Editing Books

So, I'm editing this novel for this guy at my work. He is paying me a little money to complete it because I am taking so dang long to finish it. It is one of those books that seems to be in its first stages, so there is a lot of editing to do. Anyway, this is taking up most of my free time lately as I am trying to meet my deadline. But, I was thinking that I could probably start my own little editing business. I am really good at editing and the majority of the time, I like it. So, I was thinking that I could start a side business for a little extra money.

My friends often ask me to edit their stuff creative writing and their school writing for them. I've edited a novel before and I thought that I did good job at leaving comments and such. So, I was thinking that I should start charging. I'm not really sure what a good rate for editing is, so I'm thinking that I'm going to do some research on the internet and come up with something.

Then, I'm thinking that I could start like a webpage or something and advertise myself so that I could get a little work. I know that some of my blog readers know a thing or two about starting their own business and marketing themselves, and so, I am asking for guidance.

I'm Goin' to San Fran!

Off to San Francisco... or Fremont rather, I am going. Mike, my beloved brother is getting married this weekend and the whole family is heading out to see him get hitched. I'm thinking he must be really popular to get the whole family to come out to him. But, I guess since he travelled all the way back to Utah for my wedding, it is the least I can do. He should realize though that my presence is his gift. (Like I could buy him a gift anyway, he didn't even register!)

Hopefully, this San Fran visit will be as good as my last, where I met James Marsters for the first time. But, it is a lot to hope for. I probably won't meet any famous people. Unless Lisa is hording some really famous relative. I guess I will have to be happy with seeing my older brother get married. Sigh. This may be a long trip as my whole family will be there. Matt and I are sharing a room with Anthon and Marie, hopefully they don't snore.

Happy Marriage Mike~!

Iron Chef Food

This is a pic of the iron chef food table. I really should have taken the pic early on in the party becaues most of the food has been eaten in this pic. A lot of the fancier food is gone. The pedistal of oranges is completely void of rolls. Alas! But, you get the idea.

Birthday Cake!

These are pictures of me with my Birthday cake. I made my own cake this year because it was my entry for the Iron Chef competition. You may also notice that the cake is sittng on a sparkly purple platter. Matt and I got that platter for our wedding and we weren't really sure what to do with it, but now it is the birthday cake platter. Hopefully, we will get many years of use out of it.

Birthday Guests

Here is a pic of the parents, Jake and Jill and Darin. The parents brought orange spare ribs, and Jake and Jill brought Asian salad. They were both delicious!
Here are some pics of random... or valued birthday guests. It was a monumental night because after years of inviting Nefi to my parties, he finally came. But, he brought a really yummy dish and it beat my dish in judging, so maybe I shouldn't invite him any more.

Rachel, Tim and Natalie are all a little weird, and that is why they are pictured here. Rachel and Tim brought Nutmeg Orange Rolls and Natalie brought Angel food cake that she made in her car. She was like the second lowest scoring dish, next to Sarah's Crush soda.

My Bros

I don't know why brothers like to make funny faces and extend their pointer fingers, but here it is. I was just glad that both Johnny and DJ were able to come to the party.

Iron Chef!

Here is a couple pictures of the Iron Chef herself!

Erin and Jeff

Erin and Jeff were a lot of fun at the party. Erin brought Orange salsa and Jeffy brought Orange cheesecake. I'm not really sure why they are looking at each other this way in this picture. There was definitely a weird vibe comin' off them at the party. When they were playing games up in the guest bedroom, Erin kept paying Jeff money in exchange for eventual favors. I wonder if those favors will ever come.

Crazy old MattRee

Some very attractive photos from my birthday.

Birthday Results!

The Iron Chef theme was widely popular and the party was awesome. A lot more people came then I thought would and it was a very full house. My little 1400 sq. ft. house could barely accommodate the 30 people who showed up to the party. There was sooo much food at the party and it all included oranges. I think that I could go quite a while without eating oranges again.

So, Matt and spent the day cleaning the house and cooking our own orange dishes. I made Mandarin Orange Cake and Matt made Spicy Orange Pork Tenderloin. People started showing up around 6pm and everyone came with an orange dish. There was so much food and I wanted to try all of it, but I was full in the first 20 minutes. But, people kept coming and they all brought food and I just kept eating. I would have to say that this was the best birthday theme ever!

