spouting something tasty. . .

Sometimes I find myself enjoying being poetic or using interesting expressions (not to mention puns, which I love). Not that I use them impressively, by all means, but occasionally I do find myself spouting something tasty. Some, however, do not appreciate it quite the same way. Here's what I mean:

Me (speaking of Klara): Look at her, poetry just drips from her lips!
Stephen: Ew.

His simple reaction cracked me up!:)

Then today, while I was cleaning:

Me: I can't wait to get my teeth into this toilet.
Lisa: *expressions of grossed-out-ness and laughter*

Confessions of a humane mouse killer

Today I got to go to our neighbor's house to clean! They'd been having mice problems and they wanted a pretty thorough cleaning. Luckily Lisa was willing to help me tackle the job, so together we set to work and pretty much transformed their whole house! It was long (we skipped lunch and were there for about five hours), and we tried with difficulty not to be too meticulous, but it was still fun, even though we did have to deal with a lot of mousy remnants, seeing one or two in the process. Mr. W. found one that he thought was sick and carefully took it out to the woods, claiming that he was saving a life.

I liked Mr. W. It's strange because I've never met him even though he is my neighbor, but he lives in Denver part of the time so that would probably explain it. This sexagenarian host was very appreciative, and he also was fairly talkative. At one point he even "confessed" to me that he had some mouse poisoning around the house.

"I don't know how you feel about it," he told me, "But for years when we lived out West I hemmed and hawed about doing it but my wife finally convinced me. It kills them quite painlessly, but it still hurts me to do it."

I decided not to tell him that in my house we use mouse traps.

A pretty groovy weekend

It's too bad I went to Cape Cod instead of the Conval graduation. Because if I had, I could say that I went to three different Ben's graduations in the same year!!! Yikes, that name must have been pretty popular the year they all were born. Anyway, as I have hinted, I just went to Ben's graduation. But which one? My cousin? No. The friend in our church? No. One of my best friend's brothers? That would be yes.

Anyway, I made the trip to Upstate New York with my mom and two of my brothers and I ended up staying the whole weekend. A grand time was had by all. When you get to attend an outside picnic-like graduation celebration with lots of great people and steal digital cameras from various friends (a certain Nikon D70S comes to mind:), you can't go wrong, right? We even got to compete in a low key game of baseball with a tennis ball and Caleb's 25" bat, as well as a score-less game of volleyball by the pond until it got too dark to see. Having it by the pond was a mistake however. We had to keep racing after the ball and watch Andrew leap into the pond with unnecessary (but amusing) gusto on the numerous occasions when the volleyball landed there. Sounds like fun? Then of course there was the campfire with the customary s'mores served that Sarah and Elizabeth used as bargaining tools to get themselves dry seats. As we sat warming our toes, we listened with laughter and fright to Drew's unusual stories, and later heard the guys bellowing the National Anthem at night into the valley. On Sunday I even got to shoot my first gun! We were taking turns trying to shoot leftover balloons floating in the pond. Not convinced it was a super time? Well how about throwing in the fact that Klara and I went into the woods to pretend to be Rapunzel and the prince, then returned with messy hair and chewing straws, which made us feel extremely at home in the red-neck world. Pretty groovy weekend, huh?

Oh yes, and I even wrote a tiny bit in Ben's Word's of Wisdom for the Graduate notebook. Aren't you proud of me? I told him that if he ever went to college he should try not to get too fat because I've noticed that a lot of guys do. Words of wisdom indeed.

NO WAY!!!

Well, I have my drivers' license now, so what next? I mean, besides the actual building up of the loads of experience that I know I need, what more do I have to learn? The answer, to me, is obvious: I've gotta learn how to drive stick shift!!! Aaaahhh! For awhile I wanted to learn back in May or June when I was taking drivers ed, but Craig suggested that it might not be the best idea before I take my license test. After all, who wants to reach for the clutch, accidentally slam on the brake, and fail your drivers' exam? I took his point, so I waited.

But now is not the time for delay. The car that we use the most is a standard, and I better learn how to drive it really well before winter hits. Which means I have to learn soon. All I was waiting for was somebody to teach me. Mom recommended that I learn in Clyde's car since it's the easiest to shift in, so eventually he offered to teach me. And my first lesson was last night.

To begin with, he drove to the ball field. We switched drivers, and he began to enlighten me in the ways of using a manual transmission. But as we sat there with the ball field gathering darkness all around us, what should we see but Gerry's car drive up and stop at the other side! This was a puzzle. What would Gerry be doing here?

