Inspired by Beckie

Here's what's blooming at my house :

My big Azalea bush

My little Azalea bush - and some daffodils

Late Spring Daffodils

The dogwood tree in the front yard

What's left of my early spring daffodils.  And my butterflies.

I will have to go out in the backyard this week and see if my backyard flowers are also blooming.  And find room for the Mums I got from the Enchanted April cast and crew.

I've mostly been taking it easy the last couple of weeks - no Drama to deal with, thank goodness.  Went into DC last Wednesday with some friends to see Jillian Michaels.  I'm now inspired to eat better, move more, and try to figure out what my obstacles are, the reasons why I'm still overweight.

Me, Jen, and Kiersten at the Warner Theater in DC.  So worth it.

I claim I don't want to be overweight, but then I don't make any changes either.  So something needs to change.  Probably the amount of TV that I watch.  's ok, though, I'm burning out on a lot of the shows I've been watching.

Ok, back to work.  Have a great day!

I think Spring has finally arrived

It's been kind of cold and rainy the past couple of days, but it's not freezing and I can leave my windows open all day (which is really what I want).  I even turned off my heater!  So it's a little cold in my house, but I love it.  My cats seem fine with it too.

Speaking of which, my cats have been getting used to me being home again.  Ani will climb over me as I try to read asking to be petted.  If I don't, he will reach his paw to touch the hand he wants to pet him.  I sometimes pretend my hand is completely limp, and he will put his head underneath my hand, trying to get it to respond.  What a cute boy!  I just love it when he does this.  He still isn't too sure about me when he comes upstairs, but that could also be that Kitty will growl at him if he comes near me.

Kitty is being a pill, per usual.  She was so happy when I was at home more last week.  She got to be by me on the couch and get to go outside whenever she wanted to.  Last night I think she was a little worried I might be leaving again.  If I'm going to be going out again, I won't change my clothes, but if I'm in for the night I will change into something more comfortable (my work-out clothes, usually).  She then knows I'm home.  So last night I come home and she's grabbing at my legs every time I went towards the door - trying to see if she wants out.  But then I went and changed my clothes, and she was much happier.  She was willing to go outside for a bit.  Then at bedtime she attacked my legs again.  And again this morning.  Not sure what she wants.  Silly girl.

And happiness, Aidan Turner checked his facebook last night.  I have him set to be a close friend so I know when he posts.  He didn't post, but he 'liked' a new page for the Crew of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  So of course I 'liked' it too.  Martin Freeman was on last night too.  I think he's so adorable.  Now if we can just get Dean to check his facebook, Dean actually does post, so that's really much more fun.  He's just finished another con in Australia this past weekend - he and a bunch of his 'dwarf' buddies are really doing the con-circuit right now.  I keep referring to them as 'con-whores' but I suppose that's not very nice.

Ok, so this post is really random, but now that things have calmed down it's nice to be thinking about things other than the Drama Club for a change.  And so, so nice to be home in the evenings.  Except tonight.  It's our RS Temple night - most of them go during the day, but I'll be going this evening.  I have some family names to do.  Time to get started on plans for the Family Reunion too! 2 months to go!

Enchanted April

The play is over!!  We ran Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I had friends there all three days.  They all loved it.  We were able to break down the set in good time, and then I went home for a much needed rest.  Overslept this morning (oops!) but I don't have to be anywhere, really, tonight, so I'm good.

Now I can start working on my Family Reunion stuff.  Yay!

The best thing is, spring has finally arrived.  It was so nice out that I ate my lunch outside on the patio just outside the cafeteria.  I got to look at blue skies and sit in the sunshine and not stare at a computer screen. I didn't even have my phone with me, so there was no temptation to waste the beauty of the day by staring at a small screen.  It was lovely.  Here's hoping the rest of April is this Enchanted!

and it continues

This train of grief that we call 2013 just keeps rolling along.

My Aunt Mary Lou Andersen passed away Saturday morning.  My dad called that night with the news, and for the first time in months I actually sobbed.  This was for all those that have passed away in the last several months, from my Uncle Bill to my former home teacher to my little great-nephew, and now my aunt.  I've been stuffing and storing my emotions for so long; I really needed that release.

And there I was in church on Sunday, everyone wishing me a Happy Easter, and me knowing that the best I could do was Peace.  Peace, because even through all the grief and tragedy, I know that my Redeemer lives.  I had two epiphanies in regards to Easter this past week.

1) When Christ was on the cross, with all the pain and agony he was going through, he looked down and saw the grief of his mother and his beloved disciple, and made sure they were taken care of.  What an example.  No matter how bad it got, he was still looking out for others.  This came from the cantata we were doing for Easter.  This is the first time I've been in my ward for Easter for several years, having spent the last several with my sister and her family.

2) I was grieving, and Mary Magdelene was grieving.  I don't know that my grief approached hers, but it was still grief.  I had a brief solo in the cantata where Mary asks the man she thinks is the gardener where the body of her beloved Master lay.  I was able to channel that grief into the song, and I was a little surprised by the number of people who came up to me afterwards.  The epiphany?  That grief is grief, just as love is love.

