Hello! Who are you?

Steph comes home from the hospital and is introduced to big sister Margaret. Aren't they sweet?

Margaret at three days old

"What's this in my bed?"

Brian-three days old

Brian at three days old, eyeing his father suspiciously.

Carrie & Dad

Carrie at one month old. Dad and Johanna had this very same conversation last night.

Daddy & Daughter

Anyone see any resemblance here? Brian is one month old in the photo at left.

As I went through old photos, it was very depressing to realize what a lousy photographer I was (am?). There are numerous shots of you kids as babies, featuring acres of sofa, wall, window, floor, etc. with a blurry little image in the center that appears to be a baby, but it's too small to tell. Very difficult to make out distinguishing features.

I Can Read Your Mind

I saw this on a David Blaine special, and I think I've figured out how to do it, so I want to try it out on everyone.

I want you to think of a number between 1 and 50. It can be any number between 1 and 50, but both digits must be different odd numbers.

Have you thought of a number? Okay, concentrate on that number.

I've got it. I know what number you're thinking of. I'll post it in the comments section.

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Blog

Okay, hearing all the problems people have been having, I think I've figured it all out. You may or may not know that Blogger is owned by Google, and Blogger has been going through an upgrade for the past few months. In addition to upgrading the entire Blogger system to a kind of "Blogger 2.0," one of the upgrades was to merge Blogger and Google accounts, so you only need one account/password to sign in to either account. Unfortnately, I didn't realize that I had to upgrade our blog before any of the other changes could take place. So Blogger was asking for Google sign-ins, but then wouldn't allow them.

With the new Blogger 2.0, you'll notice a couple other changes. Most importantly, you can now add labels for your posts, so it'll be able to find a post about a particular topic. For example, I'm going to file this post under "Admin."

Long-story short--I think I've fixed the problem. You should be able to post again normally now, by loggging in with your Google account information. If anyone continues to have problems, please ask me directly to look into it.

Put the pictures on the blog and no one gets hurt

I demand pictures and updates on the newest doings of our newest niece. Inquiring minds want to know what fun new trick she has learned (where "trick" is a broad term that can encompass everything from learning to suck her thumb, to getting her first cold, to peeing on someone other than herself, etc.)

What we're up to

We have a meeting next week with our contractor to lock down the final details and determine a start date for our latest home renovation project: a carriage house/workshop (for our horseless carriages and our work and our shop ;-), a mudroom breezeway connecting this to the kitchen, moving the back door around to the west side of the house, installing some windows in its place on the N side, and framing/roughing in a master bath addition off our closet (which will become a walk-through closet).

Mr. Bun John has also said that he can install a much-needed new asphalt roof for us on the second story, plus shingle the carriage house (I am calling it that because the word "garage" is like fingernails on a blackboard to me - unless someone else can come up with a better name - but the design is like an old carriage house) roof, plus shingle the master bath addition.

We will be doing all the electrical work, plumbing beyond the rough-in, rock, mud, tiling, and finish carpentry work ourselves on all these things. Plus (don't know if this will be this year or not) building a deck-with-pergola/patio combination off the back of the carriage house, replacing remaining east kitchen windows with french doors as access, dividing the existing first-floor bath into two rooms and turning one into an office and refinishing the other as a 3/4 bath, and turning my existing "office" in the kitchen into a pantry area.

Then of course we'll need to remodel our closet and bedroom to go with the new master bath.

And when all that's done, that'll leave only the Bowman guest bedroom as the last remaining existing room to remodel!

Then of course there's the fact that at some point we want to finish off the attic and turn it into a small en-suite plus a box room.

And oh yeah, the contractor's project may include a potting shed/greenhouse/mower storage area, depending on how much home equity loan money we have left when we're done (and how much of our sanity....)

Yeah.... Looking at this list, this isn't all going to get anywhere near done this year, but for sure the new garage, mud room, and framing for the master bath, and the roofing.

Just thought you might like to know that eventually we'll have covered parking. Too late for winter of 2006-2007, but ooh, next year will be grand.

Update on Claire

We saw the Dr. on Monday and here is what we think: She was running high all afternoon and evening on Saturday and we couldn't get her sugar down. I changed her port and this fixed the BG. The problem is that her body was getting used to being high so the rapid drop in her blood sugar made her feel hypoglycemic, even though she wasn't. When she hit 98, her body reacted like it was bottoming out. We don't need to do any further testing and she has been fine since Sunday.

Don't be alarmed but...

Claire had to go to the ER very early this morning. She woke up at about 2am and said she had a very bad dream, and then after that she was very disoriented and confused. Mike checked her blood sugar and she was 98 which is pretty decent but he was worried she might drop more so he gave her a banana and a small bolus for it. Then he laid down with her to help her sleep. About an hour later he came and got me and said she was still very confused. She kept flinging her arms and legs around, kinda like when you are trying to go to sleep but can't quite get comfortable and your frustrated. She also had her eyes open the whole time, but was very out of it. I checked her BG and she was down to 69. I suspended her pump and tried to get her to eat some glucose tablets or drink some pop, but she refused to open her mouth. I would ask her to eat it and she would nod but then get mad when I tried to put it in her mouth. She would start crying for no reason and then stop suddenly and look around like she had no idea what was happening. We asked her questions like what her name is or who we are and she would either just shrug or say I don't know. He blood sugar after about 10 minutes of this was at 89 so she was coming up rapidly just with the pump suspended. We realized that the whole thign was probably unrelated to her diabetes, but something was still terribly wrong. I called the nurse-on-call and explained what was happening and she said she really couldn't figure out what was wrong and we should take her in to be checked. By the time we got to the ER her BG was up to 108. They did a CT scan and lots of blood tests and a urine test. The CT was fine, blood all good, but she has a slight UT infection. The DR. is unsure if this has anything to do with anything, but he said sometimes infections can cause wierd problems. We were there for about 3 hours before she finally came around and could answer all of our questions. There is also the possibility that she was just in a very deep sleep, but he said it should't take hours to come out of it like that.

Anyway, we were realeased and told to make an appointement with the pediatrician tomorrow and he will probably have her go to Akron Childrens to have an EEG and some other more extensive tests done. She has had to do this once before about 2 years ago. Eveything was normal then, but you just never know.

If anyone has heard of something lke this before and can give us some insightt please do. I don't know what is worse, to have all the tests come back normal and still have no idea what is wrong, or to have something come back irregular but at least know where to start fixing it.

Cheerleading

Claire was a Husky Cheerleader last night at the basketball game. She did so well! I was a proud mom. They did 3 different cheers and then a dance. The dance was a bit harder for her as there were a lot of moves to remember and they only had 3 practices to learn all the cheers and dance, but she was awesome on the cheers. There were probably between 50 and 75 little girls out there on the gym floor. It was so cute.

Our big news

I'd like to share our big news, which is that we have a new niece! Her name is Johanna Eden Miller, and she was born on 2/2. I think she was 8 lbs, 1 oz. and 20.5" long.

She was very opiniated and gassy and cute, so she fit right in with the rest of the family.

