Welfleet

So, shortly after my birthday, my dad and I left for Cape Cod. Every year we take two weeks up at the family vacation house (we gave up a week so my Aunt and Uncle who usually never go could have some time this year).

Last year, when we visited Welfleet, we kept seeing signs around town saying "Pray for Caleb." Curious, we Googled the name, and discovered the Potter family. Caleb's mother has been blogging since Caleb's initial accident, and over the past year, I have been drawn to her blog for her wonderful way with words, and also to admire the strength that this family has had, to weather the storms thrown their way in the past year.

Now, in addition to the usual activities when I visit the Cape, I have a new one: keeping my eyes open for a possible "Potter sighting" around town. Although we have never met, I feel drawn to the strength of this family, and there was always a thought in the back of my mind: "I wonder if I'll bump into them somewhere... on the sidewalk in front of the Lighthouse, at Mac's Shack, at the library." It is always followed by another thought: "I wonder who else I am passing on these same streets that has just as much strength and just as many trials as the Potter family." It has made me curious about the lives of other people I know nothing about.

The above few paragraphs came into my head as I was taking a walk on Newcomb Hollow Beach, observing some surfers. Several times, I have seen pictures of Caleb or his brothers with their surfboards, and one thought leads to another, especially when one is walking contemplatively on a beach. Inspired, I snapped a few photos.


The moment passed, and our walk led us to an area where an old shipwreck washed ashore during a storm some months ago. Dad's Captain Morgan pose seemed appropriate for some reason.


Notice the wooden spikes. No metal screws for this ship... it makes me appreciate the age of the wood so much better.


You have to wonder why something that has been underwater for 300 years suddenly decided to float again. That must have been one heck of a storm.


How do heavy things wash up onto the beach? I have no idea.


Just a cool scene at high tide on a trail down south of Welfleet somewhere.


Last year I took all bird and flower pictures, so this year I thought I would expand my horizons a little.


I took several pictures of the grass but this is my favorite.


Sign at the beach:


Up near Providence, I'm back to non-stop pictures of flowers.


Oh the things you can find in P-town.



(BTW, Steve and my mom followed us up to the Cape a few days later- after mom took her certification exam. She will find out in a few weeks if she passed, but I have confidence in her. She's a good student! My brother stayed home... he already took a bunch of days off work for other things.)


Hey, we were in Provincetown for Pete's sake. Straight people are allowed to be a little gay if they want to.


The fog was hiding the lighthouse, Steve wanted to make sure everyone could find it.


Greedy little guy isn't he?


Meet Stumpy. A greedy chipmunk with an extra short tail.


Not Stumpy, therefore, its ok to pretend to eat him.

just stuff

I once heard it said that the problem with eating in an Italian household is that three or four days later, you are hungry again. (I have heard the same with Jewish households.)

I am tempted to say that the same goes for the barbecue on Sunday. Today (Wednesday) I felt hungry again for the first time since the barbecue. I ate on Monday and Tuesday, but simply because NOT eating makes people wonder if I am anorexic. Any time I am sick and lose my appetite, this is a fear in the back of my mind. I know I shouldn't worry about what people think of me, but the thoughts always wiggle in sometimes.

Strangely, I still sleep a lot. It is the only symptom from that little sick spell that hasn't gone away. I don't think I would say it is "fatigue" although I am not quite sure how "fatigue" is defined medically. It is more just... I get a full night's sleep and then sometime in the middle of the day or after work, I take a 2-3 hour nap. (Excluding this week when I know I will be too busy to get 8 hours of sleep at night.) Its not fatigue or complete exhaustion as much as it is simply that my body is telling me it needs to sleep (as opposed to "I need to sleep or I am going to quit on you").

And in completely random news, I was driving the other day and saw a speed limit sign advertising 9 miles an hour. I wonder what made them choose the number nine. I would appear to be... completely random.

Anyway, that is all. I will be in Cape Cod soon, so this may be the last post for a while. Sorry it is not more substantial.

My Birthday!

