The End of AHNTHAC

AHNTHAC

Trevor, Marshall, Zach, Andrew, Ryan

Trevor's Band, A Horrible Night to Have a Curse, had one last show that they weren't really expecting. It turned out to be a much better end for them than the last "last" show. There was much more commradery and closure for them. It was a smaller venue, so it felt more friendly.

They had a double-last-show with their brother-band, Fear Me Dear.

Trevor and Ryan--noses in the air, as usual...

Marshall, Zach, and Andrew

Trevor is doing the Grendel Claw, from Beowolf. It's a band thing?

Check out Zach, that's a crazy bend.

This is pretty much the best picture of Marshall I've ever been able to get. He's always way in the back, hidden by the drums, and it's always dark back there.

Ryan. He plays guitar.

Another of Ryan, with Marshall in the back.

Trevor, doing the look around. He does this thing where he'll get like, a really straight back, and a stern face, and look at you while he's screaming, and he'll turn really fast to look at you. It ought to give our kids the heebeegeebees one day.

This picture is mostly really blurry, but Andrews hair at the end of the line is spectacular.

Andrew, Trevor, Zach

I like it when Trevor goes down into the pit during songs.

Here's Trevor reaching.

Andrew. He plays guitar too. His shirt says, "GIRLS DONT POOP" haha :)

Zach, he does bass.

Zach and Andrew. They pretty much always stand by eachother.

Andrew again.

Ryan again. He's always alone in the pictures because he stands off to the side a lot. Needs his space, I guess :)

Here's another of Trevor down in the pit. He always goes SO low on this part of the song!

Trevor and Andrew. They're good sports about helping each other with personal hygiene.

Zach, Ryan, and Marshall, with their $25 each. After 2 1/2 years--they each got $25 from the band fund. We spent half on the way home to pick up pizza.

They sold their merch for $5 each since it was the last show. They sold SO MANY SHIRTS :)

For real this time, AHNTHAC is done. They even put it on their myspace... so you know it's true :) They may still try to record their songs, but just so they can have it to remember. I got some videos, but Blogger is wigging out right now and won't upload them. I'll do it later.

GRRRRR

My debit card got stolen.

>:(

That's my angry face.

It's frustrating that it's no one's fault but my own. Either leaving it in the ATM, or leaving it on the seat in the car, or not locking my doors when I went to Trevor's show (which, by the way, was a WAY better last show that the last "last" show--pictures later), or putting it in my pocket with the money I withdrew and it either falling out or someone yoinking it. I hate that. Why is it that the RARE times you don't do what you've made a habit of doing--you get your debit card stolen??!

Well, they spent $110 at Smiths, $2 at a car shop, and $1 at 7-11--I hope they at least got some groceries and a candy bar for their starving children or something, oh, and maybe a car freshener--one of the tree ones.

Ugh--humanity.

And to top it all off, it took 20 minutes to FIND my bank's phone number (because the only place they put it is ON THE BACK OF MY DEBIT CARD), reach a live person, and have them verify I'm not lying and trying to steal grocery money from them before canceling my card. Way to give the theives time to stock up on more cigs with my money, guys. Yeesh.

...music...

I'm not gonna lie.
I miss music.
I miss a piano in the other room.
I miss having blank sheet music in piles on the bench.
I miss practicing my fingers every day.
Ugh, I miss hearing the harmonies in my head.
I miss knowing what I'm doing.
And I miss the time when the word... (wait, what was that word again?) ...dynamics didn't slip my mind every time I want to use it.
I miss spending Friday nights singing at the piano with someone else--and not feeling like a dork for spending hours singing duets.
I miss my range.

BAH! I'm seriously considering trashing my dining room table (and all the other miscellaneous furniture being stored there at the moment), and buying a piano.

