thought for the day....

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered."

-G.K. Chesterton

merry christmas!

if only this blog had smell-o-matic technology!

mmmmm....fresh christmas tree smell...mmmmmm

Congratulations David and Julie!!!

...and major props to my brother for pulling off quite the proposal set-up, which included a blindfolded trip to a mountain in VA, the big question written out in luminaries/candles, and a crew of my brothers, her sister, and several friends to set off fireworks when she said yes!

time-wasting anagram fun

josh ran across this site while he was looking for a last minute study tool tonight...

what's in your name?

(mine's "rotten ink"!)

To my sweet husband....

HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

pumpkin carving gala 2006

Ok, so not so much a 'gala' per se, but definitely a fun time was had by all. Five women with pumpkin tools, cupcakes & cookies, and piles of pumpkin guts all the middle of the living room floor - awesome.

Mine (the one with the stars) is a bit of a switch from the 'Reformation Day' pumpkins of years past, but I figured the neighborhood folks here might not appreciate Latin phrases as much as the seminarians. :D

new house rule...

...according to Josh.

"Whoever lands the first strike gets dibs on clean-up."

Clean-up on the bug guts that is. >:p

(This picture of a camel cricket is not actual footage from our house, just a representative of one of the many ugly ones sneaking up from our basement. They're so darn fast too - ick.)


In other, happier, news....Julia is now the proud mom of two!!! Here are some of the beautiful pictures. Congratulations!!!

I found it!

Well, actually, Josh found it on youtube. I promise it wasn't there a few days ago, but this is the clip of the art gallery giant slides I saw on tv. Enjoy the flying Brits!

Oh, and we had to scrape our windshield this morning. Holy frijoles.

it's almost worth a trip to London.....

I saw this on BBC news yesterday - how cool! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down a video clip yet, so this is the closest I can get.

the more you move, the more you learn :)

Did you know that Columbus Day is a major Italian-American holiday? Me neither, until we moved to a place with a very substantial Italian community. (Hence the great food available, as earlier mentioned.) The New York parade is televised here - and wow, these people are fierce about their heritage. Here's a short history, if you're interested....

I've also learned that Delaware is one of THE best places to enjoy fall. Not as cold as Grove City, where it's already freezing, and not as scorching as Mississippi where the leaves never turn. It's been awhile since I've lived somewhere with an actual fall - there's actually an apple tree covered with bright red apples right down the street! I have to say, I do miss the huge pecan trees at RTS and the afternoons shelling baskets and baskets of FREE pecans, but the crisp air here is a huge plus. I'll see if I can get some good pictures of the leaves changing for our friends still in the Deep South. :) (Or you can always road trip to see them yourselves - we only have a spare bedroom til February!)

Ok, about the 3-D pictures Josh has of the little bambino. It was actually part of my ultrasound, and apparently they all look a little alien at that stage since their skin is still transparent. (Check out some similar pictures at this cool website on fetal development.) So you're seeing a lot of skeletal and muscular structures. The bumps on the head are actually where the skull is fusing together! Cool in theory, but definitely alien looking.

the bambino was so wiggly.....

that the ultrasound tech was only about 80% sure that it's a GIRL!

So, since it's not 100%, we're still going to say "he or she." But here are some of the pics! :D


(sucking a thumb already!)










the little feet (on the left)....




and a beautiful profile.

alien

So Josh watched the numismatist clip I posted last night, and he just didn't think it was funny. Like, at all.

But then he found this on youtube and completely freaked himself out for the rest of the night. He just kept looking at me funny, saying, "I just can't believe you're going to be that big! And that that's going to happen!" Me neither, in fact, but at least it's a gradual adjustment, right?

are you a numismatist?

Better yet, have you seen this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuEvOIovw4k

HA! It just blows my mind that a government agency came up with this ad!

no direct comparison intended...promise

Josh: "Well, in case there's an uprising tomorrow and I don't come home, I love you and I'll see you in heaven.

Me: "Good grief, what kind of day are you planning on having at work?"

Josh: "No, no, I'm doing prison visitation tomorrow."


HA! I seriously thought he meant while he was at church. :)

so sad, but no....

Isn't he so cute? We're not *really* thinking about getting a dog, but if we find the perfect one that fits our ultra-long list of requirements, we're getting more and more open to the idea.

