Sweet & Sour Chicken

Amy made my favorite dish tonight before she went to Institute with Sadie, Sweet & Sour Chicken. There WAS 7 pieces of chicken left, and I stuff myself until I hated myself for making my belly go through so much pain, and I ate them all.

Its so dang delicious, I cant help myself!

You can find the recipe on Amy's website here:
Sweet & Sour Chicken Recipe on Shmaumau.com

The Illusionist

Wow, what a movie. We had Ed and Sade watch our kids tonight while we went and saw "The Illusionist". Excellent. Keeps you glued to the screen the entire time. The love story is good, the plot is amazing...

I gotta stop, or Ill give away too much.

But I LOVED it.

Skunk Attack

So we just got home from Idaho, and we found we had a skunk living in our garage. Looks like he has been living off the cat food. Our animals didnt smell, so they must not have known he was there, or were too scared to go near. He was backed up in the corner of the garage behind the dog house, we could see the back of him. We didnt notice at first, but he musta let one go when Amy filled the cat food, cause WOOWEE did it stink!

So I grabbed a shovel and pulled the dog house out a little, and a bag of Noxall fell back there, and I think the skunk let another one go. Then he kinda sauntered towards Amy on the other side of the garage, wrapped around her leg, then sauntered out as if nothing was going on.

The stench made me gag and I had to walk out of the garage, I couldnt believe how bad those things stink! My eyes even started to water. I have to leave the garage open tonight so it will air out, then I guess I gotta go find out what he sprayed and burn it.

I truly had no idea they stunk so bad. I was sure glad to get rid of him though.

Egg Fiasco

Amy went shopping this morning, so I thought I would make a choclate cake. We had everything we needed except eggs. The mix requires 3 eggs, and I only had 1. So I called my neighbor Jolene and asked if she had 2 eggs she could do without, which she of course did. So I ran over there and got the 2 eggs.

I was so excited for the cake, that I cracked the first egg open and dumped it in the sink... Not sure what I was thinking. Then Bailey grabbed the 2nd egg and cracked it open on the counter. So that was that.

I still wanted cake so bad I called my neighbor Tiffany and this time I asked for 3 eggs (leaving me room for 1 more mishap). She said that was fine and I ran over there are got them.

I actually got all 3 in the bowl this time though. And we finished making a delicious choclate cake.

Thanksgiving Point

So Im trying to hit all the attractions around Salt Lake. I mean Ive lived here my whole life, and there is alot of places Ive never been. So far we did the Red Butte Gardens and Hogle Zoo. Today we did Thanksgiving Point.

What a fun place! Every monday the Museum of Ancient Life is only $5 per person after 5pm instead of the regular $15 per person. It was SUPER FUN. Rooker wouldnt stop running from room to room yelling "Woh, look at that BIG dinosaur!" He totally loved it. Crystal wanted to touch everything and Bailey just followed whoever.

First you enter a dark room with zillion of stars. This is supposed to show you the beginning of the creation of the earth or something, then you move through time and the different dino ages. There were some dinos that were just outrageously huge. It was really amazing to see. There was a room where you got to dig up your own bones. A room with a giant dino doll that you put the head, legs, arms, tail, spines on - a build-your-own-dino thing. Then a sand room with water that you built dams and streams and watched how erosion worked.

Seriously, it was really fun.

Then we went to the Ice Cream parlor. The kids got cones, Amy got a Sundae which was just incredible. So much choclate and carmel and whip cream, it just flowed over the glass all over the plate. It was super messy goodness. I got the Banana Split, and it was even bigger and just as messy. Its amazing how good that messy gooeyness tastes. We all sat at the Ice Cream Bar on red stools for a bit - I wish we woulda had a camera, it definitely was a Kodak moment.

Then we drove by the Animal Farm which has lots of animals you can pet and see. And we drove by the Kids Discovery Garden which has a bear cave, hedge maze, and a large Noahs Ark that the kids can play in. Those things all costs money too, so we didnt do em. We will have to do them later.

What a fun day!

Still need to do Hansen Planetarium, Tracy Aviary, the Cement Sled thing at Park City, Childrens Museum, Aquarium Zoo, Downtown Carraige Ride, and Im sure there are lots more, places to eat too.

Eventually, we will hit them all.

Isnt it strange that we never tour the place we live?

Peoples Opinions - The Perfect Solution

I feel like I have been bombarded with peoples opinions lately. At work, at home, on the way home, at church, on the radio, on the TV, on walks, EVERYWHERE. Every facet of my life, every nook and cranny, EVER SINGLE FIBER OF MY EXISTENCE, is filled with other's opinions. How I raise my kids, what cars I drive, how many pets I should have, how many trees I need, how much I should water my lawn, the price of gas, how early I should wake up, how much I should get paid, how much I eat, my marraige, my family, my beliefs and morals, my job, my weight, my hair, my websites, how I spend my money, and on and on and on.

