“Why didn’t you just go to the parties?” I hear some of you ask, to which I answer, “Social Avoidance Syndrome.” Going to a social event is akin to punishment for me. Uncomfortableness, fidgeting, and the-mumbling-of-stupid-things-followed-by-awkward-silence are the main symptoms of my attending social functions, so I prefer to just not go.

Most of his parties synced up with places I wanted to go (Kohl’s, Southpointe Mall), but one was in the middle of town where there are no stores. It was, however, close to the zoo, which has some gardens all around. We have lived here….. 17 years? and I have never gone here. It was beautiful!

I was only there about a half-hour, but I took a ton of photos.

I walked through all the roses and flowers. They had several statues and nice benches to relax on. At one of the bench areas I looked over and there was a labyrinth! I walked it.

There is a big fountain thing that looks like buildings with water spewing from the top. Two girls had just ridden their bikes there and looked at me cautiously. I said, “You’re going to put your feet in there, aren’t you? It’s hot today.” What do I care? It’s the cops’ job to keep their feet out.

Walking back I saw a giant bicycle sculpture. Lincoln has art-inspired bicycles all over town, similar to the cows in Chicago, but this one was different. I went over to explore.

Hey! It’s a pic-a-nic spot! With a place for three friends to park their bikes and sit for a spell.

And also to plan their next place to go. This is the tabletop:

I have more photos, but I’ll stop now. This would be a nice spot to visit on a warm (not hot and muggy) spring/summer day. (*cough* Lloyd *cough* hint *cough*)

Bliss. Bliss, I say.

I love it! It really works, and I’ve even got the preschoolers doing it, though we’re more ‘flick’ instead of ‘shake’, plus their hands are very tiny.

At school today we set up a low table on the concrete (A tabletop on some blocks) with some toys for the kids. While I was at the door waiting for a child to finish in the bathroom, Emma (a young four) was at the little table and started screaming bloody murder, and by the frozen way she was holding her arm, I thought, “NO! Her hand is pinned under the tabletop! Crushed bones! Crushed bones!”

I couldn’t leave the door and frantically shouted to other staff to please go help her. Donna did, and walked her over to me, saying something quietly that I completely missed in the panic. (I found out later.) Emma was still holding her arm stiffly and I said, “Where does it hurt?” She vaguely pointed, which I thought was weird, so I had her go and get a paper towel (the first step in preschool first aid). She returned holding the towel in her hand. I again inquired where it hurt and she replied in terror, “It’s still there.”

She pointed at the ladybug on her shoulder. (That’s what Donna had said. I missed it.)

Good grief. I thought she was dying.

I put the ladybug on her paper towel and told her, “There! Now you can take him outside and shake him onto a plant where he’ll be happy.” Instead she took him back over to the table where he watched her play.

Later in the day one of the aides was reading a story about animals and Emma piped up, “Ladybugs are very nice.”

What a one-eighty.

Our own situation was a little less great – at least at the start.

I met Lloyd at the parking garage and as we happily walked to Applebee’s I said, “Do you have the tickets or is someone bringing them?”

We stopped walking.

Lloyd looked ashen.

Lloyd (quietly): “I think they’re at home.”

Lauren: (gales of laughter) Seriously?

Lloyd called somebody at school to see if perhaps they had been left in his mailbox. I took a photo, because I love to document trouble.

After he hung up he said, “I’ll start driving to Seward. You go to the Lied and check at the box office to see if they can re-issue them or something. Stop laughing.”

So he did, and I did. I walked up to the lady at the box office and said, “I am about to ask you the dumbest question ever.” I told her my sob story and she said it was no problem at all, even though they were not purchased under our name. People in Nebraska are very nice.

The best part is that we made it to Applebee’s. We ordered an appetizer sampler and dessert right away! Woo-hoo for being grown-ups! If there would have been a package of licorice on the menu we would have ordered that, too.

Oh, Red Green was very funny, by the way. None of my photos turned out, though. Dang it!

I went upstairs to get some photos of the ceiling…..

but there was a cat in the way.

Yes (hanging head in shame), I spent a good 5-10 minutes taking pictures of a stupid cat.

Ho, boy. Sign me up for the crazy cat lady nut house.

I hope they have pudding.

Anyway, I made some chicken-and-rice thing where the last step was to turn off the heat and leave it covered for five minutes.

Sooooo….. if you leave it covered for longer than five minutes – say, fifteen? – the moisture and the air (that has now contracted) inside will create a vacuum between the pan and lid, and you will be trying to pry it off like an idiot. Eventually you will think about heating up the air inside – which is the right thing to do – but you will scorch your rice.

Way to go, you. Shoulda just had peanut butter.

However, I feel my own Mom is the best, and I’m not just saying that because she has cancer. Yep. She has recently been diagnosed with Myeloma, so any prayers that her medicine would work and she not develop blood clots would be the very best present she could receive. (I know she’s not your mom, but I also know that you are very nice people. ) She’s pretty amazing about it, though – awfully positive!

