The words "I may have been bad..." are a tipoff. iPastor volunteered Thing 3 for a babysitting gig. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as she likes the cash; however, she already had plans for the evening. Not wanting to put the folks in a lurch at the last minute, iPastor volunteered us to watch the kids.
They were 4, 3 and 2. I have still not fully recovered. They weren't bad at all, and the little boy is in Thing 4's headstart class. My house is most certainly no longer babyproof, however. Their one-story home is a lot easier to navigate than our 3-floor monstrosity as well. Needless to say, I was more tired than they when dad came to collect them. Gives me a certain appreciation for my own kids.
21 March 2009
14 March 2009
12 March 2009
Daily funny
I am a firm supporter of my President, but I still think this quote I read today is funny...
"Obama isn't the Messiah. Jesus could build a cabinet."
"Obama isn't the Messiah. Jesus could build a cabinet."
11 March 2009
07 March 2009
Never too old to rock
The week of two concerts is over, and I feel a bit hungover. Fleetwood Mac on Tuesday night was a great show. We avoided most of the rush hour traffic, but encountered just enough to discover that our brakes need some attention. Lovely. Got down to the xcel and found a little sub shop close by to have a sandwich before the show. Mick Fleetwood looks like a half-crazed Santa, but the gang can still rock it in their 60s. That's how I wanna be when I grow up. The downside of the evening was driving home after midnight on really crappy roads. The thawing temps and blowing snow combined to create nasty slick conditions. I had been up since 6am, so iPastor drove by default. Poor guy. He's an able pilot, though.
Last night, we took the two older Things to Iowa for the Third Day "Revelations" tour. Wow. It was slightly farther than a trip to the cities, but we didn't have to muck about in city traffic. The weather was a different flavor of crappy though, as we drove into fog which thickened during the concert. The fog was pretty thick, and I remembered that driving due west out of town would get us to the same n/s highway that runs through our own town, so we pointed the van west into the fog and hoped. We wound up o a few miles of gravel, but it soon deposited us on a US highway that took us where we needed to go. We stopped for a midnight snack, and drove out of the fog about halfway home, rolling in about 3:30. Way too old for this...
My birthday present to myself this year was a fan club membership that provides meet and greet passes. It was a good choice...
Last night, we took the two older Things to Iowa for the Third Day "Revelations" tour. Wow. It was slightly farther than a trip to the cities, but we didn't have to muck about in city traffic. The weather was a different flavor of crappy though, as we drove into fog which thickened during the concert. The fog was pretty thick, and I remembered that driving due west out of town would get us to the same n/s highway that runs through our own town, so we pointed the van west into the fog and hoped. We wound up o a few miles of gravel, but it soon deposited us on a US highway that took us where we needed to go. We stopped for a midnight snack, and drove out of the fog about halfway home, rolling in about 3:30. Way too old for this...
My birthday present to myself this year was a fan club membership that provides meet and greet passes. It was a good choice...
03 March 2009
Third Day 0303...09 which is 3x3 (Work with me...)
I am back at Third Day on the Third Day, so excited I could just squeeeeeeeeee, because on Friday Ima gonna take iPastor and the 2 oldest Things to see Third Day!! Woot!
This concert was originally scheduled for Nov 1, and was to serve as Thing 2's birthday trip. Unfortunately, the concert was rescheduled due to the death of David Carr's father. Having recently lost iPastor's mom to lung cancer as well, we totally understood the cancellation. We did however, wait worse than little children during Advent for the announcement of the rescheduled concert. I used this year's birthday money to buy me a Wired family subscription, so the gang's all got meet-n-greet passes as well. Needless to say, the teen things are giddy with excitement, though a bit disappointed that this was not a GA concert. With free rein, I'm sure both Tai and Mark would have received equal attention from my budding shredder and bassist, respectively. As it is, I think we'll be camped out firmly in front of Mark, if the boys haven't rearranged the stage setup since the concert at Augie.
I'll publish the Goose family concert review in our next installment of Third Day on the third day...
