Packing and Gratitude

Today I'm very grateful for:
1-
Not having to pack myself. I've really enjoyed not putting all of our stuff into boxes. And since it will be the first and the last time that someone else does all of the grunt work, I don't feel guilty for reading my books while they work. It's a little awkward at times, as I sit on the couch and the workers dismantle the lamp sitting on the table next to me, but not awkward enough to get me to help them. The packers are very efficient. In 2 not-full days (9-3:30), with 2 people on the first day and only 1 person on the second day, they were able to pack my 1600 square foot home into boxes. It's very strange to be in my home and not have my "things" around. Occasionally I think, "I'll go get ____" or "I'll just use ____", when really, it's all in boxes that I didn't pack and have no real clue what is in any of them.

2-
Really good friends who are willing to help. My daughter has been, shall we say, confused and bewildered by all of the changes in our home and lives in the last few days. Friends from the ward have offered to watch her and care for her. Friends have also fed us, let us hang out at their homes, offered us the use of their homes even when they won't be there, loaned books, and helped us unload our attic. When I was single and would have friends get married, I would go to their receptions, with a gift, and think, "If all of my friends get married before me, who will bring me gifts?" Well, it turned out that as my friends got married, I made other single friends and they brought gifts to my wedding (as did some of my married friends, not that I want to leave you out). This whole experience has left me with a similar wondering, "If all of my friends are so nice to me when I move away, who will help them out when they move?" and another thought, "How can I ever repay their generosity, when I won't even be here?" They all have been truly great.

3-
My daughter. When I pick her up from wherever she's been that day, I'm so grateful that we have her. She's a joy, even when she's clingy and constantly asking for Daddy. And it's great to know that she's missed me.

4-
The reminder that things really are just things and that I can live without them (books not included. See #5). When everything is packed, there's no thing to need (really just want) at the moment. It reminds me of Elder Perry's talk at conference. It was a good one!

5-
Books. Really, with nothing else to do, I've been reading a lot. Thank goodness for friends (see #2) who have lent books to me, so that I can have something to do. Without books, I might have actually helped the packers with their job. It would have been completely boring. Another post I'll write about one of the books...

Quiet Book

Against the advice of my good friend (who had made one), I made a quiet book for my daughter to use in church. There are pages with velcro, flannel, animals, shoes to tie, etc. My friend was right. It was a headache to make, took forever, cost a lot and doesn't look at all professional. However, I finished it (9 months after starting the project). If you go online, you can find them for $25. That's less than it cost me to make it. And all you have to do is click a button. And it looks professional. It will probably last longer, too (though I don't know yet). Tomorrow will be our trial run. My husband was a dear and brought up the fact that I would be sad if our daughter ruined it on the first day. He was right, of course.

The point is, listen to your good friends. They're pretty smart people . After all, they chose to be your friend, right? What could be smarter than that?

It's a Boy!

Or will be in 4 1/2 months. I had an ultra-sound and the tech was very sure. So now we have some cute pictures (really, he is a cute, little alien) to hang on our fridge. The cutest is of his feet, posing for the picture. He must have known we were looking.

I Voted!

I voted today! I'm so grateful to live in a country in which I have a right to state my opinion and in which my opinion is counted. Whether or not the candidates I voted for win, I did what I could for them. Although some of them I really had no opinion about, so I just decided which name I liked best or which sent me the least political junk mail. Not rocket science, but hey, I'm not a rocket scientist.

I'm also grateful for the nice man in front of me who let me go before him, so that I could get my toddler in out of the cold (yes, we do have cold weather, even in North Carolina).

And I know it's a little strange, but I'm excited to write in my journal tonight and put my "I Voted" sticker in to mark the day.

State Fair 2008

We went to the State Fair yesterday. I've become a big fan of state fairs (this was my third one). It's so much fun to see all of the cool exhibits, like the giant pumpkins and watermelon, a real life pineapple plant, a man standing in a bee cage surrounded by bees, the animals, etc. I also think the carnival game people are fun to watch. I try to imagine what kind of life they led that brought them to this point in their lives. How many people grow up thinking, "When I grow up, I want to be a carnival game man (or woman)?" The food vendors are great, too. Where on earth could you get so much fried food? My personal favorite is the funnel cake. I'm not brave enough to try some of the others (deep fried snickers, twinkies, oreos, etc), even if I did eat chocolate. We had a good time. There were things for the little ones to do, and we got to see what we wanted to. What could be more perfect?

Private Blog

Just a note for those of you who read my daughter's blog. It is going private. If you would like to be invited to read it, I would be more than happy to add you to the list. Just send me an email or let me know in the comments and I'll get you added.

Announcement

I'm pregnant!!!

Tagged

7 Random facts...

1. Like me friend who tagged me, my husband is the only man I've kissed. There was another time when I was going to be kissed, but I called him by the wrong name and that kind of ruined the moment.

2. I'm an amateur photographer who dreams of someday going professional, and having a people know my name and wanting my pictures to hang in their homes.

3. I really enjoy home decorating. I've never taken a class or read a book, but I like to put colors and art and furniture and accessories together, hoping they'll look like I picture in my mind.

4. I love fun socks. It has been years since I've worn a pair of plain colored socks. And the socks I wear don't have to match my clothing. (A funny tangent: One year when I was teaching, I learned that my class paid close attention to my socks. They even had their favorite pair - my watermelon socks.)

5. I enjoy cooking. I especially enjoy trying new recipes. My family is very supportive and will eat anything I fix, which is helpful.

6. My favorite flowers are daisies.

7. I haven't eaten chocolate for 7 years, and I plan to not eat chocolate for the rest of my life. (Thanks, Annie!)

I tag Andrea, Heather, Kasey, Cami, Michelle, Marissa, and Hannie.

Exciting and Excitement

Last Friday was the first time that someone came to look at our house (that's the exciting part). I was very careful in cleaning up, making the house look it's best. As I was doing this, I thought that the brownie pan with plastic blue lid shouldn't be left out, so I put it out of sight, in the oven. At the time that I did this I thought, "I'm going to forget that it's in there and start the oven", but did it anyway. I must say, as a biased voice, that the house did look incredible. Well, they came and left and I came home to get dinner ready. We were going to have pasta and breadsticks. So I turned the oven on and started the water boiling. About 15 minutes later, I started to smell an unpleasant odor. At that moment, I remembered that I'd put the brownies in the oven. Opening the oven, the smell of melting plastic assaulted my nose. I removed the offending pan, and cooked the breadsticks, which luckily didn't smell or taste like melted plastic. (That's the excitement part.)

Yard Sale

We had our first yard sale today. I had some teacher supplies that I no longer need, some furniture that won't fit in a two-bedroom apartment, lots of books, and other various and sundry items. I had a figure in my mind of what I thought we could make. We more than doubled it. And we emptied our house of many unnecessary items. And other people were blessed with our junk. And I didn't go yard saling (?) today, which saved us from adding more unnecessary junk to our house. And a friend from the ward offered to take my teacher supplies that didn't sell to a local elementary school that could really use it. And she told me about a used book store in town that will give store credit for books you take in (what could be better than that?). Except when I thought about it, we're trying to get rid of stuff, so I offered to let her take in the books for store credit (which sounds kind of like I'm trying to get out of taking them myself, but really I just wanted to let her get the credit for them. I would have taken them in her name, except I don't think it would have worked). All in all, my first yard sale was a success.