Sunday, December 29, 2019

The end of a decade

Since 2011, I have done an annual year in review on the last Sunday of December (or on January 1, when it falls on a Sunday). So here we are. Time to review 2019.

January. I wrapped up my job at the Sundance Film Festival, and then I got to attend with the ten free tickets I got (that spilled over into February). I spoke in sacrament meeting, thereby missing President Nelson speaking in my home ward.
Apollo 11 was the first film I saw at the Festival, and it was a good one.

February. After the Festival, I had lots of free time, so I began spending time at the Church History Library to do research for my Pioneer Day book. I spent a week in California with my nephews, who were on a February break.

March. At the end of the month, I accompanied my parents to various state parks, national parks, and national monuments in southern Utah. The season began at This Is the Place, but I had helped out there for weeks, doing field trips, cleaning, scheduling, and other things.
This was the first time I saw Delicate Arch.
April. I saw P!nk in concert with my sister, niece, and cousin. I got my copy of The Saints Abroad, the book I coedited, but it officially came out in May.
On the day before Easter, I wanted to run up Mueller Park Canyon. I got a mile up the trail and had absolutely no desire to finish the run, which is not characteristic. Turns out it was the beginning of a sickness, and I had to take off an entire week of work. I usually don't get that sick! I spent some time purging myrtle spurge from the Wild Rose Trail.

May. I did my second Splash 'N' Sprint Triathlon, and my time was worse than last year, but I was recovering from sickness, and the bike route was much harder.
It was an unusually cold and rainy (and snowy) May, which meant I often got off work early from This Is the Place, which gave me more time for research. But I did have to work late on May 10, the sesquicentennial of the transcontinental railroad.

June. I went to see the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti for its final run; it was a kitschy performance, and I understand why it's ending.
I decided I should apply for grad school, so I bought a GRE practice book to study at work. Near the end of the month, some Tongan kids got overheated on a day trek at the park, and the EMTs told them they couldn't push handcarts anymore, so all of us employees had to go get them. For my mom's birthday, I took her to see a cat circus. And on June 30, I wore my American flag suit to church, while my friend Shane wore his Canada suit.

July. I camped with my family at Lake Washington in the Uintas.
This Is the Place dedicated a monument to pioneer children, but I had to direct traffic. It was a miserable day, but it got better when I attended the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day concert featuring Sissel. On Pioneer Day itself, I tried to find a Pie 'n' Beer Day event, thereby learning that it really isn't a thing. On the last day of the month, I went with my parents to camp at Moosehorn Lake, again in the Uintas.

August. I hiked with my dad up Bald Mountain in the Uintas.
I received a free sample of Zombie Skittles to review. And I fed the sister missionaries, giving them tomato zucchini cobbler and grape bread, some of my favorite summertime dishes.

September. I took the GRE and did very well on the verbal part and OK on the other parts. I turned thirty-one. On the day after my birthday, I got bit by a leashed dog on a trail, further cementing my general hatred of dogs.

October. I enjoyed running through the autumn leaves.
This Is the Place had Little Haunts, and I played Alice the Dragon a few times. My work there wrapped up for the season, but I started back at Sundance Institute on October 30. On Halloween, I invited friends over, and we watched The Mummy.

November. I enjoyed running on certain trails in Park City (and North Salt Lake) before the snow stuck around.
I saw Holiday Inn with my grandparents and made sweet potato pie and mincemeat pie for Thanksgiving.

December. I attended three Christmas concerts: JD McPherson, Tabernacle Choir, and the Lower Lights.
JD McPherson's Socks is one of best Christmas albums ever.
I worked lots and lots of overtime, but the craziness subsided right before Christmas, allowing me to enjoy more time with family. I age out of the YSA ward.

But this is not an ordinary year. Not only is it the end of a year, it's the end of a decade. (I know some of you pedants are out there saying it's not the end until the end of 2020, but we refer to decades by their digits, so for all practical purposes, it's a new decade.)

