Sweet Success!

I finished my novel. *phew*  This makes me a three-peat NaNoWriMo winner for whatever that's really worth. I know the next question on everyone's mind is, why don't you look to publish anything, but I'm still young and I'm learning and growing as a writer and I have a lot of learning and growing as a writer left to do.  I can honestly say that what I came up with in '08 was way better than what I composed in '07 and I think my '09 work, though possibly a weaker story, is probably better written than my '08.  Cheers to all those who NaNo-ed with me and special thanks to those that cheered me on along the way.  I got very close to giving up mid-month and probably would have without such cool people supporting me.

Some people might look at this accomplishment as just a silly game.  I wrote a crappy 96 page story, big whoop, right?  But aside from writing, NaNoWriMo is also about the focusing on a goal, dedication above distraction, and pursuing creative ideals.  If you look at the stats too, less than 20% of the participants that start NaNoWriMo actually reach the 50,000 word mark (last year was actually the record-high for wins with 18.2% of writers winning). So I guess that's worth at least a nod of admiration for sticking through what most abandon.  (But even those that don't reach 50K have something to be proud of.  As I've told friends, even if you write 1000 words for NaNoWriMo, that's 1000 words you would not have written otherwise!)

But I think I've put in enough words for today. I'll try to keep my prolific writing up with more blogs in the next month.  For now, break out the bubbly and join me in a toast to the wonderful world of writing!

Motivation

I'm not generally a motivated person. I prefer to start rather than finish things and although I can be very reward drive, I don't always stick with things when results take a while to see. These traits become something of a hindrance to developing a good workout routine.

A while back, I tried to start a schedule. It was Tuesday and Thursday night which became just Thursday nights when twice a week was too cumbersome. But the problem with evenings is they aren't really good for "me time". There's family birthdays, friend get-togethers, volunteer meetings, dentist appointments, and so on. People always say that a good exercise schedule should be protected time: write it on your calender and schedule other things around it. Except, how do you say no a birthday party because you have to work out? And of course, compounding those dilemmas were the inevitable train delays and work conflicts that didn't get me home on time.

So now I'm going for a new approach. Mornings! I'm aiming for a 5:30 am class at Lifetime Fitness twice a week. Yes, that means I have to get my butt out of bed at 5 am (the hardest part), but it's the only way I can workout, shower, eat breakfast, and still catch a 7:40 or 8:00 train to work. Tuesdays it's Yoga Pilates Fusion to work on core muscles, balance, and flexibility; Fridays it's Barbell Strength training to work on strength and toning. Weekends are for cardio training - swimming or jogging. I'm not trying to lose weight or become a body builder, but I do want to tone up and get my metabolism levels going better. Also, I'm one of those crazy people that finds exercise really relaxing.

I'm posting this blog update as something of a self-motivation tool too. Feel free to ask me how things are going in a few weeks - this will either encourage me to keep up the good work or guilt me back into keeping up if I slip out of things. I've heard it takes ten weeks to really make something a habit so ideally I'll maintain (or add to) my twice a week goal from now until the end of October. I know this will be infinitely more challenging once winter creeps in with cold weather and a car that needs to be scraped off before whisking me off to the gym, but I'm confident that it's a pattern that will be good for me in the long run.

Wish me luck!

St Baldrick's Year 2

Before:

After:

Thanks so much to Dan, dad and Tony for shaving their heads in support of Pediatric cancer research! This year's event was awesome and their team raised almost $1500! Thank you so much to everyone that donated on their behalf! You really are making a difference to children everywhere. If anyone is still willing/able to donate, the site will be up for a few more months. Click here for more information.

"Boys" of Summer

Went to see the musical Jersey Boys earlier this week! For anyone unfamiliar, it's the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and their rise to stardom from humble beginnings in - you guessed it - New Jersey. (Or more accurately "Joisey".) It was a really fun show and along with having a toe-tapping time, I've had some of the songs stuck in my head for the past three days. On a silly whim the other day I serenaded Tony with one of the hits ("....At long last love has arrived, and I thank God I'm alive! You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.") To which he responded with a laugh (my singing leaves something to be desired) and the question, "How do you know the words to so many of those songs?"

