Ehhhh.

Well, I had to take a test today. The essays went pretty well, but I think the rest of the test is a completely different story. I'm just glad I got it out of the way. I'm just waiting for my chicken patty to get done, I'm STARVING! I went to a vending machine today and put in my money, I really really really was craving cheetos, but the machine kept telling me to pick something else.

"Char-Marie" it said, "You really don't need cheetos, so pick whatever else you want." I got really aggravated because I thought I could get my money back and go to the other machine with the glorious bag of cheetos...not the case. It was holding my money hostage! So, I broke down and bought peanut butter cookies--you know the kind that Grandma makes. Anyways, instead of my normal brain food of cheetos and mt. dew, I had to settle for peanut butter cookies, and grape juice.....

I'm going back to yoga tomorrow....Mark my words!

Romania.

Alright, I'm back with another choice. Colby and I are so excited about doing this. We're pulling for our families to start saving their money NOW so they can come and stay with us to see what we're doing. Anyone else is welcome to start saving now as well. ;) Here's our next pick: Romania! This is a picture of Translyvania, Romania scary huh!

Stats for Romania:

1. Location: Southeast Europe
2. Borders:It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast; Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro in the west and Bulgaria to the south along the Danube River.
3. Politics: Romania is a democratic republic
4. Religion: Christian Orthodox-86%
5. Language: Romanian-Romance language.
6. Climate: Temperate-Cold winters, hot summers.
7. Capital: Bucharest
8. Population: 21,800,000

Fun Facts:

1. Holidays celebrated are: Christmas, Easter, National Woman's Day, New Year's, Mărţişor, and they're starting to celebrate Valentine's Day.

2. Vampires are believed to hang around crossroads on St. George's Day, April 23rd, and the eve of St. Andrew, November 29th. The area is also home to Bram Stoker's Dracula. OOOooooo.....

3. Romanians have a tradition of drinking a shot of tuica before a meal. It is supposed to help with digestion.

4. Mamaliga ‑ a cornmeal mush, Is the Romanian all purpose staple food. Hot, cold, fried, it is delicious in melted butter, sour cream or yogurts, garnished with salt herring and cottage cheese, or eaten with eggs for breakfast, and added to meat dishes.

Well, what do you think? Do you think I can live without my sushi, fried potatoes, and macaroni and cheese?

Misc.

Man... I didn't set an alarm, and now i'm going to have to miss my class....;)
I have this crazy ringing in my ear....can you hear it? Anyways, last night Colb and I went to the fox, like every Sunday. We had a lot of fun--I had my game face on last night. I was on Fire! Ok now i'm going to go eat some cereal..FRUITY PEBBLES!!!! mmmmmmmmm

Driving. Need I say more?

Driving in Southwest Missouri is like having your hand stuffed inside a blender and being forced to look, or chewing on tinfoil. I absolutely hate driving in Missouri. People make me very angry. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that I should probably be sedated and strapped into the backseat before we go for a ride. *Kind of like a dog-I need a tranquilizer or i'll jump out the window.

Anyways I tell you this because today I was driving and *honestly* minding my own business, going to speed limit because the sign says that's what I have to do, and out of no where this cross-eyed hillbilly with a beat up truck comes blazing by me and it kind of twerks me the wrong way. I, however, count to ten and keep going. Then the man gets over in the lane in front of me and gives me dirty hand gestures in the rear view mirror. Now ladies and gentlemen, this is uncalled for and so I get into the left lane and proceed to speed up a little and get next to him. I smile, wave with one finger and drive on-I even giggle a little when he gets stuck behind an older couple who seem to be sight seeing or are just so completely lost that they need to do double takes.

Now, if you talk to Colby's mom-Mary Beth she would tell you that I have the mouth of a sailor. To that I say this --Mary Beth the lady was putting your son in harms way, I didn't know you were on the phone with him at the time, I was protecting your son with my words that's why I dropped the f-bomb....But I have to tell ya, I only said F-u-c. If ya know what I mean. ; )
Mwwwah!

