Friday, July 29, 2005

Laundry.

How sad is it that the most exciting discovery of my week has been that a splash of dish soap will kick the crap out of a chocolate stain on a light blue t-shirt?

I also used salt and water (1-2 tbs/liter) to remove a blood stain (yay! bloody noses!). I've used milk in the past, but it's a less efficient method that requires much soaking. And who likes wasting milk? I've been told that Windex or Colgate toothpaste can also both remove blood stains. I haven't tried either yet, but Windex would be a lot easier. And I'm in favor of lazy solutions.

On a somewhat related note, fabric softener sheets are good for removing soap scum in your bathroom. And they make good shoe deodorizer's if you leave them in over night. And some people say they'll keep mosquitos at bay, too.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Where God likes to begin.

"How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep me from deliberate sins!
Don't let them control me." - Psalm 19:12-13

One of my Social Work professors taught us that anxiety is what makes the world go around. I'm finding that to be true. What you do, what you don't do, is rooted in so much fear. How could we even get out of bed in the morning without terror?

But Jesus taught us not to worry; we must trust in God above all else, and cast our cares on Him. That's a doctrine that's not of this world. It's unearthly. But those things that are impossible with man alone, are possible with God. The impossible, as I was told last night, is where God likes to begin.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Zoo 0401


Zoo 0401
Originally uploaded by trewqaz.
I love this picture. Alison cracked me up; she wanted her picture taken with every single statue. She's so cute though, I didn't mind stopping all of the time.

Vengence is mine saieth me.

Yeah, so, there's a massive bee infestation at my house. For years, they've made their home behind our porch light. I've generally practiced peace with the bees. We never seem to be able to get rid of them, so I stopped trying a long time ago. I just sprint whenever I'm entering or exiting.

This year, my mother forced my father to attempt genocide on the bees. He sprayed this sticky stuff in that's supposed to fluff up and kill them all. It didn't work. But the bees aren't happy.

A few minutes ago, I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business. I heard buzzing, and assumed it was a fly. The fly landed in my hair, and I shook my head a little and heard more buzzing. Since I didn't feel any movement, I assumed that the crisis had been averted.

How wrong I was.

A few seconds later, I felt an itch behind my ear. I moved to scratch, and discovered: INSECT! Panic, much flinching and batting of said hand. A split second later: PAIN!

The gd bee had been hiding out behind my ear, waiting to sting me. MoFo stung me behind my ear! In my own living room!

This means WAR bees! You've forced my hand! I don't care if the humans started it, you just attacked an innocent civilian. It doesn't bring me comfort enough to know that you'll die shortly, having stung me. Little suicide stinger; I'll have your queen!

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Nerves.

Cedar Point went well. I had a good time with my sister. We had a lot of fun because we're both really laid back. We didn't fight about anything at all, or even snap at each other, which is nice because Cedar Point usually involves screaming and the gnashing of teeth.

I spent Tuesday with Baby Ty. My niece Jessica managed to accidentally stick a nail through her hand Monday night, so she couldn't pick up the baby at all on Tuesday. Ty and I had a lazy day of napping, playing ball and swimming in his baby pool. We discovered a mutual love for those Eggo waffle things that are filled with strawberries. Good times.

I spent yesterday cleaning and studying, which might sound like an awful day, but I actually kind of enjoyed it. I even slept in until nearly 10 o'clock this morning, which rocked. I'm all relaxed and lazy. I don't even feel like getting up to take a shower and starting the day. Mind you, it's 2:30 now, and my day should have started hours ago.

Today will be spent largely on shopping and studying, and going to class. I really don't want to go to class tonight. I think that I don't really like grad school very much. I need to do it insofar as I need to have finished school to work with the people I want to work with, but I'm not enjoying it so much. At least it's only two nights a week.

I'm about to make a huge decision today that will very much alter the course of the lives of many people, some of whom I've never met. I pray that I make the right decision. I'm very nervous.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Humility.

The Jasmin Family is on vacation in South Carolina, so I am on de facto vacation as well. I'm housesitting while they're out of town, and it's just the dogs, cats, fish, plants and me. So long as none of the aforementioned die, and I keep objects of value at minimum breakage level, this should be quite fun. Or actually, it should be quite quiet, which is fun for me because that means lots of time to sleep.

The downside is that I no longer have any excuse to put off working on my midterm essays. They're actually not bad looking assignments, but I haven't had to write a real paper in over a year and it's sort of hard getting back into the groove.

