YOLO

[adventuresofjelly]

Raw Hands

Our washer broke last week. Thankfully the dryer is still working.

My sisters and I needed to do laundry and tbh, the thought to go to the laundromat did not cross my mind. I decided that I was going to wash my clothes the old fashioned way. I filled up the bath tub and threw my clothes in there to stomp on. Cerina and Jessica came in to see what I was doing and I asked Jessica to make the sound a washer makes to make it seem more realistic. (Before we came home, Cerina, Jessica, Jeremy, and I were at Quickly’s. Jessica can’t shuffle so she tried to make the noise so when I wasn’t looking I would think she successfully shuffled.)

It was actually fun with the company of my sisters. We laughed because Cerina told me to jump on the clothes with a funny t-rex motion. And we also laughed because I was wearing my t-shirt dress and I was stomping on my only bra so “the girls” were swinging all over the place. 

I really appreciated tonight with my sisters. I laughed so hard you could only hear my wheezing. I got to be silly and make my sisters laugh with some embarrassing dance moves. I was able to just be present with my sisters.

Cerina unearthed the towels in our room and after Cerina and Jessica washed their clothes, I stomped on the towels. Cerina helped me wring the water out of the towels. My thumbs currently feel stiff. 

Moments like these make me want to capture the moment so I can live in it forever.

There was also a moment Cerina discovered a stinky shoe box with hella stinky socks in it. At the bottom of the box my dad had written, “My Steenky Sockz.” It was funny because Cerina was telling Jessica to wash her socks but Jessica was saying that the box was Cerina’s because it looked like her handwriting. Cerina was insistent that she never wrote those words. Tbh it didn’t look like her handwriting. Then it clicked and I told Cerina that I bet Dad wrote it. She took the box over and sure enough, I was right. DAMN those socks stank like some stanky-ass Parmesan cheese.

We all had a good laugh about the socks. 

I appreciate the time I’ve been given to laugh with Cerina and Jessica. My heart needed it.

[adventuresofjelly]

No Turning Back

**Found this in my drafts. Thanks Past Jelly for the reminder.

A song reminded about an important adventure during Sunday School worship today.

Christ is my reward And all of my devotion Now there’s nothing in this world That could ever satisfy

Through every trial My soul will sing No turning back I’ve been set free

Christ is enough for me Christ is enough for me Everything I need is in You Everything I need

Christ my all in all The joy of my salvation And this hope will never fail Heaven is our home

Through every storm My soul will sing Jesus is here To God be the glory

I have decided to follow Jesus No turning back No turning back

The cross before me The world behind me No turning back No turning back

I realized that in the midst of the storm of finance struggles, relationships, sadness, & pain, I’m struggling to stay afloat by blindly hoping the dim light in the darkness around me will save me.

I haven’t set my eyes on the dim light. I haven’t encouraged it’s presence. I haven’t really done my part in swimming towards it.

I realized today that the light doesn’t have to be dim. It doesn’t have to be far. I don’t have to keep paddling on my own.

Jesus is my lighthouse in this storm.

The darkness may separate me from Him, but I need to choose in to desiring His presence. He is the only way out of this storm.

[adventuresofjelly]

Lady of Shalott

I helped Marcus’ grandma today. She calls me Lady of Shalott. I remember her explaining it? Something about Anne of Green Gables, but I’ve Googled Lady of Shalott and I’m not too sure how that applies to me... 

Anyhoo. Every time she thanks me, she cries and tells me how much she appreciates that I’m so willing to help her. She says that she appreciates that I don’t think she’s a slob and is lazy. She needs me to help because she physically can’t do some things herself.

Her thanking me again today made me wonder how big of an impact my acts of service actually have in this world.

I feel bad sometimes because when I’m busy, I sometimes get tired of having to go over and help. But then I stop and I remember that by helping her move boxes and chairs and by bringing in the packages at the front door, I am helping her to perform the acts of service she herself needs to carry out.

What this adventure is teaching me:

When you feel you don’t have the strength, pray for strength and rely on Jesus. Do things in stages. Find a way to use the gifts God has given you even though you might not have the same abilities as before. Sometimes you need to treat yourself to some chocolate. It’s okay to ask people for help.

[adventuresofjelly]

Hampshire w/ Connie

2/6/17 - 2/10/17

I’m not a professional food taster/critic/commentator but here is my food adventure with Connie and her entertaining friends.

