Moving Day

A shout out to Ralphie's dad... "It must be Italian!"

Random Thought Thursday

1. So the good news... we have carpet!! At lunch time, the family took a field trip to the house and the carpet that was being installed yesterday was complete today. All flooring in the house is finished. The trim guy was there cutting and installing the quarter-round. He also put some door knobs and door stops on about half the doors.

You guys, I have door knobs!

2. The not so good news... We don't have a driveway. Or gutters. Or the rest of our lights. Or mirrors. Or a second coat of paint in the toilet room. (They must have missed that room because the rest of the house has a second coat. Oh, and I really hate the phrase toilet room. I must come up with something else to call it.) Or a kitchen sink. (We need all that and the kitchen sink. Ha, I couldn't resist!) OR WATER! Water is very important and apparently the usual "water guy" isn't returning phone calls so now our builder as to find a new "water guy". Oh and our propane tank still hasn't arrived. Nor been buried. So that gas fireplace is just a decoration at this point.

3. The really, bad news... We won't be in the house by June 30. Our builder hasn't confirmed this but it's a pretty strong hunch on our part. I'm not a contractor but I really don't see how all that can happen plus get the house cleaned and appliances delivered and inspected by the county - all in a week. So yeah, just a hunch there.

4. So our lease is up June 30 and we have no place to go. Actually we have lots of places to ho (Tahiti, Vegas, Ireland, anyone?) but we have to figure out what to do with all the stuff in our apartment. I've looked into renting a truck for a week. Or one of those portable storage pods. Because really, who wants to move all their stuff and turn around a week later and move it all again? But it's inevitable so I called around a scored a sweet deal on a second storage unit. (Our first one is packed to the gills, so no, we can't store our stuff there.) It only cost me $46 (note to self, never rent in the college town you live in, instead rent the next county over) so I had to take advantage.

5. I think one small teeny, tiny part of me hopes that being proactive and renting something means the house will miraculously be finished before actually needing the rental. You know, like carrying an umbrella when it doesn't end up raining. Or NOT carrying an umbrella and getting caught in a downpour.

A girl can hope.

6. I'm a bit sad that my house building has taken up five, oh wait, make that six RTT's. It is such a reflection of my life right now.

7. On a happy note, I finally read The Hunger Games. Sure, I had to pry it out of Nick's hands and sit on him so he wouldn't steal it back, but darn it, it's my book! I'm kidding, he was finished with the first one. He moved on to Catching Fire and of course, I finished The Hunger Games before he was finished with Catching Fire. Luckily, he has to sleep sometime so I snuck it away from him and finished that pretty quickly too, just a day or two after him. He's still early in Mockingjay - and I'm really, really trying to hold off from stealing that one too - but then I went home for lunch and he was on the computer INSTEAD OF READING THAT DARN BOOK so all bets are off now.

8. Speaking of birds,(Mockingjay's are birds in case you didn't know) have I mentioned the crazy cardinal that lives out at the house? Every time we're there (okay, not EVERY time, but often), we see this cardinal who starts banging his head on our windows. Not just the same window every time but different windows throughout the house. It always freaks me out; I feel pretty bad for the poor fellow. Our electrician asked about it too so it happens when we're not there too. I think we must of built our house on top of his nest. Or maybe we're on some sort of spooky bird graveyard or something.

9. A few days ago, we did a family photo shoot on campus. Seeger's teacher happens to be budding photographer and she offered her services as something people could bid on at the school's silent auction fundraiser. I bid $25 early on and didn't think much about it. Apparently no one else bid on it so we scored the photography package. She's posted some of the pictures and they're fabulous! I LOVE them so much and I'm super impressed with her talent. The pictures are great, stupendous, awesome, wonderful, impressive, and all that. I'll post some once we have the disc she is preparing for us.

10. The same night of the photo shoot happened to be the final dress rehearsal for the Madison Scouts. They had a competition they were leaving for the next day. After the photo shoot, I raced the family over the Memorial Stadium and everyone was just leaving. We missed it. Boo. BUT it looks like they're having another dress rehearsal tonight so I'm super pumped. (They're in between competitions.) Nicklas has a baseball game but hopefully I can do both.

Of course as I type this, I can see a big black cloud rolling through. IF outdoor things are cancelled tonight, I have one saving grace and that's a Mockingjay book that's calling my name.

