Three day weekend

It was a three day weekend for us since the kids didn't have school today-there was a teacher inservice. Three day weekends definitely mess me up. I didn't get to water aerobics today since the kids were around but did enjoy sleeping in on a Monday. We were all kind of lazy this morning. Gerrit spent the night at Micah's house. I got started on organizing our bedroom-it's more then a day's job plus I did lots of laundry and managed to hang it all outside today. It was in the 60's with a breeze so the clothes dried well. Bruce took the kids to the park (except Gerrit who had homework and practicing his viola) and I went on a long bike ride. I rode half way up the hill to the University of Mary. I'll have to make it a bit further on my next expedition. The weather is suppose to stay nice for awhile so I should have a few more chances in the next couple weeks. I actually could have made it further but I wanted to make it home before it was dark.

I did work for four hours at the Parade of Homes on Saurday. Both the houses Scott and Vicki had on the tour were right next to each other so I toured them both. They were both very different from each other and I'm not sure which one I liked better-all their houses are done very nicely. Both houses had five bedrooms and big garages-that would be nice to have.

Sunday we went to Sunday School and church and I spent a good part of the afternoon cooking a meal for the youth group at church. They asked for volunteers to do that throughout the year. I made a pizza hotdish and I made one for us as well. I ended the night looking through pictures to find of my dad so Bruce can start on the photo slideshow for his birthday party. November 15th is coming fast!

Sunday Video: How Deep The Father's Love

Or videos, as is the case this Sunday.

"How Deep The Father's Love" written by Stuart Townend. This particular video is done by a young man named James Dupre. I just happened to find his version on YouTube and liked it a lot. He also has a very nice performance of "Go Rest High On That Mountain" on this video.



Stuart Townend writes about "How Deep The Father's Love" here. Following is a video with him talking about the song.



Stuart also wrote, with Keith Getty, "In Christ Alone."



Here is "In Christ Alone" in its entirety, as performed by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Thanks You, Thanks You Very Much

My dad came up to Bismarck today to visit a farm in the area. He wanted to take a look at items on an upcoming auction sale. He pulled his trailer. When he called this morning to let me know his plans, he asked me to go to Bis-Man Ford in Mandan to get some paint for him.

Nancy is working for a friend today, so just before lunch I took Aleah to a Girl Scout event at Sertoma Park. After that we headed over to Bis-Man Ford to get the paint. When the transaction was complete and the gentleman gave me the receipt I said, "Thanks you" and headed out the door. I sure felt stupid when I realized what I had said but to turn around and correct myself would not have helped much. I intended to just say thanks but my brain kept going and added "you." D'oh!

Mid-afternoon my dad came by and we loaded up my old pickup to finally get it out of our yard. Nancy will be happy. Dad will take it out to the farm. He might work on it some but otherwise I may head down once in a while to work on it in his shop. Someday it may make a good fair weather hunting vehicle -- it is two-wheel drive. Today the kids sure enjoyed riding in it!

These morning glories sure have some tenacity. This is after I pulled all the plants out of the ground last weekend. The long vines must have quite a bit of reserve. This is a light blue variety that had not bloomed until now.

My patch of winter wheat. It has a pretty good start. I planted in haste and some of the rows aren't the straightest. Oh well, it doesn't really matter in this case.

Sweet corn that grew from last year's garden. We always have some small ears left and I usually just till them under. This particular hybrid doesn't look much like corn the following year -- more like a grass or like short sorghum.

Gerrit took this home from school at the end of the school year. I let it in the little pot for a while but stuck it in the garden in July. This is a hen and chicks cactus, aka Echeveria. I think they are called that because they get little offset or pup plants that grow out around the main plant.

That is all. Good day!

Book Club is back!

I had book club at my house this afternoon. We had a good time and had a really good discussion. We had read "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory and everyone really liked it. There were five of us and hopefully next time a couple more ladies can make it. There were three little girls that played really well. It had been almost six months since I had participated in a book club discussion. I've certainly read many books in six months but it was nice to discuss one with other people. The next book we'll read is "The Summerhouse" by Jude Deveraux. We should have come up with a name for our group-maybe next time.

The kids had their swimming lessons after school today. They all seem to be feeling better except Donovan is still complaining about his throat being sore-to bring to the doctor or not that is the question.

Tomorrow I am going to help my friend Vicki out by sitting at one of her houses on the Parade of Homes tour. I was able to do this since Bruce agreed to take Aleah to the Girl Scouts Rockin' the Park event tomorrow. It's for the family so the other kids can come as well. Vicki and her husband build beautiful houses. I can't wait to see them tomorrow.

I got caught up on the episodes of ER and Grey's Anatomy I recorded last night. This is the 15th and final year of ER and I have watched it since the beginning-that is a long time ago-I was fresh out of college.

View From A Cage

It occurred to me that my siblings and some other friends and relatives have not seen my office, at least not the interior. I worked late today and when I stood up to stretch I had the idea to take a few pictures to share. All were taken standing in the center of my cubicle. I am sure all of our blog visitors will find them very interesting. Ha!

In this shot I am looking west. The person immediately west is a first responder. She works in claims. They have interesting phone conversations.

Looking north. On the other side of that wall are more cubicles. The person just north of me also works in claims.

Looking east. This person works in personal lines underwriting. I don't what else to say about that. She has a potato on her desk dressed up to look like a person. A rotund person at that!

Now we are looking south. Jay is in the cube just south of mine. He also works in personal lines underwriting. He has a child in cub scouts. Along this south wall are the offices of the managers along with the front desk. I am sad because my manager just resigned today. I like him as a boss and friend.

