:. Rachael's New Look

Rachael just got her hair cut yesterday afternoon. She came home and announced that she wanted a haircut. Then she went and found her sister. She came back a few minutes later with 14 inches of her hair gone.

It was surprising how long her hair had gotten. We both really like her new haircut. It'll be cooler for when we get to Tucson. She hasn't had her hair cut this short since before our wedding. It's really cute.

This morning we went to the early showing of Nacho Libre, with Rachael's sister Sarah and Sarah's husband Patrick.

We all enjoyed it quite a bit, but the preview choice really bothered me. All the previews were for kids’ flicks (How to Eat Fried Worms, a cartoon where a pet rat gets flushed down the toilet, a cartoon where the animals on the farm act like humans when no one is looking) except for the very first one. In a theatre full of parents and their young children, we cringed through a preview of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the beginning.

It was a completely inappropriate choice for the movie and other previews it was paired with. As we looked around us at parents covering their children's eyes and ears, we were horrified that it was part of this movie experience.

We sat on the front row of the upper section and right before the movie Rachael put her feet up on the wall in front of us and noticed that she was wearing shoes from two different pairs.

After the movie, we went to Panera for lunch, where we also bought a loaf of sourdough bread. Last night we watched an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown describes how to make the perfect French toast (his secret: stale bread and half & half). We'll be leaving our loaf of sourdough out overnight for a breakfast treat tomorrow.

:. Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday and I had a great time (other than that whole teaching thing - but elementary kids are way better then middle school, so I guess it was a happy birthday to me after all).

When I arrived home, Rachael had chased the rest of the family out of the Kitchen and we had the place to ourselves for a while. She made dinner - an awesome white lasagne with chicken &crab, fresh vegetables, and garlic bread.

She couldn't wait to give me my present so she gave it to me yesterday. She bought me an acoustic/electric Ibanez guitar - and she picked it out herself! She did a great job. It's got a built in tumer and both 1/4" and XLR outputs. It even takes 2 AA instead of a 9volt , so I can use the rechargable battery packs we bought earlier this summer.

I love it. Rachael did a great job picking it out. It sounds beautiful and it is fun to play. I've been practicing more lately anyway, but now I really will be up to the level I want to be by the time we move.

:. Last Chance

We hope you all will be able to make it. This is the same place whrere we had our wedding. Please call for directions if needed. 816.805.3268.

If you can't make it this weekend, we hope to see you at either of our other activities before we leave (Bomb Night or Send-off Lunch).

:. Government Offices

I had to get a copy of my birth certificate this morning because I realized that my driver's license was going to expire Wednesday. Yes, my timing's perfect - I have to renew my Missouri license just one month before I become an Arizona resident and have to get and Arizona license.

Getting the birth certificate from the Health Department took all morning. (Driving + construction + drivers talking on cell phones + long lines + long waits = all morning) Getting my license renewed was a breeze in comparison. (Closer to the house and a more comfortable waiting room)

I'm preparing for a large mailing to churches to raise support for our moving expenses. I need and head home soon to get ready for a support presentation tonight.

A few more envelopes to stuff and I’m off.

:. Almost There

Everything went fine this morning playing bass (I even had the courage to throw a few fillss in there). I'm playing again next Sunday.
I didn't realize how much I miss playing. I definately want to get a group going in Tucson. Either get Ryan and Dave together again as UT or start something new.
We've got a support presentation for another small group tomorrow night. I need to have $10,000 in committed yearly support before we leave. We're at just more than $6000 right now. Please toss up a prayer that we'll be able to find supporters over these last few weeks in Missouri.

:. Shopping

Today is about shopping. We spent the afternoon at a used car dealer in Independence. We both got sunburnt and then came home to browse their cars stock online. We found a couple of possibilities.
Tonight we're going shopping for clothes and then it's our week to buy groceries.
We also just discovered the USA show "The 4400". It's very interesting. The third season premeres tomorrow night.

:. Wait, You Play Bass, Right?

I dusted off my old bass a couple of days ago. The regular bass player at Cornerstone is gone this week and Ethan asked me to fill in. I drug out my amp from the basement, plugged in, turned it up and nothing happened.

I spent the afternoon rewiring and sodering the leads for my bass. Eventually, I was able to get it all put back together and my first foray into the world of electronics seemed successful.

It's been a while since I've played, but it came back pretty quick. I ran through a couple of old Until Tomorrow bass lines for a sound check and away we went. Although the drummer had to work and the pianist couldn't make it, we ran through all the music and spend the rest of practice shooting each other with "finger blasters" (foam darts with rubberbands attached that are all the rage among the Cornerstone youth).

