tamara b

Oz

Did you know that the word Oz comes from the word Australian? I find this a very interesting thought to ponder as I will be sitting at the theatre watching the Wizard of Oz with Ryan and a few friends. Last time we saw a play with the Royers, it was Run For Your Wife. It is a British comedy and although hilarious, I was quite embarrassed that I invited some friends to see it. I’m not sure which was worse, that every other sentence was a sexual innuendo (I didn’t know what a british comedy was) or that much of the audience fell into the over 50 crowd. Here were all these “old” people watching a “dirty” play. And I was there too. Tonight’s entertainment should be much more family friendly although I’m disappointed that I won’t be seeing Jay (the pharmacist in town) wearing make-up and I won’t be seeing one of the local chiropractors playing a gay character.

It seems like everytime I post something, I comment on how BUSY we are. That continues to be the case, of course. Last Friday, Ryan and I worked half days and then left for Minneapolis. We’ve learned that the only way to travel is with a book on CD. It makes 3-4 hour drives much easier to travel. That evening we splurged and went to Taco Bell for supper. Its been years since I’ve had Taco Bell (with the exception of when I was home in June). The location and price range really got our attention quickly. Plus it was a Friday night in a “big city” and I didn’t want to wait to be seated. After scarfing down several tacos and a nacho bell grande, we headed across to the mini mall for a walk. While there, we got some good Christmas shopping done. Saturday we headed downtown for a conference at a beautiful church. Sat all day for that and when it was over, got back on the road. Stopped at the Old Chicago for supper and headed towards home. We had planned to stay one more night to join some friends at church for the dedication of the twins but Ryan had a cold and didn’t need to give it to the twin babies and staying another night in the hotel won’t help us save money for the garage we’d like to build. So, we got home around 10pm. Sunday morning, we were “bedside Baptists” and didn’t go to church. Ryan still wasn’t feeling well so we had breakfast together (which is rare) and watched a service on TV.
I thought Monday morning would never end. I sat at my desk on the phone with different people ALL morning. One of those days that nothing gets accomplished for the benefit of my office but everyone else got some assistance. Monday afternoon I left for Des Moines for work. I serve on the state Civil Rights Advisory Committee (CRAC) which takes me to DM for meetings. Monday night I made arrangements to meet with Mike and Naphtali Crouse for supper. Mike was called active and went to the middle East a few months after I got here. He was gone for 8 months and I’ve been eager to see him again. Naphtali, last I heard (2 years ago), was mad at me for hanging out with Mike (LONG story). Needless to say, I had very mixed feelings about seeing them. I was so nervous that I was almost shaking, I felt like it was my first job interview or something. We had supper together, visited for a bit and I jumped back in my car and headed for the hotel. Monday I sat in a meeting till 2pm and then got in my car and started down the road AGAIN. Picked up groceries on the way home and pulled in the driveway @ 7pm. In just four days, I put over 1,000 miles on my car. Yeah, a lot of time sitting on my fat butt. Tuesday night we had plans to have some friends over for supper. (Do any of you remember Hugo, the 90 year old, who talked at my wedding?) Yup, Hugo and Gladys were supposed to come over but in the mix of travel, I forgot to call and confirm details (since we missed them at church on Sunday) and I also forgot to call and reschedule. I felt horrible. So, I got groceries put away and immediately had numerous phone calls to return. One of which was to Rick Tafoya. Rick used to be the USDA laiason at Fresno State when I was a USDA scholar. He’s now working in Iowa for NRCS (like me). Yeah, so I called him and he confirmed that he would be bringing the family (his wife, 2 kids plus a 6 month old) up for the weekend. We had an open invite to him and Monday he called to see what our weekend looked like. So, here it was 730 Tuesday night, I’m exhausted from traveling and I now have company coming on Friday. Need I remind you that I had been gone that weekend so clothes were laundered and the house didn’t receive its routine weekend cleaning? No big deal, I have 2 nights right.. Wrong! Wednesday night is JV youth group and tonight is Wizard of Oz. So, I warned Rick that the house won’t be spic and span clean like I’d prefer. He didn’t seem to care since I went down and helped them move into their house and unpack boxes when he moved to Iowa. So, its Thursday, my house is not as dirty as it was, but its not clean either. Yikes. I’m waiting for the magic fairy to show while we’re at the play tonight. We’ll see what happens.

On other fronts… has there been anything else??? Things at work are good but continue to be wildly busy – especially with my collateral duties that I have. I guess the big thing as usual is that I miss my friends. PTL though, I got to chat with Weenie for a whole hour the other day without interruption of her daycare kids. Today, right now, I especially miss my ghetto Fresno girls – Cori and Katie. Katie seems to have fallen off the face of the earth so I miss her. I do get to chat with Cori which really makes me miss her too. I eagerly await the visit of Ryan’s folks. For one, they’re great, even though they’re “in-laws”. I’m excited to see them and for our parents to get together again and hang out. Plus, we (or should I say “I”) loving having guests in our home. I love entertaining even though I really don’t know how to. I’m also looking at a very busy calendar in the near future. This weekend the Tafoya’s are coming. Next weekend is Ryan’s Grandparents. The weekend following that I’m headed to the Women of Faith conference in Minneapolis (while Ryan deals with the Junior High Retreat for NAB conference). That’s the basics I guess. I’m so thankful that Fall is here, the leaves are gorgeous, I have a great view from my office desk! Crisp autumn air, football and hot chocolate are so good to imagine if I ever slow down enough to enjoy them. God is SO, SO good. I’m enjoying having a quiet time and reading through the Psalms. I wish I had/took more time to do that.

Oh, that reminds me… I was cleaning in the spare bedrooms for our company and came across an old journal from around the time I graduated college and moved out here. What fun that was but that’s another post and another day! I gotta go see the Yellow Brick road.