My Sewing Machine Disaster

I have wanted to own a sewing machine for a long time. But I have recently been bitten by the “crafty bug” and was extra in need of a sewing machine. I knew that money was tight and so I didn't have a lot to spend. So I decided to find a small, inexpensive sewing machine that didn't have all the bells and whistles and then save up for a better one in the future. One night I was out shopping with a friend when I found a used one at Good Will. It was only $30 and it had been tested. I figured this was as good as any other machine and I was so proud of myself for finding one. I bragged about my find to my sister and mother and they congratulated me properly.

So then I take my new found sewing machine back home with me so that I can play with it with my Mom. The first thing I learned is that I bought a MENDING machine and not a SEWING machine. I figured this would still be alright since I would be using it for small mending projects and refused to get unexcited about my amazing find. My Mom helped me set it up and we began to test it. It went for maybe 5 seconds but the bottom bobbin wasn't sending thread up properly. So we tried to fix it and before we knew it, the machine wouldn't work at all! My Mom felt awful and kept saying she broke the machine and I just kept laughing. I couldn't believe that for one I didn't even buy a sewing machine and secondly that it didn't even last through being tested. Thankfully I didn't spend a lot of money on it! And now I can always harass my Mom that she broke my first sewing machine :)

Creating Complexes

One of the things that I love about my new calling is the kids that I work with. However, these same children are going to end up giving me a complex. Today as we practiced for the Primary Program it was discovered that I had moles on my arms. Now though I knew I had a few moles on my arms these haven’t ever been of great concern for me. This little boy asked what it was and when informed it was a mole told me, in a very disgusted tone, that he NEVER wanted a mole on his arm. This little boy then tried to wipe the off of my arm. Upon discovering these disgusting moles weren’t going anywhere he began to play connect-the-dot as he counted them for me.

“One, two, three, four, five (for the record four and five were the same mole, apparently it is HUGE!) …. Ugh my arm is getting tired, you have SO MANY moles! Okay focus….. whoo….. one, two, three, four…”

I might be wearing long sleeves the rest of my career in Primary!

Term Papers

This is the semester of term papers. Every class is asking for ridiculous papers of ridiculous lengths but of the 6 that I have to write this semester I have finished three. We are half of the way done! YAY!!!!

Reverent Rabbit

Okay so I realize he isn’t a rabbit but I think he will totally work for my purposes. Now I just have to name him.



Blissful Bear

Oh-so-wonderful Oso

Companionable Cub

Great Grizzly

What do you think?

Implications and Surprises

Marc gets in these moods where he wants to be super sweet and surprise me with something. This last week was no exception. Marc was aware of my “Reverent Rabbit” search and had gone to a thrift store looking for stuffed animals. He found several that he liked but he liked them as presents for me. Realizing that he was getting them super cheap he decided to buy a few and leave them in my car at work as a surprise. The only problem is that I had the keys to my car. He tried to be sneaky and came in and asked for my keys because he needed to look for his “lost i-pod”. I knew something was up, as well as did my coworkers, but I let him have my keys anyway. He came back saying he hadn’t found the i-pod but he was off to go workout. Shortly after he left I went on break and went to go see what was done to the car. My coworkers had been discussing it and coming up with possible options but none of us really knew for sure. As I walked out to the car I was greeted by several stuffed animals with slogans that said things like “Kiss Me” “Wild Thing” and “I Love You”. I called him and thanked him for the stuffed animals. I grabbed two of the animals to bring in to show my coworkers. We discussed that I hadn’t missed an anniversary, one of the possible scenarios for the random act, and that Marc was just being sweet. I left for the day and I didn’t think anything of it until the next day when I was approached by a coworker. Apparently I had brought in a blue stuffed animal and a pink stuffed animal. Suddenly the rumors were flying that I was pregnant! I quickly told them that I wasn’t and the colors were simply coincidence but the whole thing made me laugh so hard and made me a little more aware of how my actions can be perceived!

New Calling

Well I realize I just updated the blog with my last calling but it has changed. I am now the CTR 4 teacher in Primary and I can already tell it is going to be a riot. I am in the process of finding my own version of a “Reverent Rabbit” to help encourage the kids to more reverent but I think it will be fun and challenging experience.

For those who don’t know I had a teacher in Primary and she had a “Reverent Rabbit” and whichever child was the most reverent during all of Primary got to take the rabbit home for the week. It was a big hit and I think it helped with our reverence on most days at least. Now I just have to find one that will work with my 4-year-olds.

We also have “George” who helps us know whose turn it is to talk. The person holding George gets to talk and everyone else gets to listen. Not only does this set up being polite and listening but the kids are so excited to hold George that they participate way more!

