The outlaws are coming

Pizza with iPastor's dad and stepmom tonite. We've been making an effort to catch up with all the family we neglected over the summer. My brother's up next this weekend. Baby steps.

Just a walkin' the dog...

City lights do not block the starlight out here. Tonight, however, the moon wanes still nearly full, dimming the stars in a brilliant blue glow, casting long shadows from the east. Two of the shadows are long and low to the ground, swaying gently over the gravel. The two seem connected at the shoulder. He nearly eclipses her, so much larger. They move as one, like a well-trained team of horses. His nose catches a scent, and they veer in unison to the weeds at the side of the road. Satisfied, they continue ahead, chasing the shadows they cast. Claws click and gravel crunches. The night couldn't be more perfect. All too soon, these excursions will be cut short by the bitter cold; the clicks will be muffled by snow. For now, they turn to trail their shadows behind them and point their noses toward home.

Guess all I had to do was ask...

GOrgeous weather on tap all week. Not spending it here in front of a screen!

Enough with the dreary

Rainy crappy weekend. The forecast for the week looks nice, but we gotta get past the soggy gray morning. It's a good day to stay inside and fold the mountain of laundry. Or play video games. Or watch food network. I see a problem...

Shop 'til we drop

We got Thing 1 an eye appointment today in Saint Cloud, so we used it as an excuse to spend the day shopping. I actually bought clothes at retail. Without guilt. I still bought more at thrift stores, but I think MIL would have liked me to spend her birthday gift on teacher clothes. I don't normally like clothes shopping, but I was on a mission. iPastor got in plenty of geeky electronic shopping and pawn diving, and we both got in some thrifting. By mid-afternoon, everyone was pretty tired and cranky, and I think passing around a mild cold bug, but we got our second wind at Bravo Burrito, picked up some video games and headed home. We made a quick stop at a grocery store, where iPastor picked up coffee and the teenagers played with the huge revolving door, giggling wildly until someone puked. The rest of the ride home was mostly uneventful, except for suddenly driving into fog. I pronounce it a successful shopping excursion, though we didn't top at McDonald's once.

Bonfire season

Our neighbor Dan has felt so much better since he got his new kidney and he spends a lot of his newfound energy baking. He's Dan the cookie man, everyone's unofficial uncle. He lives right next to the bus stop, and the kids don't usually make it home from the bus without stopping for a cookie.
The weather has been perfect for lighting up fires. Dan can usually be found in the gathering dusk with a few neighbor kids in his front yard around his firepit. Before too long he usually has a few adults gathered around to chat and help herd the kids, or drag their own home. It's a pleasant way to spend a half hour or so. I've still got a pile from my fallen tree to burn. Before long we'll fire our pit up, too. Fall is coming quickly.

Sad day in town

A kid from the Things' school was buried today. Last week he and a friend were goofing off with a gun... He was 17.

Wednesday already?

Over the hump...

We had another council meeting about the garden man tonight. The place was packed, but less than half were from town. The local sustainable farming people have gotten on the band wagon. I'd just like the city to spend $3600 on something useful, and not lawyers' fees.

Starting to get in the groove...

...now if the one class would just wake up, and the other shut up.

Weird...

Tonight's recliner and cocker spaniel time was spent with Elvis, via PBS. This concert is weirdly, cheesily awesome.

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

Been working on getting the dogs better socialized, and it feels like we're making progress. They got left in the rain yesterday, so we had baths and brushing in the late afternoon. Last evening I got to nap in the recliner with a warm cocker spaniel in my lap. Not a bad thing.

And still with the cleaning.

Got most of MIL's stuff moved from her house to her garage today, so we can scrub and start showing. Now to gear up for a garage sale. Oy.

Jumping in with both feet.

Remember when I was disappointed in the part-time offer? Totally not the case any more. Everyone should be this lucky. It's all about easing in now.

Free to a good home...

Kittens. Four dark grey stripey tabby. One formerly grey and white. Found crockpot with sloppy joe remnants. Is now orange tabby.

So far...

...so good.
I apologize for the lack of content, but between the new teacher thing, and still dealing with MIL's stuff (it looks like we're moving with all the unpacked boxes around here) I feel the need to keep my head down and keep plugging. Rest assured, I am storing up colorful anecdotes to share with you when I feel it is safe to relax. Like in three years.

Holy Crap!

I'm a teacher.

Better

Today working in my room was much better. I'm getting excited. My PRAXIS scores arrived with certificates of excellence and made me feel much better.

Long Weekend

Spending the weekend at home and skipping Lifelight. I think the former is better for my soul this year.

Boom

Working in my classroom today and officially freaked out.
I heard comments about how calm and together I was all summer dealing with MIL's situation, working two jobs, keeping it all together, etc. I guess it bit me in the rear today.

This year's food find

Spam curds.
More when I'm not so tired.

Big thanks to Duckduckgreyduck.wordpress.com for taking a pic last year that I could steal. Go read it. It's funny.

Worth the price of admission...

...just to walk with Thing 4 into the science museum Omnitheater, see him look up at the screen and say "Wow! Cool!"

Best out of context sound bite from my week:

"And now let's pause to examine a small collection of buttons."

(It just struck me funny. So I'm weird. You knew that already.)

And the new is...

The report from the fair via cell phone: "We lost to a yoyo."

First day of school

For me, any way, from the otherside. Kinda cool. Kinda scary. Kinda weird. I have an interior classroom. No windows. I'll have a lovely florescent tan in no time.
The best part? I got home today and was DONE. Didn't have anywhere else to be. Lovin' it.

Putzy and weird

Spent most of the day with family cleaning and sorting at MIL's house. It was kinda fun (to hang with the fam), kinda weird and creepy (to be sorting her stuff).
When we moved into our big old house from our tiny little one, people kept assuming we had lots more room and giving us stuff. I've been slowly disposing of extra stuff for years. Now I have to rearrange everything to make room for some of MIL's stuff. We're still gonna have one heck of a rummage sale...

