fun times

The day that our friends Dar and Roamer will be departing approaches us soon. I would like to dedicate this post to the fun times that we have had with them. Here are some highlights in no particular order.

> Playing Apples to Apples at Dar's "Halloween" birthday party. Also playing Apples to Apples with the girls after the Christmas tea in Roamer's basement.

>Roamer wearing an old bridesmaid dress for one of the parties

>Kerry for President stickers-Election party

>roasting marshmallows in their backyard-using the fireplace thingy (forgot the word for it)

>Roamer being a wonderful hostess for the Christmas teas. I remember a lot of giggling going on during the speakers' speaches at most of the teas. (Verna, L.L., M.L.) : )

>Girls night out at Oklahoma Joe's. Fever Pitch was hilarious.

>Girls coffee night at Borders. Girls coffee nights on the last Tuesday of the month at Homer's.

>their decorated sump pump at the Love's Command X-mas party. T received it.

>playing poker with Roamer and Dar. Roamer not wanting to bid before seeing most of the cards in Texas-Hold-Em.

>being in Love's Command class with Dar and Roamer

>guys coffee night every Thursday night at Homer's

>putting socks on their furniture legs so they won't scratch in the container

Feel free to comment on your most memorable moment.

gifts vs. acts of service

Not another quiz or test...some of you are probably thinking. Yes, I took another quiz. And made Dust take it also. At our last home group, we were talking about the five love languages. I had never read the book before or taken the test. Everyone seemed to know what their love language was. Just by listening to the list, I could guess what mine would be. Gifts.

When I first heard of the book, I thought it might be another cheesy, overmarketed, gimmick. I have been somewhat skeptical of the new, cool, christian books that come out. (Dust's influence on me) I haven't read Purpose Driven Life yet, but maybe I should.

I took the love language test and sure enough gifts are my language. Dust is overly excited about that one. : ) I should have known what Dust's language would be. When he gets comfortable in his chair at night, he always asks me if I could get him a bowl, and spoon, and milk, and cereal. I am constantly doing things for him. Dust's language is acts of service. This means I have to clean, cook, and do most things for him. Well I pretty much do that anyway. Recently when he asked me to do something I replied with "yes I will do that because you need acts of service." I should at least give him a hard time about it.

Git-r-done

Dust and I were listening to Larry the cable guy do a stand-up comedy routine on tv. (not Dust's typical humor) I was reminded again that my sense of humor is that of a teenage boy. I laugh at fart jokes. This is something that I am not really proud of. I thought that maybe one day I would grow out of this phase. I can't seem to change that part of my humor, though. We watch Blue Collar tv with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Envall, and Larry the cable guy. There are times that they might get a little crude, which I don't like.

I also find the red-neck jokes humorous. Maybe it is because I grew up in southern MO. It was pretty much the norm for people to make fun of simple country folk. There are all sorts of hillbilly souvenirs that you can buy in Branson.

I often tease Dust about having a girl sense of humor. I have noticed that women seem to laugh at his jokes and think he's funny. He does a better job than I do at talking to other women. I on the other hand have a typical guy sense of humor and tend to want to laugh and talk about what the guys do. I am trying to focus on talking more girl talk. I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression if I am around other guys.

Git-r-done is a mantra that I have been using when I am at work. It motivates me to plough through my tasks and it gives me a laugh.

Phlegmatic

Since personality tests have come up over the past few weeks, I have gotten interested in taking the ones that I haven't yet. Last week I took the phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholy, choleric test. I made Dust take it also. I found out that I am phlegmatic melancholy and Dust is melancholy phlegmatic.

Everyone knows what their weaknesses or bad habits are even though sometimes we like to deny it. Or we rationalize that we aren't that bad. As I read the weaknesses for phlegmatic personality it hit me hard. I kinda knew that I had those problems but seeing all of them listed before me was overwhelming. I realize that it is just the author's opinion and I shouldn't take it to heart. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am all of those things either.

I just looked up phlegmatic in the dictionary. It said pertaining to phlegm. That definately describes me! I have always had trouble with phlegm in my throat. : ) It also said having a calm, sluggish temperament, unemotional. Well the unemotional part is incorrect for my personality. Dust can tell you that I am definately emotional.

