Logic

A few weeks ago in Sunday School while building with blocks, a three-year old with big, bright eyes and a giant smile on her face leaned over to me and said, “I’m going to say something quietly to you, and then you say something quietly back.” Having never been invited to whisper in this fashion before I leaned my ear towards her, curious to hear what she might say.

What was her question, whispered ever so sweetly?

 

“Do you have a husband?”

 

My whispered reply: “No, I don’t.”

 

Aghast, she pulled back with a look of shock on her small face and—no longer whispering—asked “Why?!” (Her favorite question or response to any and all of my answers). My answer of “Because I don’t” obviously wasn’t satisfying enough for her (there were several more whys), but it was really all the answer I had.

I thought she had let it go, because we continued building blocks, but then she suddenly told me to stand up because “I want to see how tall you are.” I thought this was odd since we has just walked back from the bathroom, and I assume she had time to note my tall-ness then, but after a few prods, I figured, what the heck, and stood up. As she looked up from the floor assessing my height, and I looked down wondering why she needed me to stand, she said, “Well, you’re tall enough to have a husband.” “Am I?” I said as I laughed and sat back down. “Yeah” she replied. Then she said, “My brother is tall.” (Her 5-year-old brother) “Is he tall enough for a wife?” I asked. “Yeah!” She said. I double checked, “Are you sure?” “Yep!” She said confidently. “He’s tall enough.”

And that was that.

 

 

Signs and Wonders

If you’ve ever traveled anywhere with me, you might have noticed that I like to read the signs. My brother Jordan and I used to play this game where we would read as many signs as possible out loud as the car drove past. You had to read really fast. Or we would read the signs in a dramatic, announcer type voice if the car was going slow enough. I have a rather quirky sense of humor, so as a fair warning, you may or may not find this post humorous. But that’s ok, you be you, and I’ll be me, and the world will be a better place because of it. The world needs a You.

It could be because of these games we used to play, or it could just be the way I am, but I love to read signs! They’re funny and unique, and they often inspire wonder and cause me to ask questions like, “What are they really selling?” “I wonder what they mean by that…” or “Who knew that existed!”

Back in September, (yes…I know it was a while ago, my bad) my mom and I met up in Iowa Falls for the day, and that’s where I saw the sign that inspired me to write this post. Here it is:

 

Yes it’s the hand sanitizer that was stationed in the park outhouses. Yes it foams. And yes, it was provided by the Iowa Prison Industries. Prior to using this particular outhouse, I had no idea that the Iowa Prisons had their own industry. And who knew that of all things, they make hand sanitizer! Maybe it’s part of their program to clean up the streets… (snicker snicker snicker!) :}

 

Iowa Falls is a pretty nice place. It has a neat little main street with some fun shops, including a coffee shop called the Coffee Attic where we had some really tasty sandwiches. Aside from the scrumptious foods, cozy interior, and decor supplied by local artists, the Coffee Attic is unique in that it has a used bookstore in the basement area. Naturally, since I love books, Mom and I spent some time perusing the shelves to see if we could find any gems. And we found this:

Yes it’s old, and yes I know it was the fashion, but still…I had to wonder what they were thinking. Mom and I enjoyed a good giggle. 🙂  Honestly, I almost bought the book, because it sounded like it could be a worthwhile read.

 

After we finished up at the Coffee Attic, Mom and I went to the Swinging Bridge and walked across, enjoyed the view of the river for a while, and then walked around the park. We both wished that we had a canoe, but we’ll just have to save that adventure for another time. (Side note: another thing that makes my mom awesome—she likes to canoe) After we got our fill of the view, we drove to Steamboat Rock Park, walked around there and read their informational sign. Although, after reading it I’m still not sure if any of the giant “steamboat rock” rock is still standing, or if it’s all sunk into the river… (Good try sign, better luck next time). We went to a couple of different parks, played some Pooh Sticks over a tiny bridge, met a guy who roams through the woods filming plants and animals (he showed us a video of a bull snake he found), and Mom even saw a Pileated Woodpecker! All in all, it was a great day.

