The Family Supper.

I haven’t posted in a while. I apologize. But it’s not my fault. It’s the month of June. It’s trying to kill me.

A couple of weeks ago, my uncle and aunt were back up here for a visit from New Mexico. So, we had a family gathering at my parents’ place. (My parents live on the home place so it was nice that my aunt and uncle could come back and see it). With this uncle and aunt being there, there was my sister, brother-in-law, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, niece, other aunt and uncle, cousin, my parents (obviously) and Grandma. So a total of 15 and that’s not including the cousin and cousin in law with 2 kids and another cousin with soon to be cousin in law. Full house.

I’m talking about who was there on purpose. Since my aunt and uncle only come up like once a year, if that, we don’t see them very often and when we do, it’s not always all together.

Now my cousin, Evan, is one of the funniest people I have ever known. Then you get us together and it’s all down hill from there. No one is safe. Guard your children. We tend to have a sarcastic sense of humor together and we usually take it out on whom ever is sitting across from us, which is usually my sister-in-law.

Our aunt and uncle haven’t seen us together since we were like 16 (we’re very close in age). We were 16 8 years ago. So my mother puts us together and puts my aunt and uncle together. Maybe because she was worried they couldn’t handle our humor? I don’t know.

We sat down ready to eat, because it was late, that’s my fault because I got off work late and it’s like a 2 hour drive. Evan looks at me and goes “it’s like when you were little and you had to behave because you were sitting by the teacher” (both aunt and uncle are teachers). We laughed.

Throughout the meal, my aunt and uncle were amazed on how my cousin and I interacted. We really are an amazing spectacle.

Now, point of the story is that I think that everyone needs a sidekick/cohort in a family. I mean, Evan and I have a connection and we understand each other. That connection is important. GET ONE! It’s special.

The Hunger is Gone

I have finished the Hunger Game Trilogy. Sigh

Major spoilers ahead.

Katniss had babies. Boo. Now, don’t get me wrong, Katniss deserves babies and marriage and happiness after everything that happened. But I said after the second book to a friend of mine that if she had babies, it would ruin the character for me. When I finished the first book, I was very against her having babies, second book still pretty adamant about it. She was a very strong female presence that I was positive that she wouldn’t want babies because she wouldn’t want her kids to go through what she did. Even at the end of the last book she had to be talked into having babies.

There were some very strong characters in this series, which I totally appreciate. At one point I questioned if there were to many strong personality characters. But I don’t think so now. If there had been any less, I don’t think the series would have worked.

So, Team Gale or Team Peeta. Actually Team Finnick. I love him. (Best part of the series is when they tell him to get pants on, his response was classic! Again, I love him.) But back to the other two. Well I started out Team Gale because of Katniss’ guilt of kissing Gale. But then I was Team Peeta and then got mad at Peeta for being a “traitor” but then after he was rescued, totally back on the Peeta wagon.

I feel like Katniss developed throughout the series, which being a round character is good, better than a flat character. But I was never sure how I felt about it. I finished book 3 last night and usually after sleeping on a book, I can process and figure out how I feel about stuff. But I like Katniss, I think she handles things very well. I hate that Prim was killed.

I was mildly surprised when Katniss killed 13’s president. I mean, I should have seen that coming. There were huge signs for that. But I had to reread it. Maybe I just wasn’t expecting it to happen like it did and with those consequences. I don’t know but I was a little shell-shocked with how it went down.

Haymitch. I don’t think I can go without talking about him. At first HATED the man. He was an alcoholic, who likes those guys? But after you saw what the Hunger Games really was like, you can’t help but feel for the man. At the end of the series, I kind of felt affection for Haymitch.

And can we talk about Cinna? I mean really, he was amazing and the Capital tortured and killed him. BOOO! He was a good friend to Katniss.

Anyway, liked the series and I’m sure I’ll publish this and think of more things to write, so keep checking back for updates.

The Rhythm

Back in the day, when I was about 13, I went through a Temptaions phase. For those who don’t know who the Temptations are, 2 things. 1. Shame on you. 2. they’re classic. (and for those of you, who still haven’t googled them, they sang “My Girl”).

I have always been a sucker for harmonizing and men who can sing. I swoon like Marie Antoinette putting on her corset over a man who can sing. I can’t help it, I grew up in a musical family so it’s ingrained in me to love well-done music. And dabbling in music myself, I can appreciate a good musician.

Now, I can appreciate a lot of music. My mom was in a singing group from around my birth to about 14 and they sang lots of songs from the 1940’s to the early 1970’s so I had a somewhat good education on music from that era. It has a special place in my heart.

My dad is country. My dad isn’t that musical but every time that we went anywhere one on one with my dad, there would be a country station on the radio. So I listened to early Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and Faith Hill (her “This Kiss” days).

But once I hit high school that music got pushed in the background and singers like Carrie Underwood and Green Day and Gwen Stefani came on the scene and that’s what all my friends were listening to. (Little bit of trivia, we referenced “Hollaback Girl” at my graduation ceremony.)

One genre during my popular music days that I never got into was rap. I had friends that liked rap and would play it around me every so often. I understand where the musicianship lies in rap, I just don’t appreciate it. I grew up classic music. I appreciate harmony, random piano solos and I can go with a guitar solo as well as the next guy. So I have a hard time appreciating the way some of the music is played and the way that the lyrics are sometimes portrayed by the rapper.

