Out with the old...and leeches

Hello world. Sorry, I have been on vacation for a while. This is what has happened in the life of the wizard since the last post...

Got all kinds of good stuff for Christmas. Did not see the ex while in New Mexico and I am kinda glad of it. Came home (flight was delayed 2 stinking hours!), was still sick (coughing and coughing and coughing), parents came out the next day, new roomie moved in the day after, new wall put up in master suite (now is two bedrooms, yay for more roommates), parents have cooked and cooked all kinds of stuff, have enough food for the next month I think...need to freeze it or it will all go bad, hosted a spaghetti and meatballs party for a bunch of the family, cleaned the house, busy busy busy. Going down to Casa Grande in a couple of hours to bring in the New Year.

Have any of you ever been to an ear, nose and throat doctor? I have been real concerned about this cough I have had, because besides coughing I feel right as rain! Went to the ENT and told him I was concerned about my vocal cords cause it feels like there is something on them and that that is why I am coughing. He stuck this freaking long black thing UP my nose to look at my vocal cords.
Now imagine what it would feel like to swallow a branch. Yeah, that's pretty much how it felt. Except the branch came from the general direction of the nose. Blech! One of the vocal cords is inflamed, but he didn't see anything to be concerned about. He gave me three prescriptions...one for the nose, one for the cough, and an antibiotic. I feel better, but I still randomly cough.

My new roommates Mom has been staying at the house as well (6 people staying at this house...I miss my privacy!) and we went to go see the Temple lights together. This guy comes up to me who I recognize from when I used to live here. Red flags were flying...where do I know this guy from. Then he mentioned the country dances. Of course! He is the leech of the country dances.

What do I mean by leech? I mean the guy who doesn't understand personal space, invites himself to tag along, doesn't get a hint that you are not interested. Gah.

He says right after he reintroduces himself to me "you know, you are really pretty". Okay, someone needs to learn social skills. I mean, thanks for the compliment, but...ah! That is not how you flirt. That has DESPARATE written all over it. I promise you, I was not pretty last night. I had some mascara on, but the hair, face, clothes were not 'pretty'. I went comfy last night.

We find out we are related (of course, I am related to every LDS member who has any sort of ancestry coming from Utah), and says, well, if we are 4th cousins or further we could get married. WHAT!!??!?!?! Did you come from Mars or something?!?!?! BLECH! Sure, and if you were a worm and I were a hook, we would go together quite well. My WORD!

New Year's Resolution: gain some faith that there is a somewhat attractive man out there somewhere who is not related to you, Mormon, taller than you, is driven, incredibly spiritual, has good social skills, can sing, something of a scriptorian, intelligent, handy, wants lots of kids, likes watching movies, ...

I know, picky. :)

Christmas Eve traditions and Urgent Care part 2...and talk

What my family does on Christmas Eve:

• Frantically buy all the gifts for each other
• Wrap said gifts
  
• Drive down to Old Town Albuquerque
• On the way there and back sing EVERY single Christmas carol known to man (Daddy joins in some of the time)
  
• Look at all the luminarias
• Buy hot chocolate and drink it after holding it for about 15 minutes because they make it too stinking hot EVERY year
  
• Buy homemade tamales from the same vendor every year
• Drive down Rio Grande Blvd (which goes along the Rio Grande River :) ) and drive into the old neighborhoods that have their homes, streets and practically everything else lined and decorated with luminarias
• Get home and eat said tamales
• Emily and I open one gift that Santa left early for us...which happens to always be new pajamas
• Emily and I go and put on pajamas to model for Mom and Dad
• Dad goes to bed
• Mom for some reason stays up way later than Emily and I do...tonight she said that she had some business to discuss with Santa...(I checked, we don't have any mistletoe, so there won't be any hanky-panky)
• Emily and I sneak out really really late to check out everything that Santa brought us...

Okay, I have to stop there, because the last thing doesn't really happen anymore. We sleep in. Are you kidding, waking up REALLY REALLY early to see what Santa brought (yes, we still get Santa stuff) when we could sleep on our day off and see what he brought later? HA!

It was much warmer this year than last year (although being that Warren and I were dating and he tagged along I didn't notice the cold that much last year). I was grateful that it was warmer, I enjoy the experience much more when I am not FREEZING!

I LOVE family traditions. Daddy went to bed, and Emily went back to the master bedroom and forced him to come back out so that Emily and I could open up our one gift. :) We have a tradition where Daddy has to read who the Christmas gift it to and from...otherwise it doesn't get opened.

