Sugar High

Lest you think I have forgotten about my little nursery babies, here is a story for you.

Every Sunday we have treats for the kids.  I want to state right off that the treats are supplied by the parents so the sugar content is not my fault.

Last week we fed them goldfish, teddy grahams, and fruit snacks.  Most of the kids ate calmly but one little girl devoured her fruit snacks in a flash and then started working on her teddy grahams.  When she ran out of her own snacks she started taking the snacks off the other children's plates.

"Her mom doesn't let her have any sugary snacks at home," one of our joint nursery leaders said.  I felt sorry for the poor girl and urged Nate to give her a few more teddy grahams.

About 20 minutes later I realized my mistake.

This little girl is usually rather timid.  She doesn't particularly enjoy nursery; the previous week she spent the first 15 minutes of class underneath the table while the other kids played with play dough.

Well, 20 minutes after her introduction to fruit snacks and teddy grahams she was having the time of her life.  She was literally running around in circles.  It was like watching a cat on catnip.

She shocked one little girl when she ran up to her, said, "I love you!" and gave her a huge hug.  Then she ran around in a few more circles, ran up to the same girl, said "I love you!" and hugged her again.

When her mom came to get her, the little girl ran and hugged her.  Then she immediately darted off again playing a catch-me-if-you-can game.  It took two of us to catch her.  I may have been bit in the process.  I'm hoping she doesn't have any diseases.

Needless to say, the little girl was not in nursery this past Sunday.

Cold Calling

As you know, I work in the nursery at our church, babysitting the two-year-olds for two hours each Sunday while their parents attend church meetings.  What many of you do not know is that I am also on the Relief Society committee.  This committee plans the monthly activities for the women in our church.

Lets just say, this isn't my favorite job in the world.  I was whining to Nate about it a few weeks ago and he told me that as soon as I start loving it, I'll be released (no longer on the committee).  I've never wanted to start loving something so much.

So, while I've been waiting to develop a love for this, I've had to help advertise for the different activities.  Tomorrow night, for example is a PJ night.  (I personally don't want to wear my pajamas out in public, but apparently it is a cool idea.)  I was asked to call 20 women to remind them about the activity.

I agonized about making the phone calls for a day and a half.  I have a love-hate relationship with the phone.  I love to talk to family and friends on the phone.  I hate calling people I don't know, trying to sell them on the idea of wearing pajamas in front of all their neighbors.

Yesterday I simply "forgot" to call.  It was actually quite honest forgetfulness.  I simply didn't remember.  Of course, I didn't do anything to help myself remember, either, like add it to my checklist of to-do items for after work.

Tonight I almost forgot again.  But I have this amazing guilt complex that brought the task to the forefront of my mind right as I finally sat down to relax after doing the evening chores.  Sometimes I think I should name my guilt complex, it plays such a major role in my life.  Tonight it kept saying to me, "If you don't call, you'll feel extremely guilty for the rest of the time you're on this committee.  You'll volunteer for jobs you don't want to do so that you can 'make up' for not making these phone calls."

Oh brother.

So I started down the list.  Mind you, I only knew 4 of the 20 people I had to call.  That's the problem with being in nursery.  I know the kids but not the parents.  Poor Nate had to hear me lament between each phone call, "Why are they all answering their phones?!  Why can't I just leave a message?!"

Three of the four women I knew on the list received my phone calls graciously and were quite pleasant.  The fourth woman I know didn't seem to know me.  The rest of the women...well, they responded like I would respond to a telemarketer.  Okay, maybe slightly better because they didn't say, "I'm not interested" and hang up.  But close to it.  There were long pauses after I told them who I was since they didn't want to commit to any sort of conversation.  After I told them about the activity, they said, "Uh huh.  Okay."  And that was that.

I can't say I blame them.  If someone I didn't know was calling me and telling me to wear my pajamas to church, I'd probably answer them the same way.  After each phone call I contemplated waiting until my lunch break tomorrow to make the calls, hoping to get answering machines.  But that lovely guilt complex would start to talk to me - "You're really not going to want to make those calls tomorrow-" and so I kept pushing on.  I finally made the last call.  It was the best of all:

Me:  "Hi.  I'm calling to remind you about enrichment tomorrow.
Her:  (tone of finality) "Okay, I appreciate the call."
Me: (Pause...waiting for her to hang up...but she didn't).  Um, okay, well you're welcome.
Her:  (Pause...waiting for me to actually give her any useful information, such as time and place).  Bye.
Me:  Bye.

So much for giving her the information she needed.  I just got too used to the telemarketer treatment and I was seriously expecting her to hang up at any moment.  Needless to say, I felt very stupid after that phone call.  But I would like to thank my guilt complex.  I don't have to make any calls tomorrow!

You know when

You know you're in Utah County when you're asked how many kids you have and after you say "none" the next question is, "Oh, are you newly-weds?"

You know its been freezing cold when the temperatures that made you shiver six months ago now make you contemplate wearing capris.

You know your car is dirty when it makes you giddy to wash it.

You know you go to the local hamburger joint too often when the owner recognizes you and asks what happened to your husband's splinted ankle.

You know it is winter when the best pictures you've taken on your new camera are of fire hydrants because they're the only things outside that aren't brown.

You know you've had a great weekend when you post about it on your blog.  We hope you had a great weekend, too.

Edit, Undo

The other day at work I was flipping through a pile of papers.  There were different sections within the pile, each section paper-clipped together.  As I rifled through the papers, one of the paper clips popped off. The first thought to enter my mind?  "Edit, undo."

Wow.

I think I spend too much time in front of the computer.

