Ti-i-i-i-me [Ain't] On My Side

So time ain't on my side. I have too much to do. Too little time. Things like blogging have fallen to the wayside lately. And when I have family pictures to post so my dad can see them, I probably should make it more of a priority. But somehow my life is full of things that need doing. Even my reading has been moved to the back burner. And that kind of irritates me. So here's a little catch-up post :). Sometimes, when I do song title posts, I learn a lot. Because I totally didn't know this song was by the Rolling Stones.

So Thanksgiving was pretty good. Okay, well. The part where we all got there and got to the eating part. I think I'm too high strung for Thanksgiving. It has too much chaos, and I get grouchy. I think I may be part Grinch. So I went over to Brad and Tarylyn's first and took a lot of the stuff over. And then the kids and I hung out until everyone else arrived. Which wasn't long. But here is Samuel with me. Poor kid. He was licking his chapped lips like crazy and ended up with a bunch of canker sores. So sad. But isn't he just the cutest? I can't believe he's 6 1/2 now. I remember being there the day after he was born. My how the time flies.
This is the only picture I got of Benjamin, other than the group shot, and you can't even see his face. In this picture, he and Emily were hugging. Thank goodness for my sister who took pictures with my camera. Because other than the self-portraits and the group shot at the end, I didn't take any of the other pictures... I'm such a slacker!

While we were waiting for the food to finish cooking, the kids and I watched some videos on the computer. Look at my sweet Desiree. She is such a sweet girl. I mean so incredibly sweet. And she's so pretty. How I love her. Is it possible this is the little tiny baby they wheeled into the room all bundled up?

And here I am with Saria, Desiree, and Samuel. Saria is quite the beauty. She is incredibly photogenic. She will be 10 soon. How does this happen? I was there when Tarylyn was in labor with her, though I did have to go to work (the HLML book sale...) before Saria was born. But I saw her that very night. And then, not even 2 years later, right before my wedding, this sweet thing was there, calling the Wizard of Oz "kai!" Don't know why, but she was consistent with it. And now look at her! She is beautiful! And of course, sweet Desiree again and handsome Samuel. How I love these kids! They make my day every time I see them. How thankful I am to be their aunt. On Thanksgiving and every day. They so enrich my life.

Dinner was ready shortly after these pictures were taken. Desiree told me she wanted to eat next to me. Which meant I ate in the kitchen with the kids. Because other than Emily who was being fed and was therefore able to eat with the grown-ups, all the other kids ate in the kitchen. So Aunt Hila did too. And Samuel didn't want his sweet potatoes or his green bean casserole, but was told he had to eat it. So Aunt Hila broke out the big guns and introduced them to the childhood game that Brad, Christina, and I made up. We call it: "When I take a bite, they put me like this..." And let me just say, the kids loved it. Saria had finished her food, but she decided to eat more bread and then pretend to eat just so she could participate! And Desiree was doing a good job of eating her food anyway and not complaining about it, but she also wanted to participate. They had so much fun with it! These kids are just, in a word, awesome. They make me laugh. And I told Brad what they were doing when he came in the kitchen and he just laughed. Because it's exciting for the kids for sure. But it's fun for us too, because it brings back memories of our own. Of days sitting at the formica-covered kitchen table, eating the potato soup we didn't like out of the little green bowls. I have that mental image every time I think of this game.

And here's little Emily. Emily who will be 2 in 11 days. Emily who loves books. And who can now point at a pumpkin and say "punkin." And at a rock and say "rock!" Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, and everytime I go without seeing her for more than a week, it feels like she advances so much it astounds me! I know that is what they do at this age. It's just amazing to see it. And actually, Emily is the first niece or nephew I've seen go through this stage. The others didn't live near enough to me at this age for me to see their daily and weekly advancements. Anyway, in this picture, she had taken a book to her grandma to read, and she was just happy as a clam to sit there and listen to the story. She's so pretty.

We were getting ready for group pictures and Desiree wanted a picture together. I had already put the timer on for the group picture, and I thought I'd turned it off for this. But I hadn't. So we had to pose for 10 seconds. And Desiree sat there saying "Cheese!" The whole 10 seconds. Oh! Desiree can spell STOP and she points out stop signs and such. She is also becoming more observant. I pick the girls up for church on Sundays, and this past Sunday she asked me, as we were driving along, why "those signs" have numbers on them. So I explained to her about speed limits.

