oj då
i woke up from a photography nightmare. well not an exact nightmare, but it was so frustrating! i was doing a photoshoot of this big group of people. at first it was adults. i would keep positioning them, which was hard enough--they looked blankly at me and never seemed to respond to my instructions, and then something would happen, they'd leave formation and i'd never end up taking even one shot. then i was shooting a group of youth. the sun was setting and the conditions were perfect, but i didn't have much time to capture it all. i posed them all exactly the way i wanted and i was quite pleased with it. and then something would happen and they would all leave their spots. i kept yelling, "if you want this picture done we have to do it RIGHT NOW!" and no one would listen to me and all the perfect conditions and the pleasing positioning--all for naught, all lost. so frustrating.
i've been very busy lately. thursday and friday were insane with their christmas party prep and execution. on friday i probably never sat down, except for 10 minutes at lunch time, until 4pm. i didn't go home. i stayed to watch over the food, some of which was still cooking. there was so much food. a crazy amount of food. it was quiet from 4-5 and the food didn't need anything but an occasional stirring. and i used the time to get off my weary feet and to get ready for the party. i wore my black skirt and my hot pink sweater with my silver and pink scarf. i was pretty happy with it all. after five we were back in full force and six o clock came quickly. the rest of the night was feeding people, taking out the garbage, replacing old trays with new trays of food, filling up the punch, taking platters of appetizers around to people, taking in the food trays and putting out the dessert trays, putting food away and occasionally sneaking a sit down in the snack bar. we had mountains of food left over. so much of my hard work this last week, and month was to excess. i guess we'll know for next year.
everyone left by 8:30 and by 9 we were all cleaned up and ready to leave. so many people helped. it's the nice thing about throwing a big event. you get to feel good when lots of people pitch in to help. a group was going to the pub afterwards and they convinced me to come for a little while. it was nice to just sit and let my feet dangle to tell you the truth. we had lots of interesting conversations on my end of the table but once the raunchiness from the other end of the table started filtering down, i felt it was time to go. i stayed longer than i thought anyways and i had to get up early the next day to go to the temple with sarah.
lisa m. came with me and i dropped her off at home. it was just after midnight and there were few cars on the road so i turned around by turning left at a road across the street from lisa and then swinging around to turn right back onto the road. it turns out one of the few cars on the road was a police car. it slowly approached as i was waiting to turn left and it sat suspended in the middle of the road, not passing me. oh great, i thought. he's going to give me a ticket for a u-turn. i sat waiting for him, got my license out and ready, but when he came to my window he didn't say anything about that. instead he pointed out my right side tail light which has been plaguing me. my car has issues with it's lights. i get them fixed and then they stop working again almost right away. first one side and then the other. so i didn't get a ticket at all, but i have to get it fixed in 10 days. well 9 days now.
i didn't get to bed until just after one. i was up at 6 with burning eyes and a mind that was still asleep in bed despite what the reluctant body was forced to do. i looked in the mirror. my mascara from the night before hadn't even flaked. good enough for today, i said to myself and did no additional make up.
i picked up sarah at jordan and tracy's. her kids were both up and she was forced to sneak away from sloan. once down the stairs she realized that she forgot her temple bag upstairs. i went to get it while she went outside. when i got back downstairs sloan was at the front door calling 'mommy!', insistent but as of yet, un-alarmed. i lied to the child. "mommy's upstairs" i said. he looked at me like maybe cindy loo who looked at the grinch. "mommy's upstairs" i repeated more convincingly. the fib fooled the child, as dr.seuss says it, and without a word he went up the stairs and i went outside with my grinchy 3 sizes too small heart.
jordan and tracy live so comfortably close to the temple. they're lucky.