Here's our list of "musts":

1. not yappy/prone to barking at nothing,
2. small & low-energy enough to be happy in a townhouse and small yard, but not so small as to be accidentally mistaken as a dust ball or large bug,
3. not prone to being stinky because of its oily coat (we definitely met one of those today),
4. not so high-bred as to cost hundreds upon hundreds in initial fees and maintenance,
5. and the biggest - must must must be ok with small kids


Now doesn't this little guy Jasper look like he would fit the bill? We thought so too until we met him today at the PetSmart adoption fair. Either he was fed some sort of downer before his online picture was taken or he was fed crack today before we met him. Holy toledo. Not only was he barking at everything moving and not moving within his range of vision, but he can leap almost as high as our heads. (Apparently he's a mix of daschund and Jack Russell...and the Jack Russell is trying to make an escape.)

A cat fits more of our requirements, but somehow neither of us is just dying to get a cat. They had some cuties there today too, but none that just made us want to take it home.

aaahh...it was so nice to get our cute animal fix though. :D

I'm back :)

Erin -- [adjective]: Like in nature to a banana peel 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

So this random definition generator is psychic after all! Why? Because, two and a half weeks after my return from the beach, the front of my shins have just started peeling. Ha!

In case you're one of the few readers that reads my blog and not Josh's (I can't think of any), here's the two month 'life update' in one breath.

June - bought the paint and the rest of Home depot, ordered laminate, ordered carpet, painted the downstairs of the house. wrong color! wasted paint - freaked out. upstairs color wrong too. non-returnable. bought more paint by running outside to the car with Josh four times to check paint chips in 'natural light.' with the help of 20-odd people from church, painted the ENTIRE townhouse ceiling to baseboards. tore out the old carpet, and replaced the blinds, garbage disposal, a bathroom sink, baseboard diffusers, gutters and gutter guards, ridge vent, toilet seat, screen door, and moved a cable jack. I am queen of the caulk gun. found out we're EXPECTING!!!

July - continued the autism job that I started mid-June. vowed that after the summer I would never work spec.ed. in the public school system again. what a mess. literally - I worked with 15-18 yr. olds who were non-verbal and working on potty-training. went on the saltines & ginger ale diet as my body decided it didn't like food after all. slept.....and slept and slept and slept.

(and I already know you're all going to really try and read that in one breath.)

so now, after a lovely vacation at the beach, we're finally settling into our fall routine. I'm home now, with plenty still to do on the house. and no, I'm not *really* showing yet, although I'm decidely more chunky around the middle. we did hear the heartbeat last week though, which was amazing!

and my appetite is definitely coming back... as evidenced by the Lady and Son's Cheesy Mac leftovers in the fridge. :)

"Well, at least the paint job looks nice..."

...I said from the Mitsubishi, as we followed the Honda and the towtruck it was on to the mechanic's.

*sigh*

At least it doesn't seem to be anything major. It just decided not to start yesterday, that's all. And no, we didn't kill the battery - it was working just fine, seeing as the lights came on and it made a horrific noise as it was trying to start the engine.

Hooray for a church that all goes to the same mechanic though! There's a Christian guy in our area who is really good at what he does, and he seemed that way to us too when we got there. First mechanic I've ever been to that actually popped the hood right then and there and explained what he thought was going on, pointing and teaching as he went. (I actually feel like I learned something!) After determining that the starter motor and spark plugs were all doing their jobs, it's either the timing system or fuel system - perhaps a clogged fuel filter.

It is a little bit of a kick in the teeth though after just having the windshield replace two days ago so it can pass Delaware inspection.

*sigh again*

By matter of necessity, I learned to drive the Mitsubishi today! The clutch is a little tricky, but nothing is too bad considering that we're blessed to have two cars. Gratefulness covers over a multitude of car quirks - we would have seriously been up the creek if this had happened two months ago!

So, I'm off to Home Depot and Bob's Affordable Carpets to start getting some price quotes. (You better believe I'm going to shop around for flooring considering our current car "fun"!) I believe some caulk, sandpaper, and paint are also going to be in order.

Good thing I don't start work til the 19th! We would have been even farther up that aforementioned creek without a paddle...or lifejacket...or maybe even a boat. :P

sweet

You Are Storm

Exotic and powerful, Storm descended from a line of African priestesses. Emotions can effect your powers, but you are generally serene. Powers: controlling weather, creating winds that lift you into flight, generating lightning

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Awesome.

(What a great link, John! Don't be sad you're Jean Grey...she's pretty cool.)

