Dork Diaries

My friend, Elodia Strain, recently blogged about her Dork Diaries. I loved her post, so I decided to copy her. Here is a list of why I'm such a dork, both then and now.

Then,
1. I used to wish I could get glasses even though I didn't need them. I started wearing glasses when I was 25 and I was so excited to finally get some. I just think they're cool.

2. My sister and I used to be obsessed with the soap opera, Santa Barbara. We used to tape every episode and make scrapbooks and newspapers of the soap. We used to write down dialogue and act out scenes from the soap. We especially liked throwing glasses of water at each other's faces.

3. I once turned down a date so I could stay home and write a research paper. In my defense, he called only an hour or two before the date. That's just lame. I'm not saying yes to that.

4. I took extra semesters of foreign language in high school after I had already met the requirement, just for fun.

5. I played with Barbies until I was 16.

6. I was so into Air Supply when I was in high school. I even went to one of their concerts. Don't get me started on New Kids on the Block.

Now,
1. I love my glasses. I've tried contacts, but I don't like them. I really, really like wearing glasses.

2. I still have 2 boxes of old Santa Barbara tapes, pictures, and scrapbooks in my attic. Of course I don't watch the tapes anymore (I'm not that big of a dork) but I did stay up late 1 night watching old episodes on YouTube.

3. I love libraries and so do my kids. We will drive 45 minutes out of our way just to go to check out new libraries.

4. Sometimes, I take trash home from parties or events. Not real trash, just stuff that can be recycled like cardboard or bottles or cans. I once snuck out a whole bag of wrapping paper from a Christmas party because I knew it was going to be thrown away. I know this admission will probably decrease future party invitations. I'm sorry; I'm just such a recycling dork. All I can say in defense is that I'm from New Jersey.

5. I still have my Barbies up in the attic. No, I don't play with them anymore. I'm just waiting for that girl to have an excuse to play with them.

When I think of some more, I'll do another post- Dork Diaries 2. Anyone care to leave a comment about why they're a dork?

Foto Friday

I spent Christmas morning building this layout for my little ones. They got a new bridge, a station, and a few new trains for Christmas. I love giving my kids presents that they can use with their old toys so we don't accumulate a bunch of new stuff and so they continue utilizing their old toys. It sort of makes them new again.

The Santa Letters

I just finished The Santa Letters by Stacy Gooch-Anderson, a perfect read for this time of year. Emma Jensen and her four kids are approaching Christmas without William. William, Emma's husband, was killed by a hit-and-run driver the year before. While she tries to be brave for her children, Emma misses him greatly and is having a hard time with the approaching holiday.

Then, a mysterious letter and package arrive on their doorstep. It is signed from Santa Claus and each package has a letter with a message. The letters contain a message that expounds on important themes, such as family, forgiveness, and service. McKenna, the youngest daughter has faith that their father will be there for Christmas. With her faith, the Jensen family embraces the Santa letters with hope and enthusiasm. Each letter and package brings the family closer together and toward a path that will heal their hearts and leads them to forgiveness.

I enjoyed the messages that centered around the teachings of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and service are major themes in the book and leave the reader with a greater desire to focus Christmas on His life and teachings.




On a side note, I met Stacy at the LDStorymakers Conference last year and realized that her cousin, Kim, is married to one of my husband's friends, Jim. Nolan knew Jim from when they served a mission in the Philippines. We used to hang out a lot with Jim and Kim when we lived in Ogden, UT. We used to go on motorcycle rides together and had a blast with them. It was fun to reconnect with them after all these years. What a small world.

My Resume (Sort Of)

I am a stay-at-home mother and I love it. I haven't always been. It feels like it's been a long journey to get here. Let me tell you about it. I've been working since I was fifteen. I've always enjoyed working. In high school, I worked for a doctor's office. I loved having my own money and being able to buy whatever I wanted.

When I went to college, I stopped working because it was just too much. When I graduated, I got my dream job. I've always wanted to work in a social services field or a non-profit. I worked in Salt Lake City for a company called Centro De La Familia running a foster care program. I was in charge of recruiting & training foster parents, placing children in foster homes, and basically making sure everyone was happy-foster parents, kids (that didn't happen too often), case managers, the State. I loved that job. I loved working with kids who needed someone to advocate for them, to care about them. My job was basically my life. My husband was in school at the time and very busy with internships, so I threw myself into my job. I spent time with kids on evenings and some weekends taking them to recreational activities or visits with their natural parents. I only worked there for 3 years before we moved, but it was the most rewarding 3 years of my career-life. Sure, it was hard. Heart-breaking, sad, and totally consuming, emotionally and physically.

When we moved to New Jersey, I wanted to find a similar job, but I also wanted to have a baby. I was going on 4 years of marriage and I was ready to be a mom. I knew that if I found a similar job which I really wanted, that it would be too all-consuming and hard on a family. So, I decided to take my old boss on his offer to go back to the doctor's office. It was the ideal job for me at the time, even though it wasn't what I wanted, in my heart, to be doing. The office was 5 mins away from home and I could walk, which I did often. I was done by 4 every day and never on call. I didn't have to work evenings or take heart-wrenching thoughts home every night. It felt ironic to be doing the same thing I was doing before college, but it was right for me.

We had a baby soon after and I continued working there. My husband would drop the baby off at my parents when he went to work, usually after 10:00 am or so. It was nice that he had a late schedule. This worked out for everyone.

After I had my second baby, my boss let me cut back my hours. I worked every day until 1PM and picked up the kids at my parents where my husband had dropped them off. He continued having a later schedule which worked out great so the kids were only there a few hours. My boss also let me work from home, so I was making almost as much as before.

