Another Chapter Closed

Today I had to say goodbye to my car. And it broke my heart. This is what my poor baby looks like. A few weeks ago, some crazy old bat pulled out in front of me and I couldn't stop in time. It was 2:00 p.m., dry roads and the sun was shining (rare for this lovely town that I live in). I was headed to the grocery store. Minding my own business. And all the sudden she makes a left turn in front of me - she told the police officer that she "just didn't see me". She received the traffic citation and was remanded to appear in court to have her driving privileges evaluated. She is 88 years old and clearly should not have been on the road. At first I felt sorry for her. And now I just want to scream at her.

I will pay the consequences for her negligence for the next several years. After 2 1/2 weeks of fighting with her insurance company, they are finally in the process of issuing me a settlement. The car is a total loss - the repair bill added up to $7,600. I've decided that having insurance is an absolute joke. They don't make you whole. If that were the case, they would have fixed my car and not issued a salvage title. As it is, I will have to live with the settlement that they have offered and go buy a new car. And I don't want a new car. I want the car of my dreams. The car that was paid for. The car that I took care of so that it would last me for at least 10 years. We are using the money that we were paying for the car to save for a house.

And that leads me to fun fact #2 for 2010. Why do I need to save for a house, you might ask? Why don't I just sell my house in Utah and take the money from my down payment and buy a new house?? I just found out that due to all of the foreclosures in my neighborhood in Utah, I am now upside-down in my house in Utah. And to top that off, we are going to have to lower the rent by $150 - $200 beginning in May because the rental market is saturated right now. The rent we currently receive doesn't cover the mortgage payment.

And that leads to fun fact #3. The real estate agents are predicting that another wave of foreclosures is going to hit the market in the second or third quarter of this year. Which means the house value will drop even further. At this rate, it will be 5-6 years before we can even think about selling the house. Guess we'll be renters, in this town that I despise with all my heart, for the next 5-6 years. And really, let's be honest. At this point, I'm not just throwing money out the window. I'm shoveling it out the window. So let's just add a little more salt to the wound. It's one thing if you make a stupid financial decision yourself. Of course you should pay the consequences for that decision. But it's another thing entirely if you have to sit back and watch others make stupid decisions for you. I hate being stupid. I thought 2010 would definitely have to be better than 2009. So far, I'm not impressed.

At the end of the day, I realize that this is not a crisis. Cory and I are not destitute. We will not starve. It just means that it will take us longer to reach our financial goals. It just means that I have to re-adjust my hopes and dreams. And it might take me a while to be okay with that. Cory tells me to suck it up - this is life.

One funny thing about this whole ordeal. I did have someone from a chiropractic practice here in town call me to tell me that he had heard about the accident and wanted to offer me a free consultation and adjustment, if necessary. Really? I thought only lawyers (sorry Tams) were the ambulance chasers. You learn something new every day.

Our Magic Carpet Has Arrived!

For those of you who looked at the pictures from our cruise, you may remember that we purchased a carpet (rug) in Turkey. They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get to us. Add in the holiday shipping delays, and it took a little longer than that. But we finally have it! This is what the package looked like when it arrived. I'll never be able to get it rolled up like that again.

They had me sign the rug at the store so that we would know it was really the rug we selected.

This is a wool on wool blend. Apparently it is mid-range quality, as far as Turkish rugs go. The cotton rugs are lower quality and the silk rugs are the best (obviously). The quality of a rug is measured in how many knots are tied per square inch. More knots = higher quality. We were told that it took someone 10 months to make our rug.

The rug is still in our living room so we can admire it for a few more days. We'll have to wait until we have a house before we can leave it out for good. Oh wait, we do have a house. Someone else just gets to live in it instead of us. But I'm not bitter...

Party Time!

It's already been one week since Cory's birthday. Where does the time go?? Oh wait...I'm doing three people's jobs at work. There's no time for anything anymore. But I digress. Cory celebrated his birthday by going to the Packers' playoff game against the Cardinals. The Packers didn't win, but it was a great game!
Cory and Evan both drove semi trucks to Phoenix and Jordan hitched a ride. And no, I was not invited. :-)

Our celebration at home paled in comparison. Cory went to Mutual on his birthday and then he opened a few presents. My parents gave him a cover for his new chainsaw. Cory is so anxious to go out and cut something (anything!) down...

He also requested a book titled "Elk Hunting the West". This book now has a proud place in our bathroom. Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!

Homemade Bread

As far as successes go, this one isn't monumental. But it was still a pretty big deal for me so I figured I better document it for posterity's sake. After all, it may never happen again. I made my first-ever loaf of homemade bread and it was actually edible! My brother tells me that I am turning into my grandmother. I'll take that as a compliment, thankyouverymuch. I received a wheat grinder for x-mas so now I can make my own flour and my own bread. Sweet! I'm also going to try sprouting some wheat and then drying it and making my own wheat germ. I have a recipe book of all the things you can do with your food storage. If anyone has any suggestions, I would certainly love to hear from you.

