It's a beautiful night

And what better way to spend it than with good friends....

'Looked' at stars. Sang about the moon.

Took a long walk on campus following the sound of the marching band.

Found it just as they were all leaving with their instruments. :)

Rode the bus for the first time.

Almost as much fun as jumping in the fountain with my roomies...

*grin*

There is a very large green wagon at my house...

Hm so, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Pearline, and Abby came to visit on Wednesday. We ate at Biaggi's per Shaker suggestion. Good times. They are so funny...they really aren't sure how Matt can live in such a small space. :) And they were so worried about getting Abby back to Bloomington so she could get to bed...they left here at 9ish. :D

Sang at Shaker on Thursday, or I should say, everyone else sang; I croaked...I'm a lot better now. They sang "Pull for the Shore" for me. Ask me sometime why I think that song is hilarious...

Friday was Jakey's 18th birthday. Woot. So I got him a present. I had a hard time deciding between the incense sticks and the glow-in-the-dark moldable foam. (Circle K's just don't have a real big gift selection) I went with the foam. It was his favorite present until he opened the machete. *sigh* I just can't compete.

Saturday I slept really late...it was beautiful. I spent several hours making cookies for Jake to take to his friend's house after homecoming. (He forgot them on the counter.) So then I rode my bike to the field and rode around on the combine with Dad for a while. I drove for a couple rounds...I think Dad was ready to switch back. :) Beans are way harder than corn!

I got to see Abby's house. It's so cute, and it is fixed up a lot better than ours.

I didn't go to Taylor. I'm sad I missed out on seeing people. I'm not sad I stayed home. I feel much better now, and I think I would still be pretty miserable if I hadn't got some rest. So yeah. Blessings.

Motivation is elusive

Chris and Ashley got engaged last night!! Woot! It's about time....

So I really don't want to study for my Instrumental Methods of Chemical Characterization class. It's just plain awful.

My throat hurts...Gab gave me some wonderful stuff for it though. I needed some tylenol last night when we were all studying together and nobody had any! I went to the health center and got some free after lab today. It's generic so it starts dissolving right away...ick. I should just make my own.

I was in lab today working on a very annoying qual lab. (Don't they know that nobody does qual analysis anymore?? Most chemists send it to the friendly NMR technician and get a complete analysis with out all the fuss) Anyway, so I was watching my sample distill and hear somebody saying my name- I turned around and there was Caleb, CORE hard hat and all! I was excited. I was also surprised that he recognized me in my lovely green goggles, but I guess the skirt gave it away. :)

I was starting to feel like I had a voice again and then I went to singing at the nursing home. Not anymore. I sound like I've been smoking a pack a day for 20 years. It's great.

Grandma and Grandpa are coming to take Matt and I out to eat tomorrow before church! Yay!

Blessings.

Stuff and nonsense

I had two test last week....and two lab reports so it was pretty intense.

But there were some high points, especially this weekend.

The fall picnic was nice...not too hot, but not freezing.

Thursday I took a 'study break' and went to the planetarium for a HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT. The planetarium pretty cool, the only other one I've been to was on a school field trip. It was one of our many 'let's go visit the Journal Star and something else in Peoria' field trips, so it was much better this time. *wink*

Justin K came for bible study at Keith and Joan's on Friday. It was excellent and very thought provoking. Somehow they started talking about economics and futures markets afterwards....wow...totally over my head. Lys and I hung out for a while and I stayed up way too late.

I got up early on Saturday and went with Mom and Donna to Jakey's cross race in St. Jo. It was really fun- I love CC races, they're over in 15-20 minutes. :) We took all the cross country bando's to Danville for their band competition- brings back memories of good times. They're marching a good show this year...gladiator music...it was fun to watch.

Then I had to go back to C-U to meet up with the group going to Mike's baptism. Cissna was great. Testimonies were long, but it really didn't seem like it. Alyssa, Rhonda, and I stayed overnight with an older widow named Lorretta. :) She was sooo cute. And she said some really funny things. There were lots of people in church! It was good to see some KS people, although I'm still sad Neal and Kim didn't make it.

So it was a good week, and a good weekend. :)
Blessings.

Chalk Quadding

I couldn't go since I was taking a test and then I went to Chipotle for free food.

They did a lovely job, I especially liked the one right outside Noyes Lab:

www.freebiblenow.org
-no cost -no obligation
God Loves Chem Majors!

*GRIN*

My roomies are great!

They cook awesome food!

They say funny things.

"Bread and Water? Prisoners get better food than that!"
"So...are you a closet delinquent?"

Pretty much they're just the coolest people ever. :)

It's friday!

So Gab says I need to blog. :)

Hm... this week started out with a bang. Sunday night I was sound asleep when I was rudely awakened by 8 guys in masks and dark clothes destroying furniture with axes in our front yard. They also had poor Herman strung up on our front porch in a noose....who knows what our poor neighbors thought. :) And poor Herman! He barely pulled through the ordeal.

I was pretty sleepy monday....but I made supper for the girls, and they ate it so it must not have been too bad.

Sang at the home on tuesday....and stayed up way too late updating the freezer list.

Wednesday was church....keep the curt was in Champaign...then we ate pie with our almost room mate afterwards.

Thursday I spent way too long in a very annoying lab and then went to ISU bible study. On the way, our carload was entertained with an hour long lecture on mammals. :) It was a good night, but I was very sad that Abby wasn't there. Joanna was! And Janelle! Yay! We went for ice cream afterwards and then I came back to C-U with Matt, Lil sow, and Bob. It was a quiet ride. We talked about well drilling. :) And I saw a shooting star. Now I really should go to bed....but I'm wide awake from the Polar Pop I drank in the car.

Blessings.

Randomness

We have some funny conversations around our house sometimes...
Me: Where does mom keep hilda b?
Shelly: I don't know, maybe upstairs.
Me: O wait, the hall closet!

I like pie. A lot. And making pie makes me happy. :)

Jakey took such nice senior pictures....

Midnight- at a normal volume
Me: Why are you taking so long in there?
Jake: I'm not you are. Do you think somebody will wake me up tomorrow?
Me: Probably you left a note on the table....
Jake: Maybe Dad won't do chores tomorrow, maybe I should wake them up... (the bathroom door was wide open and the light was definitely on, and we weren't whispering)

Went to a hog roast. Had to get out of my bubble- it's good for me right?

Grain bin singings are....rough.

Gab doesn't like me anymore.

When I go home for the weekend I miss out on the fun......

A note to Herman, we miss you here at 709- but I'm sure you'll be welcomed in your new home... *grin*

P.S. How does furniture walk across town?

Blessings.

Ft. Scott, Kansas City, and curtains

So I had a great weekend in Kansas! And we had a stellar turnout of W-ton yg types. (HA!) Matt, Shelly, Abby, and I left Friday after school and spent the night in Kansas City at Aunt Karen's. Saturday morning we went down to Fort Scott to go canoeing and we almost set a new record, we were just 3 minutes off. :)

Canoeing was fun. I didn't get tipped because I had my camera and I had forgotten to bring a dry bag. Whoops. :) It was a really beautiful day- not too hot and not too cold. And there were lots of fun KS girls there. I had never been to Fort Scott church before so that was good.

Sunday night we went back up to KC to Aunt Karen's and hung out til Scott got back with Ben. We played some Rook and stayed up way too late. Monday morning we went to Brent and Beth's to see Kambria. She's pretty cute. I didn't hold her. It's kind of weird that Brent, Galen, and Neal all have kids now. And Neal owns a minivan. I about died when I heard that....

So then we went home. Traffic wasn't bad and I filled up for $2.39 in Columbia. :) We spent almost 20 hrs in the car and I drove about 14 of them. My car smells like wet shoes, people, trail mix, and who knows what else. Good stuff.

When we all got back to Champaign we found a rather large stuffed man on our porch. His shirt says that he is the "Ideal Man" of 709. So we hung him on the wall. With lots of big nails. And we named him Herman, as in Handsome Herman. Hot Rod works too. It doesn't really matter since he's ideal- he doesn't talk back, he does what he's told, and doesn't expect regular meals. ;) He still makes me jump every time I walk in the room.

Heidi came to visit me yesterday. :) We went to bible study at the union, and then at 10 I decided I wanted to make curtains for the kitchen. So we went to walmart (in our pjs) and got fabric. They turned out really cute! And then I actually let Heidi share my bed.

So anyway. Church tonight.
Blessings.

Today was a good day

Or yesterday now.

