Post 96: Significance of the Snapshot

And the answer is...

My parents came to visit on March 18th!  Now, before you assume I am out of my stinking mind (which, for those of you who know me, you understand that I am most definitely out of my mind), I will explain how a picture of a barbecue represents my parents' visit.  They came as a surprise to me on Friday, March 18th!  Travis fooled me into thinking that a friend of his was coming to New York and needed a place to stay.  Therefore, I knew that I needed to clean the house to prep for his "friend".  I am very thankful that Travis told me to clean; I think I would have pummeled him if he had allowed my parents to show up at our home when I hadn't had a chance to make sure it was ready for them!

Therefore, Friday, after I came home from substitute teaching, I began helping Travis clean the rest of the condo.  (Travis was home that Friday because he had stayed up way late the night before and hadn't gotten too much sleep.)  At one point, whilst cleaning, Travis claimed that Susan (our beloved neighbor- I just adore her!) was at the door wanting to talk to me.  At this point I am thinking, "Why right now out of all times?!"  Don't get me wrong... she is super sweet and wonderful, but I was rushing to clean for Travis's "friend" for goodness's sake!!!  As I rounded the corner and approached the door, expecting to see Susan, guess who came trompin' through the door!

Santa Claus!

...Sorry, just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.  It was actually... MY PARENTS!  Yayyyyyy!!  I have been surprised three times in my life: my 16th birthday party, my engagement, and this visit.  My jaw dropped to the wooden floor (still trying to get the splinter out of my chin).  You know that look people give you when they are thinking, "Ha ha!  We win!"... yeah.  They got me.

"But Brittany," you say, "What does this have to do with a barbecue?"  Weeeeeelllllll, I am SO glad you asked.  However, first I must correct your use of a conjunction to begin a sentence... you know that is a no no.  Tsk.  Now, to answer your grammatically incorrect question, this has to do with the barbecue because my parents were super duper (oh yeah, I said it) generous and bought us a barbecue for our condo.  We were grateful and stoked!  Travis barbecued that night, and it was deeeeelicious!

Okie dokie!  Ready, set, gooooooo:

Okay, okay, so I know that it isn't a "snap shot" per se, but it is a screen shot.  Does that count?  Guess what?  You don't have a choice!!!  Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

Post 95: Significance of the Snapshot

And the answer is...

No, I am not heading to Africa or any other continent for that matter.  I have not been experiencing a relapse into childhood where I am now playing with dolls, and if I was... you would never know.  Moving on then...

The doll is from a few Sundays ago when Harmony Outreach's John Bentley spoke at our church.  He talked all about the organization and what it has been doing to reach and help orphans in China.  Travis and I are now the prayer family and monthly supporters of a beautiful baby girl named Wu!  If you could pray for her as well, we would so appreciate it.  She needs multiple surgeries for her exstrophy of the bladder.  It is a blessing from Jesus that we can have the privilege of praying for this little girl.  The fact that the Lord can use us as a financial vessel is an added bonus!  Anywho, when we signed up, we received this adorable, handmade doll as a gift.  It represents a specific minority group in China.

If you would like the Lord to use you as a vessel in collaboration with Harmony Outreach, please click the link above (the first mention of Harmony Outreach) to get involved.  If the Holy Spirit calls you to help a child and you follow that call, I promise it will be a blessing to you as well (After all, aren't we always blessed when we obey our Heavenly Father?).

What is the next picture?  SO glad you asked!

Post 94: Significance of the Snapshot

And the answer is...

I have recently begun teaching art at Hudson Valley Christian Academy.  I teach the 2nd-4th graders on Monday and the PreK-1st graders on Wednesday.  (I am also teaching an after-school theatre program on Tuesdays- fun fun!)  I had the 2nd-4th graders create shamrocks in honor of Saint Patrick's Day.  We used one session to make preliminary sketches of shamrocks and form them with modeling clay.  We used the next session for painting them with green acrylic paint.  Finally, on Tuesday before teaching drama, I sprayed acrylic gloss on each of the shamrocks, making them look shiny and finished!