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Went to urgent care AGAIN...she (Physician's Assistant, who by the way did a much more thorough job of checking me than the doctor did!) said that it was probably a viral infection. So, no antibiotics yet. She (unlike said MD from last visit) gave me a cough medicine (who would've thunk, cough medicine for a cough!) prescription. It works a lot of the time, but for the last hour or so I have been hacking pretty good...

ALLERGIES, hah!

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope everyone is much healthier than I am, and even if they aren't, I hope that after tonight's sleep they will be much better. My heart and love go out to all of you. I know that for some of you, this may be not so happy of an occasion for many different reasons. I pray and hope that you all may have gratitude and joy in your hearts for what you have.

What a wonderful thing to celebrate, the birth of the only Begotten Son of the Father...even though it is on the wrong day. (He was born in the Spring, NOT in December, December 25th was a hedonistic holiday to celebrate the sun...read up on it...um....hang on, let me google it....here . You can find better places to read up on it I am sure, but this was first one I found that was semi reputable. (History Channel website)

Enjoy dreaming of sugar plums and all the such. :) Take lots of pictures of all the jolliness tomorrow morning, I want to see!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night!

Cuteness, cough and Daddy

Have you ever had this happen?

The mother and father of this really cute single Mormon guy who is probably my age are talking with me one day...and they ask me do you know of any cute girls we could set him up with?

I AM STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!

Hmm...makes me wonder about my appearance very much. :)

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Went to Church today, coughed through the whole thing. Allergies the doctor says. I say fooey to that. I very much doubt this is allergies. I don't feel like I have them! I just all of a sudden, 5 days ago, started coughing and I CAN'T stop. Go to sleep coughing, wake up, don't even sit up and I start coughing. :) Yay for being sick. Makes me grateful for being healthy.

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My Daddy just knocked, open the door, asked me what I was doing, and then closed it. He is a funny guy. I love him. :) When we (sister and I) got home from Church, I walked straight to my room to change. He thought I was mad because they left me behind. :) Funny Daddy.

And yes, his name is Daddy and my Mom's name is Mommy. :) It's not Dad or Mom, although I think I tend to use the names Mom and Dad when we are in public. :)

I'll be home for Christmas...

I am so excited to be home! Yay for Christmas. It is my favorite time to be here. Granted, I don't think anything could beat last year. I was happy with Warren at that time. We were 'officially' dating Christmas Eve, which is his birthday. I had a great time with my family. I had 2 weeks or so at home. It was wonderful! It will be difficult to beat that. Nevertheless, I am very happy to be home. Christmas in New Mexico is wonderful.

And cold...although it got pretty chilly today in Phoenix...It didn't make it to 60 today...yes, I am a wimp!

I love my family, so I will deal with the cold in order to be with them for Christmas. :)

Last night I went to a University 6th ward party. It was a lot of fun, saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time. Most importantly I saw our old Bishop. Right after I moved to Alabama his wife died. I was devastated. I couldn't believe it. I felt so much like I needed to be there for him and the ward and such. He is a good man. I have been wanting to set him up with my Aunt, but it sounds like he isn't at all in the market. He has a long ways to go before he will start dating again. He hasn't even moved her clothes out of the closet yet. Isn't that just heart breaking. He has an amazing family, and all of us U6ers still keep tabs on him, so he has a wonderful circle of support. The best thing the stake president did was leave him in his position as Bishop. The 6th ward really was very much a Zion ward...we all fulfilled our callings, we were happy, we knew each other really well. Problem: we were such good friends, dating didn't happen very often.

Anyways. I am going to be playing in a future recital soon along with a number of others who are or were in the ward. His daughter is a professional opera singer, and we have tons of great musicians that are affiliated with the ward. It should be a great event. We are going to do a tester recital to see how many people show up. First we will perform at his house. If we do it again and there was standing room only, we are going to find a larger venue. It should be a fantastic event.

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Guy who is hitting on me at work:

Mohawk...
constantly is wearing Bad Religion black sweater.
walks around with one pant leg halfway up to show off his tattoo
drinks like crazy (alcohol)
and worst of all...he is the one that is the ex-fiance look-a-like.

Sounds perfect! :)







(JK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really isn't perfect)










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I have a nickname! First time I have been given one. I have been christened:

Phoebe

as in the character Lisa Kudrow played in Friends. :)

Why? Tall, blonde, musician, and they said it just seems to fit SO well for whatever reason. :) So every time I go by, I hear "hey Phoebe" or "smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you?"

:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Do Cough Drops have an Expiration Date?

Yes, I know, I am weird.

But seriously, do they? They are basically hard candy. I did a google search using the title of this blog, and the second hit was a blog of some guy who had acquired 50 year old cough drops. He was thinking about trying one out, but when he received them they had a white film on them. Quite entertaining blog entry and comments actually.

