Some Berserk Small Group Planning

Maddie drove to class this morning and did pretty good behind the wheel.  She's wanting to get hours in for driving, so she's got quite a few demands lately but we'll try to squeeze it all in.  In the meantime, tomorrow, Nana will be over to add some of those hours.  Maddie's doing pretty good with driving though, and that's something new and exciting.

She was over at Nate's for the day today afterwards, the two hanging out and playing games and so on.  When she and Nate came back to the house, we were watching "The Mandalorian" again, starting from episode one.  Ah those were the days, back in 2019.  Can't believe we've had this channel this long.  Anyway, we're watching all these episodes again in preparation for the upcoming movie, and of course there's Star Wars Day coming up.  

Earlier, I was cutting up a lot of craft items for our small group Sunday coming up.  Small Group Sunday is somewhat like KidPak was at the beginning, with a lot of individual creativity and fun planning.  I've made this little Mario Kart craft that I think the kids will like doing, plus some interesting games, one based on an old video game BERZERK.  Yes, I'm that geek.  The idea is to make it through this maze, avoiding the robots and trying to make it through to the end before EVIL OTTO bounces in and gets you.  The challenge?  The person doing the maze can't see, and is completely reliant on voices of his teammates to get him out in time.  Should be fun!

This afternoon, the Braves had an earlier game.  Mom had that on, but I actually got to see that whole game and watch the Braves win yet again.  This I was watching while cutting out a lot of these craft items that you'll see here soon enough.  Afterwards, I was on the treadmill getting in another few miles before settling down for the night.

Tonight we closed things out with reading from "Thud!"  Commander Vimes is quite unhappy with the city dwarves right now, and we've still got a big mystery to solve.  But some big clues were just mentioned, and we'll have to see if that all falls into place.  It's been a fun book so far though. 

Afer reading, we said our prayers, and that was that for the day.  We're still on the detox program, still going there.  Stomach's a little shaky, but we'll sleep well tonight.

National Jelly Bean Day

It's Earth Day, and believe it or not, I did do something small to celebrate.  The other night at Publix, I picked up a nice "Earth Day" bag for Mom, and I surprised her with that this morning.  She liked that.  It's also Administrative Professional Day, or in simpler terms, "Secretary's Day."  No secretaries in the house there, but there is one super awesome holiday that also falls on April 22, and that's this one here:

Happy National Jelly Bean Day!  You'd better believe we celebrated that one.  Of course, these are Jelly Bellies, and to me that's pretty much the same thing.  We had an extra bag and got busy with that one right away.  Maddie loves the cotton candy flavor.  Like Mom, I can pretty much eat any jelly bean in front of me.  Even the black ones!

Speaking of getting busy, we had some setting up to do for this weekend's small group.  Josh created this artwork and I made it super sized so that we could illustrate the Full Armor of God.  We'll add the pieces here, like a paper doll.

Pretty cool, huh?  We had some meetings today to discuss our upcoming events and of course our small groups this Sunday.  Notice Emma's sitting style here at the meeting. 

I have no further comment on this.  But also getting busy outside is a crew that was celebrating Earth Day by removing the trees from the front of the church, and constructing... something.  I'm pretty sure there'll be benches there.

I took these just because I usually don't take these sorts of pictures, but now I can look back after whatever is here has been built and it's many years later, and I can say, "Oh yeah, here that stuff is being built!"

I'm on the treadmill, still walking to the moon, virtually of course.  I was watching this episode of "From Earth to the Moon" that featured a good bit about geography, which was pretty fun.  This has been a great theme, and it'll be fun watching these space-travel inspired movies and shows as I march along, all leading up to an actual visit to the Kennedy Space Center.  Pretty cool.

Moving on, Maddie was at college today, and then doing a tour at Braselton's campus, where the college will be next year.  Maddie will not be there next year.  

Mom and I were sitting on the porch for a good bit today, doing puzzles and reading and just enjoying this marvelous weather outside.  Mom unfortunately has been dealing with some serious poison ivy that dates back to when we were gardening last week.  We're dealing with that the best we can.  It's so annoying to her.

The Braves beat the Nationals again.  Four home runs from the Braves tonight, a real offensive outburst.  BravesVision has been a real treat for us - we're enjoying the commentators and the footage and just having this channel.  We're even watching Stripers games on television, which is pretty wild.  

Tonight we read more from our book "Thud!"  We're approaching the end, although that's a good ways still to go.  It's a longer book, but everyone is still very much into the mystery and the ongoing adventures of the Watch characters.  After that, it was time for prayers - and some much-needed rest!

Jelly Bean Day, Earth Day, Braselton tour, Kidpak Meeting,  space coffee, Moon geography, Braves beat Nat, poison ivy, sitting on porch... updates coming soon...

Mandalorian Coffee

Well, the winning streak of the Braves got cut short tonight as they got stomped by the Washington Nationals.  Only one thing could cheer us up after that:  a delivery from our favorite bounty hunter!