My birthday this year lands on an inconvenient day, so I moved it. On Sunday, we all got together for a beefless, porkless barbeque. This means we had other things. Asian chicken salad, bison burgers (they don't taste beefy at all!), orzo salad with Indo-Mediterranean influences, homegrown-salad-out-of-the-garden-not-counting-the-tomatoes (with organic influences), potato chips with American influences (starch, fried in fat then smothered in fat AKA sour cream onion dip), and grilled corn straight from India. Yep, Dhaval went there himself on Saturday and picked some up and brought it back to us.

He then grilled it like a college student would. I decided I never want to eat corn again unless it has the Indian secret ingredients.


Then we started in on dessert. Ice cream cake from Carvel, Spice Cake from Taylor, and spiced/sugared oranges from James.


Can't forget to mention the homemade cream soda from Anissa.


Always ask yourself What Wouldn't Jesus Do?


A few happy partiers.


After this we had coffee and strawberries and s'mores and ginger beer around the chimenea. I unfortunately did not snap as many pictures as I would have liked, but other people did. If they would like their photos displayed here, they can send them to me.

Modeling my new shirt from Navin.


We have decided that this is where we should have gone to summer camp when we were kids. Darn it all, it didn't exist back then.


Thats it, hope you enjoyed it!

Pretty!

So, I just wanted to share a few pretty pictures with you before I get to the other blog stuff I want to do. This was from the wedding I went to at my church on July 5th.


For the first time in about 5 years, our Easter lily decided to bloom (in July, not Easter).






Sister eating breakfast with the Easter lilies, the orange tango hibiscus, and the purple galaxy hibiscus on the far right.


Orange Tango up close.


Purple Galaxy as it is opening. Once it opened fully, it was 9 inches across. I think it grew from last year haha.

oops

"The average American woman today owns six bras, one of which is a strapless bra, and one in a colour other than white." ~Wikipedia

Heh. I'm not normal I guess.

arghh

It drives me crazy how people in the news are quoted as saying things like, "the White House has been opposing this policy for months now," and "resistance from Capital Hill has hindered the effort." The White House did nothing. Its a building. Most of the people inside the building also have no power to do anything for your policy. Stop being a wuss and name the person or people that are opposing your policy. The KGB will not make you disappear simply because you complain about a person. As messed up as this country is, we still have the freedom to say we don't like a politician's policies. Wuss.

heaven

59% dark chocolate with lavender and hints of blueberries. And completely organic.

That's all I have to say about that.

Update

So, I've been silent lately, and thought you all might want to hear from me again.

On Wednesday evening I went to see the Producers at Plays-in-the-Park. That was awesome and we ate a lot of chocolate.

On Thursday evening I was in a relatively good mood for several reasons: 1) I saw a double decker train, which I have never seen in NJ. 2) Driving, I saw a truck pulling a boat, and the boat's name was "Black Pearl." 3) Flipping through the radio stations, one talk show host wondered if there was a Ma and Pa Wawa in Mahwah. So because I was in a good mood, I went to Jujitsu, and took a fall I shouldn't have because that spinal thing is still hinting at coming back, but I was still in a good mood.

On Friday the 4th, I went to my Uncle's house and missed the parade. I had already missed the fireworks on the 3rd because of jujitsu, so I felt maybe my Independence day was incomplete. I did get my traditional strawberry shortcake, however, so that was something.

On Saturday, I went to a wedding of someone I didn't know, and skipped the reception to go to my aunt's house for a bbq. The wedding was alright. It was the first wedding held in my church in a LOOONG time, and the first after the renovation, when it actually looked like a church. I realized it does clean up pretty nice. I had always thought, "no way am I holding my wedding in a church sanctuary that was originally intended to be a basketball court." But now it might be do-able. I also appreciated that Pastor's message to the couple was pre-written. It avoids bunny trails. Unfortunately, it also makes everything he says unmemorable. And I have decided I hate that blasted candle tradition. You don't join two flames to make another flame, you join two flames and it just starts making the wick of the unity candle begin to change its carbon composition. A better example of unity would be pouring colored sands together. That is more inseparable. Or how about this? Tying a knot!! ANYWAY... the bbq contained a lot of food not intended for vegetarians, but there was this awesome orzo salad that I am going to try to make soon, without a recipe. I actually sat there and analyzed all the ingredients, and I think I might be able to make it. Later at night, we all headed out to my uncle's boat, and his neighbor's boat, and rode up to the north end of the lake and dropped anchor. What were we waiting for? The fireworks, of course! I finally felt like my holiday was complete. When they were over, all 500 boats turned around and headed back home. My uncle calls it The Flotilla. There are too many of them to go fast, so they go slowly which creates massive waves. It was hilarious trying to get off the boat onto a floating dock, in the dark.

