So just when you think life is going to get easier, you have to stop and think about your finances. Money can always trip you up. Ugh!

Life feels a bit complicated right now. I can’t go into details, unfortunately, sorry I shouldn’t mention it if I can’t go into details. Working and finances make things complicated. Do I work for a lot of money and pay with my soul or do I work for my soul and little money? See what I mean, it’s complicated and I could spend all day talking about it and I’d probably lose my job for writing anything. So the fine line is very fine - a micropoint line.

Hey! “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra just came on my Launch radio station. I can’t be unhappy listening to this song. It makes me smile - especially since it reminds me of Eternal Sunshine. :) I think that’s my favorite film for a long time! It’s such a sweet love story, even though it doesn’t seem like it when you’re watching it. I can’t wait till it comes out on DVD! I will be first in line to get it. I’m not a big Jim Carrey fan, but he was so sweet and cute in Eternal Sunshine. The movie was so great that you couldn’t help falling in love with Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey. Every time Bryan and I look at the movie times to see when the movie starts, I see the listing for Eternal Sunshine and think, “we could see that again.” :)

I’ve been getting up a bit earlier to work out this past week. I’m feeling really good and so proud of myself. I’ve been a complete slug since I moved out to the burbs, exercise has been pretty non-existant. Meredith (my sister) told me about a book called Buff Brides by Sue Fleming. So I bought it and it has a program to get in shape in 12 weeks for your wedding. I got the book last week and had a nasty cold, so I started this week. On Sunday, I did weights; Monday was walking for 20 minutes in my Nikken shoes, which have 3 pound weights in the bottom of the shoes; Tuesday, more weights; Wednesday, yoga, I needed a bit of a break and needed something to ease me into the day; and today, I went for a bike ride, this was no leisurely bike ride! :) So I’m feeling well and it gets me going in the morning. I wouldn’t be able to do it without Bryan being on my case in the mornings to get out of bed and to work out. I was concerned about this morning because Bryan had to leave early for work, so I left right after I got up and was back by the time Bryan left. I ate breakfast alone this morning, but I got some reading done.

I just finished The DaVinci Code. I thought it was good but I’ve heard other people say, it seems to fall apart at the end. It’s a good story and it was definitely a page-turner up to the end. I also find it interesting that so many people are writing books to dispute what’s in The DaVinci Code. First of all, it’s a work of fiction and also there are a lot of people who think that Mary Magdalene’s story needs to be heard. And why are some people so afraid of the idea of anything feminine related to the church. They are horrified by the fact that some feel that “God” with a capital “G” could be a woman. It’s all very fascinating to me. Frankly, if I was going to believe in a “God,” I don’t think the church would be very happy with me because if the creation story was correct, only a woman would create such amazing and beautiful flowers. :) No offense to you guys, but it’s a personal opinion. There were so many things talked about in The DaVinci Code that definitely are worth exploring. Here’s a very intriguing sermon given by Jim Eller at the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Kansas City. He’s the minister officiating our wedding ceremony.

We’re going to see Bob Edwards, former host of NPR’s Morning Edition, speak tonight. I’m really excited, I think it will be fascinating. Tomorrow night, we’re going to see Metric once again. It will be number three for us! :)

Here’s an update on the flooding situation. The river crested in Gurnee (about 20 miles north of Bryan & I) last night. Now the water is really moving south. It took me 1/2 an hour to get to work this morning. Flooding had closed one lane of traffic in each direction of Milwaukee Avenue.

At lunch, Milwaukee Avenue was closed from 1 mile south of Palwaukee Airport all the way up to Palwaukee Airport. The water was covering Milwaukee Avenue, I had to take a different route home for lunch. Since there are two major north-south roads closed traffic is having to go down Sanders Rd, which runs right in front of Allstate, is making traffic quite difficult. Several east-west roads are also closed so to get around is getting more difficult. You either need to go way south to a road that has a high overpass or way north.

At the airport, one of the runways was closed because it was covered with water. I’m sure by tomorrow, when the river is supposed to crest, the roadways will be even worse. I will be taking a different route to and from work tonight and tomorrow because I expect more of Milwaukee Avenue to be covered with water. Thank goodness the road just north of the Allstate campus is one of the roads that has a high overpass over the river, although it didn’t look like it was very high when I went home for lunch.

I remember seeing photos of the floods in Kansas in 1993 but you really don’t realize how creepy it is until you’re experiencing it for yourself.