I had a meeting today with my senior project professor. It went well, even though it was at the early hour of 8:30am. I was going to come home and go back to bed, but he invited me to come to his chem 102 lecture at 10. So I went home and did some stuff for a while and went back to school.

It was great! He is a chem education specialist and an excellent teacher. Part of his lecture included shooting a paint ball gun at a target to "recreate" Rutherford's gold foil experiment. He missed once and hit the wall. It was funny. And he was doing a stoichiometry problem that was longer than the board, so he just continued on the wall. Good stuff. It was the first time I have ever been to a lecture that wasn't mine. :)

Then I ate lunch at sbarro because I had a coupon. It was good.

My first instrumentation lab was less than 45 minutes.

I got a lot of homework done.

I ate supper with Amber and Amanda.

Another first today was liquid nitrogen ice cream. I went to the American Chemical Society Student Affiliates meeting tonight, and they had a bunch of fun demos. After the meeting they made ice cream and it only took 5 minutes. It was pretty good stuff; very creamy and chocolatey. And it was cold! (obviously)

When I got back from that, we put together some songbooks and yes I spelled reigns, rains. So I wasn't totally focused on my work- good thing Gab was there to spell check. :) We sang around the piano for a while when we got them finished, it was definitely the perfect ending to an excellent day.

Hot and sticky

Ick. I don't like this weather.

So I spent most of the weekend in Elgin. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I went. It was a good excuse to visit Amanda and hang out with all the fun people in the Elgin yg. The wedding was good too. It was kind of weird though, brought back a lot of random memories. Like how when I was in kindergarten and I rode the bus to congerville with the triplets; they taught me different words to lots of Christmas carols. I don't know if mom has forgiven them yet for turning 'Joy to the World' into Joy to the world the teacher's dead.... :) Going to the Zoo with Jaclyn's family when I was in gradeschool. Band with Travis in High school. Visiting Kellenbergers in Elgin the Sunday Jaclyn started repenting. Time flies. :) And I got to see Warren- it's been a long time so that was good.

I should start out the year right and hit the books. But I just don't want too. Plus I went to the Eureka library booksale and got a bag of books for $2. I was pretty excited. And I borrowed the next WOT book. So I'll probably spend too much time reading that and not enough doing homework. :) So anyway.
Blessings.

Back to School

I like the first week of school, it's so relaxed. And I have no homework or tests so I got to do some hard core hanging out. I've done something every single night this week- it won't last, but it's been fun! I laughed so hard playing telephone pictionary...wow. Good times.

The guys next door are hosting a concert tonight....they were nailing speakers to their porch roof this afternoon. Definitely didn't want to be around for the craziness so I came home after class. I'm going to Elgin for Travis and Jaclyn's wedding tomorrow night...a little bit out of the way, but this way I can go to W-ton bible study tonight and debunk all claims that I have dropped off the face of the earth. :)

So far the year is off to a good start. Classes are good (most of them anyway) and the new roomies are fun. :) Matt's a shakerite and it's just plain weird. I actually got to talk to Dona at church. I have some good professors this year that are teaching and not just lecturing. My Astronomy prof has been at U of I for 40 yrs and is hilarious! The only thing that would make it better is a good book, but someone isn't on top of www.freewotnow.org requests and I'm still waiting. ;)

Anyway.
Blessings.

Summer time, and the livin is easy...

And it's over. School starts tomorrow. *sigh* Not very excited about the studying. But at least I had a really fun week! I finished my project at work, so I had almost nothing to do. I read books, including my favorite book of the summer, C.S. Lewis' The Great divorce.

Saturday I went shopping with my sister and got stuff. And then I packed up to move back to Chambana. Jakey didn't want to hang out with me so my entire evening was ruined. ;)

We got up early Sunday and went to Champaign church for the new student welcome. It was good...I've almost been in Champaign more times this summer than Washington. I got to show the fam the house...my new room...how filthy the kitchen was. The picnic was a whole lot less awkward this year, it's nice not to be new.

Gab and Meg and I left after supper for Oak Run. We got to hang out with Vinnie and Irene- good times. :) And I did something totally out of character....I actually shared a bed. With two girls. I barely survived.

We spent most of Monday, skiing (I actually got up!), jetskiing, and tubing (I claimed the prize for best wipe out of the year), and getting slightly sunburnt. I didn't drink enough water so I had a slightly unpleasant evening. :) Gab: you have to drink something. Me: I don't wanna! Gab: You have to! Drink it!

Finally spent the night in Champaign last night. Mom came down this morning to help clean the kitchen. It was horribly dirty. But since we had Ash and Chris and Amber helping it only took 3 hours. And it sparkles! We lysoled everything after we found the liquid onions and liquid potatoes. Ugh. Never again. At least we know why we had ants....

So I went and bought some books. And bought groceries because I had nothing to eat. And then I wasn't hungry for any of it so I just ate watermelon with the magazine salesmen. There was a singing at Mike, Josh, Cam, and Kyle's apartment in the ghetto. However, I was having a hard time not coveting their kitchen and humongous bathrooms. *sigh* It was good times.

I should go to bed tonight so I'm well rested for the first day of school. Or not. :)
Blessings.

I'm not jealous.

I'm really, really, really, really not.






O.K. maybe I am just a little.




Fine, I'm a lot jealous.




*sigh* maybe next summer.

Quality time with quality people :)

So I had another wonderful weekend. Friday after work I headed to Gab's house at Oak Run for food, singing and fun. It was a very random group of people, and it was great! We played "I have never" for a long time. I was the only person who had watched all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back (and they were the extended editions). :)

I got home pretty late so I slept in on Saturday, then packed up Matt's truck and took some stuff down to school. I got my new room cleaned and pretty well put together. I like it! Even though the floor definitely slants. And they just covered up the moldy wall with paneling. Woot.

I was out shopping for stuff for next year, and got a phone call to go mini-golfing with some people. Keith and Emily were around, and Bob, B.J., Brent, Mark, and Eric were all in town so I met them at the Shaker and the driveway and all the street parking was taken so I parked in the front yard. :) I like driving trucks. According to B.J. I won at mini-golf (since I did get the highest score...), and then we went to TGIF for supper. When we got back to the Saltshaker Meg joined us and we played Poker with somebody's change jar. When the groomsmen got back from the rehearsal dinner, we still were playing cards and they pulled out the songbooks and we sang for a while. It was pretty funny- poker and hymns just don't go together. :) I left around 12:30 and went to walmart- I was going to go earlier that afternoon, but my shopping was interrupted by mini-golf. So I got to bed pretty late.

The wedding Sunday was wonderful. Church was packed! Brent and J-nelle were so cute. And they both said yes so it was a success. Their reception was in the Illini Union- very cool- and the orange Shaker ties were awesome!

After the reception I loaded up my bed from last year, and had an awful time trying to strap it in. I couldn't get Matt's tailgate to stay shut, so I had to make sure that Gab and I weren't going to be picking up mattresses on the highway. Then Gab, being the genius she is, figured out how to keep it shut. :)

We went to Mike, Cameron, and Josh's new apartment for pizza. It was fun, but we left for home pretty early. So anyway. One more week til school. I like summer better I think.

When Life gets tough, use a bigger hammer

Hm...so anyway. My brothers are in Canada. I am soooooo jealous. Anybody want to go to the BWCA next summer??

I've been working on formulating a resin and it's finally at the point where we are testing strength, glass transition, etc. So I poured my lovely polymer into the mold and put it in the oven overnight. I must have put a little too much in, plus the mold isn't very tight, and it's sticky stuff. My mold was stuck to the tray so tight it took my boss and a hammer to separate them. We bent the tray. And I was scraping polymer off the mold with a razor blade. *sigh* The next batch I got smart and covered everything with tinfoil.

Today was my 'going away' party (with the other 2 students), even though I have one more week. FIO is a fun unit. :) We went to the Mongolian grill- different but good. And then somebody put too much sample in the DSC and it got all over and needs to be cleaned so I didn't have to do anything for the rest of the day. I read a book.

Then my boss smashed my reaction flask with a hammer....

Quote: White underwear do not match charcoal socks. White underwear coordinates with charcoal socks, but they don't match.

Food, Fellowship, and Family

The weekend went great! I spent most of it in the kitchen, but I enjoy that part so it was all good. Our food turned out very well; the porkchops were delectable and everything else tasted good too. And we didn't' set anything on fire! We did manage to burn a pan of garlic bread. Stupid broiler.

