Being Aunt Holly

This is by far one of my favorite jobs that I get to do the least amount of time in a given year. I arrived here yesterday and am staying through Sunday. I wish I had paper and pencil with me wherever I go with these kids simply to write down some of the things they say and do. I see so much of Tim and Procita traits in them. As always though, I'm floored by their honesty and innocence. This was one of our first adventures with me alone with the kids overnight on their turf. We built a HUGE fort in Zeke's room and have played countless hours of Army (shoot each other with Nerf Dart Guns and throw ball/bombs at each other). Jasmine's job was to protect Bear (Zeke's bear that he's had since birth). We watched the movie Enchanted and played again some of our favorite parts. We also watched some of the bonus features too to put off going to bed.

We've had some interesting meals while we've been here. Last night Jenn had put a pot roast with carrots and potatoes in the crock pot for us. When the timer finally went off we were all STARVED for dinner. Jasmine proceeded to inform me that they needed "something else" to go with dinner. I told her we had enough. I was then informed that she was "GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH!" Being the mean aunt, I said fine and put her plate at her seat while she went off to cry and starve. She came back and when I offered bread and butter all was right in the world and no one was going to starve. Breakfast was uneventful simply because we all had our own cereals. I tried Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp this morning and would recommend it.

Lunch deserves it own paragraph simply because of the conversation that we had. The kids are finally old enough (well Zeke is) to put together that Tim and I are brother and sister. I spent some time telling some stories about when we were little kids like them. The other line of conversation came out of nowhere but will stick with me for awhile. Zeke looks at me and says "Aunt Holly, I'm glad you're not married." My response was "OK?" (I knew there had to be more to this comment or at least I was hoping so!) He then proceeded to tell me that all of his aunts and uncles have made him get all dressed up for their weddings. He's had to carry a pillow with rings on it for EVERY ONE of them. I asked him if he doesn't want to be in mine when I get married. He said he would do it for me and of course Jasmine wanted to know her part too. We talked about Joe and April's wedding because they were both pretty young and didn't remember too much. I told Zeke about how he laid down on the alter with his ring pillow during the ceremony. I told Jasmine about how she crunched her lollipop for the whole church to hear during the ceremony. Somehow in the conversation I told Zeke about how he had fake rings on the pillow and that someone else has the real rings. His response to this was "Then that makes it even more stupid for me to have to dress up to carry fake rings!" So wise at his young age...

One more favorite of the day and then I'm off to fall asleep to March Madness. Jasmine and I spent over an hour reading together this afternoon. Zeke took time out of his busy schedule to read to us too. He made it through about half a book before I took over. I got to read some of my favorites from my childhood. First grandkids get first dibs on the old toys and books of the siblings! I'm having a great time being Aunt Holly. I have pictures of the kids and our fort but don't have my camera's computer cable here. I'll get those posted soon! I hope you're having a great day!

Another Great Sign

So I was in Burger King this time and yes I was again in the bathroom. I was somewhere in Virginia about an hour south of Tim's house. The hand dryer of all places provided today's laugh. As you probably know, the hand dryers have instructions on them. This particular model had the following instructions:

1. Press and RELEASE button (like I was going to hold it the entire time)
2. Shake excess water from your hands (I've never understood why you do this because isn't that essentially drying it before you even touch the hot air)
3. Lightly and rapidly rub your hands together (have yet to figure the correct combination of the two to work most effectively)
4. This is the best one: Turn Nozzle upwards to dry hair!!! (you know we all need to dry our hair after using the restroom at Burger King)

Needless to say I've greatly enjoyed my adventures thus far this spring break. Simple things can keep even the best of us entertained at moments. Let me know if you encounter any fun signs in your neck of the woods or travels!

