I’m working from home today (dr apt) and I’ve been watching the dog as she moves with the sun.  I took this pic with my phone so the quality isn’t super great, but you get the general idea.  She’s so cute.

Ellie Sleeping In The Sun

I love seminary.

My friend Joan told me something that’s held true all these three years.  She said, “There’s nothing worse than a bad day at seminary, but there’s nothing better than a good day at seminary.”  I think I’ve shared that before, but it’s only truer with age.

This morning we had two devotionals.  The first one was given by Kalala and she spoke on Doctrine and Covenants 31:3.  It says, “Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation.”  She said that we never know when our mission may come so we should be prepared.  She said that there are kids at school that ask her questions and that sometimes she remembers scripture mastery or other verses that we’ve talked about in seminary and can answer the questions.  Sometimes she can’t remember where they are and sometimes she’s stumped by their questions, but she testified that if we continue to prepare ourselves that we will be able to answer the questions with the help of the Spirit and the scriptures.

Anna gave the second devotional on motivation (a great tie-in).  She used Moroni 7:6. “For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.”  She talked about what our motivation should be for sharing the gospel or when saying our prayers.  She testified that our Heavenly Father knows what our intent is when we ask for things so we should be sincere when we pray.

As part of the lesson, I asked the kids what their favorite verses were from their reading of Ether 3 last night.

Dallen chose verse 13.  “And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.”  He said that he liked this verse because it talked about how much faith the brother of Jared had.  He had so much faith that Jesus showed himself to him.

Kalala chose verse 9.  “And the Lord said unto him: Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. Sawest thou more than this?”  Ironically, she chose it for the same reason that Dallen chose verse 13.

Anna chose verse 26.  “For he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him that he could show unto him all things—it should be shown unto him; therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things.”  Anna said that she chose that verse because it showed how much faith he had and it also shows what the Lord can do with us when we have faith.

I’ve seen them all pick the same verse for different reasons before.  I’ve seen them pick the same verse for the same reason before.  This is the first time that I’ve seen them pick completely different verses all for the same reason.

I love my kids – all five of them.  It’s a small class this year and it’s been a really blessing to be able to have so much time to spend with them.  They are really good kids who try their best to make good choices.  They have strong testimonies that are getting stronger and they really are trying to get to know their Savior better.  They want to be good.  They want to do what’s right.  I pray that they will always remember how to slow down and let the Spirit in to teach them.

So, I have a confession to make.

I’m typing this blog so that I don’t have to talk to the guy sitting accross the table from me on my train ride home.

No – it’s not Gregg.  … that would be funny though *devilish grin* …

Every once in a while a strange person will get on the train and sit close by.  What makes that person strange varies.  Sometimes it’s the way they smell.  Other times it’s what they’re reading (WHOA – sometimes I don’t even want to look).  Other times it’s what they’re eating or they way they’ve done their hair (sometimes it’s hard not to stare).  In today’s case it’s the fact that this poor guy cannot sit and not talk. 

I bet he can’t walk and not talk either.  I’d even bet that he can’t not talk EVER.  But he’s trying.  For my case, I’m sure.

When he got on I was really absorbed in a spreadsheet I was working on (yes, I’m rambling – remember my cause).  As soon as I moved an inch – literally, all I did was move my hand from one side of the keyboard to the other – he told me that he had a question for me.  He said that he has an older phone and noticed that mine is newer and wanted to know if the newer phones have better spam blockers.  Huh?  It didn’t register for two reasons – (1) abosorbed in spreadsheet and (2) I didn’t realize that phones had spam blockers.  I just stared at him for like 2 seconds so he repeated the question and then elaborated.

“I get lots and lots of text messages to my phone and lately it seems like I’m getting more and more texts that I don’t want.  I’m wondering if the newer phones have a way to block them so that I don’t get them because right now I have to call the number they send me and tell them to take me off their list.”

Still not registering with me.  I’ve never received a spam text message.  I get random ones from my phone company sometimes, but I’ve never received a spam one.

I just said, “I don’t know – I’ve never had that problem.”  Yeah – I’m not a very nice person.

Then he repeats everything he’d just said to me again.  I just repeated, “I don’t know – I’ve never had that problem” and went back to work.

