mrs. potato head

so erik and i went to see the new star wars movie tonight. definitely not a children's film! i thought it was good though. i've held to the fact that everyone thinks hayden Christensen can't act based on the fact that he's had crappy scripts because he's done so well in the other films he's made. i think he proved me right in this one... poor amidala!
i finally got some sleep today and i feel like a new woman! it's amazing how much more coherent one becomes with the proper rest. :)
the colorado people have been trickling in today and should all be here by midnight. our welcome thing will be thursday night and our celebration/anniversary church picnic is on sunday. how fun!



okay, so for those of you who haven't heard yet.... (drum roll please!) as of Sunday night, erik sautter and i are courting. :) happy birthday to me!
good-night, all!

i'm so in the birthday bubble!

my gmail spell check keeps telling me i should spell my name "umbra." no thanks mr. spell checker!
i've accomplished a lot today. i paid my h2o bill, electric bill, and kirkwood bill, went to the post office and the bank to deposit my paychecks, washed freya, cleaned out my car (enough) and went to cr with amber and tristan to help erik move in. still, i don't think there are enough hours left between now and my party tomorrow.
i went to sushi popo's last night. mmm, i love california rolls! terrible service though...
so... years ago, michael biang and luke anderson wrote a song that for some reason or another has been stuck in my head this week and i've been singing it to my kids. i hope it will soon sweep the nation. following are the stellar lyrics:
"the nina, the pinta, the santa maria
all set sail from spain.
christopher columbus was the captain back then
and the world will never be the same again!"
my favorite part though is the bridge where they spell columbus' name:
"C-R-I-S-T-O-F-E-R!"
oh, how i love my friends. :)
have a great day, all!

i'm too sick to eat chocolate...

i smacked my hand HARD on a doorknob while running through jeff and narmin's house tonight. sweet mother, was i in pain! fortunately, i only broke a few veins instead of bones. :)
i'm going into work at nine tomorrow so i can hopefully get some rest tonight and start getting better. i've decided that i'm suffering more from exhaustion than actual illness. i do believe this is the worse of the two!
it looks like three of the girls i've been building relationships with at work will be coming to my birthday party on saturday. i'm pretty excited. two of them are saved and it looks like they may get involved with the hill in one way or another.
good-night, my world...
good-night, my friends...
good-night, moon...

beauty through pain ****

today nicole made the bad choice of wearing an outfit picturing teletubbies to school. amanda and i had changed her out of it by nine. she is now trained to respond to "what are teletubbies?" with "yucky!" it is days like today which leave me feeling that i am indeed helping to make the world a safer place in which to live...
i helped build a house through habitat for humanity last saturday. it was a lot of fun despite the cold. i had forgotten the thrill of holding a power tool in your hand. (insert a smile and a sigh here.) even though it was overcast most of the day, i wore sunscreen and was thus able to avoid being burnt like others who refused to take the simple preventative measures necessary to be able to say the same... :)
narmin and i spent the last couple of hours shopping for the backpacks for iraq service project. she took up a collection at work which gave us a budget that God blessed through some great clearance sales and good comparison shopping. i've been told i received some interesting glances from employees at kmart as i wandered around with eight backpacks slung over my shoulder, fifty folders in one hand and nine boxes of colored pencils in the other. too bad i missed them!
this is going to be a crazy weekend plus monday. erik and the colorado posse move over on friday and monday, we're having my birthday party saturday night, i'm making spaghetti for 20 on sunday, i start my class monday night (and it's my birthday), and "ting ting" moves in on saturday... and matt's going to miss it all by leaving for a wedding. how boring is that going to be in comparison? :)
well, i decided to leave freya running loose in the house tonight while i was out as a test. i guess i should go home and check on her. night, all!

pray for the soul of betty ***

seeing as how we are now within twelve days of my birthday i believe it is time to list some gift suggestions (take note, dad).

money: to fix my muffler so i no longer have the loudest car in town

dvd's: garden state (currently $10 at Target)
the mighty ducks trilogy :)

Gift Certificates:
Coral Ridge Theaters (for the nineteen movies i plan to have
viewed by august fifteenth)
HyVee (i am suffering from a chocolate covered strawberry
addiction)

and a tee-shirt (i believe in sometimes asking for things you're pretty sure you're going to get anyway) ;)

i'm really tired, but i'm trying to stay up until i can put my work shirts in the dryer which should allow me more sleep in the morning. i hope it's an equal trade when it's all said and done.
narmin and i made a deal: i would do habitat for humanity on saturday if she would. we are. from 7am to 12:30pm. good-bye my one day to sleep in. i wish i had had a chance to get to know you. alas... :)

limp chicken

freya is teaching herself to lift the lid on the toilet. dumb dog...
i get to have lunch with my grandparents tomorrow. yeah! and i get to have coffee with narmin. :) it will be a good day off.
i ate the best black bean salsa last night with lime chips. i've craving some right now. :) it was so good!!!

the unchained melody doesn't solve everything...

there is a child sex offender living on the same street as the grade school in the town i grew up in. there are over twelve sex offenders living within seven minutes of the house my three sisters live in. this is very disturbing to me. sure there's a registry, but how many parents think to consult it when buying a home for their family to live? then again, nowhere is truly safe...
come, Lord, take Your children home...

"if you liked napoleon dynamite, you'll really like second hand lions" - my mom

"THE SETTINGS
THAT WOULD BE
ON A BLENDER TODAY
IF THE BLENDER HAD BEEN INVENTED, SAY,
100 YEARS BEFORE ITS ACTUAL INVENTION
DATE OF 1922.
BY STEVE SCHNEIDER
- - - -
Cleave
Conmix
Commingle
Interlard
Fashion Into a Thick, Uniform Paste
Engruel
Rend Asunder
Fragment
Thresh With Surpassing Rapidity "

sweet. i found that to be slightly amusing. then again, i'm easily amused on monday nights. i'm off to pay my electric bill and pick up a movie from blockbuster with this gift certificate i have before it expires.
mom says dad's in california... i don't care if he doesn't want to be there! i still think he's a lucky dog. we're suppose to get frost tonight which means i have to drag my 50 lb. jade plant back into the house. sigh.
i had a nice lunch with my mom and sisters and some others yesterday.