Time flies...

Well, goodness, I knew it'd been awhile since I'd done anything with my blog, but I didn't realized it'd been over a year since I'd posted anything! For those of you that actually enjoy reading my ramblings: I apologize for my lack of care and will try and be better about putting up interesting and insightful updates or thoughts for your amusement. For those of you who don't bother checking up on this very often: maybe you'll actually have something to read up on when you stop in next. :-)

An update:

I have recently entered into my twenty-fifth year of life and am finding it highly enjoyable. I spend my weekdays working as the lead receptionist at an optometrists. The evenings get filled with bible study, worship practice, taxi-ing siblings, dancing, and family time. The weekends usually end up being a nice mix of cleaning, resting, fun adventures with friends, an occasional dance, church, etc.

I still sorely miss Mom. It's been three years since she passed away now. She was the most influential woman in my life and it's been challenging moving on without her wisdom and comfort. I love my family dearly and don't know what I would do without the company/entertainment/love/support of the goofy lot. We're an odd bunch, but we love eachother. :-)

I never did get that Honda Metropolitan I was so in love with. After taking the motorcycle training course and talking with some "experts", I came to the conclusion that purchasing a slow scooter would be unwise. (My love for speed had NOTHING to do with that decision, for the record.) I have since turned my attention toward a Vespa which, is much more expensive and will take me longer to attain, is faster and larger, making it safer. I still don't own it, but am getting closer and closer to being a proud, yet dorky looking Vespa rider/owner.

The Lord never ceases to amaze me with His acts of love, grace, power, faithfulness, and love (yes, I meant to say love twice). He's been the one constant in my life and though I'm not always pleased with where He takes me or the things He throws my way, He continually proves that He is in control and, though I may come out with a few bumps and bruises, He will never allow harm to come to me and everything He does is for my own good. Growing in the Lord is quite the journey... I'm very much looking forward to where it takes me and the end result.

:-)

Woohoo!!!!

I'm just slightly excited and dazed for several reasons:

a) the weather took a turn for the sunny today. That's always energizing.

b) Sarah just had a big change take place, I will let her spread her own news. :-)

c) I finally got my car washed... it's shiny and clean.

d) the sunny weather coaxed me outside long enough to spruce up the yard. It's nice to clear away some of winter's gray from the garden beds and see more green.

e) the house is clean, and even though it's a home day for me, I don't have to spend it all cleaning. Yay! *lame celebratory dance*

f) there have been several good changes in the material, communication, and relationships that I'm affected by and/or are in charge of in the high school ministry. I'm becoming more comfortable and assertive in my leadership position (certain details, planning, and policies are becoming second nature and it's freeing me up to focus on taking leadership and making decisions more authoritatively). I also feel that it's being recognized and respected by those I'm working with. *satisfied grin*

g) I'm starting a new job!!! It's a receptionist position that I actually interviewed for a year and a half ago, but due to a missions trip that took place the same month that the old gal would be leaving, they couldn't hire me. A friend from church, who is the unofficial office manager and had recommended me for the job the first time, approached me two weeks ago to inform they were hiring again. I wasn't terribly sure if it would work out as I nanny for a family two days a week, some other scheduling stuff was up in the air, etc., but there were many pros to taking it up, so I applied again. I talked to Dad about it last Tuesday or so, verified that the position was still open on Thursday, emailed my resume on Friday, went in today for an informal interview, and start work this Thursday at nine. Aaaaaagh!!!!! The family that I work told me that they're very flexible for whatever ends up happening, the clinic is willing to work with my schedule, the clinic opens at nine which means I'll be able to be home to get Dan off to school in the mornings, and it's a less than five minute drive away which allows the option of walking to work on nice days such as today. Wooooooow!!!! It's just now starting to sink in. Sooo, yeah, I'll start all my training and such this Thursday and we'll see how it goes! Oh, the business is All Family Vision Care, in case you were wondering. :-D

and h) I'm just slightly wired on a Starbucks double shot and coffee. Hehe.

A no-frills update

For those that like to keep up on what the Hazleton's are up to, here's an unimaginative, to-the-point post to fill you in:
(though, I myself can rarely keep up on everything we're doing, so hopefully I'll be able to properly relay correct information)

Robert is:
-playing basketball during baseballs' off season, and enjoying it
-He's keeping up with schooling at home
-is involved in 4-H and Thursday School
-helps out with Children's Church at Suburban
-keeps getting taller
-"Sleeps. Eats."

