Seafood and Hail

I'm always so tired after the weekends...

Friday Bob decided we should go to Red Lobster for supper, which was great. I was excited to discover that they now have lobster bisque on their menu... plus cheddar biscuits... yum. We don't get out much. :D

Our new water heater got hooked up Saturday morning! It was very exciting and it's really nice to actually have to mix some cold water in with the hot water in the shower. Good riddance to the boiler. I went to quilt club and stopped at the car wash and swept out my car for the first time in a very long time. (There were still pine needles in the trunk from hauling our Christmas tree home.) And then I spent the rest of the afternoon weeding the patio and mulching my flower beds.

Saturday evening I went to Wendi-with-an-i's testimony. Three skirts later and barely making it on time, it was a blessing. I got to meet Ellie's fiancee... they're so cute.

We were getting ready to brave the rain and run out to our car on Sunday after church... and it started hailing. So we spent a little bit longer at church watching it come down. Bob picked some up in our yard after church- they're good size!


I don't think it hurt my garden, the trees took the brunt of it. Obviously, since my nice clean patio and flower beds are now full of leaves.

Green growing things... I love spring.

Oooooooo, and the big news in our family- Abby's getting married!! Yay! Hooray for cousins and weddings and getting to marry old friends! I'm excited to 'officially' meet Tyler...

The Ants Go Marching

All over my kitchen. ick. The ground needs to dry out, and fast.

The question is: do I squish every single one that I see, or do I leave them alive so they can find the ant bait and take it back and destroy their entire families? mwahahaha. It is slightly more satisfying to squish them and mutter something like, 'go back to the shadow...'

*grin*

Blessings.

Oh we ain't got a barrel of money...

*grin* Nothing like plugging numbers into formulas and online calculators to depress a girl...

Anyways, we've been busy the last few days. Friday evening I went to Gab's personal shower and Bob went to Brian's bachelor party/cookout/ smoke out (they grilled inside a cabin and he came home smelling like a chimney). I was about to walk out the door when the deluge started, and I had such a fun time driving in it, or something. Once I got there it was all good and I had a lot of fun. Fabulous food, fun decorations, and I got to see a lot of girls that I just never see anymore. And the infamous lacy pink shorts from 709 days have a new home... hehe.

Saturday morning I got up and started making bread for potluck and then we went to look at a house... this is the first one we've been through that the owners are still living there. Which was a little weird and I felt like such a snoop opening kitchen cabinets, closet doors, and checking out pictures on the fridge... Jakey came over for a little bit in the afternoon and played games with Bob. And then we went to potluck, which was great fun as always.

Young Matt graduated on Sunday so we went from church to the graduation, picked up cupcakes, and then out to his graduation party. Long day. Graduation was short, sweet, and thankfully not hot! I don't think I've ever had to bring a coat to graduation before. I had fun listening to the band... the clarinets were having issues (as clarinets always do) until the trumpets saved the day during Pomp and Circumstance. *grin* I don't have any residual bias. The speeches weren't anything special, but then, nothing can quite compare to Nick's Styx speech, or Ned's sermonette on Corinthians 13. I was so tired after the party...

Blessings.

very warm for may...

It's May, we're not supposed to need the air conditioning yet.... mur. And the birds should be done trying to build nests in our windows! *sigh* It's been a busy week. :)

I've gotten a few seeds planted outside. And I took a walk one evening up to Joann's and came home with a sack full of rhubarb. I haven't had time to make anything with it yet...

Dang came for supper Tuesday. I used the grill for the first time this year! It still works and it's critter free, which is good. And I made strawberry shortcakes, which is pretty much second only to ice cream on a hot night.

I got lost trying to get to Heidi's from work... well, only sort of lost. Farmdale is not well marked between EP and M-ton and so I made a big circle. Ah well. I made it eventually.

Bob got all new tires last week... and then one of them was flat on Monday. um... what!? Can't say I'm all that impressed with the Honda service department....

*Grin* And Bonsai-San got his yearly shower. He's all clean and dust free now. And we've decided that anthropomorphizing house plants can be slightly awkward. But fun.

Blessings.

Muttertag

So apparently we had a very boring week, since nothing at all happened that was deemed blog worthy... which I love. *grin*

Yeah, so Friday evening we took supper to Greg and Mary and kids, which was really fun. I realized when we got there that it was a very monochromatic meal... oops. Aren't you supposed to avoid that? Or is that just something I'm weird about? O well, it all tasted ok, which is the important part. It was so nice out! We got to play with Max and Nora outside... I was a little jealous that they got to stomp in mud puddles.

Saturday I slept until I woke up... which was fabulous, and I won't tell you how late it was. :D And then I kept busy all day cleaning and weeding and other random things that I've been putting off. Hooray for lovely days.

And then Sunday, of course, was Mother's Day plus a wedding at church. It was packed. I'm not overly fond of crowds, even though there were lots of people I know visiting. The yg served lunch... and I waited a table second shift... it was crazy busy. My parents stopped by on their way to the reception. I was showing mom the dresser we got that still needs painting and a large spider ran across it. Aaaaaaa so scary. It was a very close call and I almost died, but thankfully Bob killed it and life was good again. And then I got the Sevin out and sprayed the threshold and around the windows. We went to Howard and Janice's for hamburgers that evening, yay for cookouts!

Blessings.

Spring Bliss

We had a good weekend.

Friday night we made a slightly spur of the moment trip to Champaign for supper. We had a gift certificate to The Ribeye from our wedding. Two years ago. Yeah... So we decided it was high time we used it. I love the drive to C-U and I'm not sure why. There isn't really anything interesting to look at. Maybe it's just the wide open spaces... or the destination. Anyway, the steaks were great and we even got chocolate and peanut butter pie. So good. (Thanks BDY and JNell!)

It was a lovely night. I don't think any campus can compare to U of I in the spring. We didn't want to stay super late since Bob had to be up early Saturday morning, but we did wander up to Grainger to see Jakey for a few minutes. ("You drove to Champaign just for supper?" hehe)

Bob went and helped with a roofing project Saturday and I went to the garage sales. Sort of. I didn't buy anything, it was mostly just an excuse to wander all over town on a beautiful day and check out people's houses up close. :) Then I went home and mowed, and pulled weeds, and re-potted some plants, and spent as much time outside as possible.

