while you were out

last week my parents went to the dominican republic for vacation. i decided to overhaul our yukky basement to make it a bunch cooler. and that i did. i organized EVERYTHING and threw out gross stuff that had been in a previous flood or had no use whatsoever. (we have since been flood-proofed. as much as a basement CAN be flood-proofed.) anyway, one of those things i threw out was an old ping-pong table. it had served its purpose well. but after having it for a few years, my mom decided to iron curtains on it. DON'T DO IT! that will render the thing useless. trust me. i gotta say after unscrewing parts of it to cart upstairs, it was DANG heavy. and then it was just kept around to put stuff on. STUFF. you'd be surprised how much STUFF i found on it. i also got some fun new exercise equipment for my rents. (PA-rents.) a rowing machine and a cardio-thing. anyway, enjoy the before and after pix.

everyone in a different hospital (each in a different state too....)

surgeries out the wazoo! i can't even believe it! patti, karl, and my MOM were all today! tomorrow is jeannie and it continues....

my mom's doc said the surgery went well. she had her appendix out as well as a THING (an unwanted thing) that had been growing on her appendix. so because of that, he also took out part of her colon. part of the wall of her colon. so although it's not as bad as it could have been, mom's recovery is still slow. pray for her. pray for patti and karl who are also recovering from other (rather serious) surgeries today.

nationals is coming up soon! gonna be at purdue for a week. two days after that, i'm leaving for L.A. and then to china. but back to purdue...a random new friend emailed me and said he is going to be there! i met him in new orleans last october/november during the week of cleanup that my church was there. didn't really think i'd see him again! and yeah, he was another one who got to (had to) witness the ever embarrassing events of short me jumping over not-so-short chairs, crashing into a table, and completely ripping apart my arm. owch.

where does scottie pippen golf, anyway?

while waiting for my parents at the baggage claim, i ran into scottie last nite at o'hare waiting for his golf clubs. he's still dang tall (especially with the 'fro) but a BEANPOLE. man, is he small now! becky fox and i debated for a WHILE and she kept saying there's no way... but then a whole bunch of people behind us that were in some group yelled, "hey scottie!" and he turned and waved at them. so then as he finally was able to get to his golf clubs, i scooted over and said "hold still a sec" and fox got our picture by the starbucks in terminal 3. ah well, here it is. but seriously, if it weren't for his telltale nose, i had almost mistaken him for a light post wearing sunglasses.

goose parade

can you tell that where the parking lot meets the grass the geese are on the move? yeah, marching from the pond in front of my apartments to the woods behind them. i have no idea why. they held up traffic in our little parking lot today. there were SO MANY of them! big ones, little ones, teenagers. everyone represented.

but since school's been out (WOOHOO!) i have not been sitting around watching geese. i've been tearing apart my parents' house in order to reorganize it and clean up. whew. what a job. anyway, they get home tomorrow from the dominican republic from where they were vacationing. boy, will they be surprised!

don't do it...don't do it....

well well well.

i have here in my midst a tarantula. i have also an assistant principal at the end of the hallway in her office. ahem. what to do, what to do? i cannot help but think what the possibilities are here. what is she gonna do, FIRE ME? (tee hee hee!) and i am sure that we could win at least $100,000 on america's funniest home videos. not to mention the WORLD'S funniest video. hmm. i guess i'd better not. but i'm still tempted.

GOSH, life is full of tuff choices!!!!! hope i make the right one here....

diet coke & mentos?

still looking for something i can use in lieu of fireworks at purdue. you guys like this? check out eepybird.com for more info.

the World Cup

finally...something that the U.S. has to work for. something we can't excel at. not just DON'T excel at but CAN'T. something where the rest of the world kicks our derriere. EASILY.

i'm sick to death of the big ol' nasty tattooed NBA and NFL players. getting paid millions to throw a ball through a hole or to make a ball to go across a little line drawn in the grass. are you serious? while schools have completely outdated books? kids in upper grades headed toward high school graduation who don't know how to read? classes without a textbook for each child? hardly any resources for the teachers to use? and in some cases NONE?!?

and then what about attitudes and conduct as "role models?" how in the heck can kids look up to players who use illegal drugs to attain their desired results? (mostly made an issue through MLB.) what about the horrible attitudes of NBA babies who get calls from the ref they don't like? what about the ones who are still young enough to throw temper tantrums? (okay--i shouldn't discriminate by age.) why are they even playing? and once a game is over they can't even speak in ENGLISH to explain their "strategy?" STRATEGY? i'm confused here. i'm confused as to why our country's priorities are so infinitely screwed up. and we wonder why kids act the way they do? and why our country is going to he** in a handbasket? well i guess the lack of good parenting doesn't help but role models who completely suck and have absolutely no character aren't helping either.

