Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Food, Family & Friends
Posted 4:31 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Thursday morning, David and I drove out to Quanah for Thanksgiving with the Breedlove family!! We arrived around noon, and proceeded to greet and help with the preparations. We showed off the wedding album, of course, and I spent some time talking wedding stuff with the girls.We had a ton of food! I find it fascinating how different our families celebrate Thanksgiving, yet in a lot of ways they are similar. With the Muse family, we have around 75 people there each year, so sitting down at the same table is obviously out of the question. We use paper plates, plastic forks and cups. The food is served buffet style, everyone gets in line and waits their turn.
With the Rollins/Breedlove family, we all sit down at one table. (Well, two or three tables put together to form one long table.) We eat off of the family china, and the food is placed in the center of the table, and we pass it back and forth. Although there are differences, there is still an abundance of great food and company.
We then went to Abilene for the remainder of the weekend. We got to visit more with Mike & Barbara. I had a caffeine break with Kelly and her friend, that was a lot of fun! We also spent time with several of David's high school friends. All in all, a very good weekend!
Now starts the Christmas season.....
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Three Performances in One Day!
Posted 10:28 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
My good friend Becky came into town last night. Technically, early this morning. She and I had arranged to perform The Lord's Prayer during the early service at church today! We stayed up for awhile after she got here, looking at pictures and talking over some hot peppermint tea.We arrived at church early to rehearse the song. We also gave Petr and Pavla their going-away gift. Someone took a picture of the four of us with the sanctuary in the background. I will put it on my photos page in the very near future. I also was performing with the choir at both services today. Becky and I were both nervous about the song. I felt that it went really well! Becky got lotsa compliments on her wonderful voice, and I even got a few compliments of my own!
After church, we drove out to Flower Mound to celebrate my grandfather's birthday! We had some great pizza and fantabulous dessert. Mom and I even worked on our knitting projects for awhile. We had to leave early to head back to church for Merry Music Makers rehearsal.
I had been teaching my little ones a special Thanksgiving song over the past several weeks, and decided that we should have a mini-performance in the rehearsal room. I asked their parents to come to the room about fifteen minutes before rehearsal was over. The kids sang three songs for their parents, and did such a great job! It really is amazing what these kids can do! They get such a big kick out of performing for their parents. Yay! The performance was a success!!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Friends!
Posted 11:49 AM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Last night, we had our all-church Thanksgiving dinner. I arrived a little before it was supposed to start, and who walked in a few minutes behind me? Petr & Pavla! We enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal together, and it was great! I got to hear all about what they had done since they arrived here in Texas. We both had cameras and took pictures of each other, I think they turned out really cute. Also look at my Friends photo album to see another picture.
I also took the liberty of looking up some Czech words and phrases on the internet. I found a web site that lists the word, then lists it phonetically, and you can also listen to a recording of the word or phrase. I wrote down a list of some phrases that I might say to them, and you know, it worked! It felt really neat being able to say 'good evening' (dobry vecer), 'hi' (ahoj) and 'thank-you' (dekuju) in their language! Hooray!
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Pen Pals & Funny Coincidences
Posted 7:13 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
First of all, I was in a grumpy mood yesterday when I posted. No one person or event inspired the lists, I was simply brainstorming and venting. I'm feeling much better today! That being said..........I am the social chair of the Youth Leadership Team. My function is to arrange a social event for the adults who work with the youth, so we can get to know each other. For this month's event, I decided to have us all meet for dinner at Manny's, a Mexican food restaurant in Frisco. We had about ten people there last night, which wasn't everyone, but it was still a good group.
Also joining us at the dinner were Petr & Pavla Balous, from the Czech Republic. Back in May, a group of people from our church went to the Czech Republic to do some work with our sister church, Maranatha United Methodist Church. When the group returned, they brought back a list of people who wanted pen pals from our church. I selected the Balous family as pen pals for David & I. We've been sending e-mails back and forth for a few months now, and I was really excited when I learned that they would be coming to town for a conference!
I had seen a picture of them, so I knew what they looked like, but it was definitely better to see them in person! It was so exciting to get to meet them and talk with them. Even with a language barrier, it was neat that we could bond over Mexican food, knowing that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that we all work with youth.
During the course of dinner, I was talking with one of the other couples about how I had grown up in The Colony. After asking when I graduated, we discovered that I went to high school with their three youngest kids, and knew two of them fairly well! I thought that was totally funny!
