Albino Earwig... yes, I know.. I must have nothing interesting happening in my life to blog about, huh? *L*

Yes, yes, I know... this is pathetic..*L*

BUT, have YOU ever seen an albino earwig?? We have these creepy bugs in our mailbox, they like the cool dark areas, I guess? And every day, after I pull the mail out of the box, I have to shake off the earwigs so I don't bring them in the house with me... blech! But when I checked the mailbox this day, the mailman hadn't come yet, and there was this WHITE earwig... having nothing better to do...well, actually, I had a lot of better things I could have done, but I grabbed my camera anyway and took a photo...

lame, eh? *L*

Busy as Bees, Trees Flourishing, Oh and I'm NOT Dead...

Some of you may be glad to know, I am NOT dead... and even after I capitalized on Fr. Bill's message in the July Good Newsletter, and made him into a bee..*G* I found these cute little bee wings at the Dollar Store and bought them for our Sunday School kids to wear as they collected poptops from the congregation. One way the kids are involved in the "giving" process too. The "little bees" scurried around at the offetory collecting the poptops the people had brought in, then depositing them into a large bottle. They'll be collecting for the next couple of months, then cashing them in as a donation to the building fund appeal. Fr. Bill even thought it was a cute idea...so I am off the hook... heh heh. *S*





Speaking of the major building fund appeal for our Church - I am the "Creative Design" chairperson for it and have been busy the last few months on different ideas, brochures, getting photos to the fund raising company we are working with (The James Company - great people, great company!) and doing other things to bring attention to our Project.... The others on the Appeal Core Team also give great ideas that then falls into my lap to try to find something that would be an interesting way to present. So, this morning was our Appeal Gathering Sunday, where parishioners would turn in their appeal gift/pledge cards, or an appeal prayer card. Our theme to the Appeal was "Hearts and Hands, Building and Growing TOGETHER".
So we went with a growth theme on this Sunday. The "party people", Ann and Pat had a wonderful reception following both services, with lots of GREEN appetizers - and goodies that drew on the growth theme. I made a tree out of construction paper that I taped to one of the walls in the worship space, and the idea was for people to come forward offering their cards by taping them to the branches of the tree, like leaves... flourishing, growing, yada, yada, yada... We have ideas for using the tree in the next few weeks as well - asking the parishioners to put green post-it notes with their ideas for use of this temporary space that we can use to reach out to others... and for ideas for our regular Church building, once it is finished, to reach out to the community too.

So, there is my artistic endeavor for today... we had a good turnout for the appeal campaign, so far... and we are thanking God for the blessings poured out by others toward it!!

"I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing..."
1 Chronicles 21:24

I may be dead after Fr. Bill sees the July Good Newsletter... *bwhahaha*

This week was newsletter crunch time... trying to get the July edition done early while spending time with the granddaughter and Kaine was pretty difficult...so I didn't finish it and transmit it until Thursday morning, not expecting to get it back until next week...but LPI came thru, and called on Friday night telling me it was finished for pick-up...so I left immediately and got it. The front page is Fr. Bill's page, he writes up a nice article, and then I embellish it with pictures, photos, something that is in tune to what he is talking about in his piece.



I've done a lot of things to Fr. Bill with photoshop, and gotten away with it...heh heh. This month Fr. Bill was mentioning that there was a "Buzz" going around town about the renovation project, and our new uptown location for Church. He also quoted the scripture passage about "the land of milk and honey".... Soooo, what else could I do but make him in a bee costume?? *G* So, if I happen to stop posting here for months and months... I may just be dead! *G*... jk...jk.

Here are just a few other pictures I've used in the past, and I remained alive afterwards... Good thing Fr. Bill is a great sport, eh? *S*

Kaine & Jorden's Visit Continues...Like Father, Like Daughter...

Today I took Jorden to work with me.... She hadn't been in the new, temporary site we are in now, so I figured she'd have fun exploring the space while I did a few things there.... and explore she DID!



I was with the offering counter doing our typical Monday morning count, having gotten out toys from the nursery for Jorden to play with in the space right next to us. Jorden came around the corner holding an open pyx and chewing some of the consecrated host she found saying, "Yummmmmmmmm!!" I took it away from her, and asked where she gotten it from. She had explored behind the temporary altar and found the shelves that were put in, where the extra pyx's are stored for taking to the homebound. Since we don't have a formal tabernacle in the space we are in, that's the best place to store them, but evidently it's not such a good place for inquisitive children. I scolded her, but not too much, because it must be something hereditary she was experiencing...*G*

Jorden seems to be taking after her Daddy. When Kaine was Jorden's age, he often came to work with me too, and found the unconsecrated wafers one day in the Chapel off the room I was working in, and ate them, when I discovered him hiding behind the altar and scolded him, he exclaimed, "But I'm starving mommy!!" Shades of times past now with Jorden, eh?!

