Packed and ready to gooooooo!

This will be short, 'cus we're just about ready to head down to Santa Monica for the night. Mike's getting showered first though, so I've got a little time to chat.

As most of you already saw, I finally began cataloging my insect drawers today on Facebook. Did kind of a rush job with the pictures and collection data, but it's a definite step in the right direction. I've been meaning to do that for YEARS. Most of my insect drawers are packed away in the garage, too, so who know how soon I'll be able to finish everything up? Still, I am excited! The pictures I put up got very favorable comments and made my day. I wasn't sure how people would react to seeing a bunch of random, exotic bugs, but now I will look forward to sharing more in the future. I've even unearthed a few other insect enthusiasts in the process and look forward to having them over to see the collections in person. My camera photos wash a lot of the brilliancy away, unfortunately, so viewers cannot see their amazing iridescence and saturated colors. 

Nella tried chocolate milk for the first time today and took to it like a duck to Willy Wonka's mixing river. She did give me a quick, questioning look upon the first taste, but continued drinking when she saw me smile to reassure her. Cute times. Love my kiddo.

Trying to think what else is going on, but mind is stuck on the bug fair. Shocker.

Hope my favorite vendor/entomologist is there! His name is Dale Colby and he always has the best quality and selection. Mike and I have learned to make a bee-line (pun intended!) to Dale's booth as soon as we get in and buy a new drawer. The museum quality display cases (drawers) are about $55.00, but I get so many new bugs each year, they are a must. Anyway, Dale is the best and we always look forward to hearing all about his world travels and his recommendations for my collection. It's nice, too, because he looks for us to return to him each year now, and scolds us if we arrive late! Ha ha! I honestly believe Mike is afraid of another scolding this year from Dale if we don't get to the show soon enough. Cracks me up. 

Hope this year's fair is better than last year's. There were only a handful of vendors from whom I would buy last time. Many of the other vendors tried to push broken, damaged goods on me. Enter one of the largest pet peeves in my world. HATE that people think I don't know any better because I am a chick. Oh man, does that annoy me, you guys. The vendors are not even as guilty of it as my fellow buyers though. Almost every year I have some ignorant male try to tell me I don't need the insect I am trying to purchase. They point to a butterfly hoping I'll be distracted enough to walk away from the bug I spotted before they did. Fools. ;)

Tomorrow will be special though no matter what I buy or who is there. It's our family's day to be together and get our inner Nerd on, ha ha. But it will be fun, too, just because it's a treasure hunt and we love the thrill of the hunt. Most of all I hope to find one of those big blue weevils with the yellow fuzzies on it. Walked away from a pair of those a couple of years ago and haven't seen any since. 

Oh! Time to go!!!! Talk to you hopefully tomorrow when we get home!

Wish us well!

Love, 

Auty

Hopped Up & Happy

So I've had caffeine today. This evening to be exact. And I hardly ever indulge in it, 'cus it just gets me so hopped up and prevents me from sleeping. To take it at all is pretty rare, but in the evening is an especial No-No. What was I even thinking of?! Ha! Oh well.

Today was a pretty great day, but normal. Or maybe it was great because it was pleasantly normal? Yes, that's more like it. 

I took Penelope to her weekly play group at Shadow Ranch Park in West Hills. For some reason I had 9:30 stuck in my head as the time to be there, so we were there all alone for quite some time. I had just begun pushing Nella in the swing (which is on the way to the parking lot) when our friends began to trickle in. Then it was suddenly time to shift my mindset to "stay" mode rather than "leave". It was pretty mellow and many of us, both moms and kidlettes, were pre-tired. Even still, we didn't leave for several more hours. Looooooong day at the park!

Penelope was NOT tired though and took herself off to play deeply in the sun and sand. So much so that she got nice and sunburned before I thought to apply her sunscreen. Second time since Saturday, and I was pretty upset with myself for forgetting it again. She's got a bit of a tiny heat rash 'round her neck now, too, darn it. Mother of the year award goes to... >sigh< So now I am treating her rash with calamine lotion. Not that it seems to bother her in the least, but I have to do something to try to help, right?