Missing WalletS

No that isn't a typo on the title, when Mikkel came to visit we lost not one but two wallets. It all started when we went to go fill up with gas and it was discovered that somewhere between the gas station and home his wallet had been lost. We searched the car and the gas station but couldn't find nay sign of it. Thankfully it only had his school id in it and nothing else was lost but I felt bad that we had lost his first wallet. I went to Savers to see if I could find him another one. I realized it wouldn't be the same and it would be used but I wanted to see what we could find. We found him another wallet and left this one in the trunk knowing Mikkel would be leaving the next day. The next morning that wallet was missing too! Seriously??? Thankfully that day we also found Mikkel's first wallet which had been wedge in on the side of the seat and had been impossible to find in the dark. At least he left with a wallet and maybe I will be able to find the other one for a backup for his next visit!

Classic Mikkel Pose

Wanting some photographic evidence that Mikkel was actually at our house this time I took some photos on our final night together. I got some good ones but I wanted that "classic Mikkel pose". Mikkel didn't know what this "classic pose" was and so I tried to explain, "I come around the corner and how do I see you standing?" This is what Mikkel gave me......



Man I love this kid! But here are some of his "normal" ones too.

Foreign Languages

Having traveled around and being fascinated by languages, I am able to say a few phrases in multiple languages. As we finished grocery shopping I said the phrase "cease and desist" to Mikkel about something and he looked at me and said, "Say it in Spanish!" (Usually Mikkel asks me to NOT talk in foreign languages but I obliged)

"Para ahora mismo"
"Say it in Sign Language"
"STOP NOW" (But I signed it not spelled it out)
"Say it in German"

Now I don't have the first clue how to say something like that in German but I did now how to ask if one spoke German, figuring Mikkel wouldn't know the difference I said, "Sprechen sie Deutsch?"

Mikkel kept on going not missing a beat and said, "Say it in Chinese!" I said some Chinese-sounding phrase and then busted up laughing. If I hadn't admitted to my misleading phrases I don't think Mikkel would have ever known!

Spelling Lesson

I love having Mikkel come to visit and every visit brings more laughter and memories than the previous ones. This trip was no exception. Mikkel and I were playing Wheel of Fortune on the Wii one night, one of our favorite games, when the bonus trip was to Buenos Aires. I excitedly told Mikkel that we should totally try to win this trip and then asked him if he knew where it was located. He replied that he didn't and so I began to fingerspell the country in ASL. This was the result....

A-R-G-E-N-T

Mikkel then realized that he knew the country and excitedly shouts out GERMANY!

We might have to work on Mikkel's spelling because I am pretty sure Argentina and Germany don't even start with the same letter!

Four Letter Words

One of my favorite things about working with Kindergartners is learning their "naughty" words. When a child would come tattle it was important to specify which "s-word" had been used. Growing up the extra four letter word that was added was BUTT. In our house the four letter words that create the most drama are MILK and FOOD for the cats and dogs respectively. If the word MILK is used the cats come running and meow so pathetically that one would swear we NEVER feed them. They run around the kitchen convinced that if there isn't constant begging that I will forget to give them any or that I will forget where to put it down. They are jumping over each other and really I find myself laughing through the whole, ridiculous ordeal. The other word is FOOD. If you say FOOD in front of Max, he is so excited and jumps around frantically. Again you would think we NEVER feed the little rascals. So when you come to our house these two words will probably have gone missing from our vocabulary. However they are smart enough that no matter what the substitution they still know exactly what I am talking about. Either that or the cats speak Spanish because they know what LECHE is too!!!

It SNOWED!

One of the things I wasn't looking forward to in moving to Flagstaff was the snow. Having lived here before I knew it would be inevitable but I also hoped it would be nice and maybe I could come to not despise it. However, snow raged a war on me this year when it decided to start October 6th!!! I mean seriously, that is a little early in the season! Luckily it was just a simple powder and it hardly even stuck to anything. In fact, I had to get pictures of the snow. It is going to be a long, snowy season... I can just feel it. Wish us luck!

GRADUATION!!!!!!!!!!

That's right I will officially be graduating soon! In fact this May I will be walking and the following August my diploma will be mailed to me. I can't believe this day was actually arrived. I am so excited and it means so much to see what I have overcome and endured to get to this position. I will go on to get my Master's at some point but after this year we will only put one of us through school at a time. So Marc will finish his Bachelor's and then I will go on to graduate school. But enough about the far distant future because graduation her I come baby!

