Shock me like an electric eel.

These are the days of our lives.

I know, I know. I suck at this game.

I used to be so good, I don't know what happened.

I have a lot to cover so I'm debating on how to do this. I could do it chronologically, which would make the most sense, OR I could do good, bad, other/interesting, OR I could do big highlight, little highlight, rinse and repeat.

Or by group. Hm. Let's try that.

Family:

We celebrated Mom's birthday back in March. She turned 70 and all she wanted was a weekend with her kids (and grandkids) at a nice hotel. But of course we got her presents anyway. They had booked a whole corner of the main floor and we had pizza and free drinks and all that. It was fun. Eventually the kids went swimming - the boyfriend is gonna be favorite uncle, I'm telling you, they kept flocking to him so he would throw them in, it was adorable - while the rest of us played Cards Against Humanity which - if you weren't aware - is like the mature version of Apples to Apples.

Here are a couple that I won with, though actually in the end myself and Oldest Sister tied. I think.

After everyone else went to bed the boyfriend and I walked to the train station at around 1AM. This is what happens when you date someone with vampiristic tendencies - since he works nights he doesn't sleep at night so we walked around downtown for a while then watched some TV - Leverage, Forensic Files, etc. Fell asleep after a while but were actually coherent enough to beat most people down for breakfast in the morning. Huge buffet - omelets, french toast, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, all that - it was fabulous.

The birthday celebration wasn't the only family party since my last post. We actually had something even bigger - my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I think around 250 invitations went out and we probably got around 300 people that showed up, it was crazy. My siblings and I got everything set up beforehand - which was an adventure in itself. Tables, tablecloths, pictures on all the tables, other various decorations, setting up my computer with the slideshow and projector. Plus then we took some family photos. By the time we got done with all that there were people already filing in. Thankfully between the decorations and the pictures we were able to get ready ourselves. Unfortunately, the light in the women's restroom was out - well, the one by the mirror was out - so all us girls ended up putting our makeup on in the men's restroom. Another adventure. The party itself was great. Both of my parents gave speeches. Dad's was hilarious. I shouldn't have been surprised since he is very clever. And mom bought flowers for all of her attendants so during her speech I was running all over the place attempting to deliver them. Apparently having a 27-year-old daughter is a good thing when you are 70. The only downfall to being 27 to parents that are older is that everyone at the party knew me as a kid and I hadn't seen them in years so remembering all their names was a bit complicated. Actually at one point I had to go and get Mom cause I was just drawing a complete blank and she was so smooth, she was like ___ and ___ it's so nice to see you! A-hah! Yes. Now I know you. Anyway, the food was great, the people were excited to be there, the slideshow went over well, and my parents had a really good time so I'm calling it a victory.

Between both of those parties was Easter. We did church and lunch with the boyfriend's family and then afternoon and supper with mine. Huge egg hunt in the afternoon which of course I always get stuck being the one in charge of. Even though I wasn't even there 'til after lunch. So much stuff this year that we were basically just running around and dropping stuff as we went. The boyfriend was no help whatsoever. He and my brother have apparently bonded cause while the other adults were hiding eggs, I look back and they are picking up the stuff that we just hid and stealing all the good candy out of them. Cheaters. Though there was plenty of candy for the kids. I even ended up taking home more than I should. More on that later.

Another fun family thing was going to the Red/White game with the Cool Aunt. Ever since I was put in charge of volunteers I haven't been able to go because the banquet for them is always the same day and time as the game. This year we changed it and I'm loving that, I hope it stays that way. You know me and my Husker football, I would go to all the games if I could. Anyway, this year was a big year because of the new coaching staff and quarterback drama. Tommy will probably start but he has some competition. The game was awesome and I taped it so I get to re-watch it whenever I want. The Cool Aunt and I got there super early so we could get our food, seats, and all that. The game was awesome, lots of people there and we even did the wave and all the chants and all that. I'm super stoked to see how this season turns out. Clearly there are things we need to work on. Passing probably being the biggest. But it should be a good year.


Boyfriend:

The boyfriend and I have been up to a lot as well. Within the past few weeks we've went on two different motorcar trips - one in Kansas, the other in Iowa. Kansas was fun because I had never been on that ride before. We also stopped to look at a railroad signal at this guy's house and the dude was on American Pickers so you can just imagine everything that was all over his yard. He gave us a tour of his house which was very much the same. Antiques everywhere, even hanging from the ceiling. The motorcar ride itself was a lot of fun. The boyfriend surprised me by spending the week before the trip fixing up the motorcar that I had bought him for Christmas. I didn't realize that's the one we would be riding until he unloaded it. It actually ran really well so we also took it to Iowa and...well...that was a different story. Died out within the first few miles. So, more work to be done on that, along with his 80 million other projects. Luckily, Popper Boy doesn't bring spare parts, he brings spare cars so we had a different one to ride. Long story, don't even ask. This year was a bit different than previous years though because we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast instead of a regular hotel. It was really neat. Though without TV or Wifi we did end up going to see The Woman In Gold the night we got there. Scroll down for the review of that. His buddy and the buddy's girlfriend stayed with us at the B&B so that was a lot of fun.

I took a lot of pictures for both rides. Here are some of my favorites.













Another adventure with the boyfriend that will blend in nicely with my next category is hockey season. It is now officially over, which I'm totally bummed about yet at the same time, it's probably a good thing. Our team this year was not fantastic. That's kind of an understatement, we got last in the division. Granted we did have a brand new coach and manager and all that, but still, it was rather pathetic toward the end. While the season itself took a downward spiral after our coach suddenly started trading off a bunch of our best players, it did have its moments. Some unexpected victories, big fights, and enough walking tacos to make me think it is definitely time to get to the gym. After the last home game they had a player meet-and-greet out on the ice. Myself, the boyfriend, and the Archaeologist went around taking pictures and getting stuff signed.

Okay, they walked around with me while I got my picture taken and stuff signed. Though she did get her picture taken with a few times. And the boyfriend went along with all of it. He even suggested we take a picture together in the penalty box which made me almost forgive him for calling me a "jersey chaser" five minutes earlier. But I got to meet my favorite player along with others I like and when I tweeted the pictures both he (and a woman who I assume is his mother) retweeted the one of me and him labeled as my favorite.

Jersey chaser. Thanks babe. He's like 17. That's just gross.


Friends:

My Archaeologist ditched me for greener pastures. Literally. But she'll be back. Eventually. This is the one who sits behind us at the hockey games. It's nice to have someone here with similar interests/problems that we can get like lunch or supper or see movies or whatever. Though now that she's gone I'm eating shawarma all alone.

Cue the sad girl music.

Allll byyyy myyyyyself....don't wanna be....okay that's creepy. I'm stopping now.

Anyway, she house-sat for a couple of people before leaving so we did a lot of movie-watching and burger eating. Plus trips to Cabelas, Canes, and Culvers. All in one day. We call them Capers. Cause our names start with C's and for some reason we go to a lot of C-named places. Crave. Cherry-in-Top. Etc.

These are the days of our lives.

And speaking of friends I got to see an old one a few weeks ago as Homey G Wigger made a reappearance in Nebraska. She was in-state for a confirmation so we got supper and jammed out for a while. Was good to catch up. Really should work on that whole pen-pal thing. I'm awful at correspondence. Ipso-facto, this blog's sudden downturn. Honestly I don't know how I did this every day for so long. Pretty sure it helped that I had no life, now it's like I barely have time to sit still, let alone post for hours on end.

One of the reasons I get to be so busy for the next few months - and notice that was a "get to be" not "have to be" - is Camp J season has officially started. We had our first meeting and the site went live on May 1st. And yes I've already gotten more than 10 applications in less than a week so, good to know kids are excited about camp this year. Even though I'm hesitant of the date change. Long story. But I need to get my act together with spreadsheets and planning. My inbox and voicemail will be flooded 'til August.

