Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Trying to Blog

... but I'm really not in the mood. Ever get that way??? Oh well. Surely I can come up with something.

Sunday was a great day. We weren't able to have church at our usual meeting room in the motel, so we arranged to have it here at our house. We had a good service, then enjoyed a pot-luck and nice time of fellowship with everybody, then went straight into our ABM service. I thoroughly enjoy having a morning and evening service on Sundays (we weren't able to do that while we were in Texas), but it's really nice to have a day like this every now and then. I love the fellowship and then the extra time to relax.

After the rest of the crowd cleared out Sister Galaviz stuck around long enough to lose at I Buy and then one round of Rummicub as well. ;-) It was great fun, as always, and we've planned for her to come and spend the night with us on Thursday (she doesn't work on Friday) so we're excited about a slumber party! :-) She's such a cool lady. I hope I'm like her when I get old. (Are you reading this, Sister Galaviz???) ;-)

Yesterday James figured we should run into town to try to take care of some business. All three kids were in desperate need of tennis shoes (why do their feet all grow at once?!) among other things, but we didn't have much luck. We finally came away with a pair of play shoes for Sam and a few items from the Bath & Bodyworks sale. Had a nice, relaxing evening and James and I played a round or two of Rummicub with Katie before bed.

Today we headed outside to work on the house after devotions. The log siding is sooooo dried out and in desperate need of some fresh stain and penafin. But it had several areas where the logs were nearly black and needed to be sanded before anything could be applied to them. We expected to spend the better part of the day sanding and trying to prep them for tomorrow's spray job. But--wonder of wonders--the black stuff just practically wiped off! Very little effort involved and we were completely done in about 30 minutes. Wa-Hoo! I can't remember when we've had a job that was faster and easier than we'd expected! Most of them turn out to be far worse than our imaginations! Ha! So it was nice. :-) We finished so early we figured we'd pile in the car and try to get some more errands run.

We headed out to Edgewood and Moriarty this time. There's a thrift store out there that has fantastic prices. We were able to find tennis shoes for Katie AND Joe there (that's all three kids now! Wa-Hoo!), a pair of jeans, two $30 board games, a skirt for Katie, a polo shirt for Sam... and something else I'm forgetting... all for $5.50. Love it! :-)

We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant there in Moriarty, then stopped by Alco just because we like Alco. :-) Found blankets for the boys' beds and a couple of other things... but I can't remember those either. Oh well--it was a very, very successful day!

On our way home we stopped by Wal-Mart so we could mooch. I've never mooched before and I'm none to comfortable with it! Haley had asked if I would take a letter to them and ask if they would donate a swimming pool to our Family Camp, of all things. Ha! Can you imagine?! I started to write the letter and got as far as "To whom it may concern." I called Haley back and said that I was sorry--I'd never done this sort of thing before and didn't know how to ask somebody to just GIVE us a pool! In a matter of moments she had formed the most amazing letter I'd ever seen. By the end of it you almost get the feeling we're doing them a favor by being willing to take a pool off their hands! Ha! CRAZY. Anyway, I took the letter in and very nervously talked to a manager about it. He was sooooo nice and, although he didn't promise anything, I somehow expect that he'll donate SOMETHING to Camp even if it's not a pool. We'll know soon enough!

We made it back just in time for horse lessons today, then came home and... Hhmmm. I don't remember what. I read a little more of the Indian in the Cupboard book to the kids. Ah yes, that's what we're going through right now and they're loving it. I remember a teacher reading it to our class in 2nd or 3rd grade when I was a kid. Uummm. That's about it!

The only other thing going on around here is my peculiar impulse to be at BTI! I haven't felt the urge this strong in years, but it's just killing me that it's going on right now and I'm not there to be a part of it!!! I even had to chew out one uninformed student over the phone tonight because she's doing it all wrong. "We'll have no more of this coming home before dark nonsense, you got that?!" And the strange girl was studying in a room all by herself. Have you ever heard of anything so crazy in all your life?! I told her that was against every rule in the book. You're supposed to get with other students somewhere (typically a restaurant), open your books, say you're "studying" and end up laughing until you're sick and making all sorts of memories that will last a lifetime. ;-) I have to give her a little bit of slack though. It's only her 1st Term and it's only the 2nd day. I'm sure she'll have caught on to proper BTI conduct by the end of the week. Ha!

In my BTI mood, I went and looked through all of my old pictures. It only made me miss it more! What an amazing thing BTI is. I LOVE IT!!! I thought I'd post some of my really good pictures, but as I sorted through them one individual kept showing up year after year as the most... memorable, at least as far as the pictures indicate. I don't actually recall spending a great amount of time around him during BTI, but apparently he was doing something picture worthy each moment I was around. Here are just a few shots from my 3rd Term year (his 1st Term, I believe) in 1996. I think that's the right year!

In this first shot, he was actually STUCK on the slide and in need of assistance to get down. HA!

All three of these gentlemen are ministers in the Church now. Actually... all three of them were ministers back then, too! They're all in pastoral leadership positions now... and beyond. ;-)
I hesitated posting this one, but finally decided that surely nobody would be offended! And I know a great many people who would really appreciat it. :-)


So there you have it. My past few days. And no current pictures, only some from 13 years ago! Whoa!!! That's so wild!!!! Has it been THAT LONG?! ~sigh~ This getting old thing really creeps me out sometimes! Ha!

4 comments:

Tammy K. said...

Great deal on the clothes and shoes.
Love the BTI picturea. You should post a few more. They are fun to look back at it. 13 yrs....that seems impossible.

Vicki Smith said...

The word is "solicit," not "mooch." ;-)
The individual with the straw up his nose is having to wear a suit and tie every day this year. HA! Who'd have ever guessed??? It's amazing who and what God chooses to use, isn't it? I mean, look at ALL of us!
BTI is going well! There's LOTS of excitement and I'm sure even the 1st Termers will "catch on" without getting out of control. There are a LOT of young people here. "Memories to last a lifetime" is right. I have fantastic memories of my BTI years in the '70's--the people, but more importantly the spiritual depths and heights I experienced, never to be forgotten.

Rachel said...

Is that Michael Jernigan in the middle of that rodeo picture???? LOL!!! I have never in my life seen him do anything that undignified. I thought that man was born with his hair properly slicked in place. :) Priceless!!!

cokelady said...

Rachel -- Yes, that is Michael Jernigan. And I'm sure he would love for you to THINK that he was born with his hair properly slicked in place, but I have enough pictures of him that prove otherwise! Ha! Generally, he's pretty uptight, but he can certainly surprise you! ;-)