Seven Quick Takes (vol.6)

I am loving this four day work week! If only corporate America would adopt this into their regular schedule, that would be fantastic. I’ll keep dreaming.

Today’s edition is a little bit different, as my comments aren’t totally random. If you’d like to read more Quick Takes, go to www.conversiondiary.com or click on this photo.

1.
Today is a big day for three reasons. On this day last year, we were evacuating because a monster named Ike was heading our way. On this day eight years ago, I was sitting in Biology II when a girl ran in the classroom and told us that terrorists had hijacked a couple planes and crashed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center. On this day 51 years ago, my dad was born. While there may be a lot of discussion about the first two today, I am choosing to discuss the third.

2.
My dad is the smiliest man you’ll ever meet. “That’s not even a word!” Okay okay, he smiles the most of anyone I know. I can’t even tell you how many people have asked me, “Does your dad ever get mad?” Well, yes. Yes he does. But he mostly smiles.

3.
My dad is one of the most Biblically smart people I’ve ever met. Well, actually he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But I tend to think that Biblical knowledge is superior to any other type. In fact, my dad is Jesus. And a rabbi. Or at least he played those two things in plays at church. This would be a great time for a picture… But I don’t have one. Sorry. Just imagine a 6’4 tall, skinny man with a fake beard. Here, just throw a beard and a robe on this guy.

He’s written his own Bible studies that are used all over the country. You can click here if you’re interested in using them, they’re free. He even records them so you can listen to them. He smiles when he’s talking too, you’ll hear it.

4.
There is a history of weird license plates in my dad’s life and he thinks they are pretty cool. He owned a car that had the license plate: THE KAR. His initials are KAR. His truck’s plates are THE TRUK. Don’t think that’s clever? Well, his name is Kurt and “Truk” is Kurt backwards. Ahhhh.

5.
My dad runs down the stairs sideways and at a very risky pace. One time when I was in college, I brought a boyfriend home with me. Dad ran down the stairs and fell. It was quite awkward for all involved parties. That didn’t slow him down though. He still does this. Although we think he’s slowing a bit because the stairs at the beach house are wood and slippery.

6.
If you want to know where I get my creativity from, it may or may not be from my dad. I think we are all pretty randomly creative. Some areas we excel in, some we are just awful. My dad writes limericks. My parents have thrown a New Years Ever party every year for about 26 years and each year, my dad writes a limerick for the invitation. He writes them for random parties and cards. It’s one of his sweet skills.

He also changes the words to songs. Keep reading if you’re willing to have a common song ruined… forever.

Each Christmas there is a song that is played that I HATE. Angels We Have Heard On High. HATE it. “Blasphemy!” No, it’s true. When I was a little kid I always thought they were saying “Gloria, in ex Chelsea’s deo” instead of “Gloria, in excelsis deo.” And that’s annoying to a little kid. (Except when you’re listening to your Chipmunk’s cassette tape and they are singing Jesse’s Girl and you think they are singing “Chelsea’s Girl” just for you even though that makes it a lesbian song and the Chipmunks just aren’t down with that.) Anyways, in about 4th grade my dad made it much worse. He changed the words to “In my Chelsea’s day bed.” I have hated it ever since. Just sing it in your head right now. Awful. I’m sure I’ll talk about this again when Christmas rolls around.  You’re welcome.

7.
One of the most important things that my dad ever taught me was this: Everyone’s favorite word is their own name. ALWAYS remember someone’s name. This is so true.

Another extremely important thing he taught me was to ALWAYS pay the church first, then pay yourself. You’ll always have enough money if you remember to pay the church first. I’ve been adhering to this since I was a little girl and got my first allowance, and he has yet to be proven wrong. The Lord always provides.

Happy birthday to my daddy! He is one of the most loving and generous people you will ever get the honor to know. If you know him, he’s touched your life. Guaranteed. I love you dad!!

And because I know many of you will be reading about 9-11 today and I don’t want you to ignore Ike, I’m posting a couple photos so you non-Houstonians/Galvestonians can see how terrible it was.

This first one isn’t so bad. This is my mom and dad cleaning up all the smaller branches in their yard.

And here is the tree that fell in our backyard. It’s this tree’s branch that punctured a hole in our bathroom ceiling. At this point, we had no idea that our bathroom was ruined.

And here is where the tree fell.

Just a few more from my neighborhood… you can click on any of them to make them bigger.