I thought I wasn't busy this week . . .

I made muffins for the first time in a long time this afternoon.  As I mixed them up I realized it was the first time in a while that I've baked anything.  I've cooked meals and things, but It's been at few months since I've actually made anything with flour.  I kept thinking, "why has it been so long since I baked something?" 

And then I remembered that I got hit by a car 10 1/2 weeks ago.  And about the time I started to get fully healed from that I started sewing two complicated baptism dresses.  And so it makes sense that I haven't baked in almost three months. 

I've had a lot of little moments like that this week.  Moments where I'm like, "this feels familiar, but why haven't I done it in a while."  And then I think back on all the ways I've been busy over the last few months and I realize why I haven't done something.

A lot of things have come to a close this week. And other things have started happening again.  Let's talk about them. 

Sunday was such a relaxing day - especially compared to the excitement of the day before.  Charlotte and Lydia were baptized on Saturday and we'd had a big party at our house afterward.  When it was over Brandon and I realized that we hadn't planned ANYTHING for the rest of the day.  That was such an odd feeling.  We also realized that aside from a few things that we weren't directly responsible for, we didn't have anything else planned until Thanksgiving.  We'd been so focused on the girls' baptism that we'd never planned past that date.

That lack of planning actually came in handy.  At church on Sunday my friend Rachel and I were talking in the library while we were waiting for copies.  She mentioned that one of the ladies who I am a ministering sister to, was due to have a baby in two weeks, but had not had a baby shower yet.  I knew Nicole was pregnant, but I hadn't realized that she didn't have any family in town who would throw her a shower. 

My first response was "well that's too bad, but I'm going back to work this week so I probably won't have a chance to put anything together."

That lasted about 5 minutes. 

My second response was, "I LOVE to plan stuff.  And with Brandon's help I can pull off anything in any amount of time." 

Nicole had left church after Sacrament Meeting so I started texting her to see what she needed.  We quickly determined that the next Saturday worked well for both of us.  (I like to think that it was divine intervention that I hadn't planned anything for that Saturday.) In Relief Society I announced that there would be a Baby Shower for Nicole on Saturday and that I'd appreciate any help anyone could give me.  I had two offers of help in addition to Rachel.

I kept thinking about the shower the 8th Branch in Bountiful threw for me when I was pregnant with the twins.  It honestly wasn't that fancy, but I remember feeling so loved at that shower.  I wanted to give Nicole that same feeling.

I also thought about a promise I'd made to myself a long time ago. There were times during each of my pregnancies when I'd felt so alone and so overwhelmed.  I told myself that if possible I would reach out to the pregnant women I met in the future, and let them know that they were not completely alone.  I knew that planning this baby shower was an important part of keeping that promise.

After church I made sure to reserve the Relief Society Room of the building, and started thinking about what we could do for Nicole.  I met with her that evening to talk about her thoughts. 

I also went on a walk with Derrick after church.  He had fun playing in the leaves at the park.  He's a handful, but he's MY HANDFUL and I love him.

Monday was the first week day since daylight saving time ended.  That meant it was actually LIGHT outside when I took the kids to the bus stop.  We were the first ones out there and part of me worried that we were late because it was so strange to be out there in the daylight.  I also realized that my green sweat pants are totally visible in the morning again and I might want to put more thought into what I wear. 

Within an hour I was showered and wearing professional black pants because it was MY FIRST DAY BACK AT WORK!!!!  When I had my 5 weeks off back in April it took me about three weeks until I was feeling ready to go back to work.  This time I fully enjoyed my 5 weeks off, but I realized I was getting pretty annoyed with the kids during week 5.  I figured I needed some time to miss them again. 

I was also feeling ready for a break of sorts.  I squeeze as much stuff as possible into my time off.  We had dentist appointments, drs appointments, flu shots, and a visit with Derrick's audiologist.  I finished physical therapy. I volunteered at the kids school a few times. I went to the temple with my parents.  I worked on Halloween Costumes.  And the rest of the time I was sewing two fancy dresses.   After all that I was looking forward to the chance to go back to work for 7 hours a day.

My first day back was everything I hoped it would be.  It was good to get back into the swing of things again.  And after work I was so excited to come home and see the kids.  I loved listening to their stories and reading books with them. 

Around 6:00 I got a phone call from someone in my ward.  They'd heard that I was throwing a baby shower for Nicole and they offered to donate $40 for decorations and food.  Later they dropped off $45.  This was a great blessing because I wasn't sure how much money I could spare for decorations and food.  This donation helped make cuter decorations and better food possible.  People are really good.

