Thrift Stores

Thrift stores never cease to amaze me. I was in several today trying to find a couple of junky shirts that my husband could take to Brazil with him for his mission trip. He needs a few shirts so that way he can wear it and then throw it away (because it will doubtless be filthy and stinky). Anyways, as I walked through them I realized that American people donate some very mysterious and strange things to thrift stores in the name of "charity." While in my favorite thrift store (the proceeds they make go to a crisis pregnancy center where they council women who are in trouble) today I found some things that just made me laugh out loud. In the clothing department they had a "lovely" aqua/green prom dress complete with sequined puffed sleeves and a v-neck top. It looked as though the dress had been custom made for the Little Mermaid with an Anne Shirley puffed sleeve complex. Hey, if any brides-to-be come across this blog and are looking for a dress that a deranged Barbie from the 1980s designed, I have the perfect gown for you. Get in touch with me. Next I made my way over to the "housewares" department where I encountered every kind of coffee mug known to man with all kinds of catchy little phrases and annoying pictures of butterflies or frogs on them. After that I moved into "sporting goods" where I found some paintballs (only 1/3 of them had been used already), a golf ball organizer (perfect gift for any OCD golfer on your Christmas list), and other sundries. In the computer/technology section I discovered where Bill Gates donated his first computer. His first computer printer was also there as well...a two-for-one special. It was hard to pass up, let me tell you. Next, I moved my way into board games where I encountered such fabulous games as "How to Kill a Husband" (not joking here folks), puzzles of every kind, and a bins full of grubby stuffed animals. Finally, the thing I think disturbed me the most was the portable adult toilet complete with complimentary stains in all the wrong places.

On the flip side that is one of the things that makes us distinctly American. Every time I go to those stores, there is new junk to be found and it always draws me in. I am not the only one either. When I went in today to make a donation of stuff to my favorite thrift store, the other patrons were already oohhhing and aahhhing over the items and they were not yet on the shelf. I may have looked at most of those items with a smile, smirk, or sometimes a grimace, but others found those items to be a real bargain. It really makes the old saying true, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Nothing Endures But Change

It has been said over and over again that "nothing endures but change." It is so true. I leave school every June and when I come back in the fall, I find that most of my students have gotten a good inch or two taller. Suddenly, those little middle schoolers grew up and now you have young adults that you are teaching rather than awkward little kids. You call a friend that you lost touch with and he has moved, she got married, they have two kids...you know the rest. You look at your self in the mirror and there is a wrinkle there that you've never seen before or there is a bulge in spots where there once was a slim, trim body. In my case, I looked in the mirror today to apply some makeup and I noticed that the laugh lines that I knew I would get being married to Ryan (he makes me laugh and smile more than anyone else I know) have made their debut appearance.

However, as I was driving around today noticing businesses that have moved out or moved in and houses that have been repainted, I realized something anew and afresh. GOD never, EVER changes. No matter what is different, no matter who moves in or moves out, no matter where I go, where I work, how times change...GOD IS ALWAYS the SAME. What a comforting thought to know that in a life where things are constantly changing and chaotic, God is always the same, reliable, steady, dependable, eternal, unchanging GOD.

About Myself

So this year we are trying something new in my classroom. I want my students to understand who I am as a teacher (per the suggestion of Harry Wong...one of the foremost experts on classroom management). So, I am preparing a list of things that I want the students to know about me. However, it is hard to do because if you know anything about me, I am not a person who likes to talk about myself. I think I would rather slide down a banister coated with shards of glass than draw attention to myself. I decided I would put up the following things. Faithful blogger followers...please tell me what you think.

1. Copy of my diploma so that my students know I actually do know what I am talking about

2. Copy of my certificate that I won in college as Intern of the Year so they know that I know what I am talking about. (Can you tell my students challenged me on that point in the past????)

3. Coffee beans...hey, they are a major part of my life

4. Wedding picture of me and Ryan so the kids have a face to go with the name.

5. Map of Wyoming where I used to live

Can anyone think of anything I am missing. Let me know. I welcome suggestions.

