Baby's First Photos!

Well, we went to our first pre-natal visit today! Cat was really nervous, but I was really excited. We met with a nurse for alomst an hour, answering questions and and getting lots of information (and presents too, we got a Your Baby Week by Week book). Then it was time for the ultrasound. That was so amazing. We got to see the baby in real time. It was moving and kicking and waiving and spinning, it really wouldn't stay still! Here is a link to the pictures we got to bring home (and that we get to share with you), pics here

We've named the baby!!!

Ok, we haven’t, but I have. It’s name is Poppyseed. I found this article on the web that equates the size of your baby to food. I love food. I like to eat it, talk about it, and equate things to it.

Baby Blog # 1

The test was positive!!!!!

We waited 7 years before we started trying to get pregnant.  Then we tried for a year with no luck and a lot of heartbreak every month.  We decided to seek out medical help and found that Cat wasn’t ovulating, so they put her on a few drugs.  After only 2 months………..

The doctor was ready to start month three of treatment and Cat thought “Wait, what if I’m pregnant?”  The answer was that her progesterone levels were low when they were tested so she probably wasn’t.  But we used one of those ovulation test kits (pee on a stick and all) and she thought she hadn’t ovulated until after she had the progesterone test (hence the low levels).  So on her birthday, Cat went and got a blood test.

She decided she couldn’t wait so she bought a home pregnancy test.  It came out positive but the line was really light (like seriously, is that a shadow light) she didn’t even tell me about it.  The next morning she took another one and the line was a little darker.  She put it in the package and laid it on the bed.  The following conversation ensued:

Me: “What’s that?”
Cat: “A pregnancy test”
“What does it say?”
“Here, look.”
“Um, that’s a plus.  That’s positive, I think.  It’s kinda light.”
“You see it too?!”

At this point we started to get excited.  It was about 7:45am and the doctor’s office opened at 8.  So now it was a waiting game until we could call them.  At 7:58 the phone rang.  It was the doctor’s office!!!!!!!  There was lots of crying, laughing, jumping and overall goodness!!!!

So now we wait.  Cat will make a doctor’s appointment soon.  Then, God willing, 8 long months from now…….a whole new chapter starts.

Textbook!

Ok, so since my birthday at the end of May I have been working on getting my blood pressure under control.  My entire adult life, every time I went to the doctor my BP was high, but both I and the doctor’s had always written it off as “white coat syndrome”.  I went for a physical in May and mentioned that it was always high, plus it was like 175/115 that day which is insane.  So we tried a month of diet and exercise…nada.  Then he put me on hydrochlorothiazide.  I went back in a month and this seemed to help a bit, my BP was down to about 155/98. It was now the end of July and it wasn’t down enough so we tried a higher dose.  After two months my BP didn’t really change.  So I went back to the Dr. this week (October 3^rd) and he added another drug, lisinopril.  So now, after just two days on that I took my BP and guess what 121/80.  So for the first time in like, forever, my blood pressure is normal.  Not just normal, but textbook normal!  I don’t like textbooks, but this I’ll take!!!!!

The Calm Before the Storm

So I spent the better part of Friday afternoon sitting at the center trying to get my new laptop how I like it.  This is a rather frustrating process.  Which files did I forget to back up (like my bookmarks), how the heck to I get my email backup installed (figured that one out finally).  This was quiet time however.  Now the storm hits. 

The students are slowly coming back to town.  The streets are packed with people who don’t know where they’re going (and all the construction doesn’t help).  A few of the CCMer’s stopped by today and I’m sure there will be more tomorrow.  Then it gets busy…hiking, staff retreat, 4 Masses, a picnic and the Fall Fest organizational fair all between Friday and Monday!!!  This time of year is always hectic. 

Even though it’s crazy, it’s very rewarding.  Cat always tells me “you love this” even when I’m grumpy and complaining.  Let me let you in on a little secret…she’s right.  I take time off work so I can be here to greet people and catch up on everyone’s lives since they left 4 months ago.  But that does take its toll.  I’ll let you in on another secret…I’m not 20 anymore! 

Well, another busy school year starts.  If you catch me complaining, just remind me that deep down I really do love it!

God's Country

Let me give you a bit of the journaling I did out at the island today, thought you might like to know what goes on in my head...

There is abundant beauty in Marquette. Presque Isle is a haven amidst the turmoil.
I have come to "our spot" to relax, clear my head and enjoy what God has given me. I need no reminding of why I love it here, of why I live here, of why I never want to leave. I do however need to spend more time basking in the Glory that God has provided here...
The lake is a beautiful place. I take it for granted, forgetting for a time its power, its strength, its gentleness, its serenity. From this secluded spot...the trappings of the city could be hundreds of miles away. I hear the rhythmic call of the waves caressing the rock, churned from the earth many millenia past. This rock, once solid and strong, slowly etched by Superior's icy fingers, bears the burdens of eras past. What has this great stone seen? Who will sit here in a thousand years? Who will God bless with this majestic realm?