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It was right before we left the last park when I discovered the hand sanitizer, and that was the nudge I needed to share with you some of my favorite signs that I’ve spotted semi-recently. Because if I can, I document these things (thank you iPhone!). So here we go!

 

First off, in one of the parks, there were cabins you could rent to vacation in. They were cute and they looked awesome, I just wondered if your vacation would bode well if you had to stay in the “Bittersweet” cabin…

 

This picture was taken in California during one of my visits to Whiskytown Lake. It made me glad to know that someone out there loves goats…because I don’t. I was jumped on one too many times at the Cedar Falls petting zoo. But you’ve got to wonder what would make someone love goats so much that they would put a bumper sticker on their car…maybe they’re a goatherd?

This one was also taken at Whiskytown. I liked it because it reminded me of my first year working at Camp Ewalu when Jesse told us about people being killed by cornered deer. It blew my mind a little bit.

 

If you don’t believe the sign, go watch this youtube video…

 

This next slew of pictures were all taken during my trip to Bulgaria, and yes, I’m sure some of the silliness is caused by translation errors, but still…I found them hilarious.

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This one was taken in the Cedar Rapids library! (its where they keep the books about Jesus)

This sign was found at an interstate rest stop. I think the artwork is funny. 🙂

These signs were up around my neighborhood, I mostly just felt bad for the guy…

Lastly, my most recent fortune cookie:

The only question is, what if I was illiterate?…

 

I like to look around and take the world in. There are tiny treasures of joy pocketed all around us, some of them found in the beauty of nature, others in the smile of a friend, or in the crafted words of a stranger. Take the time to open your eyes, look up from your phone and see what you can see. Find the wonder. You never know—-I know he’s not technically a sign—-but you might run into this guy the next time you stop at a McDonalds while taking a road trip across the country…

 

 

Shine on!

The Tavern Sandwich

Take a look at this:

I chose this recipe from my grandma’s box because it was remarkably dirty.

I said to myself, “A recipe card this dirty must either be truly delicious to eat …or uncommonly messy to make.” I’d never heard of a Tavern Sandwich before, but I liked the idea of it. My imagination filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of an old, dark, musty tavern near the sea, filled with miscreants, villagers, thieves, and spies…… I’ve also been listening to The Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, where a certain wine shop could have sold something like a tavern sandwich…if it had things as tasty as hamburger and Worcestershire sauce.

As you can see, the recipe card contains only the ingredients, no directions. So I basically just chucked it all in my skillet and let it cook. Well, I cooked and drained the meat first, no, actually I started with the onion!

Please forgive me, because I am forever forgetting to take “before” pictures. But believe me when I tell you that–before I chopped it to smithereens using my Pampered Chef Food Chopper–the onion  I used was larger than a softball. I chopped the whole thing, stared at it for a while (feeling slightly overwhelmed by the mass quantity), scooped out about a cup to use later for omelets, and still had this much left:

As I said, it was a large onion.

I tossed the onion and 2 pounds hamburger meat into my skillet to cook. I’m pretty sure it was nearly 1 part onion, 1 part hamburger. Good thing I like onions!

While the hamburgonion browned, I prepped my army of flavors! It wasn’t really a very large army. I felt a little suspicious of them, like they knew something about this recipe that they weren’t letting on. Especially the Worcestershire sauce. I felt like I’d seen him hanging around Citizens Ketchup and Mustard on a different occasion, in a different kitchen, making a different recipe, but this was a Tavern Sandwich (which I’d never had before) and I was too busy wondering how big of an impact my using honey mustard instead of regular yellow mustard would make to pay much attention to Monsieur Worcestershire. (side note: if you think I’m clever or creative by using these slight variants in my recipes, I’m actually not. I just forgot that I only had honey mustard.) Now, the recipe did call for 1TBS of shortening, but I decided that I liked my height right where it was, so I left it out.

