retreat, treat, eat

The relief society sisters met at a huge house in Heber to treat, retreat, and also eat. Sometimes you have to retreat to move forward. I'm not sure about the others, but I personally retreated from my job, my family, my messy room, my clean hair, and my sleep. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who retreated from sleep, though, because I went to bed at 1:45am and there were still a slew of people up.

Much of the evening was filled up with spiritual and sisterly togetherness. The RS pres. gave us an interesting thought on visiting teaching where we ended up comparing visiting teaching to a supportive bra (a truer analogy was never set forth).

The bishop also gave a great message about how we use our time and what is important to us. He had us make a list of all the things that were important to us in this life. Some were very general in their list, and some were more specific, naming such things as forks, cute clothes and hair. Bishop then asked us to decide what matters the most to us on our list and then modified that to deciding what should matter the most. That's when I realized marriage wasn't even on my list. Maybe that's my problem. Then he asked us what we thought would be most important 5 years from now. That was when I finally scratched "pegged pants" off my list.

Before bed we were able to cram in a few more activities that included eating brownies and ice cream, playing the game "scream" (through which we discovered there aren't a lot of screamers in our ward), tricking the 20 questions orb of magic by picking "the temple" as our mystery item, painting each others toenails, and putting early to bedder's bras in the freezer (ok, I wish...it just would have fit so perfectly with the theme of the night. eg: visiting teachers often feel like they are left out in the cold...?)

This paragraph was supposed to be devoted to my sleeping hours, but I think I won't toy with your patience by replaying for you all the Neil Diamond songs I sang in my head (and maybe a little out loud) to entertain myself as I didn't sleep.

In the morning, we took the shortest, most beautiful, most full of horse dung - hike (walk) I've ever been on.

Cudos to the relief society enrichment (er... I mean, "meetings"?) committee for putting it all together!

not-so-irrational fear

My whole life, I've had this paranoia that I stink. My family used to joke that I would wake up in the middle of the night each night to change my pajama shirt because I thought I stunk...and so what if I did? Would they rather I stink?!

In recent years, I've definitely relaxed a bit...sometimes I go a whole week wearing the same pajama shirt to bed. Sick, I know. I've found I'm even more laid back when it comes to keeping my temple dress clean. Every Wednesday night, when I slide my filthy dress on, I mentally vow to wash it this week, for heaven's sake! Only to make the same frustrated vow one week later.

About 2 months ago, I realized it had been forever since I washed my dress (plus it had just sat for those 2 months in the 70's hard suitcase I bought at DI for my temple attire) and its fumes smacked me in the face as I pulled it over my head before heading into the worker's meeting. As I sang the opening song for the meeting, an older sister came and sat right by me and then immediately buried her nose in my shoulder and proclaimed "you smell so good and fresh!"...words cannot describe the incredulous look I gave her, I was so shocked. I explained that it is impossible because I really really really needed to wash this dress. She seemed certain, however, that it was my dress that smelled so good. The next day, I made sure to wash it despite her glowing praise.

Now fast forward 2 months....and of course, I haven't washed the dress since then (I think it's actually starting to look gray). The same sister sat by me again last night and once again smashed her nose into my shoulder proclaimed the same thing. This time, all I could do was laugh straight through the entire hymn with her looking at me all bewildered. First of all: why does she only think it smells good when it's gone 2 months without a wash and sat in a mildewy suitcase for those 2 months? Second: This time she even asked me what brand of detergent I use. To which I responded, "um...the cheapest kind possible?"

So...does this mean that I should shower less too? Would I actually smell better if I was lazy about all my personal hygiene? - All this time, I guess I've had it backward....

question of the day

I am now on my 10th month of growing my hair out...such a slow and painful process.

This begs the question: Why can't my head hair grow as fast as my leg hair?

part 8 of 364

Things that keep Melissa alive:

Part 8: Peaches and Cream

Usually, I avoid eating things that I love over and over....and over again in rapid succession because I tend to get tired of foods really easily. But I love this time of year, because I can make an exception to that rule.

