Here We Go Again

Tomorrow morning at 8:18 I fly from Denver to San Antonio to spend the week in Texas with my family. Yea! But since it is the day before a trip my flying nerves are starting to kick in. I really try not to worry very much but when I fly out of Denver, my natural tendencies start up and I cannot help it. The only thing I can do is keep busy and not think about it.

I used to be a calm, un-worried, excited air traveler, but that was before I moved to Denver. Since I have lived here I have had quite a few airport problems that have sometimes caused me to almost miss my flight by a small amount of time. Most of these times another flight was not an option. Luckily I have gotten smart and get there way way earlier than normally necessary, but in Denver it is necessary.

If it is not a snow blizzard it is a security line that is so long I cannot find the end of it (and the website said the wait was 15 min.) or the terminal trains are not working or my car get stuck in the snow. There are also the times when I forget my cell phone in the car or traffic was awful or the parking lot is full and they lead me on a wild goose chase to find another one or they change my gate about 3 times and I never heard an announcement or all the signs and computers are down and there is no way to even know where your gate is!

My mind is whirling trying to figure out what will go wrong this time. My guess is the bus breaks down, I wake up late, or there is an earthquake and I cannot get out of the city. Lets hope for none of those. I mean since it should not snow in July that lessens my chances of problems but you never know in the wild, crazy, poorly planned airport of Denver.

I seriously hate that airport. It is pretty and artsy and Colorado looking but I think they should have spent less time on the decor and more time on the planning of how the airport would actually run.

New Discovery

Right at this moment I am sitting at a table using internet for free. At home sitting on my couch are about 8 books that I have wanted to read for a long time and I am borrowing them for free. Also on my living room floor are two classic movies that I am renting for free. How is this possible you might ask? THE PUBLIC LIBRARY!!

Why have I never done this before? Everything is free! You don't even have to pay to become a member. Seriously it seems way too good to be true. I keep expecting there to be a catch but I have not found one yet. Yes, you do have to pay a small fine if books or movies are returned late, but you can also renew them online or on the phone and keep them longer. Cool huh?

I know you are thinking, duh Dee, everyone knows about the public library but this is like a new discovery for me. As a kid we went all the time and I loved getting new books and taking them back and getting more, but it has been a long time since I have done that. I did use the Abilene public library a little but I don't think we (me and Lauren) are allowed in there anymore. Oops! So now it is all new and exciting and I feel so a part of the community, using the public library. Who would pay for internet or books or movies when you can get it for free! Yea!

This new little addition to my life has provided a lot of joy and excitement over the past week. I love it! And this place is so close I can walk or ride my bike to it. And you know, if they do not have the books or movies you want you can request to have them sent here from other Denver libraries at no extra effort from me. Wow! Just seems like in our money driven, taking advantage of country that places like this would not be around anymore. But I am so glad they are and I hope they stick around for a while because it is awesome!

The End

I finished Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows last night. All 759 pages in less than 48 hours. I know it sounds crazy but I know there are people who read it faster than me and I took this one slower than the last book. I wanted to really enjoy it and actually remember it, plus I was afraid someone might ruin it for me if I did not hurry up.

I obviously will not give anything away but I really liked it a lot! It made me laugh and cry and scream a little in shock. It is always weird reading a new Harry Potter book after reading the other ones many times. It is strange to have a new story and new words about him that I have never heard before. It was super fun to have some of the things I thought might happen come true and it was even better to have lots of surprises. I love trying to figure out things like this but am much happier when I am wrong because if I can figure it out then it was not planned out well enough.

So now the books are over and there will be no more of Harry Potter which is strange. I have been reading these books since the first movie came out and that was like six years ago. They are an awesome story and I have enjoyed joining in on the hype that comes along with them. It will probably read this book again soon but I need to let it sink in a little bit more.

