Quick Tantrum

I'm going to be a Sunbeam for a minute and throw a little tantrum about how unfair life is. Tonight our ward had a service auction. People volunteered services, and we had a silent and live auction with fake money. Justin and I contributed 3 services: a 30-minute golf lesson, balloon animals for a birthday party, and a 1-hour ballroom dance lesson. Justin worked tonight so only I was able to go.

I only got $50. That's it. The rest of the families got more since there were more of them. The family I sat with, and am friends with, contributed nothing and won many things. I could not bid on any large items and I got outbid on all the small items, even chocolate chip cookies made by one of my Sunbeams. I really wanted these dozen tamales, but got outbid at the last second. I hurriedly found one thing not baby-related I would be ok with--1 hour of personal training--and put all my $50 on it, even though the previous bid was only $20. I wanted to come home with something!

I was very disappointed. I had prepared so much for this night. We offered our talents, I made cute certificates for our contributions, and I brought a salad (that was mostly uneaten) for the potluck (we were assigned what to bring; otherwise, I would have made a dessert or something more appealing). I usually don't even go to ward activities when Justin can't go, but I was really excited about this activity. The idea was great and there were a lot of unique services and yummy food. But I think they should have required a contribution in order to get money or given everyone the same amount. It's not my fault Justin had to work that night and we're kidless! Grrrrr.

Yeah, I know, I'm missing the whole spirit of the night. Service is not supposed to be about what you get. But it was an auction, which is all about getting! How was I supposed to win anything with a lousy $50? *Sigh* Ok, I'm done.

Nerd for Life

I am and forever will be a nerd. Proof positive:

I miss school. I miss learning. I'm jealous of all you people going to school right now. Since I won't be able to go back for a while, I've kept many of my college textbooks to reread for fun. I wanted to start reading them again, but they are all Humanities related, and I needed some balance: I haven't taken math since senior year of high school and science since freshman year of college. I used to be really good at those subjects and now I can't remember anything. So at the thrift store on dollar day last week, I bought a college algebra textbook to read and practice math for fun. I read the first chapter yesterday and found it exciting! I haven't done any exercises yet because right now they're just little theoretical things I can do in my head, but I can't wait to start solving for x again.

Look back at the italicized words. Do they shout, "Nerd!" or what?

I WON!

My friend Ashley does a lot of giveaways on her blog. Most of them are baby-related, so I don't enter them (even though I would love the cute stuff for a future baby, but others can use them more than I can). I entered an earrings one (even though my ears aren't pierced! haha) and I WON! The earrings I first chose were no longer on the site, so I chose these instead:


Ashley is hosting another jewelry giveaway for necklaces made out of Scrabble tiles. There are a ton of cute ones with birds and flowers! (To see them, click here.) I really liked these too:

You don't have to know her to enter. Anyone can have a chance to win--just go here!

Sad News

I checked my email this morning as usual and saw that I received an email from my former bishop. The subject line read, "Difficult news." I opened it, read the first part of the message, and was confused. The Alders had moved out of the ward. Well, that is sad, but difficult? I scrolled down to the very first message, from Ryan Alder's parents. The Alders were in a car accident last night while driving back to Utah from Oregon. The car rolled, and Ryan died at the scene from a head injury. Kate is in the hospital, but it seems as if she will recover. Baby Cora is fine.

I was shocked! The Alders were a couple in our last ward in Utah. Although we were never very close to the Alders since we moved away shortly after they moved in, we had some fun memories with them. We became friends at a neighbor's Halloween party. They were dressed as pirates and had brought their pet snake. Justin is terrified of snakes, but by the end of the night, he had acquired a new friend (see photo above). Then we had them over for dinner with our dinner group and played Imaginiff. We had such a fun time! They are both goofy and smiley and fun to be around. We continued to see them at church every week and at other activities. Right before we moved, we heard the great news that they were expecting. Baby Cora was born in June--and she will never know her father. I can't imagine how hard this is on Kate. They just recently celebrated their one-year anniversary.

Please pray for them and their families. And be loving to your family today. You just never know when will be the last time you are with them on earth. I've already been hugging Justin all morning and crying in sadness for the Alders and in gratitude that I still have Justin. At least we know families are forever. It doesn't take the pain away, but it does give us hope.

[Their website is http://www.thealders.org/]

Crazy Dreams

Some crazy dreams I've had lately:

1. Deja vu: I dreamed (dreamt, whatever) that I got my electric bill, and I saw the amount due. Next morning I got the bill--and it was the same amount as in my dream!
2. Death: I dreamed that Justin and I went hang gliding and died, but we didn't know we were dead (we didn't fall or crash) until I overhead someone talking about it. It was scary because I'm scared of heights and would never go hang gliding! I didn't want to even in my dream, and I blamed our death on Justin, who made me do it. I then hid on a shelf in the refrigerator (?????) so he wouldn't make me do it again.
3. Pregnancy: Last night I dreamed that I was pregnant (my stomach was small, though) and was trying to go into labor. There were other women there too. One of them had twins via C-section (unseen and unheard--I was surprised to see the babies). Another was screaming from regular labor pains. I never went into labor.

Is my brain crazy at night or what?