So over that

Today I worked my last shifts at Job 1 and Job 2. Monday I start teacher workshops. Woot!

The Great Minnesota Get Together

All last week, Nora had me getting antsy for the fair with her daily updates from Indiana. Today, James Lileks upped the ante with this, as our fair is officially underway, and I'm not there! Lileks lists a myriad of reasons to go to the fair on the first day, all of which I embrace. The biggest reason for me, however, is that the first day of the fair is always Thrifty Thursday, and I am nothing if not cheap.
I am a relative newcomer to the Minnesota State Fair. I attended my first one right before my sophomore year of college, twenty years ago, with friends I had met working at Valleyfair. We went on Labor Day, when everyone was clearing out inventory and antsy as heck to pack up and get out, but it was enough to whet my interest. A few years and a couple of kids later, we went with friends and I was officially hooked. It is an awesome and relatively cheap place to go see a concert. You can troll for free stuff all day. A few years ago (10? no way...), I learned of the County Fair Talent Competition, and we began to "earn" our trips to the fair. This year marks three times for me, three for Thing 3, one for Thing 1 on her own, and this year with Thing 2 as a duet. If, by chance, we don't have a winning year, we likely go anyway, especially if we have an exchange student, as the State Fair is a quintessential part of the Minnesota experience. Poor iPastor almost always winds up with a headache, but he's a pretty good sport and follows along dutifully.
As any major venue, food and drink is incredibly overpriced, but skinflints like myself can find a way around that. We used to park free on the U of M campus and take a shuttle, but after a few trips carting strollers on a bus, we soon determined it is a good investment to pay to park on site and have relatively quick and easy access to the van. In my van, I can keep a cooler full of water and snacks, and avoid paying $4 for a glass of watery pop. Granted, much of the fun of the fair is trying new food or eating in an awesome church kitchen, but we have managed to control the money hemmorhage by limiting ourselves to purchasing only something really special and snacking out of the cooler just for munchies and drinks. Corn dogs and cotton candy I can get at WalMart. There is a church stand by the Eco building with awesome meatball sundaes; fair fries and Sweet Martha's cookies are not to be missed. We used to buy sweet potato fries at a stand by the horse barn (most vendors stay in the same spot for years) until they became more widely available at restaurants. I still go there for their sweet potato pie...yummm. This year I may actually try the deep fried alligator or hotdish on a stick. I'm always up for something new. Now I'll be anxiously counting the days until next Thursday. Things 1 and 2 will be singing Tuesday, so they are going with friends. I'm jealous.

Slightly better

We got a bit done around the house today, so I feel slightly better about that. I still feel like a nasty old bear, though, because I could not get my kids to stay on task for anything and it always ended badly. I am stressing over the amount of stuff I need to get done before school starts for me next week, and the amount of stuff we still need to do for MIL's estate, and a lack of synchronicity with anyone in my family. Everyone seems to have a different set of priorities, and though most of them are valid, they don't always coincide. Poop. Guess I'll just keep plugging.

Beware of Mom

Man, am I in a pissy mood. Come back later when I'm decent to be around...

New Music Tuesday!

As annoying as the emails from iTunes can be, I was stoked to find in my email this morning that Hymned Again is here! Woot! I'm way too lazy to figure out how to post samples here, so check out the linky and go play the samples to hear for yourself. There's a little bit of everything in there: Memphis soul, R&B, bluegrass, more and more. I love my copy of Hymned No.1; I can already tell I'll be wearing out the new one as well.

The horror...

Thing 1 went to a pay-per-view wrestling show with the new boyfriend last night and came back a fan. Aaaaaaargh!

Day of rest

Wow. Nice start to the day. After church, pastor and his wife treated us to a steak dinner. They had an auction back in June and treated everyone who helped to steaks, but with MIL's situation we had to miss. A couple others did, too, so we met in the shade of their backyard and enjoyed the day before it got too hot.
I should have left well enough alone; all efforts to motivate anyone to help around the house this afternoon were futile.

Chopped Liver

I had most of today off, and had a chunk of it to myself. iPastor took Thing 3 shopping in Willmar, Grampa took Thing 3 for their annual school shopping trip and Thing 1 worked. I told Thing 4 we'd be all alnone together, and asked him what he'd like to do. "I want to go to (neighbor kid's) house!" So mom was abandoned. I putzed in the house and treated myself to a bubble bath. iPastor returned with Things in tow just as I had to leave for work at Job2. Now I am back and they are all crashed or otherwise occupying themselves. Time for bed for mama, I guess.

Falling into place...

The Science Museum of Minnesota has extended the Star Wars Exhibit three days, so now we can go there one evening and stay over to do the fair! Woot! That'll save some running and monkeying. Two out of thriteen...

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things I want to do/finish before the end of Summer...
1. Course Paperwork
2. Pay for school so I can get my degree sent!
3. Go to the State Fair at least once, maybe more depending on competition results.
4. Go to the Science Museum for Thing 3's Christmas Trip (Each Thing got to choose a special trip of their own for a Christmas gift. Less clutter...)
5. Go to Valleyfair for Thing 1's Christmas Trip
6. Knock out syllabi for each class I teach.
7. Finish cleaning out MIL's house
8. Get the lawn and flowerbeds tamed into submission.
9. Cut down more dead trees
10. Go to Lifelight!
11. Use up the bulk pool tickets I bought my kids!
12. Have a weekend off that's not all planned up.
13. Sleep in!



I have a feeling some of these will bleed into the fall, or not get done at all, but a gal can dream.
Now it's off to work.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Who knew my house came equipped with a portal to Hell?

