CSA Startup

We've signed up with a CSA for next year. It's something I've wanted to do for awhile, and a subscription has finally opened up just half an hour away. The folks are super-nice, too. (maybe that goes without saying? I have no experience with CSA stuff before now)

Anyway, they're letting us pick up for the remainder of this season, even though we really paid for a 2009 subscription. So we went there this morning with our reusable grocery bag and filled it with lots of wonderful goodies...

...a big bunch of kale, a big bunch of collard greens (we were entitled to 2 bunches each, but I didn't think we'd eat them all), 12 ears of corn, a red bell pepper, 3 beets, a huge bunch of fresh basil (roots still on, so it's in a vase keeping fresh for now), and a watermelon. If we'd remembered to bring an empty jar, she'd have given us honey, as well.

So, Joe is currently making Bean Soup with Kale for dinner. I'm hoping to talk him into some fresh pesto to slather some Italian bread I bought, as well. But frankly, I feel terrible and can barely taste anything, so it'd probably be completely wasted on me.

Anyway, will let you know how our recipes turn out. We're going to be using veggies I'd likely never have purchased in a store, and eating more veggies that we usually do. I'm way excited about both prospects!

--End--

Palin in a Bikini

Palin in a bikini Whoo-hooo! Check it out!

There, now that should garner me about a jillion hits on Google searches. Seriously, this is apparently a big issue out there right now. I mean, I'm not entirely sure why McCain picked her for VP, but it's not an entirely bizarre selection.

Still, if you're looking for reasons to vote in any particular way, I suggest perusing sites like this, rather than trying to figure out whether or not a woman is qualified to help lead the nation based on how she looks in a two-piece. This is just as bad as folks analyzing Hillary Clinton's political prowess based on her hairstyles.

--End--

Ps. Now the fact that she's currently under investigation for the alleged abuse of power in firing her Public Safety Commissioner, and the fact that her 17-year old daughter is five-months pregnant ... those could be considerations in her credibility, reliability and leadership. That is, if you weren't already turned off by her gun-totin', gay rights-denyin', intelligent design-promotin', oil from nature reserves drillin', polar bear hatin' attitudes.

Family Tradition

And, I know this isn't just our family.

Last weekend we made a two-day trip to Niagara Falls from McKean, PA. Along the way up and back we spotted the following license plates:

PA, NY, OH, IN, IL, MI, TN, NJ, GA, FL, TX, KY, NC, MI, MA, NV, VA, CT, NH, WI, SC, MD, ME and ... Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.

--End--

Life Soundtrack?

Interesting meme idea...maybe I'm slow for not having seen this one before. :)

Set your mp3 player on shuffle and type the title of the song for each category. Push for the next song for the next category, etc.

Opening Credits: Prologue, Little Shop of Horrors
Waking Up: Sandy, Grease
Theme song: Love Hurts, Nazareth
Falling in Love: What I Did for Love, John Barrowman
Fight scene: Anthem, Chess
Breaking up: Hot Blooded, Foreigner
Getting back together: Overture, Oklahoma
Secret Love: Name of the Game, Mamma Mia!
Life's okay: Shades of Grey, Billy Joel
Mental breakdown: It's Possible, Seussical
Driving: I'll Wait, Van Halen
Flashback: Good Morning, Starshine, Hair
Partying: Be Like the Bluebird, Anything Goes
Happy dance: Runyonland, Guys & Dolls
Regretting: Another Pyramid, Aida
Long night alone: Overture, West Side Story
Death scene: I Happen to Like New York, John Barrowman
Ending credits: If I Were a Rich Man, Fiddler on the Roof

--End--

More Pictures

I've uploaded more pictures from the show, backstage, etc on Facebook. Here's the album.

Also, special thanks to Kelsey's mom for taking pics during final dress rehearsal so I could have the good ones of the actual show.

--End--

New Photos! (and videos)

I posted some new pictures in my Facebook albums, from the Wizard of Oz, and other stuff this summer. I'll be taking more Wizard of Oz pictures through our next weekend, I'm sure. In the meantime, here are a few videos for ya!

Pulling into the station at Steamtown, USA (Scranton, PA). This was just after we'd gotten off the train.


Emily riding on the Segway we rented (Joe is debating changing his commuting vehicle to save gas)


And....Matthew's turn


And...the kids having fun with the ambient music at Hershey Park.


--End--

One Down, Six to Go!

I nailed it last night! Performances were good, had a few tech issues still being worked out. Stayed out with the cast until the wee hours. Looking forward to doing it all over again tonight.

Man, I just love theatre. And I've really missed it.

--End--

Seven Days

In the past seven days I've...

• baked six dozen ginger cookies
• taken my car in for its 120,000 mile service
• planned an 8-day canoe route through Algonquin Provincial Park
• Googled the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• said, "Dorothy" no less than 168 times
• painted two 3x15' strips of canvas green and two 3x15' strips of canvas yellow
• watched Psych, Stargate:Atlantis, Eureka, The West Wing, and Juno
• picked Emily up from camp
• received my new fabulously comfortable Teva water sandals
• had the ice cream man come by three times (and fell for it twice)
• whip-stitched two large green satin curtains
• baked five dozen back-of-the-canister oatmeal cookies
• read The Nanny Diaries, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and The Horse Whisperer
• sent 34 e-mail messages
• walked 19 miles
• set up our new dome tent
• laughed so hard my sides actually hurt
• ripped Hello Dolly! from the DVD
• wondered how I can justify buying these popsicle molds

...and gotten entirely too little sleep. :)

--End--

Olympics are Coming!

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

I love the Olympics. I hope to attend one some day. Although I should state here my decided preference for the Winter Games, I enjoy watching all the "girlie" type events at the Summer Games. Read: gymnastics (esp. men's), equestrian. I also like watching the canoeing/kayaking and sailing. And table tennis and synchronized swimming are guaranteed to both hypnotize me and crack me up.

--End--

A Little of This and That

I positively adore pop-up books (not as much as this guy). I have several for Christmas-time that I bring down and dust off and peruse with the kids every December. Now, I want to get ABC 3-D, too.

This is a clever puzzle concept I haven't seen before. You can compensate for toppling blocks and get them to rebalance. Clever!

Some of this list seems like something horrible a penthouse mom (a la The Nanny Diaries which I've just finished re-reading) would instruct her nanny to do. I mean, really? Five ways to frustrate your preschooler in one quick (but seemingly endless) afternoon.

I think every one of my 8th graders last year must have memorized this website. When I asked them to bring in self-written poems to practice formatting them in Word, you should have seen what they came up with.

