What to do when you're sick

To continue my trend of two blog posts a month (so very sad, I know...) I figure it's long past time to check in with you.  Maybe you've been wondering what I'm up to?  Well, I'll tell you.  I'm sick.  I've got the fever/body & head aches/coughing but no nasal congestion illness that I'm thinking is the flu.  I don't recall ever having the flu before but it's been a year since my last flu shot and I'm thinking those things sort of wear off eventually, right?  Anyway, this is what I've been doing the past few days that I've been housebound:

• Coughing a lot.  Okay, okay.  That's not very exciting but I may or may not need a little sympathy to help me get better.  I seriously sound like a 3 pack a day smoker. It's not pretty.
• I finished reading another Sarah Dessen book, "Just Listen."  I liked it a lot but it took me longer to get into.  I think the jumping around to the past then back to current time writing style bugged me the most.  I'm not a patient reader. Next I'll be reading "This Lullaby."
• I sorted through my retired Stampin' Up inks and ribbons.  For my few stamping friends out there, you can surely feel my pain...I haven't even touched the cardstock yet. 
• I watched the Emma Smith: My Story movie after watching the RS broadcast.  So loved it.  I loved it even more after seeing the Joseph Smith movie last summer because it had the same actors. I really, really, really don't know how Emma lived through all that she did.  Really.
• Cancelling visits from my home teachers.  I hate doing that but one of them also has an immune system I'd classify as weak and I certainly do not want him to get this sickness.
• Accepting meals from my bosom friend Kim.  She gave me pasta one night and then brought me taco salad (enough for two days!) and a warm brownie that I at first thought was black beans.  Ha but yum.
• Skipping out on the play Kim and I had tickets for, not going to the movies with Mr and Mrs KMZT and missing the stake youth dance. Sigh, sigh and woo hoo, I mean sigh.
• Watching a bunch of TV shows I've TiVo'd...Chuck (not the same without Jazzy & Phil but still good), Hawaii Five-O (meh), Oprah (being kidnapped would not be fun), Blue Bloods (Donnie Wahlberg + Tom Selleck = dreamy.)

Here's hoping you've been having a more fun & productive weekend than I have.

Stuff I'm thinking about

1. I love "The Sound of Music" and it makes me happy when it's on TV back to back because then I can watch it twice. 
2. Haircuts feel great (no change - just trimmed up the layers on the ends.)
3. My mom makes really good potato salad and I love that I go to her house and she has a container for me to take home plus a bag of homemade caramel corn.  Yeah, not really WW food but it's a holiday weekend, right???
4. My goal for tomorrow is to clean out two closets.  I want to get rid of the stuff in them that I haven't looked at in ages to make room for all of the other stuff that needs a home.  Yes, I have too much stuff.
5. I've said this before but I love Dean Winters.  His Allstate commercials make me very happy.  Yes, it's partly because he reminds me of a certain Mr. something or other but I also just find him to be very enjoyable. 
6. I fnished my third Sarah Dessen book, "Keeping the Moon."  I'm like a broken record but until you all start telling me you're reading her books too, I will say it again.  Her books are so GOOD.  Next I'm reading "This Lullaby."  My mom started reading her books too and also loves them.  Nobody is too old for young adult fiction, people.
7. My sister and her family are at Disneyland so she's texting me these totally awesome pictures of them on roller coasters and they make me laugh so much.  Excuse the fact that it's an iPhone photo of the roller coaster photo but you can hopefully get the idea.  Matt's in the back covering Jen's eyes and then Matthew is kind of hidden.  Next is Kenzie in her Minnie ears, Nathan and Natalie.  Such hilarious facial expressions.

My current obsessions

So to make it through the month of August with more than one blog entry, here are some things I am obsessed with at the current moment:

Sarah Dessen books. I know, I know. I just blogged about her books last week.  But I am 2/3 of the way through my second one, "Along for the Ride," and I called my mom today to reserve a couple of more from the library because I envision myself reading my way through the upcoming holiday weekend.  I cannot express to you how interesting, fun, thoughtful and easy to read these books are.  Love, love, love them.

