The Search Continues

In some ways, it’s my favorite time of year. In many others…I really dislike it! Being more aware of things you are grateful for and spending good quality time with family is irreplaceable. At the same time, I feel like I get really lazy and very lax about my goals. As a result, I mostly feel horrible and further, I feel horrible about myself. I LOVE to bake and cook. It’s one of my favorite things. The problem: I also LOVE to eat!! This time of year is the time for baking, and cooking, and drinking hot chocolate, and sitting by the fire. All very nice things for sure; especially if you are super skinny and never have to worry about your weight. They sound lovely but when you are constantly worried that if you are even in the same room with some sugar you will gain 10 pounds, it’s very stressful! So basically I’m trying to enjoy the good things about this time of year, but I’m also fighting hard to be who I want to be and stay on the course I want to be on.

About that course, let’s begin with an update on the men, shall we? Remember the guy who asked me out over facebook? The one who is mentally challenged in some way? Well, just the other morning I woke up and checked my email first thing. There I found a note from Mr. Facebook himself. He apologized about our date (I guess for not having taken me on one) and said that he forgot about our ages, and he is 21 and he thought that I was 32 so, “maybe we can just be friends.” Haha, so…rejected! That is quite alright though, even if it is still a slight sting just because he had to go and bring up my age…well, almost my age. I am not 32 yet…I still have a good 10 months, well 9 and some change, until that rolls around. It does make me wonder who told him how old I am though. There were only a very few people (about 3) that knew about our little chat. Hmmmm.

So, since I now have zero prospects for #13 again, I bet you are wondering how I am spending my Friday night. Well, I am sitting on my bed, composing another fabulous blog post while watching chick flicks by myself. How lame!! I told you, it’s not the best time of year for me. On top of that Thanksgiving was yesterday which of course never makes one feel good about themselves and today, while I started off really good, turned into another diet disaster since I was baking all day. Tomorrow is our annual family Christmas party for my mom’s side and we are in charge of the dessert. So, I made some delicious cookies and I tried a new recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake. Now, I’m ready to have the whole thing over with just so I can have a new, fresh beginning again where I eat healthy and feel good about myself! But I am grateful that I could get a little baking in, it was fun!

The next question I guess, is where do I go from here? So, since I haven’t received a whole lot of input from you, and there are a lot of new people as well as quiet followers who don’t comment, now is your chance to speak up. Do you have any ideas for me to find new dating prospects? Any ideas for fun adventures that I should embark upon? Any ways for me to enjoy Winter when I really just want to survive it? I suppose I should end my hiatus from expertly advice and large crowds of single people, young and old for starters, and venture out. Sometimes it is so hard to find balance though. Too much of anything is unhealthy and that is my own expertly advice. Okay so what are your ideas?? Bring em on and I will do my best to try them out!

Next in Line Please

Do you ever have those moments where you know you should do something, but then you don’t? For example, I have known for quite some time that I really should cut back my internet time. Honestly, I really have. Yesterday I was hardly home at all, so when I finally finished with work, conferences, private lessons, and meetings, I took a few minutes to check my facebook. I had a friend online that started talking to me pretty quickly so I talked back. Only seconds later this boy that I don’t even know started up a chat with me. He friended me some time back and I accepted only because I found out he is in my ward. As relief society president, I am trying to get to know everyone in the ward, so I decided this one time, not to turn him away (even though that is my normal policy with strangers).

This particular young man (oh my goodness, I don’t even know how old he is…yikes!!) is very much akin to Special #11. It could be his twin in fact. Except it’s not. But you get the idea, right? Something just isn’t exactly altogether there with him. For example, he started chatting with me on facebook like we were bestest friends. I cannot remember a single word spoken to this boy, ever! Even so, I tried to be nice and humor him. The president of our men’s group got online just then. He is a very good friend that I have not talked with much in weeks. So, I opened another chat box for him and immediately asked who this guy was. Let’s just pretend that his name is John White for just a minute. I can assure you that it isn’t, but let’s pretend. I ask said friend, “Who is John White?” Friend says, “Uh, he is uh John White.” I replied, “Wow, that really clears things up for me, thanks!”