I know they have a shelf life, but do actually become ineffective?

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I played for my works Christmas party today. I was part of a band. We played Bad to the Bone, Country Roads, Lean on Me and 50 Ways to Leave your Lover.

It was a memorable experience.

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I think I just landed a roommate. Some of you know her, she was at Alabama with me. She is from California, working on her undergraduate, got a full ride scholarship to ASU for track (she does hammer throw, shot put and I think discus...she is totally buff).

YAY! Yay for less expensive monthly bills now that I have someone who is going to pay for them partially. Now all I need are two more roommates and I will be set! Yay! Any takers???

I won't be alone anymore. That will be the best benefit of all. However much I LOVE the solitude and independence, I will ever so much more enjoy actually having someone in the house with me. Hooray for that.

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Do you ever wonder if people are reading your blog that you don't know...or that you do know, but they aren't fessing up that they are reading it...hmm...

Apostles and my Heart

Elder Ballard (an Apostle of the Lord, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second highest governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) here on the Earth) spoke to the graduating class at BYU-Hawaii and urged the students to use the 'new media' that is out there (ie blogs, comments on news stories, etc.) to correct mistakes and inaccuracies and carry on conversations about the Church. With the multitude of news casts, radio shows, etc. talking about the Church the governing bodies and official representatives simply do not have the means to comment on each. While we as regular members of the Church do not speak on behalf of the whole Church (the only one on Earth who has the authority to do that is the Prophet), we can stand up for it, quote scripture and speak with the power of the Holy Spirit. :)

It is so easy to correct inaccuracies that are out there about the Church. The Church websites have many links where you can direct people. If someone would like to know about how we think of Jesus Christ and His nature and divinity, you can lead someone to www.lds.org and have them click on the icon that will display The Living Christ, which is the testimony of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on that very subject.

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This was going to happen eventually, but I didn't think I would have this severe of a reaction.

My Mom and I were having a usual and ordinary conversation tonight. We talked about what we were getting other people in the family, what I will be doing when I get there, how I am doing, how she is doing, chit chat. Then she said: "Warren came and said hello to me last night."

Have you ever had that feeling in your heart, very literally in your heart, where you hear something or see something and it burns, leaps? Now, have you ever felt what it is like to have your heart broken and it feels like it is quite literally torn in two and bleeding?

My heart leapt, broke and bled at hearing her say his name.

I am not over him. Dang it, I thought I was doing SO good!

She said he came up, shook her hand, said hi and left. My Dad thought he looked sad. My heart broke again. I don't want him to be sad. I really don't. He should be happy. I want him to be happy,dang it...cause however bad things were, last Christmas was simply amazing, we were good friends, we were in love and really and truly happy with each other at one point...and I care about him.

Am I ever going to get over him?!?!?

And here I am, a week away from probably seeing him. Gah.

There are moments when I really am afraid of falling in love again. It has happened to me twice, and both ended in bitter heart aches. My goodness, I don't know how Heavenly Father is able to stand it when His children break His infinitely good heart all the time. If I am to become like Him, I have a long way to go, cause I can't stand heart breaks at all. I literally get quite sick.

I question my choice in men, I question what is wrong with me, I question and falter in so many ways.

Don't worry, I don't wallow in those thoughts. They come and go. I have faith, hope that things will work out in the end.

Tonight, I will probably cry myself to sleep. It needs to get out. I haven't done it in months I believe, so perhaps this needed to happen a long time ago.

Christmas

There is my Christmas decorating for the year. I have a few decorations out and one strand of lights around the porch. Pretty pathetic actually. I will not be here for Christmas, so I haven't put any effort into decorating. I don't have the money to buy new Christmas lights or any other decorations. I don't mind most of the time. I get invited over to see friends and family enough to enjoy the beautiful decorating jobs they have done. Perhaps next year.

I do miss having a Christmas tree. There is one in the garage, but it's not very attractive. I have standards when it comes to evergreens. The temptation to go and buy an authentic Christmas tree is very much present, but there isn't any reason. Without working Christmas lights, ornaments and a star for the top, it would end up being rather expensive. I never have had a real one, we always had fake ones growing up. I love the smell that comes with live Christmas tree, They have these small ones at Sam's Club, but...I could use the money on more important things like gas and Christmas presents. :) And bills...and car repairs...and house repairs...oh, and food.

Perspective

A dear, sweet friend of mine has lost her sister-in-law in a tragic car accident. After reading her blog entry, I went to put a note on it, and noticed that one of the notes from a friend of hers said something to the effect of "I know that this may seem small, but thank you for sharing this with us, it really puts things into their proper perspective." How true that is.