And then Sunday afternoon we went mushroom hunting. So wonderful. We went with Ben and Dale south of the Mackinaw. It was a little bit chilly, but still really nice out. And the woods were full of wild flowers. There's a small creek that runs through the woods at the bottom of a steep ravine. Bob and Dale and I were on one side and we wanted to go to the other side... yeah. I got about halfway down on my feet and slid the rest of the way. So much for not wanting to wash jeans this week! O well, I was just glad that Dale was at the bottom to stop me from going into the creek. Wet shoes would not have been a fun time. We didn't find very many mushrooms, only about a dozen between all of us, but we can't really eat that many anyway so I was happy. Our take:

I sauteed half in plain in butter and breaded and fried the rest. So.Good. And we had chicken crepes since I made way too many German pancakes for breakfast... happy accident. :D

Pretty sure I could handle a whole year of spring weekends....

And I hear my friend Ellie's getting married. Aaawwwww. *grin*

Blessings.

Anniversaries and Randomness

Two years on the 26th... craziness. Bob got me a big bunch of gerbera daisies. (awww!) And we met for lunch. Otherwise, it was a quiet day.

And, proving my dear Dad wrong, the 27th marks three years of working at the lab. Therefore, my retirement is vested and I get 6hrs of annual leave per pay period. Ha! He didn't think I'd make it. *grin*

Dale and Meg and Maria came for supper Wednesday night before church. I have been sadly remiss in attempts at hospitality lately, so I was glad they could come.

Do bent pages in the hymn books and bibles at church bother anybody else? I always fix them.

Tolstoy is awesome.

Blessings.

Easter

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed!

It was a busy weekend... I worked Friday, and then we went to Good Friday services... and I begged for Pinkies on the way home. Bob is so nice. hehe.

Saturday I cleaned the house, and did laundry, and made food, and planted a few seeds, and was very productive in general. I'm ready for it to dry out a little bit so I can plant the rest of my garden box and maybe even get some flowers! I have a few tulips and bluebells but they look rather bedraggled. That evening we went to the cabin with all the Beutels for Easter.

I honestly can't remember the last time we were in W-ton on a Sunday. It's been a loooong time. Pathetic, I know, but stuff just kept coming up! It was great to see the W-ton girls, we were all home for Easter. And my most favoritest thing about W-ton; everybody standing up to sing 'Christ the Lord is Risen Today' at the end of the service. So it was good to be there, although, I got really tired of people asking how I'm feeling. Um. I don't have a disease, I'm not ill, and I'm not sure why you need to know that. *sigh* I'm afraid that one of these days I'm going to reach my limit and say something really impolite and disrespectful. (I was complaining later that afternoon and my mother has already informed me that people just want me to know that they care and it's not all about me. But, but, I don't see people asking you odd questions and commenting about your figure! *grin*)

We spent the afternoon checking out the baby chicks and picking flowers and shooting things. The chicks are starting to get a few wing feathers so we were just in time before they get ugly. You know that awkward adolescent stage... chickens have a bad one... hehe. The boys were wandering around shooting at birds and any thing else that moved. I got to try out Dad's euthanasia plan on an already dead bird so I for sure wouldn't miss. I'm such a risk taker.

The whole family came out for supper... much good food. And amusing conversation. And over sharing. Certain of my aunts (who shall remain nameless) were discussing hot flashes in the kitchen... and Bob made a crack about it.... which sent Shelly and I into peals, yea, even gales of laughter. Good times. One of Clayton's friends joined us for the evening, not sure what he thought of us all! (Although, I think G and G approved of him, watch out MKW, KRL, and ALK! hahahaha) Hooray for Easter, and Grandma's ham, and Pearline's bread, and Freida Buns, and leftovers!

Blessings.

When I see the blood

I will pass, I will pass over you.

We celebrated Passover last night. Sort of. Not exactly a Seder, but I made passoverish foods and set the table with candles and china... and Bob read Exodus 12. This year I broiled the cute little lamb chops with herbs and spices and they were much better than last year. And the potato and leek casserole was good. We had deviled eggs and saltines (they're kosher and I can't find matzah at Kroger) and watermelon and romaine lettuce and grape juice. It was good, and I'm excited about eating the leftovers for lunch. Even though you're not supposed to have leftovers or carry them out of your house. Eh, o well, we're under the new covenant right? hehe.

Maybe someday we'll do the full Seder. I think it would be cool. I read a great article on Christians celebrating passover here. And a Messianic Passover Seder here, and how the passover is all about Christ here. But I maybe wouldn't serve lamb to more than just us two, it's expensive!

After supper we ventured into the great outdoors to mow the lawn. Hooray for living in town where people care what your grass looks like. My job was picking up sticks. And providing moral support and paper towels while Bob changed the oil and tried to get the mower started for the first time this year. Kerry took a break from working on a leaky drain next door and cleaned the spark plug and fiddled with it for a while. (He said it was more fun than plumbing...) They got it working and Bob got the front yard mowed before it got dark and started raining... nobody sees the back yard and it's mostly weeds that thrive in the shade anyway....hehe. Can't say I'm too sad- we have so many violets and I hate mowing them while they're blooming.

Have a blessed Good Friday!

Elevensies

Pretty sure I'm turning into a Hobbit. I eat breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon snack, after work snack, supper, bedtime snack....

Haven't taken up pipe-weed yet.

Blessings.

Easter Eggs

So I love dying Easter eggs. It's so much fun. And they're so pretty. Bob humored me last year and helped... but... this year we went over to Rustin and Sharon's to dye them with Grace. She was much more enthusiastic about it. *grin*

Maybe not quite as coordinated.... that is green dye all over the table.... hehe.

Bob kept Eden entertained. He did put one egg in the dye, just for the picture. *grin*

And the finished product.... so springy. Sadly, I already used half of them to make breakfast casserole. Which was/is good, but not nearly so pretty.

Saturday I finally got the house all clean. It feels so nice... it's crazy how fast it gets dusty. And then we went to Communion.

We also spent the weekend trying to discourage some robins from building a nest on our window AC. Um... that would not be a good place for your eggs, Mrs. Robin. We knocked it down 3 or 4 times, and they kept coming back. Bob finally made a pyramid thing out of cardboard to set out on top of it so there is no place for them to even land. Hopefully they'll be done with nest building by the time we actually need to use it! I would prefer not to smell birds when it's 90 degrees outside...

Blessings.

I got better

I've been trying to lay low though. It's hard when my house is so dirty. And it's so nice outside and I want to go out and plant things. I'm hoping it doesn't get cold again... :)

We went for a walk last night. It was lovely out. I love spring. And I love not feeling sick.

Otherwise, pretty quiet, which I love. Blessings.

Oh, the flu, it mkes me so blue

Going on day three... ick.

*sigh* so much for never getting sick.

Monday was a good day.... I went over to Meg's to sew for the evening. It was good for my soul.

And then I started coughing Tuesday night and woke up with the full blown fever/cough/stuffy nose flu on Wednesday. Hooray. So I've been spending most of my time in bed or on the couch. Poor Bob. He's been so great, from bringing home supper on Wednesday, to taking off early today and bringing me ice cream and 'Tangled' (which is really cute). Hopefully he stays healthy.

