Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

That's a REALLY long word for the procedure I had done this morning. It almost takes as long to say as it did for them to do. In lay man's terms, a doctor looked at my esophagus, stomach, and duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) to see if there was anything wrong with them. And the news is . . . there wasn't. They all look perfectly healthy. I even got pictures. Unfortunately, I can't put them here for your to enjoy, as I don't have any way to scan them in. :( I know you will all be very depressed about that. :D
It was kind of cool to be put under this time. This was a procedure that I had no desire to be awake for, although I wouldn't have minded watching the video, as they stuffed a tube down my throat. That would have been very uncomfortable to be awake for. It was kind of funny when the nurse asked me if I wanted a warm blanket to help calm my nerves. I guess most people would be nervous about that, but I wasn't even nervous when I was actually getting surgery, so this was absolutely nothing. She gave me a warm blanket anyway, which I appreciated, since I was actually colder than I thought I was.
So I've spent the day sitting around being really lazy since I wasn't allowed to drive anywhere for twenty four hours. The ironic part is that they also suggest that you don't make any important decisions or sign legal documents for twenty four hours either, but I'm actually more awake now than I was at 0730 this morning when they were having me sign legal documents. How's that?
So that's my excitement for the day (or month, really). Good times.

Live like you were dying

I watched the movie Return With Honor today, and it inspired some questions. The premise of the movie is that one the way home from his mission, a young man gets into a fatal car accident and is sent back with 60 days left. Then the movie shows what he does with those 60 days.
But it brought about the question - what would I do if I knew I only had 60 days left to live? What would I do with that time? And the answer is . . . I have absolutely no idea. I know I'd make sure everyone knew how much I loved them. But what would I do? How would I want my legacy in this world to end?
And of course, this always brings up the thought - no one knows when they are going to die. I may die tomorrow, or I may live to be 90 years old so I can complain about every little thing like my residents. But what if I die tomorrow? Will I have any regrets? Will I be ready? Will I have left anything unsaid that desperately needed to be said? Will I leave this life with enemies that I could have made up with? How would the world take the news of my death?
I love at the end of Return With Honor (this isn't really giving anything away, you might just think it is), Rowe (the RM) calls up his best friend and asks him to come over early in the morning, before his mother wakes up, so that she's not alone when she finds her son's body. Would I be so considerate that I was putting everyone else needs before my own, or would I simply be nervous beyond anything and just be waiting for death to come for me? I'd like to think that I'd be thinking of others.
Anyway, those are my thoughts today. Anyone else want to put in some?

Christmas is coming

You know, as Christmas looms nearer, I'm actually surprised at how much I don't want for Christmas this year. I have been asked by a few friends what I wanted, and I haven't been able to give them a good answer. Anyone who knows me well, knows that a book is always a safe bet, but I really don't care if I don't get anything from anyone except my parents this year. (My parents are giving me a very special present that I've waited a year to get) A guy mentioned in his talk about how, when you're on your mission, you don't really want anything for Christmas. While I never had a Christmas out in the field, it did remind me of my birthday out there. My companion asked me what I wanted for my birthday and honestly, the only thing I wanted was a new investigator. I can't remember who we were meeting with at the time, but I wanted them to progress, to find the truth. I do remember that we did, indeed, get a new investigator that day. And I had the most amazing dinner. This was at the time I thought I had Celiac (which, by the way, I do not), and there was a family in the Hershey ward that had two sons on gluten free diets. They made a most wonderful dinner and every single thing on the table was gluten free. They even made me a cake. But the part I remember the most is that I made myself a cake the night before and realized that I hadn't bought anything to make icing with when we had gone shopping the previous preparation day. Well, of course, we didn't have time to make a stop at the store in the middle of the week, so it looked as though I was doomed to have no icing. But I told Sister Bastian that if it was okay with Heavenly Father for me to have icing for my birthday cake, He would somehow provide some. She laughed and we went through the day. After dinner, Sister Hopkins asked us if we wanted to take some icing home, since she had somehow made twice as much as she had needed. Sister Bastian and I looked at each other, our eyes slightly wide. When questioned, Sister Bastian explained what I had said earlier that day. That was my biggest birthday present. A firmer testimony that Heavenly Father knows each one of us and nothing is to small for him to care about. I would have been fine without that icing. But I wanted some. And a loving Father, who saw no ill effects of me getting icing for my birthday, provided it for me. That's what I want for Christmas. A stronger testimony and the knowledge that others are getting what they want. That, this Christmas, would mean more to me than a hundred presents wrapped beneath the tree.

