I'm ready for Fall

Last Sunday morning hurricane Ike rolled through Murray with a lot of wind. Many trees fell, and many power lines were severed for various reasons, and Calloway County is still cleaning up the debris. Had I owned a tree removal business, I probably would have made a great deal of money this week, but I don't. Sunday afternoon was a rather peaceful afternoon spent with friends. Most of Murray was without power. I enjoyed the quietness, I hadn't really realized how much background noise there is in my everyday life. We played scrabble. I can't even remember the last time I played scrabble but I'm pretty sure it was a long time ago. We also had a bonfire that night, just sat around roasting marsh mellows and what not. We had another bonfire last night. I haven't had the opportunity to just sit around and talk, about nothing, about God, about what is important to me and to you and to whoever else.
I think so much of my life is really pretty fast paced, I have a list of things I need to get done, and do those things, and get interrupted with more important things and then I go home and I sleep. I don't really get a chance to process it all with other people, with no agenda.
So this week I have been thankful for the opportunity to do that a little, and also I am thankful because it's starting to become fall, and I love fall. I am excited for crisp air and being outside. I am really excited for fall break when Arwen will be down in Murray, KY and we will be out in the wilderness with nothing electronic, pumping our water and falling asleep under the stars after a long day of hiking, in the cool October breeze.

Don't you wish you had my life?

Note: Please read as much sarcasm as you want into this post...

