My soapbox ranting for the day

All day today I was thinking of things I wanted to blog, but now that I'm actually in front of my computer, my mind is a complete blank.
Olive's grandson Logan came over for a couple hours today. He's adorable, but spoiled as Hades and has a massive attention problem. He was carrying around one of Olive's canes and I said, "That cane is almost as tall as you are." He replied, "Well, I'm only five years old." Touche.
Davis had a band over to keep working on their recording. At one point, as I was waiting for Olive so we could walk down and get the mail, I looked out the window and saw one of them standing near the bushes in a particular stance. I thought, "Hmm, I've been around guys enough to know what that means." As Olive and I walked past, I looked at him with a serious face and said, "So, did you pee all over the bushes?" He got beat red and said, "No" in a very unconvincing way. I looked over at his friend, who was looking at him like "You are in so much trouble" then back at the red-faced tinkler and said, "Really?" Then I laughed and said, "Just kidding. I don't really care." And I really don't, so long as they don't pee on the patio furniture. If I were a guy, I'd pee outside. As we walked down the driveway, I heard his friend say to him, "Dude, you are so red." I laughed so hard. It probably would have been funnier to say something witty like, "If you're going to water the plants, could you do the flowers as well?" But my mind doesn't work that fast.
Olive and Dorothy are driving me nuts lately. Dorothy asked why I was leaving and I told her I wanted to get back into school and that I was really homesick for Bozeman. "But you don't get homesick," she said. "I know," I replied. "But I am now." Then she started asking me, again, what I'd planned on doing after graduation and, again, I lied and told her I didn't know, that I was just focusing on graduating. She has never been one to loudly voice her opinions and her opinion on how much greater it is to have a successful career than to be a mother is one I have heard many times. So I would rather lie and tell her I have no goal for the future, rather than try and explain that I just want to be a stay-at-home mom. Then she went off on my sister and her husband (again) about how his particular career choice will make them no money and how Kendra got pregnant instead of focusing on her career. That led to asking what my brother planned on doing. I told her he would probably go to school, but she said something along the lines of him not being a good enough student. So, to defend my brother, I told her the mission has really made him grow and taught him how to work and she replies, "Well, he can write a better thank you letter." It really irritates me to no end how certain members of that family will do something nice for someone, then expect and DEMAND that they thank them profusely in an appropriate manner. The Savior himself said people who do that have their reward and will receive none in heaven. I'd much rather not have anything from those people than to get something great and have to scrape and bow for it.
Speaking of gratitude, I overheard Olive talking to her friend this morning about their mutual friend Marsha. She was complaining that Marsha had only been over once to "ask a lot of questions" and then leave. True, Marsha is one of those forceful, 'my way or the highway' personalities, but she's actually been over to visit THREE times since I've been here, always bringing a treat and visiting with Olive for an hour. It really bugs me how Olive complains about how horrible Marsha is, then bad mouths her to others for "not visiting". Argh. And I'm getting very weary of hearing how wonderful her family is one second and then hearing how terrible it is that they aren't doing things the way she thinks they should be done. I really, really don't understand how someone has to be so in control of every detail of everyone's life. She HAS to know every detail about what is going on, how long it is taking, everything. At one point, when she was telling me all the things she was going to suggest to Stan about what they need to do about Jeffery, I finally had to tell her that the situation was between Fran, Jeffery, and his father and that they need to sort things out on their own and everyone else (I didn't say you but she got the hint) needed to stay out of it. You DO NOT force a man who wants nothing to do with his son INTO his son's life thinking that will solve everything. How traumatic would that be for the already depressed 13 year old boy. Good grief.
And aside from hearing about how everyone around her isn't good enough, I have to endure questions about what I'm going to do in the future, what I'm going to do to be "a success", as if being a normal person is something to be ashamed of. This is nothing, however, to the constant comments about marriage and family and how my children are going to grow up to hate each other (like her grandkids) and how imperfect everything is going to be. I had to bite my tongue to not reply that "unlike some people, I plan on raising my children in the church". What is it about the older generations that makes them consider you a failure if you aren't married and popping out babies by the time you're 20? And just because their family turned out to be a disappointment doesn't mean mine is too. Argh argh argh!
I really need to get out of here before I turn into a nasty, snarky person.

