What I Do At Home

Thanks bro.  You and I do great work!

What I Do At Work

You know you don't mind work when you are willing to spend 2 hours after your done decorating with your coworkers for Halloween!

My Roommate The Trooper

I have learned a very good lesson this evening.  When I become scared, I become more polite.  You have no idea how many times the words, "how are you" came out of my mouth this evening.  It didn't matter if it was a death's head, a grotesque mask, or a clown on stilts walking towards me.  Each of them received a greeting to ask about their well being.

My roommate probably would have preferred that I completely ignore the people with the scare tactics and keep my head down as we made our way through a haunted maze, but then we wouldn't have made very much progress.  Each avenue of terror brought on a new form of horror.  Fright, alarm and panic would normally be the words that I would use to describe my feelings while finding my way through a place designed to make my heart race and my voice shout out in surprise, but I found myself quite calm.  I attest this feeling to the fact that my roommate was terrified and needed me as her strength.  I could not cower if I was to be the leader that brought us out to safety.  Through walls that pushed in on us and corn filled with the sound of chainsaws we trudged on.  No zombie or maniac was going to hinder our way.  No sir, we would prevail and so we did.

A"MAZE"ING

Tis the season for corn mazes.  Time to get lost in rows and rows of golden, dried up, corn stocks.  Each twist and turn leading you further and further into the depths of lostness.  Only sheer luck will allow you to escape the grasping reaches of brittle leaves and hardened corn kernels.

I Am Awesome

Every Thursday my company takes a couple of minutes and does some kind of activity that we dub "Game Day Thursday".  This can consist of quizzes, races, and even things like hacky sack throwing.  Today the task was to transport M&M's from one plate to another using only your ability to suck air through a straw.  We were each given a minute to see how many M&M's we could move in that time.  Can I just say that I rocked it.  I was able to move 66 M&M's in a minute.  That is more than 1 a second.  How did I do it?  I don't know.  All I can say is that I was crazy out of breath at the end.  I think I beat the next highest person by at least 12 M&M's.  This must mean that I am a good kisser because I hold my breath for extended periods of time it seems, and yes my face just went bright red in saying this.

The Ten Minute Art Gallery Run

A scavenger hunt in an art gallery is fun.  The only draw back is that you are so distracted working out the next clue and trying to find a certain painting that you don't really get to see the exhibits.  The few pieces of art that did make it through to my memory were beautiful.  I wish that I had the kind of talent that would allow me to create such masterpieces from nothing.

Feel The Burn

I am hurt.  I am hurt.  I am hurt.  Who decided that it would be a good idea to spend half of my lunch hour climbing up and down the cement flight of stairs that is located in the middle of my work place?  Oh ya, me.  I am hurt.  My thighs are on fire.  Its a good hurt, but still.  Owww.  At least I have my book to distract me from the pain and my coworkers bemused stares as I awkwardly climb up and down stairs while reading a book.  This had better be worth it!

Letters

Our world is all about the fast.  We want instant everything.  Instant connections with people.  Instant messaging.  We don't like to wait.  In this I think that we are missing out on how important the slow is.

My parents are currently away from their home for the next year and they aren't the easiest to get a hold of where they are now located.  As such I have come to the lost art of letter writing.  Every week (mostly, sometimes I'm not as diligent) I write a letter to my mom.  One of the things that I have noticed is that writing a letter makes me contemplate a little bit the things that I write.  I still write mostly about the mundane unimportant aspects of my life, but I tend to dive a little deeper than just the surface because a small note about nothing would not be worth the price of the stamp.  I wish more people would write letters.  The instant can make us loose so much of the important deeper parts of life.

I Made It To The Zoo

I did it.  I made it to the zoo.  After all that time and desire (I know it was only about a week since I decided that I wanted to go) I got to see the animals.  I could have spent all day watching the polar bear, seals, and sea lions swim.  I could have spent hours leaning over the rail watching the tiger pace around his cage.  I could even have stood around in the cold to watch the baby orangutans sleeping all wrapped up in their blankets.  As much as I am not a big fan of seeing animals in small living spaces when they could be out roaming the wild, I do love that I have the ability to view these animals that I would not have the opportunity to view because they are not native to where I live.  I have to admit that it would be a little disconcerting to see a lion, elephant, or rhino walking free around my town.

I'm A Cat Person

I'll admit it.  I'm a cat person.  Dogs are fine, I just prefer a cat.  I think a big portion of this is because I like the independence of a cat.  You have to work to get them to like you.  A dog is aptly named "a mans best friend".  They are always happy to see you and want to spend all their time with you.  Cats on the other hand most of the time will have other things to occupy their time.  They have to explore, nap, hide, nap, wake you up at 5 in the morning with their cold noses, oh and nap.  Most things happen on their terms.  I like that.  Yes, it can get annoying when you just want to pet or hold one and all they want to do is bite you, but I don't mind.  It means more when a cat that has been standoffish all day comes up and sits on your lap.

Thinking

So, I started this blog because a lot of things were changing in my life.  I moved, I started a new job, and my family became a little harder to stay in contact with.  I wanted to notice the changes and the good things in my life.  It hasn't always been easy, but I think I may finally be starting to have a few things settle down and fall into place.

Work is still a new experience everyday.  I compared my new job to learning Incan while speaking Chinese and living in Greece.  While it is still difficult, I think I can rephrase this statement to learning Chinese, Speaking Greek, and living in Scotland.  At least somethings are starting to look a little bit familiar.

