Last of Ketchup Day

Living with two boys is interesting but only sometimes. Mainly I don't see Garrett that often, which makes me sad because he's a really good friend. However though I may not see Garrett, I see the effects of Garrett (kind of like the wind... get it?)

Here's how he decided to improve my weekly menu a while back:



I've been had! I knew Garrett was secretly one of Saruman's uruk-hai! Oh the terror:

C.S. Lewis

If I could choose one person dead or alive to go back in time and meet, it would be C.S. Lewis. Here is a quote that I found of his that I find simply stunning:

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."

Anyone heard of Brooke Fraser? An Aussie singer/song writer that sings with Hillsong? Well she wrote a song about my man C.S. and here are the lyrics:

If i find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
I can only conclude that I was not made for here
If the felsh that i fight is at best only light and momentary,
then ofcourse I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared

Speak to me in the light of the dawn
Mercy comes with the morning
I will sigh and with all creation groan
as I wait for hope to come for me

Am i lost or just less found?
On the straight or on the roundabout of the wrong way?
Is this a soul that stirs in me,
is it breaking free, wanting to come alive?
Cuz my comfort would prefer for me to be numb
And avoid the impending birth
of who I was born to become

For we, we are not long here
Our time is but a breath, so we better breathe it
And I, I was made to live, I was made to love,
I was made to know you
Hope is coming for me
Hope, He's coming

Brilliant song, brilliant lyrics, brilliant man.

Ketchup Day Part Tres

At work we have these cartoon-esque murals on the wall of people like Noah and Jesus and children.

So here's my question, and maybe it's just me, but if Jesus was Jewish, then what is stereotypical about this picture, located by the double doors at the end of the hall:

Hmmm...

Ketchup Day Part Deux

Anyone else hopelessly addicted? Why haven't you people told me sooner?!

Ketchup Day

In first grade I had this teacher who would put a cut-out likeness of ketchup up on the chalkboard when the class was falling behind on their work and called it "Ketchup Day." Well, I'm home sick today with a migraine and I fever I can't kick, so I thought it would be a good Ketchup Day. Here goes:

First off is something that I'd like to call "Cars of the Wild." Take a gander at these two beauties:





First Car: Ah yes! The rare Ford Wolf that resides within the confines of all 2008 Ford Focus passenger doors! So glad to have caught that one in its act of emergence into the wild. Surly looking creature don't you think?

Second Car: Chad Johnson called, he wants his car back.

Adult Conversations

I almost quit my job today.

Sure, it would have been an irrational, really stupid decision that I would have regretted later. And I would have had to go to my bosses and ask them to take me back. And I'm pretty sure they would have. But at the time, it would have felt so satisfying.

So here's for not feeling satisfied today, for feeling blindsided, for getting my blood pressure going and my adrenaline rushing. Here's the adult conversations and what they teach me about people and how their life circumstances affect the way they handle problems.

And as for the rest of the day, I wash my hands of it!

Sleep

12:13 pm

No, not the time I went to bed. The time I woke up this morning. This, I think officially, is the latest I have woken up all year.

Sadly, I fell asleep at 11:06 pm. That's roughly 13 hours and 7 minutes worth of sleep. No wonder I had time for a really Good dream.

Welcome To My World

There are days at work, at least at my work, where everything is hectic and chaotic but it's not necessarily bad. In fact, it's pretty humorous. Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the day.