i felt so weary and icky. i knew i wasn't going to be able to stay awake during the session. i knew i was going to get little from it all. it's just good to go, i said to myself. i knew it was my own fault for staying up so late the night before, for not preparing for my temple day properly. it was my fault, but God is merciful and kind which is the thing i often forget. i ended up having one of the most special temple sessions that i've had in a long time. insights and ideas and special little gifts just for me. i loved it my whole time there and was totally rejuvenated. although i did need to pinch myself several times, i never had a head jerk through the whole thing. and it seemed to go by so quickly which it never seems to do.
i never thought about this until now, but sarah went through for someone named ann and i went through for someone named elizabeth. we each got each other's middle name. cool. part way through the session sarah was fumbling with her dress pocket. "i forgot her name" she whispered to me. "it was ann" i whispered back. "ed." she said to me with a 'ya right' look. i stifled a laugh "ann!" i whispered back and then we both had to stifle some laughs.
so the temple time was so perfect and exactly what i needed and my spirit wanted my body to stay in that soothing, peaceful place of light and intelligence but we had to go. in the celestial room sarah told me that our cuz austin was coming to the temple with our cuz becky that very morning. maybe we'll see him on the way out i said to myself as we were getting ready to go. we didn't see him in the halls or on the stairs or in the lobby. he was probably in the dressing room i said to myself as we entered the front desk area to leave the temple. and there he was sitting in a chair waiting to be cleared to go in because he forgot his recommend--just our luck. he gave us tight hugs and we had a little reunion right there just inside the temple doors. family. it's what temples are all about.
we drove back to jordan and tracy's to pick up the kids. first we had to dress the kids. i got a squirmy naked adriel who wanted me to simultaneously change him and chase him. well probably he didn't care much about getting dressed. so i wanted to dress him and he wanted me to chase him and somehow we both got what we wanted.
i took the slow-road to the spaghetti factory (adriel wanted to know if they had machines at the spaghetti factory) and when we walked in everyone else was already there. even jordan and tracy who weren't even ready when we left and doug and del who are always late and evan and esther who are always late as well. oh well. we found a spot near delanie and madelaine and renee. i hugged renee and waved to duncan and jenny and said hi to kevin. it was a crazy mad house of children and bless duncan for signing up for such a mad house.
sarah got the manicotti and i talked about getting the cheese lover's brown butter something or other but when the waitress came around i got pesto linguine with chicken. "in true laura fashion" commented sarah when she realized. i also ate a lot of sloan's chicken strips and fries. sloan was the monster of destruction grabbing at paper placemats, forks knives, anything he could reach and chucking them. he chucked buttered bread, he chucked chicken he chucked his dipping sauces. his name should be chuck. chuck loves butter. he kept asking sarah to put the butter in his soup and then would try to grab the melting pad of butter with his hands. but chuck was the only kid who finished his soup. we all got spumoni afterwards. i like spumoni. it's way better than neopolitan.
afterwards tracy wanted me to take a quick christmas click of her family who had stayed miraculously clean during the dinner. on my way out to get my camera out of my car, i saw sarah on the desserted patio with a gaggle of naughty kids giving them a talking to for being out there. just as i was going down the steps she reached to open the door--great. now we're locked out here. she said to the kids. this caused me to chuckle but i was still heading towards my car, thinking only of getting the click done. "you're just going to chuckle and not help me??" sarah called to me. which made me chuckle more--chortle maybe. so i turned and popped my head in the door and said to jordan "sarah's locked on the patio with some kids." "good." said jord, "serves them right. that's where we should have put them all in the first place." but he got someone to open the door.
i did some quick shots on some steps across the street in the shivery cold. when we were done tracy started doling out her instructions all tracy like. ok, can you email those to me and you don't have to edit them....yadda yadda. i told her that i had to edit them but i that i would do it fast because there wasn't many pictures. "but i need them really fast..."
i was about to run back across the street, "aunty laura!" i turned back to see maria with her arms out for a hug and so i swung her up in a big hug and then jane and then tracy too.
