of a wonderfully relaxing weekend.
I woke up in time for early service this morning! This was good, because we started lunch with the family at noon... which is before 2nd service gets over. It was on the last half of Hebrews 12, the end of a book basically dealing with how Christians should respond to persecution. We're supposed to respond by having peace, and holiness, and by clinging to God's mercy, and finally by worshiping him, "where we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." This surprised me greatly, as I have just come off a long study on worship this week. The pastor talked for a moment about acceptable worship of God, which is what that long series of sermons that I read were all about! What perfect timing! I really shouldn't be shocked though. The Lord had this all planned. He is teaching me that I need to make a conscious decision to worship him acceptably every day. And I do that by obeying his commands to love him and my neighbor... and in doing that, and in thinking about his word, my heart should overflow with thanksgiving not only on Sunday, but often times. And this is what I desire: to worship him because he is holy and good.
We only had an hour or so after lunch was over before we had to take my brother back to the airport. It was certainly sad, but it is encouraging because he is planning on coming home so soon. I hope his leave goes through alright. Oh! and he is getting promoted on Tuesday to Lance Corporal (E-3) because of his time-in-service! :) He has a hard time though, because he is so lonely down in Yuma. And he feels like he isn't doing much in the way of "serving the country", but we continued to remind him that it is a great service to sacrifice his freedom to do whatever he wants. I hope he was encouraged.
Goodness! I was tired today! After eating a bit of pie and watching a bit of NFL when we got back, I fell asleep for 2 hours! Yikes! And the weather today has been nice... it was dry this evening, so I took the dog for a walk... and I didn't need to prod him along. I guess he doesn't care much for walking in the cold and rain either. :)
Jp
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Break Time
These last few days have all felt like Saturday, so it's appropriate that I'm posting now...
The first morning with Zac here, I came out to the living room and he had classic Tom & Jerry on. :) Now there's something that I remember from days long ago... :) And it was one we had seen before (which isn't too surprising).
Oh, gosh... what have I spent my time on? I have no idea. I do remember that I finished that study of worship (it is very challenging and good), I played lots of games of backgammon with Dad which I won, and lots of card games with Meg that I lost... went out for a brief shopping trip yesterday.
Today I woke up early and did a mile run, went through some stuff in my room and then for lunch, just our family (just us 5) went out to Pizza Hut. And it was really good. I then watched most of the Apple Cup (UW vs. WSU) while copying over Bible discs (I'm 1/3 done with the Old Testament. There are 42 discs of it.). And the Huskies finally wiped out the Cougars, 30-0. They had lost the last two Apple Cups, and in the 102 year history, the Huskies have never lost three in a row. And it's still the case. :) And after the game, I was already home and comfortable instead of stuck in traffic.
Jp
The first morning with Zac here, I came out to the living room and he had classic Tom & Jerry on. :) Now there's something that I remember from days long ago... :) And it was one we had seen before (which isn't too surprising).
Oh, gosh... what have I spent my time on? I have no idea. I do remember that I finished that study of worship (it is very challenging and good), I played lots of games of backgammon with Dad which I won, and lots of card games with Meg that I lost... went out for a brief shopping trip yesterday.
Today I woke up early and did a mile run, went through some stuff in my room and then for lunch, just our family (just us 5) went out to Pizza Hut. And it was really good. I then watched most of the Apple Cup (UW vs. WSU) while copying over Bible discs (I'm 1/3 done with the Old Testament. There are 42 discs of it.). And the Huskies finally wiped out the Cougars, 30-0. They had lost the last two Apple Cups, and in the 102 year history, the Huskies have never lost three in a row. And it's still the case. :) And after the game, I was already home and comfortable instead of stuck in traffic.
Jp
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thanksgiving Happiness
And I wish it to all of you as well.
My brother came home for a surprise visit last night! He's here until Sunday afternoon! Wheeee!
What can I say about yesterday? Well, it went fast; it was busy at work; and I had no idea what to do when I got home because I'm not used to having time on my hands. I read the Bluejacket's Manuel after leftovers and then we watched a little Reilly, and then I talked to Mike, and then Zac came beating on my door... holy cow! Mom and my sister Andie knew about it, but they kept it as a surprise for a couple weeks! What fun!
Today I was woken up with a "Happy Thanksgiving" text message from my friend in Florida... and then I slept for another hour. :) Mom so has everything together! And then some. She made 7 pies: 2 apple, 2 pumpkin, 1 pecan, 1 lemon, 1 cherry! She did the turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, & yams yesterday... and we helped her with the potatoes and setting out the snacky stuff and setting up the kitchen for 11 adults and 2 kids. We have a feast on the way. I already started a little with snacking on salmon dip, chips and olives... :)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Thank the Lord for his providence!
Jp
My brother came home for a surprise visit last night! He's here until Sunday afternoon! Wheeee!
What can I say about yesterday? Well, it went fast; it was busy at work; and I had no idea what to do when I got home because I'm not used to having time on my hands. I read the Bluejacket's Manuel after leftovers and then we watched a little Reilly, and then I talked to Mike, and then Zac came beating on my door... holy cow! Mom and my sister Andie knew about it, but they kept it as a surprise for a couple weeks! What fun!
Today I was woken up with a "Happy Thanksgiving" text message from my friend in Florida... and then I slept for another hour. :) Mom so has everything together! And then some. She made 7 pies: 2 apple, 2 pumpkin, 1 pecan, 1 lemon, 1 cherry! She did the turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, & yams yesterday... and we helped her with the potatoes and setting out the snacky stuff and setting up the kitchen for 11 adults and 2 kids. We have a feast on the way. I already started a little with snacking on salmon dip, chips and olives... :)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Thank the Lord for his providence!
Jp
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
More Days
Maybe I should make myself an appointment to talk about each day instead of doing these gloms of days in one post... what do you think? is it annoying to read three days in one (on average)? LOL
Well Sunday was really fun! I ended up going to church again, because I've been thinking I should lately (it's something that I haven't quite figured out yet, if it's very important to me or not). The Bible says that we're supposed to "fellowship" with other believers in order to stir each other on to love and good works. It also says things about singing songs to the Lord... but it isn't really clearly defined that I should go to the specific kind of meeting that is today's modern church service. Hmm. Well... it's been turning around in my mind. We'll see if anything changes it by the end of my study on worship.
After lunch on Sunday with the family, we stuck in that episode of Dick Van Dyke with the guy from the last Thin Man movie. Max the Mobster... or whatever that was. So funny! And after that, I was invited over to Jason's house with Meg & Jason for his birthday dinner with his family. I helped his mother make the stir fry... which was very large and fun. The whole evening was very nice, indeed.
