my motto

“All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' In The Sun,
Talkin' 'Bout The Things
They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done...
But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All Ran Away And Hid
From One Little Did.”

~Shel Silverstein

A man of many whimsical, wise words.

Saving my outward sanity by describing what's in my head lol

So I didn't send an email or sit down and write a real post. I did, however, write something that I thought was funny. But it could just be a combination of weird, blond and sleep challenged lol:

My life's a total circus,

when'd i join this zoo?

Gotta stop these frazzled circles,

find my way to you.

You kept me smilin all those years,

got me up off my down.

Made me laugh off all those tears

now reality's turned around.

Over in this corner heres

a monkey on my back.

And on a stool right out in front

a lion roarin attack.

Gotta make my clear o this fun house

cause the mirrors make me sick.

Can't take no more homeless animals

this tent is bout to blow.

So call the mayor and anmal control

send police in here double quick.

Get in the cameras light up the room

the world is waiting to know

what will we do with

clowns, magicians, lions and monkeys and strong men an rope walkers, hot dogs and ferris wheels out in the city and out of control?

yeah that just sounds like an option 2 but it was fun to write. that and i'm sure that it's not just me feeling like this right now ;) have a good week!

try this again

I emailed my Grandma what I've been doing and thought I could just use parts of the emails to update ya'll haha! I am so lame!

Last week:

Sorry it's been so long, life just doesn't slow down anymore. Anyway, just wanted to send you a quick update on what I'm doing.

I'm working as an EMT for a company called Lifecare Medical Transports. And for the most part what we do is we take disabled, usually older people, back and forth to Dr appointments, dialysis and from nursing homes to be admitted to the hospital. We also transport babies from the nicu, patients who get flown in by airplane (from the airport to their hospital) and a few 911 calls. We service almost all of the state and as long as one destination of your trip is in Virginia we will transport you. I've been as far as York, PA but I've heard of trips going to New Jersey and even Texas! Other than that I'm still volunteering with the local rescue squad and school just started. I'm taking four classes: Logic, Medical Terminology, American History and Interpersonal Communications. They are all online which is good so that I can work whenever I'm needed, and we have enough time between transports to do homework. I just hope I can keep up with the load I'm taking on. I'm working on getting a job full time with a rescue squad not far from here which pays more and the work load isn't quite as intense. I really hope I can get that.

This week:

Oh boy this was a busy week! Monday I found out that out of my four teachers (all of my courses this semester are online) one of them decided that he will take down all assignments and lecture notes on Sunday night as opposed to the other three who take theirs down on thursdays. I was not very happy that I missed the first "whole" week of that class but whatever. After that happened I worked hard and got all my stuff done for this upcoming week and now I can keep ahead of it all hopefully.

Not much really happened this week but it kept me UBER SUPER busy :) I worked Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri and ended out the week with approx 36 hours! Nothing really interesting happened but I managed to stay within an hour of Fredericksburg for the most part which is a serious accomplishment. My coworkers tell me that the dispatchers will send you on easy calls or whatever kind of calls you prefer if you are nice to them. Well since I always try to be nice and easy to work with when I am working I figured I wouldn't have a problem - wow was I wrong haha! But I think they are starting to like me cause Friday I told them I had a lot of schoolwork to do and they didn't send me on any calls until the end of my shift. That and they gave me a brand new truck to work on, but the smell made me really sick and they changed it out right away when I asked them for a different one. I dunno, maybe they do like me.

As for school I wasn't able to get all the reading done but I got in all the assignments so I'll get it all done for next week.

I decided awhile ago that I really need to join the military. I don't know exactly why but I feel like that's what I need to do. And recently I decided I would like to go to Medical School and become a doctor. So I talked to Dr Poffenbager, who taught me and David's high school gospel class (he's also teaching Christopher and Sam's), he joined the Army and went to med school so he gave me a lot of advice on how to go about it. I'm really excited! I started physical training with a firefighter training program someone had given me and I'm trying to work hard at it to be ready for boot camp. Dr Poffenbarger also told me that with my college credits I could start out at e3 in boot camp then once we got out it would be an instant promotion to e4 as opposed to starting at e1 and working up. I'm a little sad that this is going to effect my future family so much. a twelve year commitment to school and then at least another 4 to the army is a lot but I really want to do this. I'll have and be able to help a lot of people by the time I'm done so I think it will be worth it. Maybe I'll retire early and start a free clinic so I can have more time for my kids.

I sent her some stuff that might frighten the weak at heart so please, no one flip out. The last attempt I had at this endeavor was met by much resistance and was very upsetting. I love you all dearly but this is what I have, with much counsel , studying and contemplating, decided to do. If you would like to let me know that you think it's a bad idea: I appreciate the concern but I will not respond to anyone who would like to talk me out of it. I just don't have the desire to fight this fight again and so I just won't let it become a fight.

Again I love you all!

