I suppose it's about that time again . . .

I suppose that things are going on in my life but it always seems like nothing worth actually writing about.
We had a field trip on Friday so I drove the big 15 passenger van to Denver. We took the kids to McDonalds (talk about a production) and then to Hammond's Candy Factory to watch how candy gets made. Unfortunately I thought the tour was pretty boring. And if I was even bored I know the kids for sure were. One kid actually raised his hand (he's about 9) and asked the tour lady if we were actually going to see anything. I had to do everything I could to keep from laughing.
I guess the biggest news in my life right now is . . . drum roll please . . . I got my car back! It's all shiny and new looking!!! I was super excited about this! I was really tired of the rental car.
I went on a spending spree Friday. Well not really - it was really some money my mom just gave me for Christmas cause I didn't really get much in December. So I bought some new rollerblades and a fleece. So really nothing huge (like a certain Ms. Gentry . . . ) but still a big purchase for me. Anything over like $40 is a huge purchase for me!
My volunteering ends tomorrow. The class is 16 weeks long so I've been doing it for a while, but tomorrow is the end of the class. I might go ahead and help out with the next class too though depending on what day of the week it is and where it is. It's about 4 hours each night but it's not bad.
Last night we watched Boondock Saints and Panic Room. It was good to watch some movies that we have that I haven't watched in a while. There's a lot more I realized that I really want to re-watch.
I agree with Elizabeth. I've been in an up and down spiral of emotions these days as well. I've been on and off with crabby and pretty good and defensive and motivated. I don't know if that makes sense at all but that's how I feel.
Lucy is actually becoming my favorite hang out buddy recently. She actually started being good! Now that her hair is cut it's really soft and she likes to sit in laps and have someone pet her. It's great!
Well I better start getting ready for church and find my quarters for the Sunday morning paper. It's time to fall into my Sunday routine.
I miss you girls. I CAN'T wait to see some of you during spring break!

Tandem bikes, hairbrushes, the Cha Cha Slide, and lots of Tylenol

What a great weekend. Tons of activity but tons of fun as well.
Let's see we'll start with Thursday. Thursday Linds and I went out with Kaci and Scott for drinks at The Trailhead. We ended up going through 4 pitchers. I was a little tipsy I have to say. It was funny cause we left by 10:30 cause we were like wow it's late. Then I was thinking back to the Ville and how that used to be our time to finally start walking to the bars on Thursdays! I took a couple tylenol before going to work the next morning because I wasn't really feeling 100% to be running around with the kids all day!
Friday morning of course the roads and stuff are bad because it snowed Thursday night (luckily this is only like the 3rd time it's snowed here). So I went down to the car like 10 minutes early because I knew it would take longer. Well I get to the car and I realize that my ice scraper is actually in my real car and I have nothing in the rental car. So I try to just get the ice to melt but it's taking forever and I don't want to turn the car off and run back to the apartment and find something so I end up using the one thing I have: my hairbrush. I use the handle to release my wipers so I can finally get going before I'm really late. I'm sure I looked ridiculous!
During Show and Tell at work on Friday one of the kids brought a CD. So he was like playing his favorite songs and then he turns on the Cha Cha Slide and the kids are begging me to let them get up and do it. So I'm like ok as long as you keep good space and are appropriate I'll let you. So like 5 of them get up and do it and it was like the cutest thing ever. I wish I could have taped it. When it came to the Cha Cha part they all just rolled their shoulders around and walk foreward and backwards some. It was so funny!
Friday night we were gonna go out with one of Linds's friends but her friend wasn't feeling well. So Liz from work called and wanted to know if we wanted to go see a movie so we went to Pitchers and had a drink with her and her cousin Tammy and then went and saw Rumor Has It at the cheap theatre. It was OK but I wasn't a huge fan. The good thing was it only cost $3 to see it. It was a nice relaxing night though.
Saturday Liz and I decided to go to Tyler's birthday party (Tyler's our boss but really he's just like a co-worker - he works the floor and everything with us of course). He was turning 24 I think. So we went over to the house he shares with his girlfriend. It was bring your own drink so I brought a 6 pack of Bud Light (thinking I wouldn't even get through it - but more on that later). He had a potato bar. Liz and I didn't know what that meant until we got there. It meant that there were tater tots and all these different types of french fries and tons of ketchup. It was so funny. Especially if you know Tyler because he's totally into like organic stuff and tea and all that jazz and then here he is with all these french fries! So we drank there for a while during which thanks to Liz and Tyler's encouragement I finished my whole 6 pack and had 3 shots. During this Tyler has me and Liz and his friend Scott come outside and we all go on a bike ride for like 15 minutes. Tyler has not one but two tandem bikes (as well as 4 other bikes!). It was hilarious and a ton of fun. I actually ended up riding one of them with Tyler when we left to go to the bars. We went to two bars and continued to drink, played some shuffleboard, threw peanuts in each other's drinks, talked, and just had a ton of fun. I started getting really drunk a the end there though. It was good to come home and pass out.
One of Tyler's friends gave me his number and I had to laugh cause we had just been attacking each other with peanuts and I'd been putting handfulls in his cup. After he then gave me his number I had to laugh at how 3rd gradish the whole event seemed! I don't know if I'll be calling him or not but he was nice enough.
So the moral is I love my coworkers and I love Tylenol for making me feel better after torturing myself.