Tuesday was the one year anniversary of me starting work with the Bannock County Treasurers Office.  But no one paid attention to that because it was also Election Day. We'd been looking forward to this day for MONTHS.  I haven't written a lot about my involvement with the campaign because I didn't want to write anything before the election was over.  Now that it's all final I want to write some of my memories of the campaign. 

When I interviewed with the Treasurer's Office last October I met with the current Treasurer Radene Barker and her Sr Deputy Treasurer Jennifer Clark.  In that interview Radene mentioned that she would be retiring and that Jen was planning to run for County Treasurer.  My response was something like, "oh that's nice."  I had no idea how involved I'd become.

Jen officially announced her campaign last March on her 20 year anniversary with the Bannock County Treasurers office.  (This always blows my mind, but four of the ladies I work with have worked in the same office for 20 years.  I've lived in 10 different cities in that same amount of time.) 

At first I thought I wouldn't have much to do with the campaign. Most of my co-workers had helped with Radene's campaign so they knew what they were doing to help with Jen's.  I figured I'd march in the parades and that would be it. 

But then I kept opening my mouth. 

And good suggestions kept coming out.

Like when Jen was trying to write a Facebook post to announce her candidacy and she was asking everyone for help with the wording. I came up with some good phrases. 

Or later when she said she wanted a Facebook page and I mentioned that I knew how to set one up because I had one for 51 Cent Adventures.

After that it quickly became apparent that I knew a lot about social media.  Suddenly the 6 years I'd spent as a stay at home mom with a slight addiction to Facebook came in handy.  I knew how to set up privacy controls on Jen's personal profile, I knew how to admin a Public Facebook page, I knew how to create events.

I was appointed to the role of social media director for the campaign.  And I loved it. 

I also found myself giving advise on various aspects of the campaign.  Jen would ask something to the group and I'd respond with what I felt was right.  Like when we would discuss how much candy to give out at parades I would say things like, "It's not your responsibility to make sure every child gets candy." Or "Candy is great and all, but does it actually translate into votes? Could that money be better spent elsewhere?" Time and again I'd be surprised by how bold I was in voicing my opinion. But I also knew that my opinion was valued. 

Jen had someone do her logo, but later she needed help with her big signs.  She wanted to add her picture.  The original graphic designer was busy with other projects so I took a look at the photoshop file and figured out how to do what Jen needed. We still weren't happy with the sign so I had Brandon look at it.  Within 5 minutes he'd made some quick changes that made the sign look better than ever.

He knew that with a little more time he could make it look amazing so he offered to spend more time on the sign.  And that's how Brandon became the graphic designer for Team Clark.  Jen used Brandon's sign on the large signs she put up around the county.  It also appeared on several electronic billboards in Yellowstone Avenue in Pocatello.  It was always so much fun to see the sign that Brandon had designed flash onto a billboard while we were driving by.

In addition to managing the social media, I also helped out with writing for the campaign.  Jen and the other candidates for county positions were invited to a forum at the League of Women Voters.  I helped Jen craft her speech.  Later I took a key quote from that speech and put it on the Facebook Page.

When the local newspaper, the Idaho State Journal, wrote about the forum at the League of Women Voters they included a picture of each of the candidates.  However, they left Jennifer's picture off.  The day the paper came out Jennifer was in Boise at a conference, and the campaign manager was also busy.  I decided it was my job to figure out what had happened.  I was worried that we'd somehow failed to provide a picture to the paper and that was why they left Jennifer's picture off. 

Before I could contact the Journal our office got a call from a man who knew Jen.  He told us he'd already called the Journal to complain that they'd left Jennifer's picture off.  So when I called the Journal they already knew about their error.  I talked for a minute to someone who explained it had been caused by human error.  Then she told me that her editor wanted to talk to me and I was transferred to the man who wrote the article.  I'd been nervous to call, but during the call I realized that this man was actually a little nervous to talk to me!  He explained what had gone wrong, apologized profusely, and told me that they'd already updated the web edition and put Jenifer's picture in the top position.  In the end we probably ended up with more publicity from the error.  And I ended up with a boost to my confidence. 

My month off lined up perfectly with the last month of the campaign.  I created several graphics to put on Facebook with the idea that the followers of the page would share them.  We also tried to get these to be sponsored posts, but somehow that never worked as well as we thought it would.  (I still have a few things to learn about social media.)

 A week before the election the Idaho State Journal came out with an editorial where they listed their endorsements for the various county races. Jen got a glowing endorsement.  Which I quickly turned into graphics and put on Facebook.