I had an AWESOME it sucks to be single weekend. Now when I say AWESOME, I mean REALLY AWESOME. It started Friday afternoon. I left work at a decent hour, maybe 6:30 ish, I didn't feel like going home and cooking something because we all know that cooking for oneself all the time is SUPER FUN, and since I generally eat most of my meals at home, I decided to stop by Matt B's, a local pizza establishment that sells pizza by the slice, to purchase a slice, to eat at home of course. Because while I am getting up there in the "she's still single?" age, I'm not to the "wow, check out that girl in the corner booth eating by herself" category just yet. SO I took my pizza home, and ate by myself. I thought to myself, hmmm it would be fun to hang out with people tonight, but when I ran through a list of my friends in Murray that are fun to hang out with, most of them have small children who generally go to bed early, have date night with their husband on Friday night, etc... in fact my only single friends are some guys I work with, and we don't really hang out outside of work, and they were all in Indiana with the football team. So I decided instead of sulking at home, to make a night of it, so I headed out to do some much needed grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart I had the immense pleasure of running into SEVERAL student-athletes and their significant others, always fun, to try to get away from work for a couple of hours, or maybe 30 minutes, and run into people from work. So after spending $32 on food for the week, it's true, very cheep to feed one person, I headed home where I realized that my washer was officially broken. I stayed up watching the Wedding Singer, always a good movie to watch when you feel down about being single and then I headed off to bed. Of course I woke up at about 7:30 am because well, I go to work at 5:30 am during the week. I took Brady for a walk, she pooped in the yard of an abandoned house, I didn't feel compelled to clean it up, nobody lives there and the grass is like knee high. Some lady across the street came out of her house and yelled at me for it. Thanks just what I needed. It was really nice weather out and I thought, gee it would be a nice day to spend hiking or out at the lake, but alas, those activities are pretty boring by yourself. SO THEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY. After cleaning the house some, I headed out to Lowe’s to buy a new washer, oh the joys of being a homeowner. As I perused the selection of affordable, and by affordable I mean costing less than $1000 dollars, ouch, the very good looking, super nice, no wedding band, salesman named John came up to ask me if I needed help. Now I will say, I have done some research on washing machines, because I knew this day was coming, but what guy wouldn't think that a single girl looking at washing machines would need help. I might also add that I was looking SUPER HOT, in my royalish blue mesh Nike shorts, sports bra, old and ragged looking Murray golf shirt, with my disheveled hair, my backpack, etc... you get the picture. I also, in my despair the evening before, forgot to take my allergy meds, so pretty much I eyes were puffy, I couldn't really hear out of my ears, AND my voice was, well, deep. So John and I discussed the pros and cons of various washing machines, he asked me if I played golf, I told him that indeed I do, but that I am not very good. Several times he mentioned his love for golf. I told him that I wanted to peruse some more but that in a couple of minutes I would make a decision because I needed to purchase one due to the excess of dirty laundry at my house and my desire to NOT go to the Laundromat. He verbalized his distaste for Laundromats also and told me to find him when I was ready to make a decision. Here's my thing about Laundromats, first of all they are gross, second of all, all sorts of sketchy people go there, and being single, living by myself, who will call the police if I don't come home? So as I'm wandering through the five isles or so of washers and dryers, I think to myself, 1. why aren't there any good looking, nice, single men, that go to my church, or that are Christian that I know, I mean what the heck, and 2. I have a "no dating guys named John" rule imposed by my dear friend Arwen. Arwen imposed this rule on me because the last two guys named John, were very unclear about their intentions, and pretty much it sucked. I mean what guy spends tons of time on the phone with you, always pays for your meals when the two of you go out, takes you to his "favorite place to watch the sunset", etc... and then sends you a facebook messages stating that he is not interested and maybe we have different ideas about what our relationship is? Seriously? SO no guys named John. SO I can't locate John the salesman, so I push that silly button that announces "assistance need at the appliance desk, assistance..." and John comes back from where ever he was. I purchase my awesome new washer that is energy efficient. This year instead of spending approximately $19 to run my washer, I will spend $11. John continues to tell me how much HE LOVES TO PLAY GOLF. I finish the details of having it delivered, give him my number to put in the computer in case the delivery guys get lost, and as I start to walk away he says, "hey if you ever want to play some golf let me know." Sure, I'll get right on that, I know nothing about you, or how to get in touch with you, other than the fact that you sell appliances at Lowe’s. So I returned home, where I spent the rest of the day watching the UNH wildcats beat Army on ESPN classic live, it made me proud to be a wildcat. Then I fell asleep in my chair because I was tired. I woke up, took Brady out to the lake, she had fun though there was an old man out there who appears to be living there, kind of weird. I came home, gave Brady a bath, and cleaned my house some more, ate dinner, by myself, thought, "it would be fun to go to the movies tonight." but alas, no fun by myself. I put in Memoirs of a Geisha because that is also an awesome movie about people who have terrible love lives. Then I went to bed. I woke up this morning and went to church, where there are no single guys to date, and where I had to hear about other people's great weekends. Then I went to lunch with people from church, I must confess that I was pretty pissy. Then I called Arwen so I could rant to someone who understands how much it sucks to be single, after you graduate from college, and graduate school, and have a real job. She suggested that I needed to look for a group of career aged, single, Christian people to get to know, like maybe another church has a group that meets for Bible study weekly or something. So this afternoon the washer was delivered, thankfully, I am doing laundry. I also spent time looking for said group online. I guess unlike the northeast, we don't have those types of groups, cause I searched Murray, Paducah, Paris, and Clarksville. In fact the closest one is in Nashville on Monday nights. Now that I am done ranting on my blog, my advise to you married people in the world, STOP TELLING YOUR SINGLE FRIENDS THAT YOU MISS YOUR SINGLE DAYS, because really if you think about it long enough, you don't. And don't assume that you understand how hard it is, if you were never single, and by that I mean not married, or not dating the person that you married, after you graduated from college and were in the working world for a while. UUGGHH.

Why would anyone do that?

Someone tried to scam my 92 yearold grandmother today. They called her pretending to be her grandson. Their fatal flaw was that they called her grandma which is not what her 3 grandchildren have ever called her. She asked them which grandson they were. After an ackward pause they started to tell her that they had been in an accident in Canada and that they needed her to send money. She told the individual that they knew better than to call asking for money, that if they needed money to call Auntie Brenda and ask her, then she hung up the phone. My grandmother at 92 is one sharp cookie, thankfully she didn't fall for the story. She was a little rattled and immediately she called my aunt, who called my dad, who tried to call my brothers, and then called me. So then I got ahold of both my brother, cause I am good at that. Indeed neither of them were in Canada.
More and more you hear about people who prey on the elderly in our country. Many times they are extremely succesful at it too. My other 2 grandparents aren't as capable cognitively anymore. My dad's mom also has a daughter, my aunt, who is constantly coaching her on how to deal with these types of situations. Recently I saw an article here in the Murray paper about a public service class for the ederly to help them avoid scams. It's sad on two levels. First that people who take advantage of the vulnerable like that, and secondly, that many elderly don't have families who take great effort to look out for them. My grandmother has an incredible resource in my aunt, though my grandmother still makes all her own decisions about finances, my aunt always is with her when she makes those decisions. It was easy to tell the scam artist to call Auntie Brenda, because she knows that Auntie Brenda is much more aware of people trying to take advantage, not because she is quicker mentally, but because she was an incredible savy bussiness women her entire career and knows what to look for.

