do YOU think my tractor's sexy??

Today I recieved another lesson in the fine art of driving a tractor. Again I am thankful that my car is a manual ("yea for chicks who drive sticks!" - jules prz) as that eliminated at least one thing for me to get accustomed to. But seriously, girls on tractors - sexy/not sexy? Please post comment with your thoughts (if you don't know the song, laugh anyways) I am curious what the consensus is. I wish I could post a picture right now, but my camera is broken. Besides I'll wait until I'm tan again, and blonde again, and a little more buff. Then I'll get my best cut off t-shirt and some Carharts and I'll give you all a proper look at my new life in the barn-cleaning business.

Thoughts for the day:

Observation: It has been snowing all day but none of it is sticking to the ground - it's like 50% white out and there's nothing to show for it.
Immediate plans: A nap.

Future plans: Still undecided.
Time wasted today with: myspace.com - it sucks you in these friend network things.
Current wishes: high-speed internet, a phone call
TO-do List: put away my laundry, go to the bank, take a shower
Things I'm looking forward to: April 19th, chocolate chip cookies tonight, my nap
Current smell: on me- Barn, in the air- fresh brownies
Today I Miss: Australia, my little sister
Question to ponder: Does anyone read this blog????

from a fellow blogger.....too great not to share

I read this last week and decided I just had to post it where others might see. It's just funny. Enjoy! The link to the authors blog is at the bottom.

Today I would just like to give a big hello to a dear
friend of mine: John Mayer.

I would just like to notify you, Mr. Mayer, that you have
screwed us all - any musician at least.

I used to think that maybe my stupendous
ability to play the guitar would help me weasel into the heart of some beautiful maiden someday. I had heard that men who played the guitar got
the girls. Now, however, this has all changed. It has recently been brought to
my attention that, these days, not only do we men have to learn to play the
guitar ("look at me, look at all the cool jazz chords I can play"), now we have
to be able to sing with these dumb things. Also, if we happen to be playing
guitar in the presence of a women, we are promptly asked to play (and sing) one
of your stupid songs, and should we refuse this request, we are regarded as
being utterly talentless, or even worse, we are completely ignored.

Therefore, out of sheer spite, I have written a song, and it shall be
called "Love Song for No One." Mind you, this is not in your honor, nor does it
give evidence for your influence on my musical style or tastes. It is simply
that I have decided to completely ignore your existence, and thus, deny the fact
that anyone has ever written a song with the aforementioned title.

John, who?

Most Sincerely, Steve Grunewald

By the way, should a woman happen to be reading
this, I love John Mayer's music as much as you do.

Leaving on a jet, er, uh.... I guess not

The weekend was not as expected, but this time the disaster of plans was not my own. Apparently the "political instability in the region" made it unwise for my brother to take his flight from Seattle on Sunday. Unfortunatly it took all of three days just to get the right people on the phone to find out what we could do about the already purchased plane ticket. It was a little stressful, especially with my mom calling every few hours 'just to make sure he's not going to get on that plane'. Uhg, sigh, "Ok Mom, I'm sure he won't" (my noncommital response).

So both of us returned to Montana today when it was supposed to be just me. Not that I minded the company, but I know how disappointed my brother is having his plans disintegrate last minute. It was hard trying to make the responsible decision based on the information he had, the people advising him, the purpose of the trip, the flexibility, or lackthereof in the situation. My gut feeling didn't really go either way, when I would ask God I just felt "let him get on the plane if that's his decision" and so I tried not to push him one way or the other. Thankfully he had the advice of our good friend who we stayed with who has a lot of travel experience in the past few years. I hate being the one always trying to tell him things, especially when it's news he doesn't want to hear.

We did have fun otherwise though. Saturday my brother, our friend Justin and I made the short drive up to Vancouver, BC. We walked around Gas Town, which is a cute part of downtown, ate Indian food, and then drove a little ways and went to the IMAX and saw Robots. We even experienced some genuine Canadian culture. We were looking for a place to get a drink before the movie because we had an hour to kill, so we crossed the street to check out the sports bar in the complex across the street. What we found was PeeWee Hockey. Each of us seemed to be drawn in, impressed by 9 and 10 year olds who could move on the ice as easy as they might walk down the street. For about ten minutes we watched and no one said anything about leaving. Then, after being impressed and entertained for a few minutes we recommenced our original search. Sitting up in the balcony with the Mom's cheering on their kids who couldn't hear them through the glass was a very classic experience. Yay for Canada!

Mornings on the farm start early, and Easter Sunday was no exception. We got up before chores and went to a small "sunrise service" that was held in a barn up the road because of the rain. It was simple and sweet.

Due to prolonged waiting for information about the ticket we stayed in Seattle Sunday night instead of driving to Pullman as I had planned. It was fun anyways though because I got to surprise one of my roomates from Denver with a call to invite myself over. That's that great thing about YWAMers, they're all over the place and they're always good for at least a couch and some breakfast. If there's one thing we all understand it's random travel plan changes and the value of a free place to stay. Catching up with a good friend is in no way second to that, it's just a beautiful observation I had to make.

That's enough of a post for now.

Another Spring Weekend In Washington

Here I go again. For the last two years I have made at least one significant weekend trip to Washington in the Spring. Due to the blaring failure (on certain levels) that has occured previously, I didn't intend to continue the habit. However, I find myself on March 25th again getting in a car Washington-bound. Though this time I have a much more, let's say casual, approach to things. Not that I had serious plans in the past, but things still seemed to turn out seriously wrong. It's 5:45am and I'm taking my brother to Seattle to catch a flight to Kyrgystan. Do you know where that is?

