September news

Preface: bad words. For some reason blogger won't post pictures today. They'll have to wait. Sorry about that. End of preface. (Edited on 10/12 to add pictures.)

Friends, it's been forever since we've talked! But know that I have thought of you quite often as blog-able events occur, from the story of the pygmy rattlesnake, to our plans for Boston next weekend, to our Columbus trip, to our new friends at The Office. Well, I'd better dive in.

Three weeks ago Brad and I went to Columbus for a visit. Grandma Bressler is battling cancer and we wanted to visit her, as well as visit other friends and also consume frightening amounts of Columbus pizza.

We arrived via a stop in Baltimore on Friday night late on Southwest Airlines. We learned after the first leg of the trip that there is a strategy to getting more space for yourself: if there are two of you, find an empty row and sit one on the window side and one on the aisle. That leaves only the middle seat open, and few people will choose that seat, unlike leaving the aisle seat open-- more risky. Smart travelers are we.

We checked into a Marriott Courtyard hotel, thanks to Priceline.com. To our great delight, there was a Donato's Pizza just down the street... which delivers until midnight. We enjoyed a pepperoni-and-bacon at about 11:45 p.m. before settling down to sleep. So began the consumption of large amounts of pizza. Note to self: you're not 20 anymore. Pepperoni, bacon, and cheese at midnight do not make for happy, acid-free sleep. Note to Brad: you're not 20 anymore, either. Lots of pizza, starting at midnight, does not a happy belly make.

Saturday morning we slept in and then went back to the airport to rent a car, thanks again to Priceline. We drove around a bit for a reason I don't remember and ended up at another Donato's Pizza for a second pepperoni-and-bacon. Afterward we headed to Grandma Bressler's house and had a great time going through old pictures with her. Ralph had given us a stack of old black and whites that only she would recognize.


It made for easy and fun conversation, which was a bit of a relief. What does one say to someone with a terminal illness? "Well, just wanted to see you once more before you go." Not that you'd really say that, but everyone knows that's why you're there. The pictures were a wonderful icebreaker and made for fun stories with the three sisters (Ralph is the oldest of five kids, and the only boy.

(One of Grandma's friends who was over that day)


The whole gang-- me, Brad, Aunt Robin, Grandma, Aunt Diane, and Aunt Nancy.


After the visit we headed to Massey's Pizza for more pepperoni and bacon (though I had to have a salad or I would have been sorry). We met up with Chris and Tina,


Ben and Lisa,


and Court and Cheri.


You'd recognize all of these folks from our wedding-- Chris was a groomsman, Ben is the one the pastor called "Geezer" at the rehearsal, Cheri played the piano, and Court emceed the reception, I think. To Ben's credit, his last name could be mispronounced "geezer", so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a comment on his age. Anyway, we all met up and took over the back room of Massey's. There was a tv for the kids-- Court and Cheri's boys are growing like weeds, as are Chris and Tina's kids. Same goes for the Geezers'-- the youngest daughter was all grown up with her own cute personality, and she was in utero when I first met Ben and Lisa!

After dinner we went to Court and Cheri's (with a stop at that good ice cream place... what's the name? amazing chocolate chips...) to watch Ohio State spank whomever it was they played. And then we went to sleep, courtesy of Tums.

Sunday we went to church at the Vineyard in Columbus-- what an amazing place. I would love to be part of a church like that, huge as it is. We enjoyed the service and then had lunch at Max and Erma's, which I'm sorry to say has discontinued their pretzel breadsticks until further notice. Bah. At least Brad got his Ermaburger. Afterward we visited Aunt Kelly and then took a quick nap before dinner with Brandon and Laurie and their three girls. They live out west about 45 minutes from the airport. We had a great time there and then came back to Florida on Monday morning.

Since then we've been keeping busy. Brad's work schedule has been up and down-- crazy busy one week, light the next. We bought the Nissan which took a weekend and is still running well, praise God. We've also been painting quite a bit. This past weekend was a scene out of Cirque du Soleil, minus the clown outfits. We finished painting the kitchen, twelve foot ceilings and all. It was a real trick getting the ladder to reach high enough, and positioned at such an angle as to not hit the counters or the tops of the cabinets. It was a bit precarious but turned out very well. The entire open space of the entry, hall, living room, and kitchen are now a pleasant cream. We also switched out the lightbulbs from regular incandescents to blue ones-- makes things a whole lot brighter.

On Sunday we played heathen, er, hookie, and didn't go to church. More on church later. Instead we painted our bedroom, the last room that had paint swatches on the walls. We taped and prepped, and then began trimming. As I started putting paint to wall, I started doubting our choice, as I usually do. Usually I'm right, as our garage full of paint cans will tell you. It looked very... lavender. I wanted light blue, sort of sky blue, calm, serene, cool. And next to the blue painter's tape, this looked positively purple. Ugh. There goes resale, I thought. But Brad ran to the bathroom to get a towel-- and it was an absolute perfect match. Our intent had been for the bedspread to match the bathroom walls and the towels to match the bedroom walls, thus creating a suite without being too matchy-matchy. The blue matched the towel, so I pressed on. Oh, how I wish I could get the photos to post today. The room is magnificent-- straight out of a magazine and breathtaking. Upward from Sherwin Williams. Perfect blue. Not lavender at all. Oh, it just looks so very nice, especially with our khaki bedding-- a perfect sand and sky combo. It was so pretty that we ate dinner in the bedroom on tv trays. We love it.

What else... oh, church stuff. We formally left our church last week. It's a great church and God is certainly doing things there. It's just lacking two major things that are very important to us: one, an emphasis on a heart relationship with God. It's the difference between knowing about who Brad is and being married to Brad-- it engages the heart and creates a whole new dimension to a relationship with God. It's evident in worship-- is there conversation addressing the audience between songs, or is the worship time a place to get lost and gush love on God without interruption? Is there time for ministry, for people to pray for each other at church and in small groups, right then and there, and see God change things? Are people maturing? Are they different from month to month? Are they working through their hurts, with a counselor or without, in order to be healed and be more effective in ministering to others? These things are crucial for effective growth and real life change, and without them church feels like a first date-- fun and smiley, but lacking depth.

The other issue is women in leadership. Let me say that I am not the expert here. I know there are differing opinions and I don't purport to know enough to declare my viewpoint as the right and true one. However, I am feeling pulled in the teaching / ministering direction, and I am gifted as a leader. Put those together, and you get a pastor of sorts. I'm not sure what that means for me... but I do know that I want to start exploring. I don't believe women are to be silent in church, and I don't believe God is like the Salvation Army's Angel Giving tree, where there's a box of gifts marked "boy" and a box marked "girl"-- I believe he gives according to his wishes, and far be it from me to look down on a man leading the children's ministry, or a woman preaching on Sunday. I willingly admit I have a lot of learning here-- lucky you, you get to follow along on this journey of mine. All of this is to say, we want a church where women are in leadership. Where women preach. Where women are encouraged in their giftings, no matter what they are.

Those two things, combined with the fact that our small group is more of a social gathering than a group of people wanting to grow, has given us pause and caused us to re-evaluate. The end result is that we are leaving the church, and tonight is our last small group meeting. Here's a quick story of a fun confirmation (am I ever the second-guesser?!): there's one couple in the group that we really click with-- they seem to be on the same page as us regarding growing and maturing, while the other two couples are just social and goofy. I was really nervous to call them to tell them this would be our last meeting, as I didn't want to disappoint them or hurt their feelings. After I told Tylah, the wife, she said she was nervous about telling me something-- that they were leaving the church, too, and that tonight would be their last night. They have different reasons for leaving, but the message to me was the same. I don't have to take care of other people to the extent that I do sometimes; I don't know what God is doing in their lives, and I am not responsible to take care of their needs as much as I think I do. I felt a ton better after talking with them, and hopefully tonight will be a fun time. If it's cool enough we'll make a fire in the firepit and make s'mores; if it's too hot we'll just be inside. Maybe s'mores in the microwave?

