The Desaulniers Visit

Last night we had some friends from Iowa, the Desaulniers, stop by for the night. They were in Michigan last weekend, and called us to ask if they could stop for the night at our house on their way home. Of course we are always delighted to have guests, so last night around 6:15 they showed up.

We enjoyed a meal together and great conversation, however I can't speak to this much, because I had to leave for a piano lesson at 7:15, consequently missing most of the meal (fortunately my piano teacher teaches about a mile down the road, so I didn't have to go far). When I got home around 8:50 we talked for a while and then played "Four-On-A-Couch". The goal of this game is to get everyone from the opposing team off the couch, and four people from your team on. This is basically accomplished by one empty seat, a lot of thinking, and continual systematic rearranging of the group, until the final goal is accomplished. Here is a picture of the four couch representatives from the boys team!


Winners!

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Also, I just got some hilarious pictures from the conference that we met the Desaulniers at (the national home school leadership conference in Philadelphia, PA). These pictures are from one night that a few of the state leaders children got together to play some games. In the pictures are the Backs (OH), Clarks (OH), Desaulniers (IA), Hekis (IA), and of course the Erbers (IL).

The game that we are playing is "I've Never Done It". Rarely were there such wild stampedes as I am about to show you, but the few that did happen were captured courtesy of Mr. Heki.


Make sure you get a seat, or you will be stuck in the middle having to say something that you've never done.


Now this is something I've never done, :-) but it does look like the boys made it to the seats first. BTW: Notice the expressions of everyone seated - quite hilarious.


No, Joseph and I are not clapping hands, just trying to protect ourselves from a collision.


All right boys, I know you don't want to be in the middle, but honestly I don't think it was worth all this. :-)


On a more normal note - Ryan Heki, stuck in the middle once again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

One of the things that I am VERY thankful for is this...



I had this picture as the background on my computer for quite some time, and thankfully at the beginning of this summer the Lord provided, and I got my very own beautiful Kawai grand piano!

PRAISE THE LORD!! He is always faithful!

I've been tagged!

Thanks to Jessica MacDonald, I have been tagged. This means that I am supposed to share five random things about me. And then I am supposed to tag five other people. Well, here's my five random things.

1) I startle Really Easily,

2) I have an un-diagnosed need for speed,

3) I can't stand having dusty/dry/or gritty-dirty hands, however I love working with greasy things (not in a food sense).

4) I can't stand disorganization or people working inefficiently,

5) I love cold weather, and hardly function in heat.


Now for the continuation of this thing I am supposed to tag five others. I was actually going to refrain from doing this due to the fact that most people I know don't use their blogs for things like this, however there are two out there that I really want to hear from. These two people would be Luke VonHolten, and Caleb MacDonald. Not only would I like you two to post five unique things about yourself on your blog, but you're supposed to tag five others. Seeing as most people in my circles have already been tagged, I'll forgive you if you decide to opt-out of that, seeing as I'm in the same boat.

Sweet Ride? Sweet Glide? Or...

Maybe more like Not-So-Sweet Bump, Wobble-Wobble-Wobble, Flash, Wobble-Wobble, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Flash, Wobble, Flash, Flash, Flash, Flash...

Yep, you guessed it, I'm talking about my very own F.O.R.D., Found On Road Dead, Driver Returns On Foot, or in this case Flat On Racing Day. What is going on with my F.O.R.D.? Let us go back to 7:45pm Saturday night on the 19th of November 2005...

I am sitting in my Mustang in a dark parking lot, with three people, unable to go anywhere.

How did I get here? Let us back up again, to Friday morning...

It all started on Friday morning when Jeremy parked the car in their front yard with a "For Sale" sign on it. He had just picked me up for a day of work at his house. Around lunch time I went out to move the car over so that it would be more visible to drivers coming from the west. I opened the door, and something didn't seem right. I got in anyway, inserted the key and... nothing. The lights were left on, and my battery was dead. Jeremy went and got his truck which we then used to try to jump my car. Immediately the hazard lights started flashing, which was very odd because everything was supposed to be off, and the keys weren't even in the car! Anyway, the car still wouldn't start, and the lights were not controllable (although they would stop and start every so often), so we disconnected the battery and went back to work.

Now fast-forward to Saturday morning when I am back working at Jeremy's house, and Sara calls to us to let us know that there is someone looking at my car! I ran around front and tried to explain to the two customers (who were already all over my car, checking the oil, etc...) that the thing wasn't starting, but it seemed to be a minor problem that I'd look into, and let them know when it was fixed. After about 10 minutes they left, and Jeremy and I started diagnosing the problem. Finally we found that if we bypassed the starter relay it fired up fine! Great (I think) a $13 repair and we're fixed. I called Mom who was on her way into Harvard, and asked her to pick up a relay for me (which she did).

Now let us fast-forward to 7:21pm Saturday night. Jeremy, Sara and Caroline were at our house eating dinner, when a lady called saying that she was about one block from the car and wanted to take it out for a drive! I told her to give us 10 minutes and we'd be over there to replace the relay so that she could take the car out for a drive. We got over to Jeremy's house and replaced the relay (with her husband and daughter watching) but we got no results. I might add that the flashing lights were still not fixed, so the marker lights (along with the headlights occasionally) were flashing sporadically throughout the entire repair. Being really bummed out about this, we bypassed the relay and started it up. I asked them if they wanted to take it out for a drive since it was really fun to drive and they had been waiting long enough. They said that they would, so I shut the hood... oops it didn't latch, so I shut it again. This time, when the hood came slamming down, the Ford emblem popped off the grill. Fortunately they were in a good mood, and had a good laugh about it while getting in the car. I went with them so that in case they killed the engine, I'd be there to pop the hood and start it up again. He put the car in reverse, and (partly due to the performance clutch) killed the engine. I popped the hood got it started up, and off we went.