"Maybe Lisa is learning," Clyde suggested.

"Or maybe he's teaching Drew," I added, since that young person is here visiting his relatives and the Reeds.

Then sure enough, Gerry and Drew did the exact same thing that Clyde and I had done just a few minutes before!

NO WAY!!!

How could both parties have the same idea, on the same day, at the same time, and in the same place? I mean, I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with a standard, but going up to the ball field at dusk on a Thursday night isn't something that's just done by everybody! It really weirded me out.

And how did the lesson go? Well, first I had beginner's luck in starting the car. Was driving a standard going to be way easy after all? Um, no. Because after that whenever I tried to start I stalled, and stalled, and stalled, and stalled again. But near the end I began to feel like I was getting the hang of it, at least to a certain extent. Thus ended lesson one.

But I still can't get over that coincidence. . . .

Back from the life of Riley

I got back last Monday from being in Maine with my parents. Here are a couple highlights (or low points):

~Almost running over three deer during my first night driving experience (and in Maine)

~Playing darts by myself countless times. I always managed to win whenever it was just me, but I always seemed to lose when it came to playing my dad or mom. :)

~Hitting the bull's eye a couple times in the above said activity

~Having to dump out a good cup of hot chocolate because my parents wouldn't let me drink lake water even if it had been boiled. (I don't blame them, it was just sad)

~Biking with my dad (even through the rain)

~visiting Heidi

~losing the key to the cabin at night--thank the Lord the Beans found it in their yard since we'd just been visiting them.

~reading and reading!

~going garage-saling and picking up two CDs for a buck a piece

~surviving without indoor plumbing

~washing my hair in the lake

~going canoeing with my parents

~going to Salvation Army

~stepping in the results of the neighbor dog's egestion with my bare feet!!! disgusting!

~sleeping in until ten o'clock almost every morning.

. . . . and other such boring activities that are so delightful when you're on vacation!

Hello, my name is Anonymous

Have you ever wondered about all those deep quotes out there in the world that are attributed to “Anonymous?” Well, here’s another:

“Any loser can win, but it takes a winner to lose with a good attitude.”

~Anonymous (alias: Kayla)

Yep, folks. My name is Anonymous. Here are a couple more anonymous quotes, deemed by Chad and Craig to be quite profound:

“The ones you’ve already seen you’ve already seen.”

And,

“I don’t like movies that I don’t like.”

That is what it is like to be around me. You never know when sparks of wit will fly from my mouth. Just look at all those quotes out there with my name attached to them! I couldn’t make anybody jealous though, so that’s why my name is Anonymous.

There are those out there, however, who do not have scores of incredible wisdom just spouting from their mouths. That’s why they have their names attached to them, ‘cause they gotta get their claim to fame in somewhere! Like here are a couple I saw in the store a couple weeks ago. Ponder these:

“To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

“Time enjoyed being wasted is not wasted time.”

Spiritually, I don’t agree with that second quote. But in many ways I can see why it makes sense!

If you were wondering, I’m not going to go digging into all the deep quotes I can find. You see, we have smart people all around us that are great at edifying, so now I’m going to recount a few that I scribbled down or remember from girls’ week and the last youth convention’s meetings. If you were there it may be an encouraging reminder:

~ “In every heart there is a God-shaped void.” ~Andrea (or whoever it was)

~ “If nothing is too hard for Him, then with Him nothing is too hard for you.” ~Ari

~ “I need no other sunshine than the sunshine of Thy face.” ~some hymn I can’t remember

~ “You have made us for Yourself, oh Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” ~St. Augustine

~ “Draw me after Thee; we will run together.” ~Song of Sol. 1:4

~ “God doesn’t choose favorites. Each of us is a favorite.” ~Andrea

~ “The highest attainment open to a human being is the knowledge of God.” ~F.W. Sandford

~ “What you feed grows.” ~Andrea

(concerning the verse that nothing can separate us from the love of God) ~ “If nothing can separate us that means I can’t either.” ~Cara

~ “Sometimes I think if other people could see what I’m really like on the inside they wouldn’t really like me, but Jesus already knows what I’m like and loves me anyway.” ~Klara

~ “God holds nothing back that’s really worth it.” ~Anonymous (though I might have gotten it from Andrea)

~ “Your love toward each of Your children—including me—is intensely personal.” ~part of a prayer in our devotion book

Wow, and that was just the girls’week! Sorry if you’re bored, but this is good stuff, so here we go on to the youth convention (and these are just snippets of course)!