Ten years is a long time, and I certainly have changed. I think I worry less, and I'm more confident. I'm more athletic, with much more impressive calves, but I'm also more obsessed with seasonal junk food.

Anyway, it's time for a review of the entire decade as well.

2010. As a socially awkward, freshly returned missionary, I started my studies at Brigham Young University. I declared a major in English language (linguistics, not literature!) and a minor in editing. I joined a dinner group, and I took up running so that I wouldn't gain back the sixty pounds I lost on my mission. During summer term, I took a Dinosaurs! class, and I got to go with my professor on a dinosaur dig in the days before Pioneer Day.
This was during the Great Recession, and try as I might to get a job in Provo, I couldn't find one. So I took the fall off to find a job at home. It took two months of applying before I got a job at the Church Distribution Center, where I put orders in boxes. It was a good thing I took that fall off. If I had attended that fall, I wouldn't have had a scholarship, but with the way scholarships worked in those days, I got one because I took the fall off. (And I didn't even know that at the time!) My youngest nephew, Nathaniel, was born in January, but I didn't first see him until December.

2011. In winter semester, I got a job cleaning up after sporting events. But I don't think my boss liked me, and I wasn't invited back. (Good thing I don't want to be a janitor!) In the spring, I got to go to Disneyland for the first time with my family.
My niece, Allie, at Disneyland
On May 1, I started this blog! During summer term, I had no roommates, and my air conditioning was out for six weeks. I declared a geology minor, but I didn't have any geology classes that year. In the spring, my dad had to work in Chicago, and then he was laid off. Since funds were tight, I once again took fall semester off, and I got back my job at the Distribution Center. And then my dad got another job and all was well again.

2012. For some reason, 2012 seems to be one of the most memorable and important years of my life. When I think back on things, I often think, "When was that? Oh, 2012, of course it was." I feel like I really became who I am in 2012. I made many friends, including some whom I referred to as "horses" after I had a dream about a horse that took a liking to me. I took my first real editing and geology classes, including one that took me on a field trip to Death Valley. In April, I fainted while running and ended up scraped up. The next week, I got an editing internship with BYU Studies, which changed the direction of my life. I was obsessed with YouTube singer Jan Terri. Even though I took classes every semester and term, I had an enjoyable August, during which I spent some time with my nephews, who had recently moved to California.
This is my youngest nephew, Nathaniel, or Qi-en, but we called him Baby at the time. I absolutely adore this picture of him.

2013. This year wasn't quite as memorable as 2012, its twin, but it's still a major year in my memory. On January 24, we had freezing rain, and I slipped and landed on my teeth. They were chipped and cracked, and I had to get a root canal. That initiated a tremendous fear and hatred of ice, which persists to this day. (At least I no longer have recurring nightmares about ice.) I had a relaxing summer term because I only worked part-time, with no classes, and I got to go to Disneyland with my family again, but my nephews were not impressed. I took many memorable classes, including geology of planets, structure of English (all about ambiguity), the editing capstone, groundwater, swimming for non-swimmers, and Old English. But most memorable of all was geology field studies, during which time we spent two weeks camping, making geologic maps, and exploring the rocks of Utah.
I didn't shave during those two weeks, because when else would it be acceptable to have a beard in a BYU class?

2014. When I think back on 2014, I think of it as a sad year, even though good things happened. On Valentine's Day, I went home to visit, only to witness my mom destroy her leg on the stairs. On Mother's Day, my sister's husband left her. Even the good things were bittersweet times of transition. I got a job with the Church History Department, but that meant I had to leave BYU Studies. I worked for the Church remotely from Provo for a few months after I graduated, but then I moved home in August, bidding Provo and the life I knew goodbye. I began to explore trail running, and running thereby became a hobby rather than simply exercise.
The first and last time I hiked the Y was the day I graduated.

