A Spectrum

The only picture I got of the whole family...Ha. By the way, the baby in the seat is fake. Poor Val was reprimanded twice by complete strangers over her treatment of fake Big Baby.



Coupeville Wharf



I was really taking a picture of the boat, but caught a Seal instead (that black thing coming out of the water).



Just a neat picture.



Val and myself in front of Knead and Feed where Practical Magic was filmed.

Blurry Abbie, Abbie, Abbie..



The Cider Press



Andy masterfully cooking four hot dogs



Carolyn and Kelly the Lab...Awww



Deception Pass
Every picture from here turned out blurry but I liked this one anyway.

Everything I have ever read in the Firefly/Serenity Universe has always said that this would NEVER happen. Well, imagine my glee when I read
THIS
today. I hope and pray that it will turn out to be true.

So tonight Tom and I are painting and half watching the second episode of Chuck before we devote our full attention to tonight's episode of Heroes. I watched the first episode last week, Tom refused. It's a likable enough show, fairly funny, has some good action. My main draw is that Adam Baldwin is in it, but anyway I hope it can keep my interest. So Chuck had all these government secrets imprinted in his brain and odd things trigger these secret "memories." Well at one point during tonight's episode, he is rambling off a bunch of things from inside his head when at one point he says,

"Oceanic Flight 815 was shot down by..."

I look at Tom and am like, "Did he just say something about Oceanic Flight 815?" Tom tilts his head and says, "I think he did." Yea to the writers to reference another show especially one that's on another network. Lost is everywhere I tell ya.

If you've ever seen the cartoon with Goofy about flogging, you will know that's what Tom and I did because I don't think what we did could really be called golfing.

A week ago Sunday, Tom and I decided to try our luck on 9 holes at the local course. We kept score for about two holes and then gave up on that idea. A particular shining moment of mine was when I lost three balls on #7 in the water hazard right in front of the tee. I couldn't even get it 30 yards over the thing. My forth attempt hit the very edge of the water and bounced out onto the fairway. This was also the hole in which someone decided it would be funny to throw large marshmallows all over the place resulting in Tom and I driving up and down the fairway spotting what we think is our ball only to drive up to it and sigh, "It's another marshmallow." Then on #8 was Tom's shining moment in which he hit his ball right into a tree and it took a sharp turn to the left.

However, the crown jewel moment was actually a real success. On the very first hole, at 352 yards, par 4, I, that's right Lauren, made par. It was a complete fluke. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that and bask in my golfing glory, but I was just off the green after my 3rd shot, behind a small berm. I took my pitching wedge out to get it over the berm and when I hit it, it smacked right into the pole and dropped into the hole. It was crazy. I then proceeded to jump around like a lunatic on the green, luckily it was a slow golfing day in terms of other people around so no one saw me. ;)

This is crazy good. It is 8 minutes long though.

Example A. She chases her tail.

Example B. She carries her toys in her mouth.

Example C. She chases her toys when you throw them (however she does not bring them back).

Example D. She tries to drink from the toilet.

Please enjoy pictures of Rover, uh, I mean, Gidget.

Sleeping in a ball.



Attacking the stuffed International School Bus.





Giving love to the stuffed International School Bus.



Carrying the stuffed International School Bus in her mouth.

My bit of Trivia for the day. What do High School Musical and Firefly have in common?

Zac Efron

I was watching the Firefly episode Safe and was determined that it was him. I was happy to discover in the credits that it was. He plays the young Simon Tam at the beginning. Weird.

Time for a business trip to Ames, Iowa for a conference. Never been to Ames. Should be fun.