I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew about this.

claire

I called mom yesterday midmorning and was surprised when Claire answered the phone. She had a snow day. After I talked to her for a bit, I asked to talk to Grandma, and she said "okay hold on." A few seconds later, Claire comes back on the phone and, in a deeper voice says "Hey, I'm grandma. What do you want?" I chatted with her for a bit and she said things like "You need to come home immediately!" Her voice kept getting deeper, and I said "You know, I'm starting to think this is actually grandpa, not grandma." And she goes into the lowest voice possible and says "OY. That's because this IS grandpa. What do you want?" ......the conversation continued for a bit.
I was impressed with her improvisational skills. :)

Oh, and last night, Holly told me that about 6am I screamed and threw the covers off, got out of bed and stood there in the middle of the room. She asked if I was okay and I said "Yeah, I think so." Then I got back into bed and went to sleep. I don't remember any of this.

i had a dream too

except mine was more em-bare-assing. long story short, i kept trying to get dressed after a shower, but random people i didn't even know kept walking into the room, so i'd leave and go into another room to change. every time i walked into the other room, the people would stare because my butt was hanging out the back of the towel, which was flapping happily in a slight breeze. (the towel was flapping, not my butt...well, maybe a little of both.) (i thought i should "claire-ify" that for y'all.)

I have a dream

Last night I dreamt that I was standing around talking to Brian and Rachel, and Rachel said, "My cervix feels funny," and boom! There arrived the baby 2 seconds later! Only instead of Johanna, the baby was a boy.

Medical Report

I had my first post-op doctor's visit on Wednesday. Nothing much to say, except incisions are healing up nicely, and it is now legal for me to do the things I have been doing for the last several days; e.g. slipping my arm out of the sling to get dressed, taking a shower (now I am allowed to get the incisions wet) and sleeping in my own bed. I now have a new fashion accessory---a big black dorky brace covering my forearm, wrist and hand. I go back on Jan. 31st and at that point, if all is well, I begin PT.

Long Term Sub Job

I will be subbing full time starting about mid-March at Hillsdale Middle School. This will go through the end of the school year. An 8th grade Math and Language Arts teacher is having a baby and going on maternity leave. I was called and asked if I would be interested and I interviewed with the principal, the departing teacher, and another 8th grade teacher today. It looks great and I am very excited. The drive is only 15 minutes (about 10 miles) and I can still continue to work at NW's after school program. I really hope this goes well and that it will help me gain a job next year.

Back from the dead

Since no one has posted on here in a month, I thought I'd say hi.

Lessee. Wes' dad had another heart attack right after Christmas (this is number 5, 6, or 7, depending on whose count you believe). The good news is that he is home and feels fine. The bad news is that he lost another 20% of his heart (he had already yet lost a third in previous heart attacks). Plus the fact that he lost more means that he has a blocked artery, but they can't do an angioplasty or even another heart cath because his health overall is so poor. So please pray about that.

Thanks to Brian and Dad, we now have new, non-leaking, functional water lines in the entire house (except the downstairs bath, which we held off on until we remodel that). That was an unexpected hitch in the holiday week, but something that was on our long-term to do list, plus I finally got a hose for my flower beds out of it, so we're happy.

We're still remodelling the upstairs bathroom, and will be for a while yet since these other events took up a lot of time that we weren't expecting, but we sealed the plaster on the cement board and put on the first code of paint yesterday. Next up: installing the floor heating system and tiling the floor.

Wes is making good progress on his new book (yay), and I am back at the office (boo). Baxter, Bert and Ernie are all still fat and stupid and cuddly, so life is as it should be.

Rachie's Christmas list

Electronic label maker
Cheap package of earrings from a store like Claire's (silver in color)
$
New Bible (the Message version)

Claire and James Lists

Claire:
clothes - pants size 7 shirts size 7 or 8

James:
clothes - 18 months for winter or spring
curtains for the 2 windows in his room

108th Birthday is the Last

Mike's Great-Grandma, Martha Bowman, died Saturday night. She had had a stroke earlier in the week, was in the hospital for a couple days, and then moved to a nursing home for a couple days where she died. She turned 108 at the beginning of November.

Brian's list

This all I got for now:
DVDs:
Seinfeld 8 and 9
Chariots of Fire
(I'm sure more will be added, but this is all I could think of for now)
Gift certificates for Gap, Structure
bowflex selecttech dumbells

Steph's xmas list

I think this is all I can think of for now. So in no particular order:

DVDs
Muppets From Outer Space
Looney Tunes Golden Collection series VOLUME ONE (NOW ONLY 1/2 PRICE!!)

a new watch (silver only, no stretchy bands, with a clear, white or blue face, preferably square in shape. no really intricate weavy designs.)

a Browns shirt
a Shin-Soo Choo shirt
(t-shirts or long sleeves, size M)

dressy tops
fashionable shoes
asian-style tops or clothing (there was some stuff i really liked at a store in the Easton Mall, called Forever 21, or something like that. i'd probably like almost anything from that store, and it's got great prices. i even have a picture of one of the shirts i liked, but i'd need larger sizes in the asian-style, it's all just so small!)

a good book to read

Dad's Christmas List

1. Light weight hooded rain jacket for carrying on bike and wearing when needed.
2. G.P.S. Tracking device. Suitable for carrying or mounting on a bike.
3. Biking shorts and shirts.
4. Bike odometer that has
a. distance 1
b. distance 2
c. odometer
d. clock
e. current speed
f. average speed
g. maximum speed
h. trip time
i. riding time
5. Wrap around biking sunglasses
a. keep sun out of eyes
b. keep bugs out of eyes
c. keep wind out of eyes so my eyes don’t dry out and I lose my contacts.

Sleepy

Ever have that thing where you're at work, and you think you're working, and then you realize that you're so sleepy you've spent the last five minutes refreshing an IE Window and not actually doing anything?

Working A Lot!

I have been subbing like crazy. Over the course of the last 2 week pay period at NW, I worked 9 of 10 days (23rd - 3rd, had Friday the 4th off). This 2 week period I will work all 10. I subbed at NW High on Monday and will do the rest of this week and all of next week at Black River Middle for a math teacher. His wife just had a baby this morning and he is taking off 2 weeks to stay home. Just thought I would let everyone know my life up until T-Day vacation :)

Margaret's Christmas List

Dockers "Metro Pants"

Books:
Ella Enchanted
anything by Avi
anything by Gary Paulsen
The Opal Deception, by Eoin Colfer
The Supernaturalist, by Eoin Colfer
anything by Walter Dean Myers (except Slam!)
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series
anything by Meg Cabot
fun with math books (for the classroom) (Like Math Curse, Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone, etc.)

DVDs:
Billy Madison
Ella Enchanted
Chicago

Wall decor for the living room
An Ipper Collens original painting

Notice to All Orlando-Bound Travelers

Keep two things in mind when you pack for Orlando:
1)There are a washer and dryer in our house, so you will be able to wash and re-wear items of clothing.
2) There is a heated swimming pool attached to the house, so bring your suit.

To those flying: Dad and I will be driving down, leaving either Friday night or early Saturday morning, so let us know if there is anything you want us to take down for you. Keep in mind, though, that we will be bringing Mike & Margaret and kiddles back with us, so space will be an issue on the return trip.

Dad and I received a Trip-Tik from AAA with several maps and tourist-type books. You are welcome to borrow them (briefly) or come over and look at them.

Mom's Christmas list

My wish list is very simple---anything you can get at fleamarkets or yard sales for the cabin:
dishes
silverware
cooking utensils
pots & pans (we will eventually get a stove)
games, toys
old books
jigsaw puzzles
old-fashioned hinges and doorknobs
blankets, quilts

ADDED 11/3/06: photo studio portraits of all of you (individually or together).

