OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR

Hmmm ... INTERESTING

Check out the Awana website to see the story of our family - well, part of the story.

www.awana.org  (Just click on Kelli - she's right under Kurt Warner :) )

THE PLACE TO BE

So how are you all doing tonight?

I've had an interesting, busy, up and down, roller coaster week. But today ended on a good note. I got a lot done and have been offered a great opportunity via e-mail. So tonight, the girl munchkins and I decided to go up to the local Chinese restaurant and have some best-eaten-in-cold-weather Chinese food.

The girls had been sick, so we were all glad to get out and about. We were laughing and rhyming words and having fun. The 9yo and 6yo went on a total giggling spree where their little girl laughter harmonized for about three minutes straight.

A 40something man, who was clearly having a business dinner, walked over to us and smiled.

"This seems like the table to be tonight," he said. "You seem to be having a great time."

He truly looked like he would like to join us, but we didn't invite him to our "party."

But I thought. How cool. To be exuding so much joy that people notice and mention it.

Isn't that what the Christian life is all about?

Anyhow ...

If you're bored tonight - here's a website to entertain you.

http://www.drawminos.com

CONGRATULATIONS CENTRAL BIBLE!

Here is the promised picture - anyone recognize anyone?

WELL, I HAD A GOOD IDEA ...

So this morning I had to look something up way back in the Signal archives and I came across a picture of the Olympic Team from Central Bible back in the early 60s and I thought, "Cool, I'll go home and scan it and have a great blog post tonight" and we'll see if anyone recognizes anyone and then I left the picture on my desk.

But I'll post it tomorrow (if I remember to bring it home).

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

Good times ...

Yesterday a friend and I drove down to Chicago to see The Screwtape Letters at Mercury Theater (near Wrigleyville or maybe actually IN Wrigleyville, not sure of all the boundaries, but we were near enough to Wrigley to see Cub signs).

We left early because we weren't sure about parking and thought we'd eat before the show. So we found a space and then walked around the neighborhood looking for a restaurant.

I noticed one of those wood-framed, glass-covered announcement boards that had a lot of advertisements on it - and a menu. So I stopped to read the menu, but couldn't actually find the restaurant itself.  A twenty-something came up behind us and as we moved out of the way to let him past, I saw a blackboard sign with Cafe Avanti written on it in chalk. The sign was in front of one of those brick row houses you see in Chicago - you walk into the living room, then the dining room, and then the kitchen is in back of the house - with a bedroom on the side.

I asked the twenty-something if it was a good place to eat and he told me they had the greatest sandwiches around. So we followed him up the steps and inside and indeed, it was like being in someone's house.

Though we were there at an odd time (about two), the tables were packed. The whole place had a kitschy, retro vibe. Several people sat in the living room area and others in the bedroom-area-turned-wifi/chatting area. The lady behind the counter was super friendly, suggesting what we should order and then patiently giving us time to look at the menu. She said their speciality was the roast turkey sandwich, so that's what I got. Being a lover of fruit smoothies, I also ordered  raspberry/strawberry/yogurt smoothie which was excellent.

We sat at a table in the living-room area. Behind us were two college girls studying on their laptops. The one girl (whose laptop I could see) was looking at a map of the Dead  Sea and looking up verses on Bible Gateway.  At the table next to them was a family: a dad, mom and two kids - maybe 5th grade/middle school. They were deeply involved in a game of Monopoly, picked up from the cafe's stack of games. (When we left, the two girls sitting down at our table had a Scrabble game in hand.)

Since we were right across the street from the theater, we stayed at the cafe until 3:30 - never did we feel like they wanted us to leave. The studying continued on the country of Israel and the Monopoly game seemed to be getting down right competitive.

We hurried across the street. (That Chicago wind can be biting cold.) And into the theater. 

The production itself was superb. For ninety minutes, Screwtape dictated letters to the unseen Wormwood. Toadpipe bounced around - a character with a small amount of words and a large amount of facial expressions. We heard about a Christian's church-hopping, temptations, friendships and pride.

They have extended the run of the play until

February 15th - so if you have the chance to see it, do so.

But this kind of weird thing thing did happen to me.