• Return of the boolets: Remember that post? Today John/ Pickles was building a Transformer and showed me his creation. He says, "Do you know what this is for?" And points to an imaginary knob. "No," I reply. "...the boolets!"
• I thought it was hot in our room. No one else did. I make an off hand comment to Ms. Barbara about how I must be having hot flashes. "Lisa" then exclaims, "Hot flashes! My grandma has those all the time!"
• Colored Poo: Not many adults that I know talk about the color of their bowel movements. Kids, though, are another story. Lisa yells from the bathroom, "Ms. Emilyyyyyyy!" I run in and find electric green poo practically standing on her piece of toilet paper. And no, I didn't have an explination for this, much to her chagrin. The best part is when I got to talk to her mom about her child's green poo. So awkward.
• Had a parent freaking out today and I, like a dedicated teacher, stayed an extra 45 minutes to talk it out. It turned out great, but I had a knot in my stomach all day just thinking about it.
• "Sadie" confessed to me today that she has a "crutch" (crush, in case you didn't catch that) on Justy. (Dusty, in case you didn't catch that.) When I told her that Dusty plays soccer just like you, she proceeds to yell, "Dusty's gwoss!" (Gwoss= gross.)
• "Sadie" was walking down the hall as our line leader, lifts her shirt and starts running her hands up and down her body dancing provocatively. It was like Shakira in a four year olds body. Creepy.
• Pickles decides that he's going to sing about whiskey all day. It did not stop and I had to sit him in time out numerous times. I finally gave up when he brought a counter arguement: "But mommy listens to it!"

All in all, not a bad day and there was much more madness, but I'm going to let it fall by the wayside and spend time with my hubs.

The Wife Card

Tonight, Dusty's band played a show. They're excellent, and I'm not just partial. Have a listen.

But I played the wife card. You see, they moved the seats around so that it was SRO. Standing Room Only. But then they left like three rows of chairs. They looked so appealing. So comfy. So cozy. Andrea convinced me. She really did. I admit it. I caved. I sat down.

And I'm the wife of the bass player, and you can't make me stand if you want to. So there. That makes me feel better. I'm pretty sure nobody else cares.

I Survived Mini-Cation 2008

I have alluded to the fact that Mini-Cation v. 1.1 was a complete bust. OK, granted we got to get out of Cville for the weekend, which in and of itself was becoming necessary. But for the most part, I'm beginning to wonder if d. and I are one of those couples who will never be able to take a good trip. Now that I've recuperated from it, though not emotionally or mentally so far, let's re-cap shall we?

Trivial Small Thing #1: Upon backing out of our apartment complex Dusty hits a pole, with my car. No dent, but it's the sound. The metal hitting metal sound.

Trivial Small Thing #2: Upon heading down Broadway, we realize that we've forgotten the King's Island tickets. I cannot say who was responsible for this.

Big, Shocking, Horrifying Moment #1: Upon eating Middle Eastern food and smoking some argeilah with a friend in Cinnci we are informed that our friend Jon was killed in a car accident. I'm not good at death. I don't like it. And I don't like that it took Jon. End of story.

Not quite as Big, but still Shocking Moment #2: Upon arriving to King's Island the next day, I find that I can't ride a single ride without instantly getting nautious and pukey. This never happens. After ride 3, I decide it's time to hit the road. No more KI for us.

Big, not Very Shocking, and Horrifying Moment #3: I say "not very shocking" because our weekend wouldn't be complete without one of these. I believe this can be summed up with a simple picture. Keep in mind, this happened Sunday morning while we were on our way back to get me to my daycare center's orientation for new parents.

How did I feel about this weekend?

The Exchange

Marriage is about give and take, if you didn't catch on from my previous Star Wars post. Well, this give and take issue also centers around Star Wars, and here it is.

I exchanged watching the new animated Clone Wars movie:

For subjecting Dusty to this:

So far, Dusty has upheld his part of the deal. So August 15th, here I come! Maybe I should dress up?

A Scattered Blog

Mini-Cation v. 1.1 is over.

Can we have a re-do? More pictures to come. Right now my hair is in a towel and frankly, I don't want to get up to get my camera for a whole seven pictures that I took. Because it was that bizarre of a weekend.

I'm facing a harrowing week:

• Working out with a friend at 6:30 every morning because we're tired of being fat fatties.
• Getting stuff ready for the new class: laminating, Ellisons, lesson plans. The Works.
• Monday: E-town because I don't want Dusty driving alone
• Tuesday: Funeral for a friend in Louisville
• Wednesday: Ministry Training/ Wine Night Returns! (Ok, this part isn't harrowing.)
• Thursday: Rock Show
• Friday: Rest. Maybe.

