Working Girl

There have been alot of changes the last few weeks.
1. Dave has a job working at a new dental office in Riverton, Utah
2. We moved (AGAIN) into another rental that is in Lehi (near Thanksgiving Point)
3. Christmas...doing the rounds to all the family members in the area
4. I started my new job at Stampin Up.

Stampin' Up! is a direct sales company that creates an exclusive line of decorative stamp sets and accessories for greeting cards, scrapbooking, craft projects and home decor. I work as demonstrator support agent in the call center to answer any questions or concerns our demonstrators may have about product, customer realtions, and to help them further their business. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I have been pleasantly surprised! How many people do you know can really say they love their job. I can. Everyone there is so nice and the building is big and beautiful. The lunch room is on the bottom floor of this huge atrium with this giant rock waterfall in the middle of it. It's so nice to work in an environment like that.

While I still haven't been converted to the world of scrapbooking, I love making cards. If anyone is curious about Stampin' Up! products or design ideas, check out the website. If the link doesn't work, sorry, you'll have to copy and paste.


http://www.stampinup.com/us/enu/default.asp

Do You Believe in Miracles?

(TRADITION- PART II)

I believe in Miracles. I've seen them in my life and I've seen them in the lives of loved ones. There are miracles all around us that often go unrecognized. With the Christmas season upon us, as I've been focusing on the miracle of the Savior's birth, I've thought of my own little miracle growing with in me and the miracle that will be this child's life. With the focus of miracles and the emphasis of tradition all around, I can't help but think of the tradititions I want to pass on to my "little miracle".

Dave's and my first Christmas together as a married couple we decided that we didn't want to have Santa Clause as guest in our home; flying reindeer and a fat man in a red suit delivering gifts to children all around the world, keeping a list of naughty and nice are not the "miracles" we want to focus on. That being said-Dave and I both grew up in homes where we left milk and cookies out for santa, wrote dear santa letters divulging our deepest wishes, and anxiously waited for our presents-confident in our nice to naughty ratios.

Maybe I feel the way I do, because I feel guilty about my lack of focus on the Savior in Christmases past, I don't know. I actually don't know ANYONE that doesn't practice the Santa Clause tradition, which makes it a little challenging to be one of the mold breakers.

While our decision was made several years ago, with the pending arrival of our first born, we are even more committed to a "non-traditional" Christmas. While Santa won't ever be visiting my home, I'm hoping that the real "Christmas Spirit" the spirit of the Lord will.

I know I'm not the first or the last person to feel this way, and if you're someone that has been looking for an "alternative" way of celebrating Christmas but have been unable to figure out the details, I would love to tell you how Dave and I have been enjoying our Christmases in the past, the present, and our plans for the future.

In Palau-when you are going against tradition or customs, they refer to it as "going against the tide". As I've told family and friends about my feelings on the holidays, I've felt like I'm going against the tide. I'm not trying to get on my soapbox and tell others what customs they should or should not follow. We all have to make our own choices and do whats best for us, and this is the choice that Dave and I feel is best for us.

May you all enjoy your own family traditions and have a Merry Christmas!!!

Tradition-Part I

With all the beautiful snow that has painted the Utah valley, as I sit shivering with my feet in several pairs of slippers and hot cocoa between my hands, I've been missing Palau more than ever. I really miss the warm humid weather and the warm water that surrounds the islands. Something else that has made me think back to my experiences in Palau are the traditions and customs that different religions and families embrace during the holidays. Palau is a culture full of tradition, or custom as they call it. Some of the customs are really fun, and other customs people dread being a part of. Some Palauans go so far as to seek out spouses not of Palauan blood so as to escape some of the financial obligations and responsibilities of Palauan custom.