But then I did something rather ridiculous. I got on Facebook that night and I didn't get off until quite a bit later the next morning. Yeah, stupid! Except I had a lot of fun doing my annual log-in as the 3 fictional characters I made profiles for. And I talked with my friend from Australia... and I stayed up way too late. And that really affected the rest of Monday and some of today. Thank the Lord we only have 8 hour workdays this week because of the holiday.
Ooooh. The final set of my books got done on Monday though... that was really nice. I've only been working on this program all year long. So my desk is about to undergo a major clean sweep. :) Oh, and I finally remembered to actually purchase the tickets for my mom and I to see my grandparents in February. I was "going to do it right now" for a few days.
Today wasn't much of anything... except lots of cleaning up the desk (with lots more on the way) and being a little late for work again. We watched "Shadow of the Thin Man" tonight. And besides the dopey things they threw in there about their little kid, it was very fun.
And I am going to hit the sack right now! Wow! 9:30! I might just make it in the morning! How blessed I am... only 6 hours tomorrow and then four and a half days off!
Yay!
Jp
Well Sunday was really fun! I ended up going to church again, because I've been thinking I should lately (it's something that I haven't quite figured out yet, if it's very important to me or not). The Bible says that we're supposed to "fellowship" with other believers in order to stir each other on to love and good works. It also says things about singing songs to the Lord... but it isn't really clearly defined that I should go to the specific kind of meeting that is today's modern church service. Hmm. Well... it's been turning around in my mind. We'll see if anything changes it by the end of my study on worship.
After lunch on Sunday with the family, we stuck in that episode of Dick Van Dyke with the guy from the last Thin Man movie. Max the Mobster... or whatever that was. So funny! And after that, I was invited over to Jason's house with Meg & Jason for his birthday dinner with his family. I helped his mother make the stir fry... which was very large and fun. The whole evening was very nice, indeed.
But then I did something rather ridiculous. I got on Facebook that night and I didn't get off until quite a bit later the next morning. Yeah, stupid! Except I had a lot of fun doing my annual log-in as the 3 fictional characters I made profiles for. And I talked with my friend from Australia... and I stayed up way too late. And that really affected the rest of Monday and some of today. Thank the Lord we only have 8 hour workdays this week because of the holiday.
Ooooh. The final set of my books got done on Monday though... that was really nice. I've only been working on this program all year long. So my desk is about to undergo a major clean sweep. :) Oh, and I finally remembered to actually purchase the tickets for my mom and I to see my grandparents in February. I was "going to do it right now" for a few days.
Today wasn't much of anything... except lots of cleaning up the desk (with lots more on the way) and being a little late for work again. We watched "Shadow of the Thin Man" tonight. And besides the dopey things they threw in there about their little kid, it was very fun.
And I am going to hit the sack right now! Wow! 9:30! I might just make it in the morning! How blessed I am... only 6 hours tomorrow and then four and a half days off!
Yay!
Jp
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Studies
What a couple days I've had!
After work let out Dad took Mom and I out to Red Lobster in Lynnwood for a fabulous lunch with a coupon he had. Yuuuuum! Shrimp & Crab pasta!
When we got home, I needed to sit down in a bad way (because of the time of month) and I opened up the copy of a set of sermons that I printed out on Thursday. It was something recommended by the pastor that taught my Bible class. It is all about the importance of worshipping God "in spirit and in truth" like Jesus says we should in John 4:24. It is really nice to have a researcher point out what relatively vague phrases like this mean in connection with the rest of scripture. Wow!
After a couple hours of reading 3 sermons straight through, I needed a break. We stuck in a Thin Man movie... and oh, was that nice! "Another Thin Man", I think. Just love Powell & Loy.
Today I've had a lovely day. But it started at 6 am with lots of cramps. So I quietly went into Mom & Dad's room to get the heating pad and stayed awake in bed for a few hours, listening first to an hour of music, and then the book of Revelation straight through. There's nothing quite like listening to Revelation right after studying worship. The two are so tightly entwined.
I finished all that around 9 am, and found that cramps were gone. It is always good to lie still for a long time. It happened to also be the time Mom was getting up too, so after washing myself up a little, we all sat down to a really nice breakfast of oatmeal, egg and spam. Yum!
Mom and Dad took off to see Grandma this afternoon, so I had the afternoon to do things I've wanted to do for a long time: cancel that card that I already got the benefits from before the annual fee kicks in, close that extra checking account I got for the same sort of reason, get my car fixed up: change the oil, rotate the tires... and by the time I got home, Mom and Dad soon returned. We watched two Reilly episodes and a WENN, just for fun, and in the theme for the night... :)
Jp
After work let out Dad took Mom and I out to Red Lobster in Lynnwood for a fabulous lunch with a coupon he had. Yuuuuum! Shrimp & Crab pasta!
When we got home, I needed to sit down in a bad way (because of the time of month) and I opened up the copy of a set of sermons that I printed out on Thursday. It was something recommended by the pastor that taught my Bible class. It is all about the importance of worshipping God "in spirit and in truth" like Jesus says we should in John 4:24. It is really nice to have a researcher point out what relatively vague phrases like this mean in connection with the rest of scripture. Wow!
After a couple hours of reading 3 sermons straight through, I needed a break. We stuck in a Thin Man movie... and oh, was that nice! "Another Thin Man", I think. Just love Powell & Loy.
Today I've had a lovely day. But it started at 6 am with lots of cramps. So I quietly went into Mom & Dad's room to get the heating pad and stayed awake in bed for a few hours, listening first to an hour of music, and then the book of Revelation straight through. There's nothing quite like listening to Revelation right after studying worship. The two are so tightly entwined.
I finished all that around 9 am, and found that cramps were gone. It is always good to lie still for a long time. It happened to also be the time Mom was getting up too, so after washing myself up a little, we all sat down to a really nice breakfast of oatmeal, egg and spam. Yum!
Mom and Dad took off to see Grandma this afternoon, so I had the afternoon to do things I've wanted to do for a long time: cancel that card that I already got the benefits from before the annual fee kicks in, close that extra checking account I got for the same sort of reason, get my car fixed up: change the oil, rotate the tires... and by the time I got home, Mom and Dad soon returned. We watched two Reilly episodes and a WENN, just for fun, and in the theme for the night... :)
Jp
Thursday, November 19, 2009
And Where Do I Begin?
Gee, sometimes it gets hard to remember...
I was still sort of recovering from last week's crazy schedule: working non-stop though lunch most every day (under pressure) combined with 3 really early mornings for Jazzercise. I haven't gone to Jazzercise yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll make it tomorrow. Fridays are always better for it! Time to go home, freshen up & eat food before starting work.
