Taking a Detour

Well, Lance and I got bored with our lives so we decided to take another detour. We're free spirits like that, I guess.  While we might be afraid of the unknown, and starting over is definitely scary, that doesn't stop us.




Lance applied, interviewed, and got hired for a job at Disney.



Yay Lance!


He's always wanted to work for Disney.  He's applied in the past, but he cancelled the interview.  I guess the difference now is that we're ready for a change.  Lance has always wanted out of the warehouse, and this will give him a new opportunity.

Update 5/16: Lance told me that he actually had not applied for Disney World in the past. I was confused because he had an interview with Universal Studios that he cancelled.

Not to mention that Spears doesn't take very good care of its employees.



The job with Disney is custodial.  It's not much different than warehouse.  It's still very physical.  But I think he likes that, and that he would get bored with a desk job.


He wanted the graveyard shift.  He and I both think that will work best for our family. He'll work anywhere between 10:30pm and 9:30am.


I'm a little nervous about me and Lily staying quiet in the afternoons so he can rest, but I'm excited to be able to go out during the day with him, after he has his nap, or on his days off!

I'll welcome him with open arms to the difficult no-sleep-Sunday club.

I'm a little nervous about the pay cut as well, but we'll manage.  We always do.

Happy Birthday!

I was completely overwhelmed by being wished a happy birthday from friends and family.


I was very depressed for the few days leading up to my birthday because I'm homesick for my family, lonely for my friends, and I'm sick of the daily grind.


I've been having a lot of thoughts wondering if moving here was really the right thing to do.  Why did we move here in the first place? What are we doing here?  It's not like Lance loves his job or anything. I long to "go home" but I don't know where that is.

But then the song "Home" by Phillip Phillips came on and it made me feel better.  This line in particular:

"Just know you're not alone... I'm gonna make this place your home."




Anyway, I hate Facebook "Happy birthdays!" I feel like like they aren't sincere. I stopped telling people happy birthday on Facebook because of that, thinking it didn't really matter anyway.


Yesterday proved me wrong. It does matter.  Reading everyone's comments made me feel special, and I appreciated each one.  Facebook, text message, phone call, who cares?  No matter how you talk to someone, you're taking time out of your day.


We didn't do anything spectacular for my birthday.  Lance took the day off of work and we drove up to the Millennia Mall, which is really nice and fancy.  We ate at California Pizza Kitchen.

California Pizza Kitchen is great.  There are several dishes there that I love, and it's hard for me to decide.

This time I got the Caramelized Peach Salad.  But some other favorites are the Chicken Tequila Fettuccine, the California Club Pizza, and the Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza.  And then there are always other dishes that tempt me.

Lance has ordered the BBQ Chicken Pizza and I liked it more than he did and I usually hate BBQ chicken pizza!


This is not a commercial for CPK, I promise.


After eating we walked around the mall.  I got tempted by a few stores, but never went in and purchased anything.


I fell in love with a shirt in Macy's that cost $70.  What.

I went home and looked it up online and it's on sale for $55.  I still haven't decided if it's worth it or not. (Probably not.)

(Here is the shirt in question, if you're curious.)

I don't even know which color I would buy because I like them both!



We came home and Lily took a nap and I laid in bed and played on my phone.  And my present was delivered.

It is makeup. I love it!

After Lily's nap, we were all still pretty full from lunch so I didn't make dinner.  We just broke out the "cake" (key lime pie) that Lily had been waiting for all day long.  We didn't have candles so we used matches as candles, and Lance and Lily sang me "Happy Birthday" and then we each had a small slice.


I went to Enrichment Night (and actually had a great time, this time!), and then came home and we put Lily to bed.


And then I worked.



Yes, I was offered the night off, but... I mean... I'm going to be awake until 3am anyway, I may as well do something I can be paid for rather than loaf around.



It was a good day.



PS: I'm 27.  I've never understood a woman not revealing her age...  I've earned every year.

Goal Update - March

Monthly Enrichment night
I went to the Enrichment night in March. I didn't really like the activity idea.  And that's OK. I don't expect to like it every month.  I honestly didn't want to go, but I went just for the social aspect.


I didn't have the best time.  I sat by someone I love, Gisella. She is so great!  When I first sat down, we started chatting. Isn't that what you should be allowed to do when you get to enrichment night? Apparently not. The person in the front was like, "Listen up, this is important."

Why are you talking about something "important" before Enrichment even starts?  That's what I wanna know. I'm here to socialize.

And the ruder me: Excuuuuse me for being at home with a toddler all day and then confined to my office all night with no visits from friends or family. I'm sure you know exactly how that feels.



The activity was to bring a pair of shoes and tell the story behind the shoes.  I don't get sentimental about shoes. I love shoes, sure. I used to have over 40 pairs!  But when I moved from Midvale, UT to Raleigh, NC I got rid of all but my five favorite pairs. And I only have added a couple more pairs of shoes since then. None of them have a story other than, "I liked them."

I wasn't going to "present" anything, but I felt pressured and obligated. So I got up, and said some embarrassing things like:

"I'll just tell about the shoes I'm wearing (I was wearing royal blue flats). They're my newest shoes.  I used to have around 40 pairs of shoes but I got rid of all but 5 when I moved across the country, and then moved here.  I recently went to the store looking for a new pair of black heels. The ones I liked were sold out of my size, of course, so I settled on these and another pair of shoes.  I went in looking for black heels and came out with hot pink heels and royal blue flats."