"P" is for the PRIDE we have in all we do.
"A" is for AMBITION to learn what is new.
"N" is for NUMBER 1, cause that's what we are.
"D" is for DESIRE to reach the highest star.
Another "A" comes to say, ACHIEVING feels so good.
"S" is for our SUPER Gourley Panda neighborhood.
Oh, we are the David Gourley Pandas.
Pandas so proud.
We sing it right out loud!
Oh! We are the David Gourley Pandas.
P-A-N-D-A-S, Gourley Pandas are the best.
P-A-N-D-A-S, Gourley Pandas are the best!

Eat that, MOUNTAIN MEN.

the woman's version of porn

Selling our TV

We're selling our 57" 1080i HD Hitachi DLP big screen for $350, if anyone is interested.

Here's a link to the KSL ad if you wanna see pictures and read the ad. http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=6895715&cat=483

Manufactured in January 2005. It has full HD. NO problems whatsoever. There are NO scratches. Perfect working condition. As you can see in the pictures, the back is angled inwards to save space; it's not shaped like a giant box like the old style big screens.We are asking $350 OBO. Must provide own transportation. Call, text, or email. 801-558-7307 Trevor, or Becky at rebeckygreen@gmail.com. (Or leave me a comment :) obviously)

Dee's and Parenting

Trevor and I went to Dee's for some late-night dinner that didn't dirty up our kitchen more than it already was. And when we got there, first, we were amazed to see the old lady sitting in her booth who we saw every time we used to go there over a year ago. She didn't look any older--but we couldn't believe she was there again!

That's not the story though.

We ordered our food and were sipping our water, when another family came in--mom, and two sons. They were seated in the booth directly behind Trevor, the mom and one son facing me. There's no nice way to put it--the mom looked GRUMPY. Meh, but how do I know what kind of day she's had?

So Trevor and I tried to make conversation about our pancakes, but the mom started talking pretty loudly and complaining to her son about how long he took to get ready. "I don't understand why you think you have to make yourself beautiful and spend forever doing your hair when there's no one to impress. Who do you think you're going to impress? You need to learn how to take care of yourself; your father sure doesn't care. You're nearly 14 years old. Who do you want to impress? Why do you need to straighten your hair?" And on and on. Yeesh, lady.

Normally, I wouldn't let my mind wander into their little circle--How do I know what kind of kid he is? Maybe he's a booger. All I knew was it was extremely hard NOT to overhear what she was saying, and I could see her son's face, turned away from his mom as she sat next to him--facing the back of his head trying to penetrate "his thick skull" with words.

He kept saying, "Sorry mom, I know mom, I just wanted to do my hair mom. Okay mom," in a voice that sounded the perfect obedient child learning his lesson. But his face said otherwise; I could see his shell peeling off, layer after layer, uncovering tears getting closer and closer to the surface.

"What's wrong?" The mom bleated after the conversation had changed in a few minutes. "Nothing, I'm just looking at how dirty this place is," the kid had quickly turned his attitude away from himself, and back to the table.

I said to Trevor, "Trevor, seriously, I will give you anything you want if you tell that kid you like his hair when we leave."

He did. And I have no idea if that kid has high or low self-esteem, or if he really does straighten his hair to impress kids at school, or if he does drugs, or if he's a disobedient kid at home. But I do know what it looks like when a child gets his self-esteem slowly shaved away. And by-golly, it was horrible. Children are HUMANS. They have personalities, tendencies, and their own sense of priorities. Sometimes they're right, and sometimes they're wrong. But I know from experience with a father who didn't ever understand that, that no kid ever deserves to be told by a parent that they're stupid. Or that their interests are stupid. And no kid deserves to be yelled at as punishment for their "lousy father."

I only wish that Trevor still had his long hair. That would have perfected the situation entirely.

