f is for frosty March 24, 2008

Easter Monday morning and as I look out my window, the lawn is covered with thick white frost. It is 28 degrees. So much for Spring! We had a lovely day of celebrating yesterday. We had guests of friends and family for Easter lunch and the menu included Hickory River ham and turkey (in honor of Chris’ bday), not one but two kinds of cheesy potatoes made by my mom, fresh asparagus, strawberries, pineapple. We had veggies trays and bunny bread (kind of hard to whack into, but delicious once we took the plunge) and green salad. The pink tulips opened beautifully to decorate the tables. The desserts of carrot cake, peanut butter pie and the cutest bee hive cupcakes I have ever seen were enjoyed by all.

Our worship service prior to that was just great. The music was awesome – very joyful. No horns, just a lovely cello to accompany the usual band grouping. We had a very good message on the Luke passage about the road to Emmaus. John and I got to work the welcome center desk and it’s a great vantage point to see all the little ones dressed in their Easter finery. Of course, yesterday they were all bundled up in heavy winter coats over their fancy dresses and sweater vests, but still cute. We all just want it to be spring-like so badly.

After lunch, some naps and two dishwasher cycles later, Thomas and John and I decided to “do” something. After brainstorming, making calls and finding lots of our ideas dashed, we settled on a lame but surprisingly fun time of looking at facebook followed by watching two shows: America’s Funniest Home Videos and the crying show (Extreme Home Makeover). After that it was a rousing game of Payday. I do not enjoy that game. But even Chris joined in and we had a great time. He was out in the first month thanks to some nasty bills in the mail but continued to hang out with us until John won in a close game. The boys then got all boyish with wrestling and feats of strength, so I headed upstairs to get out of the way. I am almost finished reading Love in the Time of Cholera, and pretty much am ready to just get it over with.

No school for one more day and so the guys are sleeping in, except for John of course who has already been up for a couple hours accomplishing all kinds of things. Saturday I was so appreciative of his efforts – he worked in the yard all afternoon raking and blowing and chopping, getting everything ready for the spring blooming season, if and when it arrives. I have a regular week at work ahead and find myself in pretty good shape having worked at home on Thursday. I got a ton done and then I took a personal day on Friday. I helped Kati decorate for the Good Friday service and took care of some grocery shopping and other chores around here.

Just can’t get into the basketball tournament. Two things working against me – Illinois is not in it and our family’s tradition of filling out brackets which we have done for probably 11 years (since Thomas picked out the names of the teams by how they sounded. At three he loved Gonzaga and Holy Cross) has finally ended. Sad. I think I am cranky about it a little, because the only thing I seem to notice are the upsets. Yea, Davidson! Yea, WVU!

i is for indy March 19, 2008

John had been in Vegas all last week, so we set Saturday aside to have nothing to do.  Early Saturday morning while enjoying coffee and catching up at Panera we decided to hit the road for Indianapolis.  Chris was in Chicago on a RYE trip, so we ran the idea by Thomas and he was up for it.  We gave Dave and Kelly and call and they were fresh off a cruise ship and available for lunch.  We buzzed over in no time, testing the road mileage of the new CR-V (26 mph) and arriving in Carmel in time for lunch.  We had lunch with D&K at Ted’s and the food was great.  They told us all about their cruise.  It was very enjoyable.  They headed for home, stopping for groceries on the way since they were just back from vaca.  We headed over to Old Navy and picked up a couple of spring items for T.  We also had room for ice cream at the Coldstone around the corner.   At that point we headed over to Keystone, which T pronounced as the worst mall ever.  The only think of remote interest to him was the Apple Store.  They do have cool stuff.  After a lap around the mall, where I saw tons of great home furnishings stores, we grabbed Cheesecake for the road and headed for home.  It was a very pleasant day away from the phone and TV and computer.  We visited, listened to music and mostly enjoyed each other’s company.

Now it is Wednesday already.  It’s spring break and the guys have chosen a low key schedule.  Chris is working every day, but otherwise not much going on.  They had to clear out today for a couple of hours to make way for the cleaning ladies and on Monday they made a trip to Rantoul to surprise Ma with a little something for St. Patrick’s Day, one of her favorite holidays.  I think she enjoyed showing the boys off a little bit at the clinic.  They grabbed some Arby’s and headed home.

