What Happiness Looks Like -- Nilla Style

So I have been answering plenty of questions about my new job and how it's going. For example, I spent about 2 hours talking to April on the phone, catching up on about 2 months worth of life happenings. What an awesome conversation we had ;). So many changes for us both, and definitely positive ones! So I will fill you in :). Work is going well. It was busy last week, because I took on the responsibilities of one of the other ladies who was out for the week. This included scheduling time for the 3 commissioners (this is an adventure...) as well as learning the process for contracts. Plus my normal duties. But I'm catching on to things more and more, and I am becoming a part of the group. My direct boss (the woman named R'Lene) sat and talked to me during lunch one day and we had quite a conversation. And she told me that I am doing wonderfully and that they are thrilled to have me there. That is comforting when you are new to a place, at least in my opinion :). My other job is the funeral home, of course. And this weekend was Memorial Day weekend, so I was up there quite a bit. But it was so fun! I work with some seriously awesome people there.

But not everyone is asking me about work. Actually, more people are asking me about Jeremy. Which makes me smile. A lot. Like a ridiculous school girl, seriously. But it is 100% awesome. And so is he :). So here is a picture of me and Jeremy from Friday. :). It makes me smile :).
So on Friday, he picked me up around 3:30, we went by a Taco place that used to be very popular at the funeral home, and we got burritos. Then we opted to take them to a nearby park, because it was such an unexpectedly beautiful day. So we ate and talked, and then we walked. And talked. You see the pattern. But we talk a lot. There's a lot of ground to cover (literally, as far as walking the park goes :), and metaphorically). Then we took a few pictures. I kept cutting off the top of his head, so we changed photographers. He has longer arms and is taller. It worked better. And frankly, I think we took quite a great picture! Okay, so I'm not bragging on it or anything, but I think we look quite cute together ;). After we finished walking (and it got colder), we drove over to the funeral home (which wasn't far) and parked there to study scriptures. Okay, so maybe it's strange that I am at the funeral home so much. But it's kind of normal for me, since I work there. Plus there was plenty of free parking :). And after our scripture studying, we sat and talked for a long time. We have some really great conversations. Full of depth sometimes, silly and fun at others. I got home about 10:15 or so that night. Of course we sat in the car talking a bit more, and held hands (insert "awwww" here ;)). And, though I probably should have gone to bed right after a shower... I didn't. I talked to my mom until midnight and then got to bed sometime after that. Yep...

Saturday morning was early. 7:00 early. Because I went with my mom to the funeral home and then waited around there until about 9:15 when I headed to the church cannery to work. I ended up canning dry non-fat milk. Apparently that's one of the harder jobs, because the goal is to not produce dust from the milk. So I ended up being a slow-poke! But I got our 4 cans of oats, 1 can of hard white wheat, a 25-pound bag of sugar and 25-pound bag of flour (we use these for baking...). And then I headed back to the funeral home to work. I was there until close that day, and Lea came by so we walked and talked and I filled her in. And then, after work, I went over to Lea's and hung out with her family so we could continue catching up. And Chuck grilled out, so we had a marvelous dinner. Yeah, it was a fun night. I was tempted to stay the night when Lea invited me to (it was after 10 and I was pretty beat), but I didn't. And I actually had a slightly earlier night that night :).

Sunday morning we were up by 8. We had all 5 kids at church, so that's always entertaining. But they really do well. I taught Sharing Time in Primary for the first time. Also an adventure. But it did go well ;). Then home again home again, jiggity jig. And I changed clothes and headed with my mom to the funeral home. At night was the big Memorial Day celebration thing, so I helped set up for that (programs, chairs, assisting with directing the parking). We had all 5 kids again, and Jeremy went too, so he got to meet a lot of my family, plus a lot of my funeral home family (who had been asking when they were going to get to meet him...). Upon meeting him, Christina said, "I approve. He is handsome." Hahaha. I'd feel sorry for him for that embarrassing awkward moment. Except that it made him smile really big and so his dimples showed up ;). The event had a seriously great turn-out!!! Over 200 people! And, of course, the kids loved the fireworks at the end. I still say seeing all the flags across the park, honoring those who have served our country, is a pretty awesome sight. It was another late night, since I was riding with my mom. I waited on her to be done, plus I helped break everything down. All in all, I think it went really well. There were a few minor drama things that could have been improved upon, but that seems to be a daily occurrence there of late, so I just overlook it. Oh, and Saria is like over-the-moon about Jeremy. She thinks he's so "cute and nice and funny." Oh those pre-teen crushes.