So, yes, I work in the middle of a cubicle farm. Our office calls them cages. Because my job is unique to our office, I don't have much to do work-wise with the people around me. They just kind of drop me in the middle of wherever there is an open spot. Works for me.

And, a good time was had by all.

To the doctor again

Today was Aleah's turn to go to the doctor. We're three for four this week and it's only Wednesday. I knew Aleah wasn't feeling good so I got an appointment for her this afternoon. She was tested for strep (the results aren't back yet but it's not suspected) and she does have an ear infection and the start of conjunctivitis. I did joke to Bruce about bringing all four kids to the walk-in clinic on Sunday when I took Gerrit-I really should have done that-it would have saved me some trips. I thought Donovan was getting better today but he complained his throat was sore again tonight. I do have enough eye drops and ear drops if he needs but no antibiotic for him. I'm hoping he gets better without a trip to the doctor.

I do not have to go anywhere tomorrow-NOWHERE! I don't know the last time that happened and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to clean, bake, and decorate for fall/Halloween. It's hard to get anything done when I'm taking kids to the doctor and helping with field trips, etc.

80's Video: Burning Heart

Vandenberg with the rock ballad "Burning Heart." The song went to #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March of 1983.

Vandenberg is a Dutch band named after the guitarist, Adje van den Berg -- known as Adrian Vandenberg. (Seriously, I'm not purposely picking Dutch bands.) In 1987 Adrian joined the hard rock band Whitesnake.

This video is from a 2004 reunion of Vandenberg.



Thanks once again to Wikipedia and to YouTube. Previous to this 80's video excursion I knew nil about Vandenberg.

A missed appointment and good news

Samantha had a rough night last night. She was in our bed at some point and she was so restless she woke me up and I gave her medicine and rocked her for a bit-this was around three a.m. I was planning on getting up at 4:50 and I must have shut off my alarm because the next time I woke up it was almost seven. I missed my plasma donation. Now I'll be stuck on a Wednesday/Friday schedule until I miss a week.

I took Samantha to the doctor this morning and she has a double ear infection and the start of conjuctivitis. I'm glad I brought her in-she really hadn't been complaining much but I knew she wasn't quite right-she's been kind of crabby lately.

Mom got the results of her blood tests yesterday and they had improved!! She will not be going to Rochester anytime soon-God willing. Her creatin level is still higher then it should be but that's kind of expected with her meds. She and I both thought she'd be making a trip there shortly. I kind of thought she needed a tune-up-that's what we refer to as trips to Rochester but thankfully God answered prayer and she can stay home.

I got quite a few good pictures of Donovan and his class at the Pumpkin Patch today. There's a really sweet one of Donovan hugging Samantha-it reminds we of a picture we sent out for Christmas 2001 of Gerrit and Aleah in where Gerrit had his arm around Aleah-so cute.

I got my walk in while Donovan was at speech and Aleah was at piano. It was nice and cool instead of 85 degress like it was last Tuesday.

Scouts & Winter Wheat

Scouts

Tonight I took Donovan to his first pack meeting as a Cub Scout. He had been to quite a few of Gerrit's pack meetings in the last couple of years. He seemed to really enjoy himself. What kid wouldn't? One of the other Tiger Cub parents stepped up and offered to volunteer as den leader. In a Tiger den it is supposed to be a group effort with each parent working together with the den leader. I did volunteer to be the advancement chair again. This is a job I did all the while Gerrit was in Cub Scouts. I felt it fit better with the travel schedule for my job.

We start right out with two fundraisers. Of course, we will be selling popcorn products. Our pack also sells Christmas wreaths. The wreaths are more of a voluntary thing -- you do it if you want to. If anyone is interested in either popcorn or wreaths or both, please do get in touch with us.

Now we just need to get Donovan his uniform!

Winter Wheat

Nancy might have mentioned in passing that I was going to plant a patch of winter wheat in my garden. My brother, Duane, donated the seed for my little project. I planted my 5' x 5' patch two weekends ago, on September 14, and by this past weekend most of it had come up. I put them in rows 7" apart. I was worried I planted them too thick but my dad said if I plan on watering it should not be a problem.

We had some rain earlier today and it is raining as I type this. That should help with growth this fall. Looking at National Weather Service radar, there appears to be a good sized band of good showers moving in a NNE direction through the center of the state.

Why winter wheat? I don't know, I guess just to make gardening interesting and fun and in the process maybe educate the kids a little bit. Hopefully we'll have a good harvest next summer!

Panama Canal

A time-lapse journey through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean on board a cruise ship. I wonder how long it actually takes.

Pretty, Pretty Please

KTM 990 SuperMoto

I could mention that the BMW motorcycle in the post below looks a lot like this KTM here. I don't if BMW was going for that but it is possible. The nice thing is that there is a KTM dealer right here in Mandan - Cycle Hutt. The closest BMW motorcycle dealer is in Sturgis, SD, I think.

An interesting note about the BMW is the gas tank is below the seat.

With A Pink Cherry On Top

You know, I would not object if someone were to be generous and purchase this motorcycle for me. In addition to Sunset Yellow, it is also available in Dark Magnesium Metallic. Just so you know, my choice is for Dark Magnesium.

This is the 2009 BMW F 800 GS. Tandem twin-cylinder engine making 85 horsepower. 392 lb. dry weight. That weight isn't a whole lot more than my old Yamaha XT550, putting out about 35 hp. It's also customizable with things such as heated hand grips, ABS, tire pressure monitoring, on board computer, and anti theft alarm.

Yes, I could have a lot of fun on this bike.

