Making A Comback?

You know the drill. Don't believe it 'till you see it. It's hard to convey how your heart isn't into something that it used to be. So I won't. There! Problem solved.

My biggest fan won't even be able to read this comeback for at least a few more days. Mom is still in the hospital recovering from her double knee replacement last week. I can't even put up good pictures of Mom on the blog sometimes, so you certainly aren't getting any of her now. I stumped Noah with this picture. It's the machine which dispenses pain meds at the push of a button. In other words, it's another one of those machines lying around a hospital that makes me feel like I could kill someone if I breathe wrong. Noah, you'll be excited to hear that Mom finally got to see one of those combination thermometers you told the guys about. Thanks.

As of right now Mom is doing great with her therapy. She can walk with a walker, but it takes some effort to get there. The dog will be much relieved to see her around again in a few days I hope. Thanks for working with her on the Ortho floor and checking in Becky!

Before going under the knife, Mom got one of the most helpful birthday gift ideas she's ever had for me. It's not easy these days. When you're kids live and die for a cartoon, like He-man, it's pretty simple to find out far in advance what the top toys on their list will be. But when you're kid is turning 29 and just likes to hang with people and blog about it, what can you do? I don't NEED any more movies and I still don't read as much as I should. One of us realized that my yard needs some work and something's got to get my rear in gear.

Ignore screen door that won't stay shut, the huge weeds in the walkway and the loose bricks because this used to look ALOT worse. And in a year or two, you'll see something like THIS (right) or a version of it. Thank you Mom and Dad for the Hydrangea, for getting me outside and helping me clean up the area. Now who wants to help me get rid of some huge piles of sticks?

One Of Those Days

Ever had one of those days where one thing lead to another in the area of chores? I get one once a month. My old roomie Rodney had them alot. He was what we call "productive". It was nice to see a few things get done around the house while the roomie abandoned me all day. After all the yard work and exercise, Noah hosted a simple spades night.

Noah and Sarah maintained their losing streak thanks to Noah's failed Nill hand on the first trick (embarrasing), and my suicide attempt at Nill which actually succeeded. We don't understand how yet.

Lazy I am

It's taking me three days to share two measly pictures. Honestly.

Along with softball (new pictures) there was a celebration of several birthdays. Emily, Bets, Rachel and Amanda all have birthdays close together in June. Cake and Dancing, hold the dancing for me please. In July, I think half our class is turning over in years.



Josh and I have some new hardware around now. It took more doing that it was supposed to, which I should just expect by now. The new dishwasher had a non-standard fitting on it for the hot water. I couldn't find a simple size converter, so I had to buy a kit. Yes, I realized I should have just called the Gerb. I failed. Once that was installed, I found a new leak in the gas line for the stove, which required another new part. The kitchen is now back in action and ready for a whole new level of cleanliness laziness.

Welp...other than the fact that Discipleship is awesome and God is faithful, that's all I got.

Kiddos

Christopher, one of the most recent roomies to leave the bachelor pad for a married life, was generous enough to come over and help get my rear in gear early in the morning. There are several projects around the house which need doing, and by coming over during his vacation, it got me going on one of the smaller ones, and helped with some of the decisions that needed to be made. I am not a decision maker. Very sad. Anyway, thanks Chris! We removed the door between two 2nd floor rooms, studded it and put up drywall. It will need plaster eventually.

Check it out. Is there a stud in here....besides me? LAUGH!!!


Well, today was the long awaited day dedicated to hanging out with the cousins. Actually, 1st cousins once removed. Thank you Jerelyn! :-) My cousin Melinda and her husband Don have three cute and very fun 9-year old triplets, Grant, Erin and Kira. The kiddos are staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of weeks, and I snagged 'em for a day. Sadly, Erin could not join us because she broke her hand this weekend and went back home with her parents to St. Louis :-(

Ice skating was the only thing on the agenda originally. Their aunt took them last year and they had alot of fun. I like to think of things on my own, but never can when I'm trying. It's kinda like stressing over big decisions in life. If you just let go and be patient, you'll be surprised at how many things fall in place. I'm learning alot about that this year. With things falling together last minute, we ended up with a VERY busy day!

Cookies!

