A spoon full of sugar

helped us with the last 4 days of sickness that Trina's been enduring. We had a different Memorial day that we expected...but we enjoyed Mary Poppins immensely.

Trina's favorite--Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Alex's favorite--Chim-Chim-Cheree

I think the whole family would like to tidy up just by snapping.

If you haven't seen it in a while...it may be time to see it again.

An Emotional Day

Tragedy came to the forefront for me today. None of it touched my life directly except through the emotion I shared in the process.

Earthquake torn China. The numbers are staggering and hard to get my head around.

Windsor, Colorado. Close to home....very close to my alma mater. The huge tornado that struck was devastating to towns all over Northern Colorado.

The Chapman family. One of my favorite singers...who I saw for my birthday...lost a daughter in a car accident in which one of his sons was driving. The girl was 5...just like my Trina. I've wept quite a bit over this...

Just when I think I'm pretty drained on emotion, the tears come fresh.

On top of it all...tonight, my sweet girl asked how babies get into mommies tummies. We had a great talk...she is SO smart and funny.

Now for some ice cream, and some sweet sleep.

I'm scared

of Facebook and MySpace. I already spend too much time online, so if I join one of these, I'm certain that I will spend even less time doing what I should. How much time do you spend on Facebook and/or MySpace a week?

One and a half hours of my life...sucked away

I made the mistake of falling for one of those "surveys". Its not really a survey, its a sales pitch. When they called to let me know that I had "won", I was skeptical, and for good reason. I've done something like this before, and it just sounded fishy. I've been to the timeshare thing and I've had someone in my house selling a food system. Neither one was what I thought it would be.
When I talked to the dispatcher, I asked, "is he or she going to try to sell it to me, or is it just a survey?" And I was told that it wasn't a sales pitch. ARG! Liar! Also, I asked how long it would take, and she said, "it depends on how many questions you have." They should be able to estimate....but they don't because the system is going to suck an hour and a half of your life away.

A nice lady came, and she did a great job selling the cleaning system/vacuum that she had...but I knew going in that I wasn't buying because I had been lied too. Also, Rog and I don't buy things on the spot...we see it as unwise to buy without at least sleeping on it. You see, these sales folks are counting on you to buy it right then before you think about it. But even had they not lied to us and had they not expected us to buy it on the spot, I can say that I never see myself having enough money to spend $3000 on a vacuum...uh...cleaning system. Even if I had the money, its hard to justify that type of money to something like that.

My kids were hungry...we had to take a break to feed them mid-presentation. They were tired, and so was I. My poor man had been at work all day...and with a busy week, he didn't need this.

So, we got our 2 free gifts for listening, and I knew the $500 shopping spree would have a catch. If you look on the website, you have to pay "Shipping and Handling" that really ends up being the exact amount I would actually pay at the store or more. So, it was a total waste. But I was counting on the 2 night stay at a hotel to be worth it....uh oh....so when you read all the fine print and restrictions and limitations, it very likely won't be worth it either. You have to choose 3 locations--one is 6 hours away, but the rest are 12 hours away at least... So, when you consider a 12 hour trip, you drive a day, stay a night, play for one day, and then stay a night before heading home. It seems like a lot of driving (especially with gas so high) for very little relaxation time. Or with kids, you end up having to stay somewhere along the way. Unless we get the exact thing we ask for, it will not be worth the money. *sigh*

So, as I lay here on the table, strapped down, tortured like the man in black but not for something as important as true love, I'd like to explain how I feel. But the words just don't do it justice. Hear my whimper....

**This post has several Princess Bride allusions....for those who missed it.

Bart the Pony?

I'm am SO disturbed to watch Trina's My Little Pony video! It is an old one,from the early 80s, I'd guess, and one of the ponies is voiced by Nancy Cartwright...that's right, the voice of Bart Simpson. No offense to Nancy, but her voice just freaks me out. I'm waiting for the pony to say, "don't have a cow, dude".

Things I hate

So, I've been mulling this around in my head this week...even talked to a few people about it. I realized that I have some irrational hatreds, and I've been exploring where they come from.

1--I hate French. I think it is mainly the language, but it is also tied to the culture that is stereotyped of the French being haughty. I don't hate people that speak French--I have plenty of friends who love it, love Paris--but it came to mind last week when our church adopted a second focus area for prayer that is a French speaking country. I love these folks as my brothers and sisters in Christ, but it has been very difficult for me to get excited about the new focus area because of the language. If they spoke Arabic, I would not be feeling this way.

So, I think a lot of this stems back to 7th grade when people tended to decide which language they would learn. The only choices in Jr. High were Spanish and French. I know I loved Spanish before that...at my Kindergarten program I talked about Mexico. I remember studying it in 6th grade. And I think it goes to my loyalty to those of us who chose Spanish. Spanish is very beautiful, but it doesn't have the reputation of the "language of love". People think French is more chic....and I guess I'm protective of my own love--Spanish.

2--I hate Texas. Some people pray "Lord, please don't send me to Africa", but for me that has definitely been "Lord, please don't send me to Texas" I have had to wrestle with God over this and open myself up to knowing that I would even go to Texas if He asked...but that really seems to me like the worst possible option here on earth. Now, this is totally irrational. I have not really been to Texas more than flying in and out...and the brief drive into Mexico from the very southern tip of Texas. Again, I love people who live in Texas.

Perhaps my thoughts on this trace back to too many friends moving away and always seeming to end up moving to Texas. Texas steals friends from me. Maybe its the "our state is better than yours" pride that comes with Texans. I say...look at Colorado...I just don't buy that your state is better than mine.

3--I hate Apple. Not a nice crispy, juicy apple. The company. This one stems back to my Microsoft days, no question. Microsoft was such an amazing place to work, and once you were a part of it, there was this intense sense of being a part of something great. The competition in this industry is intense, and the team sessions we had talking about this competition got emotions involved. There are plenty of other companies that I learned to hate during that time, but the arrogance of Steve Jobs definitely kept them up top next to Oracle as the most irritating of companies.

So, all of these are related. They stem back to my sense of loyalty. Somehow by being loyal to one thing, the emotional response became hatred for something else. I tend to think of loyalty as all positive. Its one of my better traits, I think. But exploring this lately has helped me see how intense loyalty can take you places that aren't pretty. My first loyalty is to Christ....and place, language or job shouldn't get in the way of connecting with people in His name and for His glory.