So we're taking a little break from church. It started as a joke-- Rich asked what church we were going to next and I jokingly said that we had given up on church down here. He replied that that was probably a good idea for us-- taking a break could be healthy for us instead of jumping right back into the church shopping game. Hmm. That sounded good to me and to Brad. So we'll take a few weeks off and then start shopping later in October. Time for taking care of our souls, resting from being on guard and evaluate-y.

In less important news, I've cleaned off the countertops in the kitchen almost completely. There's still a purse/cellphone/keys station near the entry, but that will move once we get the office in shape. But the other side, near the stove, which held the mixer and jars of flour, sugar, etc., have been moved to the cart. I have a little baking station that can come over if I want it, or be out of sight if don't need it. The kitchen looks bare now without the half-painted-look on the walls and clutter on the counter. We need to put some art up. Also in the bedroom do we need art. We're hoping to find a print of something in Boston this weekend.

Oh, we're going to Boston this weekend. Growing up I summered in Boston and the north suburbs. My dad is from Haverhill and most of his family is still there. We'd fly out and spend 10 days-- some in Bradford (Haverhill's neighbor) and some in Seabrook, New Hampshire. Seabrook is a little town just over the border into New Hampshire. Uncle Kevin's beach cottage is literally two streets north of the border, and about 200 feet from sand. It was there that I learned that sand doesn't taste good, that the ocean is very cold in July, that fireworks were to be respected and adolescent boy cousins who play with them are not, that 4th of July bonfires on the beach were wicked awesome and that I spoke harshly with hard r's, crazy midwesterner. I don't have idears, I have ideas. I learned to love peanut butter and fluff sandwiches with tonic (pop) and Cristaldi's Pizza cut in squares with circles of cheese on top. It holds some good memories and I can't wait to take Brad there.

But really the purpose of our trip is to revisit a spot I saw seven years ago with my sister. We were driving back to Chicago from Boston. I had spent my summer interning at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass. My dad's mom, Grammy, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and she passed a few days after my internship ended. It was a heartwrenching time as it is for any family. My dad flew out to be with her and my mom and sister came out for the funeral. It was a beautiful time and one of the few where all twelve cousins were together. It was also dotted with typical family moments, including my favorite of all time: At the wake my dad decided he wanted to play a song over the speakers that had brought him comfort. I think it was a Twila Paris song or something. We all sat in the room where the casket was, feeling a bit sad but also squirrely from being good all day. And in the mix was Aunt Olga, one of Grammy's sisters. Olga is a character, down to her lipstick covered teeth and knee-high stockings (the dress didn't quite hit her knees). Oh, and she's hard of hearing. So we all sat there listening to the song, taking it in, being reverent and apparently sad-looking, for Olga said loudly, "Well, why's everybody so sombah???" I couldn't hold it together. A few of us excused ourselves. The moment was ruined, but was it? I like to think it was perfect.

After everything was over my mom and dad flew home and Steph and I drove back. Instead of taking the biggest highway through Mass we took Route 2, a littler one that goes close to Cushing. I wanted to show Steph Cushing and then I figured we'd meet up with a big highway in New York. Well, about two hours west of Boston we came upon the most amazing stretch I think I've ever driven. It was near the Berkshire Mountains, near the hairpin turn where the road literally turns nearly 179 degrees on itself. This stretch was in a valley and there was a beautiful canopy of trees overhead. I thought to myself, "This would be breathtaking in the fall!" And it has been my dream to drive that stretch since August of 1999. So this weekend at some point we will. I'm beside myself excited. We're also going to hit the North End which houses Boston's version of a Little Italy, some history and a Duck Tour, and of course Cristaldi's Pizza in Seabrook. Except I tried to call them earlier today and no one answered. They had better still be open... I thought they closed at the end of October... we shall see.

That's all for now. I'll put up pictures when blogger cooperates with me.

P.S. I totally forgot to tell you about two other things I mentioned in the beginning of this post! The Office is our new friend. We went to the theater to see Little Miss Sunshine a few Fridays ago, just to get out of the house and get stuff off our minds. It was strange, funny, and strange. And in honor of Steve Carell, a really funny guy who had a really funny scene in Bruce Almighty (I seriously thought Brad would mess himself right there in the theater), we watched the first season of The Office on Saturday. There were only six little episodes, that's no harm. We can stop whenever we want to. Then we rented the first two discs of Season 2. Three hours on Sunday evening, three hours on Monday evening. Oops, Brad just so happened to have time on Tuesday to drive to Bonita to get the other two discs (yes, I had to call more than a dozen Blockbusters and the Bonita one was the closest one that had it - 45 minutes away. It says something about a town when people don't appreciate good office humor.) Three hours Tuesday evening, three hours Wednesday evening. And then Thursday was a new episode. It's painful, oh so painful, as Michael Scott (Steve Carell) plays the world's worst boss who thinks he's the World's Best Boss (and bought himself the mug to prove it). He says the most racist, sexist, inappropriate things at the worst times, and is just plain... what's the word? Horrible. But the rest of the folks are lovable and fun to follow.

And the pygmy rattlesnake-- not long ago little Chase came in and told Shelley that there was a snake in the garage. Shelley, thinking it was a harmless black snake, went out to see it. Apparently it was a pygmy rattlesnake, which are venomous and aggressive, and it lept out at her a few times before she got scared and called a neighbor to help. Afterward Chase got a dose of praise for telling Mom instead of taking care of it himself.

And I just googled pygmy rattlesnake. I got a bit of a fright and am still a little uneasy about what I found. Remember how Brad killed a snake with the lawnmower a while back? I never got a look at the whole snake, but I did see a few chopped up pieces in the yard. They were black with light blue and I couldn't figure out how that could be a black snake with all that blue on it, but what do I know about freaking snakes? I just saw that the pictures of the pygmy rattler are light blue. How proud I am of my brave husband, again. Eww eww eww.

Um, please keep praying that God sees fit to take us out of Florida...

Update to our moral dilemma

So Brad woke up for the second time this morning as I was finishing baking the orange rolls (from a can, of course). As we ate breakfast we talked about the car situation and our uneasiness with our transaction at Acura. We just felt funny that not everyone knew there was a problem with the car-- we felt like it was being hidden, and that was the moral issue with us.

As we were talking Brad's phone rang. 10:30 am, Sunday morning. It's either bad news or a wrong number-- no one calls us Sunday morning. It was our salesguy from Acura, of all people. He called to tell us that the Heathcliff movie was on Showtime. (Background-- one of the many conversation topics we hit yesterday with him was the cartoons we watched growing up-- Inspector Gadget, and Heathcliff, among others.) Since he was on the phone (in divine time, we felt), we told him how we were feeling. After we said all we needed to, and he said his responses, we felt much, much better about the deal. We were afraid that it had been kept a secret, and he said that he had talked with the mechanic who appraised it as well as the general sales manager who both knew there were issues there. And he said that the Honda place sort-of defaulted to "needs a new engine", when really it could be a host of other issues.

All in all, we feel much better about the deal. We laid everything out there and asked him to make sure it was handled in a manner that would be clear on everyone's conscience.

