L. O. V. E.

It is amazing to grow in love. Truly amazing :). But this is a side-note. Or a top-note :). So that you can have a reason for the song title post early on :).

And just like that, another weekend is gone. Personally, I find that lame ;). I had a pretty good weekend, myself. Friday was an early morning. A very early morning. Just because I woke up, though. Didn't have anywhere to be or anything to do. I just woke up ponderous. The kids were here and Brad had to work all night, so I was with them until he got home at 9:30. Which was perfect timing, because that's when I had to go to the church for Presidency Meeting. We had a good meeting, and the Christina and I stayed to work on cleaning out the closet. What a task! Ironically, it seems like I manage to make time to organize everything except my own personal life (meaning my own junk and paper). Hmmm... I seriously have a couple projects I need to be working on. One is the 3M cookbook (and since we are on hiatus, at least I am not getting further behind...). Plus a couple of birthday presents for up-coming birthdays. At this precise moment, I feel motivated to work on something. And yet I'm here blogging. Go figure ;).

Okay, so that was a tangent. So after the meeting on Friday (and closet-cleaning, with which we are not yet done), I headed to Target. Mostly because they have nachos -- and my plan to have nachos this past week was thwarted by whatever chemical reaction took place in that nacho cheese can in the fridge. See previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about ;). Here's how I rationalize my nachos: I get the jalapenos and eat them. Thus I am getting dairy (cheese -- I don't care if it's "fake" cheese ;)), carbs (the chips) and a veggie (the pepper!). Okay, okay. I know that's not really good for me. But I do love nachos :). And I did have to get a few things from the store. Like pens. And then I wandered around and looked at shoes (didn't find any I like in my size at a price I'm willing to pay, but I need to get another pair of black flats. Just to change it up a bit). I also went and looked at shirts. See, Thursday is my Friday at work, and we are allowed to dress casual. But not t-shirts. Well, my selection of hot-weather short-sleeve non-t-shirt casual tops is rather limited. To 2. Well, now 3. I got a light turquoise colored shirt that will suffice :). You will see the color of it shortly. It is soft :). After Target, I went to the bank and then came home. I spent the remainder of my afternoon reading my scriptures and working on some assignments for Primary. Meanwhile I got invited to Wendy's to watch a movie and hang out while she finished up some crafty stuff for Girls' Camp. So I got a shower and then headed over there (after talking to Jeremy for a bit :)). We watched Sherlock Holmes. Eh. Not really my kind of movie, really. It was okay. But way too long. What ever happened to the days of 1.5 hour movies? That's the length of most chick flicks and that seems to be perfect appropriate length for anything I want to spend my time on :). And then I came home and hit the hay. The kiddos were here again Friday night, but they were already all asleep by the time I got home.

Saturday morning, the kids woke up again at 6-something. I think that is an offense to nature, myself ;). I was able to go back to sleep and slept for 2 more hours. Then I had breakfast and then Saria and I went outside and gathered apples. Yep, it's that time of year again. The apples are dropping off the trees out back. So I am gathering them and cutting out the bad parts, coring, and peeling and freezing. Time consuming, but worth it, I think. Although I did learn that this is probably why I have an ugly thumb now. All this past year, I was noticing that my right thumb is uglier now. Dry and cracked. Well, I do believe it may be related to the way I cut the peel off these apples. I should probably use gloves. But then you lose tactile feelings. So perhaps I'll just have ugly thumb. I also watered my garden. It was a hot day, so no rain in sight. (Well, okay, so it rained today... But as of yesterday, there was no rain in sight.)

Jeremy arrived around 2:00 and we just laid out a blanket in the front yard to study scriptures and chill. Hot days are not meant for a whole lot of exertion. (And for my Alabama friends... Hot here has been in the 80s. I know, I know. I have no right to complain ;). Let's just say I've acclimated well to Washington weather, and I don't feel as grouchy in the summertime as I did in Alabama ;)). Yep, we just hung out talking and laughing and discussing until the sun was almost set. Because then it's nice and cool. And I convinced Jeremy to take some more pictures. Actually, he isn't hard to convince. We took about 10 of them, and some were hilarious. And so, as we looked back through them, he laughed and said, "Yep, can't wait to see which one of these ends up showing up." Well, now he won't have to be kept in suspense any longer ;). I picked the one where we both look equally decent. Or decent enough ;). Personally, I love the ones where he is laughing, but those are not flattering of me, so I vetoed those. And then there was one of me I really liked, but I cut off the top of Jeremy's head, so people might have thought he was bald ;). Plus he wasn't smiling so big in that picture -- and you know how I love his smile and his dimple (and a half!) ;). Although, that picture sure did show his blue eyes... Anyway, so I chose the one below. And you can still see his dimple :). So stinkin' cute!
Oh! But wait!!! I think I have a surprise in store! For you and for Jeremy! Because I actually put up two!!! Hilarious because he was playing around and didn't know I was shooting the picture when I did. Haha. I probably should have made a face too... It didn't occur to me at the time. I just snapped the picture and said, "I saw that." Laughter is fun :). So are wonderful memories.
So by about 7:00 it was cooler and plus we knew the crowd at one of the closer restaurants would be cleared out (when we went last Saturday, it was packed!). So when we got there, it was pretty quiet. Dinner was good (I got chopped sirloin smothered in sauteed onions, mushrooms, and brown gravy with mashed potatoes a salad and (unexpectedly, since it wasn't on the menu) corn. (I didn't eat all that food, I just want you to know that. Jeremy finished what I didn't). Jeremy got a South of the Border Burger and a chicken taco salad. Seriously, the man can eat. And I really don't know where he puts it all. Oh. The only unfortunate thing about our meals was that the burger and the chopped sirloin (which is also basically a burger) were still mooing a little. Hmmm. Dinner conversation mostly consisted of my random Panama stories. And the fact that I want to go on a cruise. It was about 9:00 by the time we were done with dinner, so we sat and let our food digest in the car while we talked. We talk of wonderful, beautiful things. And the time zooms by. And then the evening must end. So Jeremy brought me home and we said our good-byes. Always the least awesome part of the evening, but oh well. One day... One day we won't have to have that part ;). And to quote Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A. Milne) so that I can put a positive spin on the good-bye part: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." Yes, I am lucky. Blessed. Because, though it's hard to say goodbye, it's only hard because it's so wonderful. He is so wonderful. And I'm so sappy ;). And I love him. Sigh... :).

