Passing Time Painting Pictures

Here's a little peak at what I've been doing in my spare time these days. Josh has been a huge encouragement in dusting off my art skills and doing some paintings to decorate our home. I don't think we'll be putting all of these up so it's likely that some will become gifts. I hope it doesn't ruin the surprise if the recipients happen to see them before the occasion for the gift giving :)
I don't claim that these are anything wonderful or special but now you know that my spare time has been somewhat fruitful! If you like what you see and would like something to hang up in your own home, let me know because I've already done more than our little place needs!
-S

The ABCs of Stauffers' Sleeping (Part II)

M is for Mmmm. Josh absolutely loves just being beside me and what’s even better is if we’re touching. It could be as insignificant as me rolling over and inadvertently brushing him on my way, but almost every time I touch him when he’s sleeping he responds with “mmmm”. It’s especially bad when  he’s just falling asleep because he’s even more aware of my touch. Sometimes I stay up after him just to pat his head and listen to him “mmmm” every time he exhales. For the most part he’s not really aware he’s doing it but it certainly cracks me up!

N is for Nightmares. Typically I’m the one who will wake up after having terrible nightmares that involve every possible bad situation I could ever find myself in. Sometimes I have nightmares about Josh and I fighting or him doing something really bad. Unfortunately this sticks with me for the first little while when I’m awake and I’m so emotionally worked up about the dream that I just want to get angry at him, even though real life Josh is completely innocent. It’s funny that the angriest I’ve ever been with Josh only happens in my nightmares!

O is for Oscar The Grouch.  Sorry but there wasn’t much else I could come up with for “O”. I try not to make a habit of being a grumpy pants but when Josh catches me in that stage just between sleeping and awakening, I can be an absolute grouch! These are the moments when I’m the shortest with Josh and have little patience, especially if I’d just been having a bad dream. For example, one time I woke up from a dream where I was so annoyed at Josh because he would not stop being silly. I heard him stir so I told him I was just very upset with him in my dream and that I wasn’t too impressed with him right now either (for absolutely no founded reason). He asked why and when I told him that it was because he wouldn’t stop being silly, he made some silly remark like “Well Sam, I’m just a silly monkey goose kind of guy!”. I was NOT impressed and didn’t even bother responding because I could feel the grouchiness resonating without words being said. In the morning we could both laugh about it but we have yet determined a cure for my nocturnal grumpiness!

P is for Predator. One night I awoke to Josh exclaiming, “Wow, that’s AWESOME!”. I turned around to see him crouching oddly on the side of the bed with his hands up, almost like he was looking through a pair of imaginary binoculars. I asked the infamous question, “What are you doing?”. He told me that he was going to get the predator! I’m not sure what the predator was and I don’t think he could have told me even if I asked, so I just asked him to lay back down. I must say he was very excited to get the predator!

Q is for Questions. Asking questions while we sleep is somewhat of a reoccurring theme. I will often wake up asking a question aloud or be woken up by Josh asking something. Just last night he asked if we could please have some popcorn. I told him he definitely could and that I would even make it for him…after he wakes up.

R is for Red Light. One night Josh woke me up in a frantic frenzy, asking if there was a fire in the room. He was very concerned and worked up but I had absolutely no idea why because there was certainly no fire in the room. He was somewhat convinced that there was a fire under our bed and that we had to do something about it. I checked for the smell of smoke or any sign of fire and there was nothing. It turns out that he was sleeping with his head off the side of the bed and opened his eyes to see the red light on the power bar beside the bed. This red light made him think there was fire and therefore sent him into a panic. I do have to say that in real crisis situations Josh is a lot more clear headed and doesn’t go into a frenzy like he did for the imaginary fire. 

S is for Singing. I have yet to hear Josh sing in his sleep, although sometimes he will hum a little something, which will entirely crack me up! However, on many occasions I have woken up singing songs, all of which I wrote in my dream. I think the most memorable one was the song I was singing about chicken chowder and turkey in the sky. The funniest part is that in my dream I was singing it as a duet with my friend’s dad. Weeks later when I was at her parents’ house visiting, this story came up at the dinner table and I told her whole family that I had a dream I was singing with their dad. Oh man!

