Operation Christmas Child

I've been cranky today, but for no good reason, really. This morning the kids had their karate promotions, and the whole event was long--it lasted for nearly three hours. Trinity had already taken her belt test yesterday, so she was just there strictly for the promotion. But the Little Ninjas didn't actually take their test until today, so we had to show up an hour before the actual promotions so Elijah could test. The test for Little Ninjas is a full hour long, which is no small feat for five and six year olds. Elijah did well, but by the end he was stumbling...you could just tell he was tired. Luckily he still passed. One thing that was kind of cool was that they were short on judges, so I got to judge. They assigned me two Little Ninjas who I had to evaluate, which was funny because I don't know a damn thing about karate. But I felt like my assigned boys were very sharp and did a great job, so I gave them both good scores. After the Little Ninjas completed their test, the promotions commenced and Elijah received his leadership stripe and Trin got her orange belt in karate. She was thrilled. She has had this nervous energy since yesterday, wondering if she passed her test, so when she was awarded her orange belt, I felt happy and relieved for her.

After the promotion ceremony, we went out to run errands, and it was just a long, grueling day. Among other things, we had to shop for Moo's birthday and for our "Operation Christmas Child" boxes. Operation Christmas Child is an awesome organization that sends Christmas gifts to children in impoverished nations that would otherwise not have a Christmas. You choose a gender and an age group (i.e. female, age 5-9), and then you take a standard-sized shoe box and fill it with gifts for your child. Here's a link to a great video segment regarding Operation Christmas Child: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZA7bQJ_7xI. It portrays a woman from Bosnia who once received one of these boxes when she was a child, and how it impacted her life. I'm not going to lie, the video clip does have a Christian-driven agenda, but all religion aside, I think Lejla just has a powerful story. Clint and I do two boxes every year, one for a boy Elijah's age, and one for a girl Trinity's age. This year our little girl is getting art supplies, a doll, mittens, a cute new toothbrush with toothpaste, a candy cane full of "runts" (gotta cancel out that toothpaste somehow) and a new purse. Our boy is also getting the runt-filled candy cane, toothbrush/toothpaste, and mittens, but is also getting stickers, two small coloring books, a beenie, and a car. I so badly wanted to get our girl a diary, but couldn't find one anywhere.

My dream is to one day be one of the people to actually deliver the boxes. Well that, and to publish a novel. Someday. Over the rainbow.

Movie & Itchyness

We got back from watching 2012 about an hour ago, and I really enjoyed it! I'm sure Rotten Tomatoes (along with other movie critics) will come up with negative things to say about the movie (some of the scenes were quite unrealistic, etc.), but what it comes down to is that it was two-and-a-half hours of destruction and mayhem with likeable characters and just enough interjections of subtle humor and comic relief to make the movie not feel too heavy. And the special effects were awesome. I also loved the ending, which I don't want to give away, but I just loved it that the directors didn't follow with the ever-so-popular trend of giving their movie a deep, meaningful, Shakespeare-type ending. Overall, I don't think 2012 will be winning any Oscars, but it was sheer entertainment from beginning to end.

I am so itchy! My whole body has been itchy now for nearly two weeks. At first I just thought it was dry skin, but then all of these tiny red bumps started appearing. Clint insists that I'm allergic to our detergent, but that seems ridiculous because a) I don't have sensitive skin at all, and b) I have never once had a reaction to detergent, so why now? The irony is that the detergent that we are currently using is non-allergenic, with no colors or odors, designed especially for "sensitive skin." So I told Clint that this must be the problem--since the detergent is designed for sensitive skin, and I don't have sensitive skin, my skin is protesting against it. But all joking aside, I need to figure this out soon, because the itching has been keeping me up at night. I just can't stop scratching, and of course the more I scratch, the more insatiable the impulse becomes.

