Clean House

I have three shows I really like. One of them I catch when I can on the Style Network; it's called Clean House. I love it. It's very formulaic but fun (for me) too, cheesy jokes and all. Here's the formula:

1. A messy family is introduced.

2. The Clean House cast comes to the house to meet the family and check out the mayhem.

3. They begin trying to get the family to let go of the clutter they don't need. (You'd be surprised at the emotional connection people make with the strangest things.)The hostess sits the family down to discover what is causing all of the foolishness and gives them straight talk counsel.

4. They have a huge yard sale. Whatever they don't sell goes to charity. The money they make from the yard sale is matched by the show for the first thousand dollars. This is the money they will use to organize and redecorate 2-3 rooms in the house.

5. The family is sent to a hotel for a couple days while the entire Clean House crew proceeds to clean, organize, and decorate the home.

6. The family comes back for reveal day. Most love the transformation, and hopefully they are motivated to not be clutter slobs anymore.

So, with that said... Sometimes when I watch the show and it gets to the family in the hotel part, the owners of the home will start expressing how nervous they are about how the house is going to be decorated. What if they don't like it? They have picky tastes, etc.

This is where my confusion comes into play. If your home is so packed with trash and clutter that you've got cat poop tucked away for years or a massive ant problem in your kitchen or an overwhelming stench of garbage or you can't sleep on your own bed because there are too many things on top and no where else to put it or the list goes on..... and people are willing to step in and clean up your nasty mess, wouldn't you just be grateful? Who cares if the paint color is one you wouldn't choose yourself? ANYTHING would be an improvement from the pile that it was before. Most of the people on the show are very grateful for the help even before they see the transformation, but a few of them... I tell you. I think that you've lost any credibility as far as your own home design goes once you can't tell what type of flooring you have because there is too much junk covering it.

Sidenote: Why do so many of the people on this show have doll collections? Interesting coincidence, don't you think?

Also, if you ever have a chance to watch one of the 2 messiest home in the country episodes, do it. It will make you feel like your home is a shining beacon of clean.

Husband Tag

Erica tagged me a couple weeks ago...sorry it takes me forever to get to things. (Insert Maren-is-always-late joke here.) I started to answer the tag questions and then remembered that I'd done this one before, or one similar to it. Jake is 32 now, but other than that...

By the way, Jake started his official 12 week training for a half marathon in February this week. If you see him, give him some encouragement or a nerdy thumbs up or something. Gooooooo, Jake!

Pictures taken

If you remember my rant about last year's picture taking fun you'll understand why I was looking for an alternative this year. We hired my friend Elizabeth at http://www.earthmamaphotography.com to take Tessa's two year pictures and some family shots. I'm so pleased that we did. How nice to spend time with a patient photographer --one who wants to take our picture.
We are in the process of picking out which pictures we want, but I did want to share a couple with you that she had posted for us to see. (Uh, if this isn't legal for me to post these yet, Liz, please tell me.) There are several that I love that I will get to show you when I have them in my possession. I'd send you over to the whole client gallery of us, but I will be completely and embarassingly honest in this-- I am too selfish and vain. It turns out I look like a hungry rabid heyena when I laugh sometimes. I laugh a lot. I shouldn't laugh around a camera. Vain, I tell you. I just can't do that to you or myself. (Keep quiet, Jake.) I'll wait until I can pick and choose which ones to show you. Sorry. My blog.

Seasonal Help

I worked with this company off and on for three years while I was attending SUU. I would come home during summer and other breaks and work in good ol' Fashion Place Mall. It was a good set up to have. Then life continued, I moved, was a server at Tony Roma's for a year while finishing college, taught insane but loveable Jr. High Students for 5 years, then retired at the ripe age of 27 to stay home with the kid. I have a couple of small random side jobs that fit into life that I do right now, but Jake's current schedule has been more open during evenings this semester than any of the others. I talked to him about possibly applying for nighttime seasonal help somewhere, just because I could......and because I want the AC in my car fixed.
So I marched into the mall one day and presented my extremely limited schedule to TR wondering how they would weigh previous experience with it. Turns out it wasn't a problem, and I was hired. What I'm getting to is that this was the easiest first day of a job I've had in my life. It was so nice not being completely clueless and overwhelmed and just having things come back to me. No problem. Strut-ting. I've also found that I'm not as terrified to approach people as I once was. Hooray for working on a lifetime of awkwardness! still working on it. I once swore I would never work retail during Christmas again (or ever) because it made me hate people. I lied. I'm tougher this time around. I think it'll be kind of fun and then over before I know it.... and then I'll have made, what?, like 34 bucks or something.
And don't worry to those of you related to me. I will not be Christmas shopping there at all. I will not be finding every possible piece of metal in my possession to engrave like I did last time. I'm just seasonal. I don't get to engrave this time around.

Can you believe this?!

Fox goes for a jogger

The Associated Press

Prescott, Arizona --With a rabid fox locked onto her arm, an Arizona jogger ran a mile to her car and drove to a hospital.

Attack

The fox attacked the woman, whose identity was not released, while she was running Monday, biting her foot, then latching onto her arm. She ran to her car, pulled the fox off her arm, wrapped it in a sweat shirt and tossed it into the trunk.

Second Attack

When an animal control officer opened the trunk, the fox attacked him, too.

Shots

Both victims are receiving rabies vaccinations.

CAN YOU IMAGINE running a mile with a fox hanging onto your arm by its teeth?!?!?!?!

(This beats the raccoon who still escaped after being tasered by a Texas cop.)

What would YOU have done?

Days leading up to the end o' the month

I know it's about time I posted this stuff. I tried to get a slideshow together so I could put all the pics up at the same time, but I can't figure out what is going wrong --I'm going with collages instead.
We had a celebration with costumes on for Tiny Tots Tunes class.
The kids love to line themselves up by the door when class is done (and sometimes during class). I don't know why. But, it was the easiest picture of a bunch of toddlers I've ever been able to get.
The spider arrived just in time for Halloween decorations. Jake found him right outside the backdoor, killed him, and then decided he wanted a Vogue photoshoot. Creeeeepy. You can kinda see the web through the clouds, and the hair on that thing?! Ew.

Turn them out knaves all three

We had a very happy Halloween. Gma and Gpa McBride were able to be with us for the weekend. Tessa was beyond happy, and she sobbed when they finally had to leave.
So, we were the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker at our ward's trunk or treat. I thought it was fairly easy to figure out our cotumes (or "coscomes" to Tessa). Apparently to some, it wasn't. I would like to make fun of all those people at this time. Jake has a butcher knife, an apron, and a hat that says "Joe's Butcher shop", Tessa's costume is beyond obvious, and, yes, I'm usually the more obscure one, but considering the company I was keeping plus the candles strung on me and in my apron, it's possible to figure out. Oooooooh, NOW you see. ;) Too funny.
Few understood my crazy cat lady costume from last year either.
I still love dressing up.
Jake and I have almost finished all of Tessa's trunk or treat candy. Uhhhhhh.....sorry, kid.
For Halloween lunch we ate at a place called Matito's. Mmmmmmm. My first time there.There is a dip called the Bob Armstrong that is not on the menu. I wanted a straw and a 32 oz. cup filled with the stuff so I could drink it down in record time. Heaven for my tastebuds.
I would recommend the place.

Fort Worth Zoo

Happy Birthday, Jake!

We love the Fort Worth Zoo. The trek is well worth it. We were happy that the Ereksons could join us --and, of course, Gma and Gpa McB.