Neologisms

Neologisms are now a part of my banal vocabulary since I am studying for the extremely arduous GRE. I take a small part of each day to assuage my onerous task of trying to get into grad school because it is not something that can be cursory. The math section is tortuous and it is enervating me. This is exigent that I take my nascent, egregious vocabulary and become eloquent in my speech and writing. I believe the GRE is a sordid test and I wish I had a prescience because I am slowly becoming abject. I have a lot of ennui when I study from being static and not audacious. It makes me want to abscond from sight. On the writing section I need to appear erudite instead of prattling on and on. I hope to stupefy the admissions people with my score and I will sing a paean after September 13th when it is all over.

Did you understand any of that? ME NEITHER! I was using my flash cards. Now it is off to read Harry Potter. I am so sure that will improve my vocab.

Sleepover Adventures

Tuesday night I had some of the teen girls from my church over for a sleepover. We always have a lot of fun when we do this whether we are eating M&M's and talking or going on an adventure.

The first sleepover we had we took an adventure up Lookout Mountain which is in Golden. On the side of the mountain there is a huge white "M" that is lit up at night which is for the Colorado School of Mines. So we drove up the mountain and then a few of us (the brave) hiked to the "M". We also had a scary moment with a van man but that is another story. So now going up Lookout is a tradition of our frequent sleepovers.

This time we first had another slightly wrong, but super fun adventure. Ever been stalking? I know it sounds awful but we were just having fun and actually contributing to the community. I did this once in college with my friends and it was so funny so I did it with these girls too and they had done it before. All you do is pile in a car and pick an innocent victim and follow them wherever they go. Sometimes they have no clue what is going on but others pick up on that they are being followed and are probably freaking out. I am glad to say that two of our young, female victims pulled into a drive way that was probably not theirs and waited until we left. Exactly what you are supposed to do! So good job to them. It was all in innocent fun and the girls had a blast figuring out who to follow and how far to follow them.

After this adventure we met up with some other girls and drove into the mountains a bit to look at the stars by the creek. This is where I found out my girls are not as adventurous as they think. We got to the spot and had to hike down a bit to the river but all but one of them were too scared to go. I mean I had my head lamp I don't know what was so scary. But one girl and I went down and it was BEAUTIFUL. It is my new favorite place. The creek smelled so good and the clouds cleared so we could see the stars and we just sat and chatted while the other girls stayed at the car and made sure no animals ate us. They are so funny.

After the creek we drove up Lookout to end our adventure. Along the way you must honk at cars sitting on the side of the road to disrupt their romantic evening. You see, another name for this mountain is "Make out Mountain" because people love to park (I thought they only did that in the old days but it is still alive today) and enjoy the beautiful view and make out. We just honk to disturb them and make sure they do not go "too far." : ) It is so funny! We made it to the top, saw a few animals, freaked the girls out with the van man story and drove back down, making our regular stop to view the gorgeous city of Denver at night.

By the time we got back to the house it was late and we were pretty tired. So we ate a bit more junk food, got the beds ready, turned on a movie and went to sleep. The great thing about having a sleepover at my house is I get to sleep in my own bed. Yea! So we slept in the next morning and concluded our adventure sleepover tired, yet having had a great time. I love my girls!!!!

Spider Attack Update

Ok, I know probably no one wants to hear about the spider attack on my house but I hate them and need to vent a bit more. My kill count is up to seven out of nine that I have seen in the last week. I am super proud of this count because it has taken all the bravery inside of me to kill these stupid little guys.

Three of these happened last night when I got home and you can ask Lauren, it was not a quiet event. I have to work myself up and scream a lot (my battle cry) and it makes it a little less scary. Another kill happened the other night after I went to bed with no spider sightings. I woke up about 30 min after going to sleep and looked up and there was one about a foot above my head on the wall. I JUMPED out of bed and paced around the room for about 10 min. before I gathered the courage to pound it to death. There are shoe marks on the wall for proof. Once I was sure it was dead I sat on my bed shaking and crying. It was not a restful night.