Tylenol cold is my new best friend. Don't worry, I did call the Doc this morning....

Hopefully I'll get better this weekend so I don't have to miss more work.... although... if they don't make the midnight deadline to pass a budget.... Latest word is they could push it back three days. Do they leave their brains at home when they go to Washington?

I've very much appreciated all the encouragement and empathy- it's nice to know I'm not the only crazy one who has ever dealt with these feelings. *grin* And I'm feeling ten times better about everything just from writing it down...

Blessings.

Sooo...

According to Great Grandma Metzger, I currently have one foot in the grave.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

Bob's excited. Me, well, excited is not exactly the word I would use. It's good, it's right, it's not at all a surprise. But, I'm not excited. More like vacillating between sheer terror and resignation.

I'm not naive about what this will require of me physically, spiritually, emotionally.

I don't even like babies... and yet, I'm less worried about that than other things. That will come.

Change is very stressful for me. New things are very stressful for me. Will I actually be able to handle it?

I like my privacy. And boundaries. And that's pretty much out the window... church was rather awful on Sunday (as much as I love and appreciate everybody who congratulated and encouraged me!). I still felt like I had to play a part and act like everyone expects me to. Put on a mask. I kind of just wanted to hide in the bathroom and cry and wish that no one knew and I could be left alone. I know I can't live under a rock, but oh, I wanted to Sunday.

I dread hearing the same crass, rude, and tasteless comments directed at me that make me cringe when they're said about others. 'Wow, she looks ready to pop.' 'She's really gotten huge.' (For the record, I will say something equally nasty back. or just cry. hm, yeah, probably just cry. :P ) I don't like people touching me. I'm told I have that to look forward to also.

I'm not planning on going back to work. It's been a while since I've been wholly dependant on somebody else. Bob has even said that I don't really need him... I have a good job... I can take care of myself. I don't think my identity is tied up in my job. I don't think, but how will I feel when it's gone? It's going to be an adjustment, and not an easy one.

I mourned college life, I mourned singleness, I'm mourning being a newlywed. I don't want to go back, but I've loved every stage and it will never be the same again.

I can't deal with gushing... and when people say they're soooo excited, I just kinda don't understand. What are you excited about? That I have to deal with all this? I know they're just thinking about the good, about how they'll get to hold a baby once in a while. But I have to deal with both the bad and the good, work through everything before and after, every day. And that's not really exciting or pleasant to think about.

Anyways, and in light of all that.... I'd rather have your prayers than your congratulations or excitement... much more useful. :) Don't worry, I'm really not unhappy. I'm quite content and peaceful. Just realistic. And I think too much.

And I don't want to hear any birthing stories! Spare me please! *grin*

When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

Happy Birthday

to Bob. Last Friday... he's so old now. :P

We didn't do anything super exciting. Thursday night we went out for pre-birthday pizza at Firehouse. Just because we like Firehouse and it never disappoints.

Friday was a quiet day. Ha! The carpet layers showed up at 6am to lay carpet next door. O.my.goodness. I was under the impression that carpet laying was rather passive... I was not aware that it involved hammering and loud thumps and banging and dropping of heavy objects and the shaking of floors and walls. Now I know. We only had one picture fall off the wall and it didn't break. :)

We took the day off with the idea that we could go do something fun with a long weekend... yeah... Bob couldn't really think of anything and it was his birthday so I didn't want to make him do something I wanted to do. So we didn't go anywhere. Oh well, I needed a day off since the next federal holiday isn't until Memorial day. *grin*

I picked up a whole freezer full of meat from the farm. Hooray! My freezer is full of raw flesh! They got a side of beef and a pig to split so it took awhile to haul it all in from the van and then sort it out. And Dan showed up in the middle of it all with fresh liver sausage. Which, I love and which thing Bob hates. tsk. So sad. No appreciation for the finer things in life.

And then I came home and cooked up a storm. Cake and frosting for Bob and an attempt at Chicken Lo Mein and Crab Rangoon. They were both good, but they didn't taste quite like at a restaurant. It was kind of fun to try it once, I don't like Chinese at all enough to try very often...

Saturday we went out to Bob's parent's and took a walk through the woods before supper. It was so pretty out. Bob wants to live in the woods someday... I prefer the prairie. I need to see the horizon or I feel claustrophobic... and I don't like ticks and bugs all the creatures that come with the woods. Anyway. It can be spring now, please.

Sunday... well... I'm not ready to talk about Sunday... And today it's back to work... huzzah. Blessings.

Book Fair

My favorite part of school... that and the Scholastic book orders. :)

I ate lunch with Dalaysia yesterday and they had the book fair all set up. It was fun to wander through and look at all the books. There were parents in charge, and one of their kids came through wanting to buy a book. So funny. The kid wanted to get a "Captain Underpants" book, the dad said he could only spend his money on a 'real' book. I shouldn't have laughed, but it amused me... It was pretty tempting to buy a book, but, alas, I refrained.

Dalaysia turned 10! She was excited about the cupcakes she brought to school, and the cake she got at home. And she like the singing card I got her. :)

Good times. I'm kind of sad that we can't be lunch buddies next year when she goes to middle school.

Blessings.

Busy Busy

So last week was fairly busy. I even skipped out on one thing because I didn't want to be gone 5 nights in a row. Thursday night I went to Gab and Brian's shower... hooray for showers. :P It was good to see them. And Natalie was there, which was exciting since I never see her anymore. And then I went home and got to do something fun- help fish wires! Kerry was working on putting our new water heater in and was getting really tired of going up and down through the 1'x2' crawlspace access. So I got to help feed the wires down through the wall, and managed to not electrocute myself.

Our potluck ate out at One World on Friday night. Such good food. I didn't try anything new or adventurous this time... and Bob wouldn't try any humus. *tsk* boys. It's been awhile since everybody could come to potluck, so that was great fun. And then we had to go home and break into our house because we locked ourselves out. It's a little bit scary how easy it is to do...

Saturday was pretty quiet. I cleaned. And tried to rid our upstairs of the musty smell that's been hanging around since we had the plumbing access panel open. Ugh. And then we went over to Mike and Katie's for supper with Trent and Heather and Ryan and Brittany. We played catch phrase and apples to apples... fun times.

My second cousin Amber got married in Congerville on Sunday, so we went there at noon. I haven't been there in ages. And Bob said he had never been there. (What? Seriously, sometimes, ok, all the time, I think Tremont is such a bubble! *grin*) It was good to be there again and see some of my old friends and classmates... and the wedding was nice too. And then we went home and crashed for the rest of the evening. Hooray for being lazy!

