"Can we please call you Auntie Kim?"

Here is the entire crew from Rocky Mountain High School, plus Mike Chappell. From left is teacher Kari Muente, Nicole, Mike, Sydney, and Denver

The closing night wrap up of VBS took place at my house, with the teens settling in to watch a movie. Anna, our pastor's daughter, joined the fun, as did three young men who helped out this year. Nice kids all!

After loading the kids' belongings in the van, we posed for photos at The Club entrance

Saying 'good-bye' was hard to do, but I smiled through it....first with Sydney, who is my twin (she is quite particular about neatness and order!)

....and then Nicole. I could not have asked for better, nicer, sweeter kids to be my guests!

Posing with my newly found 'family' in front of the well at The Club

Leftovers from Thursday

At Bible study on Thursday, Pastor Hoyer showed us a couple books he is reading to review for Northwestern Publishing House, including one written by a non-Lutheran but ‘Christian’ man titled “40 Days To Better Living: Optimal Health”. The author wrote about things we can do in our daily living to improve our bodies, minds and souls, using Bible passages to reinforce his points.

It surprised me that NPH, although I guess it should not have, carried materials from non-Lutheran sources. Pastor H. assured us that every book NPH carries has been read by a Lutheran pastor or theologian. When Justin and I were leaving The Cheesecake Factory where we had our lunch, we met a lady from the class, Dawn, who had just picked up the book from the bookstore. As you might guess, this is not a book I am likely to pick up, as I told Linda, I am so sick of hearing about this topic already. Spoken like a true fatso!

No Jesus?

Snitched from a posting of Lisa's on Facebook this a.m. (She is my niece in WI, with three young sons)

by Lisa M Ellison on Friday, July 15, 2011 at 12:26pm

Last night on our walk we passed Grant Grade School (which is only a block from our house). I asked the boys why we sent them to St. Paul's all the way out in Howards Grove instead of sending them to Grant. Gabe said, "I don't know but if you sent us here, I could walk to school." I looked at him and said, "Yes you could but they don't teach about Jesus at this school." The look on Manny's face was priceless. He looked up at me with confussion and said, "No Jesus? That's not fair.' Gabe said, "I want to keep going to St. Paul's just so I can hear about Jesus." This is why they go to a Christian Day School! GOD IS GOOD!

The end is near…

…but for now, the kids and their escorts are enjoying a Harry Potter movie in the family room, getting ready for tomorrow’s premier of the final in the series. They are going to the World Golf Village to the IMAX to see it, which made Justin envious to hear. I guess it’s in 3D there, not sure if that’s true for every showing or just for the IMAX. Shortly, I will be going to bed but the grown ups will see to it that things are buttoned up when they leave. The movie is lengthy so a pizza was popped in the oven to hold them over. There is also microwave popcorn and small bags of snacks for them to enjoy while they watch.

Earlier, when enjoying greatly a phone conversation with Linda J., I saw the moon rising, pink against a steel-grey sky. Now, it is nowhere in sight, hidden by the clouds. Around 4:00 pm or so thunder was rolling as a storm came down the river, but not a single drop happened here. I even stepped outside to make sure as some of my Facebook friends were reporting rain.

On my TV is an episode of “Frasier” titled “The One Where Woody Comes to Visit”, the bartender from Frasier’s days on Cheers. Or rather his nights on “Cheers”. It always makes me laugh, some of the exchanges are simply priceless. “Niles, would you like to join Woody and me for some pizza and beer?” “Why not? I’d love to share a pizza with a couple of rapscallions” to which Woody replies, as Frasier is ordering the pizza, “Could you make that half pepperoni and half rapscallion???” Tears me up every time! Woody is concerned that Frasier’s life is boring and that he has no plans, but it was really that Frasier rather cleared his schedule to spend time with Woody. It came back to bite him, making himself appear sympathetic rather than successful and happy with his life. While Frasier feels sorry for Woody, who has little success business-wise, he is happily married with two children back home. It ends up being a horse apiece. The parting scene has the two men drinking a stein of beer, tapping their glasses and saying, “Cheers”.

