Has It Been This Long?

I guess I didn't realize how long its been since I've written on here. Being sick doesn't prevent me from being on the computer, actually I'm on more than ever before (which is amazing). I guess I just don't have anything good to say on here, I've been doing the facebook thing instead.

After tonight though I won't have any work or school for the forseeable future so maybe that means I will have more time for this blog.

My Fortune is About to Change?

My sister gave me a fortune cookie from Panda Express the other day. The fortune my Mom got was funny considering her personality, the one my sister got basically said she'd be a good community organizer, so when they gave me mine I couldn't wait to see what mine would say. I opened it up and there was my fortune

You will soon have the opportunity to improve your finances

Sweet. I mean doing almost anything at this point will improve my finances. I only have 4 more days of work left. But I think tomorrow I will buy myself a powerball ticket. I already know what I'm going to do with the money.

Quiet and Miserable

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. I've been sick lately. Actually for several months, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and he gave me some medicine. It started to help, but I came down with a really horrible cold and I'm back to feeling pretty bad again. I need to call the doctor again, but I hate doctors. Ugh. I've been so miserable. I have 11 more days of work then I have nothing. Hopefully I'll be able to find something in the fall. Or maybe I'll win the lottery or something.

It thought It could, It thought It could

Last semester I was taking a class on teaching science, and one of the assignments for the class was to teach a lesson plan to the class as if they were elementary students. I did mine as a lesson on the basic needs of plants for a kindergarten or first grade class. I decided that one thing I wanted to bring with me for the lesson was a plant, as if it were the class plant that students could observe and take care of and sort of connect it to the lesson. I was in the Lowes in Kenosha a few days before the lesson (I think this was in November) and I saw this little plant on clearance. It was something like $.79 and I figured it would be easy just to pick this up so I wouldn't have to move any of my plants at home.

So this poor little clearance $.79 plant went from Wisconsin back home to Chicago. With me to work, then to school, and then after the lesson back home. I think it lost some leaves as they were snapped off. Its been sitting in our sun bay since then. I've been surprised that through my Dad being so sick through all of December and the months since then that its actually been watered. But what surprised me even more this week is that its actually blooming. Its got these pretty purple flowers blooming. I feel bad that I haven't taken better care of it, you can see its still in the plastic container from Lowes. I should find a pot and replant it, although why mess with success at this point.

I think this plant is like the Little Engine That Could.

Catching Up Post

My new computer came last week so I've been playing that more lately than anything else. The bad thing is that its not hooked up to the internet yet so I haven't been keeping up with my internet stuff as much. I've seen lots of stuff that I wanted to post on here, I just haven't done so.

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Doug Barry and Eric Genuis (of Radix) were at my church over the weekend, they did a talk, question answers sort of thing, and Doug did his one-man passion play. Eric performed before each of the masses, but I missed it as I was sick Sunday morning.




(As Pontius Pilate)

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Holy Cards for your inspiration had this card one day last week and it tied in actually with what Doug and Eric were talking about.

Meaning of most of the Dutch words on the card:[At the top:]"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me."[On the great cross:]"I am weighed down by all of your sins."[Some of the words on the small crosses:]"Scrupulosity, Disgrace, Ignorance, Sadness, Torments, Injuries, Severity, Contempt, Poverty, Humiliations, Adversity, Sorrow, Loss of Friends, Illnesses, Trials, Crimes, Disfavor, Misdeeds, Loss of Goodness, Lukewarmness, Prosecutions, Insults"

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I'm going to try to update on stuff throughout the day. I did want to post about the horrendous attack on religious freedom in Connecticut (BTW I have a mental block on the spelling of Connecticut).

I have to get through my email which has been piling up so much over the past week. I used to love checking my email, now most of the time I dread it.

Oh Kass, How I Love You

One of my favorite people on Earth has to be Mr. John Kass of the Chicago Tribune. When my Dad was in the hospital for most of December at the same time that then-Governor Blagojevich fell into legal problems, I often brought info and little sayings from Kass to Dad in the hospital to brighten his day.

I'd say that Kass leans conservative, but he is critical of the 'combine' in Illinois. The democrats and republicans who work with each other to take advantage of the rest of us. But the thing I mostly love about Kass is the creative writing that he injects into his columns.

The names he gives politicians:

Gov. Blagojevich: Governor Dead Meat or Governor Nosferatu
Rep. DeLeo: (D-How you Doin?)
Sen. Burris: Roland "Tombstone" Burris (D-Lying Weasel)
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak)
Rep. John Fritchey (D-Pastries)
House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Lisa's Dad)

And terms like: feditis and hopium.

When I see some of his writing that really gets me going I should just post it, so I have it here for all of time. Today he was in form and really made me laugh.

Sen. Roland "Tombstone" Burris (D-Lying Weasel) hatches his lies by the minute; they bubble out of his mouth like insect larvae from the mud.

Once their wings are dry, they launch from our senator's lips and buzz. Yet with all the buzzing, let's consider a few things.

This was the part specifically that had me laughing, even though I'm in a quiet computer lab.

