Party On, Dudes!

This past weekend was my first weekend class. I am absolutely thrilled to report that there is good news all around! I have no papers due! I have no tests! I am getting the summer (and final) semester I hoped to get! I was really getting worried I wasn't going to like the weekend class. But, it's going to be great. We are basically just working as a team (our class only has 8 people) and doing several projects to present to both our professor and the dean of the school. Our first night in class, we walked in, and it was like a party! There were balloons, leis, and a beautiful spread. I'm talking real food like granola bars, hummus and various forms of crackers, fruit, etc. I mean, it was still snacky food, but it wasn't chips and dip or cookies. Not that there is anything wrong with chips and dip or cookies ;). But you know what I mean :). Anyway, we spent Friday night learning about our personalities -- because when working in a team, it's good to know the personalities of your teammates so that you can work better with them. I am a romantic, but I have a lot of gold in me, which is a person driven by duty and responsibility. It was interesting to go down the list of things that upset me as a blue (romantic) and see how they really do... For example, I don't like conflict. That stresses me out. So does having too much on my plate. We also went down the list for each personality type to see what things make that type of person feel important and special. For me, the top two were romantic gestures and intimate talks. We were all laughing about that (I was the only blue-type in the class, by the way), because one guy in the class who's married said, "Hila, I think I'll just wave instead of blow kisses across the room." I laughed and said, "Yeah, I'd really prefer that you didn't start sending me romantic gestures... I might feel weird." I guess you had to have been there for it to have been funny. But, it was. Anyway, she also gave us these goodie bags! And Saturday was pretty much more of the same. The food, we watched videos on conflict management, etc. It was great! I mean, yeah, I'd have preferred to be in bed sleeping... But, this isn't going to be bad at all! So, here's a picture of my goodie bag... When was the last time you got a bag that had Skittles (which I totally ate, even though I said I wouldn't after my crown fell out that time) and toys in it in a college class?
After class on Saturday, I went to Wal-Mart. I'm pretty convinced that there is never a good time to actually go to Wal-Mart. But if there is a good time, I'll go ahead and tell you that 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon is not it.... There are people everywhere! But, I got all my groceries and then I got gas (always a lovely experience), and then I headed home. I made dinner for me, myself, and I. I split a chicken breast in half (and froze the other half), pounded it flat, pan-cooked it, and then added mushrooms, bacon bits, green onions, and cheese to the top, melted the cheese and then it was done. Yum. To go with it, I had rice -- which was not cooked all the way... I'm a terrible rice-cooker! I also had some yellow squash a lady at work gave me that I wanted to use up. So, I tried frying it. Okay, I'm not a fry-cook either. I now understand what chefs mean when they say that if you don't have your oil hot enough, the battered thing will sit in the oil and just soak up the oil. I basically ate flour-oil paste on my squash. It was tolerable after I salted it. I will try again with this some other time. But seriously... Make sure the oil is hot. On the up-side, the chicken was fabulous.

Then yesterday was church. The lesson in nursery was about our senses of smell and taste. For taste, I took some salt, some sugar, and some lime juice for something sour. I let the kids decided if they wanted to try each one. I warned them about the lime juice and told them it would make them make a funny face (which I demonstrated for them). Only 3 of the kids were brave enough. One of them was Ethan. Oh, to have seen his face... Then he tried to wipe it off his tongue. So, I gave him a gummy bear to help change the taste. But he was like, "That was gross." Ethan is very articulate. I've never heard a 2 1/2 year old speak as well as he does. Anyway, it was hilarious. All but one of the older kids were willing to try salty and sweet. After church, I baked some cookies, and so did Stefanie. And then we delivered them to some people for fun.