Christmas randoms

In no particular order...

The boys playing Matt's 'The Office' version of Clue.

Abby was tired. :) I should have been sleeping too, since I had a fever the entire day. O well.

Uncle Randy recording hours of gift opening footage.


Our Christmas tree that took up half the living room.

Nativity.

Matt's madrigal.

The flowers Bob got me for my birthday, they were so pretty.

Jakey put soviet propaganda posters on his list...

We also got cool new t-shirts. Mine says I (heart) warders. It's from WOT. Woot.

Jakey was also modeling his sweet new 30 round banana clip...

So I was supposed to work this week, but yeah, I've had a little bit of a fever since Monday night. Too much Christmas I think. :)

Blessings, and Happy New Year!

one of the most amusing moments this christmas...

Yes, that is Grandpa in the middle. *grin* Uncle Roy is on the left, and Johnny S. on the far right. He didn't know the girls... they met them on vacation at Lake Geneva, "they needed a ride." So funny. Austin got the picture from one of Johnny's grandkids (he wouldn't tell who) and had it enlarged.

Merry Christmas

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;"

For hate is strong

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men!"

God bless us everyone!

I turn my collar to the cold and damp...

ugh. I don't like wet. Although, it is kind of nice to not get shocked every time I take off my lab coat and touch my desk. And my computer. And the door handle.

static is worse than damp.

for it's one, two, oops wrong season

So Saturday Bob and I celebrated my birthday, part II. We were going to go tour the Pettingill-Morron house and then go out to eat. Except we got there and there was a sign that said "please call to schedule a tour." um... nowhere on the historical society website does it say that, it lists Saturday tour times and when they're closed. *sigh* So then we were in Peoria and it was way too early to eat, so we stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory. We passed Lakeview museum and decided to see if they were open... yeah, they close at 4 and we would have not had much time. *sigh* They did have a used book sale going on in the lobby. Which we love. And now we have more books. :)

We also stopped at Barnes and Noble and Best Buy since they are there, and we were there, and it was still early. Good times. We did go for supper eventually, at Seven on Prospect. It was really good and they gave us lots of food. And then we went home and played DK for a while. I'm so bad at it... o well, it's great fun.

Sunday we went to Gridley for Christmas. Jesse got a lego power pack so the boys played with that all evening.

Christina got a tea set, so she served tea and whatever food you wanted. So funny.

Bob loves taking pictures...

Last night I got to hang out with the W-ton girls at Katie's new house. So much fun... we laughed a lot and talked a lot.

And then when I got home and started packing our lunches I discovered that the turkey was slimy... ick... and we haven't eaten at home much so we didn't have any leftovers. *sigh* I'm a failure as a wife. :D O well, I'll just have to go to Jimmy John's for lunch... bummer. haha.

Blessings.

merry birthday to me

So Tuesday night I went down to Champaign just because. I haven't been there in ages! And I don't get to see the C-U girls nearly as much as I would like. And Bob was busy. It was great. I got to meet Natalie's two cute "foster" puppies. They came with Amber, Sarah, Natalie and I to Sonic... I had to order... it was scary. :P They had the rest of the UIYG over to decorate cookies and sing Christmas carols which was great fun. Jakey was busy studying so he didn't come... I stopped by on my way home to bug him. Lots of things are different since I graduated, but one thing never changes- the smell of the Saltshaker. :)

I didn't get home until midnight. Wednesday was a sleepy day. Totally worth it though.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 25 and old now. *grin* Or something. When I got to work I found approximately 300 paperback books covering my desk, and balloons and streamers. My coworkers borrowed them from the bookshelves in the cafeteria (people bring all kinds of books they don't want any more and leave them for anyone to read)... so then we sorted them all by genre. It was interesting to note what science people read- half were sci-fi/fantasy (lots of TOR novels) and half were harlequin romance and chick lit (aka bodice rippers). Only three westerns, a handful of suspense/thrillers, and few non-fiction books.

