bless you.

good morning.  let's set the scene shall we?  i am laying on my stomach in my soft bed that tilts to the left.  it's missing a wheel and that's a fact.  there's a haphazard stack of 3 pillows off to the side and one is stuffed under my chest and chin.  my chin rests upon it and that's the way it is.  my hair is a bird's paradise and last night's purple eye shadow and crusty mascara linger.  my feet are crossed at the ankle and peeking out the bottom of the duvet, the toes of my right foot dipping over the edge of the bed and caressing some bit of cascading laundry.  the laundry has taken up a squatter's village on my hope chest these last 3 weeks.  that's the way it is.  i'm listening to music on grooveshark.  desert noises.  checking them owt.

if you were to leave my room and travel the two step hall to the living room you would find it clean and bright.  from there you would view the dining room table pulled out and fully extended.  lots of stacked up plates and pots.  if you looked out the window you may see snow geese greedily gobbling school yard grass, loudly protesting various happy dogs who chase them into the air.

all week i have been thinking about blogging.  every day i compose a sentence or two of my daily experience.  but here i am ready to write and i worry that it is all lost, that it's too late.  i will retrace my steps.

monday:
i grocery shopped with ross.  he leans heavily on his cart.  we spent enough to receive 3 flats hard unripe mangos from the superstore.  we made beef dip with swiss and mushrooms and a side of caesar for lunch.  after lunch i lined stephen's office windows with hard mangos.  i hoped that sun would penetrate the fog and touch the mangos with ripeness.  it didn't. that night i finished part 2 of michealah's photoshoot and posted it on my photoblog.

tuesday:
i made baked ziti for the first time and decided that it is better then lasagna.  bold statement, i know.  if you need to make baked ziti for the first time may i recommend pioneer woman's recipe.  delish and decadent.  the soft squish of sauce as you bite a noodle--it's a beautiful thing.

checked my mangos.  they were still as hard as ever.  glared at the fog.  or was it rain that day?  who cares. it wasn't sun and that's what matters.  i'm making the mango pudding tomorrow and i don't care if the mangoes aren't ripe, i'm doing it anyway, i said defiantly to the weather and stuck out my hypothetical tongue.

lisa and i spent the afternoon rolling meatballs for the morrow.  by the 4th or 5th large casserole dish of meatballs we were getting silly with meats.  i started rolling them larger and larger.  my gloved hands were carpeted with a pink meat shag.  lisa made the last meatball and it was about the size of my fist.  we laughed at it. we dared the world to comment on our meatball sizing.  we tinfoiled it and put it in the fridge.

as soon as i was in the door at home i realized that i had forgotten to pick up the wet cat food.  gah.  oh well i'll get it tomorrow, i thought.  spent time thinking about primary things.  had a primary meeting with my lovely primary ladies.  we went over names and all the many investigator children we have in our primary right now.  we organized the name popsicle sticks.

wednesday:
i was late because of my hair.  it was the ugliest hair i've had in a long time.  i ended up putting it up in a severe braid, but before lunch had even come i had to take it out and give myself a softer side twist type do.  lisa said as i walked into the office 15 minutes late "oh, nice of you to show up! why are you late?" "i'm late because i'm ugg." i said with downcast eyes.  her and debbie exchanged surprised looks.

panckake breakfast. i tasted the cinnamon i put in the batter the day before and i liked it.
sweet and sour meatballs.  since most of the work was done the afternoon before and since michelle was there to take care of the split pea with ham soup, i decided to tackle the spice bin and took michael with me.  the spice bin is my pet project.  i periodically clean it up, organize it, label the spices, and alphabetize them.  and then the world does its best to undo my work but i fight back.  after lunch we made mango pudding.  we used 9 mangoes and it seemed like the loaves and fishes, there was more left over after we were done.

after work i walked in the door and realized i hadn't stopped for cat food. meh. i had stopped at the grocery store for a pot roast and various sundries though.

i had a shower because i couldn't go on in my state of uggness to stake leadership training.  at 6:30 i picked up mei lin and leilani at the church and we drove the stake centre and arrived just on time.  as i walked in i saw randy and gave him a quick wave.  we made pinecone owls in primary leadership.  whoooo are you? i am a child of God!  we had owl eye cookies with a too realistic for comfort cashew beak.

we snuck into the relief society room and snuck some of their squares.  leilani left me a box of doughnuts.  oi.  sugar.

before i went to bed that night i peeled carrots and stuck them in my water jug to keep fresh.  i peeled potatoes and put them in a pot with water.  i was ready for the next day.

thursday:
i got up early.  i studied the word. i ate cereal.  i seared the pot roast, dug holes for the garlic cloves and seasoned the meat.  i put it in the crock pot with carrots and mushrooms and poured gravy stuff over top.  i turned it on to low.

at work i tried a mango pudding with coconut milk.  light and delish.  sold them for 35 cents.  i told fumiyo that they were snot puddings.

when i got home i was ready for a wall of savory meaty smells to greet me. i got more of a whiff.  apparently low was too low, so after some consultation with pops i put it in the oven for an hour and that's what it needed.  i put myself to cleaning and scrubbing and setting up for my dinner.  at 5:20 i took the yorkshire puddings out of the oven and left to pick up mary (a double member.  i visit teach her).  she brought me her water pitcher because mine is tiny.

sam and sam arrived a little while later with two folding chairs because all i have is 4.  sam looked at my classic book collection and we talked about different authors and stuff.  and a little while later our two missionaries arrived.  elder cole is from taber and elder gardner is from fresno.  we had a nice meal.  i thought the yorkshires weren't quite right but they all ate them and liked them, so, i was reassured.  we laughed and talked and after dinner we each shared our favourite scripture or story about the savior.  soon everyone left and i drove mary home.  i left the dishes.  they're still there.  don't judge.

i felt so sleepy afterwards.  a cozy kind of sleep.  i decided to go to be early.  an hour and a half later, according to records, i tore off my mask in my sleep. i awoke at 3 in the morning feeling terrible.  sore throat, swollen uvula, dry mouth.  put it back on and went back to sleep.

friday:
felt foggy headed all day at work.  after work two buds met downtown at CITY CENTRE.  we walked arm and arm down to joey's on pender and burrard.  during our half an hour wait i showed the fat-juan my blog book and read her some letters she  wrote me when we were teens and the world was so dramatic.  we were seated in the wine room.  the whole huge restaurant was a loud, raucous, hubub.  we could barely hear each other.  after dinner we went to blenz and talked.  at 10pm we got kicked out.  we walked slowly back towards CITY CENTRE, but decided to wait for daman who was at a function.  so we sat outside the starbucks on granville and watched the many peoples go by, and played the 1,2,3 husband game and talked more. fatima said "laura i have your present in my purse but i don't want to give it to you because it's not wrapped."  "give it to me right now." i said. i don't need wrapping especially when it's almost february.  i don't demand wrapping of others ehnehway.  so i closed my eyes and she placed a book in my hand.  i'm excited to read it.  daman came and had a tea and we talked some more and then we all left and hugged and left.  so tired on the way home and my bag was super heavy.

this is the end and if you've made it this far, God bless you.