Happy Mothers' Day!

This Mothers' day, I wanted to post about my own mother. I decided to pick one small aspect of my mother that I love: her dictionary. My mom has her own personal repertoire of words at her disposal, words that others seldom use, and words that no one else ever has used. Although we often tease her about her vocabulary, this is a very unique trait that makes her who she is. I'm sure my siblings will agree that we enjoy getting to know my mother better as we try to decipher the Alice Page Dictionary.

Here are just a few entries:

Supiy Money - Extra cash saved up for an emergency. The Quechua Indian word supiy means "fart" and originally was used in the Denny family to describe money that one sat on to hide during a board game so others would not know how much they had. Now it can be applied to any object saved and hidden.

Drape - A person who loves to put heavy curtains over all their windows, leaving their house dark and musty.

Chinsey - Cheap, lacking quality

Hoity-toity - higher-class, or unnecessary extravagance

White Patty/ Heifer - a derrogatory term for a white girl

Joelly-Bolly - a nickname for Joel. (occasionally Paully-bally)

Ouchywawa! - an exclamation reserved for when a child gets hurt. Often the child will stop crying and laugh at the word.

Oblong - Not a square, not a circle, not a triangle. Sometimes used to describe rectangles.

A Couple - two or three

Adventures with Grace

On the way to school this morning, I brought my camera along. In February, there were some beautiful picture opportunities that I missed because I lacked a camera. I took this picture even though there weren't many good photo opportunities... yet!Almost to El Dorado, and this is what I saw! I had underestimated the storm's impact on this route. I took a picture to document my predicament for my History teacher, whose class started in 25 minutes.
I tried to take another road. After driving 20 mph in sticky mud that splattered my storm-cleaned car, I realized that I would A. get stuck B. break down C. come across more water, D. take way too long to get to class, E. get lost, or F. all of the above. So I turned around.
Here's a bridge I crossed.

Finally I got going again... still in the wrong direction.
After the third "High water" sign (ironically enough there wasn't one for the original road I took) I decided to take my chances and travel on it anyway.
And it worked! The water had gone down, and I made it to class after an hour and a half on the road! Because I left early, I was only 35 minutes late to my 55 minute class.

A Few Things About my Life Now

The Neighbors happen to be my relatives. As I was arriving home a little bit ago, I looked over to watch Benjamen, Lydia, and Phillip riding their bikes in the front lawn. As soon as I looked, however, Phillip tipped over on his bike and landed on the lawn, while Lydia rode over both him and his bike. This made me do a double take, this time noticing Uncle Shawn. He was watering a tree with a hose in one hand, and failed to notice the accident because he was smiling and waving to me with his other hand. By this time I had forgotten to slow down for my driveway, and nearly went into the ditch.

The Traffic in El Dorado is horrible. It's normal to stop at every stoplight. It's normal to get cut off by someone driving 10 under the limit. It's normal to get cut off by someone who will make an immediate turn. It's normal to get simply cut off. It's normal to drive slow in the left lane, leaving the right lane fairly empty. It's also normal to get stuck behind two cars in each lane driving next to each other at the same speed. A few times this semester, I have gone through residential neighborhoods, looking for a better way to get straight to my classes, thinking "There's got to be a way, I just don't know about it yet!" I finally was told by my friend Jenny the whereabouts of this road. Now I can leave ten minutes later to get to school! After Bible study on Wednesday, Tim stayed with Aaron, and in the morning, we cruised through town on our way to class, forming a Caleb Humig Motorcycle sandwich the whole way.

Walmart is a relaxing place for me. Aaron always says shopping there is what people do for fun in El Dorado. When I first started staying out here, I found it comforting to go there. With a new, unfamiliar schedule, it was nice to take some time to wander through a very familiar store. After hours of sitting in class, it was nice to use my legs (which weren't tired) and to not use my mind (which was). Because it's the only store in El Dorado where you can get anything at a decent price, I have become even more familiar with it. After buying material for two sewing projects and a gift of beading supplies as a gift, I'm embarrassed that I go there that much. I will admit that I know there are two ladies who run the craft section; one at night, and one in the day. The one I see most often is Peggy, and she is very helpful. At least I can hold on to some dignity with the fact that she doesn't know who I am yet.

Home Alone 3

This is in response to a blog post in response to a letter.
Yes... it was my turn to be HOME ALONE!! this isYou know... I actually think bunny ears would improve that picture... just look at those teeth!
I ate out with the ladies from the church, and we had a good time, and I had leftovers!
This is me before I was HOME ALONE! I looked pretty normal.
Over the break I pierced my nose. Most people I've talked to thought it just looked right on me. I can't wait till I am allowed to remove it to put in a more discrete one.


