Picky Pickle Picker

This blog actually has something to do with married life! Problem one: I never have the guts to tell someone I don't like their food. At least not right away. I took peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for years in elementary school. I didn't tell my mom I didn't like peanut butter until I was 19 or 20. Some of you may be scratching your head right now and saying "But Sarah, you eat a PB&J every day!" This is true, but I use a very small amount of a very specific peanut butter-- and it mostly serves as an adhesive for flax seeds. Anywho, this tendency of mine brings me to problem number two: My Mother in law likes to cook... and my Step-Mother in law too... strange things. Everyone loves their cooking. Henry's mom makes an epic meatloaf that everyone raves about... Henry's step-mom went to culinary school and loves using her knowledge... I can't handle regular peanut butter. This brings us to problem number three: pickles. I love Valasic bread and butter pickles. I could eat a whole jar of those particular pickles. And gherkin pickles. My mother in law jars her own pickles from her garden. She sent us home with several jars. Oh no. It's meat loaf all over again. It took me 4+ years to tell her I don't like her meatloaf. Any one want any pickles?

Mrs. Dale, if you read this... I'm sorry I am a picky pickle picker and a meatloaf hater. I promise I am in the minority and probably have broken taste buds.

Father's Day

My family does not do weekends like the rest of the world. This particular weekend spanned Sunday through Tuesday. It was fantastic. We went to Hardy with the ambitious plan to both canoe and tube, but ended up opting for a four mile tube run and no canoe. Best. Decision. Ever. Floating for four miles in a cool river on a Monday was super relaxing. We were the only ones on the river all day. P.S., the chaco's performed amazingly well. The rest of the family were in flip flops which were no match for the slippery riverbed (My step mom's broke two steps in). Chaco's for the win.

The trip down the river was amazing (cool but not cold AND a rope swing-- couldn't have been better) but the sleeping arrangements were the opposite. The cabin was a little awkward; only one room with a full sized bed, a twin day bed, and a pull out couch. I convinced myself that it would be neat for the whole family to sleep together-- for two nights anyway. The awkwardness was replaced with discomfort by bed time. The pull out couch Henry and I were going to sleep on was worthless. It was so painful we decided to sleep on the floor. To our benefit, there is an "oldest get the mattress" rule in our family. We kicked my little sister off the twin bed and moved her to the floor. After a few hours of Henry and I in a twin bed, I also moved the the floor. My little sisters may not have known it, but they had the best sleeping spot in the cabin.

After lunch/dinner, we went to visit the spring that feeds Spring River. When I was little little, my family camped a lot (from what I gather from pictures anyway) and Hardy was a place we frequented. Mammoth spring does not look all that impressive-- it's a lake with some eddies-- but that joker pumps out 9 million gallons of water an hour at a cool 58 degrees year round. I put my feet in it-- my toes went numb in two seconds. The water is also amazingly clear. This observation prompted me to ask my dad if it was drinkable. His response was yes, while my step mom's was no. Well, I weighed my options and decided that I would regret not taking the opportunity to have a sip of water straight from a cold mountain spring. Thus, I decided to have a sip. Two seconds later we found a plaque that informed us that although the water looks clear and clean, it isn't. Don't drink it. I still have no regrets.

The trip home was also fun. We visited Henry's mom, step dad, and grandmother and had lunch at Olive Garden. Yummm. After lunch, Henry took the car to have an oil change and left me at the mall. : ))))))) I love bargain hunting. Before we left town, Henry's mom sent us with food from the garden, a cake, and the top of our wedding cake. I can't believe it has almost been a year!

In other news, we move next Thursday!!! I. Can't. Wait.

In other other news, Henry's mom also sent us home with a dog kennel... I'm getting excited. Henry wants to wait until our school things are sorted out, but I'm being pretty impatient. : )

This is a blog written out of rage. Lots of rage.