Today was the popcorn party in Primary. The kids had earned their popcorn party through working hard to learn their songs for the upcoming Primary Program and they had also been very good at being reverent. They do get so excited about these special things. We had Desiree and Emily at church today. I hadn't seen them in a few weeks, so it was so nice to get to see those sweet girls. When we sing in Sacrament, Emily grabs a hymnal, usually has it upside down, and opens up to any page (including the green pages right inside the cover that have no writing at all...) and starts singing. I don't know what she's singing, but she's singing. And it is precious. She does it every time. It is amazing to watch them learn and grow. To see how they rise to the occasion, so to speak. They learn the routine and they usually accept it. What a blessing these kids are to me.

And actually, I've pondered that a lot lately. Because I am learning and growing in so many ways. Ways that are preparing me for my future. But that is a blog post for another time. For now it is time to say hasta la vista and go get a shower. Tomorrow is Monday, after all, and I do want to work on a few things, to include calling my dad.

"Nacho" Cup o' Cheese

You know it's going to be a bad day when you go to get your nacho cheese that's been in the fridge and it's no longer semi-solid. Yep, you should NOT be able to do this with nacho cheese straight out of the fridge (or even not straight out of the fridge...). I'm going to say that this may have ruined home-made nachos for me for a while. Apparently this stuff doesn't store long in the fridge. Hmmm... Nasty. And brutally unappetizing. I poured it down the sink after I took this picture for posterity :). (Oh, and actually the day I took this picture wasn't a bad day. I just thought it was a funny way to start a post ;). And in case you didn't get the title... It's supposed to be "Not-your" :). Perhaps a stretch, but you know... ;)).
Anyway, I'm keeping this brief, because I'm going to bed soon. I'm glad tomorrow is Thursday :). I'm glad I got to spend some time with Jeremy this evening :). I'm glad we got to make new memories that I will store in my memory jar to laugh about in 10 years ;). And I'm glad it's only a couple more days until I get to see him again :). Oh so wonderful :).

And on another note... Even when it's hard, I'm thankful for the wonderful moments that come from life :). They are just growth opportunities :).
And they come with opportunities for silliness and joy :). (Saria is kind of my shadow when the kids are here. She usually climbs into the bed to sit with me until I go to sleep, unless Brad tells her she has to go to bed at a decent hour ;). And so sometimes she and I just do silly pictures and laugh at them. Oh the wonders of the instant gratification that comes from digital cameras! And to think there was once a time I swore I'd never have one ;)).

More Nilla-Ness

So the problem with only blogging once a week (on average) is that I never get around to doing the random posts that aren't really about the Nilla Life. I have a deep thought one brewing. I also have a fun Fortune 500 one brewing. In fact, I think that's what I will call it whenever I get around to it. I'm thinking that one may be a fun post :). But at least I'm managing to keep up with weekly blogosphere updates. Even if it serves no other purpose than to be a memory-keeper for all the details I don't put in my journal (which I mostly only write in weekly also...).

I walked with Sue on Tuesday and Thursday. The kids were here Thursday, so Saria walked with us too. It's quite a trek and she is quite a trooper, really. Wednesday I went Visiting Teaching with Wendy. And the lady we visited gave us something called root beer milk. It tasted like a root beer float without the fizz. Interesting. But you know I'm always up for a new experience :). Thursday night I started house-sitting for Bob and Melanie. Which meant sleeping in on Friday morning :). So blissful :). Presidency Meeting was cancelled, because Christina's kids and husband were sick and we usually have our meeting at her house. But Brad had the kids and he had to go to work (or so he thought) and had to leave by 11. So I ran a few errands that morning, then came to the house and watched the kids. We started out by snuggling and watching Up. I had never seen that before. It was cute. And since I like to take pictures of everything, I thought it was a super-cute opportunity for a picture :). I think you will agree. This will provide fond memories one day, I'm telling ya ;).
Brad called to say that it turned out he didn't have to go in because the barge wasn't ready or whatever. So he and his co-worker drove all that way for nothing. Lame. But I fed the kids lunch, cleaned a little house, and then went outside to start working in the garden. And also cut some grass. For the record, I think electric lawn mowers are the most ridiculous thing ever. Do you have any idea how annoying the electrical cord is? Ugh. What a design. Okay, so there's my two cents on that. And somewhere around 3:30, after Jeremy and I had texted a few times and I knew he was done with his test and he knew I was out dinking around in the yard, he asked if I would like company. And I don't know about you ladies out there, but I don't turn down the company of a great, wonderful, handsome guy ;). (I try not to embarrass him too much, but I do "have to" gush about how awesome he is... :)). Yeah, so Jeremy came over and we sat out weeding my garden for a couple hours. And then we hung out under the carport until about 10, talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company. Did I mention he is wonderful? :)

