Day 336: A Day With Mom & Alan

Eric had work today - so I hung around with Mom & Alan all day.  At first I studied for my upcoming final, but then we went out to Bass Pro Shop, some BBQ place, and Crown Center.  Mom did most of the shopping, but Alan and I were stand up attendees!

After Eric got home from work, he went shopping with Mom so we could break in her new grill.  Everyone had wine, grilled chicken, baked potatoes, and we watched The Tourist.  The movie was pretty good, not great.  Then we ended the evening with a tornado warning...but the most that happened in Olathe was crazy strong wind and rain.

I used Ashley's hairbrush and found this on her door...

 I'm so proud!!!

Flintstones, meet the Flintstones!  This rib was so huge it made me think of a stegosaurus!

Day 335: Eric Graduates!

Today Eric, Ashley, and Shannon are all graduating from Johnson County Community College! It is also our 11 monthiversary, and today we paid Eric's car down to $4,000! A big day in the Green household!

This morning we both had work - my last Friday of the school year and another day at O'Reilly for Eric. I worked on wrapping up paperwork and packing my room, I really hope I don't have to move buildings again next year! Eric worked onmemorizing locations for the customers he delivers to. As soon as we were out of work, we each hustled to our respective parents' houses to get ready for gradauation. We reassembled with Mom, Ashley, Me, Paul, Deb, Shannon, and Eric at JCCC for pre-graduation pictures. Then we met Ken and Karen in the gym, and battled to save seats for Steven, Leslie, Brian, and Jen. Brian and Jen got here right as they closed the doors for the graduates to start filtering in...so they had to wait another 15 minutes right outside the doors.

And now, well...I'm blogging from Mom's iPad while all of these people graduate. They are halfway through the third row of graduates, and our three are all at the beginning of the fourteenth row... I think I'm going back to Angry Birds now!

After the graduation, we all went out to dinner at Cheddars.  I think it's our new favorite sit down restaurant because the service is excellent, the atmosphere is cozy, and the prices are C-H-E-A-P!

Captain Eric!

 Fancy Ashley!

Graduate Shannon!

Graduate Ashley!

 Graduate Eric!

Yea!  Congrats Eric!

Brother & sister graduating together.

Ahhh, the iPad is great! 

Eric with his signature crazy grin! 

 Ashley and Jon.

Mom, (me), Brian, Jen, Leslie, Steven, Ken, Karen, Deb, & Paul.  Everyone there for Eric, Shannon, and Ashley.

Ashley, Shannon, and Eric before they cross the stage.

Eric & perfectly dressed Steven!

Day 334: More Field Trips, Grilling, and Laundry!

I got to go on a field trip to the capital with my 4th grade class today. It was a lot more interesting than last years 4th grade field trip, because we went to a museum for a scavenger hunt after the tour of the capitol building. I was exhausted so I went to sleep as soon as I got home, well...after I out out another load of laundry on our line.

Eric got trained on the out of town route at work today. He'll be delivering parts to Gardner and Paola one or two weekends each month. Then he had his last class at JCCC before graduation!

After he got home from class, I got up and we grilled some burgers and watched Scrubs for the rest of the night. Goooooooodnight!

Line drying is still going well for us! 

A student found this in a science book and reported it to me as "immapropriate". 

Governor Brownback's office with our fourth graders.

We relit the grill's fire with lighter fluid, hoping for a "flame broiled" flavor...we ended up with a lighter fluid taste.

Day 333: Our Active Life!

Eric was off work today, so he finished preparing my Mexican pinwheels for me!  I made them all last night, but I didn't have time to slice them all up this morning.  He was off work today - so he was able to send some mail, withdraw budget money from the bank, cut and deliver the pinwheel snacks, starts a load of laundry for me, and gets busy with his tax final.

I brought these yummy treats to school because we had a going away party for two retirees and 5 of the staff members who are transferring to other buildings/out of state.  When I got home from work I hung out the laundry, and then Eric and I went for a really long roller blading bike ride - 2.5 miles!  I think this is our new favorite kind of exercise!  I'm starting to pick up stamina and not get tired as quickly...though I did have my first blading wipeout today...