That's the end of this week's RTT everyone. I'm not sure how much I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. I have one post almost ready but other than that, it will be sparse around here with all the moving and what not. Wish us luck.

Camp Tecumseh

We picked up Nicklas from Camp Tecumseh on Saturday. I was so anxious to hear about his week. The photos posted by Camp that featured Nick were sparse and didn't give a hint as to what clinics he chose. I tried to get some clinic choices commited by him before we dropped him off but he was tight lipped. He told me he would sign up for the two he didn't get to do last year - archery and drama. But he wouldn't decide on the other three he would list when asked by his counselors. He ended up picking basketball, water polo, and swimming. In the end, his clinics were basketball, archery, and water polo. No drama again, even when he put it as his number one choice. Water polo ended up being his favorite, especially because several cabin mates chose it too so they got to hang out together. (I think archery was his least favorite. He only hit the target once the entire week.)

We dropped him off at camp as soon as allowed because he wanted to be one of the first in the cabin. Last year, he was one of the last and was stuck with a bed right next to the bathroom. He said it smelled disgusting! Parents aren't supposed to drop off the campers until 2pm on Sunday, but when we got there right at 2, there were already a few dozen cars parked. Oh well! We went through the check-in process and 45 minutes later, we were at his cabin. Four other boys were already there and Nicklas found a top bunk - away from the bathroom. Here he is on his bed. The bottom bunk was never used so I guess he ended up moving his stuff down.



Seeger wanted to check out the top bunk too...


Seeger is also going to Camp Tecumseh this year. He's not old enough for resident camp so he's going to spend the week with Uncle Matt, Aunt Melissa, and go to day camp each day with cousins Ben and Anna. When we were dropping off Nicklas, Seeger asked when he would be allowed to do sleep away camp. I told him that campers have to be 8 so he will be old enough next year. He's excited about this idea and really wants to do it. But he also really wants to spend a week with his cousins at day camp. Decisions, decision! Luckily he doesn't have to decide which option to do until next year.

Saying goodbye...


Here is Nick's cabin. Ten boys and two counselors - it's so small! It was pretty chaotic when we left. The boys were very excited to be at camp. As I walked out of the cabin, one of the counselors was telling two boys that they couldn't lock themselves in the bathroom and that they better come out.


The next several photos were posted on the Camp's website. I love that they post pictures throughout the week! Here is the Ottawa Week 1 cabin picture. Nicklas is standing, in the center of the group. He's got some crazy hair!


Here he is with a group of campers, in the Ga-Ga pit. He loves to play Ga-Ga!


Nicklas is in the background of this photo.


Another Ga-Ga shot, this one with his cabin mates.


Here he is at Morning Flagpole. You can see Nick's back, as he's facing the flag. He still has crazy hair.


Okay, now we're back to my pictures. This was taken on the day we went to pick him up. We arrived at the cabin just before campers returned from chapel. He was in Ottawa R-14. The R stands for River Village. It's the area for the younger campers. The older campers stay up the hill at Lake Village.


Here is Nick's "after" picture, taken as we're packing him up.


I love this next picture! Nicklas isn't the most outgoing kid. He can be a bit closed sometimes - even when other kids (and adults) say hi to him, he often doesn't look them in eye or talk loud enough for them to hear. It takes a few back and forth interactions to really engage him. (Then he doesn't STOP talking!) As we were leaving, I made him take a picture with his counselors and I asked if he wanted to say goodbye to his cabin friends. He shook his head no, which didn't surprise me. But as we headed to the car, one of the boys came up and said, "Nicklas! Goodbye! Give him a hug." Some other boys gathered around for hugs too and then I asked if I could take their picture. I'm sad that I won't get to know these boys.


And here we are, just after check out from camp. We bought Nicklas the DVD of the week and he watched it on our way home. I loved hearing him sing the camp songs that played in the background music and hearing him laugh at some of the skits that made it on to the video.


Camp is such a wonderful and very special experience for Nicklas. It's an opportunity for him to socialize with other kids, while showing some independance. A week of Camp is very expensive - more than what the Polack and I can pay. Fortunately, my mom provides this experience for Nicklas. She loves Camp Tecumseh as much as I do and she wants Nicklas to have these incredible experiences and wonderful memories. I'd like to give a big, special thank you to her for making this opportunity a reality for Nicklas.