"What should I get?" Was Trevor's way of lightening the situation on the car ride home. "Idunno, but just wait till after Friday." Mmm, I love him :)

I'm going to try to log some of the things we've been up to. Nothing too exciting:

• Discovered Priscilla Ahn. Waited 2 weeks for her CD to be available at the library. Proud of myself for waiting and not just purchasing it.
• Found a liking of this band called Vanna after hearing them at a show. Trevor got their new CD and left it in my car. I found myself driving down 2-15 blasting it and singing along.
• Been spending a lot of time hanging out doing nothing with Trevor at home on weeknights since there's no band practice. He plays Oblivion and I watch a movie or something on Netflix. Last night it was National Geographic time and Man VS Wild. That guy is CRAZY.
• My work has been busier than it ever has been before--so that's cool. We got a new associate--she's a chick--so it's been nice to have another girl around. She convinced my boss to let her repaint :)
• Found some awesome decorations on sale at Tarjhay. I'll put them up and then show you later.
• Our minced garlic went bad a few weeks ago--wasted a whole batch of taco meat after I smelled garbage in my food.
• Hmmm...What else? Someone else needs to have like a birthday or something so I have more news. June has been really slow.
• Oh! I'm still reading book 4 of the Wheel of Time. It's really good! I was so right about the love stories--he's focusing on them a lot more. One couple is finally officially a couple. There's all this dribble about wars and the end of the world, and good vs evil going on that I have to read through before the love stories progress... (haha, just kidding, it's not all bad).
• I re-potted my first plant. My orchids that Trevor bought me were dying, so I had to repot them with some actual soil--not just what they were purchased in. I hope I can save them.
• We've seen a bagillion movies. Let's see, so far this "summer" it's been Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Terminator, Up, and Land of the Lost. All were really fantastic, I think. Next it will be Year One, The Proposal, Transformers, Harry Potter, and maybe GI Joe. We're kind of movie freaks.
• Finished the Terminator series this week. We've seen all 4 now. I think the 2nd was my favorite. Actually--the newest was my favorite--but out of the original 3, #2 was the best. The graphics were just good enough you didn't get distracted by plastic robotics, and the characters were much more believable. In the first one, you're like, "WHAT? They're in love and they met yesterday?"
• Now we're on an Arnold binge. We're probably going to watch Pumping Metal (is that what it's called?) his debut movie tonight. Oh Netflix--you're a lifesaver :)

Anywho. More updates later when I finish a few of the projects I'm working on.

Becky Font

I JUST MADE MY OWN FONT!!! Holy cow!

http://www.yourfonts.com/

Shelf!

I finally got a shelf! I've been wanting one for SO long. I have no idea what possessed me to go inside Bed Bath and Beyond, but I did, and found out they have a super cool clearance section where things are almost priced like normal (BBB is kind of a rip off sometimes...unless you use one of those 20% off coupons they mass mail to everyone every month).

I've been wanting to use some new ideas regarding shelves (inspired by the lovely Andy over at Poppies at Play. She does amazing things with shelves!). And YAY! I can now :)

I found an embossing stencil at Heartland Paper Company earlier this week while I was browsing for no reason. I took a picture of it and tried editing it in Photoshop so I could get it looking right for my Cricut cutting software-- uh...needless to say, I had to wait for Trevor to get home. But he got it ready in like 5 minutes, and WHAMo! I was able to cut out the bird picture on some brown vinyl (...more on how I'm using that in my kitchen to come). ((I still always find it funny when I realize that I call it MY kitchen, when Brandon AND Trevor both live there too.)) That's SO not what an embossing stencil is for, yes I know, but I couldn't find a picture I liked ANYWHERE.

I stuck some scrapbook paper in a frame and put the bird sticker on there to add some dimension to the shelf, and put up my new yellow candle, willow people, and apple-smelling potpouri--it looks EVEN BETTER THAN I'D HOPED :)

AND as an added bonus: I finally have a place for our Willow Tree couple. Someone gave it to us for our wedding and I have never really been happy with its placement in our house. Now I love it so much I could marry it.

OH, and an even cooler ADDED BONUS: The GIANT picture of Trevor and me finally has company on that huge wall behind the TV :)

Ah, balance... it's finally coming together.

P.S. I found a pretty frickin sweet blog this week called Mouthy Housewives. It's a bunch of mom's giving advice...but it's totally funny and unexpected. It's not for the soft-hearted :)

Not spring for much longer...