One of my favorite things about the endorsement was how the wording of the endorsement so closely matched the wording of the things I'd helped write about Jen.  Perhaps the Journal came up with their reasons on their own, but I choose to believe that my words helped persuade them.

So on Tuesday, November 6th my office was on pins and needles as we anticipated the outcome of the election.  We have early voting in Idaho so a lot of my co-workers had already voted, but I waited until Election Day to vote. I went on my lunch break. It was really cool to vote for someone that I knew personally.  There were several other people on the ballot that I'd learned to admire during this campaign.  I think that was the most informed I'd ever been while voting. 

I normally don't work on Tuesdays, but I do this month to make up for all the holidays. I signed Veronica up for drop in daycare on this Tuesday because her class was going to see a play at ISU.  They went to see Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse.  We have the book, but I don't think Veronica understood what a play was.  When I picked her up in the afternoon she was so excite to tell me about the play. 

She told me, "the people pretended to by mice. We gave them High 5s at the end."

 I took these pictures off of the School of Preforming Arts Facebook Page.  You can see half of Veronica's face in this one.

I didn't want to have to pay for all the kids to go to drop in care on Tuesday so I got off work at 2:00 to meet the other kids at the bus stop at home.  Their bus actually broke down so they came home on a different one. 

I was starting to feel a little sick so when we got home I just laid down on my bed and let the kids watch TV.  We'd planned for Charlotte to go to Dance and Lydia to go to Ukulele, but Charlotte wasn't feeling well either so she stayed home.  Brandon took Lydia to Ukulele. 

I felt better in the evening which was good because Brandon and I were going to an election watch party.  We had a teenage neighbor girl come watch the kids.  It was probably the easiest gig ever because all the kids were already in bed and they stayed asleep the whole time.

Brandon and I arrived at the party around 9:00.  Polls had closed at 8:00, but there were no results yet.  There probably wouldn't be for a while.  But there was free food so we enjoyed that and talked with my co-workers. 

I'm not really affiliated with any party.  But it turns out that all the candidates I was rooting for this year were Democrats.  So we were at the party hosted by Bannock County Democrats. I enjoyed watching all the candidates as they waited for results.  There were some really cool people in that room. 

One of my favorite people was Christine Stevens.  She was running for one of the county commissioner seats. Christine used to be a middle school principal.  Earlier in the year she was instrumental with the grass roots campaign to gather enough signatures to get the proposition to expand medicaid on the ballot.  After that success she decided to run for Commissioner.  As part of her campaign she knocked on nearly EVERY door in Bannock County and talked to voters from Downey to Fort Hall.  I loved reading updates on her facebook page.  Often I got ideas for Jen's page from looking at Christine's. 

Another candidate that I fully supported was Sean Fay.  He was running for County Clerk.  Was a s self proclaimed "numbers geek," and would be so good a going over the county budget.  He also was the unintended star of the League of Women Voter's forum.  He was humorous and upbeat.  I really hoped he would win. 

And of course there was Jen.  A few weeks earlier my co-workers and I had submitted a letter to the Editor of the Idaho State Journal.  I shared it on my Facebook Profile and added this: I've worked with Jen for only a year, but I have been so impressed by her work ethic and her customer service skills. Even when we have lines out the door with customers she is always willing to give each customer a smile and her complete attention while she helps them.

Jen has worked in the Treasurer's Office for 20 years. She has tons of experience and is involved in a lot of big decisions. But that doesn't stop her from answering a phone call or helping me when I need help. It would be easy for her to sit back and say, "that's above my pay grade" or "I'm too important to handle minor questions." She never does that. She works right along side her co-workers to serve the citizens of Bannock County.

There was a TV set up, but we couldn't get local channels on it.  So a few of my co-workers ran over to the courthouse elections office to get in person updates on the ballot counting.  At about 10:30 they were done counting the early voting ballots.

Someone got up to read the results to the room.  They explained that early voting usually favors the Democrats so we shouldn't be surprised if things turned out different later.  Then he read off all the current results.  The democratic candidate was winning in each race.  Everyone was clapping and looking so happy. 

Brandon and I figured that was the highlight of the party so a little before 11:00 we said our goodbyes and headed home.  I told my co-workers to text me the final results. 

At 3:00 am I woke up and checked my phone.  I'd received a text at 1:53.  Jen had won!!!!!!!!! I woke Brandon up and told him the good news.  Then we felt back asleep.

Later I checked the final results for all the races.  I was surprised to see that Jen was the only democrat who had won.  Sean Fey had lost, Christine Stevens had lost, and the other two democrats had lost their races for Assessor and Commissioner.  I was excited for Jen, but sad for everyone else. 

