Recap

Well, a few things have happened in the last couple weeks that I guess could be labeled "blog-worthy". 2 weeks ago Clinton and I were extended the calling of...nursery workers! I told Clinton this calling was his fault because he's not comfortable around children--so the Lord is providing him an opportunity to become comfortable. I was released from my two other callings and am looking forward to the treats and play time during church hours.:) The funny thing about this new calling is that one of Clinton's really good friends at school and his wife (my co-worker) are our partners in nursery. We will be teaching the same group! We just can't get away from each other!;) We're both really happy about it actually. We get along really well and this way the burden of working in nursery won't seem so bad!

We had a birthday in our house this last week...Clinton turned 29! He celebrated his birthday by studying for his finals :( Yipee!...however, I did see him for about an hour on his birthday and we enjoyed some Golden Double-Stuffed Oreos (his favorite). I prefer the regular, non-double-stuffed myself, but this way he gets extra innerds...I always scrape out the center and just dunk the cookie part (unless of course they are the original Oreos and then I can't help but eat the whole thing.) The day after his birthday all of our friends got together at Buffalo Wild Wings for supper. It was really nice to see him relax and enjoy a dinner out with friends. After dinner we went to DQ for $1.99 small blizzards (one of his friends bought his...I thought that was really nice), I picked up my glasses and then we went home and he returned to his studies. Not the most exciting birthday ever, however, I think amongst all the chaos he still felt loved and appreciated. Happy Birthday H.B.!! You are so wonderful and smart and I am so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for working so hard to achieve your dreams and for working so hard to provide a wonderful future for our family. Thank you for making me laugh every day and for helping me to become a better person. I love you so much!

Update: I FINALLY got my eyes taken care of and can see again!!! I've had my prescription changed a couple of times now, but last Saturday I met with the eye doctor and had my eyes checked and was given the "O.K." to get contacts again and was told my eye had healed completely! I picked my contact up yesterday and it is soooo nice to be able to see again! I forgot how clear my vision used to be. Both my glasses and my contacts are fairly similar in prescription, so it will be easy for me to switch back and forth. I also upgraded to the shatter-resistant lenses to help protect my eye more. Grand total for eye exam, glasses and contact lens...$316! I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Oh my, I hadn't realized it was that much (swallowing bile)...however, to make myself feel better, I haven't had to make any purchases for my vision in almost three years, and before that it was five years...so (stomach churning)...I guess I feel better? On top of that, I get to pay for a new shell in a couple of weeks! Yikes! I am so grateful for a good job.

Summer has Summed here in Wisconsin. It is hot and humid outside. It is currently 87 degrees outside with 55% humidity...blech! I know, I know. It will only get worse. However, let's just say that I am so thankful we have air conditioning! I've never really had to live in humidity before, last summer was pretty decent here, so we'll see how I do.

I was trying to think if there was anything else I had to write about and I can't think of anything other than I had a video I wanted to share. We were over at a friends' house a couple weeks ago and we watched this youtube video. I laughed so hard! It is one of those Japanese prank shows. I have NO IDEA how they get away with some of this stuff, but my personal favorite is "driving the porcelain train". The quality of the video is terrible, but oh-so-funny! Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day Mom

Growing up the youngest of six, I had a great advantage of "time with Mom" over my siblings. I remember our lunch dates to Arbys or Carl's Junior while my siblings were away at school. I'd tell her which of my fries represented certain members of my family (started with my longest fry as Dad, (take a bite) Mom, and so on until there was just a crumb left as me.

I remember going down for naps and her singing "All the Pretty Little Ponies" to help me fall asleep. Or when she'd play song after song from the "60 Progressive Classics" book to help us all quiet down. She was the perfect pillow to snuggle with as a child and continues the position with my nieces and nephews today.

I remember that my favorite color was pink until I heard my mom say her favorite colors were peach and green, then my favorite colors rapidly changed to peach and green. I never seemed to be able to form an opinion of my own, because I wanted to be just like my mom. While most sick children were excited to miss school and stay home, I was excited to be able to go to work with my mom. I was the best under-age office assistant ever! I had all the pencils, pens, sticky tack and push pins to match her collection. I wrote some very good meeting minutes (not really, I made up a lot of stuff and had her type it on the typewriter for me:) Her ways were my ways.