Hmm, can you tell that I am bored and posting all sorts of crazy things. Anyway, back in May I posted that I was going to Cornerstone again. And I did, and it was a blast. There was nice weather. Switchfoot was great. I can't say much for the other bands that played with them. I had a blond moment where I forgot how to get to the back entrance and we ended up driving all over the place. Whoops. So we drove to the front entrance, got our fashionable wristbands and a map. Walked the midway, hit the merchandise tent, bought the requisite Cstone tshirt and watched people half piping and swinging from cranes. Then we drove back to the back entrance to park. Attendance must be dropping cause there was barely anyone camping in the back or else they moved from where they used to camp. Claimed our spot on the hill with our blanket and spent the next 7 hours or so waiting for music and then listening to it. ;) So I tried to find a video of what we saw but couldn't find Switchfoot so please enjoy classic Five Iron Frenzy from Cornerstone 02. I am there somewhere, NOT in the mosh pit though. The only time I was brave enough to do that for Five Iron was at a concert in the suburbs. Anyway, a far cry from my first trip to Cstone in 95 where I went with my friend Val and my dad. However, we didn't really see many bands cause we didn't know any better and went in the morning, so we were exhausted by the time the music started going. ;) Oh well.

This is more amusing.

This was mildly amusing.

I was looking at my friend's photo site and I must say this is the cutest picture ever. Although the one below's not bad either. ;)

I can't find a bigger picture than this, but it's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having practice in the Omni Hotel. Hilarious. You can find a larger picture here.

I am having a Lost interconnected moment. I read this science article today about how scientists can now levitate ultra small objects by manipulating the Casimir force. This is the same force Dr. Edgar Halowax (or Dr. Marvin Candle as he was called in the Swan orientation video or Dr. Mark Wickmund in the Pearl orientation video)references in the orientation video for The Orchid. Crazy.
Check out the article.

Lost side note: Did you notice his three names' connection? Candle, Wax, and Wick...

I got an email today advertising Yankee Candles Halloween inspired scents! What's that about? I am roasting in 100 degree weather and you want to sell me Halloween candles. Pshaw. Where's the Christmas decorations?

Please enjoy outtakes from the orientation film for Station 6: The Orchid.
The three flashes appear to be... headquarters of the Dharma Initiative, "God loves you as He loved Jacob", and a man riding a bike.

Also, please enjoy the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight over on my Movie Mania Blog.

He was walking, a slow, unmotivated gait. He didn't remember how long he'd been walking nor did he care. The road stretched as far out before him as it did behind. He'd always been on this road. For a change, he stepped into the corn fields for a bit, a reprieve from the scorching sun. It smelled different in here, too many smells almost, fresh and alive, not like the road. After an eternity of endless walking, he stopped in the field for a rest. It was almost dark now and his eyes were adjusting slowly. He turned several times. Then giving up finding anywhere else to sleep, he laid down and was immediately out. The next morning, he awoke but there was no color in his world. It was another day of traveling down the road. He started again in the fields, back to his slow, dragging trot. Later that morning, a noise from the road awoke his senses. He ran out, but the car passed on by. His momentary hope flickered inside and then it was gone. That afternoon, the fields broke into a clearing. A family was enjoying a meal outdoors. He slowly approached, but upon seeing this stranger, they were wary. The mother protectively grabbed her children. The father offered a greeting, but he gave no reply. Yet, the father was kind and offered to share some of their food. He was unsure but ravenous and accepted the food with out question. Next, the son approached. He smiled and extended his hand. Then something happened that he had almost forgotten he was capable of. He wagged his tail.

Today, I wore my denim capris. They are comfy. They are relatively cute. In all respects, they appear to be a normal piece of clothing. Yet, the flaps on the back pockets have a mind of their own. They don't lay flat, they curl. They have been in this condition from the first time I washed my capris. I have tried to fold my capris so the flaps will lie flat. I have tried to tuck the flaps into the pockets so they will lie flat. I have even, shudder, ironed the flaps in an attempt to mitigate the curling. These attempts have proved futile. Alas, I am doomed to appear as though my butt is perennially trying to fly away, but always unsuccessful.

