braids and blunders

i don't really have that much to say except that lots of little hilarious things have been happening. "hilarious" meaning so weird or frustrating that they turn into hilarity. first, an update. bruce was not a brown recluse! the extermiator took him, jar and all, and confirmed that he was indeed a regular spider, not a flesh-mutilating beast from the deapths of hell...sorry. so that's GOOD news! they sprayed all the apartments inside and out, and we've still been killing spiders and been seeing webs, but it's not as bad. so that's GOOD!!!!! someone who also had a spider problem in their past said that you should just knock the webs down, and it will probably freak you out b/c webs that you thought were dead will be back the next day, but to just keep knocking them down and the spiders will eventually give up and move on...i don't know how valid that is, but i'm definitely willing to give it a go!!! we need to get ourselves a "web broom" so we don't have to use our good one.

in other news, i have lost a skill. i used to be able to french braid my hair really well, and now that it's getting longer - finally! - i tried it the other day. i was a complete and utter failure. i tried, and it looked like poo. then i tried again, and it looked like worse poo. then i rested my arms and tried again, and it looked like poo again, so i just gave up and wore my hair down and poofy. oh well. i suppose some things aren't meant to be. but i want to be able to do it!! maybe i'll get chris to learn.

in more other news, bethington and markamillion are getting married on saturday!!! (we call them that - they're really just beth and mark) see? aren't they great?! (except that mark's hair is not really, really short...beth keeps cutting it!) STUPID BLOGGER!!!! sorry...no picture allowed....their day!!! it's finally here!!! i really like to layout documents, and my mom does calligraphy as a side-job and so she has all these "ins" with paper companies - she knows how to get really good quality paper for really cheap. so i told beth that i could help her with her programs - the layout and the printing. so we finalized the program on the computer and printed the final, camera ready copy. she picked out the kind of paper she wanted, i picked it up, and took it to kinkos to have it printed up. no problem! this morning i went to pick them up and they looked like POO!!! i mean, really. all the script type looked like it had been erased halfway and you just couldn't read it. i thought, i hoped, i dreamed that it was maybe just a few of them, but no. it was the entire thing. all 250 copies. i told the very nice girl that they looked like poo (in a much nicer way) and that i would have to take one and show it to my friend and get back to them. well, guess who i called? mom!!! she rescues me quite often. i work full time and mom doesn't, so she went down to kinkos - they kind of know her personally b/c she's there so much...long story short, apparently some sort of marks had gotten on the original and whoever did the printing lightened, and lightened, and lightened the copies to get rid of the marks as opposed to, oh, i don't know, whiting them out or erasing them???? stupid person, whoever it was. so they were going to do the reprinting for no charge, which was great, but what about the paper?! we had no more paper and a ream costs like $30!!! well, mom asked to see what they had and she picked one that she said "i defy you to tell the difference!!" and as it turns out, it was EXACTLY THE SAME. brand and color. *whew* God is so good to provide little details like that. so the really good news is that they didn't charge for the ream of paper either. and now beth has 262 programs as opposed to 250. *whew* and needless to say, i'm not breathing a word of this to beth. maybe when she gets back from the honeymoon, but maybe not.

so mom brought the finished 262 programs to me here at work. she stayed a bit longer than she probably should have, but we haven't seen each other in forever! we stood and talked for a while out at her car, and then she went on her way to try to complete another one of her crazy projects that she's always working on - usually with calligraphy stuff. new story: i went out for lunch and to get my name changed with our bank. the place where i went for lunch ("deli man & cake lady" - BEST FOOD EVER!!!) is kind of random - not really that out of the way, but i decided i needed a salad plate, so i went. and whose car is in the parking lot but my mother's. random!!! i went in to use the potty and it was locked, and who came out of it but my mother! haha! it was hilarious. we chatted a bit more and went on our ways.

so mom's not invited to beth's wedding - small chapel, they don't know each other, it's understandable. but mom really wants to peek in b/c she loves the church she's getting married in and she just likes weddings. so she's going to sneak in and possibly crash the wedding. hah! but she's in a dilemma b/c she's going to another wedding that day, but she can't find the invitation and she can't remember what time the other one - the one she was actually invited to - starts. so if any of you out there who read this know of someone getting married on july 29 up on signal mountain, could ya let me know what time you're getting hitched? that'd be great. thanks. ;)

in still more news, chris was going to go play up at bryan college sometime this week with his good friend josh bales who's leading worship at a summer retreat for rising freshmen in college, and he emailed me around 3:30 yesterday and said "josh just called. i'm playing tonight!" so i left a few minutes early...you know...no one noticed...i hope...and we booked it up to dayton, tn, and had so much fun! except for the fact that josh kept getting frustrated with the faltering technology and chris had lowered confidence b/c he hasn't played in so long, but i'm telling you, no one in the "audience" noticed, and almost everyone LOVED chris' music! he has played before and sold one, maybe two cds. last night? he sold FIFTEEN!!!oh wow. it was such an encouragement and SO very cool. music for missions is a great organization, and we're really wanting this cd to still be good for them!!!

anyway, josh took us to eat in dayton to this amazing place that served us the best sandwich i've ever tasted!!! wonderful me can't remember the name of it, but maybe it's good since i'm about to talk bad about it. we were sitting in the corner and i noticed a little spider web in the corner - to be expected in an old building with exposed brick as their walls. as the dinner progressed deeper into josh and chris talking about music, i daydreamed and my eyes wandered more and more over the walls around me. i noticed more and more spider webs that i began to think weren't so old and dead afterall. and one of the webs was one of those giant ones that runs all along the wall, so you don't notice it at first - it was about 1 foot or 2 in diameter. and then, i saw LEGS! big legs. then i saw ANOTHER SET!!! two giant spiders were living in their wall. right there in the restaurant!!!! EWWW!!! the girl that was working there knew josh really well and kept saying she didn't want to see it, but she kept inching closer and closer b/c it was fascinating, and we all finally just shuddered and moved on with our lives. spiders. they're dadgumeverywhere!!!!

in even still more news, neutrogena "skin smoothing, bump minimizing" lotion is THE BEST THING to ever happen to me...well, besides Jesus...and besides chris. but still. i've always had those little bumps on the backs of my arms - HATE THEM (and apparently it's called karatosis pilaris) and it's supposed to get rid of them. well, IT WORKS. for the first time in 27 years, i have smooth skin on my arms. it's absolutely amazing. a true miracle!!! well, maybe it's not all that dramatic since i've never really looked for anything to make it better or gone to the doctor about it...but STILL!!! it's freaking awesome. try it!!!!

oh and you might notice a new little banner to your left there. i found the "singer/songwriter directory" and signed chris up to be in it today - nothing special, but still something - see?. when i did, they gave me the option of putting a link or banner on my website, so i did. click on it and visit it if you have time!

okay my fingers are tired and i have work to do. happy last week in july!!!!