Farm girls in the city

My Christmas present to Shelly was a ticket to see the Joffrey Ballet perform the Nutcracker up in Chicago; because she'd never been to a ballet... and because I wanted to go. :D

It was kind of rainy, and I was glad I didn't have to drive up in ice and snow. But then someone left the umbrella in the car... so we were kind of damp all day... since we were walking... in the rain...

We ate lunch at Italian village, which was excellent as always.


This is Shelly making a face because I was taking her picture... and because she was wet because she forgot her umbrella. Check out the skyscrapers and the El in the background. :)


We had some time before the Ballet started so we wandered around Millennium park. In the rain. There were lots of sightseers taking shelter under that bean thing...


Here's Shelly in her second row seat at the ballet. (I'm pretty much the greatest sister...) Second row, right side of the stage. It was fabulous. We could see and hear everything.


Here are two bedraggled farm girls on the way back to the car after the ballet. I was glad it wasn't cold.

Wet streets...

So I wouldn't want to live in the city. It's fun to visit though!

Blessings.

Christmas time is here

We got a garden catalog in the mail yesterday... can it be spring now please? :)

It was a pretty busy weekend. Abby came on wednesday... and the K-berger boys showed up late friday night... and then Austin and Clayton stayed with us on Saturday night... good times.

Vicki's caroling was great. Cold, but lots of fun. And there were lots of cookies. Wendi came which was good because there weren't many yg girls there. I was in a really weird mood by the end of the night so I should not be held responsible for anything I might have said. *grin*

The Wyss Christmas was on Saturday. Everybody was there, so that was cool. It's such a long day though, and I was sooo tired. And I was not in the mood to listen to all the children perform. I did get to escape part of it and went to Lindy's to buy some Dr. Pepper for the masses. (it was necessary) Our power was out that night when we got home... we were all sitting in the living room listening to Ned play amazing piano music in the dark while Dad and the boys were hooking up the generator. He's working on "Un Suspiro" by Franz Liszt, which I love...

Sunday after church we played Clue and I lost badly. I should stick to playing Guess Who? with Cailer. And then of course we all had to get together and eat again. :)

It's snowing again- it looks so pretty in the cemetery across the road with the icy trees and the big snowflakes. One more day and then Christmas! Yay!

Blessings.

blessed

So I've gotten to spend time with good friends twice this week, which I love. :)

Monday evening the girls-I-hung-out-with-in bible-class-plus-heather got together. Erin made some really good lasagna and showed us the cool old house where she lives. It's a lot like 709, only in much better shape. :) We went caroling for some of her neighbors... it was freezing and only one family let us in... haha. Good times, good cookies, and so good to see those girls again!

Wednesday was my birthday... woot woot. It was a fun day. My coworkers decorated my desk with streamers and plastic spiders (apparently that is the only thing I have expressed a strong opinion about. hmm... maybe I should have waxed eloquent about chocolate or something). They aren't scary spiders though, they're multicolored and squishy. :) We all went to Avanti's for lunch then we had cake and ice cream for desert. I might not have gotten much work done...


Wednesday night I invited people to washington and then to our house for cake and ice cream. Kind of a random group, but all really cool people. :) I am blessed with good friends. Abby came and ended up spending the night, which was great. Although I really didn't get to see much of her since I had to get up and go to work this morning.


So Matt said it is lame to throw yourself a birthday party but I don't really care. He wasn't going to do it for me.

So this is the gift I got from "Bro. Damon." I was maybe a little bit embarrassed... (But I must confess I think it's super cool)

And these are some of the people who came... good times.

Vicki's caroling is tomorrow!! yay! and then our Christmas stuff starts on Saturday! Woot.
Blessings.

pictures from babysitting night

Sorry they are all blurry and grainy like every other picture ever taken in a gym...

Watching the skits... the quietest they were all night.

Queen Esther

Basketball

Matt and Troy "supervising"

Limbo!

Mass Chaos

Ellie and Isaac

Baby Sitting Night

Is over for another year. It went really, really well. This year we rented a gym instead of having it at church... and you never know how it will work until it's done... I might have been a little bit stressed about it all. :)

My favorite part of the night was picking up the pizza. Layne came with me, which was fun. The Little Caesar's Pizza is in the Kmart in W-ton, and when we got there they already had our 25 pizzas on a cart/dolly thing ready to go to the car. It made a lot of people's night watching us push all that pizza back through Kmart and out to my car. Pretty much filled the backseat and Layne's lap and now my car smells like peperoni.

We only had 3 left over.

But yeah, the kids had fun and they got to be a lot more crazy in the gym. The gym has a stocked equipment closet that we could use which was awesome. We did bag skits and sang some songs and let them be as wild as they wanted to be as long as they stayed in the gym. I sat out in the hallway a lot guarding the cookies and directing people to the water fountain and bathroom.

Blessings.

assembly line

Last night I lined up four bowls, four recipes, and 5 pounds of butter. Then I went down the line with cookie ingredients.... and made a huge mess.

I didn't realize that we were out of molasses until I was ready to add it to the gingerbread. Dad said, "How can you have mo'lasses if you ain't got no'lasses..." I rolled my eyes and called Mom to bring some home to avert the crisis.

Soo... hopefully everything that needed to go in each batch went in and nothing extra got put in by mistake. We'll find out when we bake them!

I didn't really use all 5 pounds of butter. I made flour footprints all over the kitchen floor. The Schwann's man got to see my 'mother gledhill' apron. *grin*

Babysitting night is in two days and I'm already worried we'll run out of food...

Christmas light twister

Another busy and Christmasy weekend. Friday night the yg sang Christmas carols at WCV. It was interesting because we didn't bring carol books and the HOZ's didn't get brought either. O well, it still sounded pretty good and the old people don't care if you mess up a little bit. :)

Mom and I took a rather roundabout way through Morton to get our Christmas tree on Saturday. It's sooo pretty. When we got it home it seemed to have shrunk a little bit so we set it on some boxes. (for the sake of those with delicate sensibilities we won't mention what those boxes originally contained...) And then we played Christmas light twister trying to get three strands of lights untangled.