I just feel lame because everyone else had these great stories about their temple shoes, or shoes they came to America in, shoes their step-son chose for their wedding, etc.



As for the positives: The food was good, and I sat by my friend.



Seriously though, I don't go to enrichment night so people can get to know me. I go so I can get to know people. Come on!

Yes, I see the irony in that.


I just like to sit in the back and observe. Being put on the spot like that, after not being allowed to chat with my friend was very upsetting.

Am I offended? No. In fact I'm over it, and I only remembered it just now as I was typing this post. I'm sure I'll go again. But yeah, I did not have a very good time this month.



Cook dinner 3 times a week
I'm doing great! The interesting thing about cooking more is that I also clean more. Probably out of obligation.



52 Week Money Saving Challenge
We do this in cash (don't break into our house and rob us, please), and we were a dollar short, but we just got a little cash back the other day and put that missing dollar in there.



Monthly date night
We didn't go this month.  But, we went on a weekend getaway to Jacksonville! That's kind of the same thing, except Lily was with us the whole time.



Weekly crafts with Lily
I'm totally failing at this one.  I have been doing activities with her, just not crafts.  Some days we go outside and draw on the sidewalk with chalk. Some days she helps me cook things. Some days we go swimming. We went to Animal Kingdom once. Tomorrow we are going to Typhoon Lagoon, but that doesn't count for March...



Clean something (in my house) every day
I'm doing pretty good at this. Right now my house is a mess. I'm pretty much an all or nothing person. Either my house is a disaster from top to bottom, or spotless from top to bottom. There is no in between. I can't clean just one thing. I just can't. I've tried.

The thing that works the best is to set a timer for 20 minutes and just do what I can.  Generally the twenty minutes is up and I'm so involved in what I'm cleaning that I keep going. If I don't finish something in that 20 minutes, I get really anxious.

Someone please help me and my insane mind.



Remember friends' and family members' birthdays
In March was Lance's brother Mike's birthday, and Lance's dad Jerry's birthday.  I haven't sent Mike his card yet. Jerry passed away a few years ago, so we talked about Jerry a lot on his birthday, and I told Lily stories about Jerry.

I told Lily that if Jerry were alive he would let her watch all the Mickey Mouse she wanted, and he'd let her sit on his lap for as long as she wanted. He would hold her hand and go for walks. He would listen to her stories. He would dance with her. He would laugh and and enjoy the silly things she does.

I miss Jerry so much.

Mean Mom

I think Lily is a great eater.  She's not super picky.  She only refuses to eat a rare handful of things.  Such as:

Kalamata olives
Things that are too spicy
Things that are too hot

That's all I can think of at this point.  I mean, really, she eats lots of stuff!


But getting her to sit down and eat is a challenge! She's far too busy and gets easily distracted.  Eating a bowl of her favorite oatmeal takes an entire hour!  Come on, girl! Just get it done!

If she's starving she'll chow down, but usually I don't starve her... At least, I try not to.

So today for lunch I made an attempt at making the food more interesting than normal.

Mickey Mouse shaped sandwiches!


Usually I don't cut crusts off or any of that nonsense.  But I felt like being a nice mom today.



Did it work?



No.


She ate the pickles, one apple slice, and one bite of sandwich.  And then it sat on the table for an hour before I had her clean it up.



(And yes, I sit down and eat with her.  But mostly it's me sitting by myself at the table while Lily wanders off and I'm constantly calling her to come back.)



I promised her a sucker after lunch.  So after we cleaned up, she brought me a sucker to open.

I looked at her and said, "No, Lily!  You didn't eat your lunch, you don't get sucker."


That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works!

Who Do You Think You Are

I really like the show Who Do You Think You Are. It gets me really excited about genealogy. ...And most episodes have me in tears. 

Being in a very long line of LDS church members that goes back to the pioneers and early days of the church, a lot of my genealogy is done as far back as can go. It's difficult to find new names. Both because LDS records are excellent, and because other family members have done a lot of digging. 

Watching this show has made me realize that instead of focusing on finding new names, I should focus on learning about the people whose names I already have.

I've never really sat down with my grandparents (all four still alive at this point) and asked them about their family life. That's probably a good place to start. 

I'd love it if when I pass to the other side, I'll know more about the people I meet than just their name. 

Everyone's life is important, and everyone has a story to tell. 

Coke Rant

I've always been a little... afraid... of how much Coke I drink in a day.

I mean... I have one with lunch, and one with dinner. If we go out to dinner I have at least 2 or 3. And then during work each night I'll have 1 or 2 more (depending on how crazy work is).


That's a lot of coke!



I'd say I average about 36 oz of Coke per day.



Well, after that one story that went around a week ago or so, I'm not afraid anymore!  If she can drink three Dr. Peppers a day and be just fine, then by golly, I should be just fine with my Cokes!


At least they are real and not diet.


But, I have started purchasing those super large drink mixes from Sam's Club.  We already went through a lemonade one, and today we just bought a pink lemonade one.


Maybe that's better than Coke, I don't know. It probably has more sugar...


Ugh. Who cares.