Step by Step

As many of you know (those who know me well), I love order.

I love to do things in order (one thing after another). I don't like to mix things up, but thoroughly enjoy clarity and neatness in all things...at least in most things.

I noticed last night, as I was lying in bed and contemplating a shower, that I even take a shower with each "shower activity" being done in a particular order.

There is method to my madness (observe):

1. Hop in.
2. Do a full RINSE of the entire body.
3. Shampoo.
4. Condition hair.
5. Scrub in my hair de-tangler (let set in for the rest of the shower).
6. Brush teeth (yes, I brush my teeth while IN the shower).
7. Scrub all over with my loofah.
8. Apply shaving cream and shave (my legs and underarms, not my mustache or beard).
9. Do a full RINSE of the entire body.
10. Remember to rinse out all the de-tangler from my hair.

I do all these steps in this EXACT order every time I take a shower.

I know...border line OCD. If I don't do it this way...just doesn't seem right.

One Week Later

I finally post!!!!!

I knew you were just holding your breath!

Relax...and release...I'm back.

I am proud to be me!

I completed my BLOG-Post list today!

I am so proud of myself!

I can walk into the weekend assured that I completed my BLOG ASSIGNMENT.

Why have I Knott posted these pictures?

Because it takes tons of time for them to load onto blogger.

But here they are!
Our Knott's pictures from Sunday (well, some...but not all).

A picture of a picture.
Funny how the little ones look big and the big ones look little.

Me, trying to do the "Rene".

Tatu, alone on Big Foot Rapids.

My granddaughter and I.

We got really wet!

The not-so-yummy pizza.

Gus wearing girl glasses.

Second trip to Ghostrider.

Fun day!

But next time I'll take my Knott's without a side order of drama...thank you very much! :)

In Memory of Memorial Day

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken at our Memorial Day BBQ.

Note: The adults refused to be photographed, which is why they are not pictured on this post.

Livid at Foster's Freeze

Last night after our preaching team meeting Edgar, Janette and I headed over to Foster's Freeze in Bell Gardens. Janette's leaving to Mexico tonight so we wanted to have a little hang out time before she left.
She had a medium cone while I had the chocolate-dipped, peanut sprinkled waffle cone. Very yummy!

Below are some of the pictures Edgar took.

While we were there, the conversation soon turned to ministry. Mostly ministry misfortunes and flaws. Not so much the programs but dealing with conflict and difficult situations.

At one point, Edgar brought up a difficult discussion that I had a couple of weeks ago regarding a problematic volunteer.

As I remembered the conversation and began to tell Janette about it, all I could say to describe how I felt at that moment (of the discussion) was, "I was livid!". Just like that. Livid.

I rarely use the word livid. It's one of those words that is reserved only for very, most, utterly important occasions. You know, when the feeling is just so powerful that you must draw a special un-used word from you memory bank. This occasion felt perfect!

It felt so good to use the word--and Janette enjoyed hearing it so much--, we even re-enacted the conversation just so I could say it again. Janette and I could not stop laughing. Edgar giggled too, but I think he giggled mostly at the fact we would re-enact a conversation just to repeat a word.

These are the moments that I think make friendships special. Times when in the middle of serious discussions you can all appreciate grammar, language, words that are often not used...like livid.

liv·id

–adjective
1. having a discolored, bluish appearance caused by a bruise, congestion of blood vessels, strangulation.
2. dull blue; dark, grayish-blue.
3. enraged; furiously angry.
4. feeling or appearing strangulated because of strong emotion.
5. reddish or flushed.
6. deathly pale; pallid; ashen.

A Wedding Dilemma

The other day I was on the White House Black Market website, looking around for a nice "dressy" dress, checking out some of their shoe selection (not so good on the shoes).

When I ran into this stunner:

If you know me, then you know I love dressy, strapless dresses. They are so gorgeous. They look so timeless and classy to me. And a dress with a sash around the waist or high waist is like a little bit of heaven. A-line dresses do it for me too...and a sweetheart neckline is something I've wanted to try for a long time!

Needless to say, I fell in love!

As I kept reading and searching for optional colors for the dress I found out that this is actually a wedding dress. And it actually comes with two other color sashes included! Look below:

I would LOVE to buy this dress. And wear it...like tomorrow. But it's so beautiful that no place I could ever go would do it justice.

Then I got to thinking that maybe THIS could be my wedding dress...
then I thought that it might be too simple for my wedding....
then I thought it could be possible that I might want my bridesmaids to wear this at my wedding....
an amazing thought...
but...
I want to wear it, if my bridesmaids wear it, I don't get to.

My wedding dilemma...
What would you do?

From the Desk of Bibi Bracy

Yesterday I noticed that someone left Bibi a note/card on her desk. Since it was the front cover of the note/card I took the liberty of reading it (not the inside, just the outside part).

Here is what it read (exactly):

Dont get tire of
doing what its right,
make the most of
every opportunity.
The time will come when
you'll harvest what you
had sow...

