Ever since getting married, my life has taken a very decided turn into boringness. Not that this is a bad thing--believe me, it's not--but everytime a friend or family member asks me what's new, I just have to shrug my shoulders and say "Nothing!" And while sometimes, my life seems uneventful, I thought I should take a moment to list 10 different things/events/moments/people that have made me happy this past week just to remind me that my life isn't totally boring or uneventful!
1. My sister had a baby girl! I got the call last night from my mother to inform me that my sister had her second child who weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches long. I only have one nephew, an adorable 17 month year old named James (from the same sister) and I'm positively enamoured with him. Every little thing he does is downright adorable and I can't imagine that I'll be any less enthralled with Anna Teresa (named after my mother: Teresa Anne). There's no pictures yet (hopefully soon) but I can't wait to buy clothes for her. My brother-in-law is deployed to Afghanistan right now but he was able to be on the phone during the delivery and will have leave next month to see his new baby. Babies make me very happy. I'm happy it's not MY baby (I have to have babies in moderation or else I'll start getting baby hungry and it's too early for that) but it's definitely news that deserves some mention.
2. Our microwave died. Now this is not happy news by any means. But when an appliance dies the only thing to do is buy a brand new one. So we ended up picking up a nice, relatively inexpensive simple microwave that will hopefully last longer than our last one. (Granted, David got that one for free.) Now we just need to replace our rice cooker since that decided to go kaput a few weeks back too. I do love shiny new things.
3. We downloaded Super Mario 3 onto our Wii and there's just one word for it: AWESOME!!! Oh, my youth has come back to me. I was surprised how many tricks and secret things I remembered from playing it for hours and hours as a child. Those were the good days of video games.
4. Getting on track with a potential job. There is nothing more discouraging than looking for a job during a recession in an economy that is already notoriously weak and lacks major industries besides tourism and the military. Despite being a competent and well-educated person, I've been turned down at every job I've applied to, because I was too over-qualified (what kind of excuse is that?) or they didn't have the money to hire me (so why advertise?). I've been looking into teaching and am going to apply for teaching positions at some of the colleges out here for next semester, if one of my professors ever sends me that letter of recommendation... I'd also looked into substitute teaching but was unsure of how to proceed because Hawaii's educational system is set up much differently than most states (as in there are no school districts--the Department of Education handles everything for all the islands). To make a long story short, one of David's friends from the single's ward, who works at an elementary school nearby, just happened to tell David what I needed to do to become a sub and also helped me arrange to meet with the principal at her school in order to get started. I have to take a month-long course before I can begin subbing (and I got the last spot available in the class that begins next week) but I finally feel like something is falling into place. Substitute teaching pays very well here (much better than what my mother makes in California), offers me a flexible work schedule, and will allow me to get some much needed teaching experience. I'm starting to feel more and more that getting a teaching certificate and becoming a high school history teacher is a good career move for me. Though I will never stop dreaming of getting my Ph.D. or becoming a curator at the National Museum of American History, teachers are always in great demand and it's a job that I can have no matter where we live. I'm just glad to be moving forward toward some goal and to have something to occupy me for the next month.
5. A Whole Foods just opened in Honolulu. Granted, it is extremely out of our way--we don't go into Honolulu if we can help it--but I'm already planning on when we can make a trip out there to load up on good natural products.
6. LDS.org's downloadable church music. Ever since we discovered that you can download nearly every song in the Children's Songbook or hymnal, David and I have been using it every week during FHE and it has greatly improved our singing ability. Or rather, it helps to mask our attempts to sing. You can download just the music (with intro), the song broken up in parts, or the entire song with words. I love it.
7. Classic black and white movies. The aforementioned friend of David's came over on Friday night for a girl's night (David was working a double shift) and we watched a movie and chatted about life. Nothing beats a little girl time with a side helping of Cary Grant.
8. Annual Primary program. I haven't been in a family ward in oh.....seven years so it's been a long time since I've enjoyed a Primary program. There's nothing that can beat the off-key renditions of favorite childhood hymns as sung by a motley group of children, ages 5-12 and tiny little Sunbeams discovered how much fun the microphone is.
9. Home cooking. Our stake president also happened to be David's mission president during the first five months of his mission in Taiwan. The Kims, who are in our ward, are the kind of people who are well-known throughout Hawaii and Taiwan for the impact they have on people. Since yesterday was a Chinese holiday to celebrate the harvest moon, Sister Kim invited David and I, a bunch of Taiwanese students from BYU-H, and a few other couples over to celebrate the night with lots of delicious homemade Chinese food. While David relished a bit of the food he came to enjoy on his mission and got to speak Chinese to a bunch of native speakers, I learned that I have a long way to go before I'll be making any authentic Chinese food. It sure was tasty though.
10. So I wrote something sickly sweet about what a wonderful husband David is, but no one really cares about the details. But for the record, he is a wonderful husband and he makes me laugh everyday. If you can't be grateful for that, what can you be grateful for?
It's always a good exercise to reflect on life and to realize that it's not so bad after all. It's something I should do far more often. It's all about the little things in life.
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2 comments:
I love the simple good things! We downloaded the original Mario games onto our Wii and it is so much fun...sure takes me back.
We just had our primary presentation too, and it was so cute! It's so much more fun though when you get to sit in the audience and watch though, and not have to run it. I can't wait until I get to see Andrew up there, it'll be so cute!
Good luck with the subbing!!
And congrats again on the niece. You need to put up a picture of her! I hope Cassy is doing well!
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