National Pretzel Day

KidPak this morning was really great, another small group morning.  Super fun!  We had our worship in the main sanctuary, and then after that it was time for the kids to head to small groups.  We had the video game theme going on, and I had planned a fe different things like a puzzle race that revealed a video game character wearing the Full Armor of God, and then after that we had a paper doll of Gideon where kids could add the individual pieces of that Full Armor of God.  It was all about the battle in the mind, and reminding kids that each one is a mighty hero, and that the voice they should listen to is that of God's.  To illustrate listening to the right voices, we had this "Berzerk" themed maze that I made, to go with the video game theme.  Kids had the upside-down goggles on, the ones that make it pretty impossible to see with, and then they had to listen to their teammates guide them through the "electrified wall maze" with Berzerk robots in it.  And once they got about halfway through the maze and were feeling more comfortable... uh-oh.  Here came Evil Otto!  I got to be the bouncing smiling face villain that added a lot of stress and pressure to the the journey through the maze.  It was so much for for the kids that they wanted to do it again and again.  Afterwards we illustrated the point about listening to the right voices that lead you to safety, versus the wrong voices that get you lost or in trouble.  Even the smiling faces one!

The last thing that we did was put together that craft that I made up for the kids, the paper stand-up with Mario Kart racers on it.  They all came out pretty well.  I worked pretty hard setting up the pieces for that the past few days, so they were quick and easy to assemble.  

All in all it was a really fun morning with the kids.  I was so grateful to get to do this again, and all our volunteers each played a big part in presenting different parts of the Bible story or illustrating points along the way.  They all did so well!

On the way home, we picked up some Chinese food for lunch and ate at home.  It was good, of course.  Mom was hankering Chinese food, and apparently a lot of other people were too, because the restaurant was packed!  Probably a lot of post-church people that were pretty hungry.

So we relaxed the good part of the day.  With Maddie, that's been farming games and videos she watches online.  I got my steps in on the treadmill, a little over two miles a day while I virtually walk towards the moon.  Today's feature was another Tomorrowland video from 1957 or something like that, "Mars and Beyond."  These have been super interesting and fun, as it was so early with technology and they were only guessing about certain things in space by this point.  There were certainly some surreal bits, but it was fun.

When we got home we watched the Braves win again, this time 6-2.  Within the first two innings the game was 6-0, and that offered a nice little gap that the Phillies just couldn't catch up with, particularly because of our ace, Chris Sale.  It was awesome seeing Matt Olsen drill another home run, and really great to see Eli White do the same a few innings later.  The Braves are the first team in baseball this year to reach 20 wins, and that's fantastic.

Today is National Pretzel Day!  Yesterday while grocery shopping, I picked up some gluten-free pretzels for Mom, and I also got the large soft pretzels you heat up in the oven.  Maddie and I each enjoyed a one of those tonight, and afterwards Mom and I were munching on a few of the gluten-free pretzels from the bag as we watched "The Mandalorian" some more.  We're going through all the old episodes, now starting off season two.  These are so good - we forgot how fun these episodes were.  

Afterwards, it was time for sleep.  We read for a good bit, and then said our prayers.  It was time for some sleep!

Saturday!

Saturday!  Maddie drove over to Team Edge practice this morning, and is certainly getting more comfortable behind the wheel.  Not comfortable is Mom, who has been struggling with this poison ivy that just lingers and lingers.  So annoying and uncomfortable - she suffered with this today, and has been suffering with it quite a bit the last few weeks.   I've made a few trips to the local drug store to try and get some items to help her with the itching and pain, and at night she's just taking things to help her sleep.  I feel bad for Mom - hopefully she'll be over this before we head south for our trip.

I got my steps in towards the virtual moon walk there while watching some old "Tomorrowland" television episodes from our Walt Disney Treasures DVDs.  It's some old material, imagining what space travel would be like some day.  It's amazing to see what they got right, and what they could only guess at.  I actually have all but two of the Disney Treasures DVDs.  I would have had the last two if that Disney Movie Club hadn't messed up my order - I'm still steaming about that one, because I actually passed by the DVDs that I wanted at Best Buy but didn't get them there because I knew that the Disney Movie Club order was in place.  Only, they completely messed it up, and here I am without those two DVD sets that I really wanted.  I'm not bitter!  Okay, a little.

Ah, the Disney Movie Club.  That ended about two or three years ago, but for a while that was one of those companies that would send you eight CDs for a dollar and then you'd have to spend the rest of your life making sure you said "no thank you" to whatever cassette or CD they were offering you each month, and sure enough they were banking on those moments you'd forget and then you'd get billed for something you didn't ask for and maybe it'd be too much trouble to return.  Remember getting something in the mail, a little card that you had to return to say NO?  And then that went to the paperless system where you had to remember once a month to go online and say NO?   It was the same idea with the Disney Movie Club.  To begin with, Maddie was a toddler and we were getting some age appropriate things for her, such as the Little Einsteins or Higgly Town Heroes or something like that.

