Since DH and the girls got back from their trip to Utah this summer, I have made it a point to NOT be in the house alone. That month was just too long and too quiet. But here I sit, in an empty, quiet house. DH and A are at a softball game, B is playing at a friend's house, and the dogs are outside. The only noise is the washing machine in the background (yikes, I have a lot of laundry that needs to be done!).
Laundry...with A and DH both doing softball, plus A having PE every day this semester, there is LOTS of laundry to do! Fortunately they both do their own laundry. I do mine and B's, and with her in soccer again there is lots of laundry to do for her. I don't mind washing and folding -- it's the putting away that drives me crazy!
Both girls continue to do well in school. As has been the pattern since A left elementary school, the only teacher we have an issue with is her social studies/civics teachers. Every year since 6th grade...why???? The sad part is, that's my favorite subject and it could be so much fun if the teacher would put something into it besides lecturing. She showed me all the pages of notes she's taken since the school year started about 3 weeks ago -- it's crazy!
I love our new computer, except for one thing -- some of the keys on the keyboard are in different places so I keep hitting the wrong keys (the end key, delete key, page up, page down). It's driving me crazy.
Work is going fairly well...typical crazy end-of-fiscal-year stuff, and trying to get a huge new contract up and running, and starting a new project that is getting a lot of attention...so there is no shortage of work, stress, or insanity. Seems to be about par for the course. In the last two weeks I have been offered/asked to apply for three different jobs...all of which would take us away from here. Sometimes I wonder if that's a sign...but none of them feel right at this time. I wonder why it is that people at other locations are interested in promoting me, but no one is here? The mysteries of life...
I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer last weekend/early this week. Wow! It's unlike any book I've ever read. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Twilight series, but I definitely enjoyed it and have been going back through, rereading sections and analyzing it with a friend of mine. There are some interesting themes in the book -- agency vs. choice, inner beauty and attraction to what's on the inside vs. outer beauty and attraction to the physical, the importance of kindness, the need to have opposites (and opposition)...very interesting things to think about and discuss. Because Stephenie Meyer is an LDS author, I think she can't help but weave her personal beliefs and values into her stories. She isn't preachy at all, and there are no LDS characters in her books (although I wonder if Angela in the Twilight series might be...)...but I love that she includes moral themes, even if it is not intentional. Things like chastity before marriage, agency, the concept of eternal love...
Reading these books has reminded me how much I love reading -- how relaxing it is to me and how much I do enjoy analyzing a good story. My friend has even convinced me to read some Jane Austen -- can you believe I've never read anything by Jane Austen before? (No, I haven't seen the movies, either)
B is supposed to be on TV during the muscular dystrophy telethon this weekend. She'll be interviewed Monday morning. No idea what time they'll show her "snippet," though. She was involved in a muscular dystrophy fundraiser at her school last year so they're interviewing her for that. We went shopping tonight and bought her a cute new outfit. I am SO glad school is going better for her so far this year!
Tomorrow A and I will be going to a youth activity about 2 hours away. They're calling it a youth conference, although when I was a youth, youth conference was 2 days long at least. It will be interesting and I hope we have a good time. I didn't know how I would feel about my calling as YW President, especially because I love Primary so much and spent so many years there, but I have found that I really love the girls that I work with. It's amazing to spend time with them and see the potential they each have...and it's painful to watch when they do things that bring them short of that potential. I think this must be how Heavenly Father feels about us...He knows our potential, he knows our talents and gifts and abilities...and it must pain Him when we fall short, either because we just don't try or because we intentionally choose another path. And yet He still loves us, unconditionally. I almost feel like these girls I work with are an extension of my family -- about 18 more daughters! I felt that way about my Primary children, too, and thought that surely I could never feel that way again after I left Primary. I was surprised at how quickly -- almost instantly -- I have grown to love these girls.
A sweet man at church is dying from cancer. Two of his daughters are my friends -- one of them is a very dear friend and I haven't spent as much time with her as I want to over the last few years...I need to change that. This sweet man sang in our ward choir as long as I can remember, until the cancer took that ability away from him. He has not been able to be at church regularly for a while now, but he brings a smile to my face each time I see him. It has saddened me deeply, his suffering...and his family's sadness and suffering. As I have thought about him and his family, including my dear friend, over the last few days, I have been reminded of how grateful I am for the sure knowledge I have that families can be together forever, that this does not have to be the end of those relationships. It does not make things less painful, at least I don't think so, but it does make them more bearable.
I didn't mean to leave this blog entry on a sad note...maybe it's being alone in this house, with it so quiet, that gives me a rare moment to reflect and really think about things. I don't know.
So I suppose I'll leave off on this note -- think of me tomorrow as I drive 5 giggling, shrieking, squealing teenage girls about two hours in a minivan -- I'll probably need a serious dose of Excedrin before the day is out!
1 comment:
Sounds like you are a busy girl!! I served for 4 year in Primary 3 of those as the Primary Chorister!! (And Is till don't know how to lead music!! It was in the Deaf Ward in Provo, 100 Primary kids 5 of whom were deaf, but many deaf teachers so we signed all of the songs. I loved the creative part not so much the signing in front of people part.)
Before that I was the secretary and the 2nd counselor in RS for 3 years, and that is what I am doing now, I am the 1rst counselor in RS< Jim is the Ward Mission Leader which has been the coolest calling because our missionaries are over 45 wards!! So we get to know them and my boys get to see them- it's awesome, this is turning into a book- sorry! I'll email more later!!
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