Evergreen State, here I come!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. That's right, I'm leaving on a jet plane in about 24 hours to visit the lovely state of Washington. This brief tour of my home state will include stops in Issaquah on the 24th/25th, rustic Maple Falls and Nooksack on the 26th/27th, and my beloved Seattle on the 28th/29th.

It'll be sweet. I haven't been to Seattle since I moved to Canada in May (except for a few hectic hours en route to Gen's wedding in Port Angeles in July... that doesn't count).

I'll be buying three books at the University Bookstore while I'm there. That's because I'm starting my first online class when I get back in hopes that I can finish my degree sometime in 2008. Or maybe 2009. I'm just ambitious like that. Ha.

But my real hobby is...

SLEEPING!

This is not news to most of you. But let me tell you... last night I put in 14 hours.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ...

My new hobby is...

ICE SKATING!

There's a little outdoor rink just up the street from my house. And I got a sweet pair of skates for Christmas from the family. It's so Canadian... I love it!

Brainstorm with me, my friends!

This Thursday will be my last day with the kiddos until January 7. Basically, I need to take up a hobby. Any ideas? All I have thought of so far is learning how to knit a toque, making Nanaimo bars, or running. And I don't like running all that much anyways, so that one is out.

(Did I just use the word toque? What the...?)

people and their food consumed in one week

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25


Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11


Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07


United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98


Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09


Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27


Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53


Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55


Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03


Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23


(Thanks for these, Glorya!)

I skipped Bible study tonight...

...and what do I have to show for it?
Look! I purchased some exciting new shoes. 3 pairs may seem excessive to you. But, trust me, it was very necessary. Plus, the sale was buy 2 pairs get one free.

So true

Two things about this picture.

First of all, Taylor Pyatt really does have beautiful eyes. Go google him if you don't believe me. Or even if you just want to look at some beautiful eyes.

Secondly, back when I was the recess lady at St. Matthew's School, there was this 7th grader who always got all the 6th graders out in 4 square by using really annoying cheap shots. He looks just like the guy holding the sign, but doesn't have facial hair.

mustard seed

I went hiking yesterday with about 20 guests of Mustard Seed, a street ministry in Calgary. Can I just tell you about a great act of generosity?

Yes, we went for a hike and, yes, it was very cold. So, a guest bought coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate) at Tim's for everyone on the way back. A GUEST. Guests are people who are either homeless or transitioning out of homelessness. This guest does have a job and had been paid the previous day. He wanted to use a chunk of his paycheck to buy warm drinks for a group of cold people. I think that's a great act of love.

Mark 12:41-44

Happy Pearl Harbor Day

This one evening at camp two summers ago, Chelsea and I were trying to put a mosquito net up on the porch. Then, my friend Cassy showed up with two people I had never met, introduced as Sam and Austen. Somewhere along the way, one of them became a good friend of mine (I like Austen, but it wasn't him). How 'bout a random story from the archives of our adventures?

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Sam and I lived in Cabin 0 last summer. One week, Junior 2 to be precise, all the kids started puking. By the end of the week we had a pretty good system going for dealing with these pukers. Someone would knock on the door, announce that one of their campers had puked, and we would be off. Sam typically took care of the kids while I cleaned up the puke.

My favorite was when Keywee's camper puked. It was 4:20am. So we did what we had been doing all week, then we went back to our super small bedroom for some sleep.

But before we fell asleep... *KNOCKknockKNOCK*. It was then 5:15am and Kit Kat was at the door. Her cabin's smoke alarm was going off. Out we go again! A group of 14 girls were trying to keep warm in the middle of the field while Sam and I fixed it (and by fix it I mean shut their power off).

5:40am. Back to bed. I sometimes get quite cold at night, so I would typically climb down to Sam's bed in the morning to get warm before staff meeting. I figured since it was already 5:40 and staff meeting would be at 7, I could save myself the climb to my top bunk and just finish off the night in Sam's bed. She was OK with it, so that is what I did. I fell asleep fast.

Sometime during my slumber, Sam elbowed me and told me to go to my own bed. So I did, even though it made me cold again. The best part is what she said when we woke up in the morning.

"Hey, why'd you leave my bed last night? It was really cold in here!"

"You made me."

"Oh. Yeah, I thought I said something to you. Well I didn't want you to leave, it was really cold."

"Sorry?"

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I wish I would have had the time to post camp stories when they happened. Anyways, I like my friend Sam and today she is 23, so I am hoping she has a happy birthday. I can't see how she wouldn't, you should see her birthday cake.

Happy birthday to Adam, as well. I don't have a lot of stories about Adam, but it sure was a good time listening to you call all of those bowling alleys on Thanksgiving weekend.

Cake

Sam is having a really cool pirate cake on her birthday. But this story has more to do with the pirate cake's distant relative, the dinosaur cake.

I went with Sam and her mom to order the pirate cake. Actually we were initially there to get icing sugar, but that's beside the point. We looked at some of the other cakes. Let me be the first to say that the dinosaur one was pretty hurtin'. All it had was this big T-Rex head and some fake vegetation.

The dinosaur cake's only redeeming quality was that it had a button on its side. I think it was even a red button. Ooooh... red button.

"Sam, push the button!"

So she pushed it. Then the dinosaur roared in my face. Then I screamed. Really loud. As in, I was really terrified and even proceeded to hyperventilate for a couple of minutes. Sometimes I do that when I get freaked out, but cake usually doesn't freak me out like that.

That's really about it. The best part happened after I was done freaking out, when I heard one worker in the back say to another worker in the back, "Wow, I've never seen anyone do THAT before."

I told you it wasn't that great of a story. Bet you wish you would have listened to me.