I was convinced once, really I was, that life after college would slow down. Well, it has in that I can read whatever I want without feeling guilty for the neglected textbooks on my floor. But I guess I never realized that college wasn't really life in the specific sense of the word meaning the real stuff. Because life is not staying up until 2 am playing with girls on your hall. It's crashing with your husband at 10:30 because you're both tired and sweaty from not turning down the air conditioning because you're poor and because electric is the only utility you have to pay.

That is life, my friends.

OH! Special thanks to Campbellsville Sonic for making my list of Campbellsville's Worst Customer Service. Thank you for assuming that because my friend in front of me ordered a Jr. Burger meal that I also wanted one, when I specifically said burger only. And thank you for hiring snotty high schoolers who respond when I tell them that my order is wrong, "Well... *chomps on gum* it's only $2 more."

$2 that would have been your tip darling.

out. to. bed.

Mini-Cation v. 1.1 Update

Due to the Kentucky Baptist Convention's willingness to pay someone $10 per hour to watch children while they train sunday school teachers during August and September we have moved our Mini-Cation v. 1.1 to this weekend! Pictures and stories to come. We hit the road at 4:30!

Outta here,

e.

Mini-Cation v. 1.1

T-Minus one month and one day! Whoop!

"You Are Waking Me Up"

Last week I took my first stab at trying to explain poverty to some of the kids in my class. I'm really at a loss on how to explain such a thing to three and four year olds. They're all smart kids, and very imaginative, but can they really grasp such a thing as world poverty?

So two of them were doing a puzzle with me, and I started talking about Mukti. They laughed at her name, not in a spiteful way, we're thinking child-like innocence here. I told them that Dusty and I were going to help her by sending her money to go to school and have food and clothes. They also thought that was funny and asked why her parents didn't do it.

I started to explain that her parents didn't have any money, not like their mommys and daddys. A brief glimpse of understanding and then, "My parents have money. They buy me candy somtimes. And toys. Do you have the edge piece for this puzzle?" Conversation closed.

Hopefully I will be able to plant some seeds, even in these very young minds. I think it will be more effective when I have a picture of Mukti to show them. Until then... pray.

What's Mine Is Yours

I just had a manic married moment. I love books. Anyone who reads my blog can tell this. They're one of my passions, and I mean that in every nerdy sense of the word.

Imagine my chagrin when Dusty started hauling out his entire Star Wars collection and overtook 1.2 of my new bookcase's beautiful, empty, waiting-to-be-filled shelves. Conviniently this case also sits in the living room, in plain view of everyone.


Here's a broader view:

And of course the entire procedure was punctuated with commenatry from him such as, "Oh, didn't know I had two of those!" Followed about thirty seconds later with, "Hmm... I have two of those as well!" *looks at me, quite pleased.*

I pull out the paper bag and start breathing into it. Can tell this is not going to be pretty.

Next there's, "Oh! Oh no... where's the rest of my X-Wing Series? There's nine. I only have four!"

Breathe Emily, breathe.

For better or for worse right? :)

Puzzled

I hate puzzles.



About a week ago by my husband's estimation we bought a 1000 piece puzzle to put together. Here are the components:

+

=

And of course we can't forget this:

because there's no way in heck I'm doing this thing over. Updates to follow.

