A good day

Today started out like a typical Sunday morning since we started having service at 8:00 am. I got up at 6:30ish and got ready (I took a shower last night, so I didn't have to do much). We were supposed to be at church at 7:15 for choir rehearsal, but for some reason, my brain did not register that this was so. We didn't leave 'till 7:16...Takes 15 minutes minimum to get to church...got a Tardy already and it's only the first Sunday in Michaelmas term! I apologized excessively to Melanie..But anyways, then we went to line up to sing the prelude, I was the very last to go in, and the first to go out. We sang the prelude, then Pastor Gene exhorted the congregation, and then began to pray, like he does every Sunday, that's when we file out quietly. Well, I was not so quiet. The platform or whatever you call it is three steps up from the main level, not to bad, right? Well, my sole was slick and the carpet was too, and I did not make it to the second step...I landed with at crash, that everyone heard, and several people looked up to see what caused the commotion. Boy that was exciting...Several people asked if I was ok during the Passing of the Peace, but I actually did not get hurt at all, just pretty surprised is all. :D

Oh yes, G-pa invited me to go with the brothers to Whitworths homecoming football game, I surely want to go.

Celebratio coming up this weekend!

Only One Week?

This is surely a feat. I have only gone one week without a post. Record for me. :)

I am just about to head to the first official choir rehearsal for Michaelmas Term. It will be a good term, Melanie will be a great conductor, although we all miss Mr. Justin sorely...:( I am the official attendance keeper for our choir, no pressure.

Last Friday I went to Spokane for a Whitworth football game with Grandma and Grandpa. On the way over, we had dinner at the Corner Cafe in Whitman, I think. I stayed with the Woodroofs again! I met their cousin Stacey and her mom. They are very nice people. Saturday we had a very nice Woodroof breakfast, puttered around the house for a while, then went to the game. We lost...7 to 27 I think it was. Sunday we went to Moscow to visit Aki. We had to leave early to be in time for the Trinity Reformed Church service at 9:30am, so I didn't get to say goodbye to the Woodroofs, except Sarah. Aki didn't know for sure if we were coming, so when she saw me during the Passing of the Peace in the service, she squealed most raucously. ;) Then we went to lunch at a Thai restaurant that was pretty delectable. Then we went and saw where Aki is living with the Appels. It's a quaint little house in a quiet neighborhood in Moscow. After we left Moscow, we went back to Spokane to see Ray and Judy at Judy's house to pick up their kids and grandsons to take them back to Leavenworth, cause their car was having problems. I shivered in their pool for a while till they came, then we headed for home. Stefan and I rode in the back seat, which turned into the "quiet seat" (because neither of us were talking much) to the "sleeping seat" (because both of us fell asleep on the way home, nobody else did).

Finally we got home, after the rest of my family had left for Bellevue to fix a leak in Grandma's new roof. I had a lazy Monday. They came home that night. And today, I have been doing laundry. I cleaned Samuel's room and he gave me $5! I can't think what else I did today, but in a few minutes, I go to choir!

Life: how mysterious

I'm so excited! School starts up again on September 20th. That's only 19 days away! Summer has flown by so fast it seems like forever since I graduated last Spring. Now that I have my AAS, I am doing the Business Transfer this year. It is packed with math, economics and politics. LOVE it. There is some business in it too.

To pass the time this summer (the time that was not spent having a blast at all the camps I went to...), I've been exploring computers: setting them up, taking them apart, trying to hack into them (because I forgot the password...), trying to sell stuff on the internet (craigslist, ebay, half.com): junk from freecycle, old textbooks, ancient baseball cards, and all the other random stuff that people might buy online.

Last night we rehearsed Howell's "Requiem" for the impending funeral for dear Betty Appel, who is dying of cancer. All of her family is with her for her last weeks, or days. Her husband, three sons, their wives, all their children (her ten darling grandchildren), her mother, and her brother. It will be so hard, but it will be glorious! May God be praised.

Aki has gone back to school. Now she attends NSA in Moscow, Idaho. This is Josie's second year. Becky, Melanie, Sukey, Sarah and I plan to take a trip over there to visit them sometime, after Reformation Day, most likely.