When I got home from work, Bob had gotten me flowers and beautifully wrapped presents. He's amazing. :D And I was maybe so excited about getting Donkey Kong and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that I forgot that I had bought cream on my way home and left it in the bag on the floor... and we went to Mom and Dad's for supper. oops. It's ultra pasteurized right??

Mom made steak and mushrooms and cake. It was great. I rescued the rest of my tree ornaments and looked at all their Christmas cards. And then Shelly dressed up like a Russian.

Bob and I both have work Christmas potlucks today, so I spent the rest of the evening making party potatoes and Bob made jello. Woot. And cupcakes because I forgot to take doughnuts to work for my birthday. (I thought that was over after grade school...) I even made buttercream frosting- so yummy.

It's kind of crazy to think how much has changed since last year. I love birthdays for looking back and remembering. Blessings.

Here we come a caroling...

So we were busy again last weekend. Hooray for December! :)

We went to the H.S. Madrigal Dinner last Thursday; Matt was in it. I was quite impressed... the food was good, the music was good, and the company was excellent. :) I always used to go to Morton's to see Katie, and since Tremont is waaay smaller I wasn't sure how it would compare.

I was pretty excited to go caroling on Friday. We were in a pretty small group, we all fit in one big van, but we sounded good. And the people we sang for were very appreciative and teary eyed. :) I always forget to eat something before we leave so I was starving by the time we got back to the fellowship hall. (and they don't serve sloppy joe's! happy day! sorry to all of the very hardworking w-ton food committee, I just don't like them, especially after Christmas caroling.)

Saturday I worked very hard all day to get ready for having Gab and Brian over for supper. Or something. :) I went simple and low stress and made chili. It was good to hang out with them... much interesting hypothetical conversation, nintendo, and scrabble.

My family was in church for the wedding on Sunday, along with half of the w-ton church. It was good to see everybody and eat cake.

Two days until my birthday... woot.

Blessings.

Christmas time is here...

Such a busy, Christmasy weekend!

We got a tree on Saturday. It's pretty, but somehow it looks a lot bigger in our house than it did on the lot. :) Now I just need to get my ornaments from home so it won't look so bare!

I made spritz and we frosted gingerbread and sugar cookies. I think I made way too many of everything, but they're just sooo good. :)

Shelly called me last night and read me "Davey and the First Christmas," which is pretty much the best! I don't have any Christmas books... it's very sad. I'll just have to go hang out at home sometime and read Davey, and the Grinch, and the Night Before Christmas.

Blessings.

sugar and spice

Our house smelled good last night.

I made chicken tikka masala for supper.... garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala.... heavenly.

Then I made springerli.... much sugar and the wonderful aroma of anise...

Blessings.

Thanksgiving

I love long weekends. :) Even when they're busy.

I also love being a government employee and getting off two hours early on Wednesday by executive decree. :)

We spent Thanksgiving with some of my family at the farm... it was a small group, but quite hilarious at times. And Grandma and Pearline did most of the cooking so the food was great, of course. We were there pretty late because I had to wait for Shelly to get home from work so we could sing thanksgiving songs... and Bob and Jakey were playing Age of Empires...

So I slept in Friday. And was kind of a bum. I did get the house cleaned though. We went to the Beutel thanksgiving for supper- more good food and singing. :) And I didn't have to bring any leftover jello home. woot woot.

Sharon, Rustin and Grace were here so we had Christmas with them on Saturday. I liked Grace's toys a lot... :P We had some really good kabobs for supper, and stayed up really late again. I was having a hard time staying awake in church on Sunday.

Tomorrow is December 1st.... which means it's time to start decorating for Christmas. I'm excited. It also means there are only 17 days until my birthday.

Blessings.

Things for which I am thankful:

Bob

family

good friends

weddings at which I get to see good friends (nic and amanda's was great)

apple pie

sunshine

church

cake

down comforters

spices

my job

Jesus

dr. pepper

flowers

Things that make me smile

and rotating potluck. :D

Blessings.

once upon a midnight dreary...

