The other day at work, I was on the kinder playground with a couple other classes, and mine had just left and was heading back to our room. As they were walking past, one of the kids from room three came up to me and excitedly proclaimed, "Miss Shumway, there are two losers over there!" and she pointed toward the wall that my class was walking past.
Okay, I'm kinda defensive of my kids. I know they're kinda losers sometimes, but I'm the only one who can say that (and I'd never say it around them, because that would be incredibly inappropriate). So, when this girl told me that there were two losers over there, I was like, "That's really not a very nice thing to say. You need to be nicer to out kinder friends." And she looked at me like i was smoking something. So I returned the look of utter confusion, as I tried to figure out 1.) which two of my kids she thought were losers (yes, I had a few ideas) and 2.) why she would tell a teacher that. "OH!! Wait! Say that again!"
"There are two losers over there. One of them is running on top of the wall."
"Do you mean 'There are two lizards over there.'"
"Yeah! Come look!"
"Okay, I'm coming."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Decide, Decide!!
Sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by my Heavenly Father’s trust in me and my judgment. As I ask for his guidance, the response has been, “Well, what do you want to do?” or, “What do you think you should do?” and these questions have been coming with increasing frequency lately. It’s a little bit terrifying to know that He trusts me so much, but it’s also incredibly comforting to know that God, my Father, the supreme creator of Heaven and Earth, trusts me, his little, young, naive daughter to make decisions—that He trusts me enough to make the decision that will help me the most in my life. And not only that, the decision I make may affect my future family, it will have an effect on every person with whom I interact as a result of that decision. It will affect every person I don’t interact with as a result of not making a different decision.
Wow. My Heavenly Father trusts me a lot.
Also, this makes the command that I so frequently give my kinders of “Make a good choice,” seem a billion times more complicated.
Totes.
Yeah… this is what I’ve been thinking about since yesterday afternoon when I asked a question and got one of those “What do you want to do?” responses.
Between God answering me by asking what I want to do, and Lowell just staring at me until I tell him what I want to do, I’m starting to wonder why I even ask for advice.
Ok. Not really, I know I need it, but seriously.
Thank you Morgan for talking me through it and not just staring at me.
Wow. My Heavenly Father trusts me a lot.
Also, this makes the command that I so frequently give my kinders of “Make a good choice,” seem a billion times more complicated.
Totes.
Yeah… this is what I’ve been thinking about since yesterday afternoon when I asked a question and got one of those “What do you want to do?” responses.
Between God answering me by asking what I want to do, and Lowell just staring at me until I tell him what I want to do, I’m starting to wonder why I even ask for advice.
Ok. Not really, I know I need it, but seriously.
Thank you Morgan for talking me through it and not just staring at me.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Did that really just happen?
On Saturday, April 4th, I had an amazing experience. I got to help with the coolest fundraiser ever.
Any of you who haven’t heard of Project Book Babe, please come out from under your rock. Or just check my facebook more often, because my status was PBB-related for like a month. Anyway, The “Book Babe” is a friend of the teacher with whom I work, and she has worked in the book industry for a long time, becoming great friends with anyone who met her, and developing an entourage—made mostly of authors. The Book Babe (alias: Faith Hochhalter) was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her retinue of authors and friends quickly put together the fabulous event known as Project Book Babe.
There were ten amazing YA and Children’s Lit authors who are all hilarious and wonderful, five artists, and two bands. The bands played. The artists drew (I assume they were just drawing and not painting) whatever anyone asked of them, provided they would pay for it. I’ve been informed that Twilight drawings were the most popular. What did they authors do?
They signed 150 books each (or 600, if the author happened to be Stephenie Meyer).
They signed 1000 posters each (one even took the time to draw halos/horns/vampire teeth/eye patches on herself and her friends).
They sang/danced to Aretha Franklin’s “Baby I Love You.” (You should watch the video, but it cuts off at teh best part, so if you have time, see if you can find the next part. It will be worth it to see the back-up singers rock out. Totes. This one isn't as good of an angle, but it has the whole song. I'll keep looking for a good angle and the end of the first clip.)
