LaurenandLloyd.com
where our wasted time becomes your wasted time
Drat.
Kris, our friend from college, came by this evening after dropping her daughters off at Concordia for the new school year. I forgot to take some photos! Deborah was also here, and it was nice to catch up. We reminisced a little, talked about current life happenings, and laughed a lot. It was very good to get together.
Now it’s late and I am sleepy. I pray that Kris has a safe, in eventful ride back home. (A ten-hour drive!)
Happy Saturday! What do you have going on?
Yesterday, Monday, my vacation high took a screeching nosedive when an email from the CDC’s accreditation association came. They are getting ready to schedule their validation visit, and the email was setting up some details. I read the first few sentences and my heart rate shot up. I decided to record it with the handy-dandy cardiograph app on the iPad. (My regular heart rate is usually around 65-70.)
It took a while, but I calmed down. Everything will be ok. Everything will be ok.
It was a bummer because I had just bought an iPad game that is very much like Tiny Bang Story. It is full of quiet puzzles that I feebly attempt to solve on my own, then go right to the cheater page. Even with the cheats, I am having a hard time.
So I have been compromising the past couple of days, a little work, a little play. I set up an online system for Home Visits that will happen starting next week, got some paperwork done at school this morning, and while the boys watched movies in Lincoln tonight I sat in Panera Bread and worked on things. When I was done I played my game.
Everything will be ok. Everything will be ok.
For a little while – until the renovations are over – I get to post photos of the work that’s being done at church. I’ve had a couple of people say that I am a little nuts for volunteering to do that, but I love it! A couple of times a week I sneak over to the church to snap a few behind-the-scenes photos of The Forbidden Zone. That is right up my sneaky-little-sister alley!
You can check it out, too, at Facebook.com/stjohnseward. It’s the ‘renovations’ album
So, I must be harboring some repressed anger toward my left foot. Last Sunday I stubbed my toe and cracked the toenail on ‘Wee wee wee all the way home’, and today I was carrying a load of laundry downstairs and stubbed the next one on Lloyd’s suitcase. I don’t think it’s broken, but it’s pretty swollen and hurty.
Next weekend’s not lookin’ too good for you, Had Roast Beef.
By the way, it is very brave of me to post a photo of my feet. No unkind comments, please.
WARNING: PARTIAL NUDITY
My mom sent me the following e-mail yesterday:
Lauren,
Dad and I were up at 4:30 this morning. Now it is 6:18 and I am ready for bed even though I took a nap!
While I was trying to sleep, something ran through my mind, and for the life of me, I cannot remember…. What toys did you play with when you were little? Like two or three or even four years old. All I can remember is your Holly Hobbie doll. And Cinders. And books.
Can you help me out?
Love,
Mom
Yikes. That is a tough one. I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday, let alone four decades ago. I really don’t have many memories of playing with stuff that came before kindgergarten. When I started kindergarten my mom babysat a Vietnamese girl. We would play and watch t.v. in the morning and went to kindergarten in the afternoon, but I kind of only remember that as a Fact Of Childhood. I only have a vague impression of being in the living room with something on t.v. – Captain Kangaroo?
As far as toys that I do remember from childhood, there was a laundry basket of stuffed animals. I only remember these because of the nights I would lay awake worrying ‘If the house catches on fire, which ones will I be able to save?” It’s not that they were favorite toys, it’s that they were alive and would never forgive me if I left them there. Good times.
There was a pretty intense Holly Hobbie/Laura Ingalls Wilder phase – I had the doll, the wallpaper, the toy sewing machine and a plethora of lanterns and bonnets. I think I was older, though.
I had some doll bunk beds that were big enough to set up doll furniture in as a two-story home, and a little cubby on my side of our real bunk beds (that should be its own post) that I would set up with furniture. Hmmmm… I didn’t really play with the stuff, just do the setting up.
I know that the siblings had cool stuff to play with, I just can’t remember what.
Included (above) is a picture of stuff I have kept from childhood. Maybe it will spark some ideas and I’ll post later! I am also including a picture of naked Holly Hobbie. It used to disturb me to no end that she only had hair in the front of her head. Who does that? I also found several place where young me tried to stitch her armpits and lower back rips. Sorry, Holly. Plastic surgeons were expensive in the 70’s.
Lloyd, how is Hawaii?
A couple of weekends ago Lloyd and I cooked some brats on the grill when it was so blasted hot and our air conditioner hadn’t been fixed yet.. (Y’know, ‘brat’ should really be spelled differently. The way it stands now I just see/imagine naughty children getting a good sear.) Anyway, I came up with a brilliant idea for those ancient chicken tenders cluttering up the freezer: cook them!
Yessir, I actually cooked them, and for the next couple of meals, half the work was already done. “What are we going to eat? Well, how about some vegetables and chicken that is ready, you crazy genius!” or “Just a delicious salad with pre-cooked chicken!” I felt so amazing!
While Lloyd’s been gone, I grilled another batch, minus the children sausages. It has been a life saver.
Curt’s first day on Maui started off, as every day in Maui should start off, with a sunrise walk on the beach. It was a lot of fun with Curt, because I have been having beautiful sunrise walks on the beach for almost a week and had forgotten a little bit howreally amazing they were.
I had decided yesterday that today would be my first sunrise swim on the beach and Curt was happy to jump right in with me. The air is just a little cool in the morning, but that just makes the ocean seem warmer and we stayed out for about 30 minutes. That brings total Sunrise Walk On The Beach time to just under 2 hours son were back just
before 7:00. We putzed around the house a little more than usual this morning before getting started. Brad, Curt and Samith all had work related things to do. I played mother hen and packed our bags for the day.
We went up to the big tourist town (I’m sure Brad will supply all of the actual names in his post) and there wassome souvenir shopping done. We also went into a couple of art galleries. I’m not sure how we ended up in them, but everyone seemed to enjoy a little time looking at art. It was strange.
Next came my reason for jumping in the car this morning. The largest Banyan tree in the United States. The main trunk is huge and there are about 20 other trunks (it’s that tree that sends down roots from the air and they form new trunks). It covers just under an acre of land. We got there about lunch time, but I wasn’t hungry, so while everyone else went to eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise I camped out under the tree and communed with nature.
After that got old I scoped out 7 shave ice places to decide which one would be Curt’s first shave ice. It is unfortunate that they had just eaten as we just got small ones. To really appreciate them you need more.
Next a quick trip up the beach to the Hyatt Sheraton because they have a really nice beach and there is, legally speaking, no such thing as a private beach in Hawaii. The beach was amazing and the waves were huge. This is evidently not normal, but the waves were ten feet high if they were an inch.
It was great fun to play in them, but I got rolled over the wrong way by a really big one and ended up hurting my neck. I’m currently taking Advil and Rum and am beginning to feel better. By tomorrow I hope to be able to turn my head for the helicopter ride.
We ate dinner at the wide spot on the side of the road that Brad found via Yelp months ago. It is. Little chicken stand. We each got a quarter bird with corn and rice.
Curt and I ended the day the way we stated it; at the beach. I have not gotten the prerequisite amount of reading at the beach in yet and since it didn’t hurt to read, and only hurt a little bit to walk, we want down to the beach and read and/or slept until sunset. There are more pictures on Flickr now, including ones from the Snorkeling Trip.