There were some exclusive videos we picked up from them, mostly old Disney Channel material - but a lot of that is available elsewhere now, most notably on Disney Plus.  I remember not getting those Disney Treasure DVDs I ordered, and then also ordering a lithograph from them, thinking it would be the same size as the other Disney lithographs I have... only to discover it was basically a post card.  Yeah, these events sort of made up my mind.  I'm not sure why we hung on with Disney Movie Club so long, but you can see why they went away.  We were pretty big Disney fans back in the day, so I suppose that was what kept us plugged in. But we generally bought all our new-release DVDs, and then eventually Blu-rays, all from the actual Disney Store, as they usually also had a lithograph with every purchase.  Now that's something I genuinely miss.  I loved those lithographs, and have a massive collection of them right now.  Most of them are framable and just gorgeous.  Ah, memory lane.  

Okay, anyway, it rained today.  This is huge news, huge news indeed.  We've been so desperate for rain, and it was so nice sitting on that front porch, reading and listening to the sound of rainfall.  I was really quite pleasant.  

Maddie spent the day with Nate's family again and had a good day there.  I finished up a good bit of set-up for tomorrow's small group morning at KidPak, and did that all while watching some Mandalorian episodes and the matchup between the Braves and the Phillies.  The Braves lost today, but the only reason the Phillies won was because it rained today.  True story - the grass was wet out there in the outfield, which led to a slip, and that one run tied things up for the Phillies.  So any bragging about a victory on their part is pretty shallow.  I'm not bitter! Okay, a little.

Anyway, it's been a good day here.  I did some grocery shopping for Mom, picking up a few things before heading home.  I'm driving a borrowed car from the dealership, as our vehicle is getting some routine work done.  It's a nice loaner vehicle, and I'm really enjoying the Elvis channel!

Tonight in Washington, yet another assassination attempt was thwarted.  It was good news that no one was seriously harmed, but that's about the only good news that comes of this.  I'm not even sure how to respond to this because clearly this sort of thing shouldn't be so commonplace, and yet here we are.

Later on this evening, we read as always, and then after that said our prayers.  Time to get some sleep early, because we have service tomorrow morning.

Driving and Philly Cheesesteaks

Maddie did quite a bit of driving today, first with Nana just over to Wal-Mart for a big first:  filling up the gas tank.  Yep, she went to a gas station.  Another thing we did at home in the driveway:  check the oil.  Maddie learned how to use a dipstick, and not the candy kind you use to dip into a bag of powdery sugar mix.  

Later on, she was driving over to taekwondo tonight, and even home afterwards.  There was one little spot of difficulty with a turn on the way home, but other than that she was flawless, taking her time and keeping within those lines.  She did great!

We got home tonight and this was one of the few Braves games that was blacked out for us, but did that stop us from catching the game?  No sir!  Mom and I set up the fire pit outside on the back deck and listened to the game online, just enjoying the nice weather under the canopy all lit up with Christmas lighting.  It was a very pleasant evening out there, made greater because the Braves won yet again, continuing on with the best record in baseball right now.

Mom's been dealing with poison ivy a lot, so she was a bit uncomfortable tonight.  We're hoping this is gone in a week, because we're getting close to embarkation day.  More than once the two of us have sat there watching a live feed of the Disney Cruise ships docked at either Port Canaveral or Port Nassau.

Today's viewing, however, was with our astronaut theme:  Mom and I were doing a few things while watching "The Reluctant Astronaut" again, probably the first time since 2020 when we were writing that KidPak video inspired by that movie idea.  Today we were watching it because we'll be at Kennedy Space Center soon enough, and of course I'm also walking virtually towards the moon and back.  I finished up "From Earth to the Moon" earlier while on the treadmill, so I'm really spaced out.  But what were we doing while the movie was on?  I was cutting out a lot of pieces for this weekend's small group activities.  A lot of work ahead of time on this one, but it should be fun for the kids, and hopefully helpful.

We got some more patriotic decorations out there today, including a new US flag and a new garden flag too, one commemorating the semiquincentennial.  Which I never get tired of saying.  We spent some time talking with my parents, and oh yeah, there was this: 

I haven't had one of these in a while.  In preparation of the visit by the Philadelphia Phillies tonight, Mom made me a Philly cheesesteak, and it was absolutely amazing.  And of course, the Braves beat the Phillies tonight, and that was amazing too.  Sorry, Philadelphia.  But you still have great cheesesteak sandwiches!

Tonight Maddie and I read a bit from "Thud!" and then... that's the noise we made as we hit the bed.  We were all pretty tired today.  Great day though!

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!