Why I Like Spring

The test is over! I have no idea how I did. I remember guessing a lot on the listening part, and feeling okay about the analyzing bit. Oh well. I'll forget the test completely now... Aaahh..

Days like yesterday remind me why I love spring so much.

1) Teriyaki kebobs: Chicken, shrimp, pineapple, red peppers all barbequed to perfection.

2) Wearing a t-shirt without a longsleeved t-shirt, sweater, coat, and scarf over it.

3) Adequate vitamin D

4) Tulips, daffodils, almond blossoms, grape hyacinths.

5) Quality friend time and post-quality-friend-time phone conversations.

6) I already mentioned sunshine, but it gets 2.

7) So does warmth. Our house got up to 71 degrees the other day! (it's usually 64), and it was like 80 outside.

nerves

Ok, so I definitely have to take a standardized examen en español tomorrow morning. At 7:30 am. Generalmente, no me preocupo de los examenes así. I'm generally a pretty good test-taker. However, there is one slight problema. I have totally forgotten how to hablo español. I had Grand Plans to study up for this test, but the day just snuck up on me. I mean, it's TOMORROW. And I only studied one day this week. And I studied by watching the Spanish channel on tv for an hour. I'm gonna die.

I need David Bisbal to the rescue

why not?

true to style, i'm jumping on this meme bandwagon after everyone else has forgotten its existence...

Accent: a veritable cornucopia of accents from around the world. i have this habit of picking up patterns of speech from all the people i listen to every day. so i'm mostly a neutral washington accent, with a little chicago, wisconsin, valley girl, alabama, and high brow brit.

Booze: i'm not a big drinker, but i do love a good glass of wine. especially rioja (spanish red wine). i also like guinness, even though i'm told that makes me not actually a girl.

Chore I hate: taking out garbage. and cleaning other people's bacon grease.

Dog or cat: dogs! i'll take loyalty and joy over selfish love any day.

Essential electronics: i have a cell phone addiction.

Favorite cologne(s): none. i'm pretty picky about smells. the smell of clean laundry is great. as far as my own personal perfume taste, i prefer a french perfume called miranda by fraggonard. it is delightfully vanilla-ey and smells edible. expensive? yes. i hope that just means i have good taste.

Gold or silver: indifferent. i only wore silver for a while, but i think i'm pretty ambi-metal now. not that i wear jewelry ever.

Hometown: lynnwood, wa

Insomnia: hardly ever. sleeping is my spiritual gift.

Job title: photo archivist, therapeutic aide, and student as of june 13.

Kids: yes! not now or tomorrow, though.

Living arrangements: super cute house, three amazing roommates, one fish named Nudie, some bugs.

Most admirable trait: i can usually make people laugh.

Number of sexual partners: zeeeeeeeeerooooooooo

Overnight hospital stays: i had my appendix out when i was nine. best two days ever. the nurses fawned over me (i was still in my cute stage), i watched movies and ate popsicles.

Phobias: fire, explosions

Quote: "he who hesitates is lost" - i don't know who originally said it, but my dad used to quote it at us all the time in a silly voice. i really like asinine aphorisms.

Religion: christian

Siblings: one baby brother (by baby, i mean 19)

Time I wake up: usually 7:08 am

Unusual talent or skill: i can clap with one hand.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: do i have to pick one? i'm pretty picky. i don't like raw tomatoes, onions in any form that i have to chew, mushrooms, olives. yes, i am a texture-eater.

Worst habit: self-deprication.

X-rays: both arms (both broken), teeth (normal), chest (check for tb)

Yummy foods I make: banana bread, italian spinach & chicken, oatmeal bread

Zodiac sign: pisces? maybe? did i even spell it right?

sick

If anyone wants to drill a hole in my face to relieve the pressure in my sinuses, I'll bake you a cake.

Or else you could bring me a popsicle.

