Little Sous Chef

Peek-a-boo

Outman and Outfan

That's how to beat the Illini in the season opener. Once again Illinois lost to Mizzou at the Dome, but I was glad we got a chance to attend. Thanks Chelsea for such awesome tickets!! Mizzou is definitely a good football team and the fans sure showed up for them. They had us about 3:1. We did manage to get some good shots though. The biggest disappointment was not getting to see Chief Illiniwek perform. Oh, and Mizzou may have a better football team, but we definitely have a better Marching Band-- and isn't that what really matters!!?? And, yes, he caught the pass!! (The first photo is a different play.)

Straight Talk Express

I dragged Mike and the kids out to a McCain rally in O'Fallon several weeks back. Awesome, but very hot and sticky. The worst part was that we tried to beat the rush to get out, but no such luck. All the gates were closed off with security until the guests of honor left. We were stuck in hot tunnel of people for probably 45 minutes. Is there some law against that? Anyway, it was cool nonetheless.

Did You Miss Us?

Yes, God has once again answered our prayers for a new computer. We are very, very thankful and humbled as the money came in a very unexpected way. I will try to update you on all we have been doing. Let's see... where to begin.

Blog Break

Life from Cardinal Nation will be taking a blog break until we get some computer issues addressed. This may take some time so we will email you once new posts begin.

Grammy R is so busted!

Carlie and I were having a conversation yesterday about who knows what. She changed the subject and asked me and I quote, "When are you going to give me money for playing with Noah while you made dinner yesterday?" I said, "Why would I pay you money for playing with your brother? You love him and love spending time with him." She then came back with... "Well, Grammy Rodgers gave Caroline money to play with us while she (Grammy R.) made dinner." She's a little shakedown artist. I just laughed and changed the subject. Kids say the darndest things.

Saying Goodbye

Last night we had dinner with our friends, A.C., Perrin, and Lia, to say goodbye as they are leaving town early this morning to begin their move to Sweden. We will miss them and hope to get over there to visit.

KD Anniversary Event

Several weeks ago I attended the 75th Anniversary Event for the St. Louis Alumnae Association of Kappa Delta. It was a fun look at KD through the years, and I just wanted to share one of many stories told that day. It was by Ruth May, who also attended Univ. of Illinois, and it was really cool to hear her talk about what it was like back in the early 1940's. I begged her to give me her speech so I could post for others to hear. I realize it is a little long but definitely well worth the read. Ruth is a great lady and we always make it a point to talk Illini sports at our monthly meetings. So, hear is her story...

I'm supposed to tell you what it was like being a Kappa Delta in the olden days. I started the University of Illinois in the fall of 1938, 70 years ago, but I didn't sign up for formal rush. Instead my focus was on settling into college while living in an independent house and considering rush later. Independents on our campus were very strong, but Greeks were strong also. Illinois had 54 fraternities and 21 sororities. That translates into about 2.5 fraternity men to 1 sorority girl, but who wants 1/2 man?

You might find this funny, but these were the days before laundromats. We mailed our dirty laundry home to our mothers. We always hoped that the laundry case would return with a package of homemade cookies or candy nestled among the clean clothes. I remember that during exams, Ruthie Guthier gave me cookies her mother had just sent in her laundry case. I thought they were the most heavenly cookies I'd ever eaten. Everyone makes them now- shortbread balls rolled in powdered sugar. Her mother sent her the recipe and to this day I have Ruthie's recipe card in her careful neat printing.

We were both Ruthies- if it was possible to add "ie" to our names, we did so- several Ruthies and Barbies and Dotties, Jeanies, Bobbies, and Vickies. Those were the days of panty raids. And of serenades- late at night after hours, in honor of a girl who had just been pinned by the guy's fraternity. We all gathered to hear and applaud them.

Those were also the days before cars were allowed on campus or in town. We walked to and from classes on a sprawling campus. Our house was fairly far out so we really walked! I thought I'd become hunchbacked from all that walking while carrying a load of books. These were the days before backpacks also.

I know some of you have heard about how I met my Bill. After the Homecoming football game in October, fraternity pledges were invited to an open house to meet our pledges. My junior year, there was an electrical storm and the power went out. Our housemother sent me upstairs for candles. As I came down the steps with one of the candles burning to light my way, I could hear pounding on the door. I answered it to a group of guys. They dispersed to find food and drink and girls. I mostly talked to Bill. He asked me for a Coke date and, because he was in engineering labs almost all day, we had to make it for 1 o'clock in the afternoon. I remember telling my roommate that because of the dim lighting, and because I was too vain to wear my glasses, I wasn't sure if I'd recognize him when he came to pick me up. She assured me that NO ONE would have a date in the afternoon- and she was right. For years afterward, Bill would give me a candle to commemorate our meeting.

The KD house at Illinois had an unheated sleeping porch. I mean it was frigid! We'd run and dive into bed and under the covers, and were unbelievably sexy in baggy flannel pajamas- and sometimes head scarves. My junior year, two Kd's were tapped by Mortar Board for outstanding campus activities. In those days, Mortar Boards were women only. Obviously things have changed because now Mortar Board includes guys.