Tom and I have been hiding in our house all weekend and we finally finished Harry Potter. I must say it was the greatest, most satisfying book I've ever read. My emotions are all over the place at the moment. I was so glad to get through it before anyone ruined it or I read any more spoilers. Thankfully, the one I did accidentally read was comepletely false. Ah, I read it so fast though, that I must read it again soon, but I think I will try to read book six again before I do. What a crazy weekend.

This is Gidget. Our new kitty. She's a Serengeti, super long, super lean, with big ears, a long tail, extremely active, and goofy to boot. But we love her. And, yes, I stole her name from the movie. ;)

I cried in my office today because I couldn't go to Comic-con and see the Lost producers, or J.J. Abrams talk about Star Trek, or go to the preview of Prince Caspian or Wall*e, or meet with fellow Losties and Browncoats, or see Ray Bradbury, or all the other insanely awesome things you can do there. Yep, selfish (and partly hormonal, but we won't get into that). I hate it. Part of me thinks I am insane and part of me doesn't. Now, I dream about going off to film school, or trying out for On the Lot, or just going over to the quad cities tomorrow to try to be an extra in a film they're shooting there. But I won't, partly because I am wimp and partly because I know I have grownup type responsibilities, and who acutally does that stuff anyway. No skipping of life. Doesn't work, but it's fun to dream about.

Wow, man, just this one trailer is almost worth it to go to see Transformers. It's a totally unique marketing idea. It has no name. It's all filmed with hand held cameras. It super creepy. Think Lost people. I have tried to find the trailer again online and everywhere I have seen that it has been posted, it is now unavailable. Even more creepy. Rather than me blathering on. Check out this article. It says everything I would have, much better than I would have, and includes a link to a teaser website. J.J. Abrams rules. Geesh, Lost, Star Trek XI, and now this. He is crazy talented.

The way Drew Carey reacts at the end is the best part.

That's what was advertised on a blog with this first video, ya, I totally cried. However, the little girl didn't win. The second video is the guy who did win. He was a cell phone store employee and he could sing like this. Wow.

Technically, I am stealing the title to Trisha's novel but it plays here too. Tom, myself, Kyle, and Trisha went to Six Flags yesterday. We had a blast. There were a lot of people there, the waits on the roller coasters were not really too bad, but the waterpark was jam packed with people. Next time it's the middle of the week for us.

6:30 am. I roll out of bed with a sore throat because it was the first night we had the air conditioning on.

6:45 am. I successfully rouse Kyle, no easy feat mind you.

7 am. We leave. I forget my flip flops.

8 am. We pick up Trisha. Her sister is MIA and we hope not kidnapped or worse.

8:15 am. We get McDonalds. Tom whines that I made him wait so long to eat.

9:15 am. I am whining to use a restroom. Tom reminds me how I made him wait.

9:30 am. We stop at Dunkin Doughnuts. There's no soap and the hand dryer is possessed.

9:45 am. Libertyville is having a parade. Our way is blocked. We spend the next 20-30 mins trying to find our way through the maze that is Libertyville. We hate Libertyville. They have floating balloons in their parade. We wish the balloon handlers would maneuver their balloon into live power wires. We try to scare the horses. We spot Abe Lincoln.

10 am. The park opens.

10:15 am. We arrive at the park and are greeted with 7 lanes of people waiting to get in. Tom gets in the fastest lane. Go Tom. Tom moves out of the fastest lane. I whine that we're not in the fastest lane anymore. Tom gets annoyed with me. The security people stand helplessly. What use are they? Trisha's sister calls, she is not kidnapped.

10:30 am. We park, load up on sunscreen, and head toward the gate forgetting to look where we parked.

10:40 am. Kyle gets in line to buy a ticket. The rest of us get in the security lines to enter. Kyle magically appears in the park before us. He tells us he hopes to puke or maybe it was to see someone puke at some point. We laugh at his jest. We ooh and ahh over the sheer number of dippin dots stands.

11:30 am. We are on Superman: The Ride. The assent upwards is suprisingly fast. I have been on this ride before. The first loop you do is head first and is very disorienting. Tom is on the edge of the car. This is Trisha's favorite ride. This is Kyle's first roller coaster in a very long time. Here follows our dialog.

