Chilly Saturday

Yesterday morning I woke up to the most snow I've seen so far this winter. This was the view at about 9 am:

2/11/12

It didn't last long, the snow melted away in the sun. I went to Cindy's 10 am Zumba class at Gold's. I love it. She really pushes you to get a good workout in (i.e. lots and lots of squats). It is a really popular class with around 20 people. When I got home, Brandon and I were starving so we headed to Denny's. I was enticed to buy an appetizer of Pancake Puppies. They came to our table a bit overdone but at least they were piping hot. They tasted just like funnel cake with a mild cinnamon sugar taste to them. Our service wasn't the greatest so it was nice to have something to munch on while we waited.

After we ate, we went to SI Bowl for Bowling for Kid's Sake. Our Kiwanis club had two teams in attendance. This was our team: 

This year Brandon got to wear the Kiwanis bowling shirt.

Me bowling

I was absolutely terrible at bowling. I didn't even make it to 80 points :( My 10lb ball was way too heavy... yeah, let's blame it on that. The cool thing was that each bowler got a prize. Brandon and I picked out the Family Video rental and the Bookworm gift certificate.

On the way home we hit up Bookworm in Carbondale. It is a used bookstore. It has a lot of current titles and books local to Southern Illinois.

Oh yeah, and a cat:

His name is Casper. He was so friendly I started petting him like crazy and all his long hair flew in my face. Hehe. Our evening ended with an early Valentine's celebration ... details coming soon!

Support Big Brothers Big Sisters!

Well, its been over a year that I've lived here now. Meaning what was new is old again. Case in point: I will be Bolwing for Kid's Sake again with the Kiwanis Club of Murphysboro. Please visit our page: here.

The Bowl-a-thon will be held in Carterville this year at SI Bowl on February 11. All funds raised will support the Big Brothers Big Sisters Clubs of Jackson and Perry Counties.

PS: I have a nasty cold. Bad enough to keep me up all last night. I tried working today and had to go home. Know any good home remedies?

Dumpling Maker

Today was the Kiwanis/Knights of Columbus Chicken & Dumpling Dinner. It was a fundraiser for our Kiwanis Club. Brandon and I volunteered for the morning shift which meant making dumplings:

Assembly line

Brandon hard at work!

Bestill my Southern Illinois lovin' heart! My job was feeding the dough through the pasta roller. Guess who wants a KitchenAid Stand Mixer?! The pasta roller was an attachment to the mixer. Fun!

Finished product

In addition to Chicken & Dumplings were coleslaw, mashed potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls and a buffet of amazing desserts made by Dana Ritcheson.

Happy customers

I had a lot of fun. I hope we raised a lot of money!!!

PS: This has me cracking up like no other:

Source

Chicken & Dumpling Dinner

The Murphysboro Kiwanis Club and the Murphysboro Knights of Columbus would like to invite everyone to their 2nd Annual Chicken & Dumpling Dinner on November 5th, Saturday 11:00 - 7:00.  Dinner will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 606 Plum Street in Murphysboro. 

Tickets are $8.00 in advance for adults and children under 12 years are $4.00; (adults are $9.00 at door).  Carry-outs are welcome. 

Help us support the youth of our community in need and the world with The Kiwanis and Knights of Columbus "Karing For Kids" dinner. 

Please contact me for advance tickets to this event.  I will be happy to get them to you.  

60th Apple Festival

The 60th annual Murphysboro Apple Festival was last weekend. This thing is Murphysboro's claim to fame. They love the darn thing! It's basically a carnival that takes over downtown Murphysboro for 5 days. There are a plethora of apple-related events such as apple pie eating contests and pageants.

Brandon was chair of the Kiwanis Appletime Stand this year. Our Kiwanis club sells apple-themed treats to raise money for community projects. Let me tell you, stocking, managing, opening and closing this thing for 5 days takes a LOT of work! This mean I filled in a lot as a volunteer at the stand. We sold candy apples, apple dumplings, apple butter, etc.

I thought Brandon looked adorable carting the boxes of fresh apples around. We sold local apples from Mileur Orchards in Murphysboro. There were 3 types: red delicious, golden delicious and Jonathan. But by far our best sellers were the frozen drinks. We had an apple cider slushie and an apple pie smoothie:

Have a look behind the scenes:

We had a really nice set-up. Check out the cooler trailer:

Brandon did an awesome job. We made thousands for charity!

