Miracle of the Applesauce

Ellen and I decided to make applesauce...lots of it. So last night we ran in to town and bought 60 one quart canning jars and today we started the process. We got four large boxes of apples from the campus fruit barn and set about canning.  For those who know about making applesauce...well it's not necessary for me to explain all the steps; and for those who don't...I'm not going to take the time, but know--it is a bit of a process! About halfway through we wondered if we should get more apples, but I was too lazy and told Ellen we should just keep going with what we had. But towards the end, it seemed now we wouldn't have enough jars and I began wondering where we could get more jars from. As I worked on funneling the remains of the last pan of applesauce into the last 4 jars, I tried to estimate how this would end - I'd either have too few, or too many jars. But as I cleaned out the final pan with a spatula and and directed the last few drops of applesauce into the very last jar, it was filled perfectly. And by perfectly, I mean perfectly - not a drop too much, and not a drop too little. I mean seriously, what are the chances that we randomly got exactly the precise amount of apples to exactly fill the 60 jars we had?
Mind blown.

Guest Room Embarrassment

Yesterday evening I hurried through the cafeteria when I came upon a distraught Bethany (guest room manager), “The guests who were staying in guest room #6 that left for a few days ago are returning tonight, and I heard that the maintenance crew were in their room working and it might be a mess. I've been trying to get a hold of my mother to ask her to check, but I can’t find her and I have to run to orchestra practice right now!”  
“Don’t worry,” I soothed, “I’ll go check out the room and make sure it's okay.” Hopping on my dirt bike I navigate down the dark road without a headlight towards the guest rooms. Pulling right up in front of the door to guest room #6, I jumped off my bike and yanked the door open. Imagine my surprise and horror to find a woman standing there in the room staring back at me; her husband was lying in the bed. In shock I just quickly shut the door. Apparently the guests had returned earlier than expected. But then I stood outside the closed door thinking they were probably wondering what I had been doing. I'd better tell them I decided. But in my flustered state, instead of knocking first, I just opened the door right up again. Apologetically I explained the situation to the nice lady and tried to make a hasty departure. But then my dirt bike was having trouble starting, it was too cold for it, and I’m sure they could hear me trying over and over to start it. Finally with a sigh of relief I made my escape.

Night Fright

I hurried into my room last night to grab a jacket, my roommate Ellen was sleeping, so leaving the lights off I tried to navigate from the very dim light filtering in from the doorway. Noticing that there was tons of stuff on my bed I began quickly grabbing everything; clothes, bags, winter gear, purse, everything, regardless of what it was, and throwing it on the floor. All of a sudden my hand closed around something.....

 ...alive! It was squishy, warm and furry. Screaming in terror I leapt back. The neighbor's cat, unhappy with my loud outburst jumped off my bed in quick escape, first trying the closet, but then headed out the door. After awhile my heart finally slowed down its beating.

Nicaragua: Granada Bull Run

At the end of our Maranatha Nicaragua trip we had a day in the city of Granada to do some activities/sightseeing. In the morning I went zip lining and our guide told us that the yearly bull run celebration was that same day. We decided that it would be a great cultural experience to check it out and maybe even participate. I did not know what I was getting myself into. So later on that afternoon we headed out walking from our hotel towards the area where the bull run would be held. In a whole section of the city, bulls would be let out to roam the streets chasing and goring those dumb enough to get too close. The farther we walked the more and more crowded the streets became.  Every street edge and door way and window and wall and park area were jammed with spectators.

Ellen and a couple others from our group climbed up on tall wall on the street's edge, but there was no room there for Alex(andra), Dave and I and the others so we continued on walking down the street. All of a sudden everyone starting running around us, but as I made a start to run too, everything stopped.

Birdy Poo

Poop isn't very endearing right? Well that's what I thought. As as kid I decided the word "poop" was a disgusting word and I didn't like saying it, hearing it, or anything. So (many years later) when my friend Emma nicknamed me "poop" I was surprised that I found it to be affectionate rather than distasteful.

Now some of my friends and I fondly suffix "poo" to other's names - Alexpoo, Daviepoo, Elliepoo, Lissypoo, Emmapoo. Well you get the point.  Although some people don't seem to appreciate the loving use of the "poo" suffix in public. Maybe I've been wrong in my thinking and it's actually spelled pooh as in Pooh Bear and not "poo" at all. Daviepooh, Hansiepooh, Alexpooh: hmm nope, it's definitely not with an "h". It's all about the poo.

Speaking of poo, or poop rather, I wonder how many people have had the unfortunate event of being pooped upon by a bird. And I'm not talking about people who own birds.

it's all in the WINK

I like winking.

I know, I know, that sounds a little weird maybe, even to me! But it's true.
I wink at people (girls mostly) to say hello without saying hello, I think it's like a silent acknowledgement. Or say I'm across the room from my best friend Ellen and I catch her eye. Maybe we are sitting in a boring meeting, maybe she's in the middle of talking to someone "interesting," maybe I'm walking by and don't have time to talk. I wink at her and it's like the two of us are sharing something that no one else is a part. It's like we shared a silent secret. I could be saying "this meeting is so boring and I get that you are bored too" or I might be hinting mischievously "sooooo who is this that you are talking to??" Or it can just be a way to let her know I'm thinking about her at the moment when I can't or don't have time to talk.

So maybe I am reading a little too much into a wink. Maybe this is how I see things, but other people don't see a wink this way. I've never even bothered asking others. So today I did a bit of investigation. I asked some people what they felt like when someone winked at them. Most of the reactions I got were just from the question itself.

Fueling 2011

2011....what was so interesting about 2011? What do you remember the most from 2011?

As I think about this question right now, strangely the events that stick out to me right now from this year involve (almost) running out of gasoline. Now I've been driving for almost 6 years now and I had never come close to running out of fuel on a trip, until this year when it happened 3 times! Either I've become less responsible, or less aware of the gas meter, or something! Though I have to say it's really not all my fault....

It all started in April when my friend Ellen and I were driving to Edmonton.