... name that poem...

So I'm ready for some sunshine again! I don't like wet very much. It's a good thing I don't live in Oregon or a rain forest or something. Damp and dreariness does nothing for my mood... it could have had something to do with reading Wuthering Heights also.... but getting Jakey's Christmas present in the mail yesterday didn't even really help. (It's awesome. I'm excited. He's pretty much the funnest person to find gifts for.) Maybe I can convince Bob that I need to go someplace with green growing things.... ha!

Tonight I have to come up with desert for potluck... I haven't decided what I'm going to make yet. I'll probably just make pie because it's easy and I don't think I'm brave enough to take something I've never made before.

It's going to be a busy few days.... but I'm really excited for Nic and Amanda to get married! It makes me smile a lot. :D

Blessings.

happenings

So I'm pretty done with Christmas shopping. Yay! It helps that I had last Wednesday off for veteran's day and spent the whole day shopping... :)

Bob went to Nic's bachelor supper Friday so I invited myself to supper with Mom and Dad. And finally got some papers signed to switch an account to my name.... which we really should have done when I turned 18 or something, because it's twice as complicated since my name changed and I'm adding Bob. Plus, it was necessary to drive my car through a field of cornstalks at least once this year.... I don't think I got any stuck underneath. :)

We went to walmart the other night to fill shoe boxes.... the toy selection stinks. No little dolls, or stuffed animals, or much of anything that would fit. There was plenty of uber violent stuff... It was still fun though and it was hard to fit it all in the boxes, so I'm sure they'll be happy.

Grandma and Grandpa and Pearl and Kary came for supper tonight. I cleaned extra good. And used my china for the first time. And was a little worried that my food would taste bad.... but it was ok.... they did say it was "different" though. Haha. I think they were a little surprised at how different our house looks now, they all came and helped when we were cleaning and painting, and how livable it really is. :P Good times.

I'm not excited to go to work tomorrow.... *sigh* hooray for Mondays...

Blessings.

Indian Summer

I love it. :D

Except those awful lady bug things also love the warm weather. And a random wasp that was flying around our back porch.

There's a lot of pork in our freezer.... it's amazing. :)

I helped out at the Haitian linens open house last Friday and didn't buy any Christmas presents.... buying decorating stuff for other people is hard, so I just don't. I did get some pretty Christmas things for me. :D

We raked leaves again on Saturday- so much easier with dry leaves! And I maybe jumped off the truck into the large community leaf pile. It was awesome.

I don't like the time change. (Although it is waaay easier to get out of bed when the sun is already up.) Last night I was attempting to grill in the dark by lantern light; not very easy, and I burned my knuckle on the lid. My Wyss Farms, Inc. pork chops still ended up tasting pretty good. :)

Blessings.

trick or treat

happy reformation day... a little bit late. :)

I spent the end of last week going to showers... woot... two in a row, Nic, you owe me. :P Or something.

Halloween was fun. We did not dress up; I kind of doubt I could get Bob to anyway. It was the first time I've ever lived in town (and not in a college neighborhood) so it was the first time I've ever had trick or treaters. My favorite costumes were the three little boys dressed up as a hot dog and ketchup and mustard.... and the bee keeper with two bees... and the little girl who told me "I'm a banana!" when I said she had a cool costume.

We were going to have people for supper that night, but they were unexpectedly and unavoidably detained... mur... so sad. So they didn't end up coming. I have a lot of leftover pumpkin bars, which is bad, because now I will eat them. :)

Blessings

Autumn

It's been busy again...

Last weekend was full. Sprout had some champaign girls over and I got to hang out with them on Friday. Fun times chilling and playing games.

