I'm Electric

I like Fall and Winter but my body doesn't.

It happens overnight; the static in the hair and cracked, dry skin.

During these seasons, I wish I had longer hair so I could pull it back easily and keep it from flying all over the place.  Clips can only do so much for this bob and hats aren't appropriate for work.

It also seems that I've passed this trait onto The Lime.  It's as if he has a balloon hanging over his head, 24/7.

Lucky him.

Don't Say Nothin' At All

I've said my share of mean things but there's one instance that stands out in my mind.

I was at a Youth Conference in Pacifica and everyone was enjoying dinner in the cultural hall.  Our table was a mixture of kids from all over the Bay Area, which included an extremely obnoxious girl.  From our table, she was yelling across the room at a boy, to get her a cup of punch.  I casually got up from my seat, got her a drink, brought it back to her, and sat back down.  She was shocked and said, "Thank you so much for getting that for me!"  My response was, "I was sick of hearing you yelling at that kid.  I got it so you'd be quiet."  Everyone at our table erupted into laughter and she turned beet red with embarrassment.

I made a comment to a friend recently that, "If you tell a joke and end up being the only one laughing, then it wasn't funny."  I've found myself in that situation one time too many.

And even though I got the whole table laughing at the conference, it was way out of line and completely rude.

I wish I had taken the opportunity to apologize to the girl when I had the chance.

I find myself, one year later, especially today, thankful for nice words.

And repentance.

Happy & Sad

I think I've mentioned the friendship before, between The Lime and one of the young men in our ward.  It started when LaVor was called to YM and had to take The Lime each week, while I conducted music in Primary.  One boy in particular, has captured The Lime's heart and they're now best buds, despite being 16 years apart.

The young man is a football player and we've attended a couple of his games.  The Lime knows who we're going to see and gets excited, but would prefer to walk up and down the bleachers and run like a madman around the basketball courts. 

This last week, we decided to stay until the end so we could say, "Hi!" to our friend.  After the game, the team gathered on one end of the field and kids were running loose on the other.  Our kid was one of them.  You'd think The Lime was in hog heaven, running free on the field. 

After the team finished their talk, the young man was walking toward us and The Lime took off, straight for the boy's arms.  I'm such a weenie but it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how much these 2 love each other.  The crazy amount of sweat didn't stop The Lime from giving the boy a hug, hi-5 and knuckles.  When we got home, we thought The Lime's diaper leaked but it was still the sweat.  Nice.

I know a lady that says, "It makes me heart happy" when she sees the sun come out after an overcast morning. 

I much prefer a happy heart than a sad heart. 

But my heart gets sad, especially when The Lime is sad or disappointed.

He still doesn't quite understand everything (obviously...he's 21 months, Kimberly) and so when he's anxiously awaiting something and it doesn't happen, he doesn't quite understand why.  And then he gets sad, which makes me sad. 

He gets over it quick but I tend to dwell and make myself more sad and write blog posts about it. 

Maybe I should take his lead and pretend a miniature baseball bat is a Momo.  Then my heart would be happy.

Tally Mark 21

 
-Says "No!" for everything; "Do you want a cookie?"  "Do you love Daddy?"  "Are you tired?" 
-Everything is also, "Mine!"  No, I'm sorry, but that tampon is not yours.
-Didn't cry when he got his flu shot on Sunday.
-Also didn't cry when the Doctor dug out the mysterious "thing" stuck in his foot, which was causing him to walk funny.
-Is pretty much eating whatever we eat and boy is it lovely!
-Likes to watch "Curious George".
-Does this HORRIBLE blood curdling scream when he doesn't get his way.
-Has found a new best friend in any Mailman he sees.
-Is GREAT about saying, "Thank you Mama/Dada" but we're still working on "please".
-Likes reading now more than he ever has.  I'm hoping it'll help him to learn/say more words.
-Always tells me he's stuck, even when he's not.
-Puts things in the sink or garbage when he's done with them.
-Hits me constantly but I'll consider them love taps.

Thrifty

I've expressed my love for Thrifty's ice cream, and that actually sounds good right now.  It's cloudy with a chance of meatballs.  Oh wait, no.  It's just cloudy but extremely warm.

I'm on the hunt for my Halloween costume and don't like spending tons of money on something I'll wear once (like my wedding dress).

The Lime and I headed out today, in search of a yellow shirt and pants.  During my hunt, I was reminded of my high school days when all I did was shop at thrift stores.  Polo shirts were a favorite of mine as well as silly shirts like this one...

Disneyland trip our Senior year.  My shirt was from a swim school that said, "It's my birthday!"

As I browsed the clothes, looking for my yellow items (which were only 20 sizes too big), I came across a darling GAP skirt for $4 and a brand new A's jersey for The Lime for $1.  I asked myself, in my head, why I stopped going to thrift stores?  I found myself at another one down the street and found 2 pairs of pants for The Lime, coming in at 50 cents each.

I couldn't help but walk back to my car with a skip in my step.  $6.44 for my treasures?

I'm totally going back to my old ways.  Just gotta make sure I wash my hands as soon as I get home.

Short & Sweet

Every Wednesday at work, the radio station we listen to plays the same song around 10:15.



Each time I hear it, I think of Zac and am reminded of the call I got from my mom that Wednesday morning, 2 years ago.  I'm also reminded of the video his cousin made, that was shown at the luncheon after his service, which used a clip of this song.