Saturday night was the YG Christmas party... they made us mix it up a little bit at supper so conversation was a little stilted, but good. Haha... so what kind of chocolate do you prefer? We were supposed to bring a grab gift labeled with a bible verse that reflected the contents of the package; lots of "ye are the light of the world," flashlights and candles... the best was a verse in Job about smelling bad and the gift was deodorant and mints. I finally played settlers with Wendi-with-an-i afterwards. I lost.

Church caroling was after church on Sunday. The group I was in went to some places in Peoria. One of the little old ladies we visited totally reminded me of Gab in 70 years... *grin* Supper was barbeque sandwiches. Which I hate.... and it's not good after-Christmas-caroling food. I think we should have soup. And hot ham and cheese sandwiches. At least they make real hot chocolate for the occasion! (and no, I do not want to be put on the kitchen committee!)

Blessings.

9 days til my birthday, 17 days til christmas!

musing

At the end of "The Count of Monte Cristo," one of my favorite books of all time, Edmund Dantes says, "...until the day God deigns to reveal the future to man, the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope."



curious what my faithful blog readers think... do you agree with Dumas?



Blessings.

stuck

I tried to go to work three times this morning. The first time was around 7am when I usually leave- I made it about 1/8 of a mile and hit a drift (at least one foot deep across the road) and dad had to bring the truck down and pull me out.

Then after my uncle drove through it and matt and the mail man made it I decided I would try to follow Jake and drive in his blazer tracks... and I got 1/8th of a mile plus 10ft. *grin* Poor dad. He had to bring the tractor I was so stuck. In the middle of the road! It was so disheartening- I could see all the cars on the Dee-Mack slowly driving past and I was so close and just...couldn't...make it.

So I gave up until the snow plow came at stinkin 10am... (seriously what were they doing all night? w-ton township has let me down!) All of the roads in the area were clear except ours. Maybe they forgot us. Maybe I should bake the township commissioner a pie.

I went through three pairs of socks too...

On the bright side, my sweet grand prix has a trailer hitch and it was super easy to hook up a chain. *grin*

too much food

My days are all mixed up since this weekend. And I really don't want to go to work tomorrow... o well.

I skipped the CIS Wednesday to bake pies for thanksgiving dinner with my mom. We made six- pumpkin, pecan, and apple and we had leftovers. Which I love.

Friday I didn't feel like going to work so I took it off (my boss is gone anyway). I did not go shopping, there are way too many people out. :)

We had to go to the Wyss Christmas on Saturday with my Grandpa's siblings and Dad's cousins. It wasn't very exciting. I did get to see Mindy though, so that was good.

My aunt and uncle came over for supper tonight. Shelly and I decorated our dollhouses for Christmas with our cousins... and played barbies... fun times.

I'm excited about the snow.
Blessings.

good for the soul II

So after spending thursday night with good friends I got to spend saturday and sunday with some more super cool chicas. Gridley invited half the world (basically) and fed us a lot of good food. It was packed at the fellowship hall and there really aren't enough bathrooms, so Kris and Sarah, and Danielle and I explored the dark, creepy (according to Kris) church. We were late for the singing, which was ok because we didn't have to sit in the front. :D And when they were reading off the list of who was staying where, Clark read off 'staying with Amber, Kaleigh, and Sarah is Jenny and Kristen;' we all died laughing... becuase we obviously weren't branching out at all... and were pretty much just going to have a party... haha.

We stayed up late talking and playing with the cats and stuff. It was great.

Sunday after church was more of the same... Callie, Syd and Sprout graced us with their presence.... some Princess Bride goodness... fun times.

And since this seems to be the week to be social, I met my friend Elizabeth for supper on monday. I haven't been to Busy Corner for years and years and I haven't seen her more than 3 times since we graduated HS... it was really long overdue. Although, she's been in the Philippines for the past year or so and it's been really hard to get together. :) We bonded in 8th grade scholastic bowl... so long ago!

Blessings.

good for the soul

So last night I went out to eat with Gab, Kat, Nic, Bob, Matt, and MegandDale. It was fun. And really good to see them all again. We went to Logan's Roadhouse... which I had never been to before... I don't really understand the difference between it and Texas Roadhouse... whatever, the food was good and the company was excellent so I've got no complaints.

We went to Gab's and played Imaginiff afterwards. Not really sure how I feel about that game... it's fun... but I'm not very good at knowing what other people will put. :)

My coworkers all discovered facebook this week. Slightly amusing... they are all jealous the number of 'friends' that I have. Haha.

I'm going to Gridley this weekend- woot! I'm excited. Hopefully the power won't go off this time...
Blessings.

Out West

So it was a really busy weekend. Really fun too. Friday night Ellie had the yg for a western mystery supper and singing. We all dressed in our western best so there were lots of boots and bandannas and guns... I wore my moccasins and brown and put feathers in my hair. I was the only indian... which I love. We sang out of the country western hymnals (after they put their guns away) and people brought instruments- a stand up bass, a mandolin, two violins, and a bunch of guitars.

Matt and I left for Kansas City right after the singing... at 9pm. Yes, we know we're crazy. But the roads were deserted and it only took us 6 hours with a stop for gas and a stop for those pretty red, white, and blue lights. *sigh* I was going to save money and not spend 80 dollars on a ticket to the Lion King (I went in HS) and instead I get to pay some podunk missouri town $83. It was after midnight and there was no one else on the road (except the cop I guess) and he must have been bored because I'm pretty sure I was only going 67 in a 60, and he said I was going seventy. I wanted to ask if he was serious... but I didn't argue. Uncle Randy says I was doing my part to help impoverished school districts in central MO... haha.

Anyway, we got there at 3am and I slept pretty late. Brent brought his two girls over for awhile... and then Galen and Shan stopped by with their girls... We played some games and chilled most of the afternoon. After supper the boys left for the Lion King and Aunt Karen and I went to 'run errands' which turned into going a few places and then getting cheesecake at the Cheese Cake Factory. So good!

It was good to see everybody at the KC church again! I got to sit with Amor and Kami in church... they are both potty-training and there was one extremely amusing (for me anyway) incident involving Kami and a puddle on the floor... haha.

We left for home right after church, and after a few hands of Rook. We stopped in Hannibal to switch drivers at a gas station... and ran into an old HS friend. So random! He was in KC to visit his fiance and to go to the Lion King (oddly enough). We haven't seen him in years and he was the last person I expected to run into on 36 last night. Craziness.

