Random Thoughts Vol.17

Hello Friends! Well, I've been blogging for a year now. Who knew? Certainly not me. Thanks for stopping by over the past year to check in on what is up with our family. I have lots of random thoughts going on, so I'll get to it.

I watched the inauguration yesterday and found myself tearful through much of it. It's a privilege to live in this country. I'm grateful for religious freedom. I'm grateful for checks and balances. I'm grateful that I don't have a hat like Aretha Franklin, but that she has the right to wear one. God bless the USA!

American Idol has started, but I haven't watched any of it. I don't usually watch the audition rounds. I wait until Hollywood week to start watching, and really kick in at the top 24 (which this year is a top 36 instead). I do, however, read the ew.com recaps of it, so I'm not completely out of the loop.

Tonight is a big night because LOST IS BACK!!! Since it's AWANA night, Ryan and I are going to dinner while the kids are gone, then we'll put them to bed and watch the premiere. I've kept myself as spoiler free as possible, so there's a good chance I won't be able to sleep tonight. I often mull over this show long after it's over. Unlike Heroes or 24, two other favorites of mine, Lost can truly mess with my head!

This weekend is WINTERFEST the big annual scrapbooking weekend I attend. This year I'll be rooming with Tina "I hope my bathing suit doesn't injure you" Green, Debbie "I just found out I have to work on Saturday" DeBoer, and Cheri "All I can think about is pie" Boudouris. I think what I love best about this weekend is that it's the most time each year that I spend just being me and taking care of me. I love my kids, but it's nice to not have to provide anything for them for 2.5 days. I'm looking forward to catching up my albums, having some great conversations, eating yummy food, and engaging in soul cleansing laughter.

Finally, on Monday we were at Target and I bought some little outfits on the clearance rack for our baby girl. I think I bought 3 things for like $7.50. I love sales! I'm so thankful that our contract was extended, otherwise it would be about to expire and we would be figuring out what to do next. God is good, and I love Him. Here are some pictures of the things I bought her.

Random Thoughts Vol. 10

Welcome to random thoughts, where the post lives up to its title. I'm having trouble realizing that the end of May is approaching, probably because it's been so cold here. I'm ready for warmer weather, but not the summer humidity. I can be as fickle as the weather, I suppose.

Behold the picture - a Cricut machine, which is what I received as a gift for Mother's Day. It's fabulous! I'm excited for the next time I have lots of pages to scrapbook so that I can use this little beauty. A nice bonus is that one of my friends also has the Cricut, and she has several different fonts that I can borrow and use with it. To that all I can say is, "Shazam!"

My American Idol thoughts are that I'm way more likely to buy a David Cook album in the future than a Little David album, so I guess it doesn't matter who wins. I think Cook has consistently been the best, and deserves to be declared the winner, but I think he'll do just fine without the title. I'll miss American Idol when it's over, mostly because I'll miss the fun videos done by EW.com.

Lost isn't on this week. The 2-hour finale is on next week. What in the world? How are the Oceanic 6 all going to end up rescued together since they are all separated? Is Claire dead? How can the island be moved? Is Ben one of the best characters ever, and is that actor one of the best as well? If the freighter blows up and takes Desmond and Jin out, I will not be happy, because Desmond is one of my favorite characters.

Tomorrow is our last day of school. We plan on spending our last day at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. We are all excited to go, and very excited to be finished with this school year. We've never been there, so I'll let you know my thoughts when I get back.

Random Thoughts Vol.6

Welcome to random thoughts, basically a purging of what is in my mind whether truly interesting or not. Don't you love the picture above? That would be my mouth, with my newly installed bottom braces. All I can say is that I truly hate them. My mouth is getting better - I only need wax on one side now instead of all the way across - but things are still very achy. Plus, I will occasionally spray saliva out of my mouth, which is just inconvenient. Oh well, as Ryan says, only 18 months to go!

You may have noticed that I didn't post my opinion on last week's
American Idol. The reason is that my mom always taught me if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. So, this once I will heed my mother's advice and only say that I hope this week is better.

As far as other television viewing, Lost continues to entertain and astound me. I'll miss it while it is off for a few weeks. Even though there have been a few flawed episodes, its worst is better than most that is on network tv. I've missed the last couple of episodes of Survivor, but since I read spoilers online, I usually know pretty much what will happen anyway. Our church is starting a new sermon series using Survivor as a theme, so there are cool Survivor decorations all around. Very fun! One show I find very fun to make fun of is America's Next Top Model. Ridiculous!

This weekend we finally bought a new refrigerator. The kids are more excited than Ryan and me! They are mostly excited about it having ice and water in the door. I'm excited because we bought our old one used when we moved into this house, so it had seen better days. I was finding it funny that Michael was so interested in how much the refrigerator cost. After we left the store, Michael asked Ryan how much it cost, and when Ryan told him, Michael asked, "How much money do you have left?" Then we had to explain the whole working for a living, saving money, blah, blah, blah. It is funny how their minds work!

While we were at Pokagon State Park last week, we stopped at the outlet mall in Fremont and as a family we picked out a snuggly blanket for our baby girl. It's one of those unguarded heart moments, but that's okay. I'm doing much better with that. I'm choosing faith, hope, and joy. Here's a picture of it. It says "butterfly kisses" on it, which reminds me of an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants, which makes me smile.

