99 problems but a bird ain't one

Today my office celebrated a "Bird-free Work Zone for 99 Days" with a lunch out.

Who will win?

And can KW even feel good about trying to beat Breast Cancer Awareness Night??

So unexpected

Guess what we came home to Saturday night? A dead possum on our back patio. Gross. It looked basically like it just laid down in front of our steps and died. I'm glad it wasn't any closer to our steps because we probably would have stepped on it since it was dark. So we had to package it up and take it somewhere. Happy wedding night!

I went to a great wedding this weekend.

Good fortune

I thought this was a very appropriate fortune to receive on Saturday.

In other cat news

I also discovered that Porch Cat has a home. This is a cat that has been coming to my house off and on for about two years begging for food. She's long-haired, white, and I almost gave her away once. Turns out, she lives at a house a few down and to the back. And her name isn't Porch Cat, as I've been calling her. Surprise, I know. It's Charlie. Welp, glad she's not homeless.

Little Calico Lost update

I think I found a home for her. Yay!

I don't even need to fight for my right anymore

Last weekend was full of parties. Friday, there was a Communications party that I got to tag along to. We got there sort of for the tail end and then ended up (hopefully not over-) staying and catching up with CCD and Chris. Quite fun. Later that evening, we had an impromptu gathering with an official Professional Porch Sitters faction (in reality, I think we were crashing the party), and heard a first-hand account of Kathy Kasper's "healing," as well as KK's encounters with "a female presence." Delightful.

Saturday night was an engagement party of sorts organized by David and Reid. They took us out to River City Brewery, and then we had a party of Catch Phrase and YouTube. It was great fun. See pictures at the end of that and one amazing vehicle we found in Old Town.

Sunday, the fam partied it up for Pa's birthday. We did Fazoli's, went back to the house for freshly-made warm brownies topped with ice cream topped with freshly-made warm fudge sauce. Heavenly. And we also watched Envy, a movie that got horrible reviews but I liked it so much the first time I watched it a couple years ago that I bought it. Bastard bitch merry-go-round!

Monday was not a party. While many people would say their favorite thing about Labor Day is not having to work, I wouldn't. Because, oh right, I did have to work. I haven't had Labor Day off since high school. So my favorite thing about Labor Day was not having to feel guilty for not working out because the gym was closed. And we all know working out can only be done at the gym.

Party weekend is almost recurring this weekend. After work, I have a going away/pool/potluck party with gals from work. And on Sunday I have a Happy 90th! party. So if anyone wants to plan something for Saturday...

Little Calico Lost

This cat adopted our house (and anyone who comes close to her) last week. I've called the Humane Society to ask if anyone reported her missing but alas. It appears that she was just dumped by someone (she has two collars around her neck). I have named her Calico Lost. I don't have the heart to take her to the Humane Society, so if anyone knows of someone who wants a cat, let me know! She's the sweetest little thing, and takes to anyone it seems.

Cy's

We'd been hearing about it for probably over a year, and last night we finally went to Cy's Hoof N Horn in Sedgwick for steak night. It was actually classier than I was expecting, and the food was really good. Now to make it back sometime for $0.50 taco night on Mondays. If I do get back there, I'll have to remember my camera – there's a very sexual deer mount on the wall...

Ooo, look, it's me again

And here I am, once again. If it feels like I just posted, I did.

I had a most enjoyable week off from work. Yay! Although I was very productive, my mornings often reminded me of what summer used to be to me: wake up late and watch The Price is Right. It was beautiful. Two highlights from TPR: One day a Corvette was part of the Showcase Showdown, and a different day, a dude Jose bid $250,000 on his Showcase. Um, hello? Easy win for the other contestant with a bid of $1! Bob did talk him down from his initial bid to $60,000, but the other contestant still won with the good old $1 trick.

We're sitting at less than T-4 weeks to the most blessed event of the year. A few weeks ago I told one of my friends, "We've got a location, a pastor, a photographer, and the beer – what else do we need?" Well, we now have quite a bit more, including one important aspect (i.e., marriage license) and also rings, shirts & ties for male attendants, a suit, a dress that isn't screwed up, female attendant found her dress, musicians, rehearsal dinner location and menu, shoes for both of us, etc., etc. One day there will finally be no more on our To Do list. That day will be sometime on the wedding day, but you know. At least it's not too far away!

Yesterday we got a chance to help with one of the less glamorous parts of the planning. This is not a complaint (in fact, it was proved to be quite enjoyable working together with B), and I want to let it be known that B's parents have spent hours and hours working on these less glamorous parts. We got to help work on getting the algae out of the pond. This means getting into the pond with pitchforks, gathering it together, and hoisting it out onto a trailer on the shore. I'm sure I was a sight. I just wish we had some pictures!