Thanks, Mom. We love you!

Best and Worst

Nick's worst - driving so much today
Seeger's worst - driving away from Mimi's
Mike's worst - running out the door and finding out the game was
cancelled
Natalie's worst - too quick of a morning
Nick's best - first full day from camp
Seeger's best - dinner
Mike's best - spending Father's Day with family and seeing friends he
hasn't seen in awhile
Natalie's best - finally getting to read The Hunger Games

The Polack's birthday at Zydeco's

We celebrated the Polack's birthday a few weeks ago. We always let the birthday person pick a place to eat out for dinner. I never know what to pick but usually Polack has his decision made a few weeks before his birthday. This year, he wanted to try a cajun restaraunt called Zydeco's that's in Mooresville, just a southwest of Indainapolis. It was a 45 minute drive from Bloomington but well worth it. The food was delicious!

The boys wanted him to open his presents right away. Seeger made him this awesome picture. (I love that the picture matches the guys shirt at the table behind ours!)


Nicklas wanted to give him an episode of ESPN's 30 for 30. He couldn't decided which one the Polack would like the most, so he have him a coupon for his choice.


Seeger loved the gumbo. I had a Poboy and it was awesome! I love chrinkle cut fries - my favorite! Nicklas had fried shrimp. I forget what the Polack had, something with crawfish I think. Maybe \etoufee? I don't really know because he ate it all before I had a chance to ask for bite. I'm glad he liked it!


My happy boys! The owner of the place came over several times to check on us and our service was outstanding. The atmosphere is great. When they heard we had a birthday, they made sure to bring us dessert.


Here's their spice garden, right outside the front door. What a nice treat to give out spices to passerby's. Or is it passersby? Either way, be sure to grab some spices when we walk by.


If you're in Indianapolis, you must make a stop at Zydeco's. It's great!

Random Thought Thursday

1. Nicklas is at Camp Tecumseh so I've been checking their website every few hours for a glimpse of him in the photos they post. The first day I saw half of his face behind someone else. I could only see his ear and his face but I recognized the hat he was wearing. I've since seen some better shots, including one of him in the gaga pit. He loves playing gaga so I'm sure he was excited. I've been saving the photos so I'll post them all once the week is over.

2. The Polack and I and Seeger went to the house yesterday. They were finally installing the cabinets and sinks. We walked in and took one look at what was hung and we said, "Uh, those aren't our cabinets - they're too light!" We had purposely chosen the darkest shade available. So the guy calls someone and tells us that those ARE the darkest ones they have. Boy they sure do look different than the 4X5 inch sample we saw. We still love the wood flooring though!

3. Our electrician informed us that the foyer and dining room fixtures that he's putting up will take much longer to install than the half hour he's usually allotted. So he's going to have to charge us $75/hour to get them up. Joy.

4. I feel like we're going to be broke before we even get in the house and have to buy all the stuff we need to make it home. I think those peanut butter and jelly sandwich dinners will be continuing for a few more weeks.

5. Last weekend, we dropped Nicklas off to camp and spent the weekend painting a room in Polack's parents house. The painting wasn't that fun but his mom made several home cooked meals which were super yummy. It's nice to be fed every once in awhile.

6. So Seeger is 7 and you may or may not know that he still has to wear pull-ups at night. They are rarely dry when he wakes up in the morning so they're definitely needed. He's such a sound sleeper so we just let him have the pull up and we haven't really worried about it. His pediatrician in Lafayette told us it isn't a big deal and each year, we would ask if we need to do anything and she would always so, don't worry, let's talk about it next year. Well here it is, seven years later, and we're thinking it's time to do something about it. So this week, we've started waking him up every night at midnight and 3 am and taking him to the bathroom. It's going well, he'll get up and do his business, and go back to bed. And each time, the next morning, he's been dry. Hopefully this will help him and he'll get the hang of things because it's not fun having to wake up in the middle of the night to wake HIM up in the middle of the night.

7. They are doing construction right outside my window at work so each afternoon I get to hear the beep, beep, beep of the machines backing up.

8. Our apartment lease is up in two weeks and I really don't think we're going to be able to move in to the house. I told the Polack that we need to decide what to do with all our stuff for the one or two weeks between residences. I am so ready to start packing things.

