Happy with a Hose

Today I had to go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. Not yay. But having a neck pillow while I the chair? Yay. Having stuff attached to my teeth to hold it in place and subsequently sticking out of my mouth? Not yay. Watching the princess bride with headphones while they worked on my teeth? Yay. 

In other news, I now own a hose. A 25 ft green with gold stripe beauty. No more filling and refilling a water pitcher. I'm hoping my garden will thank me :)

Today I laid out all my clothes and shoes for upcoming Peru trip. Mom is coming over soon to go over it with me. I asked her to. It's Winter in Peru now. 

Pen to Paper

It has been awhile since I took pen to paper in the form of a journal/record keeping. But I received this cute notebook from a parent and tonight I recorded the days events, in my own handwriting. I'd forgotten how good it felt!

In other news.... I love the blog app on my iPad. Makes it much easier. Something else I loved today? Zucchini fries form B&D Burgers. Mmmmmm......

The Great Phone Phlush of 2013

Here's how it went down......

I was talking with one of my coworkers, Steph, on a Friday morning about pocket dialing people while my phone was in my back pocket.  Then for my final act, I was getting ready to leave work & stopped in the bathroom, with my bag & purse packed, my phone in m pocket, etc. Right before I entered the stall I had the thought.... "What if my phone falls out of my pocket & into the toilet?" But I brushed it off, sat down and my phone dropped into the toilet with a splash before I could do anything else. My next thought? "Dang it, that was a prompting!"

Since I have no home phone, & I'm on my parents cell phone plan for cheaper, I then tried to get a hold of one of them from my work phone since I would have no phone once I left work.... After m 3rd message to my mom, she picked up, told me she couldn't talk because she was in a meeting.... Oops!

But it all turned out OK. No amount of rice or drying could salvage my phone but my dad lent me his phone overnight, my roommate got me dinner @ Kneaders (hello, delicious!) and although my phone still worked great, I was due for an upgrade & had my new phone from Costco by the next day. Grateful for everyone's help!

Care, part 1

Care
A recollection of care I received while recovering from my broken leg. I know all the love & care I received was NOT done out of praise but I want to record it all anyway!!! In no specific order.....

• Mom and Dad: who took me to the hospital. Dad helped give me a blessing & Mom stayed overnight with me that first night.... In an uncomfortable chair!!! They set up a bedroom for me @ their house and let me stay for 7 weeks.  Laundry, cooking & cleaning were all taken care of.  Mom helped me get to/from dr appts and helped wrap my leg in a plastic bag and get in/out of the shower for 2 weeks. Brought me medicine in the middle of the night one time..... Both visited me in the hospital. Mom & I watched an episode of "keeping up appearances" via Netflix/iPad.
• Sara (niece). Mom and Dad both had to be out my first night home so Sara stayed with me
• Paula Morley (aunt) who stayed with the afternoon of one of my first days home. She brought me a gorgeous bouquet of peach roses, visited with me, refilled my water bottle & had me help her with a coloring project. It felt good to do something!
• Dave (brother) helped Dad give me a blessing @ the hospital. He and Sabrina and kids visited many times while at home and brought Sunday dinner that first week. Sabrina and Cora also visited me in the hospital.

• Deborah, Carter, Ashley (sister & kids) brought me a bag of things from home my first night in the hospital. Carter & Ashley each loaned me one of their stuffed animals. Feel the love! They also reenacted how they thought I fell and got to safety.... Deborah & Saige visited me I'm the hospital and bought me some much needed gum.  Visited me at the house and made me laugh a LOT.
• Melanie & Jeff Broadhead and kids (sister and family) visited me at home and all signed my splint.  Brandon even drew his picture! The youngest kids were kind of in shock about my leg. They'd run in the room, look at my leg, then run back out!
• Jenn & Jim Dishman (sister and spouse) who visited me at home, signed my splint and Jenn arranged for a friend of hers to come paint my nails. Brown sparkles!!!
• Texts and calls and prayers from sisters Angela Rawlings and Cristine Kidd. Dave and Jenson Rawlings were in town, stopped by and gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card.
• My preschoolers who made me get well cards. Parents-especially Gina J for the concern & emails, Lindsay & Tyler B who sent me an edible arrangements bouquet. 
• George & Jeniel long time friends, neighbors, ward members of my parents (and mine when I lived at home) visited me @ home and brought me a chocolate arctic circle milkshake topped with a nilla wafer. Brother Apostol from my parents ward bishopric who asked all the ward to pray for me. Also from the ward-cards from Roland & Sylvia Arterburn & Patsy Dumas.

