finding humor in the little things

"Oh...Lord...My...God!"
The Sunday after I got home, a group from my church went to a nursing home to sing for one of our church members. One of the residents gushed over "How Great Thou Art" and insisted on leading it for us a second time. She stood in front of us and made dramatic hand motions. "Oh...Lord...my...God!" she began slowly, almost intolerably low. We joined her, soprano voices brushing the bass section. After the singing, Bev, Bradley, and I went to visit another lady in the home, only to find that her roommate was the energetic song leader. The song leader shamelessly eavesdropped on our conversation and inserted her opinion: "God and Jesus are good, both of them!" And then pointing to a painting of Jesus on her wall she exclaimed, "And good-looking too!"

Shopping Trip
When my Eberly cousins were out for a visit, we girls went shopping. Our first stop was to drop off a rented jackhammer. We had visions of all six of us hauling it out of the back of the van and into the rental agency. Instead, one nice man came to rescue us and carried it off by himself. In the same shopping trip we also hit Farm&Fleet, Menards, and Advance Auto Parts. The guys were impressed.

Cookies
You may think that since I made cookies at least once a week in Mexico, I'd be pretty good at making them now. But alas. I made my favorite recipe of chocolate chip cookies, but instead of turning out deliciously chocolaty, this is what happened. First, I broke the mixer. I'm not used to using mixers anymore, and I stuck the wooden spoon a little too close to the beaters. Good news: the wooden spoon is fine. After I stuck the first tray in the oven, I realized I'd forgotten an entire bag of chocolate chips! Then the cookies turned out dreadfully flat. The first batch actually dripped off the pan and onto the bottom of the oven where they burned. Speaking of burnt... Just kidding, that's the one thing I managed NOT to do!

Torpedoes
I've become more sensitive to how badly most people in America pronounce Spanish words. Soon after I got home, I went out with some friends to a Mexican restaurant to eat what Davis called "torpedoes" (tortillas). At Taco Bell with my mom another day, the cashier confirmed my mom's order as a "gor-diht-uh" (gordita). Cringe!

Asta the snoring dog
I went with Janelle to babysit a little boy named Andrew. Because of his health problems, I wanted to get some "training" before I went by myself. Janelle had warned me about Asta, the family dog. I got to know the pooch fairly well on the first day. Unfortunately, she didn't sense my disdain of dogs, and she loved me. She ignored Janelle and cast adoring eyes on me wherever I went. She stood and quivered almost all day because she was so excited or nervous or...something. She watched us during lunch, waiting for us to accidentally drop particles of food for her to slurp up. She finally laid down for a nap in the afternoon and lo and behold, she began to SNORE! It startled me until I realized it was only the sleepy canine on the floor by my feet. Dogs should not snore!

Janelle scares Asta
Speaking of Asta, on my second day of "training", Janelle was on the floor changing Andrew's diaper and telling me about how she'd made Asta angry one time. At the end of her story, she imitated Asta's nasty response: *SNARL *BARK *GROWL! Asta, who was sitting right beside her, suddenly leaned back and flattened her ears against her head in fright. I burst out laughing and Asta didn't look too pleased that her new hero was finding humor at her expense.

Crazy Youth
What do Josh the quilting bee leader, Andy the tooth fairy, and Arlene the porta-potty attendant have in common? Play strange games with my youth group and find out!

Pickles
My grandma has been known for trying some unconventional cooking. One day, I walked over to my grandparents' house to visit. She had a kettle of cucumbers merrily boiling in pickle juice on the stove. Chuckling inwardly, I made a mental note to tell my mom about this latest experiment. But when I got home and told my amusing story, mom said, "I did that!" And I was humbled to realize that my mom was the one who had given Grandma the idea!

Scary gun explosion
I was lounging on the couch, reading my book. The character in the book could feel unseen eyes watching him as he crept around the house in the dark. Suddenly, explosions ripped through the air, scaring me senseless. I looked up to see my cousin Justin towering in the doorway with a toy ball gun aimed at his brother. He'd been firing right beside my head...slightly unnerving in the thick of a scary plot!

Exciting side note!!! I made flour tortillas on Thursday night for the first time since I've been home (and the first time by myself EVER) and they turned out remarkably Mexican-like. There might be a reason Ana called me a "chicana"!

Another side note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANESSA!!! I hope you know that I did this just for you!