I measured very carefully.

That was sarcasm. I never measure carefully. Exhibit A, my 1 1/2 tablespoons of mustard. 🙂

I mixed it all together and, since the recipe card had no directions, I pretended it was like Hamburger Stroganoff (my go-to recipe from Grandma’s box) and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

Simmering is hard to catch on camera, because the little bubbles that whisper yumyumyum don’t stick around very long.

Now, at this point in time, I was pretty sure my suspicions towards the comrades Ketchup, Mustard, and Worcestershire Sauce (or as we shall call them, Jacques one, Jacques two, and Jacques three) were correct, but I wasn’t about to hold a hasty or unjust trial. The only way to confirm my suspicion was to eat a sandwich.

So I did.

I had to use bread because I didn’t have buns (see the above side note).

After taking just one bite, I knew it was true! The Jacques had created a Sloppy Joe!!

It was so good.

And to think, I had been slightly apprehensive to try a recipe I didn’t know, and it turns out, I knew it after all! My guess had been correct, the dirty card held the secret to a recipe both delicious and messy. And I prefer the name Tavern Sandwich over anything else a Sloppy Joe might be called. Tavern Sandwich has so much more scope for the imagination. 🙂

Oh! I also made apple pie.

Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! …(But no death please)….

In my world, this translates to, “Come visit me whenever you want, (liberty) we’ll both eat a large slice of pie (equality), and then we can chat and play games (fraternity)! ….(and if you choke, I know First Aid/CPR.)…”

Shine on!

back in the habit

Transitions create interesting opportunities to create, stifle, or renew habits.

May 8th marked the end of 2nd year at BSSM, and my time in California, but also, my return to Iowa! During the continual transition (and semi hobo life) that took place between then and now, I’ve had a myriad of opportunity to make life changes, buuut I’ve only been able to successfully alter one habit—-my posture. And even that is continual effort, although it has become more natural. But just because my attempts at doing things on a structured and regular basis have been a little less than successful doesn’t mean I’m going to quit. So here we go.

Creating a new habit is like being responsible to yourself. Why would I say this? Because this month’s life virtue in Wamba Land at HVC is “Responsibility,” and when one hears the same lesson 3 times in a weekend, one starts to make connections. “Responsibility is being trusted to do the things you’ll say you do.” So choosing to create a new habit is like telling yourself you’ll do something, and then doing it. #Responsible.

So here’s to another round of setting goals and doing stuff!

Habit One: Make at least 1 recipe from my Grandma Shirley’s recipe box each month.

Habit Two: Post something on le blog twice per month.

Habit Three: Go to bed early enough to get an adequate amount of sleep.

(Side Note: in posting this blog, I have both succeeded at and failed at creating my habits. It’s late, and I’m still awake. But this evening I made Baked Spaghetti, and I wanted to tell you about it.)

I made this:

It was really good.

What happens when you have a desire to experiment and try new things, but also a deep fear of the unknown? Nothing. Nothing happens because you don’t actually do anything. This is my problem.

I have a desire to make every single recipe in my Grandma’s recipe box, coupled with the terror of the unknown recipe. I’ve never made it, it could be weird, it could be nasty… The speculations can continue endlessly. Once I realized I was trapped in this silly pickle, I did the only thing I could do: I picked a safe recipe.

I figured Baked Spaghetti is pretty normal, and I should be able to tell if I did it right/wrong without much trouble. So I opened the cupboard and began to bake. (Or cook? Is it cook? Because I’m making a casserole? But it’s called baked spaghetti…)

The one problem with shopping a week or so in advance is that I forgot that that can of mushrooms had a purpose, so I dumped it in the hamburger stroganoff, and that green pepper I bought decided to start disintegrating. But all was not lost. The whims of shopping also caused me to buy some kale, which I love, but have no idea how to incorporate into my meals. (Turns out kale can sit around longer than a green pepper.) After a mild case of indecisive panic, I contacted my consultant—-aka, my mom—-and got the go-ahead to chop up the kale and toss it in. Easy peasy.

