the chiropractor

today i mentioned that chelley and i are going to the twins game on sunday. so he asked who my favorite player is. i said cuddyer (of course). (if you don't know that by now, i might fire you from reading my blog).
anyway, so apparently a couple weeks ago he (the chiropractor) and a friend went to bennehana (or however you spell it - some restaurant where you sit with other people) and ended up sitting with dennis reyes (a twins pitcher). they tried to leave him alone cuz he was with his family, but you have to make small talk at a place like that, so they did. they were the last to be served, so as they were finishing, '...i heard a couple guys call his name. and who should be walking by, saying hi, but mike redmond [a twins catcher] and your boyfriend, cuddyer.' the chiropractor called cuddy my boyfriend. apparently i just radiate hussy.

we had a picnic at work today. it was a beautiful day for it (except for the bees everywhere), but it was so unorganized that i got so uptight that it was no fun. that made me sad. while picnics are always kind of crazy (what with having to get everything and everybody outside and served and all that), they usually aren't as bad as we think they're gonna be. today's was. :(

chelleybutton's final help before coming here

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/fan_forum/commercials_2007.jsp

(click on 'watch now' on the sideburns one)

amanda's daughter calls me 'auntie.' i like that. :)

ohmigosh! my computer just downloaded a video from youtube in real time! it took one minute to download a one minute clip, instead of 20 minutes!

my papertowel friend needs to update his blog

still more help for chelleybutton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7G3OtU6OkQ

yes, virginia, there are reindeer

navy cousin's daughters have been taught that there is no santa claus. when the older one was 3, their neighbor came over at Christmastime, forgot that, and said, 'guess who's on my roof. santa claus!' she looked at him like he was nuts and said, 'there's no such thing as santa claus.' so, still trying to be fun, he said, 'well guess what else is up there. reindeer!' to which she replied (looking at him like he was the dumbest person ever), 'my daddy shoots reindeer and we eat them.'

at which point, the neighbor fell to the floor laughing. :)

today's chelleybutton help :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE5TkHCtlYI&mode=related&search=

dear mr. hot guy who stopped by my work today,
please feel free to come more often. we would all enjoy it immensely.
thank you!
sincerely,
melilot brandybuck

hotels

i just saw an ad for one that is accessible only by scuba diving. that is the scariest sounding hotel ever.

my father just brought a picture of cuddyer's bum home for me :)

(granted cuddy's no justin morneau in that department, but wasn't it nice for my father to think of me?)

further help for chelleybutton

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Me5VuQGgDuE
(and this one has my boyfriend ;) )

chelleybutton is coming here and going to a twins game

and since she doesn't know my boys as i do, i've decided to help her see why i love them.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgSa5UxzSLM

i'm bored. i'm too tired to read or watch a movie, but it's too early to go to bed. so i have to entertain myself somehow for the next 2 hours so i can stay awake til bedtime. darn that 2 hour rain delay last night in baltimore!

bee update

i have not, as of yet, died of bee sting

my younger brother

i forgot to tell my story after busymommy's great quote - "Its good to have invisible friends. Or visible friends who pretend to be invisible friends."

when i was little i had an invisible brother named tommy who was 3 years younger than me. he had brown hair and blue eyes, and we played together so nicely.

well, when i got to college i met a guy named tom, and we became friends. one night we were walking somewhere, and i looked up at him and went, 'ohmigosh! you're my invisible brother tommy!' his name is tom, he has brown hair and blue eyes, is tall and wears contacts and has a big nose (as is/does everyone on the brandybuck side), we get along well and he's 3 years younger!

he didn't deny it - so he must be! :)

the house next door beeps 6 times every minute. it's very annoying.

waahh!!!

i just got stung by a bee! it hurts! and i'm pretty sure i'm dying of it. and if not, then i'm sure that they'll have to amputate my toe, if not the whole foot. and my mommy and daddy aren't here to save me, so i'm just gonna die all alone. :(

which reminds me - i was gonna write my will and send it to didder so someone would know what to do when i die. i should get on that.