We have sister missionaries in our ward again.  This is important because I've actually taken them out twice since they got here about 3 weeks ago.  They were going to come over on Saturday to help me straighten my house, but couldn't (which was fine because I ended up crashing after rehearsal).  They came over on Sunday instead for a few minutes.  I just love those sweet girls.  I'm so glad to have sister missionaries again; they are such a blessing to me.  They sensed that something was off, and wanted to make sure I was all right.

Time for me to go, but I want to leave on a positive note this time.  I am now Facebook friends with Aidan Turner (Kili in The Hobbit, Mitchell in Being Human (UK)) and Dean O'Gorman (Fili in The Hobbit and appears in several other Aussie shows that we don't have access to in the US).  So cool!

Aidan Turner

Dean O'Gorman

I've also 'friended' Martin Freeman (Bilbo in The Hobbit, John Watson in Sherlock, Tim in The Office (UK)) and Richard Armitage (Thorin in The Hobbit, also in MI-5 and Robin Hood).  I think it's so cool that they're willing to throw this bone out to the fans.  10 years ago I would have died to be FB friends with Orlando Bloom.  Hey, maybe I can do that too!!  I shall have to look for him!

Of Dwarves and Elves

I never thought I would love dwarves so much.  But there I was, 7:00am yesterday morning, picking this up:

 They hadn't even put them on the shelves yet!  I win!  I had it in my car all day long, cuz if I brought it into work with me I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of putting in my laptop or downloading the digital version.

L-R: Bombur, Bifur, Dori, Gandalf, Bofur, Kili, Thorin, Bilbo, Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Nori, Gloin, Ori, and Oin. 
Aren't they cute??

so I get home and all I can really do is watch up til Rivendell.  I even closed my eyes during the scenes with Radagast because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I actually ended up sleeping on the downstairs couch because I lay down for just a few minutes.  And 5 hours later... yeah.  Ani wasn't too pleased that I slept on his couch, and Kitty was so upset she scratched my forearms (apologies to my next-door neighbor for the screams)

But I will finish tonight - or at least get past the Riddles in the Dark scene, because I really want to watch the goblin fight-scene in slow motion.

In other news...
The play is coming along nicely.  We had a rehearsal of the full Act 1 last night, and we'll be doing Act 2 tomorrow night.  Tonight we have a read-thru of a potential script for the August show.  I have successfully transfered directorship of that to another person in the DC who actually wants to do it.  I'm willing to direct again, but I couldn't find anything I really wanted to direct that fit our complement of actors.  Then I have our Family Reunion this year to organize and prepare for, and then William Shatner is coming to Shore Leave in August, the weekend before the show.  It was just too much.  I'll be Assistant Producer instead, supporting Adam the way he's been supporting me.

I think I'm going to be leaving the Drama Club soon.  Yes, it's the fault of El Presidente.  I just don't want to participate with such a volatile personality.  Like a volcano, you go along with him thinking everything is fine, and then one day he just explodes all over you.  But there is another consideration.  I'm feeling myself move back towards wanting some sort of relationship again.  I blame Kili.  I've been telling myself Mary Jane stories about him and I would kind of like to feel that for real.  With a real person.  As part of the Drama Club, I have no time to date.  When I'm not working on DC stuff, I'm so exhausted I can't even watch my current favorite movie all the way through.

Church is ok, I'm one of the meetinghouse librarians, which is ok but not enough people come in with their babies for me to hold, and in RS I seem to be sitting on the wrong side of the room to be able to hold babies through then.  Doesn't help that I don't get in until after they've started and I have to leave before they end.  I miss the babies!  I have been putting bugs in the Bishopric's ears about going back to Primary, though.  I even mentioned to him once that I feel like I have some sort of black mark on my record because of my time in the Primary Presidency back in 1999.  It didn't go well.  I've only been called to Nursery ever since.  Or outside of Primary.  There's been a lot of that too.  Like no one trusts me with the kids. :(  I've got one of the current members of the Primary Presidency on my side, though.  She knows me, we were VT companions for a short time.

 Family stuff is coming along nicely, though.  I have commitments from 2/3 of my family, and promises from the other 1/3.  I'm so excited to have my family come visit me!!  At the funeral a couple weeks ago my sister had to silence me because I was getting a little loud, and while she apologized I told her she was right to do so.  "I get a little over-excited when I'm with family," I told her.  Which is why I'm currently looking for a job to take me back to CA.  I miss them so much.  And I keep spending lots of money to buy airplane tickets to go see them approximately every 3 months, even when I don't plan on it.

I think that's about it for now.  My daffodils are trying to bloom, but the weather has turned cold again.  Stupid weather.  I'm so ready for spring!

Breaking Hearts

I don't know where else to put this, so I'm going to throw it out here.  My niece had a baby last May, 4 months early.  He had to go through so many surgeries, but seemed to be doing so much better at Christmastime.  He only had two more major hurdles to go through--eat on his own, and breathe on his own.  Then he took a turn for the worse.  More surgeries were proposed, and his poor parents struggled with it all.