Gerbil with Eight Legs

I'm waiting for Clint to come home with our Jack in the Box dinner, so now I'm killing time because he's taking awhile (dang Jack in the Box with their whole 'we make it fresh'...just slap some microwaved patties on some buns and slather mayo on it--will ya?).

I have absolutely nothing to talk about, so I decided to share a quick memory from last summer. Clint and I went on a mission's trip to San Vicente, Mexico, which is a whole story in of itself. At any rate, we had dropped off some clothing and food at a local rehab center, and we had stayed for dinner (peanut butter sandwiches) and fellowship, which ran pretty late. We left the facility sometime around 10:00 p.m., and as we left, some of the teens in our group spotted a tarantula crawling through the desert and caught in a tin can. They began to dare each other to hold it, but no one was willing to do it--not even the big burly men in our group. I didn't like the whole idea of using a living creature as entertainment, but I was fascinated by the spider, and they really weren't mistreating it or anything, so I finally told them that I would hold it. No one believed I would do it, but for some reason I have no fear of big hairy spiders...I just was never equipped with that defense mechanism. So I held the spider, and it was not scary at all--not even a little. It felt just like holding a gerbil. The tarantula was very friendly and just crawled along my hand and arm. After seeing that I survived the whole ordeal without getting massacred, one of the big burly men finally worked up enough nerve to hold the tarantula himself.

The irony of the whole thing? I can't stand looking at this picture. It gives me chills. For some reason, spiders in person don't bother me, but seeing them in a picture--even my OWN picture--creeps me out.

Pond in the Desert

I had no work today because of Veteran's Day. I say "had" because now it's after four so it feels like the day is already almost over. I loved having a day off smack in the middle of the week...it broke up my normally long work week into two much more manageable pieces.

This morning Clint and I went to the movies to see "Couple's Retreat." I wasn't blown away by the movie, but overall it was pretty cute. My favorite scene was when the little boy pees into the toilet at the home improvement store, which really has nothing to do with the overall storyline of the movie, but it was just so classic. I remember when we took Elijah off-roading in the jeep back when he had just recently been potty-trained, and he suddenly had to go "potty" really bad. There obviously was no bathroom around, and for some reason he couldn't stand the idea of just going in a bush. He was so little and we had done such a good job convincing him that "the potty is where the pee goes," so he couldn't comprehend that now we wanted him to go in a bush...to him this seemed like "bad" behavior to do such a thing. Finally, after many failed attempts, I found a nice hole in the ground near a dry riverbed and shaped the back of it to look more like a toilet. I convinced him that it was indeed a toilet, and although slightly skeptical, he was more than willing to sit down and relieve himself. Toddlers are funny like that. They just need to have some control over the world around them, even if that means sitting in a muddy hole to do their business.

After the movie, we came home and Clint worked on digging a giant hole while I took a nap. Clinton is currently building a pond in our front yard, a project that is sort of insane. It's just that it came out of no where, and we still have so many other unfinished projects that are so much more of a priority than building some silly pond right before winter, not to mention that we don't even have landscaping in our front yard. Isn't a pond supposed to be kind of like the icing on the cake of an already nice yard? But once Clint gets an idea in his head, he becomes nearly obsessive about it. We have this corner nook area right near our front door, and I had mentioned previously that I thought we should plant a little grass over there and install a fountain. Somehow my suggestion got blown up into an entire pond (still with the fountain and still with the grass). So last week Clint ordered the pond liner online, and he began digging out all the rocks, clearing out the area, and softening the packed dirt. That was a lot of work (for him, not for me...I just relaxed and took the dog for a walk). Today Clint dug out the pond itself, and I have to admit, it looks pretty cute so far. It's about seven feet by five feet, a foot-and-a-half deep, and shaped kind of like a kidney bean. Now the hard part is done, and we need to just wait for the liner to arrive so we can start actually creating Clint's vision. Once it's finished, Clint wants to put koi fish in it, but I don't think they will be hardy enough to withstand the cold temperatures, so we may have to wait until spring.