I can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that it's been 2 years since we said good-bye to our bud.

I was able to drop by his grave today and say, "Hi!"  It was a quick visit, since there was a girl visiting a grave across the way, smoking pot, and I don't enjoy that smell...at all.

I think of him all the time and cry often because of how much I miss him.  But I should be crying tears of joy because I know he's happy.  I can only imagine how sweet life is with our Heavenly Father.

Letting Go

For the most part, I feel like I'm a good person and that I do what I'm supposed to.  I go to church each Sunday, try my best at my calling, visit teach my sisters, read my scriptures, pray, pay my tithing.  Yet, after watching Conference, I always feel like, "Oh geez!  I should be doing 100x better!"

I made it to my parents' house, after dropping LaVor off at the airport, just in time for President Monson's talk on Sunday morning.

I'm not a note taker but something stood out to me that I didn't even need to write down.  It was permanently embedded in my mind.

"It is essential that we reject anything that does not conform to our standards, refusing in the process to surrender that which we desire most: eternal life in the kingdom of God."

You mean I shouldn't be watching The Real Housewives anymore?

Each time I watched the show, I knew it wasn't something I should be doing.  So...after many years of being extremely addicted to that "garbage" (as LaVor likes to put it), I've deleted all of my timers and am not catching up with any re-runs.

I'm letting go.

My two favorite casts;New York and Orange County.  Adios, ladies!

Whomp Whomp Whomp

We lost but it wasn't without a fight!

(I was able to see Julie B. Beck speak on Saturday and she mentioned how our world is all about being the winner (The best dancer, singer, chef, the person who loses the most weight).  If you're not the winner, then you must be a loser.  So I'm trying really hard not to feel like a loser right now.)

After voting all day Thursday and a majority of Friday-Sunday, we were able to bump The Lime up from 57th to 6th.  I'm holding onto the fact that although there are 52 weekly winners, a panel of judges will go through all the photos entered to pick the grand prize winner.  We'll see what happens.

For now, I'm grateful to have my life back to normal and not be glued to my iTouch.  My arm was beginning to feel like it was stuck in the same position.

Counting Blessings

My car has been making a strange noise for a couple months.  It usually only happened in the morning, when I'd start it for the first time.  But recently, it began to happen all the time. 

LaVor was out of town last week on a business trip.  I hate hate hate being home alone, especially at night.  So lots of prayers were given and answered, that The Lime and I would be safe and protected.

We definitely were blessed.

Thursday night, on the way home from my sister's house, there were some amazing clouds in the sky.  I grabbed a bite to eat at Popeye's (first time eating there and possibly the last) and The Lime and I drove up to Del Valle.

On the way up the hill, the car would do a slight jerk into 3rd gear, rather than ease into it. Since it didn't happen the rest of the night, I thought it was a fluke.

Friday after work, The Lime and I went to pick LaVor up at the airport.  Within a couple miles of our destination, the car started jerking again.  When he got into the car, he noticed it immediately and said it was the transmission (one of our ideas in regards to the noise mentioned earlier).  It got worse the longer we drove and being the crazy person I am, I began to freak out.  "What do we do?!  What if we don't make it home?!  How much will it cost to fix?!"

We made it home safely.

Then we woke up Saturday morning, got in the car and barely made it down the street before the car would no longer go into any gear.

Downside:
-It'll cost money that we don't have to fix it.

Upside:
-It happened when LaVor returned from his trip.
-He was driving when it happened.
-It didn't happen while I was on my way to work.
-He found a transmission for less than what we were expecting.
-He can fix it himself so we don't have to pay someone to do it.
-My sister is letting us borrow her car.


I'm pretty much convinced the Lord is watching over us. 

On A Roll

In the last month, I've won 2 contests; 1 for 4 free passes to the local Harvest Festival and 2 tickets to the Blink 182 concert.  I'm hoping I can add 1 more to the list.

People always tell us that we should enter pictures of The Lime into a photo contest.  While reading Parent Magazine at work the other day, I decided to do just that.  I got an e-mail yesterday letting me know our picture was in the running for the "Kid of the Week" contest.  Only problem is, the photo with the highest votes wins and The Lime is currently in 45th place.

That's where you come in.

Click on the photo and it will take you to the website.  Place your vote and feel free to pass the link on.  You can vote everyday this week, so don't forget!

Use It Or Lose It

I remember the Sunday afternoon when my parents got a call that my brother was in a motorcycle accident.  The unknown was the worst.  All we knew was that he was on his way to the hospital and was alive at that moment.

Thankfully, he made it out with (just) a broken arm and leg and tons of road burn.  A man took video from his bedroom window, and described how my brother flew in the air, several feet, and hit his head on the curb.

He took advantage of his wheelchair and went to the X-Games where he was asked for his autograph numerous times.  Those poor recipients totally got duped.

I was shocked when I went to Utah 10 years ago, and saw people speeding down the freeway on their bikes, with their hair blowing in the wind, not protected AT ALL.

California has a lot of laws and a lot of dumb laws.  But one law that I think is crucial, is that everyone riding a motorcycle must wear a helmet.  None of this "If you've over 18, you don't have to wear one" hoopla.  I haven't looked into statistics or anything (this topic really doesn't bother me that much) but I'm a firm believer in, "If you don't use it, you'll lose it."

Meaning your brain, in this case.