I did manage to work on push-ups a little though. I did quite a few on Monday. The next couple days were quite a bit harder with the soreness.
Tuesday night was my last Bible class. I was able to friend the pastor on Facebook, and I am looking forward to another class starting in January. It will be on Christian philosophy, as far as he's said so far. We basically ran out of time to talk about all of the rest of the books, so we briefly mentioned the 2 books of Timothy and Titus, and then discussed Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. I did learn new things during these classes, but the best part for me was talking about main ideas and main doctrines and keeping these fresh in my mind.
Wednesday at work was the "Employee Appreciation Lunch"... with turkey, ham, rolls, stuffing, gravy & mashed potatoes. They call it that so they can get some benefit from the government that they couldn't if they called it what it is: a Thanksgiving treat. Employees are supposed to provide drinks, sides and desserts. It was a massive amount of food, but I did rather well not over-doing it. I only had a few small plates :)
Finally relaxing in the evening, after a bit of leftovers for dinner, we watched our next installment of Reilly, Ace of Spies. Oh, now I remember what I was doing between times... I finally brought my saddle and reins in from my car... left there from Saturday... eek... and I began to clean them up a little. In the couple years I've had them, I've never wiped them down. Okay... that was me being excited at remembering what I did last night. :)
Today at work, the quality engineer for my set of books almost made me mad. He had to annotate a few of the pages from my books and didn't flag them at first. Instead of re-scanning... how many would that be?... um... thirteen-hundred pages, I had him kick them up and I ended up rescanning about 60. It did take a moment to find the pages and replace them, but I'd take that any day over re-doing the whole kit. Yikes.
A bit of fun news though: I got my new MP3 player in the mail yesterday and loaded a few things on it. My goodness! What an improvement of sound and usability! It's literally a quarter of the size of my old one, and can lightly clip to my shirt without really being noticed. And I heard nuances from songs I've heard a thousand times, that I've never heard before! Neat-o!
Tonight, since Mom&Dad were busy, I went and got egg rolls at our favorite Teriyaki for dinner. When I got home, I was surprised by a package in the mail from Mike already! Wow, that was fast! And thank you very much! It all looks very fun! I'm especially looking forward to seeing those Thin Man movies. :) Right now, I'm laboriously copying over the New Testament CD's onto my computer. These commercial audio books always drive me nuts! They're always automatically named either incorrectly or inconveniently. Good thing it will be worth it in the end. :)
Okay... gotta go. The doggie is nosy-ing my arm.
Jp
I was still sort of recovering from last week's crazy schedule: working non-stop though lunch most every day (under pressure) combined with 3 really early mornings for Jazzercise. I haven't gone to Jazzercise yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll make it tomorrow. Fridays are always better for it! Time to go home, freshen up & eat food before starting work.
I did manage to work on push-ups a little though. I did quite a few on Monday. The next couple days were quite a bit harder with the soreness.
Tuesday night was my last Bible class. I was able to friend the pastor on Facebook, and I am looking forward to another class starting in January. It will be on Christian philosophy, as far as he's said so far. We basically ran out of time to talk about all of the rest of the books, so we briefly mentioned the 2 books of Timothy and Titus, and then discussed Hebrews, Jude and Revelation. I did learn new things during these classes, but the best part for me was talking about main ideas and main doctrines and keeping these fresh in my mind.
Wednesday at work was the "Employee Appreciation Lunch"... with turkey, ham, rolls, stuffing, gravy & mashed potatoes. They call it that so they can get some benefit from the government that they couldn't if they called it what it is: a Thanksgiving treat. Employees are supposed to provide drinks, sides and desserts. It was a massive amount of food, but I did rather well not over-doing it. I only had a few small plates :)
Finally relaxing in the evening, after a bit of leftovers for dinner, we watched our next installment of Reilly, Ace of Spies. Oh, now I remember what I was doing between times... I finally brought my saddle and reins in from my car... left there from Saturday... eek... and I began to clean them up a little. In the couple years I've had them, I've never wiped them down. Okay... that was me being excited at remembering what I did last night. :)
Today at work, the quality engineer for my set of books almost made me mad. He had to annotate a few of the pages from my books and didn't flag them at first. Instead of re-scanning... how many would that be?... um... thirteen-hundred pages, I had him kick them up and I ended up rescanning about 60. It did take a moment to find the pages and replace them, but I'd take that any day over re-doing the whole kit. Yikes.
A bit of fun news though: I got my new MP3 player in the mail yesterday and loaded a few things on it. My goodness! What an improvement of sound and usability! It's literally a quarter of the size of my old one, and can lightly clip to my shirt without really being noticed. And I heard nuances from songs I've heard a thousand times, that I've never heard before! Neat-o!
Tonight, since Mom&Dad were busy, I went and got egg rolls at our favorite Teriyaki for dinner. When I got home, I was surprised by a package in the mail from Mike already! Wow, that was fast! And thank you very much! It all looks very fun! I'm especially looking forward to seeing those Thin Man movies. :) Right now, I'm laboriously copying over the New Testament CD's onto my computer. These commercial audio books always drive me nuts! They're always automatically named either incorrectly or inconveniently. Good thing it will be worth it in the end. :)
Okay... gotta go. The doggie is nosy-ing my arm.
Jp
Sunday, November 15, 2009
A Slow Day that Went Fast
Well, I woke up at 7. That's right. Day off, everyone leaving, quiet house... up early.
I had a little breakfast with Meg before she left and I did say goodbye to Mom & Dad before they left, so I suppose that was a good thing.
Today I have relaxed. I worked out financial stuff that was pressing, watched a thing from the Navy about recruit training, listened to part of the Gospel of John and fell asleep curled up in Dad's big chair for about an hour. After taking care of Doggie Boy, I went off to Redmond to have a long, relaxing lunch at my favorite sandwich place, Panera Bread. I had forgotten to bring something to read, but fortunately I had a copy of American Caesar in my glove box. So I read the introduction about Douglas MacArthur while I enjoyed a Greek salad, thick tomato soup and a combo Italian sandwich. YUM!
Ever since returning, I organized my music on my computer, getting ready for my new mp3 player that I found online this morning (a small one for long days in the Navy), started planning out next year, Lord willing, and watched the pilot episode of Kim Possible that my bro copied for me when we were in Yuma. :)
Ah. I think I still need to sleep some more.
Jp
I had a little breakfast with Meg before she left and I did say goodbye to Mom & Dad before they left, so I suppose that was a good thing.