They were sent to me with a cookie recipe and ingredients. Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. It was a very easy recipe. During the 10-minute baking breaks, we checked out my blog (they're famous now!) and watched their favorite scene from the movie "Cars". Back in the kitchen, I see that their modest portions worked out nicely, whereas my monster size dobbles turned into one huge cookie. I never learn.




Puppies!!

Remember how Jon and Joy needed some dog watching help this weekend? A last minute request last night turned into fun today. We went down the street to play with the dogs and let them out. The extra hands actually helped out alot since the tiny ones have to go separately.

I just stuck this in here to show you what a safe driver I am. And that I still have SarahK's tradition exchange gift in my car. Sorey!


McD's

The triplets FAVORITE place to eat is McDonald's, and it was their Mom's idea to send us there for lunch. However, it occurred to me as Chris and I were working this morning, Jerelyn could probably have lunch with us! She runs alot of promotional stuff and training for the area's golden arches and is GREAT with kids. Thanks for meeting and enjoying my awesome cousins Jere!


The kids introduced me to a special drink called a "suicide". From Jerelyn and my roomie's reactions, I'm apparently the only person in the world who DIDN'T know what this was. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I'll keep their exact measurements a secret until Jerelyn can tell us how they make the Big Mac secret sauce.

Ice Skating!

The main event - ice skating at Owen Center. We got there a little late, but that worked out because none of us had the footsie endurance for more than about 30 minutes total on the ice.


Another sweet thing falling together was running into some church friends, Craig, Debbie Jo and their family. Such an encouraging and entertaining (I want my book back Craig) couple. They found us while the ice was getting cleaned (an extra long cleaning for some reason) which gave us a ton of time to catch up and for Debbie Jo to get to know the kids. We have to work on how Grant explains his new internet popularity in public...




This is Grant falling....maybe.


Hammer Time

Before leaving the house, I showed them our punching wall. Chris and I didn't have time to take it down this morning so it was fresh on my mind. One whack at the wall with a hammer, and they were hooked. After coming back from ice skating, I think we got 1/3 of the wall demolished. Who woulda thought that the highlight of the day would be whacking holes in a wall with a hammer. Grandpa is going to be on edge until they go back Friday, making sure that they don't turn his walls into swiss cheese.






Special Delivery





Last but not least, the kiddos helped me deliver Jed and Julie's Christmas present to their doorstep.





I am legally obligated to tell you that Grant is cool in order to fulfill my payment for a piece of gum.

My cousins impress me so much. They are SOOO smart and observant. While I was tying their skates and thought we were having a conversation, they were figuring out if the lady at the snack machine was getting ripped of from the amount of change she got. You can especially tell that Kira is thinking hard in the back of her head about everything you say. Their conversations are really interesting to hear too. Since they share so much time and so many experiences together (ie school), they communicate really quickly. Many sentences are only half said because they know what the other half is. And they remember everything you say, so be careful!

You guys were so much fun. Thank you for coming over. I missed you Erin!! I wish I could sign your pink cast.


Capped off he night with small group time a few hours later. It was great meeting with the discipleship guys again after a three week winter weather hiatus.

Week 2 - The Rest

Wednesday
Like most Cat folks, my buddy Ron decided to take some vacation to finish out the year with a long break. His Wife, Roxanne, stays at home and has found alot of joy and rewards speaking at the South Side Mission Benevolence center during their morning and mid-day services on frequent occasion. Ron is comfortable speaking in front of these crowds in the evening, and somehow Roxanne duped him into taking some of her spots during the daytime opportunities.
They brought their daughter, Amber, along for the ride. Her sister, Jasmine, was on my team for EE this semester and kept me on my toes during training. I say "duped" lovingly because then I was duped into taking Roxanne's speaking slot for this afternoon, which was very interesting. I went into it without any prep because I only intended to give a brief devotional, and then a short Gospel presentation to the few people who would should up. Well the place was packed with more people than I had ever talked to at the mission. It was great though. By presenting to the folks at the missions a little bit about my own struggles, I feel better connected and received by them. The guy sitting right in front of me talked to me for a while about getting laid off as well. He was one of the Track Type guys who got laid off three weeks ago. I had already heard about them being the first, most surprised and least notified to go.