Being that I often have a camera with me, I checked for photography permission before going into the theater. On the door was a very obvious sign that said no pictures were to be taken DURING the production. OK, that made sense and that's the way it often is - you can take a picture of the theater, but once the production starts, you'd better put your camera away.

So when I sat down, I took a picture (because it said I could - since nothing was happening) and put my camera away.

My friend and I were chatting and suddenly these two ladies appear in front of me. The one usher had obviously gone and gotten the head usher — there was TROUBLE BREWING!

The head-usher lady asked me if I had taken a picture and having nothing to hide, I said "yes." (Well, I wouldn't have hid it anyhow.)

"You can't do that!" she scolded.

"But it says on the door you can't take them DURING the production, but doesn't say anything about before."

"No," she grew angrier. "You can't take them at all."

"If I knew," I tried to explain, "I wouldn't have taken it. But it does say DURING on the door."

Again she contradicted me.

I sighed. "Well, I've put my camera away and won't take any more pictures."

"No, you have to DELETE it NOW." I truly thought she was planning on confiscating my camera.

I sighed again. "OK, but your door specifically says DURING."

I wasn't trying to be argumentative, but simply was pointing out to her what the sign on the door said.

So, while I am frantically digging through my purse for my camera (by this time other people are looking and listening to the disturbance and I felt like I was hiding weapons of theater destruction) my friend asked her some questions about the theater and finally the two ushers walked away.

At which point, my friend went back to see what the sign actually said. "No picture taking DURING the production ..."

"You're right," she announced to me as she sat back down. (I knew I was right because I had specifically checked).

If I hadn't been so taken back by the whole thing, I should've nicely asked the lady to walk to the door with me and explain the sign.

I don't know - what would you have done?

BEING CULTURED

So every once in a while at work - we do this cultural thing.  Well, at least we do a cultural lunch - trying a different ethnic type of food.

Today we headed for the Pita House and some Mediterranean food.

So about 30 of us headed out ... and packed  the place, although there were several other people there, too.

The prices were reasonable for the amount of food we received - especially the two luncheon specials. Mine was only $4:95. You order at the counter and they did move us along fairly fast - but I also think they knew we were coming.

Notice the "visual" menu above the counter.

I had lamb/beef on rice with two different sauces - one was a yogurt-type white sauce and the other a hot, tomatoey sauce.  I didn't try the second, but the first, mixed with the meat and rice was good.

I also had a falafel ( the little hush-puppy-looking thing). We had falafels all the time in Israel and loved them. (There we had them in a pita with lettuce, tomatoes and sauce. This one was out there by itself and tasted kind of dry and grainy. Falafels by the way, are smushed chickpeas.

I did over all, like the meal today. I don't know if I'd go there every week, but I would go again.

JUST GETTING BEHIND

My problem with my blog this week? I just keep getting further and further behind with things on my to-do list.

I think I'm going somewhere unique for lunch tomorrow - maybe I'll find time to write about that.

Then again ...

THE NEIGHBOR

Our house in Racine was between two smaller white houses. The first several years we lived there, the house on the west side was occupied by a series of twenty-somethings that often needed the police to settle their arguments, arguments which consistently occurred around midnight.

The couple who lived on the east side, introduced themselves the very day we arrived. Well, at least the kind and friendly husband came over. He told us his name was Mr. "Jones" and he and his wife had lived there for many years. He had a small garden and said he would share the produce with us. Ken truly enjoyed talking to him and later we told each other how thankful we were for good neighbors.

Two weeks after we arrived, we had to go back to Pennsylvania for Ken's cousin's wedding. (That's the one crashed by honest-to-goodness wedding crashers). When we got back to Racine, Mrs. "Jones" came over to our house. "Here are some tomatoes," she said, handing us a bag, "and my husband had a heart attack and died while you were gone."

Mrs. "Jones' was rather heavy set and we could tell she wasn't very healthy herself, so Jeff began mowing her lawn and shoveling her walk. Usually, she'd come out and give him $5.00.  In return, our two yards sort of morphed into one yard - so the kids had no problem if their ball went over to her yard. She knew them and didn't mind if they were around her house. Though she was suspicious of anyone she didn't know. Because she didn't have a car, we would also allow us to use her driveway if we had company. Although she didn't keep up her garden - she did tell us we could freely pick her rhubarb. Once she made us dandelion wine - which we didn't drink for a variety of reasons.

