Just let it go!

Holy crap!  I need to suck it up and just take Sterling over to the neighbors house to get this thing over with.

At our Super Saturday craft day, Tina let me know that she did notice Sterling's personality change when my mother-in-law was here and how rude and mean he was to Brandon.  I changed the subject.  I really didn't want to get into it again with her.  What good will it do to start telling each other all the things our sons have told us about the other.

On Wednesday, Brandon came over and asked if Sterling could play.  Sterling didn't want to but we sent him over anyway.  When they are together, they get along just fine.  A couple of hours after Sterling went over, I went to the store and Tim went to get Sterling.

And I'm so glad I didn't go over!

Tina told Tim that we all needed to get together to talk about what happened between the boys.  She wants the boys to remain good friends and so we need to talk about it.  She proceeded to tell Tim that Sterling threatened to hit Brandon at school (I am having a really hard time believing this one).  And that I have been avoiding the subject every time she brings it up.  Tim did tell her that I don't like confrontation - which is soooooo true - and then he proceeded to change the subject.

Really?  The boys do not need intervention on this.  They are either friends, or they are not.  If I hear Sterling being mean, I will jump his case about it.  But if she wants the boys to be friends, then she needs to let them work it out.  I would fight with my friend one day and then be best buds the next.  Drove my mom crazy - but she didn't get in the middle of it and make a big deal about it.

We had another family move into the neighborhood and I went to introduce myself and welcome her to the ward.  She has a 12 year old son who loves to play games and she invited Sterling over sometime after school so they can play games together.  I warned her that I have been told that Sterling isn't very nice to others. Her response?  Oh well - they are boys.  I wanted to give her a big hug right there.

Rest in Peace, Jill!

Last night, our dear friend Jill Finlayson passed away.  She was known as Grandma Jill to us.  Jill had a beautiful yard.  She would spend so much time in her yard making it a beautiful oasis.  I had planned on asking her to help me with planting flowers and bushes in our yard.  She had quite the touch.  She was just a wonderful lady.

Her husband, Merrill, holds a special place in our hearts.  He has always stopped by our old house and visited with us.  They would bring us treats (made by Merrill) and wonderful Christmas gifts (made by Jill).  It hurts my heart to know he lost his dear sweetheart.

Once again, knowing the Plan of Salvation helps ease the pain. 

Rest in Peace, dear Jill!  We love you.

Stupid City

Okay, I know I shouldn't complain about insurance because we have truly been blessed with having decent insurance at no-cost to us.  We have a nice benefits package.  We HAD a nice benefit package.

We knew that the days of not paying for our insurance was coming to an end.  We almost started paying last year.  But with no raises for several years, the City Council didn't want to punish the employees with pay cuts (which is basically what it is).  So they found a way to keep our insurance free to us.  This last June, the budget was adopted and we were told that all employees would have to pay 5% starting in January.  I was expecting $70 a month.

Well, we were told today differently. 

If I want to keep the same insurance, I will now have to pay $182 a month.  If I want an inferior insurance, I can choose that option and not have to pay.

But only family plans have to pay.  The single employees and couple employees get their insurance for free.

Big fat liars. 

And, rumors are going around that some employees have gotten very nice raises this last year.  Very nice.  I'm glad they got those - because the rest of us barely got anything and some of us are now taking a big it.

I know I shouldn't complain because we are blessed.  But I did not anticipate losing $182 a month!  Unless I want the free insurance, but then everything else goes up and I'll be paying more in the long run anyway.

Lovely.  My anxiety level shot up today.

I guess since this is the month of gratitude, I should be grateful that my insurance didn't increase $650 a month like it did for my brother-in-law!  Their old coverage was one that was cancelled so they had to get new coverage - and their coverage is now like our free, crappy insurance plan!  On their bright side - he has a great job and she has the potential for a great job if she needs to work that they can manage.

Deployment

I read tonight about another small unit being deployed to Afghanistan today.

Every time soldiers are deployed, it brings back memories of when Tim left and I get teary-eyed.  I want to cry for the time apart the families must spend.  But I'm grateful for their service and sacrifice.

Halloween

I hate Halloween!  I love Halloween fabric and love the quilts.  But I hate costumes and candy and trick or treating.  Okay, so I love candy - but it gets to be too much.  It isn't even November 1 and I am not wanting any more candy!  I can't believe people give out full size candy bars!  My co-worker was one of the nice ones, so he tossed me a snickers.  I'm not one to turn down a snickers, but it doesn't even sound tasty.

But....Sterling still loves the whole costume thing and trick or treating.  So.....we went trick or treating.  Since he didn't want to call his friend, I was blessed with the chance =(

We didn't walk that far, but it seemed like we walked for miles and miles.  My legs and feet feel like we have walked for miles and miles. 

And speaking of Halloween - I absolutely love AMC this time of year.  Many opportunities to watch scary movies.  For some odd reason, I want to watch all of the "Halloween" movies - but they are never on one after another on a Friday or Saturday when I can watch.  I want to go from start to finish!  But Ster can't be around and that creates another problem.  Anyway, I watched one of the Chucky movies - the one where he is all messed up but has the bride doll.  Cheesy!  I thought it was supposed to be scary but it was pretty darn cheesy.  I guess all of the older horror movies are cheesy.  I don't think I'd want to rent the videos - because at least some of the gore is cut out when it is on tv.  right?  Maybe I am just closing my eyes at the right times =)

Anxiety

I've mentioned my anxiety before, haven't I?

Well, when it hits I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest.  Sometimes it is hard to breathe.  I feel panicky. 

And it is over silly things.  Saturday night, I started to have major anxiety over Sterling and "what if he gets hurt".  Yes, I turned out the light and started to think about having Sterling help shred potatoes at my parent's house Sunday evening and I started to feel extremely anxious (panic attack?).  I started to imagine all the things that could go wrong:  he could be shredding the potatoes and shred his fingers instead and then the skin and blood.  I literally couldn't breathe.  I started to panic about the fact that I have been over protective of my son and if he gets hurt he will completely break down in tears and then be made fun of.

I go through things like that.

My anxiety levels soar over silly things like that.  Can you imagine what they do when I am stressed about important things?

Peace

I have had such a struggle this week.  I never did talk to my neighbor about the boys.  I did let her know that after talking with Sterling, I felt it was best that the boys stay away from each other for a while.  I also wasn't too nice and let her know that Brandon had been rude to Sterling that day and that I told Ster to leave Brandon alone and not egg him on.  The response I got back was that Brandon told her a different story.  Hmmm.

I was worried about how things would be between Tina and I.  I admit that I was really hurt by her calling Sterling very selfish.  I know he can be, but I also know he can be very giving.  I didn't want to avoid her or try to hide from her.  I was almost as scared of her as Sterling is!  He doesn't want to go near her because he thinks she is going to start chewing him out again.  But after our exchanges, I was afraid of how things would be for us.

At church, she came up and gave me a big hug saying that we were both hermits and needed to get together.

I was quite shocked.  Maybe it is because I am still trying to let go of the insult and she already has.  Just another reminder that I need to be more Christ-like.  I had been working through my feelings and trying to let the hurt go.

I went to the Temple on Friday.  I have missed many opportunities the past few years in which to receive the wonderful blessings that come from going to the Temple.  I forgot how peaceful it can be.  How when I'm in the Temple, the weight of my worldly troubles are eased.  For the first time in months, my anxiety level was tolerable.  I didn't stress over every little thing.  I didn't feel anxious over every little thing.  I could breathe easy and felt peace. 

What to do!?!

I am just sick to my stomach.  Just sick.

Again, I know my son is not perfect. 