Lindsay

old journal stuff

hey I was going thru some old google docs and found this so I thought I might as well post it (hopefully there's nothing too embarrassing in it lol) gets a little sparse at the end and probably isn't too interesting of a read but if you're up late I can at least help you get to sleep :)

9/5/07

Today I got up and dad and Carolyn were both already gone. I got dressed, made my bed and went downstairs for breakfast. Mom was up so we didn't have to wait long. After breakfast we did opening exercises. Then Sam and I took a math placement test. Surprisingly, we both seemed to get the same areas wrong, Multiplication, division, and multiplication/division of mixed numbers. Well when we finished that I went upstairs and did some grammar while mom did spelling with the other kids (David, Christopher, Joyce and Philip). '

I was almost done when I was called for lunch. After lunch, I helped Chris and Philip w/ lunch dishes. Then mom and I talked about my multiplication problem. After that lovely discussion I went upstairs to write in my journal and read scriptures. Not to long after I got up there mom called us all down into the kitchen and got on all of us for not knowing our math stuff. Then she gave us (Joyce, Sam, David and I) all a adding speed test, (Chris had been running laps for dissing mom but came in just in time for the rest of the tests) subtracting speed test, multiplication speed test, and division speed test (I aced all of them!!!)

After we finished the speed tests mom reviewed the problems Sam and I missed on our placement tests. Apparently my multiplication dilemma was my mind was going so fast I didn't finish the problems (they were bigger numbers I was multiplying), so I don't have to go back over the multiplication program. Then she refreshed us on fractions (we don't need to go over that one either). We determined we both need to go over decimal numbers.

When we finally finished with that mom took Joyce to Activity Days at the Hebertson's and I went upstairs and finished journal and scriptures. When I finished journal Carolyn got home. After that I took Mia for a walk. Oh she enjoyed that! Right before I took Mia on her walk Sis Poffenbarger called (she's the new YW president) to remind me to bring 5 things that describe me to mutual for a get-to-know-you night for the yw. So while I was walking I thought hard about that.

When I got back from my walk mom was home and making dinner. I set the table then we ate dinner then I went and changed my clothes for mutual and got five things for the activity. When I got back downstairs and helped David with dinner dishes. Then we got in the car to go to church.

On the way to church I called dad and talked to him on the cell phone for awhile. We didn't have much to say though, so it didn't last long.

When we got to church we had opening exercises then we started our get-to-know-you game. I didn't go til almost the end, but I enjoyed seeing what everyone else had to show. I especially enjoyed Shada's stuff. She's an exchange student from Morocco that got here while I was in Hawaii, she's living with the Stanley's. She had some cool stuff to show. The things I picked were not very interesting and some of them weren't very good, but I at least had some stuff. What I picked was: My Willow Tree Angel of Freedom, one of the hats I bought in Hawaii (the one Toni and I had that matched), my sketch book (I showed the picture I drew of Adrienne), and my comp book with the list of songs my sketches of bags and my story. I also told them I write poetry and about my website. And the one word I picked to describe myself was analytic, cause I like to analyze people. Maybe I should have stuck with Sis Woodruff's suggestion (she's also on the new yw presidency) which was thought-provoking. But oh well.

We left pretty quick after the activity was over, so I didn't get to meet Shada, but I hope I can later. She seems really nice and I know Carolyn likes her.

When we got home we had prayer then I got on the computer and emailed Ashryn and told her how lonely I was at mutual without her. Then I looked on the Internet to see if anyone knew how to fix the screen on my zen (it has been having funny white lines across it recently). Apparently it's a fairly common problem, so I'm going to return it and have the place I got it from send me a new one. I stayed on the computer awhile after everyone else went to bed and talked to dad. Then at about 10 mom said I had to go to bed.

9/9/07

Today I didn't get up till 8. When I did get up I ate breakfast in my pjs so I could take a shower. After breakfast I realized I hadn't gotten my clothes ready yesterday for church, so I got out my pink dress and ironed it. Then I got in the shower. Since today is stake conference, and since Dallin H Oaks is here to reorganize our stake presidency, we had to leave at 11 or 12 so we had a good seat for the 1 o'clock session. After my shower I remembered I didn't have a slip, so after awhile of looking for one I wore my pink skirt under the dress and used that instead. Then I found my scripture journal, a pen and my scriptures.

Then we had opening exercises. We read about Abinadi and how he rebuked King Noah and his priests. I really like that story.

After that I went and did my make up and found some shoes. Then I got some stuff to do my hair with and made lunch. The boys helped me make pbjs for everyone. When those were finally ready it was about time to go. So we ate and dad, me, David, Christopher, Sam, Joyce, and Philip all got into the ford explorer dad rented (the big van needs work again) and headed off to the stake center for conference.

When we arrived there it was amazing! There were so many cars there people had parked on the grass, in the driving space in the packing lot, every space was filled, and there was a caravan of other cars looking for spaces to park in! Luckily, most of the cars were there for the morning session of conference so soon there would be plenty of spaces to park in. In the meantime, dad dropped us off at the front door and went to get in line for a parking space. As soon as we walked in the session ended and people started coming out. And as soon as the chapel had cleared a little, the six of us made a beeline for the front of the room and got a pew on the left side of the room about five rows from the front. The perfect spot! After our seats were assured, I borrowed David's comb and headed to the restroom to do my hair (it was still wet when we left so I hadn't been able to do that).