Another family across the street also helped out with Mrs. Jones. They were nice people and lived there until about a year before we left.  They were our neighbor's and the husband's parents were the church neighbors three miles away - so we saw them a lot.  They were big on fishing in Lake Michigan and would always give us salmon after they had frozen enough for themselves to fill their freezer.

One year my dad bought Jeff a real bow and arrow for Christmas. However, there were a lot less places to shoot an arrow in a city of 80,000 people than there were in the northwoods.  So, Jeff decided to avoid the neighbor's windows by shooting it straight in the air - not really thinking through (when you're 10, that happens a lot) that it had to come down again. Unfortunately, it came down through Mrs. Jones' garage roof.  He apologized and he and Ken fixed it. Jeff paid for the damages with his own hard-earned money.

Years went on and it was getting more and more difficult for Mrs. Jones and we were concerned about her living by herself - but even though she had relatives around somewhere, no one paid any attention to her. We began regulating her medicine, keeping it at our house and then one of us (or one of the kids) would take it to her one pill at a time.

Ken went over to help her with something one day and saw that she had piles and piles of money laying around. Warnings went up - especially since it was our family who had access to her house - so he got an older lady down the street (who sometimes took Mrs. Jones to the grocery store) and went with the two of them to the bank for Mrs. Jones to deposit her money.

Our involvement in her life became more and more constant. Ken talked to her about the Lord and one day in the midst of helping her do something, he had the privilege of leading her to Christ.

Still, her condition worsened and she began to do very strange things.

One Sunday afternoon (Halloween), Kelli and I were giving a baby shower for one of Kelli's friends. So one of the kids went over to Mrs. Jones' house to ask if we could use her driveway for parking. Even though, our kid could hear Mrs. Jones inside, she wouldn't come to the door. This was not surprising, there were a lot of kids out trick or treating, so we figured Mrs. Jones didn't look to see who it was, but figured it was little kids asking for candy. That would be scary for her because she wouldn't know who they were.

So, it made sense to us that she wouldn't come to the door. The shower happened successfully and then we went off to church.

When we came home from church, we saw lots of fire trucks in front of our house (which in itself was rather scary).  But quickly realized it wasn't our house, but Mrs. Jones' house that seemed to be the problem. Ken went over to check out what was happening.

Mrs. Jones had once again collected piles of money which she then put in the middle of the floor and lit with a match like she was building a bonfire. Well, I guess actually she DID build a bonfire.

They took her off somewhere and put her in a home. Then, suddenly, a few days later, the relatives showed up very interested in her house.

Although the other friendly, across-the-street neighbor was able to visit her once, Mrs. Jones had no idea who she was and was paranoid that everyone was out to get her.

Soon a younger couple moved in, but they weren't half as exciting as Mrs. Jones had been.

DON'T YOU JUST WONDER?

Don't you just wonder what conclusion historians will come up with when they unearth our pictures?

BOOK #6 - ZACHARY TAYLOR

 

While at the library, last week  I saw this book on Zachary Taylor written by John S.D. Eisenhower (Ike's son). Since my knowledge of Zachary is limited to knowing you can't visit his house (people live in it), I didn't know much about him.

Figuring it was time to learn more and also having heard of the Eisenhower family, I checked it out.

Most of the book centered on Taylor's military career and his great success in the Mexican War - usually wars are not my favorite reading material, but Eisenhower penned this book well enough to keep my attention. I didn't skim, but found myself reading every word.

Here are some things I learned ...

1. Both Zachary Taylor and his wife, Margaret, were from well-to-do, established families, but because they spent most of their lives in the west (Kentucky, Louisiana) while Zac was fighting wars, they were sometimes thought of as backwards. Yet,  the Taylors owned several plantations, many of which were worth a lot of money.

He was James Madison's cousin

2. One of the reasons people thought the way they did about Taylor is his style of dress. Much of the time, he didn't wear his uniform, but rather old clothes. Many young soldiers came to camp, thinking Taylor was simply some old guy hanging around the troops. Only to be surprised to learn that he was their commander.

