Living Blossoms

This is not how I intended my last night in Europe to be. I woke up at 5:30am having to pee, and then could not fall back to sleep. We didn't have to wake up till 8:00! GRR. Well, hopefully this will just help me sleep more on our first flight, which is 12 hours long. (What's crazy is that I've been on a plane for twice that long four different times in my life.) Isaac said he just thinks it will make me more irritable. He's probably right. Poor him. But hey, at least we had our own room last night! We were in the same room we've been in in Athens, but with no roommates!

I hardly bought any real souvenirs from anywhere, but I have managed to pick up 2 pairs of earrings here in Athens. One pair is rectangular, made of chips from a beautiful blue opal, and the other is mother-of-pearl with silver viney-looking things. Those + my two scarves (one from England because I was freezing, and one from France because it was so pretty and I was tired of wearing the one from England) + the requisite postcards/Christmas ornaments/keychains are all we got. Well, those things and who knows how many photos I've taken. My grandma gave us some money for the trip and I decided we'll say that the amazing Tuscany tour we took was using that money. I'm going to get some pics from that printed out and mail them to her with a thank you note.

Last night we had dinner at a place recommended by some dude on the internet, and it was really good. The server stormed out halfway through the meal though, yelling something in Greek. I am a nosy person, so I must say I'm still curious as to what on earth was going on, since prior to that she was very sweet and calm. I ordered grilled mackerel, and it came in the whole fish body. Isaac tried to get me to gross out by making it talk to me and say things like, "Why did you eat me?" I told him I am not his mother (once when we were in CT his mom realized the chocolate chunks were in the shape of bunnies and then she couldn't eat the rest of her ice cream. LOL!) or his sister, and that sort of thing doesn't work on me. Didn't stop him from trying though. In fact, we made our own version of the "Llamas in Hats" video. It makes us laugh and laugh and laugh...

I hope there's a Starbucks in the airport. I could use a gigantic cup of coffee right now. None of those little European shot glasses of coffee, no sirree.

I think we're going to be under budget for the trip. Go us! I guess there are perks to being anal and OCD about being cheap. Because of this, we're going to continue our vacation at home. It worked out that we'd save hundreds of dollars to a) fly home on a Wednesday, and thus b) have 3 nights we could've been in Europe at home instead. Now we get to recover from jet lag at home. We're going to go to the 4 or 5 restaurants we've been craving, as well as to the beach at least once. I'm hoping to have a painting party on Saturday though, to finally get rid of the nasty walls of the guest room. And then Sunday is church! I'm so excited about church. =oD

Well, that's all I have to tell you for now. My goal is to get pics uploaded and recaps written sometime next week, although I make no promises. Talk to y'all soon - from the USA!

P.S. Soon I will have CLOTHES! Lots and lots of CLOTHES! Clothes of every color and style... clothes that are not the same 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pants and 1 skirt! Different underwear! JEANS! *chorus of angels*

+ If you have any love for things Jane Austen and you have a sense of humor, you simply must go read katharhino's 'Tis the Eve of All Hallows, a short story of murder and hilarity, starring the characters from Emma.

+ We're going to some friends' house tonight to hand out candy and watch a movie. Rumors were that costumes were a possibility, but no one seemed all that interested. Still, I would've gone as a newsie if I had been able to find a newsboy cap and adequate vest at a thrift store. No such luck.

+ Somehow lately we've been getting USA Network on what used to be the Catholic channel. I have to say, I'll trade televised mass for NCIS and House reruns, and new episodes of L&O: Criminal Intent any day. I keep praying that the mistake isn't noticed until after L&O:CI's new season is finished... which isn't till March or April, I think. Yeah, I know - it's a long shot.

+ I've seen a lot of mi familia this week. Well, except for Mom, who has been stuck in North Dakota, of all places, and then Orlando, all for work. We had Grams, Dad, and AAAC over for an awesome lasagna dinner Monday night. Ange made apple crisp out of some apples they picked off a friend's tree on their trip to IL, so we had warm, fresh apple crisp for dessert. YUM. Last night they reciprocated and had Grams, Dad, and us over to their house for the absolute best chicken parmesan I have ever had, and peanut butter fudge for dessert. I *love* having family nearby! LOL! We also of course played a bit of Rock Band at AAAC's house. Grams had never seen it before, and thought it very creative. We had the most fun watching AJ's face when he played guitar, and singing along to "I am 16, Going On 17" and other Sound of Music songs (playing in the other room, because Chloe was watching her favorite movie EVAH) as the PS2 kept freezing. Hehe.

+ Our pumpkins died already! How sad is that?! I'm wondering if we did something wrong, because aren't they supposed to last at least a week? Anyway, mine rotted so much it fell over on its face (actually, I think Isaac's evil pumpkin pushed it...) so we had to throw them away already. So sad!

