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We had some wonderful volunteers come to my school this week to build a structure on our playground. It is an open-ended house/castle/pirate ship hull/treehouse that the children just love.

What I love is that they bought all the materials and got it done!! We just have to pay for materials and love them forever. Done and done.

Comment suggestion: Where was a place you liked to play outside when you were a kid? Me? The tree out back of the church – it had two different good-to-sit-on-limbs to choose from!

The Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!!

I was looking through some old posts and it seems that out Easter habits run along the same lines each year.  Lloyd and I stay home, run some errands, and then one of us gets sick. Today it is me, but I’m pretty sure it’s just allergies. I have been sniffling and sneezing and have gone though a third of a box of tissues in under an hour. I think it’s because I had my first fire in the firepit in over a year and the combination of smoke and pollen sent my nose into overdrive.  No biggie.

So anyway, I hope your Easter is full of joy!

Samith came in to Seward! Steph and the boys are out of town, so we invited him to come to church with us. Afterwards, he came over for frozen pizza while he and Lloyd geeked out.

Yep, that’s Samith’s PC laptop, his Apple laptop, his Windows 8 tablet. Lloyd’s iPad, and my netbook (I wanted to join in the fun.) Never mind that they each have iPhones and our regular computers are also in the room. I think we maxed out the machines-to-humans ratio. (If you are hearing us, Computer Overlords, I am on your side.)

Samith’s tablet was a gift from a conference he attended! Holy cow! I must be going to the wrong kind of conferences. We’re lucky to get a tote bag, and those stingy Lutherans always want the name badges back.

The tablet bag was pretty nifty. It’s made by a company called Bolder Path. They take old vinyl banners from previous conferences and recycle them into laptop/tablet/messenger bags to distribute as gifts at tech conferences. Cool, huh?

He probably had to give his name badge back, too.

Er, ‘faint of heart’. Who wants to hear a funny story about Lloyd passing out?

Now, now, put your hands down. You know I’m going to tell you.

Let me preface this with the fact that Lloyd passing out is not the funny part. I don’t think it’s amusing, it’s what he said later. I’m not totally heartless. (There are tiny bits of heart in me somewhere.)

It’s time for the annual Health Fair here in Seward. You might recall that last year I went alone. It opened at 5:30, so I got there at 5:30, thinking I would be the first one. Ha ha ha!! There are people leaving at 5:30. There are no rules in Seward. It’s mass chaos.

This year I signed Lloyd up for it, too, and drug him along. He questioned getting there so early but understood as soon as he saw the packed parking lot. The lines inside the building went fast, though, and we actually wound up sitting beside each other for our blood draws. I confided in my nurse, “He’s probably going to pass out.” She told me, “That seems to happen more with men than women.” We smiled at our superior ability to remain conscious. (I didn’t tell her about my coma-naps, though, as I treasured our brief sisterhood. Wait, coma-naps is an untold post.)

Lloyd, however, did not tell his nurse that he might pass out. He told me later that since it hasn’t happened in a while, he didn’t think it would happen. I was all done with my blood-letting and was watching him from a chair nearby. It was so quick. She took the blood, loosed the tourniquet, and he kind of nodded off like he was sleeping in church. I walked over and told her, “It’s alright, we knew this might happen.” She called for the wheelchair lady and I told them, “Really, he’s fine. This happens a lot.” By that time Lloyd was conscious and said in the politest voice I’ve ever heard him use, “Oh. How long was I out?” (It was about 20 seconds.) He sat for a little bit and we were on our way.

See? Not funny. Kinda sweet. I drove us home and recounted the play-by-play to him, then asked him how it was from his end.

He said:

“I remember the needle, and thinking that it wasn’t so bad, and then….. I shouldn’t say this, but my next thought was, ‘There could be blood everywhere!’ and then I was out.”

I laughed and laughed and laughed!!!! That Lloyd – making passing out funny since 1998.

Sometimes I have an idea that just has to happen, through any means necessary.

Do you remember the song ‘It’s Springtime’ from Sesame Street? It had a piggy-nosed cartoon kid who played on a playground with a swing and it went through all the seasons. Here, this might refresh your memory.

I dearly love that video, and thought it would make great soundtrack for a playground video for school. I tried the legitimate channels to acquire the song through some sort of non-shady means, but no – the world conspired to keep us apart.

That’s ok. I have tape and a jar.

It is hard for me to hold still and quiet for a minute and 33 seconds. Plus, it took more than one take.

It buys me some time to look for the song. Or to re-record it on the ukulele.

Ha!

Erm, I am uncomfortable posting the final product here on the website, but if you go check out our Facebook page after noon (my time) today, you can see it! (facebook.com/stjohncdc)

Our shed has been in bad shape for quite some time. It is missing shingles and the whole front is coming away from the foundation. I know that a new shed is in the future, but at the rate Lloyd and I accomplish things, it won’t get build until I’m in my 50’s.

Way back when the first snow came and I went out to get the snow shovel, I noticed that the left door was almost completely falling in. The only thing keeping it attached was the latch and a few strategically placed acorns under the jamb. Good enough.

But today I decided that if the only productive thing I did was to fix that door, then the day could be called a success. Here’s how it went:

11:30 – Announce that I am going to fix the shed door.

11:31-12:30 – Surf the internet.

12:31 – Go to the basement to assess the drill battery. Seems ok. Find some long screws.

12:33 – Go out to shed. Realize that someone is going to have to hold this door up while I reattach the hinges.

12:34 – Call through the open window to Lloyd, “Are you still awake? I need you.”

12:36 – Listen to Lloyd grumble as he holds up the door, begin to drill the first screw….. and drill battery dies. Listen to Lloyd grumble again.

12:38 – Put battery in charger.

12:45 – 3:00 – NAP!! WOOOO-HOOOOO!!

3:15 – ‘Fix’ door.

3:30 – Walk to Dairy queen, get Blizzards.

See? Months of agony for what – 15 minutes worth of work? It’s a good thing we’re not in construction.