ex(PR)essed

Until shortly after 9 p.m. last night, I totally intended to blog about my first bike ride of 2008. I say that with some embarrassment because it was a mere two summers ago that I trained for and successfully completed a century (100-miler for your non-pedalers out there). And, I’ve been on my bike a total of three times since. Yikes. But, it felt good to be back out there last night, even though the Harrisburg Bike Club blew past me, and Jeff said I coasted too much. I was so grateful to be able to easily clip in and out of pedals and shift smoothly. Two skills I thought might be lost during the hiatus!

Anyhow, did you watch The Deadliest Catch last night? Pins and needles my friends. Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie, chainsmoker, and caffeine addict, took a nasty tumble when hurricance force winds and waves battered the boat. He thought he cracked a few ribs. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was soon coughing up blood. In the middle of the Bering Sea! Not good. Not good at all. Finally, he agreed to head to St. Paul Island for medical attention. The show ended with no resolution, no sense of whether he was going to be alright or not. It just ended with one very concerned Lorow fretting to her husband about her “friend” Phil and wondering how she can stand to wait seven days to know his fate. (Yes, I might be too attached to these guys. Except Keith. I don’t like Keith at all. He’s mean.) I know Phil lives and all, but what if he isn’t on the show next year? I can barely stand the thought.

You know what else I can barely stand the thought of? My girls — Allyson, Natalie, and Emma — leaving once again for another vacation. It has been a solid four weeks since I have had quality time with these girls, and I absolutely hunger for their cute faces. Thankfully Allyson agreed to meet me tomorrow and ease my suffering.

Finally, one good thing about today that I must mention: My cute twin Becky is back!

The memory card on my camera was full. In uploading photos, I stumbled across these photos taken Memorial Day weekend. I had to share.

I LOVE this picture of Natalie on Jeff’s shoulders. Look at her; she is absolutely beautiful. I think her mom probably looked just like that when she was four. Lovely. But then, look at the expression on Jeff’s face…it’s possible that Natalie was holding just a bit too tightly!

Emma took the second photo. Please note the creative use of her finger as a framing device on the right portion of the photo. Please also note the excellent placement of her subjects.

We had such a good time with the girls that night. These photos make me happy. Hope they helped brighten your day too.

Well, another weekend has come and gone. And, like all the other ones, it came and went too quickly. Thankfully we have a three day weekend to look forward to in just three days. Have I ever mentioned how much I like having Mondays off from work? Better than a Friday for sure. However, I had Monday off this week but for not-so-fun reasons: ever get a migraine and then feel totally hollowed out the next day? That was me yesterday. So, I stayed home.

Anyhow, we had quite an exciting weekend. It started with the community yard sale on Saturday morning. At 7:45 a.m., as I was trying to unpack boxes onto the tables set up in our driveway, eager customers were following me around. I don’t care for that. I do care for getting rid of junk and making money though, so the sale was a success!

Then, I had lunch with my cute friend Rachel and we did some shopping. That was the mid-afternoon Saturday highlight.

The Saturday evening highlight looked a little something like this:

We went to the Pattons for dinner and a rousing game of Killer Uno, but the first part of the evening was spent chasing the girls around the yard, looking for bird nests, and climbing this tree. Emma was fearless, and in this picture she’s hanging out with her best friend. These two are too cute together. It’s pretty much a mutual adoration society when they’re together.

The big excitement of the weekend took place on Sunday morning. I won’t go into too much detail because Jeff did an outstanding job of retelling the story on his blog. I will add a photo or two though to get your attention. Mind you, we have (well, had) a screened-in porch.

Let me just say, having a crow trapped on your screened-in porch is a hard thing to take early on a Sunday morning. Having a brave husband who will set it free isn’t hard to take at all!

I can honestly say that we made the most of our Messiah College connections this weekend! On Friday night we went to Gettysburg with our good friends Matt and Anita to enjoy a fine dinner at the Dobbin House Tavern, in support of a fund-raising effort by the College’s department of family science. The dinner and worthy cause made for a nice double date!

(You’re not tired of seeing pictures of these cute girls are you?)

On Saturday, Jeff and I had the privilege (and I mean that!) of spending a few hours with Natalie and Emma. We picked them up at 11 a.m. and headed to “Old McDonald’s” (as coined by cute Natalie) for lunch. Then, we went to the Oakes Museum on campus. Emma, especially, loved the museum and all the animals. (”Don’t pet them,” she kept reminding me.) She just bounced around, pointing and exclaiming each time she saw something that delighted her. Jeff and I were smitten (as usual) and took such delight in her joy! Then, to cap our afternoon of fun, we took the girls to Larsen Student Union for cookies and chocolate milk. Natalie fell asleep on the way home, and Emma continued to enlighten us with stories about Shrek’s donkey. A think it’s safe to say that a grand time was had by all!

Yesterday, Jeff and I saw the closing performance of “Godspell” at Messiah. It was unbelievably good! Theatre at Messiah continues to impress the socks of me — they have to be the best around! They truly do outstanding work in area well-saturated with theatre options.

And, not to worry — my weekend included plenty of time for reading “War and Peace.” I have surged ahead to page 250!

Every Thursday should inculde lunch with the Patton girls and the anticipation of having Friday off work! Such is today for me. I met these crazy girls and their adorable mom for lunch at Subway and a grand time was had by all. Some highlights: Emma breaking, rather loudly, into her own, alto-ish rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and evangelizing the whole restaurant; a retelling of Natalie’s adorable outburst, “Praise the Lord; the hot dog’s alive!” (some people are more familiar with the “praise the Lord, I saw the light” version); and my dear friend Allyson just being the lovely, sweet, caring person that she is. Sigh…it was great.

Today is my last work day for this week. Starting tomorrow at noon, an “entire weekend of girlfriendness” begins! Jamie arrives and it’s nothing but crafting, coffee-drinking, and chatting until Sunday!

In the meantime, I’m busy juggling media inquiries (Messiah is on quite the streak) and preparing to be out tomorrow. And, I’m terribly distracted by happy thoughts of my lunch dates.

Oh…and for those of you dying for a “War and Peace” update: I think I’m on page 185! I have definitely ventured into the war portion of the novel.