T is for Tickling. I will admit to having a very bad habit of being a wiggly worm to the max, especially when it comes to feet. I will wiggle my feet around without even being aware that I’m doing it. Although Josh isn’t ticklish very often, it absolutely drives him nuts when I inadvertently tickle his feet with mine. Because he’s a nice guy, he understands that I’m doing it unconsciously and will wait a little while before he asks me to stop. I don’t think I’d have that much patience if I was being tickled almost every night as I tried to fall asleep!

U is for Understanding. Although these stories involve a lot of disrupted sleep, I’m happy to say that we’re both very understanding of each other…..well, at least we try to be. Josh is great about giving me the few minutes in the morning that I need to shake off my natural grumpy side. I try to be understanding about the many many instances Josh has woken me up in the middle of the night, which results in him continuing to sleep soundly and me sometimes laying awake for hours following. I do have to admit that when you’re emerging out of the sleep state, these are the most difficult times to be understanding because there is a high lack of situational awareness and therefore an emotional reaction can just take over. Whether or not we’re successful in being understanding of each others’ sleep irregularities, at least we have some amusing stories to tell when all is said and done!

V is for Visiting. To be quite honest, we use the “sliver/pie” method for sharing the bed. This means Josh gets a sliver and I get the rest of the pie. There is no bitterness because this is just what works best for both of us to get a good sleep. Last week I got up for a midnight snack and when I came back I realized Josh had literally wrapped himself in the majority of the duvet. I gave a big yank and with the blanket came Josh onto my “pie”. I tried to fall back asleep but I just needed my space so I politely asked him to move over. This is how the conversation went (please note Josh is entirely asleep)

“Would you mind please moving over a bit Josh?”

“Whhhhhhhy? I want to visit you and I just got here?”

“Yah but I was the one who brought you over and now I’d like if you could go back please”

“But I just wanted to say hi!”

“Hi!”

“Hi!”

“Bye”

“Noooooooooo!”

In the end I convinced him to roll over a bit, which did not interrupt his sleep but gave me the space I needed to reenter my slumber. Thanks Josh!

W is for Work. One thing that Josh consistently talks about in his sleep are things involving work. This includes descriptions of tasks that need to get done, complaints about who is making him do the work, and the inclusion of colourful language that is often used at his workplace. I’m caught off guard when he curses something that he would never say when he’s awake. I guess it just goes to show that what you are surrounded by has a significant influence on you mind, even though you choose not to participate.

X is for….let’s be serious; when does X ever have a function in these kind of things unless x-ray or xylophone applies to your subject. Or I guess it could also work for those named Xander or Xena. Otherwise, it’s rather useless.

Y is for Yelling. While Josh’s sleep habits are more odd and amusing, mine can be quite disruptive and disturbing. One of the things that I’ve done a few times, especially in the past few weeks, was wake up yelling like there’s no tomorrow. The first time I yelled Josh’s name because a guy was trying shoot me and I wanted him to protect me. The second time I found myself stranded in the lair of a very evil conspiracy that would not hesitate to terminate me. In both instances Josh immediately woke up, wrapped his arms around me and comforted me. I very much appreciate having him there to do that because many times I’ve woken up yelling alone and just lay there feeling emotionally drained and scared. Just one of the many many reasons I’m thankful for my husband.

Z is for Zorro. When we first got married Josh had a tendency of waking up in the morning with al the blankets wrapped around him like a cocoon. I was so surprised that he succeed in doing this night after night, especially because I’m a notorious “blanket hog” , as it were. One night I realized why this was happening. I call it the Zorro move. While laying awake in bed one night Josh abruptly sat up, mumbled something, grabbed the blanket like it was his personal cape, wrapped his body completely and then laid back down. Since this time I have not seen the Zorro move again and I have resumed my role as the blanket hog ;)

Wow! That was a long read but I hope you were amused by at least some of the stories. We could add a new story to this list after almost every night but maybe we'll just save the really good ones for special occasions. If anything, you can know that The Stauffers always have crazy story to tell!