Lauren screaming: "I know what's happening. I know what's happening. It's head first. It's head first."

Tom violently leaning towards the center and screaming: "Woah, those poles are close!! Did you see that one?!?"

Kyle screaming obnoxiously: "AHHHHHH" "Whoahhhhhh" "Geeeeeeeez" "AHHHHHHH"

Trisha: Laughing so hard at all of us, she's crying.

Around Noon: We eat in a wonderfully air-conditioned expensive restaurant. Kyle loads up on wetnaps.

After Lunch: We decide to go on Raging Bull thinking it will be a long wait and our food will have time to digest. Within 15 mins, we are on Raging Bull. "Kyle, you might get to see someone puke now." The ride ascends, and ascends, and ascends, and ascends, and ascends...then pure joy, for this is my absolute favorite ride. Trisha and Tom are trying not to think of their stomachs and Kyle is acting out some bizarre fighter pilot scene only he can see. We exit the ride and find our picture. All of us are smiling except Kyle who is wide eyed and furiously clenching his teeth.

Next: We head to Batman. The wait is long because only one car is running. We have time to digest and let our stomachs settle. I keep my eyes closed and my head back during the ride and actually enjoy it this time. Most times I don't like Batman. Kyle observes aftwards how the rest of us look jostled a bit.

Around 3 pm. We change into our swimsuits. We realize we don't know where we parked and that I forgot my flip flops. We enter the filled to capacity hurricane harbor. We deposit our stuff on a beach chair. We get in line for the tornado. We decide against all four going at once and opt for two and two. We wait forever. We get our tubes. We watch others ride and decide our two and two plan is the best way not to flip over. We wait forever again. We get to the top. Trisha and I get on our tube. I end up going backwards the entire ride. We shoot down the slide into the vortex, go up one side until we are practially perpindicular to the ground, then shoot to the other side, then back and forth until we shoot out the end and I bail off like no other. What a fun ride but probably not worth all that waiting. Tom ends up going backwards the whole way too.

Next: We head for the lazy river, significantly short wait. We link our tubes together and enjoy the slowness. Tom pushes me into every waterfall, water jet possible. Kyle scrapes both his big toes on the ground and they bleed after. My tube is partially deflated and I keep sinking into it so it's just my head, arms, calves, and feet sticking out. I love that the lazy river is so long.

Next: We head for the water slides that look like flushing toilet bowls at the end. We again wait forever. Tom and I get on our tube. I am in front. We shoot down into the darkness then out into the bowl part. We spin and spin and spin around the bowl at least five times, manuver ourselves so we don't go out backwards. We hit the pool at the end. The tube buckles underneath me and I go down in a flurry of limbs. I feel one of Tom's legs barely scrape over the top of my head as he goes under too. We watch Trisha shoot out. Her tube performs a similar buckling manuver. We get yelled at by the life guard to move. We watch Kyle shoot out and gracefully glide in his tube across the pool.

Next: We head for the wave pool. We let ourselves get beaten by the waves for 15 minutes or so. Then decide that we're spent and thristy. We get Dippin Dots from the one stand out of a 1000 that is out of everything except large cups. I keep spilling mine and Tom's all over the table, myself.

Between 5 and 6: We leave the park. Trisha and I sleep the whole way back to DeKalb.

Around 8: We see Trisha's aparment/storage unit of others, change out of our swimsuits and decide after much deliberation to eat at Applebee's. We eat and relive the day's events.

9:30 pm. We leave DeKalb. Tom is tired but makes it to Rochelle, then I have to drive.

10:30 pm. We arrive back home. Tom goes to sleep. Kyle and I watch the last disk of Firefly until 2 am. Then we crash.

Please enjoy this Underdog cartoon. I especially like the part where it says "No smoking on the premises" and yet two of the characters are smoking.