But today I slept in. Until 9. And I didn't feel guilty. And since it turned out to be a gorgeous day, I worked outside. And Jeremy joined me around noon-ish. I hoed my garden, planted the garlic and chives and raspberries (thanks again to Jeremy who tilled up a new spot for the raspberries... And thanks to his mom for letting him bring me the chives, garlic, and raspberries). And I also planted the two cucumber seedlings and 4 tomato seedlings that look the best. I need to do a trellis type thing for the cucumbers and then put the lettuce under that. I have a few lettuce that seem to be doing quite well. But a lot of my seedlings are not so great this year, so I'm going to just buy some. Sort of disappointing, but oh well. On the plus side, that strawberry patch is growing like crazy :). I'm hoping for some strawberries this year :). Eventually Jeremy and I made our way to Applebee's, and while there we learned we pretty much look like a couple. (Oh, after the host who seated us kept going crazy over my "Goonies Never Say Die" t-shirt. Seriously.) So we ordered our food, and Jeremy ordered a lot of food. And he finished it all, which our waitress (I know they are called servers now, but whatever) didn't think he'd be able to finish, so she kept asking him if he needed a to-go box. So when she came back with the receipts, she was like, "Wow! I'm impressed!" Then she said to me, "Did you not feed him today? And maybe yesterday too?" Hahaha. So we all chuckled, she left, Jeremy looked at me and smiled and said, "So does that mean we look like a couple?" Yep, apparently that's what it appears to be! Too funny. So then we left, and on the way out the door, the host guy called after me, "Rocky Road!" Which is a Goonies quote. That guy is seriously in love with that movie. Possibly more than I am. He even asked me where I got the shirt and for how much (FYI: Target, 5 or 6 bucks on sale). And then, because no date for me and Jeremy is over before at least an hour of walking and talking, we went to a waterfront park and walked around talking. We discovered that Italy looks like Washington State. So does France, for that matter. Hahaha... (Okay, so not really. Just that there is a replica of the continents set in the grass at this park, and so we joked about taking our trip to Venice (per my bucket list). Dorky? Probably. But we had fun ;)). It was fun and wonderful and all the good adjectives you can think of.

Oh, and I got some sun today. Woohoo! It was a great weekend :). Full of happiness :).

Another Load of Smiles :)

As I indicated in my previous post, I did have a busy week. I worked Monday through Thursday at the county job and had my new employee orientation on Wednesday. Thursday was pretty busy at work, because I learned a lot of new things. And now I feel just a smidge overwhelmed! But it's all good. I know I will catch on and eventually I will know the new job the way I know the funeral home. Which I worked at on Friday morning. On Wednesday after work I went to eat with a friend who is moving to Colorado. We went to a Chinese place here that I've never been to before. It was actually pretty good, though slightly high-priced. Thursday night was the surprise party for that same friend. That was fun. A bunch of women hanging out and acting silly (like dancing to Wii's "Just Dance"). Let's just say I don't have rhythm. Haha. I didn't get home that night until about 11:30. And this is mostly because the party was at Em's house, and she wanted an update on how her match-making resulted. So I filled her in. And after working at the funeral home on Friday, I rand a few errands, tried to do everything on my list (which included cutting grass) and then my mom and I went to the Temple. I house-sat for Bob and Melanie again for the weekend. So I went to their house after I got back in town from the Temple. Well, first I went by the store and got gatorade and a jar of mini dill pickles :). I love petite dills.

I slept in on Saturday. And woke up to the rain. BOO!! So much for weeding the flower bed with Jeremy. And so we improvised and only did part of what we had planned. We went to a state park here with a lot of covered picnic type areas and we studied scriptures together. Then we sat and talked for another 2.5 hours and then we went to eat lunch/dinner at a place called Rachel's on the East Side. We got a really delicious pizza that had zucchini on it! I've never had zucchini on pizza before, so that was a new experience! But it was definitely delicious. Then we went back to the park and walked around (the rain had stopped). I mean, we walked the entire park from in the trees down to the water. And we talked and talked and talked. I got home around 8. Well actually we got back to the house at 8 and then we sat and talked until 8:30. It was an awesome day :).

