Wiggle Butt

Little to report except that the red tape and details required in order to get a CDL for driving a school bus is a huge pain. In one week it will have required three trips to the DMV and two to a finger printing facility. Next week is the physical and still to come, driving test. Sheesh

I'm also proud to say that the three little dudes at my AWANA table, Jairus, Evan and Tanner, have proven to be the most productive bunch of troublemakers in AWANA. Who else could manage to finish 3 sections in one night and still manage to get negative points for behavior? All three of them.

YES! As a last minute backup, I snagged Maya for the week. She also goes by "Wiggle Butt" apparently. It's alot easier to take care of this hyper dog after taking care of two super hyper/needy ones.


And my roommate continues to amaze me as he polishes off five glasses of Dr. Pepper. The lady started bringing them out in twos eventually. Yes, he had to drive like a madman to avoid having an "accident" on the way home.

Theeeee Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round

Do my tax dollars really have to go to a DMV which constantly under-staffs the one desk that everyone (except renewals) has to go to in order to be told where else to go by a slow typer in front of a computer which accesses the information even slower? And do you really feel safe knowing that I'll be behind the wheel of a school bus (without kids) after passing a test which it turns out I only studied half the material for? If it makes you feel any better, I did study alot but they tested stuff I wasn't told to study.

Shivering Beatles

A little late and under pictured was a sweet time to catch up with old friends last Sunday. Greg and Steph have been back in town for a while and had some oldies over for some grillin'. Peter, LaNae, Greg, Steph, Jon, Joy, Wes and I were around more than a few years ago and had to say goodbye when Greg's work took him out of town. Federal law (or Greg's law) forbid me from taking pictures of him, but Jon's fair game. Thanks for a great time guys!

Fast forward through another quick week to hangin' last night at the rib fest on the river front topped off with a Beatles tribute band, American English. Up close they look old enough to be the real Beatles and definitely sounded like them. Oh ya by the way...it was really cold.

The riverfront was enough for me to put on a sweatshirt but the CEF banquet tonight (thanks Lisa) warranted a coat for the first time this fall. After realizing that I'm listening to Christmas choir music in my car all the time now, it occurred to me that there's no reason to not listen to other Christmas music. Which then got me wondering why I like winter so much, until it gets really old in February. Is it the fact that I can put all the junk I carry around in a coat as if it was a man-purse? The feeling you get when you just jogged three miles below freezing? Decorations and white scenery? No yard work? The fact that women who have no idea what size they wear (which is basically all of them) are forced to put a coat on?

....yes.

Give Me An Inch

Did you know that if you find a 5-inch long french fry in your Culvers combo basket, you get a free scoop of frozen custard? Well these girls do.

She Gone!

Now that we finally have internet again, I stayed out too late to post anything significant. Also, turns out the search function in blogger doesn't go back very far. So without reference to the previous attempt at selling my Corsica, the nearly dead car that got me through the last six years or so, I can tell you that it is finally gone! No for real this time.

I know, boring to you, but one less thing to register and insure for me. I left it in the street unlocked for a week but no one would steal it, so it actually went legitimately. Maybe I should have left the keys in the ignition too (cough JED cough)

Shady Sale

Can't really update you appropriately while the home Internet is still down. But it's nap time at the church hog roast right now...


And they have great cell reception out here soooo here's a teaser.

Dogsitting in Washington for the night made it real easy to check out Storm and Katie's garage sale early in the morning. You gotta stay on your toes though. While Jan is doing a great job trying to offload the bathroom tub for $20, Storm is trying to sell your dog.



Th kid was a bargain though. Yes they had already been to Starbucks.


Time for some hog!


As Ben lays his hands in the speaker to heal it.

Go Bears

Got to speak to the men at the Rescue mission tonight. Dave is a great encouragement to follow after in worship. And the mission is a great environment to teach in as long as you are personal and transparent. I even got to use our football time at Ryan's last night as an illustration!

It was a another rootin' tootin' night, but with the guys only this time. Thanks for hosting a great time watching Sunday night football Ryan. The illustration that I got to use was that our football time was alot like any other typical American Sunday night football bash, without the cussing and beer. It occurred to me that we didn't have the usual personal and thoughtful conversations I'm used to with these guys. It's a rare occasion that I'm glad to say is rare and doesn't concern me in the least. But it does remind me of the holding pattern we could get in if we didn't believe that God had a plan for us in the future, and NOW to serve Him, glorify Him and enjoy Him everywhere.

Now, as much as I am positive that life is about more than only noticing and remembering little hilarious details with a few friends or some funny football slapstick, this move definitely made the night.

Bean-Powered Everything

Beans. They power our cars and our hoedowns.

Wes let me tag along for his afternoon car shopping...and it was great. I've been Honda shopping before, but when we moved on to a Toyota Venza (one I've never heard of before) as well as a Jetta diesel with a gear head salesperson in the back seat, it was worth it. Oh ya, and the conversations with Wes were good too.

Last night was the lowdown hoedown hosted by the old folks married couples in the Living Stones Sunday School class.


They can really cut a rug, but I think you'll agree from the videos below that the career folks would have taken them easily in a hoedown showdown! :-) Before the exercise, we needed some fuel, which several folks prepared in a chili cook-off! I ended up voting for the sissy sweet stuff (because I am one...aw) but I enjoyed every one of them. Nan's first try at chili was awesome!

There aren't a whole lot of pictures of people on my camera. I feel bad these days taking too many surprise pics...but not of Mike. Hi Mike!


And Joanne is just asking for it.


Plus the video kinda makes up for it.




Our mature hosts didn't let up on the comments when the single young bucks ran to the coolness and rest outside during our seven minute breaks. Hey, maybe we weren't resting, perhaps it was just venting....


What's not surprising is that he's not embarrassed at all by this. What IS surprising is that she's not.

Less Talking, More Caulking!!!

We had a great time with the Sunday School class service project this week. A great bunch of help showed up to clean prep and caulk the new church's parking lot. It's a huge job taking several months of Saturday morning crews. But Career Impact made it look easy.

Here's most of the crew.

Then another 21%

And the remaining whiny 7% along with Mr. Pinky

First you blow out the cracks with compressed air.

Then you fill the cracks with a foam backer.

Then you call your chiropractor to set up an appointment before bending over for two hours with a caulking gun.

Don't forget to caulk the cracks on your face. It's easy to miss, but not for Alyssa! :-)

You're Fat!

You need to be told about the cool people I work with in the middle school office some time. That can be saved until I snag a picture of them. One of the things theses crazy people do is have a biggest loser competition. Today was initial weigh-in day and I jumped aboard. I felt a little weird leaving my five pounds of gear on for first weight in, but hey, everyone else does it right?