Me as Dear Abby

Advice is not something I enjoy giving out- usually... Believe it or not, I was an EXTREMELY shy child. So much so that I am sure my mother spent more than a few sleepless nights worrying what to do about it all. I remember having only 1 friend from the 1st to the 2nd grades, and she was another very shy little girl too. 

My mother had me take Suzuki violin lessons in part to help me get over some of this shyness- she told me that she was convinced that if I could just learn to perform in front of people, I would be 'cured'! All I really remember was being petrified of playing. In fact, the few pics we have of me playing, my back is to the camera (audience)! Plus my family moved away from the teacher; so my violin career was short-lived at best!

through the years, my mom made sure I had plenty of opportunities to do things on my own- and they must have worked (that and all of her prayers, I am sure). By the time I was 15, I had a large group of very close friends, and even a move across the country didn't hamper my social life- I even joined the high school choirs. performed in the musicals, and became a state officer for a club- we sponsored the national convention that year and I was a hostess for the event! 

Yet even with the challenge of shyness behind me, I still would rather listen than speak my mind. (Ironic thing to say as I sit here blogging away!) Now I find that my job comes with daily chances to give advice- my job is to talk all day; so hopefully some of that talking entails some good advice! But tonight, I was asked for dating and single parent advice! The single parent thing... I'll be that Dear Abby anytime! Been there but if not, can at least empathize with that- But the dating advice?! Well, that may not be this Abby's forte!

Time will tell...

Spring!

Rain (or sometimes snow!), flowers, chives, onions and hopefully strawberries!

I am so grateful for spring! I need more beginnings in my life...

And I just love having flowers outside and inside!- even with some of the weeds.

Best pic? 'Guess who won't be making it back?' I just love having one child who not only understands this humor, but who loves it as much as me! (and he'll watch it all with me too!)

And this may seem out of the blue, but it has been on my mind quite a bit, especially with Easter:
I once had someone refer to my faith as the 'tradition' of my family. I have thought a lot on that and tried to observe my family at gatherings. I have come to several conclusions. First, I must say that my faith in the true and living God is not now, and to my knowledge, has never been based upon my family. I am sure that I attended church services when I was young because of my parents. But I can honestly say that I have never believed because they believed. It sounds strange to many, I am sure. However, as long as I can remember, I have known on at least a basic level that Heavenly Father lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I believe this is a gift I was given in my life because I have needed to know this in order to do some things I had to do. I also know that as I have grown, my knowledge has also grown- and I have come to not only believe but to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church here on earth. I can say with confidence that I do not believe this because of my family. The second thing I have discovered, my family loves me now and will always love me no matter what I believe to be true. I am not close to my family because of my faith. I am close to my family because of who they are and because I want to be with them. I know if I were to decide tomorrow to become an atheist (which of course, I won't), my family's feelings towards me would not change in the least. We have all worked hard at being the family that we are- and that is a great blessing in my life!
It is not a tradition... it is a choice and a great blessing!

Family, Friends, and Fun!

I love my family! (have the greatest family in the whole world!) So I surround myself with reminders of them:

Jon says if I put one more thing on this wall, the house will collapse! But I sure enjoy my dining area. 

I have NOT, however, for many months now enjoyed the site of my old dining room chairs... I had cobbled them together from a larger set many years ago, and they were great while they lasted. They even taught us all to sit up straight at the table... if we didn't, the back of the chairs would crack! And crack they all finally did. They looked so sad to me in the dining area with broken backs- one even had a top rail missing altogether. Sad, sad chairs... so now:

I love them! And they completely match my kitchen area! And we can lean back without fear!

Funny conversation: I bought six. Jon asked why I bought so many. I told him to think about how many people we have in our family... he thought, then said, "Oh, we have six." I wonder if he is foretelling the future- as we have 5 now! 

