Found this website entitled Improv Everywhere which chronicles the humorous adventures of a New York City-based improv group.  They stage unusual improv events in public places, bringing laughter to everyone who sees them.

Urban Prankster is a related website, but includes links for contacting many local improv groups across the nation.  These local groups also stage “missions” - unusual improv events in public places.  If you’d like to be involved in a mission then your local group can hook you up.

Yesterday was so busy.  I’m quite sorry that I was never able to blog yesterday, but I had so much fun researching. (Yes, researching.  I’m quite the nerd!)

My local library has just recently opened a newer, larger genealogy center.  The Midwest Genealogy Center began many years ago in the basement of the North Independence branch of the library.  Many books were donated to the genealogy center, and acquisition of the census records of 1900-1930 led to exponential growth.  The library built another building near the North Independence branch which served them well for many years.  However, as they have continued to grow, they outgrew this building and have built an even larger, stand-alone building.  They have an unbelievable amount of genealogical information in this new building.

Yesterday, my pastor’s daughter (Abbie), my mother, and I went out to lunch together and spent the afternoon researching at the new MGC.  It was an amazing and productive afternoon.  We were not even able to access the entire collection, because the microfilm and microfiche information has not yet been organized, but we still learned a neat amount of new information.  I spent a great deal of the time researching marriage and death records for my father’s side of the family.

I am looking forward to more wonderful hours at this library.  The microfilm collection includes a myriad of census records, and getting into that will be lots of fun.  Hopefully I will also have a chance to share the things I have learned with you.  It’s really amazing, and tons of fun to research.

My current house is almost entirely carpeted.  I don’t mind the carpet at all - since I am barefoot most of the time, it’s quite pleasant to walk around the house on a nice carpet.

However, I love animals, and sometimes I think my “dream house” would have to have, at the very least, a pleasant mix of carpet and tile.  Anyone who has owned a dog knows that it’s much easier to clean up dog messes on tile, plus tile does not cling to fur and dander like carpet.

Carpet floors are reasonably easy to maintain, although they do take a fair amount of maintenance.  They must be regularly vacuumed and they have to be cleaned every year.  Also, if you have a pet, often you have to perform additional cleaning tasks to remove the fur and dander.  Tile floors also take a fair amount of maintenance - they must be swept, mopped, and sometimes polished.  So I would want my floors to be made of high-quality glass tile like what they have at Glasstilestore.com.  If I have a pretty floor and I work hard to keep it clean, the last thing I need is tiles that are breaking or falling apart.

I am having a weird food craving right now.

I want to eat ice cream, or maybe chocolate.

Before you ask, NO I’m not pregnant!

I just want ice cream.

Ladies, you should understand this.  There’s just something wonderful about ice cream!

Yummm…

I didn’t blog last Friday night for many reasons.  But here I am to tell you about my evening.

I got an email from my friend Stephanie on Friday afternoon asking if I wanted to get together Friday night.  Her town was having a small outdoor festival, and they would be showing “The Wizard of Oz” outdoors that night.  I’m always game for a movie, so of course I agreed to get together.

We went to the festival to see the movie at the time that had been published in the paper - 7:30.  Unfortunately the paper had published the wrong time.  The movie wasn’t starting until 9:00 - which made sense, because they had to wait for the sun to go down to show the movie.  So, with an hour and a half to spare, Stephanie and I decided to go to Redbox and then go back to her apartment instead.

At Redbox, we rented the movie 27 Dresses, with Kathryn Heigl.  That was a fantastic movie.  I highly reccommend it!

And, as an aside, I LOVE Redbox.  They make it so easy and affordable to rent movies.  If I didn’t have Redbox, I would not rent any movies at all.  I don’t rent enough movies to justify a NetFlix subscription, and Blockbuster charges a lot for their rentals.  So Redbox is a perfect middle ground for me.  I’ve heard that there are still some parts of the nation that do not have Redbox, which I think is just tragic.  Hopefully you will all have a Redbox nearby soon!