In other news...we are closing on the house today! Whoo hoo! Now starts the painting and flooring fun, but at least it doesn't cost as much as down payment and closing costs. :P

And... I took the autism program summer job. (They actually called me back the next day to offer the job.) It doesn't start til June 19th, so I've been volunteering at the pregnancy center in the meantime. I never thought I'd say it, but it is so good to be busy again. Woman is not meant to sit idle in an apartment all day long. :)

"David found a bee, and he kissed it."

Yep, that's what I heard. Or thought I heard, anyways. Turns out, Josh had said "They have been found to be inconsistent" when we were talking about someone's tendency to mix metaphors. (It was late - what can I say?)

Say it fast....you can see how I got what I did. :)

On a different note - the job search has gotten wild and crazy, all within a matter of days. Here's the chronological breakdown of events:

Monday, the 15th - Josh calls me from work and says that Ginny Geiger, the new director of A Door of Hope (the local crisis pregnancy center) needs a receptionist. Could he pass on my name? I said sure - having met Ginny the week before at church, I was excited by the possibility. The center is moving from a rural/suburban area to a new building by the university and another one in downtown Wilmington to better serve women in crisis. Two seconds later, she calls me in for an interview that afternoon. It went well, but I wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do. They have very few clients now, so I'd be answering the phone a little, and organizing pamphlets and filing a lot. They needed the help though so I didn't rule it out.

Wednesday, the 17th - I made a bunch of calls to the Delaware Autism Program to see if they had any teacher's assistant positions open. I was already set to to tour a classroom of a lady at church on Friday, but no one had gotten back to me if there was even a possibility of a job. I'd decided that if there were openings, I'd pursue them; if not, I'd take the job at A Door of Hope. Easy as that. (Ha! I need to stop saying that.)

I finally get in touch with a supervisor, who says.....she doesn't know. Apparently there's a hiring freeze on paraprofessionals til the end of July due to a budget crisis. Send in my resume, letter of interest, and application from their website anyways, and they'll consider it then. I agree to it, but in the back of my mind, I'm already ruling it out.

I go to their website, and I find two different applications...one for next year, and one for their summer program. Deadline for the summer program? May 17th - today! Why had no one told me about this?! I begin a four hour marathon of redoing my resume, writing a letter of interest, filling out both sets of applications, and flying over to church to fax it all in.

Friday, the 19th - I spend the morning observing the high school high-functioning autism class. Delaware Autism Program is part of the public school system, and it has a main site called the Brennen School. It also has several satellite classrooms at many of the area schools, and that's where I was visiting. First of all, the local high school is pretty ghetto - a lot like Richmond City Schools. The classroom itself was not too bad though. They were working on a lot of vocational goals, and everything was being done independently. So different from Magnolia! My first impression of the program was so-so. A Door of Hope seemed better and better.

Two hours later - The phone call comes from the Brennen School, asking me to come in on the 22nd for a tour of the main school and for an interview for the summer program. Hmmm...now both jobs are possibilities again. I figure Monday will bring more answers.

Yesterday - The tour and interview takes a total of 15-20 minutes. That's it. And I wasn't interviewed by a supervisor of any sort - I think it was a teacher and some other staff member. The school is much nicer than the high school site, and the kids didn't seem nearly as severe as some area people seemed to think they were. (I guess I've gotten used to a lot over the years.) Lots of great programs, therapists, etc. The weird thing? They are really big into PECS, which is the picture exchange system for people with communication problems. Boo! It's not bad as a very last resort, but I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of these kids could be reading, writing, and talking, using the Association Method. I mean, I've seen it happen so many times. (I'm biased - I know.) I still could see myself working there though, and they said they'd let me know in a week or two.

Final decision? I liked the Brennen School enough to decide to pursue it. It doesn't start til June 19th though, so I called Ginny to let her know that I wasn't going to take the job, but that I'd be willing to come in to volunteer a couple times a week until they get a permanent receptionist. She liked that idea - so that's where we are!

Whew!

It's a wonder I'm even thinking straight after all that. Let me tell you - this whole thing has done wonders for the prayer life. Funny how that works! ;)

a house, a house! my life savings for a house!

ok, well, not really our life savings, but man it feels like it when you're lying on the floor signing all the loan papers. wow. definitely a jump up from 380$ a month in Jackson. I know, I know...home equity is a good thing. *sigh* It's just so final! Nobody talks about getting cold feet before you buy a house. (and yes, I know I'm stretching the title quote, but it fit....sue me.)