I got to keep my second cousin and her friend from Bloomfield. Matt had Ryan K-berger and another guy in the basement, so us girls went and showered in our new shop for kicks. :)

My cousins from California have been here the past week so they came over for supper Sunday night. I am very tired of cleaning up dishes and leftovers. We shot off my cousin's model rocket in the wheat field, and then it got lost in the corn field. Whoops. We did get some cool pictures of the whole family in front of the round bales though.

It was a wonderful weekend. Blessings.

Do you hear the people sing?

So I've been busy. Last week I was in Champaign, Chicago, and St. Louis.

Chicago was a shopping trip.... good times. I got curtains for my room at school at Ikea, so that was exciting. I got to drive, and it just happened to start pouring right when I needed to be able to see exit signs the most. It figures. But at least I was driving... :)

Les Miserables was incredible of course. :) It was interesting to note that I cried at different parts of the story than I did the last time I saw it. It's funny how things affect you differently at different points in your life. The Fox theater is cool too- I love old buildings. It has the most indescribable architecture/decorating style. I liked it in a weird sort of way. Austin has an internship in St. Louis this summer and he and his friend Laura met me for lunch at Union Station. Definitely well worth the money and the trip. I'm so glad it worked out since it was so last minute!

I'm back at work. *sigh* My boss is gone so I pretty much can't do anything. I have a report to write about my research and that's it. And the other guy that shares the lab is in China so I can't even be supervised by him. They said they could give me something to do downstairs if I got too bored, I might have to take them up on it. :)

Washington invite this weekend, anybody who wants to come is welcome!
Blessings.

Randomness

I spent the evening in Champaign yesterday. I had a few things to do at the house, but not much. It was hot. I am so glad I am not living there this summer.

Amy came with me so we ate at olive garden. Then we played euchre at the Shaker with Mike and Marcus. I hate that game. Mike and I lost by an unbelievably large amount. *sigh* But it was fun!

I forgot that gas stations in Champaign are scary after dark. We stopped at one a little too far away from 74 for comfort. whoops. It's not like that in Urbana. :)

I'm tired of living out of my duffel bag

Saturday night I went to the Tremont invite. It was very hot, but enjoyable. (For all of you who think I don't do anything with Washington anymore- Washington was invited, it was on the calendar, therefore it was a W-ton thing. And only 7 of us showed up- I want to know where every one else was!)

I left a little early because Gab and I were planning on leaving for Cissna at 10 pm. We didn't actually leave Morton until after 10:30 because the dog got out, and we had to wait for her to come home. So we showed up at Bek's a little before 1 am.

Church was very full! Gretchen was gorgeous, of course, and her bridesmaid's dresses were very cool. I can now say I have been to a 4 hour wedding reception, and worked for most of it. Definitely better than standing in line! The best part was getting to see everybody again, specially Karen. And I got the privilege to work with and talk to Joanna for a long time. :)

I forgot that I had left my bag in the car in the heat all day, so I had a mess to clean up when I got home. My deodorant and my perfume both exploded, thankfully just inside my toiletry bag and not on my clothes. But my hair stuff and favorite headcovering all had a thin film of deodorant and denatured alcohol all over them. Ick. I also have a very warped perfume bottle.

I did have to laugh when he asked Gretch to promise to submit....

the 20th annual Wyss Family Vacation

Every year since 1987, Grandma and Grandpa have taken the whole family on vacation for a week. We've been a lot of places. Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Colorado, Kentucky. Some nice resorts, some dives. We've had years where we had plenty of room, and years when the resort overbooked and the boys got to stay in the manager's apartment. Years where we had a lake a boat and jetskis and a pool. It has rained, and stormed, and been beautiful. There was the year Clayton broke his leg. The year that Austin and Neal got mug shots by Junior the cop in Podunk Missouri. And the year there was a car accident right up the rode that half the family responded too. We have a doctor, 3 nurses, and 2 EMT's on staff. Grandma and Pearline make a huge breakfast every morning (if you get up before 10). No one cares if you stay up until 3 am playing Rook, drinking way too much pop, eating junk, and watching movies. But if you try to wake us up before 10- watch out. And almost every year everyone has been there. This year we were missing 7 out of a possible 48 people. Some people need to get their priorities in order. :)

This year was fun as usual. Most of the adults and the little kids were in two nice condos. The guys were in a very 'vintage' cabin right next to the cabin us girls stayed in. They were clean, but definitely circa 1960's. It was great. We were also far enough away from everyone else that we didn't get woken up at crazy early hours of the morning, i.e. before 10. We played rook and watched movies and somehow Abby and I spent an hour lost in Michigan. We were going to go rent the long version of Pride and Prejudice but didn't get directions to town, so we drove around for a while and then realized that neither of us had any ID to rent a movie with anyway. So we went back and played more Rook.

Neal, Austin and I on the very first vacation in 1987. Aren't we sooo cute? And check out Neal's stylin hair cut. :)





1989- we could all fit around 1 table!







1990- The first of many group shots.








1992- Indiana Beach
Hm...Dad isn't in any of these pictures because he had the camera.



2000- the Ozarks











2004- the last time everyone was there for the picture. Someplace in Missouri.

So that's vacation. Blessings.

Leaving...

For Michigan! My fam is already there, but I had to at least stay for Bob's testimony. They all were good. And there were a ton of people at Rassi's afterwards. :) Good times!

I got to bed kind of late.....

Blessings.

Things I've learned in the last few days

• Being at your sibling's testimonies is really weird.
• 5 baptisms means TONS of people will show up!
  (and the Kaebs will turn out- not quite like the Weigands, but still)
• It's a good thing I don't sit by Jakey every Sunday.
• I can sing tenor, bass, and soprano better than him.
• His shoes do not match his tie.
• God is bigger than the boogie man.
• And Matt's farmer tan didn't show.
• No one comes to work on the day before a holiday.
• Getting paid for not going to work is great!
• Spending the afternoon of the 4th laying in the sun by a pool is glorious, but rather painful the next day.
• To much sun makes me sleepy, and not very conducive to a large 4th of July Bash.
• Eureka fireworks....at Aunt Madelyn's....good times.
• Is an up to code septic system too much to ask for?
  
• I might actually have to use Young's modulus at work- I think I might die of shock!

Anyway, next week is the Wyss vacation!! Woot!
Blessings.

My boss and I decided today that people who don't do chemistry for a living might be happy...but it isn't very likely.

*grin*

Guess who just got her FOID card???

*grin*

I miss Champaign more than I thought. It was so good to be there this weekend and hang out with so many good friends. I met Gab and Bob and Nic in Goodfield Saturday evening; it was an enjoyable drive down to Chambana. Although I don't know if the guys appreciated our music selection since half of the songs we played have inside jokes or stories between Gab and I attached to them. O well, they wouldn't pick anything.

We met up with Mike and Joanna and spent an hour or so wandering around downtown Champaign taking in the sights and window 'shopping'. There was a really cool Book shop that I want to go check out sometime... Then we went to Perkins and Naz and EZ and Mogs showed up.

I miss Naz! Even though he knows too much about everything and comes over at random hours, he's fun to have around. :) So I'm glad he'll still be next door next year and I'm sure he'll come over to visit Ash a lot.

Erin and Dusty's wedding was great. It was fun to be in Champaign church again! And Erin's dress and her bridesmaids dresses were so cool! So another successful wedding.

After the reception a bunch of us went to Dos Reales for supper (I like DR, but I think somebody needs a new favorite restaurant-either that or someone else should pick ;) ). Kat, Heidi, Gab, and I got there before the guys did and we sat every other seat...it's kind of sad that we have to make a conscious effort to desegregate. :) O well, it was good times and there was a cool rainbow out the window.

And then we came back home and I was very tired and went to bed.
Blessings.

It's Friday!!

I love Friday!

It was a good week. I spent the night with Heidi and got too little sleep. And we didn't even finish the Notebook. We had fun though.

I made some fluffy white polymer in the lab today!!! I was excited. And sorry, since we're still in the developing stages, it will not be possible to process your orders at this time. Plus I would charge you a mint for it so unless you feel like financing my college education, (all you taxpayers are already paying most of my salary) I would advise you check out one of the fine furniture stores in your area.

I'm camping out tonight in Congerville. And tomorrow evening I'm going to Champaign for Erin's wedding. :) My boss was extremely surprised at the number of weddings that I am invited to.

Blessings.

