the good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:  You will never guess what happened.  All of my worrying paid off and Cassandra Barney really did send me that anticipated e-mail and really did paint my story!  I was so excited, and to think how faithless I was.  Horrible.  I will try to be a little more patient and restrained with my fretting in the future.  I went ahead and bought the painting so I think it would be okay to put it up here.

That's me feeling the love of my mothers.  I cannot wait to see it in person!  See how I am bridling myself in there?  The other good thing is that Shannon Hale actually mentioned us, US, in her blog.  We are her Normal fans.  Sweet.


The bad:  Our ward boundaries were changed today and we are a whole three houses in from the new border.  I really tried to be nonchalant and not over-ruminate on what the outcome would be, but deep down I couldn't let it go and I actually had three separate dreams last night about the big announcement today.  In one the Stake President decided to have the meeting on a boat -- I probably just needed to go to the bathroom.  I have wondered if this is what my funny feeling for the last month has been portending.  My stomach may have been aware of the changes in the ether long before my conscious mind did.  I know that it shouldn't be a big deal, but I really don't like to change when I am feeling all comfortable and relaxed where I am.  This happened when we had lived here less than a year and I don't remember being very concerned about it at all.  Was it just not as dramatic?  Why do I have no memories of the trauma?  Well, now we have lived here for almost seven years which is roughly fifty million times longer than we have lived anywhere else and it is dreadfully difficult to say goodbye to half of the people that you know and love.  We have been through thick and thin together.  These are the people who lift me up when I am down, who support me in my adversities, who were horrified that I showed up to church two weeks past my due date and made comments about how it looked like there were five babies in there instead of just one -- now that is just annoying, perhaps this is for the best.  To be perfectly honest, I really do think that the friendships I have made are strong enough to navigate geographical divisions and I was just relieved that we took a good percentage of the ward with us.  I really was afraid all week that it would be a big meeting to announce that our family was being moved.  Now that is a bit pompous, isn't it?


The ugly:

I went to the circus with some friends and they were shooting t-shirts wrapped in cellophane out to the crowd.  I was just sitting there, chatting as usual, while people around me were standing and waving their arms, when suddenly I saw a missile flying toward me and plop!  It landed right in my lap!  I never win anything.  This is why I don't even bother to stand when people are shooting prizes.  There really is no point.  First I was stunned.  And my second thought was how sad that my winning something quota for life was filled by this t-shirt.  Okay, it isn't that ugly and Lulu likes to sleep in it.  Let's finish with some nicer pics from our evening.