I talked to my mom and she said we should get our house sprayed but my roommate said it is normal for summer time around here and it sucks and you just have to deal with it. I am not dealing with it well. After finding the one above my head I have not slept well because I wake up a lot and scan the room for any spiders around. I even woke up and felt a tickle on my foot and I threw myself out of bed but found nothing there.

I was hoping that maybe after seeing all these spiders and successfully killing a lot of them that the Pavlovian theory of Systematic Desensitization might kick. So far, no luck. What am I supposed to do?!?! Seriously bugs love to infest where I live. In my first apartment in Abilene Lauren and I had a swarm of about 100 flies in our house at one time and we had to kill them all. So gross! Then in our second house in Abilene, about two weeks before we moved out the house exploded with termites. I am not joking. I came home one day and there were THOUSANDS of termites all over my bedroom floor and crawling out of the walls. Lets just say, I was not calm about it. Lauren thought someone had died when I called her. And now I have got spiders. My mom reminded me that she has never seen a spider jump on someone or go after them to attack (my fears) and most are not poisonous. She also reminded me that there will be bugs to deal with everywhere (even in Chile, sad), so I just need to toughen up. I'm trying!!!! : (

Paranoid

I hate spiders. I have been afraid of them my whole life and this fear became even bigger after living in Oklahoma where it was a regular occurrence to find a Brown Recluse spiders in our house. As a child I was so afraid of them I could not even step on them for fear of them jumping on me or their poison going through my shoe. This is a dumb fear I know but to this day I am so scared of getting close enough to kill them.

Lately in my house I have seen lots of spiders. I think I have seen one ever day this week and have managed to kill two of them but not without having a huge argument with myself in my head. One part of me is still so afraid to get close enough to kill them but the other part of me is afraid of what might happen if I don't. One of the spiders was in the kitchen sink so I sneaked over and sprayed it down with the spray thingy. The other was on my bedroom wall and I threw my shoe at it and actually got it.

I do not think these spiders are Black Widows because I just looked them up online and they did not look the same but even just looking at pictures of them online made me sick to my stomach and my skin is crawling like there are spiders all over me. Eeek!

So now because of all these spiders I have seen around, wherever I go in my house I look around on all the walls and floors and surfaces to see if there are any around. When I get in the shower, I scan the area. When I get into bed I look under all the sheets. When I walk into the garage I check the floor and then check the light switch before I touch it. Now I do not think I have arachnophobia because that is like super extreme, but I am getting a little paranoid and its driving me crazy! I went to Target the other day and got some bug spray so that next time I see one maybe I can spray it and then when it is down I can squish it. The bug spray has given me a little more confidence so I am ready for the next one. I just wish I was not so afraid of them and I could just walk up and kill them and keep going. Stupid spiders!

I Wanna Go Back

"Nature in these desolate scenes...moves us more deeply than in others." -W. H. Hudson

Patagonia: The End of the World. I wanna go back. It is a place in the world is amazingly barren and yet mysteriously beautiful it its own unique way. Definitely the most amazing place I have ever been in my life. In Patagonia I hiked on glaciers, climbed mountains, took boat rides through icebergs, and stood in silence at the awesomeness of it all.

Usually I am not one to visit some place in the world twice, but more and more I want to return to Patagonia and experience it all again. I do not think I could ever get enough. I was reminded of this desire a few days ago while hiking in the Rockies and gazing over an iced over lake. My mind was flooded with some of the best memories of my life and I wanted to visit there again.

Luckily I am moving to Chile in a few years and I will be closer to Patagonia than I have been in a few years. Also, I visited the Argentine Patagonia so now I will get a chance to see a new part of this amazing, yet haunting part of the world. I have quite a few friends who will gladly take advantage of me living there and maybe we can go on the adventure together.

