thankful for bubbles

I rediscovered blowing bubbles in college. It never fails to make me calm and happy.

I'm very thankful for my husband, who is willing to blow bubbles with me.

For shimmering bubbles after a nice rain.

For whoever invented blowing bubbles.

And for cool, wet, green lawns that feel good on bare feet.

before we leave: food and art, check!

You'll recall Ian and I made a list of things to do before we leave. Time is short, so last week we planned everything out. Here's the update.

June 9
At the church, we go out to lunch for staff birthdays. Since my birthday is after I finished working, Ryan told me to pick a day and place, planning around camp schedules. Verdict: June 9 at The Chef. I would definitely recommend it — the atmosphere and the food were fantastic. Ian also got to drive the church van there and back — how's that for memories!

June 13
Ian and I brought Fox with us for a tour of Tallgrass Brewing Company but when we arrived, we discovered to get a tour you probably have to call them in advance. Not to be thwarted, we instead went to Call Hall for some ice cream. As you can see in the above photo, this trip was successful. I also discovered a gallon of milk from Call Hall, i.e. K-State cows, is roughly $3.50 a gallon. I'm berating myself now for paying so much the past couple years on the local dairy milk available at Dillons — not that it isn't worth it, because oh my goodness is it tasty, but because there is an equally tasty and much less expensive option. We'll be shopping Call Hall for our dairy/meat needs until we move out.

June 18:
We only spent about an hour at the Beach (museum, that is), but we saw all the collections currently on display. The new addition was nice and spacious, and currently houses the collection, Destruction Framed: Photographs of the Chapman/Manhattan Tornado, June 11, 2008. While I enjoyed seeing some of my favorites from the permanent collection as well as the other collections, this made the most impact. It is strange to see such familiar sights photographed like the disasters we saw on the news in other unfamiliar places.

After we left the museum at 5 p.m. we decided the 90+ degree weather called for the adding and checking off of another local staple: Tad's Sno Cones. We drove that way and got distracted by Pet Co. We hadn't been since it opened recently, so we took a detour to check it out. We always have fun looking at all the animals at pet stores — especially the fish, reptiles, amphibians, and cats. We're eclectic like that. The highlights of the visit were the aquatic and land turtles. I put my finger on the glass of the tanks for both, and each time a turtle repeatedly attempted to eat my finger. Apparently they were hungry and my finger tips look like turtle food. We also enjoyed seeing the kittens (all up for adoption from the local shelter) and can't wait until we can get one of our own! After saying goodbye to the kittens, we finally made it to some sno-cone refreshment: the perfect end to an impromptu date.

planned:

• the zoo: we've planned a couple potential days so we're flexible with the weather
• the insect zoo
• our hill (i.e. where we started dating and where Ian proposed)
• Tuttle Creek
• Konza
• Tallgrass Brewing Company: one of the upcoming two Saturdays
• So Long Saloon
• Daylight Donuts: tomorrow morning!
• Grandma's: next weekend

Menu Plan Monday: June 15-21

It's Menu Plan Monday, hosted by I'm an Organizing Junkie. We're trying to finish up food so we don't have a lot to pack/give away for our move at the end of June, so the next few weeks could be pretty random.

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: lunch with Deb and Jim, and Ian's birthday dinner! He needs to decide what he wants... maybe biscuits and gravy?

Wednesday: cheeseburger pasta/bring dessert to small group

Thursday: So Long Saloon or pancakes

Friday: pancakes or roast beef sandwiches

Saturday: Daylight Donuts/sandwiches/Ashley and Derek's wedding/leftovers

Sunday: heading to Philly so Ian can present his master's project

breakfasts: cereal, bagels, oatmeal

lunches: leftovers, sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, chips

Ian goes to the ER

Friday morning Ian left early — he's been helping a professor's family build a fire pit at their home. I was enjoying my morning — slept in a little, catching up on my blog reading... Ian called me at 11:30 a.m. I wondered why he was calling, since he would be coming home in 30 minutes or so.

"Hello?"
"Hey Anna, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure." (I was thinking this might be making lunch, getting groceries...)
"Can you meet me in the E.R.?"
"What?"

He proceeded to tell me that he smashed his finger and it just needed stitched up. Since Ian had the car, I walked as fast as I could to the hospital from our apartment. I got there and they were expecting me. He was in room 10, which funnily enough was the same ER room Daniel occupied after we drove him to the hospital for slicing his fingers in studio at 2 a.m. during their first year.

When I arrived, Ian told me what happened. He's a little more clear on the details now than he was then, so here are his own words as he reflects back on the events of Friday:

Well, I was at K-State behind Justin Hall helping Rod, my boss (professor's husband), and his hired hand move some wood from a pecan tree that had fallen down. We were taking the wood to Rod's truck and trailer to haul it away, when Eli (the hired hand) and I were carrying a rather large piece of pecan stump. It was heavy. The heaviest piece we had carried so far.

As we were carrying it we had to make our way through a little passage between two overgrown shrubs and there was a log on the ground in the passage. I had nowhere to go but to step onto the log, and as I did, the log moved like a teeter-totter and I could feel myself losing my balance.

Knowing this and having things like this happen before, I know that the first thing to do is jump off before I really hurt myself and attempt to regain my balance on solid ground. Well, in this case, with the pecan stump in my hand, it wasn't such a good idea. As I jumped off the log, I tried to move my hands out from under the stump so it wouldn't smash my hands (demonstration with gestures). I got my left hand out in time, but my right hand wasn't so lucky. The stump came down on my right index and middle fingers. Mind you, I had gloves on. The pain was intense.

As I tried to regain my senses, I noticed my index finger felt very warm. I looked down and saw that the tip of the glove on my index finger looked a little funny. It was smashed. So I pulled the glove off, and was a bit startled to see that the tip of my index finger was flattened and the skin was, how should I say, hanging off. Ouch, I said.

So to make a long story short, I showed Rod what happened, he said, "Oh God" and told me to go to the ER. I got very dizzy and it was hard to hear. Eli drove me to the ER. Anna met me at the ER, and after an x-ray, two tablets of Percocet, two cups of water, four numbing shots in the index finger, and numerous winces and grimaces, the tip of my index finger was sewed back on with two stitches. The end.

I had hopes that he would become David After Dentist for real. However, the only obvious side effect of the Percocet was impatience.

"Anna, we need to go fast to get my medicine." (In reference to his antibiotic — we were on the way to Dillons.)
"Ian, I'm going 30 mph and I don't have a good excuse for speeding."
"Oh. Sorry."

Really, it's pretty amazing that it wasn't any worse. However, the timing could have been better — he has to play Jack Johnson on the guitar at a wedding in week. I'll let you know how that pans out for him and his monster finger (the stitches look like antennae).