Went Down South

Last week I traveled down to south central South Dakota -- working the Chamberlain, Platte, and Miller areas. I get to Chamberlain fairly often as we have an agent there with quite a few of our accounts. I did inspections with cities, counties, and schools mostly, but also a couple of service shops. Nothing too exciting or interesting.

I don't really like school property inspections. Other than the fact that most are fairly large, schools tend to have a lot of architectural features and built ins that take a lot of time to document. Adding to that, my predecessor didn't do the best work and has a lot of mistakes -- meaning that I basically have to redo all measuring and documentation.

I had never been to Platte before. Platte is sort of a Dutch community so naturally I felt right at home. No, not really. It is a Dutch community but is pretty much like any other small town. Apparently there is a man there with exactly the same name as my brother, Doug. Yes, the last name too!

On Thursday night I stayed in Miller, SD. There is a small hotel that is sort of a dive and then there is a major chain hotel that is sort of a dive. I stayed at the chain because I get points. The hotel is owned by Indians. Indians from India, not American Indians or Native Americans.

I had a communication problem at check-in, but I did understand when she handed me my room card and said, "Room two-terty-two." I've never had Indian food but I think the hallways smelled of it. Maybe the food tastes good but the smell in the hallways wasn't the greatest.

After bringing my stuff up to the room, I started setting up and plugging in all my equipment. That is when I noticed this nice feature. Most hotels have bedside wall-mounted lamps with plug-ins. I don't know what happened but in this instance the cord is wired directly to the outlet behind the cover plate. Very much not up to electrical code. I'm considering contacting the corporate office just because I'm sensitive about electrical issues. The code is written the way it is for a reason and that is generally because at some point something bad happened and they figured out that, hey, maybe we shouldn't allow this to be done. The saying is that OSHA codes are written in blood.

I sat in this chair but I did not do this! Yuck, right?

Back from Europe

Loren called me a little while ago from the airport in Chicago so they are back in the states and are happy about it. They've been up since ten o'clock our time last night and will get into Minneapolis around 8:30. Loren works at eight o'clock in the morning. Kelly doesn't go in until two but then will work late. I'm sure it's going to take them awhile to feel rested again.

Loren says he so appreciates living in the United States and the small things we take for granted. They had to pay to use public restrooms in Europe-anywhere from .80-$1 every time. I can't imagine having to do that. He didn't talk for long but he did mention that he got the boys Swiss army knives from Switzerland and the girls shirts from Paris. The best food was in Italy and they enjoyed Austria, Germany, and Switzerland the best.

I took Gerrit to the walk-in clinic this afternoon. His ear is infected so he got expensive drops and an antibiotic. We also enjoyed our MOPS luncheon at church today. I think my soup was okay-I tried someone else's since there's some of ours left and we can have that tomorrow night for supper.

Sunday Video: Redeemer

Nicole Mullen with "Redeemer." A young lady sang this song in church today. Watch the volume -- the level is pretty high.



Job 19:

1 Then Job replied:

2 "How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

3 Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.

4 If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,

6 then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.

7 "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.

11 His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.

12 His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

13 "He has alienated my brothers from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me.

15 My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien.

16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.

20 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.

21 "Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 "Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,

24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

28 "If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,'

29 you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment."

I originally was just going to put up Verse 25, but then I thought it may be worth it to do the whole chapter to get the bigger picture. Among others, I can certainly identify with the first part of verse 17!

Missing ingredient

One of my missions for today was to make Chicken Wild Rice soup for church tomorrow. I bought the rice on Tuesday. I absolutely could not find the wild rice today. I looked everywhere. I didn't want to or have time to go to the grocery store so I decided to make Creamy potato chicken soup. I've never tried it before so hopefully it will be okay. It slow cooks overnight in the crockpot so that's a bonus.

The kids and I were at Haylee and Summer's (she's already a year old) birthday party today. Their birthdays are two days apart so their mothers decided to have their parties the same time. It was at the Ramkota so my kids are very tired from all the swimming they did. They should sleep good tonight. I should clarify that Haylee and Summer are cousins. Their moms are sisters and their moms are my cousins.

Mom got an email from Loren today that they leave Paris very soon and will get into Minneapolis tomorrow night and that he misses America!

I think I broke my little toe today. I stubbed it on something in the storage room (and it's actually clean now too) and it hurts so bad and it's purple.

Prayer, God, and War

"Are we fighting a holy war?"

Or, apparently Charlie Gibson has a problem with our leaders praying for the troops.

Strange feeling

Bruce has been out of town this week-he's home tonight!-and most nights one or both girls ended up in bed with me. Last night they were both in there and around six this morning I woke up to a wet feeling-Samantha had wet the bed. YUCK! She got me all wet too!. It didn't even wake her up either. I can count the times she's ever wet the bed and it had to be last night. Usually when Bruce is home and she ends up in bed with us she's snuggled up to him so he was kind of lucky he wasn't there last night or he would have been the one that woke up wet!

I made it to my water aerobics class and then Barb watched Samantha when I went to Biolife. I was not able to donate plasma today since my iron was low. This hasn't happened for a long time so I guess I'll take a break and build up my iron again. Samantha and I made it to Target and were home for awhile before swimming lessons. I was so tired this afternoon.

I went to a friends house for a bit tonight for a House Party. We sampled new Orville Reddenbacher popcorn, watched a new TV premiere (Lipstick Jungle) that won't premiere on TV until Wednesday and got some free popcorn bowls and Maybelline makeup. It was fun. I need to investigate these sponsored parties and have one. I would have like to do a Star Wars Clone Wars one for the boys but I think those people have already been picked to host.