Tom gave me a Nintendo Wii for our anniversary. I am never going to get any work done. (Insert Evil laugh here). Oh well.

Ah, the good old U.S.A. the world's melting pot. However, my melting pot is of a different kind. It's the fabulous fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot. Tom and I and Eric and Corryn dined there on Saturday to celebrate new jobs, new house and the like. I have been wanting to go there forever. It was amazing. The fondue pot was right at our booth and they sometimes made the fondue in front of us and sometimes brought it out. We went all out and got their "Big Night Out." We had a Cheddar cheese fondue as an appetizer with bread, veggies, apples to dip. Then our entree was lobster, two kinds of steak, shrimp, chicken, pot stickers and veggies that we cooked in a Caribbean spiced fondue plus like five different sauces. Then, of course, the piece de resistance, the dessert fondue which was white and milk chocolate mixed with a streak of Carmel. It was heavenly. Plus they gave us strawberries, bananas, pineapple, pound cake, cheesecake, and these awesome Oreo and graham cracker covered marshmallows to dip in it. Oh, wow, it was all soooo good. We spent two hours just eating. ;) And then two hours letting it digest while we watched Ocean's Thirteen at the AMC 30. I swear where we were sitting was like twice as tall as our house. It was insane. What a great night out!!

Today my job took me to Galena. What a beautiful drive. It doesn't really seem like you are in Illinois up there. Mounds (no mountians), hills, rough terrain, valleys. It's called the Driftless Zone, an area that last glaciation didn't touch. Blame the huge continental glaciers for making the rest of Illinois so freaking flat. It's also crazy that the Galena river used to be home to several 30 ft wide steamboats when today the river is barely 20 ft wide. Back in the day it was 350 ft wide. You can still see the large floodplain that's now grassy areas with paths and benches. Crazy. However, I got a whole work day to drive through the country eat lunch at Vinny's courtesy of work and get paid for doing it. ;)

Well, last week was crazy fun but I am sure glad it's over. Memorial Day weekend we were all over the place and then every night last week we drove 1.25 hours to rehearsal for Choral Dynamics and back again, then Fri, Sat, and Sun performances. I had a blast though. Wish I could do it again. We'll see if I am up to the craziness again.

Work is good. I had like 5 visits from law enforcement type people this afternoon and so got nothing done. I do have two interns to boss around though. (Insert evil laugh here). Thankfully, I get along real well with the one I have to share my office with . The other one is significantly older than us, seemingly a real nice guy, but a terrible communicator. Half the time I don't know what he is talking about or referring to, usually I can catch on to what people are trying to say, but not this fella. Plus, he mumbles. Great, that really helps with the communication.

What would the end of Lost be without a Lost party? Complete with my Darma Intiative Chili (again from last year) and, now serving, Darma Intiative marshmallows. We drove out to DeKalb to watch with fellow Losties. Loads of fun.

Here's some cool "Easter Eggs" and other info from the Finale, Through the Looking Glass.

Charlie is DEAD. He didn't swim out the porthole, although I think he could have.

The funeral parlor Jack visits, Hoffs/Drawlar, is actually an anagram of Flash Forward, sneaky. (Sorry, I typed Fast the first time). I loved that it was a flash forward instead of a flashback and that I figured it out just before it was revealed.



The newpaper clipping clearly indicates a MAN died. The name is hard to make out. J----- ---antham. Not a LOST name that we know of.



The looking glass station's symbol is a white rabbit, referencing Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.



And for those of you who missed it two weeks ago in The Man behind the Curtain (referencing The Wizard of Oz), here is a screen capture of invisible man, Jacob. The rumor is if you put your hand over his hair, his profile looks like John Locke.



Feburary 2008, that's how long we have to wait for the next episode. Geesh!!!!

I am so excited. After two years of missing it, I am going back to Cornersone!!! I will finally get to see Switchfoot and Trisha will finally get to experience it. I counted and even with missing two years, this will be my 9th year at Cstone. It's going to be great!!!