The FINAL COUNTDOWN begins

There are 11.5 days left till I leave for Colombia! And there are a ton of things I have to get done. Here is a list:
1. I really need to mow my lawn
2. I need to pack, then unpack, then repack half of what I packed the first time
3. I need to call the newpaper and tell them to hold it for me
4. I need to tell the post office to hold the mail (I did pick up the form)
5. I need to either find a ride to the airport or see if I can park my car at a friend's in Nashville
6. I need to make sure I bring my passport and plane ticket
7. I need to clean out my fridge
8. I need to clean my house and especially make sure the trash is out when I actually leave
9. I need to make sure all my bills are paid, specifically my mortage, electric, and utilities
10. I need to workout the details of Brady's extended play date with my friend's dog and give them the bag of dog food
11. I need to finish the hotel reservations and turn in the contracts for the upcoming basketball season
12. I need to find someone to work the last men's basketball camp
13. I need to ask someone to watch my house and give them a key
When I was growing up we would leave for vacation and be gone for a month and a half. I don't know how my mom did it. Not only did she have all the details about our house, dog, bills, etc... to take care of, she also had 3 kids the pack for. It's always so so busy before going on a long trip. There are always a million things running through my head that I need to get done. I always end up getting on the plane and remember about 17 things that I didn't do, and then it hits me, it doesn't matter now cause I am on a plane and if it's not done now, it won't get done. It's kind of like life. We spend so much time running around worrying about things like whether or not we will get everything done at work, or whether or not we will be able to rewire the house in the next 6 months, will I have enough money saved to retire when I'm 55 or 60 or whatever? But in the end one day we will be on our way home to be with our Heavenly Lord and non of that stuff will matter. What does Jesus say in Matthews? Oh right, today's troubles are enough for today. Don't worry, I will clean both toilets before I leave so that my house isn't sitting with dirty toilets for 3 weeks mom, I promise I will remember. PS the picture at the top? My older brother and I on vacation in the mid 80s at my grandparents cottage in Maine, mom remembered our play clothes but the probably forgot to throw away the milk in the fridge, good thing she remembered to have someone thoroughly clean the house including the carpets who probably found the rotting milk and threw it away.

Taiwan... OR COLUMBIA (South America)

Last Thursday I got a call from Shannon at Athletes in Action. The long and short is that I will no longer be travelling with them to Taiwan, instead I will be travelling with them to Columbia. People keep asking me which one. Several people have asked if I mean South Carolina, one person asked me if I meant Columbia, Ohio. I didn't know there was a Columbia, Ohio. Anyway, I will be going to Columbia, in South America. So to get excited about this fun change of plans here are some fun facts:
1. Spanish is the official language (Cate does not speak spanish)
2. They use 110 volt appliances (that means I don't have to take converters)
3. They use the metric system
4. Their currency is the Columbian Peso
5. We will be there during the "less dry season" which means it won't be the wet season but it won't be extremly dry either
6. Bogota, one of the cities we will be visiting is a mountain top city (yay for mountains!)
7. Cartagena, another city we will be visiting is on the Carribean ocean
So basically we will be in two of Cate's favorite places, the beach AND the mountains!