After some friendly joking around I came to find out that the boy is indeed, or was, a member of the congregation that we attend. He and his brothers are in fact special ed in some way. They are VERY nice people. I’m just trying to describe to you who they are. Friend thought it was pretty hilarious that this John was chatting it up with me like we were old pals. He told me that they guy wanted to ask me out. I laughed it off of course, hoping it wasn’t true. But alas, it was true! Dang it friend, why did you have to be right this time? John said to me, “being single sucks.” I said, “oh really? I kinda like it.” I thought I was quite hilarious in this clever little reply. Friend thought it was funny too.


Friend decided that I should transcribe my conversation for him, so I did. It made the situation a little more entertaining for me, and slightly less painful as I realized once again that this seems to be my lot in life. Anyway, eventually this John White said, “just saying if I asked you out would you?” What else could I do but say, “sure.” I did just that and it was settled. Friend was elated, though he thought I was only humoring him at first when I told him of my acceptance. He told me that John was jumping up and down for joy. Then…then John confessed that he doesn’t drive, and memories of #11 came flooding back into my mind. I took a deep breath and assured him that it was no problem.

I’ve been through this before…I can handle it again. I’m hoping in this case that practice doesn’t make perfect however. I’m hoping that one day, maybe some magical day in a distance future that is hard to make out, there will be a real handsome man, a good man with a ridiculously amazing sense of humor and enthusiasm for life and living it, a hard working, loving man that will set his eyes on me and never want to divert them. He will want to pursue me until there is no more need of pursuit and beyond. I won’t have to do all the work because he will do his share and I will be happy…and so will he. Someday. Some magical, distant, far away day.

Check It

Hey there friends, readers, random passersby...guess what! Tomorrow you can check me out at another location in addition to this one. My friend asked me to guest post on her blog and I finally got up the courage to do it. Her blog is LE-GIT. There is a button on my left side bar or you can check it out here:

The posts on this blog vary daily but are all centered around us fabulous women and tips that make our lives easier, more fun, healthier, creative, and pretty much just amazing! It's for single's and marrieds alike. Several posts do give tips on parenting which I like to either pass on to my friends, or use on my cute nieces and nephews. So...no matter the post, you can be guaranteed enlightenment in some area or another. Hopefully such is the case tomorrow as well. Happy reading! I will post here soon about my most recent shenanigans.

I Love

Last week I held a relief society (the women’s organization in the LDS church) retreat at a cabin to the East of here in the mountains. It seemed to be a success with beautiful surroundings, lots of laughs, and more sugar than should ever be consumed in one sitting. The girls had fun…and so did I. Many of the girls I go to church with are quite a bit younger than me since technically, I am actually too old to be going to the young single adult wards anymore. Nonetheless, here I am. Most of the girls do not know my age, just that I am a little older than they…which brings me to my point. In church the day after our retreat, one of the girls that I spent a good deal of time with over the weekend, spoke about how much she loved our ward…how she was very hesitant to come to a single’s ward because of all the myths out there, but she was really grateful that our ward isn’t just students or a bunch of 30-40 year old single, lonely people. When she said that, it hit me pretty hard. I tried not to look shocked and finally was able just blow it off due to ignorance.


I’ve thought about this comment on several occasions this week and finally come to the conclusion that I am grateful for what she said. If she doesn’t think that I am old and lonely and crazy and boring, then I am a success! All that matters is that I am living life, enjoying it, and not falling into that category or those misconceptions about people my age. I think it is fantastic that she hung out with me all weekend and doesn’t know that I am over 30 or even lonely sometimes. Because I am. At the same time, I’m having fun and being me.

Today I was pondering life and it just hit me that I am actually REALLY grateful to be single right now. This has pretty much never happened to me but I could honestly say that I am grateful. I LOVE this time of year because it really causes reflection of the important things in life and how blessed we are. All of the things that I am grateful for came rushing to my mind. One of those is my singledom. I have a fantastic family and because I am single, I have more time to spend with them…especially my cute nieces and nephews. Some of those cuties are moving back to town in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait! I have so many plans…I hope they don’t get sick of me!