So nevermind the kitchen counters that still need to be replaced, or the jacuzzi sitting in our backyard with no power and no water, or the truck sitting at my in-laws house waiting for renovation...at least we'll have a damn pond.

Normal Day

Not much to talk about today...it was a very normal day. Work was uneventful. Although I was somewhat amused at one of my student's response to our journal entry. The topic was "If you could be teacher for the day, what would you change? What would you keep the same?" Most students talked about how they would eliminate all rules and lock their teachers in a dungeon under the gym while they enjoyed all-you-can-eat nachos in the quad all day...that type of thing. But Tommy, my socially awkward genius (he is the only kid in the history of our school to score perfect scores on his placement tests for math, thus placing him in 8th grade honors courses and in my class), stated that he would "make the school day longer, eliminate all group work, eliminate the 30 minute lunch period which amounts to more of a 'recess,' and create a new standard in which ALL extracurricular activities have an obvious educational purpose." And he was dead serious. He didn't care either when the class started to boo at him (despite my best efforts to stop them), because he is just immune to the normal seventh grade need for approval.

After work I took Moses for a walk, watched two episodes of the Amazing Race while Clint took the kids to karate, talked to my mom on the phone, went to kickboxing, went out for ice-cream with Clint and the kids (thus negating our workout, as usual), watched "V," and that brings me to the present.

This Friday (the 13th--woohoo!), I'm going to the movies with Shannon, Jeremy, Cassidi, my mom, Clint, and Sarah. We're all indulging my sister's disaster movie fettish by seeing 2012 on its opening night. We purchased our tickets in advance and I am really getting excited. The movie is two-and-a-half hours long, so at least I know we're getting our money's worth. But really, I'm just thrilled to be able to go to the movies with my family. With my mom living in Silverlakes and Shan living in the mountains, it is tricky to plan an outing, and the fact that we're going to the movies...I don't think I've been to the movies with my mom since I was a kid! I know the little girl in me is going to make sure that I get to sit by my "mommy."

Sleeping in the Closet

Clinton recently began sleeping in the closet on Saturdays and Sundays, which has really increased the quality of my weekends. He used to sleep in our bedroom (like the average human being), but it was difficult on both of us: For him because he struggles to sleep with daylight streaming in through the windows (even with the blinds shut), and for me because it has been nearly impossible to "get ready" in the mornings without disturbing his sleep. So he decided to move a mattress into our inordinately large walk-in closet ("inordinate" only because the master bedroom it is attached to is ridiculously puny) and try sleeping in there. Now he has a nice dark atmosphere to sleep in, and I can walk in and out of our bedroom during the mornings and get ready without disturbing him. It's working out pretty good so far, although I'll admit it was a bit strange telling the kids yesterday that "Daddy is asleep in the closet."

Yesterday was pleasant. In the morning I went to Target to go birthday shopping for my niece Cassidi, who just turned twelve, and for little Austin (Matt and Alana's son) who was turning four. I texted Sarah to see if she wanted to meet up with me, and she just happened to be in town with the kids, so we met at Target. I got through all of my shopping in about 15 minutes, so we decided to meet at the McD's across the street for lunch. I beat Sarah there and was waiting for what seemed like an eternity for her, and just when I started to feel little prickles of concern, she walked through the door looking somewhat bedraggled. It turns out that when she was backing out of the Target parking lot, her and another woman backed out at the same time and ran right into each other. I feel so awful for her...she's the type of person who can walk through a rose storm and come out smelling like crap (okay, I may have twisted that expression a bit). Once we were settled down with lunch, we dived into our usual long deep conversations. At one point she confessed to me a lie that she had told. She was so worried that I would be mad at her (even though the lie in question was never directed toward me, but to another party), but I actually felt quite the opposite--it took a lot of courage for her to divulge what she did and I only view her as refreshingly human.
After lunch, I went home, wrapped some presents (and by "wrapped" I mean "threw in bags"), and headed toward Matt and Alana's house for the birthday party. The party was a very relaxed backyard get-together.  They had a bounce house for the kids, and a pinata, which of course the kids loved (and now, with Halloween's loot, we have a mountain of candy so enormous that we will probably be handing it out to trick-or-treaters next year). Once it was dark, we talked around the fire-pit outside for a little while.  After once again visiting with Matt and Alana, I have determined that Matt was born in the wrong time period. He belongs in an era where he can be some sort of freedom-fighting renegade, going through underground channels with a bunch of others rebels to fight for justice.