Europe-Day14

Loren and Kelly are getting ready to say "au revoir" to Europe. They will be leaving Paris and flying out of Charles de Gaulle Airport sometime tomorrow. They will arrive back in the good old USA sometime on Sunday! I can't wait to hear about their adventures!!

Crickets, wasps, and bugs, oh my!

I'm tired of crickets, wasps, and bugs in general. I kind of do wish we'd have a hard freeze (after Bruce gets the produce out of the garden, of course) so that they would go away and we could enjoy nice summer like fall days. We had a very loud cricket in our house (certainly not the first one either) that was especially loud on Tuesday night-it even woke Aleah and I up in the middle of the night and it was in the living room. Last night it moved to my bedroom and I knew I had to find it and kill it if I wanted to sleep. It wasn't easy but after a complicated search (don't ask) and almost giving up I did find it and sent the cricket on a journey-I flushed it down the toilet- and I had a nice quiet's night sleep. Crickets are so creepy looking! Don't even get me started on the wasps! I get a daily recap of who got stung at school everyday.

I had MOPS today. Today's meeting was about leaving a legacy. It was very enjoyable and Barb and Karen both joined today and so did Stephanie-Bruce's cousin's wife. I think our small MOPS group is up to about 25 moms now. It's actually nice to have the small group. The MOPS group I was in seven years ago had at least 60 moms and you just don't get to know hardly anyone then.

A week from tomorrow one of my book clubs start. This is something I do miss about MOMS Club so I thought I'll just ask some friends if they want to have our own book club and some were quite excited about it. We'll only meet every other month since I'm also in charge of a book club through MOPS in which we'll meet on the off months of my other book club. I was use to doing one book a month anyway so that's still the same.

Tomorrow I'll be off to the Y for water aerobics, Biolife to donate plasma, Target to get a couple birthday gifts for a party on Saturday, and the kids have swimming lessons at the Y. I'm also going to a friend's house in the evening. I can't believe tomorrow is Friday.

Europe-Day 13

Today Loren and Kelly begin their sightseeing tour with a local guide that will feature a drive along the Champs Elysees from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. They'll then see spectacular monuments such as Notre Dame Cathedral and also ascend the Eiffel Tower to the second level by elevator for stunning views over the city. They'll have free time to perhaps take an excursion to the Palace at Versailles (that is what I would do-have you seen pictures of this palace-it's amazing!) or to shop in the chic boutiques. They'll enjoy dinner in a farewell bistro.

Europe-Day 12

Today Loren and Kelly travel through picturesque scenery as the head towars Basel and the French border. They'll enter France where they'll pass through vestiges of the Maginot line at Belfort and travel into Burgundy resplendent with vineyards, castles and picturesque villages. They will arrive in Paris where they may wish to enjoy a tour of the city's illuminations.

He's All Right - McCain!

My mind wanders quite often when I am on the road for my job. Recently I wondered why no one had taken Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" and changed the lyrics to make a McCain tune. I just went on YouTube and it turns out several people have! This video, posted in April of 2008, is sort of a self promotion for the band that performed it, but in my opinion it is the best one. Others weren't exactly pro-McCain.

Caw!

The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.

I heard this many, many years ago. I found it amusing and still do. To this day every time I see a crow/raven, either alone or as part of a murder, it pops into my head. Yes, I usually have to say it aloud for maximum comedic effect.

You get fifteen bonus points if you know the source of the humorous "thought."

Kidney trouble

I talked to mom tonight and she had gotten a call from Mayo that her kidney functions were not normal. She has to have another blood test next week and if it hasn't improved she's looking at a trip to Rochester soon. So we'll pray that it gets better. She's been battling viruses off and on for over a month now. She actually feels pretty good now she said. Her liver functions look good but the medication that keeps that normal is very hard on her kidneys and it was her kidneys that took such a hit during her transplants. She was just a step away from having to have dialysis to get them going after her surgeries.

Aleah started piano lessons today after about a six week break. It works out well that it's so close to Donovan's speech since he has speech from 3:45-4:30 and she has piano from 4-4:30. That makes life easier for me and I can get in a walk when Aleah's at piano.

I can't believe how much homework Aleah is getting this year. Gerrit has way less as a sixth grader then she does as a fourth. I wonder if it will change later on in the school year? Gerrit gets all his work done in class, but seems like he doesn't have as much either by comparing there school planners. I think that we would never be satisfied as parents. Some parents think their kids should have lots of homework and other think they should have very little. I know it's nice when they don't have as much then there's more time to do other things but I think they need some.

Europe-Day 11

Today Loren and Kelly are in Lucerne, Switzerland. They will see the Chapel Bridge and the Lion Monument before free time to perhaps take a trip up a nearby mountain (this is probably where the gondola ride happens) and shop for delicious chocolates (hope they bring us some!) and precision timepieces.

Europe-Day 10

Today Loren and Kelly travel via Milan, through the area of the Italian Lakes to the Swiss border and the lakeside resort of Lugano. This balmy, palm-tree-lined lake resort in the Italian-speaking Ticino canton is home to the rich and famous and has a wonderful year-round climate. They'll have time to explore the traffic-free shopping area and perhaps stop for a cappuccino in a lakeside cafe before a drive along the Gotthard highway into the heart of German speaking Switzerland and the lakeside town of Lucerne.

Happy Birthday, Harvey!

Today is also the birthday of my brother, Harvey. Harvey was born on this day in 1962. He just had a job change. After working for many years in the vehicle service department of the Post Office in the Minneapolis area, he just recently started working in the maintenance department at the Big Stone power plant just outside of Big Stone City, SD. He is an employee of Otter Tail Power Company.

He still has his house in Eagan, MN along with an apartment in Milbank, SD. After working four 10-hour days at the power plant he travels back to Eagan for the weekend.

