True Confessions/Obsessions on Thursday

Some days, you just gotta spill your guts. These are not deep and intense thoughts; these are silly, random, obscure thoughts that just keep popping into my head at work and need to be shared somehow while not disturbing productivity. So here we go.

• Since returning from my beloved Kentucky, I've been unable to bring myself to wear "real" shoes. Sandals or nothing. Seriously. Oh, and here in the great Northwest, it has been raining almost constantly and has warmed up to a mediocre 65* average. But sandals it is!
• Have you guys heard of Veggie Straws??? They are made by Sensible Portions and I l o v e them. They give me the salty and crunchy fix that chips provide, yet they are made from vegetables and one serving size is 38 straws. Yep. Crunch away, friends! These things are delish. I'm in love.
  
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• Can we talk about Call the Midwife again? Butforrealztho. My mom and I just finished the first season {her first time seeing it} and we are ready to begin Season Two! So exciting! Some friends have said that "something big happens" and I'm really excited/nervous to watch.
  
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• And while we're on the subject of British shows, have you heard of "Miranda" before? Seriously one of the funniest shows out there. "Chummy" in CTM is played by Miranda Hart, a comedian and writer of this "semi-autobiographical" show. She is hysterical. Her sense of timing, her awkwardness, her comical situations- they all fit into this adorable show.
  
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  Warning: "Miranda" has some innuendos and/or conversations that are not suitable for children. But it is not the focus of the show, and it is conversation only. {Exception: one episode in S2 tries to be inappropriate, but again, it's conversation and intent only, and it's played for laughs.}
  Anyway, she is so funny; the females of my family squish onto the couch and watch it from a laptop and would be rolling on the floor laughing if we weren't wedged onto the couch so well. Def a fave.
• Save the Storks. I love everything about this group. Their tactic is to first offer help to abortion-minded women, and then provide them with information and resources. It's wonderful. Check them out at the link below the picture.
  
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• Confession: I watched "Star Trek: Into Darkness." Yes, I'm a nerd. But not for the reasons you're thinking. I watched it because of Benedict...*swoon* Confession: I'm obsessed. Seriously. Cheekbones. Gah. {And yes, that is a Sherlock reference too...see what kind of a nerd I am!?!?} There are probably dozens of other pictures I could have posted, but I will use self-control and only post one.

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Is there anything that can follow up after Benedict? Nope. So I will leave you with the image of Ben...

Two Posts in One Day...

Today must be Friday. That's all I'm going to say.

I'm going through some ancient-as-dirt files and finding all sorts of pictures from a long time ago. Well, long in terms of computer years. And in terms of my life. But whatevs.

I don't have sources for these; they are all stolen off the internet. If you find the original source, I'm happy to give credit. But since the original sources may or may not still exist, I will write a bunch of legal stuff after the pictures. You don't have to read that part. You're welcome.

Oh, the power of words. Sometimes it helps me to see words written in an unusual way so that I can concentrate on their meaning. Here are some examples.

None of these images are owned by me, and I am not selling them or making any sort of profit off of them. Blah blah blah blaberry blah. Don't get offended because I don't own them, since I did warn you of this fact. Legalese legal words this is the thing for lawyers to read. If you are a law student reading this, stop reading and go do your homework. If you are any other kind of student, keep reading because you have time for fun in your life. Or go watch "Suits" because that might satisfy your desire for legal things. You must be a skilled procrastinator if you're still reading. Wah wah wah. This concludes this legalese message. Peace out. 

Funny Friday-Kentucky Children Edition

Now that my love for Kentucky is public knowledge {as in, written down. I don't think you can talk to me and not know that I love Kentucky}, I thought it only appropriate that today's Funny Friday showcase some of my favorite Blue Grass kids. So here goes.

Hello, my name is:
Last year, when AJ's daughter was 2, my name was "Bubekah" as opposed to "Rebekah." Now that this daughter is 3, I have graduated to "Ferbekah." Thanks, I'll be here all week.

