Asian Torture

I don't care that this post is very girly - the world needs to know! My advice to you: if you stop by a little shop in the mall and see sweet little smiling Asian women holding little spools of innocent looking white tread - cover your eyes and RUN for the door!! (Okay, so that might not be the smartest plan...) So my friend and I were at the mall in Ft. Wayne yesterday and passed by this little shop that specialized in an alternative to waxing - unfortunately I can't remember the name of the procedure (but I can think of many slogans - "You only thought you knew what pain was!" "Men - be very very glad!" "An alternative to waxing - not really a less painful one, okay an excruciating one," "Cheer up - what doesn't kill ya will make ya stronger." I could go on and on). But anyway, an alternative to waxing that somehow, and I still have no clue how, they use tread and roll it across the very sensitive skin surrounding the eye area. In retrospect, I don't really remember reading anything that stated why this method was any better than waxing. And it didn't mention anything about being painless. But on a whim, we both decided to try it. So we both take our seats in the chairs of pain and the sweet little women turn into little Hittlerettes. Ohhhhhh myyyyyyy!! So I think the process is similar to waxing, only not nearly as quick. The thread slowly slides across your skin ripping out the hair one by one. I'm squirming around in my chair wincing and trying to not scream and the lady's saying, "HOLD YOUR EYE!!!! NO!! HOLD IT THIS WAY!!! No, let me show you!" So she's taking my hand and placing it where it's supposed to be and taking my other hand and placing it where it's supposed to be and I'm thinking gracious lady, I'm playing money for this, trying not to pass out, and then I need to HELP with the procedure???? What is wrong with this picture. No words of encouragement, no "Oops, sorry, you're bleeding, we're almost done." Nope, just "HOLD YOUR EYE, MY PRETTY!!" And from the seat next to me came the anguished gasps, "Are you dying over there?" "YES!" And, "So is this supposed to last longer than waxing?" But she was in too much pain to remember what the lady said. I most certainly hope so! We got our bright red, puffy, bleeding eyes out of there and vowed never to return. Now you're in the know.

The moment you've been waiting for...

Okay, not really, but I couldn't think of a creative way to say - here I am, finally. So, where to begin. First of all - to those of you who were so thougthfully concerned about my frozen watermelon trick - I finally tried it last night and well, yes, it was gross. Actually, the main reason I froze it was because a) a friend of mine has a good receipe for smoothies that calls for watermelon, b) I didn't know what do to with an entire bad watermelon, and c) there was no room in the fridge. So there you have it.

Last night I went for a 12.53 mile bike ride - saw some great scenery - cows, dogs chasing us, lamas, and sheep. And of course corn. Nothing like biking in the country. That was after working 10 hours - it was a very long day.

I'm loosing my mind. Last night after the aforementioned work, I came home and if you sneezed in my general direction, I would have burst into gales of uncontrollable laughter. I guess it is sort of nice when stress affects you that way instead of making you miserably cranky or weepy. So Bethany and I were sitting at the table and there were these little flea like flies flying around and she says - "We don't even have fruit laying around. Do you have a dying banana on top of the fridge?" And I said, "I don't think so." And so she checked and sure enough, there was a nasty, gross, rotting banana up there that she pitched in the trash. Not that funny is it? I laughed and laughed and laughed. Things are not well.

For awhile I had been looking for a jacket - had in mind exactly what I wanted. Which I finally found back when my friend and I went to KY. So I have yet to wear the thing one time because it's 800 degrees here in the summer. Anyway, it's gone for good. I believe I left it at the motel we stayed at when our pluming was getting fixed. ARG! They checked and don't have it there. Funny how that works since it was brand new and all. So I might try to buy another one tomorrow. Are you crazy bored yet?

Further proof that my mind is going - today I got lost in a trailer park. Not only that, but one that I had successfully navigated 2 other times! You know why I got lost? Because I was in a stinkin hurry! I had to get to the chiropractor right after this visit and was already running behind. First I had trouble finding the place. But the real challenge was when I was trying to get OUT! It's like a TRAP! It sucks you in and you drive around in circles with each road looking exactly the same! So I left the trailer and a few trailers down there was a little lady outside water flowers. I passed that same lady watering the same flowers THREE TIMES!! I was SO crazy frustrated and felt so helpless. Ach - those of you with normal brains have no idea what this feels like. I thought I might grow old wandering around that trailer park forever. But eventually, and completely by chance, I got on the road that got me out of there. Okay, now you have heard from me, such as it was. Have a great weekend everybody! I'm so glad it's Friday.

Baked Mayonaise

Yesterday I wanted to use up some of the rotten food in the fridge and I suddenly remember why I never bake. What a waste of time, energy, brain power, and dishes! (sorry Nisly's, I mean no disrespect) The rotten food was apples - not really rotten, but just not appealing anymore. So I thought - hummm... apple cake sounds good. So I found a recipe I thought looked good. The first ingredient - salad oil. For reasons yet undetermined, I guess I was thinking salad dressing rather than vegetable oil. (WHY CAN'T THEY JUST SAY VEGETABLE OIL, ANYWAY??) I know some chocolate cakes call for mayo so I dumped in an exorbitant amount, and then started to second guess myself. I think in the aforementioned cases, the choc. tends to override the taste of the mayo. In this case, it was like baking a fruit salad. The batter just reeked of mayo. So I baked it and, well, it's not horrible (due to all the sugar and butter you drench it in after baking), but I'm thinking it won't be disappearing overly fast either. sigh. The apple cookies turned out better, but still not worth all that hassle. And while we're on the subject of food, yesterday I also bought the very first watermelon I think I've ever purchased. I love watermelon, but have never bought one of my own volition. Turns out I'm not very good at it. I just chopped the whole thing up and put it in the freezer. It was mediocre as well. And one more thing - I had organic peanut butter cereal and half a turkey sangwich for supper and I was just wondering if anyone else could say they've had that for supper recently?