Yeah its sappy but those were just some of my free-flowing thoughts this evening. The picture is my favorite of about 40 that I took tonight. It has the rock, the water, the sky, all the elements that make this such a beautiful place to live.

Wicked Dead

Well, half of my vacation has come and gone. It has been an awesome week though. I got to spend time with my folks, which is always nice.

I also got to see the most amazing show. We got tickets to Wicked back in May and we were so excited to go see it in Lansing. The show was almost indescribable. The acting was superb, the singing was masterful and the costumes and sets were awe inspiring. This is a picture of the girl who played Elphaba. She rocked!

On Saturday we went to the Detroit Science Center to see an exhibit called Our Body: the universe within. It was all about the human body and it used actual bodies that had been preserved by replacing the water and fat with a plastic compound. There were whole bodies and parts that were all displayed to show the various organs and muscle structures. It was really cool.

So now I still have a week left of my vacation, culminating with the reading of the 7th and final Harry Potter book. (gotta be honest, I know he won't but I really think Harry needs to die!)

When Worlds Collide

   Have you ever had the experience of your worlds colliding?  Like on Seinfeld, when Elaine and Susan (George’s fiancé) start hanging out.  “Relationship George” and Friendship George” were never supposed to meet.  George’s life starts to fall apart.  I suppose that since I bear a resemblance to George Castanza (short, stocky, balding, yada yada yada) my life was bound to imitate his eventually.

   I just got back from a parish council meeting at St. Mike’s that I didn’t want to go to.  It all started today at 4:45pm.  I’m gearing up for the end of the day (and the end of Monday can never come fast enough) when my phone rings.  It’s the president of the credit union.  He says “We want to do a breakfast at area churches to promote the credit union.  Debbie’s working on things at St. Louis, why don’t you talk to Fr. Jed and see about setting this up at St. Michael’s”.  He gave me a few more details and click, hangs up the phone.  So I come home and I mention this to Cat, who says with enthusiasm, “You should come to the parish council meeting tonight, lets check with Jed”.  So she calls him, but no answer.  A bit later he calls back (damn caller id) and I run the idea past him.  He sounds interested but thinks talking to the parish council is a good idea too.  No here’s the problem…I know these people.  Some of them are my friends, others are just acquaintances, but I know them all from church.  So now I have to walk in and be all “Hi, my name is Rob Hardenbergh and I am here representing the U.P. Catholic Credit Union.”  Part of me wants to be relaxed and even a bit silly, part of me wants to be serious and business like.  WORLDS COLLIDE.  I knew from the get go this wasn’t going to be a fast ball hit into a home run.  It was more like a slider that I had to reach for and missed, throwing the bat from my hands toward the pitcher.  (ok, I shouldn’t to sports metaphors)  The initial reaction was positive, but then the one person had to react “I’m trying to be positive about this”, which really means Hell no, what are you thinking.  Then there were questions about how thought out this was (like I’m gonna tell them it came out of thin are three hours ago) and if it had been run past the diocese (which it wasn’t, won’t be, and doesn’t need to be).  I’m just the freakin’ messenger here people.  I come bearing an offer of free food and $250, so the credit union can have two people and some brochures out. 

  Now as a parishioner, I understand the concern.  Where do we draw the line?  Do we let any organization host a coffee social?  Do we only let the ones willing to fork over some dough?  But ultimately, it doesn’t hurt the parish.  It’s free food, and free money.  There would be no speech at announcement time.  There would be no sales pitch.  There would just be free food and some people there to answer questions, if there were any.  It’s pretty no-brainer to me.  Take the money and stuff your belly!

  I didn’t want to stick around for the debate.  I already stayed longer than I wanted too.  So I’ll find out their decision when Cat gets home from the meeting.  All I know is that “Church Rob” and “Work Rob” cannot take much more of this.  Something is bound to blow up in my face and I’m not looking forward to that.

Stormy Weather

When I was a kid I was TERRIFIED of thunderstorms.  I’m not kidding, ask my mom if you don’t believe me.  I would totally panic.  I remember one day in the second grade very clearly.  We were in class and the sky started turning all dark and I started to get really scared.  There was another kid in my class, Danny, and he was just as much of a chicken as I was.  So Ms. Baron let us sit behind this halfwall/bookcase that separated the coat racks from the main classroom.  We got to play checkers and other board games while the rest of the class learned (hmmmm, I hope I didn’t miss anything too important).  I remember another time when I was sent to the principal’s office during a storm.  This really wasn’t a good idea, because they had a weather radio and all I remember hearing was “take cover immediately”, of course the storm wasn’t near us but I didn’t know that!