Good question. Granted I could explain away "Can't take my eyes off of you" as being present in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. And even "Let's Hang On" was covered by the a capella jazz group Manhattan Transfer on a CD that my sister and I listened to quite frequently as teens. But does that explain, "Walk Like a Man", "Sherrie", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Stay", "Dawn" or "Rag Doll"? I've always known that I had a good memory but I never quite realized how much song lyrics stay with me even more than obscure trivia or random memories. I know my parents - and even one of my coworkers - love listening to oldies radio, but I'm only just now coming to see how much I've enjoyed the old classics as well.

Pine Cones

Saturday Tony and I took a day trip out to Starved Rock. It was a fun and relaxing time to be outdoors in beautiful weather with the fall colors all around us. If you've never been to Starved Rock I highly recommend taking a trip there - assuming you like hiking and outdoorsy stuff - especially this time of year. For me the most memorable part of the day was when we were hiking to my favorite spot in the park, LaSalle Canyon. As we walked along the sandstone path leading up to and behind the waterfall (there's a reason it's my favorite spot) I started to study the trail we were walking and noticed pine cones all over the path. Taking a look around I did a mental survey of the trees near by - Maples and Oaks and is that an Ash? I pointed out the pine cones to Tony who also looked all around us without seeing any conifers. We came up with various theories about dispersion by wind and animals to explain the presence of the pine evidence. As we proceeded through the cavern beneath the waterfall and emerged on the path opposite our initial trek, we reached higher ground and stared up at the sky. To our surprise, high on the top of the bluffs above our incoming path was a grove of white pines.

I had to share this story because it really made me think about God. Firstly because of the beauty in nature that I will ascribe only to His creation. There was something else though that really struck me. The pine cones on that path were a good analogy of God's presence in my life. So often I'm staring all around wondering where God is. Yet it's only when I slow down and reflect on my life (the path I'm walking) that I start to see evidence of Him all around (pine cones). I can get frustrated because I can't see Him (the pine trees). I'll even try to ascribe the good in my life to other things like luck or hard work (wind and animals). I can convince myself that God's far away and not really concerned with my everyday life, but like the trees high on the bluffs, He is always nearby. Just because I can't see Him directly doesn't mean that He's not surrounding me every step of the way.

Night at the Museum

A Long Time Ago in A Science and Industry Museum Not To Far Away....

C3P0, Princess Lisa, Tony-Wan Kenobi and R2D2

A Vermont and Wisconsin Bithday

My birthday took place neither in Wisconsin nor Vermont, and although I have friends in the former and a teddy bear from the latter, WI and VT are meant a little more metaphorically in this case. Wisconsin as all midwesterners know is famous for cheese and no pancake lover will deny the association between Vermont and maple syrup. So in saying that I had a very Vermont and Wisconsin birthday I mean that it was sappy and cheesy - in all the best ways possible. I mentioned before that I had a really fun family party on Sunday. Unfortunately the Bears couldn't gift a birthday win for me but it was all in all a fun time hanging out. Monday was a really awesome time too. My coworkers surprised me with a candle laden coffee cake instead of our traditional Monday morning lab meeting bagels. Then around 1 Tony came to pick me up and not only did I have the joy of a half day off work, we got to walk around the U of C campus and visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. Then we skipped over to the Science and Industry Museum and saw a really cool Omnimax show about Mummies, Pharaohs and Ancient Egypt. Yes, this is further evidence of what a supreme nerd I am because it was 110% educational and I loved it! (Hey, I warned you it was cheesy!)The really awesome part of the day too was that Tony took me out for a surprise dinner at Catch 35, a really fancy seafood restaurant. We'd both been wanting to go there for a long time and it was excellent! The food was supreme, the service was great and the fact that it was Monday night made for a very non-crowded romantic dinner. And as if that wasn't amazing enough, Tony had flowers for me delivered to the restaurant so that when we were seated at the table I noticed a card from him in the middle of the gorgeous centerpiece. What a guy, right? (Hey, I warned you it was sappy, too!) Hard to believe the years are flying by but if the birthday sets the tone for the year, I'm in for a wonderful time as a 27-year old!