Now there are some rapping that I can get into. The easy stuff, for example.

Now don’t think because I’m ranting about rap music that I hate it. I just have a harder time appreciating it like the music I grew up with.

Find the Path

My favorite analogy ever, right now at least, was put like this: Compare your problems to trees, and your trees create a forest. Now you see just one tree in your forest and you come right up to it so the only thing you see is bark. A lot of people will stand there saying “How do I get through this tree?” What needs to be done is instead of telling God the path THROUGH the tree, ask God to help you back up and find the path AROUND the trees, through the forest.

I feel like that’s an appropriate analogy, period. Even if you take the God out of it, which I don’t recommend-but if you do, it’s still good to look for the path around not through.

On a funny note, this analogy was used in church a couple weeks ago. We live in the extreme southwest corner of North Dakota. Do you know how many trees we have here? You can count them on one hand.

That also makes me wonder what else I haven’t been thinking consciencely. But problems cover a lot of ground. So it will take a while to go through the “Forest”.

Book update… Finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, I enjoyed it. Maybe a review on that soon. I just got The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for fifty cents, I’ve never read the book and I might have mentioned that I’m really creeped out by the movie. But I got the book and plan to read it, soon.

It’s about Freaking Time.

Well the time has come…..

I finished The Three Musketeers.

I know, I’ve been complaining about it for some time and I’m sure everyone that has heard about this book once from me, has heard it a million times from me. But I finished, now I can go on complaining about something right?

It’s obviously not a book that I can breeze through. I mean my copy is 700 pages long. You can’t just breeze through Dumas. But it definitely stretches me. I won’t go through my background AGAIN, because I talk about it all the time but so if you’re curious, go back to another post. My usual books don’t have a writing similar to Dumas’. As good as it was, it’s not a book that I would pick up for fun like I would Austen or Bronte.

But I do appreciate him.

Now off to read Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Dating? anyone?

Growing up, my parents didn’t really have dating rules for me. Now it’s not because my parents didn’t care, it’s because I didn’t date in high school. It wasn’t because they didn’t allow me to date, it was me. I had guys I was in “love” with and who I thought I was “dating” when I was just hanging out with. I realize now that wasn’t a relationship like my teenage brain thought it was. Every guy, I thought could have been a possibility of dating has a little bit of me, emotionally.

Let me explain that. For me to even consider a guy to date, I obviously know him. We’re friends, acquaintances, or in some cases the guy that sits across the church, haha. (go back a few posts for that joke) To rule a guy out for dating, I have obviously gotten to know them well enough to rule them out and they know me well enough to rule me out. So they know me. You put yourself out there when you’re debating on if to date or not to date a guy.

Anyway, back to my parents. They didn’t have rules for me but they did for my brother and sister, who dated in high school. My brother started dating his now wife when he was a junior and she was a senior…it was the first time he brought her around the house to. It was for my 10th birthday. He dated one other girl before her, that I know of. There’s a 7 year difference, do you really think that a 17-year-old is going to talk about his dating life with his 10-year-old sister? NO. My brother was the tame dater.

My sister, on the other hand, dated aLOT in high school. Average boyfriend: 2 weeks. And some of them came home. There was one that she dated when I was about a 5 or 6 grader that was a ballet dancer and when I started college and started going to a bible study he walked up to me and goes “Hi Megan, Remember me? I dated your sister” It took me a minute to realize. (P.S. that wasn’t creepy, I just look a lot like my sister) She dated a lot.

I have my ideas on relationships and love and how you react to the opposite sex. I even have done a small group bible study about it my freshman year of college. And everything I’ve learned has been from looking at my parents and my siblings with their spouses. (Yes, my sister did settle down and get married–it was my freshman year of college). Even though I haven’t dated much, I have opinions, like always. Here’s some random, quick thoughts on relationships/dating.

1. Don’t throw “I love you” around “I love you” is a commitment. It’s one thing to say it jokingly or to a friend but in a relationships it’s different. Especially for a girl. If she’s anything like me, my mind gets ahead of me and “I love you” catapults it.

2. Skin is over-rated I think to get the RIGHT person, modesty is the way to go. You know that when a guy asks you out, it isn’t because he’s getting an idea from the skin he’s seeing. It’s the mystery of wha you have to offer. And really, it goes both ways. I don’t want to see a guy’s butt hanging out.

3. It’s not easy DUR, that’s the give-away.

4. It should be a faith-based relationship Now whatever your faith is, your partner should back you up in it. If they don’t, it’s going to be a tough relationship because they won’t know where you base you’re opinions. Even if you don’t have the same background when it comes to beliefs, back your other half up. I try to be up-front with what I believe so that my opinions can have legit base.

5. Don’t start a relationship before you’re ready It won’t end well, trust me. I’ve seen it.

I have decided that I’m okay not dating now. Which is so refreshing to me. I haven’t been in that place in a long time and I’m so glad to be back to it. It’s where I need to be.

So that’s what I have to say for now, I’m sure that there will be additions to this later. And I’m not an expert in relationships, just have an opinion, so don’t yell at me for something random.