When I finished with my hair I talked to a few people and got up regularly to look for the Foxleys. One of the times I was walking someone caught my hand, it was Sis.Lindsay in a wheelchair with a big brace encompassing her body. She told me she'd been in a car accident, and that she'd been in the hospital and was only able to be out for conference then she had to go back. We only talked a few minutes then I said I had to go sit down. I told her I hoped she'd get better soon and she told me this was as good as it had gotten in twelve weeks and that it was probably as good as it would get. At that I HAD to get away before I started to cry, but I was able to keep face a few more minutes and let her know how glad I was she was here. When I got back to the pew I didn't get up till the end of conference.

It was about then that the Foxleys walked in, but I didn't go to see them. It was also about then that Elder Oaks came in and started shaking the hands of everyone he could get to. I saw him shake Chloe and Sis.Price's hands and Sis.Lindsay's hand. Then I watched him shake Philip's hand and ruffle his hair. Philip was excited he'd shaken Elder Oaks' hand, but he didn't appreciate the hair ruffling.

Soon Elder Oaks came around to where we were sitting and shook each of our hands, that was exciting! He's so much kinder than he looks on tv. And he loves to make jokes! He made several during his talk.

It was a bitter/sweet conference. Bitter because of learning what happened to Sis.Lindsay and because our stake presidency was being released. Sweet because of the spirit, the excitement of the new presidency and because of the visiting general authorities, Elder Oaks (from the twelve) and Bro.Archibald (from the seventy). The new presidency now consists of the former white oak ward bishop, bishop Kitchens. Bro.Armstrong from our ward. And a Bro.Sant who I've never heard of or met before. They look like nice men, but I'm really going to miss the old presidency.

After the conference was over I went to help fold up chairs. While I was doing that I met up with Sis.Lumpkins and the Foxleys. I was very glad to see all of them, but had to go pretty soon after starting to talk to them. When we got home we snacked for an early dinner. Then after awhile I sent Jonathan an email and someone asked me to play missionary impossible with the family. We didn't finish missionary impossible (not enough cards), before we decided we wanted to play Taboo (I love that game! Ever since we stayed at the Knotts' we've all loved that game!) We played that for a long time, it was fantastic! The girls were winning by a landslide when dad, David and I had to leave to get to the church and catch a CES broadcast by Cheryl (C?) Lant. I got to drive.

When we arrived at the church no one was there except the person who was teching for it and President Smith (president of the single's branch). So we got inside and waited while they battled the equipment which decided not to work that night. Eventually a few other people showed up. By the time the broadcast started the tech and Pres.Smith were pretty sure they'd gotten everything set up right, but when the broadcast started it was playing in Spanish! That poor tech worked for another 10 minutes before finally getting the sound in the satellite room loud enough to hear,because the tv wouldn't pickup anything other then the Spanish broadcast. After that everything went well. It was a good thing, though, that there weren't many people there, cause if they're were more people, that little tv wouldn't have cut it. The talk was on prayer and what we got to hear was very good. Right before Sis.Lant said "amen" the tech finally got the projector working, so we were able to see the closing song on the big screen. Needless to say it was an interesting broadcast. Then I got to drive us home, the second time I'd had to use the high beams and I was praying the whole time that there wouldn't be any deer.

And when we got home (without seeing any deer) everyone was already in bed! It was only 9:30! But we decided to go to bed then too.

9/10/07

Today is a school day, but no one got up today till 9 with exceptions of Carolyn who got up at 4 to go to work. This morning after breakfast and opening exercises, mom and dad took the big van to Shirley G Slack to have it fixed. I'm not sure what's wrong with it but it's not drivable. Since they didn't get going till late they also took Christopher with them so he could go to the orthodontist. After they left I did reading with the little girls, then grammar. Then I took Mia for a walk. After awhile dad came back to get his stuff and left for Pennsylvania. It was awhile after that that mom came back. When she did get back I was working on scripture catch up, I was 9 chapters behind so it took awhile. Then I did math and spelling. I knew most of the stuff they were having me do today, exponents and the spelling words, I only got one problem wrong in math (bad multiplication) but I got 5 spelling words wrong I think, I'll have to do that lesson again tomorrow. Then I did journal and put in some laundry (I did Amy's bedding, but it turns out Christopher had already done it, oops!) Then we ate dinner, and mom got a call from Carolyn saying that the little van steering was out, thank goodness for the rental car! Mom drove up to germanna and was there with Carolyn trying to fix it pretty much the rest of the night.

So for the rest of the evening we hung out. I played in my room while the other kids watched movies and played on computer. At 9 we had a prayer (mom wasn't back yet) and I sent Philip Amy and Melissa to bed. Then the other kids spent half an hour folding some laundry then mom and Carolyn got home. When they got home the rest of the kids got sent to bed. I stayed up a little longer with Carolyn and heated her a corn bag, washed my face, brushed my teeth, went to bed, read David Copperfield till 1 then fell asleep.