Another Failure in Flagstaff

Four years ago in Flagstaff I faced a devastating blow and faced my first real experience with failure. It crushed me and I have worked over the last several years to rebuild my GPA and self-esteem when it came to school. Returning to Flagstaff was hard because I didn't know if I could face being here again or if I had grown enough from the last failure. Apparently someone wanted this theory tested because I recently had another failure in Flagstaff. I have been taking online ASL classes so that I could get some graduation requirements fulfilled and was relieved that the semester was over. I had worked hard and felt confident in my final projects. I had five final projects and I was failed on all five. I was devastated by this failure especially because they weren't due to me doing the project incorrectly. The teacher stated that she didn't like my choice of children's book to sign and didn't think it showed my full potential of signing. I emailed back and forth and tried to get these grades reversed but in the end her decision was final. Luckily, unlike last time, I received a B in the class and it won't affect my overall GPA because it is a transfer credit. Luckily, unlike last time, I was able to represent myself with dignity and not let it get me down. So I guess, maybe it wasn't another failure in Flagstaff. :)

Walking Into a Door

Wow okay so my system of blogging clearly has some hiccups. I usually send myself text reminders or write a list of things I want to blog about. I try to make the reminders short but with enough information about what I want blogged about. Apparently I either waited too long to write this one, have a terrible memory, or my clue wasn't long enough. I don't know what incredible story I had planned about walking into doors which would have warranted a blog post. Except maybe that we had two patrons walk into different doors within 30 minutes of each other one day (one of which was our favorite little Nicholas). But if it was the library doors than watch out they will get you or if not then I have forgotten some other fascinating story. I guess this is what I get for not writing my blog posts out sooner!

Who Wears the Hat?

Usually the question is who wears the pants but not in our family. So who does wear the hat?

Snuggle Time

Don't I have the cutest snuggle bugs even when they aren't snuggling!

Deaf Expo

Being an ASL student I find myself being drawn to things like Deaf Expos. I wouldn't have ever thought to go before but I couldn't wait to go. Unfortunately because of the dog-sitting and homework I was unable to attend but there will always be next year! If your town ever has one though I would recommend going, there is some pretty fascinating things to be learned.

Dog Watching Miss Kalia

Our neighbors went out of town for a few days and we had the pleasure of dog-sitting. I didn't think much of it because the dogs play together quite often and really what is one more in our crazy life? Boy was I wrong!! Max, the kind and gentle one, didn't like that she was in his territory and Kovu was so excited he couldn't hold still for a moment. Our weekend was filled with howling (done by Kalia because she was left alone or kenneled), running, jumping, playing, barking, rearranging sleeping arrangements, and keeping the cats away from her. It was a long weekend and though we would watch her again in a heartbeat we were all ready for life to go back to normal, including Kalia.

Rowdy Won't Make it Through This Winter

This is a sad post to write and one that I was beginning to wonder if it would ever come. As a child my family rescued and it has been the family dog ever since. We must have gotten him in 1998 and he wasn't a puppy when we got him but we guessed he was 2-3 years old. Rowdy has been a great dog and a beloved friend over the years. But we knew that he was getting older and for the last several years we have speculated that he wouldn't make it through the winter. Well that prediction came true this year as Rowdy has passed away. I woke up to a call on October 9th saying that Rowdy had passed away during the night. I hope that he just slipped away peacefully as he slept and didn't suffer. I am grateful that he didn't have to survive another winter but I will definitely miss him. He was laid to rest in his favorite napping place and I couldn't think of a better place for him to be. Thank you Rowdy for being such a wonderful dog and please know that you will be missed!

Feasting on the Words of Christ

Carmel has started this new fascination with eating paper. He loves to shred anything paper that is left within reach. I have had him shred letters, calendars, etc. He hasn't gotten to eating books yet so we will just have to keep our fingers crossed. But here is what happened to our Ensign after Carmel got a hold of it. Thankfully he didn't eat the prophet but he did demolish the temple on the other side. Apparently he took the whole "feat on the words of Christ" very literally!

*** So confession time... I wrote this blog post months ago and really thought that I had taken a picture of the eaten Ensign before I threw it away but I have searched my photos and can't find it anywhere... so let's just pretend there is a picture on this blog :)

Baby Blanket

I have been working on developing my crocheting skills since my Mom taught me and nothing works better for developing relationships like service. It was time to make a coworker a baby blanket for her newest grandchild. I started with a very pink yarn but it felt more like a dish cloth rather than a cuddly blanket. We quickly found a softer yarn and began experimenting. It looked pretty awful and was definitely more dress than blanket as it flared! But after many hours trying to fix it, it didn't turn out so bad. I couldn't even bare to take pictures until I had fixed one side so there is a picture at the half point and one as a finished product. It was super soft and I am glad I had the experience. The one I am working on now is turning out so much better! I can't wait to see how it turns out.







But of course I couldn't have finished it without all the help of Mr. Carmel!

Dog Beds

When we got the dogs we bought them dog beds. You would have thought we were trying to torture poor Max by asking him to sleep on a dog bed. I even took him to the store with me to buy one and he would jump over them or not move at all in an attempt to not lay on the bed. I tried sticking him in his kennel with his bed and he would squish himself to this little area so he would try and avoid the bed. One day we left the futon down in our living room and this is what we discovered. Apparently we finally found a bed that Max likes. Too bad I don't like him on it! Thankfully as long as the futon is up he still stays off the furniture!