“Christianity isn’t just a religion, but a relationship.” ~Daddy (or something like that)

~ “God doesn’t want me to be successful. He wants me to need Him.” ~Mr. Turner quoting Mary’s magnet

~ “Mankind was created to serve, not to be served. . . his first priority should be to bring glory to God.” ~Daddy (quoting somebody?)

~ “Surrender is the key to transformation.” ~Danny

~ (concerning slaying giants) “This is not a game—it’s war.” ~Uncle Tim

~ “Holy and without blemish. That’s the uniform. Jesus died so we could wear it!” ~Uncle Tim (basically)

~ “Nevertheless—I believe God.” ~Uncle Tim

~ “You may have to fight, you may have to fight, but keep right on fighting and never give up.” ~Daddy

~ “You may be big, but Jesus is bigger.” ~Daddy (quoting a story)

~ “Do you have the courage to be a young man or a young woman of valor?” ~Mr. Chuck K.

~ “We will find suffering—the Christian life isn’t easy. However, to be in the Lord’s army is a privilege.” ~Mr. Chuck K. (basically)

~ “We’re not in a worldwide conflict. We’re in a worldwide conquest.” ~ Chuck

~ “When your eyes are on Jesus, you can endure anything.” ~Chuck

~ “No good soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this life.” ~Chuck

And, since the youth convention wasn’t all seriousness, here are a couple quotes I’ve just now mustered from my memory, mostly during the skits. They’re not exact, and you’d definitely have to be there to appreciate them. If you were there, maybe you will:

Aaron: Peter, was this Bible read between the hours of 8 and 10 last night?
Peter: Twelve times.

Zarah (pretending to be Cara as she slaps her biceps): I knew these would come in handy someday.

Richard: Dude, being twenty and in the fifth grade is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Ryan (pride seeping out of every pore): Here I am with my new Wal-Mart fishing pole.

Ryan (in their High Noon rendition skit): And he’s arriving at high noon! (sarcastically) Well what do know, it’s high noon.

Abbie (and people): I’m so glad Diane isn’t here, now I can get some peace and quiet.
Diane (in an impressively high and very loud professional sounding singing voice): I’m hooooooooooome!

Emily: Hey, isn’t that a pie server?
Anonymous: NOOOOO!!! It’s my thinking stick! It helps me think.

Remember Ben trying to scare the bear (otherwise known as Daniel A) away by playing the kazoo? Remember Cara gasping for breath as she gave Gabe his “graduation spanking?” Or the family tug-of-war with everyone against her? Or how about Klara’s hairdo? Phillip being a raccoon? Eric’s impersonation of Andrea? Ben throwing “Andrea” over his shoulder to rescue her? Jacque as the ferocious cook? Aaron and Peter’s hilarious sleuthing techniques?

If you don’t, you’re missing out.

And finally, because the compliment made me so happy, I quote Zarah talking to me:

“You crack me up.”

Sweeter than banana cream pie

Today I did something I've never done before. I went to the DMV and got my license.

Yes, that's what I said!

Now I say "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I can't believe I actually did it! And yet here I am typing away with it sitting in front of me to admire. It might seem a bit vain, but I feel like I just have to keep looking at it to make sure it's still real. . . and besides, as my mom expressed in her fine opinion, our state's license has always seemed quite pretty. But of course since it's mine I would think it was pretty no matter what it looked like.:)

Soooo, how did it go? The eye test? No sweat. No surprise I guess, especially since I was wearing my contacts.hehe The written test? I spent a little bit longer on it than I should have, perhaps, but no problem-o. Then came the long hour wait for my driving test, while all the while I yawned and yawned, trying heartily not to be nervous and not wholly succeeding. Mostly I was waiting for an ancient 97-year-old man trying to renew his license. . . I'm afraid the poor man may have failed. In the meantime things got pretty backed up since it was so busy and all, but fortunately I was next and got to get it over with (finally!). Fifteen minutes later I walked back into the office, brimming with relief as I carried a yellow paper that had an "X" marked in a box next to a word sweeter than banana cream pie: "Passed."

I blinked, stunned, and I was holding my license.

WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Smashing" says it all!

Well, I am back once again. Girls' week was smashing, the youth convention was superb, and vacation was fantastic. What more need I say?

You know me well enough to realize that I am about to say more.