3. Margaret Taylor was devoted to her husband, but said once he got out of the army, she would not again serve publicly, so when he became president, she refused to go downstairs and play hostess. His daughter did the hostessing duties.  He in turn, respected the way she had set up housekeeping in many out-of-the-way places as he fought wars.

4. At Dolly Madison's funeral, Zachary Taylor said something about her being a good "first lady" and the term "First Lady" was born.

5. His daughter married Jefferson Davis - but died soon after. Because of her, Taylor and Davis always had a special bond.

6. Taylor was only president for 16 months. He took sick after being at the ceremony for the groundbreaking Washington Monument and didn't recover.

7. Some people feel that, because of his short term, he is underrated as president. He actually was liked (mainly because of his heroism in the Mexican War) by all people, regardless of parties.

8. He was not at the convention when he was nominated. He was sent a letter telling him of the Whig's decision. The letter had postage due, so he didn't open it.  And did not know what had happened until another letter was later sent.

9. He was elected president without ever having voted.

10. The big issues of his day were the annexation/statehood of Texas, New Mexico and California ... and slavery.

There is controversy/discussion about whether or not Zachary Taylor could've avoided the Civil War if he had lived and gone on to serve as President several more years.

Some people think he could have because he could empathize with both sides. He owned one of the biggest cotton plantations with a large amount of slaves yet he did not endorse the expansion of slavery.  People saw him as a moderate and both those for slavery and those against admired him.

Or - as Eisenhower stated - maybe the Civil War would've just started ten years earlier.

His last words were: "I am about to die - I expect the summons soon - I have endeavored to discharge all my official duties faithfully. I regret nothing, but am sorry that I am about to leave my friends."

THE HOUSE

When you have a blog and nothing is happening in your life except snow and work and snow and cold and work and snow, you gotta find something to post.

So what I found was a picture of our Racine house which was quite a meaningful house in my life since I lived in this house longer than I had lived in any other house.'

Except now that's not true any longer because I have lived here longer than I lived in Racine.

(I actually lived in Des Plaines for a long time growing up, but we lived in two different houses.)

And my kids lived here from second and third grade until their second and third year of college.

Now, isn't that all terribly exciting?  

Oh, yeah, that's my Achieva in the driveway - my favorite car ever. Although Ken occasionally drove it, mostly I drove it - 120,000 miles of smooth-riding and the best pick up of any car I've ever driven.

Notice the driveway. Once we got more than an inch or two of snow, we had to either shovel it to the front yard or the back yard, otherwise, it went down the neighbor's window well which they didn't appreciate too much, though the neighbor's who lived there for part of the time were probably too drunk to notice exactly WHAT was happening to their window well. But we had some nice neighbors, too - and a very interesting neighbor who I'll tell you about sometime.

LET IT SNOW!

I just heard that this is the ninth straight day that we've had a measurable amount of snow. The last time that happened was December of 1973.

Not that this is any surprise to anyone who lives here - but this has been my life lately - for me and all the rest of you, too.

Check the weather map, go to bed, check the weather map, listen to the weather report and figure out how hard it will be to get to work. And even if it's hard, sometimes you just gotta do it sometimes (though sometimes you can stay home).

The deciding factor is if I have a meeting and just how BIG that meeting is. Today I had a BIG one with the CEO of the company and I knew I could NOT miss it.

I usually leave in the darkness, but as I listened to the reports of 2 1/2 hour commute and all the spinouts, I waited it out at least until it got light and left a little later. Roads were still horrible - but it only took a half hour longer than usual, so that wasn't bad. That's not up there with the all-time longest ride.

Snow is cold.

Snow gets on your driveway.

Snow is annoying when it's on the road.

But, hey, look at the bright side.

Snow can be beautiful.

A COLD DAY IN JANUARY

WHITE SCENE

AND YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE COLD TODAY!!!!

BEAUTY IN THE COLD

THE NINE-YEAR-OLD ME

Being that I now have two nine-year-old granddaughters, I thought I would post a picture of the nine-year-old me. No, I'm not in some meditative prayer mode - the wind was blowing mightily around me and I had all I could do to keep my dress down (as you can see), much less open my eyes to everything that was blowing in my face.

