Differences

Yeah, if you are way into In-N-Out, you knew the second that picture loaded where that burger came from. Maybe you could even guess how long they toast my buns. 

I can’t tell you how many times Brett and I have been to In-N-Out together, but awhile back we discovered something kinda funny. I only bring it up now because ordering dinner totally reminded me about it. We get up to line to order our food and I go first and Brett follows. “I’ll have a cheeseburger, everything but onions, and a drink.” Brett, “I’ll have a cheeseburger, nothing but onions, and a drink.” The cashier always looks at us funny because we just gave our order with way weird wordage. Brett and I are opposites in so many things. I hate onions on my burger, it’s the only thing I don’t want on it. He doesn’t like too much on there except onions. 

Opposites. There are too many strange opposites we have, most of them involve food, but I just thought it was funny and should share.

Amare and Roxy

We didn't get another dog. Because I get that crossed your ming. No we didn't trade our dog in for a few one. We love Amare, besides he is far more cute than Roxy (and if your name is Alec pretend you didn't just read that).

Roxy is Alec’s dog. Her family decided to take off to California for one of those Disneyland adventures, so not fair. They get to go and we get to stay home with Roxy. No fair. Well, Alec did bring us back treats it brought back memories, thanks Alec.

Anyways poor Amare. He was happy to have a friend to play with, but Roxy didn’t ever want to play. Amare have his little butt in the air waiting to pounce on Roxy thinking that her barking was playful. He was shut down. And poor Roxy was sad she couldn’t get on the bed to cuddle like Amare.

Sick

That's it. Today is my last day of being sick. Last Tuesday I took a mental day off from school. I had a messy house, lots of studying to catch up on, backed up laundry, stacked dished, a neglected puppy, and I am sure I was lacking some sleep too. Anyways about halfway through the day I took a drink and felt a sore throat. Great. Well, it quickly evolved and I was sick. Depressing. I don't get super sick too often. The last time I was sick was about two years ago, spring break 2006, I had a sore throat and cold. So I guess I am due for illness.

Brett comes home from work and he’s been sucking on cough drops all day. Who did this to us... Thanks MOM! Brett is so tough when he is sick, he gets up goes to work, I just complain and make very unattractive sounds with my man voiced throat. 

5 AM Wednesday morning I wake up throwing up. Two hours later I’m back at the toilet. Then again at 10, and then 12, 3 o’clock rolls around, then I make my last throw up visit at 7 PM. By then I am starving and sore and sick of throwing up. Sheri brought Brett and I some potatoe soup, crackers, and watermelon. Thank you so much. What a miserable day. 

Then poor Brett has this huge headache due to all the sinus pressure, his throat is super soar by now. We are popping pills like mad. NyQuil, Dayquil, Benedryl, Sudaffed. Funny thing is we both hate taking that crap. Anyways. Brett has a stronger immune system and he got through it pretty quick. Obviously the running nose stays with you for a bit. Meanwhile, I’m still in bed sleeping and trying to breathe and get the cough out of my chest.

So. We are done being sick. I’ve missed a week of school and have 35 hours to make up and am bored at home. Maybe I could do some laundry. We are done. If you see us coughing, sneezing, blowing our noses... Just pretend that we were doing something else, stretching maybe or scratching our heads. 


We are not sick.

Coca Cola Inspired

I'm doing this via flashbacks/entries.

August 7th 2008: “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP” Did you know that hair school has strict no cell phone rules just like high school? Well for some reason my phone wasn’t on vibrate. Troy had just sent me a text to inform me that Grant was having an invite whoever Rockband get together that Saturday. Good to know the text was super important.

August 9th 2008: “KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK” Anyone aware that the Johansen’s are getting some fancy new furniture? True story. Brett and I walk into Grant’s house and eventually end up  playing some Rockband. Everyone was good but me. I’m slightly embarrassed to sing along on that game and even though I play piano, I have absolutely no drumming skills. Needless to say we rocked the show. Here is where my little story starts... We are sitting at the table eating some yummy chili dogs when I let my eyes wander to the nutritional facts on the back on a Cherry Coke can, don’t ever look at them. Slightly to the right was a waiting adventure... Buy one get one free Six Flag tickets or one for $21.99! Amazing.

August 9th 2008 (10 minutes later): “CLICK, CLICK, CLICK” Three computer are on in the Johansen’s office as we search for a CHEAP hotel, driving directions, local beaches, gas costs. Seriously we planned a trip for five people. Brett and I, Troy, Grant, and Alec. Leave early Friday morning and spend the day at Six Flags, stay the night in our cheap hotel, spend the day at the beach, then drive home. Yay!

