Family Outing

Let's go back a few weeks to when mom and pop and their two kids headed out in the family vehicle to a little place called Deadwood Lookout. After they loaded up their gear, their trusty/slobbery hound Ellie, and enough firewood to construct another cabin should the original be missing, they set out.

I, as one of the kids, spent the majority of the ride passed out and learning why people buy "non-drowsy" Benadryl. Eventually I came to and discovered we were almost there. An hour later I discovered that "almost there" is a relative term. We spent quite a long time looking for the dirt turnoff that would lead us up to the cabin. We found it tucked away in some shady road construction after we tried several other dirt roads. During that process, Steve (Pop) claimed to have found a human femur to which Kyla (Mom) responded, "Shutup." All the following jokes about human femurs were met with similar responses.

We made it up to the the cabin and didn't do much that evening since it was late. The next day we did a lot of slingshot-ing and meadow leaping. For your information, a lot of meadow leaping is required if you want to secure a good meadow-leaping-photograph. You may consult Anne about the validity of this statement. After we achieved, well, most of us, achieved very high-quality leaping photos, we headed inside since it was starting to snow a bit and we still wanted light for game-playing. We played many a rousing round of Nerts, Cranium, and some game that involved multitasking (aka remembering to push the timer) and therefore was far too difficult. Nerts got a little heated (pronounced, "Kyla wasn't winning anymore,") so we had to take a mental break from that. All in all, a fantastic evening. We went to bed at a decent hour with snow still sprinkling around us.

You know you work at a therapeutic boarding school for 10-14 year old boys when:

You walk into a room that smells overwhelmingly of cinnamon and think to yourself, "Man. It smells like somebody murdered the cinnamon fairy in here."

Happenings

So, here's what's been going down. A few weekends ago, Julianne came for a hilarious visit. Unfortunately most of Thursday was devoted to me working :( The next day we made some pretty deluxe t-shirts and headed with them to the zoo. We spoke with several animals, and my personal favorites were the Warty Pigs and the Meerkats. There was dinner, frozen yogurt, some creepers, some bubble tea, and a general good time was had by all.

The next night was the third Saturday of the month, which we all know is the gathering of the local Contra Dance Society. You'd better believe we rocked that. Even Steve who developed a little beckoning motion he did with his hands to alert wayward dancers where to go enjoyed himself. I must say, the Portland society had more to offer, but this was a good experience.

There was also a trip to a nearby hot springs. A friend and I drove to one we saw on the internet but once we got there, we immediately changed the name to "Million People Hot Springs." This prompted our decision to hike to another one nearby. 2.5 miles later, we ran into some hunters who told us we were definitely on the wrong trail. Eventually, we found the hot springs and had a rolicking good time.

This weekend I began an endeavor into the world of tech decking. To learn what a tech deck is and what you can do with it, go here. Anyway, as with most of my hobbies, I'll probably be excited about it for a while and then get bored. I started it to show up the kids at work :D Then there was Jana's lovely wedding and hanging out with the sis.

On Saturday a fellow rockstart was in town and I got to meet her lovely baby who will probably be a rockstar herself. An outing with friends rounded off the night.

Discount Oats

Well, approximately 8 days ago, some of my homeslices and I celebrated my b-day. It was a pretty fantastic event. We started by doing some hiking on the Oregon Trail. Naturally we took a lot of bets about who would die of dysentary, and who would be struck with typhoid fever. Ashlee clued us in that you should pick the people in your party based on marriage eligibility. Steve shared that the best strategy for survival is to buy nothing but ammo. He assured us that his party, consisting only of members whose names rhyme, always had enough to eat. Unfortunately, we were never able to make a conclusive decision of who would be eaten first, Donner style. After tossing around a football, observing history, making some pretty bad attempts at pronouncing French phrases involved in said history, and one of us lost (really badly) in a running race, we headed to dinner to meet up with some more peeps. After that, off for some ice cream, and then for the pièce de résistance - the oatmeal fight.

Before leaving for the evening, we filled a pool Ashlee found on craigslist with water and oatmeal. It was too watery, so on the way home, we bought 5 more containers. At the cash register, the lady looked at a group of girls and the group of oatmeal containers and said, "Aww, are you making oatmeal cookies tonight?" *Insert long awkward pause* I piped up boldly, "Actually, no, we're, um, having an oatmeal fight." *Blank stare* "Uh. Okay!" I'll just say that the fight was one of the oddest things I've ever participated in, but good times nonetheless!