Morning came way too early...
Blessings.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae

Happy Remembrance Day.

hooray for being a gov't employee and not having to work today!

so tired...

Wednesday Gab and I went to Champaign to see the girls. It was pizza night at church, which was great! And I got to see Neal and Kim; it's been a long time. We went to custard cup after church and then went to Baytown to hang out. I think the highlight of my night was the looks on certain of the groups faces when we sang 'you get a line' haha. I got home around 1... pretty late when the alarm goes off at 6:15.

Friday was singing at Timber Ridge... it was less chaotic than normal. Abby was around this weekend and afterwards we stayed up until 2 talking and sewing. I was a little tired saturday morning...

I raked some leaves yesterday.... some because I got tired of it and it was cold and so I went in and drank cocoa. I still had some flowers blooming!

My not winter hardy plants came inside a while ago... we don't really have anywhere to put them so we have a fern in the bathtub, which I love.

Today was Logan's wedding. It was nice. And I don't have to go to any more weddings this year! Woot! I didn't keep track, but it was a lot...

Blessings.

suburban adventures with sarah

I went to Chicago this weekend. Kind of. Mostly just the suburbs. I'm not really sure why. But it was great fun!

They had invite a friend weekend and Sarah invited me to go with her. Technically we were Greg's guests... but EZ had told us about it too... and we stayed with Carrie... It was a really small weekend- which I love. And I got to do lots of following people around town as close as possible because I didn't have the foggiest idea of where we were. :)

We raked leaves and pulled weeds for an older lady in the beautiful indian summer temperatures. And then we went to the school where Troy (I forgot that he lived up there) teaches and filled soup kits. Sarah and I made lovely fall centerpieces for a nursing home and painted pumpkins. There was the ubiquitous supper and singing. And talking to cool Chicago people. Like Andrea, who's a country girl that understands chemistry. And Kait, and Carrie, and Kathy.

Carrie lives on King Arthur's Court... next to a moat... in a building named after one of the knights of the round table. We got to look at old gridley year books... and got soo much sleep because of the time change. It was great!

I don't remember if I've ever been to Chicago church before, so this maybe was the first time. It was good, I like small churches. Although, there was a spider on the bench that was a little bit scary. Sarah was brave and killed it for me. We left for home right after, and didn't get lost.

I think I'll be home this weekend.

Happy Reformation Day!

Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church 491 years ago, October 31, 1517.

Much better reason to celebrate than Halloween...

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

random thoughts

something about a company front with horn flash gives me goosebumps.... so cool.

corn disappearing into the combine header is mesmerizing.

library book sales are amazing.

Hither and Yon

I meant to clean my closet this weekend... it didn't happen... I didn't even get my room dusted. O well.

Shelly and I got up early and went down to U of I to the band day. It wasn't very warm, but it wasn't very windy so it was a great day to sit and watch bands. Eureka did really well- they won their class, and combined parade and field. Woot woot. We got to see most of class B field competition... and during the break we explored the new stadium a little. It's really cool! I'm so glad they didn't ruin it like soldier field. Shelly had never been up in the colonnades (which is a crime, so I dragged her up the ramps to see that.) Definitely my favorite part of the stadium.

On our way back to the car we passed the Abraham Lincoln mobile exhibit, which was just sitting in the Assembly Hall parking lot. So we walked through it. Just because it was there, it was free, and it was really cool! Plus we got penny tie tack pin things. :D

Then we went to the south quad to see the new bell tower... and walked back to the parade route to watch the parade... then walked back to see if the conservatory was open. It wasn't, which was very sad. We ate lunch at Za's. So good.

Shelly had to wait tables at the benefit dinner so we had to go home early and not watch any more bands. Sad news.

Matt and I went to Kevin K's for a weiner roast that night. It was enjoyable, even though I really didn't know very many people at all. I was sitting on the leeward side of the fire so I came home smelling like a chimney. Hooray.

Sunday I decided I didn't want to go to the wedding in W-ton so I went to Gridley instead. It's been a long time since I've been there. K, Amber, Sarah, and Sprout were all there... so yeah, it was good. They lost power in the middle of the last song of first service, so we ate lunch in the dark and then they canceled second service. We chilled at Kaleigh's after church. Good times.

So what's worse than when it rains cats and dogs? When it hails taxicabs! *grin* (I saw uncle bill in church)

i must look young... or something

Last week I was at the florist picking out bouquets for our kitchen help at the invite... she asked me if I was going to drop them off right away... yes... are you old enough to drive?? you don't look old enough to drive....

I stopped at the library after work and checked out "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." The librarian asked if I was reading it for class. Um... no... just for fun. Oh, well I'm impressed! (pretty sure Mark Twain is not a hard read, even if I was a high school kid)

But then my mom told the little neighbor boy who was getting a combine ride that I was 24... which I won't be until December... um.... seriously.

Fall

I think I like spring better. It's just too cold.... I'm really not looking forward to winter.

This weekend I remembered to plant bulbs! So hopefully we will have crocus and hyacinth this spring! (If the squirrels don't find them... or other animals that I don't want to think about)

Last Thursday night I saw a large spider on my bed- it was huge. I tried to squash it, but it disappeared. And then I couldn't find it. I made mom help me look and she couldn't find it.... it was extremely traumatic. And I realize that my fear of spiders is irrational but the later it gets and the more tired I get, the scarier they are. I managed to sleep in my bed but.... Saturday I cleaned. Pulled everything out from under my bed, took off the mattresses, removed everything that wasn't furniture from my floor.... still no spider. (my room needed cleaning anyway...) It's probably in my closet. I've been shaking my shoes out, and clothes out, and watching my step. I have calmed down a little bit since it's probably not a brown recluse but stray feathers from my pillows make me jump.

Heidi got married Sunday... it was a good wedding.

my boss is gone this week... woot.

Blessings.

Because Heidi tagged me...