Driving in Cars With Balloons

Wow! What a weekend! I had a super fun birthday celebration with my family today but I spent most of Saturday in the hospital. Don't worry, I wasn't IN the hospital, rather I was visiting my sister who was having a baby! She delivered a happy and healthy baby girl. She's quite the cutie, just like her mom. ;) I had an interesting time getting to the medical center though because I made the mistake of buying balloons ahead of time. Financially this was a wise move as party stores achieve the accounting miracle of making a profit while charging less than a third of what hospital gift shops deem reasonable. And balloons really are an ultimately ideal gift for a new arrival, but there is a slight issue in transporting them. I was too afraid of poppage to put them in the trunk (those who have ever seen the cluttered pit that is my car trunk will understand) so I designated the backseat as the bouquet containment area. I should probably explain that there were only two balloons but that one of them was a jumbo sized pink foot emblazoned with the phrase "It's a Girl!". (I'm not entirely certain why a foot is the new universal symbol for "baby" but it was a cute selection.) If you've never driven with balloons in your backseat, I'll explain that there are only two positions the helium filled atrocities will occupy: blocking the rear view mirror or obliterating your blind spot. And more often than not there will be multiple transitions between these placements as the trip progresses. And of course due to construction, ridiculously slow drivers, and a brush collection truck that was pelting my car with sticks I had to change lanes about eight times. That is, I had to change lanes about eight times while having pink mylar monsters flying between my rear view mirror and my blind spot. You can imagine me driving: one hand on the wheel, one hand on the turn signal and one hand frantically swatting balloons out of view. You're probably thinking that that doesn't add up - and you're right. Amazingly I avoided both accidents and traffic tickets but my inability to read the proper signage left me parked at the exact opposite end of the hospital complex from the Labor and Delivery entrance but I suppose I'll leave "Riding in Elevators With Balloons" for another time.

The Downward Dog Ate My Homework

I went to a yoga class at Lifetime last night. *waiting for laughter to subside* I'm serious. I, the queen of clutz, was learning to stretch, balance and breathe my way into the relaxation that can only come from transforming oneself into a human pretzel! Tony has still been having back pain from his car accident and with my copious amounts of joint problems (my knees and hips tend to do random impressions of popping corn), we thought yoga might be a good habit to start. So we ventured over to the health club - side note here: What happened to the 80's when you could go "exercise" at "the gym"? Now it's all going to "work out" at the "health club"... anyways - little did we know that "Fitness Yoga" would be much more the former than the latter. Gone were my previous experiences of gentle stretching and calming breathing. This was an all out kick-your-butt stretching and straining of muscles I forgot I even had! I knew it would be rough when we started with a sequence of four moves (that we returned to several times throughout the class). The first is Downward Facing Dog - a pretty basic move with your palms and feet flat on the floor and your butt up in the air with your arms and legs straightened so that if you strung a line between your elbows and knees it would be an accurate impersonation of the letter A (no comment on the fact that people were not designed to be shaped like letters other than I). It's not too difficult but when you focus on keeping your heels flat to the ground it provides a somewhat pleasant stretching to the shoulders and quads. From Downward Dog the instructor shifts us to Plank. In Plank you are on your toes with your palms still flat and arms straight but your back straightens so that you're essentially in the up position of a push up. Then comes Chaturanga. If you've never done yoga, fear the Chaturanga. Chaturanga means "Four Limbs" and comes from the words "chatur" meaning "four", and "anga" meaning "oh wow, I found my triceps!". Your hands and feet keep the same position as Plank but you bend your elbows and bring them into your sides and balance with your nose inches from the ground for an undetermined length of time (see painful picture at right, well, maybe it's not painful if you look like THAT but for us normal humans....ow!). Yeah, it's basically like doing the first half of a push up but you're supposed to be all slow and graceful and if you're like me and haven't really done push ups regularly since high school, it starts with a slow burning in the triceps and moves into all out agony by the eighth time through the sequence. The last pose is Upward Dog and it took all my reserve not to ask the instructor or fellow pretzel people, "What's Up, Dog?". Yes, it's pretty much a reversal of Downward Facing Dog, in that your back is arched with your chest up, hips lifted and head back, but a more appropriate title would be The Little Mermaid pose. Really, no one's done it better since Ariel and you can see from her expression (at left) that she's extremely excited to have been relieved from the agony of holding Chaturanga for too long. I suppose it's also saying something that I need to take flexibility lessons from a cartoon character...