Today I have relaxed. I worked out financial stuff that was pressing, watched a thing from the Navy about recruit training, listened to part of the Gospel of John and fell asleep curled up in Dad's big chair for about an hour. After taking care of Doggie Boy, I went off to Redmond to have a long, relaxing lunch at my favorite sandwich place, Panera Bread. I had forgotten to bring something to read, but fortunately I had a copy of American Caesar in my glove box. So I read the introduction about Douglas MacArthur while I enjoyed a Greek salad, thick tomato soup and a combo Italian sandwich. YUM!
Ever since returning, I organized my music on my computer, getting ready for my new mp3 player that I found online this morning (a small one for long days in the Navy), started planning out next year, Lord willing, and watched the pilot episode of Kim Possible that my bro copied for me when we were in Yuma. :)
Ah. I think I still need to sleep some more.
Jp
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Just a Plain Old Nice Day
Sleeping in this morning was really nice. Really! Even if it was only until 7:15. Gosh!
After a really nice late breakfast with all four of us here (which is a rarity), Meg and I took off to Carnation to our friend's house. Meg prepared another model horse show with her best friend (who is now here, back from Mexico) and I spent most of the time out with my horse. This is the first time I've ridden in months! It was so fun. He remembered to obey me! I remembered what to do! He was a darling. We rode around in the ring for awhile practicing turning (after I had removed the little rocks in his feet - and he was very nice for that even!), and then I took him out of the pasture and down the gravel driveway a ways. This he was very nervous about because he doesn't go *anywhere* without Molly, his companion horse. He didn't buck at all though... and he even did what I said. What a good boy!
So, here I am, back at home after a lovely little afternoon with my sister and my horse... and I hear the Huskies lost terribly again. Hmm. Just like old times :)
Jp
After a really nice late breakfast with all four of us here (which is a rarity), Meg and I took off to Carnation to our friend's house. Meg prepared another model horse show with her best friend (who is now here, back from Mexico) and I spent most of the time out with my horse. This is the first time I've ridden in months! It was so fun. He remembered to obey me! I remembered what to do! He was a darling. We rode around in the ring for awhile practicing turning (after I had removed the little rocks in his feet - and he was very nice for that even!), and then I took him out of the pasture and down the gravel driveway a ways. This he was very nervous about because he doesn't go *anywhere* without Molly, his companion horse. He didn't buck at all though... and he even did what I said. What a good boy!
So, here I am, back at home after a lovely little afternoon with my sister and my horse... and I hear the Huskies lost terribly again. Hmm. Just like old times :)
Jp
Weather You Like It or Not
Yesterday was so rainy and icky in the morning... but by afternoon it was just beautiful. Cold and bright with all sorts of towering clouds everywhere. I hear they had a bit of snow in Everett.
That may well be, but this morning is our First Frost. Roofs, lawns and cars are all white this morning!
Jp
That may well be, but this morning is our First Frost. Roofs, lawns and cars are all white this morning!
Jp
And So On
Thursday wasn't too bad. I did stay through lunch, but I could barely tell. One of our customers brought in a tray of crackers, humus, cheese and salami. And let me tell you, that felt really good at 9 and 10 o'clock. Normally I don't eat breakfast, but that morning I did have a couple blueberry muffins that mom had made the night before. For some reason, eating in the morning makes me hungrier in the later morning. But this wasn't all... one of the main programs had a special lunch for engineers, and one of the quality people came in and invited all us ladies to partake. Wow! It was very good lasagna, garlic bread, fresh, crisp Caesar salad and a very light lemon cake. I probably ate more at work than I would have at home!
I did end up getting through 3 of those huge books all in one day! And I only stayed 3/4 of an hour past quitting time. And when I got home, after leftovers for dinner, we watched the next installment of Foyle's War... all about Communists, embezzlement, stealing and murder in 1941 England. Very exciting.
Now yesterday, Friday, I did make it to Jazzercise again. But it always is hard to get up so early on a day when I don't have to start until 8. Although this allows me time to go back home to freshen up and eat breakfast before work, and I love that even more. When I got to work I hardly knew what to do with myself because all my books were finally all together and my customer wasn't going to be there til Monday. I wanted to crash and fall asleep, but my working so hard all week trained me to keep going even when my head wasn't in it. I ended up going through all sorts of things that had been put off.
After that abbreviated bit of work I came home and my parents wanted to go out to Chinese! I love it when that happens! I had Moo Goo Gui Pan (bok choy, other veggies and chicken) and Sweet and Sour Pork... and egg flower soup and pork fried rice. Yum! Talk about an eating spree this week! Right when we got home I had to take off for a meeting with my recruiter. I thought we'd be doing a workout, but he wasn't there... he was resting from unforeseen complications to his spleen surgery. But the Recruiter in charge was there, so we went over some things for my qualification standards (PQS) while in the program. We talked about A-school... Hey! They allow you to have your own car there!... and general boot camp stuff... about the mind game they play with you there and why. I was also able to recite the 11 general orders of a sentry that I had learned with Mom helping me on Wednesday night. I learn much faster listening to something and repeating it rather than reading.
I went for a run after this and then went to the store to get the Bible on CD... which is good for somebody like me who doesn't love reading every single day... and good since it would be great on an mp3 player when I'm bored to death cleaning something in the Navy. I hear they have to clean things a lot.
Gosh, Monk was good! I was worried the whole time they were going to wreck the Captain's heart *again*, and I was about going to kill someone if they did... but they didn't! :) I loved Monk getting so excited about being Best Man. Gee! Only three more episodes left for all time! :( I'm glad they are taking care of the characters first.
Jp
I did end up getting through 3 of those huge books all in one day! And I only stayed 3/4 of an hour past quitting time. And when I got home, after leftovers for dinner, we watched the next installment of Foyle's War... all about Communists, embezzlement, stealing and murder in 1941 England. Very exciting.
Now yesterday, Friday, I did make it to Jazzercise again. But it always is hard to get up so early on a day when I don't have to start until 8. Although this allows me time to go back home to freshen up and eat breakfast before work, and I love that even more. When I got to work I hardly knew what to do with myself because all my books were finally all together and my customer wasn't going to be there til Monday. I wanted to crash and fall asleep, but my working so hard all week trained me to keep going even when my head wasn't in it. I ended up going through all sorts of things that had been put off.
After that abbreviated bit of work I came home and my parents wanted to go out to Chinese! I love it when that happens! I had Moo Goo Gui Pan (bok choy, other veggies and chicken) and Sweet and Sour Pork... and egg flower soup and pork fried rice. Yum! Talk about an eating spree this week! Right when we got home I had to take off for a meeting with my recruiter. I thought we'd be doing a workout, but he wasn't there... he was resting from unforeseen complications to his spleen surgery. But the Recruiter in charge was there, so we went over some things for my qualification standards (PQS) while in the program. We talked about A-school... Hey! They allow you to have your own car there!... and general boot camp stuff... about the mind game they play with you there and why. I was also able to recite the 11 general orders of a sentry that I had learned with Mom helping me on Wednesday night. I learn much faster listening to something and repeating it rather than reading.
