Daily DeMo: Basil + water keeps the wilties away!

The Daily DeMo - Edition 19

DD140 :: Saturday - The farmer's market in old town has yummy cantaloupe!

DD141 :: Sunday - The type of dancing in Israel is like what you see in the movies, with the bending of the knees with the arms crossed while doing the grapevine.

DD142 :: Monday - To keep your basil fresh after you buy it at the farmer's market, do what Erin did and put it in a vase of water.

DD143 :: Tuesday - Senator Ted Kennedy passed away and I watched some features on the news about his life, how he ran for pres and didn't win, then committed to the Senate and announced that he wasn't going to run for the Presidential nomination anymore. I didn't know much about him, and have heard mixed reviews.

DD144 :: Wednesday - Sounds really weird, but I inspected the threads on my red pen and how they spiral together. I've always been one to take stuff apart and figure out how it works (ok, simple stuff. nothing big like a car). I used to have a music box and I'd take it apart and watch everything work together to make music.

DD145 :: Thursday - I had this mysterious problem in an Illustrator file where there was artwork beyond the document border that I couldn't get to. Mel told me that it was a layer with a rectangle extracted. (I know, if you don't use the program, this might be over your head...) To do it, draw a large white rectangle over the area that you want to show, and then draw a larger one on top of that to hide everything. Move the area that you want to be cut out to the top. Hold down your option key while you click on the Exclude button in the Pathfinder palette.

DD146 :: Friday - I learned many names of people who I'd seen before but never met. The Secret Gallery at Second & Meridian used to be a grocery store until the 60s, and then it was transformed into offices. Now it is home to Jill and her husband who live above the studio. My dream!

Sometimes you just need time away

Friday night was the first night in months that I'd had to myself and actually got something done. My apartment was much overdue for some TLC and I just needed a break from people. Saturday was an adventure and I was either cleaning or in the kitchen most of the day. This knocked me out in the evening, but I didn't "hit my wall" until about 11 (which is pretty amazing because before C25k I couldn't stay awake past 9:00). Here is a recap of my day, in pictures:

Spent some time at the clay studio finishing up some pots since my class was almost over.

Went to the farmer's market and splurged on a $3 bouquet of fresh cut flowers.

And I got some fresh fruit and veggies. I was sad to discover worms in the corn though. :(

Took pictures of a golf bag...

...and my old rollerblades to either sell on ebay, sell on craigslist, or give away on freecycle.

Made potato salad for a bbq...

...and browned 2 pounds of ground beef to freeze for when I need it. And while this was happening, the drain in my neighbor's sink backed up into mine. Fortunately it wasn't icky since she was only washing dishes.

And I gave my 10 boxes of brownies a prominent place on my kitchen shelf.
They were on a major sale at Dillon's and I couldn't resist.

How often do you get to relax, and what do you like to do?

1989: All growed up and starting school

Erin posted about her first day of school, and I thought I'd do the same since I haven't shared these pictures here.
This is me on the first day of Kindergarten. Those steps aren't there anymore, which makes me kinda sad. * I remember taking a taxi to school from the babysitter's and I rode with two boys, Bryan and Andrew. Andrew threatened to beat me up all the time if I ever told on him since his mom was my babysitter, and the three of us always fought over the front seat in the taxi. They didn't care too much that I was a girl and should be treated better. * Mrs. Young was my teacher and we sang a song at the end of the day: "Goodbye everybody. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. Goodbye everybody. Yes, indeed. We'll see you all tomorrow!" * A girl named Heather copied a picture that I drew of a turtle and got a "red stick" and had to sit out. She was crying a lot and I felt kinda bad, but still didn't like that she was copying me. * This is the year that I met Kristen:

We met on enrollment day of Kindergarten while our moms were filling out paperwork and have kept in touch ever since (thank you, Facebook!). I think through elementary school we were in the same class every other year. This picture is from maybe first or second grade. Don't you love my jeans?

This is how I always remember what year I was in school:
Kindergarten ended the spring of 1990.
First grade ended in 1991.
Second grade ended in 1992.
I graduated 8th grade in 1998.
I graduated from high school (12th grade) in 2002 and college (16th grade) in 2006.
Only the cool kids can remember school years that way!

Do you remember your first day of school? What's your favorite memory?

Daily DeMo: The Angelus

The Daily DeMo - Edition 18

DD133 :: Saturday - Two people riding the log ride at Worlds of Fun will not splash as much as three people riding.

DD134 :: Sunday - the Mustang GTs used by the police are made for pursuit so they're stripped of everything except what's necessary to drive. There are no extra seats or spare tire in there.