Errands

Tuesday was putzy. I spent a good portion of our day tag-teaming with iPastor and BIL, running around, collecting car titles and death certificates and distributing them about the country. BIL's family and ours have absorbed MIL's vehicles, and BIL swapped us their little beater since he got the new Impala. We've gone from one functional vehicle to three in short order. I now have a S10 pickup for toting my junk to the landfill. I've always wanted a hauler, but I told MIL I'd much rather have her hang around and sell me the truck, but it worked out otherwise. The Grand Am is ostensibly to teach soon-to-be-16 Thing 1 and her sister to drive, but iPastor kinda likes it, too. Both the truck and the new-to-us Pontiac are 5-speeds, so we can teach the girls the joys of manual transmission (which for their parents means a tendency towards speeding--must remedy that...)
Anything I attempted to do around the house was an exercise in futility. I transferred all my stuff from my iMac to MIL's mac mini, which ate a good chunk of time. It's an appreciated upgrade; I love my iMac but it has been with us since January of 2002. Surprisingly, its functionality is still quite good, but the DVD drive and some of the other peripherals are worn out.
By the time I got that done it was time to go to work, where I sat around and wasted an hour of my life that I'll never get back waiting to be told to go home. I didn't mind the night off, and it brought me to town to accomplish still more errands, but, yeah. Thing 1 was also delighted for the chance to go to town and hang with the Boyfriend. Squee! We approve of the kid, but I am so not ready for the dating thing. I am also immensely thankful that the kid does not have MY habits of her age. The mother's curse may have played out in attitude and quirks, but thank the Lord she has more sense and direction than I did at her age. Better go say my prayers!

Shiny!

The county fair is here, which means today was talent show time once again! This year, the Watson clan took a little trip to the hardware store.
Can you say "sweep?" Booyah! It was a little bittersweet, as our biggest fan is no longer here; but Grandma Elsie is bragging us all up in heaven tonite. Of course, no-one remembered a camera. I had to go directly from work to meet my brood at the fairgrounds, and they were hard pressed to remember their own heads, which I guess they needed more than the camera. So, we are officially going to the state fair. I like to go every year, but unlike Nora who can ride her bike to her state fair, it's an excursion for us. The state fair competition has three classes, and they only do two every night, so we have a little planing to do. While I love the fair, I love it on weekdays. One year we went on a Friday and they set an attendance record. Wall-to-wall people. Yikes. Our good friends from church will be going so Mom the Master Naturalist can work at the DNR booth. I'll check the Education MN page to see if they want help; I got free tix and mileage for working their booth one year. So I think we'll have two separate trips, but that's OK. I'll post details when I have 'em, and you MN groupies will have to come out and cheer the Watsonian detachment.
Fair time is also fundraiser time. Thing 1 and I were scheduled to pull a shift at the choir food booth, but it was short-lived as they ran out of food. That's a good thing, I think... The booth was positioned right next to the track, and tonight's grandstand event was racing. As we worked, late model heats ran. Oh. My. The vibration of a late model makes my jaw hum and gives me an uncontrollable grin that embarrasses the heck out of my daughter. She knows I've got the itch...
That noise and feeling takes me back to my childhood: Friday nights spent on aluminum bleachers at Rapid Speedway watching the local boys tear up a dirt track. Occasionally my brother would tow his car up from Omaha and run with the big boys. The grinding roar of those cars on a small town dirt got in my blood. My dad had stopped racing by the time I was born; a back injury took him out. He loved to watch my brother, though, and would work in the pits with him if we were together on race nights, dragging mom and I along, and I usually got to go to the pits with him instead of sitting in the grandstand. After my brother's divorce and discharge from the Air Force, he got out of regular season racing, but continued as a perennial contender at enduro races and figure-eights. One summer I worked near home, so I drove the "powder-puff" races with him. A Plymouth scamp hauls on dirt. Dang if that's not addictive.
Fast-forward a few years, to when my husband's video business was getting off the ground. His buddy Dan loves the races, and he got an inside lead on taping at the track. For a few years, we produced racing videos and featurettes for the Fiesta City Speedway and the local cable company. I found myself back at the track many a Friday night, usually behind a camera. When those late models came around turn four, it set off the old grinding vibration in the jaw. Racing takes money, though: gas, tires, chassis, trailers--none of it is cheap. At FC a cute little class called cruisers raced. Four or six cylinder motors, mostly stock except for safety modifications, run with a driver and a passenger. The driver had the wheel and brake, the passenger had a gas pedal. They had a track car, and gave a door prize every week of a chance to drive it in the next week's feature. I was all over that. Too much fun. That winter, my brother found a turnkey cruiser setup and bought it. We planned to go back and forth together between Casino and Fiesta City, but as it turned out, my girlfriend and I ran it all season at home. We were firmly in the middle of the pack, but we had a blast. I flipped it over once between turn three and four trying to avoid a spinout. Another time I ramped off the back of turn three to avoid t-boning another team of gals who were a bit too aggressive and spun wide in the turn. iPastor says I shouldn't have bothered; all the paint they left on the side of my car over the season proved they weren't any too careful with my safety. Mostly we kept it on all four wheels, and made enough money at the end of each night to pay for the gas and pit fees. We sold the car at a swap meet that fall; I moved too far away to tow the car to the track without a trailer anymore, and just couldn't afford one. It was one heck of a summer, though.
(This is most definitely not me, but it looks like a blast...)

For the Flip Flop Momma...

Have fun...

Stuff

George Carlin was a wise man. We're sorting and distributing my MIL's stuff. Wow. She had a lot, and she really didn't have that much compared to some I know. I need to go lie down for awhile.

Did you know...

...that a 10-year-old girl, when told to put clean sheets on her queen size bed, will opt instead to sleep on a storage box in her closet? I didn't until last night.

Double hrumph...

Today doesn't seem to be going much better. Communication around here seems to be an issue. If I say something, people don't seem to hear it, and they tell me the same thing happens when they speak. It's all a bit tiresome, to say the least. I did get some housework done with a little help from the clan, and Thing 2 helped me get 75 Thank You cards in the mail. That's one for the plus column...

