Ashley sent this email to me, and said we should post it for everyone. She says that she is the epitome of the "why?" question in life :)
Why, Why, Why?
Do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?
Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?
Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?
Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?
If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?
Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?
Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?
Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?
Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?
How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?
When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That hurt, you stupid idiot?'
Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?
How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?
And my FAVORITE......
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Real Cat Fight!!!
As y'all can see, Zee is a very good mother. Look at how protective she is... isn't that cute? Well, it's cute and all until you become the enemy!!! As you know, Zee has lost 2 of her babies in the last few weeks to new homes. She's probably been a little confused, and trying to figure out why they keep disappearing. So I think she just really loves her babies, and is glad that Toby is still around to keep her company. They play and romp around the house. They make a pretty good team. Well let me tell you about my adventure into Zee's "Mama Bear" Territory...
Last Friday morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table, just eating my Wheaties. It was no different than any other day. Zee was trying to convince me that I wanted to share my cereal with her. And Toby was running around like he had cat-nip surgically inserted into his brain. Well, he has learned that he can jump onto the kitchen chairs now. These chairs are your typical wooden chair. They kind of look like this.
They have the openings at the bottom and top, and get more narrow in the middle. Well Toby decided to stick his head through the bottom hole and then move up the chair. Well, he suddenly realized that his head was not coming back the way he thought it should go. He began to freak out, and scream quite loudly. I felt horrible for the poor little guy, and he was just panicking. Lucky for him, I was sitting in the chair next to him, and his mother was also 10 feet away on the floor. I immediately grabbed him and tried to hold him still and slide him back down to the hole in order to remove him from the chair. At the same time, Zee came running to save the day. Of course, she's not as graceful as I am, and she could only think of biting him to pull him to safety. Being the engineer that I am, I knew there was only one way to get Toby to safety, and Zee didn't know it. Zee was attacking me at the same time because she thought I was the one causing pain to her baby. So while Zee was attacking my hands, I held the kitten still, and slid him out from between the bars in the chair. He bolted to safety somewhere else, and then it was just Zee and me. You should have seen her eyes!! She hissed and growled and promptly attached herself to my leg. I was in shock more than anything. I got her off my leg, but she kept coming at me! I threw off my jacket, and used it as a shield. However, she wasn't going to be stopped and kept coming at me. She successfully stalked me around my own house until I was able to lock myself into a bathroom and assess the damage. If I hadn't have been wearing jeans, my leg would have been really messed up. I had bite marks and scratches all over my right leg and hands. She also tore open the middle finger on my left hand pretty good. So I spent the next 20-30 mins applying alcohol and band-aids to my wounds, and listening to Zee on the other side of the door. After I was fixed up enough to leave the house and get to work (This all happened about 7:45am), I slowly opened the bathroom door. Zee was there with Toby, and seemed to be okay. She came and cuddled up to me, and Toby did as well. It was all very strange. But the second I made any sudden movements, Zee was back on the attack and stalking me to my car! Man... I tell you, don't get in the way of a mommy cat and her baby. Actually, don't get in the way of any mommy and her baby, no matter the species. When I got home that night, Zee was fine and we haven't had an issue since. But she has been on her guard more to make sure nothing happens to her baby again. If she hears a strange noise or sees something a little out of the ordinary, she'll come a running. So that was my experience with a real cat fight.
Check out my battle wounds below. I know you all love my sexy, white, hairy legs :)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
And The Name Is......?
As you all know, we had some kittens recently. We have now given 2 of the kittens to new homes, and decided to keep one for ourselves. Here is the kitten that we kept. We've named him Toby (Or Tobi with an "I" just in case we find out it's a girl. But so far we think it's a boy). Toby has been a lot of fun, and loves to run around chasing anything that moves, especially his tail. Zee has enjoyed the company as well. They wrestle all the time, which ends with Zee pinning him then biting him till he squeals like a pig. Anyway, we're having fun with our cats, and they all seem to be potty trained now!! Yippee!!!
Matthew Allen Simmons!!
