Monday: hot dogs

Well, it's a Monday so we went back to work today. Funny how that seems to happen so often.

Ben had a migraine after work so I cooked dinner. I decided to grill...please keep in mind that this was my first time ever grilling. First I learned that you need to hook up the gas before it will light (this was easy to learn). Then I learned that you need to turn the gas on (also easy). Then I learned to you need to turn it to the "chose this setting for lighting" and not "high." This was a bit harder to learn, but I did get it all by myself.

Then I had to learn what hot dogs look like when they are cooked. Luckily, we only had hamburg buns so I could justify cutting them in half to see if they were warm inside.

I think they turned out very professional looking.

Sunday

I did a lot of chores today.  Ben also made a new recipe for dinner...it was pretty bad for us, but tasted really good.  However, it took more work to make than expected so probably won't be made again.

Here is Ben continuing to put our workbench together.  We decided that we need to get some new tools for it, so we'll pick them up tomorrow after work along with a few groceries.

Saturday: rain

Today was a wonderful rainy day.  It didn't rain the whole day, but it did rain quite a bit and stayed cloudy the whole day.  Of course, this didn't help my productivity much, but I managed to at least get a little bit done.  There's always tomorrow. :)

We went to see a comedian at our church this evening.  While some of the jokes were funny, over all he was just ok.  But it was nice to get out for a little bit.

Friday: Olive garden

So, we went to the olive garden yesterday.  I decided to get the all-you-can-eat pasta because some of the combinations sounded good.  I even asked for a smaller first portion so I could get a second.  Well, the first portion didn't seem so small.  And between the salad and the breadsticks I was only able to eat half of it.  Half!  I was so dissappointed in myself.

Then we watched 21 in anticipation of our upcoming trip.  I should probably take some time to learn at least basic strategy for some of the games.

Thursday: almost the weekend

Today was pretty good...I had enough to do, so that helped.  Except that I was super cold.  It is so warm outside and so cold inside.

I was really tired around 7 so I took a nap.  It was one of those where you're kind of woken up so you think you should get up (and at least go to bed) but you just can't.  I opened one eye for about two seconds before it became too much work.  I had a brief dream about Captian Picard that I won't try to explain before finally managing to drag myself off the couch.  Of course, once I got to the bed I had moved too much and wasn't quite tired enough to go back to sleep.  So I'm trying to catch up on some of my communications.

Wednesday

Hmm, not much happened today. A bit of a slow day, but not so slow that I didn't have work to do. Yesterday we played some more ultimate frisbee and had a cookout. It was fun.

I'm trying to get a picture of Flurry with her eyes closed because Ben said that in all of my pictures she looks hyper. It hasn't worked yet.

I recently upgraded to Firefox 3. It annoys me that the spell check doesn't have contractions in it's dictionary. I would like to try Chrome. Well, I just downloaded it. We'll see how it works for a bit.

Monday: a day of labor

Today we painted the trim in the office. It took a little while, but not too long and we did stop for a few breaks. My nap was calling my name. Anyway, that is two rooms done. Yay.

This concludes this amazingly productive weekend. There are a few chores that didn't get done, but it is important to relax too, right?

Oh, a funny Flurry story...at 7:30am Ben received two taps on the shoulder by Flurry. She obviously knew he was about 15 minutes late for getting up for work and wanted to nicely remind him of that fact. :)

Sunday: what I learned today

1. Don't pour hot liquids into plastics that easily melt.
2. My two best new camera options are either larger and 10x zoom or smaller with 5x zoom.
3. The new cat outhouse works well as a step.
4. Well loved stuffed animals never really leave.

Saturday: we got a lot done

Today we managed to get several chores done! Ben and a coworker cut down some trees that had fallen, and then Ben and I moved the branches into the woods. I cleaned the kitchen, started laundry, and changed the kitty litter box (see below). I also managed to take a nap and we both played a lot of video games...so it wasn't just a work day.

Before new litter box:


After new litter box. I'm hoping the length and the piece of board in front will help a lot with keeping the litter out of the hallway.

Thursday: Cats. Work Safety

Work safety
I get back from vacation and go to the bathroom. Much to my surprise I see some of that safety foam on the edge of the garbage can. It is your normal sheet metal garbage can mounted to the wall. The edges aren't sharp and the corners are rounded. It is easy to avoid so doesn't seem to be an obstacle. The only thing I can think of? Our safety engineer decided it was a hazard to the workplace.