so today, upstairs at the home (i only go upstairs to wipe tables), two of the residents were sitting at their table (these are 2 i mentioned a long time ago, when i got punched in the jaw), and i don't know what was going on, but i'm thinking they weren't getting along. nellie: 'you can't boss me around!' dotty: 'i'm not afraid of you!' now i wouldn't be afraid of nellie either, but i think nellie should be afraid of dotty. she told me today that i'm decapitated.

another name for my blog

robert boyle (some chemist guy) wrote a book entitled 'occasional reflections on several subjects.' what a great title.

those guys over there are swearing in the library. that shouldn't be allowed.

i should be wearing my glasses. but i'm not.

fog

i couldn't see across the street when i drove to work this morning

didder said i could blog about the twins game, so :P chelley :D

didder, scout, my father, and i went to the twins game on tuesday. sadly, we lost, so my record is now 4-1. :( but it was fun anyway. i'm not a fairweather fan (i refuse to be - i love my boys!). (i was so upset when people started leaving in waves in the 8th inning cuz they had given up hope - don't give up hope! and if you do, don't leave. the boys can see that and that's so discouraging!)
it was so spiffy, though. we were sitting right above the dugout, so not only were we close, we could look in and see that justin morneau didn't get his favorite snack. and scout got a ball! (for details, go to didder's blog. scout posted all about it.) and we made up signs for my four boys (diddy - did scout show you the torii one we ended up with?).
and...after however long of being to scared to 'i love michael cuddyer' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70IkboT9qw), i did it! it felt so good. didder told me that if i didn't i would always regret it (and even now i don't think i did it loud enough), but now i don't have to always regret it, cuz i did it! i'm so brave!!!
oh, and while we lost, my boyfriend got two rbi's, so yay him!

My Speech

I would like to thank my fans:
Hobbitsister - you've been there from the beginning
(Em)Linda - you were there at the beginning (don't know what happened to you)
Kimberly (and Josh) - you make my blog an international success
Busymommy - you may keep vanishing, but you always come back
Chelleybutton - you're the best stalker I have
Boofaunt - you finally joined us!
and Karol and Amanda - you claim you read this, so I thank you, even if you are non-commenters

Happy First Anniversary of My Blog!

One year ago four days ago, I posted my first ever blog post!

So here's a recap:

25ish posts on Tolkien/Lord of the Rings
21 BOTWs
20 posts with the word 'Didder'
18ish Twins posts
16 Elvis posts
14 movie reviews
7 Eileen posts

3 posts dedicated to Justin Morneau's bum

535 posts total!

quality time with scout

last night scout, hobbitsister, dad, and i went to the twins game. so, just for fun, i took today off work so scout and i could have a day together today (and didder could go home and have a day not together today). and what did scout and i do today, you may ask? nothing. very sad, but nothing. i kept asking her if she wanted to take a walk, or watch a movie, or play a game, to which she always replied 'i don't know.' so that's what we did. at one point she read while i sat on the couch with her. oh, and i made her wake me up at 8:00 cuz cuddyer was on the radio talking baseball at 8:05, so we did that. and we did play two games (she kicked my bum in both, one being hp trivia). but that was it. oh well. it was time together, and that's what's important, right?

for kimberly - regarding boof

boof bonser is a minnesota twin. seeing as he has one of the coolest names ever, erma and scout decided i should marry him so they could have an uncle boof. i, however, am madly in love with michael cuddyer, so naturally that wouldn't work. but then we got to thinking - boof aunt's husband would make a great uncle boof. and that would make boof aunt boof aunt. and then baby girl could call him boof daddy. so that is why boof. :D

ethel and violet

(they're best friends and they sit next to each other at meals.)

today i stood to ethel's left and asked her how she was doing. 'oh fine, except not all the way because violet went away.' i pointed over to her right. she turned and looked. violet gave her a big grin. 'oh - violet didn't go away yet. i'm fine.'

with all the stuff with my friend and with the bridge, i forgot to make this wonderful announcement. but i really am so excited.

my diana is home!

a.k.

i'm now taking a break. it's good, it's just long and is getting a bit too detailed on things that don't pertain that much to the story. so i'm now reading 'the know-it-all' again. great book.