Our cat Jenny sleeping in an interesting position
 2015. This really wasn't a very interesting year. I kept working at the Church History Department, but I transitioned to the team that worked on the book that ultimately became At the Pulpit in 2017. This was the first year I formally celebrated Pioneer Day.
2016. The book A Historian in Zion, which I had coedited, was published. 
 In the summer I went on a family trip to several national parks in California and Oregon. In the fall I was called as executive secretary. And I got my reviewing gig over at The Impulsive Buy.

2017. While 2017 wasn't as fantastic as 2012 or 2013, it was still a wonderful year, because I made it that way. I made bucket lists for every holiday, which led me to do things I wouldn't otherwise do. When I turned 29, I began completing a bucket list of things before I turned 30. So I bought a car (2017 Toyota Rav4 hybrid, which is now paid off!), ran a half marathon, and did other things. In July, my family went to New York City. On July 10, we had to put down our 15-year-old cat Jenny. That was the last time I cried. On October 21, I adopted an 8-year-old cat and named him Jimmy.

I just adore him!
 My job at the Church History Library ended.

2018. I spent months applying to jobs before I landed one at This Is the Place Heritage Park, a job for which I am vastly overqualified.
Here I am with my niece and nephews on the Fourth of July in the print shop.

 As part of my bucket list, I visited all 29 county seats in Utah while I was 29. My family visited New York and New England in June. On Halloween, I began working for the Sundance Film Festival.

2019. I attended the Sundance Film Festival after my job with them ended. I resumed my job at This Is the Place, began spending lots of time doing research for my Pioneer Day book, took the GRE, and applied to grad school. I returned to Sundance Institute in the fall.
In June, I got my copy of The Annals of the Southern Mission. I spent the summer of 2014 making sure every handwritten word was transcribed correctly. It finally got published, so I added it to my shelf of books I've worked on.
"It's the end of a decade.
In another ten years' time,
Who can say what we'll find,
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of [twenty]-nine?"

—ABBA

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Merry and bright

There have been many holiday parties at work over the last couple of weeks. I have wondered whether there are more parties during the holidays, or whether there are just so many parties because this is the time of year when lots of people actually work at Sundance.

Anyway, one of the parties this week was a white elephant gift exchange. When I bought tickets to that P!nk concert, I got several free CDs, so I used one as my gift. There were some decent gifts, and this was one of those games where you can steal presents, but they can only be stolen three times.

One of the gifts was a set of USB Christmas lights, and I knew I had to have them. You see, I already have two little USB Christmas trees, so the Christmas lights would really be more appropriate for me than for anybody else. So I stole them from somebody, but then somebody stole them from me, but I stole them back, and then they were out of play! So now I am the proud owner of a little USB Christmas light set. (They're also an iPhone charger, but I don't have an iPhone. I really don't get how people are OK with the fact that Apple designs stuff so you have to buy more from them. Oh, and as I type this, my brother complains about Apple products. They are the worst!)
That's my USB Christmas tree as well, but I didn't have it plugged in at the time of this picture (it has green lights).
On Wednesday, there was a holiday brunch. Many of these Sundance events have cardboard pitchers of coffee, so I was delighted when they had hot chocolate as well this time. But I wasn't delighted once I tried it. When I was a kid, I remember hearing The Polar Express in school, and it said that the hot chocolate was as thick as a melted candy bar. I remember thinking that sounded terrible. Well, this hot chocolate was as thick as a melted candy bar, and it was terrible! I don't like watery hot chocolate, but I honestly think this was worse. I'm not convinced that it wasn't just hot fudge sauce.

Last year, I would go running in the neighborhoods surrounding the office, and I was mad at Park City for not having sidewalks. But now that we're more centrally located in the business part, I can appreciate the pedestrian trail they have, which has tunnels with charming artwork. (One of  the tunnels has 1930s-style cartoon characters, and they're simultaneously quaint and creepy.) They do a good job of keeping the path clear of ice and snow. In the past, I have twisted my ankle on trail runs, and I even went to sports medicine to ask what I could do to prevent that. But I do think I have strong ankles, because recently I stepped on a hard piece of ice and twisted my ankle, but I wasn't hurt.