Thanks for your input, friends.

P.S. We also tried a new church this morning-- First Assembly of God. It was better than I expected! The worship was Spirit-filled and quality, and the sermon was good as well. We need to learn more about their doctrine as well as community/small groups, but it's in the running! By the way, the sermon was about how we should live lives that would cause others to wonder what is different about us... hmmm, timely?

Moral Dilemma

I promise to post more interesting things this week-- we had a great trip to Columbus and I need to post some pics of that.

But today, friends, we have a case of the What Shall We Do's. We need your wisdom and input.

It all began when we purchase the Honda in February. In March the engine light came on for the first time, and since then it has been all downhill, culminating in a diagnosis of "needs a new engine." (!!!) The car is an '01 Accord with 46,000 miles on it-- clean and barely broken in for a Honda. It was my dream car, but now it has been a huge disappointment and stressor for us.

So we went back to Frank, the guy who owns the lot where we bought it. Frank said he'd buy it back for about $1000 less than what we owe on it, or he would trade it in and find us something else. Well, that was three weeks ago, and every few days when we call him he has 15 minutes of excuses as to why he hasn't had a chance to find us an alternative. He mainly leases cars so he has contacts at dealerships all over. But the few cars on his lot are either Toyota Solaras or Lexuses or Corvettes. No dice.

This past week the engine light went on yet again (after Brad replaced the spark plugs and distributor rotor and cap). We decided it was time to put on the full-court press, as my dad would say, to find another car. So we went to the big Toyota used car lot, the Honda dealer, etc., etc., etc. Nothing looked good in our price range-- our requirements are reliability, light color, affordable price (minus the $1000 we'll have to tack on to finish paying off the stupid Honda.)

After a frustrating morning, we ended up at the Acura place where we bought Brad's Volkswagen. We know the salesguy there and he's good at what he does. He also for some reason really likes us and calls us up to go out to dinner with him and his girlfriend. I keep thinking that maybe God has us in contact with him for a ministry reason. Who knows.

At the Acura place the guy had a '03 Altima in great, great shape. Sticker price was $17,900 and somehow after finagling and pulling strings for our charity case, he got it in the $11,000 range and made it fit our budget. It was a hopeful moment, and I actually cried. Now, we told him everything about the Honda-- didn't hold back anything, and he said they would wholesale/auction the car and not sell it to anyone on the lot. But when he came back from negotiating, he said the business owner wanted to sell it on the lot, but don't worry about it. And don't mention to anyone else the issues with the car.

So herein lies the moral dilemma.

We know this car is a lemon. We have a case open with Honda of America and they finally said they would pay for the new engine if we would pay for labor. That's option #1. Costs about $1500 for us, but who knows what will happen down the road with it...

We are happy with the Altima-- it's more than we thought we'd drive home with. (Sorry for the dangling preposition.) Keeping it is Option #2. But the fact that they're going to sell it on the lot makes us uneasy-- what if another person gets this car and has the headaches we've had? (And they WILL.) Then the dealer is responsible for the issues, and that's like biting the hand that feeds you. I'm grateful to them and don't want to knowingly stick them with a liability like that. But we were up front with our salesguy... how far does our responsibility go?

Frank was going to sell it wholesale, which sort of anonymous-izes the situation. I don't feel so bad about that situation since I'm not hiding anything from anyone. But Frank won't get off his kiester to actually find us a car. Waiting for Frank to actually do something is Option #3.

After we left the dealership last night in the nice new car, I felt badly. I was also hungry. And after dinner I felt better about it. But then Brad woke up this morning really early feeling uneasy...

So, dear friends and wise ones, what is your perspective? What should we do?

A long overdue round of "Caption Me"

For your Friday creative release, here are four, count 'em, four great photos of days gone by for your captioning pleasure. Make 'em good, folks.

And possibly my favorite...



We'll be away for the weekend-- heading to Columbus, Ohio, to see Brad's ailing grandmother one last time. Pray for strength for Brad, especially. The curse of a wonderful, close-knit family is the hurt of losing one so dear. We'll also make time for fun with friends and plenty of Donato's and Massey's pizza.

Now, get commenting!

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the mass of photos!

I have so much to tell about!

I'm back from Girls' Weekend. I spent the weekend with my mom and sister in Chicago. If you are a Chicago friend of mine, please don't be hurt that I didn't call you. We pretended to be out of town so we'd have time just the three of us.

I left on Thursday night from Fort Myers. Rather uneventful flight other than not having a carryon-- made boarding easy and quick, and we got to Chicago a half hour early. Mom and Steph were quick on the draw and picked me up minutes after I got my checked baggage. We stayed at Mom's place for the night and then got up early Friday morning for doctor's appointments. Funny thing to do on a "vacation" weekend, you say? Well, we knew mom had a mammogram on Friday, and I like being around for those. It has been eight years since the mammogram we call, "Margarita Night." Mom called me after the mammogram that summer of '98 and said, "Well, it's going to be a double margarita night. The film showed something, and it doesn't look good." After which she endured horrid surgeries and chemo and all the joy of cancer. That was after beating it the first time six years prior. So all of that is to say, we knew she had a mammogram on Friday when I booked my flight, and that was ok by me. But we also had an appointment for Steph. You all know the horror she's been through in the last 7 years or so with ulcerative colitis. She's been through more than I can imagine or stomach to consider, and it never is just "cured." So she had an appointment in the morning, and Mom had her appointment near noon. Same building downtown Chicago at Northwestern Memorial-- what an amazing place!-- so it worked out nicely.

(Steph downing breakfast before we left Friday morning)

While we waited the Chicago Air and Water Show (not to be confused with the Erin Waters Show, which a former roommate thought the phone message was supposed to say) was being prepared for outside along the lakefront. We heard planes roaring by overhead: old-fashioned propeller planes practicing loop-de-loops as well as the Blue Angels practicing death-defying moves.

(See the smoke of the loop-de-loop?)

After both appointments were over, and in celebration of no bad news, we took in lunch at The Art Institute. The gardens were closed due to impending rain showers, so we sat at the window and enjoyed our meal indoors. Afterward we each ordered a dessert-- so delicious and unusual-- peach creme brulee with edible lavender garnish,


triple chocolate with chocolate sorbet in a chocolate cup accompanied by a chocolate meringue and a chocolate truffle,


and strawberry rhubarb crisp with vanilla bean ice cream and edible baby tulip petals.


My new favorite thing is edible lavender, which I'm pretty sure God created just for me. You know how, when I smell something lovely, I say, "Oh, I wish I could just drink that smell!"? Well, with edible lavender, that's what you can do! You chew it like little bitty sesame seeds and it has almost no flavor, but the aroma travels to your nose and it truly feels like eating perfume. Just divine.

(Steph with cocoa lips)

After lunch we had tickets for the matinee of Cirque du Soleil at the United Center. It was an amazing show. If you get the chance, go go go! It gave me such an appreciation for the human body and what it can do! The acrobatics and choreography was simply stunning and truly took my breath away. Artsy-fartsy things like that inspire me and make my heart feel alive. Loved it.

(This is the one picture I took before being lectured, heavy-handedly in my opinion, about how my flash photography prior to the show will cause certain death to any and all performer in the Chicagoland area. Ok, I exaggerate, but he was just rude and there was no sign.)

