Ode to the Toilet

Without further ado, I give to you a beautiful picture of this porcelain princess. Now don't you wish you had one of these puppies in your home? Eh? Now the toilets from our home were probably brand new in 1920. I am pretty sure of it. I was trying to find a picture that would closely match what our toilet looks like but to no avail.

Here I am again writing on my blog at 3 a.m. Yet another night of no sleep. What is wrong with me? I take plenty of medication that should make me sleepy, but I cannot sleep. Tonight was an adventure for us, to say the least. When I got home, we went down to Chase's parents home and had dinner with them and then went over and visited Grandpa and Grandma Denton. We got back home at 8:30 and the house was stinking from all of the dirty dishes. So alas, I had to give in and finally do them. While I was working on that chore for the evening, all of the suden I hear a scream and Chase comes darting out of the bathroom. Those of you familiar with my house the little bathroom is just off of the kitchen so Chase comes flying out of the bathroom like a bat out of hell. I ask him what is wrong and he says that the toilet overflowed and there is water spilling out all over the bathroom floor. Now I don't know if it is a man thing, but it seems like little brain is used in these situations. Chase immediately starts grabbing the paper towels just on the side of the sink and throwing them on the ground. He had almost gone through a hole role when I asked him what the heck he was thinking and that paper towels are expensive. I'm not sure what was going through his mind to make this smart action to battle all of the water on the floor of that bathroom, but he was freaking out about all of the water. I took off my dish gloves and dashed to get some towels to lay down on the floor to sop up all of the water. Men are wonderful but I just wonder what their thought process is from time to time.

Convienently at the same moment I am attempting to clean up the mess and have Chase help me, he decides that he has to go the bathroom right away and sneaks off to the other bathroom. I was so frustrated with him at that point, I was about ready to let him have it but I refrained and decided to focus on the positive things my husband does for me. I was busy all night and didn't get to sit down until 11:30 by the time I cleaned up the bathroom and did the dishes and went to the grocery store and then took a shower.

As I was thinking about this blog and a picture that suited this blog, I decided to look up toilets on Google to see what I could find (picture-wise) about toilets. I ran upon many websites dedicated to toilets and there are a bunch of strange wacky things on the websites. I thought to myself, "what kind of people have time on their hands to create a website particularly focusing on toilets?" Who are these people and what time do they have in their life to sit down and create a website with various pictures and stories regarding toilets? I found so much different information that I could write a report just about toilets.

One of my favorite pictures of the Mormon Row barn and the Tetons in the background.

Vacation-Time

The annual Cooper family vacation has come and gone. I can't believe it is already over! I looked forward to it all summer! We had so much fun while up in Jackson Hole! We went hiking and swimming and just had a blast. Everyone got along really well, which was a relief. There weren't any major accidents or problems and everyone I believe had fun. Here I am blogging at 2:30 a.m. because I can't sleep, I just wish I could sleep right now over anything else. Anyways, it was so relaxing up there, my favorite part had to be sleeping in the tent at night and hearing the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of the Gros Ventre river rushing nearby. Maybe I can't sleep because all I am hearing now is the sound of the fan blowing instead of those other sounds. I really enjoyed visiting with all of my family and hearing good stories from my Grandpa Clark. I get to see my brothers and sisters quite often, but I really felt like I got back in touch with them more being around them for 4 days. There was time to sit down with each of them and ask them how they are doing and what is new in their life. Sometimes it isn't really easy to learn those things just visiting on Sunday evenings with all of the neices and nephews running about.


