I’m feeling so lucky right now October 1, 2006

This one has to be a quick post because my to-do list tonight is horrendously long, but I just wanted to say thank you to all people who commented on this blog and on the CS forums. It has really meant a lot to me that y’all care about me enough to take the time to write sweet things to me.

I had a boss who told me once: “The only person who never makes a mistake is the person who never gets out of bed. You made a mistake–so what? At least that means you got out of bed to do it.” He will most likely remain my all-time favorite boss, just because he was such a great guy. And a millionaire. He let me name his baby colt who will someday turn into a racing champion, I hope! (He raises race horses as a “hobby,” I kid you not.)

But that’s all off topic. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone, and also to say (yet again) that I am making the goal of writing in this blog more regularly. I’m really stinking it up, in terms of how steady my posts have been. That’s gonna change, promise.

Havs

Irony August 15, 2006

First off, I just wanted to say that I have made a goal of putting up a blog on here on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. We’ll see if that actually happens, but that’s my goal. I really love blogging and could honestly be here all day, but I just can’t afford to. I just looked at my statistics for the Google AdSense ads at the top of my blog (I get paid per click on the ads) and although I never expected big bucks from it, the money made thus far has exceeded even my worst expectations. I have only made a penny thus far. They don’t even send you a check until you’ve reached $50–at this rate, I will most likely be dead as well as my grandchildren before $50 is reached.

So now that I have firmly established the fact that this blog is in no way a money-making venture, let’s move onto funnier items, like the fact that my best friend, Bonnie, has West Nile Virus. Now before everyone sends me hate mail, just a bit of background here. First off, she’s going to be just fine. She doesn’t feel so hot at the moment, but she is going to be just fine, no lasting effects. It’s like she has the flu combined with a really bad rash. If she was in serious trouble, I wouldn’t find this immensely hilarious like I do. No need to send the hate mail, scout’s honor.

Secondly, Bonnie and I go walking Monday through Friday for an hour around a lake (sounds prettier than it really is, sadly enough) and we have spent many a morning discussing the fact that Bonnie is petrified of getting West Nile. She has given the whole run down to the children (any aches or fevers, any rashes, and you come running straight to me like your butt is on fire!) multiple times. She sprays them with mosquito repellent like most people eat chocolate (as much as possible as often as possible) and her kids, good-natured like they are, ignore her for the most part. I don’t think she has passed this particular fear on to them, at least not that I can tell. The eye rolls and shrugs are fairly strong indicators of that anyway.

To make things worse, she watched the news a couple of weeks ago and found out that Idaho has the highest cases of West Nile in the country. She freaked out. She began spraying herself with mosquito repellent before our walks (now mind you, we are walking at 6:30 in the morning. I don’t do ANYthing before our walks that isn’t 1000% necessary) and even started offering to spray me down. I told her I was just fine. I don’t know why, but I have never really been that worried about West Nile.

But for Bonnie, the fear has become almost irrational. In her hometown, a guy at her church got it and went blind from it. It has been Bonnie’s “boogeyman” ever since. She studied it on the internet so much I’m sure she could teach the experts about the subject.

So when she called me today and told me that she had it, I just started laughing and couldn’t stop. I’m sure that I’m going straight to Hades for that, but the irony was just too much.

To make up for my hysterical laughter, I dropped a present and a get-well card off at her house. Perhaps that seat in Hades can be passed onto someone else. I think the greatest part of this has been the fact that Bonnie has figured out that she has it, she’s going to be fine, and life will go on. Her boogeyman has suddenly shrunk to a manageable size. Boonie can be a bit neurotic sometimes (she’s my best friend, so I can say that in all fairness,) and I think this has taught her to breathe a little more.

Me? I’m just laughing. Sometimes this universe is just too much.

Hava
Who just may start wearing mosquito repellent herself…

I don’t like water July 17, 2006

When I was in junior high, there was a kid that was a year older than me, and much bigger than everyone else. He was a typical teenage boy in that he loved to be mean to anyone who would give him the satisfaction of giving him a response. I was never a huge fan of his (I didn’t hate him, but I did do my best to avoid him,) but then one day, in the middle of summer, I got a phone call and they told me he had died. He had gone swimming in the Snake River and had gotten sucked under in the current. He was swimming next to a dam, and it was just too strong for even him, and he was a big, strong, athletic kid. When I heard the news, I went running outside and down the road and just bawled. I may not have liked him sometimes, but this just seemed unfair. I remember screaming at the heavens, “Why God?? Why did this have to happen??” It was the first time I had ever had to deal with an early and untimely death, and it was really rough on me.

Well, I just found out that a girl I used to babysit was killed this weekend, also a casualty of the Snake River. This is so hard for me–I can’t even grasp that it is right. It doesn’t feel like this could truly be happening. I went to this family’s house every day, Monday through Friday, and watched Ashley and her two older brothers, for two summers. I was a part of the family. I did dishes, laundry, cleaned, watched the kids–we would go to the park and play, we would walk back to my house and play there. We would go outside and pet the horses–Ashley loved horses and was endlessly fascinated by them, even the onrey ones. She was only 4 years old the first summer, and 5 years old the second summer, so she was still just a young kid, but boy did we all have fun together. I really loved that family.

