catching up

So Bob has been a blogging maniac latley and made me feel like quite the slacker. In my defense though I was halfway through an update a couple weeks ago and the computer was having major problems with our pictures downloading so I just gave up. Here goes try number 2.

Halloween this year was pretty boring for us. No trick or treaters (since we live in apartments) and since we had school the next day and homework to complete we just stayed home. However, we didn't ignore the holiday altogether. A couple days before Halloween we carved a pumpkin. It was a very intimidating picture that we chose to do but I think it turned out pretty well.

This is us really consentrating on the task. We both couldn't fit around the pumpkin without bumping elbows so we took turns. Usually we love bumping elbows but we figured that would be a bad idea with knives in our hands and a very important pumpkin to carve. That would be bad to mess up! After all we only have one pumpkin but we have 10 fingers. For those of you how can't tell what this is (you should go get your eyes checked) it is a scary house surrounded by a scary forest. I have found that if you squint your eyes it really looks cool.

Today is Thanksgiving and it is the start of my favorite time of year. My birthday is on Saturday and I have lots of fun things in store for this weekend, including eating way too much. Mom just cooked an amazing dinner and I am breathing heavily even though we ate a couple hours ago...I think it might be time for dessert!

My sister Heather was caring enough to pass along a blog tag that her friend Bella passed to her. This means that I have to list six things about myself. I hope some of you find this entertaining. I tried to think of things you might not know about me.

1.) I have been absolutely obsessed with Salt & Vinegar chips latley. For those of you who have never tried them you really should. I have always had a love for salt. I find myself buying fries just so I can drowned them in salt and lick the container. These chips really are great for my salt cravings. However, I can not get enough of them. I found myself trying to chew without using my tongue because it was raw from them. And no, I am not pregnant, this is just the way I am. I am actually nervous that my cravings could get worse when we do get pregnant. Maybe they will just go away.
2.) I have just learned more Turkey songs in a week than I have learned my entire life. For those of you that didn't know, I am doing my student teaching right now at the elementary school and naturally the week was full of Turkey songs and games. In fact, Bob told me that I was singing one in my sleep the other day. At least I usually kept the Turkey noises to myself.
3.) Another major addiction I have is my Moms cranberry sauce. I wait all year to eat it and I cover everything on my plate with it. Mashed potatoes have never been so pink. This year I decided to help my mom make it so I would be able to watch and learn. It was a really easy recipe and I found out that the first Thanksgiving she had it was the year I was born. She just got back from the hospital after having me and a family invited them to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. This was the first time she ate it and asked for the recipe right away. It was fate that this delicious jelly came into my family's lives just days after I did. Call me if you eat the canned stuff and I will show you what your Turkey is missing.
4.) I am a Black Friday addict. Black Friday (for those of you in the dark) is the day after Thanksgiving that all the stores put on sales and open their doors at 4 in the morning. The crowds are insane but the sales are amazing. I love the challenge and Bob and I plan out exactly when and where we are going in the morning. All of the Christmas shopping gets done and I get the smug satisfaction of knowing that I got your gift at half off or more.
5.) Bob calls me his cat. My mom has called me that for a while but he started it without even being prompted by her. I love the sunshine. My favorite thing is to curl up in the sun and take a nap. Even if the sun shinning on the living room floor I will just bring a pillow and blanket down there and curl up. He also says I stretch like a cat. I arch my back in the morning when I wake up and usually push him off the bed in the process.
6.) My nickname in my Ward is the "baby-snatcher".We are in a very young ward (well, actually one of those newly-wed, nearly-dead Wards) and there are always new babies around. I pick out my favorites and then proceed to make friends with their parents. I always keep Cheerios in my bag to lure them closer and then bribe them to be my friend with all the stuffed animals and toys that I bring for "singing time." I also ask people if they would let me watch their kids. They think I am joking at first but after me offering a couple dozen times they finally take the hint. Last night we had a little boy named Malachi spend the night and he was so cute. He is super smiley and talkative and we had lots of good cuddles when he got up this morning.
Ok. I finally did my duty and finished Heather's tag. Now here comes the fun part. I get to pick 6 people to do the same. However, I don't know 6 people with blogs that haven't already been tagged so Mutti, Mike, and Nancy, you are it. Give me a call if you have any questions.

Oreo Addendum

By Bob



I thought I'd write a bit more about Oreos since I am an expert on the subject and due to the fact that there is some new information out about the most loved cookie on earth. The following is from a website that proclaims itself "America's Finest News Source." Yes, I am referring to TheOnion.com. Here's the news flash:

A new report released by the Food and Drug Administration Monday suggests that regular consumption of Oreo's Double Stuf cookies could lead to an increased tolerance to stuf.
"For 90 percent of Americans, it now takes twice as much stuf to reach the same level of satisfaction once achieved with a single layer of stuf," the report read in part. "Millions of consumers have taken drastic measures to recreate their initial stuf experience, including the manual construction of quadruple-stuf Oreos and chronic stuf-licking. Some have even gone so far as to twist off one side of the cookie, scrape the stuf off with their teeth, and discard the two chocolate wafers."