9. The Polack, Nicklas, and I went to see the Black Keys in concert last week. We met up with a high school friend and her husband. Amy mentioned that she reads my blog. I didn't realize this but now that I know, I have to give a shout out to her. Hi Amy!

10. Memories of my friend Amy..... hanging out in the rv that her parents bought. We were in elementary school and I think we watched some movies, one being a John Cusack flick. In fifth grade, Amy, me, and our friend Heather, did a lip syncing routine to the Pointer Sisters for our music class. Amy was in color guard one year and I remember during a competition, her flags were laid wrong so she went to get one for a song and it was the wrong one. Instead of using it, she dropped it and didn't use any flag at all. I remember thinking that was smart of her because a wrong colored flag would be way more noticeable than no flag at all. I also remember going to on the French club trip to France with Amy. She was so in love. This was just before senior year in high school and Amy had started dating a guy she'd had a crush on for a long time. The guy was Nick and they've been married now for 15 years. Congrats to them both! They have three boys, one was born just before my wedding, the other two are the same ages as Nicklas and Seeger. It's too bad their three hours away from me and we hardly get to see each other. We definitely need to plan a visit soon.

P.S. After seeing the house last night, we stopped by to watch the Madison Scouts practice. Isn't it so cool of the Polack to hang out with me while I watched their color guard do the same 20 counts of music, over and over?

Random Thought Thursday

1. Thanks for all the comments about my update post last week. I'm glad to know people actually read this blog. Not that readership is that important to me... I mostly want to document things that happen so when the boys are older, they have a glimpse into their childhood.

2. The blog is especially important because the tech people at work DELETED ALL MY PHOTOS FROM THE PAST YEAR! This was a mistake, one that they've apologize profusely for but it doesn't change the fact that I'm out several hundred pictures. There is a long explanation about what happened and why they weren't backed up but I'll save you the boring details. The incident has made me appreciate my somewhat regular blogging.

3. When I was in kindergarten - waaa-aaaay back in 1980 - my mom and I drove to Florida with my aunt, her boyfriend, and my cousins. The kids all sat in the back of a red kidnapper van where we played cards and colored and had a really good time. This was before the day of cassette tape decks in cars so we listened to the radio. It seemed like the same 5 or so songs played during the trip and anytime I hear those songs in present times, I'm reminded of that trip. The songs you ask? Celebration by Kool and the Gang, Kiss on Your List by Daryl Hall and John Oats, and Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield are the ones I remember.

4. The #1 song of 1981 was Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes who my dad always called the original Blondie. We went to local IGA once and they were giving out Kim Carnes posters for some reason so I had that hanging in my bedroom until it was replaced by Michael Jackson's Thriller.

5. One last thing about 1981.... remember the glass Coca Cola and Pepsi bottles that people used to recycle? We'd take them to the grocery store and get credit for bringing them in that we would have deducted from our grocery bill. My mom used to stick those glass Diet Pepsi bottles in the freezer. Drinking out of an almost frozen pop bottle (that's right, I sad POP BOTTLE) was the best thing ever.

I miss glass bottles.

6. Today the Polack and I bought all the light fixtures we need for the house. Our checking account is down to $304. Ouch.

7. We stopped by the house yesterday and we have wood flooring. Yay! It looks great but now we're regretting now putting wood down in the dining room. The entry way and kitchen have it so the dining room will look a little strange, being carpeted and surrounded by wood floor.

8. There is a missing 20-year-old student in Bloomington right now and the community has been so awesome at rallying around to look for her. The story has made national news so I'm guessing most of you have heard about it. Anyway, there is a scary/gross apartment complex that our apartment backs up against. Yeah, it's even way worse than where we live. Anyway, one building is on a hill so there is this small storage room under the bottom floor apartment. We can see it from our bedroom and last night, I noticed light glowing from the inside of that room. I've never seen the room open and I've never seen a light shining out from it it so I told the Polack that I'm convinced that's where the missing girl is. It's freaking me out.

I've posted a tip so we'll see if the light is still on tonight.