Party Party Party

The last few weekends have included a whole lot of events. First I think was my friends' Jaclyn and Brian's 2 year old son Luke's birthday party. The party was just days after his sister Norah was born. Luke received a wide array of vehicles, trucks, boats, planes, steam rollers. After Luke's party came his dad Brian's birthday at August Moon. Then after that, three weekends ago was my friend Greg's 30 birthday party. Then the next weekend was Greg and Kristin's daughter Cate's 1st birthday. I was also Kristin's birthday the day of Cate's party. Then after that was Achazia's 2nd birthday, we had cake at cell group. This past Wednesday we had an end of the year cookout type event to celebrate the women's basketball team and the 5 former players who were graduating. Then after that, this weekend my friend Holly graduated from grad school so there was a little shindig at her house yesterday afternoon. Then after that a family from my church with an AWESOME house had a game night, AKA random party, which lasted well into the night last night. It has been pretty busy, but also exceptionally fun. I think one of the highlights was the 2 random kids, Lucky and Thomas, who invited themselves to Holly's graduation party. They were not acquittance's of anyone at the event, just two random neighborhood kids that invited themselves in for some food and fun. I remember when I first moved here I felt was bored a lot of the time. I felt disconnected so to speak. I would try to find stuff to do on the weekend. I think the amount of events on the calendar the last couple of weeks is a clear indication that I am now connected to this community. There is a woman who works at the university that I have been getting to know better of late. She lives on my street and so she has been randomly driving by as I have been walking Brady and beeping at me. At first it kind of scared me cause I didn't know who it was driving past me. But now that I know who it is, it kind of fun. A few months ago I was asked by one of the assistant athletic directors at Murray State how long I thought I would stay here. I told him that I didn't know, and that is the truth. Beyond that though, the more rooted I become in this community the more difficult it will be to leave. Also the more rooted I become in this community the more balanced my life has become, the more perspective I have been able to gain, the more blessed I feel to live in this community. A lot of people who work in college athletics bounce around a lot from one job to another. On one hand it makes it okay that they spend excessive amounts of time at work, and also it makes it easier for them to leave, because they never are attached. However I am beginning to see that that lifestyle is incredibly lonely and unhealthy. So here are some photos from the last several weeks, most of them were taken by my friend Kristin.

That's Luke at his birthday

That's Norah at her brother's party

That's Brian and Greg trying to cut ice cream cake at Brian's Party

That's some of the guys playing cornhole at Greg's birthday

That's Kristin, Tuvia, and Kristin's neice Milla helping Cate open her presents

That's Cate and Holly at Holly's graduation party
Next up in a suprise birthday party for a woman at church. That will be tuesday. After that I'm not really sure. However I am considering celebrating my half birthday right before I leave for Taiwan. I mean I was in Morehead, KY for my real birthday, and since we are all about parties in Murray, KY why not...

Grace flows down and covers me.

I can't wait for the summer!!!! It's almost here!!! I will be spending my vaction traveling to Arizon and then to Taiwan with Athletic in Action. http://www.athletesinaction.org/
I went on a tour with them to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2002 and it was an amazing, perspective changing experience. I am excited to be serving the Lord with this organization again.
I have been thinking a lot about people in impoverished nations lately. I know that is strange thing to say, but recently two families from my church adopted children from Liberia. I have learned a lot about Liberia and the civil war that they have gone through lately. I also read a book called "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier." http://www.alongwaygone.com/
Basically it's this guy's story about how the civil war in Seire Leone affected his life, how he got sucked into the military, how they got him addicted to cocaine, etc.. He was only 11-13 or so when all this was going on. Then when I finished the book I read his bio in the cover jacket of the book, and realized that he was less than a year older than me.
Then recently I met up with my friend Kerstin while I was in Baltimore for the NCAA tournament. Kerstin works for a organization called World Relief and was about to go on a trip to Haiti. I had learned about Haiti and all the economic issues that they face regularly in high school but hadn't heard much about Haiti since then. Kerstin basically is a photographer for World Relief so she documents what their organization is doing in different parts of the world. SO while Kerstin was in Haiti I saw this thing on CNN about Port Au Prince and how the people in Haiti have no food because all their food has to be imported and it's so expensive. I started watching it because I thought, wait a minute, Kerstin is there right now. They were interviewing these people about how they eat "dirt cookies" which are basically dirt and water and butter, because that is all they can afford. THey were interviewing (CNN was) some healthcare workers about how the dirt doesn't get digested and sits in these peoples stomachs and we'll just say it doesn't turn out so good.
All this is to say, I didn't choose to be born into the life of privledge I was, Ishmeal Beah didn't choose to be born in Seirre Leone. It is only by the Grace of God that I have been blessed with the life I have. There are things that I can do to help people in Liberia, and Sierre Leone, and Haiti, and I should do those things. I also need to remember, and remind others that we are not owed anything in this life. What is the old saying? There but for the Grace of God go I? It's true, so today I want to live a life of gratitude, for all that have, most importantly my salvation, and that God has saved me from a lot of hurts and pains, and seeming hopelessness that some many others have not been spared from in this life time.