Great Sign

I was on a quest this afternoon to find some Diet Cheerwine to deliver to my sister-in-law tomorrow. It is an unspoken rule that if you visit West Virginia, you are required to bring some Diet Cheerwine to Jenn. I stopped at several of the littler stores on my way home. Once you pass a certain point on Hwy. 70 your store choices are very slim. I was in Big Lots when I spotted this great sign. I had just finished a late lunch/early dinner where I drank 5 glasses of water (my eye doctor told me my eyes looked dry and I needed to drink more water). My bladder was ready for me to release the pressure! I thought I could make it home, but the stores were not producing the Diet Cheerwine that I needed. I sucked it up and decided to try out the bathroom at Big Lots. It was an adventure to say the least! A one-seater bathroom where the door stuck as you opened and closed it! It wasn't the cleanest looking place but upon examination it was rather clean. As I went to scald my hands to rid them of the germs, I noticed a sign behind the toilet. It said "Please Do Not Take the Toilet Seat." I cracked up. I reached into my pocket to find my phone so I could take a picture and darn it if I hadn't left in the car! They have obviously had issues with people stealing the toilet seat in the woman's restroom. Sorry I don't have a picture but I'm sure you can recreate one similar on your own!

My Idiosyncracies

So I've been "tagged" by two different people to post this topic. One of my biggest is the fact that I over analyze and think most things so I've put this off for awhile now. Here are four of my "weirdness" (similar to my blueness and brrness):

1. Any time I'm driving I'm usually doing some sort of math in my head. I'm calculating mileage. I'm estimating how long it'll be before I arrive at my destination. I'm competing with my clock - daring it to be wrong when I pull into my driveway. I'm calculating the gas mileage I'm getting or how many miles before I exit a state. The only time I'm not doing this is if I'm on the phone or talking to someone riding with me. That doesn't happen as much as it used to so I'm doing math while I'm driving.
2. I almost despise vegetables. My favorite vegetable is corn, which technically is a starch. My two best friends are vegetable fiends so it makes for interesting choices when we eat out or cook for each other. I don't eat much that is green. You can boil it, steam it, or offer it raw and I most likely will not eat it. If you bury the taste of it in ranch or peanut butter, I might attempt it. Yes, thanks to these two, I have tried most of them and still don't like them!
3. I have to read before I go to bed or it takes me forever to fall asleep. I can go to bed at 2:00 AM but still have to read at least a few pages before I go to sleep. Most weekends I will read until I go cross-eyed before I put it down. The really good books keep me up until the early morning hours - no matter how many times I've read the book. Yes, I still sleep with a teddy bear too.
4. This last one has come back to "bite" me on a few occasions. I have a no yelling policy as a coach. I will yell to get attention but will almost always talk to my players and explain to them how to fix it. I may raise my voice to make a point during practice but do not yell at my athletes. Coaching girls and yelling doesn't mix in my opinion. Some people have told me that I need to get meaner, but I've been pretty successful with the way I do things so I'll keep my weirdness. The girls respect me more and once they get used to my way of doing things we are very successful together.

So there are a few of my weird traits that came to mind. I'm sure there are many more, but that's my list and I'm sticking to it. I'd tag someone else to do this on their blog but no one else reads this blog to tag.

Late List

All the things I've wanted to post about the past week or so:

1. Happy Pi Day! 3-14 was national Pi Day. If you're not a math nerd, then you probably didn't celebrate this holiday. I did take pictures, just haven't had the chance to post them yet. I sent home a note to our parents asking for 15-20 pies to be donated for our events of the day. I ended up with 41 PIES! I'm not sure if I want to see a pie before next Pi Day! I convinced my entire team to participate in Pi Day and the kids seemed to enjoy it.
2. I spent last weekend in Asheville with Rena. It was great meeting her community of friends. It was great to see the Easter drama at West Asheville. It always moves me to tears and this year was no different. They "rock" out the last song too. I said to Rena afterwards "Not bad for a mostly white, Baptist church." I also had the opportunity to meet Rena's single guy friend, Adam. He and I have similar sense of humors and I had a good time getting to know him. I'm not sure if it was intentional for he and I to be the only single people or not. I also got wonderful hugs from Tony and Tammy. Tony told me that God was telling me to come home to West Asheville. Man, I love that church! It was a great weekend and much needed after some of the other events of that week.
3. Stephanie went to the middle school conference and had an encounter with a couple of my "boys" from Kings Mountain. She didn't realize it until after the session - which is probably pretty good for me. Who knows what kind of stories they may have told her!? She did agree with me that they are very good looking men! We might just have to invite them up to Lincolnton to help us implement the things they talked about in their session.
4. I've spent quite a bit of time being a psychologist in the past couple of weeks. I've been reading many books and trying to educate myself in several situations that my "counselees" are going through. The small taste of it makes me want to do it full time but then I have my REALLY loving teaching moments as well. I think I'll keep educating myself and see if I want school down the road.
5. I'm reading this amazing book called "The Shack" that I want all of you to read! It brings me great joy as a book and great conviction as a Christian. I'm going to do a post on some of the quotes from it later in the week.
6. We've had quite a few meetings at church this week. I feel that God is working through some of the challenges of our youth group. We're starting to come together and some of the tension is fading. We had a parent meeting this week as well that cleared the air for several people. The church as a whole makes my heart sad. I feel that we're too busy trying to implement programs and losing sight of the basics of the faith - prayer, Bible reading, evangelism...after being at West Asheville and coming back to Mountain View last Sunday moved me to tears - literally. To go from a very alive church to one that has so much underlying tension was enough to make me cry in my pew during prayer time. Pray for my church or for me to possibly find another church if that how God leads.
7. March Madness! I love this time of the year when I can watch basketball games from noon until after midnight if I so choose. The players are playing at a higher level too. They understand what Jimmy V used to say "Survive and move one." Everyone is fighting to keep their season alive for another day or week. Sadly my Blue Devils bowed out early again this year, but at least I won't have to go to school to hear about it next week. I love this time of year. I love yelling at players I didn't know existed to hang on for their last games. I love cheering against anyone who is playing Carolina. I love watching March Madness on TV!
8. My last entry - SPRING BREAK! I am spending Easter weekend here at Mom and Dad's house. I'll spend the early part of the week at home doing all the "normal" spring break things - dentist, doctor, eye doctor, oil change, etc. I'm not sure if I'll get my hair appointment in, but that can wait (just need to cover the gray). I'm hoping to catch up with a few friends in those few days I am home. The second half of the week I get to be Aunt Holly in Martinsburg. I'm going to baby-sit for a night and a day. Then I'm going to stay for a few days to visit and spend some time with Tim and family. I'm looking forward to it. I talked to Zeke and Jasmine on the phone the other night and was informed of everything I had to do with them when I get there. I love being Aunt Holly!

There are my entries of the past two weeks. I'm hoping to order a new computer soon and possibly get a higher speed Internet connection in the next few weeks. I'll definitely post more if these two things happen. I miss most of you reading this and would love to hear from you this week if you've got time! In case I don't get to post tomorrow, HAPPY EASTER!

Bah on Spring Ahead

I don't like Daylight Savings Time. What do I need to save daylight for? It's doubly challenging this year because it's fallen BEFORE spring break. I don't know if this is a regular occurrence or not, but I don't like it! It's now 10:13 PM and my body still thinks it is 9:13 PM. I won't need to go to bed for another hour or more. When I get up in the morning, my body thinks it is somewhere between 4:30 and 5:00. It's screaming at me "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!"

This time of year at school is insane as well. I feel as if I might commit murder before Spring Break starts next Friday. I've been working hard since Christmas. The only day I've had off was a sick day (when I was supposed to go to Kentucky and the day after I quit the Hammers). I almost got a day off last week because I was AGAIN supposed to go to Kentucky but they got SEVERAL inches of snow when I was supposed to be traveling. I love my Honda but it doesn't do snow very well. It doesn't mind sitting in my driveway with snow on it, but does not like driving in it. So we're counting down the days until Spring Break. I have no definite plans at the moment, but have a few potential things in the mix. But I need to try to go trick my body into thinking it's bed time. I hope you're adjusting better than I am!