Hey LOOK....

Well, Gene has left. He was a riot! We had so much fun, and I'll tell you I've never laughed so hard in my life. He calls me his sister, and he's so excited about what's ahead (as far as family life goes.) My parents took him to the wild life zooquarium at bass pro in Springfield. My mom came back with the funniest stories, at one point in time he saw a jack rabbit and yelled really loud, " HEY DAD, Look at that Jack-ass Rabbit!" My parents cracked up, I was rolling when they told me about it. He's such a genuine, sweet person. I'm very proud to call him my big brother-I've always wanted one. When I left he gave me a HUGE bear hug and lifted me off the ground, "I'm so glad to call you my sister!" he said.

I'm very proud of my big family....Somehow we find ways to prevail in the darkest of times. We're resilient. Love you guys!!!

Children's Books.

I had to read to the kindergartener kids today. I read an African tale of Anansi the spider. I was told I was the best teacher in the wide...the whole wide world! They can be so sweet when they want. I forgive, but i'll never forget...: ) I've definitely seen the other side. I'm currently stocking up on my books that i'll need for my library.


Help me pick some out. What is your favorite children's book of all time? I need some good books for my collection.

First choice: Bulgaria.

Oh man, over the past few days I've really been thinking about how exciting it will be to actually start REAL life. Right now I just feel like i'm playing and not really doing anything special, even though i'm in school more than I sleep. So I was day-dreaming in class today about being in a foreign country and how I would dress, and what my hair might look like. I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET A TAN!!! * I know this isn't a reason why i'm going, just an added bonus* I can only imagine the different customs that our country has for instance:

Bulgaria is known for fire dancing! Dancing barefoot on hot coals... *My feet are very sensitive, walking on sand makes me wince so...probably not up for that. However, I won't say that it couldn't happen, it very well could.

Above is a picture of a street (small town) Bulgaria. I'm sure this wouldn't be our nice bungalow, but isn't it gorgeous.

I hear the food over there isn't half bad either! We'll see. I'm going to write about each country we're interested in to help to compare them.

Here's the stats on Bulgaria:

Size: About the size of Tennessee
Population: 7.4 million
Language: Bulgarian, and Turkish
Capital: Sofia
Climate: temperate with cold damp winters, and hot dry summers.
Borders: Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey
Politics: A parliamentary Democracy
Religion: Bulgarian Orthodox (86%)

Fun Facts:

1. Bulgaria has fought in both world wars on the losing side
2. Has a place called the valley of roses where hundreds of thousands of roses are in bloom in May. Roses are said to be Bulgaria's gold.
   
3. 2.8 million land lines, and 2.6 million cell phones..to the population of 7.4 million
4. Only 630,000 internet users
   
5. Favorite dessert is pancakes. *MMMmmmm
6. Said to be the home of Yogurt.
7. It's 11:00pm here, and 8:00am in Bulgaria.
   

Lucky Girl.

Wow, I'm really impressed with the turnout on comments! All time record :) Yes, Bulgaria is my first choice because of the orphanage. I think that would be so rewarding. Thinking back years ago I don't know if this option for my future would have ever been present, I'm just so blessed to have a boyfriend who brings out sides of me that otherwise probably would have never been found. It was my idea to join the peace corps, but I'm so lucky that my boyfriend finds such a passionate calling for it as well. Honestly there aren't a lot of men out there that would react the way he did: Me:"I just really want to go into the peace corps and do something bigger."
Colb: "Absolutely let's go."

And the rest is history.

On another note: I would really love to go to Africa, but Colby isn't as thrilled with that idea, simply because Africa holds 70% of the worlds Aids disease and the rape count is very high. So odds are that we're not going there.

Life Decisions.

The other night Colby and I were driving and talking about how we're almost out of school...then life really begins. I told him that I really wanted to join the peace corps, because I want to be able to make a difference on a worldly level not just here in the United States. We have it so good here in America, why not go somewhere and try and give a little? I just feel a calling for going out of my comfort zone and making an impact. Its a very good thing that Colby and I are on such a level where we're both open-minded and want to do the same things. He really wants to go too.