Whoville

I went to the movies and glow golfing with a family from my church. We went to see Horton Hears a Who. I am not a big movie goer. It was a lot of fun because the family I was with has two newly adopted kids and it was quite a joy to see their four year-old watch the movie. There was one scene in the movie that made me laugh. There is this one scene where the mayor of Whoville comes home and he is in his bedroom hanging from the chandelier when his wife comes in. He is saying these things that make absolutely no sense. His wife comes in and is trying to understand what he is doing and what he is trying tell her. She is trying to be supportive and non judgemental, but she is really confused and thinks that her husband has gone crazy. I was sitting there and I thought, there it is, there is the explanation as to why I don't understand men. It's because they are crazy and make no sense at all. Well maybe not all of them, but most of them.

We're going dancing

So we won the OVC championship!! We won our first round game at home against Morehead on Tuesday night. On Wednesday night we headed to Nashville for practice and the awards ceremony on Thursday. Player of the Year was a member of our team. We won our semifinals game against Samford University on Friday. In the other semifinal game Eastern Illinois University beat Southeast Missouri University. SEMO was the team that beat us last year in the final. So we met EIU in the finals. We were down a couple points early in the first half, but we made a run, and led the rest of the game. It's kinda of surreal to work so hard for something and want it for so long and then for that to happen.

Now we are headed to the NCAA. It's pretty exciting. We had this crazy police escort back. Once we crossed the Calloway County line we were joined by 2 police cars with all the lights flashing. I think that by the time we pulled up in the loading dock at RSEC pretty much every cop in Murray was surrounding our bus. It was pretty awesome. Then there was a fire truck with it's lights on and crazy chanting fans when we pulled into the loading dock. It was a lot of fun. I am also excited for a pretty low key week before getting back out on the road again.

March Madness

So I hate uncertainty. I am a planner. I like to have everything ready well in advance. SO this whole March tournament time is one of mixed emotions for me. It is fun. There is a lot riding on each game, emotions are high. Each win is celebrated. Each loosing team walks off the court with tears.
One of my job responsibilities is coordinating the travel arrangements for our team. It is not my favorite thing but most of the time I have everything done well in advance. I have the hotel contracts done in July and August. The bus contracts are done in September. I have worked through everything with the caterers and those contracts are done at least a month before we travel. The week before we leave the itinerary is finished and sent to the appropriate people.
But all that isn't possible when it's win or go home. The travel arrangements for Wednesday (as in tomorrow) are tentative based on the outcome of tonight's game. If we win I will be finalizing it all late into the night tonight and early tomorrow morning. If we don't win, I will be canceling it all.
In some ways I wish that I could just hand all of this travel stuff off to someone else. However this responsibility has taught me some important lessons over the last two seasons. There are things I can control, and things I can't. I can't control it if the sandwich place messes up and forgets to bring someones sandwich with the other 22. I can't control it if the bus has issues or the driver can't go for more than 2 hours without stopping to pee. All I can control is my attitude when those situations arise. This is a message I feel like I have been hearing all my life. It is only recently that I have come to understand it.
So I hope we win tonight, and keep winning. Even though the uncertainty of the travel planning is stressful to me. Because I would rather be up all night finding restaurants and printing driving directions than up all night leaving messages to cancel our plans.

