Cary, NC

So the north Carolina trip was wonderful. :) It was really good to get away for a few days with some quality people.
We left Thursday from champaign... around 4:30ish I think. The trip out went pretty fast, I drove some. West Virginia is a creepy state at night... it reminded me of this horror movie that I watched in high school about cannibalistic hillbillies in the WV woods. And we stopped at this out of the way gas station that was kind of scary looking.... it was fun to joke about all weekend.

It was 6am NC time when we got to our very nice hotel (hooray for the Cat discount!)... Bob came and got the guys and us girls crashed for a few hours. Then we all went to Cat and were properly welcomed and got name tags and hats... Bob had some Cat equipment set up and we got to play with them for a few hours... seriously, so much fun.


We spent the rest of the afternoon/ evening at Bob's apartment- went to the grocery store and got frozen pizzas for supper and stuff for lunch and supper on Saturday. There's a lake by the apartment complex so we went for a walk and played on the playground. Most of us went to the airport to pick up Nic and then we just sat around and threw things for a while.
I shared a hotel room with Sarah and Susan- such a good time. :) Saturday morning we met up with the guys and drove to the beach. The weather was amazing- and there weren't very many people out. Played football for a while (I ran back and forth...just not my thing), made sandwiches for lunch, went for a walk in the surf, played volleyball without a net... and got sunburnt even though I used sunscreen. O well. Amber had to get wet of course, but I'm not sure why I had to. I was minding my own business retrieving the volleyball and I was forcibly dragged into the Atlantic against my will. Ok, so I'll admit to not putting up a fight because the water was amazing and I kind of wanted to go in anyway. Plus, Amber and Bob both got wet again so that made it worth it. :)


On the way back to Cary us soggy people rode in the back seat of Bob's car while Nic and Rogan drove. (Rogan was shifting and Sass was working the clutch for a while...) Good times and good conversation. After we all cleaned up Matt and Nic grilled burgers for supper... went down by the lake and chilled...talked about starting a church in Cary... us girls were sitting on a bench and some teenage kids wandered over. They were carrying around a 24 pack and had definitely been drinking, and they wanted to introduce themselves. It was pretty funny really... Amber asked them straight out how old they were... and one of the kids tried to light a cigarette in his shirt which led to my favorite Sarah quote ever- "Stop, drop, and roll." I don't think I have ever been hit on by 17ish yearolds before. And the guys didn't even come to our rescue... eeesh. At least we had Kaleigh to protect us. :)

Matt's birthday was Saturday, he got a large box full of peeps and a tractor. There was ice cream thanks to Sarah and Susan and we spent the rest of the evening in random conversation and comfortable silence and passing the aloe around.


Sunday morning we left from the hotel (after waiting for the guys and watching the Pope in NY) and had an uneventful trip home. I drove about half way through some very beautiful country, WV isn't nearly as scary in the daylight. I was sad when we got back... it really was a great weekend.

I have more pictures on facebook.

So what did you do this weekend?

.... the fellowship truly was sweet....

Just Can't Wait

to get on the road again!

I'm leaving for Cary, NC tomorrow(today i guess) after work with some super fun chicas and some guys. Woohoo! I'm excited.

Fairbury was great fun... I donated 10 inches of hair to locks of love.... And I spent the evening in Champaign with a few washington yg people. It was great... I love shaker singings. and U of I people.

It's past my bedtime. Goodnight.

and Rain

This week was the start of the crazy busy spring season at work. Everything is mostly unfrozen now, so we're getting all kinds of samples because all of our clients have to test for EPA compliance. And for some reason they all have to do it right now. Eeesh. I had to stop for Dr. Pepper pretty much every day after work.

Last weekend was really great. Congerville was such a fun time. I forget how many people I know over there, and it was really good to catch up. It was soo nice out so after church Audrey and I went on a long walk through the woods and managed to get slightly muddy.

um... not much else is new....life's pretty boring.... I'm almost done with Kendra's musical costume. I quit my job and I'm starting at the Ag Lab in a few weeks. I think I might go to Fairbury for testimonies/baptisms this weekend.

Blessings.

Sunshine

I like spring a lot. I planted some lily of the valley today. And hauled a lot of wheel barrow loads of winter debris from the yard.

A band of marauding Indians attacked me and set my wheel barrow on fire, but they ran off and left me my scalp so... I let them do it a few more times. :)

Clayton and I went shopping tonight. He doused himself with cologne at Hollister and now my car smells like SoCal.

I invited myself to Congerville tomorrow since I haven't been there in years. Should be good.

Blessings.

uiyg

so college weekend and nerd night (which i missed) reminded me of this list that some of the U of I girls came up with last year. good memories. :D

Top 10 things to Love about the U of I YG:

10. Your throwing arm improves
9.5 You learn how to duck
9. Jeremy’s announcements
8.5 Bubble Tea
8. We aren’t good at small talk, but we just don’t care
7.5 Studying together is a young group activity
7. Water fights in the house
6.626 x 10-34 We analyze quantum physics after singings
6.5 Polar Pop parties
6.022 Mole Day!
6. Four part harmony: 1 soprano, 1 alto, and a whole lot of Bass
5.5 Trivial Pursuit
5. Rubber band wars
4.75 Blake’s taffy
4.5 It’s wise to own a squirt gun
4. Twenty Questions
3.5 Sand Volleyball
3.14 Pi(e) Day!
3. There are many situations where a mask is appropriate
2.5 Four words: Big Quad, Little Chalk
2.25 Snowball fights in the house
2. Champaign Sunday school kids
1.5 We’re on a first name basis with the late-night Perkins’ staff
1. The coolest brethren and sisteren ever!

CW

I had an excellent weekend in Champaign. I think it's more fun to be an alumna at these things. I'm told it was the 40th anniversary of CW... started by U of I...which is cool. Anyway, I love it how much U of I pride always comes out when we host stuff. Blue and orange napkins, decorations, programs, pens, blue shirts and orange ties, the "greetings my name is:" name tags. It makes me smile a lot.

All the current U of I girls had to lead discussions groups so I got to hang out with Kaleigh, and Callie, and Kim, and Nic in the kitchen and help get food ready for supper. When I say 'help' I mean make lemonade and fill water glasses and get in the way. And I didn't have to be very social...

We sang in the architecture building afterwards- that was pretty cool. And got to see more of Ern than I wanted to. :) O well. I did get to talk to Dona and some other cool girls that I never ever see anymore.

I stayed at Hessel house, always a pleasure! I miss those girls mucho. But I might see them tomorrow. and go to NC with them- yay!

observing both sides of a prank war is good stuff.

blessings.

10

emails in my inbox. the high this week was 40. it was a long week.

i baked pies yesterday and they were really good.

kendra's dress is close to being done. it needs a final fitting and hemming and all that good stuff. then i just need to make a cummerbund and it'll be ready for the stage. :)

life is crazy. God is good. I'm tired.

blessings.

um...yeah...