Sarah is involved in:
-the ProMusica Orchestra (with an upcoming concert)
-a debate workshop in which she gets to research all sorts of alternative energy
-is also keeping up with schooling at home
-also does 4-H and Thursday School
-sings on the worship team at church
-helps with the Children's Ministry at church
-turns sixteen on the 18th
-is too smart for her own good

Daniel:
-does the Wings program and gets to ride "bus!" to and from school everyday
-does Special Olympics Skills Basketball
-acts very much like a nineteen year old boy
-still loooooooves movies and Odyssey tapes

Myself:
-still housesits occasionally
-plays violin at church
-coordinates weddings at the church and for friends for a high price :-) jk
-is the girls discipleship group coordinator (and whatever else they need) for the high school youth group at church
-provides "nanny" care for two families
-feels very short and too old
-wants a few hundred thousand for a sweet new ride and three week trip to Paris

Dad:
-still works at the hospital as Materials Manager (he buys everything and uses his skillz to save the hospital loads of dough)
-is a very strong, supportive, Godly leader for the family
-keeps showing off his skills in the kitchen (we like it)
-is the best Dad in the world
-is still the one to blame for our quirky humor

and Nicole and Christopher:
-are ......married.
-Nicole still works at Industrial Pipe and Supply as their accountant and sole female in the office
-Chistopher.... (I think this is right) drives fertilizers and lyme to fields in extra big trucks... it's manly
-are hoping they can find a lovely first home to move into
-will be celebrating their first whole year of marriage on Feb 9th (woohoo!!)
-are in-laws :-)

That 'bout wraps it up! I'll probably have to post some corrections if the rest of the family reads this and discovers any mistakes.
"Duh, Valerie! I graduated from high school in 2004! I've been researching molecular deformations and telekinethisaniomysm at Swansea University for four years!!! Get with it!"
It wouldn't surprise me.

Recent highlights...

So many fun things have occurred within the last week and there's really no way to do them justice in a blog post (you probably wouldn't want to read it all either). So, I will attempt to condense them into a few sentences each and give you a quick overview on the recent happy happenings in my life. :-) (FYI, these are not in chronological order)

~ SNOW!!!!!!!!!! Ice, dangerous roads, school closures, power outages, not enough snow gear, but lots of pretty white fluff!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ We got our Christmas tree! It triggered many bittersweet memories of similar outings of past years and it was rather rainy which led to having to cover the cameras that were brought along. But, a lovely tree was picked out rather quickly. It was adventurously packed into the back end of the van (we opted to give this method a go before trying to tie it onto the very high roof of afore mentioned vehicle).... fortunately, it was a pretty flexible tree, didn't break, and was only slightly bent when we unloaded it at home. It now stands straight and tall in our living room looking very festive.

~ I learned how to "install" chains! We decided to be adventurous and actually drive in these icy conditions, but I didn't want to drive far without the extra safety of chains. In a very small effort to be a semi-sufficient woman, I opted to go to Les Schwab and have them install them for me. The logic here: a) it would be faster to have an "expert" do it. b) I could look on and learn how it was done. And c) it would relieve my father of one more time-taking, help-your-helpless-daughter task (He takes such good care of me! I often wake up to my car completely scraped off and ready to go on winter days. I really didn't want to ask him to do one more thing.) After pulling up in Les Schwab, waiting in line for ten minutes, only to discover that it would cost $11 and there'd be a 2 1/2 hour wait !!!!! , I decided to try and to it myself. Well, my 15 year old sister had watched a video on how to install them in drivers ed and was willing to help, so it was a joint effort. We found a large, empty spot in the Winco parking lot, fumbled through the tangled mess and not-so-clear directions, and (after miserably getting onto our knees in the snow, covering our mittens in rust, and trying to read the directions through the hair that would never blow away from my face) we got them on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have now been very securely in place for three days and lent to much safe transportation to and from various events. Sarah and I are two very proud woman. :-)

~ We had a snow day! The entire chain dilemma can be blamed on a few friends that had the gumption to invite us over for snow fun and lunch. ;-) I won't go into all the details, but we decided to brave Highland in order to get to their house (they were really desperate for social interactions, so we risked the treacherous journey for their sake). We got there with no issues (thanks to the chains) and enjoyed several hours of playing in the snow, eating a really yummy, warm lunch, Taboo, and many, many laughs. It was incredibly fun and in an absolutely gorgeous setting (log house in the woods. Oh yeah).