This was taken before heading out for some pheasant hunting in 2003. I think it is a great picture, but Harvey would probably disagree!

This one is from last year when we stayed at Harvey's place in Eagan to go to the Mopars in the Park car show in Shakopee. Scrumptious ribs are being cooked.

Happy Birthday, Harvey!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's 70th birthday. We drove down to Strasburg after Sunday School yesterday to visit and celebrate a day early. My grandma was there, too, and commented that she can't believe she has a 70 year old child! Duane, Betty, and Casey were there for the festivities as well. A good time was had by all.

After a delicious dinner of meatballs, baked potatoes, sweet corn, and applesauce, there was a choice of pie for dessert -- blueberry, rhubarb, or pecan. It was truly a wonderful meal.

After dinner the kids played and the adults sat around the table discussing various topics and events. Dad is restoring an old corn sheller and he later took us and the kids outside to the shop, mainly to show our kids how it worked. He let them toss the ears in the throat of the machine. We used this hand-crank sheller when we were kids. I think the main purpose was to get corn for rabbit food but some times it was just for the novelty.

Late in the afternoon we had birthday cake, of course. Nancy made this cake. The center of the sunflower is Hershey's Kisses. Nancy later wondered if maybe chocolate chips would have looked nicer.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Europe-Day 9

Today Loren and Kelly started their northward journey of the European circuit and drove into vine-clad sunflower planted hills of Tuscany. They then descended into the valley of the river Arno and reached Florence where a walking tour with a local guide showed them the main monuments and squares of the impressive Renaissance city including the Cathedral, Baptistery, Signoria Square and a visit to the Santa Croce Basilica where the tombs of Italy's great men throughout history are to be found. They had free time to sightsee further or shop for fine leather goods or beautiful 18-carat gold jewelry. They'll then enjoy a dinner of local specialities in a Florentine trattoria.

Getting things done

Today I spent the day getting a lot of stuff done-but still not as much as I would have liked to accomplish. I decorated Joann's birthday cake for tomorrow and got my Sunday School lesson done this morning so I wouldn't wait until the last minute tonight until I got it done. I also got the storage room cleaned again and went through a lot of toys that can be given away.

Bruce made supper tonight. We had grilled pork chops and and he made these awesome cheesy potatoes. They were excellent! He got the yard fertilized before it started raining today so that was nice. He didn't get his winter wheat planted though.

Tomorrow we'll go to Sunday School and drive to rural Strasburg after that to celebrate Joann's birthday.

Europe-Day 8

Today Loren and Kelly will explore Rome. In the morning they will go on a sightseeing tour that features a visit to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City where they'll see Michelangelo's moving materpiece, the Pieta. Then they'll cross the River Tiber to ancient Rome where they'll overlook the Forum, see the mighty Colosseum, scene of the gladiatorial combat and finally have a view across the vast Circus Maximus where the Ben Hur style chariot races once took place. The rest of the day they are free to window shop in the exclusive streets near the Spanish Steps, visit the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel or just relax in a cafe and watch the Roman world go by.

A good way to end the week

The kids had their first of six Friday swimming lessons today. It's a good way to end the week and even better since we decided to have pizza afterwards. We did Papa Murphy's tonight and had to wait for it to bake but it was worth it and everyone was really hungry!! We'll probably go with Little Caeser's next week.

Donovan is officially a cub scout now. Bruce signed him up last night. One of the moms commented something about that nobody would have the chance to win the Pinewood Derby this year. I think they thought since Gerrit was no longer in the Pack that someone else would win forgetting that Gerrit had a younger brother. Gerrit won twice out of the five years he did it but he usually placed pretty high.

It was such a busy day today-I was hardly home at all! I donated plasma before the kids went to school and then went to the Y for water aerobics. I picked up Barb and Sydney after that and we went to FolkFest downtown. We met Tricia there and proceeded to Barnes and Noble for some coffee and chit chat while the girls played with the Thomas train set and looked at books. I picked the kids up from school today since they had swimming at four. I am starting to feel tired now! I'm going to bake a cake for my mother-in-law's birthday tonight and decorate it tomorrow. Her birthday is Monday but we're celebrating it on Sunday. It's kind of a big birthday-70!

Europe-Day 7

After starting the day in Venice, Loren and Kelly will head south along the Autostrada del Sole, across the Veneto plain, by-passing the University city of Bologna to cross over the Apennine hills and into the cradle of the Roman Civilization-the Lazio then past stone landscapes to the Eternal City of Rome.

Europe-Day 6 and communication

Today Loren and Kelly had an orientation of the mountain ringed Alpine resort that showed them the Golden Roof, Hofburg and Wilten Basilica. They had time to shop for souvenirs before an exhilarating drive across the Brenner Pass in Italy. They see spectacular scenery as they travel through the Dolomite Mountains to the Adige valley and the landscapes of Shakespeare's theatre as they pass by Lake Garda, Verona, and Vicenza. They'll arrive in Venice we're they'll savour the city's unique sights and sounds on a canal cruise to St. Mark's Square, viewing the Bridge of Sighs, Doges' Palace and more. After a visit to a traditional glass-blowing factory they'll have time on their own until time for dinner at their hotel.

***We received an email from Loren this afternoon! Here it is word for word-

Hello from Austria

The kezboard is different on this computer so please excuse the spelling. Just wanted to say hi. Kellz and I are having a great time...we have been through 5 countries so far. Germanz and Austria have been our favorites. England has bad food which we are still suffering from some. Looking forward to Venice tomorrow and Italian food. Plus the gondola ride. We are going to go to the top of a mountain in Switzerland and see a caberet in Paris. We also got to see Buckingham Palace since the queen is on vacation for a couple months. There aren#t too manz Americans on the bus. Hope you are all doing well!

