Free-Time Madness

Today is my last day of work for the year! Well, I guess I'll be 'on-call' next week just in case some people need to send out a package... wait, send out a package?? Yup, I think I just figured out why I was hired here. This package would be sent out via FedEx, and I would have to be on-call to come into work, fill out a waybill, print out a commercial invoice and place the package up at reception to be picked up. Oh the stress. It amazes me that Programers and Geophysicists can't figure it all out on their own with such a simple thing. Sure this might sound like a dream job for most people, I even thought so when I first started here in September! But after you go through day after day of having no work to do and running out of things to come up with online, it starts to get to your head. A LOT! I know what you're all thinking - "Why don't you ask someone if there's anything to do?" Here's the thing. My job is to do all the crappy jobs that no one else likes to do; the things that just get in the way of the more important things. So why would I ask for more crappy things to do? Even if I did, I already know that there wouldn't be anything. I work in a company of about 8 people, so I know if and when there's work to be done. And the work that I'm given usually takes me about 5 minutes to complete. I know it sounds awesome to be getting paid to do nothing and to really just "look after" the company. But after awhile I'm thinking that I'm not very useful. I feel like I'm not using the experience that I've already gained to my fullest. As if my brain is shrinking because it's mindless jobs that I do. I feel like if I die, the company wouldn't lose a thing. They would actually just gain my paycheck. 

So today I thought I might make myself feel useful by blogging my thoughts and concerns. I am happy that it's Christmas time and that I get "off" work to spend with Dan who is finished school until January. But I know that the time that we will have will go by faster than ever. Doesn't that always happen?

I think that's enough complaining for now as it is so close to Christmas, it seems sad that I would be writing this blog at this time of year. I love this time of year! For our Primary class last Sunday, we invited the junior primary into our class and they all decorated gingerbread men! (That was after the Christmas story of course) I know, we are the coolest teachers ever! I just wish these times could last longer then what they normally do.

I feel like I haven't posted a picture in a long time, so I thought that I would leave you with this one.

Chester loves this quilt for some reason. He's just so cute wrapped up all snugly!

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Reflection on Myself

As most of you know, I don't have a lot to do at where I work. Personally, I really don't know why I was hired in the first place. So with this extra time, I've really been able to research and reflect on myself and other things. With the recent passing of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, I came across one of this talks that he gave called 'Come What May, and Love It'. I read it over for the first time today and I feel like I really needed to hear it. I haven't been the best at self-disciplining myself with some things that are so important. And I know that in hard times, is when I really need to get over myself and do what's right. I do want to be better, and I think that's the first step. I make a lot of excuses for myself and I feel that's when I am most vulnerable to drift away from what's really important. I need to "put (my) trust in the Lord, do (my) best, then leave the rest to Him". That's the simple secret. It's the "do my best" part I need to work at. I guess because I go to church, fulfill my calling, and pay tithing that I thought I should have things pretty good, but as time goes by, the same thing keeps on coming back to me. It's the little things that make a big difference. Being a member of this church isn't just a "Sunday" thing, it's a lifestyle. I need to bring it into my life, home and into my relationships more with both my husband and my family. I need to take life's challenges and laugh and learn from them. I'm usually quite the happy person, so I don't know why this would be so hard for me to do. But I do enjoy life, I guess I need to embrace it more and let things fall into place as I work hard strengthening my relationship with Heavenly Father. I can't believe how easy it was for me when I was younger, and why I have a hard time with it now. So from now on, I am going to remember this revelation and do my best no matter what excuse I come up with. I have to be happy with myself first before I can be happy with other things in my life. Thanks Elder Wirthlin, for helping me better myself.