Can I just say how much I miss bubblewrap? Damn Amazon and their giant manufactured bags of air.

And, because there are never enough math-based comics.

--End--

Missing Emily

Emily left for camp yesterday. I was all worried she'd be homesick (and she very well may be). Didn't think I'd miss her so much.

--End--

Double Feature

Joe and I just spent the evening at the movies. Only instead of dinner and a movie, we did movie and a movie. Figured it was about the same amount of babysitter time, anyway. :)

Mamma Mia -- What can I say that hasn't already been said by everyone around? Meryl is fabulous. Absolutely fabulous (and yes, even in the BBC AbFab sort of way). Wonderful actress (which we all knew already, of course) and terrific singer (which I sort of knew, but this was way beyond what I'd heard her do before). Screen presence galore, naturally. Pierce Brosnan barely can carry a tune in a bucket. Actually, his pitch was fine, but there's no power behind it. Still, if Rex Harrison can talk his way through My Fair Lady on screen and stage (winning the Tony, no less), I suppose we can just enjoy looking at Pierce and admiring that he pulls off his role rather well without a giant set of vocal pipes. Rewarding and fun. But, as I'm sending Emily away to sleep-over camp for the first time the day after tomorrow, the "Slipping Through My Fingers" number completely did me in and has me blowing off any theatre work tomorrow to spend time off the computer and hanging out with my kids.

The Dark Knight -- Again, much of what I'm observing here has already been said by lots of people. But, I'm saying it, too, because, well ... it's true. This may very well be the best Batman movie yet. In fact, I'm just going to say it is. Christian Bale continues his dark and deep portrayal of our vigilante (which George Clooney didn't) while effectively pulling off the frothy, dippy public Bruce Wayne (which Michael Keaton didn't). Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman rule, as always. And Mike Baker would be so proud of me for remembering the import of the name Harvey Dent immediately. Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger. Heath Ledger. He was amazing. I love me some Jack Nicholson. But Jack was like "Jack the Joker" the whole way through. Creepy, yes. Nuts, yes. But still Jack. Heath Ledger was the Joker. I can't help but think that playing this part so completely as he did all his roles amplified whatever psychosis and troubled his actor's mind already contained (and all of us have psychoses and troubles...and I honestly believe truly talented actors have more than their share). It was violent and creepy and disturbing, and very, very good. And I cannot believe people brought their kids to it. But, that's a whole 'nother blog post, right there.

So, if you're in the mood for light and wonderful or dark and wonderful, I can recommend a movie for you either way.

--End--

Another Level

OK, so I thought I loved Neil Patrick Harris a lot before. But, then my friend Adrienne pointed her readers to this video. Can you stand it?

The Shoe Fairy on Sesame Street

--End--

Photo Update Bonanza! 2

Finally in between trips out of town, Wizard of Oz rehearsals and set-building, the afore-mentioned slideshow, I've finally finished weeding through and cleaning up a bunch of pictures from May, June and July.

And here are some of the fruits of all that labor! I know some of these go by a little fast, but you can go directly to the Picasa album by clicking.

The National Education Association Representative Assembly, Washington DC July 1-6


Stuff in June 2008


--End--

It's Done!

The slideshow for my grandma's 80th birthday is finally finished!

Why the relief? It's been a long haul.

About 5-6 hours of scanning. Then I don't know how many hours of assembling the slideshow...20? Then creating a family tree graphic. Say, 1-2 hours. Then putting it together with music, another 1-2 hours.

Then the fun began.

It refused to render properly. The entire 13-minute show looked great, except for the family tree. It blinked on for a second and then there was 13 seconds of black screen. Again and again and again, regardless of what sort of video file I was attempting to create. Finally, I created a separate 13-second video of just the family tree, and inserted that into the complete slideshow file. Then I finally I rendered the entire video file.

And it refused to burn properly onto the DVD. *sigh* My DVD burner has been taking its time deciding whether or not it's going to die for some time now. Lately it's been working great, so I hadn't yet installed the new burner I bought. Well, last night it was time.

So, after updating my Nero software and installing the new burner (1 hr more), I finally burned a bunch of DVDs for the party guests this Saturday and an additional one to play at the party*.

Now I have to get them to the Post Office and off to my mom in time for the party this Saturday.

--End--

* And it was fassssst, so fast. I'm loving my new software and burner. Makes me want to just burn DVDs all day long.

Every Dollar Counts

Just manned (womaned?) a moonbounce for several hours at Millville's SummerFest/Chili Cook-off. Made about $100 for the Breast Cancer 3-Day, and the second shift will go for a nother few hours yet, so we'll see. Yay, Team Blister Sisters!

I'm pretty close to my goal, but I'm working to help my teammates make their $2,200 commitment, too. I sure don't want to walk without them.

Anyway, that was my morning. This evening we're taking Emily's best friend with us to a minor league ballgame. Summer time! Yeah!

--End--

Off to Target

I know it shouldn't bring me as much joy as it does, but I just love going to Target. Their quirky design-oriented housewares, their peppy red and white circles, even that ridiculously Photoshopped dog. Target makes me happy. And ours having opened less than a year ago is still all new and fresh (although, I'm not sure I've ever been to a tired, grungy or worn-out Target ... KMart and WalMart seem to go downhill more quickly, and ours in Millville are both ancient and depressing).

I'm not even shopping for anything all that exciting like cute sandals or all new bed linens or adorable baby stuff. I need a new toilet brush, Matthew needs larger underwear, and I may or may not find an appropriate shower curtain.* A few odd grocery items are also on the list ("butter" spray, lemon juice and heavy cream).

--End--

* In order to play down the absolute late 70s baby blue tiles and fixtures, I painted the bathroom a nice latte brown color about 6 months ago. The only shower curtain I could find with the right combination of blue and brown is covered with snowmen. Yet, it rather unseasonably still hangs in the bathroom. I have yet to find a neutrally-seasoned curtain in the right colors, and haven't yet mustered up the will to shop for fabric and make one.

Joss Whedon Just Gets Better and Better

Just when I thought I couldn't love Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris more than I already do.

Everything Old is New Again (and knitting stuff)

My kids had never once ever seen the Yip-Yips before today. Needless to say this was a serious oversight on my part. Now remedied.

This episode in particular got all four of us rolling with laughter. Mooo-OOOOO-ooooo! I know it's pretty early for such things, but I think I have them half-convinced that Yip-Yips would make the greatest ever Halloween costumes.

Once I finish knitting the various scarves* I'm working on (my small summer not-too-sweaty-on-my-lap projects), I may whip up a few of these for the various smallish children in my life. What's not to love? And I eventually mean to pay for this pattern and make these for every little girl I know out of all the beautiful scrap yarns I have.