Carrie's Christmas list 2007

Carrie Christmas List 2007

-Calligraphy family tree back to great-great grandparents on both Smith and Miller sides, on parchment paper

- Countertop composter and replacement filters (in cobalt blue) http://www.nextag.com/norob/PtitleSeller.jsp?nxtg=9d880a240503-C4D5B7A8AC3B9BCC&chnl=main&tag=537010697&ctx=D3pmQjpiUjWJeXDiusIAeVcpLm7FaLTOY9JPtUZnGPqU2fLxG5PvfkqHYPfrg3%2Ft6e%2BwphqQR2v%2F%0A%2BJXkQNI8WNahGfa0tf9jj2irxnj7PG4AJJ3Ikbj50W7zi7h3HdS9&ptitle=526352780

- German bearded re-blooming irises (Blue, white,purple, and/or yellow)

- LOST Seasons 1,3 on DVD

-"America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right On the Money," by Steve and Annette Economides (this is a book)

- Betsy-Tacy books (by Maud Hart Lovelace); I have the first four; I still need: Heaven to Betsy; Betsy in Spite of Herself; Betsy Was a Junior; Betsy and Joe; Betsy and the Great World; Betsy's Wedding

- DVDs: Little Mermaid; The Chronicles of Narnia; Spider-Man 3; Shrek 3

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Okay... it's midway through October. Time to pull out those Christmas lists and post them here.

There are two ways you can create your Christmas list. Both are fairly easy.

1) Just make the list as you would any other post here.
2) If you have an account with Amazon or Froogle, create a Wish List (I'll let you visit those sites to figure out how they work). Once you've created a list, either send me the link or post it directly to the blog. (If you have items that cannot be purchased or are generic, it would be better to create your list seperately and post it here).

Once you've posted the list or I've received the link, I'll put it in the Wish List section in the sidebar to the right. Right now there are question marks by everyone's name. Once somebody submits a list or link to me, I'll replace the question mark with "(UPDATED)".

If you need to make any additions or changes, just make the changes to your original post or off-site list, and those changes will be made automatically to the link on this page.

And that's it. When your secret Santa (or whomever) wants to find out what you're hoping for, they can simply click on the link and see what you have on your list. For example, when you click on my name over there, you'll be taken to a small list I created in Froogle.com, including an iPod, a TiVo (which I don't really need, but it's cool) and a set of Superman action figures (ditto). Please keep in mind the list is over a year and a half old, and these items will be removed or changed soon. I just want to be certain that the link works for everyone.

Pretty simple, huh? E-mail directly with any questions.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

New E-bay seller!

Well, we finally bit the bullet and put our precious but unused musical instruments up for sale---two saxes and a flute. It makes us very sad, but they were just worth too much money to hang on to for sentiment's sake (sort of like Carrie's & Wes's decision to let the barn go). Not only that, but it was sad to see them sitting unused. They were created to make beautiful music, and I hope whoever buys them will do that.

View them here, here and here.

Good-bye, Barn

On Thursday we got the final estimate on what it would take to get our barn into usable condition. The answer: $80,000.

Believe it or not, this was actually an answer to prayer, because this made it patently clear that we couldn't afford it and shouldn't go ahead with the project (this put it $30,000 over budget). If it had been just a little bit over budget that would have been a tough decision.

The same afternoon, I talked to Moose and she had the number of the guy who de-constructed Mike's grandpa's barn. He's from North Carolina (the barn guy, not Mike's grandpa), but when I called him it so happened that he was still in Ohio.

The next day he and one of his partners came to look at our barn. He poked around for a while, then came in to the house and told us, "Well, it's an awfully big job, and we couldn't get to it for a while."

So we were sad for a few minutes, until the guy said, "Could you possibly wait 3-4 weeks for us to get to it?"

Umm, yeah. We've waited 4 years. I think we can wait 3-4 weeks.

This guy works for salvage, so it's free to do the de-construction. He also asked us if we could do open burning, and we said yes, there's a big burn area 50 feet from the barn.

He said, "Great, we'll just burn any unsalvageable scrap for you as we go, so then you don't have a huge pile at the end."

So -- they work for free, and they clean up after themselves. Yeah, we're pretty happy about that.

Also, now we have our home equity loan to play with on the house!!!! We are accepting ideas at this point. ;-)

We're sad to lose this piece of history from the property, but happy that it will it get a new home as another barn or recycled into other useful things, and very happy that we can get some larger projects done on the house now.

First in line: a garage (that's gair-ahhj to anyone who's been in Australia or NA this year).

"...Frageelay."

I never even knew A Christmas Story was filmed in Cleveland, but evidently we can make a pilgrimage to the house starting in November.

What's the difference between the Yankees and a Haunted House?

Answer: A haunted house has bats.

(I have to credit Wes with that one.)

Claire scored a goal

I forgot to post last week that Claire scored a goal in her game. She almost scored one today but it got blocked. She really seems to be enjoying it - a lot more than softball. I think she just needs something where she's up moving the whole time.

We've met Taylor...

...and she is a great kid. We've gotten to spend a Friday evening and a Saturday afternoon with her now.

The first time we met her, we went out to dinner and she talked non-stop the entire time. She is the oldest of 6 kids, is in the 4th grade, is very smart, and volunteers at her school reading to the smaller kids.

She looks SO much like Dan and Bob. Dan has finally met her, although I guess "hi" was about as far as they got.

This past Saturday we were at Wes' parents' house; all 3 Smith grandkids were together, and Taylor hardly said anything. I guess Kayli and Christian talking a mile a minute was a little much to compete with. But the 3 of them seem to get along very well. Shockingly, well, actually, considering all the circumstances.

Taylor wanted to learn to crochet, which made Kayli want to learn, so Mary was very excited to teach the two of them. They were doing quite well working on a blanket.

We hope to have her up to visit someday soon. It is hard to catch up on 10 missing years all at once, but she is definitely worth it.

Goodbye Oliver

We had almost ten years with him. He wasn't the cutest, wasn't the smartest, wasn't the bravest, but we all loved him. And I know how much dad loved his little "surprises". We won't be able to hear his toenails clicking on the kitchen floor anymore, but soon dad's will grow long enough to fill that void. We watched him grow from a shaking, quaking, underfed little puppy into a plump, white-bearded old man. He didn't care to be around little children all that much when they were awake and moving, but once asleep he wouldn't leave their side, intent on standing guard over them. He was always so happy to see us when we got home from work or came over to visit, and he always had a sixth sense about when we were about to get into a vehicle and he had a fighting chance of going along.
Think of how old you were and what your life was like when we got Oliver. I was in fifth grade, Mr. Kline's class, I looked like a boy and wore flannel fairly often. In our family photo that year, I wore a flannel dress that looked more like a nightgown and I was mortified because instead of buttons it had bra hooks to fasten it together. For some reason, the day mom got Oliver, I came in the front door of the house when I got home. Mom took me into the dining room and introduced me to this shivering little black dog that peed all over itself with fear when I tried to get him out of his cage. We tried to make him sleep in his cage that night, but he cried until I let him into my room, and then he scratched at the door until he was allowed to go into mom and dad's room, where he finally went to sleep. I guess he was attached to mom right from the start. The last time I saw Oliver, he was in the back of mom and dad's big monster van. They helped me unload my stuff at OU, I kissed mom and dad goodbye, and I petted Oliver and gave him a kiss before they drove away. So at least I got to say goodbye.
I'm trying to think now. That food and water dish he had, the water dish was all chewed up. Did he do that when he was a puppy, or did Toby do that before him? We've had that dish for a very very long time.
Anyway, goodbye Oliver, no dog could ever replace Toby, and no dog will ever replace you. I'm glad I didn't cut your toenails at the vet's visit just last month, because I wouldn't want that to have been one of your last memories of being with me. Although you were mad enough when I took you home and gave you a bath. Have fun in doggie heaven, and eat all of Mike's steaks that you like.

Sorry, I tried to put a couple photos on here, but I can't get them to load.

name dropping

Ok, we are letting everyone know that when our daughter is born she will be welcomed into the world as..................... Johanna Eden Miller.