By Monday my good mood had worn off a bit probably due to massive PMS which in a day or two ultimately led to the third worst menstruation of my life in which I wondered if perhaps I had forgotten about nine months of pregnancy and skipped right to the labor. Yep, more information than you bargained for I am sure. I went to visit Anissa Monday night and she cheered me up. I think we were both hoarse from talking for about 5 hours straight.

Today was not so bad. It was a decent day at work, and I came home and got stuff done. Oh I forgot to mention, the reason I was doing stuff today that normally my dad has been doing, is because my dad has not been home. Why? Because just before the holiday, my dad got a phone call. A bunch of people quit, can you come back and work for us? So he said yes, and started on Monday. Which means when I get home from work, I have chores again haha. But its ok. The garden has started producing lettuce, beans, and peas, the pumpkins are completely taking over, and the tomatoes are doing well and for some reason are not helter-skelter like they usually are. I am feeling pretty happy with how the garden is turning out. And also, my hibiscus plants are all in bloom, even my purple galaxy, which never bloomed once this past winter, even though the others did. I think the blossoms have gotten bigger too. When I bought it last year, there was a flower on it, and it was an average size flower. This year, the flowers are about 9 inches in diameter. I tell it how proud I am every time I walk past. Hopefully that will get it to produce even more flowers haha.

And that brings us up to date with everything. Now you don't have to wonder what is going on in my life.

Count me in.

(More Deana Carter)

Could there be a different ending
To the same old story
Cause you're not the first to say
You're gonna be there for me
I need to know what's in your heart
Can you finish what you start
How can I be sure I won't be sorry

If heartaches and tears and shadows of doubt
Are part of the deal, you can count me out
But if you're talking about a game I can win
You can count me in

Waiting

I graduated in '06 with a degree I had decided not to use. Its been two years, and I finally know what I want. But I have to wait for it. I don't know how long I will have to wait.

Patience is not something I am good at.

Things I'm tired of.

1. Christianese. South Park, sadly, has done a great job of satirizing Christian music, by having several of the characters singing about how "Jesus touched me." Its creepy and sacrilegious in the context of South Park, but if you really think about the songs you sing every Sunday, many of them make no sense whatsoever to someone outside the clique.

2. Theater. It has ruined my enjoyment of life. The video and lighting is all off at church. The speakers are too loud, and I cringe every time someone at church gets the microphone, because I know they are going to pronounce "s" wrong. The s is really what bothers me. The lights, ok it would be nice to have nice ones that aren't clipped onto the basketball hoop. But that's not too big a deal, because the basketball hoop works, and our youth group doesn't use it. But if your s is not pronounced behind your teeth, if it ends up being pronounced more toward the top curve of your palate, its going to make a noise the microphone is not equipped to handle. And that last sentence, is why I hate theater. I should not be thinking about crap like that.

3. Sermons disguised as prayers. "Dear God, we thank you for this day and the opportunity to come before you in prayer. We thank you that *commence story from the speaker's life, then an explanation of the story's relevance, then a parallel connection that allows all listeners to relate* Amen." If you are going to talk to me, talk to me, in sermon form. If you are going to talk to God, does it make sense to preach at him? If you are that uncertain about your abilities to give an edifying, encouraging message to someone, simply because you are not the pastor, then perhaps you should not be speaking. If you have doubts about yourself and what you are saying, don't speak until you are sure, don't just disguise it as a prayer and hope someone gets the message.

4. People who confuse their syllables. Mr. President, "nuclear" is not pronounced "nuke-you-lar." And Mr. F, there is no possible way I can be an "intrigal" part of that effort.

5. Pet names for significant others that involve the word "poo." I don't think that one needs any explanation.

Ticks

Ticks are freaky sadist creeps in the bedroom.

Did you know that ticks reproduce by way of oral sex and harpoons?

That would explain why the bacteria causing Lyme disease is related to syphilis.