Tonight we got the latest Bones Coffee flavors, and no, we haven't tried them yet.  But we can't wait.  Cantina Caramel Crunch and Beskar Brew are what they're called - and they look like so much fun!  We may wait on Star Wars Day for that, which is coming up soon enough.  But the packaging was great on this, and the artwork just looks really awesome!

Today Maddie had her classes, and meanwhile I was finishing up KidPak's June booklet with Camille, who is at home today thanks to Braxton Hicks.  I've had no idea who this Braxton Hicks fella is until recently, and now I could point him out in a crowd, that is, if he hadn't died a few centuries ago.  He's the guy that studied false labor conditions, and sure enough, this event that pregnant women go through is named after some guy from the 1800's.  I mean, why can't we just call it false labor?  Anyway, Camille was enduring all this and wasn't able to make it in today, but we nevertheless were working together the best we could.  We'll get these booklets done before she has her next child, and we'll be pretty far ahead of the game, which is exciting.   

It was a quiet day otherwise.  Certainly cooler.  I didn't get much done outside of the book work, meetings and a few other minor tasks.  I was hoping to get my walking in, or at least some gardening this afternoon, but I was just zonked.  We sat down to watch the ball game, and you know how that went.

Tonight we read, and after that said our prayers.  It's time for some sleep.

Driving Home

College day!  Difference is, Maddie drove home today.  Yep, she got in that-there car and drove it home, sure enough.  She did a pretty decent job too, catching on to this whole "driving thing" pretty good.  

Nice day today.  Cold one too, at least to start out with.  That was fairly unique.  I was out there raking leaves for a good bit, like it was fall or something.  But then complications ensued, and I needed to come in.  Oh well, got a few other things done too, like car appointments, tags dealt with, and eventually grocery shopping.  We were a bit behind on the shopping, so it was quite a visit to the grocery store today for me, and quite a list.  One thing I spotted while there:  Norwegian Crisp Bread. 

I actually really this as a snack.  Maddie, however, thinks it looks like birdseed! 

I was there while Maddie was in taekwondo - it was Maddie's longer night of practice with a few classes and an extended leadership class.  They've decided not to return to the Battle of Atlanta this year, and instead focus on a few other competitions that I believe are within the GTMA umbrella in different locations.  The Battle of Atlanta experience was fun, but everyone seems okay with moving on to other things too.  

I got my walking in today, all while watching a video with Alan Shepherd's story in "From Earth to the Moon."  Only about three more of these videos left, and then moving on to another series.  

Tonight we saw the Braves win again, this time with a new opponent in Washington.  We beat the Nationals 9-4 tonight, and the weather looked a lot colder up there.  Down here in Georgia, it's pretty chilly, almost fall like.

I have a phoebe friend, this bird that flies so close to me and lands right there within reach, just watching me rake.  It's looking for food that I might be stirring up, but it's great to have a little companion out there.  I have a new favorite bird.

Tonight we read more from our Discworld book, and then after that it was time for prayers - and a good night's sleep.  It's easy to sleep under all those blankets when it's chilly outside!

TNT Sunday

 

Another fun morning at KidPak!  We did a few games today, a matching one that you see above where kids were trying to pick character cards that had parts of the memory verse on the other side, and pick them in order.  You can see the Mario characters there, including a Thwomp and  a Shy Guy.  The other game was related to Minecraft, and that was a lot of work for us making all those blocks, but the visual was pretty good.  Kids were actually launching a plush Minecraft pig at the walls of blocks there, trying to get to the TNT blocks for points.

It was another great morning.  Maddie was taking these pictures and more, and then in the second service upstairs in the main sanctuary to see John Bevere.  Here are a few more pictures from this morning's first service that she took.

Oh, one more thing.  Isaac came back to work today.  These giant fingers have been there all week long, along with the "SIT HERE!" sign, and so the carefully preserved set-up was there to surprise him this morning... only... he actually saw a picture of it on this blog before he got here... and now we're in some sort of blogception because he might be reading this and... well, this is his reaction...

Anyway, we got home after church and I was actually pretty tired.  So was Mom, who had a more difficult night last night. So we took a nice afternoon nap, a Sunday nap!  Not a long one though - because soon I was up and doing my walking on the treadmill while watching another episode of "From Earth to the Moon." 

I came upstairs and was hungry, so Mom and I had this pot roast meal that I picked up at the grocery store a few days ago.  First of all, it was on sale.  Secondly, it was Dolly Parton pot roast.

It sort of reminds me of that scene from Ratatouille where the Chef Gusteau's image is put on pretty much every kind of food there.  Because yes, I bought this pot roast because it had a picture of Dolly Parton on the front of the box.  So yes, I fell for it.  But in the end, was our pot roast good?  

I'll say yes!  Mom and I both had this for dinner tonight, and it wasn't bad.  It's gluten-free too, of course, so that made things good for Mom.  We enjoyed the taste, although adding some rice might be a good thing to add.

Anyway, we watched a few things tonight, continuing the Spider-thon with "Into the Spider-verse," and after that there was another Braves game to see - Atlanta swept Philadelphia, the first sweep of the year.  The score was 4-2, and as usual there was some pretty amazing defensive plays.  