From there, it all went swimmingly! I only forgot to add the oregano, and had just a brief moment of–“Wait, what?!”–when I realized I was supposed to pour a can of cream of mushroom soup on top of my spaghetti/sauce/cheese layered goodness. But I decided it’s not a real casserole unless it’s got C.O.M soup!

When it was done baking, I exercised amazing control and waited for it to cool a bit before diving in so as not to turn my mouth to ash. I’m pretty sure I consumed more than a normal human should ingest in one sitting. All in all, I think kale was a better choice than the green pepper. Besides, if I put kale in, my dad can eat it!

So here I am, trying new things! Despite risky speculations. It’s true, I might stumble upon something foul, but I might also find something old and wonderful like a forgotten treasure. It’s true, I might end up hating all of my classes, but I might also find out that I love them. It’s true, it might rain tomorrow! But a 40% chance of rain means that there’s a 60% chance of sunshine, right? :} Maybe?…Either way, I should transition to bed now so I can sort of work on my 3rd habit.

Shine on!

Life Update!

It’s been two months, and you haven’t heard a peep out of me. My deepest apologies. But instead of bemoaning my busy-ness, let’s just dive right in.

 

I’m going to Bulgaria!!! This year for missions, I submitted applications to serve on teams heading to Kenya, Bulgaria, Ireland, Russia, and South Africa and was chosen for the Bulgaria team. Even though it was the trip that I really hoped I’d get to go on, I didn’t think I’d be selected for it because I put it as my second choice. But lo and behold, I did! I’m pretty darn excited.  🙂 I am continually amazed at how God answers the whispered desires of my heart, you know, the ones that I don’t actually ask him about, but just secretly wish in my heart.

 

This adventure will be a 15 day trip with about 40 other BSSMers, where our goal is to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the most rejected people group in Eastern Europe–The Gypsies! (Insert obligatory picture of Esmeralda here) Of all the people I’ve asked at school, I’ve only encountered two people who are going to Bulgaria as well (and I’m absolutely thrilled that I get to work with them on this trip!). This is funny, because my friend Tracy said, “It feels like everyone I ask is going on that trip!” I then asked her where she was going (Ecuador) and had to laugh, because I would say that everyone I ask seems to be going on that trip! 

 

Aside from that, I don’t have much information right now because we’ve yet to have a team meeting  (We should have one within the first couple of weeks of December).The nice thing about this trip is that, unlike last year,  none of it is top secret! So I’ll be able to share freely with you throughout the entire journey.  🙂  I’ll be posting again soon with information on my trip as I learn it, as well as other little life adventures.

 

If you’re interested in supporting and investing in me as I move forward, please pray for wisdom for my team leaders, unity for my team, and provision and increased confidence for me. You can also donate towards my trip by clicking HERE or clicking on the link in the box on the top right. All donations are tax deductible and part of a legitimate miracle in my life. Thank you for partnering with me to spread the love and good news that is freedom in Jesus Christ.

 

Be blessed as you enter this new day! God’s goodness is all around you, take a moment to turn your face towards His and smile at the One who is always smiling at you.

Job Hunt Win!

At long last, I finally have a job! Actually that’s not quite true, I have TWO jobs!!  😀

 

Yes, be proud of me. It only took me a year…but I’ve done it!

 

A big shout out goes to my mother and my dear friend Mindy for all their help, they are heroes. They sat by and encouraged me as I filled out application after application after application, and then they found me even more applications to fill out. SO helpful. Without them, success would have been much harder to attain. Thanks guys!!