As I sat in the faculty room for lunch today, I realized how many wonderful friends I have at HHS! (and no co-worker related stress!) I am so blessed that the Lord makes me do so many things that are good for me!

I love it that my niece, Alyssa, and her husband blessed their little girls last Sunday. Not only was it the perfect way to cap off the perfect General Conference weekend, it gave me a good reason to make this chocolate/peanut butter goodness!

Update as to the ongoing internet dating saga... "Jim" not only has a Nigerian based cell phone number, but he also signed his name in last night's email as "Eric"- but that is only his "name at work" and his "middle name" he "sometimes goes by" (although I must note was not listed on the copy of the passport he sent -which was odd in and of itself!) And he wonders: "What happened? I Have not herd from you... Are you okay???"- Yeah, not the best at spelling either! Gee, I wonder why I will NOT be writing him again?!

Big sigh here...considering joining a dating site that will cost a bit more- maybe all these creepy guys will be too cheap to stalk there!

Random Thoughts from a Random-Feeling Week...

Had Monday 'off' for end of term- meaning IF my grades were completed and I had logged an extra four hours outside of contract or paid time, I could stay home... I did-both- but spent four hours in attendance school (and the previous Saturday!) With the extra 8 hours in the building, the weekend didn't seem real- oh well. Oh, and I found out that my time sheet was not submitted properly- so I did not YET get paid any extra $ in my monthly check.... guess the blessing is that it is still coming, just next month!

Jon earned a 4.0 grade point average this quarter!!! Now for some students, this isn't as grand as it is for my Jon. He has struggled long and hard with some cognitive issues since the fourth grade. Some days he forgets the most basic of things. If it were not for his routines (thus not requiring short term memory), he would forget things, on occasion, like getting dressed in the morning- yes, it did happen a few times years ago.

Thankfully, Jon had been blessed (before his disease took greater effect) with a brilliant mind! His mind continues to re-wire itself whenever possible and to help him to find ways to cope with his deficits- which my feeble mind could never do- in such a way that Jon has now figured out the high school thing! I am so proud of him and all of his hard work! (Even if I tease Jon by responding, 'It's too dark to weed!'- inside joke brought on by Jon's foreign accent syndrome and his love of reading at night!)

Heard tonight that yet another of my former students passed away. Twenty-two is so young... and he left behind a little boy. 

Wondering if I will ever figure out who to trust in the single men department...

I am so grateful for the upcoming General Conference and that I will be able to listen/watch all of it! And so blessed to have a dad who will take my Jon to the Priesthood Session!

'Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down!'

No wonder I am so tired and feeling as if I can never get anything done... I just turned in my time cards (for the extra hours of work for the month), and guess what?! I actually worked an extra 39 hours this last month! Yes, that's right... I created an extra week! Now I understand a wee bit of Hermione's world... you know, the time turner and all!

But seriously, what a wonderful blessing from the Lord to have these opportunities- I have a suspicion that come late summer I just may need some extra cash!

And I have met even more questionable 'men'-type people online this week... it's kind of an interesting hobby of mine now to see how long I can string them along until the needing money story starts to crop up... I think my tired mind has created a new type of entertainment- 

It's just an encouraging thing that I came across this fabulous quote in a book I just finished: 'Don't let the turkeys get you down!' Ha! Something I need to remember admidst all these many turkeys...

makes me hungry for turkey dinner... Yum!

Strange Things are Happening to Me...

(I apologize up front to anyone and everyone who enjoys the Disney on Ice...) I just can't help it, I laugh at just the thought! And this week was Toy Story 3! I am sure the performers are talented and all that... it's just that I am the mom who allowed, no encouraged, my 4 year old to watch the cartoon version of the Lord of the Rings just so that I could have a good excuse to read him The Hobbit when most moms were still reading to their kids from Winnie the Pooh! And Eric loved The Hobbit so much, he begged and begged until I would read him all 3 Lord of the Rings (only slightly edited as I read)- he was in kindergarten! -That's my boy!

