Week 2... :(

Well, this didn't turn out to be the week I had hoped. Monday was fairly good. I had my bike and rode to the little market area to get a few things(bike lock included) and open a bank account. Unfortunately I got there a little early to go to the bike store cause I didn't want to wait at the house after Sandra and Bear had left. So I rode around not wanting to leave my bike alone since the bishop had told me it would be gone as soon as I turned my back.

I finally did get my lock even though I didn't have enough money. The store owner took pity on me and gave me the lock so my bike wouldn't get stolen while I was waiting for my first check to clear the bank. After that I spent most of the day at home looking at online courses and getting my online banking set up.

Tuesday was more fun. I was working and had money to spend. After my family had left for the day I went back to the "market" and got my shopping done. I was trying to figure out the best way to get it all home when I got a call from Sandra. She was calling to let me know that Max (ex-boyfriend) had just fired her and she was sending me home as soon as she could so that she didn't have to stay in Dallas. So I got to go return everything I just bought. They were supposed to be home around 12:30 so that Bear didn't have to stay at school all day but they never showed. So I packed and after awhile I got bored and walked back to the shops where I window shopped the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday I said goodbye to Bear (who still had no idea I wouldn't be there when he got home [letting Sandra deal with that]), and then tried to do some laundry and cleaning up while I waited to go to the airport (yeah, she meant as soon as possible!) Sandra was having an interview when I needed to be at the airport so she had a car pick me up. I was glad she was there when he showed up though, I felt a little better that she was there. I also got to see it snow before I left! How cool is that?!

Once I got to the airport and got dropped off I think I was probably the most entertaining thing you could ever find! Imagine this if you will - an 18 year old, two large bags rounding out to about 90lbs total and a carry on bag with a laptop bag on top which totaled to about 50lb. Carry on and duffel bag on one arm and large suitcase in the other hand. It was something to behold! And someone did come and help me once I'd gotten inside, but before I did whew!

Made it through security with no problems and to my gate and right then is about when the drama started. When I got to my gate they announced the Atlanta (where I was connecting with my second flight) was having thunder storms and our flight would be delayed an hour. Meaning, of course that I only had 6 min to get from one terminal to another to catch my connecting flight! I had to switch that to a 9 0'clock flight meaning I had a 4 hour lay over.

When I finally landed in dulles we were one of the three last flights of the evening. I'm glad Mom was there to pick me up or I definitely would have laid down and died right there in the baggage claim!

I got home and no one but Mom and Dad knew I was there. So I slept in the basement bedroom and waited in the morning till they were all together for family prayer before coming up.

Then we spent the morning raking leaves and spent the rest of the day leisurely (aka I took a nap after only having been home since 2).

Pretty much that's how the rest of the week went. I told the nanny agency that I would talk to them on Monday about what I wanted to do next. I did fill out an app to be a courier for the hospital so cross your fingers! And I've started looking at doing an in-home daycare down in Norfolk. With any luck I'll have a new job soon!

Saturday I spent baking cookies and then that night (after it snowed really well!) we went to the Christmas party at church. (fun fun fun!)

Sunday I helped teach sunbeams (a preschool age sunday school class) and then came home and napped and watched the church Christmas broadcast (if my laptop will load the byu tv site!)

I haven't decided exactly if this is a good thing or not but hopefully something better will come along soon. I'll talk to you all later!

SUPER NANNY TO THE RESCUE!!!

First week as a nanny! Got here on Sunday and had to eat out cause there had been a thing with the electricity and all the food spoiled. So we had Italian for lunch then went home and I unpacked. Then Sandra's ex-boyfriend took us out for Mexican (absollutly NO food in the house :))

My room is at the end of the hall on the second floor. It's small but has a small sink room then bathroom adjoined to the next room and a closet. And everything is gold or white.

Monday was my day off. I spent most of it with Sandra and Stefan. We went to the grocery store and I got lost on the way to FedEx. I looked at the map before I left but didn't take note of street names or directions. So when I left I headed first in one wrong direction then another. When I found out I was going the wrong way I turned and got on the right street but went right instead of left. so by the time I got there it was just getting dark and when I was done it was totally dark! Poor Sandra had to come pick me up.