Hrumph...

I'm perfectly out of sorts. We're working our way back to normal, but nothing seems to go right or please me much. The kids have been particularly bucky about falling into line on ANYTHING, which makes me quite irritated so then they tell me I'm mean. I spent a bit of time sitting and spacing off into the firepit tonite, trying to sort it through, but I got nowhere fast. Makes me just wanna hang it up and go to bed.

Productive

Wow. Got iPastor and Thing 2 on board with me and made a real dent in the housework today. Still got a way to go, but the stuff we did was very visible, so it helps morale more than the little stuff that needs to be done but doesn't show. Tomorrow I can clean desk drawers and sort socks... It all sounds very mundane, but its kinda nice to be back to mundane.

The view from my window

Until I find my *&*&!! cord, this is the only picture I have from Thursday's storm. The roof coaters are actually almost half done repairing it already. Kudos to them. More when I find my cord...

Surf of the day

The kids and I were doing some family surfing this evening, and wandered over to MercyMe's blog site for the latest "Cover Tune Grab Bag." If you have a few minutes to enjoy a laugh, check out the boys goofing off. It's a hoot.

Self-explanatory

On the front porch this morning: a half-eaten frog, and pile of cat vomit.

Approaching normal...

...or as close as we get to it around here.

Today was the workshop for the challenge course I will teach in the fall, then I had to work at Job2, where we were swamped. It was kinda nice to be back to somewhat normal.

Goin' out with a bang...

I woke this morning to the sound of hail on my window, and my first thought was,"Oh, Man, the dogs are outside." I rolled out to get them, and got absolutely drenched. I was sure it would blow over before I got them in and I would have been soaked in vain, but it went on for a while. Usually storm cells blow over in 15 minutes or so, but this blew for almost an hour. I looked out the front window and saw the roof on the bar across the road blow off and roll across the parking lot. Our 25-year-old fully insured shingles? Fine. We were lucky: big mess but no damage. My favorite tree is down harmlessly in the back yard, if you don't count the ratty old swing it landed on.
Lots of corn down, but I hear from those in the know its ok as long as the roots are intact. The school I was hired at sustained over $2 million in damage to the gym roof. Waubay and Webster SD clocked winds of 100mph; Madison MN clocked 84. When the storm blew over, we did what every typical midwesterner does. We piled in the car and drove around to check out the damage. Many near misses in the neighborhood. Uncle Dan lost his car under a big tree, but all the people are safe.
We had to bow out of the chainsaw brigade to head in for Elsie's funeral. It was quite a show, and she would have loved it all. She had made most of her plans, and all we had to do was fill in the blanks. We were piped in and the tartan was kirked. I was threatening to succomb to the solemnety of the moment when I looked over to see a niece-in-law with her hands over her ears. It gave me a smile, and I was fine. A friend of hers who does and Elvis show sang how great thou art in the proper Elvis style. iPastor gave an awesome reflection and made a beautiful photo montage for her. The pastor's message was great and I got through the song she chose unscathed. We were piped from the church, and as she requested, her urn was placed in the saddlebag of her brother's Harley, the pastor hopped on with him, and they led the procession out to the cemetery, where the piper ended the service with Amazing Grace. A finer tribute hasn't been seen for many a year.

A life in words inadequate

Elsie Bernice McDougal was born on February 9, 1942, in Montevideo, MN, the daughter of Donald B. and Charlotte (Pray) McDougal. She was baptized in the Lutheran faith and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Montevideo.

Elsie attended high school in Montevideo with the class of 1960. She helped her parents care for her younger siblings and worked with her mother at Lottie's Cafe. She went on to graduate from Willmar Technical Institute in 1972. Elsie was engaged in the profession of hairdressing, operating Carousel Beauty Salon out of her home and, later, The Hair Loft.

Elsie married Bob Jones in 1960, and they raised two sons, Kevin and Kyle. They attended Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Montevideo.

Among her many interests, Elsie was a member of the Montevideo VFW Auxiliary, the Montevideo American Legion Auxiliary, the Clan MacDougall Society, Bowling League and Card Club. She enjoyed dancing, piano music, sunbathing at the lake, fishing, and having coffee while playing Ms. Pac-Man with her life-long friend Wanda Flickinger. She loved to travel, especially to visit someone she loved. Elsie also loved spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren. She attended Trinity Lutheran Church later in life.

Elsie died peacefully at 7PM on July 28 at the Clarkfield Care Center after a relatively brief but valiant battle with cancer; she was 66 years of age. Throughout, she kept a positive attitude and was resolute in not letting the disease defeat her. It didn't.

Surviving family include her two sons Kevin (Julie) Jones of Montevideo, Kyle (Georgette) Jones of Watson; one daughter Tatiana (Marco) Quesada of San José, Costa Rica; grandson Adam (Katie) Jones of Fargo, ND; grandchildren T'Shael, Paige, Geordan and William Jones of Watson; grandchildren Gloriana and Estaban Quesada of San José, Costa Rica; brothers Charles (Carol) McDougal of Richmond, KY, Jack (Julie), John and Don McDougal, all of Montevideo; sisters Sharlet (Jeff) Huston of Apple Valley, and Dolly (John) Cartalucca of Maple Grove; brother-in-law Ken Peterson of Battle Lake, special friend David Beito of Granite Falls, MN, and a huge extended family she loved.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Evelyn Peterson of Battle Lake

Peace

In typical midwestern Lut'ran fashion, we have been inundated with food. I will soon be fat. This woman has SO many friends and a huge extended family that she loved. She had great nephews and boyfriend's kids, etc, that were closer to her than their own folks. She was an awesome lady. iPastor had a nice post about the situation. We are sad. That's all right.

The wait is over, the party's begun...

Heaven has a new hellraiser tonight. Elsie has gone on to glory, and the party is in full swing. We wish she would have stayed longer with us, and we will miss her terribly.