I went for a run after this and then went to the store to get the Bible on CD... which is good for somebody like me who doesn't love reading every single day... and good since it would be great on an mp3 player when I'm bored to death cleaning something in the Navy. I hear they have to clean things a lot.
Gosh, Monk was good! I was worried the whole time they were going to wreck the Captain's heart *again*, and I was about going to kill someone if they did... but they didn't! :) I loved Monk getting so excited about being Best Man. Gee! Only three more episodes left for all time! :( I'm glad they are taking care of the characters first.
Jp
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Spoke Too Soon
Well Monday might have been nice and relaxing, but Tuesday was like a hurricane. Had a five minute lunch between reviewing data and slapping data books together and scanning them. It took *all* morning to just scan three data books (about 130 pgs. each) because our scanner is having trouble putting a dark line across the pages... and these have to go to the customer... So after the third hour or so, I felt like getting personal with the copier and punching its lights out. And after all this, the rest of the day was spent with one mammoth book that had a huge failure in testing and therefore had twice as much paper.
That was pretty much it for Tuesday... oh, besides my New Testament class. It was good again. I'm loving this constant reminding of scripture! Next week is the last one though.
Today was a bit better, but still busy! I got up for Jazzercise again. The only way I really motivate myself is because I have to weigh in with the Navy every first Wednesday of each month from now on... and I don't want to have to work off too much. I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be just as crazy as today... when will it stop? :) Thanksgiving, appropriately. It's our end of the fiscal year.
Jp
That was pretty much it for Tuesday... oh, besides my New Testament class. It was good again. I'm loving this constant reminding of scripture! Next week is the last one though.
Today was a bit better, but still busy! I got up for Jazzercise again. The only way I really motivate myself is because I have to weigh in with the Navy every first Wednesday of each month from now on... and I don't want to have to work off too much. I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be just as crazy as today... when will it stop? :) Thanksgiving, appropriately. It's our end of the fiscal year.
Jp
Monday, November 9, 2009
And For Today
I made it to Jazzercise in time... sort of :) They had done the first song in which you "warm up" - by doing amazing things like stepping to the side and stretching your neck. I'm usually not ultra motivated to get there on the dot.
Work was busy today, but not on par with last week. I had time to come home for lunch and I didn't feel like I had 30 things to do every minute.
You should have seen the beautiful sunrise over the valley this morning! The radiant reds and oranges shone everywhere. But by lunchtime, this had all disappeared into a sea of grey and pouring rain, only to let up by the late afternoon. There was a brief moment of sun that I could see out the window, illuminating the fall-colored trees across the valley. When I left work today around 5:45, the stars were just coming out. Jupiter greeted me cheerily as I walked to the car.
Jp
Work was busy today, but not on par with last week. I had time to come home for lunch and I didn't feel like I had 30 things to do every minute.
You should have seen the beautiful sunrise over the valley this morning! The radiant reds and oranges shone everywhere. But by lunchtime, this had all disappeared into a sea of grey and pouring rain, only to let up by the late afternoon. There was a brief moment of sun that I could see out the window, illuminating the fall-colored trees across the valley. When I left work today around 5:45, the stars were just coming out. Jupiter greeted me cheerily as I walked to the car.
Jp
Is It Possible?
Sunday, November 8:
I really liked the Will Ferrel movie 'Elf'. I know it sounds unbelievable, but the guy can actually be funny sometimes. He's mostly too crass and stupid for me, but he wasn't in this one. It was especially fun because it had lots of references to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and a few other Christmas movies without being too formulaic. We watched it right after lunch because my friend Becky had it with her. It was a good one to watch with the family.
After the movie we played a few hands of Skip-Bo... poor Becky! :) I won all three (or was it four?) times. We then went out to get something at Fred Meyer and had Chinese for dinner while we were out. A perfectly lovely evening, really.
When I came home, I was pretty tired, but Mom and I read in Corinthians again. And after that, I picked up Mere Christianity again and finished it! Yay! But it was so long ago that I started it, I read the first book of it again for a refresher. So good. The Lord used a part in the end to speak to me directly about a sin that I was holding on to... and I let go. Sweet freedom :) I am shocked with myself that I was tempted for a minute to say "Forget you!" to God about it. He is so patient with us.
Jp
I really liked the Will Ferrel movie 'Elf'. I know it sounds unbelievable, but the guy can actually be funny sometimes. He's mostly too crass and stupid for me, but he wasn't in this one. It was especially fun because it had lots of references to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and a few other Christmas movies without being too formulaic. We watched it right after lunch because my friend Becky had it with her. It was a good one to watch with the family.
After the movie we played a few hands of Skip-Bo... poor Becky! :) I won all three (or was it four?) times. We then went out to get something at Fred Meyer and had Chinese for dinner while we were out. A perfectly lovely evening, really.
When I came home, I was pretty tired, but Mom and I read in Corinthians again. And after that, I picked up Mere Christianity again and finished it! Yay! But it was so long ago that I started it, I read the first book of it again for a refresher. So good. The Lord used a part in the end to speak to me directly about a sin that I was holding on to... and I let go. Sweet freedom :) I am shocked with myself that I was tempted for a minute to say "Forget you!" to God about it. He is so patient with us.
Jp
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Movin' Stuff Around
Jason's brother's wife had to move out of her apartment into the new house today, while his brother (her husband) is coming home tonight from doing an engineering job in Alaska... what a day! So it was a hard day's work with our friends and my future family in-law :) Very happy to be doing something with my hands all day long though!
I've had a very strange week. Really intense at work... besides ten minutes for a sandwich on Wednesday, I haven't eaten lunch all week. Too busy at work to stop to think. But I did get done what I needed to get done. 8 small engines *finally* shipped on Friday! Yay! Only 24 to go... :) I've only had them waiting to get going for months.
In other news, I had a wild night of weather last night, listening to Switchfoot's new album "Hello, Hurricane" with lightning, thunder & pounding rain outside. And then of course, there was the video of "May's Fury" that I had just happened to decide to watch because I was alone. LOL
And Friday was also a Monk double-header. We made up last week's at 3PM (which I loved - what a cute little dog!), went out to dinner and then watched the regularly scheduled one at 9. Very fun indeed! I ended up falling asleep to the rain pounding on the roof.
