From the top of the mountain to the bottom of the valley...

We are to rejoice in the Lord when times are good (top of the mountain) AND when times are bad (bottom of the valley).   Right now I'm in the low, deep pit of the valley, but I'm going to rejoice in the Lord anyway.

Right now I am going through a painful and confusing time in my life that has come seemingly out of no where.  I was on the top of the mountain, singing "the hills are alive..." (lol).  Then it was like I suddenly lost my footing and slid rapidly down into the scary unknown below. 

Why does God allow that to happen?  There are so many reasons.  For me, I believe one reason is that the Lord wants... no requires... that I turn my focus on Him, and although He is not a cruel God, He will use any means to make that happen, even allowing "bad" things to "happen."

His ultimate aim is to bring us back to a place where we rely fully on Him... not ourselves, not anyone else. 

Lord, thanks for taking desperate measures to get me back into a right standing with You... even if it hurt.  I know You love me.   I rejoice in that and I look forward to returning to the top of the mountain soon.  

Amen!

Countdown 1 and Countdown 2

Countdown 1:  3 days

My last day with this department will be in 3 days.  After this Thursday I'm done, son.  SCARY!   In 3 days I have to wrap things up and say adios to people who sometimes knew more about what's going on in my life than my own family members. 

I'm a little nervous.  Change is scary.   I'm a lot excited though, so that's good.  Time to say good bye to the only LA County dept. I've ever known.   Who knows, though... I may be back.   For now, it's on to new horizons

Countdown 2:  6 days

YES!!! In less than one week, my booty will be on a plane to the GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!   Woop woop!!   It's almost here.

I heart you NYC.   I will see you in no time.

For now, gotta do a mental check of my entire wardrobe.  Gotta make sure all my bases are covered.  You can't wear just ANYTHING to New York City.   It has to be casual, but chic.  Comfortable, but classy.   I also need to make sure I leave room in my luggage to bring stuff back.  Garment district, here I come!  lol.

Oh yay!!! 

=)

Can't wait!

Lost cause?

So my family is divided right now. I probably shouldn't even be writing about this, but I need to vent somewhere and I'm pretty sure no one I know will see this so whatever.... The Devil is doing his worst at this moment and he's sure good at it, but we won't be defeated. Anyway, we pretty much aren't speaking to my sister and brother-in-law and this time it may be for a long period of time (or maybe until she gives birth... we'll see). We love them and want the best for them, but we are TIRED of their self-inflicted drama and the way it constantly spills over into our lives. There is only so much you can take. My sister and brother-in-law have one of the most toxic relationships I've ever seen. They are like bleach and ammonia. You don't mix them without creating poison. I'm sorry to even admit this, but I have literally told people that they are a match made in Hell. If they are not at each other' s throats (to the point of physical abuse at times) they are banding together against someone else with a taste for blood. They feed off each other's negativity. They enable each other. They blame EVERYONE but themselves... A couple of days ago was the last straw. Some drama went down with my niece witnessing everything, and my brother-in-law called us and dragged us into it. I had already warned my sister that if something else abusive happened that I was going to let his family know about it and in the heat of their fight she told me to go ahead and "put him on blast," meaning tell his family. His family has been living in la-la land for their ENTIRE relationship, never knowing about any of the crap they have put us and themselves through. We have had enough with having to deal with this alone and being completely disrespected as a family. It was their turn. So put both of them "on blast" (since they are BOTH at fault here) and we let his family know what was happening--so they would be aware and also so that his parents could go get the baby out of harms way. What happened? They didn't want to get involved and basically accused us of meddling. (Side note: I won't get into what was said, but they are officially on our bad sides as well. Maybe if they LISTENED to what we were telling them, they would have heard that WE are the ones getting DRAGGED into messes we want nothing to do with--aside from wanting to protect the child and the child that is about to arrive.) Then my sister and her brother-in-law informed us that they were going to get help the following day. We were forced to tell them that his parents are aware of the situation at that point. That's when my other sister gets this message: "Thanks for f***ing up my life." Um........................ Wow. So WE are screwing up YOUR life? No you? Not your husband? Us. The people you have dragged into this for the last 10 years. We are doing it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that was our breaking point. I love my sister. Truly I do, but I'm not surprised that everything is everyone else's fault and that she is the victim here. She's always been this way. Ever since we were little, but now she has married another victim for reinforcement. Yeah. You're the victims. The victims of yourself. So, we're to the point where we are ready to step to the side so that they have no one to blame but themselves when these problems persist even when we are not in the picture. I PRAY that the Lord does something with them already. There is no where else to turn. Only HE can fix this. Only HE can break them down to nothing. For now, we are going to protect ourselves from the toxic fumes of their relationship and hopefully they will see when they don't have us to pick up the pieces just how much it is NOT our fault. God, in the meantime, please protect my niece and the nephew that will be here soon. They don't deserve this...