I'm more nervous for this year than I ever was before. That includes the year that Jim and I took over registrations and knew absolutely nothing about how to do it. This year will be the first year without an integral member of our team and I'm not sure how to handle things without her. Last year was redemption year, this year will be remembrance year. I need to get back to working on the guitar. She wrote so many songs over so many years, I'm hoping to work with my fellow music leaders on how to incorporate some of them into this year's camp. I'll keep you posted on that one.



Work:

Ah work. We're at an interesting juncture in my worklife experience. We're venturing into a new ILS system. This will be my third. First was Horizon, then Koha, now it's Symphony. Well, Sirsi-Dynex, but they call their product Symphony. This week and last have been kind of like attempting to control chaos. The fun part about training for a new system? You get to practice for hours on end. Part of practice is creating new library cards for fake patrons. My fake patrons of choice? Myka Bering and Calamity Jane. While both technically reside (or resided) in South Dakota, I moved them to Lincoln. One on Warehouse Avenue and the other on Deadwood Road. Of course they both disappeared when we went live. Boo.

Luckily for stressful times as these there is Staff Association, of which I am a member and somehow got to be in charge of this huge Mini-Golf event thing that took place. I think it's because I had my phone at the meeting and was able to look up prices and times and all that. Whatever, it was fun. A bit of stress in the planning, but worth it in the long run. We opened it up to all the staff and everyone picked teams and dressed up (if they wanted). The best dressed and most spirited won prizes along with best/worst scores, most holes-in-one, and most wet balls. Yeah, guess who won that one. To be fair I only lost 2 and was able to retrieve them.

That's not the only fun thing from work lately - we also just had some big volunteer events over the past few weeks. First was the Volunteer Banquet where we invite all the volunteers from all the branches to this big shindig and the mayor comes and gives a speech and we give them fancy snacks. The fun part about all that is jamming out with the other volunteer supervisors before and after the shindig. This year we joked about my mayor's award and how I need a traveling case so I can whip it out when needed. Basically a fancy fanny pack. So of course when I went to talk to the Mayor and he had no recollection of me whatsoever - to be fair he does that like once a month and he's been in office for like ever - I debated on purchasing one. But then I remembered that this isn't the 90s and they're still tacky. Quote of the day: "It's not like you saved someone's life or anything." Haha.

The other volunteer event was the Paperback Processing Party for my teens. Remember how every year we go to Barnes and Noble to pick out paperbacks for the library to purchase? Well, they came in and then we got to process them. It's fun for them because it's all the TAB groups - well, minus one this year - but they get to talk to people and they get first dibs on the material.

Other various work excursions since my last post have been Inservice - of which I only attended the morning session since we went to Kansas that afternoon. The speaker was good - it was mostly about safety in libraries...which doesn't make you paranoid at all... - plus NLA, that's our big annual conference for librarians across Nebraska. I was asked to be on the committee to put the whole thing together so that's gonna be a new and exciting adventure. We had our first meeting and it's a fun group of people - Library Goddess aka my former boss being one of them. Looking forward to it.

Somewhere in the midst of all this Queen of the Known Universe and I went to see Info-Man's play. They did "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Death Star" and it was fabulous. It's set up like it's a convention and the actors are reading the script to their upcoming movie however not all the actors could make it to the reading so the actors are playing like 3 characters each. For example, Darth Vader was also Han Solo. Yoda was also a Storm Trooper. And Info-Man played the bus driver, emperor, George Lucas, and a cantina bar singer. Highly entertaining, I bought the soundtrack, we loved it.

And what list of stories about work would be complete without including a strange patron interaction? I'm at the desk, right, and this lady comes up to check out some books. She starts handing me her card and then suddenly pulls it away and the conversation goes something like this:
"You are fragrant and I don't want it on my card, can I just scan it by myself?"
"What?"
"You smell like vanilla and I don't want it on my card, can I scan the card by myself?"
"Um, sure?"

So she scans the cards and the books and leaves. My coworker comes over and goes "That was rude." Me, not exactly sure what just happened or how to respond said something like "well, there are worse things to smell like, but I'm not wearing vanilla so I don't know what she was talking about." I was confused for the next few seconds but then I went over to the bookdrop and it was like WahBam! Vanilla! So, someone on the self-check must have been the one drenched in it, not me. Perhaps she had allergies and it just came off as awkward. I'm sure she's a nice person, but it was still weird.



Scale of Awesome's for you.

Interstellar


Scale of Awesome says 9/10. This movie - while long - was worth every minute. I will admit it started off slow and I was a little confused, but once the mission officially started I was hooked.


Woman in Gold


Scale of Awesome says 9/10. Really liked this one as well. Based on a true story and both leads - Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren - were fabulous. Really interesting to learn about art recovery and that specific case.


Predestination


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. So confused. So much shorter than necessary. Need an epilogue. What happens now?


Get Hard


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. I loved Will Ferrell on SNL but for some reason I just do not like his movies. I gave this one a chance cause I like Kevin Hart. It was alright, not wonderful, not awful, but alright.


The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies


Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Watched this one with the Archaeologist. The problem with this movie is that there is no like "previously on the Hobbit..." It just starts from where it left off and if you haven't seen the previous one in like months then you're screwed. Or at least we were. Thankfully I had grabbed the second one as well and we ended up putting that one in and then skipping around so we could remember why the one guy was in jail, why the other guy was wounded, which dwarf the chick was in love with, the difference between the Bowman and Thorin and also what the hell happened to Gandalf. Then we attempted the new one again successfully. Was pretty good in it's own right, but you really can't compare this trilogy to the original trilogy because it would just fail completely.


Nightcrawler


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. Dude, this dude was messed up man. Anything for a good shot. Kind of made me want to smack him, but made for an interesting movie.


Maze Runner


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. One of my TAB kids is obsessed with this movie. I feel like I would get more out of it if either 1. I was a teenage girl, or 2. I had read the book. Neither of those will be happening anytime soon.


Horrible Bosses


Scale of Awesome says 7/10. This is like the anti-Jennifer Aniston role, seriously. Nothing like her whatsoever and she pulled it off! Actually it was very funny.


Horrible Bosses 2


Scale of Awesome says 6/10. The first one was probably better, though this one did have its moments. I love Chris Pine.


Ridiculousness


Scale of Awesome says 9/10. Mindless humor, and I love Rob Dyrdek. It's highly entertaining and reminds me a bit of World's Dumbest.


Dances With Wolves


Scale of Awesome says 8/10. Sharon Rayder! I totally screamed and he was like what the hell? So, the boyfriend made me watch this one cause he was horrified that I hadn't seen it yet. Apparently it's a classic. I can see why. Even though it was like 3 hours long - which I was not expecting - it was really entertaining. I liked the storyline a lot.



On to the music:

Loving my new iPod. It fits all my music whereas my old one severely limited my music selections. Being able to listen to all my music has brought forth many songs that I forgot I knew.

Like these classics:

Gonna Get a Life - Mark Chestnutt



All 'Er Nothing - Oklahoma


used to sing this one a lot when i was little. is funnier now.

foot.

Electric Feel - MGMT


okay this one i've sang a lot lately and the irony of that being that someone actually checked out the MGMT CD like 2 minutes after i had gone around the building singing it in my head. i freaked, it was awesome.

and moving on to some new stuff

Budapest - George Ezra


love this one, give it a chance.



Alright, and that's all I got. Hope you had an awesome couple a months. I'll attempt to post sooner than months later next time...

Hyvenese = Chinese from Hyvee

Oh the lessons I learn from my coworkers. I've never had their Chinese, but their sushi isn't awful.

