Welcome to my World...

Well…maybe ONE more post then…

2008-03-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, this blog is still officially closed, but I figured one more post couldn’t hurt us.

The subject of this post is babies.

Why?

Well, first off, in case the whole world hasn’t noticed, there seems to be a baby boom going on.

This brings up a few concerns that I have…

The actual subject of other people having babies is not what concerns me so much. I’m quite happy for everyone who is having babies these days.

(Congrats to the whole lot of you – you know who you are.)

What concerns me (read: freaks me out) is a certain reaction I encounter whenever I hear of another one of my friends being pregnant.

It’s more than a reaction though, it’s like…a voice…I hear…somewhere, somehow…something.

It’s a feeling that I couldn’t aptly describe in a verbose explanation, so I’ll have to give you a play-by-play rundown of the occurring reaction.

(For simplicity’s sake the following characters in my little play shall be named “My Brain” and “Random Emotion Somewhere In The Pit Of My Stomach” or, simply “THE VOICE”)

Hopefully you’ll get my drift and sympathize…

Act one:

(My Brain): “***** is pregnant? No way! I’m so happy for her! They’re going to make great parents!”

Enter: THE VOICE

(THE VOICE): “Whisper, whisper, *sigh* …I want one… *sniffle*…”

(My Brain): “What the hey? Speak up will you? I can’t hear you when you mumble…”

(THE VOICE): “Hee hee, aww! Whisper, whisper, …I WANT one… *SIGH*…”

(My Brain: “Fine, I’ll get in touch with my emotions sensor to decipher your message…”

(My Brain): “Well, that’s odd isn’t it...I’m sensing…feelings of…longing…possibly…frustration? …and…”

(THE VOICE): “*SIGH!* I SAID…I WANT ONE!”

(My Brain): “Uh-oh”

(THE VOICE): “NO! MORE than that: I NEEEED one!”

(My Brain): “Oh. Not again…”

(THE VOICE): “YOU don’t understand. EVERYone is having babies…becoming happy little mommies… happy little families… I – no, WE – are being left out!”

(My Brain): “We’ve been over this before. Darn it! You do this EVERY time!

(THE VOICE): Weeping, wailing & gnashing of teeth

(My Brain): “Oh. Please. No. Not that. Shh! You’ll wake the neighbors! The heart is especially sensitive these days…”

(THE VOICE): “This is all YOUR fault! You insensitive, heartless, brute!”

Enter: The Heart

(Heart): “Hello? What’s this?”

(My Brain): “Oh, oh, now you’ve gone and done it! You woke it up!”

(THE VOICE): “NO! Heart understands me, understands this issue. We need babies, right Heart?”

(Heart): *Softens* “Oohh! Baaabies! So…soft…so sweeeet…so squiiishy…*sniffle*”

(My Brain): “You’re gonna get it, Voice…”

(Heart and THE VOICE chime together): “Babies! Babies! Baaaabiieees!”

End of Act One

The scene ends with The Brain fritzing in a corner, muttering phrases like “…don’t have time for babies…” and “no, no…no sex = no babies” and “…they DON’T understand…THEY don’t understand…THEY. DON’T. UNDERSTAND!”

While Heart and THE VOICE have gone mad in another corner cooing over imaginary offspring and preparing their future parenting skills.

It’s a mad rush towards chaos and all because a few friends here and there pop up to say two words of supposed eternal bliss:

“I’M PREGNANT!”

I’m siding with my brain on this one…

Conceding defeat...

2008-03-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well, there's one new year's resolution that isn't going to go far...

I've decided to stop blogging.

Well, more like, I've decided to stop feeling stressed that I haven't been blogging.

So this is it. I give up.

It's been a good couple of blogging years. But I'm glad it's over.

Happy hunting grounds!

Adios!

New Toy...

2008-01-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have done it!

I have willingly joined the masses of conformed & subjected consumers...

I bought an iPod.

I did.

Forgive the cliche' effusion of unnecessary fawning...

I can't help myself...it's just so sleek & sexy & so full of empty space...

Take a look, ladies & gentlemen:

80gb of pure, solid joy...

*Swoon!*

(Now the real question is, sexy as it may be, was it worth my arm & leg...?)

Blast from the past!

2008-01-13T20:01:00.001-08:00

I was looking through a random folder on my computer and I found a document I didn't recognize called "blog posts".

I wasn't quite sure what it was or where I got it, so being the curious creature that I am, I opened it up, not knowing what I would find...

Turns out it was a file of random blog posts that I'd semi-formulated and then forgot about finishing & posting...

Wow. Am I scatterbrained.

There was a pretty funny one that it seems I wrote sometime in April about my trip to visit my parents in Mexico.

It's pretty long, so it's a possibility that I gave up on finishing it as I figured it would end up to be a boring read.

Since it was amusing to me now though, I figured I'd post the unfinished piece of my history here anyway.

I have nothing better to blog about.

Heh.

"Trip to Mexico"
(Written sometime around April, 2007, while visiting my family in Morelia)

I have so very much to tell about Mexico and my adventures herein that I have no idea where to start.

I could tell it all in chronological order, giving a play-by-play review of how my time here is going, but personally I think that would be disjointed and boring. So I’ve decided that I will break it up into segments, categorizing my thoughts on different aspects of Mexico and said adventures.

Thus said, we will start on possibly the longest chapter:

Travel

I can aptly describe my traveling adventures in one word: humbling.

Humbling?

Yes, humbling.

I have never felt so very inadequate or impractical as I did these last few days traveling ALONE in Mexico.

Have I mentioned that I don’t speak a word of Spanish?

Well, I don’t.

Which means I was traveling alone and confused in Mexico, with the words “touristica estupida” stamped boldly on my forehead, I’m sure.

Everyone knows that look. It’s the wide-eyed and terrified look of someone who has just stepped out of a familiar world onto foreign soil, surrounded by noise and confusion, turning around in circles trying to find something — anything — that looks even vaguely familiar to their natural habitat.

Yes sir, that’s the stupid tourist look.

And man, did I wear it boldly.

The situation is this:

One fine morning, shortly after I’d awoken from my slumber, tall brother and small friend descend upon my room happily informing me that there’s a small get-together happening at the CTC to honor a project that they’ve been working on together. Small friend was part of that project and was invited, but is unable to go at this time. Since I am also slightly connected to the project as well (in a very roundabout way) they both have decided that it would be best that I go in his place.

“It’s a once in a life-time opportunity!” they explain.

“You’ll have so much fun!” they rant.

“You absolutely have to go!” they determine.

“You’ll need to take a bus…and leave right away...” they conclude…

Take a bus…?

Alone…?

In Mexico…?

“You’ll be fine!” they reassure me.

After small p&p sessions on said topic (trust me, I wasn’t about to make a snap decision on something like this) I get the go-ahead and start prepping to go.

— Now, before we go any further with my travel story, I have to explain that I am very, very scared of doing new things. I’m sure I’ve said this a hundred times on this blog, but it’s very true. And this was definitely a new thing for me.

So, what happens when I am faced with something new (unfortunately, this happens with basically anything new) is that a small feeling of panic settles in the pit of my stomach, and — depending on how long the new occurrence lasts — the feeling of panic goes through a series of stages.

Stage one is that the panic starts in my stomach, causing the inevitable butterfly affect; then slowly, slowly inching it’s way up, it heads over to my lungs (stage two), causing the quickening and shortening of my breath; then (stage three) up to my heart, causing it to beat a little more quickly; then to my throat (stage four), causing it to clench and constrict; then finally, and at the most critical stage (five), it makes it’s way up to my eyes, where fear and panic settle, causing the wide-eyed look of terror that I described above.

Once I’ve reached the wide-eyed and terrified look, it’s too late.

I am officially…lost.

All practicality gets flung to the wind and I become the bumbling idiot that I have always attempted to avoid.

So — imagining me in this state — let’s get back to my traveling testimony of how the Lord humbled me greatly.

Yes, so, we made it down to the bus station all safe and sound. Dear Phil (of Angelina) and Dad escorted me there to make sure that I made it off okay (thank you guys, so very much!) I’m quite sure though that they underestimated how very lost I was, but realized it quickly because of the barrage of questions that were thrown at them.

Phil ended up basically walking me through every step of getting on the bus, from buying the bus ticket to actually walking me out to the correct platform, explaining to the bus attendants that I don’t speak a word of Spanish, and handing my life over into their capable hands.

Thankfully, one attendant spoke some English, and was soooo sweet and helpful, even going so far as to tell the driver to make sure that I get off at my stop.

The Lord was merciful to me.

The first bus ride was long and fairly uneventful — except that every time we slowed down, the panicked feeling would return and I would fear that we would come to my bus stop and I would miss it … unfortunately, Mexican buses come to basically a complete stop whenever they go over a speed bump…and they have a lot of speed bumps in Mexico…

Multiply that by a four-hour bus ride and you can conclude that I definitely didn’t sleep any.

LOTS of prayer vigil though! Heh.

So, we finally made it to my bus stop. The driver even poked his head back to wave at me and say the name of the bus stop very, very slowly so that I would know that this was my stop. Phil had written down “por favor, please drop me at such-&-such a station” (I don’t remember what it was in Spanish, I only remember the por favor part, heh) So I made sure to show that to the driver hoping to get an affirming nod and “si, si!” and I did.

So that was fine.

I was about to breathe a sigh of relief until I got off the bus…and realized…that they had dropped me off on the side of the highway…

I almost panicked.

Apparently, that’s normal for the specific stop that I got off on, but it was NOT what I was expecting.

I walked up and down a little bit, holding my breath, and praying to God that the person who was supposed to pick me up would know I was here and come and get me.

It’s quite obvious that I’m a foreigner, so every vendor in the world approaches me with things to buy, which only adds to my confusion. Thankful I’ve gotten the phrase “no, gracias!” down quite well, so I wasn’t completely lost.

The small Mexican men also like to practice their English on me, which, you know, is cool and all, until they blush and say “jou are … how jou say … umm … very beautiful…”

I go blank at that part.

Inside I panic, outside I smile and say “gracias” and hope really, really hard that they go away.

(Of course, it’s flattering on some level, and encouraging to think that SOMEONE thinks you’re attractive…but when you’re stranded on the side of the highway completely lost out of your mind, it’s REALLY not a good time to hear something like that…)

“Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave” … oh, and be sure to say “YES!” when they ask “uh…jou hev…un…boy…friend?”

*sigh of relief*

No more awkward questions.

(Honestly, it’s not like I’m afraid of them, I’m about ten feet taller then all of them, it’s just really, really awkward and embarrassing…)

Thankfully 15-20 minutes later my ride showed up.

I’d been studying every car that passed, wondering “could that be them?” and praying that it was someone that I knew or who at least knew me.

The second I saw the very large white van, I knew that was my ride. It just screamed “Family van!” No hiding that.

And on a second score, I got picked up by two people I recognized from the blogging world (never met them before), Miggy & Justin. Very nice people, those two. :-D

(End of unfinished blog post)

Well, all that to say, I made it safely there and I made it safely back, and I had a good laugh about it 8 1/2 months later.

I'll be sure to write more random, unfinished blog posts in the future and hide them in a random file on my computer so I can be amused when I find them far into the future.

Oh...wait...that would probably be counterproductive to my commitment to blog more...

Drat.

Never mind then.

Cheerio, small world!

Till next time.

Epiphany...

