Monday, August 14, 2006

Happy Birthday to Me!!

I had an awesome weekend! My birthday present to myself was 2 days off in a row for my August 13th, 22nd birthday! I am so glad I did that! Dad had to work Saturday night, but was able to go to lunch. It is a family tradition! The birthday kid gets to pick any restaurant they want to eat at. We went to Mimi's cafe, and had a good time! Mom and dad gave me a happy gift, that made me cry. It is a butterfly and a pink rose, but on the hook coming out of the rose is a fairy with a purple dress and purple ballet slippers. It was really sweet. It showed Kie was there for my birthday again! That night Manda, Jason, Justin and I went to Kyodai Japanese restaurant. Manda and Jason made me a Scooby-doo cake! It was so cute! Sunday morning we went to church and did our puppet skit for the kids. My mom and Hunter and the twins sang Happy Birthday when I went to pick up the kids for church. Grandma Blomgren called me and sang Happy Birthday to my voicemail, and my Sunday school class sang to me too! Daddy called me that afternoon to say Happy Birthday because he had to work. We did Asian August as a family get together at Terri's in St Augustine. Uncle Randy made banana split cake, and everyone sang to Chad and I. His birthday is next week. I got tons of Tinkerbell stuff! Shirts, a purse, and a matching wallet! Woo-hoo! Aunt Nancy got me a cool antique doorknocker with a butterfly on it, along with a birdhouse. I also got pj's, airheads, a gift card, and a lot of cards. We went over to Justin's parents afterwards and they had cheesecake! I was totally caked out! But it was really nice to see everybody and have a good day. I did not want to wake up and go to work today! But I am still in a really good mood from all the festivities! Thanks to everyone who truly made it a Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Letting the Creative Juices Flow!!

Okay, in the words of Shirley Temple, Oh my goodness! I have been given a few opportunities lately to write again. It has always been a deep passion of mine. Creative writing has always been a release for me. Give me a topic, ask me to make something of it, I am there! I have done papers on books for English, written Greek myths for the same, and even did a 2500 word essay on the experience of going through a concentration camp during WWII, from a historical standpoint. I love to write this kind of stuff! I can get outside of myself, and just let my mind do its thing! Let me try to explain my mind a little bit for you...
Take an average sentence, like....How was school today?Okay, its a question actually, but still! My mind dissects the sentence, picking out key letters, like the first h,the second w, the first s, the second h, the l, the t, and the d. My mind keeps them in order, but puts them to a rhythm to make the letters flow. It also tries to put a rhythm to the words, and make it flow as well. So, when I was given an opportunity to write a monologue for Noah to present to our children's church, my mind automatically starts recalling what I know, then trying to put a rhythm, or cadence to it. By the time I finally sat down to write, my mind was reeling. I followed the Bible for my inspiration and information, and let it flow out of me. The result? Almost three pages of prose! I followed an abcb style, where the second and fourth lines rhyme. I shocked myself! I typed it up, and presented it to Mrs. Cyndee to look over. Well, she told me what she thought yesterday........
She loved it! She said it was amazing, and that she could tell I put a lot of hardwork into it! I was elated! I had been so nervous about what she would say. Would she want it shorter, or want to add more verses. What, what, what!!! I just sort of smiled and blushed. We decided to use it as a teaser for the kids for that days lesson. I never actually used Noah's name, my mind could not think of a word that exactly rhymed with that. The kids have to guess who it is about, then we will reeanact the storm, with the kids paired up as animals, masks and all. Two by two of course! It should be fun!
Then, I had a chance the same week to write a skit for the Fall of Man from Genesis 3:1-24. I needed to try to write it for Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. The result? A very amusing mini-play. I again followed information from the Bible, but added more dialogue, and stage direction. Again, something I loved doing! I will try to post both.
It is so nice to be able to express my ideas for activities, and lessons for the kids, and at the same time let my creative juices flow out of me to share with others! Just had to share, it sort of made my week to have my work appreciated! It had been a while since I have been able to do anything like that!

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Sorry so Slow

Sorry so slow to write, but it has been crazy around here. Working too much as usual! A few updates for everyone. Justin's truck was totaled from his accident a few months ago. We now own a red 95 jeep cherokee in its place. Justin and I are also part of childrens church now. We will be helping out down there teaching on Sundays, switching out with some other people. It has been fun so far. We meet on thursdays to dicuss lesson plans and supplies for each lesson and its acivities, and delegate differen aspects of the lessonto different people. Speaking of church....
A funny thing happened on the way to (and from) church last night. I had put on a Radio Disney cd I have had for years. The song Just the Two of Us by Will Smith came on. I started dancng and waving my arms, so then I looked back and Tristan was copying me. Hunter was up front doing a hand wave type thing, while Alexa was screaming and laughing at all three of us. The way home we had We are Family and YMCA. Hunter still remembers the letters from Shelia's wedding when mom and I showed him! It was so fun.
I am very proud of myself. I try to clean on my days off, which are few and far between. However, I took both of them this week. I refound the laundry room floor, the top of the endtables in the den, the den floor, and the top of the entertainment center. It took a lot, but it was worth it for the pride I felt in my home. It looks so good! I even moved the dryer and found Justin's favorite jeans, and a pair of his dress pants! I got alot of the laundry done by just sitting in the den and watchng some old movies. It sounds funny, but this allows me to hear both washer and dryer when they finish, and I can sit on the couch to fold clothes and sort socks. It went by pretty fast actually! I wasn't even bored!
Well, enough domestic drivel for now, but at least I have now updated my blog!