besides, i can't renew a.k. anyway cuz someone has it on hold. so how dumb is this: the library lists every edition of a book separately, so you request a specific edition. i chose the 2001 copy cuz it has the prettiest cover. now some girl (i'm assuming - although mark madsen has read it) has requested that copy. i'm sure she doesn't know she'd be taking it from me, cuz i'm sure if she did she would request the 2004 edition (or whatever). why not just have them all listed together and then a person can get whatever one isn't checked out?

shut-ins

i'm pretty sure boof aunt, uncle boof, and baby girl are flooded into their house. i'm thinking this would be a great opportunity for boof aunt to comment on mine and didder's blogs.

progress

a month ago i emailed sven (that guy from the 'i'm a wreck' post) regarding mark madsen. before sven became a Christian, he had talked with some mormons, and i was wondering if he had any advice on what to say to mark (since i'm still so at a loss). (from his reply, it actually sounds like he knows who mark is!). he didn't have too much to say on it, but he did suggest focusing on the fact JESUS is fully GOD, rather than a created spirit. so yay! i have a start! pray that things will come clearly to me - that i'll be listening to the SPIRIT, and that mark, (when i finally finish this) will, too.

but while i'm extremely excited about that, there's also other progress. part of me didn't want to email sven because every time i do, i get all excited, hear from him twice, don't hear from him for 3 years, my heart gets crushed, and i have to bounce back. it gets tiring. (don't fall for a guy who hardly knows you're there - that's my advice.) but i decided to email him anyway, as a brother in CHRIST, whom i respect, and who i thought might be able to help me in this spiritual matter. so tonight i got his email, and my first thought was 'yay! now i'll have an idea of what i should say to mark!' that was my first thought! my next was a 3 second flutter, but then after that it was 'yay! now i have an idea of what to say to mark!' yay!!! finally! 7 years later - some progress!

it's 3:30 in the morning

lol!! (ferreal!)

http://www.rathergood.com/elephants/

chelleybutton likes this pic (as do i)

way back when

before we knew what blogs were, hobbitsister and i stumbled across a website of complete pointlessness. we thought it was so fun! the guy just wrote about whatever crossed his mind at the time, and most of it was rambling. i wish i could find that site now. it was papertowel something or other. but that's all i remember. :(

here i take a long nap hoping to hang out with people this evening and no one's here. :P to all of you.

'a little less conversation' is a sexy song

now here's a fan

not to be disrespectful, but what a cool way to go

(the link isn't working so you have to go to the comments to know what i'm talking about)

more pain

we have one resident who does not stop talking, not really caring if anyone's listening. she's always complaining about being in pain (possibly the resident from the story yesterday), but spits out her pills. she also walks herself around in her wheelchair, with no clear purpose. so today she was wheeling along muttering, something along the lines of, "where do i go? i don't know what to do next. i'm so sleepy. i'm just so sleepy. it hurts. i wonder when coffee time is. maybe we'll have cake at coffee time. what am i supposed to do? i'm so tired. wait - i have to stop and say 'ow.' ow."

Perspective

The other day, one of the residents was complaining to a nurse that she was in excruciating pain. The nurse said, 'Do you know the definition of excruciating pain?' 'Well, no.' 'Excruciating pain is JESUS on the cross. Is it JESUS on the cross pain?' 'No.' 'Okay then.'

going home

i asked violet today how she was doing. she said, 'oh, i'm doing fine. i'm going home to sweden.' i said, 'oh, that sounds nice! can i come with you?' she answered, 'no, i don't think so. i'm going to heaven.'

