Traffic for 2008 May

I took Friday off (speaking of the term quite liberally, considering I told my coworkers I needed a day off to rejuvenate, but they still called me all day long). Anyway, we fixed the shower, pulled weeds, planted some flowers, pulled weeds, planted some little bushes, pulled weeds, mowed the lawn, pulled weeds, turned on the sprinklers, pulled weeds, went to Ember's soccer game, yelled at the weeds, and on and on.

Saturday we went to the cemetery with Grandma June, because it was Grandpa's 97th birthday (that is, if he were still alive). My mom's car got a screw in the tire, so we waited on the grass for about 30 minutes for AAA. Then we worked more in the yard. I think I am half tanned, half sunburned now. I guess it beats the pasty white complexion one gets all winter here. Maggie got to experience the whole weekend my way, because she wouldn't leave my side. I can't help thinking Frances would be proud of my horticultural efforts. I think sometimes I feel her inspiring to keep pruning and beautifying., because I certainly don't do it for fun.

Speaking of lightly toasting, congrats to Sumana on her upcoming graduation!

So yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. There's this new lady in the ward, from England, rather obnoxious really, and her cell phone rings in church. She answers it, while sitting on the second row of pews, and talks on it for a good 5 minutes before putting it away. All the while, this lady is on the stand crying about something or other.

I have to wonder where some people learn their etiquette. Would it have killed her to sit in the foyer if she is expecting a call. Or, at the very least to answer it, say "hold on a minute, love" and walk into the foyer to continue her conversation? I was not raise to presume the world revolves around me. But apparently some people were. What it must be like to be living in that sort of delusion.

For Mother's Day I bought Susie something that will hopefully provide us both a better life: an expensive, fancy-type mattress cover. It has a pillow top to it. We tried it out last night and I slept great! It felt like I was sleeping on a cloud. Or like I was sleeping in a swank hotel room bed, which I get to do for work travel sometimes, and is also where the idea for this present came from. Susie unfortunately didn't sleep any better. Well, Happy Mother's Day anyway, sweet baboo!

Today we visited our old ward in Costa Mesa. Talk about a warm reception. Everyone, including the Bishop, asked if we were back for good. When we said no, they seemed disappointed. Then in sacrament meeting the bishop formally announced that we were visiting today and everyone should come and say hi. And people listened. People I had never talked to when we lived here expressed how much they missed us. Susie mentioned that it felt like we were going home, not going on vacation. Our church experience made that true.

We went to Sunday School, held in the Relief Society room. I'd never been there before, due to our lifetime Primary calling. It was a trip. The room is painted light pink. Pink. And they have these wierd valance and curtains with floral patterns from the eighties. I also had to ask for directions to Priesthood.

I think we're slowly fitting into our new ward in Draper, though I still feel inadequate working with the youth. I just have an easier time relating to children than to teenagers. But I just can't shake the feeling that the Costa Mesa II ward is home, and that we are not done with the place.

Saturday we toiled in the yard in the oppressive heat of the day. We mowed the lawn, weeded the side yards, and planted our garden! That night, after Maggie went to sleep, Susie and I layed out on the backyard grass to enjoy the twilight. I thought out of the corner of my eye something moved in the garden, on the hill near the bushes and ground cover. So I went over to the whole in the ground I uncovered while trimming back the ground cover the other day, and there was a mouse, no bigger than my thumb, looking up at me quite apprehensively.

Susie is enjoying conjuring up ways to end its life. My stance is to live and let live, as long as its not in the house. And we have mice poison boxes in the house left from the previous tenants (and now I know why!) If it were a rat, I'd feel differently.

Maggie had her own mouse encounter last week. Picture here.

Had a very nice Memorial Day weekend, despite the cold and the wet. Kristen, Aaron, Lily, & Gunnar came for breakfast Friday morning. Lily & Gunnar picked on Maggie a little bit, but I think it was good for her. Susie says Maggie picks on Collette sometimes. So it was her karma catching up with her. Friday afternoon we made the trek to Provo to pay homage to Roy & Frances. We walked around campus afterward and I finally came to peace with BYU. The walk was nice and I realized it's a nice place. I no longer hold the university in contempt.

Saturday we took Justin to see "Prince Caspian." I clearly have forgotten the Narnia series, as I was confused in a few places. But I really enjoyed the movie. Maggie wanted to play, of course, so I sat on the floor off to the side while she walked around and read books. She started throwing things, so I scolded her, she cried as usual, and I rocked her until, miracle of miracles, she fell asleep in a public place (something she refuses to do). So even though my entire left arm fell asleep, I got to watch the last half of the movie in peace. We spent the rest of Saturday at my parent's entertaining Chad. He was supposed to go paintballing, but Jodi & Franco bailed without telling him. Poor kid. He spent the day weeding. So we got him pizza for dinner.

Sunday was awesome. I taught a personal best Sunday School lesson. I think the kids really enjoyed it. It was on prophets so we split into teams and we played memory with the quorum members. We also listened to parts of conference and they had to guess which of the brethren was speaking just by the voice. Then I played some Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc to do the same thing with. The point was that they need to get to know the brethren as well as they know One Republic. But they actually did a pretty good job at naming the prophet by voice (better than Susie & I did). We've had two less active kids coming more regularly lately as well. I felt like I related to the kids really well. Problem is, it's hard to come up with lessons like that every week. The manual, of course, is no help.

Sunday night we went to the cabin and spent the night. It was really fun. Even though we did the same thing we do every night at home (went for a walk, put Maggie to bed, read books, went to bed) it was fun to do it somewhere else. It wasn't too cold and we got to watch a lot of people fishing at the lake.

Today is back to work (and to running). I'm up to 4 miles now every morning, so I am improving. I'm really enjoying these early morning runs.

Now that we have a home and space to fill, Susie & I have finally put an emphasis on building up an emergency supply storage. We have beefed up our 72 hour kits and have started to horde water. We were going to buy a 55-gallon barrel, as seems to be popular among the Mormon food storage crowd, but it just didn't seem right to me. Firstly, how in the world do you rotate that water out? Secondly, if we had to evacuate our home, I can't lift 500 pounds of water up the stairs. Thirdly, I didn't like the idea of running a hose through the window to fill it up with sub-par water. So instead we are going to buy a variety of 6-gallon jugs. They are portable (though still weigh about 50 pounds when full), are easy to rotate, and can be filled up with inside water. So far we are up to 20 gallons (or roughly 120 pounds) of water, 25 pounds of flour, and 3 strategically placed emergency kits filled with flashlights, clothes, food, toilet paper, diapers, etc. We also have a little propane stove.

Still need to buy sleeping bags, spare propane barrel, and stock up on food we can feasibly rotate. Susie has also planted a garden. We are just hitting the tip of the iceberg. What a lot of work.

This morning I opened all the windows in the house before I went running, to keep the house cool in anticipation for a hot day. Then after my run I played the piano. Our neighbors heard it, and stopped by. Their two daughters need piano lessons, as they just bought a piano at DI. And because they heard me playing, Susie now has two more students!

Then on our walk with Maggie this morning we happened by a yard sale selling a "Little Tikes" table and two chairs! For $10! These things are like hundreds of dollars at the store. Now we can move past the high chair and we have a craft table for her to work at.

We also took Grandma June to the cemetary to retrieve items off Grandpa Garn's grave and to IHOP. Grandma misunderstood Susie on the phone and thought ALL the Chadwick's were coming, when what Susie really meant was that I was coming. Maggie ate almost an entire pancack off my plate--cornbread pancakes.

Got home just in time for Maggie's nap, and I'm getting lots done in the meantime. I love the weekend.