Roxanne ran some errands with the kid and let Ron and I play in the snow for a while. I was assigned to shovel an elderly woman's driveway after every snow through our church's "snowman" ministry. It's been a joy to get to know this lady. She can talk as long as you can listen, and breathes between words faster than....someone else I know. Virginia's grandson came out to help us, and the job went faster than ever before. This kid has been living with her for about six months, and has proven to be a handfull. Being verbally abusive, deceptive and spending the night in jail occasionally are just a few examples of his attitude. It's clear in many cases that he wants attention. Virginia has more stamina and endurance for his attitude than some guys my age. Our youth pastor, Joey, has tried to spend alot of time personally devoted to him, but it hasn't helped alot, by the kid's own addition. I promised to call him before he finally leaves for Texas next month. Ron then helped with my driveway. When Roxy returned to pick up her hubby, they demanded a tour of the house. Ron and I talked about some practical aspects but Roxanne's ideas blew me away. I'm trying my best to consider one of them seriously. Meet my new designer!

After the third shoveling session (because after two it gets addicting), the rest of the day was slacking and going to church for dinner and AWANA.

At some point this week, I discovered a away to stay warmed up between weight lifting sets at home - climbing the equivalent of this inside my house.


Thursday
JonnyB beckoned from down the street to have me over for brunch and some computer support. It's a wonder I offer to fix people's network related problems when I have such a hard time with it myself. This was the third time I worked on his wireless print server. It was the furthest we've gotten so far in getting it to work, but only to find out that it's intended purpose might not be what WE wanted it for. Honestly, who makes a wireless print server that requires the printer to be hardwired to the router? Who? When Jon wasn't looking, I quit working and played with the animals.

Later, I got a call from one of the employers to whom I had applied for a job. He told me that I was sent a short online quiz. It was a 75 minute, 45 question test. Pretty fun, but if I see one more word logic problem, "these five words have something in common, what word comes next?", I will scream. Actually, I did scream, but no one heard me. My results were impressive (according to this guy) but I have doubts about that. He claimed I was in the 96th percentile. First of all, I never figured out what the five words had in common, and they asked five times with different sets of words! Also, they asked those math story questions like "two trains leave the station at..." which would normally stump me and alot of other people. But when it's multiple choice, you just plug in each value until it works.

Thursday was also an opportunity to invite an unemployed buddy over to catch up and see where he's been and how he's doing.

Friday

Josh and I received rude awakenings in the morning. Ex-roomie Jed barged in to inform us that you can hear a tree (or large branch) falling in our hood every 10 minutes, and (rightly so) he thinks we should de-ice and move our cars immediately. One of the biggest trees I have ever seen hovers over my house and driveway. It drops large dead branches in every heavy rain storm, so it's a no brainier
that a serious ice storm is dangerous. A branch (pictured) which is normally far above anyone's head was almost touching the sidewalk. Josh got kicked to the curb while I took the remaining garage space. :-)

The benefit of this was that Jed fixed me breakfast. Thanks Jed. Ironically (do I use that word alot?), I have seen fewer branches (tiny ones too) fall off of this tree over the last week than in any heavy wind rain we've gotten. We've been blessed. Ya, I realize the ice isn't gone yet.

This test guy got back to me to inform me of another programming test I will take (should be a little challenging) and explained more about their program. I won't bore you with the details, but it is a big decision if they offer. It involves getting traind for 13 weeks (I've seen the syllabus and it's good) and either spending money at the end of six months on the training and having faith that they will find a job nearby, or just moving to the east coast to work for them for a year at reduced pay to pay for the training.

Earlier I got a MUCH more exciting potential job update. I'm trying to forget about it because the position doesn't even exist yet, and it's only talk. I will be having lunch with the IT guy I would work under later this week or next week. Coincidentally (ha!), I went to high school with him.

The rest of the day was pretty frantic preparations for the Bible study Christmas party at John and Sarah's. Josh helped me out alot on his snow day. The family tradition of Meringue cookies didn't go so well, so I went with mint meltaway chocolates instead.

Friday night, Saturday, Sunday and today had their own excitement, so they'll get their own posts.