Every time I go get the mail at work I just want to stay outside 'cause it's SO nice outside. We have some pretty sweet trees and bushes that are really green still since the sun hasn't scorched them yet. Only another few weeks before they get all brown and gross, so I wanted to be sure to capture their goodness before it's too late.

...

Wish I had a cool camera.

Curves Update: June

Eek, I'm kind of nervous to share this update. But oh well. I'm doing it.

I finished my second month at Curves, and I'm pretty happy with how things turned out considering the month we had. Trevor's birthday, Memorial Day in Idaho, and ... uh... I'm sure there was other stuff... It all seemed to be working against me.

Pounds lost in May: 1.5
Total pounds lost: 3.0
Inches lost in May: 0
Total inches lost: 0.5
Attendance: 9 workouts
Goal attendance: 16 high, 12 low
ENERGY EXERTED: 1 Billion Energy Increments

Haha, I WISH energy exerted really counted! I missed a lot of days because of the birthday and the long weekend, and just ... wanting to be with Trevor.

BUT, I'm totally proud of my other pound and a half lost! If I keep losing just a pound and a half per month, I'll lose 18 pounds in a year. If that's not beating the odds, I don't know what is. It's not a lot, but hey, progress is progress.

Curves has started something new called CurvesSmart. They've added little computers to each machine that track your personal goals, reps, heart rate, range, etc. And tell you what muscles you're working out, if you're working hard enough, how many calories you've burned...that sort of thing. Tuesday was my first day on the program--and I'll tell you--THEY REALLY PUSH YOU. I'm SUPER glad though because I've been feeling really distracted during my workouts. I'll suddenly realize I've gone through two whole machines and not really paid attention. That CAN'T really be helping me lose weight.

I was SO tired last night after my second workout on the CurvesSmart! Crazy biz. I hope it will help me get even more results in June :)

Trevor has gone back on his no-sugar diet and is doing pretty well. He keeps begging for substitutions though--which, while better than sugar itself, really, I'm just not sure what effect overall it's having on his body. Oh well, I think getting in the right mind frame is the hardest part-- whatever he needs to do to get there is fine with me. I NEVER thought I'd see Trevor voluntarily drinking DIET sodas, or NOT getting the creme soda he's randomly craving because there's no diet version, or making himself SUGAR-FREE pudding, or browsing past regular candy to the SUGAR-FREE section! Once we master this sugar business, I think he may move on to LOW FAT... ? It's been good on me. The no-sugar diet isn't my thing--it's Trevor's. But since he's doing it, I'm sort of doing it too. At least, since he doesn't want sugary foods EVERY day, I'm eating less too. I'm not going all fanatical like him though. I prefer a well rounded diet. Allthough--if I ate icecream like Trevor, I might consider cutting out sugar completely too :) He's a maniac when it comes to dessert! Trevor is amazing in so many ways, but one of his weak spots is spontaneous purchases and buying things right then and there when he wants them. This no-sugar deal is really changing the way he reacts to his first instincts. Last night I introduced the idea of weighing and measuring him like I do at Curves--that way he'll see some of the fruits of his labors. He didn't really say anything (but I think that was more the fact that I was intruding on his video-game-time than a lack of interest in the idea), but I'm going to measure him tonight--maybe in his sleep if I have to :) That'd be AWESOME!

Good luck on everyone's fitness goals!

Brother's New Bedroom

On Saturday I went over to my mom's house and hung out with her and my little brother, and got to decorate his new bedroom! Haha, they think I did them this huge favor, but really, I just got to spend a day doing what I love doing :) Trevor and I don't really have a room that I can decorate like you can a boy's bedroom, so I had a good time experimenting and practicing.