And then I had my 6:30 in the morning meeting. Blech!! I actually got there at 6:40 instead. But close enough :). The choir sang. Primary was hectic, but we survived :). And we are learning. And then I took a 1.5 hour nap and then walked with Andrea.

So now I have a "real" job. Haha. Which means 8 tomorrow morning. Blah. Those are the un-fun parts of adulthood ;).

The Craziest of All!

I have been a busy little bee lately. Hence no blogging. No time, people, no time!!! Technically I don't have the time to write this one. But that's just a technicality, so we will overlook it :).

I worked a few days last week at the funeral home. Three, I think. Last week is sort of a blur, actually. Tuesday afternoon I had a meeting for Primary. Which was also true of Thursday evening and Friday morning. Yikes! Meetings galore! On Friday I went to Wal-Mart and bought some new garden boots. They are pretty. My old ones were really just old shoes of my mom's. Like trail-blazer type shoes, so not really for gardening. And the soles were all cracked, so water would seep up into the shoe and soak my socks. No good. And thus, I bought new boots. And mesh to put over my strawberries. Because I'm stingy and don't care to share my strawberries with the birds. I also ended up house-sitting for Bob and Melanie again, so that was nice. Did some reading. Oh! Went to the Police Memorial event at the funeral home on Friday. Eventually I will probably post pictures from it, since there are pictures on the location camera. But I haven't actually been up there with my laptop (or at all for that matter) this week. New job and all that rot. So I will do that on Friday, since I will go in and work up there a few hours in the morning.

Saturday was another pretty day (well, until the evening, which was inconvenient) so I went to Costco with my mom, then to the bank, then to Fred Meyer. Then came home and planted my squash plants in the rich cow-manured soil. Haha. Covered my strawberries. And while the rain is great for free watering, it kind of puts a damper on taking a walk with a certain dimpled cutie who dropped by for a few minutes to bring me garlic bulbs, chives, and raspberry starts to plant out in my garden. :) Then Sunday was a full day. I thought we were singing in Sacrament meeting, so I got there early. But it turned out we weren't singing. My mom arrived with Desiree and Emily and I was so excited to see them!!! Apparently, as soon as my mom got Emily in the car, she started saying, "Go see Ha?" Because Ha is what she calls me. That sweet baby girl! She loves her Ha! And I got to go with Desiree to Primary this time! So we sat together for the first part and she is such a sweet girl. I love my Desiree. Of course, with our first Sunday in Primary as a new presidency, there was a lot to do! Trying to figure out how things go, etc. But it went really well. Then I had choir practice after church. Then I packed up my stuff at Bob's, came home, and then went walking with Sue. Then home to shower, work on dessert for Monday Meals (which was Chocolate Dulce de Leche bars), then back to the church for a Scout Committee meeting. As part of my responsibilities, I will be "in the know" about Scouts in order to report back. Then I came home, got comfy, talked to Jeremy and made plans for Saturday, and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Only to have Monday. Which was the beginning of a new job. Okay, I have had some crazy-exposure before (and by that, I mean exposure to crazy people). But I do believe my very first phone call on my very first day of my new job takes the cake. Good gracious, I still don't know what that woman's issue was (she claimed to have multiple issues) and why she thought calling the County Commissioner's office would be a solution. What I do know is the following (because she told me): her husband is a sharp-shooter; she is no dummy, even though people think she is because she is ethnic; she is a visionary woman who predicted 9/11, but everyone laughed at her; the foreclosures across the nation are a scam and Obama is the head of it; everything she was saying is on the dollar bill; we know who she is, because she is the voice in our television, but the voice isn't her, it is her instructor. Yeah.... So that's the phone call that broke me in. The Nilla Life is never very vanilla! The day went well enough. I look forward to being up to speed and having plenty to do, because I detest trying to find something to do to pass the time. The good news is that they hired me in at a step 2 rather than a step 1. But the reason they did that is a bad one, in my opinion. Turns out they are forced to make it a union job, so I will have to pay dues to a stupid union I don't even believe in. Oh well. I might actually come out ahead because of that. We did Monday Meals last night, and it was tons of fun! We never even got around to watching Scrubs. We just sat around telling stories and laughing and catching up. After all, it'd been 3 weeks, and in 3 weeks, a lot happened! And that brings us to today. More work (no crazy callers today) talked to Juliebean on my break, then walking with Sue. And then talked to the one and only fabulous Elka and then Jeremy. Then dinner, shower, pjs, blog, and now on to scriptures and bed!