Blessings.

I love the smell of paint in the morning

Or not the smell of paint- we used no VOC, deodorizing paint. That stuff's pretty amazing; we could barely smell it!

Saturday morning I got up bright and early and went next door to help them paint. It's looking ten times better over there already. I love painting, and it was twice as fun because there was no furniture to move and no carpet to drip on. Glorious. Yes, I know I'm weird. I get it honest though... ask Mom what she did when Dad went to Haiti for a week... hehe. The girls that are moving in picked some really cool colors... made me want to repaint something, so it's probably a good thing that I got it out of my system.

Sprout was helping lay new wood laminate flooring in the kitchen- so pretty, and so easy! Bob is not convinced that we should try it on our side. :) Someday.

I was using a roller most of the day (and was covered with white spots from the ceiling and brown from the walls...) and woke up Sunday with very, very sore legs. It hurt so bad to sit down and to stand and to kneel in church. Woe is me. It is a good excuse to use the elevator at work though... hmm...

Otherwise it was a pretty quiet weekend. They're going to be installing a new water heater in the closet under our stairs so I had to clean that out. And find new places to put things. Yikes. I found some wedding gifts that I had forgotten about, which was exciting, but they might have to go away. Since I haven't used them in two years, they clearly aren't necessary for life and I have no where to put them. And I have no idea where to put our luggage which fit perfectly all the way at the back under the bottom steps. *sigh* How can our house be so full already!?

Anyway. Fun times.
Blessings.

Green

And not for St Patrick's day... green for growing things! Last night some ladies (and men!) from church did a presentation called "Harvest of Gold." It was all about gardens and orchards and canning and freezing. Seriously, so great. I felt like I was back in Hort 106, only this was ten times more fun.

We learned all about when to plant vegetables, and how to prune fruit trees, and how to take care of tomatoes, and store produce.... and then they did canning and freezing demonstrations. I loved it. I'd never seen a pressure canner in use before, so that was interesting. I still don't think I'll ever use one, I'm afraid of pressure no matter how many safety features they have... I hate having to do pressurized reactions at work, scares me half to death.

So now I have my very own Ball Blue Book. It's actually kind of sad how excited I am/ was about all of this... Maybe it's just because it's March and I'm ready for spring and for things to be nice and green again, because when I'm doing green beans at 10pm in July I'm sure my enthusiasm will not be quite so high. *grin*

Blessings.

In the ghetto...

...in the ghettoooo..... haha... I blame my parents for all of the random 70's songs that I know.... anyway, hooray for feeling like we're living in the ghetto. Our next door neighbor moved out. She had two dogs that were home alone in the house all day while she was at work... yeah... unsupervised animals in the house... bad idea. Anyway, our favorite landlords have been hard at work cleaning up that side.

She left a lot of stuff. And see all those rolls of carpet and carpet pad? They reek. Kerry and Rustin spent most of Saturday morning scraping unglued carpet pad off the floors.... because they were saturated with animal urine. Ugh. SO nasty.

And then, to add insult to injury, while they were working on Saturday they discovered that the boiler for the radiators is kaput. (We had noticed that our upstairs was noticeably colder than downstairs, defying the laws of thermodynamics...) Bob and I have decided, K and K probably have too, that whoever designed and built the duplex had to have been on crack. The boiler is in the 4ft crawlspace under the house. There are only two small openings big enough for one person to get down there. They had to have built the house around it, which means replacing or repairing it is going to be awful. We have resolved never to own rental property...

On a cheerier note, a few of my crocus bulbs have survived the proliferation of rodents in our yard. I love spring.

So other than waking up to the sounds of carpet removal and various other loud crashes and thumping, Saturday was a pretty quiet day. Bob decided to dissect my old laptop...

He was having way too much fun.

Jakey came over for a little bit to play games with Bob.

Sunday morning came waaay to early. Besides the time change, Bob's parents served lunch at church and we went early to help. *ugh* I hate time changes and early mornings. It was a good thing I was working or I probably would have fallen asleep. :) At least we got to bring home leftovers... yay for donuts.

Blessings.

My goal in life

Not to be a superfluous women. :) This is from Jo's Boy's:

One day a brisk discussion arose concerning careers for women. Mrs. Jo had read something on the subject and asked each of the dozen girls sitting about the room, what she intended to do on leaving college. The answers were as usual: "I shall teach, help mother, study medicine, art," etc.; but nearly all ended with: "Till I marry."
"But if you don't marry, what then?" asked Mrs. Jo, feeling like a girl again as she listened to the answers, and watched the thoughtful, gay, or eager faces.
"Be old maids, I suppose. Horrid, but inevitable, since there are so many superfluous women," answered a lively lass, too pretty to fear single blessedness unless she chose it.
"It is well to consider that fact, and fit yourselves to be useful, not superfluous women. That class, by the way, is largely made up of widows, I find; so don't consider it a slur on maidenhood."

*grin* I love Louisa May Alcott.

happiness

Nothing makes the hard work of last summer more worth it than biting into a sweet, juicy, canned peach on a drizzly, dreary, March day. Pure. Heaven.

The Old Folks at Home

Friday night was the annual Koch soup supper. Lots of good food and pies. They usually have some games to play and Bob and I won the trivia game. It was a list of twenty American authors and we had to match them up with their famous work and with their picture. We got all the books easily, but the pictures.... yikes. We guessed a lot. There's really no way to tell the difference between two bearded old men dressed circa 1850's, it could easily be Whitman or Melville or Emerson. Emily Dickinson was more obviously the young, pensive looking one... and Poe's picture is just iconic. Go us.

We switched our phone/internet provider and we had to be up bright and early on Saturday to let the technician in. I guess it was worth not sleeping in, it's cheaper and so far it's faster even when both of us are online. And then I cleaned and was lazy all afternoon. We went to testimonies in the evening... always a blessing.

On Sunday, church was pretty full for the baptism. I waited a table... second shift... on the men's side.... yikes. :) Between filling glasses for boys that drained them as soon as I turned around, and finding sandwiches, and clearing, Candi and I were running like crazy. Fun fun. I just loove waiting tables. :) It's good for me, right?

My mom's birthday was yesterday so we went over there for the evening. And we went to Busy Corner for supper. I haven't been there in years, and I must say I haven't really missed it. haha... it's good food, but I prefer a little bit more anonymity when dining out. Seriously, I went to HS with our waitress and we could have easily had a singing with the rest of the patrons... *grin* And my parents spent too much time in Florida because we heard a lot of "oh look, there's so and so." Sounded so much like G and G... hehe.

Oh, and we have a two week reprieve on the budget issue. I'm glad I'm still working, but seriously, pass a balanced budget already! Anyway.