2008-01-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

I love that word..."epiphany"...it makes whoever says it sound so very intelligent.

Ha!

As if...

In any case, I had an epiphany today.

I realized that if I blog more, then I can feel more free to blog about less important things -- something I enjoy -- whereas when I don't blog in a while I'm boxed into the corner of making my one random update post all about the newsie bits -- which is generally not very interesting and a chore to have to write out.

That gave me incentive to blog more.

Which, I suppose, is why I'm sitting here blogging right now.

Here's something less important:

It's raining.

And pouring.

And I've had to traipse through the mud in good shoes countless times over the past week...

Yuck.

My soul is irritated by the dirt that is currently pervading my environment.

I'm also currently completely alone in my apartment due to both of my peeps being on vacation.

I've been completely fine with the solitude over the past week. At first I thought it was calming. Lots of "me" time.

Last night when the electricity went off, I realized how very much I hate being alone...at night...in the dark...

A sudden fear struck me and I realized how very vulnerable I was at that moment.

So not a feeling I can just calmly sit through.

I panicked and promptly scrambled to see if the peeps in the neighboring apartment were still up (it was 11 pm) so that I wouldn't have to be alone in the dark.

Thankfully they were still up and so we sat around the candlelight, playing card games for a little while till all my fears subsided.

I still had to spend the night alone though.

Well, semi-alone.

I still had Ned.

I love Ned.

I'm so glad my neighbors were awake.

It probably saved the last bit of my sanity.

Now I'm rambling...

I miss my peeps!

Welcome 2008!

2008-01-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

2007 flew by like so fast--I barely had time to blink.

I wanted to make a post highlighting the different things about 2007 that I was thankful for and for all the changes that happened, but I'm not sure that one post would do the subject justice.

This past year was crazy!

I realized that I blogged on average twice every month, and I figure that's because I only had time to stop and breathe once every two weeks.

On the months that I didn't post...well...I guess I tried holding my breath too long. Maybe I passed out or something on the two-week mark and missed my window of opportunity to post. Better luck next time maybe?

Heh.

2007 was really amazing. I really can't believe that we fit into it as much as we did--and 2008 is shaping up to be just as exciting.

It'll be awesome to see what the Lord does with this next year.

I'm excited.

Are you excited?

Here are a few of the things I'm thankful for about 2007:

XD (top of the list)
Prayer drive
Spiritual growth
Driver's license!
New job
New house
New computer
New personnel
New babies!
New responsibilities
New friends
New co-workers
Vacations with my family!
Personal changes
Stretching in new ways
Doing the humble thing
Having my bottle broken

...and so much more

Special thanks to Mish for being an awesome roommate and friend. She really helped to get me through the year in so many ways. I don't know what I would have done without her!

Special thanks to Chuck as well; she helped me keep my head on my shoulders and always knew exactly what to say when I was about to blow an overload fuse. I love your perspectives, Chuck!

I. Am. So. Blessed!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Aherm.

Just a few days late anyway.

I just realized that it's been a full month (and a day) since I last updated.

I'll have you know though that I updated plenty in my head...I just never got around to posting my random thoughts.

Updating in my head has to count for something though. At least it means I was THINKING about it...

I've GOT to get back in the habit of updating.

(Goal for the New Year: update more)

Did I mention that I need to update more?

Anyway, the only reason that I'm able to update right now is because...I'm...on...VACATION!

And I feel guilty for not working.

But I'm under strict orders from my Boss not to work during vacation, and I'm trying to be obedient.

But I feel so guilty.

I promised Mishy I'd update while she was way though, so I'm hoping that I'll turn over a new leaf and give her something to read while she's on the other side of the world.

Mishy, if you're reading this (which you'd better be) I just wanted to let you know that I MISS YOU! From the bottom of my heart. Don't get stolen away, you hear me? Bring the men here! We're a needy field too, you know....

Heh.

In other news today: my sister is up visiting me from Chile.

Neato burrito man.

Unfortunately for her, my ideal vacation is sleeping as much of the day away as I can, staying in bed the rest of the day, and reading books. Or going to a nearby grassy park, laying a blanket out on the ground, and either sleeping or reading a book.

Yes. I'm a boring person.

I went to the library and got a few books to read while on vacation, and I was SO happy about it.

I haven't been able to sit down long enough to read a book in...oh so long.

But my sister had other plans for me, so I haven't actually been able to sit down and read my books yet.

Drat.

I took her ice skating today though. That was fun. I didn't actually skate because...well...I'm just bad at it, and I cherish my knees and tail-bone too much to torture them in that way. But she had fun, so I'd say it was a success.

Now maybe she'll let me read my books...

Heh.

I have grand plans of making a Christmas card & posting it sometime before the new year, but I haven't fully set up Photoshop CS3 on my computer yet...so that will have to wait.

Here are a few Christmas pictures for your troubles:

One of me:

One of her:

One of us:

And one for the road:

Thanks for stopping by!

The blogging itch...

2007-11-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

I want to blog. I really do. It's like an itch within my soul.

But I have nothing spectacular to blog about.

It's sad.

Really sad.

The happy part of my world at this moment is that we're going to discuss our Christmas plans tonight in HC.

Yay!

I love Christmas.

I've been ODing on Sarah McLachlans's Christmas album "Wintersong".

It's pretty much the best thing EVER.

I love "River". Makes me sniffly.

I heard that Josh Groban has a Christmas album out as well. Gotta get me hands on that.

Yea, that's that for now.

I. Am. Boring.

Hey Ma! Look who's posting again!

2007-11-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

Yea man. It's been a while.

I found this list on someone else's blog a long, long time ago and I've been meaning to post it.

It's a list of things you should do if you feel the need to "be a kid again" and I couldn't help but laugh when I realized that pretty much everything on that list is something I love to do already, and most of the things they list I do quite often...when I'm not around other people. ;-)

These are things that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Well...except for 13...

Heh.

So here's some insight into this little soul of mine:

Be A Kid Again

Do a cartwheel.
Sing into your hairbrush.
Walk barefoot in wet grass.
Play a song you like really loud, over and over.
Dot all your “i”’s with smiley faces.
Read the funnies. Throw the rest of the paper away.
Dunk your cookies.
Play a game where you make up the rules as you go along.
Step carefully over sidewalk cracks.
Change into some play clothes.
Try to get someone to trade you a better sandwich.
Eat ice cream for breakfast.
Kiss a frog, just in case.
Blow the wrapper off a straw.
Have someone read you a story.
Find some pretty stones and save them.
Wear your favorite shirt with your favorite pants even if they don’t match.
Take a running jump over a big puddle.
Get someone to buy you something you really don’t need.
Hide your vegetables under your napkin.
Stay up past your bedtime.
Eat dessert first.
Fuss a little, then take a nap.
Wear red gym shoes.
Put way too much sugar on your cereal.
Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.
Giggle a lot for no reason.
Give yourself a gold star for everything you do today.

What can I say?

I'm a child at heart!

I don't want to talk about it...

2007-10-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

The title just about sums up my feelings about blogging these days.

I apologize to all of my poor, hapless readers who still visit here hoping to catch a glimpse of some news concerning my life.

But honestly, I don't want to talk about it.

So I'm just going to cop out and post pictures instead.

#1: I miss you already.
#2: Nobody's here to encourage my secret love of sports.
#3: Nobody understands my Southern heritage like you do.
#4: Toshi's comments on your blog won't be interesting to me anymore because I won't be able to hear you ranting at him firsthand.
#5: There's no one representin' anymore.
#6: I miss you already.

That was me...Jumping back into work. Worked out quite well, I'd say.

That's my sister's work. She's too talented for her own good.

That was a perfect picture of peace in the midst of a storm (ILY Becca!)

Those were a few of my favorite people:

Prom, I MISS YOU!

Jeff, you're crazy man, but I love you.

Chuck, sorry about the bad picture, you're prettier in real life.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Chuck. Finally made it to the 21 mark (as of 6 minutes ago). Hurrah! I can't wait to give you your present. It makes me happy. Hah!

As an early birthday present, here's a card I thought you'd appreciate:

Heh.

And on that note, I'm going to bed. I'm so tired that my insides feel like they're shriveling up and dying.

Happy note to end the night on, eh?

Sweet dreams.

It's been awhile...

2007-08-24T15:11:00.001-07:00

Is now a good time to come out of hiding?

No time like the present, I suppose!

Confession: I'm blogging from work.

Reason? *Sniff!* My laptop is down and out for a couple of days so I can't do my "real" work right now. You never realize how much your life depends on your computer until it dies on you for a day or so.

Yep, old faithful isn't working. Darn power-cord decided to give out on me and it doesn't really have any battery-power to speak of.

I've been pushing myself extra hard with work this past week and I can't figure out whether to be really thankful that I did that or to think that the Lord's trying to teach me a lesson on working in the arm of the flesh...

I'm going to go for the "very thankful" option and practice extreme praise right now:

I'm SO happy that it's just the power cord and not something like the hard drive...*shudder*

*Knock on wood*

A super blessing out of this is that it showed me that I probably need to go ahead and break down and get a new computer. I've been putting it off because mine "technically" still works...

Granted, it's very slow...it acts up on me more these days...it's given me a few "blue-screens-of-death"...it only has about 5 minutes of battery power...and it's getting a bit old.

So, PTL, new computer here I come! I'll miss that little baby though. It's been very faithful to me.

On a completely different topic, I've discovered something about myself:

I hate hellos

In fact...

I hate goodbyes as well...

Not in the traditional sense of "not wanting to say goodbye", but simply because in both cases I never know what to do.

With hellos, my mind goes completely blank, I forget the person's name (EVERY time), I don't know whether to hug them, or wave, or shake their hand, or stop what I'm doing and hang out with them, or if I'm supposed to do something for them, or what they want from me!

So I just stand there...

With a dazed look on my face...

Possibly mutter a weak "hi" to them...

And pray desperately that they either make the first move or state what they want quickly so we can be over and done with this torture scene.

It's not unlike me to hide for a good hour or so if I know that we're going to have visitors because I can't stand the thought of having to go through the awkward ritual of greeting someone.

It's very much the same with goodbyes. Hug? Wave? Shake hand? Chit-chat?

I get so lost.

Generally I try to bolt for the door as soon as possible--maybe throwing out a fast "bye guys! I'll see you later!" praying against all hope that no one will stop me before I make it out of there.

As soon as I get outside, I'll breathe a sigh of relief and be so thankful that it was all over...

So, word to the wise, if you've ever come to see me and upon seeing you for the first time I act awkward and don't say much, or if I'm visiting and you suddenly discover that I've left inexplicably--don't take it personally.

My mind simply has a block against greetings and farewells. I like you just the same.

And if I do greet you? Be flattered. It took a lot of work!

See YOU at the Core. Amen?

Plagarizing...

2007-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry all, lately I really haven't had any time to blog. Been lots happening, for sure, but finding time to write all the juicy tid-bits out has not proved to be a worthwhile venture.

So instead of boring you with a speedy run-down of the daily happenings in my work life I thought I'd link to a deliciously tasty morsel of humor to keep you going:

Read this and weep...

(Tears of laughter that is...)

I love my Home members!!

Spread the word...

2007-07-24T16:29:00.001-07:00

How far would you go to make a friend smile?

Aches & Pains...

2007-07-17T19:23:00.001-07:00

Anyone interesting in donating their spine to a worthy cause?