I think the warm weather has scrambled our brains. :D

if you were at my house today you might have overheard some interesting conversations- for the record, none of these came from me.

unnamed to protect the innocent #1: "do you think I could get a tan from the toaster?"
unnamed to protect the innocent #2: "no, I don't think the toaster gives off UV rays."
(I was cracking up from the other room)

walking out of good friday services: "you know, if it wasn't cloudy, the stars would be really pretty tonight."

talking about the "April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? (pilgrims, duh) and it was mentioned that the original ending to the rhyme is "happy hours." Which makes it sound much more Irish. we laughed a lot.

Happy Good Friday- Hallelujah for the Blood!!

green things

my plants are growing!
I'm pretty excited to try out my new cold frame. :D


I might be a little bit ready for spring...
Blessings.

pi day

• my plants are growing! hopefully they won't die between now and when I put them outside in my new cold frame that my super cool dad made for me. :)
• my car is in the shop again... this time it's the alternator. woot. anybody have a car they want to sell? it has to be blue, and 4-door, and automatic (I can't drive stick), not foreign, be pretty sporty and have a fairly accessible engine. but I'm not picky.
• i went to the menno relief sale tonight to work and they didn't need me. so I walked around... and said hi to all my old menno friends. and decided that it might be the second biggest AC crowd outside of the leo sale.
  
• somehow I agreed to make my cousin's costume for her musical. the smallest available pattern is a size six... she's a size zero. um... um.... I don't know how to do that! thank goodness for mom. it's a medieval dress, so i have 8 yards of lavender satin to play with- woot!
  
• in case you forgot, today is pi day. I didn't have time to make any pie.... so sad.
  

Blessings.

blue was just a kansas summer sky

Or March sky.
Somehow I made it all day on 4.5 hours of sleep...

Kansas was really fun. I kind of procrastinated on finding a ride until Friday afternoon. But it was all good, because I ended up going with BDY, J-nell, and Natedog. It was an uneventful drive out, and we made it in time for the supper and singing. It was really good to see Kansas people and U of I people, although I barely got to talk to any of them for very long.

I got to spend the night with Marie, Kristi, and Brit at Stefani's house- good times. Kristi set her cell phone alarm for 7 on Sunday morning and I set mine for 8 and they both went off at the same time; we were kind of confused as to which was correct. But... we figured it out and we weren't late for church. :)

The wedding was beautiful, Caleb and Bethany are both so cute. And they managed to have the shortest wait in a reception line ever! Props to them for that.

We took the scenic route back to the interstate... our fearless driver and navigator were busy reminiscing so we got to experience some real Kansas roads. :) The ride home was slightly disappointing (side note- I'm using hyperbole here)- we didn't stop for Jackstack and Bandanna's was "shut" so I have yet to experience that place; but there was lots of good music and conversation. I didn't get home until 1 (St. Louis is definitely not on the way to Bern) so I've been pretty much in a fog all day. O well, I'll survive and it was worth it to be there. At least I wasn't crazy like some people who drove out in the middle of the night. :)

Blessings.

Bookends

Sometimes I go for weeks with 'nothing' to do and then I get crazy busy all of the sudden.

Tuesday evening Elise had "the girls who were in bible class together + Heather" (we need a name or something) over for supper and games. It was good to be with them again. I don't know what my problem was though, I was soooo tired and I ended up going home really early because I could barely keep my eyes open enough to play moods.

Last night Gab and I went to Champaign to hang out with Karen K. It was a great time. I had to drop some stuff off at the Shaker for Matt so we said hi to all the Shakerites and Ern. Some things never change- the smell of the Shake and the smell of Ern. We stopped at Walmart for old times sake. I didn't wear my whale p.j.'s because Gab didn't wear hers... We ate supper at Za's on Green street- so good. We've been talking about going to a ballet or something similar for a while... so we checked out a "studio dance" at Krannert. It was... um.. interesting. I liked parts of it. Parts of it were just plain weird. But, my horizons were definitely broadened, so it was not a bad experience. Plus I can say that I've watched five people push a grand piano around a stage for no particular reason and then 'dance' around it. yeah. interesting really isn't a very good way to describe it. Then we ate Coldstone and came home.

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night... and I had to sit through five hours of safety training today. So boring.

I'm going to KS tomorrow!
Blessings.

...Old friends, Old friends Sat on their park bench Like bookends...

Snow and Mud

This has been an excellent week. I went skiing and mudding and my old roomie Meg announced her engagement to Dale!!!! Two total allstars! I'm super excited for them!

Kaleigh and Kendra B and I got up really, really early yesterday and drove to Chestnut Mt. to go skiing. I had such a good time with those girls. They're lots and lots of fun! It was Kendra's first time skiing, always kind of nerve wracking because I would have felt awful if she didn't have a good day. But she did really great! The weather was pretty much perfect and they got snow the day before... so I got to ski on the most powder/real snow that I've ever been on. I was really glad for Curves... because I felt halfway in shape/in control of my skis... which I love. And I even went down a few more slopes than normal. I'm not usually very adventurous. It was really great. We had good times in the car, we never did see a post office, although they made me take a picture next to a deserted "Tradin Post." Haha. Kendra and I were a little bit late to testimonies... but you'll have that. I'm not even very sore today! Pretty much an amazing day.


There were four baptisms today, so church was very full. Abby came over after and we went for a pretty long walk. It was so nice outside! We were going to go look at my plants in the shed and the barnyard is a soupy mess since everything melted. So... we decided to drive my car rather than get all muddy. Um... my car is heavier than it looks because we definitely got stuck in front of the shed. And dug some really deep ruts trying to get it out. Ab and I had to give up and get Dad and Shelly to get it out. The one good thing was that I ended up in my bare feet stomping through mud puddles and almost falling face first in the mud. :D The ground is a lot colder than the air.... but once your feet go numb the gravel doesn't hurt as much. It was quite the experience...

Blessings.

i'm afraid of the phone

I've had the same cell phone for 4 years now... total number of calls: 1371, total minutes used: 35:01:04.

*grin*

....

um... I guess I just don't have anything to say!

i can't wait for spring

I had a pretty quiet weekend. Skiing didn't work out so I had all Saturday to do all kinds of fun things. Like sit around. And finish "Knife of Dreams" finally.... that whole series took me almost two years! Craziness.

I started some flowers in my mini greenhouse in the shed loft. I'm pretty excited.
Sometimes when my dad goes to the store he brings me home super cool surprises- like the clamp light in the picture. (The fluorescent fixture is "borrowed" from the house)

The one downside... I have to haul water up these stairs.....so hopefully something grows.

Blessings.