Then two weeks ago more surgeries were proposed, but this time his parents felt that it was time to let go.  So after a very tender moment on Sunday, March 3, where his mama got to hold him, and he looked up at her and smiled, Grayson passed away.  He was 9 months old.

I was able to fly out for the funeral, which was very tender.  My brother and his family--especially this particular niece--were so glad I was able to come.  I was glad I was able to go.  My work responsibilities were very low--no one had to cover for me.  My production responsibilities were ably handled by the production assistant.  My church responsibilities were handled by those who were in charge (ok, so all I was needed for was to open the library for Relief Society, but still).

My heart is still very sad.

I returned to work to find that my friend and co-worker had passed away.  He'd been diagnosed with brain cancer in January.  Such a kind, gentle soul--when he called me for work-related matters he'd always say, "I suppose you're sorry to hear from me," but I never was.  For a long time he thought I was about 10 years younger than I am--young enough to be his daughter.  When he found out from something I'd posted on Facebook, he was very surprised.  Yes, we were Facebook friends too.  I miss him.

This year is not starting out so well.  But spring is coming, and my daffodils are getting ready to bloom.  And rain will make the flowers grow.

Such a fangirl

I have been a fangirl nearly all my life.  I remember running around the house when I was about 4 years old pretending Donny Osmond was with me on whatever adventure I was having.  I got this from my oldest sister, who adored Jay Osmond and had posters of all the Osmonds on her walls.  As I grew up I added more things to my list: Star Wars, Duran Duran, S.W.A.T, even TV series' that I was only able to catch in re-runs.  I edit my list every now and then, but Star Wars has always been a staple.

What does a fangirl do, you may ask.  She pretty much scours the internet for pictures and fanfiction of her current focus (we don't use the word obsession).  She goes to conventions to get pictures of her favorites, and if the actors come to the convention then she gets their autograph.  She participates in message boards and most recently facebook--yes, I am now facebook friends with Qui-Gon Jinn, though he doesn't post very much.

Most recently I've added The Hobbit.

I told my sister once that if I had a family, that would be my focus, but as it is, I'm free to obsess over any guy I consider cute.  This year, it's Aidan Turner as Kili the Dwarf and his brother Fili played by Dean O'Gorman.



Fili and Kili--aint' they cute?




My favorite Kili pic




Not as many good pics of Fili, but this one is ok

 Aren't they adorable?  I just want to bring them home and, well, I should proabably stop there.  Fili is 82, Kili is 77, which is young for dwarves, but not for humans, so I think we're ok on the age thing.  So yes, I've seen The Hobbit 6 times now, the first two times in basic 2D, the next 4 times in IMAX HFR 3D (that means it was huge, with 48 frames per second--the quality was incredible, and the action was very clear).  So now I'm into dwarves.  Which is kind of weird, since the dwarves are pretty forgettable in the book--the only one you really get familiar with is Thorin

Uncrowned King under the Mountain

and in the book he's a bit of a jerk.  I suspect we'll come to dislike him in the next couple instalments of the movie, though.  It's hard to find good pictures of Thorin that don't make him look like a Klingon, too.  But this one is ok.

So now I want to spend all my time and money going to Middle-Earth in spirit if not in actuality.  Such a fangirl am I.  At least my dreams are pleasant.

"Let him see you cry"

So.  I had to deal with this really hard thing last week.  I put up a post on facebook to ask for prayers and good thoughts (for those who don't pray) sent my way.  And it really helped.  In the middle of an emotional meeting with me, the person I was in conflict with, and a moderator (who was a friend of both of us), the person began once again to do the thing that scares me, and I told him "that's not relevant" then hid my face in my hands, even as the moderator was saying essentially the same thing.  And I heard a quiet, detatched voice in my head say, "Let him see you cry."  So I did (it wasn't that hard, I was about 2 millimeters away from crying anyway).  I did try to tell them they could leave, but the moderator wisely had them both stay until I could get myself under control.  It was a very hard thing, and afterwards, once my work was done, I actually left work and went home and took a nap.  I was pretty wiped out.  However, I think the person finally got that I wasn't coming from where he thought I was coming from.  I think we can move forward now.  I think a big part of why is the support I got from my friends and family on facebook.  I believe that the Holy Ghost told me to let him see me cry.  After I composed myself I was able to tell him that I thought he was going to threaten me again, and that's why I got scared and started to cry.  He was appalled to learn that I was afraid of him.  Apparently he's never been angry with someone who wouldn't fight back before.

I just wanted to document this somewhere, and let those who read my blog and my facebook posts that it really, really did help.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blog reading.

Ack!

