Rest In Peace Ghidu

Ghidu

April 13, 1919 - June 19, 2009

My Grandfather, Nicolai Stremciuc, known as "Ghidu" to everyone. It means grandfather in Ukrainian.
He's gone to be with his Maker, and I believe it was a joyous reunion which we cannot imagine. He dedicated his whole life in the pursuit of knowing Christ and living for him. May his life be forever an example of how we should be deliberate and unwavering in the cause of Christ.
You will be missed Ghidu.

Tomato-Basil Bisque from Tom Thumb

This soup was worth writing about. Maybe I was just hungry, but it was GOOD! the only other tomato-basil soup i've had was at "la' Madelines", and this, surprisingly, tops that. Very good, creamy, stayed warm on my drive to work, has a little spicy kick at the end of each bite, num num! If you have a tom Thumb (same thing as Safeway) in your area, try it!

I still don't like hiking boots (shoes)

to a shoe fanatic, (like myself), the clunky hiking boot is definitely the ugly duckling in the bunch, okay maybe tied for last place with the high-top reebok velcro 1980's sneaker....and I swore never to buy a pair.

until we booked a trip to Yosemite with Reid and Tab,... Reid is a major hiker/climber, the real kind, has all the gear, has climbed real mountains... etc. so, we were told we need to buy hiking boots, blaugh! Deric already had a pair, so I had to trek to REI all by my hestitant self. I tell the shoe guy, who is clearly a climbing fiend, because he's wearing these "shoes" that are like toe socks, but have some rubber on the bottom, yes, the kind of thing that would only look good on a "real" climber.

So I tell the guy up front "I need a hiking boot, grrrr, but I refuse to buy a high-top boot!" And he looks at me like "oh you poor wanna-be girly-girl, you're gonna be miserable" I don't care! Listen, I may have blisters the size of australia after i'm done, but at least my legs will appear 3 inches longer without my ankle cut off! Yes, I may be vain,... but chances are I will probably wear these shoes less than 10 times in my life, so I'm not buying an ugly, clunky, high-top shoe ever again! Yes, i may be rediculously irrational and defiant, and I should probably take the advice of a climbing pro, but I'm not.

Hiking boots are ugly. period.

and I bought a low-top pair, which I am wearing around, trying to break them in, ick.. they don't even match my scrubs.. but they're semi-comfortable..

and i'm developing a blister on the outside of my right ankle, that's just part of breaking them in, right?

I just looked at the REI reviews for this shoe: not good, hmmmm. 3 out of 5 stars.. oh boy, am I in for some pain!

The Mondays

yup, I have the mondays, see, yes it's tuesday, but I have mondays off and tuesdays are my first days back to work...
is it normal to have intense dread when I think about work? what does that mean exactly?
I'm probably not the only one out there feeling this way, but I'm having to drag myself out of bed every morning.
I should probably start working out in the mornings again... made me a much happier person... there's something to be said about endorphins..

big day yesterday, had the hardwood floors in the hallway redone... and I learned something,
floor lacquer is not a smell you can get used to.
We had to hop the hallway to our bedroom, close the door, put a towel under the door, close the AC vent off, open the windows and put on the ceiling fan... ugh! I hate circulating air around my head.. i'm sure it's because my parents brainwashed us at an early age that we would surely "catch a draft", and for as long as I can remember, i've been sleeping like ostrich, head buried under the sheets with just a little air pocket for breathing...
so, needless to say, did not sleep well last night... every time the wind blew our blinds against the window, I was certain the neighborhood hoodlums were coming to rob us of our magnificent 27" LCD TV and brand-new food processor!
Tonight, we get the second coat of lacquer... yay...