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Yesterday Brandon and I got up for an early start to our morning. He was a referee for the first Murphysboro Soccer games of the season. He was reffing the 3rd and 4th graders - too cute. This is the first year Murphysboro has had it's own soccer league and they had record breaking registration numbers of 225 kids. I watched for a couple minutes but then I headed downtown for an event with Kiwanis.

The Murphysboro Kiwanis Club arranged for a Saturday Morning Cartoons event at the historic Liberty Theater.

What a beautiful place. It definitely reminds me of the Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg, VA. We had a slow start but people trickled in. We ended up with about 35 children and parents. We gave out free popcorn and orange drink donated by McDonalds.

At the end of the event we handed out pencils as a parting gift. I loved the event and hope that we decide to do it again sometime.  

This afternoon I'm working on an article summary for microbiology on bacterial infection. Research was done indicating that donor stool transplants (administered through nasogastric tube) helped, yeesh.

Corry Museum

We had a fun time in Erie last weekend. Brandon and I stayed at my Aunt Jeannette's house in Waterford. On Saturday, Brandon and I went to the Erie Sea Wolves baseball game. They lost bad. But the weather was great and it was fun to be out at the stadium.

The next day was the reunion at Mead Park in Corry. (The town was also celebrating it's 150th anniversary that weekend.) As I learned last year, the park was donated by the first International President of Rotary. Our location was in the front of the park, across from the Corry Area Historical Museum. Which is only open from 2-4 on Saturdays and Sundays. Luckily, when 2 o'clock hit we were ready to check it out:  

a

Chock full of good stuff!

They are really proud of this train. It's a Climax engine - a coal-fired locomotive which was built in Corry up until 1930. Brandon wondered how they were able to get it in the building. Good point. Turns out the building was built for it. Look what I spy:

I gasped when Brandon pointed it out. A passerby thought I was thrilled by looking at the engine. Hehe. No, I just have a Kiwanis problem. Clearly the highlight of the trip

Key Club Easter Egg Hunt

Despite the rain, the Murphysboro Key Club Easter Egg Hunt was held this morning at Riverside Park. At 10 minutes before 11am, several dozen children and parents were gathered at the front of the park. Even though it was sprinkling a bit, the costumed characters arrived.

McGruff

Big Muddy Monster

The Easter bunny was also there. At 11 am, Key Club Advisor, Mr. Hall gave everyone the rules of the hunt.

Then the kids went to line up behind their Easter egg hunt areas. Since Brandon and I were Kiwanis volunteers we got inside of the pens first.

I just need an Easter basket

Isn't the stage gorgeous?! I WILL be coming back to see a concert here this summer. Once the sirens sounded, the children rushed the field:

3-5 yr olds are the cutest!

The hunting took a total of 7 minutes. Which was a good thing because the rain started coming down again. My favorite picture of the day:

Captain Applesauce

 Going to see Water for Elephants later this afternoon!

Guess who got into college?!

When I got home I had this letter waiting for me:

I've been accepted to John A Logan Community College! I'll be taking some classes this summer and fall to strengthen my applications to Physician Assistant programs. This summer, the plan is to start with Anatomy & Physiology and Genetics. I hope I can do it! I'm not gonna have any free time, as I'll work my full time job from 7:30-4:30 and take night classes 3 times a week.  The school is located in Carterville which is a twenty minute drive from home. As a resident of the school district, classes are $92/credit - very affordable! But, I can't forget textbooks which can get pricey.

Tonight was also a Kiwanis meeting. Check out the agenda:

Our Club President is a Catholic priest, can you tell? I left Kiwanis early for Zumba. So glad I went! The group was in a really good mood and so Joann got creative and had us split into teams and create our own routines. Then we battled it out on the dance floor :-)

What's making you smile today?

Kiwanis Pancake Day

Today was the Murphysboro Kiwanis Club's Annual Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. Brandon and I volunteered during the first shift 6-8:30 am. It was an early morning! The event was held in the Middle School cafeteria. Check out everyone in the kitchen making pancakes and french toast:

When our shift was over, Nancy and Knute joined us for breakfast.