I could not figure out to add text to the photos, so I had to do it this way.
In the second set of pics you see a turkey leg hovering above her. That is her left arm with her hand next to her face. Maybe she's picking her nose. ------- ---- Miller stop that right now!

...have some more sllloooppppy joes....

Say hello to granddaughter/niece #2 (Miller side anyway)

• 

Good News/Bad News

Hasbro has officially updated the Monopoly game with modern properties across America and new playing pieces.

THE GOOD NEWS:
Jacobs Field is one of the properties you can buy or sell.

THE BAD NEWS:
It replaces Mediterranean Avenue.

Special Holiday Guest

Steph is mentoring a student from Hong Kong this quarter. Her name is Angel, and she speaks English very well. She is eager to experience all things American while she is in the U.S. Would anyone object to taking her along to Orlando in November?

Claire's soccer

Claire is playing soccer this year. I was waiting to receive a schedule and then I was going to post all of her games here, but I have yet to get one from the coach. Anyway, she has a game every Saturday through mid to late October. They are either 10 am or 11:30 am. If anyone wants to come feel free. They are at the fields behind the elementary - just like softball was.

BLOGGING

Well hoodah-I have now blogged. I feel better already.
That is it for now.
Dad

American Idols LIVE! Tour Report

For those who didn't hear, Carrie won tickets to the American Idol concert on Friday. Floor seats, about 8 rows back. The evening included a 'Meet & Greet' with the performers. There’s way too much information to get into real detail about any one thing, so I’m just going to list a bunch of random thoughts and impressions I got, starting with the ‘Meet & Greet’ portion of the evening.

-A representative from the tour met a large group of us at the Will Call of the arena. I was expecting for the meet & greet to happen pretty quickly, but we were all kept waiting just inside Will Call for 30-45 minutes or so. I’m guessing they had problems rounding the performers up and getting them to the meet.

-Now, I’ve never been to a concert meet & greet. Maybe I’m naïve, but I figured we’d get a chance to talk and mingle with the Idols. No such luck. We were ushered downstairs into a large room where the Idols were seated behind a long table with a box of Pop Tarts in front of every other person, signing autographs like an assembly line. If we didn’t have anything to sign, we were given picture of all the Idols.

-We were expected and instructed to keep the line moving. We were not to touch the Idols. We were not to ask to have our picture taken with the Idols. We were to not ask the Idols to say hello to our grandma (which is what I was hoping Elliott would do for a friend of mine).

-Even with the short time we spent at the meet & greet, the Idols behavior was consistent with what we had seen on TV. Taylor seemed to be humming along to a tune only he could hear. Ace made sure to make contact with every person in line and thank him or her for coming.

-I asked Katherine if she was getting tired of doing all this publicity. She smiled and said no, but she actually mouthed it. So, for what it’s worth, it did appear that her voice problems are genuine.

-Almost all the Idols seemed very pleasant. There was only one who seemed annoyed or bothered to be there. And, no, I won’t say who it was, other than to say it wasn’t anyone I’ve mentioned so far.

-I was hoping to get a bag of loot from the concert. A free hat or program, maybe a meal. Other than the cast photo, we got diddly.

-This is an indicator of the audience. Between the meet & greet and the concert, Carrie and I had supper at a pizzeria near the arena. Out of maybe 150 people in the dining room, maybe a dozen were men. The number of people under 16 was about equal to those above 16.

Now, the concert:

-I’d like to apologize to all the Idols on behalf of the audience. Mandisa started a trend of all the Idols of asking the audience to get on their feet. This is Columbus. Unless you’re singing the OSU fight song, we don’t do ‘get on your feet.’

-Mandisa mistakenly called Columbus ‘Columbia.’ Understandable mistake when you’ve been touring for a month and don’t know which state you’re in, much less what city. Still the audience let her know of her mistake.

-She dedicated one of her songs to the bass player in the band. He didn’t seem to be expecting it, so it makes you wonder what’s going on back stage.

-I would say the note of the collective scream the audience hit when Ace appeared on stage would be a B-Sharp.

-By the time Ace finished singning ‘Father Figure,’ every girl under 12 had achieved puberty.

-His version of ‘Harder to Breathe’ is a lot better than I expected it to be. I could see him doing well with that kind of music.

-Even though he did this weird thing with his chest that simulated a heartbeat. The girls seemed to love it, but I thought it was a little creepy, and Carrie couldn’t stop laughing.

-He’s awfully fond of the arms-outstretched-Messiah pose on stage.

-This is just my opinion, but Lisa got voted out a lot sooner than she deserved. She’s got a professionalism that’s beyond her age. I think if she had waited to audition until she was 21, she could have taken the entire thing.

-And she plays keyboards.

-On the flip side, she like mellow 70s hits of Elton John.

-Lisa called Paris her best friend.

-During ‘Waterfalls,’ they had fairly complex choreography.

-It’s something about Lisa’s smile. More than any other Idol—including Taylor—she looked like she was having the absolute time of her life the entire evening.

-On her own, Paris danced like she was getting her freak on.

-That reminds me, I just wanted to say that all the performers seemed much more comfortable on the tour stage than they ever did on the show. But Paris was the most noticeable.

-Not much to say about Bucky.

-Bucky and Kellie, on the other hand… During their duet of ‘You’re the One that I Want,’ neither one of them seemed like they wanted to be there, like they were more concerned with their choreography than with the song. In comparison to Paris and Lisa, Kellie and Bucky could barely do the box step.

-No offense to Kellie, but I have a jar of pennies on my desk that has more stage presence than she did. She moved gracefully but stiff, like she had adopted her training as a high school beauty queen as a way of life.

-To her benefit, when she took off her leather jacket to reveal a corset underneath, I totally forgot about her stage presence.

-She ended the first half of the show before the intermission, saying she couldn’t wait to get out of her corset so she could breathe again. But when she reappeared in the encore, she was wearing another corset.

-Before the concert started and during the intermission, people were encouraged to send text messages to a number and have their messages projected on the video screens. There were plenty of messages of people proclaiming their undying love for Ace and Chris. ‘ace I love u marry me,’ ‘chris have my baby,’ stuff like that. But I think my favorite was ‘Marry me PopTarts.’

-Oh, and evidently someone actually proposed via text message before the concert started. And she said yes, so that was kind of cool.

-At the beginning of the concert and at the end of intermission, they played the title sequence of this last season, followed by a fast-cut montage of moments from the season. Maybe it’s just me, but I was bugged by the fact that they didn’t actually put Taylor in the title sequence. How hard could it have been, and it would have been a way to acknowledge his place among the Idol winners.

-If the note for Ace was a B-sharp, the one as Chris took the stage was High C. And if the girls went nuts for Ace, all their mothers went straight into heat for Chris.

-Chris had more solo songs than any performer other than Taylor.

-Since smoking has been banned indoors in Columbus, and is generally frowned upon by society, most people don’t have lighters to wave anymore. But what do we have? Cell phones.

-Note to Elliott Yamin: Next time you duet with Chris, YOU pick the song. Nickelback just isn’t your gig, man.

-By the end of the series, Elliott had cleaned himself and looked really snazzy with his ‘Rat Pack Nouveau’ look. For the concert he looked rumpled in black jeans, a black button-down and backwards baseball cap. Totally the wrong look for the kind of music he soloed with.

-I was surprised by the fact that there were no back-up singers on stage with the Idols. Were they backstage, or were they on a backing track?

-Best Song of the Night goes to the quartet of Elliott, Chris, Ace & Bucky on ‘Patience.’ It deserved to be the bonus track on the CD, as it showcased the best skills of all four performers.