Ode to a Bobber

Hold, release and plop you go
When you will sink I do not know
You look so lonely out in the blue
The fishes below have no clue

My eyes affixed to your slight sways
In a moment you no longer lay
Furiously I try to reel on
Looking down my line is gone

Of all those owned by my father
You were his favorite little bobber
We watched for the place you would appear
But couldn't find you far or near

In the end who is the winner?
If the fish is found it will be dinner

I love your hair

I was encouraged or rather given the assignment to do my creative writing on the line, "I love your hair."

This line means several things to me. One, it is usually an ice breaker for the beginning of small talk. I will let you guys know right now that I tend to hate small talk. I know it is essential in getting to know someone, so I can't dismiss small talk altogether. It does help when you have the awkward silences with people in the elevator. I know I have used the line also with people that I didn't know so well. It can be an encouraging word to make someone's day!

I know we all told Roaming that we loved her new haircut. Those were all genuine compliments because the style looked good on her.

Two, the problem I have with the line, "I love your hair," is that in the past it has been said to me by people that are usually consumed with their looks. It reminds me of something a valley girl would say in the movie Clueless. I know I shouldn't label this line as shallow. I have received genuine compliments from people using that line. I realize now that I can't tell someone's motivation behind saying, "I love your hair." I am probably analyzing this simple statement too much. I have been around Dust too long. : )

Design and Colors

Mr. Sunrise is very talented in design and layout. I realized this again as I watched him arrange napkins at a reception Sunday night. I was just going to place them in a stack at the end of the table. He had the idea of spacing them out in rows and alternate the color in each row. It really did look nice. The shades of yellow and red looked good together. (Spain's flag colors) Vernal did an awesome job with the centerpieces, quizzes, and being the project manager. : )

Should this make me feel insecure as a woman? Since decorating tends to be a woman's thing? I know Forrest hates the men/women stereotypes. I can guess what his answer will be. Mr. Sunrise has done most of the arrangement of pictures and furniture in our house. I am quite happy with what he has done. We bought some fake fern greenery and Mr. Sunrise picked the pot to put it in and arranged it in the green styrofoam.

There is one thing that I can do that the Mr. can't. Tell colors apart. Poor Mr. Sunrise is colorblind. So at least I am needed in that department. I can tell him which colors clash and which ones go good together. The Mr. can tell you that I get excited about colors. It does make me sad though that he can't experience color with me.

The DMV

Today I actually had to step foot in the DMV. There are so many things that you can take care of online or by mail now that I haven't had to go there in person. I did our vehicle registration renewal by mail and thought that I would never have to wait in line there again. Apparantly, to reissue a title for a car requires you to be present.

We just paid off the lien on our car (my car) and we needed to get the title reissued. I have to admit that the DMV has made some changes since I was there last. The machine that gives you a ticket has been upgraded. You have to push the button for what you need done and then the machine gives you a number. I pushed "Title" and out came a number. I heard over the intercom, "Number 267 please go to station # 17." I looked down at my number and it said 269. "Awesome!" I thought to myself. The first time they call your number is to talk to you to make sure you know what you're doing and that you've got all the paperwork you need. That only took me 30 seconds. The guy told me that the second time they call my number, I can get my title taken care of.

So I sat back down and watched the new digital display of numbers. They announce and show two numbers at a time on the screen so I have to pay attention. I do get distracted though by the people walking by because I'm a people watcher. But that's a whole different blog.

I only had to wait maybe 15 minutes until my number was called. The lady that helped me was extremely nice. That doesn't happen too often; especially at the DMV. I was out of there in no time. So, to anyone out there that has to make a visit to the DMV, don't sweat it. Your wait can't be near as long as it used to be.

Assume nothing

On Monday nights, I always talk to my parents on the phone. I had a pretty lengthy conversation with my mom this last Monday. I had always assumed what my mother's motivations were when talking about a certain person/topic. I never understood why she kept bringing up this person/topic. I figured she just needed to talk things out and I was a good listener.

Several months ago, I had told my mother that I didn't want to hear the stories over and over again. We did however, talk about it Monday night. She said that the reason she keeps talking about it is because she didn't think that I believed her. I told my mother that I never doubted the stories that she had told me. It was such an insight for both of us. The light bulb came on over both of our heads. My mom said that we should have communicated better all along. I learned that I should never assume a person's reasoning or motivation behind what they say. As the slogan goes...assume nothing.