In other news, it's a beautiful day. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to convince my kid that we should sit on a blanket in a park somewhere for my entire shift... hmmm... She generally hates being outside, but maybe if I don't actually make her be active...

update

First of all, sorry for being a Sad Excuse for a Blogger. I'll try to do better. I have no grand stories to tell this week, but I'll try to catch y'all up on some highlights of the week so far.

Easter is hands down my very favorite holiday. I love it. I love setting aside a day of praise and joy to my God who is alive and who loves me enough to make me alive too. For the last 8 years or so, it has been a time of hope and confidence in my faith. Alleluia. He is risen.

Ellyn and I were lucky enough to be invited to spend Easter brunch with one of our favorite families ever. It was almost entirely fabulous. The one awkward moment came when our beloved pastor tried to set us up (either one... doesn't matter... we're pretty interchangeable) with some guy in our church. We've never met him. I'd never heard of him. We were like, uhh... thanks? but we'll pass?

THEN we got to go to Oklahoma (the musical, not the state), which was super fun. SUPER FUN. I grew up listening to the Oklahoma sound track (on a record album, of course), and it was a battle not to sing along to Ado Annie.

The weather was so beautiful yesterday that I got to bask outside in the sunshine while eating the Most Amazing Sandwich Ever (grilled chicken, avocado, bacon... mmm).

2 men in the last 2 months or so have mistakenly spelled my name wrong. Not my last name, which happens occasionally, but my first. I got an email that began: Dear Marry, blah blah blah. I don't really remember what the email was about because I was so distracted by my not-name. Then, the guy who changed my tires a while ago said, "Oh, like M-a-r-r-y?" No, just one R. It's not the verb, it's just my name. Draw whatever conclusions you want.

Tonight after work I am hopefully headed to Seattle! Wahoo! I'm going to a wedding party!

Good Friday

my mind, against my will, has been flooded with a consciousness of sin, both my own and others'. i feel entirely broken. filled with grime. emotionally dead.

no better time than easter to meet Christ in healing. i hope.

i don't know how many of ye fellow alums read those mind & heart emails from our darling president, but this bit struck me: "Easter empowers us to live fully in the moment -- our past crucified, our future won. I hope the vitality of spring and the hope of the risen, conquering son bring you optimism and joy in this month of April."

accused

I have been accused of creating situations so I can blog about them. Untrue. Not fair. Be nice to me.

On what is perhaps the lightest note of a difficult few days, I just overheard a neat accent. It was like every stereotypical farmer accent you've ever heard mixed with just the slightest bit of Texas. I could have listened to it for a long time, but unfortunately I was just walking by. It would have been weird. And created a situation about which I could blog. And I don't do that sort of thing.

sob story

My entire body ached this morning. My arms, back, legs, and head yelped in prostest when I tried to get up. It felt like someone beat me up yesterday.

Oh that's right. Someone did.

My 5yo and I had a slight disagreement at the end of my shift yesterday. We had stopped for an emergency potty break at Rite Aid on our way home, and dear 5yo decided she needed some Disney Princess chapstick someone had placed, in a moment of insanity, immediately at child level in the aisle. I said no, we're here to potty and go home. She errupted in sobs and started running around the store. This was slightly embarrassing, but pretty standard. It was when she started hitting herself in the face when I had to step in.

Long story short: we got unceremoniously kicked out, and, all told, I restrained a biting, kicking, scratching, hitting, head-butting, shrieking child for about 45 minutes.

As soon as I started the drive home, I started crying. Sobs that eerily echoed my poor kid's. She had been screaming, "I hate myself. I want to hurt myself. I don't care if you love me. I hate myself." So, I angrily screamed at God, "Where is your redemption for her?" And He said, "It's starting with you." And I cried more.

song in my head for a sunday morning

I've had this song running through my head for the last couple days. It means a lot to me. It was my grandmother's favorite hymn, and I think the last time I heard it at a church service was at her funeral. It's a song my mom plays on the piano.

I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior.

I take Him at His word indeed:
"Christ died for sinners"--this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die,
You count it strange? So once did I
Before I knew my Savior!

