Some fun/interesting stories from our trip:

• We saw deer running just behind our cabin twice while we were there.
• We couldn’t drive all the way to our cabin.  We had to park like 200 feet away and walk down a very steep, gravelled path to our front door.  You really took your life into your hands to carry things from the car to the door (or vice versa).  And it totally made me feel like I was back at camp!
• We did some hiking on Saturday to see some of the natural wonders of the area.  There were a LOT of people, mostly very slow, on the path.  We passed a number of groups including this one very large group with 2 families with a total of 6-7 kids.  As we passed the back half of the group (the moms and littlest kids), one of the little boys stepped into a patch of muck on the path and announced to his mom: “I like walking in mud!”
• As we passed the front half of that same group, the dad drew the attention of the oldest girl to something on the left side of the path (where we were passing them).  She looked at it and then saw us.  As we passed all the way by, she called to me, “Hey, we have the same shoes!”  Yes…my children’s-sized Target shoes were recognized by the 8 year old.  Geez…
• There was a Mennonite wedding at one of the outdoor areas (Ash Cave, it’s called). I think there were about 30+ Mennonite men and women watching, but the bride wore a normal white wedding dress…not what I was expecting to see at all!  And just 50 feet away, the non-Mennonite kids were splashing and yelling in a big pool where a waterfall was.  It was a strange dichotomy!

So I pretty much covered Hocking Hills in the last entry…so if you were just dying to know what we did, it’s there.

Once we got home, we had a bit of catching up to do from being gone for three days: papers on the porch, bring in the mail, empty the car and unpack a bit.  I started some laundry, but didn’t get very far.  We aren’t really out of anything yet, though, so it can take a while.

Eric got to work on one of our projects when we got home, and I helped him some (mostly cleaning up behind him!).  Then I swept the floors and cleaned up the kitchen some. Eric went upstairs to take a shower, and I did the same when he was done.  It felt good to be really clean again (and use conditioner in my hair again).  The one really annoying part of the cabin was the smell of the water (quite nasty!), so it was nice to be able to breathe throughout the entire shower through my nose!  I had started to master the art of not using my nose whenever the water was running in the cabin, but it got old quickly!

Anyway, then we went out to celebrate our 2-year anniversary.  We went to Spageddies for dinner (which took an hour and a half because they were short staffed to begin with and then one of the chefs called off).  But we were in no real hurry, so that was good.  Unfortunately, I ordered my favorite dish there and the chicken was a bit blackened.  But by then, I’d filled up on the fresh bread they bring you, so it was okay!  We came home and watched March of the Penguins (which we’d gotten from Netflix and really needed to return).  It’s really cute in a strange sort of way.  The penguins are very funny to watch, and Morgan Freeman did the narration so that was a good addition.  Then we pretty much went to bed.  Boy was it nice to sleep in our own bed last night!

Thought I’d catch up on some of the weekend before tomorrow…I know that none of you will want to read THAT long of a post!

The weekend was pretty good.  We finished up some projects and got out just in time to hit rush hour traffic through Lancaster. Oh well!  We did make it down in decent time, but since lots of people were headed that way (even to Hocking Hills) the roads were pretty busy the whole way.  We found our cabin place without too much difficulty.  Those Scioto Hills-type roads make it a bit hard to read road signs!  But we arrived, checked in, and went DOWN the hill to our cute little cabin.  The road was gravel and so steep that they only allow 4 wheel drive cars down to some of the cabins…thankfully, we took the Jeep!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out.  There was a lovely hot tub, and the cabin was really nice.  Maybe I’ll try to put up some pictures tomorrow (of the cabin, Kim…don’t worry!). 

We did a bit of running around each day and then came back and vegged.  We relaxed on Friday night.  We hiked in the state parks on Saturday.  We went canoe-ing on Sunday (no church…we’re such heathens!) and watched Tommy Boy that night just for some fun.  We grilled out both nights for dinner.  It was beautiful weather the whole time, too, though it did finally get humid enough to need the air conditioning on Sunday evening.  Then we got up this morning, checked out and headed home. 

