Thoughtful and Considerate Brother: "Oh by the way, there's a bug crawling on your head."

Instant pandemonium occurs, not discluding kicking, screaming, beatings of the head and neck, jumping, stomping, and all around undignified behavior. The bug was violently removed during the onslaught, and quickly scuttled to a place of safety. The end.

So, the inner devil of my driving came out today. I was driving innocently up to a stop sign on one of the long stretches of country road as I was headed on home. There was this nervy black car that got in front of me. And it just dared me to race! Ah, was it hard to say no! My foot was just itching for that gas pedal! No cars around....long stretch of lonely road....what could be more perfect?? BUT with great effort, I forced myself to subdue the inclination and resolutely kept the speedometer at it's usual 55 mph....

Still wish I coulda shown them a thing or two.....

Ah yes. Driving down a secluded country road as the last bits of evening light quickly fades into darkness. All the world is serene. The memory of a pleasant day now complete to shadow the mind with it's fond memory. The wind whipping your hair around your face through the open window. Happily sticking your whole arm out the window and waving it freely into the oncoming current of cool wind---

Splat! Eeeww....

It's always nice knowing that you can always count on your brothers to help you out of a tight spot. I learned that once again today, as I found myself in that proverbial "tight spot."

To put it bluntly, I got stuck in a tree.  Yes, laugh. But it's true. I know that climbing trees is not your normal occupation for a 19 year old girl, but it just happens to be one of my favorite past times. And I've never had trouble either getting up or shinnying down. But something went wrong this time, and I found myself in an undignified crouch up in the dense foliage of one of our walnut trees, peering down at our good old terra firma below.

After several attempts at gaining a descent for myself, all of which ended with me continuing to perform my gallant balancing act, I finally realized that this was a job for my 13 year old brother. My 13 year old brother who, consequently, is pushing 6 foot.

With some helpful tips from him and a willing hand, I eventually found myself once again with feet on solid ground. A little wiser in regards to certain trees, but still determined to remain a tree climber to the end. Oh yes. To the end.

This morning while helping Stuart with his school...

Me: "Ok, this circle is in three sections, so we say it's divided into "thirds." This square is in four sections, so we say it's divided into "fourths." The triangle is divided into two sections, so we call it---"

Stuart: "Two-fths!"

Wow...there's a smart kid.

It's done. Yo.

I am thankful for the wind. If there had been no wind today, I wouldn't have reached up to brush aside that ever persistent and annoying strand of hair that was blowing in my eyes. If I hadn't reached up to brush away that strand of hair, I would now have a permanently damaged face. I was hit head-on by an extremely forcefull, torpedo-like frisbee thrown by my brother that left me secondarily stunded. And so, instead of slamming into my mouth and knocking out teeth, it merely bounced off my hand harmelessly and landed on the ground.

And who says things only happen by chance? And so once again, I am thankful for wind.

Well, I hit a critter while driving the other night. First time ever. There I was, driving down one of the long country roads heading back home. It was dark. Then looming in my headlights, I saw it. But there was no time to stop, nothing I could do...

Couldn't the poor frog have hopped just a little bit faster??

After all these months of protesting and giving lame excuses, I finally relented to my students most passionate request. None other than going out and riding the quads! Woohoo! Now THAT'S what I call having a blast! I think I may have found my newest obsession....

And so now I ask myself...why did I wait till the end of the school year to give in??

Cooking has never been my favorite thing to do, despite the fact that I am a girl and that is supposedly my calling in life.  But every once in awhile, I get strangely possessed to wield a spoon in the kitchen, and try my hand at perfecting the culinary art.

But despite all my good intentions when it comes down to cooking, I have an ever recurring problem. I burn things. Always. Oh, there are those few times that I have successfully made something without the tell-tale scorched appearance and that disheartening odor that attests to another failure permeating to the corners of the house. But for the majority, it always happens. Somehow or other, it always burns.

And so, my question of the moment is...will the chicken I have in the oven withstand the pull of my kitchen mistakes and come out as it should? We have yet to see.