I love the winter Olympics. I have, in fact, put off posting so that I could post about them after they were over!

Watching the Olympics with our DVR was great. I could fast forward through the first 49K of the 50K cross-country races or through trial rounds to medals in the sports in which I was less interested. I have to admit that in some sports, I mostly watch the crashes. Winter sports are CRAZY dangerous!

Josh and I really like curling. Not only is it exciting, but it's also interesting to watch the strategies develop. They do, however, have an extensive and unusual vocabulary: Throw a peal with the hammer and hope for a biter on the button to get the shot-rock and sit two, for example. : ) If they can make up a new word to describe it, they will! It takes about a week and a half of the Olympics to remember what they are talking about and we usually forget it by the next "bonspiel" (tournament) that we see, i.e., the next Olympics. The United States did REALLY badly in curling, but Canada was fun to watch and had a heart breaker in the women's gold metal match. I would really like to try curling sometime - I am sure that we would all be hilariously bad at it!

Downhill skiing is always exciting. When we lived in Europe, we even watched some World Cup skiing events. I was really sad for Lindsey Vonn who fought so hard, but kept wrecking. Bode Miller is a great skier but a weird guy, I think. Moguls make my knee hurt!!

Speed skating is probably my favorite event of the Winter games (although hockey runs a close second). Short track just about ties me in knots. Josh laughs at me, "Stop screaming, it's only a heat!" But even the heats are just that exciting. Apolo Ohno is so talented - there is so much strategy to short track - knowing when and how and who to pass. And the wrecks are so scary and can change the game so drastically at any point - even right up to the finish. Great sport. I like long track, too, and Shawni Davis is so good!

I really love international hockey. Don't get me wrong, I like the NHL, too, but there is something more about Olympic hockey. When we were in Europe, people REALLY got into it, and would pester us to know who we were rooting for in any given match. This year's tournament was especially good. The upset of USA v Canada in the qualifying rounds was so exciting! We didn't get to see it because we don't get that channel (the same reason we miss a lot of Blackhawks games). GREAT final! We couldn't believe how close we came to winning only to be denied. Great empty net play and very clean - hardly any penalties on either side. Our goalie was amazing - Ryan Miller of the Sabers. It makes me tired just thinking about the day's work he put in last night!

Part of the reason that I got to watch so much of the Olympics was that I have been really sick. It was nice to have something like the Olympics to distract me from my...whatever this is. I finally gave up and went to Convenient Care on Wednesday. Turns out, I have/had a sinus infection, pink eye, and bronchitis. Nice. I am feeling much better after nearly a full course of antibiotics, but no where near 100%. I am, however, very tired of the couch and now that I am feeling some better, I am having a hard time sleeping at night due to my lack of activity, I'm sure. I am doing a little more each day, but get worn out (and coughing) very easily, so I'm still trying to take it slow. Josh says I should eat more veggies. Ick. : )

We made it to an Illini basketball game on Saturday afternoon, which was very fun. One of the members here gave us the tickets. I prefer football, but I had been wanting to try a game at the Assembly Hall since the crowd really gets into it - AND our basketball team is generally better than our sorry football team. I enjoy the band and the "Crush" (superfans), but since I wasn't feeling good, I couldn't get as into it as I usually would have. It probably saved me from losing my voice though! I will admit, though, that I know and understand more about curling than basketball. It annoys me that committing fouls is so much a part of the strategy of the game. I understand that a football player might interfere to save the TD, or (fighting aside - which I disapprove of) a hockey player might hook to save the one-on-one with the goalie, but those are rare instances. Most penalties in other sports are incidental and frowned upon. There might be something wrong with a sport where the fans yell "FOUL HIM!" and then complain as clean play continues!! They lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer, but if we'd played in the first half like we did in the second... yeah... sigh....

Well, I'm off to try to piece the house back together at least a little!

Josh is back to work! He is doing good there and the people that he works with are really kind to him, helping him if he needs it. He said it feels good to wake up with a purpose every morning. He isn't having as hard of a time as he thought he would getting back to third-shift sleeping - this week and weekend were a little weird since he went from no work, sleep when you want - to work, sleep when you can - to having the weekend off, but working again Sunday night, which means that we try to manage his sleep so that he gets the maximum sleep without throwing his whole week off for next week! Ah, work. It was hard for me to get used to him being here all the time. I usually put stuff off until he went to work (or was sleeping during the day) and so it was hard to know WHEN to do stuff, even if we weren't specifically doing things together. Now, though, it is hard to get back into the rhythm that I had before!

The house that we tried to buy has sold. We were pretty sad about it again, but...what can you do? Now, the main problem is that we compare every house that we see with that house as our "ideal" (minus a roof problem). There is another house that we are interested in, but it has a LOT of cosmetic problems, no fireplace, and some weird divisions inside the house that we would have to find a way around. We're still thinking about it. We call it the "little green house" although it is bigger than the limestone one we tried to buy! Hey at least it has a shuffle board in the basement...