Instincts... You have them for a reason!

So I started taking morning walks at Hansen Dam, which is near my house. I usually park in a parking lot a little further from the dam because the one at the entrance to the dam is always full. Yeah, I won't be doing that anymore.

Saturday, I parked my car and took my walk, as usual. As I was heading back to my car, I spotted a man about 50 yards ahead of me sitting on some rocks near the parking lot. Immediatley my instincts told me to be leary of this man. As I got nearer to that area, I started going around to the side of where he was to get to my car. That was when he stood up and swiftly walked toward me.

My heart started racing.

I then abruptly stopped when he was only about 4 feet from me. I was not even going to try passing him because all I could imagine was him coming up behind me and grabbing me. When I stopped he stopped and I could tell that he could sense my defensiveness. It was pretty obvious because I stood cold in my tracks and looked (not-so-nicely) right at him. That's when he said, "Did you finish your walk?"

Um, who the heck are you, talking to me like you know me? Ew.

I said, kind of curtly, "Yeah, can I help you?"

My heart was pounding at this point, but I was not going to let this guy think I was vulnerable--this man who sure had some b***s trying to pull something in broad daylight!

He got the picture and kept walking. As soon as I knew I was out of his reach, I walked quickly to my car. That was when I noticed two men in a parked car looking at us. I'm glad to know that even if that guy did try something, there were witnesses and they would hopefully have come to my rescue.

(Thank you, Lord, for always protecting me!)

If you are a girl, or you have girls, there is an important message here: ALWAYS GO WITH YOUR INSTINCTS. Don't worry about being rude or hurting anyone's feelings. Your gut doesn't lie. Maybe that guy didn't intend to do anything but strike up a conversation with me (I highly doubt it). I don't really care. It didn't FEEL like those were his intentions and my gut told me that from 50 yards away.

Girls, you are BETTER OFF SAFE THAN SORRY! As for me, I am now carrying a small can of pepper spray on my keychain because, apparently, the freaks don't just come out at night...

And now some scary news...

I should have known the Devil wasn't going to appreciate all this good news in my family.

All afternoon I've been on the phone with my Dad (in Mexico) and my mom. My Dad is panicking. Apparently, he has a partially detached retina and it needs to be operated on immediately or he can be in danger of perm ant blindness in that eye if it detaches completely.

*sigh*

While I was in Mexico last week he was experiencing some blurriness and cloudiness in his eye. We attributed it to the altitude, since Mexico City is at 7,350 ft above sea level and we are used to being at sea level here in Los Angeles. He tried to take it easy, but apparently it kept persisting. He finally went to an ophthalmologist down there who told him that he needed to have surgery right away and that he would be stuck in Mexico for at least another week.

Ay ay ay.

So of course everyone is worried, but my Dad most of all. I don't think I've ever heard that much fear in his voice ever. Not even when Alexis got air-lifted to the hospital. It's upsetting, but I have to keep it together. I don't want to cause anymore anxiety than is needed. I just told him that this is the Enemy trying to mess with us because of the great things that the Lord is doing in our lives and the lives of my family in Mexico. I told him not to let the Enemy win.

He can't win anyway. Romans 8:31 says, "What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

That's exactly right. The Lord is with us and with my dad, and he is completely surrounded by women of God who are praying for him. He'll be fine.

Please keep him in your prayers, people. I can't imagine how hard it is to be away from home, your wife, and your kids and have to go through something scary like this.

It's going to be alright...

Oh and today's Bible verse from Bible Gateway is so perfect too:

Ephesians 6:12-13 - “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

Happy New Year!

2011.

Here's to big changes and turning 30! Yay!

(That's me, trying to be positive when I really want to panic... lol)

God bless!

P.S. Wow. Last year was a record blogging year for me. Let's see if I can break that record... hopefully it will be more good stuff than bad/sad. =)

"What the h*** am I fighting for?"

This is sickening. Just over 10 years ago, I was a teenager. That's not long ago. Let me tell you, even when I wasn't exactly walking with the Lord, if someone called me out because I was being disrespectiful, I would have felt ashamed of myself. Not these kids nowadays. Now these animals just jump you...

The ship is sinking...

