Swedish Twister

Have you ever heard of Swedish Twister? I hadn't before the youth game night a couple weeks ago. Must be something counselors made up at EFY! No plastic color mat required for this game of twister. All you need is a group of people and their feet.

Here's how I understood the rules:
- The first player takes their foot and puts it down touching the foot of the person next to them.
- Then that player picks up the foot that was just touched, and touches THEIR neighbor's foot.
- You keep doing this, all while trying to maintain your balance.
- If you fall or place a hand on the floor, you're out!

I didn't play myself. I just watched from my station at Just Dance 3. Did I mention that I'm kind of in love with that game. It should be my new work out regiment, except that I live in a middle apartment and assume my dancing would be too noisy. I did get to play a few games when the kiddos were more interested in the ping pong, board games, or physical challenges going on in the church gym. One mother came up to me after the game night and said, "My son pointed you out while you were playing Just Dance and said 'See that lady, Mom? She has all the moves!'" Best compliment from a 14 year old, EVER!

All the while Scott was supposed to be studying and instead dominated with the other chaperones in a game (or three) of Blokus.

Be the Bieb

Like I said before, Scott has always wanted long hair, but I think he's finally come to the lenth of his dreams. Scott's hair curls up around the edges when he's wearing a hat. It drips sweat when he's running on the court, like this guy. And when he straightens his hair, he kind of looks like my own little Bieber.

We chaperoned a church youth game night last Saturday and I straighted Scott's fluffy mane. Scott's asked for the straightener multiple times since, especially if he's deemed it a special occassion.

Flooding in Benton County

We knew when we moved to Oregon that it would be rainy. Portland is known for rain, though not as well known as Seattle (not to mention Sitka or Ketchikan, but people only known about Sitka from The Proposal). Scott used to make comments that he chose Oregon to attend medical school, because he knew he would never be tempted by the weather to leave his study spot indoors. This is definitely true as of late, because it has rained so much that some of the streets have flooded over.

This may come as a shock, when you think that I just posted about morning campus closure for a light snow dusting. But you may have also heard of the BIG storm in the Northwest on your news. Have you? I'm curious if we come up on your news. I heard that Alaska, Cordova specifically, has had so much snow that they don't know where to put all of it. That amount of moisture has moved to Washington and Oregon in the form of rain.

Though the rain has not flooded our area of Lebanon, I have seen high waters and flooded streets in Corvallis. I heard the tragic story of a family in Albany who's car was sucked into a creek because of high waters in a grocery store parking lot. The radio cautioned that residents of Salem should be aware of flood levels and have their emergency supplies handy in case of evacuation or water supply damage.

Everyone is comparing this storm to a similar storm in 1996, though the rains and snow meltage haven't reached that year's record. OSU campus is closed all day today, though not where I work at the Foundation. I'm keeping my eye on the water report, because I'd really like to make it home this evening, and I forgot my canoe.

Snow Day at OSU

On Monday a message was sent out on Corvallis area Facebook pages that OSU would cancel morning and late evening classes Tuesday due to inclement weather. It had flurried a little on Monday and Tuesday was expected to bring two more inches of snow to the mix.

That's right, two. Portland was slightly worse, - I heard 4+ inches on the news Tuesday morning.

This is how the student newspaper reported the cancellation of classes:

For those who didn't click on the photo, the caption says, "A glimpse of Monday morning's snow before it melted."

Granted, the roads are a bit more hazerdous with any amount of snow in the Corvallis area, because the county doesn't own a snow plow. They really don't do anything on the highways to make them more safe when roads are icey or snowy, though I heard a rumor they might use gravel if the snow piles much more. The thought of gravel seems more hazerdous than the dusting we received. Probably a good time to add comprehensive gravel coverage!

Facebook Video Friday

I found these videos on Facebook this morning and couldn't help but share their awesomeness.


I love how just below the video on the College Humor site, it reads "Superhero princesses for everyone. Problem solved." So true, College Humor. So true!

I was that little girl, once upon a time... still am! And my boys will play with princesses and cabbage patch dolls if they so choose. There will be no pink descrimintation in my house. Sorry, Scott! Mother knows best.

And then we have a little broadway medeley.


Worth sharing, right?!

Joyride Sound

On New Year's Eve I found this lovely video and blog post by Zoe Deschanel. Too cool for words! I was completely intrigued when I saw Zoe suggest a visit to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's website, hitRECord. BTW, I most definitely cannot call him Joe, and I have to say all three names. It's like Chad Michael Murray or Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I'm seeing a pattern here of crushes on three-named men.

Anyway, I was curious what kind of website Joseph Gordon-Levitt's resented, because I had imagined it to be a PR, biography set-up. I was surprised to find that JG-L's site actually offers a magical place where all the creative people of Hollywood can come together to make short films and collobrate one with another. I didn't take Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the producer type, but then again I didn't know he could play the guitar. So I asked my brother, Matt, resident sound artist of Burbank what he'd heard about this JG-L movement. He responded with his own collaborative effort. Check it out!

Sound by Matt of Cavanaudio

Looking the Part of Chaperone

It may be hard to believe but my stories kind of petered out with the holidays! It was a relaxing, fairly uneventful couple of weeks. On New Years Eve, Scott was out of town and I had the responsibility of being a chaperone at a youth dance. There is no coincidence that Scott was MIA during the very month, no the very weekend, I had this responsibility. In fact, I think he may have prolonged his family trip to avoid dancing with me that night. Are my egg beater moves really that bad?

I've chaperoned dances before for high school or church, and EVERY time I've been mistaken for a student. Most of the time it's by a teenager who asks me to dance and then asks me what grade I'm in. It's flattering, in a way, but mostly awkward especially if that young man was nervous to ask me.

So this dance I tried my very best to look the part of chaperone. I wore a grandpa sweater an businessy skirt.

I looked in the mirror and thought, "I'm too cute and innocent!" Though my closet is not exactly trendy, it holds nothing that could add ten years to my face. So I added my librarian glasses.

It worked... sort of. All of the teenagers knew I was too lame to ask for a dance. The other chaperones were not as sure. Several questioned why I was wondering the halls and not enjoying the dance. Happy New Year to me - I look the same age if not younger!