They participated in an awesome Q & A panel.
They raffled and auctioned their books, manuscripts, ARCs and a few personal belongings.
They worked together to write a new horror story—“Stephenie’s Dress”—each writing one line at a time.
They had a signing/reception with the people who bought the Platinum-Level seats.
(Most of the event, or maybe all of it, is on youtube. Just search for Project Book Babe.)
That’s where I stopped getting to hang out with the authors, but I know they went out to dinner because I’ve seen some of the pictures. They’re adorable.
So, throughout all of this, what was I doing? I was supposed to be being, essentially, slave labor to one of the authors (Jannette Rallsion), but she was so low maintenance that I ended up helping everyone sign posters by checking all of them to make sure that all ten authors had signed. If one hadn’t, it was my job to track down him or her and make them sign it. I’m pretty sure that some of the authors (Brandon Mull) wanted to throw Sharpies at me, but in a good, thank-you-for-helping-us-help-Faith kind of way.
I did other stuff, like entry-level techie stuff: move the table, find the light, move the table again so it’s in the light, find a chair, etc., and I helped Stephenie figure out where she was sitting for the panel. She was the last one in the wings and couldn’t see any empty chairs, but I reassured her that there was an empty one between Dean and Brandon. So, as a techie, I was quite satisfied with myself. As a book nerd, I was in heaven. TEN authors!! All of whom I actually talked to and several of whom knew my name by the end of the event. WOW.
I decided that Brandon was my favorite of the day. First of all: he’s quite attractive, Second: he was the first to ask me my name (besides Janette). Third: he was totes fun to talk to. Fourth: he was hilarious (if you didn't watch the video of the Aretha Franklin thing, you really should). Fifth: he doesn’t even really know Faith, but he cancelled other plans to come and do this for her (yes, I know that probably should have been first, but you all will just have to deal with my poorly aligned priorities).
If he weren’t married… Jk.
FYI: There is still an online auction going on and new items are added every so often. You should check it out. It’s totally worth it.
We’re almost done.
In case anyone is still interested, I thought I’d post how much the things that were auctioned at the event went for (remember, there was a raffle too, but these things were auctioned):
Twilight ARC - $1500
The Host skateboard deck - $1200
Forever Dawn epilogue - $5100
Eclipse prom dress - $5600 (I got to touch it!)
Lunch with Stephenie- $6500 (two winners)
There were also early, marked manuscripts of The Host and Eclipse, but I don’t remember how much they went for, I’m sure it was over $1000 each though: those people were spending their life savings for this stuff.
If you want to see some pics, you can go to Shannon Hale’s blog. The other authors all have websites too, but I haven’t looked at them yet, and I don’t think any of them would have as many pictures as Shannon, but I’d definitely encourage you to look into more info about Project Book Babe, and each of the authors that participated: they are amazing.
Last thing, are you ready?
I read through and decided to link you to all of the author's websites, just because I can.
Frank Beddor was supposed to come, but couldn't make it because one of his kids got super sick, so didn't meet him, but still, by the sheer nature that he agreed to come, I've decided that he deserves a link on my little blog.
Chris Gall was a little upset that his was the only picture in black and white on the poster, but was ok with it when I told him that black and white pictures are more artistic. : )
P.J. Haarsma has an adoreable little girl who fell asleep part-way through the panel, so she was left to sleep on a couch backstage, he kept coming to check on her. Good job, Dad.
Shannon Hale was hilarious to listen to during the reception with the platinum ticket-holders. I'm glad we were sitting next to her.
J.S. Lewis was one of the main players in bringing this event to life. Thanks, Jon.
Dean Lorey modled Stephenie's Eclipse Prom dress. It was hilarious.
Stephenie Meyer donated things to the auction that I never would have donated ie.: manuscripts, ARCs of books that only have a few ARCs, her PROM DRESS!!
Brandon Mull is totes adorable. And he wants to have police and the next event he does, now that he's gotten used to the safety he feels when they're around. : )
James A. Owen missed the party that everyone else had to get a head start on signing the posters, so he had to sign all 1,000 that day. He started less than 2 hours (I think it was closer to an hour)before it started, then signed a few more after it ended.