Kind of how I feel right now.  I've got like three more projects to do at home, stuff to do at work, a hair-cut tonight, and I'm just getting over a cold.  Which would all be fine and dandy but I'm leaving for the Trip of the Century in about 27 hours.  Ok, maybe it's only the Trip of the Decade, or even Trip of the Year.  Or maybe just the 2012 Christmas Trip.  I'm going to Utah to spend Christmas with my sister and her family, then I'm going with her and her girls to my brother's house in St George, and then the next day my brother's family is going down to California to see my Dad (and maybe Disneyland), and there's a baby shower for my great-nevvy Grayson (who's still in the hospital, poor guy), and then some time spent with my oldest brother and his family, and then going to the Tournement of Roses Parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day.  Then flying back the following day and taking the third day off just because I get in really late the night before.  I might go to work on Friday, I'll let you know.  If I remember.

I did go see The Hobbit, midnight showing, with my friend Kellie.  It was way fun.  We had dinner with our other friend Jann first, which was also great.  I loved the movie, I thought it was great.  I totally need to go see it again.  I'd write a revew but my blog is giving me fits right now.

Work is going well, the little Van Allen Probes are gathering so much data the scientists are just falling over in excitement.  And we're losing some data, but that's only because they're taking way more than they said they would (and it's only one instrumnet of the five).

Drama Club is also going well.  We had a read-through/recording of the play last night with everyone--ok, most everyone.  They all have their scripts and are now going to learn all their lines before rehearsals start on January 15th.  which reminds me, I need to get the locations of the rehearsal's out...

Christmas prep is... well.... going...   I did get all the presents mailed.  I decided to skip decorating since I'm going to be gone for so long, but since I keep my Hummel Nativity up all year round, that kind of counts.  I still want to do Christmas Cards, but they may be mailed from Utah.  And I have a few more things I need to make or aquire for my sister's family (I know, I know, I don't have to, but it's fun!).  And I have absolutely no time.  Except for maybe on the plane.  Or as I wait for the plane.  Sounds like a plan, yes?

Oh, and last Saturday went to the Walter's Museum in Baltimore with Shannon and Clare.  We saw an exhibit on Africans in Rennaissance Art.  It was really interesting.  I quite enjoyed it.  Then we had to go look at all the Samauri swords and artifacts (Shannon likes sharp pointy things).  Afterwards we had dinner at Cafe Hon, and it was delicious.  Gordon Ramsay did a good job cleaning it up and making the food wonderful.  I love little places like that.

Lots and Lots of Haps

So.  Busy girl, right here.  Let's see if I can document all that's been going on (or at least a significant portion)

• Commissioning the RBSP spacecraft has SUCCESSFULLY concluded.  YAY!!!  And I'm getting lots of kudos for all the time I spent on the timeline.  Ok, Madeline helped, but I still did the majority of the work.  And it's over!  which means a return to a normal schedule!  Ah sleep, how I have missed you!
• Normal Operations has begun for RBSP.  We're still 'shadowing' the contacts, but trying to let the spacecraft and ground software take care of things by themselves.  Now if only the scheduling software would behave...
• Taking a Leadership Training course at work this week and next (four-day course, two each week).  Learning a lot about management styles and behavioral styles and all sorts of things.  One of the things I like about learning this kind of stuff is how it really can apply to everyone I deal with, at work, at church, or (especially) the drama club.
• Hurricane Sandy came and went.  I put out constant facebook posts to let my family know I was doing ok, and I really did.  Didn't lose power once.  Worked some, cooked some more, and generally hung out with the kitties.  Kitty liked that.
• Halloween was fun--I pulled out my Hobbit costume this year.  Very fun.  Though I was saddened by all the kids who didn't know what a hobbit was.  Well, the movie comes out in December.
• There have been several Fairy Tales performances lately, and more coming up.  libraries, a hospital, and APL, both the Harvest Festival (used to be the Halloween festival) and the Winter Festival (was the Christmas party).  They've been very well recieved
• Began my new responsibilities as one of the two Production Managers for the Drama Club.  discovered some unpleasant things about the guy who is the President for his second year.  Took me a  long time and some Leadership Training to figure out how I'm going to deal appropriately with this guy for the next year.  Then next year I'll just apply for the President's job and he can go jump off a cliff.  Fortunatley I'm not alone in this--my fellow Production Manager and I get along great, and generally have the same opinions and attitudes about things.  We communicate very well.
• Held a read-through and some lunchtime meetings for our new play that we'll be performing in April.  "Enchanted April", directed by Karen.  If el Presidente doesn't manage to offend her too much.
• Had a whole day to myself last weekend.  Managed to get a few things done, but my house is still a major disaster area.  Not sure how I'm going to get it all straightened out.  Little by little doesn't seem to be making much progress.  Especially in the kitchen.  I may have to stop using dishes that need to be cleaned.
• Went to visit my sister and her family in October.  We had so much fun.  My nevvie Collin--or as he likes to be called now, Roy got baptized.  I love going to visit family.  I've got to find a cheaper way to do so, though.
• Ani is getting bolder.  He loves to be petted, and he loves to come upstairs and freak Kitty out.  I've managed to get him to let me pet him upstairs once or twice, but he's usually too distracted to do so.
• Kitty is being ornery.  She drew blood a couple times last week.  We seem to be getting back to normal, though.
• RBSP is getting renamed today.  Officially the Radiation Belt Storm Probes are becoming the Van Allen Probes, for James Van Allen, who passed away a couple years ago.  He's the guy who first discovered that there are radiation belts surrounding the earth, and spent much of his career working on them.  It's significant to me that one of the instruments on the probes is from Iowa, where Dr Van Allen spent the last years of his professional life--down the hall from me, when I was at the University of Iowa.  Very cool, huh?  Dr Van Allen also worked at APL, that's where he was when he discovered the radiation belts.  His daughter will be accepting the award for him today.

