moose and radioactive brownies

monday and tuesday were my days off this week.  last weekend we had a group of about 100 mainers come. when i say mainers, i mean men who have been born and raised in maine, drink coffee by the gallons, wink at you and say "how ya doin this morhnin, deah?" now this is what i grew up with so it just reminded me of how awesome maine really is.

on monday i went with Cathy and kids to another church lady's house to make jam. this was my first experience canning jam. pretty fun for canning jam. plus i got to know some of the church ladies better.

tuesday i was planning on going down to bucksport to get my car but alas, it was not ready. still waiting on a part from south carolina. oh glory, it's going to cost a fortune! so i decided to go scope out the course for my next possible marathon--the sugarloaf marathon. well considering that sugarloaf is a mountain one would expect the course to be quite mountainous. yep. it has quite the gain of elevation. guess its going to be a heck of a lot of hill workouts for me this winter! oh joy!

driving to sugarloaf one must drive south, then west, then north if one wants to stay on the main, paved, well traveled (in maine standards) roads. i got the grand notion to use logging roads on the way back instead of the main roads. i found my trusty, old maine atlas and gazetteer  out and found my way from rte 27 to rte 201 via logging roads. i had to go within a mile of the canadian border then back down across the top of flagstaff lake then across a couple mountains then i would finally hit 201. so i'm driving a long at a good speed of about 35 mph. these roads are generally pretty skinny, pot hole-y, and and curvy. all of a sudden a very large cow moose jumps out of a bush on the left side. her head was heading towards mine and i could see the crazed look in her eyes as she met up with possibly her doom in the shape of a bright red ford f150. at the last possible millisecond she veered to her left and headed down the road as i slammed on my brakes and prayed for the best (not hitting the moose). i was about 20 miles out and that would have been pretty bad. she moved to the front of the car and managed to gallop down the road and head into the ditch on the right. needless to say i was more alert and careful as i managed the next 30 miles to 201. i almost hit a partridge and ran over a tree. but the moose was by far the most exciting. super pretty through there; all the leaves are changing and i was out in the middle of the mountains.

last night i hung out with mason and got the grand idea of making brownies. the ever prepared mason did not have baking soda, baking powder, or a brownie pan. we left out those ingredients and tried making it in a pot. that plan got aborted when we decided to just eat the dough and again the plan was terminated when we had the grand idea of baking with the microwave. that said, they ended up burnt and i'm pretty sure they were radioactive. (still haven't grown an extra limb yet...). when you ate them they fizzled with the consistency of pop rocks and turned rock hard. they ended up getting dumped and we went brownie-less for the night.

soooo all is well in the land of hel. i miss my friends much. i had my passport picture taken and it was by far the second worst picture i have ever had taken. (the first is my second grade yearbook picture. --i had no teeth, my hair is huge, ugly dress, and benjamin franklin glasses). that being said, its time for me to go.

goodnight!

life in the north.

so its time for me to write again. i'm at moose river outpost in moose river, maine (8 miles south of the canadian border). i'm sitting on the deck overlooking the lake. its awesome. its kind of cloudy and it's supposed to rain for the next four days.

i moved in with the Coates family. they have three kids two girls and one boy, ages 4, 2, and 10 months. should be a fun winter :)

my car registration and inspection ran out last month and i was able to register it but not get it inspected. that worthless piece of metal is rusted out on the bottom and at any given moment my car could break and send me flying into the woods! once i get that fixed i'm selling it and buying something that will hopefully get me up the 3mile long driveway in the snow :)

i miss all my friends out at school. it's kinda weird not being there while everyone is back in classes i'm cleaning cabins at camp and welcoming groups from puerto rico to the maine northwood. its okay though, i'm pretty sure this is where God wants me for now. when i have the money i will go back to school and get my degree in environmental science. woo hoo for science people!

i'm applying for my passport! i figure if i live 8 miles from canada i should probably get my passport. plus i think its time i stop hiding in the trunk when i cross the border. :/

anywho, i don't have signal up here usually. once in a while my phone will vibrate for a couple minutes and then i know i've hit a hot spot for signal. it usually only lasts a short time not enough to call anyone :/ so pretty much the only way to get a hold of me is by snail mail, facebook, email, pigeon, or my favorite--smoke signals.  

i'm headin to MAINE!

well i'm off to another adventure!!! God has provided me with a job in northern maine at moose river outpost. i am done with the lab on the 24th and head to maine on the 27th!