So we took a group shot before Christina had to leave. Being in retail, she had to work at 4 a.m. on Black Friday. So they ate and headed out pretty much. But we got a group shot.

I also had a ton of toys and such for the kids. Mostly they were things I forgot to give them at Halloween. Like stretchy glow in the dark skeletons. Actually, those I got on sale after Halloween. But I had glow-in-the-dark bats and various-colored vampire teeth. The kids loved that. They all put the teeth in, including Emily! (And including Aunt Hila). Maybe I will post them tomorrow (or in my next post...) if Christina sends them to me. All those pictures are on her camera. I told you, I did a really bad job of picture-taking this time! I also got to enjoy talking to Saria about books she is reading. She loves reading and reads well above her grade level. I am proud of her. After everyone left except me, Brad's family and I watched A B.C. Thanksgiving and A B.C. Christmas. I love those cartoons. The kids chuckled, but mostly when the grown-ups laughed. I think the cartoons are geared more toward adults. And they are hilarious. I headed home around 8:30 and didn't actually go to bed until midnight, though I had definitely intended to go to bed way earlier. Not only did I have to work at the funeral home the following day, but I'd also committed to go to Black Friday sales with Rebecca! And we agreed to meet at the funeral home at 3 in the morning! Gross!

So my alarm went off at 2:30 in the a.m. I texted Rebecca to see if we were still meeting at 3. I secretly hoped she'd say she wanted to meet up later (or not at all... hahaha). But we were still on. (Though she later admitted she had wanted to beg off, but didn't want to let me down...). So we hit Kohl's a little after 3 in the morning. Then we went and got hot chocolate. Then we drove around and ended up back at the mall. And walked around. Then we went to eat at this place called Shari's. At like 5 in the morning. I looked like death warmed over. Then we hit Target. Which we promptly left when we saw the check-out lines wrapping around aisles in the back of the store... Then we went to Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer. I did pretty well. Other than the breakfast and cocoa, I only spent $20. And $10 of that was Emily's Christmas present. I got her one of those sing-a-ma-jig things. If you don't know what they are, you should go look for them in the toy section. They are hilarious! I kept making it sing the notes, so I finally had to wrap it so I wouldn't kill the batteries before Emily could play with it on Christmas. Then I also bought 2 movies for $5 each. New movies :). And then it was time for work. Yeah, so I worked a full day at the funeral home, as did Rebecca, after we went shopping at 3 in the morning. Blech! I slept well that night. By 10:30 I couldn't even keep my eyes open. I was trying to read, and it wasn't happening, so I finally gave up.

Saturday I had to work at the library. Which I thought was pointless. The library was closed Sunday and Monday because it always is. Closed Tuesday due to the ice and snow. Open Wednesday (again, pointless). Closed Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. Open Saturday. And closed Sunday and Monday again for regular schedule. I thought it was dumb to have us in on that Saturday. But nobody asked me... I had my annual evaluation, which went fine. The day went pretty quick. Then I came home and actually went out and started pulling up my garden. It's the first Saturday afternoon I've had to do it. I still have to till it all under, but all the plants have been pulled, except the strawberries, and I won't pull those. Saturday night I had a dinner and movie night with Heidi and Wendy. We had Bistro Chicken in Rich Cream sauce (which I made out of my new crock pot cookbook), quinoa, brussel sprouts, orange julius to drink, and chocolate trifle for dessert. And we watched The Importance of Being Earnest (which to me is silly. I read the play back in 2006 for my English degree, and I thought it was absurd then... And I know it's mean to be...) and we also watched New In Town, which I loved! That was so funny! But it was a romantic comedy (ie chick flick), so of course I enjoyed it.

Sunday was church. Like I mentioned, we took the girls to church. Emily was more of a pill than usual. But when we gave her snacks and things to color, she settled down. Desiree is always so good. She is just such an easy-going, even-keeled kid. Not that Emily is awful. She really isn't. She just likes things to go her way sometimes (don't we all?) and she is still learning how to convey those wishes and frustrations.

Monday I worked all day at the funeral home. And then left at 4:30 like I always do, so I could get ready for Marvelous Monday Meals (or as we have started calling it: 3M). We had autumn chicken over egg noodles (another from my crock pot book. It was okay. Not as flavorful as I'd hoped, though Lea's family seemed to like it), homemade cream corn, Sis. Schubert rolls, and rich chocolate bars for dessert. Plus Lea has her Christmas tree up already, so it seemed so cozy to see it lit up in the corner as we laughed and watched Scrubs.

