Post from the Netherlands

Hello everyone! I only have a few minutes here as I'm writing from my cousin's computer between evening church and a sing-in (something like Living Worship), but I wanted to let you all know that my Oma is doing much better and may be able to go home in the near(ish) future, I'm having a great time catching up with relatives and seeing my nephews and nieces, and missing talking to you all. Thank you to those who sent me their best wishes -- you've put many smiles in my heart!

I'll write again once I'm back over the big pond. I leave Schipol Airport at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, and I should be back at work on Thursday morning. Take care, and I'll try to post a little bit about my week in the Netherlands then!

Ciao

Progress!

I finally have time to give you an update on the flight situation. My mom has her passport now, so we went ahead and booked a flight leaving the 18th and returning the 25th. I have to go tomorrow morning to Hamilton to get my passport. We had a bit of anxiety this afternoon because it looked like we wouldn't be able to get an affordable flight until late next week, but at the last minute our travel agent found one. It seems that things are falling into place, and Lord willing in a week I will see my Oma. She's still stable, and doing well under the circumstances. Thank you all for your prayers and support; it means so much to me.

5-10 Daily Servings of Fruits & Vegetables

mmm...

Photo courtesy of Nick Hamstra.

My new toy

A package was waiting for me by the front door when I got home on Monday -- my MP3 player arrived! I ordered it last week from Tiger Direct, and got it in 3 business days! And it's lovely.

In the package I also got a few cards for free downloads, so I used one of them yesterday and got two books by Christopher Paolini, Eragon and Eldest. My sister is reading them right now and she says they're fantastic; I'd love to read them too, but I don't have time anymore to sit down with a book. So now I can "read" them while I go for a walk. I always have a book on tape playing in the car on the way to and from work, and now I've got one for walks as well... look at all the books I'm reading without actually opening them! I am going to try, however, to make myself some time to relax and actually read a novel.

I bought the player so that I have something to do with my mind while I'm walking at lunch. With the onset of spring I decided it was high time that I get outside more often and get myself (moderately) in shape again. Thus the daily walks, and also the not eating a donut every day. :S That one's a bit harder to stick to, but I've been doing well for the last few days. I'm also developing a love for yummy salads, especially the Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendy's! Now, as a general rule I don't eat Wendy's food, but this salad is divine. We're talking angels-biking-over-your-tongue delicious here, people! Go and try one!

And all this talk of food is making me hungry. Time to get some food. TTFN! J.

Hump Day Chuckle

Chris emailed this to me, so I'm posting it here for your enjoyment. It's called "Survival of the Fittest".

McMath
Recently when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply. "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?" "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

Maybe they should update the price list...
I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those "dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the divider and looked all over it for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me,"Do you know how much this is?" I said to her, "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today." She said "OK," and I paid her for my items and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.

And here I was still putting in the numbers by hand!
A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."

OnStar for Dummies
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked. She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm, too?" I asked. "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."

Ink-Saver
Several years ago, we had an intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier, and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.

Uh...
I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in "Twister." I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the cruise control and then went in the back to make a sandwich.

Hi-Speed smoke detector
My neighbour works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank. Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers. One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question: "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal. Do you guys have a fire downtown?"

A guilty conscience
Police in Radnor, PA, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

Warning: Do not operate heavy machinery
A mother calls 911 very worried, asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room -- the kid was eating ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and should be fine. The mother says, "I just gave him some ant killer....." Dispatcher: "Rush him into emergency!"

Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid!

Prayer Request

I'm not sure how many people actually check this blog, but for those who do, I have a prayer request for you. My friend's sister Amy and her husband Kevin are pregnant, and expecting triplets. Late last week they had to have emergency surgery and lost one of the babies, and they have to be really careful for the next few weeks to make sure that the other two develop properly. Please keep Kevin & Amy and their families in your prayers.

Jo

Oh, in case you want updates on the pregnancy, you can visit their blog at kahoogstad.blogspot.com.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down...

So, what happens when it's a rainy Monday? You get the blues, like me today.

For some reason I'm really down today. I think it's a combination of emotional stress, work stress, lack of time to keep up with commitments, not having seen friends in ages, and lack of sleep.

I don't like having the blues.