I'M BACK

So I haven't blogged in a really long time. But my brother just started a new blog about his adventures on his way from North Carolina to San Diego and I decided that I kind of miss blogging, so I am starting up again.

So it was a lot of fun to catch up with my friend Amanda. We shared memories that know one else can relate to so that was super fun. Yesterday I found out that my uncle has facebook. NO KIDDING, MY UNCLE. I was exceedingly suprised. This weekend will be one of my last free weekends before basketball season starts. I am going yardsaling tommorrow morning early with my friend Hannah, then later in the day I am going with the youth group to Clarksville to go caving. I also will be spending some time cleaning my house which hasn't been done in a while. I also need to collect all the walnuts in the backyard and mow the grass, hopefully for the last time until spring. I HATE mowing, mainly because I can't breath afterwards. This week has been really busy, Monday night I went to dinner at the house of a family that goes to my church. That was a really good time, it was also good to talk to Alice the wife, and gain some insight about some things that have been heavy on my heart concerning my cell group. Then Tuesday I watched the US women beat Nigeria with the daughters of the family I ate dinner with on Monday. Then Wednesday I had cell group which was really good, emotional but good as we talked about some hard stuff about how we treat each other. Then Thursday my friends had a whole bunch of family and friends over to celebrate the final adoption hearing for their daughter. So tonight I am planning on trying to get some of those chores I need to get done done so that by Sunday I can rest because I am VERY tired.

Make new friends, but keep the old...

In a few minutes I am leaving to go to St. Louis to watch a Cardinals game with people who have become dear friends in the last 2.5 years. Meeting us at the game is someone I can't remember not knowing. She was my best friend in preschool. Our birthdays are just days apart so we used to have joint birthday parties. Our mom's felt it was silly to have two parties that were exactly the same. We even shared birthday cakes. We used to play for hours together, and our moms would forget if we were at my house or hers. One time in the 1st grade we broke into an empty house and painted the garage. Got grounded for a month. In about 2nd grade she moved with her parents to Dhahran. My mom used to put me on the Aramco bus and I would ride there by myself, her mom would meet me and we would spend the weekend together. Then the next time she would ride the Aramco bus to Ras Tanura. Then in 4th grade the war came. My mom, brothers, and I spent the year in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan while my dad was in Saudi. Her family chose to move back to Spokane, Washington. The summer between fourth and fifth grade, I flew unaccompanied minor by myself to Spokane to spend a week with her. We went to her family cottage in Priest Lake, ID where she recently had her marriage celebration. For the next several years, even in highschool. We corresponded through letters. Yes we wrote letters back and fourth. Some where around the beginning of college we kinda lost touch. I mean our mom's still send Christmas letters, but Amanda and I lost touch. So a few months ago when she found me on facebook, I was suprised and excited. Today she is going to meet me at the Cardinals game and we are going to catch up face to face for the first time since the summer of 1991. In brownies we used to sing a song. "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

PEACE

I am waiting right now for the last athlete I have today to come in for treatment. While I've been waiting I have been thinking about something that has been frustrating me. Do any of you have any of those friends who require a great deal of emotional energy. They are fun to be around sometimes, when they are in a good mood. But most of the time they just suck you dry? Well there are a few people here in Murray that are like that. They are the people that think that their drama, or trauma, or whatever is the WORST. That what is going on in their lives should consume yours as well. It's been very frustrating. I'm not saying that I am perfect, or that I am necessarily the easiest person to be friends with. But seriously. Last night we had a suprise birthday party for my friend Jaime. One thing I really appreciate about Jaime is that she is very easy going. It's fun to do nice things for Jaime because she truely appreciates what you've done. She isn't one of those people who has an idea of what she wants people to do for her birthday and then pouts when people try to do something nice but it wasn't exactly her vision. Her attitude frees people to plan and do nice things for her. Anyway, Jaime's husband took the whole day off from work to make her day really special, but as they were returning to Murray for the suprise party our Bible study had planned, their van broke down and had to be towed back. Jaime's response, "the van breaking down was fun actually." Being Jaime's friend is easy. My other friend, in the same Bible study is not so easy to love. She is the kind of person that I have started to describe as "living on the edge." What I mean by that is that you just NEVER know when they are going to LOSE IT. It's like they flip out over who knows what and make everything miserable for everyone else. There are times when things happen, and you know she is going to lose it, and it's just really frustrating. That whole idea of being flexible, rolling with the punches, just isn't easy for her. So last night during Jaime's birthday celebration, she asked me a very direct question. I knew that my answer would not be what she wanted to hear, and that she would throw a little temper tantrum, so I lied. Half of me was thinking, I can't tell the truth she will flip out and throw a temper tantrum, and make this birthday party uncomfortable for everyone. The other half of me was thinking, I can't believe I am lying. Ephesians 4:2-3 says "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." I wonder how far Paul meant for us to take that. And I wonder what to do now. Do I set a time to meet with my friend and tell her the truth? or do I just let her think that I told her the truth and let it be? And now that athlete is hear, and I will go take care of her...