Jp
I've had a very strange week. Really intense at work... besides ten minutes for a sandwich on Wednesday, I haven't eaten lunch all week. Too busy at work to stop to think. But I did get done what I needed to get done. 8 small engines *finally* shipped on Friday! Yay! Only 24 to go... :) I've only had them waiting to get going for months.
In other news, I had a wild night of weather last night, listening to Switchfoot's new album "Hello, Hurricane" with lightning, thunder & pounding rain outside. And then of course, there was the video of "May's Fury" that I had just happened to decide to watch because I was alone. LOL
And Friday was also a Monk double-header. We made up last week's at 3PM (which I loved - what a cute little dog!), went out to dinner and then watched the regularly scheduled one at 9. Very fun indeed! I ended up falling asleep to the rain pounding on the roof.
Jp
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Walkin' in Running
After working on that last super-long post on Sunday, we watched the next in Foyle's War. I'm always worried that they're going to kill off Foyle's son (he's in the RAF), but they just gave him battle fatigue. Whew! I really love this series.
Yesterday was wild! I woke up way early, and then unpacked and cleaned myself up. As I walked in the door at work at my usual time... a little after 7... my boss called my cell to make sure I was coming in. And as soon as I got upstairs I barely had time to sit down all day long. Worked right through lunch and stayed a little late. It was pitch black outside when I left at 5:30... so much for bike riding after work until about March.
Not only was it more than a full day of work, but after a quick dinner, I ran off to my Bible class. We studied Galatians and Ephesians a little closer than we've done in the others to discuss Christian freedom in Christ and how he becomes our identity. We talked about the difference between doing what Christ commands with delight rather than through duty. It's the only way Christianity can really work. Otherwise we start thinking we have to do all this stuff to impress God, and that is exactly what he wants to save us from. How hard would it be to impress perfection and holiness? Impossible, as far as I've experienced. So us Christians do things that please him and abstain from others that don't because we love him. His desires become our desires (slowly, but surely). Thank the Lord he has promised to help us in this.
I started listening to the Owensboro WENN program in my car on the way to class. It is so different from what I'm used to! It's fun when it deviates from the show! Except of course, when Victor speaks... :) No one can replace JBL. In order to unwind when I got home, we watched Valentino Speaks for some plot-less fun. And it was... fantastic.
This morning, you should have seen the valley! I didn't see it from my regular hill because I made it to Jazzercise this morning... but from the parking lot I saw the fog coming up to the trees on the opposite side with a thin, wispy layer of pink and yellow clouds surrounding it. Mt. Rainier was lit up in a glow of gold and the moon was still fully visible in the west. And then I walked in the door. Here we go again!
Jp
Yesterday was wild! I woke up way early, and then unpacked and cleaned myself up. As I walked in the door at work at my usual time... a little after 7... my boss called my cell to make sure I was coming in. And as soon as I got upstairs I barely had time to sit down all day long. Worked right through lunch and stayed a little late. It was pitch black outside when I left at 5:30... so much for bike riding after work until about March.
Not only was it more than a full day of work, but after a quick dinner, I ran off to my Bible class. We studied Galatians and Ephesians a little closer than we've done in the others to discuss Christian freedom in Christ and how he becomes our identity. We talked about the difference between doing what Christ commands with delight rather than through duty. It's the only way Christianity can really work. Otherwise we start thinking we have to do all this stuff to impress God, and that is exactly what he wants to save us from. How hard would it be to impress perfection and holiness? Impossible, as far as I've experienced. So us Christians do things that please him and abstain from others that don't because we love him. His desires become our desires (slowly, but surely). Thank the Lord he has promised to help us in this.
I started listening to the Owensboro WENN program in my car on the way to class. It is so different from what I'm used to! It's fun when it deviates from the show! Except of course, when Victor speaks... :) No one can replace JBL. In order to unwind when I got home, we watched Valentino Speaks for some plot-less fun. And it was... fantastic.
This morning, you should have seen the valley! I didn't see it from my regular hill because I made it to Jazzercise this morning... but from the parking lot I saw the fog coming up to the trees on the opposite side with a thin, wispy layer of pink and yellow clouds surrounding it. Mt. Rainier was lit up in a glow of gold and the moon was still fully visible in the west. And then I walked in the door. Here we go again!
Jp
Monday, November 2, 2009
There, And Back Again
The puppy is comfortably sleeping at the top of the stairs now, but he sure got excited when Mom and I got back! And it's his 7-year-old birthday... Unfortunately, to him a birthday cookie is just a cookie. lol! It sure is nice to get back in the afternoon and just relax...
We got up very early, Friday morning... so early that I laid myself back in bed for a minute or two before we left at 4 am for the airport. The Fun Couple dropped us off and we went right through to security as I checked in online and we only had carry-ons. So at about quarter to five, Mom and I stopped at Ivar's for breakfast inside the airport... holy cow!... and we had breakfast sandwiches with smoked salmon... bizarre, but good! By the time we were done it was time to catch the subway tram for the S gates. We didn't have to wait long to board at all! I slept almost the entire first flight to Salt Lake City, and the second flight was so uneventful, I don't remember anything about it. No turbulence, no nothing. I suppose we did take off and land though. We got to San Diego at around 11:30 am and we went directly to the car rental place and hopped on the freeway and didn't stop until we pulled up to the stoplight at the off-ramp in Yuma, Arizona, 180 miles later. Our car was a white Chevy "Cobalt", and besides the CD player not working, it was a comfortable little ride. At least that way, Mom and I had lots of time to enjoy talking. There were two border patrol checkpoints that we went through, an awesome mountain pass (4,000 ft. elevation) with mountains that looked like they were made of gigantic rock piles (with rocks the size of cars and trucks), an enormous, white sand desert, a large, orange submersible being hauled on a semi-truck trailer flatbed, a sign saying "Next Exit, Mexico" (LOL), and 16 miles out of Yuma, the Imperial Sand Dunes (where they filmed part of Return of the Jedi (on Tatooine)... and Road to Zanzibar, among others) that Interstate 8 goes through. It was a neat drive!
