Work Week Stories

On Saturday I spent the day as Parking Lot Enforcer since there was a garage sale next door to the shop and every.single.parking space was taken by shoppers. Considering it was also prom and we had lots of corsages for pickup we had to encourage them to park elsewhere. But after they continued to ignore our signs and fill our lot we finally started taking turns chasing them down and telling them to park elsewhere. Sometimes even chasing them down all the way until they were already at the garage sale.

On Monday morning we drove up to find a lady throwing all of our trash out of our dumpster and going through it looking for petals to make potpourri out of. Her pupils were incredibly tiny, and she stayed out there an hour despite our warnings to leave and she left her car running the entire time she was out there.

On Tuesday a man came in without his shirt in. Which I guess might have been slightly less weird except he brought in in with him and decided to put it on ....at the cash register?

On Wednesday in the middle of a man's explaining very excitedly about his upcoming date, he also decided to throw out there how long it had been since he had "been with a woman."

....

THIS IS NOT RELEVANT TO YOUR FLOWER ORDER, SIR. I PROMISE YOU. I DON'T NEED TO KNOW.

Today I arrived, feeling pretty good on a few hours of sleep, and then suddenly realized my shirt was inside out. In my defense, at least I only had it on that way for an hour? Eh? Eh?

It's okay. It's Friday tomorrow. It'll all be over soon. :)

(Although I do work this Saturday too....eek.....)

Promise me you won't do anything crazy.

"....I promise you I won't do anything, baby."

For awhile now I've been looking for a (new to me) band that had a great sound, had a lot of drive to it, was lots of fun to listen to while still maintaining some meat to it and be musically interesting. Since that's a pretty tall order, I haven't had too much luck finding one that just hit the spot in a couple years now. Really, FIF was pretty perfect. And while they are back to making music again it's still not going to be out for awhile plus I still wanted something fresh and new.

I had actually heard about House of Heroes for several years now and had noticed that the only things I heard were incredibly positive. Buuut I was stupid and assumed no band could really be that good and never paid attention. Then Reese mentioned how good they were which piqued my interest again and suddenly Will is sending me "If" and "Baby's A Red" to listen to.






They were stuck in my head for days.


Not only are they just incredibly catchy, but I loved their lyrics and the funky beats they pulled in.

Then there was "Code Name: Raven" which is still one of my favorites for the way they managed to make it sound so epic and work out that great bridge section. (I'm a sucker for epic. 80's rock ballads for the win.)






And it continued their World War II theme on the album "The End is Not the End" which was brilliant. (I'm also a sucker for themed albums. Musicals for the win.)


But I have this really bad habit of not listening to other songs by bands I like until I get bored with the ones I've latched onto. When I first got Phantom of the Opera in high school I listened to the first act for months and one day suddenly realized I had never listened to the second.

I had no idea how it ended.

Then I listened to the second act for months before remembering how awesome the first was. And finally I put the two together.

So finally tonight I started playing around listening to other House of Heroes songs. I re-listened to "In the Valley of the Dying Sun" which is beautiful, was fascinated by the opening of "Independence Day for a Petty Thief," bounced around to "Love is For the Middle Class" and then found.... "God Save the Foolish Kings."





I'm not sure why I really attached to this song tonight, but it really sold me out on House of Heroes. It's just so FUN. I really love the second verse where they launch back into "Midnight at school, behind the bleachers..." with that great use of claps & background vocals.

Again, epic sounding. Lots of drive. 


Maybe I've finally found that band to fill in that void. 

Why yes, I do think I need to pick up these albums....


"God save us, the foolish kings...."

The Spring Trip to Houston

Okay, so this time I have an actual reason for not posting for awhile. I was not here.

I was in HOUSTON!

The landscape: Not the same as it was before.

Due to the drought for all of last year, I never realized that there could be anything but dry grass from here to Texas. However that is simply not true. With all the wonderful rain we've been receiving the drive from Southern Oklahoma to Houston is simply gorgeous. Thousands of wildflowers along the banks of the road in all sorts of colors. Long, tall grasses. Huge, leafy trees. And on the drive down this wispy fog all throughout the Arbuckle Mountains in the early morning hours. So incredibly pretty. So many times I wanted pictures.

Hit that ball, what a game...

In order to travel with Will to his job at the Astros Stadium, I had to pick up the pace on 45 to make it to Houston by 3:30. (I was close: 3:40. But we still made it to the Stadium, thanks to Will who navigated me through all the chaotic traffic and suddenly clogged highways.)

