"Yes, there are places left in the world where people are named Penelope!"

(i was recently told that my last quote entries weren't "that funny". that said, i'm bringing it anyhooze. also, as school is out-for-summer, the kid quotes will be fewer and mostly from the ones that i nanny or highpoint kids. still gold, though. still gold. enjoy.)

"I have a terrible sense of remembrance." -Jacob, age 7

"Is that enough 'creatures'?" -Sophie, age 18, on Mary Shelley

"C'mon, people! Are you serious here?!?"- Jacob on InTouch magazine (which he shamefully found in my backseat)
"...it's like a marriage magazine." -after I questioned what he was reading

"What's the big deal of college anyways?" -Jacob
"What do you think is the big deal? the point?" -me
"Tests. Tests. Teeeests." -Jacob

"Why do people pay taxes? I mean, how do they pay them?" -Jacob
"Blah blah blah..." -my explanation, paraphrased
"Never mind for the whole 'paying tax thing'." -Jacob's reaction to that business

" I like Rock Obama." -Maria, age 4
"What do you like about him?" -me
"I like his handsome hair."

"Jill Bradford is interrupting me listening to Kurt. Hey Kurt, what's that thing that I'm never supposed to forget?" -Stefan, age 18

"Michael just laughs at everything Jill says." -Stefan
"Just say his name. Just say his name." -Brian, age 17

"You 2 are like a married black couple." -Michael, age 17

"I've never plucked a rooster and I'm not too good at ping pong...."

"I think in the wintertime she can get pale...but I think that's all white people." -Kris on Emily


"Barometric pressure is a bitch." -steph on allergies and canals


"So, does God have different standards for..." "....jungle people?" -JRe and me figuring out the book of Acts (as you can tell, we're pretty adept at it.)


"It says somewhere in the Bible, or maybe the Mormon bible, at this point I don't even care..."-Jess on predestination and free will (one of our favorites)

"A little nook? Oh, a little nooky in the master bedroom." -Michelle on house hunting


"Welcome to my life. Can I just look at it and play with it a little bit, but I don't want to lead you on. This isn't going anywhere." -Erin on house hunting, as well


"I'm Tim Gunnin' this b!t@h!" -me on making bathrooms work


"Is there an outlet up here for my blender? Alright, extension cord it is." -Edubs on rooftop sunbathing


"We got Fatty McGee over here. Yeah, he watches the Food Network with his hands down his pants." -Erin on potential neighbor guy
"Whatever, I'm not training for the Olympics!" -me
"Well, at least he's not a crackhead." -Erin comparing potential neighbors


"Just drive down Delaware and look for the ugliest house on the block. That's where I live."


"Rain simplifies your life by eliminating your options." -Garrison Keillor

"I'm not even gettin' in the water. That's what lifeguards are for." -Erin on kids

"STOP YOUR MOUTH!" -Jess on 'Left Lane Must Turn Left' signs on 72, me driving and making jokes

"Girl Scouts like gays." -Tate on San Francisco

"Are you sure it's not a Catholic church?" -Sloan on smokers

"I know that Jesus loves the little children, but when you get older, He's pissed." -John on theology

"If you let people in a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing."

i've been rediscovering my love for the indigo girls. tonight the album Swamp Ophelia, specifically a song called "Dead Man's Hill," speaks to why i haven't blogged much lately. i have journaled little snippets, but nothing has poured out here...or in many full blown real-life conversations, if we're being completely honest.

don't you write it down
remember this in your head
don't take a picture
remember this in your heart
don't leave a message
talk to me face to face

(if you're one of my "readers" who is into live footage of music {or your name is Steph or Alicia}, check out this youtube link of the early 90s girls {who can resist bad fashion and lesbian hair, seriously? plaid and feathered mullets, people. i'm going straight to hell. and i just realized that my hair currently resembles amy's in this video. geezalou.}. and don't miss that sweet blow-organ. nice)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5GCdYsc1tY

so there's that. or there's the even more honest truth: jill has a tough time being real and vulnerable. err derrr. authentic? yes. blunt? absolutely. bold? assuredly. down and dirty when it comes to actual emotions? not so much. a few weeks ago, i was consciously NOT calling my parents or kevin, because they'd ask me questions. and they know me. and i didn't want to deal with that.