Some Random and or weird facts about me:

1. I'm the only person in my family to ever break a bone. It was in fourth grade and I was swinging on the monkey bars, fell off, and landed on my arm. I broke my humerus right above the elbow, and pinched my radial nerve. So it kind of hurt a lot. But I didn't cry at all- I remember screaming and running into the office and waiting for my mom to come get me and then waiting in the ER for the orthopedic surgeon and then waiting some more while some med students looked it over- all without any kind of pain reliever. My left hand is still weaker and my left ring and pinkie fingers get stiff and cold fastest.

2. In grade school I was fascinated (ok, obsessed) with Indians... I think I read every book in the grade school library and made a pretty good start on the ones at the W-ton library about Indians. I had sheets... and books... and dolls.... and my favorite vacation was when we went to Mesa Verde. Maybe that's why I love it that moccasins are in style right now! I might have a pair...

3. I dislike coffee. I haven't had any since I stopped waking up at 5:15. It tastes nasty, it smells nasty, and I can get the same effect from Dr. Pepper which tastes amazing, and is pretty much the nectar of the gods... And cocoa is a much, much better hot drink because it's chocolate and I could continue with the Greek mythological references and say that chocolate is basically ambrosia. :D

4. If I don't have a good book to read I sometimes read encyclopedias. There are just so many cool and interesting things in them. My favorite articles as a child were 'Clothing,' 'Flags,' 'Dogs,' 'Cats,' The American Revolution,' an article with instructions for building a river and dam model out of plywood, and of course, 'Native Americans.' I liked most of those because they had a lot of pictures.... in the back of our F volume, there is a super cool section of transparent pages showing all of the different biological systems in a frog. (circulatory, bone structure, etc.) Our encyclopedia set has an article for each letter, the illustrations show the progression from glyphs to phenician to roman to modern letters, which I love to read. Yes, I know I'm a nerd.

um... I'm running out of things...

5. I am very picky about Apple Pie. (Pie in general really) It all tastes good no matter how many crusts or what kind of crust or filling... but the perfect apple pie is pretty hard to find. :) It has to have two crusts (top and bottom) made with lard. Crisco doesn't taste as good. Butter doesn't get flaky enough. One crust is a cop out and crumb crusts are for cobblers, not pies! The filling has to be apples. Just apples. None of this custard stuff- save that for the peaches and the key limes. Apples and custard just don't mix. One time I had somebody try to feed me "home made" apple pie... they bought Pillsbury crust and apple pie filling. I had a hard time not saying anything, but I ate it with a smile and it tasted good- seriously though people, just because you assemble it in your kitchen does NOT make it a home made apple pie. ok. I'm getting off the soap box now.

6. I hate, hate, hate Six Flags. Amusement parks in general really. Strong statements, I know. But it's true! Besides not liking roller coasters and rides (I'm afraid of heights and rides make me queasy), I can not understand how people can justify spending that much money to be amused and entertained. More than half the acreage is dedicated to selling sweat-shop junk for way more than it's worth and for large portions of over- priced, extremely unhealthy food. Six Flags and amusement parks remind me so much of the soulless society in Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New Word;" people who spend their whole lives in pursuit of pleasure and the next thrill. If I was going to pick a symbol for western hedonism, epicurianism, and commercialism, Six Flags would be it. I know, I know, it's just good clean fun but there are cheaper things to do with your family that are better for your mind, body, and soul- like support an underutilized state park perhaps? :D

7. I don't like raisins. No reason.

8. Showering is not high on my list of priorities... I've gone for more than a week without one while camping in the Boundary Waters. I wouldn't do that normally, but it really doesn't bother me not too. *grin*

There you have it. I'm not going to tag anyone... all of my faithful blog lurkers can feel free to email me some random facts about yourself. Seriously. I would love it.

Blessings.

the weekend part II

The invite went really, really well. Work projects all worked out- the group I was in washed all of the windows on the outside of Restmor. K, Sarah, Rhonda, Syd, and Ginny were in the group too... we visited K's grandma while we were there. It was such a nice day out I was glad we could be outside.

Supper was so good. We had enchilada's and Spanish rice and chips and salsa... yum. And we had lots left over, which I love. We barely got cleaned up in time to listen to Fred's talk which was good. And then we had desert, which was also good.

Matt kept his friends at our house so Shelly and I took some girls to grandma and grandpa's. It was really good to hang out with Kris and Rhonda again... and get to know Destini (she's a fellow shaker sister) and Laura better....we played games... and stayed up pretty late talking.

Church was good. And full. I didn't do much of anything Sunday afternoon. :)

I didn't have to work today because it's Columbus day. woot woot! I slept in and hung out with Gab this afternoon. We went for polar pops... good times.

Blessings.

the weekend part I

so I tried to blog about the weekend earlier and blogger erased it all. so sad. and heidi tagged me... I'll get to that eventually, I'll need to think about it though because I am perfectly normal and nothing about me is weird. HA!

It was a really good weekend. I am glad it's over though! No more things to plan! (this week anyway- hooray for being on the yg committee)

Friday evening we had the yg at our house for a surprise going away party for Kendra B. She went out to eat with Amy and they were going to join Jodi and I at my house for a 'girls night' because the yg calendar was 'too full' to schedule a formal farewell or anything. *grin* So it was such a nice night we decided to play Settlers on the porch- where everybody was hiding. It was great- she didn't suspect a thing and was totally shocked. So then we sang and ate ice cream cake and played Settlers and Trivial Pursuit until midnight. Amy and I lost two games of TP, the 80's and 90's version and the LOTR version. O well.

Scott and Ned and Kent and Ryan showed up at our house later that night er, morning. :) So they were around when I woke up. Mom went to Church to make food so I was home making breakfast casseroles and most of the world decided to drop by and make cider. It was craziness. And I'm told it got worse after I left for church. We seriously had sooo many people in and out- 4 k-bergers, 5 lemans, 2 of their neighbors, 3 heinolds, 1 stoller, grandma and grandpa, fred and boys, paul our truck driver, and all of their vehicles. Poor Dad and Fred were trying to farm around them all... and I was trying to keep little children from tracking grass and mud into our clean house. I was maybe a little bit rude to some of them.... o well.

So then we all went to the invite....

adrenaline rush

Days like today make me wonder why an easily-freaked-out, timid, cautious girl like me ever wound up in such a dangerous field. Not that it's unsafe... just a lot of things that can go wrong and a lot of unknowns. Like today when my reaction was overheating- it was supposed to be at 40 deg C and it was at 100 and climbing... um... um... Dr. K.... what do I do?? We got it cooled down and it doesn't even look like the reaction was ruined. But yeah, my heart was pounding...