Even Mayor Richard Daley lies better than Burris. Years ago, when confronted by Tribune reporters about how he'd given $100 million in affirmative action contracts to white guys with Outfit connections whom he'd drink with every Christmas Eve, Daley developed his strategy.

He turned purple, the hair on his temples flying up like the wings of dark angels, and he released his terrifying Mayor Chucky persona. This so frightened timid TV political reporters that they wouldn't follow up on Tribune stories.

Burris is trying to do the same, but he can't intimidate the media, not with that ridiculous Please-Don't-Squeeze-the-Charmin mustache on his lip. He played the race card to get seated in the Senate, but the race card doesn't have muscle now that America elected a black president.

I Hate Mondays

I leave for work at school at 7:20am. I work until 12. I come home from about 12:30 - 2:10. Then I leave for second work. I work there until 5. I have to run from there for class back at school at 5:30. I have class until 8:30 and then I can usually get back home just before 9. My friends usually want to hang out after I get out of class but I fall asleep too often so I just go home.

Well time to run.

Update and Name that Christmas Song

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes for my Dad. He had major surgery on Monday the 15th. He should be coming home in the next few days, but not by Christmas as we had hoped. After he gets out of the hospital I should be feeling more like blogging. There really hasn't been a reason why I couldn't blog the past week or so other than I really just haven't felt like it. We spend a lot of time visiting him at the hospital, and when we get home I don't feel like doing a whole lot.

I did want to post the answers for my Name That Christmas Song post, in case anyone was playing.

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1. Cherry Tree Carol
2. Here is the Little Door
3. The First Noel
4. Away in a Manger
5. O Little Town of Bethlehem
6. I Saw Three Ships
7. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
8. Good King Wenceslas
9. Silent Night
10. Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child / Coventry Carol
11. What Child is this
13. O Come All Ye Faithful
14. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
15. Lo How a Rose e'er blooming
16. Do You Hear What I Hear?
17. We Three Kings
18. O Holy Night
19. Joy to the World
20. O COme O Come Emmanuel

21. Silver Bells
22. Winter Wonderland
23. Jingle Bells
24. Holly Jolly Christmas
25. Jingle Bell Rock

Hiatus

I'm taking a break from blogging while my Dad is in the hospital. I'll be back when everything gets straightened out.

Our Lady Pin

I was at this card shop yesterday buying a baby card. My boss from my last job just had his first child, so I was buying him a card. As I was paying the cashier and owner of the store noticed the pin I have on my purse, its of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She said she liked the pin and said her mother has a devotion to her. I was taken off guard by the comment and the only thing I could think to say was that I was surprised the pin hadn't fallen off yet. She said I must be meant to have it. She asked when her feast day was, saying she thought it was coming up, I confirmed that and said it was the 12th. I thanked the lady and left the store.

Later in the afternoon I went to work as usual, but I ended up staying late to help out. I took a later bus home, and it was a lot emptier than the one I usually take. I was sitting on the bus listening to my Zune when something on the floor caught my eye. It was my pin, it had fallen off when I got on the bus and was laying on the floor. I picked it up and put it inside my purse.

Its just so funny that I was commenting on being surprised that it hadn't fallen off yet and then a few hours later it did just that.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Bless us Oh Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive through thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Finally Getting a Day Off

I haven't been to Kenosha in the past few weeks because one of my coworkers went home to Albania, so I have had to help cover her shifts. Actually come to think of it I haven't even had a day off in a couple weeks. I was supposed to have Sunday off, but one of my other coworkers got sick so I had to cover her shift on Saturday (I was already supposed to work Saturday, but I had to work longer hours) and then I had to pick up her shift for Sunday. I'm really looking forward to this weekend now and just being able to relax, maybe go out and take some photos around town. I haven't had much to take pictures of the last few weeks, just the bread I made last night and thats not that exciting.

My Mom did take a picture last week that I thought was adorable. I guess this is a katydid. To me its a leaf bug, but I showed it to one of my friends who studies insects and she was pretty sure thats what it is. I have never seen one before, which surprised her, so I think its a pretty awesome shot.

Slow Day

The Sox just won the game in 14 with a 3 run homerun from Swish. I actually can't believe I sat here and watched the whole game, they were down 6 - 1 at one point early on. Thats cool. The fans that stayed for the whole game got quite a show. I'm supposed to go to the game on Thursday with my Dad, I'm looking forward to that.

Today was a slow day. We had the big storms last night, the power went out around 8 or 8:30 and didn't come back on until 1:30. I'm glad it came on when it did, it was getting hot in the house and I was waking up about every 20 minutes or so. It was just an overall weird night. I was working on my computer about 7:45 or so when I heard my Dad calling me, I opened the door to see what he wanted and he said we needed to get in the basement because the sirens were going off. I grabbed a pillow, unplugged my laptop and ran downstairs with it.

Bringing the laptop for me actually makes a lot of sense. When we do get these storms where we do have to retreat into the basement I usually start getting nervous as all there is to do is turn on the TV and think about the storm overhead. With the laptop I could follow the storm, but also do other things, post on some message boards and think about some other things too.