Act like Christopher and start Walken away

Well, hasn't today been interesting? Somewhere nearby a dog was yapping quite literally ALL NIGHT, so I had to turn on a fan and a movie to drown it out to sleep. Even when I did fall asleep, it was fitful, so that I woke up a little bit late to watch conference. Or so I thought. I forgot that if conference started at 10 in Utah, it would start at 9 here, so I missed 3/4 of the morning session. Then this afternoon I fell asleep half way through the session, so I'll have to do conference tomorrow. I wasn't feeling well last night and it only got worse today, so maybe I needed the sleep. Then I dropped my external hard drive that I've only had for 3 months and now it's not working properly. Great. For dinner we went over to Stan and Fran's for dinner. Logan was very hyper and in a rather bad mood. Then I was to drive the Mini home since we need it for Olive's appointment on Wednesday. For whatever reason, Olive was a massive worry wart tonight, worse than usual, and she was flipping out about me driving back, whether I was on the right road or taking the right turn. She kept saying, I don't know where we are, so I would tell her, but then she'd get confused again. I knew where I was, but she was so worried about everything, it was making me tense.
Having a light at the end of this tunnel has made things a bit harder. (Touche God.) I am SOOOOO excited to be out of here and back around my friends that I'm not as patient as I have been in the past. Olive's little comments about my marital status are bugging me more than usual, as are her comments about how beautiful I am and how easy it is for me to get dates, blah blah blah. I know I should be more grateful for comments like that, but I've really never like elderly people telling me "you're beautiful", probably because they use the same word for things that are most definitely not beautiful. And normally comments about my singleness wouldn't really bug me, but I suppose with everything that has happened and certain personal revelations (I hesitate to use that word, but I suppose that's what they are) and then the massive emphasis on families in conference today has just pushed the line a bit.
But as much as I'm looking forward to going back to Bozeman, I'm also fearing it. It's like I'm afraid to love it as much as I did before because I'm afraid it's going to get taken away from me again. I really don't think anyone understands how much it almost killed me to leave and to get back into it all again and then to have to leave because I can't find a job or school falls through again, I don't know if I could handle it again. Ugh ugh ugh. I haven't been this homesick for Bozeman or this desperate to leave California in a while now. Ugh.....

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

Today's hated phrase: "Don't you think?" When this is put at the end of every other comment, it becomes quite tedious.

Last night, about 7 or so, Jessica called and asked if she could come over to watch a movie. Yeah, there was no movie watching. There was just constant talk until after midnight. It was so fun to talk with a girl about stuff again and to learn that there is someone out there who has the same insane quirks I do. Jess is so cute. Love her to death.

This afternoon was spent helping Brad move some stuff into a storage unit. I don't feel like I did a whole lot, but I also don't really care because I was enjoying myself. Now that I have a leaving date set and helping him get things somewhat moved has made me soooo antsy to leave! I can't wait to be around my friends and in Bozeman and IN CLASS! I want homework so badly! And I want to be able to chat with people in the ward again. Seriously, I don't think a lot of people there fully appreciate that ward!

Irritation is irritating

I was a bit irritated today, which meant a certain someone was getting on my nerves more quickly than usual. Especially when she went off on certain people being "geniuses" again, for the millionth time. According to her, just about everyone one that does anything in music, science, or anything besides what I am doing is a genius. Davis is a genius because he records music. Stan is a genius because he does the same. My sister is a genius because she is good at science. These people are not just smart or talented, they have honest to goodness genius IQs. I am very, very tired of hearing that word.
Then this afternoon, while she was napping, I decided to sit out on the lawn and enjoy the sun. A helicopter circled around for about 10 minutes, lowly, which was a bit freaky. I had been sitting there for about an hour, when Olive opens the screen door and yells out, "Kim? Are you still sitting there?"
"Yes," I answer.
"Don't get sick! You're going to get pneumonia from sitting on the lawn like that, and it's not good for the lawn! That's the worse thing you can do is sit on the lawn."
It continued like this until I finally got up and moved to the chair on the porch. Yelling, mind you, with a scowl and everything. And it was like 60 or 70 plus degrees outside. Argh.
But I noticed that since I have to half shout in order to be heard by Olive, I shout at everyone else too. It's like I've lost my sense of a normal tone of voice.
I got my FAFSA award notification and I'll have enough to go to school Fall, but I won't have enough to live in the dorms. So as long as they allow me to register for classes (BIG IF) and as long as I find somewhere to live, I'll be home!!! Big if. Keep your fingers crossed!