It was also Kendra's baptism... most of my cousins were here. We stayed up late with them Saturday night. Much telling of Jakey's "email story" and funny conversations. We were talking about how 'homemade' apple pie isn't Pillsbury pie crust and apple pie filling- "what does that say about your home life?," "Yeah, do you live in Walmart?" *grin*

Tuesday we went to Grandpa and Grandma Beutel's for supper. It was fun and we got to look at old pictures, which I love.

We have a lot of leaves in our yard that we need to rake sometime. My flowers are dying...I like spring a lot better than fall. But- I bought a bunch of bulbs the other day, so hopefully I'll have flowers sooner next spring!

Blessings.

excitement

So far this week the most exciting thing that's happened is that there's half a pig at the locker with my name on it. Yes, I realize how pathetic that is. :) I'm just excited to see familiar looking packages in my freezer.... I don't know what to do with all these newfangled store bought cuts of meat. (ok, not really. but I am excited for real, thick bacon!) :)

Hopefully I can spend less time in front of the meat case trying to decide what to get...

I miss Lindy's. But I don't really miss being a cashier- the other day I stopped at the grocery store for two things and went to the 15 items or less express lane. I was behind an older lady and a very patient guy. It would have been faster to get in the line behind the very full cart. Seriously, the lady in front of me spent close to 10 min trying to convince the cashier that her coupon for ice cream would work on any frozen item and that the cocoa she had was the brand that was on sale.... which she didn't want if it wasn't. She saved a total of 78 cents. Frugality and thrift are great; but, I hope we are never so poor that I'm worried about 78 cents.

Blessings.

on being a wimp

So last Friday night we'd been planning on going camping with Dale and Meg and some of Bob's second cousins.... but then it was cold and rainy all last week, and the forecast for Friday night and Saturday was the same. So we decided not to go. Instead, we took all of our camping food to Dale and Meg's and had supper there and played games inside where it was warm. And enjoyed intelligent conversation on a variety of topics, which I love. And then I don't think it rained much Friday night and it was beautiful Saturday... *sigh* o well. Maybe next year. :)

Rhonda got married on Sunday. It was good to see her and her veil with little hearts all over it. So very Rhonda. And we got to see a few other fun people.... hooray for weddings.

Blessings.

long weekend

Hooray for celebrating long dead explorers who didn't really discover anything! Kind of like Nobel peace prizes....

I'm not complaining about having a day off though- it was great!

We went to sing at Timber Ridge Friday night, it was interesting as always!

Saturday afternoon I went home for a few hours... it was necessary to see the new shed on Matt's farm layout and shoot Jakey's new gun that he bought quick before our revered president changes gun control laws. It's an AR-15. In mossy oak. We were carrying it out of the house just as the appliance repairman showed up. um... no worries, you'll be perfectly safe working here, we just have a semi-automatic weapon.... haha. Then Fred and boys drove up- their eyes were as big as saucers- so funny.

I went to my first and the "coldest ever" pork chop fry. woot woot. It was fun, although I think they're breaking truth in advertising laws since the pork chops are grilled, not fried. There's a big difference. :)

Sunday we went to Derek and Leanne's for supper and we got to play Lincoln logs with Wesley and Lexi. Good times.

Poor Bob had to get up and go to work on Monday... and I went shopping. I met mom in Peoria and we went to Olive garden for lunch. I mostly got wedding and shower gifts, which are not my favorite things to shop for. I can never find the exact thing they registered for, or they don't have it in stock so I spend forever looking for something that isn't there. *sigh* O well.

and for randomness- I love our down comforter. It's great. Pretty sure that who ever invented the feather bed/ feather comforter should have gotten a medal. There was some snickering when we got it at our church shower.... about how we 'won't need that! nudge nudge smirk'.... to which I rolled my eyes. You try living with old drafty windows and radiator heat and just a bedspread. It's cold. That and the ridiculous, 'you'll really only need a twin bed' comment... seriously, so not true. anyway. That's my list of dumb things you can say to newlyweds...... *grin*

Blessings.

random acts of poetry...