Oh, but I forgot! On the way to the United Center we happened to be on Grand Avenue and passed Terry's Toffee. Apparently Mom heard of this place, whose toffees were part of the last two years' Oscar thank-you bags (!), and so we went in for a looksee. There was a tasting table of all different kinds of toffee-- must have been ten kinds, from traditional, to peanut butter, to dark chocolate with coffee, to hazelnut, etc. I bought a small package of the hazelnut as hazelnut is my favorite flavor next to lavender.


After the show we headed toward Steph's new apartment which she'll live in next month. On the way we couldn't help ourselves from stopping in CB2, Crate and Barrel's hip sister, and the Crate and Barrel outlet, both near North Ave and Clybourn. At CB2 we saw fun wire sculptures


of the Hancock, Eiffel Tower, and Taj Mahal. Tempting, but a picture satisfied me. I didn't hold back quite so well at the outlet. We needed saucer-sized plates anyway, so I bought 8 of those, plus two fun baking dishes, plus a cute round casserole. Not an arm and a leg, and I'm glad I brought that extra suitcase. After shopping we were hungry but I can't remember where we ate.

On Saturday morning we woke up late and went to Walker Brothers for a wonderful breakfast. After some Swedish Pancakes and Lingonberries, what else is there to do but go to Ikea? Mom and Steph indulged me and we went out to Schaumburg for a bit of Swedish shopping. Steph went off to the mall for some other shopping and met us back at the I Kan'tbelieve Everything's Affordable store. I did a good job restraining myself, though I did find my dream kitchen


and also a little side table that just really wanted to come home with me.


I only ended up buying some sheep-fleecy rugs (best thing to get me out of bed in the morning-- so soft on the piggies. Actually, the only thing that can get me out of bed in the morning.) and some finials for our curtain rods. I was at Ikea buying a fleece rug for my sister's Christmas present when Brad called me the very first time to ask me out on a date with him. So if I needed an excuse to relive the digging-through-the-fleece, call it nostalgia. But really they feel good on my feet.

(Also at Ikea were bottles of fruit drink concentrate. I took this picture for you, Court, and for any other fan of Monty Python.)

(And one more thing at Ikea-- a wonderful drink called Kristal which combines sweet fizzy water with fruit juice. It's a lot like Brad's and my latest favorite drink, which we call Candy Drink-- half seven up, half tropicana orange juice. I was thrilled to find that it was bottled, but there again, one of my seven original brilliant thoughts has been thought of already.)

After IKEA we went to Steph's school where we peered in the windows and got to see her former classroom and her new classroom. From our angle we could clearly see proof of one of her dear autistic student's favorite habits-- vomiting into the radiator.


Seriously, I don't know how she does it. Afterward we went to Salvage One, a huge warehouse filled with old stuff from old buildings.


Three levels plus a garden


filled with mantels, doors, windows, hardware, woodwork, bannisters, spindles, moulding, you name it. Oh, and stuffed deer heads. But only a few of those.


I took great delight in the wall of doorknobs-- a huge counter covered with boxes of old doorknobs.


I bought 8 of them with the intent to mount them to the wall and then hang curtains from them. Just inspiring and beautiful, full of stories and charm. And a little expensive.

(This is an old sign for Grand Central Station, or Grand Avenue, or something Grand. The "...AL" in the background makes me think Grand Central. They were about three feet tall and six or seven feet long-- just perfect to put behind a set of open-back bookshelves, don't you think?)

After Salvage One I was done shopping. We headed north, got dinner at Noodles and Co. and then to Dairy Dream, our hometown ice cream store, for lemon ice cream.


We used to go there as a family, get softserve with crunch coat and then go drive around in the Catholic retreat grounds in Mundelein. It's a really amazing place if you ever get the chance-- right off of 176. We spotted these escapees enjoying their treat in the back corner of the parking lot. I had to take a picture since Brad's Christmas present to Steph last year was a Nuns Having Fun calendar.



We then went to Mom's to watch a movie-- Prime, it was called. Interesting movie about a couple with an age difference where his mom is her therapist... basically about how love heals and makes people feel alive, but not all that glitters is gold, and sometimes timing is off. Not an Oscar winner, but ok.

On Sunday Steph and I took off for late church where I proceeded to weep uncontrollably as I do every time. I feel the presence of the Lord there like nowhere else. He is alive there, allowed to move, unquenched, unhyped, and my soul laps it up. Afterward I got prayer from Loann, a wonderful woman who had encouraging words to say and ministered to my heart like it needed. I left feeling strong and sure of who I am and who I'm created to be. And also feeling like there's change brewing for me. Not sure what yet, but I think something's around a corner or two. No, Mother, I'm not pregnant. Maybe pregnant with anticipation, but that's about it. :)

Oh, one more thing about church-- it seems every time I'm in town and go to church I learn about someone else who reads this blog. I love that! I need to find a way to put a counter on this-- I'm close to convinced that my mom and grandparents are my only audience, which is fine with me! But I keep hearing of more readers. Anyone know how to put a view-counter on? Anyway, this time it was a dear woman whom I'm sure I'd be good friends with if I was in town. (Her initials are BE and she used to be a Nicholson. I'll keep it mysterious.) Just to assure you, BE, and anyone else who may have misunderstood my last post, I did not cook my cat in the car. I don't actually have a cat. That post was an email forward which was slightly close to my experience down here, minus the cat thing and so far the bail thing. Just to clear things up. :)

After church we grabbed a quick bite at Pita Inn, where I learned that they're opening a franchise in Tampa sometime soon! Anyway, after some chicken shwarma in a pita, we headed for the airport and I flew home.

All in all it was great-- we had some good talks about how we're alike and different, (both Mom and I are firstborns, Steph is a baby-of-the-family), and how much we enjoy each other. Shopping was fun, but I felt like I took over the agenda simply because I don't have good shopping close at hand. Next time I'd like more time for hanging out and less scheduled time. It was wonderful!

I heart hot weather, not.

You might have seen this already. To some it's an email forward, but to me it's the story of this past year of my life.

--------------------------

Living In The South

Dear Diary:

May 30th:
Just moved to the south... now this is a place that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! Watched the sunset from a park lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:
Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with southern plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:
The temperature hasn’t been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it’s kind of windy, though. But getting used to the heat and humidity is taking longer than I expected.

July 12th:
Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson, though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

July 15th:
I missed Morgan our cat sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Morgan had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stunk up the $2,000 leather upholstery. The car now smells like kibbles and sh**s. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

July 18th:
The wind sucks! It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 20th:
Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. $1,500 in damn house payments and we can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

July 24th:
It’s 105 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85, but this freaking humidity makes the house feel like it’s about 95. Stupid repairman “fell” into my pool. I hate this stupid city.

July 28th:
If another wise-a** asks, “Hot enough for you today?”, I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

July 29th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts and sat on the black leather seats in the ol’ car. I thought my bottom was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and butt. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried skin, and baked cat.

August 1st:
The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn’t it ever rain in this damn place?? Water rationing will be next, so might as well watch $1700 worth of cactus just dry up and blow into the damn pool. Even the cactus can’t live in this damn heat.

August 4th:
Welcome to HELL!!! Temperature got to 105 today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and said, “Hot enough for you today?” My husband had to spend the $1500 house payment to bail me out of jail. Freaking South. What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??

--------------------------

Yes, that last sentence is what I say to myself every day.

Not really, just some days. I really am terribly homesick, or rather, elsewhere-sick. I don't need to live in Chicago, per se, just not here. If we didn't have two years and three months left before the prepayment penalty is lifted on our mortgage, I would be begging Brad to leave. It would all be better if we felt like we were in a good church community. I know, I know, it takes time. I just wish it didn't. I don't like starting over, and I don't like change. Unless I thought of it first. And Florida, well, that was God's idea, or we wouldn't be down here. I did NOT think that one up.