Quote of the Entry: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~Leo Buscaglia

I just thought you all might like to know that I"m drunk. I know you all like to update when you're drunk but I don't see how. I have already had to delete and retype like every word here so that I can get it spelled correctly. You all know I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So here's to you drunk up-daters. Way to get yourself trashed and type at the same time - you guys are my idols.
So anyways it's 11:00 on a school night. Yes I"m like a student. And I don't know what in heaven's name I'm doing up right now, so I'm off to bed. I cant' be up at such hours. The insanity of it all!
Well now my drunk high is turning into drunk sadness and I've had to retype just about every word and I'm famished - that's right FAMISHED - so I must go.
I miss you girls. I wish you could be here with me - and most importantly fix me a snack.

That's what I love about Sundays . . .

I love the peaceful feeling that comes from going to church and then coming back home, buying myself the Sunday newspaper, reading the church bulletin, and then having a little lunch. It's overall very pleasant. It also helps that Lucy Goosy (one of my multiple nicknames for her as well as Luce, Stinky, Princess, and stick-up-your-butt because she walks like that) is being pretty behaved this morning. She's chewing away on her rawhide. Granted she always has to do it on my feet - she's a little addicted to them and she always wants to chew her toys on my feet or lay on my feet while she chews them. Lindsay just thinks it's funny.
So last week I went to church with Linds to a church that she wanted to try out. It was a lot like her church at home. I always think it's interesting that they use like multi-media formats. Like they use big projectors with the words to the music and pictures and stuff like that. I was joking with her that the Catholic church would rather die than use something like that at a mass. However I'm afraid I must completely eat my words. I showed up at mass this morning and sure enough across half of the front of church was a big screen and projector. I almost passed out then and there. I overheard the two little old ladies in front of me talking about it:
Lady #1: What is that screen doing up there?
Lady #2: I don't know! (Said in complete and total shock)
Lady #1: Well I do NOT approve of that being there.
Lady #2: Still speechless in shock
It was really funny. That's the Catholic response that I expect. Anyways they used it for a couple songs and the homily. I'm pretty sure it was just a one time deal. But what are the odds that just last week I said it would never happen and then sure enough . . . .
I like the church I go to a lot, but I sure wish I still had Kris and my twin to go to church with. It gets a little lonely going alone.
On one last religious related theme: So these cartoons that are causing an uproar across all kinds of countries. What is up with that? I understand that they don't like Mohammed being made fun of or anything, but their actions seem rather severe to me. I mean you can be upset and disgusted and not read those papers anymore or even refuse to buy Danish goods but setting fire to places and making threats to kill all kinds of people is insanity. I don't know. I mean when it comes to Christianity, Jesus is made fun of probably once every 2 minutes, but if we responded like that every time we'd all be in jail. I think it's crazy that they think that killing and what not in the name of a god is OK. I mean yes Catholicism has done it as well back in the days of the Crusades, but I don't agree with that either. And I at least take comfort in the fact that they were a long time ago. I don't know - I just don't like their response or their actions at all. Now they're mad that the Danish government won't reprimand the newspaper. But the government is like Hello it's called free speech - we can't prosecute people over that. I did think it was funny that the article said this, "In a strongly worded statement, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Friday that, despite respect for the freedom of expression, the publication of cartoons that incite religious or ethnic hatreds is unacceptable." Because I don't think the US does that great at protecting it here. I mean I often see Jesus made fun of in cartoons and then things like that new show that's supposed to be on TV that has Jesus in it or whatever. I find that offensive as well but I think that people can just choose to ignore and worry about themselves. Anyways that's my rant about the current religious issues. I'm sure you all cared deeply.
On one other random side note we had a parade at work on Friday and it was one of the funniest things ever. It was to celebrate the Chinese New Years. The kids in Paula's class all wore shoeboxes that they had decorated with ribbon and beads and toilet paper rolls to turn into dragons. The kids in Wyne's class all made dragons out of construction paper and streamers. Then the kids each got a musical instrument and marched around the playground playing music and saying Happy New Years in Chinese. It was hilarious. I wish you all could have seen it. The staff was dying of laughter.
Well now I must get to finding some lunch I think. I know it's pretty early but that's what happens when you get up early.

