I have never seen this movie, and neither has Ryan, but we stumbled across this clip on YouTube, and we've been laughing about it ever since.

"How about love?  Luuuuvv? Love?"

It reminds me of a certain favorite janitor.

Will Farrell and warm weather make me happy.  So does eating onion rings on the pier--which is where Ryan and I are heading at this moment.

I think there is kareoke at the pier on Friday nights--should I give them something to talk about?

A View from Behind

My buns are sore this morning.  For good reason: my pilates-instructor-of-a-little-sister had me on the ground yesterday doing all sorts of lifts and taps and stretches.

It was fun--for the first ten minutes.  Then, I had to pause to eat a piece of chocolate Heath cake.

The second set of ten minutes was a lot harder to get through.

Speaking of buns, a humorous anecdote from my trip:

On Monday night, I accompanied Laura to the Zumba class that she instructs.  I stood directly behind her, so that her view of me in the mirror would be blocked.  (I did not want to endure her giggles and smirks as I made a fool of myself throughout the entire class.)  From my position behind her, I had quite a nice view of her spandex-clad backside.  This became especially interesting as she demonstrated squats for the class.

As she bent her knees and thrust out her rear, I noticed that the spandex pulled tight and became suspiciously see-through. Maybe it's a seam in the pants, I told myself and looked closer as she again squatted down.

Not a seam.

Imagine my delight as I divulged the news to her after class:  You have been mooning your students for the past six months!

Horrified and mortified, Laura insisted that we drive directly to Target, where she tried on all sorts of yoga pants and where I was forced to do the "see-through check" as she squatted down in the dressing room.  Oh the things a sister will do.

At her Wednesday night class, she confided the problem to one of her trusted students who is also her friend from church.  "Can you please watch during the squats and let me know if I need to stop?" she asked nervously.

A middle-aged woman nearby heard the request and asked what was going on.

"Umm, well my sister informs me that when I squat, my pants get transparent, so apparently I have been mooning you ladies for the past several months," Laura blushed.

To this, the woman responded, "We don't care!  We want to see the GOAL!"

So I was thinking...if a periodic shot of her buns serves as such a powerful motivator to her students, maybe she should return her new pants to Target!  What do you think??

This sight makes me truly happy on a Sunday morning...

Deborah at church.

Wearing a velvet skirt, Super Bowl sweatshirt, cocked beanie, and a smile...always a smile.

I truly, truly love this woman.

Numa Numa

Have you seen this?

My students showed it to me at school today, and I busted up laughing. Made my day.

Somethin' to Talk About

Every so often, I have a moment occur in my day that makes me think to myself,  How is this happening?  How am I sitting here observing this right now?  Ryan thinks that I am a magnet for bizarre experiences.  I think he may be right.

I just had such a moment.

A little background: I am great friends with all of the night janitors at my school.  This can be attributed to the fact that I am one of the only teachers who is still in the building when the late shift starts.

Night janitors are great people—but inevitably quirky.  And certainly dedos.  At my first school, the night janitor named Valancy spent her break each evening talking my ear off about Anime and Star Wars conventions.  When I left the school, she made us matching Indian dream catcher necklaces, and I still have mine.  I love unexpected, unique people.

Just now, John, one of the elderly night janitors at my current school, came into my classroom and said, “Rachel, I hear you like to sing.”

A little taken back by this random comment, I suspiciously confirmed, “Yes, I like to sing.”

John continued, “Well, then, you have some homework.”

“Okay?” I replied, my wariness increasing.  

“You need to find us a duet to sing together.”

Hmmm.

“Who would we be performing for, John?”

“Nobody.  Anybody.  I just like to sing.”

I tried to graciously decline his invitation to perform.  “Well, I’m a little scared to just start singing in front of people at random times.”

“You are?!  I’m not!” he declared—and proceeded to launch into a heartfelt rendition of “Just to See Her” by Smokey Robinson.

