The Dentist

   So yesterday I went in for my first filling at the dentist. All alone. My dad dropped me off at the door at precisely the same time the lady was opening it for the morning. I was a little freaked out cause this was the first time I was going to the dentist alone, at least for something this big. No mom to look to, no dad to talk to and no siblings to whine to. It was kind of intimidating. Some nice things about our dentist place is that we have TVs over the beds so we can watch something while having holes drilled into our teeth. Another is that it's right next door (and I mean in-the-same-building next door) to where our big Christian radio station resides, so if your extra nice and mannerly you can just barely slip past the receptionist and get a quick peek at the DJs.
  Our doctor is also very nice. His name is Dr. Kooiker and I pronounced it like the word "kooky" for the longest time until somebody kindly pointed out that you say it like the famous brand, Quaker (Oats). Yeah, like I was supposed to know that. All these Dutch names up here continue to confuse me. Anyway Dr. Kooiker had me sit on a table and from there proceeded to numb my mouth. He wanted to know if I wanted a certain gas that would make me feel relaxed while he drilled, and I, the little naive girl, was like, "Sure!" Other than the feeling of nearly dying while riding a roller coaster at our local amusement park, the gas gave me the weirdest feeling I had ever felt in all my 17 years on this earth. I felt like I was slowly falling into a large cushion, kinda like a cloud, with my vision slowly dimming into darkness. Before it pulled me down to the depths of I dont know where, I asked them to take it off. Just in time for the numbing needle. Perfect timing. After the painful shot I didn't feel anything else... for two hours. He drilled and stuffed, stuffed and drilled until it felt like my jaw was coming unhinged. Just when I thought I couldn't open my mouth any wider, he would ask, "Just a little wider, please." The whole time I had three questions I desperately wanted to ask. First, why was it that every time he put a tool or his fingers in my mouth I had the strongest urge to swallow? Second, had anyone ever been fully prepped and ready for the dentist and suddenly had a really bad case of the hiccups? And third, why was the family taking so long to pick a house on House Hunters? (The show I was stuck watching during my filling) Sadly I was not able to ask all my wondering's, because by the time he was done, I didn't want to open my mouth for anything unnecessary. I just wanted to sit and try to feel my mouth and tongue. The whole left side of my face was completely and utterly numb, making it so that every time I closed my mouth I would chomp down on either my tongue or cheek. I didn't feel the pain then but I definitely did when the shot wore off. To the amusement of my coworkers, I had to go directly to work right after the appointment. My slurred words and constant water dripping chin made for many laughs. And guess what? By the time the left side of my mouth has recovered and healed, I get to go and do the right side. Yay!

Tulips

That bee would not stay still! 

Not sure how I liked this turnout, with the flower out of focus and the background sharp.

My sisters favorite.

 This is nothing compared to what my friends do, but I like playing around sometimes when I feel the urge to use the camera.

Fun Saying

In is down, down is front.
Out is up, up is back.
Off is out, on is in
And of course,
Right is left, left is right.
A drop shouldn’t,
And a block and fall does neither.
A prop doesn’t, and
A cove has no water.
Tripping is okay.
A running crew rarely gets anywhere.
A purchase line will buy you nothing.
A trap will not catch anything.
A gridiron has nothing to do with football.
Strike is work (in fact, lots of work!)
And a green room usually isn’t.
Now that you’re fully versed in theatrical terms, break a leg!
(But not really…)

The Juice

   I have a part time job with my brother cleaning our church and each time we go Vincent stops by the gas station and picks up a drink and snack for every one. This past time Vincent convinced me to get an all natural fruit smoothie. Once we got to the church building we both went to the kitchen and Vin poured me a cup of his to taste since I had a different flavor. I tasted it and then felt obligated to let him try some of mine. So I grabbed a cup, shoved it into his hands and gave him some. He looked at it and then at me and again at it and then tried to give it back.
 "It's O.K." He said nervously " I don't need to try that version."
 "What? You don't want to try it?!" I was flabbergasted.
 "Um... well, no, not really." He grimaced and looked back at the cup. "It's just that your sick with the stomach flu and I don't want it."
 I explained that all I had was a fever, which was gone now, and a cold that I was just about getting over. "Its exactly what you had Vince, so your immune to it now. At least for the year."
 He raised eyebrow and then slowly gulped down the smoothie. He nodded "Hmm, not bad"
 Then I had this scathingly brilliant idea. I immediately ran around the corner folded myself halfway into the large commercial garbage can and pretended (quite successfully I might add) to upchuck my dinner. You should have seen his face.

