Live From The DNC

Since I live in Denver, it feels like I would be shirking my civic duty not to share this with you. It's the part of Obama's speech last night that they didn't show on network television. Enjoy, and thanks Greg for the link!

A Good Cause

As you know, I blog on another site with three other fabulous and talented women. One of my friends over there, Lisa, has been struggling within her family due to a very serious plane crash that killed a flight instructor and critically injured her sister and brother-in-law to the degree that it's going to take many, many months and millions of dollars for recovery. The couple also have four young children. Today, along with many other supporters, we are joining in a silent auction to raise money for the family. Currently up for bid on Light Refreshments Served is a giclee print, tickets to a Maroon5 / Counting Crows concert, a signed guitar from James, lead guitarist of Maroon 5 (and Lisa's brother), as well as a DVD collection and links to many other amazing items.

I invite you to join thousands of others trying to help this young and beautiful family - come bid on something you like or make a donation if you feel so inclined. Thanks everybody - the outpouring of love for this couple and family has been oozing all over the internet since this happened, and it hasn't gone unnoticed by the family. I know they appreciate all the love and prayers that have been offered on their behalf.

Calling All Non Creepy Denver-ites

My internet friend Randi and I have been making comments on each other's blogs for many, many months now, and since we live in suburbs of the same city of Denver we've decided that it's time to meet in person. We'd also like to invite other Denver bloggers who are not freaks or stalkers to join us tomorrow! If you're interested email me at bunsofsteele0605@comcast.net and I'll give you the details. Sorry for the short notice - we just hammered out the details yesterday!

My Best Friend's (ex) Boyfriend

The other night I was having trouble sleeping when I thought up a brilliant idea for my next prank on my friend Ganelle. Recently she stumbled upon a blog of one of her ex-boyfriends – it’s a detailed account of his daily life with his wife and multiple children. As you can imagine, this kind of information has similar addictive qualities as meth, and she’s been stalking lurking for weeks, curiously reading about his life and family activities etc. (I would like to clarify that she is happily married and not pining after a former guy, just curious.) Still, she panicked when he added a site meter to his blog and she wondered if he’d now be able to tell that she was visiting so she stopped.

Lying awake and staring at the ceiling is when it hit me - I knew exactly what to do, and I jumped out of bed to head down to the computer. For the last three days I’ve been pretending to be her ex-boyfriend, creating a bogus email account using his name and then emailing her to say (basically), “Hey, I noticed you’ve been visiting my family blog, I managed to find yours too, how’s life going?” That’s when she called me and said, “Crap! He knows! What do I write back?” So I helped her draft her response, to ME. My final email was sent to her last night – this is what it said:

Ganelle:

Well, I haven't quite adopted the enthusiasm of blogging as much as my wife has, but I’ve managed to catch up with a few friends. So, your husband sounds pretty important and successful. Is that why you chose him over me? I was pretty devastated when it didn’t work out between us. My wife is great and everything, but to speak candidly she’s only second best.

Your kids look cuter than mine, too. I know that my wife paints a pretty happy picture on our family blog, but it’s pretty much a façade. On my darkest days I get out old pictures of you and I in college and imagine what might have been, but I know that’s not very healthy. I had a little bit of counseling which helped for a while, and then I saw your picture in the BYU alumni magazine and saw that you hadn’t changed a bit and it brought back old feelings. At least I don’t put that picture under my pillow anymore.

Even though I don’t contribute much to the family blog, I have a secret blog that no one else knows about that’s dedicated to you. I guess it’s okay to tell you about it since you’re the only who will know! The web address is: http://www.iloveganelle.blogspot.com

If you left a comment it would absolutely make my day!!!

Still Love You,
[he who shall not be named]

She must have checked her email around 10:19 pm because my phone rang at 10:20. Luckily, she was laughing!

Technical Difficulties and June Cleaver

A few weeks ago I tried multiple times to post a YouTube video to my blog and it was giving me grief. I finally got it to work, but apparently the ones that were unsuccessful at the time all the sudden showed up on my blog, making it a little redundant. I really don't love Justin Timberlake as much as you might think at this point, and I feel better clearing that up!

Anyway, we are moved and starting to feel settled. Yesterday I made cookies and delivered them to all my neighbors as if to say, "See how cool The New People are? They're so nice I bet you don't want to let your dogs bark after 10pm or let them loose to take a dump in their yard. You probably don't even want to harrass them about hurrying up already to get their landscaping in, because that's the kind of power that this particular cookie recipe holds. It just says, 'Be Patient. She knows how to operate her oven and that could work to my advantage.'" I met one woman who commented that this neighborhood felt like Leave It To Beaver Street. Better go get myself some pumps and a nice dress.

All along I've been looking for some kind of confirmation that we did the right thing by moving here. You know, nothing fancy, just some kind of message in the clouds that says, "Vern: You did the right thing, and you picked precisely the house that I planned for you. Good job. Love, God." Instead Drew came home on the second day of school and announced that he had made a friend. Then we moved in and realized that this friend lives two doors down in our cul-de-sac. Then this kid invited Drew to his birthday party, which consisted of pizza and the premiere of the new Star Wars movie "Clone Wars" after which they would have lightsaber fights outside. So yeah, it's no burning bush or anything but I'm calling it good.

Yesterday I asked Samantha how she was doing with the changes and everything and she said, "I'm taking it better than I thought I would." Apparently she thought she would be crying herself to sleep every night. Frankly, I had the same concern, but that has not been the case. She said having all of our things in the house made it feel more like home. Plus, I yell just the same here as I did at the other house, so I'm sure that helps. I do what I can.

Because I Care

We close on our new house tommorrow, so I am in the complete chaos that is packing up the last eleven years of our life. We have a ton of boxes as a result of friends who have gone out of their way and a husband with access to a shipping area. They represent many companies including Crate & Barrel, Budweiser, and Oreck, but there is one box in particular that caught my attention while packing today. I took pictures for you because that's the kind of person that I am, I'm a giver. But seriously, if you saw this on the side of a box wouldn't you be really curious where it originated from?

Their warnings also sound very serious. These people don't mess around. Or maybe they do, and this box of goods is exactly what they need to get their lives in order:

This part however, THIS I understand:

It's Almost Like I Can Forgive Him For Dating Britney Spears

I had no idea Justin Timberlake was so funny! Now I want to invite him to my family reunions and have him participate in our "Skit Nights". Thanks to my niece Brie for the link...