if our country could seriously get into a better sport--one played with TRUE strategy and won with honor--we'd at least be on the right track. i am not in any way trying to imply that true football (futbol) is the answer to our vast problems, but if we could compete with integrity and dignity at a WORLD sport, we might make some sort of headway. and get some real respect. why would we be proud of ourselves--during past olympics--for absolutely annihilating other countries at baseball? basketball or football too for that matter! those are UNITED STATES SPORTS! duh! are you kidding? that's like me making up a new game, practicing it for a long time, and beating everyone who plays against me. woo woo! that's no achievement! no accomplishment! we are so about ourselves we don't even know what the rest of the world is playing! why is it that there was still no soccer in the midwest until just the past TEN years? wow. we are SO out of it. i see the midwest isn't just slow in fashion and design, but every aspect, i see.

if you ask me, we could do better at being a country. a "respectable" country. how embarrassing. oh yes, and congratulations to the czech republic. you did well. i hope we don't continue to embarrass ourselves too badly.

FOUR DAYS LEFT.

FIVE MORE DAYS

i can't wait i can't wait. five more days. i can't wait. i will sleep in, clean, and then sleep some more. sleep, sail, go to china. go to the northwoods. away from people. stuff like that. i think i can make it. five more days.

i love alice cooper's song. i'm gonna listen to it and celebrate all the way home on friday. "school's out for summer! school's out FOREVER!" sing it at the top of my lungs. crank it. lose my voice. strange how that's actually the truth, tho. this is the end. i told a few coworkers i am gonna be stretching for the last twenty minutes that i'm in my classroom. quads, hammies, yeah. don't wanna pull anything RUNNING the heck away from there. as for what's next? who knows. i'll worry 'bout that later. for now, i'll start recovering from this past school year. and get ready to go somewhere fun.

what a friend

who would come over at midnight and help grade papers until 2 in the morning? AND for someone who lives a half hour away? does that even sound right? i've been up crazy hours trying to close out all my records and stuff for school. i come home from school and sleep, then get up and get busy. anyway, tris, you are an awesome friend and i love you. thanks for helping me out--for your moral support too. it means a bunch. i owe you pretty big-time.

here, storm storm storm

what the heck is this? some kind of anemometer? looks cool to me but pretty heavy duty! it's on top of this dude's car who lives in the apartments across the parking lot. hmmm. is he a storm chaser? what's the purpose of this thing? i think he's a student at V.U. so maybe a weather geek. man after my own heart. i wish i were a true weather geek. ah well, i'm just a plain geek. life is tuff.

PROC

well...we are going to china! deb and i will be going in july--somewheres from the middle of the month to the end. we'll be in cali for a bit too. we're flying in and out of LA. if i get lucky i'll stay a little while in san diego when we get back. i love the dolphins and the pacific. boogieboarding is sweet there too. (especially with the dolphins.) i'll be at purdue (for nationals) the first week of july and will have approx. one week to pack and get ready the rest of the way for the big trip. (finish getting shots, etc.) yeowch. anyhoo, be looking for pictures for when i return. but as for now, i have exactly ELEVEN miserable school days left.

a hearty welcome to LIU QIAN GUO

liu means "willow" and qian means "pretty". she was born on July 30th, 2005 and was abandoned on the same day in front of a shoe store. she likes her toys and will scream if you take any of them away from her. and if she wants what you're playing with, she'll take that too. she's about 10 months old and deb will return from china with her just in time for her first birthday. woohoo! she's from the chinese province GUANGXI and from the small seaside village of BEIHAI. yeah! SEASIDE VILLAGE! on the south china sea. how perfect. she'll love living by lake michigan! (i know...not quite the same.) anyhow, welcome cute little person. i can't wait to go shoe shopping with you!

broken

church got broken into again. there is a little bench that sits outside of door "D" that someone decided to throw into the bookstore window to try to get to the cash registers. i suppose the poor idiots didn't realize that the money from the registers is kept elsewhere...like the BANK! hardly any money even as change is kept around. the change that we DO keep around is kept inside a SAFE in a HIDDEN CLOSET nowhere NEAR the bookstore itself.

there WAS one funny thing about it though. (if you are a seinfeld fan, i don't mean "ha ha" funny but "peculiar" funny.) becky fox and i had gone to dinner sunday nite in michigan city after the da vinci simulcast at church. we came back to the church parking lot after 10:30 and surprised a yellow mustang that probably hadn't planned on running into anyone that time of night. the other "funny" thing was that just after i dropped fox off to get into her car, the parking lot lights timed out. i believe that yellow mustang knew that the lights were about to go off. fox and i both left the parking lot right behind the yellow mustang. i watched the yellow mustang pull into the driveway of the house just south of church. i suddenly realized they were probably just waiting for us to leave. i whipped around in the corner store parking lot and flew back to the church parking lot but went in the north entrance--out of sight of the mustang. i sat with my headlights off in the WAY back of the parking lot hidden behind the vans to see if the mustang came back in. i sat for about ten minutes in the dark waiting to sneak attack the maniacal yellow mustang villains.