Crickets taste like salted pretzels

Mr. Sunrise and I went to a Survivor/Amazing Race/Fear Factor themed party last night. We drew numbers to form two teams. The two tribes had to solve a riddle and also find various colored items outside the house to "decorate their hut." We picked an orange flower, one guy had a blue sleeping bag in his trunk, and so on. Mr. Sunrise and I were on separate teams. My team won which eliminated the other team from the "game."

My team drew another set of numbers to find your partner for the rest of the game. The next challenge was a "Detour" from the Amazing Race. You could choose between two tasks. The first one was to walk to the nearest Dillons which was 0.9 miles away and buy so many items beginning with a certain letter and they had to be under $5 and edible. I don't remember the details to that one because my teammate and I chose the other task. The other task was arranging tangrams to make the letter"T." We thought that was a no brainer. We would stay at the house and try to put 4 pieces of tangrams together. It was so much harder than we thought. Three teams of 2 tried the tangrams and the other three teams of 2 ran to Dillons. Embarrassing to say that the first team done was the one who ran to Dillons. Only 3 teams advanced and my teammate figured the tangram out just in time to make 3rd place.

The next challenge was a "Road Block." Only one person was allowed to complete the task. My partner was a guy and he thought he could run faster than me and would be able to plow over people if needed. I agreed and let him do it. There were three buckets of sand with twenty or more keys in them. They had to dig for a key and run down the stairs into the bedroom where there were three locks. Only one key in the bucket fit the corresponding lock. All three of the people ran up and down the stairs many times. One girl found her key before my teammate and they got to get their next clue. My teammate was second and then we got our clue. We had to go to a computer and find the answers to questions. I knew the first answer to the question, "Where was the 2nd season of Survivor taped?" Austrailia. Since the host of the party only had two computers, the 3rd team did not get the help of a computer. The time limit was up and we turned in our answers. My partner and I had the exact same number of answers correct as the first team. So they decided to vote on what team would move on to the finals. I knew we wouldn't get the votes because the other team was "cooler." However, the hosts didn't agree with an answer the other team had put down and they voted for us. It was a 5 to 4 vote and my partner and I would move on to the next round.

I sat across the table from the guy that had been my partner. The hosts placed one bowl each in front of us that was covered. I knew it was going to be a food challenge because we saw them open up two cans that looked like tuna. When they uncovered the bowl, I saw dead crickets. There is no way that I can do this I thought. I was getting pep talks from people saying that I could do it, though. All it is is mind over matter. I wanted to win, so I decided to give it all that I had. The host yelled, "Go!" and I was cramming hand fulls of crickets in my mouth. I did not look down at what I was actually eating. I focused on Mr. Sunrise's face and kept going. The problem was that I couldn't swallow fast enough. The taste was staying in my mouth and I started to gag. I needed something to drink. The other guy was going a lot faster than I was. I looked down at his bowl and it was almost empty. I kept gagging and finally gave up and threw it up in the pan that they had placed beside me. I told him that he had it. He licked the bowl in the end just to gross us out. My teammate had won the $20 gift certificate. I had people telling me that they had a lot of respect for me for doing that. I am proud that I gave it my best shot. And this is also an awesome story that I have to tell people! By the way, dead crickets taste like salted pretzels. I hate pretzels!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

No this isn't an obsessive compulsive story. Or a mathematical one.

Forrest will be glad to hear that Dust and I watched "Lost" on Wednesday night. Actually he probably already knows since coffee night is going on as I am writing this. Anyway, I learned many valuable tools on how to improvise if I am ever in a plane crash and land on a deserted island. The tool that I really took to heart was about dealing with fear.

Jack said that he only gives fear five seconds and then he plows through whatever needs to be done. He is a doctor and he told a story about a surgery he performed on someone's spine. He could have freaked out when he touched some of the fibers of the spinal cord, but he decided to give fear five seconds to sink in and then he repaired and sewed up the patient. (I thought that if you messed someone's spinal cord up that was it and they were paralyzed. Maybe I didn't understand the whole story.) I definately couldn't be a doctor or any other occupation that required you to handle emergency situations.

Kate counted to five when she was scared and had lost the guys in the jungle. After that she dealt with her fear and Charlie found her.

I realized that I give fear too much time. I am usually overtaken by it. The next time I am afraid I am going to count to five and then deal with the issue at hand. (I seem to post a lot about fear. I will also quote the scripture verses that were previously recommended.)