The other thing I should mention is that Lifetime Fitness does a really cool thing when the weather's nice - they have Yoga Under The Stars by the outdoor pool. It was a nice evening and I thought this feature would enhance the relaxation aspect of the class but a more accurate name for it would be Yoga Under the Stars Obscured By Light Pollution or even better Yoga With Our Friends the Mosquitoes! I was doing pretty good with some of the other crazy balance moves we tried except it's quite difficult to stand in a position like the triangle (at right) and try to focus on relaxing and breathing when a mosquito and three of it's buddies are feasting their way up your ankle and around the circumference of your elbows! And then, since the insects were out in full force their predators joined us too - and really is there anything more calming than staring at a sky filled with swarms of bats?!??? Every time we hit Upward Dog I found myself fearing a face-full of guano. *Eeeeuuughhhh* But the bats left us alone and I suppose I've done worse then sixteen mosquito bites in a night. I'll keep you all posted into my further ventures of human pretzel-hood in the future but for now all I can say is: Beware the Chaturanga!

And now for something completely different...

Okay. So it's been a rough couple of weeks. But as my seven year old cousin Brian said (at his older brother's funeral), "I don't think Andy would want you to be sad." Beyond sweet, right? He also went on to explain that Andy's up in heaven right now and "he probably has super powers!" So we all agreed that now Andy can run super fast, fly and hopefully have all the super-cool moves of his favorite X-Men hero Colossus. *sigh* Out of the mouths of children. (That's a pic of Colossus/Andy at left for those non-comic geeks out there.)

But life has also been more than a little chaotic because my lab is gearing up to move at the end of the month. It's been craziness all around - I'll spare you the story of the four day old decomposing mouse flesh *ewww* - but things are especially nuts for me since I'm doing the job transition along with wrapping up my class work. I only have five more weeks of my Investigation of Death Scenes class and then I'll get my Forensics certificate. (Woohoo! Lord only knows what I'll do with it...) Overall, it's been a fun series of classes. I might actually miss the cool stuff we've been learning, but I will definitely NOT miss the very late nights.

Although last night - even with class - I was home in time to see the end of the Cubs game... that is, I was home in time to see innings 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the Cubs game. I shouldn't be surprised that they lost (of five extra inning games this year they've only won one) but with games like that you can't help holding on to hope. The highlight for me was when announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly decided to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame as a 14th inning stretch. Some may argue that they're not the most insightful commentators out there, but you have to hand it to them that they know how to have fun.

Not much else to say at present. Had a great weekend - saw Spiderman 3 (Good flick - my only complaint was that there seemed to be too many conflicts for one movie: Superhero v. Supervillain ; Superhero v. Self ; Superhero v. Former Best Friend ; Superhero v. Alien Life Form. Still entertaining though and if you liked 1 and 2 you'll probably enjoy it.) Also went to a really fun Cinco de Mayo party at my sister's house. Margaritas, games and karaoke but perhaps those should be stories for another time.

What the.....???

There's something very surreal (happy, but surreal) about hearing news that your friends from junior high are having babies. What's with this whole "growing up" deal anyway? Jeez! You'd think we were like almost 30 or something....

Playing with a Full Deck

It was a good weekend. It was an interesting weekend. It was an exhausting weekend. It was a God weekend. (Oh come on, don't tune me out just cause I'm gonna talk about God. Bear with me and read the whole post, you might learn a little something about who I am... or at least who I'm trying to be.)

Friday night Tony and I attended a leadership conference at our church. It was appropriately titled the Jump conference and focused on the scripture in which Peter jumps out of the boat to walk on the water with Jesus. I've heard this passage used to teach a number of different lessons in the past (keep your eyes fixed on God, don't be afraid of life's storms, God is always with you, etc.) but this time the message was about listening to God and jumping at the opportunity to join Him. The night was really great and filled with energy (especially with an appearance by the Jesse White Tumblers - those kids rock!) but at one point I found myself fighting back tears. All this talk about God calling and here was me, unable to even remember the last time I really heard God's voice.

Sure, He's led me to some amazing things recently with serving opportunities in student ministry, helping on the setup team, and community development projects like teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in East Aurora. But I started to wonder, am I doing too much? Am I spreading myself too thin? I know I've heard the theory repeatedly that taking on a "Jack of All Trades" mentality in ministry can lead to a proverbial "Master of None" result. And yet, that's not me. I have a passion and joy for every area that I'm involved in. Student Community is a way to impact a new generation and help young girls grow in the faith and confidence that I didn't find until my college years. Setup team is a way for me to connect with and serve my local congregation (plus it's very much an under-served, under-appreciated necessity - at 6 am on Sunday morning, you can see why the volunteers aren't pouring in). And the ESL classes are a great way to share my resources (extensive knowledge of English, minimal knowledge of Spanish, and a penchant for cookie baking) with those who can benefit from them.