Cat breeds
Ben was looking at cat breeds today and we decided that Flurry's marking match a Turkish Van pretty well and her attidutude matches a Maine Coon. Turkish Vans are all white except for markings on the head and tail. Flurry's aren't as prominent as purebreeds though. This is what wikipedia says about Maine Coon personailites, with my remarks:

"Maine Coons are a breed distinguished by high intelligence, dexterity, and playfulness. They have a tendency to use their front paws extensively (often curling the paw round to pick objects up) and as a consequence will easily learn to open cabinet doors, turn on water faucets, flush toilets, or pick up small objects. Some Maine Coons will eat, or even drink, from their paws, rather than from the bowl itself. All the time!

Due to their above-average intelligence, Maine Coons are known to be one of the easiest cat breeds to train. Maine Coons are noted for their ability to trill their meows, which sounds like a combination of a purr and a meow We think she does this, and they tend to make this sound when happy or startled. When they do meow, it tends to be very high in pitch, in comparison to other breeds. They are noted for rarely eating alone, preferring to eat in the company of other cats or humans. She often eats when we are in the kitchen Maine Coons are not known to be "lap cats" but of course, this may depend on the individual cat and some may prefer laps. Flurry's oonly a lap cat for the day after we get back from a long vacation

Some Maine Coons enjoy playing with, but not usually in, water. Flurry lover her sinks! ...

Maine Coons can be very dog-like in their behavior. Playing fetch is a favorite game. As with dogs, they will bring their ball, drop it at the feet of their intended playmate and wait for the ball to be thrown. They will often accompany their owner on chores She loves following me! like getting the mail, walking the dog, and may also come when beckoned, even if outside. Maine Coons are typically very calm and listen to their owners. Ok, well maybe she isn't very calm or listeny."

Tuesday: ultimate

Tonight at bible study we played ultimate frisbee again. A slightly smaller field though so we didn't have to run as far. I really enjoyed it. I'm not great at it, but can usually catch/pass if the throw is good and I'm standing still or there aren't too many people blocking. But then I managed to catch the last pass of the night for the last goal while running. I broke two fingernails, but was proud of the catch.

Monday: back to work

Well, at least it is a long weekend this coming weekend. :)

I have a cankersore on my tongue. It hurts and I talk funny. Kind-of lispy.

Ben and I both started some house projects today, and I did take one picture but it's boring. Guess you'll have to wait until it's finished. Oh! I still need to put the wash in the drier.

I did more wii fit today. There was an exercise called Jackknife which was just fancy sit-ups.

Sunday: comics

Sunday: we're home

11.75 hours, 5 reststops, 3 detours, and 1 expired passport and we made it home. It turns out that passports can be expired until next summer and still get you through the Canadian border. But how am I supposed to remember to renew mine in 2017 now?

Flurry woke us up several times throughout the night to be petted. If I wasn't asleep it would have been super-cute, as it was it was just cute.

Friday: more relaxing

I got a hold of the label maker early in the morning.
It was a bit rainy today, so we got out a puzzle, and finished it too. :)
During one of the sunny moments we took a boat ride.

And at the end of the day after dinner (I had rabbit for the first time) we went for a quick tube trip. I got thrown in after staying relatively dry on the tube. *sigh*

Thursday

The whole family enjoyed Rock Band in the morning.


Larry on the boat.
Ben and Ashlyn on the boat.


Amanda and Jacob tubing.

Wednesday: boat ride

Today was a pretty relaxing day. We played with the kids, ate, napped, read, watched TV.

Here is Ashlyn buried in pillows.


Here I am driving the boat to lunch.

Wednesday: questions take 2

35. Will I ever finish the "Pickwick Papers"?
36. Why does everybody think Mr. Pickwick is so awesome?
37. Was I really a good Roommate?
38. What would it take to not have my feet so dry?
39. Would it really matter if my feet weren't so dry?
40. Would highlights in my hair be cute?
41. Will the price of gas go down?
42. Will I ever stop second-guessing myself about things that are too late to change?
43. How often do I do/say something that I don't think twice about but really influences someone (positively or negatively) ?
44. Will I use the WiiFit to actually get in shape?
45. What other hobbies should I take up?
46. Are tomatoes really the food that is giving my digestive track problems?
47. Will there be anything too embarrassing that I'll say after my colonoscopy?
48. What will the next thing be that I have a big laugh about be?
49. Will I ever skinny dip in all five great lakes?
50. Who just rang the doorbell?
51. Are the Chinese gymnists really 16?
52. When will the US not be a world leader?
53. Will my children migrate to a different country?
54. Will computers ever be completely user friendly?
55. How many M&Ms will I eat this week?
56. Will the blue M&Ms disappear first?
57. For how long will I love donuts?