Jannette Rallsion was tons of fun. I almost wish she had been more diva-esque so that I could have felt useful, but she was fun. Go buy her books, they're awesome.
Laini Taylor was volunteered to give birth on stage if things started getting slow. I don't think she knew that, and we're all glad it didn't come to that. She's adorable though.
Ok. That was probably the best saturday of my life.
That’s all for now. Goodnight!
Any of you who haven’t heard of Project Book Babe, please come out from under your rock. Or just check my facebook more often, because my status was PBB-related for like a month. Anyway, The “Book Babe” is a friend of the teacher with whom I work, and she has worked in the book industry for a long time, becoming great friends with anyone who met her, and developing an entourage—made mostly of authors. The Book Babe (alias: Faith Hochhalter) was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her retinue of authors and friends quickly put together the fabulous event known as Project Book Babe.
There were ten amazing YA and Children’s Lit authors who are all hilarious and wonderful, five artists, and two bands. The bands played. The artists drew (I assume they were just drawing and not painting) whatever anyone asked of them, provided they would pay for it. I’ve been informed that Twilight drawings were the most popular. What did they authors do?
They signed 150 books each (or 600, if the author happened to be Stephenie Meyer).
They signed 1000 posters each (one even took the time to draw halos/horns/vampire teeth/eye patches on herself and her friends).
They sang/danced to Aretha Franklin’s “Baby I Love You.” (You should watch the video, but it cuts off at teh best part, so if you have time, see if you can find the next part. It will be worth it to see the back-up singers rock out. Totes. This one isn't as good of an angle, but it has the whole song. I'll keep looking for a good angle and the end of the first clip.)
They participated in an awesome Q & A panel.
They raffled and auctioned their books, manuscripts, ARCs and a few personal belongings.
They worked together to write a new horror story—“Stephenie’s Dress”—each writing one line at a time.
They had a signing/reception with the people who bought the Platinum-Level seats.
(Most of the event, or maybe all of it, is on youtube. Just search for Project Book Babe.)
That’s where I stopped getting to hang out with the authors, but I know they went out to dinner because I’ve seen some of the pictures. They’re adorable.
So, throughout all of this, what was I doing? I was supposed to be being, essentially, slave labor to one of the authors (Jannette Rallsion), but she was so low maintenance that I ended up helping everyone sign posters by checking all of them to make sure that all ten authors had signed. If one hadn’t, it was my job to track down him or her and make them sign it. I’m pretty sure that some of the authors (Brandon Mull) wanted to throw Sharpies at me, but in a good, thank-you-for-helping-us-help-Faith kind of way.
I did other stuff, like entry-level techie stuff: move the table, find the light, move the table again so it’s in the light, find a chair, etc., and I helped Stephenie figure out where she was sitting for the panel. She was the last one in the wings and couldn’t see any empty chairs, but I reassured her that there was an empty one between Dean and Brandon. So, as a techie, I was quite satisfied with myself. As a book nerd, I was in heaven. TEN authors!! All of whom I actually talked to and several of whom knew my name by the end of the event. WOW.
I decided that Brandon was my favorite of the day. First of all: he’s quite attractive, Second: he was the first to ask me my name (besides Janette). Third: he was totes fun to talk to. Fourth: he was hilarious (if you didn't watch the video of the Aretha Franklin thing, you really should). Fifth: he doesn’t even really know Faith, but he cancelled other plans to come and do this for her (yes, I know that probably should have been first, but you all will just have to deal with my poorly aligned priorities).
If he weren’t married… Jk.
FYI: There is still an online auction going on and new items are added every so often. You should check it out. It’s totally worth it.
We’re almost done.
In case anyone is still interested, I thought I’d post how much the things that were auctioned at the event went for (remember, there was a raffle too, but these things were auctioned):
Twilight ARC - $1500
The Host skateboard deck - $1200
Forever Dawn epilogue - $5100
Eclipse prom dress - $5600 (I got to touch it!)