Only one more crazy busy weekend to go... woot woot. Last weekend was a lot of fun. The Brothers Appreciation went well- I think they liked the outdoor theme. But then, who doesn't like skeet shooting, hatchet throwing, all the apple pie you can eat, and extremely cheesy songs to the tune of Home on the Range? (O, Washington brothers.... we really appreciate you.... haha I'll stop now, it just gets worse.) The attire was pretty great too. It was very hard to pick best dressed outdoorsman. :)

We had a lot of pie left over. Which I love. Last night our well driller was out to fix our well again so hopefully we won't have as much sand in the water now. They were out there really late so Mom and I took them some pie and ice cream. (go us for being all hospitable *grin*)

I'm starting to freak out about the invite... what if we don't have enough food? or places for people to stay? (which actually might be a problem for guys- yikes) I just keep telling myself that it'll be ok. aaaahhhh. Anyway.

Blessings.

unbalanced

It's bad.

All this switching between my glasses and contacts with slightly different prescriptions is not doing anything for my balance and coordination. I was having problems standing up in the river last weekend. And I keep running into walls and things in the hallway. (which is a fairly normal occurrence but it's definitely increased) And last night when we were singing at ISU I almost tripped over my own feet into Sprout.

*sigh*

Apple River, a wedding, and some cider

One busy weekend down, two to go. :)

Friday evening I got to hang out with K and Amber- it was great. There was much sugar involved.... we made smores, roasted glazed doughnuts, ate gummy worms, and drank mountain dew. The stars were absolutely gorgeous; it was such a clear night. We lay in the back of Jeremy's pickup and stargazed and we saw a bunch of shooting stars. (and I think maybe one iridium flare) I didn't spend the night though because we left for Apple River super early the next morning.

I forgot to take a camera... so I have no pictures of this years trip. It was probably one of the best that I've been on. Good weather, fun people, good attitudes... yeah. Definitely good times. The River was higher this year so the wading was great. I was kind of afraid after we saw a few crawdads... which we might have sang about. We ate supper at the "Shepherd of the Hills" Lutheran Church (cooked by the older ladies that go there) and sang in their tin ceilinged sanctuary.

Eight of us got up super early Sunday morning to try and make it back in time for the weddings... it was sad to miss church at the chapel.... some things must needs be I guess. We might have been a little confused how to get home. (Still amazed that there was no map in the vehicle- seriously) But we made it. :)

Tam and Jer's reception was pretty cool- except for the bugs. My least favorite reception job is refilling punch.. and so I refilled punch... but it was ok; I only spilled on one person. And I got to talk to the people in the kitchen who were mostly my friends' parents. ;) It was good to see all of the U of I people that came. I was pretty exhausted afterwards.

We've had apples rotting on the trees for a while so Monday night we made cider with Fred and Di and the boys. Homemade cider is the best. Pasteurized cider is for wimps. Haha- the fresh stuff really does taste better.

anyway. hooray for wednesdays.
blessings.

i'm getting old and forgetful...

How could I have forgotten??? So the other night I got a phone call from Kansas... in the middle of a singing.... and they were singing Pull for the Shore. Which I love.

Definitely saved it on my phone. :D

rambling

so there's not really anything going on in my life... (HA!) or maybe there is too much... anyway.

Kate got married last weekend. It was a real nice wedding. (wow, that sounds like my grandma) They all looked cute in their 'Katelyn dresses'. My arms are still kind of sore from lugging around a tray of glass coffee cups at the reception... but it's worth it for the piece of cake, right?

My eyes are all better and I even have my new contacts in today, which I'm not used to yet and I'll probably get a headache from. O well.

Piano is going fairly well. I should practice more. :)

YG committee is ok... Apple River is this weekend! Woot woot! I'm excited. Then we have a very, very busy October. It'll be good for us though... I guess.

I need to start conditioning my Christmas cactus... I just don't have a good spot to put it.

Blessings.

avast ye lubbers!

so today was talk like a pirate day and I totally forgot about it until one scurvy knave reminded me. Which probably isn't all bad, because I don't think my boss would have appreciated it very much. *grin* and I'm not very good at it.

I like this weather a lot. It's perfect for eating lunch outside. And yesterday Kaleigh stopped on her way home from work and we went on a walk at the lake. We watched the sunset and the stars come out. And I got lots of mosquito bites, ergo a great evening.

Today I went to the eye doctor... for the first time in, oh, 3ish years. Yeah, I know, he definitely gave me a lecture. Oh well. My eyes haven't changed at all really. I'm still pretty blind. :)

I have an interesting and colorful eye doctor history. Maybe colorful isn't the right word, definitely interesting. The one I went to when I was little (who gave me my first glasses in 3rd grade) scared me. A lot. I don't know why, I just thought he was weird. And his office was scary too. But then he had a massive heart attack and died on a fishing trip in Canada and so I didn't have to go to him anymore.

Then we went to Dr. F, who is somewhat of an odd duck. As my current doc described him, "he's the big fish in a little pond." His appointments took entire afternoons and he asked crazy questions like if I thought his clothes matched. Sooo.... right before I moved to champaign I needed new contacts quick... and I.... gasp... went to some guy in walmart. He was nice, but he doesn't even work there anymore and it was weird that his office was in walmart. It just felt cheap or something. Last week I used my last pair of contacts so it was definitely time to find a new doctor. He's pretty nice. My dad goes there (mom always seems to pick the weird ones). But... he's not really on my insurance plan so I may never go to him again. So anyway.

Blessings.

i'm so proud

I actually made dentist and eye doctor appointments all by myself. Over the phone. I know.



... we won't mention how long it's been since I've been to either of those places...

wet

I'm tired of rain... although, it was nice to wash my houseplants in.

