{Life} What's Up?

Bringing your weekly random blog post.

So what's up with me?

Right now?

I'm writing a blog post. I have a new mug in front of me, with my name on it. (It was a gift. It's quite cute ;) Unfortunately, it's empty. I already finished my chai tea. It's 7:15, but the house is still dark and quiet. Everyone gets to sleep in during break. I just enjoy the morning enough to NOT sleep in. No, I want my quiet house all to myself! :)

The past week has been usual holiday-type stuff. We went to Garden City to visit my mom's parents, and all the cousins, and all the aunts, and all the uncles...and one dog. There's 21 of us all together (22 with the dog), and their house was cramped! The parents got to stay in a HOTEL. They ditched us with THIRTEEN little kids, high on sugar. The first night, five of the cousins didn't get there until 11:00 ish. Then at 3am, four of the little boys decided to have an insomnia party. 3am.  I woke Tyler up (I figured he was the "scariest" of the big boys) and he got them all straightened out. Anyhow, you know all that sleeping in I mentioned up there^, well that doesn't happen at Grandmas. All the little kids were up before 7. It was a riot.

It was crazy, yes. I still loved it. It's fun to go to bed and get up in the same crowded house for a couple of days. Getting home was fun too.

After a little bit of the whole "everyone-packed-inside" thing, Grandpa decided we needed to do a little adventuring. So he took us to the ONLY hilly spot in Western Kansas. It's called "Battle Canyon" in Scott City. Something about the last Indian battle in Kansas...? I'm not really sure, the history bit confused me. But it was really, really pretty. And everyone could run laps to their hearts content.

That's all for now. Except a picture of the puppy. :)

{Journal} Answer It!

I posted theses questions in another blog post, and I'm going to answer them today.

1.  7 people you would be lost without?

Jesus (very literally lost), Mom, Dad, Tyler, Grandmas (both!), and all my uncles/aunts. (All the uncles and aunts go together. Don't even say that's more than seven! :)

2. What is the best thing about Kansas that you would tell someone from another state?

Sunsets...over amber waves of grain. Cliche, I know, but true. When I was in Alaska this summer I met someone who when they heard I was from KS said, "I've been through KS, it's not much to look at." OUCH! I was inwardly seething. It didn't help that I was very homesick... I've gotten over that little slight on Kansas. She just didn't understand what she was saying.

3. What is one thing you would choose to never go out of fashion?

Sweatpants. They never really in fashion, but I think they are widely accepted right now (especially if you wear you know, an under armour hoodie and slides). Anyhow, I also love lace and maxi skirts. My top choice of those three would be maxi skirts. They are comfy, easy to pair with things, and modest. Win-win and I like 'em!

4. Would you rather your kids be all boys or all girls?

Ooohhh....I can't even, I don't know....(I wrote these questions, and I still don't like them!) Can I just have lots of both, please? I'll take that.

5. You have to wear one type of shoes for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Tennis shoes. Yes, sometimes they would be horribly inappropriate (the beach! Church!) but it would be totally worth it for all the times of comfiness. 

6. You could go to any college cost free, what would you choose?

Just somewhere in a different state. I was looking at some college tuitions not too long ago, and out-of-state tuition was horrendous. But I think it would be fun to go somewhere else and have an adventure while I'm going to college. I think Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, or Tennessee would be some of my top states. NOT a big university, but more like a community/county college.

7. One thing about you that hasn't ever really changed?

My height? My personality. Neither of those things about me have changed much.

8. City or country?

Country. All. da'. way. Yes, it's hard to be so far from everything. No, we can't just run to the store and grab some yeast (needed that this morning) or a redbox. But gravel roads, empty space, the sunset...it's all worth it.

9. Apples or bananas?

Both. Together please. I would say I eat apples more often, but when I go on a banana kick, I can eat a whole bunch in one day. I like apple-flavored things better, WAY better than banana things (like banana cream pie. NO, just no.)

10. One thing you would choose to excel at, effortlessly?

Love. That's an easy one. 

{People} Life Lessons from Others

I did a post like this once upon a time. It was fun, so I obviously wanted to do one again. But the inspiration didn't come until now. The inspiration slowly built over the last couple of weeks. So here's some lessons I've learned from people lately. (No names, sorry. Guess away if you like. You'll never get it. Trust me.)

A week or two ago our family was invited to play games and have supper with another family. I was caught at "games".  I love, love, love playing games. Seriously, love it! Especially with friends. But anyhow, here we were playing games and I watched this interaction between my friend and a couple of her little siblings. We were playing in pairs, and the younger kids wanted to switch around. Something wasn't working out. One person wanted to be with this person, but this person was not in agreement. So my friend really quietly suggested a way for everyone to agree by one person joining her team. I'll add here, her team had won every game up to that point. I just got to thinking about that. She was a peacemaker, obviously. But what stood out to me was that she inconvenienced herself to be a peacemaker. I'd never thought about it that way. I've always thought of being a peacemaker as being the one who just reaches into other peoples life and rearranges things. But, no, peacemaker also means willing to inconvenience yourself to avoid strife for others. Sure, in that instance it was just over a game, but I learned from her small action. (I also learned that it's just a game...I shouldn't be so intense about it....*sheepish grin*)

