Somethin' To Do

1. What's your full name? Laurel Ann (last name omitted because that'd be really stupid to put on the internet)

2. Who are you named after? No one. My mother wanted to name me LauraLynn, but my dad didn't like that, so I got Laurel Ann.

3. What characteristics should your wife have? Well, for me to HAVE a wife, I'd have to be a lesbian. And, um... I'm not.

4. Do you believe in love at first sight? In a way, yes.

5. Could you imagine a life without children? Well, I've imagined life AFTER children!

6. Who's the baby in the family when it comes to getting sick? My daughter. Hands down.

7. What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child? A stunt woman.

8. What would be the worst thing that could happen to you? Why tempt fate?!?

9. What is your profession? I don't want to talk about it.

10. Are you an organized person? Not at much as I should be.

11. If you could go anywhere for vacation where would it be? The key word here is "anywhere"!

12. If you could live anywhere, where would you live? I used to know the answer to that.

13. What is your new years resolution for 2009? That it will be better than 2008.

14. When are you most likely to lie? I'm a terrible liar. I tend to tell TOO much truth!

15. Whats your biggest fear? Having to pick just one.

16. Which characteristic do you despise in other people? Inconsistency.

17. What's your worst feature? My weight.

18. If you could change something about yourself, what would it be? I'd be more compassionate, maybe. But who cares?!?

19. What do you think about Barack Obama? I think the well-meaning American people have shot themselves in the foot.

20. How do you want to die? Uh... with a one-way ticket.

21. Which talent do you wish to have? I wish I had musical ability.

22. What is your most precious possession? Hmmn... some of my kids' artwork, some things that loved ones have given me--you know, irreplacable stuff.

23. Who are your favorite writers? I have lots, but Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series.

24. What is your favorite book? See previous answer, but there are lots more!

25. For what do you feel sadness? For missed opportunities and wasted chances.

26. Which living person do you admire? Barbara Bush. Think of the crap she has to hear about her family.

27. Which living person do you mostly detest? I don't like to think I detest anyone. But Jamie Lee Curtis kinda pisses me off, inexplicably.

Oh, and vegetarians who tell people how many people could eat from the resources required for the piece of cow I'm about to bite into.

If God had not meant for people to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them so delicious!

28. What is your favorite quote? "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." --G.K.Chesterton

29. What do you do to help the environment? Um... I... I plead the 5th.

30. Why did you do this survey? Eh. Somethin' to do!

Sometimes...

When I was 19, I went on my first church Women's Retreat. Generally you were considered old enough after high school, and I was invited on the next one that came up after I graduated. It was sort of a right of passage. It was a "mini" retreat, held at the home of our pastor and his lovely wife, Sonja, who is still one of my favorite people.

The speaker that weekend was Barbie R., a member of our church. I don't remember what exactly qualified her to be a retreat speaker (teens don't pay attention to that kind of thing), but she was a neat lady who clearly loved the Lord.

I don't remember much from that weekend. I don't recall the theme, or most of the lessons, even. But I do remember one thing Barbie said, which has stuck with me my whole adult life. I have found it applicable in my life many times, especially this past year or so.

She told a story of when she was trying to get her business off the ground. She was working from home, and finding that a challenge. Her neighbor came over every morning, after the school bus picked up, for a half an hour or so, and they had coffee and talked about their kids and various other concerns. They might pray together, or not, as they felt. But it was a time of restoration and getting ready to face the day. One day, the conversation was lively, and when Barbie looked at the clock, she was surprised to see that nearly 2 hours had passed.

She excused herself to her friend, and settled down to some work that she had really meant to get done much earlier, but she was stuck, somehow, and a little frustrated. She promised herself she would finish before the kids got home. No too long after she began, though, there came a knock at the door. It was another neighbor, also a friend, who was dressed in exercise clothes.

"Hi," the friend greeted. "I have the morning off. I'm going for a walk, it's such a nice day, and we haven't been able to talk in ages. I was hoping you'd come walking with me!"

Barbie stood and looked at her friend, whom she really HAD missed for the last few weeks, with their respective work schedules. It WAS a nice day, and she loved to go walking, especially with a cheerful friend. It was very tempting! And walking is good for you, right?

But the Lord nudged her, and she sensed Him say, "Barbie. You know that I love you and I want what is best for you. Sometimes... sometimes you have to give up what is good... for what is best."