Therefore I made it to my very first (professional) baseball game! The Houston Astros vs. the Atlanta Braves. Which I thought was pretty funny, since as a kid I loved the Braves. Or at least, as much as I ever loved a sports team as a kid. All that pretty much means is that I loved them one particular year they went to the World Series and my dad and I had this huge game about who would win. And he wanted the other team and I picked the Braves (they lost.)  So that's it.  Anyway, I was still amused I got to see the Braves. (Although, yes, in real life their fans seem to be pretty annoying.)

Root. Root. Root. This is the Astros slogan for the year. They take this very seriously, as you can see all over this pic.

The Astros lost, but I did get to hear the home run cannon go off, and I did enjoy the extreme classic/nostalgia feeling that seems to come over you while wandering through a ballpark and the first few innings of the game. Plus, the evening was perfect. Seriously, I kept looking up, seeing cityscape, and realizing I had forgotten I was outside. Absolutely beautiful, perfect for a game.

All I could hear was bits & pieces of "What a Game" from Ragtime.

The Boys

I had a lot of great chances to play with the kiddos, especially Robbie.  Who is four and can build things like this out of K'Nex:

Robbie's Robot. No instructions here, folks. Just his thoughts and K'nex prowess. Man, I wish had a picture when he had wings on it.

 

At one point Robbie actually convinced me to try and build an airplane for him out of K'nex from the instruction manual.

Oh, guys. Me with K'nex. Can you already see the utter failure?

But I was pretty pleased with how I had finally managed to get over halfway done and looking pretty good when he slid down beside me and stated "Um.... this part is upside down."
Which prompted me to ask the dumbest question I could have possibly asked at that moment.
"Are you sure, Robbie?"
"Yes. This is upside down." And before I could blubber out something about "being sure before we changed it" he had taken it from my hands, made quick eight snaps and handed it back to me before running off on his way. He had fixed it.  (For you curious, the plane eventually did get finished with Robbie's help.) 

Death to Dust Man

I really, really love The Mega's album featuring music from Mega Man 2. But I've never touched a Mega Man game and I was wondering what they were like and Will said we could play through them together.
Um.
That sounded great until I realized how hard some of the levels were to jump into for the first three games, and I pretty much just handed off the controller to him (once with one hit point left and no lives at the boss gate.)  I did however play more of Mega Man 4, right up until Dust Man who stressed me out so much I couldn't even watch him beat the level.
And then time ran out and no more Mega Man.
But I did get to meet Rush!

The Zooooooo!
And we went to the Zoo!

Robbie & Will spying on the...gorillas? Was it gorillas?

The Houston Zoo has a lot of cool animals, many different ones from OKC which was a nice change.  My favorite part was actually at the very end where we came across red pandas running around in their exhibit, being incredibly cute. While OKC does have one, she's usually sleeping or hidden. To see them so active was lovely. (No pictures there because they were in a dark tunnel behind glass.)

Also, there were otters, sprawled on top of each other, sleeping on their backs. Also very cute.

The giraffes were feeling up close & personal. Love the tongue sticking out.

Again, great weather, great company, great Zoo. 

Bouncing (on heads) here and there and everywhere....
Tarvis!
One evening (I can no longer remember what happened what day) I was able to run over to Travis' to catch up with him which was nice. And then I watched Will & Travis play Super Mario Wii which was hysterical. Seriously, bouncing off each others heads, falling into pits, crashing around in bubble form... there's a reason I love to watch people play video games.

The Return of the Confetti Eggs
If for any bizarre reason I wasn't sure before, I've now decided I absolutely love confetti eggs.

Shamelessly stealing these pics from Will.

Kim sweetly thought of and bought some confetti eggs for us to play with, but unfortunately the timing never quite worked out! So the day I left we managed to sneak them in after church.

Isaac seemed less concerned. Pic also stolen.

I tried to smash one on Robbie's head - instantly was afraid I was going to hurt him more than expected - and began breaking them open instead which worked just as well. But don't worry, he took great pleasure in busting them over mine, so there was definitely egg-head-smashing going on. :)

Stolen! Stolen!

I love the confetti! I don't know why. (Though maybe it harkins back to the days of the Fantasticks when I had great joy in playing with it after every performance to Philip's dismay.) I think it's all the colors. It makes everything look so cheery & bright. It's great stuff.  Next year I need to buy several packs and stock up!

One more since confetti pictures rock. Don't worry, we cleaned up the mess.

