Yesterday, my friends and I got together for a few hours because we had missed each other so much.  (The last time we were able to get together was in Forks, over a month ago.)

We took quite a few pictures of us this time around because we’re going to send the above photo into the Twilight Lexicon for an “I Heart Stephenie” campaign to show our love and support.  Of course, we had to take a few funny pictures.  (By posting these pictures, I’m breaking the “SLTA law” as I’m supposed get “permission by everyone, in writing, with a 30-day notice, and notarized.” )

We played lots of fun games, such as Twilight Guesstures and Breaking Dawn Jeopardy.  Also, Shauna baked two yummy Twilight-themed cakes.  The first one was an apple-shaped cake with strawberries on the top and the second was a bed-shaped cake covered with feathers. If you’ve read Breaking Dawn, you’ll understand the significance.

We had a great time.  We already have plans for a bigger party, which will include our husbands.  It should be lots of fun!

Since the last couple of days have been a little tough, I thought I’d post something that would make you laugh.  I know they made me laugh.  But, then again, I do have a few cats. Enjoy!

My grandma died today at the age of 95.  She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, both of her husbands, and her son.  She’s survived by her sister, three children, 14 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and six great-great-granchildren.

About seven and a half years ago, she had a stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side.  For about two or three years, she couldn’t do anything because she was too weak to support her paralyzed side.  Also, she was basically blind, so the only thing she could really do was listen to audiobooks and listen to her favorite program on TV, the Lawrence Welk Show.

She was finally able to move into an assisted living center and lived there until about a week and a half ago when she suffered a second stroke.  The second stroke left her paralyzed on the right side.  It was good that she passed on, so she was no longer imprisoned in her body.

My grandma was born June 13, 1913 in Rapperswil, Switzerland.  She was the oldest of three children.  When she was around six years old, her family moved from Switzerland to the United States.  Her first husband, George Bradley, died when their son, Spencer, was three years old.  She met my grandfather, Bert Peterson, some years later and they were married when my mom was about 11 years old.

I have several fond memories of my grandma.  Up until her first stroke, Grandma would always send a birthday card to her grandchildren.  I still have many of those cards.

I also remember going to my grandma’s house when I was younger.  At the time, my family lived in Orem, Utah and she lived in Logan, Utah.  We’d take a day to go visit her and she usually had cookies for us, which I always loved!

Grandma was a huge Aggies fan.  (That’s the Utah State University Aggies not the Texas A&M Aggies.)  She and my dad would always heckle each other during the BYU vs. USU football games.

I’m really going to miss her, but I know I’ll see her again someday.

Some Stephenie Meyer fans may know that Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward’s perspective) was leaked about a week ago.  I noticed that a link had been posted, without permission, by a user on the Twilight Lexicon with Midnight Sun‘s location.  I promptly let the moderators know so they could take it down and not have the Lex inadvertently perpetuate the leak.

Stephenie posted a statement on her website about the illegal Internet copy that was distributed.  Because of this horrid situation, Stephenie has decided to put Midnight Sun on hold indefinitely, which means she may or may not finish it.  She has also released the partially written manuscript to the public, so that her fans “don’t have to feel they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest.”

I can’t claim complete innocence in this situation.  When I heard there was a leak, I was just as excited as many other fans and wanted to read the manuscript.  I let my selfish desire overpower my integrity.  I read the story and experienced the “high” with a few friends.

Even though my high was great for a moment, I would’ve never released Stephenie’s work to the public!  It wasn’t mine to share or put on the Internet!  How dare someone do that!  I’m so angry and depressed at the same time.  I’m not angry at Stephenie; the only feelings I have for her are feelings of compassion, sorrow, and regret.

I think it took a lot of courage on Stephenie’s part to make the decision she did.  I feel so sorry that Stephenie was hurt from all this! And, I regret that I can’t claim complete innocence in this situation.

I know it’s a long shot that Stephenie will ever see my blog, but I’m going to post this anyway:

Stephenie, I’m so sorry that I can’t claim complete innocence from not having read Midnight Sun when you didn’t want me to.  I’m sorry you were hurt from this ordeal, and I understand why you’ve made the decision you’ve made.

I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for your fans.  I want to thank you for the joy you’ve brought into my life, especially the wonderful friends I’ve made because Twilight brought us together.  My only hope is that you’ll be okay emotionally and know that your fans love and support you, and that you’ll continue to write and share your wonderful characters and stories with us.

My co-workers Alan and Becky told me about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog today at work.  I just finished watching it and it’s awesome! 

On the way to work today, I was listening to the radio.  I happened to be listening to NPR, which is out-of-the-norm for me.  (I normally listen to an alternative music station if I listen to the radio at all.)  As most people know, NPR usually has frequent news breaks.  During one of those news break, the announcer said that President Dmitry Medvedev announced that his country (Russia) is going to grant diplomatic recognition to the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  Unless something happens to stop this recognition, the world will have two more countries.

You’re probably wondering why I’m blogging about this since I hardly ever … er … never blog about world news.  This news got me thinking about how much the world has changed since I was younger.  I remember when:

• Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia were all part of the Soviet Union (USSR).  I also remember that the athletes in the Olympics represented the USSR rather than their individual countries.
• East and West Germany were separate countries, with Berlin divided by the Berlin Wall.
• The Czech Republic and Slovakia made up the country of Czechoslovakia.
• Slovenia, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia all made up the country of Yugoslavia.

Those are the major changes that I remember happening while I was in school.  However, I know there’ve been a lot more changes than what I’ve listed. What changes in the world do you remember?

As you’ve noticed, I haven’t really posted a lot in the last week or so.  Life has been kind of boring. It feels like Corey and I have been holed up in our house, which became old really quickly.  I found out that I didn’t have mono.  I just had some weird virus that acted and looked a lot like mono.  I’m much better now, thank goodness!

I’ve been reading a lot, which has been nice.  And, the Twilight Lexicon finally came back up, after being down for two weeks.  Stupid Internet terrorists! At least I could talk to some of my online friends.

Corey and I have been hanging out with each other, watching movies, and talking.  That’s been nice, too.  Other than that, not much has been going on.  Hopefully, life will pick up a bit more … and soon!