Introducing Alexis Lynn Joller

My niece is finally here. She was born on November 25, 2008, at 5:30 a.m. after a looong labor and two days before Thanksgiving. She was 8 lbs., 3 oz. and 21 inches long. =)

We are so happy to finally see this kid and she was worth the wait. She is such a cutie. Thank goodness she seems to have gotten the best of both of her parents. lol.

Now, hopefully, we are in for some big changes to my sister. I'm praying that she gains patience and understanding--that she becomes selfless and learns to put others before herself. Being a mother is supposed to change you in these ways. I hope this happens for Kim. It could only make her a better person.

God bless you, baby Alexis!

What's scarier than Freddie, Chucky, and Jason this Halloween?

The idea that a pro-baby-killing, gay-marriage-supporting, socialist, Marxist, wealth-spreader, who purports to be a Christian, named Barack Obama may be voted our next president next Tuesday.

What's even scarier than that?

The fact that people are literally calling him the Messiah. Wow, people. I know who the Messiah is and his name is not Barack... it's Jesus Christ. Get it right.

I'm sure there are many believers who are wondering if this guy will turn out to be the Antichrist. Now I don't want to say for sure that Barack Obama is the Antichrist, despite the fact that the Antichrist was described as being a man who will woo all the people--around the world--and will be a charismatic man who comes with a message of hope and peace (sound familiar?) who will solve all the world's problems. However, I will venture to say that if he's not the Antichrist, he is paving the way for the man who will be the Antichrist. How? By the fact that he is showing the People's current capability to blindly follow the first fool who comes along promising one thing that can't happen in this fallen world, at least until Christ returns: Peace.

Get it together, people. How can a man who has no experience in an administrative capacity and who has questionable connections, not be questioned by anyone? The Devil sure has pulled the wool over the eyes of so many! I can't believe it, but then I can. These things have been foretold.

I guess it shouldn't be scary afterall, if you are a believer. These are just the signs that our Lord is coming for us real soon. In that we should lift our voices to heaven and rejoice!

World of Chaos

Man, some stuff has been going down lately.

First, we are in the middle of one heated battle for the presidency. Obama vs. McCain. I for one will NOT be voting for the "messiah," Obama. Never! I am a Christian, Conservative, American woman... in that order. My relationship with God comes FIRST. That relationship dictates my morals and values, which in turn dictate who I will vote for. According to the word of God, homosexuality is a sin, as is the murder of an innocent person (in this case a baby). Those are the deal-breakers for me.

Obama is all the way for same-sex marriage/re-defining marriage and he is for abortion and partial-birth/late-term aborition (he's totally in bed with Planned Parenthood). For those reason, I cannot and I WILL NOT vote for him. On top of those gems, he is also just generally a liar. He has flat out said one thing at certain points and then turned around and flat out denied saying those things at another point (listen to the abundance of soundbites out there proving this). He also has associated himself with horrible people: Ayers, Jeremiah Write, Talbot... just to name a few. The man is not trustworthy in any sense of the word.

McCain/Palin 2008!

The other big thing that is going on--or you could say was going on--are the fires in the San Fernando Valley. One of which was in Lake View Terrace (not the same as the movie... lol), which is where I grew up and where my mother and sister currently still live.

It was a scary situation for a while there, but currently the fire there is 80% contained. Praise the Lord. My family was literally packed up and waiting for the evacuation order. Thankfully, it never came. I do know some people who were evacuationed, but thankfully they too are okay and did not lose their homes.

Fires are still raging in Porter Ranch (where my Valley church, Shepherd of the Hills, is located) and other parts of California, but it seems that damage hasn't been TOO bad. Hopefully, everything will be under control soon.

Pray for those who have lost homes or lives.

Lord, thank you for Your mercy and Your hand on all situations. Please keep Your hand of protection over this country and these elections. Your will be done. Amen.

Hello there...

Yeah, it's been a while since I've blogged. My bad. I've been so busy. Literally every weekend of this summer has been booked solid for me. More things are in the works too. I thought my season of being busy would end by early September, but no.

Let's see... What have I been up to?

In August I had:

• The family reunion
• A Dodgers game
• Mom's Surprise B-day dinner
• Mandy's B-day
• A back injury

In September, I'v thusfar:

• Travelled to Denver with Mom
• Had a couple of Sec IV interviews that I'm still waiting to hear back about
• Saw Alexis (Kim's baby) via a 3-D ultrasound
• Gone to Victor's 2nd Birthday party

That's all just in 1 & 3/4 months. This months not over though. I still have to go to Mike and Alycia's wedding and do something for Kim's birthday.