Lunch with Stephenie- $6500 (two winners)
There were also early, marked manuscripts of The Host and Eclipse, but I don’t remember how much they went for, I’m sure it was over $1000 each though: those people were spending their life savings for this stuff.
If you want to see some pics, you can go to Shannon Hale’s blog. The other authors all have websites too, but I haven’t looked at them yet, and I don’t think any of them would have as many pictures as Shannon, but I’d definitely encourage you to look into more info about Project Book Babe, and each of the authors that participated: they are amazing.
Last thing, are you ready?
I read through and decided to link you to all of the author's websites, just because I can.
Frank Beddor was supposed to come, but couldn't make it because one of his kids got super sick, so didn't meet him, but still, by the sheer nature that he agreed to come, I've decided that he deserves a link on my little blog.
Chris Gall was a little upset that his was the only picture in black and white on the poster, but was ok with it when I told him that black and white pictures are more artistic. : )
P.J. Haarsma has an adoreable little girl who fell asleep part-way through the panel, so she was left to sleep on a couch backstage, he kept coming to check on her. Good job, Dad.
Shannon Hale was hilarious to listen to during the reception with the platinum ticket-holders. I'm glad we were sitting next to her.
J.S. Lewis was one of the main players in bringing this event to life. Thanks, Jon.
Dean Lorey modled Stephenie's Eclipse Prom dress. It was hilarious.
Stephenie Meyer donated things to the auction that I never would have donated ie.: manuscripts, ARCs of books that only have a few ARCs, her PROM DRESS!!
Brandon Mull is totes adorable. And he wants to have police and the next event he does, now that he's gotten used to the safety he feels when they're around. : )
James A. Owen missed the party that everyone else had to get a head start on signing the posters, so he had to sign all 1,000 that day. He started less than 2 hours (I think it was closer to an hour)before it started, then signed a few more after it ended.
Jannette Rallsion was tons of fun. I almost wish she had been more diva-esque so that I could have felt useful, but she was fun. Go buy her books, they're awesome.
Laini Taylor was volunteered to give birth on stage if things started getting slow. I don't think she knew that, and we're all glad it didn't come to that. She's adorable though.
Ok. That was probably the best saturday of my life.
That’s all for now. Goodnight!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Paciencia y Fe
Many months ago, my favorite online series began its break between its first and second seasons.
In January (I think) it was announced that the second season would premier March 1st.
In February (I think) it was announced that the date would be pushed back to April 1st.
(I can check all these dates if you really want me to, but it's almost 12:30, and I'm supposed to be in bed by 12, so if you really want them, ask and I might eventually find out for you.)
Now, when I say "April 1st," that means midnight, Eastern time, of the first, which means that it would drop on the 31st here. So I was totes excited and all geared up to watch it last night. Then it wasn't on. I kept checking. I couldn't find it on the The Battery's Down channel on Youtube. I couldn’t find it anywhere. So what did I do? I went to Andrew's Blog and good old trusty andrew keenan-bolger informed me that youtube was being stinky and that they would have the video up asap. So I went to bed, setting my alarm early so that I could wake up and watch it before work.
When my alarm went off, I jumped out of my bed in anticipation of the totes phenom video I knew I was about to watch. Then I heard Grandma and Grandpa walking around upstairs.
"Like, woah, what is going on here?" First of all, it was like 6:00 AM and I'm not usually up that early (this goes to show how extremely excited I was about this show), but I also know that Grandma and Grandpa aren't usually up that early either because they're often still asleep when I go to work at 8:30. However, Shandi left on her mission today, so she was over telling Grandma and Grandpa bye, so that's why they were up.
I decided that my grandparents probably would have thought I was insane for getting up that early just to hop on the computer to watch tv, so I decided that I could wait until after work to watch it, and I went back to bed.
While at work, I was texting Ashleyface, and was informed that it still hadn't dropped.
Around 6 I checked youtube again: still not there.
Then I watched Even Almighty with Daniel. Then I went to Pizzookie with Ashleyface. Then we went back to her dorm and checked again. It was like 10:00 and it still wasn't there.