 

I am now officially hired at Michaels as their new Knit and Crochet instructor, and at Bethesda Lutheran Communities as their “Heading Out” staff person #1. (Yes, I really am the #1 person.) Let me tell you all about it!

 

Michaels: Twice a week I’ll be offering knit and crochet classes for anyone who wants to learn…and spend $25 to do so. I’m not 100% sure if I’ll actually be teaching every class every time, because there has to be a minimum of 2 people (maximum of 15) signed up for the class to happen. I’ll earn minimum wage, plus the “teaching bonus,” which is 90% of the cost of tuition per student. So this has the potential of creating a good chunk of change, but only if there is a sudden influx of people who want to learn how to knit and crochet. According to the store manager, this is one of the more difficult classes to fill. But that’s ok! I’m not depending on this job so much to pay my bills, it’s more for fun and an excuse to knit and crochet. Besides, I’ll also get an employee discount! (Honestly, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing…)

 

Originally, I was going to be teaching off of provided class curriculum, but due to certain events and decisions out of my control, I ended up needing to create my own class plan and find my own patterns based off of the syllabus Michaels provides for their customers.  It really is harder than you may think! Trying to stay within certain parameters (needle size, yarn weight, skill level, stitches learned) for 10 different classes (5 knit, 5 crochet) is tricky! Especially when the original syllabus has two possible patterns that use the same materials per class. I gave up on trying to find material matching patterns after about class 2 so I could just do awesome projects instead. There may be a ton of free patterns out there, but I didn’t have 2 full days to invest into such an in depth search. It probably took around 7 hours, but I’m pretty happy with the patterns I found. The funny thing is, if I was doing these classes entirely my way, I would just be like, “Bring in a pattern, and we’ll figure it out together! I’ll help you learn to read patterns and do cool stuff! If you don’t know anything, that’s ok, just bring a pair of size 9 needles and some yarn, and I’ll teach you how to cast on until you get it!” Oh well. One day (if I ever open my coffee/book/yarn shop) I’ll teach classes like that. On the upside, I got to go on a mini shopping spree and grab whatever items I needed to create samples of the projects. Probably the most money I’ve ever spent at one time, but definitely not more than I’ve spent in my knitting career… Yarn is expensive, even the cheaper kind. On Saturday I’ve got my first day of official “work.” Michaels is having an open house with a huge sale, and I get to go in and promote my classes (and get paid for it)! Hopefully my joyful aura will draw people in like Dory and Merlin were drawn to the anglerfish’s light. 🙂  Don’t worry, I have no intention of eating anyone, my goal is to fill their life with glorious yarn crafted goodies!

 

My primary job this year will be working at Bethesda Lutheran Communities with their Heading Out program. “Bethesda Lutheran Communities seeks to enhance the lives of people with intellectual and development disabilities through services that share the good news of Jesus Christ.” Isn’t that a great mission statement?! I love it. What a delight to work in a place with that vision in mind.  The Heading Out program provides evening activities—such as mall walking, movie going, eating out, and attending community events—every day, and each participant is allowed 17 hours per month to spend on whichever activities they choose. My job is to transport them to and from, supervise interaction and participation, and enjoy the activities with the clients. Bethesda works with a ratio of 3 participants to 1 staff. Now, I’m the #1 person, which—aside from being awesome—means that I am the first one to get called in and the last one to be dropped. So if there are 3 people interested in attending, I’ll be the only one working. Whereas if 4 people are attending, there will be two of us. Naturally, cancellations and changing plans happen.  My interviewer stressed the importance of flexibility a lot. For example, if 4 are originally signed up, but one cancels, then we no longer need two staff. BUT! Because I’m #1, I’ll still come in and work, and the #2 will not. So I’ll basically be working from 4-8 Monday-Saturday with a little bit of flexibility here and there. I should get about 24 hours a week, which is quite nice, and will bring me a little more income than working a week of camp. 😛  The funny part is that somehow, I earned a $0.20 raise between my interview and my hiring! Turns out, they had a budget meeting where they decided to increase the starting pay of new hires and give raises to those that have been around for a while.  That’s what I call good timing. 🙂 I passed my drug, TB, and physical tests and fingerprint screening with flying colors and in record time! We were all shocked at how quickly all the paperwork came back through. I’ll go in this Friday (happy birthday Dad!) for training and orientation, and they’ll have me on the schedule within a week or so! It’s very exciting.