I mean, it's not good, but it's not awful.


How does one say goodbye to a friend of 14 years?

From the outside it may appear as if she was only my 7th and 8th grade teacher, but the reality is so much more.

Let’s start from the beginning.

You know how there’s always that one kid that’s better friends with their teacher than their classmates?

The nerd who gets all their jokes and hangs out with them at recess?

That was me.

I blame it on the fact that my siblings are way older than me so I get along better with people who are older.

G Wigger and I bonded over the TV show Friends – the first of many shows we bonded over – and it went from there. I used to write her notes and draw her pictures. I’m pretty sure I was the favorite cause she let me where sunglasses indoors. Again, nerd.

When asked about that later she responded “you have to pick your battles.”

She put up with my tantrums when it came to math – it was not my favorite subject – and even after school got out we stayed in touch. Jump forward a few years and you’ll hit where the nerd in me decided that Jim and I could take over Camp J – no problem. Ha!

We invaded her classroom almost daily for an entire summer cleaning out boxes, updating files, creating schedules, assigning counselors, stuffing lanyards, and then sorting t-shirts and sending out mailings. She called herself Camp J’s “number one fan” and helped out even though she avoided the actual camp like the plague.

It was during all this Camp J prep that 2G was formed.

Every year my old high school hosts a golf tournament as a fundraiser for the school. We decided – having no golf experience whatsoever – that we would start a team of our own and compete. The team was made up of Pastor (our leader and the only one with actual golf talent from the start), Jim O, G-Wigger and myself. We came up with the nicknames Blackstone, Dash Riprock, Homey G-Wigger, and Choot ‘em Lizbet, respectively.

Eventually we’d put those nicknames on bright orange t-shirts so you could see us at all times.



Though, we were told, you didn’t need to see us to know where we were cause we were the loudest ones there so you could hear us from across the course. But hey, our drinking team has a golfing problem – what can we say?

Two out of the four years we’ve competed I was unceremoniously thrown from the cart. Though that might have been partly my fault since I was leaning out to grab wayward golf balls.

Plus I had to save Bertha. Don’t ask.

But it was worth the bumps and bruises.

Golf isn’t the only sport 2G competes in. Softball is actually our specialty. We play scrappy but we dominate. Every game G-Wigger and I would warm up together and after every game we would stop for icecream.

We told her that since the golf tournament is in the summer that she should come back for it every year, however since softball games are usually on Sunday nights in the fall that won’t be an option.

Our team will never be the same.

Sports weren’t our only thing recently. We’d go to movies – see post “At least the baby stopped crying” – or out for jalapeno margaritas.

The adventures are so numerous she even has her own tag. "Homey G Wigger". And only my favorite people get their own tag.

So how does one say goodbye to someone who’s had such an impact on one’s life?

I could thank her I suppose. For sticking with me through the good times and the bad. Tell her how grateful I am for all the times she was there for me. Not just for math but for everything.

But I still feel like that that doesn’t begin to cover how much of an influence she’s had on my life.

So I’ve decided instead of goodbye, it’s just so long for now. We’re gonna pen pal it up. And it’s not the end. She’ll be back for big events – confirmations, golf, and a wedding if it ever happens.

And that makes it easier.




Okay, on to happier, less emotional things.

Took a trip out to Illinois to visit the BFF. Sketch and Edit’s Excellent Adventure. Take Two.

Or is it three? Whatever, either way it rocked.

Minus the 9 hour drive it took to get there, that is.

We jammed. Made camo cake.

Check it out.







Gotta have orange frosting with a camo cake. It actually tasted pretty good.

Other cooking adventures included booze popsicles. Looks like sherbet, tastes like vodka.

Holy crap those were strong. It probably had to do with the fact that it wasn't just vodka it was also mixed with tequila. Knocked us on our butts.

Non-cooking adventures were catching up on Grey's, and we watched a bit of Raising Hope.

Which I’d seen part of like one episode one time, so now of course I had to check out season one from the library. It’s actually quite entertaining.

And then of course we hit up the races cause her boyfriend has a car. Like in the races. With a driver. Who's pretty good. Got second in his heat, but then it got rained out. So we jammed in the trailer. See Facebook for pictures.

It was good to see her. It had been like a year. Or two. More like two.

That should change.



What else? The boyfriend and I are doing great. We’ve been going to a lot of races lately. We hit up the World of Outlaws the other day in Greenwood and my guy won! After I had bought his t-shirt. And it’s awesome, it’s like a pit crew shirt with all the advertisements on it.

Plus he signed it.

I was proud that I picked him and that I got the shirt before he won the race instead of after. Plus he beat the guy who always wins and you gotta root for underdogs.

Races aren’t the only fun things we’re going to, a few weeks ago we went to my sister-in-law’s surprise 40th birthday party. The surprise part being the event we dragged her to Omaha for. It was a Murder Mystery party at a hotel – professionally done, it was fun.

We all had to pick aliases. I was Regina Philange.

Make me proud people, make me proud.

Mom was Cher. Dad was John Wayne. After picking the killer’s name as his alias and being told it was already in use (but not told it was the killer) the boyfriend went with Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.

I know, how does one pick the name of the killer out of the like 80 million names available? It was amusing.

The problem with their setup was that you had to be paying attention to nametags to figure out who-done-it cause the detectives who were supposed to be solving the crime did nothing but distract you. But that’s okay, we went for the fun of it and it was fun, even though I was forced to walk the cat walk to prove my innocence.

Long story.

This week we went fireworks shopping. And you know me with my fireworks. Hit up my mother ship. aka the Dorm Mom's stand. Got some good deals. I'm stoked!

After the 4th he and I are taking a trip to Iowa for another motorcar excursion so look forward to those highlights....

What else?

College World Series! My team won! Go Black Gold! The Cool Aunt was also for Vandy so anytime they did something good we’d text “black gold!” We saw them play live one of the years we went so that’s what we like them.

And speaking of a lot going on, I’ve been working tons on camp stuff. I’m getting excited, it’s coming up! Again this year we have more boys than girls but that may change since they have ‘til July 7th to turn everything in.

I'm really excited for my 7th and 8th graders skit. No HeeHaw this year but they're still singing. Don't worry, they won't hate this one.

And Smo is coming this year. I'm so excited! Gonna be my Skits and Worship helper. Which is good cause there will be lots...

Scale of Awesome’s for you:

Edge of Tomorrow


Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Interesting premise but not a huge fan of Tom Cruise.

Bowfinger


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. So horrible. Yet funny.

300


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. Am I the only person on this planet that didn't like this movie? I feel like it. It's only redeeming quality?



Gerard Butler. And the "This is Sparta" kick. That was badass.

On to the music:

Strong Enough - Cher


a month later and it's still in my head. awesomeness.

and one for an upcoming concert:

From Me To You - Beatles


so excited! debating what my favorite Beatles song is. this is one of many. Probably Hey Jude. Maybe Yesterday. Blackbird. Day Tripper. Paperback Writer. Hello Goodbye. Let it Be. Love Me Do. Yellow Submarine. She Loves You.

Too many good ones to choose from...

And I'm out. I promise it won't take me another month to post.

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof.

I know, I know, I've been off the radar for a few days.

Long story short I realized working at a public library and having a public blog kind of kills my whole privacy thing.

So, it's not that I don't love you, it's just that I've decided to slow down in postings and wait until I actually have things to post about instead of just overloading you every night with mindless ramblings.

Not that they're not entertaining, but it's about time.

This was the first year in years that one of my resolutions wasn't 300 posts by the end of year. I don't know if it was subconscious or what...but anyway, instead of 7 posts a week it will probably be down to 2 or 3.

