Sunday, August 30, 2009

fabulous weekend

i spent the better part of this weekend in indy with marlana. she's making jewelry to sell at convention, and i offered to help her get started. as it ended up, her mom helped her get started last weekend - which meant we were able to dive right into the fun part. :) we got a good amount of necklaces and bracelets made, and our trip to hobby lobby landed me with a couple of great pendants and a spectacular pair of earrings. i should show you a picture ... i took a picture ... let me get the picture ...



cute, right? but not really why i started writing this post. i started writing this post because i had an absolutely fabulous time with marlana this weekend. and i'll see her again on thursday when she, beth and i leave for niagara falls. i'm so excited! :)

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

cooler weather

i should be walking out the door right now. i'm heading to indianapolis this weekend to hang out with marlana. i checked the weather to see what i should do about temperature control in the house while i'm gone. and while i know a lot of folks in the region are hating this weather, i was absolutely thrilled to see that our low temperatures this weekend will be in the 40s. highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s. i love it.

Friday, August 28, 2009

diy genius

so there's an exhaust fan in my bathroom that, i'm convinced, was getting louder every time it was turned on. it was starting to sound like the fan was going to take flight off the side of my house. seriously.

so last night, i'm watching the fan and realize that the little knobby thingy that holds the cover up to the wall over the fan? it's actually twitching as the fan runs. that didn't seem right. so i reached up and tightened it. problem solved.

seriously. i may not know the technical term for the little knobby thingy ... but tightening it made the fan operate at an acceptable noise level. now i just need to reach up there with a dust cloth in my hand, and it'll be like new.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

wisdomish items

things learned from the past few days:

- railcats games are more fun when we win.
- taking homemade lunch is more satisfying that buying fast food.
- banner stands don't play nicely with smooth cement floors.
- even i will jump if the centipede is big enough.
- sleep is not overrated.
- sometimes turning it off & turning it back on really does work magic.
- zombies like to play brain baseball.
- sometimes they like to play multiple games in rapid succession.
- meetings behind closed doors make me curious.
- the large-format printer rocks.
- i'm grateful i've never had an adverse reaction to poison ivy.
- tearing out grape vines is kinda fun.
- dishes will not wash themselves.

Monday, August 24, 2009

v3.0 - update

so i'm 7 months in, and i should really post something. how about an update?

1. host a party. i'm still leaning towards a pumpkin slaughter party this fall. let me know if you're up for carving a pumpkin, roasting seeds, having a bonfire, etc. :)

2. attend a series of cubs games. yeah, not so much. my plan was to go to all four games in denver aug. 7-10. but getting tickets for four games got pretty expensive. so for now, i'm conceding defeat.

3. organize my recipes. i went through and tossed out a bunch of recipes i'd kept from the newspaper. you know, the ones that looking back i knew i would never make. i should hit up the fresh school supplies for a fabulous binder & some protector sheets.

4. take a trip with marlana for our 30th birthdays. it was ireland, baby! and it was amazing.

5. on time blood work & med refill. so far i've managed to actually get my medicine refilled TWICE in a timely fashion. (twice because of a switch in insurance) we'll see how i do when it comes time for blood work in a few months.

6. secret. i may, at some point, reveal this one. i may not.

7. use my dehydrator. oh yeah, my dehydrator ... hmmm ...

8. finish catch 22. i've made it further than i ever have before. must. finish.

9. carry the french fry embargo through the end of april (with an exception for ireland). i was very close. after going to ireland, i never got back into the "no french fry" gig. i made it 10.5 months.

10. blog 260 times. 115 so far. i'm definitely going to have to step up my game on this.

11. hang out with dave. well, we've pretty much missed baseball season, huh?

12. secret. this one will be revealed at the end, but i can tell you it's going really well. :)

13. photograph the alphabet. done! three times so far. :) i'd still like to do one with twisting lights into the letters - like writing with sparklers or a flashlight. i have a tripod now, so i just need a trigger. or a long enough exposure to open the shutter, get in front of the camera, and create the letter.

14. blog the tasting of a variety of cheeses. meh. so far i've realized that cheese is expensive, and exotic cheeses are more expensive.

15. add three bloody games to my game closet. done! this year i've added gloom, falling and unexploded cow.

16. host a bloody game night. beth, jonathan & laure were all here for bloody gaming in may. :)

17. send Christmas cards. not yet, but i've got time. ;)

18. finish watching all the movies alan alda appears in that are available from netflix. currently i have four more to watch. i've definitely reached the point where i'm watching movies that alan alda is in, but it's not HIS movie. know what i mean? he plays his part masterfully, but it's defnitely just a part in someone else's movie.

19. take a trip to colorado. i went earlier this month. :) yay!

20. plant some vegetables. yeah, not so much. i've been enjoying other folks' homegrown veggies ... but i never planted any of my own. although, i have been growing wild grapes, which are almost a vegetable.

21. take a trip by myself. i NEED to plan this.

22. crochet a scarf. this sounds like a silly goal considering last year's scarf marathon, but i have a fun plan in mind for this.