Weddings and Things

This week has been so good. I really, really, really, like my job. :) All I do is watch reactions cook for six hours, and take viscosity measurements every 2 hours, and read a book in between. The annual lab picnic was on Friday. Free lunch and lots of good food. I made apple pie and my boss's little girl loved it. :)

I went to Morton's bible school with Gab Tuesday and Friday night. Friday I dragged my brother along because Bob and Nic and Tim were going to be there. We went to Taryn's afterwards but we didn't stay very late cause I was pretty tired. I miss Gab. I even miss her laughing at me.... hehe.

Mindy got married today. It was a little weird...but fun. Her dress was gorgeous, the food was good, and they're married so I guess it was a success. Most of my memories of Mindy involve father's day at Uncle Roy's pond with her and sometimes AJ and Caleb. And Christmas at the Christian church going every where we weren't supposed to go. :)

I also heard today that Alan Banwart's dad passed away...if you all could keep him and his family in your prayers I'm sure it would be appreciated.

Abs is here for Katelyn and Jordan's wedding tomorrow. :) I think I will be tired of weddings by the end of the summer.

Oooo...and I finally got my hair trimmed. Woot. It's all about the little things..... :)
Blessings.

Bushes and Kansas and Labs, oh my!

I didn't think I was busy this summer, but I kind of am! Although last week my biggest accomplishment was trimming the bushes....and I bribed my cousins with Bible School money to help me. (I gave them money to give at Bible School....I didn't steal it and then bribe them- just to clarify)

And I went to Bern/Sabetha with the Bible Class, it was a good time! Kansas girls are definitely hostesses with the mostesses. :) And they're pretty cool too! So thanks Lindsay, and Maggie, and Anna it was great! The ride home got a little long with so many high schoolers, but I survived.

Monday morning I started my summer job at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. Or NCAUR, the USDA Lab, the Ag lab, etc. It has been so much fun so far! I have an office....and a desk...crazyness. It's kind of scary because Dr. Ken keeps giving me jobs and leaving me. And I have to keep a real lab notebook. Yesterday I uninhibited a bottle of Glycidyl Methacrylate.....it says "harmful" right on the bottle. Tomorrow I start running reactions (by myself) trying to turn soybean oil into office chairs. Good stuff. They had a safety fair today and I got a free NCAUR laptop case for playing 'safety poker'. I like my job. :) Still not used to the early mornings though....sigh.

Blessings.

You know you're a chem major...

...when fireflies don't blink, they fluoresce.

Jake's burn story

So...Jake's burn story. He was camping with some of his friends last Saturday night, and they all had to go to ACYF day in Bloomington the next morning. So their host's parents told them they had to be in bed by midnight. I guess they were playing with gas and fire all night, including spearing an empty pop can with a hotdog stick and pouring gas over the campfire to watch the fireball. Very dumb, but they are 17 year old males, and it doesn't surprise me.

Sometime after midnight (willfully disobeying their curfew) they chased a ground hog or something similar into a hole. It had two openings so they decided to smoke it out. Jake, Fred, and Justin were in charge of making the smoke, and Dan was at the other end with a shotgun.

They had some newspaper down in the hole, and they decided that it would light better if it was soaked with gasoline. You would think that anybody with half a brain would not be stupid enough to throw a match down a hole with straight gas at the bottom. Or at least stand a short distance away. But no, all three were right up around the hole and of course it flared up. All three got burnt, one lost all the hair on his arms, but his shaggy hair saved his face. Jake has whisker marks from shutting his eyes.

So then, instead of going into the house and getting medical attention, they decided that they didn't want to get in trouble for being up past midnight and just splashed some lake water on their 2nd degree burns and spent the rest of the night in the woods. They did go up to the shed to get steel brushes to brush the burnt hair out so they didn't have to smell it!?

Jake showed up for ACYF day the next morning and one of the Bible class teachers, who is a Doctor, told him to go back home and keep it cold and moist. He got him some burn cream to put on it too. So he's been sitting around the house watching DVD's on my laptop for a few days. It looks a little bit better now, he still looks like he's wearing war paint. :) Or a butterfly. And he has to wrap his head in bandages before he goes to bed.

Leo

So it was a good weekend. Visiting the Klopfenstein's is always a blast. I went out Friday afternoon and took my sister and Adam and Haley Herman with me, so Shelly and Haley got to talk in the back seat and Adam and I just ignored them. They just put their jet ski's on the river, so I got to ride them and swim...and got a little more tan. Testimonies were great, Abby was pretty funny. :)
Saturday night there were 35 people, all family, who spent the night at Rita's. It was kinda crazy. 10 boys on the floor in the basement, 5 girls in the living room, at least 2 people in every bedroom, 5 people in a camper, and 3 bathrooms. Abby and I were going to sleep on the dock, but we decided that it would be a lot of work to get an air mattress and sleeping bags through the woods. So we slept on the dining room floor. I was glad for my bed last night when we got home.
I set a personal record on the way home, total trip time was 4:40. We beat both Lori and Herb's and Grandpa's carloads home somehow. They both stopped, but Lori's left at least an hour before we did. I also experienced another first- Haley left her book in my car and we saw them on the way home and Matt passed it out the window to them as we drove. And Gab was there! Hehe. I was excited. :)
And Jakey's got second degree burns on his face because he was try to smoke out a rodent with gas and newspaper. *sigh* Males.
Anyway.
Blessings.

water and birthdays and cookies and fire

It's been a fun week. I washed my car and then somehow got involved in a waterfight with my little cousins. It was pretty funny, they haven't quite figured out how to throw water without throwing the entire bucket. I was only wet from the waist down because they can't pour any higher than that. :)
Tuesday night I got to hang out with U of I/Mexico people for J-nelle's birthday party. We went to Feista Ranchero for supper, hung out at the fishbowl, watched Janelle and Amber play bocci ball in the living room and Sarah and I sang random songs. Good times.
Yesterday Heidi and I decided to bake cookies at 9:00 at night. The oven was smoking a little because her mom had spilled butter in the bottom of the oven, but we didn't think anything of it. But when we put the cookies in, it started on fire! There were pretty tall flames leaping out of the oven, and no fire extinguisher, so Heidi put it out with a glass of water. :) We definitely set off the smoke alarm and filled the house with smoke. (Why does this always happen to me?) So we switched to the downstairs oven and made some that weren't charbroiled and took them to Luke's new duplex for a house warming present.
I'm leaving for Abby's baptism in Leo in an hour or so...yay! Aunt Rita's house is going to be full of family! Hopefully their pool isn't freezing. :)
Blessings.

stuff

So my life is pretty boring right now. I have been sitting around a lot. :)
Wednesday night Gab and Matt and I went to Tremont to surprise Nic for his birthday. That was pretty fun...specially since I haven't seen Gab in waaay too long. Ok, so it's maybe been only 2 weeks, but still! And there were lots of U of I/ Mexico people there and it was wonderful to see them all again.
I was actually home on a Friday night to go to a Washington YG thing! It was good, but there are a lot of new people so it felt different. A good different, but different none the less.
I might head to the library today...have to check out this Wheel of Time series I keep hearing about. ;) Hm...maybe not today they might be closed. Anyway.
Blessings.

there and back again

So I went to Kansas this past weekend with Matt and Shelly for Scott's graduation. We managed to not get lost or fall asleep. And we made it in about 6.5 hours both ways. Even though on the way home we sat in traffic for a half hour.

We "helped" Aunt Karen get ready for Scott's graduation party. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Pearline went early Friday morning and pretty much had everything under control. Or at least not quite as chaotic as normal. Grandma took care of the cleaning and food and Grandpa checked everyone's oil and fixed faucets and things. Scott and Matt and I went to Robeks and saw Nate and got smoothies. Good times. We got to go to a Kansas City YG thing and looked at old Christmas cards and played some Rook until late on Saturday night. We left church early to get to the graduation in time- a good thing because Uncle Randy wasn't sure where the arena was so we ended up driving around downtown Kansas City for a while. :) I like KC. People have roses blooming already! I'm so jealous. Blue Valley HS is a lot bigger than Eureka! So graduation took that much longer. But I got to sit by Kim and Brock. And they had Jackstack for supper.

Today I slept in pretty late...whoops. I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the garage so I wasn't totally lazy. It was nasty. And I killed so many spiders and stink bugs. *shudder* It was horrible. And found 3 dead mice in various states of decomposition. Ick. At least it's clean now. And it's summer.