9/11/07

Today mom had to take Carolyn to work at 5, so she was asleep when I woke up at 8. After I got up I let Mia out and fell back asleep for another half an hour. Then I woke up and got dressed. Then I went to the kitchen and waited till mom got up at 9. When she did she wasn't happy at all. She was really mad for a good reason, we hadn't done anything important since we woke up. After she yelled at us I didn't feel like eating, so while they had breakfast I did grammar. Then after breakfast we had opening and after that mom had to go to the Lux's so Sis.Lux could drive mom to Germanna and get the little van. After she left we had lunch. And while she was gone I did my math, reading with Melissa, scriptures, then she got home. When she got back she had to leave immediately to get Carolyn and take Joyce to Activity Days. But before they could leave Amy (Amy and Melissa were going with them) got two of her fingers smashed in the front door. After 15 min or so she felt good enough for them to go. When they got back I took Mia for a walk. And when I got back we were just waiting for dinner to finish baking (pizza). After dinner mom got Joyce and then took Chris, Sam, Philip, David and I to mutual. We had just started out when Carolyn called and told us Joyce's ear-infection had gotten worse, mom told her she would fill Joyce's prescription for ear drops.

Tonight was personal progress, but when I got there Massaponax ward relief society was having enrichment night in the relief society room. Obviously we couldn't share, so Sis.Poffenbarger had us (Adreinne, Mason and I) set up in the old High council room. It wasn't long before we were ready so Adrienne and I went to the foyer to redirect people to the high council room. We hadn't been there long before Chris told me he lost Philip somewhere. So I had to go look for him. It wasn't easy either, but I was half way around the building on the outside when I met up with Bro.Long and he asked me to help him bring his electric train stuff inside to show the cub scouts and took me straight to Philip. So Once I found him I headed back to the high council room, and just in time to catch the beginning of opening.

I was leaning up against the back wall next to the door when Bro.McPherson poked his head in look around a little, saw me, smiled, and made the "come with me" finger motion. I followed him into the hallway and, wadda ya know, he asked me to give a talk on Sunday! Blah! But I told him yes. When I got back they were just starting announcements. Nothing very interesting. A dance on Saturday, next week mutual will be on Saturday at the Poffenbargers, 50 mi bike hike for the boys on Saturday, basketball game on Saturday for the boys. Can't remember anything else really. But after that the boys headed out to their thing and we started our personal progress night with a small lesson. Of course it was about how p.p. isn't necessary to go to the celestial kingdom, but how it sweetens life. The object lesson? Koolaid. After the lesson Sis.Hart (Sis.Brookes and Sis.Woodruff weren't there) took all but two girls (two of the girls with pp books) to the gym to play a game where one team looks up phrases Sis.Hart reads while the other team shoots as many baskets as it can before everyone on team one finds the place in the pp book the phrase is. The number of baskets team two shoots before the answer is found is the number of points team two gets.

While we played the game the two girls who were left in the high council room with Sis.Poffenbarger switched out with other girls who had brought their pp books. I was one of the last girls to go in. When I did I told Sis.Poffenbarger about the two value projects I'd gotten done in Hawaii. Then we all went to the kitchen and had sugar cookies and koolaid. While we were having our snack I talked to Schada a little and she told me about a fast that Muslims do once a year that lasts 15 hours a day for a month! She was just about to start it and I told her I really admired her for being able to do that. Once snack was over I helped clean the kitchen, brought my bag (which I had left in the high council room) to the foyer, folded the chairs in the high council room with Schada and Adrienne, helped fold the chairs for the Massaponax ward enrichment night. Then mom came and we went to Salem elementary to drop off some used Do Bahks for Sa Bom Nim. She was in class though so we couldn't talk to her, we left the Do Bahks with one of the spectators with a message that they were for Sa Bom Nim. After that we went to Rite Aid to pick up Joyce's ear drops. Then we went home.

When we got home Carolyn was in bed and the little girls were watching Beverly Hillbillies. We had a snack, then prayer, then we went to bed.

9/12/07

Today is Wednesday, and once again mom had to take Carolyn to work at 5 am. But, I am pleased to say that David and I did a much better job today getting people up and getting things going. My alarm went off at 7, but, I am afraid to say, I turned it off and went back to sleep for another 15 minutes till David came and woke me. But after that I did a pretty good job staying up and getting things done. I got up, let Mia out, got dressed, said prayer, made my bed and came down for breakfast. After breakfast I helped Sam in the kitchen a little.

Then I was getting ready to go upstairs when Joyce came into the kitchen crying and with her finger tips making a circle around her ear. Apparently she had been cleaning it and the q-tip came out with blood on it. Sure enough, when I looked at her ear there was just a little bit of blood coming out of it. So I told her to heat a corn bag to put on it and went to wake mom. She came downstairs and made Joyce an appointment at Dr.Brown's (she's our doctor) office with Dr.Floyd (the #2 doctor there). Then she had someone turn Hillbillies back on for Joyce and went to take a short nap till she had to take Joyce to the doctor. I don't think she really made it there when she had planned on it, but she did nap a little. But after that I got my grammar and did that, then I went upstairs to David and Sam's room and watched Zeta lessons 3-5 and did the worksheets for those. It was stuff I already knew so it wasn't very hard. I think I was still working on math when mom and Joyce left. Then I went back to the boy's room and did spelling. Then I taught Philip how to find quarter hours on the clock. About then I did reading with Melissa, then with Amy. Then I did scripture reading (genesis 32-36). After that I made some ramen for the little kid's lunch, I had a leftover twice-baked potato (yum!) After lunch was cleaned up mom and Joyce got back and got ready to head out again to go to the ear-nose-throat specialist. It wasn't long before they were gone again. At which time I put in a load of laundry. Then we spent a long time (longer then we should have) watching cartoons on the computer. While we were doing that I typed up a journal entry. It took longer than usual because I was trying to watch Code Lyoko with them at the same time, but I did get it done. After I finished journal mom called to talk to Christopher about dinner. While he started that we kept watching cartoons. We watched them till mom got home and after. But I did help Christopher a little with dinner. I got him stuff from downstairs and helped him get the correct amounts of things to cook the spaghetti. And after mom got home we all helped clear the table for dinner.