Maybe not even your whole spine--just your neck, perchance?

...maybe your lower back as well?

No?

Darn.

You were my only hope!

*Sniff!*

Oh well, I'm practicing praise anyway!

Thank You Jesus for ibuprofen--large quantities of it!

Hallelujah for ice packs--nice, cold, & refreshing!

Praise You Lord that this normally doesn't last more than a week or so--then I get to be all back to normal!

I'm thankful for coffee--it keeps me going after a painful, sleepless night!

Thank You Lord that I have a nice chair with good back support--which enables me to do my work without having to adjust my sitting every few minutes!

Praise You Jesus that my bed is close by--so if the chair does get uncomfortable I can switch places for a little while!

I'm really quite sincere in my praises. I know that I have it good. What's a little pain among friends? What doesn't kill you--only makes you stronger!

Amen?

The question remains...

2007-07-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

"What will Boo be writing about next?"

Thank you. Thank you. I will happily quench your thirsty thoughts and let you have a glimpse into my spectacular life. Hurrah!

It was late one night on the 3rd of July and people everywhere were preparing to celebrate their independence...

We happily celebrated as well--only we weren't celebrating the independence of our countries. No. No. We were celebrating something much better...

A weekday without work.

Can someone yell PAR-TAY!!

We certainly did...

Party hardy. We're hard core.
Bump n' grind. Hot people galore...
Let the music roll, yea! Dance some more!
Two days later, good God, I'm sore!

Heh.

Yea.

Pretty much the best thing ever--definitely well-deserving of a corny poem (only the best things in life are corny...)

All foolishness aside, it was positively GRAND to see everyone.

Our lives really aren't the same without the rest of our Home members. (We miss you!)

(To explain: We're one Home, we just happen to live in three separate houses, and have a bit of a long-distance relationship at the moment...)

Get it?

Got it?

Good.

Yesterday was beautiful as well. Big ol' BBQ, lots of food, great company, tons of laughter, hot people EVERYwhere, two hours of volleyball, lots of sun, I even got to sing with precious...

*Sigh*

We have such wonderful lives...

I'm sure that someone, somewhere is going to post pictures.

I played volleyball in my "underwear" and can't wait to see pictures of that...

Of course, there were some exceptionally humbling moments as well throughout the day...

Let's take a moment to recap some of THOSE highlights (just for the heck of it):

Embarrassing moment #1. I got pantsed... (there is NO correct way to spell that word)

Embarrassing moment #2. I conveniently filled my mouth full of beer just as someone did something terribly funny...beer didn't shoot out of my mouth...no....it came out of my nose...

Embarrassing moment #3. I was standing arm-in-arm with a member of the opposite sex the moment it happened...

(oh. ouch.)

Moral of THIS story?

#1. Beer is bad for you.

#2. EMBRACE the humbling.

Amen?

To leave you with something wonderful, here is my background for the day. It makes me feel all warm & fuzzy...

I love you!

Merrily, Merrily, on we go...

2007-07-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, what's that bell ringing?

No...that couldn't be...

Arg! My alarm! And it's free-day!!

Such were the cries of the wicked (me) as I realized that I had indeed set my alarm for 7:00 am on my WnR morning.

I kicked myself, multiple times, as I remembered that I had set it for a purpose--it wasn't just happenstance that it was going off at such an ungodly hour on my one sleep-in.

No, that day was a different day. That day, Ruthie & I were going to go traveling...by ourselves...up to the States...

I'll let you read about it here...since she says it so much better than I do.

I am sun-burned!

Change is in the hair!

2007-06-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I decided to go red.

I've been blonde, brunette, and black, but never red.

So I made up my mind and said "red is best!"

This time though, I wanted to go the natural route of all hair dye: henna!

After much conniving and scheming and convincing I deftly pursuaded Chucky to do my hair for me.

I'd never done henna before and certainly wasn't about to take my life into my own hands in that way.

So happy, happy, it was finally our WnR night and I decided "tonight's the night!"

Grabbing Chucky and the inconspicuous little fox-faced box of adventure, I marched my way down to the kitchen, determined to walk away a better and brighter (haired) woman.

With the instructions laid out before me, I studied to show myself approved and capable, figuring "this can't be that hard! I have dyed my hair before, this will be a piece of cake!"

Ten minutes later I was still studying the directions, in an attempt to make heads or tails (I'd take either at that point) of said directions. These natural & healthy people don't speak plain English!

Frustrated, I thrust the directions into Chucky's (hopefully) capable hands and silently prayed that she'd be able to help me in my plight.

Thankfully, Chuck speaks the language of the earth and understood what they were attempting to explain, relaying their information back to me in human form, and thus speeding me along my path to victory (red hair).

Now, to explain to the normal, unsuspecting reader: henna is not like most dyes.

Normal hair dye you simply mix the two bottles of formula together, pour the creamy mixture onto your hair, let it stew for a little while, and voila! You're now a fake!

But no.

Henna likes to be difficult.

Let me explain the process for your better understanding:

Step one: "Boil water."

(Boo): "Hey! That can't be that hard! I've boiled water before. Whew. This is turning out to be easier than I thought."

Ah, CORRECTION to step one: "Boil water in a container that is not metal, has never touched metal, doesn't dream about metal, has never frolicked with metal, and has definitely, never, ever come within ten miles of anything metal."

(Boo): (Stunned silence)

Fainting in my heart for a moment I scurried around the kitchen in hopes of finding the light at the end of this tunnel in the way of some sort of structure that I could boil my happy water in...

Goodness prevailed in the end, of course, and after finding a pure vessel of un-hindered glassness, I proceded to boil my water.

So, next...

Step two: "After boiling water, carefully mix the contents of the little white bag in the fox-faced box together with your carefully boiled water."

(Boo): "Oookay, doesn't sound too bad..."

Pours bag in bowl...

Stops...terrified...

(Boo): "...Is it supposed to be...green...?"

*Gulp*

Mixes bag with water...

(Boo): "...and now...brown??"

(I'd like to note here for the record, and to give credit where credit is due, that it was actually Chucky who was mixing the witches brew. I was actually sitting back and trembling in fear of what was to come.)

Of course, my adventurous side had been slightly piqued, so I could not back down at that point.

Onward Christian soldiers!

So up the stairs we went with our pasty brown brew, creeping quietly into the master bathroom, in a brave attempt not to wake the other members of the house (it might have been a LITTLE bit past their bed time...)

My insides quaked as I sat myself in front of that mirror, but I garnered all the courageousness I had within me, and declared to myself:

"Self! We're going through with this! No backing down now. Repeat after me: I am a brave, brave woman! (repeats: I am a brave, brave woman) no foe of darkness, or fiend of henna can stop me! (repeats: no foe of darkness or fiend of henna, can...oh no, here she comes!)

Daringly leading the way, Chucky arrived at my side holding a bowl of what can only be correctly expressed as "stickybrowngoothatlookslikepoo"

aka: henna.

She, of course, feels no fear. She is one with the earth and thrives in this sort of circumstance.

So, onward, we go!

She begins the process by smearing this smelly concoction over and into my hair--patiently and faithfully working the goo onto each section, each end, and each root--a careful and painstaking process, which took the better part of the evening to accomplish--largely due to the fact that I was terrifyingly anal about getting the goo on my skin so I forced Chucky to stop every few moments so that I could give myself a good cleanup. (Seriously, who wants fat brown stains on their face?)

When she finished with that part of the process I could only sit and stare at my reflection in the mirror...

With the brown paste drying into crumbly bits across my skull, the effect certainly gave new meaning to the oft-used childhood nickname of "doodoo head".

It wasn't pretty.

But that was only step one to the doodooheading process!

Next, I get wrapped...in serran wrap...

My whole head gets pushed and pulled and tugged as each layer upon layer tightly conforms to my head.

I looked like an alien...

A doodoo alien...

I consoled myself by telling myself that, firstly, it was all for a good cause, and that, more importantly, at least nobody else could see me...for now.

I wasn't aware of this at the time of undertaking this adventure, (I told you, the directions were intense!) but I found out after the fact that you have to leave henna in your hair for a long, long time--think 12 hours or more...

Thankfully, it was late at night and people had already gone to bed, and the next morning would be sleep-in, which meant that by the time I woke up the next..afternoon...the process would be complete and I could bounce out of my room a redhead! Hurrah!

Consoled by these thoughts, I curled myself into bed, and proceded to dream of pastures, and dried hay, and cowfields, and all things natural--which I suppose was a result of my head smelling like pastures, and dried hay, and cowfields, and all things natural...

Yep. Makes sense...

I'll skip down to the part where I woke up because the cows in my dreams really weren't that interesting.

So, getting up the next afternoon I quickly dashed myself to the bathroom and began a vigorous scrubbing technique that could only be described as...desperate.

20 minutes later and a whole lotta goo down the drain I stepped out of the shower a new woman.

Or at least, I hoped...

I admit--though I was excited to see what I looked like--before viewing myself I did feel a few pangs of terror and fear...

*Creeping slowly to the mirror*

"Moment of truth! What is it going to look like? I'm hoping...red. Like, a pretty red, not a garish overdone red, but red enough to make a statement. So. Here's hoping for red."

I stopped.

"...what if...it's not red...? What if it's...green--like the powder was green, maybe it could have turned my hair green...I heard someone say that henna can do that to you..."

*Gasp!*

"Didn't my mom tell me a story about a friend of hers who put henna in their hair and it turned green?? Oh Lord! She told me to NEVER use henna!! How could I have forgotten?!"

"Oh. Oh. Now what do I do...??"

I stayed in this state of bewildered panic for a moment or two as I slowly questioned whether or not I even wanted to LOOK in the mirror at all. The potential for trauma was...great...

Curiosity prevailed in the end and I continued on my way to the mirror...

I crept slowly towards the mirror, holding my breath in expectation of what would unfold before my eyes, then I caught a glimpse of my fate...

The reflection in the mirror was not at all what I expected it to be--on either side of the fence.

No glimpses of a green-haired monster...

But neither was there a red-headed nymph staring back at me either!

It was...just...me.

Just plain ol' me with...brown hair!

*Sigh*

Just like normal.

I was disappointed, yet somehow strangely relieved at the same time.

I suppose...brown I was made to be, so brown I am.

And, you know, there are glimmers of redness there. Not as drastic as I was expecting...

So, that concludes my tale of change.

Here's to the thrill of changes--big or small!

No matter what happens in life, you can expect it to be exciting!

This has been a long post.

I'm going to bed.

Goodnight fair and faithful few!

Newsie Poosie

2007-06-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

I sit at my computer...

My fingers itching to express...

Something witty...?

Possibly...something insightful...?

Oh, come on!

At least something interesting...!

But alas.

I can come up with none of those things.

Sniff.

In other news today, I passed my driver's test.

DUDE!!

None of this low-key nonsense, celebrations are in order!

I PASSED MY DRIVER'S TEST!!!!!

Yeahahahaha!!!

FREEEEEEDOMMMMM!!

*Breathes sigh of relief*

In all honesty though, the guy should have flunked me.

If you freak the instructor out, you should flunk, right?

Dude, he FREAKED OUT.

TWICE.

Guess I can say that it was definitely only the Lord that I passed then, eh?

PTL!!!!!

La Dia Del Diablo...

2007-05-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what I thought when I opened my trusty inbox work folder and saw that there were exactly 666 messages sitting there.

