Ode To My Dear Tissues

So apparently its Doppelgänger week on facebook...post a picture of your celebrity look-a-like and all that stuff. Whatever. i don't always play along with the trends, but after seeing everyone else do it i couldn't help but try to remember who people have told me i look like. The last time i was told i look like anyone famous it was this girl:

Drew Barrymore.
I'm not exactly sure i see it. Husband says he sees it, so i'll go with it though.
Do you see it?

So that's that. On to the next, the reason for my post today.

Ode to My Dear Tissue

Oh dear tissue,
how I find comfort in your fluffy white goodness.
You always stand true and firm against everything that blows your way.
You never seem to rub me the wrong way either.
You save my clothes from the unsightly mascara that runs with my tears
and, dear tissue, you care for my nose and keep it as soft as a babies bottom when i lose all control of it.
Oh! how can I not help but love you.
Thank you dear tissue.
Thank you!

Ahhh-Chew!
Yes friends, i am sick. It started with a few sneezes the other day, then progressed to a sore throat the next morning that got better as the day went on. Then the next day was full on congestion, sore throat, swollen glands, and exhaustion. I was asleep in my bed before 10 last night, which is almost unheard of for me because Husband was staying overnight on base and i never get to sleep before 2am when he's gone. But today was the worst. I woke up before 5am, and never got back to sleep after that. All of it, the sneezing, coughing, congestion, sore everything from head to toe. I can't get my nose to stop running. The tissues i've gone through lay around me crumpled up in piles... I'm exhausted.

But, i have come to appreciate the greatness of the Puffs Plus Tissues because of this. Back in the day when i had roommates, they would go through my tissues like candy, but i don't remember any of them ever being sick so i stopped buying the tissues for them. But after getting married and stocking up the house with the essentials the tissues managed to get back into the shopping cart again and i've had this box since we moved. I don't know why or how though because tissues are one of those items you don't realize you don't have until you need them. Tissue, because i don't use it often, is not something i invest much money in either. But i remember buying this particular box that i carry around the house with me like a security blanket right now. I almost didn't buy it, i almost got the store brand because it was just tissue. Gasp! But i saw this particular box and i just knew i wanted it:

(its a scan of the box because i wanted to figure out the new scanner. sorry)
Isn't it pretty?? i thought it was anyways. And what's another $.50 for the good stuff when its something you don't buy often?
So, dear tissues, thank you for taking care of me. I'll never go back to store brand again.

So today i'm sick. On a Sunday. I love church, and i missed it. Our ward is great, the people are great, i love hearing the talks in Sacrament, and i'm in nursery with the little kids so its that much greater. But people get sick sometimes and we have no control of the day of the week it happens. But this Sunday, of all the Sundays i could have been sick was a bad one. I was supposed to give a talk in Sacrament meeting today..... i hang my head in shame every time i think about it. I was asked to give this talk 3 weeks ago, and amazingly i was completely done writing it last Saturday....i thought i was supposed to give it last Sunday so i showed up at church with it ready and willing to share, but came to find out when we picked up the program that i had got my dates wrong. My bad. I was prepared for today though, and that's what's supposed to matter. BUT, as i'm the walking dead today and didn't go....shame is what i feel.... Husband had to go to church and give his talk without me. I have never heard him speak in church before, though i've spoke 4 times since we started dating, so missing that was a downer for me too. But I feel like they could think i was trying to skip out on speaking. There are people that do it, i had friends like that, and i know i thought about doing it a few times when i was younger, so i would understand if they thought i was skipping out on it. Not this time though, i swear. if you came to my house right now you would see the misery. I'm saving the talk though, and if they want me to speak again, i'm ready any time....

So i've given my thanks to my tissues, i owe one to my husband too. He's been taking care of me as much as the tissues, if not more. The glass after glass of water, the blanket and pillow so i can camp out on the couch, the being the great husband that he is....i love him more for it.

but my tissues are running a nice 2nd today :)

Stop Quacking like a Duck

Ok, so we went to our new ward for the 1st time today. Everyone was really nice, and there were people there that really reminded me of some of my favorite people, so that made it feel even better. We may only be in the ward for a few months until we find a house, but we'll enjoy it for however long as we're here.
The lessons we had were really good today. It was a "things i needed to hear" kind of day. In Sunday school they were talking about marriage. One of the things i usually try to remind myself A LOT is that you get what you expect. If you expect things to be crappy then that's exactly what you'll get. It was something i tried to tell the Young Women in my class back in P.A. as often as possible. And that's what they were saying about marriage, you get out of it what you expect or put into it. The story the teacher shared, it didn't exactly relate it to marriage, but the teacher did. I really enjoyed the story is my point, so i figured i would share it with you all and maybe you'll get something from it too. You can relate it to whatever you want to. Marriage, work, relationships with friends and family, projects, kids....whatever. So yeah, the story:


Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing he noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey . He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ Harvey said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’
Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’As they were pulling away, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
‘Tell me, Wally,’ an amazed Harvey asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called ‘You’ll See It When You Believe It’. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. Harvey says “I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting. “
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like an eagle. How about us?
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary of doing well, for at the proper time we will reap the deserved harvest, if we do not give up!
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar