Camel Humps

Tonight I am teaching the Kindergarten class at church the story of Isaac and Rebecca. I am planning to have the kids dress up and act out the story. There is a camel (minor role) in the story and I really wanted some way to have a kid dress up. So I asked the secretary at work, Effie, how I might go about making a camel hump. She thought for a moment and then told me to follow her. We found some brown cloth and cotton stuffing material. Effie then made a large circle out of mat board. We proceeded to place the material around the circle, stuff the stuffing inside and then staple the material around the circle. We also attached two pieces of material on either side to tie the hump on. (P.S. Our bosses are out this week so we were able to do this). I'm really excited to see the little kids wear the hump!


*Very, Very Random Thought: When you load a stapler with new staples do you ever feel like you are loading a large bullet into a rifle?

The Meeting

During a call with my mom last night I found out that my family is thinking about coming down to visit me this weekend for Labor Day. So I guess Travis is going to meet the family--I have to admit I'm a little nervous about this. It's not that I think they won't get along. Travis is one of those people who, at least from what I've experienced, can get along with anyone. And my family is friendly...sometimes maybe a little too friendly. I think my nervousness comes from the fact that this is new to me. The very few relationships I've been in were friends beforehand so they already had met and knew my parents. I've never had the "cold turkey" experience. But I also am excited to have them meet Travis and my friends at church. I guess this also means I have to clean my apartment or rather find time to clean my apartment :)

A Good Movie

Tonight I watched The Ron Clark Story on TNT. Matthew Perry stars in this made for tv movie which is about a real teacher who taught inner city kids in New York. I LOVED this movie!!! I love true stories about teachers who change students lives--teachers who take the time and patience to reach these kids and really care about them. He saw their potential not their economic status. I must admit there were parts I teared up at.

Speaking of crying at movies...I also watched Man on Fire this weekend. First of all I didn't know about some of the gruesome scenes in this movie. I thought it would be all action and violence. But then came the end of the movie--the waterworks started. And what's worse was I watched it with Travis. So I was trying my hardest not to cry. I failed miserably. Stupid female sensitivity!

SOAR

My church puts on a retreat called SOAR for the incoming freshman. It's sort of like Welcome Week but not at all--if that helps the ACUers who read this blog. They spend Wednesday through Friday out at Messiah Ranch which is about 20 miles from town. On Thursday night there is a special dinner and devo time where the old aggs (and aggies by association) come out to mingle with the new freshmen. We had to meet at the church at 4:45 to get on the church bus (I can't remember the last time I rode on a bus) to take us to the ranch. So I asked my boss if I could get off at 4:15 to be at the church on time and, the gracious person that she is, she let me go.

I had no time to change so I rode on the no air conditioned bus in my casual work clothes. There were quite a few of us that headed on out there. We had a great spaghetti dinner followed by WARM chocolate brownies. While eating this one guy jumped up and made this hand motion and shouted EY, EY, EY and immediately after got on the floor and did pushups. I had no idea what had happened--everyone else was use to it. Sarah and Kim explained to me that each class has a yell and if you do an upperclass yell without permission you are out of rank--I think that's what they called it.

A group of 4 guys most of whom were apart of a group called Under His Wings sang a few songs. Then came the Aggie tradition--Yell Practice. 5 guys in overalls were walking back in forth in this pattern. Then everyone was following their lead doing motions, bending down, singing songs, "passing it back"--I just followed Travis's lead. I had no idea what I was doing. Then came the foot/swaying thing. I had done this once when I went to the Hall. You stick your left foot in front of the person on your left, then you put your arms on the people next to you and sway. Travis said he is going to have to put me through training before I go to an Aggie game.

When it was time for us to go back I really thought it was 10:00 or later but it was only 8:30! You could tell in the bus who had full time jobs and who was still in school--the job people were very quiet/sleeping and the collegers were singing songs as loud as possible. I got home around 9:45 and went straight to bed. It was a very fun experience.

Tonight we are having a back to school back with...blow-up games! I'm so excited!

Breaking News

Lately I have become very interested in watching/listening to the news--another sign I am getting older. In the mornings I watch the Today Show and on my drive to work I listen to AM radio--something I have never done.

Some interesting things I heard today:

Astronomers have either decided or are deciding that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Also there may be 3 new planets added to the solar system. Everything we learned in grade school is about to change.

On a talk news show the subject being discussed was the Mexico border and illegal immigrants. One of the ladies that called in was apart of Code Pink which, I found out later via internet, is a women's peace organization. She was highly against military involvement along the border. She also stated that these people are coming over here starving and to escape poverty. One of the hosts stated if they are in poverty how are they paying individuals thousands of dollars to help them over the border? At one point in the conversation the host stated these people are coming over illegally. The woman's answer to this was "well, that's your opinion". To counter attack the host said "no, that's a law!" The lady then stated how different is this from when our ancestors came here from England, Ireland, Germany, etc. Uh, they came legally! For some reason she could not get that point through her head!

Rude Awakening

Last night while peacefully sleeping a received a rather rude awakening. Not once but twice my cell phone rang at 3:00 am. I use my phone as my alarm so it was sitting inches from my head. I did not recognize the number so I didn't answer. The second time this person called they left a message. This made me think I might know this person so I should listen to what they had to say. Here was the message:

"Hey Jason. Just wanted to see if you wanted to go do something. Give me a call." (Male voice)

Wouldn't this person realize he does not have Jason when the voicemail comes on with a girly voice saying "Hi this is Erin". Needless to say I was a little perturbed.

A Bad Morning

This morning started out alright but then one little thing happened and then another and another which quickly turned it into a very frustrating time. I decided I was in need of a mocha frappacino from Starbucks before I made my trek to work. So I made sure I had about 15 minutes extra to get there. I was a couple minutes past that leaving my apartment. I was almost to the main street when i realized I left my lovely salad I made for lunch on the table. **Incident #1**

So I had to go back and get it. So running 5 minutes behind not too much of a problem. As I'm going down the road I happen to glance down at the car gauges. I forgot I was almost out of gas--rats! **Incident #2**

So I stopped at a gas stationto fill up and use my debit card. There are some gas pumps now that ask for you zip code and if it doesn't match up it won't let you use it. Well, for some reason my debit card and zip code never match up. I had to cancel the transaction and grab my credit card. **Incident #3**

When I finally got to Starbucks there were 3 people in front of me. Of course every other time I have gone before work noone else was there. It's like they knew I was late and came out of the nooks and cranys to beat me. **Incident #4**

Though it's not a big deal if I am a little late to work, I still drove about 5 miles over the speed limit to get there at a "fashionably late" time. I was less than 10 minutes late and saw that one of the desk workers was already here. As I walk towards the door I hear someone call my name. Ketra was sitting in her car eating her breakfast. She told me she had trouble getting the door unlocked. So I went to try it. The lock would not turn at all and sometimes my key would get stuck in the lock. I was getting so frustrated because it wouldn't open and because it was really hot outside (and I was sweating...no glistening in my work clothes). The solution was to walk around to the front, enter, and run like the dickens to turn off the alarm. **Incident #5**

We were finally in the building and I could relax and try to make the day better. But then the phone rang. It was the alarm company saying they had a warning from our building and had dispatched someone to come out there. I guess in trying to open the door we set off the alarm. They asked if they should cancel the dispatch and I told them yes. Then they asked for the password. What password??? I put them on hold while Ketra and I ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. After a few minutes I remembed I had the card with the code in my wallet. **Incident #6**

Oy! I'm really hoping the rest of today is not as insane as this morning!

"It Was an Accident"

So I tend to beat up on Travis just in play. He takes it now as normality--he says he is in an abusive relationship. But the past couple of days some things have happened that I didn't mean to happen.

Tuesday night I cooked one of the few things I know how to cook: tostada pie. Abilene people you should remember this because anytime we had the group over for dinner at the Relm I cooked it. Anyway, while trying to cut it into pieces I made a motion with the fork and accidently stabbed Travis in the arm! It wasn't hard or deep but still I felt terrible. Then Wednesday night he came over to watch Project Runway. I was knitting my I-cord for my baby blanket. I was taking a break from knitting and he made some snide comment (I don't remember what). So I was going to hit him with the end of my cord. Well...I grabbed the wrong end and hit him in the forehead with the needle! I felt really, really bad about that one! So now he enjoys bring these two incidents up.

Slacked Off

I can't believe how much I have slacked off on my blogging responsibility. I usually crank out my posts at work but the past few days have been kind of nuts. Yesterday my phone just kept ringing--I was very close to throwing it out the window!

This past weekend I went to Dallas to help my family pack up my grandmother's house. Saturday it was just my dad, my sisters, my mom, and I moving things. I was very impressed with what we accomplished: two couches (one was a sleeper), two large bookcase shelves, big huge dresser. It was hard though knowing I wouldn't be coming to this house anymore. I'm not even sure how long my grandparents lived in this house--I know they were in it before my mom went to college. Sunday was my grandmother's last time at her church. There was a special tribute to her--someone had put together a little slideshow of pictures of her and my granddad. And let's just say my grandmother, my mom, Traci, and I were letting the tears fall as they may. It was a very emotional weekend but I'm glad my grandmother will be closer to my mom and I will be able to see her more often.

This week I have started a new regimine (spelling?). I use to do my workouts on my Gazelle at night then take a shower before I went to bed. Well, lately my nights have been full of activities and I haven't had time for my workouts. So Tuesday I started getting up at 6:20 to workout and take a shower. This is a big deal because I hate getting up early. If I can sleep in I will. So far I have kept to this schedule for 3 days--the main thing that helps me get up is knowing I have to take a shower so I might as well get sweaty beforehand. I also have started watching the Today Show in the morning. So now I am abreast of pertinant news.

Other Duties as Assigned

Today when I went to unlock the upstairs doors at the museum, I noticed a bird sitting on the observation deck right in front of the door. I opened the door a little to get it to fly off and then I noticed it had a hurt wing. I ran downstairs to ask Effie what to do. She said catch it and drop it over the edge--she said it should fly off as best it can. Of course I was a little concerned of if it didn't...then I would have a big splat to clean up!

So I grabbed some of the cleaning lady's gloves: one yellow and one green (that's all I could find). When I got to the top of the ramp Shawn, the Currator of Collections, was there so she followed me out on the deck. I wish I could have recorded myself chasing this bird in my nice work clothes with these mismatched rubber gloves! Shawn and I finally corralled it to the edge of the deck and it hopped up to one of the holes. I then gave it a little tap over the edge and thankfully it flew into a nearby tree.

When I first applied for this job, the application stated that there would be "other duties as assigned". I shall add bird catcher to that list.

Volunteers and Hot Chocolate

Last night after my knitting class, I was talking with some friends when Andrei found me and said I needed to meet someone. So he introduced me to Bob Davidson and his wife, the parents of the college minister at church. Bob helps with the school that meets at the church building and they were in need of someone to lead the kids in a devotional next Thursday morning. So Andrei tells Bob that my boyfriend, Travis, (p.s. that was the first time I heard someone say the "b" word) would be great at that. I said I would have to check because I knew he worked in the mornings. We talked for a while longer and then Andrei threw in something to the affect of "Travis will do a good job on Thursday" and I had to interject saying he hadn't committed to anything yet.

So when I saw Travis later that evening I told him he had been voluntered for something. After I told him what it was I expected him to say he wouldn't be able to do it. But he said that he would be there. Apparently he has done this before and loves it! (awe)

Also last night Travis picked the perfect activity for us. He had come into possession of some "gourmet" hot chocolate mixes (special flavors like amaretto and tiramesu). So he suggested we drink hot chocolate while watching...Sense and Sensability! Not too many guys would willingly sit through this movie. He said he liked it but admitted it was a chick flick. It was the perfect activity!

No Air

Monday evening I went to Nursing Home Singing and then out with the AFCers for dinner. When I left my apartment everything was fine--I was living it up in my 76/77 air conditioned little home. When I arrived back home I noticed a slight change in my comfortable domicile. The air was blowing (constantly) but the thermometer read 80! So for the past two nights I have slept with my little turbo fan blowing directly on me. I hate to sleep when it is hot. It is the most disgusting feeling. (And this is why I am not a big fan of camping). Today I am calling the apartment and my hope is they can fix it by the time I get home.

Monday after eating at the Potato Shack with the fellow nursing home singers, Travis jumped into the passenger side of the truck. So I did what any girl who likes to drive trucks would do--I jumped in the driver's seat and held out my hand for the keys. He was a little hesitant at first. I'm not sure if he meant it just as a joke or if he really wanted me to drive. But in the end I received the keys! I started to drive carefully--I didn't want him to worry. But then he said "You can drive it like it is a truck". I think he was feeling slighted by the other trucks passing him. So I gunned that sucker...well, to the appropriate speed limit :)

In the mornings one of my jobs is to turn on the videos on the second floor of the museum. We have a long ramp that leads all the way up to the second floor. On tours I make sure that the students do not run down the ramp--this is a very big temptation. On certain days, like today, I will take my high heeled shoes off at the bottom of the ramp, turn everything on, and then run all the way down! It's so much fun! I do feel bad that the kids don't get to enjoy this thrill...but I suppose 25 kids running down at once could create mass pandemonium.

This and That

* Thursday a state represenatives wife came to visit the museum. So I was the one on quard to greet her and make sure she and her guests entered for free. She was very nice and eager to meet all of the staff. I made sure to give her grandson some free postcards and such :)

*At Oasis Thursday night we had my favorite snack--brownies and ice cream! A lot of times I like to think that I don't have a problem with dairy or that the small amount of pain is bearable. Unfortunately this time I woke up at 4:00 in the morning with horrible stomach cramps--oy!

*Thursday evening Travis and I played Disney Scene it! I adore Disney and I play this game and Disney Trivia a whole lot. I won the first game and I hate to admit it but Travis won the second. Although there will be a rematch sometime...

* Don't you hate it when simple words look misspelled? During the course of this post the words "guests" and "although" have looked very funny to me.

* Friday we had a "skeleton crew" at the museum. I was the only staff member with 3 of the part time people. So we did what we always do when not many people are working...we got something special for lunch! This time it was the bar b que place just down the road. I'm not the biggest bbq fan (I know I'm not a true Texan) but I really like these sandwhiches. It's probably because the meat is placed on homemade bread and I am a bread connoisseur.

*Friday afternoon at work I felt yuck. By the time I got home I felt like I had been hit by a train. I was planning to help Heather move into her new apartment in my complex but I took a nap instead. After the nap I still felt all swimmy in my head so I continued to lay on the couch. Later Travis came to help me feel better--he made me some tea (awe). My head feels better today but I still have some allergy problems--grrr!

*Tonight I am going with my girls to the Woodlands for a surprise party...for a girl I don't know. I figure I can represent all the people who couldn't make it to the party :)

Sister Time

I realized after taking this picture that we are backwards...oh well! (Here you can really tell that I am at least an inch if not more shorter than my younger sisters)



Ah--we really do love each other...and this is how we show it.