Monday, February 6, 2012

Grownups?

You'd think by the time we're all 40-something we would act like grownups and not like whiney first graders running to whoever is in charge on the playground complaining that someone is picking on us, touching us, making fun of us, whatever. I'm so over office drama! They don't pay me enough for this!

When is our next vacation?

Ten more days and I get a 5-day weekend.

Woo hoo!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Life in the Projects

Did I mention my neighbor is CRAZY? She is. She screams all day long at her 2 little kids which I assume are really her grandkids because she is "older". She doesn't have a normal speaking voice. Just a screaming voice. Sometimes she screams in Spanish, sometimes in English, and sometimes in Spanglish. Most often she will pepper it with choice words of profanity. Now, you have to remember, the 2 kids are like 3 and 4 years old. She will yell at them that she is tired of their sh**. "Shut up" or the Spanish version is a common thing we hear. I've even heard her threaten the kids, "I'm gonna kick your a**!" The kids yell a lot themselves and are often aggressive on the playground with the other little kids. Hmmm, I wonder where they learned that?
A few weeks ago around 8:00 p.m. she was so out of control screaming at the little girl because of something naughty she had done that the girl was bawling and saying that she needed to throw up, she was so upset. Our common wall was shaking--I couldn't tell if she was beating the girl or just stomping or something, causing the wall to shake so hard I thought the pictures would fall off. I called 9-1-1! The police came and she brushed it all off, saying that the little girl knocked a mirror off the wall and then just went balistic screaming and such. I couldn't believe that she blamed everything on the child. The police assessed the situation and reminded her to keep her voice down because it carried to all the neighbors. That was it. I was ticked! She did a little better for a while, but there is still screaming.
Last night at 9:30, my bed time, there was all this hammering going on. We couldn't tell if she was hanging up pictures or what. One of the downstairs neighbors came up and knocked on her door, said something to her we couldn't quite hear, but the noise continued. Feisty Brianna said, "I'm going over there to say something!" She knocks on the door and the kids yell, "It's open! Who is it?" What the crap? She could have been a murderer and they were just asking her to come in. Brianna identified herself as the next-door neighbor and the lady opened the door. She was immediately on the defensive. Brianna said, "What is all the noise? It's 9:30!" The lady said, "What's the problem? It's 9:30 not 11:00!" Really? I came out and said, "I get up at 3:30 every morning and can't sleep with all the noise." She said something like, "The people across the hall always have crazy parties and make all kind of noise and you always complain about me!" I told her this was the first time she and I had words. She, of course, doesn't know that I called the cops on her. She said she hears us all the time. Running water while we brush our teeth? Okay, I'll give her that. Other than that, we are pretty much like church mice. Anyway, I let my emotions take over instead of thinking first, but I told her she screams all day and is verbally abusive to the kids. "I raised 4 kids and that's not how you speak to children." She said, "I raised 7 kids!" Well, then, you should know better how to do it, then! She admitted, yes she screams, everyone knows it, but it is her "privacy". And then she closed her door and kept on hammering. I called the manager and complained to him. He's pretty much useless. He said he'd call her, but I doubt he did.
Needless to say, I was then all worked up and couldn't fall asleep for about another hour and a half. I'm tired today. And now it's going to be super awkward whenever we see her, that's why I never said anything before. Oh well, she's crazy. That's my defense. We want her GONE!
By the way, here's her picture. Amazing that I was able to find this picture of her online, huh? No lie, this is pretty much what she looks like--white hair and all!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Sleepy

My body has adjusted fairly well to this crazy schedule which includes early morning Seminary. I arise each school day at 3:30--an ungodly hour, I know. But I need the time to get ready for work and seminary, make lunches for Bryce and me, maybe spend 2 minutes in the kitchen tidying up, and then out the door by 5:20 in order to get to the stake center in time for my prayer meeting at 5:30. I try to get to bed no later than 9:30 at night. More often than not, however, you will find me conked out in my bed before 9:00. My sleep is precious and I have to make a conscious effort to get at least 6 hours each night or I seriously cannot function at work all day.
I discovered something this morning. When my cell phone clock set itself back one hour with the end of daylight savings, my cell phone alarm clock also set itself back an hour. I didn't use my alarm Sunday night to Monday because my phone was charging. But this morning at 2:30 a.m. I was awakened from the deepest of sleep to my cell phone alarm going off. I was seriously so disoriented. "Where am I? What day is it? Why is my alarm going off at 2:30 a.m.?" Once I put all the pieces together, I then had to reset my alarm so that it wouldn't go off again before 3:30. It took me at least another 10 minutes to fall asleep. So frustrating! So today is one of those days where I very likely will be looking like this:

Monday, October 3, 2011

My New Hero



For the past couple of weeks in Seminary we have been studying the life of the prophet Abraham. I am so thankful for the opportunity to study and learn more about him. He was a man of tremendous courage, obedience and faith. He was given the greatest test that anyone was or ever will be given. He is my new hero!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Is Anything Too Hard For the Lord?