On Thursday, I drove the shuttle van to Park City. I didn't want to, but I figure no one wants to, so I had to take my turn. Normally driving a van shouldn't be blog worthy, but for me it is. I'm a deeply insecure and self-conscious person, so the whole time I thought everyone was judging me. At the end of the day, the parking lot was still mostly full, and I had to have help backing up the van. I was embarrassed. And then one of the passengers said, "Now drive as fast as you can down the canyon, because I have a plane to catch." Ugh! I hate it when others make their problems my problems. But I don't drive fast, especially in a giant van that doesn't belong to me.

That same day, my brother and his family came into town for the holidays! Yay!

On Friday, we ordered pizza and watched It's a Wonderful Life. My mom ordered the pizza on her phone, and when we got the pizza, we were amused at what the label said. She double checked, and sure enough, the confirmation email called her "Annoying." I wonder what the workers thought when they put the label on!

Today, I attended church twice, first at the combined YSA wards and then at the family ward. Both meetings ended with "Silent Night." You know, "Silent Night" doesn't have to be the closing song of every single Christmas event. The lyrics aren't even very good!

Then I went with my nephews to go sledding at the Eaglewood Golf Course. They went sledding the last two days as well, but I had to work (from home). There are signs forbidding certain activities, and they prohibit tubing and "sleigh riding," but I think they leave it purposely ambiguous by not specifically saying "sledding." We don't golf, but the golf course plays an important part of our family holiday traditions—July 3 fireworks and Christmas sledding.


This is our third Christmas in a row where they've come here, and I love it. I love showing them a proper Christmas, wearing my festive clothing, baking goodies, blasting my Christmas playlist (I'm now up to 1,407 songs), playing games, and being together. 🎄🎅

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Linty phone

On Monday night, my phone's battery died, which is always a disaster. When the battery is low, I can plug it in and tell that it's charging. But the charger has a hard time staying plugged in, so when the phone is completely dead, I can't tell whether or not it's charging. It did that to me on my birthday, but I eventually got it to charge; this time, I couldn't get it to charge at all, as far as I knew.

So, after work on Tuesday, I went to the Sprint Store to get a new phone. But I didn't get a new phone.

Instead, the salesman used tweezers to pull lint out of the charging port. I was amazed at the amount of lint in there! It's not something I had ever thought of! And now it charges beautifully. I had worried about the hassle of picking a phone and installing all the apps all over again, especially when my life is so busy right now. But I didn't have to! I gave the salesman a tip, since it was so nice of him to help me and not sell me a new phone.

It's good to know that if my phone doesn't charge, I can just remove lint from it. In fact, the driving factor for buying my current phone was that my previous phone wouldn't charge, but it turns out that might have been unnecessary!

I had a few calm days of work before things got drastically busy.

On Thursday evening, I took my niece to see the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. No one else in the family could/wanted to go. More than a year ago, my grandpa lost sight in his right eye, and it's been an ordeal ever since. On Thursday he had surgery for it, and he can finally see again! He is thrilled, of course. But my mom took him to the appointment, which is why she couldn't go to the concert. (That was, of course, a better place to be.)

We didn't have tickets, so we went into the Tabernacle for standby tickets. We were pretty far back in the line, but we hoped the Thursday and the rain would keep the crowds low. The missionary in charge was saying that last year, not a single person got into the Conference Center. (Except for us!)
 So when the concert started, we got to watch it on the screens; the choir actually walked through the crowd and up to their seats. It would have been fun to be there.