And today. This brings us up to date. For now :). It was a typical Tuesday for me. Lots and lots of rain the last two days. Lame. But at least it's not snow :). After works, I walked with Sue, ate dinner, got application stuff ready for a job, and finished up making oreo truffles. I have a love/hate relationship with those things. I love to eat them and give them to others to eat. I hate to make them. With a passion. If only they weren't so awesome-tasting, I would never feel the need to make them. Like ever. This batch is for the cookie swap we are doing at the library Christmas party this Friday.

So, I totally put reading and emailing my friends on the back-burner to write this blog. Which turned out quite lengthy. More-so than I had planned. So forgive me Julie, Annie, April, and Julia-Ann. You were on my list tonight, believe me. But oreo truffles, job applications, and blogging happened. And then it was 11 p.m. And my eyes hurt.

In Everything Give Thanks

What an interesting week it has been! Winter has come early to the Pacific Northwest, as you may have seen in the prior post. It has been a deep freeze here, and to say we, as a county, were unprepared is an understatement. Nobody was expecting the snow to stick on the ground on Monday. And nobody was expecting the never-above-freezing temperatures we are still experiencing. This makes for icy roads, by the way. Nobody was expecting to spend 8 hours to try to get out of town, if they needed to go (you can ask my brother about that one... In 3 hours on Monday night, he moved about 100 feet, and ended up getting home at 3 in the morning -- he had left his house at 3 in the afternoon (he was called in to work) and never even got out of town -- and then only because the police finally came and made a u-turn route so everyone could avoid the freeway, where the on-ramps were so iced over that people were skiing in cars...). Accompanying these frozen temperatures were howling winds. I never heard the official speed of the wind gusts, but I do know that they were incredibly strong. We lost power at the house for about 30 seconds. Lea's house lost power at 6 p.m. Monday night. Thousands and thousands of residents in my county (which was hit the worst by the windstorm) were out of power for over a day.

But as this is a day of Thanksgiving -- and a week of Thanksgiving, I will tell you the reasons for which I have given thanks this week, in spite of some of the craziness.

I am thankful for fun new traditions with new friends. As many of you may already know, Lea's family and I have a Monday night tradition known as Marvelous Monday Meals. Also Lea's daughter's boyfriend Dan comes too. It has been incredibly fun. We try new recipes (and hope for the best ;)). We have had Swedish meatballs, Philly Cheesesteaks, brocolli salad, creamy tortellini soup, chicken taco soup, chicken cordon bleu, etc.. For dessert we have had apple taffy pizza, chocolate trifle, coka cola cake, baked Alaska, etc. It has been a scrum-diddly-umptious time and entirely fun! We usually enjoy dessert while watching episodes of Scrubs. And every week, this is the highlight of Monday. Her whole family talks about it. I have an album of it on facebook, and will be making a cookbook from our Monday meals (with pictures!) soon.

And so this past Monday, I was making slow-cooker White Chili. And so the snow was kind of putting a cramp in Marvelous Monday Meals plans, which can never be a good thing! But with the snow starting to stick around 2 p.m., and me leaving the funeral home at 3 so I could make it home safely (studded tires or not, I'm not an experienced snow and ice driver, so I didn't want to be taking any chances), it was looking like a strong possibility that we would be cancelling Marvelous Monday Meals. And that was tragic. But in the end, we found an alternate solution :). And so Lea's husband and son came and picked me up (Dan was already at the house from after school). With hot chili in hand, and everything to spend the night at her house (including 2 chick flicks to watch, because I was pretty confident I wouldn't be going to either job the following day...), I piled into the truck and we made our way to Lea's. We actually didn't encounter any driving problems, but we saw the southbound freeway traffic, and that was grid-locked! Of course, we arrived at Lea's, and there was no power! Which meant we didn't have any cornbread muffins to go with our chili. But everyone was so happy to have the warm chili. And we anticipated that the power would be on in no time, and we could snack on cornbread muffins and the cinnamon cobblestone muffins that were to be dessert while watching Scrubs. Because they've lived in their house for about 10 years now, and they've never been without power more than 30 minutes. So we were optimistic. And, because I had thought to charge my laptop at home and to bring it with me, we rigged it up with speakers, and watched episodes of Scrubs while we settled in to wait for power. By 10, we were ready to turn in. We were bundled up. And we still had no power. But we figured it would come on during the night. It was 61 degrees inside when we went to bed. And the following morning, when we woke up to no power, it was 51 degrees inside! YIKES! So we walked around in blankets and coats. Hahaha. I called in and both jobs were closed. So there was no problem there. Didn't have to worry about being anywhere. Turned out we were in a stretch of the city that didn't have power, but the grocery store about 3 minutes away had power. So Lea's husband, daughter, and son went to the grocery store and got hot chocolates and coffees for everyone. Which makes me think of one of my thankfuls: I'm so thankful to live in a time of modern convenience!! And that, even though we were living without power and cold, there were some people who were not, and so we had options. I think I was born in the right time. I simply don't think I was cut out for days of no electricity. I am also thankful that, even without power, the toilets still flushed. I love indoor plumbing. Again, something without which I don't think I could function :). Or at least not well ;). So here are me and Lea. We had been up for a while, but I had only just put in my contacts, hence my tired-eyes. At this point, Lea had managed to get out of her warm bed and make it to the couch where she piled up the blankets. Hahaha.
As the day wore on, we decided we were hungry. And since power was not coming back, we improvised. Chuck thought of the bbq grill. And believe it or not, we had eggs, bacon, and toast (along with hot water boiled on the grill for more hot chocolate or coffee, and for washing dishes!). And so, here's a thing for which to be thankful: it gave me an idea of a way to do things when power is out. I think I need to invest in a charcoal grill and charcoal! And besides that, it was fun! It was an adventure!

