The 'deer' office view

I recently moved with all of Graduate Studies into the Former Presidents' Home on the BYU campus. This used to be a home for the University President so it has a backyard and stands pretty much by itself on the edge of the hill. We often see deer out the windows around lunch time and late afternoon. The deer family lives just off the hill in the wooded part between upper campus and the lower parking lot by the tennis courts. I love the view of the yard now that many of the leaves have changed and are falling. I can see Timp right out my window and also the lake to the west. I have two walls of windows! Can't get much better than this. I just wanted to share these few photos with you so you could imagine me at work!

Tag, by no one, just for fun

Fourth folder, fourth photo. This is Clyde and myself at the Neil Diamond concert at the Hollywood Bowl in LA, October 1, 2008. We bought the cheap seats and went with Camille. We knew almost all the songs! Neil Diamond is 67 and has been singing the same songs since we were in college!

33 years

October 24 was our 33rd anniversary. That's more years living with Clyde than I did with my parents! I still love and like Clyde! We went to the temple and to dinner at the Harvest Room at Thanksgiving point. That place is an undiscovered gem! not too busy, quiet, and the most tender steak ever! and the rest of the food was delicious too. For my gift to Clyde and to ME, I stayed home from work and did something I really wanted to do - I cleaned and organized the den. It had kind of become a huge dumping ground since I began full time work two years ago and then a lot of my time was directed at planning three weddings for KC, Nicole and Michelle. No excuse I know but it was messy. I tossed old computer stuff, papers, made piles for shredding, and filed tons of papers off my desk. A filing cabinet is so great. Clyde purchased a new large clock for the den and we hung more photos of Germany. I had wanted Clyde to help me do the den for a long time but he just did not want to get into it like it needed. So 5 hours later, it looked pretty good. I surprised him with my efforts. Here's a few photos to prove it.





























Less is really more- more efficient, more space, more peace, more freedom from stress. I like it this way.

a surprise

A couple of days ago I cleaned out the drawer containing receipts I have been saving. I always keep my grocery receipts so I can tally the month and look at my yearly totals and averages. Apparently I didn't do much except plan a wedding since last November, because the receipts were quite stacked up in my skinny little drawer. What amazed me was how much I spent in some months, and more surprising was how many trips I made to the stores! I live close to Costco and go about 2 or 3 times a month - mostly for the great produce, chicken, and bread. We don't buy any junk food from there. I also go to a regular store for all the other stuff I need. I have planned menus and shopping lists for YEARS, and my spending seems under control, I thought. But adding up the number of receipts (=trips to a store) I have some self control or planning to improve. But Days Grocery is just three minutes away! Adding all the trips together some months I had 12 - 18 receipts!! (=trips to a store=spending $$) Yikes! I am going to try to plan even better, have stuff on hand for special events ( like work parties, family dinners, etc.) and go to a two week menu (buy more, shop less often). Every time I go to a store I always buy more than the items on the list or what I need so it adds up. It is a good exercise to see what you spend on food some months, because it makes you more careful, thrifty, and creative the next month. Just don't wait 9 months before you do the tally, like I did recently. I have kept track of our food spending since 1992! Since that time my household has changed sizes several times, and now it is just me and Clyde. The challenge has begun...

Who am I?

Twice in the last two days I have been mistakenly identified. Yesterday at church I was sitting next to my friend Pattie Shumway. We both have dark hair, about the same style and length. A ward member leans over to Pattie and says,"thanks for the ice cream." She looks puzzled and I whisper to her, "it was me who gave them ice cream."
Then today at 5 pm on the way to my car, someone on the sidewalk was talking on their cell phone. He looked right at me, only 4 feet away and said, "Hi Debbie, have a good night." I smiled and said goodbye. I have no idea who he thought I was! So I guess I can stand in for many faces!

the way up!

This is a photo of one of the streets we drove on as the GPS tried to get us to the hotel!! We just kept going higher and to narrower streets. Very old streets!

GPS confusion

Here is one little story from our Germany Trip:
We rented a car and brought our own GPS system to help us get around. Camille was the great navigator, interpreter of the directions etc. It worked pretty well to get us to Salzburg. We put in the hotel address and it seemed to take us right to it, except it took us kind of past the street the hotel was on. Then it took us kind of around the back side of the city, and then started taking us up hilly old cobbled streets. Before we knew it we were next to an old monastery, on a hill and going towards a very narrow stone arch - people were walking on this path. We stopped, put in the mirrors, and after a few scary stalled starts, finally inched through the arch and on to level ground. We then saw a couple of other cars up there. NO way were we going to go down that same way, and our hotel was NOT up here. When we got our nerve to drive again, we saw a different path (cement walking path that went down the front of the hill. We put Camille in the drivers seat and as we slowly started towards the path down, the GPS glibly announced: "Turn right in 500 feet... you have arrived!" We were on the edge of a cliff beneath the fortress and apparently our hotel roof was just down below us!! HAHA. Here is a photo of the fortress in the last light of day. we later learned that our hotel was in a pedestrian area and the GPS will NOT take a car into a forbidden area.