It was scary.

I shuddered, quickly clicking the send/receive button for lightning was sure to strike...

Thankfully my trusty inbox saw fit to deliver me from all evil by sending me a few new messages.

I sighed a healthy sigh of relief.

I was saved!

In other news today, Sonia informed that that I have to post something new since she linked to me on her blog and I need something new up here to entertain the masses that are SURE to come my way.

Are you entertained yet?

Wait. Where'd you go?

Hello?

Oh darn, all the masses left. Guess I wasn't so interesting after all!

In more news today (I'm just so full of interesting newsie tid-bits, aren't I) as is evidenced by my grammatically incorrect post title, I've been practicing my measly Spanish around the house...mainly with the kids. (Because they won't laugh at me, but instead take everything I say as the gospel truth...well, you know, the 1 year old does anyway). I say that I'm becoming quite fluent in child-Spanish. ("Que es esta? Esta es mi nariz. Mi nariz, tu nariz. Ow! No! No! Esta es mi nariz...Mi nariz! Dije MI nariz!! Dejado ir!!!")

Eh heh.

Yep. There's always lots to learn.

Mi nariz es roja.

Guess who's back, back again....

2007-05-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Heh, well, it's not me.

The Wordstockians made it back safe and sound.

I'm so happy they're back. Life has been empty without them.

They brought pictures with them too.

That was nice.

We happy stay-by-the-stuff people were given two WnRs back-to-back this weekend for, well, staying by the stuff.

That's nice too.

I haven't been in a blogging mood in a good week or so, as is evidenced by the lack of posts on this blog.

Not much I can do about that, though. Can't force creativity!

Plenty of posts of my other blog to make up for it. Gives you a hint of where my creativity went.

*Sigh*

Learning to be a fighter!

Lord, give me the grace...

2007-05-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Not to be envious!

*Sniff!*

I was really fine with not going to Wordstock this year.

"This year will be my last" I said last year.

"Last year was the end" I said this year.

And I was okay.

Really, perfectly fine.

I've gone the previous three years, of course I'll stay back.

I didn't mind...

That was...

Until I headed on over to the Wordstock site ...

And was hit with the realization...

That Wordstock was really happening...

Without ME!!!

*Weep!!*

Alas!

Woe is me!

Memories of Wordstock came pouring into my head and I remembered...

That hallowed concert hall...

The pounding, driving drum-beat...

A hundred bodies flying to the rhythm of the music...

That excited, euphoric feeling you get, standing in the middle of the concert hall, thinking "Oh my God! I'm really here!"...

Oh!

Woe!

Weep!

I wish I was there!!!

P.S. I'm really happy for all those who were able to attend, and I don't mind "staying by the stuff" for them at all. I was just having a moment of weakness...But I'm really praying that they have TONS of fun!!

Mosh for me!!

The Promised Picture Post

2007-05-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yep. It's about time.

So here are the pictures that I've been promising forever. Enjoy!

Yours truly:

My Parents:

My brother Nathan and my nephew, Alex
(Alex was being foolish and kept hiding from the camera, heh)

Me and my cute little babies, Alex, Benji, & Aileen:

Me and my mommy:

The cutest little blue-eyed girl on earth:

Tepo! I was the american tourist that I always make fun of, heh.

Lei and I being vain (doesn't she have pretty eyes?)

Lei being vain (she's looking at pictures of herself on the computer...heh)

I'd be vain too if I was this pretty:

(Oooh...She's going to murder me for that, heh)

Some favorite sister pictures:

(Don't worry, we're weird like this all the time...)

(I love this one):

All is vanity!

Heh, that last one I tried taking a million times but I was lauging and couldn't keep the camera still...so Lei decided she'd had enough and held my arm steady so I could get just ONE good shot...it still came out out-of-focus...heh.

So those are my pictures. Once mom and Ali send me all the pictures they took of us, maybe I'll upload some more. Until then I'll have to suffice stealing the pictures off of their blogs and reposting them here. Haha!

I love you guys! Can't wait till we're together again. xo!

To blog, or not to blog...

2007-05-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

That shouldn't be a question.

I am a delinquent blogger. I am.

There have been great things happening that I could blog about, but I haven't.

Why?

Honestly, I don't know why.

Maybe it's because when all the exciting things happen, I don't have time to blog. Or maybe because other people blog about all the good stuff and I feel unoriginal if I say anything about the event so I say nothing at all. Or maybe it's just because I'm a bad blogger.

Yea, could be that one.

Okay, so I'll see if I can sum up all the interesting happenings.

Interesting Happening #1

As I mentioned in my last post, I went on this great trip and I got to see my family, most of whom I haven't seen in a few years. T'was great. My mommy is as sweet as ever, my dad is as talkative as ever, my niece & nephews are as cute as ever, & Nate & Ali are as wonderful as ever. Their Home was super nice to me and let me be nice & lazy while I was there. They gave me my own room with a bathroom & didn't put me on dinner or dishes while I was there. :-D I was running off of a two-hour time difference, so slept in later every day (their 7:00 a.m. was my 5:00 a.m....), then I had to get Word time & fit in some work every day & hang out with my parents, so the Home really didn't see much of me actually...they really didn't miss out on much, I promise. Heh.

It was so, so nice and restful though. Just what I needed.

Thanks for having me, guys!

Interesting Happening #2:

I traveled alone, cross-country in Mexico, on a bus.

What made it super interesting is that I don't speak a word of Spanish.

Yes, that was very, very interesting.

Thankfully most Mexicans are very sweet, obliging people and though we couldn't communicate too well I made it to all of my destinations on time and in one piece thanks to their help.

My very hary-scary experience was when they dropped me off at my bus stop...which wasn't a bus stop at all....

It was the side of the road.

A dusty road.

A scary dusty road.

I wrote a big long blog post about this experience but I didn't post it because I think I came across as...traumatized...or something...and I don't want people to think that I didn't immenseley enjoy my vacation.

(I had great fun. Don't you worry)

Interesting Happening #3:

I visited a great Home that I've heard all about but had never been to before.

It was wonderful.

Lots of fun.

Tons of amazing people.

I learned great lessons in the short time that I was there. I found out that it doesn't matter how much you learn, grow, and change, you will always be judged for who you were before, and if you were a problem in the past it will forever make your future painful and awkward.

I don't ever want to do that again. FYI.

I went to bed early. Left early the next day. Didn't mean to cause a fuss.

Interesting Happening #4:

I got to see my wayward sister. Heh. Nah, she's great. I was so happy to see her. It was quite the experience trying to figure out a way to meet up as she lives quite a few hours away, but the Lord worked it out, just like I told her He would (He's nice like that). We even got to spend a couple of bonus days together. It was great. Pictures are soon forthcoming.

Interesting Happening #5:

Had a bit of a scare when I got Home and found out that my nephew had chicken pox and I didn't know it (none of our kids have had chicken pox yet) but that was quickly remedied by me taking a hot, hot shower and washing anything and everything that I took with me on vacation (and having desperate prayer, of course).

Interesting Happening #6:

Ruthie had her birthday party! Woohoo! It was great fun. I tried my hardest to be "in the hood" but someone told me that I looked like I was going to a wedding...

Oh well.

I tried.

Really, I did.

Getting there was intense. We got stuck in traffic for two hours, which made us super late, which meant that by the time we got there there were only warm drinks left (blech!) and all the good songs had already played. Don't worry, I hail Connie & Ruthie for their fabulous efforts on the playlist for the night, I simply recognize that due to the lateness of the evening by the time I arrived that there was nothing to be done as all the good songs had been danced to.

Thankfully by the time I got there all the cameras had been put away! Hurrah! So no photos of me. Yay!

Someone please remind me that I still need to give Ruthie birthday money...

Interesting Happening #7:

I moved countries. Completely & totally.

I cooked my first dinner in the new kitchen, washed my first dishes, set up my bed just the way I like it, attempted to organize my clothing, failed at organizing my clothing (don't have a dresser yet), and worked in a new office.

It was exciting.

As you can probably imagine from this great amount of interesting and exciting things that have been happening in my life, I am exhausted. So I shall shut up now. My next blog post shall be nothing but pictures.

I have run out of words.

Long live love!

Hurrah!

2007-04-23T19:57:00.001-07:00

Yay for vacation!

So, I had big plans to write about my thoughts on the past few days in Mexico, but the post got too long and boring, so I deleted it and decided just to start simple and tell what happened today.

First off, just FYI, Morelia is a GORGEOUS city.

I love it.

It's full of old buildings and loads of history...Cathedrals, ancient buildings...it even has an aquaduct!

Too cool.

Mom took me downtown today to see the sights of the city.

Among other things we visited the cathedral. That was awesome. I've never been to a cathedral before. Quite pretty.

The camera batteries died, and I kicked myself over it all day long.

Arg.

Just my luck.

We went to a little mexican market and found a little shop which had gorgeous hand-made earings for basically nothing. That made me happy. I've been in need of new earings.

Again, arg that the camera batteries died!

But ptL!

My sister is coming to stay while I'm here. That makes me happy too.

I went up to the city and got to visit with her a couple of days ago. She was supposed to fly out to far away lands, but that fell through and instead she's coming to visit where I'm staying till I leave.

Too cool!

Aand, that's that.

For now.

Maybe I'll have a brain surge and decide to post my uber-long posts about Mexico...

And maybe not.

We'll see.

ILYA!!

(Missing my Home--my preciouses)

Something old, something new...

2007-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who came to the BBQ for me on Sunday. It really meant a lot to see everyone there. Thank you guys! That was the best birthday present anyone could have given me and I was sooo touched to see you all there.

Thank you also to everyone who pitched in to get me a gift card to my favorite store (heh, ROSS!!) It's like the gift that keeps on giving! Thanks guys! You're the best.

Thanks also to everyone who sent me birthday cards, email greetings, and gave me a shout-out on your chat status. Such sweeties! *Sniff!*

In other news today, I just made it through my first flight in Mexico ever.

It went well...you know...considering that I don't speak a WORD of Spanish and sported a look of utter terror on my face the entire time....

People felt sorry for me at least and were very helpful...even if we couldn't communicate so well. Heh.

Lots of gestures and hand motions going on...

But I made it here safely and am looking forward to some good solid sleep...going to see how that works with the two hour time difference on my body clock...

Good news though, Mom's got a camera that I can confiscate while I'm here and post pictures. heh. Moms are the best!

On a side note: I decided that I very much dislike doing new things. I'm always so thankful afterwards because I know that it will never be a "new" experience for me again and it will be just one less thing that I can mark off on my list of things having done and won't have to be afraid of them anymore. But I still don't like it...

I miss my compadres already!

If at first you don't succeed...

2007-04-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yep. I failed my driving test.

But praise the Lord! There's always next time.

I think I did pretty well on my test overall, I flunked because I didn't move into the bike lane when making a right turn. In my defense the bike lane was itty bitty on a lane where there were cars parked along side of the road and I got confused as to what to do. So I stayed put.

Oh well. At least I'll know better next time. heh

Chuck is buying me berry frozen yogurt as a consolation present. What a sweetie. :-)

Thanks for your prayers guys! I'm sure they'll count for the next time I try! heh

xoxo!

Precious!

2007-04-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

*Sniff!*

I am so undeserving!