That's all I can think of right now.  Between Drama Club and work, I'm still far too busy and not getting enough sleep.  But I am all caught up on my tv shows.  Helps that I couldn't go anywhere during the hurricane, or that wouldn't be true either.  No, cleaning house during a hurricane isn't possible.  I promise.  Particularly when They expect you to work from home.

Happy November everyone!

The End in Sight

So I was able to go see my sister and her family last weekend.  That was great.  I mostly slept for the first couple days, though. Then I decided I didn't want to spend the whole time sleeping, and I managed to stay awake during reasonable hours for the next two days.  It was really fun to be there, though.  My nephew Collin--excuse me, ROY got baptized.  He decided to start using his first name instead of his middle name.  I didn't remember to ask him why.

Bonnie and Malena carved pumpkins, both rather scarey in their own way.  Yes, there are pictures, they're on facebook.  If we're not facebook friends, you simply must friend me ;)  Jack was his normal pill of a self.  And then there's Sophie.  See for yourself what Sophie was up to.

Otherwise I've just been working, sleeping, and participating in Drama Club activities.  We've been doing performances of Fairy Tales again.  I get to be Mama Pig, even though my character wants to be Baby Pig.  I am getting a little tired of it, though.  I might have to pull out next year, or (gasp) write a short skit myself.

However, the end is in sight.  Commissioning of both spacecraft has gone extremely well.  There are only two instruments left to commission, one is almost finished, the other is taking a little break (they saw something they didn't like and are trying to decide what to do about it).  One more maneuver and we're done.  Yay!  I'm technically back on a regular schedule starting next week, though.  Just because I'm a planner.  Then we really get back to regular--or more regular--schedules the following week.  I'm so ready for that!

Some Randomness

All I've really been doing these days is work and sleep.  I've managed to lose the pound I gained over launch week, and once I'm back on a regular schedule I'm going to work on those transitions--going from work to home needs a little more of a transition than the 15 minute ride home.  Maybe I need to play with my kitties when I get home instead of trying to force myself to have dinner and then eating for the next 3-4 hours.  Well, again, once I'm off this crazy schedule we can try that again.  Putting in 12 hours days or working nights really cuts into my 'me' time :)

So, the title of this post is randomness. I have some things I've been thinking about that I would like to throw out to the world.  First up, politics.

I have several, if not many, politically minded friends on Facebook.  On both sides.  So I see lots of posts putting down the other guy, or building up the favorite guy.  This has given me a lot to think about.  I tend not to post my opinions because I find most people are not interested in my opinion, they'd much rather just point out how wrong I am and then try to convince me of their right-ness.  Very annoying.  This is actually why I tend not to say much in any situation, I've been programed to think that no one is very interested in what I have to say, so I keep quiet.  But I digress.

I am a Democrat.  I don't like the idea of an all-pervasive central government trying to regulate my life.  I feel that the middle-class needs to be shored up and that 'trickle-down' economics doesn't work.  Mostly because those in charge of doing the 'trickling' decide to plug any leaks and keep it all for themselves.  We've seen a lot of that over the last several years.  That being said, I'm seriously tempted to vote for Mitt Romney in this upcoming election.  Why? you may well ask?

• I see Obama as a weak president who is unable to affect change in the country
• Obama's policies seem to be pushing us toward socialism, and I prefer democracy
• Mitt Romney is a Mormon.  This is not a valid point to many people, but to me it is.  I know what he believes in, as I believe it myself.  I know what his values are, which I also value.  Plus as a Mormon he believes as I do that the Constitution of the United States is a sacred document that needs to be protected.  Like I just said, I prefer democracy
• The country is about to tank no matter who is in charge, again largely due to Obama's policies.  Let's get him out of office before he does any more damage.  True, Romney will probably take the blame if he gets elected, but only if he doesn't manage to pull us out of it.  Reagan did it, Romney may be able to as well.

Ok, I feel better about that now.

My second random thought has to do with mid-life crisis'.  I'm thinking I'm probably old enough to have one now, but then I remembered that I kind of already did.  To me, a mid-life crisis is what happens when one realizes that their life isn't exactly what they had planned.  Then they freak out and try to fix it.  I had this realization some time ago, and while I didn't freak out I certainly got depressed.  I'm doing much better now.  And I take a lot of trips to see my family.  And even took a trip to Europe.  Gotta repeat that one!

