I was goofing around yesterday morning about 9:20 when my phone rang.  It was my mom, asking if I was ready to go.
“Go?” I asked. 
“Yes, to the zoo.  We just realized that neither Deb nor I called you, so we thought we’d better do that now,” she said.  I could hear laughing in the background. 
“Well, I guess I should get ready, then, huh?” I said, thinking through my routine to see what I could dump so as to be ready on time. 
“We’re just leaving Cedarville,” she said, “so you have about 45 minutes!”  
We hung up, and I started my quick “getting ready” routine.

(Because I know you’re wondering, this zoo visit had been discussed on Monday, so I had been aware of it.  But no one called me to verify, and I had gotten consumed with camping preparations, so it had completely slipped my mind.  But I was mostly ready when they arrived, and we headed out for the zoo in Deb’s minivan with me, my parents, and my nieces in tow!)

Overall, it was a nice trip to the zoo.  Kelly actually walked the entire park (she was pretty beat at the end!), and we saw all the favorites: elephants, rhinos, kangaroos, fishes, and the carousel.  There weren’t tons of people there (the threat of rain is a wonderful thing!), it didn’t really rain at all, and it wasn’t too hot.  Some pictures of our day:

The wolves (or “doggies) were out:

 

The moose were very exciting:

   

The carousel was, as always, the biggest hit of the day!

 

I made it home about 4:00 and I spent the rest of the day tidying up my house and trying to plan for our camping outing this weekend.  Six of our small group couples (we have a large small group!) will be going for the weekend, so it should be lots of fun.  I have lots of work to do before we leave, though, so off I get to that!  

Happy Friday!

Nothing much to report today.

It’s raining.  It’s been thunderstorming already this morning.  I like thunderstorms.  Of course, the technology that fills our house is less happy with the lightning and thunder!  The television kept popping whenever lightning struck.  Oops!

I have a number of errands and activities to do this week related to our small group’s second annual camping trip this weekend.  We’re actually going to John Bryan, though, so it doesn’t feel terribly adventurous!  But most of the other couples still think Young’s is an unusual treat.

Yesterday, I ran to the grocery store.  I cleaned up the house a bit.  I made cookies, and I ran to the church to help brainstorm a script for a video that my friend Mandy was working on.  We had Italian for dinner, and Eric & I ran to Gander Mountain to look for some camping things.  Then we hung out, watched some television and went to bed early.  Lovely!

Random Thoughts for Wednesday:

• My laptop keeps freezing during the night so that the screen won’t come back on.  I have to turn it off and back on to get it to work.  It’s getting annoying.
• I just discovered that my husband has started a facebook page.  I have no idea when he did it.  It seems to be primarily connecting his friends from college.  Crazy…
• Parchment paper is my new favorite thing.  It’s so nice not to have to wash my cookie sheets everytime I use them.
• I blanched and bagged green beans for freezing yesterday.  I was very proud of myself!
• Eric got home about 7:30 last night from his trip.  I was so glad to have him back.  Love that guy!
• I made myself a roast with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner last night.  I have no idea what possessed me to go all-out like that, but it tasted YUMMY! 
• I don’t have a lot of plans for the day.  Maybe some errands.  Maybe some work around the house. We’ll see…

Eric left yesterday for work about 8:00 am.  He and his fellow travelers left for the airport that afternoon. He called me from his hotel last night with a headache and an overly full stomach.  Apparently they’d eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse, and the poor guy was really uncomfortable!   His comment: “I’d take an Advil, but it’ll be Thursday before I digest it, so it won’t do any good!” 

I goofed off here in Columbus yesterday morning, and left right after lunch for Cedarville.  Mom and Dad are on vacation this week and the beans are being done.  So I helped them cut beans.  I also played with Kelly & Holly who were staying at my parents while Chris took Deb for some alone time.  They had stayed overnight on Sunday night, and they were doing great.  Kelly and I played a lot while Mom worked on green beans and Holly napped.  Chris & Deb came to get them about 5:00, and Mom & Dad and I went out to dinner after they left. 

It was almost 11:00 when I got home, but I didn’t mind because I’m not a big fan of being/sleeping alone in the house.  So I came in, brushed my teeth and went to bed.  And I even slept pretty well again.  What a nice change!  I hope I can keep that up!

For today:

• Laundry
• Green Beans (my mom gave me some of the beans, and I’m going to try to blanch/freeze them)
• Some other things that I can’t really think of right now…

Happy Monday to everybody!

