jews and chinese food

Today I donated 8.5 inches of hair to Wigs for Kids. I just thought you all might like to know that. Matt says I look like my mom now. Thank you, Matt. I take that as a compliment. So long my precious tresses. May you brighten the life of one less fortunate then me…

there were washing machines with midgets sitting on them swinging their legs...

i almost fell asleep on freya's back tonight until she licked my face so i would remember i was supposed to be petting her. demanding pooch!
yeah! three days til we leave for chicago! i can't wait for the break even if it will be a whirlwind trip. i love good old chi town...
tonight's quote: "never go to bed mad. stay up and fight!" -phyllis diller. okay, remember, that's just the quote of the night, not the advice of the night...

time to get out of bed and walk my horse...

last night while babysitting for two of the prettiest little girls in the US, we were reading the book Good-Night Moon. on every other page there is a full bedroom shot and there's a mouse that changes location every time. A lot of children find that the real enjoyment to be derived from this story is to prove your skill be being able to locate the mouse without assistance (think Where's Waldo). so, i found it very funny that natalie, age five, would point out the mouse and then nicole, age one, not to be out done by her sister, would quickly point out the location of the fireplace, which never changed and was always in the center of the room. she was so proud of herself!
i find it quite flattering that all the Christians that i baby-sit for always want to set me up with Christian guys they know. for some odd reason i always get the impression that they are rather desperate for me to have a boyfriend. yes, i find quite a bit of humor in that! it's always encouraging though, because they share the sales pitch that they use when describing me and they have all used the phrase "morally upstanding." i'm always interested in what others think when they look at me so it's always nice to find that they have a very positive view of you. and now i know who to talk to if i want a tall, wealthy husband- since those are the two qualities they always look for for me... wait, does that mean they think i'm morally upstanding yet hallow? bummer... :)

amanda cut her own hair today...

i have taught half of my one year olds to say "idiot" in German. i never told them what it meant, yet strangely enough, they only say it when they are upset with someone... hmmm... maybe i should reconsider the wisdom of this before i start training my next class. i will say though, it's the first time our new employee who's from Germany has ever laughed, so in that way, it was worth it.
i need to learn to control how i react to those who are not as strong-willed as me and those who can't process/make decisions as quickly as i can. i need to be slower and more gentle.
i believe our first Bible study get together went well. i think we will always meet at narmin's because she stocks cranberry juice.
good-night, gracie!

i'd rather kiss a wookie!

i am so tired! i think from now on we should just assume that this is how all blogs start and that way i won't have to write it any more. for the record though, it's not for lack of being in bed for eight hours a night minimum.
i made the joke before christmas that for one of these holidays, i wanted something with a number and a vegetable in it, as in a diamond. for valentines day, i was gifted with v8 juice. be careful what you wish for. :)
the Bible study i'm leading starts tomorrow. we're doing Becoming a Woman of Excellence. please don't laugh, guys... please put your energy into praying instead. thanks!

two certainties in life: death and taxes

i got this from tom's blog. tom got it from gregory. share and share alike, right? i especially appreciated rule number six. enjoy!

*DADDY'S TEN RULES OF DATING*

Rule One~:If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd
better be delivering a package, because you're sure
not picking anything up.

Rule Two~: You do not touch my daughter in front of
me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not
peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep
your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will
remove them.

Rule Three~: I am aware that it is considered
fashionable for boys of your age to wear their
trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off
their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but
you and all of your friends are complete idiots.
Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this
issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to
the door with your underwear showing and your pants
ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in
order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come
off during the course of you date with my daughter, I
will take my electric nail gun and fasten your
trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four~: I'm sure you've been told that in today's
world, sex without utilizing a 'Barrier method' of
some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it
comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five~: It is usually understood that in order for
us to get to know each other, we should talk about
sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please
do not do this. The only information I require from
you is an indication of when you expect to have my
daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I
need from you on this subject is: "

Rule Six~: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven~: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight~: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to introduce my daughter to wear shorts,tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka -- zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine~:Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied,balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless God of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten~: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveways you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car --there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

amanda went to old chicago against erik's will

i am so tired. my lovely pooch got a bath today. she stunk. box and i put her in her choke collar and tied her into the bathtub. she was such a good girl!
we all went and saw hitch tonight. this is definitely one of the funniest movies i have seen in a long time. i want to figure out who wrote it and if they wrote anything else.
i've consumed so many beverages this evening that i have a strong suspicion that i will be up half the night...
amanda and i are going to chicago at the end of the month. we get to go to church with the bravo's! yeah. amber gets to dog/house sit. fun for her! :)
my dog is setting a good example for me by already being asleep. i should follow it...

doy's and my's dancing was enough to throw four screaming one yr. olds into stunned silence.