Blessings.

Louisa May

So I spent some of my Christmas money on books, surprise, surprise. Louisa May Alcott books. I haven't read some of them in years, so it's been really fun to rediscover them. They're great. They've got a lot going for them:

Easy, fun reads? check.
Heavy dose of transcendentalism? check
Syrupy sweetness? check.
Little bit of early feminism? check.
Shameless plugs for Thoreau and Emerson? check and double check.
No prosy, moralistic children (*cough* Elsie Dinsmore *gag*)? check!

Gotta love 'em. Three cheers for the Age of Optimism! haha... and ACS. Anyway, they make me smile a lot. I've got Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, and An Old Fashioned Girl. I'm not quite done rereading, but I think my favorite is still Rose in Bloom. Or Little Men.... it's kind of hard to pick.

As for Elsie, o my goodness. Sorry in advance if you loved her. :) Somebody gave me the first four books when I was in middle school. I didn't like them then. I still don't like them now. (You can read them online on Google books) Besides being a completely unrealistic nine year old crybaby... she ends up marrying her dad's friend who's at least 18 years older than her. Eewww. No thank you. I'll stick with Louisa May.


Blessings.

breathe in

We had a busy weekend... and now I feel like I need a weekend to relax.

Friday evening we kind of invited ourselves along with Greg and Mary and Rustin and Sharon and kids. We went out to eat at Rizzi's, which was really good, and then we went to the Home Show for a little bit. I've never been before so it was kind of interesting to look around. And since we're renting we had a great excuse to just look at things and not listen to every vendor's spiel. *grin* I recognized a lot of people... apparently it was the place to be on Friday night.

We both sang at the funeral on Saturday morning so we had to get up extra early, ugh. But, it was a blessing to be there. And it's one thing that I can do at church, since so many things require time during the day when I'm at work. Although, I am dreading laundry this week... four white shirts... woe is me. hehe. After we sang, Bob really wanted to go to Firehouse Pizza for lunch. Then he made me play a computer racing game that made me feel very, very, dizzy and sick. It was awful. But I got over it. Poor Shelly was left all alone Saturday so she came over and played games and crashed on our couch for the night. Good times.

After church on Sunday we were all comfortable and relaxed and being lazy and Grandma K called... she had decided that Bob needed to come over right away and put his name on something (for someday when they don't need it anymore). Sooo... can't ignore a summons like that, so we went over and she walked us around pointing out plates and knickknacks that he could claim. We went home with a container of chicken salad and the promise of an old butter churn someday. *grin* And then we ate supper and went straight over to Bob's parent's for the rest of the evening. I was tired.

I'm kind of glad February is over, but not really looking forward to March. It's looking full already just with stuff on the church calendar, and then there are family things, aaahh.... deep breath.

Blessings.

politics

Soooo.... congress still hasn't passed a budget for 2010, and the current continuing resolution runs out March 4th at midnight. And they're on recess for President's day this week. (um... and people think gov't employees get lots of holidays...) Which means if they don't get their acts together and fast, there might be a full fledged government shut down as of 12:01am March 5th. And it would be illegal for me to go to work. And I and all of my fellow employees wouldn't get paid. And if it lasted more than a few days we're hearing we may not be paid for not being allowed to go to work. (In 1995 they got back pay for the 27 days of shut down.)

Granted, this wouldn't affect me a whole lot besides boredom because: a. we don't live paycheck to paycheck, b. we've lived off Bob's paycheck since we got married, c. we don't have any payments to worry about (hooray for being debt free!). But most of my coworkers are not so blessed and are really worried.

I do find it annoying though. Besides the fact that the fiscal year starts in OCTOBER and they're only 5 months behind in doing their jobs. And if we're off work for longer than two weeks we can collect unemployment, which probably will cost the government more than passing a budget. Plus all the time it takes to make emergency plans in case they don't pass something in time; somebody has to keep the building heated, and the plants and bugs alive, and keep homeless people from sleeping in the lobby... it would be a mess.

Anyway, so here is my shameless plug for responsible citizenship. The House has two budget related bills that go to the Senate next week. You can contact your Senators through this link. You can contact your Representatives through this link. Tell them you want a responsible budget for this year, and for next year, fast.

Politics... *gag*....
Blessings.

In this world there's a whole lot of sorrow

And much death and dying all around. Bob and I have been to more visitations and funerals since we've been married than the whole of my life before.

Tuesday night we went to the visitation for my dear friend Ann. She was one of the few 'old ladies' in Washington and I always liked to talk to her. She was a sweet woman. I'm going to miss her.

We get to sing at a funeral in T-town this weekend... and there's another visitation/funeral in W-ton that we probably won't go to... ayiyiyiyi.

And it snowed again. Hooray.

O, I must be getting older...

I love three day weekends. They're amazing. Except that today feels like Monday, and I'll be all confused the rest of the week.

Saturday I was fairly productive for a change... I got up fairly early and went to quilt club... I usually make it to the last session at about 9:30 and it's pretty obvious that I've just rolled out of bed. Everybody else is dressed nice and has their 'face' on... haha... o well. :) And then I came home and made food for the rest of the weekend and cleaned. We went to Bob's aunt and uncle's for the annual potato supper Saturday night. It was so good, and I love it when all I have to bring is sauteed mushrooms. Two ingredients, 15 minutes, no leftovers.

Dale and Meg invited some of their old college friends and roomies over on Sunday night for supper. They got a pretty good turnout and it was really fun to see people again. I took mini-apple pies (I thought it would be fitting) that I baked in my muffin pan. I think I might have to do that more often, we have a hard time eating a whole pie before it starts getting moldy but these are a lot more manageable. It was good to catch up... and randomly throw things when the conversation lagged... some things never change. Which I love. There were five little kids there, which was a little weird, but funny to watch.

On Monday poor Bob had to get up and go to work, and I got to sit at home and be lazy all day. Well, other than doing laundry. And I managed to beat chess against the computer. Twice! I was very excited... we won't mention that it's on the easiest level... and how many tries it took me. *grin* So anyway, back to real life this week.

Blessings.

Valentine's Day

So after a lazy Saturday and spending Sunday evening with my family... back to work we went. Bob's training in the shop this week so he's getting up super early. I can't sleep through his alarm; therefore, I'm awake super early too. hooray.

I kind of forgot that it was Valentine's Day and wore black. haha... but... it did remind me of the time my roomies and I dressed in black and braved a massive snow storm to go to Olive Garden on V-day. Good times and many funny looks.

Bob didn't forget though, and he even remembered my rather broad and unsubtle hints a few weeks ago that I would love a big bunch of tulips. :D I'm so ready for spring. Anyway, these were waiting for me when I got home. So pretty. (Courtesy of Miss Fancy Plants, which I think is an awesome name for a flower shop.)