Once we started going forward there was a soft scraping sound coming from the bottom of the car ( a shh, shh, shh sound). The wife mentioned that she thought the back passenger tire was low, but I said that I didn't think so, after all I would have noticed that. We were driving very slowly and I was trying to subtly encourage him to give the guts a test. Once we left Capron I was pushed back into my seat as we accelerated to 80MPH. This was great (I was thinking). The car handled beautifully as we glided along, but as he started slowing down, I was starting to notice quite a bit of wobble! The wife (who was in the back) said that she thought the tire was flat. I didn't think so, but he stopped, so I got out to check. Sure enough the tire was flat, and both he and I had forgotten our cell phones.

At this point, we pulled into a driving range and noticed that a pick-up was there. I ran over to the club house (or whatever they call it), and noticed that the lights in the new indoor range were on! I knocked on the window, and a couple puny dogs, and a grumpy guy came to the window and told me to go around to the front door. While I was standing at the front door, I realized that I probably didn't look to good, because I was wearing my black leather jacket, and the cable that we used to jump the car was still in my hands. :-/ He came to the door and I explained our situation by yelling through the glass. After a while he let me in to use the phone. I called Dad, and he came over to pick us all up.

Surprisingly the guy is still very interested in the car, and wants me to let him know when the car is out of the shop. I told him I'd let him know, but I really didn't think that God wanted him to buy the car. He insisted, so I took down his number and we'll see what happens.

Thus ends act three of the Fast and Faulty Ford episodes. Hopefully I'll reach the last act soon, but the way things are going...

Well, all I can do is trust God and know that He's in control and had this planned from the beginning of the universe. After all, if God didn't want this to happen, he wouldn't have made me get a Ford. :-)

My first road-worthy car.

Today I got a 1990 5.0L Ford Mustang as a trade for the Dell laptop that I had for sale on my blog before (it wasn't an entirely even trade, so don't expect me to sell it for the same price as the laptop) .

The person that I bought it from was supposed to show up today around 11:30am-12:00 to make the trade. He had said that he'd give me a call as he was leaving Chicago around 10:00am. Well, 10:00am came and left, and so did 11:30am-12:00. Still no word from him. Finally around 1:30 I get a call apologizing for not making the appointment, and saying that he had over slept and consequently hadn't left yet (he works a night job). He decided to leave right away to make the two hour trip out to our house, planning on taking the 4:35 train back into Chicago. At around 3:15pm I received a call saying that he thought he was lost, I confirmed his location as about 15 minutes from our house (right where he was supposed to be), and gave him further directions for the rest of the trip. 3:30pm came and went... At about 4:00 we got another call from him... yup, he was majorly lost. And again, at about 4:30pm we got a call from him asking "if I hit Crystal Lake on Rte. 14, have I gone to far?". Well, Crystal Lake isn't too far, it's about 30 minutes the wrong direction. Now it is quite clear that not only is he going to miss his train, but we're going to get to see it in the dark, and in the rain (which was just beginning to fall). So he turned around, and we decided to meet him at Wal-Mart, (which is closer to the train station, thus enabling him to make the 5:35 train). At about 4:55pm he pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and we were finally able to take it out for a test drive.

Let me tell you something, a car this small, with a 5.0L High Output engine, with high speed cams, dual exhaust,, and a performance clutch, has a LOT of power! Anyway, if you are looking for a early 1990's Mustang in pretty good shape, let me know because this one is for sale.


Front


Side


Back


Yep, sweet sounding dual exhaust :-)


Now we're down to the heart of the matter. Ha, Ha, Haaa...

Random Photo of the Random Moment - Uncle Don's Harley

This is a photo from a few days ago when Uncle Don stopped in for a surprise visit with his new Harley Davidson motorcycle. While he was here he took a few of us out for some rides. I was told that it was really neat. Josh even said that he thought having a motorcycle would be a lot of fun.
Unfortunately I was gone working on a job site with Jeremy when he came, so I didn't get a ride.

New Bio Picture

Due to the fact that my previous bio picture could have been misleading to those who don't know me (I do not wear glasses), I have removed it.

Although the new bio picture may not be currently accurate, at least it won't be (or shouldn't be) misleading.

Insanity Test: Am I insane? Or... ARE YOU???

You just read the title of this blog post, and your mind is running as fast as can be. You are thinking...

Am I insane? Oh definitely not! I mean... Of course not actually! Like, I can flat-out tell that I'm not insane! Wait, if I was insane, my family would tell me, and I'd probably be locked up somewhere. Oh, but wait... what if my whole family is insane! No, that certainly couldn't be. If we all were, we'd all be locked up in some sort of insane asylum with a whole bunch of others who were crazy like us, but no, because... And your thoughts run on...

Now, please step out of your thoughts for a second and read what I am about to tell you. One of the symptoms of being insane, is that you think you're perfectly normal! This is really scary because now there's no method of self diagnosis!

But be not dismayed! Thanks to an ingenious person on the web somewhere, there is now a way that you can find out for yourself if you are insane or not! Isn't this the best news you've heard today!

Just click here now to find out for yourself just how insane you are!




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Also, if you'd like to see pictures from our recent trip to SanAntonio, please check out my family's blog by clicking here.