Fired

One thing I like about The Thursday Chronicles is that we all somehow end up having similar experiences.  It is a comfort to know that I'm not the only one who is having a hard time, and I feel blessed to have such great friends who support each other even when we're literally across the country from one another.

It has been a crazy, crazy, crazy week.  I am exhausted and sore and a little frightened to go to bed tonight. Cimarron Canyon is on fire, and the smoke here in base camp is getting thicker by the minute.  I'm sure the heavy wind is not helping matters at all.

This was taken in town at lunch time.  That's not fog.

This was taken just now through my window. That's also not fog.

Scary, huh?

So it's a good thing I believe in a God of Miracles, and I am ever so grateful for His tender mercies.  It's incredible how something as simple as branding can make me feel 100 times better about my week.

We have these mini branding irons that we use to brand leather belts, wallets, Nalgene bottles, jackets, boots, iPhones--the list goes on and on and on.  In fact, when someone asked me today what we can brand, I said, "If it melts or burns, we can brand it."  I mean, obviously you wouldn't want to brand something like paper or skin (though we did have several guys point at their shoulders when we asked what they wanted branded), but possibilities are almost endless.

There is a bit of a tradition here at PTC, where we are always trying to one up each other with the unique things we have branded.

I don't mean to sound vain, but I may have taken the cake today when I branded an honest-to-goodness MOTORCYCLE.

The Bike.

The brands (top: cattle, bottom: horse).

'Course, then I was getting really vain about how cool I was, so God taught me some humility by allowing me to destroy two nylon bags.

"No project is guaranteed," we warn them before we even pull out the irons.

But I'm still fired.

from one friend to another

Dearest Thursday,

Only you could have dragged me through this day of exhaustion, and then ended with a reward of an unbelievable Italian meal and one of the tenderest romantic films ever. Thank you.

Your devotee,

Weere E. Ness

P.S. If it's not too much, could it please be a little better next week?

"You're Havin' A Hard Time"

The 4-year-old, wind-swept beauty who ties herself to the house with a purple jump-rope sums it up nicely by querying, "Aunt Cheri Kay, are you havin' a hard time?"

Yes. But I got past the Fire-Breathing stage yesterday. Today I've moved on to something I call the Incredulous Chuckling phase. It's akin to the more severe Sarcastic Muttering phase and much more endurable than the Sardonic Giggling episodes--so on the whole, I'd say I'm on the way up.

But yes, my dear, I'm havin' a hard time. Thanks for asking.

Sorting Anyone?

I like these. I'm in Ravenclaw.

Out With the Old

I have a new favorite movie. Well, favorite cartoon movie. I can't talk about it because it didn't become my favorite today, but I can talk about the soundtrack because it DID become my new favorite soundtrack today. And thanks to the soundtrack, I now have a new favorite composer and a new favorite artist. Well, new favorite European artist. (Don't worry, Josh.)

Here are the details:

New Favorite Soundtrack = How To Train Your Dragon (and I think from there, you can figure out what the taboo name of the New Favorite Cartoon Movie is...)

New Favorite Composer: John Powell

New Favorite European Artist: Jonsi (If you go to check out his music, be forewarned: There is only one song--Animal Arithmetic--on his album "Go" that has swearing in it, but it's a pretty bad word. Everything else is clean, though. A little "different", maybe, but clean. Luckily, I was able to edit out the bad word and I can listen to the song guilt free! Hehe!)

*Sigh* I'm in love.

even on Thursday

MMMMRRRRRAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRMMMMMPPPPPPHHHHHHH

Hmm?

What?

Oh.

Yeah.

Sorry.

I forgot it can be rude to yawn in public.

Please accept my apolo--ohhh...

ohhhhh....

No no!

Stifle!

Stifle!

I can't!

Please excuse me--MMRRR...

Just a Kid

I went to the park with my nieces and got all nostalgic about my childhood.

This about sums it up.

Sit. Stay. Part Deux.

One of the nice things about Philmont is that a lot of the full time staff have pets kids. So even though I can't won't have a pet kid of my own (until summer, when I'll have 6 ponies, 2 goats, 2 sheep, 2 burritos and a plethora of chickens) until I'm married, I can always count on somebody to go out of town to a Ranch Committee meeting and ask me to take care of their critters children while they are away.

Blah de blah de blah...

After something like that, how could you expect my heart to NOT melt? Impossible.

But if one of these kids wakes me up in the morning, I'm going to wonder how they got in my house.

Thursday--You Truly are AMAZING!

Some people would think that this--Ye Olde Taxe Daye--is a terrible day. But as I filed over a month ago and received my federal turn on Tax Day, it was a pretty good day to me.

Go Thursday.

And some would think that less people coming to storytime would make it even harder to teach "The Princess Pat" than it was on Tuesday. But, no, they actually did really well with it.

Go Thursday.

And some would think that the 90 degree weather last week to a 60 degree weather this week is awful. But on my walk I felt it was exactly what a middle-of-April spring day should feel like.

Go Thursday.

And some would think that their already busy schedule with work, church, storytimes, SRPs, going out of town, downsizing, packing, fighting a cold or allergies, and all else that makes the life a whirlwind would be a bit annoyingly strained to have another meeting added for the evening.

But not if it's the one and amazing Sister Beck coming to speak to you.

Where you get to sing in the choir formed for her fireside.

In which you are singing a solo.

Need I say it? Yeah. GO THURSDAY!

(I think Thursday is becoming one of my favorite days!)