So what does this mean for me as some sort of ministry profile? Do my multiple passions act against each other driving me towards inevitable burn out? Surprisingly, no. (Although as my disclaimer: taking thirty hours of classwork on top of this has made things a smidge more stressful.) I thrive on the variety. I could no more pick a single area to serve than a card shark could choose a single suit. Give me clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts - I don't want to play without a full deck. I love the opportunities available before me and not using various gifts and resources leaves me feeling hollow and bored. I mentioned earlier that I felt sad at not hearing God lately but I think my simple acknowledgement of that fact opened my eyes and ears to hear Him more. Yesterday morning in a message about focusing on being a Christ follower rather than being culturally Christian a verse jumped out at me that I memorized on the spot:

"I did not come to be served but to serve and to give my life away" ~Matthew 20:28

Maybe I'm crazy, but to me that was God speaking. Someone once told me that I was doing too much church and community service and I needed to get a life. What they didn't realize was that my purpose in doing so much is to try to give mine away.

Shop For A Cause (Just one more...)

Just needed to put in one more post about the Shop For A Cause Mart. All sales were totaled and we raised $3045.60! Our goal was $3000 (enough to build homes for two Rwandan families) and even with the rain, we did it! Congratulations team! Here's the group picture of all the volunteers too (for the Where's Waldo fans - I'm actually in this one):

Shop For A Cause Mart Volunteers

Shop For A Cause (Part 1)

This morning I had the opportunity to be a part of a fun, unique and amazing service event. My friend Beth (the tall blonde in the black and white skirt) with an awesome team of volunteers - collectively known as Women Embracing the World - opened her lawn to friends, family and neighbors for a "Shop For A Cause Mart".

Beth greets everyone at the morning volunteer meeting

Now if you're asking yourself, "Self, what in the world is a 'Shop For A Cause Mart'?" You could get an answer from an article in the Lemont newspaper, but while you're here I'll give you the 411. It's pretty self explanatory in that it starts with a cause and shopping.

In this instance, the cause was Rwanda and an organization that you've heard me blog about before called Global Family Rescue. The next step is shopping. Beth's lawn was home to over a dozen vendors - all of whom donated profits to GFR. Here's just a few of the volunteers:

Heather (left) of Emmy & Me Interiors setting up her floral designs with Jeannene

Belinda (left) selling Avon with Lynne

Rachel talking to customers (Kandi, Heather & Lynne) about Cookie Lee jewelry

Mandy and her tent of Tastefully Simple

Janine selling fun scrapbooking materials

Julie showing off her Mary Kay products

Mary selling home-made jewelry

Doris with more Avon items

This wasn't even everything - but it's all that will fit in this post. Keep reading for Shop For A Cause (Part 2) and (Part 3)!

Shop For A Cause (Part 2)

There was certainly a lot of work to be done at the Shop For A Cause Mart but some vendors managed to mix business with plenty of fun. Gospel recording artist Renea Taylor was hanging out selling (and signing!) CD's for Global Family Rescue.

And when you just happen to have a talented singer on your front lawn...

Renea's rockin' sidewalk concert

In case all these great things weren't enough to entice wallets open shoppers also had the opportunity to test their luck with a raffle for several amazing gift baskets.

Sandy setting up the raffle table

And the backdrop in that picture also went home with one lucky ticket holder much to the chagrin of many of us who hoped to walk out with a gorgeous hand-made quilt generously provided by Shannon. (I asked and she said 28-30 hours of work went into it!)

Shannon with her beautiful reversible quilt

If the stress of selling or shopping got to be too much to handle for anyone, a solution was provided by the talented hands of Tyra with her chair-massage station.

Tyra waves hi from the massage tent

Now I'm sure you're wondering - what could be so stressful about a day of outdoor shopping and selling and raising money for charity??!? Well.... how about a rainstorm? Luckily Tony was on hand with tarps, table cloths, twine and duct tape and in just a few minutes everything was covered and water-proofed!




Tarp-master Tony to the rescue!

Rain, rain, go away!

Granted, we all would have preferred a sunny afternoon but the rainstorms provided a nice lunch break and once they blew through, Renea called her friends Karen, Susan and Zereta out to join in some gospel singing and dancing!

"Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance..."

"I just wanna praise You, I just wanna praise You!"

Pretty cool, right? Wanna know something even cooler? There's still more! Read on for Shop For A Cause (Part 3)!