I had a very long week, and a very long day, and to end it all we had a collating party tonight. I was feeling particularly out-of-it and grumpy, and I'm sure I wasn't the nicest person to be around. But then I came up to my room (chaotic and disorganized, thanks to me) afterwards and there was this little box on my (very messy) bed with a little note.

My precious roomate wrote me my first birthday note of the year and gave me a set of turtle earings (I love turtles!!) and I felt so wicked and unworthy.

Thank you for being nice to me even when I'm irritable and grouchy!! *Sniff!* I love you!

I'd show pictures of my cute little earings, but I couldn't figure out how to get her camera to work (haha!)

In other news today, our house just got turned upside down and inside out.

Why?

Because, well, we're moving...!!

Yay!

I am....terrified...?

Well, I'm excited about the move, but really, the fact is that I've been living in the US for 17 years and I know that everything is going to be really different for me.

Can you say "culture shock"?

I'm sure it's really good for me, I'm just a little nervous, that's all.

I read "Greater Faith, part 2" yesterday. It was beautiful. This particular quote (from Jesus) was super encouraging:

"You wonder: "Will my faith match the needs of the future? Will my faith be strong and developed enough so that I can be used of You for some of the greater miracles of the future?"

I smile, because there's no question that it will be strong enough. Why? Well, you're looking at your faith one way—mainly through your mind in looking at yourself and your own frailties and seeming inadequacies—but I'm looking at your faith in an entirely different manner. I'm looking at your faith through the eyes of love. You ask if your faith will be strong enough, but the real question is, will your love be strong enough?—Because your faith is going to spring from your love for Me."

I love Jesus, so I guess that means things are going to be okay. :-)

Another bloggable snippet:

Mish and I were on the team to turn our house upside down and inside out (thus the exhaustion). So we'd been moving boxes, carrying furniture, packing things away, etc. like all normal moving people do.

We were carrying a big ol' shelf from one room to another when Kyla came running up to us with the biggest grin on her face, all excited about something and obviously has something to say.

(us): Hi Kyla, what's up?

(Kyla): Mishy!! Boo! (waving arms and grinning frantically)

(us): Uh-huh?

(Kyla): You're like! (pauses and giggles) You're like! (pauses and grins) You're being like SAMSON!!

I guess that somehow made her really happy. I laughed really hard at least.

Yep. Who needs men? Mish and Boo are Samsonites!

Heh.

On a shorter note....

2007-04-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

"Look Ma! No hands!"

Haha. As if!

Pray for me guys! I'm taking my test on the 16th!!!! Yay!

Don't judge me!

2007-04-09T01:32:00.000-07:00

(Very long post alert—disclaimers aside, I hope you’ll still read it)

I hit upon a profound realization the other day.

Or, should I say “was slapped by” this realization as it came about in a very random and disjointed way.

It started when I was in the shower, scrubbing away, and thinking about people and the way that each person is interpreted by others.

(Deep thinking only comes when I’m in the shower…)

I started on this path of contemplation because I was thinking about my blog and wondering how I come across to people that I don’t know.

See, I originally created this blog as an outlet, a way to get all my ya-ya’s out and also to express a different side of me that people who live and work with me don’t usually see.

(Yes. The foolish side.)

In thinking about it though, I realized that a lot of the people that visit my blog are people that don’t actually know me, or know how I carry myself in my day-to-day life. They don’t have that foundation of understanding that comes from living with me and therefore this blog is their only link to knowing who I am and how I react.

That was a very scary thought to me, because there is so much more to me than just what I write about here!

That realization got me thinking about other people and how I perceive and judge them because of what they write on their blogs.

If I am this way and I write my life differently than how I live it, how many others are like that?

How many other people have I put into a box because of the way they express themselves on their blog?

This led to me thinking about people in general and how I perceive and judge them.

We know that people’s personalities are generally very multi-faceted. No one is ever “what you see is what you get” because people change and react according to their circumstances and the people around them.

Even people you live with—you may think you know them and are close to them, but you still only see the side of them that reacts to your personality and their current surrounding circumstances. Take the exact same person, put them in completely different circumstances, with different people around them, and they may turn into a completely different person!

To complicate matters more, there isn’t just the physical side of a person that lends itself to how they react, there’s also the spiritual side—what people are going through, what battles they’re facing, what lessons they’re learning—which also changes the way they react at certain times in their lives, and thus changes the way they are perceived by others!

Then there’s also the aspect that people change according to the choices that they make, and everyone makes about a million choices every day! That means a million chances for them to change their current way of operating and acting and start a down a completely new path.

In thinking about it then, since it’s a known fact that people change, adapt, and react differently according to the circumstances and the personalities that surround them, is there really any way that you can ever truly “know” a person?

And if you can never truly know a person, how could you ever dare to judge them?

Your judgment of a person is based on your perception of them, and your perception of them is biased by your own personality and the way that you think you would react in the same circumstances.

In short, you compare people to yourself and judge them accordingly.

But you’re only seeing one side of them, one tiny facet of their complex personality, and your perception of that one side of them may be very different than another person’s perception of the exact same side. For example, you may like an aspect of their character that the man beside you despises, and visa versa.

This whole line of reasoning convicted me to try to never, ever negatively judge a person by the way I perceive them. My negative perception of them may simply be because I am not seeing them in the correct light and need to “clean my lenses” a bit.

I’m learning that there’s always something beautiful to love about each person, I just have to make the conscious decision and effort to find it.

Because of this shower-time conversation with myself though, I am entirely convinced that I will never be able to figure people out—as you can tell from my roundabout reasonings and logic, it’s a subject that is just entirely too complicated for my small brain—so really, all I can do is take people at face value and accept them for who they are at that very moment, giving room in my understanding of them for them to change and grow and adapt.

So, I admit, I may never understand you, but I promise that I will try my best to always love you.

Admittedly though, you may never understand me either…

Adventurous wanderings...

2007-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

"They seek him here, they seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere!"

And so do we!

Seek him. I mean.

Well, not him, it.

It being a running trail. We being Chuck and I.

Chuck decided that I wasn't nearly adventurous enough (I don't know what she's talking about. I'm a wild animal. Hear me roar!) and proposed that in order to fix my flaws that we needed to set out into the wild wood to find an old train track and an elusive running trail that some guys she met on our normal running path had told her about and given her explicit directions to.

She was bored of our running trail, apparantly.

So, off we set, running up mountains, crossing through streams, climbing over rocks and boulders, falling into mud holes, splashing through stangant waters, getting beaten upon by all manner of evil in the form of sticks, stones, brambles and thorns, finding ourselves trapped between two fields of poison ivy, and soiling our precious running shoes...

We never did find the trail...

But it was an adventure!!

I suppose maybe a eensie, teensie spark of adventurousness was born in me through it...that has to be something...

Granted, I'm not going to be able to wear shorts or skirts for a couple of weeks (my legs look like they got whipped), and, you know, we might possible have rolled into a patch of poison ivy...or two...and, of course, I might not be able to walk tomorrow...

But hey, it WAS an adventure! And what doesn't KILL you only makes you STRONGER! Amen?

Moral of the story?

Don't ever ask a man for directions.

Noteworthy happenings

2007-03-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

So, I have undertaken a new venture.

At the moment it's terrifying, thrilling, exhilerating, and--if I live through the experience--eventually it will be liberating as well.

Bet you can't guess what's happening.

Maybe I won't tell you.

But then again it is too exciting to keep secret.

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Da dum da dum

(drum roll)

I started driving!!

Hurrah!!!

Three years of trying and not succeeding in being able to make it a sucessful undertaking (lack of time, legal issues, paperwork, not the right car, bad insurance, etc. etc) and finally, FINALLY, it's happening!

I'm excited. Are you excited? I'm so excited that, well, my insides flutter.

Oh yes, rampant prayers are definitely needed. I have three weeks to become a competent driver and that's that. Well, I only need to be competent enough to pass my test then I can be a driver for the rest of my life. But due to our vehicle situation I only have three weeks to learn. So pray for me!!

I'll be out driving with Chuck again tomorrow.

We're going to do a little shopping then head on over to Activated where I have to brave the hill of death. I just hope our transmission holds out and that my heart doesn't fail.

Or Chuck's for that matter.

Knowing her she's probably going to put me up to driving on the highway already. (*gulp!!*)

We'll see how that goes.

Exciting times!!

A huff and a puff...

2007-03-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

And I'll blow your house down.

No, not really. But huffing and puffing I can do.

Chuck and I have been taking this cycling class at the gym every monday. It's quite good. The first day I couldn't really walk straight afterwards though. But you know what they say, no pain, no gain.

I'd better be gaining the world because, man, my arse hurts.

And I have bruises...

But I better not tell you where...

Our instructor is a funny little man with too much energy for his age, a wide range of tastes in music, and likes to sing along to all the songs he puts on. (Think *I like big butts and I cannot lie*)

Yea.

Oh, and my last class I got to cycle next to a dog.

Well.

Not really.

It was a man.

And he liked to bark.

It disturbed me.

I sped my little legs as fast as I could hoping to get away.

But no.

He stayed there.

I stayed there.

There was nothing I could do. I could not out-cycle him no matter how hard I tried.

*Sigh*

This is how it went down:

(me--huffing and puffing): 60 minutes...59 minutes...58 minutes...

(him): "WOOF WOOF!"

(me): ...what the...?

...odd...

(Resume huffing and puffing):

... 57 minutes...56 minutes...

(him): "HOWWWOOOO!!"

(me): ...you've gotta be kidding me...

Most people give triumphant yells when they make it up that "hill", but no...he had to be weird....

And he had to cycle right beside me.

There was nothing I could do. Absolutely nothing.

I felt helpless.

And slightly terrified. (What if he was a rabid dog-man? What if he leans over this way. What if I fall off my bike. Please, Lord God, spare me my life. *sniff!*)

All joking aside, if you're looking for a new form of exercise, try cycling. It works up a sweat like nothing else and (all bruises aside) it really is quite wonderful.

Heh. :D

My weekly post...

2007-03-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

So here it is. My weekly post.

It wasn't my initial intention to only post once a week, but reality struck and I realized that unless I wanted to stay up late at night during the week (sacrificing sleep, which meant sacrificing quality Word time, which meant that I'd be completely out-of-it for the whole day, etc. etc.) that the weekends were the only time that I really had to dedicate to this here blog.

Unfortunately though it also means that anything interesting that happens during the week will NOT get blogged about because, let's face it, old news is boring news.

But then again, no news to a blog doesn't necessarily mean good news.

Fine. Old news it is then.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!!!

There. I did it.

We had a party for Sam on friday night.

The guys all played poker.

The girls all danced.

A few guys made brave (terrified) attempts to dance with us, but I think the pressure was too much for them so they went back to their poker tables. Hrm.

Then a few of us watched "The Man Who Knew Too Little" after all the revelry had died down.

It was funny until I looked at the time (2 am) and remembered that I had to be with the kiddos early the next morning. (Foolish, foolish little girl!)

And that was that.

If only I had pictures!!!!!! Arg. Every time I put a post up I tell myself how much more interesting this blog would be if I had a camera and I how I feel sorry for all the poor people who visit this blog and have to read my boring comments about things that they cannot see.

One day! I promise I'll get a camera and won't have to bore you with my words anymore. I can just show you everything instead.

(Keep your fingers crossed!)

Can't. Breathe. Can't. Breathe. Can't...

2007-03-04T00:51:00.000-08:00

*Big inhale* aaaaaahhh!!