One Calgary Winter Day

-40*C?!? Yup, this is what the temperature was on Monday morning with the windchill. And yes, I had to walk to work. 30 minutes out in that weather. I bet you all thought I couldn't do it! Well, I did! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I bundled up really good though. I prepared everything the night before so everything was planned out. Sweater, coat, toque, scarf, two paris of mittens, wind-breaker pants, and boots. I had a good pace going so I barely felt it. Near the end of my journey however, I could feel my legs starting to get a bit cold, but the one thing I was worried about most was my eyelashes! As I was breathing in and out of my scarf that was covering everything but my eyes, the steam came up into my face, making moisture on my scarf, eyes, and toque. I took a quick glimpse of myself in a window as I was passing by and my whole face was covered in ice. At one point I all of a sudden couldn't see out of my left eye and then half way out of my right eye because when I blinked, my eyelashes froze together! Yikes! I'm cold and blind now! So in reaction I tried to fix them apart with my mitten. Didn't work. I had to take off my mitten and squeeze my eyelashes until the balls of ice melted off! Remind me again, why do I live in Calgary? Sure I love the white Christmases, but I think this is a bit overboard. Oh yeah, when I finally got to work, the system was down and there was no work to do. Why do I even bother? Maybe this has something to do with my "winter depression"?!?

O Christmas Tree

We finally have our tree up!! We finished setting it up and decorating it on Sunday, and already Chester is sensing the excitement! He's been under the tree, biting the tree, batting at decorations on the tree, trying to get under the tree skirt... 'tis the season I guess! I'm so excited for the Christmas season! I love the surrounding family and friends, and the feeling of kindness all around... well, at least sometimes! This year I really don't know what I want for Christmas, I don't really need anything that important. I think a lot of people are feeling the same way. Like most big families, we have a specific person to give a gift to each year instead of buying everyone a gift, and this year, I have my sister Kristie. Same thing, she didn't know what she wanted at first. And with my parents, they can't think of a whole lot. Dan's parents, we still can't think of anything to give them. Same with Dan's brother and sister-in-law Will and Heather who we also have this year. Even Dan himself! Great! It's already December 9, and we're not even close to being finished our Christmas shopping! And I have a feeling it's going to be that much more difficult to get it all done this year! Which makes it that much harder to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. However, I really can't wait to spend time with family. It's what really gets me excited for the holidays. It may be me getting older, but I would much rather spend time with my husband and family than get any other gift for Christmas. The other stuff is just an added bonus! It's nice to get a break from the real world at this time of year so that all of this is possible. I hope everyone is enjoying this special season this year. Merry Christmas!

19 Year Old Potatoes

Today is my sister's 19th birthday! I can't believe how fast the years go by. It seems like just a bit ago we were playing together and sharing a bedroom! I remember having so much fun with her because she is so hilarious! Like when all us kids were still living at home, we would pretend that Kimberly was the neighbor kid, so we would ask her what she was doing in our house? Especially at Christmas time we would ask her why she isn't spending Christmas with her own family? Of course, this was all in good fun, but this is just a small picture of all the fun we had with her in the family. I wish I could reminisce all of the fun things that we have done together, but I wouldn't get through it all!

She is the youngest of the Olsen family, but she sure isn't getting any younger ;)

Happy birthday Krimbly!!

A Bit of an Update...

Last Saturday, Dan's cousin Kyle got married! He married a wonderful, fun woman named Pam. They are so great together! We went to their reception and it was so good! They had a turkey dinner and chocolate fountains with fruit!  They got married in the Cardston Temple and had their reception in the Heritage Chapel later that day. I don't know how they did it all in one day, Dan and I wanted to have our wedding in two days because we knew we would be exhausted if we didn't. But they looked great! I'm so happy for them as they start their new life together.

(Picture stolen from Facebook.)

The next day was our ward's Primary Presentation. So that means Dan and I actually had to be on time for church because we had to sit in the choir seats with our class the whole meeting. We didn't like the idea that we had to "babysit" our class for the entire 3 hours of church that day, but we got through it...barely. As for the Presentation, it went so smoothly! The kids really did a great job, and I know that their parents were proud of them. The theme for Primary for the year 2008 was I am a Child of God. I hope our class really took away the lessons we taught them throughout the year, or just remember certain things in our classes. I'm going to miss our little class of 2 girls and 1 boy as the new year is creeping closer, but I am excited for me to teach the 3 boys in the Sunbeams Class as we used to teach them all in one class at the beginning of 2008.

Where's Lady Gaga??

