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!

Vowel Royalty

Tonight we got to play that game of Scrabble after taekwondo, and it was pretty fun.  Everyone came up with some pretty good words along the way, with some high value ones there too.  Maddie is super competitive and had some great words placed here.  Mom is always really good too, but here's the kind of tiles Mom and I kept getting at the start of the game, for several rounds:

Yes, two of those look identical.  Because I actually kept drawing the letter "I" and "E" a lot.   Mom and I were Vowel Royalty tonight, in charge of all vowels!  If you want vowels from us, you must pay tribute!

Alas, if only we could get a few constants.... nevertheless, we had a good game.  We managed to use pretty much all the letters in the end though, and I came out on top tonight.  Here's the final board:

It was a good day today.  I got a lot of leaves pushed back out of the front yard this morning while it was still cool outside.  Meanwhile, Maddie was over getting coffee with Emma, and then off to chapel.  She had a good morning.  Later on, I was working with Ansley and Camille on June's KidPak booklet, which should be pretty good.  We got the final message done and started on some extra pages for that booklet.  WE'll have a message sort of themed to the semiquincentennial, a word I won't get tired of saying!  But seriously, the message is about the Hall of Faith from Hebrews 11, about those who have gone before us, the heroes of our faith.  Along those lines, we'll be talking about the faith of the Founding Fathers as well.  

Maddie had taekwondo tonight, and I walked along the trail there - along that path I met about six deer, which was pretty neat.  They weren't too terrified of me at all.  I guess the word is out.  This morning as I was raking, a small phoebe kept flying right up to me and just watching me rake.  I know it was looking at the ground for anything edible that would turn up, but it was about a foot away from me at one point, like a friendly bird in a Disney movie.  I made sure I got the bird some seed.

It's been a good day.  It's late though.  We read tonight, and after reading a bit, it was time for prayers - and some sleep!  

April 15th

Today was Maddie's one-year anniversary with Nate, something she was planning for a good bit. Obviously, she spent the day with Nate - after classes, of course.  She first went to lunch with Nate's mom at El Sombrero, a place we used to go to all the time, or at least the restaurant we used to visit frequently.  It burned down one year, and they moved to a new location, one that Maddie was going to this afternoon.  The rest of the day Nate and Maddie spent together, and of course there were gifts to give each other.  Maddie was shopping for a bit online, and what did she get from Nate?  An "Exploding Cats" boardgame.  Maddie and Nate played the game this afternoon, and really enjoyed it!

Another thing about today:  taxes.  Mom spent a really long time on that this year, and we are getting a refund this year, although smaller for a few reasons.  But it's done.  It was a big effort from Mom though, gathering invoices and receipts and so on.  She spent hours on that.

I was down in Braselton this morning, doing a bit of an exchange, bringing things down and picking a few things up.  It was just me this morning, so no trip to Cracker Barrel for lunch or anything.  I got most of the decor and other items from Gainesville campus.  Although I left the giant pointing finger decorations at someone's desk...

This morning we were making advances on the gardening, pushing a lot of leaves off, but the weather is getting pretty warm in the afternoons, so I have to do it first thing.  It's hot for April, upper 80's.  That said, I was walking inside instead of outside, getting my steps indoors on the treadmill while watching more of the "From Earth to the Moon" series as I move along towards the new medallion, although that's a good distance away.  Lots of steps to take before that happens, including some steps on a cruise ship!

We're packing up a lot of the Easter stuff, having taken it down already.  Although we didn't take down the Easter tree in our bedroom yet.  Mom did such a great job with that one!

Tonight was a fun night to watch the Braves compete.  It was the closing of the Braves Marlins series, and the rubber match that we wound up winning pretty solidly.  It was Jackie Robinson Day, so everyone was wearing the number 42 on their jerseys.  Mom and I have Daytona Tortuga caps, which is the team that plays at Jackie Robinson Stadium down in Florida.  We saw a few games down there, which was pretty amazing.  Back to tonight:  it was a great game with solid pitching and another offensive outburst from the Braves.  The funny part was listening to the announcer introduce each player by their number, each one a 42.

After the game it was time for some reading from "Thud!"  We visited the Discworld once more, and then said our prayers shortly after that.  It was a good day.

What a Comeback!

What a comeback!  Of course we had BravesVision on tonight, and wow, I'm glad we held on with this one.  Tonight's Braves game looked like a repeat loss from last night, but this is a different Braves team, and specifically, a different bottom of the order.  It was quite the thrilling game - we were watching the entire thing, and it was sort of tough to watch at times because we just weren't able to get it done.  But then suddenly there was this outburst of hits, and it all came down to Dom Smith again, and wow:  we were jumping up and down celebrating.  Huge victory tonight, and lots of fun to watch!

