Why, Briony, Why?

Okay so this game is somewhat self -indulgent, but then again so is the entire blogging concept, so whatever, Colleen "tagged" me on her blog, so here goes:

Here's the game, I tell you 6 "unspectacular quirks" of mine, then I mention 6 people and they have to list their quirks on their blog.

1. I subconsciously say hmm all the time, after like every sentence, and even more so when I'm in an emotional situation.  For example if I'm uncomfortable and haven't met someone before, I'll be like hmm, "SO blah, blah, blah, blah, hmmm" and when I'm really mad, Dan says I'll just sit there and be like, "hmm, hmm, hmm" It's weird, I don't know why I do it, and my students have actually counted how many times I do it in a class period, and it's a lot.  

2. I don't really like small children, yet I have 4.

3. I need a LOT of SPACE.  I'm not a hugger, I'm not touchy, and I stand like 6 feet away from the person next in line at the bank.

4.  I'm a nervous talker, can't handle silence in a group of people, and will start running my mouth to keep conversation moving.  Real life example: While taking my driving test at the DMV, I didn't realize it's common for the tester person not to say much, so I talked to her the whole time, "Sorry, I started out the test kind of shaky, I was just really nervous, hmm, I've relaxed a little now, hmm, and feel better, bet you're used to people being nervous, right?  Hmm.  Do you get nervous with all these new drivers?"  That's when she said, "Not usually, but I feel nervous with you."  Needless to say, I failed that time.

5. I'm an obsessive planner.  I usually know what the kids are wearing for Halloween in July.  I schedule the Christmas card photo the 1st of November.  I can't help myself.  But did you see the movie Bella, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

6. Lastly, I can become extremely obsessed with characters in books, TV shows, movies, etc.  For example, when I started watching Gilmore Girls (which was the best TV show writing ever, so witty, so funny, so moving) I had to watch all 7 seasons and I literally would dream about the characters.  I LOVED Luke and Lorelei (and I never saw the show until after my Lorelei was born, so it's just coincidence about the name)  When I was in high school, it only took me a week to read Gone with the Wind which is 1000 pgs. becuz I was consumed by Scarlet and Rhett.  And just to explain the title of my post, on Friday night, I watched Atonement, and I still haven't recovered.  Dan kept asking me what was wrong the next day, and I kept saying, "Why did she do it?  Why, Briony, why?"  I literally felt sick about it.  It was awesome.

So what about all of you quirky folks?  I know you're quirky if you're reading my blog.

I'd like to hear from Jen Oswald, Sam Neylan, Kat Hervey, Kelly Keller, Sara Garate (did you do this already?)  and Amy Sherman (she wrote the Gilmore Girls).

*Note: If you are sensitive about rated R type movies, don't see the movie Atonement, if you like beautiful cinematography, a tragic and depressing storyline, and James McAvoy's haunting, British babeness (and I'm not usually into pale guys),  it's a must see.

7 Degrees to Sam Neylan's Blog

Okay, so at my church, there's a woman named Darla Maciel and she is like the Kevin Bacon of our area.  She's the type of person that makes friends at the super market when she's in line.  Therefore, she knows everyone, and is always willing to help connect you with a person that she's met that can fix your a.c, tutor your kids, or specializes in tile installation.  I'm amazed by this type of gregarious personality.

Well, I'm pretty sure that Sam Neylan is the Kevin Bacon of Master's College alumni.  My guess is that if you went to Masters sometime between the years of '95 and '03 or so, you've met her, or you know someone that's met her.  So recently I was reading her blog (which is like the mother of all blogs) and I noticed a quick connection.   She mentioned that while in Hollywood she ran into A.J. Tigner and his wife.  I thought to myself, hmmm, small world.  His wife (Stacy) is my pastor's daughter (Rick Anderson, shout out by the way, he's amazing, listen to his sermons online via fccoxnard.org)  I never see them, but just so happens they visited the church last Sunday night and then hung out with my neighbors Kat and Chet, so we saw them when we were out in our front yard measuring and arguing and daydreaming about landscaping scenarios.  

My point is I bet if you went to Masters and you blog, you could somehow connect to someone mentioned in Sam's blog or someone that's commented on her blog within the last 30 days.  I'm just saying, if you have extra time on your hands, or like me need a quick escape from talk of gas prices and your middle child's temperament issues, then well... have at it.