This is who I am:
Did I notice the biblical message in the text? NO
Did I praise the author for writing words of the Lord? NO
Did say something like, "Aw, how sweet!"? NO

My response was:
"Who the heck wrote this? I'm not making fun of them per se, but mostly feeling disappointed in our California School Systems. How could someone graduate from high school writing like this? Where did we go wrong? This is what has moved me to become a teacher."

I know who wrote this (I recognized the writing) and yes I think that the fact they wrote like this is funny (I laughed a little bit). But it actually makes me feel sad that tons of people graduate from high school with poor grammar and poor writing abilities. Actually, they graduate with not even the basic ability to compile a proper phrase.

This is sad, funny, but sad too.

BLOG-Post List

- From Bibi's Desk
- White House Black Market dresses
- Favorite Knott's pictures
- Memorial Day
- Foster's Freeze

Why I love* Knott's

* I don't love Knott's. I actually would be lying if I said I did. I kind of really dislike it.

#1 I paid almost $30 to get in and only got on about 8 rides.
#2 They only have about 8 rides I can actually "ride" on.
#3 Their pizza takes a little rubbery.
#4 There is a plethora of trash all over the floors.
#5 The "Log Ride" never works when I'm there.
#6 The employees look like they aren't old enough to drive a car, much less manage a roller coaster.
#7 They have this kind of art displayed on their roof tops:

Yes, this is actual gum--a rather large collection of gum--gracing the top of the roof of a ride were about to board (Silver Bullet, to be exact). Side note, the picture does this scene little justice.

Picture of the Week Vol. 7

German and I tried three times in order to get this picture just right. Didn't work, but ultimately I liked our first try the best--it's the most "natural".
This is us, doing what we do best: having fun at weekend services...oh, and looking dang tangedy too!

Extra Long Weekend

This weekend was so busy that I had to wait until yesterday to be able to update my posts.
Let me give you a brief synopsis (I do promise to post with more detail about each event in individual posts):

FRIDAY
*work until 1:30pm
*p/u my mom and grams at the airport
*head over to my house to get some of my grandma's stuff
*go to visit my uncle and drop off my grandma
*have some pozole with my mom, grandma, and Edgar at my uncles house
*go home and rest a bit
*drop Edgar off
*pick Bibi up
*stop by the Olive Garden and pick up a gift card for Tina
*have an amazing time at Tina's grad party at Red Robin

SATURDAY
*do Kid Kare at church for the "Focus on the Family" Seminar (9am-2pm)
*have meeting with Student Leadership (2-3:30pm)
*take shower
*go to Blockbuster with Edgar to buy used DVDs
*hang out with my family
*buy stuff from the ice cream truck
*watch "The Final Cut" (with my parents and sister chatting it up in the kitchen-with my aunt- while Edgar slept on my couch)
*drop Edgar off
*study Sunday's message
*go to bed

SUNDAY
*share at both Sunday services (on deepening our faith and relationship with God)
*do a little drive-thru action at Carl's Jr. with Janette
*go to Knott's for the better part of the day
*pick my mom up from my uncle's house
*go home and to bed

MONDAY
*go grocery shopping with my mom at 8:30am
*Hardcore meeting at IHop
*go to a BBQ with the main adult leaders
*go to a BBQ at home
*have fun with my familia
*chat with my cousins
*organize some papers in my room
*organize some shelves in my room
*go to bed

TUESDAY (I didn't realize I actually had a four day weekend until Edgar explained to me that I normally have Tuesday off, hence my four day weekend)
*wake up way too early
*clean my room
*clean the kitchen
*run errand
*feel sick
*go to bed-where I spend the rest of the afternoon
*tutor
*go back home
*chores
*try to go to bed
*can't
*finally go to bed

Yes, long weekend...but really I worked through my weekend...so not such a long weekend after all, huh?

Guess Who's Back, Back Again...

My mom!

Edgar and I picked her and my grandma up from the airport on Friday afternoon!

So good to see her again!

All went well and my grandma is now a U.S. resident! Woo-Hoo!
They had a great, but tiring time! They also got hit up with some foreign tummy problems...but are feeling a lot better now that they're back on U.S. soil!

Good Friends

The other day I saw that Bibi finally posted on her blog.

As I began to read I realized that she posted about me.

This made me feel like a million bucks!

I have now concluded that one amazing way to make people feel special is to post about them on your blog!

Try it!

Jorge Bracy

You've read a lot about my friend Bibi Bracy here on the blog.

She's one of my favorite people in the world.

She also happens to have a little brother and sister, Jorge and Connie.

Jorge is just a couple of years younger than her...but Jorge looks and acts a bit older than his age (always has...well, at least since I've known him).

Lately Jorge has become part of our little group when we hang out.

He's with us:
in the pool...

having lunch...

at the beach...

at shops (note: I didn't say shopping because we never actually buy anything)...

at parties...

And you know what? He's a lot of fun.

SOME THINGS I ENJOY ABOUT JORGE:
He likes to laugh a lot.

He says inappropriately funny comments in front of girls.

He likes to physically fight (wrestle) in public.

He is very opinionated.

He is not shy about the truth.

He knows how to throw out the low blows.

He looks manly while driving a Bronco.

He has one of the most "Colgate-ed" smiles I've ever seen.
He takes care of his feet.

He likes to give piggy back rides.