Next up in October will be Baby K's 1st birthday (YAY!), Katie and Tirsa's Birthday Extravaganza at Disneyland, and Kim's baby shower (which, of course, I am planning). Not to mention Halloween. Don't even know what the plan is for that yet.

I'm telling you my plate is full. On top of all that, I have two different prospects in my love life. I won't get into details because I don't want to mess anything up. We'll see what happens. I'll check in on that once something is more solid. =)

So, yeah. Can you see now why I haven't been able to write? LOL. I'll elaborate more on some of the above stuff later....

Birthday

I have to say that my birthday this year was pretty freakin awesome. Coldplay was awesome (as I mentioned in an earlier post) and my birthday weekend was awesome.

The Friday before my birthday I had dinner with my mom at the Cheesecake Factory. That was nice. Our waiter was cute. =) The next day, my actual birthday, I hung out with Sandy and Baby K almost the entire day and had the best time. Seriously, that was the best thing I could have done. That kid was cracking me up the whole time. She is just the best baby in the world. So good. No tantrums. No fits. Just pure joy. =)

Then that evening, Mandy, Jen, Vicente, Abe, and I headed down to Highlands. It's not the best club in the world, but we made the best of it. Alcohol usually does that. I had a great time and I got pretty drunk. By the time we got to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, I was feeling a little queasy, but I ate my chicken and mac 'n cheese and I was good. I didn't get the spins and I woke up sans a hangover, so it was a success. Score!

I am so thankful to everyone who saw fit that I had a great and special birthday. This is the first time in a long time that I've had a really good birthday that went off without a hitch.

=D

Viva la Vida

Saw Coldplay last week in Vegas with Katie, Sandy, and Tirsa.

One word: AMAZING!

Like you didn't know that? If you didn't, well, your sad. Coldplay is the greatest band of my time. My children will say, "Mom, I wish I was young when Coldplay was at their greatest." Wait, whose to say they won't get even better and better by the time my kids are grown. =) That's fine with me. Keep 'em coming, boys...

So yeah, I'm pretty sure that I have not gotten any of the positions I've applied for. Sad day. I'm trying not to be to down about it because I did tell God to only give me these positions if I deserved it and if it was His will. Apparently, neither was the truth. Guess I have to accept it and try to make the best of what I do have. I just wanted that extra money. =( I did find a Staff Assistant position that I think I qualify for, so I sent in the application today. (This is what I do when I'm working "overtime" on a Friday. lol...)

Sandy and Juan just signed up for a debt management program. I want to see how it goes for them, and then I think I will do the same. I really gotta do something about all this debt. REALLY. I may even get it started within the next week because this stuff is no joke. It's killing me....

Well, at least my car hasn't been giving me any problems (knock on wood, skip on one foot, throw some salt over the shoulder, and thank God... lol). I'm glad because my mom is taking it within a matter of weeks (yay!). I didn't want to give it to her with problems. Plus, you know, who wants anymore car repair bills. Not me, that's for sure!

Forgot to mention the other thing I did last weekend: The Dark Knight. We saw the midnight show on Thursday. It was also pretty darn good, but I have to admit, seeing Heath Ledger in such an evil role and go to such an evil place, made me upset. I literally cried. I didn't like seeing him like that. I hope his baby girl is able to appreciate the talent that her dad exuded in that role and not the discomfort of seeing him so sinister. He really did an excellant job, it's just sad to remember him that way in his last complete role. =(

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday. Yikes! That's three years from 30 and what is the score so far? Still never had a real boyfriend. Still a virgin. Still in major debt. Still living with a parent. Hmmmm.... Some might say I'm a loser. Funny thing is, and maybe this just means I'm getting better mentally, but I don't feel like that bad of a loser. I do wish I at least had a boyfriend by now. What's the hold up...

I'll let you know how the birthday went. So far, it's been cool. If the only thing I did was Coldplay, I would say it was successful. Mandy has something planned for me, so we'll see how pans out...

Argh...

I am so not in a good mood today (yeah, Aunt Flo needs to come into town already). I'm sitting here at my desk and literally every time someone walks past my desk or approaches me I get increasingly more irritated. Whatever. Better right now than this Saturday when I go to Vegas to see Coldplay. =)

Still though... I'm ready to karate chop the next person that pisses me off. It's one of THOSE days, man...

Last night I found out that my good friend Liz has been undergoing radiation treatments for the last few months. (Good thing nobody we know really reads this thing because I'm really not supposed to be telling anyone this.)

Wow. Cancer is no joke, son. Thankfully, they say she is looking good. We'll know for sure when she gets the results. I have faith that everything will be okay.