Sometimes you have to give up what is good for what is best.

I remember little else that Barbie said that weekend. But I remember those words so clearly, and how they impacted me, and have stuck with me all these years.

These are not easy words to hear.

They are even harder words to live by.

I is kollege edjicated.

Multi-million dollar company.

Can't spell "January".

IlovethisstoreIlovemyjobIlovethisstoreIlovemyjobIlovethisstoreIlovemyjobIlovethisstoreIlovemyjob...

Underwhelmed

So, um, yeah. This year just wasn't one of those, "Wow! Cool!" Christmases. The boy's list was obscure; I did the best I could with what he gave me. But I think he was a little underwhelmed.

Oh, well. I'm off to pick them up. I'm leaving a little early because this last trip, I noticed a FIREWORKS store--and ENORMOUS fireworks store--RIGHT on the way back from their dad's. Fireworks are legal, here, which give this California girl goosebumps. Californians haven't been able to legally light their own fireworks for YEARS.

I'm thinkin' some New Year's Eve action, yes I am! :)

(*evil laugh*)

Coffee at 9:00 pm

I had to make a cup of coffee just before 9:00, because there was NO WAY I was going to be able to stay awake long enough to... um... you know... SEE Santa and say hello. He may deliver the toys, but somebody has to SET THEM UP and put the batteries in, and all, of course.

Mercifully, thankfully, blissfully, I was off work today. JT and I (AJ opted out) got to go to the candlelight worship service at church, which was beautiful. It was a communion service, and I felt blessed that my first communion at my new church home was on the eve of Christ's birth. That was very special. Growing up in the Church of the Nazarene, but having been expatriated amongst the Friends for so long, I'd forgotten what it's like to kneel at an altar. Much of the Society of Friends' doctrine is based on the fact that we don't NEED the liturgy, and the ceremony, and the representations...

...but I missed them! It felt comfortable to kneel at that rail; I felt right at home. I LIKE ceremony and liturgy!

So there. :)

And now, the ceremony of trying to set up what Santa's brought without WAKING the boy! Good luck to all of Santa's helping parents, tonight!

My one Christmas wish...

Ohhhhh, how I WISH for a White Elephant gift exchange!!!!!

The Census Bureau examiner left me a voice mail today that I passed the test. That was all he said; now I go into a hiring pool, and may or may not get a call between January and May. But I didn't see any other applicants for precints in my zip code, so we'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to doing this, if I get hired. I think it will prove very interesting!


In other news, I decided for my birthday to have my paternal grandmother's wedding band refinished for myself. It already fit my right ring finger just right, but I wanted to add some stones to it. My grandfather had a diamond put in my grandmother's band, one for each of their children, as she had them: Bobby, Jack, Jerry, Bill, and Hoyt (my dad). I also had a couple pieces from my mom that didn't suit me the way they were, and the stones were very similar sized to the diamonds in my grandmother's band.

When I counted them up, I figured out that I had enough stones to number one for each of my grandmother's grandchildren and great grandchildren, so far, down to my son. The jeweler was very careful to preserve the authenticity of the period of the ring, which is from the 1920's. Here it is:




Not bad, huh? :)

...and there appeared in the East...

Last night I had to drive into Macon to take the screening test for the Census Bureau. Macon is pretty much like the Anaheim/Santa Ana area of California, only without the amusement park or sports franchises. Oh, and picture Anaheim with NO lighted street signs. Yeah. If you don't already KNOW what street is yours, if you can see it at all, you're gonna pass it before you can turn!

So I was making a fair job of getting lost in a strange city, far from home, at night. And it wasn't like I was trying to find the MALL for heaven's sake! I was trying to take a test for a JOB. We were supposed to arrive at 5:45 for 6:00 testing. At 5:58, I was about to give up, because I had ZERO idea where I was (Mapquest can only help so much--when NOTHING is labeled, a map doesn't do much good!). But lo, and behold, I gave up and made a turn to try to find I16 back toward home, when I SAW a sign for the street I needed. I looked behind me. NOPE. It was NOT labeled in the direction I CAME, but sure, it was labeled from THIS direction. Isn't that nice.