This concert was originally scheduled for Nov 1, and was to serve as Thing 2's birthday trip. Unfortunately, the concert was rescheduled due to the death of David Carr's father. Having recently lost iPastor's mom to lung cancer as well, we totally understood the cancellation. We did however, wait worse than little children during Advent for the announcement of the rescheduled concert. I used this year's birthday money to buy me a Wired family subscription, so the gang's all got meet-n-greet passes as well. Needless to say, the teen things are giddy with excitement, though a bit disappointed that this was not a GA concert. With free rein, I'm sure both Tai and Mark would have received equal attention from my budding shredder and bassist, respectively. As it is, I think we'll be camped out firmly in front of Mark, if the boys haven't rearranged the stage setup since the concert at Augie.
I'll publish the Goose family concert review in our next installment of Third Day on the third day...
27 February 2009
Cozy
Here in our big, drafty old house, we have a couple of methods for keeping warm.
First, we pile into the recliners with blankies and sisters:
A secondary method: Fill the bed with a pile o' cats
First, we pile into the recliners with blankies and sisters:
A secondary method: Fill the bed with a pile o' cats
26 February 2009
Snow Day
We got to school today in time to hold one class, then turn around and head home. When I left home, there wasn't a flake to be seen, but by 9 am my car was covered and the roads were slippery.
I got home about an hour before my kids got home from their school. Then the slacking began in earnest. We did get the dishes done as we set the kitchen up for cookie baking jamboree.
While we knocked around in there, the iPastor got some assistance from the Things with a project he's had on the back burner for a while. He found a great little freeware app for sorting recipes. He has had family recipes for years, and with his mom's death, inherited her boxes of recipes from her own mother's cafe as well. They began sorting so they can import them into the database in batches.
Hopefully he can start with some of our pictures soon as well. I am a little fearful that we have lost all our photos from about 2002-last year. We did a lot of computer switching this summer, and one of the major backup disks failed. Keeping my fingers crossed that the king of backup took care of business.
I made some beef stew from leftovers. iPastor did the grocery shopping last week. I am thankful for a man who likes to cook, and who doesn't mind shopping, but we do have different philosophies. We plan for leftovers, but implement it in different manners. I'll portion out meals to freeze for the family, he likes food on hand to use in his lunch. One of his purchases was a beef roast. A ten pound beef roast. We've been eating beef for days. I did manage to sneak some into the freezer to bring out at a later date, but I'm about done with beef for a while. Holy cow.
Since today's content is a little random anyway, I will share with you one thing I do enjoy about winter: Sundogs. One of my knowledge bowl kids got these pictures for me as I drove the short bus to our invitational last week. When the wind is cold and bitter, I can at least look forward to a little eye candy to keep me happy.
I got home about an hour before my kids got home from their school. Then the slacking began in earnest. We did get the dishes done as we set the kitchen up for cookie baking jamboree.
While we knocked around in there, the iPastor got some assistance from the Things with a project he's had on the back burner for a while. He found a great little freeware app for sorting recipes. He has had family recipes for years, and with his mom's death, inherited her boxes of recipes from her own mother's cafe as well. They began sorting so they can import them into the database in batches.
Hopefully he can start with some of our pictures soon as well. I am a little fearful that we have lost all our photos from about 2002-last year. We did a lot of computer switching this summer, and one of the major backup disks failed. Keeping my fingers crossed that the king of backup took care of business.
I made some beef stew from leftovers. iPastor did the grocery shopping last week. I am thankful for a man who likes to cook, and who doesn't mind shopping, but we do have different philosophies. We plan for leftovers, but implement it in different manners. I'll portion out meals to freeze for the family, he likes food on hand to use in his lunch. One of his purchases was a beef roast. A ten pound beef roast. We've been eating beef for days. I did manage to sneak some into the freezer to bring out at a later date, but I'm about done with beef for a while. Holy cow.
Since today's content is a little random anyway, I will share with you one thing I do enjoy about winter: Sundogs. One of my knowledge bowl kids got these pictures for me as I drove the short bus to our invitational last week. When the wind is cold and bitter, I can at least look forward to a little eye candy to keep me happy.
23 February 2009
A clean slate
It's a brand-new week! I have some sort of weird sense of elation and optimism. I awoke on my own 15 minutes before the alarm went off, refreshed and ready to get out of bed. This can only end badly...