After the park, we stopped to gas up at $4.23/gallon and then went home to put Pea down for her nap. She slept a couple of hours and I relaxed with a book, emailing, pestering Michael, a visit from my mother-in-law, Rosa, and Facebooking. I was a little hungry from fasting, so I was trying to take it easy while keeping my mind distracted. 

Which reminds me, my family and I fasted and prayed for my Cousin Sam's baby girl, Madeline "Maddie Jo" today. Maddie is about 6 weeks younger than Penelope and has been battling C. Diff for quite some time now. I am still learning about this kind of rare malady, but suffice it to say Maddie's extremely sick and the treatments so far have never cured her. In fact, she gets worse than ever after each treatment of antibiotics! It is getting very alarming, so my Cousin Heidi (Sam's little sister) wrote everyone yesterday to ask if we'd fast and pray for Maddie. So that's what we did.

I had expected to probably feel super weak from fasting, but in retrospect that was not the case. I honestly felt like the Spirit was giving me everything I needed as I swept through my day. 

It was such a blessing to be able to fast with my family members! I am almost always in a state of chronic and extreme homesickness, so to be joined in this fast with my loved ones lifted my spirits and brought them Home close to my heart again. I fasted all day with peace and was kind of sad to have it end this evening. Felt like my heart had to finally hang up the phone, if that makes sense. 

I sure hope that baby Maddie will be okay and soon. We'll just have to keep praying that this latest round of antibiotics will finally be enough to stop the disease. God bless her sweet little body! It breaks my heart when I hear all she has been going through. And my heart aches for her wonderful parents as well. If hearts could heal with loving thoughts, right?

It has been a real nice, peaceful evening 'round these parts. Nella and I got the front lawn and garden watered earlier. Truth be told, Nella also got HERSELF good and watered as well, ha ha! DU-RENCHED! Boy oh boy, does this baby girl love herself some good water! Played in the mister at the park. Played in the sprinklers and hose water in the yard. Splashed herself almost to oblivion in the bath water and even attempted to drink it. Lovely. What else would one expect from a little Aquarius though? Funny, none of this sounds all that peaceful, but my happy mind recalls it that way nonetheless. Just a good night together at Home is peace enough for me.

I love my family. I just need to say that again. It can never be said enough to do my feelings justice. Near or far, you guys are my very heart. You make me better. I love you. I miss you. 

Talk to you all again very soon.

Love, 

Autumn

I feel a blog coming on!

Oh my goodness! Where to even begin at this point? Right?

So much to say.

Mother's Day was a blur. Had to work at a craft faire with my mama-in-law, Rosa, on Saturday and Sunday. Also was one of the speakers in Sacrament Mtg. on Sunday, so that was crazy.

I usually enjoy writing and rehearsing my talks, but for some reason (extreme dieting, maybe?) I couldn't focus and was up until 1:00 A.M. Saturday night writing it. So then I never even re-read it before giving my talk. I felt nervous and disjointed almost the whole time I was speaking, which is weird for me, but I made it through and I think it was okay. Mike said it was and so did a few others, but I had to leave so quickly afterwards (to go sit at the craft faire) that my lacking self esteem never got the all reassurances it was craving, ha ha. C'est la freaking vie, no?

The craft faire was, bleh. I don't enjoy the faires if you want to know the truth. I never get paid for working them because we never sell enough that I would feel good about taking anything from the small profits. But it's part of Rosa's dream and I want to help her in any way I can. She is so good to me and everyone else she knows! So bring on the faires. I'll do it for my Rosita.