After eating, we still didn't have power. So the whole chick-flick plan went out the window. We kept laughing and saying, "Don't the power people understand that their lack of hooking up power here is affecting our watching chick-flicks!?!" These are important things, people. But we decided to entertain ourselves with games. We ended up playing Skip-Bo. And that was fun. But here we are, all bundled up: me, Lea, Xavier, Morgan, and Dan. Chuck was still outside playing Survivor: Tundra. Hahaha. And so, I'm thankful for non-electrical entertainment! And for friends with whom to enjoy those non-electrical entertainments :). Even when we're frigidly cold (did I mention it was 29 degrees outside)!

We continued to be hopeful about the restoration of power. It didn't happen. And by this point, it was 4 p.m., and starting to get darker outside, and colder, and the temperature inside had dropped to 49 degrees. So here I am, texting people to see how they were holding up, all bundled up. And so I'm thankful for technology that allows us to keep in touch when the power is out (at least through the end of battery life ;)). And I'm also thankful that almost all of the time, I have a warm house. And even in this case, where we weren't enjoying heat at the moment, we were out of the elements, and that is such a blessing too! And we had tons of blankets and coats and sweaters and socks to keep us bundled up and as warm as possible.

But with the temperature dropping and still no heat or power -- and no more hot water either -- it was time to get me home and time for Lea's family to find a warm place to stay for the night. So Chuck drove me home. Dan went home (and got there safe, thankfully, in spite of incredibly icy roads and a huge slip down a big hill and the need to walk home to get his dad to help get his truck out). And Lea and her family found a friend with plenty of room and heat where they could stay for the night.

In spite of my greatest hopes, both of my jobs were open on Wednesday. And the roads weren't horrible. Temperatures remained below freezing, so nothing was melting. But the roads were surprisingly clear. So I went to both jobs. And arrived safely. I left the funeral home at 4, because my mom had bought tickets to The Forgotten Carols in Seattle. Lea went with us. And we had such fun! We walked on the ferry on the way over. Took a taxi (witha driver who ran a red light) to Benaroya Hall (which I keep calling Benny Hana Hall -- I just can't seem to get it right!), and got in and waited. And took pictures.

The show was fabulous!!! Plenty of humor. A sweet message. Beautiful music and talented singers! It was awesome! I'm so glad we went :). When it let out, we caught a cab back to the ferry terminal. He was another crazy driver. He went really fast down steep hills and scraped the car. But we arrived in once piece ;). We ate gourmet for dinner (at 10:00 at night) called McDonald's. Hahaha. Well, that was what was open late by the ferry! Turns out the Subway sandwiches inside the terminal was open too, but we didn't know that! So here are me and Lea on the ferry home. In the background (though you can't really seem him) is this dude that had blue and white long dredlocks in a mohawk-type thing. He didn't have hair anywhere else but the down the middle of his head. The weirdest thing is that he was on the ferry on the way over to Seattle with us, we saw him in the ticket line as soon as we all got into the ferry terminal when we arrived in Seattle, like he was buying a ticket back, and then when we got back after the show, he was in the terminal again, and was riding the ferry back with us! It was bizarre! We are wondering if he just rides the ferry back and forth for kicks on a Wednesday night. Hahaha...