I’m really glad that we don’t live near the flood.

I’ve linked to a another photo from the Chicago Tribune. This is a photo of River Road that I mentioned yesterday. The sandbags this morning were piled even higher than this. There are areas that were at least 3 feet high with sandbags.

http://images.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2004-05/12775856.jpg
Sandbag wall
Thousands of sandbags line the center of River Road from south of Milwaukee Avenue to Camp McDonald Road in Prospect Heights.
(Tribune photo by George Thompson)

Here is the Tribune photo gallery.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-weather-photogallery,1,7580784.photogallery?

The last several days have been very interesting weather-wise. Thursday night the lighting outside was so eerie. We saw some lightning in the traditional sense but a lot of it was up in the clouds, it looked like something out of a Frankenstein movie when Dr. Frankenstein was creating his monster. Bolts of lightning were going from cloud to cloud. It was absolutely fascinating and bizarre!

Friday night was another storm, but not quite as interesting - it just rained a lot.

Yesterday my drive home from work took me 45 minutes (normally 20-25 minutes) because of flooding on the Des Plaines River. They have closed a major road (River Road) because of flooding. Near Palwaukee Airport on Milwaukee Ave, the river is about 10 feet from the road. It’s covering parking lots of the forest preserve and it’s quite high near the airport too. They said that the river is 5 feet higher than normal. On the way to work, River Road is still closed and it’s piled high with sandbags for as far as I could see. I’m glad that we live several miles from the river, so I don’t think we have to worry. The worst part about it is that the river isn’t expected to crest until tomorrow and they’re expecting more rain today. They said there is no rain expected until the weekend, but I have a feeling it’s not going to be a relaxing holiday weekend for a lot of people.

Just wanted to fill you in, in case you’ve heard about the flooding. I’ve linked to a few photos from the Chicago Tribune that I think are fascinating. The “Wild Sky” photo gives you an idea of what the lightning looked like on Thursday out near us.

Wild sky
A lightning bolt flashes through the night sky as a storm front rolls towards the Sears Tower and downtown Chicago on Friday night.
(Tribune photo by Scott Strazzante)
May 24, 2004

Stormy weather
Storm clouds form over Wrigley Field as the St. Louis Cardinals play the Chicago Cubs in Chicago on May 23.
(AP/Jeff Roberson)

Sorry I haven’t had a chance to post anything in the last week.

Our shower weekend was wonderful, as I mentioned in my last post.
Kansas City, May 14-16
We left for Kansas City on Thursday evening. Our flight was delayed an hour, then almost four hours and finally they cancelled our flight. Instead of going home and then trying to get back to the airport early the next morning, we stayed at a hotel that night. Early Friday morning, we went back to the airport and flew to Kansas City.

Friday after we arrived, Mom, Meredith, Grandpa, Bryan and I went to Lawrence. We had lunch at Free State Brewery. Then we met with the wedding florist to talk about what flowers that are available for my wedding. And to see if anything had changed from the first time we met back in January. After meeting the florist, we went and looked at, Maceli’s, where we’re holding our rehearsal dinner. Then we went and picked up the cake for the shower, it was really cute. Then we headed back to Kansas City so that Bryan and I could meet with the officiant for the wedding, Jim Eller from All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. Bryan and I aren’t religious in a traditional sense and we didn’t want to have a traditional relgious wedding service. We started looking for ministers that had similar beliefs that we do and found the Unitarian Universalist church. (I had also found out about the Unitarian Univeralist church through beliefnet.com.) It was really nice to meet with Jim Eller. He gave us a packet of parts of the ceremony to give us ideas of what goes into a wedding ceremony, including introductions, readings, poems and vows.

After meeting with Jim Eller, we went to Talbot’s so that I could get an outfit for the shower. :) I love it when Mom is willing to buy me clothes! :)

Saturday was the shower! Mom, Granpda, Bryan and I went out for breakfast. Then we went back to Aunt Nan’s to get ready, Meredith did my makeup. :) (She helped with my makeup for my second date with Bryan.) The shower was lovely. We received so many wonderful gifts - kitchen utensils, a food processor, a really great iron, several frames, two gorgeous bowls - one an heirloom and one that I registered for, several of our dishes and a few placesettings of our flatware.