Kyrgystan is in Central Asia bordering China, Kazakstan, Uzbekastan and maybe one of the other 'stan countries. Over the last three or four days the people have successfully rioted and taken over the gov't buildings in the capitol forcing the now ex-president to resign and leave the country. Is this the definition of a coup? I'm not sure what it's called, but please PRAY FOR KYRGYSTAN and for MY BROTHER LUKE. He'll be working with a Bible school there and some other people for the next 4 weeks and we're all really looking forward to him coming home safely.

So on to road trippin', cow tippin' and fun.

Purchased.

Yay for buying plane tickets online! I'll be in Denver April 19th - 25th. Shhhh, it's a secret. :)

No More First Days For A While

Working with a temporary agency made me realize something. Everyone hates their first day of work. It's full of apologies, stupid questions, apologies for stupid questions, slow progress and a general awkwardness of being in a new place with people you don't know. The thing about a temporary agency is that EVERY day is your first day.

Thankfully I will no longer be making my awkward way through first days or around over eager coworkers. I started a new job yesterday working at the barn where my sister has worked for the last four years. I'll be cleaning stalls now. See this link for a laugh and a small mental picture. No really I don't mind it. Mucking stalls is hard work, but a good workout. It's great to be working only two miles from home too, I can ride my bike in the summer and save a lot with gas getting so expensive. Raise your hand if you didn't know that my car has 296,000 miles on it. Yeah, I thought so. It's crazy, but I love my car (named Max for future reference). So I'm a little sore, and I smell when I get off work, but I am blessed to have a job. Especially one that will allow me to take the vacation I'm planning next month.

I need to say "I'll think about it", that's perfectly noncommital

Song quote appropriate today:
"Seems to me that Maybe, pretty much always means no." - Jack Johnson

It's true.

So I guess I kindof got asked out by this guy at work today. For the last two days I've been bagging groceries at the supermarket in town and toward the end of the day the guy that I was sortof working beside (he was showing me what I was supposed to do I guess) is asking me about my schedule.....the conversation gets to...

He said: "Well, if you're busy next Friday, uh would like to get a bite to eat some other time?"
[My Inner voice: "uh, NO. But what do I say?"]
Actual response: (elongated) Uh, (weak) maybe??
["How do I fix this?] "Yeah, I could give you my number I guess. ["Julie, you're dumb. How to change this?"] You should come to that bible study I told you about. Yeah, if you want to hang out you should come to that...[Maybe that will put him off]."
He said: "Yeah, (he mumbles something about numbers...)

LATER - He says " Hey I'll come talk to you before I leave." (he's scheduled off at 6pm, I'm off at 6:30pm) I say "OK" (ehh, He touched my arm when he said that - Weirded out!)

The rest of the story - I needed to meet someone, so I asked the manager and got to leave at 5:55pm. I think I mumbled something of an apology to no one in particular as I walked out the door, but I honestly didn't think of looking for him in the back before I left.

Lesson in this story -when you're 20 years old and you've only been kindof asked out (now) twice in your life, putting someone off nicely without being unclear is not something I know how to do. Sorry grocery guy if I hurt your feelings.
I feel like I escaped, is that weird? And for the record, I know you're probably wondering, I didn't think he was attractive, but I also could not imagine trying to make conversation over a meal- at all - not even a little bit. Ok, story of my odd day at work.
The End.

Are You Wearing Green?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or is it? I find it strange anyways that so many people have NO clue whatsoever as to the purpose or origin of this holiday. To most it is a reason to pick a specific color in the morning for their shirt and put some color in their beer. Or if not to color it, at least to feel free (the holiday falling on a weekday more times than not) to drink more than usual and eat cornbeef and cabbage. Do you really think most people would EVER eat those foods without the tradition? Like most holidays the true meaning is almost completely forgotten and no longer part of our culture, so I guess I should just mourn a little and move on...

Ok, I'll be honest. After writing that paragraph I went on about some other things, and then I felt convicted that rather than criticizing and then joining the majority in their ignorance I should seek out the information like an intellectual person. So in the only true knowledge-seeking action I could take, I "google-d" St. Patty's Day and the above links are a few that I found. Now I can say that while the color green and corn beef mean nothing new to me I find a special fondness for this holiday I didn't have before. In it's religious roots March 17th was a day set aside for spritual refreshing and praying for missionarys (in honor of St. Patrick's pioneering missionary work in Ireland). How sweet is that? When I shared at bible study last Sunday I said that I "think God may have made a missionary out of me without me knowing it". It's true my heart just gets excited about getting the gosple out there. If you haven't prayed for a missionary lately, put on your best green shirt, have a beer and get to it!

for an example of what St. Patrick's Day is NOT, and for a laugh read this.

twisted fingers

I think some days if I twiddle my thumbs one more hour they will tangle and then I'll be in a real mess. I should write an email? No. That's already been decided. I do nothing, but I'm not good at it. I'm not good at waiting. I don't have much faith in the process, though that could have something to do with my impulsiveness cutting short any previous tries. It's not like I'm alone. It's a little better on days when I'm busy. So impatient, wondering about a lot of things. I guess this doesn't make sense.

No, it doesn't make sense, but this blog wouldn't be worth your time if I only wrote when I was excited or happy about something. I used to journal when my thoughts didn't make sense, I'd just write until I ran out of words and somehow that helped me feel better. So maybe that's what I'm reaching for today. Sometimes I'll just smile real big at nothing aparent, but I have memories that don't warrent explaining to anyone who wasn't there. I like talking about good times, but the realist in me knows that the past was, and the future might be one way or another, but I have to judge each day based on today.

Song lyrics going through my head today:

" I miss you my friends, more than words can say " - notmother?
"If dreams are like movies than memories are films about ghosts " - counting crows

By the way, I colored my hair and cut it (over 8 inches!)yesterday. It hasn't changed much in the last three years, so it's sorta fun!

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