Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2006 January

Teacher: She is always waving her hand in the air.

Mom: Well, you're lucky. It's the other side of her in the air at home!

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me
I'm going to go eat worms 
(And Corn Pops)
Big ones, little ones
Fat ones, skinny ones
I'm going to go eat worms 
(And Corn Pops)

Sorry Rach!

The title of this entry unintentionally reminded me of Hannah's whininess during the Disneyland trip. "Nobody wants to be my friend!"

We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas a while ago and who do I love? Zero. He's so cute! I even went into the Nightmare Before Christmas store at Disneyland to see if they had a Zero ornament, but it was a mass of Jack everywhere. (John likes to point out that he liked that movie before it had a goth cult following.) Zero makes a few appearances in the Haunted Mansion. He gets a big pile of bones for Christmas!

Tonight we finished Treasure Planet. You guessed it - Morph. Everytime he parroted something or morphed I said, "aww!"

I can't help it; those little guys are too cute.

Leonard shamelessly spoils his sisters. And his Mom. And his brother-in-law, for that matter. We got tons of great and thoughtful presents from him this Christmas, even though he said he was going to spend less on us, and he always makes the stockings so full and fun. He even has one more present for me that he forgot, and a juicer!

He offers advice on computers and other nerdy stuff, like buying a digital camera. He is so smart. I love to brag about him. And he is very, very funny. I am so proud of myself when I can make Leonard laugh!

Once when we were pretty little, we were swimming in our pool and Leonard did or said something that made me cry (or pretend to cry) and I was sitting on the pool steps and he came over and apologized and gave me a hug. When I was about 15, I was watching a movie when Leonard arrived for the weekend from UCLA. He came in and gave me a hug. I was shocked! That's when I realized my brother loved me.

There are two times in my life when I was rather afraid to be in the car with Leonard. Once was when he had to drive the truck when we were moving to Bakersfield. Even if you can drive a manual, the truck was terrible to drive. Leonard now admits he was as scared as me, and I'm sure I didn't help much. Then, when he graduated college and got a new car and I drove to San Francisco with him. He hadn't driven much in the last four years and you could tell! Now I'm sure he is a wonderful driver.

Over 6 years ago, the day before my 18th birthday, Leonard set me up with my very own weblog. Thanks to him, the internet has been graced by my presence since then.

So basically, my brother is great and I really appreciate him and hope everyone else who is spoiled by his presen[ce/ts] does too. I love you, Leonard!

Yesterday I was wearing a necklace Leonard bought me for Christmas last year - a little porcelain heart that says "Susie" - and I got a compliment! Also, someone complimented the magnet Sumana bought me that says "Be Nice or Leave. Thank You." I have it on the filing cabinet in my cubicle, because my cubicle is, apparently, held up by plastic.

Utah Susie: Why is your rent twice as much as mine?
California Susie:  Because it's 85° outside! On January 6th! That's why!
Utah Susie: Oh. That's a good reason.
California Susie: And I make 70% more than you.

"A friend asked me just then what I was doing and I looked at the empty bowl in my hand in realization and told her, 'I'm eating ice cream for dinner, I LOVE BEING AN ADULT!!! (insert childish laughter)'"

Overall, I liked the movie. I'm glad, however, that I read reviews by Camilla and Newsweek, because there were some gross parts. A couple people actually walked out, but I just snuggled into John. I mean, it's not like you don't know people are going to die, or how many disposable characters are left in the scene. And I know how much gore I can handle.

I thought the pre-island part and some of the fight scenes were a bit long, but I was never bored. And of course, I enjoyed the romance. There was one well-developed character that disappeared at the end and I missed him. Naomi Watts really is a good actress.

Last week John and I watched The Wizard of Oz. We both cracked up laughing when the scarecrow said, "Of course, some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?"

We bought a digital camera with Target gift cards we got for Christmas. (Thanks Mom, Uncle Garry... and Rachel.) I am a terrible photographer. I shall have to practice on our cruise! Only 134 more days.

I have had a terrible time the last two weeks being the Primary Chorister. So terrible, in fact, that I wouldn't do it this Sunday and played the piano instead. Mer. Next week I get to teach 5 year olds with John instead (although I'm sure I'll still be playing the piano).

All piled in the car on Christmas Day, John, Leonard and Sumana were in the backseat talking about nicknames. Very quietly I said to Rachel, “woot dawg.” We laughed for about 5 minutes before we could tell them what we were laughing at. I think we were mostly laughing because we were laughing, just the two of us, not because it was funny.

That story also reminds me of when John gave Hannah the nickname “H-bear”. She thought it was cute until James got upset over it. But once Nathan explained that John called her that because he loved her, she was pretty pleased. And once when John called her “Hannah”, she shouted, “he knows my name!”