Things are ok here-- nothing exciting to report. I'm going north for a girls' weekend with Mom and Sis-- can't wait to fly. Remind me to stock up on various gels and liquids so as to make the screeners here at Southwest Florida Regional Airport really earn those wings.

:)

August already

Sorry it's been over a week since my last post. Things haven't slowed down yet, but hopefully this week will be better-- I think we're over the hump of crazy. Brad's new client is up and running with their new software, so hopefully his work there will be more maitenance-type work instead of the frantic tons of work he had before. And he cut back on men's group (every other Tuesday night) and asked to be removed from the worship band schedule for the next few months, freeing up every other Thursday early evening. So now our evening schedule is more open, and we have time to actually open our mail and do some laundry.

Last weekend, actually two weekends ago, was family weekend. We had family night at our house to celebrate three birthdays, which was fun. Saturday Brad mowed and then we had a barbecue in the afternoon for Rico's birthday. We left early, exhausted from the week, and had our first Sonic experience. Ever see those Sonic fast-food commercials on tv? Dumb question-- I'm sure they play them everywhere. We used to see them in Chicago, and I don't know if there's a Sonic anywhere near Chicago. The commercials are humorous and caught our eye, so we sought out the closest Sonic, in North Port, Florida, and drove an hour for dinner on Saturday. Have to say, the burgers were ok, the cheese fries are fries with a slice of american cheese draped over them, the onion rings were good-- the batter tasted like pancakes, the 99 cent banana split was just perfect, and the butterfinger blizzard, or their version of it, was fantastic. Oh, and the strawberry limeade was great, too. I'd go back, even if it is an hour away. HOWEVER, they just opened another one much closer this past weekend! So maybe we'll get banana splits more often. Yum. It was a fun adventure and we got to see some Florida north of Fort Myers. It was the weirdest thing, though-- on the way home we were driving through rural who knows where and the place smelled like baked potatoes for miles. What could it have been? If it was really baked potatoes they must have told everyone in the town to bake potatoes at the same time-- it was strong! Chalk it up to Florida's weirdness.

Sunday Brad played in the worship band all three services and I played hooky. I'm having issues with the role of women in our church and needed a week off. I'm just so irritated that old traditional gender roles still exist. Women are wired and gifted to do much more than bake the cookies and watch the children. Some comments I heard from one in our church leadership led me to believe that perhaps the church leadership and I don't see eye to eye-- it's actually been a really big deal for me lately. I'm wired to be a leader, but many churches want me to lead the children (no thanks) or the hospitality ministry (maybe, but I think there's something else that I'm called to). Perhaps I shouldn't get started. Just know it has been an issue and it's not easy to find a place where I fit in here.

This week was busy busy, as usual. The last few weeks' schedule has been hectic and while this week was a bit slower, the housekeeping/laundry/tidying/grocery shopping has been neglected, so we've been trying to catch up and/or find other ways to do things. I went grocery shopping on Saturday but when I came home I didn't have space in the freezer or cabinet to put things away-- that's not so good, so I made a huge inventory list of every piece of food we have, and my job tonight is to make some meal ideas out of it so we can pare down. No need for all this excess.

This past weekend we spent time relaxing-- Brad's allergies are manifesting in odd ways down here. He got a really bad earache on Friday and spent most of the weekend resting and downing Zyrtec and Advil. I did the driving. We did go out to dinner on Saturday-- you know it's bad when the best steakhouse around is Steak and Ale. I admit that I am a food snob at times. But Steak and Ale? Oh, how I wish there was a Wildfire down here.

Sunday was church and then a social time with our small group. At church we talked with a guy who is going to be starting a church plant in Lehigh, meeting at the school at the end of our street. LOVE the proximity idea, but when Brad asked about the role of women on his leadership team, we were both disappointed with his answer.

Here's the thing-- I'm not asking for women to be senior pastor, though I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I am asking for women to be part of leadership. If the church is run by men alone, it will cater to men alone. Men simply cannot minister like women can, and vice versa. We need each other! And we are gifted as people, not as genders. So I am looking for a church that recognizes women as equal partners in ministry, and I'd like to see women on staff with other responsibilities than the children's ministry and hospitality ministry. Please don't hear me knocking women in children's ministry or hospitality ministry-- those women are gifted and needed and should be appreciated deeply for their service. But women can serve other roles, too. That's all I'm saying.

And I said I wasn't going to get started on that.

This week looks like a slower week-- no men's group tonight, so we have some time together to plan our small group tomorrow and to get caught up on laundry and mail. Tomorrow is small group, and Thursday Brad has band practice (only until the end of August!) and then we have free time-- Brad plays his computer game and I sew or watch HGTV. Friday is family night again. Saturday Brad will mow and I'll go help one couple in our small group who just had a baby-- she needs help watching their 2-year old while her husband mows. Maybe we'll get to paint in the evening-- that's been needing to get done for a long time.

That's all for now. Love to you all!

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

Some overdue pictures--

Here are the smore brownies I made -- yum!


Here's the diaper bag I made for Amber-- complete with pockets on the inside!


Here's the display I made for our booth at the new teacher orientation. I'm proud of my little homemade paint job. :)

Here's our laundry room with the shelves up... T minus one hour until...

...the top two shelves came down...

Here are the great paint footprints on our new laminate floor. Fortunately, it came up with only a little scraping. And those Mr. Clean sponges are truly magic-- great little things!

This weekend will be busy-- I'm making cupcakes tonight for family night tomorrow night, and then Saturday is a barbecue for Rico's 30th birthday, and hopefully some painting. Sunday Brad's in the band at all three services, so by Sunday night we'll be exhausted. Probably won't have much by way of posting to this here blog.

Have a good weekend, all!

I knew there was something not quite right...

I stopped by my old school this afternoon. I had a bunch of candy left over from the teacher orientation fair so I thought they could use some sugar over at Lee Middle. While there I ran into a few people I used to work with, and had a great time reconnecting a bit. I also heard about this. The top picture is Old Yeller, the guy who taught in the room next to mine and screamed at the kids all the time. Apparently the charges have been dropped since, but Old Yeller will not be returning to Lee Middle. The vice principal I talked to today said the spring was just horrid-- parents were calling left and right after the news story broke, convinced that their child had been victimized in some way. I'm horrified and sickened and want to throw up. I knew there was something not quite right about him...

This also came out today. Varsity Lakes is the school at the end of our street, where I went to talk to the principal last December in hopes of landing a math teacher job... not interested any more.

In other news, Williams Sonoma is having their summer sale down here. I stopped in for this, (better picture here) and left with a lot more. Dang it. That's what you get when you never go shopping. All hell breaks loose when you walk into the store. Or maybe my credit card gets loose... whichever. Anyway, if you're a W-S fan, check out their sales in your area. Their spatulas and rubber scrapers are just awesome, and at $4.99 on sale, they're a great deal.

I'm off for the afternoon and am going to try to clean up a bit. The house is still in disarray after our little shelving escapade. Appliances are everywhere, and I need to get some more order in here. We have our small group tonight so I get to experiment with yet another dessert idea. I just love that about hosting a small group-- I get to make all the dessert ideas I've had for a long time, but I don't end up eating them all up! Sharing the calories is a good thing. I'm also going to try to make broccoli and cheese --oh, the word just left me. It's like taking a pizza and folding it in half--- stromboli, that's it. Have refrigerated biscuits for the dough, have broc, have cheese, need recipe. I think I'll do a little searching around on allrecipes.com and see what I come up with.