In today’s reading in the devotional My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers discusses the true cost and meaning of sanctification. He defines sanctification as “…being made one with Jesus so that the disposition that ruled him will rule us.” I found this to be very helpful as I have been pondering these matters while doing the Bible study Becoming a Woman of Excellence. I’ve been pretty discouraged because I don’t feel I have any of the “excellence” qualities that I have been reading about. Even more upsetting though was my desire to grow, but finding that I had no clear vision of what I was working towards or how I would know when I got there. It all just seemed way too overwhelming. Oswald Chambers continues his sermon though by saying that “…the one and only characteristic of the Holy Ghost in a man is a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, and freedom from everything that is unlike Him.” Now this I can relate to!
When I went to see my Dad, Jeff, and the rest of my family after seventeen years apart, I was very worried about how it would go. How would they know I was really part of the family? Would I feel I belonged or would I always just be an outsider? Imagine my joy to walk in the door and see that my fourteen year old brother is the spitting image of me at that age (poor boy!) and no one could ever be confused as to whether or not we were related. My sister Morgan’s son (my fat nephew, Tucker) looked just like I did as an infant and she and I have a lot of similar facial features. I could go on, but instead let me say that even though most of us have different mothers, we all share likenesses because we share a father.
I am now inspired to strive to become so like Jesus, my brother, that everyone will know that we share the same Father. A strong family likeness is what made me feel I belonged and wasn’t just an imposter with my biological family and I know it will be the same with my spiritual family.
Sorry if this analogy did nothing but bore everyone, but it did a lot for me.
Psalm 145:6-7 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness.

school: a domineering significant other

i smacked myself in the face with a box of budweiser today. one more reason to hate beer. the party went well. jessica, a girl who's moving in with me in july, and her boyfriend mike came. we have plans to go to a movie next weekend. she's looking for a church right now. i'm praying that she gets saved before moving in. i think that would be great. please add your prayers to mine. thanks...
doy and i took freya into petland yesterday. she did so well! she was great with the puppies, the baby bunnies, and the ferrets. a parrot snapped at her when she got in her face. she jumped backwards so fast! it was pretty funny. she's my good girl...
yeah for work at seven tomorrow! wish it were bowling...

"if i'm going to actually marry her, i will have to be elected to a second term of this relationship!"-Tom Hogan

so here's a quick overview of the week i referred to. i was very very sick at leah's wedding and had been since the previous wednesday night. on monday i went into work feeling like death and my boss listened to my lungs and sent me to the doctor to make sure i didn't have walking pneumonia. the doctor said if something didn't happen, i would get that sick or more. he said that docs are now trying not to give antibiotics to people who work with children because along with killing all the bad bacteria it also kills the good bacteria and then on your first day back to work you get an even worse illness because your body can't fight anything. so he sent me to bed for a week with a cough suppressant. i wasn't allowed to leave my house until friday. i would get up in the morning and move from my bed to the couch, watch hours of movies, and then move back to my bed. i watched more in that week then i thought possible. i made it through season one of charlie's angels, season one of er (at which point i started diagnosing characters in other shows) 12 episode's of season one of sport's night, harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, once bitten (my token from chicago from matt), ghost world (cool nunchuck scenes for a dumb movie), daredevil (once i was scraping the bottom of the barrel), about a boy, good will hunting, with honors, and many more. i was quite upset that i had a headache all week and couldn't focus on any book page. bummer.
freya (my horse, a.k.a. a great dane) and i are getting along splendidly. she not scary anymore and i really enjoy her company. i now go for a walk every morning before work and again at night before bed. i should be in good shape in no time! :)
Tom is dating an 18 year old. that's the content of my title for those of you who think i'm cryptic...
i have had an awful headache for two days now. i hope it doesn't interfere with getting ready for the superbowl party tonight. have a great day everyone!