I was reading Novel's "I Belong" post this morning about sustaining the prophet and leaders of our church and something occurred to me that I had to voice. Isn't it interesting that our church works as a kind of theocracy/democracy? We're all required to give our stamp of approval for the people who have direct leadership over us? I mean we even sustain the Choir Director when werf is called to the position. What other church can claim this miracle of common consent?

With the pope being chosen so recently, this has kind of been on my mind, and I guess Novel just took my thoughts one step further. The College of Cardinals chooses the new pope, and the entire Catholic church has to live with the choice. Apparently when Benedict XVI stepped out onto the platform there were applause that died down quickly in some areas of the quad. Some people were not too happy with the decision. If they were Mormons they could have raised their arm in opposition to the choice and been interviewed by their bishop/area authority. Their concerns would have been heard. But these people have nowhere to go with their issues, and even if they did tell someone it wouldn't matter. Isn't it amazing to think that 11.5 million people COMPLETELY SUPPORT President Hinkley as our prophet, seer, and revelator, and do so twice a year? It's like he's constantly running for election, except he doesn't have to campaign! And no one looks into a news camera and says "Well, I'm concerned about his conservative views on birth control and the death penalty". How lucky are we that we know this man and the rest of the apostles are called of God, not chosen willy-nilly by some old, red-robed Cardinals? I think Heavenly Father had the right idea when he set up the church this way.

In our last apartment, we were on the top floor (of two floors) and on the end of the building so we never had a problem with noisy neighbors. We couldn't hear a thing from anyone around us. I miss those days. Now we're in the exact middle of the building. There are people above and to both sides of us and we can hear EVERYTHING. It doesn't bother Dinomight, lucky guy, and I've mostly gotten used to it. Sometimes it's even comforting, knowing that someone could hear me scream if we had a break-in when Dylan wasn't home. Still, most of the time it's slightly annoying. We can hear them walking across the floor, talking, laughing, their washer is the noisyest thing ever, and when they walk down the stairs outside it's like a herd of elephants.

Last night was the kicker, though, when they decided that 11pm is a perfect time to vacuum the entire apartment. Yes, we had finally gotten Dinomyn to sleep (a feat which becomes more and more difficult as he gets older) and I was looking forward to a long night's rest when VROOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!! Of course Dinomyn wakes right up and starts screaming. I grab the phone and try to call them, but they can't hear the phone because the vacuum is too loud. As I sat there trying to calm Dinomyn and debating whether it was worth it to get dressed and go upstairs to ask them to stop, it occured to me that we hadn't even met these people yet. 3 months there and we had yet to even exchange pleasantries. I thought maybe our first meeting should be when I was a little less annoyed and a little more dressed. So, I continued to dial their number until they stopped vacuuming and answered the phone. Our conversation went as follows:

Her: "Hello?"

Me: "Hi. This is *Mynamyn* from downstairs. We were wondering if you wouldn't mind saving your vacuuming until the daylight hours. We had a sleeping baby down here and unfortunately you woke him up."
(See how hard I'm trying to be nice?? I wanted to scream Why, oh why would you do such a horribly rude thing!!! You KNOW we have a baby!! What were you thinking??)

Her: "Well, we're done now. Our in-laws are coming into town tomorrow."

-Silence-

Me: "Ok, well thanks."

Her: "Bye"

And that was it! No sorry, no remorse, no nothing!!! Why couldn't she have vacuumed at 8pm? They were home, we could hear their TV. If you've ever worked for hours to get a baby to sleep, you will know exactly why I was ready to rip her arms off. Or at least destroy her vacuum. The best part is that she's 5 months pregnant, so very, very soon she will know exactly what we just went through last night. Maybe I'll have an extra loud Halo party that lasts until 2am some night. Now I don't feel so bad for turning 24 up so loud to appease Latro on Monday nights...

Well I'm back at work. :(
I've actually been here for 5.5 hours and I've seen my boss for approximately 5 minutes. He had a meeting, then went to the warehouse, and then to lunch. Now I'm waiting for him to get back so that I can find out what projects he wants me to work on. I've had an extremely unproductive morning. This does not bode well for the next few weeks.

I’ve spent the morning catching up with people and answering questions in the halls. Yes, I’m back. (obviously) Yes, my baby is adorable. Yes, I miss him terribly. (What kind of mother would I be if I said no?) No, we didn’t hire a sitter, he’s with Dinomight, who has flexible work hours and has agreed to work in the evenings, until he gets his full time job in the next few weeks, and look after Dinomyn during the 8-2pm hours. Yes, we feel very lucky. Thanks for saying I look great but I’m dying to drop this last 15 pounds. Perhaps taking the stairs to get to my 3rd floor cube will help with that.

One of the few happy things about being back at work is the flowers. (aka “fleurs”) Tahitian Noni definitely excels at gardening. It’s so beautiful out there! The tulips and daffodils are bursting with color and the green grass feels amazing on bare feet. Especially mine, since I’ve hardly been out of the house in the last few months. Even if it is overcast today, it’s wonderful to be out in the non-artificial light. The other happy thing is being around adults for awhile. It’s so nice to catch up with old friends. It’s hard to be so distanced from people all the time. I feel like I’m soaking up the adult conversation like a sponge when I get it. But now I feel guilty about being glad to be away from Dinomyn. I really need to get a grip. I’m at his beck and call 18 hours a day now, so I guess the other 6 I’m allowed to enjoy myself. I just hope my boss has projects to keep me busy at work so the time will fly by. It certainly has today. Just 15 minutes to go!!