Mace or Mace?

With my new calling I now have to venture into the worst part of Omaha much more often, and usually late in the evening. Now, we never know what kind of adventure we will have in these neighborhoods. The other night my 1st Counselor, who lives in this area, had a shooting in her back yard. Last night, I went to deliver a birthday present, and when I was walking back to my car a man started yelling at me, "Wuz yo name?" getting louder and more forceful the closer I got to my car.

When I got home, Mark declared that he had bought me something special! Yeah, I love receiving gifts. I asked if it was gift wrapped. Nope. So I asked what it was. Mace. Yea!, I have always wanted a mace. I see those Medieval conventions, and I am filled to the brim with envy of all those mace owners. Well, double heartbreak! Not only was it not gift wrapped, it wasn't even a mace.

He bought me this:

Instead of this:
What a disappointment!

I got a parking ticket...and then I gave it back.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed, threw on some clothes and headed to the Creighton hospital. My friend, Jan, was going in for major surgery this morning, and wanted someone there with her when they put her out. I arrived, half asleep, at the hospital about 45 minutes before she was to go in to surgery. Should be enough time, right? As I pulled into the visitor parking lot right in front of the Creighton hospital, I saw one of those imitation SUV's that Creighton has patrolling the campus, sitting in the parking lot and I thought, "Oh, that's nice that they have security. Especially with it being so dark."
I walked inside the hospital, noting that there were a lot of nurses running in. I went up to Jan's room, and she wasn't there. They told me they had just taken her down to pre-op. So one of the employees escorts me down to pre-op, telling me how tired he was, as his shift was just ending. He goes in the back, and then comes back out to tell me that they had an opening, and so they had just taken Jan in early. I'd say! 45 minutes early? That never happens at a hospital! They are usually running 2 days late. Well, maybe not that late, but you know what I mean. So I leave the hospital, pretty bummed that I had missed her. At least Mark had been able to give her a blessing the night before.
Walking up to my car, I notice a bright yellow paper on the windshield, and I think, "Gosh, it's pretty early for people to be handing out flyers." So I take it off, and get in the car. It isn't a flyer, but a lovely parking ticket. What does it say? It says that the ticket is because I wasn't parked in Employee/Student parking, and that I didn't have a decal. Good to know I'm an employee, where do I pick up my check? Still some what asleep, (it usually takes me about an hour for the sleeping buzz to wear off)
I start the car, thinking, "I don't want this parking ticket. So I start driving around the parking lot, and there he was, giving some other "Employee" a parking ticket. I pulled up rolled down the window, and said " I am wondering why this was on my window." He tells me, well because employees aren't allowed to park in the visitor parking.
"I'm not an employee", I tell him.
"Oh, I just assumed you were because the license plate frame says Creighton Doctor of Pharmacy" he says.
I explain that my husband is going to the Pharmacy school at Creighton. Then I ask why it cites that I don't have a parking decal.
"Do I have to have a parking decal to visit my friend?" I ask.
"No, but if your husband is a student then he should have a parking decal for the school." he says.
I point to a bunch a trees just up the hill and tell him, "We live right there. My husband walks to school."
He takes the ticket and says, "I'll just tear that up."
and I say "Thank you." even though I felt like saying, "Yeah, you do that!"
Then I drove home, and climbed back in bed.

Crazy Day

So, today Mark and I received new callings. CRAZY! Yesterday President Wilkinson called wanting to speak with both of us. We delayed meeting with him because we were heading to the Creighton basketball game, although we didn't get in, and then to the outdoor expo. So this morning we met with him and I, of course, thought it would just be Mark getting a calling. To my surprise, he told me he would get to me next. Yikes! Let me just say, I loved my calling as the second counselor in the Primary. It was such a great experience being with the children every Sunday. So, Mark was called to be the Young Men's President, and I was called to be the Young Women's President. The irony is that just a few weeks ago I was saying that these two callings are the most difficult in the church, very time consuming, and I don't envy anyone that has to do it.

We both look forward to getting to know these kids, though, and the growth that will come. Come what may, and love it, right?

Valentine's Day at Durham Museum

On Valentine's Day I woke up to these beautiful flowers that Mark bought for me.

In the early afternoon we went to the Durham Museum. The Durham Museum is the old Train Station, which is really quite incredible. It is in the art deco style, and is quite magnificent. The museum will have different displays that they put on, and for all of February they had the chocolate display, which we though fitting for Valentine's Day. They gave us a piece of Baker's chocolate, and then had a little store where we could buy more gourmet chocolate. Baker's chocolate, BTW, is a brand that is made here locally in Nebraska, and tastes amazing! It is one of our favorites, by they are somewhat pricey. Here are some of the pictures of our day at the Durham Museum.

This is the view of downtown Omaha from the parking lot of the museum. And Mark.

Here we are standing in front of the museum.

Interior of the old train station.

Interior of the old train station. This is the very unique ceiling.

Interior of the old train station. They have these statues, and a recording would start and tell you about the train station/era.

The Soda Fountain. They still use it. You can go sit at the bar and order an ice cream, or any of many other things.

Closer view of the Soda Fountain.

Door to the trains.

Going down into the basement, where you would have boarded the trains if it was still in use.

Some of their many model trains.

They have this really neat model village set up.

An actual replica of the train station where the trains were housed. Very neat!

One of their luxury cars.

A trolley. Omaha still has a trolley, but it doesn't run on rails, but on regular tires and such.

A train engine and old carriage.

The train engine again. I guess we really liked it.

Now for the really great part. The Chocolate.

Entrance to the exhibit.

A cocoa bean. Yum!

You can really read it, but it says that the scientific name of the cocoa tree is food of the gods.

Old School cocoa processing.

The Spaniards invented this to make their hot chocolate frothy. Cool!

Fine China Specifically for Hot chocolate

Vintage chocolate ads.

Chocolate molds. This is some of the best chocolate out there!

More molds.

South American chocolate harvesting.

More South American chocolate harvesting/processing.

Homage to chocolate, or something.

Uncles and Aunts Again!

Once again, we have another niece in the family, born Wednesday. We are so excited, since nieces seem to be harder to come by in the family than nephews. We love nephews too, though! So, we are hoping that someone in Utah will post pictures soon of the little cutie, hint, hint, so we can see her too! Congrats to Darron and Jamie!