So we dropped Lea off after a fun and laughter-filled ferry ride home. And then we got home at about midnight.

I've also pondered some deep thoughts this week (and some not-so-deep). Like why are eggs (huevos) and nuts (nueces) not equal across languages? Or like why does my good memory have to encompass the bad memories as well? I don't have an answer for the first question. But for the second, I think I do. I think that, even though I would often rather forget some of the more painful memories of my life, perhaps they are there and will remain there as a reminder. A reminder that I don't want to feel those things again. A prevantative measure so that I won't make the same mistakes again. And for that, I can definitely be grateful.

So yeah, it's been an interesting week. Opportunities abounded to make the best out of a bad situation in many cases. And overall, I have been able to see so many things in my life for which I should be grateful. And today we will enjoy Thanksgiving with most of my family. And I will continue to be thankful for the things that I have. Because it's everything I need and so much more :). And I am reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I'm not just to be thankful in the good things, but in every thing. Even the hard moments that bring life's lessons. Because, as the Lord reminds me in D&C 122:7: "all these things shall give [me] experience, and shall be for [my] good."

Do You Know...

....I still go walking when it's literally freezing outside? I just bundle up A LOT. You probably can't tell from this picture, but I'm wearing the hat, a t-shirt, a sweater, the coat with a hood, the pants, and pajama pants underneath the pants to add extra warmth for my legs.
...that these are not snow shoes? Yeah. When I left the house this morning, we knew it would be snowing. Because it already was. But it wasn't sticking to the ground, and we didn't anticipate that it would. So I figured I was okay in these. At 3 this afternoon, when I left work (early due to snow), I got the affirmation that I should always listen to my mom... And wear smart shoes.

...what a 32" flat screen tv looks like? It looks like this: Plus 3 others just like it. In case you can't tell, these are studded snow tires. And I am the (questionably) proud owner of a new set. And my tv plans went out the window... But at least I'm still out of debt. And the truth is, what good is a tv or vacation money if I die because I didn't have studded tires for the crazy winter we are predicted to have (and it looks like their predictions were spot-on, even though I had hoped they were just making it up for kicks and giggles...).

...that I can still smile when freezing cold, a bit bent out of shape about my tv, and a little annoyed with Mother Nature for giving us yet another bad winter (starting before Thanksgiving) in a place where they supposedly don't get bad winters but once every 20 years? Yeah, I can. Here's proof.

Yep. It's going to be a baaaad winter.

Thirtysomething

Well, I haven't aged a whole year in 3 weeks, even if it might feel like I have ;). Nah, I'm still only 30. But to "celebrate" the whole idea of turning 30, I decided to check out the tv series Thirtysomething from the library. Now, I didn't just randomly come up with this idea. I just happened to see one of the seasons come through my library for a hold request. And, though I hadn't actually watched the show in my youth (I mean, come on... it came out in 1987. Which means I was about 7), I do remember that it came on SCN a couple of times and I think my parents may have watched an episode or two. Why I remember anything about the show at all, I do not know. But I do know that I vividly remember seeing the opening credits on tv at least once.

So when I saw one of the DVD sets come through the library, I kind of wondered if I could identify with the characters in the show, now that we had fast-forwarded about 23 years. And so I put the first season on hold. At age 29. And I'm up to season 3 at age 30. I like the show. And yes, I do identify with the characters now, by the way. Almost all of them.

Because I know what it's like to deal with the issues that arise in an interfaith marriage.

And I know what it's like to watch your marriage fall apart.

And I know what it's like to be 30-something and single and have desires for marriage and motherhood and not know if those desires will ever be fulfilled.

And I know what it's like to make plans for a career and have those plans not work out quite as I planned.

And I know what it's like to be in my 30s and not quite feeling like an adult in some ways -- or certainly not feeling like I'm living like one!

And there are other issues on the show. Ones with which I can't exactly identify, but which I know exist. Like miscarriages. Or parenting. Or being a driven career-woman to the exclusion of almost all else.

