School, California Style

School has started and boy howdy it is complicated.  We had already determined that California has, well, issues, but good grief.  School started on the 16th of August and they are still messing about with Thomas's schedule. 

The bus system is the city bus and there is a bus stop at the bottom of our hill--Yay! HOWEVER, it doens't go to the high school we are supposed to go to, it goes to a different high school.  I realize that doesn't make sense and I am sure there must have been a reason sometime.  When I called the bus company they didn't know either. 

So I drive Rebecca to the other bus stop (the one a mile and a half from the house) so she can take the bus, which keeps me out of drop-off/pick-up traffic so I can get Matthew to school on time.  Thomas is coming from seminary which is another complication but there is a carpool schedule (don't you love organized people who make up a schedule and hand it to you? I do).

The upshot is that I spend almost two hours a day in the car pondering all the things I should be doing instead of battling the logic that is the school districts. (Yes, districts, elementary has its own district, which would be fine except their calendar doesn't exactly match the jr/high calendar. )  I'm thinking home school is probably out...

Star Struck

I've been trying to get time to write a post on Zone Conferences (great) and the start of school (not so great).  But even more pressing is that they are filming NCIS at the bottom of the street.  I guess we are in California, after all.

Mice!

Okay, okay, not mice.  Mouse!  To be specific, Mickey Mouse!  And Rebecca's mouse ears.

The biggest advantage to having your college sibling home is that she can drive you to Disneyland!

Katie and the kids wanted one last adventure, and to be fair, the Cars Land billboards are everywhere mocking them.  So the day before Matthew started 2nd grade they hopped on the freeway and, two hours later, hopped off at Disneyland.  Ken was at a Spanish zone conference and I was home working on revising the new missionary notebook.  Though actually I was home obsessively tracking my old phone (Katie's new phone) to see where the kids (and my car) were.

They made it to Anaheim, and like everyone else wanted to goto Cars Land.  They waited in a long, long line for fast passes only to find out that the fast passes were already for 10:30 pm.    Since they had to be home by 10 (school night, hee hee) they ditched that idea and waited for almost two hours in the actual line.  They had a great time.

They had fun hanging out together, riding the rides and eating frozen lemonade.  Unfortunately, it was really hot and Becky wasn't feeling very well.  But they had fun, had and adventure and survived 4 hours of LA traffic (in my car--did I mention they were in my car? My non-scratched, non-wrecked car?  Katie drove like a pro--and because she wasn't tailgating had enough time to stop--unlike the the car two behind her that rear-ended the car behind her.  Whew)

The kids determined that Disneyland felt more like home than the house did...We're hoping to get permission to go as a family sometime during the mission (it is out of the boundaries so Ken and I have to live vicariously). 

I'm glad they got to have an adventure.  Although Katie reports that being the one in charge was a lot more stressful than she had anticipated.  :)

Tender Mercy Alert

This very nice man was one of the first missionaries in San Fernando back in the 1940's.  He was visiting his grandson who lives here and has just returned from a mission.  They came to a fireside tonight and he introduced himself and told us about the old days in the mission.  We could have talked to him all night.

This by itself is awesome, but even more awesome than that, his mission president was my Great-grandfather, Oscar W. McConkie.  I am beside myself with the amazing "co-incidence" of it all.  Tender mercies are awesome.

For the record, he reported that Oscar was an amazing mission president--large in stature and power like Nephi. 

Wii Would Like to Play

Katie is here! Hooray!  There is much amusement and happiness in the family room as the kids re-bond over New Super Mario Brothers Wii.

It's good to have everyone back together couch potatoing again.

I Feel Like Queen Elizabeth

(Image Credit: Simon Santi - Pool/Getty Images) http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/02/whats-in-your-handbag-queen-elizabeth/

Apparently, Queen Elizabeth carries a purse.  There is even a book about the fact that she carries a purse.  Inquiring minds want to know what she keeps in there. (Lipstick, fountain pen, mints, and a handkerchief according to my sources.) 