Great news though! We're buying a house! Well, a townhouse really, but it's close-ish to church and in our price range. Hot dog. It had been rented out for about 15 years, and the owner did his own 'home repairs,' so it's going to need a little cosmetic TLC. But that's alright - I can wield a paintbrush with the best of them. And hey - the new Nate Berkus decorating book I was going to buy at Borders? Yep, that's right - it was free at the library. Yessssssssssss. Which is good, since I don't think I'm going to be spending money on anything else, ever. :)

"I think chocolate is very acceptable."

...whispered Grandma Bee, who is 97 and a half. (She points out the half.) Now she's not a direct relative of mine, but she's sort of the 'grandma' of most of our new church. She was giving us the grand tour of her apartment attached to her daughter's house, and the tour included her chocolate stash on top of her mini-fridge. After telling us that someone gave her the goodies for Christmas, she leaned in close like she was going to tell us a great secret. And that's when she winked and told us that she thought chocolate was very acceptable. Then she asked us if we had ever heard of M & M's. Hee hee!

This tour was the beginning of the most...unique...Easter lunch I've been to. Her daughter and son-in-law head up of the international ministry to UDel, and several times a year they invite an enormous crowd over for a holiday meal. There were probably about 50+ people at the house, and let me tell you, the learn-everyones'-names-as-fast-as-you-can game gets a little tougher when the names are Shu Ping, Gui Ja, Woo Kyung, Li De, Hitomi, and Yu Ni. Thank goodness there were name tags, although (as you can imagine) they only helped so much. It was nice of them to include us though, and we went home very full and even more tired.

As much as I miss the people in Mississippi, can I tell you how nice it is to have a real spring? It's been in the 60's to low 80's and sunny pretty much since we've been here, and all the many kinds of flowering trees that grow here are in bloom. What's that? It's 95 in Jackson? Like I said folks, you know you want to road trip. :)

Toto, I don't think we're in kansas anymore

Yes, so the whirlwind that picked us up and plopped us in Delaware is finally starting to simmer down. We really love our new church (the people there are great!), but at the moment it's next to impossible to communicate all we're soaking in (Josh's blog does a much better job.) So I'm just going to post a few things that struck me as oh-so-not-Mississippi.

1. It snowed this morning. I know - what the heck?! When Josh stepped outside this morning to see if we needed coats, he said, "Man, it feels like it could snow outside!" Silly husband, it's April. Sure enough, in the middle of the women's meeting at church this morning, I look outside to see a blizzard of snow coming down. And everyone else there is just carrying on like this is NORMAL! Of course, I'm staring outside watching like a loony, since it's been years since I've seen snow. (Nothing stuck, but still...whoa.)

2. The Italians. And their food. South Beach Smouth Beach, I'm going on the all pizza diet, at least for a week. You know it's a good sign when you see no pizza chains anywhere...no Little Caesar's, Mazzio's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, Domino's....nothin'. Why is that good? Because the stuff that you get around here is an entirely different creation. In every shopping center, and on almost every street corner, there are little Italian pizza/steaks/strombolis places run by the real deal. Like today - we got pizza at Tony's from a guy named Vinny who sounded like he was straight out of the Godfather. Raspy and everything. Seriously guys, this food is worth a road trip up here.

negative space

I never noticed it before. But sure enough, as soon as my dad pointed it out while we were on the road to Delaware, there it was...plain as day on the side of the truck. Can you find the arrow? Please tell me I'm not the only one who never caught on to this cleverness.

purple ska

So, the plans were - drop Josh off at the airport, go to the gym, and then spend my first real day as a non-teacher in the most productive cleaning/packing frenzy you've ever seen.

But it's raining. Storming, actually. (perfect for driving to the airport, right? Boo on Mississippi drivers when it's raining, or anytime for that matter.)

So far, it's been a hanging-out-in-my-p.j's-til-I-took-a-late-shower, listening-to-Fighting-Gravity, and eating-peanut-butter-from-a-spoon kind of day. That's about the same, right? ;) It's truly astonishing how much of a slacker I can be when left by myself. It's only lunchtime though, so I still have time for the frenzy fairy to strike me with her magic wand.

It helps too that we have a deadline...we're moving next week! Our trip up to Virginia/Delaware was mercifully productive, even though we didn't find a house. We knew it was a long shot with our time frame, but hey, we've got an apartment to camp out in for a few months while we take our time looking. And we definitely got a good feel for the layout of Newark, since we (me, Josh, my dad, and my brother Joel) drove around it 50 million times in 2 days.