23. eat pizza in 10 different towns/cities. one: dante's (munster); two: sanfratello's (highland); three: ? (gort, ireland); four: mcalister's deli (fishers). five: homemade (fort collins).

24. make a muffuletta. i got a recipe from patti for this. i'm very excited about the olive salad. :) but i either need to pare down the recipe or make it for the pumpkin slaughter party when there will be people to help me eat it.

25. journal my 30th year. i started, but it doesn't look like i'll follow through. at least i'm honest, right?

26. attempt a traveling journal. i've played with this idea for a few years. i think it would be a lot of fun to have a journal that gets mailed from person to person. each person who gets it fills up a page or two & then sends it on. i think it should have a theme. maybe a photo journal! when you get it, you add a photo from that day, maybe write a little something if you want, and then pass it along. i think it would be fun. but i've yet to actually get it started. erin suggested making it a memory journal where everyone who gets it writes about a time we've shared together. that would be so much fun to get at the end. but it feels a little ... self-centered? or something.

27. participate in illustration friday six times. i've done four so far! you can see 'em here.

28. finish a quilt for myself. i've made a little progress on the t-shirt quilt. not much, but a little.

29. customize the recycled table in the living room. i've done nothing on this, other than wipe the dust off occasionally.

30. work on the california photo book. yikes. yeah ... i need to do this.

okay, so i know a few things i can refocus on. refocus is good. :)

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

mikey's birthday


for mikey's birthday, a group of us from work went to the railcats game. we even got mikey to throw out a ceremonial first pitch!


approaching the mound.


the wind up, after shaking off the first couple of signals from the catcher.


the pitch.


the follow through


the catcher, who was quite humored by mikey shaking off the signals. :)

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back from colorado

i could write a long post about the trip to colorado. i really could. but i uploaded a healthy set of photos to my flickr site, and if you read through the descriptions you'll get the whole story. so, here are a few of my favorites. and a link to the photos on flickr. enjoy!




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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

10 hours & counting

well, aren't we all glad i didn't promise to post every day in august? you'd be pretty disappointing in me, wouldn't you? and let's face it, there are way better reasons you can find to be disappointed in me. :)

last night's dreams included the suspicious white van from sunday's drive home parking in front of my house (along with a silver pick-up truck) while its driver tried to get in the front door, a large marching cheer squad loudly singing 'bennie and the jets', visiting a close friend and wondering why she had shoes in her shower and teaching a class on the intricacies of a work program that's given me all sorts of the grief the past few days. the last one included me saying the line, "well, that depends. did it shut down while you were doing (A) or (B)? because there are different ways to fix it depending on when it crapped out on you."

that program is currently not my favorite.

however, just another 8 hours in the office & i'll be on vacation. i can deal with 8 hours. :)

after work tonight will be a railcats game. then i suppose i should pack. (i was in the packing mood yesterday long enough to open my closet & look at my options. then i decided to eat a little ice cream & go to bed instead.) also making some caramel corn & blueberry cookies for the drive. ooo, do i need anything from the grocery store? i don't have a paper bag in which to make the caramel corn ... hmmm. too bad i didn't think of that yesterday.

this time tomorrow? well, i'll probably still be sleeping. but at some point tomorrow, i'll be driving towards colorado!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

four days to vaca

tomorrow i plan to do the following:

- mail netflix 'the object of my affection', the latest alan alda flick.
- make it to work by 9.
- share blueberry cookies with my coworkers.
- attempt to make an all-inclusive list of work tasks to finish before vaca.
- try to drum up participation for the designer railcat game.
- request to have my newspaper delivery stopped while i'm gone.
- learn about the wonder that is flash and how it will enhance my work skills.
- hope the training gets out early.
- go to a railcats game.
- continue making ice for the cooler.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

disco demolition


thursday at the steel yard was the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the disco demolition they invited everyone to bring in disco records, and after the game they blew them up. actually, i think they faked blowing them up ... but it was still fun. :)

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blueberry picking


we also went blueberry picking this year. if you've never been berry picking before, i recommend picking blueberries. the bushes are 5'-6' tall, and therefore the picking requires no kneeling or bending. (strawberry plants only grow about 18" tall.) this is our fourth or fifth year going down to eenigenburg's in demotte to pick, and i love their berries! this year the season is being extended by the cool weather; and i was a little tempted to go pick some more today. i got a couple recipes of muffins made, and i've got quite a few berries in the freezer ... but i never made patti's blueberry dessert!