Die Gruppe

thanks to Dalestyle for the picture...




on another note,
Happy Singles Awareness day! Shelly and I were singing that to the tune of happy birthday tonight... with great emphasis on the "many more" part. :D

the frozen north

So I had an excellent weekend. Two of my old roomies live in the twin cities, so a bunch of people with 709/champaign connections road tripped up to visit them. There were 17 of us plus a fly-in... it was a great group. I kind of miss people already. I'm pretty pathetic, I know.

We went snow tubing, and played games, and saw Amanda's apartment, and visited a conservatory and zoo, and went ice skating, and had a wonderfully random supper, and pretty much had a blast. I like Minnesota. I like how they don't hide in their houses when it's cold.

Some of my highlights:

• driving and discussing "A grief observed"
  
• Gab's iPod
• the flowers at the conservatory
• ice skating and playing tag under the stars even though it was 20 below zero.
• piling 14 people into a 7 passenger van on the way to church
• playing who, what, WHEN, where, why
• Seeing Bovee
  
• supper- I shared a picnic basket with Marcos... others weren't so lucky and ate from baby plates, flowerpots, camping cook kits, sand pails, and with marshmallow toasters... funny stuff.
  
• Boo-boo Blakey's car... which I may or may not have had anything to do with.
• Chilling with some super cool girls
• talking WOT with Sprout
• Listening to some random music lecture d.j. nicalicious found in the van
• having Natalie ride shotgun and Sarah explaining things
• the "Send Help" sign
  

Lowlights (few and far between):

• almost hitting Steffen's van
  
• my van not starting before church
  
• my van still not starting after church
• a completely frozen van
  

Although, even though thawing out the van was a hassle and annoying I think some of the guys were enjoying being mechanics for an hour. :) Props to boo-boo for taking one for the team and losing some hearing finally getting it started with ether.

My alarm went off way too early this morning. And it was a very busy day.
Blessings.

Cousins

Scott and Ned were in Champaign this weekend to visit Neal and Kim so Saturday morning Jake and I drove down to see them. Matt decided that they needed to experience Merry Ann's so we met them there for breakfast. That place is so greasy. Ned had The Stack and afterwards said he felt like he had eaten a brick. :)

We went to the Shaker after breakfast because the boys wanted to let their food settle or something... then we headed out to marriage hill at Orchard Downs to go sledding. It was really great- the temperature was perfect, the snow was packed, and it wasn't super crowded. We did have to avoid hitting a lot of little foreign children... but they were cute so it was all good. Scott and I could not keep the tobogon straight. Every time we tried it we would go sideways and then somehow end up in the snow. Most of our spills were pretty major; Ned rolled over me at least once, and I ended up under the sled another time.

So then we cleaned up and cooled down at the Shaker and headed to Neal and Kim's for the rest of the day. We played Rook and Wii and ate food and played with Cailer and Brock. Jon W. was there so there were enough people for two Rook games...Kim and I got trounced by Ned and Jake. It was bad. Kim and I had fun at subway trying to order 7 subs... they were a little flustered.

I didn't get enough sleep, as usual. The guys all stayed with Matt so I got my own bedroom and bathroom at Neal's. It was nice. Church in Champaign was good. The Hessel girls had ISU guests, so I got to see some girls that I don't normally see, and Dona. :) Jake and I left right after church for home, which was good because it started thundering/lightning/raining/snowing not long after we got back. I was having enough issues with his psuedo 4 wheel drive blazer on snow this weekend, I really didn't need to drive in any more of it.

Blessings.

If at first you don't succeed

try, try again!

So my second attempt at taffy was a success. Woot! I made it exactly the same, so who knows what happened the first time. Maybe it worked because I wasn't making it for other people... or because I was reading WOT while stirring... or because the atmospheric pressure is lower...

I had to call Grandma in florida to tell her. :D It's 80 degrees there and it's going to snow a lot tonight here. eeessh. I'm trying very hard not to be jealous.

Shelly and I pulled the taffy, the rest of the fam just wanted to eat it, and in my very humble opinion it turned out really good. Much better than at oak run. Of course shelly knows what she's doing... unlike some people... *cough* So anyway...

It's going to snow!
Blessings.

top three

Louis L'Amour books:

1. The Lonesome Gods
2. Sitka
3. The Haunted Mesa

and then of course all the Kilkenny stories.

I went to Oak Run on Friday. It was fun. Even though my taffy was a complete bust. (I talked to two other families that tried making it that same night and theirs failed too... so maybe it was the weather) I was told that I should stick to making pie. We played a lot of "I have never" and I have a bruise on my ankle now.

Otherwise, it's been a lazy weekend. :)

I found out

That I'm not very good at ping pong. O well. I still like to play it. I can't throw darts either. :D

Sydney's baptism was this weekend in Champaign so I went down on Saturday afternoon and chilled with the Hessel house girls and Kaleigh. We played ping pong....with eye protection just in case a light bulb got broken. :)


For supper we went to Cheddar's with some other yg people. The first thing our waitress said to us was, "are you Apostolic?" and then proceeded to praise the Lord (she was Pentecostal) every time she checked on our table. It was pretty funny, because that's the second time in a week that somebody asked if I was Pentecostal... the first time was a creepy guy at a Bloomington gas station...

It was good to be in Champaign again... Sydney's testimony was good... singing afterwards was great.... Kristen and I lost badly at ping pong to the Koch's. When everybody left Sprout and I sang through the Phantom of the Opera- great fun.

I didn't get MLK Jr. day off. *sigh*

Blessings.

graffiti

There's a super cool website called Wonderful Graffiti where you can get words and quotes to put on the wall. I just got some today. I like it a lot. This is a picture of my wall. *grin*

I've been listening to The Hobbit on CD while working on Gab's birthday present. (It's today- Happy Birthday Gab!)

road trip

It's been a good weekend. I spent most of it with people who have Chicago accents.

Sydney, Jody A., Markus, Nic, and I carpooled up to Belvidere Saturday. I was told that we were picking up a 15 year old (no license obviously) so rather than squeezing into a car or Jody's SUV we took our minivan. Which shakes. It's perfectly safe though... We were practically there before we discovered that we didn't have to pick anybody up.... *sigh* O well. At least we weren't squished. And we got to listen to my random music collection.

There was the usual supper and singing at Josh's house and then sitting around and talking. Natalie was there... and Bob... and elgin girls. Jody and Sydney and I stayed at the same place overnight. That was fun. :) After church we sang for some older ladies and then ate, of course.

It was kind of a quiet ride home. Nic was grading papers and he let me do a stack.... I learned about the parts of the eye. Kind of cool. High school kids write funny things when they don't know the answer. Then we talked about our favorite mammals and running away from moose and random stuff like that. :)

work tomorrow. mur.