See my previous post for a short discussion of fantasy literature. : )

My brother saw Devin Aromashadu at the Home Depot where he works! Aromashadu is a wide receiver for the Bears who started and was a big part (of our admittedly smallish) offense this year. I really like him as a player. No one recognized him, apparently, until he payed for his Mountain Dew (obviously the drink of champions) with his debit card! The Home Depot is right off of the tollway and everyone there hypothesized that he just came in to use the bathroom (ha). Sigh. How come I never see Brian Urlacher when I let the dogs out? Josh is excited about the Super Bowl, but it bring back bad memories for me...

Sometime this school year, I am hoping to go and talk to a group of first graders about chainmail, which I make. I will have to do a post about that process sometime. That's chainmail armor, not "mail this to five other people or die..." or "Send ten people your favorite recipe and get 9,000 back..." (which, according to the post office is also chain mail and illegal). I will do a test run on some kids from services to get my explanations down, but I was trying to think of a craft - maybe along the lines of using pipe cleaners to make some mail coifs for them (that's what I'm making now), but I'm afraid those would be too pokey. Any ideas for an early medieval armor craft for first graders?! : ) I have to finish my mail first, so I have time.

Well, on to beef lentil stew making... happy Saturday.

I thought I'd write a little bit about the books that I love - starting with one of my favorite genres!

I am a big fan of the fantasy fiction genre. One of the main rules of fantasy fiction is to create as much disconnect as possible between your fictional world/time and the real world. Because of this, a lot of authors will limit and/or eliminate bad language in favor of "bad words" that are made up. I'd much rather read "Burn me!" or "Mother's milk in a cup!" (a "really bad" curse in Wheel of Time) than real bad words! I also enjoy the adventure, the "little guys can do big things, too," approach of many of the stories, and, very much, the struggle against evil which is a big part of most fantasy novels. Although there are betrayals, spies, and failures, in the end, characters actively choose to give in to evil, or stand against it. Some of my favorite books/series are:

1) The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. (Of course). This series is definitive: the first modern fantasy novel (yes, novel - it is technically one book). I will also group The Hobbit and The Silmarillion with this catagory, because they help to give depth to the already deep story, but rank them below the main story, The Hobbit being mainly a typical childrens' story and the Silmarillion being a very tough read. I love the struggle of Frodo and the purity of the characters' struggle against an overwhelming evil. The end is one of the best in fiction, I think, although I won't discuss it in case anyone is going to read it! : ) (I also loved the movies - they were so well done and definitely worth the length.)

2) The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan. I have to admit that this series runs an increasingly close second to LoTR! Although it is a major commitment to read (13+ books, each one around 700-800 pages) the amazing characters and cultural detail keep me devouring the books. Although Mr. Jordan sadly passed away, Brandon Sanderson has done an admirable job in finishing the series so far (2 books to go!). The tone and consistency of the storytelling amazes me, too, fulfilling that #1 rule so well!

3) The Codex Alera, by Jim Butcher. (A note that this series does contain some language - which increases slightly throughout the series - and some sensuality, although mostly between married folks) I picked up this series at random in Indianapolis. I particularly enjoy that this is a Roman-based mythology as opposed to the typical medieval, right down to the Legions and their lorica. I do NOT recommend Butcher's other series, The Dresden Files - because of extreme language and sexual scenes. (What a disappointment.)

4) The Once and Future King, by TH White. A classic interpretation of the Arthurian legend, entertaining and sad, with a very unique look at the Guinevere/Lancelot situation.

5) Harry Potter - does this need any more? Great humor, wonderful characters. Not sure how I felt about the end. It actually wasn't quite as "Hamlet-esque" as I thought it would be. I've heard that Rowling, at the last moment, changed a main character's fate, and I felt a little bit of a mixture at the time that more characters should have died, and relief that no more did! A story about the wonderful thing that friends can be.

Honorable mention: Brandon Sanderson's "Elantris" (a rare stand-alone novel in the fantasy genre) and his "Mistborn" series which will let you know exactly why Harriet chose him to finish The Wheel of Time.

Happy reading to all! : )

We took Brent and Kendra (and Nola) to a local Japanese restaurant for teppanyaki last night. I am was pretty nervous about it because I really don't do much with fins...or exoskeletons. BUT, it was really good and our chef was pretty fun. I had steak and steamed rice with the usual mushrooms, onions, and bean sprouts. Josh ate my "bugs" (aka shrimp). The best part was the ginger sauce for dipping! Brent also ordered spicy tuna rolls (sushi). I've never had sushi and determined to try it. Yech. The taste wasn't bad, but it was WAY too spicy for me and I had a hard time with the texture. I wonder if I would do better with gniri, which, although more fish-ish, doesn't have the contrast between the fish and the cuke... I swallowed, so I guess that's a victory! : ) For my birthday...Brazilian steakhouse!


Does this view help?

I got this coin in my change at IGA tonight. 20 points to the first person to guess where it came from with no Googling. I have a similar one in my extensive coin collection, similar enough that I recognized it, but they have apparently changed their design since I received those particular coins. It's NOT Slovak.

Guess I missed out on my dime. Oh well!

Looks like Josh will be headed back to work soon. Kendra asked what is keeping him from working at this point and we said, "Ducks." All those ducks that have to get in a row. On Monday we will begin hassling the insurance company (again) to make some decisions.

Reading some good books - I'll have to post more about those later.