 

By the time October rolls around, I will be a very busy body! Class + work + work + quality time with people I love + homework + church + other responsibilities = not much time for watching movies. Even though it’s a little stressful to look at my very full schedule, for some reason, I’m actually excited to be challenged in the area of time/life management, and I’m looking forward to taking on the task. My schedule feels a bit like a giant puzzle, and I do love a good puzzle every now and again. And I’m excited to be putting my hands to a task, working hard, and producing excellence. It’s just so much fun!! What a blessing to be able to work, play, and learn!

If you build it…they will come

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I don’t really understand why everyone can’t just drop what they’re doing and move out to California with me. I mean really, wouldn’t it be FUN!!?!  Well, I found 4 people who thought it would be, so they did! Mason (my lil’ brother), Max, Brooke and Cara all decided to attend 1st year at BSSM! So I made them take this corny picture to show off their Iowa pride. (Speaking of Iowa pride, if you didn’t catch my movie reference from the title of this post and you’re an Iowan, go watch Field of Dreams right now.)

 

I! O! W! A!
There were four of them. It had to be done. 🙂

 

Brooke and Cara are living with me in the Hobbit Hole, but they’ve totally taken Hannah’s room and turned it into their own. Unfortunately I don’t have any “before” pictures, but here’s what their room looks like now.

 

Cara and Brooke!

 

They’ve also effectively tripled our movie collection, so now we’re set for life! We had to buy a new pink shelf thing to hold them all. Katrina and I had a bunch of fun re-sorting all of the movies into genera, which is a task Katrina and I take quite seriously. Roxie (Mary-Amber’s new kitten) decided that we created the square box shelves for her enjoyment, but it made filling them slightly challenging. 😛 Also, we discovered that the most popular movie we own is Forrest Gump…because now we have 3 copies.

 

Roxie hiding in her fortress

 

Mason doesn’t quite live with us, he just visits often.

 

He actually has the privilege of living in The Grace Place, an awesome 2 story house with not 1, not 2, but 8 other guys who are also attending 1st year. In the words of Brooke, “That’s gonna be one stinky house…” Yes Brooke, I’m sure that with 9 guys living in one domicile, the smell will be very…pungent.  But it really is a sweet deal! Mason is sharing the master bedroom with 2 other guys (both of whom are from Norway) and since it’s the master bedroom, it includes the master bathroom—complete with 2 sinks, a giant tub, separate shower, and a wall-covering mirror. Honestly, if the house wasn’t full of dudes, I would want to live there. But aside from the comfy carpet, comfy chairs, amazing back porch and great neighborhood, the best part about the house is probably the core values its built upon. Living in a place that desires and purposefully works towards seeing its occupants grow into men of honor is pretty cool. I’m excited to see what this year holds for him, and so glad that I get to be around for it!

 

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We’re all set up for an amazing year. I’ve only had 2 weeks of classes (the noobs have only had 3 days), but I can already tell this is going to be a pivotal year.  God is good and I can’t wait to see what He has in store!

My Life in Poetry: Blueberry Bagels

Blueberry Bagels

Blueberry Bagels! Oh, so delicious…

But did you know they’re quite suspicious?

Once you buy them from the store,

and get them home through your front door,

within a week or so you’ll find

a single question in your mind:

“Is that blue thing there a healthy spot?

or has my bagel begun to rot?”

It’s true you see! Or don’t you know?

On bread, green things just like to grow.