And because I know what the rest of my week is going to look like, I'll recap it now. Because I don't know how soon I'll have time to update. Tomorrow is work and then hanging out with my friend Heidi who is moving to Colorado. Thursday is work and then a surprise going-away party for Heidi. Friday is work at the funeral home in the morning, 1:00 meeting having to do with Scouts, and then the Temple with my mom. And Saturday, if the weather cooperates, I'm going to work outside in the flower beds (as is Jeremy) and then we're going to go spend the day hanging out and eat somewhere. Oh yeah. Then Sunday I have a 6:30 in the morning meeting. That's pretty gross, so I'm not going to think about it right now :).

After all... I do have much happier things to think of ;).

Dates With Dudes

So the last time I posted, I forgot to include a picture of some of us ladies that went to Time Out For Women in Seattle. So that is what the picture below is. Three people were missing from this one, but we did the best we could as far as getting everyone :). This was taken in a hallway at Bena Roya Hall (which for some reason I always mistakenly call Benny Hawna Hall... I don't know why). Em is on my left in the red. She is responsible for me meeting the cute guy with dimples :).
So in my last post I mentioned a few things. As is typical of the Nilla Life, sometimes things change. A lot. And quickly. One of those things is that I decided to opt out of the blind date bowling thing. Not because it was Friday the 13th (though that's probably a bad omen anyway ;)). I'm not the kind of gal who dates multiple guys at the same time. Not even if one is much more casual and the other is in fairly new stages. Now, had I not liked Jeremy at all and never wanted to see him again, I probably would have gone ahead and gone to the bowling thing. But that isn't the case. Not even a little bit. And that's a mutual feeling. So I have chosen to not go to the bowling thing.

So Jeremy got to my house around 11:15 on Saturday. The plan was for him to take a peek at some things with my car, which he did. Not much can be done with my ghetto vehicle. The original plan was to till the garden. But when he and I solidified plans, the weather forecast was indicating a 70% chance of rain for Saturday. So we were not hopeful on the tilling thing. But it turned out that there was no rain until around 4 in the afternoon! Rock on! So Jeremy and I went and got gas for the tiller, and then he proceeded to till my entire garden. He tilled in the cow manure so that my squash plants will have plenty of fertilizer, since they are heavy feeders. He helped me put up the fence, and we talked a lot during this. Well, as much as we could while the tiller was running. So now you see my garden ready for planting (which I will do this week sometime). Yay!!
Now, I didn't just sit there looking pretty while Jeremy did all the hard work. Nope, I cleaned out the strawberry patch, which had gotten quite overgrown with weeds since September. And here's how it looks now :). It looks like I will have more strawberries this year! Now to go buy mesh to keep the birds out like last year... Because there are already strawberry blossom things coming up... (And okay, so the job I did wasn't nearly as hard as the tilling, so I guess he did do all the hard work. And I know from last year's experience that that is intense stuff...)
So following all the work we did in the garden, we changed clothes and headed to a late lunch at a local diner. Once we were done there, we still had plenty of time before the movie we were going to see. So we went and walked along the waterfront and talked and talked and... talked. He appreciated the slapping story, by the way. He has four older brothers, so he knows all about sibling smack-down. Hahaha. We had decided to see Hoodwinked, Too! at 4:35. Um, totally a dorky movie. But it was free (I had tickets that my mom had won at some Office Manager meeting), and it was a kid's movie, so not a lot of potential for some horribly awkward movie scene... After the movie, while driving home, we did some major swervage to avoid an aluminum ladder left in the middle of the freeway. And then he stopped and removed it to the side of the road so no one else would hit it when it got dark or something. Then we sat outside of my house and talked for another 2 hours or so. Loads of fun. Lots of laughing. And so, yeah, it's early on. And it might flop and go nowhere. But for now, I see loads of potential.