Last week was almost too quiet. This week is shaping up to be pretty busy. I did, however, get the majority of papers corrected as they came in on Friday, so all I have left are the stragglers. Between Job2 and school activities, I won't have a free evening until Friday, but I also have some dedicated blocks of time to get some desk work done when I have to wait around school.
We're busy at home getting ready for a visit from our most recent exchange student, and just doing the family thing. It's been lovely, peaceful and domestic, but I haven't had any earth-shattering ideas to share or bloggable moments. So sad. Off to warp the minds of America's youth!
Last week was almost too quiet. This week is shaping up to be pretty busy. I did, however, get the majority of papers corrected as they came in on Friday, so all I have left are the stragglers. Between Job2 and school activities, I won't have a free evening until Friday, but I also have some dedicated blocks of time to get some desk work done when I have to wait around school.
We're busy at home getting ready for a visit from our most recent exchange student, and just doing the family thing. It's been lovely, peaceful and domestic, but I haven't had any earth-shattering ideas to share or bloggable moments. So sad. Off to warp the minds of America's youth!
18 February 2009
All is well...
I'm just lazy and uninspired. As of right now, I have no projects looming with deadlines, therefore the irresistible urge to blog is not there either. Funny how those go together...
11 February 2009
And again with the reposting...
Everyone else has more interesting and important things to talk about today.
MercyMe is visiting the Dominican Republic this week. The pictures they are posting reflect the living conditions of the people who live there. Go check it out, and I'll shut up about my water problems...
MercyMe is visiting the Dominican Republic this week. The pictures they are posting reflect the living conditions of the people who live there. Go check it out, and I'll shut up about my water problems...
The Fine art of Knowing the Whole Story
I was going to link to Jeff, but decided instead to copy/paste. He says it better than I could...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Skate Plaza Stimulation
Some of you may have seen that my son's skate plaza project has been in the news recently. Only this time, for a different reason.
The Setup
Last fall, mayors nationwide were asked by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to submit a list of, what was termed "shovel-ready" projects, along with the cost of each project. "Shovel-ready" refers to projects where, if funding was available, would be ready to start within 90 days or less.
Upon completion of the lists that were gathered, the conference published a report that showed all the requests from the cities that participated. Here is a summary from the report:
Today The U.S. Conference of Mayors releases the fourth in its series of reports on
infrastructure projects that are “ready to go” in cities across the nation – projects that meet local infrastructure needs and contribute to local economic development goals, that can be funded quickly through existing federal channels and start quickly when funding is received, and that can generate the significant numbers of jobs that are needed to counter the severe economic problems we face today in our metro areas and our nation as a whole.
Today we are reporting that, in 779 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 18,750 local infrastructure projects are “ready to go.” These projects represent an infrastructure investment of $149,758,339,126 that would be capable of producing an estimated 1,604,371 jobs in 2009 and 2010. These are the cumulative totals of projects, required funding, and jobs to be created that have been reported in the four surveys of cities conducted by the Conference of Mayors over the past three months. The populations of the 779 cities submitting projects total 77,946,664.
As asked, our mayor supplied this list. In all 32 items were submitted for St. Cloud:
click to enlarge
source: http://www.usmayors.org/mser/documents/mser-report-200901.pdf
As you can see, the skate plaza was listed as one of seven Community Development Block Grant improvement items as defined by the Conference of Mayors
Community Development Block Grants – CDBG would be used to create jobs through: the construction of public facilities and improvements, water and sewer facilities, streets, and neighborhood centers; the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes; activities relating to energy conservation and renewable energy resources; and assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities.
The "List"
On January 28, Tom Steward, from the Freedom Foundation of MN, created this list which he calls "10 Worst Economic Stimulus Requests Made By Minnesota Cities." And topping his list as the #1 worst request was... you guessed it - the St. Cloud skate plaza project.
Steward's entire "10 worst" list was nothing more than what he thought were bad ideas for ways to use stimulus money. The items on his list were cherry-picked out of hundreds of MN submissions and were presented completely out of context. Unfortunately, it was an easy target for the media.
