Summer Plans

I had decided not to spend the entire summer at Kansas Bible Camp this year.
...which, of course, for the first time in five years left me with a very empty couple months in my calendar. They filled quickly, though.
Tim and I will be traveling to Georgia again this year, and I am very excited to visit his family.
My good friend Mirtill is coming to visit from Hungary, and I am so very excited to catch up.
I am going to be sewing dresses for a wedding.

The main reason I wasn't at camp, was because it would be good to begin working. After LTC ended, I decided it was a good time to really start filling out applications. Money is such a silly thing, but I felt like I could use some. I paid $7.00 to get my car washed (After Tim and I realized we couldn't do it on our own) only to get a long scratch along one side of my Saturn!
Last Friday I was out job hunting with no luck. Hobby Lobby told me they weren't hiring, and a bakery didn't have any applications left. I decided I should take a break and stop by the car wash; I had called them earlier and they were expecting me. The general manager came out and spoke to me about the scratch, and was very nice about it. I told him that I wasn't angry, and just that I wanted him to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the machine. He let me sit in the air conditioned convenience store area while he watched the video of my car going through the wash. The girl behind the cash register beamed at me and asked, "Are you applying here?" I told her about the scratch and then added, "But I am job-hunting at the moment." She told me that it was a great place to work, and let me use her pen to fill out an application.
The general manager came back with my seven bucks, two free car wash tickets, and no idea how the scratch got on my car. I had to assure him that I didn't want them to fix it, and then he saw my application. He sent me right away to have an interview with a regular manager. It was short and not awkward, and the guy seemed really impressed with my past experience at KBC, my GPA, and that I ran cross country.

I had another interview today with the general manager and was extremely nervous. What else could they ask me? I already told them everything. As it turned out, he just wanted to tell me what to expect at the job, and then I had to pee in a cup for a drug test. By then, I figured I was hired. I'm excited about a very flexible schedule, and they're excited that I want more than just a summer job. I will pick up some work pants tomorrow, and on Wednesday, I begin my first day as a "Team Player" as they call their employees.

Interesting...

This morning, my mom showed me a bird's nest she moved from the yard to the patio. She liked it because it was full of colorful trash, so she put it on the patio for others to see. She showed me this morning because it had a toad nestled in it's damp, round hole.
"Look at this, Grace! there's a toad in this nest!"
"Oh no! looks like we're going to have some Basilisk problems!"
"Huh?"
"um... nevermind."
Hours later, he was still there, so I moved him from the sun and took some pictures.

...in which I crack myself up about the Church of the Latter-day Saints... AGAIN

Timmy: So now I have to drive to Wichita, work out, drive home, get all dressed up, and then drive ALL the way back out here for my piano final before going to Bible study!

Me: Ooh! so you'll be all dressed up for Bible study?

Timmy: Psh! No! I don't want to be all dressed up for Bible study!

Me: Why not? You'll look like a little Mormon!

Timmy: Your mom's a Mormon!

Me: Don't you mean, my Moms' are Mormons?

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.