Many other benefits of my single status greet me each day. I can go wherever I want and do what I please whenever I want. I can live my life on my own whim and I kinda like it. I like being spontaneous. I like putting together cute packages for my friend on her mission and spending way too much money on them…not having to really answer to anyone but myself. I like being successful at my own life…all by myself. There are many benefits and I am grateful. So, instead of focusing on what I don’t have…I am going to focus on what I DO have. Then, I can make the most out of now and when the time comes for me to move on, I will eagerly do so. But for now…

A Book

The last couple of weeks have really held nothing worth writing about. Sad I Know. I should have updated you on my personal progress at least. On that note…I am almost through the third book in the Old Testament. Progress is progress right? I also just started a health competition with my relief society and I feel better already. I know those last 15 pounds will finally start to shed themselves. They really are the hardest. They hate me! Or they love me I guess because they don’t want to be rid of me! I still play in a local community symphony orchestra which is great practice for me. Right now I don’t have time to practice enough to audition for the one I want to be in so for now, this will do. We had a great concert last Sunday night and it was really enjoyable just to make some music. I love playing the violin! And…as far as the men thing goes, well…you know where I’m at there. I really just don’t care right now, sorry! There are too many other things to worry about.


About those other things, they are stressful. At church the other day, one of the speakers talked about having a balance in your life. I kept that in mind yesterday as I let myself pull into the library parking lot. I love the library…and book stores…and any place with good reading material! I’ve been wanting to go there for some time but have avoided books because I felt like I had sooo many other things that needed my attention. Lately however, I have really wanted to learn Spanish. Since I can’t afford to take a class just yet, I thought I’d see what fun CD’s the library had to offer on the subject. I drive around a lot for work and I figured that it would be a useful way to spend my travel time. While I was already in the building, I couldn’t just not look at the books. I let myself take a peek to see if a certain book was available. It wasn’t. But…there were two others that caught my attention with their pretty covers and I couldn’t just leave them sitting there on the shelf. So, they came home with me.

Last night, after finishing a whole list of things I needed to do, I let myself read. Almost from the start, I was a little disappointed. This really makes that saying true, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Of course, I almost always judge a book by its cover. If I like the way it looks, I get it! Haha. That’s only when I want mindless entertainment though. I save the heavier, more meaningful reading for Summer time, when I have less to think about. Anyway, right now calls for light reading of meaningless fiction. Okay, back to my disappointment.

First of all, I know it’s meaningless reading, but I’m still unimpressed with the writing. I know it shouldn’t matter, and I’m not a great writer, but some writing styles just bug me. So I’m a bit of a book snob, oh well…what can ya do? Anyway, not a big deal. The part I’m really bugged about is that all of these books are about 18-22 year olds. They are always about them getting married…or getting too old so they need to get married. I realize that the greater part of our population (it was an LDS book) gets married at that age. The thing I don’t like is when other characters in the book give the main character a hard time about not being married, or dating, etc. They make it sound like you have the plague if you aren’t married by like 24. Some of them keep saying things like, “you know what they say about people who reach a certain age and aren’t married….” Ugh!! That’s slightly offensive to those of us who reach that age. At least I think it is. I don’t think I have done anything to deserve such criticism. I’ve tried to be successful with my life and I think I’m a fairly normal person…it just hasn’t been my time yet! It’s okay that some of us have a different plan in life and God has other things in store for us.

So, on that note, I’m really thinking that I should write a book. I don’t know if I can though. I don’t feel like I am the best writer in town but seriously, one about this whole transition from young single adult to single adult might be good. I don’t know. Anyway, just thought I’d throw that out there…but then, who has time to write a book anyway? It would just be nice to have some reading material that involved normal, never-been-married, single people with successful lives.

Before I let you go read something more interesting, do you want to know what some of my favorite books are? My favorite, favorite is “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Such a fantastic story with an amazing message! The writing style is beyond fabulous and mostly, I just love it!

I’m also a fan of, “The Book Thief.” I really like the way this was written as well. It is narrated by Death. What an interesting twist, right? I think authors that think outside the box a little and create something unique.

Last but not least, I love “The Giver.” It is a super easy read with a very interesting story line and a good message. Love it!

Of course there are many others, these are just a few of my top favs of what constitutes a good book. Love, The book snob.