There was a lot of diversity in the dishes that people brought. There were desserts and main dishes and even salads. The taste of most everything was very good, but the presentation was where the food really shined. Darin and Deanne brought orange rolls on a three tiered platter, Alan and Cynthia brought Orange Chicken Kabobs on a fancily decorated plate, my cake was on a sparkly purple pedistal, and Jeffy decked out his cheesecake with orange slices and curled orange peel. Very fancy presentation.

So, five people judged on each dish and after every dish had been judged, we tallyed the votes. The results were as thus:

1st: Fruit Pizza- Elyse Blaser 94pts

2nd: Asian Orange Chicken - Marie Mecham, Mexican Orange Chicken - Nefi and Rose Ledezma 88pts

3rd: Mandarin Orange Cake - Becky Kimball, Spicy Orange Pork - Matt Kimball, and Orange Chicken Kabob - Cynthia Nelson 86pts

Second and third place was pretty close and there were a lot of ties, but first place was overwhelmingly the fruit pizza. It was so very good and I wish that I had gotten a picture of it, but right when it arrived, it got eaten very quickly. I tried almost every dish and it really was the best there. I would try to describe the dish, but I'll let the chef do that. I'm really going to need the recipe because it was really good!

The party went really well. Everyone ate, lots of people chatted, others played Wii, and others used the upstairs guest bedroom to play "games." It was a lot of fun and it really was a low maintenance party. I loved it and I think it was one of my best parties yet.

To those of you who missed it, you really missed out. But, I will find a way to forgive you if you make it to my next party. Which will probably be Halloween. So, start planning your costume ideas now!

Thanks to all who came and participated in the game! The food really made the party.

Iron Chef!

As many of you know, the theme for my birthday this year is Iron Chef! What is Iron Chef you say? Well, it is a very funny and entertaining Japenese cooking show that involves two chefs who compete in an intense one-hour cooking competition. And, in that one hour, they must create at least five dishes that contain the secret ingredient. I love this show, I'm sad that the original is no longer on the air. Fortunately, the Americans picked it up and we now have Iron Chef America. A chef of reknowned cooking talent comes on the show and challenges one of the Iron Chefs. Well, my birthday is following this pattern... sort of.

For my birthday, everyone is competing to become the Next Iron Chef. And party attendees must bring a dish containing the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is oranges. Then, people will judge each dish on Taste, Plating, and Originality.

It should be a good fun. I'm all excited to see what people will bring. I'll give a post birthday report of the events after they occur. I'm guessing that we might get people who just bring oranges, or orange juice or orange soda.... we'll see.

Babies, No Babies!

So, I've been hearing a lot about babies recently. There are babies in my family; there are babies that will soon be in my family; my friends are having babies; my friends are trying to have babies, and babies pretty much want to take over the world. I am torn in my ideas about babies.

Being Pregnant: The idea of being pregnant is both fascinating and frightening. It is fascinating because I think that it would be cool to have another person growing inside me and feel it grow into a little person. I also like the idea that it would be mine and I would have made another little person. The idea of a person growing from a little egg into a person totally trips me out in a cool way. But, the idea of being pregnant is also scary/revolting to me. Pregnancy makes you into a crazy person! You get sick and hormonal and fat. These things are just not a good combo. And, I hear that Pregnancy leads to birth.

Birthing: Yuck and ouch, no good can come from this.

Babies: The idea of babies is good if you have a very positive attitude. If my babies could be perfect, that would be great. A perfect baby would always be clean, would only need a diaper change twice a day, would never cry, would love to cuddle, would not bite, would sleep through the night, and would have lots of hair on it's head so that it would be cute. Unfortunately, I can't be guaranteed such a baby. But, such a baby is very appealing to me. I think that babies are purposely made really cute so that we don't hate them. But, the idea of having a little person, who is mine, to love sounds really nice. Plus, babies turn into kids and kids are even worse than babies!

