1. Sanitize the house post Food Poisoning Apocalypse 2011. 2. Be photographed in the new pair of stunning boots my mother gave me as an early birthday/sympathy gift for surviving Food Poisoning Apocalypse 2011. 3. Repress all memories of Food Poisoning Apocalypse 2011. 4. Throw away everything in the fridge more than 5 days old. Yes, even the ketchup. 5. Dan says I can't throw away the ketchup, or the mustard. but he insists I get rid of the Vegan Mayo.  6. That is just like a man. 7. Build a bench in the kitchen to go under the window and run along the dining room table. 8. Squeal with delight after completing #7. 9. Somehow convince people to start coming to our front door instead of our kitchen door.  This could take awhile. 10. Find someone to sell me a high fire kiln for a fraction of what it's worth, so I can open the coolest etsy store ever. (so cool that if it's not on the front page of Etsy every day, Kanye West will defy your firewall and appear

After spending nearly an entire week away from work, boredly skimming hours of TV, knitting, reading, coughing, making homemade soup and smoothies, sniffling, doodling, medicating, and sleeping, the Jacksons are finally back to work. We also got into the game Skip-Bo, which I was really excited about, until Dan defeated me twice in games much closer than the Utah v. BYU game Saturday night. (I have to say it like that, because it's the only I can feely okay about it. Yes, I am 5, and yes, that's why Evanses don't play many games. We are not now, and will probably never be mature enough to lose gracefully.) Go Utes. We also got to know our adolescent kitten much better, which is wonderful, because after spending almost a straight week with him, I am fully relieved to know that he is NOT a normal cat as I have feared, and full of weird cat neuroses as I had hoped.  For example, Jeoffrey ONLY drinks the purest of pure waters, preferably from containers made for humans.  Even

I decided to start my very ceremonious and official tour of our new house in the office, mostly because it's the cleanest right now, and because it just happened to have good light coming in the same time that I actually had my camera charged. That's fate, y'all. For some reason the only pictures I have of the office before the update was the ones from the realtor.  The realtor made it look much better than it actually was. there were giant burnt holes in the carpet, the brown paint was washy and cheap and sad and, like the whole house, it had a thick film of dirt and grime from the former tenants.  Before: After: the desk I've had since I was young, our art supplies, Dan's guitar, a fraction of the books (including my Utonians!)  Dan's records, the non-fiction books.  Do you like the wall color? I hope so. You'll be seeing it in 2 more rooms! Also, this is probably the best shot of the original pine floors, which are painted white now, but

Last night Dan and I got to go to an impromptu outdoor concert at Red Butte Garden for the band Thievery Corporation. They're sort of an electric/lounge/reggae group from DC, and I really enjoyed the vibe and variety of their show, but I also enjoyed that the whole thing was free, a bonus to the picture of life, because I didn't feel obligated to participate in the show in any particular way.  I didn't feel like I "had to get my money's worth."  I just took what I liked, did as I pleased, clapped when it was deserved.  After dancing around like a fool much to the giddy embarrassment of Dan, we just sat down and let the people dance around us, while we looked up and talked about the stars.  In the muffling of dancing bodies around our little blanket planet, you could almost forget where you were, and just enjoy being on earth on a summer night. It was a rather perfect moment. The only question I have to add to this is, Why do we get so excited when bands say