When I got to work all we could talk about was the election results.  Jen had won by 849 votes.  Way to close for comfort.  Especially since he opponent had been such a dweeb.  We knew that many people had voted for him just because he was a republican.  If it hadn't been for some people voting cross party Jen would have lost.  I was very glad that we'd put so much effort into promoting Jen's experience. 

All my co-workers had stayed up for the results so everyone was tired.  It was actually kind of hilarious to see everyone in a daze.  One of them was even wearing two different shoes! 

Jen came in and we celebrated with cake.  Jen was feeling a little bit of survivor guilt at being the only democrat elected.  She was glad she was elected, but she wasn't feeling excited yet. 

Honestly I think we were all just tired and feeling release now that it was finally over. 

Somehow we made it through the day. 

That evening Charlotte and Lydia had Activity Days.  It was a baby shower for one of their leaders.  When I dropped them off everything was so cute.  It gave me a lot of inspiration for Nicole's shower.

On Thursday my attention shifted to the Relief Society Activity that was that night.  We'd planned an "Unfinished Craft Night."  People could bring any unfinished craft and work on it while talking to other women.  After all the anxiety I'd had over the Progressive Dinner in September this activity was a breath of stress free fresh air.  There was a little mix up with scheduling the building so the other ward was using the room I'd planned on using, but other than that everything went off without a hitch.  We had 7 women there - two who haven't been out to church for a few weeks - and I feel like people had a good time. Easy Peasy.

On Friday I was feeling the effects of working 5 days in a row.  I enjoy work and all, but I was getting ready for the weekend.  When I got home from work we had a quick dinner and then watched the old version of Your's Mine and Ours for movie night.  After the kids were in bed Brandon and I went to work on stuff for the baby shower. 

I'd ordered some things from the baby registry at Walmart.com and had them set up to be picked up in the store.  Brandon had picked them up for me.  One day during my lunch break I ran to the dollar store and picked up some more things.  And Friday afternoon Brandon went grocery shopping and got the food. 

 He worked on the food while I worked on center pieces.  I made tissue paper flowers and then attached them to baby bottles.  The bottles were full of blue and white candies. I figured this was a good way to have centerpieces that doubled as gifts.

 Brandon made chicken salad and rice crispy treats. 

On Saturday we got up and finished prepping things.  Then we took everything over to the church.  One of the other ladies who offered to help made this cute diaper cake and the ribbon back drop. 

 Here's the food table.

 Here's a long shot of the room.  The Primary President brought the balloon center pieces.  She's made similar ones in pink for the Wednesday shower so she offered to make other ones in blue for this shower since she already had everything.

 We had 18 people at the shower.  10 were Nicole's friends and family and 8 were from the ward. It was so great to see so many people come to support Nicole.  Every baby (and every mother) deserves a shower.  I'm glad I was able to help provide one for this baby and mother.

This baby shower strengthened my testimony of ministering.  Someone saw a need, notified the ministering sister (me), the ministering sister realized she couldn't do it all on her own and asked for any help, other people stepped up to help where they could, and everyone was blessed. 

What's also cool to me is that Nicole wasn't the only one blessed.  I feel like a few of my friendships were strengthened by working on this shower.  One of the ladies who came from the ward is new to the ward.  I think she made a few new friends through visiting with the other ladies who came to the shower. 

It was a good experience for everyone. 

Brandon and the kids had helped me set up, and they came back to the church to help clean up.  Then we went to the mall to pick up some late birthday presents.  They girls had wanted journals with locks and I'd found some on claires.com.  I'd had them shipped to the store, but they showed up a little late.  We picked them up and the girls loved them.  They've had them two days and I think they've already written more in their journals than I wrote during the first two years I had a journal.  They are definitely little writers. 

We also went to a park for a while.

When we came back home I took a long nap.  When I woke up from the nap I just laid in bed for an other hour and enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to do ANYTHING.  Brandon asked me if I was going to get up.  I asked him if I had to.  When he said, "no" I said, "then I'm not getting up yet."

Actually having nothing to do really made me start to notice other things.  I remembered that my friend Mindy's husband was out of town.  I realized that she probably was lonely and didn't want to make dinner for her three kids.  I sent her a text and invited her over for dinner on Sunday.  She responded by saying that sounded great. 

I had a little epiphany while I laid in bed.  I realized that maybe there is something to be said for having an open schedule.  I usually try to plan lots of things because I like to feel busy.  But I think I'm going to try to keep things a little more open.  At least for a little while.  I think that sometimes I miss opportunities for service by having a busy schedule.  I'm going to see what happens if I don't plan so much. 

At the very least I should have more time for baking.