Author: Superpaige (Page 11 of 180)

We picked up two cute 15 year old boys from Brazil on Sunday, Arthur and Henrique. We were there with our sign waiting to greet them, and the did not come. Another lady from the group said, “Those boys must have gotten lost. They were with us, and then they went to the bathroom, and I don’t know where they are.” That was nice of her to tell us, but we couldn’t go looking for them, and neither could she, so we just waited. The group of host families and students was grouped over by the luggage thing, and it looked like many of them were missing their luggage. When our 2 boys arrived, their luggage was also missing. No luggage for you. They assured us that it would probably come tonight and someone from American Airlines would bring it to our house. Ok.

So, we brought the boys home and let them get settled while we went to meetings. (Seriously? Why so many meetings? Both Jenna and I had interviews, we had to go to a different ward’s sacrament meeting because we would miss ours to pick up the boys, I had to present at “it’s great to be 8) and then there was a court of honor AND a fireside for 11 year old. We missed the fireside.) After dinner, I took the two boys to Wal Mart to buy some clothes. There I was, in the men’s underwear isle with two Brazillian boys. Not something I would ever imagine doing. I had a little trouble understanding that they needed pajamas, but eventually they made me understand. I had to show them how to use their debit cards, swipe, sign the pad, etc. Kind of fun.

Monday I had to rush out the door to be to the school by 7, so I didn’t see them. Ryan took them to the frontrunner station in Lehi, where they were to board the 7:45 train, then in Sandy they were supposed to switch to trax, which takes them to their school. I was a little worried about them finding their way, but since there were about 6 kids all doing the same trip, and some of them have already been here a week, we hoped they could follow them. And we had a map and directions printed out for them. They left the directions home. Ryan gave them his cell number. At around 8:30 he started getting the phone calls from a Brazilian number (someone’s mom is not going to be too happy about that). They had gotten on the wrong train and where should they go? He directed them, but got another call later. They had finally gotten to the stop they needed, but couldn’t find the school. They were at AutoZone. Ryan told them which way to walk and I think he called the school to tell them that our boys were lost. I didn’t know any of this was going on, as I hadn’t checked my phone until after 9. I called the school at 10 and they were indeed there. Cold and probably miserable, but there.

One of the coordinators called me later and said it’s good for them to get lost at first, then they won’t do it again. He also said that the boys were very cold. Yes, it’s cold in the basement. We had warmed it up a bit, but I guess it needs to be warmer. Instead of telling us or the coordinators, one of the boys told his mom, so then she told the school. Oh, great. We’re being tattled on.

I tried to install the whatsapp on my phone. I still couldn’t message the boys, though. We didn’t know what time they would be coming home on the train, IF they made it on the train. But the coordinator called to let me know he had taken them to the station and they should be with the group this time.

Just a long day. And on top of that, their luggage STILL didn’t come. All the others had their luggage. Ryan tried to figure it out, and was on the phone for over an hour (most of that on hold). I offered to wash their clothes, started some laundry for them, and went to bed. I was done. Craptastic day over.

What do you know, but the luggage came at 11:00. One of the bags was wrapped in plastic and quite damaged.

Don’t know what they did to that bag, but it’s missing a wheel, cracked in several places, and really banged up.

I asked Ryan to drive them all the way to the school today. They got to sleep in a bit longer, eat a little breakfast, and take that bag to the school so they can file a claim with United Airlines.

The first day with any exchange students has never been this hard. Let’s hope that we got all our bumps in the road over with and we can all have a great experience.

What a wonderful month it’s been!

Christmas eve was fabulous.

My parents came over for dinner, and we acted out the Christmas story with puppets. We gave our presents to Grandma and Grandpa, and who knew? The necklace hanger also works as a moustache.

Games were played, there was a lot of laughing. Even before I broke out the Hillbilly teeth and tried to get a picture.

On Christmas, after all the gifts were opened and played with, we got the wonderful present of getting to see and talk to our Missionary. He looks and sounds about the same, which is comforting.

We even had to take him downstairs and show him the cool arcade game that Ryan built and Megan has been painting. He’s still a geek, just like his dad.

My heart is full, for these are my greatest treasures.

Merry Christmas. I hope you also had a wonderful day with those that you love, and that you remember Jesus Christ in all your Christmas celebrations.

Back at the beginning of November, I started a healthy holiday challenge with a group. We had over 30 people sign up to join. Of course, not all of them have stuck with it, but it’s been a good experience for me. I’ve done these challenges before, and I always start out with good intentions and then get all lazy. But, if I were the one RUNNING the group, I would Have to stick with it, right? Right. It’s been 7 weeks. I’ve lost 10 pounds. Who would think I could actually lose weight between Halloween and Christmas? Crazy, right?

And while I’m not down to the next size or anything, I can feel the difference in some of my clothes. You see, even within the same size of clothes, there are the clothes that fit and are comfortable (I wear those ones all the time, like the jeans that I have worn through the thighs and really should throw away, but instead I tried to repair them), then the clothes that I could wear, but they aren’t super comfortable. And then there are the clothes that just laugh at me because even though they are in “my size” we really know that they AREN’T my size, and I’m not going to be able to wear them until I’ve lost WAY more weight than I have. They mock me. Really not nice, clothes.