The Mostly McDonald's tour of WC MN

Yesterday was long and tiring, but kinda nice. We got on the road at 530, having to jump the van because I left the dome lights on while packing and arranging the van for the trip. Our family is a little eclectic: I had to unload books, backpacks, two microphone stands and a mic to make room for our stuff for the trip. I was working in the dark, so I left the dome lights on while I went in and out, but I was surprised that was enough to drain the battery. We had a lovely early morning drive, hit the notorious Division Street stoplights just about right, and made it to the center just in time to take my test. I think I did fine, but won't know for 4 weeks. My family dropped me there and headed back to the other end of town to McDonald's for breakfast, then the first round of Best Buy computer dumping (2 per customer per day) After my test, iPastor informed me that he had continued to have trouble starting. As we were in the Cloud, we met Jeff Lee of View from the Cloud for coffee at a different McDonald's. It rocked.


His adorable brown-eyed girl was along, and chatted up my kids.


They left for lakeside adventures, and we dropped the elder kids off at Barnes and Nobel, then headed for Firestone for a quick diagnosis on the van. We had the most pleasant automotive repair experience of our lives there. The mechanics were all pleasant, helpful, had proper hygiene and all their teeth. They told us exactly what the scan would cost, and had us in the bay in about 30 seconds. The final result was that the battery was completely fried, which explained how quickly it drained, so we replaced it and were on our way, happy it wasn't something worse. We hit Best Buy again, then iPastor got to peruse a pawn shop. We attempted to meet a high school friend of mine for lunch, but went to two different Arby's. She mentioned the street number, and I knew we were in approximately the right neighborhood, so I didn't pay enough attention when iPastor drove to the one in the mall. Oh well. I headed back for my test, and the family checked out the local parks system. They wound up at a playground and splashpad. I had checked ahead on the internet, and planned swimsuits for the little ones, thinking the older kids wouldn't be interested if it wasn't an actual pool.

Good thing they dry out quickly.

They picked me up from a slightly more stressful test-this one involved writing short answers regarding case studies-and we met up successfully with Debbie at a comics store, where the natives were becoming restless. We jokingly mentioned that the McD's hadn't had play areas, and she pointed out that the only McDonald's that we hadn't yet visited has a McGym. We headed there to let the kids run off steam and had a great visit.
We then headed home into the sunset. Summer is fading quickly, but it was a nice little half-tank trip that I wouldn't mind taking again. Cheap and painless.
We hit the Willmar Best Buy on the way home, but opted to skip McDonald's until closer to home, so Thing 1 could pick up her schedule.

Murphy's Law

When I can only plan six hours of sleep, I'll get four. This sucks.
iPastor came to bed sneezing and restless. I assume he was reacting to dust from several of the ancient computers we dredged out of the basement to dump at Best Buy for free. Whenever a school got rid of a Mac lab, someone got wind of it and claimed all the old Macs for our basement, because we're Mac people and we could use six boxes of keyboards and peripherals. We kept them long enough there was hope of marketing them on eBay for the nostalgia crowd, but its hardly worth the hassle.
After his sneezing shook me awake, he finally got to sleep, but I couldn't get back. I gave up after an hour and got up to push a load of laundry through and seek a little wisdom from the interwebs before I hit the shower. Wish me luck all.

The past two nights at work have been overstaffed, and I've volunteered to be cut. Can't make any money that way, but I think I've got enough on my plate right now. In the midst of everything else, I have to drive two hours to take my PRAXIS II exam. I've hardly made the best use of my time studying with everything else going on, but I either know this stuff or I don't. Wouldn't be so bad if the blessed thing didn't start at 7:30 am. The test is scheduled in two blocks, and they are 4 hours apart, so we are
also attempting a coffee stop to meet with Jeff from View from the Cloud. Hopefully a good time will be had by all. The whole family is accompanying me for a few hours away, and will get to amuse themselves in the moderately big town while I test. Let's hope it helps.

The family got MIL checked in to a lovely care center. I worked there about 10 years ago doing paperwork for the home health office. They were just starting to renovate at that time; formerly it was a pretty sad little dingy cinderblock building. Now it is beautiful. Although some rooms still show a little wear, they have gone a long way toward warming those up, and the newer areas are wonderful.
Elsie is very weak, and very sleepy, but still in there and able to let us know what she thinks.
And now we wait.

Inevitable

MIL goes to a nursing home tomorrow. Cancer still sucks.
Thankfully, she still has no pain, and has had no nausea for a few weeks. Hopefully we can keep her comfortable.


Too weary and uninspired to write much these days.

We interrupt this blog for the following profound statement...

Cancer sucks.

Crises of different kinds

Got home to OPK and missing kittens. Must go help sort and search.


Update: Kittens found. Mom is hero. Kids happy and grateful. Mission accomplished again.

Success!

Food was eaten. Stories were shared. Shopping was done. Xcel Centre was successfully rocked. Mission accomplisehed; details and pictures when I get all the cables and stuff in the same place.

Steady as she goes...

Not much new. MIL still in hospital. Two jobs today. Maintain...

Gah.

MIL was very weak and almost fell on me today. I was walking with her so I sat her down on the floor. The hospice nurse was on her way over for a routine visit. The fall did no damage, but she's been very weak, her feet have been swollen, and she's a bit dehydrated, so we ran her to the clinic and the doc opted to admit her. They'll run IVs to try to get the good fluids in and the bad fluids out. It's getting harder to keep her at home. I have been working in elder care long enough that the chores don't phase me, but the house isn't easy to accommodate for her. If she doesn't get stronger we may not be able to keep her at home any longer, which breaks my heart. It will probably be easier on everyone, even her, to find her a place with staff trained to handle her care. Just sucks to think about.

German bloggy goodness

Alex got her own blog. Go check her out and leave her lots of comments.

Woohoo!

My night looked a little like this.




It was a gorgeous night, the bugs were remarkably absent, and a good time was had by all.