My two ash trees survived the drought last summer! They have leaves!! I'm so excited.

the rest of wednesday

Was actually pretty eventful. The water was off and on all day, hopefully it's on now for good.

I decided to get some exercise after lunch and ride my bike over to Aunt Lori's, see the baby, and give the little girls some of the stuff that I had just cleaned out of my drawers. So since my bike has a perpetual flat tire I took Mom's. I put a little air in the tires because it hasn't been ridden all winter and grabbed a backpack full of 'treasures' for the girls and left. Their house is about 3 miles from ours and I had ridden about two when I heard a bang. It took me a second to realize where it came from and why my front tire was suddenly hissing at me. Thankfully, it happened right in front of Brookside Landscaping, where my lil brother is working this summer. Sooo I just walked it down the hill and left it in the bed of his truck and kept walking to Lori's. I'm sure I looked hilarious with my backpack and rolled up jeans. I looked at the baby and then my uncle gave me a ride home.

When I got home I found out that Mom had invited some of Dad's old buddy's to church and then to our house to surprise him on his birthday. We had to clean quick, but not make it look like the house was clean, and then Jake was supposed to make it look nice while we were at church. And our kitchen is written all over. Anyway, he was surprised and we had lots of cake and as everyone was milling around getting ready to leave, I went to put away the extra silverware. And there was a mouse in the drawer. And I screamed. It was kind of funny...but now we have a mouse in our kitchen- the only one I've ever seen that wasn't carried in by my uncle. Mom's a little nervous about opening the drawers and Dad just dug out a bunch of traps. Good times.

Trogdor is on the wall.

The demon cow and some of his vast arsenal.

Yeah....

None of us are that tall...so we'll never no what we're missing.

The plaster is um, cracking, and its 1941.

The Hobbit, Moby Dick, and the Declaration.

*grin*

Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink

Happy 50th birthday dad!

The water pump is broken. So...no water. Good times. Thank goodness for good neighbors with hot showers. :)

We still don't have wallpaper in the kitchen. And those blank walls are just sooo tempting. So last night Jake (he started it) and I were drawing pictures and writing quotes all over the walls. It's pretty funny stuff. My favorite is below the light switch- "Beauty is just a light switch away." We also have the first line of the Hobbit running across the soffit. I think we should just leave it, call it "Early American Unfinished," and be done. Although the cow-demon and the 'we don't call 911' sign might raise some eyebrows. *grin*

Blessings.

Home

Finals are over! Yay! Now I'm just waiting on grades...ick.

I got a job working for a professor- I'll be in his research group next year and this summer I'll just be doing random things. The best part is that I can do it all from home! So I can work and lay out at the same time....probably not, but technically I could.

Mom and Dad came to Champaign yesterday to help me move back. We tried to look around in the new alumni center. It was very crowded. Then they took me out for lunch and Mom and I went to the mall for a while. We were almost ready to leave for home, but mom wanted to get some stuff for Grandma at Bath and Body works and I was hungry. So she left me and I got in line at Auntie Anne's behind three African American women. I'm standing there, minding my own business when another black lady walked by and yelled several obscenities at the three women standing in front of me. Which they returned....so they are standing about 25 ft apart dropping the B-word and "my sista whipped y'alls butt two months ago" and something about a baby-daddy. (This is the point at which I started slowly backing up out of line...inching closer to the people sitting in the cafe tables in front of Auntie Anne's) They were being very loud and obnoxious and this white guy (40's or 50's) sitting at one of the tables looks right at me and says "make them shut up!" I was slightly shocked since a) I'm a little white chick b) there's no way I'm getting in the middle of that. So then the security guards come, at which point the white guy, with the danger of him getting beat gone, decides to yell at the top of his lungs "Shut the f- up!" Dropped the f-bomb. In the middle of the mall. In front of me. I was too shocked to say anything then but later I wanted to go chew him out, first for not being man enough to do anything without the security guards there and secondly for saying the f-word pretty much in my ear. What kind of a guy does that with ladies present. And little kids all around. Anyway. I got back in line and got my jalepeno pretzel and that was my exciting story for the day.

How to survive finals week

1. Numerous trips to the B.P. for Polar Pops- 32 oz of Dr. Pepper for 59 cents- pure heaven.
2. Dove Milk Chocolate.
3. Random MSN conversations.
4. Dr. Pepper.
5. iTunes.

*sigh* 3 down, 2 to go.

I missed the ACS project, but I hear that my lil brother's video created quite a stir. :)

The calm before the storm

I have four finals this week and they are all going to be pretty hard. Not fun.

I got to go to singing at the home in Washington for the first time in a long time. I was excited to see my kindergarten teacher there...but it was sad when I talked to her, she is pretty much gone and she is so young. And Easter, an older lady that used to come in to Lindy's, is there now because she broke something. She was singing along with every song. And afterwards random Kansas people started showing up including Ned at 5am. :)

I was going to study on Saturday but I ended up cleaning out and putting away and digging in my rose bed. Saturday night was jazz night at the high school. Good times...I miss jazz band. And I got to see a bunch of my little trumpets. They're all grown up now. It's been a long time since I was the trumpet goddess.

And instead of studying Gab and I have been talking to Karen for a loong time. :)
Blessings.

Pie and things

It's been a good last week of class. Now I just have a week of finals to look forward too. Ick.

Monday night our house was invited to Saltshaker for supper. They made lasagna, and it was actually really good! Not that I had any doubts....

Tuesday I forgot about a test and then I made pie and then I felt better. We had a bunch of leftover pie crust from the invite, and mom sent me some rhubarb so I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie. And I had an extra can of peaches and still more crust so I made a peach pie too. Including the pie left over from the invite, we had three pies in the house. I don't like our oven. The dials don't have numbers on them, so we have to guess how hot it is. So I put the pie in for 45 minutes. When I came back to check on them both the living room and the kitchen were pretty much full of smoke. One of them cooked over in the oven and they were both getting a little crispy. *sigh* I never have these problems at home.

Gab wanted to have the guys involved in forgetting the pie in the oven at Wayne and Char's over to eat the extra peach, and then we felt bad just inviting certain people and we had 3 pies so we invited 301, Shaker, 711 and Scott. So at 10pm we had a bunch of guys descend on our house for pie and ice cream. It was amusing- there were a lot of people in our house and the girl to guy ratio was extremely small. I'm so glad it worked out though, definitely a good time and our porch light got changed. :)

So today was the last day of classes. Hooray!! And my last day of work. Not so exciting, I'm going to miss the greenhouse. If I'm not too busy next year I might go back. It was also the last Wednesday night in Champaign for a while. I'm going to miss the church here over the summer. Laura and Heather came to visit Gab, and we went to custard cup after church and then went to hang out with Carissa at the Shaker. And then we came home kind of early, and I'm told we missed a water fight (O darn....haha). But I said I would make an egg casserole for the senior breakfast tomorrow, so I had to go home and do that. :) We didn't have all the ingredients for any one recipe soooo I kinda made up mine own- hope it tastes ok. And Karen and Kat and Gab were definitely dancing to Usher in the kitchen while I made it. Funny stuff!

One more week. Blessings.

The invite

Was good. Although, now I am extremely tired. :) Friday after work, Kat, Gab, Nic and I headed to Sams to get stuff for the weekend. I was entirely unimpressed with Sam's apple selection. And we couldn't find any lard or pie tins. So....Kat and Gab started setting up at church while Nic and I went to Walmart. I seriously got at least 10 phone calls from church adding to the already long list of things we needed. Pretty sure I barely caught a two liter of Pepsi that was thrown in my direction. Walmart didn't have lard, enough pie tins, or blue and orange napkins. So we went to Target. And Michaels (they carry boas and hats and lots of diy wedding stuff). No luck there....so we ended up at The Party Store. They had napkins, don't carry masks, and have lots of pie tins. :) Jerry's IGA (definitely the best grocery store in the C-U area) had lard. So we finally got back to church at 9ish, and had 12 pies baked by midnight. Josh made French Silk, and Kat and Liz and I worked on the Apple and peach. I thought they turned out well. :) And I got to wear an awesome retro apron. Baking pie makes me happy.

It was rainy on Saturday, so the work projects got rearranged, but it went smoothly. I ended up at Empty Tomb sorting clothes. We had a good group, and we got a lot of stuff done for them. I am, however, tired of folding sheets. The group that made supper did an awesome job! They pretty much started with nothing at 2 and had a full meal ready at 6:30. I was impressed. So during the singing I was out in the kitchen cutting bars and making inappropriate comments... *grin*, good times. We ended up not having a lot of girls stay Saturday night, so we only had 5 guests, including my lil sis, and everybody got a bed! It was kinda nice.

