Heartburn

This is both a good and bad post. At the same time I was diagnosed with Celiac a few years ago, I was also diagnosed with GERD. Usually, I take my Prilosec in the morning, and I am good to go - I don't notice anything, and I continue eating as I normally would. Last week, however, it felt like I had swallowed gasoline followed by a lit match, and the flames had gotten lodged in my esophagus. I started chewing Pepto tablets, taking Tums, etc. but it was only providing me with temporary relief. Therefore, starting on Monday, I decided to not drink soda for awhile. Caffeine in my beloved Diet Coke can weaken the muscle closing the stomach off from the esophagus and exacerbate the reflux. Well, I am pleased to report that I feel much better. Still not 100% (part of which might be stress related to trying to finish 3 weeks of work before I go on vacation), but SO much better. This does make me a little sad though...I love the zingy taste of Diet Coke, and I miss it already.

Gah!

I swear if one more person tells me any variation of "trust the Lord" OR "look on the bright side," I will punch them in the face.

You don't know this, but I cannot remember the last day when I woke up and thought, "Wow, I feel fantastic today." Pretty much every day is a differing variation of "How much pain can I deal with?" Every day I do my best to drag myself out of bed, put on a brave face, and go about life. So please don't tell me you know what it's like, or spout trite inspirational thoughts in the hopes that it will magically make my life better.

Being a good friend means you probably have put up with my venting, but you make my life brighter by taking my mind off how crappy I generally feel, but never by telling me that God has a plan for me, and that I just need to be patient. Seriously. That crap is ANNOYING.

I'm going to hell for this one

So, last night as I was leaving school, I was driving down one of the side streets (where the white truck is about to turn in the upper right corner), and some crazy person in a Camry cuts me off from where the white truck is actually. We then get to the stop sign by the tree in the middle of the picture there. Te person in front of me turns left, just as I am planning to do, but she turns on the left side (your right) of the little concrete median seen below. I suppose it was a good thing that no one wanted to come TO school at 9:30, because genius could have gotten in a head-on collision. As I turned into the correct lane, I glanced over at the driver with a "you're an idiot" look, and the Asian woman just waved at me, turned, and drove away.

I have nothing to say

It has been two full months since I blogged. Part of the problem was that March was insanely busy for me at work. This is the first year that I have done some of the audits by myself, and it was definitely a learning experience. Of the 17 HUD clients our firms audits, I did 10 of them. I am learning to provide better documentation to my boss, and I think that my work papers are getting better over time. In addition to that, I am still taking my Monday night class at DVC in Pleasant Hill; sitting in class after a long day at work is exceedingly difficult, especially when some of the people in my class are complete morons. Last Monday ai paid no attention to the lecture, but instead spent an hour and a half doing genealogy research on my iPad. A few Mondays ago, some kid who was running for ASB president came in to campaign, and my professor (who is from Russia, and has a thick accent) pretty much ripped him a new one because the people who take night classes don't have an hour to spare to come vote for him, despite the promise of free hot dogs. Yesterday was another Super Sewing Saturday, this time at Shaine's house. I made her baby a couple burp cloths and I finished some hand sewing work for my grandma Joanne. I really enjoy getting together with Shaine, and it was a beautiful, peaceful day. Last night, Whitney Bullock was in town from Utah for the first time in a year, and a few of us went out for dinner. Whitney is so effortlessly funny; I'd forgotten how much I missed her presence. After that it was Rock Band and Just Dance at our place, followed by strawberry-raspberry-blackberry cobbler. We made Aaron Locey dance, and it was probably one of the funniest things I have seen.

Wow

My apologies to all of you; life has been insanely busy in the past 6 weeks, and I have not blogged at all.

School started, which requires me to physically be in class at DVC in Pleasant Hill on Monday nights from 6pm - 9:50. Clearly, after working all day, that is just what I want to do. I just keep telling myself that there is a method to this madness.

