The Price Is Right

I didn't go to work today and ended up watching The Price is Right at 10 am. The thing that struck me the most was the commercials they showed. Here's the ones I remember:

* diabetes
* if you've recently had a heart attack...
* powered wheelchairs ("get back your life!")
* Liberty Medical
* Bayer Back and Body medicine
* life insurance
* do you want lower cholesterol?
* your prescription meds sent straight to your home!
* new improved denture cream

So needless to say, I felt about 40 or 50 years too young to be sitting at home watching The Price is Right.

"This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered. G'bye everybody."

*crickets*

I will be posting here soon...

And can I just say how thankful I am that the weather has cooled down?? Ahhh...it's so much better.

And I can't believe it is almost August. Where has this summer gone?

Hot hot hot

Yesterday it was 104 degrees. I was melting....melting. And I had a hard time sleeping last night because my room is on the top floor of our house and heat sure rises. Blech. So this morning I made myself leave and spend the whole day as close to the coast as I could be. Relief! It was amazing! Just by driving to the ocean, it was 20 degrees cooler. Ahhhh...very nice. Hopefully you're all staying cool in this hot weather!

Salsa dancing

Salsa is FUN! Last night I went to the Palomar ballroom with my friend, Laura, and we boogied the night away. We went early to the beginner's lesson and then danced for a couple hours after that. My favorite part was when guys would spin me around. I thought we'd just be doing basic steps but some guys are pros and loved to spin. Yeah!! It was pickin' hot in that dance room though. Laura and I were just dripping. But so was everyone else, so oh well. It was a blast, we'll definitely have to go again.

"Hellooooo...McFly!!!!"

Do you ever watch movies as adults and catch so much that you didn't as a kid? For example, take the movie Grease. I watched it as a kid and was like, "Wheee!!! Singing and dancing! I love it!" And then you watch it as an adult and you think, "Dang, there is so much sexual innuendo." It's just so funny that we catch things or realize things when we watch movies as adults.

When was the last time you watched Back to the Future? For me, I think it was jr. high or early high school. I remember loving it and watching it a ton of times. Last night for college group, we had an Outdoor Movie Night and we all piled out into the church parking lot with couches, blankets, pillows, etc.

We had originally thought we'd show Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but then I got on the internet and realized that there is tons of swearing in it. I don't remember that! I watched that movie when I was younger and maybe I just didn't pick up on it. But now in ministry, I have to be super careful what we show. So then we moved on to So I Married An Axe Murderer. But AGAIN I had to veto the idea because of the language.

So I just went to Blockbuster and started scanning the shelves for something that would be appropriate but still fun. I was tempted to get Pride and Prejudice or Anne of Green Gables as a joke for our college guys, but I resisted that urge. My eyes hit Back to the Future. Sweet! I nabbed it.

Here are some things I picked up last night while watching it:

* Michael J. Fox is SHORT!! I remember thinking he was short when I saw it as a kid, but now it struck me how short he really is. When Bif the bully stands up next to Marty, he just towers over him.

* Billy Zane plays one of Bif's cronies. Billy Zane! The jerk fiancee from Titanic.

* It never struck me as weird/a bit wrong that Marty's mom hits on him...until last night. He goes back to 1955 and his mom likes him and even kisses him in the car at the dance. Ewwww!!

* Oh the 80's with acid washed jeans, skateboards, Pepsi Free and Tab, and the Felix the Cat clocks with eyes that go back and forth.

* There is swearing in this flick. I don't remember that when I was a kid, but I sure caught it last night. The first time Doc Brown dropped the "sh" bomb, I shouted out, "SORRY 'BOUT THAT!" to everyone. And then it became this big joke. Anytime a character in the movie swore, all the students would look at me and yell, "SARAH!!" as if it was my fault. It was awesome.

* This movie is not very long. I think I am getting so used to movies nowadays that are 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours long. Back in the 80's movies were 90-100 minutes, bam, you're done.

* "1.21 jigawatts!!!" --I still love that line. Oh and the part where George McFly goes to the diner to ask Lorraine to the dance and he says, "I'm your density!" instead of "destiny". I never understood that when I was younger but I LOVED it last night.

* This movie is GOOD. A classic. Michael J. Fox (as short as he was) in his prime.