Autumn Fires
Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

garage sale madness

so we had a super busy week last week- something every night, and a busy weekend. I can only take so much social... I'm being very anti-social this week. :D It was a good week though, we went to potluck, rotating potluck (so fun!), a wiener roast, and out to eat with Bob's family.

Saturday was town wide garage sale day. I went to a few in the morning, but I don't really need anything so all I found was a milk glass vase. At about 11 I remembered that we were going to put our extra lawnmower (that needs fixing) on the curb with a free sign.... so I did that and then went to a few more garage sales. It was gone 45 minutes later. :D I had some stuff on the garage sale at Meg's so I spent the afternoon there watching the parade... haha. Between the interesting people and the neighbors cat, it was quite entertaining. The best part was that I only had to bring 3 things back home. woot woot.

Have I mentioned that I really like where we live?? We're about a block from the elevator and they have the grain dryers on. I love that sound...it makes me happy. :) I'm not a huge fan of fall... but I like harvest. *sigh* I'm so not looking forward to the cold!

Blessings.

my precious

Last Monday I said goodbye to my trumpet... it had been sitting in my closet since high school. It was a Bach Stradivarious, a professional model silver trumpet. So pretty. So fun to play. Such a waste since I rarely got it out to play it.

So I sold it to a guy from Springfield. He plays in their municipal band and he is a U of I grad; so I'm sure he'll give it a good home and take good care of my precious....

It was still kind of a sad moment. Yes, I know I'm pathetic! :P

anyway. Blessings.

wilderness adventure

So we spent the weekend outside... it was great. I haven't been camping in ages, and I was a little bit excited to go. "Giddy," according to Bob. Probably the most excited I've been about something since our wedding...

We left after work Friday (and after Mike left), stopped to borrow some stuff from Mom and Dad, and so it was kind of dark when we got there. Really dark. So there are no pictures of us setting up our tent in the dark, just of my full car. We didn't eat supper until almost 10.



This is our tent in the daylight. It was free, which we love. It has all sorts of nifty features- like a nice zippered 'electrical port' for all of your extension cord needs, interior pockets, door mat, state of the art ventilation system (um... it's a tent?), and a random half circle window near the floor that we couldn't decide if it was for ventilation or for pets. And it's really big.



This is me frying eggs for breakfast. I look like I didn't get a good nights sleep... maybe it was the hard ground... or maybe because I forgot to pack pillows. Um... oops.... :) I also forgot mayonnaise. And tinfoil. And hot dog sticks. Pretty much I'm a failure of a camper. :P



Hooray for coolers full of ice.... very full of ice... probably more ice than necessary, but I bought a big bag and I didn't want to waste it. :)



Moraine view isn't a big park, they only had a few trails, but it was fun to explore. It was beautiful out- perfect for hiking.



Somewhere between trails Jakey called to tell us he started repenting. It was a good weekend.



Then we found the park boundary. Note the hayfield and the windmills. We were afraid that if we went much further we would get lost in the wilderness, so we turned around and went back.



Lots of mushrooms growing in the woods.


Fairy dance floor....



This is the view from our campsite, we had a spot right by the lake.



Relaxing after a long hard day of hiking. *grin* And making sure the fire didn't go out.



The lake was pretty.



I look like I need a shower... o wait, I did....



And then we had to come home. We were packed up before the rain, thankfully.

My car still smells like woodsmoke and camping. I love it.

Blessings.

guests

so I haven't been a very on the ball blogger lately...

Rustin and Sharon and Grace were here last weekend so we got to spend some time with them. Abby was in town for the wedding last Sunday so she spent the night with us. She gets the dubious honor of being our first overnight guest. And the first person to sleep on our couch bed... haha... she said it wasn't too bad. :P

I spent the week getting ready to go camping.

Friday Mike and co. stopped at our house to 'freshen up' on their way from Kansas to a wedding. It was good to see him again... especially since he told us he would come visit this summer and he never did... *cough* loser *cough*.