back in the car adriel had sore tummy which later translated into diarhea. we drove to evan and esther's. we beat them there but luckily they don't lock any doors. doug and delanie came over as well and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together.
sarah did my hair and evan's hair and carmen's hair and doug and delanie and family watched inception together, while sitting on my purse and jacket, i might add. kids played crazily together. and by 8pm i was totally wiped out. i went home and fell asleep almost as soon as i arrived.
oi.
i've been very busy lately. thursday and friday were insane with their christmas party prep and execution. on friday i probably never sat down, except for 10 minutes at lunch time, until 4pm. i didn't go home. i stayed to watch over the food, some of which was still cooking. there was so much food. a crazy amount of food. it was quiet from 4-5 and the food didn't need anything but an occasional stirring. and i used the time to get off my weary feet and to get ready for the party. i wore my black skirt and my hot pink sweater with my silver and pink scarf. i was pretty happy with it all. after five we were back in full force and six o clock came quickly. the rest of the night was feeding people, taking out the garbage, replacing old trays with new trays of food, filling up the punch, taking platters of appetizers around to people, taking in the food trays and putting out the dessert trays, putting food away and occasionally sneaking a sit down in the snack bar. we had mountains of food left over. so much of my hard work this last week, and month was to excess. i guess we'll know for next year.
everyone left by 8:30 and by 9 we were all cleaned up and ready to leave. so many people helped. it's the nice thing about throwing a big event. you get to feel good when lots of people pitch in to help. a group was going to the pub afterwards and they convinced me to come for a little while. it was nice to just sit and let my feet dangle to tell you the truth. we had lots of interesting conversations on my end of the table but once the raunchiness from the other end of the table started filtering down, i felt it was time to go. i stayed longer than i thought anyways and i had to get up early the next day to go to the temple with sarah.
lisa m. came with me and i dropped her off at home. it was just after midnight and there were few cars on the road so i turned around by turning left at a road across the street from lisa and then swinging around to turn right back onto the road. it turns out one of the few cars on the road was a police car. it slowly approached as i was waiting to turn left and it sat suspended in the middle of the road, not passing me. oh great, i thought. he's going to give me a ticket for a u-turn. i sat waiting for him, got my license out and ready, but when he came to my window he didn't say anything about that. instead he pointed out my right side tail light which has been plaguing me. my car has issues with it's lights. i get them fixed and then they stop working again almost right away. first one side and then the other. so i didn't get a ticket at all, but i have to get it fixed in 10 days. well 9 days now.
i didn't get to bed until just after one. i was up at 6 with burning eyes and a mind that was still asleep in bed despite what the reluctant body was forced to do. i looked in the mirror. my mascara from the night before hadn't even flaked. good enough for today, i said to myself and did no additional make up.
i picked up sarah at jordan and tracy's. her kids were both up and she was forced to sneak away from sloan. once down the stairs she realized that she forgot her temple bag upstairs. i went to get it while she went outside. when i got back downstairs sloan was at the front door calling 'mommy!', insistent but as of yet, un-alarmed. i lied to the child. "mommy's upstairs" i said. he looked at me like maybe cindy loo who looked at the grinch. "mommy's upstairs" i repeated more convincingly. the fib fooled the child, as dr.seuss says it, and without a word he went up the stairs and i went outside with my grinchy 3 sizes too small heart.
jordan and tracy live so comfortably close to the temple. they're lucky.
i felt so weary and icky. i knew i wasn't going to be able to stay awake during the session. i knew i was going to get little from it all. it's just good to go, i said to myself. i knew it was my own fault for staying up so late the night before, for not preparing for my temple day properly. it was my fault, but God is merciful and kind which is the thing i often forget. i ended up having one of the most special temple sessions that i've had in a long time. insights and ideas and special little gifts just for me. i loved it my whole time there and was totally rejuvenated. although i did need to pinch myself several times, i never had a head jerk through the whole thing. and it seemed to go by so quickly which it never seems to do.