Cute sister. Cute niece. Back to work.

Yesterday started off badly, but luckily I already knew it was going to be a great day in the life of Susie. My alarm didn't go off and I got on the wrong freeway on my way to work! This isn't quite as stupid as it sounds, since I was coming from Jamie's, and I took the freeway I usually take to go home.

Good things: I started doing interviews at work. There was a very short line at the post office. My husband called me. I had a lot of work to do for Jamie. I was very inspired to make a scrapbook page and had a lot of fun doing it. I had an extremely yummy dinner - Baked Potato soup. I had a clean comforter and clean jersey sheets to sleep on.

I cleaned out my purse while I was standing around at the post office. I found 5 hairbands, 6 bobby pins, and the permanent marker I borrowed from Noelle and hadn't saw since. I did not find my bubblegum lipgloss, but I got a cotton candy one in my stocking, so I guess I'll live.

I am picking John up at the LA office today on the way to Bakersfield. I was just thinking about when we did the same thing before Grandma's funeral. I got off the freeway and drove down among all those tall buildings with people in suits bustling everywhere and felt like I'd come home. It was a bit like the moment I realized I wouldn't be happy working for a small company.

Of course, I have the same feeling when I'm driving on the 58 through hills covered in dead grass, or thinking about bike rides at our house in the vineyard. But there was just something about all those people going about their lives together in a jungle of steel and glass...

I also got John to take time off from studying and take me to Disneyland for a few hours last night. The place was practically empty; it's going to be an awesome few months. We waited 45 minutes for Space Mountain and <10 minutes for everything else we went on.

Today was a cold day. I hate inside cold. Office buildings are cold all year round and my little typing fingers get so cold they can barely move sometimes! I warmed up our house by making scalloped potatoes and by drying some lemon slices in the oven.

I took a grocery bag full of lemons from Mom's tree and could hardly find enough to do with them! I juiced enough for 3+ pitchers of lemonade, made 5 into potpourri, gave 5 to Noelle and I still have 2. Mom's lemons make the yummiest lemonade, so I can't complain about having lots of juice in my freezer.

Noelle: And that's why it's important to moisturize.

Laure: "Have you ever seen a dead elephant?" No. "That's because they all go to Elephant Valley to die."

Susie: That's not why I've never seen a dead elephant. I've never seen a dead elephant because I don't see elephants!

My actual life is busy and fairly interesting. I'm mostly trying to keep busy and out of John's way while he studies for his last CPA exam on Monday. I've had plenty of scrapbooking kits to make (Tammy's kit this month is "Night at the Theatre" (preview pic) and I love it), laundry to do, movies to watch, dinners to cook, and tonight I am going to "Girl's Night" and tomorrow we have our monthly ward party.

I'll be right back.

John and I went for another walk on the beach pathway. We like to look at all the beach houses and pretend we have $3.5 million. We walked nearly the entire distance between Newport and Balboa piers and back. Our beach has so much character.

Also, our Primary lesson went much better this week. Our class was rearranged (there are two CTR 6 classes) so it was smaller, calmer and I was better prepared. It wasn't perfect but I am feeling much more confident after today. The children were also better behaved during Sharing Time.

John has been having a hard time at work since being pulled from his training. I am being a good wife and listening and telling him he's right (because he always is). People are stupid sometimes. High school is over! Move on!

Ten minutes later, at the gas station, a guy came up to me and asked me for money for bus fare for he and his wife. "Right", I thought. I told him I didn't have any money and wondered if he would want the 10 cents in my purse. As I was getting in the car, I remembered the scripture that says if someone asks for money, it's the Lord's job to judge and your job to give. Suddenly I remembered the $2, so I grabbed it and ran over to give it to him. I mean, I wouldn't have had the $2 in the first place if it hadn't been for the nice girl at the store.

As I drove off, I saw him go over to his wife. She was standing there looking at a bus map.

In Romania there were a lot of people begging for money. You can't give to everyone. I mostly just gave to the street kids, and even then, I mostly bought/gave them food. (In general, they ate the food, whereas the money was given to their parents.) There was this one sweet old man we walked by every Sunday on the way to church. I always gave him a 10,000 lei (about 30 cents; a decent amount to receive from one person while begging). I was doing my alms on Sunday! Oh wait, maybe it's healing people you're not supposed to do on Sunday? Well, we did that, too.

Spent all day on our feet gathering catalogs. Tonight we must plan the April kit. Tomorrow I am free to do all the make-and-takes. There was a lot of really awesome stuff I can make for free. I've already collected quite a few free goodies. I'm very excited to spend all day doing that tomorrow!

Anyway, back to work! I miss my hubby.