The day I ran away

This picture is me, my brother, and an old neighbor friend Steven.
Thinking about Steven and his family, I always remember my first time ever running away.
We moved to my home when I was 5 years old. It was a property right next door to my uncle and aunt. So one day shortly after the property was bought(I was 4), we visited my aunt and uncle.
There was no house yet so we had not moved out of our apartment. My dad wanted to take my brother to show him the property. I wanted to come along but Dad wouldn't let me. He told me to stay in my uncle and aunt's back yard and jump on the trampoline.
Let's just say I was less than thrilled about it. I felt it was my God given right as the little sister, to be invited to everything my brother went to. I yelled and whined as they walked through the brushy trail to the property.
Once they were out of sight, I decided that if Nick got to go explore that direction, then I should be allowed to explore the opposite direction. So that's what I did. I walked through the woods for a bit, and popped out at the driveway.
The very imaginative person I am, I told myself it was some ancient trail to another world. I clearly remember walking up the driveway trying to figure out how I would speak to the village people if they spoke a different language.
It took a while for me to reach the top where the driveway met the road. When I got there, I figured out where I was and recognized the neighbor friend's house off in the distance.
I decided it would be ok to go see if they were available to play. Standing in the middle of the gravel road, I paused and giggled with excitement a bit, knowing this was my first time going somewhere unsupervised.
I made my way to their front door and knocked. The mom answered the door, and for some reason that I cannot remember, I asked if I could eat with them. She seemed a bit confused, but welcomed me in.
I remember seeing a big cantaloupe up on their fridge and thinking how much I wanted it, but she offered me a pear instead. I wanted to ask for the cantaloupe but felt it would be rude. So I ate the pear.
Still wanting the cantaloupe, I told her I was still hungry hoping she may offer it to me. Instead she offered me an apple. Again I felt it would be rude to say no, so I accepted. She was cutting up the apple for me when some one knocked at the door.


Little did I know at the time, that a missing 4yr old child is a very upsetting thing for a parent. I sat at the table hoping it may be her son at the door, so I could play with him. But instead the mom called out, "You're mom is here!"
I was thinking everything was fine. I thought she must have known that I went to play. I was wrong! When I got to the door, I saw my mom's face was bright red.
She very sternly ordered as she pointed her finger, "You! In the car. Now!"
Mom took me back to my uncle and aunt's house, where she and my dad both chewed me out in unison. Dad's face was just as red as Mom's.
I wanted to argue that Nick got to explore, why couldn't I too......but I figured with how mad they were it was best to stay quiet and take it.


Every night before bed, Mom would make up a story for us and called them, "The Nick and Savanah story"
That night Mom's story was about Savanah getting lost out in the woods and Nick and his trusty dog, Max, having to go look for me.
As I sat and listened with entertainment, I decided the day had been pretty good. I got to explore by myself, got some yummy fruit, and it ended with a good Nick and Savanah Story.

That cantaloupe would have made it better though lol

Watch out, she gonna blow!

You know those days when you are exhausted and want nothing more than to get home and lie down in your bed, but the rest of the world decides it wants to keep you away from home as long as possible? Well I had one of those days. But life decided to keep me from home in a quite unique and entertaining way.



Ok I admit it wasn't quite a nuclear explosion like the picture, there wasn't actually any fire at all........just the threat of it. LOL



Just across the street from my work there is a gas station that I love going to. Their prices are always lower but especially I like the people who work there.
This one guy has figured out I always get $20 worth. Every time I go I find myself hoping he is working just so we can have our little joke. He starts giggling every time he sees me pull up and greets me with his Spanish accent, "Twendy dollas right?"
It's gotten to the point that I look forward to going just to hear him say it.

Monday night I got off work and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. I grumbled a bit when I saw my gas gauge on E; knowing that I had to run to the ATM to get $20, then go get gas delaying me a good 20 minutes from making my way home.
So I strutted along, finally making it into the gas station, saw my fave guy was not there, grumbled a bit more, then put on my half awake happy face and told the clerk I wanted $20 worth.
They young guy put in the money, and reached to put the nozzle into my tank.
In seemingly slow motion, a young lady came running out of the store, waving her hands and wailing, "Nooooo!"
Then there was a click sound, as the clerk started the pump, then a spraying sound, then I saw for a tiny glimpse of gas spraying through the air then the pump stopping.
The gal ran over in a panic and told us, "Some guy drove off with the spout still in the tank. He ripped the hose off the machine. I was trying to fix it but it kept coming off. So I just went inside to get a cone to say out of order."