I have a purse.  I hate it.  It's just one more thing to keep track of/forget.  I don't mind my church bag--after all those scriptures aren't going to carry themselves--but I could do without a purse.  In fact, in civilian life I did do without a purse as much as I could.  Anything too big to fit in my pocket certainly could fit in my car.  The kids keep all their junk in the car, why not me?  I have a "wallet" that holds my license, insurance card, debit card and credit card.  On a rare occaision I can shove a greenback in my pocket with my phone.  It's a great system and safer from theft and I can't say I've ever lost my pocket.

Unfortunately this lifestyle requires pockets.  Preferably pockets in jeans.  Which, as you may have guessed, are not the dominating style of my wardrobe these days.  Plus people keep giving me things to carry around--handbooks, ministerial certificates, mission Costco cards, etc.  Stop giving me things people! At least I am down to one phone now.

So there I am in Costco, the only one in a skirt and sensible shoes with my purse over my arm. All I am missing is the royal hat.  That, and a gazillion servants, which if I had, I would not be at Costco, would I? (Or should we say, If we had a gazillion servants we would not be at Costco)

So if Queen Elizabeth ever comes to visit, we can compare purses and head to Costco (two freeways, one construction zone and 400 maniacal semi-drivers away).  Or better yet, I'll let her carry my stuff in her purse since she likes purses (because surely her security could hang on to her lipstick) and I can quit feeling like a pack mule.

Though on the other hand, nothing says pack mule like a cart full of frozen lasagna.

p.s. not only do I have a purse like the one in the picture, I have a jacket like that too.  Maybe I really am 80.  Which is fine with me because if one more person tells me "you look so young" I am going whack them with my purse. 

In the Zone

Zone Conferences are in full swing. To which I say, "stop swinging! You're making me motion sick!"  Sorry, I've completely cracked up. 

As evidence of my cracked brain, I was at Costco when someone's phone rang.  I thought it was funny that someone had taken the time to make the exact same ring tone I had made for Thomas.  What are the odds?  Rebecca finally had to take my phone out of my pocket and answer it. 

Because the Zone Conference schedule is off with the extra conferences of Goobye to Old President and then Hello to New President, it has been tricky getting food for all these missionaries.  The stake Relief Societies have been great but with all the schedule changes it has been confusing for everyone.  Between vacations, availabilty and the conferences without enough warning (I told the assistants that if they didn't get the calendar set they would be practicing the Law of Fasting) I am responsible for the food for about half of the conferences.

Now some loca chica (I'm looking at you SWP) would love this.  I don't even like cooking for my family.  So Sister Costco to the rescue.  I'm sure that I am giving fits to the Martha Stewarts out there but I can feed 48 people with 20 minutes of actual work and no table cloth.  Is it a feast to behold? No, it is not.  Does it feed hungry Elders and not-as-hungry Sisters? Yes.  Somewhere, a mission president's wife is feeling a disturbance in the force--like millions of Relief Society presidents crying out at once.  Me? I'm handing out pudding cups. 

Plus, the true genius of my lazy plan is that the zones that are having lovely RS meals will never know their compatriots are having to peel their own oranges.  Well, the assistants will know but since we've already discussed how they figure into the equation, they are glad I didn't follow through on the fasting threat.

On the spiritual side, Ken is doing a great job of  teaching about having the Faith to Find, which of course begins with having Faith.  He is such a great teacher.  He is definitely a Preach My Gospel kind of president which is great if you are a Preach My Gospel missionary (hint: you should be). 

I have a few minutes to give a shortish lesson/thought/message/whatever.  I think I accidentally called a zone to repentance the other day.  It wasn't the plan going in but sometimes you just have to tell it like you get it.  It was an interesting experience. 

I'm still trying to take care of all the school registration.  Good grief people, they're coming to school not taking over the tri-state area.  My favorite form was a health screening that you MUST have or dire things would happen.  Unless you signed a different form saying you didn't want to do the screening.  I opted out of the MUST have and await the dire consequences of not having Matthew screened for lead poisoning.

So wish me luck.  I have three more groups to feed, school counselors and registrars to battle and more trips to Costco to plan.  In the words of Prince Humperdink, "I'm swamped."  But, I am off to read to the kids (and it is really too bad you all aren't reading with us because we are reading some old tandem stories my siblings and I wrote 15 years ago and they are so funny I can barely get the words out).   That is if we can ever get Matthew out of the shower...