This morning, I sent a text to my neighbor that we could talk tonight.  And I asked what Sterling had been doing.  She sent a text back:  Sterling has been ditching Brandon in the mornings.  When they play videos at your house Sterling is very selfish and does not let Brandon play.  If Brandon says something, Sterling just throws the comment back at Brandon.  Very upsetting.  I told Sterling that if he did not want to walk with Brandon, then he should not come in the mornings.  He did not come this morning.  That's OK.  I was going to tell him to walk along this morning anyway.

I let her know that I have talked to Sterling about what is wrong but he says nothing.  I have also talked to him about the video games because Brandon tells me when he isn't letting him play.  I told Ster that if he won't let him play then they can't play video games.

She hasn't responded.  That was first thing this morning.

I have been sick all day about this whole thing.  I go from being upset that she would have the nerve to call my son selfish to being upset that Sterling hasn't been nicer to Brandon.  Then, I get a call from Sterling after school and he says that Brandon was calling him names at recess!  I've been talking to Sterling since school got out (I came home early) trying to get to the bottom of it - keeping in mind that Sterling isn't completely innocent and that I'm sure he has played a part in this.  I talked to his teacher at school to see if Sterling is mean to anyone and calling someone names.  His teacher said that if anything happened today it would have been at lunch because he was with sterling at recess.  He told me that when someone gets in Sterling's face, he will get upset.  I didn't tell Sterling what the teacher said and I asked him when it happened.  It happened at lunch.

So now I get to deal with that tonight.  I don't think I'll be able to take any more negative talk about Sterling. 

Fun times!

Too much on my mind

I have so much going through my head right now.  I've written and deleted and written and deleted and written.....you get the idea.

Today has been a stressful day - at work and at home.  Actually, only at work.  The "home" stress isn't really home stress but friend stress.

Sterling was good friends with Brandon, our neighbor, until school started.  I don't know what happened.  Sterling won't say anything other than Brandon doesn't like him and is rude to him.  But he won't give details so I don't know what actually happened.  Sterling just doesn't want to play with Brandon. I know that Brandon tattles on him to me when Ster won't let him play the video game (but Ster says he has let him play but that Brandon wants to play something else that is a longer game, and Ster hasn't been a liar to me).  I know that I heard Brandon yell at Sterling to shut up a couple of times (Ster is very stubborn - so if he thinks it is one way, he will argue with you til the ends of the earth.  Even if he is wrong.  Stubborn. Stubborn. Stubborn.  It is a Lurker trait).  I've heard him say, "That is why I don't like you sometimes, Sterling."  I haven't personally witnessed Sterling being mean to Brandon.  My mother-in-law said he was adamant one day that Brandon couldn't come over to our house because he had another friend coming over (but I didn't feel I needed to get on him about that because my mother-in-law did a fine job of raking him over the coals on that one).  But I haven't known him to be rude!  I have wondered what went wrong with those two.  Friday, I walked to the bus stop to walk home with the kids - but Brandon just looked at me funny and hurried off with another boy in the ward, leaving Sterling behind (I didn't think too much of it because I was there).

Anyway, Sterling told me Monday that he didn't want to go pick up Brandon on the way to the bus stop.  I told him he had to.  This morning, I told him once again that he had to go get Brandon.  At 9, I get a text from Brandon saying that Sterling ditched him.  Fine, I'll talk to him.  Ok, texts Brandon.  Then, Brandon's mom texts me telling me that Sterling left Brandon behind - but that she had talked to him yesterday and today about not doing that but he still did it.  So she wants to talk to me (before I talk to him) about that and some other things that Brandon has told her.

I'm trying so hard not to be defensive but I am wondering what the heck happened.  I know my son is not perfect.  But I can't imagine what he would have done or said that would make her want to talk to me about it so that we can figure out how to insure they stay friends.  I say let the kids work it out without parents getting in the middle- let them hash it out and get over it.  Tell Brandon not to tattle and I'll tell Sterling that he must take turns.  And I'm a bit ticked that she wanted to talk to me first before I talked to him (which I didn't wait - I asked him about it today).  I am hoping that it is an easy going, not much to tell talk.  I'm afraid I'm going to get too defensive and then upset and then shaky and then teary eyed.  I hate it when people start to rag on my son and point out all his flaws and what he needs to change and what I should be doing to make him a better person. 

And I hope that Sterling doesn't worry about what Brandon's mom will be telling me!  I told him be better not lie to me because I would hear about it.

Enough stress for one night.  Time to try to sleep!

We have a new ward member that I knew from when I was 13.  Although she wouldn't have ever remembered me.  I also know her from Ster's old school - she is one of the secretaries in the main office.  She came into work today to pick something up and we chatted for a bit. 

I told her that she would know an old neighbor of mine.  When I said the name, you should have seen the look on her face.  It was priceless!  She said, "Ohhhhh yes, I know her.  Oh, do I know her!"

We had a good chat about my old neighborhood and the two choice families there (the one across the street who is no longer a friend and the dipsticks behind us).

She totally understands why we moved =)

20 days down...18 more to go!

Woot!  Woot!

I really hate it when Tim is gone.  It is so lonely.  I hate to go to bed because it is lonely!

This deployment has been a bit different.  Tim's mom is here.  She arrived the Sunday before Tim left.  Her plans were to stay for a month, but then she decided to stay until Tim gets home.  We were happy to have her here.  Lucky for everyone, she is leaving on Saturday.

Hmmmm.....why, if we were happy to have her here, would we be happy she is leaving?

Well, let's just say that I don't agree with some of her rules.  Yes, she has rules.  In my house.  My house.

Like saying "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Ma'am" and repeatedly reminding an 11-year-old who doesn't normally say that that it is rude not to answer that way.  I was raised where "Yes" and "No" were perfectly acceptable answers.  It gets old repeatedly hearing her correct Sterling.

And table manners.  I didn't think we had bad table manners.  But apparently we do.  And Sterling is constantly reminded of his poor table manners.  Let me tell you, I have never been more aware of where I place my arms and how fast I eat.  Sterling and I are done and could have our dishes put away before Tim's mom is finished.  She is very proper.

And the loud TV.  She can't hear it as well, so it needs to be turned up.  Which means I hear it nice and loud in my room when I try to go to sleep.  She stays up until after midnight.  I gave up trying to go to sleep at 10 p.m.

And I'm too chicken to say anything.  I really do love her.  She is funny and kind and willing to help.  She does the dishes for me every day.   She cooks sometimes.  She takes us out to dinner or lunch.  I have liked having her here - spending time with us and getting to know Sterling.  She raised an amazing (and incredibly stubborn) son who would do anything for his family and friends.

But Saturday night we had a blow up like no other.  Over table manners.  To make a long story short:  Ster was tired of being told how to eat properly and got sassy.  Tim's mom didn't appreciate his sassiness and popped him on the arm.  It was terrible.  There was a lot of yelling and screaming for the next 10 minutes.

At least Sterling no longer hates Meemaw. 

But it will be nice to have my house back.  We can get in a routine again.  I can do what I feel like needs to be done rather than trying to entertain my mom-in-law.  I can argue with Sterling without having her there butting in.

I really do love her.  Serious!

I just pissed off

an old friend of mine.

I've known this friend since 2005.  She is an odd duck.  She is very outspoken, can be very rude, exaggerates, doesn't see things clearly sometimes.  I know her and know how she is.  So I take things she says with a grain of salt and always knowing that there is something else behind what she says.  She can have a tendency to lie.  I think she has some mental issues and that is why I have tried to stay her friend.  She can be very nice and would do anything for you.  As long as she didn't get offended or pissed off.  She can blow up and hate someone with a passion - but then a month later can be friendly with them.  Bi-polar, maybe?  Serious.  I do think she has mental issues.  Her husband has stuck by her through thick and thin.  Sometimes I wonder why I am her friend.