Well, we want to extend a hearty welcome to our new nephew Matthew (Matty) Allen Simmons. He was born today, 11 December 2007, at 5:01am. Happy Birthday to Matty (and to Dallas' mom Selonna!) He weighed 8 lbs, 9 oz and was 20.5 inches long. We can't wait to see him at Christmas! Perfect timing! It looks like his older brother Aidan is excited too. What a good looking group of Simmons Boys!
Monday, December 03, 2007
The Ice Cream Man!! No, wait... that's just the garbage man :(
One of the unique things about Taiwan is the Garbage pick-up that they have. I wish this video had audio to go with it, but my explanation will have to do. My first morning in Taiwan, I was sitting at my desk when I heard the Ice Cream Man music. You know the song I'm talking about. I immediately thought to myself, "That's great! Something similar to the states!" My companion then started to chuckle and explain that there was no ice cream truck here, but that the Garbage man played music, so you knew when to take your trash out. If you miss the garbage truck, then you have to wait till the next time he comes. They don't have bins for you to fill and set next to the curb. This video shows a truck we saw in Taiwan with everyone bringing their trash out.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
We are Taiwanese if you please...
Well loyal stalkers of our lives :) We have returned from our Thanksgiving Trip to Taiwan. We'll try to give a summary without too many pictures, but be prepared for a long post!! We'll start with the 16th of November. Ashley had just turned 24 years old, and I woke her up at 4:00am!! We then headed to the airport, and began to dream of a place far away. The flight to Taiwan was about 14 hours there, and about 10 1/2 back. I really felt bad for Ashley because her back and neck are so sore, and she started to become a "little" uncomfortable :) However, she was a trooper, and didn't even complain once... well, maybe once, but who's counting, right?
After we arrived in Taiwan, we took a bus to a town called Tanzi, and stayed the night with a Bro Lai, ZhiChang. He was an RM in that area when I was there that helped us out a great deal. He is married with 3 little kids, and just doing amazing. Tanzi is now a ward. When I was there, there wasn't even a branch. It was so neat for me to go back and see how much it's grown since I was there.
Here are some pictures of people and a little bit about them...
These pictures show the Li family, Lin-BiFeng, and Li-CaiHua. I was able to teach them in the Tanzi area, and it was incredible to see how much they have all grown. The kids are all planning on serving missions too.
This is Sister Huang-KeXin (The Chinese one) now serving a mission in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I taught her in Yuanlin when she was 16 years old. From the second she was baptized till now, she has always taken a new friend to church with her on Sundays.
This is the hotel we stayed at in Taipei. It was very nice and simple (Thanks Taylor and Steph). This is the non-smoking floor. You'll notice that there is no room 1104. That is because the number four (Si 4th tone) in Chinese sounds like the word death (Si 3rd tone), so it is very unlucky. They also don't have 4th floors in high rise bldgs. One other thing common in Asia, is the term "Engrish". The sign has the word "managerment" instead of "management". Always a funny thing to see when you're American.
Now Ashley's family loves these little black things on our tongues. They lovingly refer to them as snot-balls. They are called "ZhenZhu", and that means pearl. They are just starchy, tapioca like balls that the Taiwanese put in sweet drinks. It makes drinking fun!
In Taipei, we spent the day with Sister Wang-MaPeiLing. I taught her and her husband in the Taichung 3rd ward. They now live in the Taipei area. They are very involved in their ward, and love serving. The area we visited is DanShui.
You can see some of the things we saw in DanShui. The mopeds are a staple to Taiwanese culture, but this picture doesn't even do it justice. These scooters are EVERYWHERE, and they are crazy. These ice cream cones are common in touristy areas as well, and I couldn't resist getting one.
These are just some apartment and office buildings along the ocean that I took pictures of on board a ferry.
This is a pretty bridge in DanShui.
This guy does sketches on the bridge, so we had ours done with him. Sweet hair!
After we returned to Taipei, we met up with Br. Wang, and had dinner with them. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to see these families like this so happy in the gospel. It's just so awesome.
This is Dong-Jielun. He actually changed his name which is very common with Taiwanese people. When they are looking for some better luck, and a change in pace they will do this. Anyway, I taught him in the Taichung 3rd ward as well.