Cross my fingers and hope to move!

I had my job interview for the job with Princess Tours today and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. I'm thoroughly excited and honestly just got more excited the more he told me about it. I applied in Anchorage, which it sounds like is sort of the central hub for the Alaska section. As a bus driver, I may get the opportunity to go to the other resorts for a sort time as well, since one of them is 400 miles away, and I don't know how far the others are. I can't believe I'm going to be driving a greyhound type bus. Can you see me handling that large of a vehicle? I'm used to Freya, who's, quite frankly, fairly small. I can't wait. My mom says I have to get my stomach problems under control or I can't go (which is completely understandable), but I really think I've just got an ulcer. I haven't had too bad of pain since Sunday, and I discovered that day that milk (which is an antacid) helps immensely. Which leads me to believe that it's an ulcer. So, I should have it fixed by the time I leave, and have no problems. I will, of course, have to continue to take antacids every day (maybe even more than one time per day), but as long as I do that, and avoid incredibly acidic foods (like onions! :'( sniff), I should be just fine. In a jam, I can always toss back a teaspoon of vinegar, which has, for some odd reason, really helped in the past. I'm not sure why though. Weird.
So that's my latest news. Now I just have to figure out how to fit my entire life into my tiny little car. What can I take, and what do I have to leave home? We'll find out.

What to do?

So, sorry about my last post. I hope no one minded my ranting. It was a little whiny, wasn't it? Oh well.
I went to TKD again tonight. Everyone was excited to see me back after having been gone for two weeks. The problem is, I'm contemplating quitting until October. I've got a job interview tomorrow for the Alaska job and if I get that, I'm going to need all the money I can get so that I can pay for my trip up there and first month of rent and deposit on my apartment. If I continue TKD, I'm out $300 by April. That's almost enough for the whole deposit right there. Or at least to pay for the trip up there. I'm planning on stopping in Gaston, Oregon to visit my MTC companion, then Forks, Washington - just because it's on the way and I CAN! Then, if she'll let me, spend a few days in Victoria and Vancouver, Canada with another former companion (I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it, as she doesn't get home until next week). So I have to get a passport, which will cost $100 by itself, and pay for the trip, at the very least! I just don't think I can spend any money I don't absolutely have to.
The problem is, I don't know if this is me being logical and sacrificing something I want for something I want more. . . Or if it's just the depression talking, trying to make me sit on my butt al day long crocheting or embroidering. TKD is good for me, and when I first started I was having a lot of fun. But tonight, I didn't so much. And then the heater kicked on, and I don't know WHAT it was, but something sturred in the air, filling the room with some sort of fragrance and effectively making it so I couldn't breathe. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to do kicks when you can't breathe? Even when they turned the heater off, the damage had been done, the headache was beginning, and I felt sick to my stomach. Typical reaction to a fragrance I'm allergic to. I hate allergies.
So that's my story. Any suggestion, advice, or even degrading remarks are welcomed.

What the heck?