The Backlash
Immediately upon release of Steward's list, our local media decided to give it credibility and run with it. In no time at all, the idea that the federal government would be spending all of the stimulus money on skate parks and tennis courts hit a national nerve and got legs.
Suddenly St. Cloud became the poster child for irresponsible funding requests. In only a matter of days Minnesota's Governor Pawlenty, MPR and Fox News were ranting about this issue and adding fuel to the fire - prompting Sean Hannity himself to write an article called Skateboard Parks Will Revitalize the Economy? in which he stated, "Perhaps Speaker Pelosi can explain how skateboard parks will revitalize the economy."
The Reality
The reality is that all of this has nothing to do with irresponsible spending. Our Mayor was only doing as he was asked and had no allusions that the skate plaza was going to receive stimulus package money. Here's how he states it:
“We were asked to submit a list of every possible project we have that could be ready to go in 90 days or less,” [St. Cloud Mayor Dave] Kleis said. “We didn’t prioritize the list. If we had, those items would have been on the bottom.”
In fact if you look, you'll notice that he simply listed the projects alphabetically by Program type.
The good news for Austin and his project is that this media hype does not affect the skate plaza in any way. It is still being funded through private donations and will still use a portion of the 1/2 cent sales tax that St. Cloud voters approved 3 years ago for park improvements, regardless of whether or not it receives federal funding.
But really, if the federal government decides that city improvement projects that would employ local construction workers and buys tons of area concrete and steel are good for the economy, should St. Cloud turn the money down?
I can't imagine why.
Originally posted by Jeff Lee at viewfromthecloud.com
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Skate Plaza Stimulation
Some of you may have seen that my son's skate plaza project has been in the news recently. Only this time, for a different reason.
The Setup
Last fall, mayors nationwide were asked by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to submit a list of, what was termed "shovel-ready" projects, along with the cost of each project. "Shovel-ready" refers to projects where, if funding was available, would be ready to start within 90 days or less.
Upon completion of the lists that were gathered, the conference published a report that showed all the requests from the cities that participated. Here is a summary from the report:
Today The U.S. Conference of Mayors releases the fourth in its series of reports on
infrastructure projects that are “ready to go” in cities across the nation – projects that meet local infrastructure needs and contribute to local economic development goals, that can be funded quickly through existing federal channels and start quickly when funding is received, and that can generate the significant numbers of jobs that are needed to counter the severe economic problems we face today in our metro areas and our nation as a whole.
Today we are reporting that, in 779 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 18,750 local infrastructure projects are “ready to go.” These projects represent an infrastructure investment of $149,758,339,126 that would be capable of producing an estimated 1,604,371 jobs in 2009 and 2010. These are the cumulative totals of projects, required funding, and jobs to be created that have been reported in the four surveys of cities conducted by the Conference of Mayors over the past three months. The populations of the 779 cities submitting projects total 77,946,664.
As asked, our mayor supplied this list. In all 32 items were submitted for St. Cloud:
click to enlarge
source: http://www.usmayors.org/mser/documents/mser-report-200901.pdf
As you can see, the skate plaza was listed as one of seven Community Development Block Grant improvement items as defined by the Conference of Mayors
Community Development Block Grants – CDBG would be used to create jobs through: the construction of public facilities and improvements, water and sewer facilities, streets, and neighborhood centers; the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes; activities relating to energy conservation and renewable energy resources; and assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities.
The "List"
On January 28, Tom Steward, from the Freedom Foundation of MN, created this list which he calls "10 Worst Economic Stimulus Requests Made By Minnesota Cities." And topping his list as the #1 worst request was... you guessed it - the St. Cloud skate plaza project.
Steward's entire "10 worst" list was nothing more than what he thought were bad ideas for ways to use stimulus money. The items on his list were cherry-picked out of hundreds of MN submissions and were presented completely out of context. Unfortunately, it was an easy target for the media.
The Backlash
Immediately upon release of Steward's list, our local media decided to give it credibility and run with it. In no time at all, the idea that the federal government would be spending all of the stimulus money on skate parks and tennis courts hit a national nerve and got legs.