Matthew wanted there to be lots of red and black, and after going over all the ideas in our heads for what kind of designs we could do, he chose squares--big ones and small ones.
We decided to put them in the middle of the wall so that people could see the color from everywhere. He helped me cut the squares with my Cricut machine on vinyl, and getting them on the wall was actually pretty smooth. We just eyed it, and I think it turned out looking pretty fun and casual :)

He has this AWESOME vaulted ceiling in his room with a giant window, so he wanted to put a quote up on the wall that goes up to the ceiling.

He's been learning a lot about friendship and trust, and love, in new ways lately, and so he wanted to put something up that would remind him of his new friends. He spent a while trying to find a quote or saying that worked for him, but couldn't find a perfect fit. Then I asked him if he had any songs that he likes, and we remembered Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up. He liked that, and wanted to put a verse up on the wall.

The cool thing about vinyl is you can take it down anytime without ruining your walls, so if he ever wants to put up some different words, he can. Plus, being in an apartment, we generally can't paint walls, so this adds a lot of dimension and personality to his room without getting into trouble :)

It took all day to finish everything up, but it was worth it, and really a lot of fun to me :) Plus I got to stand up on a dresser to reach the 10 foot ceiling!

Chicken Kiev and Peach Cobbler

Yesterday Trevor wanted to play video games, so I decided to try some new stuff in the kitchen. We've been watching a lot of Good Eats lately, and Alton did a special on flat foods. I've always wanted to try Chicken Kiev, and Alton made it look really easy and interesting. So here goes:

It takes an entire stick of butter! Crazy. But you mix it with with parsley, salt and pepper, and tarragon--I did marjoram because WHO keeps tarragon? (one day I will, but I figure if it didn't come in my 20-spice spice rack, it's not CRAZY important that I get it right away) But if you want to be authentic, get some tarragon. Then you roll that up into a tube of butter in some wax paper, and freeze it for a few minutes while you get the rest of the stuff ready. Seriously, this recipe is a LOT of fun :) Making special butter, and rolling stuff up all over the place!

K, then I flattened my chicken by putting it in between some plastic wrap. Alton Brown recommended that I spray some water on the chicken and plastic before flattening so that it will be more slippery and will lessen the amount of damage that happens to the chicken. It really did work! In the past when I've pounded chicken, it went hard sometimes when I cooked it, but this time, my chicken was VERY soft :)

After flattening, you add 1/4 of the butter mix and a tablespoon of Panko Bread Crumbs. I was SO excited to use the bread crumbs! I've never used anything but REGULAR bread crumbs, and these were pretty awesome. They seem lighter but larger than the regular kind, and made our chicken crispier. Next came the fun part of rolling up the chicken. It was actually a little difficult, but totally INTERESTING, to me, anyway. You have to fold in the sides like a taco, and then use the plastic wrap to roll up the chicken around the butter tightly. Then you refridgerate (or freeze for an hour, if you're low on time like me) for a few hours to give it time to stick together and keep its shape.
Fry them up in 1/2" of oil, drain for 10 minutes, and...

POOF! Chicken Kiev :)

When it's finished, and if you did it right, you'll have a really creamy, buttery, awesomely textured mush/sauce inside your chicken when you cut it open. YUM :)

I also tried to make Peach Cobbler with Splenda instead of sugar--but I wouldn't exactly call it "a success" as far as peach cobbler. It was good. And Trevor ate it. But I don't think I was as satisfied as I could have been. It took like a half hour-45 minutes just to get the fresh peaches ready for cooking (peeling, cutting, de-pitting), and for it to turn out NOT exactly perfect, doesn't quite seem worth all the fuss. The peaches were still a little bit sour, and the crust part was...more like a biscuit. I was happy with the flavor the Splenda gave, and obviously that since we didn't use sugar the dessert wasn't really that bad for us. But meh, I think next time I'll just use canned peaches and find a better crust recipe.

We even had sugar-free ice cream to go with it. Dryers makes a really GREAT version using Splenda as well.
Oh, I also tried making sweet potato french fries in the oven... not exactly a success either. They tasted good (REALLY GOOD), but I couldn't get them to crispen up--so I eventually burned them. I'm going to try again sometime...after I look up how to make them work.