Chimi-Challenge Update, My Trip Pictures, and My Left Shoe

Chimichanga Challenge Update:


Team Tamale (me): 1,256/40,000 words.


Team Gluten Intolerant (Bree): 17 handwritten pages/40,000 words


I don't know what that translates into, but I think Team GI is ahead. But I have some great news for those of you competing as well: The deadline has been randomly extended to May 10, 2011! That gives us all 4 extra days.


Please give me your totals in the comments if you are joining in the challenge. And if you're not, feel free to trash-talk either team.


On to the blog:


I can sum up our trip to Southern Utah in 9 words:

We hiked:

The gang: looking extra thrilled to be there, and proving that
despite their surroundings, they can still manage to look thoroughly unimpressed.

My bro-in-law Dave, on crutches and still hiking after extensive knee surgery.
My sister calls him "gimpy" and proclaims him to be useless. And that was before the injury.

We rode scooters:

My dad: proving that chemo can't hold him back.

Why drive anywhere when you can scooter?
And may I add that you have to have a surprising amount of butt muscles to scooter, even going downhill.

We dug:

Niece N: Sacrificing her arm and head for the glory of an extra deep hole.

We buried:

Kid B: trying to determine if he is indeed having fun,
considering we kept having to convince him.

Kid C and Niece N: A test run for when they are buried together.

And when the kids acted up, we banished them to the narrows. (We made them watch 127 hours first.)

Scared of tight spaces? Oh yeah, we totally hiked up that crack. IYOE. (Insert Your Own Euphemism)
At least, the kids hiked up it. I ran away screaming like a little girl. I swear that crack gets narrower every year. 

Kid C deep in the narrows. We encouraged him the entire way, and he only believed us for a few minutes when we told him he'd have to cut his arm off to make it through the last bit.

Kid C: This could be you!

Speaking of my awesome sister...

Erin, taking her cue from the English and wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

Erin is known for getting things not quite right, but almost. For instance, when talking about her love for Diet Coke, she said, "I have a wooden leg for that stuff." 

We went to a movie the other day, and on the way home we got talking about Daniel Day Lewis. She's all, "Wasn't he the guy in that Last of the Moccasins movie?"

Yes, Daniel Day Lewis starred in that movie about the day when everyone had to go barefoot in the wilderness because there were no more Moccasins left.

Then she was all, "And didn't he get an award for that other movie? My Left Shoe?"

Totally. He got an award for playing a guy annoyed by his left shoe. "My Left Shoe: The One That Itches."

So, so close. I love her so much. And does she have a hidden shoe fetish I don't know about?


Also, if you're in the Salt Lake area, know this: It's Emily Wing Smith's Launch Party for Back When You Were Easier to Love!


Thursday
The King's English
7:00 p.m.


Our Barry Manilow cover band, The Barely Manilows, will be debuting our hit single, at the Copacabana! 


Seriously, I'm pretty sure this will be a one time thing, so be there or be elsewhere. Who's with me?

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Weekend Top Five, The Conundrum that is the Smile, and Anatomy of a Star Trek Smackdown

Rundown from Chimi-Challenge week:

1. Deadline to finish my WIP (Broken) is Wednesday night at midnight. I spoke to Team Tamale officials, and they are confident the book will be finished at 11:59.

a. For the next act, Team Gluten-Intolerant will finish her sequel by Nov. 30.

b. How is everyone doing on NaNoWriMo? Shellie? Eden? Olivia? Alysa? Hannah? Who am I missing?

2. We got our family pictures Saturday morning. We've been planning it for two years. The Photographer said for everyone to wear the same solid color like red, blue, black, tan or similar. We all showed up in different colors: Red, Blue, Black, Tan and White. Two years planning, and we still don't get it right. Even I know Blue and Black don't match.

(Ashton family throwing leaves in frustration over our inability to coordinate colors)

3. Our original photographer had to cancel at the last minute because of a death in the family. We began to think the Universe didn't want us to get our pictures taken. Then my good friend from high school Heather Zahn Gardner stepped in and rescued us.

Apparently, the Universe doesn't care if we get our pictures taken or not, only that we continue to struggle with the simple concept of the elusive "Smile".

Take 1Take 2

Take 3

Take 4

Take 542

You can see Heather had her work cut out for her, but she remained cool and calm.
Behold, here are Kid B and Kid C, looking cuter than our collective gene pool should allow.

4. Attempted to potty-train Kid B.
You know how babies get their nights and days mixed up? Well, Kid B is exhibiting the same behavior, only with potty-training. He sits on the toilet for hours at a time, and then gets up and goes into the living room to pee.

Apparently all the world's his toilet, except for the actual toilet, which is his oyster, and he'd never pee in his oyster.

(Please, Sir? Just one more diaper?)

5. The other night at Sunday Dinner, there was a fissure in the Galaxy. Did you hear it?

It all began when one side of the table uttered the classic fightin' words: "In the Star Trek Universe, the Gold uniforms signified command, and the red, engineering."

Well, you can imagine the Smackdown that ensued. (For those of you who don't know, a Star Trek Smackdown consists of two people climbing into a fighting arena with nobody watching, because nobody cares.)

The other side of the table answered with a, "Uh Nuh Yuh Did-enh!" (Translated: "Oh no you didn't" in Klingon). "Gold signifies engineering. Red: Command!"
Then they turned to me, the one with the iPhone at hand. I looked it up and found the source of the discrepency: Yes, we are all losers, no matter what color we wear.

How was all y'all's weekend? What did you do? Do you know the meaning of the Trek uniforms? Do you care?

Off to write at Border's. Team Tamale Forever!

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