Fall Festival

Last night was the ward fall party. There was an adult costume contest. I went as a pregnant lady, but that is because Mike wasn't going for my couple costume idea of me being Bruce Banner and him being the Hulk. Okay, so we didn't dress up at all because we didn't have a spare minute to do anything.

I did 10 loads of laundry, got groceries, made waffles for breakfast and even made lunch for everybody, made chili for the carnival and cupcakes for the cake walk. Mike was busy taking his car apart. He finally has nearly all the parts and pieces he ordered for rebuilding his brakes, suspension, and drive shaft. It will be out of commission for a few days while he gets all his work done.

Today we began rehearsal for the primary program, but could not run through it in the chapel because another ward was in there. It was just the singles ward. Don't know why they can't skip sacrament meeting for a week or two. Maybe they could have Sacrament meeting at the park. Singles love that kind of stuff. That, or next week when we do our run though the single adults, who miss the opportunity of a primary program could have us "bring the spirit through the hearts of children." Yeah, our practice should be their Sacrament Meeting!

Being our first week of run-through, it was the usual madhouse. It looks like it will be an awful program, but experience tells me that the kids will be fine.

I've been teaching the 11-year-old girls for a year now. That is the longest I have held a calling in a long time. Probably because I don't like it that much. I love my girls--for the most part that literally means "my girls"--but I don't feel like I have put much effort into lessons and preparation. I absolutely loved my calling as the primary choirister, and I only got to do that for 4 months. It was long enough to be part of a killer Primary Presentation.

This is my last week of two choir practices. I have ward choir in 20 minutes. I missed the one before sacrament this morning that would have been a nice warm-up for our ward conference special music, but I did not feel in any way like getting out of bed this morning after all I did yesterday. I have Stake choir tonight at 7, then next week is the cantata, which should be really nice.

I have to leave now.

I have been trying to squeeze as much into my mornings and afternoons as possible, but still not getting anything done that needs to be. I have to talk to the scheduling manager about having a day off next week. I need to apply for medicaid and get a Dr. Appointment.

This week I took Emylie downtown to fit her for a wig. We have gotten to that point. She wasn't sure about it before, but now she is excited. They didn't have what we wanted in the store (meaning something near $100) so I will be ordering one this morning that the company has online, now that it is payday.

That is the last check we will be getting from Mike's previous employer. He has already been contacted about temp work, but when he showed up yesterday, no one else was there.

It is finally cold enough here for long sleeves and jackets in the morning. Short sleeves is still fine in the afternoon. I have yet to turn on the heater, though.

Fun with Hon

Mike got a hairbrain yesterday and decided he had to have cheesecake. His sister has a recipie that he is very familiar with, so he got it and made it. We had fun in the kitchen together. Not laughing, playing fun, just nice to be working side-by-side fun. I was making dinner at the same time he was making dessert.

I didn't get to taste the cheescake until today. I liked it. IT WAS CHEESECAKE, DUH! --Even with forgotten vanilla.

This post has been sitting in my drafts for nearly a week. I guess it's been that long since I posted.

Neck knots

I'm feeling a little tense. I took more than a third of the money I have been saving for our Disney vacation to cover expenses for Mike's car, which is not driving safely at all right now. Fortunately, that is only half of what it would be if he wasn't so skilled at his own labor--or he would not be getting it fixed right now.

Just as my savings is dramatically reduced, Mike's company pulls his contract and we are left, once again, jobless. However, he has an interview today with a company where he is becoming very well-known. I will not give any details because in the past that seemed to jinx things.

If things work out with this company, we will have the medical benefits we so desperately need. If it does not, I am now able to qualify for medicaid, so there is always a positive. In the long run, somehow, there will be more positives than negatives. In the present tense, (there's that word again) I have knots in my neck.

Off to the Races

Yesterday we went with our friend, Cash, his granddaughters, and a few other people to the drag races. Lexi and Mikey had fun for a little while, but then complained about being bored. The boys came back with a bit of a sunburn. That pretty much filled up our day.

When we got home, Mike started working on his talk for today. His topic was Following the Prophet. This is the first time he has been asked to give a talk since he was able to be classed as a youth speaker. He ended up going into work before he was able to finish, so I took dictation for him and helped him with revisions and stuff while he was driving to and from work. We make a good team. It was a great talk and he delivered it well. What I liked best about it, is that it was powerful, succinct, and the meeting ended five minutes early.

