I woke up, cleaned out my PILES of magazines (well, PARTS of those piles), did dishes, cleaned the table, cleaned the laundry room (just in case anyone LOOKED in there and judged me based on that room alone), vacuumed, finished doing the dishes, took the kids to storytime and turned in books, checked out books for them, let them watch a show, made lemonade for my Tupperware party ...
Then Mom C and Aunt Ann came (since Aunt Ann's the consultant) with B, Ann's baby granddaughter. And ... yeah, that really was my party. My mom wasn't able to come up, since she was sick. Another friend had to cancel since her family's sick. The other maybes didn't come ... Oh well. It was nice to see Ann and Mom C ... and the kids had fun with B. The chicken that Ann cooked was tasty. And I'm still craving the salsa that we made with the chopper-thing. Yum. It was just a couple tomatoes and half a red onion with some dried cilantro and some salt. Yummmmmm.
And I got a GINORMOUS shopping tote as a free gift for hosting a party. Mom C and I each got a free citrus peeler. (The ones that I had growing up was an opaque yellow. This one's a translucent purple. VERY pretty. And, as host, I got another little free gift. I chose a scoop, since I remembered how dang HANDY my mom's was when I lived at home and was baking.
So ... yeah, if you want to put in an order, just contact me and I'll get you Ann's number. We're going to close on the 16th, I think.
My NaNoWriMo project isn't going well. I'm stymied.
Michael's truck broke down on his way home last night. So, we're down to just one car right now. We'll get it towed maybe Friday. I'm trying not to worry about this. I hate being without money. I hate not being able to fix things immediately.
Once he got home (after, thankfully, his brother [who, with his family, just happened to be here] went and picked him up and got the truck pushed into a parking lot and not just along the exit ramp), I excused myself to go to the bathroom to "freshen up" (translated to be: sob and pray and TRY to put myself back into some semblance of order before reappearing before anyone.)
After C, A, and their kids left, we got Bruise and Bucket ready for bed and I had Michael give me a blessing. And it was just what I needed to hear. Gosh, I really, really love having Michael -- and that he's worthy to hold the Priesthood.
But, in the blessing, I was told that I am loved and that Heavenly Father is aware of my/our needs. That I didn't need to worry over things that I can't control (and, truth be told, if given the chance, I could be quite a micromanager) and that things will work out.
I just have to have faith. More like, I just have to KEEP the faith.
Truly, the blessing really did help. It was just what I needed. Afterwards, I wiped my eyes and dripping nose ... and I felt ... calm. It's like how people describe how meditation feels -- where you aren't aware of all the tumult around and all you hear is the sound of the air rushing in and out of your lungs and the beating of your heart -- it's kind of like that.
It's not the BEST situation to be in ... but ... I'm adapting. Slowly, of course (hey, this IS me that we're talking about. I'm not all that great at dealing with change at the best of times), but I am adapting.
Worst case scenario, the truck's transmission is completely out (or something else HELLA-expensive) and we're down to just the one car until we (and by "we" I mean "Michael") get a substantial raise. I can walk the kids down to the closest local library for storytime. Mom will lend me her car (or we'll all drive together to my library) so I can keep volunteering ... or I'll just have to move my volunteering later in the day to when Michael's home, so I can take the van.
Visiting Teaching, though, is going to be rather sticky. I can walk to one gal's house ... but my companion doesn't have a car, so that rules out any weekday-daytime visits. If we just do later evening visits, it could work ... but not so much with the OTHER sister-we-visit-teach's schedule. *sigh*
I guess it's rather fine that I'm such a homebody overall. *sigh* Thank heaven for small blessings, right?
Which brings us to ...
Day 10 Assignment: Pick one of your five senses to focus on each day. Take note of how many gifts come to you via that single part of entry. Write about this experience.
Well, since I was so busy yesterday, I didn't even LOOK at the gratitude challenge calendar yesterday. But I'll try to recall ...
Touch
- During the bedtime routine last night, Bruise sat on my lap while Michael read the Scripture story (this was about some of the miracles that Elisha did -- like the widow's oil replenishing so that her sons wouldn't be sold into slavery ... 2 Kings chapter 4). While tears rolled down my face, he peered up at me and traced the tear-lines very gently. It was very sweet of him.
- My children seem to think the FUNNIEST THING is to give me kisseskisseskisses on my cheek and then blow a raspberry. Slobbery, yes. But I can't actually get at all upset about it. Could you?
- Snuggling into my warm husband ... and how patient he is with me when I put my dry-ice-cold toes on him. Seriously, I don't deserve him. I'm aware. But I'm glad that he loves me regardless.
- How soft my skin felt after I took five minutes to pamper myself (and get back at that harlot, Mother Nature) and did a little microdermabrasion (I really like the Olay home kit. For, what $25, it seems to work well. ^_^)
- How good it feels to get a warm shower and put on clean clothes.
- Michael's hands on my head as he gave me that blessing of comfort that I very sorely needed.
Since I didn't go INTO the day knowing that I needed to be aware of all these things, it's a much shorter list than it should be.
I'll post today's Gratitude challenge in a few hours. After I've thought about things for today. ^_^
I also want to give a shout-out to my awesome friends. Yesterday evening, I posted on Facebook that the truck broke down and that I didn't know what to do ... and immediately I had a few friends comment that I was in their prayers and that everything would be all right.
It brought (and still brings) tears to my eyes to be reminded that I am so loved and so blessed. At times, it seems like everything's stacked against us ... but if I can look past all the crap, life is really, really good.
I have some incredibly sweet friends, some hilarious friends (like my Ty-bro who made me choke with laughing) and all lovely, lovely people. And that helps so, so, so much.
No comments:
Post a Comment