I'm Right-Handed

I made an unusual discovery last weekend. After leaving a poorly attended multi-stake dance, some friends and I drove around downtown Ogden to find another dance club. After failing twice, we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy socks. Then we went bowling…in semi-formals. It was an absolute riot! The looks of puzzlement we received were priceless. But it was among my still-dancing friends and the clatter of bowling pins that I made my discovery. I am a left-handed bowler. Fancy that!

16 Random Things

I was tagged on Facebook by Confuzzled to write 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself or just...whatever. Since my blog-writing has left a lot to be desired recently, I decided to post it here as well. Thanks to those of you who left comments on my last post. I agree with you about friends. It’s nice to know others feel the same way. And now, on with the show!

1. I think one of the most unique things about me is the number five. I’m five feet tall. I wear size five shoes (well, five and a half depending on the shoe). My ring size is also a five. That, of course, also depends on which finger you’re referring. There are five people in my immediate family. I frequently count by fives at my job (alright, that’s stretching it a tad, but I couldn’t help myself).

2. I randomly dance around the house or office when I’m alone. Dancing is one of my favorite pastimes and unfortunately I’m not involved in a dance team anymore. It’s not uncommon for my face to turn beet red as someone walks in and catches me mid-waltz, clog, salsa, or other. I break into whatever dance my current mood demands.

3. In addition to what was previously mentioned, I also like to burst into song when I’m alone; especially when I do laundry. I find it therapeutic.

4. I am actually a very shy individual; very introverted; pensive. That is, until I get to know people, then I can break myself out of that shell. Sometimes I force myself to be outgoing, which can be extremely difficult. If I can talk, joke, and just be myself around you…consider yourself privileged. :D Oh, and my friends have disagreed with me about this. They don’t think I’m shy at all. That’s because I’ve developed a mighty fine façade. Bully for Grandma!

5. As I said, I can be very quiet, but when I get myself alone, sometimes I won’t shut up! I talk to myself frequently. Not necessarily to myself (“Hi Andrea! How are you?” “I’m doing well, Andrea! Shucks, it’s been a while!”), but I have imaginary conversations with people. For example, if I’m attracted to a guy, I imagine myself having more of a bold personality and approaching him with witty, delightful conversation. On the other hand, one of my favorite ways to deal with problems is to yell at or have a “frank discussion” with the individual…without them actually being present. It works quite well until I rile myself up even more. Hmmm…probably shouldn’t do that.

6. I’m blessed to be perspicacious and intuitive when it comes to others. If they are wearing a façade, unless it is flawlessly constructed like mine [facetious smirk], I can see through them easily, though I may not make that known to the individual. I can detect a genuine smile versus a fake with little problem. So be careful if you’re going to be artificial with me…I know. Actually, I took a quiz testing smiles from those specific categories and I did an extraordinary job (18 out of 20, if I remember correctly)! Aw yeah!

7. Writing is one of my passions, though I don’t do it as often as I would like. I used to write on my blog frequently and that has significantly decreased as some of you are already aware. It’s a hobby I should renew, if not for pure enjoyment, for my sanity. Not only do I love to write, I love to read!!! 8. Audible mastication is something I find thoroughly irritating. As irritating as chewing is, it’s also just plain disgusting. I try not to pay attention, but inevitably my concentration becomes squarely focused on the irritant.

9. I love working with my hands; building anything. I absolutely love tools. It was interesting what happened on Thanksgiving. My family was playing a game where you pick what choice you think suits a specific player. For example, “if Andrea were a sport, what would she be?” The choices: Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, or Swimming. The other players then choose what they deem most accurate. In my case, the question was actually “What kind of store would Andrea most like working in?” The answers: Big 5 Sporting Goods, Claire’s (Jewelry), Lowe’s Hardware, Tiffany’s, McDonalds, or a Farm. Everyone picked Lowe’s Hardware except my Bro-in-law. He apparently didn’t know that about me.

10. I haven’t purchased any Christmas presents yet. Oops. I’m usually on top of this game, but this year has brought about gargantuan changes in life. Therefore, it kind of slipped my mind.

11. I miss the piano SO much!!!! I only get to play once a week now. It’s as if I’ve lost an appendage. Seriously. I don’t want to lose all of the ability I’ve gained over the past couple years. That is a significant worry for me.

12. Learning is something I love to do…when it’s on my own time. I am not a fan of school. When I am interested in a subject, I research it to death (no pun intended). There’s an interesting story behind that last remark (or bizarre depending on how you look at it). After my Grandpa passed away, I had this odd desire to learn all I could about embalming and cremation. And so I did. It was fascinating and disturbing. However, if it’s for a school project (which I don’t have anymore) I lose all motivation. Weird, huh!