Photos of the shower:
Bryan and I next to the cake. The cake was a bit hit - it was wonderful, as I would expect it to be since the same baker is doing my wedding cake.
Meredith, Mom and I next to the cake.
Mom & Grandpa
Me and Aunt Jane, she hosted the shower with Aunt Nan.
Handmade card by Joy
Aunt Nan, Grandpa and Mom. Aunt Nan and Aunt Jane hosted the shower.
Mary Brown, Grandpa and Neva Hinsey. Mary Brown and Neva have been friends of the family since my mom was a little girl. Mary Brown gave me a serving bowl that was hers. It was really sweet of her to give it to me, so it’s an heirloom that has been passed on.
Me, Joy and Meredith

Saturday evening, we had dinner at Aunt Nan’s. Several family members and Joy Leiker were there. It was fun to sit around the dinner table and chat.

Sunday, Mom, Grandpa, Aunt Nan, Meredith, Bryan and I went out for breakfast. Not long after breakfast it was time to leave for the airport. Our flight back to Chicago was much less eventful than the flight to Kansas City. Thank goodness!

Back in the Chicago suburbs
Sunday night, Bryan and I went to see the Cardigans at the Double Door in the city. It was a good show, but they played a lot of stuff from their soon-to-be-released album. So we didn’t know most of the songs. Plus there were some very annoying girls in front of us that talked through the show until some guy next to us told them to be quiet, then they finally moved. It was so smokey and I was getting a sore throat that we left before the end of the show.

Last week was very uneventful. I was mostly getting ready for a Stamping Open House this past weekend and cleaning up the apartment. We bought a new corner bookcase for the dining room, it really makes the dining room look nice (maybe I’ll post a photo soon). I needed space to put all of my growing stamping/scrapbooking materials. The floor is not the best place! The corner bookcase made all the difference! Saturday and Sunday, I had an open house for the people in the apartment complex. Unfortunately, no one showed up. I had one RSVP to tell me that she was going to be out of town this past weekend. I was quite disappointed that no one else RSVP’d or even showed up. I am going to invite the woman that RSVP’s last week over to try out the stamps and show her how she can use them in her scrapbooks. I can only hope for the best. :)

Yesterday, we went to another service at the Unitarian Church in Deerfield. Another great service. This week was Affirmation Sunday where the 8th graders gave a little speech about what they believe. It was fascinating! Almost all of them spoke about how we need to treat others with dignity and respect no matter who they are. A few of them really struck me as putting into words what I personally believe (see May 10 post).

Oh, I almost forgot to write about this - on Saturday, we saw Supersize Me. It’s a film that should be required viewing for every person, especially those that eat fast food. After reading Fast Food Nation, I vowed not to eat at McDonald’s again. Now after seeing Supersize Me, I don’t think I can ever eat fast food again. I was horrified to find out that McDonald’s new salads are very fatty too. Wait, aren’t the salads supposed to be their new “healthy” options? What a joke that is! If you want to see for yourself
here’s the McDonald’s nutrition facts website. People have said, no one eats fast food for all three meals a day, but I know people that eat fast food every day for lunch. It’s no wonder that they look like they do. I can’t say that I’m a model for perfect health, my exercise habits are atrocious but watching this movie made me feel bad about how bad my habits are. I got up Sunday morning and lifted weights. This morning, I went for a 20-minute walk. I have an incentive to get into shape, my wedding. But I think people need to pay attention to what really goes into their mouths. I don’t expect this movie to change too many things but we need to realize that obesity is going to kill a lot of people and we’re all paying for it now with higher health care. If we don’t do something now, the life expectancy age will drop. I have more to say about this but my brain is getting a bit too tired to think clearly about this. You must go see this film, if it’s not showing near you - put it on your list to see when it comes out on DVD! If you can’t see it now, at least, read Fast Food Nation! If one person can do so horribly for one month eating McDonald’s three meals a day every day for a month, think about what fast food does to your body just eating it several times a week over a period of several years. It’s no wonder that cholesterol drugs are so popular. And the line - “I changed my diet.” Yeah, right. Stopped eating steak every day? How about eating out less and cutting out sugar! Btw, here is Roger Ebert’s take on the film.

We have absolutely nothing planned for the holiday weekend! :) I’m looking forward to doing whatever suits the moment. :)

I started another pair of baby socks last Wednesday. They are out of the same yarn as the last pair of baby socks that I made about two months ago. Last night, I knitted and watched American Idol and the two episodes that I taped last week.

