Green eggs and ham

Excerpt from a story time I had with a three year old on Tuesday:

I am Sam. Sam I am.
"Why is he upset?" "He's upset because he's trying to read, but Sam keeps bothering him." "Why is Sam bothering him?" "Because Sam is trying to get him to try green eggs and ham." "Why?" "Well, because Sam thinks they taste good and wants other people to enjoy them too." "Why?" "I'm not sure. Let's read and see if we can find out."

(skipping ahead)

In a house? With a mouse? Would you, could you with a mouse?
"Why is the roof red?" "Umm, the chimney is red. Probably because the bricks are red." "Why?" "Because they wanted it to be that color." (Was not going to explain the brick making process at the moment.) "Oh...... what is that?" "That's the roof." "Why do they have a roof?" "Because roofs keep the rain out." "But the rain would go through the roof." "No, the roof is very thick and keeps the rain out and keeps the warmth in." "How does it keep the rain out?" "Well, it's thick, and it has shingles that the rain slips off of, and the roof is crooked so the rain falls off better." "Why does the rain fall off?" "Because it doesn't stick to the shingles and the gravity just keeps pulling it down until it gets to the ground and the dirt soakes it up." "Oh..... why?" "Well..... because that's how gravity works." "Oh." "Shall we keep reading?" "Yes."

We did actually finish the book. I just hope her mom didn't hear the whole thing in the other room. I'm sure it sounded terribly intelligent. :-p

I CAN SEE!!! (and I'm a likin' what I see in the mirror ;-D)

A very handy benefit of working at this eye clinic is that I get eye exams and hardware at discount! (Esp. handy as I'm becoming more and more near-sighted over the years.) So, yesterday, the doc let me have a bit of a reprieve from the front desk and gave me an all inclusive eye exam (I got to look at the inside of my eye!!! Really trippy! And, btw, it wasn't blue.) It was actually very enjoyable. Yes, I got a slight headache that lasted for about an hour and a half, but considering everything he did (he wanted me to do EVERYTHING so I would know what the patients experience) it really wasn't bad! Anyways, the exam went well, I got my prescription, and during a lull in the day I tried on a few frames to try and get an idea of what I wanted. One of the opticians offered to help and she began to pull out frame after frame until I had at least fifty pairs in front of me! :-) To condense: I tried every new and cool frame on, got to take three frames home and get the family's opinion, took them back the next day to find that they'd let me just buy the frame from the stock instead of waiting for a new pair to get shipped in, they also had my rx of lenses in stock, the manager made a special trip back to the store (after leaving early) to cut them to shape, aaaaaand I got my complete new pair of glasses that afternoon! Exam to glasses in 28 hours. Very exciting. I'm liking it very much. :-)
(and thanks to Sarah for taking this photo!)

Name fun

Another facebook timewaster. I wasn't going to do this one (and I actually didn't on facebook) but after reading through it with my own name, some of the answers were so dorky and laughable, I had to put them up.


1. YOUR REAL NAME:
Valerie Frances Hazleton

2. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Celeste Earl

3. NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
Lloyd Robert (Then switch that around and you've got my younger brother's name)


4. STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Hazva

5. DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Maroon Dog

6. SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born)
Frances Corvallis

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The White Breve (That sounds yummy)

8. FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Vaon

9. STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Mint chocolate chip chocolate chip (Hahaha. So uncool.)

10. WAITRESS NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up on)
Tinkerbell Goodnight

11. GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus 'izzle')
Hazizzle

13. YOUR IRAQI NAME:(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name)
Azfrieton

14. YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Frisky (that was the most un-goth combo, other options are Black Zeba, Black Tinkerbell, or Black Dove)

15. DANCER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Happy To Be M&M :-) (also could be Dark Vanilla Thin Mint or Herve Leger Paris Smarties)

The Silliness You Miss If You Aren't On Facebook

Yes, if you don't have a facebook, you are missing out on a world of fun and interesting tidbits. But not to worry. I have taken it upon myself to enlighten you. :-) This is pretty much the same idea as the 16 random things, but with 25 things instead. It ends up spreading around facebook because people fill it out, "tag" 25 friends in it, and if you get tagged, you're supposed to fill it out. It ends up spreading like a cold. I ended up really bored last night and finally did it for the amusement of my friends that kept tagging me. That's my reasoning, my excuse, now whether or not you waste your time reading it, is up to you. :-)


Rules:
Do you really need to read the rules again??? Hasn't everyone already read them at least thirty times.......
Yeah, I just took them out. Ha. Now, just because they're not here for you to look at, when you try to do this, you'll forget what all your supposed to do! Hahahaha!