DD135 :: Monday - Grandma told me that her grandma was in a women's club, and for birthdays or occasions everyone would put in a couple of dollars to buy a gift for the birthday girl. She got a cut glass vase.

DD136 :: Tuesday - While I was spending time with my grandparents last night, I admired a print that they have on their wall. My sister has already claimed it for her inheritance, which I don't really think is fair because she's had her name on it for about 10 years, and I didn't start really appreciating art until about 8 years ago. I did some research on the painting and definitely would have claimed it long ago if it was still available.

DD137 :: Wednesday - One of the guys who is new to my Bible study works for the CIA. I feel like I'm breaking some secret law by saying that.

DD138 :: Thursday - Today I learned that Dillon's is having sales of stuff in quantities of 10. I caved and bought 10 boxes of brownie mix.

DD139 :: Friday - You can make the Apple logo with Cmd Shift K using Helvetican font.

Daily DeMo: Don't use your camera in Amsterdam

The Daily DeMo - Edition 17

DD126 :: Saturday - I learned that the GAO is the Government Accountability Office who is supposed to audit where all of the money goes that gets spent in the country. You know, like when they say that we spent $5 million on the war in Iraq, what does the money trail look like? Who writes the checks?

DD127 :: Sunday - Bacterial meningitis takes about 48 hours to ruin your whole body. Dave Kirkwood gave his testimony in Pathways tonight. 14 years ago he got bacterial meningitis and they amputated his legs from the knees down, and his left arm. If you know Dave and are reading this and you haven't heard his story yet, it will definitely make you think and be thankful for your blessings.

DD128 :: Monday - Gas is about 10 cents cheaper in Kansas City than it is in Wichita. And it's about 10 cents cheaper than that in Emporia if you venture away from the stations closest to the interstate.

DD129 :: Tuesday - Information overload! I went to a conference today and learned that it really doesn't hurt to get out of my comfort zone and meet people.

DD130 :: Wednesday - My friend Jeremy has done 340 jumps with his parachute. I watched him fold his parachute, and learned that the pack weighs 25 pounds. The force of when you pull the cord and the 'chute comes out is equivalent to 4Gs of pressure.

DD131 :: Thursday - Brandon told me about the ethnic dividing lines in Wichita.

DD132 :: Friday - In Amsterdam there are "models" who stand in windows dressed in whatever they can find. If the window is lit by red lights, the model is a woman looking for company. If it's lit by blue lights, it's a man. And if you take pictures of the models, they will chase you and throw your camera in the river.

Need

If you could communicate your present need to God, but only had five words in which to do it, which five would you choose?

Bits & Pieces

Hello! I am way behind on Daily DeMos and I hope to get those up this week. I've been commenting on other blogs and cleaning out my Google Reader but haven't managed to make anything significant happen here. Well, let me change that right now!

Grandpa spent 3 weeks in the hospital for some sort of infection and needed breathing treatments and a bunch of other stuff. He's back home now and looking great. It was so nice to see him in his own recliner instead of a hotel bed yesterday. Being able to spend time with gma & gpa every week has been really neat and it's fun to see their excitement when I tell them what I've been up to and their disbelief that I can do so many things and still be awake. :)

I started 4-week pottery class on Tuesday night with Janel and Heather. Heather took me out for my birthday dinner at Caffe Moderne (have I mentioned before how much I love that place?). We had lots of fun in the class and I went back on Friday night for about an hour to get in some more practice. It's really relaxing and I found that I centered my clay when I wasn't really thinking about it. As soon as I thought about what I was doing, it started to get all wacky. I haven't made anything worth saving yet, but by the end of the class I should have a coffee mug.

I'm going out of town tonight on my first trip for work. I wasn't supposed to go but nobody else was available. Hopefully I can come back with all the right information! I am really excited to see Jay & Kelli and Owen & Kate tonight. I made sure to get an indoor pool so that we can all go swimming!

Couch to 5k is still happening, but not lately. (I'm definitely not giving up on it. How can I when I could finally put on a pair of jeans that I haven't worn in over two years? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, when you clean out your closet but are thinking "oh man, these are my favorite jeans. They don't fit... but maybe someday...") Lots of my friends are running a 5k on August 22 but I think it's still a little bit too early for me to do it since I didn't get serious enough about training for it. There's a Wichita Barbarians game (rugby -- doesn't that name make them sound tough?) that afternoon. Maybe Becky & Nathan will come with me.