I went to choir practice this morning before church, but only the accompanist, director, and one other person showed up. We were not able to go over our special number that we were on the program for, so the other lady and I did an impromptu special musical number of "Come listen to a prophet's voice." We only had enough time before the meeting to decide on the song and give the first verse a shot. It turned out fine, of course.

Now I have to get ready to meet Matt for the kid exchange, get back in time for Isaac to go to the regional youth fireside with President Dahlquist, YM General President, and then to my stake choir practice.

"There is an hour of peace and rest"--somewhere in all that.

Andrew

I missed Isaac's Tuesday game because I was in the hospital with Andrew. It was the last game Isaac will be able to play for three weeks because of his grades. His team won, though, I think, 26-6. That is really impressive. Their first string team lost again. Either they kept the teams more even than the other schools or this school has a really deep skill pool so that there just is not a big difference between Team A and Team B.

Yeah, Andrew and the hospital...Not a big deal really. He has been fighting a bronchial infection for a week or two since fall allergies kicked in. After the weekend at his dad's he was wheezing again. He was complaining that he could not breathe. Since we don't have a doctor yet, I took him to a few different urgent care clinics and Dr. offices trying to find one that takes the military insurance. By the time I found one, all the clinics were closed so I went to the nearest ER that takes it.

The doctor was barely able to diagnose him with pneumonia because he had a "little spot in his left lung." He has not had a fever, except for the mildest that day. He went to school the next morning, though.

Today I had a conference with his teacher, Mr. Wu. He has a really high reading level, which I was pleased with, but, like Claire, it does not translate into successful spelling. The teacher was convinced, though that his writing was below what it should be. It would appear that Andrew has a standard case of Boy Lazy. I mean, I have never called him anything but Andrew, and he has chosen to write Andy on all of his papers because it is easier. The teacher says his sentence structure is ultra simple and does not reflect his abilities.

Of course, he needs more practice in Math. Time to go to work.

Stretched balloon

It seems like it has been a long time since I wrote, but looking at everyone else's blogs, I am at a fine pace. Kim is the best at it this week.

Yesterday we watched both sessions of General Conference. Our friends, Scott and Arren (Peachblossom) came over and watched with us. While the boys went to Preisthood meeting, Arren and I watched HGTV and like channels for the entire evening. We enjoyed it. (You have to kick the guys out if you want the remote.)

As nice as it was, I have a better appreciation for standing on my feet for long hours. Sitting all day just about killed me. My upper back hurt like crazy. There was nothing I could do to get comfortable. Then, when I stood up, the skin of my stomach felt like a fully inflated balloon that someone was still trying to put more air into. The baby had not moved much for two days, apparently because it is going through a growth spurt.

I am so short-waisted that I have, literally, two inches from the top of my hip to the bottom of my ribs. That does not leave a lot of interior room for a baby--therefore, my belly is way out. Besides that, it is trying to grow into my ribs. Yesterday I felt like my sternum was being separated to make room for a baby inside my ribcage. The child, according to week-by-week pregnancy sites, is only one pound. I have at least six more pounds to fit in there.

Despite the discomfort, I love being pregnant. There's something in my tummy. It is alive and it came from God. I am helping Him create it. Time for the last session of Conference.

Strong

Baby is getting so strong! I don't have people feel my belly, all they have to do is watch! My belly jumps.

Isaac had another strong game. They tied it up in the third quarter but they let the other team score in the last 9 seconds of the fourth, so they lost 16-22. Both teams had good defense, hence the low scores. Its funny that this is my blog and there is a weekly football feature.

Emylie and Claire and both expressing a strong interest in joining soccer somewhere. If they do, you will probably hear more about soccer from me that from MaryAnne.

It is nothing like Utah, here. Snow could happen in 3 months. We are having a strong indian summer. Fall comes and goes. I watched the game tonight with my face to the sun--again--in the heat. At least there was a steady breeze. Mike made it because Lexi didn't have a game tonight. It was nice to have him to lean on in the bleacher behind me. He's my strong man. Of course, he had to leave back to work after the game was over. I don't know if I will see him again tonight.

I am going to go help Andrew make some macaroni and cheese.