The ABCs of Stauffers' Sleeping (Part I)

As many of you probably know, Josh and I have some very odd and interesting encounters nearly every night as we sleep. We are the absolute worse combination when it comes to sleep because we both do completely ridiculous things and are well known for talking out loud in our sleep. While Josh seems to sleep through even the most bizarre encounters, I am such a light sleeper that I almost instantly wake up to any of his random utterances or odd behaviours as he dreams. There are endless amounts of stories of what’s happened after we both fall asleep but to sum them up, I’ve created the ABCs of sleeping to give a little snapshop of all the shenanigans that go on!

A is for Appreciation. Even though Josh is completely asleep and has no recollection of his words once waking in the morning, he will appreciate and compliment me in his sleep. This happened especially when we first got married and I think it was because his subconcious was just so happy to have me sleeping beside him. I feel this shows a lot about his character because he is amazing in the way of appreciating me every day but I know he’s not just doing it out of obligation because it’s obviously something that is genuine and constantly on his mind (even when he sleeps!). The first few times it happened I thought it was really adorable but it was also a little frustrating because he would wake me up by telling me how much he loves me and how wonderful he thinks I am. Even though I was awake for the next 30 minutes, I was slightly amused and thankful for a husband that loves me so much!

B is for Bathroom Breaks. Almost every single night I get up for a bathroom break, which has become more habitual than necessary. Since getting up wakes me up to the point where I’m a bit more “with it”, I get to observe all the funny things Josh is doing in the middle of his REM cycle.  

C is for Conversation. There have been multiple instances where I wake up in the middle of the night while Josh and I are in the middle of a conversation. I’m quite certain that it’s quite basic and perhaps doesn’t make sense but that’s what happens when you combine two people who consistently talk aloud in their sleep. Can I also mention that they’re not just little mumblings. Oh no, we construct full, and usually coherent, sentences that are stated with as much clarity and conviction as if we were fully awake.

D is for Dancing. Just in the past week I woke to Josh acting out part of his dream so I told him to lay back down and just sleep. He laid down on his stomach and then started to shake his shoulders back and forth. After staring for a few moments with a perplexed expression, I asked him what he was doing. He responded with, “I’m dancing for you Sam!” in a tone that made it seem like his actions were so obvious that he couldn’t believe I was even asking him. I thanked him for the dance but then told him he didn’t need to do it anymore. What a nut!

E is for Elephant. This was the first time I discovered Josh can hold a conversation with me while he sleeps and that I can infiltrate his dreams. I asked him what the best present I could get him would be and he told me it would be an elephant. He then proceeded to tell me he would name it Dog and was upset when I told him it wasn’t practical for me to get him an elephant. I also talked to him about how fun it would be to ride the elephant and how he would love it just because it would make him feel like Aladdin. In the morning one of the first things he said was, “whoa, I had the craziest dream about an elephant!”. I repeated a bit of our conversation and he was shocked that I knew what was going on in his dreams. I felt very devious.

F is for Fire. If you know Josh, you know that he LOVES fire! As a result, it has come up quite a few times in his sleep. One of the most memorable was when he woke me up because he was going, “Mmmmm!”. I asked him what he was eating and he told me it was fire pudding. I asked it if was too hot to eat and he said it was, and it definitely burned on the way down but it was entirely worth it because it was so delicious. He then informed me that after eating fire pudding, it’s important to chase it down with milk in order to soothe the burn.

G is for Giggling. I am fully aware that I wake up laughing but since Josh sleeps so soundly, he’s never awake enough to witness this or inquire into what’s going on in my dreams that’s making me laugh. However, I always ask Josh what’s going on when he wakes me up with his giggling. One of the funniest moments was when I woke up because I had asked a question aloud, to which Josh was responding. I had my back to him and asked with a tone of frustration and exasperation, “What are you saying to me?”. Obviously HE was not suppose to be answering my question because it was intended for the person in my dream! He responded with a giggle and then said, “Oh there you are! I thought you were up here!”. I turned around to see him sitting straight up in the bed looking down at me. It was highly amusing to him that he had gone “up there” to find me but I wasn’t there. I just asked him to lay down and go back to sleep. In the morning he remembered absolutely nothing about this.