So this is what I think I should do from now on. I am going to make a book and keep track of every single opinion that someone has about me. I will name the book "The Most Important Opinions EVER period!". It will probably be a few hundred pages. Then when someone comes up to me and says "I think you should do this instead of that". Im going to look them straight in the eye and say with the utmost sincerity "Your opinion is VERY VERY important to me. Therefore, Im going to write it down at the very end of this large large large large large large large large book of opinions, and as soon as I have a chance, I will start at the first opinion, and when I get to yours, I will come find you so we can discuss its place and value in my life".

I think this will work out very well. It will let people know that I truly do value their opinion, *keeps a straight face* and it will allow me to consider it when I feel I need an opinion to help me chart my next step in life.

Refinancing

So somewhere along the way, I have learned something. You see, when you purchase a house, you have to put 20% down, or else you have to pay this mortgage insurance, which is right around $90-$100 a month. BUT, you can avoid it by taking out 2 loans. The first one you take out an interest only loan for 20% of the house, and then you use that to put down on the REAL loan on the house, and thereby you can avoid the mortgage insurance. Great idea right?

Wrong.

Interest only loan are CRAP! I have been paying on it for almost 2 years, and the loan amount IS STILL THE SAME!!! I HAVENT PAID JACK ON IT! So I got fed up with it, went to Wells Fargo and told em I dont want an interest only loan anymore. So we are refinancing our house and putting it all into one big loan.

We got lucky in that our house appraised for $255,000 (we bought it for $190,000) so the balance left on it is less than 80%, so we dont have to pay the mortgage insurance anyway. How lucky is that?

The other nice thing I found out, is that my credit score is 779! Thats near perfect. They told me at 700, your risk is so low that you are placed in the highest bracket for whatever programs they offer. It makes me feel good cause the guy on TV who talks about credit scores, he states that his is 740. So mine is even better than his.

And, with the refinance, we get to skip Octobers payment, which means that will free up ALOT of money for a back lawn and some cash for Disneyland.

Yay!!!

Skateboard

So Ive been riding the bus to work for about 3 months now. It has been actually quite nice. I really enjoy it. But I have decided to add some variety to my bus schedule, so lately Ive been taking the bus up around Temple Square and then I walk 2 blocks to the Trax, ride it close to work, and walk about 2 miles into work. Its really fun walking through downtown. The atmosphere there is VERY alive. Walking through Temple Square on your way to work is kinda cool too.

So anyway, I got tired of the 2 mile walk, especially since it was taking me 30 minutes just to do that part, making me even later to work than I already am. So I started using Ben's longboard, and it was really fun. That thing CRUISES!!! But it is a very large board, and kind of a pain to take on a 2 hour bus ride.

So I bought me a real skateboard. I found one on Amazon.com for $99 on sale for $49. Ive had it for about a week now, and it has been a blast. It sure brings alot of memories back from Jr High. I can still tick-tack really well, although I never did, and probably never will do any tricks on it. But I just cruise on it to work on it now, it is really fun.

Surreal Evening

Have you ever watched those movies where they have some town event or get together, and it is just surreal? Like eveyone is having a good time, the kids are running around screaming and chasing each other, all the mom's are talking about how good each other's pies are, and it just has an 'air' of a down home good time?

Well, I finally had one. I seem to remember having alot of them when I was little, but now that Im a grown-up, they seem to be few and far between, but I finally had one. Of course our family get-togethers dont count, they are always a blast - no-one has family get togethers like the Lymans. Im talking about a community event.

So we went to the fair yesterday, which in and of itself was really fun, very expensive, and very tiring. But on the way home, driving through Tooele, we noticed the Farmers Market going on in the town square. Tooele does this EVERY friday. I bought a nice bag and a zillion vegetables for $2, it was great. BUT ANYWAY. The market goes till about 7pm, and then they have some concert or speech or some presentation of some sort. I have always seen them while driving by, but never attended. Well this time I was determined to attend. So I took Crystal, and we picked up Maddy, and went back to the Farmers Market.

About 7pm, a medium sized crowd gathered around the center of the town square, lots brought their own chairs. The mayor introduced 'T minus 5' as the evenings entertainment. They are an accapella group. They were pretty good, Im personally not much for those types of groups. But Maddy and Crystal were having the greatest time in the world. They were dancing, then they chased each other around some tree and played some game where they were tackling each other. I was having the greatest time with the music in the background and the kids laughing their heads off, and the nice cool evening, and the happy crowd of people, and the smell of all the vegetables, etc etc etc. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time.

Eventually we went for a walk down main street and looked in all the windows of the stores (most of the stores I didnt even know existed) and Maddy and Crystal thought all the empty ones were haunted and they were kinda scared. It was funny.

But all in all, it made it feel like it was the perfect day.

I hope there are more days like that in the future.