When we moved to Texas, I didn't want to work full-time anymore, so I started substitute teaching two days a week. My parents also moved to Texas and continued helping out with childcare those two days a week. I was usually home by 3:30 and had all school vacation days and summers off. It was perfect. My parents were so awesome throughout all this. Taking the kids to school and picking them up.

Recently, I stopped substitute teaching (after 5+ years). A few months ago, I toyed with the idea of going back to work full-time in my old field. For a moment, I was excited about working in the field I love. I sent out many resumes and even had a few interviews. In the end, I didn't get the jobs, but I'm so happy. I knew, deep in my heart, that I did not want to go back to work. I want to be home. For the first time ever, I am home full-time, and I love it! I am still writing, so I still work, but on my own schedule and my own terms. I'll be honest, I haven't been writing too much the last few months. I am just enjoying being home full-time. The writing will pick back up soon, I'm sure. I'll know when it's time to throw myself into writing again.

Right now, I just love my three bosses. The one on the right is the CEO. What he says goes!

A Winner!

I drew a random name for the Pay It Forward Giveaway, and Amber won. Hooray, Amber. Hey, I can save on postage and just drop it off one of these days. Thanks all for playing. Amber won a copy of my book, Reasonable Doubt.

Foto Friday

My kids had three friends come over to play yesterday. Some of the nicest kids ever. The older boy drew this chalk picture on our driveway. It's a heron, lest you think it's a crane.

Pay It Forward: A Giveaway

Annette Lyon did a giveaway on her blog, and I won! She did this to encourage giving away books. You can go to her post to read more.

To play, there's only one rule. If you win, you have to be willing to pay it forward by giving something away on your blog.

So, make a comment by December 19th. On December 20th, I'll randomly pick a winner. The winner will get a copy of my book, Reasonable Doubt. I will mail it out after Christmas. No way am I braving the post office before Christmas.

So comment and maybe, you'll win.

Listen, Jim

I bought my 9 year old an MP3 player for his birthday. He enjoys listening to it and brings it in the car sometimes to plug into the stereo. He and his brother take turns picking songs and they like to sing along to the songs. Today, he chose James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' and sang along with it. He's a pretty good singer. I cringed when he sang right through the one bad word in that song. I had to pause the song and explain to him that it's a bad word because he had no idea; he's never heard this word before. He had to ask me what word. I told him it was the f-word right before the word 'high.' I told him it was okay since he didn't know it was a bad word, but that he should probably skip past that word next time he sings it. Then, he asked why they have bad words in songs. He said that the record company should say, "Listen, Jim. You shouldn't say that word in your song." That made me laugh. I told him I agreed with him. I told him that sometimes songs have bad words in it just like movies. Now, I kind of feel bad because I'm the one who put that song on his MP3 player in the first place. My bad. (Like my 6 year old would say). It's just such a great song. I hope that's the only song I put on there with a bad word.

Foto Friday

Here are 2 pictures I took when we went to the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio. It is so windy up there. I love how the wind just blows their hair back. The second picture is of the Alamodome which I took from the top of the Tower of the Americas.

Her Good Name By Josi Kilpack

I just finished Her Good Name by Josi Kilpack. First, let me just say how pleased I am to read about a Hispanic main character in an LDS novel. It is not something you see very often. Chrissy (short for Chressaidia) is a thirty-five year old single woman who is tired of the dating game, but agrees to a blind date with Micah. The date doesn't go well and gets worse when her identity is stolen. The woman who steals her identity is a Guatemalan woman who uses the money to fund a group in her home country who is working to overthrow the corrupt government. This part of the story was particularly interesting to me because I was born in Guatemala. (This is where I take off on a huge tangent.) Guatemala had been under a dictatorship until 1951 when a president was elected in a democratic fashion. He was a reformer who advocated for rights of workers and introduced a new constitution. Censorship was brought to an end, men and women were declared equal before the law, racial discrimination was declared a crime, higher education was free of governmental control. However, in 1954 the United States, led by the CIA, (due to pressure from business lobbyists) organized a group to overthrow the president. The new dictator disenfranchised three-quarters of Guatemala's voters by barring illiterates from the electoral rolls. He also outlawed all political parties, trade unions and peasant organizations. Opposition newspapers were closed down and "subversive" books were banned and existing copies were burnt in the streets. I believe that due to the overthrow of the president and the dictatorship that followed, Guatemala's people have suffered greatly. Great corruption was ushered in and still continues today. With a corrupt government that takes from the people, workers and the lower-classes cannot prosper and live in poverty. The government continues to be corrupt. There are groups that have tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the dictatorship and bring back a democracy. In Her Good Name, one such group is depicted. While this is only one part of the story, it was very fascinating to me. The woman who steals Chrissy's identity is part of one of these groups that hopes to bring democracy back to Guatemala. Obviously, with stealing identities and other illegal activities, this particular group is not all good. Their intentions are good, but they unfortunately justify bad acts to achieve their purpose. As Chrissy's life continues to fall apart. She's falsely arrested, can't get a job, has thousands of dollars stolen from her, and has huge amounts of credit used in her name. With Micah's help (whose identity was also stolen), Chrissy takes action and begins to seek out who has taken over her life and her good name. I enjoyed this book and the way Kilpack weaved the stories of both women together. I think, in a sense, they were both victims. Unfortunately one victimized the other, but the one who stole the identity has a story to tell as well. An important one. One we never really hear about. One we need to hear about more because Guatemala is also a victim. I haven't been back to Guatemala in over 25 years. Neither has my father, and my mother only went back a few years ago, and she never wants to go back. That's unfortunate. It's unfortunate that a country who had finally found democracy for only a few short years was forced back to a dictatorship because of the malicious actions of the CIA. And now they wonder why Guatemalans flee their country to come here. That's why.