Blessings.

plumb tuckered out

It was a long week.

I have to be at work at 6:30 now.... half hour drive.... waaay too early for me.

Learned a new test for biochemical oxygen demand and it's demanding.

Helped sew 50 pairs of pajamas for Magdalena. Which I love.

I'm going to Belvidere for the rest of the weekend with some people. I've never been there so it should be a good time.

Blessings.

blazes (or the lack thereof)

Why do weeks seem so much longer when there are holidays in the middle of them?

Last night I went to Jeremy and Brett's good-bye party at Heidi's because they're going to different places in Africa for a few months. It was good to see them again. And all of the other friends that we have in common. Old roomies, old neighbors, Chris and Ashley, interesting conversation (kitty vs. airplane scrubs, lighting trees on fire, the price of hogs)... it was a good time.

Mom took the Christmas tree down today and Jakey and I tried to burn it. It was a little too windy and damp outside because we couldn't get any of it to stay lit. Lighter fluid didn't help; it burned away and the tree never caught. O well, at least we know that it wasn't a big fire risk.

Blessings.

What a year

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Snow Fall!

Christmas was good, I didn't ask for anything exciting so I didn't get anything exciting. :) I did get a lot of books, which I love. I got to see my cousins. And didn't have to work. And got paid for it! Woot.

Amber, Sarah, and Kaleigh came over the other night. We ate out and played Settlers of Catan. It was really good to see them.

Alyssa got married Sunday, the last wedding for 2007. It was very nice, the bridesmaids were beautiful, the bride was gorgeous, they said yes... And there were U of I people there. A bunch of us went to Nic's to hang out after the reception. We played some games, stared at each other, and got a cow eyeball dissection demonstration. Gotta love being friends with a biology teacher. :)

New Years Eve I decided to brave the blizzard and go to Gridley. So I got to see Amber and Kaleigh again, not to mention a lot of other fun Gridley type people. It was a really fun evening and I'm really glad I went.

Today I was lazy. And panzed on going sledding. But it was 12 degrees out! And waay too windy. I went for a walk and came in practically frozen. It was a good excuse to drink cocoa. :)

Blessings in the New Year.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

no phone, no pool, no pets

So yesterday we didn't have water and our phone is dead. Nothing like being in the dark ages.

They just got the pump fixed, and the telephone company drove in two minutes ago. :)

It's been a busy week! My birthday was good. I went caroling for the ministers that night. Tuesday Mom, Donna, and I went to the W-ton Christmas house walk. It was pretty cool and I got to go in one of the houses that I drool over every time I drive past. It's over 100 years old and decorated very Victorian. I liked it a lot.

Katie had "the girls that used to hang out together in bible class" plus Heather B. over for pizza and good times on Wednesday. They're so fun- I wish I could see them all more often. Thursday Carli and I had our birthday party at Grandma's.

Last night was Vicki's caroling- my favorite caroling ever! We sing for one of her former patients and at the Motherhouse. The Nun's are always so cute. I was standing by Layne and we found it pretty humorous to be singing songs by Martin Luther to catholic nuns...

Scott and Ned showed up late last night after I was asleep. :)
We're going to Gridley today.

Blessings.

sunday school and a lone aztec

Heidi conned me into helping her teach Sunday school this morning. *grin* But it was actually kind of fun. We had no idea what we were doing. Thankfully, it was third grade and we only had 4 kids and they were all well behaved little angels. It only took about 10 minutes to read the story and do the workbook page.... so we played bible trivia for 40 minutes. I discovered that I don't have a very good idea of what third graders know. Eh, O well. :)

My fam went to Sol Azteca in W-ton for supper. It's kind of like Dos, but not as brightly colored and they don't play mariachi music... which is sad. Still, they have really good Mexican food. I'm craving salsa and eggs and tortillas now though.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I have to work. And then my sister has a chorus concert. And I'm going carolling with the YG. Hooray for birthdays close to Christmas. I'm sooo old. I think I should start lying about my age. Hehe.

9 days til Christmas and 15 days til I'm off court supervision!!

o holy night

We had a pretty small crowd at nursing home singing tonight. There were 14ish of us. But, as someone said, we had "enough mediocre singers to not sound bad." It's a good thing old people are hard of hearing. :)

It was actually really enjoyable- I would much rather sing with a smaller group that cares than with 50 or so that are more interested in talking to their neighbor than singing to the residents.

We sang O Holy Night as the last song... I think they just like to hear me screeching in my vain attempts at that high A...

So earlier my sister and her crazy friends were filming this scene for their class project... a WWII wife gets the news that her husband is dead... it was really touching until the part where the "Officer" *cough* Joy H. *cough* said, "the armed forces is sorry for your loss- have a nice day! O wait! That's not right!" Mom and I lost it... as did the other girls... we were all cracking up laughing.

Blessings

2 days til my birthday, 10 days til Christmas, and 16 days til I'm off court supervision!

Springerle

Tonight I made Springerle. They smell soooo good... it's too bad that they end up as "flavored styrofoam" (according to my brothers). O well, I like them. :D And they are fun to make! I have some pretty sweet molds- one from my Grandma, and a bunch were Christmas/birthday gifts. My favorite is my limited edition Lord of the Rings mold. It has two little hobbits gazing into Mordor at the Eye and Mt. Doom. Jakey made it for me a few years ago... I'm still waiting for more molds in the series...

Shelly is doing a movie about WWII for school, so we turned the basement into a circa 1940's kitchen. Last weekend it was an army hospital. It looks cool- we have my grandma's old stove (c. 1950), a whole set of enamel cookware in red and a set in black, a cute floral print apron, and some really fun cherry red no-sew curtains. :D

I really want to go see the nutcracker... but it's too late for this year... and so I think I'm going shopping with Clayton instead. woot.

Its starting to feel like Christmas

It's been a full weekend... and very fun!

We hosted the yg Christmas party at our house on Friday, and then the yg babysat on Saturday night. The Christmas party was great fun even though our house was sooo full and hot. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The "Littlest Elf" was hilarious.... I didn't get any pictures though. And the gift exchange was pretty good... doing a white elephant exchange removes all of the awkward "O, this is really cute (with a very fake smile)." We have some very creative people and they brought some crazy stuff. Some of it stayed at our house...

Babysitting wasn't bad. I was in charge of the kitchen so I didn't have to deal with keeping 30 out-of-control kidlets occupied. They didn't even make too much of a mess at supper.


Dad in his tux and Shelly
Somehow we fed 40 people in our living room and dining room
Somebody brought some old seed corn caps

Ty got a tiara
Tony got a quacking duck
Kate models a Pioneer hat
We finally got a tree since the party's over and we have room. Woot!

8 days til my birthday, 16 days til christmas, and 22 days til I'm off court supervision!

