What a Night! (PG - parental discretion suggested for scary elements)

Tonight I came home from a wonderful night at work. I always enjoy working when I get hours at my assisted living job. Nevertheless, I was excited to get home and relax. The noise I heard when I walked in the door, however, was anything BUT relaxing! It grated against my nerves and the closer I got to the noise, the more unnerving it became. I walked down the stairs to the cold, dark and scary basement...louder, louDER, and LOUDER! I'm plugging my ears, but the buzzing is so loud that I had to check to make sure that my hands were really up by my ears doing their job! Then I saw it - the red light shining through the darkness right at me! - deja vu! This happened about 2 years ago when Jenny and I were home by ourselves, and Pastor had come over and silenced the horrendous buzzer. So Pastor was kind enough to come over again and make it stop. This time, he showed me how it is done so I can fix it if it ever decides to get scary again. After he left I poured myself a bowl of cereal for supper, and settled into my favorite armchair, finally i can rela........x......wait, I see something moving out of the corner of my eye! I look over and there's a spider crawling up the wall!!! EWWW!! Well, since I'm home for awhile by myself before mom, the brave spider crusher, gets home, I realize I'm going to have to kill it myself before it has a chance to climb to the ceiling above me, drop down, bite me, and kill me! So, I put down my bowl of cereal, hoping this will go quickly so my apple jacks don't get soggy. I grabbed a kleenex (which I had handy since I've recently been slowly suffocating of a cold), and started closing in on it....then I jumped back....closed in.....and jumped back...closed in, and jumped back one more time (yes, 3 times is the charm!). I finally closed my eyes and grabbed for it - then freaked out and opened my eyes to see the spiders legs waving in the air while the rest of his body was safely clamped between my fingers (in the kleenex, of course)...i started running to the trash can - not realizing that as I was running my fingers continued to squeeze tighter and tighter until I felt a POP! A muffled sound of disgust escaped my mouth and shivers ran through my spine...several times...until I released my grasp and let him fall into the trash. After which I buried him a little...just to be safe. Big Deep Breath. Okay, back to my cereal, which was still crunchy. Good. I turned on the TV to see what was on and scary music was playing! A girl in a dark room was looking into a kitchen sink that was filling with water and then suddenly a hand came out of the drain and grabbed her hair! AGH! I turned off the TV and decided to read the back of the cereal box....HEY! I get a free barbie watch! Ok...I guess the apple jacks people don't expect 21 year olds to eat their cereal, because they only made the watch big enough to fit on a little girls' hands. Well, I'm off to my room, where I'm hoping for some relaxation...but am afraid after the course of events tonight, I may end up with a nightmare! Just remember this:

1. When you come home from work at night, wear earplugs, then hopefully any scary sounds won't be heard.

2. When you see a spider, don't try to kill it, just stick it under a glass until someone brave enough to kill it comes along.

3. Always stay away from kitchen sinks that are in the dark, you never know what might come popping up out of the drain. And if you HAVE to use the sink - wear your hair in a pony tail.

4. Don't buy a box of cereal based on the prize inside, you might be disappointed.

5. Think happy thoughts prior to going to bed in order to avoid nightmares.

Frank Sinatra Concert!

Around Thanksgiving time a gentleman came to the Fairmont Opera House to do a 'Frank Sinatra' concert - I don't recall his name, but he had an amazing voice and a back-up orchestra that was made up of people who had played in several famous locations and broadways. The concert was almost 2 hours long with so many of the classic songs! I went with my good friends, Laura and Charise and we all thoroughly enjoyed it! I would put some of the video clips on here, but I'm afriad they don't come even close to doing their amazing performance any justice.

Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures of us girls until the very end of the night. We had already dropped Charise off at home and Laura was about to head home, so we took one really quick before she left.

Such a fun evening! :)

Hats, Hats, Hats

Mrs. Schofield planned a Ladies Banquet entitled "Hats off to Ladies" last semester. The men made the meal and served each course - very delicious! Each lady that came wore a different hat and then got judged for the different things you can judge about hats (prettiest, most creative, ugliest, biggest, smallest, etc...) ;) Laura was part of the skit, hence the absolutely ridiculous hat she is wearing in the picture...decoy duck and all! haha! I pulled out my nurse hat that JaJu gave to me for my birthday ;) and also wore my graduation hat for part of the time since Mrs. Schofield had asked me to share a testimony about being a graduate along with other ladies sharing testimonies about the "different hats we wear." It was wierd to think of myself as a college graduate for one thing, but also to be asked to speak in front of the ladies of the church was a bit intimidating. Yet it was so neat to be able to share along with them how the Lord has worked in my life (Ps. 40:5 - "Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thous hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.") and to thank them all for how they have invested in my life (and continue to do so) from nearly the beginning by their example and through their prayers. (Titus 2:3-5) I am SO thankful for my church family!

The Movies

Confession: it doesn't take much for me to cry over a movie. Mom took me to the movies to see "Becoming Jane." Right when we sat down to watch the movie she told me Jane never gets married. "How do you know, mom?" "Well, it's a true story!" I was devastated - a chick flick that doesn't end happily ever after!? Aren't chick flicks supposed to be fairytalish? Throughout the entire movie I kept hoping it would end right, but sure enough in the end it left me crying. I don't think I will watch that movie again. I still had fun spending the time with mom, though.

A Baby Shower

One of the first church events I was able to attend when I got home this summer was Darla Zuelke's baby shower! She had a baby girl named Jada, so now Jonathan has a little sister! They are such happy parents! I had fun taking pictures of the cute little present carriers, Anna, Victoria, and Sophia, and taking pictures with Mom. She doesn't like getting her picture taken, so she hid behind one of the gifts being passed around without knowing the title of that book was something about being the greatest mom! We got a good laugh out of it...but it is true! I have the best mom!