Ten on Tuesday...

Today its 10 memorable vacation moments. Let's see how far I can get with this one...

1. When I was about 13 we headed to Oregon. The family van broke down in Spearfish SD. My brother and dad had to push it through the campground, but there was a very slight hill so my brother trotted along behind the van pushing it one-handed. It was a picture-worthy moment. Unfortunately no-one had a camera.


2. This one is a little obvious:



















3. This was fun with seagulls on New Smyrna Beach, Florida Atlantic coast:



















4. Sun Studios in Memphis

























5. Off-Off-Broadway cast party in NYC. If you're wondering what's up with the chicken, it was a production of The Vagina Monologues. Ahem.






















6. When the kids were little, we were rather insistent upon stopping to view large concrete oddities such as these in Whapeton ND:























7. And Pelican Rapids MN























8. We are Twins fans, both at home, where they have lots od good "tailgate" activities:



















9. ...and we managed to see them in Spring Training as well, at the Cincinnati Reds training camp in Sarasota.




10. Last but not least, fun from a day trip to Underwater World at the Maul of America. Not shown here was Thing 4's unnatural attachment to the walking shark mascot. Creepy.


Well there's 10. Hope you had as much fun as I did browsing through the pictures.

Helpful advice...

Hymn of the Month

A couple years ago we started having a Hymn of the Month at our church. We've had some old classice, and learned some of those that don't get taken out and dusted off as often.
July's hymn is relatively new, copywritten in 2002. Check it out.

MNDOT Wants to kill me slowly

Our normally 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive to the cities tonight took 4 hours. We alternated routes to avoid a detour and ran smack into more detours. iPastor is sure the fine folks at the DOT had a lovely laugh while effectively entangling every east/west route out of the metro this summer.
Thing 1's mission presentation in the morning at church. We're heading home via a southern route. Maybe we'll get there by Friday.

This is me just about every day lately...

Oh, this could get interesting...

Jesse Ventura is at it again. Makes for an entertaining show, anyway.

Girl's day out

So my friend from work and I are going to see Neil Diamond. When I was about 12 or 13, our little town got cable. I must have watched The Jazz Singer on HBO twenty times if I watched it once. We are ditching the kids and heading to the big city for the day, to explore the Global Market and all the Thrift Stores! Wheee! I'm ready for a little break. We'll head into the cities for a quick trip this Sunday to attend Thing 1's mission trip church service, and there's a free concert next Wednesday night that I'll take the kids to see. Neil Diamond is July 20, so there's a little variety coming up in my life. Not so many getaway opportunites for iPastor, but he has a new obsession in the form of Frets on Fire. He's been geeking all over getting it to run well and rigging a guitar for it, so he's in his happy little element.

Ten on Tuesday...

for today was 10 favorite movie characters. I can only come up with Fezzik from The Princess Bride, and Arnold Beckoff from Torch Song Trilogy. Lame.

Wastin' time

Trying to get all my 'net surfin' out of the way while I am with MIL tonite/tomorrow. Then when I get home I can go right to work and get stuff done. Yeah, right...

Don't know what I'm missing?

We missed Blogstock this weekend. When we couldn't go there, we accepted awesome Twins tix from a friend. We missed this 'cause of the stupid fire alarm company. *whine*

It's oh so quiet...

After a very quiet shift at work, I packed the Things into the car and we drove over a town for fireworks. There were lots of new things to see. It seems like every year there's a new effect or color. At the end of the show, there was a batch of extended fountains, and then a whole barrage of...poppers. No booming crescendo of bright white percussion. Just poppers. I was a bit let down. We usually park on a side road, so we take the big loud barrage as the signal that the show is over. This Year it was the distant cheers of the crowd signaling that the flag had been lit. Certainly couldn't tell by the show...
Now I must go; Red Green is on!

Funny how that goes...

So I guess it's a good thing we didn't head to NE, as the fire alarm where iPastor is security supervisor has gone wonky. The alarm company, which specializes in fire safety, ironically has no on-call staff to come service its faulty system, so security has to increase patrol for fire watch. Hurray. Makes it very hectic for him, as he has to keep checking in with his skeleton crew and make extra rounds. I picked up a couple of shifts since we're home anyway, but I don't expect it to be busy. It's like a ghost town around here.

Hrumpf

Off to MIl's, and not Blogstock. Oh well, life happens, I guess...

Proud mama...

The kids are catching my singsnap addiction...

Here's Thing 3 (on my account):



And Thing 2:

Roto Rooter, that's the name...

Gave up and called the septic guy to snake out the drain. He chewed up something about 2 feet beyond where I'd been able to run the snake. Oh well. It forcced my hand at cleaning the basement before he came though, so that's an improvement. It was our first 90 degree day here, as well, so it wasn't a bad day to be knocking around in a cool basement. This lookin' on the bright side ain't such a bad thing.

35/100

OK, so these are the top 100 movies from 1983-2008. The tiome period denotes them as "new classics." I've been interested in some of these. I've thought of watching some of these. I just never get to it. I'd be interested in seeing iPastor's list of this, with remarks.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)(Does sleeping through half count?)
3. Titanic (1997)(Does it count if I didn't care about Jack or Rose)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)(Does halfway through count?)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)(Does sitting on the shelf waiting to be watched count?)

Weary

If I wasn't working this weekend, I was at MIL's, except for a brief stint at church.
Thing 1 and her great-auntie returned from their mission trip tuckered out and happy. Auntie relieved us with MIL, then we were off to supper at FIL's. Finally got home to discover the sewer backed up again. The drain was empty and dry, but evidence on the floor proves that there is still a slowdown. Now it is time to go rent something longer than 25 feet, 'cuz I've had it cleaned out and running twice, so the problem must be farther out. Not what I wanted to be doing when I got home tonight. If you want some real entertainment before bed, though, try googling "sore cat nipples." (Neosporin and bitter apple, in case you were wondering)

Zzzzzzzzzz

Two jobs today. Recliner time with MIL in between. ZZZZzzzzzzz.