Dear Diet Cherry Coke,

It will be so hard to let you go. Our affair over these past months has been intense and flavorful. Our love has been filled with fireworks and cola flavoring. You were always there for me. Yet, we both knew it couldn’t last. DCC, I love you, but with your caffeine, my body has remained in a state of perpetual mild dehydration. We both know how bad this is, and so DCC, I must bid you farewell.

Goodbye lover,

Melinda

Last weekend our DVD player broke. Now, it’s pretty old as far as DVD players go (I think it’s about seven years old, but maybe as much as ten years old). It’s worked well and done its job, so it wasn’t a total shock when it refused to work last week.

When I was younger, the purchase of anything electronic was almost an ordeal in our household. Dad is very picky, so when we needed something electronic he would do lots of shopping, price comparisons, feature comparisons, and so on. Sometimes it lasted up to a few months! But he has become quite fond of Sony products, so when he and Mom looked into buying a new Sony dvd player, it wasn’t even hard. There were only, like, two DVD players that they were interested in. So this week Mom stopped by Sears one day and picked up a new DVD player.

Today Dad sat down and started hooking up the new DVD player. He hadn’t gone far when he discovered that this DVD player is intended for high-definition televisions, and he would need to “jury rig” our old tube television to make the DVD player work. Mom and Dad were already planning to buy a new hi-def television with their stimulus checks later this summer. So we pushed the schedule up and went to Sears today to buy a new Sony television.

In less than a week, we have purchased a new DVD player and a television to go with the new DVD player. Now we are discussing replacing the VCR… I’m not sure if I want to know where this goes!

*but for what it’s worth, the television is fantastic!

Last night I went over to a friend’s apartment to watch a movie. Special thanks to those codes on McDonald’s drinks that give you one free movie rental from Redbox.

**I love Redbox. I would not rent movies AT ALL if not for Redbox - they’re so doggone expensive at Blockbuster, and I don’t watch enough movies to pay for a Netflix subscription.**

Anyway, we rented the Bee Movie, which was adorable, hilarious, clever - you name it, this movie had it! I had a great time watching it, and give it a great recommendation!

I’ve always been a crafter, particularly in the “needle crafts” - crochet, knitting, counted cross stitch, etc. though I also dabble in many other crafts, like sewing, card making, or paper crafts. Almost exclusively, though, I stick with the “girly” kind of crafts - the kind of thing you would find at a Hobby Lobby or Joann’s.

There’s a different type of “craft”, though, that I greatly respect and admire. I have a couple of friends who are very skilled at woodcutting. They have built some of the most beautiful furniture I’ve ever seen. They always try to find rare types of wood, which means sometimes they will even shop online at stores like American Home Craft Inc, and then they cut and build furniture by hand. And it’s not that cheap stuff that you can find at Walmart - it’s sturdy and well-built. I know that the pieces they build will last for years to come.

Today I found this article discussing the changes in perspective for kids who have glasses.

So true. I first got glasses shortly after my ninth birthday. Prior to that, for an entire year, I struggled in school because my vision was so poor. When I first learned I needed glasses, I was a bit nervous - there were not many choices in kids’ frames, and of course I didn’t want to look un-cool! I was very, very lucky - my parents took me to Cibis Eye Care, a pediatric opthalmology practice. Dr. Cibis is an outstanding ophthalmologist, and he only hires the BEST optometrists in his practice. His optometrists also see adults, but they are excellent with kids. I have never seen Dr. Cibis personally; since I have garden-variety myopia, or near-sightedness, I’ve never needed the advanced knowledge of Dr. Cibis.

Anyway, the optical attached to this practice - Optical Options - stocks a great variety of kids’ frames. Thankfully I was able to get fun, interesting, and very cool frames throughout my childhood. When I turned 16, I switched to contacts, though I’ve worn glasses on and off since then. Glasses are not only cool - they are a huge blessing for those of us with poor eyesight.