Katrina's mom made breakfast for 40, so we invited all of the boys that stayed in Urbana for Sunday breakfast, the girls in Urbana already had breakfast lined up. :) It was kind of scary....lots of boys I didn't know in our living room. So I did dishes. Church was good. We sang at the Nursing home and left May baskets for the residents. Wayne and Char hosted supper at their house...a good thing, because we ended up having approximately 80 people. We had one pie left over. Our fridge is full of fruit and breakfast. And rhubarb cause my mom sent me some. :) And we have lilacs all over.

And now I am very tired. 3 more days of class. Blessings.

Another reason the 711 boys are the best

They let us borrow their washing machine when ours is broken.
And it doesn't take quarters. *grin*

Today

I woke up in a bad mood...I don't know if I was dreaming, or if it was just because it was wet and nasty out. I dislike walking to school in the rain. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel so damp in class.
But then I got to spend an hour in the chem library doing nothing but read my Bible. And organic was interesting cause I love benzene chemistry.
I don't really have any homework this week, so I got to spend a fairly relaxing afternoon coloring pictures for Gab. (all I gotta say is that Nursing school would be a breeze). :)
Then I went to the Hartley Idea Garden to do my horticulture homework- it was soooo cold, but kinda fun. I can't wait to go back when it has more plants and things. In Hort class today we talked about flower gardening. It was great. I can't wait to go home and plant things. :)
It's Tuesday so we sang at the home and it was wonderful! Compared to last week... It was just really great, its so much different from singing at the Washington and Eureka homes. They seem to appreciate it so much.
Sarah, Kat and I had Bible study at Courier cafe.
I had several extremely random and fun MSN conversations. So I ended up being in a great mood....and it turned out to be such a great day!
And our room looks like a tornado went through.... :)
Blessings.

Am I a Soldier of the Cross

I had such a great weekend! Friday night the U of I young group went to Mike and Joanna's house and hung out at their pond. We played some volleyball, and shot Mike's ancient shotgun. I don't like shotguns, they hurt. Gab and I got a ride in M and J's cousin's very nice truck. And he got totally grilled....poor guy. :) Joanna had lots of good food, and some awesome deserts for us before we went back to Champaign.

We got home kinda late, and we had to get up super early to leave for college weekend. I haven't been up at 6 for a loooong time. :) We didn't have a very big group, and Gab and I were the only girls on the way there. It was a fun carload though, Nic, Mike, Matt, Gab and I. College weekend was great, and I can finally say I've been to Bluffton and survived. We only had 13 people to sing, but I guess it sounded ok. Matt didn't tell me it was horrible, and he would have. ;) And yes, I pretty much have to drive to Indiana to see my brother because I'm never home anymore. Saturday night I stayed at some people's house that I don't know their names and they weren't home. It was nice though because I got to go to bed at a decent hour and didn't have to wake up early Sunday morning. Gab and I and Matt and Brian left right after church- Gab slept the whole way home. :)

Sunday evening I went for a long walk with Gab, and we got lost. :) Then we went and played volleyball for a long time and just about every house/apartment was represented. It was a blast! Although I think we all spent more time laughing and falling down in the sand than we did playing. My team lost a lot. I think it had something to do with the fact that I was on the team....but O well. :) It was still fun. It got really cold after the sun set. So then I had to go home and do homework....ick. I was very sleepy today in class; thank goodness school is almost out for the summer.

The U of I invite is this weekend. It's going to be a crazy Thursday and Friday getting ready. :) But I'm excited.

Blessings.

Cooking

So I was cooking supper tonight, well ok, making noodles and chicken, and I went to measure 2 cups of water. Gab looked at me funny and said, "You actually measure the water? I just put some in the pan." To which I replied, "It's not like I check the meniscus!" Gab and Ash both thought it was hilarious for some reason...

What do you call a piano down a mineshaft?

A flat minor!

I love that joke.

Anyways, we went flat A LOT tonight at the nursing home. *sigh*
O well. Good times. :) I like singing at the home...tonight was just not our night.

One of the old ladies told Bob that I don't move much when I sing. I'm not sure what that means.

Blessings.

He is Risen Indeed!

Easter was great. The whole weekend was good. :) The Chinese people that come to our house for bible study were in Washington for Good Friday services. One of them invited me to visit them all in China. Chris even gave me some church candy- too bad it was melted. We had birthday parties for some of my little cousins at Grandma's after church.

Saturday morning was the annual Easter Egg Hunt at our house. Always a good time. Lots of little cousins and dogs. At one point there were 4 canines in our yard, I'm still not sure why everyone thought they had to bring theirs. And Uncle Fred found a snake. I wanted him to kill it, instead they let it go out by the garden....which I am not going to go near anymore this year. Everybody got to argue about our wallpaper choices for the kitchen. I dug around in my rose bushes for a while after everyone left. Two of them are green already! Since I absolutely refused to go to a restaurant for Easter dinner I spent saturday night baking pie (we have fresh rhubarb!!!) and boiling eggs.

Sunday we went to Gridley for supper (which was so much better than some nasty crowded buffet someplace).
Dad: I heard so and so fell and broke.....something.
Mom: A dish?
Me: *laughing hysterically*
Grandma: Did I say something weird?
*Grin* Good times.
And then I got to drive back to Champaign in the wet. Ick. We have violets in our yard. And tulips. :)

We had a four hour meeting about the Champaign invite....and laughed at Gab's nursing home inspection story. Ask her about it- it's hilarious. My mouth is blue. :)
Blessings.

Sunny Days

It has been so nice out! I love spring. I can't wait to go home and see my roses this weekend. Last time I was home 3 of them were greening up already. :)

We cleaned out the fridge for the first time in, oh, ever. Yeah.....it was kind of nasty. We pitched a trashbag full of moldy things that no one would claim. ick.

Amy and Heidi came down to visit last night- I was excited! We took a long walk all around campus. It's so pretty at night, and it was clear and cool. The stars were gorgeous. Then when we got home I somehow ended up with bright red lip prints on my cheek and aromatherapy lotion up my nose. *sigh*

I tried to sit outside and do homework today, but it was too distracting....plus we were getting weird looks because we were in the front yard. O well. :)

So I'm excited to go home for Easter. And I don't have any homework over the weekend for the first time in a while!

And it's starting to thunder. :S I don't like storms.
Blessings.

I want a mandolin

I went to the Nickel Creek concert last night with a bunch of the shaker boys, the newest shaker wife :), Mike, Blake and Sarah. It was incredible! The band that opened was so-so, I was glad when they stopped playing. Nickel Creek played for at least 2 hrs, and then Chris Thile played some more out by their bus for us "groupies." I went home around 12:30 and skipped out on Merry Ann's or wherever the rest of the group ended up going. Crazy kids. :)

This is the wallpaper my mom wants to put in the bathroom.

Some random excerpts from emails I received in the last few weeks:

"Now then. You can make a wonderful peach pie with canned peaches -
just drain them and they taste like fresh. Don't be such a snob! :)"

"That was probably my first run-in with a Double
CheeseBurger with Fries and a Testimony Value meal, but it
was worth much more than the 5 bucks I paid."

"it might be hard to after the reward was used to seduce me
to sing in front of a crowd and possibly make a fool
of myself..... esp. share w/ the seducer"

I'll leave the originators and context of these fine quotes
to your imagination....
Blessings.

It's been a week

A long week. But a good one.

Some stress and more late nights.

Thursday I baked pies. I love pie. Specially apple. They weren't the best pies I've ever made, but under the circumstances they weren't so bad. We don't seem to keep a rolling pin in the house so I had to use a nalgene bottle. :) And I miss my apron.

And then I looked at Mexico pictures with Karen and Gab and Chris, and we stayed up waay too late talking. So I had to get up early to finish my homework and actually drank coffee (ick!) so I didn't sleep in class.

I think I'm getting tan from working in the greenhouse. I love it.

Reasons why I like living next to the 711 boys...

• Steven has power tools (and lets me borrow them)
  
• They open tight jars and bottles
  
• They have airbake cookie sheets
• Chris fixes computers
• Aupps and Scott switched our fridge door
• Michael makes awesome deserts
• They are impressed when you don't scream at the dead squirrel they threw in your room.
  