9. Did I mentioned that Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps are doing their spring training right down the road from my house? Oh, I did... Well anyway, yesterday when we drove by the house to see the flooring (yay!) the flag corps was practicing right by the road. I tried to get the Polack to slow down so I could watch him but he wouldn't. How rude! After we left the house (with the wood flooring - yay!) I asked if I could drive because I wanted to see the practice. The Polack said yes, but only if I didn't slow down a stare like a creepy, old lady. What?! I'm not creepy or old.

I decided to let him drive.

10. I wish we were already living in my house. And I wish my mom or Christy was with me. Both would be my partner in crime for stalking the Madison Scouts.

Zydeco's

We're at a Cajun restaurant in Mooresville for the Polack's birthday.
This place is pretty cool. Hopefully the food will be awesome too.

Last Assignment

Nicklas completed his last assignment of fourth grade. I can't believe I have a fifth grader now! Luckily, in Bloomington the elementary schools go up to sixth grade.

Anyway.

His assignment was to write a letter to his teacher with a reading recommendation:


Dear Mrs. Darby,

It was a privilege to be your student this year. You were a very nice teacher. I enjoyed you very much.

One of my favorite subjects was social studies. Also, because I am interested in geography, when we did each region I also knew a lot about each location. The third thing I liked is the government unit because listening to what other people had to say and voting on the bills was fun (and my bill passed).

Summer books to read
Last Shot: by John Feinstein
Steve Thomas has won a writing contest and gets to go to New Orleans and write about the Final Four for The Washington Post along with his co-winner Susan Carol Anderson. However, when watching the Minnesota State team get off the bus they see star player, Chip Gabber get pulled over. After overhearing the conversation, they hear he is being blackmailed, and the young teens have 48 hours to find out if its true. Uncover the truth in this book mixed with sports and mystery.

Sincerely,
Nicklas

Random Updates & Thoughts

1. A lot has happened. Remember that thunderstorm I posted about last week? Two days later, we had seven, yes SEVEN, tornado warnings. It was much worse than the previous storm - three times as many trees were down around my building and several fell on cars and homes throughout the city. Two tornadoes were confirmed and there were several injuries. The family and I spent most of the evening at a friends house, doing laundry while she was on vacation.



It text message and email warnings got to be comical, especially since the weather outside her house was still very nice. It was pretty late so we decided to go home to the apartment. I was driving and everything was fine until we were about a half mile away. As I was driving past the mall, all the lights flickered everywhere and then went off. The wind picked up and we could feel the car start shaking in the wind. The rain was pounding side ways and I couldn't see where I was driving. We crept slowly along with other cars, my hands gripped tightly to the steering wheel. Nicklas was freaking out in the back seat and I was calmly telling him that everything was just fine. Ha! Good thing he believed me. We finally made it home, falling into the apartment with our soaked clothes. I was still shaking. We had no electricity so we decided to have a sleepover downstairs in the living room. I figured if a tornado came, I could quickly get the boys into the bathroom. I HATE NOT HAVING A BASEMENT! We ended up being about a mile away from where one of the tornados hit. Storms don't usually make me nervous, bring it on, I say, but I FREAKED out with this one. It was too close to home. Here are some photos of the damage at the building I work in on campus.

2. We had a great time at the lake last weekend although another thunderstorm hit while we were there. Nine of us had taken the pontoon across the late to visit with my aunt and uncle who made us dinner. As we were eating outside, the sky was getting darker and darker. We covered the pontoon just as the thunderstorm hit. Everyone hung out inside and it passed quickly and without any damage, or so we though. When we returned to the other side of the lake (the Indiana side, we had been visiting the Michigan side) we discovered we had no power. The power stayed out for 18 hours. Luckily we didn't see any other damage, although Battle Creek, a city about an hour away, was hit with a devastating straight line winds.

3. The lack of electricity didn't damper weekend through. The Polack and I went wine tasting one day, we had some yummy food (Uncle John's ribs were awesome!), and we had multiple rides on the sea doo (another shoutout to Uncle John who very graciously lets us use the sea doo as much as we want.) Earlier this year, I talked my dad in to letting me help him clean up his sail boat with the hope of getting it in the water. It's an Inland Cat that he bought in 1984. It's been parked on a trailer behind the back garage for about 15 years. Inland Cats aren't the best sailboats - they tip over easily - but they are popular on Lake George, home of the Inland Cat Class Sailing Association. On Saturday, my dad brought over his power washer and the Polack and I took turns over the weekend cleaning first the underside, then the inside. After it was power washed, I went in a scooped out all the excess water that was filled with broken down styrofoam (which was falling out of the top of the boat from years of chipmunks making their home in the boat) and pine needles. It was a nasty job but the result was nice clean boat. On our last day at the lake, my dad came over again and while the boat was still in the back yard, we put it together. First the mast, then the boom, then the sail. We were left trying to figure out the mainsheet/job sheet (rope and pully). We finally went to the neighbor, Stan, and asked him. He had an Inland Cat at one time so we hoped he could help us. It took several suggestions and tries and we finally figured it out. The sailboat was all put together!