Why do I write this now?  Because as I type I am sitting on the front porch and a pretty good storm is blowing (literally) through.  I’m not sure when I happened, but I stopped being scared of storms and now I think they are kinda cool.  My stomach still gets a little knotted, but I don’t panic anymore.  I don’t have to run and hide in the basement or curl up in a ball.  This storm probably won’t be that bad.  There is something about the geology and climatology of Marquette that saves us from the “big ones”.  The lake plays a big part in that as to the surrounding “mountains” and hilly terrain.  There really big storms tend to break up just as they get to us. (gotta go in, the rain is getting to hard for the laptop)

Even though I’m not afraid of storms anymore, I still get jumpy sometimes!  You see, where I’m from downstate we have “tornado sirens”.  These are big sirens that go off when there is a severe weather warning.  Apparently the Marquette hasn’t heard of this concept (or they don’t need it because of the funky weather thing I talked about earlier).  They do however have those big sirens.  I remember my freshman year at NMU.  I had only been here a few weeks and I heard the tornado siren go off.  It was a gorgeous day so I thought they were just testing them (they do that downstate).  A few days later I heard it again, but it was rainy that day.  I thought, wow it doesn’t seem like stormy weather but they just tested them, so I guess something’s headed this way!  When I mentioned it to someone in my hall, they just laughed at me.  I didn’t get it.  Up here, they use that siren to alert the volunteer firefighters that there is a fire call.  That way the ones that aren’t on duty can be ready just in case a second call comes in.  CRAZY.  So long story short…that siren goes off a lot, and I usually just ignore it (if I even acknowledge it), but every once in a while it’ll put a knot in my stomach and I’ll have to remind myself that there’s no storm, just a fire somewhere (not sure which one is worse really).

So that’s enough of my Storm Stories, though I have a few more (ask me about the neighbor’s dog/weather detector sometime).

 

p.s. Just checked the radar, the big red blob it about 2 miles from my house, but it shrank and I think it’s going north of us, so I’ll get a good soaking rain (that the lawn really needs) but no thunderstorm, oh well, it could have been fun!

Neenah, the good and the not so much

What a wonderful weekend. Cat and I left early Saturday morning and headed to Neenah, WI. Cat’s brother Joe lives there with his wife Diane, and their kids, Cassidy (9), Keaton (7) and Christopher (2). Christopher, aka Chip, is our godson. That might make me bias, but he is the most adorable kid. He calls all of the company that comes over grandma, or more like “gamma”. We did get him to say “ancat” (aunt Cat) and “unrah” (uncle Rob) a few times but mostly it was “gamma”. Despite the gamma’s he is a really smart two-year old. He can sing the ABC song and count to 10. He speaks in complete sentences (although you can’t always understand all of the words). He saw me kick a wood post that a tree grew around and then he started kicking trees, I told him he had to be nice to the trees and he should give it a hug. So he started kicking a tree, saying “ouch” and then giving the tree a hug. He did this to a bunch of trees and even a stone rabbit statue. It was so cute. So all in all, we had a really great time with them. We kicked the soccer ball around, watched them ride their bikes, went to the park, and even took a dip in the hot tub.

It wasn’t all fun and games though. We did have to go to church on Sunday morning. This would normally be a perfectly acceptable event but the kids just whined and cried about having to go. Cat asked Cassidy why she didn’t want to go and she said she “hated church”. Her reasoning was that she had no idea what they were talking about at church and she couldn’t follow along in the book. I gotta say, I haven’t used a misselette in years because it’s just easier not to, but I know a lot of people who follow the whole Mass. Cat told Cass that she’d help her and show her how to follow along. This seemed easy enough, but it wasn’t. The priest sorta made up his own prayers. He did his own version of the Eucharistic prayer and changed a lot of other things. It was nuts. That wasn’t the best part though. The whole mass was odd. They have a guitar group that plays for Mass. They had 8, yep eight, guitars and like 10 more singers and this girl that played the flute, violin and trumpet (non of them very well either). The music was bad and the songs that were on the board weren’t marked as to which was which and they weren’t even in the order we sang them. There as absolutely no time for reflection or prayer. We went rapid fire from opening song to opening prayer, straight into the first reading the psalm (which wasn’t even a psalm) the second reading and the gospel. This took all of 12 minutes. No kidding, I timed it. The homily was the longest part. It was about 18 minutes long and went nowhere. Being Pentecost, there was a multitude of great homilies that he could have given, but no. He managed to ramble on about 8 or 10 different topics that had nothing to do with Pentecost, like the fact that there aren’t many Jews in the Church anymore (um, no, they are Jewish not Catholic). He also said something about all parents have told their children that they are “a disappointment and should grow up” at one time or another. I’m sure parents have said that, but not all parents, and certainly not good parents. The wonders continued after the homily. The collection was still being taken when the hosts and wine were brought up and then the Eucharistic rite started (and the collection was still being taken) During the Eucharistic prayer, the two altar servers and the lector stood up at the altar with the priest and the deacon through the whole thing. Just before the Lamb of God, like 12 people went up to the altar to join the posse. They appeared to be the Eucharistic Ministers (perhaps it was the matching Jesus fish necklaces they were wearing that gave it away). After communion, they whole group went over to the tabernacle and formed a half circle around it. The deacon proceeded to put the Eucharist away while the others “guarded” him. CRAZY. There was a quick prayer at the end and an obnoxious rendition of God Bless America.
So the moral of this story…Love the niece and nephews, not so big on their church. Thank God for godsons and great parishes like mine.