I'm also starting to get a small group of "friends".  They really are still more like acquaintances that I sometimes spend a little bit of time with, but I enjoy their company and I think they enjoy mine.  It is nice to at least have a couple of friendly faces instead of the constant stream of strangers.

Life always continues.  Everyday brings new things to learn and to try.  

Night Games

Right now I wish that night games were a thing of the past.  I remember as a kid I loved them.  There was nothing better than running around with your friend in the dark streets as you played things like sardines or escape from Alcatraz.  Now that I'm older though I wish they had stopped at some point so that I wouldn't have been startled by a group of young teens running around in the middle of the night.

As I walked out of my parents house this evening to drive home to my apartment off to the side of me I suddenly heard a voice whisper "hey".  I could have jumped out of my skin.  All I can say is that it is a good thing I am not a screamer or I would have woken up the entire neighborhood.  I located the voice as coming from a young guy laying next to my brothers truck hiding from his friends.  He is lucky to be alive right now.  Good for him I wasn't startled enough to invoke a flight or fight reaction (though it was a close thing) because I'm pretty certain it would have been a fight response.

I Want To Go To The Zoo....How About You?

I haven't wanted to go to the zoo so much in my life.  Every October the girls in our family and our closet girlfriends have a girls night out.  This year we are breaking out of our norm and not going the the dinner theater show that we normally do, but in doing so it has been difficult to find what exactly we should do instead.  My sister has been suggesting the zoo all along, but I have been hesitant to say yes just because to me the zoo hasn't sounded like a "girls night out" activity.  Now there is nothing better that I would like to do.

Last night to celebrate a friends birthday a mini group of us girls that normally attend our "girls night out" went to dinner and as part of the conversation the zoo came up.  The birthday girl had just returned from the zoo with her family and couldn't stop talking about how cool the new exhibits were.  Evidently the polar bear exhibit is remarkable.  I now what to see it.

Can we please go to the zoo?

Owwww

Can you get a goose egg on your knee?  I've heard of getting a goose egg on your head, but I don't know if it is possible to get a goose egg on your knee.  If you can then I have one and I'm getting no sympathy from my family.  It was even my brothers truck that gave it to me and all he does is give me a hard time.  He keeps offering to whack my now swollen knee with a hard bound book to see if it will "pop" the swolleness.  He swears he would only whack it once unless he likes it.  Sooo much sympathy coming my way.

Driving In My Town

I love the roads in the town where I grew up.  There are probably many in my town that would disagree, but they are wrong in my opinion.  I love driving over all the bumps, dips, and cracks that run rampant on the road.  Its like riding a roller coaster.  Other towns and cities can keep their smooth paved unmarred roads.  I'll keep the uneven surfaces that make driving more exciting.

Onions Are Mean

Yah, you heard me!  Onions are mean.  I have been chopping onions for a long time.  I spent 8 hour work days as a prep chef chopping onions and I have never teared up as much as I did chopping onions tonight.  2 small yellow onions made my eyes well up to the point that I could not see.  I got to the point where my left sleeve was sopping from the amount of water flowing from my eyes.  It was crazy.  I mean crazy!

I hope all those men that end up eating and enjoying the chicken enchiladas that I made this evening appreciate the tears that were shed for them.  I would say that blood, sweat and tears went into this, but I can only say that tears were a major component.  No need to be grossed out by this.  The tears didn't actually make it into the enchiladas.  I just cant believe how much water was brought out of me because of 2 onions.

Grandpa This Is For You

Now that I have caught up a couple of days and I'm not soooo long in posting.  (I didn't think a week was a long time, but evidently it is).  I just want to say that I am grateful for my grandparents.  I know how lucky I am that I still have both sets of my grandparents.  I am truly blessed that I get to spend time with such amazing people.  I just hope that as their posterity I can live up to the great example that they have set for me.

Grandpa, thank you for caring about me.  We don't ever have to say much, but I know that you love me more that I can comprehend.

Grandma, thank you for all that you have taught me.  I hope to be as an amazing mother someday as you have been.

Adoption Is An Act Of Love

I'm not very personal on my blog (at least not personal in the aspect of giving specifics about myself).  I tend to lean on the verge of vagueness in most of what I write, but as to this I will get specific.  My beautiful sister and her handsome husband have been working towards, hoping, and praying to someday be able to adopt a child of their own.  They as so many others before them have learned the heartbreaking truth that they will not be able to have children "the regular way" so they have opened up their hearts to the hope that they can open their home to a child that will come to them in a different way.  If you know of a birth mother that is looking for a wonderful couple to take in and raise her child you need look no further.  Please check out their blog, learn more about them, and help them in their desire to make a loving home for a child that could receive no greater or fuller love than they would be able to give them.

Isn't It Too Early For Snow?

Okay, as you might realize from my last post I am just barely getting used to the fact that it is October and not May like I think it should be.  I missed most of summer because I didn't take a moment to stop everything around me and realize that time was passing very quickly.  Now I'm trying to slow things down and enjoy my favorite month and time of the year.  The crazy thing is that since I have started to notice the season I'm currently in I've realized its cold.  Its getting much colder than I expected it to be.  I love fall with its colors and crisp air, but this is starting to feel too much like winter.  Winter is beautiful with its white clean snow, I'm just not ready for it.  Where is my fall?  Snow should not be a part of my fall.  If I stamp my feet and throw a tiny fit do you think it will be fall again?