ELVIS LIVES!

sorry chelley, but this is too funny not to post

the twins had been sucking it up this last week, losing every game. the combined batting average of 3 of our 4 top hitters had been .118 (for those of you who don't know baseball, higher is better, usually these guys hit somewhere around .300, meaning they get a hit about 30% of the time). something needed to be done.

so, at batting practice yesterday, michael cuddyer and reigning mvp justin morneau had to use a tee. yes, as in t-ball. the coach made them use a tee! haha!

best part of it? it worked! both guys got hits last night. and we won! maybe they should play t-ball more often. (and please let me come watch when they do!)

eileen's good mood

she was in a great mood today. she was happier and more conversational than she has been in a long time. i dished up the strawberry shortcake today and she said it looked beautiful. she said yes when we all asked her if we were her friends. she was in the dining room with us for a lot of the morning, just being pleasant.

and then lunch came. she wanted nothing to do with it. she tried to escape a few times, constantly backing into the woman behind her as she tried to leave the table. she was swearing and hitting and all that. so we let her go, figuring she would be better away from other people. next thing i saw, she was in the other dining room and had wedged herself between two other residents. 'you're stupid! you look so stupid! why are you sitting there? you're stupid!'

so much for that good mood.

remakes

we had the radio on a different station today at work and i noticed that a lot of the songs were remakes. ok, whatever, that's fine. people have to be careful when they do remakes, though. you don't want to mess with a classic, but you don't want to choose a song that was dumb in the first place.

that being said, why on earth would anyone do a remake of 'time after time'?!

neosporin (or the target brand version thereof)

i am a fan. thanks to neosporin my toe grew back pretty quickly, my little cuts from work heal pretty speedily, my big cut from memphis healed well, and my father's burn went away right quick. it's a good thing.

(and chelleybutton just mentioned it!haha!)

Happy Elvis Week!

It's the 30th ''deathiversary'' of Elvis' "death." Happy Elvis week!

Food Review: My Mom's Brownies

Best brownies ever! (plus some, and how!)

eileen sat with us (silently drinking apple juice) while we took our break yesterday

air conditioning update

my room is now out of commission for the rest of the summer :(

Store up Treasures in Heaven by Eating Ice Cream Now!

It's Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen (just found out, otherwise I would've said something sooner)! All proceeds from Blizzards sold today will be given to the Children's Miracle Network. :D So go make some miracles happen!

i just dropped a froot loop on the floor and can't find it. i hope i don't accidentally roll over it with my chair.

air conditioning

we don't have central air at my house. there's an air conditioner in my room, the guest room, and the tv room. the one in my room is about 100 years old and last night started making really scary sounds that made me think it was gonna explode and shatter my window all over the place. so i decided to sleep in the guest room. we may be having company this weekend (there are these people we know who just show up sometimes, and my parents think this is a logical random time for them to come), but i figured we'd have it figured out by then, and i could have the sheets changed by then.

my dad came home so i told him what happened. instead of wondering what was wrong with it, he flipped out at me for sleeping in the guest room. seriously - chill out! i will change the sheets!

maybe next time i should just let myself get exploded.

Fond Memories

Gå & Fiska (by Gyllene Tider) was the song in Sweden when I was there in 1996. I thoroughly enjoy it but I didn't buy the cd at the time cuz I didn't have a cd player. But now there's youtube! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pap7SvYlQsA

Food Review: Twins Malt Cup

I like malts. When I go to Dairy Queen, I often have them put malt powder in my Oreo Blizzard.

Tonight my parents and I tried the Twins Malt Cup (they were only $1 at Cub - they're probably like $5.75 at the Dome). Not my favorite. It's just straight malt ice cream. It's okay for about 5 bites, but then it gets to you. I tried adding hot fudge, which helped, but still - I don't think I'd buy it again. If you want to try it sometime (it's not horrid), I would say get it to share with someone. A whole cup to yourself is too much.

more a.k. - oops, this is gonna be long

speaking of levin (a man, not yeast):

"He felt that he was himself again and he did not wish to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than he had been before. To begin with, he decided that from that day on he would stop looking for any extraordinary happiness such as marriage was to have given him, and that consequently he would no longer think little of what he possessed at present...And it all seemed to him so easy to carry out that the whole way home he spent in a most pleasant daydream...

"He went into his study...The familiar objects in the room were revealed...When he saw all this, he was for a moment overcome by a feeling of doubt of the possibility of starting the new life he had been dreaming of during his drive home. All these traces of his old life seemed to seize hold of him, saying 'No, you won't get away from us, and you're not going to be different; you're going to be just the same as you've always been with your doubts, with your everlasting dissatisfaction with yourself, your vain attempts at reform, your falling from grace, and the constant expectation of the happiness you have missed and which is not possible for you.'