Today we were setting up for KidPak, writing messages and just doing quite a bit around the office with booklet work and graphic work for the upcoming series.  I also did these massive game pieces for the upcoming service, these title cards with characters designed to teach kids our memory verse.  You might see some pictures of those this weekend.  

It was a quiet day today, a Tuesday.  Maddie had her classes this morning, and after that we were at the office for a bit with a meeting for KidPak.  I've been getting a lot of cardio lately, with some work in the garden.  The front left of our house had a lot of leaves that had to be raked out, and although I didn't finish, I still got a good bit cleared out, setting myself up for tomorrow pretty good - hopefully I can have all this pushed back before the rain comes this weekend.  That's a long time from now in regards to the rain - we are in a really bad situation with rainfall, something no one is talking about too loudly, but it's this lurking dread.  We're praying for rain, because this ground is so thirsty.  The bird bath is always full, and there are so many birds coming up for a drink now.  We keep the birds fed too - there's this little phoebe that keeps following me around when I rake, looking for worms and bugs amidst the leaves that I'm stirring up.  But this little bird is up on the deck too, always very close to me, and really comfortable with me around.  It seems to know I mean it no harm and in fact have plenty of worms and things to feed it. 

Mom has things in the house decorated - no longer Easter, but with patriotic pillows, flags, and other items around the house.  We're not done yet, but it's going to look nice and patriotic around here for our semiquincentennial!  

I was walking towards the moon again today, at least on the treadmill, all while knocking out episodes of "From Earth to the Moon."  There's other stuff I'll be watching when done with this series, all themed to the walk - I can't wait to see the "Tomorrowland" material from that Disney Treasures DVD I got some time ago.  I used to collect those DVDs, and I have most of them.  The "Tomorrowland" DVD is a collection of pre-space flight videos that were used to promote the idea of reaching the stars.  It has all kinds of imagery and imagination about what the space program would become, and it's so awesome.  But first, I've got about five episodes left of "From Earth to the Moon," a really fascinating story of the Apollo program.  Great stuff.

Tonight after the game we read a bit more from our current Discworld book.  Things are moving along - there's conflict brewing between the dwarves and trolls, and there's a murder mystery on top of that.  The book is really pulling us along!

We said our prayers after this, and then it was time for sleep.  Got another big day tomorrow!

Jiffy Popcorn and Darth Maul

Happy National Scrabble Day!  We actually have three different versions of this game, and tonight we brought up two of them - although we'll just be playing one here soon enough.  We used to play this quite a bit, and it might be fun to have a few rounds this week as it moves along. 

Tonight was Darth Maul night again, as there were another two episodes recently released.  We watched the first episode, and then decided to have some popcorn with the next - but not the traditional sort of popcorn, no!  

We had Jiffy Popcorn, the kind you have in that little pan that you heat up and you watch the aluminum expand as the corn pops inside over your stovetop.  Mom and I took turns shaking this pan over the medium heat flames there until we had a great big amount of delicious popcorn.  And it was really good, too!

We were watching the Braves for a bit today, but they lost the opening game against Miami.  It wasn't a shut-out, but it wasn't a close game either.  Oh well!  "...if they don't win it's a shame." 

Maddie had college this morning, more experience with dance and I think she's enjoying that.  I was out there early getting more mulch down and raking a lot of leaves out of the way.  Almost done with one side of the house there, and the goal is to work outside a little each day.  Meanwhile, poor Mom is working on the taxes, and it's just something she's been dreading.

Maddie had taekwondo tonight, and I was able to head over to the track to get my walking in.  I also got my reading in when I got back to the martial arts studio, occasionally looking up to watch the students train.  On the way home, I was getting peckish.  Mom read my mind from home, and when I called, she asked if I wanted something to eat.  It's a tradition after Easter to have egg salad sandwiches because what else are you going to do with all those eggs?  Mom and I were peeling those eggs and dicing them, and tonight we enjoyed some egg salad sandwiches for dinner.  Yummy!

We closed out the day with reading tonight, checking out the subterranean crime scene in the book 'Thud!"  We'll see what happens next as this unfolds, but it's been twenty years since I've read this, so I don't actually remember entirely.  It sort of comes back to me as I read.  Anyway, we'll see how things go, but it's been fun to read thus far.  

After that, prayers - and sleep.  We're still somewhat exhausted from the garden work this weekend, but we'll sleep well tonight.