Then Eric grilled a burger for him and some barbecue chicken for me, and we spent the rest of the night working on our separate computers while watching "In Plain Sight" at Katie's recommendation.  Eric finishing a project for his tax class, and me updating this darn blog.  Only another 32 days to go!!!

Mexican pinwheels - refried beans, Rotel with green chiles, olives, and nacho cheese sauce - yum! 

Today Eric called and asked "Do you just line dry because it saves energy, or do you really like the process of hanging it?"  I said that I really do like it, handing them is really relaxing and a nice experience.  I just wish we had line space to dry more than one load at once!  Doesn't it look nice?

I was feeling pretty confident in my skating today - I was flying down a hill, in the street because there was no sidewalk.  After an intersection, the sidewalk started back up again and I went to roll back onto the sidewalk.  However, in Eudora we have those red bumpy bricks at every curb cut - probably as an alert to walkers and strollers that they are about to go into the street.  Well these bumpy bricks also do a fantastic job at throwing roller bladers off their feet!  I knew I needed to dive for the grass in order to avoid a bad injury on the concrete, and barely made it in between two small electrical boxes.  My blades hit one of them with a loud bang, and Eric though I had smashed into it.  


The breath was knocked out of me because I landed first on my hands and then on my chest.  Minus some grass cuts on my legs, I've just got a sore left wrist, left shoulder, and neck.  Not too bad for something that could have been a lot worse.  From now, on, I'll be riding with a helmet.  And as soon as I can find some affordable guards in an ADULT size (apparently, only children need protective gear!), I'll be wearing that too!

Day 332: Boys & Girls Night Out (In)

After we got off work today, I headed over to Katie's house and Eric went to Brian's.   Katie made me dinner, we played with beautiful Miss Charlotte, and worked on some cutting and laminating, and said our farewells.  Eric hung out with Brian, Jen, and Phil.  They talked, drank, and listened to Brian's weekly podcast.  Good times were had by all on this fine Tuesday night!

We've got no pictures from tonight - but check out this *8th page* news.  The United States National debt hits it's $14.3 trillion ceiling (ie: credit limit), and it's on the 8th page?  What the hell United States Gov't?!

Day 331: Multipurpose Porch

After we got back from camping, Eric's blanket was pretty smoky from hanging around the campfire.  I've only line dried twice, and Eric requested that we wait for a sunny day to line dry his blanket!  So I ran a load of laundry when I got home from work and set up my third round of line dried clothes on our porch.

After that was set up, Eric rode his bike and I roller bladed around Eudora - and then we stored his bike onnnnnnn the porch!

Finally, I lit up our grill and grilled some fantastic burgers...on the porch!  We may have a small little apartment, but we use our space wisely!

Cheeseburgers & fries.

Line drying and bikes!

Day 330: Camping Part 2 (and Finishing Moving Papa!)

Our weekends seem to be busier than our week days!  We had a nice slow morning - eating donuts, marshmallows and breakfast burritos around the campfire.  Nursing the boys' hangovers.  Packing up the campsite.  That would appear to be enough to fill a day - go home, shower, and go to bed...  Not for us adventurous folk!  We showered and rested for about 30 minutes, but then we drove out to Olathe to finish getting Papa out of his apartment.  Now that the apartment is totally empty - his house (which is over twice as big as the apartment) is brimming with boxes.  So now our goal over the next few weeks is getting Papa UNpacked. -deep breath-

Eric had a two major wipeouts - one where he fell over the fence cable (about thigh high, dividing the camp site from the road), and one where he was running toward the lake and clotheslined himself with one of Chris and Daniel's tent cords.  This picture shows the damage from the latter - he had gross oozy bleeding for quite a long time that night.

Goodbye camp site 11!  We'll be back to visit you and sites 12-13 some other time!

Our awesome group photo, but Brian was in his car...oops!

The picture + Brian didn't turn out as well, but he was there too!

I was happy to see the kitties when we got home.  I think they were happy to see me too, because they didn't fight about being held at the same time!

On our way to go  move Papa, we took our first load of recycling over to the middle school in Eudora - our closest recycling pick up.

Eric preparing for the afternoon/evening of work with his 5 Hour Energy!

Papa and the last item to leave apartment 321 - a cow planter with a half live flower plant!