As I was driving home (like an hour later, because Ashley and I tend to talk for very long periods of time), Ashleyface texted me and told me that it was up.
As soon as I got home, I put on my jammies and turned on the computer.
AMAZING.
Totes.
In January (I think) it was announced that the second season would premier March 1st.
In February (I think) it was announced that the date would be pushed back to April 1st.
(I can check all these dates if you really want me to, but it's almost 12:30, and I'm supposed to be in bed by 12, so if you really want them, ask and I might eventually find out for you.)
Now, when I say "April 1st," that means midnight, Eastern time, of the first, which means that it would drop on the 31st here. So I was totes excited and all geared up to watch it last night. Then it wasn't on. I kept checking. I couldn't find it on the The Battery's Down channel on Youtube. I couldn’t find it anywhere. So what did I do? I went to Andrew's Blog and good old trusty andrew keenan-bolger informed me that youtube was being stinky and that they would have the video up asap. So I went to bed, setting my alarm early so that I could wake up and watch it before work.
When my alarm went off, I jumped out of my bed in anticipation of the totes phenom video I knew I was about to watch. Then I heard Grandma and Grandpa walking around upstairs.
"Like, woah, what is going on here?" First of all, it was like 6:00 AM and I'm not usually up that early (this goes to show how extremely excited I was about this show), but I also know that Grandma and Grandpa aren't usually up that early either because they're often still asleep when I go to work at 8:30. However, Shandi left on her mission today, so she was over telling Grandma and Grandpa bye, so that's why they were up.
I decided that my grandparents probably would have thought I was insane for getting up that early just to hop on the computer to watch tv, so I decided that I could wait until after work to watch it, and I went back to bed.
While at work, I was texting Ashleyface, and was informed that it still hadn't dropped.
Around 6 I checked youtube again: still not there.
Then I watched Even Almighty with Daniel. Then I went to Pizzookie with Ashleyface. Then we went back to her dorm and checked again. It was like 10:00 and it still wasn't there.
As I was driving home (like an hour later, because Ashley and I tend to talk for very long periods of time), Ashleyface texted me and told me that it was up.
As soon as I got home, I put on my jammies and turned on the computer.
AMAZING.
Totes.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Pop!
(To get the full impact of how this sounds in my head, you have to read really, really fast, like you're trying to take as few breaths as possible. Also, remember that I'm sometimes a really rambunctious little girl: think Kelly from The Office.)
Ok.
Spring break was AMAZING.
Monday:
~~I found out I do NOT need to get a tooth pulled nor do I need a dental implant and a fake tooth.
~~I went to the zoo with Mom, Alejandro and Squishy (pics on facebook).
Tuesday:
~~RENT!!!! Second row seats for only $20. Wow.
Wednesday:
~~I met P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast (the authors of the series that is currently my favorite).
~~I got autographs from Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascall, Nicolette Hart, and most of the rest of the cast of RENT.
Thursday:
~~I had the best private lesson with Lowell. We worked on Viennese Waltz. AMAZING.
Friday:
~~DANCING!!
Saturday:
~~I don't really remember Saturday, but I'm certain it was good.
So... That was spring break: The Reader's Digest version.
Last week was interesting. I was testing my kids and almost all of their scores had gone down. I told a couple friends that my kids are being stupid, and they didn't believe me, but then I explained how high their scores have been, but what happened to them last week... then they believed me. They're being smart again now, just so you know.
Thursday Cameron got his misison call: New York New York North, Spanish speaking. He reports to Provo May 6th.
Friday Katie and Landon got married!! YAY!!! I love my little Aussie friend and I'm so incredibly excited that she's going to live like 15 minutes away from me.
Saturday we took family pictures. They should be on Facebook soon. My cousin Erikk took them. Darci wore pants with a huge hole in the knee: I wanted to die.
I'm currently losing a game of Spider Solitaire. I won once, then bumped the difficulty up to whatever is just harder than beginner, because I'm really not a beginner at this point. Now I'm losing and I'm afraid that I'll never see the pretty fireworks again.