Love,
Loren and Kelly

9/11

We've come around once again to the anniversary of that horrible day in 2001. When I came to work that day my co-worker told me a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center buildings. I didn't think a whole lot of it, just that it was a small propeller plane or something. After my computer was fired up I realized it was much more, of course. Needless to say, we didn't get much work done that day.

Here are a couple of tribute/memorial videos.

My day

My day wasn't nearly as exciting as my brother's but it was busy. I went to my water aerobics class (I really love it) and then met my Girl Scout co-leader Shelly right at the Y (she was there for yoga) after for a meeting of the minds!! I then went home and baked some banana pumpkin bread since my friend Pam and her son Ethan were coming over to visit.

After they left I did a few things and made homemade chicken rice soup for supper. It turned out alright. Bruce was home sick today and I thought that would be better then the pork chops I had originally planned on having. We went to church tonight but small groups for adults didn't start tonight so I left the kids at Adventure Club and went to Herberger's to get some shoes mom requested I get her-I hope I got the right ones mom!

Tomorrow I have a steering meeting for MOPS then I'm going to come home and reorganize the storage room and clean the basement.

Europe-Day 5

Today Loren and Kelly were off to Heidelberg to view the red sandstone castle towering above the city of "Student Prince" fame. (I'm not sure what "Student Prince" fame is. Anyone?) They continued via the Swabian hills to fun-loving Munich, where an orientation tour shows them the Olympic Stadium, the City Hall and the Marienplatz. A short drive later the arrived in Austria and the valley of the River Inn where they stopped in the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck. They were then invited to enjoy some thigh slapping fun at a Tyrolean folklore show and feast on some delicious strudel.

*Thigh is one of Aleah's spelling words this week.

Pop, Soda, or Coke?

This is a map of the United States showing the preference for what term is used for a soft drink. The blue tones are "pop," the red tones are "coke," and the yellow/green tones are "soda." The study wasn't all that scientific - it relied on people's responses using a web form on this page. That doesn't mean it isn't relatively accurate, though, and it is interesting. It doesn't sound right to call a pop coke, does it?

80's Video: Lean On Me

"Lean on Me, " as performed by Club Nouveau, was #1 on March 21 and March 28 in 1987. This is a rhythm and blues version of the song.



The song was written and performed by Bill Withers in 1972. Here is his original version. No video here - just audio. There are some live performances on YouTube, but the vocals do not seem to be nearly as good.



Here is another one by Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine." This is a live performance.



Mr. Withers was born in 1938 and is living. That would make him the same age as my dear mother. Her birthday is next week Monday. Bill performed and recorded until 1985. His songs are in a lot of movie soundtracks.

Europe-Day 4

Today after possibly touring a diamond factory and Dam Square and Mint Tower-I think these places are in Amsterdam they head into Germany where they will follow the Ruhr and Rhine valleys to Cologne and see gothic cathedrals. Then they will go on a scenic Rhine cruise where they will see crumbling castles before reaching St. G0ar where they'll see the Lorelei rock and go onto their hotel.

*Note-It would be nice if they could drop us an email from time to time but I'm sure they're very busy and when they finally get to their hotel at night they're probably quite tired!!

Catch up

It seems like all I've been doing the past couple of days is playing catch up with the chores since I devoted the weekend to painting Samantha's room. It's worth it since her room looks so nice.

Gerrit got stung by a wasp at school today. It happened to him last year too. He also said they took a poll in their class today since they were looking up things about the 1996 election (Clinton vs. Dole) about who they were rooting to win for President. Gerrit said everyone but one kid said McCain. Gerrit was not the one that was rooting for Obama.

Europe-Day 3

Happy Anniversary, Loren and Kelly!! The past year as just flown by for you I'm sure!

Today Loren and Kelly left for the coast of England and saw the White Cliffs of Dover before crossing the English channel to Calais in France. They then went into Belgium and across Flanders fields to Holland and to meadows of turning windmills-I'm quoting the itinerary. They arrive in Amsterdam where they'll enjoy a canal cruise across the criss-crossing spider's web of canals from a glass-topped boat. Sounds like fun!! I'm sure my Dutch husband would really enjoy seeing the land of his ancestors.

Happy Anniversary!

My brother-in-law, Loren, and his wife, Kelly, were married on this day one year ago. As Nancy has indicated, right now they are on a two week vacation in Europe.

I made a slide show of photos they provided and it was run during the wedding reception. They picked the music. Here is the YouTube video of that show. It is just under ten minutes long. Enjoy!



Happy Anniversary, Loren and Kelly!

Europe-Day 2

Today Loren and Kelly continue their sightseeing tour of London. That's all I know!

Community Organizer?

Have you heard the saying "Jesus was a Community Organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor" yet? If not, you probably soon will. Of course, it is a reference to Obama vs. Palin.

Hog On Ice has a great post about what a community organizer is and does, bringing in the term "ward heeler."

My favorite paragraph: "Oddly, a lot of people who know nothing about the Bible call Jesus a community organizer. The truth is that Jesus was a great disappointment to the Jews, precisely because he was not a community organizer or any other type of political operative. First-century Jews were sick of Roman rule, and they hoped for a Messiah who would be a political ruler, more like Saul or David than Moses. The rejection of Jesus was partly based on this distinction. He came and went, and the Romans were still there. Jesus was not a community organizer. He organizes individuals, one at a time. From within."

Go read the whole post. Please. If you'd like. Thank you.