As I watched him singing—his eyes shut in order to get the full sense of the song, his arms pantomiming the lovers’ embrace, his eyebrows moving up and down for dramatic emphasis—I couldn’t help but think, Is this really happening to me right now?  I also couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face.  So bizarre!  So delightfully bizarre!

When he finished, I clapped enthusiastically, and he liked that reaction so much that he gave me several encore numbers, including “Lady in Red” and "Dancing in the Moonlight.” 

At the end of such a passionate performance, how could I deny him his duet?  And so, we ended this unexpected melodic interlude with—at his request, I might add—a duet performance of “Let’s Give ‘Em Somethin' to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt. 

As I sang the twangy words and tried not to giggle, I noticed that a few students were in the hallway, presumably getting their stuff after a long basketball practice or something, and also presumably hearing this oh-so-random janitor/teacher duo.

I think we gave them somethin' to talk about, don’t you?

I LOVE THIS WOMAN!

It is high time I wrote a blog tribute to one of my favorite people in the entire world: Sister Deborah Tilley.

Deborah is wacky, hilarious, optimistic, strong...all around, she's one of my heroes. She had a stroke about seven years ago, and in spite of all of her physical challenges, she is always laughing and making others laugh. She joined our church almost two years ago, and she has completely changed her life and her perspectives. She is awesome. We drive her to church almost every Sunday, and we've gotten extremely close to her over the last year and a half.

We've had some classic moments with Deb. Here are some of my favorites:

-One day after church, Deb said, "Rachel, I'm real hungry. Can we swing through Wendy's on the way home and pick me up a bacon double cheeseburger?" Chuckling, I reminded her that we try not to spend money on Sundays, so we can keep the Sabbath Day holy. Instead, I invited her over to our apartment for lunch. Ry and I aren't gourmet chefs, and we didn't have much to offer, but Ry whipped up some French toast. Of course, Deb loved that Ry was the one doing the cooking and serving us. Ry also said the prayer to bless lunch, and he specifically said, "Thank you for our friend, Deb." After downing about five pieces of French toast, Deborah announced, "Ryan, that was way better than Wendy's. And I even got a prayer out of it too!!"

-When we took Deb to the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove (a historical sight for our church), we brought her fold-up wheelchair because we knew it would be difficult for her to walk because she uses a cane and one entire side of her body doesn't work. The fold-up wheelchair is cumbersome and hard to push, but we figured it was better than making her trudge around the Farm. Well, when we wheeled her into the Visitor's Center, our missionary tour guide immediately said, "Ma'am, would you like to ride in one of our electric powered wheelchairs?" Deborah took one look at their high-tech contraption and told the missionary, "Girl, get me out of this Pinto; I want that Cadillac!"

-When I gave Deb her Christmas present this year, she held the package for a moment, shook it, and then said, "Girl, I hope this is a new leg--because mine sure don't act like it belong to me!"

-This is my all-time favorite. When my dad was in town, he took us and Deb to the Anchor Bar for some original Buffalo chicken wings. After a few minutes of chatting, my dad excused himself to go use the restroom, and Deb looked at me and said, "Girl, you got a good lookin' dad. You better watch out or he gonna be snatched up in Buffalo!" As if this comment isn't hilarious enough, she then went on: "He look real fit. Mmmm, hmmm...I bet he look good in some shorts!" OH MY! I was dying! Was Deborah lusting after my father?!? After regaining composure, I assured her that I had seen my dad in running shorts many times, and it was not a sight worth writing home about. :) When I told my dad the story later that evening...well, I don't know if I've ever seen him laugh so hard.

-Deborah is also inclined to make random, loud coments in lessons at church. She'll just shout something out, and I don't think the teachers know quite what to do with her. There are too many hilarious comments to remember, but this past Sunday when the teacher was talking about the Resurrection, Deb proclaimed, "So I'm gonna get my hair back?!" WHAT THE?? I loved it!

Overall, I absolutely love this woman.

Here is another photo of us from this past Sunday, all bundled up to go out Visiting Teaching for church. Deb had been wearing that puffed-up stocking cap all day--even through all of our church meetings. Classic.