H is for Hip-aroni. One night I woke up to Josh kicking his legs under the blankets in what appeared to be intentional intervals. I asked what he was doing and he told me, in an excited voice, that he was using his hiparoni to get the…..and the rest was too mumbly to understand. After saying that he started swinging his hips up in the same intervals. I watched for a few seconds quite perplexed but very amused. He then asked me if I could please use my hiparonis to help him. I gave a few kicks and he enthusiastically replied, “Oh good one! Thanks!”. I inquired into what exactly we were trying to fend off and he told me we were fighting the “Cukeagons”. Hopefully we were successful in his dream because I’ve heard that Cukeagons can be some lethal fiends!

I is for Icecream. One night Josh was listing off about five things he was convinced would make the best breakfast ever! He had a very obscure list (which is explained more in the next paragraph) and I wasn’t entirely convinced it was what made up the best breakfast, at least from what I know about awake Josh. I told him that he was missing icecream from the list. He gave an “mmmm” and said that icecream would help make the BEST breakfast ever! I said something along the lines of “well maybe you should have those things for breakfast tomorrow morning”. He said, “You can’t tell Sam though because she wouldn’t like me eating icecream for breakfast.” I laughed and informed him that I was Sam. He just giggled and said, “Ooops!”. Apparently my healthy eating habits dominate even his subconscious!

J is for Jump Rope. While listing off his ideal breakfast, Josh included “double dutch” as one the ingredients. Until this point, everything was making sense, “Waffles, peanut butter, strawberries…” and then he goes and throws in double dutch. I asked what double dutch was and he didn’t know anything more than that it was a delicious part of the ideal breakfast. Since he didn’t have an explanation, I told him that I thought double dutch was something to do with jump rope, not with breakfast. He literally whined as he responded with “No! It’s breakfast!”. I tried explaining how you can double dutch with jump rope but he wouldn’t have any of it and was quite offended that I would doubt double dutch was a part of breakfast!

K is for Kicking. While Josh has many, many odd sleep habits, I’m thankful that he’s not a kicker. I, however, cannot say the same about myself. Thankfully up to this point I have yet to kick Josh in my sleep. However, I have had many dreams about battling some bad guy or fighting with someone and I wake up doing a full out kick, usually off the side of the bed. If the blankets didn’t function as such an effective restraint, I guarantee Josh would have been victim of my dream-induced kicking.

L is for Lighter. A few weeks ago Josh woke me up because he was lighting a lighter that had been left on his nightstand after lighting 20 candles in our room to warm it up while the furnace was broken. I asked what he was doing (as you can tell this is a reoccurring process), and he told me he was, “just lighting shumshing.” Well that voice told me that he was definitely not awake. After inquiring further and realizing the hazard of his possession of the lighter while in this state, I asked him if I could have the lighter. He asked, “Why?!”. I thought since he was asleep I could get away with saying that it was because I wanted to light something too. He suspiciously responded with, “What do YOU want to light???”. Undecided whether he was actually awake or asleep at this point, I told him, “Honestly, I’m just concerned that you’re lighting a lighter when you’re not awake.” He quickly responded with, “But I AM awake!....At least I think I am….”. With that I just asked politely and somewhat pleadingly for the lighter. He rolled over, lighter still in hand and passed it over to me with a “Fine. ‘sigh’. “No more lighters beside Josh when he goes to sleep!

This Is A Problem

Over the past week we've been out and about and having lots of friends over on numerous occasions so I'm  finally getting around to writing this story now after having a few days to ponder. Warning, this is not light subject material.
On Tuesday I was riding the Edmonton public bus, which is something I don't do often but prefer over driving down town on horribly snowy roads and looking for the limited, but ever expensive, parking spots. Public transit is always an adventure and I have many a story about the interesting individuals I've met or situations I have observed while riding the bus. On this particular day the bus was stalled due to the combination of cold weather and piles of snow so we spent quite a while just sitting and waiting. At this point a guy (we'll call him Guy) wandered up to the front seat I was sitting in, kind of checked me out (very obviously), grinned (rather disgustingly) and then sat in the seat adjacent to me. I'm already feeling awkward at this point and thankful that my stop was coming up soon once the bus finally got rolling again. Across from Guy was a man who was very obviously blind and mentally challenged, just rocking back and forth, minding his business. He looked like he was having a rough time and just wasn't well taken care of. Out of no where he spoke up and asked if anyone could spare some change because he was a $1.75 short for the laundry soap he was going to buy. Guy was the first to respond and seemed to mishear the man because he said, "Just stay on the bus and they'll never know you didn't pay. It doesn't matter". The other man corrected him and restated his request to which Guy immediately replies with "Well that's not my problem!". All I could think of at that moment was "WOW! That just happened". I reached into my wallet and pulled out the change to give to the man, after which Guy looks at me and says, "That was really nice of you" with this odd grin that I struggled to interpret. For the rest of my ride the man made small talk with me and told me lots about his plans to buy the laundry soap at Capilano Wal-Mart. For the rest of the day I was thinking about this event and just could not believe what the one man had said.