Thanks again, Kim! :)

Seven and a half hours to home.
It was a total blessing that I didn't hit any major traffic on the drive home since I left later than I originally intended. I guess Saturday night suddenly everything caught up with me and I was worn out by Sunday morning. So after the confetti eggs, I tried to lay down (and failed at sleeping.) But a fantastic lunch from Kim was enough and I was quite awake the rest of the drive home. After sailing five minutes through construction that caused me two hours of grief last spring, I was thrilled.

All in all....
It was an absolutely lovely trip. Friends, kiddos, a Zoo, games...how can you go wrong? It was perfect.

Images from Easter

While I did wish this year that we would've done something a little extra for Easter at church, simply to help me remember the true celebration behind the season, it was a very lovely Easter.

(Not that Hilltop didn't have a nice Easter morning service and not that they didn't focus on Christ. Just that I was a little hungry for a little more....weightiness. Does that even make sense? Something to snap me into the reality of what we were celebrating.) 

But we did take the Lords Supper, which is a bit rarer for us and therefore brought to mind more of the occasion, and I was certainly much more aware of The Reason this year than I have been in years past.
I'm in Numbers right now, working my way through the Old Testament, and I really loved seeing the sermons leading up to Easter we've been receiving side by side with the stories of the Old Testament. This year when Gary read the phrase: "We have no king but Caesar" it suddenly reeled in my mind how truly awful (and really blasphemous) that was since I'm also concurrently reading about how God is their Head & their King in the Old. It was shocking - as it should have been - and seeing moments like this lined up beside each other continue to help me have a better grasp of the bigger picture at the cross. Anyone else have specific memories of moments like that?

Anyway. Easter has this way of bringing out joy in another fashion: super cute kiddos.

Unfortunately, I failed miserably at getting photos of the Plumb celebration (Shannon, I'm looking at you. I saw that camera flashing. ;) ) But I did manage to get quite a few when the Kime's & McBride's came down on Easter Sunday.

I know most of them feature *ahem* me, but I was so thrilled to have updated photos with these kiddos, that I'm certainly putting them in anyway. :)

 Awwww..... look at that face. My darling Lexie Lou!

I haven't had as many pics of Brighton to feature in general, so she shows up often here. :) Plus, it was her very first Easter!

Gorgeous see-sters... (this was the "two cookie" bribe picture.)

 

I adore these faces. Can you believe they're so grown up? I can't.

Oh, I adore Lexie's face too. :)

(Please note the confetti in my hair. Story forthcoming.)

 And of course, baby Bright's as well. :)

 Picture perfect. :)

Seriously, how precious are these kids?  The amount of cuteness here is staggering.

 Ooooooh..... the confetti. Jeff & Brittany brought these eggs down called Confetti Eggs and they were awesome.  You crack the egg open (preferably by smashing them over someone's head, which appeared to be our method) and all this beautiful confetti comes flying out. But not the sticky kind, just pretty small bits of colorful paper. They brought a dozen. Next year I'm convinced they need to bring a dozen for the adults and then another dozen for the kids. :)

You see, by the end of it I was the only one that hadn't been confetti'd and all the eggs were gone. But then they found one that had still been hidden in the backyard. So while I avoided Jeff like the plague (who was whistling innocently nearby), unbeknownst to me he had swapped with my oldest kiddo and she NAILED me on the back of the head. There was a traitor in my midst! :)

Anyway, moral of story: go buy confetti eggs. They're fun. They're colorful. Buy plenty for each age group to play. :)

Last photo op.

 Priceless. :)

Oh, the Arrangement....

So.

Tonight I began watching a show entitled The Arrangement that ran for a season last year. It's essentially a floral design competition. There's actually a lot of it that's irritating - the host is pretty insufferable, most of the designers are jerks and I still don't understand how someone with only "12 weeks" experience made it on there. But the arrangements are pretty fun to watch and I like seeing the materials they use.

However, in episode 2 their theme was heroes & villains.

And for some awful reason they had a hero named Captain Arrangement and they had to...decorate his mask with flowers? And give him a flower...weapon?
I mean, this theme had potential, but it was all done really, really badly.

BUT. That is not why I'm discussing this.

Because in the second half of the episode they had to design an arrangement that would be given to Jigsaw from the Saw series. And as part of their design they were able to go to a horror house and pick out material.
Okay, that's cool.
But someone picked out GOAT EYEBALLS.

I. kid. you. not.

I will spare you the gruesome details of what they did with the actual goat eyeballs because it made me gag.

I will be skipping the rest of episode 2 and flipping forward to episode 3 where their challenge is to use completely recycled materials.

That sounds much safer.

I hope.