Its a strange feeling...

...waking up one morning and discovering your priorities have shifted. Discovering which people could walk out of your life tomorrow without hurting you a bit.

Yes, I'm having one of those down-for-no-reason days. The chocolate isn't helping. It tastes like honey and it shouldn't.

New Medical Breakthrough!

Things they have discovered about kissing, taken from a friend's blog:

Disclaimer: I have not checked this out on snopes.com or anywhere else for accuracy, but in the interest of science, I would be willing to conduct a test of my own.

1. Those who kiss their partner goodbye each morning live five years longer than those who don’t.

2. Kissing is great for self-esteem. It makes you feel appreciated and helps your state of mind.

3. Kissing burns calories, 2-3 calories a minute and can double your metabolic rate. Research claims that three passionate kisses a day (at least lasting 20 seconds each) will cause you to loose an entire extra pound! It’s time to start that kissing diet!

4. Kissing is a known stress-reliever. Passionate kissing relieves tension, reduces negative energy and produces a sense of well being, lowering your cortisol ‘stress’ hormone.

5. Kissing uses 30 facial muscles and it helps keep the facial muscles tight, preventing baggy cheeks! The tension in the muscles caused by a passionate kiss helps smooth the skin and increases the circulation.

6. Kissing is good for the heart, as it creates an adrenaline which causes your heart to pump more blood around your body. Frequent kissing has scientifically been proven to stabilize cardiovascular activity, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol.

7. Those who kiss quite frequently are less likely to suffer from stomach, bladder and blood infections.

8. During a kiss, natural antibiotics are secreted in the saliva. Also, the saliva contains a type of anesthetic that helps relieve pain.

9. Kissing reduces anxiety and stops the ‘noise’ in your mind. It increases the levels of oxytocin, an extremely calming hormone that produces a feeling of peace.

10. The endorphins produced by kissing are 200 times more powerful than morphine.

Why I don't go to the doctor.

Ok so everything started on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I still went to work. Thursday night I went to jujitsu but it was too painful to work out. I taught newbies. My fever would come and go, meaning more than just fever, I am having trouble maintaining one of my favorite high school biology terms: homeostasis. On Saturday at work, I could barely turn my head or stand up, but I was working with the owner's wife, a mom, who did a quick review and said, "You're leaving early, and you should go to the doctor." Steve gave me a back and neck massage which loosened things up a little, but I was still miserable enough to take a half-dose of aspirin (so like me, I hate meds haha). Here's the conversation I had with mom:

Mom: How are you feeling?
Me: A little better now that I took an aspirin.
Mom: Wow, thats not like you.
Me: Yeah, I was wondering if you could make a doctor's appointment for me on Monday.
Mom: Who are you and where's my daughter?

In addition to all this, I had pain in my right side that has since left so its not appendicitis. Probably just anxiety from everything else going on. There was also The Rash. The Rash was located along my underwear line, and due to its proximity to certain body parts, it was sort of D-shaped, but if it was on plain, uninterrupted skin, it would probably be a nice round circle.

So, when I went to the doctor today, I mentioned all this. First to the nurse, then to the med student trailing the doctor, then to the doctor herself. I have to say, I am not cutting the doctor down. I really liked her, and for some reason I feel better about having Indian doctors. My pediatricians were Indian too, and mom always said I loved them. My doctor herself was great. Its western medicine I don't like, coupled with a fear of getting sued that causes doctors not to actually diagnose you with anything.

She did a completely pointless test of my strength in which she applied no pressure to my arms and legs and told me to resist. Then she wanted to see how much my joints hurt but because I had taken an aspirin just to get myself out of bed, I was slightly more mobile, although I did tell her it was late at night when the pain reaches a ten on the scale.

After that she looked at The Rash and then in my ears and throat. She concluded that the one thing I didn't mention to her as a symptom (pain due to slight swelling behind my eardrum) was what was causing my fever and joint pain. (Sorry honey, I've had ear infections at least 3 times a year for the first 15 years of my life, no fever causes this much pain in your joints, especially not a "slight" infection.) And The Rash? I've been jogging at night, so perhaps being sweaty caused a fungal rash, since its right on my underwear line. (I've had a fungal rash as well; it itches and burns and feels nothing like This Rash, which happens to feel like nothing.)