And I laugh! Because when the show came out all those years ago and it caught my attention for a split second (long enough to have made a lasting impression), it held no interest for me at all! I was 6! I didn't even know those issues existed! But they existed for my parents. Not all, but some. And even those my parents didn't experience, they were aware of them. And now, the same can be said of me. How weird! When did I get old enough to identify with these characters? I was telling Lea this the other day, and I said, "I'll tell you what this means: it means I'm old!" Hahaha. Childhood is such an innocent time. And somehow, in 20+ years, I gained life experience, maturity, and knowledge so that I can now cope with the adult things. But sometimes... Sometimes I miss the innocence.

Some of the Dumb Things I Do...

I don't know about you, but sometimes I do things that are classically dumb. But it's funny, so I'm cool with it. I enjoy a good laugh, even if it's because of something dumb I've done :).

There was the time I stuck my finger in real cheesecake at a restaurant because I thought it was plastic (and in a very authoritative and assured voice had told someone that it was...). You can read about that here.

And I know there are a million others. Sadly, my mental path is not guiding me very well down memory lane at the moment.

But here's a recent one for you...

So last Thursday I went to a little birthday celebration for my friend Wendy. Several ladies from church got together and we did a potluck thing and then played a game. This was a new game for me, I'd never heard of it before. But it was way fun! It's called Time's Up! Essentially, you get all these cards and you have to try to make your team members guess who is on the card. The name on the card might be historical, a musician, fictional, a sports person, etc. And the first round, you can say whatever you want (exept for the name and a few other rules) and your team can guess as many times as you want. But you can't pass. You have to stay on that card until your team guesses it or you run out of time. So it was my turn. We were moving along quite nicely. And then I get this card. Gracious alive! How is one to describe the person on the card if one doesn't know who that person is?!? So, I am grasping at straws. I know my clues are way off base, because I know for a fact that the person on the card isn't in any way related to the story of Icarus and the wings and flying to close to the sun and the wax on the wings melting and the boy falling and dying. (Moral of that story: listen to your parents, folks ;)). Anyway, I know that that has nothing to do with the name on the card. But it's all I can think of! I keep hoping they will hear the story about wings and melting from flying too close to the sun and think "Icarus!" And then I'm hoping they will make the jump from that name to the name on the card (which ends in 'arus'). Alas, it didn't happen. My time was up, so I had to pass the deck to the next team. Well, they get a fresh card, so the card I had went to the back of the pile of 20 cards each team was trying to "win." Well, when it got to be our turn again, that same card came up, but someone else on my team was reading the cards and trying to get us to name the person. So Heidi says, "Christ raised him from the dead!" And someone else on the team yells, "Lazarus!" And I was like, "Oh my gosh!" It was a proud moment for me... I felt like the biggest dummy on the planet (because this was the card I'd been struggling with earlier). Here I am hoping they will make a jump from Icarus to Lazarus! I'm in Greek legends and myths and the truth is it's Biblical! And I'm playing with a bunch of church ladies! Classic. So I totally 'fessed up to this. Because, though embarassing, it was funny. So that became the laugh of the night. Well, one of them. Because watching Wendy and Kristin act out "Cruella De Vil" without words was awesome. Listening to Wendy's mom whisper an answer in one round (as though we wouldn't hear it or it wouldn't count if it was wrong if it was whispered) was hilarious. And watching Crystal do charades to make us guess Stephen Hawking... Yeah, it was a fun night.

And for the record, I do know the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. I just didn't connect the name on the card with that story. But I can assure you, I will never ever forget the whole thing for the rest of my life ;).

Aside from that sweet story...

Desiree was in the Primary Program on Sunday. She is so sweet. I cannot believe she is almost 6. It just doesn't seem right. She is such a sweet girl. There she was in front of the whole congregation, and she wasn't even scared. When I sing with the choir, she always waves at me from our pew. She gets so excited to see me up there. So this Sunday was her turn, and I waved at her :). Meanwhile Emily has mastered the word "no." And "gank you!"

Take Out the Papers and the Trash!

My friend Virginia once told me she heard a theory that a cluttered living space was a sign of a cluttered mind. I can totally buy that. And I've decided it's time to de-clutter my life. In all ways. I'm ready to take control. To stop letting life just happen.

I feel like I just waded through the week from hell. And I can't even really pinpoint what so royally sucked about the week. But something really did (there's a good possibility it was hormonal...). It felt like every time I would tell myself I would be positive and try again fresh each new day, that life would kick me. And kick me again. And it turns out, I'm not the only one who experienced such a cruddy week. It seems so many people I know are going through some massive trials. And sometimes that just really, really stinks.