Dinner was really good! We had spaghetti with meatballs made with hamburger with mozzarella in the middle. We also had broccoli and toasted french bread. It was really good!

After dinner I took Mia for a walk. While we were walking we saw Mr. and Mrs.Car, I talked to them for a few minutes then we both continued on our walks. We also met up with Mrs.Warrick and Pepper. They were going on a walk too and Pepper had to say "hi" to Mia. When we got home I had some ice cream because everyone else had had some while Mia and I were walking. Then I watched Totally Spies with the kids for awhile, and played in my room. After a little of that someone came and reminded me I have dinner dishes with David and I came down to help him. While I was helping him mom had everyone else folding clothes. She was not happy, it had been a very long day. She was pleased, though, that we had all gotten our school done. But she was very tired, and we were all pretty happy to go to bed because we were tired too. Before I went to bed I took a shower. And at about 10 I was in bed going to sleep.

9/13/07

Today looks to be a good day. Once again David had to come wake me up, but I've kept going and am pretty awake. Mom wasn't mad when she woke up, well maybe I should go back to when I woke up. I woke up, dressed, let Mia out, and came down for breakfast. After helping Sam clean up I got on the computer to do journal and copy some math pages. While I was doing that everyone else was outside exercising. While I was on though, I did check my email and get on sparkteens to update my nutrition and exercise. I was still on the computer when mom called from the living room (most everyone was back inside) (oh btw mom and Joyce were sleeping in the living room) and asked me to get Joyce some soup and a step stool for her to put it on. I went and did that then I finished up on the computer. Then since the little kids were doing yoga in the tv room, I went to David and Sam's room to watch zeta. We watched lessons 6, 7 and 8. Then I went outside and sat on the porch in the sunlight and did the pages. When I came back inside it was lunch time.

Today we did a leftover lunch. Which is to say everyone kinda scrounged through the fridge and pantry and ate whatever looked good. The little girls had spaghetti, I don't know what everyone else had but I eventually made some ramen and had peaches. After lunch I got out clock-o-dial and started working with Philip on reading the time, like "quarter past eight" and stuff like that. Mom woke up a little before lunch and was sitting at the table across from us while we were working on the clock, after awhile of talking over me she took over that. Oh well, I'm not mad, gives me more time to do other stuff. So I got Chris back in the kitchen to do the dishes and helped him with that for a little while then I went and got Miss to do her math.

It was a pretty simple lesson. It was to teache her to build big numbers like '987' with the manipulatives and how to say them. Once we finished the lesson, and the practice page mom wanted meto go with her to get the big van. So we took everything out of the rental (I don't know if I mentioned it, but mom and Carolyn had gotten the little van back yesterday) and drove over to Hertz rental. We dropped the car off and then we walked over to Shirley G Slack. I'm so glad they're close together, or we would have had quite the time getting from point b to c. After we got the big van mom told me she wanted to take me to Sonic. Sonic is a new restaraunt over by southpoint. It's pretty cool, it's a drive in, but it also has a drive thruogh and a place with picnic tables and one of those drive through menus with the mic so you can see the menu while you're ordering. It also has a bunch of parking spaces with the drive through menus. It was pretty neat. we went to the picnic area. Right after we go there Carolyn called and said she needed gas money. So she drove over and met us at Sonic. She got there just as we were ordering. We ordered a lemonberry smoothie thing (it wasn't a smoothie, but it's kinda hard to discribe), a rootbeer float, onion rings, and french fries. It was all really good. The onion rings and french fries weren't greasy or soggy, the smoothie was very tasty and the float was fantastic! I like Sonic. After Carolyn left for walmart to get a flash drive, mom and I went to the new super Target. It's really nice. we weren't there for anything particular, but we did get some sweet orange tea and some york peppermint mints. Then we finally started home. It was like 5 when we drove through southpoint. And while we were heading home we remembered Joce didn'thave any pain medicine. So we went to Bloom. While we were there, Sis.Cole called and asked if I could babysit tomorrow and the day after. I said yes. So now I'll have money soon. While we were in Bloom I remembered that it was my night for making dinner and realized there was definately no time to make the quiche I was going to make. So we bought bread (and a three musketeers mint bar :) Yummy!) and decided to make egg sandwhiches for dinner. Then we went home.

We got home and I had to call Sis.Cole back. After that I made dinner and we ate. I love egg sandwhiches. Then I went upstairs and played. Then I helped clean the kitchen. Then it was time for bed. We had prayer, finished cleaning the kitchen, and I helped mom find a picture of a cake she is going to be making. Then I went to bed.

9/22/07

9/23/07

went to church, mix n mingle, brought Toni's motorbike pics, Sis Hebertson taught, made white chicken chili, lesson on testimony in yw, talked to sis kista at mix n mingle, talked to bro hintze, met Amy's friend eve whitaker (?)

