Umm, excuse me? May, where did you go?

Wowee was May crazy! I still can't believe it is over and here we are already a week into June!! Time is a funny thing and my parents were right, it is going faster now then when I was a kid.

So I can't believe we have already said goodbye to our old 8th graders and hello to the new 7th! Always a bittersweet time, it is sad to say goodbye but AWESOME so say hello! So hello:)

Here is a picture of the 8th grade class, next week I think I will have a funny video up, although you may not think it is funny since it is an interesting rendition of of a super sweet 80's, maybe early 90's, tv show. Still it is pretty funny because the guy doing the song is impersonating someone else and he does a great job of it- this part you will know.

Also I have a game coming soon- I have several actually but don't want you to get so overwhelmed that your head a splode! (that is an old strongbad joke btw and in case you are, shall we say, older, then the junior high generation, btw means "by the way" although you probably got the strongbad reference)

So keep checking in, I will be better about updating at least once a week, rarely do I do more then that but I will do my best to get back on some sort of consistent basis.

Talk to you soon!

Difference

I love online games- I am sure you can tell since I post them fairly frequently. Sometimes i find them to be a fun adventure, others are interesting puzzles and some are kind of relaxing. I have a game for you today that falls into the latter 2 categories: it is a bit of a puzzle but also relaxing mostly due to the soundtrack and the pretty visuals.

It is a spot the difference game. This one in particular is 4 Differences. I have posted another one called 5 Differences , I started on the series with 6 Differences which I may have posted as well but I can't remember- I'll check, if not, I'll add it some other time. Anyway, 4 Differences is a really nice way to get into this type of game as it isn't as difficult as when you have to find 6 differences in every scene and the game itself isn't quite as long as in there aren't as many scenes to go through. I finished it in a very timely manner and I thought you might enjoy it as well.

I chose my picture because it reminded me of a scence that could be from the game but isn't. It is a picture of a bridge that spans the Niagra River. We were there for our honeymoon many years ago- this is called the Rainbow Bridge I believe and we are on the Canada side of the river. I love Canada- but that is another story:)

Here you go- enjoy and tell me what you think!
Click Here to Play!!!

Language

Before I get into the post I must say what a lame month for blogging! I apologize for my lack of bloggy-ness. You klnow how your parents always say, "don't want to grow up so fast, time just keeps going by faster adn faster. Before you know it you are old!" I never really paid attention to it, how could years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds possible go any faster? They are a measured unit of time- they simply are what they are. Now that I am nearing 30, I have noticed that my perception of those units of time is what change. Albert Einstein has a great quote that relates, "When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that time does seem to go faster the older you get, even though it is only your perception of it. Maybe it slows down again at some point later on in life- I'll let you know if I get there. All I have left to say about this subject, for now, is that the week goes by and I don't even realize it it seems. I am still stuck somewhere back in November of 2009.



Which happens to bring me to my topic. In late October and ealry November last year, my husband and I had the amazing opportunity to visit his sister, our brother-in-law, and niece over in Germany. We had an absolutely fantastic time, it was such a blast. One of the things that was so cool and so very much appreciated was the fact that many Germans, especially those under 40, spoke English and spoke it fairly well. Here is the thing though, most weren't only bilingual, some spoke 3 or 4 languages. I realize that the borders of our country make it a little different as far as interaction with other languages on a daily basis, whereas over there, you could drive around for 2 weeks straight and hit some part of like 12 nations. For example in Belgium they spoke Flemish, French, German and English. It is a smaller nation surrounded by other nations. I think our lingual isolation could easily be overcome if we taught language better, and if it were more of priority. Did you ever notice how no one had to teach you English? That when you were a kid you just kind of picked it up. Sure you learned words and vocabulary but it was much easier then our High School method of teaching language. I think you should be exposed to more language early on, in preschool and kindergarten. My little niece- fluent in German, she went to a German preschool/daycare type thing and just picked it up. Something about our brains just pick up language easier when we are young, so I think we should teach language then. Not taking any language out of High School- then you could learn more complex language stucture instead of trying to memorize apple is ... dog is ... cat..., etc. We would already know all that basic vocabulary and could instead focus on higher level lingual learning (nice alliteration if I do say so myself:). Then by college how cool would it be to read all those books they make you study in their original language, ok so maybe not all because you probably wouldn't be that fluent in all languages, but even to read some would be such an experience. Not to knock translations but sometimes things just don't translate the same. For example- how cool would it be to read the Bible in some of the original language?! Way cool. We would understand the English word "love" could be one of 3 words in the original language (Greek is what I am talking about here), "philo" meaning brotherly-type love, "eros"- passionate type, desiring love, and "agape" - meaning sacrificial love. All describing rather different emotions and actions.