Another thing I did while I was HOME ALONE was to clean and vacuum! and by "vacuum" I mean, I let our Roomba loose in the living rooms. As you can see in the above photo, it left a little "present" for me after I tried to clean it out and put it to bed for the night.

I thought I'd end with a picture of our clean living room (with a mysterious spot on the carpet). Take note of the kitty toy attached to our fan blades. Rids the cat of harmful energy and entertains for hours! We just need to remember to turn off the fans when we leave the house. Once, while we were in the other room, the cat hog-tied herself and could only meow as she was helplessly pulled in slow circles along the floor.

Quote of the Day

My pastor is from Chicago. Sometimes this is very apparent.

"..so they'll take the sacrificial sheep-no, goat-no, lamb! ... heh, just shows you how much...
Man! I was about to say, 'just shows you how much I know about poultry!'"

YOU (fill in the blank)!!!

This is in response to another post's claim that Joel won at the YOU _______! comments. My boyfriend and my little brother are similar in many ways. One way is these jokes. I often will come home only to hear the same things from Joel that I heard from Tim earlier in the day. Here are some of his best:

Grace (about a coat I liked): "It had every aspect I love all wrapped up in one coat!"

Tim: "You have every aspect I love all wrapped up in one WOMAN! (of course, all in his creepiest voice)

Grace: Those hay bales look dangerously tipsy.
Tim: You look dangerously tipsy!

Grace: Now you have two bags to carry.
Tim: Your mom has two bags... under her eyes!

Grace: I just really hope this all works out.
Tim: I really hope you work out!

Well... tell me what you think. Do I have basis for my claim that Tim could give Joel a run for his money?

Mall Rules

Last Sunday, I went to church wearing a new necklace I had bought the day before. Jon and Tim started to tell me about the week before Valentine’s Day, while they were in the mall in the “girl store,” sorting through the jewelry, while on the phone with Sarah who tried to help them find the right one, with no luck. I felt sorry for them, especially when Jon said they didn’t even get the chance to practice sulking!

This caused me to remember the time I taught Jon and Tim to sulk.

We were at the mall, and they had graciously agreed to come along with me to a few feminine stores. I began to notice a set of unwritten mall rules that I had merely taken for granted before. I explained them to Jon and Tim who immediately began putting them to use, with great success.

I have decided to put these unwritten rules into writing.

Considering many exceptions*, there are two main reasons why guys go to the mall.

1. Young teenage guys may see the mall as their only option as a hunting ground for stereotypical, mall-dwelling females. This is most likely because they are too young to drive themselves around and the mall is the only acceptable place for their parents to drop them off. These young males can be found roaming around in packs (safety in numbers), not yet creative enough to find a place to hang out other than their specific targets’ natural habitat.

2. Other guys may be found shopping with a female. This is divided into two further categories:

a. Gay guy with female friend (this doesn’t occur as often, especially in Kansas)

b. Guy with girlfriend. In this case, 96% of the time, the man spends his whole time trying very hard not to look like the previous category. The following, is what I taught Jon and Tim, and hope that many other men will be able to use it in similar situations:

First, it is extremely important to hold the proper pose. The man will, of course, cross his arms. This is either because he does not want to appear the slightest bit comfortable in his surroundings, or he actually is intimidated. Any extra manliness is desirable, so the fists can be pressed against the underside of the biceps for the classic Uncle Rico Technique. The man should then attempt to hover close to the female (to make it apparent that he’s with her) yet far from the clothes (to make it apparent that he’s not interested in the act of shopping). The hard part is the proper face to hold. One should try hard not to let his face settle into a worried or defeated expression, yet to lift the corners of his mouth, even at the slightest angle, would maybe look pleasant, and he doesn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. He normally will settle for some kind of scowl, like the kind high school boys use for sports pictures. Of course, this whole façade is ruined when the female, absent-mindedly asks for the guy’s opinion, which puts him in a dilemma. He knows that his girl wants him to look at that which he’s been avoiding and say what he thinks. He normally mutters an “Uh… okay.” In the deepest voice he has, before losing his scowl in order to glance painfully at the doors, in case they might disappear at any sign of interest on his part.

*The writer of this article would like to make the claim that when she goes to the mall with her male friends, they are normally not shopping, and fit under the “exceptions” category, along with grown men, small boys, and mall walkers.