~ We had a power outage! Woohoo! It was just long enough to get us worried and just short enough to be fun (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). It flicked off in the evening, putting our cheerily lit street into utter darkness. Daniel went around the house trying each light switch saying "Oh no! Won't work!" He was terribly worried. We filled the house with candles, were very relieved that we have a wood stove, took a silly, slippery walk to scope out the extent of the outage, got ready for bed, and it came back on.


Well, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be. So much for condensing. Oh well.
Merry Christmas!

To share or not to share....

Last Sunday I (along with a few of my family members) attended a "Dealing with loss over the Holidays" class. Oh joy. I actually did want to attend and was interested in seeing how helpful it would be, but the minute we pulled up, I wanted to turn around and go home. My skepticism and apprehension flew through the roof when, the minute we were out of the van, we were greeted by the "welcoming committee" who cheerily informed us which building the class was in, that there were goodies awaiting, and that he was very glad we came. A sentiment I certainly didn't return. (No I wasn't rude, I just didn't share his cheeriness.) When we actually entered the house, we were greeted by smiling, organized sign-up tables and name tags (two things I rather dislike). After signing up and leaving every check box blank, to ensure I didn't receive any newsletters, I scooted over to the most inviting looking thing in the room: brownies and coffee. While loading myself up, and discreetly surveying the territory, two friends of the familys, caught my eye and we exchanged pleasant how-do-you-do's. Oddly enough, seeing them there (along with two other friends I saw while signing up) was somehow comforting and helped me feel more at ease. Maybe it's because there's strength in numbers, or perhaps it's just because misery loves company. Either way, it reminded me that we were certainly not alone in all this and we're not the only ones who may have a cruddy Christmas.

Feeling not quite as annoyed with the whole setup, I made my way over to our seats and settled in for the introduction and "educational" movie. In the introduction we were informed that there were tissue boxes scattered throughout the rows of chairs, and that we would be watching the movie, then breaking up into small sharing groups. "Okay," I thought, "I can do this. Watch the video, take notes, then go sit with a group and sip my coffee instead of opening up. There's absolutely no way I'm sharing with a bunch of strangers." And so was the attitude I entered into the the evening with.

The movie was terrible. Almost entertaining in it's impersonal, superficial, instructional manner. Well, I'm generalizing. The testimonials were informative, sometimes humorous, and encouraging. The host and hostess of the movie were horrible. So sad. At that point I was wondering if the share time might be the easy part. The movie finally finished and we were told to break out into small groups. Now we had to choose which group we wanted to get stuck with. Fortunately, two female friends of ours went to one group, so, to evade as much awkwardness as possible, we joined that group. As everyone was getting settled in, the "leader" started going around and moving people to different groups to even them out. Because a few of us wanted to stay together, our group ended up being just us Hazletons and our friends. The facilitator was a stranger to all four of us, but it was comforting being at least acquaintances with the other ladies.

Then started the questions. You're not supposed to feel pressured to share, and you can remain silent the whole time if you so desire, but such was not the case. We basically went around the circle with each question, "allowing" everyone a chance to share they're answer. A very awkward silence, accompanied by anticipating stares, would great you after each question. My resolve to be silent didn't quite work out. In fact, I practically did the opposite. Perhaps it was the slight familiarity with the other ladies, or the opportunity to talk without being interrupted, or the assurance of confidentiality for the evening. Or an intoxicating mix of all three. Whatever the reason, the result was an adequate, heartfelt answer to every question put to the group. I was a bit shocked. Also encouraged. I was able to let off a little steam, learn a bit from the other ladies (including the facilitator), and my own issues were put in perspective (some shouldn't have been as huge, others were justified).