I think I got heat stroke on the hike to Moose Ponds by Jenny Lake. That was the only downer of the vacation for me. The hike was supossed to be about 2.6 miles, but I think it ended up being more than that. It was a really sunny hot day and we stared hiking around 11 am. For Chase and myself we had filled a 32 ounce bottle with water and another 16 ounce bottle with water. I drink a lot of water while I hike or do any other physical activity and so needless to say by the time we had reached the moose ponds or a little after that, our water was down to about 4 ounces. Chase probably only drank about 8 ounces himself and I had guzzled the rest. On the way back, we took a different trail thinking it would get us closer to the car quicker ( I am not so sure about that now) and easier. For most of the hike it was surrounded by trees so there was much shade and was cooler. This other trail coming back was not in the trees at all and basically it was a field full of sagebrush and no cover. About half-way through this hellish field of brush I began to feel dizzy and faint. I stopped sweating and felt really cold. I told Chase that I was dizzy and he either didn't hear me, or thought I was just a wimp and complaining. So I just keep trudging on and things got even worse. By the time we were almost there I told Chase again and my sweet sister Denise noticed I was lagging behind and came to see what was the matter. She took one look at me and said that I should probably stop and they could come and pick me up in the car. I never had felt the way I did then. I wanted to die---I was so exhausted and thirsty and cold eventhough it was 80 degrees out. Chase and I sat and waited for my family to pick me up. Everyone was really concerned about me. While we waited, my brother-in-law happened to have some Snapple Juice and he gave it to me and told me to drink it all. I think this really saved me because I was not only dehydrated, but my blood sugar level was really low. I get really sick if I don't eat for a long period of time and I think it is because my blood sugar level gets too low for me. Anyways, my brother-in-law Brigham is in school now to become a doctor and he certainly displayed his knowledge and concern for me by giving me the drink and telling me to sit in the shade. He was the hero for the day. Thank goodness he was around when this was happening.

As for other news in the family, on Friday while everyone was up in Jackson minus my brother Darren, and his wife Ericka who was pregnant, had their baby at 5:25 a.m. From what I hear everyone is alright and though I am yet to see this little bundle of joy, I hear he is quite cute. They are naming him Casen Stewart Cooper. He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. He has black hair and blue eyes. We can't wait to see him. They brought him home from the hospital on Sunday and although we are dying to see him, wanted to give Ericka and Darren some time to settle down at their home before going to see the little baby. But I think we will go and see him after work tonight.

It is now 3 a.m. so I am going to try and get some sleep again. We'll see if I can actually sleep or not. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted of the vacation soon.

Countdown to Jackson Hole

Okay so I think my last post may offend some people so I do apologize for that. Sometimes I rant and carry on and then when I go back and read it, I feel like I am being racist or something. That is not my intention at all. Since I didn't want that post to be at the top of my blog, I decided I better write a new one. So the countdown is now 7 days 22 hours and 39 minutes. Oh I am counting! While the 4th of July weekend was lovely and I got that day off, it wasn't really a vacation. I seemed to be cooking a bunch on Saturday for the Cruise-in parade party at CarQuest (Chase's work). We had a really good time on Saturday at CarQuest. Both of us had never been to the Cruise-in parade so we were really excited. The party was fun and we had some really good food and a prime spot in the shade for watching the parade. However, I think I'd rather just view the cars at the fairgrounds where I can more closely see each car and have wonderful food and snacks at the fairgrounds.

By the 3rd time around of all of the cars parading, I was more than ready to go home. The drive home took like 35 minutes when it should have taken like 15. The traffic was so awful. Those of you who know me, know the equation of me (traffic + tons of people+ road rage + my temper = not so good)! I wish I was more patient. That is one thing I feel I need to work on. On Friday Chase and I went to the Cruise-in with Dad and Mom Cooper which was really fun, but really hot! We got there around 1 pm and left at 4 pm. It was so hot. Chase didn't feel to well that day, but was a good sport and came along anyways. I am so grateful for a patient, wonderful husband! He puts up with so much with me and the different escapades I decide to go on. Do you remember that Janet Jackson song called Escapade? Geez that was a while ago, early nineties perhaps? I remember my sister having a tape of it and Gabby and I listening to it on the boombox in the backyard and dancing to it.

Oh to be a little kid again. No responsibilities, fun summers, playing all the time. Oh I miss it, but at the same time I don't. I guess I like the no responsibilities and fun no school/work summers. I guess that is why I am looking forward to Jackson Hole camping trip this year. I really think I could live up there year-round. I love the atmosphere there, it seems so much more laid back and I love the scenery and all that you can do there. The hiking, skiing, swimming, white-water rafting, SHOPPING, and the fabulous Yippi-O-Candy Co. store!

Tourism has greatly increased since I can first remember going there. It used to be a little known secret gem. It is close to Yellowstone park which is also a plus. That is really a sad thing of how many tourists there are there, I often wonder how many more years our family will keep going up there because of this. Although we camp about a half hour north of the city, even the camp ground is growing with numbers by leaps and bounds!

No Habla Espanol! Se habla English only.

