Journeys Unexpected

Just a quick note to everyone, "Merry Christmas!" My life would be so incomplete without this Little Star! She, and her parents, keep my head above water, and I just want them to know that I love them very, very much!

I've only picked a few of the pix my sister took of the new house, but it has 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (happy day!!), and a very nice backyard with a 4 car tandum garage! This is the park that is literally one house away and down a little hill from the house! It's huge! This is the front of the house... It has a Bing Cherry tree as well as an apple tree! The kitchen... Notice there's no door on front of the microwave (who takes the door!??!) and only the two knobs on the cupboards! Here's the back yard... very nice setup for a bbq as well as a place for a possible fountain. And last but not least, my sister in her lovely Master Bathtub!

Well, I'm looking forward to Halloween, as it's my second favorite holiday! I can't put any of my stuff out, as it's all packed away at the moment, but that's irrelevant and immaterial, right!? I'm currently in Mission Viejo, helping my seester out - she has training and can't get the kids from school in the afternoons, so she picked me up yesterday. I love my niece, The Dancer, and my nephew very much, and it's fun to be around them. I also get to go shopping for her, which is one of my passions! Especially with other people's money! Haha! On a very happy note, the bank only has to accept the offer that The Princess and The Handsome White Knight have put in on a castle, and we can all move in by next month! Yay!! I'm living on their couch right now, so things are a little cramped, but we're doing REALLY well! I'm surprised that we have done this well... Anyway, there is a rather funny site that The Dancer told me about! http://

So, it's finally been decided that what is best for all of us, is for me to move into Cristy's apartment until we get a house. A wonderful woman in my ward has generously offered a spare bedroom and bathroom in her house for me or for Mom and Dad to stay in, but the cat needs someone who is home all day, and that's not me. I cannot stay in her home because the anxieties it has created in me are more than I can bear. I've been in this situation before, and there's a reason Cristy and I called our room "The Dungeon"... I will stay at Cristy's on her couch, and Mom and Dad will live in the RV. If I need a night away, I'll stay on the couch in the RV. It's just too painful for me to stay with the woman from my ward.

I've decided that I want to go back to school for fun - I'm going to do American Sign Language again. I took one semester of it years ago, and have used it in many of my Church callings! I want to take it again, though, and continue with it, so I can become fluent in the language. It's such a beautiful language and the only one I can honestly say I want to know as a second language! I've been given a deaf lady on my Visiting Teaching route, and saw her yesterday. When she saw me sign that I was her VT, she just lit up! She hasn't been to Church in a long time, because nobody signs. That's going to change! I was prompted by the Holy Ghost to go back to school for this, so I'm gonna do it! Some way, I'll have the money to do this!

In just over two weeks, I'll be going to Colorado to visit my aunt, cousin and mom. My mom still has no idea that I'm coming, which greatly pleases my aunt and I! My cousin is excited for my trip, and has done an AWESOME job at keeping it secret! I have tickets for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - the midnight showing tomorrow night!!! I'm super excited! It will be the first midnight showing I've ever been to... as well as going with my friend, Matt! I didn't want to go alone, so I enticed him to come with me! It should be loads of fun! My sister and her little family have the "bug" that's going around. I had it Saturday and Sunday, MommaLady had it on Sunday, Dad has it today... not terrible, just uncomfortable. Little Star threw up in the middle of the night, so I got a phone call from my sister this morning asking if I'd do the laundry that was the result of said ickness. She told me she didn't know how to repay me, but I

I'm feeling depressed, just a little, but it's there. I keep thinking about my old job and wondering about how Little Sparrow is doing. Not a day goes by when I don't think about him. Thought it would go away after almost 5 months... Anyway, I'm going to Colorado at the end of this month/into next month for two weeks! I'm excited! I leave on the 29th and won't see my mom until the 1st; it'll give me time to spend with my aunt and cousin. The last time I went to CO was in 2005, and I didn't get to spend more than an afternoon with my cousin and a lunch date with my aunt. NOT ENOUGH TIME! I remember when I was little and got to spend lots of time with my aunt. We look very similar and people would think I was her daughter. I sent her a picture I took with my phone, she sent one of herself and we still look alike! I'll be sure to take LOTS of pix and put them up on Facebook. Well, I'm off to listen to my iPod. I love music! & movies

So, I got a phone call last night from a number I didn't recognize, that went something like this: Me: "Hello?" Caller: "Hi." Me: "Hi?" Caller: "Hi!" Me: "Who is this?" Caller: "Taylor." Me: "Taylor who?" Caller: "Your cousin! Taylor!" My 9 year-old cousin called me from his mom's cell phone she recently got! It was a nice little surprise! I got to talk with my aunt, too, and she does texting, so now I have another person to text me! I got a picture of her and my mom and am excited to see current pix! Then, this morning I got a phone call from my aunt with a proposal: she wants to pay for me to go to Colorado and spend time with all of them! And, it is to be a surprise for my mom! My aunt and I are very sneaky!! So fun!