Fr. Walsh was our priest back when Kaine did that and when I called him to tell him what happened, his comment was "Tell Kaine they are better with peanut butter on them when they are just plain wafers like that."..*L*
He came over to talk to Kaine a few days later, and brought him some embossed samples to eat, that had been given to the Church as samples. Little did I know until months later, that Kaine had gotten into the LARGER hosts too, the ones the priest holds up during the Eucharist, and Kaine had nibbled around the edges of them all, then put them back in the container...Fr. Walsh indicated we had mice named Kaine! *L*

Here are a couple of old photos of Kaine (and Kasey), he and Jorden are SOOO much alike in many ways...



Not only do daddy and daughter act alike, they look a lot alike too...*S*

Jorden was looking thru the old photos with us and thought that Kaine and Kasey's baby photos were "baby Jorden", and that Jorden's baby photos were her sister, Baby Abby..*L*





It's been fun having them here for a few days... and an adventure too!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Father Figures...

Busy day today ...Lots of kids showed up for Sunday School this morning, we made gifts for their dads, then off to Tower Park nearby for some more of the lessons - I think they all had a good time.



Our Church had a small appetizer reception after the late Service in honor of the men (here are some friends hamming it up while eating up the leftovers), I set up the Christ Church video again that we had shown last week at Church... it's hard to pull people away from it ... *L* I had to shut it down after 3 play-throughs so I could get home, people didn't want to stop watching it again, and again.. which is pretty cool that they like it so much!




When I finally got home after 12:30, Kaine and Jorden had arrived...YAY!! It was so good to see them both, it had been a few weeks since we'd seen Kaine, and about 8 weeks since we saw Jorden, she grows up so fast! So after some quick changes, we headed out to my Dad and Mom's for the Father's Day cookout there. Dad really liked the tomatoe tree we gave him, and was anxious to have tomatoes from it!

The kids always have fun at Nana and Papa's house... the skyflier is always a big hit, this time Jorden rode it for the first time too, with Daddy's help. Kaine and Lauren played with her on the swingset too...which she loved! And the grandsons, Jake, Josh and Jeff had fun playing with Jorden again too, along with a few of the other cousins, and aunts and uncles.







Then we all roasted brats and hotdogs and enjoyed all the dishes everyone brought and the great weather! Perfect day! The only sad part was that Mom and Dad had to have their beloved dog, Big Red (I called him my brother dog), put down a couple of days before (he could hardly move anymore and was getting sicker and sicker), so there lots of sadness over that for them... he will be missed a LOT!!



It was a great, but tiring day for us all... As Jorden and Grandpa John found out..*ha!*

Planters, Gardens, Father's Day Gifts and more stuff...

Yesterday I picked up two of those upside down tomato planters...the ones I bought were tomato TREES... on stands. I bought one for my Dad for Father's Day and then had to get one for US too to try out!

So this morning, I planted both of them...one on our deck... and the other I took out to Mom and Dad's and put it together and planted it there... I left it with a balloon saying Happy Father's Day, hoping Dad would see it later when he got home, or tomorrow sometime. The one shown here is on our deck... I hope it turns out as good as it looked on the box! But, just incase my plants die, I did plant some in the traditional way in a deck planter..so hopefully in a couple of months we'll be eating some yummy tomatoes! mmmm, mmmmm, good!

Here are some pics of the planters and gardens this year... I need to weed, but so far they aren't looking too bad....now if I can just get the moose to stop eating my daisies..*G* ...they also like to hide in my hosta plants in the rock garden too.



My bed frame planters and flowers... and the front porch chair planter are doing pretty good too!

Now this is an...ummm... interesting assemblage....

John would kill me if I decided to make a car assemblage..*L* But this is what I saw in Milwaukee this afternoon when I went to drop off some old books at All Saints for their Hunger Book Sale.

When I came back home and told Kasey about it, she said it was around waaay back when she went to MIAD, so this guy's been around a long time it seems....

It sure was drawing the stares from people when it drove past them on the street..*L* I think it was promoting many different views on many topics...religion, abortion, child abuse, I think I saw something on the car about girls being the 2nd devil too??...sheesh... and more whacky things as well... quite the eye catcher, that's for sure!

Dumpster diving for organ parts....

Nooo, I am not dumpster diving behind a medical clinic... heh heh...

But I did dumpster dive last week in the Church dumpster.... since we are renovating many things there, one being the pipe organ, there was a pipe organ man there taking out old parts and tossing them so he could remove the pipe organ console to take away to be renovated. Sooo, of course I had to peek into the dumpster to see just what was tossed....