Being in Patagonia reminded me of how small I am and how far away from my home I was, being at the bottom of the world. It also showed me how amazing God is and how detailed he was in creating this place we live in. It always blows my mind to think of how slowly the glaciers move, so slow that we could never see it, only its effects. Also it is so cool to look at an iceberg and know that I am only seeing about a third of it and there is even more beauty, buried by the deep blue milky water. The air is fresh and cold, the ice tastes so pure, and and life seems so simple. It made me want to scream and stand in silence at the same time.

Patagonia, I hope to return to your majesty soon!

Hiking on one of the glaciers.

Do you see that!!!!

Man I love this place!!

Another 4th of July

I am not a very patriotic person. Yes I know that in some ways I am blessed to be from the US but in no way do I believe that God "Blesses America" any more or less than other countries. We have a good qualities but man there are some super cool countries out there and God blesses them also (if he blesses countries as a whole anyways. I really dont know).

This really is not my point. I say all this because despite my lack of patriotism I really do love the 4th of July holiday celebrated here every year. Not because I am "Proud to be an American" but because it brings so many fun things along with it. These things include family, fireworks, watermelon, BBQ, pool parties, hot weather and the best of all, ICE CREAM!!! It really is just a super fun, relaxed holiday.

This year was a normal 4th of July for me, meaning that it was not normal and only included one of those things listed above . For the past many years of my life I have not had a normal 4th due to Trek, family problems, being in a foreign country, or just away from my family. But I still really enjoy it no matter what I am doing or where I am.

This year I worked at Starbucks from 1pm to 9pm and the flow of customers was very irregular. We would have a crowd and then nothing and then a crowd and then nothing. For about two hours it was dead and then about two hours before the fireworks in Golden started we got slammed! The line was out the door!!!! Who goes into Starbucks when the line is out the door? Crazy! So I worked drinks for a while until the cup line went all the way across the cabinet and then I switched to the register since I am still pretty slow and unsure. I really was not stressed and many people commented on how they were impressed that I was still smiling. I told them it takes a lot to make me smile and I actually found it all quite funny. Sadly for my other two co-workers I left a 9pm and the crowd was still huge. Usually I might have stayed around but I wanted to make the fireworks show also. So I hopped on my bike and met my friends where we walked to the park and enjoyed the show. It was short but good. I am amazed at no matter how many times I see fireworks I still love them and still "ooo and ahh" over them and get excited for the pretty ones. It was another "normal" 4th and I had a blast!

To my disapointment I did not get to enjoy any homemade ice cream but I remedied that this afternoon. Usually on Thursdays I have a girls bible study for the teens at church but I had not done the study and I had no idea who would be in town so I canceled the study and just wanted to do something fun. After consulting a few sources I got a recipe for homemade ice cream without an ice cream maker. It was something I had done in high school chemistry a while ago and remembered it being super good. So I got the ingredients and met the girls at the church. And despite the curdled milk looking appearance, it was delicious! The the moment I am sitting on the couch and my tummy is very full and satisfied. We had a lot of fun making it too by making a huge mess and numbing our hands but it is pretty simple. You should try it!

So happy 4th to everyone, whatever that means. I just hope you had a fun day that included all of your favorite things about the holidays!!!

Singing In The Rain

It has been a while since I have been inspired to write a nice "Phoebe song" for my blog. But I am listening to Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes and outside it is thundering and raining and it smells so good that I just cannot resist. In my head it is somewhat going to the tune of "Sing and Be Happy"...kinda.

It is dark and stormy outside

Rain helps my flowers to grow.

Thunder cracks, as the sun tries to shine

I hope I see a rainbow.

Air smells fresh and new like spring

Drops taste good on my tongue.

Makes me want to take a long nap

Or read Harry Potter all day.

If it washes the dirt off my car

One less thing for me to do!

These are two pictures from my latest hiking adventure. Look how awesome that reflection is. I really thought people faked that in pictures but it is real. Cool!!!