It’s 5:30 pm on Christmas Eve. I have just woken up from my NyQuil induced coma (who says NyQuil is just fr night-time?) in time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given

And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came…

And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand…

And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.

And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.

And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

It’s 5:30 pm on Christmas Eve. I have just woken up from my NyQuil induced coma (who says NyQuil is just fr night-time?) in time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given

And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came…

And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.

For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand…

And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.

And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.

And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.

I dropped Harlow off that the groomers this morning at 8 o’clock. This seemed like a good idea… get it done early and have the rest of the day free.

But her groomer is in Santa Barbara so I drove down here (40 minutes-ish). That’s fine. I love Santa Barbara and I had some errands I could run… deposit a check, return a few things I’d bought for Christmas that I decided against, play with my new camera. Fun stuff. However, I forgot the check I had to deposit, left the gifts I wanted to return on my kitchen table, and forgot my camera. Rats and double rats! I blame the holidays for making me so brain dead.

So now I’m sitting at The Coffee Bean with a big hot chocolate and my laptop killing time. Now I guess I can pretend to be one of those cool laptop/coffee shop people. It’s really sort of awkward honestly.

But the good news is I’m wearing my leopard print shoes that I got in England. Don’t worry, they aren’t as awful as they sound. ;)

I work with a girl named Celeste. She’s 16. She’s a funny girl. The best part of working with a 16 year old is that when you come into work on a Friday feeling very sleepy and very cold and not so cheery, you find this one your desk:

Thanks Celeste! These are called cootie catchers right?

I work with a girl named Celeste. She’s 16. She’s a funny girl. The best part of working with a 16 year old is that when you come into work on a Friday feeling very sleepy and very cold and not so cheery, you find this one your desk:

Thanks Celeste! These are called cootie catchers right?

Here it is:

In the last 16 months I’ve only paid for gas maybe 3 times.

This isn’t because I don’t drive or because I’m stealing gas. The company that I work for gives out monthly performance bonuses in the form of $25 gas cards. When I found this out I thought it was sort of funny but it has been such a blessing. Especially when when gas was up to $4.99/per gallon. Even at $1.64/gallon it is still pretty awesome.

That’s it.

I think I posted awhile back that I was almost done with my Christmas shopping. I must have been in a deep state of denial.

I am NOT done!

I am not even close to being done. Ugh.

Harlow’s been itching like crazy and it’s driving ME crazy. We’ve determined it’s not fleas so someone suggested an oatmeal bath. So this afternoon we gave it a shot. I’m pretty sure if she had fingers she would have been flipping me off the whole time.

Today the woman that I co-teach our primary class with was released. I tried to play it cool just in case children can sense fear like wild animals can. You never know. I’ve taught Primary before and it’s been fine. The problem is there are 10 of them. There is only one of me.

I LOVE the kids, I really do but they are a handful. This is how things went down today:

Tyler kept switching chairs in singing time and then dissolved into tears when the one he wanted was taken. Apparently he wanted all the chairs. Isaac raised his had 4 different times during my lesson to announce that he doesn’t LIKE ham, he LOVES ham. We had one of the Sunbeam girls in our class today because her teacher was gone and she asked me what my name is. I said, “Vanessa.” Her eyes get really big and she exclaims, “What the heck?! I know another girl with that name!” Kyle “accidentally” broke the tip off every color pencil in our box while we were making Christmas cards for veterans in the hospital. Every time I called on Tyler to answer a question he’d stand up, give his answer, and fall dramatically to the floor. Maclaine would only be quiet if she was sitting on my lap during singing time. Kiana literally would not stop talking. Bryson got upset during class and said something about how his mom never lets his friends come over, to which Tyler replied, “I’m his friend because I punched him in the stomach!” This did not cheer Bryson up. Tessa told me I was “chubby but still really cute.” Kyle ripped his tie. No one could keep their shoes on for more than 5 minutes. And then during closing exercises when they announced that Sister Huler was leaving Primary, Tessa jumps up and says, “So we don’t have a teacher now??!” Um… remember how I gave the lesson today? And how I’ve been your teacher for awhile now? Awesome. Oh I do love them. At least they make me laugh.

Pray for me will you?

if my blog changes colors/shapes/sizes about 400 times today it is because i wanted to change the layout and i messed up putting in the code. columns everywhere, lopsided headers, unreadable fonts… yuck.

if it goes private for a minute it is not because i hate you it is because i really messed it up and haven’t figured out how to fix it.

exciting, huh?

Today I:

Watched Hannah Montana.
We hired a new girl (she’s 16 years old) and we take our lunch break at the same time (she picked it- not me!)

Went to An Olde Fashioned Christmas in Los Olivos.
And took some pretty terrible pictures.

Started my Christmas cards.
This makes me happy. (If I don’t have your address you should sent it to me!)

Called the police on someone who illegally parked in a handicap space.
I have never, ever called the police on someone but I hate, hate, hate it when people use handicap spots when they don’t need them. I mean, come ON!

Now before you think I’m just a psycho this is what happened…

I pulled into The Coffee Bean to buy my mom and new thermos for Christmas. There’s NEVER parking there so I pulled in and just waited until someone pulled out. As I was getting out of my car this woman pulled into the handicap space next to me and went in. She was sort of half in the space and half in the blocked off space next to it. She went in before me so I walk up to her and say something along the lines of “Excuse me, you realize you’re parked in a handicap space don’t you?” I was trying to be nice but was a cup of coffee so important that she has to park in a handicap spot?? Her reply was that she was mostly in the space next to it and that I should “mind my own business.” Ew. I explained to her that the space next to it is what made it a handicap space and that if someone with a wheelchair or walker parked there they wouldn’t be able to get out. At this point I’m still being nice. Then she just got snotty and said she wasn’t going to be long and she’d probably be gone before “any cripples showed up.” Oh no she didn’t! And that point she huffed off to the the bathroom. So I walked outside, called the Santa Barbara police and reported her. I didn’t even think they’d take the call seriously… not that I blame them. They have more important things to do I’m sure. (well I thought they did) I went back in got my mom’s gift and she came out and ordered. I went into the bathroom and when I came out she was still in line waiting for her drink. I went outside as a police car pulled up behind her car, got out, and proceeded to write her a ticket. Ha!

At that point I kind of felt bad and rushed to my car before the woman came out to beat my face. I didn’t think the police would actually show up… Maybe it was a slow night?

Take that snotty lady!

Edit:: I won’t be making a habit out of this!

Sorry if you all think I’m a big jerk… but sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

My friend mentioned this on Facebook so I looked it up. It’s pretty neat! It sort of goes with my Grinch-y post a few days ago. Things have been pretty crazy for my family over the last year and I just don’t want Christmas to get lost in that craze. I really want to make this Christmas special so I’ve been looking for ideas. I like the concept behind Advent Conspiracy. Check it out!

Christmas can (still) change the world.

“The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?”

The concept behind Advent Conspiracy is simple:

♥ Worship Fully
(It starts with Jesus. It ends with Jesus)

♥ Spend less
(We’re asking people to consider buying ONE LESS GIFT this Christmas. Just one.)

♥ Give more
(God’s gift to us was a relationship built on love.)

♥ Love all
(When Jesus loved, He loved in ways never imagined. Though rich, he became poor to love the poor, the forgotten, the overlooked and the sick.)

“Nobody wants a Christmas worth forgetting”

(read more here)

I love Christmas!