The gems of the cyber world

Well, now that I'm not living with the parentals, I've found myself looking for some furniture. I mean, sitting on an upturned laundry basket (yes, Anne, I know it's yours) and typing on my computer which sits on an upturned laundry hamper is niiiiice, I am still looking for some furniture.

Thus, I am wading through the glory that is craigslist.com. Some people who are native English speakers might be confused when they run across words that sound vaguely familiar but need the pictures to translate. Here are some examples:

Dallor - base currency of the USA. Usually spelled "dollar"
Dinning - referring to the act of eating, not the act of making a lot of noise. Usually spelled "dining."

I also ran across some interesting items. Such as an 80 oz Vlasic Pickle Jar (free).
"Nothing special here. Just a large glass jar. Modern - as in purchased full of pickles in the last month. Good for, well, pickles and maybe pickled eggs." Well alright.

And under the heading of DO NOT MISS THIS


Wolf dishes, anyone?

Galactic Greetings!

That was the title of the email I got with my sweet action Buzz Lightyear picture in it. I will post that here. Anyway, a whirlwind of activity the past few weeks. The highlights:

-Anne, Kyla, LeeAnne, Ashlee, and I all hopped in Sizzle's car and drove a squillion hours down to Anaheim to the Comfort Inn, which Anne came to refer to as, "The Shadiest Place on Earth." Because, although it has a close proximity to "The Happiest Place on Earth," we still learned about call girls, sketchy people, and police reinforcement from another boarder. Sweet.
-We met up with Jackie, John, and Syd and headed (sans John) to Disneyland and California Adventure for three days. It was a total blast minus a few minor events, one which will be mentioned next. I really liked it, but I kind of felt that my eyeballs were injected with a nervous, colorful electricity and wondered what the difference between Disneyland Day 3 and LSD is.
-The person currently masquerading as Snow White (and also the little-known fairy character--Fawn) is not a nice person. As Snow White, she shut Anne down when Anne requested that she act scared as we held up our apple slices. After acting like a 3-brain-celled ditz for a while, she told Anne, "Why don't YOU do that, while the rest of us pose like pretty princesses?" Vomit.
-Adrienne rescued me and it was good to see her.
-Then we drove up to Syd's shack in Modesto and spent a ridiculous day by the pool. Spoiled? Yes I was.
-Then we drove home.
-I'm pretty sure I got a job at a boys ranch. I had an interview Friday and they left a voicemail asking if I could start on Monday, but didn't tell me what time. Thus far, my efforts to track them down have been fruitless. I'm probably just calling the wrong number. Anyway, it involves working outside, with kids, dogs, horses, etc. And I get to wear jeans and t-shirts and tennis shoes. Bwhahaahahha. I'm pumped.

you betcha

As many of you are aware, I have been working for my dad at his automotive shop. I am the front desk receptionist. My main duties include: invoices, quickbooks, smiling big and directing customers to someone else. Also staring out the window when there's not a whole lot going on. Now, you must understand that my dad comes from a line of "good ol' boys" and talks the talk well. When he and ky and syd's dad get together, it's like visiting a convention in another language. I'm trying to think of how to describe that language. It's got a twang, a bit of southern, a bit of hick. And there are several phrases unique to this language. I recently discovered that not only do I generally understand goodolboy, but I unintentionally speak it. Here are some phrases that recently came flying out of my mouth. (I will include pronunciation)

"Bin doin' a lotta fishin' lately?"
"Yep, yep, jus git 'er dun."
"Thank yew." (You know how people with accents say it.)

It's been a kind of horrifying process, but I don't mind it too badly. Just be forewarned.

Upcoming news - I will be bebopping down to California with some of the coolest people on earth to see some more of the coolest people on earth. I will also probably throw up at Disneyland, but I'm pretty excited to scream my lungs out. This basically happens on all the rides. There's this sweet picture somewhere of me and Kyla on a rollercoaster. She is smiling relaxedly. I, on the other hand, look like I am giving birth to a demon-possessed rhinocerous (large and terrifying). I don't expect that anything will have changed between now and then.

When I come back, remind me to blog about hearing loss and why I could get a hearing aid.