But first I have to make a nice set of these Jayne hats for my sis-in-law and brother's DragonCon trip. Once I go buy the perfect yarns for them, anyway.

I other news I'm trying (sort of half-heartedly, unfortunately) to lose back some of the weight I'd lost and found again. Been walking in training for this year's 3-day. But have to get back to watching what goes into my mouth in a more conscious way. Nothing anyone really wants to hear about, I'm sure. But something on my mind nonetheless.

Finally. I've gotten kind of good at whipping up bizarre and slightly-realistic creatures in Spore's Creature Creator software. My favorites would have to be my Donkesaurus and maybe my Girafftypus. Sorry for the tiny images, but that's how the Sporepedia online stores them.

Well, it's tomorrow now. I've been waiting for Joe to decide to go to bed. He said it was too late to start another episode of Firefly when we finished (re-)watching the pilot at 11:30. But now he's most of the way through Tarzan (the Disney animated one), so ... so much for too late. Now it's early, instead.

I intend to get the DC pics off the cameras tomorrow before Wizard of Oz rehearsals, so hopefully I'll have some cleaned up and ready for posting somewhere soon. For now, G'night!

--End--

* Namely this one three times in different colorways and this one because I happen to have the perfect yarn for it. And also a set of these because I rarely make anything that I myself can keep and use.

Back from DC

Got in around midnight. Exhausted, but charged up inside. Catching up on 350+ emails (not including spam) and making a grocery list. Have to go get the dog from the kennel and eventually today I'll see my kids. Wizard of Oz rehearsal tonight, too.

Back to the regular routine.

--End--

I Had to Steal This Picture

Last night we let the kids go to bed a little late.

Firefly season started here about a week ago, but now they're really going.* So the kids spent part of the afternoon contriving various firefly catch-and-release holding containers.

They finally settled on a toilet paper tube with paper held over each end by hair stretchies. "The red stretchy is loose, so we can take it on and off fast for getting the fireflies inside," Emily explained.

So we went out and braved the South Jersey mosquitoes (which are plentiful and organized into various squadrons and fighter wings). I had my camera** and tried to capture the innocence of youth, the joy of capturing for a moment the fleeting glow of bioluminescence.

What I wound up with were dozens and dozens*** of pictures of blurry kids and blurry trees and blurry dark dots.

Joe realized what I was trying to do and he and the kids tried to stage a scene for me. They grabbed all the fireflies they could from all over the yard and kept dumping them in the same spot, so they'd be denser in that part of the yard. It worked and looked really lovely, but I still couldn't get shutter and aperture and fireflies to all cooperate at the same time.

So, I did what any modern photography-challenged blogger would do. I Googled until I found the firefly picture I really tried to take.

--End--

*Really going for our yard means maybe a dozen of them blinking around.
** Nothing fancy...a Canon PowerShot.
***I had the camera on take-a-bunch-of-pictures-superfast-by-
just-keeping-the-picture-taking-button-pressed-down mode.

Old Time Photos

I'm working on a slideshow for my Grandma Schierer's 80th birthday party this summer. Various family have sent me piles of family pictures. While most of them are relatively modern, there are some oldies in there. These are probably the coolest, overall.

My Grandma and Grandpa Schierer, in about 1945

My Grandma, Mary (Morrison) Schierer on her first bike, 1933

My great-great grandmother, Leibbie Ensign, in 1880

My great-great grandfather Albert G. Morrison, taken in 1886

--End--

Busy Weekend

Well, busy few days...not just the weekend. On Wednesday we had swimming lessons and Wizard of Oz rehearsal (munchkin singing scenes...no rehearsals for me yet). On opposite ends of the county, natch!

Thursday my folks arrived for a visit. I thought I was having an early dismissal, but it was only for the students. *sigh* Eventually got home and we went to Emily's piano recital. I made some incredibly awesome and easy pulled pork sandwiches and an incredibly decadent strawberry layer cake with strawberries in it and whipped cream frosting.

Friday I had to work again. Bleah. But we went to the Ocean City Boardwalk that evening. Had a nice Italian/seafood dinner and then played "Pirate Golf." I honestly can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing miniature golf. Finished the night with Kohr Bros. custard. Yum!

Saturday I hustled off before 6 a.m. *groan* to drive up to Trenton. I attended the NJEA caucus. Read as: 4 hours of Parliamentary Procedure and receiving enough paperwork to level the Great Redwoods. Seriously, I'm enough of a geek to find this sort of thing fascinating, hence my excitement at attending the National Representative Assembly in July.

Killed enough of the day Saturday that there was no point in driving all the way back home just to hop in the car again. So I stalled awhile at a Mall until it was time to meetup with the rest of the family in Camden. Em's chorale group sang at the Riversharks game. I just love minor league baseball, but was way too distracted to remember much of anything about the game. We all ran out during the 9th inning ahead of a killer thunderstorm which let loose all over us just after we got in the car.

Today was and is significantly more mellow. We had a nice Father's Day breakfast of cinnamon-vanilla French toast, thick cut bacon and chunks of fresh pineapple. (Matthew also had more strawberry cake.) Mom and Dad took off for NW-PA (with the kids!!!). We'll see them again on Saturday to get our children back from them. In the meantime....WOOOOOO!

Seriously, I love my children. I'll miss them more than once this week. But every summer we get a week of Gramma Camp, and WOOOOOO! How bizarre it is to remember what it's like to just be us. We're actually going to dinner tonight someplace they don't even have a kids menu. And it has actual cloth tablecloths and candles! And then we're going to the movies and won't have to pay for a babysitter! I'm completely beside myself with joy.

But Thursday the house will jjst feel way too quiet and I won't quite know what to do with my time. But for now...say it again with me...WOOOOOO!

--End--

Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago at roughly 9pm, Matthew James Dugan was born. Running over with joie de vivre from the moment he learned how to smile, a big kid with an even bigger heart, Matthew is our tough guy who still loves to cuddle and hug (and I hope he always will). We love you, Matthew! Happy Birthday!

Then and now ...

--End--

Love it!

Oh my gosh I just love this print so much. SO MUCH! It's a kind of I want to type everything all running together without any spaces I'm sort of feeling gushy over it LOVE feeling.

I just want to buy it (and maybe a couple of others by the same artist) and re-do Emily's entire bedroom based on it. I want to buy it and save it and have it in reserve for when she decides she no longer wants flowers on her walls and curtains and spaceships and moonscapes on her bedspread and autographed photos of astronauts hanging about.