The Angry Birds app. for the iPhone. Holy cow, people...I cannot stop playing this game.  I started with the lite version (lite = free in Apple language) and quickly realized I needed to spring for the 99 cent full game.  Really great graphics and funny sound effects.  So.  Much.  Fun.

The "Say Yes to the Dress" TV show on TLC.  I love watching it because a. people are kind of crazy and ridiculous in what they will spend on a wedding dress and b. Randy & Keasha.  Love them.  I am also amazed at how rude some of the "friends" and family are to the girls trying on dresses.  Like, not even close to helpful and outright mean.  I would get fired as a consultant because I would kick those people out of the store.

And...I think that's it.  Here's hoping for more interesting things to blog about in September!!

August summary

It has been nearly a month since I blogged last.  Why?  I really don't know.  To catch you up, here is a nice neat bulleted summary of what I've been doing since I last signed in to this here blog:

• Attended a four hour stake YW meeting.  No, I am not exaggerating.  I wasn't sure how busy I would be in this new calling but guess what?  I'm busy in this new calling.
• Attended a few more camp meetings.  One of them was to discuss names of people who could replace me as assistant director next year.  That felt weird.
• Kim and I sang at a funeral of a six year old girl from my ward.  Katie had serious health challenges but her death was still very unexpected and shocking.  She was a darling girl with a beautiful smile and we all miss her sweet spirit in our ward. You can probably imagine how emotional this funeral was so I prayed hard that I would make it through our song without crying (we were asked to sing For Good from Wicked - yes, an encore after we sang it last February.)  Heavenly Father totally did me a solid and I made it through without breaking down.  I'm still not a singer but I think it went okay. Kim wrote a great report about it here.
• I took Amtrak to Vancouver, WA to visit my friend Patty and her family.  The train was easy, quiet, inexpensive and took the same amount of time as it would to drive.  Patty drove me back home so I only took it the one way but I'd totally do it again.
• I went to two different Coach outlet stores while visiting Patty and bought nothing.  Yes, you read that right. NOTHING.  I thought this deserved its own bullet because it really was that amazing an occurence.
• I'm watching but not totally obsessed with "Bachelor Pad."  Most of the time, I forget it's on until about half way through.
• I'm thinking seriously about giving up my home phone and just using my cell phone.  Should I?  The only people who call me on my home phone are my mom, Kim and solicitors.  Decisions, decisions.
• I started reading my first Sarah Dessen book, The Truth About Forever, based on Janssen's glowing recommendation and I am absolutely loving it.  It's a teenage girl book but totally engrossing and just super sweet and lovely.  There are about a dozen or so swear words (that warning was for a cute girl I know who reads my blog...)
• I baked two carrot cakes, made three pans of scotcheroos, tried out this fantastic tortellini salad (seriously, make that salad) and these red velvet cupcakes for various birthdays and events this month.  Okay, let's discuss the red velvet cupcakes for a moment.  Can I just say, I still can't believe I made something so pretty? They sure had a lot of frosting on them but they looked and tasted amazing. (If you want to make them using this recipe, it made about 28 cupcakes and if you frost them like mine, you will need an extra half batch of the frosting.)

And there you go...a link-filled tour of my August, so far.  Was it worth the nearly month long wait?

Bachelorette - Men Tell All

So with all of my camp preparations, I totally fell behind in my Bachelorette watching.  In the last two days, I've watched the hometown visits show that Holly (new mom of darling baby boy Gray) recapped and then last week's Tahiti episode that Lindsey (are you STILL on vacation??) blogged about.  If you haven't already, go to their blogs immediately and catch up.  I'm heading there shortly myself.