• They take our garbage to the curb when we forget (pretty much every week)
  
• Brett walks me to class when his bike is broken
• Steven says hi on the quad
• Chris knows everything......

So anyway, I had a wonderful but short weekend in Kansas City. And I was so excited when I got on the bus and saw that Meg and Luke and my brothers came since I was expecting to be the only person between 15 and 35. I got to see a lot of Biloxi pictures, and subjected my family to 2,000+ mexico pictures. :) Good times. I crocheted a lot. And they weren't headcoverings. :) I got to see some of my favorite Kansas people. I missed out on a Rook game. But yeah, it was a great trip and I wasn't very excited for school this morning. :)

mmm....Spring

It was a beautiful day today...bad news for my concentration levels. :) I sat on the porch for probably an hour and watched people go by. And then after lab I sat outside the union for a while. I love spring. I can't wait to go home and plant things. When I was walking home from class all I could think about was that I wanted to be home walking barefoot behind the tiller in the fresh black dirt. *Sigh* And I miss my roses.

When I got back from class, I was treated to a steak dinner served in the driveway. We ate by the light of candles and the motion sensor light. :) I'm not sure who's idea it was to eat out there, but it was a blast. Good times. Scott and Aupps ate with us, and before they left they switched the fridge door around so it opens the other way. Now when the fridge is open and someone opens the door you aren't trapped in the corner. Yay! I was very impressed. :)

O, and I also decided I want a sycamore tree. In the front yard I think, next to the two new trees Dad.

So tired....

Two chapters to go. ick.

How to scare Gab 101

Sunday night I went to bed relatively early- before Gab got back. When she got home we were talking about the weekend, and the trip and all kinds of stuff. And then I oh so casually said, "so I went out to eat with Ron Messner today..." Long pause for dramatic effect- her face was perfect- total deer in the headlights look. ".....and Pam and Heather, and Beks and Sarah."
She hit me with a pillow. And then she made me solemnly affirm on my bible that I wasn't getting engaged, or planning to get engaged in the near future. And then she hit me again with the pillow.

Too funny.

O Meatwagon....take me to Mexico

Wow. What a wonderful week! I am so glad I went. And I'm not ready for the real world to start tomorrow. :(
A few highlights:

• The girls. Definitely in the minority, but we made up for it.
• The 30 hour drive
  
• Teaching Nic to crochet in the van.
• Hiking up a mountain as it hailed. (what is it about me and storms??)
  
• Getting called Wyss all week, for the first time since High School.
• My hotel roommates, Kristen and Amber.
• Discussing/arguing with Brent about whether it's biblical to carry a loaded concealed weapon.
  
• Hearing people's testimonies.
• Getting seven years bad luck- at least I can share it with Gab since we broke the mirror together.
  
• "Driving" the CAT backhoe with little Gabriel.
• The bamboo grove. Will that grow in Illinois?
• The stars.
• Seeing real, non-tourist Mexico.
• The obstacle course.
• Attempting to teach Manuel to crochet.
• Watching Nic teach Bob to crochet.
• Finally getting a mirror hung. :)
  
• Joanna Kaeb.
• Chris and his certain senorita.
• Seeing Meg.
  
• Bob clogging.
• Hanging with my roomie.
• Being sick for a day.
• So, if Mike and Nic were married to the same person, who will have cuter kids?
• "I used to think, Jenny, she looks all sweet and innocent, but get to know her, man...." Haha. Thanks Brent.
• Seeing Carissa.
• The Carissa Shirts. And the Joe Mamma shirts. And the Keep the Curt Shirt. Good stuff.
• Laughing with Amber at the crazy Mariachi music the cleaning ladies were playing when we were sick.
  
• The Talent show- The Shaker Brethren, the Meatwagon song, the Dragon Kick, wow, U of I has talent. ;)
• Buying 7-up late at night in my whale pajamas for sick people and getting a pile of coins back every time. They just keep multiplying.
  
• The crazy showers. Lots of pressure, no volume.
  
• Getting scolded by a toothless little boy for being in the boy's bathroom. (I was hanging towel hooks.)
• Are brass knuckles better than an unloaded gun?
  
• So does it show lack of faith to bring buckets, sacks, and all manner of meds in the vans?
• Trying to speak German to the kids....wait...
• Learning spanish from Gabriel, car, horse, and moon. Adios Luna.
• The ride home. I seriously think I could travel forever sometimes. Maybe with showers.
  

We were locked out when we got home, so we had to break in. It wasn't very hard which is extremely scary. But I'm not telling how.
You would think that after all that togetherness I would be tired of people, but I ate supper at 711 last night (mostly because I'm out of food) and rehashed the trip with Jer, Chris, and Brett. Everyone else headed home.
Church was good today, there were some Kansas people there.
I went out to eat with Ron and Pam and Heather and Mark. Beks and Sarah too.
So I'm really tired. And I miss my comfy bed.
Blessings.

Spring Break

Starts tomorrow! And there was much rejoicing! (hooray) Anyway. After I take my O-chem test tomorrow morning and try not to fall asleep in my other classes, we are leaving for Mexico! I'm pretty excited.
I think I packed way too many clothes. O well. :) Hopefully it will be sunny there and I won't be pasty white any more.
I really need to hit the books a little harder...blessings.

Tammy's Here!

*grin*

We had to clean really fast this afternoon.

And we cooked food out of a box.

So much for being AC girls....

O well. Good times.

All's well that ends well!

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing.

Wow. I had an amazing weekend! I love going to Kansas. :)
On the way out Heidi and I commandeered the keys so we got to pick the music and we subjected the guys to us singing Phantom of the Opera at the top of our lungs. I'm sure we sounded pretty awful. We passed Kent and Jan Heimer...and I was driving...I wasn't going that fast, but still! It was pretty funny. Heidi and I stayed with Heidi Harter, very confusing for me. They have the same middle names so I gave up trying to differentiate.

We didn't go to the world relief meeting which was kind of disappointing, but we did rake leaves for some older ladies in town. They had another presentation Saturday night so I got to hear something about world relief at least. :) But then we left before the singing...too bad there wasn't a polite way to stay and get a ride to Harter's later. O well.

Is it bad to take your hostess snipe hunting??

We went to Sabetha in the morning and I met Gab's grandma, and then went to Bern at noon. I got to see Neal and Kim and Cailer- he's soo big! Hopefully I will get to spend a little more time with them in a few weeks.

Heidi is spending the week in Bern so Caleb, Cody and I left after church. I didn't get to listen to my Randall Goodgame CD. Mur. We passed Kent and Jan again. :)

We followed a thunderstorm/tornado across most of Missouri and Illinois. At one point I got a phone call from my mom- somehow Heimer's got a hold of her to tell her we were driving into a tornado. We had stopped for the bathroom and food (thank goodness for being hungry!) so they were actually ahead of us again.

Springfield got hit pretty hard and the storm had barely moved out when we got there. All of the power was out at the gas station where I left my car, and it was pretty eerie. It was kind of tense for a while cause Caleb and Cody left, and I tried to get on 72, only to find it blocked by state cops. I found out today that a silo had fallen across the highway and all the lanes were blocked. But I didn't know that so I waited around for a while to see if the weather or whatever would get better- all by myself in the blackout with a quickly dying cellphone. And the State cop was no help at all. Aaahh. Kind of a bad situation. Eventually I just decided to go home and not try to get to Champaign until the next morning. It probably was a good thing I didn't try to find another way back to school, cause right after I started heading North they started issuing tornado warnings for practically every town between Springfield and Champaign. And then my phone died while I was talking to Cody so I would have been phoneless.

On my to do list: get a car charger, look into conceal and carry permits.

So I got home around 11, and scared my family half to death because Dad is gone to Biloxi and my phone died before I could call to say I was coming. Jake said if had more imagination I would have found a ski mask or something. :) So then another line of storms was coming up from Missouri so I didn't sleep very well and kept waking up tense when it was windy. I was going to try to make it back for class, but at 6:30 I was so out of it I decided to skip today and slept for a few more hours.

*Sigh* I hate storms. So I had the last line of 'Jesus Lover of my Soul' in my head all last night. Thanks Cod for checking up on me....I appreciate it.

Anyway...I have to go to school tomorrow...ugh.
Blessings.

Sleep

It sounds sooo good right now. :)

I got to drive the usda's suv down to the south farm and then lock up the place when I left. I love my job! So crazy laid back.

After church Kat and Gab and I invited ourselves over to the shaker for a close game of Cranium. Us girls should have won but we graciously conceded defeat.... Good times.