Wouldn't it look gorgeous in a room with beigey or teal-y walls? Or better yet, beigey walls with one teal-y wall? Curtains and bedspread to match the red.

Anyway, Joe said, "no." Stinkin' practicality.

--End--

Relativity

It's amazing how things really are all relative.

We've been having septic issues. Nothing particularly odorous or nasty, but issues nonetheless. It's gotten so anything involving large quantities of water in a short period of time (read: showering, doing laundry*) was causing water to not drain out of the house, but instead wash back up the open-ended washing machine drain in the basement.

We've been dealing with this and an assortment of septic and plumbing guys for the last couple of months. Worst case scenario -- a failed leach bed requiring replacement at $7000 and up (probably "and up" as we'd be dealing with removing numerous trees and/or our above-ground pool).

So, finding out** that we likely have a second tank*** somewhere further out beyond the first one seemed like quite the revelation. We had hope again ... maybe we wouldn't have tro replace anything. Maybe we could even dig it up on our own and just pay for pumping. Maybe!

Well, Joe spent 8 hours digging holes around the first tank and found nothing...no outlet or pipe, so we had no idea where to go.

Today we brought professionals in. With a backhoe. They dug (8-feet down!) and found the pipe and followed it out to the second tank. They're pumping the second tank and installing risers, while they're at it.

All for a mere $1500. Normall $1500 would be a lot of money for us. But, when we were anticipating and trying to save for several times that amount ... we feel more than relieved. I'm absolutely thrilled. And looking forward to doing laundry, which is weird. What an exciting life I lead.

Everything's relative.

--End--

* I've made two $25+ trips to the local laundromat this month. What a lovely experience that is, let me tell you.

** by talking to a neighbor who's lived here since all of our houses were built, and watched our house go up

*** Whoa! Second tank???? Wish we'd known about that when we had the primary tank pumped two years ago. Wish we'd known about that at any point in the 8 years we've lived here!

Debuting this August

Off Broad Street Players is doing The Wizard of Oz this summer. The unofficial cast list came out yesterday. Emily has been (type-)cast as a Munchkin, and I am going to play Aunt Em*.

Yay!

The show goes up August 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17. (Shows at 8 p.m., except Sundays at 3 p.m.) Want to come?

--End--

* I guess when most of the cast is in the 17-21 age range, 37 qualifies as "elderly." sigh

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, dear Nate!

What you don't know yet is this ...
even though it's your birthday ...
it's your parents who have received the real gift!
So glad you've come to them!

--End--

One-Word Meme

Received this from Lisa...each answer must be only one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? Joe

3. Your hair? ordinary
4. Your mother? Sue
5. Your father? Lee
6. Your favorite thing? travel
7. Your dream last night? forgettable
8. Your favorite drink? milk
9. Your dream/goal? spoentenaity
10. The room you're in? office
11. Your hobby? yarn
12. Your fear? loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? tenured
14. Where were you last night? sofa
15. What you're not? self-sufficient
16. Favorite muffins? oversized
17. One of your wish list items? furniture
18. Where you grew up? PA
19. The last thing you did? baked
20. What are you wearing? workout
21. Your TV? inadequate
22. Your pets? mammalian
23. Your computer? ubiquitous
24: MISSING! Does anyone know what it should be?
25. Your mood? achy
26. Missing someone? persistently
27. Your car? trouper
28. Something you're not wearing? shoes
29. Favorite store? Target
30. Your summer? brief
31. Like someone? plenty
32. Your favorite color? red
33. When is the last time you laughed? Simpsons
34. Last time you cried? fatigue
35. Who will resend this? none

--End--

Music Galore

Em has been in two recent concerts. One, with the local "Renaissance Youth Chorale" (RYC) was last Friday, and the other with her school 3rd-5th grade chorus, was Wednesday night. Be sure to check out the video all the way down the page.

Here are a few pics from the RYC concert, taken during their pre-show warmup. The group is directed by Deborah Laird (a past music teacher and current singer with the Philadelphia Orchestra) and works out of the Trinity United Methodist Church here in Millville.

And, now during the Rieck Avenue School Spring Concert:

The whole 180-member group, directed by the Fabulous Mr. Howard Raudenbush
(also Emily's piano teacher, and the accompanist for the RYC)

Short kids get the front row (not that there's anything wrong with that)

Emily and another kid (who is the tallest 4th grader in the whole group)
introduce "Old Dan Tucker"
Emily and her best friend, Jared, after the concertAnd, finally ... the video. Emily sang this song with the Renaissance Youth Chorale as part of the whole group. She's featured here in a trio during the Rieck Ave Spring Concert.
The next day at Em's piano lesson, Mr. Raudenbush couldn't stop raving about these kids and how well they blended and stayed on pitch. (forgive the wobbles, please...this was shot with my digital camera, not my camcorder)

--End--

Winding Down

Our busy, busy year is winding down. Thank goodness!

Last Friday was Emily's Chorale concert, so no more Chorale on Tuesday nights. Next Monday is the Blue & Gold Dinner, and then no more Cub Scouts. Swimming lessons (Wednesdays) and Brownies (every other Thursday) will also be wrapping up by the end of June. I'm not sure when Tap is over for Matthew, but I think it's soon. The recital (which he's not in) is coming up in the next week or so.

I have to say, I'm done. My brain and teaching enthusiasm has completely checked out. I would rather be anywhere else doing just about anything. I'm already sort of mentally working on next year's technology curriculum, what I'm going to keep, what I'm going to change, what was so completely a worthless waste of everyone's time. I'm ready to move forward, but I really am ready for a nice long summer break.

Emily auditioned last night for a local theatre company's production of The Wizard of Oz. She sand "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miz, and did a fine job. We should hear about callbacks in the next day or so. I'm currently planning to audition, too. But, frankly, I'm terrified and I stink. I'm hoping to be the Tin Man or maybe the witch (how fun would that be?), but I'm sure if I am cast at all, I'll be a chorus member. Which is also fun, as chorus members usually have costume changes, and wearing the heavy silver or green facepaint all night would have to become a nightmare eventually.

In other news, we're having slow house drainage/septic issues which we hope won't cost thousands of dollars to fix. Also, torrential rains and sustained 50 mph winds have left my yard a complete mess of downed leaves and (alarmingly large) branches).

Finally, my Mother's Day was lovely. We didn't do anything amazingly special (Joe's mom, her finace, Pete, and our niece, Miranda, joined us for the yummy Mother's Day brunch at church and later we went out for ice cream), but Joe spent a lot of time actually talking about what I mean to him and that's a rare thing. It was awfully nice. (Oh, the kids also gave me the requisite school projects about how great I am, along with the absolutely essential potted marigold.)