today i was kinda freaking out about the job and then all of a sudden it hit me--i wasn't trusting the Lord to provide me with a job. he knew that i really wanted it but i was just not trusting that he would give it to me if he wanted me to have it. also i was freaking out about if i didn't get the job what would i do. i really did not want to stay working at the lab but it was my only other option until i found another job. i was listening to jars of clay, (love them) and one of their songs was on "out of my hands."  i realized that the whole job thing was 'out of my hands' and God knew exactly what was going to happen and i just needed to rest on him.

so today i'm sitting in the lab putting cranberry cuttings in envelopes and i get a call from the director of the camp. short story- i got the job! yay!

i will be working outside and out in the woods in the middle of nowhere! i know this may not sound like everyone's dream job but i love the outdoors and northern maine. its probably my favorite place to be :)

also can i just say that i love being able to go anywhere to get a job. i love not being tied down at all. i know its probably selfish but to be able to go pretty much anywhere and not have to really miss someone is kinda cool. now don't get me wrong i love and miss my family but i think its not the same.

tonight i was packing all my junk up and i realized i have a ton of clothes and junk. i don't know how i'm going to squeeze it all in my car. as long as i can somewhat see out my back window i guess i'm good.

i think i'm going to go to bed now. its not even 10 on a friday night. oh well. dad and dana are coming tomorrow night! :)

good night all.

car sucks. i'm gettin a horse.

i'm on the lookout for a new car now. my car has just been trouble ever since i bought it. it seems like every month something else happens to it.

yesterday i had to go in to cottage grove to go to the grocery store and the hardware store. i stopped at the hardware store to get some soap and a sponge to wash my car. when i got back in my car, it started up but it shook violently. i waited patiently to see if it would stop. sometimes if something is weird with my car i just wait and usually it stops :) well it kept shaking and after about thirty seconds smoke started billowing out of the hood! this is not normal and i kinda started freaking out. i called my dad and asked him what it might be. the nice thing about being a girl is that when you have car trouble you just pop your hood and get a confused look on your face as you're looking in the engine and normally a guy will come help you out :) some random old guy comes walking up and asks me what is wrong. well duh, i have no clue! so i told him it started shaking and smoking. he goes and tells me exactly what is wrong with it and says i probably shouldn't drive it anywhere. lovely. i'm stuck in town and the all the howells are gone for the week. but, i knew there was one person that i could call and that could fix it--Grandpa Merle (holly's grandpa). i got  his number from holly and called him up. thankfully he was able to pick me up and take be me back to the house. aaaand my car is now sitting the the ace hardware store parking lot until i get it towed to the garage.

so that is what happened yesterday.

i'm taking care of gramma this week while the howells are gone. she is something else. she lost her glasses this morning and told me she wanted to slap my booty. heck no she's not slapping my butt! (she has Alzheimers)

i picked 52 cucumbers from the garden this morning! crazy a lot of them! i know what i'll be eating for  the next week! ha! there's also a huge squash down there. but its not ready to be picked yet.

the plan is for me to be heading home around the 27th of this month. i plan on finishing a project at work before i head back so i don't leave in the middle of something. so if it takes longer than that i will be leaving later. i'm planning on going back to maine. i'll head to virginia for  a day or two then going to pennsylvania for a night to see my friend hillary, then heading to the vacation land. i'm excited to get back to sweatshirt weather and a new england fall. it's just too hot for me out here in wisconsin. ridic!

haha some random guy next to me in starbucks has a ringtone and it is definitely a frog croaking.

okay i'm done with this post. going to go take a nap.

tattoo? yes or no

decisions, decisions, decisions.....

this week i had to make a decision whether or not i would be going back to school in the fall. money is an issue and i don't want to take out any more loans. i figure the longer you owe money the longer  you can't do anything fun--in other words i have to have  a good paying job all the time. or live with my parents.

all summer long i have been wondering how i was supposed to pay for school. even though i have a good job i had bills from last semester, car repairs, and i had a couple of trips that i was going on. all i don't have enough for school and i don't forsee any more money coming in than what i had already planned on. now, thats not to say that God can't bring in the money, because i know he can. if he wants me to go to school this year and finish he's going to have to supply the money.

i really wanted to finish school this year. i only have one year left and i'm done. i knew that i probably wasn't going to be able to go back but i had been fighting it all summer. i had my life planned out for the next 3 years and that's exactly how it was going to go.

you would think that i would learn from previous experiences that God is in control of your life. not me. well i didn't and God really got a hold of me this week and pretty much said: you're not going to be able to go to school this semester.

after a while i finally realized that my best option was to sit out and work for a year. i don't think i'll be able to graduate from maranatha because all the classes that i need are only offered every two years.