My Little Star is sick this weekend and as she sat in my lap this afternoon, she fell asleep. Many nieces have fallen asleep either in my arms or in my lap, so this is nothing new to me. I asked Mom why this happens, that so many children fall asleep on me (am I so boring that they can't stay awake any longer!?) and she told me it is because I am comfortable (squishy in all the right places!?) and calm. She said I am that Mother-type that so few people find in their lives. She went to the Echo Hills Ward today and the lady that gave a talk spoke of the "Dance of Life" and how everyone's dance is different. For women such as me, I dance alone, watching from the wall at all the couples - some young and fast, while others are old and slow. This evening, Little Star was crying in her room at bedtime. I picked her up, sat in the rocking chair, and sat with her in my lap, whispering quietly that she should be calm and quiet, stroking her little head, when a great ru

Well, life seems to be passing me by at an alarming rate... Since the jobs have been fairly slim in picking (there are 660 substitute teachers in the Hemet School District...) I've taken to playing Pokemon Platinum - I'm trying desperately to "Catch 'Em All!" but I'm not sure how I'll accomplish that in the end. I've also downloaded a program to play with photos (thanks, Brittanie!) called "Picasa 3". Though I'm not in love with all of it just yet, I really enjoy the "collage" setting. It also seems as though I need to learn a little more about adding pix to my blogs... Have a great day, all!

Life is looking up at the moment. I'm using my new computer now to sort all my documents and pix from what *used* to be three computers! Ugh! But I get to use it now for everything I own! Yay! All that is left for my brother-in-law to do is Ghost the computer so if it crashes, I can have everything back to this state without waiting two weeks (and losing all my documents...). :) Anyway, I've had two jobs from the sub-line for this pay period, so that's good. The fourth grade I did yesterday was slightly nightmarish! The kids were worse than first graders with their "She stole my (insert whatever you want here!)!" "I don't have a pencil" "When's lunch?" The list goes on! I was ready for duct tape by 10 am! Haha! Oh well. More money, so I can't complain too much!

Let's see, I have rented my very first-ever minivan! I'm going to Disneyland next week with a gob of family and their minivan has Gremlins, so we're pooling resources and rented one for the day. :-) I'm SUPER excited to go to Disneyland!!! It's the "First Anniversary of My 30th Birthday" and I'll be spending it with family and a friend. I'm going to take lots of pictures, as I haven't been there in nearly four years! Travesty, I know! On another note, the White Knight's car finally went caput. :-( They towed it to our brother's house and he is pretty sure it's the alternator. This family has more car troubles than anything else, I think! Hmm... I guess that's all for now. Love to all!

So, I spoke with my brother, who is my grease monkey, and he hasn't looked at the car, since they are moving soon. Once settled, he will be able to take the head gasket off and find out if there's a crack in the head or the engine - he didn't want to take it apart only to sit there open... So, there's still a chance she's not as far gone as I was lead to believe. Not sure if that's good or not, since I don't have a job and don't have much money for the registration and continual insurance... Blah, blah, blah! Anyway, I had a fantastic day at Church today! I renewed my Recommend, got to see that a good friend is through with Probation and can partake of the Sacrament again, and got to talk with our Elder's Quorum President for a while. Relief Society's lesson was super, as they usually are since I've got a superb staff! Just an all-around good day! Our Enrichment night is this Tuesday and I'm excited for that. I've made a Power

Well, my poor Ginny is dead for good. She has a crack on an important part of her machinery, and there's NO way I can afford it since I have no job. It's not worth putting that much money into a car when you can get another used one for the same price. *Sigh* But the silver lining is that I'll have a little spending money at Disneyland for my birthday. :-)

Today is Friday the 13th! I've never found that the "horror" of the day is ever bad, I think that Monday the 13ths are worse (I hate Mondays!!). I babysat my beautiful neice today so her parents could enjoy a lunch together, which turned into a SpongeBob Squarepants episode! Anyway, my computer is almost ready for me to start playing on! I'm so excited! I will have a picture of it some day soon - it's a purple/silver tower, with a quadcore processor, and other cool things. I'm almost as excited for that to be done as I am my car... Poor Ginny, her head gasket blew and I've only recently been able to scrape the money together for my brother to buy the parts. *Sigh* Hopefully it's only the gasket, and not more... The job front is still bad - I'm on the sub-list for HUSD, and it's only given me half a day for this pay period. *More sighs* I'm sure that something will happen soon, I just need to show forth my faith in the Lord, and tr