I am standing on top of a hill creatively named Windy Hill.

And I am, in fact, in Cuba, knowing that there was a lot going on around me and that Castro's guerrilla soldiers (whatever they were) had cut off the electricity to the mission compound where we were staying. But I had nine-year-old innocence of just how dangerous the whole situation was. My focus was learning how to eat oranges the Cuban way and teaching myself Spanish out of a book someone left in our room. (I remember learning to say, "The wallpaper is on the wall.") 

Yet though I was only nine, I remember much about the trip because my parents (with adult wisdom KNEW the danger of the situation) and had a good sense that I would not be getting back to Cuba (that no one would be getting back to Cuba for a long time) and kept telling me to remember what I was seeing and experiencing. With all my nine-year-old passion, I listened and did just that.

From Skyscrapers by Carl Sandberg

Hour by hour the caissons reach down to the rock of the earth and hold the building to a turning planet.
Hour by hour the girders play as ribs and reach out and hold together the stone walls and floors.
Hour by hour the hand of the mason and the stuff of the mortar clinch the pieces and parts to the shape an architect voted.
Hour by hour the sun and the rain, the air and the rust, and the press of time running into centuries, play on the building inside and out and use it.

BOOK #4

The fourth book I read this year is Illegitimate, by Brian Mackert. Brian was raised in a polygamy household - his family was part of the same sect of Mormonism that was in the news this past year.

The book is published by David C. Cook and is written from a Christian perspective. Brian's growing-up years were a continuous struggle of seeking acceptance from his father - and when that didn't happen - his older brothers. In later years, many of his 31 siblings left the Mormon faith and became Christians.

The book is a good insight into Mormonism and one boy's anguish as he looks for love.  This is not so much about the multiple wives (you didn't get to become a god if you didn't have three wives), as it is about the affect on the children.

I got this book from the public library.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the up-north 9yo munchkin.

A BEAN-VIEW AND AN INTER-VIEW

(This picture is 100% reflection.)

The munchkins were hanging out with me tonight and decided they were reporters interviewing me. Here are the questions they asked and the answers I gave.

ARE YOU GOOD AT SPORTS?

Sometimes I've been good at some sports.

HOW MANY CANDLES ARE IN YOUR HOUSE?

I have no idea.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEAT?

Turkey and gravy on rice or sometimes steak.

DID THEY HAVE TV WHEN OUR MOM WAS A GIRL?

Yes, EVEN when I WAS a girl.

HOW OLD ARE YOU?

Old enough to be your grandma.

CAN WE WATCH A MOVIE?

Sure.

JUST SOME THOUGHTS

1. After wandering down Navy Pier, we wandered back south to Millenium Park and Cloud Gate (a.k.a. - the bean) and then wandered to State Street and Macy's and then took the free trolley back to Union Station and then wandered to the Sears Tower and saw the city lights (because by this time it was dark). I'm sure you will be seeing more pictures from this day in future blogs.

2. Roland Burris's wife is (or recently was) an adjunct professor at Moody.

3. Arby's has retired their Martha's Vineyard Salad which doesn't make me happy. I loved their salad. The lady at  Arby's did her best to convince me that they had some good new salads, but the new salads are lacking fruit (the cranberries and apples were delicious). I told her it wasn't the same and I would write to their headquarters and she told me "good luck."  There were weeks I lived on that salad - it had all the food groups: cheese, chicken, lettuce, almonds and the above-mentioned fruit. I felt righteously healthy eating it.

4. I'm on book #3 toward my 50.

5. After having several serious talks with the munchkins about being careful around the Christmas tree because of my ornaments-from-the-places-I've-been collection, for the first time I broke one of them myself - and then tonight, broke another one!  Two very special ones, too. One we got at Yellowstone the year Yellowstone was having their 100th anniversary (or some anniversary, I can't read it because I broke it) and one beautiful, delicately painted one from Mackinac Island. The scene was painted on an eggshell and was unbelievably intricate. No chance that one wouldn't break when it hit the floor.

Oh, well ...

THE END (OR ALMOST THE END) OF THE PIER

OUR DAY CONTINUED

After rope climbing, splashing and building, the kids were kind of hungry. (Yeah, blame it on the kids - we were hungry, too.)  So we headed to Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company.