44/100

Lifted from a friend...
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

(edit: although I did this in a cut/paste, some ambiguity in the source I got it from (ie "they" who?) led me to do some backtracking. It seems as if this top 100 was compiled by the popular vote by the BBC. Certaily subjective, and subject to taste, and imperfect (both Complete Works... and Hamlet? Likewise The Lion... and Chronicles...?--They're all inclusive.) Imperfect though it may be, there's merit in every selection, and it's fun. So there.)
Entire List:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - listened to it
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Running in circles

Some days I feel like I'm getting nowhere.

Time sink

iPastor bought me a new toy. iRemember. It is seriously addicting.

Fewer days like this, please...

Holy cow. I had to snake out the basement drain again. I accomplished that successfully, but when I was rewinding the snake, I pinched the heck out of the underside of my arm in the spring-loaded feeder.
Now for a bit of a flashback. One day at Job 1 I was visiting with a regular customer, when I bobbled a dish I was carrying, but made an impressive save. When she commented on it, I remarked that I had dropped many dishes over the course of my 23 years hauling food, but I had never dropped anyone's order before they got it. Not two weeks later, I flipped an order of nachos with an impressive spin that rivaled the coin toss at the superbowl. We fast forward back to tonight, when Murphy must have decided I was due to make up for lost time. As I came into the dining room at job 2 with two plates, my right shoe caught the loop of my left shoelace. I had on some real speed, and as I felt the solid tug of my dignity being yanked dead in its tracks, one thought had time to flit through my brain before I hit the ground: this cannot be happening. I did a rather impressive belly flop. I was carrying mexican, which is huge and double plated on heavy duty platters. The ridge under the plates landed solidly on my inner knuckles, sandwiching one firmly in bruises and slicing the other open. The other side of that platter fell across my other forearm and left a bruise under a minor burn. I have rugburn on my elbows, and every time I turn around I notice a new battle scar. My back is already stiff and I must have jarred my jaw to give myself a lovely headache. I will be so sore in the morning. My almost-40-year-old body is not meant to carpet dive. For all the comments I suffered about being so generously endowed that if I ever fell forward I would bounce back up, I was sadly let down. I hauled myself up and made sure no customers were in the blast radius, then hobbled off to bandage my finger and my pride. I guess I should look on the bright side. The sympathy tip bounced up to 25% for a while and at least I wasn't carrying cast-iron fajita skillets.

Off and running...

...into a new week. Two jobs, then MIL duty.
A friend of mine wrote something interesting:

...'stress' is an over-used word that we as a society have chunked up to escape feeling and being with our uncomfortable feelings.

Stress is a result of interacting with and experiencing life, a process. What we have done with it is make it a noun, a thing that can be acted upon. Can you put stress in a bucket and show me what it looks like? No, because the only way we know it is there is as a byproduct of what we experience.

Over the past two generations or so we seem to have lost the language for what we are feeling. We go to extremes, I'm angry or I'm happy, with no middle ground. In that either/or, we've managed to dissociate and not feel anything or label it as stress.
What happened to being miffed, pissed, annoyed, frustrated, spiteful, all the degrees of feeling unhappy before you hit anger and rage? What about being pleased, amused, joy-full, peace-full, happy before you hit bliss, passion, love, joy and peace?

This works on both an emotional and grammatical level. Not only do people miss all those in-between feelings, we ignore the vocabulary for shades of grey, as it were. Indeed, something to ponder. How specifically can you name what you are feeling right now?

More days like this, please...

Recharged at church today: good discussion, good friends, and good fellowship. We came home and hopped onto a couple basement projects and made some progress, then cleaned up and went to MIL's for supper with B&SIL. The juggling of schedules and responsibilities is starting to wear on us, but this afternoon it was pleasant just to be together in the sunshine in the back yard.

Big Day in a small town...

We doubled the population in town today as folks gathered for our pastor/neighbor/friend's auction.
You may remember me mentioning here that Alex went to Florida with some friends, Roland and Jeannie from church. These folks raised their own three kids, and frequently hosted exchange students in the same program we do. They were also foster parents. They travelled to Florida every year over Christmas break, taking along whichever exchange student or foster kid they had at the time, and usually a few extra friends. While they were there this year, they started sniffing around for jobs and got themselves hired at a boy's ranch. When they got back, they invited their children home to pack up some family heirlooms, filled the van with bare essentials, sold their house lock, stock and barrel to our pastor, and followed their calling to Florida. They spend 8 days on duty and 4 off; we get email updates on the off days that its going fine, but its a brand new world, even for a guy who knows everything...
We have a small church in a small conference, and our pastor is expected to be bi-vocational. Bob has been a carpenter/handyman for many years, and so has Roland. Bob also has a couple rental properties. The auction cleaned out years of accumulated tools bought for one project, duplicates, and other stuff a couple inching closer to retirement can afford to do without. There was also a real lesson in what can be left behind. Rol and Jeannie spent years acquiring beautiful collectibles, but they left them all behind in a heartbeat, and really don't seem to miss any of it (except Rol has found a couple projects around the ranch he wishes he had his tools for; I hear they have Home Depot in Florida, too...) Oh well, if you can't take it with you when you leave this life, you might as well not pack it along to Florida, either.
I made it home spending only $63, which is good for me at an auction. I got some trunks for my international travel-themed entryway/piano/no useful purpose room. I paid $5 for a bridal shower's worth of corningware and cut glass. I paid $4 for two baskets of stuffed animals to get the two brand new laundry baskets. I made the kids give most of the stuffies away, but they had just as much fun with that as they did with the stuffies. I bid $3 for a floor fan, but got a really ugly footstool and some carpet squares lumped in with them. I'll put the footstool out by the firepit to use until its old and rotten enough to throw into the pit. It's all good.
Off to work again, then hopefully get something done around the house.