The guy then reached up to the top and tried to mess with the hose to get it screwed onto the machine. When he did, gas came spraying out again. He did this three times before the girl screamed at him, "Stop, stop it! Stop trying, you're just getting gas every where. Cancel the order and switch her over to tank 10!"
He pulled the nozzle out, reached over, and put another one in.
A total of $1.79 in gas had sprayed out of the first one. As my tank filled up from the not broken machine, the girl shuffled back and forth grabbing her head nervously. The guy and I both remained silent, with expressions of trying hard not to laugh. Just then gas started trickling out on it's own from the broken hose.
I poked my head out the window and asked if I could get out and help some how. The guy said with horror, "No! There's gas every where! Opening your door could make a spark. It only takes a tiny spark and this whole block will be in flames! Just stay as still as you can." So I got myself comfy and slurped my chicken noodle soup and watched the rest unfold.

Quickly all 5 employees surrounded my truck trying to figure out how to stop it.
One female got on the phone and called the owner. He instructed her how to kill the machine and said he'd be down in a few minutes.
Once the machine was off, and the gas had stopped dripping, all 5 nervously giggled with relief. Then another spoke up, "What about the gas that's everywhere?"
The first girl pointed to the girl holding the phone and barked, "Call the fire department!"
At this point I finally broke, and couldn't hold it in any longer. I let out a loud laugh and had to ask, "Is this a joke?"
The panic was very obvious in her voice when she replied, "Ma'am, please stay calm. Everything is going to be alright. Don't panic. The fire department is going to help."
I could not stop my laughter, so I covered my mouth with my hands to try and hide it.
The girl spoke on the phone and told them what had happened. Just then I heard a fire truck siren coming down the street. I thought to myself, "Goodness what have I gotten into?!" With the image of a bunch of firemen surrounding my truck in my head.


I found out later the fire truck was unrelated, being a call for a customer with chest pains in a nearby restaurant; but talk about funny timing!
The employee repeated what the fire station said. They said the gas had most likely evaporated already, but to spray the area with water to be safe.

The 4 employees walked into the store to grab buckets and fill up with water. The original gas clerk stood by my truck, with bright red cheeks, and laughed with a near hysterical tone, "I'm so sorry ma'am. This has been a very weird day."
It took a few minutes before the 4 came out with their buckets of water and stood in line to splash my truck and surrounding ground. They all sighed with relief then the girl said her apologies to me and said it was ok for me to leave now.
As I began to drive away, I shouted out the window, "I hope your day gets better!"
I only made it about another mile down the road before I had to pull over because my tears of laughter made it too hard to see. My side ached from laughing so hard, as the tune played in my head, "When you least expect it, you're elected, you're the star today. Smile, you're on candid camera!"

!!Adventure!!

I and my lovely buddies Lydia and Lexy made an all day trip to Sauvie Island on June 29. It was a pretty hilarious start to the day when Lydia got out of the car and had to use the out house. We all held our breath as we heard her awe struck gawks at the stench, and felt the fear in our hearts that something alive might be in there. But, SHE SURVIVED!!! No animals or anything =-)Well, not in the out house any way!

Let me tell you, I never knew how intimidating bulls were until walking next to one and all the images from "The run of the bulls" went racing through my mind.
We, not so calmly, crept past a big giant black Angus bull. He just friendly mood at us then walked away. Once we were past him, we all laughed with relief. Turns out I wasn't the only one who's heart was racing.
We found a log that we thought was a perfect photo spot, so we used it for just that












After a while we stopped to have a picnic. We had German rolls stuffed with beef. I don't remember the name but they were home made, warm, delicious!
And the mosquitos made a meal out of us :(
Poor lil Lydia got bit right on her eye

We sat and talked for about an hour. Those girls are SO funny!