Quote of the Entry:
"That's what I love about Sunday:
Sing along as the choir sways;
Every verse of Amazin' Grace,
And then we shake the Preacher's hand.
Go home into your blue jeans;
Have some chicken and some baked beans.
Pick a back yard football team,
Not do much of anything.
That's what I love about Sunday."
- "That's What I Love about Sundays" - Craig Morgan

I wanna see your grill - You wanna see my what?? - I love that part of the song!

The day turned around which is good news. We went with Creed and some of her Phi Sigma Pi friends to the tour at New Belgium Brewery. It was a great time. Even though AB will always be my favorite beer company I think New Belgium may very well be my second favorite. The tour was a lot of fun and then we got four free samples each. The first one I really liked. The second one was not so good. The third grew on me. The fourth was REALLY sour but I really liked it (They warn you in advance to sip it and tell you to save it for last!). I'd never be able to drink that much of something that sour though. Then we wrote these postcards to people because the brewery will send them out for free. Our tour guide was really funny and I think he really liked us because he brought us all each one free chocolate, a New Belgium sticker, and then a New Belgium bottle cap opener. No other tables were getting all this fun stuff! And one of Creed's friends had done the tour a couple times and never got anything like that. All in all a much better experience than I expected it would be.
Then Linds and I walked up to Sullivan's (the bar by our house) and ate dinner and had a beer (I went back to Bud Light though!) Linds had a coupon for buy one entree get one free. So we managed to get a drink, an appetizer, and an entree for $10 each. We were talking about Cancun and the things we liked and hated about the trip and how we'd really love to go on a trip with you guys (and some of you who didn't come last time) somewhere again. It's fun to travel with all of your friends. We also talked about Spring Break and if people come what we could do. (The New Belgium tour would definitely be on the list - Kate I bet you'd love it!) We also talked about diseases people can have and which would be the scariest but that was a little more of a downer than the other conversation.
Then we went out to Dairy Queen for ice cream about an hour ago. It was quite tasty. We talked about the kids I babysit for and what not and then there were these kids running around the DQ being really obnoxious and we were talking about what types of kids we will NOT have.
Anyways I'm much happier currently than this morning. Now I think either a move or reading before bed.

Quote of the Entry:
"Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten"
- "Unwritten" - Natasha Bedingfield

I miss my dad. And St. Louis. And my brother. And peace and quiet. I'm feeling very overwhelmed currently and if it weren't for my coworker Liz (who is so nice and I love to talk to) and having some time to read I think I'd go off the deep end.