After the first big storm passed we were all ready to go back to our normal stuff when the power went out. Funny thing is even when the power is out there is still a glow in the sky from the city so it wasn't pitch black. I could see there were all kinds of branches down in front of our house and I could look out the frontroom window and see that there was a very large branch blocking the street (I live on an intersection between two streets that make a T so it wasn't my street that was blocked it was the other). I got to watch all kinds of cars try to go down that street, then turn around and go back. As time dragged on it was getting hot and I was bored. I ended up watching some videos on my Zune. The power was spotty at best this morning, but it seems to be on for good now. We are lucky because there are a lot of people who don't have power right now and may not have it for a few days.

I ended up not doing too much today. The big highlight of the day seemed to be when Hogan's Heroes came on TV this afternoon. Hopefully there will be more going on tomorrow. Looks like another hot day, I'm really not looking forward to walking to the bus.

Police Activity

So today I was taking the bus to work and we cross the railroad tracks and a police car is there directing traffic to other streets off the main one we were on. The police let the bus go through I imagine because vehicles like buses and semi-trucks can't go down any of the other nearby streets. As we went down this street towards my work every intersection had police cars, SUVs, and even a squadroll, with officers suited up with bulletproof vests. I looked down one block and there was a large truck with a satellite dish on the top, although it didn't appear to be a news truck, more like a police vehicle. My stop was the one after the last blocked off street, my work was only a few blocks away from where all this was going on.

So I walked into work a few minutes late (with all this going on the bus was late, so I was late). So I say to my boss 'whats going on down here?'. He didn't know anything about it. I had to work until 9:30, and figured when I'd get home I'd see something about it on the Trib website or on the news or something. But nothing. I can't find a thing about what was going on. So, something may or may not have been going on, I can't tell.

Interview Tomorrow

My interview is tomorrow. Last night I went and talked to our neighbor friend who was a teacher for many years (and most of it was in the Catholic schools). She suggested that I make a presentation on my laptop and bring it with me. I guess I'm going to do that. I'm not sure how it will go, but it will also allow my work to stand on its own and not rely solely on my descriptions. And if I have it all set up I won't have to worry about forgetting half the stuff I want to talk about.

How We Treat Animals

I walked over to CVS after work today. There was a guy tying up his dog on the bike rack while he went inside. Its way too hot out there to be leaving the dog out there long, so I'm sort of trusting that he was going to come back soon. Sweet dog, looked like a German Shepherd or he had some in him, didn't make a noise at me when I walked by, just wagged his tail. But the man is standing 15 feet away yelling at the dog to sit down. I don't know if he really believed that the dog was going to sit there as opposed to stand while he was in the store or not, but I have to say it made him look like a psycho.

I generally believe that how people treat animals tells us a lot about how someone will treat other people. Its not 100%, but I think its a good indicator. Well I went into CVS and pick up the items I wanted and I see the dog's owner walking through the store with this angry look on his face, giving dirty looks to everyone. Now maybe I just caught this guy in a bad mood or something, but he was a scary guy. When I walked past him I averted my eyes just to avoid him. Usually I smile at people when I walk past them, this guy just made me want to run away.

St. Joseph the Worker

The other day I was writing about how I was trying to find a statue of St. Joseph the worker for my Dad for his birthday. We found one today. It was a little more expensive than I was hoping so my sister and I bought it with some help from Mom. We gave it to him this evening even though his birthday is Sunday, that way he has some time to decide where he wants to put it.

Funny Smell

Last week we started noticing a funny smell by our back door. We thought maybe it was from our neighbor's yard because they often have plumbing problems. We didn't think a whole lot about it before we went on our trip. When we came back yesterday the funk was still there. As I was bringing stuff back into the house I saw that there was a lawn waste bag underneath the porch. Aha! That must be it. So I mentioned it to my brother and he dragged the back out to the alley.

This morning the funky smell was still there. My Dad took a look underneath the porch and there rolled up among some old leaves was a dead squirrel. Now before you ask he didn't look close enough to see the cause of death, but my parents have been running with the assumption that one of my two doggies did the deed. I happen to believe the little guy was sitting in the shade one day and had a heart attack and died. ;)

Somehow I managed to finish my paper (I even read the whole book - which is unusual for me). It was actually pretty good.

Now I'm just trying to study for the test. I'm not especially confident. There is a lot of material to remember and I'm dead tired. I went to sleep after 2, back up at 6:30. I'm used to a lot more sleep than that. Oh well. I guess I really haven't been getting much more sleep than that lately. We leave on our trip tonight so I guess I'll have plenty of time to sleep on our way.

I'm trying to study right now, but amusingly enough I have this song stuck in my head. Darn you JG Wentworth and your catchy commercials.

Ummm.... Yay?

You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the faith to unbelievers. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

H/T Catholic Homeschooled Teens

We're leaving for Florida Wednesday night but between then and now I have to read a book, write a paper on that book, study for the exam I have to take early because I won't be there when the test is given. And my boss wonders why I don't look that excited yet.