Giggles

I was listening to the old i-pod today while I did a little housework and my playlist went to the classical tunes. It began to play the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Tchaikovsky. This brought back such a happy memory for me that I had to smile while the dishes were being washed (which if you know anything about me, doing dishes almost never evokes a smile on my face). I remembered a time way back when we lived in Wyoming and we had the big house with the HUGE basement. My little sister and I fell in love with the Nutcracker ballet and we tried to reenact it. So, for several weeks at a time we would put the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy song on and we would create our own choreographed ballet dance to the song. Of course, because I was bigger and older I had to be the big prince who was stomping through the forest and I would happen upon a beautiful princess (Rachel). Then, I would have to be very careful and hide behind rocks (couch), trees (the entertainment center) and so forth. Then, when the music reached a crescendo, the princess would spot me and I would then have to lift her up and then we would do the whole ballet thing together. Now, we made up the whole story line behind the song, having forgotten the time we actually saw that ballet live, so I am sure that the story line we developed was pretty far from what the composer originally intended. However, we had a ball and probably got some good exercise from it as well.

Now, not all of our pastimes were quite as intellectual. Being the all-American girls that we were, we had our fair share of Barbies. If you asked my parents, we had far more than our fair share of Barbies. We had rubbermaid tubs filled with all manner of Barbies. We had Dentist Barbie, real-hair Ken (whose hair always looked as though he had stuck his head in a toaster), bike-riding Barbie (who we later had to pretend was quadriplegic Barbie because her joints got so loose from riding bike too much that she no longer could stand) and even doctor Barbie (who, coincidentally never left her work at the office because her stethoscope was attached to her chest and could not be removed). However, we were quite imaginative with our play with Barbies as well. We would stage Barbie Christmas plays, Barbie re-enactments of the Brady Bunch (which included a rather bad haircut given to one barbie to give her "Alice the Housekeeper" hair). When a Barbie was unfortunate enough to not get put away at night, she would face the perils of the dog. This was the end of many a Barbie. However, we were able to save some. In order to explain the strange markings from the dog on the Barbie, we decided that they were "shark attack survivor" Barbies.

What's my point? As I smiled over the memories my sister and I had together I began to feel sad for the kids living now. What will their memories be? Many times I have hung out with a young kid and tried to engage them in "pretend" and they do not know how. If it is not electronic, computerized, or 3-D...they do not have a clue. It makes me sad. I know one thing for sure. If the Lord someday in the future gives Ryan and I a family of kids, they will be allowed to cultivate an imagination. I want them to someday when they grow up to hear a song and no matter what they are doing...a smile will break across their face and they can say "Thank you God for such a happy memory"

Seasons

Today, as I sat and watched a good friend get married I had a thought. I am in an interesting season of life. When I was in college, it seemed as if everyone in my little world was in the same stage of life...we were all just trying to graduate, keep ourselves sane, have a little fun along the way, make some memories, try not to go broke, and still pass all the classes. The "big" life events were all the people getting engaged. Then, for a couple years we were in the "go-to-a-wedding-a-week" phase where we were either sending a gift or attending the couple's big day. Now, we enter a new stage. Ryan and I were counting the other day and we listed at least ten couples we know having babies this summer. My friends and I have been to dozens of baby showers. It is a new stage and it is fun to watch my friends as they expand their families and see them first be nervous, then get excited, then be overwhelmed a little, then blossom into a beautiful new family. Then come the facebook posts...."Praying that (insert child's name here) sleeps longer than two hours tonight"..."Does anyone have any potty training ideas" and so on. I just love watching. It is interesting because as I watch this unfold around me, other important people in my life are entering other stages. My parents have now started a new stage of life without kids and I LOVE how great they are at it. They are traveling and discovering how much fun it is without kids again. Ha ha. BUT, whenever we arrive at their front door...the time we spend together is so much sweeter. AND, our family has expanded. Our cozy little family of four has grown to six and it is a riot to sit around a table with my sister, brother-in-law, my own love, and my parents and play cards or joke. Nothing sweeter in the world. So, no matter what stage I am in, I am going to enjoy it for the time God has me in it. I know the next stage will come and go and if I am not careful...I will miss it.

The Brady Bunch

Yesterday night during church I developed a really nasty headache. I have been battling with these painful headaches for almost a full year now. So far the doctors do not have any answers for me so I have had to kind of figure out what triggers them and ways to talk myself out of them. Well, last night's headache stretched into today. I was supposed to go into work with my hubby and help him out with some marketing stuff but he looked at my face and said, "stay home." Well, before he left he grabbed me and said, "Relax, eat breakfast, and watch an old movie you like." For some strange reason, no Cary Grant movies appealed to me, no Rock Hudson, or Jimmy Stewart, or even Doris Day movies called out to me. Not sure why that is because I usually crave a good dose of those classic, truly talented people. Today I found myself nursing my headache with a LONG dose of the Brady Bunch. Now, I find it hard to believe anyone who reads this has never, ever watched the Brady Bunch; but, if for some reason that is the case, let me give you a run down on the show. It is a sugar-coated, sickeningly sweet, pun-filled, poorly-written sitcom about the "ordinary" family living in the 60s-early 70s. There was never a crisis that came up that Mike, Carol, and even sometimes Alice (the housekeeper...which by the way, how many "ordinary" American families have a housekeeper?) could not solve in under 30 minutes of television. The house was always clean, the dinner was always ready right on time, the kids rooms were NEVER messy (unless that was part of the 30 minute crisis). However lame and ridiculous the show is, it tops most anything that comes on the television these days. So, I guess, no matter how stupid and silly the scrapes the Brady clan finds themselves in is...I will keep watching. Ha ha...even if it makes me gag.

