With EXCEL starting today, we're back up to ninety people and a 7:00 to 7:00 schedule.  Even though everything was going well today, I found myself in a bad mood this afternoon.  Waking up late today gave me a little more sleep, and taking a nap after lunch took the edge off my tiredness, though I had to get up before I was ready.  But later in the afternoon, I heard a rumor about myself that made me laugh and put me in much better spirits for the rest of the day.  Apparently, I have a beau who is going to be sending me chocolate for Valentines' Day. ♥

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Real gold fears no fire.

 One of Katie Dorman's favorite foods is tres leches cake.  As soon as I found this out, the day after I got here, I wanted to make it for her sometime.  Now, I've never made tres leches before.  I've never even eaten it.  But I did today.  I saw the recipe in my new cookbook over the weekend and determined that it needed to be on the menu before we have 90 people in the building.  I had to wait till the order came in to start because we didn't have the eggs we needed, just the leftover egg whites that had been saved for the purpose of making tres leches.  In spite of the fact that it involved beating egg whites, it turned out very well.  Katie was very pleased, and Esther said she'd never had better tres leches, even where people are supposed to know how to make it.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Folding Party

 Today was the big after conference laundry day, so all the girls got together after dinner cleanup to fold and watch a movie.  Piles of sheets became stacks of fitted, flat, king, full, twin, and pillowcases as fifteen pairs of hands folded and fifteen pairs of eyes watched "Love's Enduring Promise".  We paused the movie partway through to put away the sheets so we could actually sit on the couches and chairs, and took advantage of the break to finish off some sheet cake.  How fitting.

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Real gold fears no fire.

 My first conference is successfully over.  Since last posting, I've been to the farmers' market twice, taken a scenic drive in downtown Dallas (due to a wrong turn coming back from the market the first time), served fifteen meals/snacks, worked 33 hours, and cried from sheer exhaustion.  Tonight we ordered pizza and watched "On the Road with 16 Children".

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Real gold fears no fire.

Tomorrow is the first day of the conference.  People are starting to arrive and the pace is picking up.  We woke up to snow on the ground and it was just cold enough that it didn't melt and ice over before I had to go to Walmart this morning.  So my second time driving a fifteen passenger van was my first time driving in snow/slush.  The day was full enough to keep the girls busy in the kitchen and me in my office.  I pulled out recipes for the weekend, put in a Sysco order, and  finally got next week's menu typed.  And now, my room is calling.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Two skirts was the order of the day.  I came down to breakfast with one and went right back up after breakfast for another one.  It was that cold.  In the building.  It didn't seem as cold outside when Mr. Bell and I went to Sam's later in the afternoon.  We needed to get me a credit card so I won't be having to carry a wad of cash when I go get supplies.  So I will have a credit card in 7-10 business days.

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Real gold fears no fire.

 Today was so cold!  My room has its own heater so it was okay, and the kitchen wasn't so bad with the oven on (as long as we stayed out of the freezer), but my office was freezing.  Spending most of the day in my office planning menus and ordering and looking up recipes, I was having a lot of trouble typing.  Mr. Bell had been planning to take me out to Sam's today to get my card, but we postponed it till tomorrow.  Tomorrow is my morning off!  I get to sleep in until...6:30.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Driving

 Today I went for a drive with Mr. Bell to run an errand so he could see whether or not he needs to worry when I'm on the road doing my own errands.  His conclusion was that he wouldn't need to worry about me.  He says he can usually tell about a driver in five minutes and commented that I wasn't a tentative driver.  We had a nice drive out to Albertsons and I told him that Dad and I always used to go to Albertsons and park in the same parking spot.  I got to exercise my new driving privileges later in the afternoon to take Josh to the bank.  As compensation for taking him, he bought me a Starbucks.  I ordered an iced tall passion tea lemonade with two pumps of melon and two pumps of valencia (thank you Evan, for the suggestion).  I love driving.

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Real gold fears no fire.

 I had a very non-stressful afternoon working in my office and making cookies.  This week Mrs. Bell gave the rest of the staff the option to take care of a meal before we get too many people.  Amy voluneered for tonight, Rachel has tomorrow lunch, and Mrs. Martinez will make dinner tomorrow so I didn't even have to think about cooking today.  The cookies were so I didn't get too used to it.

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Real gold fears no fire.

 By Sunday night my room had been ordered and was at its best.  Come Monday afternoon, though, my office desk was heavy with menus, worksheets, forms, ads, notes, lists, catalogs, and recipes.  It took no time at all to accumulate, but all day to clear.  I breathed a sigh every time I could file something or throw it away.

 In the four hours between when I wanted to go up to my room and when I actually made it, I ate dinner, cleaned up, did computer stuff, and watched the first half of the Buckeye/Gator game.  I see this morning that I didn't miss anything I really wanted to see.  The Gators played an excellent game.  Too bad I wasn't rooting for them.  I should have stopped watching after the first play.

 After my long day yesterday, I was envisioning being miserable and dog-tired the rest of the year.  Today has been a lot better.  I think once all the one-time things are taken care of I'll be able to catch up and work ahead of schedule instead of under the wire.  Having short-term staff coming in tomorrow will allow me to delegate so I won't be having to juggle two things that need to be done at the same time.  This week is my only chance to get ahead.  After this weekend...no breathing till May!