Suddenly St. Cloud became the poster child for irresponsible funding requests. In only a matter of days Minnesota's Governor Pawlenty, MPR and Fox News were ranting about this issue and adding fuel to the fire - prompting Sean Hannity himself to write an article called Skateboard Parks Will Revitalize the Economy? in which he stated, "Perhaps Speaker Pelosi can explain how skateboard parks will revitalize the economy."
The Reality
The reality is that all of this has nothing to do with irresponsible spending. Our Mayor was only doing as he was asked and had no allusions that the skate plaza was going to receive stimulus package money. Here's how he states it:
“We were asked to submit a list of every possible project we have that could be ready to go in 90 days or less,” [St. Cloud Mayor Dave] Kleis said. “We didn’t prioritize the list. If we had, those items would have been on the bottom.”
In fact if you look, you'll notice that he simply listed the projects alphabetically by Program type.
The good news for Austin and his project is that this media hype does not affect the skate plaza in any way. It is still being funded through private donations and will still use a portion of the 1/2 cent sales tax that St. Cloud voters approved 3 years ago for park improvements, regardless of whether or not it receives federal funding.
But really, if the federal government decides that city improvement projects that would employ local construction workers and buys tons of area concrete and steel are good for the economy, should St. Cloud turn the money down?
I can't imagine why.
Originally posted by Jeff Lee at viewfromthecloud.com
Dear Congress,
Could you please allocate some of that infrastructure money to our freakin' water mains. We got through the deep freeze miraculously with no broken lines, but now that there's a thaw, the bugger in my intersection cracked.
Good thing the cistern in the basement is full.
Good thing the cistern in the basement is full.
08 February 2009
Did you miss me?
I forgot that along with the end of last semester came rebooting for this semester. Been just as busy this past week as we geared up. I am teaching two electives that will no longer exist next year, as administration has dropped electives and switched to English 11 and English 12 due to declining enrollment and scheduling headaches. Therefore, it has opened up some avenues for my classes, as I can basically teach what I want, provided I can find copies of novels for the class in the closets, or otherwise obtain books. We'll keep some of the elements of each elective, but some will go by the wayside. Nothing is official until April, but it looks as though there will be a position for me next year, though it would still be part time. Nothing says I can't keep looking... Now that I'm back in the swing of things, I expect to be less scarse around here, so at least we'll keep Cliff amused.
30 January 2009
19 January 2009
Scarse
Probably gonna be a little quiet around here for a while. The end of the quarter is Friday, and I am awash in backlogged work, plus ready to start next semester's work. Ach! After k-bowl on Saturday we'll also be heading to the College Club in Saint Paul for the Minnesota St. Andrew's Society's Burns' Night supper. Oughta be a blast. But will seriously not help with the paper grading.
15 January 2009
Wild Goose Chase
So I apparently had the other email logged in today and accidentally posted this to the really old blog. This leds me to finding the "import blog" feature so I went ahead and consolidated. Cool beans...The "title" bar has disappeared...
Oh well. So why am I living in Minnesota? It's stinkin' cold here!! We haven't had a full day of school all week. Monday we had completely off at both schools. The blizzard was kind of a flop, but the blowing and drifting in the country still sucked, and the windchills were nasty. More snow on Monday night and continued windchill pushed the Tuesday starts back two hours all over the region. Yesterday, the kids' school ran on time but mine stayed 2 hours late. Diesel buses and children fare better if the sun is actually up, even if it is still blessed cold. By noon yesterday, my district, and several others in the area had already set today's start times back. Most of the rest followed suit by the 10:00 news last night. In this part of the country, almost every district is consolidated to some extent, which means lots more rural routes and shady township roads. With winds, some of them plug back up as soon as they get plowed open. Today as I look out the window, it seems pretty still, but holy cow, the "actual" temperature is -24. Blech. Usually we get one or two "Alberta Clippers" every year, and the severe cold is short-lived (after that it's just cold). We seem to have had more than our fair share of bitter cold this year, and more snow than the past few years. Out and about people are either complaining that it's "the worst winter in several years" or "the first normal winter we've had in several years." The latter is usually heard from snowmobilers and ice fishermen. As I drove home from school around the lake, I noted that it must really be cold, as there were no ice fishermen out, but as I got to the parking area at the boat landing, I saw the DNR hadn't plowed yet. I'm sure if there had been parking spots, the fishermen would have been out. Fishhouses stay warm. I suppose I had better scoot mine out to the bus. Snowsuits ahoy.