I spent Saturday afternoon in Champaign for no particular reason other than I haven't been there in a long time. It was really good. I stayed at Hessel house so I got to chill with Amber... we didn't do anything super exciting. Other than catching a mouse. And bailing approximately 798 gallons of water out of their basement. By hand. (ok, maybe not by hand)

Saturday evening we bought some mousetraps because they keep seeing mice in their basement and went out to eat with Natalie and Heather. Nat wanted to buy dog treats so we spent some time at Petsmart.... it was fun to look at all the animals they sell. Over all though, mega pet stores disturb me- people spend so much money on their animals and there are people sleeping on the streets in C-U. And starving. But yeah.

Champaign church was good. Good to see people again, it's been a long time! They had a shortened service in the afternoon because of all the rain and when we got back to hessel house there was four inches of water in the basement. It was coming through the walls and definitely sounded like a waterfall (or at least like someone was taking a shower). So I borrowed some rubber boots and we went wading. We found the mouse peacefully floating in a trap. The floor drain wasn't keeping up and two girls and buckets were not making a dent... so we made a trip to home depot for a sump pump. It was powerful. So powerful that the first time we didn't get the hose in tight enough and it came out and I might have gotten slightly wet. But it took care of all the water pretty quick... we only spent about 2 hours down there. :) And moved approximately 798 gallons of water. (figuring 16'x20'x4'' on average and approximately 0.00432900433 gallons to a cubic inch) Go us.

Then I came home. And our basement was dry. Hooray for good drainage and great-grandparents that did quality construction.

Anyway, now it needs to dry out so I can do important things like plant the bulbs I just got.
Blessings.

piano

I started taking piano lessons again yesterday. It was fun/ awkward... it's so nerve wracking to play in front of somebody who is really good at it. But she's really nice, so hopefully the nerves will pass and I will be more comfortable.

My car has a U of I sticker in the window. Hopefully Bradley students won't take offense... haha.

Blessings.

plants and pie and pork

So Friday I was talking to a coworker about how he's in an orchid society... and he mentioned that ICC Landscape and Garden day was on Saturday.... so I went. It was cool! When I went to ICC I didn't even know they had a selection garden and an arboretum; I didn't really ever explore much outside the main building. :) I bought myself a Christmas cactus. We'll see if I can keep it alive. One of my other plants died suddenly this week- it dropped all of it's leaves and shriveled up. And I know I remembered to water it. *sigh*

My poor dad has problems with customer service... maybe he needs to learn to bat his eyelashes... haha... not really, but I think wood front kitchens (they did our cabinets a long time ago) is pretty great. A couple of weeks ago someone might have accidentally pulled one of the drawers in the kitchen out too far and it might have fallen and the porcelain drawer pull broke. And I looked at a couple of hardware stores to find one that matched... no luck. So I stopped after the plant sale and they gave me four replacements for free!

We have apples so I made apple pie. It's really good.

Matt and I and Amy (I dragged her along) went to the TYG hog roast Saturday evening. I'm glad I went there instead of Lau's wedding reception... it was probably more gooder. It was a beautiful night to be outside, and see Nic and Bob and Mary and baby Max. :) And I rarely get to do anything with Amy anymore. So yeah. Good times.

Blessings.

Labor day weekend

So it was another busy weekend...

Friday night we had a singing shower for three of the four w-ton weddings. It went pretty well. We had plenty of food and Marcia and Michelle were in the kitchen with Jody and I so that all worked out great. I wanted to sing Pull for the Shore, I knew that Matt would glare at me, so I didn't call it.

Matt and Shelly and I left Saturday morning for Latty/Junction... typical invite. It was enjoyable though. I might have gotten a text in the 'greeting line' and tried to reply during the prayer, but they have terrible cell reception out there so it was all in vain. Amusing though.

The sista stroll down the road after supper was funny.... I felt sorry for the people trying to drive on it.

We sang Pull for the Shore- I was excited. Shelly wanted me to wink at Nic during the singing but some girls hair was in the way. Probably a good thing. :)

After church on Sunday we headed to Leo to my aunt and uncle's house and got there just in time to head out on the river in their new boat. We got to ski... I got up every time... I was pretty excited. We went out again after supper, but it got dark really fast. Monday morning Abby and Shelly and I got up early and went out. It was a little bit chilly! I tried wake boarding just to say I did and I got up for about two seconds and then I face planted and swallowed half the lake and decided that it was Shelly's turn to try. (Abby said it was longer than two seconds... I dunno though, it was pretty short)

We chilled by the pool for a while before we left. We stopped at the store because Matt had never been there. And then we came home. And I'm very sore today. And slightly sunburnt. woot. :)

I should know by now

not to read Agatha Christie murder mysteries right before I go to bed.



but they're just so hard to put down.

my orchid is blooming!

It's so pretty....

weeds

Dad made us walk beans last night after supper. I haven't done that in ages. (I didn't really miss it either...) But it was a nice night, and the beans were dry, and there weren't any aphids so it wasn't too bad.

I got a blister, and then the rough handle of my hoe ripped it open. ow. It's a little tender today. I still hate horse weeds and butter prints. (giant ragweed and velvetleaf for the horticulturally inclined)

So today at work they had a seminar and I got to listen to a lady talk about how she worked in Antarctica for six summers. It sounded amazing. But it made me really cold... I think I'll eat lunch outside today...

champaign

Last night I went on a random trip to Champaign with Gab and Bob. It's been a while since I've been there... and a while since I've seen Champaign people... ok, so it's been like a week and a half but it feels like a lot longer.

We stopped at the Shaker and chilled with Mike and Mark for a while... ate out at Dos Reales (so good)... played some volleyball... discovered that I will never make it to the Olympics (sad news!)... and pretty much had a good time.

O and Karen was there and I haven't seen her in ages! So that was super cool. I had to work in the morning... so my chauffeurs were kind enough to leave at the early hour of 11:30ish. But I managed to get a little sleep in the car so I really wasn't too dead tired this morning.

I have nothing planned this weekend and I'm so excited.
Blessings.

nothing much

So last week was really uneventful. My boss was gone so I had a pretty slow week at work.

My grandma's 80th birthday is this week, and the entire family was in town for the weekend. There are 50 of us now... kind of a lot of people. We had a big party Saturday night. And cousins overnight. We attempted to sing the Hallelujah Chorus... and And the Glory. Shelly and Abby and I spent some time educating Ned about hair and makeup and other girl stuff. We played some rook... good times.

Otherwise... nothing exciting going on. Blessings.