Ok, keep waiting for the next installment

Tuesday: Happy birthday Amanda

It's my birthday today. :) I saw my dad in the morning and then Ben and I went up to Charlevouix to see Ben's family.

Ben got me a WiiFit. I'm pretty excited about it, although it just told me that my fit age is 36. :(

Here are Ben and I with my birthday ice cream.
And here is Ben teaching Jacob about the paino.

Monday: peach pie.

Oh let's see. Today Nathan and Liz left. :( I'm glad they were able to come up though.

Then we went to see Travis and Allison's almost-new house which looks very nice.

Then we had peach pie -birthday cake at home. It was really good.

Sunday

Today we went to church, napped, and watched the olympics. Dad and I also built a cover for Flurry's litter box so that we can get rid of the box that is quickly falling apart.

In the evening we playing bocce ball. The girls won the first game and the married-into-the-family people won the second.

Saturday: In Hudsonville

It was a nice day today. It started with some birthday donuts.
Nathan signed his book.
We took some naps.
And we went to the Improv at night.

Friday: the trip

11 hours and 8 rest stops later we arrive in Hudsonville. The traffic was fine though...by the time we got to any big cities it was well past rush hour.

I bet next time we can get it down to 10 hours :)

Thrusday: we're sort of ready

Well, we're sort of ready to leave on vacation tomorrow. The problem? Ben hasn't been feeling well this week and finally had a doctor's appt today. They told him to come back tomorrow when they'll have the results of some of the blood/urine work done. If there are problems...we might not get to leave when we expected to. Ben has said he is starting to feel a little better, so hopefully tomorrow will be even better and the doctor will give us the ok to leave.

Today was a bit better work wise. It was nice. It may have helped that I worked about an hour less than normal. Only two people in my department on my project are in tomorrow (out of six) and I'm hoping to leave early. Since things are rather slow though, I don't foresee this being a problem.

Wednesday: I'm not sure what I'll write about yet

Hmm, well, it was another slowish day today. Oh! I saw the KMax. I actually saw it yesterday too. It is thin and kind of looks like a fish. Let me see if I can find a picture. The one I saw is grey, but pretty much looks like this. It is supposed to be RC, but we always saw a pilot flying it.
I fell asleep while watching our daily during dinner show. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. And the laundry has all been folded, now it just needs to be put away. I feel like there is going to be a lot to do tomorrow before we leave, but it might go faster than anticipated.

Tuesday

Well, today was kind of a sleepy day, although I haven't taken a nap yet. I didn't join the Bible Study group for the fun thing of the week. I feel a little guilty. But obviously not that guilty or I'd be there. Sigh. I'll just chalk it up to being summer and Ben not feeling well and an almost headache.

Here are some of my pictures from the trip this weekend.

Monday

Well, I was going to post some pictures from the weekend but I left my camera upstairs still. :( And right now I'm too lazy to go get it.

I don't have many other things to say. I had 63 unread emails when I got into work, which I thought was fairly amazing. I don't think I usually get that many.

Flurry's been cute and following me around a lot lately.

I feel like there is a lot I need to do before we leave on vacation, but I think if I at least do a little bit every day I should be ok.

Thursday: NYC

Well, we made it to NYC safely.  We checked into a lovely hotel and then went and did some shopping.  I got a dress for around the house and a sweatshirt.  Then we went to eat.  I had some veal in gorgonzola cheese sauce.  It was delicious.  I love cheese.  Except American.  I love how they all have different tastes but obviously have something in common.

Anyway, we walked around for a bit after that and went to the top of Rockefellar Center to see the city at night.  It was pretty.

Wednesday: they're here!

The Hilldore girls made it over here, even with some plane troubles.
Flurry enjoys being included as one of the girls too.

Tuesday: Flurry and the catepillar

For your viewing pleasure: another Flurry video

Bother...I can't get it to embed. Here is the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7498580757738201956&hl=en

What you don't see in the video is that Flurry did kill the caterpillar, ate it, and left caterpillar liquid on the floor. Oh well, I guess it's a small price to pay for having a bug free house.