Climbing...Climb On

What seems like eons ago, Dan, Ben, Kaitlyn and I decided to go to the climbing wall (in all actuality it was in the middle of the fall semester).  One week after that, Dan and I went climbing one time.  I haven’t been since. 
            Dan invited me to go to the PEIF with him, Angela, Ben and Chris to work out on Wednesday.  When I got there, Dan, Ben and Chris were at the wall.  Now Dan and I got belay certified (that means we’re allowed to be the “anchor” for the climber, keeping them from falling) that second time we went climbing.  Ben and Chris aren’t certified, but Dan was going to belay for them so they could climb (meaning he couldn’t because he had no one to belay for him, awe…nice guy).  So when I showed up, everyone got to climb.  I even decided to try too.  I’m not very good, but I had fun.
            Angela and Ben were going to get belay certified today, and Cat was going to the craft show at the dome with Mary, so I decided to go climbing again (rather than sit on my butt at home by myself).  It was great.  I found a route on the wall that I like a lot.  I couldn’t make it to the top but I tried.  I got about ¾ of the way up (which is really good for me, to date I have yet to reach the top of any climb).  So anyway, we had a really good time climbing.  I need to work on my upper arm strength a lot and on my hand strength too.  It actually takes a lot of strength in you fingers to hang on to the holds on the wall (especially considering that some of them are barely the size of a small skipping stone).
            The part of climbing I like the most is coming down.  That seems kinda odd for me, because I don’t like roller coasters, I don’t like going downhill fast, I don’t even like to ride in elevators that you can feel moving.  But there is something about rappelling down the wall that I really like (except when Dan leaves me hanging just far enough of the ground that only the tips of my toes touch the ground).  The other thing that seems odd about that is that you really have to trust your belay, and I don’t often trust people (I want to be in control, I mean if they goof…SPLAT).  So climbing may be good for me, not just as exercise but also as a character building experience!

Cell-ibate

I hate cell phones!  They are so annoying!  I remember when cell phones were the size of a brick, now they are so small you can barely see them.  I also remember when people used them for business or emergencies only.  Now it seems that more and more people are using them as their only phone.  So now you can get a hold of them whenever you want.  And you can call people whenever you want, while you’re in the grocery store, while you’re walking down the street, while you’re at the movies or theater, WHILE YOU’RE AT CHURCH.  That is my biggest pet peeve.

It’s really sad that you have to announce to the world that they need to be courteous and turn OFF their cell phone.  We went to see a play a few weeks ago and before it started there was a recorded announcement (plus one printed in the program) telling people to turn off their phone, or at the very least put it on vibrate.  Despite this announcement, someone’s phone rang.  It has even gotten to the point where it needs to be announced in church.  What the heck!  The one place you don’t need a phone to communicate (it’s called PRAYER) and people gotta have the thing on.  One hour without the possibility of contact from the outside world shouldn’t be that hard.  Even during various CCM functions, people have to get up to answer their phones (you know who you are).  I mean come on, you are at a function that doesn’t require a phone.  You don’t have to be available all the time.  It drives me nuts, and that is just one reason I will never carry a cell phone. 

Yes we own one, but we don’t use it often.  It is one of those “for emergencies only” phones.  Of course some people don’t see it this way, even after they’ve been told we don’t use it.  My sister-in-law will often call the cell phone if she knows we aren’t home, BUT WE DON’T USE IT.  Fr. Jed seems to think that he can call it whenever he needs to as well.  On more than one occasion he has called our house and gotten a busy signal (because I don’t believe in call waiting either) and proceeded to call the cell phone to try to get a hold of Cat, BUT WE DON’T USE IT.  Apparently people think so highly of themselves that they must be in demand at all times, ready to assist anyone who might need to reach them for any mundane reason.

So what brings on this rant?  I was sitting at Mass this morning and a cell phone goes off, right in the middle of announcements.  Cat was up at the cantor stand giving announcements (because Jed’s out of town) and a parishioner was giving a brief talk.  Then a phone rings.  It smirked and thought evil thoughts about the stupid moron who left their phone on.  Then something struck me, that ring sounds familiar.  SHIT, that’s our phone.  What the heck is going on!  The phone is in Cat’s purse, so I try to calmly reach over and find it, but there is so much crap in there that I can’t.  Finally, after three rounds of Hava Negila I managed to find it and flip it open (no sense in pulling it out to turn it off, I’m just going to blind answer it) whoever is calling can listen to the rest of the announcements with us.  What the heck was the phone doing on in the first place!?  Well Cat used it to call me on Friday evening and tossed it into her purse without turning it off.  The worst part, IT WAS A WRONG NUMBER!  Through no fault of my own I have officially joined the ranks of morons who have to answer their cell phone at an inappropriate time and in an inappropriate place.  I could have just died!  Of course Cat just might (just kidding).