Europe-Day 1

Loren and Kelly should have checked into their London hotel and today was a day to explore on their own-they're with a tour group. London is six hours ahead of our central time zone.

He had mentioned they wanted to see the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. They were going to look over their guidebook while traveling last night to see what else they wanted to see.

I accomplished my mission for the day!

I finished painting Samantha's room today. I had everything ready to go-the trim taped, etc. and I started painting a little after ten. I took a short break for lunch and finished with the painting part around three. I got everything back into her room (except her TOYS) and things hung on the wall. Bruce still needs to put up the blinds but other than that it's done and it looks great. Photos will appear eventually. We were going to have Samantha sleep with Aleah tonight but the window was open all day so it doesn't stink too bad in her room.

I had a good time when I took Aleah's class to the Pow Wow yesterday. My favorite part was watching the hoop dancers. That was amazing. Also there was a native tribe from Norway (I sure didn't know they had tribes there) called the Samis that talked about their culture-they herd reindeer and fish and they also sang and told the kids stories. The kids were there from 9-2 (I left for about an hour and a half when they ate lunch) and that was a bit long. I think just staying there in the morning would have been long enough.

I now need to go look over my Sunday School material. Tomorrow is Rally Sunday-first Sunday School of the school year. We won't have much time for a lesson so I'll have to plan for something else.

Bird Food

Today we had a guest feeding on one of our sunflowers. I don't mind because we don't have any other plans for them -- the birds might as well get a meal. I don't know much about birds so I had to do some research. Looks like this is either a downy or a hairy woodpecker. They are very common throughout North America. The males have a red patch at the back of their head and the female has a black patch. That would make this one a female.

She was so intent on her work that she let me get very close. I had shimmied up to about 5' from her. She would pause for a second every once in a while to take a look at me and this is one time when I snapped the above picture. I pushed it too far by trying to get even closer and she flew off.

She didn't go far, though. Just to the stem of a nearby sunflower. She peered at me from behind for a bit before taking off for some neighboring trees.

Roughing It?

Here I am blogging live from our Eddie Bauer 6-person tent in our backyard. The boys and I are staying out here tonight in the frigid weather. It is supposed to dip down to the low 40s.

We are not really roughing it, though. We have a power cord coming from the exterior outlet on the deck. There is a small electric heater keeping it fairly toasty warm so far, and we have a good fire going in the outdoor fireplace placed a safe distance from the front of the tent. I have my old laptop plugged in surfing my favorite sites. As you can see in the picture below, the boys watched a movie earlier. Donovan fell asleep soon after I took the photo, but Gerrit stayed awake to the end.

Oh, and the electric heater is safe. It is a small ceramic heater. Even though it has a safety shutoff if it were to be knocked over, I have it attached to a solid base that isn't going to allow that to happen. All the safe clearance distances are maintained.

The tent has been set up since last Friday. That has been sort of our tradition on Labor Day weekend. Gerrit and his friend, Micah, stayed in the tent that night. We were planning to sleep out here either Saturday or Sunday night but it was too cold, we figured. I didn't hatch my electric heater plan until later in the week.

See you in the morning!

Europe bound!

No, we're not Europe bound-how nice would that be?? My brother Loren and sister-in-law Kelly are bound for Europe tonight! They are taking an overnight flight to London. This trip is to celebrate their first wedding anniversary which will be Monday, September 8th. They will be gone for two weeks! I'm going to mention their whereabouts on our blog daily so we can all vicariously live through the travels, ha! I'm thinking most couples aren't able to go to Europe on their first anniversary. I believe we went out to eat at the local supper club with our three month old son and we did save the top of our wedding cake and ate that too. Here's a picture of Loren and Kelly two years ago somewhere around Minneapolis. Have fun in Europe you two!! *Note-It was a year ago today we left for Wisconsin for their wedding-that really was a fun trip.

70's Video: My Sharona

Since I missed posting an 80's Video yesterday, how about we go back to the 70's? I'd like to specifically visit 1979. "My Sharona" by The Knack was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks -- August 25 through September 29.

To say it was a big hit for The Knack would be an understatement. It was the biggest hit of 1979. "My Sharona" surpassed songs such as "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart, "Le Freak" by Chic, "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb, and "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer.



Also popular in 1979 was "Don't Bring Me Down" by the Electric Light Orchestra. The song hit #4 on the charts. I was in 7th or 8th grade when it was getting a lot of radio play. I remember a classmate, Angie, would always look at me and sing out "Bruce!"

According to Wikipedia, Mr. Lynne actually sings the made-up word "Groos!" Almost everyone misinterpreted it, so they later changed it to "Bruce!" and performed it that way.

A couple other tidbits about the song: It was dedicated to the NASA Skylab, and it was the first ELO song without a string section.



Oh, what the heck. Let's listen to some Chic! Chic is still performing and this video features Slash of Guns 'N Roses fame. It looks like this performance is from 1996. Awww, freak out!



I was originally going to put up the Peaches & Herb song, but I just couldn't stomach the sappy "Reunited." I'm sorry, but if you want to hear it you'll have to look it up on your own.

Aleah's Room

Bruce checking in for duty. How is everyone?

I've been negligent in posting photos of the remodeling of Aleah's room. Fortunately, Nancy hasn't let me forget.

Before we finished the basement this was the bedroom for our three oldest children -- Gerrit, Aleah, and Donovan. When the bedroom downstairs was done Gerrit and Donovan moved into that and Aleah then had her own room. They moved out in December but we left the room as it was until late July. While we were working on the room Aleah moved in with Samantha. It was August 2 when she was able to move back into her now extremely pink room.

