Friday, February 28, 2014

Expert Advice

Absolutely NOTHING going on in the office today. As I am enthralled with a texting conversation with my mom I'm also listening to Dale think out loud in the background. I finally put my phone down and started listening in. This is what I caught:
"It's really bad when you answer yourself instead of just talking to yourself. Well... sometimes you just need expert advice..." 
Haha, I thought that was pretty good.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Lesson Learned

I am incredibly susceptible to any kind of drug. (not that I've tried many) My most excruciating migraine can be gone with 500mg of acetaminophen, or sometimes just a few sips of coke or mountain dew. I cannot be around people when I take a NyQuil because I will act like I was out drinking all night, and it's incredibly annoying. Aright, so you get the point, right? Me + Drugs = NormalEffect^3 
Monday night I tossed and turned in bed for hours... I think I got 3 hours of sleep total, and not the good, deep sleep... the one where you still know what's going on around you, just with your eyes closed. I hate insomnia. So Tuesday night Phil suggested that I take a Tylenol PM so I could get some rest, and I concurred since I hate sleepless nights. This was my first time taking Tylenol for something other than very bad pain, and it was NOT A GOOD IDEA. 
30 minutes after I swallowed that little pill I succumbed into a nearly comatose sleep that lasted 10 hours. It was great and all, but when the time came to go to work it was like raising the dead. Like a mummy in those kinds of movies. I went the entire day wishing I could go back to bed, and by lunchtime I had developed an actual migraine that usually only comes when I haven't had enough sleep. I decided more painkillers was NOT what I needed, so I just toughed it out for the rest of the day. I went to bed with a migraine, plus I think my body was still not over the hibernating thing because I slept a full 10 hours again, but woke up with the same headache. 
So I have no idea what the heck is going on in this head of mine, but I know 3 things: I'm still sleepy, my head still hurts, and I will stay far away from any sort of sleeping aids from now on. If my torpid state lasts until lunchtime then I will resort to some of my precious Mountain Dew. *falls asleep on the keyboard* *logkeffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff*

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Hardly Working

Today is such a slowww day in the office. The busiest time is always the first week of the month, so things really calm down towards the end. This combined with our building's constant struggle with AC problems (translation: it's freaking hot in here) makes for rather comatose workers.
Dale and I have been sitting around (trying to be productive) and we both had cheese and crackers for lunch.
Whoever invented individual gourmet cheese wedges is a genius. The nearly silent monotony of mouse clicking was broken by Dale's quote of the day:
"Bleaghh I shouldn't have eaten so many crackers. But I did, AND I'M PROUD OF IT!"
And then back to silent clicking. I could take a nap if I had a neck pillow.

Friday, February 14, 2014

My Valentine

I love quotes. I really really love quotes. I admire the quoters for being able to express exactly what I am feeling by using the least amount of words possible, which is something I can rarely accomplish. There is one in particular which I have applied to Philip from the moment I read it, and it goes like this:
"I didn't need, or even want, to be with the best-looking man in the room, but the one who inevitably got my attention was the one whose eyes held a glint of something magnetic: humor, mischief, curiosity, a sense of adventure." - Meg Donohue
I must admit, yes (of course) I did have an attraction to all the 'best-looking' guys out there, because isn't that how 'the hunt' for a partner begins? In like... every species?...
But the point is, even though there was a sensible amount of other dudes out there who might have been a better fit than Philip, they didn't hold my interest very long. For some strange, complicated, otherworldly reason, it was him who caught my interest, and who holds it still. I'm not going to lie, ours is NOT a Prince Charming and Cinderella relationship. We don't spend our days doting on each other, we have to play on opposing teams in any sport, we don't give each other the heavens or the shooting stars, we rarely see eye to eye, and we have conflicting views on 90% of anything that we could possibly disagree on (and I'm not even kidding. or exaggerating.) We can be childish, insensitive, stubborn, ignorant, and selfish a dozen times a day... but we get through it. Before meeting Phil, I used to disbelieve that opposites attract, and he proved me wrong.
I have come to realize what really matters. I don't care for songs and sonnets written about me... I care for thumb wars that turn into pillow fights that turn into wresting matches. I care for weird, made-up goodnight stories about Prince Philip and the Chupacabra. I care for moments when we laugh so hard that we just lay there for minutes recovering from belly aches. I care for spur of the moment late-night dinners, for code words about restaurants, and for yelling "bread makes you fat??!" in public places.
It's definitely not easy just living a normal, married life and make normal, reasonable decisions. We kick and scream our way through things we don't feel like doing (him folding laundry, me making important phone calls) and argue about the uselessness of stuff the other makes us do (him not leaving his shoes where I trip over them, me not leaving on the lights when I leave the room). We push each other to our limits almost every day. And living a normal life can get kinda hard.
But you know what is NOT hard? It's never hard to laugh with each other, for each other, or about each other. It's never hard to take long road trips and discuss important topics for hours. It's never hard to agree on money management, careers, education, family, or our futures. It's never hard for us to drop whatever we are doing and go help a friend in need when the call comes. It's never hard to bring each other up when we are down. It's never hard to listen to each other's vents, dreams, jokes, and stories. I always have a best friend in my husband. And really, that's all that truly matters.
Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Valentine's Day with the one who matters most :)
He totally lost at Battleship the other day. 