Neither of us had any desire to eat out with the entire world, so we stayed home. I made almond crusted halibut, and fun colorful spiral noodles, and green beans with extra butter. Butter always makes things seem more gourmet. Haha. I had big plans for making Valentine cookies, but as I said, I was super lazy on Saturday so they didn't happen. Thankfully, Sharon was on the ball and delivered some yummy pink cupcakes (sprinkles by Grace) so we even had a festive dessert. :)

Blessings.

Budgets

Since I'm sure you've all been following congressional budget proceedings very, very, closely... the White House released the numbers for FY2012.... since, you know, the budget for FY2011 is still up for debate. The gov't fiscal year runs October to October, and we're still operating under "continuing resolution." How can they even do that?

But anyway, some crazy numbers: Proposed USDA budget for 2012 is $145 Billion. Guess what 74% of that pays for. Nutrition assistance. Food stamps, WIC, free and reduced school lunches. One hundred and seven billion dollars to feed people.

Only 13% goes to farm and commodity programs. All that farm welfare that they talk about... mere pennies. :)

And near and dear to my heart, the Ag Research Service comes in at 6%. *grin* woot woot.

Not sure what I think about it all. I'm glad I live in a country where people don't starve unless they want to. And at the same time, something's broke if we're shelling out onehundredandsevenbillion dollars a year for people to buy chips and soda and frozen dinners. I worked at Lindy's... most food stamps get spent on expensive junk food. Not all, but most.

On that note, maybe we should all just sing "It's fun to work at the U-S-D-A" to the tune of the YMCA... hehe.... with hand motions.

Blessings.

It's cold, and it's getting colder...

The lab has been freezing this week. I almost need gloves to use my computer. Is it spring yet? Please? haha.

So.... the moment Bob has been waiting for and trying to talk me into for, oh, two years has finally arrived. We got a new laptop. My poor old lappy has just about had it. The hard drive is so full I can't download windows updates, it's rather prone to viruses, the screen flickers and would give me headaches, there's something wrong with where the power cord connects because it likes to switch back and forth between power sources, it was time to let it go.

Anyway, so we ordered one and it was supposed to come during the snowstorm. We *cough* Bob *cough* kept checking the tracking number online to see where it was... it was en route from Galesburg to Chicago... then it was back in Galesburg for a few days. It did finally show up on our doorstep (with two days worth of mail- apparently 'neither snow nor sleet' doesn't apply in T-town) last week. So I let it thaw out a bit and started it up and only half the screen lit up. The other half had a large black blob and flickery lines. It was very disappointing. And annoying because we had to package it up and send it back and wait rather impatiently for a replacement.

The new one works just fine so far and I like it a lot. In fact, I had shut it for the night and Bob wanted me to get back on and check something... and I was dragging my feet until I realized that, hey, it probably doesn't take 10 minutes to decide it wants to be on again. It took seconds. So amazing. :P I fell in love right then and there....

Tired and Sore

Story of our lives today...

We spent most of yesterday helping Rustin and Sharon unload their trailers... I showed up a little bit late because I needed an oil change. I went to a Speedlube, which are super handy but oh, so annoying. I realize I probably look pretty clueless, but I could change my oil myself given the proper equipment. Granted, I'm afraid of those service ramp thingies, so we'd have to have a pit... but still... I do keep an eye on my tire pressure and gauges and fluid levels and they talk at me like I'm an idiot. *sigh* O well. It's fast.

My car doesn't do deep snow well. I got stuck in R & S's driveway. And then it got even more stuck when Dan tried to get it out for me. Thankfully, Uncle Dean came to the rescue with his truck and a chain. I'm so glad I've got a hitch on the back of my car. Snow like this makes me miss the Tauri, that thing is a tank.

So as soon as that drama was over, I helped carry boxes. And more boxes. And more boxes. It was cold. We didn't get much unpacked for them, but we at least got the kitchen clear of Dan's stuff so they can put their stuff away. It makes me not want to move ever. (Yes, Bob did sigh in relief, haha.)

Grandma Beutel made supper for us all and then we went back to Bob's parent's for a little bit.

How do I know Bob is tired? Well.... I couldn't find my keys this morning. They weren't on the hook, or my purse, or my coat pocket, or in Bob's pockets, or on the dresser. No where. Bob unlocked the door with them last night when we got home, sooooo.... guess where I found them. Still stuck in the keyhole, outside our house. I'm glad we live in a small town. I wonder what the paper lady thought. :D It made me laugh.

Blessings.

Snow!

It's so pretty outside. :)

So, we were super social last weekend. We were invited to a deer supper at Dave and Joanna's with a fun mix of people from church on Friday. I really enjoyed it, and the food was really good. Saturday night we went to rotating potluck at Dave and Barb's. It was a girl heavy group, us, four yg girls, Aunt Karen, and Katy. So fun. We ended up staying really late.

I went to work on Monday. And haven't been back since. For whatever reason, the lab closes when ICC closes so three snow days for me!! Yay! I've mostly been a major lazy bum. We've spent a lot of time watching movies and eating chocolate chip cookies.

We started to shovel out our cars yesterday and a nice man with a 4020 and a loader bucket came to our rescue and got it done in about 10 minutes. So we helped our neighbors a little bit.

Rustin and Sharon have been stuck in Iowa City during the storm... they're hoping to make it here today finally. We're going to help them unload and stuff.... woot woot. :)

Blessings.

Frustrations

I don't dislike winter, I really don't. I just kind of start to get tired of being cold and the constant static electricity shocks and being inside. I like snow, and ice skating, sledding, and skiing... unfortunately, I can't do that everyday.

Anyways... some what of a frustrating time of year for me.... And then we went and looked at a house yesterday and cleaned where R and S will be renting and I'm so glad I had something to scrub because I was so frustrated. *getting up on soapbox* Why are there so many old houses in such bad shape!?!? Seriously. It makes me angry. I'm not talking about old houses with green bathtubs and pink kitchen counters and peeling wallpaper. Structural stuff. And awful "remuddling" jobs.

The house we looked at was an old farmhouse, good location, exterior's in decent shape, good size rooms and decent layout, big garage. And the kitchen cabinets were falling apart, the soffit was poorly stained-to-match plywood boards, the peel and stick laminate wasn't sticking anymore all the way up the stairs, the bathroom has obvious plumbing issues, and the drywall. O man, the drywall. They screwed it on right over the lathe and plaster without bothering to take off any trim. Instead of doing it right and taking it down to the studs and saving money on heating/cooling and insulating before drywalling correctly... deep breath. The trim work they did do was bad (it's called a miter saw...the corners are supposed to match). Yeah. I'm not super knowledgeable about carpentry and stuff so when I can tell it's bad... it would be a great house if (and only if) you had enough cash on hand to gut the place and do it right. (I know, you could work on it slowly while you lived there, but seriously, all those gaps would drive me crazy. I'm a scientist. I can't help it. And it would take a lot of money that we don't have.) So that was disappointing.