And then we went camping. I have pictures... I'll get to it eventually. :)

Tonight I'm going to hang out with Amy and try and sell my trumpet. woot.
Blessings.

lost and found

I was looking for my pink highlighter last night. I didn't find it.

I did, however, find the two veils and head covering that have been missing since the wedding.

They were in the pocket of my bible cover....

there was great rejoicing.


and now I have enough veils for 2 months of Sundays. woot.

happenings of late

Three day weekends are great… and so sad when they are past… :)

My phone rang 13 times on Friday. Some guy was looking for “Adam” all day. I’ve never heard of Adam. The first two times I answered it and told him it was the wrong number. But he kept calling… and I ignored it. I kept expecting somebody to call and say they were Adam (to ask if anyone had called for him), or for somebody I knew to fess up that it was them. He called at least once an hour and I was getting so annoyed. You’d think he would figure it out after I talked to him twice, or after he listened to my voicemail message. He was still calling after work… one time I answered and asked who was calling and said again that I’d never heard of Adam. Then I answered, “Hello, Pizza Hut.” He still asked if Adam was there. The next time I answered, “Hello, State Police.” Yeah… he still wanted to know where Adam was. I was going to make Bob talk to him, but he finally stopped calling.

Caleb and Bethany came over for supper on Saturday. I didn’t burn anything, thankfully. Good times playing strategy games… o wait, I’m terrible at strategy. *grin*

We spent most of Sunday in Washington… and playing with all the new toys they have at home now that I’m gone. :P They just got a four-wheeler “for the farm” and we had to try it out. And Jake and Bob played Age of Empires until the wee hours of the morning… ok, maybe not quite, but it was late. :)

I went shopping on Monday while Bob and some guys played a new board game he just got… it looks super complicated, hopefully it will be easier to learn now that they’ve played it once. We went to a cookout with the Beutels for supper. Katy and I went wading in the creek with Max and Bryce; I got all wet which was great. The little boys were a little more hesitant, and Max was really nervous after he tripped and almost went under… so funny to watch.

Otherwise… nothing much going on.
Blessings.

tomatoes

It's been pretty quiet here.... which I love.

I made 12 pints of tomato sauce over the weekend. Yay. My freezer is getting more full... we'll see if there's a correlation in the money we spend on groceries.

What we really need though is some fresh bacon. And pork chops. And ham. *cough* dad. *cough*

I'm actually going to work for five whole days this week- yikes. It's been awhile since that's happened, thanks to mono and vacation and jury duty. Woot. And next Monday is labor day... hooray for short weeks! I'm kind of a fan of days off. :P

Blessings.

speedy and public

I’ve been on call for jury duty the whole month of August (it’s been a crazy month), but made it until last Monday to actually get called in. I didn’t really want to do it, but it’s not a real big inconvenience since I’m a government employee and they (obviously) encourage participation… and they give jury leave. :)

First I forgot to fill my car with gas so it was blinking at me by the time I got there. And then I drove past the poorly marked parking deck and the street turned into a one way and I had a little trouble finding it again. Hooray for starting off the morning flustered!

It was kind of cool to be there… they were selecting a jury for a criminal trial and the judge talked about how great it is that we have the right to a trial by a jury of our peers… lots of “all rise” and gavel pounding…administered the oath… introduced the lawyers, and the defendant… and then told us it was a child porn case. *gulp* um… yikes!? Yeah. So then they called out 14 names at random, I was the second one called. We had to go sit in the jury box and the judge asked us all kinds of questions about being fair and impartial, and about computers and digital cameras. Then he went through each of the questionnaires we had already filled out with more questions. Apparently he didn’t like something I had written on mine, so they called me to the side and ended up excusing me for the rest of the month. *phew*