Here's the plan so far:

We sign up the end of this summer, graduate, get married next summer and leave time for a couple of months without jobs so we can spend times with our families, then its off to a third world country for two years.

Prospects thus far:

1. Bulgaria-- Bulgaria has a great program where I would be able to work with the orphanage..I told Colby we might get attached and adopt a few children-I wouldn't be opposed.
2. Romania- Colby really likes the idea of going to a soviet block country. Besides with Romania you get the Translyvanian alps...not to mention Translyvania.
3. Albania- It's wedged in with Greece, and Macedonia. It would be beneficial for us to go there because I'll be working in Education helping teach English as a foreign language, Colby may work with the youth as well, but he may work with environmental issues.
4. Thailand- The peace corps have been there since 1962 and that made us think that it may be pretty well established there and wouldn't be such a worry to us. Education Volunteers work in rural villages and towns across Thailand and collaborate closely with Thai educators in the primary English classroom to introduce, model, and share innovative new teaching approaches. Together, they integrate various topics into their English lessons (such as HIV/AIDS, environment, gender, information technology, and local wisdom and culture).
5. Morocco-Again working with children. The initial contact with youth is made through content-based English instruction at the Youth Center that is then the conduit for the implementation of outside activities. These activities may include organizing environmental clubs, planting trees, community cleanups, latrine building, sports teams, girls' education activities, youth mentoring, teaching computer skills, or teaching basic literacy to adults.

So here are 5 choices. We have to choose 5 because they may not be able to give us the exact location that we want, we're chosen by our skills and what country needs us the most.
VERY EXCITING! I'm stoked! Give me any input you wish, thanks.

Welcome to Missouri-- Leave yer boots on the front step.

My Uncle Daddy's son Gene is coming in from Bakersfield, CA today! I hope when he gets off the plane farmers don't attack him. My mom asked him what he liked to eat for dinner and he listed a few things, she asked if he liked fried potatoes, and gravy and he asked what that was...this should be good! I've never met him, and the fact of the matter is that he calls me his sister, and calls my parents his parents when in fact their his Aunt and Uncle. My mom isn't a whole lot older than he is. He didn't have a really good relationship with his parents, and so mine took him in. Gene is deaf, he can however hear with aids so we can talk over the phone. He is such a sweetheart, and his kids are adorable. He has two children Violet (3) and Liam (2) They're so sweet, I wish they were coming out as well. His wife Jennifer is very sweet as well, she teaches learning disabled children and specializes in the hearing impaired. Gene also works with hearing impaired children.

I have a lovely family.

Mmmmmm Crackers and Cheese.

So i'm sitting here sulking wondering how the hell I went 4 hours over my allowed minutes. I have a pretty good guess. I started going over my minutes after Uncle Daddy died, cingular wouldn't give me a break, so...... I'm sitting here eating crackers and cheese...no I'm not drinking wine because in a couple of hours i'll be sitting among thirty kindergarteners, *Now that ya mention it...* Instead i'm drinking cranberry grape juice (100%) juice at that.

%$#@*& *&%@

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There...^%&%*^%*& ...I'm better now...

&^(^%(&&^(^$)#%&)(#&$^_#*($_%*#$_%)

Are you there God? It's me, Char-Marie.

Dear God,

First let me start off by telling you that this is a really petty thing to ask help on, but I just recieved my cell phone bill and there's a mistake on it. It says I owe 190 dollars! I looked at the bill and sometime or other my phone connected itself to the internet and stayed connected to the internet for 244 minutes and at .45cents per minute that adds up to about 109.80. All i'm asking of you right now is to have cingular find it in their hearts to wipe that ugly charge off my bill...because the website that I supposedly connected to was: N368w0Was02124a;lsd.....

Thanks so much. Tell everyone up there I said hello.


Love,
Char-Marie

Amen

Chocolate, Bears, and Singing Roses....Yep, that about covers it!