While talking wtih Stan, I found out that there were only about 300 and some Inland Cats and most were made in the 1950's. Each boat is numbered in order of creation. Our boat is 208. Stan had one that was number 7. My dad bought the boat from a work colleague in 1984. The friend lived on Clear Lake which is about 10 miles award from Lake George.


Here is a picture of my dad. Look out how long his hair is!


It's still set up in the back yard and we're hoping to put it in the lake when we're there on Sunday. I feel like putting it together was the easy part. Now I actually have to learn to sail it. I've asked my dad several times about what to do if it tips over. He has experience - he's tipped it a few times!

4. After several delays in the house, I contacted our contractor to ask if he's still confident we'll be able to move in by June 30. He didn't sound as sure but went over the timeline with me:

June 1 – drywall
June 2 – prime the walls
June 3-6 – fit the trim for walls
June 7 paint
June 8-10 – do hard flooring like wood, tile, etc.
June 13 – plumbing, heating and air
June 14 – cleaning
June 14-15 drywall touch up
June 16-17 – second coat of paint
June 20-21 – carpet
June 22 – trim guy will do door knobs and other stuff
June 23 – hang mirrors and shelving
June 24 – clean windows

There are several things not in here, like finishing the deck and putting in the sinks and toilets. And this timeline works for us IF everything goes like it's supposed to. BUT everything always seems to get pushed back a day or two and that throws the whole schedule off so we are't holding our breaths about the move in date. We are SO ready to be out of that apartment. But you knew that, didn't you?

5. The boys have three days of school next week and then they're on summer vacation. They are both looking forward to it. I let the school know that we'd be submitting a transfer request since our new house will be out of their current school district. Nicklas will still go to his current school but Seeger is technically supposed to go another school within the corporation. We'd like them to both be at the same school, especially since it's such a great school. Anyway, I received a voice mail from the Principal who let me know that they will not be approving a transfer for Seeger, just because we want Seeger at the same school that Nicklas goes to. I called her back and kindly left a message that there are multiple reasons why we are requesting a transfer and I was still planning on filling out the form.

Thankyouverymuch.

I have let the PTO community know that if the transfer isn't approved, I will be taking my volunteering hours to the school Seeger will be forced to go to. I'm supposed to chair three committees next year and they'd hate to see me decline so we'll see what happens - I'm playing hardball and I don't think I'll win but I'll try everything I can think to do.

6. I really love that both boys are having a good time in Tae Kwon Do. It's great for them too. They get exercise, the class times work well for us, and they're in the same class so we don't have to do too much driving around for them. Of course, when they move to the advanced class, they'll be going from 6-6:45 every day which is the worst time ever. When are we supposed to eat dinner?

7. Baseball isn't going as well this year. Both have lost most of their games. Nicklas is having an okay time but Seeger doesn't really like playing. He's a good hitter but he has no clue what to do when he's playing defense. The other day, he told us that he doesn't like playing baseball because he doesn't like getting yelled at all the time. Awwwww....

8. My cousin is getting married tomorrow and the Polack and I are looking forward to the wedding. It will be nice to see my mom's side of the family. It's adult only so the boys are going to spend the night with my dad. They've never done that before. They're looking forward to it. My mom and I made a beautiful quilt for my cousin. She requested a lot of white with a little bit of purple. I thought it would be boring but it turned out really, really well. She LOVED it. You can see a picture of it on my quilting blog.

9. My friend Christy suggested I read the Hunger Games. I ordered the trilogy off of half.com and I'm super excited about it. Sure it's young adult but I've heard really good things about it. Plus they're making it in to a movie so I always like watching movies adapted from books.