August 15th 2008: “BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ” Brett answers his cell phone and Grant is at our apartment ready for our trip. I’ll skip the driving part. I slept through most of it. We ended up having to pay $30 for our tickets instead of the $22.99 we were hoping, but none of us bothered to contest our little coupon from our Coca Cola can. We all started with this little dinky roller coaster as a warm up. The plan was to work our way up to bigger and more scary rides. That didn’t go over to well. After our dinky ride we went to the new X2 ride: pretty much the most scary ride in the whole park. The ride drags you up like 175 feet or something to the top. But you are reclined on your back as it drags you up, moving backwards. Then the ride dips you like it is going to fall the 175 feet but it doesn’t. Then your seat starts to spin and rotates you while dropping you the 175 feet. You are falling face first, trying to scream. Then from there you don’t really know what happens, seriously. You’re spinning everywhere while your seat is rotating. Somewhere in the ride fire shoots out at you, but you are totally lost. We watch this happen dozens of times as we waited in line. Alec and Brett kept watching it over and over and over again hoping something less scary would happen. Then they started freaking themselves out about getting on. Well eventually we made it to the front of the line and they almost chickened out. But they rode it, and I guess enjoyed it. We made it to more roller coasters after that. Tatsu was a fun one where you ride kinda suspended, like flying I guess, since I know what that is like and all.  We rode this water raft ride, most people got wet. It is funny getting on those things cause you expect to get wet but don’t want to,  but you are still on the ride. Anyways as we panicked about getting wet Grant and Troy ended up soaked. Alec and Brett were not too badly damaged. I got away with just a wet left shoe and a few splashes. Then... once the ride is over this red headed kid, like ten or something, sitting next to me on my right, starts splashing up a storm! Brett and I are yelling at this kid, “HEY HEY HEY! What are you doing?” and “HEY! Cut that out!” My once dry shoes were wet with my rear end. Please, don’t feel sorry for the kid, it way funny. We rode so many rides. Brett was too tall for one of them. The Batman ride we mistakingly rode twice in a row and got super dizzy. We rode the Goliath ride three times I think. I almost passed out the first time due to gee-forces. Then the second and third times I was freaking out thinking I was going to die cause my lap bar was definitely not going far enough down. Alec and I yelled at each other with breathing comments while freaking each other out. Then to end the evening we took one last ride. Grant made Troy and I run to get our last ride in for the night at Superman. If you have been to Six Flags before you know that Superman is up hill. Not cool. Then it was over. Hotel and sleep. 


August 17th 2008:"BROOM" We left the window open that night. We slept cause we got a smoking room and did not like the smell. We heard cars come and go all night. Finally in the morning all you heard was cars starting as tourists got up early to vacation. We drug ourselves out of bed and headed for the beach. We did the Santa Monica thing. Riding waves in on our belly. Grant made a beautiful alligator in the sand. Brett swallowed lots of water and lost his lunch. Alec and I crashed on the sand for an hour. No one brought sun screen. Even the Mexican burned. It was such a nice relaxing day under the sun. We drove home and... The End.

July Update

July went by so fast. Brett and I have been doing pretty good. He's still working for the mailing company and waiting to hear back from the Mesa Police Department. He's been through so many different tests to try and get into the academy. His most recent interviews were background checks. We was asked a bunch of questions about things he has or hasn't done. Some were weird others weren't. The officer that interviewed him teased him on his almost perfect background. The only dent he has is getting suspended from school for water balloons at a sports assembly, some people got wet.

I’m currently employed at Best Buy, still. However, I’m enjoying not having to work there. Sounds strange right? Well basically I work a four hour shift once every other week, sometimes longer. The best part is that my discount still works. After my mom decided to break her foot, I tagged along with her on the pool route to make sure she didn’t break anything else. That lead to me being a pool cleaner too. So now I spend a few hours each morning cleaning pools on my own route. I now quote with my mother that “I drop acid everyday” she is such a good example. Starting August fourth, I’ll be back in school again. But this time I get to do exactly what I want to do. I’ll be at Empire Beauty School. I call it hair school, much easier to get out than cosmetology school. School came with a nice price though, seventeen grand. Thank you Uncle Sam for fronting the money. Anyways, I am excited.

We Love Arizona

Brett and I are back home from Illinois. To sum up our reasons for return... I'll just say that a bunch of problems kept building up and eventually we had had enough. It was constant stress. Even Brett was stressed, and he isn't one to get stressed (disclaimer by Brett: I wasn't really stressed). You can call us for a detailed explanation. Brett and I were both so incredibly happy to be home. We made it safely with only a few problems, like my stupidity in hitting parked car, and lots and lots of rain.