I have this thought from time to time.  If I'm carrying too many groceries in at one time and drop them, "edit, undo."

If I'm making a meal and add to much salt, "edit, undo."

If I'm climbing up on the counter, fall, and rip a hole in my pants, "edit, undo."

This thought comes to my mind subconsciously.  It's not me being funny to myself.  It is my true reaction.  And it always seems to happen when I'm doing something rather careless.  Something I could have prevented if I just paid a little more attention or thought things through before I acted.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could really just click a button and rewind?  Go back BEFORE we made the mistakes and correct them with no one the wiser?  Yes, that would be nice.  I could get used to that.

Photography Lessons

I've been wanting to take a photography class for quite a while.  I love looking at pictures on other blogs and websites.  The pictures are in focus and the colors are great.  On the flip side, most of my pictures end up looking like this:

Brad's Homecoming.
Unfortunately, I was the only one with a camera.

Well, most of my pictures aren't as bad as the one above but they could definitely be better.

A few weeks ago I registered to take an introduction to photography class through our school district's community learning program.  The class description states, "This class will cover basic techniques that will help take your photography to the next level.  Learn composition, lighting, exposure, camera controls, image editing, and more."

Lighting and exposure?  Sounds just like what I need.


Nate has a nice SLR camera he bought when we were in high school and so it uses film.  Last night he walked me through the basics on the camera so I would  at least look like I knew what I was doing when I got to class tonight.

"To focus on an object, you turn this," he said, turning a ring on the lense.

"If you want to make the flash pop up, you click this button," again demonstrating.

Nate also explained the mechanics of how the camera works.  "You see," he said as he removed the lens so I could look into the inner workings of the camera, "there is a mirror behind the lens.  The mirror reflects the image through a prism and then up into the view finder for you to see.

"Now, when you take a picture, the mirror lifts up and if there were film in the camera, it would be exposed, thus capturing the image."  He demonstrated by clicking the release.

I looked at him in shock.

"You mean there's no film in the camera?" I said, worry evident in my voice.

He laughed nervously.  "No."

"But I've been taking pictures with it!"

That's right, folks.  I've been taking pictures of decorated cakes, art projects, and delicious meals all with a camera that did not have film.  Nate bought me film a few months ago so I could start tinkering with the camera.  I assumed he loaded the film in for me.  Oops.

I need one more basic technique to be covered in this class: how to recognize when a camera does or does not have film.

Differences

Today the difference between men and women was reaffirmed to me.  To be honest, this difference is reaffirmed to me on a daily basis, but this situation takes the prize for the week.  (But Dad's mammogram story takes the cake...however, that is a different story for a different time.)

Last week I worked offsite reviewing year-end calculations for my company.  I spent three days, January  12 - 14, at one location with the same group of people.  I've been to this site several times and I know the people fairly well.

One of the individuals who works at this office is in his 50s and single.  If you don't know, to be a 50 year-old-man and single in the LDS culture is a little unheard of, especially if you've always been a bachelor.

Well, the bachelor got engaged on January 7.

DIFFERENCE #1:  He decided it would be cool to see how long it would take the rumor mill to spread the word...so he didn't tell anyone at work.

Hello.  I got engaged at work.  Literally.  But you can sure as heck bet that would have been the first thing I said to anyone the next day had I not gotten engaged there the night before!  I have yet to meet any girl who isn't bursting at the seams to shout from the rooftops that she is engaged.

So, said bachelor goes to work all week and doesn't tell anyone.  Well, let me amend that statement.  On Wednesday he told our boss.  But when you swear someone to secrecy, it doesn't count.  (It also doesn't help the rumor mill get going...)

On Thursday, some of his friends or relations talked with a fellow co-worker, as they all happen to be in the MoTab and were at rehearsal.  And thus the beans were spilled.

On Friday I finished up my last day at the site.  Apparently word had gotten around about the engagement.

DIFFERENCE #2:  I didn't find out.

Now, if a woman had gotten engaged, you can bet her girlfriends would have taken it upon themselves to make sure everyone was aware.

At noon a group of us went to Subway to grab lunch.  I was the only woman in the group. (When you are an accountant in Utah, you start to get used to this lopsided ratio.)  The bachelor had a lunch appointment and did not join us.

DIFFERENCE #3:  No one mentioned the engagement.

I don't know about you, but whenever a friend of mine gets engaged, that is going to come up at some point during the lunch conversation whether or not the friend is present!  It's not gossip, it is sharing information.

I did not find out until today, January 17, when my boss, (who is a woman) asked me what everyone's response was at the other site to news of the engagement.

"What?  He's engaged?" I said.  I guess that was answer enough about the response to his engagement!

Party Animals

New Year's Eve, Rohbock style:

6:00 PM Eat Pizza.

Playing Apples to Apples

7:00 PM Play games, take pictures.   

8:30 PM Watch a movie.

10:30 PM Send the pregnant sister and her husband home.

10:35 PM Send the exhausted husband to bed since he is sleeping on the couch but insisting "I'm awake."

10:40 PM Watch an episode of the Cosby show with 12-year-old sister.

11:05 PM Watch another episode of the Cosby show with same sister.

11:35 PM Wake up to the music of the Cosby show DVD menu.  Set alarm on cell phone for 10 minutes.  Take a nap.

11:45 PM Turn off the alarm.  Get sister ready for bed.

11:59 PM Find countdown online.  Count down the seconds - 10, 9, 8...

12:00 AM Shout "Happy New Year."  Blow kazoos.  Take pictures.  

12:01 AM Put same sister to bed.

12:05 AM Go to sleep.

Happy New Year!

Sarah looks a little frightened of 2011