10. Speaking of, Something Borrowed is finally out in the theaters only it's getting really bad reviews. This makes me very sad because I really liked the book.

My brother will be happy

I finally bought new tires for my car.

Life Lesson

I received this email over the weekend. It's from the librarian at the boys school.

Hi Natalie -

I just wanted to thank you again for your help at our recent Book Fair. It's nice that you came back to use for another round!

We truly could not do this without the help of our volunteers.

This weekend, I'm at school putting together a big book order with so many wonderful and useful titles... the kids will love them! And all of it is purchased with Book Fair proceeds.

Your help truly made a difference!
BTW, your boys are awesome.

In gratitude,
-Mary

In my profession, demonstrating thanks and gratitude is essential for success. Of course that's the case in most areas of life but especially fundraising. I've sent thousands of thank you notes and cards and receiving this email is a nice reminder of the impact stewardship can have.

Inland Cat

We're working on a sailboat.

Update... more information can be found at this post.

Thunderstorm

Bloomington experienced a pretty hefty thunderstorm yesterday evening. Nicklas had a baseball game scheduled for 5:30 and when I checked the radar at 4:30, there was a large red blob moving toward the city. I met the family at the ball park at 5:15 where everyone was standing around, waiting for the Parks Dept. to call off the games. That never happened so by 5:20 people were packing up their families and heading home. The recent tornados in Joplin have made people extra cautious. One father commented to me that he was leaving and heading for his basement. I thought that was a good idea until I realized we live in an apartment and we don't have a basement. It's been a long time since I've lived somewhere without a basement!

The parking lot was crazy; everyone was trying to leave at the same time. Cars creeped along and then the storm hit. Winds of 80 mph. The Polack had Seeger and they were one of the first to leave parking lot. They were driving when the wind hit. Nicklas and I were still waiting in line to leave. We watched a few trees that were once upright suddenly bend over by 45 degrees. A few deer ran through the parking lot, between cars, obviously panicked about the weather. The wind was shaking my car and I was worred about the convertable in front of me, with it's soft roof. The teenage parks and rec staff where trying to get the ball park and batting cages closed up. After several minutes, the cars began creeping forward again. When we finally got to the exit, I realized we weren't able to turn right because trees had fallen on the road. A utility pole across from the exit of the ball field was snappled in half, the electrical wire flying around the road. As we slowly made our way through town, trees were down in several places. Most homes didn't have electricity. We drove past the mall, several restaurants and places of business. No electricity. None of the stoplights were working, including the one to turn on to our street. As I drove to the apartment, I could see that everything on the left side of the street was dark. Everything on the right side - including our apartment - was lit up. More than 12,000 homes were without electricity last night night. We never lost ours though.

Thankfully the storm passed quickly and no injuries have been reported. Several cars were totaled and my friend had a tree fall onto her son's playset and through a window to her new home. Trees also fell on several homes and apartmets. Luckily, most students have left campus for the summer so many places were vacant. There are a few trees down around the building I work in. I took some pictures to share.







I haven't heard anything about our construction. Hopefully the house is okay and no trees fell around the property.

Random Thoughts

1. The summer before my senior year in high school, my mom let me host an exchange student for a few weeks. Her name was Elodie Dufour and she was from an area close to Lyon, France. We grew very close to each other those three weeks, going on double dates and singing Chickenman by the Indigo Girls at the top of our lungs and driving around Auburn in my beat up baby blue rusty Mustang. We bawled our eyes and clung to each, sobbing when it was time for her to go home. We lost contact with each other after about year. It’s too bad we didn’t have Facebook or Linked In back then.



2. Saturday evening, the family was debating what to do after dinner. It was between watching a movie, playing a board game, going on a walk, or doing a puzzle. We had a rock/paper/scissors tournament and ended up with walk. To make it interesting, we went out the house to walk on the land. Boy am I glad we did that because as we followed the small creek down through the woods, we came across a super awesome waterfall. It’s so cool! I definitely need to get some good pictures. As we came up to it, we could hear the water falling over the edge. We maneuvered over to the side of it and realized it dropped at least 30 feet. We weren’t able to see the bottom so we’ll have to go back and check it out sometime. The ravine to the bottom is very steep and heavily wooded so I don’t know if we’ll be able to go to the bottom.



