breakfast of champions

This is my breakfast of choice. Vanilla or strawberry yogurt mixed together with Just Bunches. I love it. Can’t get enough of it. My sister thought I was nuts until she tried it herself and now she’s totally converted. Of course she is. Because it’s freaking amazing.

But because I had what we would call ‘treat night’ at my house on Saturday night, Sunday morning I didn’t eat that for breakfast. Why? Because I had THIS instead.


Let me just give you a tour of that plate, as you may be wondering what all that goodness is. We'll start with the caramel infused rice krispie treats, next to that we have the amazing pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting (that thing is a friend magnet… kind of like pool tables), then we've got an Oh Henry bar (peanut butter rice krispie treats with a milk chocolate/butterscotch chip “frosting”), and to finish it all off, a couple of pieces of orange blondies.

Wow. What can I say. I may or may not have actually licked my fingers after the last bite....

special

My friend Kristy did this on Facebook, so of course I had to play along....

1. Put your iTunes/Ruckus/Napster/etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Heaven – DJ Sammy

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Hysteria – Def Leopard

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Name – Goo Goo Dolls

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Wanna Get to Know You – Shania Twain

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Slow – Collective Soul

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Feels Like Today – Rascal Flatts

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Photograph - Nickelback

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
In Da Club – 50 Cent

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Wicked Games – Chris Isaak

WHAT IS 2+2?
This Way - Jewel

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
You Lift Me Up – Josh Groban

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Good King Wenceslas – David Tolk

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
White Flag - Dido

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Can’t Tell Me Nothin – Tim McGraw

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Forbidden Love – Madonna

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Colin Raye

WHAT WAS THE THEME OF YOUR WEDDING? (I’ve never had a wedding…)
Hard to Say I’m Sorry/Get Away – Chicago

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Love Bites – Def Leopard

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
And I Think Of You – Peter Cetera

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Escape – Enrique Iglesias

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Fear – Sarah McLachlan

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Slow Dancing – U2

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Nobody Wants to be Lonely – Ricky Martin

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Say It Aint So - Weezer

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
The Woman in Me – Shania Twain

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Loser – Beck

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Acrobat – U2

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
La Capitana – Kurt Bestor

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Freedom For My People – U2

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
What’s Left For Me – Days of the New

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Special – Garbage

Looking Forward

www.abundantlivingcoach.com/goal-sm.jpg

So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about goal setting. I’ve never been one to make a bunch of New Year’s resolutions. Don’t get me wrong, I make resolutions all the time, it’s just that the new year rarely has anything to do with them. This year is different. I’ve got a list of goals for myself… some spiritual, some physical, some personal, some financial, and as it turns out, none will be posted here. But I do have them and I have written them all down.

In church, we’ve started to have a Sunday School class devoted to life lessons and things. The first Sunday, the lesson was on setting goals and food storage. (Side note: One of the geekiest things about me is that I am an avid advocate of 72 hour kits and food storage). Anyway, it was a great lesson and so far I’m a huge fan of the class.

Well a couple of weeks ago, I ended up in that class again and the lesson was fully dedicated to goals and goal setting. The teacher was talking about if you have a goal, you need to write it down and make it realistic. Later on in the lesson he brought out 2 cinderblocks and what looked like one side of a cinderblock. He set out the 2 cinderblocks and then laid the single side cinderblock across the top. As if he was going to karate chop this piece.

Which he did.

He told us that he was going to break that piece laying across the top. Naturally, all of us were a little bit hesitant. Who knew if he was going to break his hand or not. And if he did? Awkward. So he takes a piece of paper and writes GOAL on it and lays it underneath the brick. That is what he’s shooting for. The blanket underneath, not the brick. He told us that in order to break through this brick, he couldn’t focus on it. If he was going to break it, he needed to focus on getting to a point at least 6 inches beyond it.

Loved the entire analogy.

He ended up breaking the brick and setting out another one, which someone else was able to break. (We did have a girl try to break one as well and unfortunately, she didn’t have any luck.) But I loved the parallel between getting beyond the obstacles to reach our goals. The girl who had tried to break the brick would stand huddled over it with one hand resting on it while she got up the necessary courage and motivation. Then she would lift her hand and try to break through the cinderblock brick. The teacher, after her few attempts proved no results, said that at first, he had tried the same thing. Which was resting his hand on the obstacle. After it didn’t work for him, he said he had to stand back and not even look at the brick at all, just focus on the blanket underneath and aim for that. That’s when he broke right through.

Richard G. Scott said in the 1990 April General Conference:
“To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done.”

So in the spirit of January, New Year’s resolutions, and new beginnings, I am going to try to focus on the end result and hope to overcome the obstacles in the way.

Go 2009.

Memory Lane Sunday of the Month....

In January of 1999, after my first year at BYU, I moved into a town house just south of campus. It had it all: my own room, green vinyl sofas, walls that weren’t white, a red kitchen with a black and white floor, laundry facilities that were inside the condo, and a fish.

Who lived in a gumball machine aquarium the size of a large cantaloupe.

The fish’s name was New Anus. Yes, I’m serious. (No, I did not name the fish.) Here’s a little background… There had been a girl living in this condo who had moved out the Christmas before I moved in. Her name was Nikki. And she was the owner (and the namer) of New Anus.

And so, the story goes something like this…. The Christmas before this (1997), Nikki had gone home for the holidays. At this time, she had two feeder gold fish in the tank. One fish was named I.C. and the other one was named Uranus. (Don’t ask... there is an OBVIOUS theme.) Anyway, knowing she was going to be out of town, she asked a couple of guys in the ward if they would feed the fish. They told her they would, and with that, everyone enjoyed the holidays.

Until Nikki got home.

Apparently, something went horribly wrong while she was away. Either the guys forgot to feed the fish or some other tragic event happened, because when Nikki returned, she found the fish dead.

So, in an attempt not to let the gumball fish aquarium go to waste, she went out and bought more fish. She bought 2 feeder goldfish, one she named New Anus and one she named More Anus and she also bought about 8 other fish.

By the time I moved in a year later, there was only one fish in the tank. New Anus. That’s because… now get your seat belts on…. New Anus ATE More Anus and all the other 8 fish!! True story.

So a year and a half later, (April 2000) it came time for some of us to graduate and some of us to say good bye to South Downs #2 and move on. The big question at that cross roads in our lives was, “What are we going to do with the fish?”

Andrea decided to take it with her to Las Vegas. The only other option was to flush it down the toilet. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the ONLY other option, but so what if it was my suggestion. When Andrea moved into her condo, the fish was left behind at her parent’s house. Her parents have a pond in their backyard and were able to give New Anus a larger, more luxurious home.

I bet New Anus loved having more space to swim around in (even though I’m pretty sure that goldfish only have a 3 second memory span, so the fish would forget he was living in a tank the size of a large cantaloupe). And because they moved her from the gumball machine to the pond, she grew larger. And larger. And still larger. Until she was 9 inches long. (During her gumball days she was about 2 inches long.)

And then, on July 24, 2006, tragedy struck and New Anus was laid to rest. Andrea’s dad had come home from work to find the fish in the pond stuck between 2 rocks. It appeared as though the fish was trying to free itself, but to no avail.

Who knew a feeder goldfish could live 9 years.

Maybe it’s better it has gone to a better place. I’m just sayin. I mean with her cannibalistic history, and her exponential growth in size, who knows, she may have tried to eat Andreas parents....