Attachments to People I Don't Even Really Know...

Today my boss told Karen and I some very sad news. At first it didn't seem all that sad until we realized who he was talking about...

We have a lot of older customers who frequent Mail Services. This is probably due to several things. The number one reason is probably because most of them are so feeble they couldn't manage to stand in line at a regular post office. (There is one old man who comes in that I can never figure out how he walks he is so hunched over.) Another reason is we are a lot nicer than government employees (hi, have you ever BEEN to a normal post office- maybe it's just my bad luck but they are always so MEAN to me! You feel like you've inconvenienced them by providing them business). Another reason older people love us is because they can come by and drop off their packages to the MTC (all for grandchildren I assure you). Anyway, the fact is these elderly men and women are customers that the secretaries see all the time. I used to work at the front desk and even though I didn't know all of their names I got to know them very well. There is the adorable old man who gives out business cards that say "SMILE - you can keep the card, but please, return the smile" (I have dozens of these things) and always repeats the price in Spanish, there is the little old man who can never understand why we don't keep records of every letter we send out because his letter didn't arrive at its destination and he needs to prove he sent it, there is the little old lady that is so blind her daughter puts her finger on the line she has to sign on after we swiper her credit card (but she always insists on signing herself), and along with several others there is my most favorite customer of all. Until today I didn't even know her name but she has always been my favorite out of all the Mail Services regulars.

She is a petite little lady with white poofy hair and little round spectacles. She always calls you "honey" or "dear" when you are helping her, but not in a way that seems funny. It always seems like you've known her forever and it's perfectly normal for her to refer to you with endearing terms. She always talks to you about things she's been doing with her grandkids - like playing "Sorry!" with her grandson who always wins. And she faithfully brings all her grandchildren packages when they're in the MTC (even when she forgets to put the eggs in the cookies, lol she still sends them off). Anyway, this lady is adorable, and even though I really know nothing about her I guess I've managed to form an attachment to her. Today Lane told us her husband passed away. Karen and I were so heart-broken for her because we know she probably feels sad and that makes us sad... I just find it so interesting that without really knowing someone, you can get to know them. You can care about them even if you don't know their name.

Good News Wednesday

I'M AN ENGLISH TEACHING MAJOR!!!! I picked up my acceptance letter today =-) Looks like I'll eventually graduate in something after all!

Family Visitor

Chad's Dad is spending the weekend with all of us here in Provo! I'm really excited because it will be so much fun to spend time with him AND we get to go out to eat TWICE how fabulous is that??? PLUS he has brought us each 3 Bojangles biscuits AND a ton of frozen wedding cake to replenish our diminished supply!!!! I am so happy! This is definitely going to make up for the horrible week I have had. I had several nights this week where I was up until 2 in the morning only to wake up at 5 to finish everything before classes. I will be so happy when this semester is over. I hope Chad is right and that next semester will be better, he keeps telling me that every time I have an emotional breakdown...I'm so glad he listens to me and makes me feel better. I don't know how he is so patient but I sure love him =-)

New Snacks to Crave

I guess when you live with someone a lot of things about them rub off on you. You start to say the same things, have the same mannerisms, and I have recently discovered you can also develop the same snack habits. Before we got married, I used to think Chad snacked on the strangest things. One time he baked an entire cake, cut it into pieces and froze an entire 13 x 9 yellow cake with chocolate frosting...I thought he was completely insane. As I helped him individually wrap each piece in cellophane I thought, "this is going to taste disgusting...why are you doing this?" I voiced that it struck me as a bit odd, but hey it was his snack- he could eat frozen cake if he wanted to. Well, since then I have discovered he was not insane, he was a complete genius. After our wedding there was a TON of cake left. We brought a lot of it back from North Carolina with us (and Joy later brought us more when she came to visit) and froze it. Can I just say that this frozen wedding cake business was the most delectable snack known to man? I would vouch to say that I preferred the frozen variety over the regular. You've got to understand, you may be reading this and wondering what I'm so excited about. The thing is, the cake doesn't get hard! I thought you'd freeze it and it would be this hard, ice structure that you'd have to thaw out to eat. YOU DON'T! You just pop it out of the freezer, unwrap, and enjoy! It's just this delicious combination of cold icing with soft cake...I LOVE IT! We had two kinds- a delectable yellow variety with buttercream icing and COCONUT sprinkled around the edges, and a fabulous chocolate as well. I used to come home from school and savor a piece with a big glass of leche (yes, see some good DID come out of the frozen cake business- it got me to intake some calcium!) Anyhow, I think over the course of a month I probably solely consumed an entire layer of wedding cake. (Disgusting I know, but if it was in your freezer tempting you...you just can't imagine how hard it is to pass up.) Well, we've since run out of wedding cake, but my desire for the treat has been reborn. Over the last couple of days I've had visions of wedding cake dancing in my head. I guess I could make a cake and freeze it, but I just don't' know if it would be the same...I guess it's something to think about. Anyway, it's kind of funny how I now crave Chadwick's favorite snacks. I've also become addicted to the Food Lion cereal he always munches on...craziness.

The Chefs

One of the things I absolutely love about Chad and I is how much we both appreciate good food. This may seem like a funny thing to love...Let me explain a little bit. I guess when I say "good" food I really mean we both like the same kinds of food (with the exception of mushrooms-YUCK- for some reason my husband finds this fungus to be delicious while I find it absolutely disgusting). We both really like ethnic food in particular, and we love to try new things. I think it is the coolest thing because we never have to eat something the other person hates, it's great! When I was living in London I fell completely in love with Indian food! Chad likes it too, so one of our favorite restaurants in Provo is a little Indian food place called the Bombay House. Anyway, this last week we became cooking fiends. We decided to try out our own Indian food skills and try to compete with our favorite restaurant (it's too expensive to eat at now that we are poor and married). Our eating habits are so random because we never do anything in between- We either prepare gourmet meals from scratch, or we have frozen pizza... It's really quite humorous. Anyhow, this last week we pulled out our "Best-Ever Curry Cookbook" and went crazy.

On Wednesday we made quite possibly the most amazing dinner we have ever made (and we make some good dinners folks so that's saying a lot). We made chicken tikka masala. This is one of our favorite things to order at the Bombay House, and folks our rendition of the dish was AMAZING!!! And it looked just like what we order for a lot more money at the restaurant! (It was also a lot more work than when we go out to eat...but hey, you can't ask for perfection, right?) We literally made the entire thing from scratch with spices and everything. I was so completely impressed with our cooking skills (did I mention how much I love that Chad also likes to cook? How fun is that?) Not only was the food AMAZING, but we also got to eat it on our awesome "cool-blue fusion" plates (we got some of the best wedding gifts ever). I must say I felt pretty chic on Wednesday.

On Thursday I busted out the "Favorite Italian Dishes" cookbook and went to town- when Chad came home from work we had chicken parmesan with homemade red sauce, penne pasta, and caesar salad. Are you not sooooooo impressed? 2 actual meals in a row!

Anyway, I love that we have so much fun doing random things like this. Being married is pretty much the best thing ever, I love it! I'm so glad I found a husband that gets as excited as I do when something we made looks like it did at the restaurant, and that he doesn't think it's weird that I am so completely giddy about it. I love Chad, he is the best husband a girl could ask for. And I must say, we make quite the chefs!