This article perfectly spells out the disaster that is California and a big part of why I want to abandon ship before it's too late...

In the last two years, the state collected just $9.9 billion in unemployment insurance taxes—but it paid out $20.6 billion in benefits during the same time. California recently had to borrow $8.5 billion from the federal government to pay for the unemployment benefit obligations. If the state doesn’t pay off its loan from Washington, D.C. by 2012, it will owe a $362 million interest payment. That’s an expensive fantasy to finance—and California can’t print Monopoly money to stay afloat.

The claws of false doctrine...

So my friend Ramon was saved last week. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. That is so wonderful.

BUT.... There is bad news.

He has been sucked into a church that I now strongly believe is a cult.

Let me go back to the beginning...

Last Wednesday, as Ramon and I were talking on the phone, his brother asked him to ask me a question: "Do you believe that salvation is once and for all?"

I answered a resounding yes. Then there was silence, followed by Ramon telling me that his brother "made a face." Hmmmm....

Then I started having a very sinking feeling. The Holy Spirit was stirring within me. Something was not right about that question. Time to do some research on their church, The Potter's House Christian Fellowship (not to be confused with TD Jake's church, The Potter's House).

What I found was quite disturbing. This website really breaks it down. Here are the most troubling doctrines:

· You will learn that God has appointed your pastor to have authority over you and that you must be submitted to him in order to be in a right relationship with God. (So your pastor is the Head over you instead of Christ now?)
· You will be taught that The Potters House members are your real family and that you don’t need any other friends or family members.
· You will be taught that the fellowship is the greatest move of God on earth and that other churches are inferior and luked out, not possessing the special purpose/anointing the fellowship has.
· If you don’t go on church outreaches, attend every service in a week long revival, or be a part of everything the church does, you will not be treated like you fit in and your walk with God and commitment to God will be questioned. Even over the pulpit. (Fear and isolation tactics.)
· You will subtly be presented with the doctrine that you were saved by faith but now maintain your salvation by works. (Totally contradictory to what the scripture says about being saved by grace through faith and not by works. WOW!)
· You will be taught that if you were saved in a fellowship church in a certain location, then it was God who planted you there, and you are called to stay there for the rest of your life, with the exception of being sent out to pastor. (So you have to stay even if what they are teaching is contrary to the word of God. You are shackled to that fellowship.)
· If you consider leaving the fellowship, you will be told that you will likely end up backslidden, loose your salvation, live under a curse, have your family destroyed, or at minimum that you have lost your destiny in God. (So God isn't really in control?)
· People who express doubts or disagree with fellowship standards or the way the fellowship operates are considered rebels. (Cult much?)
· If you voice disagreement with something your pastor says or does you are considered to be practicing witchcraft against that pastor and they will threaten to turn the witchcraft back on you and something horrible will happen to you, thereby silencing anyone from questioning their practices.
· You will lose almost all, if not all of your friends, if you leave. People who were your friends will no longer associate with you for fear that you will defile or work some kind of “witchcraft” against their minds that might make them backslide or leave. They often believe that a spirit has deceived you into leaving and that by associating with you, that spirit will get on them.
· You will find out that all those who leave are consistently slandered. The church believes that those who leave are running from accountably, are bitter, or in rebellion. There is simply no way to choose to attend church elsewhere with their blessing and your reputation in tact. (You are not free to seek the truth out anywhere but there. Talk about control.)
· You are taught that if you don’t pay close attention to your salvation, you will loose it, like you can loose your salvation the way a person looses a set of car keys. (Again, fear tactics.)
· You have to ask your pastor's permission to date and marry. (Again, the Pastor is not God or the Holy Spirit who is to guide and direct you.)
· You will be discouraged from dating any Christian who is not a member of the same fellowship.
· In order to participate in church ministry you can not go to movies, own a TV, or watch any kind of movie in your home.
· You can not be in ministry and have a beard. It is said that if you have a beard, “you are hiding something”, even though Jesus had a beard.
· You are generally discouraged from fellowshipping or co-laboring with Christians outside the fellowship.
· The church has a practice of returning curses 7 times worse on people. (Wait. What happened to "bless those who curse you?")


If you are reading this and are a praying person, please lift my friend up. I wanted his salvation more than anything, but I didn't want him to get sucked into something like this. These people believe that you can lose your salvation through sin. They are living under the bondage of legalism. This is not what Christ died for. He loved us more than that. God is not a petty god who just plays around with us. He gave us a gift.... When we are saved through faith (NOT WORKS), our names are PERMANENTLY written in the book of life. Nothing can take that away (Romans 8:38-39)

Lord, please use your Holy Spirit to shield Ramon from the lies of the enemy... Give me the words to speak Your TRUTH at the appropriate time. Thank you, Lord.