I have found my cure!

1 large increase of stress

+

1 impending move

+

1 new job

+

1.5 church responsibilities

=

unknown amounts of chocolate-flavored foods consumed

BUT

1 ridiculous, seeming-to-never-end chocolate craving

<

1 extreme distaste for chocolate-and-peanut-butter

So, way too much of a bowl full of chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream later, I am reminded of my extreme distaste. And I think I have found my cure for the insane chocolate cravings that have been coming my way.

Spring Expressionism

Spring is in the air, and for some reason, the nice weather today reminded me of one of my favorite paintings. Franz Marc's The Large Blue Horses painted in 1911. My first experience with this painting was in a spring art history class. Both projectors were humming and clicking at full speed, flashing images two at a time on the white wall in front of me. My hands were blue and aching; the air conditioning always ran full blast no matter the outside temperature, and my professor had an uncanny ability to simultaneously lecture on two paintings at a rate of 30.3 seconds each, forcing me to scribble notes in the dim light as if my hand would burst into flames if it were left in one place too long.

Since this lecture focused on pre-WWI art from the German Expressionists, my notebook had been illuminated by a faint brownish grey glow that emanated from the images on the wall. The subjects and lighting in this class always had a direct effect on my mood, so on this day I not only felt ridiculously rushed but antsy and pessimistic. Perhaps it was the vibrant flash of color that caught my attention. Or maybe Marc's deliberate and optimistic approach. Whatever it was, few paintings ever held my attention. I didn't have the luxury of really looking at anything for more than a few moments before going back to making cramped hieroglyphics that would supposedly help me in the near future.

But The Large Blue Horses seemed to dissipate every negative wave of energy that had been flying at me for the past hour. It was like someone finally remembered to turn the lights on and look at the world properly. Not that Marc's brush strokes are ignorant to the rising tensions--but he believed in battling those tensions with color instead of bemoaning what others called inevitable fate. Marc's theory, along with other past and present colorists, promotes the idea that colors can activate and inspire society. Marc also believed that nature and animals would remind people about the important, good things that are worth living for. Notes and midterm forgotten, I really looked at this painting. This one really mattered.

I could continue, but what I mean to say is, this painting never fails to make me happy. It reminds me of spring and makes me glad that there are so many colors that naturally exist in our world. Anyway, I get carried away. And the picture on the blog really does no justice to the actual thing. But there you go--I love Franz Marc and his paintings and spring.

Sit. Stay.

One of the nice things about Philmont is that a lot of the full time staff have pets. So even though I can't have a pet of my own (until summer, when I'll have 6 ponies, 2 goats, 2 sheep, 2 burritos and a plethora of chickens), I can always count on somebody to go out of town and ask me to take care of their critters while they are away.

I have been critter-sitting for a Ranch family for a few days, and I have had a blast. They have 2 delightful dogs (BB and Velvet), 4 kitties, and a horse (S'more).

When they heard my alarm this morning, BB and Velvet came running into the bedroom to help me get up. Velvet, the smaller of the two, reached up as high as she could with her front paws and rested them on the edge of the mattress, then set her face down on her paws and looked me in the eye as if to say, "Good Morning, friend! Did you sleep well? I LOVE YOU." Not even kidding. Her stumpy little tail was wagging so fast I could hardly see it.

After something like that, how could you expect my heart to NOT melt? Impossible.

April Opportunity

On this, the day of April Fools, I would like to take the opportunity to openly confess one of my favorite past-times. And although this confession is published to the world, under the protection of April Fools, I will, if so pressed by any future employer, prosecuting lawyer, attractive male, day-time talk show host, or clever song-writer, claim that this confession was only a lame April Fools Day prank.

Okay, here goes: I am an avid eavesdropper. I eavesdrop on my parents, my friends, and strangers. I don't eavesdrop in order to gain vital information. I don't use the information for evil. I simply enjoy hearing what other people have to say. My earliest eavesdropping escapade took place in August 1998. And if I had access to them, I would use extendable ears.

March Showers, Bring April....

I received flowers today. From a guy.

I don't usually ever receive flowers. From girls or guys. My sister sent some to me on my 14th birthday. As she was on the other side of the country, I thought it was so neat! And there were some carnations around Valentine's Day that came from sweet albeit pitying males from church, and one from a good friend because she knew how much I always wanted to receive flowers. And there were some that came to my apartment. And the corsages that my high school prom and college Homecoming dates gave me.

But it just isn't the same, you know? I mean, this guy actually came right up to me at work and handed me a bouquet of daffodils and mums. So bright, so pretty, so wonderfully fragrant. I haven't had a smile like that since I don't know when. And while it was technically to brighten up the place, they were given to me. Not one of the other librarians. Me.

So I like to look at it as today, o Marvelous Thursday, I received flowers. From a guy.






(Who cares if he is 3? I think that makes it all the better! Or maybe there's just something in the fact that it IS April Fool's Day and I've just had the fact that I am a fool driven in even more because of every male my age who could have and should have given me flowers some time in my life yet didn't.....Oh well.!)

3.2

I am warulnking my first 5k today.

Wow. Sorry about that. Looks like a bad word up there. It's just my (sore) attempt to combine "running" and "walking" into one word. Didn't work out so well.

But hey! I'm doing it! I have done absolutely zero training for it and don't expect to win any awards (except for maybe Slowest Person in the World), but it'll be fun.

It starts in little over an hour. *Bites nails* Geez, I shouldn't be this nervous.

It's only warulnking.