--End--

Change of Scene

I'm basically just tired of looking at that old post and thinking, "I should write something one of these days." So, now it won't have the top spot anymore.

"News"

• Might have an actual buyer for at least the loveseat part of the set.
• Facebook pwns me
• Going to teach myself to crochet so I can make this blanket
• Auditioning in a couple of weeks for a local theatre production of the Wizard of Oz (working on an audition song from Avenue Q)
• Going to DC this weekend on a bunch of coach buses with the Millville Gifted & Talented kids
• We now own two gerbils
  

Later!

--End--

Trust Your Gut

A couple of weeks ago we got a sectional sofa from Joe's mom. She's moving and has decided to get new furniture for the new place. So ... we listed our old sofa and loveseat on Craigslist. No nibbles.

So, I relisted with a slight drop in price. No nibbles for awhile and then one.

Some guy (in stilted, but intelligible) English wrote that he'd have his secretary send us a certified check as soon as he received our address and that we should remove our listing as he'd be very disappointed to find the furniture sold out from under him.

I replied politely with my contact information and told him I wouldn't be unlisting, but would keep him at the top of the list and not sell anything "out from under him."

No response for a week.

I nudged him the other day, "When should I expect the check?" He said he hadn't received my contact information, which I then resent.

He replied very quickly with thank and said he'd be sending a check for the full amount, plus some extra which we should then wire on to his mover, and that he was adding in another $50 for us for the trouble.

Hmmm... Made me feel weird. But I didn't want to be cross-culturally rude or ignorant, so I replied politely along the lines of, "I'm not comfortable with this. You should send your own money to the mover. This is highly unusual, and I prefer not to work this way."

He responded that he'd already sent the check.

Wha? "How much is this all going to be? What's the real deal?" was the jist of my reply.

$3,800

Yes, $3,800 for a $450 used sofa and loveseat set.

At this point I ran the whole situation by Joe. As I felt the whole thing was more than somewhat suspicious. I asked him to take it over. That I clearly wasn't being firm enough and that after all these emails back and forth, well, I wanted another voice to be heard. A male one. As this other guy was sort of being odd, and I wanted to remove the possibility of a gender factor.

Joe was immediately concerned. He got the guy to send us the name and address of who we were supposed to wire the additional money to. And a good thing, too.

Seems there's a somewhat uncommon, but not unheard of, Internet scam where just this sort of thing occurs. So, we've now called off the deal, and reported this guy
to various Internet fraud agencies.

I should never have let it go this far. But, maybe by getting a name and address out of him, we can help provide evidence in shutting him down.

Trust your gut. If it seems weird in an uncomfortable way...trust that. In any situation.

--End--

All Publicity is Good

We had a reporter and photographer from the local Bridgeton News visit our dinner on Sunday. A nice big color photo graced the front page yesterday (above the fold!), accompanied by the following article.

We raised over $2000 at the dinner, due largely to Chinese auction ticket sales and silent auction bids. But, sadly, we had a lot of food left-over at the end of the night. We're working on that.

Not sure how much we're going to give each team member, yet. Three of us are well on our way toward the required $2,200, and three of us have $0 so far. So, I dunno if it'll be an even split or not.

In any case, we have a yard sale coming up this Saturday, a Poker Night on May 9 (we've frozen some beef so we can sell sandwiches as well as make our cut from the pot), we're selling adorable and yummy raspberry-lemonade candles, and we have a (donated) moonbounce we can sell tickets to at the Millville Summer Fest on July 12. With under $600 to go, myself, I'm not worried about making my personal goal. But, we're really trying to work so the whole team benefits and achieves our total team requirement.

--End--

Big Day

Been prepping for a few months and especially this past week for our Breast Cancer 3-Day Beef & Beer Dinner.

Today from 3-7 p.m. we will hopefully make tons of money toward our team's fund-raising goals. The "Blister Sisters" have to raise another $8,400 before the event. And as we want to spend the summer focusing on our training ... we want to take care of the money stuff as soon as we can.

Anyway, I'll be spending the day haranguing people into buying Chinese auction tickets and 50-50 tickets. It's all for a good cause, right?

--Heidi

Happy Birthday to Me!

My co-workers gave me one of those "Year You Were Born" birthday cards, and I have to say ... 1971 wasn't all-in-all the best of times.

To wit:

• Television ads for cigarettes are banned. (yay!)


• Charles Manson and 3 followers found guilty. (boo!)


• Nixon installs secret recording system in the White House. (boo!)


• "All in the Family" debuts. (yay!)


• George C. Scott refuses his Oscar for Patton, claiming actors should not compete. (yay!)


• The New York Times begins publishing the secret Vietnam War Pentagon Papers. (erm...)


• AT&T and Bell Labs tests the first cell phone technology. (I feel old.)


• AMTRAK begins service. (really? thought AMTRAK much older, somehow.)


• Four-day Attica riots results in 43 deaths. (boo!)


• Bretton Woods agreement collapses under weight of the U.S. deficit. (what goes around, comes around)


• Dollar goes off the gold standard and devalues by 7.9%. (boo!)


• Hunter S. Thompson writes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (never read it, missed the movie)


• Scientists first warn of nitrogen causing serious damage to the ozone layer. (BOO!)


• The first Starbucks opens. (yay!)

Also born in 1971: Ewan McGregor and Winona Ryder (knew about them), Tupac Shakur, Jeff Gordon, Kristi Yamaguchi (thought she was younger), and Lance Armstrong (though he was way older).

(not on the card, but found easily on the Net) Also born on April 21: Robert Smith, Iggy Pop, Andie McDowell, Tony Danza, Charles Grodin, Elizabeth II, Anthony Quinn, Charlotte Bronte, Catherine the Great

--End--

Weird and Innovative and ... Sympathetic

I don't know what makes me both sort of get icked out by this and want to sort of hug it at the same time, but here it is ... an truly inventive and amazing and yet somehow loveable and still creepy robot critter thing.



--End--

Here Come de Fuzz

Only just got over to the second of my two teaching jobs. And I'm told the State Police are on their way over.

Wha?

Apparently, the school nurse found a wax-paper/cellophane type bag/packet containing a suspicious white powder. It was just lying on the ground under the window of the girls' bathroom. So, now there has to be some sort of investigation.

*sigh*

The hope is that it was inadvertently left last night by a local citizen. School Board polls were open here in the building until 9pm yesterday.

