Taking "Me" Back Update

On July 20, 2012 I did a post titled Taking "Me" Back and said I would update you on it. Well, here's a 2 years later update:

1. Time Management - I still struggle with it but as long as the TV is off I'm so much more productive, and I started making lists for myself again so that is a huge help
2. Finances - We're pretty good here. I don't remember my struggles before but I haven't been worried about it for a while, so that's good.
3. Health - We got a gym membership and I never go but after I get off work we always go somewhere so it just feels good walking... plus my job has changed so I'm not sitting around editing 11-13 hours a day, which rocks! I actually get off work at 5pm so I have more time in the day to be active. I love it!!!
4. Home - I don't know what my concern was with this... I guess I didn't read my post well enough, but Jon is amazing at keeping the house clean Monday through Friday so I have the weekends now, which makes life easier.
5. Secure stability for my future - Still working on this. Other than student loans and a credit card or two we're out of debt, we finally got insurance about a year ago... maybe longer, so we can actually go to the Dr., and we have a savings account. I feel pretty good even though I do have new goals for our future which I've recently started working on, but we'll talk about that later.
6. Spirituality - I think I'm doing much better. I mean... we always go to church... we always say our meal prayers... we always say a family prayer at night before we go to bed, and I always read scriptures and pray on my own at night before going to bed. But just going through the actions is not enough... I try to have a constant prayer in my heart and I started reading and praying in the morning before I start my day. It seems to make everything better and gets my mind in the right place for the day. Something I'm still trying to do is make sure that I set time aside for a good long prayer... not any set time... just sitting down, by myself and having a sincere minute or 10 or whatever it needs to be. I use to do it all the time but it seems like every moment is full of something so it's much harder these days. That's okay though... it's a work in progress.

Anyhow, feelin' pretty good about where we are. We're still trying to progress in a number of areas so goals are good. I like having things to shoot for...

WOW! It's been forever!

Oh my goodness! It's been forever since I posted!!!

I'll have to get back into the habit of blogging.

Since my last post was about the benjamin's we have saved quite a bit of money which was AWESOME because we paid off a few random bills we had laying around... Knox's delivery, and early hospital bills, a couple little day surgeries that I had, a few regular bills, and now we have two credit cards that we have to pay off and we'll be totally out of debt. To be honest we probably would have been totally debt free had we been more wise but always being frugal makes you want to break loose sometimes!

Anyhow, who cares about money! So much has and hasn't happened.

I got accepted to school! Ya!
I had to defer! Ohhh...
I got promoted! Ya!
I'm still in Utah! Ohhh...

Hopefully more to come later...

Until then nice chatting with you again and I'll have to get back on this bloggin' bandwagon cuz I'm kind of sucking at it.

Peace!

PS. In case you're like... it hasn't been 2 years... it was, I just started adding photos that I took since my last post.

THE FLY.......

Okay you guys. Something about me you might not know... I LOATH FLIES! They're the most disgusting little critters on the face of the earth...

Now I know, this coming from Erika, lover of all Gods creatures, great and small... one of the few tree hugger, "hippie claimin'" Mormons around... but flies are icky and I haven't quite discovered their purpose. Not that I've done any major research but still...

Maybe someday they'll come out with a finding that the little beasts cure cancer. And on that day I will repent, and confess my wrong to the entire world... but until then they are dark creatures from the lowest abyss of H-E-double Hockey Sticks!

So here's my story... About a month ago a fly got into our house. We haven't had a fly in our house in... well, what feels like forever! So at first I was like... oh, I miss my cat... this is kind of like having a little pet. I mean, the thing wouldn't die - So you get kind of use to it... Anyhow, you know how they say that flies usually die within 24 hours. WRONG! That bugger lasted for 2 WEEKS!!! By the 2nd week it started to get on my nerves... SOOO we used our nifty little fly-swatter... which is actually really gross because its like an electric fence and when you zap something... it sends sparks... yeah... no joke!

Don't worry about asking... Jon's dad got it for him as a gift for Christmas or something... must be a guy thing because they both thought it was cool, and so did I until I saw that first bug light up like a christmas tree... not so cool after that...

Anyhow, so two weeks go by and suddenly the fly is gone. We tried zapping him but he was too fast... that's probably why he lasted two weeks... he was a fast little bugger (ha - "bugger" - a fly - bugger - get it!... Anyhow...). So we go a week, no fly... and then it happened. Somehow, we got ANOTHER fly in our house. WHAT!

This one only lasted about a week and then we didn't see it anymore. Totally clueless on where these things go to die but they seem to vanish. Which I'm okay with. Anyhow...

Then Monday comes... I wake up in the morning... take Jon to work... Its a regular day... sun is shining, birds are chirping... and then... I come home to make myself some Peeps in Diegos and what do I see when I pull the bread out of the breadbox... None other than THIS...

I freaked out. I actually almost puked. Literally. Wasn't feelin' so well that day so I was actually making food so I wouldn't, and then this happened and I almost lost it. I text my sister and asked her what to do... I already had my heart set on trashing my bread but I wanted a second opinion. The thing was curled up so I figured it was going to die soon. It wasn't moving...

In the mean time of texting I started making myself something out of the fridge, a bagel.