The other day I was looking for some jeans to wear, and I pulled out a pair of jeans that I haven’t seen for quite some time. Oh, I loved these jeans. I wonder why I haven’t been wearing them. I put them on. Pretty tight, still. Oh, yeah, I remember. I grew too fat for them. Well, a couple weeks later I put them on, and while they are still tight, they are a little less tight.

I had one friend comment that I looked skinnier and asked if I had lost weight. Why, yes, I have, I told her. It’s GREAT to be able to say that and not be just fibbing.

There are some super annoying over achievers in this challenge, too. They have to get EVERY point and eat ALL the vegetables and lost TONS of weight, even though they are really skinny to start with. That’s ok, though. I can deal with a little annoyingness because it is helping to motivate me. Today, I trudged through my treadmill time and really hated every minute of it, but I did it. I’m hoping we can buy a stationary bike after Christmas. I’ve discovered that I have foot issues and when I walk for 30-45 minutes on the treadmill, my heel hurts all day. I think a bike would be less stress on the feet and I hope that I would use it more.

We have two weeks to go in this challenge, and then the winners will get the cash or a prize. I haven’t totally figured out how many winners there will be, but at least one for the points, and one for weight loss. The points are SO close, though, we may have to break it into smaller amounts and give out more prizes. We’ll see.

It’s been a positive thing, and I’m SO glad I followed through with my thought to start this group.

Wow! I think we’ve come to the end of the concerts for Christmas this year. It’s such a busy time of year for me with bells that I often miss school things that are going on. Usually if I can’t go, Ryan can go, but last night Ryan was my date to the MoTab Christmas dinner at the Grand America Hotel (our fancy date night of the year), so neither of us could go to Natalie’s choir concert. Luckily we had Megan here, and she could drive Natalie to school. She and Jenna attended the concert, as well as Grandma and Grandpa.

Jenna’s choir concert I also missed, but Ryan was able to go. Things just get so busy!

I had a wonderful time with the MoTab Christmas concert weekend. Where else am I going to be able to meet muppets and their handlers? It’s an experience I will never forget.

I have been quite a slacker over here on this lonely blog.

I’ve been in kind of a funk lately. Just feeling a little bit down. A little bit sorry for myself. Not sure why and I’m not sure how to get out of it. It’s weird because I’ve been exercising and trying to eat right, too. Maybe that’s it. I miss my sugary treats. But I feel cheated when I do what I’m supposed to do all day, I go to bed hungry at night, even hearing my tummy rumble. But when that happens, I think to myself, ‘It’s ok. I’ll see a difference on the scale in the morning,’ only to wake up and weigh and see that I’ve gained half a pound. That’s not fair at all.

My daughter has a blog and she writes about the sad in her life. It’s depressing to read. I cry for her hurting, then I call her and she tells me she’s FINE, that it helps her to write, to get things out of her head. But still I worry. I want her to meet new friends. I want her to have a fun college experience. I want her to be happy. She’s so different from me, yet I understand her (well, sometimes). I was an insecure teen, too. I wrote many a depressing journal entry, trying to make sense of the world and my roll in it. Trying to find my way, wondering why I kept auditioning for things and not getting the role. I always kind of figured if I weren’t so fat, I would maybe get those roles. Or if I wasn’t so fat, maybe that boy I liked would pay some attention to me. I seemed to blame all the bad things that happened–all the disappointments, all the failures–on the fact that I was overweight. Poor fat cells, having to shoulder all the blame. What do thin, beautiful people blame for their failures? They must have something they don’t like about themselves that they blame for the things that don’t go perfectly in their lives.

The other day I got the sweetest comment on facebook. I had written that if I taught Kindergarten full time I would probably be a lot skinnier. No time to eat and constantly on the move. My friend and neighbor wrote, No one cares abt skinny. You are beautiful and talented and funny and sweet and giving. If you were also skinny, we would have to hate you. I don’t know, it might be nice to be hated, just a little bit. It made me laugh. And almost cry.

I really have the most awesome people in my life.

Instead of dwelling on the blues, I’ll tell you about the GREAT things in my life, my reasons to smile.
*Thanksgiving was GREAT. I love getting together with cousins and aunts and uncles that I don’t see often and catching up. My brother and his family also stayed with us Thursday night and Friday night. It was wonderful having them here from Arizona.
*Our Bells concerts went SO WELL. We had two concerts on Friday and Saturday before Thanksgiving. The hall was full, the music was great, the spirit was there. It was SO fulfilling to play all those songs that we had been working on for so long. My friend Janeen and I even stayed overnight in a hotel in Salt Lake Saturday night so that we wouldn’t have to do the whole drive home and then turn around and drive back thing on Sunday morning for Music and the Spoken word.
*Christmas preparations are in full swing. I’m picking out presents, got the tree up, and am on to decorating the house.
*My little chimes choir is doing quite well. They will play for our ward party on Saturday, then have the school concerts on Monday, and then they are done for the season. We’ll get a few weeks off for Christmas break (hooray for not having to be at the school by 7 am!) and then we’ll start up in January and get right into things with two basketball games to perform the National Anthem. One of them, when I was explaining things said, “Why do we have so many performances?” That made me laugh.