I ought to include at least one more random thought before I close.  My spacecraft are doing great!  What little troopers they are!  We're almost 2/3ds of the way through commissioning, and so far everyone is thrilled.  Except for the planning software, which still needs a lot of work.  I've been on night shift the last couple weeks, and let me tell you, I think my body thinks it's back on California time.  Sleep in late every day, take naps, and then up all night.  Or mostly all night, anyway.  My poor kitties are so messed up.  I'm there during the day but gone at night.  Ani doesn't really like that I've messed with his routine this way.  Kitty is just mad that I spend all my time at home sleeping.  But it is helping with the weight loss, I must say.  I'm usually too tired to overeat when I get home, so I just stare at the tv until I can convince myself to go to bed.

All right, enough for now.  Have a nice day!  And remember, comments are love! :D

Day 13

Thirteen days since we launched.  (Cue music from Moulin Rouge) Everything's going so well!!!  Actually, not to jinx us or anything, but the spacecraft, A and B, both checked out just fine.  We've been turning on instruments in their allotted time and they've been checking out just fine as well. We actually only have one left to turn on, and they want to wait at least 30 days or more.  The Instrument Teams are very pleased.  Last week the Sun spit a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) towards us, and those instruments that were on even recorded some interesting things.  Of course, the science mission won't begin for another, oh, 47 days, but we're well on our way.  Our next major activity will be extending the spin-plane and axial booms out from the spacecraft.  The spin-plane booms will be extending slowly, 5 meters at a time, until they reach 50 meters.  It was going to be two of them at 40 and two at 50, but a week before launch they decided to change it so that they're even.  Long, long discussion of reason why, and Adam from Drama Club and Guidance and Control team was Not Pleased, but it's a done deal now.  Well, sort of.  The plan is done.  The actual thing begins on Thursday.

We have had some problems, mostly in the planning area as our planning software never had the chance to be challenged this thoroughly prior to launch, but we're slowly learning how to deal with it, and the guy who wrote the software is being kept plenty busy getting it to work correctly.  A couple of the instruments do have some yellow limits on their thermostats, but apparently they're ok with that.  For now, anyway.

After a grueling 8 days (two prior to launch), I and my fellow planner got to take 5 days off, and boy was that fun!  I slept and ditched the meetings I had on Wednesday, Thursday I had a dentist appt and quite frankly didn't feel like doing anything else that day (hey, my jaw hurt!).  Friday I helped with Inventory for the Drama club (which reminds me I have a file I need to send to someone), and then Saturday I went to the RenFest with Lauren.

The RenFest was fun, I always enjoy it, though I did find myself getting tired around 2:30 or so.  Had to stay for Fight School, but then a storm came in just as Fight School was supposed to start.  Lauren and I headed for the shops, and ended up making it to the Greentree Weaving shop where I was able to get a couple more blouses and a beautiful black skirt.  It may have an elastic band, but I think even Stacy and Clinton would approve.  And it has pockets!! :D

Sunday was, of course, time to go to church.  In the afternoon my home teachers came over and put the feet on my couch--after giving me the lesson, of course.  Then Kitty and I kind of laid on the couch and watched Veronica Mars.  Soapnet has been showing the old episodes of VM, and gave me a desire to watch it again, and since I have all three seasons on DVD, not a problem, eh?  That Veronica, she really jerks poor Logan around.  And he has such big brown eyes!  Ok, sometimes he really deserves it, but not after they get together.  Oh, and I actually did some cooking.  I picked up a book at my WW group "I love Leftovers!".  All about making large amounts of food and storing it, and sometimes even turning it into something else before eating it again.  I need that, I can tell you.  I really can't even think when I get home after a 12-hour day.

And Monday time to go back to work, this time as a Spacecraft Analyst.  Someone else gets to do the planning (and field all the scheduling calls) for a while.  I'll be back to doing it in a month, but until then I get to figure out how to fly these spacecraft!  And empty out my email box.  Still at over 500 emails, most from pre-launch.

And we have LIFTOFF!!

On it's way to the Assembly Building two weeks ago

 So here's a few more pictures.  To the left we have the fairing, with RBSP inside, making its way to the Vehicle Integration Facility

Below we have the Rocket on the pad last night at sunset, August 29, 2012.  Beautiful, huh?

Sunset at the Cape

And here we have the best part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On time and everything!  4:05 AM I was sitting at my dining room table, watching the picture on my laptop (www.spaceflightnow.com if you want to see the replay).  My cat was outside.  I was so excited when we actually launched on time!!!!!  Now, of course, it's time for the real work to begin :)

 

 

Liftoff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying it again

Nice picture, huh?  Well, the rocket's back out on the pad, Hurricane Issac decided to visit Louisiana (sorry Louisianans!), and so far we have a 60% weather possibility that we'll launch tomorrow morning (4:05 am Eastern).

Meanwhile, I spent the last week doing more food prep--two more meal types in the freezer, more of the fresh stuff cut up and frozen.  I'm thinking I'm REALLY not going to want to cook after a 12-hour shift, and I really need to stop doing the fast food thing (curse you, Chick-Fil-A for being so yummy and so close to work!).  I mean, I have a hard enough time after a regular days' work without having to deal with a 12-hour shift.  Actually, since I want to keep my meal-times somewhat normal, I'll probably be bringing in breakfast, lunch and dinner so I can eat at 8:00am, 12:00 noon, and 5:30pm.  My shifts will be 7:00am - 7:00pm, so packing the meal bag the night before might be important.  And frozen works really well for keeping everything nice and cold until time to reheat.

