Saturday, September 27, 2008

Random Happenings

So, I have a few random pictures I felt inclined to share.

First, a few weeks ago, Matt was complaining of poor hearing. Not a good thing considering he's our family "hearer." I console myself that it's because he's practically blind so his other senses have to take over. But anyway, my little hearer couldn't hear and no amount of Q-tips were helping. If anything they were making it worse. So I picked up a few ear candles from our neighborhood natural/organic store to make him all better. Here's Matt patiently trying them out. It took two of them, but they seemed to work.

I jarred (Matt doesn't think it should be called canning) peaches with a couple of girlfriends. It was more or less the first time for all of us. We were so proud of ourselves. Matt came and picked me up and I was beaming with pride at my beautiful creations. Matt didn't see it. To him they were just jars of peaches, but I knew better. We don't have tons of counter space to display my edible art so they are now packed away in a box in our cupboard for future use.

Thankfully I have a brother who is as spastic as I am. Here he is almost fresh off his mission. It was fun hanging out with him and my parents and I know they are in good hands without me.

Don't Drink and Drive

It's the only picture I could find on the Internet. Pretty funny, but this is a "serious" post. Please don't drink and drive, especially if you're driving from Sherwood, Oregon to Wenatchee, Washington. At about 3+ hours of driving, about the time you are thinking it's bathroom time, all rest stops and gas stations dry up. Literally. Well, I should say that there was a bathroom along I-90 but it looked sketchy and I thought I would find something better farther up the road. Silly Sara.

I kept driving, a rest stop sign posted a few miles up. Unfortunately for me, my exit came first. So I got off, all the while thinking, it's okay, I'll find somewhere. I was wrong. Nothing for the next hour and a half. It was awful. I saw a "Don't Drink and Drive sign" and it took on a whole new meaning for me. I couldn't concentrate on anything else other than my NEED to go. To make matters worse, I kept getting stuck behind RV's going well below the speed limit who seemed oblivious to the slow vehicle turnouts. Every mile on the road ticked by slower than I ever thought possible. I kept praying, "please, just let me get to a bathroom. I don't want to pee my pants in my car".

I finally stopped in the first town I came to, Cashmere, a mere 10 miles outside of Wenatchee. I knew there was a gas station somewhere in this uber small town but I couldn't find it. Instead I desperately followed signs to a school. It was a little past 4. Surely schools would still be open. I think I came to the elementary school. I parked and waddled with all the dignity I could muster to the front doors. Both locked. While I was walking up I noticed a woman cleaning up what looked like an after-school program. I went to her door and asked to use her restroom. She said they had all been locked. All bathrooms locked? I was surprised and down-trodden . I asked where the town's nearest gas station was and she directed me to the closest (a mile or so away) one. I thanked her with all the good nature I could muster and tried not to squeal my tires to bad as I high-tailed it out of the parking lot. I even ignored the no left-turn sign. I just knew that any cop would be sympathetic to my plight.

I finally found the gas station. I walked inside and found the bathroom locked. Someone was inside hacking away (the way a 20-year veteran smoker would). And as I waited I considered whether I would want to touch anything in this said bathroom. Leave it to me to get picky even at my most desperate of moments. I finally opted for the bathroom next to it marked handicapped. And moments later I was in heaven.

So the moral of this story is don't drink and drive. But if you do have to drink and drive make sure you stop at the sketchy-looking bathroom along I-90. You'll thank yourself later. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Momma-sitting

Get it? Baby-sitting except for my mother? Wah hah. Aren't I so clever. Anyway, my mother, bless her heart has been slowly falling apart for the last several years. The latest was breaking her arm above the elbow while sewing of all things. Wild and crazy that woman is. I honestly wasn't aware that it could be done until I got the phone call from my dad. Matt, being the ultra supportive husband suggested I come down and hang out with her while my dad's away picking up my little brother from his mission in Ghana. I called my dad and asked if it would be appreciated because I knew that if I called my mother she would blow me off with a brave face saying she was fine and didn't need any help. Thankfully my dad is a lot more sane when it comes to my mother's health.