13. I love the TV show “Pushing Daisies”, which I’m currently watching on my IPod. Yes, I’m watching and typing and [shifty eyes] working at the same time.

14. Which brings me to this fact: I can multitask exceedingly well. Fancy that!

15. As well as the written word, I love numbers. I’m over accounts at my work and with the way some of the other employees add…it’s a good thing I know what I’m doing. Their accuracy leaves a lot to be desired. Also, I have always been able to memorize numbers with ease. If my mom ever needed to remember a phone number, she told it to me. I, in essence, became the Uhrey phone book. I can still remember things well, but not as effortlessly as I used to. I guess that shows I’m getting old. Oh well.

16. I love reading blogs. Friends’ blogs are the best because, of course, I love them. However, Mental Floss and Cake Wrecks are two of my absolute favorite. Useless facts and hilarity; how can you go wrong?

Friendship Means. . .

It has been an interesting couple of months. Change has been a frequent visitor. Some of those transitions were welcome and some unwanted. There are so many thoughts and mixed emotions crowding my brain right now. I guess that's the danger of becoming a "blog-slacker". Oops.

One recurring thought has been about friendship. I've noticed that everyone has different definitions of what it means to be a friend. Obviously, I know where I stand on this subject, but I'm interested to see what you, the readers, think. I'd appreciate it if you would share your opinion. I'd also love it if you could share an example (without specifying names) about when or how you knew someone was a true friend to you.

Thank you in advance for your participation. These are my favorite kinds of blogs to write. I hope you will enjoy it also. I'm looking forward to reading your comments!

The End of a Very Long Day

Let me start by saying thank you, especially to all of you who have prayed in regards to my job and that of my friend, Janel. This past two weeks has been torture. Today, we had individual meetings with our boss and both took rides on the emotional roller coaster.

They have cut our hours several times over the past couple of months. They felt that it wasn’t fair to cut hours anymore. It was time they let some people go. Janel was one of those employees. I was heartbroken. Not only is she my roommate, she’s my best friend. The next couple of hours were tearful ones as we tried to make it through the day. She did an amazing job putting on a brave face. After lunches, our boss took Janel aside and said that he had been thinking about his decision. If they cut some of her hours, they could keep her employed. So the happy news is that she wasn’t fired! She still has a job! Prayers really are answered.

As for me, I still have a job as well. However, my job description has changed drastically. I now have ten times the amount of responsibility on my shoulders. This is causing me extreme anxiety. I know that I can do it, but it is SO MUCH! I truly don’t see how one person can accomplish what is expected of me. But as I stated earlier, prayers really are answered. I just need to remember that the Lord will help me. I need to believe in myself. I need to trust that I will be given the strength to carry out what needs to be done, that I will obtain the knowledge and patience to help others, and that I will be able to accomplish these things while maintaining my sanity…if at all possible. I mean, most of my sanity went out the window a long time ago. But I’d like to keep whatever I have.

Believe me, after these past few weeks, there’s not much left.

A Very Long Day

As most of you probably know I like to write stories. I enjoy trying to paint a verbal picture; to create a mental image for the reader and myself. Yesterday, I had the kind of day fit for a story. Here’s how it went.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP. “Stupid Alarm” I groaned. Opening one eye slightly, I rolled over, slapped the snooze alarm, and yanked the covers over my head. I had nine more minutes. It was during that short period of time that the dinosaurs came back. Running for cover, my friends and I jumped into a pile of old tires. We were surrounded. There was no escape. Then Jeff Goldblum appeared out of nowhere to help us. We were extracting ourselves from the pile of rubber when the alarm went off a second time. “Jeff Goldblum? Where did he come from?” I asked myself as I turned off the alarm and dragged myself out of bed. "I haven't seen Jurassic Park in ages." I was the walking dead. My eyes wouldn’t open fully. Due to a lack of sleep, my head throbbed. Walking to the door, the world began spinning. The throbbing became more intense as I stopped to steady myself. “This is going to be a long day.”

After crawling back into bed for another 20 minutes, I felt a little more awake and decided I better hurry if I was going to make it to work on time. I was scheduled to be there a half hour before opening, which is when the order for our inventory usually arrived. Luck was on my side. I made it before the delivery guy. I greeted him and signed for the boxes as usual. I noticed a man standing in the doorway. It was a customer. We still had 15 minutes before we were supposed to open. Now you can call me callous, but I ignore people who stand at the door before opening. They can wait ten or fifteen minutes. Other businesses don’t open doors for impatient customers, why should we? I rolled my eyes and started putting the order away. My boss, however, is a people-pleaser. He saw the man, let him in, and decided to open the store fifteen minutes early. A fellow coworker and I get thoroughly annoyed by this. We come early specifically so we have time to put things away. When he opens early, there is no one else to help customers and we end up spending most of the morning at the register. Fortunately, my boss was helping the man and I was able to work on the order.