*edit*
As if the week wasn't weird enough, we had a fire alarm today. We knew no-one would have a drill on a day like today, so the kids started to file out into the bitter cold. The all clear was soon sounded, but not until after a bit of consternation. There was a problem: a burst pipe leaking all over the entryway. I assume it had something to do with the sprinkler system to set off the alarms, but haven't heard for sure.
Oh well. So why am I living in Minnesota? It's stinkin' cold here!! We haven't had a full day of school all week. Monday we had completely off at both schools. The blizzard was kind of a flop, but the blowing and drifting in the country still sucked, and the windchills were nasty. More snow on Monday night and continued windchill pushed the Tuesday starts back two hours all over the region. Yesterday, the kids' school ran on time but mine stayed 2 hours late. Diesel buses and children fare better if the sun is actually up, even if it is still blessed cold. By noon yesterday, my district, and several others in the area had already set today's start times back. Most of the rest followed suit by the 10:00 news last night. In this part of the country, almost every district is consolidated to some extent, which means lots more rural routes and shady township roads. With winds, some of them plug back up as soon as they get plowed open. Today as I look out the window, it seems pretty still, but holy cow, the "actual" temperature is -24. Blech. Usually we get one or two "Alberta Clippers" every year, and the severe cold is short-lived (after that it's just cold). We seem to have had more than our fair share of bitter cold this year, and more snow than the past few years. Out and about people are either complaining that it's "the worst winter in several years" or "the first normal winter we've had in several years." The latter is usually heard from snowmobilers and ice fishermen. As I drove home from school around the lake, I noted that it must really be cold, as there were no ice fishermen out, but as I got to the parking area at the boat landing, I saw the DNR hadn't plowed yet. I'm sure if there had been parking spots, the fishermen would have been out. Fishhouses stay warm. I suppose I had better scoot mine out to the bus. Snowsuits ahoy.
*edit*
As if the week wasn't weird enough, we had a fire alarm today. We knew no-one would have a drill on a day like today, so the kids started to file out into the bitter cold. The all clear was soon sounded, but not until after a bit of consternation. There was a problem: a burst pipe leaking all over the entryway. I assume it had something to do with the sprinkler system to set off the alarms, but haven't heard for sure.
11 January 2009
A love story
iPastor and I have sort of become the coffee couple among our friends. His family was all about the coffee, never without a thermal pot or travel mug; mine probably not as obsessively so, but there was always a percolator going in the background somewhere. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of "going to coffee" at a family friends' home, and how special it was to be given my very own cup, loaded with sugar. iPastor and I started the "coffee club" at church and I have coffee-themed deco in my dining room. We are not, however, by any means coffee snobs. Probably just the latter, truth be told. In the past, when friends have shared their home-ground brews of premium roast beans, we've choked down the bitter, black tar politely and smiled at their enjoyment. We're plain old Butternut lovers, albeit by the quart.
We almost always get cups or specialty coffees from friends at Christmas and birthday time. Usually the little gift packs of dark roast Caribbean blend are trotted out for parties or given to the "gourmet"-loving friends. When Christmas came this year, we were perplexed to find a coffee press in the basket of caffeine-themed goodies from our friends. Without a coffee grinder, I Googled up some instructions and we tried the press with some pre-ground coffee. The results were entirely unimpressive. Not ones to give up, a grinder was added to the shopping list and duly purchased. We dove into the premium gift beans, noting on the package that this particular bean was a mild roast. Sweet heavenly day! The resulting brew was the closest I have ever been to coffee Nirvana. The proof is in the roasting, I guess. Such depth and flavor is squeezed lovingly through its little sieve into my morning cup. I have subsequently grown fonder every day of the little silver and glass jewel of my morning. The "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" hurry of the gravity drip pot has become stale and lifeless in the shadow of my full and well-rounded new morning companion. I know we shall live happily ever after. At least until somebody drops it.