Mulch-a-thon

KidPak morning!  We're in the midst of our "Level Up" series, although it's a bit shorter in a way because week one was Easter and the last week is our small group service.  You can see what we did this morning, the Wisenheimer invention - the one created by an actual retired Disney Imagineer some time ago.  Pretty amazing gift item!  The invention is always a huge hit, and this morning was no different.  Of course, the morning featured really great worship, a fantastic video, an animated video game race, and a really great message from Pastor Tucker.  We were talking about Rahab this morning, and it was all good!

We got home - or at least I did.  Maddie was with Nate all day, "yapping."  That's what she told us she did!  We have a yapper for a daughter!

Mom and I were continuing our mulch-a-thon, putting another 36 bags of mulch out there in the garden area, getting close to setting up for the fairy garden area, and a place for our gnomes!  I'll get out there tomorrow to continue cleaning up that area.  Lots of leaves.  We were out there working hard for a bit, and that was pretty much the day, and then we sat down to watch the Atlanta Braves attempt to win the rubber match of the series with Cleveland.  And yeah... we kinda' won.  What a fun game that was to watch, although it was blocked out on BravesVision, we were able to catch it on Peacock, and that worked out.  Because we got to see the Braves score thirteen runs.  They got nineteen hits.  Nineteen hits.  It was crazy.  So now Atlanta is actually the only team in the MLB to have not lost a series yet.  Cool, huh?

Anyway, that was fun to watch.  Afterwards, we read from our book, "Thud!"  And after that, it was time for prayers, and a good night's rest.  We were pretty tired from all the work out there in the lawn, but it's coming along!  Good night, and go Braves!

Toasted Uncrustables and Sumo Citrus

So one of the video breaks that repeats from time to time between innings on BravesVision is a bit about food, and there are a lot of other bits too, but this one struck me as funny because it was a player telling us about putting an Uncrustable in a toaster.  Basically, an Uncrustable is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich where the crust is removed and the perimeter is cinched and sealed.  The player recommended putting that into a toaster, so yes, I got a few of these.  I'm going to go ahead and tell you now I completely agree with this ballplayer, and so does Mom:  these are delicious!  That's all I have to say about that.

On to another interesting food item, something I saw at the grocery store today and had to pick up.  It's called a Sumo Citrus, and so tonight we'll be trying one of those.  A name like "Sumo" conjures up heavy-weight wrestlers from Japan, and sure enough, this is just a special hybrid of mandarin orange from Japan.  They've been cultivating trees in California for the past decade and so now we can have easier access to this unusual orange here.  It's an odd-looking thing.  It kind of reminds me of a gourd.

Today's story was mulch.  I saw that the mulch was on sale, so I went for three trips to Home Depot getting a total of fifty-one bags of mulch when all was said and done.  We were actually able to lay all fifty-one bags of mulch out along the one side of the house and the steps... but there is so much left to be done with the gardening.  Wow.  One step at a time, right?  

Anyway, one of those trips to Home Depot, I brought Maddie along with the promise of sushi.  The two of us stopped and picked up some from the Publix there, which actually has some pretty decent sushi.  And of course now you know where we got that Sumo Citrus from.  We'll probably try that tomorrow afternoon.

We finished our gardening, and Mom took a bath - we both cleaned up and had some rotisserie chicken that I picked up from the grocery store.  And look what I got in the mail!

Yes, it's They Might Be Giants!  I can't wait to listen to this CD, although I've already been listening to the digital files a few times while out in the garden.  It's a great CD, and I love the cover art.

One thing of note:  we've had a lot of carpenter bees lately, and that one carpenter bee trap we have is so incredibly effective.  I've been watching them fly around the house, and then they're gone, and sure enough, they're in the trap - it's pretty amazing how good this thing works.  We had four in there this afternoon.

Moving on, tonight's Braves game did not go well for the home team.  It was a frustrating game to watch, but hats off to the starting pitcher for the Guardians, who the Braves just couldn't figure out.   

Ah look!  It's a night visitor!  I don't know why, but I like these opossums.  I was about to bring in that plate for the night when I turned on the light and there this critter was, getting a light snack.  Cute!

Tonight's reading from "Thud!" introduced the book that Sam Vimes has to read to his son every night at 6pm, and that's "Where's My Cow?"  That itself was also made into an actual book to accompany "Thud!" and yes, I've got that too.  In fact, I first read that very book to Maddie - get this - sixteen years ago.  We'll get back to it once we're done with "Thud!"  It was a sweet portion of the book tonight, one where Sam Vimes has to do all he can to get back in time to read to his son this one book.  I remember reading to Maddie no matter what - sometimes from a hospital bed.  It's just one of those dad obligations.

Afterwards we said our prayers, and that was that for today.  It was a good day, but we're definitely worn out from quite a bit of garden work.  More to do tomorrow, but let's get some rest tonight!