Something to blog about

I know, I know.

I don't update this thing very often. It's because my life is pretty routine - nothing much to blog about, because not much ever changes.

Every now and then something is blogworthy.... and since I'm updating, obviously, I deem this change as blogworthy.

Just a few things that have all come together as factors for when and where this will be:

1 - My cousins/friends/landlords/upstairs-neighbors finally found a buyer for their house, and I got new landlords who want me to stay and don't want to raise my rent - couldn't have asked for an easier transition - counting my blessings there.
2 - My stake changed some ward boundaries and my block was moved into a different ward.
3 - I was asked to serve as a primary teacher in my new ward for the 4-year old children.
4 - One week later I was also asked to serve as a helper for camp for the young women.
5 - A couple of weeks later I was asked to serve in the stake primary presidency.
6 - A couple of weeks after that - a couple of weeks ago - my mom proposed something that makes the object of this post possible.

When my ward boundaries changed, I assured my new bishop that I had no intention of moving out or of switching to the single adults ward - been there, done that, rather not, thanks. As per the usual methods of receiving church callings, about a month after the boundary changes I was asked to come speak with a member of the bishopric on a Tuesday evening, and the following Sunday I was officially made a primary teacher. The next Tuesday I was asked again to come speak with a member of the bishopric. ??? Did they realize that they had just barely given me a calling? Was it a clerical error and would they ask me again about the same calling? No, it really was another position - drawing on my experience to help with this year's young women's camp. (This will be my fourth year for that.) Verily, the following Sunday I was again made official.

The next Sunday, after church, I was napping and chose not to answer a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. Later, after I listened to the message - from a member of the Stake Presidency, I called back, but he didn't answer. And he didn't call back. And I didn't hear anything else... until Friday night, and then it was, "can you come tomorrow morning?" I figured if they were willing to meet me on a Saturday morning, it must be something they wanted to make official that same week. Naturally I was a bit apprehensive, but saying no to a calling is not something I believe in, so I went. He asked me if I had any experience with scouting. Does wanting to be a cub scout when I was little because I was jealous of my brothers count as experience? I was agreeably surprised when the calling wasn't Scouts, precisely. Being the second counselor in the Stake Primary Presidency does involve the cub scouts but with less direct responsibility. I accepted, and verily, the following day I was, again, made official. Usually, when a Stake calling is extended, you are released from any additional responsibilities. I asked for an exception. Camp is a one-time shot, and it's almost done anyway. And my primary kids have had enough upheaval with the ward boundary changes, and getting a new teacher. Plus, my team teacher had a lot of family stuff going on and was going to be sporadic in her attendance for a few weeks. So I asked them to let me try doing both Primary callings for a while as I didn't foresee any conflict between the two, and promised to let them know if I needed to be released. They agreed.

So here I am, committed to stay in my apartment, in my ward, in my stake. And then my mom emails me with the offer of helping me with a down payment on a home, in exchange for a permanent guest bedroom and the expectation of them sleeping there twice a week. (They live an hour away and come to Logan two days each week to work in the Logan temple.)

Turn my life upside down! I thought I had finally settled in after all the recent changes!

Well, I had already spent a bundle on a cub-scout leader uniform, so the first thing I did was figure out exactly what my stake boundaries were so I could concentrate my house search in the right area. One thing led to another, and yesterday I signed a contract for the construction of a new house - right across the street from where I am now. I should be in by Halloween. Thanksgiving at my house this year anyone?

:-)

Changes

Life is full of changes, isn't it? Lately I've been inundated!

We got a new director last summer/autumn at the library, and contrary to the doom and gloom predictions made by some, nothing very substantial changed at that time. He didn't want to make changes just for the sake of change, so he observed for a while and now he is starting to implement the changes he's been pondering.

My cousins / landlords / upstairs neighbors realized that they just don't fit in their very small, two-bedroom home, and decided to sell. This meant that, depending on who bought the house, and whether or not they wanted an already established tenant, I didn't know if I would be moving or not. (Luckily for me, they want me to stay.)

The ward boundaries in my stake were rearranged last week, and my block got put into a different ward.

I was recently forced by circumstances beyond my control to get an iPhone (hee hee). I'm on my parent's phone plan to save a bit of money, and my dad decided to switch to the full data Sprint plan. Oh darn! It would have been extremely wasteful of me to not get a phone that could take full advantage of the expense he is putting himself to.

And finally, a change for you, as well. Because of the iPhone change, I made the decision to change from Blogger to WordPress, since with WordPress I can blog from my phone. You can now find me at smileyall.wordpress.com.

What, it's already October?!!

Where does the time go?

Much to my shame, far too much of it went to playing the sudoku game I downloaded for my phone.  I finally deleted it (mid-game, are you proud of me?) since it was too easy to 'just finish the game I started yesterday' and then several hours later realize I'd better turn it off.  I did get the 'professional' level down to an average of 15 or 20 minutes per game, but it was too easy to keep pushing the button at the end of the game and end up playing another, and another, and another...

Enough with the excuses.

cars

Do you name your cars?  I do.  It started with a motorcycle that my dad had, named Oslo.  One of my brothers went to Spain on his mission, and we learned that 'choose the right' in Spanish is 'haz lo justo', so Oslo acquired a last name - Husto.  My parents have a silver Dodge Ram, named Greatheart after a horse in Robin McKinley's book, Beauty, and another motorcycle - a Honda Goldwing called The Sage Coach.  They never did name their last car, a maroon Honda Civic, and after it got totaled my mom suggested that it committed suicide because they never gave it a name.  As far as I know, they haven't named their new car yet either, a Honda CRV.  They did name the new utility vehicle they got - a Yamaha Rhino called Pepe.

My first car was a little black Subaru sedan, named Jasper.  Jasper got his name because one of my brothers said he looked like a Jasper.  Yes, our cars have genders, too.  One fun thing about Jasper.  The 'your door is open and the key is in the ignition' sound was a gentle ding ding ding.  It worked just fine, but there was a short in the wiring, so if the driver's door was closed and the window was rolled down, if any downward pressure was applied to the door - for instance leaning my elbow on the door while driving - the overhead light would flicker and the 'ding' would sound - as a 'ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling'.  I considered changing Jasper's name, but decided that he was still Jasper, and that Tinker Bell lived in the overhead light.

My second car was a black Toyota Rav4, Toby.  Toby got his name (yes, another boy car) mostly from his license plate - KBY.  I was just saying names out loud trying to come up with something - Kirby, Kolby, Toby.  As soon as I said Toby, I knew that was his name.  Toby was a faithful companion for 13 years, seeing me through multiple camping trips, and road trips, and even a bit of off-roading.  Toby's back windshield wiper croaked like a toad, and many a rainy trip was spent with the Jeremiah Bullfrog song running through my head.  Once again I considered changing his name, but Toby he remained, and Jeremiah visited whenever it rained.

After several years of wanting a hybrid and telling myself, no, I don't need a new car, there's nothing wrong with Toby and he's already paid for, I finally took the plunge.  On May 1st, I took the faithful Toby to the dealership and traded him in for a Honda Insight hybrid.  (Pictured at the beginning of this post)  (Incidentally, my youngest nephew was born on the same day.)  Looking at the new car, I couldn't really decide whether it was  a boy or a girl, and a friend suggested that since it was a hybrid, why couldn't it be both?  Thus was Andy christened.  (Short for Androgynous.)  So far, Andy is still the right name.  I look forward to finding it's quirks (yes 'it' - not he or she') and discovering a tenant or a regular visitor that might suggest a different name.