It is nice to be away from things for awhile…but I always am ready to come home, too!

So apparently, I was looking down the vent from the wrong angle.  The key stopped just a few inches down into the vent, so Eric just reached in and pulled it out! 

I got most of my stuff done yesterday…how nice!  Later today we’ll be heading to Hocking Hills, so I have to pack and get everything ready to go.  Before that we’ll probably work around the house a bit and run some errands.

Okay, I have nothing else really to say…so here are some random thoughts

• It really annoys me how the media reports on the War in Iraq (ie “yesterday Tony Blair and Pres. Bush made rare admissions that they made mistakes in the War”).  DUH!
• We lost power for a while last night, so just as we were getting into bed for the night, they all came back on.  Figures!
• It’s supposed to get up to almost 90 over the weekend…yeah!

EDIT: OH…I forgot something!  This morning when I came back from exercising, I unlocked the door and tossed the key onto the end table where it normally sits.  Unfortunately it bounced off the table and down the vent that is just behind it.  Any good ideas for getting the key back? End Edit

This will have to be quick…I have A LOT of stuff to do today.

I painted until about 3:15 yesterday, and my body really complained about the hunched-over position.  But it is totally worth it when you step back and look at all you got accomplished!  We won’t be painting next week, so I’m done for a week or so.  Hopefully, my hand will be uncurled from the “paintbrush” position by then!

Today I have to run errands and get the house/chores ready for us to be gone all weekend.  I also want to get most of the stuff ready for our departure tomorrow, so that means thinking through what clothes to take and such.  The cabin is fully equipped.  All we need is our personal stuff and food.  Of course that also means I have to plan meals for 3 days before we leave.  Oh well!  At least the cabin has a grill there, so we can have good stuff!

Wow!  I ended up with 11 comments yesterday…that’s just crazy!

I did get most of my laundry finished…still have the ironing clothes to do.  And I have to put away the folded stuff.  But I did get that project mostly done.  I met Jen for lunch at Panera Bread, and we had a nice time just chatting.  Then I ran errands.  I stopped into Payless for a minute (no luck!), then ran to Lowe’s to look at paint colors, then to Garden Ridge to just wander around a bit.  Then I went home, threw the recyclables in the car and drove them down to the Home Depot where I dropped them off and then looked there for paint colors.  Then I came home! 

Eric and I just hung out for the evening.  We grilled out t-bone steaks (I love that I get my beef free at the farm!).  We had to run and get charcoal first, so we (mostly he) planned out the new entertainment center that he’s going to build for our living room while the grill heated up. Then we had dinner and spent the evening just working around. 

This morning, Eric got up a bit later than usual, so my schedule is a bit rearranged today.  But I’m going to the church to paint for a while, and I need to start getting things ready for our anniversary.  I’d like to clean the downstair before we go, and I need to start collecting the supplies/clothes we’ll need when we go.  I’m looking forward to the time away, though!

My legs are very sore today!  It turns out that the “couple of hours” of work that Chris (the lady who heads up the painting) needed done took me about 4 hours total.  The VBS set for our church is huge (floor to ceiling) and so I was working on 4×8 sheets of cardboard that needed to have the outline of pedestals traced onto them.  Evenutally they’ll be painted to look like a stone fence on the stage, but the tracing had to be done first.  So I stood, leaning over a table, tracing this pattern a total of 56 times!

Actually, I really enjoy helping out this way.  It’s fun to chat with Chris and others at the church, and I know it’s something that I can do that doesn’t require me taking small children to the potty during VBS!  And except for the fact that for the rest of the day my knees just ached and today, I’m a tad bit sore…it was a good time.  Tomorrow, I’ll go back and actually do some painting, I think.  Should be fun.

