Addicted...

"Hi, my name is Kaylan and I'm addicted to Home Makeover projects."

It's true!! I swear there's a high when I work on those projects and I'm not talking about the paint fumes and late nights. Altho, those might be a small facter... haha!

Since we, yes I have been to all but one of them and am part of the team, started in 2004 we have done 9 homes, raised 2.5 million $ and been in People Magazine.

Putnams - 2004, Rose Parks - Adelle (84) and her two mentally handicap daughters. I introduced them to Easy Cheese, and they come to almost every reveal since.

Richardson - 2005, Pleasant Grove - Couple with 20 kids, yep you read that right, most with some disability or handicap. One of the oldest girls baby sat my siblings, and we helped unload their storage units on my 15th birthday.

Smeltzer - 2006, Sandy - Father, 3 kids and 1 grandchild have extremely rare (family makes up 15% of world pop. with) disease. Mother is mostly deaf. First house we knocked down. Vicky and Dave come up out to every house since and volunteer.

Hanson - 2007, Sugerhouse - Stacey was shot at Trolley Square a few days before Valentine's Day. Being in a wheelchair his dream home would've had to be sold. We made it wheelchair accessable, and my dad did the excavator work.

Shoemakers - 2007, Salt Lake - Mom and daughter were involved in car crash that killed the mother and caused the daughter to be a parapalegic. We put in a ramp and new paint.

Groves - 2008, Taylorsville - All 3 young boys have severe health problems and the black mold in their home only made it worse. Tore down the house and rebuilt it in 10 days, Mandaleena has been designer on other projects and helped my parents out medical funding Q & A's.

Thill - 2008, Orem - Foster parents with 14 kids from 15 to 2 years in age. Gutted the house, redid the yard. Brought the family home down to the minute of being done with their rooms. Oldest daughter is a good friend of mine and they've helped on every home since.

Hill - 2009, Pleasant Grove - Father has melinoma, and was unable to finish his "Honey Do List". We repainted, cleaned and refirbished their home in a few days. My dad tuned their piano (the last home makeover he'd be able to help with). I met the boy who would be my first boyfriend, and my mom and dad reconnected with an old friend- Scott Painter.

Jensen - 2009, Provo - Boys have handicaps and the house was unlivable. We finished it from the framing out in a week. A few nights I was the P.M. (project manager) on site. This was the house I did the most work on: caulking, painting, decorating, cleaning, etc.

Sevy - 2009, Lindon - This was the only project I wasn't here for; I was in Canada.

Kuester - 2010, Orem - We knocked it down this morning, the foundation will be poured by tonight and the framing will be up tomorrow. They will come home April 23rd at 6pm. I can't wait for the good times we'll have on this one.

So yes, I'm an addict but it's something that helps others. The media's great but it's the funny, silly, crazy things that happen late at night ("Hoe makeover"... late nights caulking and insane moments) that make it memorable. And after the cameras are gone and the family's settling in I'm looking for my next fix cause this is one addiction that I'm not giving up anytime soon.

What's up with culture??

Earlier today I walked into the room as my litle sister was watching "iCarly" a teen show on Nickalodean. The male lead in the show was being teased for never kissing a girl; one of the female leads, a friend of his, had spread the news on their show 'iCarly'. She later apologized and said that she'd never been kissed either. Granted they are both in high school, but I couldn't help but think "why's it such a big deal?" I had friends who were "going out" in 6th grade, making out in 8th and, sadly, doing it in 12th.
I swore years ago that I would wait to date til I was 18 and out of high school, cause it's all drama, drama, drama. And frankly a waste of time during those years. I thought it was lame that kids were getting bad grades, not to mention broken hearts, all because of who's with who.
'What's the deal with our culture these days? ... You're thought weird, or worse, if you've never been with someone of the opposite sex and yet girls complain that guys aren't "gentlemen" anymore..'
Shouldn't we be more worried about treating people well as friends and siblings than if/ when we get kissed??

Store High In Transit

Going back through my old blogs, of which there are less than 2 dozen, I saw a post written by my dad (Paul) in which he referred to "store high in transit". Some of you probably don't know that that is where we got one of our culture's favorite swear words.
When sailors had to go on long trips they couldn't freeze their meat, they had to bring the live animal, well all of the feces would create ammonia which caused sailors to get sick and in alot of cases perish. The sailors had to scoop it up and put it in crates until they could dispose of it on land. They finally found that if you put the animal waste up high people wouldn't get sick, hence the term "S. H. I. T. - Store High In Transit".
Often times that seems the most appropriate, or should I say most used, word that comes out of our mouths when you jam your finger in a drawer or almost drop a bowling ball on your toe or get knocked on your butt in the dirt. It's what we use in the expression, "S--t hit the fan". That happened to me, and getting a faceful of it is not fun but sometimes that's the best wake-up call. So the next time you go to ask/tell someone to not say that remember that it just means "Store High In Transit" (that allowed my dad to use it ;P)

Spicy, Sweet and "Holy crap that's hot!"

Yesterday Scott came in with a bag of candies; 'Hot & Spicy Watermelon Rings' to be exact. "I got them for Kaylan, but you (my mom) and Hannah should try em too." he said with a grin. I was a bit iffy but, they turned out to be really good, not to mention seemingly spiced with jabeneros (jeesh!) I had to laugh when mom and Hannah took chewed for a minute then spat 'em into the trash ;D Guess some people can't take the heat. <3
Feels kinda like my life right now. I know Forest Gump says that "life's like a box of chocolates.." But lately mine seems like that bag of watermelon rings. Sweet in places, spicy in others, and others that make your eyes water and throat feel parched, but its still great. Guess I can't complain.