Staying Busy Before School Starts

I came by the old house to pick up an extra old computer for parts and an extra mini fridge for my classroom this year.  Mom and dad got Liza one while she was in the dorms, but now that she has an apartment (with a full-size fridge and such) I get to use it!  It's weird going to the "old house" now.  My parents bought basically all new (well, craigslist slightly used) furniture for the new house, so the old house is still furnished.  It just looks kind of abandoned.  The construction is progressing though.  Here is a picture of how it looked today.

I decided on my way driving over that I wanted to surprise my mom with lunch because she seemed kind of down and a little overwhelmed after her first day of school. (I've had experience with this.) I had originally planned to work on my classroom a little more, but I realized once school starts I won't be able to do things like this.

Chris, my younger brother (I can't say "little" anymore) was at the old house packing up his room into storage containers because he'll be away for the next 2 years on his mission.  He helped me out by putting the mini fridge in my car (hopefully I can get it out).  We had some downtime before lunch time, so we hung out and talked.  He packed boxes while I cleaned out the refrigerator. (The big one in the kitchen that was empty of food, but full of crumbs and spills.) We still had a while before we were going to pick up lunch, so I took out some old boxes with pictures.

I found all of these treasures!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE pictures!

This picture of my parents was taken on my birthday... just 9 years before I was born.

 This is a picture of my parents at what looks like an engagement party, although it was referred to as a candle lighting party or something like that.  They look so skinny!

 These are two of my parents' engagement photos.  Nice pants dad!

I remember looking at this picture when I was a kid.  My dad painted the ceiling in an attic of a house like this for my mom when they were dating.

Kate in a Halloween costume and Heather in a pageant gown.

Finally this is a picture of the "old" house (same as pictured above) about 2 additions ago.

This is a picture of my sister, Bekah, and I that was put on the front of a Girl Scout Pamphlet.  I didn't know that it existed, but now that I think about it I do remember some sort of photo session at this weird Girl Scout store. 

While we were talking, I decided that I wanted to bring lunch to both Shelly and Johnny as well as to my mom.  We both jumped in the car and headed over to Subway to get lunch.  Somewhere in my mind I pictured walking up to the offices of the schools saying, "I'm bringing lunch to my brother/sister." and that they would just send me to their room or to the cafeteria to hand it over to them. 

Johnny's school buzzed him down to the office and he thought he was in trouble.  Shelly's school is run like a prison and they would not even let me get within 10 feet of the cafeteria with "outside food."  This teacher hallway monitor reamed me out for even trying to go to the cafeteria.  I was expecting something like, "Oh, that's sweet that you're bringing your sister lunch!  Walk right in!"  

What I got was:

Mean Teacher - "MISS, Where are you headed?!"  

Me - "Um, to drop off lunch for my little sister in the cafeteria.  I already checked in with the office." 

MT - "WHY?"

Me -  "I thought it would be a nice surprise for her first week back to school."

MT - "NO OUTSIDE FOOD!  You need to stand in the office and WAIT for her to come out." 

Me - "Well, they buzzed her 10 minutes ago and I don't think she can hear in there."

MT - "Well, YOU CAN'T go in the cafeteria!  So WAIT in the OFFICE!"

Another teacher that happened to be in the office and saw my obvious frustration was nice enough to try to locate her in the cafeteria just in enough time for the ending lunch bell to ring.  I understand trying to be safe and secure, but that teacher was just rude.  We stood there and watched her yell at students the whole lunch block while we, "waited in the office." 

We were actually able to get visitor passes at the elementary school where my mom works and ate with her in her classroom.  Her room is really coming together.  We also got to meet her class as they were leaving the cafeteria.  It kind of got me excited about starting school again this year.

Visiting Grandma

Doug's little sisters, Katie and Allie, are out here visiting us from Utah for a little over a week this summer.  I decided to go with them out to West Virginia to stay at Grandma's house this week.  It's quiet out at grandma's house and there's not too much to do in the small town that she lives in, but we've found ways to stay busy.

Leslie, Doug's aunt, was visiting grandma as well so we got to hang out with her a little bit.  I think Allie and her became BFF's the two overlap days that we got to spend with her before she headed back home.  Here are some pictures of Leslie doing Allie's nails.

We went to the local library and checked out some books.  I sat down in the children's section reading Sharon Creech's book, Finding Redbird. Allie started up a conversation with a little boy the same age as her in the library and before you knew it they were best friends playing a game of Monopoly.  I got Katie started on Walk Two Moons, one of Sharon Creech's books as well which happens to be one of my my favorites. Doesn't she look so studious in this picture of her reading!

