Spring Fever

It's Spring! It's Spring

The bird is on the wing!

Now isn't that a funny thing?

I thought the wing was on the bird!

(stolen from the back cover of a magazine.)

I have a serious, possibly deadly case of Spring/Cabin Fever. I want to leave this house for a looooong time (like, all day, or something. ;) because I'm sick of it, and I want Spring weather so that I CAN get away from the house. I want to take a bike trip--and entire day; sun-up to sun-down. I want to perfect (or at least improve) my volleyball skills. I want flowers, sunshine, and green maple trees! I want short sleeves and flip flops. 

I know, I know, this is sounding like a selfish rant (I want, I want I WANT!), but it's not. Yes, it's a rant, but I'm wanting Spring for you guys. I want you to have lovely weather, I want you to have the pleasure of playing volleyball with me! 

I was looking at pictures of me from this past Summer and now feel like a ghost. I was so dark compared to now! Not saying that I 'need' to go tan, I'm just surprised at the difference between now and a few months ago.

I'm trying to decide what to look forward to the most this Spring/Summer. Graduating? Volleyball and softball games? Getting my driver's license (finally)? Hmm.....I think it's close to a three-way tie.

What are you looking forward to this spring?

~Kiwi~

Sports/This Weekend

This was supposed to be posted day and day and day ago, but I kept getting interrupted *cough* by other people wanting on. *ahem*

Sports:

These past two weeks have been full of sports. Volleyball on Sunday afternoons and church softball Monday evenings. Plus Cubs games on TV. Volleyball has been entertaining the past two weeks. Last Monday it was hot and sticky, with barely a breath of wind when we started playing. Then, two games into the afternoon, it started to storm. There was lightning and thunder far in the distance, and it started to sprinkle. After a minute or two the rain started pouring down. Who in their right mind would leave the party?? We played in the rain for a good 20 minutes, and then slowly strolled to the shelter of the tree (smart people, huh? standing under a tree with thunder withing hearing distance....), then to our cars. I was drenched.

"When I walked out in the downpour with no raincoat
I got soaked down to the bone from head to toe

Without my raincoat

Anywhere I may go

I get wet somehow"

This past Sunday, volleyball was cool, too. It wasn't one of my better days, and I ate sand (and the ball) several times, but it was still okay. We usually play a few rounds of practice until enough people arrive to form teams. Once we had enough, this time, there was an extra person on my side of the net (left over from the practice). Surprisingly, the other team chose me to even things out! So my question is, did they specifically want me, because they 'know' I'm good (yeah right), or did they just call me over because they already had a really good team anyway? Hm....

The church softball games are over for the summer. Our C League team won two games, and the B League made it to the play-offs! Last Monday night was the deciding game: win this one, and 'we' were going to the Championships! The score was 2-2 in the second inning. Slowly but surely we gained run after run, until the final score was something like 5-2. We were going to the Championship!!
The Championship game started out slowly and badly, the score being 8-1 in the second inning...the other team had the 8.

"This is not what I want
This is not what I planned
And I just have to say
I do not understand!
Something is really
(Something's not right)
Really wrong,
And we've got to get things back where they belong!
We can do it!"

Then our team went off with a 'Bang!' with Alex's 3 run homer in the second. After that there was no stopping them! The final score was 17-9....We won! Hooray and all that! Rejoicing in the streets!
The sad thing is that the ball games are over for the year now. :( I do wish I could have gone to more.

This Weekend:

More rejoicing! Miranda, Abbie, and Rachel are coming up on Saturday morning! We're going to do some bike riding on Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday afternoon we might go to the gardens here in town. Volleyball would be fun, too, but they have to leave by 4:00, so we'd only get an hour's worth of playing in before rushing back here. And some of the people from church will be roofing, and that may cut down on the volleyball-ers considerably.
But anyway. I can't wait 'til day after tomorrow! It's been the greater part of a year since I last saw them!

And on that note, I leave thee. Farewell.
~Kiwi~
p.s. Grandma won the 20 points. Sorry Aunt B. :)

another boring title for an interesting post...

So far this week has been better than the last one. I called Miranda and talked to her on Sunday. In VBS, they averaged 18 kids per class (And considering that our record of 13 last year was a handful...), the songs were really good (no "Wiki-wiki" or pointless ones), and the theme was Australia. Of all the years I had to miss, the had to do an Aussie theme! How frustrating. I like Aussie stuff. It would give me a chance to talk in my (probably awful) Australian accent for an entire week!!! Rats! Apparently the skits were hilarious. Considering the actors Miranda told me were in it, I'm not surprised!
But there was a musical that came with the VBS stuff that the kids will be doing in August, and I think we might be invited down for that. :)

Sis and I signed up for the church's talent show this Saturday. We changed our minds on Monday, so our....project....is being put together in less than a week. But it's looking good! We'll film it on Saturday and I'll put it on here for those unfortunate folk who can't be there.
Short Stuff, KK, JS, Sis and I signed up for something without knowing what to do. And now we're stuck half-way through the week with a half-formed idea but only half the time needed to practice in! I can't tell you about that, either, just that if we can make it work, it'll be good. Real good. :D
The main problem is that Sis has a new job that requires her to work 2:00-8:00 pm, so she can mostly practice only in the mornings. SS, KK, and JS's brother, Pen Name, works from morning to late afternoon, so he can only practice in the evenings. See our problem? But we'll figure something out. We always do. And if we can't, we could just stand up there on stage. I'm sure that last-minute-panic would give us ideas. ;)

Monday night I went to the church softball games with JS and her family. They were okay. Our C league team didn't do too well, but they tried hard. Between games, three of Kristen's younger siblings hauled me off to play catch with them. (I think they probably had to have an 'adult' with them and I was the closest thing. :) Allow me to relate some of our conversation. (A. is an 8-yr. old girl, D. & E. are 6 & 7 [?] year old boys.)

Me: "throw me a higher one, please."
E: "Okay." (grunts as he throws the ball.)
(I hop a bit and catch it.)
A (slightly awed): "Whow!! You caught that!"
D: "Next year, you should be on the church softball team!"
Me: "But I'd be the only girl."
A: "That would make it even better!"

They're fun. :) It's nice to know that someone thinks I could make the softball team! They're all wrong, but that's still cool.

Tomorrow morning (I hope!) we're getting together with JS, KK, and SS to practice our stuff. I can't wait! And tomorrow evening maybe we can get together before Bible Study and practice with Pen Name. *crosses fingers*

Now a few quick pics before I go.

This is on my door. I think that it describes me to a 'T'. :)

What's this? The first person to guess it correctly gets 15 blogger points. Good luck!

'bye!
~Kiwi~