I just got through watching Stomp the Yard, which is a fun, entertainment-only, dance movie with awesome dancnig and good morals about unity and brotherhood....

And man, did it have hotties in it!

Disclaimer to all Family men reading this:

Say no to comparing. They don't have the Spirit. You have the Spirit. That makes you much, much hotter in every way than these pretty dancing men. Now stop reading this right now and go get some more Word time.

------

Okay. Now that that's out of the way, I can get back on track with my breathing exercises.

In. Out. In. Out. I....

Oh. That didn't help any. Woops.

Ever see something so beautiful, so wonderful, so amazing that it completely knocks the breath out of you? And when that happens, if you're anything like me, the automatic response is to fan yourself rapidly in the hopes that in that futile effort you'll somehow get oxygen to your brain again....

Yea, that was me. Sitting in the theater, fanning away, after seeing this part.

They've just gotten up to the top of a big old mountain after running in preparation for some big dance contest (something about endurance...). So they all get up there, all out of breath and sweaty, take off their shirts and dance a little victory dance while chanting something about their fraternity...or something...yea, I wasn't paying much attention past the "took off their shirts" part.

*"Theater Maintainance. Can we get a cleanup crew on aisle 4 please? We're going to need a mop...and a bucket...."*

Puddles. Puddles, I tell you. I couldn't breathe. Ruthie is my witness. There I was, fanning away at my poor breathless being. There was nothing I could do! It was so beautiful it hurt.

Big old sigh.

We had prayer vigil in the car on the way Home, praying desperately that they would all join some day....(Hey, prayer is not the least you can do, it's the MOST!)

All in all, besides the disturbingly predictable plot, it was a pretty good movie.

Guys shouldn't watch it (it'll bore them too much). Girls should be careful about watching it (it'll excite them too much).

Sweet dreams tonight!!!!

Zzzzzz......

2007-03-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

I. Am. So. Tired.

It's just been one of those busy weeks that hits you like a Mack truck and leaves you flat on your back wondering "Where the heck did that come from??"

I feel like I could sleep for a hundred years.

Every WnR, I really try to.

It doesn't work though. I end up waking up exactly eight hours after I fell asleep, all fresh and ready to start the day...and as much as I fight it, my body refuses to let me go back to sleep.

How on earth does it expect me to catch up with all my lost Zzz's if it viciously holds me back when I'm four hours from the finish line??

Arg.

If only you could command your body to do something and it would listen.

"Dude, that would be awesome..."

No, really, wouldn't it be great if you could say to your body: "Body, go back to sleep" and it would listen...? Or "Body, stop aching and keep running. That's it. Hup-two-hup-two." Or "Body, make those calories not count for you. That's right. Throw them away."

Oh, the wonderful world of fantasy.

Arg...again.

Speaking of calories, though this world has nothing but torment and deprivation to offer me, I've decided that I will be cheerful about it and keep the Heavenly vision...

I swear, the first pavillion I'm visiting when I get there is the food pavillion. No doubt about it. Imagine a realm where you can't get fat from good food. It will be like...well...Heaven.

Of course there will be many other pavillions that I'll want to visit as well, but hey, I'll have eternities so nobody will mind if I spend the first couple hundred years eating and sleeping to my heart's content.

Not that you'll technically need sleep, but after spending the entirety of my life also depriving myself of solid sleep, I'll have to make up for it somehow.

This is a long and boring post, but maybe I gave you faithful few something to think about, eh?

Where will YOU go when you get to Heaven??

I love life

2007-02-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

There are a million and one things that I've been meaning to blog about, but I didn't catch those thoughts in time so they all flew away and I'm left sitting here without a clue as to what to say.

The title of this post pretty much sums up how I feel right about now. A couple of beers and a good game of Mad Gab will do that to you. (BTW, if you haven't played Mad Gab yet, it's a great home bonding activity that will leave you happy, close, clueless, and in stitches).

At the moment I'm chatting with someone who's decided to commandeer Sam's chat while Sam's away. They're being pervy. Making me blush. Naughty Home members...

Although they just confessed their undying love for me...so I suppose that's a good thing...

No, hold that thought, they say they're wearing stretchy pants and think that's supposed to turn me on. I quote: "Because then you could SEE my love for you - without actually SEEING it"

Oh Lord.

I called them naughty people...they responded by clarifying that they are but one person. "One person with multiple personalities, but one person none the less..."

Why, Dear Lord, do I only get the schitzophrenic ones to love me?

I say it's Chuck. Not that Chuck's schitzophrenic or anything (*cough*) but she is the only one foolish enough to do something like this.

They're trying to say that it's Phil...

He's pretty foolish too though...

I'm confused.

And blushing. They just said the "P" word...

Not good.

My face is on fire.

Think I'm going to go now. Cold water to the face is needed!

P.S. Something to think about: You know that verse "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child"? Note how your perception of the verse changes when you tie in the verses that state that in order to get into the kingdom of heaven you're supposed to become as a little child...

Heh. Heh.

Chuck's going to heaven for sure.

The Jinx of Three

2007-02-16T09:47:00.000-08:00

Looks like all of you girlies can breathe easy now.

We have our third!!

Congrats guys. Bringing more beautiful people into the world one Orcutt at a time.

A Toast to Love

2007-02-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

As is inevitable on Valentine's day, I spent some time thinking about love. At first they were sad thoughts. Lonely thoughts. Depressing thoughts. But then somewhere through the dark morass of unlovely thoughts that beseiged me other thoughts began to emerge: hopeful thoughts, happy thoughts, peaceful thoughts, and slowly these little thoughts, like lights, started twinkling in my mind, illuminating and chasing away the darkness and I started thinking about other types of love.

When I stop to think about it, really, my life is full of love. The love of a child, the love of a parent, the love of a brother or sister, the love of a friend and best of all, the love of Jesus. At the moment I may not be experiencing the type of physical, emotional love that part of me wishes for at times, but my life really isn't lacking in love in any of it's other forms.

I was convicted as I sat and thought more about the incredible amount of love that I am so blessed to experience in my life. In the life that I lead I have the close comfort and support of friends and loved ones every second of the day. There really is no need for me to ever feel lonely. I only feel that way because I've gotten my eyes off of the big picture and am focusing on the one piece of the puzzle that I think is missing.

There are no pieces missing though. The picture of my life is complete because Jesus is enough to fill any void I think there may be in the picture.

So, counting my blessings, this is a toast, and a post, dedicated to love--in all of it's beautiful forms.

I toast to the precious 5 year old who called today just to tell me that he loved me and wished me a happy Valentine's day.

I toast to the couple who wanted to make Valentine's day special to the single girls who didn't have anyone special to spend it with so they bought us all pizza and beer and took the time to hang with us, laugh us, and just be friends with us.

I toast to the friend who called each of the girls at the office to try to make our day a little more special by wishing us each a happy day and just to chat for a little while.

I toast to the couple who bought each of the girls little heart boxes of chocolates, just to be sweet.

I toast to the friend far, far away who thought of me on this day and sent me a card to let me know that I was loved.

I toast to the roommate who gave me a little gift just because she likes me and wanted to make me happy.

I toast to the Home member who got each person a little p&p because she wanted to share the Greatest Love of all with each of us.

And last of all, I toast to my precious Husband, who somehow puts up with me and all of my ponderings. He holds me when I'm sad, wipes away my tears, heals my heartaches, and carries me away to happy places where I don't have to think about anything except His incredible and unending love for me. I toast to the fact that He will never leave me, nor forsake me, but will always love me and care for me. There is no "till death do us part" in our love, because it never ends, it never dies, and it will last from here till eternity.

I'm celebrating that incredible love today in each of the friends and loved ones that He's brought along my path to show me His love.

So, to my friends and loved ones, I just wanted to say thank you for being Jesus to me today. You made everything about today wonderful.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"I'm sorry, what did you say your IQ was again?"

2007-02-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

So, I was sitting in my cubicle casually conversing with Sonia and Nathan until I remembered that I had something to do. Excusing myself from the conversation I happily skipped over to Sonia's cubicle to ask her to take the phones for me for a sec. Halfway there I stopped in my tracks as I had suddenly realized exactly what I'd just done...

What's wrong with this picture?

And on this special day...

2007-02-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ah hah! I TOLD you so!!

2007-02-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

Heh. Heh. Heh. See Angel. I was right.

I have a theory about three.

It's ironic coincidence that if we have one pg mom in our area, then we're going to have three (at least). More ironic is that the jinx of three generally stays between our three Homes, (though it has been known to spread to the area as well). I take it for granted now that as soon as one baby is born and we go below three then someone else is going to get pregnant very, very soon, or is already pregnant and just doesn't know it yet/hasn't told anyone.

Timna and Linda are coming to the end of their pregnancies so question marks and guesses have been flying as to "who's next" in the three...

Two down...one to go...

So, who do you think will be the third?

Gasp! I'm alive!

2007-02-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Praise God!

Thanks for your prayers guys. I'm feeling much better. Keep the rest of my Home-people in your prayers though as a lot of them came down with Purple Lung as well (I swear, I didn't start it...okay, so maybe I did...Shh!!! Nobody has to know!)

I think the worst part about being sick for me is my perpetual grumpiness. By nature, I am pessimistic, fatalistic, negative, grumpy old woman. Basically, just a wicked, wicked person. I try to hide it pretty well when I'm feeling good though and be all happy and praiseful and positive, but when I'm sick I have no strength to fight myself off so I turn into the grumpy bog-monster that I naturally am.

Big sigh.

Praise God for...well...Jesus, because He's the only thing that keeps me any semblance of nice on normal days.

But enough of that, onto brighter, happier subjects.

...

...

...

Okay, so none come to mind at the moment. Bear with me, I'm not all better yet. The whole "happy outlook on life" thing is taking a while to come back.

Oh wait, here's a good thought:

Timna's going to have her baby any day now!!

She's so cute and round.

Ah, which reminds me of another happy thought. Ali (my sister in law) just started a blog. Go check out my gorgeous nephews here (check out Ali too, she's so pretty!)

It's my personal opinion that pregnant people are the most beautiful people on earth. If I were a photographer I would specialize in pregnancy photos because each mother has got something incredibly unique to add to the world through her pregnancy...

If only I had a camera! Everyone's pregnant these days anyway. It would be a dream...

I have nothing left to give to the world, so I shall bid you all (all 3 of you who haven't given up on me and my blog yet) adieu.

So good night to me, myself, and I. Faithful companions till the end.

xoxo

Damn these lungs of mine!

2007-02-01T22:20:00.000-08:00

And I meant that in the most praiseful way possible of course...(don't judge me!)

I've been fighting off a cough since the beginning of my vacation (two weeks ago). Fighting bravely, I think. Every day I've been overdosing on the most healthy things possible. Lots of vitamin C and fresh veggies going on. I thought I'd pretty much kicked it till earlier this week when a fresh round of lung-tickling death decided to happen in my unhappy chest. So now I have a very annoying and slightly painful affliction which I've decided to not-so-affectionately call "Purple Lung" (because black is so boring...and I'm not Zoolander...can't pull it off as delicately as he could...) Couple that with a full day of nose-bleeds and a possible fever, and it makes for one unhappy soul. Yes, yes, lots of prayers are needed.

Thankfully no one can see me right now as I sit alone in my room with the heater up full blast (don't tell the guys!!! I promise I'll turn it off when I'm warm enough...). I'm covered in four fat blankets and wearing two shirts and a sweater over my PJs. Did I mention that I have tissue stuffed up both my nostrils?