so the plan for now is (it's always subject to change): sit out a year, work ( i still don't know where), find a cheaper college with a major closest to mine and try to finish up in a  year or year and a half.

my options for where i might be for the next year are:
maine
virginia
california
or
anyplace.

it was really hard for me but i think i've made the right decision. i also would love it if you prayed for me as i try to figure out what exactly God has for me :)

i'm sitting in starbucks with my scarf and chacos writing a post in my blog on my mac. my flight leaves at 4:30 so i left the conference at about 12. the rest of the talks were riddled with evolution and i wanted to make sure i had no chance of missing  my flight :)

so i lost my favorite water bottle. actually i believe someone stole it. (it's got some sweet stickers and it looks pretty steal worthy i guess) this was devastating to because i take that thing everywhere with me. i make sure i have no chance of dehydration because i get super grumpy and snap at people when i am, ergo i have my water bottle attached at the hip at all times. plus it had all my cool stickers on it. mainly my 26.2 sticker. :(well i guess i'll have to get another water bottle and some new stickers. but i got a free bandana from the international plant journal!

okay well that's all for now. maybe i'll post something later. i'm flying out of columbus then going to cleveland then on to madison. i'm hoping i catch my flight in cleveland because i only have 25 minutes in between flights... this could be bad.

botany. botanical. botanist. botanography?

here i am sitting in my hotel room in columbus, ohio for the botany 2012 conference. this places me in the nerd category for ever i believe....

i got to the airport this morning a little bit before 12 and i had to take a taxi to the hotel. i have never taken a taxi before. i think this is because i've lived in a state of about 1 million people and everything is so far away a taxi would be a little ridiculous. so that was a first for me.

when i got to the conference i met up with my boss and he informed me that i was presenting my poster on video at 4. well thanks alot. anyways i quick put together a little presentation and went to go present my poster....it went okay. i did it a couple of times just so i wouldn't be so nervous in the video.

i went to a couple sessions but did not understand them. there were words that would take me 5 minutes to read being thrown around like a white trash crack addict throws the f bomb. crazy smart people there. on the other hand there are plenty of bearded--dreadheaded--chaco-wearing-males there. lol.

right now as i'm writing this my friend sarah is having a baby!!! its going to be a boy. Ethan!!! i'm so excited for her! when i went home to maine the other week i saw her and it was just so unreal that she was having a baby. i've known her since jr. high--the good ol' days. i love her and just wanna let her know that i'm praying for her!!

i don't know what i'm going to do with my life. i think i want to so do missions work overseas. Nepal, Mongolia, Norway, Colombia, Alaska. not quite sure where but i don't think i want to do a regular 9-5 job. it just seems so boring to me.

in two weeks i'm going to albuqurque, nm! i also turn the big 21!

 hahaha i just found this on pinterest. its so true!!! spank your kids and let them lose!! it builds character and teaches them that life isn't fair.

 oh and this gem i found on my desktop. these girls were my roommates for the two semesters of my jr year. pretty much every night was party night.

well i thought this post was a little boring so i figured i could liven it with a couple of random pictures :) hope you enjoyed them.

i'm going to bed now. i need to get up in 5 hrs and 23 minutes. off to another full day of meetings that i don't understand. ehh i'll just get some coffee in me and i'll be fine and dandy.

life for the past couple of weeks

Its like Wisconsin slid down to the equator its so hot!!!!!  Today at 5:30 when I was driving home from work the bank said it was 105!! Crazy!! It makes me miss summers in Maine when a HOT day is 85 J. O well we can’t all ways have what we want.

Last weekend I was able to go to Maine. I flew into Portland at 11:30 pm and my brother, Mason, picked me up. Instead of driving all the way back to Jackman that night we stayed at his friend’s apartment in Freeport. By the time we got there it was 1:30am and neither of us had been to the said apartment. But we knew the general area of where it was…..this caused us to search multiple apartment complexes, go up  creepy attic stairs, and roam main street. Eventually we found it.

Thursday we drove up to Jackman, stopping in Madison so mason could surf the Madison Wave. We got up to Windfall (the rafting company that Mason works for) around 2 and everyone was going to kayak the Moose River. So I duckied the Moose River. Everyone tells me they are impossible to flip. But I know otherwise…haha.

Both Friday and Saturday I went rafting. Saturday I got hit on by a gross perverted bachelor party. Ew.