Being a kid

It is funny the way kids behave. I have no kids of my own but I have done my share of babysitting, been a caretaker for my cousin for a summer, taught Sunday school and now teach school. They get so wrapped up in whatever they are doing, they forget EVERYTHING but the game they are playing at the time. They would rather wet their pants than stop playing their game to hit the restroom. It is something I forget to remind kids to do until suddenly they are standing there doing the "potty dance" (or as the case was at Sunday school a few weeks ago, the deed is already done and the kid has already moved on).

Why do we lose that when we grow up? Hear me out...I do not suggest that grown ups do the "potty dance" because we are too engrossed in what we are doing. We grown ups get bogged down with work and the house and the schedules, but do we take time to get wrapped up in our relationships? How often do we call our parents, grandparents, long lost friends? Why don't we? We get too busy, too regimented, too scheduled and we loose that childish ability to get lost in something fun that we forget all else.

Quietness

This past weekend you may have noticed a drop off in blog posts. That is because on Thursday we left for a weekend getaway to Georgia. We had an amazing time getting away from it all and spending quality time together as a couple. We went to a secluded little inn out in the Georgia mountains. It was so beautiful. One of the most wonderful parts of the vacation was the QUIET. There was no traffic at all so when you slept at night all you heard was rain, thunder, crickets, frogs, NATURE. It was beautiful. Also, the inn had NO televisions at all. So, as a couple, we had time to talk, get re-connected, go outside and spend time walking and talking, and we even played some card games together. It was a sweet, precious time together and I would do it again tomorrow.

It was a marriage retreat...so what did we learn???? 1. We decided to make eating dinner together at the DINNER TABLE a priority. We discovered how much we had to say to each other when we SAT at the table and had the television off. It was a good thing to realize. 2. We need to make time to have fun together. We are married, we love each other, we are a family, but how much time do we spend having fun together? I think every couple should take time once and a while in their relationship, evaluate how things are going, get alone together, and then make the changes that you see need to be made. Change is not easy, but God wants to be included in your marriage...ask HIM to help.

Reasons to Smile

There are so many reasons to smile in this life. Now, beyond the eternally wonderful reason to smile at the gift of eternal life, there are some smaller, more inconsequential things to be happy for. Here is my list.

1. Eggs--there is never a bad way to eat an egg. Scrambled, boiled, fried...all are good.
2. Deodorant--I am daily thankful for the fact that I live in a modern world where there are things like running water, soap, and DEODORANT.
3. Wii Resort--Never again will there be an awkward time when you invite friends over to the house...just pull out the wii resort and challenge your friends to a game.
4. Droid Phones--Today I downloaded "whack-a-mole" for my phone and am an addict now. Fun times. It is just like being at Chuck-E-Cheese.
5. Pedicures--There is nothing that makes me feel like a real princess than having a nice long pedicure and then getting a design painted on my toe nails.
6. Sun Tea--Tea that has been brewed in the sunshine and then poured over a glass full of ice. There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day.
7. Mini Golf--It is such fun and it does not matter how bad you are at golf because you are just enjoying the people you are with and the game you are playing. In fact, if you are bad at it, it may make the trip even more fun.
8. New Carpet Smell--We just got a new rug for our living room and when I walk in the door the room just smells so fresh and clean.
9. Five Mile Creek--Classic show from the 80's. It is the complete package. It has adventure, thrills, history, romance, and comedy. It is a shame more of the modern world has never come in contact with this show.
10. Sour Patch Kids--Nothing makes a movie more fun than a box of Sour Patch Kids to share with the one you love.