So I rode the train down Saturday (no interesting people this time). I'll leave next weekend. So far we've done pretty much the same thing I do in the Wenatch but with my mom in good ole Sherwood, Oregon. We sleep, watch tv, eat, read, walk, run errands and clean the house. The usual. Today we got our hair done by the dear Corrin Keeler. We love Corrin. Corrin is my sister Nichole's best friend and has been doing our hair for forever. She makes house calls and she's cheap. Like I said. We love Corrin. My mother is so funny. For the entire time I've been down here she's been going on and on about getting her hair done. I haven't seen her so excited in years. You'd think she was looking forward to her 16th birthday. This is her all duded up with foils and other micellaneous dye
Anyway, this is turning out to be longer than I thought. But my mother is sitting right here reading (and commenting) on my every sentence. It was her idea to blog about my week here. So there you go. I love my mommy. And I love momma-sitting her.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I Need Help

Okay, totally lame, but I feel the next period coming in a few days and I don't know what to do to "celebrate." I felt the grieving process coming on and I remembered that I quit that whole thing so I started thinking about all the CRAZY things I could do instead of be pregnant. My first thought was to dye my hair red. But then I remembered the couple of friends in my ward who have red hair. I don't want to think I'm copying them. Then I thought, I could buy myself a great red dress. (What's up with me and red?) I also thought about getting a fabulous shake from Moonstruck that would satisfy my sugar needs for a whole month. Eeek. I also thought about getting a set of acrylic nails. They've always looked kind of fun. Don't laugh, I'm just brainstorming. So help me figure out what I should do. Really, this is good therapy for me. I can feel myself coming out of my funk already. And for those couple of guys I know who read my ramblings, this is for you too. What do you think?

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Unique Position

Have you ever gotten the question, "How was your week? Busy?" And you've wanted to say yes, because that seems to be the socially acceptable answer but had to respond with, "No, not really." Busy I mean. Everyone around me seems busily humming around caring for homes, jobs, church callings, children, bodies, etc. while I seem to find myself in this uniquely serene environment where I sort of do a lot of different things that make me happy.
  • I work twenty hours a week which gives me just enough work to not feel like a complete slacker.
  • I take care of my home. But let's be honest, when your home is a two-bedroom apartment and you're only cleaning after two semi-tidy adults, it doesn't take that much doing.
  • Hmmm . . . I have a church calling - Gospel Doctrine Teacher - but with the lessons fairly well laid out in the manual, even that doesn't take tons of preparation time. It's a matter of reading the scriptures and picking out the questions from the manual you like the best (er, I mean, the spirit tells me I should ask). So far I like being the Gospel Doctrine Teacher. We have good class participation, a low bar for what makes a good teacher (does that sound bad?), and best of all, we talk about what interests me in the scriptures.
  • I don't have children, but as a reminder, I do go to play group. So when I do have children I'll already be in the habit. See, I'm thinking ahead.
  • And as for my body, I think I'm eating better now then ever since we're eating at home and I'm actually cooking meals, practically every night. Whew. I know. Who knew Sara had so much potential. And I'm even starting to venture out and make new things like Lasagna. Or, I will be making Lasagna (any good recipes please send my way). It's on our dinner calendar for Sunday. Again, dinner calendars. Who knew how much more I would like cooking now that I have a dinner calendar. Not making a decision every night at 4:30 is so much better for my psyche. Sorry tangent. Back to my body. I'm not working out, but I am walking pretty much every morning for at least an hour. Not tons, but enough that it seemed to make my massage therapist happy. She even mentioned how toned my legs were. Yeah, it helped my ego.

I've tried going to different learning centers to try to be a volunteer tutor but either they don't seem interested or they appear interested and then don't reply to my background check. I never thought getting a volunteer position would be so difficult.

But anyway, my sister asked me this morning what I've been up to. I had to tell her not much. I lead a fairly simple existence. Lots of walking, reading, cooking, cross stitching (Megan, your present is looking great), and play time with my husband. So if you need anything made, now is the time to ask.