Then later in the day while Grandma and Katie went to the grocery store, Allie and I decided to go to the playground at a nearby elementary school.  I was able to snap some pictures of her hamming it up there.

I love this picture to the right.  It reminds of me of Doug's face when he sings to the Rick Roll song in the car.  If you don't know about the internet phenomenon of "being Rick Roll'd" click here.  Allie decided that she wanted a shot of me as well, so here is a picture of the all natural, unplucked, unbrushed, no make-up, air dried hair... Jenny as photographed by an 8 year old.  (She didn't do a bad job!)

We then came home for our nightly ritual of sitting of the porch while eating some yummy icecream cones and counting bats as it gets dark.  Grandma needed to water her front plants, so her and Allie had a little  unexpected fun with the water hose.  It started with, "Grandma, can I wet my hair down a little bit?"

You may ask, "Where was Katie during all of this?"  She decided to take Leslie's advice on "the best nap ever" which occurs on the front porch swing at Grandma's house.

Grandma also is teaching me how to knit.  I'm starting out with a scarf.  I think we'll be going to the knitting group tomorrow so I can show everyone my newly obtained mad knitting skills.

Below is the start of my FIRST EVER knitting project.  It started out a little rough at first, but I've started to get the hang of it now.  I don't think I'll be knitting any sweaters anytime soon though.

Ramen Ripoff??

Those of you that know me personally, know that I LOVE Ramen noodles, like A LOT.  Many people told me that this "phase" would end.  They told me, "After you eat them every day in college, you'll start hating them."

It hasn't happened, not yet... not EVER.

My favorite is Chicken flavor.  If I want to switch things up a bit, Cajun Chicken flavor.  I used to follow the directions on the bag and cook it in the broth, but now I boil the noodles, drain the water, and then put the seasoning on the noodles.  When I'm traveling, I'll usually bring a Cup O' Noodles for the plane ride and ask the flight attendant for some hot water. 

Well, I stumbled upon something VERY unsettling today.

Captioned: Cup O Noodles is ripping us off!

I didn't want to believe it.  I knew that there HAD to be a reason for this!  Upon further investigation, I discovered the following:

The "secret" to the Cup O Noodles and the explanation for that space

if you want to skip ahead is at 5:26 on the movie.

All is right in the world once again.  Hmm... I think I feel like having some Ramen about right now!

Really REALLY Old Books

We've been going through all kinds of stuff in the house while moving and came across these...

These are some really old books that my dad picked up in Germany while serving his church mission there in the 70's.  He has had about 20 or so of them on the tallest shelf of our library ever since I can remember.  He told me the story of them while I there this past week.

There was this older lady that Dad and his missionary companion were either visiting with or staying with (I can't remember).  Apparently in Germany once you're past a certain age your children can take over your estate.  She was going to be getting to that age soon and I guess there were some issues with her children being rotten or something.  She knew that they were going to sell her house from under her and she didn't want them to get these books.  They were from her late husbands' prized collection.  She told my dad and his missionary companion that they could take whatever they wanted.  So, my dad, with the little money he had, fit a bunch of these small books into a box and shipped them to his mother in Montana.  They were waiting for him at home when he returned.

Coolness Factor... These books are over 200 years old!  They're also in super awesome condition. 

Moving Date / RIP Front Stoop

Last week, while Doug was in Vegas, my Dad, Liza, and Chris all went to Montana for a family reunion leaving Mom and Shelly at home and Johnny at Scout Camp.  My parents have been great about buying furniture for the house, but they hadn't actually moved any of their own stuff in yet. 

Starting last week on Tuesday, I went over each morning and just started putting things into boxes.  I didn't ask anyone, I didn't tell them I was doing it, I just did it.  My favorite was when I went into Shelly's room and completely emptied her whole dresser into a box in front of her eyes and then just walked out with it.  Eventually, Mom and Shelly started helping as well and we got a lot done.  "Operation Move Family" was mostly a success with about 5-6 VERY full van loads of stuff going to the new house.  This included most of the kitchen, the contents of the china cupboard, the board games and puzzles, Shelly's room, and most of mom's clothes. (Pictures of the closet, which is already full and the size of a small bedroom, will follow.)

Tuesday night this week, I was at Mom's and Dad's "old house" to drop off some car keys that accidentally made it into my purse during moving stuff.  The contractor that is going to be excavating the front yard for the new addition stopped by to drop off one of those CAT machines in the front yard.  We had to move some cars and the contractor exclaimed, "I must be here for the family reunion!"  We just laughed and told him that the house is always this way.