Valentine's day.....*blah* What is the point of Valentine's Day? I need someone to explain this to me. It's really just a day that EVERY STORE ON THE PLANET talks about and makes into such a big deal, then everyone starts thinking of all the romantic things that can happen on Valentine's Day.....and are let down. For most people it's just a depressing day filled with candy, singing roses, and bears full of fluff! Who needs it.

On the other hand my boyfriend got me a cool thing for my iPod. *love ya Colb* I'm taking Colby on a train ride and out to dinner, should be fun.

I have successfully made it through half of valentine's day, the last half of it i'll be at work. HOW ROMANTIC!

Come by and see me.

"Roadkill"

My little sister's birthday was on February 11th. She's 19 now! I feel very very old! She's getting married soon and going to be having a baby. Time passes way too quickly! For her birthday my parents took all of us *me, Stori, Kyle, Colby* out to eat dinner at the Golden Corral, or the GC as Colby likes to call it, just so happened that it was Steak night. It was sooo good!

My little sister is VERY picky when it comes to eating everything has to be so-so nothing touching ...blah blah blah. Well my dad had got some steak and my sister asked him how he likes his steak-he told her medium. *I prefer well-done* As soon as he tells her this she jumps up and hurls her pregnant body towards the man cutting the steak. He tells her 4 minutes and we'll have some out here. She waits and then goes back 4 minutes later, asks her how she wants it-"medium," she says. He hands her her steak and she comes back to the table.

IT WAS STILL MOOING! The poor thing cried every time she started to cut into it! EHHHH! I looked at it and almost lost the cheesy potato casserole I was enjoying. She looked at it and all of the bloody juices around it and said, "Dad is this safe?" his reply was, "well...." So she took a big bite and I gagged....Then she got another piece and started dipping it into the juice and then eating it. I'm sorry, but if being pregnant makes you crave partially dead animals then i'm definitely adopting! Her new name is "Roadkill"---Although I don't think roadkill would be fresh enough for her new found craving for blood.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amore!!

So for springbreak i'm going to ....... CHICAGO! I'm very excited. Colby and I are flying out of here on March 20th. If anyone has any imput as to what we should do while we're there feel free to leave me a comment! What should I pack? We're not staying for a long time, but I tend to over pack because you can never have too many shoes. *huh, Colby.*

We'll be staying downtown, and we're buying a Chicago city pass. It lets you get into 25 of the biggest attractions there without standing in line. I'm definately going to have a pizza pie while i'm there-can't pass it up!

When Pooh Goes Apeshit!!

I was going through the Ipod the other day and ran into this "Bob and Tom parody" It's freaking hilarious!!! Here it goes:

Pooh Goes Ape Shit, by A.A. Milne

Think reading this in a voice that you'd read to small children-- complete with light music in the background.

- Everything was rather quiet in the hundred acre woods. The trees whispered to each other as the wind rustled their leaves. Under a big oak tree lived pooh bear, from inside pooh's house there came a steady BANG BANG BANG that was making his honey jars rattle on the sideboard. The light came through the window, and in the evening sun pooh raised the axe once more, and brought it down on the tattered remains of Christopher Robin. "Why Wont he Fit?", puffed pooh to himself. As the axe came down once more there was a small pile of earth with a hole next to it which pooh had hidden with his favorite rug. And Christopher Robin, the selfish brat that he was, didn't fit in the hole that pooh had dug, so instead of making it wider he decided to hack Christopher Robin's legs off. "A far more sensible idea," thought pooh, and hummed a little song to himself as he cut the last tendon and rammed the rest of the body in the hole. After covering it up with the rug. "Always too bossy," thought pooh, "always too bossy, always grabbing me by the paw and saying 'come on pooh lets have an adventure!' in that effected cutesy spoiled brat voice and his stupid shorts, "I hate that bastard." Pooh had waited all afternoon for Christopher Robin to come around humming a little tuneless song to himself while gazing blankly into the fire and fondling the oaken handle of the axe. WHen Christopher Robin finally showed up with his squeaking child actor voice, "Come on Pooh open up!" Pooh answered the door normal as anything, talked about the weather and then went to the cupboard and fetched the axe. While C.R. had sat there, prattling on about what a silly bear Pooh was and how he had very little brain (which wound Pooh up no end) Pooh had raised the axe high and brought it down with a satisfying thud on Christopher Robin's skull, cleaving it virtually in two, with just some muscle fibre in place to keep the pieces upright, and freezing C.R's eyes wide in horror that Pooh, lovable Pooh, could do such a thing! Pooh giggled a little and wiped some saliva from his mouth with a shaky paw. Then Pooh, calm as anything, had mopped up the blood, washed the axe and begun to dig the hole.