Random Cornerstone memories include:
Seeing a replica of the Mystery Machine van from Scooby Doo. In fact, I just saw one not too long ago in my new hometown. Bizarre.
Kids leapfrogging down a muddy hill.
Five Iron Frenzy.
The halfpipe.
Running into Jordan and Seth, friends from DeKalb, randomly at the main stage. Well, at the time I didn't really know Seth, but now I do.
Running into Jason and Barry from our High School when P.O.D. was playing late at night at the main stage with over 10,000 people, probably more.
Playing 20 questions in a tent out of the rain with random people.
Watching fireworks.
Hearing over 10,000 people eerily quiet during the P.O.D. concert when someone got hurt.
Not having to camp ever.
Stupid boyfriend Tom with a curfew making me leave early from a Five Iron show.

And finally, as tradition dictates, everyone wave to the Bushnell sign.

My brother graduates this weekend from SIU so it's road trip time to Carbondale. Plus, my college roommate Kim lives down there so my other roommate Trisha is coming with us and we all get to hang out again. Let's just say the last time the three of us were on a road trip, someone tried to stick half her body out my sunroof as we were passing a state police officer, I spilled Cherry Coke in Target, I tried to take a picture while driving of my car passing 100,000 and we have video documentation of all of this. Scary things could happen this weekend...

We spent an obscene amount of money today, however, not as obscene as I had prepared myself for and we actually came away with more than I thought we would get. When I say we, I mean Tom. He bought a huge toolbox today for work. If you would like to get an idea of what these things cost, here is a toolbox similar to what we bought. It is black however, with a nice stainless steel top. Yet we were lucky enough to buy it used (It's in GREAT condition though) and for considerably less than that price. Plus, a lot of tools to go in the nice toolbox. And I got to spend 3 hours looking at tools and toolboxes. What fun!

They promised new content in this fancy Pirate player and they finally delivered. Hence, it's back on top.

When you hear me talk about my job, it doesn't sound that fun, but I really do enjoy it. It's a little crazy, but at least I'm not bored. That has to be the worst thing. Tom is bored at his job and none to happy about it. Hopefully, it will pick up soon. Yet, next week will tell the true tale of my job. It's tax bill time. Yipee... angry citizens.. well at least I can shut my door. Apparently, I will also be getting interns soon. That should be interesting since one of them is supposed to share my small office with me. Hmm, I might have to retract this post soon...

Great little video combining Lost and Firefly. They even throw in music from Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. I wish I was that creative.

My boss is on vacation all this week, but forgot to tell me. Plus, someone just put in a big order for maps and I don't know how to charge them. Lovely...

This afternoon I am watching TV, I switch channels, the TV becomes silent and I hear.. music. It almost sounds like a cell phone ringing in another room except it's not anything that plays on our cell phones. It sounds circusy. Oh, wait, maybe it's outside, who would be playing that in their vehicle? I go to the window. I look outside. "Oh, my gosh!!! TOM!!!!!!! There's an ice cream truck outside on our street!!"

Ha, I live in a town with an ice cream truck. I could have cried, well, not really, but I was super excited. However, said spouse, shot down my giddiness by insisting we didn't need ice cream. Man...it was probably just as well. The driver would have probably thought I was insane, not to mention the neighbors. Way to save the rep honey. Ha, like that matters once they've met me anyway.

Geesh, you make two maps for the State's Attorney and you find out you will probably get subpoenaed for a trial. Like they need my "expert opinion." Ahhhh....

Another fun job task I got to do recently was order business cards. I am not really sure what I am going to do with 500 of them, but I got to pick out fun paper and ink colors. (wink, wink). Ok, maybe that's not all that exciting but it did allow me to walk outside on a gorgeous day. Yipee. On the embarrassing side, I almost took a head dive into the concrete this morning as I was getting out of my car. That was fun. Thankfully, no one was around to witness that. Stupid cuffed pants. This is seriously like the 3rd time I have tripped/fallen in these pants. One rather memorable fall occur ed outside Trisha's apartment in the parking lot. My heel got caught in the cuff and down I went, all my limbs flailing about. Ya, Trisha and Tom got to watch that lovely action. Lucky them.