Up North

So... such a good weekend. It felt like I was gone a week... but it was only three days.
Amber and Sarah and I met in El Paso at 5 am Friday morning and headed north. We stopped in Rockford to pick up Natalie and then we didn't stop till we hit Minnesota. Ok, not really. We might have stopped at IHOP and got to listen to some crazy girl talk about picking up strange guys in Florida. I guess nobody ever taught her how to use her 'inside voice.' Haha. We hit Duluth around twoish and took the scenic route along lake Superior. So beautiful.

We stopped at Gooseberry Falls State park to hike around and wade in the river. It was such a nice day out.



Our hotel was farther north, in Silver Bay. I had printed out a bunch of maps for the trip and we were looking at the wrong one so we got to see a little bit more of the town than was expected. :D Driving past the cute statue of Rocky Taconite was worth it though. And hearing Sarah use Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconios-is in every day conversation was pretty great too. When we did finally find our hotel, our room wasn't cleaned yet. So we got free pizza! And bread sticks and cinnamon sticks and Pepsi. It was pretty much amazing.

After supper we went down to the lake shore and climbed around on the rocks. The lake was so calm- I've never seen Superior without waves. It was gorgeous but cold! I stuck my feet in and they went numb... it was great.

By the shores of Gitchee Gumee...

There was a hot tub at the hotel... and a frog water slide (the tongue was the slide) in the kitty pool... Amber and I might have checked it out when the pool was empty. *grin* Hooray for hot tubs and heart-to-hearts...
Saturday morning we headed to Split Rock Lighthouse and spent some time exploring. We walked down a bunch of stairs to the lake... I got my feet wet again... the water was still icy cold...which I love. We stopped in Two Harbors for lunch (at pizza hut- yay for pizza two days in a row!) and then headed south to Minneapolis.


We got to our hotel at the same time as Nic, B.J., and Mogus... and barely in enough time to change for the rehearsal dinner. I caught a ride with B.J.- good times. I met him in the lobby for our 'hot date' just as the entire Zehr/Waibel/Schambach clan arrived. And Nic was there smirking. I thought it was funny.

I got to sit by him and Blake which was good because otherwise it would have been slightly uncomfortable. But they kept me laughing so it was all good and better than I was expecting. I dislike those things excessively, but I ended up being really glad I got to be there.

After the singing at church, a bunch of people came to our hotel to play games and chill. I was in and out... went for a walk with Sprout and Kris... and then went on a pop run... and then took Gab back to Dill's (and got extremely lost! not cool! I have no idea how we found it finally)... and by the time I got back it was 1am so I went to bed.


Sunday was really great. The wedding was good. They all looked cute and Dale and Meg were so happy and all that good stuff. :D There was all kinds of fun food at the reception... and a cheese table... definitely Meg food. Bovee was there!! I haven't seen her since February, and she brought her guy along. The Ideal Man reappeared in the getaway car- so great!

709 Girls

We left for home as soon as Gab was done working. It was a pretty uneventful trip. Well, other than when we were sitting at a subway listening to the music they were playing and Sarah mentioned that it made her want to bust a move. So Amber told her to "drop the sandwich." And she did. And did the sprinkler. It was awesome.

Seriously such good times. I love those girls a lot. And I like Lake Superior a lot.
Blessings.

acetone and spider plants

Remember how I accidentally used acetone on my safety glasses...

Last week when I got back from Michigan just about everything on and around my desk had a little sticky note on it. The purple ones said "no acetone here" and the yellow ones said "acetone ok." Yeah.... it was pretty funny. And apparently my coworkers were so proud of themselves they showed anybody who happened to be walking down the hall.

funny stuff.

and I got a spider plant at work. yay!

there is gold in the eye of the morning...

That's the first line of a really really really stupid song about Michigan we sang in high school chorus. and Matt definitely made me listen to it on the way to Michigan last weekend.

The Wyss vacation is this week. Matt and I went up Friday, and then I stayed until late Tuesday night. When we got there, there wasn't a bed for me and I got a lecture about my car and I was seriously ready to turn around and drive home... but then Abby and I took over a bed in the 'boys' cabin' which worked out really well so it was all good. Abby and Matt came home Sunday night so I had a whole room to myself which was amazing. And the weather was great and I got slightly sunburned and I got to eat junk food pretty much constantly, and hang out with my cousins and Neal and Kim and their boys. woot!

So since everybody was gone Matt and I had people over for church and um... lunch call (did I really just call it that? yikes!) last night. I had fun. It was good to see them all, and good to have people my age at church. (seriously, when I was in Sunday school the number of people born '83-'86 was approximately 16.... only about 5 still go to Washington semi-regularly.)

I didn't get enough sleep all weekend.... and I'm still tired.
Blessings.

A girl's best friend

not a dog.

definitely not a diamond.

Sevin. It's amazing.

my coworkers laughed a lot when they saw what I did to my safety glasses... note to self, don't try and wash plastic with acetone ever again.

monday

So I finally feel halfway normal again... I'm not coughing much and I'm breathing without the help of Tylenol Sinus (seriously that stuff is amazing!). I hate summer colds. But... since I managed to not get whatever went around this winter I won't complain...much :)

The wedding/ reception was good. There were tons of U of I people in Tremont- which is ironic because lil sow is known for not showing at events... haha. And Neal and Kim were there. We left right after the ceremony to go to Cody's reception. I'm still not sure if it was worth it to drive all the way to Fairbury for a piece of cake... o well. I am really excited for Cody, it was good to see him and spend some time with Gab and Kristi. :)

When I got home from Fairbury I could have gone late to the Sunday School picnic or hang out with U of I people at Koch's... so I went back to Tremont. It was fun. We played volleyball. Or I should say they played volleyball. I was pretty drugged up so the amount of effort that I put forth was probably less than normal (so not much). But definitely good times.

Blessings.

new wheels

So I got a new(er) car! Yay! It's a 2002 Grand Prix. It's dark blue. It's so pretty....haha. I like it a lot. So much nicer than the tauri. :D And I don't have to keep my license plate with my siblings initials on it! woot!

I don't have any good pictures.

I am glad to be done car shopping... not my favorite thing... and I'm glad that Dad came with me... I still don't understand why I can't tell the salesman it's cute... or why they can't just put price on it and not do all the back and forth making offers stuff...