Yea, that didn't make for a pretty picture...

But ptL. I'm sure this will all blow over and I'll be as good as new tomorrow.

In other sad news today, Chuck left me for someone else.

Yes, weep, weep. I was left behind for large amounts of fun and a large body of water on a boat full of large Norwegian men named "Hans".

The woman had better take some pictures of all the sights. (Forget scenery, woman! I want the large Scandinavian men!!).

Hope she and Jules have fun though and that they don't stop to get gas at any deserted towns in the middle of the night and that they make it safely to their semi-final destination. (Final destination is home. Don't you forget that, Chuck. You're coming home. Don't let those handsome men sweep you off your feet and carry you away to never-never land! And for God's sake, don't want Speed 2 or Poseidon or any of those other awful boat movies while you're out sailing the high seas. Just say no.)

All will be well in the world when she comes home. And Jules too. They complete me. Without them I am but dust. (Stop snickering, Chuck. I can hear you giggling about "buttdust")

Thankfully they have wireless (supposedly) where they're going so they can keep in touch with the outside world.

I bet it will crawl.

I bet they won't even read this till they come home.

I bet they'll snicker...not because I'm funny, of course. No, no. They'll giggle because I was foolish and paranoid. They're big girls now and can drive cross-country in the night perfectly fine. No need to fear the dark and deserted gas stations in the middle of nowhere where no one is around except you, and your car, and the dark and creepy gas station attendants...

God save the queen!

Burp

2007-01-29T22:48:00.000-08:00

I just got off of Feast. Man, it was wonderful! Weep and sigh, wish it could have lasted longer! But I'm thankful for the time that we had. We had great fun.
Since we don't really have a nice quiet place in the yard for me to go meditate at, Chuck and I climbed a great big mountain nearby on one of the days so we could tan and get fresh air and fill up on the Lord. It was beautiful. No one could see us so we were nekkid. It was great.
...Course, a few heliocoptors on their random fly-bys turned out to be not-so-random and flew just a little bit too close for my liking. Call me paranoid, but one was so close I swear you could practically see the little guys in their cockpits grinning away at the "naked girls on the rocks..." (hey, I think I finally figured out why they're called cockpits...)

*grin*

Anyway, I'm full and happy. A week of vacation and then a week of Feast. Simply marvelous!

I went back to work today for the first time in two weeks. I haven't been away from work that long in...over two years. I admit a little part of me was very happy to be back at work. I missed my work, my cubicle, my space, my two little teddy bears on my desk (I bet they missed me too...nobody loves them like I do...). There was a big fat stack of mail on my desk which reminded me that I'd been away for a long time...I still haven't gotten to sorting it yet. I'll do that tomorrow.

Anyhoo, tomorrow is another bright and early morning. I'd better have the key to the house...I'm always getting locked out. Better go check.

Toodles my people!

P.S. (Here are a few token pictures of me from my weeks of vacationing and feasting):

What I really did for vacation:

Yum!

Yum!!

Yummy!!!

And just so you don't think I'm a complete wierdo:

I love you!

Shriek!

2007-01-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

Update on day 4:

So it looks like we're not going to six flags after all. Silly park isn't open on the weekdays during January...or February...or even most of March for that case. We contemplated going on the weekend but the thought of going on the only two days that it would be open seemed icky to me (can you say CROWDED!)
I hate crowded places. Too many people scare me. People scare me in general, but when you get mass hordes of them together I start panicking.
Anyway, all that to say, no six flags for us.
On the bright side, I have money I can spend on other things now! Like...more food...and maybe more beer...

Tried tanning again today. Was going great for a while. Pretty much everyone had left already and it was just a few of us left to finish up the clean-up and be on our merry way whenever we felt like it. By happenstance and pure coincidence (I'm sure) the few people left just happened to have been the few people who attempted tanning a couple of days before. So we charge our way back up to our tanning spot, set up, and proceed to have a good solid 45 minutes of sun and Word time.
Granted it was freezing cold (it's the middle of winter, what do we expect?) but hey, the sun was out! I'm sure I got a little bit of a tan line...
Halfway through our tanning spree we got caught...I don't know who was more terrified: the poor boy who caught us or the three of us as we screamed and dove for clothing. He didn't stick around for long though and it's possible that because of this incident we've left him half-deaf and scarred for life...poor dear. He'll live I'm sure.

Then we went on our merry way home, which took 3+ hours due to horrid traffic on both sides of the border. But we had the new STEM cd to keep us company so that made me happy. (Note to happy readers, if you haven't listened to it yet then get thee hence at once!)

So that's that.

The next few days will be boring as I'll just be sleeping the entire time. The only reason that I'm telling you this now is so that I don't bore you by attempting to blog about the many zz's that I'm on a mission to catch.

I love vacation!!!

Humperdink!

2007-01-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Prepare for a really long post.

Days 2, 3 & 4, all rolled into one...

Because I was too lazy/tired to do a day-to-day review like I'd wanted to.

Day 2 was a blast. Slept in late (again), got Word time, then started helping with prep for our BBQ. This was no ordinary BBQ though. This BBQ marked the one-year anniversary of our Home and we were looking to celebrate.
Bring out the beer!
Our studly men manned the grill and helped with all the manly stuff like building fires, etc. Our pretty women did the cooking. I made cake to commemorate our first year together. Chuck made icing and decorated it which made it more than "any old cake" (think cake...Chuck style...). The most precious part of our evening was when we all got together to say our new years goals, etc. We did it a bit late but holding it over our anniversary celebration was perfect. We stole Steph's sparkler idea and I think that made it extra special for the kids. I love our Home. Everyone is so nice and precious. Our two wonderful sheps got p&p's special for our anniversary celebration and the Lord had lots of encouraging and wonderful things to say (*sniff!*). We even did a mock new-years count down at the end of our sparkler spree. I think we might have scared our neighbors with that one (ay, mama mia! Nuestro vecinos estan muy locos!) since we were a few weeks late on our new years' celebration...

(Forgive the bad Spanish grammer, it's not my first language...it's not even my second language...at this point I don't think it even counts as a numbered language in my vocabulary...)

Anyway, after the BBQ and clean-up we all sat around and chatted for a while till someone precious brought out Friends (our newest bonding activity...okay, fine female bonding activity...) and a couple of beloveds made us all the drinks of our choice. I was happy with a sour-apple martini or two.

That concludes day 2.

Since this will be a long post, on to Day 3!

Day 3 was our united venture into the unknown. Unknown being Ensenada and venture being all 22 of us distributed between 4 cars and travelling our merry way deep into Baja (don't get technical with me...it felt like a long drive to me).

Then we wandered the streets of that happy town for a couple of hours looking at all the sights (not many) and stopping to get ice-cream and coffee and food along the way. Around 5-ish we all met up to decide what we were going to do. Decided we were going to eat, made a quick pit-stop to look at the Black Pearl which was happily parked in the water close by, and started another huge adventure to find a restaurant to suit all of our wants, desires, and cravings...

Because of said adventure I have decided that I don't believe in democracy when it comes to a group of nice people. Someone just needs to take charge and be a dictator because otherwise everyone will stand around asking "What do you want to do?" and saying "Oh, I'll do anything you'd like to do" and be open to any suggestions given till you've gone around in a hundred circles getting nowhere because everyone is way to nice to put their foot down and say "We're doing this!"

After many mix-ups and traipsing the street for an hour (I seriously got my get-out for the week running up and down that street trying to find people!) we finally got to a place where we could eat. After eating a burrito made for a giant (I still can't believe I ate the whole thing...but it's vacation, I can get away with it...and I refuse to think about it...), being serenaded by a nice mexican man with a violin (I'm never going to make it in Mexico. I'm way too soft-hearted), a few of us went off in search for more ice cream (the ice cream is better in Mexico too). And then we were on our merry way home.

The best part of the day though was when we all sat around in the living room, dead tired, attempting to finalize our plans for leaving the next day. Somehow we got on the animated topic of how to dry oneself off without a towel...(get a visual, it was acted out...think "Jump down, turn around, touch the ground, and praise the Lord!")

A Home that laughs together stays together!

Day 4

*Sniff* *Sob* We're leaving now!

But tomorrow we're going to six flags!!! Hooray for us!!

I love my Home!

P.S. This is what a full day in the deep parts of Baja will do to you if you're not careful:

Enter exhibit A:

(I told you the beer was better in Mexico!!)

Because the Beer is Better in Mexico...

2007-01-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Vacation, day 1.

So far, so good. I slept in late, got up lazily and slowly, and then ate a wonderful breakfast with some of my compadres. Then we attempted to suntan our winter-white bodies while getting our Word time...
I say "attempted" because our tanning time didn't go exactly as planned...
See, all the other compadres were out on the town getting breakfast, so the few of us left decided to strip down to almost nothingness on the upper patio of the house in order to darken ourselves in relative exclusion. Our other friendly home-members had been out for a little while but we weren't expecting them back for at least another hour or so. Not so, we discovered, and as we heard the van doors slam shut we knew that we had about 8 seconds before we--and our obvious nakedness--would be discovered. Books and bras flew while we deftly scrambled for covering. I had just wiggled into my jean, thrown my t-shirt on, and grabbed the rest of my clothing and belongings--checking to be sure that my bra (which I hadn't had the time to put on) wasn't sticking out of my bundled-up jacket--when the voices of the rest of our lovely crew were heard at the top of the stairs "Hi guys! Whatcha doing?" Stammering and stuttering we covered up with "J-Just getting w-word time...of course..." "Yea, uh-huh, Word time!" "Yep, we were geting Word time!" Our friendlies of course responded with assurances that we didn't have to leave, etc. etc. but we quickly scurried our way out of there. Mainly because we were sure that our bra-lessness was sure to be discovered. I'm sure the pinkness of my face was a tell-tale sign of what we were up to, but maybe I could just chalk that up to sunburn...no, wait, that doesn't help...

Our afternoon was uber-exciting as well. We drank caquamas, ate sun-chips and cheetos, and watched the Chargers-Patriots game. Brutal, I tell you, brutal. At least Ruthie is. She sat beside me wishing evil and pain upon the members of the opposing team. I was utterly shocked by her ruthlesssness and vowed to never allow myself to get on her bad side.
The Chargers lost.
I was devastated.
I consoled myself by eating Tacos Manuel and brooding on my inner pain for a little while.
Since Tacos Manuel makes everything better that only lasted a little while.

After everyone had recovered from the loss and we were back in friendly spirits we sat around and chilled together for a little while and ended the night with coffee liqueur -covered ice cream and A Knight's Tale (because you should always end the night with a tail...haha! Get it? Ending the night with a tail!! ...ahem... That little piece of corniness was thanks to Chuck and her brilliant sense of humor...she made me do it...). I was going to comment sarcastically on the fact that we were ending our night with coffee-liqueur, but whatever. Chuck HAD to have her moment of fame...

Anyway, thus concludes day one of my wondrous vacation. I'm sure I'll be more adventurous tomorrow and actually leave the house. We'll see. Depends on what time I wake up.

Ah, last thing. My favorite random comment of the day:

(Commentors name deleted for selfish reasons--I want to be on the good side of this person...)

Random game comment:

(Upon hearing that Prince was playing for the Superbowl halftime show):

"Aww, man! Can't they put a guy up there?"