What other big life decisions did I make? Glad you asked. I'm pretty sure I'm going to look for a job up there. I know...this is news to me too. The assumption was that we would find a house (ha!), and I would spend the time between move-in and having a family fixing the place up. You know, painting, stripping and staining furniture, and the like.

Well, now we have an apartment for three months. I mean, it's debatable if we're going to even put pictures on the walls. And Josh will be at work all day. Right...you see my dilemma. My thoughts exactly. I would be a walking nutcase stuck there all day with nothing to do. So, here comes job interviews - my favorite. :P We'll see where I end up! Ha ha ha! (That's our new motto.)

and we have a winner!

It's official....the dog has a name.

(drum roll please...........)

The new Keltonic dog is....Cody!

Actually, 'Toby' was everyone's first choice. But after calling him that for a full day, it just didn't seem to fit. He just seemed like a Cody.

So nobody I know suggested that name, but if someone wants to pretend that he or she came up with it, I think I can still give out a prize of some sort.

Progress reports? What progress reports?

"well, at least it's not guns."

...said Josh as we were watching the end of the local news.

And he said that because there were who knows how many people in Portland, Oregon having a pillow fight. Yep. A pillow fight. Now of course we were only halfway watching the news, so neither of us had heard any sort of intro. We just looked up to see a mob of people on the screen all bashing each other with pillows in the street.

Could you see that happening in Jackson? Me neither. Definitely with guns, but not pillows.

"outside the box, dang it!"

well, i'm posting a quote from my head.

for those of you who have known me for a while, this won't surprise you, but I definitely think too hard sometimes. and when is this not necessary? that's right - mad libs.

let me tell you...if you're having to tell yourself to think outside of the box, it's too late. you're already wrapped, packing-peanutted, and packaging taped firmly inside. coaxing your brain to let itself go makes it seize up even harder.

so jonathan and lynsey have been driving around the country for a few weeks now, and they've been whiling away the driving hours with mad libs. but not any mad libs - no, these are long stories that jonathan writes himself, and lynsey fills in the blank. so since they've been here for the weekend, late-nights in our kitchen are mad libs times. ha! and when it's my turn to fill in the blank with a part of speech, this is what you would hear in my head....

"Ok, a noun. Hmm....a noun. Something not in this room - too unoriginal. Something clever, not like 'a spoon' or 'a car'. Like....'a muskrat'! Umm...or 'a toaster'! Nope, that's in the room. Dang it! Something witty. Think, think, think."

What's ironic is that, with mad libs, it matters precious little what you end up saying. Even if I did say 'a car' or 'a spoon,' the story would still be just as comical. Yay for good friends who love you, even if your brain is wrapped in its own special packaging tape.

I promise - we really don't watch that much t.v.

"It's like they have hooves!"

Josh saw a girl on American Idol wearing gauchos and tall boots, and he's just not a fan of that look. I think he went on to say that she looked like she had llama legs. Ha!

I'll give you a prize...

...if you can name this dog!

My family has acquired the cutest collie/chow mix that you have ever seen! And if you know my family (die-hard cat family to the end), this is a pretty big step. Problem is, no name they've tried has quite...fit.

The front-runner right now seems to be Buddy, because he's so kind and gentle-hearted that he tries to be everybody's best friend.

So...look at the pictures, and if you come up with the winner, seriously, I'll give you a prize. Not sure what yet, but know it will be fabulous!


(For those of you who've never met my family, he's with my brothers Jonathan and Joel in these pics.)

tourette's

According to Mary Wilsford, that's what we teachers that are leaving are getting. We're all feeling a little ....stretched. And that makes us scream stuff out - not really words, just random sounds of angst.

Don't get me wrong - I love love love this job. It just seems like they're trying to squeeze every last bit of time and energy and help out of us before we go. :o Hence, the uncontrolled noises, often heard up and down the hall.

poor baby

One of the things about autism is that it traps you in a world of your own - where movies, t.v. shows, computer games, and tape stories play on repeat at who knows what volume or intensity. Needless to say, it makes learning to communicate like learning English as a foreign language, as an 80-year-old, in a loud stadium, while having rocks stuck in your shoe. And you don't want to learn it anyways.
The phrases that do come out are often as hysterically funny as those product warnings written by non-native English speakers.