I'm busy

getting ready for the yg christmas party friday and yg babysitting on saturday. woot!


I love the mail. (Post Offices too!) You'll never guess what I got the other day....hehe.


12 days til my birthday, 20 days til christmas, and 26 days til I'm off court supervision!!

the best laid plans...

So this weekend I was planning on going up to Elgin for Natalie's baptism. But then that crazy storm came through. Our road was like glass... and it was worse up north, so I decided not to go on Saturday night. Probably a good thing, but really disappointing. So instead, I sewed a skirt that Matt thinks is ugly.

It warmed up over night and everything melted- which is crazy, I thought it got colder at night. Matt and I and Kevin K. decided to go this morning. We left really really early; ok, maybe it was only 7am, but still! The roads were all clear and dry and except for some overturned vehicles and downed power lines and branches you wouldn't know there had been an ice storm. We passed a bunch of utility trucks heading north-somebody didn't have power.

It was good to be there. It's been a while and its always a fun place. Nat was pretty disappointed that people couldn't make it because of the weather... so I'm really glad we went.

Both my passengers were out for most of the way home... I think it must be me. Am I really that boring? O well. I got to listen to my choice of music. :)

15 more days til my birthday, 23 days til Christmas, and 29 days til I'm off court supervision!!! Woot.

Shopping

Abby and I went to the mall tonight. And ate supper at Panera. It was sooo good. I bought some stuff... they might be presents... but they might end up being for me, we'll see. :D

My parents had commandeered my laptop when I got home. *sigh* What is this world coming to?

Next to the collection of flowery and fruity shampoo and conditioner in the shower is a bottle of "Scent Killer Shampoo". The contrast makes me laugh.

blessings.

random

I don't have anything to blog about. Enjoy some random pictures . :)

i remember

november 13, 1987

the flashing lights of the police cars and fire trucks.

the uncomfortableness of the backboard and neck brace.

riding in the ambulance with dad and matt.

the bright lights of the carport shining in my eyes when they carried me into the hospital.

aunt pearline holding my hand when they pulled medical tape (it hurt) off of my uninjured forehead.

both of dad's hands in casts.

mom's bloody face from the shattered windshield.

Choir Sing

On Saturday I went to the choir sing in Roanoke...it was a lot of fun. I like to sing with other people who like to sing. And Ben L. was directing... good stuff. We sang this really cool song from Appalachia; it definitely reminded me of Copland's Appalachian spring. And we got to sing 'In Christ Alone.' I'm excited to get the CD.

I couldn't decide where to go to church on Sunday... mom and dad went to Princeville, and I haven't been there in a long time... but it was also Marsha's wedding in Eureka... and the rest of the choir sing in Roanoke. I ended up going to Washington in the morning and then I went to the wedding at noon. Fun times. It's been a few years since I've been to Eureka for church so I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in ages. I think that was wedding #9 for this year...I've kind of lost count. :)

After church I was lazy, but then I had to cook supper for my brothers and I and Greg who was at our house because Matt was giving him a ride back to Champaign. And the dishwasher leaked all over the kitchen floor. And dripped into the basement. It was quite a night.

Blessings.

Shall we gather....

At the river, where bright angel feet have trod?

That song is what they sing at every funeral at every western I've ever read or watched and we have a running joke in our family that we'll sing it at Dad's funeral someday. So when somebody gave it off (at the singing at the handicapped home) last night Shelly started laughing. I could see her across the room so then I started laughing. Dad and Mom were sitting next to me and then they started laughing. It was pretty funny and we got a lot of weird looks and people kept asking what was going on. Good times.

I haven't been to sing at Timber Ridge in a looong time, probably since middle school, so it was interesting to be there again. It was a lot more chaotic than I remember.

cold

so I remember talking with one of my roomies about how we were excited that when we graduated we would be able to afford heat.... dad still hasn't let us turn it on yet. :)

Champaign Invite

Was such a good time! We packaged food for Salt & Light, played 'four on a pew,' ate food (of course), sang, and got to see lots of cool people. Shelly and I stayed with Neal and Kim at their new house so we missed some good bonding time at Hessel. O well. It was really fun to hang out with N and K again, even though the boys were already in bed when we got there. :) We heard them the next morning running over our heads... they're sooo cute.

Church was good... I know I say it a lot but I miss Champaign and U of I people. Afterwards everybody went to sing at nursing homes. I'm kind of stuffed up right now, and singing isn't much fun, so I volunteered to help with the snack at church. Good times! Pretty much I got to hang out with Amber and Sarah and Callie for an hour. The guys had requested that they pull a Ben M. and make invisible Kool-Aid and red water. *grin* It was great fun to see people come through the line and taste their drink. It really messes with your mind- you expect the red drink to taste red, and it doesn't and its weird.

We didn't stay too long after. All three of my passengers (the only people from Washington-mucho frustration) had things they needed to do. :)

Anyway. Another good weekend. Work tomorrow. woot.

i love weekends

last friday Ron talked to the washington girls.... it was good stuff. I'm excited for part II.

Saturday morning Matt, Ash, and I left for KC at 6 in the morning. They both immediately fell asleep and stayed asleep (and snored) for 2 hours. Eeesh. It's no fun driving early in the morning with boring passengers. But they woke up and we had iTunes and an iPod for the rest of the morning. :) We got to Kellenberger's just in time to go to Jackstack for lunch. I like that place a lot- no other bbq place even comes close to comparing.

They had Jackstack brisket at the pre-proving supper at church that night- twice in one day! So good! After testimonies there was a singing at Holly's house... I think I've been there for more yg events than some washington peoples houses. :) It was good to catch up with a lot of Kansas people. And meet some new people.

It was good to see my cousins and their adorable little girls in church. We left right after church on Sunday, so we didn't get back too late. Matt and Ash stayed up late playing Rook so I ended up driving the whole way home... I didn't mean too, but I wasn't tired and we only stopped once and we just didn't switch drivers. O well. I like to drive. : )

This weekend I'm planning on going to Champaign. Woot! And staying with Neal and Kim! I'm excited.

Happy Mole Day!

I'm sure you've been celebrating all day like I have. :)

Jakey is doing a project for his chem teacher at ICC where he has to take labs written for old equipment and rewrite them for the cool new stuff they have. Anyway, tonight we loaded the software on my lappy and were playing around with it a little bit. He brought home a bunch of fun equipment for titrations: an electric drop counter, a pH probe, and a buret. Soooo in honor of mole day (ok, maybe just because I'm a chem nerd) we set up a titration to figure out the molarity of household ammonia. Using vinegar. Because he didn't bring any chemicals home with him.

I could go through all of the calculations... but I won't. We did get a really great titration curve! If you're curious, based on using vinegar that is 5% acidity, the molarity of household ammonia (the lemon kind) is 3.54 M.

