"Not because we have to"

My earliest memory is of being at his house in Minnesota. All of my brothers and Peder and Eric got to go to a Twins game, and I was sick as a dog throwing up in their basement. I stayed home watching Quigley's village. They all came home with souveniers. I remember being jealous.
I remember playing capture the flag in their backyard in Homewood, using old socks as the flags, and learning how to play Mao from him and having to say "I am batman" any time we played the 5 card or something like that.
I remember his mom telling me how she and Peder always watched Everwood together and I thought to myself, "What kind of teenage boy watches Everwood?"
I remember reconnecting with him at Pilgrim Pines. Picking him up at the airport as an almost stranger. Childhood "friends" who really had nothing in common. The real friendship quickly started. As we drove to the Pines with my mom, he made fun of me because I had to stop and pee so many times. And when we stopped at friendly's for lunch he was flabbergasted that I didn't want dessert at the end of my meal. (For those of you who knew Peder, you knew his favorite meal was desert.)
I remember bingo nights at the VFW and him always making fun of my dry, cracked hands.
I remember putting my feet in his face just to make him mad.
I remember spending lots of time with him on instant messenger convincing him to come to North Park, and being so excited when he did.
I remember the dance party at Steve's house, and Peder dancing in one spot because his foot was injured.
I remember watching Beauty and the Geek every week and mercilessly making fun of the idiot girls on the show.
I remember sitting with Peder on the lifeguard stand when it was a rainy day and no one was swimming. We spent an hour talking about what we might name our future children (and I realize that sounds like we were having children together, but you know that is not what I mean) He also talked about how he wanted 1 daughter and she would be his "princess". I'm so sorry that you will never have that daughter, Peder.
I remeber teaching Jr. High with Peder at camp, and how he always wanted to teach a lesson to the kids about finance. He tried it once. It lasted about 3 minutes before the kids started yellin at him.
I remember going to Margarita's with his parents and my parents and laughing because our moms both got beer and our dads both got girly drinks.
I remember going to friendlys when he ordered a bowl of peanut butter and chocolate syrup. You should have seen the look on the waitress' face. =)
I remember Peder and Alissa trying to cut my hair. It actually turned out quite nice, but Peder kept saying things like, "is this right?!" and it made me nervous. He also commented on my split ends.
I remember at the end of the summer,in room 15 hearing Taryn talk about liking Peder and being so excited.
At my wedding, he came up to me and offered me a glass of water. I thought it was so sweet. Later, I found out that it was Luke Johnson's idea and he was surprised I took the whole glass, instead of taking a sip and giving it back.
My favorite memory of Peder is from our first summer at camp. The whole staff was writing notes to each other on sheets of paper that were encouragement or memories and he wrote, "I'm glad we will be able to go to each other's weddings because we are friends, not because we have to". I am so glad Peder got to come to my wedding. And I am so sorry that I will never go to his.

Love you Peder! You are already missed.

Bowled Over

Today, I achieved 2 life-long bowling goals.
Now, I am not an avid bowler, but I have been several times recently. I has always been my goal to win a game of bowling. Never happened. It has also been my goal to get at least 100. Also, never happened. I have been in the 90s several times, but I've never hit 100. Today, we had a bowling field trip. Ok, so I guess winning the game was pretty cheap because I was playing with 7th graders (however, 2 of them are on the bowling team at school). The second goal was so so exciting. I had told all my kids how much I wanted to hit 100, so they were all rooting for me. On the last roll of the 10th frame, I had 97 points, with 3 pins left. It was either all or nothing. I rolled a spare, and my whole class cheered! I got 110! I know its lame, but I was so excited!!! Its the little things sometimes. =)

drum roll please

So let me first remind you of the before


And Now for the After. Its kind of hard to see in the light that I was taking pictures in. If you want to see it better, well, you'll just have to come over! =)

so you had a bad day

bad day. and its not even 10am.

All nighter

Nick and I stayed up until 3am (which was actually 4am because of stupid daylight's savings) to finish painting our house. Now, just the living room and dining room need one more coat and we are done! Pictures to come soon.

At long last!

After many trips to every paint store or store that sells paint in the greater Chicago area, not to mention many dollars spent on samples that just weren't right, we have found our paint colors.

spun honey
filoli ginkgo tree

Its Greek to me

Oh boy. How many of you can explain how the electoral college works? Believe me, it is not easy to explain. Now, try explaining it to a 13 year old Korean student who barely speaks English. I just spent the last 15 minutes trying to explain this wacky phenomenon to one of my students today. He understood that in the election of 1824, Jackson won the most popular votes, but he could not understand why John Quincy Adams became President. I kept trying to explain that he got less electoral votes, but regular English speaking 7th graders (and adults for that matter) barely understand this concept. He kept saying, "why?! more vote for Jackson!" and I kept saying. "Yes, but that doesn't choose the President, the electoral votes do" I kept thinking to myself how funny it is to explain the electoral college to a foreigner who thinks it is a silly idea. Because lets be honest...its a silly idea. A very exhausting 15 minutes, but I like that he cared so much.

Through the eyes of a history nut

As obnoxious as it is to have to get rid of all of the outdated stuff in our new house, I can't help but think about the generations of people who put all that stuff there in the first place. My house was built in 1903. People have been living there and making decisions about windows, carpets, floors, kitchens, etc. for over 100 years. I keep wondering who thought it was a good idea to paint the bedrooms aqua (you can tell because the paint is still left in some of the tough to reach areas) , who decided put beige swirled carpet over beautiful hardwood, and who in their right mind decided to put shingles on the inside of the house on the kitchen ceilings(come see Tim and Krissy's kitchen some day). But it also makes me wonder, who lived in my house in the 1920s? Or during the Great Depression, or the people who lived there in the 50s who made most of the style decisions you can still see today. More than anything, it makes me wonder if the people who buy our house 40 years from now say, "who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to buy stainless steel appliances and restore these hardwood floors back in the 2010s? What were they thinking?!"

SLOW DOWN!

Why is it that my weeks crawl by and my weekends are whirlwinds? I need spring break ASAP.

New Floors

I bet you're all really bored by now hearing all about the state of my hardwood floors, but its pretty much all I think about these days. =) Today, we had a guy come in and refinish our floors. They look gorgeous! and we got a really great deal. Next up: painting!

The gloss is still wet in this picture, so it looks weird, but it looks really nice when its dry!