I'm going on a trip... I think.

So this really random thing happened to me on the way home from work. I was listening to my usual WJTL, the local Christian radio station, and this song came on that I've never heard. I don't know who the guy was that was singing it, but I believe it had something do with the end of his life and his going to heaven. The lyrics were, "I'm gonna flyyyyyyyy a-way! I'm gonna flyyyyyyyyy a-way!"

At that exact moment, and I mean exact, a car merged in front of me, and I looked at their vanity plate which read, "FLY AWAY." I kid you not. I started loudly exclaiming to myself, "No way! No way! How weird, how weird, how weird, how weird!"

Then I started to worry. Is God trying to tell me something? Am I going to fly away, as in, leave this earth??? Luckily I was only 3 miles from home so I didn't think a major accident was likely in the following 5 minutes. Maybe our black cat (who I appropriately nicknamed 'Satan' on his 3rd day of life, but later would change to Joey Oreo-y) would succeed in his evil plan to open my jugular with his claws.

Or maybe my sanity is going to fly away. I mean, one more night of our 3 dogs going ballistic and madly barking at NOTHING at 3 a.m. could definitely make me go all looney-tooney.

Or MAYBE, just MAYBE, I'm supposed to go on a trip, say, to Madagascar to see The Boy? Yeah, I'm pretty sure my very strange "fly away" coincidence was a sign that I'm supposed to leave all of this coldness behind and fly to Madagascar, Hawaii, the Bahamas, or some such place. Now I just need to see a license plate that reads "BELIZE."

The first sentence is false... the rest, ashamedly true!

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you.But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft.You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily.You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatdonutareyouquiz/

If only I had a helicopter....

... life would be SO much easier. For many reasons.
1. We could put the landing pad where our above-ground pool used to be and then I wouldn't be sad every time I look at that big blank patch of sand and weeds growing up through it.
2. Every time we'd take off and land, the propeller blades would blow all the dog poop out of our yard. Of course, it may end up in our neighbor's yard, but hey, he doesn't ever go outside anyway.
3. I wouldn't have a near-cardiac arrest every time some late-for-work-er races by me like he's in a Nascar race.
4. I wouldn't have a near-cardiac arrest every time some wanna-be-Nascar-racer tries to draft off my bumper.
5. I wouldn't have a near-cardiac arrest every time some late-for-work-wanna-be-Nascar racer cuts in front of me to see if he can get to the red light first.
6. When I have a doctor's appointment in the middle of the day, I'd save SO much time instead of driving 35 min. to work, 40 min. back to the dr.'s office (near home), 40 minutes back to work, 45 minutes home at rush hour.
7. I'd get to wear really cool head-gear, like ear phones and goggles.

Now, where do I go to get my pilot's license? And, does http://www.vehix.com/ sell copters?

I wish I had been there.

This is my daughter, a junior at college. She doesn't always dress like this, thank the good Lord. She only wears her boa for special occasions, like, playing in a dodgeball tournament. I'm surprised her team didn't come in first. I mean, the whole team dressed like this. With all that pinkness and feathers flying around, you'd think the other team's eyes would be blinded. Maybe stopping to apply lip gloss was their undoing.

Weekend "Wisdom"

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

I got beaten by a 7 year old.

This just goes to show that one is never too old to play "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." I lost. I think my donkey ended up looking like evolution gone wrong.

My dogs are so gracious...

I'm so glad they share their bed with me. What? You can't see me? I'm there, the big lump on the right. They have dog beds, which the cats sleep on. And the cats have a cat tower on the front porch which no one sleeps in.

The mutts not only think they're entitled to the bed, but to our food as well. We have a path beaten to PetSmart, buying them NAME brand food, but is that good enough for our four-legged goons? No, they want pancakes. The pork-butt at the bottom left of the picture will sit in front of the counter as long as the pancakes sit out on a plate. I'm going to run an experiment one of these days and leave the left-over pancakes on the counter for daaaaaaaays and see what happens.

You know, you'd think the dog would have a system worked out with the cats by now:

Pork-butt: Hey, Hashbrown, jump up there and push that pancake off the counter, would ya?

Hashbrown: What's in it for me?

Pork-butt: I won't chase you for a whole week, and I'll let you lick my ears (yeah, Hashie really does do this).

Thankfully, the cat stays off the counter and our pancakes live to see another day.

Well, it's bedtime for me. I better go stake my claim in my little corner of the bed before the dogs rent it out to a cat.

