When we lived in Minnesota, there was a John Deere dealer down the street from us and I used to walk down there and buy toy farm implements for my dad because he was an engineer and utterly *fascinated* with the equipment. When I got to go combining in Montana, I called him from the combine to gloat. 🙂 He stores his collection in the guest bathroom and changes up the load in the grain trailer depending on the season. This is the Christmas incarnation.
My picture didn’t get posted last night because Daniel ended up in the ER with a febrile seizure. He hasn’t seized again but he has a decent fever so I’ll be giving him Tylenol every 4-6 hours until we can get that fever down.
So… something far away:
This is Montana and if you squint, you can see the Sweet Grass Hills in the difference distance. I could honestly say that I could see Canada from my house. 😉
For my “free day”:
No… the bison wasn’t charging me — I happened to get it out of my window while driving through Yellowstone one afternoon in March 2008 when we were at Chico Hot Springs for Pastor’s Retreat.
We pretty much know already that the world isn’t ending tomorrow as New Zealand and Australia are OK. However, I’m doing these tongue-in-cheek Quick Takes anyway as a way of getting my mind off of Daniel who ended up in the pediatric ER at UCD Medical Center last night with a febrile seizure. From what we can tell, it’s the flu. I’m vaccinated against it but he isn’t. (I’m not anti-vax by any stretch of the imagination — I just completely dropped the ball this year.)
Finding Kaia a mommy. See this cute little girl? She needs a mama.
Click on her picture to be taken over to her profile on Reece’s Rainbow. If you’re in the mood to do some charitable giving this Christmas, her adoption grant would be a lovely cause.
Getting certified to scuba-dive. My evil twin and his fiancée are PADI-certified and it’s been on “my list” forever. My college’s chapter of Intervarsity used to have our Chapter Retreats on Catalina Island and one of the things I loved doing was snorkeling. I’d like to actually be able to dive under the water someday.
See Loreena McKennitt live in concert again. I saw her in concert in 1994 and again in 2007. At the concert in 2007, I actually *met* her, got a hug from her, and got her autograph. She’s toured in Europe and eastern Canada so I’m hoping 2013 is going to be a U.S. tour year as she put out a new album two years ago.
Have Daniel develop speech. I fully believe this will happen someday — it just hasn’t happened yet. He’s great with his PECS book and we’ve got some sign language worked out. Still, it would be wonderful if he could learn to speak. It would definitely make my life easier.
Go on all the cool rides at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I actually went to college in Santa Cruz and only went to the Boardwalk once during that time, something I’ve regretted for a long time because I love amusement park rides. Daniel is too young for most of the rides (and too short) so I may have a while to wait for this one.
Sing Bach’s Mass in B minor with a choir. I’m a huge fan of Bach and this is an amazing work of art. It’s complex enough to challenge me and it’s the reason why it’s my bucket list piece. (I started singing Handel’s Messiah when I was 15 though performing the work in its entirety is also on the list.)
Publish a novel started during NaNoWriMo. Granted, the years I’ve “won” by getting 50,000 words written during that month were years when I needed to kill people off to vent some anger but it would be kind of cool to actually “win” again and turn what I write into a novel that I can sell to a publisher.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com. In the meantime, enjoy the tsunamis, earthquakes, and fire falling from the sky!
I managed to miss Monday so I’m knocking out two in one entry.
This is an OLD Christmas picture. How can I tell? I have long hair and braces. 🙂 That would be Christmas 1999 and the only picture I have of a Christmas tree on my laptop. The guy in the picture is my evil twin.
This was a picture of me after the Run for Courage. I chose it because my shirt has a heart on it.
This image is from this news story. It’s candles in memory of the kids and teachers killed in Newtown, Connecticut. I was going to put pictures of the candles from my wedding but this seemed more appropriate.
I missed worship on the 2nd because I was sick and the world was ending outside. I missed worship last week because I had a sick little bear. Despite me having bronchitis and not having slept well, I managed to drag myself out of bed and prep both myself and the bear child.
Props to parishioners Tawnya and Tara for being my paparazzi.
OK… A lovely blurry pic of me. You can see the claret-colored shirt, black slacks, and black clogs.
A clearer view of the top part of me as well as a view of the bear child.
OK… the details on my clothes:
Top: Lands’ End from Sears
Pants: Kohl’s
Socks: (not shown) Christmas kitty ones that my mom gave me.
Clogs: L.L. Bean
I like this to be a family affair so I got one of Jon in his alb:
Alb: Augsburg Fortress.
Stole: it belongs to the church so I’m not sure.
Clerical shirt (visible under alb): Autoun, Almy, or Augsburg Fortress — it’s one that he inherited.
And it wouldn’t be complete without a decent bear child pic!
Such a compliant child!
Jacket: Sears, I think.
Shirt: Carter’s
Pants: Osh Kosh
Socks: Target
Shoes: Cars ones from Sears