And when your bagel has a funny hue

(because it has blueberry spots of green, purple and blue)

it’s hard to know if its safe to munch

or if you’ll die because you ate it for lunch.

And when the cream cheese goes moldy too,

I tend to just scoop out the blue,

And then I’ll eat the rest of the cheese

just sort of hoping it won’t give me disease.

But no! you say, it can’t be so!

Is it fate for all bagels that mold must grow?

No.

I think not.

In fact, here is the key for avoiding rot:

Eat faster.

a brief catch up

My goodness. If this blog was a typewriter, I would have had to dig it out from underneath a pile of pictures and papers, and then blown off about an inch of dust to finally reach the keys. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

 

Can you see my Chaco tan?

Last we chatted, May had just begun, and I was soon heading back towards the beautiful land of Iowa. 4 months have passed since then, and they were filled with so much fun, family, and adventure that it felt more like 4 weeks than 4 months. A few highlights of my summer included being a part of the Wonder Woman family group at Camp Ewalu, white water rafting, climbing large rocks and belaying to my heart’s delight, canoeing,  soaking in the beauty of God’s creation, venturing into the Boundary Waters and seeing a bear, boiling water in the pouring rain, living on an island with the goofiest group ever, earning my first ever Chaco tan,  Jordan’s wedding, Jesse’s wedding, Peter’s wedding, weekends with my friends and family, hanging out at the lake, fish dinners, homemade ice cream, rhubarb, and biking in Lanesboro. In short, spending time with people I love! My only regret is that I didn’t quite have time to visit everyone.

 

 

I have returned to California, where the sun shines hot above the mountains and there are few clouds to soften its light. It’s good to be back, but sad to be gone. Such is the paradox of my life.  😛  I’m still not quite sure why everyone else can’t drop everything and move out here with me, but more on that later. :}

 

On, the day I flew back to California, Mason, Cole and Mom accompanied me to Des Moines to drop me at the airport. It was a delightful journey with the three of them, but somehow, I missed the “wear blue” memo. (My shirt says Iowa by the way)

 

Da Boys!

Moi…

Momma!

My flights home were pretty eventless, but upon arriving at the Sacramento airport, I discovered that I had no ride, because my car battery died over the summer, and since it’s a Prius, it jumps a little differently and the dashboard has a little spaz session after you jump it. So since my roommates didn’t want to break anything, they decided NOT to come get me. Which left me stranded at the airport…

 

After a little bit of panic on my part, and heroism on the part of my parents, I had a ride with First Class Shuttle back to my house. If you’re ever needing transportation from Sacramento to Redding, First Class Shuttle is the way to go! Super friendly, super comfy, and super safe.  🙂 Within one minute of being home, I promptly locked myself out because I forgot how our door handles work. Then a mere 9 hours later, I locked myself out again. Again, because I couldn’t remember how our door handles work. Fool me once…

 

But that was then, and this is now! My car is working, and I stopped locking myself out! I’ve been job hunting and we’ve had some home improvement done. I re-hedged my bushes, our landlord got around to installing a retaining wall to keep our lawn from melting onto our sidewalk (he also rescued the aloe vera from the melting lawn for me), fixed our back gate so that we can keep out homeless visitors, replaced our loose electrical sockets, our leaking fridge, and repaired our leaking toilet.  Yay for home improvement!

 

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And that’s all for the brief catch up! More to come soon, because all sorts of fun has started happening, and I can’t wait to tell you about it.  🙂 

The Marvelous Month of May

Everyone!!  Welcome to (in my humble opinion) the best month of the year!! Yay!! It’s May! At last.  🙂

May is a wonderful month, and this year, it’s especially special. Why, you might ask? Well let me tell you.