Sunday I went to the good ol’ Bucksport church and saw everyone and their mom. I was supposed to fly out of Portland at 7 that night but the plan never came so I had to wait for the next flight to Detroit…which was Monday morning : ) so that meant I was supposed to spend the night in the airport. I went and bought a runner’s world magazine and I had a protein bar and free wifi so I was good for the night. I found a nice smelly hairy couch and claimed it as my own so no other hobos would come and sleep next to me. A few minutes later my friend Mike messaged me on facebook and told me that I could stay at his friend’s apartment for the night. He came and brought me to said apartment where I watched bridesmaids—super trashy movie—and fell asleep. Monday morning he came and picked me up at 5 freakin 20 and I went to the Portland airport and was on my way to Detroit.

In Detroit the plane was delayed for 5 hrs because of ‘lavatory difficulties’ in other words someone clogged the toilet. Finally I left Detroit and made my way back to the scorching hot almost desert of Wisconsin.

This week I worked for three days. July 4^th was fun. I went canoeing with Steph and Tim, her aunt and uncle, Rachel, and Morgan. I then came back to the house and watched part of the traditional 4^th of July Twilight Zone marathon. I burned the tip top of my thighs…the part that never ever sees the sun. they got so burn’t they kinda got this purplish tint to them….its scary lookin and kills like the dickens.

Today I got my first parking ticket ever. I park in the visitors parking at an apartment complex then take the bus from there to where I work. Apparently I can’t do that. Its dumb cuz I’ve been parking there ever since last September.

My horn on my car is super touchy right now. Haha. If you just touch it, it will go off. Sometimes it goes off and then I feel like one of those fat people when they get out of their car and their fat attacks the horn. Lol.

I’m getting ready for the Botany Conference that I am going to on Monday. I have a poster that I’m supposed to present so I have to know pretty much everything about cranberries.

Well this is all I have today. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow. My friend told me I should write more so I think I will try :)

run!!!

I RAN MY FIRST MARATHON ON SATURDAY!!!!!! oh my goodness, the feeling of coming across the finish line is so amazing!


last thursday after i got out of work at 7:30 my friend, trisha, picked me up and we went the kibler's house for the night since it's on the way. we definitely only got 6 hrs of sleep...probably not the best 2 nights before a marathon. :) we got up at 6:30 and went for a little run and then went 4wheeling with jake and rachel. (steph had to work). mrs kibler made us an awesome breakfast of bacon and french toast. and then we were on our way north.

i'm terrible at giving directions but if you give me a map i can read it like it's no one's business. thankfully we had a gps so trisha knew where to go :) we got to betsy's house around 11:30 and had lunch with her family.  by this time i was starting to get a little bit nervous because it was actually starting to hit me that i was running the next day. after lunch we left for duluth.

big manitou falls

i saw a huge moose with ginormo antlers. when we got to duluth we went and picked up our race packets with our bibs and all the jazz that they give you. while picking up our packets i got a nice 26.2 sticker to put on my car so i can be part of the cool crowd. i also spent way too much on a few ballin headbands. me and trish decided that we needed dinner so we stopped at walmart and got some carbs. pasta salad, sub, pita crackers, and healthy cookies. oh and a banana. we ate dinner at some white trash park and then headed to betsy's brother's inlaws house. on the way there i spied some white water and told trish to stop. we found this amazingly cool waterfall!

race morning:

!!! before the race!!!

4 freakin o clock. thats when we were supposed to get up. i got up at 4:27. then left the house by 4:45. we had to get to the finish of the race to get shuttled up to the start. we took the train which took us about an hour and a half. plenty of time to realize you have to go the bathroom super bad and get really nervous. when we finally got to the start me and trish went and waited for the porta potties. let me tell you, there is nothing like a line of 100 porta potties with 8000+ nervous runners... we didn't cross the starting line until 8 minutes after the clock started because there were so many runners. it was so cool to look down the road and just see a mass of people.

the weather was around 65 and cloudy. we were running right on lake superior so the breeze off the water was cool. it was humid but it wasn't hot so it was pretty near perfect.

finished!!! it took a while to get up on that rock. lol. we were so sore!

for the first 7-8 miles i was keeping my pace right at a 10:45 pace. then at mile 8 my stomach cramped up super bad. it felt like someone was stabbing a knife into my stomach right under my ribs. not cool. so for the next three miles i had to walk for most of it. i finally found that if i ran for 2 minutes and walked for 3 i could keep my pace at a 12:30 mile so thats what i did for the rest of the race. i got serenaded by a man playing a tuba. he ran beside me and played 'you are my sunshine.' hahaha. the last three miles it started raining. crossing the finish line was an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

so some lessons i learned from running a marathon:

1. follow your training schedule no matter how little your motivation is. its gonna pay off.
2. hold your breath while going past the porta potties.
3. run your own race.
4. no matter how overweight or old you are you can still run. you don't have an excuse.
5. mocha flavored energy gel is disgusting.
6. don't think you can camp the night after you run.
7. you will be incredibly sore the next morning.  you will walk like someone who has a fake hip and a walker...you'll probably want a walker. :)
8. even though you look like crap you still get hit on by drunk men.
9. hot tubs feel amazing.
10. when you cross the finish and see your time you'll want to do it again to make it better.

me and trish with our medals and tshirts :)

 

sometimes i just have nothing to write about...this is one of them :)

 Well I guess it’s about time for me to post a new post. Not much has happened since my last one.