Earlier this year, she up and left her family.  Well, I shouldn't say she up and left.  She goes back every morning to get her girls ready for school - but she spends the night at her boyfriends house.  I have talked with her soon to be ex-husband a few times.  And we usually talk for quite a while - he needs someone to talk to.  She has totally gone off the deep end.  Her language is outrageous.  She is drinking.  She has completely abandoned what she believed in and now feels like the Mormons are stupid idiots (although I believe she calls us "F-ing Mormons").  She makes no bones about how she feels about the LDS Church (which if she feels that way, fine - but she shouldn't dog on those who believe). 

I have tried to stay friends with her - at least on FB.  I don't particularly want to talk to her, but thought that FB would be a way I could handle her.  She has been a friend and no matter what she believes, I am her friend.  (Although I would rather her not think of me as an F-ing Mormon.)

All that changed with a FB post and subsequent comments between us and her boyfriend.  Without going into details, lets just say that I have hidden all her posts.  Not only does she think I am out of place by trying to get her to be nice about her ex-husband, but her boyfriend thinks that everyone who didn't appreciate their negative comments are closed-minded idiots.

I am a bit upset that the whole thing went down and I probably should have kept my comments to myself.  But I didn't want to sit by and watch her be so derogatory to her soon-to-be ex-husband.  Oh well.  Life goes on.  She wouldn't want to hang out or talk to an F-ing Mormon anyway!

If anyone knows a single young lady that has lots of patience, I am looking to find a nice young lady to hook up with Stacey.  This lady would have to have patience to get involved in someone with an ex-wife like Lindsey - but Stacey is a nice guy who needs a nice lady, someone who is not crazy!

Semi-relief

I have to admit.  I have been totally selfish with this whole government shutdown.  I just want a paycheck!  We've had our fair share of financial hardship times in our marriage.  We were at a point where other than the furloughs from earlier this year stressing me out, we were financially okay.  We didn't have an over abundance of money, but we had enough to pay our bills without me stressing constantly.

(in case a certain family member is reading this - and I'm sure she isn't - we do not have a ton of money because we now live in a "mansion".  Our house payments will have only gone up $75 a month once our veterans abatement kicks in in January.  So who wouldn't have done it?  There.  I've got that off my chest.)

So when this whole shutdown thing became a reality, I started to stress out big time.  I am a planner.  I have to plan my budget.  And not knowing when we will get paid is a killer for me.  My anxiety went through the roof - I haven't been sleeping, it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest and I feel like crying at the drop of a hat.

And it didn't help that people kept telling me not to worry about it.  Hello!  Major cutback in income.  Who wouldn't stress over that?

And to top it all off, Tim is gone.  He usually can calm me down - or get me pissed off telling me to calm down that I forget about being stressed about bills.  And, if he were home while this whole mess was going on, he could at least be working with a friend to bring in some money (unless he was a lucky one who still had to go to work and work without pay - which we now found out that they will get paid but we aren't sure if it will be on the normal payday or after the government opens up.).  Of course, he is active duty right now so he is working no matter what!

I am so grateful that we have our jobs and extremely grateful that we will get our paychecks at some point.  I feel soooo terrible for those people whose income depends on tourists or depends on employees who no longer frequent their establishment because they aren't working.  I can't imagine what those people are going through!

I hate to say it, but I'm glad the republicans are making a stand.  I was happy about it to begin with, although stressed about how it affected us right now.  I guess we'll see how this goes!

Lovely

Once again there are talks about a government shut down.  I won't go off on all the comments I'll read about how it is okay that government employees can take unpaid time off because others have had to do it.

You know why this is happening?  Because I worked through ways to pay off our debt earlier than anticipated.  Those plans will change with a shut down. 

Darn it!

Quilting

I have finally found what I absolutely love to do and can actually do it.  I'm still learning, but I will get better.

Growing up, I was taught that we all have talents and that we need to work to develop those talents.  I have to say that I have wondered for years and years what my talents are.

I can't dance.  I can't sing.  I can't play an instrument (although I can play the piano one handed).  I am not creative - I can't craft without copying, I can't make cards without copying, I can't make cute things out of nothing.  I can't decorate.  I really couldn't figure out what my talent was.  (Besides talking)

I have spent TONS of money of scrapbooking - but have no talent in putting cute pages together or cards together.  I tried to do that.  No good.  (Now I have to try to sell it all).

But making quilts and sewing...I love it.  I love to sew.  I'm not very good - my lines aren't perfectly straight and even.  But I love it.  I am trying different things. 

My first quilt was a family picture quilt:

I didn't know how to pick out fabrics, so the nice lady at the fabric store pulled out many different ones and I bought them all.  I have fun doing it!  I wish I had done it differently now, but I enjoyed that quilt so much.

Then I made a quilt for my aunt:

This was a special quilt for me.  I found the pattern and immediately thought of Aunt Mary and knew I had to make it.  I sent it up at Thanksgiving and she passed away just before Christmas.

I bought lots of patterns and different fabrics for my next quilt - and I made a turning twenty quilt.  But I only pieced the top and haven't done anything else yet.

I made another quilt - red, black and white.  It is gorgeous!  I have the backing and the batting, but don't feel confident enough to quilt the top.  And it costs money to have someone professionally do it.  But I really like it.  It isn't perfect - but I'm learning!

I love the border fabric!  I want to make a quilt with that fabric as the main fabric.  Love love love it.

I made a baby quilt for a friend - I did it all.  This was the first quilt (baby quilt) I did from start to finish.  I quilted the top all by myself!  Oh, it wasn't a good job - but I tried my best.  And a baby won't notice if the lines weren't straight!

I've gotten the sewing bug, I tell you!

A month ago, I had the desire to make another ribbon quilt.  This time for my new neighbor, Tina.  Her sister, Terrie, died from breast cancer 4 years ago.  I couldn't NOT do it - even though I didn't want to quilt another one because the first one was special to me.  I knew I needed to make one more ribbon quilt.  So I spent the next couple of weeks piecing it and then quilting it together.  The entire time I thought of my friend Tina and a woman I never met.  I really enjoyed it.

(Picture to come soon)

I recently made this bag:

I can't say how much I love it!  It is BIG.  Tim thought I was kidding him when I told him I was using that as my purse.  It fits everything in nicely.   I love that fabric and bought the rest of the bolt a couple of years ago - but when I asked Tim if he liked it, he said he didn't.  So I new a quilt was out for our room and tried to figure out how to use the fabric (I didn't have a ton of it - but it could have been a pretty main fabric for a quilt).  I decided that a purse would be perfect.  Love it!

And now I'm almost done with my Halloween wall hanging.  It is long enough for a lap quilt, but narrow.  So a wall hanging it will be!  I'm very excited.  Once I finish it, I'll post a picture.  Again, I'm not impressed with my quilting - I think I need a walking foot to make it better.  But once I wash it, it will be better.

I have all these ideas of things I want to sew - pillows, bags, blankets, CD holders.  I can't sleep at night because I'm thinking of something new to sew! 

Too bad the money isn't there to do all I want to do!

But I finally found my talent!

Homework

I know I have complained about this - and since it is a big part of our life now it will be a bigger deal - but homework is driving me crazy!

The first day of school, homework was a mess.  Some days are better.  Some days are worse.

If Sterling doesn't get enough sleep - forget it.

If Sterling is sick - forget it.

If Sterling is hyper - forget it.

And rarely is Sterling NOT hyper. I can't get him to sit through 5 minutes of homework without having to tell him to focus on his homework atleast 5 times.  No joke.

It is so hard to see him struggle.  He can't seem to write any sentences.  He is really struggling with his spelling this year. 