-Number of men who played musical instruments: 3 (Taylor on guitar, harmonica and tambourine; Chris and Bucky on guitar).

-Number of women who played musical instruments: 1 (Lisa on keyboard)

-Katherine is still under restriction and could only do two songs, ‘Black Horse and a Cherry Tree’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’

-She was in a cast from breaking her leg. How did I miss that in earlier posts?

-While almost everybody else either dressed casually or ‘stage casual,’ Katherine stood out by wearing a long, flowing black gown reminiscent of her infamous yellow gown.

-Another notable song missing from the line-up: the girls’ ‘Man! I feel Like A Woman.’ Which is too bad, because I was really looking forward to it. I wonder why it was cut.

-Taylor just rocks. He may not be the best singer of the bunch, but he is easily the best performer.

-He came charging through the audience from the back of the auditorium to the stage, passing right past my aisle seat. Yay me!

-I was close enough to touch him as he passed if arena security hadn’t jock-blocked me. Boo security guy!

-However, I was close enough to get a good look at the seat cover with lapels he calls a jacket.

-Here’s the reason Taylor deserved to win American Idol: he makes every song his own. All the other contestants were singing covers of a famous song. With Taylor, you forget he’s singing a Stevie Wonder tune about racism.

-And I finally figured out what his dancing style reminds me of: Elaine from Seinfeld.

-My number one pet peeve about any concert: Forced encores. Why do performers continue to insist on trying to fake out the audience? Taylor says good night and leaves the stage. The rest of the band leaves the stage, but nobody turns up the lights. Are we really supposed to believe that they’re NOT coming back? Encores should be spontaneous, when the audience just will NOT let the performers go without one more song. When they’re pre-planned, it makes the whole thing feel disingenuous.

-But even I have to admit this: I actually got chills watching everyone on stage doing ‘We Are the Champions.’

-On the other hand, I got the distinct impression that Taylor had totally forgotten the words to ‘Living in America.’

-Oh, one last thing—what I said at the beginning about Columbus not getting on our feet for anything short of a BCS Bowl… we got on our feet for Taylor and stayed on them.

You know, Brian, you could do this...

Who's the big winner?

I won two tickets to the American Idol concert coming to Columbus on 8/11, INCLUDING backstage passes for meet-and-greet.

Guess what Wes and I will be doing next Friday?!?!?!?!?!?

Try not to turn too green!

I bet it was Dad who stole this cat

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/07/18/20060718-B3-03.html

Homecoming, poison ivy, and X-ray vision

Helllllloooooo.... Is there anybody out there? WELCOME HOME, TESSY!!!!

I have poison ivy on my face. By Sunday morning it had gone to my eyelids. The left one was all swelled up. I didn't go to church on Sunday. By Monday I had it in my throat. I went to the doctor and now I'm on the roids, so try not to be too jealous of the toned physique and cute little goatee I will shortly be developing.

I was framing some pictures to hang, and I showed one to Wes. "This is the goods," I said. He looked at it. "What is this, your dad? he asked. "Yup", I said, "but more importantly, look at what he's holding -- that's good blackmail right there, that is!" Wes said, "You mean the rabbit he's holding?"

Dun dun DUN.

I looked closely.

Wes and his stupid Superman X-ray vision. He's right. It IS a rabbit that dad is holding in that picture. And all these years I thought it was a cat. Stupid me. Stupid no more blackmail.

A Basket of Poo

Today I happened to notice a short story that I wrote exactly a year ago. Although you've seen it before, I thought I would post it for your enjoyment:

*********************

A Basket of Poo


Mr. and Mrs. Smith bought a house. “Look, look,” said Mr. Smith. “It is a nice house.”

“It is a very pretty house,” said Mrs. Smith. “We should have pets to live in this pretty house with us.”

Many pets came to live with Mr. and Mrs. Smith in the pretty house. Some of the pets were big. Some of them were small. All of the pets were stupid.

“Look, look,” said Mrs. Smith. “See our stupid pets. We have a stupid dog, and two stupid cats, and stupid fish.”

Mr. and Mrs. Smith did not know that stupid mice also lived in their house. One day Mrs. Smith came home. There was a mouse in the kitchen.

“Look, look,” screamed Mrs. Smith. “Look, stupid cats. There is a mouse.” The cats did not say anything. They were too stupid.

Another day Mr. Smith said, “Look, look, Mrs. Smith. There is a mouse running around the living room.” Mrs. Smith stood on the couch. “Look, look, Mr. Smith,” she screamed. “Catch the stupid mouse.”

Mr. Smith caught the mouse and put it outside. The next day Mrs. Smith went downstairs to feed the stupid cats. She put her hand in the bag of cat food. She screamed and ran up the stairs.

“Look, look, Mr. Smith!” she said. “There is a mouse in the bag of cat food.” Mr. Smith went downstairs. He was down there for a long time. He did not tell Mrs. Smith what he did with the mouse in the bag of cat food. She did not ask.

After that, Mr. and Mrs. Smith saw many stupid mice. One day Mr. Smith said, “Look, look, Mrs. Smith. Our cats are too stupid to catch mice. We should not have stupid pet mice in our house. We should buy mouse traps.”

“You are right,” said Mrs. Smith. So the next day she bought mouse traps at the store.

Mr. Smith took a mouse trap. He put peanut butter in it. He took it downstairs and put it in the closet next to the bag of cat food. “Look, look, Mrs. Smith,” he said. “I will catch the stupid mouse that likes to eat cat food.”

“Why don’t you look in the closet and see if you can find the mouse nest?” asked Mrs. Smith.

“You are right,” said Mr. Smith. So he looked in the closet. In the closet were many things. There were baseball gloves and volleyball knee pads and jump ropes. There were knee braces and shin guards and baseball bats. There was also a large basket to put all those things in.

Mr. Smith took the basket out of the closet and looked in it. When he had taken out the baseball gloves and volleyball knee pads and jump ropes and knee braces and shin guards and baseball bats, there were still several large lumps of something left in the basket. It looked like thousands and thousands of tiny somethings that had clumped together into three large piles.

“Look, look, Mrs. Smith,” he said. She came downstairs and looked.

“What is that?” she asked.

“It is a basket of mouse poo,” said Mr. Smith.

Mrs. Smith said a word. She said the word in Dutch.

“That’s right,” said Mr. Smith. “Poo.”

My thoughts

I think that all grownups should get a 3-month summer vacation. With pay.

Teenagers could continue to run Dairy Queens for us, so we'd be able to get our ice cream. And that's all you really need in the summer, right?

I saw a dead possum this morning

Is that thrilling or what?

We finished our winter projects on Saturday. Only about 3 months or so behind schedule, eh? But there is now a bannister in the upstairs hallway along the stairwell, making it much more difficult to fall down the stairs from the side, so that's nice.

We watched 4 movies this weekend:

The new Pirates of the Caribbean
Swingers
The Princess Bride
Hitch

This is what we are forced to do now that we have finished the high-pressure need to work on that particular remodelling project -- relax. It is a strange sensation indeed.

Update on Paul Janssen

The latest update from Chuck late Thursday night:

Paul is being kept in an induced coma in order to stop him from fighting the ventilator and other tubes going into and out of his body. The primary problem is his lungs. They were badly bruised in the accident, and he inhaled water while lying unconscious in a ditch. The ventilator and induced coma are to allow his lungs to begin healing. The idea is to gradually bring him out of the coma and encourage his lungs to work by themselves.

He went through a crisis on Wednesday evening. His chest cavity began to fill up with air, and his blood oxygen, pulse and blood pressure readings went down. The doctor (the doctor who was on call that night, who "happened" to be the chief of that department) called in Chuck and Shelley and said, "We are running out of options here." He did, however, say that as a last-ditch effort, they would change the ventilator tube. Chuck and Shelly went back out to the waiting room while that was being done and began to storm Heaven with prayer.