These are the Li Sisters from Tanzi again. On our way down to Gaoxiong, we stayed with them for a night. They took us to Lugang, where we saw one of the oldest Taoist Miao (Temple) in Taiwan. They also took us to dinner where we had some traditional Taiwanese foods :)
This is a fountain inside the Miao.
The next day, we visited another area called Huwei that I served in. We walked around a morning market first and took this picture of yummy meat for sale. We then visited Sister Wang-ChenHuiSu. I taught her daughter when I was there. She and all her 3 daughters have joined the church. We're still working on her husband :) The other lady is Wu-SuZhi. I taught her and her daughter in this area too.
Well, as you know we spent our Thanksgiving in Taiwan. Since we were there, we decided to put a Taiwanese twist on it as well. We had Taiwanese "Jipai" in placed of our traditional turkey. "JiPai" is just a fried chicken steak :) We also had Donggua Tea, Mashed potatoes, corn, salad, pizza, cucumbers, and tangerines. It was awesome!! We ate at my cousin Rachel's apt. Her roommate Yvonne, and coworker Aaron joined us. We had a blast.
The next morning, we went to a place called FoGuangShan. It's basically a university for monks, and worshipers to come to. The place is huge, and we weren't able to see everything, but still saw some cool stuff.
The big guy you see here is the original Buddha from 2500 years ago. Buddhism was started in India, and spread throughout Asia. This place actually has a shrine dedicated to one of Buddha's original teeth. Pretty cool...
One of the experiences you have here is to eat lunch with all the monks. They just signaled us in, and we sat down behind them. Here is a small video clip. It was taken covertly because I wasn't sure we were allowed to take pictures. We got in, and started whispering when we realized that no one else in the entire room of 300-400 people was saying a word. We really felt out of place. After everyone sat down, they started singing some Buddhist prayer that we didn't know. Everyone knew it but us of course, but it was still cool to listen to. They sang for like 5+ mins. I tried to get audio of the singing, but it only recorded the video I guess. The food was all vegetarian, and Ashley really liked it. I still prefer my Fried Chicken Steaks :)
Here are some huge statues of Buddha. Ashley likes to break the rules of course being the rebel she is.
We were walking away from this area, when all these crazy Filipino (Philippine?) girls saw Ashley and said, "Oh, you're so beautiful!! Please take a picture with us!!" So that's why we have this picture.
After visiting the Buddhist University, we took Rachel with us to visit the east coast of Taiwan. We went to the city of Taidong. This is Rachel and Ashley eating a fruit called "Shijia". It kind of reminds me of a mango. It was quite tasty.
The beach here is so gorgeous. Because of some typhoons in the pacific ocean during this time, the waves were bigger than usual. They were crashing really good, and we enjoyed trying to get real close, then running for our lives before it got to us.
Ashley is getting ready to run from the wave coming a shore.
These are some better pictures of the waves crashing right in front of us. It was a little nerve racking seeing how powerful the waves were.
Taidong is also very famous for Hot Springs. So we bought some swimsuits, and checked them out. You are required to wear swim caps here in order to keep the drains clean, so Ashley was modeling hers for us. It was a beautiful spot for some hot springs. It's amazing how we were right inside the mountains, but could still see the coast from here as well.
These are just some more beautiful pictures of the coast that we took on the way home. We had rented a car, so we would pull over and hike down to the beach, play in the waves, get sandy then get back in the car again. Loads of fun!
One last wave before we leave :)
After we left Taidong, Ashley and I drove up to Yuanlin. We met up with Jiang Baba who is one of the eternal investigators I worked with. He took us to a night market that night where people have little stands set up all over. There are all kinds of food, games, souvenirs, etc...
Some more Taiwanese delicacies on display... squid, chicken hearts, fish heads, stinky Doufu, etc. Most of the stuff was sea food, and had the most pleasant smell :)>
The next day was Sunday, so we went to Church. There are now 2 wards there, so we went to both sacrament meetings. These are some of the people I taught while I was there. On the left, you have the Liu Family, and on the right you have the Luo Family. It was again so exciting to see these families and re-establish contact with them after so many years.
