Holy headache Batman!!!

This past weekend was pretty calm. I spent Saturday cleaning and preparing my lesson for Sunday. One Sunday I taught Relief Society using two November General Conference talks: "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Wirthlin and ""The Ministry of Angels" by Elder Holland. They are both wonderful talks and I would highly recommend them. "Come What May, and Love It" reminded me a lot of my mom. I used to come home from my sixth grade class and say "Mrs. Noel makes me so mad." My mom would calmly reply "she didn't make you mad. No one can make you mad." It always annoyed me but truer words were never spoken. How we feel and react are things we can control, unlike many other things in this world.

The lesson went well (I think) and I even ended on time. After church my roommates and I made waffles. In fact, this is the first time the four of us have shared a meal. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the meal, Nate came over to join us (and help finish up the waffles.) As a side note, the waffles were in the shape of Hello Kitty and her friends.

Later that night the four of us went to ward prayer (which is like a huge family prayer that a singles ward has on Sunday night.) I wasn't very tired so I didn't go to bed until 11pm. I fell asleep, then woke up after having a nightmare. It took me an hour to get back to sleep and I slept for approximately a half an hour when I was awakened by another nightmare. I had a third nightmare around 4am and a fourth around 7pm. They didn't have a familiar theme or person.
All in all, I got a little less than three hours of sleep on Sunday night/Monday morning. Since I was up at 8am, I called my work and told them that I wouldn't be in. I couldn't go back to sleep so I went grocery shopping. I managed to get two more hours of sleep in the afternoon. At 4pm I remembered that FHE(Family Home Evening) for the ward was at my house and I had to give them a lesson. By then I was working on a nasty headache. I took a shower, did a little lesson prep, and attempted to make myself look good. By 6pm my headache had turned into a migraine headache and I had the distinct desire to decapitate myself. I took more Ibuprofen. At 6:55pm the organizers of FHE arrived and asked to use our oven to cook eggrolls (to celebrate the Chinese New Years.) That was when I found out that our oven and range top wasn't working. Since I had used it the night before, it was a bit of a shock. They left to cook the food at a nearby house while my roommates welcomed ward members to the house.

I gave a 7 minute FHE lesson making the following connections: this is the year of the ox in China, yokes are used on oxen to pull large loads, in Matthew 11:29 we are told to take Christ's "yoke upon us," and to take Christ's yoke upon us is to take Christ's name upon us. I then pointed out three ways in which we can "take the name of Christ upon us." After the lesson, I sat in the kitchen for while sipping water and eating enough so I could take more pain meds without throwing up. A friend of mine, Angie, went and got me some Coke to settle my stomach. I took something to help me sleep at 9:30pm and slept until 7:30am this morning. It's been a long time since I have had a headache that bad. I was nauseous, light sensitive, and exhausted.

I am feeling better now and a repair man for the oven is coming tomorrow. My biggest complaint is that I am now behind at work.

A picture of my room

1. My bedroom walls used to have wallpaper. It was stripped off but I haven't painted yet. Any suggestions for wall colors?
2. Bookcase #1 was bought at IKEA. The #2 is by my Harry Potter series. I try to keep books that are in the same series together on the shelves.
3. The curtains are from the landlord. I am thinking of replacing them.
4. My awesome bedspread that came from Aunt Nancy (who, in turn, received it from Grandma R.) It is warm and very pretty. Sadly, I forgot to make my bed before I took this picture.
5. My big stuffed bunny was a Christmas present from my parents a long time ago. It has gone with me to every place that I have lived (including the one room cabin in Montana.)
6. Bookcase #2 of 4 was a high school graduation present from my parents. I love this bookcase because it fits so many books and because it came from my parents (who were smart enough to know that I wanted a bookcase instead of a bike.)
7. The Barnes and Noble classics series is black and are put together (despite not being by the same author.)
8. My collection of children's books is growing each year despite my lack of bearing children.
9. One of the four boxes I have yet to unpack (although I think I'm doing pretty well considering I have only lived there a month and a half.)
10. A picture I have yet to hang on my wall.
11. My tv remote is on my "dumping ground." I tend to dump papers and other small things on top of this bookcase.
12. Bookcase #3 is at the end of my bed while bookcase #4 is on the side of my bed (you can't see it in this picture.)

Thanks Emily for the idea of labeling pictures. It was an interesting mental exercise.

Adieu Sarah

Well, Sarah has left the country. She left for France this morning and I already miss her. On Saturday night I went to a farewell party for her. (The picture is from a goodbye dinner I went to for her on Thursday.) We had crepes, a chocolate fountain, and cheese fondue while talking and making jokes. On Monday I picked her up to get for a quick gelato run only to find the gelato shop closed. We ended up at Los Hermanos where Sarah had chips and salsa and I had fried ice cream. We pretended that she really wasn't leaving for five months and that I would see her next week. (Neither of us wanted to cry and didn't know how to say goodbye.) As a tribute, I would like to list some of the memories I have of her from the last two years:

• Moving into my blue room
• Painting in the front room
• Eating gelato in Provo
• Crepe parties
• A trip to Boise where we broke 90 mph
• Shopping at Target
• Ants in the kitchen
• Having no air conditioning for week in the summer
• Relationship dissections
• Attending Hale Centre Theater
• Building a desk
• Taking photos
• Buying earrings
• Dinner with the Lechems and Jen
• Late nights talking with Aaron
• Searching for Camille
• The introduction to the Center Ward
• Watching DVD's on the comfortable couch
• Reading Breaking Dawn
• The giant dust bunny from the ceiling
• Yelling about my job
• A trip to the emergency room
• Shoes, hats, and purses
• The fouton

Sarah, I wish you all the best in France and can't wait to see you in the summer. Au Revoir!