We were all sitting/standing on the front porch (well, what is left of the front porch) and just like that heard Dad announce, "We are moving into the new house by this Saturday!"

So now THEY HAVE AN OFFICIAL MOVING DATE - Saturday, August 7th.

Wednesday afternoon, I stopped by to get some stuff for Activity Day Girls and pulled up to this.  Good thing no one is living at our neighbor's house because that means we can park in their driveway!

They even removed the stoop to the front door!  This is a picture of me at maybe 6 years old standing on the front stoop (that actually is the same house behind me).  I can't believe it's gone.  A part of me (the completely irrational, nostalgic part) wants to take that concrete slab home. :(

 

This is a picture standing at the front door and looking down.  I think that's about a 10 foot drop!

We were all standing at the door watching the contractor dig the hole when Johnny exclaims, "It's just like a video game guys!" :)  We laughed at him and as he was walking away he said, "At least I don't have to mow the front lawn anymore!" Johnny's starting to become funny and a little less obnoxious in his old age.

  
Ross, Liza boyfriend, is in town now.  He helped Liza get her drivers license. (Third time's the charm, Liza! )  She's very proud of it...

He's also getting extra boyfriend points by helping to fix the Elantra (FREE car from mom and dad) so Liza can take it to college with her.  Last week, the check engine light on the turned on just as I was driving back from helping my mom get the inspection on it.  So he's doing some transmission/spark plugs stuff.  I'm pretty sure he has some background in airplane mechanics.

Stuck at Home

Last week, Doug was in Vegas for a conference for work and I was stuck at home.

They DO have slot machines at the airport!

He was staying in the Bellagio and I was stuck at home.

 The famous Bellagio Hotel in Vegas.

The view from Doug's hotel room.

Some pictures from the inside of his room... *sniffle*

 He got his picture taken with one of the top 5 famous hackers, Kevin Mitnik and I was stuck at home.

The guy NEVER takes pictures with people, but the way Doug was able to get a picture with him is a funny story.  Kevin Mitnik had just finished a presentation in which he gave tips on social engineering.  One being, "If you want something from someone, start with something really BIG and then ask for something smaller."  Doug approached him afterward and asked, "Will you be the father of my first-born son?!" in which he responded, "Uh, No." Then Doug asked, "Well, can I get a picture with you?"  He laughed and said, "Sure!"  No one else got pictures with him. :)

He was watching awesome presenters on social engineering, hacking ATM machines, and cyber warfare and I was... well you get the picture.  (Those are linked to some awesome articles that were written about the convention.)

I was a little bitter that I didn't get to go to Vegas with Doug, (Can you tell?) but I'm happy that he's home now and I'm not stuck at home alone anymore

Garden (Year 2)

Our garden this year is not doing nearly as well as it did last year, but it's still growing stuff.  Mostly weeds, but there are a few vegetables here and there.  Having it at my parents' house (the old one) makes it challenging for us to give it the care it needs.  We're only there on (most) weekends, so sadly it gets pretty neglected.  Maybe one day we'll have a yard that's big enough for a full fledged garden, but for right now, my parents' yard works just fine.

This year we're growing...

 Peas...  This is, surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the garden.  I've never even liked peas (like EVER).  In fact, I used to hide them under the ledge of the table growing up.  That's because they were frozen (or even worse, canned).  Now I that we have peas fresh out of the garden, I LOVE them!

Strawberries... My absolute favorite fruit, but they were small and sadly sort of disappointing.  We were away from our garden so often, the bugs ate more strawberries than we did. 

Corn...  Although the reason I took a picture of this corn is because we're pretty sure this corn ate another corn.  You can see the tassel from another corn sticking out the top.  Our other corn wasn't as cool as this one.

New to our garden this year were pumpkins.  We didn't expect them to take over things like they did.  My little brother kept on having to move the vines out of the yard because it kept on escaping the grow boxes.  It tried to strangle our corn as well.  This is how a pumpkin begins. (We'll before this, it was a seed, but I didn't take a picture of that.)

This was our HUGE pumpkin this year.  You can see Doug comparing one of our tomatoes (Oh, and we're still growing tomatoes and peppers in our garden as well.) to it.  All of the leaves/vines around Doug are from ONE pumpkin plant.  The actually base of the plant is about 5 feet to the left of where Doug is standing in the picture. 

It turned orange a little early (well WAY too early), so Doug picked it so the bugs wouldn't get to it.  I wanted him to wait to see if it would grow big enough for Cinderella to fit inside, but Doug never listens to me!

Here it is coming home with us.  I figured we didn't need a booster seat because it weighs 70 pounds.  Yep, 70 pounds!  I can barely lift the sucker.