Homer, your butt's just given me an idea!

Thursday was quite uneventful, sadly, and I finally told Olive when I was leaving. For some unknown reason, she thought I was horribly depressed, despite the fact that I kept telling her I was fine. I just wanted to read my book, but she decided that to cure my depression we were going to clean out her closet. I have absolutely NO idea why she thought I was depressed. Maybe she was depressed and was projecting it onto me. Oh well. Only 36 more days.

In memory of the baby puppy :~(

What I feel like lately. Heaven help me.
Taking pictures of myself has become enjoyable. I need a life.
Elder Hessing is from Meridian and Elder Ardiles is from Chile. They act like brothers and sometimes like a married couple.
Elder Hessing and Elder Ardiles. I can't pronounce Ardiles so I call him Mi Hermanito. These two are so adorable it's very hard not to hug them.
Olive did NOT want her picture taken, but I did it anyways.

Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to today's list of BIG FAT FAILS. I will be counting down to the biggest FAILS in my life right now, but I couldn't decide which should be second and which should be first, so #1 and #2 are both #1 and #2. You'll see what I mean:
#10 Big Fat Fail: Me-I invited the missionaries and Brad over for dinner, but realized I didn't have any corn tortillas to make the enchiladas. I had to ask Brad (a guest) to come an hour early and bring them so I could make the dinner. Also I tried to iron the tablecloth. Still wrinkly. So I grabbed another one and put it in the dryer to get its wrinkles out. Then I just said screw it and put it on the table as it was. Olive can't see and chances are guys don't care.
#9 Big Fat Fail: Bunnies-for eating the lawn instead of the juicy carrots I threw out there for them.
#8 BFF: Computer disc drive-for not playing the DVD of Northanger Abbey I got from Netflix.
#7 BFF: Olive's former cleaning lady-she obviously wasn't doing a real great job because when I arrived there were so many spider webs around the legs of the table it looked like cotton candy. Not to mention all the other grossness I have to look at everyday. And yes, I've tried scrubbing things, but when gunk has been sitting there for so many years, it doesn't come off.
#6 BFF: Swiffer mops-they don't work on tile and I have to consequently mop like twice a day. Well, I should mop twice a day, but I don't. I'm the only one who can see it anyway.
#5 BFF: California-because I hate it here.
#4 BFF: LDS Distribution Center shipping-I ordered some books weeks ago, when I really, really needed the spiritual uplifting things within the covers, but it still hasn't arrived. Poop.
#3 BFF: Gentlemen Broncos-Jared Hess's first two movies were weird, that's what made them so fun to watch, but this one was plain irritating. The main character was endearingly nerdy, and his mother had some very few funny quirks, but everyone else I wanted to run over with a car. And the sci-fi scenes were so long I fast-forwarded. I should have just skipped the whole movie. It was TOO weird to be good and the title didn't make any sense. Good luck getting backing for a fourth movie there buddy.
#2 & #1 Big Fat Fails: Pets dying-this FAIL requires no explanation. It makes you sad, weepy, nauseated, and really pissed off all at the same time. The other BIG FAT FAIL goes to Brad, for leaving on Saturday. Seriously, not only do I become the tallest person in the ward (without heels) but there goes my great friend and guru. As if Utah needs another single Mormon boy. I don't think so. But I need someone to hang out with and tell me I'm not crazy, even though I am. I hate him for leaving but love him to death for everything else.

Today's winners: 1) my cibatta bread for turning out awesome and being devoured by the missionaries and 2) the movie Alice in Wonderland in 3D and Brad for taking me back to the movie snob theater to see it, even though he's already seen it and the theater is expensive.