We almost always get cups or specialty coffees from friends at Christmas and birthday time. Usually the little gift packs of dark roast Caribbean blend are trotted out for parties or given to the "gourmet"-loving friends. When Christmas came this year, we were perplexed to find a coffee press in the basket of caffeine-themed goodies from our friends. Without a coffee grinder, I Googled up some instructions and we tried the press with some pre-ground coffee. The results were entirely unimpressive. Not ones to give up, a grinder was added to the shopping list and duly purchased. We dove into the premium gift beans, noting on the package that this particular bean was a mild roast. Sweet heavenly day! The resulting brew was the closest I have ever been to coffee Nirvana. The proof is in the roasting, I guess. Such depth and flavor is squeezed lovingly through its little sieve into my morning cup. I have subsequently grown fonder every day of the little silver and glass jewel of my morning. The "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!" hurry of the gravity drip pot has become stale and lifeless in the shadow of my full and well-rounded new morning companion. I know we shall live happily ever after. At least until somebody drops it.
09 January 2009
Ahhh, the memories
All my fellow children of the 80's should head over to Mercy Me's website to check out their rendition of "Shout." Good fun.
01 January 2009
It's been an interesting Christmas break so far. Still have a few days off, but I'm hoping to use them to gear up for school.
Christmas Eve, Thing 1 and I cruised to town and noticed a stick or something on the side of the road. I mentioned to her that it looked like the leg of a deer. We forgot all about it until the next day when we were returning home from Grandpa's. "There's the deer stick!" she announced, requiring us to let the rest of the car in on the conversation. iPastor, never one to stifle an inquisitive nature, pulled around so we could determine what, exactly, lay by the side of the road. Thing 1 jumped out to discover that it was, indeed, the severed foreleg of a deer. Ew! Of course, she picked it up and used it to tap on the van windows and gross out her siblings. Good thing it was frozen solid.
The bathroom reno is better than half done. They need to install the new pedestal sink and do the finish work. We opted for the heated floor and have not been sorry. Christmas Eve, I crawled into bed around 10. iPastor's work phone rang about 11:30 as one of his fellows called with a question. It woke me enough to decide to get up and use the bathroom. There was something blocking the door, and I pushed my way in to discover Things 1 and 2 sleeping on the heated tiles. I kicked them out; it's nice and warm in there, but not too soft. The cats remedy this by snuggling in on the towels the kids are all too willing to leave on the floor.
As previously documented, we visited friends on Saturday, arriving home about bedtime. We settled in for the night, iPastor making ready for work in the morning, and I planned to take the family to church. We hadn't been there for two weeks, as our two recent snowstorms had cancelled services and the Christmas program. We don't have an answering machine per se, so we have no little contraption with a blinking light to alert us to messages on the voicemail. It was not until I arrived at church the next day, with only one of the four cranky children, that I was informed that the rescheduled program would take place an hour later during Sunday school. We managed to get the kids where they needed to be, but it was not the calm, uneventful morning I planned.
Got some more puttering done around the house between family visits, and got ready for our annual game party, which was pretty much a Wii party, but who's counting. Yesterday dawned bitterly cold. I wasn't expecting the house to seem so chilly. I noticed the blower to the furnace groaning before it kicked in. I thought it didn't sound too healthy, but went about my business, heading out with iPastor for some errands. When we returned, I heard the groan again, but this time the blower did not kick in at all. A quick check of the thermostat revealed that I was not just cold blooded, the temperature in the house was indeed less than 60 degrees. I got on the phone with the local furnace place, who talked me through to determine that it was the blower motor, but they had none in stock and couldn't get any until Tuesday. I got on the phone with the people who had actually installed the furnace. They were further away, and also had no motors in stock, but they had someone there within half an hour to jury rig a different motor until they could get one in. Should have just called them in the first place, but I was thinking that the one 6 miles away would get the job done quicker than the one 25 miles away. I was assuming they'd actually want to do the job. The installers had originally gotten the bid because they bid a bigger furnace/central combo at $1500 less than any of the locals. Guess I'll keep taking my business there.