Kids: Kids are a consequential result of babies. I think that we should make some sort of hybrid human that are always cute babies. Like those miniature dogs and cats. Only, the hybrid baby would be able to feed itself and be independent and stuff. Kids always seem to be sticky. Their faces always have some sort of food or glue stuck to it and they are always dirty. I often don't want to touch children because I don't know where they have been and they have foriegn substances on their face. Kids are so completely co-dependent and they are need you for stuff. Plus, they are really expensive. Kids also take up a lot of valuable time. That is time that I could be spending with Matt, who I like better than kids. Oh yeah, kids are loud! I don't know why they feel the need to scream all the time, but scream they do. I find it very annoying. I find it even more annoying when parents think it is completely okay to let their children run around wild while screaming. Kids do have their good sides, in that, they are sometimes cute and sometimes sweet. Plus, if you get smart or talented kids, you can be all proud of them. I'm just not sold on the benefits of the kid.

Once you have kids, you can't give them back like I did that puppy that got annoying. I hear that you have to keep kids forever! That is quite the commitment. Sometimes, when I'm thinking that I want children, I just remember that my life will no longer be mine once I have children. Any aspirations that I have for Matt or myself will most likely be put on hold if children are in existence. I do want children, and I do get a little jealous when I see other pregnant women, but I'm thinking that kids are just not the right thing right now.

Holiday Update

Christmas vacation was awesome! Matt and I went to Washington (with DJ) to see his parents. We pretty much sat around the whole time and played lots of games. It was a perfect Christmas. The best part was that when I put Matt in charge of packing the toiletries, he packed not only our stuff, but Sarah's. Sarah had stayed at our house the night before we were to leave for Washington and Matt packed her stuff with ours. We did not realize the mistake until we got a frantic/angry call from Sarah while we were at the airport that morning. I blame Matt entirely for this mistake. It just goes to show that I should have packed the bag myself. I thought that I was safe because I set out everything that was to be packed on the counter, but Sarah foolishly placed her bag of stuff right by the stuff to be packed. Good times.

After Christmas, Matt and I hit Walmart for those stellar "after Christmas" sales. We got a Christmas tree complete with decorations, skirt, lights, and garland for about $100. It was all 50% off. So, next year we will be decorating for Christmas. I am very excited. It will be my first Christmas with my very own tree and stuff. Apart from that construction paper tree that Annah and I had or the Harry Potter shrine of Lisa and Rachel's.

On New Year's Eve, we had a party at Kelli's parent's house. Matt and I were throwing the party, but we held it at Kelli's because of the superior entertainment oportunities. Matt and I's house is not yet decked out to be a party house. I've not yet even had a party at our house. I guess that will have to be what my Birthday is for. The New Year's Eve party went great! We had a good turn out with probably 20 people. There was Guitar Hero, the Wii, Pit, Air Hockey, Darts, Michael Jackson music videos, and lots of food. I think it was one of my best parties yet, and it didn't even have a theme! I guess themes aren't everything.

Hopefully, January will be slow for me. I think that I've had enough fun and entertainment for a while. I can now start to plot... or plan my Birthday party. All the cool people will be invited.

Christmas Tag

Okay, I've never done one of these "tag" things before because I usually have more intelligent/irrelevant things to talk about. But, it is Christmas and I'm the worst at keeping my blog up to date, so I'll try it.

Small disclaimer, here's the thing about Christmas for me, I have my traditions from my family and Matt has his traditions from his family, so we haven't really started our own family traditions. This year we are going to Washington to spend Christmas with his parents, so I will get to learn all of his family's Christmas traditions. But, we won't develop our own meshed traditions until we have a Christmas on our own. Who knows when that will be. So, my answers will be referring to my family traditions... minus Matt.

Wrapping paper or gift bag? I like to wrap the presents I give aways because then I can make them all pretty and festive with ribbons and sparkly bows. I thought I was a fairly decorative wrapper, but then I got a gift from Erin this year and she totally showed me up. I've decided that next year I need to buy much cuter wrapping supplies. I want everyone to marvel at my wrapping skills to the point that they don't want to open the gift because it is just too pretty. I'm not sure why I feel the need to be the best at everything.