This article here talks about trying to find her body, and not being able to. I still just can’t believe it’s true. They came to my reception when I got married, I sent them postcards when traveling over in Jerusalem–this just isn’t fair. Ashley was a good kid.

I have never been a huge fan of water. Last summer, I went floating down a fast-moving river with my family in intertubes, and I got knocked off of my intertube and couldn’t get back on. I screamed bloody murder for probably 10 minutes because I was petrified at the thought of drowning. I would hate to die of course, but for me, I have always had this especially strong fear of drowning. I’m not sure why, but that fear is very, very strong. I have never been a great swimmer, and I have no desire to change that.

This happening, two people dying from drowning in the Snake River–you may never see me in a bathing suit again. I still just cannot fully comprehend it. Ashley was so much fun, and a good person. She wasn’t perfect by any means, but I loved her a lot. Since I was at her house every day, all day long, some times she would slip up and call me Mom. She was a very special kid to me.

Anyway, thanks for listening, everyone. I just needed an outlet to talk.

Havs

I want to rule the world June 11, 2006

Is that so much to ask? I don’t think so! I have a very good friend, Jackie, who is going to be moving to Mesa, Arizona, by the end of this month. This has completely and utterly broken my heart. I have fought this move with everything I had in me. The husband of my friend has found a job down there, working for a union, and although he would only start out at an okay wage, he would eventually be getting paid $30 an hour by the end of 5 years. That is great, and I am glad he has found something that could turn out to be such a great job for him (he has been searching for a job up in my neck of the woods, Idaho, for about 6 months and has found nothing that would work) but that doesn’t mean that the 6 year old inside of me doesn’t want to jump up and down and yell, “That’s not fair!!!!” at the top of my lungs. Just because the 25 year old part of me knows that isn’t kosher to do, doesn’t mean that the 6 year old part of me cares.

It doesn’t help that I am one of the most stubborn people on the face of the planet. When I have it in my mind to do something, only God or a natural disaster (and sometimes not even that!) can stop me. I decided that this couple simply wasn’t going to move. I wasn’t going to let them. I was going to find a job for the husband up here, and he was going to be able to stay.

After two failed attempts (the second of which was only yesterday, and we were so close, yet so far away it turns out,) I have finally waved the white flag of defeat. The husband left this morning to drive to Arizona, and will start his new job tomorrow.

I spent the afternoon crying.

I know that I have been a basketcase about this, and that when three weeks finally gets here, and Jackie truly leaves, I will most likely go off the deep end. Most people are probably thinking, “What’s the big deal? This girl moves. Get on with your life!” but for me, Jackie has been one of the closest friends I have ever had in my entire life. She is a once-in-a-lifetime gem, someone who has been there for me through thick and thin. I make friends easily, but true friends like her are one in a million. We have laughed together, and lately, we seem to do a lot of crying together too. We walk in the mornings for an hour every day; we see each other throughout the day…We rarely go 24 hours without seeing each other for one thing or another. The idea of her leaving me behind while she moves to Arizona just breaks my heart.

Can’t I rule the world for just one day? I promise I would give the power back on Tuesday. All I need is a little magic and some free housing to give to them. Okay, make that a whole lot of magic…

Anyone?

Havs

In the cold light of day… June 10, 2006

Do I still want to do this? I signed up for this “blogging” thing about midnight last night. I thought, “Hmm, I wonder if I will still want to do this come morning. I think I will, at least I hope I will!” Well, last night, I must have woken up at least 5 different times, thinking, “I have a blog now! When I get up, I can blog again!” I am starting to realize just how addicting this whole thing is…

I have also been analyzing myself–why do I love to write so much? Where did this come from? The answer: My father, without a doubt. He is a writer through and through. He can take something as dry and mundane as Christmas letters (My child won first place in his class spelling bee this year. He’s a genius! I am filling out papers to send him Harvard straight away; he’ll be the first child to go from 1st grade to college in one fell swoop!) and turn them into something hilarious. I have laughed so hard during one of my father’s Christmas letters that I couldn’t breathe.

The really fantastic thing is that everything he says is true. Well, his version of truth anyway. I think we covered that subject yesterday. My “creative” side most definitely came from my father. Anyway, I think most children say, “I want to be just like my father when I grow up” and for me, that is most definitely true in some aspects. The difference between us though, is that I want to support myself by writing. My father has a “real” job that pays him “real” money, and he only flexes his writing abilities in Christmas letters and e-mails to family members. I want more though. I want to support myself 100% through writing. I want to publish books and articles and columns and do whatever it takes to become a self-supported writer.

Am I asking for too much? Probably. Does that mean I will give up the dream? Never.