Sunday was bittersweet. I got my new calling: 1st Counselor in Primary. And though I know it will be exciting, I am so sad to say goodbye to these wonderful teenagers:
That's only 4 of them. Half of my class wasn't even there, so that was a bummer. I wrote them each a letter. They are marvelous people, and they taught me so much. And the girls were especially upset that I was not going to be their teacher anymore. One of them said, "We really like you! And not just because you bring us candy! But because you are fun and cool!" I don't know if you know how much that meant to me to hear them say that. I don't consider myself an exceptionally great teacher, and I often wondered how much they learned, etc. But I guess I touched their lives in some small way. And I know that they touched mine.

After church and choir practice, I went by the house to give my mom a Mother's Day present. Okay, so I think my mom is hard to buy for. She never wants anything. But I was at the Dollar Tree the other day and saw this table with all these flowers that would wave back and forth and the leaves would go up and down. They are solar powered. And they made me laugh!! So I bought her one of those, because I figured she would get a kick out of it. And man oh man was I right! She laughed so hard. I didn't realize she would laugh that hard. But seriously, if you just sit and watch this flower, it does elicit giggles and laughs. Just something about it. And it is hilarious! So I consider this a successful, even if dorky, Mother's Day gift.
And in case you were wondering what my plants are looking like these days... I'm disappointed with the tomatoes and such. They just seem so small! But the squash plants are growing like gangbusters!
And you would think that this is where things end. I mean today was a crazy day at the funeral home. Mondays usually are. But today was one of the wackier ones. But like I said, the Nilla Life changes a lot. And fast. Julie keeps telling me I have a hilarious life. I concur. So want to know what happened while I was in the midst of writing this blog? Remember that county commissioner's job I told you about? Remember how I told you the lady I spoke with had been pulling for me and that she had told me that, if things didn't work out with the person they hired, that I might very well be hearing from them soon? Well it turns out she wasn't kidding. She called me today and offered me that job. Turns out it wasn't working out with the guy they hired. All I have to do is call and accept. She told me to think it over tonight. So I'm pretty surprised, to say the least. My life has become suddenly very, very interesting. Very. Interesting.

I'd tell you to stay tuned, but I imagine you already will be ;). Hahaha.

Cinco For Cinco De Mayo

In honor of Cinco de Mayo (during which time it doesn't look like I will be eating any cool Mexican food (though I do suppose I could swing by Taco Bell ;)...)), I figured I would list 5 things that have happened this week.

1. I have been invited to do a blind "triple date" on Friday the 13th. Possibly bowling. One of the guys in the ward has a brother who is coming up to decide if he wants to live here (he's an engineer), and so they are trying to set him up with various people. I haven't committed to going yet, but I probably will. I enjoy bowling, and I enjoy having fun, so I don't figure there is much to lose.

2. I went on a blind date on Tuesday. A mutual church friend set us up. Having never been on a blind date sort of thing before (what are the odds I'd end up with two of these practically back-to-back?), it was a bit awkward. Plus I was warned he was particularly shy. But it was nice -- he was nice (and has adorable dimples) and very gentlemanly, and if the weather cooperates, he offered to come by Saturday to help me till up the garden. Oh, and he offered to bring cow manure. Hahaha... And he chuckled after he said that, because who makes that sort of offer the first time you meet someone ;)? But we had talked about gardening a lot. And his family has quite a large acreage about 30 miles from here, and his dad has a cow. So... He is also an engineer. We went to Olive Garden, and I have to say I was disappointed in their food this time! The bread sticks were hard, the salad wasn't as tasty, and the soup I got didn't have what I'm pretty sure it used to have in it. But, truthfully, even though I am a foodie and adore food, I wasn't really there for the food. Oh, and coolest thing ever?!? Dude went to Panama in 2000! His brother served a mission there, so he went down when his brother finished his mission. How radically awesome is that!?!

