And why are our children obese?

Epic meet post is coming. But I must recount this little tidbit from Sunday. Yesterday, Hal and I volunteered for an organization that was helping to host a "Welcome Home" for a national guard unit that just came back from Iraq. We were manning a table that was giving away free food and information. I was manning the cheese and crackers, Hal was next to me with desserts. There was a group of youngsters at the event and they, most of whom were plump, came walking over.

Plump Boy: Is this free?

Me: Yes.

Plump Boy: Are you serious?

Me: Yes. Help yourself!

Plump Boy [excitement lighting up his face]: I love to eat. I eat so much that I can't fit into my cub scout uniform anymore.

Me [what do you say to that?]: Ohhhh. [smiles hugely]

It was hilarious and sad at the same time. But mostly hilarious. ;)

Race Results, kind of

I will have an epic swim meet post later with video and pictures, but I must share.

I swam the 50 fly, and I think I actually beat someone.

I don't have the official results yet (I didn't hit the clock thing hard enough, so my time was screwed up. Luckily, we had a person clocking as well, and she corrected my time). However, I think I swam a 47.6 and the girl next to me, I think, swam a 47.8. I'm not actually sure, though. We'll have to wait until we get the emailed results. Looking at the pictures, it looks like I beat her, but we'll see. (To say nothing for the other two people in my heat who KILLED me!)

Nerves

I am racing in my first swim meet on Saturday.

I am very nervous. I know that I have terrible chances of winning, and I'm not worried about that, but I also don't want to be horribly embarrassed.

I comfort myself from these nerves by thinking that in the slower-case scenario, my race will last for one minute. I can live through any embarrassment that only lasts for one minute, right?

Right?

Cabin Fever

I think Layla is starting to get cabin fever from all the snow.

It doesn't help that the snow has been deep enough that it makes me nervous when she's running around. I'm afraid she'll twist and ankle or something.

I was hoping that the snow was over, but it snowed AGAIN last night. Another fluffy two inches or so, just enough to fly up and brush my ankles when I walked to school. Sigh.

Thesis

Today, my advisor, the assistant dean, and the dean signed off on my thesis.

:)

Tuesday

I don't usually do stuff like this.

But a little girl I have been praying for for the past couple of months passed away on Friday. Her name is Tuesday, and she died from Neuroblastoma. (The link on her name is her family's blog, which chronicles Tuesday's cancer struggle, which began in July.) Tuesday left behind her parents, her twin sister, and her two older brothers.

I first learned of Tuesday's struggles through Debi's blog. In honor of Tuesday, Debi is fundraising for a foundation Tuesday's family set up. Her fundraiser is simple, which is why I've decided to link to it. If you leave a comment on Debi's blog by tomorrow (Tuesday), she will donate $1 to the fund. Please consider doing so. To do so, go here. You can do so anonamously, you can just write "Stacie told me to come here and leave a comment," or whatever. But it's an easy way to make a difference. (When you go to the site, you need to go all the way to the bottom of the page and click on "Post a comment," which should open a pop up where you can comment. "Post a Comment" is right above a section that says "Links to this post.")

And, of course, keep Tuesday and her family in your prayers.

Thanks!

The birthday party

The birthday party for Arin went fantastic!

It was very heartwarming to be welcomed so warmly by my classmate and his wife. They are Korean, so most of the guests were Korean. My classmate made sure to welcome those of us who weren't Korean by name in his welcoming speech (spoken first in Korean and then in English).

There was a HUGE spread of traditional Korean food. It was excellent and I ate a ton.

Also, I won a prize! And I never win anything. They had a basket full of about 8 objects. There was a microphone, a stethoscope, money, a golf ball, a ball of yarn, and other things. Behind the basket, there was a board and pictures of each object with a corresponding envelope. We had to decide which object we thought Arin would pick up. The game is supposed to give insight to the future of the baby. We put a ticket we got in the corresponding envelope. I picked the golf ball, and that's what Arin picked! They then took all the tickets from the golf ball envelope and Arin picked a ticket out of her mom's hand. She picked mine! I won a beautiful set of lotions and bath salts. It was very exciting.