• Dave & Cindy Nilsson, family friends visiting from ID. We had a couple of hours to visit and their motivation helped to get using my crutches more.
• Elaine Leggat, parents neighbor & ward member. Former piano teacher (of mine) and gives the best hugs!!! Visited me @ home & brought me a homemade card & candy.    
• Gift (book) & card from John & Marilyn Neerings, Deborah's in-laws.
• Lots and lots of Facebook messages!!!
•   Visit in the hospital from Cherie Duggar & Carol Simpson. Vist and homemade brownie bars from Jaime Salas, my co-sunbeam teacher. 
• Texts and messages from other ward sisters. Jenica Konzak, Heather Gist, Bree Strong, Alicia Hastings

• 
  

Blessings from a Broken Leg

Blessings from a Broken Leg
5 blessings I have experienced while being laid up with a broken leg

• Time spent with my Mom & Dad. Life goes by so fast & can change in an instant. I'm getting to hold onto more memories now. Eating meals together, having my mom do my hair in 2 braids, visiting with my dad before going to sleep at night, conversations-to name a few!
• Knowing.  Knowing now that I have soft bones now rather than any later!
• To feel Loved. I have been shown so much love since I broke my leg-cards, cookies, visits, flowers. And from so many different areas of life-from my ward, my parents ward, immediate & extended family members, work, friends, people who know my parents, etc. what a blessing to feel so loved!!!
• Time. To read, to think, to reflect, to write. To apply what I learn & use it to become better. I don't want to waste it
• A Reminder to Celebrate Small Successes. Little things really do count a lot! Going to the bathroom by myself, getting dressed and undressed by myself, taking additional steps with crutches or a walker 
• Added Appreciation for the Future. Things that I hope to never again take for granted. Standing up for a shower, moving from one room to the other with ease, running up & down stairs, walking with two free hands, wearing 2 shoes and whatever clothes I want

Valentine's Day Forgiveness

Valentine's Day Forgiveness

For anyone out there who would benefit from hearing this message, as I feel prompted to share on this Valentine's Day..... I'll keep it brief and to the point.  

As some of you may or may not know (and sorry if you are wondering, "why didn't you tell me!"), the end of June, I was sexually assaulted by the man I was dating at the time.  The details of how/why, etc are not important, but the message is. i will also add that as bad as it was, it could have been much worse and for that I am very grateful.  

The experience was HELL.  Thankfully, I had support of people close to me and good mental health care.  I thought that I had let it go and move on but in recent weeks I realized that it hadn't happened as much I thought it had..... That I still had strong feelings towards him and that it was bothering me that I didn't KNOW about the consequences he had paid, if he was sorry, etc, and didn't know when the consequences would come.

In talking with a good friend one day, I was able to borrow a copy of "Let It Go," by Chris Williams whose wife, daughter and son were killed in a car accident February 2007. I read it through once, liked it, but didn't think much more of it for a few days. One night I woke up wide awake at 2am and decided to read the book again.  I discovered a new word while reading it that jumped out at me, "impunity" One of its meanings is "to be exempt from consequences" I realized that with the Atonement, I could be exempt from the consequences-the pain, hurt, etc. But only if I chose to!  However, to be exempt, the cost of the trial covered by the Atonement, what a blessing!

I learned something else as well, that a big part of why I had not been able to fully let go, forgive was that a part of me felt like if I did let go, it would be like saying, "Well, it wasn't that bad, and it didn't matter much anyway..." But it was bad and it did matter!  However, I came to learn that forgiveness was not at least for me just casually saying, "Oh, it's OK." or deliberately trying to forget it all and keep it erased,  But it's choosing to make yourself from any more pain. It's choosing to share your burden with the Savior and not letting the effects negatively impact your life further. To further this, not that I what I experienced was even a bit close to losing family members in an accident, but the father forgave.   He remarried and had more kids. But I believe that even though he forgave moved on, he didn't miss his family any less! He just chose, as we all can, to not burden ourselves with the pain further.  

And.... on this Valentine's Day while I have love for many, today I love my preschoolers who make me smile and laugh (and sometimes cry) on a daily basis.

I hope that someone can benefit from this message. If you know someone else who could use this you are welcome to share it with them!

Your comments are welcome. 

Heather

Team Tuesday

Team Tuesday.... I am so glad and so grateful to have 3 great ladies working with me in my classroom! Everyone is needed. Wee celebrate on the easier days and support each other on the harder days. Today was one of the harder days in the afternoon-extra chatty, extra running, extra noise, etc. towards the end of the afternoon I. Was. Tired.  

I cut the large group activity short because my bag o' tricks was running low and we were going to head to the gym early.  However, when one of my students laid down directly in front of the door as if he was a sandbag or trying to protest and no intentions of moving...   I nearly lost my voice volume control. Thankfully we are a team & with 4 of us, another can step in when a breaking point is near! Not sure where the laying on the floor came from except what Stacie said, "just doing the opposite of what you want them to do!"

And I am a huge believer in small and numerous blessings in any situation! So I can be glad for missing last weeks csi:ny episode so I could watch it today. The banana pudding I forgot that I had in my pantry. A really good hair day. To name a few....