Terrific Tuesday

Why is today Terrific Tuesday?

It used to be Crazy Tuesday. We'd be out the door at 8:20 and head to English co-op, followed by Literature co-op, then History co-op. I'd grab some food for the girls and drop Kelly off at art class, while Glenna and I waited for her at the library. Then we'd pick up Chico and Kate and head to the church for either Service Project or Dance lessons with Chico. They would probably talk me into something else, like heading to Chico's or Kate's to watch DWTS. I'd then tumble into bed around 10 or so.

But THIS Tuesday? Terrific Tuesday?

I stayed home.

Migraine update: I have had only two headaches since I've stopped eating trigger foods; one was cyclical, and the other was because I ate the wrong foods. I re-consulted the book and found out foods I thought were safe were not! I'm going to type up a "Can't touch this" list and stick it on the fridge. The foods I ate within two days were avocado, pickles, sour cream, and a sauce that was too vinegary. Any of these by themselves and I probably would have been fine, but all together they knocked me out for two days.

Added bonus: weight loss!

I've decided to update all the happenings on this blog today. I'm actually only behind on one thing. In March, my friend and mentor, Sarah, paid us a visit from California. I was so happy to see her! She had been watching TBN and heard of the Holy Land Experience, so she really wanted to go there.


The Holy Land Experience was all:
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Then, because I wanted to show her a more natural Florida, Himself and I took her to Blue Springs. There were only 7 manatee that day but we managed to see them anyway. Sarah thought Natural Florida was beautiful. I agree; it certainly has beauty.



Here she is on the porch of the plantation house there with Rhett Butler.


These particular manatee were fitted with tracking devices. It not only helps them keep track of their habits, but it also lets boaters see them in the water (if they're driving slow enough).



This idiot jumped in past the "Please do not disturb or go near the manatee" sign. Poor little sea cows were panicking like crazy. We didn't stick around to watch him get arrested.




At the head of the trail is the natural spring. Divers and swimmers are allowed to explore to their hearts' content. That is, as long as there's no manatee around. The temperature stays the same year round because of this spring, which is why the manatee flock (herd?) there in the winter.


After Holy Landin' and Manateein', Sarah agreed to teach the girls how to make tortillas.



You know, they never did get it exactly right, but Kelly loves anything she can gush with her hands. Glenna even tried to make them again, solo, but we never had a batch that was soft and pliable.



After Holy Landin', Manateein', and Tortillain', we headed off to Tyler's rock concert. Sarah loved watching him, as do we all! I don't have any pictures of inside, but I have pictures of two viejitas trying to make gansta signs while waiting outside.

The W and the S! We are the best! We may be white, but we got it right! (Ok, one white and one Hispanic.)


It was hard to say goodbye. Anyone else care to visit? Come on over!

These are a few. . .

. . . of my favorite things!

Kate, Jess, Karis, Kelly, Tali, and Allie. How I thank God He brought them into my Kelly's life!

*Update: Last night I made chicken casserole. Will didn't dare come into the kitchen, but instead peered at me from around the corner of the fridge. It was all I could do not to laugh! He finally realized he can check the menu I posted on the side of the fridge, though that doesn't solve the what-is-she-putting-in-it? problem.

Daring Friends

This is me and my friend, BA. I guess someone could have told me I didn't need to hunch down in this photo (ML). Anyway, just look at the expression of victory and triumph on her face. She's probably had that expressions only four other times in her life. . . . once when she nabbed ML to be her hubby, and three other times when she gave birth. I assure you, what she did here needed just as much bravery and courage!





Remember the Scared Kids? Evidently, BA realized this was probably her last hike to Rainbow Falls. Much to my horror and the chagrin of Himself (who did not want to do this until BA started climbing, but held back anyway so as not to steal her thunder), BA decided she wanted to jump off the cliff.

It all starts with this climb on a "trail" that doesn't really exist. I thought this picture was funny because you can see BA's purple top on and shorts on one side of the tree, then ML coming out the other side of the tree. It looks like she's morphing into ML.

She's gone from our sight for a while, then we can see her climbing down the vines near the rock face. See her? See her purple shirt?

Here, I circled it to make her more visible.

And here's ML, proud as can be, showing the entire world that his wife did indeed make it to the rock face. Hey, it was a proud moment for all of us, really!

Here, she's casually examining her toenail polish. At least, that's the story she told me. If you ask me, though, I think that after she climbed down the vines and took one look over the side, she got a serious case of the "scardies" and had to catch her breath!

ML jumped first, but he kind of slipped and my camera wasn't ready to catch the majesty of it. All I had was him splashing into the water. Yes ladies, you read that correctly. He took her up on a rock face and LEFT. HER. THERE. If you know him and ask him about it, he'll try to say he went first to show her how it's done and to be ready to receive her in the water below. Yep. I bet that's just what he'll tell you.

And here it is! A most magnificent leap! What style! What form! What poise and grace! All of us waiting on the rocks could only gasp at the wonder of it all!

What? You can't see her? Please feel free to contribute to my new camera fund so we can avoid this travesty in the future. In the meantime, Good 'Ole Paint Shop will help us out yet again:

And here she is, still alive, frolicking merrily in the water with ML, drinking in the mad applause of her observers. I think I was clapping the loudest! It's so much safer to live vicariously through friends, wouldn't you agree?