Personally I’m not a fan of the mid-west, but our short summer adventure did have some good times. We made two really good friends this summer, Bryan and Skyler. They accompanied us often for little adventures. One afternoon in Beloit, Wisconsin, a storm hit in the middle of the day. We were sitting in a parking lot in Brett’s truck with Bryan and Skyler in the back. The wind starting blowing really hard and as you looked up at the sky you could see clouds moving quickly and they starting to swirl together in a circle. We decided it was probably time to get going. A minute later the wind is kicking up and suddenly the rain is just pouring down, buckets and buckets. I looked in the back of the truck to find Bryan and Skyler soaked and swimming in water. We headed to Wal-Mart to get out of the storm and were told to go to the middle of the store cause there was a tornado coming, “We got cows”. I promise we only storm chased once.

Being home is great. I love Arizona. We spent the first week here getting our jobs back and enjoying the sun. We spent plenty of time swimming and loving our puppy by tossing him in the pool with us. Brett is trying out for the Mesa Police Department. He has taken several test to get there and is looking hopeful. He started with 135 applicants by taking a written test which he passed. 39 people later, he had to take in interview with “intimating” officers, that was a pass as well. Next he had to take a physical text, which he passed. In order to be considered to the police academy he has to finish with a background interview and a polygraph test: his next steps. The hiring process takes about three or four months in all, so wish him luck as he continues. I’ve been spending some time checking out different cosmetology schools in the area. Hopefully in the next few months I’ll be back in school learning about hair, YAY! As for Amare, he like to spend lots of his time at my parents house playing with Luci and Corkey.  It’s almost like he lives there -- hint hint.

But that is really all. Thank goodness we are home. I love the sun!

Our APX Lives

 That is Alvin my piñata. As you have read in previous blogs, out little family has a wonderful birthday tradition. So for my birthday we got a very tough piñata and let him drive home. I'll leave some pictures so you can check out the fun we had. Bryan was the entertainment.

Selling alarms sucks. It is hard work. You go around and just bug people all day long. Our days start at noon with an awesome meeting usually ran by our fearless leader Lance. Then by about 1:30 PM we are out bugging people. When it starts to get dark, around nine, we head home and finish out night partying. Partying translates into feeding the unmarried kids and talking about the crazy people we knock into. That is what we have been doing this summer. Six days a week. Oh yeah, on Saturdays it is even better. We start our meeting at nine and come home around ten. I our office did well that week, we get to all go out to eat on APX.

Chicago, IL

There really isn’t an easy way to talk about Chicago in a blog. I mean what ever I type is just simple words that are boring on their own. You’re going to have to look at the pictures. We had so much fun. The city is so cool. Everything is different. I surely haven’t seen anything like it in Arizona. We just played in the city. There is so much to see. 

We spent an afternoon at Wrigley Field watching the Diamondbacks lose to the Cubs. Baseball life in Chicago is amazing. You are either a Cubs fan you a Sox fan. So being from Arizona, we were easily spotted. Lots of people made fun of us but we sympathetic, and told us to enjoy the Wrigley Field experience. The fans there are fun. They sing songs when the game is over, they put flags up counting their wins and losses. Everyone wears something to show team spirit. And the food, best food we had in Chicago. Their hot dogs were so good.

The Sky Deck/ Sears Tower. That was cool, but expensive for an elevator ride. You can see the entire city of Chicago from just one building. They make it all cool and fancy though. They make you watch a video and strategically place gift shops at doors. You can see all the places you’ve been and even more places that you’d want to go. Did you know the building was explained to an architect with a pack of cigarettes?

Then there is Millennium Park and Navy Pier. Whoever though of THE BEAN was awkwardly creative. That shape is fun. It made for some cool pictures. There is also the face water fountain. I’m not sure what its official name is but we liked it. We tried to make a replica shot from the movie “Bruce Almighty” when he walks on water. Navy Pier was the perfect location for my first Ferris Wheel ride.

There was so much to do in Chicago. 


We made it one day the Ukrainian Village. 


Chicago was just a ton of fun. 

Red Dragon

Carly calls it a race car. Which it is, but Red is so much more than that. He's like a child to us. One that we have to get rid of. And it pains us deeply.

This story started a year ago I killed my little green Elantra. As result of my horrible deed I ended up with the flaming car as my main mode of transportation. When I was informed that that thing was going to be mine I was mortified. MORTIFIED. The paint job was going to be so embarrassing. I swore that the paint was going to be the first thing that I changed. It wasn’t. I pulled my stereo out of my old car and my dad installed it for me into Red Dragon. Yes that is the car’s name.