Real tree or artificial? Artificial all the way! Real trees, though they smell good, are way too much of a hassle. You have to clean the needles off of your carpet and water it all the time and hope that it doesn't die before Christmas and they are really expensive and lame. Pass. This year, we actually have no tree because we are going to be away for Christmas and we didn't want to go and buy a tree.

When do you put up your tree? In my family, we put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly because we have the day off work and therefore have time to do it. My parent's have a 12 foot tree, so it is quite the ordeal to put it up.

When do you take down your tree? Well, I usually help put up the tree and then opt out of helping to take it down. It is the perk of not actually having a tree at my own place. Gotcha there Mom.

Do you like egg nog? Egg nog is yummy if it is the low fat kind. The other kinds are much to thick and sweet for drinking.

Favorite gift received as a child? Bill got all of us girls pearl necklaces one year.

Do you have a nativity scene? I have exactly one Christmas decoration to my name and that is the Christmas ornaments that my Grandma Chipman gave to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a tree to put them on. So, they live in my extra closet.

Hardest person to buy for? Bill, because he buys everything he wants and claims to not want anything. So, we usually try to buy him things he needs or things that Mom won't let him buy himself.

Easiest person to buy for? Sarah because you can get her anything and she will love it! All I have to do is think about the things that I want and buy them for Sarah and I've gotten her the things that she wants. I wish that I picked Sarah's name every year.

Worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received? One year, when I lived in Hawaii, my boyfriend told me that he was waiting for my gift to come in the mail so he didn't have it for me before I went home from Christmas. I was a kind and patient girlfriend and said it was okay, expecting to get this unknown gift upon my return to Hawaii. Then, when I came back to Hawaii, he was odd and weird with me and kept avoiding me and a week later he broke up with me. I never got my supposed Christmas gift. I'm thinking that he never got me anything and never planned to. It was the worst because I put a lot of thought and effort into getting his gift for him. What a waste.

U.S. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? I like receiving real mail, but I like giving email.

Favorite Christmas movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the original cartoon version. Classic!

When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Thanksgiving.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sure! If I get a stupid gift from a person a barely care about, then I save it for the next year and give away that stupid gift to another person that I barely care about. Eventually, I just stop giving gifts to people that I don't see often.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Dar dar dar... it's a real food!

White or colored lights? Those white/blue ones, not the ugly white/yellow ones.

Favorite Christmas songs? Oh Rest Ye Merry Gentlement by the Bare Naked Ladies.

Travel for Christmas or stay home? Travel! This year at least.

Angel or star on top of tree? Star? I don't know, I don't own ornaments yet.

Open presents Christmas Eve or morning? In my family, we open one present on Christmas Eve and then open the rest on Christmas morning. I usually liked to open my stocking on Christmas Eve.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? The traffic.

What I love most about Christmas? Spending time with my family.

So, now I'm suppose to tag this to people or something, but no one I know would actually do this but me because I'm kinda lame. So, I'm going to have to say Jasmine because she is the only one I know who consistently updates her blog. Other than that, I say feel free to answer any of the above questions that you feel like answering in the comments section.

Merry Christmas!

Is it Christmas Yet?

I am excited for Christmas. This is mostly because I am taking a vacation for Christmas. Matt and I are going to Washington to see his parents for Christmas. I really like the idea of not working for 6 days and not cooking or doing house work for 6 days. That is just going to be a good time.

The best part of Christmas is the food and the not working. Sadly, I only get Christmas Day off as a holiday and I have to use my PTO for the other days that I have off. Suprisingly, I actually have days off. I haven't been sick in one whole month *knocks on wood.*

Matt is currently sick which is tragic for him and for me because I don't like seeing him sick. I wish that we both could be in good health all of the time. That would be nice.

This will be my first Christmas away from home and although I am excited to spend the time with the Kimball's, I will really miss my family. I like my family traditions and I like things to not change, but I am attempting to embrace differences. Eventually, Matt and I will have to create our own Christmas traditions that we will teach to our own offspring someday, but I am content to use our parent's traditions for a little while.

I didn't even decorate for Christmas at all this year. I figured that since we would be gone for Christmas, and since our only Christmas decorations are a set of ornaments that my Grandma Chipman gave me, that we would just not decorate this year. We have big plans to go and buy decorations at the after Christmas decoration sales. That way, we can get decorations for cheap.