We got to the Days Inn in Yuma around 2 pm and the proprietor said it was an unseasonably cold 77 degrees. Heh. We had just come from 40 degrees Seattle. We settled in, and soon Zac came driving up in his new maroon pick-up truck. It was a very pleasant meeting. But as Mom and I had not eaten since 4:45, we were slightly hungry, so we went out to eat a snack at Carl's Jr., which Zac didn't know they had. Outside of Walmart, this was his first time around town in the month that he's been there. He had just gotten the truck 2 days before this trip. Back at the motel, we piled into his pickup and got a look at his base. He drove all around, but we stopped to look in the PX (well, more than look - they had his unit patch and a navy t-shirt :) and then we took a quick tour through his barracks. I was shocked by the bleakness, but it was a nice little room. One roommate, two beds on the floor, plenty of storage space and an adjoining bathroom with the next room over. He's had wireless Internet in there for about a week now. We weren't hungry enough for dinner yet, and there was nothing worth watching at the local theater (gee, Halloween was the next day, no wonder) so he brought Transformers 2 back to the motel to watch on his gigantic laptop/blu-ray player. He's very much into movies. What an intense thing that is to watch! It's nearly all computer-generated machines slashing each other to pieces... with a storyline and disgusting stuff along with it! I hadn't realized that Spielberg was one of the producers, so that's why I was surprised. I was interested in watching it... I was, I promise. And I did enjoy watching it. I did. :) Right afterwards, we went out to Zac's favorite food place on Earth: Outback Steakhouse! I had my favorite: Tilapia with crab. And oh, boy! was that good! It's pretty needless to say we were wiped out when we got back to the hotel, so we all crashed and fell to bed.
For Halloween on Saturday the 30th, we slept in 'til 9. Lovely breakfast at Denny's right afterwards (right nearby) and then we stopped by the gigantic mall right across the street. He needed to pick up new frames for his glasses, and then I wanted a external hard drive so I could bring home a copy of all of the Kim:Possible seasons that he had on one of his. There was a Best Buy, so we were set. They have pretty much everything you can think of in Yuma. It's rather large and has a growing retirement community along with the very large Marine Corps Air Station. We then did our local sightseeing at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park. We did quite a bit of driving around the historical district (I can be directionally challenged sometimes), but we did find the entrance after all. This place was neat to visit (as a tourist)! They had a little museum, a short movie about the place, and a walk-though cell. Not only that, but they filmed scenes from Beau Geste there! Wow! After a lunch break at Cold Stone Ice Creme (in the mall) where I had a medium cup of half pumpkin, half chocolate, (yum!) we went back to the motel and watched "Sleepless in Seattle" in the same fashion as the night before. I really did like it a lot... they filmed in the same "S" concourse that we had taken off from the previous day! After the film, we were hungry enough for dinner, so we went out to the Olive Garden (also across the street from the motel). It was one of the loveliest dinners I can remember. Cheese stuffed pasta with shrimp... and the company was good too :) To finish the evening before he had to go back to base for the night and next morning, we watched "The Prince & Me". I have to mention here that these are all Zac's own movies and also ones that I had never seen before! I love his wide taste in movies... most of the time :) I suppose I could do without Rambo 1 through 4... eeek. So he had to take off to do his duty the next morning, so Mom and I were alone for a little while. Sleep came quickly.
Sunday morning, the first of November: We got to sleep in 'til about 9 again, but Zac had to get up and to his work by 8 or so, and when he got there, they told him they didn't need him. That stuff can be hard to swallow sometimes. He also had to get a haircut for an upcoming inspection, so by the time he got back to the motel, it was about 10:30 or so. Mom and I spent the meantime reading more in the New Testament together. We've finished Romans and moved on to Corinthians. Instead of breakfast, we went to Carl's Jr. again, this time being more than just a snack. Their burgers are huge! I had one with guacamole and bacon. By this time we had checked out of the hotel, so watching movies was out. He did need some things at Walmart, so we went there first and left his truck there when we were done. There were a few museums we wanted to check out, but they were all closed. So while we were out there, we decided to go look at the Sand Dunes from the car. Zac was interested and we wanted to show him... he had been flown in to Yuma when he arrived, so he hadn't seen anything out there. We took a couple of back roads once we got to the dunes and we saw a lot of sand! It was very pretty, in its own way. By the time we drove back to Yuma, it was getting to be later afternoon and we were without an idea as to what to do, so we decided to part ways a little earlier than planned. We dropped him off at his truck and hugged him goodbye and we both took off in opposite ways. Mom and I then filled up our tank near the freeway and then drove to our pit-stop motel in El Cajon (EL CAW-HONE) just outside San Diego (where I stayed in July - the very same room!). Because it was so early (we even gained an hour on the way back to SD - AZ doesn't participate) we went to Balboa Park in San Diego and had dinner at my favorite place. There was a play going on that night, but we weren't really interested for the price it was at. So we enjoyed a long dinner and desert by the window and watched the sun set. It was a glorious time, just my mom and I.
I drove the route I discovered in July and got us back to the motel in a matter of minutes. We didn't stay awake very long... we hit the sack at about 8:30.
This morning, we didn't have to leave for the airport until 5 am! I sorta knew where to return the car... it took my third time around the block to get it right though! The car rental shuttle got us to the terminal in plenty of time, so after getting through security, we had really good breakfast sandwiches at the California Pizza Kitchen. The weather was perfect for flying, so I got lots of great pictures all the way from San Diego to Salt Lake City. I spent nearly the whole flight looking out the window. The next flight from Salt Lake to Seattle, I spent reading in Mere Christianity. I am thoroughly convinced that C.S. Lewis knew what he was talking about. :)
When we flew by, Mt. Rainier was covered with clouds to the north, but as we looked at it right out our window from the south it was just magnificent. The pilot surprised me by not landing right away. Instead we kept flying high past Seatac and circled around Lake Washington, flying over Kirkland and the U District before landing from the North. It was bright clear sunshine out and I got lots of nice shots of the cities and lakes.
So here we are again, back home. Zac seems a little disillusioned with his day-to-day in the Marines, and he spoke of getting out... It was good for me to hear him and see where he's at, so I can think of what I will do when I get bored when I get to that point. Gosh, it was good to see him! We all had a great time!
Jp
We got up very early, Friday morning... so early that I laid myself back in bed for a minute or two before we left at 4 am for the airport. The Fun Couple dropped us off and we went right through to security as I checked in online and we only had carry-ons. So at about quarter to five, Mom and I stopped at Ivar's for breakfast inside the airport... holy cow!... and we had breakfast sandwiches with smoked salmon... bizarre, but good! By the time we were done it was time to catch the subway tram for the S gates. We didn't have to wait long to board at all! I slept almost the entire first flight to Salt Lake City, and the second flight was so uneventful, I don't remember anything about it. No turbulence, no nothing. I suppose we did take off and land though. We got to San Diego at around 11:30 am and we went directly to the car rental place and hopped on the freeway and didn't stop until we pulled up to the stoplight at the off-ramp in Yuma, Arizona, 180 miles later. Our car was a white Chevy "Cobalt", and besides the CD player not working, it was a comfortable little ride. At least that way, Mom and I had lots of time to enjoy talking. There were two border patrol checkpoints that we went through, an awesome mountain pass (4,000 ft. elevation) with mountains that looked like they were made of gigantic rock piles (with rocks the size of cars and trucks), an enormous, white sand desert, a large, orange submersible being hauled on a semi-truck trailer flatbed, a sign saying "Next Exit, Mexico" (LOL), and 16 miles out of Yuma, the Imperial Sand Dunes (where they filmed part of Return of the Jedi (on Tatooine)... and Road to Zanzibar, among others) that Interstate 8 goes through. It was a neat drive!