Spotlight On Josh

After spending so much time cooking and trading insults with Josh last night, I think it's about time for a spotlight post. Andrew originally came up with the idea of writing a post to spotlight a friend. Stoltzfus was first on my list, but I guess he's boring or something because I never got around to it.

Josh (JoshF is clarification is ever required) moved in the same day my last roommate ditched me for some chick. The last time I lived with a good friend from highschool, Matt, things weren't as easy as I thought they would be. Matt is still a good friend. You can tell by how harshly we insult each other over the phone. But some of our differences were quite difficult to ignore at times. So with Josh, I knew it was possible that we could clash, but so far I've been pretty wrong.

As you can see, Josh is a very cheery fellow. He's often able to stay positive even on a crazy busy and stressful day. A jovial chap with a witty remark on hand at all times. We knew each other from Highschool track, choir and MST3K nights with a couple of people from my class. Today's MST3K can be found now at RiffTrax (not sure every clip is appropriate).

He was going to make biscuits and gravy for something earlier this week. At the last minute, plans changed, but our hearts were still set on home made gravy. Soooo, guess what we had for dinner Friday night? Josh is a little obsessed (in my opinion) with making things from scratch, and doing so with the perfect combination of seasonings, often found by trial and error. But he's always willing to make the time necessary to do it right. Recently, alot of his recipes for large group activities have come out "accidentally" spicy, but I think that's just a cover for the way he likes it. Jerk!



First comes the biscuit batter. Points to whoever notices Jed's handiwork in the picture above. The instructions were all in ounces, so Josh had a heck of a time converting to cups and teaspoons. Eventually, we found that a miscalculation was made, and everything except that one ingredient had to be increased by 3/4. This is how I measured 3/4 of the original amount of Crisco. I'm a genius. We could have just increased that one ingredient by a fraction, and doubled everything else, but nooooo, don't listen to Kevin. It's nice having a roomie that doesn't read the blog :-) Don't worry ladies, we are a couple of eligible bachelors who know how to resolve conflict. Not peacefully, but resolved none the less :-)

Despite our meticulous measuring, the final biscuit batter did not turn out correctly We lost 50% of it sticking to the wax paper and Josh's hands. Very sad, but at the end of the two hour ordeal, we did have some excellent biscuits and gravy. Thanks Josh!

Graffiti

We had another Saturday morning Christmas choir practice this weekend. I can't complain yet because I have missed so many, but there are plenty more to come. Saturday morning practices, besides being longer, are harder to get into since it's probably the first thing most of us did, and earlier than most Saturdays. Philip (left) sings better with his eyes closed, but BenB was pretty chipper.

After choir, we tried to get together some folks for a quick stop at the hospital to visit Evan. Pete(r) is pretty sure this was his first time in a Peoria hospital. Pretty big day...he was excited. Evan was definitely more worn out today after getting very little sleep due to the drugs he's on keeping him wired. I could tell he's been making use of some of the stuff he got last night though. I wonder how many nurses have been shocked by the hand buzzer.

Kari's in there somewhere.
Next stop, deface some church property. During the construction of Bethany Baptist Church's new building, a ministry group has been formed to minister to the construction workers and involve the church body in the construction process. This weekend's opportunity was to write graffiti all over the recently placed steal frame.

The frame you see is only a portion of the building. It will be constructed in phases, and I have no idea how much of phase 1 is standing right now.




Pete had the mother of all sharpies and was pretty well prepared with some verses to write.








Kari still had to look hers up. I've got nothing to brag about. I wrote one without a reference (forgot it) another had to be copied out of an EE tracts...(don't tell Pastor Chris) and the last (not pictured) wasn't really one that made sense to put up. Those are "d"s, not "e"s!!



"Higher higher. Higher higher higher higher higher higher....lift Jesus higher!"

Some errands and a quick stop at Ben and Ashley's place to see the Amish style barn raising getting finished up today. I totally helped lift a piece of siding at one point...yup yup yup. Actually spent more time talking to Ashley about coffee cake than working on the garage. Oh well.

Josh and I bagged the leaves later in the afternoon, as promised. It goes quite fast with two people and a good system on Josh's part. There are actually 20 bags in this picture, and there's still more that blew over into Jed's yard. Where's Ben?




With the right tools, the front brake work finally got finished. Check one thing off the list of at least four that still need to be done on my car.