Happy New Year And All That Jazz...

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2010! It has to be better than last year... Cory and I went to dinner with Jared and Camille last night and then we went to chaperon a youth church dance. I was highly entertained at the dance but I think Cory was about ready to slit his wrists. The techno beat and the songs from Beyonce and Lady Gaga about did him in. I would never want to go back and repeat those awkward moments at dances. The sweaty palms, trying to hide from the guy that you didn't want to dance with, everyone grooving to the fast songs and then running for cover (or back to your safe group of friends) when the slow songs came on, etc. Good times.

I'm slow at posting our pictures from Christmas, so here are a few of them. Ashlee and Emilee helped me pick out new Christmas tree decorations this year. Hooray! Thanks girls! The tree came down two days after Christmas...

Cory got a toolbox for the back of his truck. And he gave me some of my fine china dishes (but they are still somewhere in UPS-Land).

Cory also received a chainsaw for Christmas. Let's please all take a moment to make that grunting noise that Tim-the-Toolman-Taylor makes. :-)

Karen got a window-pane for Christmas. She is so creative - she can turn old stuff into something cute and fun!

I think this was Jaron's box of socks...

Jaron & Karen gave Cory a little pan so he can make his own eggs when we are camping. When we were camping this summer, Cory informed everyone that "a lot of good things come out of Marisa's kitchen, but eggs aren't one of them." *GASP* I know...it's a rookie husband mistake.

We stopped by Grant & Connie's house to open presents on x-mas night. They spoiled us rotten too! I took some pictures of the rest of the fam, but they didn't turn out. Dang!

Thanks to everyone for another great Christmas. We are very blessed and fortunate!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

And how, you might ask, can I tell that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas? By my expanding waistline, naturally! :-) I've got cookies, gift basket goodies, candy, hot chocolate and other miscellaneous fattening items all over my counter. And I'm home all day, which means that I sit and stare at them ALL DAY!

Since I'm already packing on the pounds, a day making homemade chocolates at Grandma Jones' house seemed appropriate. The Johnson girls ventured to Grandma's house to try our hand at making fondant and caramels for dipping. Grandma Jones is an expert and I think it must drive her crazy to watch us fumble our way through the recipes. It takes a lot of praying...as Camille is demonstrating below. Got to get the temperature just right!
Ash is lookin' good making some caramel. It tasted fabulous!

The dipping part is pretty messy. Camille and Emilee make it look easy!

And here is our fearless leader. I must say that the chocolates all turned out really well. They are sitting in a pretty tin on my counter and I have a staring contest with them every day. They usually win...

Thanksgiving, Missionaries and Soldiers

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with the Johnson clan - I even tried some sweet potatoes and liked them! I did get up at 5:00 a.m. on Black Friday to go shopping. I was home and back in bed by 10:00 a.m. On Saturday, the Hollingsworth side of my family came to Idaho Falls for my cousin Cade's mission homecoming. He has been serving a mission for our church in Argentina for the past two years. They called him Elder Hollywood because the people in Argentina couldn't pronouce his name. The funny thing is...Cade's personality totally fits the "Hollywood" title. He is larger than life and it is so nice to have him home! Cade is pictured below (with the glasses) along with some more of my cousins.

Cute girls - this is Jordan and Laken. Jordan and the rest of her family (plus my parents) stayed at our house on Saturday night. We had 10 people sleeping in our tiny two-bedroom duplex!

Whitney and Jason are expecting a baby on Dec. 25th. We are so excited for them!!

This is Hudson and Channing. Hudson is one of the happiest babies I've ever met - he is a cutie!

In addition to celebrating Cade's homecoming, we also got together to see my Uncle Guy who has been serving in Iraq for the past six months. Guy got to come home for his two-week leave so that he could see Cade.

It was very enlightening to be able to hear some of Guy's stories from Iraq. He has seen a lot of horrible stuff - he couldn't give us many details because most of it is still classified. Guy is on his way back to Iraq for another four months (minimum). I can certainly see first-hand what a sacrifice it is for his family to have him gone. My Aunt Christine said she wasn't even in the mood to put up her Christmas tree - maybe next year. Thankfully some nice girls from her ward (church) came over and put up the decorations for her.

In addition to serving as a colonel in the army, Guy was recently set apart as the Area President for Iraq (similar to a Stake President). This is the first time that the Priesthood has been formally organized in Iraq since the time of Daniel. Guy is going to call some counselors upon his return to Iraq. He says that the calls have to be issued via Skype since it's too dangerous to move about freely and try to contact someone in person. Pretty amazing stuff!

I just want to take a moment to thank all of the military personnel who are serving our country right now and I would like to thank their families for the sacrifice they are making as well. What brave men and women!!