Stop being cute!
AJ has twin nieces who are almost 3. They were playing outside and I was watching them, and I told them "D! L! Stop being so cute! Just stop it!" And they giggled and shrieked and said "No, you stop!"
Later I said, "D, you're being cute again!" and she responded "No, I'm not!"
Seriously, they just got cuter.

When you text your sister...
AJ's son A is pretty brilliant, and he is always coming up with future dialogues between me and my sister; he wants to make sure that I share these important phrases. Here's his most recent suggestion {quoted to the best of my memory}:
"When your sister texts you and when you're in Ohio {don't know when I'll be in Ohio, but just in case}, and your sister says 'let's go to the movies,' you should text her back and say 'okie dokie artichoke!'"


I'm sure there are more funny things that these adorable kids said, but I can't remember any more right now, so you'll just have to enjoy these stories. Happy Friday!

My Other Home

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People, I love Kentucky. Yes, there are stereotypes about the state and the people {what place doesn't have stereotypes!?}. Yes, there is humidity {I know, I'm a sissy}. Yes, there are street and city names that butcher their French origins {Louisville = "loo a vul" for example}. 

Seriously though, I would move there in a heartbeat. I love the people and the rolling hills and the cute little towns and the fun city and how close and how far everything is and the Ale-8 and the accents and even the humidity {sometimes!}. 

I guess you could say that I'm homesick.

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My friend AJ commented to me that I always get "Kentucky fever" when I visit, and it's true! My heart really is forever connected with Kentucky, and even if I never live there again, I will try and visit whenever I can. 

Guess that's all I have to say. Can't wait to go back again :)

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Funny Friday...on Tuesday

There is a method to this madness: I'm going out of town this weekend, so the odds of a Funny Friday post on Friday are basically nonexistent. But at least you get a laugh, and who doesn't need a laugh on Tuesday?!

So I'm heading to my Other Home tomorrow, partially to work and partially to play. It's going to be a fast, crazy trip.

My bosom friend AJ puts on the VBS skit each year, and this year the group needs medieval costumes. Coincidentally, my family has approximately half a million medieval costumes...ok, more like half a dozen, but try and put that bag of half a dozen costumes back into the closet and it turns into half a million. But this is a side note.

The point of this story is that I volunteered these costumes for AJ. She needs a knight, a monk, and a princess costume- check, check, and check.

It makes the most sense for me to pack these costumes and bring them with me on this trip; saves on postage, right? Right. So I'm packing my stuff last night {I know, I'm an eager beaver...ps, are beavers really that eager, or do people just say that because it rhymes? Like awesome possum? I've never met a possum that was truly awesome...but I guess they are awesome at playing dead...I've been on allergy meds for the past 48 hours- can you tell??} and even with my mad packing skills, I was apprehensive about fitting everything into my carry-on suitcase.

Suddenly, I had a BRILLIANT idea: I should wear the monk costume on the plane! So much space would be saved, both from not having this multi-layered brown frock in my suitcase, and from the clothes I wouldn't have to wear on the plane. I know. I'm a genius.

The best part of this story is telling AJ my plan.

I text her: great idea! I'm going to wear the monk's costume on the plane!
She texts back: You're going to get arrested.

Now, we are not discriminating against monks. Not at all. And I don't think TSA does either. In fact, I shared a plane with two Hindu {I think} monks on my way home from Texas. {This sparked another conversation with AJ about these monks' lunch boxes, which will be saved for another time.}

What might be odd or arrest-worthy is the fact that there are no girl monks...those are called nuns in the Catholic religion, and I don't know what they are in other faiths.

Oh. My. Word. I have a nun costume. And if I wore it, I would be a flying nun. Shut the front door.

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Too bad AJ doesn't need a nun costume. Guess I'll just stick everything in my suitcase and wear normal, non-monk or -nun clothing. Darn.