So I'm not disappearing completely. Besides this blog is kind of how Sketch makes sure I'm still breathing so it's not like I can give it up all together.

And it's become a part of me, as weird as that sounds, so I can't give it up, it'd be like chopping off a limb or something.

So, what have you missed?

Well, there was Wednesday.

Work was fine. Trained an intern. She's actually one of our regulars who decided to go to library school.

After work went out with Homey-G-Wigger for jalapeno margaritas cause she was in town. Graded papers for a while at the library so I got to introduce her around.

She got a call. That's what we Lutherans call a job offer at a different school.

When there's an opening they call a teacher and if they decline then they call another. It's a whole official process and goes through synod channels and all that. G hasn't taken a call in over a decade, which we're grateful for. Her last one was from Florida to which I responded, "Friends don't let friends move to Florida" and she stayed. But now this one is closer to her home. It would totally suck to lose her cause she basically keeps that school alive. Plus you know, 2G golf and our softball team would be severely lacking. But we would understand if she left. Anyway, it was cool to catch up.

Thursday I had off. Spent it running errands and watching Person of Interest.

I know, I'm so exciting.

Today felt super weird cause I'm never off on Thursdays so it felt like a Saturday. Attended a booktalk this morning cause I'm giving one in a few weeks and they let me go watch so I would know what to expect.

Public speaking and I are not friends, whatsoever.

But they did a good job.

It was nice to meet the people and introduce myself and also pick up pointers like, handouts are appreciated, and bringing books with you will give them a chance to check them out after, etc.

I think I had like 10 stats total all day cause I spent most of it either at a booktalk or off desk.

I did put holds on all my books I'll be talking about so I can actually come up with something to say about them.

Might even post it on here, if it doesn't suck that is.

Tonight was the hockey game. Our forth loss in a row. This one was sad too cause it was tied 2-2 and the goalie tried to land on the puck to make it stop and it went through his legs with like 3 minutes left.

Gonna have to pick it up cause it's another rivalry game on Valentine's Day.

Speaking of, if your boyfriend buys you flowers what is an appropriate gift to get him?

He's not big on gifts so I was thinking a hockey shirt. Something he could actually wear.

Hm. We'll see.

And that's all I got. It's snowing here like madness. Driving home felt like the Millenium Falcon on hyperdrive.

Yes, I'm a nerd, get used to it.

Song of the Day:

Happy - Pharrell Williams


count the cameos.

legit pre-midnight, holy crap tag in use.

jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.

Saturday:

So...Saturday morning I was supposed to have a whole group of volunteers come in from 9-12 to clean the lab and do various other stuff....and then they didn't show up.

Superwoman came in special to help and everything....and then they didn't show up. So, I ended up going to the home branch to jam with the Queen of Awesome in the morning then back to the work branch in the afternoon.

After work headed out to see the boyfriend. We watched a bit of the car auction - there was this huge old car auction in Nebraska this weekend that was all over the History Channel. Basically this car dealer kept all these cars from the 50s-90s and most of them had like 1-5 miles on them total.

So I guess technically it was a new old car auction...in 2013.

But it was on History so you knew it was big.

We watched the first few cars but then got tired of it, then went out to Applebee's for appetizers.

Since I had Sunday off I slept over at the farm.

Sunday:

Church this morning, sat with the family. Got dinner afterward, invited Homey G as always.

I was hoping to take a nap in the afternoon but there were 3 screaming children running all over and my father who wanted me to set up his iPod so that didn't happen.

For long anyway.

We got him an iPod for his birthday cause he said he would use it. It all sounds like a grand idea until you're the one who has to set it up and teach him how to use it.

BUT I was successful cause he brought it to the softball game and was listening to it.

So take that world!

He gave me a list of songs to upload by Abba, Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Carol King, Beach Boys and Duane Eddy. And that's all he wanted.

For now anyway, I'm sure he'll have a new list for me when I go back home.

And I got to teach him how to use it, though I'm guessing Mark will have to give him a refresher course tomorrow.

I didn't get time to figure out the extra speakers cause I was already running late.

FOR OUR LAST GAME OF THE SEASON! except we decided to add another one next week. Which means I'll have to talk Superwoman into letting me leave at 5. We'll see how that goes.

I played like crap - the one time Dad comes - but everyone else did okay, including my brother who pitched and actually got all three outs in a single inning. I really like hitting off this pitcher so I kept reaching for everything.

Cause I refuse to be walked. I've only walked 2 times in the what like 7 years we've been playing? I think it's 6 or 7.

Oh well, we won it 11-4, even after we gave them an extra inning.

And they wanna play again next week so we agreed to take them on. Even though we're up 2-0.

That's okay, we can make it 3-0 and then get ready for next year. I'm bummed there's only 3 games this year. Last year's was great cause we had like 6 cause we played everyone twice. This year we're down to only 2 teams total so that kind of killed that.

We think they're scared of us so that's why they all dropped out. You know, cause we're just that awesome.

When we're all here that is. We were short last week - though still won - and tonight we were still missing some key players but hopefully next week the whole gang will be back together.

After the game G and I went out for ice cream, as usual, and I headed back cause it's more work tomorrow.

Now Carter and I are jamming watching some Iron Chef.

On to the music. 

Bohemian Rhapsody - Muppets


the boyfriend and i heard this at applebees and went what?

oh yeah, forgot they made one of these...

Royals - Lorde


catchy. i can't decide if i like it or not. i'm starting to. i think.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use. 

Keep Calm and Drink Kale - Geaux Tigers!

Happy Father's Day!

Got crap for not calling my father until 6:30.

Some of us work during the day!

Joking.

Got him something pretty cool.

Hoping he'll like it.

Now just have to figure out a time to go out to the farmhouse to give it to him.



Another empty Sunday at the library, yet the day seemed to fly by.

I'm sure iced coffee and a cinnamon roll helped with that.

Got to jam with some of my favorite coworkers so even though the day was slow we still had fun.

Making plans for when we win Powerball.

Yes when because Queen of the Known Universe is that determined so there's no if anymore.

So when we win, what am I gonna do with my share of the winnings?

Apparently I need to put more thought into my plan because they already have theirs nailed down.

Queen of the Known Universe wants a gulf-stream.

The Old New Guy wants a yacht.

Queen of the Known Universe told him that his servers have to wear chaps when she comes to visit.

There's more to their plans but those were the major factors.

For me, I totally drew a blank.

I could go with the cliche mansion, pool, nice car, sound systems.

But that's really not me.

So throughout the day I came up with a plan.

So far it includes:
- A casino of my own design
- With a golf course in the back
- And then my mansion on the other side of the golf course
- So I can drive a golf cart every day to work

The casino is just a fun thing cause you know, the house always wins, but like can you imagine designing your casino?

Like I could draw up my own blue prints, choose the restaurants, the entertainment, design the rooms - it just sounds fun.

The golf course is more of an inside joke.

Cause you know me and my lack of golfing skills.

But every time Homey G Wigger and I go out golfing - to practice for the tee it up for tuition tournament - we talk about building our own and what we would do with each hole.

"Take another little piece of my grass now baby."

We make a lot of divots.

And the mansions we would build surrounding it for all the rich people. And awesome restaurants.

Anyway, we'd build one here in Nebraska and then expand.

Cause ours would be just that awesome.

So, yes, casino, golf course, personalized golf cart with security system so people couldn't steal it.

And according to the Old New Guy it needs a helipad on the top so he'll have somewhere to land his helicopter.

And now apparently we need to come up with some sort of communication system for the three of us.

Like CB radios but more modern.

So that's my plan so far.

Any other suggestions?

Anyway, that's all I really remember about work today.

Afterwards I got to watch my LSU boys lose....

Cause of errors....

Ugh.