Well, I need to get some sleep tonight. If I can. Titrations are just so much fun.
Blessings.

There are a bunch of coyotes howling outside....

Toothpaste conversations with Jake

Are funny.

It's been a quiet week. And a busy weekend. Which I love. :)

I got to see Gab for a change at church on Wednesday night. Otherwise the only exciting thing that's happened is that I finished two books! woot!

Friday Scott and Ned and Karen and Randy and Rita and Abby were at G and G's so I got to hang out with them and lose badly at Rook after bible study. I always get set when we play five man. *sigh* maybe someday my Rook skills will improve. Scott and Ned stayed with us.... and Meg came! That was exciting! She got to my house pretty late and we didn't have a whole lot of time to do much, but it was still good to see her again.

I didn't really want to do anything on Saturday, but Scott and Abby said I had to go to college weekend so I did. I'm really glad I went. It was a good day... it helped that my expectations were low....hehe... but I was afraid it would be awkward and it wasn't! I did get talked into singing with the small but mighty U of I group. Which I love. Who else plays hangman instead of practicing and the entire group can fit on one bench? :D It's too bad no one called for an encore because we were ready to sing the Morrow Plots song. And I got to see a few Kansas people. Mike ran off early and I barely got to say hi. I haven't been out there in ages. Anybody want to go next weekend??

So anyway. Church invite a guest was also this weekend and mom signed me up to work at the supper. woot. I think I would rather be a bum tonight.

Field Lunch

today it was tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't think I'd ever made grilled cheese before, I'm not a big fan and I usually only make what I like. :) But it just goes so well with tomato soup... It was kind of a challenge taking soup to the field. It finally ended up in a thermos because Shelly remembered that kids did that at school. Then we didn't know what to do with the leftovers and they're in a water pitcher. Hopefully no one tries to drink it.

Shelly and I cleaned and moved random furniture this afternoon before mom got home... then she decided to move a bookcase we got from Grandma upstairs. Amy had a cookout that Shelly and I went to, and while we were gone Jakey rearranged Shelly's room. It was quite amusing.

Amy invited Roanoke YG too so it was a really fun time. And it was a really nice night! No stars though... On the way home we stopped at IGA because we were completely out of pop. We bought eight 12 packs... funny stuff.

We Fall Down...

So this past weekend we hosted an invite in Washington. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, so I hope everybody else did too. I went to Midwest food bank for the first time ever... that was fun. It reminds me a lot of the big food bank in Kansas City, only smaller and decorated better.

I didn't have to spend the whole day in the kitchen which was great! I missed the supper and singing and Don's talk, which was sad... but I had a good reason! One of Matt's fellow shaker brethren was baptised this weekend, so I drove an hour to Fairbury for his testimony and then drove an hour back to pick up the girls Shelly and I kept overnight. :)

We kept four girls, and Emily K. has been staying with us since Wednesday (it's kind of quiet now that she went home) so they all got good beds and I got Matt's bunk. I was afraid I was going to roll off or that it would collapse or something. But I survived...

I don't get Columbus day off.... O well.
Blessings.

for my faithful readers

Yeah, so sleep is usually more important than blogging. Sorry, but it's true.

This past weekend was the annual Apple River weekend for the W-ton YG. The weather was nicer this year, not cold enough to kill all the bugs, but much better than shivering. I was the oldest girl there which is really weird. But a lot of the guys are older so I didn't feel ancient. Plus, I got to be in charge of my hotel room, which I love. Luke and Heidi came- fun times!

Last night I went down to Champaign randomly. I ate at Dos Reales for supper with Matt and the rest of the Shaker brethren (their numbers are much reduced). So good. Then I got to go to nursing home singing... I miss that. Matt had guys bible study after that (for some reason he didn't invite me) so I went to buffalo wild wings with some people (including *cough* BDY and J-nell). Kaleigh and Callie and Nic were in C-U too, and the girls are crazy night owls and weren't planning on leaving until the wee hours... so Nic came back with me a little bit earlier. It was still a late night

And then I got up and went to work today and it had rained while we were driving all the way from Champaign to Bloomington so we got Rain event samples and it was crazy. *side note* Don't touch the river ever... but especially not after it rains. anyway. I went to Morton with Gab tonight because I haven't seen her in ages. I haven't been to Morton in a long time either.

So.... if you could do anything crazy and unconventional and no one would think anything of it, who wouldn't paint themselves blue?

Squash Pie

This afternoon Shelly decided that she wanted to carve a pumpkin, which made me hungry for pumpkin pie. So I pulled out The Farm Journal Complete Pie Cookbook to see if I could figure out how to make a real pumpkin pie without that canned stuff since we have real pumpkins. As I was perusing recipes, one for squash pie caught my eye. Since a) I've never had squash pie, b) it sounded interesting, and c) the pumpkins were in the garden and the squash were on the porch and I was too lazy to go all the way out there... I decided to try squash. It was fun! I had to roast it first and then puree it and then add a bunch of good stuff. It tasted a lot like pumpkin. Mom said that Grandma used to make squash pie and called it "poor man's pumpkin." I'm not sure how Dad feels about it... we didn't tell him what it was and he doesn't like squash. :)

Vectors and Trig functions

Tonight I turned tutor and went over to my cousins' to help Kendra with her physics. She's learning all about vectors and vector components and adding and subtracting them and it was really fun for me. I don't know if it was for her so much, I'm not a very good at explaining things. Especially math, if I can see an example I get it... but to explain it to somebody else so they understand... yeah, I'm glad I'm a chemist.

Then the little girls brought out their knitting projects for me to fix. They're so funny. Somehow Carli's is twice as long as it's supposed to be. The entire time they were fixing they managed to tell me all about their knitting class and their friends' projects at least twice.

My car makes an awful squealing noise when I turn it on. And I'm losing coolant fast! I topped it off on Saturday and it's already below the cold fill line... eeeesh.

Shopping

One of the perks of being home is living with Jakey again.

We went to the mall tonight. He doesn't like girl stores.... and he told me that "chivalry is dead" and wouldn't carry any shopping bags even though it was mostly his stuff. :)

Zippers

Are the bane of my existence.

First I broke a needle.

Then I broke my zipper foot.

Then I broke mom's zipper foot.

Then it didn't look right so I took the zipper back out.

Eeesh.



I went to Ohio, it was good. Went to Champaign to stay with the girls, it was fun. Listened to some cool music in Tremont and sang in a bin, different and enjoyable. Worked late tonight and got caught up. Happy Gab?

