A Little Something Sweeney: Family. Friends. Fiction. Food.

   You may know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover?"    Well, if you're me, you do. I once bought a book on ebay that I had discovered in my elementary school library when I was in the fourth grade. When it arrived, I took one look at it, and promptly decided to buy the same book again when I realized the cover was wrong- not the one that had captured my youthful imagination the first time around. And then I donated the book with the offending cover to my university's library. Just one of those beautiful, life-coming-full-circle thangs. Ummmm... No! Much better    Continuing in the same vein, judging me by my outsides is perfectly acceptable- one time a year. And that one time is Halloween. Feel free to form your opinions of me based on my carved pumpkin (who cares about the insides of those anyway), my haunted house decorating, and the level of success with which I replicate delicious holiday sweets from Pinterest and Women's World magaz

"Sometimes I think that it's better to never ask why"- Pink Wow. If crap could be holy, this would be one of those occasions. I haven't written in FOREVER! I have friends that don't even like blogging who have me bested. It's literally been three months, o sea, 1/4 of a year, since I've had anything useful or otherwise to contribute. I have some ah-splaining to do..." Here's a mild recap of some things that have happened. I honestly probably don't remember them all. I still work at Vivint, the leader in home automation and security. But I got a new job. I hesitate to call it a promotion, because I'm not sure that it is, or that I did anything to earn it. But I enjoy it a lot more than when I used to call people up and be like, "hey, so... security?" The nice thing is, I actually think they're great systems, but selling them wasn't my strong point. I have to admit, I used to have a great disdain for salespeop

I'm rather appalled that on my mission, when I had absolutely no free time (o sea, very little), I STILL managed to pump out a blog every week. I think I've written a grand total of seven thus far, which averages to a little more than one per month. Which is gay. I could be saying 'gay' as I often do to mean "uh... lame." I know we've all been told by the likes of Hillary Duff and other such celebrities that this is inappropriate. I could also try the "I have gay friends so its no big deal" justification, but other famous folk frown upon that too. So I leave myself the best defense- none. I say it because it's my first amendment right, because being PC is so last second, and because if the homosexual community can change the meaning of the word gay, well, so can I. That being said, you could take it to celebrate the demise of the DOMA. Take it however you want to. It's the joy of the written word. So. I watched the movie Vanilla Sky las

Ahhhhhh... I love it when it's been so long since I've blogged that so much has changed and I no longer care about what I was originally planning to blog about. No matter. 'Tis a duty (is 'tis an abbreviation of 'it is?' And should I blatantly be declaring my lack of knowledge on the matter when I could oh-so-easily look it up myself?) Anyway, last time I clocked out, I was sharing with the whole wide world how I've used the Internet to find man friends. Which after fishing around a bit on other blogs/storyboards/profiles, turns out to not even be a big shocker anymore. Ok, it is and isn't, but either way, it will most likely always be perceived as the mockable option. Like living with your parents into your mid- twenties. Wait, that gives me an idea... (Note to self: future blog post about a subject I'm sure has already been talked about, re-talked about, and then overdone, overkilled, over-and-out. But that's the joy of a year-and-a-half abse

I might outdo myself today. One can only hope. So exactly a week ago, I was sitting in the foyer at church, waiting for Sacrament Meeting to be over so that I could teach my Sunday School lesson. That is my calling in my home ward even though I am also attending the Singles Ward. Weird. Anyway, as I was a-sitting, a twenty-something couple and their toddler son intrude upon my solitude as the little boy proceeds to do human donuts in the middle of the carpet. I was mildly distracted from my lesson prep, and since unlike his mother, I wasn't attempting to enforce a reverent silence upon him, he seemed to slowly but surely magnetize over to my neck of the foyer. What happened next put one of those stupid smiles on my face that lasts long after the event has passed. This little tyke hobbles over to the table next to where I was seated in my armchair, and notices there's a single yellow lily bulb resting atop it. He looks from the flower to me, picks up the flower, grins, and han

Well, if you ask me (but you didn't), change is definitely in the air. Some people might say it's because Spring has sprung. I however, will chalk it up to having to do mostly with the changing of my blog. New design, and new word (spoiler alert* it's FOOD) in the title. The makeover mostly has to do with the fact that I love juxtaposing unrelated concepts. What does being scared Sweenless have to do with a flyaway dandelion? Not a blessed thing, unless you count the fact that I'm always a little worried whenever I blow on one and not all the little florets get blasted loose from the stem. And although the emotion of worry can eventually lead to fear, I don't think we've reached that point just yet. I just liked the idea of shaking things up a bit. And I love, love, LOVE food, so I thought it would be very appropriate to declare my affection openly. That seems to be the thing to do nowadays. But what about the other words I've singled out in the title to d

OK, so every once in awhile, we are forced into retrospection; usually when there is nothing more interesting to occupy our minds. Take for example, the new Man of Steele movie. In spite of my opinion that Superman is the least interesting of all superheroes, the trailer for this reboot is drawing my attention like the Magna Doodle pens do to the little lead beads. But in the absence of new movie trailers, memes, or gossip, usually we are only left with reflection of the past and inquiries of the future, all to avoid dwelling on the present task at hand.   Such is life as the Home Depot water girl. Many people pass me as I water and playfully comment, "wow, that would be a great job to have!" That's what I usually think about teachers or politicians or other hot shots (in Spanish, you'd say 'peces gordos,' which means "fat fish"). Not that I don't enjoy my job, but it is A LOT of water. And it's not particularly brain-stimulating. Which g

Wow... so I was reading through my latest entries, trying to clean up the I-only-have-a-half-hour-to-pump-out-this-blog harried grammar of my mission days, and realized I left a few gaping holes. I didn't even say what happened during my final days as a missionary. Well, for starters, Quelito DID get baptized, and it was amazing. He's so cute. It was a great way to end my second-to-the-last day as a missionary. Left to Right: Me, Quelito, Hna. Bryant, and Denise, the mom And on my actual, legitimate last day (a Sunday), I was asked to give my actual, legitimate LAST talk in church. This assignment was SO last minute, and considering I'd already given my testimony the week before in church, AND a talk the week before that, I was a little burnt out. So I just winged it, which I have never done before. And it turned out well. When it comes to things we really care about/believe, usually the unscripted stuff turns out better. Of course, you still have to study and prep