life's mini-adventures

Sunset in the Himalayan foothills of Nepal
Copyright (c) 2007 Wendee Holtcamp

Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
- Swedish proverb

It's Sunday afternoon and this morning I said my goodbyes to my boyfriend Doug who works offshore as a commercial diver working on offshore oil platforms... He'll be gone either 2 or 3 months, so it will be a while before there are more silly pics of us (I'm sure you won't have to wait long for silly pics of me and my girlfriends!). The diving stuff is pretty interesting. Instead of diving with tanks, they have a tube of oxygen feeding directly to the surface (that is, to the tanks of oxygen on the boat on the surface)! They have hot water running through their wetsuits, so it's like "diving in a hot tub" as he put it, and one more thing I didn't know: they can stay under for up to 8 hours. Yes, you read that right. Holy cow! Crazy isn't it?! It can be dangerous work, so prayers for his safety are always appreciated.

We spent a great low-key weekend hanging out together. Life's a series of little mini-adventures isn't it? My heart feels so full of love and joy, and I feel very blessed. Not every day is easy or perfect, because in close relationships we start to see our own flaws more clearly as we learn to relate and communicate about deep and sensitive issues. On that note, one thing that I did this weekend was a New Year's resolution of sorts. The Christian radio station I listen to, KSBJ, is asking listeners to pick out one thing to focus on. I hadn't planned on doing that, but yesterday, when one of the DJs said that it just came to me that I wanted to be more positive. And that is my one thing.

It's funny because I used to be (and still am, I believe, to my students, and in leadership positions, and to friends) very enthusiastic, positive, encouraging. But I can be very hard on myself, and sometimes on those I love most. I had been talking to my friend Trish about some of these things and she mentioned a saying of Thich Nhat Hanh that was about watering the things you want to grow. This also reminded me of something I'd heard Stedman Graham - Oprah's long-term partner/boyfriend say - "Those things you focus on expand." And it's really similar to the Bible verse I have taped to my bathroom door:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

The kids are I are going to go see a movie today, but I'm not sure which one yet. They're off school tomorrow, and then I have to head to Austin Tuesday since I have to testify before the Texas State Board of Education on Wednesday morning regarding the science standards. I have to write my testimony! So I'll leave you with a few pics.

I got this in email and thought it was funny:

Have you ever wondered how a woman's brain works?
Well....it's finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:

I found a sparrow that had been hit by a car, but was not dead, in the middle of the road in my subdivision. I saw it, and stopped the car and went back and saw it was alive so of course I had to rescue it, in case he would survive. We got a little box, and put him in a towel in the box. I then made the possibly fatal mistake of getting him some water in a dish. The poor thing couldn't even walk or fly, though he'd sort of seem to come to attention now and then. We left him in the box while we went to the grocery store, but when we came back, the poor birdie was face down... in the water. :( I am really hoping that it did not drown when it went to get a drink of water because then I feel really really awful!! But I tried... We said a prayer over the bird before we left, so hopefully it is in birdie heaven. Doug also loves animals very much!
Doug loves to play his Myspace apps... and World of Warcraft. Funny thing, we made this hilarious video on my webcam, where I was him (wearing his hat) and we was me, and we were making fun of each other. I go, "Dude I want to play WOW!" and he goes "I want to talk about emotions!" and then pretends to cry... ha ha! It's pretty freaking hilarious!!! At least we can laugh at each other :)
This is what Doug calls my "eeek!" face. :)
I made this awesome pasta dish I made up from scratch that pairs rigatoni with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and chicken pieces, with a sauce made of butter, parmesan, salt & pepper. This is the 2nd time I've made it and I bought this totally cool new product where the Parmesan cheese has its own built-in grater! I love this because when you buy the whole chunks (as opposed to pre-grated) not only is it fresher, it also does not have all the preservatives needed for pre-grated cheese. But we had so much fun grating the cheese - lol - we were cracking up! And it was yummy! Run out and buy one of these next time you need Parmesan!!
This photo absolutely cracks me up. I was feeding Doug the long strings of cheese that come out of the grater and notice how I opened my mouth when I was feeding HIM?! Ha ha! I don't know why I did that but I think I was acting like I was showing a baby how to eat! :) Here, open your mouth like thiiiissss...
A cute pic of Doug with his Colorado hat on. :)
I made some pumpkin pie this weekend, using the pumpkin puree I made from the pumpkins Sam used for the smashing pumpkins contest at his birthday party back in Oct last year! And there's still more pumpkin! It's good. :) Pie rocks!
Doug is so sweet - he got me a Valentine's gift and card since he'll be offshore then! This picture didn't turn out but here's me in the dress he got me. :)
This is the back of my head with the little alien antennae things that say "cutie." I'll have to get some pics from the front with it on, but this will do for now! We got it at HEB. :)