I barely got to see Penelope on Mother's Day. Not even a single picture together! That was the main bummer for me. During Sacrament Mtg., she wailed as soon as she saw me at the pulpit and couldn't come to me. A friend quickly whisked her to the hallway and I didn't see her again until the meeting was over and she needed a diaper change before I left for the faire. It was so hard to leave her behind, but it was best that she not attend the faire and get sunburned and/or possibly lost in the crowds.

Don't know why I'm going on and on about Mother's Day. Guess I just haven't talked about it with anyone, and it's been a little blue spot on my heart.

In other news though, I am ridiculously excited for this weekend's annual Bug Fair at the LA County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH). I don't know when I've been so excited for a show in years! Maybe it's because we can better afford it this year than in the years before. Maybe it's because I know exactly the types of insects for which I am searching, so it feels somewhat like a treasure hunt. Not sure, but I am super-duper excited to go and so is Michael.

Have I told you before what Michael does for me every year? He takes on extra side jobs (on top of everything ELSE he already does!) and then gives me the money so I can spend it on dead bugs. Seriously. And he INSISTS on it, too. During our leanest years, he still somehow always found a way to make sure I got this once a year "treat". And you might think I'm exaggerating, but we've been going to the show for so many years now (i think close to 8?) that he anticipates it as much as I do. It is one of our only traditions apart from picking out a Christmas tree. Aren't we crazy kids? I am blessed to have my husband support my hobby. Honestly I would have given it up ages ago if it weren't for Michael. Maybe he knows that, too. It is so important that we support each other in the things that bring us joy, don't you think?

Anyway, we had been planning to be the first ones there at 9:30 on Saturday morning, but then I suddenly realized that Mike works at the temple on Saturdays. (Used to be Tuesday nights for over a year, but it was too hard with work, so he switched recently to Saturday mornings.) Duh! So then he felt awful for being the one who would make us go late. I told him it was fine (and sincerely meant it!), but he was pretty sad. (You see, there are lots of people there early on the first day to try and buy the most rare insects for their collections, so going late means possibly missing out on some cool things.) So THEN, Michael calls me and tells me that we can try to rent a room at one of the Church apartments (on the grounds behind the temple), so that way he can sleep a little later than 4:00 A.M. and we can also leave within minutes of his shift ending around noonish. I had never heard of such a thing, but turns out it's true, so we're booked for Friday evening at the temple apartments! Crazy cool. Mike can sleep til 5:00 A.M. for once, and he can nap for the 30-45 minutes it takes to drive there. YAY!

So now what I need to do to prepare for the insect show is to start cataloging my exotic weevil collection right away. That, by far, is my best developed collection. Even so though, I have managed in my zeal to accidentally duplicate a couple of my species and subspecies. So in an effort to avoid doing any more of that (which, believe it or not, can be QUITE costly), I am going to create a Facebook/iPhone album full of my weevils. And if I have time after that, I'll try to get some of my other green beetles or pyrops catalogued as well. Stay tuned!

Penelope recently had her 15 month check up. As usual, she's huge! 95th percentile for height at 32 1/4" and 75th percentile for weight at 24.12 lbs. It's crazy how fast she is growing! She wears mostly size 2 clothing, which has a lot to do with her huge head (also in the 95th percentile). I never, ever, thought my 15 month old would be half my height, but she certainly is. CRRRRRRRazy!

The last two rooms in our house are creeping very close to being finished. Floors and windows are taped off so texture coating and then paint can be applied. Then we'll call the carpet installers and get the rest of the carpet put in. Funny that the rest of it (the carpet) went in last July...There is only so much that can be done when you have a husband who works 12 hour days, is the Elders Quorum President, and a Temple ordinance worker. When I think of it that way, I am surprised we are as close as we are to finishing! Michael is The Man. :)

Sorry no pictures this time. Our computer has been having issues, so we don't have access to most of the things we've downloaded. I will try to include links to my Facebook albums for those who aren't on there.

Hope this finds everybody doing well! I have missed you all and your wonderful blogs! Thanks for your encouragement as I make my way back into the scene.

Love,
Autumn