As much as I appreciate that we have the privilege of jury trials, and the privilege of having to be proven guilty, I was not sad to leave that courtroom. The case has been in the newspaper the last few days (you can find it under police and courts on pjstar.com)… yeah, I’m glad I’m not there. My personal, gut reaction to it all is that if there’s enough evidence to indict for those charges they should be shot on the spot. I guess I wouldn’t be a very impartial juror. :)

Anyway, that’s how my week started. Blessings.

the dear departed

So we said farewell to yet another rodent friend Wednesday night. Somehow it managed to push it's way through all the steel wool that was plugging the hole around the radiator pipe.... and it was making itself at home in my kitchen while we were in the Ozarks. So my brand new loaf of bread that was sitting on the counter was ruined. *sigh* Anyway, I stopped at Farm and Fleet and bought all sorts of things to destroy mice- traps, glue boards, d-con.... it was going to be all out war. I set the glue traps right by the hole... minding my own business... putting dishes away... and I heard scurrying. And squeaking. The mouse was extremely stuck. Hooray! So Bob disposed of it for me and I've been disinfecting the kitchen. woot. Just what I wanted to come back from vacation to do.

The Ozarks was good. A little bit rainy, but sunny enough that I'm not pasty white any more. Bob and I got to share a cabin with cool people... even though they made us sleep in the smallest bedroom... haha... or cell... My little cousins like Bob a lot, it was pretty amusing. Rae: "I'm glad Jenny married Bob." (after he let her 'play' the Wii) Cailer: "But I never get to see Bob." (we were trying to convince him that he needed to spend time with his grandpa that he doesn't get to see very often; he wanted to play wii with Bob.)

I'm really not excited to be back at work... it's too bad vacations can't last all year. It's rough getting up early after a week and a half of sleeping in. *sigh* O well.

Blessings.

mono

so I really haven't got much to blog about... I've spent most of the last week laying in bed or sitting on the couch.... *sigh* It bugs me to be home and have stuff that needs doing, but I just don't have the strength. :) haha. I'm actually feeling a lot better today. More awake. I don't have to sit down to rest after washing the dishes... hooray.

Although, I probably would feel even better if I had not waited a table last night at the conference. Probably doesn't count as taking it easy for the next few weeks... O well. I survived. And I only felt like falling over once. :) I managed to not spill coffee on anyone, which is always a small miracle. I did crash pretty hard when I got home.... yikes... my head hurt bad.

Tonight we're hopefully going to leave to spend the weekend on the Wyss vacation. Woot woot. :) Should be good times, as always!

Blessings.

o me...

I got stung by a bee. :) This morning while I was out in the yard string trimming. I was minding my own business, and WHAM, my foot was on fire. *sigh* I haven't gotten stung in years, haven't missed it either. Definitely let out a yelp... haha... yeah, I was maybe a little bit dramatic....

and then later this afternoon my throat was hurting (it's been sore for a few days) so I grabbed a flashlight and looked at it in the mirror... yeah.... it looked rather nasty. I was afraid it was strep or something, but I wasn't sure. So I asked Bob to come look at it... he was slightly weirded out and made me go to prompt care to figure out what is wrong with me. They did the Strep test... negative... yeah, the doctor thinks it's mono. Hooray. Not sure where I picked it up since Bob's never had it. I'm starting to feel tired now. *sigh*

such a month- two funerals in Washington, one crazy cancer diagnosis.... eeesh. I'm counting my blessings I just have mono.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.

Last night Bob and I met Shelly, Sarah, Gab and B.J. in Bloomington for supper and then we went to the Illinois Shakespeare Festival to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was great. I love watching Shakespeare live, it's just so fun and timeless. I'm pretty sure that this is my new favorite Shakespeare play, maybe because no one dies and there are fairies... and Puck!

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

It was raining all morning and I was a little worried that it would get rained out (it's an outdoor theater). The weather forecasts for the evening were all really bad. But it cleared off, and it was such a beautiful night to sit outside!

If we shadows have offended, Think but this, --and all is mended, --That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear.