But that's okay, we're still in it and we're gonna dominate the losers bracket and make a comeback.

That kale juice is gonna do it man.

So that was my day.

Don't go in tomorrow until 4, woohoo!

Song of the Day:

Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin


rocks it.

Head First, Fearless.

Well that was fun.

Today I mean.

Very relaxing.

Church in the morning, buffet lunch with Homey G and the parentals after - only in a small town does an entire restaurant sing Happy Birthday to their waitress.

I swear, my father knows everyone in this town.

Though technically he does go there like every morning for coffee, anyway, he got us a table and I walk in to see the waitress wearing this Happy Birthday hat and she wishes me happy birthday as well.

Thank god she didn't make me wear a hat, I would have gotten so much crap from G-Wigger.

Anyway, some lady - that my dad also knew - went around saying we should sing the next time said waitress came through so we broke into song during her next pass.

She seemed happy.

Said she'd trade me ages.

Apparently 25 is more appealing than 44.

Tuesday I'll get to be in her shoes working on mine.

BossLady said I should have taken it off.

After lunch we came home and watched Swamp People - cause really, what's a weekend at the farm if there's no Swamp People? I'd cheer and say I avoided Hee Haw but I'm still here tomorrow so who knows what he'll have lined up for me to watch then?

Swamp People's premiere ended so then it was switched to Ax Men, well, a scene from Ax Men of this dude loading a crane onto a barge whilst his wife freaks out aboard said barge.

But it didn't sink so I can't make fun of him for it.

Well, I can, but it won't be as fun.

I turned on Charlie's Angels again after Dad left to go work on a project and Mom went to some party thing in town. Burned through a disc pretty quickly whilst playing Mahjongg Titans.

I know, my life at the farm is so rough.

That's only cause it's my birthday weekend.

Think I've officially watched all the discs from season two, but it's okay cause I brought season one with me as well. Mom has been watching quite a few of them as well. She makes fun of them and me for them and yet she continues watching.

More fun one-liners.

"If we were still married, I'd poison your coffee!"
"If we were still married I'd drink it!"

Ten bucks if you can name who they're quoting.

If you guessed Winston Churchill or David Lloyd George I owe you.

After Charlie's Angels was dinner with his parents and mine plus my brother and his family. It was supposed to be my whole immediate family and his parents however sickness and sports took over for the 2 missing siblings.

But it's cool, I'll see them later this week.

Dinner was fun.

Got a hot beef sandwich.

The boyfriend made fun of me.

"You have anything to choose from and you choose a hot beef sandwich?"

Then 2 minutes later says that sounds good but goes with chicken.

I rarely eat fried chicken anymore. Makes me nauseous. Stay tuned with the family history and you'll figure out why.

I got some cooking stuff from mom and even stuff from his family, they didn't have to do that but they're awesome like that.

Porcelain cat that looks just like Carter. He's gonna love it.

And some movie gift certificates, stoked, will most likely use them on Tuesday, he's coming up. Thinking about seeing Identity Thief.

Speaking of, have you seen the preview for McCarthy's new movie with Sandra Bullock?



Oh my god, I died.

Pretty sure the boyfriend was not as enthused so I have a feeling I'll be watching that one with Sketch.

After dinner I went to his place and we watched Mystic River.


Scale of Awesome rates it at about 7/10. I was intrigued but not obsessive enough to watch it over and over.

Sean Penn was great, as was Shawshank - don't remember his name but he'll forever be Shawshank - and then Kevin Bacon as the cop.

The ending was a little confusing, may have to pick up the book and read it.

I saw it all the time whilst shelving at the home branch, right next to Shutter Island and every time I'd think, "movies I haven't seen". Lehane was the author I believe. Could tell you exactly where on the shelf to find it but they've since shifted and I would be off.

And that's all I got for today. Tomorrow is another lazy day before heading back to the real world, but first stay tuned for some music and more family history.

Fearless - Taylor Swift


Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash

in the mud and the blood and the beer.


Family History, Dad's Sid Part Two:


When I was little I used to be the favorite. There was a big age gap between me and the other eleven so I was the baby. Grandpa and Grandma only lived half a mile away from our house. Sometimes grandpa would pick me up from school and we’d get groceries. They both helped out my parents a lot with babysitting when mom and dad were busy. I spent a lot of my afternoons watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

There’s a picture of me on mom’s fridge from when I was grandpa’s little helper. I used to dry the dishes after he washed them. Well, I attempted to dry them, I think he went over them again when I was done and preoccupied with something else, but I stood on a stool next to him and smiled pretty for the camera. It was a regular routine. When I cleaned house for grandma I did more sitting and drinking tea with her than actual cleaning which was true for literally everyone that tried to clean. We would all try but were never successful. Grandma always made everyone feel welcome and special.

When I was really little, around 4 years old, I was watching Jungle Book with the lights off and it was really loud so I got scared. No one seemed to be in the house at that time because they were cleaning the bins. I was so scared I ran all the way to their house barefoot on gravel roads in the dark. Grandpa took me back home and my parents didn’t even know I was missing.

The only movies they owned were “The Best of Victor Borge” and “Riverdance.” God bless Michael Flatly for my lack of tap dancing skills. We used to watch them all the time. Grandma loved to watch the dancing and listening to Mr. Borge play piano. I always wanted to fast forward through the actual music and just listen to the jokes. I now own them both but can’t watch either of them.

I used to play the hymn “Glorious in Majesty” over and over on their piano. Grandma always encouraged my playing because she was once a piano player herself. I was never any good despite years of lessons. My aunt Elaine taught me how to play “Strawberry Roan” a song about a horse who bucked people off its’ back. I’d play that after I grew tired of “Glorious in Majesty.”

"Why are they always old?!"

So, everyone keeps texting me about what to buy for the boyfriend for Christmas.

I took him shopping this weekend as mentioned in the post and picking out gifts was like pulling teeth.

Now I know how Oldest Sister feels when she takes me clothes shopping.

At least I managed to come up with a few ideas from myself. From others I've got nothing. Cause he says he wants nothing.

But at our family Christmas no one gets nothing so I'll have to come up with some ideas. We're spending actual Christmas with his family and New Year's with mine since that's when we're having our family Christmas.

Which I think I told my mother, and if not, then she knows now.

Yes, we are at that point. Afterall we did almost get married in Vegas. Which Cabin Fever pointed out is kind of a big deal.

But it's been over 11 months now.

Which is huge for me cause as previously mentioned most of my relationships don't last longer than a Mento.

And I'm happy.

Which is also new.

Anyway, speaking of relationships, so had yet another "magnet moment" today at work. I helped this dude in the lab and he kept coming up with reasons to come to the desk like to borrow a pen and then to bring back a pen and then to ask about a newspaper and then to borrow the pen again and then he needed my help in the lab again and THEN he hits me with "can I show you something" and says something about how I'm beautiful or something, I don't even remember I was too "get me the heck out of here"-d at the moment. Anyway, so then he goes back into the lab, finishes his session and when putting the pen back in the holder on the desk slips me a note asking for my number.

Needless to say I did not give it to him.

The Library Judge says I'm 6, Queen of the Known Universe says I should have said 12.

6 is props cause she's a badass. Speaking of, "The Rise of Nine" is finally out and I added it to my wishlist - aka I told Favorite Sister in Law to buy it for me. But if she doesn't perhaps Mom will. And then Homey G will immediately borrow it.

I'm wondering if they'll ever make a sequel but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. I don't think it had the greatest following.

Where was I going again? Oh right, so then this drunk lady started hitting on our security guard, and the poor dude is so young you just feel bad. But he handled it really well. Though later he came up to me and was like, "why are they always old?!"

So apparently if they were younger and hotter he wouldn't mind as much.