Some of my favorite memories of my mom were of the times when she'd come to school. I LOVED when she could come and volunteer in my class. I was never embarrassed to say, "That's my mom!" She came for everything. She was there for talent shows, track and field events, choir concerts, art nights, and parent-teacher conferences. I never had an opportunity to doubt that she cared about me and my successes.

Being the only child in my family to not yet have children, I at times feel sad that all the family names have been used. There aren't any left for me to pass on to my children. However, upon reflection of my childhood, I believe I was in fact the very first to name "my child" after my mom. The Christmas of my 7th or 8th year I received my favorite baby doll. She was more beautiful and special that all of my previous babies. I knew she needed a very special name and so I named her Jane Marie. I sang to her the same lullabies that were sung to me and made sure that she knew I loved her...just like my mom had done for me. Even though she was just a baby doll she was the first "official" grand-baby to be named after my mom. So, I guess I don't need to be that sad after all.

My mom has the best ability to see the good in all situations. She is extremely patient (a quality I unfortunately did not inherit, but am striving to obtain), loving and forgiving. I can not recall a time in all my years as her daughter that she felt something was more important than the happiness of her children. I think she ate more cold meals than warm ones, went without because "she was full anyway", and laid on the floor because "it's more comfortable"--than any other person I know. She wanted us to be happy. That's all she ever wanted because when we were happy, she was truly happy.

Well Mom, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to be a good mom. You have taught me so much about love and sacrifice. You have always been able to give me guidance like no one else. Your ability to dry my tears with hugs and kisses has reached far beyond the scrapes and bumps acquired in childhood. Thank you for your prayers and tears on my behalf. They have not gone unnoticed and I am blessed because of them. You are one of my very best friends and I love you so very much!

Happy Mother's Day!

Love,
Dani

Guy Studley Hung-Well

This last week has been rather eye-opening...in several ways.

First of all, you may each be wondering why I titled my post the way that I did. Well, on our way home from church today Clinton shared with me a part of the lesson from the gospel essentials class. He said they were talking about dating and the teacher asked for comments. One sister, who looks like a fair bit like Madam Mim on Sword in the Stone and is sort of new to the gospel/returning less-active, raised her hand and said,

"I get so tired of seeing all these Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes going out with these Guy Studly Hung-Wells."

Now, I don't know that she realized what she said, but she must have! Needless to say, the teacher quickly put the book in front of his face and to stifle a laugh while Clinton busted up laughing in the back row. Somehow, no one else heard it, but I thought that was hilarious! I will never be able to watch Sword in the Stone the same way ever again!

The second eye-opening experience was discovered yesterday afternoon. I have been having problems with seeing lately. The second I put my contact in, it gets foggy or blurry. I'll wash it, use eye drops and pray for clarity, but alas, I am left with blurred vision. So, I made an appointment to see the eye doctor at Stein Optical. To make a long story short, I ended up going back for a second opinion and ended up with a good doctor the second time. She put dye in my eye while I was wearing my contact (unlike the first doctor) and noticed that my contact was not fitting properly. In fact, it was too flat and it was flattening my cornea. She said that it was causing my cornea to be ashy, basically, my cornea was flaking away like your skin does when it is dry! Naturally, I began to panic because I only have the one left, but she said that as long as I don't wear the contact anymore, use eye drops every 2 hours for the next two-three weeks and come back for an eye exam, I should be fine. She said that the bad news is that I'll have to wear my glasses (from 7th grade mind you) until then. It is so frustrating because I can't see through them very well either. So, for the next two-three weeks I am going to be blind and unattractive! But, hopefully my next eye exam (May 15th) will go smoothly and my eye will have reshaped itself properly and the healing of my cornea will be complete. If all is back to "normal", then they'll refit me for a new contact lens and I can get an accurate prescription for glasses. Oh, woe is me.

Anyway, I don't know how the last week went for each of you, but I hope it was a little less eye-opening than mine. :)