Tuesday didn't really do anything. But Wednesday Sandra had a minor surgery. She also had a friend who came over to see Bear (Stefan) while she was out so I didn't have much to do except laundry so I made split pea soup (NOWHERE NEAR as good as Mom's). It was a pretty good set upi though since Sandra couldn't chew and all the peas and vegetables ended up at the same consistency (blech!) :)

Thursday we had ordered a catered dinner and when it showed up we were expecting a hot meal ready to eat. Not so! When we opened the boxes we found precooked refridgerated food. So we spent the next hour and a half cooking turkey! I took Bear to the park in an attempt to keep us both from thinking about naps and food, it didn't work :). We had some fun though and whe our dinner was ready it was delish!

Friday I got up and Sandra was not feeling well. So I took Bear and fed him and played with him till she felt good enough to come down. Around lunchtime she felt good enough to go out and bought me a bike! We went to one place with some pretty awesome designer like deals that were amazingly expensive but really cool. We didn't get one but it gave me ideas for mine. We found mine at Target for a really good deal, but alas! it was too good to be true! When we got my blue cruiser to the car, IT DIDN'T FIT! :D So Sandra's friend is going to bring it over today. He's great, he even got the tires pumped and the whole thing is ready to go!

Saturday I had Bear from the time he woke up. After bfast and making a meal to go in the freezer for later, I took him to the playground. Of course the boyscouts were there as well and after about an hour we decided to go seek adventure elsewhere. And on the way to the bike store (so bear could practice riding the "big boy bikes") I ended up making a 15 min walk turn into a 45 min walk. I knew exactly where I was going but got trapped in a neighborhood with no roads going the direction I needed. :) fun stuff. When we finally got home we were both exhausted and only one of us could take a nap (it wasn't me). I spent the afternoon doing minor housework and putting together a grocery list. Odly enough, even though I was really tired I enjoyed it. I was really glad though when Sandra gave me the next few hours off. I spent that talking to my family. When I was done talking to them I gave Bear a bath and we had pizza and a movie we ended up skipping most of. BTW don't watch "Labou" unless you're into stuff like "Hoot".

I also spent quite a bit of time trying to get in touch with my new bishop in an attempt to get a ride to church. I guess he was out of town for Thanksgiving cause he wasn't able to get back to me till 10 this morning. I was however hooked up with a ride so I will be going to church. YAY!

Anyhow that's my first week in a nutshell. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you! LOVE!

7-7-09

Toni and Jonathan have been visiting since last Tuesday. I really enjoyed having them here. Joshua has gotten so big! He was really shy until yesterday, but he would occasionaly consent to playing with us. Today though he wouldn't have anything to do with any of us. Today they left for Norfolk. When he saw Jonathan packing there was no pleasing him.

We didn't do much while they were here. I continued to work and volunteer when I could. On Thursday Toni and Jonathan came to the store while I closed and afterward we went to station 5 and I showed them around. Then last night we went to CFA and saw David as the cow, afterward we went to Rita's and had pineapple Italian ice.

Sunday Melissa was baptized. There were a lot of people I was pretty surprised.

Update

Since my last post (aka 1st) I have been making plans to join the military, probably Navy, this fall. I have also quite my jo at CFA and am now working at an engraving store called Things Remembered. I will be taking my GED on the 27. I got a 78 on my Asvab for the military. I got a part in the stake youth conference play as well as a solo. And I have decided not to go to EFY to save money.

6-21-09

Today was Father's Day. I was so tired this morning I didn't even wake up to help make breakfast for dad. I don't know what's up with me I've been so tired! Yesterday I even scraped the front of the little van on the back of the big van after work when I went to meet up with everyone. There is nothing worse than scraping your car against you parents while they're INSIDE the car! We haven't talked about it yet but I'm feeling a big bill coming my way to pay for a new rearview.

Back to today though. Mom and Carilyn made eggs, bacon,orange juice, and hash browns for breakfast. And since we don't have any room in the kitchen due to the painting we ate in the living room. Then Dad opened his presents: a face to hang on a tree outside, a tie rack Philip made in cub scouts, then 2 tents and a hammock. Afterwards I loaded the dishwasher most of the way then Mom wanted to talk to me. She wasn't feeling well so she needed me to go with Dad and teach sunbeams. No biggie. I already knew the kids cause I'd helped teach them in nursery.

Boy was I glad I took a shower last night! After I talked to Mom I had 10 minutes to get ready! But I did have time to do Some make up on Joyce. She wants to be old enough to get her ears pierced and wear make up; I feel so bad for her. One more year and she'll be able to do both.