I know what pot smells (and looks) like, but I'm not sure I'd know cocaine from baking powder if given the chance. I just Googled some images and have discovered that crack looks kind of light maple sugar chunks. Cocaine looks like clumpy baking soda. And, heroin looks like, well, dirt.

I have no idea if the students have picked up on the scuttlebutt or not. Guess I'll find out when my prep period ends and the 7th (and later 8th) graders arrive. If there are any students aware, it'd be them.

--End--

No News is No News

Random Monday wanderings:

We got a "new" sectional for our family room on Friday. It's really Joe's mom's old one from her rec room. She's moving and isn't moving it. It's in great shape and is a big step up from the old sofa and loveseat we had (which are waiting for nibbles on CraigsList).

Our basement keeps flooding. Not like inches of water across the entire floor or anything, but several gallons each time we use any substantial amount of water (like two showers back-to-back, or a shower and a load of laundry). It has been raining around here quite a lot. 3+ inches just in April. Our water table is usually quite high. I mean, my house is only about 15 feet about sea level. So at this time of year, the very thin, sandy soil is about as saturated as it can get. When we dump a lot of water into our sepctic system, the water already out there in the world pushes back on it. Stuff is draining, sure, but it's sloooow. Very slow. So, water ends up backing up through the large drainpipe in the basement and gushing out the top of the washing machine drain pipe, which is open at the top. It's the lowest point of opening in the house. (Oh, some water seems to be squeezing/dripping in at the wall, as well...which is also worrisome, as we don't know if it's a re-tarring the outer wall problem, or a leak in the pipe problem.)

So I spent $24 at the local laundromat yesterday washing and very-partially-drying all of our laundry (probably about 8 regular laundery loads).

We also went to see a local high school production of Guys and Dolls, visited the local zoo, attended our best family friends daughter's first communion, and saw Joe sings a capella with the group he's in (the Cumberlads, for anyone keeping score at home).

This next weekend the Brownies have "Pirate Camp." I'll be running a raingutter regatta. Woo!

--End--

Feeling a Call

I'm feeling a call to action. I don't know if it's due to the current politically-charged atmosphere or what. Maybe it's something in the water. Maybe it's my two daily 25-minute NPR-fueled commutes. Maybe it's just the right stage in my life to do something.

I have two great kids with whom I am conscienctiously involved. I'm already a teacher and Cub Scout leader. I'll be a Girl Scout leader come the fall. I deliver Children's Messages at church. I walk 60 miles each October to help cure breast cancer. I recycle, use fluorescent lightbulbs and do almost all my shopping at Goodwill. How more can I positively impact the future?

I dunno. But I want to. I want to change things, improve things. Make a difference.

I'm seriously considering running for public office or something.

Joe doesn't know any of this, yet.

I've literally just printed out the Millville City Commission meeting schedule. The next meeting is April 15. I'm so there.

--End--

A Post About Not Posting

Yeah, I've had nothing really to say. But that's not it.

Yeah, I've been busy. But that's not it.

Mostly I've just been blah. Joe claims I do this every year at about this time. All I know is this -- my allergies are fogging my brain, the rainy/hazy weather is fogging my mood and I'm just generally ready for June. Strictly speaking, I know my mood/outlook will pick up shortly. Right now I'm worn out and there's a whole 'nother marking period looming ahead of us, so ...not so much light at the end of the tunnel, as it were.

--Heidi

Texas-sized Photo Post

Pictures from Texas ... I have over 100 I've kept and PhotoShopped to the beautiful creations you see here. I've uploaded the lot of them to the Picasa Albums, but you can see some highlights by scrolling down...

down...and down some more.

Enjoy!

--End--

ps. Jonny was doing a school science project -- a PowerPoint presentation featuring at least 40 different varieties of flower. I had fun showing him my camera's macro feature and then he used the camera throughout our visit to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Some of the pics in the Flora Album were taken here in SoJo, but most are from our trip. I'm enjoying taking close-ups, so there will be more additions to this album, for sure.

Back!

Many, many pictures to be processed and posted soon.

Our trip down was miserable and long. Bad weather for two days in Dallas messed up all flights in or out. So, we spent a "lovely" seven hours in the Philly airport, trying to get out Wednesday night. That night we crashed at a Holiday Inn Express (I feel so much smarter, now), and picked up the rental and headed down to Burleson the next morning.

Thursday morning we visited with Grandma C at the nursing home before Em and I trekked up to D/FW to pick up Mom and Aunt Deb (delayed by an entire day). We got significantly lost and then found our way back to get them. After that we headed over roughly half an hour to the Dallas Galleria for the American Girl Bistro for dinner. Much grumbling, irritation and general fatigue later, we left without any food. We lucked upon a great restaurant (Pappadeaux's) on the way home and had some wonderful seafood and oversized desserts. Stopped in to see G-ma briefly before heading home.

Friday was bright and sunny again. We hung out a bit and then went shopping for summer clothes for Emily (happy birthday from Mom (not me, that's my mom, her grandma...) all this was even confusing in person ... "Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma" etc). We picked up G-ma at the home (Uncle Ray met us there with Jonny and his girlfriend, Jenny) and headed to Sake. We had a fabulous time being entertained by (and eating) Japanese hibachi cooking. The chef guy paid particular attention to our little birthday girl, which was sweet. Played some Wii that night and crashed.

Saturday was a more-eventful-than-it-needed-to-be trip to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Our two cars got separated and we (Uncle Ray, Jonny, Em & I) feared the others would never find us. Plus ... they had all the picnic lunch in their car. We finally hooked up about an hour later. One wonderful picnic later, we visited the butterflies in the conservatory and then sort of split up again for walking around through the gardens. Jonny had to take flower pictures for a school project, and was wow-ed by my camera's macro feature (his didn't have it, and it was frustrating trying to focus for him). He wound up giving his camera to Emily, much to her delight. I think he's now in the market for a Canon PowerShot. We had steaks at Logan's Restaurant for dinner, then dropped G-ma back off and colored eggs at home.

Sunday was comparatively cold (high around 52* and breezy). Aftyer more Wii-ing (Em is hooked!) We "ladies" all went to visit G-ma, while Jonny and Uncle Ray headed over for baseball practice or maybe a Father-Son scrimmage (if they got enough dads). They called and said there was going to be a game after all, so we went and caught some of the game. We saw Jonny make a great game-winning catch. Woo! We drove around a bit trying to find something good for dinner, and wound up getting some great Mexican food. Yum! More Wii and some board games that night.

