on the side of what???

This time last weekend I was in LasVegas. And it was warm, and sunny, and warm, and colourful, and big, and overwhelming and amazing. I have a lot to say about my trip. Unfortunately, my computer has a 'fatal error' so that has been preventing me from blogging as much as I should. Currently I am sitting in the sound booth at church writing this blog. Don't worry, I'm still doing sound, and painting my nails, and reading a magazine, and writing this blog. I'm a multi-tasker.

I will share with you this one story. Which was probably the most awkward moment of my life. More awkward then when my pants got pulled off when I was hanging 10 feet in the air on a zipline. More awkward then the time I went on a date and he had his fly down the entire time and I din't have the courage to point it out, more awkward than the time I tried to get out of a seatbelt infraction ticket by trying to convince the police officer that I had really bad cramps.

Here's the story.
On our last night in Vegas, Bethany and I decided to get super dressed up and sexified and go out for a nice dinner and do some gambling. We don't gamble, ever, so it was sort of a special event. We each threw in $25 and that was our limit and we played within it.

We had had breakfast in New York, Lunch in Greece and decied to round out our cultural experience by having a nice dinner in Paris. We had walked SO much the previous three days that our feet were a little bit swollen, and we rarely (read:never) wear high heels, so by the time we walked to Paris (which, to be honest, was across the road from our hotel), Bethany's feet were blistering and bleeding. Our goal was to find a resturaunt as fast as possible so we could take our shoes off.

So we found a nice place. The kind of place with linnen tablecloths and napkins. The kind of place where your waiter puts your napkin on your lap for you and wears a tux. Where you get a $300 bottle of wine, some oysters and escargot. The kind of place where you actually have a heart-attack when you see the prices on the menu. Like actually. We opened the menu and realized in about 0.5 second that this place was WAY our of our league and price range. I"m talking $75 a plate. Not only is that ridiculous, but it's ridiculous.

Beth and I gave eachother the 'what the heck in the world are we going to do I'm not paying $80 to eat supper' look and started to discuss our options. We didn't know what to do, but we knew that eating there was not an option. Beth felt awkward leaving, and so did I, but I knew we couldn't eat there. So I started to come up with options of what we could do.

a. Pretend one of us was sick and leave
b. Pretend we had an emergency we had to go to
c. Tell them about my serious fish alergy and that the fact their menu had so much fish made me nervous to even be there
d. walk away really quickly (not really an option considering the state of Bethany's feet)
e. tell them we decided we weren't hungry after all

None of those are really good options. I was all gung-ho for B. It's totally legit to claim you got a text that someone just got in an accident and you have to leave right away. Unfortunately, before I could formulate what exactly I would say, the waiter came back to take our order. We didn't go with the 'emergency option' but I did lie - but only a litte bit. I told the server that we just wanted something light before our night out, we weren't really that hungry and just wanted something to tide us over. We both wanted a side salad.

Vanessa's response when we came home and told her (after laughing hysterically I might add), "On the side of what?"

Yup, just on the side... of nothing. A side salad on the side of nothing. Because we weren't 'that hungry'. Hungry enough to eat our salads (which weren't even that good), and to devour the 8 free buns that came to our table.

Then we left and filled up at Baskin Robbins.
Seriously, we are so classy.

February Blows

I suck at blogging lately.
And I apologize.
But in my defense, it is February and everyone knows that February blows. Here is my top 10 list of has what has happened in Feburary and tell me that you not only understand why I didn't blog, but that you are glad I didn't because it would just be a waste of time to read it.

1. My haunted microwave woke up from it's nap and is now working fine.
2. I painted my nails.
3. I watched a few movies and some tv.
4. Did a lot of dishes.
5. Went to the gym.
6. Had some naps.
7. Put gas in my car.
8. Saw some friends.
9. Took the garbage out a few times.
10. Showered.

So really, other than my haunted microwave working fine again, as you can see, I've had a VERY exciting few weeks.

But have no fear. Things start looking up starting tomorrow - when I attempt Vegas again.

Other things to look forward to in March:
How I have no rhythm or skills and yet go to dance class.
MC-ing Jon and Rachel's Wedding.
Spring Break.

Nag

"Z, will you take the attendence down to the office for me?"
"Ugh!!! Do I have to?"
"No, I just thought I'd ask. I can get someone else to if you want."
"Fine. Nag, nag, nag, that's all you do!"

What I love about Sunday

Driving home a few minutes ago this song was playing on the radio and it made me think about my list of what I love about Sunday.