I have not, as of late, been feeling very well. I finally called the doctor yesterday and got in last night. Why it took me so long to call was because it is just the same pain as I've had for five years. Except it seems to be coming back with an even harder vengeance than before. I hate going to the doctor and not being able to really tell him anything other than "I know there's something wrong with me, I just don't know what". It's getting tedious. Generally, when I go and see him, the pain happens to be gone and no matter where he pushes, it doesn't hurt. Which doesn't help him with his diagnostic. Fortunately (or unfortunately for my stomach) the pain came back while I was waiting in the lobby. It hurt, but at least he was able to make a diagnostic. And it was . . . IBS. Can you believe that? I hate that diagnostic. My aunt just went through a whole slew of tests for them to finally decide that's what was wrong with here. But basically, that's just a fancy way of saying "Sorry, we have absolutely no idea what's wrong with you. Take in more fiber and if you notice something makes the pain worse, don't eat it." Wow. Thanks for that. I never would have thought to not eat something if it hurts to eat it! How amazing! I can't complain too bad, though, he did give me something for the abdominal pain I've been having, which feels like a knife right below my sternum. You know, where you'd do the Heimlich maneuver? He decided that was muscle pain, and prescribed some Levsin, which you're supposed to let dissolve under your tongue, but tastes absolutely nasty. When I saw on the instructions that it would be chewed or swallowed as well, I quickly took the swallowing route. He also gave me an antacid, to see if it helps, because if it does, it might be an ulcer, and we'll probably be adding an additional antidepressant because the one I'm taking now isn't enough or something. I'm still having problems concentrating and it's driving me NUTS. I've made more mistakes on the meds for the residents where I work in the last few weeks than I did the whole rest of the time I worked there. Being absent minded is one thing, but when it starts effecting other people's health, it's time to do something about it. Needless to say, with the vitamins I was already taking, and the pills he added, I'm taking more pills every morning than any of my residents except for one, and I'm catching up with her quick. They think that's pretty funny though. I'm glad someone's laughing at the situation. Now I just have to figure out what I get to learn from this. Because if there's one thing I know, it's that you always have something to learn from every situation. No exceptions.

Come What May, and Love It.

A beautiful Life is shown here today,
Full of trials, temptation, and pain.
A wonderful life is now on display,
Full of lightening and thunder and rain.

What makes life happy and joyful and good?
Not just the pain-free, cheerful times.
What makes life happy is misunderstood.
We need opposition in all it's rhymes.

The beauty of life would soon cease to be,
Without the bad things we seem to face.
We need all the sorrow so that we can see
With hard effort we'll win the race.

What helps us to learn to endure the pain?
What helps us to rise above it?
The answer is simple, we'll shout the refrain.
"Come What May, and Love it!"

This blog entry is dedicated to our recently passed on General Authority, Joseph B. Wirthlin. It was inspired by his last conference Talk, "Come What May, and Love It."
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-9,00.html

What is this thing that Men call Life?

How do you know when something is right or wrong? How do you know when doing something would be good for you or if you would regret it for the rest of your life? Or at least a few years. I wish I could get answers as definitively as I got the answer to go on a mission. Or the answer to come home. Those answers were so clear, it was easy to follow. The thing is, I'm not good at leaps of faith. I never have been. My goal when I left my mission was to have no fear and to just jump into things I want with all my heart, but so far it's just left me mangled on the ground. Some of those things have left me more mangled than others, but they've all left scars. I know that's life, and it happens to everyone, but do I really want to rush towards the things that will scar me? How do I know what will scar me? What if, while running from things that have scarred me, I run headlong into something that scars me even more (although, how that's possible, I'm not sure)?
Why can't I be who I want to be instead of who I've always been? I have an image in my head of who I want to be, but every time I seem get closer to her, I get yanked away by heartache or depression, or some such pain. I'm trying to be honest with myself, and look at myself indifferently, but that's seemingly impossible (how you can look at yourself indifferently, I don't know, which is probably part of the problem). What more can I do? I just feel lost within myself lately and don't know where to run.