My favorite part of Shakespeare is all the random phrases in our vernacular that originated from his plays. I love the insults; 'cankerblossom', 'thou painted maypole', so great. And all the jokes that are still funny after 400 years. :)

So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

Blessings.

Pictures and Kids day

So here's pretty much the only picture I took last weekend.... Grace splashing in the jacuzzi.

These are my mystery flowers.... probably a lily? They're cool and they last pretty long in a vase too.
My tomato plants have some buds, no fruit yet.

And the rest of my flowers. I have pansies now that the rabbits quit eating them.

So we had another busy weekend. I spent Friday evening helping my mom do green beans and corn... Saturday we helped the yg with Kids day. We were in the 7th and 8th grade group... which ended up being five 7th grade girls, who probably entertained us more than we entertained them. :) They decided they didn't want to wait to go swimming and jumped in Nicole's pool with their clothes on... yeah, they had to put on their swimsuits to get dry. Us "adults" played badminton and got a little damp in the rain while they were in the pool. After lunch we baked cookies to give to people. It was a good day and it was fun to get to know them, but I was reminded why I don't do girls camp- that age group can drive me crazy. (nothing new, 7th and 8th grade girls irritated me when I was in middle school) :)

Sunday we went to Dolly's visitation and then met my family at Eureka lake for supper. Steve and Renee's kids wanted to roll down the dam.... so we watched them get really dizzy, and then we all took a walk around the lake. Good times.

Blessings.

blog bites

as opposed to sound bites...

• Tremont water is ok. It's not well water, but it's not bad. Except for when they add chlorine. Today it tastes like chlorine. ick.
• Tim and Melissa's wedding was good; the girls looked adorable, the guys didn't look too bored, definitely a success.
• Spending time with Bob's family was fun... Grace in the jacuzzi was hilarious.
• I haven't gotten enough sleep this week... and last night we ate supper with Mark and Ashley... good times, but another late night. :)
• There's a mystery flower in my flowerbed. Last week some random green stalks started growing from a plant that was already there when we moved in, yesterday they started blooming. They're pretty but I have no idea what they are.

Blessings.

*sigh*

It's been a busy week, I'm maybe a little bit glad it's Friday.

I picked beans twice... and did beans twice. I still should probably do some more. And there's fresh zucchini, which I love.

My trumpet is getting cleaned so I can sell it. Unless it comes back all pretty and shiny and I just can't bear to part with it. .... my precious.... um, anyway, it's a Silver Bach Strad and I haven't played it since high school and it's way too nice of a trumpet to be sitting in my closet. Somebody should be playing it.

We've been married 3 months-ish and I'm just now taking my dress to the cleaners.

My family went on vacation without us and they've been texting me pictures of Biltmore and rubbing it in that they went white-water rafting and hiking... *sigh* And I've been slaving away watching the garden and making sure all the flowers don't go to waste and keeping ornery boys out of their vehicles.... i do so much for them, they better appreciate it. *grin* I guess they did buy me a spoon.

Tim and Melissa's wedding is this weekend. Woot! We're going up early to spend time with Rustin and Sharon and Grace. Fun times.

Blessings.

our bedroom

So this is a random picture of the stairway... it looks about the same still... I need to hang some pictures or something. Our room before, looking into the bathroom. The walls were white, the ceiling was kind of ivory/yellowish nasty.

Small walk-in closet.

Not sure what's up with all the corner windows... and yards of cable again.

After: the walls are "Blissful Morn," aka, yellow, and the ceiling is white.


Our bedroom set was my Grandpa and Grandma Schlipf's... I love it. I just got new hardware for it, so it doesn't look quite so circa 1950's. :D This is the new stuff:

So, this would be the perfect spot for a cherry bookcase I think. Too bad we don't have one.

It's not usually this clean...

Hooray for pottery barn! And lots of pillows!

So that's all I've got for before and after pictures! Until I decide to redecorate... grin... poor Bob...

Blessings.