A day I'll never forget is a day in December of my senior year. The guys were to come to our sweetheart dinner on the Sunday after our Christmas formal the night before. Early Sunday morning, we heard the news of Pearl Harbor. You can imagine the gloom of that day. Even though I was supposed to spend Sunday afternoon translating Latin, I decided that in the scheme of things, Cicero was not very important.

While many of the younger guys left school at semester to join up, most of the senior men were able to stay to graduate, but then immediately went into the service instead of starting new careers. Bill graduated, was commissioned and served in North Africa and Italy. And not just MEN dropped out. In some cases, our girls left school as well because brothers, and even fathers, would be shipping out and they were needed at home. It was really a momentous time in our lives. Like everyone else at that time our whole world was changing.

During the war years, we were all doing things like knitting socks for the servicemen. When I took my knitting home at Christmas, my mom took pity on my efforts and knit them for me. I never did learn to knit.

Because many girls were leaving due to the war, the KD house was left with a shortage of potential officer candidates. I am indebted to KD for offering me a scholarship to return for a 5th year and serve as chapter president while working on my masters- something I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

That year I was coming down with strep throat as a national officer came to visit the chapter. The minute she left, they shipped me over to the campus hospital just across the street. My hospital roommate- not very sick at all- was entertaining several boyfriends. I felt so rotten, I didn't care if I died, but before I died I plotted to strangle the whole group of them! By the way, those were the days before penicillin, but somehow I lived.

In college Kappa Delta, I made lasting friendships. I've been lucky enough to maintain some of those to this day. And of course I've had the experience of being part of our great alum group celebrating 75 years. Kappa Delta has truly been a special part of my life.

Ruth's display board with college memorabilia.

Ruth and me.

Happy Birthday, America!

To celebrate we went to the Riverfest in St. Charles, Missouri. They had a parade in the morning which the kids really got in to. The fact that the people on the floats were throwing candy was a huge surprise and big bonus. Tonight we plan to go to the fireworks at Frontier Park in St. Charles so the kids are taking longer naps this afternoon.

Month in Review

Due to an ever-shrinking amount of hard drive space on our computer, it is becoming increasingly difficult to upload pictures and thus put anything on the blog without deleting things first. (Our computer does not have the capability to write pictures to a CD. We are currently saving for a new one because Dave Ramsey would kill us if we put one on credit.) Here is a collage glimpse of what we have done in the last month.

Strawberry Picking. Butterfly House. Both Grammies and Pawpaws visits. Father's Day. Parks. That pretty much sums it up, I think.

Ray Charles aint got nothin on me.

All Boy

We were playing outside the other day when Noah decided to just plop down in the landscaping and explore. He managed to get dirt all over himself, including his hair. I must say he did seem to enjoy himself an awful lot as you can tell from the photos.

Alaska Cruise Day 1

This first day was just at sea. We got dressed up for dinner, and the kids looked cute. Too bad the dinner took WAY too long-- it was hard for me to sit there 2.5 hours! The landscape shot is actually Canadian mountains on our way up the Inside Passage.

Back from Vacay

We're back from our wonderful adventure in Alaska. As you can imagine I am quite busy getting laundry done (just mine and Mike's as Grammy did the kids' laundry and ironing already-- thank you thank you). I am starting to upload pictures so I will try to have some up tomorrow. The kids rode back to Evansville with Grammy and Pawpaw because we will be there for the weekend celebrating Matthew's high school graduation. It is nice to have some time to get things done, but I keep wondering when the kids are going to pop up and ask me something. Very weird not having them here. I already miss them. :-)

Mischief

Since being taught by a certain Pawpaw how to turn the lights on and off, Noah now does this all the time throughout the day. I will go around and shut them off, and he follows me around turning them on again. This is very annoying. He likes to fiddle with the switch by the basement and has now started to climb on the gate to get to it. Carlie says we need to take him to the Monkey House at the zoo.

Don't Rock the Ark

Carlie had her Spring Program at school a week ago Friday. It was called Don't Rock the Ark. We had been practicing the songs in the car with the CD the school gave us. There were only 4 songs they had to learn so it would play over and over and over and over again while we were driving places. Boy, was I glad to return that CD to the school. Of course, as many times as I heard those songs, I still don't know the words. Naturally, Carlie sings the songs around the house so when I join in she says, "That's not how it goes, Mom." In case you can't figure it out, she was a lion.

These boys got into an argument over whose turn it was to say the lines and what they were supposed to say. It was funny.

The Finale

The Resemblance is Uncanny

Carlie is going through her Ariel stage this week. So, Noah's name for now is Flounder. She always says to him "Flounder, you're such a guppy!!" It's quite funny.

Rain Out

Go figure- yesterday's opening day was a wash. The Cards were leading 5-1 in the top of the 3rd under dreary skies when the heavens opened up and blessed us with what seemed like another 10 inches of rain. I wasn't there, good thing. The game has now been rescheduled for this evening, but I won't be watching because American Idol is on. Here is today's installment of Name That Cardinal...



Answers: Cesar Izturis and Aaron Miles