So may this be a warning and a lesson to all of you, TURN THE DAMN PHONE OFF ONCE AND A WHILE.  If you miss a call it won’t be the end of the world.  Give your full attention to the task or event at hand and let people leave you a message.  It won’t kill you, honest (but I might if that thing rings when I’m around!)

Who's up for a game?

Ok, so here’s the deal, Kaitlyn and I play racquetball almost every Saturday morning.  I am addicted to it (plus it’s the most exercise I get all week).  It is a fast-paced, intense, exciting, exhilarating game.  There is nothing like smashing a tiny rubber ball around a small enclosed room.  I have several dilemmas.

1)       I have to work this Saturday, so my regularly scheduled game is off.  But I still want to play.  So I am throwing out an invitation to anybody who wants to play sometime between 1pm and 6pm on Saturday (not for that whole time of course, I’d have a heart attack).  I have an extra racquet and I will teach you if you don’t know how to play.  And yes Kaitlyn, I would be happy to have a game with you too.  Just let me know before this weekend if any of you happen to be up for it (we can even play with 3 or 4 players (but I only have one extra racquet so you might have to rent one, for all of $1)

2)       Kaitlyn is leaving for the summer, so I need a substitute partner for a few months.  If you are going to be in town for the summer (and will have a peif pass, cuz who wants to pay $6 to play rb for an hour) and you would be interested in a regular Saturday morning game, let me know.  PLEASE.  I can’t go 4 months with no RB.

Ok, so those aren’t big dilemmas, but they could turn into my own personal tragedy and you don’t want to be responsible for my spiral into overindulgent self hatred, spawned by my inability to motivate my self to work out, leading to the gaining of 10 or more pounds and the subsequent health crisis that would put me in (nothing like a long winded guilt trip!).  Don’t think I don’t know who you RB capable people are that are staying in town.  I can lay down the guilt pretty thick if I have to, and nobody wants to see that!

Anyway, its late and I’ve ranted enough.  Goodnight.

CODE 3

Ok so this morning I got up and played racquetball with Katy (that’s Kaitlyn, don’t ask).  We had an awesome game! (we played two but the first was just a “warm up” so we won’t count that one).  There was one rally that went on forever and we both had to work for that point (I don’t remember who won that one).  I was behind, or we were tied almost the whole game.  Then at the very end I tied it up 14-14.  I took a few serves before I finally got a great cross court shot to win the game!  Not that it matter who wins and who doesn’t.

So that could have been my exercise for the day, but it was sooooooo nice out that I decide to go for a bike ride.  I went out to, and around, Presque Isle.  I found a way to hook my GPS to my bike (which will be easier next week after I get the handle bar mount I ordered) to see how far I went, and other interesting statistics.  Of course you know I’m going to give you all of those stats now, because I am just a geek like that.  I rode 6.1 miles.  It took me 46 minutes (6 of which were resting at scenic spots on the island).  My average traveling speed was 9 mph and my total average speed was 7 mph.  My max speed was 18.2 mph (believe it or not, this was not going down the big hill at the island).  Ok, enough boring stats. 

So now that I put in a good deal of exercise today (especially for me) I am pooped.  Cat came home (she was at work most of the morning) and suggested we go for a bike ride.  I said I was tired and maybe later.  At which point she began to patronize me saying “typical Saturday, you’re always tired!”  Never mind that I worked my ass off!  But the best part is now she wants to take a nap because she’s tired!  I’m not gonna take a nap, so I guess I win!  Not that it matters who wins and who loses. 

So my current condition is CODE 3.  I can rest and relax and look forward to a beautiful afternoon.

Ok, so I need to take a queue from Ryan and set my own conditions.  Unlike Ryan, mine are not about homework, but they are about motivating myself.  I need to get my butt in gear (literally) and lose some weight.  I always find an excuse not to, but now the weather is getting nicer and it is getting harder and harder to find an excuse.  So, I am evoking my own C.O.D.E (Condition Of Doing Exercise).

CODE 1:  I have to get my fat ass out of the chair and off the computer.  IM’ing, watching tv or crocheting do not constitute exercise in any way shape or form, they only add to the size of my butt!

CODE 2:  Exercise is planned.  I am feeling up to the challenge of a good workout, though I may need a little motivation.

CODE 3:  I have completed the necessary exercise and I am feeling good about myself!

So here’s to keeping the C.O.D.E. and losing that winter weight (that hasn’t come off in 5 years)!

Current CODE 2 (playing RB tomorrow morning!)