Today I went to church by myself, which I didn't care for because this is only my third time at this particular church (we changed churches recently), and so a lot of people don't recognize the "newcomer" yet and were a little on the over-friendly side. The times I went with Clint, people reacted more normally with us, but for some reason, when I was by myself this morning, they had this false warmth about them. I know that makes no sense, but that was just my perception. The service was really good though, so overall I'm glad I didn't flake out.

This week I have completely neglected Moses because I had a lot of after-work responsibilities that ate up my whole week. I finally was able to take him on a walk this afternoon and he is back to dragging me on his leash. Arghhh. He also gulped down a slinky right when I let him into the house. Didn't even hesitate. I hate to think how that's going to look coming out the other side later.

Language Arts Night on Wednesday went great.  I had so many more parents then I imagined, and for a few nerve-wracking minutes I thought that I wouldn't have enough supplies, but I wound up with plenty. I decided to do the flipbooks and corresponding PowerPoint with my own students this week, just because they came out really cute and are great little tools for teaching parts of speech.

Asian/Anime Night

It feels like it has been forever since I posted...this week was brutal. I am so grateful that today is Friday so that I can finally get some rest. I'll probably write a nice long post later, but for now I'm just going to write about Halloween since I just splattered Halloween pics all over this blog entry.

Every Halloween we do a "Family Theme Night," in which we choose a theme and then have a fun evening of food, games, and sillyness related to our chosen theme. Past themes have included Space Night, Wild Wild West, Pirate Night, Under the Sea, Hollywood Glam, etc. This year's theme was Asian/Anime Night. The boys chose this theme a year ago, and although we did our normal democratic voting process (in which the girls normally win), the men strategically divided the women and conquered. I was quite bummed last year when this theme won, because I don't know anything about anime. But I now have to admit that this was one of my favorite ones so far. The costumes were great--Trinity was a pokemon trainer, Elijah was Bakugan Dan (whoever that is), Mike was a samurai knight, Amanda was a chinese take-out box, Carey was a sumo wrestler, and Teri was a "maid in China." Clint and I were anime characters: Clint was "Bleach," and I just modeled my costume after a character I found online (her name is Kuragami or something like that...unfortunately her character could be an Asian prostitute for all I know). Clint created all of the games, and they were so much fun! We played Ninja Knife Throwing (with real knives!), Ninja Capture the Flag (in the dark, using glow sticks), Ninja Walk (where you had to walk across bubble wrap without popping any bubbles), and Ninja Bubble Punch (where you had to punch as many bubbles as possible before one hit the ground) (and yes, I realize I'm over-using parenthesis, but you can skip these parts, you know). Winners of the games were given Asian-looking currency to purchase items from the prize redemption booth, and of course all prizes were Asian or anime related. By far the most entertaining game was definitely Ninja Capture the Flag. Running around in the dark, tripping over gopher holes and jumping over little kids' bikes while trying not to fall flat on our faces...it felt like being a kid again. Our team won, although Clint pretty much won the game for us. Me and Moo wound up getting "frozen," forcing Clint to leave his post as goalie and conquer the competition. While running around, my fish net stockings fell all the way down to my ankles. I also had to ditch the blue wig earlier on in the evening and switch my boots for tennis shoes, so by the time we finished the game, I was pretty much falling apart with barely any vestige remaining of my prior costume. But it was worth it.

The victorious winners!

Trinity & Elijah







Clint & I before our

costumes fell apart