So, when she found out I live in Hicksville, spend time in a garden a lot, jog at night on a street with no sidewalks and frequent exposure to bushes, and sleep with a cat who can't sleep alone ever since he was stuck in a tree for 72 hours, she didn't think "gee I wonder if this girl had a tick bite somewhere near that rash" she thought, "There must be an infection AND a fungus that both occurred in a timeframe that would cause symptoms to appear on the same night."

As an afterthought, she ordered a blood test to check for Lyme and "other stuff" not telling me what "other stuff" but since I am mostly worried its Lyme disease I don't really care what the "other stuff" is since the very very basic insurance company my family uses covers blood tests and doctor's visits.

Anyway, I'm now on antibiotics for my ear infection which I don't have, but since Lyme is also treated with antibiotics, I decided to actually get that prescription filled. She also prescribed a glorified aspirin so that instead of taking an aspirin every 4-6 hours, I only have to take this twice a day, although like the aspirin, it doesn't completely numb the pain. Oh yeah, and cream for my "fungal rash" hahaha...

Seriously, I thought about putting tea tree oil on my "rash," getting willow bark extract for the pain, and boosting my immune system with ginger, garlic, sage, and echinacea. But I have to go back to her in a week, so I can't just say "I didn't do what you said" because then if AM still sick, she'd say, "That's why you're still sick." So I'll give her a chance.

Hopefully by the time I'm ready to have kids the insurance companies will start accepting alternative medicine practitioners. I can't deal with western doctors all the time and I would not be able to handle the looks from other parents when I don't take them to the doctor for every sniffle.

Ways to know you're sick...

...without medical symptoms like headache, fever, sore throat, runny nose.

1. You feel sick, even if you have nothing physically wrong with you.
2. You sleep 8 hours a night and take a two hour nap at 6 pm.
3. You take no pride in ambition or a productive day.
4. You cry at all the songs on the radio, even the ones you hate.
5. You can't seem to talk about anything passionately without your eyes watering.
6. Your pain receptors are going off somewhere in your body but your brain can't seem to figure out where the pain is.
7. You crave chicken noodle soup.
8. You sleep under a heavy down comforter in June.
9. You can't seem to catch your breath except that you are not breathing heavily and your heart is not pounding.
10. You walk around with a funny floating sensation.

Finally! The pre-symptoms started on Sunday, but today I took a nap and now I have real symptoms: joint pain, headache, stuffy nose, and a fever of 97.9 F. Yes I know that's below the average human temperature but MY average temperature is 96.8 which puts me .11 degrees higher than normal- FEVER.

Unfortunately, due to a wedding in Pennsylvania, we are going to be understaffed, so I have to at least go open the store tomorrow. I hope my head doesn't explode.

WOW

Its a video containing ALL of the Spanish vocabulary words I still can remember.

Lessons from a psychic detective.

I've been watching the TV show Psych lately. Its hilarious. I love the funny lines and banter, as well as the speed of the conversations. I think that Gilmore Girls set the pace a few years back, and subsequent TV shows like Scrubs and Psych followed suit. It seems like shows are so much better when you are start laughing at a joke made two sentences ago and then you keep laughing for another two more sentences. I guess maybe it keeps the mind a little more engaged that way.

Anyway, this is a new quote I liked:

"Want some dating advice? Treat a woman like a person. Then you treat her like a princess, then a Greek goddess, THEN- you treat her like a person again."

I have to admit it has an intriguing ring to it. But even though I am female... I'm still not quite sure I know what was meant, or whether or not I agree. Well, if I don't know what is meant, I CAN'T agree yet right?

ouch

I just flayed my thumb and rubbed dirt into it. Oops.

Hillsong United music

A thousand times I’ve failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
I’m caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself <--- sutemi!
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

Yesterday I read that when you start to worry it means God is no longer top priority in your life. Reading that passage made me think about other things besides worry that take the number one place in a person's life. The important stuff happens inside but you can't really tell what's happening by looking inside, you can only tell by what shows up outside. I started thinking about myself... you can tell what kind of tree I am by what kind of fruit I am bearing right?

What kind of fruit am I bearing?