On the left is a picture of Jiang Baba. I'm very proud of him because he's been sober now for 2 years. He's got a great heart, and I hope he will continue to progress. On the right is the Yang family. Bro. Yang is the current Bishop. They have always been good to the missionaries, and fed us at their home after church. They were so polite and friendly to us on our stay there.
And lastly, just to make every missionary who has ever served a mission in Taiwan extremely jealous, here is what Ashley and I brought back. I found a Peanut Butter wholesaler in the Taipei area where I bought 7 cans of the best Peanut Butter known to mankind. We also bought 8 packs of Hob Knob Cookies, Donggua Cha, and some Chili sauce! This should be pretty good food storage for us, right.... :)
After we arrived in Taiwan, we took a bus to a town called Tanzi, and stayed the night with a Bro Lai, ZhiChang. He was an RM in that area when I was there that helped us out a great deal. He is married with 3 little kids, and just doing amazing. Tanzi is now a ward. When I was there, there wasn't even a branch. It was so neat for me to go back and see how much it's grown since I was there.
Here are some pictures of people and a little bit about them...
These pictures show the Li family, Lin-BiFeng, and Li-CaiHua. I was able to teach them in the Tanzi area, and it was incredible to see how much they have all grown. The kids are all planning on serving missions too.
This is Sister Huang-KeXin (The Chinese one) now serving a mission in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I taught her in Yuanlin when she was 16 years old. From the second she was baptized till now, she has always taken a new friend to church with her on Sundays.
This is the hotel we stayed at in Taipei. It was very nice and simple (Thanks Taylor and Steph). This is the non-smoking floor. You'll notice that there is no room 1104. That is because the number four (Si 4th tone) in Chinese sounds like the word death (Si 3rd tone), so it is very unlucky. They also don't have 4th floors in high rise bldgs. One other thing common in Asia, is the term "Engrish". The sign has the word "managerment" instead of "management". Always a funny thing to see when you're American.
Now Ashley's family loves these little black things on our tongues. They lovingly refer to them as snot-balls. They are called "ZhenZhu", and that means pearl. They are just starchy, tapioca like balls that the Taiwanese put in sweet drinks. It makes drinking fun!
In Taipei, we spent the day with Sister Wang-MaPeiLing. I taught her and her husband in the Taichung 3rd ward. They now live in the Taipei area. They are very involved in their ward, and love serving. The area we visited is DanShui.
You can see some of the things we saw in DanShui. The mopeds are a staple to Taiwanese culture, but this picture doesn't even do it justice. These scooters are EVERYWHERE, and they are crazy. These ice cream cones are common in touristy areas as well, and I couldn't resist getting one.
These are just some apartment and office buildings along the ocean that I took pictures of on board a ferry.
This is a pretty bridge in DanShui.
This guy does sketches on the bridge, so we had ours done with him. Sweet hair!
After we returned to Taipei, we met up with Br. Wang, and had dinner with them. I can't tell you how amazing it feels to see these families like this so happy in the gospel. It's just so awesome.
This is Dong-Jielun. He actually changed his name which is very common with Taiwanese people. When they are looking for some better luck, and a change in pace they will do this. Anyway, I taught him in the Taichung 3rd ward as well.
These are the Li Sisters from Tanzi again. On our way down to Gaoxiong, we stayed with them for a night. They took us to Lugang, where we saw one of the oldest Taoist Miao (Temple) in Taiwan. They also took us to dinner where we had some traditional Taiwanese foods :)
This is a fountain inside the Miao.
The next day, we visited another area called Huwei that I served in. We walked around a morning market first and took this picture of yummy meat for sale. We then visited Sister Wang-ChenHuiSu. I taught her daughter when I was there. She and all her 3 daughters have joined the church. We're still working on her husband :) The other lady is Wu-SuZhi. I taught her and her daughter in this area too.