then i had an 2 unexpected conversations with alish and jre, and things started to unfold in a "new" way. nothing's actually new, i'm just re-learning and re-realizing a bunch of junk about myself. so that's awesome. which brings us to my dearest friend, sarcasm.

i'm trying to figure out why it's so easy for me to be honest and messy with strangers, but not with those that i have established relationships. sincerely. essentially, i'm processing a bunch of stuff. and i'm dealing, which i'm good at deferring....i love that i have friends to keep me accountable and that take me to task on my twaddle.

there will be more, but i'll bullet a few highlights:

• i've fully embraced a prayer to have GOD bring me to the bottom of everything so that we can start rebuilding. i don't know that i've ever before been ready to be turned upside down the way i'm now trusting and expecting His faithfulness on this. when you challenge GOD, He'll answer big. scared o' that, but in a supremely peaceful way.
• church has long been a word filled with disappointment and hopelessness for me. that said, i think i've found one that might redeem that for me.
• operation-lindsay-erin-and-jill-live-downtown is sooo with 3 o's close.
• i auditioned for a show last week. AND GOT CAST. but had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict.
• some out-of-towners that i love dearly (of both the friend and family feather) are visiting for the next 2 weeks, and some potential positive processing is plainly on the periphery.
  

finally, i've recently finished a phenomenal book. this post's title quote is from Arnold Spirit, who comes to us through the gifted writing of Sherman Alexie...ringing true and expressly apropos, i'll repeat it..."If you let people in a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing."

"Let's be honest, Jill would recycle a used napkin if you'd let her."

quite some time back (uuum, may the 6th to be exact, according to the journal entry) i decided that i would steal nicole's idea. she posts "Random" lists in lieu of a full blog entry, and i thought this might help me get over my not wanting to write/not prepared to share phase. false. all i did was begin compiling little random lists in even more random places. over a month later, i am looking at these hash marked scraps of paper wondering what i meant when i originally wrote them....others i remember vividly and have been thinking all the more about them. so we'll see what comes out. geez a lou.

• i used to despise aspen trees. now i not only enjoy them, i delight in them.
• my fantasy band is named Foghorn Leghorn. in it, i play the banjo. we do shows at the Grizzly Rose.
• there is no feeling as melancholy and indescribable as finishing a good book.
• it bugs me that i didn't appreciate living in a commuter city when i lived in one, given as much as i miss that vibe now that i don't. i've become such a driver that i frustrate myself.
• billie joe armstrong is one cool cat. KERPLUNK! has always been my favorite Green Day album, but i've put it back into heavy rotation lately. then i heard him on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and figured out that i always want to be a scene kid. and would love it if i met my husband by a dumpster outside of the (insert bar here).
• seeing The Tallest Man on Earth open for Nathaniel Rateliff at the Bluebird last month was superb. it reminded me of everything i love about live music, about any music. mostly i revel in the experience...shows being, at once, both wholly communal and completely individual an occurrence. somehow, among the expected and even the surprises, i am always caught off guard. that's guud stuff right there.
• i love "p" words. always have. lately they've popped up everywhere: proclivity, purloined, perplexed...i need to utilize (uuh, practice?) them in conversation.
• red ants still freak my freak. after the beachfront path experience in South Carolina in 2006, i haven't seen them often. but, when i do...man, oh man.
• i've found myself revisiting old places of importance.
• i'm learning how to navigate using a language that was taught to me (in earnest) by a church i no longer see fruit from....that separation used to be hard, now i just know that it's time. i mean, read the first part of that. how could i begin to justify staying? tried that before.
• Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler and Mick Jagger are not the same person. nor are they in the same band. just a friendly reminder.
• i did a day of silence back in april. i'm feeling it's high time to do that again.
• hearing any southern rock or bob seger makes me miss my dad. and want to be at a bradford family wedding reception.
• sitting in st. mark's as i write this, i notice a heart above the counter. lots of little intricacies that i didn't notice when i was here for the first time, on a first date (gack!), back in december.
• lately i've dug some lenka, soul coughing and frank turner for my eers. check them out.