More lessons on how to be a grown-up

It involves a lot of paperwork.

I often feel like this woman lately.

(With not-so-Stepford-like hair, of course)

 ...Or possibly this guy:

......Or possibly this wind-up monkey toy.

Now I'm just being silly...

I have written my social security number more times this week than I have the rest of my life put together.

But that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Just one more thing to get used to about being a grown-up.

Also, I finally got a different car.  "Finally" in the sense that I have put it off long enough.

It's a glacier blue CR-V.  I am thankful for it and like it a lot.

However, it always takes me a while to adjust to change...

I kept my license plates.

And if you allude or argue that I should retire BUBBLO7, I will cry a little inside.

So please don't. :)

THREE MORE DAYS AT HEARTLAND HEALTH CARE!

 I start my real job where they pay me on August 11.

Many changes, but they are good things--For that I am thankful.

Necessary things and good.

I am very blessed.

vanity

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver;

nor he that loveth abundance with increase:

 this is also vanity.

  When goods increase, they are increased that eat them:

AND WHAT GOOD IS THERE TO THE OWNERS THEREOF, 

SAVING THE BEHOLDING OF THEM WITH THEIR EYES

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: 

but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.    

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, 

namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 

AS HE CAME FORTH FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB,

naked shall he return to go as he came, 

and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

Ecclesiastes 5.

Lord, how do I best steward YOUR stuff for YOUR glory?

Does it begin, as I suppose, with a spirit of THANKFULNESS,

And not a spirit of guilt for the things i feel i do not deserve?

grant me a thankful spirit, and help me see your purpose.

 

From Lincoln's 2nd inaugural

March 4, 1865.  This snippet can also be found inside the Lincoln Tomb area:

"Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained.
Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease.
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God,
and each invokes His aid against the other.
It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered.
That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
"Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh."
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said
"the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

Well, this has been a good weekend...

...And it's not even Sunday yet!

Hmm, really, quite the weekend.  I have sum pix 4 u.

Sidenote: I wonder if texting language has impacted the use of "y'all" by teenagers in the Southern states.  There is no one-stroke version of "y'all", so I can only assume that Southern texters use "u" for the second-person plural pronoun, just like us Northerners.  I wonder if this increased usage of you/u by Southerners through texting has generalized to their spoken communication.  If I ever go for a Ph.D., maybe that will be my dissertation. End sidenote.

 Okay,  firstly......CORPSE FLOWER!!!! :) :)

The Corpse Flower is a rare plant stored in a UIUC greenhouse.  It only blooms every 10 years or so and is famous for smelling like death.  My favorite part of the Corpse Flower blooming is that someone had the brilliant idea to install a webcam pointing at passers-by.  I could have sat for hours watching the groups of people sniff the flower, grimace at the flower, pose with the flower while talking on their cell phone so that their buddy at home can do a Print-Screen of the webcam shot...etc.  (What is more pathetic-- standing in line to see a stinky flower on a Friday night, or sitting at home watching a live feed of other people sniffing a stinky flower on a Friday night?)  Personally, I didn't think it really smelled all that bad, as the smell of death goes.


Okay, next day... SPRINGFIELD!!!
Grandpa showed Tina, Jenny, and I around his hometown today.  Everyone agreed it was a truly terrific day. :)

Lincoln's Home

Lincoln's Tomb

we like fountains

Cozy Dog Drive-In "The Birthplace of the Corn Dog" :)

The girls learned more about Honest Abe today than they ever knew there was to know!  And they're hooked.  They have both expressed desires to buy books and learn more. :)

I am particularly glad that Tina went to the museum, because her previous information about Lincoln was....a bit backwards.  She told me, "In my country I learn Lincoln sell slaves, so black man kill Lincoln."

Um.......not quite. And I'm glad we got that cleared up.  :)

Oh, yeah, one of the many nice things about having Grandpa along is that he has a handy-dandy accessible parking tag, so we could park at meters all day long for FREE. Plus, the tag looked oh so natural hanging in the Bubblo....It looked much less idiosyncratic in my Buick than the 23-year-old driver usually does...