I guess sometimes it takes some real tough times to force a person to make changes. And most of the time that isn't easy. Sometimes, in the end, we have to let go of the way we thought things would be and aren't. Sometimes we have to accept the way things turned out and go from where we are. Sometimes we have to watch a dream shatter. But then sometimes we just have to realize that what one of my favorite quotes from 10 years ago claims is true: That dreams are funny... Sometimes they come true differently than we expect.

And, frankly, I have too much to do in my life to just sit and wait for it to happen. If I want to write, then I need to write. I have recently read over some old blog posts, from when I was in Tuscaloosa and I wrote nearly every day (largely due to the type of job I had at the time...). My writing was more fluid. It just sounded better. And so I guess what they (they being authors) say is true: if you want to write, you have to write every day. There's obviously a reason for that.

If I want to go see the Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramids and take a cruise through the Panama Canal, then I need to make it happen. I have the passport. I just need to save up the money. And I don't need to wait for my knight in shining armor to show up so that we can go together. Forget it. Because I may waste my life waiting for that.

I have a whole bucket list I need to tend to. And I'm going to start. Because one thing I've learned over the past few years about myself is that I can do hard things. I may not enjoy it. But I can do it. I pursued and earned a master's degree, and in order to do so, I had to move away from everyone and everything I knew at a very very difficult time in my life. And while I was there, I thrived. I had hard days, sure. But I was able to do what I went there to do, and I was able to do it without going into further debt. I also proved to myself this past year that I can accomplish other goals I set. While I have not done everything I set out to do this year, I have done a lot of it. And that helps me know I can in the future as well. And so I will set my goals, and I will cross those items off my bucket list. But first, it's time to take out some papers and some trash :). Because I'm starting with physical clutter first!

True That

I got this quote from Leighann. She is my friend Karen's daughter. She had it on her facebook, and I really really like it.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain!”

There's a lot of rain in Washington these days. And you can take that however you want to. Because it's true either way.

Tricky Tricky Halloweeny

Yeah, so I'm a week late in getting this posted. What can I say? It's been a busy and exhausting week. And tonight I'm looking forward to a snuggly cozy evening at home, reading. Which is why I will go heavy on the pictures and light on the diatribe (which is so un-Nilla). The Halloween Party went off well. We opted to do it on Sunday to give the kids that one extra day of wearing their costumes, since they all took the kids trunk-or-treating at the church on Saturday night. Christina went as a character from the series True Blood, which is a vampire show. She was bitten by a vampire. I did my 80s thing. And by some stroke of luck, I could fit into that skirt. Barely. And here are Brad and Tarylyn as well, while I'm there cutting up booberry treats.
And then I went all psycho. For the sake of Halloween. But this is really how I felt this week.

The food. I've become more and more minimalist as the years have passed. I think the amount of food is inversely proportional to the number of jobs I have. Or maybe not. But it sounded intelligent :). All mathy.

Here are Nick and Christina. With some very awesome punch in the background, if I do say so myself. It's my new favorite punch recipe. We were going to do a brain ice mold in that punch. It didn't happen.

Here are me and Christina.

And me and Samuel. That is one stinkin' cute kid. He was King Boo (from Mario Bros.) for Halloween. But he got hot in his costume. You will see him in it shortly.

Me and Benjamin. Benjamin was Toad from SMB.

Me and Desiree. Desiree was a fairie. A specific fairie. But bad Aunt Hila can't remember which one...

Me and Saria. Saria was Toadette from SMB.

And me and Emily. Who was a pixie. But she kept tearing her wings off.

And here I am with all the kiddos in their costumes. Samuel is always making hilarious facial expressions.

And this was me in the whole outfit after I got home. If you notice, I'm wearing leg warmers. These were from April. I'm glad I have friends who know my love of all things 80s. Because all the accessories were given to me by Julie and April. I even have pink slotted glasses. Which I had taken with me, and I forgot to put on for this picture. Oops!

So yeah, it was a fun evening. We enjoyed the yummy food and each other's company. And we filmed a video clip of the family saying "Have a Nice Weekend!" a la SCN from back in the day. Someone is trying to get a bunch of submissions and put them all together just like it used to be on the old Southern Command Network in Panama. And so we threw ours into the pot. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. And, quite frankly, so did I. In case you're interested in what I'm talking about, click here. This brings back memories from many a Friday afternoon of my childhood.