Here's hoping Sunday will come off without a hitch.

:. Father Hurts Best

So, my father's dentist took him to visit an oral surgeon today. This is the latest in a seemingly unending string of complications from the radiation Dad received as part of his treatment for cancer 2 years ago.

Here's what he found out today:
When you radiate your mouth, it changes the nature of your teeth, which can make your teeth crumble. This explains why Dad has been spitting out tiny pieces of his teeth for the last few weeks.

The other thing that occurs when you radiate your mouth is your blood vessels shrink and eventually die away. So it's not only that Dad's saliva glands were taken out, but that his blood vessels are shrinking which means that his jaw is dying. Yep, his jaw bone is slowly dying and needs to be replaced.

The worst part of the whole thing is that any one of the doctors before or after his radiation could have warned him that this would happen, or told him about what signs to look for, but not a single one did - even when Dad complained about the very symptoms that would point to this. And apparently this is a run of the mill occurrence for someone who's been through radiation.

So, what now? Well, beginning Monday Dad will drive down to St. Luke's and spend 2 hours in a hyperbolic chamber. He will do this every day for 20 days and then will have surgery to replace his jaw. They've talked about taking a piece of his hip to replace it or getting a donated one, or a synthetic one.

Why the hyperbolic chamber? Well, the hyperbolic chamber forces oxygen into your body which forces your body to create new blood vessels. These blood vessels are not as large, strong or good as the original ones were, but there will be more of them.

So the hope is that these blood vessels will be up and going before all of Dad's original ones finish dying and that these new ones will be able to take over. If they do, then the surgery should go off without a hitch and my Dad will be the proud owner of a new jaw and complete set of dentures.

Does this make any kind of sense? Has anyone ever heard anything about radiation causing this kind of thing before? This is just nuts.

:. Surprise, Surprise

I was back in the classroom today (and will return Thursday and Friday as well) teaching summer school at Truman Elementary. Today I taught science for a blended 2nd & 3rd grade classroom. tomorrow and Friday I will be filling in for the MR room teacher.

It came as a bit of a surprise. I thought I was done subbing. It will be noce to get one more paycheck before we go from the district.

I'm sending letters to churches to raise money for the move. Our moving estimate came in just under $3000. I've got a lot to do.

:. Packing Up & a Legacy Continues

When we moved from Kirksville, we moved a lot of stuff that we "couldn't live without.” After a year of living without 90% of it (as it was packed up in the garage, basement and attic) we decided to revisit our stuff.

Now, we have three categories: 1 - Take to Tucson (the essentials), 2 - Leave in the Clouse house attic (the somedays - mostly kids books and books Rachael will need when she becomes a prof), and 3 - Sell & give away (the organ we used as a headboard in K'ville, about 400 books).

We're making progress, but it's getting stressful and sad. Neither of us likes moving. Everything about it stresses us out. Especially this time.

We're selling the car (anyone interested?) and planned on retiring the van, until it got a last minute reprieve.

That's right, for all of you who decried the end of the van; you may rest assured that it will live on in its unstoppable glory as we pass it on to my brother-in-law Jarred. All he has to do is get his license, learn the "put it in neutral and coast, while turning it off and back on" trick to fix the transmission when it's not working, remember the combination to open the doors and learn how to gauge his speed by the traffic around him ('cause the broken speedometer certainly won't help).

And the kicker - according to Blue Book, it's still worth twice as much as the car! (Even in the shape it’s in!)

I'll admit it - I'm going to miss it.

That’ll do van, that’ll do.

:. Playing with Fire

Rachael and I spend part of the recent holiday weekend camping with friends from Lakeland.

Jason and Twila Lahey invited us for an evening of guitar playing, song singing, and fire breathing fun.

It was a warm night at Lake Jacomo, but a fun time was had by all.

Jason's sister brought her boyfriend with her to visit the family and together they delighted the campground (if not the authorities) with a performance of their fire breathing and fire dancing skill.

It was an awesome display and sparked the interest of other campers who joined us to watch.

As they performed they explained how they learned their techniques and what safety precautions they were taking.

They capped the performance off by teaching Jason how to breathe fire. While he wasn't as accomplished as our professionals, he did manage to get the hang of it rather quickly.

As Jason has a new trick in his repertoire, we're sure this will somehow work its way into a Lakeland youth event in the future.