Today I had some quiet time in the toasty warm house to be thankful for what I have as the new year starts. 2008 was a helluva ride. A year ago we celebrated Christmas on this day with iPastor's mom, who had a headache and was feeling dizzy. She got her diagnosis January 16, and left us July 28 after a good fight, aided by family and friends crawling out of the woodwork to lend any sort of aid they could. It was well appreciated. In the meantime, I finally finished my degree and got a teaching job. We got some work done on this poor old house that's needed doing for ages. iPastor took a promotion at his day job. He's gotten away from his studies as we've dealt with life around here. He's had a tougher year than I. Here's hoping 2009 brings us experiences as valuable, but not quite so traumatic, please.
Christmas Eve, Thing 1 and I cruised to town and noticed a stick or something on the side of the road. I mentioned to her that it looked like the leg of a deer. We forgot all about it until the next day when we were returning home from Grandpa's. "There's the deer stick!" she announced, requiring us to let the rest of the car in on the conversation. iPastor, never one to stifle an inquisitive nature, pulled around so we could determine what, exactly, lay by the side of the road. Thing 1 jumped out to discover that it was, indeed, the severed foreleg of a deer. Ew! Of course, she picked it up and used it to tap on the van windows and gross out her siblings. Good thing it was frozen solid.
The bathroom reno is better than half done. They need to install the new pedestal sink and do the finish work. We opted for the heated floor and have not been sorry. Christmas Eve, I crawled into bed around 10. iPastor's work phone rang about 11:30 as one of his fellows called with a question. It woke me enough to decide to get up and use the bathroom. There was something blocking the door, and I pushed my way in to discover Things 1 and 2 sleeping on the heated tiles. I kicked them out; it's nice and warm in there, but not too soft. The cats remedy this by snuggling in on the towels the kids are all too willing to leave on the floor.
As previously documented, we visited friends on Saturday, arriving home about bedtime. We settled in for the night, iPastor making ready for work in the morning, and I planned to take the family to church. We hadn't been there for two weeks, as our two recent snowstorms had cancelled services and the Christmas program. We don't have an answering machine per se, so we have no little contraption with a blinking light to alert us to messages on the voicemail. It was not until I arrived at church the next day, with only one of the four cranky children, that I was informed that the rescheduled program would take place an hour later during Sunday school. We managed to get the kids where they needed to be, but it was not the calm, uneventful morning I planned.
Got some more puttering done around the house between family visits, and got ready for our annual game party, which was pretty much a Wii party, but who's counting. Yesterday dawned bitterly cold. I wasn't expecting the house to seem so chilly. I noticed the blower to the furnace groaning before it kicked in. I thought it didn't sound too healthy, but went about my business, heading out with iPastor for some errands. When we returned, I heard the groan again, but this time the blower did not kick in at all. A quick check of the thermostat revealed that I was not just cold blooded, the temperature in the house was indeed less than 60 degrees. I got on the phone with the local furnace place, who talked me through to determine that it was the blower motor, but they had none in stock and couldn't get any until Tuesday. I got on the phone with the people who had actually installed the furnace. They were further away, and also had no motors in stock, but they had someone there within half an hour to jury rig a different motor until they could get one in. Should have just called them in the first place, but I was thinking that the one 6 miles away would get the job done quicker than the one 25 miles away. I was assuming they'd actually want to do the job. The installers had originally gotten the bid because they bid a bigger furnace/central combo at $1500 less than any of the locals. Guess I'll keep taking my business there.
Today I had some quiet time in the toasty warm house to be thankful for what I have as the new year starts. 2008 was a helluva ride. A year ago we celebrated Christmas on this day with iPastor's mom, who had a headache and was feeling dizzy. She got her diagnosis January 16, and left us July 28 after a good fight, aided by family and friends crawling out of the woodwork to lend any sort of aid they could. It was well appreciated. In the meantime, I finally finished my degree and got a teaching job. We got some work done on this poor old house that's needed doing for ages. iPastor took a promotion at his day job. He's gotten away from his studies as we've dealt with life around here. He's had a tougher year than I. Here's hoping 2009 brings us experiences as valuable, but not quite so traumatic, please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)