+ So you know those caramel apples I made? There were five of them. And I ate four. Ha! Poor Isaac only got one. But he was only supposed to have two anyway (the maker gets the majority. Bwaha!), and he said I could have his last one. Man, were they good. I must make more.

+ BMG finally has Kutless's new CD! Of course I bought it, along with Sanctus Real's latest and the Robbie Seay Band CD I don't have yet. Anyway, I had a code for 3 free CDs (J8E4 for those who are members) so I got all 3 of 'em for under $8.37!

+ I have more to say, but I need to go since we're due at our friends' house in half an hour. Have a great weekend, all!

+ Hehe. LJ's "Undead Journal" header made me giggle.

+ Our heater is on for the first time since March or April. Last night's low was 40-something. I shiver to think how cold it would've been in here if I had forgotten - which I almost did - to turn it on. Tomorrow the high is 60º, and while I distinctly remember putting on shorts anytime the temperature hit 60º when I was a kid/teen in WI/IL, now I will put on a sweater and possibly also a jacket. 60º is a lot warmer in Wisconsin than it is in Florida. I wonder if I can get away with wearing a scarf? Me gusto scarves.

+ I've decided it's a lot more fun to clean with a husband than on my own. Saturday Isaac and I pretty much cleaned the house top to bottom, and it took less than two hours. And this was with stopping to goofy-dance several times to the music we were blasting. Actually, we had to agree to stop dancing and kissing anytime we walked by each other, because we knew we'd never finish the cleaning in time if we didn't. 'Tis a good life.

+ Fellowship group was fun! This is the first time we've hosted. Only two other couples came, since AAAC were out of town and some others were sick, but they are two of our favorite couples (despite political differences, LOL). We made taco salad or burritos, and I don't know why, but that was the best taco salad I have ever had. It was amazing. Isaac gave a cool little devo while I got the chocolate fountain ready. Then we gorged on chocolate-dipped pretzels and fruit while playing Pictaphone, which they seemed to quite enjoy.

+ Yesterday on the way home from lunch, we pulled up next to a car at a traffic light. We had the windows down, so we heard the little old lady driving it keep trying to start it, but it wouldn't turn over. Realizing that she was alone, we knew she'd never be able to get it out of the road by herself, so we turned around and parked at a nearby gas station, and then pushed her car to a nearby parking lot. (Pushing it the opposite way traffic was going in that lane was quite interesting.) We quickly realized we couldn't fix whatever it was, but thankfully she had AAA. Poor thing was stuck waiting at the gas station for over an hour though. Anyway, that was our Sunday afternoon adventure. Hehe.

+ Last night at Olympians all our "older" leaders were gone, so it was just Isaac, Angela, our friend Sarah, and me. The lesson was mostly a skit, but I did the opening and closing bits too. That was the first time I ever did an Olympian lesson! It went well though, I thought. Well, until one little boy who's only been there twice threw up in one of the Sunday School rooms. Oy. Next week is our famous Olympian Fun Fall Festival. I'm excited about that. Oh! Last week my mom put it (O.F.F.F.) up on the board as a reminder, then asked the kids what other words beginning with F we could add to it. We came up with fabulous, fantastic, etc. Well, last night I wrote just O.F.F.F. on there because I couldn't remember how many other Fs we had added last week. One little boy said, "What about the other f-words?" I succeeded at not cracking up, but I looked at Isaac and we smirked at each other.

+ I have been really wanting to go to The Thrift Store lately. Should I go? No. Do I want to go? YES. I haven't been there since Isaac's family was here, way back at the beginning of September. It seems I go there about every 2 or 3 months. I don't want to go alone though. Anyone want to join me? ;o)

This made Isaac and me both laugh SO HARD last night. Enjoy.

"Maverick."

"Spain."

LOL!!!

So I was behind on Stuff Christians Like and I was laughing as I caught up. Then in one of the comments, someone mentioned a comedian named Tim Hawkins and his parody of Steven Curtis Chapman's "I Will Be Here". So, being me, I Googled him and found some YouTube videos. I've spent the past 40 minutes watching videos of his acts, and OH MY WORD. I have not laughed so hard for a really long time. Below, I've posted my favorite thus far, but even if you don't find that funny, you should check out some of his other stuff. He's a lot like Brian Regan (only funnier, IMO), so if you like Brian, definitely check out Tim Hawkins.

And we're singing "Awesome God" in church tomorrow. Must. Not. Look at Isaac!

E.T.A. We just watched this one, and it is worthy of being embedded. *wipes tears again*

P.S. Some of my other faves include: "Cletus Take the Reel", "I Don't Drink Beer", and "Homeschool Family".