I am working at home tomorrow and took a day off on Friday.  I will help set up for Good Friday service, but otherwise have very little planned.  We are hosting Easter dinner here, along with a little celebration for Chris’ birthday.  The fact that he will be 18 on Saturday is staggering.  How did that happen?

Tonight is an all church prayer service after which we will get together with our small group.  There has been mention of Custard Cup pie for dessert.  Sweet!

My neck and shoulders are out of control.  I now have regular tingling in my hands and a pretty constant headache.  I don’t feel too hopeful about getting this problem solved, but living with it at this level doesn’t seem like a good option.  Thinking over what to do.   Hate to be a whiner, but I am so weary of this.

s is for sitting in chairs March 8, 2008

Today I sat in a plastic folding chair for eight hours.  I drank a lot of coffee brewed in one of those quantity over quality church basement coffee pots.  And actually I was at a church.  All day.

Chris, John and I went to the orientation session for his youth exchange program.  Lots of information, lots of enthusiasm, lots of sitting.  We feel better informed about the program and the personalities involved.  The net of safety, security and support surrounding Chris will be excellent.  He is excited to go.

We felt especially blessed to learn he had been placed in Germany after learning that two other students who had applied before him had also requested Germany and were placed in Mexico and Brazil.  No visa is required for Germany, so his process is fairly simple.  He will depart in mid-August, most likely, which puts our great western adventure in question.  We will receive his tentative itinerary and destination about the first of March.  In the meantime, a weekend get together for him in March and April, and a big conference in Grand Rapids in July.  He has to get a blue blazer to wear which will be covered with patches and pins.  Apparently the blazer is the key to opening all kinds of doors as you travel abroad.

I am kind of wiped out by all that listening and sitting, but John was feeling good so he went off to do the grocery shopping and pick up a pizza for dinner.  It’s just John and Chris and  me tonight as Thomas went to a church youth group event in St. Louis.  He will return tonight about 10 PM.

Last night we watched a movie called “Michael Clayton.”  I fell asleep before the conclusion.  It had been a long day.  At work we cleaned out two of our storage rooms which were in terrible shape, filled with stuff.  The whole staff worked really hard and we made a huge difference.  We threw out a lot of stuff and we are recycling and redistributing even more.  I also had a great lunch with my old friend Linda.  She was in town dropping her daughter off at a university event.  It was so great to see her and before long, all the years had fallen away and we were all caught up.  It was wonderful to see her and spend time together.  After lunch and a few final tasks at work, I took Thomas to church to catch his ride to the conference.  Three boys and seven girls along with three adults were headed to St. Louis to CIY Believe.  I then ran a load of pajamas up to Restoration Urban Ministries.  They were having a pj drive and Windsor Road had collected a few items.  By then, it was time to head home and send Chris off to Globalfest at Urbana High School where he participated in a college-bowl type event along with two of his classmates.  He called a couple of hours later to say that they had won first place!   (He had to miss the awards ceremony today due to the orientation ceremony.)  Meanwhile, John and I went out to split a burger at Farren’s and pick up some movies.  We got the aforementioned “Michael Clayton” and “Once.”  I am eager to see “Into the Wild” but it was all checked out – none in stock.

Tomorrow we will go to church, eat lunch at home, then John and I are taking a care of a few pending matters before he leaves for the ConExpo in Vegas on Monday.  We have some garage deconstruction items to haul away;  shouldn’t take to so long.  It would be nice to squeeze in a little nap too!

t is for too much winter March 6, 2008

I am done with winter.  It can move along now.

Last night we met with our small group from church.  They are delightful.  Right now we are watching a series on marriage taught by a pastor from Atlanta, Andy Stanley, and then discussing.  It’s pretty good.  And then we had chocolate cake made by Sarah so of course it was homemade and very delicious.

I was crazy busy at work today.  Tomorrow is clean out the storeroom day for everyone.  And I got a call from my old friend Linda whom I have not seen in years.  She will be in town tomorrow and so we will get together for lunch.  It will be great to catch up.