Red was trashed when I first got him. I went to car salvage yards with my dad and picked old cars apart for pieces to add to my new eye sore. Red was finally up and running and cleaned, and he was fast. Oh, he is very fast. 

Brett got home from his mission mid May. We had talked on the phone for the first time in forever and I had informed him on my new car. A few days later we were both driving on Dobson road and we saw each other for the first time in two years. I was driving my flaming car and he saw me five hundred miles away.

Man, we are seriously going to miss driving around in that beast. Never again are we going to own a car that cool. 

I’ve decided that I do not ever want to be a mechanic. I’ve gotten so gross and dirty working on that car. Anyways. Red, Brett and Chesca love you!

                        

Happy Birthday

You know what Brett said? He said that he was past celebrating his birthday. He said something along the lines of being too old to count or care. Lame.

Birthdays are supposed to be fun, involve chocolate, and from now on they must have a piñata present. 

Rules to piñata parties.

Whoever is the center of attention for the day picks out the  piñata.

The piñata must have good candy in it. 

Do not use a blind fold.

Dizzy instructions. Find a spot on the ground for spinning. Place one end of the bat on that spot. The bat cannot leave that spot until spinning is complete. Place forehead on the opposite end of the bat. Girls spin ten times around bat boys spin fifteen times. Remember the bat has to stay in the same place, only you move.

Everyone gets to hit at least once.

Don’t hit anyone.

So, now that you know how birthdays will be celebrated from now on you can join in on the tradition.

For Brett’s birthday we went to his parents house and had Rice Krispie Treats. Followed by piñata hitting. Brett picked out a bull from the mexican store. And we ended in presents. Clothes, movies, candy, and games. Happy 22nd birthday!

Adventures are Wonderful

I was deprived. I was deprived of the childhood memories of eight feet tall Disney characters and bobsled rides on Matterhorn. And, I didn't entirely understand the meaning of Disneyland's commercial, The Happiest Place on Earth. Shocking, I know.

Plans hardly work. Brett and I had planned our spring break vacation as a relaxing time at home. We’d watch a few movies, hike Camelback Mountain, and catch some spring sun by the pool. Saturday afternoon, we woke up and home suddenly did not fit into that equation. An hour later we were checking out prices for a spontaneous adventure to California. After much convincing between going and not going, we took the irresponsible route and were on the road by four o’clock.

California is a dream. When was the last time you saw the ocean? It is a bit breathtaking when you get a glimpse of it. Maybe wonderment is a better word. The ocean is just so big. We chose a beach from a pile of brochures at our hotel front desk: Huntington Beach. It was so nice. Being at the beach in March is a bit cold. So we went to the beach with our swim suits under our clothes just in case we wanted to get in. If your stick your hand in the water you say there is no way you’re getting in. But after watching people play on the sand and surf waves, you realize there is no way to go to the beach and not get in. Cold.

Disneyland is happiness. I was kinda taken back when I first saw Pluto the dog. These characters are huge. Oh, and detail that goes into everything is amazing. The castle is small: my only disappointment. But everything else was awesome. I wish I would have been there as a kid. I had so much fun. Brett and I rode all the major rides multiple times and like most people I talk to, Space Mountain is the favorite. I screamed on Indiana Jones when the snake jumps out to eat you. And I did eat two and half churros.

Rubber isn’t perfect. Did you catch the part at the beginning? The part where this little vacation wasn’t planned. The part where we just got up and left. Well, usually before you leave for a trip you check your car out to make sure you are going to get there and back. The truck is running great, but the tires were a little worn, a lot worn. We were seriously ten maybe fifteen minutes from home and we blew one of them. Neither of us were the least bit mad. It could have been in the middle of the desert, or worse. We both kinda knew that was going to happen. Anyways, I have triple A and they came to change our tire for us. What a perfect ending. 2:30 AM, back to bed.

Smokin' Deal

I'm sure that a lot of us are impulse buyers. I mean you're walking aisles at Costco and totally came for toilet paper and cereal, but end up leaving with brownie mix and a large bag of candy. It looked good when you took your first glance, understandable. But can you please point out the idiot who goes to a parking lot and points to a car and says, "Gimme that one Mr. Sales person who will surely rip me off." This type of person had to exist because those sales guys though Brett and I were just like that.


I was kinda excited when this adventure started. In the last month or so we have been to about five different dealerships trying to find a car to replace our gas hog Red Dragon. Test driving cars is fun, right. Right. The guys seem rather nice. You pick a car, they tell you some random facts, then get your license information to make sure you aren’t wanted for anything. They grab a set of keys, and you are off making tons of right turns in a car you don’t own yet, with a complete stranger in the back seat. Weird, right. Brett and I even have a planned question to throw off the awkward atmosphere. Mr. Sales Guy, What’s the craziest test drive you’ve taken someone on? They laugh as they share their story, then suddenly we are best friends with this stranger. We even got sodas out of one guy.