They still haven't fixed the sound system in the church since the building was struck by lighting 2 weeks ago, but this week Bro. Ryan Quick hooked a laptop up to some speakers and a mic so we did have something. It's very convenient to have rich techies in the ward :). The speakers were Emma Duff, Dillon Hebertson, Sis. Quick and Bro Quick. Emma spoke on Sis. Dibb from last general yw conference. Dillon spoke on fathers in the Book of Mormon. His was really funny! He started out by talking about how great a father Lehi was. "He took his family on a long camping trip. He let his sons take the camels out unsupervised and bring back girls. They went to the beach and even took a cruise." Not bad for a 12 year old. I think his mom might have helped him though, it really sounds like her type of humor. Sis Quick talked about family I think (to be honest I was having a hard time staying awake) And Bro Quick talked about fathers.

In primary Haley Lanning and her cousin Bailey Carter came in crying. They both sat with me and stopped pretty quickly. Sharing time was about the steps of repentance and Sis Woodruff did it. And for lesson we went outside and took a walk while Dad tried to talk to the kids about how they can be whatever they want when they grow up. When we got back to our classroom the kids colored then we went back to the primary room. Amy was supposed to give a talk but when she got up she got scared and Dad read it for her.

When we got home Mom was making corn on the cob. I tried to finish loading the dishwasher while we waited for it to boil and everyone else went outside while Dad mounted his face on the big oak tree. For lunch we had corn and strawberry shortcake, Yummy! And after lunch I went outside with Mom to look at the garden. She's mostly trying to make me nostalgic and not move out this fall but I just can't stay. I love living with my family but I need my own space, or at least my own room! Toni seems to be ok with me living with her but I haven't talked to her myself yet so we'll see.

After awhile of being in the garden we noticed ants on some of the plants so we tried to get rid of them with cayenne pepper juice. I guess tomorrow we'll find out if it worked or not. About then is when Carolyn came home and we started to grill for sausages. And about then is when I took a nap. I felt the same when I woke up as when I woke up this morning, drugged. Maybe I'm sick or something. But the sausages were good and after we ate Dad gave us some mint oreos he was going to take camping, but since he won't be staying overnight he won't need them.

And while we were eating oreos Mom read to us about Elder Neil A Anderson, the new apostle, and we read Elder Holland's last conference talk, as well as some Friend articles and Philip read one from the New Era. I didn't really hear Philip's cause I got on the computer :( That was pretty rude.

Anyway, after that we had found the neighbor's dog in our front yard and had tied it up in and called it's owner to come get it. After our reading she came over and picked it up. Then we had a family prayer and the little kids went upstairs to clean their room and go to bed. That's also about when I started a journal entry and the boys finished cleaning their rooms and went to bed so they could go camping tomorrow. I did take a break though to go tidy the bathroom. It's about 11:30 now so I'll probably go get ready for bed and read scrips.

Sunday May 17, 2009

Today I slept as long as I could. I really hate Sunday mornings just for that reason. Sunday is the only day that I really get to sleep so I always try to sleep as long as I can, but there's always at least 3 people that come in multiple times to foil that attempt. And they always start around 7 am! Come on people! Can't a young adult get some sleep on the weekend?! Oh...really? Huh. Well I guess not.

There is a good reason though. Church starts at 11 am and since we live a 1/2 hour from the church we need to leave at 10:30. And because I usually don't get to shower on Saturday night I need to do that; I also need at least 20 minutes to pick an outfit, accessories and put on make up. Ok we'll make it a good 45 minutes. Anyhow I still don't need to be up at 7 to get all that done before 10:30.

Today I changed outfits 3 times! I had to, every time I picked something to wear I couldn't find what I was gonna wear with it! I finally decided to wear a dress Mom gave me about a month ago. It's one of her old ones, but it's really pretty. Kinda vintage cut with coral color hibiscus and an orangy-cream, short sleeved sweater with ribbon flowers on it. I don't like the sweater but the dress is gorgeous! Too bad it doesn't have sleeves or I would wear it without the sweater.

Also I had to go to the car to put on make up since I didn't bring it in the house from when I went to the station.

Saturday May 16, 2009

Last night after working from 4 - 9:30 at Chick-fil-A I went over to Rescue statioin 5 where I precepted ambulance 5-3 with Ms Dawn (my preceptor [to precept is to practice being the main care provider on an ambulance. Once I am done I will be an AIC which is attendant in charge. I will be the one who makes decisions about patient care.]) and 2 other EMS workers. We had two 911 calls that we were sent out for. One was a Carbon Monoxide alarm that had gone off. No one was sick and the firefighters couldn't find the source of the gas; so they left the family with instructions to call the alarm company in the morning and to leave the windows open. After that we were called out for a car crash, but before we got to that one the firefighters called us and told us no one was hurt.