The weather has me kind of down, it’s true.  And some other random stuff as well.  Done whining though, and focusing for a time on Psalm 40.  Don’t know why, but it feels like that really good non-waxy, soothing chapstick on dry lips.  Balm.

p is for progress March 3, 2008

I am an introvert in an extrovert’s job. It takes a lot out of me. I have not been managing this well for the last year and a half and I am exhausted. I know. That seems extreme. But it’s really true. And now that I have admitted it I see how true it really is and how much of my life is eaten up by resting up from work. So I am taking steps to fix that. And learning from the experience.

Kung Fu is not moving along according to Thomas’ liking. They are basically not teaching him any of the steps towards moving up in rank. He would like to test in May for his first belt, but has a long way to go. With the musical, I am not sure he’ll have the time to devote. We’ll see. He is scheduling a visit for us with the instructor so that we can gain a better understanding of the program.

Chris has a big physics test tomorrow and so he is “studying” but there seems to be music, video games, TV and facebook all involved in the studying process. Oh, and texting. When did “to text” become a verb? I text, he texts, you text, we text. Wow.

I am obsessed with this show called Jon and Kate plus 8. Tonight the whole family went skiing.

We have some ants in our laundry room. It was very cold outside when they appeared. I don’t know where they came from. And so I watched them to try to find this out. They are quite random. They seem to move in circles with no direction. This is not the typical ant that goes marching one by one. They just wander. And as long as I watched them I could find no beginning and no end. What do you do with ants like this? And why do ants always appear wherever I live? I really don’t enjoy ants. Squirrels either. We have a sneaky, pesty squirrel that lives in the dumpster at work. The staff has named him Bob. Bob startles me almost everyday. This seems like it would be impossible since I know he is there. In fact, I expect him to pop out with his sneaky little self. And yet when he does, he always startles me. Sometimes Bob visits the next door neighbor’s dumpster. I saw him come out of there one morning with another squirrel and it was quite a scandal.

w is for weekend update March 3, 2008

Friday night we had dinner at Spice Box. It is the upscale restaurant at UIUC that is operated by students in the culinary arts majors. The theme was Latin with a French Twist. The food was okay. The service was okay. The company was great. I guess maybe a different theme night would have suited me better. They put cilantro in absolutely everything. I am not kidding. There was even a sprig of the stuff on top of my jalepeno infused dark chocolate mousse. Did I mention that I detest cilantro?!

Saturday we worked on the garage. We got John’s entire workbench corner cleaned out. I build new cabinets while he demolished the old bench. Last night we reloaded everything he kept into the new cabinets. We have really tackled just about every area now. The next step is to repair the drywall and paint. Then we will permanently install some additional structures: slat wall storage, a countertop workbench, shoe racks by the door. Hopefully we’ll have it all done this spring.

Yesterday we took Chris out to lunch to discuss college. We are getting closer. Pride is an issue, as even though community college is a great option, it’s a blow to one’s pride. Student, parent, everybody. Right now, we turn our attention to Germany for next year and get ready to attend the orientation for this region next Saturday, all day in Clinton.

I worked lines with Willy Wonka last night. It’s coming right along. He knows his music really well and the dialog is coming very well. It’s a familiar story, but this is technically “Willy Wonka Jr.” so there are a few short cuts. Still need a Candy Man costume but the Wonka costume is good to go.

Off to work. Figuring out some things there – long story for another time.

u is for unofficial report March 3, 2008

Unofficial came and went without much trouble.  Only 200 arrests, 100 car towings, 2 bar closings and less than 30 medical calls.  Is our town better off because of it?  NO.  Are we any worse for the wear?  YES.  The costs alone for policing unofficial are sky high.  It costs the cities and the campus.  It costs “regular” campus businesses because no one goes there for three days.  And the bar owners profit.  Plus, I have to admit it is just kind of embarrassing that getting drunk and staying that way for a couple of days is the ultimate goal of many of our country’s best and brightest students.  Discouraged by that.

And yes I was young once.