Just Going to “Go There”

Friends, I’ve been struggling recently with how I can use the gifts and talents God has graciously given to me for His glory {nice alliteration…}. Which basically means I want to write about some things that you may already know about and agree with me on, but I need to get them out of my head and practice writing them.

I asked God last night, “What can I do with this gift of writing?” And He responded, “Be a good steward of it.” So I think that means that I need to use this little piece of the ‘net to practice some things. Like my passion for the unborn. I’m thinking that most if not all of you regular readers are pro-life, and most likely you guests are, too. So what? Let’s not grow familiar with this message; there are still babies being killed even while we don’t want them to be. So this blog may have some soap box posts in the future- don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Now, to move away from the soap box, let’s look at something that’s totally amazing. First of all, I’m a huge fan of Kristen Hatten and her writings. She is so blunt and real and non-religious. Love it. Secondly, here is her post from a few days ago about this amazing organization called Save the Storks. Basically they have a van with a sonogram machine inside, and women on their way to an abortion clinic are offered a free sonogram.

What struck me was the order in which they do things. Kristen writes that a lot of people outside abortion clinics start in way that these women don’t trust…they offer help only after offering information. Save the Storks offers help and then offers information. Free service? Check. Information? Check. Resources to help with prenatal care and parenting? Check.

This is a fantastic organization, and I am really excited about it. Hopefully you’ll be seeing more from them, and hopefully we can all be a part of it.

Funny Friday-Inspired by Allie

First of all, shout out to Samara for first introducing me to this blog...earlier today. And then I went on social media and like three other friends had posted links to it. So obviously this is a great blog.

Oh yeah. The name of the blog is Hyperbole and a Half, and it is amazing. The drawings, the stories, her manner of describing some pretty intense stuff, like depression.

But the post that I'm inspired by today is not at all serious. Well, it is seriously funny...is that an oxymoron or just using the English language to its fullest extent?

Anyway, first enjoy this post from Allie {and pardon the swear words}. And then come back and read today's Funny Friday story.

Ready? Here we go.

When I was in middle school {as in, at the appropriate age to attend middle school...home-schoolers unite!}, my family lived on an island. Yeah, it sounds dramatic and romantic, but let's be real- this is the Pacific Northwest, not the Pacific Islands. There was sand everyday and sun every few days. Moving on.

My dog had gone off on one of her great adventures in the woods surrounding our house, and somehow had managed to catch this mole/rat/creature. It was like a midget version of a Rodent-Of-Unusual-Size. And my dog had caught it.


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Approximately one minute after we learned that Sugar had caught this thing, my mom had to leave the house. She and Dad must have had a date or something, and Mom had to go catch the ferry so she needed to leave RIGHT NOW. So she told us, "Just kill it and bury it so Sugar won't roll in it," and then she drove off. {The dog had a strange obsession with rolling in dead things so that she, too, could stink like death (literally!), and this meant a bath for her, which she had a strange hatred of, so preventing her from rolling in the dead animal-ness was of utmost importance.}

So there we were, four helpless girls with a dog stuck inside and this wounded creature-thing captured under a bucket.

We decided to get an axe...no such luck.

Knife? Not one of Mom's kitchen knives! Gross!

Saw? Too gruesome.

Other options? A shovel. We had a rusty, decrepit shovel. Joy.

Sister J got the shovel; I prepared to release the creature from its bucket of captivity.

Ready. Set. Go. Scream.

We couldn't kill it. Blame it on Sister J's mercy, my squeamish-ness, and the animal's fast maneuvers, but we just couldn't do it. Put the bucket back over it. Try and think of reasonable solution.

We decided to throw the poor creature into the Sound to drown it. Yes, far more merciful, I guess. So we did it. What we didn't realize until too late was that when Sugar caught it, one of its little legs was injured. So instead of swimming away or sinking like a rock, the Rodent-Of-Midget-Size just swam in a little circle.

And so my sisters and I went inside to watch a movie to take our minds off of the horrible deed{s} we had done.

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The ROMS never washed up on the beach.