The Provebial Roller Coaster

Nothing annoys me more than life coming at you all at once. First, we had thanksgiving, which actually went off a LOT better than I had anticipated, which I was thankful for. Then we had my all nighter at work, which was crazy. In between 6am Thursday morning and 11:30pm Friday night, I got a grand total of three hours of sleep. I'm amazed I was still functioning and polite at the end of them. Then Saturday, I was able to go to the Jordon River Temple to do and endowment session, which should have been AMAZING, but I couldn't get in the right spirit, no matter how much I tried (it didn't help that I was so tired I was falling asleep periodically). Sunday I had work, got off late, went home and crashed instead of going to church. Then yesterday, I had to call in sick at work and spent most of the day on the couch, watching TV. Halfway though the day, my ex-boyfriend called me up asking if he could come over and talk. I'll admit, I was nervous pretty much the rest of the day and that mixed with the cold I still have didn't make for a pleasurable day, no matter how much I was enjoying drooling over Gilbert Blythe. The talk went down fine, and I needn't have been nervous, but you always are. "I need to talk with you" are scary words. Anyway, today I've been feeling the roller coaster doing loops all over. I got to take an hour long shower a little while ago, which made me feel absolutely great! But no I'm coming down off of the high and I feel like I'm hitting yet another low - the kind I had when I wasn't taking anti-depressents. I really hope that the derpression isn't pushing through the medication, but it sure seems to be. It seemed to be working for a little while, but I can't feel it anymore. It might be that I really need to be meeting with my therapist, but she can't see me until January. Not so happy about that.
I hope no one minds my rant. Writing always seems to help, no matter where or what about. And since my books don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll write here.
I'm thinking about moving to Alaska this summer to get a job. I'd be gone from the beginning of May to the end of September. I'm a little hesitant, because I really want to be here for the midnight showing of Harry Potter, but I'm not fure that's enough to make me give this opportunity up. I think it would be very good for me. I need to get more of the particulars, but I am seriously considering it. The only question would be, am I going because I want to go? Or am I going because I don't want to be here anymore? Who knows?

Thanksgiving- Giving Thanks!

I wrote this poem my Senior year in High school when our house was going through some remodeling. I feel it still applies.

Thanks be to God

Of all the things I’m thankful for
There’s many that come to mind.
All the ones you think about
When you think of Thanksgiving.

A warm house, a loving family, a bed to sleep in,
A coat, some boots, gloves, and other warm clothes.
But then there are the things everyone takes for granted.
Those are the things I’m most thankful for at this time.

An electrical outlet, how wonderful to plug things in.
A kitchen sink, the ability to do dishes without dragging water from the tub.
An oven, what a fabulous thing to have warm food.
A microwave, it’s nice to be able to warm things up quickly and efficiently.

I’m thankful for the good times I have with my family,
All the snowball fights – the “old men” against the young kids
I love to watch a mother say she’ll regret it, but throwing a snowball at her son anyway.
I love to watch a twenty year old man become a kid again as he gently wrestles his cousin to the ground.

I’m thankful for pain, because without it we could never enjoy not having it.
I’m thankful for illness, because without it we couldn’t enjoy being well.
I’m thankful for my mother, who has helped me through hard times.
She has, at times, been the only one to understand me, and pull me through.

But of all the things I’m thankful for
I think the ones I’m thinking of most
Is love and life and most of all,
The reminder of thing I’m thankful for.

I'm amazed at the small, insignificant things that we tend to over look when thanking, but that enrich our lives greatly. That was most of the point of this poem. I was looking for things that I didn't usually think of when I give thanks. When I think about how richly I've been blessed in my life, it almost overwhelms me. Who can not believe in God when you look at all the beautiful things around us. Yes, there are also horrible things, but when looked at in the right perspective, almost anything can be turned for good. God told Adam that the ground would be cursed for his sake . How often do we just look at the negative side and not recognize that this, perhaps bad, thing happened for our sakes.
While on my mission, one of my companions told me a story about a lady who could not get along with her mother-in-law. She tried, she prayed, she visited the temple, but she still butted heads with her. One day, while in the temple, she had the thought "what if, this lady had loved me so much before this life that she volunteered to help me grow, even if it meant that I might not love her in this life. If I knew that, how could I keep from running to her and sobbing out my thanks?" Heavenly Father loves us more than any of us are capable of loving someone. He could take us out of bad situations, he could give us an ideal life, but he doesn't. Why? Because if he did, we might not be able to make it back to his presence someday. With that in mind, how can we keep from dropping to our knees at night and sobbing out our thanks for all our many trials? It is through them that it is possible to return. God doesn't like to see us hurting, but he allows it so that we can come back to him in the long run.
I'm so thankful.

