two

It's going to be a long two days (Greg is at scout camp). I already miss him. Pathetic? We usually e-mail back and forth a bit throughout the day at work and it always makes the day go by faster. I tell him something funny a coworker said, he sends me a link to a ridiculous news story. I send him a quote from Kung Fu Panda, he replies with one from The Office. That's true love for you folks.

How do I console myself under such conditions? I already treated myself to lunch (Mexican, of course, since Greg won't touch it) and I plan on taking a long bubble bath tonight while I continue a re-read of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (refresher before the movie). Maybe this isn't so bad after all...

oink

What happened to the swine flu hysteria? Is it bad that I honestly hoped someone I knew would get it? Just for bragging rights, of course. I've been waiting my whole life to see a pig fly and all for naught :) What can I say?-I have always had a thing for pigs, or so my piggy bank collection would reveal.

My favorite part of this epidemic was the World Health Organization trying to get people to call the flu by its "real name": Influenza A(H1N1) or H1N1 for short. H1N1? As my ever so clever younger brother pointed out, doesn't that look like it spells "hiney?" I'm pretty sure no one will admit to having the "hiney flu"...

Oh the irony - I just picked up today's paper (Standard-Examiner) and the top article is about swine flu.

pills

I don't like pills very much. The result is I'm not good at taking them. It's not the remembering to take them part I have a problem with but the actual swallowing part. I think the dislike stems from several things: watching other athletes in high school become completely dependent on pills, hearing about a friend overdosing on pills (on purpose), and viewing first-hand the results of a parent of a friend abusing prescription drugs. I want none of that. On a less serious note, I just like to chew things. It's almost as if my throat refuses to swallow without chewing first. I don't do well with lollipops as you might have guessed. I fear I will never learn how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.

The one pill I regularly take is really tiny and I considered it an accomplishment when I mastered taking it with only water. (My Mom will attest to the fact that this is simply amazing.) Now I take another pill and it's big. It's an anti-inflammatory for my left knee that's giving me problems after five pain-free years. It doesn't help that I almost cry everytime I have to take it with the reminder that I haven't been able to run for the last three weeks. There goes my summer racing plans! Don't remind me :(

The moral of the story is, taking pills usually means there's something wrong with me and who wants that? My throat hurts.

islands

As I type this my Greg is taking the next step to big boydom. The GMAT. When he's done, I'm taking him to lunch and then it's off the Layton to turn in his application for business school. The big boy business school. The one where they give you an MBA. If you're good. If you're not good I think you get a lollipop. I recently bought a five-pound bag of lollipops so Greg wouldn't be tempted by the offer.

He's been studying his brains big for weeks and (pardon the cheese) I'm really proud of him. I know good and well he's not doing this just for him but rather for what it will do for us and our future (we would like it to be a good one).

This is where you come in. You see, Greg going to school full-time + working full-time will mean we won't get much "free" time together. So we've decided to go on a fun trip before the madness begins. We're thinking of a cruise since neither of us have been and everyone loves all-you-can-eat. I need input from anyone who has been on a cruise. Where should we go? Which cruise line should we go on? ETC.

Thank you in advance for your much appreciated input. (I work in Marketing, remember?)

Back by popular demand

Yes Allie, I am alive.
I have at least four drafts of really excellent posts sitting in my queue (several date back to March *gasp*). Why haven't I finished and posted any of them? I have a problem. I get grand ideas that require lots of time to flesh out to their full potential (aka "post worthiness"). The result? As far as you can tell, nothing. The reality? I obsess over the best way to say what I'm thinking/feeling/experiencing until I burst from over-analyzation (more about this later). Then, when I regain strength to revisit the idea, I've lost the fire for its blogific presentation.

So, what's a girl to do? Lower my expectations? Give up altogether? Maybe I can have neither. And so, I present Wendy's Blog Bits (working title). This means forcing, when necessary, myself to post something about what I'm obsessing over. Be it the beginning of an idea or a complete thought, you'll find it here. Scary, right?

Let me warn you in advance, I have lots of bits to expose. That wasn't meant to be provocative, unless you're my husband. Sorry Mom-I know you're reading this.

Nursery III + Cub Scouting

I'm feeling so hot right now.

One of my nursery kids came to class last week (his mother dragging him through the door) but obviously wasn't very happy to be there. His mom didn't know what had happened because all he had talked about that morning was going to nursery and playing with Sister Willis. "He even put on cologne just for you," she said. I was flattered.

And...

My newest adventure is Cub Scouting. Yes, I'm experiencing children related church calling overload. Last week a boy I hadn't met showed up at den meeting. I overheard him say to another Bear, "Our new teacher's cute." I pretended not to hear it though I chuckled inside. Greg's response: "Oh, they don't stand a chance."

Nursery II

Conversation with nursery child whose mother is pregnant...

Me: Are you going to have a new baby in your family?
Nursery child: Uh-huh.
Me: Is it a girl or a boy?
Nursery child: [blank stare]
Nursery child: It's in mommy's tummy!
Me: You're right, the baby is in your mommy's tummy.
Nursery child: Do you have a baby in your tummy?
Me: No, I don't.
Nursery child: Why?
Me: Ummm

I'm now accepting suggestions of an explanation I could have shared that wouldn't elicit further questioning from a 3 year old...

Nursery

A few weeks ago in Nursery:

I was giving the lesson about "Sunday." Why it's a special day, what we do on Sunday, etc. We talked about going to church on Sundays and that our church building is a special place.

Me: Do you know what else is a special place?
Nursery child: The home!
Me: (Impressed by the child's response since it was to be my next comment) Did you read the lesson manual?
Child: (Nods) Uh-huh.
Me thinking: This is why I love being in the nursery. Even if some weeks are really hard.

Just tell it like it is.

Bob's 15 seconds of fame.

P.S. You're awesome. Maybe Hope Woodside will be on the scene next time (just to make Dad jealous).

After these mess-a-ges, we'll be riiiiiiiiight back!

[How's that for a time warp back to your childhood?]

Stay tuned for evidence of what has been coined "The best Wendy birthday of all-time" AND "Humility vs. Humiliation; A Brief Study of the Pedometer."

Meanwhile (back at the ranch) [I couldn't help getting another childhood memory in here], enjoy a little luck of the Irish! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my youngest of the older brothers, Andrew Rex!