Sugar never rolled in its carcass.

Mission Accomplished.

P.S. We did NOT watch "The Princess Bride" because it would have been traumatizing.

So Many Thoughts

Well, here goes. It feels like I've been thinking I should blog about that for too long, so I'm going to try and get a few thoughts out. Brace yourselves.

1. Dahlia and I have made it official: we are going to Prince Edward Island in August!!!
   
   Woot! We are super excited because a) we got tickets at a GREAT price and b) we found an adorable little inn {Sherwood Inn and Motel-how perfectly quaint and Island-ish!} for a magnificent price AND that has a shuttle to and from the airport! Oh, and yeah, because we found an Anne of Green Gables itinerary. We are totes going. It's ok- you can be jealous. I would be, too!
   
2. Update on the job thingy: I interviewed for 2 Saturday positions, and one I knew wouldn't work out and the other didn't call me back, which was fine because I realized I don't want to be tied to a consistent weekend schedule. So God knew what He was doing {as per usual!}, and actually I interviewed with two different families to babysit and so that will be fabulous. One family will call me eventually {the dad is going to China for a month, so no date nights for a while!}, and I'll be babysitting for the other family for the second time tomorrow. Totes perfect. Thank You Jesus!
   
3. Grandma is getting settled. I think we're all getting more used to each other, and things have been working out pretty well these past few weeks. Again, thank You, Jesus.
   
4. I would really like to blog every day in May like Jen is doing, but May is like the craziest month for me! I leave Saturday to go to the Great Nation of Texas for 5 days, then I'm home for less than a week before I go to the Bluegrass State for work {and play!} for a week. Blogging is highly unlikely this month, let alone every day, so I will do my best to do something fun in June. :)
   
5. This week was my second time volunteering at Care Net. I'm really enjoying it. Technically, I'm still in training, so my 4 hours consist of watching videos that we show clients and reading the volunteer handbook. Still, it's been amazing. The clinic has such an atmosphere of peace and honor and service; I feel God's peace when I'm there. Oh, and crazy thing! The other volunteer who is there for the Thursday afternoon shift -Brandi- is a cousin of one of my friends from Berea! Small world.
   
6. Speaking of this afternoon, I almost passed out today. Yeah... So I don't do needles... or blood or guts or anything that is yucky...as in, I don't like to see them. And I really don't like to hear about any of that.

   

   These lovely Crate and Barrel sheets perfectly matched the color of my face.

   The first time I passed out was in the 4th grade when I found out that my wrist was broken. The pain didn't do it; it was looking at the x-ray {which looked pretty normal, bee tee dubs} and hearing the doctor say, "Here's where the fracture is..." Boom. Down I went.
   So today I was shadowing Brandi's parenting class client, and the video we watched was about the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and then it went into labor and delivery. Now, I've known about the birthing "activities" since I was probably in 2nd grade, but it has always been one of the aforementioned topics that give me the heebie jeebies. I was doing alright with this video, until the narrator started talking about this little surgery-like cut the doctor can make during labor...and so I went into the kitchen and put my head down and waited for blood to return to the upper half of my body. Yep. Second day volunteering, and I have to go lie down in the other counseling room. Awesome.
   
7. I'm excited to go down to Texas next week {technically this week} because I get to see my friend Laurie without having to visit the Frozen Tundra! :) And also because we are planning on watching Season 2 of "Call the Midwife," yet another BBC show that has captured my attention. If you have not seen it, finish what you're doing and go watch it. SO well done. Not like steak. Like a dozen roses...perfection.
   

Well, 7 seems like a good number to end on. I hope that this brings us up-to-date on most items of late... oh, and as for the last post, I think that writing things out and then going to Book Club {a group of us are reading and discussing Lady In Waiting} and talking with the bestie for a good hour afterwards helped me move forward in my thinking. I'm still thinking and praying about things with my parents, and I think God and I are getting closer and I'm comfortable thinking more openly about the future. So, thanks for listening. :) Happy May!