We spent the evening helping clean at the old farm house that Rustin and Sharon are going to rent for awhile. It's in much better shape than the house we looked at, but still. It could be beautiful. But it's been rented/ empty/ bachelor pad for years. So instead, it's starting to crumble. (hooray for entropy!) *sigh* Like I said, it felt good to attack the rust in the tub. Work out all of my latent aggression and righteous anger towards those that let houses moulder and die. (dramatic, I know)

It just makes me mad... I would love an old house, preferably in the country. They have character. And style. Most newer houses are ranches which have no aesthetic value, or are "look-at-my-garage" houses. I wouldn't mind a bathroom with harvest gold tub/toilet/sink. Or a kitchen with blond wood cabinets. Or shag carpet. That's pretty easy to live with. But having to gut a place to make it comfortable to live in? Ridiculous. Why wouldn't you protect your investment by updating as you go? Both of the houses we were at last night would be worth well over 200k if they were well maintained. Instead, neither is worth much over 100k, and you'd spend a fortune fixing them up. Why!? Such a total waste.

I grew up in an old house. My great-grandparents built it during the depression. Great-grandma put in the insulation and sanded all the hardwood floors herself (and grandma subsequently covered them all with shag carpet- ah, the 60's and 70's). But it's in great shape. They've patched plaster when it needed it, and replaced windows and siding, and every room has been redone at least twice (sometimes more as evidenced by the layers of paint that come off with old wall paper. It's still not new, and definitely not up to code, but it's been cared for. Same with the house my mom grew up in. *sigh*

Anyway. I'll get off my soapbox now. Bob tells me I can't rescue every old house. haha. Poor guy. His eyes get really big when I start talking about fixing up houses. *grin* We're not really seriously looking for houses right now, we have plenty of space still... we've just gone to look a few times in the last year when interesting ones come on the market. However, if anybody wants to sell me a mouldering house with lots of potential for dirt cheap, I wouldn't say no! Or a few acres of your back pasture. That'd work too.

Blessings.

Thin ice

I was kind of a panz on Friday... short weeks just feel so much longer than regular weeks. I wanted to go to sewing club Thursday night, we hosted potluck Friday night, and I really didn't want to stay up super late to get ready after sewing club. So I took half the day off on Friday. Hooray for eating lunch at home and leisurely making the meat and setting the table. We had pork loin. I made two recipes, a really basic butter and onions in the crock pot and one Bob picked with cumin and cinnamon and brown sugar in the oven. They both turned out really good, the spicy one tasted almost Indian. I was just glad I didn't burn them and they weren't dry. It's been since before Christmas since we've had potluck so it was really good to be with them all again.

Saturday was a very lazy day... our house was clean, our fridge is full of leftovers.... no work for me! haha. Shelly and some of her friends went ice skating at Ron and Kary's so we joined them for a little bit. It was great. I love skating.


They didn't tell us it was just girls... poor Bob... all alone. Well, other than Ron who was clearing the ice off. :)

Something was funny... last year Shelly asked for "warm clothes" for Christmas so we got her a very useful reversible camo/ blaze orange neck gaiter. And Wendi-with-an-i looks cute as always.

Shelly tried to take our picture... we look funny....


I got a different shade for my lamp. I like it much better.

The geranium that we're keeping for Grandpa and Grandma Beutel is still going strong! Parts of it are looking a little scraggly, I should probably trim it a little bit. Hooray for fresh blooms in sub-zero temps! I love it!

COLD

... so cold that the synthetic fibers in my coat are below their glass transition temperature....

it crinkles.

You light up my life

Sooooo.... my lamp. I love it. It turned out pretty good, not perfect, but I don't mind a little "character." Actually, it probably turned out as good as it did because Bob helped me a lot. :)

Anyway, we built a tripod lamp, which is kind of non-traditional. But not super crazy... I've seen them in the Pottery Barn catalog a few times:

There are a bunch of different styles if you google "tripod lamp." They're all super expensive- like over $200 each. Maybe I'm just cheap, but that seems a little excessive for a lamp. :) And then I saw this lamp and really fell in love.... haha.I've found a few tutorials online with instructions on how to wire lamps and how to turn old tripods into lamps; between them, Bob's help, and my vague memories of 4-H woodworking projects, we built a one ourselves. Oh, and 6 trips to 4 different hardware stores. It was too much fun. The stain and varnish job isn't perfect.... our porch has been freezing the last few days so it was no fun at all. And I bought gel stain, which I've never used before and it didn't go on very evenly. Oh well, it makes it look less brand new and maybe a little bit more vintage. :)

Anyway, the final product:

Its new home in our living room.

I'm not entirely sure that I like that shade. I can't decide if it's too small, or doesn't hang down far enough, or the wrong shape entirely. What do you think??

Lunch Call

We had a kinda busy weekend. Friday night we went to sing at the nursing home... and got lost in the maze of hallways, again. We're good at that. :)

Saturday morning I got up and went to quilt club in Morton. I really like the color options they have for this year's blocks. I'm excited. And then I went to two hardware stores and cleaned and got food ready and tried to keep from freaking out because my family was coming on Sunday. But then after supper instead of getting ready, I decided to make a big mess in the kitchen and put together my lamp.

A few weeks ago I emailed my family and invited them to T-town for the day, fully expecting at least some of them to have plans.... but they all came. Which was great! We had to get up super early though, to be at church before they all got there. :) After church all 27 of them came back to our house for a light snack (plus us, 29 people in our little house!). Which ended up being a lot of food because Grandma insisted on bringing something, Mom brought brownies, and Lori brought fruit.

All seats were taken...

Even upstairs. They were playing Donkey Kong on the Nintendo. Our upstairs smelled of deer salami and deer sticks for a few hours... haha.

It was great fun and I'm glad it worked out. And it was sooooo quiet when everybody left. *Grin*

Blessings.

Soup and Quilting

It's been pretty quiet this week, which I love.

I made this recipe for Chicken cordon bleu bread bowls Sunday night because I was slightly bored and I had time. It was pretty easy and they taste amazing... I didn't put in quite as much broccoli as the recipe called for. (And Bob still said, "What is this green stuff?" *grin* Boys.) The bread turned out really good too... we ate the leftover 'bowls' stuffed with pizza sauce and toppings last night. Yum.

