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Ronni’s July 4, 2008 (Multimedia)

This was the coolest July 4th I’ve had in a long time.

Jeff and Deborah came over to hang out and celebrate with us.

Deborah

Jeff!

Adam fired up the grill.

Adam is Lighting the Grill

I put on my patriotic gear.

Patriotic Me!

The boys made dinner.

Mmm, Dinner!

Then we walked around the neighborhood to see fireworks!

Fireworks in the Neighborhood

When Adam told me about the fireworks in his neighborhood, I had a feeling they were impressive, but I really had no idea they were like this (you MUST watch this video, keeping in mind that these are not put on by the city or anything–these are private people’s displays):


Imagine four of these displays, happening at the same time, for about four hours. Yeah, it’s like that. Who needs to go to Navy Pier? We just need to walk three blocks.

They were almost too loud for Aidan:

Protecting His Ears

But he had a good time anyway.

Right now, everyone’s playing Wii and eating ice cream. A fun Fourth of July in Chicago. πŸ™‚

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Disney FREEK! (Video)

My mind is most definitely on Disney. Today, I dug up some old videos and searched through some old photos and got all teary-eyed over them. I am so excited to go to Disney World with Adam, and I can’t wait to take Aidan again someday. I *really* hope next year.

Aidan and I were almost as excited as actually being there. Poor Adam fell asleep on the couch. (Sleep is where I should be headed soon!)

Here is one of the videos I dug up from my trip in 2005:



Fireworks Finale of the WISHES Nighttime Spectacular

(Yes, that is me going “WOOO!” at the end.)

I am really excited to be there again! 89 days!!!

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Pleasantly Tired (Multimedia)

Hey, folks. How’s it going? I’m OK, just tired. Aidan’s here with me for the summer and the kid asks a billion questions. It can be exhausting. Right now, he and Adam and assembling a complicated-looking Hot Wheels race track thing and it’s so cute to hear them interact!!!

Chris, Matty, and my mom brought Aidan up and spent the weekend in Chicago. They REALLY enjoyed the food, and my mom was thrilled to find her Philosophy stuff (and she bought some for me too)!

Mommy & Me
Mommy & Me on Michigan Ave. It was really windy!

Matt, Chris, Aidan
Matty, Chris, and Aidan

We had a good time. They really enjoyed the food, especially the sandwiches from Bari and the Chicago deep dish pizza:

Chris & Pizza
Chris and the big ole pizza.

Aidan LOVES playing the Wii, and he kicks all of our butts at bowling. Here is he playing the boxing. It’s hilarious:


This is me getting all dressed for a day of touristy stuff.

Hi!

My mom LOVED Navy Pier, even when Aidan was being a banana at times. I think he just got overstimulated, but he liked riding the train and eating cotton candy.

Good Times at Navy Pier

Aidan Looking Scholarly

Mommy & Aidan

Choo-Choo!

Crookshanks is happy to have Aidan here:

Aidan & Crookshanks

And he enjoyed my mom:

Crookshanks Loves Mommy

* * *

Chris brought a bunch of pictures of Aidan from the past couple of months. Here are some highlights:

Enjoying Himself

Paying His Respects

Aidan's Graduation

Aidan's Graduation

* * *

Randomly, in the middle of typing this post, the power went out for a short while. Adam, Aidan, and I took a walk around the block (thank God it’s warm enough to do that!) and then came in and ate dinner after the power came back on. Now Aidan’s watching Chicken Little. It’s gonna be an early night tonight. Because of the rain and a gutter leak RIGHT ABOVE MY BEDROOM WINDOW (that makes it sound like someone’s banging drumsticks on the pane), I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I also got up early, and I have some intense freelance work to start on tomorrow before Aidan wakes up. *yawn*

G’night, y’all.

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A Potluck Entry (Multimedia), Meme

Ew, it stinks in my apartment because someone down the hall burned food. It’s not popcorn, it’s something else. Ew. I just sprayed some Fabreeze air freshener, so it should be better soon.

Today, I took a two-hour nap. I did NOT want to get up, but I had to finish my homework. Plus, I got my W2s, so I kind of want to do my taxes. But I don’t know, it’s nearly 10pm, and I still have another month to pay, so I don’t think I’m going to hurry THAT much. We’ll see, though.

Anyway, it’s amazing what one can find to do when avoiding homework. In the fall, I made a video of Aidan at the Park of Roses. I got into my video editing software and came up with a Remixed Version! Heehee. Check it out:

Actually, the homework excercises are pretty easy. I just have to be careful and not get careless. I do this for a living, so it’s easy for me to get a big head and say “oh pish posh, this is cake!” I have to keep focusing and treat this as if I’m a freshman with NO clue about copy editing whatsoever.

