Hibernation's Over!

Sorry to my faithful blog-readers who have been forced to take a sabbatical for the entire winter season. I guess I went into hibernation. Well, I wish that's what had happened. Instead I was busied with work, work, more work, and a little bit of work. Plus internet where I stay isn't of the fastest quality. For all intents and purposes, I live in a signal black hole. I can't get decent internet access. I don't get a cell phone signal. Kind of puts a damper on my technological sociality.

Recently, Casey (my roommate and best friend) got me addicted to 'Alias'. We obsessively watched all five seasons through the good graces of Netflix. The obsession is finally over, and we are carrying on with normal, mundane, everyday life. Hallelujah for DVD players and television sets. (We don't get satellite/cable either.) We have also spent a good portion of our time playing 'Just Dance' on Wii. It's tons of fun. There must be a dance craze in the exercise industry.

I've been Zumba'ing in up. Practicing up to three times a day. My six pack is actually making a come back which is timely for the upcoming swim suit season! Polly just finished teaching the Winter Session of Zumba. I taught my first class ever during that session. Brought back the stage fright that I suffered from in Junior High and High School. Practice will hopefully bring me out of my shell. I currently have about 45 minutes of music choreographed and relatively memorized for execution. I'm memorizing more stuff. Polly's 6 or 7 months along in her pregnancy--so Spring Session of Zumba is entirely up to me and any ounce of capacity that I may or may not possess. I'm really psyched out about teaching (in an anxious way), but our Zumba enthusiasts are very supportive. Plus it's me or nothing. [=

I have been toying with the notion of becoming a Pampered Chef Consultant. I never really thought I'd be interested in sales or having my own business for that matter. But one of my good friends, Tracy, is a PC Consultant--and she's super great at it and L-O-V-E-S it! I want to take it on as a sociological venture. It'll really give me the opportunity to dabble in a side of my personality (the fun side) that always gets punked out and suppressed by the tyrannical side of my personality (the workaholic). Plus I always feel a little awkward in social situations and settings in which I have no defined purpose. It's always been rather difficult for me to spontaneously have fun...solely for the sake of fun, with people I barely--if at all--know. Pampered Chef will give me the opportunity to dress up like the 'Leave It to Beaver' mom--in pearls, apron, high heels, and oven mitts (which, quite frankly--I'm pretty stoked about!). So I can totally play the part and be super-duper FUN! Not to mention I'll get to spend more time in my hobby of experimental cooking--also fun. Plus I have a purpose: sell great products so that my hosts and I can get free stuff (plus I make a little bit of extra money which never hurts either). All in all, I'm pretty excited about it!

Church has been going great. I've been blessed to be in southwest Louisiana where a whole two Mormons reside--so I get to do missionary work quite often. It truly is a blessing to be able to share the Gospel, bear my testimony of Christ, and enlighten others about Mormonism. Just last week, the pastor of Ludington Baptist invited me and the Elders to teach at his church. His congregation was really pleasant! Elder Adame spoke about our basic beliefs and doctrines focusing on the Restoration. Elder Green spoke about the structure and administration of our church. And I spoke about the three-fold mission of the church focusing on missionary efforts abroad. It was a very lovely experience. Everyone was super nice and gave us lots of compliments!

Since the new year, I have been a Primary worker during the second hour of church. And during the third hour I've been teaching the CTR 4&5 class. It's fun most of the time. But those little ones have too much energy. I'm not sure how much they really learn in class from all the cuttin' up and horse playin'. But I'm tryin' really hard to bring the Spirit to class with me! :)

About a month or so ago I was called to be the Ward Camp Director for the Young Women's Summer Camp. I'm pretty excited about it since I've never been to a YW Summer Camp before. Word on the street is that it's pretty awesome. I'll let ya know. :)

My family is doing stupendously! I haven't seen them as often as I'd like because I've been working on the weekends or babysitting. But I did get to go down last weekend for my Dad's birthday. I got my Dad some Pampered Chef grill stuff. He's really been wanting a fish basket for his grill (so that he can grill his fish). I also got him this really cool bbq turner/flipper ma-jig that is also a knife, a poker, and a beer bottle opener. It's pretty neat. Then I got him the 'Grill It Quick' recipe book. It was also the first time I'd seen my parents since before my birthday. So they gave me my birthday present--they got me a laptop for my birthday!!! I love it! So hopefully I can blog more. And do genealogy. And practice Zumba. And...well, whatever else it is that people do on computers. :)

For my birthday, my best friend and roommate, Casey, threw me a surprise party! It was awesome! We ate gumbo and s'mores brownies. We played Wii and Rock Band. I sang and the game told me I am "messy". Ahhh well. So I can't sing. And last weekend for my Dad's birthday, one of my other best friends, Kourtenay, came and spent the night with me. It was so much super-duper fun! I felt fifteen again!

My nephew, Landen came to spend the night with me a few weekends ago. I really had a lot of fun with the little guy. I sure did miss him when he left. I was even able to bring him to church with me which was such a treat to see him feel the Spirit. This past weekend at my parents' I spent a lot of time with Peyton. The minute I walked in the door she didn't want her mom anymore--it was all Aunt Sondra! The little monkey is getting so smart. She does this new thing now which is quite hilarious: whenever someone squats down and their butt crack hangs out--she'll stick her finger down there and holler, "CRACK!!!" It's pretty funny. She's great entertainment.

Work...ah, work--how it consumes my life! Since the new year two people were laid off. Then another person quit...then another person went out of country for a family crisis. Four people short helped me 'inherit' lots of new responsibilities at work. Things are finally starting to settle down a little bit--but this week is Spring Break which means all of the kids are out of school and spending their break at our facilities. We took them swimming at Ft. Polk's covered pool on Tuesday. Today they went to Gone Wild Safari in Alexandria. I start teaching the Spring Session of Zumba on Monday. We are also going into our fifth week of the Nurturing Families Program--I teach the children's component of the program. Before we know it the seasons will change and job responsibilities will shift again. In a few weeks I'll be getting re-certified as a lifeguard because this summer I'll be managing the public pool. Needless to say, my job keeps me on my toes! :) Which is good...most of the time.