Tuesday

Well, today wasn't very exciting. Work is now a bit slow, although at the end of the day I got some work for tomorrow, so that's exciting. It is a good week to take a few vacation days. :)

I'm also tackling our front weeds. Not just trying to keep them low and thin, but actually trying to remove the roots and clear so that real grass can grow in. The hardest part is where the grass is starting to grow in, but it is right by the weeds. I don't want to pull out the grass but I do want to get the weeds. Great story, eh?

My goal was to do a lot of chores this evening. I have several done, but would like to do a few more.

Sunday: at our place

People came over to our place today so Doug and Heather could see it. We played Life, had some spaghetti, watched a movie. Good times.

And a cute one from Friday

Saturday: a good day

Today our Bible Study was hosting a garage sale/flea market to raise some money, so we went over there to help out for a few hours. It turns out that Ben is really, really good at getting people to take things they only sort-of want. It was a lot of fun to watch him give people good deals and get rid of stuff so that we didn't have to deal with it later. He also managed to sell two wingback chairs that were in great condition but were...pink. They started out the morning at $45 and ended up leaving for $5, but everyone was happy because that was a large thing that we now didn't have to deal with afterwards.


Then we went over to Dusty and Laura's to grill and play poker. It got rather hilarious at times. I think I had tears of laughter 3 or 4 times.

Friday

Ben got me roses today. :D




Heather, Laura and I during our walk in the afternoon while the boys played video games

Thursday: woo-hoo

I'm not working tomorrow, which is rather exciting. I don't even feel guilty because there isn't a lot of stuff on my to-do list.

Doug and Heather are here for the weekend which is one reason I'm not working tomorrow. I expect a semi-lazy morning and then we'll head over to see them.

I took these pictures a while ago, but they're true almost every morning. They are little spider webs that are in the grass. I don't recall ever seeing this before in the places I lived, and for sure not as many as we have. They're actually kind of cute.

Tuesday: croquet

Today we had people over from Bible Study. The most exciting part is that we "used" our lawn for the first time and played croquet. I'm not sure I've ever played before, but the slope and the divets made for an interesting game.

Monday: new work

Today I didn't do as much with the project I've been working on for months. It wasn't completely gone, but significantly less than normal. So I got to work on some new things and things that I've been putting off for a while, which was a lot of fun.

Weekend: weekendish

Oh, lots of things and not much happened this weekend. :) We meet our neighbors down the hill from us a little bit more and chatted with them for quite a while. We cleaned/organized the basement so it looks a lot better. We ordered a toolbox/workbench thing. I didn't come close to finishing all my chores.

Friday: donuts

Today I'm claiming victory for my work project. There's actually one more paint layer that needs to go on though, so I'm going to claim victory on Monday too.

This evening we made donuts!! You take biscuits, flatten them and put a hole in, and then butter and sugar them. So they end up tasting like biscuits with sugar, which is pretty close to donuts.

Thursday: questions

I was checking my old journals a few days ago and came across an excersise where you have to write 100 questions. About 1/4 of them had been answered, and they were fun so I thought I'd do it again.

1) Will I ever get to <10 e-mails in an inbox?
2) How long will I continue to play WoW?
3) Will I finish my sub-project tomorrow?
4) How long will it take for our extra-thick dirt to stop feeling squishy?
5) Where does Flurry sleep at night when she doesn't join us?
6) What does Flurry do during the day when we aren't at home?
7) How am I going to get to 100 questions?
8) Will I ever finish all the chores I want to finish in a given weekend?
9) What will our next piece of furniture be?
10) Will I ever have regular and meaningful devotions?
11) When will I get promoted?
12) When will we have kids?
13) How many books have I read so far in my life?
14) What it be like to be a moon-settler?
15) Who invented the donut?
16) Why do I like donuts so much?
17) What will my biggest complaint be when I'm old?
18) How will I die?
19) What do people think when they see me coming down the hall?
20) What will heaven be like?
21) Where will I live in ten years?
22) What would I do if Ben died?
23) Would I be able to be optimistic with a life-threatening illness?
24) What does God want me to be doing differently?
25) Will flying cars ever be a reality?
26) Will I ever fly in a helicopter?
27) Would I rather be a person and have to work or a bird and get to fly but also not have a food pantry?
28) Will I ever work-out on a regular basis?
29) Why does Flurry make such weird noises?
30) When will the United States fall?
31) Why can't I retain information often?
32) What would be the best hair style on me?
33) Will we manage to write "Active Peris: 10 years later?"
34) How much of my time do I spend worrying about things that don't matter?