About 30 seconds later he asks me if I’m getting off in Oceanside.  Huh?  Oh, (trying to be nicer) “Yes, I am.”  Then he says, “Oh, ok, well if you want, you can get off before me.”  My face must have said what my brain was thinking – “What the what?” because then he said, “I always make it a habit to let people off the train that are carrying more stuff than I am.”

“Oh,” I said.  Pause, “That’s nice.”  What I MEANT by that was, “That’s nice of you” but what came out was more like “Dude, I don’t really give a flying rat’s tail and I’m busy so stop talking to me.”  Then I felt bad and couldn’t concentrate on my spreadsheet so here I am. 

Yeah, I already said that I’m not a very nice person.  A nice person would have carried on a conversation.  Instead, I’m writing a blog that maybe two people will read while he reads the comics from Sunday’s paper and chomps on his second bag of Peanut M&M’s.

Ok – he’s moved on downstairs.  It’s funny what people will do when we get close to Oceanside.  Some start moving downstairs when we’re in the middle of Camp Pendleton.  There’s still 10 minutes of the ride left at that point and they’ll move downstairs and just stand there waiting to pull into the station.  There really isn’t a point in doing that since there’s going to be tons of people all pushing their way off at the same time.  It’s better to just sit and enjoy the view and wait until we stop at the station before even bothering to turn off the computer.

Anyway – we’re here now.  I guess I should get moving…

Wow. If you loved Fantasmic half as much as I did, it looks like you’re going to love this one even more!

Check out a sneak peek here.

On my way to the chiropractor this morning I saw the cutest thing.

I was stopped at a light on Rancho Santa Fe and noticed the cutest little old man pushing his sweet little old woman in her wheelchair down the sidewalk.  I watched as he stopped by a beautifully blooming bush, leaned down and pulled a branch close to her face so that she could smell the flowers.  Then he pulled one off the bush and put it behind her ear, kissed her on the cheek and continued to push her down the sidewalk.  All without much response.

I couldn’t help it – I cried.  What a precious moment between the two of them.  How sweet it was…

I’m super sensitive to earthquakes – my mom calls me a Human Earthquake Detector.

Today’s earthquake – a few of us were playing Skip-bo at the dining room table and I started to feel like I was on a boat.  For a second I thought it was just a short spell of vertigo (yeah – I have those often).  Then I heard it.  Yes, heard it.  I’ve been known to hear them before I feel them.  Weird.  I know.  Anyway, EmaLee was opening the door for Liz and Jorge and I said, before I thought about it, “Um, we’re having an earthquake.”  Em just kinda looked at me for a second and then Berna said, “Yeah, we are.”  And then it seemed to stop.  I could still hear it though so I knew it wasn’t over.  I told everyone that it was still going and was going to get worse.  EmaLee grabbed BrinLee and said to grab Erek so I grabbed him and we headed outside.  The neighbors down the street came out and we all just kinda stood there until it stopped.  It seemed to go on forever.

The last one, before this one, that I remember feeling was at my last job.  I was sitting in my office and Kyle was sitting across my desk from me and we were talking about something.  He was talking and I totally interupted him and said, “We’re having an earthquake.”  I had felt a small rolling one coming from the southeast and heard it go on past us but knew there was more coming right behind it.  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “What?  No way.”  Then the second piece of it hit.  He believed me after that.

I remember one when I had just moved back from college.  I was living with my parents and woke up in the middle of the night for no real apparent reason.  And then I heard it.  I got up and got in my doorway and then the house really started moving.  My dad was awake and called out, “Anyone else feeling this?”  I said that I had and was standing in my doorway and him and my mom started laughing.  “I knew you’d be up,” he said.

The first memory I have of earthquakes was shortly after we moved here from Utah.  I was on the top bunk in the downstairs bedroom and woke up, again for no apparent reason.  I remember looking at my alarm clock and seeing that it said 9:54pm.  I rolled over to go back to sleep and as I was rolling I was almost pitched off the bed.  I had to grab a hold of the blankets to keep from falling off.  Thank goodness for hospital corners.

I suppose it could be a blessing.  It could be a curse.  Whatever the case, I’m still not a fan of earthquakes.

