*exhale*

i always have ideas of clever thing to write down here. but those ideas come when i'm not at the computer and then they leave the second i put my fingers to the keyboard. so, i have some random thoughts about things i want to update everyone on, but i don't know how to connect it all. so now is the time that we thank the Lord for bullet points.

• i think i've told most people already...but for those i haven't: i've gotten involved again as a mentor with the youth group at my church & this summer (june 30-july 14) i'm going along with them to Vancouver for Mission Adventures! we've been getting together once a week for the last couple of months and it's so exciting! we'll be doing mainly street ministry while we're out there. the group of youth that are coming out are awesome! i'm so excited to be with them & learn with them. it's only 4 weeks away now. crazy how fast time closes in on itself.
• on the work front: i'm back at solomon's porch! i've been working there since the beginning of this month every wednesday, friday and saturday. but most weeks i end up working more than just those days. this week i've worked monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday and saturday. i had forgotten how much i love working with books. although it can be crazy & gogogo (like this week) i sometimes like the crazy days, because then i can enjoy the relaxing days so much more.
• last night i feel asleep on my back. why am i talking about this? i was laying on my back falling asleep (trying to) and suddenly i had this overwhelming memory of being back in my old room in Borgen. i think it's because while i was there i feel asleep on my back often (i believe this is because i was body pillow-less and so sleeping on my side was uncomfortable) so last night i'm laying there on my back & i could just imagine where Bex was asleep across from me, the desk by my head, Annika playing her music above us :), the sink dripping. everything. then i was thinking about my last evening there. i was packing up all of my stuff. it was 2am or sometime crazy and we had to leave at 5am. bex was asleep. and i was packing up all of my stuff. you know that feeling? like, knowing that you're leaving a place you love. and that you might not go back. hm, i hope this isn't getting depressing. but this is what i all felt while i was lying on my back trying to sleep last night. i miss you guys.
• last week-end i went to my uncle and aunt's cabin with my family. my parents wanted to bring my dog along b/c she loves running wild. so, not wanting to deprive my dog of 3 days of bliss, i said sure. the one thing about this that i wasn't too sure was a little 4 letter word. tick. it's tick season. my worst enemy. so i consented to letting my dog run wild through tick infested territory. what was i thinking? anyways, so we brought her home & i half-heartily check her for ticks. didn't find nothing. or wait...i found nothing. didn't find anything. then last night steph and i were hanging out in the kitchen and i was rubbing Buddy's head. stop. what was that? i think i felt something....NOOOOO! a tick had hid itself under Buddy's head and had been happily sucking her blood all week long. *shudder* i had heard that it was bad to just pull ticks off b/c their head gets stuck, other bad organisms get release, you know, all that gross stuff. so steph looked online for what i was supposed to do. this is what it said
  Remove the tick properly. Using sharp pointed tweezers, or specially made tick tweezers, grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, as close to its embedded mouthparts as you can. If you squeeze the body or head, you risk compressing the guts and salivary glands and expelling even more organisms through their mouth into your body. Do not twist the tick or turn the tweezers as you pull out the tick. Pull out straight with a slow, steady motion. Twisting may force more organisms into your body, and may result in the head or more of the mouthparts being left in your body.
  Do not apply any substances to the tick before removing it - no alcohol or nail polish, no petroleum jelly or other ointments, and do not try to burn it out or otherwise convince to let go of you. It won't let go. It will just happily keep on sucking your blood and pumping pathogens into you.
  grooooooss. i hate ticks. they are even more terrible than any other thing. they're little, sneaky, hard to kill, and they suck your blood to get fat. so i decided that there was no way i was going to be able to get buddy still enough to get tweezers near her head & slowly pull that sick thing off of her. no way. so i left it for the night & dreamt about ticks (that is not a joke...totally serious) in the morning i convinced my dad to help me with it. so my dad held buddy down while i went to the root of this problem...but we couldn't keep buddy still enough. SO, i called up the veterinarian & said "WHAT DO I DO?" they said pull it. just pull it. so i did. i got kleenex & grabbed on & pulled that puppy off of my puppy. to end this story i'll just say two words: dead. done. ok, i never want to talk about this again.
• i am supposed to be in my room right now. it's calling my name. it's been doing that the last 2 months. just calling my name. a week after i got home from Norway i started redoing it. the combination of three things (me, my room, and redoing) may seem like a simple task....but i'm telling you: it is not! you see, my house is very old, and my room needs a lot of touch ups, then i come along with my perfectionistic ideals and try to get this room looking the way i want it to. it's a big job. for the first month of redoing it i'll admit i exercised procrastination like a crazy person...but this last month i just haven't had time. ever. ok, that's an exaggeration...but the precious time that i have had to my self i did not want to spend slaving over removing paint from my window sill. strange. but true. so i think it's time to go back now. i've wasted enough of my time doing other things, and this was my last resort.

i must go now. my mom is looking at me funny. yep, back to the room i go.