But anyway, I made it to the testing center in one piece, and only a minute or two after 6:00. There were still people getting signed in, so I was fine. I sat down in the last available chair, across from a very nice man in his 60's. We were talking about applying for these jobs, and he said, "I worked for the government for 35 years. It's too bad what I thought was going to be enough for retirement...isn't. I have to do odd part-time jobs to keep afloat." I agreed that things are rough all over.

The testing began, and it wasn't easy. It wasn't rocket science, but it took a fair amount of cognitive skills to decipher what the questions were asking. Which was the point of the test. You had to assimilate and apply various bits of information from and to charts and graphs and tables. There was also basic math and clerical skills' evaluations. The test was 28 questions in 30 minutes. Halfway through, the examiner said, "15 minutes left,". The man across from me flipped through the rest of his test, closed it, tapped it together, and stood up. I thought, "Man, that old guy is FAST!"

But he carried the folder to the examiner, handed it to him, and said, "Never mind mine," and he walked out of the room. I was sooooo sad about that. He only had to get TEN right to pass! I was bummed he didn't stick it out; I think he would have done fine at the job. I struggled for a minute to get back into my own test.

I was still the first person finished. Interesting commentary on the area, here--I was one of only 4 European-Americans (and we lost my table-buddy!) out of 30 applicants. Of the 4, I was the only woman. I was also the only applicant from Fort Valley, and they try to match people to their neighborhoods and demographics. If you do well on the test, you can be made a team leader over other enumerators. I'm fairly certain I scored 100% on the test, or close to it.

So if I'm lucky, I'll get hired for the Census beginning in Jan or Feb. I think this would be a cool experience, especially because I'd be getting to know ALL my closest neighbors! I'm hoping to hear something by 12/31...

Cross your fingers...

I got a job lead today for a position with the 2010 Census Bureau. They need workers from now until the end of that year. It's part time, but it pays somewhat more than BBBY does, and it would be working locally, and with adjustable times of day, probably. You have to be able to talk to people when they're home, so I may even be able to keep working several mornings at the store and maintain that pay, as well.

If I got really lucky, it could provide leads to a full-time gig; we'll see. But first I have to go take a screening exam tonight. I have to prove I can speak, read, and write proficiently in English, and I think some basic math skills. I think I can handle that. :)

Speaking of which...should go look at the practice test, huh?...

Cryptically speaking...

I'm sorry I can't speak as plainly as I'd like to, but I can't right now. I'm really trying hard to find the silver lining in a particular situation, here. It's eluding me, entirely. Please, if you're the praying type, please pray that there is some clarification, or some direction, or some... what's the word... medication? No. :)

Amelioration? Correction? Retraction? Alleviation? Mitigation? Consolation?

Something like that. What's that Stones song? "You can't always get what you want. But if you try, sometimes, well you just might find you get what you need."

I'll take either one. Because I think they're one and the same.

Ohhhhhh, no you don't!

This morning I got two texts just after I got up. One was from Bob. Running late; wouldn't be here until noon.

Really? I texted back that that was fine--but I did say that I have plans and would be leaving at 1:00; if he ran later than that, the kids would just wait for him here, and I'd make sure AJ had a key to lock up. I am not going to bend my life around for his tardiness.

The second text was from AJ, saying she really had fun with her girlfriend last night, and could she please stay longer today? She brought up that I had asked her to tell me what would help her adjust and all, and she said that spending the day with her friend would help.

I texted back that her dad was driving 3 hours to see her today, and she needed to be here. She responded that he could just see JT, that she really wanted to stay.

Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute! Did she really think that IIIII was going to BROKER her contact with her dad? That IIIII would give her PERMISSION to flake on him?!? "Oh, okay, honey. You can ignore your dad's visit because you're having fun with your friend. No problem. I'll let him know." I don't THINK so! I texted her back one more time that this was my last text about this, that she needed to call HER DAD and talk about it with him, NOT ME. I told her that I was NOT going to be a go-between.

I guess she did call him and try to tell him she wanted to stay with her friend. But HAH! He's got his DAD and HIS wife driving up from FLORIDA to see him and the kids today. Hah and double hah! She texted me that, "...so I guess I'll go see them..."

As though she was making some BIG concession to it. I texted Bob and told him he can't let her think that she gets to decide this kind of stuff. She will walk all over both of us if we let her. I can't help it, though, if HE lets her; I can only make suggestions.

