finished, I made a mad dash across the UO campus to be there in time for my friend Mike's wedding. It was a day full of emotional highs and lows.

Also in that box:

Oh, Norton anthology, how I miss thee!

I miss being an English major, though there are probably a million reasons this particular textbook did not make it to my shelves. The class was traumatizing in its density and annoying in the stupidity of my classmates (I took this class at the UO after I already had my English degree, so I was a little prideful about that), but I got an A, so everything is good. (By the way, there are several different versions of Norton anthologies, and I have read them all).

Lastly, my most interesting find was this:

I put this particular book together my freshman year of college when I was going through a phase where I was constantly cutting little phrases and words out of magazines that I thought described me and my Human Condition. In the book, I wrote down quotes that inspired me (I was even a member of a quote-of-the-day e-mail group), and it's interesting to read those (10 years later).

One of my favorites:

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." 

--Martin Luther King Jr.

There are some other really good quotes here. Maybe I'll save them for future posts.

(Just so you know, the title quote is from Gordon B. Hinckley).

Blogstalking

As a therapist-in-training, I will admit a certain amount of curiosity with the private lives of random people (hence my subscriptions to various gossip magazines). Blogs are a perfect conduit for my interest, though I actually don't like reading about people I know but, rather, people I have only met once or twice or haven't seen in years. I think this allows a certain amount of anonymity on both ends, because I never have to look a person in the face knowing that I know way more about his/her (though, to be honest, most blogs I read are written by women) private life than I really have a right to know, and I figure that it probably doesn't make much difference to that person since I am a relative stranger with just an overdeveloped sense of nosiness.

That being said, I think I saw one of the people I blogstalk in public yesterday and it made me feel creepy.

Even More Temples

Josh and I have made an effort to visit new temples whenever we travel, like when we went to DC, Idaho, and Utah. Recently we've been traveling a lot, and therefore we have been able to visit a few more temples, bringing the ShepAlder Temple Total to 30!

In December we went to Texas and made a special trip to Dallas for sight-seeing and general mayhem, but also managed to fit in the Dallas temple (we have already been to both the San Antonio and Houston temples).

Temple #28: Dallas, TX

It was unseasonably cold in Texas at the beginning of December, and we hadn't really planned for that. The Dallas temple is similar to the Boise temple, which means it's squatty and the Celestial Room is small and round. The temple workers in the Texas temples have to be the absolute nicest people in the entire world. It might be a Texas thing or a Southern thing, but they were very sweet (especially since I always seem to get lost). In all fairness, temple workers are (mostly) exceptionally nice people, so you have to imagine that the Texas temple workers are especially nice!

Josh says, "It's not like it's far away, but it's really, really, really tucked in the middle of nowhere. We didn't even realize the temple was coming up until we got there. It's in the middle of a neighborhood!"

I like these arches. Interesting detail.

Then this past weekend we went to Utah to visit friends, family, and be present for the blessings of the Fergie twins Camille and Joshie (actually and honestly named after my husband). We were only there for a whirlwind two days, but we were able to squeeze in two temples! I'm not sure why we thought going to both would be a good idea, but sometimes our vanity gets in the way of common sense.

Temple #29: Draper, UT

Frankly, I don't remember much about Draper except that it was in a nice neighborhood and it was way up on the mountain. The Celestial Room was inexplicably tall and had a huge chandelier. The endowment room had beautiful paintings of boxwood trees. I love the newer temples that have the wall paintings that kind of make it seem like you are outside.

I'm not sure if this nativity scene is in front of every temple,

but it was in front of all three temples we went to during December.

Josh had to climb down the lawn in his dress shoes to get this shot.

Temple #30: Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Possibly the most annoyingly difficult to spell name of a temple, Oquirrh Mountain is beautiful, and not (despite what Josh says) a replica of Twin Falls. It has a very Egyptian feel inside, with tall doorways and slightly boxy architecture. In the Celestial Room (which was very tall, similar to Draper), the chandelier is somewhat star-shaped, which prompted Josh to remark that he would hate to be standing under it if it fell. (I told him that if he was under the chandelier when it fell, it would be the weight rather than the pointiness that would hurt him. He said that if he had a choice he would stand under a circular chandelier than a pointy one. But what are the odds that he would get a choice in the matter?)

The nativity scene again!

Josh and I are averaging about 10 temples for each year married, but it's going to get harder to see new temples since we've mostly been to all the ones in places we regularly travel. For the record, we have been to all temples in Washington, Idaho, and California. We have been to all but three (Ogden, Vernal, and Monticello) in Utah, all but one (Lubbock) in Texas, and all but one (Medford) in Oregon (which is to say, we've only been to Portland since the Medford temple is basically open only when they feel like it).

In the future, we're planning to go to the Boston and Manhattan temples, and then hopefully we'll get to go to a church history tour and maybe go to either the Nauvoo or the Palmyra temples.