they never came back into the parking lot but after about ten minutes when i finally left and went south on calumet ave, i noticed they were still sitting in the driveway of the same house--headlights on, car running. i suppose i may have scared them off for that night--as they may have been thinking a sunday night would be a good time to steal from the church bookstore since there was a lot of business done sunday morning. however, had i known there would be a burglary (or attempted burglary and definite vandalism) on another night this same week, i would have sneaked through the woods to get the license number--from the driveway they sat in. people always ask me, "what would you do if/when you do catch stupid and possibly dangerous people?" i actually have no idea. guess it depends how many there are. i could definitely take on ONE. but i would have called the cops before i actually moved in. that way i would have known i'd have backup. eventually.

the irony of it all

i have to drive into the yuckiest parts of chicago every day, let me just tell you! the irony of it all is that i drive by a sweet bunch of BEAUTIFUL sailboats. and this is the time of year they're all being floated. out of storage, into the water. i finally stopped by the yacht yard today for the first time. man, everything and ANYTHING you could ever need to sail. (and the prices to go with it!) sigh. i would much rather spend my days there than a mile from there. (at my school.) but even better, would to be in the middle of the lake away from stupid people. on a sweet boat. chillin. again, SIGH. here's a pic of one i saw them getting ready today. semis come in all the time with new boats and huge masts. wish one of them were mine.

my friend karl

please PRAY for my friend karl. he is not well and needs your prayers. he is having surgery tomorrow and will have surgery again soon, probably. he lives in northeast Georgia and yesterday (maybe two days ago) he also had LIGHTNING hit his apartment. made his microwave go "pop" and "sizzle." his t.v. went pop and sizzle too. so did the fridge and a few other things but some were salvageable. i guess it could have been worse! there was no fire! lightning doesn't strike the same place twice! besides that, you can send all the bad, bad storms up here for us tornado freaks! okay, karl?

TAKE CARE, KARL!

garage sale fundraiser

well, saturday was a crazy day. the first garage sale fundraiser is over. the 3 items below this entry are still for sale to a good home. any reasonable offer will be considered. there is also a six-year-old gas forced-air furnace. my two friends scott and heidi are adopting from guatemala and my friend deb is adopting from asia. we are trying to raise support for the babies to be brought home. currently scott and heidi's son and deb's daughter are in orphanages. the sooner they can get to the U.S. the better. please consider donating whether you purchase an item or not. it's for an EXCELLENT cause! the next garage sale is friday & saturday, june 16th and 17th. leave a comment if you want more info. pictured here is heidi and sadie the dog. scott is pictured 5 entries below holding carter, their other son.

air tank for sale-made by grainger

this thing is worth about $100 scrap steel. all it needs is a compressor. it's supposed to be capable of 100 psi but someone told me it's capable of much more. (180) anyway, i'd be willing to accept a price starting at $80. please leave a comment if interested.

lawn tractor TILLER attachment for sale!

at least i think it's a tiller. or something. please correct me if it's something else. (good thing there's a picture!) anyway, leave a comment if interested. will consider any reasonable offer. it's near-new.

NASHUA woodstove for sale!

this nashua is an air tight woodstove made back in the day. it would be perfect for heating a garage or something. the manufacturer used to test their products by putting a stick of dynamite inside and closing the door. kaBOOM! if their product survived, it was ok to sell. this thing is worth $300 scrap steel. if interested, leave a comment. it comes complete with piping, bricks, and blower.

how to make french fries

the only reason i'm awake right now although i went to bed at about 7pm tonight, is because my cell phone rang and rang and rang. somehow in a sleepy stupor i dropped it in the kleenex box by my bed and then had great difficulty getting it out. by the time i was awake enuf to realize my cell phone was ringing and it wasn't my remote, it was too late.

so here i am.

i had wanted to get together with a friend last night on the north side but i'm realizing it's good that i didn't. when i was out on my family's farm during spring break, my true cousins were not really around. brad is working on his Ph.D. at oxford--yes, the real one in england--and danica is a teacher too and was only able to come out for the weekend. besides hanging out with my aunt and uncle, i spent time with drew, brad and danica's cousin. (my faux.) but from now on he's just my cousin too. easier. anyway, he lives on the farm as well. he's got a potato gun and i had never been taught before how to make FRIES with the thing. turns out all you have to do is shoot the potato at a corn crib! and voila. french fries.

i was up quite late last night grading papers and entering grades. progress reports were due. ugh. so now that i've farted around online, i'm goin back to bed. so little sleep last nite...grr

hope u made it home safe, drew. give my spike hugs and kisses! xoxo

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