Monday was our last real day. We visited with G-ma again with cupcakes for Em's birthday. Em opened presents and Mom showed 2 hours (!!!) of pictures on the nursing home big TV. After that we were pretty drained, and frankly I wasn't too disappointed that the local mini golf (which Em wanted to do on her birthday) was closed. We hit some sales at the Hobby Lobby, dropped Mom and Aunt Deb at home and drove out to pick up Jonny after baseball practice. Everyone met up at the house and we hit Sonic for dinner (Em's birthday dinner request). Back at home we saw Christy (finally! yay!) and had cupcakes and sherbet, singing Happy Birthday and all that good stuff.

Tuesday morning we pretty much got up, finished packing and headed out. We volunteered to be bumped (and they even asked for more volunteers), but they didn't end up needing us. Too bad...those $150 vouchers would have gone a looong way toward a return trip to Texas this summer.

I really want to get back as soon as possible. Em and Jonny got along so well. I really would love it if the cousins would really have a relationship of some sort. We'll see....

--End--

Heebie Jeebies

Em and I are flying to Texas tonight for a long Easter weekend with relatives down there.

So, naturally, the first news story I hear when I begin my usual commuting-with-NPR drive this morning is .... all about how the FAA has been "too cozy" with the airlines it regulates. And how 4" fuselage cracks were recently discovered on some of Southwest's Boeing fleet.

Now, we're flying American on a McDonnell Douglass, but still ... heebie jeebies, man! Not the news story you want to start your day with.

In other news, I'm mourning the loss of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, may he rest in peace. Some of my favorite Clarke quotes include:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. (Clarke's third law)

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible. (Clarke's second law)

... and finally ...

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. (Clarke's first law)

--End--

Minor Injury

So, yesterday while slicing and chopping veggies for a fabulous salad I discovered on The Pioneer Woman Cooks, I managed to mandoline-slice off the end of my right thumb.

Yeah, I know. It's pretty bad. But it actually sounds worse than it is.

Anyway, Joe made me go to the emergency room for it¹. They pretty much treated me like, "What do you expect us to do about that???" Which, frankly, is what I expected.

The doctor said if the bit (about the size of a pencil eraser) had been partially still attached, they'd have stitched it back down, but as it was ... I paid a $25 co-pay for some antibiotic ointment and a Band-aid.

And, it wasn't even a nice fingertip Band-aid with proper bandaging capabilities. No. It's one of those 3x5" mega-Band-aids. They wrapped it (quite painfully) over the end of my thumb and down the sides. Then they sort of wrapped the sides around together. It sticks out ridiculously on both sides of my thumb. Adding literal insult to literal injury, the orderly joked, "Aww...it has little ears! You could draw a face on it!"

Lovely.

It stopped throbbing sometime overnight. And today I can actually bear to have it below the level of my heart (for which my other four right-hand fingers are extremely grateful). But I think it's going to be quite awhile before I'm Band-aid free. But I'm definitely going to the drugstore for a real fingertip version.

--End--

¹ In all fairness, I made him go to the ER for slicing a much smaller bit off the end of his thumb back in '98.

How I Met My Husband, I

One of my favorite bloggers (thepioneerwoman.com) has been recounting in lengthy and wonderful detail the story of how she and her husband (an actual cattle rancher she calls (at least in her blog) "Marlboro Man") met, fell in love, got married.

I only wish I had the kind of detailed recall she delivers so effortlessly. For all I know, she's making the whole thing up to some extent. But, as I know someday my kids¹ might like it ... and, because I think secretly Joe² will, too ... I think I'm going to attempt some semblance of the same. (I should mention here, my asbsolute love and adoration for asides in the form of footnotes. If this bugs you, just skip 'em, they won't really propel the plot, such as it is. But, I really do kind of talk like this, full of dependent clauses and parentheticals and, well, footnotes.

And so to begin ...

The Professor and I met in college. That seems a pretty basic way many couples meet, but somehow for us it felt fated, destined, meant to be.³ Some background would probably help here.

The Professor grew up in Southeastern Pennsylvania, in a small suburban development about an hour from Philadelphia. He grew up (and still is) a complete math genius. So, naturally, he scored a perfect 800 on his math SATs. This got him an awful lot of attention from a bunch of colleges and universities all over the country. He even had full scholarships at several.

Throughout The Professor's junior year at St. Pius X, he and his mom took the obligatory College Tour roadtrips. He'd expressed absolutely zero interest in weeding through the mountain of brochures and letters, and basically asked her to pick out a few to go see. He spent most of his free time at this point playing soccer, bussing tables and singing at the Trolley Stop restaurant, and running D&D games with anyone he could find.

So they headed across the iconic PA Turnpike to Pittsburgh. The Professor had interviews set up at Pitt and CMU, who were both quite interested in his math geniosity. They showed up as scheduled at Pitt, first. From what I've been told the interview went pretty well. But, the campus tour was a complete disaster.

The Professor's not fond of cities. He'll visit DC, New York, sure. We've even lived in Philly and Pittsburgh, right in the city, all young and urban and professional (only without money). But, he's really not happy with the noise and bustle and traffic and smells and noise. Really he can't stand anything city-like, except the museums and cultural sites, or the odd historic landmark. Buses, subways and taxis, fuhgeddaboudit.

And Pitt is in a city. A big one. Sure, Pittsburgh is nothing compared to "real" inner cities like New York, LA, or even Philly. But, it's a noisy, busy, smelly city. With buses and everything. Pitt's dorms are high-rises. Academic buildings are separated by some of Pittsburgh's main thoroughfares, accessed by crosswalks and dodging lunatic city drivers. There's some greenspace, of course. But, it's not a rural or even suburban campus, by any means.

Right then and there, without even finishing the tour, The Professor just said No. So my patient Mom-in-Law suggested they head over to Carnegie Mellon for his interview and tour there.

"Is it in the city?" he asked.

"Yes, it's not far, just up the street⁴," she replied. (wrong answer, by the way)

"No, I'm not going," The Professor asserted. "I'm not going to college in a city."

"But, it's not like Pitt. It's gorgeous! And a great school!" She was really trying at this point, but he was the immoveable object.

So, she called and cancelled the interview with the Admissions office and the one with the Chair of the Math Department. And they turned around and drove home.

(I should mention here that The Professor would eventually attend Carnegie Mellon for grad school. In fact he not only went there, he dreamed, longed, ached³ to get in and get funding at this prestigious institution he wouldn't even deign to visit at the wise old age of 17.)