On our long walk back we passed a big beautiful field. Lexy and I wanted to go explore, but Lydia said she didn't want to. So we left her behind for a few minutes. Turns out Lydia is a pretty smart one!
We wandered a bit and had fun. I lead the way, therefore I was the one who's feet got drenched as I walked right into a big body of water hiding in the grass. Needless to say, we decided it was best to go back to Lydia after that LOL! I had to literally ring my socks out they were SO wet.

We passed the big bulls again, but this time we said hello instead of being nervous. Well, I think Lexy was still a tad nervous.
We came to an opening next to the river, with a little cliff that we sat and hung our legs over and enjoyed the view.

Lexy snapped this shot that I thought was purdy neat.






Our dear Lydia is moving to Kansas for University in just a few days. I am gonna miss that girl so much. We have shared so many adventures in the two short years we've known each other.
I couldn't have asked for a better final adventure before she leave.
Lydy, thanks for the great fun. Miss ya buddy!

Half way there!

November 17 I got all dressed up and went with some friends to the mall to freak people out in our wild outfits. We were celebrating "International Make A Stranger Feel Awkward Day".
I made this little video.


As I edited the video, I had the thought pop up in the back of my head that from the back side, I looked very similar to some one I know. That's when it really hit me. "I am a single 20yr old college girl who's butt is comparable to a 60 yr old mother of 5."
Thanksgiving night I had a long hard talk with myself, and made the goal to lose 50lbs by Christmas 2011.
This picture was taken for documentation on Thanksgiving Day 2010


By May I was VERY frustrated with myself because I had only lost 15lbs. I found some pants that I used to be able to wear but did not fit into anymore. I made them my goal pants for the half way mark.
I could get them up, but I could not button it. I figured I only need another 10-15lbs to be able to. So I made it my goal to be able to wear them again
I took a picture the 1st day, then the day I got the button on, and then today.
Guess what else I did today? I hit 25lbs today!



I got a nifty little pedometer to set goals for my exercise. Today I ran for the first time. You have no idea how big of an accomplishment running is for me.
I am the girl that convinced my PE teacher I could not run in PE because it was against my religion.

I also got this cool water bottle the other day that holds your entire daily amount of required water. Let me tell ya, it has been exhausting trying to drink it all each day.


I have another 25 to go before my goal, and I have a little more than 5 months to do it.
Guess there's just one thing left to say..........................







Almost there!

Weird food,Gooodwilling, and a sandy diaper

Had some experiences today, too fun not to share. So here I go!
Woke up and had to go to work at an hour far too early. I am a waitress at the restaurant inside a retirement community. Today I laughed as I got all sorts of odd ball orders. With each one, it got weirder and weirder.
There was "Lettuce tomato sandwich, oh, but no lettuce please" So basically this was a tomato with bread.
Then there was "Bacon swiss sandwich with no bacon, oh and make it grilled" "Um, so do you want it like a grilled cheese sandwich?" "Ewe, no that's gross. Just put some white bread and swiss cheese on the grill."
Then a Bratwurst's on a hamburger bun, and then, two raw eggs.
These were some of the strangest orders I have heard in my 2 and a half years there, and they were all on the same day!
I think this beat my old favorite of grilled cheese on raisin bread



When I got home around 3, my mom asked me to go to Goodwill with her to help pick out some light t-shirts for her upcoming trip to Mexico.
I'll have you know I am very proud of the fact I convinced her to go to Mexico in the middle of July wearing a Snoopy Christmas t-shirt! I told her I cannot wait to see her all hot and sweaty in Christmas wear. Therese, maybe you can make sure and get a good snap of it?


Another fact about me is that I am a sucker for witty and original t-shirts.
That being said, today I found the perfect shirt that I could not walk away from. Most who know me, know I love to write. The shirt I found made me and my mom laugh out loud. If you know me well, you are probably laughing too, knowing my little joke I have been dragging on for years now. Every time some one offends me in even the smallest way, I tell them I am going to put it in my autobiography.


My final funny story.