Today at a meeting someone actually introduced themselves to me this way, well using their name. I really, really wanted to say "Uh, (insert said person's actual name here), was it? or is it Eric Stratton?" But I wimped out and didn't say it. It is after all only my 2nd week at my new job. He turned out to be a hoot and I think it wouldn't have mattered if I said it. (He did go to SIU after all, crazy Salukis). Plus, he took me and my boss out for lunch afterwards. But it was me and 3 guys and the conversation consisted of guns, shooting birds, shooting trap, and an occaisonal comment about our earlier meeting. Suprisingly, I was rather quiet at lunch.

Let's see, so far at work I have accidentally called other people in my office twice while trying to access my voicemail. One was the sheriff, oops. Darn, I can't think of anything else truely embarrassing I have done yet. My first week was really boring because I didn't have anything to do. Now I have some things to do, but I know there will be a lot more to do once I have been trained on some programs. I have some training next week but I don't know when the rest will be. I did help someone figure out a GIS problem. My first suggestion fixed his issues. Yeah, I helped. I also found out that I can wear jeans on Fridays. I love jeans. Happiness.

Ahh, there's nothing like a fresh boquet of stray shopping carts.

Well, here it is! As you tell, it is country-fied, at least that's what I am calling it. Yet, the layout fit our needs and the decor is actually fine because we really didn't have to do anything in terms of painting, hanging up curtains, etc. It even came with Christmas light, ok, we have to take those down. (Christmas lights in April..Ugh..Insert inside joke with Trisha here).


Here's our backyard to the alley. Our resident squirrel resides in the tree giving off shade in the picture.


In through the front door is our living room, complete with new couch. No more glacier effect couch for us. Plus then we didn't have to move either couch.


The living room from the opposite angle. (More blurry pictures and I can't blame it on Tom this time. We'll have to have our camera looked at).


A bedroom that I have turned into my music room.


Another view. As you can see we have yet to hang things on the wall. All in good time.


An empty room right now. It has a dopey border with toys around the wall. That room will be one of the first to get redone. I cut off the floor from the picture because there are empty boxes all over.


The Kitchen. You head into the living room by going out the right side of the picture past the frig which you can't see. It's really messy at the moment. With the whole sewer issue, I didn't do dishes for a while. My favorite features are below.


Isn't this an awesome light fixture?


The pantry is covered by a screen door which squeaks. Plus the whole floor is hardwood.


Our bedroom was built onto the back of the house. It is rather odd, but works.


Here's the finished room in the basement which will house our computer and right now has all of our unpacked boxes. Yes, those are still all full and you can only really see half of them.


This is the built in workbench in the unfinished part complete with grinder. I didn't get the rest because it's not very exciting at the moment. But hopefully we'll be able to set up our ping pong table as soon as there's enough room.

And, yes, we do have a bathroom but I didn't think you would want to see a picture of it, but it does have a claw foot tub, which is neat, but small to take a shower in. So I think the first thing we are going to do is finish the bathroom in the basement that some previous owner started. They even left the tub they were going to use. The garage is only one car, but there are lots of neat built in shelves, hangers, etc. Plus, there's an air compressor. The whole house has all sorts of crazy built in storage.

How cute is she?

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OK, I only picked out the weird ones. Try not to think less of me. And I love my friends and hope you think this funny and not embarassing.

To B and L from A:

Hi Buds! Happy Birthday to me. Today is my Birthday and I'm 15 yrs old! OH, I guess you already knew that. Duh to me...Guess what! I saw P in the Mall on Saturday about 4:45. (Right before me and K went to se Mr. Hollands Opus). He asked me why I wasn't with you guys. At first I thought that you all went and did something without me. Then I remembered that you were at the contest. Stupid P! Hello!.....I am scared of tornadoes...