Well, as you know we spent our Thanksgiving in Taiwan. Since we were there, we decided to put a Taiwanese twist on it as well. We had Taiwanese "Jipai" in placed of our traditional turkey. "JiPai" is just a fried chicken steak :) We also had Donggua Tea, Mashed potatoes, corn, salad, pizza, cucumbers, and tangerines. It was awesome!! We ate at my cousin Rachel's apt. Her roommate Yvonne, and coworker Aaron joined us. We had a blast.
The next morning, we went to a place called FoGuangShan. It's basically a university for monks, and worshipers to come to. The place is huge, and we weren't able to see everything, but still saw some cool stuff.
The big guy you see here is the original Buddha from 2500 years ago. Buddhism was started in India, and spread throughout Asia. This place actually has a shrine dedicated to one of Buddha's original teeth. Pretty cool...
One of the experiences you have here is to eat lunch with all the monks. They just signaled us in, and we sat down behind them. Here is a small video clip. It was taken covertly because I wasn't sure we were allowed to take pictures. We got in, and started whispering when we realized that no one else in the entire room of 300-400 people was saying a word. We really felt out of place. After everyone sat down, they started singing some Buddhist prayer that we didn't know. Everyone knew it but us of course, but it was still cool to listen to. They sang for like 5+ mins. I tried to get audio of the singing, but it only recorded the video I guess. The food was all vegetarian, and Ashley really liked it. I still prefer my Fried Chicken Steaks :)
Here are some huge statues of Buddha. Ashley likes to break the rules of course being the rebel she is.
We were walking away from this area, when all these crazy Filipino (Philippine?) girls saw Ashley and said, "Oh, you're so beautiful!! Please take a picture with us!!" So that's why we have this picture.
After visiting the Buddhist University, we took Rachel with us to visit the east coast of Taiwan. We went to the city of Taidong. This is Rachel and Ashley eating a fruit called "Shijia". It kind of reminds me of a mango. It was quite tasty.
The beach here is so gorgeous. Because of some typhoons in the pacific ocean during this time, the waves were bigger than usual. They were crashing really good, and we enjoyed trying to get real close, then running for our lives before it got to us.
Ashley is getting ready to run from the wave coming a shore.
These are some better pictures of the waves crashing right in front of us. It was a little nerve racking seeing how powerful the waves were.
Taidong is also very famous for Hot Springs. So we bought some swimsuits, and checked them out. You are required to wear swim caps here in order to keep the drains clean, so Ashley was modeling hers for us. It was a beautiful spot for some hot springs. It's amazing how we were right inside the mountains, but could still see the coast from here as well.
These are just some more beautiful pictures of the coast that we took on the way home. We had rented a car, so we would pull over and hike down to the beach, play in the waves, get sandy then get back in the car again. Loads of fun!
One last wave before we leave :)
After we left Taidong, Ashley and I drove up to Yuanlin. We met up with Jiang Baba who is one of the eternal investigators I worked with. He took us to a night market that night where people have little stands set up all over. There are all kinds of food, games, souvenirs, etc...
Some more Taiwanese delicacies on display... squid, chicken hearts, fish heads, stinky Doufu, etc. Most of the stuff was sea food, and had the most pleasant smell :)>
The next day was Sunday, so we went to Church. There are now 2 wards there, so we went to both sacrament meetings. These are some of the people I taught while I was there. On the left, you have the Liu Family, and on the right you have the Luo Family. It was again so exciting to see these families and re-establish contact with them after so many years.
On the left is a picture of Jiang Baba. I'm very proud of him because he's been sober now for 2 years. He's got a great heart, and I hope he will continue to progress. On the right is the Yang family. Bro. Yang is the current Bishop. They have always been good to the missionaries, and fed us at their home after church. They were so polite and friendly to us on our stay there.
And lastly, just to make every missionary who has ever served a mission in Taiwan extremely jealous, here is what Ashley and I brought back. I found a Peanut Butter wholesaler in the Taipei area where I bought 7 cans of the best Peanut Butter known to mankind. We also bought 8 packs of Hob Knob Cookies, Donggua Cha, and some Chili sauce! This should be pretty good food storage for us, right.... :)
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