She apologized for not sharing with me earlier, but I understood. Everyone is not like me: putting their business out there for the world to know. Sometimes I wish I kept personal info to myself more often because I'm learning that people use that stuff against you whenever they can.

People suck.

Like my boss. I got a hair cut and for the first time in at least 15 years, I got bangs. So, I come into work with my hair pulled back, which I haven't done in I don't know how long, and people are complimenting me left and right. What is the first thing out of my boss' mouth? "Can you look any younger with that hairstyle?"

B****, can you be anymore of a hater?

This heifer knows that I am insecure about the fact that I am so young looking and, as a result, people don't seem to take me seriously at work. She knew exactly what she was saying. Too bad for her, I have more game than that and just laughed it off, saying that I know I look 18, so I've decided to embrace it. Like Liz said, she's just jealous. She is horrible at hiding it. Hahaha...

Man, I interviewed for that position with the City of W. Covina and two Sec IV positions and I haven't heard a thing back from any of them. I'm pretty sure that I didn't get W. Covina. I think they would have let me know by now. That's a shame. I really think I would have liked working there, but I think, once again, they thought I was too young and probably not ready. Whatever.

The other one that I really wanted was Pomona and I haven't heard about that one either. I sent the lady a follow-up email yesterday and haven't gotten a reply yet. Poo! Please, Lord. I know I don't deserve it, but please give me a chance. I need the money....

Chee-ca-go, Part 3

Okay, my bad. Almost forgot to finish my story.... Last I left off, we had just finished our Gino's pizza and Robert and Marina were heading back to the base.



So we get to the Sears tower, but our tickets, and get in line. We jam into an elevator so that we can go I-don't-know-how-many stories up. We get up there and the view is like WOW. Even despite the fact that it was foggy and you couldn't really see too far out, you could still get an idea of just how high up you were. It was amazing. You could see the entire city. I got plenty of pics. =)



After our view, we headed down and hit up the little gift shop, walking away with even more crap to bring back. From there we took a cab back to the train station and made our way back to the motel from hell. So we get there and as soon as we turn on the TV we start hearing these warnings about a Tornado that is set to touch down in North Chicago, in Lake County. Wait a minute! That's exactly where we are! What the....

We don't quite freak out right away and decide to take our leftover pizza to the lobby to warm it up in the microwave. That's when people start telling us what we already know: A tornado is coming. Except now it seems real because not only are these people confirming it to us, but now we can also faintly hear the distance the sound of air raid sirens. Oh yay! We are starting to get scared at this point. It's not like we have a basement to run into. On top of that we are in the worst motel in America.

We hang out for a while waiting for this thing to come, text messaging our friends and sisters to let them know what's going on, but it never ends up coming. Thank GOD in heaven--the thing has passed us. Well, now we have our funny story about how we almost got caught up in a tornado.

So, we start getting ready for bed. Katie decides that she can't take not having air conditioning anymore and starts fiddling around with the thermostat. She figures out that the batteries are not in correctly, puts them back in, and the A/C starts up. Next thing you know,we hear these loud noises from what we think is the roof. I'm thinking it might just be someone up there adjusting the satelite for the tv or something and we ignore it. I take out my contacts and get into bed.

Just as I'm hitting R.E.M. sleep, I hear something explode. My first thought is that the person walking on the roof is now coming through the roof and is going to land on me, so I jump out of the bed as quickly as I can, screaming, "what's happening?!" (Mind you, I can't see because I don't have my contacts in.)

That's when Katie says, "the air conditioner exploded."

It sure did. There was water gushing out all over the place. It was crazy. Katie calls the front desk and they tell us they are coming to take a look. They never show up. I give up. I'm tired, I had been walking all over the city of Chicago, and I just want to sleep. Katie waits another hour or so, and still nothing, so she goes to bed. These idiots never showed up to fix the thing or to at least move us to a better room. Frickin low class, disgusting place!

So we get up the next day. It's time to go. We pack up all of our stuff and just as I'm walking out the door I notice something under Katie's bed.... Rat poison. Nice! Like the cherry on top! Ay ay ay!

We take Marina to O'hare and say our goodbyes and start heading for Midway, when I see a sign: "Wrigley Field - Next Exit" I'm like, "we are so going."

We had plenty of time. So we go check out Wrigley field, take some pics, eat one of the best brunches I've ever had at Chicago Joe's, and then head off to the airport to sit there for a long time (another delayed flight). We eventually made it home, and despite all the crazy stuff that went down, it was an awesome weekend. I really did have so much fun and I can't wait to go back to Chicago some day. It has to be one of my new favorite cities. So clean and so friendly.

Yup, I'll definitely be coming back. Three days was not long enough...