I want to become one of those women who has decorations for every holiday and my house looks very festive every month (Natalie's Mom), but I'm just not sure if I have the patience for it. I want my house to look cool without any work from me. That would be great.

I've already finished all of my Christmas shopping. Yay! I went last weekend with Erin and I got it all done in a four hour shopping trip. It was quite fun. I like shopping for other people because it is like guilt free shopping. Matt still has a little shopping to do, but that is for gifts for me, so I'm not allowed to go with him. I know how much he hates shopping, so I am not surprised that he has put this off as long as possible.

Christmas is the best.

Whoopsi Doodle

I love/hate the snow.

I love the snow because it is all cold and frozen and pretty and fun to play in. But, I hate the snow because it makes driving a pain and it is all cold and frozen and wet. Plus, snow creates ice. Ice, is mean/evil, unless it is cooling my drink.

And, don't even get me started on how ice means ice picks. There will be no ice picks. (Trotski anyone?)

So, today, as I was walking into work, my foot happened to fall on a patch of ice and it slipped. At first, I thought I was going to fall, but I happened to get my other foot under me and temporarily steady myself. Unfortunately, that other foot also stepped down on the same patch of ice and quickly slipped as well. I still had hope of keeping my feet as a did a Goofy on ice foot slide maneuver, but, in the end, the ice got the better of me and I fell on my butt. Now, normally, this would not be so bad because I didn't fall too hard and I caught myself on my hand. (Gravel Hand!) But, the smokers who smoke in the Gazeebo at work caught the whole thing. They were all concerned and "Oh, are you okay," which I guess is better than laughing, but it was still embarrassing. It is one thing to slip on the ice while you are alone and have no one see it and it is another to have people see your not so graceful fall. If my fall had been graceful, I think I would have been more okay with it, but it was all slidy and awkward with limbs flailing everywhere. Needless to say, I hate snow.

Black Friday

So, I didn't intend to go shopping on Black Friday, but the prospect of good deals teased me into joining the crowds. I haven't done any real shopping (unless you count Walmart) in a very long while. I enjoy shopping and I enjoy getting great deals on stuff even more. So, Matt and I ventured over to Towne Centre on black Friday.

Matt has been wanting me to have "real" tennis shoes for a while now, so we purchased some Pumas for me when we hit Famous Footwear. Apparently, ballet shoe Sketchers aren't "real" shoes. Matt says that Sketchers really aren't good for any physical activity. So, I was banned from choosing them as my tennis shoe even though they were a lot more cute than any of the other shoes that I saw there. I admit that I needed some good exercise shoes so that I have adequate footwear on those rare occasions that I actually decide to be active. Unfortunately, Marie and Anthon saw my new shoes as an opportunity to try to get me to play raquet ball with them. I don't have anything against raquet ball in that you have to move around and exercise, it is more the being hit with the ball that turns me off from the sport.

Whilst shopping, I was able to pick up some of the Christmas gifts on my list of people to buy for. Even though Christmas is still a month away, it is nice to have some of my shopping done. I think that the hardest Christmas shopping will be buying for Matt. I have ideas on what to get him, but I have to find time away from him to actually go and buy gifts and then I have to find a way to hide them in the house so that he doesn't discover them early. This being married and living in the same house with someone while hiding gifts is all new to me. Secrets to hiding gifts are welcome.

Matt and I went to Best Buy because they usually have pretty good deals on TV on DVD on black Friday, but we didn't get there until 2pm. By 2pm, all of the good stuff is gone or the time sensitive sales are over. Alas! Next year I will have to shop earlier. Earlier means more crowds, but it is worth it to get all the seasons of Smallville on DVD for $20 a piece.

Shopping on Black Friday was a success, but I still have much Christmas shopping left to do. Now all I have to do is actually have the money to go shopping. Curse a mortgage payment and financial responsibility!

Thanksgiving Already

I'm apparently the worst blogger ever. It has almost been a month since I last blogged. I'm the worst. It is almost Thanksgiving and November is almost over. It is trippin' me out.

I would report on my life goings ons, but nothing has really been going on. I go to work, I come home, Matt and I cook dinner and then we watch TV. It is all very thrilling.