1000 degrees

I went to Champaign on Wednesday night for church and for a birthday party. Such a good time. Even though I can't read, and met Kaleigh in the completely wrong parking lot. *sigh* I think I get blonder every day. It was really good to be back for Wednesday night... I miss that place a lot. After church we hung out at the girls' really cute super nice house. It was hard not to be jealous. :) I know I say it a lot- but it was soo good to see people again. Like Dona! I haven't see her in ages! Since Kaleigh is more of a night owl than I am, I ended up coming back with Caleb and Bob- we discovered that Bob's gas gauge must have negative dots and that gas stations aren't always open 24 hours. I did miss out on going to see Matt's farm layout... o well.... next time.

Today at work I was prepping some new crucibles I just got. I wrote on them with ink that can withstand a lot of heat, and then they went into the 1000 degree muffle furnace. They glowed orange when they came out and the black writing was white hot. Super cool. In case you were wondering, I did name one Gab. :D

Tomorrow a handful of people are going out to Ohio for an invite... Washington people don't travel, it's kind of annoying/frustrating. Should be an interesting trip. I can't decide if I'm excited or not.

Blessings.

How do you feel about pickles?

So I'm getting to know the guys up at Service Auto really well. My car broke again on the way home from ISU bible study. This time it was the water pump... thankfully I was only about 1.5 miles from my house when it started smoking and making an awful noise. *sigh* We're thinking about adding Brent and Bill to our Christmas card list since we've seen them so much in the last few weeks.

Saturday we decided to clean the attic. Dad backed the grain truck up to the house and we got rid of a lot of stuff- old mattresses, and old hospital bed, old magazines, more drapery rods than we have windows... it's much less full now. My great grandparent's built our house and they left stuff when Grandma and Grandpa moved in, and who also left stuff when they moved to town (including a lovely gold key to hang on the wall- supposedly all the rage back in the day). So we have four generations of furniture, keepsakes, memorabilia and junk up there. Shelly and I decided that Matt and Jake are worse hoarders than we are. There are more boxes full of empty tractor and Lego boxes ("they might be worth something someday!") than anything.

My old roomie Sarah was baptised this weekend so I spent Saturday evening at testimonies and then I stayed with Katrina overnight. It was such a good time. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep though, so I'm not really looking forward to getting up in the morning.
Blessings.

tap dancing and trombones

So it's been awhile... Lots of stuff going on.

My family was in Missouri all last week on the anual Wyss vacation. I had to work so I didn't go until friday... kind of depressing. But I did get to listen to Nickel Creek on the riverfront with some really fun people. And I had the house to myself.

My car broke last monday. A tie rod broke and my front wheels were pointing towards each other... completely undrivable. So I got to ride in a tow truck. It would happen when all the family is gone- I felt bad about having to bother other people for a ride home. It's fixed now. And my lappy is fixed. *sigh* Such a week for repairs.

Tuesday I got to see Amber and Sarah and Kaleigh. Woot! Good stuff- especially the tap dancing trombonist. :D

I drove to missouri friday after work and it was thunderstorming when I got there. Grandpa had rented a bunch of cabins so I was wandering around in the rain looking for the cabin with food. I was sooo wet when I finally found it. They made me sit on a towel but I was so completely soaked that I left a puddle and a trail to the door. :) I spent most of saturday by the pool.

I thought about going to champaign today for the picnic but I'm tired of driving. So I'm just being lazy.

Blessings.

O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?

Minnesota and things

I like Minnesota a lot. And the Twin Cities are cool. Mostly because they are home to my super cool former roomies, Meg and Amanda. It's a long drive though... Matt and I had fun though.

Last Thursday my Grandma Schlipf had a bad stroke. They don't think she will be with us much longer.

So Mom hasn't been home much in the last few days. Shelly and I have been cooking a lot. Tonight, after a few minor catastrophes we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob. I'm still not sure how gravy can "jump" off the stove and get everywhere. *sigh* She's not very domestic.

Then we scrubbed down the kitchen. And the bathrooms. It smells really clean. :D
Should be some crazy rollercoaster days coming up... prayers would be much appreciated.

California Dreamin

It was a good trip. It's good to be back though... I missed having my bed to myself.

Some observations:

• there's no one at Peoria Airport at 4 am
• take off is fine. landing hurts my ears
• San Francisco's 45 degree streets are kind of cool
• California architecture is refreshing
• Frisco is Foggy and cold
• Chopsticks aren't that bad
  
• Red wood trees are much bigger in real life
  
• There are a lot of cows in California
• never buy a Town and Country mini-van with stow-and-go seats... they are super uncomfortable and really hard to get in and out of
• Yosemite is really cool
• 15 minute weddings are great
• it really hurts when you drop a can of furniture polish on your foot

Ok, so the last one wasn't in California, it was tonight. And it kills! I'm gonna have a lovely bump and a bruise to match...

Anyway, we saw a lot of stuff. Went a lot of places. I think I liked Muir Woods and Yosemite the best. Or the amazing lobster bisque at Scoma's.

One highlight was touring China town with Matthew Schrenk and Dan Luthi. And of course Amy and Alan's wedding and reception was fun. (I didn't catch the bouquet, I made sure to be in the very back) And now I can add running through O'Hare to catch a connecting flight to my list of accomplishments. We made it. Our luggage didn't.

So we were there and back again...
Blessings.

ice cream and old friends

Tuesday night Dorothy and I went to the ice cream place in Eureka that changes owners and names every year. I don't know what it's called this year. I had a chocolate tornado (previously known as a barn buster, snowstorm, and blizzard) with Reese's peanut butter cups. It was amazing. It was good to see her again and catch up... we talked for a long time after they closed.

Last night Nic invited some people to his house to play mini-golf and volleyball. Gab was too busy redoing her bathroom to come with me. (*tsk* such an excuse) It was a fun time even though the girl-guy ratio was a little bit small. The weather was beautiful for being outside playing games. And for taking Bob's sweet new ride around the section. :)

I almost gave Heidi a heart attack- and it totally wasn't on purpose!

Wedding #7 is tomorrow. Then I'm leaving for California with my family. We're going to San Francisco for a few days and some other places; then next weekend we're going to my cousin's wedding (#8). Woot.

Blessings.

Nothing much

So my life is pretty boring. I go to work every day. I don't really have anything to blog about...

I went to wedding #6 last friday. I knew Jordan from High School and I went to homecoming and Prom with him and Rachel. Rach and I also used to hang out a lot at ICC. So it was really weird to be at their wedding. They were very cute and I got to see a lot of people from high school. :) I skipped the reception... I'm tired of them.

OOOOOOO I did hear some wonderful exciting news at church on thursday night- my co-trumpet section leader, a.k.a. 'the trumpet god', started repenting last week. I was a little bit wound up. Still am. Woot!
Blessings.

Jobs and Tickets

So. It's been a busy week I guess. I started working Monday. I don't like getting up early. But I enjoy the lab. So far there has been a fire and a flood (neither of which were my fault). I test water. Waste water, drinking water, ground water- I didn't know there were that many kinds.