I looked at my last blog entry, and all I did was complain. About what? Petty things. Her brother and nephew are without wife and mother, her parents have lost a daughter in law that was a real blessing to their family, etc etc. The things I complained about are petty compared to the pain they are going through. I should be thankful for what I have, and I am, but not enough. I have work to do.

Friends, family, look at your own families. Love them. Make sure they KNOW they are loved, don't just assume that they know. I know personally that they will question whether you do or not if your actions do not lead them to believe that you do. Saying you love them is NOT enough by any degree, especially if it sounds like it was an afterthought. Working your head off to make sure they have everything they need and want in life isn't enough, I have discovered. It is of course appreciated, admired, respected, but...they would rather miss out on luxuries, be dirt poor and know that you love them than have that XBox and question your love. Take time to find something you like about them and let them know that you like it. Pray for them. Hug them and hold them. Make it feel like they are special. They need it.

Sick of it all!

I am soooo sick of being sick! I swear, I have been sick for 3 weeks now. First it was the sinus infection and when I was finally kicking that off, I get what? ALLERGIES! yes, allergies, in the wintertime. Crazy but true. With all the rain we got last weekend, everything decided to share their joy with everything else, so I get allergies. I have tried EVERYTHING on the planet to get some relief and nothing is working. I threw in the towel today.

I hate breaking the Sabbath. It is the worst feeling. You can ask my family, I hate eating out when we are on vacation when it is the Sabbath day. I can't stand it. But when the ox is in the mire...you go to Whole Foods and get whole food and some natural remedies that you can take in addition to the regular medication. I will write a review of whether or not it works in the near future.

I played my cello for Sacrament meeting today. When I got up this morning and said my prayers, I was rather grateful that I hadn't agreed to sing cause my voice sounded more like a frogs croak than a female voice. :)

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What else am I sick of? My internet. It is fantastic for the most part, but sometimes it totally freaks out and won't work at all. Last night was nutty. I was doing some blogstalking, and my Firefox window wouldn't work. I tried opening Internet Explorer but that didn't work either. Bah!!!

It seems to be working now. I turned my system off completely and left it off until just now. Hopefully it will work appropriately.

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I hate the fact that I can't get any roommates. Seriously, I have advertisements everywhere. ASU, CGCC, EVI, some of the wards and even a website for lds housing. And no bites. I had a few calls a few months ago, but I haven't heard anything from them since. The problem I think is that I live in Chandler, where most people moving in here that are looking for roommates are wanting something closer to ASU campus. Anyone wanting to live in Chandler probably can afford their own place. Oh well.

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To be honest, I really do miss Alabama. I had really good friends there. I have some friends here, don't get me wrong, but I am having to start all over again, where I already had good and established friendships there. Yeah, I know, some of you probably think I am crazy, and I am, but...I didn't have anything to do Saturday night. Guaranteed, if I was in Alabama, I would've had something to do. I always did. And it was great! I loved it.

Maybe after a year has gone by things will be better. I am six months into it...we shall see how this goes. :)

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Alright, there is my pity party. :) I think I am going to eat some whole food goodness now that I am all drugged up on antihistamines and immune system boosters and then take a good and long Sunday nap.

Good news, good news and good news

Okay, so of course the real good news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But...I have other pieces of news that I would like to share.

First:

This is a picture of old town Albuquerque at Christmas time. I don't think there is a better place to go than old town Albuquerque Christmas Eve. It is so beautiful, the luminarias glowing, the people enjoying each other's company, the caroling, the HUGE Christmas tree that is impeccably decorated.

Well, I was the first one on the waiting list to get Christmas Eve off. NO one is going to give up their Christmas Eve off that already had it off, and it isn't worth flying home Christmas Eve night and flying back Christmas day. I was the second one on the waiting list for the 26th of December.

I was bummed. In fact, I was REALLY sad and depressed yesterday. I actually cried. This would have been the first time I had not been home with my family for Christmas EVER. I am single, I am 25, I am NOT ready for that yet. Even though I have lots of wonderful and loving family around here, a great ward, lots of friends, I was not ready for that. I LOVE waking up at midnight to see what Santa brought me. I LOVE going to Old Town, getting hot chocolate, freezing to death, walking around the shops (window shopping) and then buying a bunch of freshly made tamales, taking them home and eating them (helps to thaw out) and driving around to see all the luminaria displays.

Most importantly, I love my family. I miss them. And even though I was home for Thanksgiving for the first time in 4 years, I still want to see them again. Even though I would see them just a few days AFTER Christmas for the New Year's gathering, I just know that Christmas wouldn't be the same.

