What happened to Fall?

It was summer till the end of September and then the rains came; record rainfall in October. All of a sudden you look out the front door and this picture is what you see. Hats and gloves? Snowballs flying at your head? A Snowman?!? It's still October! Where is this amazing New England fall that I hear so much about. Autumn in Hillsdale was much better than this. And, not only did we get snow, we got fat, heavy snow. So fat that it knocked down some tree limbs and we lost our power for two hours this afternoon. I feel like I'm back in Rogers City! Six months of hibernation, here we come!

You are who you hang out with...

When I was growing up my parents told me a million times to pick my friends carefully because the people with whom you spend the majority of your time have a lot of influence over you. I knew that meant not to hang out with the druggies or car thiefs, etc. I didn't realize that the same principal would extend into my job. The more time I spend with the elderly (this is Kim speaking, by the way) the more I start to become like them. It's getting a little scary. These are the top ten ways I know I'm spending too much time at work.

#10 I no longer know any of the latest music and instead walking around the house singing, "Meet me in St. Loius" "Tea for Two" and "How we Gonna Keep them down on the Farm"

#9 My college days are suddenly "those crazy days of my youth when my friends and I got into all kinds of larks."

#8 I watch movie previews and wonder why they don't make movies like they used to (consequently the only movies I've watched lately were almost all made earlier than the 80's).

#7 I have difficulty hearing above a shout and often find myself saying, "eh? Say that again?"

#6 I find myself more and more conscious of the obstacles in my path that pose a falling hazard.

#5 I often have the urge to adress girls not that much younger than me by patting their cheek and saying, "You are such a dear."

#4 Real teeth and hair become increasingly more valuable to me.

#3 My hip hurts when it rains.

#2 I get easily confused by too many options, excess noise, or people who talk too fast.

#1 I often find myself suddenly in a hallway not remembering why I am where I am and what I was doing that brought me there.

Mommy for a day

I feel I should start by letting you know that you are 100% correct if you have deduced from the title that this is not Lucas writing!
About a month ago Josh, our neighbor who has been featured in the blog before, asked Lucas and I if we would be willing to babysit Laura Jane all night so he could whisk Kim away for 24 hours of romance and relaxation. We readily agreed. I left work an hour early yesterday to get back in time to get all of the much needed baby info before they left (it was a surprise to her so she didn't know until after I was already at work). After mixed goodbyes (while they were excited to get away, it was incredibly hard to leave their adorable little girl for so long) they headed out the door and I began my adventure as mommy for a day (since I felt this would, in many ways, be a good example of the life of a mommy and leave me saying "I'm so into this, I want one!" or "Hmmm...maybe later..."). It wasn't much of an adventure. Laura Jane is a perfect baby. Last night she giggled and played until dinner time when she drank her bottle and then went to easily to sleep like the little angel she is...all before 7:30! The night time was a little more adventurous...but it really wasn't bad. She didn't wake up screaming and make me walk the floors, but she did wake up talking and laughing at 4 AM (Lucas mumbled, "That was really cute last night, but it is not so cute at 4 in the morning." I just turned the volume down on the monitor.) It was even more adventurous when I got up a little before 7 to head down to their apartment to get a wide awake Laura Jane. As I was walking down the hallway I thought, "This is insane! It's Saturday morning! I'm just not ready to give up sleeping in forever!" Then I walked into her room and she smiled up at me from where she was talking and playing in her crib and all tiredness went away. Suddenly I was making funny noises and talking in a high voice and enjoying the little giggles that resulted. Now today she didn't want to talk a nap (she wanted to talk and play instead) and by this afternoon I was not about to let naptime be optional (I NEEDED it!) so she and I cuddled together in the rocking chair until she fell asleep, and for an hour after. Josh and Kim just got home and I left their smiling baby in their arms. It was a lot of fun to babysit overnight, and it was a good experience. Now before either of our moms or any of my friends start getting excited and run out to buy baby clothes, I should clarify that the 24 hours of "mommyhood" didn't give me baby fever. I loved it, she was adorable, and there are few things as fun as making a baby giggle and cuddling with a sleeping baby, but why would I need one of my own when I can go next door and babysit anytime I want?? I still get to do those things, but I get to sleep in at least one day a week! Speaking of sleep...it's time for a nap...

Veronica Mars

Some wives like chocolate, others like flowers, but I know what my wife really wants: Veronica Mars Season 1 on DVD. Didn't take too much brain power on my end to figure it out as she would drool every time the commercial for it was on TV. She was not feeling well Sunday morning, so I picked it up for her on my way back from church. She is addicted. She has just about finished watching the entire season already. These are 1 hour shows each, not 30 min shows! If you don't know, Veronica Mars is a teenager in Neptune, California (made-up city) and she takes up detective work, which she learned from her father who is a private detective. Every episode has it's own mysteries and every season has an overarching mystery as well. I am not addicted like her, but I do enjoy watching it. Every Wednesday night (9 pm on UPN) I don't even try to make an attempt to watch something because it would be futile. Well, as long as it keeps the Mrs. happy that is a very good thing. Guess I will have to go somewhere else to watch the Detroit Piston's season opener two Wednesdays from now. But Kristen Bell (actress who plays Veronica Mars) will probably be watching the Piston's game like me because she is from the Detroit area and is a sports nut. Found a couple of other Piston's fans in the building and now have fellow fans with whom to watch the games as the seasons draws closer. I have tickets to the second game of the season, which is there only trip to Boston this year. Can't wait! Go Pistons!!!