Tuesdays, I have been trying to go to institute, since I miss FHE on Mondays. Sister Jacobs is a good teacher, and she really likes to tell stories! That goes from 7 - 8:30, and then I am pretty much ready to be in my pajamas.

Wednesday nights have traditionally been the night that Shaine graces me with her presence, although I haven't seen her in a couple weeks. This makes me sad, since I enjoy our forays into the snarky oddities of life.

Every other Thursday is ward temple night, but as Lisa can tell you, I don't usually make it. Part of it has to do with it being the 7pm session (I'd rather hit the 6pm), and part of it has to do with homework, and a general desire to be lazy by Thursday night.

Then we are back at the weekend, where I get to do homework (if I have not finished it during the week), or fun stuff. This past weekend involved being silly with Ethan on Friday night...

and participating in the TriValley Conquest on Saturday. Watching people eat a whole pizza was giving me a stomachache, and don't even ask me how Andy managed to help us push a car, and was the fastest runner in our group after consuming it. Ew.

Sunday was fun, and I got to spend the latter part of it chilling at my parents' house watching the Oscars. Oh, and trying to avoid my mother pulling out any more of my hair. She always wants to play with it, but she is so not gentle. OUCH, MOM, OUCH!

Birthday fun

On Saturday January 7, I had a birthday party in the community room of our building. The theme of this party was 'epically immature,' and it was a blast. 

We started out with huge amounts of food (we are Mormon after all): chips, salsa, cookies, cake pops, starburst, skittles, m&ms, cheese, crackers, soda, juice boxes, fruit by the foot. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, when Emily showed up with a fun and beautiful 'Chutes and Ladders' cake made from scratch. She said it was her first time experimenting with fondant, but you could have fooled me; it was so delicious!

Of course, we provided fun kid activities for the evening, including punch balls, coloring books and Candyland. Playing Candyland with Jed was hysterical, because he kept asking, "No, seriously, is this all you do?" Since the game is meant for small children, yes, Jed, moving one or two colors forward is all you do.

Perhaps the funniest part of the evening was when we played musical chairs. There was some serious competitiveness going on, and some loud laughter. Jed tried to sit on Shaine, so she had to tell him that not only is she married, but she's pregnant. I'm sorry we didn't get around to playing Heads Up, 7 Up, but maybe next time.

The evening was pretty much amazing for those who came, and I want to thnk you for being there to enjoy it with me, and for the gifts you gave (even if they did come from the trash...Michelle)

Movie Review(s)

Over the past few months, I have seen a few movies, but have not had the chance to share my snarky reviews with you, so here goes:

1.

Kristen Stewart needs to be put out of her misery so that the rest of us can be put out of ours. She is a terrible actress, and does not make Bella as klutzy, selfless, and sympathetic as she's written. Granted, Stephenie Meyer is not Jane Austen, but the Twilight Series is a fun love story, and KStew sucks all the fun out of it. Bill Condon did the best he could with the raw materials he was given. To his credit, I thought this was the best of the movies thus far, and it was rather amusing watching the lingerie montage. The CGI department did a great job creeping me out as Renesmee sucked the life out of Bella, and they deserve props, and perhaps a PSA on eating disorders.

2.

Where to begin? This movie was about 40 minutes too long, was chock full of bad acting, and I was quite happy to have not paid for my ticket. The strangest part was Sherlock's inner monologue, which we got to experience as such, and then as he acted it out. But perhaps what takes the cake is when Sherlock and Moriarty have an inner monologue conversation. I wasn't sure if they were actually speaking to each other, but Guy Ritchie decided not to have their lips move, or what, but this whole conversation seemingly took place inside their minds. Telepathy???

3.

As Terri says,"It's Mission: Impossible, we HAVE to go see it." Of these three movies, this was the best, not that that's saying much. At times, I found the plot to be super convoluted and dragging, but just when I thought I couldn't take any more of Jeremy Renner's emo, Brad Bird lets the bullets and the actors fly. But for the love of all that is holy, isn't Tom Cruise (in the words of Gibson & Glover from Lethal Weapon 4) "getting too old for this crap"?