Announcement number one: to whom it may interest, I have successfully completed AND passed drivers' education!!! No license yet but the bulk of the work is behind me and HISTORY! I actually had to take the final test the day that girls' week started. Not only that, but my final class was right before the van was leaving so I had to leave my class early and get shuttled down to Jaffrey to meet our ride. Thankfully the rendezvous went smoothly.

Hmm, next I would like to say for the record (and for all those who haven't heard me say it already) that this girls' week was my first sick-free girls' week EVER!!! True, it was only my third one, but being sick for two girls' weeks in a row is not to be taken lightly, and therefore I don't take my healthy week of fun for granted. Obviously Someone was looking out for me. Not that God wasn't looking out for me in past years. In fact, I learned a valuable lesson last girls' week on just accepting sickness when God allows it. It's a very content feeling, and it certainly helps dispel fear in the "oh no am I going to get sick?" category. Nonetheless, I am extremely thankful that I was spared a day or two of misery.

So, what did we do? Um, went to Newport, saw the Coronet, and oh yes, shopped. The next day we went strawberry picking and rode a hayless hay ride, and the day after that we toured Blithewold Mansion and got to explore its humongous garden by the bay. Then before ending up at Fairwood, oh yeah, we shopped again at the outlet malls. And that, with the exception of the myriad of scintillating conversations, breathtaking games, and uplifting meetings, sums up the week. The End.

And of course the youth convention went swimmingly. I wish I could say that I felt like describing it for you, but since the majority of my readers know what a youth convention is typically like, I won't force myself. However I must say that along with the good meetings and sports (and meals and people and everything else), Craig did a very good job of coming up with creative games. One afternoon we were divided up into teams and we competed in field day activities as a team (for instance every team member's time for the fifty-yard dash was averaged with everyone else's, the long jumps were all added together, and so forth). Another time we played the regular skit-in-a-bag game, where everyone did a splendid job in coming up with hilarious ideas. Over all a fun convention.

On to vacation. Last Wednesday morning we picked Kendra up at the Hartford airport and our whole family just chilled around, exploring corners of Massachusetts we'd never seen before, having a picnic lunch, and then wandering around in the Holyoke mall which was closing early for the 4th. But we still got some last remnants from a closing Chinese place in the food court. I think they were happy to bestow their leftovers upon us! I was the last person in our family to get my food I think, and the Oriental lady absolutely heaped my plate, chuckling, "You eat a lot tonight!" And I did, but not without a little help.

Thursday was Six Flags and I got to go to my first water park ever! I had loads of fun trying those out, sloshing round dark corners in a tube with my siblings, going through waterfalls at odd intervals, and speeding down twisting slides that go faster and faster as you go. I even tried out a slide that was several stories high and practically just drops you at a sixty-five degree angle or so. I wasn't ready to go on the Superman roller coaster though. Somehow going 77 mph and being dropped two hundred some feet just isn't quite my cup of tea.

On Friday my whole family minus Chad sailed on up (in our mini van) to Quebec City where we spent a relaxing weekend camping. Yes, camping! And we love it! Or at least those of us who went do. No wimps in our family. . . . except all those people who slept on air mattresses, for Pete's sake. I mean, if you're going to go camping it's no fun unless you feel a couple of rocks sticking into your back, right? I can understand if you're a lady in your upper fifties who has to deal with arthritis, but if you're just a twenty-one-year-old guy? Come on! Where's the adventure? Nonetheless, since we had the air mattresses, we used them, though Daddy and I were the only people who didn't wimp out. Oddly enough, Craig's air mattress proved to be the one that never leaked and he was the one who ended up with back problems on the trip. Poor kid.

So we explored Quebec City in all its quaint Frenchness, admired St. Ann's Cathedral, visited Krispy Kreme (of course), explored Canadian countryside with beautiful red-roofed barns (which of course we stopped to take pictures of), swam in the campground pool, played croquet, read Jeeves and Calvin and Hobbes, and hid our books from Kendra who kept on trying to steal ours because she didn't bring enough reading material. All in all, we had a lovely vacation. There's some sort of charm in having a vacation where you wash your face from a spigot, spit your tooth paste into the woods, pay a quarter for a hasty shower, and eat three s'mores each night before bedtime, is there not? The last morning we intended to break camp and touch on Montreal on our way home, so we woke with the rooster. I'm serious, we all really did wake up to the call of the rooster outside our tent at seven o'clock sharp! Never mind that the rooster's voice sounded suspiciously like my mom's. . . .