Yeah, so I'll probably get all sentimental about my old car- we've been together since high school. Ha! Or not. My cousin might get it so it won't be too far away if I get too lonesome. :)

I'm sick. And I have to go to two weddings/receptions this weekend.
Blessings.

Stars and Stripes

hooray for holidays! and for working for the government and getting them off. :)

Thursday I got to see some old roomies at Meg's personal shower. Good times. That wedding is coming up fast! I am pretty excited.

Matt and I went to Champaign on the 4th to hang out with U of I people. We played in the park and Amber grilled burgers and we went to Darrin and Sue's and watched fireworks at Parkland and got home really late. So fun... I got a lot of bug bites... but seeing the girls made it worth it. (The guys too.... I guess) :D

Saturday I finished priming the old chicken house... finally...it's a slow process.... I wish I would have taken before pictures. O well. Dad and I went to look at a car since I was too afraid to go by myself. (I haven't got the foggiest when it comes to cars) It was hot and the salesman talked a lot about stuff I could care less about but is apparently important. I am tired of looking at cars and thinking about cars. It makes my head spin.

So while Dad and I were in Peoria we saw posters up for the free Peoria Municipal Band concerts that they have on Sunday evenings in Glen Oak Park. Shelly and Jakey thought it sounded boring. *cough* uncultured unpolished people... but I digress. Anyway, so Mom and Dad and I had a picnic in the park and watched the wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds. And then we listened to the band. I found the demographic switch to be pretty amusing. I was one of very few people under 60. But it was good. It was a perfect night to be outside, and they played patriotic music and it was just really fun. I liked it a lot.

and since I've been told all I blog about is dead rodents.... might as well keep up the trend... there were some dead squirrels and a rabbit on our front steps all dressed up in doll clothes late one night... eeesh osh.

What not to do before a 6.5 hour car trip

1. Don't drink one last glass of root beer.
2. Don't drink water.
3. Don't drink two glasses of water.
4. Don't expect me to stop before we've been driving two hours.
5. Don't expect me to feel even slightly sympathetic.
6. Don't expect me to care about how mean you think I am...
Note to self: never travel with my younger cousins again.

so I tried to blog about Kansas earlier this week and my dumb computer erased it.

It was a good time... Scott got a keg of root beer for his 21st birthday. It was really really really good. So I got to drink a lot of root beer. We ate at Jackstack (amazing as usual), and went swimming and played sand volleyball. Brent's and Galen's girls are soooo cute. :)

Matt and I were 'discussing' which of our friends drove Grand Am's and which drove Grand Prix's... slight disagreement... and then I mentioned that he couldn't even call (insert name of mutual friend here) and ask him because he wouldn't know. And then we both started laughing and our passengers were mad because we wouldn't explain. Tell her she's wrong. panz.

We did finally make it home after being stuck in a car with texting teenagers for waay to long. And I haven't really done much all week. Except go to work. And slowly priming the chicken house.

Matt found a bunch of baby moles yesterday. They were so cute! And sooo soft. And their funny noses and feet. Unfortunately they were 'taken care of'... it would have been fun to raise one as a pet or something.

Blessings.

Sunbeams, Rainbows and Kittens

so I'm not going to write about anything in the title... except maybe kittens. We have three cute kittens. Actually, this post is all about blood and death and varmints. So if you are squeamish... maybe you better check this cool site out. http://wordle.net/

I think the opossum count is seven now. And still no skunk. Seven cute little opossi with huge scary looking teeth and nasty rat tails. ick. So I'm getting pretty good at prodding opossums out of the trap ('I'm the best there's ever been'). I'm pretty proud of my skills. Although I am not at all partial to what happens after they are prodded out of the trap. That is Matt and Jakey's job. They have a lot more power in their swing than I do. And they are much more accurate with shovels and axes and pitchforks.

Last week a cat got into the chickens and killed 16 of them. Kind of an awful sight... carcasses every where and the surviving hens all huddled in the corner. The cat might not have lived very long after that.

After supper I was painting in the old chicken house and Matt just had to come show me what they are baiting the trap with tonight- a pigeon whose untimely demise was quite recent. It had also been decapitated. I'm not sure why, maybe skunks like their squab prepared like that?

On a happier note, my flowers are growing! And my rose bush has roses. And I'm going to Kansas this weekend. Woot! And while mom and Dad were gone shelly and I called our plumber friend and he came and fixed the sink that has been leaking for two years and totally surprised M and D. It was amazing.

Summertime

and the livin' is easy...

or something. Mom and Dad are in SC at the moment so guess who gets to make sure that everyone gets fed and the house stays in one piece... woot.

Shelly and I trimmed the bushes on Monday. I'm not sure when that became my job, but it is fun to use the hedge trimmer and if I'm trimming I don't have to pick up as much of the trimmings. :)

I used two things of liquid nails in the chicken house.... and I'm still not done. O, and I got carded for buying the stuff at walmart- so funny! Since I obviously look like I'm under 17 and am going to go right home and sniff it.

Matt and Jake spent Tuesday on the levee in Taylor. Which was good because I didn't have to cook and Shelly and I ate Jimmy John's, which I love.

The "Taste of NCAUR" is tomorrow so I have to make some kind of ethnic dish tonight... I don't know what to make... hm...

Anyway.
Blessings.

Random Things

I don't really have anything to blog about... which is sad.

I stopped at Sheridan Road Nursery on my way home from work.... um... not a good idea... I brought home a bush and a rose. :D Which I love.

Here are some pictures of Kendra's musical dress.


The front before I hemmed it... and the back. Check out that amazing invisible zipper!! And the cummerbund that I spent at least 2 hours working on that they wore for ONLY one scene. It was a crazy lot of fabric for a costume. O well. It was fun to make, and I learned how to cut down a pattern... and do fittings.... so it's all good.

Matt and I got three wedding invitations this week. Two were addressed to "Miss Jenny W. and Matt" the other one was addressed properly, "Jenny W., Matt W." It's also amusing to compare wording.

I sprayed down the milk house/ chicken house/ future potting and/or garden shed and got incredible dirty. And it probably still smells like chickens. There is still much to do.

Blessings.