But then we did in fact get to go into the Conference Center! We missed a few minutes of the concert, but that was OK. The guest singer this year was Kelli O'Hara, and with a name like that, I expected an Irish theme. But in fact, it was an all-American, rural theme, with farm set pieces. Kelli O'Hara has a nice voice, but I didn't think she was anything spectacular. But I really enjoyed her singing "A Cradle in Bethlehem," an underrated Christmas song. They had the actor Richard Thomas tell the story of the boy milking cows for his Christmas present; we used to watch that video all the time in elementary school, and in Primary, and at home, but it's been a while since I've thought about it. The most unexpected part of the evening was Richard Elliott's organ solo, which wasn't a solo at all, because it was accompanied by a bluegrass band! Certainly a first for me. I greatly appreciated it. I also appreciated that they actually had Richard Thomas read Luke 2, instead of that abysmal video of children they used last year.

On Friday I worked from home. During my lunch break I took the opportunity to run to the trailhead, but not on it.
 I was glad to work from home, because then I was ready to leave on time for the third Christmas concert of the season, the Lower Lights. This has been a family tradition since 2014, when they were in the Masonic Temple. They've been at Kingsbury Hall since 2015. (Both my sister and my mom have a false memory that we went to see them at the Masonic Temple twice, but they are wrong. And I have the best memory and the best record-keeping habits in the family.)
 I enjoyed it, but for some reason I wasn't as into it this time. It was less Christmassy this time, and they omitted my favorite song! But it's always a fun way to spend a December evening. I recommend their concerts. They said there had been talks of calling it quits. I do wonder how long they will keep it going. They haven't had a new album since 2016, and some of the members have left Utah and left religion.

Then I had to spend all day Saturday working so I wouldn't have to work on Sunday. I started work at 10 a.m. and ended just before midnight. It's not my ideal way to spend a Saturday, but at least Jimmy the cat sits with me. To keep up morale, I had to take a break to get Crumbl's seasonal cookies for the week.
Gingersnap, peppermint bark, chocolate orange, and sugar cookie. Chocolate orange is a popular flavor this year! I am officially adding it to my mental list of Christmas flavors.
All that working enabled me to finally get through my entire Christmas playlist; it took two weeks and two days. That meant I could buy more Christmas songs! Currently my Christmas playlist has 1400 songs.

This week is looking to be another hectic one, both at work and at home. But I think I'll manage.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Sounds like Christmastime!

So, at work, we're supposed to sign up to ride the UTA passenger van up to Park City, and you're also supposed to fill out paperwork so you can drive the van. Well, this week, I didn't sign up in time to ride the van going to my office, but there was another van going to a nearby office, so I signed up for that one instead. On Tuesday, no one was going to that office—so I took the opportunity to drive the twelve-passenger van all by myself up to Park City. I've never driven one of those vans before, and I was too embarrassed to practice for the first time with lots of people. And I made it safely. But I didn't like having such big blind spots, and coming down I-80 in the dark was a little challenging. But now I feel like I can safely drive a big van, even if I don't prefer to. (One of the regular drivers is absolutely terrifying, so I can't be any worse than she is.)

In Park City, I go running on my breaks, and there's a really nice pedestrian/bicycle path that goes up to the heart of the city. On this route, I saw the most perfect snowman ever. It's not as good as a dry trail, but it's way better than most December routes.

On Thursday, I went to the Festival of Trees with my family. It's a fun tradition, but only because it goes to charity. I would never pay to go to it if it was a for-profit venture.

But the real highlight of the week came on Friday.

Last year was a big year for Christmas music, with new albums from Ingrid Michaelson, John Legend, the Monkees, and more. But the hands-down best Christmas album was from an artist I had never heard of: JD McPherson's Socks.



This album has a vintage 1950s rockabilly sound. I don't like normally 1950s rockabilly, but this album is fresh enough that I love it. JD McPherson has a fantastic voice, and the guitar, saxophone, and drums all complement his singing. But it's not just the sound that's so great about the album. All ten songs are original. Covers are great, but I always appreciate original songs, especially when it's every song on the album. And not only are they new, the lyrics are clever, whimsical, and amusing, with songs about Santa gaining weight, getting socks for Christmas, and women with Christmas names. There's not a bad song on the whole record. This is for sure in my top ten favorite Christmas albums, maybe even top five.

