Grandma Arlene

last week i got some news that no one wants to hear, my grandmother on my fathers side pasted away. Monday was the funeral, so Sunday at 12:30 i went and did her hair. it was interesting doing hair on a deceased person, but i found that it wasn't bad, i mean really, i think that i'm going to look into doing this kinda of thing when i get to California because i was reading that you can make some really good money doing it. everyone thinks that i am crazy, but hey it's me, would that be a change form the normal me?
anyway, at the funeral i learned some things about Arlene that i didn't know before and i found it was really nice to hear about this side of her. all i had herd before was that she was a hard person so have as a mother, so hearing that she LOVED local dinners and LOVED being a local was nice to know. i learned that she liked so sew, coffee, cigarettes, soap operas, circus peanuts, cherry cordials and playing cards. but the thing that i learned about her that i liked the best was that she was very free spirited! in fact she loved to travel and see new places and people. it was nice to know that that, because it made me feel like even though i didn't know her too well i did in fact have a little of her spirit in me to.
my favorite story that was shared was by my Uncle Dan, she is married to my Aunt Carolyn who is my Dad's sister. so he told us this story. it was his birthday so grandma sent him a card in the mail that said something like "don't worry, your present is in the mail" so he got all excited, thinking that is was clear now that he was her favorite son in law if she was preparing something so fantastic like this. but the package didn't come. just more letters, like 20 or so, all saying "don't worry your present is in the mail". by the end he was going CRAZY with excitement to find out what this present could be. finally he gets a call from Carolyn telling him that "it came". so he rushed home, went straight to the package and.... it was a coloring book and crayons! :o)
that's grandma for ya.
my favorite memory of her was this. but apparently i'm the only one of the cousins to remember is, but one Christmas we were all playing downstairs in my aunt Carolyn's basement. i was there along with my cousin Sarah, who has a birthday right around Christmas. well grandma came down and walked right to me and said, "honey i want you to know that i didn't forget your birthday! (my birthday is in June was what i was thinking) and i got you this! (it was a McDonald's toy) i want you to know that i love you! Happy Birthday Sarah!"
oh grandma.
All in all it was a good thing this past Monday, i got to say good bye, see my family to whom i love. take a ridiculously long time picking out a movie then Heidi and i tricked the "grown-ups" to letting us watch it in the room they were all talking in. it's funny no matter how old i get i still feel like i'm 13 when i'm with everyone... :o)

So last week i got to go and see some of my favorite people, the Ellsworths! i used to babysit them growing up but now they live in Saline, it's hard to make a trip because it's so far away! but i wanted to see them before i left for Cali, so on wenesday i went for a little dinner. the evening was past by first eating a lovely meal prepared by Dana. the whole time EVERYONE was trying to get me out on the trampoline. i wasn't to keen on the idea becuase that meant some real physical activity that i wasn't prepared for after eating so much... BLA! i procrastinated a little by having them show me the chickens and the garden, both very impressive by the way. however i couldn't hold it off too long for the children where begging from the "trap" for me to come and play so i did... sigh. but it was fun. i got them to change their minds though, that catching fireflies was WAY cooler, so we did that!
all night long they had been asking me if i was ticklish, i kept saying no... though i am. finally they figured out that i had been tricking them the whole night, and so their revenge was chasing me around the house to tickle me! this went on for like 20 minutes!! it was amazing! the only way to clam them down was to tell them stories that i made up for them as i went, carefully inserting their names, saying that they were on a quest to set the table but the evil queen Amanda of forks had captured all the forks AND the princesses Karen of bowls and Lydia of plates. So knights Issac of spoons and Eli of knifes had to save the day!!!
All in all i enjoied the night! it was sad for me to see Ben and Tad all grown to be honest! and i think that 14 year old Ben now talks JUST like Neapolitan Dynamite... hehehehe. i think though that Tad knows that he will always be my boy! :o) no matter how old he gets.

so it's been forever... really it has. so i'll give you all some updates.

i went to Utah (see blog below) and Californian for two weeks
i turned 24
i had a party were i begged money from everyone
i got an ipod with above mentioned money
i have a name sake, my sister's baby and my niece will be named... Layla Mae :o)
i learned how to, now this is crazy, you're gonna love it, BUDGET!
i had buyers remorse for the first time and returned what i didn't need
i spend all my time with very crazy and cute 19-20 year old boys... i'm ok with that
i was asked to acompony someone on the piano for the first time (i don't think they have heard me play before)
i have lost the will to do anything other then watch "30 Rock" on-line

and that pretty much sums it up.

ok yeah, for anyone who hasn't heard i'm moving to California next month!! :o)
but just so you all know just how bad my addiction is to 30 Rock, the only reason why i'm writing this right now apposed to later is because i'm waiting for en episode to load... so yeah... i think it's loaded now.

oh me....

yesterday i was at a party, for the 4th ya know. everyone was outside playing giant twister, so i decided that i should play too. so when i went to walk out on the back porch i was shocked to find that the screen door was impeding me! i didn't realize that it was there and i completely took it out... it was pretty humiliating. but then that's just me...