And, oh, that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Savior!

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring-
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior!

botanic gardens

My mom and I are unabashed nerds. We read compulsively. Books, newspapers, magazines, historic markers at random places on the freeway, all the information at museums, zoos, etcs. As a result, we know a little bit about a lot of things. My mom especially, as she's been reading for 30 years longer than I have. She knows quite a bit about nature, and can name birds, flowers, trees, and small animals that we see. Even in Hawaii.

We went to the Foster Botanic Gardens even though it was raining. We saw gorgeous flowers as big as my head, chocolate and cinnamon trees, and birds.




Heidi tried to take our picture in front of some palm fronds, but we got distracted by a bird singing. "It's a red-breasted bulbul!" said my mom. "Huh?" I responded. This is how the picture turned out:

conversations with children

This is a conversation I had with my 5 year old last night:

5yo: Do you have a husband?
Me: No.
5yo: Do you WANT a husband?
Me: Yes, someday.
5yo: Well then, you should GET ONE!
Me: Is it ok if I wait until I find a REALLY good one?
5yo: [sigh] Yes, but do it soon. I want to meet him!

You and me both, kid.

The Infamous Captain Bob

I've decided to tell stories one at a time, and hopefully that will help me stop procrastinating. So, we're beginning with Tuesday morning.

A fine, soft day in the spring it was when my mom and I left to go snorkling. It was raining lightly, which was a pleasant change from the frightening monsoons. A cynical and hilarious guide picked us up and made jokes about tourists saying "Aloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooha." Our group of about 25 piled into the boat and found the crew: five half-naked Hawaiian men and three covered-up and shivering girls. Everyone but the captain (whose name was Drew and not Bob) popped open a Corona and started drinking. It was about 9:45 a.m. They gave us a quick lesson on a sandbar. By "us" I mean... I don't know. I didn't see them. Mom and I had started exploring the sandbar. There wasn't much there. Mom, who'd never snorkled before, did it like an old pro. I've been snorkling since my youth, so we just set off and came back when we got cold.

By the time we clambered onto the boat again, one of the girls on the crew was on her fourth beer of the morning. And she and her friend had taken our seats. Where our dry clothes, purses, and water bottles were. The only seats available were outside in the rain, which did not seem appealing as we were Very Wet and already shivering. They refused to move. So, that steamed us up a little, and we stewed in our irritation for a few minutes. I had to say, "I'm a Christian, be like Christ, I'm a Christian, be like Christ" over and over again.

BUT, as soon as we stopped at the reef in Kaneohe Bay and jumped into the water again, all was forgotten. The fish swam up around us in every color and shape imaginable. They came up and checked us out, swam away, came closer. We saw yellow tangs, iridescent sapphire and emerald hummingbird fish, striped convict tangs, silver, blue, yellow, pink, red, orange, black striped and spotted. And a sea turtle. It. was. incredible. We were out there for about an hour, until we were the last people left and so cold that mom's fingers were turning numb. It was so beautiful. And fun. I am considering moving to Fiji so I can do it every day. They need teachers over there, right?

you make me happy...

i promise to get to work on a post about the last bit of my vacation. you can hold your breath for fascinating captain bob stories, tales of the Great Flood, musings about warm culture, and cultural criticism of mainland american men and their misguided conception of virility.

unfortunately, you'll have to wait because i. am. tired. i flew in yesterday morning, went straight to work and have not had time to recover physically. and i spent the afternoon with my little one. she ran me in circles (umm... literally. we were being chased by a pretend monster. for 45 minutes.), but we finally calmed down enough to go home, singing "you are my sunshine" over and over again. for the whole ride home. it took another 40 minutes.

but hurrah for my heroes today! stina for her dating stories, mr. o-o for a surprising and lovely phone call, trent for putting up with me and my child running all over his place of employment, natalie for cooking me dinner, and karl for gracing us with his patient company and letting us watch "the office" with him.