Saturday, May 26, 2007

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A little slice of my life - What it's like



Last night, or should I say this morning, I managed to leave work somewhere in the vicinity of 1 a.m. I worked 6.3 hours of overtime, and 2 hours of credit. Credit basically means I can use it as time off at a later date in lieu of annual leave (aka vacation time.) I knew it would be a bit of a long night with little sleep because I desperately needed some groceries, dog food, etc., which meant a trip to Wal Mart. By the time I completed my shopping trip, it had to be after 3 a.m. I still had to unload everything, put at least the majority of it away, wind down enough to sleep and let the dogs in to calm down before putting them in their crates. Before I would finally lay my head on the pillow it was around 6:30 a.m. That is all well and good if one does not plan to get up at 9:30 and be to church at 10 a.m. I am very blessed that it only takes about 10 min. to get to church, and we often don't start promptly. Yes, I fit right in there. :)

So, I made it to church this morning somewhere in the vicinity of 10 a.m. and music and worship had already started. I found a seat about 4 rows back and joined in. We sang, the announcements were made, and the pastor acknowledged Dennis and Sandy Zech and let us know that they would be performing their acts of illusion for us at 4 p.m. Dennis and Sandy come to our church about once a year and they are always a welcome sight to me. Dennis has a killer sense of humor, and I consider him the king of the "groaners". He can also imitate cartoon characters. I always appreciate what they have to say Dennis and Sandy, not the cartoon characters ;), and I enjoy the presentation as well. So, while I had planned to shovel the gifts the dogs love to leave me in the backyard this afternoon, seeing Dennis and Sandy seemed a great deal more appealing. :) I saw Sandy and chatted a little bit and purchased a really cool bracelet to support their ministry. I stayed a little after church to chat, and while I was waiting someone showed up with a bounce house that was being brought in for the kids. Then I finally headed for home with a pit stop to Smith's to buy some salad fixings for the big event. I knew I needed to make sure my camera was ready as I planned to take lots of photos.

At 4 p.m. I went back to church. I saw an old friend I hadn't seen in a while, ate a barbequed hamburger, salad and some wonderul fruit salads as well. I took a lot of pics as planned. There were games for the children, and some fun relay races with water. No matter how far away I stood, though, my camera and I still ended up dodging the spray. Fortunately, my camera and I both survived. The kids were adorable and fun. Then the big kids (aka the men and dads) got involved in the water fun and lets just say we had a lot of men at the event looking a little like drowned rats for a while. But they did have fun! I watched.

Finally, it was time to see Dennis and Sandy, and I was not disappointed. Dennis and Sandy were funny, entertaining and informative as they always are. One of the main messages that they get across with their illusions is the concept of deception and how one knows if they are being deceived. There is a specific "trick" that they perform where they show how it is done and ask if you can ever be fooled by it again and of course the response is "no". Why not? "Because now you know the truth."


When things began to wind down I was going to call my daughter because we were supposed to go out to dinner and look at her financial situation. I had my cell phone in the car to charge because it was dying. Just when I was thinking I might sneak away I was approached to see if I could get a pic with Sandy talking to the crowd. I said I would try. By the time I finished and got back to the phone it was a bit late, so I ended up meeting my daughter for dessert instead. We discussed her financial situation which seems somewhat hopeless at the moment. Somehow there has to be a way through it all, but I'm not quite sure what it is yet.

Just as we were finishing our dessert the waitress came to our table and said the man in the corner with a bandana wanted to pick up our tab. I wasn't quite sure what to say. That was certainly a first for me. LOL My daughter said, sure. It was very nice, although a little awkward. It felt really weird to leave without paying. LOL We acknowledged him and said thank you, but didn't really go all the way over to his table since he was with a group of people anyway, and I really was speechless (a rare thing.)

So, I headed for home and here I am, blogging, downloading and uploading photos and catchcing myself from falling out of my chair when I start to doze off.

A day in my life.

Peace out,
Melanie

Monday, May 14, 2007

Trying to Capture Beauty



A leafhopper (not so beautiful, I suppose and flowers from my front yard:







I have said before, and it bears repeating, I cannot create a flower, I can only capture it's beauty: even so, I can never capture it all, or fully do it justice.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Mountains Declare




Here in Northern Utah there is a wonderful view of the mountains. Everyday as I travel to work, I can look ahead and the view is often quite breathtaking, at least when it isn't interrupted by road crews working.

AT any rate, when I see the mountains and their beauty, it's easy to praise God. However, as I was driving a while back, it just really struck me how the mountains themselves are a snapshot of God and his creation, and a testament to who he is.

God is majestic, beautiful, strong, powerful. Likewise, his Creation of the mountains there is great majesty and beauty, strength and power. Everything about the mountains scream a testimony to God and who He is. Yet, even the mountains would move if he just gave the word.

Praise God.

--Melanie

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Spidermania

No, this is not a Spiderman review. I haven't seen the movie yet, although it's definitely in my plans in the near future. I'm waiting for things to slow a little in the theaters. I'm thinking an early matinee on a weekday might work. :)

What really caught my attention was at Wal Mart, also affectionately known as "Wally World" to some of us. Last week I walked into Wal Mart and Spiderman was everywhere. First and most obvious, of course, were all of the Spiderman toys, kids chairs, kids tees, bath towels and pretty much anything that advertised Spiderman that would interest a child (and sometimes young men in their late teens and twenties, which aren't so different from children generally speaking.) If that had been all, I don't think it would have been so notable, however.

What really caught my attention was that it seemed nearly everything had Spiderman on it. I saw Spiderman Trix, Spiderman orange soda, and of course Spidey boxer shorts. It would be really funny to give those to someone, but I think I'd be too embarassed to actually try it. ;)

Today, I was at Wal Mart again, and the Spiderman bonanza was still ongoing. I'm sure I missed a few items, like the one that caught my husband's eye, Spiderman cheese nips. Now there is one snack I cannot go without!

On the way out of Wally World, my husband quipped, "I'm surprised they don't have Spiderman toilet paper." Now there's a grand idea. You could call it Spidey wipes. (O.K. You can stop groaning now.) To be honest, perhaps there is Spiderman toilet paper. I was almost afraid to check that aisle, so it will have to wait until next time.

In the words of Dr. Otto Octavius: "Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts." Spider mania is here.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Going through Hoops for Hoopes

O.K. My Matt Hoopes inspired limerick is now completed. It's corny, I know, but I suppose that make it very "limerick-like." LOL

Hoopes was a guy who could rock
Though some thought he barely could talk
He kept awfully quiet
Till he started a riot
When he merely just went for a walk.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Creativity?

Someone posted a limerick thread on the "Pictures, Art and Poetry part of the Relient K forums, so I decided to compose a limerick for each one of the guys. I still have to come up with something for Hoopes, but it's late, so it will have to wait. Anyway, here are my limericks for Matty, Jon, John and Dave:

There once was a young man named Thiessen
Who wrote love songs for each passing season
He fell like a cannon
For the fair maiden Shannon
Now he's happy beyond rhyme or reason.

There was a young lad called Jon Schneck
Who went on a very long trek
To each comics store
but he still wanted more
'til he spent his entire paycheck

There was a musician called Warne
who needed a loud ooga horn
He caused a disorder
When left at the border
And now he is sad and forlorn


Relient K's drummer got bored
As history now will record
The drummer called Dave
Thought he needed a shave
Now all of his hair's on the floor

Hmmm... now what can I say about Mr. Hoopes. :)