To wrap this up before it becomes a three volume fiction novel, I'll just say that I was encouraged with how the evening went after I let go of my prejudices and decided to make the best of it. Yes, it was still rather lame at parts and I don't recommend it for everyone. But I gleaned some out of it (for instance: the first year is sometimes the easiest, it's often the next few that are the most painful). It helped springboard some discussions at home. It also helped us make sure we were all on the same page. Could I have managed just fine without it, probably. But, again, I learned a bit from it and I believe the things I did hear will help me cope through the next several Christmases and holidays as well, as the one that's just around the corner. All in all, I'm glad I went, if for no other reason, to be a support for my family that also attended and enforce that fact that we are a family, we're in this together, and we're going to support each other through this, as long as we're all here.

And that's that.

Merry Christmas!

A Martha Stewart Thanksgiving

A little ways back, I put in my facebook status that I was finding inspiration for my Thanksgiving brunch from marthastewart.com. It became a bit of a joke between me and a few of my friends. While I do not support everything Martha does, I do (unfortunately) think she has some good ideas and I did get just what I wanted from her site.

Thanksgiving was a bit interesting (and we were very apprehensive about how it would go over) this year. It took awhile to figure out what we wanted to do and even longer to actually plan on what we would do. We ended up settling on a brunch with Nicole and Christopher (as they were invited to their "other" family's for dinner), hang out at home, then do a family dinner. I took charge of the brunch and Dad handled the dinner (as it involved the turkey which is a more manly dish he's always enjoyed preparing). I honestly didn't have the slightest idea what to expect from myself (or any of us) emotionally or physically. Even though she did a very good job training us kids in the ways of the kitchen and even very much involved us in cooking holiday meals, Mom always headed up and planned everything. We would lend creativity, ideas, and help where needed or directed. Because we now had to figure out who was doing what and what we wanted to do all over again, we all pretty much set our expectations to zero so that whatever we did, there would be no disappointment. We also allowed ourselves lots of leeway and flexibility to do whatever activities we wanted (a.k.a. we didn't plan anything) so if someone needed to crash, they could crash, and if someone wanted to party like it was their birthday, they could crash. ;-) Just kidding.

Anyways, I think we all ended up pleasantly surprised with how well the day went. Instead of becoming a basket case every time I went into the kitchen, like I was expecting, I had a very convenient and long burst of enthusiasm and energy and was able to turn out a really nice brunch (with help!!!! Dad was an angel in the kitchen and did all my dishes!) It was so fun. The menu I had chosen was filled with all kinds of fancy sounding dishes, but it ended up coming together very quickly and easily, and, with the additions that Nicole and Christopher assisted with -hot cider, grapes, and fruit salad- we were blessed with a very large, very delicious spread!

*Quick note: The point of all this is in no way to brag or show off! I was very encouraged by the fact that we were able to have such an enjoyable Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share that with you. If I'm coming across as a show off, give me a good smack next time you see me. ;-)

Sarah took some photos of the day, and while most are goofy ones of tired looking people relaxing in their home which I'm not going to share with you, she got some good ones of spread in the morning which I put below. We didn't end up with much to show for the dinner as we were all tired and very full at that point and didn't have the energy to pull out the camera for more shots.
The dinner menu (which, again, was all Dad) consisted of:
The essential (and very tasty) Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce (which Nicole actually made for us)
Green Beans
Sparkling Cider (always a must)
Pumpkin Pie and whipped cream
Pumpkin Souffle

It was quite tasty.

(Those were some flowers I found at Fred's to help with the decor. I really liked them. :-))

The brunch menu was a bit more complex sounding:
Hot Cider (compliments of Nicole)
Coffee (mostly drunk by me)
Pomegranate-Orange Juice
Popovers - mini and regular (for fun and variation)
Cranberry Butter
Grapes
Fruit Salad (both also thanks to Nicole)
Broccoli Cheddar Quiches
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Sausage

The highlight of the menu, personally, was the pumpkin bread pudding. The pudding itself had absolutely nothing to do with pumpkin, but you actually hollowed out a pumpkin to bake the pudding in, so you end up with a really fun presentation! You can kind of see it in the picture below:


The individual set up:

The mini popovers. :-) They were as tasty as they were cute.

The bubbly.
It turned out to be a really fun, relaxing day. Maybe our Thanksgiving was a bit more Martha Stewart this year (which I really don't think it was), but who knows, maybe next year we'll go for a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving feel.
:-)