First Followup

So here we are ensconced at Miguel and Greg's house. We have our own room/bathroom, a TV (with cable) and our own cell phones. I miss our home. Miguel and Greg have been so kind and gracious in making our stay comfortable. We've been here a week tomorrow and so far all is well. We share cooking/cleaning and do our own laundry.

Our meals have been very interesting because they eat no fat or carbohydrates - and we eat all that garbage! However, I have ordered a month's worth of Medi-Fast meals on the recommendation of my friend Helen Peery. She's managed to lose a great deal of weight, so it's seemed the right time to take her advice. If I can stand the food I should do just fine, otherwise it will be a real struggle!

Lauren is back at USC and I'm so glad, I've missed knowing she was here. We will be spending Labor Day with her and some friends. It should prove to be a fun day.

Miguel was let go of his position at work and is looking madly to find new work. He has so many obligations, not the least of which is his daughter, Melissa. I hope and pray for his success. This is certainly a very cruel world, thank goodness we have so little time to think about it, since we all have to immediately move on.

Tony is home for the next two days. He has had a bad cold and has not been feeling well at all. He recently had a procedure done when he gave blood, that takes his red cells and packs them to be used in critically ill patients. After the procedure he immediately felt awful - the next day he came down with a raging head cold. He cannot have that procedure done again, I guess he's finally too old. Ha!

A Whirlwind Two Days!

Hello all - okay, let me give you the skinny. A few months ago I took a huge step for myself in buying a site on "IWantFilming.com". We have always worked through location companies and they take 40% of the profit - this time I brokered the shoot myself, so we get 100% of the take. I put our house on there and waited. After checking a couple of times and seeing no hits, I gave up and said to myself, "when the time comes to re-instate the site I'm cancelling." Ha! The following week (earlier this week). I got a call from an Assistant Producer for MTV, he wanted to see our home because he thought it would suit a new reality TV show they are producing. I told him to come over. He did, and while he was here he called others on the production staff and told them to come quickly, he'd found the house he wanted. Two days later I was getting so nervous because members of the staff called and told me it was a 'done deal', yet I didn't hear from the 'powers that be' until I received an e-mail this morning that had been sent in the middle of the night. The contract was approved! Yaaaaaaay! Well, today has been a whirlwind of getting so much done, packing and getting ready to move everyone out of the house. Yes, the contract is for seven weeks, so we cannot remain in the house. Tony and I are moving to Miguel and Greg's home, and Linda and children and Kirk are moving to a nearby hotel - the production company will be paying for their stay, you do not want to know the cost!! I want you to know that we will not be incommunicado, I am taking all my computers/printers over with us, and will be keeping up with all that's going on.

To end the story I want to do two things, first I want to tell you that God hears and answers prayer. The day before the Assistant Producer called to see our home I had prayed most fervently that Heavenly Father would see fit to send us a really well-paying contract. As you all know, Tony is retiring in two years and we wanted to pay-off all our debts, pay tithing and be able to remain in our home 'til we decide where to move - that is with Heavenly Father's approval - and now we can do it. So we will be able to remain in our home until the housing market moves back up and we can sell our home for what it's worth. Thank you Heavenly Father!

Here's the e-mail I received in the middle of the night from the Assistant Producer:


Hi, Susan.

I have good news! We have been given the thumbs up from the network to use your house on our show. We started the signature process with the permit office early this morning because we were afraid if we waited we would run out of time. We now are waiting for the signature results, and I'm confident that will go well. We would like to move ahead with the moving company, and we have scheduled a time of 8 am for Friday, if that is okay with you. I'd like to have someone come through the house with a video camera beforehand, as I mentioned last night, to record where all of your belongings are, and to insure they are put back exactly where they were at the end of the show. Would Thursday be a good day for this? I'd like to do it before any of the things start to get moved so if that isn't a hassle for you, it would be great. We'd also like to take some measurements of the driveway, etc, so I'd like to send one of our coordinators over there tomorrow at your convenience. What time would work for you?


We realize that moving out basically on Thursday/Friday am is a tight timeline for you, so if you aren't able to find a place that quickly, we can put you up in a hotel room for a day or two if that helps at all. How many hotel rooms would you need? I just want to make sure you are covered for what you need.


We'd love to come in and do a scout of the house on Friday as well - our key production people figuring out exactly what they want to shoot and where. They will probably be working around the moving/packing people. We'd also like to have someone from our company there supervising the packing up of your house to insure that all goes where it should to keep it safe and protected. As I mentioned on the phone last night, we are looking to move all of your things into your reading area/office area upstairs on the second floor, as well as the third floor/attic/living area. We'd like to keep things on site so we can easily put it back after we finish shooting.


Please give me a call or email me to let me know if this would work for you.
We are so excited to make this work - thanks so much!


Amy

The picture is our home - we are so grateful God directed us to live here 15 years ago, we love our home and are so happy we can now stay here until we are ready to leave, and not beforehand.

E-Bay or Otherwise Millionaire - Ha!

Alright, here's the skinny. I was in my bathroom washing my hands, after I dried my hands I turned around and looked down and my eyes fell upon the bathmat and what did I see? This. . .


Okay, does this mean I can go on E-Bay or another web site and sell this to the highest bidder? Remember, the toast that had a likeness of the Virgin Mary in the middle? It sold for several thousand dollars. I see the form of Jesus holding a lamb - what do you see? I always lose the opportunity to make it BIG. Arggghhh. . . Grrrrrr. . . !

Four For the Price of One

Well, today I received marvelous pictures of my new, soon-to-be great-grandson, Eli Anndrew. He's just gorgeous! None of those old ultra-sound pics, he's in color and very, very real. Just take a look at him and tell me what you think. Of course I'm his gramma, so I get to say how wonderful he is. Tee Hee! He currently weighs 5.5 lbs and will be born on August 20, 2008. What a marvelous time we live in.

If You Know and Love a Teen

I was at a wonderful birthday party last evening and ran into an old friend of mine, Joseph Larnyo. Joseph used to be a counselor to our former bishop and I have had occasion to work with him in our ward. He's a gentleman, has a beautiful wife and family, suffice it to say you would be very impressed by him. He has recently written a book for teens, which gives them the tools they need to succeed in life - couldn't I have used this when I was rearing my teens?

I am giving out his web site where you can order his book. I was so excited that he had already published it, because I'm going to give you the URL to his site to purchase his new book.

www.jijol.com

Some New Stuff

Okay, you may have noticed I removed my Obama comments/picture. It is because I decided to start a new blog on my thoughts about world and national events, and other stuff that bugs me somewhat, or something about which I want to vent on. You can read this blog at:

http://susan-vargas.blogspot.com/

I feel I need to keep these two blogs separated. I hope you will visit both sites often.

A Mish Mosh of Thoughts

Well, the time has come in our lives to begin deciding on what we expect to do at Tony's retirement. Our retirement funds are set up and we are ready to move onto this phase of our lives. We have to decide now whether or not to sell our home. The house is now so big with everyone but Linda and the kids and Kirk still here, we hardly spend time in many of the rooms. I have volunteered to have a small wedding reception for Jenelle Clawson and her (now) fiance, Damien Howard and a few of their converts and friends from her in L.A. They will be married August 22nd in the Nauvoo Temple and then they are coming out to L.A. for a week-long honeymoon, and they will be have this mini-reception during that time. I can't wait to see the both of them. They both served here in the L.A. CA Mission. The reception will be on August 28th and will be outdoors. I think we can manage a very nice reception for them. Well, I think we're just about ready for the Pioneer Trek next week and we are anxious to go now. I hope all goes well so that others will hear about it and want to go another time - perhaps in four years.