I vacuumed part of the basement today. It looks pretty. Now I just need Dad to fix the bathroom so I can have running water so I can clean it.
New episode of The Battery's Down on April first!!!!
Ashleyface and I are trying to go out for dessert once a week. It's fun. I love Ashley time.
Stephenie Meyer!! Janette Rallison!! Dean Lorrey!! Brandon Mull! AHH!!!!
Amelia and Josh are engaged.
I think that's all for now. I'm going to watch The Office.
I love Jim!!!
totes bye!
Ok.
Spring break was AMAZING.
Monday:
~~I found out I do NOT need to get a tooth pulled nor do I need a dental implant and a fake tooth.
~~I went to the zoo with Mom, Alejandro and Squishy (pics on facebook).
Tuesday:
~~RENT!!!! Second row seats for only $20. Wow.
Wednesday:
~~I met P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast (the authors of the series that is currently my favorite).
~~I got autographs from Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascall, Nicolette Hart, and most of the rest of the cast of RENT.
Thursday:
~~I had the best private lesson with Lowell. We worked on Viennese Waltz. AMAZING.
Friday:
~~DANCING!!
Saturday:
~~I don't really remember Saturday, but I'm certain it was good.
So... That was spring break: The Reader's Digest version.
Last week was interesting. I was testing my kids and almost all of their scores had gone down. I told a couple friends that my kids are being stupid, and they didn't believe me, but then I explained how high their scores have been, but what happened to them last week... then they believed me. They're being smart again now, just so you know.
Thursday Cameron got his misison call: New York New York North, Spanish speaking. He reports to Provo May 6th.
Friday Katie and Landon got married!! YAY!!! I love my little Aussie friend and I'm so incredibly excited that she's going to live like 15 minutes away from me.
Saturday we took family pictures. They should be on Facebook soon. My cousin Erikk took them. Darci wore pants with a huge hole in the knee: I wanted to die.
I'm currently losing a game of Spider Solitaire. I won once, then bumped the difficulty up to whatever is just harder than beginner, because I'm really not a beginner at this point. Now I'm losing and I'm afraid that I'll never see the pretty fireworks again.
I vacuumed part of the basement today. It looks pretty. Now I just need Dad to fix the bathroom so I can have running water so I can clean it.
New episode of The Battery's Down on April first!!!!
Ashleyface and I are trying to go out for dessert once a week. It's fun. I love Ashley time.
Stephenie Meyer!! Janette Rallison!! Dean Lorrey!! Brandon Mull! AHH!!!!
Amelia and Josh are engaged.
I think that's all for now. I'm going to watch The Office.
I love Jim!!!
totes bye!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
urg.
Seriously, why do people leave voice messages that say, "Hey, Brigette, call me," and nothing else?!
1. I may not know who you are.
2. I do not know why I need to call you.
--I do not know if you have a question.
--I do not know if you are in trouble.
--I do not know the level of urgency of the situation.
3. I do not enjoy talking on the phone. I prefer to spend as little time on the phone as I can (there are only 3-5 people I enjoy talking to on the phone), so I believe that we should be as efficient as possible and "Hey, call me," does not give me any information about how I can be efficient in my phone-talking-ness.
Sometimes people bug me.
On a happier note: the nurse came to my class to teach my kids how to was their hands and she brought a little thing that makes the germs on your hands glow. When she was leaving she said that my class was the cleanest class of kinders she's ever seen.
1. I may not know who you are.
2. I do not know why I need to call you.
--I do not know if you have a question.
--I do not know if you are in trouble.
--I do not know the level of urgency of the situation.
3. I do not enjoy talking on the phone. I prefer to spend as little time on the phone as I can (there are only 3-5 people I enjoy talking to on the phone), so I believe that we should be as efficient as possible and "Hey, call me," does not give me any information about how I can be efficient in my phone-talking-ness.
Sometimes people bug me.
On a happier note: the nurse came to my class to teach my kids how to was their hands and she brought a little thing that makes the germs on your hands glow. When she was leaving she said that my class was the cleanest class of kinders she's ever seen.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Arizona Day!