I also managed to do some cleaning while I was at it.  Ani's room has been in dire need of cleaning for a while, and it finally worked its way to the top of the list (the bathrooms were first).  So I cleaned and reorganized and now he has a great big play space.  He was so fun last night, while I was giving him skritches.  Have I mentioned that he would rather have skritches than eat his treats?  He was wrapping his paws around my hand to make sure I kept giving him skritches.  What a cutie.  Sorry he's sideways-- I can't figure out how to rotate it, and it looks fine from where I added it from.

Can't leave Kitty out, though.

I caught her making out with the (as yet unwashed) costumes from Play On. She really liked the ones Lady Margaret had been wearing.  Kitty's actually been very good lately.  She's not all that happy when I try to go to bed around 9:00pm and won't let her outside, but she loves when I sit and watch tv (on my new couch--did I mention I have a new couch???).  She climbs up next to me, puts her paws on my thigh, and watches with me.  She really likes the "My Cat from H---" from Animal Planet.  I think she's trying to show me that she's much better than those cats.  She still scratches my legs when she's unhappy with me, though.  And I still can't leave her and Ani alone unsupervised.  He likes to run at her, which freaks her out (understandably).  I can't figure out how to block off sections of my main floor so they can see each other but not interact.  Then I can put down food by the partition and Kitty can begin to realize that the other cat isn't so bad.

And yes, I have a new couch.  I needed some shopping therapy last month, and Roomstore is going out of business (sad for them, but the prices are really good).  So I finally bought the sectional with chaise that I've wanted for a long time.  I can't have large pieces of furniture in my tiny house, but this one fits (I measured it first to be certain).  Still needs to have the feet put on, but my home teacher will help with that when he gets a chance--and our schedules match up.  That's going to be interesting over the next couple of months.

Here's hoping we launch tomorrow!!

Holding pattern

Ok, so the first delay was actually last weekend when they--the builders of the rocket--found a problem with a different but similar rocket at their facility in GA.  That slipped us a day.  Then this morning we all got up and got prepared for launch, and there was a problem down at the Range--a homing beacon was acting up.  Since it's kind of important to know when and where the rocket remains will be dropping from the sky, they kind of need that beacon to function.  So we slipped to tomorrow.

I'm at work, having finished the preliminary scheduling, and now just waiting to hear back from the schedulers for the SN so we can finish that particular schedule.  then I can go home.  And sleep.  man, I'm tired!!!  Here's hoping we launch for real tomorrow morning!!!

Pretty, huh?  This is from when the fairing was being shipped to the rocket.  Our little spacecraft are in the fairing.

One week to Launch!!!

So exciting!!!!!  Getting busier and busier, but at the same time, all the testing is winding down--after all, there's only so much testing we can do--we either have tested it or we don't have time.    One week from today it all begins!

So of course, I had to get a new haircut.  A lot of people I know have been getting new hair cuts in the last month or so.  I had a hair appointment on Thursday, and really just thought it was time.  I'd been growing it out so I could braid it or do other fun things with it, but I've been so busy the last month all I would do is put it in a ponytail or a clippy and then go to work or church or rehearsal.  I talked it over with Michael, my hair stylist, and decided I wanted it up off my neck in the back but still longish in the front so I could still pull it back if I wanted to.  And this is the result.  Cute, huh? 

I did mention rehersal, too, didn't I?  I just did costumes for the Drama Club production this summer, but that was stressful enough.  It turned out really well, though.  If I get a picture I'll post it, but in the meantime...

It's really funny.  The first two acts set up the third act, and I just laugh the whole way through.  Two more performances if you happen to be in the area! :D

So time for another meeting.  Just wanted to check in since it's been a while.  I'm getting really excited!!!

Two great men and a baby

I kept waiting to have my pictures before I posted this, but I can't find them.  They're probably on my hard drive at home.

It's been kind of a hard month. 

Uncle Bill
My most favoritest uncle passed away 2 weeks ago.  Uncle Bill was just the BEST. He came to every holiday, not just Christmas and Easter, but Labor Day and Independance Day and lots of other ones in between.  He was at every family event he could possibly make.  We always got cards at Christmas--$10 while we were little, more (sometimes considerably more) when we became adults.  But more than that, we knew he loved us.  I have two stories that he loved to tell about me.

Favorite Nieces
Uncle Bill always told me that I was one of his favorite nieces.  When I was about 5 years old, just after he'd told me that, I turned to him and said, "Uncle Bill, we're all your favorite nieces!"  He was so proud.  He loved telling that story.  The last time I came to visit, he'd had his stroke and couldn't talk very well, so I told it for him.