The breakdown:

• Friday night we hosted a good-bye party for a couple in our small group.  It was a really good evening with lots of fun, food, and laughter. 
• Saturday, was a Harry Potter day, for the most part.  I read all of book seven before the end of Saturday. I also went to a baby shower in the afternoon (thankfully, it was short so I could get back to my book!).  I’m so glad to have closure.  I’m not sorry at all, much as I liked the books, that the series is done. 
• Sunday, we hung out and napped and watched movies in the evening.  A lovely, relaxing day!

Other details of interest:

• I got my car back on Saturday morning.  They did not charge me for the work (called it a quality assurance check).  Later, Eric looked around and discovered the fluid we saw was oil.  The cap was leaking, but he also saw it had been broken and repaired with “blue gunk” (Eric’s technical term).  I have used the WalMart guys for oil changes for a long time…I might have to switch to Firestone now!
• The Harry Potter news, in case you care:  SPOILER ALERT/SPOILER ALERT/SPOILER ALERT
• Harry Potter does not die.  (I was right.)
• Harry and Ginny get together, as do Ron and Hermione.  (I was right again.)
• Snape turned out to be good. (I was right.)
• Harry was a Horcrux. (I was wrong.)
• I got a great night’s sleep last night.  Even with a nap (maybe because of it), I slept like a log.  Love that.
• Eric is gone on a business trip until tomorrow night.  Don’t love that.
• I might head to Cedarville today to help my parents pick beans.  We’ll see…

The good:

• Transformers.  This movie is incredible.  Loved it.  If you watched the cartoon at all, you will really enjoy this movie.  If you didn’t watch the cartoon years ago, don’t worry…it actually has a good storyline, too!
• I got to chat with Karen yesterday for like 2.5 hours.  We hadn’t really talked for awhile.  I enjoyed the conversation a lot.
• Harry Potter comes out tomorrow. 
• It is finally sunny again.  It’s going to be a beautiful weekend.  I love great weather.

The “bad” (not like world hunger, of course):

• My car is still not right.  Eric noticed that it’s still leaking brake fluid.  I can still hear a little bit of grinding when I drive.  I’m going to have to take it back to be fixed.
• I have a very busy weekend ahead of me.
• I’m really tired.  I did not sleep well last night (slept, woke up, slept, woke up, slept, woke up & looked at the clock: 3:50 am, laid there awake, got up for a bit, finally got to sleep at 4:45).

The ugly:

• I don’t really have anything to go here…it just felt appropriate to include the header!

Happy Friday everyone!

Christmas in July

I met last night with some other people at the church to watch and discuss a possible (most likely) program for this year’s Christmas activities.  I really like the script.  I also really like the timeframe.  It often surprises people to know how long it takes to put on a Christmas program.  In fact, for some places, July is really late.  Some churches start planning for Christmas in February or March (I wish!).  Anyway, I’m excited that we’re starting so soon…at least for us!

So I’ve been reading this book, Every Thought Captive by Jerusha Clark.  I would highly recommend it.  It’s not so much a how-to book as a look at the lies we believe and the truths that we should believe in a variety of areas of our life.  It’s really scary how many of the lies I see in my own thought patterns and how much damage they’re doing to me, spiritually and otherwise.  And how incredibly freeing are the truths that we can claim: I have worth because God says so (instead of because of what I do/don’t do).  God loves me.  God accepts me.  God values me.  God calls me beloved.  God loves me completely, fully aware of the fact that I will never be perfect.  There is no “ideal” woman that I have to be or be like.  I am God’s masterpiece.  This is an area that God has been working on with me for a long time.  I am finally learning to really absorb some of these things,  I guess, but I thought I’d share what has encouraged me recently.

As for the rest of life, yesterday, I tidied up the house a bit and ran to WalMart for a couple of things.  I wrote and read and relaxed a bit, too.  There was a huge rainstorm that woke me up last night, but it was a nice sound to hear.  And it added another half-inch of rain to the ground which is marvelous!  It is currently drizzling outside even now.  I don’t know how long the rain is supposed to last, but the plants could certainly use it, so I won’t complain.

Today I have to do some preparation for the party that we’re hosting on Friday, and I’ll probably go over to hang out with Karen some as well.  And tonight, Eric and I are going on a date, so I’m really looking forward to that. 