Hmm... That title is only clever if you know the rhythm and melody that I have in my head. Sorry. If any body wants to guess what song my sad, tired brain is trying to reference, I'll give you a hint: I'm in a You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown mood, but it still doesn't really work.
Well, now Ashley gets it; everyone else is still lost though. Sorry friends, go brush up your theatre and you'll get a lot more of my references. (There was another really vague one in there: think Kiss Me Kate.)
Anyway, let me tell you about my Arizona Statehood Day adventures.
Chelsea and I decided that this year we were going to celebrate modestly and just do a cake. In years past we've gone to wal-mart and bought Arizona-themed paraphernalia (the only thing I really remember buying is a bag of chips, and we only bought that because it had a picture of a saguaro cactus on it), but we're lazy now, so a cake suffices us.
I was in charge of the frosting, and Chelsea was in charge of the cake mix.
Well, Chelsea never picked up the mix, so after the show we went to wal-mart and got the essentials of cake-making: a cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, and cooking spray (if you haven't guessed, Chelsea's family doesn't bake much, so every time we want to bake anything, we have to buy EVERYTHING, I still love them though).
Let me tell you of our little adventure in purchasing these items:
We approached the self check-out lane, and Chelsea, who was in front touched the screen to select the English option. Well, she thought she did, but then the nice, automated voice started speaking Spanish to us. I figured that she had just accidentally pushed the Spanish button, but that it didn't really matter because we both know how to self check-out without instructions. Seriously, if it were an Olympic sport, Chelsea and I could probably go pro.
Hi. I'm Brigette, and I get distracted easily and go off on tangents.
So I'm thinking that we can just ignore the Spanish voice and do what we always do, but for some reason the unexpected language really, really flustered Chelsea, so she exited the screen and went back to the one where shoppers choose which language they prefer. This time I saw her push English, but that nice, automated Spanish voice was there again. Weird. But again, we didn't really need to be told how to do this, so I convinced Chelsea to just ignore it and start checking-out. We get to the point when we have to pay and I'm thinking, "Okay, we can still do this, there are pictures so we don't really need to be able to read the screen, but she was really startled and still more than a little flustered by the Spanish, so this could take a while." It is at this moment that Chelsea turns to me and blurts out, "I didn't live in Spain for nothing!" and she finishes the check-out process with amazing gusto. Maybe it was just a "you had to be there" thing, but for some reason, her bold proclamation of "I didn't live in Spain for nothing!" was really amusing to us, so we were still kind-of laughing about it as we walked away so that another nice lady who didn't speak Spanish (we know because she looked at Chelsea like a crazyface when Chelsea said something to her in Spanish) could purchase her items. We were a few feet away when we hear the same lane that we just had such a problematic experience with say, "Welcome to Wal-Mart; please scan your first item." We turned to each other and both practically yelled out "How did she do that?!" Then we were able to amuse ourselves the entire way home with re-creating the whole experience. We're now considering making a movie reenacting it, so watch for it on Youtube. :-D
Anyway, that was the shopping experience. Then we got home and made the cake in Chelsea's amazing microwave. Please don't think we're both insane for putting a cake pan in the microwave; it's not a normal microwave. It can function as a microwave, or as a convention oven. Because it's still microwave-sized, though, we have to make to small, round cakes instead of one normal-sized rectangle one. The first one took forever to cook, because we couldn't find the little rack to put the pan on, so the heat wasn't able to fully surround the cake, but we eventually got that done. As we were cooking the second cake, we sang "Happy Birthday," and cut the first cake and let Chelsea's family begin to devour it. After a few minutes though, Mom (aka:Sweet Mary) said, "Girls, why is your cake sparking?" OH. POOP. We turned off the oven when we took out the first cake, then accidentally put the second cake in on microwave. Oops.
Here's what we learned this year, on our beloved state's birthday:
Sometimes, the self check-out lane at Wal-Mart just knows when somebody needs to brush up their Spanish.
It is always good to have a video camera on Chelsea, especially when she's with Brigette, because weird things just happen.