Can anyone else relate? Oreo addicts: Please post comments. After all, BibbidiBobilyBoo is your Oreo support group headquarters.

Random Walk: A Book Review

By Bob

For one of my classes I have been reading a book called A Random Walk Down Wall Street written by Burton G. Malkiel. Some would probably consider Random Walk a boring book about investments, but this finance nerd considers it quite interesting and even stimulating. The main theme of the book is that "Investors would be far better off buying and holding an index fund than attempting to buy and sell individual securities or actively managed mutual funds." Here are a few other quotes from the book that make it interesting:
"Financial analysts in pin-striped suits do not like being compared to bare-[bottomed] apes." (I had to censor this one)
"If you sit down at the table and can't figure out who the sucker is, get up and leave because it's you." --p.237
"Never buy anything from someone who is out of breath." --p243
"If the S&P index were an athlete, we would probably be testing it for steroids." --p. 270
"More than two-thirds of professional portfolio managers have been outperformed by the unmanaged S&P 500 Index." --p17
Hmmm...maybe it wasn't that interesting.
Did anyone else hear that the Disney film Bambi made it onto Time Magazine's Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time? I always thought it was pretty scary, but I thought I was the only one.
I had a job interview on Wednesday that I bombed. It wasn't a huge atomic-sized bomb or anything, but it was like a pipe bomb. What happened was that I was expecting a few non-technical questions before the technical ones, but the first question I was asked was "What is a balance sheet?"As I said I wasn't really expecting a technical question right off the bat and I goofed my answer. I know what a BS is, but I just wasn't confident enough with my response. I will have other chances that will go more smoothly and I'll update you all when those happen.

School, Squeegees, and Sandwiches

by Bob

Well, it's time to update everyone on what's been happening here at the Bobily household for the last few weeks.
School has been going well. Just a few weeks ago I started a new class. It is a half-semester course and it has been wonderful! It's called Career Management Skills and we have gone over resume basics, how to write a cover letter, interview preparations, and this week we will be having a panel discussion with several different hiring managers from different firms where we will discuss the various aspects of interviewing. We will be able to hear directly from these hiring managers what they're looking for when interviewing candidates. What's been really cool about this class is the fact that what I'm learning applies directly to things I am currently doing. This semester I'm polishing my resume, applying for jobs, and I'll be having several job interviews over the next few weeks. Don't get too excited, though...I may have to go through a few job interviews before I find the job I'm looking for.
I'm sure you're wondering why the word "squeegee" is in the title of this entry. Let me explain. This time of year as we approach Christmas I have to endure the ever dreaded question, "What do you want for Christmas?" For those of you who don't know, I do NOT like people buying things for me. Am I weird? I feel that people should just spend the money on something for themselves. This is probably the reason I'm so hard to shop for. But I have accepted the fact that there are some people out there who will, no matter what I say, buy a gift for me. Please don't think I'm being ungrateful. I do appreciate it when people go
against my wishes and spend money on me, but if you're going to...just buy me something I am already going to buy like deodorant, socks, toothpaste or a squeegee. A squeegee, you ask? Yes, I have a huge obsession with clean windows. It drives me crazy when there is dirty glass of any kind. I know I'll be in trouble when we have kids. From what I understand kids come with sticky fingers that are the worst enemy of nice streak-free glass. It's almost therapy for me to not just clean windows, but to check every inch of the glass multiple times until there are no streaks, spots, or finger prints. Yes, I know how weird this sounds. In fact, if I could spend a good 20-30 minutes cleaning my windows with the squeegees at the gas station, I would; I have tried this and about 3 minutes after my gas is done pumping I start to get honks from the people waiting to pump their gas. After another 2 minutes or so the obscenities begin. This is when window washing stops being therapeutic. I just stick my tongue out at these rude people and drive away to a more peaceful place with my windex and newspaper. (Newspaper gives you a streak-free shine when cleaning glass) So, I'm ready when people ask, "Bob, what do you want for Christmas?" Here's my answer: I WANT A SQUEEGEE!!!
I mentioned in my last update that we are trying to eat more healthily. Things are going alright, I guess. We have been buying fresh sliced turkey at the deli counter at the supermarket and making sandwiches. I add lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, mayo (just a little), and my favorite ingredient...jalapeños. Yum!
Mutti will tell you that I used to hate sandwiches that did not include peanut butter. Sandwiches with fresh meat were always "slimy." Honestly, they still are a bit slimy to me, but the redeeming quality of the sandwiches I now enjoy is the jalapeños. I also enjoy these spicy treats on pizza and hamburgers. They are so good! Now,, I have not been perfect with my eating habits. Last Friday I had a will-power breakdown and ate 10 whole Oreo cookies. Double Stuf!!! And just in case anyone is counting--this equals 700 calories. Oh, and Double Stuf Oreos have 17 more calories per cookie than regular Oreos. This reminds me, I need to go find some cookies!