i never thought about this until now, but sarah went through for someone named ann and i went through for someone named elizabeth. we each got each other's middle name. cool. part way through the session sarah was fumbling with her dress pocket. "i forgot her name" she whispered to me. "it was ann" i whispered back. "ed." she said to me with a 'ya right' look. i stifled a laugh "ann!" i whispered back and then we both had to stifle some laughs.
so the temple time was so perfect and exactly what i needed and my spirit wanted my body to stay in that soothing, peaceful place of light and intelligence but we had to go. in the celestial room sarah told me that our cuz austin was coming to the temple with our cuz becky that very morning. maybe we'll see him on the way out i said to myself as we were getting ready to go. we didn't see him in the halls or on the stairs or in the lobby. he was probably in the dressing room i said to myself as we entered the front desk area to leave the temple. and there he was sitting in a chair waiting to be cleared to go in because he forgot his recommend--just our luck. he gave us tight hugs and we had a little reunion right there just inside the temple doors. family. it's what temples are all about.
we drove back to jordan and tracy's to pick up the kids. first we had to dress the kids. i got a squirmy naked adriel who wanted me to simultaneously change him and chase him. well probably he didn't care much about getting dressed. so i wanted to dress him and he wanted me to chase him and somehow we both got what we wanted.
i took the slow-road to the spaghetti factory (adriel wanted to know if they had machines at the spaghetti factory) and when we walked in everyone else was already there. even jordan and tracy who weren't even ready when we left and doug and del who are always late and evan and esther who are always late as well. oh well. we found a spot near delanie and madelaine and renee. i hugged renee and waved to duncan and jenny and said hi to kevin. it was a crazy mad house of children and bless duncan for signing up for such a mad house.
sarah got the manicotti and i talked about getting the cheese lover's brown butter something or other but when the waitress came around i got pesto linguine with chicken. "in true laura fashion" commented sarah when she realized. i also ate a lot of sloan's chicken strips and fries. sloan was the monster of destruction grabbing at paper placemats, forks knives, anything he could reach and chucking them. he chucked buttered bread, he chucked chicken he chucked his dipping sauces. his name should be chuck. chuck loves butter. he kept asking sarah to put the butter in his soup and then would try to grab the melting pad of butter with his hands. but chuck was the only kid who finished his soup. we all got spumoni afterwards. i like spumoni. it's way better than neopolitan.
afterwards tracy wanted me to take a quick christmas click of her family who had stayed miraculously clean during the dinner. on my way out to get my camera out of my car, i saw sarah on the desserted patio with a gaggle of naughty kids giving them a talking to for being out there. just as i was going down the steps she reached to open the door--great. now we're locked out here. she said to the kids. this caused me to chuckle but i was still heading towards my car, thinking only of getting the click done. "you're just going to chuckle and not help me??" sarah called to me. which made me chuckle more--chortle maybe. so i turned and popped my head in the door and said to jordan "sarah's locked on the patio with some kids." "good." said jord, "serves them right. that's where we should have put them all in the first place." but he got someone to open the door.
i did some quick shots on some steps across the street in the shivery cold. when we were done tracy started doling out her instructions all tracy like. ok, can you email those to me and you don't have to edit them....yadda yadda. i told her that i had to edit them but i that i would do it fast because there wasn't many pictures. "but i need them really fast..."
i was about to run back across the street, "aunty laura!" i turned back to see maria with her arms out for a hug and so i swung her up in a big hug and then jane and then tracy too.
back in the car adriel had sore tummy which later translated into diarhea. we drove to evan and esther's. we beat them there but luckily they don't lock any doors. doug and delanie came over as well and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together.
sarah did my hair and evan's hair and carmen's hair and doug and delanie and family watched inception together, while sitting on my purse and jacket, i might add. kids played crazily together. and by 8pm i was totally wiped out. i went home and fell asleep almost as soon as i arrived.
oi.
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