Justin and I attended Bible study today, a new class looking at how Christ crushed Satan’s head, and the ramifications of man’s fall into sin, the Promise made in the Garden and the fulfillment thereof. I looked ahead!

The other night I called Jessica, my upstairs neighbor, to see if she needed anything from the store. Being quite close to her delivery date, it is not easy for her to lug her 15 month and herself through the store. She asked for organic skim milk, which I found interesting. Joanne, when she lived with me, drank some funky milk, too, only hers was soy or something like that. One of my other friends from church also uses the organic milk so she doesn’t get hormones and something else. I have no problem with hormones, considering skim milk to be as innocent as anything else. I am willing to roll the dice when it comes to milk, especially since the cost difference is significant.

It’s getting so late, I think I will end this for tonight. Perhaps in the morning I can add more but for now, this will have to do. Sleep the sleep of the just, all! Good night, Linda J.!!!! My sides still ache from laughing and I have stains from my tears…..

The Tuesday wrap up

My arms ache from water exercising yesterday, as we practiced a few new routines using the bar bells. Certainly we used muscles in different ways than we had before, this I can tell! At least the sun is back our enjoyment, and for that of the kids staying with me. They had a great day boating, tubing, and canoeing at the home of one of the members from Christ, Keystone Heights. I wonder if their arms ache from trying to paddle the canoes....they don't appear any worse for the wear. They came in from VBS just minutes behind me, we timed that well! It seems their classes were smaller last night than on opening night but it is not uncommon to have the classes fluctuate some, even grow, before the week is out. They retired to the family room to watch more Harry Potter movies, getting caught up before going to the premier of the newest and final movie Friday at the IMAX at World Golf Village. Whoo hoo! The group is always letting me know that I am welcome to come along but I would be such a hindrance to them, especially on the walking outings. Besides that, I have things to do here!

One of those things was meeting Justin at CompUSA last evening before Trivia to buy a new computer. He had done the research and was steering me from the all-in-one desk tops that are modified laptops toward getting a laptop to use as a desktop. I know, confusing, right? He can rig it so that I can use my wireless keyboard and mouse, not having to 'worry' about using the keyboard on the laptop at all. In fact, I think he can work it so that my existing monitor will work in concert with the new one so I can a sort of split screen deal going on. I think the application for that is limited in my case, but can see it when transferring photos and such. I hate to sacrifice desk space to a laptop plus an additional monitor....we shall see. It did cost a bit more than the figure I had in mind, the cost of the repairs plus maintenance on the old computer, but not by much. Today I will take the new laptop to The Computer Guy to have my information transferred and hopefully I will be up and running soon.

We took 3rd place at Trivia, our team of three people since Jesse didn't make it and Erica had to work. I messed up on two questions that I should have known the answer to but answered wrong and risked too many points on. Rats! Like I told the girls this a.m., I always know the answer right after he gives it! The nice people at the Diner allowed Justin and me to special order our meals, with me again having the sliced rib eye steak, bathed in fried onions, and draped in provolone cheese. Justin took his the way it came, without the tomatoes, but mine was more plain. He took home the bread mine came on because it's nearly enough for a meal for him. More like a baguette than a bun or roll, but certainly more than I could handle. Give me the steak, onions, and cheese, and I am a happy girl!

Reading the radio's website is not making me happy, though, as it is heavy local news day. A day or two ago some young boys were 'handling' a rifle in their family home, and one 11 year old boy was accidentally shot in the head. The medical folks struggled to save him but he died yesterday. Not only did he die, but a toddler drowned in a pool in Arlington, and another child was fished from a retention pond, unresponsive, but still alive. My mouth is so dry I can barely swallow right now. Some folks hang on news like this but I was NOT in search of it, just looking for my radio program. Aching hearts in our neighborhoods this week.

On a lighter note, in more ways than one, the sun is brilliant on the river and Sydney was trying to take a picture from the river room. I fear that will not turn out very well due to the brightness, hard to take a picture against the light, but I hope it does. They have just left for the day, my first glimpse of Denver, the quiet young man. He keeps a low profile in the mornings, not a breakfast eater, it seems. Off they go on their days' adventure in the Oldest City, on a hot hot day!