Father Bill had reminded me of the fact that the organ guy was tossing stuff and he knows me too well and figured I would want to grab some of those things to make something out of.... but I had forgot about it until about 8:30 p.m.... and thinking that the garbage man would come and empty the dumpster the next day, I got into some old clothes and headed up to the church. There was a massive piece of an old wooden something or other on top of all the other stuff, I had to prop it up on it's side so I could lean halfway over the dumpster to pull out the piece I thought looked interesting... but as I was teetering half in and half out of the dumpster, (which is inside a wooden enclosure, so no one was noticing my antics), I noticed that huge wooden piece starting to sway, ... yikes!!



Had it fallen, it would have taken me with it into the dumpster head first and no one would know that I was in there... John was heading upstairs to bed for the night when I left... the neighbors probably wouldn't hear my cries for help... all sorts of images were in my mind of how they would find me the next morning..*L*... but thankfully, I pushed myself out of the dumpster with the desired piece in hand before the other huge wooden piece fell down into the hole I'd created from taking out this "THING"...

This part of the organ has some old bellows (I think that's what they are?), interesting other parts too that are all screwed on...not sure how I'll use the piece or the parts, but it's on my front porch right now, and waiting for some inspiration ...and TIME, to be able to do something with it...

.... any ideas, anyone? ... I'd love to hear some....

"Ohhh Lord, Stuck in Lodi again..." *heh heh*

We weren't exactly STUCK in Lodi... but we did head to Lodi after Church today for our niece, Courtney's graduation party. Lodi, WI that is. It was a nice party, lots of people! Lots of kids... of course my sister Susan and Todd have their fair share of kids too (10 of them!).. this was the 3rd graduation party...they still have to do this for 7 more!! EEK! *L* Congrats to Courtney and blessings on your plans for after school too!

After we stayed a couple of hours there, we drove another 20 minutes to see Aunt Evelyn in Portage. She moved back home a month or more ago, after being in a nursing home for 3+ months recovering from back surgery. John and Aunt Evelyn like to share their back surgery things, and find help in sharing with each other too I think? Aunt Evelyn looks great!! She's doing very well, was up and around, showed us her planters outside, and other things she's been doing... it was a nice visit! I sure hope when I'm over 90 years old that I can be so active still!!

Holding to the promises of God...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Holding to God's promise (found in Jeremiah 29:11), especially lately... major bids on the Church Project are due on Friday, June 11th ...thanking God for the few day extension given to the local contractors who weren't notified due to some strange circumstances? John has been putting in many hours looking over the prints and all the paperwork. We are sure hoping that Karstetter Construction, along with other local subcontractors who are bidding on electrical, plumbing, excavating and more, get the work, .....that's part of my prayers....Lord, in your mercy...

Ground Breaking - But work won't start for weeks yet...

Today we celebrated a kick off to the major renovation project at Christ Church...we had a ground breaking ceremony following the late service. We all went back to the Church site, and after a short service, the ceremonial golden shovels dug their first pieces of earth from the area where the new addition will go.
Besides a small addition, new entry way, driveway and many more parking spaces, the whole church is being changed or remodeled or made new in some way... whatta project!







Here are some photos from the ground breaking... we are still praying that our construction company gets some of the work for the things John has put out bids for, but we are also not holding our breath, for the project was suppose to start well over a month ago... and so here we sit, and wait, and wait, and wait.]

Ahhh...memories... Those were the days my friend...

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.

When I was going thru stacks of old floppy disks (thousands of them, I kid you NOT), for the video I am making for a church fund appeal and visitor bags, I found all sorts of photos of my own family as well mixed in with the church photos.

My grandmother..circa 1906 or so.


My mom, circa 1935 or so.




Here, for your viewing enjoyment... or to use to throw darts at.. are some more of the old photos from years past....




Dad, in the Air Force...around 1951 or so.




Me with my dad and mom at Christmas 1953.




At this time there were just three of us kids.... my sisters Chellie and Susan and me... I'm the oldest...






At the Commodore's Ball, 1969... so young, so innocent...I LOVED the summer of 69! *L*



Okay... no time for more... work is screaming at me....

Dead Sea Scrolls...

This afternoon, a group of us went to the Milwaukee Public Museum to view the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. It was pretty interesting. Some of it was awesome too! There was a burial crypt, that was thought to be the son (Alexander) of Simon of Cyrene, who was the man called out from the crowd to carry the cross for Jesus as he went to his crucifixion. Then the pieces of the scrolls themselves, and the way they were found, and kept for so many years... and sold in a newspaper ad for $2500... amazing stories, and awe inspiring to think on as well. But some of them just looked like odd scraps of paper or parchment.. had I discovered them, I might have just tossed them away thinking they were junk...eek!!



After we spent over 2 hours in the exhibit, we decided to get lost in the parking garage for 20 minutes..*L* We finally went back out the way we came in and found the car ... arrgghh!! *L* Then we hit the Ale House for dinner and fun discussions...it was an inreresting and fun time!