We love you, Moms.

(I’m having iPhoto problems right now or there would be a picture with this.)

Lloyd had a dinner to go to in Lincoln so I went to the Runza drive-thru and sat there for.eh.ver while the car ahead of me waited for their order to arrive. (They must have had some specialty items. “A large order of french fries made out of only long fries, please. Nor shorties or I’m not paying.”‘

Then I pulled over because a large flock of big hawk/raven/death birds were circling, and if it was a harbinger of doom, I wanted a photo.

Then there was traffic, so I overshot my regular turn and came to the house from the north. If I had gone the normal way I would have missed the broken branch from the tree in the ‘park’ by our house.

I think carpenter ants and some random gust of wind are to blame. I went over to take pictures, and some neighbors got out of their car and we started talking about how lucky they were that they weren’t parked there when it happened.

Then P.B. walked up.

What the what?

I looked at her, did a double-take and said, “I… I think that’s my cat,” which must have made me sound drunk, then I scooped her up and walked back to the house. Apparently she got out when Lloyd left the house this morning, and no amount of coaxing would get her back inside.

Well, 13 hours did it. I’m glad she didn’t r-u-n-n-o-f-t.

As I write this, I have just gotten up to get a drink of water, and I’m going back to the couch.

What recharges your batteries?

Lauren out.

When the ice maker is broken and you can’t get the wire switch-thingy back in its spot, it’s a little white circle about half an inch in and two inches down. Feel for it with your finger, try to thread the wire end into it, try again, try again, and when you start cursing, have Lloyd fix it.

Oh, next year when you make the DVDs for the children, first movie is by dragging the child’s iPhoto folder into the box on the right. You forget that every year.

I think that’s it for now. Over and out.

Back when I was a youngster in Colorado, we learned that if you are driving toward a stop sign but across the street from you at the other stop sign is a driver sitting there waiting to turn left, you would let him/her go first because that is the right thing to do law and you are not some ‘I gotta go first’ jerk. It made me crazy because here in Nebraska that man/lady would try to wave me through with an irritated look and I would yell inside my car, “GO! You were there first!” I have thought several times about writing a grumpy letter to the editor about it.

Well, someone else wrote a letter. To tell me that – gulp – I am wrong. (Oh, how it pains me to say those words.)

It turns out that ‘left goes last’ is the law in this state! That is insane!!! Who do I write to to change this craziness?

Why Princess Batman? The question is, “Why not Princess Batman?” I only pray that she never gets lost, because I will look like a lunatic calling for her. (I call her P.B., but Lloyd insists on her full title.)

Speaking of all of this, Lloyd loves her.

In fact, from the first night I brought her home and through all the days when I was still on the fence, you could see his determination to love this awful cat. I think he may have missed the cats more than I have. (I was only ever in ‘grieve’ mode, not ‘get another cat’ mode.) Despite the fact that she has made a few messes.

She still likes to attack him, but it’s become more playful as she realizes that we are not rivals for her food or shelter. After my family left we let her go upstairs (Rachel is allergic to cats) and as she thundered down the stairs Lloyd smiled and said (not looking up from the computer), “That’s what I’ve missed.”

You’re welcome, Lloyd.

Peel off the middle,

turn out the ends,

and viola’!

A TIE fighter!

There is no good way to tell this story without either 1) sounding like I’m tooting my own horn, or 2) telling the truth and making it seem like I am fishing for compliments.

I got an award.

Back in December I got a telephone call from Concordia University’s president on the day before my birthday. He said, “Congratulations on this momentous occasion!” and I said, “Thanks! How did you know it was my birthday?” He then went on to say that I was going to be the recipient of Concordia’s Master Educator Award at May’s graduation. All the blood drained from my body and I believe I muttered ‘….thanks’.
I don’t know – it’s all a blur.

It took quite some time to come to grips with it. There were many reasons this bothered me – most of them revolving around how I had had one of my most difficult years with several screw-ups on my part that made me feel like a complete rookie, plus the fact that when the bio form came to complete, it had a whole page of ‘tell us your community & church involvements, and any publications you have (and – I kid you not:) if too numerous, just list the most important ones‘. I had a tearful night when I told Lloyd that this just held up a mirror to what a lazy hermit I am.

Anyway, I’m over that now. I practiced just saying ‘Thank you’ and not trying to explain all my shortcomings, because honestly – nobody cares.

Oh, I also didn’t tell anyone about this. My thoughts were that we’d just get through the event and then I’d go shopping after graduation. When it was time to RSVP for the pre-graduation meal, I responded that it would just be me and Lloyd. Lloyd said, “Are you sure you don’t want to talk to your parents?” The guilt got me, so on Easter I called and said, “Happy Easter! (OhbythewayI’mgettinganawardandit’snobigdealandyoudon’thavetocome.)” Mom said, “Errrr, we already know and were planning on surprising you.” Apparently Beth had called by brother Mark and ratted me out. All is forgiven, Beth – I was glad to see my family.