9/24/07

I missed quite a bit but I'll put in the important parts. Last week Sunday I started my missionary month here are the rules for my missionary month:

I won't be getting on the internet and I won't be doing email (not because I don't love you though :))

No tv

no phone except for church related stuff and family

no swimming (I guess missionaries aren't allowed to)

I will be keeping passalong cards in my purse

praying for new missionary opportunities

I will keep a book of mormon in my purse with my testimony in it

I will be trying to become better accquianted with the missionary disscution topics

writing letters to my missionary friends and my family telling them about what I am doing

I will not be listening to the radio

I will be writing in my journal (need to get a new one)

I will be going to bed at the latest 10:30 and getting up at 5:30

When I am up before the sun I WILL be doing my seminary home study

I am also going to attempt reading the book of mormon the whole way through during this time

And I am not going to be spending a lot of time alone as missionaries don't have that luxury

As you can see I haven't been doing so well with the journal one. I haven't done so well with the no alone, tv, cerfew and wake up, seminary home study, disscussion topics, writing letters, and in general not been doing well. But I'm printing out the list today so I can see it often. Saturday the ym/yw had a pool party. I didn't go swimming! That is a step in the right direction I think. Oh and I haven't been reading the bom, but I'm doing a reading schedual that will have me done with all the standard works in a year!

Well let's see. Today I got up and got dressed. Actually I kept on the shirt I slept in and got on some jeans. And when I got downstairs Sam was causing a lot of drama. He insisted he didn't have to unload the dishwasher and he didn't have to wash any of the dishes on the counter. So after awhile of that David and I lost it and we started arguing and woke dad up. He got mad at Sam and told him if he caused mom any greif that when dad got home on friday he would spank Sam good. After that Sam still wouldn't do any of the other dishes and dad came in and looked like he was gonna start beating him. He didn't though. David and I filled the dishwasher with dishes from the day before and Sam washed hisdishes by hand. After that Mom woke up and started baking cake for a wedding cake she was going to decorate. Then at about 9 we had oe (opening exercises) and Carolyn went to bed (last night was her first on nightshift at borders and she got home about 8.) After oe I watched the first lesson in pre algebra. Then I came down to copy my math pages and mom and I talked about the little girl's school work. After that we had lunch. Then mom and dad had to go pick up dad's rental car and mom needed some stuff for a wedding cake she is making. After they left we had lunch and I copied their math pages and put them in binders. That was quite a chore! Someone had been doing the problems on the pages of the books, and not with regular pencil. But I was able to copy some of the pages into the computer and use the paint program to erase some of it. After I copied some pages I did math and reading with melissa first then amy. They were having a bit of a hard time concentrating because the boys were watching cartoons on the computer. While the little girls were watching cartoons (with their math pages in front of them to do them :)) I did spelling.

Then I kept copying pages for me while Joyce made dinner and I did grammar and the boys kept watching cartoons. I finished grammar just as dinner was done cooking. Then we had prayer and ate. Since the table was covered in mom's cake stuff AMy ate in front of her movie and everyone else ate over the plastic chair mats around the computer. While we were having dinner Amy started screaming. I came around the corner just in time to see her bring her fist down on Mia's back. Apparently, Amy had gotten up to go to the bathroom and cam eback to Mia eating her tortellini. She had to go sit on the stairs then I got her more food.

After I was finished eating dinner Melissa and I took Mia on a walk. Melissa rode the scooter and we talked about haloween and what we were going to dress up as. I guess I hadn't realized how little I talk to her. We went down to the beginning of the neighborhood, down to eley's ford, and on our way back we saw one of the kid's friends, Sabrina, and talked to her for a few minutes. While we were talking to her we saw mom drive past on her way home. So we said goodbye and I took Missa home and finished my walk.

When I got home, mom was baking more cake. Then I broke my missionary month rules and went to my bedroom till mom called me, wondering if I knew where any vanilla or butter flavoring was. We looked for half an hour and nothing turned up. So mom turned the frosting shewas making into filling, stable mousse, as she called it. It was really good! During that time I helped David catch up on the dishes. Mom leet us snack on cake tops and the leftover filling while we did that, it was really tastey! And Sam and I acidentally took out two of the big vanilla layers of cake out too soon and they fell, mom was not happy.

When the dishes were finally finished we had family prayer (Carolyn had left for school before dinner.) After prayer David and I finished cleaning what we could of the kitchen. And Cristopher and Sam put on a comedy show of insults (all in good fun of course). Then we all got ready and went to bed.

9/25/07

School, Schada show, Philip got bobcat, mom went out bought more cake and flavorings, I forgot to put in pudding, activity days, melissa went to dentist did no school, amy's prize bucket

9/26/07

David Christopher fawn lake w/older scouts, mom slept, mom put crumb layer on cakes

9/27/07

Mom stayed home, found how to decorate cakes, stayed up late w/david did dishes, they put on greatest game ever played, practiced decorating smallest cake, school, made dinner of chicken devan

9/28/07

woke up little late, worked on poff slide show, mom went to ob appt, decorated smallest cake, cleaned house, mom and dad home at 7, mom bought root beer float stuff, Sis Bender came over to help w/ cake, put on Miss Potter, stayed up till 2:30 w/ cake, I went to bed at 3, helped Carolyn w/ Christmas skit

9/29/07

got up 11, worked on poff slide show, helped bring cake to car, David Christopher basketball game, Sam hike, mom and dad gone all day, called Toni, measured things for ultimate church bag, played, walked Mia, potatoes for dinner, root beer floats w/ breakfast, they watched Akeelah and the bee,

ho-hum in the snow-hum

This week was kinda same ol same ol.