(After a few confused looks and comments):

"Well, come on, they have to put either a guy or a girl up there, they can't put half-half!"

;-)

Post Note: Ruthie really is a very nice person. This post wasn't meant to make her appear otherwise. She simply got caught up in the moment and made me a little worried. I actually had great fun watching the game with her. ILY Ruthie!!

9 Hours and Counting...

2007-01-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Till vacation!! I can't wait. I'm really mainly looking forward to sleep but we have a lot of great things planned for our vacation as well. Lots of food involved, that's always a plus.
Looking forward to spending some quality time with the Home members that I don't see that often (these days, that's pretty much all of them). I get plenty of "time" with some of them, but I wouldn't exactly count groggy-eyed early-morning CP hours as "quality".
Drinking beer on the beach, having a BBQ, lighting firecrackers, and counting our blessings for the past year, that's quality.

I have the greatest Home ever!

It's been a looooong day...

2007-01-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, not yet. Long office spree anyway. At the end of today I will have spent 31 consecutive hours at work...

Well, okay, so I fell asleep for 5 of those hours, but still, we're insane. I got a lot of work done though!

Chuck has a sign on the wall of her cubicle. A "stress reduction kit" which consists of a white piece of paper with a large circle on it with the letters "bang head here" written on the inside of the circle. Stress relieving because it feels so good when you stop...

I think that's how the work-week before vacation is. It will feel so good when you stop!!

PTL for vacation!! I plan on sleeping...a lot.

Hogndogs...

2007-01-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

Ah haha! I found a blog.
A blog about a dog.
A blog about a dog and a frog.
This blog is a secret blog and I know the authors...

Here's the riddle: Who are we?

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

2007-01-06T12:28:00.001-08:00

So, I was over visiting a friendly mud-puddle checking out what was happening and I saw that both girlies had posted a collage of their celebrity look-alikes. I thought it was an interesting idea and thought I'd try it out, thinking that I would get some random results much like my puddle friends. I was shocked by the results though as they actually pin-pointed the few celebs that I've been told that I look like. (Not that I generally think that I look like any celebrities, but a couple in particular have been pointed out to me numerous times as look-alikes...in a pretty twin (them) vs. evil twin (me) sort of way, of course...)
Granted I used an odd photo of me and if I'd have used any other photo there would have been no way that I would have gotten such favorable results, but thanks to my black and white avatar, this is what I got:

Well I thought it was interesting anyway!

Chillin...

2006-12-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

So I'm over at Connie's house. It's a pretty nice little place she's got going on here. Lots of mirrors, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on who you're talking to.
We sat around watching Friends till late last night. Laughed my little bottom off. Ate ice cream, drank margaritas. It was nice and chilled and relaxing. Just the way I like it. Then we attempted to watch a movie called "The Company". A ballet movie, which looked interesting at first, since I love dance movies, no matter how corny they are. But this one turned out to be the worst dance movie ever. It was more a documentary than a movie and was slower than mol...nevermind, they don't use that expression here on the west coast...(not in Kansas anymore, are we Dorothy?)
Went to a happy little mongolian BBQ place today. It was nice. You get to pick all your raw meat and vegetables and they cook it for you right there. Neato burrito. Before finding that place though we had attempted to go to two other restaurants which both turned out to be bad ideas some how or another. I was pretty happy with the end result of our search for food though. Could have been that I was starved by the time we finally got to eat, but it was yummy.
Going to herald in the new year with some hard alcohol and laughing (those two always seem to go hand in hand...) Hope this next year will be better than the last...

Cheerio and Happy New Year!

Note to Self...

2006-12-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

Proof that I really am as scatter-brained as I claim to be. I found this little note to myself in a work-related word document from a few months back:

[Comment B3]: Ask Jules again about Link answer. Blush profusely at not being able to remember her answer since you already asked her twice.

The things I have to remind myself about! Haha!

A moan, and a groan, and a wiggle of Rome...

2006-12-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Which made absolutely no sense at all.

Much like my day today, which was filled with random phone calls, random meetings, and random words running through my head pushing to get out in the form of little unwritten songs.

Push, shove, and kerplop. That's about the way it went.

And now I'm tired and in desperate need of p&p time. So I shall leave you before I've even enticed you.

Before I go though, I shall leave you with this small morsel of humor which I only discovered moments ago. I hope it makes you as giddily amused as it did for me:

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Ah, the Joys of Christmas Past and Christmas Present...

2006-12-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

We had a smashing Christmas together. Gifts were exchanged, carols were sung, food was ingested. All in all I'd say it was a success.

I loved watching the kids open their presents. They were so enthusiastic about it! It made me think back to my childhood days and remember all those sleepless Christmas Eve's and early mornings where I'd want to tear into my presents.

For the majority of my childhood we lived near the Grandparent's house so we'd go over there for Christmas. Mom would make us wait till we got to Grandma's house to open all our presents (she'd bring all our presents to be opened with the Grandparent's presents). The car ride there was always such agony and then in-between getting there and opening the presents there were the traditional hugs and kisses and niceties and small talk which were death to a waiting child. Not that I have anything wrong with hugs and kisses and niceties and small talks, but my eyes were only for those festive and brightly wrapped packages taunting me from under the tree. (As you can guess, patience wasn't really a virtue I possessed from an early age...)

For a few years the parents and grandparents attempted to trick us into learning patience again by going around in a circle and passing out the presents one by one to be opened, which meant that you had to wait till the other siblings had opened one of their presents before you could open one, and then they'd open one more, and you'd open one more, and it would go on like that till you'd opened all your presents. Pure agony. Thank God I survived to see the day when that was abolished and we were free to tear into our happy, unsuspecting gifts.

I love presents. Childhood or not, I love getting gifts. Birthdays, Christmas, special occasions, whatever the case is, whatever the gift is, if there's a present that has my name on it this indescribable excitement wells up inside of me and starts creeping up my body till I just want to jump around, sing, shout, and tear into whatever it is that is for me. Even if it's a small gift on my pillow, or a little candy that someone saved for me in a box, or whatever it is, big or small, it makes me so incredibly happy.

This year was no different. Every day leading up to Christmas I searched under the tree to see if there was a gift with my name on it. My sneaky angel was smart though and waited till the last day to put anything under the tree for me. They probably knew that if they put anything under the tree sooner that the poor present would be shaken mercilessly, probably peeked at, and sufficiently abused before Christmas morning rolled around. But for me, it was agony. So when Christmas Eve rolled around and there were presents for me under the tree, I jumped for joy, did a few little jigs, and started immediately obsessing over when I could open them. Really, it's all I could think about for the next day.

Christmas morning I was up bright and early dying to open my presents. But first there was cooking, then there was breakfast, then there was coffee (oh so yummy), then the kids got to open their presents, then people sat around talking while I sat curled up on the couch closest to the tree, practically bouncing with excitement and driving everyone crazy with my "So when do the adults get to open their presents?" "Hey guys, can we open our presents now?" "Anyone want to open presents yet?" "Ooh look guys, presents! Can we open them?"

Admittedly, I wasn't too subtle about it and finally someone took pity on my and just passed me my gifts.

Ah, the indescribably bliss I felt when I could finally open them!

My Angel was the best. I got cute undies, alcohol, incense, candles, and uber yummy chocolate truffles. (I love you Timna! You were great!)

All that to say, Christmas was great and writing this post reminded me that I have yummy snacks to eat.

Title of next post: "Post-Christmas crash-dieting"

ILY! Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

2006-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Love to all my family, friends, and loved ones around the world!

Oy, they're trying to make us fat...

2006-12-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

So, we arrive at the office at the normal time (ten minutes late...yes, my fault). As we walk in the door we notice a large box sitting on our coffee table, happily waiting to be discovered by unsuspecting humans. We glance at it, notice that it's from the Cheesecake Factory and is addressed to "Mr. No Name" and so we pass it by without a second thought. Ha! The dastardly box's plans were foiled...

At least for a few minutes...

Ten minutes later the suspense is killing me, and I just want to go open the box. I can hear the little voices dancing and chanting in my head: "Open the box! Open the box! Only good can come from the Cheesecake Factory...Open the box!"

I wait. Biting my lip and wiggling in my seat because the voices are chanting louder and it's getting unbearable.

I suppose I'm not the only one who had dancing voices in their head as moments later someone else walks in wide-eyed and wondering..."Hey guys, what do you think's in the box?"

I can stand it no longer and jumping out of my chair I yell triumphantly: "I don't know, but I want to find out!"

Okay, so not the most triumphant statement, but I was sure determined!

Grabbing a pair of happy scissors, my tortured friend and I go marching into the sitting room to find out what's in that box. I gleefully slice open the box. Rays of light beam from inside as I vigorously tear into my mystery package...

*Choirs chanting*

*Angels singing*

We gasp as we hungrily feast our eyes upon the sheer beauty of the contents of said box...

Lordy, Lordy and hallelujah, frozen oreo cheesecake sent from our happy agent across the nation!

What else are we supposed to do but devour it? It was sent for that divine purpose, amen?

...in Jesus name, amen. Let's eat!

Uh-huh...6 hours later the dancing voices have subsided and my devastated and sugar-violated frame is left wondering how on earth I'm going to work off the many calories I just filled my system with...

Why, oh why, did I listen to the trecherous chanting? Why, oh why, could I not have resisted?

I should have listened to Chuck...

I have gone and done it...again!

2006-12-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

So I made another blog. Yes. I did. And I'm very happy about it.

So this will be about my life and the wonderful/funny/amazing things that happen in the day-to-day. When I get a camera it will also be a photoblog as well because, well, picture blogs are so much more interesting and we all know it.

Though I've promised myself that I will update this one quite frequently, if my other blog is any indication of my blogging frequency it will leave a lot to be desired, but maybe I'll turn over a new leaf this year and become blogging queen!

...Heh, as if.

Welcome to my World...

Well…maybe ONE more post then…

Conceding defeat...

New Toy...

Blast from the past!

Epiphany...

Welcome 2008!

Merry Christmas!!

The blogging itch...

Hey Ma! Look who's posting again!

I don't want to talk about it...

It's been awhile...

Plagarizing...

Spread the word...

Aches & Pains...

The question remains...

Merrily, Merrily, on we go...

Change is in the hair!

Newsie Poosie

La Dia Del Diablo...

Guess who's back, back again....

Lord, give me the grace...

The Promised Picture Post

To blog, or not to blog...

Hurrah!

Something old, something new...

If at first you don't succeed...

Precious!

On a shorter note....

Don't judge me!

Adventurous wanderings...

Noteworthy happenings

A huff and a puff...

My weekly post...

Can't. Breathe. Can't. Breathe. Can't...

Zzzzzz......

I love life

The Jinx of Three

A Toast to Love

"I'm sorry, what did you say your IQ was again?"

And on this special day...

Ah hah! I TOLD you so!!

*Gasp!* I'm alive!

Damn these lungs of mine!

*Burp*

*Shriek!*

Humperdink!

Because the Beer is Better in Mexico...

9 Hours and Counting...

It's been a looooong day...

Hogndogs...

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

Chillin...

Note to Self...

A moan, and a groan, and a wiggle of Rome...

Ah, the Joys of Christmas Past and Christmas Present...

Merry Christmas!!

Oy, they're trying to make us fat...

I have gone and done it...again!

Gasp! I'm alive!

Burp

Shriek!