Shoot the Moon

I woke up a few hours early today. Hoping to pound out another section of work on my certification, I tried to slip off to the dining room in the dark. My stealth abilities need work. I only woke up two of the other three people in the house. Oops! A couple days ago, I found out that I do need to complete the TESOL certification before getting my visa. It's about teaching English as a Second Language, but I have no idea what the "O" stands for. Technically, it takes 120 hours, but of course I'm hoping to speed that along. It has eight phases. In between each phase, the assigned tutor must check the test before giving access to the next phase. So I woke up ready to work, but my tutor hasn't approved the next phase yet. This new coursework and its necessary certificate may cause me to leave to China later. Another waiting item for my visa approval is authenticating my college diploma. The USF registrar notarized that it's real last Monday. Tuesday the SD Secretary of State added her paper validating its authenticity. It's been sitting in our nation's capitol since last Thursday, waiting for their approval. Then I add some more money and mail it to a courier to the Chinese consulate. Just another odd detail that's been added. We've been doing paperwork since March, so it's not a procrastination issue. The standards change and everything feels like swimming through mud. On the upside, I finished the summer class. Organizational Behavior was my favorite so far! If you only take one class on being a better manager, this would be the one to take! Today we travel to Birmingham, AL, to catch up with some lovelies there! However, as soon as I receive an email from the TESOL tutor, I stop whatever I'm doing and study for a few more hours. WAIT! I FORGOT TO TELL YOU SOME INCREDIBLE NEWS!!! Last night when playing Rook, we were losing oh-so-very badly. Maybe the score was negative something versus their 490. The game ends at 500. So my brave partner and I called, "Shoot the moon!" blindly. Then we did it! We took every trick and every point - an automatic win for calling it ahead of time! Sweet hubby was the scorekeeper and usually writes down the bids beside the score tally. He scratched down StM and romantically pointed out that with a heart around it; it looks like S+M carved on a tree for us! AWHHH!

On Sunday we drove past a house with a very large, handwritten sign. It read, "Free Dogs (pupies)" and then told us to ask inside. How honest! Dogs are certainly poopy, even if they did misspell it!

A couple weeks ago, my husband, Caleb and I went to Mobridge to run a few errands and also get our car windshield replaced. While we were waiting for the mechanics to be done, we sipped coffee at the grocery store.

Caleb texted. He looked up and asked me how to spell "ornery" and I replied with O-R-N-E-R-Y. He said that wasn't working. Steven misheard and tried spelling it H-O-N-O-R-I-N-G. Caleb corrected him by explaining that he wanted the word that meant naughty or mischievous. Steven spoke to his smartphone and asked it to look up ornery.

The first answer it gave was, "Call Emily Kroontje." No kidding. No wonder we love the Kroontje's!

We're packing, sorting, and preparing to move by August 1. What a perfect time to get rid of dead weight!

A thought keeps running through my head. I heard a pastor once talk about how much we now value our stuff and use it to identify us, rather than use it to fulfill a purpose for us. He went on to say that not too many years ago a missionary family would leave to serve overseas with just a suitcase in each hand. Nowadays, a missionary family often fills a shipping container with just their basics, according to him. He wasn't pointing a dig at missionaries so much as jabbing us all for the misplaced importance we put on our belongings.

Today, as I was sorting, I kept asking myself, "Would I need this overseas?" Almost always, the answer was no. Sometimes I opted to keep it anyway. At least it became an intentional decision rather than just putting every silly little item I own into a cardboard box.

A simplified life has less stuff to consume thoughts. Therefore, more mental space for creativity. Again, I am searching for space. Go, Home Astronaut!

I have a funny story to tell in a few days, but first I need to get permission from the person involved. Check back for a laugh!

While traveling, my children refused to play a game I made up: Instead of calling heads or tails, anytime we'd pass a field of cows the goal was to find one with its tail up and quickly call Pee or Poop. Then watch the chosen cow for who won the call. They thought that was disgusting.

Much later down the road (this is a true story), I saw two billboards side by side. One advertised the Chief Motel and Restaurant; the other showed Collicut Taxidermy Services. The motto read, "Where quality comes first." Guess which one? That, of course, makes me wonder about the quality standards of the other.

Soon we are moving to Ulysses, KS! Woo hoo!

Hints for a Great Manicure/Pedicure

1. Don't drink two large coffees before sitting down.

2. If you do anyway, don't try to hold it until after the manicure is done. Your nails probably won't dry as fast as you're hoping they do.

3. If you do anyway, don't wear white capri pants.

4. If you do anyway, don't let them be the ones with not one, but two buttons above the zipper.

5. If you do anyway, don't worry about washing your hands with only paper towels to dry them. The manicure is already done and the little manicurist girl really won't notice if you washed or not.

6. If you do anyway, at least don't have chosen bright red nail polish that will show each smudge along the poorly chosen path.

7. If you did all this anyway, join the club with me. I get to be president, though.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day brings the dilemna of what to buy for the mothers we are blessed to have. None of them want anything. None of them need anything. We have money to waste but would rather not waste it.

This year we came up with a One Up on re-gifting. On Saturday night we snuck into my in-laws house. Casually, we filled up a shopping bag and then left. Technically, this might be labeled stealing. Next, we wrapped our little treasures. Sleep came.

Come Sunday, we presented Dear Ma with a beautiful bag, filled with her favorite types of things. I don't think she recognized that the items were already hers until the third or fourth gift. So she got to enjoy receiving and we got to enjoy giving and no one spent money or had more clutter.

A lovely Mother's Day!