The Tuesday before Heidi's wedding I was coming home from world relief sewing at church. I had stopped at the library (somebody had checked out the RJ I wanted, mur) and accidentally passed a stopped school bus on my way out of town. Yes, I knew it was illegal, but I didn't see the lights, and it was too late when I saw the sign... so I just hoped that no one got my plates. No such luck. I got a phone call and a ticket from the w-ton police later that night. It was kind of a rough week.

When you pass a school bus in IL it's a $150 fine and 3 month license suspension along with a court appearance. Soooo.... since I need to get to work somehow, and my insurance would have gone up exponentially... dad talked to a lawyer. This past Monday was my court date. Nothing like the first day at a new job and going to court all in the same day... it was kind of nerve wracking. But... I kept my chin up. :)

When we got to Pekin, I wasn't on the docket for the day. There were some tense moments until my lawyer got there and figured out that they had changed the day and not told either of us. So he fixed that and then sat down with the prosecutor and got it worked out that I pay a bigger fine, but the ticket got reduced to improper lane usage. And if I don't get a ticket in 6 months it doesn't go on my record at all. I still had to stand in front of the judge which is really kind of scary. I was so glad that I didn't have to say much... my lawyer did all of the talking and it's over and I'm not in jail. (I wasn't really worried about that... but you never know!)

So thankful for my advocate on judgment day. -1 John 2:1-
Aleluya A Neustro Dios!

Curtains, another wedding, and a present

I've been meaning to make curtains to match my blue wall for a few weeks now... and never got around to it. But then I was in Walmart and saw some fabric that would make the perfect curtains for the landing and I was inspired. So Friday I made curtains for three windows. It was fun. They are very cute, at least, I like them.

Today I met Sarah in Gridley and we went to CP for Chris and Ashley's wedding. Number 4 of 9. (I'm skipping number 5, it's tomorrow). Sarah and I went for a nice rainy drive in the country, I think we took a route to Cissna that's never been tried before... but we made it. We almost couldn't find the church but then Sarah and her amazing church finding skills got us there as I was on the phone with Jer for directions. I was excited to see Karen at the wedding...good stuff. And hearing "Chris" and "woo" in the same sentence was huh-larious. I'll miss them both... it's kind of hard to believe that I lived with Ash for two whole years, and that Chris was my quasi-roommate-next-door-neighbor for that long also.

When I got back my graduation present was waiting for me. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Singer Sewing machine!!!! It has 10 stitch options, a serger attachment, and automatic button holes. It's sooo cool. Too bad I already made my curtains. :) I spent most of the evening trying it out. And I learned how to smock with it. I like to look at it, it's sooo pretty!

Anyway. Church in the morning.
Blessings.

"You know what I think when I hear W.M.?"

"Waste Management!" hehe.

Leo was really relaxing. Lyssa had Dippin Dots at her graduation party and they had tons left over so I got to eat a lot of those. I spent a lot of time reading by the pool and hanging out with Abby. And rode the go-kart and played Wii and shuffle board and volleyball. I went shopping with three of my aunts one afternoon and we spent at least an hour in Christopher and Banks. I don't even like that store. I guess it's good for me... or something. Abs and I went jet skiing one evening on the mighty st. Jo river. It's not the cleanest river... I think I would be afraid to actually swim in it.

Joanna and Will's wedding was this weekend. Matt and I went on Saturday night for the singing. I stayed with Gab and Meg at Wayne and Gloria's. I haven't seen Meg in ages so it was good to catch up with her and Gab. And talk to other U of I people that I haven't seen since May. Sunday was good...lots of Mexico trip people there... they said yes. The reception line was waay too long, but I was with cool people so I really shouldn't complain. :) I guess a little wait to see real people is better than a drive through with a plastic figurine. Gab rode back with Matt and I... fun times. We stopped for "the Great Guzzler" which of course meant a bathroom stop... It's good for Matt right?

I have one more week of freedom.
Blessings.

200

This is my 200th post. Wow. I feel accomplished or something. Too bad I don't have anything profound to say. :)

I got a job. Woot. At PDC Laboratories in Peoria. I'm excited most of the time, but there's still a part of me that wants to be lazy a little bit longer.

Today is Katie's wedding. She asked four of us girls who aren't on vacation to sing, so I'm a little nervous about that but it should be ok. We practiced yesterday at Heidi's and we don't sound too horrible. I attempted to help Heidi a little bit after practicing but I didn't get a whole lot done. O well. It was good to see her again and hang out.

After the reception Mom and Dad and I are going to Leo for Alyssa's graduation. I think I'm staying until Thursdayish. It should be a good time!

In which I venture into large crowds

So Gridley this weekend was really good. The weather was beautiful, and everything else was really enjoyable. I was really excited to see my roomies again, and the other U of I people that came. I did branch out a little bit and met a few new people. :)

I never get headaches ever... and I did Saturday night. It hurt. I almost threw up. So weird... but I was feeling a lot better at Amber's. It was sooo fun to stay with Kris and Sarah and Amber and Kaleigh. I miss those girls. So what do you call a lady with one leg? Eileen! Where does she work? IHOP!! Wow. Gotta love laffy taffy jokes and Sarah jokes.

Sunday Matt and I visited Grandma after church and then he left me in Gridley. (On purpose, I wanted to stay after the festivities were over, and Nic kindly volunteered Bob and himself as a ride home.) A group of us went to Kaleigh's and threw things at each other, played games, and spent a lot of quality time outside in the sun. Good times. The guys had me home before midnight... I guess that's late when you have to work in the morning. :D

Blessings.

p.s. Mike, you still owe me a pie... cause I'm pretty sure you didn't bring me one this weekend. :)

Blue

So I decided to paint my bedroom this week. It's been the same since I got rid of the peach/pink Precious Moments border in 8th grade... so I figured it was time. It also needed a complete scrubbing. (I won't tell you how long its been for that *grin*) I painted one wall stargaze blue. *sigh* I love it. The other walls are white because I didn't want to live in a cave.
I'm also excited that my bedding matches my walls for the first time in pretty much ever!

I did have to miss out on a C-U trip because of painting and the mess it created in the rest of the house. That was disappointing.

But I did get to see a bunch of super awesome girls at Joanna's personal shower Thursday night. Which made up for it. And I got to ride with Amber and Melissa and Kristen, good times.

Ooooo.... and I'm really excited because Mom brought me home a zone 5 hardy crepe myrtle bush!!! Woot. They have them all over down south- they're covered with flowers and they're gorgeous. I wanted to bring one home with me when I was in Florida but I thought that having to bring it inside for the winter was too much work. But now they have hardy varieties! So I planted it today.

Mass chaos in Gridley tomorrow.... I'm mostly going to see U of I people. (I know that's a bad reason but I don't really care.)

Blessings.