Bible Club

     Here are the hilarious things that usually happen at bible Club. 
   First Vincent and I arrive at the school, only to find out that we have to park a mile away from the door because of the oncoming cars of tired frustrated mothers who probably had to drag themselves away from their facebook page to pick up their kids. Upon reaching the Library where we hold the club, Mrs. Filcik throws a bunch of childrens nametags at us, all in a knot,  and has us untangle them in about 5 min. That may seem like enough time, but trust me its not. By the time that is done, John and his mom have the cookies, the horrible sugerie things, out on napkins accompanied by about 70 to 80 cups of good old water. Then Vincent and I position ourselves behind a table just in time to go up against a sea of children ready to say their bible verse and receive a hole punch on their name tags, allowing them a candy.
    The candy bucket is stuffed with more hands than candy most of the time allowing for easier pickpockets and thieves, so we finally dubbed Caleb the prize monitor. So he now stands there and gleefully catches any one stupid enough to try and get past him with more than they earned. 
    After that, we herd half the kids into the gym and play about half an hour worth of games with them. There is a long canvas sheet hanging up against the far wall of  the gym that provides a fun hiding place for the trouble makers in the group. Most of the time, one or two kids will sneak behind it without realizing that I can clearly see their feet peeking out beneath it and a very visible lump moving along the wall. So I take care of the situation by going over and giving a satisfying thump to the temporary lumps in curtain with my elbow. That usually gets them out fast. Either that, or me just grabbing their ankles and dragging them out, though I find the first more rewarding to my agitated nerves.
 We then rotate the children in the first group with the second and play another half hour worth of games, and then, amazingly enough, its time to send the kids home.  On the way back to the Library, we usually let the kids go to the bathroom. But this all ways creates a problem, because the boys' bathroom get so loud that I have to threaten to go in there myself and drag them out by their ears. At first they don't listen to my threat, but once I start counting to 10, about 12 boys will rush out the door, their hands dripping with soap and water and screaming that a girl was about to come in.  The girls dont ever give me problems in the bathroom. And boys wonder why every body always says that girls are cute little angels.
   From there, we send the kids home to their parents and we are stuck with the job of cleaning up after the tornado.  We have to push all the chairs and tables back to their origanal positions, and pick up all the discarded wrappings. Then for some odd reason we all fight about what we get to carry out to the car. its almost like, if you don't carry something out, your a wimp. Thus the mad scramble of finding some thing, any thing to carry out to Mrs.Filcik's car. Caleb has made it clear that the big white basket that weighs about 50 lb. is his, and any one who dares to try and pick it up with be in trouble.  My usual baggage is a CD player and the container of left over cookies. It may not seem like much, but when you have to walk through a crowd of about 30 kids holding the cookies high above your head trying not to let any one push you over or climb up you like a tree, it automatically makes it harder than even Caleb's white basket. Then after all is said and done, we say good bye to each other and unbelievably say, " See you Sunday and next Tuesday at Bible Club!" 

Sickness, Sickness and Some More Sickness

   I know you, my reader, are very upset with me for not writing in a while. Ok, a really long while. I'm sorry. But I can explain. The thing is, everyone here has been going through some sickness of some sort. I myself am just getting over a fever/cold that had me down for 3 days and even Vincent (the one in our family most immune to sickness) was taken down for 2 days. Now when your down and suffering, a nice movie and some apple sauce are nice to have around. Unfortunately for me, my little sisters were sick before me so my mom got a stack of movies that should not have been labeled "movie" but instead "incredibly-boring-try-to-throw-something-at-the-tv-to-stop-it" things. And apple sauce was out of the question due to the rising gas prices that constantly remind us that walking would be cheaper. No one wanted to walk to the store for me. And I figured something out. Your dreams when you have a fever NEVER END. Even when you wake up at two in the morning your dream is still going. Its insane. Tabitha woke up screaming while I was sick, and because I was awake already I picked her up and sat on her. Ok well not actually sat on her. Just tried to get her to stop screaming. Anyway, I had just been dreaming of giant marble columns that where slowly crushing the life out of me ( I know, not a pretty thought) so when I finally got the screeching squirming kid on my lap I say, " Its OK Tabitha, they're not trying to kill us any more." She stopped screaming and looked at me like I had two heads, which I wouldn't have been surprised if I really did. So now I'm on the road to recovery complete with red nose, chapped lips and sore throat. But here I am. I'm back.

My Friends Spring Giveaway!

   My best friend is a photographer (a really good one by the way) and she is doing a spring giveaway this month. To enter, just go to http://jobekahphoto.blogspot.com/2011/02/spring-giveaway.html,  follow the instructions and hopefully you can get a great gift!