That's not my problem!

I wish I had some witty and shocking response to say to him in that moment because I was completely in disbelief this was his first response when becoming aware of someone else's needs. I don't care that the man was a stranger and that he was a little awkward to talk to and probably not the most loved guy around; he was not in the wrong asking for a little honest help. I suppose that Guy was right, it technically wasn't his problem; at least not on the surface. The rest of the day I couldn't help but think of what the world would be like if everyone maintained this approach to life. We cannot exist this way, simply working on our own problems and refusing to give or receive help from any one else. I suppose this is an extreme extrapolation of the concept but I can definitely see how each one of us, in our own way, acts on the principle that "it's not my problem". I think this happens when we choose to turn a blind eye to something we know isn't exactly right or when we are confronted with an unjust situation but choose not to stand against it. I think the explanation that justifies these actions, as small and innocent as they can seem, is that it's just not our problem and, therefore, we're not the ones who have to deal with it.  

Since I have a tendency to write on and on and on (something my professors were all too familiar with!), here are some of the basic thoughts that I have on the matter, which are a little more fleshed out in my mind but would continue into a 15 page rant if I didn't restrict myself a little. If you feel provoked, perturbed or have any other emotional or intellectual response, feel free to comment!

- We all necessarily exist within the context of community and cannot live completely independent of others. Therefore, due to this interconnectedness we are affected by the choices of others and therefore what's a problem for one person, should also be seen as a problem for us. 

- If we try to live independently, looking out for our needs and our wants above all, these individual pursuit of independence will eventually collide. We may fix our perceived problem or achieve our goals, but at what expense to others? Doesn't it just make more sense to live alongside others instead of trying to come out on top?

- This is a problem I see far too often in the behaviour of students I work with. Even at the age of 10, kids communicate with their words and actions that they are looking out for themselves and don't care about how their consequences of their choices affect their world and their community. This breaks my heart because I recognize that, for various reasons both from instruction and experience, they have been raised to think this way. If this way of thought continues through their development, what choices are they going to make as adults?

- I am thankful to be surrounded by so many amazing individuals and positive environments that I sometimes become oblivious to this tragic reality. I am encouraged and inspired to commit myself to serving others and considering their needs with care and responsiveness. It's because of these people and places in my life that I am aware of the serious problems and flaws with this guy's simple but revealing statement. 

Lessons Learned....the hard way

Due to one specific event in the past month (explained later on), I have been reflecting on lessons that sometimes have to be learned the hard way because there is no earlier opportunity for someone to inform you that it's just a bad idea. Theoretically speaking, this is probably one of the most effective ways to learn because your brain will certainly remember the consequences of your actions, which will therefore enable you to "think twice" before repeating the same act. However, in some cases it seems that these lessons need to be learned over and over again, repeating the same errors that result in the same, and consistently frustrating, outcome. I also believe that there is huge variance in how each person comes to mark off a "lesson learned"; for some it takes one short explanation but for others they need to test the consequences just to see if they could possibly get away with it unscathed. Joshua falls more into the latter category, which causes me to shake my head and just say, "oh boy" time and time again. I will give him credit for greatly improving in this area and using foresight instead of being satisfied with learning from the consequences. He has certainly mastered the art of learning from hindsight but there is also great value in taking preventative measures through utilizing foresight. Just one of the many many ways our two brains are wired extremely different, which we both appreciate because it allows us to learn from each other in many different ways. But it also has a high entertainment value when the other person does something that evokes the response "what were you thinking?!".
Anyways, here's my personal list of lessons learned the hard way, which includes a selection of stories from friends and family. Of course it needs to start off with the one event that has caused this topic of reflection, which you may or may not have heard. Enjoy!