Last Night Was Fun

Freaky Friday

Today we had our full load. 16 three (actually all have turned four except one) year olds. To put it in perspective:

• Sixteen squirmy bodies to fit around three tables
• 32 hands wanting to play with the same toy at the same time
• 160 fingers needing wiped after eating Cheeto's for lunch
• Sixteen mats, sixteen sheets, sixteen pillows, sixteen blankets, and sixteen stuffed animals to sort through at nap time.
• Sixteen pudding cups, sixteen spoons, sixteen juices, and roughly 100 mini graham cracker stix at snack
• Sixteen sets of lips needing wiped, resulting from aforementioned pudding cups
• 32 little feet running to gym
• Sixteen sweaty heads needing cooling off after playing outside
• Three fenzied teachers trying to keep it all together
• Sixteen mouths laughing during story time
• Sixteen forearms on which to place the library Catch the Reading Bug tatoos
• Seven little ponytails that kept falling out
• Nine little Power Rangers that got in time out for hitting in gym
• About 67 fights broken out over various colored balls, also in gym
• Fourteen little bodies stuffed inside the play treehouse (5 person limit)
• Fourteen little bodies sat in time out for stuffing inside said play treehouse
• Two little bodies sitting under the shade of a slide, watching fourteen little bodies get in trouble
• At the end of the day, sixteen hugs as I said goodbye for the weekend

How was your Friday?

Emily's World Tour Vol. 1

What part of Brazil? All of it! Here are some reasons why:

Dill Pickles

I have this kid in my class. When he was younger, in the toddler class, he reminded me of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats. In this blog, I'm going to call him "Pickles."

You have got to meet this kid! He's one of those boys... how can I explain? When he plays with Legos he doesn't just build an airplane. He builds a Megtron Plane with special web shooters. He even showed me where the button was that deployed said web shooters. And he used the word "deploy."

One day we had some spare time. It was too soon to start something, and we had just cleaned up our toys, so I started winging it. When one little girl asked me what I was doing, Pickles replied, "It's called improvising." As if every 4 year old should know this by now.

Today though, today was my favorite. Anyone recall the 1991 box office hit Hook? Well today I tell Pickles that we can, indeed, read some excerpts from his 3-Minute Read Aloud Winnie the Pooh Storybook. His response?

"Yeah! Bangerrang!"

Seriously?

A New Development

Yesterday morning I woke up with a heavy feeling. I mean really heavy and really specific. I was burdened for poor children. "How random is this?" Was my first thought. Then I read a blog posted by Shaun Groves about how he was raising his children to care about poverty in the world.

So Dusty and I set out on a new adventure. I searched the compassion website until a little girl from Bangledesh practically leaped off the screen. Her name is Mukti Das, she is three and she is precious. We decided to do it immediately and have signed up to sponser her.

I cannot tell you the feeling I got while scouring through the pages and pages of children who need a sponser. I wished their poverty to vanish, their parents to get regular jobs, their siblings to have clothing. Alas, I cannot do what I would like for the world, but in my circumstances I can do my part. And I think that's all the Lord really asks from us in the first place.

Pray for Mukti. Pray for those in need. Jesus came for the disenfranchised, the sick, the lame, the poor, and the needy. Just because we live in America and have good jobs doesn't mean that we are all too far off from that list ourselves.

This is my friend, pictured here as Devon Bradley. We met in college, where I witnessed her first "bad grade" and basically saw her life flash before her eyes as she believed one single failing grade would ruin her scholarships for the next four years.

As our friendship progressed, we became each other's sounding boards, offering our words of "wisdom" on boys, jobs, college, and family life.

This is my friend, pictured here as Devon Hamilton.

She lives in E-town with her hubs in apartment 2F. We are still sounding boards, and I'm pretty sure we've shared much more than we ever thought we would. I'm so blessed to have a friend around who is married and has been in my very same shoes this time last year.

Global Wedding

Tonight on ABC News, they started their new special Small World. To kick things off, they did a story about weddings around the world. My heart swooned, not only because they covered two countries that are near and dear to my heart (Saudi and Indonesia) but because I'm a pretty new blushing bride myself. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Click here for the full album.

Acu-Granny

Tonight I went out to my grandparent's house to pick up some farm fresh eggs and mingle for a bit.

My grandma gets this look in her eyes sometimes, one may call it a "gleam" when she's about to say or ask something "inappropriate." It's one of those old lady rebellious looks. It doesn't come about very often; in fact, the last time I saw it was when she asked me if I had bought any lingerie for my wedding night.