So after we finished all the paperwork (incredible how many times the same people want the same information) I stayed up with our driver, an awesome guy named Randy, and read a book.

I'm really enjoying this book. It's called "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. I'm really glad my mom asked me to read it. Very exciting.

Anyway, I read till about 12:30 Then read scriptures till quarter till 1. Then I finally went to bed and pretty well enjoyed an uneventful night.

This morning, after sleeping 6 hours broken up by the cold of the bunk room and the hard bed and pile of blankets I'd used for a pillow, I was woken up 45 minutes before my alarm went off by Ms Caruso's alarm. (how rude :)) So I packed up my stuff and put it in my car. One of the people for today's crew was already here so I was getting ready to leave when Ms Caruso reminded me we had some paperwork to fill out that gave an evaluation of my performance last night. So we got it together and brought it outside to do so we could talk to the other people that were there while we filled it out. Mostly it was Ms Caruso that needed to do it, but at the end I had a page to fill out. It took awhile because of all the visiting but it finally got filled out, signed and copied and I went home informing her that I would drop it off at the station near Chick-fil-A when I went to work later today; I never did get there though.

When I got home I ate some of the leftover pancakes and fried spam from breakfast.

I love fried spam! Sounds kinda gross I know, but it's really tasty! It's easy too since all you have to do is throw slices of spam into a heated pan. It pretty well fries itself.

While I was eating Mom talked to us about getting together a three months supply of  food for an emergency. She's been trying to get that together for awhile but has been having a hard time since people have a tendency of getting into more of the food than what she had planned.

When breakfast was over I changed out of my volunteer uniform and Joyce and I headed over to the Poffenbarger's for a fundraiser so we could raise money to go to camp this year. The fundraiser was mulching the Poff's yard. It's pretty big and most of it needed mulching. It is a beautiful yard though, full of flowers and trees. They must have had a landscaper do it then just weeded and mulched it every year themselves with the help of the youth in the ward. I know most years in the spring I hear about how some of the guys from church have gone over there and spent the day doing "yard work" but I've never been before.  Joyce and I couldn't stay the whole time, but we did stay till most of the yard was done. It had gotten a little warm but thankfully the weather had been pretty nice for the endeavour. We left after the lunch break and just before they started with the last load of mulch. And To each of us Mama P endowed $20 for our camp funds.

We left the Poff's and got home with just enough time for me to help Mom put some tomatoes in a temporary planted spot, weed my garden, harvest my lettuce and take a shower. Of course though, by the time I got out of the shower all but one of the people who were going to the next destination had left. That other person being Christopher; that next destination being a constitution class.

We made it just before class started. It was being held in the back room of Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, one of my favorite places! Dad, Carolyn, Samuel, Christopher, Joyce and I are all taking it along with a few other people, some of which have already taken it and want to teach their own classes. 

I had the most awful time staying awake! The first half hour was watching a video and, not that it was too bad, but it was not very animated at all. After dozing awhile I finally thought to follow along in the workbook on the table; that helped so much. The only problem was there was only ten minutes till I had to leave for work and I was still sleepy. 

I did however make it to work safely. I got there on time and I got the position I wanted for the day. I got to bag food. Recently that's mostly what I've wanted to do. Baggers are the ones with the least contact with customers; and tonight, since I'm in charge of making sure the front of the store gets closed, I would need any extra time I could to get stuff done. It shouldn't be bad in the way of participation however; Priscilla, Paola and Dawn are three of the six I started with and Mark would be a big help till he left. Despite the fact I do have such a great team I am not a fan of being in charge. I feel grateful that this manager thinks I'm so capable and trustworthy, but all the other times I've had this responsibility we haven't left the store till 11 or after. And I always get frustrated cause there's a lot of people that come while we're trying to get stuff done. And, albeit I love this manager, an older, larger man in his sixties who reminds me of a teddy bear, I don't tend to see him an awful lot during closing time. And tonight was no exception.