Later in the evening I went for a walk through town. I passed by a sandbox. A iddy biddy boy, couldn't have even been two yet, sat digging with his shovel. Somehow just then, he decided his diaper was lacking sand.
He picked up a big scoop of sand and dumped it down his diaper. I only vaguely caught the first scoop. But when I saw the second scoop go down it caught me off guard and made me momentarily laugh out loud.
All this happened as his 5 foot skinny as a toothpick mother stood only a foot away gabbing with a buddy. Hearing my laughter made her look down in perfect timing to see his third scoop go in. His diaper was now bulging.
I figured she would screech, or groan, but she surprised me when she broke out in the loudest, deepest, most hilarious big belly laugh. I mean seriously, this laugh came from such a small woman, sounded like big Bertha the cook at the highway diner who's specialty is pork rinds.
Even better, instead of stopping him, she announced loudly as she threw her hands in the air, "Oh, where is my camera? Bwa ha ha! I gotta get a picture!"

It was thoroughly entertaining!
Any way, that was my day. Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of it!

Drinking and driving ~Star Ryan Dunn dead at 34~

I never got the chance to know my Uncle Steve, he was left in a vegetative state after drinking and driving. My 3rd grade teacher was left with daily agonizing pain after a drunk driver came into her lane and crushed her legs.
That same year, a 2nd grader was left with a crippled arm after a drunk driver hit his car on the way home.
Every single person has been affected by drinking and driving some how. Today it has claimed 2 more lives. Jackass star Ryan Dunn and his unidentified passenger.
It always saddens me to hear of some one dying in a needless death. It angers me to hear a death was totally preventable. I hope this may remind people not to drink and drive.
Have fun with your friends, but call a cab!
Here is a powerful poem I found
Take the Keys
By Angela Rouse
As you walk from the party,
Think you're O.K.
Get in the car and drive away.

Go to switch lanes,
Have to swerve to the right,
Can barely see.
It's the middle of the night.

Hit the sidewalk,
Don't know what you did.
Get out of the car,
Realize you hit a kid.

You go to check,
Make sure he's alive.
God, he must have only been 5.

Cops show up,
Cuff your hands.
Take you to prison,
Ruin all your plans.

You were gonna go to college,
Start a career.
Now you're locked up
For at least 20 years.

You realize you made
The biggest mistake of your life.
Decide one day,
To end it with a knife.

Now you're dead,
And so is he.
This all could have been prevented,
If a friend would have taken the keys!

Commander Kellie and memory lane

JP was over at our house the other day. My brother thought it would be funny to put in an "entertaining" video for him. Nick dug through our video cabinet and pulled out the VHS, "Commander Kellie and the Superkids".
I was amazed Josh had never heard of it; being he is only a year younger than me, and grew up around the same crowd.
A futuristic 90's video, it was all about a group of kids using faith to get out of situations. Watching the video effects, we laughed at how our modern technology for video effects has made anything over 5yrs old look hilarious.
Nick could only handle a few minutes of it, before he put in Nemo. Babysitting little Kendall back when she was three, she was obsessed with Nemo. She'd watch it every time she was at our house.
Both movies sent me down memory lane. It made me giggle to think of how little kids obsess over their favorite movies.
I was seven years old the first time I ever heard of Commander Kellie. I only ever got to see tiny clips of it, but it was all my friends ever talked about. Out on the playground, they would all get together and act out the movie.
I can recall, Holly(blondie) always played the character of Missy because she was blonde. Katie played Valerie because she had the same brown hair. I remember one time the two getting into a tear filled argument because one was upset that the other always got to play that character just because their hair color.
I never knew the whole story, so I would jump into the game and start making things up. Every one would shoo me away because I was doing it all wrong.
It turned into almost a joke for me, because EVERY SINGLE TIME it would be put on to watch, something would come up, causing me to have to leave. I would see the movie on the screen and would laugh, "Oh, must be almost time for me to go, Commander Kellie is on." And without fail, the teacher, pastor, aunt, or mom would always show up and say I had to go because of this or that.
It became a mission of mine to see the entire movie. I tried so hard for so long. Along the way.....the story teller I am.... I would spend my bedtime hours laying there imagining what happened in the next scene that I didn't get to see. My theories got very elaborate and very exciting.
I talked about it constantly to all the adults in my life, hoping maybe one of them could help get me to see it.
Sadly, it took until my 12th bday for my aunt to buy the video, so that I could FINALLY watch the entire thing. I was very disappointed because it was not at all like I imagined, but I was thrilled that I had finally accomplished my goal after all that time. Even worse, I got to school and wanted to finally be included in the conversations about it, and there were none to be found. Every one found it strange that I wanted to talk about a little kids movie. NOOOOO! Ha, ha.
I was rather mad about it at the time, but seeing it again recently, made me laugh to think of all the times I tried and tried and tried to see it. Nothing ever worked!
Come to think of it, that happens a lot to me.I missed my chance for a full ride scholarship to the university of my dreams, because my SAT's were off by 10 points. The day I was sick, the news people talked to my class about the new building. My first time buying a scratch it, the person in line behind me won $100.
All my childhood I was madly in love with Michael W. Smith. I dreamed of getting to meet him; he was all I ever talked about. Once when my dad was in the hospital, he was only allowed to leave for an hour. Dad went with us to a meet and greet with Michael. We were standing in line for so long, but we had just reached the point where I could see Michael off in the distance. I was so squealing excited, when Mom announced Dad's hour was up and we had to leave!