I have finally come up with somewhat of a Christmas list.

The first few are boring.

-Luggage
-Bookshelves
-Vacuum
-Curtains Hung Up - still unsuccessful on that front

But then I ran into some fun stuff

-Burn Notice season five
-Charlie's Angels season five
-Once Upon a Time season one
-Pittacus Lore books "Rise of Nine" and then the one about lost legacies 


Well, I called it. Sort of, no I did. Picked the final four mentioning Nicholas might slip through just cause he's got people in his corner. I'll miss Amanda, she was great. As was Melanie she just had a bad night. People are ticked. Much like when Pip got kicked off last year. Bowtie and all.

But they're young and hipster-ish and the teens love them.

But my top 2 are STILL IN IT!

And I'm rooting for Terry now as well. He was in my honorable mentions when I was originally crafting the list. And I listened to his song almost 50, well, probably well over 50 times last night while falling asleep.

And then again today.

Second year in a row for Team Blake cause of Jordis last year.

It's interesting now though that it doesn't matter your team, just your number of votes so actually Adam and Xtina don't have any of their team left in the competition. Cee-Lo has Trevin and Nicholas, Blake has Cassadee and Terry.

Alright, should crash. More work tomorrow.



What does it mean?!?

Out!

I think I thought I saw you try.

Ah, relaxation.

Church with the family in the morning, then dinner afterward. We took G-Wigger to celebrate her birthday. She and Second Sister are the same age.

After dinner was naptime. Which was fabulous. I miss naptime it was the only good thing about getting sent off to Rainbow World, of course I hated naps back then.

And Rainbow World too.

Yes, they did actually name their daycare center Rainbow World.

If it helps it's a church now.

That didn't last long. The only real memory I have of that place is hitting some kid in the head with a hammer. In my defense it was plastic and I'm pretty sure he did something to merit the giant thwack that sent me to the corner.

No wait, I remember watching some kid eat crayons and peaches simultaneously.

So make that two life-scarring memories.

Soon after I went back to staying with my grandparents or great aunt after school whilst my parents harvested.

Where was I?

Right, naptime.

Turned on Grimm and fell asleep on the couch. Apparently the show is much too scary for both of my parents but has no effect on me. I just love the fairy tale tie-ins. Like I said, total nerd when it comes to Charles Perrault or anything fairy tales.

After naptime I headed back and had supper with the Queen of Awesome. Rainbow chicken and fries, cause what else does one order at Lazlos?

Well, swordfish apparently. I had to take a picture.

And, yet again, half of it is in my fridge most likely to be eaten at around 2AM.

It was good to jam out with her, we haven't done that in a while but she is injured and I am busy with work and school and stuff. It's back to real life for the week.

I'm so exhausted that I will probably fall asleep the instant after this is posted, which is taking longer as I'm having trouble sitting up straight.

And no you can't blame that on the one adult beverage I had tonight at dinner, it's far gone by now.

I'm not sure why I'm this tired. I actually slept this weekend and I took a nap this afternoon so you'd think I'd be fine.

Oh well, I guess analysis isn't really necessary.

I will fall asleep, Carter will jump on me, waking me up so that he can sleep on my stomach - which is both cute and obnoxious - I will not be able to fall back asleep and be reminded of the fries in the fridge. I will get up to eat the fries and Carter will be pissed because it will be at that exact moment that he finally goes to sleep. Then I will get bitten for moving and get the glare on return to the couch/bed that I had fallen asleep on. He will have spread himself out, taking over the couch/bed making me have to move him causing him to bite me a second time....

This is pretty much our routine.

I could go on longer but you'd get bored.

Song of the day:

Losing My Religion - R.E.M.
bizarre video, rather cultish actually but i guess it works

Legitimate pre-midnight post. Holy crap tag in use.

howl at the moon, shoot out the light, it's a small town Sunday night...

So I'm on third, Pastor at the plate and he hits one straight at my head. I ducked and missed it. However, next pitch sent one straight at my feet.

Apparently I don't have the hops I used to have.

But I was on the base so I wasn't out and since it hit me when I was on the line it got called fair. Though Pastor didn't run, he mostly stood there for a while, then went to the base when the ump - who happens to be my cousin - said to go.

I didn't think it was so bad then I got home and went, WHOA! So now I have a sweet bruise on my foot. A big X on my second toe and a nice swollen bump and bruise right below that big toe.

My own Pastor, geez.

We won - vs Methodists - 13-6. Had some really good innings so that was lots of fun.

Sadly that will be it for my softball season as someone - not naming names but it wasn't one of ours - suggested they make the games earlier so more people would be able to make it.

And then ironically even more people on their team couldn't make it.

I'm seriously super bummed. Just got the t-shirt designs done and all that.

But I guess I got my token injury so I can be done. Torn up leg and now the foot. Joan wrapped my foot when we went out for icecream. It's amusing to have like 3 medical professionals on our team. Actually a good thing for me since I'm accident-prone.

So she wrapped that then I took it off to shower tonight. Should take a picture of the sweet bruise and upload it.

Before that game was gypsy caroling at the nursing home - we float from room to room so a few years ago we were labeled as the gypsies. It's family day so we go around and sing camp songs and all that. Like 3rd year we've done it. Was myself, Pastor, his wife, Homey-G-Wigger and of course our Gypsy Leader Liz.

Before that was yet another softball game - though this time was for my brother's birthday. Divided us up into teams accordingly. Brother just got a pitching machine that he's pretty proud of so we tried that for a bit. Got me warmed up for tonight's game. Though I still sucked it up. Sister-in-law and I pass the bad luck curse back and forth, I told her to keep it with her for the night since she couldn't make it but no luck.

Alright, falling asleep at the board. Have a good one.


Songs You Know But Forgot You Knew Them


Miami - Will Smith
was huge for a short while then disappeared.


Small Town Saturday Night - Hal Ketchum
what happened to this dude?

"Unhook the plow."

Ah, church softball season has begun.

I ain't saying you missed out on some awesome.

Okay, maybe I am.

You missed out on some awesome.

Today was the first official WELS softball area tournament held in G-Town.

The first step in what Becky is hoping to turn into a WELS Regional softball tournament.

Three churches for the first year, though there were bits and pieces of others as well. More will participate in future years, this was kind of a thrown together to play over a holiday kind of thing, but then a lot of people go on family vacations and all that - though our team was intact. Expanded even with the addition of one of my old classmates and her husband, and then Megan's boyfriend who we're making play again cause he's got some speed.

And, what church softball game would complete without me tearing up my leg?

To be fair, I did NOT slide.

There was no sliding on my end.

It was even worse, UNINTENTIONAL.

I was like five feet from home, stepped in- I don't know there must have been a hole or some loose dirt or something, I still have no idea what happened, all I know is that I was running and my right ankle twisted out from under me and somehow I ended up flat on my back like a foot from home plate with a seriously skinned up left leg and it all happened in SUPER SLOW MOTION, like I could feel it happening in slow motion but I couldn't stop it.

Though not as scratched up as 2 years ago - that was even uglier.

The funny thing is, even though I did not slide, the scraping is in the exact same place on the exact same leg as always.

Becky says I should have scar tissue built up by now, but apparently not.

This one started to bruise immediately, and of course bled and it was gross, but favorite sister-in-laws plans ahead for these things. KNOWING that I would injure myself she brought a first aid kit with special gauze pads that stick.

However, when you're running they still fall off. So I had to add tape.

Lots and lots of tape.

And they still fell off.

So I said screw it and played anyway, still covered in dirt from head to toe.

It was worth it.

Funny story though, big brother was making fun of me and then he totally wiped out on the pitcher's mound on his way to the dugout after claiming we should hustle in.

Serves him right.

Game one was against our new rival, and they beat us bad.