CD Song Countdown

Here is a post that has nothing to do with much of anything except for my [Lucas] love of the "countdown". The classic top 40 weekly countdown one can hear on the radio every Sunday morning. I love lists, countdowns, top ten, etc. This summer I decided to reduce my CD collection by compiling my favorite songs onto a few discs. I have a bunch of CDs that I never listen to because I only like one or two songs off the disc, so I felt that if I compiled all those songs onto a few discs that I would probably listen to those songs more. And I have. While burning these CDs, I decided to create one that would have my top 20 songs in order on one disc. Well, here are my top twenty favorite songs from the CDs that Kim and I have in our possession. So, while I might have songs that I like more than others that are on my "Best Of" disc, if I didn't own it I didn't include it. Here's the list in countdown fashion, #20 to #1:

#20. "We Didn't Start the Fire" Billy Joel
#19. "I Would Walk 500 Miles" Proclaimers
#18. "The Sign" Ace of Base
#17. "Connected" Stereo MCs
#16. "Kiss Me" Sixpence None the Richer
#15. "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid soundtrack
#14. "Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen
#13. "I Go Blind" Hootie & The Blowfish
#12. "Jump Around" House of Pain
#11. "One Headlight" The Wallflowers
#10. "My Maria" Brooks & Dunn
#9. "Lovefool" The Cardigans
#8. "Only the Good Die Young" Billy Joel
#7. "Ice Ice Baby" Vanilla Ice
#6. "Jump, Jive, An' Wail" Drew's Party Mix
#5. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Nikki French
#4. "Let's Get It Started" Black Eyed Peas
#3. "Baby Got Back" Sir Mix-A-Lot
#2. "Nations of the World" Animaniacs
#1. "Walk of Life" Dire Straits

There you have it. Those are my twenty favorite songs in my CD collection. Eclectic, eh? Ok, this is what I would like to see in your comments: I want to hear your list of favorite songs from your collection. This could be just your favorite song, a top 5 or even more. Remember to include song and artist. Did I mention that I love countdowns?

Got Clue?

We had a wonderful weekend on the Cape. Almost all of it was spent inside though as we have not seen the sun in since last week and are not going to see it till perhaps sometime next week. Josh and I did get out to do a little ocean fishing. No fish to show for three hours of work, but we did get some bites, a lot of wind and a kite surfing show. I had never seen such a thing in real life, but this guy would catch air and he'd be in the air for at least 4 seconds doing all sorts of twists and spins. Most of the weekend was spent playing the board game Clue. We played eight games in three days. Everyone won at least one, but Josh won 5 times. We were hooked. Each of us had our own version of shorthand to keep track of who guessed what and who showed cards to whom, etc. So we have a new "it" game. Did you know: Miss Scarlet always goes first? Mrs. Peacock has the shortest distance to get to her first room (6 spaces), while Mrs. White has the furthest to go (13 spaces), thus none of us ever selected her as a character. There was a lot of watching Laura Jane rolling around and playing with her toys. I was even in charge of watching her from time to time! Whoa. Lots of resting and chit-chat. A nice break from the busyness of school and work. But now that I am back, I am working hard. Finished a paper on the integration of Theology and Psychology on Monday (not too difficult considering I double majored in Religion and Psychology at Hillsdale). Slowly checking off items on my academic list for the break. By the way, we are loving all the comments. We read each one. I just need to do a better job of responding to comments with my own like my friend Hack Rambler does (http://silentmorbidity.blogspot.com/). Should be a new post up soon as I have had several good ideas in my head, but had to get this one in first. Till then, as one of our favorite comedians, Brian Regan, would say, "Take Luck."

Reading Week

I know we have been slacking, but we have plenty of excuses (none of which are that good though). Last week Kim and I put on our admissions representative hats again and host a couple from PA for 3 nights. Steve and Abby are there names. We had fun chatting at night; really down-to-earth, which I like. I've also been spending most of my free time in the library reading. I believe that I am ahead on my reading, but only time will tell. I have this week off for what the seminary calls a reading week. No classes, so students have a chance to catch up on work. But like I said, I feel caught up, but I do have a couple of papers sneaking up on me and 2 exams when I return in a week. Kim and I are taking the weekend off though and heading to the cape with our next door neighbors, Josh, Kim and baby Laura Jane. This is a link to another trip we took with them: http://mindyourmillers.blogspot.com/2005/08/fish-story.html We should have pictures and stories up from our trip next week. Be on the lookout!