It seems like everyone is going on vacation this weekend. I guess one great thing is that I don't have to work on the 4th but still get paid for it. :) Well the countdown until our vacation is 14 days. It is time for the yearly Cooper family Jackson Hole camping trip. We have been going every year since I can remember. We stay about 30 minutes north of Jackson Hole in Gros Ventre camp ground. I am so looking forward to it. I had to get a crown put on at the dentist today and my tooth is now killing me! I hope it gets feeling better.

On Sunday we went out to my parents' house and celebrated Justin's (my oldest nephew) 11th birthday. I can't believe that 11 years ago, he was born. He is getting so grown up. He is going into 6th grade this fall. It makes me worried to think that he will be exposed to some not great things that teenagers face. I've known people around my age that began smoking marijuana (not myself, of course) or experimenting with other drugs or alcohol at the age of 12! Every night we pray that our neices and nephews stay as innocent for as long as possible in this crazy messed up world. I can only hope and pray that he chooses good friends. I know being raised by great parents helps (which he has) but even they cannot make their children make the correct choices. I really think it comes down to friends and peer pressure. If you hang out with people that have the same standards as you, then more than likely it will be easier to be able to say no because it won't be around you in the first place.

I've seen drugs mess up people so much in their lives. People my age were in trouble with the law all of the time. One kid I went to school with got arrested for dealing meth and other drugs after we graduated and was sentenced to six years in prison. Just think how that will affect him for the rest of his life. When he does get out, it would be really hard to change and not go back to the same problems he had before. Plus it is really hard to get a job after they get out of prison.

I had one of the toughest calls today at work. Some people get angry and yell and that is really hard, but today I received a call from a lady that could hardly speak any english. Her last name was spanish but her accent seemed asian. Needless to say, a five minute call turned out to be 30 minutes. She couldn't understand me and I sure couldn't understand her. I kept trying to get an account number from her which is on the bill they have and that is the easiest way to look up a customer. She didn't seem to understand that she just told me the account holder's name (her husband?) and the address she lives at. I couldn't even understand what city she lived in. She kept saying, "Ok lady. Jose So-and-so no more. no more. Name is Miriam. My account Miriam." I don't know if Jose died, or moved out of the apartment or what. She wanted to put the account into her name instead of Jose's. I have to receive permission from her leasing office at the property she lives at before I can change it so I placed her on hold and contacted the leasing office. They did say her name was on the lease and so I could change it. When I got back on the phone with Miriam she said again, "Ok lady. Jose no more. Account number ie 101111111." I can't remember the actual account number and for secure purposes, did not list the actual account. So by that time I had already pulled up her account and told her I could change it. The call was eventually finished. But I was so frustrated from it because it just took so much time for something that would really have taken 5 minutes.

I cannot judge because I have never been in these people's shoes that speak another language as their primary and do not know english very well at all. I just feel that America is very accomadating to people here more so than any other country because they have almost everything available in Spanish which is the next biggest language spoken here next to English. Maybe that is why America is so great. I guess I just feel that if I was to move and live in France say for the rest of my life, I would make the hardest effort to learn the language and speak it there. I just think people come here illegally and expect everyone to accomadate them to make us speak their native tongue and neglect to learn the native language themselves. Now it is hard to obtain some jobs because they are now requiring you to be bilingual, to speak two languages. Many jobs I have wanted to apply for require this, I don't think that is fair. I live in the United States of America. The national language is English. I believe that employers should offer some incentive if a person does speak two languages, like a little bit higher pay, but to make it mandatory for a job, that is just sad.

I really think it is sad that these people's children have to make the calls to pay their parents' bills because they are the only ones that know English and not their parents. What kind of parenting is that? Seriously I have taken calls from children that sound like they are six or seven years old. Really, come on people. At work, we do have about 10 people that speak Spanish and so our customers can call in and speak to someone in spanish, but I just feel like this is hindering and not helping these people become adapted and inclined to learn English in the USA.

I know this country was founded by immigrants from different places in Europe and many languages were spoken here at first. So over two hundred years later, it has not still had many languages, just English. My forefathers adapted. They learned English. I know people legally immigrated through the 1920s (by large numbers) to America and it seems like even back 90 years, it was either sink or swim. These emigrants in the 1920s learned English. Now it is different. The people that come here legally seem to make the effort to adapt and learn English, I think they really do. It seems like those illegally here do not. That is just my two cents worth on that.