1. Lesson: What is a suppository? Long story short, under very odd circumstances I was in the possession of the suppository form of Gravol but was not aware of its unique...properties. After a very short night of sleep, Josh and I were at the Toronto airport getting ready to head to Calgary when I decided taking a Gravol would be extremely beneficial in helping me sleep on the plane. We thought the "comfort shaped" feature was just a unique way of making a pill that will slide down the gullet with speed worthy of its torpedo like shape. Josh tried to tell me that the box had the word "rectal" on it but I was definitely not in the mood for his jokes. After 20 minutes I was completely doped up and could hardly keep my eyes open because my body had seem to have lost all voluntary muscle movement. However, my legs were so twitchy that I could only fall asleep for 5-10 seconds at a time before a major twitch would wake me up. It was not a happy time. After being very out of it for the rest of the day, at the supper table we were explaining these strange pills that had apparently enormous influence on me. It turns out that one of these torpedo was equivalent to two normal Gravols (note that it's important I don't take more than half of one of these because it makes me extremely loopy) and they are not meant to be administered orally! I can honestly say that prior to this moment, there was never an opportunity for me to learn what a suppository was! I suppose a quick little read of the instructions would have instantly corrected our misunderstandings but sadly we thought we were better than that.
I'm also just going to add another story that someone shared with me after hearing my own account of accidentally taking a suppository. She was in the hospital after a minor surgery and the nurse came in and casually said it was time for her suppository. This very polite 20 year old responded with "ok!", recognizing that they needed to give her some more medication....what she didn't know was how they intended to do so. The nurse then asked, do you want someone to do it for you or are you ok doing it yourself? The patient said something along the lines of, "it's fine if someone does it for me", while thinking "how can I administer something to myself when I don't even know what it is?". The next question was, "well would you like to do it here or go somewhere a little more private?". This was the key question that would signal any alarm that was not previously going off. What kind of legal medication would you prefer to administer in private?! How was she suppose to know what a suppository was prior to this moment when she had to make a decision about how she was going to take it? It's also worth noting that she was so drugged up on morphine that the whole picture wasn't entirely clicking as fast as it would have for her very perceptive brain. In the end, she got the meds she needed, healed from the surgery and now knows what a suppository is.

2. Lesson: Omnipotence is pronounced "om-NI-po-tence". In my first year English class, when I was still trying to figure out my roll in the big world of academics and scholarship, I had a most embarrassing moment during our discussion of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. The professor had asked a question about the descriptions of the atmosphere in the chapter we had just finished reading. I thumbed through my book and saw that the author clearly describes the expression of "omnipotence" in the setting. I raised my hand and responded to the question with: "omniPOtence". The prof, who was quite old and slightly hard of hearing, asked me to repeat myself so I said "omniPOtence". Again, he did not hear me so I repeated it a third and forth time, each becoming increasingly louder, "omniPOtence". Finally the prof said, "I'm sorry but I don't know what you're referring". At this point another class mate says, "she's saying omNIpotence" to which the prof replied. "Oh yes, omNIpotence, we see this when she describes...". Wow, that was embarrassing but I certainly learned the correct pronunciation and have consistently used it since then. There are so many other cases of words being unknowningly mispronounced such as: "per-SEVERance", "deci-DUous", "KI-tadel" (citadel), "epi-phany", "ser-ot-onin" and so, so, so many more.


3. Lesson: Rolly brushes are not made to brush hair. This is a classic lesson that most girls learn if their mothers use a rolly brush and happen to leave it laying anywhere out in the open. The novelty of using a round shape brush is too exciting to pass up but it is quickly discovered that they have this strange ability to create countless knots in your hair, while knotting itself right in the thick of it. How is a 6 year old suppose to know how to operate this brush? It looks so innocent but is brutal trap for the locks of the uneducated.

4. Lesson: Don't lick blood off your cut. I'm sure this one is more of a rarity than others but I was present when a teammate discovered something very disgusting about the small cut on her hand. We were playing basketball and she returned to the bench with a little bit of blood on her hand. Thinking that it was just a small cut from the rough play and occasional tumbles, she licked it off. A horrified face soon followed when she discovered there was no such cut on her hand or any where else on her body. It was someone else's blood that she had just licked off. Very gross!

