The trip was wonderful!!!!  It was great to spend time together as a family, in such a beautiful place.  I feel grateful and blessed...

 

 

 

 

The Oaks outside our window are turning color.

 

We leave in the morning for California.

 

Bible study was really convicting this morning.

 

I'm co-writing a worship song that is up-tempo,  (big stretch for me) and I actually really like it.

 

Comfortable pants.

 

Cold pizza.

 

My next blog will either be from Cali, or when I get home.  ttfn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like going through automatic car washes.  My girls hated it when they were little.  I used to have to unbuckle their carseats, and put them on my lap when we went through, otherwise they would scream and cry the entire time.   For me though, there's something satisfying about watching all those giant rotating rags and brushes scrub my car.  It's a germaphobe's paradise, almost a theme park thrill ride for those who hate dirt....an insider's view of all the scrubbing and cleaning... on a giNORmous scale.  I even like the sounds, and the darkness of it. 

 

I also like mri machines, though.    I've had four mri's in my life, and I've fallen asleep during three of them.  I have wondered at times if a car wash took longer, whether or not I might fall asleep during one of them.

 

Today, I took the car through the wash.  We were riding along merrily to the part where the giant strings of cloth descend and then procede to shimmy across the top of the car.  Just as the cloth hit the windshield, and I was ensconced in darkness, the entire carwash stopped. 

 

 

There I sat.  It was totally silent, and pretty much totally dark.  There were brushes close to me on the side, and I was covered from the top.  After a few minutes, I started to wonder if I should figure out a way to get out.  Knowing my luck, just as I crawled out the back hatch, the car wash would have started up again, and I would have had to make a run for it.  People vacuuming their cars on the outside (with the vacuums from sheol...remember my post from THAT experience)  would have been shrieking "Gladys...what is that monstrous sudsy thing coming out of the carwash?"

 

So, instead, I dialed a friend to tell her of my dilemma.  Just as she answered, the carwash started up again.  No drama, no thrill, no nap.  All that resulted from the adventure was a clean car, a funny conversation with my friend,

 

and fodder for a blog entry.

 

Mario Kart is a blast.  I'm sitting here watching my husband hit penguins on the ice track.  I just sped through the mall, jumping fountains and going up the down escalator on a motorcycle. 

 

Who needs a mid life crisis when there's Mario Kart?

I'm not going to get all political.  If I did, I wouldn't blame any of you for thinking a guest blogger had shown up on the blog.

 

But I just have to say this:

 

For the first time this year, I'm excited to vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a disease.  It's called MarioKartitis.  The only cure is to break the television, or the Wii.  Looks like I'll have it forever.  *sigh*

We are a family who loves words.   My aunt Jo emailed me today to respond to my rapscallion entry.  Here's what she said:

 

 

From Dictionary.com:  RAPSCALLION:  a rascal.  a rogue.  a scamp.

We recorded the vocals for HP's second project last weekend.  It was a blast.  The folks at Highland Park can SANG.  They threw down, in a big way.  There were some last minute changes which added some sparkle and wow to songs, and then there was much fruit from the hours that the HPians had spent planning and arranging and practicing.  I'm very grateful that I get to be a part of this project.  Recording is a wonderful, magical, inspiring process, and I feel very very thankful to God for the events of the past four days.