I am having a hard time with the reading. I always disliked doing the reading when I was at Ohio State. I can only remember three classes in which I enjoyed the reading. One was in English class that focused on Chicano literature. The professor was this big Mexican guy from Texas. He always wore gigantic cowboy hats. I remember reading a book called Trini which I loved. It’s been long out of print, but I remember enjoying that class and the other readings, too. Another class in which I enjoyed reading was my African American Literature class, but it had a different name then. The professor was this cute man named Richard Shipley, I believe, and I loved the way he taught. That was where I got my first real exposure to Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston. The third class I loved to read was Plant Biology 101. Funny, huh? But that class was so interesting. I had no problems keeping on top of things in that class. The labs were fun, and the professor was a wacko. On the first day of class (for Plant Bio 101 and 102), he dressed up as an alien named Trog. It was awesome. I wish I could find the power cord to my scanner so I could scan the picture. He was fantastic. The other teachers I remember from college are Alicia Chavez, who taught Spanish 104, Lucinda (can’t remember her last name) who introduced our English class to EMAIL and to whom I turned in a 20+ page paper on the pinball machine culture. (Speaking of, there is a pinball machine museum in Vegas that I REALLY want to visit someday….) One of my psychology professors always had a Diet Coke. Every single day. Except once, he had Taco Bell. I went up to him and said “You went to Taco Bell. They serve Pepsi at Taco Bell.” He was totally tickled that I noticed. I remember my dance teachers. There was Ursula, and Natalie, and I had a guy once, too. And there was my gymnastics teacher who’d said, “No one has ever fallen off the vault in one of my classes. Don’t be the first.” I can’t remember her name, but I remember that. Wow, what a random trip down memory lane, but that’s what you get when I decide to make a potluck entry.

Ew, oh God, I’m going to smell like burnt crap tomorrow. Ugh. That smell never goes away. Maybe I’ll burn an incense. It’ll make me sneeze like crazy, but at least I won’t smell like burnt whatever. Gross.

You know what I hate? When I click a link, and just before the page changes to the new link, I see something interesting. That JUST happened to me. Blah. I hope it’s not a dymanic change, so that when I hit the back button, it’ll still be there.

I’m in the mood to see Juno again. It would be the first time I’ve seen it without having a severe sore throat or some other kind of sickness. But poor little Aidan keeps getting sick. When he was here last night, he felt warm, but he ALWAYS feels warm, so I don’t really have a control. *sigh* The poor baby. This weekend should be chill with him though. There’s a Spongebob game, loads of DVDs that he hasn’t watched yet, plus some Christmas toys he hasn’t opened! My place will be a wreck when it’s over, but it’s all good. I suppose we’ll hit the store tomorrow to get some groceries–I need more Cream of Wheat and Malt-O-Meal. This weekend will be all about hot cereals and other comfort foods. I also promised him we’d bake cookies.

I took a bunch of cute pictures of him last night.

Fuzzily Handsome

Smirky

Contemplation

I hope to get more this weekend. πŸ™‚

I am so behind on LJ entries. I’ve been mostly skimming. On the days when I am bored silly, NO ONE updates. On the days when I really shouldn’t be reading or can’t read LJ, 4385349549578 people update multiple times! I’m overwhelmed. *sniffle*

I’ve been tagged by alwaysonlybe, so here goes:

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag “whoever wants to do it”.

(Some of these will probably be repeats. One can only be so quirky.)

1. I hate mushrooms growing out of the ground. THEY FREAK ME THE HELL OUT. I don’t like how they suddenly appear and I think they look awkward. I literally get chills when I see them or even when I think about them. *shivers*

2. I really like A names. I’m marrying a guy named Adam. My son’s name is Aidan. If I ever decide to have another child and it’s a girl, I will want her name to be Adrianne or Adrianna. I also really like the name Anna.

3. I LOVE doing those word games where you take a word or phrase and try to make words out of them. I can usually get at least 135 words out of a phrase.

4. As time starts to wind down for me to move, the more I start to freak out. I mean, talk about a HUGE life change. I am not even going to get into it tonight.

5. I’m almost always cold. It takes me ages to warm up, and all of that can be undone in about 30 seconds. It’s annoying.

6. My eyes are itching at the moment.

7. Even though I often say it in moments of anger, I still feel very guilty about using the word “goddammit.” πŸ™

I tag: swankivy, fisme_nasu, newport2newport, quietasariot, tamirabeth, meimeigui, and crimsonghost_oh.

It’s COLD out. But not as cold as it is in Chicago. See #5. Living there will be a huge adjustment as it is. Throw in those cold temps. Eek. I hope to be able to get one of those fancy Eddie Bauer coats that keep you warm in 20 below weather and a pair of Uggs. I think it’ll be worth the money. I don’t even care if I LOOK that cute. When it’s 2 degrees fahrenheit with a windchill of -20, comfort over style always, baby. Comfort over style is the RULE for me.

Alright, I should finish up my assignment (needs two more passes, I may wait until tomorrow to do pass three) and head back to bed. Lavender bath first, though. I would eat dinner, but my appetite’s been kind of ruined by the stinky burnt food smell still wafting in my apartment. Blech. Plus, I ate a HUGE lunch, so I should be okay. I might eat a bit of cereal.

Night night.

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