Brett and Emma

There are two kids in my life that I dearly love. Brett and Emma. How did I meet them? Let me take you back four summer ago when Brett was a little 6 year old about to go into first grade and Emma was only 3. That summer of '02 I helped out at Kruz Kidz (the day camp program at my church) with Nature Camp. It was a fun week of taking kids hiking, swimming, Monterey Bay Aquarium, to the beach, etc. Brett and I bonded that week. He was one of the youngest ones in Nature Camp (it was for 1st-6th graders)

Now I was 24 almost 25 at that time and so I was pretty much OVER baby-sitting. Whenever moms or dads asked me, I always politely turned them down. I'm DONE, people. So on the last day of camp, Brett's mom had come up to me and here was our convo:

Her: "Brett has enjoyed spending time with you this week. You have a real gift with children."
Me: (awhhhhh, she's so sweet....) "Oh, thank you! I've loved hanging out with Brett this week. He's so great."
Her: (looking a bit uncomfortable) "Um...I've never done this before but....er....I was just wondering....do you baby-sit?"
Me: Well, actually n..."
Her: "We pay 15 dollars an hour."
Me: "N...YES! I TOTALLY baby-sit!!!"

And that's how it began. They were the only family I made an exception for. What began as a nice way to make some extra spending money turned into a genuine love for these kids and their parents. For two years I was with them at least once a week. Sadly, the last two years I have been lots busier so I don't get to see them that often. But oh man! We've had good times. And I have been blessed to see them grow up. Brett just finished fourth grade and Emma who was SO tiny when I first started watching them is now 7 and sprouting like a tree. She's gotten so tall. And her hair is long and she wears glasses. She looks so much older. Oh my gosh, I sound like a mom.

ANYWAY

It had been a long time since Brett, Emma, and I had hung out. So today we planned a day o' fun. We had a blast! We went hiking at Bear Mountain (and chased the Roaring Camp train) and then went creekwalking in Zayante Creek. We went up to Pondy to play pool and then ended our day with a visit to the Bird Sanctuary nearby where you can set out food and watch birds, squirrels, chipmunks, etc. up close. Basically you get to watch the birds dive-bomb each other for the food. It's awesome.

My 2 favorite quotes of the day:

1) --we were in my car driving to Bear Mountain and I was laughing at something they had said--

Emma: "Sarah, I love your laugh. It's so full of joy."

(She's SEVEN! What 7 year old says something like that?! It was so cute! She made my day.)

2) --we were creekwalking and the water was getting quite high - the kids had their swimsuits on under their clothes, so Emma had chosen to take off her shirt and shorts so they wouldn't get wet and just had her swimsuit on--

Brett: "Man! I'm getting all wet!"
Me: "But Brett, you're wearing your swim trunks. You're fine."
Brett: "I know, but my shirt's gettin' all wet."
Emma: (in her cute tiny voice) "You could take your shirt off and show your boobs."
Brett: (in a matter-of-fact tone) "Guys don't have boobs. Just nipples."

(If that's too inappropriate to share, I apologize, but I wanted to DIE laughing!)

I love these kids.

What if

Last night at college group, one of our interns for the summer (Ryan) gave the message. He said something in his talk that stuck with me:

"What if - during hard times, instead of saying, 'Lord, please take this pain away from me!' we said, 'Lord, please help me get through this. I need your strength.'"

Hmmm...I do see the difference between those statements.

I'm still chewing on it...

Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life fer me

A bunch of my college students and I went to see Pirates 2 last night (opening night) at the theater downtown. It was a blast! We started the line out front and watched as tons of people in pirate costumes came walking by and joined us. I took a million pictures. The audience was so much fun....lots of energy! We laughed, clapped, screamed, cheered, laughed some more. I really liked the movie. I think the people in the theater were half the fun. While waiting for the movie or during previews people would start yelling, "ARGGGGGGG!!!" and we'd all join in.

Dumb birds!!!

Oh Say Can You Seeeeeeee

Last night we had our 5th annual 4th of July par-tay at the Gordon House. Always good times. We BBQ'ed (aren't our kabobs so colorful?) and hung out with friends (I love how our driveway is so packed) and watched the fireworks from our porch at 9:30 pm. My favorite part of the evening was our next door neighbors (all guys) who were LOADED with fireworks and were setting them off all evening. When the main fireworks were going on, they were lighting theirs in the street - as if they were trying to compete with the actual ones. They kept lighting them, one right ater another. When the fireworks would fly up into the air, they sounded like loud kittens dying. (sad analogy, I know) I could NOT stop laughing, though. Hope you all had a happy 4th!