So to wrap it all up, I wish we taught language earlier in this country. And I wish I knew more languages. My Spanish is super rusty, I was pretty good at it- not fluent by any means, but I defintely could get around with it, when I was in college. I had a teacher that would only speak Spanish to us- total immersion, especially by the end of the class. In the beginning he would answer in english sometimes if we had questions, but by the end, we didn't need him to because we could understand.



The picture is us with my sister-in-law and niece and her German friends- who were awesome and invited us into their home for dinner one night. They made zweiblecochen- not sure if I spelled it right, it's a German dish that is translated literally as "onion cake" and is kind of like a flat quiche- oh and absolutely delicious!







Here is more Germany:

Sorry I Stink

Ok, so I thought I was only a week behind or so but my last post was St. Patty's Day! Wow- that was forever ago. Sorry!

Here is something funny because I am so crummy!


Sad News

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Buttersworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch.. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was considered a very smart cookie, but wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.......

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.


PS- thanks Sierra for the laugh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was reading up a bit on St. Patrick- who is he? what did he do? Since yesterday was St. Patricks Day I was a bit curious. I didn't do a ton of research, basically I just looked it up on Wikipedia- which I do have to say, the article was well cited by a vast number of sources so it is probably fairly accurate. Anyway, this is a small portion from it that tells just the basics of who Patrick was and what he did.


"Patrick was born in Roman[ruled]Britain ... When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties.

Patrick recounts that he had a vision a few years after returning home:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us. . .

. . .something can be seen of Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people". He ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities. He converted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition. He also dealt with the sons of kings, converting them too."

Patrick brought the gospel to the Irish people- he was basically a missionary. I think that it is pretty cool that he is still honored today. We celebrate St. Patrick's day on March 17, the anniversary of his death which is believed to be March 17, 460 or 490 -ish AD. This man is revered in Ireland as a foreigner who came to "walk among" the Irish people and he talked to them about Jesus. He himself was a Catholic and so that was what he taught them and you can see the lasting impression he made as Irish and Catholic are often words that go together. Sometimes I think we push and try to hard to talk to people about God instead of being open to God working. Hey I am not saying that we shouldn't talk to others about God but maybe we need to change our viewpoint. I really like how St. Patrick said he walked among them, not that he converted them. It is not our job to convert people, everyone must make their own decision about God and His Son. I guess I want to ask what kind of impact are you having on those you are walking among? Do people see God in you? When you feel that small voice inside pushing you to bring up Jesus or to tell someone you are praying for them, to be kind to your enemies, to not gossip or retaliate when someone hurts you- do you listen? Walk with God and walk with people.

Anyway- I hope you had a great St. Patty's Day.

Time Change

Maybe I am just getting old but the time change has thrown me so out of wack! I am totally dragging- I mean I don't get it, it is one hour, shouldn't be that big of a deal but man am I sleepy! You junior highers must be hit super hard, although I know a lot of schools changed their hours so you don't have to get up quite as early. I think that is awesome and in no way begrudge the fact that I had to get to Roosevelt at 7:08 because class started at 7:12. Insane!!!! So I am glad that the times are later now for you because that truly was ridiculous. I don't think anyone was awake until like 3rd period. We would get out at like 2 something but I would have much rather slept in. Anyway, I am sure it was still a little rough getting up this morning. Right now I am seriously tired and it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I got the same amount of sleep last night, I guess it just "felt" earlier when I got up this morning. I even took a nap yesterday! That is why I interjected the comment about being old. Maybe you have a harder time adjusting to these things when you get old. I know at Starving 2 Serve my knees started hurting, no reason, or at least I didn't do anything. I think maybe it was the cold or the fact that I was standing basically the whole night. But here's the thing- that was the same for everyone- difference: I am old:)

Sushi Cat

I stumbled across this fun little gem last week. WARNING: it is very awesome and very addicting. I mean who wouldn't want to help a little blue cat be with the little pink cat he is in love with? And of course the only way to do this is to help him become as big as a sumo wrestler by eating sushi. Sushi Frenzy!!!

Let me know what you think:)

Click here to play Sushi Cat!