Feeling irritated, I was stacking the boxes as noisily as possible, grumbling to myself about my boss’s competence. Two other employees walked in and I decided to stop being ornery. I had two boxes left to unload when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman walking swiftly towards me. I looked up and instead of a face I saw a badge. “I’m from the Federal Bureau of Investigations. We are performing an investigation. Step away from the computers. Do NOT touch the keyboards. There will be no one wandering in and out.” A swarm of men and women in dark jackets followed her. They had blocked both entrances as if we were planning to run away. I glanced at my fellow coworkers and found that all of us stood stunned; rooted in place. Confused and scared to death, I noticed bright yellow letters blaring across each jacket: FDA.

‘I swear that lady said she was from the FBI…’ I thought to myself. She probably was. She acted like it, at any rate. You know the type: the authoritative feminist. She had moved past me and was shouting her commands. A man walked up to me and introduced himself. He asked for my name and then told me to take a seat. I had the distinct impression that they were performing a “good cop/bad cop” routine. Whether that was the case, I’ll never know. I sat and listened as they demanded that my boss shut and lock the doors. The main lady even forced a customer to leave, not even allowing her to purchase the items in hand. Taking long breaths, I tried to slow my heart rate. We were told that they were performing an inspection/investigation and wanted to question each of us. They said we didn’t have to answer questions, but they would appreciate our cooperation. The lady “in charge” said that she didn’t anticipate their investigation taking more than a couple hours. Then she came and asked for my name, address, position in the company, and if I would be willing to be interviewed. I complied and two other people (a man and woman) walked up to me. They asked me to follow them and we went into the hallway.

Keeping my head together was tricky. With the man sitting on my left and the woman on my right, it was hard to think straight. I knew that I wasn’t under investigation. Thankfully, I wasn’t associated with the area under scrutiny. They each pulled out a notebook and commenced the interview. She asked me the questions and they both wrote down my answers. It reminded me of something you’d see on a TV show. They kept asking me the same questions, only they were phrased in different ways. ‘Do they think I’m stupid?’ I thought as I asked for clarification on one such question. The half hour interview seemed to last forever. I found out later that the other interviews didn’t last nearly as long as mine. Why did they interview me for so long? I didn’t know anything. I suppose they were trying to be thorough. The lady said, “Go back and see what they want you to do.” I had to use great self control to walk out of the room and not run like a mad woman.

I left the interview and was told by the lady “bad cop” (who was actually nice to me) that I was “free” to leave. In a daze, I grabbed my purse and walked to my car. I stood there for a second gathering my thoughts and realized that I was shaking uncontrollably. I was shaking so much that I had a hard time putting the key in the door. I sat down and it became apparent that my body was numb. ‘What do I do now? Leave? What if they open up the store again?’ I needed to talk to someone. I needed my mom.

“Are you okay?” I tried to answer but there was a lump in my throat. Unable to speak, I started crying. “What’s going on?” she asked. I told her the horrible events of the day and that I didn’t know what to do. She said she’d come pick me up and help me calm down. I shut the phone and sobbed, fearing for my job and my now unknown future.

My nerves were shot and every phone call made me jump. I went home and remained there for the rest of the day hoping for someone to call me with news. It didn’t matter what kind of news, just something to ease my mind. Janel called me with a little bit of information late that night, but not enough to ease my nerves. I went to bed affirming what I had stated earlier, “Today was a long day.”

I wish I could tell you that I fabricated parts of this story. Unfortunately everything in that story was true. Yesterday was indeed a long, horrible day. I went to work today same as usual, but I am still unsure as to my future. My boss told me that they are facing major decisions in the next few days. I’m really scared right now. Please pray for Janel and me. We don’t want to face sudden unemployment, but if that happens…please pray that we’ll be blessed to find new jobs soon.

[Sigh]

Move On and Press Forward

Have you ever felt an overwhelming amount of love from someone as they proceeded to turn you around and give you a swift kick in the butt? I experienced that yesterday and today. The Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just ended and I feel spiritually edified and also thoroughly chastened. But that’s what I asked for. This may sound silly to you or maybe you do the same, but I prayed that the areas where I need to improve would be made known to me. Let’s just say that almost every talk screamed, “THIS IS FOR YOU, ANNIE!” I can definitely say that my prayers are answered.

The past few months have been relatively difficult for me. I say relatively because in comparison to others, my trials seem minuscule. Many of the tribulations have been due to, well, me. Apparently, I don’t deal well with change. This past little while (amidst much change), I’ve found myself dwelling on the past and letting little things irritate me. I’ve taken offense where no offense was intended. I’ve felt alone and forgotten. The list goes on and on, but I really don’t want to share all of my many flaws with you. Luckily, I realized that I was letting Satan drag me down. He can be so good at that and that scares me. To fight against those thoughts, I have been trying to do better; to be better. But it has been difficult.

