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.