God Bless Them All

This has been a terrible 7 days.  Today’s shooting at Virginia Tech hits close to home.  I work with college students, heck I am a college student.  So the fact that something like this can happen anywhere really hits gets me in the gut.  We are a small school but it could still happen here.  I pray that we never have to experience first had what those in Virginia have. 

Even closer to home was the sudden death of one of my coworkers last week.  Vicki has been at the credit union for a few years.  I didn’t work directly with her, but with less than 40 employees we all have some kind of relationship with each other.  Vicki had spunk.  She had a quick retort to almost any situation.  You didn’t have to spend a lot of time with her to know that she was a great person.  While on vacation in Florida last week she died suddenly.  I’m not sure exactly how she died, but we were told that she began to cough blood and died shortly after.  The worst part is that her two small children were there when she died.  I can’t imagine what her family is going through (it’s hard enough just getting by at work).

Ok, now that I’m on the verge of tears I’m signing off.

It's just a bunch of knots!

Ok, so I’ve taken a little guff from some people for my new hobby (ok it’s not brand new, but I’ve only been doing it for about a year). Several folks have implied that it’s a girl’s hobby; other people have laughed or snickered at me. Through that I have gotten positive feedback too. What is this hobby you ask? Crochet. Yep, crochet.

One day in early spring last year some friends (Anne Marie and her husband Chris) went with Cat and I to Michael’s craft store. Chris makes letterbox scrapbooks of old family photos and mementos and he need some adhesive. Cat, being the Scrapbook Queen, told him she’d help him pick out some good stuff. Well, Anne Marie is not really into crafts and I couldn’t care less about tape and glue and other sticky stuff, so we decided to wander the store while our spouses bonded. I came across this “Teach Yourself Crochet” set that came with several hooks, some stitch markers, a instruction/pattern book and other various stuff for $10 (the hooks were worth at least that by themselves). I thought I’d buy it just for the heck of it. I had seen several of the students knitting and crocheting and it didn’t seem too hard. So, I taught myself. And I liked it!

I have made several shawls (which my mother can attest to the greatness of!) and a blanket. I got bored with squares and rectangles though, so I started making hats. Those we fun, but they only come out in the winter (though that does last more than half the year up here). So recently I decided to move on to a new variation on crochet – thread crochet. Instead of using yarn, you use thread. Ok, not like sewing thread, it’s too small (though you can use that for some projects). It’s more like little string. The hooks are mini too (1.5mm, yep millimeters).

You can make all sorts of cool stuff. And Cat totally approves. Why, you ask? Because the main thing you make with string crochet are doilies. Anybody who really knows my wife knows she loves doilies. She goes to garage sales in the summer just to look for them. Her sister and her went and found a whole box at a sale once and you would have thought she had found a million dollars. So now, she can get me to make her doilies (the “Easter Bunny” even brought me a pattern book chuck full of them). She already picked out the first one she wants me to make!

Anyway, the real reason I started this blog was because I finished my first “real” doily the other day. I had made one before. Technically it is a coaster and it was more of a “do I like doing this” test. But then I made the bigger one, and it turned out great. I’m actually quite proud of my accomplishments, so I thought I’d post pictures of them. So without any further ado…

The Coaster








And this is my first doily

Ribs are Back!

Ok, so I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about a restaurant with great ribs.  The last time I was there they ran out.  We went out there again yesterday and I FINALLY GOT MY RIBS!!!  They were awesome, so tender that they practically fell off the bone (but not so much so that they couldn’t be picked up!).  Did I mention that they were awesome?!  So anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I had AWESOME ribs yesterday!  That’s all.

Peep Show

After Mass tonight Cat and I went out to Vango’s with Fr. Jed.  We had pizza and had a nice time.  As we were walking back to the car I turned my head to talk say something to Cat and over her shoulder I could see into the house next door.  Right in the window, with the lights on and the shades open, was a girl with no pants on!  She had her shirt on, but no pants, just her underwear.  I started laughing and Cat looked and told Jed to keep on walking.  It wasn’t right but I couldn’t help myself and I had to see if she realized that people could see in and the girl had taken her shirt of.  Now she was just in her bra and underwear.  The girl lives next to a bar.  What kind of person changes with the shades open and the lights on next to a bar where everybody can see!

Anyway, I probably shouldn’t have shared this story, but I thought it was pretty funny.  It’s not everyday you go out to dinner with a priest and see a strip show at the same time!!

Rec Show

So Fr. Jed, Ann Marie, Cat and I went to the Rec Show last night. Cat and I go to that show at the Dome every year. We always have a blast. We walk around and go through all the campers. We would love to buy one, but we can’t afford one plus we have no where to store one either. But it is always fun to pretend.

This was the first year we have gone with other people. It was fun to share that experience with our friends too. I don’t think AM would have ever gone had we not guilted her into it (she was going to go the movies by herself. We are soooo much more fun than that).