Pictures (a second try)

After my last post, which had a picture of my work space and my bedroom with comments, I was told by many people that they couldn't read the writing and when they made the pictures bigger, they still couldn't read the writing. In this attempt, I have numbered items and have provided the description below. Here goes:

1. HR books that I am not using much these days due to my Executive Assistant duties.

2. A book of meeting agendas

3. The awesome white elephant gift I received that is a tree made of cream Styrofoam balls and beads.

4. My packing tape for mailing things.

5. My water bottle. I drink at least one of these a day if not more.

6. My lotion. I have chronically dry hands while at work.

7. My many files that I keep action items in and things that my boss needs to address.

8. My food supplies (hot chocolate, crackers, and granola bars)

9. My chair/coat hanger

10. The cafe menu for the week

11. My purse (which is usually in my filing cabinet)

12. My orange juice. I am trying to keep my boss as healthy as possible by providing orange juice if he is running late to lunch.

13. The seashell. Along with being a reminder of my trip to San Francisco, it would make a handy weapon.

14. Hand sanitizer, which is very helpful in the winter when all my coworkers are sick.

15. My desk, which usually has papers on it but was cleaned before this picture was taken.

16. My filing cabinet, which is full of files that I maintain for my boss and myself.

I'm done...

with winter. I know that it is only half-way through but I am done with winter. It snowed again last night and has snowed most of the day today. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get home last night because there were two accidents on the freeway. I got home, shoveled a little, got in the shower, went to FHE late, and then came home for more shoveling. As Marne and I were shoveling in the dark, I slipped on a huge area of ice on our driveway and landed flat on my back. Luckily I stopped my head from bashing into the pavement. I laid there for a minute or two and then had Marne helped me up. I went inside, took some pain relievers, and then helped finish shoveling. I used my heating pad for a little while before I went to bed. This morning I was in quite a bit of pain and I went into work late. I took more pain killers and went about my job but had to get up every half an hour to stretch my back. Since my boss, MJ, has a bad cold, he decided to leave early. By 1:30pm I was pretty unhappy about my back and neck, which I believe is suffering from a little case of whiplash. My co-worker recommended I go see his chiropractor, which I have never done before. I made an appointment and left work at 3pm to get there by 3:45. The drive wasn't too bad despite the snow. He said that I had injured my back but not seriously. He adjusted and massaged my back and neck and I feel much better although I am still stiff. I have another appointment on Thursday and will continue applying heat and cold and taking pain killers. I am also stretching my back (using the very helpful back stretches that my dad showed me years ago.)
The point of this long story is that I really dislike the winter weather this year. We had another 3 or 4 inches of snow on the driveway when I got home today (which, thankfully, two of my roommates took care of.) Our street is a mess and it is very cold all the time. While I realize that we need the moisture, I really wish it would only snow in the mountains for the next week so that some of the snow and ice on the roads, and my driveway, could diminish. The fact that it is dark so early isn't helping my mood much.
Thus ends my annoying rant. (I hope to have a better attitude about the season tomorrow or the next day when my back isn't aching as much.)

300 and 1000

As a random note, I have now hit 300 blog posts and 1000 miles on my new car. Other milestones include almost 2 months at my new job, indexing over 500 of my bosses business cards, an address change, and 1 new crush (no, I will not reveal it.)

Christmas

I have to say that the greatest thing about Christmas these days is watching all the kids with their presents. While I love getting my own gifts, it doesn't even compare to seeing the kids play with their toys or even the wrapping paper (in the case of Aaron.) I drove up to K-town on Christmas Eve, stopping off to see Grandma J. (For those who don't know, she is currently in the hospital with congestive heart failure and staph pneumonia.) Mom, Dad, and I went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner on Christmas Eve and then watched Wall-E, which was very cute considering how little dialogue it has. On Christmas day we made the rounds to see the kids. We started at Lauren's house, where I got into Lauren's little playhouse. We then stopped off at the hospital to see Grandma and wish Aunt Linda and Aunt Peggy a Merry Christmas. After a brief stop at home, we continued on to Isaac and Aaron's house, to Tanner and Ava's house, and we finished up at Sidney and Wyatt's house. (Sorry, but my siblings were not the main events so they are not considered the owners or main residents of the houses.) Jeremy and Britnie made an excellent dinner after which Sidney gave Mom and I a makeover and we all played Scene It. I rocked the first game, but was thoroughly trounced by Jeremy in the second game. (He didn't play the first game.)
On the day after Christmas, all my siblings and their children came to Mom and Dad's house where we had Christmas #2. I think Josh and Brooke appreciated the meat pounder I gave them (I knew I was going to buy that for them ever since I found out I had drawn their names for Christmas.) I loved the sweater, crock pot, books, and picture boards I received. After a wonderful meal by Mom, we all opened Christmas presents. It is always funny to see little kids open gifts. One child would open a gift and all the children would then want to play with it. Sharing became an issue but everyone was very well behaved considering how late it was. It was a great Christmas. (The picture is of the pot roast, potatoes, and carrots that I made in my new crock pot. It is great!)