It'd be Funny if it Wasn't so Ridiculous

I didn't get but 2 hours of sleep last night.  Needless to say, it was an eventful 24 hour work day. The commotion started yesterday afternoon when I got a call saying that I needed to bring a girl to the airport the following morning; no problem. 30 min later my fellow RS told me that she had been assigned to do that and it was actually two girls she was taking not just one. Mind you, stuff like this happens ALL the time. Then after it had been figured out that the RS staff and 2 girls were going leave at 4am, we combined cabins for the night so I could monitor all the girls by myself after she left. 10:30pm we get a call saying that one of the girl's flights has been cancelled. We will be notified upon further arrangements as they come through. The girl starts going into hysterics... 12am we get a call from yet another staff member saying that SHE is supposed to be the taking girls to the airport in the morning.  "No, you're not" we explain, "It's already been taken care of." I go to sleep. 2am the lights go on while the girl preparing to leave gets ready. Sleep over. Finally, the one girl and the RS leave. Then another girls comes to me, asking for a flashlight because she's having a nightmare. I lay back down. 15 min later the phone rings. I answer to find out that the other girls flight has been re-scheduled to 12:00pm the same day. It's now like 6am. I do last night's laundry and get up the early birds that want to shower. At 7 I get everyone up... they get ready, do chores, etc. 7:40 as we're going out the door the phone rings again... "There's a flood down here at the lodge," says the cook who just arrived, "I need you to call the maintenance man." That figures. Something like that would happen when I have more girls than usual on my own anyway. So I make more calls, and actually get everyone down to the lodge and settled into their routine, somewhat adapted due to the flood. At 9:30am I leave with the girl for the airport to catch her re-scheduled flight. All I'm going to say is for the next hour after getting there, I was on the phone with her parents and my boss, going from ticket counter to ticket counter trying to get her on an airplane lest her mother who is already freaking out starts to freak out more. Once I actually have the poor child checked in and on her way, her luggage fee charged on MY credit card, I actually went home. How many other ways can I explain to my bosses and co-workers that communication is SOOO important?! That it would make all of our lives so much simpler!

The exciting/sad news about work is that one of my girls graduated yesterday. It's funny how it takes no time at all to entwine two lives together... and she and I had developed a great relationship in the short amount of time I'd been there. It's like the eaglet learning to fly as you say goodbye. What can you say as you release your grasp and any measure of influence or ability to control her decisions? Nothing. But I prayed a blessing over her, that she would rise up and soar; that she would trust the Lord even when it seems too big or to scary, and not falter in her quest to move from a "Sunday faith" to making her faith an everyday part of her life. And that's all I can do. 

I want to cry a little bit right now... my baby MacBook is freaking out and just erased some of my precious photo library. I didn't have it backed up... :-( In the grand scheme of life, I guess it is not the end of the world, but it is SO FRUSTRATING! Any recovery experts out there? Why the outlined blank box with a question mark in the middle?  

As an afterthought here, I will also mention that I went to the laundromat today since I have no washer and dryer... now, was that ever fun. $3.50 PER load just to wash it? Really? You're serious? 

3 more days till I get to go home! :-)

Online Shopping for the Apartment

Overstock. com is one of my overall favorite sites for quality of product, value with good prices, quick shipping, and a wide array of selection. In fact, I can spend hours perusing the goods. So when I decided that I need an area rug for my living room, naturally, I went to overstock.com after all the local stores failed to impress me. It is always a gamble to order fabrics and textiles online because the color hues might not be represented accurately, but I have yet to completely miss the mark. Until now. I found and fell in love with this Chutni hand-tufted wool rug, and ordered it in the blue. 

FYI, You can also find some really good coupons for overstock.com usually, it just depends on when you hit it- this is my favorite site. A good rule of thumb for buying anything online is to always google for coupons and online discount codes first! 

My rug arrived yesterday, and my heart sunk just a little bit as the FedEx man handed it over to me and I saw the first glimpses through the plastic wrap. The base was in fact a chocolate brown, not black. And the specks of hot pink were much more prominent that I had anticipated. It clashed- BAD. So this morning I wrestled it back into its packaging, and lugged all 50lbs of it down my stairs and into my car. Off to the post office we went. Sorry, beautiful rug, but we just weren't meant to be a match. 

Common sense says that the best way to not become gun-shy after a humiliating experience or venture gone-wrong, is to get back up and do it again. 

I'm thinking black and white now. 

The White Still of a Thursday

There is presently like 2 feet of snow on the ground which I had to plow my way through this morning to un-earth my car. I do not know what everyone else in my apartment building does when it snows because I didn't leave until 10am and I was the first one. I guess they hibernate. Despite the fact that it is cold, wet, and inconvenient, I love the peacefulness of a town covered in snow. It's almost like a deadly still. An eerie quiet that leaves nothing but time for contemplation of a life worth living. 

On another note, I hate large chain companies. Places like LesSchwab and Tires-O-Rama = money-guzzling corporations that are out to make mega profit, with no regard to quality of service or customer value. It's fine. I'll die this winter when I lose control of my car that doesn't have snow tires... Because I'm not paying you $900 to put them on! 

I bought a spice rack today. You know, the chrome and black kind that spins around. Of course, it contained the spices like rosemary and oregano that I had already bought separately. Frustrating. My only question is, what do you do with caraway seed? 

The Twilight Series. Why are adults and kids alike from all different walks of life, religion, and interest so enthralled by these juvenile fiction books? The question burned within me until I had to find the answer for myself. I'm not usually one for jumping on the band wagon of popular media and books; I like to find the hidden gems - it's partially the satisfaction that can be attributed to being different and partly the thrill of the hunt itself. I'm on chapter 9 though, and I'll admit, it's good. 

The Start of the Beginning

After much prodding from others, whether to keep tabs on my life more closely or simply for lack of no better literature to read, I have succumbed and decided to start a blog. The last time I blogged I was 14 - when I had time. Now I find that once again, 8 years later, there is a slight lull in life in which to do so. I do enjoy writing, but am not accomplished by any means. This is more or less a miscellaneous blog.  The bits and pieces of the unspoken journey of my life. You will most likely find here a range from the voice of emotions of the heart to theological musings or possibly the deal of the week at the grocery store or last minute travel to another country. I encourage you all to comment, participate, and leave your own blog tracks so I can keep up with you! Enjoy. Cheers to all the "per request of friends" creating the official start of the Pink Rap, blog of SheriLynne Renee.