We got to the Days Inn in Yuma around 2 pm and the proprietor said it was an unseasonably cold 77 degrees. Heh. We had just come from 40 degrees Seattle. We settled in, and soon Zac came driving up in his new maroon pick-up truck. It was a very pleasant meeting. But as Mom and I had not eaten since 4:45, we were slightly hungry, so we went out to eat a snack at Carl's Jr., which Zac didn't know they had. Outside of Walmart, this was his first time around town in the month that he's been there. He had just gotten the truck 2 days before this trip. Back at the motel, we piled into his pickup and got a look at his base. He drove all around, but we stopped to look in the PX (well, more than look - they had his unit patch and a navy t-shirt :) and then we took a quick tour through his barracks. I was shocked by the bleakness, but it was a nice little room. One roommate, two beds on the floor, plenty of storage space and an adjoining bathroom with the next room over. He's had wireless Internet in there for about a week now. We weren't hungry enough for dinner yet, and there was nothing worth watching at the local theater (gee, Halloween was the next day, no wonder) so he brought Transformers 2 back to the motel to watch on his gigantic laptop/blu-ray player. He's very much into movies. What an intense thing that is to watch! It's nearly all computer-generated machines slashing each other to pieces... with a storyline and disgusting stuff along with it! I hadn't realized that Spielberg was one of the producers, so that's why I was surprised. I was interested in watching it... I was, I promise. And I did enjoy watching it. I did. :) Right afterwards, we went out to Zac's favorite food place on Earth: Outback Steakhouse! I had my favorite: Tilapia with crab. And oh, boy! was that good! It's pretty needless to say we were wiped out when we got back to the hotel, so we all crashed and fell to bed.
For Halloween on Saturday the 30th, we slept in 'til 9. Lovely breakfast at Denny's right afterwards (right nearby) and then we stopped by the gigantic mall right across the street. He needed to pick up new frames for his glasses, and then I wanted a external hard drive so I could bring home a copy of all of the Kim:Possible seasons that he had on one of his. There was a Best Buy, so we were set. They have pretty much everything you can think of in Yuma. It's rather large and has a growing retirement community along with the very large Marine Corps Air Station. We then did our local sightseeing at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Park. We did quite a bit of driving around the historical district (I can be directionally challenged sometimes), but we did find the entrance after all. This place was neat to visit (as a tourist)! They had a little museum, a short movie about the place, and a walk-though cell. Not only that, but they filmed scenes from Beau Geste there! Wow! After a lunch break at Cold Stone Ice Creme (in the mall) where I had a medium cup of half pumpkin, half chocolate, (yum!) we went back to the motel and watched "Sleepless in Seattle" in the same fashion as the night before. I really did like it a lot... they filmed in the same "S" concourse that we had taken off from the previous day! After the film, we were hungry enough for dinner, so we went out to the Olive Garden (also across the street from the motel). It was one of the loveliest dinners I can remember. Cheese stuffed pasta with shrimp... and the company was good too :) To finish the evening before he had to go back to base for the night and next morning, we watched "The Prince & Me". I have to mention here that these are all Zac's own movies and also ones that I had never seen before! I love his wide taste in movies... most of the time :) I suppose I could do without Rambo 1 through 4... eeek. So he had to take off to do his duty the next morning, so Mom and I were alone for a little while. Sleep came quickly.
Sunday morning, the first of November: We got to sleep in 'til about 9 again, but Zac had to get up and to his work by 8 or so, and when he got there, they told him they didn't need him. That stuff can be hard to swallow sometimes. He also had to get a haircut for an upcoming inspection, so by the time he got back to the motel, it was about 10:30 or so. Mom and I spent the meantime reading more in the New Testament together. We've finished Romans and moved on to Corinthians. Instead of breakfast, we went to Carl's Jr. again, this time being more than just a snack. Their burgers are huge! I had one with guacamole and bacon. By this time we had checked out of the hotel, so watching movies was out. He did need some things at Walmart, so we went there first and left his truck there when we were done. There were a few museums we wanted to check out, but they were all closed. So while we were out there, we decided to go look at the Sand Dunes from the car. Zac was interested and we wanted to show him... he had been flown in to Yuma when he arrived, so he hadn't seen anything out there. We took a couple of back roads once we got to the dunes and we saw a lot of sand! It was very pretty, in its own way. By the time we drove back to Yuma, it was getting to be later afternoon and we were without an idea as to what to do, so we decided to part ways a little earlier than planned. We dropped him off at his truck and hugged him goodbye and we both took off in opposite ways. Mom and I then filled up our tank near the freeway and then drove to our pit-stop motel in El Cajon (EL CAW-HONE) just outside San Diego (where I stayed in July - the very same room!). Because it was so early (we even gained an hour on the way back to SD - AZ doesn't participate) we went to Balboa Park in San Diego and had dinner at my favorite place. There was a play going on that night, but we weren't really interested for the price it was at. So we enjoyed a long dinner and desert by the window and watched the sun set. It was a glorious time, just my mom and I.
I drove the route I discovered in July and got us back to the motel in a matter of minutes. We didn't stay awake very long... we hit the sack at about 8:30.
This morning, we didn't have to leave for the airport until 5 am! I sorta knew where to return the car... it took my third time around the block to get it right though! The car rental shuttle got us to the terminal in plenty of time, so after getting through security, we had really good breakfast sandwiches at the California Pizza Kitchen. The weather was perfect for flying, so I got lots of great pictures all the way from San Diego to Salt Lake City. I spent nearly the whole flight looking out the window. The next flight from Salt Lake to Seattle, I spent reading in Mere Christianity. I am thoroughly convinced that C.S. Lewis knew what he was talking about. :)
When we flew by, Mt. Rainier was covered with clouds to the north, but as we looked at it right out our window from the south it was just magnificent. The pilot surprised me by not landing right away. Instead we kept flying high past Seatac and circled around Lake Washington, flying over Kirkland and the U District before landing from the North. It was bright clear sunshine out and I got lots of nice shots of the cities and lakes.
So here we are again, back home. Zac seems a little disillusioned with his day-to-day in the Marines, and he spoke of getting out... It was good for me to hear him and see where he's at, so I can think of what I will do when I get bored when I get to that point. Gosh, it was good to see him! We all had a great time!
Jp
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)