Where is Just Jess?

Is she busy? Is she in a full-body cast? Did she leave the country? Get out your magnifying glass. We're hot on her trail. Oh. We found her at the Write-a-Lame-Blog Clinic. If I type it all out it will seem so pathetic. It's been a weird couple of weeks. Not all bad, but weird. We'll start with the good. My mom and dad and grandma came to visit. Short but sweet, and you'd be proud of all the shopping we crammed in. Three different Old Navys in one day. That's a lot even for me. We found plenty to buy for Maddie, but I (sadly) came home with only one shirt for me. My dad turned 50 while he was here. We celebrated with a little BBQ at aunt Sandy's and that incredible chocolate Costco cake. 50. I got another calling. In addition to ward missionary, I'm on the compassionate services committe. Our ward is having a LOT of illness. It's very sad. Some of the ailments are so extreme and out of the ordinary. One man is now wheel chair bound because of a spinal cord infection, and even lost his sight for six days. One sister just had her entire large intestine removed. And the list goes on. Not to mention the new babies that are due to inundate us in March and April.

I enjoy helping. I need to be needed. It's great to be able to feel a part of something again. It's been a long, long time. I'm not even sure that I've felt needed in the last two wards I've been in. My poor husband sits back and shakes his head.

Speaking of David...he got a calling on Sunday. He was called to ward missionary, but over the pulpit they sustained him to ward mission leader. Minor detail.

I'm not infatuated with my job any more. I guess you could say that the honeymoon is over. It lost it's charm. Or maybe it just doesn't seem worth driving 16 miles and through multiple detours (and sometimes snow) and mostly on a two-lane, traffic-jammed road for this low-paying position. Some days it just doesn't seem like my work is as important as it used to.

There's been another huge project (possibly the biggest of 'em all) that's kept me busy. After six months of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, Maddie has a bedroom fit for a princess. It didn't get off to an easy start, long story short I canceled the first bed (finally got the refund yesterday) that we ordered and dug around on the internet until I found The One. It's gorgeous. She'll probably hate it in a year when she goes through her inevitable Goth phase. Pictures to come.

Today Maddie turns 10. Is it possible? My baby? She's wonderful. She's fun. But the poor thing is constantly injuring herself. Whether it's tether ball, falling down in the grocery store, or having some woman with spiky heals in church step on her and mutilate the top of her foot, she's been hurting. Honorable mention to the fall she took off her bike when brother stuck PVC pipe in her spokes and sent her flying over the handle bars, which then sent us to Orem for an X-Ray. Nothing broken.

As if that weren't enough, she's now suffering the miserable rite of passage called Braces. The top appliance came a couple weeks ago, the bottom on Saturday. No brackets yet, but they're coming. It has created such an awful speach impediment that Mel Blanc wants to cast her alongside Sylvester, and she probably spits more than he does.

David got his latest and newest company car, the fourth since we moved here in August. I think this one is a keeper.

I'm traveling home this weekend. In and out. West bound late Friday, eastbound early Monday. It's going to be rough, and we're going to pack in as much as we can. With Michele's little wedding bringing us to California, we hope so see as many loved ones as possible.

We finally have seating in the living room. I found a sofa in the reject pile at RC Willey a couple of weeks ago. Now if the computer desk can mutate from heaps of paper into an organized home office we'll be in good shape.

One last thing. We have been almost done with the Book of Mormon for two weeks. We have been floundering around in the final chapters and just can't seem to wrap it up. Maybe tonight is our night. Keep your fingers crossed.

PS Yes, I know Mel Blanc is dead.