Random Thoughts Vol.5

Welcome to the weekend edition of random thoughts. I decided to post a few things before our family heads out to Pokagon State Park in Angola, IN for a few days. We are all excited about a few days away and a break from the routine. So, here are my random thoughts before I head out:

*Although I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised that David Hernandez was voted off of American Idol. I think several other contestants should be quite thankful to be still going in the competition (Ramiele, Syesha, Kristy). I'm also disappointed because they are doing Beatles week again. But, it's better than Gloria Estefan week.

*All I have to say about Lost is, what in the world is going on, and WHEN in the world is it happening????

*Today we finally painted Madison's bedroom. I think it's been over 2 years since we started talking about doing it. It's a small room, so it seems like it should be pretty simple, but there's always more to it than you expect. Ryan and I are both exhausted, but her room is done (well there's still finishing touches to do). It is now a wonderful shade of pink, and it makes me want to eat cotton candy.

Have a blessed Holy Week, and I'll check in when we get back.

Random Thoughts Vol. 4

Welcome again to random thoughts, occuring at a very early hour on a Monday. So, this version will probably be even more random than usual.

*It's officially Monday, March 10th, which means it's my mom's birthday. Happy 66th Birthday, Mom Deak. I'll probably call and tell her that since the chances of her even knowing what a blog is are very slim :)
*Our church had a big bowling party today, with about 180 people participating. All I can say is 7 is too many people to have bowl on one lane, especially when half of them are kids, and their bowling balls move down the lane at an inordinately slow speed. Regardless of this, a good time was had by all.
*American Idol is now down to the top 12 and for the most part I agree with those who made it there. As for last week's performances, Jason Castro and David Cook were my favorite guys. I still like Stripper Hernandez, but I didn't think he did the best last week. My favorite girl is Brooke. My least favorite fashion trend: high waisted pants with funky buttons. Please, someone help these people!
*Survivor has been pretty interesting so far. I'm not sure I needed to see Jonathon get his leg stitched up, but there have been lots of blindsides which are always interesting. But, I'm not sure I really care who wins. I probably have a bigger list of people that I don't want to see win than a list of those I want to win. I guess as far as this season goes, the glass is half empty for me.
*Lost continues to entertain and confound me. I guess this is the relationship many have with this show. Last week's episode wasn't the best, since it didn't really move the story along. But, Ryan and I both enjoy the insanity that is Benjamin Linus and the freaky actor who plays him (see above picture). For those who were watching all I have to say is, "YOUR MINE! Take all the time you need."

Random Thoughts Vol. 3

I had planned to post some random thoughts yesterday, Monday, but it just didn't get accomplished. So, here is the new Tuesday edition of Random Thoughts:

*I spent Friday and Saturday in Fort Wayne with my college roommate, Amy, and another college friend, Deanna. We try to get together once a year, and this year opted for the girls only outing instead of the entire family event. It was a very nice weekend, but it went way too fast.
*Since I was gone on Saturday, I missed Michael's basketball game, so I missed the first time he's scored a basket in a game. Despite not witnessing it, I was incredibly excited and proud.
*My favorite TV show, "Lost", continues to blow my mind. All I can say is that I hope my IQ is high enough to understand how this all works out. Crazy!
*I found out today my favorite American Idol contestant, David Hernandez, used to be a male stripper for males. I've decided to root for him anyway in hopes he can leave this past life behind him. But I will say, I'm not sure I'll watch his dance moves the same. Maybe I'll just listen. On a whole, I'm underwhelmed by the competition, and hoping for some people to have some break out performances soon. I'm not a big fan of the younger David - I'm sick of hearing how wonderful he is. The same thing happened with Melinda last year. I stopped wanting her to do well because I was tired of them fawning over her so much. My second favorite contestant is dred-head, guitar-playing, Jason Castro. I don't have a favorite girl contestant, but I do have favorites to leave, and at the top of that list is the rocker nurse.
*Sunday we watched the movie "Facing the Giants". I had actually purchased it a few weeks ago, but we finally had time to watch it. We had seen a couple of scenes from the movie during church, but this was the first time to watch the whole thing. I really enjoyed the movie and would highly recommend it. I was expecting a cheesiness that often accompanies "Christian" films, but there were only a few cheesy moments. So, if you're looking for a good, wholesome movie, appropriate for the whole family, I definitely recommend "Facing the Giants."

My Favorite Things - Vol. 1 - Lost Season 4

So, Ryan and I have watched the TV show "Lost" from the very first episode. We were hooked from the start. I have been known to listen to podcasts online featuring information from the writers/producers, as well as read message boards for theories. But, I have never posted a frame by frame analysis of what Mr. Eko saw in the black smoke monster, though I was grateful someone else did. "Lost" was the reason we bought a new VCR, since we had lost the remote to our old one and thus could not program the new ABC channel into it and had no way of recording the show (it is a "watch after the kids' bedtime" show). Anyway, the show has had it's highs (Hello, they took Walt off the raft!) and lows (what was up with the Jack's tatoos episode?) and we have hung in there. Even through the death of my favorite character, (I don't want to spoil past seasons too much, so HE will remain nameless), we have persevered. Well, I must say, that perserverance paid off last night. WOW! The new season premiere blew me away, and resurrected those feelings of seasons past when my mind races after it's over and I have trouble falling asleep. It was so intense at times, I felt like maybe I shouldn't watch. So many questions, I can't take it! So many questions, yet I want more! Let's hope the writer's strike gets settled soon so we can have more than 8 episodes this season, and won't have to watch shows like "My Dad can beat Your Dad."

Here's the web address for the entertainment weekly recap/analysis of last night's episode. You'll have to copy and paste, since I still can't get the blog to post links.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20175395,00.html