Rolling into the weekend...

Starting out mellow with MIL, then it's a two-job day. Tomorrow I help out with neighbor's auction, then off to job#2. Sunday I hope to get some stuff caught up at home, then back on duty with MIL. Whew! That being said, I'd better get off my butt. I brought along some laundry, and I need a shower! TTFN!

Happy Trails

We got Alex to the airport to find her flight had been cancelled, but they had already booked her through on a better flight that skipped a transfer in Chicago. So with a few tears and lots of hugs we sent her on her way.

Our family in the city is not unlike the Beverly Hillbillies. Any trip through the metro is punctuated with exclamations about the stores and restaurants we don't have at home. This leads to conversations like this one:

"Look, a Barnes and Noble."
"Even better, there's a Northwestern Books across the street."
What's the difference?"
"NW is like B&N with more Jesus."

The Time has Come...

We packed into the van and headed for the NW metro suburbs today. After a lovely day at Grand Rios, and supper at Famous Dave's, we wound down around a lovely fire at iPastor's auntie's house, and tomorrow we will awaken at the butt crack of dawn to see Alex off on her trip back home. As an added bonus(???), Thing 1 is staying with auntie to go on a mission trip for 10 days to SW Colorado. It will be very quiet around our house...

Spinning...

Lately if I am not at work I am with MIL. Nothing is getting done at home. It's summer. My kids want to go hang out with their friends. I don't blame them, but we need to strike a happy medium somewhere. I am completely frustrated with the situation, and to top it off my sewer backed up in my basement. Yuck.

I love a parade?

Yesterday was the "grand finale" of the local celebration, Fiesta Days. As we were returning from the next town south, where the wedding reception was held at the local casino, there were people everywhere. In recent years there has been a move to bring more of the celebration back downtown. The park has undergone renovation and the local railroad history club has revitalized the depot, turntable and yards. All of those were in full swing with music, activities and people as we made our way back home. I settled in with MIL, completely content with the prospect of an afternoon spent snugly in a recliner, or perhaps on the deck in the sun. In the background, I could hear occasional sirens, horns and bass drums reminding me of the festivities a few blocks away. I was surprised to find myself wishing I was there. Usually about halfway through viewing a parade I find myself reflecting on the inanity of watching a procession of cars and people go by. It is a bit odd, when you stop to think about it too much. Despite that, parades draw people together. No matter how big a homebody one might be, I believe there is a certain aspect of human nature that is drawn to a crowd. Whether it is simple curiosity, a deeply embedded seed of desire to be part of a larger whole, or a fear of missing out, something makes a person want to join a group of others. As I sat comfortably settled in a sunbeam, the occasional rumble from downtown tugged quietly at the back of my mind. It was a curious sensation, but the comfy chair prevailed.

Whew!

The wedding went off without a hitch, MIL did awesome and had a terrific time. After teasing my SIL mercilessly about her waterworks (she cries at supermarket openings) I lost it as I watched BIL and an usher walk MIL to her seat. She looked beautiful and she was so proud of her grandson. I was so glad she made it, and sad to think she probably will not be there for my kids' weddings. I managed to compose myself in time for the ceremony itself, and the duet with step-bro-IL went well. We partied 'til the cows came home; the Things had a blast with all their cousins and new friends. Hard to drag 'em away, especially when the DJ saved the classic rock for the end of the night. The couple was adorable, and life is good here. Back to the rat race tomorrow. For now I'm glad to be on duty with MIL, 'cuz we can have some lovely mutual nap time in the matching recliners.

Away we go...

Rehearsal and dinner went fine, now I am trying to get my wits about me with a little internet/coffee time, then get the ball rolling on getting the family out the door and ready. Should be a fun, if hectic, day.

And the winner is...

I took the closer one.
Now I have to go get ready for nephew's wedding rehearsal tonight and big festivities tomorrow.

Complications

At about 9:15 this morning, interview #1 came through with an offer. Half-time. This did not make things easier. Poop. It's much closer and less hassle, but after factoring in commute, etc., the pay is $10k less. Chewing on it...

Big fun

Job interview #2 took place across the border in SD where my brother lives. They have an awesome swimming pool there, so the kids came along and hit the mall while I interviewed, then we went to the pool. The weather was not as nice as promised, so half of us opted to go across the street to the putt-putt place where we enjoyed a game of Klingon mini-golf. We came out with a net loss of one ball in the water hazards, recovering one of someone else's after we lost two of ours. The sign board at the putt -putt said it all: Summer here?
The local landfill had a "clean-up" sale the past two days, with big discounts on expensive items to dump like tires and appliances. iPastor hauled two washers and a dryer out of our basement, and had the kids load the tires from our shed into the truck. I grabbed the dehumidifier when I got home and hauled it with the tires. The weather here was crappy. I guess it was violent and dangerous in other parts of the state, so I'll deal with crappy. Got home to a power outage, followed by a brownout. All our condensers and compressors seem to be working just fine, so I guess its all good. Now I seem to have acquired a herd of OPK (other people's kids) downstairs, and there is raucousness ensuing. Off to herd the cats.

Decisions...

Job interview #1 seemed to go fine, but I haven't heard anything yet. Job interview #2 started out feeling really great, becoming a little awkward, warmed up, and ended with an offer. Yay. Involves a long commute/possible move, slightly less base pay with slightly more extracurricular bonus. I am hoping to hear back from #1 before I accept. A job in the hand...etc. It could be a logistical nightmare, but the second job has more drama and theatre stuff. Coolness. Everyone there was really friendly, but during the admin interview, he "went to script" and feedback shut down from that side. As soon as he put the clipboard down, it was all good again, and when I went for the next part of the interview with the principal team, it was very casual and comfortable. So I think it's a go, but waiting just a little longer to hear from the other school. It's a difference of 50 miles, so it's worth a wait, I think.
Now to stop pacing...