See, we were going in thinking, hey, we play together all the time, we should rock.

We did not rock.

At first.

Apparently morning games aren't our thing.

It was like home run after home run for them. And then on the other side of the fence is the park's playground. Megan hopped the fence once and had to run all the way through the park to get the ball - "Megan, you can go down the slide later!" we like to heckle.

We're good at that.

Hence the "Unhook the plow" title, which we yell when someone gets a good hit and is rounding the bases - though it's usually directed at John since he said it originally.

Actually, we pulled it together by the end and then there was some confusion on what should have been an out for them and they won by one.

So that sucked.

Then they played the other team and whipped them, then we paused for some lunch - Jim O at the barbecue it was great.

After some burgers and other essential barbecue fixings we played the third team and were getting hosed, like down by 7 hosed. At this point we're thinking, okay, this is pathetic. We play together all the time, we gotta pick it up, and actually, we play best when we're that far behind.

Bottom of the last inning we pull off the comeback of the season and tie it up taking it to extra innings.

Tyler gets on base. I'm still uninjured at this point - that happened during the last game, I know, I know, so close yet so far - and I get walked.

I never get walked.

We don't do walks.

We hit.

We hate teams that sit there and wait to be walked which has become the strategy of one of the teams we play during regular season - not cool.

Anyway, I got walked on some crappy pitches, and my big brother strides to the plate.

First hit goes foul.

Second sails over the fence.

Homerun and game, awesome comeback.

I was scared it was gonna be on me since I would have been the winning run.

After that they played the rival team again and we had to wait to play the rival again until after their game.

We sat on the bleachers and cheered for the members of our team covering for missing girls on the non-rival team. I think Becky and G-Wigger played in every inning of every game.

I should have done it, I could have used the batting practice. I got good hits. Like every time I had a really good hit to the outfield, it's just that they would always go to the same place and they would always get caught by the same guy.

Though not to the extent that Becky had against a certain left-fielder. They kept getting each other out - she plays third and catches like everything, especially the line drives though she claims it's in self-defense.

It's amusing cause we all have our spots that we play in every game. It's been what, like five years of church softball already? Geez.

Anyway, so we got to play the rivals again and we rocked it.

Seriously rocked it, think we beat them by at least 5. We called ourselves the champions since even though we won the same amount of games we beat them in points and since they didn't dispute - mostly cause they were leaving - we are going with it.

So we are the champions my friends.

And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end of the season.

Which officially starts next weekend. And I'm off so I'll be there. Might have to ask Superwoman about the earlier games, we'll see how that goes.

After the game we had some victory icecream - which G-Wigger and I do during the regular season anyway so that was nice - and jammed on the picnic tables planning for next year.

I had a blast, we all did. We're pumped to take on the rivals again next year - they were good, I'll give you that. I'm just glad we're were able to beat both teams, that come from behind thing was awesome. Though not the first time we've done it, actually I think it was last year we scored nine in the last inning and got a victory.

Like I said, we play better when we're behind.

But we're goofy and don't get all like yelling and pressure-filled and all that.

We're just out there to have fun, and I'm glad we got to have a lot of it today.

Oh, and we're gonna get t-shirts made with "Who's Steve?!" on the front. It made a re-appearance this morning from our book keeper since I had written out the lineup on the clipboard and has been dubbed as our team name (go here) so we're thinking grey shirts with blue and yellow writing, plus some possible hot pink with the quote, "Back up, our women can hit!" (Go here) at least on the girls shirts. Maybe we can put "Unhook the plow" on the boys in blue writing.

After all that fun I headed out to the farm to grab my stuff. Dad checked my tire pressure - apparently I'm short so when Mom had to move my car she had to like cram herself into the seat.

"You're short."
"You borned me, it's your fault!"
"If I could have given you longer legs I would have."
"Thanks Mom."

Then I headed back to the apartment to my crazy fat cat who basically tackled me upon my return. Which didn't bode well for the leg.

So, since my leg is all gross - I took a shower and it freakin' hurt, plus all the cream stuff I'm putting on it just stings - I'm going to wrap it up and get some sleep.

Hope ya'll had a great labor day, off to work in the morning so I really should crash soon. First official TAB meeting in the afternoon, no pressure. Plus gotta finalize some volunteer stuff, everything comes at once, ahh!!

Songs of the day:

it's only fitting
that is one stylin' outfit

Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
sing it now.

Keep the change, you filthy animal.

So, I'm burnt to the crisp.

And the question now is, do I wear jeans and be in physical pain?

or do I wear dress pants and be in mental pain?

I'm guessing it'll be the former, but you never know.

Went golfing today with Homey G-Wigger and Jim O. Had a lot fun, did decent on the first nine, but not so much on the back 9. We kind of stopped keeping track after that.

Gonna keep this short so I can post it, just in case I have that virus that's gonna shut down the internet tomorrow. Not sure if that starts at midnight or whatever.

Scary stuff, guess we'll see. Especially at work, if the lab has issues people get upset.

So yes, golfing was awesome, would have been better if I remembered my clubs, woops. Then swung by the reunion, attempted to sleep at the farm - felt sick most of the afternoon cause of the sun in the morning. Plus it's probably not wise to drink before 10AM. Even though you're golfing. Not wise.

I kept slicing to the right. Gotta fix my stance. We mostly went as a practice round before the tournament in August.

After all that stopped by the boyfriend's house. I've spent more time there lately than I spent at the farmhouse. But I'm headed there again this weekend so I'll make up the time.

We debated about what's the best Home Alone movie. He likes the first two, I like the first and third. Probably because I've watched it maybe twice.



Random but it's true.

The third is pretty good. Scarlett Johansson as a kid, but it doesn't beat the first.

The fourth is crap and I heard they're making it a fifth, ahh!


Songs of the Night:

"She is Beautiful" Andrew WK

love the slide at 2:49


"Gonna Get Over You" Sara Bareilles

i don't listen to the radio so i don't know if any of these play. this one should. dance move at 2:02 reminds me of grease. no idea why. makes you want to dance down the aisles at the grocery store.

Watched The Closer when I was trying to sleep, "The Johnson Rule" But I still don't know who the leak is, haven't gotten that far.

Gonna crash, long day tomorrow but going out with the family after, woohoo!

people gonna be okay, storms never come to stay

Interesting day.

Woke up at noon to eat with the parentals.

Went up to the church at 1 to work on camp stuff, ended up working until 9.

Only took one break and that was for ice-cream around 4ish.

Crazy crazy planning process. But we assigned counselors to campers and campers to cabins, fixed the songbooks and added the new stuff, printed and stuffed all the return letters, came up with an impromptu plan B schedule if we can't go tubing which is a big possibility. Plus tallied and ordered some t-shirts.

Then ate pizza.

So it was a long process but didn't make for a long day. We have a lot of fun.

And it's good that we got it all done so we can go golfing tomorrow. Early church then heading out to the course for 18. Should be fun. I'll come back after and hit up the reunion if it's still going. Sad the sister-in-law can't make it, but timing-wise is probably bad. We'll go again. G-Wigger just got a new golf bag it's like Packers green and yellow with logo all over it. Niiiice. Should get one of those. Not a Packers one, but still.

Though I'd only use it once a year.

And would need a place to store it.

And my trunk is already full of camp stuff.

But see, it's less for me to pack!

That's why it stays!

Okay, that's mostly why it stays. I just really don't have the motivation to carry it up all those stairs. It's a lot of crap. I'll take it out this year after camp.

Gonna take some more Benadryl and call it a night. Swelling is mostly gone but it's still a little sore. Which wouldn't make tomorrow much fun.

Speaking of soreness, so we hadn't seen Dad in a while so Mom called and he's like cutting down trees - in the dark - to make sure the pivot doesn't hit them and he says that he scuffed his arm a little.