*Side note to the people I tag: If you haven't done it, I really don't care if you do this or not. It's completely up to you. Though, yes, I'm sure I'd find yours entertaining and enjoy reading it. Feel free to ignore the tag though. :-)

Here goes:
1. I don't really see the point of doing this as I've already done the 16 Random Things About Me. I also don't care to put enough thought into this as to ensure that these are new facts, so I won't apologize if there's duplicates. I do hope noone feels shortchanged because of this.

2. I can change the oil, install and remove snow chains, and change any fuse on my car thanks to a great teacher named necessity and another named tightwad.

3. I've played violin for ten years.

4. My full name is Valerie Frances Hazleton. I was named Frances after my mother's mom (yes, my grandmother).

5. I love jigsaw puzzles but considering my personality, I'm always shocked I don't get exasperated with them sooner.

6. I actually enjoy listening to opera, if I'm in the right mood.

7. I've never been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or the like. I don't think I'd enjoy it if I went.

8. There are one or two Jonas Brothers songs that I actually.... umm... *cough*... like. :-p You can blame my little sister for that.

9. I enjoy being very girly at times. Or frequently. :-)

10. There are veggies that I still don't like that I thought automatically became edible when you reach adulthood. Yeah, mushrooms are still gross. Though, technically, they're a fungus, not a vegetable.... anyways:

11. I've owned a fish, a bird, a rabbit, a cat, and a dog. The cat made sure the dog knew she had seniority, the bird scared the cat, and the fish and rabbit kept to themselves.

12. I've always wanted to be a very refined, mature lady though I will probably never be one.

13. I helped bail hay one summer. It mainly involved "driving" a huge truck through the field years before I was old enough to legally drive... or reach the pedal very well.

14. I prefer manual over automatic.

15. I like gardening.

16. I have two best friends even though, technically, that's not possible. Oh well. Don't tell them.

17. I'm very often intrigued by complex things I don't immediately understand. Rocket science, engineering, chemistry, genetics,... math. :-) Jk

18. At around thirteen years old I decided that I wanted to be 5' 5" and not be stuck at 5' 4". It worked. I just forgot to tell my younger siblings that they were allowed to get stuck at 5' 4".

19. I really like the sub woofer in my car.

20. I've always enjoyed the fact that I can say "I have two sisters and two brothers" (vs. my brothers that have to say "I have one brother and three sisters"). It's balanced.

21. I'm really hurtin' for these last few facts..... I'm tired.

22. Mom trained us to use very good phone skills and we were always told we should get jobs as receptionists. Guess what two of my jobs have been!! :-)

23. I really enjoy working with the high school youth group.

24. I'm halfway through The Shack and am not impressed yet.

25. I'm a night person that tries very hard to be a healthy morning person.

Woohoo!!!!

I'm just slightly excited and dazed for several reasons:

a) the weather took a turn for the sunny today. That's always energizing.

b) Sarah just had a big change take place, I will let her spread her own news. :-)

c) I finally got my car washed... it's shiny and clean.

d) the sunny weather coaxed me outside long enough to spruce up the yard. It's nice to clear away some of winter's gray from the garden beds and see more green.

e) the house is clean, and even though it's a home day for me, I don't have to spend it all cleaning. Yay! *lame celebratory dance*

f) there have been several good changes in the material, communication, and relationships that I'm affected by and/or are in charge of in the high school ministry. I'm becoming more comfortable and assertive in my leadership position (certain details, planning, and policies are becoming second nature and it's freeing me up to focus on taking leadership and making decisions more authoritatively). I also feel that it's being recognized and respected by those I'm working with. *satisfied grin*