Well, this adventure took a retarded turn on Saturday: ABC Nissan. Mistake to go there for a test drive. The kid who showed us cars was pretty cool, but his supervisor, was a major DB. And the supervisors boss, the midget on stilts, just as much of a DB.

Have you gone car shopping lately? If so, you understand how retarded this gets. We tell DB number one that we are going to put down a decent down payment and he tells us we are going to get a smokin’ deal. Out of curiosity and car salesman’s pressure we look at some numbers.

He asks us what kind of numbers we want but doesn’t leave much room for us to answer. Then tells us that we should put a bigger down payment, say 20k. The car we were looking at was 28k. Then we would have a 48 month lease with like 367 some odd dollars a month for a payment, assuming we have average credit says the salesman. Those were his numbers. Too much. Something is wrong with that huh. We question it and he starts lowering prices.

How about I take this down a hundred dollars? It is the end of the month, I’ll do what ever. What do I have to do to sell you a car today?

By then we were done with curiosity and had to go to a Suns game. They keep throwing us their pitch, but apparently there is some part of no that they do not understand, DB number two walks in. It was kinda hard to look at him and take him seriously. Think of the movie Elf, when the midget writer comes in. Now give him stilts and pull his pants up to his arm pits. Perfect. Well needless to say he couldn’t sell us a car either. We got the nice kids card and left, but DB number one was totally starring us down as we left. Oh no, we aren’t buying a car! Emergency!

Later that night we got home and did the math. He offered us a 26% interest rate! Average? Yeah right! Last year the average rate on a financed car was 7%. These dudes wanted to rip us off with their version of a smokin’ deal. Well we aren’t dumb enough to buy a car the second we walk in, and we aren’t going to let you rip us off like that either. Next time we are bringing a calculator with us.

$5.99

I'd just like to inform you that you only have two more days left to go buy pie for $5.99. Personally, I'd recommend buying the Chocolate Satin Pie. Are you considering making the purchase yet? Seriously this is a big deal. Marie Callender's does this every February, maybe October, and you get the whole thing to take home.

Kay, here’s the truth. I’m just trying to talk you into buying one so I don’t feel so guilty. Brett and I bought three or four of the six dollar pies. I’m not sure why I feel so guilty though, neither of us have gained a pound. Maybe it’s just cause I lost track of how many we actually bought. I’m sure Brett knows. Just go buy one. Tell me how it tasted when you do.

If you haven’t heard, Brett and I are moving to Chicago this summer. Well, actually we are going to Rockford, it’s just outside of Chicago, and this isn’t a permanent move. Let’s call it an extended vacation/door to door sales. Yes, this is work related. Brett will be selling home alarms all summer. 


That is it. I just wanted to promote pie for Marie Callender's and tell whoever cares. I hope to see you in line February 29th buying a pie. 

Membership

For some odd reason the apartment I live in store quite a bit of food. I can't find a closet to store bath towels, Christmas trees, or oversized Russian jackets! Well to tell you the truth, our apartment has two closets: one in the bedroom, for obvious reasons, and one in the kitchen. Food and clothes. So where does all the extra stuff go? In the bedroom closet. Brett made a joke awhile back that our life could be a series of TV episodes. let me tell you, one of those episodes would have been stuffing the futon mattress, Christmas tree, and large Russian jacket in the bedroom closet. But... Brett and I have plenty of space for food.

About a week ago we went to Costco. Everyone knows how the rules work there. You walk in flash your card, grab a cart, and start filling it with bulk items. To a child this seems extremely boring, but lucky for me my parents made Costco a special treat. Who ever thought up the idea of feeding you while you shop is my stomach’s official hero. So last week when we went to Costco we walked in and had no card to flash. I grew up that day: I became a Costco Gold Member with my very own card. I was suddenly entitled to buy chicken and cheese in bulk. We shopped the way our parents had taught us. We walked up and down almost every aisle, and any time we came by a food stand we did just as our parents would have said, “Behave and go get some free food.” Then we walked to the registers and wished we were still kids, not having to pay for the hundred plus bill. I mean come on, a family of two and hundred dollars at Costco. Apparently we really like food.

So there you have it. The short version of how I grew up and short version of where all our money goes.


The moral of the story is this: I got sucked into the Costco cult just like i have gotten sucked into blogging. Needless to say, I kind of like sharing my random stories. More to come...