To P from L: P, My mom saw this arm wrestling contest at the Town Tavern and asked me if I wanted to enter since I beat 3 guys. Want to come + watch?

To L from B and V: 10 Things V & B like about L 1. Very, very loyal 2. Beatles and Star Wars bud 3. Cuddly + loveable 4. Good Hugs 5. cool buffalo! 6. Manages to juggle a million things at once 7. Doesn't make fun of us for our bad singing, even though she has a fab voice 8. Great Smile 9. Movie Lover! 10. Knows the Lord (we saved the best for last!) Love, n hugs, B + V

To B and L from V: Dear B + L, (but not T) I miss you so much! My life in Spanish Will never be the same again. I am counting the seconds between our next meeting at lunch with vehemence (Not only 'cuz' I miss you but because I want food)...

To L from V: L, Wow 5 min. of silence God has heard my prayer. Everyone has been so loud in typing to day we are being punished...Some of the people in here are so annoying! B knows who. Yuck theres a combo of gum + corrections tape in my locker. eww...Bye Bye Fry Guy, V

Random scrap of paper: L- A person who doesn't wear shoes on his feet does not get corns + a person who wears shoes does not have dirty feet so all you people wear one shoe (Like this quote, V?) V- As long as there's not snow on the ground! L- That's true! Tell Ashley to ask God to do it for her. V- Okay, Ashley ask God to do it for her.

To B from L: Hey B, You are to weird you were cracking up in Biology. Right now you are flirting with JF. I sure hope not. Say it's not so! Good! P's mad. Oh well. He thinks I'm going to do something really bad to get revenge on him. We'll have to think of something good. Pretty boring over here. Test was pretty easy. Brandon looked some of them up for us. Everybody over here is nice. Erin gave me 2 gobstoppers + Becca gave me a piece of gum. Then Brandon gives me answers...Bye, L

To L from B and A: Dear L, B- We're at the Super Siter thing. It's lunch time. A-I never wrote a letter to you on a satruday before....B- Miss Holmes intitials are MH same as Mental Hospital. Coincidence I think not....

Tom, if it is possible, takes worse pictures than me. They are all blurry. Anyway, here are all my high school friends and their kiddies at Carolyn's 2nd birthday celebration. Back row: Me (with no kiddie), Brandy and Bethany, Becca and Jaydon.
Front Row: Angie and Trevor, Becca's two big kids, Micah and Chloe, and then Val and Carolyn, the birthday girl. Hopefully, one of my friends got a better picture than we did and will share although Tom took Brandy's pictures too. Sorry Brandy. Anyway, we had a blast. Even though, Tom fell asleep at one point, we still had a blast. Family updates, baby talk, reminiscing about high school, yellow legs, Steph's hair, Pierre the dummy, etc.

Anyway, we left around 11:15, took Becca and Jaydon home, grabbed a couple of things at my parents and headed home. Tom was driving. He was tired but we stopped at a rest stop on 74 so I could drive. Less than two minutes after I started driving, I get pulled over. Only, the 2nd time ever and on the same road too. Last time they "said" I was going 81 in a 65, but I know I wasn't going over 71. I didn't know at that time you could ask to see the radar gun, anyway, I just got a warning. This time, I knew I wasn't going too fast, at the most 70. They clocked me going 68, seriously, 68???? The cop was definately new, because he was more nervous than I was. I wasn't really that nervous because I knew I hadn't done anything. I usually get more nervous when I just pass a cop than I was last night. I was suprised at how relaxed I was. Apparently, they had been following us for a while, they said we were swerving a little and that it was "suspicious" that we only stopped for a short time at the rest stop. If Tom was swerving, it wasn't very much because I know we didn't hit the rumble strip. Anyway, Tom says I saved him from a ticket since they pulled me over instead of him. ;) Whatever, so a one hour drive took over two and we didn't get home until like 1:20 a.m. and then Tom had to get up 3.5 hours later and go to work. Poor husband.