Supposedly, the family is bringing her home. I hammered the point several times that she needs to be here by noon. We'll see if that happens. We'll also see if Bob shows up by noon, as promised. If neither of them are here by 1:00, I will go on with my plans and take JT with me. If either of them wants me, they have my cell phone number. This is a compact place; I can meet either of them at the house in a matter of 5 minutes.

Let them wait for me; I'm not hanging around at the mercy of other people who can't be on time.

Sorry for the bitterness; I'm just pissy today.

A Sleepover

Tonight the girl child is going to sleep over at a girlfriend's house for the first time since we've been here. I'm glad she's making friends. I think the boy child and I will watch The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe on tv. Tomorrow the kids' dad will be here, and will take them...where ever all day. I told him I have plans from after lunch until after dinner, so I wouldn't be at the house. The first time he came, back in Nov, he picked them up at 3:00, after not having seen them for two weeks. I figured he'd have PLANNED something for them all together for the evening, so I made plans of my own. I was sitting down to dinner when my cell rang, and he said, "We're back. Where are you?"

"Back where?!?" I asked.

"Back at your place. We don't have anything to do."

I said, "Well, I'm sitting down to dinner."

"We already ate."

"How nice for you, but I haven't, as I said."

"What should we do, then?"

"I don't know, Bob. They're your kids, too. Figure something out."

"I don't have any ideas. There's nothing to do here."

"How about taking them to Burger King. JT can play on the playground, and you can talk to AJ."

"Okay."

But could I then sit there and leisurely enjoy my dinner? Not really.

So this time, I made sure he knows I have made plans for myself, and he's going to have to figure out how the three of them will entertain themselves together for about 8 hours. Yeah--8 hours straight. Imagine that.

And this time, I'm not giving hints.

P.S. I loved this picture; it's from PW.

Interiors by Chaos

(On the edit screen, these pics are perfect; I'm not sure why they're so dark on here. Sorry)

Okay, I really wanted to get these rooms cleaned up before I posted them, but we're still kind of in move-in mode, and also two of the rooms don't have much in the way of furniture. Because the "bookroom", as JT calls it, has all the built-in shelves, I put the bookcases that I brought in the front living room. The Christmas tree went in the front room, of course, to show out the window. I really only had furniture for the family room, so there's no seating in the other two areas, yet. You'll just have to excuse the disarray for now. We're trying...

The bookroom also has a full corner of built in shelves, counter, and cabinets, which sca-reamed "scrapbook area" to me as soon as I saw it. I put a big work table in front of the corner to create a U-shaped station. It's all a disaster area right now, but eventually, I'll set it all up for scrapping. The second tv is in here, but the kids just kind of loll on the floor, since we have no furniture in there. I'm trying to find some bean bag chairs, which would be perfect, but so far, I'm not having any luck finding any. This room is also nice and big for playing light sabers, turning somersaults, etc...
The room where you see my desk is what the owner called the "breakfast room". It's what used to be the back porch before being enclosed when the bookroom was added on. The window into the kitchen used to be the outside kitchen window. At first I had both tables in here and the desk in the bookroom, thinking this could be for scrapping, but I wanted to use the cabinets in the other room. So this room doubles as the desk area, with the other work table being the homework station and casual eating area.

My goal is for each area to be as useful as possible.

Habitat and...

Here are some
shots of the
inside of the
house. We have the kitchen, which is pretty 50's looking, although with fairly nice appliances.


The bathroom shown is the master bath; this MUST be where they came up with the phrase, "There isn't room to even swing a cat in here!" It is very, very tiny, and I don't know what the builder thought the lady of the house would do if she wanted to take a bath. But, my mom's house in CA was the same way: tub in the secondary bathroom only. Also, the tile colors in both the bathrooms are colors which ONLY existed in the 1950's. But they "go" with the house.


The paneled room you see is what we call the family room. It's behind the living/entry room. It lends itself very well to the leather chairs and iron lamps; it's a warm room, both in appearance and temperature-wise. If I end up buying this house, I think that paneling will be painted out in cream...


You also see the formal dining room, something which I have NEVER had. I wouldn't have necessarily required one; so many people say they rarely use their dining rooms, but I think it is nice to HAVE a room where everyone can sit and just eat and be together without television or whatever. Same goes for the formal living room, which I have not shown you, yet. This house has both the living room and dining room, THEN the family room AND a bonus room. I'll show you those later...