Justifiable upset-ness....

I've had a lot going on lately, but I either can't write about it (all I can say is that I, and then my family, was blindsided and attacked by an old "friend") or I just don't care to write about it.

Anyway, right now I'm PISSED.

My sister scared the living daylights out of us this morning.

If you don't come home from work and don't let anyone know where you are all night, people ARE going to worry. Plain and simple.

Thoughts of you laying dead somewhere or your car burned beyond recognition or some other horror of that nature ARE going to invade their thoughts. Think about that.

So when they do finally track you down, don't give them attitude for disturbing your sleep. Just apologize and say you'll never do it again. It's the least you can do.

By the way, my sister is an a**hole.

>=( <----- My current angry face

2011 Tax Hikes: Bad News

Got this from the MommyLife Blog and it's disgusting:

Six Months to Go Until The Largest Tax Hikes in History
From Ryan Ellis on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 5:27 PM

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect. They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:

(N.B. This version of the document contains even more tax hikes than the original version did)

First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These will all expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed). The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family. The "marriage penalty" (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income. The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child. The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level. The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax. For those dying on or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estates over $1 million. A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement account could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors. The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave: Obamacare

There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

[...]

The "Medicine Cabinet Tax" Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

[...]

Brand Name Drug Tax. Starting next year, there will be a multi-billion dollar tax assessment imposed on name-brand drug manufacturers. This tax, like all excise taxes, will raise the price of medicine, hurting everyone.

Read on for more of the fun news...

Dun dun dun!

So next Monday is my 29th birthday. I can't believe this is my last year in my 20s. I can't believe that I'm still single and childless. I can't believe how much I've changed just in the last decade. It's all a lot to think about.

Do I laugh? Do I cry? Do I roll up in a fetal position in the corner and lose my mind because I'll be an "old spinster" soon?

Meh. I'll wait until my 30th for all that.

Instead, maybe I'll resolve to have as much fun and crazy (but not too crazy) times as possible while I can still get away with it. Maybe I'll resolve to hunker down and really start serving the Lord with my extra time instead of being selfish with it.

One thing I'll triumphantly be able to say before I turn 30 is that I will have paid all my debt off. Yay!!!

Okay, 29, let's make this a good one!

The REAL enemy...

It’s amazing to me how people continue to try to paint Christians as violent and intolerant…. Sometimes even as murderers. They love to site the Spanish conquest of the America’s in the name of Christianity, as well as the Crusades, as proof that this is true. Um, yeah. The Spanish wrongly killed and raped in the name of Christ. Wrongly! The Crusades took place because the Muslims were encroaching on and trying to take over whole countries to spread Islam (which is what they are back to doing), including the historically Jewish and Christian holy land.

Now we continually have Muslim extremist groups murdering innocent civilians, yet NO ONE will call them violent or hateful. In fact, they (including our President) call them the opposite. They have the nerve to call them peaceful.

What is going on here?

These people hate America, hate Israel, and kill in the NAME OF ALLAH (see the recent Uganda/World Cup bombings). Yet, Christians are the bad guys, right?

Please.

Our God, THE GOD, is a God of love, who has never commanded us to kill each other in His name. He commands us to love our enemies and to pray for them. He commands us to love one another and to treat each other the way we want to be treated.

Where is the disconnect here?

Lord, hurry up and come back. This place is getting way too ridiculous…

I'm scared.

I admit it. I'm scared to go to the "down there" doctor.

(Sorry if this is TMI. You can skip this post if you want. lol)

I've never been to the OB/GYN. I'm still holding onto the "V" card, so I've felt strongly that I don't need to go until I'm married and doing "the deed." I just don't want anyone but my husband to be the first one to venture down there. It's a conviction that I've had.

PLUS, my mom traumatized me when I was about 8. She took me to a doctor's appt. and failed to mention to me beforehand that the MALE doctor was going to have me get naked and then do a BREAST EXAM on me. It was one of the worse experiences of my life. I remember pleading with my mom to not have to take my clothes off, but she insisted. Thanks to that stupid ordeal, I can't stand the idea of a doctor messing with my private areas.