Oops, too late.

Kids say the darndest things

Every day at school is a new adventure. The little Kindergarteners are just tooooo cute and of course, you never are sure what'll pop out of their little mouths.

The kids can earn these "school" bucks which they then can use to participate in special class activities, or to "buy" goodies from a teacher's classroom store, if the teacher has one. Our Kindergarten teacher has one such store, containing such treasures as McDonald Happy Meal toys, small stuffed animals, and other little trinkets.

One little African American girl last year bought a pair of adult-sized sunglasses, which she proudly donned. She always wanted to be like Mrs. C., one of our secretaries, so the Kindergarten teacher told the little girl to "go show Mrs. C. your new sunglasses!" That tiny kid flaunted her stuff into the office and Mrs. C. went right along with it, claiming, "Girl! You're all that! Your future's so bright you gotta wear shades!" I chuckled at the comment and as I walked the girl back to class, I told her to tell her teacher (a Caucasian woman) what Mrs. C. had said.

As she walked into class, her teacher asked her, "So did you see Mrs. C.?"
To which the child replied,

"Yeah, and she said my teacher's so white I gotta wear shades."

Sit! Good human!

Who's training whom???

This pic was taken by Dylan Lossie in 2004 and was posted on the web at http://photos.wildmadagascar.org/%20images/Dylan/Antananarivo_6.shtml

Now you're asking, "Why?" or "Who cares?" Well, I care. This is where my son is going to spend the next 3 months... the capital of Madagascar. Looks a little different than most of our capital cities here in the good ol' Land of the Free and Home of the Expanding Waistline.

The Boy informed me that he gained weight this fall and I told him, "You'll lose it all in Madagascar eating beetles and larvae." Okay, so I had no idea what they eat. Turns out it's rice, fish, etc. I don't know how he'll survive without his daily recommended allowance of pizza and Mountain Dew.

The Boy's uncle has been the Associate Director of the Environment for the Peace Corps in Madagascar for the last ?? years, and now is about to step down, but before he goes, the Boy received a trip for his college graduation to said country to experience, well, new experiences. Many thanks to the unc, dad, and grandparents who funded these new adventures. He WILL be required to work while there; we're not sure yet what he'll be doing... maybe working for a film company?

His language skills will be stretched, that's for sure. He knows English, and has minors in Spanish and Sister-Teasing. And what do they speak in Madagascar? Of course, neither English nor Spanish, although boys there probably would appreciate his expertise in creating new undesirable nicknames for sisters, right Shrek? I mean, Rachael? Anyway, their main languages are Malagasy (I think I got that right) and French. You know, he may think he's ordering up a deep dish pan pizza and a cold soda and get fried beetles and iced larvae. Eh, he'll figure it out. He's a big boy.

Please pray for his safety as he travels the country, pray that he learns the language, and pray that his Christianity doesn't get put on the back burner, but that he'll actually "live" Jesus to the people there.

Manunka Chunk

I got thinking about the word "caucus." Diane Sawyer enlightened me this morning that "caucus" is a Native American word (in the old days we would have called it an "Indian" word) that means "gathering." The word reminded me of a small village near my elementary school that was also named by Native Americans: Manunka Chunk. I think that it meant something about water, being that it is on the Delaware River, which of course was also named after Native Americans. I always thought Manunka Chunk was not only funny, but really cool. I would have loved to live there, just to tell people, "I live in Manunka Chunk. No, really! I do! No, I haven't been drinking. If I were, I wouldn't be able to pronounce Manunka Chunk." Although, it just hit me that it sounds like something you might do into the toilet if you DO drink too much.

Anywho, I also realized that as much as I like "Manunka Chunk," I really dislike "caucus." My cats make that sound before they cough up a hairball. "CAU-cus, CAU-cus!"

And speaking of cat noises, another word, or rather, acronym I dislike, is that which describes our local 2 year college:

HACC.

Yeah, HACC.

Harrisburg Area Community College. Now, I want to know who's responsible for this. I mean, would it have been so hard to name it "Central PA Community College"? Or, "Harrisburg's Interior Community College"... then it would have been HICC, which, I'm tellin' ya, WAY more accurately describes our area... any courthouse that has to ask if you when applying for marriage license if you and your fiancee are related surely can be described as "hick." And yes, that did happen to Hubs and me. NO, we are NOT related.

If they ever rename HACC, I'm going to suggest "Manunka Chunk Community College." And part of the application will be spelling it correctly.