• Sleeping in.
• Waking up, and then sleeping in some more.
• Waking up again and staying in my warm, comfy bed to read a book.
• Finally dragging my lazy carcass out of bed, dressing up a bit more than a normal day - or dressing down more than a normal day depending on how I'm feeling.
• Spending time with my sisters just chilling out.
• Driving to church and anticipating the service.
• Going to church.
• Getting welcomed at the door by friendly people that I like.
• Our AWESOME worship teams - seriously, they are fantastic.
• Worship.
• Seeing my friends.
• Sitting with Tiersa at church again, just like in the old days. (I'm SO thankful for her furlough)
• Learning new things from my 'friend' the DUDE (aka PH, aka Pastor Harry', Fields the Genius or my awesome friend DaveM. I worked closely with those men for 5 years and I love them and I miss seeing them during the week. It blesses my heart to talk and see them each Sunday)
• Chilling after church and talking with people. Talking about stuff, or the sermon, or books, or funny things.
• Getting a hug from my dad.
• Seeing and talking with my old Youth kids.
• The occasional after-church lunch outing with friends (I loved that more in Ontario where we had Church Chicken aka Swiss Chalet)
• Having a long Sunday afternoon nap.
• Reading.
• E-mailing, blogging, texting, writing letters.
• A lazy afternoon and evening at home.

LOVE it.
Sunday as a day of rest was ingrained in me from a young age, and it is a habit that I have kept for 29 years. I crave it, need it, love it.

Big Sister

I'm a big sister.
x 4

I have three biological little sisters, and as of recently I have been matched up with a 7 year old girl through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in Kamloops. It's great. I really do love time that I get to spend each week with my little sister.

It's a great program. The application is quite long. There are a lot of interviews, home visits, looking through files, meeting with co-ordinators and doing everything that needs to be done in order to make a good match between a big (me) and a little. But once it is all done, and if it is done well, it makes the process worth it.

My match is great. My little loves to bake, read, do science experiments, go to school, play, do crafts, and basically is the 7 year old version of me. It's fantastic. I knew that we were the perfect match about 6 weeks into it. We were driving to a Christmas party and I let her pick whatever song she wanted to on my i-pod to listen to on the drive. Out of ALL of the 3000 songs on my i-pod she picked "Cover Girl" by the New Kids on the Block. Seriously. She's awesome. It is now our theme song and we listen to it approximately 18 times every time we hang out.

The best part about having a little is that for a few hours each week I get to not be a teacher, and not be a young-adult, and not be 30, but I get to be 7 again.

And when you are seven, what is better than building a massive fort with all the blankets and pillows in the house and playing snakes and ladders?
Or getting a make-over?
Think about becoming a big brother or big sister. It's pretty sweet.

cold-kirk

It snowed a lot last night. More snow than I have EVER seen in one dumping in Kamloops in the past 6 years. Everything was under a good 6 inches of beautiful, dry, powdery snow. It was a winter winter wonderland. Freezing cold. But a winter wonderland nonetheless.

As Bethany and I were sitting in the living room today listening to the wind howl outside, she looked wistfully out the window and with a sad look on her face sighed, "I feel bad for Kirk. He must be so cold outside."

I scruntched up my forehead wondering who Kirk is, and why he was outside and how Bethany knew someone named Kirk and I had never heard about him before.

Then I realized.
She meant Cat-Kirk.

He was covered in 6 inches of snow. And in his defense - and Bethanys, despite the fact that he is ceramic, he did look really cold today.

The Haunted Microwave

My microwave is haunted. Or possessed. It depends what day it is. Interestingly enough though, it tends only to be haunted/possessed during the winter months.

What happens is this. Every January-March for the past three years, my microwave has attracted the spirit of someone who is attached to my 60$ wal-mart special microwave. The microwave will start beeping randomly. First it will start off with one beep here and there. Nothing too strange. But then it will start beeping obsessively until I can get to it and unplug it. When I want to use the microwave again, I have to plug it in and none of the buttons will work. I'll leave it, and it will start beeping again a few hours later. And the cycle continues until I get to the point where I decide, "ok, this microwave is fried, I'm just going to leave it unplugged and get a new one."

But I'm super cheap, so I never do buy a new one. After a month or two, I wonder if maybe the microwave spontaneously healed itself so I plug it in, and low and behold - it will work again for another 9 months. Amazing. MIRACLE!

Then we go through the cycle again. The cycle started again last week. We know how it goes, so the microwave has been unplugged waiting for the day for it to heal itself.

But then. Last night. 3am. The microwave starts beeping.
I wake up.
How is this possible?!?!? It's unplugged.

Man! That is one relentless ghost! Even working when the microwave has no electrical source.

In my dopey-half-sleeping state I ignored it for a while. Then as it continued to beep and as I woke up a bit more, I started thinking about all the ghost stories and ghost movies I have seen over the course of my lifetime and I started to get really freaked out. So scared. I did NOT put my brave face on and go downstairs to see what was happening.

Finally, at 7:15am, when it was a little bit light outside (read: SAFE), I went downstairs.
The microwave had been plugged in!
How? How? How?

Is my semi-new home haunted by a ghost that is trying to communicate with me via morse code from a beep-ey microwave?

Wiiiiierd.