Also, Grandpa got quite a bit of storytelling in today, which is always fun.  I forgot how much I enjoy the one that begins with him driving a firetruck, sirens running, down a busy street in the middle of the day.  As he approaches an intersection, he sees a car approaching from a different direction.  "Well, sure, she'll stop; I'm a firetruck, see?" He thinks to himself.  Well, she doesn't stop, and the firetruck hits her.  Grandpa gets out and stick his hands into the window of the woman's car to unlock the door and see if she's okay.  "But I didn't see that she had two little dogs in the car with her.  So I stuck my hands in...[eyebrows raise] and they both bit me."  Haha.  End of story.

In other news (there's always something), Tina's new Bible finally came in, and we are so thankful.  I think this one will work well for her and our church system of me finding the correct place in her Chinese Bible.....  She continues to read her Bible story book and/or her Bible every day, and she really wants to learn.  So continued prayers are appreciated.

Other things could be mentioned, but this seems to be plenty for today.
Goodnight, thetical readers (I can no longer honestly call you hypothetical.....)

Young Group Van?

The time is quickly approaching when I will have to grow up and give back my dad's car.  So what kind of car should I get?

And, NO, I am not getting another white Buick LeSabre.

The Original Bubblo

 #2.  (Grandmother, what a large nose you have...)

 ....Sorry to disappoint.

But what should I get?  With commuting, it really would make sense to get a small-ish car for a change, but then where would I put all my stuff and all my friends??  How can I get good gas mileage and still be able to transport everything that sometimes needs to be transported? ..........

Thus began my search on Craigslist for used vans.  I could get a new little car for myself AND a cheap old van for YG transportation! (And Amber could use it for flower transportation...win, win, WIN.)

This is what I found:
http://chambana.craigslist.org/ctd/2479725022.html

$895.00
'95 >DODGE.GR.CARAVAN 7PASS. VAN...
RUNS GREAT !!
V6 ENGINE...AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION (REBUILT CRAWFORD TRANSMISSION)
203K MILES
GOOD TIRES & BRAKES
INCLUDES WARRANTY !!

......WhAddYa tHinK?  ;)
Only $895....I'd be happy if the YG fund just chipped in a little for insurance every year...

Okay, I'm not exactly entirely serious.....but it's a fun thought, huh?  Input welcome. :)

The "Amish" boy :)

It turns out that this painting is actually entitled, "French Boy with Dog."  Who knew?  For one, it took me until I was a good 10 years old to realize this painting was of a boy at all.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

This painting has been a part of my family since.....some point before I was born.  It held an extremely prominent position in our house on 6th street, and when we built our house at the golf course, special lights were installed in the dining area specifically to illuminate this work of art.  ....But there was a slight problem with this scenario.  You see, Nobody actually likes this painting.

My mom's parents found it in the basement of their church once when the church was getting cleaned out or something.  They gave it to my mom, who cherished it as being a favorite of my grandparents.  This poor French boy faced the constant disdain and criticism of my brothers ever since that time...at least 25 years ago.  Many a heated argument was had over his placement and prominence in the house, but Mom always maintained that she loved the painting because it was a gift from her parents, and they loved it.


Then one day a couple years ago, at some family party, the truth came out.  Poor Mom was defending the painting again, and finally asked Grandma something to the effect of, "Don't you remember this painting?  Don't you love it?"  To which Grandma replied, "Oh, I never really cared much for it....that's why we gave it to you!"  Hahaha....

Since that time, the Amish Boy (as he is endearingly but innacuately referred to) has been removed from his prominent position in the dining area, and is in the process of getting passed around the family.  He magically appeared above Carl and Kristen's fireplace when they moved into their new house, from which he hopped to the bedroom that Matt and Nico use at my parents' house.......Jim and Maureen are moving this weekend.......and Carl made the excellent suggestion that the Amish Boy really needs to make an appearance in their new house.

I heartily agree.

And that is what brought this whole topic to my mind in the first place.

In case you were wondering.  :)