So we're sitting in the living room, and she leans in and I see that gleam and only have a few seconds to prepare myself when she whispers into the middle of the room (at me) "I got my ears stapled for weight loss!" Then sits back, folds her arms in her lap, and waits for my reaction.

After swallowing my drink, I yell, "You what?!"

The best part about this is not the my grandmother is experimenting with acupuncture. Nor is it the fact that she is now massaging her temples for 30 seconds six to seven times a day. No, my favorite part about this is that my Papa, having been married to her for over 50 years has yet to notice my grandmother's latest addition.

I'm betting she'll drop 50 pounds before he starts wondering "How you doin' that?"

My Papa's Garden

Here are some pictures of the wildflowers my Papa grows in his garden. He got me a "bouquet" consisting of 12 stalks of these gorgeous things. (Currently, Mrs. Hash has about 5 stalks as my vase wasn't big enough.)

Current Favorite

Main Entry: rau·cous
Pronunciation: \ˈrȯ-kəs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin raucus hoarse; akin to Latin ravis hoarseness
Date: 1769

1 : disagreeably harsh or strident : hoarse
2 : boisterously disorderly

Great Success!

Success? Sucess?

Half Price Book Store was a "great success!"

• Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barabara Kingsolver
• Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques
• Grendel by John Gardner
• The Silmarillion by Tolkien
• Widow for One Year by John Irving
• The Red Tent by Ann Diamont

Currently reading:

I Heart My Wii

Welcome to the world of Wii Fit.

Independence Day

WHY do I always want to indepen-dance?




This year I will be in America for the 4th of July. Last year, I was here:

This is me, on top of Mt. Nebo, pointing to the Promised Land. I bet it looks the same now as it did back in the OT, minus the windy paved road.

Last year, I spent the evening with a friend down in Abdoun, eating ice cream, sitting in the middle of a crazy busy traffic circle, watching Arab guys watch Arab girls and trying to take a picture of ourselves both making the number "4" with our hands.

My mom called me tonight. She was sitting on their "usual" spot with their "usual" group at the Kearney fireworks show. She said she missed me and that she wished I was there. Asked if anyone was having any firework shows, if anyone was setting off fireworks.

For you Kearney folk, you know that town is like a stinking war zone on the fourth. A dense haze settles over the town at night after everyone's lights their stuff and you hear left over explosions for days on end. Kentucky... just not that into it I guess. In fact, you have to go over the river into Indiana just to get the "good" fireworks. Go figure.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. But it may end up to be a very nostalgic day indeed. I guess that's a good thing. I don't visit memory land often enough anymore.

That's Not In My Lexicon

So I have this neighbor, Mr. Hash. Mr. Hash has Hebrew written on the side of his truck:

It either says "Salvation of Yah" or "God's Army." At least, that's what he told me. When I asked him if he had studied Hebrew, he replied:

"I didn't study Hebrew... it came to me."

Oooook...

Holy Guacamole!

Recently Dusty found this in his guacamole:

Roughly the size of a ping pong ball, it not only made excellent lunch conversation between us and the grandparents, it got Dusty some fresh, free guacamole! Eat up!

Enquiring Minds Want To Know

Last weekend we heard a kid come up to his mother at the booth behind us and the following conversation ensued:


Kid: "Mom, quick! I need you to explain the Laws of Physics!"
Mom: "...huh?"
Kid: "The Laws of Physics! I neeeed to knoooooow!"
Mom: "What? I don't know them!"
Kid: "Just hurry up and come over here!"


What was he looking at? This charming little fountain of course:


(taken from my phone)

I Graduated On May 10

"So Emily, reading that book for class huh?"

Me, looking up from my latest read: "Actually, I graduated in May... I just read for fun."

insert puzzled look here.

Planning a trip to the Half Price Book Store in The Ville this weekend. Pumped! I have a list front and back of books to look for. Among others are

1. Night by Elie Wiesel
2. Gilead by Marilyn Robinson
3. The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra
4. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
5. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tam

wish me luck!