I'm still just in shock about Old Yeller.

Oh, What a Night.

So yesterday I spent the day at the new teacher orientation, advertising for the company I work for. Rather successful day, lots of conversations, fun people.

Afterward I had to go to the Clerk of Court and do a search for a document showing a legal split of two lots that one of our buyers is trying to build on. Talk about a needle in a haystack. Microfilm? Are you kidding? Not successful.

Throughout the day I had tried to make some phone calls on my cell phone-- voicemails from work, phone call to Steph during a break, etc. The phone kept turning off by itself, full battery, mind you, periodically. By the end of the day it was staying on for no longer than 30 seconds. Argh. I'll need to go to the store AGAIN on Tuesday.

I got home around 4 (after leaving the house at 6:00 a.m.) and decided to put up those shelves in the laundry room. I figured I'd get a few brackets in the wall before Brad got home and we'd finish them up this weekend. Well, I got all 9 brackets up and even got the shelves in place when he walked in the door. We screwed the shelves into the brackets and admired our handywork. Three glorious long shelves, just brimming with potential.

We had dinner and then reorganized the "linen" closet in the hall. It's supposed to be a linen closet, but it has turned into the Cuisinart Closet due to all the appliances I've shoved in there-- food processor, rice cooker, blender, waffle iron, george foreman, tupperware stuff, paper plates-- the poor little 18 inch wide closet was filled up. So we cleaned it out, allocating all electrical appliances to our new shelves. "Why didn't we do this sooner?" Brad wondered aloud several times. We gazed at our handwork for a few minutes and then went off to relax.

I took a nice long bath with Aveeno bubble bath-- lavender and other yummy relaxing smells helped me take the worries of the day off my mind, and I had a great feeling of accomplishment. Around 9:30 we decided to watch Who's Line Is It Anyway, one of our favorite evening shows for it's lightheartedness, just before turning in for an early evening. We'd been up late Sunday night and up at 5 on Monday, so we were tired.

And then it happened.

About five minutes past ten we heard the most horrifiying crash as the two top shelves came out of the wall, anchors and all, and crashed to the floor.

Oh, it was just horrid.

The top shelf had my box-lid of precious vases, the forcing vases my dear friend Cornelia gave to me before she moved to Berlin, the bud vase Sandi gave me when first moved out on my own, the painted vase Kate gave me when she came for a visit once, the mint green vase my mom gave me that had the lid with the holes in it to help the flower-arranging-challenged... oh, I loved those vases. All broken.

The top shelf crashed down onto the second shelf, and then they both dove to the floor. Somewhere on those shelves was the waffle iron, george foreman, ice cream maker, and coffee grinder, among other things. Those are all ok, except for the lid for the ice cream maker-- that's broken. Oh, and the crock pot broke-- not the glass lid, but the ceramic crock insert-- shattered.

What a mess. Just a horrible mess. Glass everywhere-- I stepped in it barefoot and then instinctively wiped the sole of that foot across my other foot, drawing blood. We just stared in horror until it was finished falling.

Oh, and did I mention we had about four gallons of paint up there? Remember the gold hallway color we didn't like? Two whole gallons of that. Four quarts of varying khakis we didn't use. The leftover bathroom paint-- our 10th and final khaki. The leftover green from the guest suite. Thankfully, the leftover paint and the quarts didn't open, except for one quart of khaki which splatter-painted the laundry room door. Very 80's chic. But the two whole gallons of yellow paint opened and blanketed the floor with a lovely puddle of buttercream.

Brad ran to get a trash can from the garage to put all the glass in. A minute after he set it down an inch-long fat roach crawled into the mess to add his two cents. A quick whammo with my shoe took care of him quickly, but seriously, did we need to add a roach to the mix? I take comfort from the fact that he came from outside and wasn't hiding inside somewhere, at least.

I'll spare you the details of the cleanup. In short, we squeegeed the paint into a dustpan and then into a little trashcan that is now full of paint and glass shards. We then scrubbed the floor to get the dried bits out of the nooks and crannies of the linoleum's texture. Last we lifted up the clothes dryer to get the last puddle of paint out from under it.

Oh, what a night. It all ended around 12:30 p.m. I said a lot of bad words, I'm afraid. But they were all warranted, I assure you.

I think we're in a bit of a rough patch these days. Please be praying for us.

Monday report.

Oh, what a heck of a week.

Brad got a new client last week-- that's the good news. And they were really nice to him-- that's more good news (other clients have varied from annoyed that they have to use his services to downright nasty). The bad news is that he has been working his fingers to the bone preparing for each day. Work eight hours, come home, work a bunch more to prepare for the next day. It's a big confidence builder as he's taking them through a conversion from quickbooks to Master Builder-- a significant, multi-step process and he has to be on his toes. So far he's enjoying it and is getting more confident by the minute, I guess. But I didn't get to play with him at all last week, and I've grown accustomed to him being free in the evenings to eat dinner with me, talk with me, be my friend. Now I know what it feels like to be married to me-as-a-teacher, I think. Not so fun.

The week was crazy busy as I said, but the weekend was wonderful. I secretly hired a neighborhood guy who has a mowing business to mow the yard on Friday so Brad could have a Saturday morning to himself. :) I love surprising him! Saturday morning I got a hair-chop-- it's reallllllly short, shorter than I wanted, but it will grow, right? We went to Home Depot in the late morning to pick up some supplies for shelves in the laundry room-- we have one shelf, but it's overflowing with stuff so we got enough for three shelves. Then we took naps and got ready for our fun evening Brad planned.

There's a store down in Naples near one of Brad's lunch places-- he has a client down there every Monday so he knows some fun lunch places. Near one of the lunch places he spotted a boutique full of gifty things and he wanted to take me there. So we went there first, and he was right! I loved it-- fun things you can only find in one-of-a-kind shops-- I love that. We bought some earrings for Brad's mom's birthday and then headed to dinner. We finally got to go to the Melting Pot, and it was soooooooo good. We started with the Swiss cheese fondue-- a little bitter because of all of the wine, but good anyway. Then we had broth fondue with incredible meats-- sirloin, tenderloin, chicken, salmon, and black-tailed shrimp, and a plate of veggies as well. Divine, and at such a nice leisurely pace. Then we had the smores chocolate fondue-- delish as well. The whole night was just wonderful and fun-- a much needed time to reconnect after a nutty week. I really missed my husband!

Sunday we tried a new church- the Vineyard in Naples. It's forever away, but it was a decent church and the pastor even mentioned the word "she"! Ok, I'm exaggerating. Our current church doesn't hate women, but it was just really refreshing when the pastor said something like, "...and that's the role he will have to take as a pastor, or her." So the grammar wasn't great, but the heart was there. It really felt like a breath of fresh air. Ahh. We're going to try the Cape Coral Vineyard again (we tried it once, but it was kid sunday) and then we'll figure out what we're going to do about a church home.

Last night we spent time getting ready for the week-- Brad prepping for the conversion and some classes he'll be working through with the client, and I worked on the display for my latest venture at work. Last year I went to the new teacher orientation for Lee County as a teacher-- there were sessions all day broken up with breaks and meals where teachers milled around booths set up by banks, credit unions, etc. I got the bright idea for Eagle Bay (our company) to advertise there, but it was only a for-sure thing as of last Monday. So I threw together a display and was there all day today-- 6:30 a.m. for set up till about 2:30. I'll be back tomorrow and Wednesday handing out pens and business cards and drumming up business. It's really fun-- I love projects.