I'll Keep it Short

I'll try not to bore you and I'll keep it short and share some cool things going on right now:

1.  Every day stuff: Lorelei's taking swimming lessons, and our garden is growing like crazy.  It's so fun to have veggies pulled right out of your own back yard.  I take NO credit for this, Dan's done it all, he's the man (at least that's what's he's always telling me).

2. Stuff I'm learning: I read a little pamphlet, essay type thing that's awesome, called Tyranny of the Urgent.  Here's a quote, "The worst sin is prayerlessness.  We usually think of murder, adultery or theft among the worst.  But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency- independence from God."  Whew, hard for someone who considers themselves a "self-sufficient" person to hear, but such a good reminder.  It's a quick read about priorities, everyone should check it out!

3. Weekend Events: Went to Valencia overnight this weekend and got to take the kids swimming at the Hyatt, and my beloved sister took them overnight for us at her apartment while Dan and I went to Tricia Scheffer's wedding.  Tricia was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding almost 11 & a half years ago, so I was so happy to share in her big day now and see my old wing mates, Sandra Bonecutter and Sandhya Ayres.  

Home Again, Home Again...

Gotta admit, there's nothing better than coming home and sleeping in your own bed after a week-long vacation.  We just returned from what will probably be an annual road trip to Washington to see Dan's family.  Here are some of the highlights:

1. Morgan's Birthday Party - Grandma Luci (Dan's mom) and Brazilian Tia Sussana

and cousin Gloucia did a beautiful job creating a butterfly themed first birthday for my

little Morgan Paige.  Dehydrated pineapple slices decorated the cake and looked like 

flowers (that was Leah's doing, my sister in law), hand rolled Brazilian candies, multi-

colored butterfly nets and suckers for the kids, and the prettiest butterfly things they 

made and hung from trees outside.  Awesome!

2. Sharing a house with 16 people - Okay first of all 8 of those people were under

the age of 6, secondly a lot of Portuguese was being spoken, and thirdly I crossed my 

fingers every time I opened a bedroom or a bathroom door, and hoped that somehow

I would avoid a potentially awkward situation.  But hey, it's all in the family, right?

3. Reuniting - All 6 of the Dennis & Luci Leaman offspring were together for the first time in almost 6 years.  Four brothers, two sisters, 6 spouses, and yes, 24 grand-

children.  Let's just say, it's a Latin thing. 

4. Old School Fireworks - You know how Cosby used to say "When I was a kid, I 

walked 5 miles in the snow?"  Well, when I was a kid, I watched my uncles practically

light themselves on fire in their driveways and my mom had anxiety attacks over all of

us kids playing with sparklers.  Over the past 10 years or so all the fireworks thing has

been made illegal in these here parts, but ahhh, not so in Puyallup, Washington.  My 

girls got to watch their uncles practically toast themselves and it was my turn to pray

when my girls got a hold of their first sparklers.  All hair still in tact, thank you.

5. Family - Seriously, and I'm not just kissing up because the only people that read this are my relatives, I've married in to a family full of great peeps.  They're all fun and so warm and welcoming and totally hard working servants for the Lord.  My nieces all  helped a ton with my kids.  They were all great. 

6. Two Big Announcements - Doug and Leah are now pregnant with their FIFTH baby, the first members of the family to break the 4 kids mark, we all bow down to them and pay homage to their courage (while simultaneously thinking, shwew, not us)

Also, good news, the oldest of the 24 grandkids, Beau has just gotten engaged to 

Ashley and will be finishing his senior year at Azusa next year.

7. Dan, My Hero - My husband drove 15 hours straight while we all slept and he didn't fall asleep.  Though when I heard drumming on the steering wheel, I knew it was a desperate attempt to stay awake, so I opened my eyes for a minute and said, "hey are

you awake?" He mumbled, "barely" and I fell back to sleep again.  Good times. 

All in all, it was a great trip, some tough moments with toddlers who hadn't enough nap time and were hyped up on ridiculous amounts of Otter Pops, but other than that, not too shabby.

*By the way, the picture of my sister Beth has nothing to do with my Washington trip, I just wanted everyone to check out her bicepts, because she's super ripped these days, and still single so if you know any conservative, godly men who like to work out (but in a "I'm into being healthy way", not "I'm super vain" way) and also they have to live locally because she's never allowed to move far away from me, just send them to Whole Foods, she's there a lot.