Within a few hours, Paul's vital signs had improved to a point where they were even better than before. Later that morning, the doctor saw Chuck in the hospital cafeteria and told him that he was amazed at Paul's recovery. He confessed that the night before, he had not had much hope of Paul's survival. The doctor recommended that Chuck and Shelley continue to pray, because "we are seeing a real miracle here." The doctor, by the way, is Jewish.

In the meantime, Paul's regular doctor (the one who has been in charge of his case since the accident) had expressed concern that no one had seen Paul move his legs. He told the Janssens he was going to order an MRI to see if there was a blood clot in the spine. Now, that morning, before speaking to the doctor, Chuck had suddenly recalled an old song we used to sing, that goes something like this: "Every place on which your foot shall tread, I have given it to you, I have given it to you..." Chuck was impressed to sing this song over Paul and pray for fulfillment of that promise---this was still before the doctor had expressed concern about Paul's legs. After the doctor talked to them about it, Chuck told Shelley about the song. Shelley's mouth dropped open, and she said, "But the Lord reminded ME about that song this morning, too, and I sang it over Paul!"

They laid hands on Paul's legs and began to pray. Paul moved his left leg back and forth. They ran out to tell a nurse, and she went in and saw Paul's leg move, too. When it was reported to the doctor, his mouth fell open. He cancelled the planned MRI.

So for now, prayer continues to be needed for Paul's lungs to heal. The plan, at this point, is to gradually bring him out of the coma over several days and see if he can breathe on his own.

a few photos

sorry, right now i'm too tired to explain in detail these photos. the one of me and naoki was taken my last night at Helan's house. notice the short hair. Naoki gave me his baseball hat from his Japanese team, that's what I'm wearing.

and the other two photos are from Ingrid's homestay, it's a really nice house, lots of old and antique stuff...i'll explain it later. just thought you might like to have a peek at it. okay, nitey nite for me! enjoy the 4th of July.

no photo yet

sorry, haven't gotten around to taking a photo of my hair. but i did go to a hair stylist and get it fixed up. it's not bad now, but a little too short for my taste. jamie summed it up pretty well the other day. i came downstairs early in the morning, having just been forcibly woken up by my alarm. he said "steph! look at your hair!" i said "what does it look like?" he said "it looks...tired!"

More on mice

So at lunchtime today I decided to fetch something from the downstairs freezer. I opened the basement door, and had to stand stock-still to take in the little tableau before me:

At the bottom of the stairs were two cat food dishes, from which our two indoor cats, Bert and Ernie, are served their ridiculously expensive meals (they’re on a special diet thanks to Ernie throwing the cat equivalent of a kidney stone last year).

Directly in front of one of the dishes sat Ernie.

In one of the dishes sat a mouse, nibbling away at the tidbits left behind after the cats’ morning buffet.

Ernie was boredly observing the mouse – not as if he were stalking it, not even as if he found the mouse particularly interesting – certainly not as if he intended to do anything about it – and the mouse continued to eat.

Ernie could literally have stretched out his neck to snap up a mouthful of mouse, but he chose not to.

Apparently our cats are taking their diet way too seriously.

Guess what Wes will be doing when he gets home tonight?

thine hair shall be chopped...

ying cut my hair this evening. i was terrified the whole time. i won't go into details...it looks okay. i'm just not going to think about it, maybe on monday i will sneak down to the hair salon and ask them to clean it up for me without making it look too noticeable that they did anything. i think mom would like the style, it's just kinda messily done. anyway..........only one week left in this homestay, then i'll be with some friends for a week, then Uluru, then home! i'll put a couple photos on here of my new hair when i get a chance.

Kra-KOOM!

So we all know that I'm going to a chiropractor, right? Well, I've been going to a chiropractor for the past week or two. This week I've spent three hours on what they call a 'decompression table' designed to seperate my vertebrae, but what amounts to a medieval rack. Because I'm just starting this therapy, I'm required to spend the rest of my evening on my back, usually watching movies on the couch so my vertebrae don't reset (tough life, I know).

ANYWAY... Yesterday a nasty storm blew through Delaware, and on my way home from the doctor's office I saw a half-dozen branches blown off the trees, and power was out on the main road through town. Every time a galer like this hits, I'm afraid that the trees just south of our house will blow over. That didn't happen, but something else did.

I was flat on my back (watching Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, check you're local listings), when she asked me to come outside and see something. We walked to the back of the property, where she showed me that the largest remaining tree on our land had been split down to the trunk, and a large strip of moss had been turned black.

Looks like lightning, but since we weren't there when it happened, it's hard to tell.

When I was growing up, something similar happened to a tree in my parent's yard, where my family could see it. Lightening struck a tree and scored it in a spiral like the thread of a screw, then jumped to another tree with the same root system and shot up it like a bottle rocket. At least one of the trees died. I don't know what that means for the tree in our backyard.

In other news... I've formally and officially gotten Carrie addicted to Lost. Our local library carries a lot of DVDs of TV shows by season. I reserved the set at the beginning of April, and it just came in last week.

Once I got her to sit still for an hour, we ended up watching 17 episodes over the course of 2 days. She's so hooked she actually chose to watch a couple of episodes over working on the stairwell.

Hello Little One!

Here is what our Little One looks like. Everything looks good so far!

Kiss Me, I'm an Uncle!

So, among the other things my parents talked about as they were at our house for lunch yesterday, we learned that my brother has a 12 year old daughter he didn't know about. Dan was slapped with a paternity suit earlier in the year, and he took the test to fight it.

You can figure out how that turned out.

Her name is Taylor, but we don't know too much about her. We believe she is living in Kentucky with relatives. Her mother is unmarried, and we think that she has 3-4 other kids, each with possibly different fathers. Beyond that, we don't have much more info on her. Not even a photo.

Dan's going to have to pay child support, but in return he does get visitation rights. It's doubtful he'll pursue it, but my parents would at least like to meet their first grandchild, even if they know that they won't have much of an influence in her life.

This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes

This is how we get dressed in the morning now:

We get up, shower, brush, do whatever we have to do, and put on some sort of undergarments.

We pick out our clothes for work for the day, walk out to the end of the scaffolding that has been filling up our stairwell since Friday, and hang them on the end of said scaffolding.

(At this point I usually like to take my shoes and toss them over the end of the scaffolding in such a way as to maximize the scaring of the allegedly starving animals congregated at the bottom of the steps. (There are usually 5 (animals, not steps) at the moment, as we are dog-sitting for Drew and Lesley.))

Then we climb over (which scares the willies out of me, hanging 5 feet above the nearest step) or through (which requires one to do the limbo -- twice) the scaffolding, to get downstairs.

Then we can simply pick up our work clothes and get dressed downstairs!

Handy, aye?

Running

I have some exciting news. As some of you may know, I joined Curves about 3 weeks ago and have been working out regularly 3 to 4 times a week. I am feeling great and I really like it there. Anyway, I decided today that I really need to get myself in shape as well - not just lose weight - for soccer. (The team had there first game on Monday night for the Wooster league that they are in for the summer and just kicking balls with the girls and showing some of them proper techniques made me winded and tired.) So today, a day that I do not work out at Curves, I got up and ran before Mike left for work. I ran a whole mile without stopping at all. I was so proud of myself. I know for some of you this might seem silly and trivial, but for me it is a milestone. I have walked many miles for workouts, and walked/ran many miles, but it has been years since I have been able to run the whole mile without stopping. So I think Curves must be doing a lot for my stamina as well as losing weight and toning my muscles. It took me 13 minutes to run it and I could probably walk it just as fast if not faster, but walking never seems to get my heart rate up as much and I don't feel as good about doing it when I walk. Anyway, my next goal will be to get the mile down to 10 minutes which is about as fast as I ran it even when I was playing soccer in high school.