Now, on to this week's show.  Please note that I cannot in good conscience call this blog entry a recap because hello, last night's Men Tell All show provided next to NO new information.  It was two hours of total filler and all it did for me was entice me a tiny bit into watching Bachelor Pad.  So I guess ABC can feel like their job is done.

In a nutshell, last night's show consisted of:

• a whole bunch of clips of stuff we've already seen
• Ty looking way cuter than he ever did on the show (I think it was because his sideburns are shorter)
• the guys yelling at Weatherman (who was wearing yet another ridiculous jacket) for being a putz
• Kasey singing again (but this time, it was funny rather than creepy)
• a whole bunch of shots of mostly dressed to the nines girls in the audience disgusted and/or shocked by you-fill-the bachelor's-name-in-the-blank's antics
• a commercial for the Bachelor Pad show
• a preview for next week's finale

It also included an interview with Ali where we learned:

• She should never trust her first impressions because she initially thought Justin the wrestler was a good guy when really, he's well on his way to being a serial bigamist
• Listening to Kasey sing was very awkward for her (I would have used the word painful, Ali, but that's just me)
• Ali wouldn't have kept Kirk around if he hadn't shown her his scrapbook week one.  Um, am I the only one who totally forgot about the scrapbook? 

The best part of the show was the blooper reel.  My favorites were the one where we got to see Craig the lawyer speaking Spanish to Roberto only to realize that Weatherman knew Spanish too and My Boyfriend Chris Harrison coming out to announce the rose ceremony trying to clink his spoon on a plastic champagne glass.

Other than that?  It was a total waste of time to watch and therefore, a waste of my time to recap.

Now, with that being said, I'm totally excited for the finale next week.  My prediction is still that Ali will pick no-one but if she does pick someone, I'm really hoping it's Chris.  And not just because I find him enjoyable to look at (when his hair isn't overly pointy or he isn't wearing that lame periodic elements t-shirt.)  They just seem like a better fit for long term (and I use that term VERY loosely.)  But Roberto seems like a good choice too so that's why I'm expecting her to pick neither because why on earth would she pick a good guy, right?

What's YOUR prediction???

Stuff I don't want to forget

Stake YW Presidency.  Love my pigtails with mismatched scrunchies!

I'm back from camp, physically exhausted and in dire need of sleep but I wanted to write down a few thoughts before the details leave my mind forever.  It was a wonderful week filled with faith-promoting experiences, a whole lot of laughing and hardly any sleep.  It hurts a little to think this was my last year as assistant director but I know I'll enjoy a little more time to myself next year and feeling a whole lot less stress.

I never want to forget the night that I woke up to a voice telling me "now" and seconds later, I heard one of the girls having a nightmare.  She was trying to get out of her bunk, crying, and not sure where she was.  I spoke to her through the darkness of our longhouse and calmed her down until she was able to go back to sleep.  I'm so grateful for the prompting to wake up at just the right time.

I want to always remember the transformation of one of the girls who started the week not talking to anyone and separating herself from everyone else.  By the end of the week, she talked more, participated in everything, helped whenever asked and willingly prayed in front of a large group.

I want to remember welling up while watching my girls lead our camp song.  It starts out rough at the beginning of the week as they figure out their roles and gain confidence but by about Wednesday night, they are working together, a tight-knit and cohesive group.  The camp song (one that the girls write themselves) talks a lot about friendship and special things about our camp.  Seeing them singing together made my heart fill with joy.

I want to never forget how wonderful it was to be reminded how much Heavenly Father loves us.  Two of my girls prayed to find a pair of glasses lost by one of the younger girls in the river.  They prayed two separate times and before long, found the glasses in the murky river. I love that Heavenly Father reminded us that He hears and answers prayers - even for small and simple little things like a lost pair of glasses.

We do a special program for the girls and I never want to forget the look on their faces as they realized all that we had planned for them.  I never want to forget what it felt like seeing them be touched by the spirit that was present.  That moment of looking into their light-filled faces totally made up for every bit of stress I've felt over the last year. 