He eventually toured a few other schools, but didn't "feel the love" for any of them in particular. Based on his now firm and increasingly picky criteria, my patient Mom-in-Law came up with Allegheny College⁵. So, they went up for one of the Open House weekends in the early spring of '88 (early spring is decidedly not Meadville's most attractive season). As soon as he arrived, he announced he'd found his college. He didn't want to tour anywhere else. He didn't care that he had scholarships awaiting elsewhere. He didn't care that Allegheny was offering him exactly $0 in scholarships and/or grants.

Which means that, in late August 1989, the young 18-year old freshman version of The Professor arrived on campus in charming⁶ and historic Meadville, PA, little knowing how much his life, mind, heart and soul would change over the next four years....

--End--

¹ I don't know if it represents a lack of creativity, or what, but I don't have cute blogsphere names for my hubby and kids, like Ree, Josette, and Adrienne do. I should work on that. But, then, they also have their own domain names and I don't, so maybe those issues go hand-in-hand.

² I kind of mentally think of him as "the Professor," so I'm going to go with that for now, anyway.

³ Yes, I know that's three things that mean the same thing. In the process of re-watching the first very excellent season of The West Wing, and that's a thing they do.

⁴ Seriously, they're a mile apart along Forbes Avenue.

⁵ I really believe it says something (not sure what exactly) that just typing those words "Allegheny College" makes me fell all sort of warm and fuzzy and proud inside. I don't think it's that I met the love of my life there. I really think it's Allegheny, itself. I've met plenty of people who fell in love at college who don't seem to get the same feeling about their own alma maters. And I've also met plenty of Allegheny alums who totally get the same feeling, themselves. It's an amazing and wonderful place.

⁶ Hey, it's my reminiscence, just go with it.

ARG!

I apologize for another very brief, lacking insight into anything in particular sort of post.

I'm experiencing a certain amount of frustration at one of my jobs. To the point where I actually broke down and cried.*

I can't go into details, nor do I even really want to. But, I'm really looking forward to the brief spring break I'l be taking in Texas.

--End--

* In private. And thankfully, allergy season has begun here, so my sniffly nose and red eyes will not be unusual.

HP=0

Missed this bit of news the other day.

Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax.

1939 - 2008

--End--

Suspension of Disbelief

I want my kids to keep believing forever.

N ever.

In Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, yes, even in monsters under the bed.*

This has been on my mind lately. I've been going through a rash of lost teeth with Matthew. And, Em expressed concern at the Easter Bunny finding us (or not) on our upcoming Easter Weekend trip to Texas.

My friend, Josette, has been dealing with this as well.**

Em honestly still seems to believe in magic. Movies like The Water Horse and The Spiderwick Chronicles and the literally dozens of hours per week she spends reading Harry Potter must be helping the cause. But, I know most of her third grade cohorts have likely moved past fat men in red suits, six-foot rabbits with bow ties, and incisor-wielding pixies. It's only a matter of time.

And I'm honestly not sure how much is actual belief and how much is covering-of-bases. She's clever enough to catch onto gravy trains ending when Imaginary Gift Bearing Entities are no longer eagerly awaited at every holiday.

Matthew, thank God, he's still in deep. He was almost traumatized at the thought that Santa might not come to see us in Colonial Williamsburg. And, he wants to go out leprechaun hunting every March. I'm hoping we get a nice warm day this weekend to do just that.

Hang on to the magic, kiddos. I'll do my best to keep the wonder in the world as long as possible for you.

--End--

*Or in our case, in the closet. Em's mattress and box spring sit right on the floor, and Matthew's bed is a giant loft/desk.dresser combo. So, no real room for monsters.

**Not a coincidence. The daughters she's writing about were born in March 1999 and June 2001, Em's and Mack's birth months, respectively.

"Famous" Girl

Em is in the local newspaper.

Here's the article. :)

--End--

Nothing Glamorous

It wasn't a wildly exciting weekend, but very satisfying.

Friday after school, Emily and I took Matthew to tap as usual. After dance class, we met Joe at the local Pizza Hut for dinner, dropped the extra car at the college and zipped up to Philly. It was Scout Night at the Philadelphia Wings. If you've never experienced indoor lacrosse ... well, I'm not sure I can do it justice. Professional indoor lacrosse makes AHL hockey look mild. I'd never seen lacrose before, nor learned the rules. And, after having seen a game ... I'm not sure there actually are any rules. Bludgeoning with sticks is par for the course, as is ramming an opponent up against the wall with your stick.

And the fans aren't any better. When the announcer called out the Wings players at the beginning of the game, the crowd was appropriately amped up and cheering. But, after each of the New York Titans players were names, the announcer paused for the fans to scream out "SUCKS!" As in ... "John Brown" -- "SUCKS!" "Tom Johnson" -- "SUCKS!" etc. Same thing when the officials were announced.

Wings goals were called out with enthusiasm, "Wings GOOOAALL!" But, Titans goals were a mumbled, barely audible, "bad guy goal."

Anyway, the Wings won, and generally speaking a good time was had by all.

Saturday morning, I went out and hit High Street begging* for gift certificates, merchandise, etc to auction off at our upcoming Blister Sisters** fund-raising events. People were pretty generous and receptive. We have a few follow-ups to make this week.

After that I buzzed back home to pick up Emily and my friends the Fantinis for the Girl Scout International Day of Thinking event. 12 troops from the surrounding community had display booths on various countries***. Snacks, crafts, girls in costume, facts. It was a well-put-together and well-attended event. I had fun and I know the girls had an absolute blast.

That night the Fantinis joined us for meatball subs and pinochle. After pinochle we played Monopoly. (Joe wants me to blog about my Monopoly trading "strategy." He mocks me openly.) Fun, but late, night.

Sunday morning we got up nice and early and went to the later church service, which made for a pleasantly leisurely morning. Yeah!

After church we met friends (the art teacher here at work and her family...her kids are in 5th and 3rd grades and are two of my students) for a Subway lunch and bowling. Matthew started out with two strikes in a row and clobbered all of us except Paul (the friend's husband).

They came back to the house afterward, which was great. They ran around in the yard and wore out the dog, who was a big hit with all the kids.

Last night we had a "Dugan Restaurant" dinner (read: everyone gets to "order" his/her own choise from the vast selection of leftovers in the fridge), followed by the first half of North by Northwest. We paused it here and there to reiterate the mistaken identity stuff for the kids, but really they kept up with it and got into it quite a lot. What an excellent movie.

And, now ... back to work for our regular week. The usual bustle and busy-ness supplemented by two dentist appointments and a trip to the orthodontist. Fun!

--End--

*Joe made several jokes about solicitation and pandering before I went out. *rolls eyes*
**The name of our Breast Cancer 3-Day team.
***Japan, Russia, India, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Madagascar, France, Egypt, the UK, West Africa, Italy