And by the way...

...you're standing in bull ka-ka.

James's first birthday

We would like to have a birthday party for James on Saturday, June 17th starting at about 1:00 and going til whenever. It will be kind of an open house with games and food and that kind of stuff. I know some of you are busy with house and yard work so if you can't come it is okay - or if you come late that is okay too. We are inviting lots of people including extended family so there might be people you'd like to see.

i don't understand this stupid blog. i'm trying to add a photo to my profile. i finally figured out how/where to go to add my photo to my profile, but it says the url is wrong, even though i just copied and pasted it from here. and it keeps saying something about i have to click on some "template" tab when i log in in order to change my links. where in heck is the template tab?? and why are there 2 separate sites, one to edit posts and another with the actual blog? and how do i get back to that original edit post site? i don't think i've ever gotten so worked up over something before. the blogger help is almost completely unhelpful, and the way this whole thing works is ridiculous. it's not good for my health to use this blog. i hate this stupid thing. i hate it, i hate it, i hate it!!! now i know how old people feel.

vacation

here are just a few photos from the trip. we had such a wonderful time. i couldn't ask for a better vacation.

james got his first tooth! it came in last tuesday. he is also doing the army crawl very well. he is quite speedy. no new words yet, but he was talking up a storm all week.

All I want for Christmas

http://www.nycgarbage.com/

What Harvard is good for

So I get one of the blah blah blah Harvard Alumni emails (translation: Give us more money! We only have the largest endowment in the entire world!), and I see a link in it to an article recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine,
entitled: Obesity levels in U.S. are grossly underestimated.

I'll sum up the SHOCKING findings for you here:

"Based on this new understanding of the survey data, the authors found that, on average, women tend to underestimate their weight while men do not. When it comes to height, young and middle-aged men tend to overestimate their height more than women in the same age groups. "

Women lie about their weight and men lie about their height! Wow! I'm glad someone finally figured this out!

old people

so i got hit by a car today (on my bike). i waited patiently at a light, got the green crosswalk sign, and went on my merry way. an old lady driving didn't bother to look, turned left, and hit me. i screamed, got my back wheel kinda stuck in the car a bit, and so i pushed myself along a bit to get loose. when i did that, the lady started moving forward again!! i had to hurry to get out of her way, and she drove off!! i was kind of in shock, i didn't know what i was supposed to do, so, seeing that i wasn't badly damaged, i started riding again. a guy in a truck behind me flagged me down and wanted to see if i was okay. he took me the rest of the way to uni. he was really nice. i wasn't very upset about it for a while, i was just in shock, but now that i've had time to settle down i'm pretty annoyed. i should have gotten her license plate number. there's a big fine for a hit and run here. and my back wheel is really buckled now. the bike was really crappy in the first place and not completely safe to ride, but now it's REALLY not very safe to ride. so now with less than a month to go until classes are over, i have to pay money to get it fixed, or else pay money and take the bus. grrrrrr. (oh, and as for my own well-being, i've just got a bit of a skid mark on my shin, my leg's a tiny bit sore. but i'm fine.)

Family work day?

How about this scenario: Everyone come to our house for a work day on the 22nd of July (shortly after Tessie gets home) then that evening we all go see "The Lady in the Water"?

Serious Drama

I just got back from D.C. and I am taking a break in my packing for Orlando. Just thought I'd let you all know I got back safe and sound and right on time. I had fun, although I was rather grouchy by the last day. The only thing I can tell you right now is that 6th grade girls have got serious drama issues. It was actually quite amusing what went on within a 2 hour period on a boat ride down the Patomac (sp?). I will update everyone when I have more time. But for now, have a lovely week here in the Ohio weather (or Australian as the case may be) while I am visiting Mickey.

office space

i got chao and brice to watch office space. they thought it was pretty funny, but we couldn't get the subtitles on so they couldn't understand half the jokes. they talked too fast. now i'm preparing to watch a japanese drama. it only has chinese subtitles, so i'll just have to pretend i have a clue what they're saying.

I forgot to mention...

...that I shot myself in the left index finger with a nail gun last week. It was just a finish nail gun, so no permanent damage. It didn't even hurt that horribly.

But every time I see my finger and the scab, I think about Adam Sandler's boss from Happy Gilmore, and then I start giggling.

"And you can count... On me waiting for you in the parking lot!"

An author to check out

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=pd_sc/103-9735302-7747047?search-alias=aps&keywords=harlan%20coben

Harlan Coben.

I've now read two of his novels.

His writing style/diction is a bit stilted; his character development isn't the greatest; he recycles some stuff from book to book.

But boy oh boy -- 5 pages into it and he has you totally hooked. I can't put it down. I have to cover the bottom of the page with my hand so I can't see what's coming. I find myself disoriented when I stop reading, because I was so sucked into it.

Definitely worth picking up one of his novels.

And then there were three

So how shocked are we that Chris is gone and Katherine McPhee (sp?) is still on Idol, after her bad performance Tuesday night?

Honestly we thought Elliott would be gone this week because, well, he's the ugliest one left, and that's how Idol works. But then Katherine did so poorly on Tuesday, we thought maybe it would be her instead.

And now there is no more Chris!

Gift Ideas

If you are scratching your heads over ideas for Mother's Day/Father's Day gifts for your parental units, be advised that we are anxious to do some landscaping around the cabin. I think your father would be very pleased to get another flowering crabapple tree, like the one you gave him several years ago and which is now flourishing in our front yard. As for me, I would appreciate some hardy shrub roses in deep pink or burgundy shades. Make sure they are hardy shrub roses---I have a few from last year that are doing very well in the flower beds in front of the house. We also plan to plant myrtle on the slope in front of the cabin, and I could use one or two "Petit Bleu" for the border in front of the house. That is a small variety of spirea, also known as Blue Mist spirea, that is available at The Greenhouse Shoppe in Wooster.

And if you are short of cash, a couple hours of free labor in the yard would also be appreciated.

In case you were thinking of getting us anything. Not that I am asking. Just being helpful :)

Graduation Day

The grad and her very proud (and somewhat relieved) family.

Margaret receives her diploma and a handshake from the University president (the diploma is worth more).

The traditional graduation photo, under the crabapple tree in our front yard.

Family that came to Moose's graduation

I didn't realize we had some from the "Mullet" side come to the ceremony.

No Words Necessary

Here comes Peter Cottontail

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/giantrabbit.asp

and

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1541732.html

comments

i don't know if anyone goes back through their posts and reads comments posted, so i just decided to create a new post for my comments.

first, to carrie, of course i have already used my 25 maximum votes for the all-star game. you know what i find strange, though, is that they put all the positions for both national and american league on there. you don't have to put an entry for all of them, but there's always the tempation, if you're a trouble-maker, to vote for the best players in the league you like and pick crappy ones for your rival's league. if you're a true fan you'd want to pick the best so you can watch an enjoyable game, but there are plenty of people out there that would do so. anyway...

congrats to margaret! that's exciting to be able to work with the team you were a part of, it gives it more meaning. the only thing is, i seem to remember that you didn't think linda gray was the most wonderful person in the world. could be interesting. :)

and third, you should all definitely plan lots and lots of workdays for all the houses in the Miller family. Plan them all in May June, and early July if you like. You should really attack it with full force and get all those jobs done. Yes, most definitely. But I think maybe a good date to stop and be happy with your accomplishments would be...maybe sometime around July 18th. Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

oh yeah, and i've been hearing about this United 93 over here. (Well, just reading U.S news. Australians aren't really discussing it, that I know of.) Lots of people discussing whether it was too soon to make a movie, comparing it to other historical events and how long it took to make movies about them. The consensus seems to be that it's not too soon because it's just important to remember what happened. So does it have any famous people in it? I heard it was pretty hard to sit through, it's mainly just torture on your emotions, not something you'd go on a date to see. I'm not keeping track of many movies. There's some I really want to see, but it's just too expensive, and frankly I don't really care anymore anyway.