I have taken up a new hobby. My friend Elyse, from work, is teaching me to crochet. I was tired of the same two scarves that I wear most everyday and I wanted to make myself a new one. So, I bought some yarn and a hook and Elyse taught me how to crochet. I've crocheted four scarves now and I'm always looking for a new stitch to learn. It is nice to have something to do with my hands when I have to sit and be quiet in places. I get a lot of crocheting done during church because I can crochet and listen at the same time. It is a pleasant new hobby that I have taken up. Plus, I get pretty new scarves and things when I finish with a project.

For Thanksgiving this year we are going to the parent's cabin in Park City. We are spending the night on Wednesday and eating Thursday afternoon. All of the brothers and sisters as well as many of the nieces and nephews will be there so it will either be really fun or really annoying. We are driving ourselves so that we can leave at any time.

I'm excited for the time off work for Thanksgiving. Not that work is difficult or time consuming, but sometimes it can be really annoying. Like this meeting that wouldn't end yesterday. It was beyond annoying and the speaker spoke so very slow and by the end I was about ready to scream. I don't like working late to accommodate for a meeting.

Hopefully, life will get more interesting in good ways. If not, I hope that it stays blissfully boring.

Halloween

Kelli had a very fun Halloween party last Saturday. We searched for pumpkins in the yard and then carved them. I found the illustrious white pumpkin and received a stellar prize. Because my pumpkin was white, I decided to carve it into Strong Sad. It was awesome. I should probably take a picture. Matt carved a bear holding a shark. Kelli is pretty much awesome at throwing parties.

(Normally, I would insert a picture here, but blogger hates me)

We also played Guitar Hero and DDR. Unfortunately, I have discovered that Erin is not only better at Guitar Hero than me, but she can also waste me at DDR. Curse her and her superiority!

Rachel and Tim showed up near the end of the party and they looked hilarious. Tim was some old man basketball player and Rachel was a ref. Ever the life of the party, they were very entertaining. (insert pic of Rach and Tim, curse you blogger!) It was good to see them again. There is a rumor that they will be moving back to Utah. *crosses fingers*

The party was a lot of fun and a good way to celebrate Halloween. Kelli did a really good job even though she had to live up to Becky and Natalie Halloween parties of years past. For the actual Halloween this year, Matt and I will be very boring. We are going to stay at home and give candy to trick-or-treaters. I have never actually done this before. Usually, I skip that bit and go and play on Halloween. But, this year we have a house and stuff and Halloween is on a week night. We will probably just watch a scary movie or play a lot of Zelda. I love my Wii.

Take a Chance on Me

So, I've got the "Take a Chance on Me" song stuck in my head this morning. If any of you watched The Office last week, you will understand why. The sad part is that I don't even know all of the words, so the chorus just keeps replaying in my mind. Stupid Andy

I am feeling much better this week than I did last week. I'm still nausiated and sick, but I'm less sick and I call that improvement. Being sick for a month is definitely not the funnest thing ever. I think that the funnest thing ever was probably sky diving. But, I don't think I should be sky diving whilst sick.

So, Matt had a Birthday last week. It was uneventful, just how he likes it, but the conclusion is the same and he is now 29! Yay for him. He is only one year away from 30 and oldom. Though Matt is like 5 years older than me and stuff, I still think of him as my age. Mostly because I'm married to him and I'm my age, so I feel like he is too. Strangely, DJ (Matt's brother) who is actually my age, I feel like he is much younger. But, I blame this mostly on Dj's silliness.

Additionally, I am happy to say that I am cured of my small dog syndrome. For over a year now I have been wanting a small dog for a pet. A month ago, right when I was starting to get sick, Matt and I got a small terrier dog. We had her for one week and I was really really sick and we were always going to the hospital and such so we gave back the dog to the shelter where we got her. But, in that weeks time, I realized how annoying and not fun a puppy is. They are nothing but trouble and work and really really smelly. I have no desire to get a small dog any longer. In fact, I have no desire to get a dog at all. I think that Matt and I will just not be pet people. Pets are a lot of work. If we ever do get a dog, it will be an old/pre-trained dog that does not mess on our brand new carpet.