Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Happy Blatherskite

Life, it seems, gives us a pretty fair mix of good days and bad days. Some days are better, some are worse, but every once in a while, Life gives us a phenominally wonderful day.

I had one of those today!

It started in math class. Barry (the instructor) gave a short lecture over geometry (eek!) and then he handed back our midterm exams. I not only aced it, I got the only 100% score in my section. (I don't know about the other sections.) That floored me. I've never gotten scores like that in math before. Of course, much of the credit for my mathematical success goes to my tutor, aka my engineer husband. Thanks, honey!

The day got better as it went along. I got out of APS class early (I had all the homework done) so I went to run errands. First stop was the City of Cedar Rapids Building Department. The last time I was there, I did not have a pleasant experience. This time, though, it was great. The nice lady behind the counter found the old building permits for our church building, and I was able to glean the info I needed from them. She also gave me the guidelines for "How To Be Your Own General Contractor" and she said that I can be the G.C. on any carpentry-only project that our congregation does. Plus, we don't need to hire a contractor for carpentry-only jobs: anyone from our congregation can do the work. This is a huge relief, because we have several carpentry jobs to do, and our tiny congregation can't afford to hire a carpenter. All I need to do now is line up volunteers. (I hope someone volunteers!)

Onward and upward. My next stop was at P.J.'s Vacuum Sales and Service. Phil (the "P" of "P.J.'s") is a wonderful guy - he sold our church its current vacuum and he does all of our service at a reasonable price. I took him our old cheapo household vac (it was making this really loud, obnoxious whine) and he said the motor was shot. I decided that, rather than replace my broken vac with another cheapo-from-the-repo-depot, I'd buy a good quality unit from Phil. So onto the cell phone I went; I discussed the situation with Carl who agreed to the purchase of a really nice machine. (I also bought bags.) Next to P.J.'s is Technigraphics, a print shop that also sells drafting equipment. I wanted some enlargements made of the original blueprints of our church (dated 1959) so while I was there I had Tech's make my copies. A quick, easy, nearly painless stop. (No stop that costs money is completely painless, but this time the pain was tolerable.)

After my vac and print stop, I went to Michael's and bought a giant portfolio folder in which to store my prints. I want them stored flat, not rolled up, and this should do the trick. Plus this thing has a handle, so I can hang the prints from a nail in the wall, if I want to. Michael's is in a strip mall, and a little way down from Michael's is Catherine's, a clothing shop for "plus sized women". I went in there and tried on a pair of size 18 Tall jeans (I've been wearing size 20) AND THEY FIT!!! Plus, THEY WERE ON SALE!!! Needless to say I bought them. It's my reward to myself for weighing in at 216 pounds this morning.

Next stop was Uncle Stan's Military Surplus. Hannah is wearing Carl's old Civil Air Patrol battle fatigues for Halloween, but Carl didn't have a hat, so I went to Stan's and got one. Another man was in there, buying a military costume for his toddler son, complete with toy gun. I didn't even consider buying Hannah a toy gun. I don't need the FBI breaking down my door because my kid took a "gun" to school.

But anyway. Last stop was Wal-Mart on the north side of town. (I refuse to go to the Wal-Mart on the south side, but that's another story.) I ran into my Aunt LaReatha there, and she helped me figure out what size boots to buy for Mary. Mary wants to go as Patsy Cline for Halloween, and she no longer fits into girls size shoes. (She wears a women's size 6.) We figured out that boys size 4 1/2 would fit her, so I got the boots. I also bought her a denim skort and vest (on the clearance rack!) and a western style pink floral blouse (not on the clearance rack, oh well) and took them all home, hoping Mary would like the outfit. To my great relief, Mary likes her new clothes, and has agreed to wear the boots with other skirts so that she gets my money's worth out of them. She's not big into wearing jeans, but maybe the boots will get her to change her mind. And the topping of the day? I bought a Diet Mountain Dew on the way out of Wal-Mart, and it had a "buy one get one free" cap on it. Is that not the cherry on the cake, or what?

It's nice to have a day where everything goes your way. They don't come along very often, so I need to try to remember these days when things are going phenominally bad. Blogging about today gives me something to refer back to when things get lousy, like when the girls or Carl get sick, or when I do poorly on an exam.

Or when I lose at Fantasy Football. :-P

Friday, October 06, 2006

Moonlight Blatherskite

According to the Farmer's Almanac , tonight's full moon is the Hunter's Moon. Did you get to see it? Wasn't it pretty? I thought it was. So much so, in fact, that I took Moose Mutt out for a sunset walk through the rail trails. It was a nice night for it. It was cool but not too cool and not very breezy, either. And the only sounds out there were crickets and the distant rumble of a combine. (For you citified folks, "combine" is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. A combine is a giant harvesting machine.) Anyway. We had a lovely walk. We watched the moon rise over the trees; we saw a raccoon (the largest dang raccoon I have ever seen!) and also a doe and a bat. The air was filled with the scent of autumn in the country, and off in the distance someone had a wood fire burning. It was wonderful.

Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the cool, crisp nights, the sounds and smells of harvest, and the beauty that blossoms briefly before the leaves fall and winter comes. I love wearing jeans, boots and sweatshirts and being completely comfortable in them. And I love the fact that I can walk through the woods at sunset and not be feasted upon by mosquitos!

However, my love for autumn is bittersweet, because it's this time of year that I miss living in the country most of all. I miss being able to go out at night and listen to the crickets and the combines. I miss the scent of the bonfires Dad always built for our youth group's Autumn Party. I miss looking out my west window at Fredrick's woods and watching leaves go from green to orange and yellow and brown, and then falling. I miss coming home from school and grabbing an apple off the tree as I walked to the back of the house. (About the only thing I don't miss is riding the stupid school bus.) But no matter what, autumn is my favorite time of year.

Time to go out and buy a pumpkin!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Now I Remember!

Yeah! I have a blog! However, as the more astute amongst you have guessed, I've been too busy to blog. School has me bogged down, so I can't blog. There's a rhyme in there somewhere, but I can't think of one right now.

I need to go study for a BCS vocabulary test.

Ciao!