Well, now these ovarian cysts come along. I've been dealing with them for like 2 years, but lately they seem to be getting worse. I won't get into the details, for those of you who are still with me. All I know is that not only do I have increasing discomfort, but my hormones are completely out of wack, which is really irritating because it wasn't until I was around 26 that my hormones finally started to become normal and now they are right back to making me nuts. *sigh*

I'm really starting to get to the point that I just want to suck it up and go to the doctor to make sure something truly bad is not going on down there. I'm just scared because:

- It's SCARY. I know it isn't any woman's favorite kind of appointment... there is discomfort involved.

- See my previously-mentioned horrible ordeal.

- I don't want them to mess around down there only to discover that it's just the cysts and there is not much I can do for them other than to go on Birth Control.... Which I already know! I would be royally pissed if I put myself through all that to find out something I already know.

- I don't want to find out something horrible.... like Cancer or something. Or worse (well for me, it's worse), that I can't have kids. (Tearing up just thinking about it.)

*Sigh*

I don't know what to do anymore. I'm tired of this!

Lord, help me! I don't know what to do anymore. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet, drag my sister with me for moral support, shut my eyes, and lay on the stupid table already.

Great, now I really am tearing up. Poo!

Flake-ademic

There is a serious problem in this country… in this world. I call it the flake-ademic.

Thank God I seem to have a natural immunity to it, but unfortunately, many around me are infected. Big time.

“Am I infected?” you ask.

Possibly. Here are some of the symptoms:

I regularly and consistently:
- Am afraid to disappoint people, so I say yes when I really mean no and have no intention of following through.
- Bail out on commitments at the last possible minute.
- Make a commitment and then when I can’t make it and the person is calling to find out where I am, I don’t answer or may even shut my phone off.
- Make multiple plans for the same day and time, forgetting that I’ve already committed to something/someone else.
- Use other people or things as excuses for why I all of a sudden can’t make it.
- Never apologize for never showing up.
- When someone asks me a question about something that I know I can’t or don’t want to do, just never answer because that’s easier than saying no.
- Make plans with people and then bail out on my own plans at the last minute.

If 2 or more of the above describe you, then you might be a FLAKE. Please get yourself checked out. At the very least, please sit down and reflect on who you are as a person. You probably don’t realize that no one trusts you and no one feels like they can rely on you. In fact, every time you bail out, they most likely roll their eyes and say, “big shocker!” Worse, if you actually have a legitimate excuse for once, no one believes it.

(Please note: If you’ve done these things once or twice in your life, than you are just human. No need to worry. Just make sure you monitor yourself just in case it progresses.)

Do you really want to live with this disease? I doubt it. So do something about it, PLEASE, for the sake of your friendships and even your children, because this seems to be a genetic disease also…

We may need a czar to handle all these czars...

Amazing. Obama has a czar for anything and everything you can think of that could possibly be controlled by the government. This blog post from Mommy Life lists all of Obama's czars and their functions. Here's the intro:

THE CZARS..WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
Czars are people Obama appoints who are appointed by and accountable only to Obama. They do not undergo Congressional scrutiny or approval. They are paid with your tax dollars, create their own staffs and wield enormous power.

Other presidents have appoint czars to deal with certain crises. Obama has appointed more than 30 and they all reflect his own radical vision of deconstructing the America we have known.

Pretty scary stuff... especially that there's a so-called Faith-Based Czar. What does that entail? I really can't believe anything good for people of faith...

Socialized Healthcare: A Sign of Things to Come

Tell me this story isn't a sign of things to come.....


This woman was not denied surgery. She was denied the ability to even be on the list for surgery. All because she tried to seek private help because of the horribly long wait lists that come with socialzied medicine. Imagine being in horrid pain and having to wait "in line" for months, even years, before it can be alleviated. Especially when you don't have access to all kinds of medicines that could be helping with th pain because they are too expensive for the government (or the people, really) to afford to dole out.... Sickening. Get ready folks. This is us next.



Read on here: NHS bars woman after she saw private doctor - Times Online

Lord, help us....

Spilling Beans, Salsa Dancing, and Sickness

So the day after the whole David's Bridal debacle, Sandy came to Kim's house for breakfast. She told us the whole story about how these would-be robbers were foiled. Apparently, Sandy's co-worker had a gut feeling that something wasn't right and just minutes before these guys tried to commit their robbery she walked over to the door and locked up. So when they decided to come through the front door they couldn't get in. They saw Sandy and her co-worker both on the phone and probably thought they were calling the cops, so they took off.

Thank you, Lord, for keeping my sister safe!!! Hallelujah!