"But this was what the things said to him. Another voice inside him was saying that one must not submit to the past and one can make what one likes of oneself. And obeying this voice, he went..."

national night out

i can't believe i got paid for it. i was in charge of the moon bounce, but there were so few kids i never had to make kids come out, and they were good kids and good parents (the kind who actually watch their children), so i didn't have to worry about behavior. i was constantly walking away from it to get myself a snow cone (which i had to throw away cuz there was a bee that wouldn't leave it alone), talk with my cousins, be in a hula hoop contest, or check out the firemen who came to let the kids check out their fire truck (one of them was super hot - poor guy came to a party full of women who were all getting into little huddles to talk about him) (i was thinking it was a good time to have a seizure, but that didn't work out). and it was such a nice night. they need to do things like this at work more often.

i need a theme song

at awards shows, when john travolta comes out, they play 'summer nights.' when russell crowe comes out, they play 'gladiator.' when matthew perry is on a talk show, they play 'i'll be there for you.' when torii hunter is up to bat, they play 'this is why i'm hot.'

i need a theme song.

volunteering 2

oh, and i'm getting paid for it. does that count as voluteering?

volunteering

my mother volunteered me to work at the national night out party at work. does that count as volunteering?

story time

i went to the library today and left cuz it was too loud

i am now reading 'anna karenina'

72 pages in and still no Anna. but anyway, this is about Kitty.

"Going upstairs to dress for the evening and glancing into the looking glass, she was pleased to see that this was one of her best days. She was in full possession of all her powers, which was so necessary for what was going to happen; she had a feeling of outward serenity; she felt that her movements were free and graceful.'

The man shows up.

"'This is it,' thought Kitty, and the blood rushed to her heart. She was horrified at her pallor as she glanced into the looking glass."

chelley doesn't know the gambler!

so she looked it up on youtube, and for you office fans out there, she found this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPXybuaeyCA

our outfield

yesterday torii got hurt. he rolled as he dove to catch a ball and smooshed his wrist (don't worry, he still played after that). before the manager was out of the dugout, our left fielder (jason tyner) was there to check on him. soon after that came our right fielder (my cuddyer). i looked down at them (we were right above center field) and thought 'oh that's so happy! they're Bible study friends!'

i should just change the name of my blog to 'this is twins territory' or something

i just found an article entitled 'does torii hunter always smile?'

he does :D

(and it's the cutest smile ever)

oh, and as long as it's mauer day, for your viewing pleasure, i now present (courtesy of perry ellis):

i thought i cut my toe off the other day

but i didn't

oh, and don't mess with nick punto

we think he's part of 'the family'

yet another twins game :)

it was joe mauer dugout doll day (which, as he said, the 'geniuses in marketing' came up with), so my dad and i took my nieces and two of their friends. 8 hours of middle school girls. we deserve some sort of something for that i think.

but anyway.

the girls got free stuffed dolls (with beanbag bums :) ) and we all got free ice cream. they got autographs from boof bonser (who we like cuz his name is boof) and matt garza (who has cute kids). and i spun a wheel (for $2) and got a jason bartlett magnet (i call him my 9th grade friend cuz he looks like he's in 9th grade and friendly). it was great fun.

and my record holds! i'm 4-0. not bad!

oh - and these dolls look so real - i bet you can't tell which is the real joe mauer.

those were all long. i'll stop now.

Concerning Tolkien (and Procrastination)

Another way in which Tolkien and I are alike: procrastination. (Actually, I've been meaning to do this post for some time.) Somehow things always managed to come up that made him put off what he was supposed to be doing. It would be weeks before he graded papers, months before he replied to a letter, and years until he finished the sequel to "The Hobbit" (namely "LOTR"). Some of it was perfectionism ("LOTR" is believable mostly because the world is so true to itself, from phases of the moon to distance covered in a day), but a lot of it was just "I'll get to it later."