Monday Supper* Soup: Tomato. It actually wasn’t too bad. Kinda like eating a thinned out version of the breadstick marinara. I ate it with white crackers. Connie ate hers with wheat crackers. She doesn’t eat white flour, something about needing to keep her sugar levels down.

Main dish: Shrimp creole over rice. But they didn’t have shrimp. So they used crab. Rusty and Barbell picked at it and said it was imitation crab. I had beef stir fry.

Dessert: Ambrosia. No one knew what it was. Rusty got it and said it’s fruit covered in whip cream (think it was actually cool whip). I got chocolate cookies. Barbell said that she prefers real chocolate. Dark chocolate. She’s from Germany. She mentioned having to leave Germany because of bombs and something about the Berlin Wall.

Tuesday Supper Soup: Black beans....need I say more..? I don’t like beans. Ever. But it actually tasted good. Except for the dirt at the bottom.

Main dish: Chef’s choice Frittata. Looked it up, it’s made with eggs. Connie said it’s like a quiche with no crust. Barbell says she likes the crust though. Ended up getting the fritata. It was fluffy and yummy. Rusty said the portions are so small, it isn’t filling for a man. Barbell said you’ll never get fat eating at this place. She wanted to ask for seconds.

Dessert: Chocolate cupcake. Didn’t get this.

Wednesday Supper Soup: Spinach artichoke that I tried not to choke on cuz I don’t like artichoke but it actually tasted really good.

Main dish: Spaghetti ragout w/ a side of broccoli and fresh baked bread. It tasted good. Little watery but yummy still. Betty said that she doesn’t like broccoli but they forgot to not give it to her. I wiped my plate clean.

Dessert: Pumpkin pie. Connie was anxious to go back to the room and didn’t want dessert. She told me to get what I wanted so we could leave. Ended up splitting the pumpkin pie and….the CLEAR pumpkin spice pudding with Rusty. When Connie was leaving, her wagon (what she calls her electric scooter) got jammed with the table so I put the plate of dessert down to help her and I was gonna just leave it there but I had to do the walk of shame to get it after Barbell chased us down. I didn’t end up eating it.

Thursday Supper Soup: Something beef that was really good. Tasted like the Progresso cans of soup. Connie and I ate alone. Saw Rusty leave somewhere.

Main dish: Turkey salad on wheat bread w/ a garden rotini salad. Turkey salad tasted like my mom’s tuna salad sandwich. It was pretty good. The garden rotini salad had crunchy square veggies that I suspect were zucchinis. Barf.

Dessert: Pudding parfait. Didn’t eat it.

Friday Lunch Salad: Basic ranch salad with lettuce that looked white. Betty wonders whatever happened to green lettuce. I ate a raw bell pepper for the first time. Actually wasn’t too bad but I wouldn’t shove someone aside at the dinner table for it.

Main dish: Roast Turkey with gravy and baby carrots. Barbell said that she’s not fooled by them switching the veggies around on the menu (something about them not having fresh veggies). Rusty said she had dinner with her family last night. She found her purse in her son’s car. She’s gonna play Bingo 10 later.

Dessert: Maple spiced cake. Frosting was really thick. Betty said it was too much. Rusty mentioned that the great thing about frosting was that you can scrape it off. Connie had a sugar free carrot cake with regular coffee.

In Between Lunch and Supper Connie taught me how to play the card game, Kings in the Corner. I only won twice. She’s impressed by my card shuffling skills. She says that I’m really sharp because I picked up the concept pretty fast. She asked if I get straight A’s. I don’t know what compelled me to say yes. LOL. 

I wondered if supper was gonna be yummy. 

OH MY. Is this what old people look forward to?

Friday Supper Soup: Lentil beans. Flavoring of the soup was good. But I don’t like the texture of lentil beans. It has the texture of a weird paper paste. Barbell said that the soup tasted good but she likes to add vinegar to her soup. Rusty sat at another table and I was sad. She looked like she was having more fun.

Main dish: Choice #1 was beef stew with buttermilk biscuit. Ended up getting the same thing for lunch but with a buttermilk biscuit. Turkey was dry. I loaded up on black pepper.

Dessert: Strawberry delight. Didn’t have dessert but Betty assured Barbell that real strawberry wouldn’t be used.

*dinner is called supper because Connie doesn’t like the word dinner.