Yep, so Friday was a "bonus" day. I do so love those bonus days :). Because they are uber-wonderful and I don't have to wait quite as long for another opportunity for uber-wonderfulness :). In this case, I only waited approximately 16 hours for more wonderfulness :). And I spent the majority of that sleeping in on Saturday! And then I was lazy pretty much all morning at Bob and Melanie's. Just me and the cats. And an episode of Bravestarr. Holy cow. That is a hilariously ridiculous cartoon. It was Christina's (my sister) favorite when we were growing up. She would always go around saying, "Speed of the puma, puma, puma!" I did also read scriptures, so I wasn't entirely lazy :). But I spent the morning in my glasses and pajamas. Until about 1:00 when I started getting ready to head to my house to meet up with Jeremy :). So while waiting for him, I unloaded the dishwasher and heated up some boiled (remember: pronounce it "bowled") peanuts. Here's the can. For posterity :).
Thanks to Becky who gave me these back in August 2008, by the way :). I'm so glad she did and that I have held on to them. So much fun to share a little bit of my Southern past with Jeremy. So yeah, they were expired. So I had my mom look at them. She looked disgusted. But that's mostly because they do look kind of gross. I mean, they are peanuts (in their shells) that have been soaking in saltwater for years. And yep, as soon as I popped open that can, I remembered the smell of hot boiled peanuts. (Oh, and the ones we ate didn't look as pretty as the ones in the picture...). So after they were heated through, I put them into a little container. Jeremy arrived around that time, so we headed off to a quiet area that I learned about from when I used to walk with Lea. It was raining, and most of the benches had bird poop on them anyway, so we studied scriptures in the car with a lovely view of the water outside the passenger window. Then we ate the peanuts. And okay, so Jeremy ate the first one with the shell. He definitely liked them better when he started cracking open the shell and eating the peanuts inside ;). But he did like them! (He definitely liked them more than the Chinese Plum...). Actually, they can be sort of addicting to eat. But then I start to grow tired of them and I get over the excitement of them. But we hammered that can and enjoyed the culinary adventure of the South (even though it's no fried twinkie...). By this point, the rain was coming down a bit harder, so we waited it out in the car while talking and laughing. And then, when the rain let up, we got out and walked on the beach. And I talked him into another picture. Or two, since he was being cute and hiding his eyes on the first one ;). Now he gets 2 pictures up in one post! Hahaha. (Actually, I adore his silliness. I love that we can joke and laugh and play and be silly together. It's downright awesome.)
Oh, and it was really windy at this spot.
Oh! So Lea had invited us to join her at the Olive Garden. Along with all the other library folk with whom I used to work. Another person quit, and they were having her farewell party. Back in the day when I worked there too, Lea and I appreciated each other's company at these events. And so she invited us along and then told Chuck he was going when at first I said I didn't know if Jeremy would have a grand time hanging out with a bunch of ladies. So we ended up going to the Olive Garden with all the library ladies and Chuck. And the husband of one of the other ladies. And most hilarious of all was when one of the ladies from the library recognized Jeremy immediately (like without me introducing him). Yeah, he didn't expect that to happen. So then we fielded all the "So how'd you guys meet?!?" questions. Oh so smiley. I just can't help it. So yeah, it was an experience (and a half). But it's all about the experience, right ;)? And then we went to bowl with Lea and Chuck. Only surprise, surprise! It was rock and bowl! At 8:30! When Chuck texted that to Morgan, she texted back that it must be rock and bowl for the old people at that hour. Haha. Although I will probably agree with her, except for the fact that the music was way too loud. Ugh. I mean, I like music. (I would have preferred jamming out to 80s, but whatever...). But I want to be able to hear the conversation, you know? And so we didn't get to have any, since we couldn't actually hear each other! We played 2 games (and it was cheaper than usual at $5 a game each) and I got the highest score (of 123) on the second game. Apparently 8th grade P.E. was coming back to me... Hahaha. We headed out at 9:30 and talked to Chuck and Lea in the parking a lot while we let our ears return to normal hearing. And then we headed our separate ways. Back at my house, Jeremy and I talked some more and reminisced about our first date. It was so much fun! We told our own perspectives of it and laughed!!! What great memories :).

Sunday Primary went pretty well. I was mostly just making sure all the classes were covered and had what they needed. I was the "extra" person that day. And then I had choir where we are already starting to do Christmas songs! It seems early, I know. But in reality, the remainder of the year will fly by, and I know it. I can't believe we are already halfway through July. I mean, wasn't the 4th just yesterday!?! The weekend was actually rainy, so I didn't have to water the garden all weekend. But I did take a picture for Annie since she requested one :). I think i planted my tomatoes too close together... It's going to be interesting once everything gets huge (like those squash on the right). But eh... We'll see what happens. I'm happy to see the things I planted from seed doing so well finally. It took them forever with this cold year we've had! And my cilantro is sprouting up now (you may be able to see it in the back left in front of the spiky thing which are my chives :)).
As always, the weekend ended much too quickly. But work went by pretty fast today too, and it was a good day all the way around :).