No! Never! And if we hold fast to Him, He will see us through ANYTHING!
I'm teaching seminary this year. I know, shocking! I need to blog about it, but I'm SO busy. I will, I promise because there is so much to tell, including the story behind my calling. Most importantly, though, is that I'm learning so much, including this lesson today that Nothing is too hard for the Lord!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

I Miss My Family

I'm feeling sad today. My brother Larry has been on a business trip to China and was supposed to fly into LAX tonight. He was going to come see us for a few hours, spend the night, then fly back home in the morning. It was going to be a very quick visit, but we were all very stoked to see him. Well, I got a text message from his wife Jocelyn this morning telling me that his flight was cancelled and he now will have to fly through Houston tomorrow. Poop!! I am so disappointed. I wanted to see him. I haven't seen either of my brothers in 2 and a half years. I love living in California, but today I am feeling particularly melancholy. I miss my family!
Part of my melancholy may be due to other stresses as well. We're taking Kiana up to school at the beginning of next month. I'm stressing about the logistics of getting her there, the cost, etc. I'm stressed about Kayla moving to a new apartment in Salt Lake and making enough money to support herself. I'm stressed about Brianna's dental hygiene license coming through and her finding a good job. I'm stressed about the precious children in our Primary that I am responsible for as a member of the presidency. Some of them are going through stuff that is way too hard for such small children to have to deal with. Bryce is dreading the upcoming school year because he knows it will be his toughest ever. I'm feeling his stress.
I am, however, thankful for the peace the Gospel brings. I am thankful for prayer and the scriptures--both bring me clarity, comfort and peace. I am thankful that my Heavenly Father knows me and my family. He knows our needs and is watching out for us. I just have to keep putting my trust in Him and all will be well.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

What We've Been Up To

I realize that no one really reads my blog, but since I don't write in my journal either, I should at least document occasionally what's happening in my life so when I completely lose my mind I can look back and try to remember who I am. I haven't written since March, and that post was a big pity party, but just know that everything worked out there, as things always do, and here's what the kids and I have been doing the past 4 months:





In April Bryce attended the Mormon Prom with a sweet young lady from our ward. As always, it was a fabulous night and the kids had a wonderful time. I am so thankful to our stake for all the time, effort and money they put into the programs for our youth. It is phenomenal!




Kiana came home from her 9-month stint of nannying in Pennsylvania for her cousins Holden and Mackenna in May. She had a great experience and loved her time exploring the east coast. She was thrilled to be home in California, though, and I am tickeld to have her home again. She is a changed young lady and I couldn't be happier.
May 13th found all of us at USC to support Brianna for her graduation from the dental hygiene program at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC. It was a beautiful day and we were all so proud of our Breezy!

We wrapped up another successful school year at work and Bryce completed his sophomore year with straight A's in all honors classes! He's a little stressed looking forward to his junior year knowing it will be the hardest year of his life thus far, but I am confident that he will shine as always.
I had my 2-week break at the beginning of July. During that time we did a lot of purging of junk around the house and in our storage unit, donating a lot to D.I. and Goodwill. We spent the 4th of July in Santa Barbara window shopping, watching a cute little parade, and viewing fireworks on the beach.
We secured an apartment for Kiana in downtown Salt Lake City in preparation of her move there in September to attend LDS Business College where she will study interior design.


We saw the final installment of the Harry Potter movies on opening day (7/15/11), something I never do because I hate the crowds, but it wasn't bad. We loved the movie. I was a bit melancholy to see the Harry Potter series come to an end. Harry defined my children's childhood and has been a binding part of our family experiences.


We moved Brianna home from her L.A. apartment. If you were to stop by my apartment today you would be horrified because the living room is wall-to-wall crap. Brianna is working hard on getting her bedroom at home organized so we can get her stuff in the living room cleared out, but it's a slow, laborious process.


Bryce leaves this weekend with our friends the Sorensens to head up to Provo, Utah. He will attend EFY starting on Monday the 25th at BYU and then will spend an additional 5 days or so with Kayla while his buddy Aaron attends a volleyball camp. Bryce will be able to help Kayla move to her new apartment in Salt Lake while having some great sister-brother bonding time.


School begins again for us on August 24th. Ugh! We will then head up to Salt Lake Labor Day weekend to move Kiana into her apartment for school.


So, that's it. Nothing newsworthy, but just the everyday activities of your average American family. I love my family! We've been through a lot this year, but we keep plugging along, strong in our faith and devotion to each other.


P.S. I can't believe I forgot this important tidbit: On July 7th the kids (Bryce, Kiana and Brianna) and I spent the day in L.A. at the taping of "So You Think You Can Dance"! It was a long, hot day, but we had an amazing time. We absolutely LOVE this show and always watch it together every Wednesday and Thursday nights. It was fun seeing how the show comes together and then broadcasts live on the east coast. There was time before we went live when they let a bunch of young people come up on stage and dance and have some fun. Bryce and Kiana participated in that and it was a treat to see them fully enjoy the moment.