3. All of this reminds me of when I was in high school and some guy friends of mine would play Army in my backyard that was wooded and had a creek through it. They would dress up in fatigues and stealthily move through the woods to see if they could find each other. I would sit on a stump and try to find one but never had much luck. They would later tell me they saw me.



4. I’m looking forward to going to the Lake this weekend but I know it’s going to be sad too. It will be our first visit since Grandma passed and unfortunately, many of my cousins won’t be there to distract me. I know we’ll have fun and it will be a nice time to just relax and chill. I just hope it isn’t too emotional.



5. Every other Monday, I volunteer to do paired reading with the kids in Seeger’s class. I went today it was especially cool because this week, Seeger’s class is leading the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Seeger was one of the kids who did it today so I got to watch him. He was very proud of himself.



6. I think it’s interesting that they do the Pledge every day in school. The Polack’s school does too. We did it every day in elementary school but by middle school, it was only once a week. I really don’t remember doing it in high school. I’m going to have to put a call out on Facebook to see if my memory is correct.



7. Someone in the office made popcorn a few hours ago. I can still smell it.



8. The Polack likes thin pillows to sleep on. I like thick pillows. This means we never fight over which pillows to use. The sheets on the other hand…



9. I really wanted Mucho Macho Man to win the Preakness. But not because of Macho Man Randy Savage but because that name for a horse is just so awesome.



10. This past Sunday was the Broad Ripple Art Fair. I’ve never gone but have wanted to for several years. I wasn’t planning to go this year but when I heard that Steve Cambronne was going to be there, I decided I was making the trip. I discovered Steve about two years ago and fell in love with his Atomic sculpting. He’s based out of Georgia and I’ve been wanting to order something from his website for a while. I even contacted him to get pricing, hoping we could purchase something for the new house. The opportunity to see him in person was too hard to pass up. So we packed a cooler for lunch and some movies for the kids and we drove to Indy for the fair. We definitely weren’t disappointed. We ended up buying two pieces, a welcome sign and a mirror. We shouldn’t have – money is REALLY tight right now – but he offered us a great deal. I told the Polack we’d be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of the month and he was okay with that so we made the purchase. We’re glad we did it before choosing paint colors because now we can match the colors in the pieces (which we both really, really like). Of course, we won’t be able to afford paint for a while but when we do, it will be awesome.

It's Madness I Tell Ya!

Seeger's Yellow Belt

Seeger has been in tae kwon do since January. He didn't really about belt advancement and the differences of each colored belt. In the beginning, he was just participating in class. But as he learned steps of the tae kwon do form, he quickly realized that he wanted to move up. He practiced and practiced his form and on Friday, he finally tested and earned his yellow belt.









After attending several of Seeger's classes, Nicklas decided he wanted to start tae kwon do too. His goal is to catch up to Seeger and to see how far he can go. He told me he knows 18 of the 20 movements of the yellow belt form. Once he's been in classes for two months, he'll be able to test too.

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - didn't do much for Friday Funday
Nick's worst - didn't get to stay at the book fair for very long
Mike's worst - only getting three half hours of sleep after watching
his team lose
Natalie's worst - hearing the kids fight over a stupid ball
Seeger's best - earning his yellow belt
Nick's best - it's Friday
Mike's best - wife brought his lunch, watching Seeger get his yellow
belt and seeing how proud he was and family fire pit tonight
Natalie's best - vacation day plus yellow belt = Jiffy Treet

A Sleeping Seeger

Seeger has always been a heavy sleeper. He never wakes up at night and
he struggles to wake up in the morning. It doesn't matter how early he
goes to bed, he still doesn't get up on his own until at least 8:00.
This is how I found him this morning. I woke him up at 7:30 and had to
dress him to get him to wake up.

Best & Worst

Mike's worst - having to stay for the bathroom meeting and finding out
that he'd have to spend part of his prep making sure kids don't write
on the bathroom walls
Nick's worst - even though it's not Monday, it's Tuesday which is the
second worst thing
Seeger's worst - having to do jobs
Natalie's worst - having to write ANOTHER check for the house
Mike's best - going on a walk with his wife and showing up at TKD just
in time to see both boys practice their form
Nick's best - getting a new book at the book fair
Seeger's best - got a little extra long recess today
Natalie's best - volunteering at the book fair and getting to see both
boys