:::Salvation!:::

The snow is over. Thank the heavens above.

Thank you. Thank you! Thank you.

And the kitchen staff is here! You have no idea what a burden that lifts off of my shoulders. The managers have been cooking meals and cleaning the kitchen for days and days now. Oh, merciful heaven, sweet, merciful heavens above. Do you know how much prep and work it takes to feel 100+ people a hot breakfast, a full dinner, and a full salad bar every night? Do you know what kind of cleanup that entails?

Glory, glory hallelujah!

Amen, and amen. It's over.

Work was officially canceled today, which I know gutted the stingy you-know-whats I work for. Even though I only went to the office one day this week for a few hours, today is the first day that I feel like I'm actually on vacation.

Glory hallelujah!

I feel like I have boundless energy! What to do, what to do. I'd love to go to a museum, but they're all closed. I'd go for another adventure walk, but, you know, been there done that. Plus, it's supposed to be wicked cold today due to some severe winds in the area.

So who knows what I'll do! Who, who, who, who knows?

Guh-lory!!!!

:::Tra, La, La, I'm Going to Pretend This Isn't Happening:::

Sonofasomeonekillmenow.

It's snowing, again.

We're on winter storm warning, again.

10-20 inches tonight and Wednesday.

Happy thoughts. Let's talk about something else.


Blogging friend Jill recently wrote a post about visiting teaching. I commented that I find it funny that after all of these years, we still, still aren't doing our visiting teaching. Such a simple concept, and yet it is seemingly impossible to execute. Realizing that I am by no means excused from visiting teaching, here are the main reasons why I don't faithfully fulfill my VT assignments:

1. I'm not already friends with the women I've been assigned, so I'd have to get to know new people. Factor in shyness and anxiety.

2. Making the first contact is scary. Again, shyness and anxiety.

3. Having less than committed partners is a drag. I have wished many times that the partnering aspect of visiting teaching would be done away with. Trying to schedule visits with 2+ women is hard enough. Throwing in the schedule of a partner just makes it more so.

4. It's scary opening up to people about your deeply held spiritual feelings.

5. I worry that my testimony pales in comparison to the women who have been assigned to me.
6. I don't want anyone critiquing my testimony.

7. I don't have cute enough clothes.

8. I hate small talk.

9. I'm not married, so I can't relate to wives/mothers.

10. I don't date, I hate talking about dating, or the lack thereof, so I have a hard time relating to many of the common woes of single women.

11. I don't want to give up my free time.

12. I don't have a car.

13. I currently have 4 assignments and a partner that could care less about visiting teaching.

14. I worry that the women I visit teach and my partner are judging me.

15. "When a woman's got a husband, and you've got none, why should she take advice from you? Even if you can quote Balzac and Shakespeare and all them other high-falutin' Greeks." -- Music Man

16. I have yet to find a comfortable sitting-on-the-couch-addressing-someone-sitting-to-your-side position.

17. I don't always love, love the message.

18. I don't want to get ready go out again after I've just come home from work.

19. I don't want to go visiting teaching on my way home from work -- I just want to go home.

20. I don't want to get stuck in the home of some crazy, nut job, right wing Republican and have to hear about all of their 'fun' ideas about politics, race, religion, etc. Notice I said 'crazy' and 'nut job', this isn't a general burn against Republicans.

21. I've never visit taught someone, to my knowledge, who came from a similar background as I did. I'm afraid that the average LDS woman won't get where I'm coming from and will think I'm weird.

22. I don't like giving up details of my personal life to anyone I have to see on a regular basis.

23. I'm waiting for the perfect visiting teaching situation (what does this mean?).

24. I doubt that anyone wants to hear from me and listen to my perspective on the gospel (very closely related to #21). I've never had an 'in the box' life as an LDS person/woman and have had to make the gospel work for my own weird and not-optimal situations. I know sometimes people like to hear stuff like this, but on the other hand, sometimes they don't.

25. It brings to mind all the ways that I'm weird and different from everyone else (very closely related to #24).

26. Worrying about making a cute handout and bringing a delicious and impressive treat stress me out.

27. I have a hard time getting over all of my fears about myself and other people (bingo).

So, now that I've made myself look like a complete tool, why don't you share what your reasons are for not visiting teaching.

:::Adventure Walk:::

I can't talk about snow anymore. I'm snowed out.

I went on a 4 hour adventure walk yesterday from my house all the way to the Lincoln Memorial and back. So much snow, so much blinding snow. I've been blinded! By the snow!

I fell a lot and got stuck a lot and wallowed around like a walrus a lot while trying to heave myself out of the snow. And then I tried to climb over snow piles a lot and got trapped up to my hips a lot and had to body surf over to the other side a lot. But the good news is that there are a lot of kind strangers who will offer their help when they see a defeated chubby girl lying on the side of the road in a snow drift.

Pictures, here are pictures...I have no more words.

































Ah, no more.

:::My Penultimate Post About Snowmageddon:::

These are some photos from Saturday that I wasn't able to load before.

{Good thing I bought some snow boots in December}

{I love this little robin. He's just chillin' like a dude, staring straight into the storm}

{There were so many dogs out. They were having such a great time}

{I love the lace-like appearance of tree branches covered in snow}

{I met this doggy on my way home. Her name was Cruella, get it? Ha, ha. She had the cutest little snow boots on.}

{Her owner made her sit still so I could take a picture of her. There's a great sense of community during storms. I love going out and talking to people as I'm walking around.}

Just one more post and we're done!