I’ve been so tired this week, I just needed to sit on the couch and knit. Thank goodness it was an American Idol night or I would have had nothing to watch. :)

I will have photos of the Little Lambs blanket very soon, especially since I’m giving it to the baby’s mom this weekend. :)

Wedding related happenings abound this weekend. We’ll be traveling to Kansas City for the weekend. Friday morning we’re meeting with the minister, Jim Eller, who will be performing our wedding ceremony. I’m really excited to meet with him. Friday afternoon, I have my second meeting with the florist. Then Saturday is our shower! :) It’s a couple shower, so Bryan will be present. He gets so excited about the gifts, it’s so cute. :)

I’ve felt different since Sunday. It’s like going to the Unitarian church on Sunday made me feel like there are people out there that share my beliefs. They aren’t prejudging me in any sort of way and I don’t have to subscribe to any sort of doctrine or dogma. It felt like a very supportive place and like I can follow my own spiritual path in my own way with people supporting me along the way, without anyone telling me that what I’m thinking or believing is right or wrong. I guess that’s my biggest problem with traditional organized religion - they tell you what is right and the right way to believe, when we’re all different and our beliefs are different too. What might be right for one person isn’t necessarily right for the next person and organized religion doesn’t seem to respect those differences. They seem a bit like high school - you need to conform to be part of the group. So Bryan and I talked last night and he said we could make it part of our Sunday routine, so I think we’ll definitely be going back on May 23. May 23 will be very interesting because it’s the Affirmation Sunday for the 8th graders. Here’s a description of Affirmation Sunday from the Racine, WI Unitarian Universalist Church: “Our eighth-graders will be “affirmed” (UU equivalent of confirmation, bar/bat mitzvah) at this Sunday’s service. They will each give a “sermonette” on what their UU faith means to them, and their parents will speak, too.” This is how it was described to us this past Sunday, too. It’s sounds very fascinating.

It’s been a while since I last wrote. I was so busy with getting ready for the Stamp Fair, I felt like my head was spinning at times. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of my customers or anyone that I had handed a flyer to show up. It was really disappointing to do all that work and not feel like I got anything out of it. I did sell about $10 in cards, so that was nice. Now I’m focusing on my Stamp Open House on May 22 & 23. I’m sending out postcards to everyone in my apartment complex, so I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for it to be a success.

Yesterday, Bryan and I went to the North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield for services. We figured that since we are getting married by a Unitarian minister in Kansas that we should attend a service so that we can say we know something about the Universalist Unitarian church. We were really impressed and very moved. The service yesterday was really cool - they have everyone bring flowers and put them in a basket, then they pass around the baskets and you take a different flower with you. We hadn’t brought flowers since we were visitors, but it was such a nice ceremony. It’s a ceremony unique to the Universalist Unitarian church. There were several poems by Sharon Olds that were part of the service relating to motherhood for Mother’s Day. The sermon started with the minister’s wife reading some poems and then he talked about mothers, I think about half of the congregation was either in tears or near tears. It was beautiful. The services didn’t just focus on human mothers, but also our need to respect the Mother Earth.

After the services, we went to a visitor’s orientation to learn a little bit about the Unitarian church. It seems to be very much along the lines of what we believe. There is no dogma or doctrine, it’s about enriching your own spiritual journey. We noticed several things about the service that were so different than what we had experienced in church when we were growing up - Bryan was raised Catholic and I was raised going to the Church of Christ. One of the first things we noticed is that men and women play equal parts in the services. The word “God” was not mentioned once in the service, which was nice since I’m someone who is very uncomfortable with the “fire & brimstone” sermons of many other churches. Also the poems read contained words and references that we knew would never be mentioned in a Christian service - vagina, sex and references to a teenage girl getting her period. It was really an enlightening experience and I definitely think we will be going back. I’ve felt in the last few years like I need a spiritual place to go, but I’m not interested in a Christian church because of the dogma that you’re required to believe to be a member. This felt very supportive of whatever you believe.

Today, I’m really tired. We didn’t get to bed until late last night. We watched My Life Without Me yesterday. I’m feeling like such a zombie and the music that theLaunch Player is playing today seems to fit my mood today, which isn’t helping wake me up at all. I have my last calligraphy class tonight. I missed last week’s class because of a bad headache that I’m sure was caused by lack of sleep. We’re going to be making accordian-fold books tonight and I’m going to show them how to make the Roses In Winter card.