We went past the booth for the shop that I bought Cat’s bike at (her Christmas present). They had her bike out and the guy’s version next to it. I thought (out loud) “Boy I could use a new bike. Mine is still the crappy Wal-Mart special.” But that bike was $400 and that was more than we wanted to spend. But it did look nice, and Cat’s is a great bike. Jed thought we should buy it, mostly because he said he wanted to be able to say that he had been to the show with someone who actually walked out with something (other than a free pencil and an a bag of cinnamon roasted pecans, yum). We are just not spontaneous buyers.

This morning Cat said she couldn’t sleep because she kept thinking about getting me a bike. She said she wouldn’t be able to ride her nice new bike while I had to ride the screeching piece of crap. She was going out but I told her she better not go to the show to get the bike, because we had to think about it, plus how would she get it home! She doesn’t listen very welll!

She called me and told me she was coming to pick me up so we could go get my new bike. Turns out the one they had at the rec show was the upgraded model from Cat’s. She told them I bought hers cheaper and the guy mentioned that. Turns out it was the guy who sold me her bike and he remembered me. They didn’t have the regular model there, so he called the store and had one ready for us. She paid him there at the show (so we could get the “we pay your sales tax” sale price) then came to get me. We went down to the shop and they were just tuning it up when we walked in the door! So I got to ride my new bike home, how awesome was that! Needless to say we went for a ride this afternoon, it was gorgeous and we had a good time. We’ll have to go out tomorrow before it rains!

(ps, I hate this stupid blogger editor, it always screws up the fonts and stuff!)

Exam-a-ram-a-ding-dong

104%

Yep that’s what I said.  ONE HUNDRED FOUR PERCENT.  There were 45 questions on the test.  I got 1 question wrong (which was the question that only 1 person in class got right).  He gave the whole class a bonus point for that.  Plus the class did really well as a whole and the lowest score was 30 and he bumped it up to 32 so that person would get 70%, so everybody got two more bonus points.  So I got 45-1+3=47 (I know I’m a geek).  Not bad if I do say so myself.  I don’t know if I got the highest grade, but I couldn’t have done worse then the second best grade. 

That’s it, I’m out

 

Update

So the exam was pretty easy.  The hardest part was the fact that the prof didn’t shut up the entire time I was taking the test.  He kept talking about “the funniest thing that ever happened in an exam” and “be sure to tell me about any typos” and “be sure to double check your answer sheet”.  It was nuts.  Plus he said there would be 30 questions and there were 45, but I was still done in 35 minutes.  I’m sure I got an A.

Midterm - Are you kidding me?

So today is my midterm.  Am I worried?  No.  Why?  Because I’m pretty sure that I could teach this class better than my prof!  The man has a bachelor’s degree, three masters degrees and a doctorate BUT HE CAN’T TEACH.  I know you have all heard me complain about this, but I just wanted to bitch some more.  I am sitting at the Campus Ministry Center and I was supposed to be studying.  I took the exam review sheet I got before break and started looking over it.  There are 59 items on the study sheet (but the test is only 30 questions, all multiple choice).  Of those 59 items there are at least 20 that he never covered in class!  Good thing I read the book!  Ok so after going over the list there were only 5 or 6 things I wasn’t sure of.  So I looked them up.  Wow that was really hard studying!  Now I have an hour and a half to kill before going to class.  I guess I’ll study a little more (If I don’t I could get really unlucky and bomb the test, or not).  I’ll keep you posted on how I thought the test went and of course let you know how I really did next week.

Snow Snow Go Away

Ok, so I have been boycotting a new blog because nobody else was updating theirs, but now mine is one of the oldest so I guess I need to write a new one.

I have to tell you, all this snow is going to kill me (see Cat’s blog1 and blog2).  I had to shovel for 5 days in a row (sometimes twice a day).  I swear that we got more snow over the weekend than we have gotten all year.  Luckily I didn’t have to shovel on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I really needed the break.  It sucks having to get up early to shovel, and then having to do it again when you get home later in the day.  I know, I shouldn’t live here if I don’t like the snow.  But it isn’t the snow I don’t like, it’s the shoveling that goes with it. 

I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if I had a snow blower, but I don’t.  I can’t really justify one because the driveway isn’t that big and I don’t have anywhere to store it anyway.  But after this last week, it isn’t sounding too bad.  Maybe I’ll save up and get one on sale at the end of the season.  Who knows, we’ll see.  Shoveling is good exercise (I have lost 1.5 pounds in the last two weeks, which may be from the shoveling or from less junk food, or both).

Well, enough for now.