Shop For A Cause (Part 3)

It was fun! I know that was the first sentence out of my mouth when people asked me "How did it go?" but it was also more than just 'fun'. It was, above everything, a chance to know that together we were doing something to make a difference in the world! Several of the volunteers and shoppers spent time throughout the day sharing stories about trips they took this summer to Rwanda to visit families they sponsored through Global Family Rescue. One very cool moment in the day was a reunion of sorts between Karen, Pam and Mary who had traveled with GFR together in June.

Rwandan travelers with a Cause Mart reunion

By sharing their stories and their great experiences with Global Family Rescue they convinced Zereta to take the plunge and sponsor a family of her own!

Karen, Pam, Mary and Zereta "meeting" her new family

If a picture is worth a proverbial one thousand words then I've told the story of the Shop For A Cause Mart in over twenty thousand words already and yet I've barely scratched the surface of what a great event this was. I will take advantage of the thousand words per picture though and fill the rest of this entry with more great shots of everything going on. Thanks again to all these fabulous volunteers and everyone who came out to shop! You made this day unforgettable and truly made a difference in the world!

Dave and Myra selling "Cooking for a Cause" Cookbooks and "Paws for a Cause" Journals, all home-made by Beth

"Paws for a Cause" Journals with cover model Daisy (Beth and Tony's dog)

Karen setting up sales for Yankee Candles and Baker's Square Pies

Annmarie(left) showing her jewelry table to Karen

Renea's concert drawing an audience

Dennis running Renea's sound board

Sandy and Shannon selling raffle tickets while Dave handles the popcorn and Bake Sale table

GFR's Melody Pahlow with Mary, Pam and Ruth

Shop For A Cause Mart up and running!

Wicked!

Went to see the musical Wicked this week! For those that are unfamiliar, it's the "true story" of the witches of Oz and the crazy things that happen before Dorothy's part of the story. Mostly based on the Gregory Maguire novel of the same name, the music and lyrics are done by Stephen Schwartz (of Broadway fame for Godspell and Pippin). By far the most notable number of the show was the song "Defying Gravity" which stunningly closed the first act. It's also the song that gets stuck in your head more than any other. One line in particular has been stuck with me for the past few days. The words are something like, "Too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap!" As one who frequents - and is practically a resident in - the Land of Second Guesses, I've taken the line as an interesting challenge. What would my life look like, were I to be more certain in trusting my instincts and moving forward, despite all doubts? I don't have an answer to that, but hopefully I'm on my way to finding one. Proactivity - defying gravity - here I come.

Bathroom on the Rock

As many of you know, this holiday season Tony and I took a super awesome trip to House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI. I've been wanting to post my pictures for some time now but due to computer and blogger issues I'm just now getting around to it. Here's a few of them (finally!). The only way to describe the place in a single word is to call it eclectic and since I couldn't very well publish a whole memory card full of images here I thought I'd showcase a few interesting shots. I recommend the website (linked above) if you want to see the famous carousel or the awesome infinity room. But since you'd expect anything but a typical travel log from yours truly, I thought I'd take you on a photographic tour of The House on the Rock bathrooms.


Yes. You read that right. It's a photographic tour of the attraction's bathrooms. See, with a place as vast as Alex Jordan's Wisconsin gem, there's things to see even on your way to - and inside - the restrooms. This stunning glass collection took up one whole wall of the first ladies room on the tour.

This was a picture of what I called the "Flower Headed Mannequin Gypsies". They were elegantly posed above the sinks in the ladies room by the restaurant. And yes, their heads are bouquets of silk flowers. No, I couldn't tell you why.

These are the bears that were frighteningly prevalent in the men's room by the restaurant. Or so I was told. Tony took this one.


This was the doll and dollhouse display that was in another women's washroom. And to save this being impossibly long I'll stop here. If you've never been to House on the Rock these pictures barely do it justice but hopefully in seeing the bathrooms only you get an idea of what a random and intriguing place it is.

The Twelve Blogs of Christmas (2)

This is the second of what will hopefully be a twelve part series between now and Christmas based on holiday song lyrics that are either favorite songs of mine, annoyingly overplayed songs that are stuck in my head or songs that are excessively applicable to life in the holiday season. See also The Twelve Blogs of Christmas: Part One.