There were so many topics and quotes that struck me. I’d like to share a few things that I wrote down, because in explaining my thoughts to you they become clearer to me. Elder D. Todd Christofferson quoted President Thomas S. Monson when he said, “In the private sanctuary of one’s own conscience lies that spirit, that determination to cast off the old person and to measure up to the stature of true potential.” As I have been more “in tune” to the private sanctuary of my own conscience, I have come to know that I have enormous potential, greater than I can even imagine. Otherwise, why would Satan work so hard to destroy my self-worth? Recognizing the determination I have inside, it’s my responsibility to measure up.

So what about my irritations? What do I do when people hurt me? Robert D. Hales said, "A kind letter to the editor, a conversation with a friend, a comment on a blog, or a reassuring word to one who has made a disparaging comment; I assure you, to answer our accusers in this way is never weakness. It is Christian courage in action." He talked about being and staying on the high ground. In order to do this, I need to resist my anger, forgive myself and others (especially those who meant no offense), and turn the other cheek. But from experience, I know I can’t do these things alone. I need the Saviors help. The Atonement is not just for sin. It’s also for sorrow. I need to put those burdens on the Lord. He already suffered. He won’t suffer more.

Most of all, I need to stop dwelling on the past. As President Thomas S. Monson said, "Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family." That also ties in to what Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “Learn to laugh.” In Backward Glances, I wrote about how I tend to make myself laugh. I need to use this to my advantage. Laughing is a wonderful gift and I know that it will help me find joy in the journey.

Thank you, friends, for sharing with me your trials and triumphs. Your blogs inspire me to be better and also let me know that I’m not alone in struggles. President Henry B. Eyring quoted Mosiah 18:21, “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” If we (in unity) follow the Savior, we can become what He wants us to be, collectively and as individuals. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated, “If only we could glimpse for a moment what the Lord has in store for us in this life and the next, our faith would never be shaken and our hope would never falter.” There are great things in store for us. We just have to move on and press forward!

Quirks?

The Rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know (or be rebellious like me and don’t!).

1. Ever since I was a child, I would make up random songs all the time about…well, anything. As you can see by my past couple of blogs, this quirk is still going strong. The thing I find humorous is that my nephew now does the same thing!

2. I randomly punch people. Okay, I don’t actually punch others, but I do pretend to sock them in the kisser occasionally. It usually happens when I’m in a particularly odd or hyper mood. Just ask my friends and coworkers.

3. Gummy worms have to be hard for me to eat them. One summer, at a Youth Conference, I ate melted gummy bears and later threw up. I ended up having the flu, but now I can’t eat gummy bears in a heated gelatinous state.

4. Staying with the food peculiarities, I hate frosting. It is sickly sweet and disgusting. This also stems back from my childhood. My grandma had bought a cake decorated with a forest of frosting flowers. I was given a piece with a clump of “roses” the size of my head (I was a small child). I tasted one and didn’t like it, so I scooped the other flowers onto the side of my plate. My grandma wouldn’t let me leave the table until I had eaten the entire conglomeration of flowery glucose. It ended with the sweet, creamy spread forcefully exiting my stomach. No more frosting for me…ever! Blech!

5. I’ve been known to do odd things while brushing my teeth. Usually, I start singing random songs to my roomies (frequently from the Simpson’s, Sesame Street, Disney, or whatever has been stuck in my head that day). I talk to Janel about pointless things, but she can’t understand because I have a toothbrush shoved in my mouth (which is extremely funny to me). I also like to clog while I clean my pearly whites, but that inevitably ends with me laughing and drooling toothpaste on the floor. Not a pretty sight, but highly entertaining for my roommates. But the most common occurrence and by far my favorite is when Janel and I start gurgling duets.

6. This isn't a quirk, but Jewelsp wrote about dating and I wanted to as well. In the course of two dates, I went out with 5 guys. That sounds odd, but it’s true. On the first date, one of my friends set me and two of our friends up with three of her date’s friends. The problem was that we didn’t know which friend was our date. There was one that I liked more than the others, so I picked him (in my mind). He stayed near me too, so I decided he was my date. In actuality, there were no set dates except the original two. Whew! If you think that was confusing, you should have been on the date. The second date I wrote about in a blog. I was going on a date with a young man who had one of his friends tag along. Since the friend didn’t have a date, I sort of became a date to both of them. That’s what I call speed dating or accelerated rejection…for them. It didn’t take long to decide I would never subject myself to a second date with either one of them.

I now tag Lanae, Geasher, Janint, Yuni, Brea Marie, and Confuzzled!