A facebook friend of mine posted this video today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3_23PFnTZ8 For those of you who don't have time to listen, it is a sound clip of Richard C. Hoagland on Coast to Coast warning cities near the gulf of the sure doom and destruction to be brought forth by the bursting of a 22 mile wide gas bubble under the ocean. Thats serious news, or as some would say, breaking news. Since this was the first we had heard of said potential catastrophe, Henry asked me to pull up the wiki page on Mr. Hoagland. As it turns out, Mr. Hoagland has many many ideas on many many things. For instance, he believes that the Obama administration will soon release information pertaining to the discovery of life on Mars. He also posits that we are in the middle of an interplanetary war occurring in Earth's orbit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_C._Hoagland Plug that link into your browser for more of his outrageous assertions (like semi-transparent structures all over the moon which we have never heard reported because all of the astronauts have been hypnotized to forget). Henry and I had a good laugh and then decided to ease this persons mind by sharing our research. This is what we decided to say: "I dont think this is anything to worry about. I was nervous, but then I looked him up. He believes the Obama administration will soon release information about life on mars. He also believes we are in the middle of an interplanetary war within Earth's orbit. No other news agency seems to be reporting this bubble." We also included a link to his wiki. It seemed tactful and friendly -- we were commenting to ease her mind and the minds of others who visit her facebook. No breaking news. The gulf is full of oil, but not about to violently erupt and take out the whole coast. Good news right? Wrong. This is the response we got: You can't invalidate something because Fox News and CNN don't run it. Um.... What????? This wasn't a political argument. The right wing didn't report it, sure, but neither did the left! ALIENS! INTERPLANETARY WARS! HE THINKS HUMANS ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF BEINGS HAVING LIVED ON MARS! HE HAS ZERO, ZILTCH, NO SCIENTIFIC CREDIBILITY. This was not a political argument. I am getting pretty frustrated that every issue must be argued as if political affiliation changes fact. I probably should not get started on global warming, but I think I will touch on it a bit. The data on climate change does not care if you are a Democrat or a Republican. Holding allegiance to one party or the other is not going to rebuild the ozone layer. Let the Geologists be your source of information- you know, the people with the degree and credentials.

Aug, I was really put off by this "friend" for being so defensive. Henry and I both tried very hard to write a comment that was not politically charged or pride wounding. I hope she takes the time to research his claims.

I chose to blog instead of comment back. It would have been ugly. I did type it though, for my own benefit. This is kind of how it went: WHAT??? DID YOU MISS THE ALIENS??? THE INTERPLANETARY WAR??? THIS COMMENT WAS NOT MOTIVATED BY POLITICAL AFFILIATION!!! DID YOU EVEN CHECK THAT LINK??? REALLY??????

Anyway. If you see someone freaking out about a gas bubble exploding, maybe you can find the right words to not get your head bitten off. Maybe this quote from a comment on the video will help: "He is nuttier than a fruitcake!"

I think I might de-friend this person. Clearly she does not know me.

Klondike Bars

I have a serious weakness: Klondike bars. I wake up thinking about how I get to have one after dinner. After this box, I don't think I'm going to buy anymore for a while. A chocolate covered square of ice cream should not consume my waking thoughts.

In other news, lab work is going pretty well. A few weeks ago I admitted that even if I failed the experience would be worth it... I still feel that way. My paper contribution needed some serious trimming, but I learned so much about the difference between a thesis, an abstract, a manuscript, and a journal/conference paper. I've also learned a billion things about excel and SPSS which is pretty exciting. Most of those programs are still magic to me. I'm stoked about my senior year.

My home life is pretty exciting right now too! Henry and I did some serious (serious seems to be a theme) un-cluttering today. We scaled back our DVD, book, and game ownership which was pretty liberating. I think we want to simplify our possessions a lot in this move. Speaking of moving, 14 more days!! Today I got excited for an ice maker. (It took both of us to beat enough ice out of that dumb tray to cool down a glass of water.)