Well, this week's story actually begins at Halloween. In October, I remember thinking how amazing it would be if JD recorded a Halloween song. (That's not a huge stretch, because his genre is fitting for monster songs; "The Monster Mash" is only the most famous of a whole genre of old rock-and-roll songs about dancing monsters.) Well, he didn't record a Halloween song. But when I Googled him, I found that he was touring and bringing his Socks tour to Salt Lake City. And I knew I had to see him!

So that's where I spent Friday night, at the State Room in Salt Lake.

The opener was a guitar player named Joel Paterson, who recorded a Christmas album two years ago. He also has a 1950s style, but he's only instrumental. He's a solo act who plays multiple guitar parts, which meant he had to accompany recordings of himself. That was kind of strange, but his music was really fun and enjoyable.

Then JD McPherson came on. I thought his voice was even better live than it was on recordings.
He opened with my favorite song, "Bad Kid," and played most of the Christmas album. It was fantastic! One problem with live music is that the sound quality is often bad, making it hard to understand the words; this concert started off great, but for some reason it got worse throughout the show. But it was so fun to see this wonderful album live! He also played a few non-Christmas songs, which were more of an alternative rock genre than rockabilly.

Then after the show, Joel Paterson was out front selling and signing his album. I decided to buy it on vinyl, since it came with an MP3 version, even though I don't have many opportunities to listen to our record player (it's in an inconvenient part of the house).

Then I spent all day Saturday working from home. I was only planning on working five hours, but I kept getting new assignments that required even more hours. I will be glad when the busy part of this job is over—but then Christmas will also be over, so it will be hard to be glad. I'm trying to enjoy living in the moment.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Thankful

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I think it's great that we have a national holiday devoted to gratitude, and it seems oddly patriotic that on a random Thursday, a majority of Americans will be eating the same meal.

On Tuesday, work did a Thanksgiving potluck. I wore an ultrafestive Thanksgiving turtleneck I bought online this month.





After work, I headed straight to my grandparents', because they were taking me to see a local production of Holiday Inn. The original Holiday Inn is a 1942 Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire flick about a hotel that is only open on holidays, with each holiday having its own musical numbers. (I watched it in January 2014.) This is often listed as a Christmas movie, but it's not. If it's attached to any holiday, I would say it's more of a New Year's movie. But it's really about all the holidays, and therefore it's about none of them.

 Anyway, the calendrical nature of the story and music is, of course, something that I love, even though I don't love the story itself. As my grandma pointed out, it's really just fluff, like a 1940s musical would be. For the stage version, they scrapped the racist Lincoln's Birthday song and the peculiar Washington's Birthday song and added other Irving Berlin songs. It was a fine production.

In the movie, they do a blackface number for a song about Lincoln ending slavery. It's very uncomfortable and inappropriate for modern audiences, using terms like "darkie." But I don't think they were meaning to be racist when they made it; in fact, they probably thought they were being antiracist. It's just not appropriate today.

That's how I feel about "Baby It's Cold Outside." I don't think they meant it to be rapey or predatorial when they made it. But that doesn't mean it's appropriate for modern audiences. I'm glad that the early-2010s obsession with the song has gone away. It's not even about Christmas! John Legend and Kelly Clarkson recorded an "updated" version this year. I'm all for updating the problematic lines, but their update was not much better than the original, especially since they still included the line about "a cigarette more." Anyone with any sense knows cigarettes are terrible for you!

Anyway, after all those tangents, I'm back to describing my week.

I got to work from home on Wednesday, which was good. My mom went to pick up my first cousins once removed, Anna and Adam, who are from Iowa but who are at BYU. They stayed with us Wednesday and Thursday night for the holiday.

Wednesday evening, my mom was baking pies, and I made two pies myself. Well, I just made the filling and my mom made the crust. But I made a sweet potato pie, the first time I had ever had one, and mincemeat pie.

The sweet potato pie was very similar to pumpkin pie.
 I added too much beef to the mincemeat pie, but it was OK.