3 ingredients: 1) Lemon Elberta peaches, peeled and sliced 2) Canned milk 3) Nutmeg

I have this for breakfast, mid-afternoon snack and before bed tummy soother... and do you think I've gotten tired of it yet? The great news is, even if I do eventually get tired of it, I have a whole year for my body to cleanse its self from the overdose and I guarantee that I'll be back to craving them again next August.

Might I suggest you try my 3 ingredient peaches and cream? Try it just once without sugar. The Lemon Elberta variety of peaches have the perfect tartness that can be spoiled by covering it up with sugar, in my opinion (Believe me, I have nothing against sugar...if it tasted better with sugar, I would pile it on every time). You may also shy away from the canned milk, and I admit that I probably only love that because that's what I was raised on. So, if you prefer milk or cream... or - heaven forbid - ice cream :), feel free to substitute that instead.

Peaches and cream before bed gives me happy dreams (last night, I dreamed that byu was beating Florida state 33-6) and sleeping happy keeps me alive!

I think I'll post this at my cubicle

Yup, that pretty much sums it up for me.

things that will no longer keep me alive

Sometimes love is a decision. Sometimes that decision is even financially based.

Have any of you ever had the South Hampton Sandwich at Gandolfo's? Let me tell you, it is heaven. Warm turkeylettucetomatoswissavocado on white bread heaven. But heaven has been consistently upping its prices. Today, my half heaven sandwich cost $5 even. No, that did not include a drink or chips. Yes, it did include 3 napkins. Good to know they are generous. Heck, for $5, they even wrapped the sandwich in paper for me.

Now, I can hear you all saying that every other sandwich shop is just as expensive. The problem with that argument for me is that none of them are good, so it's hard for me to care if their sandwiches are expensive. I have no problem ditching subway. And that's because they don't sell heaven. Gandolfo's does.

So sometimes you just have to say No to love. No to heaven. Maybe hell has cheaper sandwiches....

the ocd in me

Everyone has OCD tendencies, right? (nervous chuckle...)

Here are some of mine that I listed today:

Milk top blow: now that I use my own personal jug of milk, I have gotten used to blowing off the crusties before I pour it. No crusties must fall in my cereal! Now, I do it out of habit, whether it's my milk or not.

One side of my towel is for my face; the other side is for my body.

I must shower every morning but have no problem going to bed filthy (this could be why I feel filthy every morning)

I have to have perfect sleep conditions: darkness and silence (no ticking clocks or breathing).

I don't like walking on hard floors in socks: There are too many opportunities for the socks to get wet or dirty. I would rather my feet get dirty than my socks.

Sometimes I'd rather not have help with something if you can't do it my way.

I make my bed every day....it never looks good, but the covers HAVE to be closed so the spiders don't get in.

When I eat any sort of soft candy, I have to bite it in half first, to inspect the inside. Doesn't matter how small the item is. Gummy bears, jr. mints, good 'n plenty.

I can't stand when something is stuck in my teeth...I will pick at it with anything (candy wrappers work well).Thanks mom, I got it from you.

I like giving myself sort of 'mini-challenges'. Maybe it helps me feel accomplished on days when I don't accomplish much. (last week, I challenged myself to keep the "terminal" gmail theme on my email account for one week....it was hard, but so rewarding when I made it!)

Spacial relations. Sometimes I just have to shove one random item into another random item to see if it will fit or if my eyes are tricking me.

At work I have a collection of chip clips that I will clip on my body (mostly my face and arms) throughout the day. The eyebrow and the jaw line are particularly satisfying.

I have a floater in my right eye. Often times when I have nothing to do (standing in one place in the temple), I will try to direct that floater around certain patterns, or objects. I often times get very frustrated because it is near impossible to control the floater (frustration in the temple - is that allowed?).

In certain light, my eyes see things in slightly different colors. If you see me winking at you back and forth with each eye, It means I'm actually comparing my two eye color schemes.Yes, those are only the ones I thought of in an hour period of time. It really is a mystery why I'm not married yet.

umtiw mext thime (chip clip on the bottom lip)