Anyway, that adventure kept me from Xanga yesterday, so hopefully today I’ll have more opportunity to comment.  I’m working on the laundry (again!).  I’ll probably also clean the kitchen.  I’m going out to lunch with Jen, a friend from church who is scheduled to have her baby induced on Thursday night, because right now she’s just sitting at home thinking about the coming birth.  I thought it might be helpful to distract her a bit!  Other than that, I don’t know what’s on the agenda…but the days surely do seem to fill themselves!

Wow…I’m late today!  Hope you’ve been able to fill your time without my update!

The weekend was busier than I’d expected.  Eric and I went to the mall for dinner on Friday night and wandered around, then we went home and watched a Netflix movie that we had.  Saturday, I finished my book-binding project (IT WORKED!) and exercised.  It was the community yard sale weekend here, and there were just TONS of people around.  Eric had to go into work for a bit, so I went with him and wandered around the Lennox shopping plaza while he did his run.  Then we met some friends to see the Da Vinci Code (it wasn’t horrible; it could’ve been better if they’d stayed closer to the book near the end) and went to Cap City Diner with them for dinner afterwards.  Then Eric finished his run at work and we went home and crashed!  Sunday was also very busy. Church in the morning.  Mom and Dad came over for a bit in the afternoon, and we walked over to see the outside of the house that Karen & Erik are interested in right now.  Shortly after they left, it was time to go to church again (4:30) for a final rehearsal for the praise & worship night that we put together.  That got done late and Eric had a throbbing headache when we finished, so we did not go out with either group who invited us for ice cream.  Instead we went home, relaxed and ate a late supper before going to bed.   Yep…it was crazy!

I’m off now to help paint VBS sets at the church for a bit.  I may run some errands later today, but we’ll see! 

Yesterday, I cleaned the loft.  I filed all the old bills that were stacked around the room.  I shredded a bunch of stuff, and I cleaned up the pieces of technology that Eric leaves lying around.  He always whines a bit when I clean the loft, but it must be done occasionally.  And I never throw anything away…just put it where it goes!

I did run some errands.  And I was much annoyed when I realized that the brand new bag of chocolate chips I bought tastes stale.  They shouldn’t be, but they don’t have a good flavor at all.  In the afternoon, I also made an angel food cake to take to my accountability group today.  That made Eric happy (angel food cake is his favorite!).  I baked the batter in 2 9-in. loaf pans.  He ate half of one of the loaves last night!

Karen and I had fun in Cedarville, but it was a VERY tiring night.  We were a bit late for our meeting, but that’s just how it goes when we have to come down on a work night (for Karen) by 7:00.  We met at my mom’s house, and Deb brought the girls and Chris with her, which really worked out well.  So it was fun to see everyone; Karen and I stayed and chatted until almost 9:30…I was very tired when I got up today!

A few weeks ago, my mom gave me a 10 volume set of books that we had growing up.  I loved those books; they had great stories and the best pictures.  Unfortunately, the love (along with their age) had started to show, and a number of them were breaking at the binding.  Two of them had come completely away from their covers. 

But  (dum duh-dum dahhhh—that’s a trumpet blaring), my library training came to the rescue!

I actually have the ability to fix the books myself (for significanly less than it would have cost to have them rebound at a bindery)!  We got book binding tape and a special glue on Monday night, and I went to work on them yesterday afternoon.  And today…they are good as new.  (Except for the two really bad ones…I needed a different type of tape which I ordered online yesterday…so I’ll fix them next week I hope).

Other than book fixing…I cleaned again yesterday, and wrote a bit.  Our ministries went well last night, and our Night of Praise & Worship should turn out well on Sunday night. Today, I have some errands to run, and I might work on cleaning the loft.  My mom, Deb, Karen and I are also doing a Mary Kay thing tonight in Cedarville, so that’ll fill the evening. Should be a fun day…and the sun is even shining (for now!).