g) I'm starting a new job!!! It's a receptionist position that I actually interviewed for a year and a half ago, but due to a missions trip that took place the same month that the old gal would be leaving, they couldn't hire me. A friend from church, who is the unofficial office manager and had recommended me for the job the first time, approached me two weeks ago to inform they were hiring again. I wasn't terribly sure if it would work out as I nanny for a family two days a week, some other scheduling stuff was up in the air, etc., but there were many pros to taking it up, so I applied again. I talked to Dad about it last Tuesday or so, verified that the position was still open on Thursday, emailed my resume on Friday, went in today for an informal interview, and start work this Thursday at nine. Aaaaaagh!!!!! The family that I work told me that they're very flexible for whatever ends up happening, the clinic is willing to work with my schedule, the clinic opens at nine which means I'll be able to be home to get Dan off to school in the mornings, and it's a less than five minute drive away which allows the option of walking to work on nice days such as today. Wooooooow!!!! It's just now starting to sink in. Sooo, yeah, I'll start all my training and such this Thursday and we'll see how it goes! Oh, the business is All Family Vision Care, in case you were wondering. :-D

and h) I'm just slightly wired on a Starbucks double shot and coffee. Hehe.

Correction!

On my last post I put the incorrect date for Nicole and Christopher's wedding!!!
It's really on February 22nd. :-( A horrible mistake on my part.

A no-frills update

For those that like to keep up on what the Hazleton's are up to, here's an unimaginative, to-the-point post to fill you in:
(though, I myself can rarely keep up on everything we're doing, so hopefully I'll be able to properly relay correct information)

Robert is:
-playing basketball during baseballs' off season, and enjoying it
-He's keeping up with schooling at home
-is involved in 4-H and Thursday School
-helps out with Children's Church at Suburban
-keeps getting taller
-"Sleeps. Eats."

Sarah is involved in:
-the ProMusica Orchestra (with an upcoming concert)
-a debate workshop in which she gets to research all sorts of alternative energy
-is also keeping up with schooling at home
-also does 4-H and Thursday School
-sings on the worship team at church
-helps with the Children's Ministry at church
-turns sixteen on the 18th
-is too smart for her own good

Daniel:
-does the Wings program and gets to ride "bus!" to and from school everyday
-does Special Olympics Skills Basketball
-acts very much like a nineteen year old boy
-still loooooooves movies and Odyssey tapes

Myself:
-still housesits occasionally
-plays violin at church
-coordinates weddings at the church and for friends for a high price :-) jk
-is the girls discipleship group coordinator (and whatever else they need) for the high school youth group at church
-provides "nanny" care for two families
-feels very short and too old
-wants a few hundred thousand for a sweet new ride and three week trip to Paris

Dad:
-still works at the hospital as Materials Manager (he buys everything and uses his skillz to save the hospital loads of dough)
-is a very strong, supportive, Godly leader for the family
-keeps showing off his skills in the kitchen (we like it)
-is the best Dad in the world
-is still the one to blame for our quirky humor

and Nicole and Christopher:
-are ......married.
-Nicole still works at Industrial Pipe and Supply as their accountant and sole female in the office
-Chistopher.... (I think this is right) drives fertilizers and lyme to fields in extra big trucks... it's manly
-are hoping they can find a lovely first home to move into
-will be celebrating their first whole year of marriage on Feb 9th (woohoo!!)
-are in-laws :-)

That 'bout wraps it up! I'll probably have to post some corrections if the rest of the family reads this and discovers any mistakes.
"Duh, Valerie! I graduated from high school in 2004! I've been researching molecular deformations and telekinethisaniomysm at Swansea University for four years!!! Get with it!"
It wouldn't surprise me.

Out of the mouths of babes

Recent conversation with a five year old boy:

Place: his play room
Scenario: I just noticed his finger suspiciously close to his nose

Me: "Are you picking your nose!"
Boy: "Hehehehe!"
Me: "Don't pick your nose. That's gross."
Boy (in all earnest): "But sometimes" *breath* "when my nose gets blocked up," *giggle* "I have to stick my finger up there to get out the snot!" *giggle, giggle, giggle*

I didn't do a very good job keeping a straight face as I informed him that you're supposed to use tissue to do that.
:-)

More silliness

I don't even like Frappuccinos and the only thing I like about Micheal Buble is his voice. But it just made me enjoy this all the more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRlgc6GA924

Priceless advice

Really funny. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to just post the video right on the blog. Sorry. :-p

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

*Disclaimer: I do not endorse Saturday Night Live as they are known to get nasty fast. This is a totally clean sketch but I can't say the same for the others out there.*