Every New Beginning...

...Comes from some other beginning's end. That's a song lyric. That was actually the class song for what would have been my graduating class in Panama. Because the class of 1999 was the last graduating class of Balboa High School. There are many moments I regret not seeing that out and being a part of that historic occasion. But then... I would have missed out on a million other opportunities I did have. Friendships I would have probably never known (Julie). And so I don't regret it too much ;). Life happens. Either way... It's a good lyric. I have definitely been guilty, from time to time, of looking sadly at the closed doors of the past. Wishing that they didn't have to end. But what a marvelous way to look at life: every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. It's all a new adventure :).

So I am facing a new beginning. It is definitely bitter-sweet. But it was time. I resigned from the funeral home on Friday. I won't say it was a decision I definitely wanted. But it is probably what is best, for a number of reasons. I will miss it. I will miss the work (because I really did enjoy what I was doing there). I will miss the good people that I will not see weekly. I will miss the fun parties. But things change, and so sometimes so must we. Plus, it was one of the items I put up on my chopping block when considering things to take off my plate. And sometimes things just work out the way they need to. But I will always carry with me the memories. Always. And with stories like mystery meat, quacking at the Chamber of Commerce, and kegel exercises... How can I not look back and laugh? And I'm sure several of us will still get together from time to time. So it's all good :).

So what other shocking things have wound up on Nilla's "axe" list? As though Monday Meals and the funeral home are not shocking enough.... Actually, those are the big ones. I did rearrange one thing: I no longer walk with Sue on Sundays. We still do Tuesday evenings and we will do Thursday evenings as well through the summer while she doesn't have Bible study on Thursdays. It's nice to get the exercise and to visit with Sue. But at the same time, I needed to eliminate that activity from Sunday, because it wasn't as Sunday-worth an activity as other things I could be doing. And also because I want to have a day with no commitments to anything but my 4.5 hour block of church and choir practice. The other thing that has fallen by the way-side is pleasure reading. I had set a goal to read 30 books this year. I was on fire for a while there. But like I said, Life. Happens. That goal didn't have the same level of priority for me as having a garden or reading my scriptures or attending the Temple monthly, for example. I mostly read during my lunch break. But even that I am starting to rearrange a little bit. Because sometimes I get home and find it easy to work on a million different projects (which can also be read as wasting time, because sometimes that's all I'm really doing...) and then, before I know it, it's 11:00 and I haven't set aside the time to read scriptures. Which means I'm up later and not focusing as well. I have been doing better with this, but I have also started taking my scriptures to work to read on my lunch break also. It makes me happy to know I have made the effort early enough to make sure it is not just done, but done more effectively, as far as me being able to remember what I read and get something out of it :).

So now that I have filled you in on all the changes I'm making in my life to focus my efforts on the things with most value... I suppose I should tell you some of the more wonderful moments of my week :).

• Wednesday I went Visiting Teaching with Wendy. We only visited one lady so far, but I'm looking forward to visiting with the others on our list.
• I cleaned out the strawberry bed and it is now looking a lot better. I've also picked a lot of strawberries! I'm loving that :).
• Brad had the kids for the weekend. And while this can be chaotic, it also brings loads of laughter and love. Like when I first get home on Thursday and Saria comes out and hugs me hello, and they all say, "Aunt Hila!" Plus, I submit the following photos for your consideration ;). (These are from Sunday night... I'm not sure what is so exciting about "goofy" pictures, but the kids sure do love them...).
  

• I enjoyed phone calls and texts from my wonderful Jeremy :). (P.S... That smiley face just automagically appears... Because I'm so happy :)).