Welcome to the Hot Seat

I do not consider myself to be the best in social situations. Do not get me wrong, I am not a backwards cave-dweller who has no concept of how to carry on a conversation; but I am also not a Chatty Cathy either. But, of all the social situations that I find myself in, the one I consider to be the most awkward is the hairdressers' chair. After the "what are we doing with the hair" conversation I am dead in the water. You can tell that she is straining to come up with a topic and I am struggling to try to engage her but also not to distract her because I do not want her to chat so much that she forgets what her original task was. It is just not a fun situation. Then of course once you are free of the chair you face the next socially awkward situation of manipulating your way out of the salon without buying their high priced hair products (while also trying not to tell a lie that you "already have that shampoo" or "maybe I will pick some up next time:") Probably the only situation worse than that is the dentist asking you questions while your mouth is full of drills and paste and other horrible things. Maybe someday I will learn to do these tasks with more grace and ease, but for now, I am Miss Tongue-Tied.

Soccer IS OVER

World Cup season is over. It ended with quite a rivalry between Ryan and I. His "people" are originally from Spain and my ancestors on my mom's side are Dutch. So we razzed each other and trash talked each other and in the end he did his victory dance. Well, in order to celebrate the end of the World Cup, we were invited to a party and I provided the deserts. I got a lot of requests for the recipe for "Dutch Victory Cake" which of course has now been renamed "Dutch Consolation Cake." It is simple to make, but be aware that the flavors need time to marry so you will want to prepare this about 3-4 hours before you plan to serve it.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. peanut butter chips
4 1/4 cups cold milk, divided
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 pkgs (5.9 oz each)instant chocolate pudding mix
1 carton cool whip
4 Nestle Crunch Bars, crumbled

Directions:
Prepare the cake according to package directions. Cool on a wire rack. In a heavy saucepan, combine chips, 1/4 cup milk, and cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chips are melted; Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature. Place the remaining milk in a mixing bowl; beat in the pudding mixes on low speed for 2 minutes. To assemble, crumble half of the cake into a 4qt. trifle bowl or large bowl. Layer with half of the peanut butter sauce, pudding, whipped topping and candy bars; repeat layers. Cover and keep in fridge for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

Very yummy and can be customized to suit dietary needs. For instance, the lady who hosted the party cannot have milk chocolate, only white. So, simply exchange the chocolate cake for white cake, the pudding for white chocolate pudding or vanilla, keep the peanut sauce because it is amazing, and then put another type of candy bar to provide the crunch. The Hershey's brand cookies and cream bar may make it taste yummy. Enjoy.

Crutches

Recently I purchased an audio book for my i-pod about the life of King David. I loved this book when I read it in paperback version, so I decided to buy it for the i-pod so I could listen to it while I painted at work this summer. I just finished a chapter that God really used to speak to me about how I have been living my life. Funny, a book I have read three or four times already is useful in many different seasons of life (hmmm...maybe because it has BIBLICAL truth in it?) Anyways, this particular chapter talks about a difficult time in David's life when God was teaching David to rely on HIM and Him alone. David was stripped of his wife Michal (which was probably a blessing because she was a really lousy wife in the first place), his friend Jonathan, and his dignity (he had to live in a cave to hide from the madman King Saul). Poor David...that's what we want to say. But really, God was using this time to remove any crutch that David could use to lean on instead of God.

WOW...it struck me. I have always been dependent on other people. This past couple of years were hard for me because all those comfortable crutches I had leaned on all my life were being removed. I love my friends from college...they truly were my kindred spirits, but they have finished up college and moved on. God was gently trying to show me that HE was always there...He will never have to move away. Now, I still have those wonderful friends, they are just not as close in location as before, but God has become a bigger priority. I have had to learn to let Ryan be and do his own things too, which was hard. Husbands cannot be a crutch either. Ryan and I had a chance to go to Brazil this summer, but I had to decline the trip because of conflicts with my work schedule. In the back of my mind, a million scenarios played in my head. What if Ryan goes to Brazil and falls in love with the ministry and I am not there to share in the vision? What if he gets injured and I am not there to help him and be with him? Then, I realized that we are in the center of God's will and that is all there is to it. What peace!!! When God removes our crutches, at first we may feel some pain. It is then that we realize we do not have to walk on our own. Now that the crutches are gone, we have HIS strong arms to lean on instead. What a comfort!!! Oh the peace of God that passes all understanding!!!!

What would they say?

Every so often, probably due to my intense love of all things historical, I find myself wondering, "What would our Founding Father's think if they saw this or that?" Sometimes it is about harmless things like i-pods. Imagine putting an i-pod in the hands of a man like Mozart or Hayden and explaining that the device he holds can put music right into his ears, and not just a little music, whole libraries of music. Honestly, if we could bring one of those cold, tired, hungry pilgrims to our time and show them the glories of frozen pizza or canned veggies...even a toaster, I would love to see their response. Or to take an early wagon train pioneer and show them a car, a subway, a bullet-train, or an airplane and tell them how quickly travel has become. Bring back Florence Nightingale and show her a modern hospital facility, vaccines, and technologies for finding and treating illness.