If you microwave a cake for about 15 minutes, it turns out fairly well, provided you cut off the 2 small burnt patches on its bottom.
Well, now Ashley gets it; everyone else is still lost though. Sorry friends, go brush up your theatre and you'll get a lot more of my references. (There was another really vague one in there: think Kiss Me Kate.)
Anyway, let me tell you about my Arizona Statehood Day adventures.
Chelsea and I decided that this year we were going to celebrate modestly and just do a cake. In years past we've gone to wal-mart and bought Arizona-themed paraphernalia (the only thing I really remember buying is a bag of chips, and we only bought that because it had a picture of a saguaro cactus on it), but we're lazy now, so a cake suffices us.
I was in charge of the frosting, and Chelsea was in charge of the cake mix.
Well, Chelsea never picked up the mix, so after the show we went to wal-mart and got the essentials of cake-making: a cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, and cooking spray (if you haven't guessed, Chelsea's family doesn't bake much, so every time we want to bake anything, we have to buy EVERYTHING, I still love them though).
Let me tell you of our little adventure in purchasing these items:
We approached the self check-out lane, and Chelsea, who was in front touched the screen to select the English option. Well, she thought she did, but then the nice, automated voice started speaking Spanish to us. I figured that she had just accidentally pushed the Spanish button, but that it didn't really matter because we both know how to self check-out without instructions. Seriously, if it were an Olympic sport, Chelsea and I could probably go pro.
Hi. I'm Brigette, and I get distracted easily and go off on tangents.
So I'm thinking that we can just ignore the Spanish voice and do what we always do, but for some reason the unexpected language really, really flustered Chelsea, so she exited the screen and went back to the one where shoppers choose which language they prefer. This time I saw her push English, but that nice, automated Spanish voice was there again. Weird. But again, we didn't really need to be told how to do this, so I convinced Chelsea to just ignore it and start checking-out. We get to the point when we have to pay and I'm thinking, "Okay, we can still do this, there are pictures so we don't really need to be able to read the screen, but she was really startled and still more than a little flustered by the Spanish, so this could take a while." It is at this moment that Chelsea turns to me and blurts out, "I didn't live in Spain for nothing!" and she finishes the check-out process with amazing gusto. Maybe it was just a "you had to be there" thing, but for some reason, her bold proclamation of "I didn't live in Spain for nothing!" was really amusing to us, so we were still kind-of laughing about it as we walked away so that another nice lady who didn't speak Spanish (we know because she looked at Chelsea like a crazyface when Chelsea said something to her in Spanish) could purchase her items. We were a few feet away when we hear the same lane that we just had such a problematic experience with say, "Welcome to Wal-Mart; please scan your first item." We turned to each other and both practically yelled out "How did she do that?!" Then we were able to amuse ourselves the entire way home with re-creating the whole experience. We're now considering making a movie reenacting it, so watch for it on Youtube. :-D
Anyway, that was the shopping experience. Then we got home and made the cake in Chelsea's amazing microwave. Please don't think we're both insane for putting a cake pan in the microwave; it's not a normal microwave. It can function as a microwave, or as a convention oven. Because it's still microwave-sized, though, we have to make to small, round cakes instead of one normal-sized rectangle one. The first one took forever to cook, because we couldn't find the little rack to put the pan on, so the heat wasn't able to fully surround the cake, but we eventually got that done. As we were cooking the second cake, we sang "Happy Birthday," and cut the first cake and let Chelsea's family begin to devour it. After a few minutes though, Mom (aka:Sweet Mary) said, "Girls, why is your cake sparking?" OH. POOP. We turned off the oven when we took out the first cake, then accidentally put the second cake in on microwave. Oops.
Here's what we learned this year, on our beloved state's birthday:
Sometimes, the self check-out lane at Wal-Mart just knows when somebody needs to brush up their Spanish.
It is always good to have a video camera on Chelsea, especially when she's with Brigette, because weird things just happen.
If you microwave a cake for about 15 minutes, it turns out fairly well, provided you cut off the 2 small burnt patches on its bottom.
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