• I went to the Temple with my mom on Friday evening and then took her to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for her birthday (which was the 5th). She had never been to the Cheesecake Factory, so I felt we needed to rectify that with this culinary fete. I did tell the server that it was a belated birthday celebration for my mom. He offered to embarrass her, but she said no thanks. But he still arranged for something nice (see picture below). That was the Reese's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake. We split it. So huge. So good. And I got sweet potato fries and they were soooo good. I got my usual cajun chicken littles. And I was happy to note they'd added a bit more salt back into the batter :). So many choices on the menu, but I really wanted the choice of accompaniments, so I went with old faithful ;). On the way home, I had to convince my mom that Aerosmith did not sing the song Iris (which is by the GooGoo Dolls). I'm not even sure why my mom was singing that song in the first place, but it always makes me laugh the way my mom surprises me ;).
• I spent a marvelous afternoon and evening with Jeremy. We ate at the pizza place again, and this time we tried a hot pizza with jalapenos on it. It was pretty tasty. Also had alfredo sauce, and I wasn't sure what I'd think about that. But it was definitely good. That place just has good pizza. Then we went to the State Park and studied scriptures and walked around the park and enjoyed being together. But then we learned that State Parks will now require a "discovery pass" (as of July 1) that costs $30. What!?! $30 to park in your park? Ugh. Lame. If you don't have one, it's a $99 fine. Thankfully we learned this during the "education period" when they aren't actually ticketing people. So. Lame. Grr. Because that is a beautiful park, and there are never many people there, which makes it nice for scripture study. Double grrrr.... Oh well. I don't know if we will invest in that or not. Frankly, I'm cheap and I don't appreciate the newly-instated rule. I contributed $5 to the State Parks when I renewed my car tabs. That has to be good for something, right ;)? Oh well. We still had a wonderful day/evening together. That always ends way too quickly. In these moments, I'm totally not a fan of the whole "time is relative" thing. Because I'm pretty convinced that there are times in my life when time drags way out so that it can be short in the cool fun moments ;). Haha. Okay, so maybe not. But it seriously feels that way. Example: 9 hours at work (including lunch) = 12 hours; 8 hours with Jeremy = 2 hours. And that's bad math no matter how you want to look at it ;).
• We had all the kiddos at church on Sunday. When I got in to Sacrament, everyone was already sitting in the pew. Emily saw me sit on the other end of the pew, shoved her way through all the kids, crawled up on my lap and wrapped her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder. That baby girl (who isn't a baby anymore...) sure knows how to make me feel so loved by her. I just held her and rocked her back and forth for as long as she would allow me to in that position (which was the whole opening song). These moments are fleeting, and they are far too precious to waste. Of course, she wound up being a bit of a pill the remainder of Sacrament. But even so... She went to nursery, and Desiree likes to go into nursery while I drop off Emily and sit and play with the toys for a few minutes before I make her go with me to Primary. On Sunday, the nursery leader hadn't quite gotten in there yet, so I was hanging out until she did. So I told Desiree to go on to her class and she came and sat in my lap and said, "But I want to be a family and stay with you." What a rotten! So I just held her until there were enough adults in nursery for me to leave. I had Sharing Time this week, and I think it went pretty well. Then I went to check on nursery later and when Emily saw me go in the door, she ran to me and said, "Aunt Hila!" Okay, maybe not quite all syllables correct. But I know she didn't call me Ha. She's growing up. I adore the kids. I really do. Brad took Saria, Samuel, and Benjamin home after Sacrament, because they were all coughing. Choir went well and then I came home where I had lunch and tried to take a nap, to no avail. Brad was working and the kids weren't interested in napping. Oh well.

And today was back to work. Nothing stellar, just the sameold. I will say that I am glad I still make the time to blog. It's fun to remember over my week and smile at the good happy moments :).

How Does Your Garden Grow?

So I love having a garden. I said this out loud as I wrote it, with Saria sitting right next me. And she posed this question: "You like taking care of it?" Well, that's not my favorite part. Although it certainly makes me care about the garden a lot more. Because of the efforts I put into it, I care about how it is doing and what it produces. And so I guess I get to thank this cute little girl in purple froggy pajamas who is sitting next to me for an insight into my garden that I wasn't pondering as I started to write this.

Because I was having deep thoughts about the garden. And that is why I am writing a random blog (not on a Sunday or Monday ;)). So I posed my question -- which is part of a song, if you will. A nursery rhyme. And I posed it, because as I was tending my garden yesterday, watering it (we've had quite a stretch of sunny, hot, rain-free days in Washington), my mind reviewed the two gardens I have planted. And a new life-lesson occurred to me. An eternal truth I have always known, but sometimes, when I see applications to things in my daily life, I can better understand them. I better internalize them. They "hit home" to me, I guess. And this is one more reason I love to have a garden. I have had several such "lightbulb moments" as I have grown my gardens. And sometimes it just gives me such a warm feeling inside, and I desire to share it.

So yeah, there I was, watering the garden in the bright sunshine. And my mind drifted over last year's garden. I remember the effort of watering the garden every day. And I remember that I always saw a day of rain as an opportunity for free (and effortless) watering! (These are things you actually consider when you get old like me ;)). But then, the flip side of that coin was this year. When we had such a long, long "winter." We had so much rain and cloud-cover that nothing was growing. And so it "hit me" (although I already knew it...): How does a garden grow? Why, with rain AND sunshine. It must have both for the garden to grow.

And then I looked at life. And once again, I saw how -- when you look for it -- you can find eternal truths all throughout nature. It does take the bitter and the sweet. The rain and the shine. Without both, we will not grow. And sometimes, the bouts of rain seem interminable. But when we get through them, and see how they have helped us to grow, we can appreciate the value of them. I'm not going to lie: Sometimes growing is hard. But it's so worth it. Because one day, the fruit we yield will be sweeter than we can possibly imagine. (But since I planted vegetables, as Saria is pointing out to me right now, I guess I need to say the vegetable will be crispier). But anyway... The point is... Life is full of lessons. And sometimes it takes the rain. But sometimes it takes the shine :). And ultimately, from both together, you grow :).

Unless you're one of these two whackos!(So I told Saria: "This picture will make Jeremy love me even more." She said, "No it won't because you look ugly in that picture." Thanks Saria. (Good thing I didn't put the really ugly one (because yes, we took a worse one...)).

When Allergies Attack Part 2

In case you couldn’t guess by my blog title post… Yep, the allergies are kicking my tail! Again! But I will get to that. Because, mostly, they were the only lame thing about my week. Mostly.