Tolkien called himself a "notorious beginner of enterprises and non-finisher, partly through lack of time, partly through lack of single-minded concentration..." (I can totally relate.) The fact that he finished "LOTR" was a mystery to him. It may have taken him 14 years, but he did it. That should give me hope.

Class Review: Exploring Tolkien

After reflecting on this class for a month (also known as just plain not doing this), I feel now I can do this review.

I loved it! It encompassed so much of what I love about Tolkien, and the interests we share. I really enjoyed the sections on mythology, and of course, the one on philogy. In the part on English legend there were a lot of examples of how Anglo-Saxon compared to modern English, and that I just plain loved. I liked testing myself on those passages. The section on Elvish was interesting - it showed how much thought he put into his languages, and how the two Elvish languages were related (fascinating!).

Being an online class, there was a lot of reading, but that was alright. Of course, though, it then used a lot of ink since I printed out most of the readings. Not the end of the world, considering I didn't have a textbook to pay for. It was the first online class I've taken, and while it was good, I did find I missed the interaction you get in a classroom. We did have discussion boards, though, which helped. From what I saw, I really liked the professor.

And while we all know how much I struggled writing the final paper, I'm happy about how it turned out (and so was she apparently). I loved the topic and I think I learned something by doing it.

So in the end, I would highly recommend this class to Tolkien fans. However, if you're a normal person, I don't know that it would be for you. I loved it.

alright time to get back to normal

i keep forgetting to tell this story.

a few weeks ago, the activities person at the home was leading excercises. she had pulled eileen over so she could participate (which we all know she wouldn't do - it was a nice idea, though). eileen started yelling 'you're nuts!' at her. at first i thought it was just an eileen dementia moment. then i thought, 'ok, if you have dementia and you see people marching in place and reaching their arms up and all that, they probably would look like they're nuts.' so that seemed logical enough given the circumstances. but as she continued to yell that they're all nuts, it dawned on me - she's right! she's having a totally with it moment! they're excercising. why the heck would anyone excercise? they're all nuts!

My aunt thinks this should be on the national news, but since they haven't said it, I will

(This post is inspired by my aunt, btw.)

When the bridge went down on Wednesday, everyone who could, did their part. All we could do at home was stay off our cell phones so the waves would be free for emergency workers and families. People who were nearby jumped in, helped carry people to stretchers, or hauled people to hospitals in their pick-ups. Emergency workers from the entire city came out, and an orange alert was called, meaning that every person on the medical staff of various hospitals came in to help.

And the Twins played baseball. Knowing what had just happened, not knowing if their families were safe, they went ahead with the game, doing their part by keeping those 25,000 people off the roads so emergency vehicles could get through.

"The ballgame had to played," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said [in the Star Tribune]. "I don't think a lot of us wanted to be out there, but it was the right thing to do to make sure they could do their jobs out there and to keep the fans in here."

We may have lost that game, but we lost 5-3 in the 10th inning. I'm proud of that. Those guys put up a fight in spite of what they must've been going through emotionally (esp. Joe Mauer and Pat Neshek, who are from here, and Mike Redmond and Torii Hunter who didn't hear from their wives until partway through the game).

Thank you for what you did, boys! We're proud of you!

oh - and thank you to those who have called or emailed to see if my family and i are okay. it's nice to know that people care. i love you all!

Praying and Praising GOD

Still can't believe the bridge collapsed. I'm on that bridge all the time. And have been for as long as I can remember. Right now I'm just praising GOD that none of my family or friends were on the bridge. My Diana's (my bosom friend) sister-in-law was on the bridge, but she's ok. So glad I didn't go to the Twins game last night. I could've been right there. It's just eerie. It was so hard to watch it all over the tv last night, knowing there was nothing I could do other than stay off my cell phone. But thank GOD we're all safe. And I'm praying for those who are injured and those who have lost someone.

and this

so is this

this is to prove to chelleybutton that not all my posts that have pictures are about the twins

but don't worry - cuddyer's still the one who's really my boyfriend - he just wasn't playing cuz he's injured

the stranger we didn't know sitting next to me

i so scandalized him. first i talked about how cute morneau's bum is, then, when cheering i told kubel to hit a home run to 'send morneau to my home - oops, i mean home.'