I decided to do it in more than one sitting. More to follow.

Wednesday: almost

Well, I'm almost done with one aircraft. I've been saying all week that I'm hopeful the next day will prove to be "the last day." But tomorrow I'm fairly sure of it. Hehe. We'll see what actually happens.

I was taking a nap and got a terrible leg cramp. It woke me up instantly and I instantly knew what was going on even though I couldn't open my eyes because I was still sleepy. I don't think I've ever had one that bad before.

Tuesday: ultimate

We played ultimate frisbee with our bible study tonight. It was a lot of fun although very hot. I once again found out how bad of shape I'm in.

Monday: It was a Monday

Oh, how I didn't want to go to work today. I just didn't have a good feeling about it. While nothing went wrong per se, I still didn't finish this project. One A/C will hopefully finish tomorrow though, so I'm a bit more optimistic about tomorrow.

I did get a break in the middle of work to go visit the GI doctor though. He said there are two schools of thought on when to get your first colonoscopy if colon cancer is in the family. Ten years before the age the first person was diagnosed and twenty/twenty-five years. This doctor seemed to be of the second set, especially since Mom got it pretty young. And while he doesn't think anything will be wrong, he also wanted a baseline. So Oct 20 I have my first (of hopefully many) colonoscopy.

Flurry was really cute this morning. We had four chickadees on the porch. Flurry was stalking them. But then one got too close and she wasn't ready yet so she quickly walked backwards around the corner. Maybe you needed to be there...
Here is Ben playing with Flurry. Flurry is pretending to be a hat. Poor Flurry. She has to put up with so much.

Sunday: love

How do I know Ben loves me? He got me two donuts this weekend. Yum.

Saturday: swimming

Well, Ben and I did end up going swimming this afternoon. For a little bit I thought we were just going to skip it, but in the end I'm glad we went. It was a nice pool and it was nice to cool off. I'm debating going over there a few mornings during the week. Still debating though, we'll see what happens.

Besides that and a few chores, a pretty restful day.

Friday: yay Friday

Today went pretty well. A few small problems, but oh well. The end of my "little project" is very close and I've even started moving onto the next project a bit.

Ben went on a guy's night out so I decided to stay home, order pizza, and watch a movie. Actually, it was kind of the other way around. I could have gone with Ben, but since I decided to stay home it is a guys night out. The pizza was really slow. It is a good thing that I had a snack before ordering or else I may have gone crazy due to hunger.

It is pretty warm here tonight, but just starting to cool off outside so I have all the fans running trying to cool off the inside of the house before hot tomorrow rolls around. Actually, I don't know that it will be hot but that's what I'm assuming. I'm trying to convince Ben to go to the local pool with me, but it might depend on how motivated we end up being.

thursday: sigh.

Well, today didn't go as well as I was hoping. I goofed something up in the morning and just felt bad about it. Nothing I could do about it though except learn from it. Still felt like an idiot.

We also won't be able to finish the project tomorrow. Reason 1) we are still missing one part. Reason 2) some things that I was hoping would go quickly today didn't. The new goal is Monday. At least we're changing the estimate by days instead of weeks now.

Oh, yesterday was our one year anniversary of working at Lockheed.

I'm raiding tonight but am not really sure I want to. Last week was fun, so maybe I'll be surprised.

Wednesday: Travis

Travis stopped by tonight. That was nice. We didn't do anything special, but a I hear a lot of laughter coming from the basement at one point.

I'm still optimistic that my project will finish on time. We'll see how today goes. :)

Tuesday: bonfire

Today I went to a bonfire with people from Bible Study. We've skipped the last two weeks so it was fun to see people again. The best part was when the girls were talking by a swing (away from the fire) and Stephanie threw a flip-flop. The other three girls all jumped back while still trying to keep their drinks from spilling. The expressions were priceless.

I'm still hopeful of finishing my work project on time. I didn't get quite as far today as I was hoping, but we still got far enough that it is still possible. It was actually an amazingly smooth day for once. One tooling issue from yesterday magically resolved itself and the problem with the drawing was an "easy fix." Hopefully tomorrow goes as well!

Monday: Lightning bugs

We have our very own lightning bugs in our yard! I guess I don't get out much at night to see them, but there is something about the little critters. Seeing one just gets me all excited.

Not quite as much progress was made today as I had hoped, but we made enough that I am still hopeful.