Monday was another day of work (had to sit in on a meeting with the Commissioners and be responsible for minutes), followed by another Marvelous Monday Meal. I didn’t actually contribute much in the way of this meal (I took drinks and chips and dip), because it was Morgan’s 18^th birthday, so she had requested specific things that Lea makes. So we enjoyed a marvelous meal of chicken enchiladas, macarone (not to be mistaken for macaroni), chips and dip, and refried beans. Then we had red velvet cake and pretty butterfly cupcakes. Dan made the cake and he did a great job. I was pretty much full by the end of our meal. We talked a lot, as is par for the course, and then we settled in to watch a couple episodes of Scrubs. I developed a lovely headache (I’m pretty positive it was due to lack of sleep), and I was hoping laying down would improve it. It did not. Boo. So I went home and talked to Jeremy for a few minutes and then got in my jammies, read scriptures, and went straight to bed. It’s not so normal for a Nilla Wafer to be in bed by 10:00, so that’s saying something… Here are a couple of pictures from Monday Meals, though. Notice the cake and the cupcakes. Yum.

Happy 18th Morgan!!!

Tuesday I awoke and was headache-free! It was a pretty typical Tuesday. I went to work and probably encountered some new and random phone call from a county citizen. But nothing too memorable. Then I went home, pulled a few weeds (aka grass) in my garden and then walked with Sue.

Wednesday was just another day. And just another meeting. Where I sat for, oh, about 2.5 hours listening to the county’s planning commission talking to the county’s board of commissioners. It’s enlightening, I will say that. And I definitely got a weirdo phone call on Wednesday. It has to do with the Posse Comitatus Act. Feel free to research that if you care to. I didn’t. I did, however, make up new math. I take those kind of freedoms that allow me to change the value of “e.” I believe the correct value of that is something like 2.17blahblahblah (yeah, don't quote me on that value. It's been a while since my days of math (remember, when I started using more letters than numbers in math, I figured I might as well be in English where they are supposed to use numbers ;). I could look up the value of "e," but I'm feeling kind of lazy :)) (Perhaps later I will be the recipient of a diatribe concerning the value of "e" and my laziness ;) -- though if I happened to get in the vicinity of being close to the value, you should be impressed :)). But that number (the true value of "e") means nothing to me, so I changed it ;). Now it represents 3 words. We’ll see how the mathematicians and engineers of the world feel about that. I’m sure they will be impressed with the creativity of an English major… Hahaha. The day was much improved when I happened to wind up with a free evening (that I hadn’t been planning to have) and so I happened to inform a particularly fun and handsome guy with dimples that I had a free evening and that handsome guy happened to not want to stay at work too much past 6. And so we happened to have the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company for a “bonus” day. And it just so happens that it was a fabulous way to spend my evening (even if we didn’t act responsibly and stayed outside talking way too late). That’s a lot of happy happenstance :).

And okay, so Thursday brought the price to be paid for staying outside talking until after 11:00 with someone I love. It was not fun to get up in the morning. At all. But I was bolstered in the knowledge that I was on the cusp of a 4-day weekend. That helped quite a bit. That and my happy smiley morning text from Jeremy :). (Good gracious, could I ooze anymore ooey gooeyness and still be considered human!?! Yeesh, I’m sitting here grinning even as I type this ;)!). And okay, so actually, as the day wore on, things kind of roller-coastered (I’m making that a verb, because I like it). I dozed for about 15 minutes at the end of lunch. The day dragged on, even though I had plenty to stay busy. Brad had the kids for the night, so I took Samuel to Cars 2 (in 3D) for his birthday. The movie was definitely cute. And so is Sam. Evidenced in our pictures. What a cool dude! I got home and talked to Jeremy for a while. And then things started going downhill (after the phone call... It wasn't because of the phone call. I should definitely clarify that!). Emotionally speaking. I think it was partially tiredness. And, considering the fact that I cried both Friday and Saturday, possibly hormonal too. And overwhelmedness. (I’m making up a bunch of words in this blog post. See, I don’t just offend mathy people ;) (I didn’t make up “mathy”… I “stole” it from Dilbert’s creative genius)).

So for various reasons (thinking, loud creaky doors, sharing an air mattress with Saria), I didn’t get much sleep Thursday night. Which I’m sure helped my emotional state and mood immensely. I had every good intention of starting out the day (and finishing it) all happy-go-lucky. After all, I have much to be grateful for and about which to smile :). But yeah… I had the responsibility of getting the kids to Christina’s since Brad was at work, and let’s just say the kids weren’t uber-cooperative. They pushed my buttons. All of them. And then they laughed about it. 40 minutes later we finally managed to leave the house and drove about 15 to 20 minutes to Christina’s house where I dropped them off, hugged Desiree and Emily, and then headed to the funeral home to drop off my stuff and get the keys from Bob (stayed with Melanie for the weekend). And okay, so driving to the funeral home was where I cried the first time. Mostly probably because Christina hugged me and recognized I was under stress… She’s a wonderful sister. Then I had Presidency Meeting, then went back to the funeral home. Then I ate a late lunch with Lea and we just talked and shared stories of our week. And discussed Monday Meals. Which will be taking a sort-of hiatus during the summer. (Remember how I was going to discuss priorities in my previous blog post… But ironically didn’t have time? Yeah… So this week has been a ponderous one while I’ve examined the items on my plate and tried to determine what I can cut and what needs to stay… And, at least temporarily, Monday Meals made the chopping block. Which adds to my stress, because I don’t actually want to get rid of the fun things I enjoy doing, which give me a break from responsibilities, but… You gotta do what you gotta do…). Actually, there are a few reasons that Monday Meals will be harder to accomplish this summer. And all combined, Lea and I think it’s best to just play it by ear rather than have it scheduled for every week. Plus we can always get together on a whim when we are all available. And she and Chuck and Jeremy and I can do a double date at some point… (That will probably be news to Jeremy when he reads this ;)). Plus Lea and I will do lunch or something on Fridays, since I’m off on Fridays and she has every other Friday afternoon off. But anyway, it was nice to gab with her and just relax. Then I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a dessert item and a beverage for my “girlie night” with Wendy. I went home, watered my garden, showered, packed for staying with Melanie, and then talked to Jeremy. Which calmed my nerves and eased my stress even more. Companionship is a wonderful thing. Knowing there is someone that supports and loves me is an amazing feeling. I went by and dropped my stuff off at Melanie’s, and then headed out to Wendy’s for our dinner and a movie. Wendy had made some beef pockets. Basically they are ground beef mixed with various things like mushrooms, peppers, cheese, all wrapped in a bread dough ball of yummy. It had a German flavor to it. And then we also enjoyed a salad alongside ;). This was the first time I’d ever put sunflower seeds on my salad, and you know what? I loved it! I’ve seen them available at salad bars, but never tried it before. I may do that more often :). So Wendy and I got to talking. And time ran away from us (shocking…). And then we figured we’d better get a movie going! So we spent a good 15 minutes trying to decide on a movie and we finally settled on the first half of Harry Potter 7 (I still hadn’t seen more than about 45 minutes of it to that point). And then I looked at the time. It was 8:00!!! So much for my plans to be back at Melanie’s by 9:30! Yikes! Oh well… So the movie ended around 10:15, and I headed on to Melanie’s. I visited with her for a bit, but then decided I was ready to hit the sack, so that’s just what I did!