Awhile ago Dan had won some Lady Gaga tickets. I was so excited when I found out! I haven't been to very many concerts in my lifetime, Dan has opened my eyes to it. We had four tickets so we could bring another couple to come with us. We decided to take Meaghan and Dallin (I grew up with Meaghan in Olds Ward). This was a big step for Dan and I, as we never really get the chance to do things with other married couples because of our opposite schedules. So finally last night was the night! Meaghan and Dallin came over, we chatted a bit and went to The Chocolate Bar for desserts. We then headed right to the concert. Lady Gaga was opening for New Kids on the Block that night, so we were going to see her after show. We knew that she had started opening for New Kids at about 7:30pm so we figured that she might start playing at about 9:00 or 10:00pm for the after show. Boy were we wrong! We arrived at the concert at about 9:45pm and asked the ticket lady if she was there yet. She told us that she would probably arrive in about 45 minutes. That's ok I guess, we'll just wait around. It was kind of difficult to strike up conversation in there as the music was so loud it almost made us all sick. We still had a pretty good time watching all of the single, scandalous drunks and making fun of them. What a different lifestyle we live.  So 10:30 rolls around and still no sign of the concert starting. What would Lady Gaga have to do in between shows? She's already all dolled up and practiced from her opening. We figured she was probably napping. Heck, that's what I would be doing! We were all getting anxious and losing interest in the excitement of seeing her. Dan was trying to ask around to the staff about when she was going to start playing, and no one could give him a straight answer. Meaghan told us that on Lady Gaga's website it said that she would start playing at 12:00 midnight for the after show. We were just hoping that wasn't true.  Finally Dan asked a bar tender at about 10:55pm and was told that she would probably start at about 11:30pm. Ok fine, we'll wait 5 minutes. We were all getting pretty tired. I don't know how people stay up that late on a weeknight and get wasted. What do they do for work the next day?? Slackers. We waited until 11:05 when we finally decided to leave. Was it really worth the wait and lack of sleep we would be getting? Mind you, we were all standing on our feet the whole time. While heading out the door, we asked if it was possible to re-enter with our ticket stubs so that maybe we could just come back later, but I guess they weren't allowing it that night. We saw Lady Gaga's tour bus parked outside (at least that's what I think it was). I guess that was as close we were going to get. I blame this night of disappointment on the ticket lady. If she would have told us the right time in the first place, we could have gone somewhere else first and then came to the concert. Apologies go out to Meaghan and Dallin for not getting the right information before planning this night, and to Dan because I know that he really wanted to stay to see Lady Gaga live. Next time, we'll know better. However, we did have a great time with Meaghan and Dallin, even though the end of the night didn't work out as planned. Needless to say, I'm exhausted today and I've had Lady Gaga's song stuck in my head all day long, and I didn't even get to hear it last night.

Old Man Winter 2008

The weather has changed into winter...finally. I had thought right when September hit that we were in for a long, cold winter right away. Mother Nature sure spoiled us with a great Fall season though! I had to walk to work this morning, and the sidewalks were very slippery! Lucky for me, I didn't fall, I just got to wave my arms around as if I was learning to take flight. Here are a few pictures from my office window of the cold weather:

I have started to notice my moods around the different seasons of the year. I really wish I could be a happy person all year 'round, but it starts to get harder for me when winter hits. I guess I'm just a big suck when it comes to cold weather. I just don't enjoy it. But when spring time and summer hits and everything starts to turn green and blossom, I am outgoing and happy! I think I'm living in the wrong city for me to be like this. The Calgary winters can get so brutal and long, and the summers fly by so fast if you blink you'll miss out. Thank goodness for the Christmas Season! It gives me a little break in the "winter mood" to be happy and excited for family and the reminder of what Christmas is all about. I'm hoping this winter won't be so bad because of the late start we had with the first snowfall. If you think about it, Christmas is only 38 more days away! So I apologize in advance for the bad moods I may be in for the winter months, I'm trying to work on it!

The Neti Pot Cure

Last week, I felt a cold coming on (the one that everyone else has), and it really hit me this last weekend. I was miserable. I couldn't breathe and my throat was like sandpaper. However, this morning I feel so much better all because of one thing called the Neti Pot. I first heard of this Neti Pot on Oprah, and I saw the demonstration done and saw how easy it looked!