Then I went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night, which is a pretty common occurrence, and when I do, my brain starts worrying about how old I am. Yesterday (November 30) was my ten-year anniversary of coming home from my mission, and I'm aging out of the YSA ward. Since I was already awake, I decided to do my gospel study of the day, which was President Monson's talk "The Divine Gift of Gratitude." The positive words of the talk were exactly what I needed to hear at 4 a.m., and I fell asleep counting my blessings.

When I woke up for real on Thanksgiving, it had snowed quite a bit. There would be no 10k (like I did last year) or twelve-mile trail run (like I did the year before). My dad had cleared most of the snow, but I cleared more of it for my cardio that day.

Then my mom's family came over for the holiday, since we have the most spacious house. It was an enjoyable day, but I ate too much pie (I had all five kinds—the two I made and then pumpkin, apple, and pecan). I cleaned up the kitchen while listening to my Thanksgiving playlist, which now has 104 songs.

On Black Friday, we didn't do any shopping at all. My family made some potato candy, which is supposedly a family tradition, but I haven't done it since I was seven, so it's not much of a tradition. It literally consists of a little bit of potato, a lot of powdered sugar, and flavoring and coloring.
I made the orange (pumpkin pie) and the brown in the upper left (chocolate mint).
 We took Adam and Anna back to Provo, and I went along for the ride. I don't feel like I'm that old, but I was surprised at all the bus lanes that were put in since I was a student. It started snowing pretty bad, so the drive home was very slow.

Once we were home, I took down the Thanksgiving decorations and brought out the Christmas decorations, all while listening to my Christmas playlist, which is currently at 1,375 songs. The day after Thanksgiving has always been special to me as the day to begin Christmas. When you do Christmas before Thanksgiving, you miss out on that specialness!
I just adore Jimmy, even as he interrupts me when I'm blogging.
 I didn't work at all on Friday, because doing so would have created some HR scheduling problems. But that meant I had to work all day Saturday. Now is the time I don't like my job that much, because it sucks away my free time. Since I was working all day, I didn't move much; I only got 1,300 steps, and my body craves movement. Jimmy slept next to me most of the day.

But I have a testimony of commandments, including the Sabbath. I don't know if my sanity could handle working today after working yesterday; it's so nice to have a day of rest.

***
It's the last installment of pumpkinundation roundup!

I've had Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Steamers before, but for some reason I liked it more this time than usual. It seemed more flavorful, and maybe I appreciated it because it was a cold day? 7/10.

I also enjoyed the Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf. 8/10.

I don't think the Starbucks employees entirely knew what they were doing, because they told me they burned my Starbucks Turkey and Stuffing Panini, but I wasn't going to wait for them to make me another. It was very crispy. Starbucks sandwiches are never very good, but I appreciate the seasonal nature. 7/10.

Tuesday night I had an unfrosted version of the Cutler's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie, which wasn't as good as the frosted version. 7/10.

Dreyer's has had plain pumpkin ice cream since before pumpkin was a big deal, but this was my first time having Dreyer's Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, which also had pie pieces. It was a nice ice cream. 8/10.

Red Button Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Ice Cream almost has an apple flavor to it. It's good ice cream but not very pumpkiny. 7/10.

My mom brought home her leftover Cafe Zupas Turkey Cranberry & Brie Panini, which I heated up in the microwave. I can't fairly judge it, because I was already full and it was reheated, but it was an enjoyable sandwich. But I think I would have preferred it without the bacon. 7/10.

I used McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice Spice [sic] Blend Extract in potato candy. It reminds me of the artificial flavoring used in many "pumpkin spice" products. 6/10.
Oh look, Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice is photobombing!
 In Provo, we went to the Creamery on 9th, and I had a Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Hot Chocolate Float. The ice cream had a nice spice flavor with crust pieces; as it melted in the hot chocolate, it imparted its wonderful flavor. 8/10.
See you back here in September! I'm looking forward to trying more pumpkin items then.