Queenie the cat woke me up at 6:00 the next morning. I'm never happy when she does that. So I got up and put her outside and went back to sleep :). Saturdays are generally utilized for sleeping in and very few things interrupt that in my world ;). I finally rolled out of bed around 9:00 and loaded up the weed whacker to take to the house to cut back the yard that was beginning to look like it could host some safaris... My plans were foiled when I couldn't get the weed whacker to not sputter out everytime I started using it. I even called Bob to ask him about it, and he said he had had a hard time using it the last time he did and gave me a few pieces of advice... none of which worked. So I gave up, slightly discouraged, and started weeding my garden. Jeremy got there and still had to park hidden in the grass. But apparently he is skilled at temperamental weed whackers. Either that or the weed whacker just likes him better... Nah, kidding. But either way, he got it to run and he weed whacked all the grass. Then he helped me weed my garden and then I got a shower (it was a hot day, so I was sweaty) and then we went to lunch. But first, I shared with Jeremy one of the delicacies of Panama: a Chinese Plum! Okay, so these were slightly more salty and less sweet than the ones we used to have in Panama. But it's all about the experience ;). He LOVED it! Okay, maybe not so much. Most people aren't highly impressed... But he kept it in his mouth much longer than most people. And I was nice enough to recommend we suck on those before our lunch, since the lunch would serve to do away with the taste :). See, I'm nice :). Next week's taste adventure will be boiled (pronounced bowled) peanuts (from the South -- the South's favorite treat, if you believe the can). I had a friend give me a can of them when I left Alabama. They've been awaiting the perfect opportunity to be opened. I think I've found it. Now Jeremy can enjoy some "culinary" adventures of my past homes. Hahaha... I'll let you know how it goes :). So after the Chinese Plum adventure, we ate Chinese food, and Jeremy is brave enough to try something on the menu that has a name which in no way indicates what he is getting (Moo Goo Gai Pan). But he also is willing to overlook nasty cartilage in chicken, so what do you expect ;)? I got sweet and sour chicken. I don't go for unrecognizable names myself. I'm disgusted enough with some parts of the food I recognize, so I don't tempt fate and go for the unknown ;). After lunch, which was pretty tasty, and a fun little fortune in my fortune cookie (which told me that next Saturday would be an exciting time for me -- gee, that was a no-brainer, though (maybe it'll involved the boiled peanuts :)) ;)), we went to the store to buy vegetables for his family's 4th of July get-together. That was our contribution to the day. So after fighting the swarms of people at the store, we then stopped at another store (Lowe's a.k.a my dad's favorite place on earth, a.k.a my opinion of the most exciting store on earth (one of those may be sarcastic... Or both of them...) to get some tubing stuff to make a really cool water toy for Monday. Then we went back to my house to cut up all the vegetables and store them so they were ready to go for Monday. Then off to the park to study scriptures and talk. And this is where allergies attacked. Again. Oy. This was awful. Probably worse than the ballpark experience. I think I've shared before my distaste of blowing my nose in front of people. Mostly because it grosses me out when others do it around me. Unfortunately, with allergies, walking away to a private place is nearly impossible, because otherwise you'd always be in the private place. It's gross. And itchy and annoying. I think I sneezed more on Saturday evening than I did in months. We discovered the culprit (some purposely-planted hedge flowers) and found a way to get away from that area. We found a nice bench right on the water where we sat and talked and enjoyed eachother's company. And my nose cleared up and I stopped sniffing :). I'm sure I was so cute... Hahaha. Yuck. Clean tissue in one pocket, used in the other. Yuck. So un-Hila like. Seriously. As the sun started to set (always so pretty on the water), we headed back to the car. And since we walked back through the pollen minefield, I was sneezing my head off again the whole way home. It got to where it was funny. I was just sitting over in my seat laughing about how ridiculous it was. We hung out at my house and talked for a bit (not in the car, as we think there was enough pollen remnants inside to have my allergies going crazy...) and then we said goodnight around 10. One question: can you squeeze your nose and rub your tummy at the same time ;)? How about someone else's? Hahaha. So yeah, I went back to Melanie's and got a shower and tried to get over my allergy attack. Used lots of kleenex. But slept really well in spite of it all.

