slow week, church take 2, internet/cable

i'd almost prefer to be busy. granted, now that my house is a little more livable and a little more enjoyable, it's nice to have some spare time, but having no news is even more stressful than having a full plate. this week was pretty much an entirely dead week. which meant that monday and tuesday (deadline days) i had to scramble to find news and take care of what i already had scheduled those days. so, i ended up writing 2 very long stories for the ccn paper this week. just need to fill space.

oh.. sunday i tried church again. not the same one though.. i said if they didn't want me when i wanted them, then too bad. i went to the federated church instead (a combination of the united methodist and united church of christ, i think.) i chose this one because after i failed to get in the methodist church in my first attempt, my uncle read about my misadventure and called the pastor for this federated church. when i talked with him later he told me that he chatted with him for a while and that he seemed like a nice guy. thanks troy. it was actually kind of cool, because he came right up to me when i arrived and asked if i was the new reporter / the one whose uncle called.
there were still a lot of old people in attendance, but company is company. and mainly my attention was on following the procedure, which everyone else seemed to be on the ball with. every five seconds i was looking around to see what i should be doing. i was scrambling to find the correct hymns, while everyone else pretty much had them memorized. pastor biehl's message was interesting, too, talking about how people should be less concerned with being "religious" and focusing on different denominations (sutton has 7 different churches) and worry about being "faithful," instead. (did he know i was coming?)

i have internet at my house now! so i should be able to keep up more regularly with posts. i got really lucky, though. the only estimate the company could give me as to when the installer guy would be here was "before 5." and monday was a busy day, so i couldn't hang around. i took a long lunch and kind of dragged my feet. then i wrote a note saying something like "call me, i'm only 2 minutes away" and attached it to my door. oddly, i thought about how that hoppin' johns that i ate on new years day was supposed to bring good luck and i wished it would cash it right then. no sooner had i thought it and started stepping out the door to head back to the office, the green windstream van pulled up. yes! i'm totally attributing it to the hoppin' johns.

unfortunately.. my luck was short lived, as i missed the dish network guy on tuesday. again, the 12-5 estimate given proved too broad for me. i'll try to sort that out today.

darren and cassie's little girls have been hanging around the office more because their daycare closed. josie is 5 1/2 and brooklyn (brook) is 3 1/2. which, incidentally, are the same ages as my little cousins casey and cody. so, if i can't see them, it's kind of neat to be reminded of them when the girls are around. brook and i played variations of catch and rolling the ball back and forth last night. after 11:00. and she hadn't napped. i was impressed. i snuck a 45 minute nap earlier..

i might take a ride to civilization today to pick up a few more things for the house. maybe an end/coffee table, a cheap vaccuum?, couch pillows/blanket, a tv tray? i've gotta really plan for these trips. it's not often i get to go into town.. haha.

nb: don't make the mistake of using ground coffee as "instant" coffee. you'll end up drinking coffee flavored hot water and spitting out a mouthful of coffee grinds.