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porter county fair


i made my first visit to the porter county fair this year. i hadn't really planned to photograph the trip, but once i got there i decided upon a little challenge. i was going to photograph the fair, without looking at what i was photographing. yup. i shot randomly, without looking at the back of the camera for help lining up shots.


some of the photos got people i knew in them.


others did not.


and a few i did take with purpose, looking to be sure i got the shot i wanted: fried pepsi & a fabulous waffle cone. :) we were convinced the fried pepsi was just poor type placement on the sign. you know, that they sold deep fried goodies AND served pepsi. we were wrong. apparently they make a pepsi-laced dough & fry it up in balls. four pepsi balls per order, to be exact.



and then i had to take this one. two things to point out here. A - does the kid seriously not know he's mooning the entire fair? and 2 - check out the gal in front of me who's also taking a photo of the kid who's mooning the entire fair. :)


we were at the fair to see the switchfoot concert. we had really good seats, and it was a great show.


the four of us, looking cute. :)

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binocular fun


mikey was rummaging about his junk drawer at work the other day, and he came across the prism he'd pulled from a set of binoculars. i was instantly enamored with it, and i just had to take a photo. see what it's doing there? in actuality, mikey's on the left & april's on the right. but in the prism, they're the other way around. somehow the fact that they're flipped, but not mirrored is exciting to me.

now i just need to remember where i put the prism and take more photos with it ...

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the obsession


okay, i'll admit it. i might be slightly obsessed with the RailCats. i might go to every game i possibly can. i might know all their names & numbers (jersey numbers, that is. i'm not THAT girl.). i might even know the opening lyrics to the songs a few of them have played when they come up to bat. it's possible.

fairly early this season, beth & i got RailCats jerseys. i've got the away jersey with Wallace on the back; beth has the alternate jersey with Marconi. then, this past month, we were able to introduce mikey to the goodness that is the RailCats. and he, being the wise guy *ehem* that he is, jumped right on the bandwagon and got an away jersey with Czarniecki on the back.

we have quite a presence in the stands. :)

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weekend with marlana


marlana & i were finally able to line up our schedules in the middle of july. i drove down on saturday morning. she made me lunch (that's right, she cooked for me. i know!), and we headed to the outlet mall for a little shopping. we both got some cute clothes, which we happily showcased at dinner that evening. :) we had to wait quite awhile for our table, and we began discussing the White Pants Issue. where you do stand on this? are white pants good or bad on women? on men? do you wear them?

after dinner we had some margaritas & watched the movie version of RENT. marlana saw the stage version earlier this year, but hadn't seen the movie, yet. then we crashed for the night; got up sunday and met marisa for lunch. it's been more than two years since i've seen marisa (two years?! ugh ... time flies.), so that was fabulous. i got to meet her little boy and take a tour of their house.

compared to a lot of people, i still talk to a lot of my friends from high school. i am blessed to have been surrounded by people who i still love so dearly.

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meeting addy


my friends becca & jon had their first child in june (i told you i was behind!). her name is adelaide, and she is positively adorable. :)

hot weather



so we really haven't had a lot of hot weather this summer. i'm a big fan of that. i love having my windows open in july (and now august!), and i'm not a fan of sweating. so on the day i met addy (where are my pictures from that? hmmm ...) i was disgusted to get into such a hot car after work. but it's a car, it heats up during the day. it's fair.

well, i didn't even look at the temperature gauge until i had been on the road for about 15 minutes. at that point, it read 105. 105?! really? it was nearly 5pm, and it was 105? well, i fully expected it to cool off as i drove. surely this was still just a build up of heat from being in the sun all day.

sure enough, another 10 minutes down the road and the gauge ready a chilly 99 degrees. under 100 - woo! but as i drove through schererville, in this one spot that seems to ALWAYS wreak havoc on my temperature gauge, it started to climb again. all the way to 107! once i got past that particular spot, it eventually stabilized at 103 for the remainder of the drive. but yikes.

strawberries



okay, so i know i'm behind ... but did i really never mention that we picked strawberries? sheesh. mom & i went and picked strawberries. of course, we picked one of the four hot days we've had this summer. and we went in the middle of the day, when the sun was good & high in the sky. unfortunately, the picking wasn't great. the berries we got were very pretty & tasty ... but it was late enough in the season, and we'd had enough rain, that there weren't a lot of berries left. it took some searching, and patience, to fill our buckets.

and yes, i did fill that bucket. i picked a few & shot the photo so i could stash my camera safely away before my hands got all strawberry-juicy. :)

trains




being caught by a train is much less annoying when you're at the front of the line and you have your camera.

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yellow rose, part 2



remember when i blogged about my yellow rose and said that the plant could die now without guilt? yeah ... i'm really glad i put that positive energy out into the universe. within a couple of weeks the plant went bald & turned into this tim burton-esque figure, with the dead rose on top.

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august nablopomo?

this month's blogging topic is "tomorrow", and i wonder if i can post daily for a month on that theme. i'll be out of town for a while starting next thursday, but i should have a consistent internet connection to post. and it should be easy to let you know what the plans are for the next day. ;) so, in the spirit of maybe making the commitment (how noncommittal is that?), here's my thoughts on tomorrow ...

tomorrow i'm planning to sleep in a bit & then head down to my parents'/sister's house for dinner and general merriment. it's been a while since i've had a "normal" sunday of hanging out with them. the past few weeks have been busy. i've been out of town, or my parents have been out of town, or there's been a railcats game. i do enjoy the busyness of summer, but i look forward to getting back to consistent time with my family.

speaking of family, i'll be at jonathan & laure's next week! beth & i will start driving next thursday, crash somewhere in nebraska that night & finish the drive on friday. i'd give you more info on the plans ... but then what would i blog about? ;)