Okay, so Sunday the cat didn't wake me up until about 8:00. Which was when I had to get up anyway, so that was refreshing :). I woke up with one solidly stuffed up nostril. Fun. But at least I could breathe sufficiently well out of the other :). I still didn't make it to church as early as I was supposed to for choir practice. But we only sang one song. Oh yeah, I woke up fine as far as allergies, but the simple act of walking from the house to my car (no more than 10 feet) sent me spiraling into sneezes and sniffles again. It was cute. Me and my tissues at church. Yipee. I conducted in Sharing Time and we had the new schedule today, and it went so smoothly! It was fabulous! And after about 2.5 hours of church, my allergies stopped kicking me and that improved things too :). Choir practice has been moved to the church building right after church, so that is also marvelous! So I stayed for that and then headed to the house to help my mom with dinner. She was making arroz con pollo. Mmmm good! And so Jeremy was going to come over to eat with us. Another culinary adventure! Only this one is yummy. Especially with the green olives (unless you ask Lea... Hahaha). After dinner, Jeremy and I sat out on the front lawn and read part of the Ensign together. Then he headed home around 8:15. And I headed to Melanie's, got a shower, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday I slept until 9:00. Or maybe I got up at 8:30. I can't remember. Either way, I headed to the house and made sure I had extra clothes to take to the family get together. Jeremy arrived a bit before 10, and we loaded up and headed out. Sometimes longish car rides are awesome :). We were the first to arrive at Jeremy's parent's house. But then we went over to his brother's house to help load up some stuff they were bringing over. So I got to meet some nieces and nephews and his brother and sister (in-law). Very fun people! (And I'm not just saying that because they read my blog ;)... I really did feel totally welcome and at ease, even when she was getting the nitty-gritty on how Jeremy and I met ;)). It's an awesome story, after all :). After about 1.5 hours there (and a broken scent bottle -- or was that a toilet? -- later), we headed back to Jeremy's parent's house. By then his oldest brother had arrived, so I met him. And then, pretty much immediately, the water fight began. Which brought into play that very cool water fight "tool" Jeremy constructed out of tubing, pens, and wire. Those were definitely the hit -- and for good reason! Talk about ammo! I got officially soaked. Completely and totally soaked. Right down to my shoes. But it was so much fun!! And okay, so my aim isn't awesome when I'm getting sprayed in the eyeballs with water... But I'm still one cool chica! :). It was funny, because his mom told me later that she had told her husband that she knew I'd be right in the middle of the water fight. I'm prissy, it's true. But mostly only about food and plumbing. (I don't do no indoor plumbing ;)). Oh, and flying bugs and snakes. I think that's it. At some point in the midst of all the water flying, I met another sister (in-law) when they arrived. His family really is quite fun, and it didn't feel awkward at all. Jeremy asked me if I was nervous, and you know... I wasn't nervous at all :). And I had the best time. I even learned a lesson for next time: bring goggles. Hahaha. Only now that I've shared it with the world, it won't give me the leg-up by being super-secretive... Anyway, so then the food was ready. There was so much food! So. Much. Food. I don't think I got to sample everything I would have liked to. Oh well. But I did get a lemon bar. I do love lemon bars :). Jeremy and I headed out around 6:15. But not before a group picture and a few more laughs. Which included facebook discussion, cream of the crop, mosquito sounds, and more... There really is something fun about being around family. Mine is the same way when we all get together. Just sharing and remembering and laughing. It's priceless. It's why the quote from that Sunscreen song remains among my very favorite: "Be nice to your siblings: they're the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future." So yeah, Jeremy and I enjoyed our longish ride home. And though it is never fun (understatement) to say good-bye and go our separate ways, we eventually did. We both had work today. Boo.

And okay, so I got spoiled. Four days off of work. Three of those days with a wonderful and amazing person (that's Jeremy, in case you were curious ;)). Only to get to Tuesday and get none of that?!? Yep. Lame. So I had to go in to work about 10 minutes earlier than usual to make up the extra time I didn't earn for being off yesterday. Plus I only get 30 minute lunches this week. So worth it. And yep, pretty much from the get-go the people of the county were annoying me today :). And so were my allergies. So much for my chaffed nose getting a break. Man it hurts! I wasn't in a bad mood. Just not in a mood to deal with the silliness. To put it mildly. But I did. And I stayed steadily busy all day. To include typing up minutes from 2 meeting last week. Almost done. But tomorrow I will go to another meeting. With more minutes. After work I picked some strawberries (I have thoroughly enjoyed my strawberries I've been picking :)) and then walked with Sue. Warm day. Had wet shoes, so I didn't exactly wear appropriate ones. But it's all good. We had a good walk. Then I ate dinner (homemade mac and cheese), got a shower, spent a few minutes brightening my day via phone, and then sat down to blog away! So yeah, I know it's a long one. But I had such a great weekend. And it's for posterity, after all ;).

P.S... Forgive the wonkiness of the changing font. I don't know what's up. Copy and paste, apparently. Sometimes blogger annoys me.