Jon and I met my cousin Taylor for dinner last night down in Old Town.  We ate YUMMY food at Rockin’ Baja Coastal Cantina (their surf-n-turf bucket was AWESOME).  While we were waiting outside to be seated, I read this sign over the top of one of the windows:

"Children left unattended will be given an expresso and a puppy"

LOL!  Love it 🙂

Every day now, I take the Metrolink Commuter train from Oceanside to Tustin and back again.  The train consists of four, double-decker train cars (or three of them and one Utah UTA train car).  On those double-decker cars, there are a few spots (like 4) that have tables in between two sets of seats that face each other.  I would take a picture but they’re all full.

Which brings me to the point. 

My newest pet peeve is when people get on the COMMUTER train and sit at one of the table spots only to fall asleep.  Or read a book.  Or read the newspaper.  Or do nothing at all but stare out the window.  Really?  Don’t they know they could do that from ANY spot on the train?  Those of us that actually have to do something on our way to work each morning and on the way home each day need those precious spots that you’re really not even using.

It’s like someone driving a Ferrari on the freeway at 50MPH.  Justify your ownership!

Every day I’m grateful to have a job that I love.  Every once in a while, I find myself thinking about what I would be doing today if I was still working at the place I was working at before I got this job – assuming they were still in business.  Sometimes I even reflect back to the very beginning… (dream music begins…)

It was May of 2007.  I had just been laid off from a job that I loved and was helping a friend organize the office at his property management company while helping to find an office manager for him.  One day, while working, my phone rings.  I didn’t recognize the number but was expecting a call from someone else so I answered it.  It was a woman named Jamie and she was calling to see if I would come in to interview for a customer service manager position at a place called Randall International.  I told her that I would but that I needed to call her back later to get the information from her.

A few days later was the first interview.  It wasn’t really a big deal to me as I wasn’t really looking for a job.  I was happy doing what I was doing and was considering going back to school (something I’ve been saying I’m going to do for a long time).  I answered the questions and asked a few and then left.  Jamie told me that she would call me again in a few days and let me know what their direction was going to be.

The biggest draw for me was where they had received my information from.  Again, I had just been laid off from a job that I loved.  The President from that company was interviewing for the open CEO position at Randall and had given them my previous boss’ name who had given them my name as a reference.  It was exciting to possibly be working for Rick again so I was a little anxious to continue the process.  I knew that there were a lot of people from the previous place that were still looking for work so I did want to get in quickly if it was possible.

About a week later I went in for a second interview, this time with the Fab Four.  At the time, the company didn’t have a CEO, President, GM or anything.  The owner was living in Switzerland and was getting ready to move back, but there wasn’t any clear leader there.  Instead they had the Fab Four – the Customer Service Director, HR/Accounting Manager, Controller and the Director of Operations (Jamie, Connie, Jan and Peggy).  Questions were asked and answered and that was that.  I got the job.  In the end, they decided not to go with Rick (for all the wrong reasons) so I was now “stuck” there by myself.

If only I had known then what I know now.  Actually, I can’t honestly say that much would have been different.  I have made some very lasting relationships with some of the people that I met there and I also now know what it’s like to have a job that is both degrading and destructive (emotionally, physcially, spiritually, you name it).  Without pain we can’t fully appreciate the joy we find.

When I think back to that interview process and compare it with the interview process that I went through to get this job, there are few differences that stand out.  In both cases I was refered by someone that I know and trust completely – two people I will forever respect and be grateful for.  In neither case was I technically looking for a job – they kinda just came to me.  The last job had the Fab Four, this one has a defined leader with the background, training and experience to move the company in a positive, forward direction.  The building at the last place, even with the bright blue walls, was more “glamorous” than the new building is.  The leadership, I believe, is the defining difference.  While all four of those women are smart and capable, having one person in charge to make the final call (and take the fall for it) is something worth paying a little extra for.  It’s sometimes the difference between making a decision and sitting at a crossroads.

Anyway… If Randall was still around, and I was still working there, right now I would be sitting in my office chasing down some useless information for an arrogant little man in cowboy boots.  And the only reason I would be doing it is so that I wouldn’t have to listen to him lecture me on the importance of following the rules – something he knows little to nothing about. 

I’m so glad I’m sitting on the train on my way to a tiny desk in a renovated garage.

Jon recently showed me this blog and I LOVE it!  I watched the neatest time lapse video of the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival that was really cool.  Check it out here.