Monday night I went to all day quilting... it took me a few inches before my stitches started to look decent... o well. :) It was fun.

Otherwise, it's quiet. And white again. Which I love, now that the slush is off the roads.
Blessings.

Grey and white and winter all around

"Nothing on the calendar" is fast turning into lots of stuff going on. :) Ah well, such is life.

So last Thursday Bob and I and Sprout met Amber, Kaleigh, Nic and Amanda in B-ton for supper at Avanti's. It was so good to see them all, and actually spend a little bit more time with them than just saying hi at church. We laughed a lot about all sorts of things. It made my heart happy.

I dragged Bob to ACE and Menards on Saturday, poor guy. I want to attempt to build a lamp base. The kind I've fallen in love with start at about $200, which is ridiculous for a lamp. So far the supplies have been cheap, and if I totally screw it up it's not that much of a waste. I had lots of fun wandering the aisles both places. And Bob got to deal with "I need at least 7.25 linear feet of thicker-ish wood." We sort of conned one of the employees into cutting it all for us for "transportation purposes." It wouldn't have fit in the car, so he was going to cut it once for us anyway, and hey, while you have the miter box and the saw out, you mind cutting off another 30 inch piece? hehe.

Matt and Jake came over Saturday night for pizza... fun times, but I couldn't work on my lamp. We went over to Bob's parents for a little bit tonight and used the band saw and drill press, so now I just need to sand and stain the wood.... I think it's all going to fit together... we shall see how it turns out.

Weekends go way to fast.
Blessings.

Weddings and wei-

I mean, family. Hehe. Sorry Mom. Anyway.

Sunday was a pretty busy and long day... and a really good day. We got up super early and went to Champaign for Hannah and Grant's wedding. Church was very full of all kinds of people I never see anymore, and we got to meet little Grey... :) The wedding was beautiful... I can't really put my finger on why, but I felt so very blessed to be there. Hannah's a super cool girl, I met her when I was at U of I and she was still in High School, and it's been great to watch her grow... I have a lot of respect for her. The reception was beautiful and we got to see more people, which I love.

So then we headed home. I made the mistake of lying down for a few minutes... and fell asleep. Thankfully I woke up right at 5, when we needed to be leaving for my parents'. And I was once again reminded why I generally avoid naps at all costs. I wake up woozy. As in borderline nausea and fuzzy head woozy. Not refreshing at all. Bob was laughing at me because I was slightly out of it until I drank some pop to clear my head. :)

My parents invited the Roemersbergers over for supper and they are always late so we made it in plenty of time. Uncle Bill is the only one of Grandma's siblings left... they were there and some of mom's cousins and a few of my second cousins. Always an interesting time. Mom's cousin and his wife were visiting from Alaska- they got married in the 70's, bought a school bus and turned it into a camper, drove it to Alaska, and lived in it while they built a house up there. They have some great stories to tell and it was fun listening to them.

And then we had to go to work on Monday... it was rough... haha.
Blessings.

Seriously?

Ok, so I ordered part of my Mom's Christmas present from B and N.... and it was a few dollars shy of getting free shipping. So I found a cheap 'filler item' so I wouldn't have to pay twice that for shipping. And I waited and waited. And then one day, this huge box came in the mail. Yay!

And then I opened the box....

No present that I was impatiently waiting for because it was only two days before Christmas. Just a lot of empty space and a ball of holly.

Which is cute, but I was annoyed. How much space could they have saved in their trucks!? And then the rest of it came on Christmas eve in a package that was small enough to fit in our mailbox.

I just don't understand.

Happy New Year!

So I really only was at work 14hrs last week... it was so nice...

Jakey came over to play computer games with Bob on Wednesday and he stayed for supper. Actually, I have no idea how late he stayed... I was tired at midnight-ish and I went to bed.... crazy boys. :)

Thursday we were dismissed early, and Bob had some guys over to play board games. So they played Risk and I avoided playing Risk. I'm terrible at it. Matt and Kevin stayed for supper, which was fun.

I took down most of our Christmas decorations. mur. It's so sad when Christmas is over. And we got rid of the tree today. I'm ready for it to be spring now. Specially after taking a walk in the warmth yesterday!

We didn't do anything special for New Years.... went to church and then came home and ate food and played Nintendo. Bob ordered a game that he was going to give me for Christmas except it didn't get delivered until yesterday. It was fun and I still stink at Nintendo. O well. There are worse things, I suppose.

Blessings.

Christmas

We survived. :) And it was a good time. Christmas eve we went to Grandpa and Grandma Koch's. Christmas Day we went to church in Tremont, and then ate lunch at home and opened our gifts from each other. And then we went to Bob's parents' for the evening.

Grace still likes to hug Bob and say, "my Bob." Funny girl.

Baby Eden... she was enjoying rolling around on the floor.


On Boxing day we went to Washington at noon because Brent and Beth and their girls were going to be there. And then we went to the farm for Christmas. My siblings are being corrupted... aaahhh. haha...

We had cornish hens and all manner of good things for supper... on Grandma's dishes... with sparkling cider. And then we finally let Shelly open her gifts. Everyone got sharp things for Christmas (I apparently got mine early for my birthday). And Dad got a holster for his PQA "euthanasia plan." Jakey got Shelly an umbrella... that is also a sword... "why bother with a can of mace if you've got 10 inches of cold steel?" haha. Bob and I and Matt got Jakey a KA BAR knife. It's rather scary looking. Matt got a fillet knife, and Bob got a pocket knife. So funny.

I came home with lots of great things, like an Anthropology apron, some books, new U of I tees (mine are starting to look like I've had them since college), CD's, and Thermarests. I love presents... *grin*

Monday Bob wasn't feeling good, he had a fever most of the night, so I went to the Wyss Christmas by myself. *sigh* woe is me. We ate much good food. Much. Starting with breakfast casseroles in the morning, and gondolas in the afternoon and chicken crepes for supper with homemade ice cream and cookies.

It took the usual 4ish hours to open all the presents... I saw a lot of this... haha.

Bob and I got very boring presents... folding chairs and (more) hotdog sticks. woot. Since we can fit all the hotdogs we eat on one stick and now have 8.... Not the most exciting Christmas presents ever... ah well, it was still really fun! I've decided that next year we're in the drawing separately like everybody else, it's way to hard to come up with a gift that's for both of us.

Grandpa and Grandma got a laptop.... Matt's setting it up for them so they'll soon have email and be able to read our blogs... o dear... I shall have to be careful what I say! haha.

I was supposed to be back to work on Tuesday... but.... I just really didn't feel like it so I didn't go. Instead I got lots of random things done and relaxed. It was nice. Anyway.

Blessings.