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I'm so sorry for the lull in blogging. Not to make excuses, but I have an excuse: I kind of hit the ground running when I arrived home from Seattle. After I got home last Thursday night at 10 pm, I set out at 8 o'clock the next morning for a job interview at QAI (to be blogged about), then I went on a lunch date with Brent, then I slept for three hours, then Brent and I got caught up on all our tv shows that we agreed not to watch while we were separated, then the next morning we went out to breakfast, bought a bike for Brent to ride to work, then we did some shopping, went to Santa Monica, rode bikes for an hour next to the beach, met my mom and Hunter by the Santa Monica pier, rode bikes for another hour with them, stood in line for Iron Man 2 while eating Johnny Rockets burgers, watched Iron Man 2, the next morning we went to both services of church, went home to do laundry, met my family at Claim Jumper for a Mother's Day celebration, went to my family's place to watch The Village (Vika's Mother's Day gift for my mom), then Monday started. And if you're tired now of reading what I've done since I've been home, you'd be exhausted if I told you what I've done since Monday.

So here are some stories that have just been waiting to be typed.

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Georgie vs. The Suitcase

The Suitcase was an area of great temptation for Georgie. When she first climbed in it and closed it on herself, I thought it was cute and reached for my camera. But soon enough Heather and I had to enforce The Suitcase as an off-limits zone for Georgie, because a favorite past time of hers was to unpack and unfold all of my clothing from it. One day, towards the end of my trip, as Heather and I both sat busy at our computers, we heard Georgie working hard and chattering while she did it, saying things like "I'm putting EVERYTHING in the suitcase!" Because Heather and I were both busy at our computers, we would both make cheerful, mindless comments back, like, "Oh how silly!" By the time we shook ourselves out of our too-busy-to-notice-what-the-little-monkey-was-doing state, The Suitcase looked as it does in the above picture. What is NOT pictured is that beneath the first layer of toys, there was a layer of office supplies from the desk right next to The Suitcase. By "everything" Georgie apparently meant toys and office supplies.

We told Georgie firmly to stop what she was doing, (I giggled a bit), then I set about ridding The Suitcase of everything that didn't belong. I told Heather that I was SURE I was going to accidentally go home with a Georgie toy. Sure enough, while unpacking The Suitcase back at home, I found this.

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Hayley vs. The Coveted PJ's

Before I arrived in Washington, Heather went through her entire wardrobe and emptied her closet of four bags worth of clothing she was ready to pass on to me. 3/4 of the stuff she gave me I have NO IDEA why she was getting rid of -- it's just all too cute and SUCH great quality. Therefore, as I was going through all of the clothing with Heather looking on, I would periodically exclaim, "HEATHER! Why THIS? This is ADORABLE! Why are you giving it up?" To which Heather would reply, "I just NEVER wear it!" And I would then say "Thank you."

But then I came to these:

"HEATHER! Why THESE? These are ADORABLE! Why are you giving them up?"

"I just NEVER wear them."

To which, rather than saying "Thank you" (in hindsight I wish I had), I cocked my head, frowned a little, and said, "Why?"

I can understand never wearing an adorable dress...one does not often have the opportunity to wear an adorable dress as a mother of two in rainy Seattle. I can understand never wearing an adorable shirt...sometimes certain shirts require a certain amount of effort for hair and make-up and jewelry that is just not reasonable for your stage of life. But never wearing adorable pj's if you have them? I am baffled. There is not any sort of other preparation you must do to make yourself look presentable, if not SMASHING, in adorable pj's. They're like, the easiest things ever to wear. (Did I seriously just write like a Valley girl talks?) Also it's fun to look presentable, if not SMASHING, when you go to bed if you're going to bed with a husband.

I explained a little bit of this to Heather, who replied thoughtfully, "Yeah, I could wear cute pj's like that."

Something in the back of my mind told me if I didn't shut my mouth, I wouldn't be in possession of the cute pj's much longer.

A few nights later, I decided to wear my new adorable pj's to bed. I got ready for bed before Heather disappeared for the night -- bad mistake. She looked at me in my adorable pj's that used to be hers and said wistfully, "You look cute."

I said, "Thanks!" Then, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was still eyeing the pj's, I offered with puppy-dog eyes, "Do I need to give these back to you?"

She shrugged and smiled.

I sighed and dramatically said, "Well, I guess I'll just go change into some other pj's then," not believing she was REALLY going to accept them back.

To my surprise, this was her response: "Oh, you don't need to change now. You can wear them tonight if you want."

Um, for real? Really you're going to take back the adorable pj's you just gave me? Seriously? Why did I offer them back?

Heather, I still haven't gotten over acquiring such a precious item, only to have it ripped from my hands.

And you'd better be wearing them on a regular basis, or else I want them shipped within the week. ;)

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Hayley vs. The Interview

A few weeks ago I posted a prayer request about an upcoming telephone interview with QAI, and in a following post I gave the praise report of how well it went. QAI contacted me while I was in Washington to set up a time when I could go out to their lab for an interview. We agreed on the morning of May 7, the day after I arrived back home. Much prayer went into the interview, and by God's grace it went really well. I'm pretty sure you can tell that an interview went well when you thoroughly enjoyed yourself throughout it. For the first half hour I was interviewed by the two lab managers who were easy to talk to and who seemed to be impressed with me. God blessed me again with swift and detailed answers to all of their questions. They told me congratulations, from the initial hundreds of applicants I had made it down to the last five candidates. They told me they're looking to hire three of us in the next several months for a few different positions. For the last half hour one of the lab managers took me on a tour of the lab where I would be working if I got the job. The tour was fascinating and whet my appetite for working there! I was even privileged enough to witness a fire resilience test of an airplane cargo wall! Pretty awesome.

So Tuesday, I called one of the guys who had interviewed me to thank him for the interview and re-establish how much I felt I belonged in the company. He thanked me for following up and let me know that for right now, they've hired someone else for the position. :( He did say that they are still wanting to hire two more people for other positions in the next coming months, and he said I am still on their minds as a top candidate.

All of that to say, I didn't get the job. But that's how the interview went. :)

Still trusting God. It's a comfort to know that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now, job or no job.

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Eyes vs. The Sun

This was our first attempt to take a picture with our mother during our little Mother's Day outing to Santa Monica. Hunter looks like he's praying, mom looks like sand is blowing in her eyes, and I look a little woozy. We had all been waiting for the count of three to open our eyes for the picture, as the blinding Sun was just at eye level behind the camera. Apparently our timing was a little off.

A little better. At least we're all looking at the camera. This time Hunter looks a little seasick, mom looks like she's trying to be a sassy model, and I look Asian.

Finally, we gave up and took a picture facing the other way. This is much better.

Hmm...shoulda stopped with the previous one maybe.

How did it escape my notice that Brent was wearing socks above his shoe line before we went out the door that morning? I literally just discovered this...this is not good.

Awwww. :)

Bicycle fail.

Pose fail.

Too awkward for my taste. It's not a toilet, Hunter! It's a bike!