Second lesson. I was talking with my parents some about being sober (Not talking about alcohol...read Titus 2), and what that means. My mom and I were reading a book with the ladies in our church awhile back and the chapter on being sober was a little confusing to me. (It was on the commands to women in Titus 2) The book almost seemed to suggest no laughing, no teasing. But I couldn't agree with that. I would definitely agree that my family (*points to self*) doesn't have the sober thing down. We tease all. the. time. Anyhow, we were talking over what we thought it meant. So I started going through people in my head who I thought showed what I would consider the right mix of soberness and joy. (If the Bible says laughter is the best medicine, I can't believe we are meant to be always serious) After some consideration, I came across a whole family I thought was headed in the right direction. There's always laughter and fun when they're around, but it never seems to be at other's expense, or rude. It's just good, fun laughter. (Several of them have a gift for telling stories that is really funny!) I think there's a lot of things I could learn from them (there's one specifically who has already helped me a lot in my attitudes toward my family just by example) about being a godly family, but this is one! :)

In conclusion, God has given people many people different gifts. Learn from those around you! :)

{Pictures} From the Archives

I've already technically posted on my blog this week. But I decided to do it again, cause I published it on Tuesday morning. So, I'm posting again to clarify that I did, indeed post on my blog this week.

That was a random and unnecessary explanation. :)

I'm sure you're dying with curiosity wondering what I'm going to post about. :) I did this "old pictures" post not too long ago. It was so much fun. I love, love looking through old pictures and digging them out of the archives. So, I'm doing that again. But I'm starting with a prompt! The more strange pictures from the archives of the Marteney computer. Enjoy!

 Uhh. Can we say, embarrassing? Yes, I'm wearing overalls. I've never had any sense of fashion. Anyhow, moving past my wardrobe choices. Why do we all have clips on our mouths? I think my mom decided it was more pleasant that way. Can't blame her really.

 You can't tell very well but that is, indeed a pig in our house. It was one of the years Tyler raised pigs, and this one was sick. When you have sick animals, you bring them inside. It was not cool. It was not fun. It did not smell good. Oh my goodness, it did not smell good. But the pig lived, and tasted very good.

 *Dies* Is that not one of the cutest things you've ever seen? That's Kota's highly efficient way of drying the floor. He was about four, but I bet he'd still do it now! :)

 A hummingbird. My dad holding a hummingbird. He just, you know reached out and snagged it out of the air with his superhero reflexes. So, maybe not. It's really a better story. Hummingbirds kept conking into our window and this one apparently knocked itself silly. It did eventually fly away. In conclusion, that's a hummingbird with a brain injury.

 Lego art. Sometimes my family can be a little embarrassing in public places. I wasn't actually with them on this trip, so I was spared the mortification.

 Yes, they did this posing several times.

 That's our two-headed cat! It's actually O'Malley 1 and 2. The original O'Malley's as kittens. They were quite cute, and fell asleep like this one day. But two-headed cat is a better story.

Have I mentioned how much I love pictures? These strange ones are especially fun and bring back the best memories. Or the weirdest. Or whatever. It's fun, that's the point :)

{Life and Pictures} The Big Things and the Little Things

This is my 62nd blog post. I personally find 62 to be very exciting. So let's celebrate with some exciting things that have happened. At least, I thought they were exciting.

Thanksgiving with family. Getting to see cousins. We had to drive four hours away to see the cousins who live one hour from our house. Yeah, I don't know how that worked either. It was my uncles turn to have the "party" at his house, which is four hours away. And there wasn't really a good place to stay, so the family trekked out there, just to trek back home in the same day. It was a lot of car time. But it was better than expected. We watched movies on the way home :) But cousin time is always worth it. We took our annual cousin KSU picture. (my blog has been lacking in pictures recently. Please allow me to make up for that...)

A little in between picture shenanigans. This is my favorite, but it's missing some people, so it didn't make the cut :)

Something else exciting happened during our Thanksgiving party. One of my mom's friends from highschool/college came to the park with us because she lives in the said four hour away place (Aswego/Parsons Kansas, if you wanted to know. It's not much to see...). My dad mentioned that we were going to look at a litter of puppies in the area. She mentioned back that she had a puppy to get rid of (last of a litter that just hadn't found a home yet).

I probably forgot to say, my dad's dog Mercy got hit on the road not too long ago. It was very sad. And dad hasn't had anyone to take to work with him.

So back to the story. We went to her house on the way home. Have you ever been faced with one rolly-polly white puppy and been able to say "Nope. That's not the one"? I didn't think so. Turns out, we can't either. So, four hours home with the cutest little thing you ever did see. She slept the whole way. :)

She remained nameless for one day. The ideas were as follows: Betty May (She came from Labette county, Amy was her previous owner. Betty=Labette, May=Amy all mixed up.) Jasmine (we were watching a movie on the way home with a character named Jasmine), Tiger (I dunno...my dad votes for weird names), and Hunka Monka (my little cousin's suggestion...don't know where that came from either?)

But a dog can't go without a name forever. Betty May won out. It's perfect for her. I know you've been waiting for a picture, so now I shall oblige.

She's been so much fun. Aww. I love puppies. Especially when I'm not the one who has to take care of it. Great addition to our family.

What else? Well, I found the perfect brownie recipe. I've searched long and hard, I can tell you. Other people can do it. But I have never been able to find that perfect, soft, crumbly brownie. I've now done it. C'mon, be excited. I won't admit to making two pans in two days...but.... :) Hey, they're that good!

Was that enough excitement? I'll share just a few more pictures of some things I've been up to: (My mom is using these as Christmas gifts, of some sort. I don't really know the plan. But I've had a lot of fun picking out pictures, and making them)