It wasn't too bad when I got there. All the trash cans had been emptied and things were relatively slow, but I was soooo tired! Still drowzy from class, yard work and lack of sleep the night before all I wanted was to go home and sleep in my own bed. Things only got better when I had to bag food for the drive-thru window and the front counter at the same time, make milkshakes and made me get behind, and had to take food out to a customer who's food had taken so long getting to us that we'd asked her to park. I'm glad my co-workers are so nice or I probably woulda left. The person who was taking money and handing out the food in the drive thru window (Paul) was going on break and offered to take the food to the woman in the parking lot; Tom, the teddy bear manager, came and bagged the front counter; and Kristen, one of our newer employees, came and helped me catch up on the orders in the drive-thru. It always seems to be when I stop to make someone a milkshake that I fall behind, I guess I need to stop doing that. 

I was so ready for my break! When Priscilla had gone on hers with Paul, I had inherited the headset to take orders from her, Paola had gone and taken the money at the window, and no one had come to bag food. Finally someone, I'm not sure who, came and relieved Paola (understandable, she got here first) then Priscilla came and took back the headset. I caught them up on drinks, food and got Priscilla more ice as I had used quite a bit of it while making drinks for drive-thru then Tom sent me to take my break. I just prayed I would have the courage to return and finish the night.

Actually I prayed for some things that, looking back now, were pretty silly. Like "few customers", I not really plausable for a Saturday night. Not like I doubted it could happen, but a normal Saturday includes lots of customers.

I did, although, have a very enjoyable dinner. I got to sit with Zack "Scratcher" and Paola, two good friends and we had a blast. We talked about computers, Paola and I both trying to get Zack to diagnose our problems from the limited information we could give him; about how Zack "stalked" some of the girls at work (he really doesn't he's just really friendly and knows a lot about them), and about my service project and the camps Paola and I are going to. We laughed so hard and had such fun I thought maybe I could get thru the evening.

Since they'd both started their breaks before me I was eventually left alone and so I got an ice cream. Unfortunately I got it just a few minutes before I had to start work again and had to eat it really fast. I managed to do it with only one minor brain freeze, but I also got back on the clock late. Oh well.

The night went pretty fast-paced. At one point my fav manager, Terri, came back from  delivering food to a prom and came to say goodbye before going home and I almost started crying. She said goodbye and I just looked at her and said in a quiet voice "please don't go". Since she'd left for the delivery I'd had a rush in drive-thru and hadn't been able to keep below the desired 5 minutes for service, had gotten in such a tissy with the person in charge of the kitchen I'd almost caused irrepiarable damage to our relationship and had been given the list of things that needed to be done to close the store and hadn't been able to get to any of it! The long miserable night that awaited me loomed before my mind and my heart had sunk all the way to my feet. Terri, even if I hadn't seen her all day,  was my only consoler at that point and I thought if she would stay I might be able to make it through the night. But I completely understood when she told me she wanted to go home. Not only was this not a fun place to be on Saturday night, but she'd been there since 5 that morning, it was then 6:30. She did come over and give me a hug upon seeing my distress and told me if I had any problems to call her and she would come. With her arms wrapped around my neck from behind in a warm and comforting embrace I had to use all my will to keep from breaking down. I  was glad she couldn't see my face, I couldn't say anything or make any acknowledging  gesture, but she didn't see my face. I wanted her to stay, but I knew she was tired and I wanted her to go home and be with her kids. At least I was unselfish then.

It ended up Priscilla did most of the closing stuff for the drive-thru area and I did the headset. I felt like a complete failure while doing it, but by 9 o'clock I looked at the list and found almost everything was done. Mark and Dawn had both left, but before doing that they had both gotten a lot done. Oh, I forgot there was one other person who got a lot done but left early, Joey. Joey is pretty new here but he did the bathrooms and checked the parking lot for trash before he left. Go Joey! My greatest asset at that point was Paola. She's too cool, she has picked out her fav things to do for closing and they just happen to be the most time consuming ones. Yeah girl you know I love you! :) Kristen needed to be guided more but whatever I asked her to do got done. 

Later in the night we got Teddy. He's in his 20's and has been working here awhile but doesn't close much and usually works in the kitchen during the morning. He's fab though cause since the morning crew is mostly older women he does lots of the lifting, fetching and refilling things like ice cream, shake base and lemonade. So though he doesn't close he knows a lot of the the stuff that needs to be done. With his and Priscilla's help we got everything done by 10:20. A A whole 40 minutes before we usually finish let alone leave!  

I was so happy to get home. Everything I'd been entrusted with at work was done with the help of lots of team work and now I could go to sleep and feel good about my day. I'd had a bit of a fit with Kerry (the kitchen person) but I'd kept myself from saying something too awful and tomorrow I can go to church and take the sacrament. That feels so good!