I am slowly gaining converts to Twitter. As I tell people, "You just gotta know how to use it." I think it's a common misconception that twitter is just intended to update people on your status like you would on Facebook. If that's all that you use it for though you're not going to have much fun with it. It's more of a conversational tool and you can find tons of great resources on Twitter. This is something that I'll post more about later. If you're already a user, you can follow me @demossa.

I'm going to see the musical Wicked in October. Very excited! I'm reading the book right now and it is very fantastical (not fantastic but fantastical). Have you read it? What did you think about it? I don't recommend it, and I'm so far into it that I'm just reading it out of curiosity for what happens.

My friends Doug & Angela just got back from a trip to the wilderness. Angela took notes on their adventure and wrote down each day of the trip what was blog-worthy. She should be updating each day and I'm pretty sure that you will be laughing at everything that happened. You can check out her blog here.

The Pathways team got back from El Salvador on the 2nd and Pathways cut out early to meet them at the airport. It doesn't happen very often that the teams return on a night that is convenient for everyone to welcome them home, so this was definitely a surprise. Everyone was so thankful to us for being there (we even had signs and maracas!). I've been hearing pieces of stories from the trip but I'm looking forward to the night when they all share together at Pathways.

I am the coordinator for publicity of Judgement House* this year. I will make another post about JH a little bit later in case you don't know what it's about. If it comes to your mind, please pray for JH this year, and for unity for all of the teams. I feel like publicity is a big job and will definitely need your prayers to get stuff coordinated and advertised at all the right times!

So... what did I miss out on in your life? :)

*I do realize that Judgment is spelled wrong, but that's how it is spelled for the event. I don't know why they decided to do it that way -- ok, I do know. I did a quick search on the website and found out what's with the "e". According to them, it can go either way.

Daily DeMo: Frizzle feathered chickens

The Daily DeMo - Edition 16

DD119 :: Saturday - Frizzle feathered chickens have feathers that curl outward. It makes the chickens look very soft and cuddly.

DD120 :: Sunday - I learned about some of the adventures on the El Salvador mission trip. Hearing their stories and seeing how much they bonded as a group makes me want to go to the next destination.

DD121 :: Monday - After "rationalization" for the Deadliest Catch crews, the larger boats were able to meet their crab quotas, but many of the small boats couldn't cover their operating expenses and the fleet shrunk.

DD122 :: Tuesday - After finding pics on my camera (not on my memory card) and not having a USB cord that fit so that I could get them off, I learned that I need to do a backup of the camera which saves to the memory card.

DD122.1 :: Pottery! Clay is made of silica + water + something else. The teacher was wearing a shirt with the formula. He loves clay that much.

DD123 :: Wednesday - Goldfish can eat bloodworms and peas without the shells.

DD124 :: Thursday - I read a blog post about Amish intermarrying. It's interesting to read about the different groups of Amish and depending on where they live, they treat intermarrying differently.

DD125 :: Friday - A cow's milk will taste different depending on the time of year. In the winter they're stocked up on grains, and in the spring start to feed on the grass.

Daily DeMo: Have you seen Post-It Love?

The Daily DeMo - Edition 15

DD112 :: Saturday - I learned that it is possible for me to win a game, and to beat Jared "I've been playing for a decade" Hamburg at Cribbage.

DD112.1 - Miss Saigon is an emotional and well-performed musical. I did a little bit more research about the Fall of Saigon and learned about Operation Babylift.

DD113 :: Sunday - There is a town at the bottom of Beaver Lake that got flooded when they made the reservoir.

DD114 :: Monday - I don't know how long it's been this way, but google notebook is not being updated or cared for by Google anymore. If you're new to it, they won't let you use it, but you can continue to use it if you already have an account. And that is good news for me since all of my ideas get written in my Notebook.

DD115 :: Tuesday - Advertising just keeps getting more romantic and creative.

DD116 :: Wednesday - Matt was right. Elwood will not go for a walk. He will take me for a walk.

DD117 :: Thursday - Very cool info and pics of what Wichita used to be like!

DD118 :: Friday - Sex & the City is a really cute movie, aside from some *ahem* types of scenes, it's overall a pretty good chick flick to watch with some French wine and a 6-weeks-from-married friend.

Blog Hop :: Encouragement :: Isaiah 40

It's time for my first blog hop! This week's topic is Encouragement. Along with Psalm 139 that I wrote about here, I also like these verses from Isaiah.*

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
{Isaiah 40:29-31}

*I put together this text on the photo. If you'd like it larger, let me know and I will send it to you in a higher resolution!