I want to always remember hugging one of the girls when she asked if I could be her mom.  She had just realized that I don't have any children and this sweet girl doesn't have a mom in her life.  I of course gladly accepted.  She promised to call me the next time she needed me at three in the morning and I promised to always answer the phone.

I never want to forget walking through the camp and singing to the other levels and realizing that this was one of my last opportunities to do that and crying my way through the songs.

I want to remember the laugh the girls made up using my last name:  shawshawshawshawshawshaw.

Even though we camp in stake-wide age-group levels, we do ward testimony meetings on our last night.  I loved ours but want to remember how I was dying to get back to the girls in my level so I could tell them how much I loved them and how grateful I was for each one of them.

I want to remember coming back from brushing my teeth on the last night and the girls surprising me with a little photo album they'd made just for me.  I thought I'd cried every tear possible but, um, no.

I never want to forget that moment on our final day when we were done with clean up and the girls had been given their tickets to leave.  But instead of rushing off to find their rides home, we all stood in a circle looking at each other, not wanting to leave.  A couple of girls left but then nobody else moved from that circle.  We talked about the reunion party we are planning, laughed a little and continued to just stand there, soaking up that last bit of togetherness.  Then I suggested we say one last prayer together and we did.  We hugged and then they all slowly left.  I've never in four years worked with a group of girls who were more tight knit.  I've always had amazing 2nd YCLs.  Always.  (And if you're one of my former 2nd YCLs, you KNOW I thought you were amazing too!) But this group of 14 girls was different than any other.  There were no cliques, nobody was mean to the girls who were different, everyone got along and they all understood the significance of this being their last year attending Young Women Camp.

It was such a gift from my Father in Heaven to be blessed with this special group of young women for my last year in this role.  I truly am blessed beyond measure.

Good and bad: pre-camp edition

Good: my friends Bret & Tammy had me over for dinner tonight and then Bret packed my car.  Remember last year?  Bret has mad car packing skillz.  I left their home feeling completely peaceful and ready for camp (well, I still have to pack the bathroom bags and finish writing my leadership training for Wednesday AM but other than that, I'm ready to go.)  Tammy isn't my assistant this year and I miss her.

Bad: Mom and I rinsed my cooler out with bleach and even though I was careful, I got bleach on one of my favorite black shirts.  Dang.

Good: I've been having trouble with CDs that I make on my computer...they don't always play anywhere except on a computer.  I had to make a total of 8 CDs for camp tomorrow and I made them all last night and then checked them this afternoon and every last one of them worked.  Such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father - truly.  I didn't know what I was going to do if I couldn't get working CDs (I bring the music for our camp song and for our YCL song plus a bunch of other stuff.)

Bad: I haven't been sleeping and I'm beyond tired.  I know I'll be fine once I get to camp but going into this week exhausted is not a great idea.

Good: I have such amazing friends who have just bailed me out all over the place with camp prep this year.  I have camp gear (both personal and YCL supplies) spread out to four different people because I don't own a big enough vehicle to take up all of the stuff (why they don't issue vans with callings like this, I will never know.)  Kim took a bunch of stuff in to get laminated for me when I couldn't get there on my day off.  Shanda has made labels and other handout-y things that I needed. Then we have Kara (private blog or I would link.)  That Kara has been just totally heaven-sent!  She's one of my former Laurels (Kim's oldest) and she just had a baby girl a few weeks ago.  She cut out name tags, wrote on all of my friendship beads and made my timeline (pictures later) 

Here's a picture of me with Kara's new baby Lorelai when she was just two days old and darling Jonathan.  Jonathan is just good for my soul.  That boy runs and jumps into my arms whenever he sees me and calls me Jeanellie.  Love him (and everyone he's related to - you know who you are!)

And finally, a personal note to my ready to deliver blogging friends Holly & Janssen:  if you have your babies this week, you have my permission to name her "Jeanelle."