On a different note, I'm doing tedious research for my management essay, and really hating it. I went onto the 4th floor of the library and searched through rooms and rooms full of books to get more citations. And in the middle of all these voluminous academic novels, I found...Dilbert. So of course I stopped my research and just read this whole Dilbert book on Management. Chao is also in management, and Brice has a business background, so we were discussing it for a while, and I am now firm in my claim that next week I will make them watch Office Space. They've never heard of it.

K, I've got work to do. Have a lovely day!

Tis time soon

Rachel and I have been trying to get stuff done with the yard but decided we would like more company. So sometime in the not so distant future we would like to plan a family work day. Probably late May or June. First, we want to get input from everyone and find out what schedules are like. What do youins think?
Tonight we saw "United 93". Very sobering indeed. I have heard other people say they think it's too soon or stupid altogether. But I'm glad I saw it for educational purposes and for remembrance.

I have a job!

At least a part time one. I am the new assistant coach of the NW girls soccer team. Linda Gray, my coach and the still current coach, wants to retire after the '06 season and I asked if I could assist her this year and possibly take over next year if I like it. She got everything approved with the necessary people and I know have a job!

Not sure how this may or may not effect teaching, but I don't even know if I will get a teaching job and I don't want to turn down an offer. I am just praying that God will be in complete control of what happens and that I can happily follow his will for me.

July isn't that far off

Anybody start their all-star voting yet?

Fantasyland

Just finished reading Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe by Sam Walker. Wanted to through this one out to Dad, Brian, Mike, and Steph, and anyone else interested in the subculture of pro baseball known as fantasy leagues.

It's about a reporter's quest to beat the most elite, invitation-only members of the Tout Wars. Not only is it an entertaining (really funny, actually) look at the realities of modern baseball, but also a case study of popular strategies and a profile of the most famous originators, contributors and players of the game.

Highly recommended.

Kitchen cabinets

Yes,I know that this topic is not one that is going to make you say, "Gosh, I've just GOT to read this!" But I can't help being excited about the cabinets Dad & I bought at the Habitat Store Saturday. They are heavy, high-quality, lightly-used cabinets in an ususual style that fits right in with a cabin. Here is a photo of some of them as they stand in our garage. Aren't they nifty? Doesn't it make you want to immediately plan a trip to the cabin?

one interview down

i had my interview at smithville today. it was very grueling and intense. i walked out and suddenly realized my neck and shoulders were stiff as a board and i had a horrible headache. it lasted a little over an hour and there were two principles there, each with about 3 pages of questions to ask me. as i answered, they took little notes. i think i did okay. i know i didn't answer all of the questions perfectly, but i gave my best and thought through my answers before just blurting something out. me being self-critical, i've gone over and over what i could have said, but i don't think i did too bad. i won't be heartbroken if i don't get a second interview. i'm just happy to have this under my belt so that way i can prepare a little better for the next one. i know what to expect now. and what i really want is one of those 4th or 5th grade spots at NW if they are available. so this is good practice.

they said they will call me by the end of next week to let me know either way. i will keep you all updated.

important reminder

i just thought everyone needed a little reminder: in the words of Mary Roach..."Whatever!"

It's Official!

The cabin now has an indoor bathroom, complete with flushing toilet, tub/shower (featuring both HOT and COLD running water) and even (tah dah!) a DOOR with a lock! Granted, the long wall next to the bedroom consists of one panel of chipboard, the back of the bathtub, and a long piece of cardboard, and the door does not reach the top of the door frame, and there is no sink as yet, but----hey, it's miles better than old Sparky!

We also have a kitchen sink, with hot and cold running water, two drains, and a countertop made of plywood!

Three double beds and a futon complete the luxurious accomodations. We are now taking reservations for summer weekends or vacations.

ok, here is my first one

I will try my first post. Not much to say but I'll send a pic of my favorite nephew.

Several news items

1) Mike had a meeting with his bosses about the upcoming water division. Things are looking great. They want to buy more equipment than Mike expected, so they are diving right in. They will be buying a truck or van, and to start, Mike will basically go to all jobs with a foreman. He also discussed with them the possibility of being a part owner of the new division and they seemed excited about the idea. They were not expecting that, but they will talk to their accountant and work out details. If they agree, we will put in as much $ as we can to purchase equipment and be somewhere around 25% owners (we hope). This should benefit everyone involved.

2) We are now a 1 car family - for a little while. We sold Mike's aunt Lorie our Camry. She is going through a divorce right now, just moved to a rental house, and cannot afford to pay on the van that she purchaced about a year ago. She inquired about our car and we decided that with me barely driving anywhere right now we could sell it to her for a fair price, she can make payments to us, and we will borrow one of the Bowman's vehicles until we need to buy something. We will probably start looking in June, but we are not sure what direction we want to go. I could get a college grad discount on something brand new, but we may just get an old truck for Mike instead. We will be praying about it and waiting until God gives us an answer. The nice thing is, unless I get a job kind of far away, we are in no hurry to buy something. Gary does not need his extra truck until the snow falls and he needs the plow.

3) I have a job interview in Smithville on the 21st. It is for their Gifted & Talented program. I'm nervous, but I know that even if I don't get the job it is still good practice. I also talked to NW's elementary principle. The might soon have a 4th and/or 5th grade spot open when they are doing the internal shuffle from people retiring. If they are left open when the jobs are open to the public, I wanted to get my foot in there. So I breifly chatted with Mrs. McCumber (sp?) and dropped off a resume. She seemed interested, so that could be promising. I am continuing to look for jobs online, but it is still early in the hiring season. I am trying to be patient and stay calm, but it can be so hard to not worry with my future so uncertain. I am prepared with other plans if I do not get a job by the fall.

The Show Must Go On.

About 15 minutes after I got home tonight, I got a call from Dave O'Roark, the director of the drama ministry at our church. After we exchanged pleasantries, he took a breath and said, "Okay, so here's the deal..."

That is never a good sign.

Instead of a strict gospel presentation like our church has done for the past two years, this year they're doing a multimedia presentation, with music, video and dramatic pieces. We asked not to be involved because we were in New Zealand when they started making plans.

But last night, Mark Price, one of the guys doing a dramatic reading with Dave, broke his foot in the parking lot of the church.

So now I have to memorize a 6-minutes monologue in the next 19 hours or so.

Prayer would be appreciated.

And to top it all off, Ace wasn't eliminated from American Idol last night. His sorry butt keeps skating through each week.

You've got to be kidding me

http://www.lasikathome.com/index.html

we have a piano

we got a piano from mike's aunt lorie. if anyone has old beginner lesson books i would enjoy them very much. hopefully soon i can start claire on some lessons. also we don't have a bench so if you know where we might find one that would be nice too.

This is especially for mom

Spellcheque!

http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php

Hee hee

In case you don't get The Learning Channel, check out some of the ads they've been running recently:

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/lifelessons/lifelessons.html?dcitc=w99-530-ah-0013

My personal favorite is life lesson #73.

Food for thought

On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.