What do you mean you're out of ribs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so this weekend we went out to the cottage (Fr. Jed’s away on vacation and we “watch” his place for him).  We have been out there the last three weekends, but this time was different.  We were there with our friends Anne Marie and Chris.  We had a really nice time, and rather than cook a meal we decided we’d go out to dinner.  There is this really great restaurant in Gwinn called the UP North Lodge.  They have the BEST ribs there.  I had been looking forward to going there all week.  We decided to have a late dinner, so we got there about 7:30.  They don’t take reservations for less than 6 people, so we knew we might have to wait.  They told us it would be an hour!  Well, its worth it for those ribs!  Turned out we only had to wait a half hour for our table, so that was great.  The hostess seated us and gave us our menus (even though I didn’t need one).  Then the waitress came to the table next to us to take their order and I heard the worst words  “I’m sorry to tell you, we are our of our ribs tonight”  My heart sank and I had to hold back the tears.  Then she came to our table and I looked at her waiting for her to tell us she was joking.  No luck, the ribs were gone (as is turns out, this was only the second time ever that they had run out of ribs).  She told us about the great special they were having, stuffed chicken parmesan with ravioli, but it wasn’t much of a consolation (I did end up ordering that and it was really good, but it sure wasn’t ribs).  The worst part was that I had to watch plates of ribs leave the kitchen going to the people who had ordered the last of them.  I couldn’t help but wish those people would spill sauce all over themselves, or better yet drop dead before their order arrived so I could have them (ok, I didn’t go that far, but I was thinking bad thoughts). 

Anyway, I didn’t get my ribs, but it wasn’t the end of the world.  I did have a good meal and shared a great time with friends, which in the end is what’s really important.  But next time there better be ribs, or else!

OMG

Grey’s Rocks

 

I don’t want to spoil anything for those who may not have watched but OMG.  I gotta tell ya, I expected one of them, but not the other!  I think the show may be getting kinda predictable, but it’s still awesome!!  I don’t think I should be this excited about this, but I am.  Ok, that’s enough, just found out that the office is on again tonight and that is equally AWESOME!

How much Advil really is too much

I know that Bridget and Cat have both talked about how they mistreat their bodies and need to act their age and all, and I don’t want to be a copycat, but I gotta tell you, I really wacked out my neck on Saturday!  Kaitlyn and I played 1.5 hours of hard core racquet ball.  It was really fun, but if you haven’t played in over a month, you really should start small, stick to 45 minutes or something.  Now I have a kink in my neck and I can only turn my head three quarters of the way to the left.  And although I can turn it all the way to the right I can fell how tight it is and it kinda hurts.  So now its Wednesday and I finally said that’s it.  We managed to run out of Advil (who knows how ‘cuz Cat’s always got them stashed somewhere), so I bought some and downed 4 of them.  What you say, 4 Advil, you’re going to kill yourself!  Don’t lecture me!  I know that you are only supposed to take one at a time, but I never, I repeat NEVER take less than 3.  So my stomach will get eaten away and I may destroy my liver, but it’s the only way to make me feel better!  On a related note, when I do take the Advil (and I rarely do) I take 3 or 4 when I get up and don’t take anymore until the evening (and I try really hard not to exceed the 24 hour dose limit).  It’s not like I take 4 every 4 hours 4 times a week (that’s a lot of 4’s)  I take like 3 or 4 once a day maybe two or three times a month. 

Ok, that was off the beaten path, perhaps we should find the trail again.  

So my neck is sore from the intense RB session, which by the way was TOTALLY AWESOME.  Kaitlyn has gotten really quite good, and I have managed to gain no experience and stay at the same playing level.  So even though I usually win (but not by much) it won’t be long until I’ll have to graduate her and find another poor soul to unleash my inner-Bridget on.  Ok so that won’t happen, because RB is one of those games that is best played repetitively with the same person.  The learn your weaknesses and make you fix them.  Plus if you have to be trapped in a small white room, it best be with someone you know and are comfortable with.  Who wants to be on that court with some smelly guy you just met that you can’t put at least one or two well placed shots past.

Ok, so on a completely different topic, but the one that actually got me to write this blog……Emily, I have done it, our deal is complete and I have posted a blog of a significant length to qualify as a descent new post (though it’s not nearly as interesting as being able to write about spilling your own blood and getting paid for it)

Emily Says.....

Emily and I made a deal.  She would update her blog if I would update mine.  So, mine’s updated!

T-Minus 5 Days

It has been a good break.  I got to have a lot of down-time and recoup from last semester.  But I’m glad it’s almost over.  I know that I complain about being too busy and not having any free time to spend with just my family, but I’m ready.  I’m ready to go back to class (not really).  I’m ready for PEIF Saturday’s.  I’m ready for Wednesday nights and Sunday spent with the CCMers.

It should be no shock to anyone that I don’t have a life outside of work and my St. Mike’s/CCM commitments.  It gets very hectic so it is really great to have some time off.  But a whole month is a long time.  Because CCM dominates my life, when NMU isn’t in session I don’t have a lot to do.  I spend a lot of time sitting on my ass watching TV.  And although I enjoy doing both, there comes a point in time that I really need to do something else!