Sunday there was no church but I think I already posted about it last week.

Monday I was still sleeping on the couch. I've decided I may never sleep on my bed again (hahaha!) It was snowing. I looked out the window once only to be alarmed when I didn't see my car! I tried to take pictures but the snow was so white you can't see anything. Turns out my car is so short, the two-three feet of snow in combination with the snow on top completely camouflaged it! Doesn't really help that my car is white but that was pretty exciting. Of course I didn't get to go out and play in the snow (still have one and a half weeks on the crutches) but that's ok, I haven't been to class in so long I'm behind in my homework. LOL!

Tuesday we were really hoping the snow would stop, but alas! About noon it started again. But that did mean I got another day off of English class :) . Spent the whole day working on an essay.

Wednesday we decided that I needed to turn in the plates on my car. Actually we decided that last week but today there was no doubt. Luckily the plates were already off the car so I didn't have to go digging to get them. Kinda wish I didn't need insurance on myself and the car but I guess there's a good reason for it.

Wednesday, another home day where nothing really happened. Just homework.

Thursday, again, nothing really happened.

Friday was lots better. I got up earlier than usual (7:30, ever since the sprain and snow there hasn't seemed to be a real point to getting up). Showered and actually put on make up! A friend of mine invited me to go see Dear John and we were going to meet up at 11:45. Of course nothing

can be that great :) I got to the theater, bought my ticket, then looked around for my friend. He wasn't by the concession stand, so I went into the theater. Wasn't there either. So finally I texted him to see where he was, and when I got no response, settled in to watch the movie alone (awww). About a minute into the movie he called me to tell me he was stuck on the interstate. So I returned my ticket and decided to go to the dollar store and get something for a baptism Carolyn and I were going to later. It must have taken me 15 minutes to make the three minute walk because of all the snow on the sidewalk and the fact my crutches kept getting stuck. When I finally get there he called to find where I was. So then I made the same walk in about half the time because I wanted to see the movie. And when I get there we can't go to Dear John because it doesn't start again until 2 and it was only 1230! So we decided to go see Toothfairy. Weell, we walk into that one and find out that we misread the time on it and it doesn't start until 2 either! So in the end we decided to reschedule. A little sad, but in the end it was all good. I got in a lot of exercise and then got to take a nap. When I got up I realized I had a report due the next day that I hadn't started! So I skipped the baptism and stayed home blasting music into my head to cancel out the noise of my family watching the opening of the olympics.

Saturday I got up before the sun and finished my report and made it to class just after the 15

minute grace period for roll! I really lucked out, my teacher is really nice. And though I don't know if I got attendance for that day he did not stop the class and talk about how there is only 15 minutes after the class starts in which you can still get attendance credit. But after class was over I find out that he's given us one more week to get the finals in so I could've been on time :P. Oh well. We'll try again on Wednesday and have a little more fun this time (might not have to pay for the tickets!)

This morning I ended up sleeping until 930, meaning I missed going to family ward with the fam (sorry a little redundant lol). I hope I'm not a bad person because I sleep really late when I'm fasting. Anyway, I spent the morning getting ready for church. Carolyn and I went to singles and OH! it was so wonderful to take the sacrament and hear the testimonies! Nothing helps you notice the spirit more than fasting and not getting to go to church for three weeks! I got to meet our new elder after sacrament (actually I got to meet both of them I didn't know either) he is tongan and has quite an impossible last name, at least for my poor howlie mouth. It means "New Year" but he said just call him elder T or elder tofu, I chose T. They're both really cool. And once I got to relief society I got to be part of the entertainment when they asked me to stand up front and direct music! I told them if I fell to just keep singing. I must have looked like a grey and black flamingo balancing on one foot and directing music! To fun to fun! When we got home Carolyn and I got to partake of the v-day fineries. Mom decided to go with chocolate and cherries (yummy!) And then I blogged, we had dinner and then fhe. Best day of the snow days def!

I hope you all had a good week and a great v-day with your valentines! I hope to hear from you soon! <3>

Can't walk. Can't hop. Can't crawl...stink!

So this week I made a mistake and read my Texas posts. Really thought I was over it but I guess this is one of those things that I'll look back at in five or so years and laugh, not three months. Oh well. Also I am now officially reduced to using crutches to get anywhere. Up until now I've pretty well been avoiding them by hopping and crawling. Well now not only is my left knee bruised but my left foot can no longer give me enough boost to hop once. FYI three and a half weeks of hopping everywhere is about when your foot gives out LOL. Due to the snow we didn't go to church so just kinda hung out. Also got to read an email from Jonathan that Toni sent us. His ship is down in Haiti and it was really nice to hear how he is doing.

Monday we were "prepping" to have Toni, Joshua and Levi over. This week was her birthday and Mom and Dad's anniversary so we had them up to celebrate.