Nursing Home Service

Every so often I get a call from one of mom's residents, Lucinda, at the Lakeview Nursing Home to play the piano for Sunday morning chapel. It's always fun to go and listen to them singing and have an opportunity to talk with them afterwards. One time I got to bring Laura along to sing for them - boy did they ever enjoy that! Laura has a beautiful voice. After that her and I got to go to Perkins for a muffin. It was fun to spend time together as those times are few and far between now that life is busier than it was in our teen years.

My 21st Birthday!

Last Sunday was my 21st birthday. Mom woke me up with a hoops & yoyo singing card and a tiara! I felt like a princess ;) She made one of my favorite meals for lunch and then we had tinkerbell cake. I got a lot of phone calls from special people and the choir even sang happy birthday to me during choir practice! I had to spend the rest of the day studying for chemistry :P but it was still a wonderful day! Thank you for making it special, Mom!

It took us awhile to get a halfway descent picture. ;)

Now I sleep in my tiara every night - once a princess, always a princess...isn't that how it goes?! Heehee!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is always patient and kind.

It is never jealous.

Love is never boastful or conceited.

It is never rude or selfish.

It does not take offense.

It is not resentful.

Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins,

but delights in the truth.

It is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope...

...and to endure whatever comes.

"Tara Date"

It's always fun to make a date with Tara - she's like a sister to hang out with :) We went out to the Pizza Ranch with her not long before Julie left for student teaching. Julie had been to the Pizza Ranch, but Tara and I never had. Let me just tell you...it's not all it's cracked up to be! I got four plates and probably ate four bites from each...everything was gummy, chewy, and partially cold, like it had been "warmed" in a microwave. Anyways, the only good thing, of course, was the dessert pizza, which I thoroughly enjoyed every bite of. Tara and Julie liked it, though, so it was okay. It's who your with that counts, not what you eat . Heehee! We stopped to pose by the lady on the delivery car before we went home to watch a movie. Fun times! :)

My Jules

JULIE! i miss you SO much! I was just going through these pictures and remembered this was one of our last dates before you went off to your last semester of college - and now you're student teaching! We went swimming at the beach off Ward Park, and then stopped for wireless at the library and a muffin at Perkins where we got our bubblegum, and then were trying to blow bubbles the whole way home. WHILE DRIVING! pretty dumb, but funny, cause i remember we couldn't get our bubbles to be any bigger than a quarter! Then u finally blew the big mamma bubble. Fun times... I really hope we get to see you this weekend in IA! I miss you tons!

Presentation College

Last fall I started attending school here in town. I am working on getting a nursing degree. I am a Junior now, but am afraid I will be a Senior for quite awhile because of all the classes i still need to get in. Oh well. The Lord is good because He allowed me to leave N-land with a degree, and for so many of my credits to transfer here. I really have enjoyed school here, and being able to live at home, have some good jobs, and be involved in my home church have been added blessings. But, i SO miss all my friends at Nland! Love you guys!

Halloween

Shopping in the mall with Jason around isn't usually very usual. Heehee! Even though it wasn't even September yet, the Halloween stores were all open, so we stopped and tried on a few masks. SCARY!

The key to Advertising

These have got to be a couple of the cutest kids ever! These are dear friends of our family - Ziah & Lizzy Oothoudt. Their dad owns Rabe International - the Case Implement Dealer in town. This isn't the first time they've helped him in advertising - they do a good job of it! "If it ain't Red, leave it in the shed!"

Super!

We FINALLY got a Walmart supercenter in Fairmont - now just a little over 5 minutes from our house!

Engagement Announcement!

My best friend, Laura got engaged!!! However, since I am so behind on blogging, this is old news. BUT I can tell you that her and Andrew's wedding will be June 28th of this year! It's getting closer! Congratulations, Laura! I love you!

Sparklers!

When we got back home, we found that we had left-over silly string from something and sparklers, so we played with those. No videos of the silly string (though they would have been funny cause mom was spraying it in the house!), but here's one with the sparklers. Simple things can be so amusing :) Fourth of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays!

Singing Snapdragon!

I learned how to yodel when I was little thanks to the Thren Family Singers! Haha!

"I'm gonna live forever...yeah"

"I'm gonna die no never...no"

More Vacation...

This was our first day in the Dells. We went to Cracker Barrel - Mom's favorite. While waiting for our table, it's always fun to browse around in the gift shop...

Jules and I were commenting on some items when this mocking voice copied us from behind. We turned around and saw this bird and just started laughing. From there on we had plenty to keep us busy till our name was called...or actually, i guess i should say until they moved the bird. I think they thought we were wierd. huh...

Wisconson Dells

I almost forgot - before I came home from camp, mom and jules kidnaped me and we vacationed at the Wisconson Dells. Okay - so they didn't kidnap me...it was planned all along, but it was as fun as a surprise! Went to the movies to see a chick flick!
Simming at the water park
so sunshiny!
fun slides! kinda scary!
totally wiped out, but still on facebook
gumballs! what color do u think u'll get?
i'd rather have that car on the ground than on the side of a building, but pretty cool anyway.
out on the town...
finding our way around...
penny souvenirs!
'Fo Shizzle' - i found a sweatshirt (*gasp*)! what's the world coming to!?
do we look the part?
no, really, actually life is great fun - but it sometimes seems that way ;)
this is what julie does when i let her wander too far away - naughty girl!

Mom & Jules trying to find their way around. I'm happy in the back seat, cause i don't know my directions anyhow.
Just a couple nuns sight-seeing? I guess they like to soak up local color, too!
we have the coolest mom ever! i love her!
Here she is finishing julie's potato chips
haha!
We ate at the high rock cafe - very yummy! :)