A little about Palauan customs:

Custom: Siukang. In Palau, there are many customs. When there iss a family obligation-it is a custom. Often, Palauan custom-siukang, refers primarily to those customs that entail financial obligations, often considerable, to family and friends. These include the following:

ocheraol: a custom on the occasion of the building of a house, but which can also help pay for a new boat or something else;

house party: a custom of much recent vintage for the building of a house or financing major repairs on a house;

chebechiil: marriage;

ngasech: the traditional ceremony held in honor of the first born child.

kemeldiil: the wake at the death of someone;

sis: a traditional ceremony held four days after the death that involves food offerings to the spirit of the deceased;

omengades: a ceremony traditionally held nine days after death in which stones are placed on the grave;

cheldecheduch: held some months after the death to settle the debts and funeral expenses and to make other settlements between the families of the deceased and his spouse.

All of these customs and traditions required days and sometimes weeks of preparation. The women of the clan/family-wife, daughters, sisters, cousing, aunts, grandmothers, second cousins, third cousins, etc.etc.etc. were expected to be assembled preparing traditional palaun food (some meals literally take ALL DAY to prepare). The men of the clan were in charge of fishing. This would require fishing excursions that started at 4am until 3am the following day. Coming home to rest and then going out again that evening and staying out all night.


Our friend Brray Oiemei was having a goodbye party (he was joining the US army) and I had gone over to help with the food preparation. The fish was to be prepared for boiling by being wrapped in a banana leaf and then tied with bamboo string in a very particular manner.


Tapioca had to be cut, boiled, and hand pressed through the device you can see me using. I don't remember what they call it, but it reminds me of what we use to make homemade pasta with. It is very old and hard to turn, and if you have wimpy arms like mine-they will hurt for DAYS after. Once all the tapicoa is pressed through, you from the tapioca into hamburger shapes for putting on the fire.


After grinding the tapioca, you have to literally burn it over a fire. It must be black! It's supposed to taste better that way. Once it is blackened, you mix it up with alot of white sugar and then put it through the press again!


After it has gone through the press you cut it into inch long pieces and after placing it on a plate, pour hand squeezed coconut milk over it.


This is what it looks like when done. It is quite yummy!


While I enjoyed being a part of this tradition, it took all day to make this particular Palauan meal. Palauans are required to participate in customs requiring even more work than this day did, sometimes two to three times a month.

The young women would sometimes explain to me that they would have to miss church, or an activity because of custom. I admit I was a little unsympathetic at these times when I'd respond by saying, "well, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ, we have a custom too. It's called Church!" To this they would usually just laugh at me, bless their hearts, but this really put me to thinking about my lifestyle as a follower of Christ and as an American, and an individual. I'm reminded of my ponderings especially at this time of year, with the air full of traditions...

What traditions do I follow and incorporate into my life?

To be continued....

ALL I WANNA DO...

SLEEP! SLEEP! SLEEP!

I have not had a full night's sleep since...I can't even remember
when, and I don't know if I can't remember because its really been as long as I think it has or if its because its just one of the other 100 things I can know longer remember. I've mentioned that I'm on an anti-nausea medication because I've been so sick my doctors have threatened to hospitalize me two different times. One of the side effects of the medication is drowsiness and dry mouth. The type of dry mouth I'm referring to is one that you have after running several miles in Las Vegas in the middle of the summer. My mouth gets so dry (and I sleep with it closed), that I wake up in the middle of the night needing to get a drink of water. That drink of water adds two more bathroom trips to the four I already make. When I'm not thirsty or answering calls from mother nature-I wake up because I have restless legs-which can only be relieved with some intense stretching and jogging in place or up and down the stairs. If that wasn't enough, there's the wonderful feeling of my stomach acid crawling back up my throat, and the especially tasty Tums (I HATE the taste and texture of Tums.)

This is why I'm so GRUMPY all the time. I had noticed that I've been really irritable, and somewhat angry the majority of the time, and I have finally figured out why. It's because I'm exhausted!!! I don't mean to write about all my sleepless woes except for the purposes of 1. Warning all and any who are to come with in five feet of me during the next four months and 2. to apologize for any rudeness I have thrown in your direction or will throw in your direction during the next four months.

Thanks for your understanding in relation to my perma-bad mood; if you don't understand...don't tell me about it...it won't be pretty.