Penny Lane

It seemed like a really long week this past week. I went into the week with the assumption that by Friday my contract at Raytheon would be up and I’d have some time off while HR worked toward getting me a permanent position. This being the case, I worked a full forty hours, although it was unevenly broken up. I worked five hours on Monday and Tuesday, and then ten hour shifts the rest of the week. I was beat by the end of the day and was grateful to come home to my wonderful family.

We got Helen registered this week at the Sahuarita School District Early Childhood Center where Felicity went to pre-school for the fall. We were so impressed with the progress Felicity made in just nine hours a week that we decided this would be the best place for Helen to go while I’m at work and Jeff is at school during the fall. I won’t call it pre-school, because, after all, Helen will be only three. We felt it would be worth the extra money to have her somewhere where I know she’ll have a schedule, learning activities, constant interaction with both teachers and other kids, and no TV time. My first preference would be that she could be home with me, but since for our family right now that isn’t an option we think this is the next best thing. I don’t have a lot of worries about Helen, she will love “going to school” and I’m sure she will learn lots of new things. She'll go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon when Jeff will get home from school. He won’t have classes on Tuesday and Thursday so on the days he has school, he’ll pick Helen up on his way home and then they’ll meet Felicity at the bus stop. I take comfort in the idea that Jeff should be able to graduate in May of 2013 and I can go back to being at home with the girls.

We had some good news about my job situation this past week as well. I have an interview on Tuesday, which is definitely a step in the right direction. This will probably be the first job interview that I will prepare for in advance as I am still in real competition to retain my position. I don’t know what kind of salary I’m looking at, and I must admit that it was a little bit embarrassing filling out aspects of the pre-interview application in relation to what my salary at previous jobs has been. I have, in reality, only worked rather menial jobs while I was in college and spent much of the last six years at home, so I didn’t have any impressive salary figures to brag about! We’ll be happy with the stability, and I have an idea of what worst case scenario for salary looks like, and it’s not that bad!

It has been incredibly hot this summer (as it always is) and we’ve found some relief in the backyard pool. The girls have both been blessed with mine and Jeff’s easily tanned skin, Jeff routinely refers to them as his Tahitian princesses. Rest assured we still insist on slathering them with sunscreen! We do really need the monsoon rains this year and are hoping and praying they come early. It almost seemed like we might get a shower on Sunday afternoon, but the clouds dissipated and left us with nothing but the dry heat. Our garden is doing wonderfully and I’m so proud of it. Our corn is reaching over the wall as well as a few of the sunflowers. We’ve got tomatoes ready to be harvested and the cucumbers, which were late to sprout, are taking over parts of the garden. I planted a few varieties and looks like I’ll have lots of the pickling kind to process by the end of the summer. I’m waiting to see if the extensive vines of our two watermelon plants will actual produce a melon or two. It’s so fulfilling to look out in the yard and see the progress, especially since almost all of it was grown from seed. We get new and exciting flowers in our flower beds every day and I’m so grateful that the Green Valley water company is not nearly as expensive as Tucson water because it takes a lot of water to keep everything green and happy. We pay as much now for our water as we did when we lived in an apartment with no lawn, no washing machine, and no dishwasher! I adore living in Sahuarita!

Jeff worked on Saturday at the estate sale and I worked on a birthday cake I was commissioned to make. I love doing cakes and it’s a lot of fun to make money at it, but I really hate turning on my oven in the summer! We had a nice Sabbath and enjoyed some rest, relaxation, and one another’s company. I hope everyone else is doing well and enjoying their loved ones. We’re looking forward to the upcoming Independence Day holiday and hope that everyone else has a happy save 4th of July!

Let it Be

We had a nice, rather uneventful week. I was able to finally put in my resume and application for my job, I'm just waiting now for an interview. We hope that HR moves quickly with getting things processed and all goes well. Next week is my last week and I'll have to wait unpaid while the process continues after next week. We're praying it all works out.

It's been hot and we've enjoyed some afternoons in the pool as a family. I thoughtlessly got in the pool early in the week without sunscreen and came out quite red, luckily it's already tanned, but I learned my lesson. I had an early day on Friday and was able to come home before noon. I spent some time with my sewing machine and made a few gifts to send to Jeff's sister. In the evening I went to interpret for a young women's fireside with Elder Webb of the seventy as the keynote speaker. The girls camp on Mt. Lemon was cancelled due to fire danger so the girls had one day of camp, Friday, at the church building, and then are headed to New Mexico for an alternative camp arrangement on Monday. I won't be able to go and interpret since I have to work, but I'm sure they'll have fun.

On Saturday Jeff worked and the girls and I enjoyed a pajama day. Essentially we hung out at the house in our PJs and the girls played happily and I was able to finish quite a few projects I had previously started and not yet finished. It was quite productive from one stand point, although the house didn't get picked up! On Sunday we had stake conference and I must admit that in the past we left the girls with my parents since a two hour meeting is difficult for little ones. This year we took them with us and they sat pretty well. I interpreted and Jeff was singing in the choir so they sat by themselves a short distance from me. Helen fell asleep on Victor and proceeded to snore quite loudly and Felicity entertained herself. Felicity is pretty good at that, although she has this little habit of singing to herself which can be distracting to others. After our conference we met Mom and Dad for lunch to celebrate Father's day. It was a great afternoon, marred only by the long, hot drive home!