Calendars and Pennsylvania

I am currently creating, as I do every year, calendars for my extended family. I can't tell you how grateful I am for Calendar Creator, which keeps track of all of the birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries for me. Every year there are more of them. Every year I have to add another one or two. But I am extensively glad that I only have to worry about them for a few seconds as I run back over the past year trying to remember who has been added to our family. This year, I only had to add three people. Now, this makes this task sound fairly easy, and you would expect that after having done this job since my mom bequeathed it around the time I started high school that I would have a handle on it by now and I wouldn't make any mistakes. You would be wrong. Every year, I ruin between ten and fifty sheets of card stock. So far, I've ruined only two, but I'm not even a fourth the way through yet. And so, I figured while these are printing I might as well rant on my blog. I've got nothing else to do. :D
I have been missing Pennsylvania a lot lately. I'm not sure what has brought it on, whether I'm finally getting past my depression enough to be able to look back on my mission and love it, or seeing my old district leader in my friend's ward, or just thinking about how beautiful it probably is right now. I had looked forward to seeing Pennsylvania in the fall and never actually got the chance. I hope to next year though.
I was thinking about my mission while driving home today. If someone were to ask me what the worst time of my life was, I would likely respond with my mission. But I would answer the same if asked what the best time of my life was. A mission is so amazingly encompassing that it's absolutely impossible to describe with words. I cannot tell you of the love I feel for the people and the place. I miss the people more than I truly miss PA, but I do miss the state as well. Oddly enough, I miss the spaghetti-like roads as much as anything. I miss the smell of chocolate in Hershey as you walk out the door, I miss the smell of sewage in Hershey as you walk out the door. I miss wondering which it was going to smell like on any given day. I miss walking down the street on Chocolate Ave, passing all of the interesting churches, restaurants, bars, clubs. All those places I never actually went into, but caught a lot of people as they exited, hoping to get them interested in discovering the truth. I miss walking forty-five minutes to get to a less-active's house in Lititz, never quite knowing what might come out of his mouth while you were there, if you would be teaching, or if he would be. I wonder how he's doing. I love the people I served so much I can almost physically feel the love filling my heart as I think about them. And I miss them so much it's almost painful sometimes. I know I'm where Heavenly Father wants me to be, as odd as that sounds sometimes, but I wish I could go back and visit sooner rather than later. Oh, how I loved and hated my mission!

The random things learned

Sorry, Heather, can't think of anything else. Be more specific. :)
So on Thursday, while at Taekwondo, my master told me I was the fastest learner he'd ever had. That made me feel pretty good. I contribute it to Marching Band and Colorguard. I think of all the times when Nancy expected us to know a move after only seeing it one time, and I cringe. I always resented that, because I never could learn as fast as she wanted me to. But now I can. I watched him do the many things I learned on Thursday only once and I was able to do them. I was amazed. Later that night I was thinking about all the things I learned from Marching Band and was surprised a little at the rather lengthy list. I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was. I learned how to gauge approximately how far away something is. I learned how to respect authority. I learned how to be on time. I learned how to learn quickly. I learn how to work with a group. I learned how to be responsible for myself. I also learned that learning to music helps me learn. I'm sure there are a lot more things I learned from it, but those are the things that really stick out to me right now.
I've been rather bored with my life lately. I really want to do something exciting, but I have no idea what. I just want to do something that I've never done before. But I don't have the money for anything. So what can you do that's exciting and different that costs no money? Something to push past the monotony and onto fun? I'm so sick of monotony. I've been feeling very stagnant lately and it's fairly driving me crazy. Suggestions are appreciated. :D

Indestructible

Well, As Aubrey pointed out, I have been very lax on my blog. Sorry about that. Life has been interesting these last two months since I wrote. I started taking Taekwondo, which for the record is AWESOME! I'm absolutely loving it. I also started a new book which I have decided to call Indestructible (thus the name). I haven't gotten as far as I might like to have, but considering how much I've worked on it, it's going a lot faster than the Jeneal Bauman trilogy. That's still going a grand total of nowhere. And it's still driving me nuts. Why can't I just write when I want to? I think I've written maybe a page in Portals since I wrote here last. It's driving me crazy! But I've written about six pages on Indestructible, so it's kind of making up for it. Kind of.
The other reason for the name of this entry is because of my favorite song, which I actually heard after I named my book, but is also entitled indestructible, by Disturbed. It's just a great song. I finally learned all the words and can almost talk fast enough to sing along with it. Metal songs are generally pretty fast songs. But it makes me happy every time I listen to it.
Right now I'm sitting next to my incredibly cute adopted niece. I call her adopted because while her mother is not actually my sister, she might as well be. I'm glad to have the extra family.
I've also recently become a Mary Kay consultant. Which means that I have a lot to learn and I need a lot of faces to practice on. It will be interesting to see if this all works out. I'm a little nervous, since I've never done anything like this before in my life. Hopefully I learn quickly.
So I guess I've now updated everything. It shouldn't take me two months to write another post next time, I promise. I don't know when the next one will be, but it will happen soon.