Schedule changes have been endless. Last week, we administered the ACT to all the juniors- only I couldn't because Jon had yet to take the test. So I spent the morning supervising two wonderful students who require adult supervision (bless their hearts) because their bus only comes at 7 AM!- not the most fun morning for me or for them, I can imagine. It's not so exciting having that much attention from a teacher- always asking if that assignment is done, what else do you have to work on, aren't you finished, do you need any help... yes, I ask the most not exciting questions when I am bored!

And there has been yet another in the long list of con men revealed this week... I know that he says his co-worker died in a tragic accident and that the widow is really needing support- both emotional and financial- but does he really believe that if I had the money, I would send it to someone I have only heard (this widow) of through someone I have only written through email (him) for 12 days! yes, you sent me numerous pictures, even of you with family and with friends- but even I could come up with a collection of those from the internet, a book at the public library, being creepy and following someone around in public with my camera- like at the mall! I wonder what the next story will be... (and yes, there is yet another one who strikes me as highly suspicious!) I have to say that if the prospect of quitting looking altogether weren't so totally depressing (as if looking itself weren't depressing enough), I would stop immediately and cut my losses! But what else is there to do?! No really, at this point, I would certainly be open to some alternatives!

So sad that there are so many opportunistic people in this world- and even more sad that there are so many people who fall into their paths!

But on a brighter note- yesterday was Pi Day! I got to embarrass my darling daughter by wearing my 'Peace of Pi' shirt in public! To school, no less! (The look of horror in her eyes when I got it out the night before- and in front of her boyfriend- was priceless!) And my classes loved the pie (chocolate or banana cream) if not the Pi song that I helped to stick in their heads! I can hardly wait for the ultimate Pi Day- 3/14/15!!!!

Cinderella, Cinderella...

So after working all week, including  a home/hospital tutoring visit, an early morning of attendance school, two days of P/T conferences, then driving on TERRIBLY un-plowed roads on Friday morning, spending all day in classes, I arrived home to find Jon hanging out with a friend and his list of chores to do untouched! He had not even put his wet clothes in the dryer! As I did the dishes and the sweeping and the- well, anyone who has ever watched 'Cinderella' knows exactly how I felt an hour after arriving home and then delivering the dinner to the two boys playing video games in my basement! I was not feeling like a happy mom!!! However, I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost. Even as I arrived home exhausted, becoming quickly frustrated at the mess that was my house, I was inspired to do the cleaning myself, to just let the boys be. Then I felt very strongly that I should make them dinner. It was only after I did these things that I noticed Jon's pill minder on the counter and his Thursday pills still in their place. 

For those who are unaware, Jon has to take a muscle relaxant and a vitamin E pill every night in order to even function the following day- he is as yet undiagnosed as to what causes his various troubles- but that's a story for another day...

Thursday night had been hectic- I arrived home just before 8 PM, exhausted, and needing to put some final touches on my presentation and to go to bed early so I could get up the next day VERY early. But I knew Jon had Friday off both work and school, so I allowed him to stay up late on the condition that he would remember to take his pills before going to bed (something I usually check for him due to his poor short term memory- thus the pill minder on the counter). It turns out that Jon forgot. That led to Jon spending most of his day off in bed, feeling ill with his legs hurting even more than 'normal'. In fact, Jon had just starting feeling better shortly before I arrived home to find the house a mess and the gaming going on.

I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost was able to help me to NOT get upset at Jon for not doing his chores and was able to help me to realize what I should do instead.

Bless his heart, Jon, with Charly's help, cleaned the house from top to bottom on Saturday while I finished my conference at JHS. He even volunteered to help my sis and bro-in-law to entertain their boys all Saturday night! Jon is the best!

My favorite quote of the week- from my Adilynne Sue: "We are going to Aunt Deanne's?! She is my best friend!"

My Adilynne!

I am indeed the most blessed!!!!