Harry Potter

In case you missed the huge background, I am celebrating the new Harry Potter movie. This background will stay up until I see the new movie! Normally I would go to the midnight showing, dressed up, but I will be having surgery the same day as the midnight show. Not fun. So, to all you Gryffindors out there, enjoy the show for me! I will see it as soon as possible.

Megan the Hermit Crab

Hi. I'm Megan. (This is where everyone in the room says "Hi Megan!") I have been terrible about updating my blog. I have become addicted to hermitness. (Yes, I just made up that word.) If I had a hermit crab, we would be two crabs in a pod. :)

Anyhoo, here is a quick update on the past several months. I moved out of my old apartment in the beginning of August, and put all of my stuff in storage in a barn on the property where I was moving too. The house was being renovated so I didn't really have a place to stay. Enter amazingly wonderful friends, who allowed me to stay with them for the ensuing 2+ months. I won't name names, but you know who are.

While my stuff was in storage, the house and barn were broken into. TWICE. yup, twice. At last count, they got about $4,500 worth of stuff. Now I know that they are just things, but they are MY THINGS. If I wanted to get rid of some of my stuff, I would have had a garage sale. I don't know how much stuff they got of my landlords, but lets just say that if they ever catch the person, they are looking at two counts of felony robbery. They got Roscoe, my Dyson vacuum. (Remember Roscoe? go here http:////meganzimmerman.blogspot.com/2009/03/newest-members-of-my-family.html ) My flute, old laptop, and personal files are all labeled MIA. They took my toilet paper! Really?!? oh yeah, and they drank a Dr. Pepper and left me the can. They opened up almost every single box. (to date, I have found 3 boxes unopened.)

I finally got moved in, and the house looks great. A new kitchen really spruces up the place. Let me just insert here that I LOATHE unpacking. I have managed to unpack at least a box a day. For me, that is doing pretty good. We have a nice wood stove, but no wood to burn in it. (We might have solved that problem, though) When it gets going, it keeps our house toasty warm.

Hmmm, lets see, what else? oh yeah, remember me on hormones? http://meganzimmerman.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-word.html Well, I have finally convinced the Dr to take the cysts out! yay! It is amazing to me the amount of pain that a 1cm little cyst can cause. I have scheduled that surgery for the 18th of this month. We should be able to say goodbye to crazy Megan for good. (at least, crazy from pain and hormones. other crazy may still remain.)

If you have made it this far, congratulations on having nothing else to do but read about my particularly boring life. I don't have much else to add, but thanks for listening!

Yes, I know...

That it has been over 2 months since I posted last.

I do not need a reminder.

But you will have to wait another little while, because I don't feel much like talking!

Let's just say, life is changing...

I am moving...

and I still don't feel well...

More to come later.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday.

I decided to celebrate by only doing things that I wanted to do.

But here is the best gift of all...

I am down yet another pant size

?!?!?!?!?

Yep, you read that right.

LOVING IT!!

So someone amazing bought me a new pair of jeans, which is the second size down in as many months.

Yay for me! I will post more about what I did the rest of the day later.

Flash Choir

Have you heard of a flash mob? It's when a whole bunch of people gather in one place to do a specific random thing, and then disperse just as quickly as they arrive. Today I introduced our ward to the concept of a "Flash Choir."

I am the director of our ward (congregation) choir. I have not been as diligent in holding choir practice during the last month, due to my health issues. Normally, we would rehearse each week, and then perform in sacrament meeting (worship service) every other month or so. We are generally a small choir, with membership ranging anywhere from 6-18 people.

As choir director, I am constantly trying to come up with different ideas to make choir fun and interesting and to help people want to come sing with us. A few weeks ago my mom suggested doing an impromptu choir number, where anyone who wants to come up and sing a very simple hymn arrangement... no rehearsal before. Well, you know me! Sounded like a good idea!

I got approval from the Bishop (the leader of the congregation) and filled in the accompanist and those who needed to know. (I didn't tell the choir.) So today, we were in Sacrament meeting, and the Bishop announced that there was going to be a special musical number, and that I would be explaining more. I got up and informed the ward that they would be experiencing a "Flash Ward Choir." I invited all current members of the ward choir, as well as anyone who had ever sung with us, and anyone who had even thought about singing with the choir to grab their hymnbooks and join us on the stand. I also invited anyone else who wanted to to join us as well.

And then, I waited. It seemed to be a long heart stopping wait, but in reality it was about 3 seconds before anyone stood up. To my surprise, we had about 30 people up there!!! I had a piece of paper taped to my music stand outlining the arrangement, and I showed it to the Flash Choir. We all took a deep breath, I sent up a silent prayer, and we began.

The choir sounded so beautiful! We sang the hymn "I am a Child of God" in a very simple but profound arrangement. Our accompanist did a wonderful job of providing a beautiful backdrop. We had so many voices, and some that have never participated in our choir before.

I was very touched by the performance that they gave. I really felt that the choir provided a special spirit to the meeting. And I am so grateful to all those who were brave enough to get up with no warning or practice and sing! I have a feeling that this "Flash Choir" will be reappearing at odd moments in our ward.

In case you thought I was kidding...

Let me tell you a story. One that should assuage any doubt you might have to the effect that those miserable hormones have on me...

The Scene:

Century High School parking lot

The Time:

8:55 AM

I pull into the parking lot with enough time to fill my water bottle from the glass of ice water I got from the drive thru. I gulp down a couple bites of breakfast, and open my door, reaching out of the car to pour the water into the water bottle. This is smart, because the mouth of the water bottle is not large, and I don't want to make a mess in my lap or my car.

Enter car that wants to park in the empty space next to me

I step out of my car and gently close the door to allow the other car to park. I move the back of my car, and transfer said water into said water bottle.

note: the parking lot is filling up with other choir members who are arriving for rehearsal

I walk back up to my car, grab the handle... and nothing happens. So I try again, thinking to myself "Self, this is not happening. Mental swear word, mentally beat my head against a wall. mental swear word." Again, nothing happens. I look in the window, and there I see on the passengers seat my folder of music and my purse, which contains my cell phone (aka lifeline) and yup, my car keys. Brilliant.

enter nice person who sits next to me in choir

"Do you need to use my phone?" She says. "Yes, I do," I say. "But wait, I don't have any phone numbers because they are all in my cell phone...in my car." Crap. (so much the nickname I had when I was little...'the Phonebook' since I knew everyone's phone number by heart.) Wait, I do have one number in my head...the home phone number of my roommate's parents. Except that won't do me any good, because they are up in Hillsboro visiting their other daughter!

I call the number, hoping that someone will be there to answer. Hallelujah! Their son is out there working, so he answers. He gives me his mom's cell number, which I promptly dial. She answers, and I tell her the story. I ask her to call my roommate and ask her to bring my spare car key (from our house in Lake Oswego) to the high school as soon as possible so that I can rehearse.

several phone calls later

My AMAZING roommate brings my spare key to the high school, and waits for me to unlock my car. She then takes my spare key back... yeah, smart idea, since I can't be trusted with the one I already have. I get my music and belongings from the car, and go back and enjoy my very long rehearsal.

Here's the hilarious part:

At lunch break, we are carpooling to a nearby restaurant. I volunteer to drive, but first I have to clear out my back seat. I unlock the front driver side door and reach back to unlock the back door...

Yup.

You guessed it.

IT'S ALREADY UNLOCKED!!

Has been the WHOLE TIME!

This is why I don't like hormones.

One Word....

HORMONES!