Environment

Here are several shots of the outside of the house and the yard. Note that most people here have carports, not garages; JT keeps asking when we're going to have the door put on the "garage". "It would keep the car warm, Mama!" It DOES get cold, here; we've had numerous freezing nights. But the autumn days are beautiful, bright, and clear! The main title photo is another shot of my front yard; the trees are still lovely, although losing leaves fast!

I kept seeing big piles of leaves at the corner of everyone's lots. I thought, "Aren't those just going to blow all around and make a mess again?" But the city sends around this machine with a big claw-arm on it. It reminds me of those games where you try to grab the stuffed animal out of the machine. This thing scoops up all the leaves and takes them... away... somewhere. Tax dollars at work! AND! Contrary to Orange County, if you happen to have more bags of trash than will fit in your can on a given day, or in my case, a LARGE pile of flattened cardboard from moving, or some other something that can't go in the can, you can put it NEXT to the can, and the trash guys WILL PICK IT UP FOR YOU!!

I can't begin to imagine the look of disbelief on my face when I was told this! "It's going to take me WEEKS to backlog all this trash and stuff so it will fit in the can a week at a time," I bemoaned.

"Oh, no," my friend said. "Just pile it all up out there with the can, and they'll pick it all up for you."

"You're kidding me," I said. "Pies, leaf-collection, and full-service sanitation engineers?"

"No, of course I'm not kidding. Welcome to a small town in the South."

I guess we're in!

When we started attending this church, the kids were in the middle of practicing their Christmas play. Not wanting JT to feel left out, they made him a sheep. A non-speaking sheep. Yes, I know normally ALL sheep are non-speaking, but in the PLAY, all the animals talk. But there are more kids than speaking parts, so the youngest kids just sit there and look...sheepish.

Wednesday at rehearsal, I had to run an errand, so I told JT I'd be right back. The kids' director, whom I had not met, officially, said, "Where are you goin'?"

Thinking perhaps it was not allowed for the new kid to be left there, or something, I said carefully, "Um... I have to go swap cars with someone..." (long story--another day).

"Can you take these two boys home? They're not in the program, and they're bored to death sitting around here."

Now I ask you. Where else but a small town would you send two children off with some woman you'd never met? "Where do you live?" she asked. I told her. "Oh! You'll go right past it! Do you mind?"

I figured, what the heck. "Um. Sure." I said.

So two boys who didn't know me from Adam's rib got into (not even) my car, and I took them home, which was indeed right on my way. Actually, nothing here is more than about a mile or so from anything else; it's a compact little place. But I assume this means we're accepted into the collective, if people will just give me their children. (The director called the mom and asked her, by the way--please do not send card and letters!).

This morning at dress rehearsal, one of the ladies looked around and said, "We need another adult to prompt the goats. Maybe Miss Laurel would be in charge of the goats?" That goatherd-yodel song went through my head. "Sure. I'll prompt the goats." I said.

That, and the parade. The next door neighbors, whose children are in the church's kids' program, the mom said to me on Wednesday, "Will he be on the float?"

"Float?" I asked.

"The Christmas parade is Saturday afternoon. The kids are going to be on a float in their animal costumes. Will JT want to ride on the float?"

"I can't imagine he wouldn't want to!" I said. "I'll have him there."

When we got to the church, I was asked, "Will you ride on the float, or do you want to walk beside it and hand out candy?"

"Um..." I hadn't really considered either one. "I...I guess I'll walk along."

Which I did.

The annual Fort Valley Christmas parade was this evening, and the church had a float made to look like a stable, with all the kids riding on it in their animal costumes.

By the way...

I know this picture sucks. It's of my new house, but it's actually a digital pic of a regular pic. I didn't have my digital camera on my first trip out here, so I took regular film shots. I haven't had a chance to take any digital pics, yet, but I will, soon, and show you all the house. Also, it would be nice if we got all the moving junk put away, first! :)

Welcome!

Since so much has happened this past year or so, and the updates by individual email were getting ponderous, I thought I'd go ahead and set up a public blogspot so my friends and family can keep up with what's going on as this girl from Orange County transplants to Peach County. I hope to keep things entertaining; welcome, and come back often!