The lady who performed the demo was just amazed at how much better she felt, and she wasn't even sick! The Neti Pot looks like a tiny genie's lamp that you fill with luke-warm salt water. It has to be luke-warm too. If it's too cold, it'll feel like you're drowning, and if it's too hot, then it'll burn. Just like the picture above, you stick the point up to your nostril, lean forward over a sink or a bowl and tilt your head sideways which makes the water pour out into one nostril, going up into your sinuses and out the other nostril. Make sure you breathe through your mouth as you're doing this. Then simply blow your nose. It cleans everything out! The lady that did it on Oprah, had really bad sinuses and was on medication for it. But after using the Neti Pot, she didn't have to use her meds anymore! This is such a natural way to clean everything out and it's so much better for you! After seeing the show, I wanted one so bad! I always seemed to have a cold and congestion problems and I hate taking medicine. I soon found out that they were only sold in the States, and even if I wanted to get one shipped to me, I would still have to wait because they were sold out everywhere! Months after, I was talking to my sister Amanda about the Neti Pot and how I wanted one really bad, and she told me that the store she works at is about to get a shipment in of them! (The store is called Saje, pronounced "sage": www.saje.ca) I was so excited! I finally get one and on top of that, I get one at a discounted price! When I finally went to go get it, Dan and I tried it for the first time, and it felt amazing! Pretty weird at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never go back to medication!

All weekend I was sick and I wanted to use the Neti Pot, but every time I thought about it, I could only breathe out of one nostril. You have to have at least a bit of airway going through both nostrils or else when you pour in the salt water, instead of it coming out the other nostril, it flows right down your throat. Pretty nasty, and yes, I know this due to experience. It's a good idea to have a nice hot shower to clear things up first and then use it. Which I did this morning and I feel a million times better! There's so much "stuff" inside us when we're sick we don't even know the half of it until you see it. I know it's pretty disgusting to talk about, but I figure with everyone sick right now, it might help them to get over it faster and not spread it to the world! It also helps to do it even if you're not sick. There's less of a chance of getting sick if everything is already cleaned out inside. 

Good luck everyone, and I hope we all get better soon!

Testing Our Limits

As Dan and I have busy schedules and we don't get much time to spend together, let alone do things with others, we finally met the couple in our ward who is in charge of young married couples activities last Sunday. We receive e-mails about what the activities are, but are rarely free at the times they have them. So we asked them about a recent activity that they had and we missed out on which was a quiz for each married couple so that the other spouse is able to better understand they way they show affection and how they would like to receive affection. She suggested that she could e-mail us the quiz and do it at home because it was really fun! We happily accepted and waited patiently for it's arrival. It finally came last night. I was excited to experience this fun and be able to better understand each other's needs. We each had a copy and filled it out for ourselves. Some of the questions made me laugh so hard like this one:

How were you disciplined growing up?

a) Spanked

b) Yelled at

c) Grounded

You can only pick one...ummm, what if all 3 apply?? At least I got some hard laughs out of it because I certainly didn't laugh after the tests were done. Like when I read this question:

What would you like more of that you feel your spouse lacks?

a) Intimacy

b) Communication

c) Responsibility

How can you even answer this question? More importantly, how would your spouse react when you do answer this question? We compared scores and found that I was more of a "touch-affectionate" personality and Dan was a "visually-affectionate" personality. This information is good to know now, but we also saw that we didn't answer any questions the same! That said to me right away "I've been doing it wrong all this time?! Why hasn't Dan left me??" All along we've been giving affection the way that we each like to receive it for ourselves, which turns out isn't the right way at all! All of a sudden this "fun test" isn't so fun after all, I got upset with myself as if I hadn't been making Dan happy to the fullest amount just because I thought that he liked things that same way I do. I know that Dan and I are different, but this test just told me that we are pretty much complete opposites! You think that having been together for this long we would have already figured most of this out by now, but instead it just kind of hit us in the face all at once! 

After sleeping on it last night, I'm over it now, and realize what ways I can improve our relationship and make it that much better than what it already is. Needless to say, Dan threw out the tests as soon as he could because it caused so much stress between us at first. It's hard to say if I would recommend this quiz to any other couple, I guess just be prepared to be upset at first, but keep in mind that you are together for a reason, there are different ways to make others happy and feel appreciated and loved. It's just deeper than I thought I would find it.