Sandy was shaken up, but thankfully that was all. She was spared the horrifying experience of being held up in a robbery. We know that these guys had guns and have used guns in their past robberies. Yes, past. As in they had already hit many branches of the check-cashing company that Sandy works for. Nice.

Anyway, after telling us her story she then got into how she is ready to get married already. Kim and I looked at each other and with just that look decided to spill the beans. We confessed to Sandy what our plans were for the night before.... before those idiot criminals foiled our plans. Sandy broke down crying. Partly because she didn't get to go to David's Bridal and partly because she was touched at our surprise. Immediately following the tears though was utter excitement.

Wedding plans have officially commenced....

That same night, Kim and I went out Salsa Dancing. What a joke (lol!). We got to Mama Juana's a little late, so the Salsa lessons were wrapping up. That didn't stop the instructor from throwing us in with the rest of the learners. Unfortunately, they were past the basics, so just when we were trying to learn the basic moves, they started throwing in the fancy stuff, including turns. I tried. And then I tried. And then I tried some more. I totally failed though. So after a while I quit. Yeah, I'm a quitter. Oh well. The guy even called me out on it, but I didn't care. When I know I can't do something well, I just don't do it. It's the perfectionist in me. Sorry!

Once the lesson was over, it got really fun. We mostly sat there and watched everyone else dance, but they were so good! That was enough entertainment right there. I felt like I was watching Dirty Dancing. And the Asians!!! My goodness, the Asians were REALLY good. I was shocked. They are not joking when it comes to Salsa Dancing. Hahaha!

They occasionally played some Merengue and Cumbias, so were were able to get out and take turns dancing with Jorge, Kim's friend from work. So we didn't sit on our butts the whole time. Kim and I caught the bug though... we both really want to take some lessons. We're supposed to be "latinas." We have no excuse for not knowing this stuff.... especially since our father is like a world-class dancer. Guess we should have swallowed our embarrassment when we were younger and let our Dad drag us out onto the dance floor more often. Too late now...

By the time Sunday rolled around, I wasn't feeling too hot, but we ended up having a BBQ at the house. It was laid back and fun, but by the end of it, I knew I was full-blown sick. I had a horrible headache and went to bed early. By the next morning it was worse, but I thought I could make it in to work. WRONG.

I was almost to work from the Valley, when I decided it wasn't a good idea. I called work and told them I was sick and wouldn't be in and continued on to my current home in Pomona. I literally got home, kicked off my shoes, and crawled into bed... with my work clothes on and everything. When I woke up a few hours later, Mom was home. We both lounged on the couches the rest of the day (me, mostly sleeping) and she was nice enough to make me some lunch.

I ended up staying home the next day also (yesterday) and finally decided that I NEEDED to come in to work today. I wish I could have stayed home because I'm still not doing too good, but "you gotta do what you gotta do." If I didn't come to work today I wouldn't have enough time on the books to take off the whole week I will need next month to move.

*sigh* Growing up.... Responsibilities.... Life.... No fun sometimes....

"Mission Aborted"

Gah!!! =(

Phase 1 of Operation Wedding Master Plan was foiled last night.

On my way to David's Bridal, I got a text message from my sister Kim saying that Sandy wasn't going to make it and the plans were off because someone tried to rob her store (she works at a check cashing place).

Double gah!

I was so mad. I wanted to go looking for this person for ruining my plans.

Then I had to stop and re-direct the focus off of my own feelings. Poor Sandy. That must have been terrifying. I don't know the details yet, but I'm assuming the person had a gun, or at least some kind of weapon.

Thank you, Lord in Heaven, that Sandy was not harmed. Thank you for your loving kindness and mercy. There could have been no wedding at all, but you kept her safe. THANK YOU, JESUS!

Guess it's back to the drawing board...


BTW, yesterday was very odd. Not only did Sandy have her ordeal, but my other sister Katie had a strange situation to deal with also. She's been housesitting for a family of one of the kids at her school. They left a very sick dog in her care while they were gone. Well, the dogs health started to deteriorate through the week, and yesterday morning she had the unfortunate task of calling the family up and letting them know that the dog had passed away. How awkward to have to be the one to find the animal and then inform the family. You feel sad, but at the same time it's like, "this isn't even my pet." Weird....

April 8 will go down in history, I tell you... lol

Let me get this straight...

Too funny. Had to post (from Mommy Life blog):

Let me get this straight.
We're going to be gifted with a health care plan

written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,

passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it,

to be signed by a president who also hasn't read it and who smokes,

with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes,

to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

and financed by a country that's broke.

What the heck could possibly go wrong?