We read a little tonight from our story, where Brick the troll is at the police department in Ankh-Morpork, and there's trouble still brewing.  And after that, we said our prayers - time for some rest!

National Record Store Day

National Record Day is here, and no, I didn't know that this morning.  Initially, my earlier thought was that there isn't a record store nearby.  I was completely surprised that there is actually one in downtown Gainesville!  So yes, this afternoon, Maddie and I went over to Gainesville and stopped by Moe's Record Shop, and we met Moe there too!  

The place was full of customers, and earlier on there was all this exclusive National Record Day material, but we were there just to look around.  Maddie bought her first vinyl record today, a Taylor Swift record of course.  And I found a Leon Redbone record for Mom, and picked up three Amy Grant records, two of them I've never heard before - "Amy Grant in Concert."  These are concert recordings from 1981, and I was super happy to pick them up at a pretty affordable price.  All in all we spent a little over $50 there, and I think I might have to go back there some time soon actually.  

In the meantime, we got home and the three of us had another epic game of Scrabble.  We were listening to all that music on our record player as we were battling with our Scrabble letters.  Something tells me Maddie will want a rematch where her letter tiles will be better selected!

E-I-E-I-O!  Anyway, it was a good day today, starting off with a couple taekwondo events.   We were glad to spend the afternoon together at Edge Martial Arts, all the students listening and learning from leadership - and having some fun too!

It was a good afternoon.  Maddie even had Team Edge practice this morning, so it was a fairly full day.  Mom and I were listening to the Braves defeat the Phillies again tonight, just before bed.  But we did make time to continue our story in Ankh-Morpork for about ten pages or so, and then it was time for prayers - and some sleep.  Tomorrow we have another big church service, and it's going to be great.  Might get some much-needed rain too!

Medicine Ball, Part II

Ah, here's Maddie with the ol' medicine ball again.  This is the sixteen-pound ball - you can see her leading her part of the class with this one, something they're using in a variety of ways.  We've talked about medicine balls here on this site - what their purpose is supposed to be, and some random memory I have from a movie I watched as a kid with one.  Some day I hope someone comes up with an actual game that uses a medicine ball.  There's football, baseball, and basketball.  Why not medicine ball?  All these neglected weighted balls that get used only every-so-often... it's like they go to the Island of Misfit Balls and just sit there until someone says, "Oh, we've got these weighted ball thingies.  Let's use those!"  It's not that bad at Edge Martial Arts, of course.  But I'm just saying that the medicine ball is criminally underused.  I digress.

After taekwondo, Maddie and I went over to the grocery store to pick up a few items, and since the boba tea place is right next door, we stopped there for some tea.  Maddie got her usual sun lake moon tea (or whatever it's called!), while I got something with taro root in it.  We decided this is our favorite boba tea location.  Plus, there's a statue of a buffalo next door.

Yes, that's the one in front of the "Buffalos" restaurant.  I'm not sure if they serve bison there or not.  I personally wouldn't, given that this buffalo is standing right outside the door, giving everyone incriminating stares. 

Okay, moving on!  While Maddie was doing taekwondo, I was off walking outside.  I was actually listening to the "Apollo 13" soundtrack while I was walking, just to get in the spirit of the "virtual walk" I'm doing to the Moon (and back).  I even earned this post card today.

So I got stabbed in the back today.  Literally.  I was at the dermatologist, and he took a mole off of me to send to a lab.  I'm not even worried, but it was all a new experience for me, getting the once-over by a doctor looking around at my skin for suspicious looking moles.  

On the way back, I saw a bunch of signs on Green Street that said "SAVE GREEN STREET."  So I'm out of the loop on this one, but just discovered that they plan on widening the street.  This, of course, would take out a lot of really old and magnificent trees that give the road its character.  It will also reduce the lawns and property size of all these locations on Green Street.  

The whole idea is sounds terrible.  I mean, how long is this going to take, and how many businesses will this affect negatively?  Will we be able to get to Mellow Mushroom while this is going on, or would we want to?  What about that nice bed and breakfast there, or the spa?  Or the church?  Or the arts center?  What about the parades or the Christmas lights?  What about the flipping Christmas tree?  Wow, this is a bad idea.  There are other ideas that can help with traffic, obviously.  Obviously.  I'm all on board the "SAVE GREEN STREET" idea, and I don't even live there.  I think there are other ideas that can work better than messing with the very integrity of this historic Green Street.  I signed the petition online.

 

Moving on, today we were raking leaves again, cleaning up that front yard.  We watched the game tonight, and the Braves absolutely clobbered the Phillies 9-0.  There were some huge defensive plays, which is to say the Phillies had some well-hit balls - but Acuna and Riley stole those hits away with some massive catches.  And speaking of Riley, he's hit three homers in the last two games.  He might have hit more if the umpire was a little better.  But we'll all settle with 9-0, won't we?

Anyway, good night for baseball.  We went to bed after this, reading for a bit and then saying our prayers afterwards.  Good day!