So we get an email at work today which says the following:

We have decided to offer an option of working either the Saturday or Monday before the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Therefore, you can elect to work Saturday, December 22 in lieu of December 24. You can also elect to work Saturday, December 29 in lieu of December 31.

I am flying home Saturday evening and flying back Christmas day. :) YAY!!!!!

The other good news is:

I auditioned about a month ago for the Mesa Easter Pageant which occurs every year. I decided to go for an angel part, which required an extra audition (you have to dance as an angel). I got a callback (first callback EVER!!!), did another audition and...I am going to be an angel!!! SO excited. I can't believe it. I mean, I took ballet when I was, what 5 years old. Maybe a little older. Besides a few workshops and the Church dances that I have attended over the last 11 years (bless the wonderful black young man in my stake in Albuquerque when I was in youth for teaching me how to dance) I really am not much of a dancer. I do, however, have a fairly good sense of rhythm and can be graceful (emphasis on can). Twice as many girls auditioned than they could take, so I must have made a good impression. I blew away the panel when they did the vocal audition (I can hit all of the high notes easily...they never have had that before). Hmm...perhaps I should go into show business...:)

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I trimmed the tree in front of my front door. It has been driving me nuts. I need a chainsaw to finish the job. The thing is lopsided, and it just looks horrible. At least you can see underneath it now. I also trimmed up the bouganvilla and I pulled a lot of the weeds that were overcoming the poor rosebushes out in front. I am afraid I may have killed them. I haven't really watered them regularly, but roses are resilient and this is the time of year to cut them back anyways.

Next are the two citrus trees up front. They need a bit of pruning. The fruit on one is starting to turn orange. Some actually are deep orange. I think I am going to pick one as I drive off in the morning and see how it is. I hope it is good. I need to fertilize them I think. :) A trip to the nursery is in order I do believe. I need to cut back the roses as well, whether they are dead or alive. I did a pretty deep watering tonight, and it is supposed to rain again this weekend so if they are alive that will give them a bit of juice.

That's all. Good night. Nursing a splitting headache at the moment, so I really hope I wake up without it.

Happy Hanukkah! and books and work

Well, Hanukkah just began here. Did you know that it doesn't officially start until the sun goes down? Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish readers!

History lesson: Hanukkah started around 160 BC when the Jews had reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem. They cleared out all the idols that had been in there. After cleaning everything out, all they could find to light the temple was a small container of oil. Miraculously, the oil last 8 days. Thus began the celebration of Hanukkah.

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A friend asked me to suggest some good "light and funny" (as he said) audio books that he could listen to on his trip up to Utah. I drew a blank. The only light and funny books I could think of were rather girly too. I then ran across a Roald Dahl book called "Danny the Champion of the World". I started this book just before I moved here, and I have yet to finish it, but I remember being highly entertained by what I had read. For those who don't know, Roald Dahl wrote classics like James and the Giant Peach, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and the Glass Elevator). This is the 'other' book, one that isn't as well known, but it is quite as good as the others.

Any suggestions from the crowd for 'light and funny' books? I tend to go heavy and kinda dark with some funny in it. :) Believe it or not. I do enjoy light books, but I finish them too quickly.

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They want me to sing at the Christmas luncheon at work. What the heck am I supposed to sing? It needs to be light, not overly religious, and it doesn't really need to be Christmasy. But I don't know what to sing, and it is stressing me out. GAH!!!

Readability and Food

My cousin found this website to check your blog's readability level. Hers was at an Elementary school level, which I find hard to believe. Anyways, I checked mine, and this is what I got. :) I think that's pretty good. I some some big words I suppose.

I have food! I went to Sam's Club today. I am good on food for a month now I think, except for milk. I have missed food. Good food that is. I have been eating the stuff that I don't particulary like.

I decided to buy a package of good hot chocolate. There are 8 different types and 48 servings. I am going to take them to work along with a nice mug. I have gotten into the habit of going to Starbucks and getting it there. Why should I do that, when I can make it for SO much cheaper.

I also decided to get some packets of good oat meal to take with me to work. That way if I don't get breakfast in, all I need is a bowl, spoon and hot water (which is provided for me) and I have breakfast! The packets are pretty low in sugar, so hopefully they have a lot of flavor and taste good.

Anyways, I think between the two above mentioned items, I am going to save myself a good bit of money. I am also going to try and take my lunch with me to work more often to save money. I actually held myself back from buying a DVD today from Sam's Club. They have a bunch of them that I want. Like the Fox and the Hound!!! I love that movie! And Peter Pan, Pocahontas (yes I am a Disney nut) and a bunch of others.