For three nights in a row, I haven’t been sleeping well.  I’m getting tired enough now, that (hopefully) sheer exhaustion will start to take over, but for now, it looks like another day of tiredness. 

Yesterday afternoon, I washed my windows and wood blinds.  In three years, I have never done this job.  It’ll probably be another three before I do it again.  What a horrible job!

We got over a half inch of rain last night.  I won’t have to water my plants today.  And the rain washed the outside of the windows that I couldn’t reach. I like when the weather helps me with my chores. 

I went to a pedicure party last night.  It was fun, though everybody seemed kind of tired.  And my feet are definitely better off for my having attended!

When I got home, I had a headache.  Eric and I played on the computer until 9:00 when Eureka came on.  Love that show…even with a headache. 

Today I think I’m going to run to a couple of errands.  I also need to (mostly) empty my closet so that, if Eric needs to climb into the attic to fix the fan in the master bath (which broke earlier this week), he won’t get insulation all over our clothes. 

Random Information

• Except to water the veggies, I barely left the house yesterday.
• I cleaned up the basement yesterday.  I didn’t intend to, but I went down for something else and worked on it before I went back upstairs.
• I did a lot of cleaning, organizing, and sorting of drawers and cupboards yesterday.
• Eric’s big green metal desk is now available for my use.  Strangely, though, when I was going through the drawers to get some room for my “stuff,” I felt suddenly concerned that Eric would think I was throwing out his life if I did too much weeding.  Though I actually discarded very little and have rarely seen Eric even open the drawers I was messing with, I really felt impelled to simply consolidate his “stuff” into a drawer or two and leave it alone. 
• Eric’s brother Ryan dropped by last night for a visit.  He’s a pharmacy manager and works an average of 60 hours a week in the summer.  Yuck!  But it was nice for the brothers to chat, and Ryan stayed for dinner.  He left by 6:30 which was also nice!
• I watched the end of Food Network Star from Sunday, so now I see what you all were talking about.  It seemed really staged, I agree.  Then I watched Good Eats (2 episodes) and Hell’s Kitchen.  Eric finished his book.
• Not sure what my plans are for the day.  Perhaps more cleaning/re-organizing of desk drawers!
• Tonight I have a party thing to go to.  Should be fun.

It’s a sunny bright Monday morning.  So far, I’ve exercised, showered, had breakfast and watered my container garden.  And guess what…I have little baby zucchini!!  They’re so cute!  And as that is the extent of what I have to say about today, so far, here’s a quick recap of the weekend:

Friday, I goofed off around the house and ran some errands.  Eric got home about 4:35, and we left for Cedarville shortly thereafter for Chris’ birthday party, arriving before Chris!  We had pizza, played with Karen’s puppy and the girls and talked a lot.  Kathy & Alan brought Michelle’s three girls over for a bit, so we held the babies and the little girls played.  We stayed really late, so it was nearly 11:00 before we got home and to bed. 

Saturday, I read the newspaper and started a new book.  Eric worked on taking apart a computer in the loft to give it to my brother.  So he spent much of the day organizing its systems and getting it ready to go.  I’m very glad that it went away because we never used it (we have 3 other working computers, and at least 3 that don’t work!) and because now I get the other desk in the loft so I’ll have a wired internet connection for my laptop and a real desk (so I can get rid of my crappy Sauder one in the other room which is old and broken).  Yippee!!

Anyway, we spent Saturday evening at the Edlund’s with all the family and all the kids.  Too many fun stories.

• I actually managed to pick up and hold both twins at once.  This was a major feat for me!
• I discovered, not surprisingly, that I’m not very good at cornhole.  But it is fun to play.
• The little girls are learning to share…which meant there were a few brief meltdowns.  Who knew that little plastic boats and cups were such valuable commodities!?!
• Kayla still cries whenever she is held by Karen’s Erik.  No one knows why.  But it’s a fun picture to take every time we get together!!
• And for anyone who wants to see (or download) the pictures we took that night, Eric’s website has them ready to go.  You can download the entire group or only the ones you want.  Let me know if you have issues seeing them or getting them.

Sunday was very laid back.  I was incredibly tired from the two parties and running back and forth.  I had trouble focusing at church.  After church, we grilled pork chops.  I talked to my mom for a while.  Then Eric & I both read for much of the rest of the day.  I finished the book I’d started on Saturday morning.  Eric is 3/4 of the way through the book he started.  We got to bed about 10.