I spent Friday with a ton of kids. Everybody in the neighborhood came over to play, and only left when we did. I took The Boy, X., and D.C. from down the street out for a while in the afternoon. We went to a Mexican restaurant on a whim, which ended up being a blast because I'm the kind of babysitter that lets kids try out all the different hot sauces. X. "broke a taste bud...no, seriously, don't laugh, [he] seriously broke a taste bud." Then we walked around the mall for a while, and stopped at the park for a few minutes. The Boy fell off a tree he was trying to climb over, and scratched his leg. I'm a mean babysitter and used peroxide on the scratches.

The Boy "Oh my God, I can't walk! Oh my God!"
Mean Babysitter: "[The Boy] you just climbed back up that blessed ravine, you can make it to the car. You're nine years-old, I'm not carrying you."
The Boy "Oh my God, you don't understand the pain! Sarah! Oh my God!"

Friday night/Saturday morning was spent helping the Jasmin Family pack and plan their trip. Saturday evening, I went to the fireworks/carnival with baby Ty and family. Sunday, I went to church, the grocery store, and did a mass of laundry, and followed it up with an extended comatose state.

Today, I will go to Cedar Point with my oldest sister, Denise. It should be fun, I think, with the reservation that she's going to try to make me get one of those old fashion style pictures done. I'm not really into those so much, but I guess that's just pride talking, and if it makes her happy, I'll probably cave and just make her swear she'll never show anybody. Which, of course, she will. Humility is a virtue, right?

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Thursday Bitch.

OMG.

I...

am...

tired...

We didn't get back from the Indians game until one last night. I drove home, and got to bed a little after two. I had to get back up again at six to watch Jasmin's kids. What little time I had for sleeping was mostly wasted on thinking about how I really needed to get to sleep, because I wasn't going to have time for sleep.

So I got here to Jasmin's this morning, started cleaning a little and called the car place. They were all booked for the day, except for one cancellation spot, scheduled a half hour after the call. That meant I had to wake the boys up, and try to stuff food down their throats before speeding my ass off to get there. I made it; or at least, I came close enough that it should count, damn it.

Follow that up by hours spent waiting in a waiting room with two little boys who just want to know how much longer it's going to be. Please? How much longer? Can we ask? Is it going to be much longer? I want candy. I'm thirsty. I have to go to the bathroom. How much longer because I want candy and I'm thirsty and have to go to the bathroom, is it going to be a lot longer still?

Finally got out, rushed to Social Security to drop something off for Jasmin and ended up going to McDonald's for lunch. Had to sit in the Playplace. Had to be the busiest Playplace of all time, packed with screaming children. I'm not exaggerating because I'm grumpy; though I am grumpy and would be justified in doing so.

So after that we ran out to my house to get a mouse because Jasmin's is broken and I needed to use the computer for school. When we got there, the kids wanted to walk in the woods. I am an unnecessarily kind babysitter. We walked and walked and walked. My dog attempted to bloodily murder a groundhog in front of my three gap-eyed charges. I had to drag her off; a dog on one arm, an eight-month old on the other.

Jetted back to town. Every kid in the neighborhood wants to come over. I tell them we're going to be leaving in a minute, instantly regretting it when I realize that: a) I now have to go somewhere; b) they'll be back the second we return and expecting to be able to play, since I didn't tell them no just that we were going somewhere.

I am very sleepy. I have a boring class tonight. A warm cat is purring on my lap and inviting me to sleep. I have beds to make and floors to sweep. And I have to go somewhere.

Yeah, today blows.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Too tired to blog.

I have a ton of things to blog about, and exactly zero energy with which to blog.

I want to blog about my awesome weekend with Ty and Jasmin's family. I want to blog about a couple of the things I learned in Social Work Class. I want to blog about a couple of the things I purposely didn't learn in Social Work Class, and how it's interesting being able to separate some of the wheat from the chaff now that I have a solid background in historical theory and method and, rare though it is for a modern history grad, a decent understanding of what actually happened during certain eras. I want to blog about ghetto kids and pizza parties, and bowling, and being really tired and grumpy. And demons and sociopathic pedophiles and realizing that I was probably not intended to work on the criminology side of Social Work. And homosexuality. And Christian Love.

But for now, I have laundry to fold, a nap I insist on sneaking in, and an Indians game tonight to follow. Jasmin's family vacation begins Sunday, which means that my vacation begins Sunday, too. I'm going to Cedar Point with my sister on Monday and hope to sleep clear 'til Thursday, when the kids come home. Wee!

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Ty Ty's Genes.

Yesterday, The Boy was trying to hug my great-nephew Ty, who was having none of it. The Boy looks up at me and says: "What's wrong with your family?" Even our one-year old's don't like hugs.