She asked what it was... I didn't know... she asked if the bread was closed... it was... she asked if the bread smelled bad... I didn't know, so I thought I'd check... I went over to the box and there was that little worm... all stretched out and movin' really, really fast across the top of the bread box door. I... of course screamed... and jumped around like I was walkin' on hot coals. I called my sister... "What do I do? What do I do?" It was like the first time seeing a cockroach. I go stupid, my brain is paralyzed in fear. Put me in some horrible situation and I'm fine... put a gross little bug in front of me and I'm an idiot! I couldn't bring myself to touch it... even through layers and layers of napkins so she told me to put a cup over it. I grabbed an old cup... that actually didn't belong to me... and threw it on top. She saved the day!

Life went on. Jon had seen it too but was too grossed out to do anything so we left it there for a few days, assuming that without food it would die. Nope. Leaving it there actually made us realize what it was. A few days later I finally got the nerve to trash that little worm but when I started to raise the cup I heard something ripping and it wasn't as easy to lift as usual. Op. That's when I saw it. That little worm was forming a chrysalis. It wasn't just a worm. That was a baby... pooped out by a fly! A fly baby! Or better known as but more disgusting to say... a fly larva. EWWWWWW!!!

So, needless to say the breadbox is gone as is the fly worm and its little home it was building... and my sister's cup... but I'm sure she wouldn't want it back anyways.

So that brings us to today. Jon and I get home and there's another fly in our house. We were fed up! Jon saw him in the corner of our dining room and when he tried to fly away, Jon started swatting. "I got him cornered, I got him cornered." Now, since two of the sides were wall/door and two weren't. I can't agree that having one side covered is really cornering him. He more had him boxed. So I took the other side with the fly swatter. It was like table tennis for a while. The fly would go Jon's way and he'd flail his arms wildly to keep it back and then it would come my way and I'd swing my racket and try to get him. This went on for about 5 minutes. The window was open too, mind you... so anyone who saw us would have thought we were spazzin' out! But after a while I finally got him. Zapped that little bugger and he fell to the ground! NOW. If we get another fly... we know how to take care of 'em... we'll tag team his A... butt... (come on guys... like I'd really drop an A-bomb)


Don't mess with us! (Not you guys, the flies... you're okay to mess with us, unless you're a fly... then not so much)

Back to Blogging

Okay, so I switched blog addresses to make the whole blogging process easier and then I stopped blogging. Isn't that a funny coincidence. By the way, if you're wondering how switching addresses would make it easier... I use to have two different log ins. One for my business and one for my personal... now their connected.

Anyhow, what's been going on in life lately...

First, lets talk business and that sweet, sweet money tree. Raising our prices just hasn't been easy here and our goal of making movies is being hindered by it. So I realized, I just need to clear out our editing bay and start focusing on our next film. And that's exactly what I'm doing!

How are we making a living you might ask... I got a job! So basically my Monday - Friday schedule goes like this: work 8 AM to 5 PM, come home, eat dinner, then edit 6:30 PM - 9 PM. Then Saturday I'm editing most of the day. I have about 9 or 10 more projects to finish up. My goal is to have them all done by March or April. But no later than April! For two special reasons... which I'll get to... But for now....

The JOB!!! I am really excited about it and feel really blessed to have gotten it. I see now why we were supposed to move to Utah. Its a learning experience... a chance to network... and a chance to grow. So what I'm doing is, I'm assisting a UPM (Unit Production Manager)... I don't know that I'm an "Assistant" exactly, but I'm basically just taking on some of the load. Its with the LDS Church's Film Department. Its not on a screenplay though... it's for this Leadership Training Library that will go to various countries, including our own... and then I assume it'll grow from there. But the cool thing is, (a) it's film related... I was really afraid I'd have to be a receptionist, waitress or cashier... but I was so lucky to be hired on with a Production Company... and not a small one at that. And the thing that makes me so excited... the people in the team are awesome! They're fun and really good at what they do... Hopefully I'll be able to make some connections for our upcoming feature, since we really only know a few filmmakers here. PS... the projects completion date is in like... March or April... something like that... so it's not going to be forever but... that leads to our next thing.

Well, since this UPM Assistant job isn't going to last forever, we've decided to continue growing our business... but this time in Las Vegas. I know... you're probably like... didn't you JUST move from there... To which I say... Yes... but we're going to try it out. I mean... don't get me wrong. We're still marketing in Utah, but we're going to broaden our horizons.

PS. That doesn't mean we're moving back. Our next move is to CA. I feel like our equipment is safer her... I mean, lets face it... I left my keys in the back door for a week and nada... nothing happened.

Next... what I'm most excited about... MARKUS! Our next feature.

We're working on a second draft and hope to have the script completed by the end of the month... Maybe that's pushing it. But at least a script we can start moving forward with. Honestly, I am so proud of Jon. I truly think he's done his best work so far. It always amazes me that each script he writes is that much better than the last. He really has a gift for storytelling and I love that! But we've started research on our marketing plan and well... we need to talk to some people... get a producer... we definitely have our composer... thank you Durrant! Anyhow, I'm really excited... everything we do this year is to make Markus, the feature. Humidity... which we hope to one day take the concept and make a feature out of... was my story, Markus is Jon's.

Anyhow, film friends. Hopefully we'll see you at Sundance!!!

Oh, and here's our most recent video. I think its cute. I know people only watch a bit of it then stop because its not someone they know, but the end is so stinking cute... the ends my favorite obviously.