3. I am staying at Bob's house again, keeping his wife company while Bob is out of town. Melanie is not big on staying home alone at night (apparently she won't go to sleep until daybreak and then only gets a couple of hours, because she has to get up for work). So she invited me to stay, and I was happy to do so.

4. I took Saria for her special Aunt Hila evening yesterday. We started out by seeing Rio in the movie theater. It was really cute! And we had the whole theater to ourselves! And I wasted money on nachos (with 2 extra cheese...), but Saria and I shared :). Nachos are my weakness, what can I say? We took a couple of pictures of the two of us in the theater, and when the movie ended, we danced up the aisle -- because no one was there to see it ;). I had to go first, because Saria wouldn't. But once I started shaking my bootie up the aisle, she joined the fun ;).

After the movie, we went to the church building, because I had an appointment. I have been extended a new calling (which I accepted) and will be released as the Sunday School teacher for ages 12 and 13 on Sunday. I'll tell you what the new calling is after it all is official on Sunday. It will be sad to say goodbye to my class, though. They are a pretty awesome group of teenagers.

Then we went to McDonald's. Because that's what Saria wanted to do, so she could play in the Play Place. (I really don't understand the attraction of the Play Place myself, but I'm also 30 instead of 10...). So, having filled my stomach with nacho cheese and chips, I opted out of McD's and just bought Saria her dinner. And, of course, we took a picture.
5. Remember I told you about Alpha Betta, our funeral home fish? What I didn't tell you was that Bob also said that we should name it Alpha because he would be the first fish to die in our care. And Bob was right. Alpha Betta, may he rest in peace, had a burial at sea. Though probably appropriate that he died in a funeral home, it would have been in bad form had we not removed him from the public view immediately. Hahaha. His death certificate listed cause of death as asphyxiation due to polluted fishbowl water with the underlying cause of over-feeding. (Okay, I made up the whole death certificate part myself...).

So there's my cinco. Espero que tengan un buen dia!

Four Months In

So I missed the deadline to report in on my goal status at the 3 month mark. So I decided to wait until the end of 4 months. And a couple of days, apparently. Again, I'm going to try to keep it brief. "Try" being the operative word.

Goal: Attend the Temple monthly
Results: 2 out of 4 so far.

Goal: Read scriptures 30 minutes daily
Results: Still not doing phenomenally well with this, but some days I do better than others

Goal: Write in my journal weekly
Results: Except for one week, I have been successful in this. I write a lot about what's going on as well as feelings and thoughts. So that is definitely an improvement

Goal: Write 30 minutes a day
Results: I wasn't doing especially great with this initially. But when I quit the library, I really got into the groove of it and it was fun! But then issues struck and I haven't written in about 3 weeks. I'll get back on the band-wagon eventually

Goal: Continue adding to my savings account
Results: Despite not having a huge income, I can report well on this. Which makes me very happy.

Goal: Become organized and stay that way
Results: Yeah, not so much here... Boo. But more to work toward the next 8 months!

Goal: Achieve at least one of my 'bucket list' items
Results: Not so far. But there are some really cool things going on, so you just never know.

Goal: See a new place
Results: Again, nothing to report here. But there are still 8 months to go!

Goal: Lose about 8 more pounds
Results: Total success and then some! I am now 3 pounds below my goal weight!!! Which means I'm at my lowest weight in recorded Nilla history!

Goal: 72 Hour Kit
Results: I made a list to get organized. And we bought 3 bags of beef jerky so far for them :).

Goal: 3 to 6 months food storage
Results: We still stock up on canned goods on sale. But I have also finally signed up to work at the cannery and order stuff for our family.

Goal: Expand my garden
Results: I have successfully planted several seeds and have achieved seedlings! So far I have spinach, romaine lettuce, pumpkin, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, rutger tomatoes, and currant tomatoes. I anticipate tilling the garden next week or so in preparation for the planting. I will also buy seedlings for acorn squash and jalapeno peppers. And I still have my strawberry plants out there and they survived the winter. I'm hoping for a bounty!

Goal: Spend less time online and more time reading
Results: I have definitely been reading more. I have completed about half of my goal for the year. But I also spend quite a bit of time online still. I'm a work in progress, I suppose you could say.

So that's where I stand. I'm feeling good about most of it. And now I'm off!