Utah...

so as you all may have guessed by now, that i spent the last week in Utah! i went to pick up my dear little comp, Hermana Sanchez! but i flew into San Diego, met up with the beautiful Jane Lilly (future roommate) then we drove all night so that we could make it to the 2:00 session at the salt lake temple! see, La Hna Sanchez didn't know that we were going to be there that day in fact i told her that i wouldn't be there till Wednesday, also Jane had someone, Hna Park, that didn't even know that she was going to be there! so it was a great surprise! they were both very happy to see us, even though we both at one point fell asleep at least during one point in the session. the rest of the week was filled with seeing old friends, converts and investigators. but the one thing that was really cool is our little mini road trip to Manti.
Let me tell you. we were staying with my beloved Family "La Familia Ortega" when they told us that they were going to Manti that Saturday to see the pageant that they put on every year there, then they invited us to come. we had already talked about doing something that we hadn't done before because we were missionaries there. so this was just perfect. we went with them!! i'll show you all pictures and such later. but anyway, when we got there we took lot's of pictures with us and the temple, but then it started to rain a little and then there was wind like you would not believe, i felt like i was going to fly off the mountain! but i liked it and the temple was so beautiful that i was too busy basking in it's beauty to care. for the majority of the night it was SO COLD, but... you know me, i', not going to let a little rain upset me. we went and got some really good food, homemade ice cream, then we got to sit in the Spanish area in the very front. we were joking that they had to hide me and that i could only speak Spanish, and if someone asked me i should say that i am from Chihuahua, were everyone is white. i must have looked a little out of place, but no one said anything, so i guess i'm officially Mexican, because i think i blened in... sorta of... :o)
after a while i got bored and took the youngest, "Nana" for a little walk. (she's about 13) this is when i say a man with a cool little golf cart. so me being me i asked him for a ride, he asked me to where, i told him i didn't care, sooooo.... he took me to the dressing room, where only the staff were normally can go. we got to met the cast and try on some hats. turns out the guy i asked was in the "Pageant Presidency" and he gave us the grand tour! :o) when we got back everyone was like WHAT! and la Hna. Sanchez was so upset that she didn't come, i told her next time you'll trust me and come. the rest of the night was just lovey, the rain cleared up, and although it was so cold the program was cool so i enjoyed myself.
over all i liked it being there, it was good to see old friends and see how everyone was doing. now i am in Cali with my friends and i am so happy to be here and get things rolling for me to move here. everyone in Utah told me to move there instead, i do love Utah, however i think that i should never live there for the time being... but then that's another blog subject in and of itself.

#2

i got punched in the face... but i didn't get it on camera, because not only did i find out that i'm not the type of person to get punched in the face but no one even WANTS to punch me in the face.
but tonight i finally got someone to do it, but i said i wouldn't say who it was... that it would be to Harsh, so i Will not do it in order to keep my promise! :o)
but i think it could have been harder... there will be more thoughts on this matter later.

PS was looking at my flight plans for Monday, and it turns out that i have a little layover in Chicago... yeah, it's from 8:15am till 4:10pm... yeah that's like eight hours, blah! but at least i get to visit the Chicago institute of art in my lay over, and does anyone know of any good places to eat there?

Hello, I am Amanda Fulk, I recently opened an account with your company and I am trying to make a payment on my account but I have run into MANY road blocks. So this is my laundry list of things that I think are just a little messed up…
1. it cost $15 to pay over the phone? That was my first try, but when I heard that I opted for the on-line route. Because that’s ridiculous, I shouldn’t have to pay for customer service.
2. it’s crazy to set up an account to pay it. As soon as I got off the phone I tried to set up my online account to pay my bill and it “timed out” so many times that I gave up in frustration. Later I tried again and the same thing kept happening.
3. I have to pay by check? I don’t have a check book, I do all my banking online and with my bank card, so I’m not going to order checks just so I can use your online version of paying the bill. That is a BIG inconvenience. Why can’t you use credit cards like the rest of this world?
4. and lastly, the thing that made me write this letter even though I’m dying to go to bed, is after all these failed attempts I thought to myself, “it’s ok, I’ll just go WAY out of my way and pay it off in the store, maybe I’ll buy something while I’m there” but oh no wait!! I can’t! because I just read on your crappy bill you sent me that you will no longer be accepting payments in store. :o(

come on, really? I WANT to pay my bill, in fact I want to pay off my bill, I want to be a responsible spender and a loyal customer to your company, but how can I do all these things when you are treating me like crap and not letting me pay my stinking bill?
I know that whoever reads this is not responsible for the company’s way of doing things, and maybe I’m an idiot and didn’t see a way to EASILY pay the bill, but all the same, I’m just a little pissed off at the moment at your not wanting me pay my bill.
I would be ungrateful not to acknowledge that the other day they reversed my late fee that I had, so I thank you very much for that, but I don’t want to be charged another late fee because I can’t find a way to pay my bill. So please help a girl out and help me make this better.
And to help you help me,
my account number is **** **** **** **** ****
my phone number is ***-***-****, Monday is my day off and I’d love to hear from you, but if not that
my e-mail is maemaefulk@gmail.com

thank you and I look forward to solving this little problem.
Amanda M. Fulk