But, yesterday was not one of those warm-fuzzy kind of moments. Yesterday I thought, "What would our forefathers say if they saw our teenagers running around with their underwear hanging out of their pants?" I wish I could say this was a fading fad, but I have to address this problem even with my students at school. Why or why do our teenagers feel that I WANT to see their underwear. I can assure them with my whole heart that I will just assume they are wearing underwear...I do NOT need proof of that fact. I just wish this fad would fade away like the trading of beanie babies and pogs. However, I have been dealing with this issue since I entered the classroom four years ago in my senior year of college and from what I have seen it is not going away any time soon. Yesterday was just the last straw and I just shook my head and hoped that the poor kid never had to run for his life because about two steps into the pursuit and he is toast...his pants will be around his ankles and he will be down for the count.

Family

My parents came to visit for the Fourth of July. It was so wonderful to have them. I think when we are younger we look forward to the time that we will move away and try our hands at being "grown ups." Then, we move into our first place and we realize how much we relied on our parents. You go to work and come home and mom does not have a home-cooked meal for you...that is your job now. You also realize how good of a wife and mother she was when you realize how much work it takes to make a household run. Mom tricked us because she made it look practically effortless. I am thankful for all she taught me by how well she managed our household. It is also nice to see your dad and your husband working together to do all those "manly" chores around the house. Just this weekend dad and Ryan had to grill a couple times, move in new furniture, and hang pictures.

So, it is so wonderful when your parents come to visit. Mom makes coffee and you all sit around drinking coffee and talking. At our house we love to play games, but it is just me and Ryan so there are very few card games or board games that two can play. So, when mom and dad are here, we play games and drink coffee. It is a blessing to have the parents so close to home and able to visit more than just Christmas.

House Beautiful???

I love television shows about home improvement. I remember when I was about 14 or so my crush was not a Hollywood star or a singer...I was in love with Ty Pennington from the TLC show called Trading Spaces. So, it goes without saying that I started planning and thinking towards the day when I would have my own house and be able to decorate it and make it beautiful. I now own a home and find it so very difficult to know in which direction to move. My kitchen was easy. I love coffee...it is practically my best friend. Therefore, my entire kitchen is a coffee theme, right down to the coffee rugs that my Grandma gave me for a shower gift. But, as far as the rest of the house, I am a ship without a sail. I envy those who are able to see an object and from that one thing they are inspired to create their whole space. I have a very good friend who recently invited me to her apartment. Is is absolutely adorable and she got the whole color scheme from a single piece of artwork.

So, for my 7 readers, I ask for your help. What should I do with my house?

Testing 1,2,3

It is a little known fact among newly married couples that the quickest way to check the bonds of your marriage is to engage in a destruction/construction project. My spouse and I discovered this fact this early morning. We have been trying to take apart our above ground pool and clean up our back yard. So, last week Ryan axed a whole in the side of the pool to be able to drain all the algae infested water out of it. Then, today, we started the demo of the actual structure. About an hour after getting it apart we prepared to haul the monster out to the curb for removal by the city. Poor Ryan married a woman with zero upper body strength, so he had to carry the bulk of it. Well, the entire weight of the pool frame is about 450 pounds. Ryan decided that the wheelbarrow is the best way to get it out to the curb. We then begin the arduous process of trying to get a structure twice the size of the wheelbarrow into the wheelbarrow. For the better part of an hour we struggled, grunted, moaned, strained, and sweated the pool into the wheelbarrow. We tried using boards on an angle to manipulate it into the wheelbarrow. I had a "wonderful" idea of wrapping hoses around the pool frame and dragging it out to the curb (which failed miserably). Once we got it in, Ryan stopped and smiled and I burst into tears. He was afraid I had cut myself on the metal (as he had done that about a million times in the process) so he came over to me to see what was wrong. Sobbing, I yelled (I feel bad now for our poor neighbors) "I am just so glad that stupid thing is finally in there". Last of all we had to wheel the thing out to the front yard. Once we got to the fence, we had dilemma number two: the pool frame was wider than the opening in the fence. A few bashes with a hammer, a little more grunting and sweating and we got it through the fence. About 2 hours after beginning the chore, we accomplished our mission and are still married...ha ha ha.