So, I’m going to get working on decorating my house for my favorite thing ever….Christmas. And I’m going to be thankful for everything I can think of. And I’m going to tell people thank you, and write some thank you notes and maybe do some service. Because I don’t want a blue Christmas.

(edited)…..Doing much better. Ward party great success. And PMS. Hmm. Who knew?

Late this summer I went to the funeral of a dear friend’s mom. Afterwards, I stopped by my parent’s house, and I said, “Mom, don’t expect me to sing at your funeral”. My mom is nowhere near needing to have a funeral, by the way. She and Dad are still doing well and are very healthy, but when they are still healthy is the time to discuss this stuff.

“What?” she said, “but I was planning on having you girls sing something, maybe have Lori-Kay play the flute.”
“It’s just rude to ask someone to sing when they have just lost their mom. Or their grandma.”

She just looked at me like I was weird (I get that look a lot).

“I have an idea, Mom. If you want a musical number, how about we do something while you are ALIVE to be able to hear it.” And then I had an idea. “How about I get a group together and we play something on the bells?”

So I asked my friend Liz, who also group up in the Butler 8the ward, and her parents are still in that ward, if she would like to play a small group number in the home ward. We found a song, found a date, and found a couple other people from our bell group who could do it, and made a plan. Of course, two of the 5 ended up dropping out because they had other things going on on that date, but we were able to find others to fill in. A few practices before our regular rehearsal and we were ready. So, on Wednesday night, I borrowed our director’s bells (just two of the boxes), and hauled them to the car after rehearsal. Hauling the bells in the worst part of one of these things.

This morning, we all met at my parent’s ward, rehearsed a bit before the meeting, and then were ready to go.

My parent’s ward has not changed much in the 22 years since I got married. People get older. Some people have died and a few people have moved away, a few younger families have moved in, but not a lot. During sacrament meeting, it was SO QUIET. Wow. Compared to my ward, it was like silence. And sparse. The whole middle section was almost empty when the meeting started. I’m not sure why their ward is dwindling. If I were to come back to my current ward (where we’ve lived for 13 years now and in that time it’s split twice) in twenty years, I doubt I would recognize as many people. But people in my parent’s generation tend to move less, I guess. They raise their family and stay in the same house.

It was fun to see so many people I know and recognize from my youth. Some I am friends with on facebook (yes, my home ward has a facebook page), and some I see when I visit my parents. Some I had to really think about to remember who they were, since they have aged 20 years from my memories, and one lady I didn’t remember at all (she seemed to remember me), but it was nice to be back.

The comments were all so nice and they really appreciated that we could come and play for them. It was a special experience for me (and for Liz). I’m grateful for my musical friends that they would give of their time and talents to help us perform something like this.

Argh!!! Whiner alert. Look away.

No alarm. Woke up at 6:55. Grabbed clothes and brushed my hair and teeth. Ran downstairs and grabbed John. The two kids I normally pick up in the morning before my early morning chimes class were not there, they had given up after 10 minutes of waiting, I’m sure. CRAP, CRAP, CRAP.

When the kids have a drink break after 20 minutes of playing, I put on some makeup. It didn’t help all that much, but at least I knew I had tried.

In addition to throwing myself together in about a minute to get to school to teach, I ran out to the car and the steering wheel was adjusted WAY high because hubby was working on the car last night. I didn’t have time to fix it, and I hit the windshield wipers on. Finally figured out how to get the steering wheel the right height, but the windshield wipers WILL. NOT. TURN. OFF. No problem. It’s dark. Got to school in my frazzled state. Taught from 7 to noon, and then went back to the car. Since I hadn’t eaten breakfast, I was looking forward to a hamburger or something that I didn’t have to make myself from a local fast food establishment, but couldn’t do that with the windshield wipers furiously swishing back and forth IN THE SUN! People looking at me like I’m an idiot because I don’t turn off my wipers.

ARRRRGH!

I really wish I had a cookie.

That is all.

For Natalie’s birthday party, she wanted to do a How to Host a Murder party, but one that was clean. Luckily, I had purchased a printable story a while back, and so I could just print that out and they could use that. Most of her friends are girls, so some of them had to play boys, but they didn’t mind. My pictures are so dark, since they were in the basement and my camera had decided it didn’t need much flash. Megan took a bunch of pictures with the fancy camera she had checked out from school, so I’m sure she got some good ones.

If the amount of laughter is any gauge of how much fun they were having, they had a BLAST.

I love how some of the girls dressed up for their characters!

No cake for this girl. I had told her that she’d have to make her own cake if she wanted one, and we just all ran out of time. Cupcakes from the freezer did just fine.

They even sang happy Birthday to her. They sang a LOT, these girls.

Fun, but LOUD, evening. So glad she had fun.