Bubba Gumps is a noisy, crowded restaurant right in Navy Pier. I've actually been there before - with my esteemed colleagues. Jeff likes Forrest Gump because he thinks it's a great picture of grace. I like it because it has shrimp. This isn't the cheapest restaurant around, but it's not bad. And the kids meals are a good deal  - fries, chicken fingers (or pizza or shrimp), plus a cup of blue jello for $4.99 - served in Forrest Gump's shrimp boat - the Jenny

After eating, we wandered down the pier, but not to the end - there was some kind of construction going on. On the way, we stopped and looked in the crazy mirrors, of course.  

THE WATERWORKS

THE SKYSCRAPER BUILDING

PHOTOSHOP

A break from the Children's Museum.

One of my Christmas presents this year was Adobe Photoshop which I am SO EXCITED about. Since we had Christmas on New Year's Day, I haven't had a lot of time to figure it out - but I'm looking forward to experimenting.

Here's a first attempt.

Here's what it looked like straight from the camera ...

THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM #1

Our first stop on our adventure was the Chicago Children's Museum - a place the Jeff and Cindy crew had never been before and a place I hadn't been before either, being that when I was a "children" there wasn't such a place.

We were all impressed and talk of making the Chicago trip an annual event began filtering into the conversation.

MONEY SAVINGS TIP #3 - If you're taking people to the children's museum, make sure one of them is a teacher - teachers get in free.

We took so many pictures of cool things, I could probably post one a day and have enough for an entire year of posts - so I'll just post the highlights.

The 8yo investigates circles

The 7yo and 5yo enjoy pose for a photo op.

Wait! I think I recognize that shadow!

Seriously this shadow wall was way cool.

This next part was intriguing, too. The rain poured down, but if you touched the wall, the rain bunched up and stopped.

And here was a room where you could build a flying machine - and then see how long you could get it to fly.

Or you could walk across the sky yourself while Mom watches from below.

Or you could be a butterfly flying over Chicago. Here the 7yo is flying over Chinatown (see her face in the butterfly.)

This exhibit wasn't the most exciting - wooden fish and a tiny canoe on a wooden pond - for these kids who live by a real lake with real fish - and own a real canoe. (I have no idea who the little kid is)  But, hey, it was still fun.

To be continued ...

THE GIFT - PART 1

Jeff and Cindy have three kids and one car. They also visit me AND Cindy's parents during any Christmas trip south. That means that every year we go through the not-enough-room-to-get-the-Christmas-presents home glitch. And THAT means that the last of the presents usually make it to northern Wisconsin sometime in July - if then. 

So, this year, they got a plan.

Instead of buying them stuff, I should take them on an adventure - to Chicago.

Which would all be well and good if the day we chose was free of blizzards, thunderstorms or tornados. But then again, we didn't really have a choice.

They would be here exactly two days and Thursday, New Year's Day required my presence at my house because of this:

So, if you're doing the math - that left Friday, January 2nd. That had to be the day.

I wanted the day to be super special and I also wanted the day to be different from what I do with Steve and Kelli - that's our tradition. And you don't mess with tradition.

So, early, Friday morning, we headed for the train station.

MONEY SAVING TIP #1 - We planned on taking the 8:06, but the lady told us if we waited until the 8:20, the kids would be free (last day this was true - because of Christmas break). So, we decided it was worth waiting 14 minutes for $18.00.

Here we are patiently waiting (well, some of us are being patient and some of us are ...)

And here we are on the train, well ... the free kids on the train.

We made it to Chicago. I had wondered about getting from the train station to Navy Pier. I'd walked it plenty of times, but the day was cold and we wanted the kids to still have energy - and warm toes when we arrived.

MONEY SAVING TIP #2 - If you're going to Chicago - go on the very last week day ever that the free trolleys are running. Seriously, the Chicago free trolleys are a thing of the past.

The trolley let us out exactly where we wanted to be ...

And our adventure continued.

TWO WEEKS

This was the day I planned to get my blog started again - and I am just now getting to it and so much has happened in the past two weeks (family, friends, food) , that I don't even know what to say.