. . . the good life: beatrice installment

I've been blessed to live the good life two weekends in a row now! Don't tell me you don't know what it means to live the good life! If you don't, please refer to Illustration #1.

This time, the good life was partaken of in Beatrice. It had been, I think, two years since the last time I visited the Thimm homestead. I had a great time catching up with Tine, watching entertaining movies, and eating oh-so-well (should I even admit that one breakfast I ate consisted of four pieces of french toast and 3.5 zweiback? um, probably not, but there you have it). We also visited the recently redone Homestead National Monument OF AMERICA!! In case Kathy ever wanders over here, I took a special picture just for her so she can see I immediately placed my HNMOA magnet in its proper place on my refrigerator (Illustration #4). I look smashing in this picture.

Time for some good ol' pre-dated entries

Well, I've been away for a while, so even though I'm posting several on one day, I'm gonna be tricky and mix it up with a little change-o-date-o. A common and sophisticated term for what I'm doing.

On Sunday, B's extended family had a lovely shower for me and were all way too generous with their gifting. It was a lot of fun, and his family is just so nice. Check out that beautiful spread of eats!

It is so. True.

Words of wisdom from a sheet about fitting/wearing men's suits:

Maintaining proper shirt sleeve length [out of the cuff of the suit jacket] is one of life's greatest challenges.

In somewhat reverse order

Last night was supposedly the peak of an awesome meteor shower, so we went out to watch. We saw some, but this "meteor" "shower" was not as spectacular as others I've seen. Still a lot of fun though.

I was in Omaha over the weekend for my cousin's wedding. Good times. Except when I started feeling sick at the reception.

And I finished the last Harry Potter this weekend! My review is that it was very good. My favorite line: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" It sort of gave me goosebumps.

And in unrelated news:

Here's what I have for you

Today was a great day for this reason: I saw three modmates!! What fun! Not enough time with any of them, of course, but still, how wonderful.

Frustration: Who would have guessed that an envelope fitting a half sheet of 8.5" x 11" is not a standard size?! We have spent over an hour (B more than I) separately trying to get at least one of two different printers to print on our envelopes. WTF? Neither Word nor printers are my friends. Put them together...what a nightmare.

[EDIT: I now officially hate the printers I have dealt with tonight. Especially for trashing more envelopes than printing on them.]

I wish I had time to even think about blogging

Did one of my neighbors mow my lawn?

I think, maybe, yes. Odd. But awesome too.

...

I feel like I need a new entry, but I'm not sure about what. I am so busy I can't even think of anything of interest. Perhaps this: My cat is going to be boarded at the vet while we're on vacation. I'm a little worried for her and feel sorry that she has to spend so much time in a cage. Of interest? That we'll be spending slightly more on our cats' lodging during this time than we will on ourselves most nights.

I went to California. Here are some pictures.

I was sent to a conference in San Jose last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. [All pictures can be enlarged by clicking or opening in a new tab.]

This is the pool at our hotel, which was the probably the nicest hotel I'll ever stay at in my life. The pool was saltwater and on the roof.




Here's my delegate table, which was great. We had a lot of Table 20 Spirit! And I really loved being a delegate.



Here's a group of [mostly] Bethel folk deep in a discussion about mythology and the Bible. I had so much fun with the other young alums.


At the end of the week, we all traveled to San Francisco for some touristy things. One of those was Alcatraz, which is inhabited by many seagulls. This mama seagull was feeding its babies. Feeding them another bird. Our youth pastor said, "That was their brother."


This gelato place in Chinatown had the most interesting flavors I'd ever encountered, including ginger root, toro (the meat the comes from the belly area of a tuna), avocado (pictured here), and Budweiser beer (sign pictured here). I really wanted to sample the Budweiser, but my "tact over truth" personality took over and I decided I didn't want to get any disapproving looks from the person right behind me.


A street in Chinatown, including a branch of my bank, Bank of the West. Too bad I didn't get the whole Chinese name in the photo. Now I won't be able to find my bank when I go to China.











Picked these dudes up in Chinatown.



















Good job, TSA. This is a display at the SF airport, most likely about items prohibited on airplanes. Not that I would know for sure because the display wasn't at all labeled. Items were just haphazardly thrown in as far as I can tell. Notice the dust marks indicating more items used to be in here. Upside down brochures. And if I were going to take poison on an airplane, that's exactly the kind of container I'd put it in. One that's clearly labeled "poison."








The thing I most wish I had a picture of and would have taken a picture of had we not been en route to a public transportation connection and had I not been pushing a stroller was a sign in front of a restaurant in Chinatown that read, "Special Shat in Chicken!"