It was so good to finally eat! Business really picked up and all our tables were full of people. I hope the club made a lot of money. Afterward, we checked out the Carbondale Farmer's Market. Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold so we didn't stay long. Nancy was looking for a fern but they sold out. The farmer's market is open every Saturday from 8-noon. I want to go back when it's warmer.

Going to a wig party later tonight ...

Kiwanis and CPK

At the Kiwanis meeting tonight the April issue of the Kiwanis magazine was passed around. I leafed through it looking for people that I know... lo and behold, I found myself on page 33! Unfortunately, this issue has not been posted online yet. But it's ok because I'm making a weird frowny face anyway.

Brandon and I don't usually eat at 17th Street because it's expensive to eat out. But by the time the meeting ends (usually around 7pm) we are starving. Since we needed something quick tonight, we had California Pizza Kitchen's new Pizza & Appetizer - Four Cheese Pizza and Spinach Artichoke Dip.

We bought our pizza at Walmart - where it was actually cheaper than the single pizzas. I'm not sure if that's because it's a new product or if it's a smaller portion or if they have a deal with the store. Brandon and I always go for CPK frozen pizzas and this combo did not disappoint. The cheeses were so flavorful!

The spinach dip definitely tasted a little watered down and not as rich as it does in the restaurant. But, it was ready in 6 minutes which was important because we were hungry!

 

The pizza was thin crust and very cheesy. The box says it serves three but we polished it off easily between the two of us. Gotta love a simple weeknight meal.  

Murphysboro Bocce Ball Courts

On Saturday morning Brandon and I headed to Riverside Park to volunteer with the Murphysboro Kiwanis Club. Our club is working hard to complete a beautiful bocce ball park. The new courts are located where a community swimming pool was in the 60s and 70s. The new park will be named in honor of Bob Hall, the Murphysboro Key Club advisor. The courts are currently laid down with a nice brick walkway between them. But our club still needs to raise money so that a pavilion can be built above the courts.

Brandon in orange was working hard!

We had a big pile of gravel to move to fill in around the courts. It was a  very productive 2 hours and I hope to work there again soon! PS: April 2 was also Kiwanis One Day and you know Brandon and I had to be out volunteering :)

Brandon's Back

Brandon is back from his week-long Spring Break trip to Florida. While it was a little lonley being out here all by myself I also had a chance to relax and engage in some Secret Single Behavior. As Carrie from Sex in the City described as the things that we do alone that we would never do in front of any guy:

1. Using the entire floor as one big shelf - as in nothing ever gets put back where it belongs
2. Eating poorly - lots of fast food and  ice cream eaten out of the container
3. Watching trashy television - anything on TLC and Lifetime
4. Staying up way past my bedtime - I blame the computer

Brandon made it back yesterday afternoon and by that night we were off to a Key Club District Banquet. We went over to Murphysboro High School where the MHS Key Club was hosting members of the Kiwanis Family including the I-I Kiwanis, CKI and Key Club Governors.

Dinner was chicken alfredo, ham, mashed potatoes and corn. Salad, bread rolls and an impressive dessert table were also included. And we can't forget the lemonade - which Brandon claims to have added to the menu during his year as Key Club President.

Because the CKI governor wasn't in attendance, Brandon was called up to give a report on CKI. He did a great job!

 This evening we're going to St. Louis to enjoy the city and then pick up Jarrod from the airport.

Bowl for Kids Sake

Check out my snazzy black and orange bowling shoes! Today I went up to DuQuoin to participate in the Bowl for Kids Sake fundraiser at Ten Pin Alley. Check out the the Murphysboro Kiwanis team:

Me, Bob, Pam and Wesley, Phil

Don't ya love my Kiwanis bowling shirt? I borrowed it from Brandon. Our team raised over $800 for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Jackson County.

Saying Goodbye

I'm tried of saying goodbye... it's hard! On Sunday I had my last Sunday school class with my 11-13 year olds. They surprised me with a donation of over $350 to help AIDS orphans in Tanzania. On Tuesday, I resigned as Kiwanis Club President. Unfortunately, our meeting was canceled due to snow. Kind of a let down. And yesterday was my last day of work. I went out to lunch with my co-workers. Then in the evening I had dinner with my sister who went back to Boston this morning.

Today, I used as an opportunity to sleep-in, get my car inspected and registered at the DMV. I even posted some furniture on craigslist. Brandon and his parents will be here Saturday night and moving day is Sunday. Busy busy!!