"I Love my Uncle Bill"
When I was about 7 or so, I went up to Uncle Bill and told him that I had a song for him.  He said he'd like to hear it.  So I started to sing:


I love my Uncle Bill
I love my Uncle Bill
I love my Uncle Bill
I love my Uncle Bill!


Needless to say, he was thrilled.

He was quite ill there at the end.  We thought for sure he'd be leaving us last year, but he rallied and I got to see him several more times.  I was unable to make it to the funeral or burial, since they were in California and  Nevada and I'm in Maryland, but he's been on my mind a lot the last couple of weeks.  Mostly I keep thinking about all the people he knew, all the family relationships that he knew--and he knew just about everyone in the family.  What a reunion in heaven he must be having now!  I love you, Uncle Bill.  I can't wait to see you again.  Maybe you can teach me tennis :)

My Home Teacher

Brother Chuck Barron was my home teacher for many years, partnered with Charlie Miller.  Both were great friends.  About a year ago, they were moved to different routes, and I was given a new Home Teacher (who is wonderful, but this post is not about him).  Brother Barron was another one who had been ill for a long time, but we were unaware that he was declining again--and he always rallied before.  He passed away last week.  The funeral is tomorrow, and I get to lead the music.  A last service for a great man.

He would always greet me with a hug, and when asked how he was doing, he always said, "If I felt half as good as you look, I'd be terrific!!"  One time, in Stake Conference, I think, I sat behind him.  He told me afterwards that usually he can't hear anything but the melody, but with me behind him he could hear the beautiful harmony as well.  He was called to be a greeter at church--greeting everyone who came into Sacrament Meeting.  He just loved everyone.  And all the little kids--especially little girls--loved him so much.  They would always sit with him in church, showering him with hugs and kisses and being so much more reverent beside him.


Both these men would probably be somewhat embarrassed if I said this to them, but I consider both of them to be truly great.  Always faithful, always doing whatever was asked, and never complaining (that I heard, anyway--although Bro Barron would always say that getting old was the hardest thing he'd ever done).  I will miss them both.

But I promised a baby too, right?  This is Baby Grayson, my great-nephew.  He's about 2 months old now.

He kind of has my brother's hairline ;)
He was 3 1/2 months early, and it's been kind of touch and go for a while, but he seems to be doing ok now.  He'll probably be in the hospital until his original due date, but he's doing so well.  My heart goes out to my niece, his Mama, and her husband, my nevvy-in-law.  I wish there was more I could do for them.  Prayers seem to be doing a pretty good job, though.

I look forward to meeting Baby Grayson

Launch approaches

So a couple months ago I did an interview with NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/25/155719933/twin-probes-to-investigate-mysteries-of-space-weather

So they only used about two of my lines, but still, it's kind of cool.  Reminds me of when FUSE was getting ready to launch and there were a lot of opportunities for interviews and things.  Yesterday we practiced doing the launch as we will be doing on Launch Day, and you know, I'm getting really excited for launch.  Yesterday may have been pretend, but it felt like I was doing the work I actually signed up to do.  Like my friend and co-worker Tim says, our first real day of work is right after the spacecraft are put into orbit.  So fun.

A new calling

I suppose it's time for a new calling.  I've been in Nursery for over 3 years.  I love being with those little kids, and playing with them.  I love having a 5 minute lesson and snack time.   But I guess it's time for me to move on.  Because last Sunday I was released from being  Nursery worker.  I suppose I should feel sad, and maybe it hasn't hit me just yet, but I've been feeling for the last few months that I've lost my 'touch' with the little ones, and had an increased desire to just sit and hold babies.  And there are a lot of babies that need to be held!

So the Bishop emailed me Saturday night asking to meet on Sunday and I tried not to be fearful (our Primary President is moving in a month or so, not that I thought I'd be asked to do that, but you know what kind of vacuums that kind of thing creates).  With all that's going on at work, I really just wanted to be released so I could focus on my job responsibilities without having to worry about subs or lessons or anything like that.  But the Lord had a better plan for me.  I was called to be a Library Assistant, with special emphasis on working with the Relief Society.  So, no lessons to prepare, have to be there but there was a suggestion that me and the Ward Librarian should take turns in the library, and a good chance that I'll be in RS almost if not every week (that's where the babies are).  As I told the Bishop, I can do that.  Plus I'll have to make sure I come to all the Thursday night RS meetings, but that's fine.  I should be going to those anyway, and they're only once a month.

Today I'm kind of cheating--I'm sitting in a review, having already given my presentation, and mostly listening as my boss presents his stuff to the review board.  So far we haven't got too far behind, lunch is over, and no one's asking questions that can't be answered.  Will be here a while longer, since it's scheduled to go to 6:30 pm tonight (we started at 8:00am).  RS is tonight, so hopefully I can go.  I don't have my keys yet so it's not like I'll be much help that way, but I should get used to going in any case.

Kitty was on a tear last night.  I had brought some work home with me, and she really doesn't like when I break with routine (i.e. sit on the couch for hours so she can snuggle with me).  Ani was a little sad that I didn't stay very long downstairs as well.  I will try to make that up to him tonight.  And Kitty too.