Now she's back to "Mom" mode, casually sunning herself on a rock with all the kids, basking in the adoring gaze of her hubby, ML. Everyone is that much happier and smiling because of her amazing feat.

You've done us all proud, BA!

50's Glamour Party

Kelly and I were invited to Caitlin's Sweet 16 party. We were told to dress in 50's "glamour," but that includes too much cleavage so we opted out. Instead, we were more 50's Night on the Town.


I had so much fun dressing up with my girl! Isn't she so lovely?

I wish you could see how incredibly blue her eyes are. She got those from her Daddy, for sure. Mine tend to change with the weather (or whatever storm may be brewing within! :-) )

Caitlin's party was lots of fun, and her Daddy had a big surprise for her! Here she is, freaking out big time.

Now she's attacking her Dad:

And here it is!

She jumped in and shut the door, and we could all hear her screaming and screaming. Her face says it all!

One happy girl, happy friends, and a new Toyota Matrix. Happy 16th birthday, Caitlin!

Oh, and I handed my camera to her older brother, Brandon, to hold. It came back with this on it.

And this, of course, is his "Blue Steel" face. He said I wouldn't be able to handle the Magnum face.

Lisa

This is Lisa, my best friend from high school. I have about 20 pictures of her similar to this, where you don't see all of her face.

Right now, she's probably plotting my demise for posting it on my blog, but it's her fault for sending it to me. Man, I love her glasses. I want them. Badly.

This is the person who knows the entire Bagel story. She knows who the TBW were. She knows as much as I do about Uncle Bobby, now known as "Anthony." She's ridden with me in The Yellow Iguana, which later became my car and lasted until Ty was a year old. She even knows it wasn't yellow!

After 12 years of begging and pleading on my part, Lisa FINALLY has email! We've been emailing, and it's funny how differently we remember those two years of high school when we were inseparable. My take is: She was quiet and wonderful, I was loud and obnoxious. She was/is the smartest person I've ever known, I ditched homework like it was diseased. She plays the flute beautifully, I faked it and had an airy tone. (We both switched to sax for Jazz Ensemble, though! That was fun! Except for Danny Miller. What an oddball.)

We didn't have any classes together except for band. It took me years to figure out this was because she was an honors student; I just thought it was bad luck. I remember INSISTING that I type her report for her (this way I didn't have to go home so she could do her homework) and she probably had to do it all over after I left. I kept typing "perhaps" as "prehaps," and there wasn't a backspace or delete key on a typewriter!

Her Mom, pictured below, was so wonderful to me. She, too, will probably plot my demise after this. It's Lisa's fault!

That's it. I'm calling Lisa and Mary to come with me to pick out glasses. I can never find any this cool.

This woman let me stay at her house while they were scoping out houses in Ohio because I had a license and her sister (the adult with an adorable baby) didn't know how to drive a standard. THEN, she let me use her car. A convertible VW BUG! My dream car! I got to drive it to the beach and everything! I was supposed to have the idle checked while she was gone, but I never was good at homework assignments.

Anyway, I was always staying for dinner. She would say, "Are you staying? I need to know how many plates." She would make this big pot of spaghetti sauce, which is how I make mine now, and she wouldn't use a bit of salt in anything she cooked. I'm sure I highly insulted her when I asked for the salt and kept pouring it on, but she would smile and say, "I don't use salt." She would also have this counselling group over all the time, referred to as "the Sickos" by the rest of the family. I can't tell you how much I learned from her, especially about my own family. She taught me to see things from THEIR point of view, especially when it came to one of my brothers. It didn't make their actions right, but it sure gave me understanding, which allowed room for grace.

I used to call their house "early" in the morning (9:00) and they would pick up the phone and hang it up again. Thank God there wasn't caller I.D. back then! Here's where I first admit it was me, but I really only did it once. Or twice.

Two weeks after we graduated, Lisa's family moved to Ohio. I haven't mentioned the rest of her family because I'm already on the hit list of two of them. I'm sure one of the unmentioned has connections in New York and I should be very afraid. When I said goodbye to Lisa, I cried all the way home. Her Dad drove me and was so, so kind, allowing me some silence. I didn't want him to feel worse than he already did! I have been missing her ever since. Two weeks after she left, John moved to the desert (a 2.5 hour drive). I was completely lost, but I know those years were for my growth and I don't regret them.

I flew out for her wedding with Ty when he was 8 months old (she called him "The Sack"). I also ruined her honeymoon because I was too scared to call a cab, so they came and got me and drove me to the airport. That's the last time I've had a hug from her.

Now we're still pretty far apart, but the Internet puts her RIGHT HERE. I'm so thankful! She keeps me real. She puts up with me, has seen me at my worst, but loves me anyway.

I am and always have been thankful for her friendship. Now I want to introduce her to all my friends here, so they can know how wonderful she is, too.

Don't deny it, Lisa. You da bomb.

And you need to blog, so people can see how funny you are when you write, and they can laugh out loud like I do. One of my favorite Lisa lines on a letter she sent referred to the scented pen she used. She wrote, "Does this smell like dungeon moss and rotting chains? It's supposed to smell like grape."