Annette (here with SIL Rachel) was my host and nominator. I guess we could say this was all her fault doing.

The staff at the CDC, who really are the ones who deserve this award because they are truly the best people on earth to work with, threw a surprise party for me last week with most excellent, appropriate presents!

So anyway, it’s all done now. I sat as still as possible up on stage, accepted the plaque when it was time, and didn’t even fall down once! For that alone, I should get another award.

Lloyd here now with with a few other photos (posted without Lauren’s permission)

(Lauren doesn't know I"m posting this. Click to enlarge)

There’s some other stuff going on this weekend, but I’m saving it all for tomorrow’s post. What I really want to talk about now is how this year I remembered that May the 4th is Star Wars Day!!

I found out about it last year…. on the 5th, and was very bummed that I didn’t know. So this year I’ve been waiting, trying to remember that it was the day after the Wait Wait taping.

The most important thing was to make sure Lloyd wore his Darth Vader tie to school. He remembered. Shwhew. (That is my sound of relief.) I do not have a picture of him wearing it, dang it.

Today at school lots of people were absent, so I didn’t have any children for nearly an hour. There was enough time to quickly make a couple of signs for the front door.

Of course, the ‘Star Wars’ emphasis lost it’s focus later in the day, but there was enough time to train a little boy to learn to draw Darth Vader – a very important life skill, in my opinion.

So, happy Cinco de Mayo!

1) Back in the fall I made a donation to NPR because the prize was two tickets to a May 3rd taping of their news quiz show, “Wait! Wait! Don’t tell me!” Listening to it is one of the few ways I get my news.

2) Due to some schedule changes at school, I’m opening the Center for a while, and am getting to work at 5:50 a.m. It’s very peaceful and nice and I actually like it quite a bit, but I do have to get to bed by an early hour or I’m a little cranky. (Well, I’m cranky for lots of reasons, but lack of sleep is one.)

3) Remember when I was having trouble sleeping, and the only thing that was helping was listening to Alec Baldwin’s podcast? Well, the episode I listened to each night was an interview with Dick Cavett. It knocked me right out.

Ok, we’re up to speed.

So this evening I drove into Lincoln to meet Lloyd for dinner and go to this taping. He has a cold, and I had already told him that we didn’t need to stay long – I just wanted to say that we were there. It didn’t start until 7:30, which is now an hour before my new bedtime. A taping lasts 90 minutes, but they got started late, and there’s some “We’re so pleased to be taping in Lincoln, Nebraska” intro that went on for some time, so it was about 7:50 before the show actually got started.

I was sleepy.

Then, since it was for radio, the sound was a little soft and hard to hear, and I was sleepy.

Then they started talking about news items that didn’t interest me, and I was sleepy.

Then they do the part of the show where they phone/talk to a celebrity and ask them questions about a subject they probably don’t know anything about. We called Nebraska-native-talk-show-host…….

Dick Cavett.

Oh. no.

He talked with the host for a loooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnngggg time and I fought sleep the whole while, but I think the guy sitting on the other side of me wanted to kill me with all the fidgeting I was doing. I should have just passed out on his shoulder.

We left early.

The end.

The colors are brilliant, and the lining is a fun tropical print.

As beautiful as the color scheme is, though, what impresses me most is how even the stitches are. I know that doesn’t sound like a high complement, but I honestly don’t know how people do it. I’ve taken a stab at knitting before and just I don’t get it – my arms and fingers contort and it’s as awkward as a crab trying to apply eye liner. (I can’t think of a good analogy.)

So thank you, Tammy! I won’t knit you anything in return! And for that – you are welcome.

Amen.

I stink at the put it away part of anything. It’s what incapacitates me in any effort to be a clean person. Case in point: Every morning I shower, eat breakfast and make a cup of tea, but take the tea back up to the bathroom to drink while I finish getting ready. Then I leave the cup there. I don’t even see them gathered on the countertop until I set the next one beside all the others. “Hmmm. I should take those back downstairs.”

This morning was the only time I remember bringing them back to the kitchen. I think Lloyd does it.

Sorry, Lloyd.

It was time.

The new one is nothing fancy. It was recommended by a website as ‘the best camera you can buy for under a hundred bucks’. I figured I should buy cheap since I tend to be careless.

Anyway, the battery has excellent staying power. I’ve only had to charge it twice, but last week the battery was going and I couldn’t find the charger. I looked at home, all over work, in the truck, in my bag, then through all those places again. Grrrrr. I finally caved and bought a cheap charger from Amazon. It’s supposed to come later this week.

Well, of course I found it this evening. It was in the basket where we keep the grocery bags. Of course!! What a logical place to stash it when I was ‘cleaning’.

Grrr. Anyone need a charger?