I wish I could wave a wand and have his issues cleared up so he could catch onto things easily.

We had his IEP last Friday.  His regular teacher (Mr. Willis) said that he is practically perfect in class - he is quiet, he answers questions, he ask questions, and he seems to be able to stay on task (even if it means he isn't doing much, he isn't making any distractions).  He hasn't had any problems.  Now his Resource teacher (a female) has said that he gets distracted easily, distracts the other kids, won't stay on task.  His reading comprehension is at a 4th grade level but his site words are at a 2nd grade level.  He can do basic math - but it is harder for him to get other concepts. 

Add all of that to his speech impediment and life is just grand!

I seriously can't wait until Christmas break!

Uncle Ken

I woke up this morning to get a call from my mom.  My Uncle Ken passed away.

Uncle Ken, Dad
Aunt Bernice, Aunt Valene

Growing up, he was like a second dad to me.  I loved, loved, loved to see my Uncle Ken and Aunt Nancy.  We would go to their house for a weekend and we (me and my sister who ALWAYS had to go to bed earlier than everyone else.  wonder why?)  would fall asleep in one of the beds to wake up on the floor in the living room.  We would play cards.  We would play with their dog (I remember feeding Skippy peanuts one time.  Loved that dog!)  Aunt Nancy would cook (we loved it when she came to our house - she would cook and clean the kitchen).  Uncle Ken was my protector from my cousin Brent.  I lived with them for a few weeks before and after college started.  I would drink their nasty diet drinks because that is all they had.  Good memories.

In their old house, they had stairs going up and stairs going down right next to each other.  Brent had my half-way up the stairs pretending to throw me over the edge to the other stairs.  I was so scared and I remember screaming and crying.  Uncle Ken made Brent stop and then I sobbed and sobbed on Uncle Ken's shoulder.

I was told that when I was little, I doted on Uncle Ken.  My parents told me it was hilarious - as soon as they would walk in the door I would ask Uncle Ken what he wanted.  I would get him drinks.  I would get him food.  I would do whatever he wanted me to do.

I am going to miss that man!

School!

I have to admit - I'm not one of those parents who are sad to see their kids go off to school.  I'm jumping for joy!

But I'm also not a stay-at-home mom.  I am a mom who hates to see her kid home all day with not a lot to do.  And I'm a mom who was paying $100 a week for daycare and hated to pay so much when my son was the one watching the other kids.  (We pulled him from day care a couple of years ago - so that equals a lot of time home alone until he met Brandon.)

Anywho, I love school.

Until the first day of homework and then I'm pulling my hair out.

And that first day of homework just happened to be the first day of school.  Yuck.

Now, it wouldn't be so bad if my son didn't have issues.  But he does.  So, 5 math problems turned into 25 minutes.  I won't even go into the writing assignment that didn't get done.

It didn't help that Ster was tired.  And that he wanted to play with his best friend and his best friend can't play in the evenings now.  (He was more than a tad upset that he wouldn't be able to play with Brandon until Friday)

Now I'm on the countdown until Christmas break!

One Year

One year ago, we made a major decision that changed our lives for the better.  I can't believe it has already been a year!  This time last year we were waiting to hear back from Ivory Homes on whether or not they accepted our offer for our house. 

Two years ago I had fallen in love with an Ivory Home house plan called the "Mapleton" and we almost signed on the dotted line.  But we just couldn't do it.  For a 1575 (Main level) square foot house on half an acre, we were looking at $275,000 (and that did not include granite countertops and have vinyl flooring).  I loved that plan but it just didn't feel right.  (Side note:  that house plan on a smaller lot would have been $310,000 now)

Then last year, after the incident with our neighbors, we knew it was time to move - and Tim once again took me to an Ivory Homes salesman to look at a house.  I did not want a two-story house (which this was), nor did I want a corner lot (which this was) nor was I going to spend $330,000 on a house.  At that point, I didn't even think I wanted to build a house - all the landscaping work and fencing expenses was not something I wanted.

But we walked thru the model home (the "Tivoli") while waiting for our salesman.  And then the thought of building wasn't such a bad idea.  I mean, I had loved the "Mapleton" and it was an option for us.  As we wandered thru the house I slowly grew to love the Tivoli - the floor plan, the openness, the BATHROOM.  This house is 400 square feet larger on both levels and is absolutely perfect!

And so our journey began.  We put in our offer and waited for it to be accepted.  Our salesman laughed because the first time he saw me smile was when I signed on the dotted line - I was so resistant to the idea and finally just had to let my fear of change go and make the plunge (I mean, I knew at that point it was okay for us to move - fasting had given me that answer).  While waiting for the acceptance, I kept changing my mind on which house to build - we didn't need anything this big (our house has 1960 square feet on the main level) nor did we need to spend so much money (yes, it was well over what I wanted to spend, which was no more than $300,000).  I would change my mind (driving Tim crazy) but I just never felt comfortable with the decision until I would throw my arms up in the air and say "Okay the Tivoli it is" and then peace would come back.


One year later and we are all settled into our home (there are several unpacked boxes downstairs still - but obviously we don't need them).

We love it here.  We love our ward.  We love love love our neighbors.

Life is good.

Humor

One more reason I love my neighborhood -

Our neighbor is too funny.  The wife and son are out of town, so we have been checking on the husband.  He has some medical issues so we (along with other family members and another neighbor) have been checking on him daily.  While we were visiting yesterday, I told him that his family seemed so familiar to me when we met - that it seemed like I had already met them.

Not skipping a beat, he said:  Yea, you saw us on America's Most Wanted.

It was great!

Sterling

I wish I could post a recent picture of my Ster.  But pull the camera out and he hides his face or makes stupid faces.  I know I've mentioned the...um...fun times that Sterling and I have.  I love that kid so much - yet he can drive me crazy faster than greased lightning!  He is growing up so fast - he is probably 3 inches shorter than me now.  He's quite hefty.  Although he isn't book smart, he is one smart cookie.  He's also a sassy kid that is already acting like a teenager.  Heaven help us!  He argues over everything.  He is stubborn.  He is so precious.  He makes me laugh over the funniest little things.  He melts me because he still likes to hold my hand when we are walking places.  He has a funny sense of humor.  I just love that kid!  Even when I want to throw my arms up in the air out of frustration.

We left him up in Idaho with Tim's mom and sister.  For a month.  With all the arguing that Sterling and I do, I thought I'd be thrilled to give him and kiss and a hug and a goodbye!

But I seriously cried like a baby when we pulled away.

I LEFT MY CHILD FOR A MONTH!

I still can't believe that he is gone for a whole month!  I can't believe I actually agreed to that! 

He has been gone for a week at a time and I usually call and check on him daily.  And I've been okay with that.  BUT A MONTH?  What was I thinking?

Tim says it is preparing me for scout camp next year.  Whatever. 

I miss him.

Spiders...ew!

So we all know I am petrified of spiders.  And, unfortunately I've turned Ster into a wimp when it comes to spiders.

Saturday evening Tim and I were working in the yard.  I saw this HUGE spider on the foundation.  And in typical Teri fashion - I started to jump up and down and squeal.  Tim couldn't figure out what he was supposed to kill (other than assuming it was a spider) and Duke didn't know what he needed to protect me from, either.  I finally managed to tell him where it was - after it had moved.

Unfortunately, my neighbors were watching.  Oops.

Then, it was dark and we were pulling the new neighbors weeds when I thought I saw a mouse run toward me through the weeds.  Nope.  A shadow.

Again, neighbors were witnesses to my screaming and jumping.

On the bright side - Ster is BEST BUDS with the new boy next door.  And, I survived my first day of 4-10's.  I'm oh-so-tired, but I survived!

