English Emma Blooms

Anyone who knows me well appreciates how I can get completely obsessed with anything at all and nothing in particular . This can be work (thank goodness not anymore), badminton, riding my bike, walking, gardening, making cards, emailing, photography, painting our house different colors, socializing, jewellery making, playing computer games/video games, other people's problems, a future goal, a past mistake, solving the world's problems, ..... writing on my blog. Aaron says he wishes I would become obsessed with cleaning the house.... That is why I have been offline. Anyway, since Aaron has been home the last two weeks I decided to put my obsessions on hold and relax. Last week Aaron could feel the tension of me trying to relax and be a nice wife... and it stressed him out. So this week I made two hundred cards, 50 necklaces and planted new flowers in the front garden. Now I am back on the blog. I have figured out that I need to switch the obsessions around. For example, I

how does your garden grow... with Daisies and cone flowers, peonies and day lilies laestra black-eyed susans, ... and gladioli all in a row... See Aaron's vegetables at : http://web.mac.com/aaronk1973/iWeb/Site/Bloggin%27%20it/10547CAC-C345-4CD5-A52C-03C43B4CD431.html

Eight years after Aaron started Medical school, We finally spend some time together! Obviously, we did spend that one time alone together almost 5 years ago, but since then we have been chaperoned. Joel is in camp EVERY morning for two weeks. Aaron is out of work until August 1st. Time for trouble! We started with a canal walk south of IMA.... Coffee and Kerouac. His scroll was there as well as Robert Frank's pictures of Americans at their most natural. Aaron says that the Beats were just a bunch of drunks who thought they were clever. I think they were a bunch of clever people who drank a lot. Then we picked up Joel!

at Crop night. Here are the pictures of our out of control group. and our crop tour guide. We must have been eating too much candy! August has two MOPS crops nights. Join MOPS moms on August 8, August 15 or both! Dinner, a door prize and other give-aways are included in the price. MOPS CROP? $15.00. Fun times with MOPS moms? Priceless

Twenty One years ago today I landed in the US at Detroit International Airport, to start my new American life. I never knew or expected it to last this long! My 21 year old American self will have to have legal drink tonight.

Not to be outdone by me, Aaron has launched a counter blog at: http://web.mac.com/aaronk1973/iWeb/Site/Kalinowski Here is a teaser:

What do you think? My friend John said the origin of giving someone the middle finger comes from the story I include below from The Urban Dictionary: 1. PLUCK YOU The 100 Years War (which actually lasted 116 years) was a bloody war fought between the British and the French. This was the first war in which long range artillery was used, and the first deadly long range weapon to be invented was the longbow, which was invented by the British. The longbow had an effective accurate range of about 300 feet. The longbowmen were not the most battle worthy men, as they were usually trained to shoot an arrow long distances, and not to fight with close range weapons. The longbow was used in an almost machine gun like fashion. The archer would stick all of his arrows in the ground in order to get to them quickly. He would grab an arrow and quickly shoot at the approaching army, then quickly reload and fire again. He would use his index and ring finger to draw and fire the bow. This was known a

Today is the day that Aaron proposed to me. It was July 11, 1996. We were driving from Champaign, IL to Grand Rapids, MI. I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car. He woke me up as we approached Lowell, IN. Some cheesy music was playing. I thought "What is this #$%*&? " Just kidding. I did not think that. Just teasing Aaron. I did think, "Why does he have to *%^&*# wake me up!" So, we pull over and let Daisy out to pee in this nice park with a pagoda. I am watching Daisy urinate and Aaron says, "Hey Emma, come over here to the Pagoda". I grumble my way over there (I am still waking up), and he falls on the ground. He pulls out something and shows it to me. It is a ring! He says "Emma, will you" I interrupt him and say "YES!" We get back in the car and I go back to sleep. There is my version of what happened. The song Aaron played was Dreamland by Bunny Wailer Anyway, this July 11 was completely differ

Joel and I spent the whole day on the bike. We did get off here and there, like at home to have lunch and take a nap.. to watch a movie at the theatre, eat dinner, etc. What I mean to say is that we used the bike as our transportation all day. Joel stands in front of the poster for WALL-E; the movie he saw with Aaron this weekend. Joel and I snuggle up to see Night at the Museum. We brought snacks and a blanket. You know how cold those movie theatres are. Joel's mum can be REALLY embarrassing. Our afternoon excursion was to YATS, our favorite restaurant. Joel loves his new sunglasses. Very Beat poet. We come here on a date one night a week when Aaron is working. It is the only place where Joel cleans his plate. I used to share a plate with him, but I was not getting a fair share so I stated buying him his own plate a year ago. We get the chili cheese etoufee with crawfish. Joel orders his own meal. As a reward for not complaining TOO MUCH about my driving, Joel got

Urban decay fascinates me and I have been brainwashing Joel into sharing my appreciation. Other things I have been brainwashing him to believe are that boogers are the glue that sticks your nose on your face,if you get poop on your penis it will fall off, if you don't take naps you stop growing, etc. This is my job and I take it seriously! If everything goes to plan, he will be my most devoted cult member! Joel shows talent as a photographer! Don't mess with the Polish! A large storm hit us last night. Joel clears the path of the tree carnage.

After a couple of hours delay I was reunited with Aaron and Joel.

Toni persuaded me that San Antonio was THE place to go in Texas by hyping up the riverwalk to me. Let me tell you, it is not all hype. Helen said it was like Venice. I think it was more like a cross between Brighton, England and Venice, Italy. Of course, I have never been to Venice. It was like Venice for obvious reasons. It was like Brighton because there were gaudy gewgaws for sale around every corner and lots of amusements and activities for sale or hire. Helen was dazzled by the light sabers. I am surprised she didn't buy one. The riverwalk is the San Antonio river made into a canal, winding through the city. The river is below street level and is like a hidden microcity. I can't think of the word I am looking for. Like the London underground, it is deceiving. Many times Helen and I dipped down the river walk to make a short cut and ended up walking twice as far. It might just have felt like that because it was jam packed with so many people you could hardly