Me and my luck lol! Well let's hope if I do ever get to meet Michael, it will be different than the experience of getting to see the Commander Kellie movie. Hopefully it will be as cool as I hoped when I was little, and hopefully people will agree with me that it was cool.
Moral of this story....If I ever tell you I got to meet Michael W. Smith, squeal and jump and be very excited for me, no matter how you really feel about it! LOL




Here's one of the clips I found that kinda made me giggle.




Oh, p.s. THANKS FOR THE VIDEO AUNT TERI! You made a dream come true =D Love you

My unique disability

I was just an iddy biddy girl when I first knew something was different about me. It finally clicked on a day our family made a trip from Portland to Molalla.
Driving down the highway I saw a dead skunk in the road. I had always thought if something looked gross, you said it stunk. It's guts and gore made me go, "Oh man that stinks, uh that's terrible!" *grabs nose*
That's when my older brother, Nick, said, "It doesn't stink, it's just gross."
He and I got in a big argument over weather it stunk or not. I pointed out all it's nasty details, and said that it was the worst smell ever. I was near furious when mom agreed it didn't stink.
I can remember thinking, "What is wrong with these people? How can they stand the look of it?"
Nick said the way something looks does not make it smell. Then he mentioned smell being the taste in your nose. I thought he was crazy for saying that my nose could taste. Several arguments and a doctor appointment later, I found out I have no sense of smell.
Think of your younger years, waking up to the smell of you mother making pancakes. Coming home from school, you walk through the door greeted by the smell of cookies baking. When you finish mowing the lawn you look around at your accomplishment and sniff in the smell of victory. When you got your first new car, the excitement of it is even better when you were surrounded by the new car smell. Going to the ocean and breathing in the refreshing air. All these things, I have never experienced. This is because I was born with Anosmia(the inability to smell but still able to taste).

A good side to not being able to smell is that boundaries are broken with me working with people. Whe doing humanitarian work in other countries, some places tend to have such a bad odor, other workers have to leave because they cannot bare it. I can sit and talk with a person for an hour who has not showered in a month.



Often I am told to clean the toilet, pick up the dogs poop, and to clean the trailer bathroom when we go camping, all because I cannot smell. I am always told to do the dirty jobs because I cannot smell. Let me tell you, dirty jobs are still dirty when you cannot smell. Hygiene is the biggest problem for me. I never know when I need to take an extra shower because how hard I worked that day, brush my teeth because the lunch I ate, or if the perfume I am wearing is bad or not.


Many times when I tell some one I can't smell, they call me a liar. Once they believe me, they usually start listing all the things I cannot do. Um, HELLO! If some one told you they were blind, would you do that to them? Wtf?
One time in 7th grade, I was talking to the new girl. It got brought up that I couldn't smell, and she was shocked. She was holding a container of lotion. She shoved it to my face too quickly, and accidentally smashed it into my face, covering me with lotion and asked, "You mean you can't smell this?!"

The saddest part is that I do not qualify for any scholarships for students with disabilities. Trust me, I have tried =(