Vacation

I need a vacation!

I have been so cranky at work.  Every time I think it can't get worse, it does.  I am starting to be quite testy with my co-workers - and I'm sure they are getting tired of working with me.  I can't say anything to the people in charge because they won't do anything about it.  They are part of the problem!  At times, I think I work with idiots - not everyone, but just a couple of people.

For instance.  I hate to go somewhere and have to wait while the workers talk to each other.  I think it is rude.  I can't tell you the number of times that we have had citizens come into the office and be ignored by two of my co-workers because they are talking to each other or other co-workers.  Instead of telling the co-worker to hold on a minute and help the customer, they continue their discussion and make the person wait.  Tacky and annoying.  I've talked to the ladies in charge about it and explained that I think it is rude.  They agree - but haven't done anything to change it.

I have one co-worker who grazes all day.  She is diabetic and so she snacks quite a bit.  She starts around 8:30 a.m. with fruit and then later on chips or nuts or crackers and then her lunch and then crunchy veggies.  It seems to go on all day long.  Drives me crazy because she doesn't always close her mouth and I can hear it in my office.  I can actually hear the squoosh squoosh as she is chewing.  (and this is not the gum-popper)  And it looks terrible when someone walks in and she is eating a sandwich right there - and really terrible when they see her take a bite (she will take a bite as they are walking through the doors)!  No manners!

I do have to say my all-time favorite was when the lady transferred a call without telling the customer she was being transferred.  When my other co-worker picked up the phone, the customer was talking.  She waited a second and then interrupted and explained who it was and asked if she could help her.  The customer said, "Was I just transferred?  I didn't know I was being transferred to someone - I was still explaining what I needed."

Today, the one lady was talking to a fireman.  It was about city business, but there were people waiting at the counter to be helped.  I stepped into the back to go to the bathroom (or have a potty accident right there) and when I came back a couple of minutes later, the customers were still waiting.  I was shocked and embarrassed.  The employees could have put their conversations on hold to help the customers.  I wasn't too nice.  I loudly apologized for making them wait and then made my co-worker finish helping them (I couldn't take their payment anyway).

I tell ya, they are going to hate working with me if I don't have an attitude adjustment soon!  I really need a vacation.

On the bright side:  we met our new neighbors today.  They are FINALLY moving in!  (Their house has been completed for over 3 months).  They are coming from California and have a son a year younger than Sterling.  They hit it off!  While we were talking to the parents, the two boys were talking about Star Wars and Legos and gaming.  The mom is 10 years older than me and the husband is 20 years older than her.  And they are sooooo nice!  I worried that they would be stuck up or weird or something - but they are down to earth and friendly.  The mom and son were baptized in March and the dad has been inactive his entire life.  He has children in AF that are apparently almost as old as his wife (obviously she is his second wife).  He has a walker and will be in a wheelchair in the future.  So nice.  I am so excited to have them here!

HELP!

How do you tell a co-worker that their gum habits are driving you crazy?

I'm sorry - but I do not want to hear the squoosh squoosh squoosh of someone chewing their gum.  I don't want to hear the constant popping as they chomp away on their gum.  And I DEFINITELY don't want to see their gum as they happily chew away with their mouths open.

Disgusting.

And I have to live with that daily.

Be thankful

you don't work with me.  I am so cranky.  I would hate to work with me!

I am not the office manager.  We don't have one.  I am not in charge of all the machines - otherwise things would be a bit different.  I am not the only one who uses those machines.

So why on earth am I the only one who can fetch the paper and change the toner and change the staples?

COME ON PEOPLE!  LEARN, DARNIT, LEARN!

I can't tell you the number of times I've gone to make a copy and the machine being out of paper.  I look in the cupboard for a ream - and guess what?  IT'S EMPTY!  So, I go to the back and lug a box of paper to the front.  But low and behold - the box is have empty!  Yes, my lovely co-workers refuse to carry a box (which, I admit is heavy - but for heck sakes we have guys walking through here all the time - ask them to carry it!) and so they will go back and get one ream of paper.  One.  Do you know how long that lasts?  Enough for them to get their copies and then to get through half of mine so I get the pleasure of bringing a box forward.

Good grief.  At least bring 4 or 5!  The one lady out front will bring 1 ream.  I've seen her over and over.  Yet I'm too chicken to tell her to bring more.

Yesterday, the black toner started beeping it was low.  Wanna know how hard it is to change?  Well, I'm gonna tell ya.  You open the box, take the round cylinder out of the box, twist the cylinder half a circle in the machine, take it out, put in the new cylinder, twist it half a circle, close the door.  It takes 30 seconds.  But for some reason, no one else can figure out how to do it - even though I've changed it right before their eyes before.

I have to keep reminding myself that I love my job. 

The good things about today?  We picked up Ster (who has been at my parents since Sunday) and I got to see my brother (who is here from Missouri).

Grass

We have grass!

Last Thursday evening, our sod arrived.  So we spent three hours (with the help of a friend for about an hour) getting the sod laid in the front yard and the small strip down the side yard.  As they were unloading, I started to lay the sod in the park strip.  I laid half the first pallet down by myself!  Tim was helping the dude unload the pallets and directing him where to go, so I started laying the sod.  I was afraid I'd be hot and sweaty and miserable.  I was miserable all right - but the terrible winds kept me pretty cool!  Since we are in a new subdivision and the lots to the north aren't ready, we get some pretty good sand blowing around.  And I now know what Tim went through when they had the sand storms in Afghanistan - and it wasn't nearly as bad as over there.  I was peppered with sand/dirt and boy did it hurt my legs!  But, I worked through it and we got a lot accomplished.  Granted, the last of the sod was laid in the dark but it got done.  We even swept up the dirt from the front before we went to bed.

And it was gross after we finished that night.  I had dirt in my eyes (my contacts didn't like me), in my ears, up my nose, in my pockets, in my socks, in my mouth.  I had my hair pulled back, but between the wind and the sand, I could hardly brush it.  My face was gritty, too.  And my neck.  My whole body!  I had to wash my hair twice - and it still felt gross!

We woke up the next morning at 6 a.m. and started on the back yard.  With the help of two neighbors, we had it done by 10 a.m.  By the time we finished, I was grunting every time I kneeled down and got up.  I don't remember ever working that hard!

One neighbor said he was impressed that I was out there working.  I was kind of surprised - it is my house so why wouldn't I be out there? 

When we finished, I went in and bathed again (it wasn't as windy, but still was windy) and then crashed.  I didn't get out of bed until almost 4.  I could hardly move.

Not only were we laying sod, but the concrete guys were there for our RV pad.  Quite impressive.  We had a lot of concrete poured.  We cut out the curb for a new drive approach, back about 65 feet and being the garage.  Our trailer will fit quite nicely behind our fence (which will be installed next year).

Here are some before and after pictures:

And in typical Lurker Luck - it looked so good but we now have areas that are bright yellow.  One, we didn't water as we installed it so it went into shock.  Two, the winds are so bad at our house that the sprinklers weren't hitting some areas - the sprinklers were aiming correctly but the wind helped keep the areas dry.  So we are battling that. 

Here is part of our concrete pad.  Maybe I'll get pictures of it completed =)  It had to be poured on two days.  Okay, so your can't really see it - but the back portion is poured.

I am so glad that the hard part is over!

SERIOUSLY?!?

Ster fractured his wrist.  Poor boy.

Sterling had the opportunity to go with a friend up to Island Park for the weekend.  And let me tell you - once I got past the paranoid stage of him being gone (and I got over the election/webpage mishap), I enjoyed the weekend very much!  While we were putting in the sprinkler heads I didn't have to hear "I'm hot" or "I'm bored" or "I'm hungry".  I started to miss him Sunday afternoon.  It was fun for him - he went fishing, riding a 4-wheeler, and all sorts of fun stuff (while fishing, he caught our friend's dog).  He had a blast.