My thoughts turn to my own father this father's day weekend. I was really lucky in a lot of ways. My father is extremely level headed and slow to anger. He taught me by example many lessons that have made me the person that I am. As I've gotten older its hard to ignore some of the similarities in personality we have come to share. I'm grateful for long hot Saturday mornings of pulling weeds or digging holes; him always working beside us, never barking orders from inside the house. I'm grateful for plant sales, and scrap metal, and selling china, and a hundred other things that meant being out and getting things done. I'm grateful for nights spent on bleachers listening to terrible marching bands and a few losing tennis matches. The best memories I have are hearing the words "that a girl" as I brought an extra load of tree branches in my arms to the alley. I was always bewildered by our relationship as I don't ever remember getting hugs or hearing I love you (the four minutes we danced at my wedding was the longest of my life), but I've come to realize as an adult that people express those things in different ways and isn't it true that actions speak louder than words. I've come to understand and recognize the actions that mean I love you. My father used to say of my Nana and the way she interacted with me, that she was not his mother, only an old person trying to get into heaven. How the tables have turned now that he's a grandfather! I'm grateful to have a wonderful father.

I've Got a Feeling

We had a great week. I had an appointment on Monday morning and so I took the rest of the day off and enjoyed an afternoon with Jeff and the kids. We went to the mall to play and then out to lunch. The kids had fun, it was a nice day. I worked the rest of the week.

We had a fun FHE as usual this week, the girls really love playing games. I picked up these great card holders at an estate sale several months ago and it makes it so much easier for the kids to enjoy playing card games.

The garden is just blooming, it makes me so happy. I've lots of pretty flowers including four o'clocks in every shade, these absolutely beautiful thistles in indigo and one of my sunflowers has bloomed. I was just beaming the other day because while watering the neighbor poked his head over the wall and complimented me on my lovely yard and asked some tips for putting grass in. We harvested two different kids of lettuce this week and some peas which we incorporated in a delicious fresh salad.



Jeff is doing a great job as a stay at home dad for the time being. I'm glad I can count on him to get things done around the house and get dinner ready. There was some red tape we ran into with my job, I'm hoping its all resolved now and I can apply this week; I put in my resume last week. Since my contract is up on the 27th of this month I have a feeling I will be getting some unpaid "vacation" at the end of the month while HR gets everything sorted out. It will set our vacation plans back a few weeks, but otherwise I think it will turn out alright.

We had a bit of a stomach bug this week with both Jeff and Helen sick in the latter part of the week, luckily I managed to dodge it. They are both thankfully better now. My parents took the girls for the night on Thursday because Jeff was going to work on Friday. We took advantage of an evening without kids and went out to the movies. It's completely strange that we've been to the movie theater so often in the past few weeks, my only explanation is I've been craving movie theater popcorn like crazy! We saw the new pirates movie and had an enjoyable evening. I worked with Jeff at the estate sale on Saturday while the Bryson's graciously watched the girls for us. It was a long hot day and we were so tired by the end!

We hope everyone else is having a fun summer so far. It's been very hot here as expected, but we are in desperate need of rain; as most have heard we are struggling greatly with wild fires in our beautiful state. If you're the praying sort, pray for rain (or do a dance if that's your thing:) for Arizona, we'll be fasting in our stake this week for rain. Love to all.

Here There and Everywhere

What happened this past week, I can barely remember. I had Memorial day off which was very nice. We spent some time together at home in the morning and then were invited to a friend's house for a bar-b-q. The kids had a great time swimming and playing; Jeff and I had a great time too. Jeff gave a great Family Home Evening lesson on forgiveness this week and we played some games which is the girls' favorite FHE activity. Here's a picture of Helen setting up Lucky Duck, the game she picked.

I worked the rest of the week with Friday off. Jeff worked on Friday so the girls and I stayed in and cleaned house, as it badly needed mommy's touch. Jeff does a great job during the week while I'm at work, but its just not the same. The girls were responsible for cleaning their own room, which took them most of the day. There was much wailing and nashing of teeth, but right before their friends came over for game night they announced it was done. I went in and gave Felicity a hug and reiterated why it was important to take care of her things and her room. I told her I was proud of her and then moved on to hug Helen who proudly exclaimed "we put it all behind the bed"! So we pulled their bunk beds out and they had to put all of it away. We had game night, which only ended up being us and the Bryson's, but we had fun none the less.

Jeff worked at a sale on Saturday, and after the girls and I put the finishing touches on the now clean house we drove to Tucson to visit him. It was hot out, and not really worth the trip as there was absolutely nothing at the sale worth while. When he got home he took us to dinner, our usual, kids eat free at the local Denny's. Then we drove into town to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Felicity was very good and attentive as she usually is, Helen was a little more disruptive, but they enjoyed themselves, as did Jeff and I. We don't often see new movies at the theaters with the kids since it is so expensive, but it's nice to treat them every now and again.

I had a cake order on Sunday for an Eagle Scout court of honor which I procrastinated a little too long, but got it done. It turned out well and I was happy with it. We went to my parents for Sunday dinner and really enjoyed ourselves as usual. I'm glad they're so close and we can spend so much time together. I'm looking forward to the fall when I'll have every other Friday off and the girls and Jeff will be in school so that I can spend Friday's with my mom and grandma. Hope everyone else had a fun and relaxing week. Love to all!