That's all for now. I can't think of anything else exciting to tell. Love to you, friend!

This Means War.

So after being slightly depressed last week-- out of nowhere and about nothing in general, and I'm fine now after Brad prayed for me-- and having a migraine all weekend, and being beat up at church, and getting in a rather large fight with Brad where it just seemed the words we were both using were in different languages, I finally figured out, thanks to some help from my wise sister, that perhaps The Enemy isn't so happy with what we're doing in our ministry. Oh, and Brad woke up extra early this morning to get some work done for his new client (which went quite well yesterday, praise God!)-- and his computer, which was working just fine yesterday, is now not booting up correctly. He spent a few hours, frustrated, trying to coax some rationality out of it, but it refused. The Enemy is creative and persistent-- getting at our minds, bodies, relationship, tools, you name it. #$%^&* enemy.

We're gearing up for a Vineyard-style prayer training in our small group next Wednesday-- nothing scary or snake-charming for my non-Vineyardite readers-- just introducing people to an experiential relationship with the Holy Spirit-- one where real physical and emotional healing happens and people learn to hear God speak to them. I don't remember life before my first tangible experience with God, so I forget how big a deal this can be. I didn't realize what I was in for!

So please, my dearest friends and relatives, please be praying for angels to be all around us, for protection for our health, our marriage, our work, our minds, and our souls. We desperately need you on our team-- it's all out war. On a positive note, all this attack gives me confidence that the Holy Spirit will show up next week-- could be really fun!

A Case of the Mondays

Well, we didn't get any painting done this weekend. We were about to start when I realized that I was realllly tired and feeling like I'm coming down with something in my sinuses. So I spent the day on the couch. By evening my sinuses were fine, but my limbs were realllly heavy and achy, and I had a realllly bad headache. The headache woke me up a few times during the night and was still there in the morning, so I skipped church while Brad had to go play bass. I stayed on the couch all day except to make brownies for the small group leaders' bbq in the evening. They were dang good brownies-- graham cracker crust with brownie batter on top, baked normally. Then I put mini marshmallows all over it and broiled them a few seconds until they were browned. Smores!

The small group leaders' bbq was horrid beyond horrid. I am NOT a quiet and submissive woman and I expect to be allowed to speak when it is my turn. Instead, the men all looked at Brad to talk. ARGH! That's just part of the horridness that was last night. I'll spare you the rest. The moral of the story is we're looking for another church next week. No idea what ramifications that will have on our small group-- not looking that far ahead yet. It's just dreadful the way men behave in the church, and I absolutely won't subject myself to it. No way in hell.

Today I'm tired from a late night of debriefing with my sister-- thank you LORD for a wonderful sister! Mom and Steph both comforted my beat-up heart and validated me, which was what I needed. Tonight is date night but Brad has work to do, so I'll get to sew a bit.

And this fun thing happened this morning. It sounded like a really fat man fell onto our roof here at work.

Blog Scrapbook

Has anyone thought of that yet? Or did I just have one of the three original thoughts I'll ever have in my lifetime? (I heard that in high school, I think. We only get three original thoughts. Everything else we think has already been thought of. ) I'm not a scrapbooker-- I used to be, but I just gave up. I'd rather paint with broad strokes, like a room, or sew, or cook something. Hats off to you diligent scrappers. But instead I have this blog, and I'd like something to show for it. The day will come when I have to pay per post or something horrid like that, so I'd like to turn my posts into scrapbook pages. Like a photo book from Snapfish or something. Anyone know if there's a place you can have your blog bound into a book? If not, I just found my new business.

How I thought of that was this: we got back in town a week ago from our lovely weekend up north, where things are as they should be. We left on Friday evening and were taken to the airport by Rico and little almost-two Makena. Kena sang to me much of the way, a mixture of Jesus Loves me, Twinkle Twinkle, and the ABC's. The mix was cute-- a medley of sorts, sung Buckwheat style: "Jedud lub me dih ny no, how I wawa wa you ah." It's something really amazing to hear a toddler sing that Jesus loves her. Has she any idea what she's singing? Probably not. But will it stay in her mind the rest of her life? I hope so. It was a sweet send off.

We flew into O'Hare on USA3000, sitting in the exit row, each on an aisle. The delightful gentleman behind my seat decided to get schnockered pre-flight, so the aroma of alcohol filled the oh-so-fresh air which was also contributed to on a bi-minute basis by The Cougher. This poor guy coughed every other minute for three hours. His throat must be so sore! I wanted to ask him as we de-planed what his diagnosis was, just to save myself some time-- I figured both Brad and I would be sick the next day. Also, toward the end of the flight, Mr. Schnockered behind me apparently felt the need for a ciggy and came back from the lavatory smelling like smoke. The flight attendant (bless you, Jessie, wherever you are!) came over and confronted him and of course he denied it. So we didn't get to see any marshalls or anything-- probably for the best.

Steph picked us up from the airport in her rental car-- a black Mercedes sporty little number. She looked so Lake Forest High Schooler in it, with her perfect brunette ponytail and fancy car. She took us to Mom's place where we all crashed for the night.

Saturday morning we went out for bagels and muffins at Bagels by the Book in Libertyville. Their bagels are so soft and chewy instead of hard and dense, and I like them the best of any I've had. I got a chocolate chip, toasted with peanut butter. Yum. Brad enjoyed his banana nut muffin and we all enjoyed the 75 degree breakfast weather on Mom's outdoor seating area.

We hung around a bit at Mom's and then headed off to Shanel and Ivan's place. Driving up Sheridan Road was like drinking lilacs. (No wonder I'm on the chunky side-- if something makes me happy, I liken it to food... hmmm.) Anyhoo, the big old houses on Sheridan are just beautiful, and the rustling of the maples was music I haven't heard in a while. We got to S & I's around noon where we got a tour of their gorgeous old mission-style home. It's just something to behold. The built-ins and molding are so... what's the word? Just magnificent. They are like punctuation in a paragraph-- the house would still stand without them, but they just define and decorate so beautifully. The house is from the 1920s and Shanel and Ivan have done a lot of work on it. The colors they have chosen are warm and cozy in places, cool and soothing in others-- all of it is just very very good. And then we met little Audrey Anne. What a beautiful doll she is! Ivan grilled up some of his gourmet burgers and we finished lunch with homemade tiramisu-- it was all wonderful. Best of all was time to chat and visit. I haven't hung out with Ivan lots and lots, but Shanel and I have been in small groups together for enough time to have some history, and I just loooooove being around her. She is one who oozes grace and truth at the same time all the time. She reminds me a lot of Margaret Grudem, my second "mother", another godly woman. They're both people I want to be like when I grow up-- bold, truth telling, not afraid to say the hard thing, yet gentle and nurturing at the same time. They both seem to really know who they are and what they're called to be-- it's just refreshing to be around them. While Shanel and I caught up, Brad and Ivan played a bit of World of Warcraft, the computer game they both like. And just before we left we got a tour of Shanel's garden. It was a wonderful time.

After lunch we went back to mom's to nap for a bit, and then we went to Evanston with Steph for some shopping and hang out time. We were looking for an anniversary present for me (long story-- Brad did not drop the ball for our anniversary) but didn't find anything, so we went to dinner at Flat Top Grill (YUM!) and then to watch Nacho Libre at Old Orchard (eh- wouldn't recommend it). It was a blast to hang out with Steph and I wish we had just sat around and talked instead of sitting in front of a movie screen for two hours. There's something about being with my sister that makes the world all right. I get to talk to her a few times a week, so that helps me, but when we get to hang out together, I just get so very happy! The older we get, the more I crave time with her.