Then they come home and I feed him dinner and he goes to play at Paul's house.

(side note:  he went with Paul and Paul's grandpa, who is our neighbor)

They come back and get a bit bored.  Paul is an active child (which we love) and he has gotten Ster out and about.  Paul wanted to ride his bike.  Ster did not.  So I told Ster that he either went in and had a shower and then went to bed - or he head out with Paul for about 30 minutes and then come home.  So he went out riding a bike with Paul.

Ten minutes later, here comes Paul with no Ster.  At first, I thought Paul must have left him in the dust.  Then he said Ster crashed and thought his arm was broken.  Yikes!  I sent Tim (in his truck) to fetch him because I didn't want to see any blood or anything like that.  I knew it wasn't good when Tim came flying around the corner.  Off to the ER.

Ster was more upset because it was his "gaming arm" and he wouldn't be able to play video games.

Little fart.

My luck hasn't gotten any better!

Friday was not a fun day.

Friday at 5 p.m. was the deadline for people to file to run for Mayor or Council.  Friday morning, we had only 2 candidates for Mayor and 3 for City Council.  I was hoping we would only get one person to come in and file for City Council so it would be 2 for Mayor and 4 for Council.  Why?  Because then we wouldn't have to have a Primary election.  Not that I don't like elections - they are kind of fun - but I always have problems finding Election judges.  So if I had one less election to stress over I would have been happy. 

No such luck.  Two men came in and filed.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  However - think about it for a moment.  There are 2 positions open for City Council.  5 people running.  The primary election cuts the candidates down so that there are 2 people running for each spot in the General Election.  So.....1 candidate will be eliminated in the Primary.  I hate to see people lose.  So to see 1 person get cut is pretty sad.   (I won't mention the amount of money it takes to run an election.)

Anywho - at 5 p.m. we locked the doors and sent off the required notices.  Okay, so my boss sent off the required notices and I worked on getting the information on the City's website.  I got the information on one page done slicker than snot.  Then I decided that it would be good for the notice to be put on the front page of the city's website.  So I added the information and hit update.

And all the important information disappeared.  Completely gone. 

My heart sunk and I felt sick to my stomach.  I cried.  I had to call the lady over the website and explain what I did.  She was not happy - and I totally don't blame her! 

Luckily for us, my boss had the front page up when I deleted the information and it was still on his computer - so a cut and paste and email to me saved my hind end!  We still had to add links and uploads - but it saved my hind end.

Then I came home to lots of work.  Our sprinkler system is FINALLY done.  Now we only have to wait until Thursday evening for our sod to be delivered.

that alone makes me happy!

Lurker Luck

strikes again!  Of course.  What else is new?

So we have been waiting for what seems like forever to get our grass in.  If I had my way, I would magically wiggle my nose and it would be done.  Unfortunately, things like sprinkling systems and leveling and top soil get in the way.

We finished putting our sprinkling system in a couple of weeks ago.  Long, hard work.  We decided to do it ourselves so that we would save $2500.  Tim did 99% of the work. So, for the last couple of weeks we have had the funny pipe sticking out of our ground - with rocks and sinking trenches.  We've been raking and trying to get rocks out ever since then.  We've enjoyed the rain because it would sink the trenches and we could fill them in and wait for the next rain.

We haven't had any progress on our yard because we are waiting for the concrete person to come and pour our rv pad (you know - so we can get our trailer to our house instead of being stored at our friends house!).  The guy we were working with came about 2 1/2 months ago and gave us a bid and we decided to go with him - knowing that it would be 3 weeks before he got here.  We were fine with that because we still had to put in the sprinkling system.  He came about a month ago and dug out the park strip and that was all.  We haven't heard back from him.  Tim has called and called and sent text message after text message.  He was the cheapest and he has done work for Tim's co-workers and they were pleased with his work.  Luckily we didn't pay him anything.  But we have called others and the cost has been about $750 more than the first guy - and we barely had the month for the first guy!  We had another person give us an over-the-phone bid (he is coming this Friday) and his price is very reasonable and would include the entire pad and not the front portion like we were going to do.  Of course, he didn't come when he said he would, either!

We gave up and finally ordered topsoil and sod - knowing that the areas with concrete going in with just be unfinished for a while longer.  We paid a lot of money for the topsoil and to have it spread.  So what happens?  The guy runs over the green box and breaks our pressurized irrigation line and water (now mud) is all around that area.

So instead of finishing leveling the topsoil tonight and installing the sprinkler heads tomorrow and Saturday, we have to make that repair and then start the rest.  I hope we are ready for sod next Thursday!

Clear Creek

I am on the count down for Clear Creek!  We signed Sterling up and I can't tell you how excited I am.  Okay, so I'm a bit nervous to be sending him off for a week without family there.  Who knows how he will act - but I'm sure he'll be fine around others because it is only around us that he acts up.

One week of freedom!  Of course, I may be a nervous wreck when the time actually comes.

Then, we are going to be sending him to Idaho for a couple of weeks to spend time with Tim's mom and his Sister and her kids.  Oh....we he is going to love it!

If I'm this excited about a week without my son, can you imagine how excited I will be when he is actually a teenager?  I'm not sure we are going to survive his pre-teen attitude - you know, the rolling of the eyes, telling us not to yell at him when we aren't, getting mad at us for teasing him, and the I-know-everything-you-know-nothing attitude.  I thought that started closer to 13.  Wrong.  It started 3 years ago!

Remember

the neighbors behind us in our old house?  You know, the ones who finally drove us from our home?  The ones with the kids living in the trailer 2 feet from my back fence for 6 years?  The ones with 3 old vehicles parked in the back yard with lots of junk?  Well.....

We heard today from another old neighbor that Barb, the lady who owns the home, was visibly pissed off at church when it was brought up that we sold our house to a rental company.  She feels it should be illegal to rent out homes in certain neighborhoods and she isn't happy with us.

Really? This coming from the lady who is letting her children live ILLEGALLY in a trailer?

This coming from the lady who doesn't care that her kids are all into drugs and doesn't believe when people tell them about it?

I have to admit that when I heard that, I giggled.  She (and her hubby) only have themselves to blame.  Maybe they should have cleaned up their property.  Of those who came to look at our house, 90% of them mentioned the condition of the home behind us.  I don't blame them.  When I bought the house, it wasn't that bad.  I remember looking into the back yard and into the neighbors yard and nothing stuck out as being icky.  I don't mind an old looking trailer.  That doesn't bother me.  It is the gatorade bottle holding open a window, a black tarp covering a leak, and duck tape on the windows that bugs me.  And it sure wasn't like that when we moved in!  nor was it right next to the fence.

But now, there is no way I would even consider buying that house.  We would have taken one look at that and would know that we couldn't live with that.

So it is no wonder that the only people we could sell to was a rental company that didn't even look at the house first.

But now I'm a bit bugged by the fact that she is upset with us for selling to a rental company.  Why should she be mad at us?  She needs to look at her own property with a critical eye and see what needs to be changed.  My house wasn't perfect and it needed updating, but I think we would have had a better shot at selling if they weren't trashy.

Anyway, I'm hoping that I don't stew about this all night long.  I'm starting to feel really guilty now and wondering who else is mad.

Lovely.

I do want to thank them, though.  I absolutely love it here.  If it wasn't for them, we'd still be in that house (which I did love - but not as much as this home!)

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is sweet.

Sometimes I'd like to be like a child and forget the hassles of the day before and start fresh.  I wake up and always seem to remember what happened the day before.