Well, I guess it is time to stockpile the incandescent light bulbs---Lowes, here I come! They carry Sylvania-brand bulbs, made in the USA. Try as they might, the Republicans could not get the "greenies" to back down on their support of the foreign-made mercury CFLs replacing American-invented incandescent bulbs. Do you still recognize your country?

R.I. P. Big Blue

There it is, prior to the Computer Guy came to take him to the hospital. After getting the news about the cost of repairs and the cleaning thereof, it made more sense to have a new machine rather one refurbished. Sigh....I won't know what to do with a quiet computer instead of the gas powered one running!

Please join in mourning...

...my big blue computer, the gas powered one. It seems that I have to make an executive decision about whether it is worth the cost of repairs on an 'old' machine or simply buy a new one. The cost would be nearly the same, and at the end, I would have either an operational 'old' computer or a new one, smaller and more efficient, with a great deal more megabytes or something. You will never guess with whom I have consulted on this----Justin! He is by far more knowledgeable and is the go-to guy when his friends need a new computer. Even The Computer Guy agrees that a new piece of equipment might be the way to go, although he has good things to say about my injured machine. Getting by on the laptop alone is not an option since it does not have word processing capabilities. When I do, if that is my decision, replace the Alienware computer, Steve will reload all my information from the old computer to the new one. Kind of get the new one dirty right away, putting all my nonsense back into place. Fortunately he thinks he can salvage my registration for the Office software which is a huge relief!

Steve's son came by late morning to collect the machine, as it's far too heavy for me to carry. To even begin to unplug it all is nearly beyond me, but my guess is the replugging process will be more involved. Hopefully Justin will be able to do that for me. We had a long conversation this afternoon when I let him know what was going on and he thinks I should forego desk top and go to laptop, to be used as my desk top. I know, right? In order to accommodate all the cords and peripherals he said I will need a splitter. That sounds easy enough but certainly having all sorts of things plugged in will make it less and less portable, which is fine. Steve could have loaded the information from the old computer onto the existing laptop, but when he found out what I had, well, he described it as being like a plastic garbage bag----disposable. But, this laptop suits my requirements, is lightweight and easily portable. However, I also know he is correct, it would not be wise to depend upon this little laptop for my primary purposes.

Justin said he would research it for me this evening, after he is done at the gym. Jesse and he were going to watch TV tonight, must be their favorite programs or something, and do his research then. I found a couple on-line that would suit but I yield to the master. He does know I care more about my wallet than I do about gigabytes or whatever but I also need to be able to do my thing. Guess the sign-up sheets for the Mexican dinner next month will simply have to wait! Yes, when Lynn and Linda J. are here, we will once again be having a special dinner at church, prepared by our chefs, Mike 'n Mike, which means Lynn, Linda, and I might want to rethink our themed dinner at home, which was also going to be Mexican-style foods. We can still have the margaritas though, right?

Sad to say, until I get a replacement computer for word processing, I will not be able to adjust the text size or font on this blog posting, and I am sorry about that.

Oh, what a wonderful movie I saw today!!!! Called "Midnight in Paris", it's a story of a screenwriter on vacation in Paris with his future wife and in-laws. He longs for the romantic life of the 1920's Parisians while his travel companions are busy looking down their snooty American noses (greatly exaggerated, in their defense) at the French. He is successful in his work, lives well, and all that, but also wishes for the struggling writer life which made up Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, and other writers and artists of that era. Somehow he finds himself meeting them all, having drinks with them, dancing, and living the dream, as it were. It was charming, and yet, reflective. I would see it again, just ask me! I went with Maggie O., her friend, Pat, and with Ellen. We did not carpool, we Palace dwellers, as Ellen had to go somewhere afterwards. Next we want to see "Larry Crowne" and after that, when I get home from my summer travels, "The Help". My friend at the pool, Rick, suggested that book, The Help, to me also so I had better get a move on! Yesterday I ordered some more books, including one about the Secret Service ('boring books' according to Jessica, my neighbor!) which Linda J. also wishes to read. Guess having a sick computer is not the worst thing to happen, with so many books waiting for me, and more coming!!!!