Saturday night Steph took us to get our rental car at O'Hare. We knew we were in for a treat when as we walked in the door the manager of Budget was handing out ice-cream sandwiches to appease the crowd waiting in line. It was 10:30 p.m. and apparently all of the world was in need of a car at Budget. We waited for about 45 minutes and then left in our Pontiac Vibe. Don't buy one. You'll feel every single bump the road has to offer and then some.

Sunday morning we went to CHURCH!!!!! Oh, how I miss my church!!!! I cried nearly the whole time (also cried when I saw my sister, cried when we drove up Sheridan, cried at Shanel and Ivan's) as my soul was refreshed in amazing worship led by Bruce from Chile. I don't know Bruce well, but I do know that he is a gifted worship leader and is dating an amazing woman who will change the world. If you run into Renee, ask her for a lesson in communication. She tells a funny story about language differences-- Bruce being from Chile and Renee being from Skokie makes for laughs. :)

Church was wonderful-- the topic was why you should marry within your religion. Not really what I was desperate to hear, but it was quite interesting none the less. Steve brought up some great points that were good food for thought. And we got to see many of our dear friends, who all apparently had beautiful babies this year. After church we grabbed lunch (Brad at Chipotle, me at Pita Inn-- I loves me my hummus) and ate at Jamie and Aogu's house with Sean and Jeannie and their little one, Syler. Jamie and Aogu have the cutest 4 year old boy-- I think he's four-- who has great manners and very cute diction. Brad left the table at one point to use the bathroom, and Koji came up to me and asked, "Where's your friend? I want to go watch something. I want to watch Thomas the Tank Engine." So cute. Jamie says he hasn't grasped the whole marriage concept yet, so to him Brad is my friend. Works for me! And their newest treasure is Izumi, a little cherub who looks a lot like Jamie. (Koji is an Aogu mini-me. It's only fair that Jamie gets one, too.) We had a great time catching up, although since we both blog I don't feel terribly out of step. It was also great to see Sean and Jeannie and their little one Syler-- maybe close to two now? Syler looks just like Jeannie and has an adorable mop of curly hair. We also got to see him in the church service, reverently taking communion (maybe more like having a snack) with mom and dad. We were in a housegroup with Sean and Jeannie when they had Syler-- I still have pictures in my head of Jeannie, 9 months pregnant in her big white sweater. We prayed over that baby before and after his birth as he gave them lots of fits, and now he's all grown up and walking around-- just amazing.

Sunday afternoon we went to Old Orchard to take in some shopping. We went to Restoration Hardware where they have paint chips of colors we like, Pottery Barn, the Apple Store of course, and a few jewelry shops for me. I think we narrowed down what I want-- unfortunately it's tres expensivo. We'll be creative and find something around here.

Sunday night we went to dinner with Mom and Steph at Max and Erma's. Steph told us about a new connection she has- a high schooler at church who has colon problems and has an ostomy right now (for those of you who don't know, Steph had colitis and has dealt with this stuff extensively). We were all amazed at the story of what happened to this girl, and we're excited to see how God is going to use her to encourage this poor girl. As she told the story of what happened (I'll spare you-- it's horrible) Steph, in her usual fashion, cracked me up. There was a balloon man coming around making balloon animals for each table. He asked us what we'd like, expecting us to say "a dog" or "a monkey"-- and Steph answered, "A colon." I'm laughing out loud thinking about it. He wasn't quite sure what to do with that. So he made a heart. What a riot.

On Monday we had a little birthday party for Dad, who turned 60 July 10th! I emailed a few of his friends beforehand to see if they could join us. Everyone was out of town or busy except for Dad's friend Wally, who was a great sport. We met at Wildfire, which has the best filets in the whole world, and surprised Dad with balloons and party hats. We had a great meal together and celebrated Dad's birthday in style.

After lunch Brad and I went down to Evanston and got to spend a little while with Rich and Jenny, dear friends of ours, and see their newest addition Mariella. It was great to be with them-- just like old times. They had been out of town with The Huntington Group-- a bunch of friends who all went to Huntington College (now University) with Brad. They all get together every summer for a weekend in Indiana, and it just so happened that this was the weekend. Ah, timing. At least we got a quick visit in with them. Maybe when the weather turns colder Rich's Guatemalan blood will crave warmer climates and they'll sneak down here for a visit.

After seeing Rich and Jen we headed off to celebrate our anniversary at The Herrington Inn in Geneva, Illinois. The Herrington is a sweet hotel and spa on the Fox River, and we spent the first few nights of our honeymoon there, as well as our 6 month-iversary and 1st anniversary. We figured last year would be the last time we would go, but last year the bathtub wasn't clean so we asked them to clean it again, and they were so sorry for the inconvenience that they gave us a gift certificate for a significant portion of a night's stay. So we went back once more. It's just such a cute place, with fireplaces in every room and beautiful decorations. And Geneva is a quaint little town with lots of cute shops and restaurants. On Tuesday before we headed to the airport we walked down one of the main streets and stopped in a few shops. If ever in need of a relaxing weekend, head to Geneva.

And then we went to the airport and came back to Florida. We spent the rest of the week doing the same old same old, and then finally PAINTED!!!! On Friday night went to Restoration Hardware up in Sarasota-- only about an hour and ten minutes north-- and bought 8 gallons of paint. On Saturday we finally painted the master bathroom, and it looks grrrrreat! We love it, and it feels so good to have accomplished that!

This week's news-- Beth and Rico had their little girl! Joining Beth, Rico, and Makena (pronounced mah-KEN-na), is Makaya (mah-KAY-ah). Kaya was born on Tuesday around 1 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 11 ounces, 19 inches long (or 19 inches tall, if you're Jim and prefer things said that way). Beth is doing well and Kaya is just a doll. Our small group cancelled last night so we went to the hospital again to see her, and we got to hold her for a while. She's just beautiful!

I feel like I've been talking your ear off, so now I'm going to post some pictures.

On Sunday night (in Chicago) we drove around my old neighborhood. We found that the house I grew up in (I lived there from when I was 2 until 14) is for sale! We called the realtor and got a tour on Monday morning. It seems to have shrunk quite a bit since I was last in the house (16 years ago!). It was really fun to walk through and reminisce about what it looked like back when.

This is me in front of the crabapple tree at the old house. I have a picture of me in this pose when I was four or five, so we had to duplicate the picture.


Here's our birthday party at Wildfire!


And Dad blowing out his candle!

This is our guest bathroom nowadays. Ooo, ahhh.


This is the view from the front door of my office on Tuesday. I had the camera at work in anticipation of taking pictures of baby Kaya. It started POURING at around 2 p.m.-- it really looked like night time! I thought you might like to see it.


And this is our new master bathroom!!! OOOOOOOO, AHHHHH! Bless you, Restoration Hardware, for knowing just the right khaki color to offer!


And this is how our blue towels look against the khaki. We love it!


This is something I haven't told you about, I think. It's the closest thing to a pet we have in our house. It's a Roomba! On the recommendation of Ruth Putnam Whipple, we bought one and we loooooove it. It does a really good job on hard floors as well as carpet, except that on carpet you don't get neat vacuum lines, but that's fine with me! Brad likes to move it around using the remote control, and here he's driving it into the bathroom to clean up after painting.

A few days ago Brad woke up and saw a beautiful sight outside-- a rainbow! The mornings are beautiful anyway, especially in the summer when the clouds are extra-dramatic.


The rainbow!


And the dramatic clouds-- view from our driveway!