Take last night, for example.  We had a major homework blowup.  It was not fun around our house - we even scared off my niece and her boyfriend!  Ster has gotten in the habit of saying he can't do it.  And I have gotten into the habit of saying "Yes, you can.  You aren't trying."  Well, it ended up in a battle of epic proportions.  He didn't know the meanings of any of the words he had to know and he couldn't read out of the dictionary because the words were too little and he couldn't figure out the correct answer because he didn't know it.  Frustrating.

This morning, Sterling woke up as happy as can be and was just as cheerful as ever.  He sure didn't act like the pissed-off boy he was yesterday.  And he wasn't in the least bit mad at me for getting on him last night.

Last night he hated me.

This morning he loves me.

Scouts

I've been called to work in scouts again - I went from being the Cub Scout Committee Chair to the Scout Committee Chair in our new ward.  Um.......I'm a bit nervous.  I don't like scouts!  I hated to go to the Pack Nights because I thought they were dumb.  So what happened?  I was called to the cub scouts.  I went to one on those Court of Honor things and thought it was boring.  I was grateful when we moved because I was out of cub scouts.  Now I'm back into scouts.

I'm a bit nervous!  I have no idea how things work.  Tim has explained over and over some aspects of scouts - but because I wasn't interested I didn't care and didn't remember.

Well, I better start remembering things!

Nursery

We were extended callings today.  Since we can't say what they are (maybe the people in the ward will not sustain me), I will say that the Nursery is starting to look like a better option!

a miracle!

We've experienced a miracle at our house.  Actually, a couple of miracles.

First, Ster and I have been reading about Franklin D. Roosevelt for their Wax Museum.  I read to him the first day    (he had to read 90 pages in 3 days.  Do you know how long that would take us to read a 90 page book?  A lot longer than 3 days)     and questioned him on what we read.  He remembered most of it the next day.  Except he couldn't pronouce Polio.  I was so proud of him.  He even remembered what they read on Tuesday night (I was at a meeting).  Last night, I read again to him (we read 30 pages the first day, they read 15 pages the second day, and we had to finish the rest) and we talked about it and then after an hour or so we worked on his graphic organizer.  We started to list things about FDR.  And Sterling remembered several things.  A miracle!  If it isn't a video game or a movie, he doesn't remember as well.

Second, as we were writing his lists down he wrote his own sentence.  Miracle!

It might sound silly to most people considering he is in 5th grade and it is a miracle he wrote his own sentence.  But we struggle DAILY with the simple homework tasks that most kids can do easily.  A good chunk of that is because he is working with us - his resource teacher has said that he can do things in class if he tries.  But I don't recall him writing his own sentence without help from us.  As I realized he was writing his sentence without ANY prompting from me, I started to do a happy dance inside - but it sure burst out when he completed the sentence.  I guess he liked my reaction because he came up with his own sentence again later on and was so proud of it.

Maybe, just maybe, we will survive school age years!

And maybe, just maybe, he will graduate!  (we are now into geometry.  i am really bad at geometry!)

I'm a what?!? Gasp!

I'm a B*^ch.  Gasp!

I'm one because lady didn't pay her bill and her water was shut off today and I'm a b*^ch for not working with her.  The city has been absolutely horrible since the 18 months she has been living here - she's been turned off twice and we aren't willing to work with her.

Surprisingly, I didn't get upset.

Usually, when I have people getting upset with me, I get shaky and upset and nervous - and sometimes snarky.  This time, I actually remained calm and didn't get upset or snarky with her.  I apologized that her water was turned off but explained that once it is shut off, we do require the bill be paid in full with a $50 turn on fee and that we could not waive that fee nor add it to her next bill. 

But man am I a b and we are all b*^thes and the hardest to work with and she hates it here.  Why can't we be willing to work with her?

I really hate shut-off time.  I hate telling people that they have to pay in full plus that $50. I feel bad for them.  Well, not so much the ladies who come in with fake nails and hair three different colors and designer jeans - cuz we usually see them a few times a year.  come on - skip the nails and hair colorings and pay your bills!   Yes, I'm being judgemental - but if you can afford all that, you can afford to pay your bill.  However, those ladies usually pay their fees without blinking an eye.  Come on!  That $50 is a new shirt - would they rather have water and a new shirt or no water for a few hours and no new shirt. 

And since I had to help cover lunch and help the people who were turned off, it was fun.

And now on to my fun-filled evening:  city meetings. 

Neighbors

Have I mentioned how much I love our area?  When we moved, I decided to be a bit more outgoing and meet my neighbors.  I haven't been too successful with that.  But everyone here is SO nice!  Before we moved in, we met a man who is the neighborhood watch.  He was always checking on the houses to make sure things were going okay.  He is one of the nicest people alive - he has a great sense of humor and drives his mule (I think that is what they are called - the two seater thingy-majigs).  He is down to earth, cusses a bit, and is an old retired fart.  But we love him to death.  We've already taken him and his wife bread and leftover BBQ goodies.  He comes over and offers tips.  He is fabulous.

As we've gotten to know more neighbors, we've come to love this area more.  We bought some outdoor furniture for our porch and I just love to sit there in the evenings (when it hasn't been too cold) and watch all the people come by who are looking at the area.  It is nice to see and talk to our neighbors who are out taking walks.

There isn't a person here that I haven't enjoyed talking to.

I was a bit worried about two miss snooty-patooties.  One lady who lives the closest to us seemed kind of snooty.  I would wave and she would just kind of look at me.  But we talked a couple of weeks ago and she is really nice.  I'm going to think that she just didn't recognize me to wave or say hi at church.  She is beautiful and stylish - and I am a plain jane, pimply fat chick who gets intimidated by beautiful, skinny ladies.  But after talking to her, I've realized that she is really nice and probably shy like me.

The other miss snooty-patooty is drop dead gorgeous and it is so obvious they have money.  We talked at a Relief Society gathering (she is the one that the conversation included knowing where people live by the name of their floor plan.  I'm a Tivoli.  She's a San Marino.)  She was really nice then, but went and sat by some of the other ladies who are now in the other ward who are kind of clicky.  Anyway, I have waved at her since then and she has been okay to wave back sometimes.  She seems nice at church, but we haven't really talked since then.  But they have money.  Her favorite activity (we found this out at RS) is to take trips to San Fransisco with her hubby.  And they have a big boat.  Her style of clothing reeks of money.  Her wedding ring is HUGE.  Her husband is an attorney for a big company.  She hasn't been overly friendly with the neighbors and doesn't really talk to them much.  So, I decided that I am going to be really nice and get to know her.  I'm sure she is nice but probably shy.  She won't be a snooty-patooty much longer around me!  I'm taking a page from Tim's book and going to start talking to everyone.  He finds a friend no matter where he is.

Hope of America

Sterling participated in the Hope of America program at BYU's Marriot Center on Wednesday.  It was pretty good!  We got there waaayyyyy early.  The instructions said to be there by 6:15 - but I was told it gets crazy and that we should get there well before then.  So we got there at 5:30.  And then had to wait for two hours for it to start.

It was a long night.

But enjoyable once they started performing.

But.....I had to take potty breaks.  Now, I don't like to use public restrooms.  Especially icky, old ones.  The Marriot Center's restrooms were in the middle range.  See, I don't like to listen to others and their....um....stinky issues.  I gag when I hear others....how shall I say this?.....have the the hershey squirts.  I don't necessarily like listening to others piddle, either, but that isn't too bad.  And I can't stand the nasty hershey squirts smells.  I've walked into too many restrooms with that smell that makes me want to gag.

So it wasn't pleasant for me to have to piddle.  Three times. Ugh.