Now I'm going to bed.

Happy Birthday...

To mom. :) Just think, you're half a century old! Anyway.

I was craving root beer so I went grocery shopping with Gab. I was getting slightly annoyed at the length of the lines and went off on my "at Lindy's we never had lines" tirade. Poor Gab. :) But we didn't! We had to call another checker if we had more than three people in line. We stood there for at least 20 minutes next to a sign about how they care about their customers and how they have the shortest lines, etc. Grr. I miss Lindy's.

Today at work I got to go to the south farms and put seed into packets. It was fun. They gave me a tour of the soybean pathology building- they are growing a couple hundred pounds of soybean sudden death syndrome to inoculate plants and test resistance. Good stuff. :)

I am going to bed early tonight.....I hope. Blessings.

Stuff

Wow, it's Saturday again already. I spent the morning cleaning nasty old office furniture for the new shop. I think we have the cleanest shed in the area right now- too bad it won't last very long. Guys and their tools and sheds and things. The office even has airconditioning! Wimps.

And then I baked an apple pie and a pumpkin pie because I felt like it. And I watched 'Roman Holiday' with the fam. Good times. It's great to have a weekend without homework. :) O wait...I have some but I'm just not going to do it.

One of the grad students I work with gave me two succulents that she grew for a project. I don't know where I am going to put them yet. I hope my roomie doesn't mind too much, since I already have an avocado seed starting on my dresser. :)

Well anyway, I have nothing else to say.

Soybeans and Bubble Tea

Last night a group of us U of I people went out for bubble tea. It was an experience. :) Guys should never be allowed to have straws and small round objects at the same time.

I tied soybeans to stakes today, and shelled and counted soybeans. I love my job.

Student trustee elections are going on- my favorite slogans, in no particular order:

"Pro-Tuesday"
"Pro-Kitten"
"Vote Kantas- He can divide by zero."

Today was also a good quote day in P-chem lecture.

"No numbers were harmed in the creation of this integral."
"This will all become clear after you've taken this course a couple of times."
"The reason it's famous is because people like to use it a lot."

O, and an excerpt from an email from my mother:
"Speaking of Jake, he asked last night "is Jenny coming home NEXT weekend?" and I thought "Aww, how sweet, he misses her." And then he said "because I need her to tie my tie. Matt didn't do it right." :) Isn't it nice to be needed?"

I have so much homework and studying to do, and I'm just not motivated. It's going to be a late night.

I go home on weekends....

But not this weekend. This weekend is parent appreciation weekend. So I am appreciating my parents by not bringing my dirty laundry home and eating all their leftovers. :)

You would think that with such a major event going on all of my roomies would be home. However, out of nine possible bodies who coexist here 5 days a week- I am the only one. Just me. All by myself. In this big empty house. *sigh* Haha. And that's why I never stick around. It's very quiet and I've been getting a lot done, so I guess that's not a bad thing.

Next week is going to be crazy busy.

Awake

I didn't fall asleep in class today!

It's kind of a weird feeling....

Soybeans

I spent the afternoon tying beans to stakes in the warm greenhouse. I think I'm going to like my job! And I already know I don't have to work the 10th so I can go to Bern/Sabetha! (Yes, I know the invite is cancelled...but Heidi and I and some other not quite as exciting people are coming anyway.)

I had another wonderful weekend and now I am sleepy. Friday G&G had the young group for a taffy pull and I had a great heart to heart with Tammy. (Sorry 'bout the coats guys). Saturday I went shopping in the afternoon, and then went to bible study. And it was so clear and cold- the stars were absolutely glorious. Shelly and I went out on our porch roof and stargazed until late. We couldn't find our star chart though...sad news. I reread one of my all time favorite books, The Harvester. Even if my sister thinks it's dumb. It's not! (you just don't know good books shelly- I'm bringing it home again and you have to read it).

I'm so tired. Gab and I stayed up way too late last night talking. :) O well. The whole reason I go to P-chem is to sleep.

Anyways. Time to hit the books.

O yeah, Heids just reminded me- happy President's day!

Woot

As of today, I am the newest employee at the National Soybean Research Center located on the beautiful campus of the University of Illinois. Ok, so maybe campus is kind of grey and dingy right now, but it'll get better. And I am super excited!

They are doing research on soybean diseases or something. It's perfect for me since its chem related and gets my foot in the door for ag research. When I interviewed they asked if I had ever seen an aphid. I just laughed and told them about the time I walked beans in a field that was infested with them and didn't get sprayed- I was covered in nasty reddish brown aphid goo by the time we got done. And they asked if I could drive a tractor. :) Total answer to prayer- Mark 11:24.

Blessings.

You are my sunshine...(bum bum bum)

I miss high school. Ok, not most of the time. But I definitely miss high school on Valentine's day. It was the highlight of my entire year. :)

Only because I got to skip all of my classes, wander around the halls, hang out with cool people, sing crazy fun songs, and watch everyone's eager, expectant eyes when we interrupted a class. Vocal Valentine's were the best!

Chorale always sold songs and flowers, and then spent V-day embarrassing people. If your friends were nice, you got "You are my sunshine." If they were out to make you turn red, we had a list to choose from. :) Baby Face, When I fall in Love, I can't help Falling in Love with you, It's in his kiss (I still hate that song), and one year Matt and I arranged "Let me call you sweetheart."

They've been going through my head all day. *sigh* :)

....wise men say, only fools rush in! but I can't help falling in love with you....

Stressed out

I have three tests this week.

My laptop just died.

I can't wait for Friday. :)

************************

Dad, tomorrow is Valentine's day. I'm not home, Shelly can't drive, and I doubt the boys will be much help: so you're on your own this year. :)

For once I don't have to stand in the card aisle looking at the "For my Wife" cards with all of the men who waited until the last minute and who don't have daughters to run to the store quick and pick up something for mom for valentine's day.

Wonderful Wednesday

We had a dinner party at 709, it was great! And then people came over after church. Good times. But I was too busy cooking/cleaning to get any homework done.

I miss the stars. It's always too cloudy, or too bright in town. Clear winter nights are the best for stargazing. Sunday night the stars were great over 74, but I couldn't really look at them cause I was driving.

Stars

In your multitudes
Scarce to be counted
Filling the darkness
With order and light
You are the sentinels
Silent and sure
Keeping watch in the night
Keeping watch in the night

You know your place in the sky
You hold your course and your aim
And each in your season
Returns and returns
And is always the same
And if you fall as Lucifer fell
You fall in flame!

And so it has been and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter and those who fall
Must pay the price!

Highlights

This past week was fairly uneventful, school and homework and that's about it. And a few other things.

• Sarah and Kat and I discovered a cute coffee shop- and they have Bluegrass jams every Tuesday night! I'm excited.
  
• Wednesday night we had a meeting to discuss the upcoming U of I invite. In case you ever wondered- Nic's eyes get really big when you give an approximate turnout of 250ish. (We were joking- sorta). "It's just like herding cattle!"
• My P-chem lab is on the fourth floor of Noyes and the vending machines are in the basement, descending at a rate of 2 stairs/sec, and ascending at a rate of .5 stairs/sec, how long will it take to go down and back? Given: 2 flights per floor, ~ 15 steps/ flight.
• I went home Friday afternoon and skipped out on singing at the home. But I was busy rendering unto Caesar so I had a good excuse. :) I absolutely hate doing taxes. And it should be so easy for me- all I have to file is the 1040EZ. But it's awful and I am always get so stressed and emotional for no particular reason.
  
• I owe the State of Illinois exactly 1 dollar. Ok, so I rounded a little because I refuse to write a check for $1.48.
  
• I spent the rest of the weekend in Gridley. Twas a wonderful time. I got to spend the night at my Grandma's on Saturday- I haven't done that since I was really little and she still lived on the farm. She is so funny. She turned 90 last November and she's just not sure she likes getting old. Best quote of the weekend- "When you get to be my age, people expect you to be a little queer." Which she isn't. She isn't even slightly eccentric, and she's still sharp as a tack, lives alone, and gets "Smithsonian." (Slightly envious of the Smithsonian) She baked a chocolate cake for me- my absolute favorite with the best frosting ever. I'm not sharing with my roomies.
  
• Jake got a new vehicle. It has remote entry and automatic windows. I am so jealous. My favorite quote from Jake about the olds- "Nothing screams old AC woman like a white Oldsmobile!"
  

Blessings.