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Drawings In Our Wallets

A few years ago Chris doodled a picture of a bird on a tiny piece of scratch paper and handed it to me and told me to keep it. It's been sitting in my wallet ever since, and it's actually the first thing I change over when I get a new wallet.
It's a crude drawing, but who cares? 
In response, I doodled an apple and gave it to him to keep, and he put it in his wallet. Today I got an email with a handful of photos he took at the MTC and then a second one that said "I totally still have the apple". 
It doesn't look much like an apple, but whatever. He also kept that dollar bill origami heart and quarter I gave to him when we were bored at a restaurant waiting for our tacos to come. 
In case you're wondering, yes that's my family on the left. It was the day my parents and I were baptized (June 2000), and Chris was only 6 years old. A sister missionary gave it to us glued on the inside of a BoM, and those have been our "family scriptures" ever since. He asked my mom to send it to him so he could use it to teach investigators. 
Anyway, the whole point of this post was to show what an unusual relationship I have with Chris. We keep each other's secrets and bits of scrap paper, we share inside jokes nobody really finds funny, and we have certain rules in life like "don't use a butter knife for anything but butter" and "if you see something shiny, go and see what it is". 

Man, I miss my brother. But I know the work he is doing is all worth it, and more important than anything else he could be doing at home. He is preparing to teach and serve and share the true Gospel of Christ to people he's never met before, but that he will come to love and care for as true brothers and sisters in the church do. I know that these people need to hear about Christ and his Atoning Sacrifice, and thanks to Elder Zuniga and all other missionaries, these people can find true happiness and eternal salvation. I believe in this gospel, and that Jesus Christ came and atoned for the sins of mankind so that we might all be saved and all our wrongs might be righted. Although I miss him more than anything in the world, I know that thanks to this gospel my family will all be together for time and eternity, and this short period of time is but a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that Christ visited the American continent and commanded it to be written for MY PEOPLE, the descendants of Lehi. I believe in modern day prophet Thomas S. Monson just as I believe in the prophets of old, and that he and other church leaders provide direction and counsel to live a Christ-centered life in a time where immorality and chaos are abundant. This church has brought me a peace, hope, happiness, and a permanently positive outlook on life (and life after death) that I could not achieve on my own. Chris, Thank You for your sacrifice and willingness to serve. 


Monday, February 10, 2014

New Look... again

Anyone who's a regular visitor might just notice how often I change the face of my blog. Quite frankly, I change my mind on the way I want it to look as often as I change my clothes. It may get annoying, but I don't really care, it's just what I do. Some days I just crave change, but I'm going to try and settle on this one for now, see how long it lasts. Enjoy and bare with me!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

A Little Bird

Being a member of the lower-ish part of middle class basically means that you have just enough money to support yourself, but no real money for anything else. I've pretty much gotten used to the "save a little, pay bills and then have just a tiny bit left over for fun" lifestyle, but every once in a while it REALLY gets annoying. Philip and I have a few credit cards that we need to get rid of, and with all these job changes that have happened over the past 4 months our Ramsey-inspired system has gotten pretty screwed up, and we are basically just breaking even when all is said and done. (This is a little too personal, but really... not many people actually read these posts).
Every once in a while I'll have a mini-breakdown/tantrum about this and Phil will comfort me, get me to calm down, and offer hope and positivity to the matter. Sometimes the roles switch and I'll be the one talking sense into him until the worry and uneasiness wears off. (Thankfully we have yet to reach the stage of "screw it, let's go rob a bank" idiocracy.)

Now here's a picture of a beautiful bird. 

So why am I telling you all of this? It's because I wanted to share something that I re-learned a few nights ago as we were reading our scriptures. Matthew 6:26-34 reads as follows: 
26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do the spin: 29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
A long time ago a friend told me a quick, short story about a bird, which goes like this:
A little bird wakes up every day and works to find food and create a shelter, and every day it achieves it's goal. It never starves to death, and it doesn't worry about what will become of it the next day. Do you think God loves this little bird? Of course he does, that's why He takes care of it. It lives a happy life as long as it does it's job to find food. Now, how much do you think God loves You, His greatest creation? He loves you much more than a little bird, so of course he is never going to let you starve as long as you do your job. Just stop worrying, be like a little bird and just worry about today. He'll take care of what you can't manage. 
Isn't this a great story? It really touched my heart and reminded me of what I had forgotten; He'll take care of what I can't manage.



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