The other coincidence was this morning when I was showing another one of the youth counselors our wedding album. She saw a picture with my mom in it, and said she knew her! Well, it turns out that she teaches at a school with Mom's best friend, and that Mom has subbed for her several times. How cool is that? Talk about some funny coincidences! Yay!
Saturday, November 12, 2005
A Couple of Lists
Posted 8:13 AM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Things that I don't like:Things that I do like:
These lists are not exhaustive. It's been that kind of week, and I needed to vent. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Hello, world!
Posted 12:14 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
Good afternoon! The weather has turned cooler again, and I'm thinking that this is great camping weather! Yesterday I was warm in my t-shirt and jeans, today I needed a jacket and long sleeves to go outside!The conference was good. I saw several people there that I knew, and learned about some interesting things. We arrived around mid-morning on Thursday. David dropped me off at the conference and went to our hotel. After I was finished for the day, we drove off to meet up with Mark & Susan! We ate at my favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden!! Hooray! We then got to see their new house. It is really pretty, and they'd also done some work in the backyard as well. We went home with half a bag of chocolate left over from their Halloween stash. I do like my chocolate. It was a great visit and a fun evening.
Friday, I was a student volunteer at the sign-in table. Sign-in table is a good job for Dezi. There was one small problem, however. If I had the chair high enough to where I could see over the counter (it was a really high counter), then my feet didn't touch the ground. If I had the chair to where I could touch the ground, then I couldn't see. So I spent most of the day swinging my feet back and forth, several inches off the ground. I enjoyed the volunteer work, I got to meet a lot of people that way. I had several attendees tell me I was doing a great job! Yay!
After the conference was over for the day, I was zonked. David looked up on the internet where nearby Starbucks were, and there happened to be one inside the building two down from the conference. So I walked over there and back by the time David came to get me. We then went to meet our friend Matt for dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse! We had a great visit, and enjoyed our evening with him, even though I was pretty wiped out. They both ran into people that they knew. That usually happens to me, so I really thought it was funny. David & Matt tell some really funny stories of their days at A&M, I always enjoy listening to them! I ended the night with some chocolate cake to-go from Saltgrass. Mmmmmmmm.
Saturday morning, I woke up to find that my shell (which I wear under my suit) was a wrinkled mess. I thought I had packed it well, however, stuff got shifted around. Most hotel rooms have an iron, this one did not. They also didn't have a blow dryer, and I was not about to give my presentation with wet hair. So David took a hot shower, and we put the shell in the bathroom, to steam the wrinkles out. It worked really well! I got dressed in my black suit and pearls, and we headed to the conference.
I had a little trouble putting up my poster since I'm short, but luckily, someone a little taller came over and helped me. The actual presentation went well, I gave out several of my handouts and was able to answer questions and sound reasonably intelligent as I did so. People seemed to be really interested in my research. Hooray!
After the first afternoon session was over, David and I left for home. The drive back was pretty uneventful. We were both really tired when we got back. I know it didn't take long for me to fall asleep that night! All in all, it was a good trip and conference. Thanx again to Mark, Susan & Matt for hanging out with us, and showing us a good time! We love ya'll!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Ready to Roll!
Posted 6:23 PM by Dezi Rollins, LSSP | 0 Thoughts
My poster is ready, handouts are printed and my suitcase is packed. I bought a box of thumbtacks to pin up my poster with. I'm really looking forward to this trip! After my appointment this morning in Ft. Worth, I ran over to the Health Science Center to pick up the poster. They had called me at the end of the day yesterday to let me know it was ready. When I arrived at the printers, they couldn't find my poster, and decided it had already been picked up. Since I knew who had it, I ran over and got it. The poster looks really great!I spent the afternoon doing laundry in preparation for the trip. I finally got it all finished and the necessary stuff packed! Now all I need is for David to get home and put the stuff he needs in the suitcase, and we'll be ready to go! We already have plans to meet with friends tomorrow night in Houston. Hooray!
I had my first concert with the Frisco Community Band last night. It went really, really well! I was wearing a white shirt, black pants and a tie, as were the other percussionists. I asked David later if I looked like a waitress in that getup. He confirmed that I did. I think for the next concert, I'm going to wear a dress.
Well, that's about it, I guess. I'm tired and my brain isn't functioning at this point. Have a great weekend, everyone!
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