Part Two: Sing we joyous all together... Heedless of the wind and weather...
This lyric falls under the category of slightly more obscure carol lyrics cause it's from the third verse of Deck The Halls (the "..." represents a "fa la la la la la la la la") but it's fits perfectly with what I was doing this weekend.

Tony and I have been helping out with collecting toys for a Christmas service project that our church is doing. One part of this involved spending Sunday afternoon unloading boxes from trucks into a storage unit. In between truckloads we sat in the car and listened to the holiday music station (when the Bears game went to commercial). On one such musical interlude we heard the most strange little song with no words but a happy little tune that I was unable to identify. This was really strange considering my vast knowledge of Christmas music as well as the limited library played on The Lite. Anyways, we both started laughing at the tune and it ended shortly before the truck pulled up.

As we unloaded and began to sort the next group of boxes, I found that the bouncy little song from the radio was stuck in my head. So I did what anyone with an annoying song in their head would do: I sang it outloud. Tony of course laughed at this and then admitted that he too had it stuck in his head. I wish I could link this blog to an mp3 of it but I don't know the name of the song or the artist, only that it's a perky little tune that sounds like something to be streamed into Santa's workshop which made singing it in the storage space even funnier. Tony and I decided that it was a very appropriate theme song for us sorting toys and effectively acting as Santa's Little Helpers!

When I was trying to come up with a lyric to fit with this story I was reminded of Deck the Halls and it seemed to fit that we were singing (or at least humming) joyously together and we were also pretty heedless of the wind and weather. It was one of those weekends where the highs were just around freezing and I'm paying for my times outside (Saturday was outdoors helping string up Christmas lights) with a day at home with a head cold. Nevertheless, I think it's a fun season to sing through cold weather - as long as you wear a hat, scarf, and warm gloves - and to share the joys of serving regardless of the chills in the air!

Boy, Oh Boy!

My family is nuts. Some of you read my ramblings and think, yeah she's a little crazy. And some of you have met my parents and siblings and have seen a pretty hilarious crowd. But when you take that to the next level and experience my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, etc) it's guaranteed to be smiles and fun times that will bring back memories of side splitting laughter years after it's possible to remember what we were laughing about. My aunt and uncle from Ohio came for a visit this week and as a sample of our randsanity here's a snippet from a conversation last night starring my three and a half year old niece:

The Scene: After dinner, hanging at my parent's place, playing the I Spy game with Christmas ornaments
The Onlookers (aka the laugh track): me, my mom (gramma to my niece), my sisters Anne & Laura
The Players: My Aunt Peggy, my pregnant sister-in-law Kelly and her daughter my hilarious three and a half year old niece, Ashley

The Conversation:

Aunt Peggy: So Ashley, you're gonna be a big sister...
Ashley: YEAH!! (squealed in a cute manner that only 3 year old girls can pull off)
AP: Are you excited?
A: YEAH!! (see previous note)
Kelly: What should the baby's name be?
A: ASHLEY!!!
AP: That's your name, silly! The baby can't have the same name as you!
A: (Giggles maniacally)
AP: What should we name the baby?
A: Aunt Peggy!!!
AP: Aunt Peggy? That's a great name!! What about if it's a boy, though?
A: Aunt Peggy Boy!!
(Laugh Track Giggling)
K: Aunt Peggy Boy??
A: (thoroughly encouraged) AUNT PEGGY BOY!!!!
AP: I'm not Aunt Peggy Boy!
A: YOU'RE Aunt Peggy Boy!!!
AP: No, you're Aunt Peggy Boy!
A: YOU'RE AUNT PEGGY BOY!!!
(Laugh Track Roaring)
AP: Then who's that? (points at Laura)
A: Laura Boy!
AP: And who's that? (points at me)
A: Lisa Boy!
AP: And that? (points at my mom)
A: Gramma Boy!!!
(Continuous cracking up from the Laugh Track)
AP: And is that Mommy Boy? (points at Kelly)
A: Nooooo! Daddy's the Mommy Boy!!

I can't quite say where the conversation went after that except that Laura literally fell off her chair laughing so hard and my brother was thoroughly bewildered when we proceeded to ask him if he was a "Mommy Boy". Hopefully that's funny to those that weren't there too and I want to dedicate this blog entry to those I have loved the most and the longest in my life, for a contraction and anonymity's sake I'll call them the Moorbaketownshereachejastarzerrero Clan, and although the word doesn't do justice to how amazing they are as individual's, they are my family!