Therefore, since these pictures are meant to represent something going on in our lives, this one represents the fact that I have a new job teaching art.  I guess it could also represent the fact that Saint Patrick's Day was a recently occurring holiday!  Although I don't really celebrate St. Patty's Day, I did manage to put on a green shirt this morning in honor of the holiday.  Oh yeah.  Don't get too overwhelmed by my holiday spirit.  holiday.  Sorry, just wanted to say it one more time in this paragraph.

Next snapshot- can you guess the significance?

Post 93: Significance of the Snapshot

And the answer is...

Allll right, so some of you guessed in the general vicinity of the correct answer- yes, I did cut Travis's hair.  Ohhh but wait!  There's MORE!  I didn't just cut Travis's hair, I... well... I guess I will start from the beginning:

It was a few weeks ago when Travis and I decided that we simply could not let his hair grow out anymore than it already had.  He was beginning to look like a porcupine when he gelled his hair for work.  Cut Travis's hair?  Sure!  I could do that!  I have done it quite successfully many, many times.  All I have to do is pop on that #4 guard, cut his entire head of hair, take a #1 guard and thin his sideburns, take his facial razor and use the back part that pops up to shave the hair on the back of his neck down to the skin, use that same razor to trim his sideburns up, and, finally, clean up/make sure it is perfect. 

Now, this past time that I was cutting his hair, I was doing a GREAT job!  I was really fast and knew just the right angles to get the cut done correctly.  In fact, we were finished in less than 30 minutes- woohoo!  That's a new record!  Time for him to take a shower and voila!  "Oh, wait.  Let me just get this section riiiight...GASP!"  I can't exactly explain to you the feeling one gets when she has just created a crater in her husband's hair due to the fact that she didn't change the #1 guard to the #4 guard before landing the shaver onto the right side of the very. top. of. his. scalp... but what I can tell you is that the feeling?  You don't want it- especially when you know that your husband has the chance for revenge soon when he dyes your hair. 

Anywho, Travis quickly caught on to the fact that something went terribly, terribly wrong.  And when I say "quickly caught on" I mean strap a diaper on that man because I just scared him silly by gasping a gasp that instantly let him know what went wrong.  As Travis ran to the mirror to check out the damage- the "crater on the moon" if you will- I had to make a decision... a decision to laugh or to cry. 

I chose laugh.

As Travis gave me the "you little stinker!" face, I plotted on how to salvage the haircut- and his pride.  He had to go to work the next day, no question... he couldn't hide out for the weekend allowing for two days of growth in the one unhappy patch.  It had to be fixed that very night.  I decided that I would cut the top shorter and blend it into the longer sides.  Now I know that this sounds totally bizarre, but it actually worked!  Part of the reason it worked was because he gels his hair.  Thus, he simply needed to gel down the sides and gel the top up, and tada!  Another reason it worked was because I think (by the grace of my Savior) I did not push the guard completely onto Travis's scalp when I used the #1.  Whatever the case might have been, the hair cut actually worked out.  In fact, now Travis is asking if we should cut it again because he says it feels long to him!  Ha ha! 

Then again, no matter how well things work out with your wife's botched haircut, you will still always have that coworker who asks if you have just joined the military.  Such is life.

Here we go againnnnn:

Post 92: Significance of the Snapshot

And the answer is...

My dad turned 57 on February 2nd- his birthday! Yay! If you look in the last post's answer portion, I made it a little obvious to what the coin picture was in reference (Can you tell I took forever and a week trying to figure out how this sentence could not end in a preposition?! How AGGRAVATING!!!)! Hehe! And I quote: "I came down to surprise my dad for his birthday." That was a not-so-subtle hint, eh? Here is the next photooooooo (Hint: Along with it comes a verrrrryyyy funny story- well... we can laugh about it now at least, right?):


P.S. I am not going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted in a million billion years. I just had a lull: a mix of lazy, busy, and writer's/picture-taker's (I don't want to use the word "photographer" for myself as that would surely make actual photographers embarrassed for me/insulted...) block. Sorry about that! I'm back with some schtuff to share!