Tuesday they got here around noon and Toni took her car to get serviced at my parent's favorite car place. And of course right before I head out the door to go to class I find out that the school decided to close right as my class started (little did I know this was only the beginning.) So I got to stay home and have dinner with the fam which was really nice.

Wednesday Mom, Toni, Carolyn, Joyce and I all went to Ikea and spent the day. Uber fun!!! Unfortunately though, since I'm still on crutches I had to again suffer the humiliation of the push wheelchair :P I used to think I might like to ride in a wheelchair but there is nothing so detestable as getting pushed right past what everyone is going to look at, then being left out of the way while everyone else talks about something you can't see. I have a new compassion for little children in strollers, which is exactly what my mom's mentality was with the situation. After a very short while of being treated in such a manner I got a little ticked and pushed myself around by turning the wheels (I like the person who put that rim there!) But alas! nothing is perfect and whenever I went to reach for something I got a sizable zap to my hand! How rude! ^_^ Well eventually I had to take a phone call and gave up trying to get around, oh sweet crippling ankle! how I wish I could just shake you and make you work again!

When we got home Mom made a really yummy Chinese dinner and we celebrated our occasions and ended with a chocolate-pudding-cream-cheese-nilla-wafer-raspberry torte thing. Oh so good!

Thursday Toni was still here due to an unforeseen problem with her car that required a part to be retrieved from Richmond. So we got to enjoy them for one more day. Philip and I spent the majority of the afternoon making 30 servings of spaghetti sauce for the blue and gold banquet that evening. All I can say about that project is "WHAT A MESS!" I don't recommend making that much sauce and cooking 5 lbs of meat in a regular size sauce pan or pot. Five pounds of meat, five onions (major tears!), and a #10 can of tomato paste. I think it will be awhile before I make spaghetti sauce again. I'm even tired of spelling it - spaghetti :). Mom also wasn't feeling well and Dad took her to Nextcare so she didn't get worse if we got snowed in. Toni and the boys left right after them and then the rest of the kids went to activities after them. Bubby and I stayed home. He had leftover stir fry for dinner, then we had a bath, played sock puppets (the evening's obsession I don't think I could get him to do it again), and then he watched the "goodnight show" on pbs sprout while I watched a Numb3rs (whohoo Eppes men!) And just so no one worries Mom is doing ok now.

Friday it started snowing. And kept snowing. And snowed all day. So basically I stayed in all day.

Saturday it also snowed all day. The boys went out and cleared the snow off my car (like the good boys they are) and within half an hour it was covered again! We also had two trees down at the entrance of our neighborhood so my parents and brothers went and joined the neighbors in the effort to move them. After which we had several power outs and played games.

Sunday church was cancelled again so again we stayed home. And of course when I woke up the inevitable struck. And this week my plans include - no school on Tuesday, turning in my license plates and praying that there is no more snow so I can go to the last two weeks of my student development course (please no more snow!)

I hope your week was filled with lots of fun and I wish you all the best. Please continue to pray for Haiti.

Oh yeah. Almost forgot. An old sunday school teacher of mine and his wife just had twins who are not doing so well, if you could pray for them too I know that it would help. THANKS!!!

Love, Me

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed...

Been awhile since I've posted, but I decided that tonite I must count some blessings before my petty (or not so) disappointments get the better of me. So here are my top ten blessings for this weekend:

10. I did not have to wake up on Saturday to go to class

Since I wasn't quite done with my homework this really helped out. :)

9.I got to wake up on Saturday and see one of God's most beautiful creations

The only time I believe in magic is when there is snow on the ground! When I see this magnificent thing falling there's always a voice in my head that says "God must love me to make me something so beautiful!"

8. I don't have rent to pay

Another debt I owe to my parents is letting me stay in their home rent free while I find stability in my life. Haven't quite got there but that's ok, I get to be their little girl until I do.

7.I live in a free country

Definitely a plus when you're not as good as you thought you were in your employment choice. I don't have to get up in the morning and go stand in line for my one meal of the day; I'm not afraid to go to town, see my friends or work where I please.

6.I have opportunities every day to help people

The best way to cure the blues is to cure someone else's. The more times you take to help someone the more times you have to forget what you're allowing to make you unhappy and find joy in their smile. What a great blessing!

5. I have good friends and leaders who back me up

I love you all! I don't think I could have made it through my drama years without them.

4. I have a great family

Teenage brothers, two fabulous older sisters, adorable nephews, awesome super hero like brother in law (no offense to anyone else), amazing knowledgeable parents, and some of the most fun little brothers and sisters to be found (as well as a pretty spectacular cyber-bro but that's another story :)). I'm not afraid of them and I don't need to be. They're there for me and I'm always there for them.

3. I do not live in Haiti

This weekend I slept on 2 very comfortable couches (didn't have to be there just wanted to). I had soft pillows, warm blankets and a temp controlled climate. I had some wonderful meals to eat, I know where all of my immediate family members are, and though I still can't walk it won't be long until I can and I have no fear of needing my right foot/ankle removed.

2. My parents love me

And even when I think the world is going to fall apart I know they always will. Even though we don't always agree we always try to understand.

1.My Heavenly Father loves me

Enough said.

Well I'm feeling a lot better and I hope you all take a minute tonite and think about your blessing. Enjoy the snow!

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!