5. Lesson: Water is not a good substitute in cereal. Most people are aware of my enormous love for cereal and complete dependence on it to start each morning. On one occasion I woke up, poured a big bowl of cereal and was subsequently devastated to discover there was no more milk. I not exaggerating when I say "devastated" because it really feels like all my anticipation, hopes and dreams for my morning have been crushed when I can't eat cereal. There wasn't time to find an alternate breakfast so I just filled my bowl up with water. This was several years ago but I distinctly remember the experience of trying to choke down soggy miniwheats soaked in water. It was disgusting! I don't know what it is about milk but it is absolutely necessary for an enjoyable bowl of cereal. Some may beg to differ, such as Josh who has been known to eat cereal with juice or Coke. In my opinion this destroys everything good about cereal.

6. Lesson: Don't microwave a whole egg. One of my dear friends decided to have a mircowaved egg as an easy, fast, and nutritious lunch. Fresh from the microwave, the egg sat steaming before her on the plate she had lifted up to her mouth. With one poke of the fork, the egg literally exploded in front of her, spewing egg debris every which way. Because her face was in close proximity to the egg, it was splattered with the white, smooth and slippery fragments of what was going to be lunch. I was sitting just across from her when this happened and was fortunate enough to be looking when the explosion happened. It was one of those moments when things seem to happen in slow motion because your brain seems to know that it's processing something very out of the ordinary.

There are so many more stories I could share but I feel that I've written more than enough for one entry! I'm sure we all have a long list of stories that account for the acquisition of a particular lesson that could have very well been learned an easier way. As embarrassing, entertaining and hilarious as these stories are, the bottom line is,

LESSON LEARNED

A First

This is it. The first of, hopefully, many blogs that will recount stories, thoughts and reflections from the Stauffer home. I feel that there is a lot of pressure placed on the first blog entry because it marks the big “kick off” and if it’s not good enough, no one is going to want to read subsequent ones. Regardless of the audience’s interest, or lack thereof, I am determined to write often and use these entries as somewhat of a chronicle to look back on when the year 2011 seems to be a blur in the memory. I will let you know right now that I do intend to make these entries as humorous and enjoyable as possible because, as you may already know, there is lots of prime comedic material that emerges simply from the Stauffer’s day to day living. I guess that only makes sense given that we’re two best friends who absolutely love to have fun together and certainly have our own variety of silliness that manifests itself in ridiculous ways.

Anyways, I just thought that given the nature of this entry it is only fitting to explain a bit more about why on earth we have felt compelled to even start a blog. Right now I’m writing alone because Josh is at work, but I can just hear him saying “Sam, of course you think you need to explain the purpose. You’re always concerned with the purpose of everything; even blogging!”. I will confirm the veracity of this statement once Josh comes home and has the opportunity to read this. So, why blog? In my opinion, this is probably one of the greatest and most effective ways of keeping people in our lives consistently updated about what’s going on. I do not at all believe that our lives are so greatly exciting and changing that without daily entries we simply can’t keep friends and family up to speed. However, for those of you who we unfortunately don’t talk with or see as often as we’d like, this is a great way to stay connected and informed. There was a time, not that long ago, that I would have scoffed at the idea of a blog serving this function but I’ve come to recognize it as an amazing tool that is extremely accessible and applicable to our 21^st century lifestyles.

What will you find if you continue to read this blog? Firstly, you will, without a doubt, be entertained by our stories and adventures because we’re also up to some sort of mischief or utter ridiculousness. Also, you’ll get little snippets of some of the thoughts and reflections we have as we journey together in better understanding ourselves and our world. At the essence of all of this is the most important thing; relationship. There are so many dimensions to this word, its expression and importance in our lives. For us, living is all about being in relationship with others and we hope that this blog serves to explore what that means and contribute to our relationships with our seemingly endless list of friends and family.

Wow, for a first entry I probably didn’t succeed at capturing your attention but, hey, at least you know what’s going on! We hope you enjoy the stories, ideas and laughs we hope to share with you along this journey!