(heard today from my little redhead who is on the autism spectrum....)

"Oh no! Oh no! I'm stuck in my class!"

He really really really didn't want to write, but I was making him. What a cute cry for help! If only it helped him get out of his work like he'd hoped.

give the guy a break

heard this weekend while watching the olympics...

"You know, Bob, he really just needs to relax.."

Ok, this was said about a man lugeing (luging?) down the track at 85 MILES AN HOUR! I guarantee you anything that the commentator would not be 'relaxed' if he was hurtling downhill at speeds faster than he goes on the interstate with nothing between him and certain death but a bodysuit. Please.

toeing the line of smart-mouthing

Me: "Why are you out of your seat?" (to the kid wandering around the room)

Child: "Why, I'm just getting some exercise."

Hmm....I better keep an eye on this one.

Guys get through seminary...

...by the sweat of their 'frau!' ha ha ha! that's a quote straight from Dr. Curry about the women like me that pay their husbands' way through seminary. Just classic.

The other great quote of the day comes straight from one of my student's daily journal entry:

"I must tell the truth. I broke the eggs!"

Apparently, he not only broke them, but tried to repair them and hide them back in the carton so he wouldn't get in trouble. :) And that's why my job is still fun, even on the hardest of days!

Ewww

This definitely falls into the category of weird things that you'd rather not know.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/27/insect.dye.ap/index.html

I mean, I can see how if you were trying to keep kosher or were a vegetarian, that eating a daily diet of little squished bugs would be deeply unsettling. I prefer to file the idea in the category of "things that are true, but dwelling on them would cause some sort of psychosis."

Other things in that category include all the partially fact-probably true-nobody knows for sure kind of things we all use to repeat to each other in middle school, like the number of spiders you ingest in your sleep over your lifetime, etc.

Still....ewww.

We're not in Kansas anymore

Well, I had great expectations of filling a blog with witty or deeply profound quotes on a daily basis. But as you can see, the whole "daily basis" thing is not quite happening. I guess I didn't realize that you have to have some sort of working memory left at the end of the day to remember any great quotes. Aha! Now we see the problem. (Sorry to disappoint, Mary Wilsford:) )

(Cute quote of the day: "That's astrocious!" said one of my students after looking at her terrible handwriting on one of her papers. It definitely was astrocious.)

So, if you haven't heard the news by now, which would be unbelievable since news travels at the speed of light in our varied communities here, we're going to Delaware! You can read Josh's blog (http://joshua627.blogspot.com) for all the details of the weekend, but man oh man, what a whirlwind. As of April 1st, if all the ordination stuff goes smoothly, Josh will be the assistant pastor at Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Newark (which is pronounced "NEW-ark," not "NEW-erk" like the one in Jersey).

Finding a house, packing an apartment, finishing a job, cramming in last minute fellowship...it's no wonder my head is scrambled!

the guessing game

That's right folks...name that illness!

Here are the clues...

1. Hacking cough
2. Super sore chest
3. Voice like a man or a frog, depending on the hour
4. Child in class out with severe bronchitis today

Any guesses?

Well, my guess was probably the same as yours, so I signed myself up for a doctor's appointment ASAP. (Which is rare for me...I'm definitely a tough-it-out-unless-I'm-dying kind of girl.) But since we're flying to Delaware for the weekend for a church interview, I figured I shouldn't give everyone the "gift that keeps on giving" when I shake their hands.

Turns out it's just an upper respiratory infection. (That shouldn't make me happy, but it really did!) Antibiotics are my magic pills.

So, okay, this is not really a funny quote, unless you count my kids asking me all day,
"Mrs. Erin, are you sick?" as I coughed and hacked my way through the day. I could have thought of a clever response, I'm sure, but the reaction time was just a wee bit slow today!

in the beginning...

Josh: "So, how attached are you to your socks?"

Me: "Ha ha! Um, I don't know, why?"

Josh: "Well....I accidentally vacuumed up one of them today."

sigh....

This is why I have a quote board now.....

Remember your freshman year in college when everyone had the ubiquitous dry erase board for writing down those things that seemed oh-so-funny at 3 am? "Ha ha! We're cool college students now...we have quote boards!"

So, my life seems like an entirely different existence from those first days living away from home. But somehow, I never have completely escaped the urge to write down the absurd, loony, or downright funny things I hear and read.

So here's a little window into the things in my day that make me laugh...and here's to extra socks. :)