grocery store dilemas

So I have been using this dish soap that my old roommate purchased a while back. It was the cheepest one at the store. The thing is that it's terrible. I knew it was terrible. Then the other day there was almost none left and so when I went grocery shopping I put it on the list. So as I was standing there infront of the 37 million different types of dish soap you can get at Walmart. I decided to go for a more expensive brand. So I tried it out yesterday and all I have to say is the extra money was well worth it. You can use way less and get much cleaner dishes.
When my mom and dad moved back to the states my mom especially was constantly overwhelmed by the number of choices at the grocery store. She was constantly going grocery shopping and buying nothing cause she didn't know what brand to get. My brother and I would say "look mom, it's spaghetti noodles, just by the cheepest." Well apparently when it comes to dish soap, buy the most expensive

Fellow RT Beach Bums

My Mom has been at my house staying with me the last ten days. It actually went really well. I think one thing that helped a LOT was that we took specific time to not be around each other. Like Wednesday night I had Bible study which she didn't come to and then yesterday night I went to my friends house to play this crazy game called Settlers of Catan. I thought that I would hate this game but it was actually a lot of fun. One of the highlights on my mom's visit was that we went to Maceo, Kentucky which is near Owensboro Kentucky to visit some of my parents friends from Saudi. I really enjoyed spending time with them. It was a lot of fun to catch up with them and talk about old times in the desert. It's nice to be around people who lived there every once in a while because they understand me in ways that few others do. I don't have to spend the entire time explaining to them why we lived there or what it was like there before finishing the story or making the point that I was trying to make. On the way back we took a short detour to visit Hancocks of Paducah which is pretty much the most amazing fabric store EVER. Yup I bought a bunch of fabric and my mom bought even more of course. Maybe me picking out some of the fabrics for the hoop nativities she is suppose to be making me will inspire her to actually get it done this year. She left this afternoon after church and lunch with my Bible study to drive to Fort Wayne. She has turned into a crazy geneiology person. She will spend a day there looking for information before she heads the rest of the way back to Michigan.

Almost over

I have to tell you that surfing is a lot harder than people make it look. I now know that for a fact. Today I spent the afternoon with my cousin Matt. First we went sea kayaking. We say sea lions and purposely got tipped over by the waves several times and it was a lot of fun. Then we went to the beach and he helped me at my first attempt at surfing. I was able to actually catch a wave, TWICE, however neither time was I able to actually stand up. This vacation has been so much fun. Friday night, while technically I was still at the convention, I went to Disneyland with my friends Chris and Benji. Chris was actually my instructor when I was in undergrad but now is more of a colleague and friend and he turned into a complete child a Disneyland and that was fun to witness. I have to say that I don't really like rollercoasters and they leave my brain feeling funny for about another day. Then Saturday after I went to my last seminar about athletic shoes and socks. (YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY) my cousin Matt and his wife TK picked my up. We took a tour of LA, went to Rodeo drive, saw the Hollywood sign and went to the Getty Museum. The gardens are pretty much AWESOME. Tommorrow I will layout at the beach all day while Matt and TK are at work and then Tuesday I will hang out with Matt before heading to the airport and flying home to Nashville. My mom is picking me up in Nashville so that will be great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsKN6NU0Yx0

oops try this

Video of Zach