Piglet had wondered why Pooh had not called for him that morning, to have his tea and biscuits, and so he decided to visit Pooh instead. He admired the evening sun, blood red, and listened to the birds singing. Pooh watched him get nearer and nearer, and plugged in the drill.

Piglet had no time to realise what had happened - the drill pierced his skull, sending a beautiful fountain of blood all over Pooh's orange hide. He rubbed the blood in and all over himself, licking, licking, always licking. Then he pulled Piglet inside and put him in the cupboard. The syringe lay on the sideboard, and Pooh picked it up, paws shaking and sweating, and filled it full of solution of the funny white powder that had been given to him by a strangely spaced-out Rabbit. It was a strange effect at first, and Pooh thought he had seen many strange things, but then experienced a euphoric feeling of power. It made him irritable, and C.R. and Piglet had everything that was coming to them, no doubt at all. When night had fully fallen, Pooh dragged the bodies out and buried them in a makeshift grave.
"Still time to get that little dick-head Roo before he wakes up."

Pooh sneaked to the sleeping form of Roo's mum and saw Roo's ear poking out of her pouch.

"Now I've got you, you little git", Pooh thought, smiling, as he threaded a needle with extra strong cotton. He was jolly grateful for Piglet's sewing lessons now, because he would be able to sew up Roo nice and tightly, so he would not be able to get out and his mum would not be able to rescue him. So very slowly and carefully Pooh began to sew Roo into his pouch and thereby suffocating the annoying idiotic twit. After the deed was done Pooh made his way back to his house wondering how Roo's mum would take the death of Roo. Badly, hoped Pooh, as he began to cough uncontrollably and felt general nausea overcome him.

By the time Pooh got home he had puked up several times and was very desperate for some more of the white solution. He trembled as he picked up the syringe and gave himself the remaining amount. An awfully large amount, one might say, for a small little bear like Pooh. In fact too much, Pooh died of an overdose, but he died with a smile on his face: he was dreaming that he was the only teddy bear made with a willy and dreamed how he surprised Eeyore one day - but that's a story for another day.

Yeah, Kindergarteners look cute, but never turn your back or.....

I'm currently working with a classroom of kindergarteners on their reading. This is something I have to do because of my Elementary Education major, but I enjoy doing this... Well.... I was sitting in one of those "Little People" Chairs when I see this little kid walking around with a baton in his hands. It looked odd, but I didn't really think all that much about it, kindergarteners always twirl batons, don't they? Anyways, all of a sudden I feel this sharp pain in my back... The little jerk hit me! He freaking nailed me in the back with that damn baton! I turned around to look at the little ass-wipe who hit me, and he looks at me with a big smile while he was walking away saying, "soooorrrry", what it actually translated into was "I'll be seeing you next Thursday....You better watch your back...beeeooootch!"

Honestly now, I'm not sure i'll make it out alive! I'm kinda scared. I might need a restraining order.

Rant #327,508

Ok,

After being away from the *fun blogging* for a bit, I thought I would talk about all of the things that have happened to me in the past couple of weeks.