The last piddle break, I walked into one unpleasant smelling bathroom.  I was trying not to breathe.  I wanted to cover my mouth but thought that may be a bit rude incase the person who left the smell was still there.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a free stall and I had to wait.  In the meantime, two little girls walked in right past me and took the next open stalls.  I couldn't stand the smell so I went in search of another restroom.

And I found it.  And it didn't smell!  I was so pleased.  Until I saw the worker cleaning up vomit.

I don't do well with vomit.  If I see or hear it, I am trying not to do it myself.  I'd rather not look at it, but at least I don't gag when I see it - as long as it isn't fresh or smelly.  I had to try real hard not to gag.  And I couldn't look at it.  But it must have shown on my face because a lady was laughing at me.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to get in a stall so I didn't have to see it - but I started to gag in there.  Not so pleasant.

The best part?  Just as I reach to flush the toilet, the lady next to me had the hershey squirts.

I almost died.  But I did manage to wash my hands before I hurried out of the restroom.

Note to self:  Don't drink anything next time!

Kitchen snob

I have to admit that I am a KITCHEN SNOB!

Ever since we started building this house, I have become a kitchen snob.  We have three homes around us that are finished but unoccupied.  Two of them are sold and one is still for sale.  (Wierd - if I was buying a house I'd be ready to move in right away and not let it sit there for 2 months.  No joke.  2 months.)  I have walked through all three of them.  And you know what?  None of the kitchens are up to par for me.

One home (the one not sold) has a kitchen a bit smaller than our old kitchen.  Not acceptable to me.  However, when my sister-in-law saw it she fell in love with how big the kitchen and dining area was.  (Her kitchen/dining area would fit in my front room with room to spare - itty, bitty kitchen).

One home will have new tenants in about 4 weeks (we've met them and they are really nice).  Their kitchen is an upgrade from the first one.  But it still isn't acceptable to me.  The pantry is too small.  There isn't nearly the cupboard space and there wouldn't be an extra 4 drawers for my pens and paper drawers.  And I don't like the setup.

The third home is right next to our home.  We have not met the new owners; we hear they are from California.  I certainly hope they are nice.  This home is a two story home and is very pretty; however, I could never live there because I would get dizzy every time I walked upstairs.  (I'd get a bit dizzy in the other two homes - but this home I get dizzy in at the top of the stairs and just looking up at the windows in the two-story family room).  That kitchen is bigger than the other two, but still not acceptable.  Again, there isn't enough cupboards or cabinets.  It is shaped a bit funny.  The kitchen island may be a bit bigger than ours (which is 72" long) but it has a big cutout for the sink.  That would be nice when cutting veggies - but for some reason I love, love, love having a big island to spread out on and a sink would be in the way.

So, we better stay in this house forever because I just wouldn't be happy with any other kitchen!

(Lets put it this way - I am pretty sure our kitchen area would fit in the kitchen/dining area of our old house.  It is  19 feet by 10 feet.  I really don't mean to brag)

In the wake

of the Boston Marathon tragedy - please ignore my previous posts for prayers.  It was tacky.

Please pray for me

Since everyone seems to ask for prayers for themselves or for other on facebook, I thought I'd ask for a prayer for me.

Please pray for me that they don't call me to the nursery.

Okay, so I shouldn't be joking around about prayers.  But I couldn't resist.

Today was our first day in the "new" ward.  We only had sacrament meeting since they weren't able to extend all of the callings by now.  I knew I was pretty safe from a "big" calling (i.e. presidency of some sort) because they would have called me by now.  We sustained all of the presidencies - which leaves the little worker bees. 

I am so stressed that I will get a nursery calling.  I am not good with kids.  Take my son, for example.  Half the time I'm the world's worst mother, according to him.  The other half of the time he likes me because he got something he wanted.  Don't get me wrong - I think little kids are really, really cute.  As long as I am not responsible for them.  Put me in a room full of little kids and I tense up and then they act up.

I am so dreading the call from the bishopric.  If it isn' nursery, it'll be primary and that isn't much better for me!  I've been a primary teacher, and I am terrible at it!  I can prepare and prepare and prepare and STILL not make it any fun for the kids.

Maybe we won't answer any phones this week!  I know what the executive secretary's name is =)

Homework

Now that spring break is over, here comes the dreaded homework.  I can't wait until summer!

Let me give you a glimpse of our homework life.  I walk in the door after work.  I set my purse down.  We sit down at the kitchen table to begin homework.  When Ster first started at his new school, he loved it and was so excited to do his homework.  Two pages of math (usually), a Time For Kids assignment, sometimes Spelling.  It took us usually 45 minutes to do both math pages.  One, Ster can't focus long enough to do two problems in a row.  Two, he really struggles with understanding fractions.  If we are lucky, homework goes smoothly and we can spend 30 minutes reading.

The week before Spring Break, he came home with 6 math pages one night.  Now, these aren't 25 problems per page - but it may as well be!  The word problems are the worst.  Because even I (who did well in math) can't figure out how to explain things very well.  That wasn't a fun night - but atleast there wasn't any yelling.

Tonight I walk in the door and Ster tells me he has lots of math to do.  10 pages.  2 of them were from last week that he forgot to bring home.  But 10 pages!?!  Serious? 

It didn't help opening the mail and seeing that the lady that Tim hit in the accident wants our insurance coverage information.  The letter started off by saying that our coverage is up to this amount and anything over that we will be responsible for.  Then it says she wants our coverage amounts.  So what, is she going to get an attorney to sue?  Surely she won't ask for over $100,000 - but who knows these days!

So I wasn't in a good mood.  And the first words out of Ster's mouth were that he didn't understand his math.

Then the torture began.  The first 2 pages took an hour and a half - with lots of raised voices because he didn't understand it and I practically had to hold his hand.  That got old fast.  Tempers flaired.

It is now 8 p.m. (we had dinner and a break from the raised voices) and we have only those 2 pages done.  Um, we definitely won't get reading done tonight.  We'll be lucky to get 3 pages done!

Use your brains, Teri!

I almost peed my pants tonight.  But my heart attack beat peeing my pants.

I had to run to the store to get dinner for tomorrow.  And after getting stuck behind someone who doesn't know how to go one speed (he went from 35 to 45 and back to 35 in a short distance.  annoying!), we get stopped at the train track on west Main in Lehi. 

The railroad has such pretty lights and lovely arms that come down when a train is approaching.  I was several cars back, just so you know.  As I saw the Amtrack train go by, I started to think about taking a train trip.  And thinking about whether or not it would be fun or just plain long to take the train to Texas.

The arms go up.  The lights stay flashing.  The cars start to go.  I mean, the train already went by, right?

As I got closer to the tracks, the thought crossed my mind that I really should look both ways before I cross the tracks - especially if the lights are still flashing.  But just as fast, the thought crossed my mind that the lights always take a long time to stop flashing.

Just as I get to the arms....they start to come back down!

I had a heart attack.

I kept looking in my rear view for about a mile down the road but didn't see a train go by - only flashing lights.

But it serves as a reminder to double check.

Funny!

We met some soon-to-be neighbors tonight.  They are building down the street from us.  As we were talking about these homes, we discovered that both us our families knew it was time to move and both of us had looked in the past but couldn't do it for one reason or another.  Both husbands have served in the military.  Both families could only afford the homes we chose because of the low interest rates and the VA loan saving us PMI - otherwise we both would have had a much smaller home.  So much in common!

And both families sold our homes to American Homes 4 Rent. 

Go figure!  How ironic is that?  We were probably one of the first homes in Utah that they bought because no one had heard of them - and when we looked on their website, they didn't have any homes listed here.  Our new neighbors sold their house to them and then their friends sold their house to them.

Way too funny!