 

Basic Reasons why May Rocks:

1. Warm spring weather takes a firm hold
2. Flowers and green start to grow in earnest
3. It has its own day to celebrate itself because it knows how wonderful it is
4. Star Wars day
5. School ends and summer begins

 

Personal Reasons why May Rocks:

1. My birthday
2. I’ll be in Iowa!
3. CAMP!!

 

Special Reasons why this May Rocks:

1. Jordan and Lindsey’s Wedding!!!
2. Mason’s Graduation!!

 

Now, you might say that I’m a little biased, because my birthday is in May, but the truth is, I was just lucky enough to be born in the best month. Everyone knows that May is wonderful, because we celebrate it’s arrival by sneaking around and giving each other little baskets of delicious goodness! The joy people feel upon the arrival of May just can’t be contained! It has to be shared!

 

May also signifies (at least in Iowa) the settling in of spring. April can be a little tricky, you never know what you’re going to get, but once you hit May, things—usually*—start to mellow out. Flowers blossom, trees bloom, grass grows and neighbors reacquaint themselves with each other. The fragrance of Lilacs wafts through the air and every pore of your being soaks up the green goodness of the grass and trees. Each day is like a new world as the buds of flowers, trees and bushes appear and then open overnight. Small animals reappear, and people swap out their snow blowers for their lawn mowers.

 

If that wasn’t enough, May brings about the close of another school year, and the start of summer. At last, the end is in sight, and victory is on the horizon. Victory in the form of dinner on the grill, bike rides, homemade ice cream, baseball, camp, and lazy days at the lake. To top it all off, May 4th provides a beautiful excuse to watch as many Star Wars movies as you can handle (May the 4th be with you). It’s wonderful.  🙂

 

For my family, this year has the added bonus of two once-in-a-lifetime celebrations: a wedding, and a high school graduation! Big brother Jordan is tying the knot with the most wonderful, the most marvelous, the most exquisite, the most caring, the most dazzling, Lindsey! (yay!!!! woohoo!!!!) It brings joy to my very soul.

 

Little brother Mason will graduate from the halls of high school and then be thrust into the real world of making “adult” decisions and trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life…..sorry buddy…..But on the upside, he’ll be joining me at CAMP this summer!!!  😀 YAY!!!

 

May is filled with goodness. We’ve only had three days of it, and I’ve done my very best to start it off well. On the first, I bought a new bed. (When you go to China, and discover that the guesthouse beds there are more comfortable than your bed here…you know you need a new bed.) So now I’ll have comfortable sleep for the 9 days before I fly home. Aaaaand then I’ll go to camp…and sleep on the ground.  :}

My new bed! It’s all soft and wonderful. Mary-Amber said we should name my old bed, “the plank.” But I think that “the janky plank” fits the way sleeping on the bed feels a bit better.

On the second, we had our last day of Extreme Kids (our after school program) where we played games, face painted, ate pizza and popsicles,  and raffled off awesome prizes to every child there, including a giant stuffed dog that was bigger than the child who won it. Today I’ve spent time with friends and celebrated birthdays, and tomorrow, I’m hosting a movie marathon in honor of the day.

 

So what makes your May awesome? I’d love to know. Hopefully, seeing me will be part of what makes your May awesome, because seeing you will be part of what makes my May awesome! I’ll be back in Iowa in a mere 9 sleeps, and I hope to see you soon! Until then, I leave you with this short poem:

 

May

We have finally reached the month of May,

A time for singing, and dancing, and lots of play!

Of springtime and flowers,

Of birthdays and showers,

of weddings, and parties, and camp at all hours!

So go have some fun!

Enjoy the green grass,

and know summer is near,

At last, at last!  🙂

 

(*Disclaimer: Yes, I know that it has snowed the last two days in Iowa. I also know that it’s been in the 90s out here for about a month. Weather is weird. It does what it wants. I wonder if the weather has been acting up the last few years because people always talk about it. Maybe it was tired of being predictable, so it decided to jazz things up a bit and go a little crazy in order to give people something interesting to talk about. Maybe, just maybe, the weather is doing your conversations a favor.)