Annoyance

So, I've been trying to work on my book, Portals, ever since I got home. It's definitely alluding me. The problem is that I have begun yet another book. This one is annoying because I don't know where it's headed. It just started writing itself in my head. So I had to get it down on paper. I've found that unless I get it down on paper, it keeps pounding in my head until I either go insane, or I write it down. But if I wait too long, it's not as good as if I write it right then. So I write.
I have a goal of finishing Portals by the end of the year and I would really like to send it into a publisher and see if I can get it published, but if I can't write it, I can't send it. So that's my annoyance at my brain.
Any ideas on how to help me would be much appreciated. :)

Black out?

Today I gave plasma. You know that stuff that looks like apple juice that runs through your veins and if you "donate" it they give you money? Good times! I got paid for sitting there, watching "The Goonies"! (Which I didn't get to finish, by the way, which is sad, since I've never seen it before) So after finishing up and getting paid my $30, I headed over to the Dollar Store, where I'd be able to get some clips for my hair. As I was standing in line, I had an odd sensation come over me. My ears started fading and my vision started getting darker. Well, I've has this before, anytime I stand up too fast, but it usually goes away pretty quick, so I thought not much of it and patiently waited for it to go away. Unfortunatly, it wasn't leaving, and as I stood there, it seemed to be getting worse. Now, I've never passed out before, but when your knees start threatening to buckle underneath you, anyone can come up with the brilliant idea "Hey, maybe I shouldn't be standing!" My thoughts were more along the lines of, "This is a very interesting sensation. Should I allow it to go on, or should I say something? If I let it go on, I might actually pass out. That would be a first. But then they would have to call the ambulance, and that could be, not only embarrasing, but expensive as well. So, probably not such a good idea. So, gathering a little energy, I asked for water. Have you ever spoken while in this kind of situation? It's also an interesting experience. Your voice doesn't sound like it's actually yours. You can feel your mouth moving, but you're only half sure that sound is coming out, but somehow the people around you can understand. Noticing the familiar band around my arm, which is always a sure-fire sign that blood has been given, the lady behind me spoke up, "Did you give blood today?" Half of me was thinking "No lady, I just like to put a big section of idodine on my arm and wrap it with this stuff so that I look like I gave blood. It's all part of my conspiracy to take over the world. Hello!" But fortunately, the outside me just nodded. And promptly sat down on the floor in the middle of the aisle. I felt a little better after having a little water, but that didn't stop them from giving me a candy bar and some orangeade. (Is that like lemonade and limeade? How many "ade"s are they gonna make?) People were offering me rides left and right, saying that I shouldn't drive in that condition. For the very first time ever (and probably the last) I was happy that I had my stupid little Tracfone so that I could call my mom instead of bum a rise off of some random stranger. (I'm not good with strangers, especially when they're being overly kind. Weirds me out.) So, I got up to go out to my car and wait, was informed that someone else had paid for all of my stuff, including all of the food and my hair clips, and then was hugged (way too tightly) by the cashier. (Remember what I said about strangers?) I was grateful to be out of there. Now that it's over, I'm glad I had the experience. It will make it that much easier to describe it when I come across a time I need a character to faint in one of my books. Granted, I didn't actually faint, but all that was left was for me to hit the ground. I'll save that for next time.