The Fairmont Returns

Today was really really uneventful for the most part, but then it got interesting. I went to the doc, came back and took a nap, cleaned up from camp, and then went swimming. Situation normal. The day continued with Henry and I going to the Wesley. He started feeling sick so we decided to go home. This is where things get interesting/scary/funny. On the way to the apartment, the steering wheel started smoking! We pulled over and walked the rest of the way home. Henry took a nap for a bit to feel better, but now he is working on it. Our neighbor was kind enough to tow it the rest of the way to the apartment. He has most of the steering column disassembled and is fetching his multimeter to test some stuff. Hopefully it it just the blinker (which has had a short for a long while now) and we can get a new set of controls at the dealership. We are lucky to have a good neighbor and friends willing to help us run errands.

Camp, Cars, and Headaches

Let me start this off by saying OMG I'm glad to be home. What was meant to be a four night, five day camp stint became a 6 night, 7 day couch-surfing-palooza. Here's the story:

Camp was so so great. I drove a car down with one of my fav youth riding shot gun. We planned his retirement. After he is an optometrist, he is going to buy a hummer (chill, by then they will be electric/hybrid cars and not gas guzzlers... this is my daydream, don't poke holes in it) and call it the "Think Tank". It will be a transport service, but instead of the driver ignoring the passengers and vice versa, it will be a forum to posit new ideas and foster intelligent discussion. I'm pumped. Eli needs to hurry up and get old.

Once at camp, the youth's eyes were really opened to what it means to walk the Christian walk without putting up a fake front for the world. The theme was avoiding going through the motions and being yourself, but it kind of morphed into a time of learning what it meant to be honest with yourself and how to walk in the "newness of life" without a care for what the world thinks. This honesty really seemed to push the kids closer to truer worship and friendship. It was touching.

The spiritual/growth part of camp was fantastic. The physical aspect was not. The doc told me exercise would help a headache, so instead of reaching for some pills that would likely make me useless for the day, I went hiking with the kids. Bad idea. I lasted about 15 min and then turned around and came back to camp feeling much much worse than before. I was pretty sure I was going to pass out before I made it back. The pain sucked, but that wasn't the worst part. I felt completely irresponsible in that moment. I had two other girls depending on me to lead them back to camp and I wasn't sure I was going to make it myself. It sounds dramatic, and maybe it is, but I felt really disappointed and like an irresponsible adult. I went the pill route as soon as I got back.

As the days progressed, I realized it was a mistake to think I could be the counselor the kids deserved. I couldn't plan small group studies because of this absurd headache and ended up sitting in on Henry's. Luckily, this worked out super well. We made a great team and our group seemed to really benefit from what we talked about.

The most depressing part of camp with a headache was my inability to worship with the group. The more the youth were empowered and inspired, the louder they sang and clapped. Thats my favorite part of camp, singing. I had to listen in from another room. Like small groups though, God seemed to take this apparent handicap and turn it into an opportunity for me to talk to some friends who were seeking advice and conversation. I think we all grew in that little room (It became called "office number two").

I'm hoping it was the lack of sleep/heat/irregular diet that made camp so painful. If things don't ease up by the end of this month, I will be seeking alternative medication for sure. Speaking of, I found relief the last day of camp in a pretty unlikely way: a stretchy head band! I found one at the bottom of the pool not too long ago and decided to give it a try. It felt so great I bought a pack at target when we got back to town (my head is small, so I got the ones for little girls). Its hit or miss if it helps though. Today it just made it worse. Not a bad trick to have up my sleeve though.

Anywho, the trip lasted long after camp ended. On the way back, the car developed a violent vibration. Henry drove it back while I drove the van (yes, a 15 passenger through Memphis) and thought we could make it home. We decided to stay an extra day to debrief so we headed out Saturday night instead of Friday. As soon as we hit interstate, it became apparent that the car had other plans. Nothing was open Sunday so it had to wait until today. I'd like to give a public shout out to Mysee and Morgan and their families for letting Henry and I couch surf for so long.

Being home is great, but I might have to flush fish. He can't make it to the top of the tank and has turned a funny color. I'm kind of bummed.

Congratulations if you made it to the end. There are so many more stories I wish I had time to tell!