Rant #327,508

Why on earth do the male species think that they have to hoot and holler to get a girl to like them? Here's why I am pissed about this: I'm at wal-mart the other day buying 'girly necessities' and i'm tired, i've been working all night long and all I really want to do is get out of there. I take my purchases and i'm headed out the door. As I get out into the "lobby"-where all the carts are parked- I see this man and woman walking into wal-mart. I keep walking and then all of a sudden the man turns around and yells and I quote, "WOOOOoooo I'd like to get a piece of that shit!" (I was mortified...everything in the lobby echoes and all eyes were on me.)

Excuse me...What? Now honestly, do you really think that verbally molesting me is going to get me to turn around and say, " Alright then have at it!" No. I really wanted to knock him out with the box of tampons I was carrying and give him the following pieces of advice:

1. You're wearing a truckers hat, because you're a trucker sir. Do not yell obscene things at me. (I love truckers, my father happens to be one. I just don't like being yelled at and disrespected by one.)
   
2. You have on velcro shoes. Not that there's anything wrong with velcro shoes, but again you want a piece of this S*&%!
3. You're missing teeth, and are wearing glasses that are taped on one side. Again this isn't helping your "game".
4. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
   
5. And finally don't talk with your mouth open.
   

I really don't understand the logic of catcalls... It pisses me off and i'm liable to go off the handle.

I Hope There Are Guitars In Heaven

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
--Revelation 21:4













For the past two weeks I've been dazed. I don't really even know how to begin this entry, so i'll begin here. Uncle Daddy. Uncle Daddy..... I gave him that name 20 years ago. I woke up at five in the morning to talking.. My mom, my late grandmother, and my "dad". I was talking to him, looking for candy in his pockets..the usual greeting for my dad when he came home from the road. Another comes in that morning.... my "dad". I was confused. It turned out that the first person there that night was my Uncle. My dad's twin. It was the first time I had seen him. I thought he was my dad. So after a while my dad asked me who he was and stated, "daddy." Then he pointed to my uncle and asked who he was... I said, "Uncle Daddy." Its been with him ever since. Just a week and a half ago I had to relive that story at his funeral. The absolute heart break I feel is simply unbearable. Never did I think that I'd be without him. To me my dad and my uncle daddy have been invincible. To see a man of his stature fall...there are no words. I remember the day that he died. He was talking to me about a time when he came down from Alaska and I had him digging in my toy box for a certain toy....That toy happened to be at the bottom of the box. I can remember him telling me that story a lot through out all the stories he's told me, and going through his pictures (I found the one to the right) of the very story he was telling me.

He went through so much pain and struggles thoughout his life, and he kept on going. Even to the very end. We watched gunsmoke the day he passed away- he had to have it on because thats what he did on Sundays. So we watched gunsmoke and talked about the past. That day he was put on oxygen and started to feel a lot better. I thought everything was going to be ok. He started feeling better and things started looking up. I left to go and find a game that he enjoyed playing and was in such a daze when I left that I didnt say goodbye. I thought that he was asleep in my room when I left. Later on my sister said he was wide awake. Did he wait for me to come to say goodbye too? That is something i'll never find out. I just left and I'll never get the chance to say goodbye. I'll never ever forgive myself. How could I just leave without saying goodbye, kissing him on the forehead---anything? I will regret this for the rest of my life. I loved him with all of my heart, and I know that he knew I loved him as well. It's just the pain that won't go away. Everytime I see his pictures, his wooden jewelry boxes he made me, his shirts that are still hanging in my closet. Sometimes I walk into my room and open my closet because I can still smell his shirts. Everything reminds me of him.

My dad gave a great speech at the funeral. I know that he's hurting. He told me that he feels that half of him has been ripped away. I can never say that I understand what he's going through. I am just here for backup. I know that everything reminds him of Uncle Daddy. Looking in the mirror would be a reminder in itself. I guess all I really want to get across is how much life is taken for granted. People aren't always going to be there. People fade away. Just make sure that they know that you love them and that you always tell your family that you love them and goodbye. I'll never get that chance again. He had a heart of gold, and would have literally given you the shirt off his back.

So here's to Uncle Daddy--- May there be guitars in heaven. I love you.

Please look down on us.