I really hope somebody likes me a lot for this... (Rhonda)

So I sat down to post a few pictures from the camping trip and yeah, I really just don't know when to stop! There were so many and then I thought since I could, I should post at least one of everyone. Then some were just so cute (like Mike) that I couldn't stop at one... So anyway, here you go, in no paticular order - actually, there is a rhyme and reason to how all these posted - $100 to the first lucky person who correctly identifies it (and flies over to see me and pick up your winnings).


Prego and camping with 3 kids.

Think he's related to Matthew?

It's okay, you're bound to look a big haggard camping for a week with 3 kids and one in the oven

Reunion Pictures

Here's some pictures from the Slaubaugh reunion. They might overlap with Jenni's, but anyhoo -

Little guy singing at the talent show.

Siblings andGrandma

First Cousins

Grandama, Logan and Caleb

Second cousins

Long lost first cousins - we've been living about 40 minutes apart for the past almost 4 years and finally got in touch at the reunion. Hello!

a couple random quotes

"I know I'm not supposed to worry about tomorrow, but I am concerned about the size of my nose when I'm 60!"

"When I'm I supposed to see you? You're always going to bed, going to work!" (the unemployed roommate)

there were more but I forget them right now. goodnight.

For all my pregnant relatives...

... and since my family is single-handedly populating northern Minnesota and Northwestern Ontario (and Madagascar), I can always count on having at least a couple of those. Here's some wisdom from John Tesh on naming your young offspring. And I know you always need the help so here ya have it. He says that it's proven that a person's name dramatically influences other's impressions of the person so he offers some helpful tips.
1) Stay away from androgynous names. This will only cause confusion for your little darlings and if the baby is wearing yellow and named Lynn - well, imagine the implications of that...
2) Stay away from foreign sounding names. These will only make your North American child feel like a dufus. As exception might be if the child is named after a relative or some other significant person, place, or idea. In this case, little Festus or Oakey will beam with pride that he is actually named after your favorite uncle or tree.
3) Try out potential nicknames. You might like the name Tubulias, but who really wants to be called Tubby?
4) Don't be too cute. Kids don't stay kids forever, so imagine Bambi, Misty, Buffy, and Bubbles trying to be taken seriously on a resume.

One more thing for Dr. Tesh - The saying "beside oneself" originated in ancient Greece. I guess they thought that when someone was under intense pressure, the soul left the body and hung out close by. So if you were freaking out about something, you were literally, beside yourself.

I think that is all the wisdom from him for today. My arm hurts from wildly patting my back for updating again so soon. I slept a lot last night and now I feel like a new person. The fair has come to town. I think that's about all I have to say for now.

say what?

Well, Jenni wants me to say something but I feel like I have nothing to say. I was going to post before I left on my trip but ran out of time and now all of that news seems old and stale. Oh, there is one thing I could share from back then. One day I parked my car on a slight hill and (once again) sat in it a little bit to do something. Then I got out to go do a visit. I of course locked the thing, got out, and realized (once again) that my car was rolling away. great. It's hard enough to unlock the thing when it's sitting still. But when it's rolling away, it proves even trickier. I trotted along beside it, did get it unlocked and got inside it where I was able to restore order. Okay, that's that. The trip home was wonderful, but too short. It was great to see extended family that hasn't been together in years. Camping with family was also a lot of fun but the bugs were nasty. Did you know that the US is copying Canada and just came out with an American loonie? It's true - same dimensions and everything. I was going to post a picture, but I spent them. This year I think I did something I've never done before - I was in Canada on July 1at and in the States on the 4th. I feel so duel. Let's see - Canada day was celebrated by listening to a few firecrackers go off and singing a most reverent round of O Canada around the camp fire. America Day was celebrated by - well, it was actually quite nice. Normally I would feel this compulsion that I have to be outside going to cookouts and watching fireworks and all that. But after camping all weekend and traveling all Monday night, I was pretty tired and didn't care about being outside. I went with a couple friends over to one of the friend's parent's place. It was a really nice day - we sat around and slept and watched movies and did old lady crafts. I dusted off my crocheting... different than your average 4th of July, but it hit the spot. Then we saw some fireworks going off so we drove out to them and they weren't too shabby. But here's to watching fireworks with guys. Otherwise you might have to endure PMS fireworks which sounds something like, "I HATE those dumb circle ones!! They look SO stupid!!! Why do they keep setting THOSE off??!!" (it was a lot of fun and we laughed a lot, but it's true, that's what she said) Well, that ended all the festivities, then it was back to a long, agonizing 2 more days of work. I've really been struggling to get back into the swing of things and have been stumbling around in a fog - lack of sleep might be a factor. Okay, well, I'm going to leave you now. Be safe; it's hot out there.