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Real gold fears no fire.

Settling In

 My room is a mess.  All three of my bags are sitting on the floor, open, the floor is littered with things that have come out while I was looking for other things, my desk is covered with things I haven't had a chance to put away, and all other surfaces are similarly draped.  At least my bathroom is orderly.

 Yesterday was spent hearing what Mr. Bell's goals are for the coming year, taking down Christmas decorations, going out to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse, and having a campfire at the park.  Today after brunch a few of us helped Mrs. Bell with a project and tonight we are watching a movie on the wall.  I'm hoping to get my room put together some before dinner and finish tomorrow afternoon.  I must go.  If I'm not my own taskmaster, the clock will be.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Testimony

May my life be a testimony
To who I am in You, to who You are in me.
Lord Jesus, may the ones I touch be touched by You,
Oh, may my life be a testimony.
May my life be a tribute to Your name,
May I seek first Your smile, not men's applause and fame,
Lord Jesus, if it means for You I suffer pain,
May I not fail to be a tribute to Your name.

May Our lives be a symphony of praise,
A song of hope and joy that fills our nights and days.
Oh, grant that we may never cease to always raise,
Oh, Lord to You a joyful symphony of praise.
May our lives be a mirror of Your grace,
Reflecting love that goes beyond all time and space,
Lord Jesus, may men see not us, but Your dear face,
Oh, may our lives be a mirror of Your grace.

May our lives be a testimony
To who we are in You, to who You are in us.
Lord Jesus, may the ones we touch be touched by You,
Oh, may our lives be a mirror, Lord, of You.

It doesn't seem like I've been here five weeks, but tomorrow Elisa gets back, and the day after that I go home.  Two weeks in I was just about ready to come home.  That was not so good because I'm supposed to be here all of next year.  But time just flew since then, and I can't wait for next year.  Actually, I can wait.  I have a lot of other things I can't wait for between now and next year.  Among them, I hope, coming back here once or twice.  Cheers.

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Spero meliora.

p.s.

I don't have phones this week.

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Spero meliora.

There was one week since I've been here that the hot water went out three times.  The first time, I decided, you know what, I don't really need a shower this morning.  The second time, I braved it.  Later that day the subject came up at mealtime or something and Luc mentioned that he doesn't usually use hot water anyway because the cold water here is not really that cold compared to the cold water in Quebec.  So the third time I thought maybe he was right and hot water's not all it's cracked up to be anyway.  I found out it was, in fact, too cold, and told him so.  But last week, after throwing the frisbee around for fifteen minutes and playing Ultimate for fifteen minutes, and having to come in and collapse because I could not stay out in the heat, and taking a cold shower and appreciating it, I had to admit that he was right in the first place.  And I've been taking cold showers ever since.

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Spero meliora.

How I found out there are two Adams going through law enforcement.

I called ALERT yesterday and punched in Adam's extension.  It rings, someone picks up, and I hear, "Hello".  (On the other end they claim he answered, "100 wing".)  I was a little taken aback that I didn't get a rank and last name so instead of asking if Adam Bower was there I said, "Hi this is Anna, is Adam there?".

"Law enforcement, this is Adam."

"Well why didn't you answer with your name first off, dude?"

Pause

New voice, "Hello?"  It's my Adam.

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Spero meliora.

Spotlight on Heath

I've been saving this spotlight, perhaps because I wasn't sure all I wanted to say.  Heath Jennings is the building manager and assistant director of the DTC.  Ever since I first came here to work on staff, whether he was leading wisdom search or teaching me how to check in the Sysco order, Heath has reminded me of Dad.  He sounds a lot like Dad and has a lot of the same mannerisms and speach patterns.  He sounds not at all like a Texan (because he isn't, of course, he's from Kansas).  He jokes and teases just like Dad too.  He's the best.

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Nunquam obliviscar. 

Ah lazy Saturday afternoon...now that I've cleaned up all the maintenance dust in my new room, moved all my stuff, and cleaned my old room.  Long story short two other girls need to stay in my room this week so I moved to a little room that was just redone (really, the shower rod was hung this morning).  Maybe it seems like a lot of trouble for less than a week (!!!), but I really like the new room and it has a phone.  In the room.  Enough said.

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Spero meliora.

Last night during kitchen clean-up, the girls found a roach on the wall between the ceiling and the refrigerator door.  As soon as I saw it I reached out with a spatula and crushed it, just as they were in the middle of calling one of the boys over to dispense with it so they could enter the fridge.  I don't think it was still alive, but, since it's legs were wiggling, I'm not sure it was quite dead yet either.  To put it out of it's misery, Trevor scooped it up and threw it at two of the girls, who promptly made sure it was dead.  And today is Thursday.  Can you tell?

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Spero meliora.

Five Worst Things

Fourth, fifth, and sixth floor

Bathtub drains

Pink cleaner

Vacuuming around chairs

Not getting any calls and having no deskwork when I have phones and can't leave my office

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Spero meliora.