Gretha and Anna and I HAVE to get together before school saps our sanity. I have a chronic saying, "We need to DO something!" and Anna has a chronic response, "You ALWAYS say that!" and Gretha comes up with the plan, day and time. Dear Gretha. She thought that since the Drive-in Theater is closing for good, and none of us have been there, we should go there before it is no more. She's not sure what movie we are going to see...she's still looking into their showings. :) I just love those girls. <3<3<3

I get to babysit three of the cutest boys (the Gildehaus's!) once in a while. I watched them all day on Monday, and I just noticed how much Austin is talking! He had quite a conversation on my cellphone with who-knows-who, but he had all the appropriate pauses for the other person to have a chance to speak. So far, the only intelligible words I can decipher were "what" and "why?" my name, which he pronounces, "Gah-kee" and of course, "mommy" and "daddy". I think I'll wait around for Austin to grow up, and then I'll marry him.

A Tuesday Morning

Last Tuesday (or Monday, I'm not sure), in my political science class, I witnessed a very intense debate about roles of men vs. women from the battle-front to what kind of toys they played with as a child. I say witnessed because I was not an active speaker (I wish I had been, but I'm not blessed with a clear mind in intense moments), but let me tell you, my brain was spinning. I came into the classroom just as my (dear, liberal, feminist)teacher was discussing the military with a student from her 8:00 class. From what I understood, the student's argument to keep women out of the military was based on how much harder it would be to tell a mother that her daughter had died in active duty vs. her son. Not a good reason. And my teacher's argument was that men were afraid to give women the opportunity to be in combat because they they might prove themselves capable and get promoted to a higher rank which would cause them to earn more money, which would put them in positions of economic power and then we women would be on an equal intellectual level with elite men (members of congress, for example). She also argued that we were depriving women of their right to "equal treatment under the law." She also said that we value men's lives less that women's lives, because if we valued them equally, we would give them equal opportunity to prove themselves capable. I don't think it's a question of capability or inability and I believe that there is a fundamental difference between being treated "equally" and "the same." I'm just not sure what it is...

The Hall's Haul

Yesterday we hauled the Halls from their house on the hill directly in the headway of the new highway in East Wenatchee to their new house on Pennsylvania Avenue.It's a quaint little yellow house with white trim. The outside frame is 100 years old next year. (I learned that part from Samuel and I asked him if it was 99 years old this year. He said, "No, it's 100 years old next year." Oh, ok.) But the inside is basically brand new with with kind of a creamy beige coffee color. Ok, it sounds gross, but it really is very nice. And then it has white trim, like the outside.

Saturday, I mean Friday. I'm a day ahead of myself....

Now that I got that out of the way, I should post something that might possibly be of some interest to my readers.

This morning I woke up to the sound of Mom's voice as she ran around getting ready to go to a high school reunion in Seattle. It was just after 8:00 she and Thomas were just leaving. I didn't want to get up just then because I didn't have school today (because of advising) and I wanted to take advantage of the time to stay in bed. A few minutes later Gretha called. I hadn't said anything this morning yet so there was a frog firmly lodged in my throat. I croaked "Hi" and she wondered if she had woken me up. I croaked again and I think she understood me to mean "no." Anyways, we had agreed to meet at the college today to go over chapter 11 in a&p for the exam on Monday. I wasn't sure when exactly I could meet her so I said I'd call her back later. I took a quick shower (20 minutes is quick) to start off the day (it's always good to start off the day on a good note), tried to find out when Dad was going to town (since I was dependent on him for a ride for several reasons: (1) I don't have a license and won't till I'm 18; (2) two of our cars are in the shop getting fixed (I really don't know if we ever have all our vehicles out of the shop at once, seriously); (3) Aki had to take one van to to work in Chelan (because her car is in the shop) and Mom took the other van to Seattle. The only car left is the truck and I can't drive that for reasons stated above and it's a stick shift (which I don't know how to drive anyways). So that was the car situation.

After I found out the approximate time that Dad wanted to leave, I worked on my article critique for political science on the goals of liberal education. It's a really interesting paper and I might post it or provide a link for it on my blog. I made some progress on it and will probably finish it tomorrow (hopefully). And I will continue this post tomorrow.....

Starting Over

I am very ashamed of my blog right now. I started it almost a year ago, made a few posts and haven't been on it since February 5th. When I start things, I usually either try to over achieve (and fail) or give up (and fail). I either try to post every day (which doesn't happen) or not at all (which, unfortunately, happens more often).

If you follow my blog, you have a very persevering spirit. Keep it up. I will try (no guarantees, now) to update my blog at least once a week. I won't attempt more than that because I am quite sure I will be asking for trouble. So once a week it is. I need to think of a suitable consequence for being negligent. If I was required to blog, I would have no trouble blogging, because if I have to do something, I do it. I need a reason blog. If nothing is happening, I won't be motivated to blog. But if something interesting happens, I might blog about it. So I need to change that.