Phones and more spiders

Well, I now officially have three phones! It's actually driving me nuts. I really don't want to use this "tracfone" thing, but right now I don't have a choice since I can't sign another contract until I know for sure whether or not I'm staying here. So I once again, have a bar phone. I got rid of my other one for a reason! And it this one is anything like Angela's (which I must assume it is, since it's identical) I don't like talking on it. :P But at least I'll have a phone. I just wish I could use my other one. I LOVE my other phone. I even liked my Cricket phone more than I like this one. Ugh. Oh well.

Well, I had a request on the "pouncing spider" story, so I'll tell it to you. I was sitting on Sister Turcotte's porch, talking to her and Sister Fry, when I happened to look over and I saw the above spider crawling across her banister. It's not a very pretty spider, so I was commenting on how ugly it was when it turned and looked at me. I mean, I SERIOUSLY felt like we locked eyes. (Ever locked eyes with a spider? CREEPY!) Anyway, it started wiggling it's butt up and down and just as I was about to laugh and say, "It looks like it's about to pounce me", it DID! I'll be honest, I screamed like a little girl and jumped up and shook myself really hard, just to make sure it wasn't on me. Then I looked at the chair I had been sitting on and there it was. I had to take a picture. Sister Fry and Sister Turcotte were both laughing at me pretty hard and Sister Fry said I probably shouldn't have called it ugly. She's probably right.

The Evils

I hate job hunting. Maybe that's why I still don't have a job. I am just so lazy. And I can't find my resume anywhere on this computer (which is driving me batty - I know, short trip as my dad would say). Why can't people just come to you and say "hey! We're hiring and we would love to have you work for us. Please fill out this application." ? Yeah, I know. It doesn't work that way. :P I've decided that in order to get a job, I should go back to PA. EVERYONE is hiring there. But that would, of course, defeat the purpose of me being here in the first place. So, does anyone know someone who is hiring?
I'd also like to report the evils of Spiders. There is currently one in my bed (I think) because I have two bites on each arms and I don't know where they came from. The only thing I can think of is that I didn't actually kill the spider that was on my bed a week ago, and now it's biting me in revenge for trying to vacuum it up. Well, the joke is on it, because I'll get rid of it somehow or another. Even if I have to completely disinfect my bedroom. (Which would probably be a good idea anyway.) So there EVIL SPIDER! I guess the reason why I didn't kill it before is that I have developed a slight fear of spiders ever since that one spider pounced me at Sister Turcotte's house. It was creepy. I don't like spiders suddenly jumping on me. Even if it did give me slight warning. It still was NOT cool.
Those are the current evils in my life. Hope it was entertaining. Probably not. I'll try better next time.

The Reasons (kind of)

So, the reasons why I'm home, since you have all been asking. Well, it's medical. Yes, it probably has something to do with my Celiac disease, as far as the fact that we're wondering if I even have it at all. The symptoms of whatever I have haven't gone away, so I'm still having problems. We'll be getting me looked at and I get to have all kinds of tests done. I have no idea when or even IF I'll be able to go back out. So, those are (some of) the reasons. The rest, you'll all just have to wonder about, because I'm not going to tell you! :D nope, nothing bad or anything. It's all good. And so none of you wonder, I fasted and prayed a lot about this decision, so I know it's the right one. I'll keep you updated as much as I can.

I'm home!

So I'm home from my mission. I'll have to put a whole bunch of mission pictures up on here so that people can see all of my fun times. Because it has definitely been great fun. It's weird to be home, and yet, it seems completely normal. I'm very excited about my dad's and my date tomorrow in which we are going to the TEMPLE!!! I haven't been in about eight months and the is WAY to long. so I'm going the first chance I get. But I should probably go to bed, I'm still running on Pennslyvania time, so my body thinks that it's 1:15 in the morning. :) Good night!

I'm gone!

For the next year and a half I will be serving the Lord in the Pennsylvania Harrisburg mission. Which means that my blog will go neglected. Unless I can somehow convince someone to upload all of my e-mails onto here, which I would still like to do. If not, sorry to everyone. If you would like to be on the e-mail list, e-mail me. if you don't know my e-mail or someone you can get it from, likely you don't know me well enough to be on the email list, so sorry. I'm not going to write it on here, (a) because I don't know if that's the one I'll be using, and (b) I don't really want my e-mail address to be public knowledge. So there ya go. :)
See you all in July of 2009!