Amazingly enough, we didn't take any pictures before starting the project. We couldn't find any old pictures, either. I did find a video I took of the kids while in the room and that shows some of the room. Here be that video. The best part is you get to hear my silky smooth voice. Please try to limit your swooning. Ha!



What a bossy girl, right? A bit annoying at the very least, anyway. The video was taken three years ago.

Here the walls were primed and the carpet was ripped out. We also primed the window trim in preparation to paint them white. We removed all the other trim so we could prime and paint those in the garage.

Found out the base trim, aka mop board, was installed before the carpet and was right on the plywood subfloor. That is unusual -- usually it is nailed on with a space so the carpet can be tucked underneath.

The carpet was glued down and was very easy to remove. I used a scraper to remove as much of the pad as I could. There are a lot of stains, aren't there? I'm sure our kids are responsible for some but I think most were there before we moved here in 2000.

Some pink has been applied here. I think Nancy did three coats of white primer and one coat of pink.

Painting is done and I am starting with the wood laminate floor. Hi, kids! Front to back that is Donovan, Samantha, and Gerrit.

The kids were usually in the way very helpful. Samantha often set up her chair to watch.

It took me 1-1/2 evenings, after work, to finish the floor. This was the end of the first evening.

I loved working with this flooring. It is the Tarkett brand from Menards. It went together so easy and fit so well. I used Shaw laminate in the basement and didn't like working with it so much -- for the opposite reasons I liked the Tarkett.

This and the following set of photos are after the room was all done and ready for all the stuff to be moved back.

This is obviously after Aleah had settled back in. We got the vertical blinds for $20 each from Menards. They were originally 84" long but we cut each vane to length with a scissors. I measured and marked and Nancy cut.

I hope you are enjoying your new room, Aleah! It was a lot of work but it felt good to get it done.

Not as busy

Today wasn't as busy as yesterday. I got to the Y for my swim aerobics class-love it!! Also there's a few more people my age instead of more mature adults. My friend Heidi was there today and she is so funny. Her oldest daughter goes to the same school as the kids and I've had her in Girl Scouts. She is also in MOPS so I'll see her tomorrow.

I managed to get all Samantha's toys out of her room and into the living room-I need to go through them and get rid of a lot of them-there's too many!!!!!! Tomorrow I want to get her room taped and the stenciled yellow alphabet painted over so I can start painting hopefully Friday night.

I had to pick the kids up from school today since Gerrit had to see the audiologist to get ear plugs for swimming lessons-they start next week. We saw Barb and kids there getting their allergy shots.

Tomorrow is our first MOPS meeting of the year. I am on the steering committee this year as the head table leader. I'm in charge of icebreakers (which I still have to find one for tomorrow) and discussions. After MOPS I need to meet my co-leader from Girl Scouts and get some banking stuff done.

Friday I am sacrificing my swim class to drive Aleah's class to the United Tribes Technical College Pow Wow. I've actually always wanted to see a Pow Wow since I never have and I even taught on a reservation. They never had a Pow Wow while I was teaching there though. So I am excited about it but bummed I'll miss my class. I could never bring Gerrit's class since I had to many little kids to bring with me.

RIP Don LaFontaine

Movie trailers and the world of voiceover in general will not be the same without the legendary voice actor, Don LaFontaine. He passed away in Los Angeles on Monday at the age of 68 -- following complications from pneumothorax (collapsed lung) after an earlier blood clot in the lung. He was born in Duluth, MN in 1940 and is survived by a wife and three daughters.

The following video I saw on Say Anything Blog and I think it tells his story pretty well.



Here is another one I found on YouTube. This one is from about three years ago.



And, of course, who can forget the voice over guys in a limo? The video is eleven years old. Don is the one in the limo at the start.

Time for bed!

Let's see I started the day at 4:45 a.m (WAY TOO EARLY!) since I donated plasma. I've been going a half hour earlier then usual so I can get the kids ready for school and be ready to go to my many activites shortly after they leave for school. I won't be able to go that early (if at all) when Bruce is out of town. It's only two days a week so I can do it. I do not like to get up before 7:00 a.m. but this is just what time works best for me to donate.

After I got home and got the kids ready they had dentist appointments at 8:30 so they missed almost an hour of school. Four kids and no cavities-that is a good thing. The dentist refers to us as his favorite family with awesome teeth but he probably says that to a lot of people-he uses compliments unceasingly. After I dropped the kids off at school I stopped home and my 10:30 meeting with my Girl Scout co-leader was postponed until Thursday so Samantha and I stopped at Target to get some pictures developed (we saw Barb and Sydney there) and the grocery store.

We came home, had lunch and left to have coffee at Barnes and Noble with my new friend Pam and her son Ethan. She is also a mom of four and we both have eight years between our oldest and youngest. She has all boys. I have a lot of friends that have all boys!!

I picked up the kids from school and Donovan had speech. Piano starts in two weeks on Tuesdays. I rushed home to make meatloaf and baked potatoes and then went back and got Donovan. After supper I had our first Parent Teacher Club meeting. I'm in charge of the games for the Halloween Carnival and am helping with getting together theme baskets for our silent auction that night. Bruce will be helping with the Haunted House. This will take place November 1st. Two weeks later we'll have a birthday party for my dad's 80th birthday-God willing. It's going to be a busy fall.

Now after getting the kids to bed and checking a few sites on the computer I should head to bed but I really need to ride bike (unfortunately it's too dark too ride outside now so I'll have to use the stationary bike) for a bit since I've had no time to exercise today.

Tomorrow shouldn't be quite as busy but I need to haul things out of Samantha's room and get it ready for painting and get some things ready for our first MOPS meeting on Thursday!