He gets home and it's like disgusting. I could only look for half a second before I turned away and wanted to vomit.

I'm not so good with blood and gore. Which isn't generally something you want to hear from someone who's certified which reminds me that I need to get that renewed. Anyway, so it was gross and he probably should get it checked out but he's Dad so he won't.

Apparently he fell down a bank with a chainsaw.

But it was off so it's okay.

Not like he fell off a tree with it still running.

Still, cutting down trees in the dark with a chainsaw doesn't seem like much of a logical choice.

But whatever works.

And that was my day.

I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about tomorrow so I'm gonna crash.

"How Bad We Need Each Other" Marc Scibilia

i have those shoes.

Camp Season Has Begun

First camp meeting of the year.

Yep, camp season has officially begun.

Tonight Pastor, Jim and myself put together a basically "coming at you" letter that gives them a heads up about the dates and theme and all that. And to watch their mail for upcoming application forms.

Totally intense man, worked for like five minutes and then we got stuck cause my computer's not hooked up to the copier but Pastor's is but Pastor was gone at the moment so I ended up drawing random pictures of the board for Homey G-Wigger for when she gets back. Basically I drew all of 2G aka Blackstone - pastor - Dash Riprock - Jim - Homey G Wigger and then Choot 'em Lizbet - me. And we're all posing as normal so pastor and G wigger are golfing normal though I should hvae drawn her driving like a maniac. Jim lost his ball in the tree and is whacking the tree with the club and I'm on the ground next to the golf cart cause she's thrown me out of it two years running.

Anyway, camp, right.

We're going with "The Ultimate Transformer" Pastor found a cool passage to go with it, it should be fun. Very different compared to last year's theme of "Guiding Light" which was fantastic as it was all soap opera-esque and I'm the skits and worship person. Plus registrar. Plus administration. Plus plus plus... But I got Liz with me for the music part. Apparently she's working on songs already, woohoo! She writes one every year. Last year we attempted to but it didn't turn out as good as hers do.

And we cheated, used a song already in existence and added a verse to the end of it. That way the melody was already written and all we needed was one verse. Fool-proof!

Anyway, so we came up with a coming at you flyer and stuff some envelopes. Gotta love those labels you can print out on special paper and just stick them to the envelope, those are fanstic and make our life loads easier.

No hand-addressed envelopes which is good cause my handwriting is atrocious.

As I'm falling asleep while I type this I'll keep it short.

Tomorrow is work plus Squirt and Bubby's trial of the bad wolf play. He plays the evil villain - two years running woohoo! - and she plays some sort of fairy godmother. Should be fun.

Then Saturday is the volunteer recognition banquet which I gotta go to as the TAB kids are going. Think it's basically about the awesomely catered food, haha no, it's a great way to show appreciation cause some of these volunteers dedicate a good chunk of their lives to do it.

And that's my ramble nation for the day. Tune it next time for family anecdotes and humiliations.

"Everybody Talks" Neon Trees


"Til I Kissed You" Everly Brothers


same message, different style. much different.

Joyful and Triumphant

Oh my god, just got Plain White T's CD "Wonders of the Younger" and it's so fantastic I think I'll have to dedicate a week just to it's awesomeness.

But, for now, I'll stick with Xmas music that doesn't suck. Maybe PWT's can bring in the new year.

I'm so proud of myself for today. Woke up before noon, which, for a day off and not just any day off, a SATURDAY day off waking up at 10:30 is like props to me, seriously. So there was that.

I got all my shopping done.

Mostly.

Okay, a lot of my shopping done.

I'm still missing Second Sister, Second Sister's husband, and Oldest Sister's husband. But at least I know what I'm getting him. Although, SS did just text me ideas for her husband. So I've got somewhere to start.

But yeah, I'm not done with all seven tiny people, my parents - with the help of Oldest Sister for that one, and most of my siblings.

I spoiled my brother a bit, but hey, he's my big brother. He's always watched out for me. Buys me Titans hats and Yankees jerseys when he can't stand the Yankees but loves me. Baby sister has the right to spoil on occasion, right?

I'm exhausted.

I hate shopping.

Christmas shopping is mildly entertaining though, so I stick with it. As long as there aren't clothes involved, I'm generally in.

Though I'm sure there will be clothes involved on other peoples' end. Hopefully it will be good stuff. Sisters have decided I need wardrobe changes. One of them even stuck me with a bunch of dress clothes, claiming she was cleaning out her closet and needed the space.

Which...okay, I'm sure they're right on that, but I like my t-shirts! That's my best present ever, just random t-shirts with funny sayings or weird graphics. It's like a visible inside joke, I love it.

And it's not like I wear them to work. Often. Just at the home branch, not the work one. If I do there's generally something over them. Cause yeah, there's some skeezy people there, and they stare. And I'm not so fond of the staring. So anything to cover up a graphic that they'd want to start a conversation over is grand for me. Plus it's probably smart to you know, semi-dress up for work. And jeans and nice shirts are my life now.

Oh my god, it was so nice today to wear my tearaways and hoodie. That's all I wore throughout 2010, 'til I got the job.

Speaking of today, so funny story. I'm in Target, and going through the toy aisles looking for kid stuff when I decide to browse the game section. I'm checking out a Big Bang Theory trivia game - which was fantastic, btw - when I hear my name, look up and see Homey-G-Wigger on the phone and giving me the "what are you doing here" look. But what was SHE doing there? I live there. So we jammed out and got some lunch. Gotta love Panera. Plus it's right next to Barnes and Noble which is where I got the majority of my other stuff.

After that it was gold. Came to the farm. Wrapped my stuff, which was nice cause that meant I didn't have to take it up to my apartment, unload it, then load it again, and unload it again. Like I said, cake. Though the wrapping took longer than expected. Mostly cause I was distracted by DVR and kept running out of paper and tape. But Mom has like a whole wrapping station set up in the living room. I had too much stuff so I stuck with the floor.

Another funny thing, Mom zones out, and then starts laughing. Says she only falls asleep in the chair when I come home.

Thanks. I must really be that boring.
No, you're not boring.

So it must be my shows that are boring. Which is funny, cause they're her shows too. I mean, all we watched were Bones, NCIS, NCIS LA, and some Castle. But she was long gone before the Castle. It was a rerun anyway, I watched the creepy cage lady one again. Still freaked me out.

But, all in all it was a good day.

Which means I should give you these and konk out.

Christmas Music that doesn't suck: Day Four

"Deck the Halls" Mannheim Steamroller

you will probably be getting a lot of mannheim rec's from me these next few days. probably because they're nebraska people, but mostly because they rock. Chip Davis is a genius, I especially love 2:02-2:04, with the lighting it makes him look all mad scientist on the drums.

"Oh Come All Ye Faithful" Twisted Sister

a twisted christmas is actually a pretty good album. and that chick is annoying, kind of want to hit her with my drumsticks. she deserves to get twisted. i love that
they manage to work that in from 4:04-4:16

"The Chipmunk Song aka Christmas Don't Be Late" The Chipmunks

the new version, though the classic is the best, this one rocks it as well. this has always been one of my favorites even though i've never really been a fan of the chipmunks as characters. i think alvin would just get on my nerves. though gubler did do the movie, so i guess i should give it a shot.


Tomorrow is church and practice then caroling, then gotta make it back for Squirt and Bubby's Xmas Eve service as it's Squirt's last year. I'm sad that I'm missing KJ and BekBek's. But we have gypsy caroling practice so can't really miss that. As we are going gypsy caroling right afterward. Huzzah! I enjoy our merry band of gypsys. Gypsy Leader aka my music mentor for camp and life has her guitar so we'll back her.