Last week I worked in the cranberry marshes in northern Wisconsin. I spread pheromone throughout the beds in order to disrupt the male mating cycles. By spreading this the male moths follow what they think is the female moth but is actually a blob of wax about the size of a gumball. I had to spread this “Splat” (that’s what they call it) throughout 30+ acres of cranberries—all with a caulking gun. I’m pretty much a pro with a caulk gun. Yeah….

I got super tan though, and my Chaco tan is pretty ballin.

Memorial Day Weekend. Absolutely loved having a 3 day weekend. And I definitely didn’t want to go back to work! Sunday I went canoeing with friends from school. Lack of water, food, too much heat, and very shallow water made everyone kind of grumpy… But other than that it was a good time. I love canoeing so despite the grumpiness of everyone I had fun :) 

I gambled with my gas tank this week. Since my gas gauge does not work I really never know how much is in there. Normally I go about 180 miles until I fill up again—definitely went 360 miles. Ha! I think I was running on just about empty. No worries, I didn’t run out.

I absolutely love those runs that you can just smile the whole way. Those are by far the most refreshing ones. Last night I ran an awesome 5.5-mile run. There is nothing like a good run to make a bad day better.

And yet once again this is another super boring post. Next post will be better I promise!! I’ll make something crazy up to make it more interesting.

Well I need to go read about Moses and the Israelites (I’m reading through Exodus for my devos) and then go to bed so I can get up and run 4 miles at 5:30.

Good Night.

Definitely never posted this and now its morning. So Good Morning! Hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day!

my God is an awesome God.

It just amazes me how God knows exactly what you need when you need it. It also is so cool that when you are right where God wants you he’s going to provide for you and give you a family away from your own.

This morning at church after I was done playing for the Spanish church, I was going upstairs when one of the ladies followed me and proceeded to hand me a $20 bill “para gasolina.” I knew I wasn’t going to have enough money for gas until I got paid again but I hadn’t prayed about it or anything. I think God does things like this to remind us that He is in control and to bring us back to the place where we are daily putting our trust in Him.

Also I love Sundays. I especially love my church. God has placed me in Grace Baptist Church and given me an amazing church family. I’m so thankful for them. I don’t know how people manage to live without any hope or God in their lives. It baffles my mind that people are so lost and have no clue what they are doing by rejecting Christ.

One thing we talked about in Sunday School was the question of  “Who am I?” and what defines you. Well this is my definition of who I am:

            I am a sinner           

            I am saved by grace

            I am a child of the King of Kings

            I have been given a robe of righteousness

            I have a home in heaven

            I have a heavenly father who loves me more than I could ever imagine

I think that God gives us personality traits and certain likes and dislikes, but the real you is your integrity and how you react and respond to certain situations, your goals in life, and your outlook and attitude on life. Your relationship with Christ will define you for who you really are. 

God. Is. So. Good. All. The. Time.

Jesus, friend of sinners.

i'm at work right now and i'm waiting for some tissue samples to get done incubating in the freezer. sooo.....i've got 20 minutes of time to write a wee little post.

the marathon is one month from yesterday! so close!! first thing after i get done is go and get a massage and a pedicure.

okay......

i really miss my friends and it is kinda hard knowing that all my friends from home are back from school and hanging out like always. ehh, i'll get over it and pretty soon i'll be so busy that i won't even notice that i'm homesick :)

this friday i'm going thrifting. i'm in dire need of some shorts and summer clothes. jeans and long sleeves just aren't going to cut it for this summer. maybe if i was in alaska, but not wisconsin.

i heard a song by Casting Crowns yesterday and really thought the lyrics were well put.

"Jesus Friend of sinners we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to
swing
Jesus friend of sinners the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided

Oh Jesus friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus friend of sinners break our hearts for what breaks yours"

it kinda just whipped me in the face cuz there are so many times when i want to reach others for Christ but i judge people too much. its something i've got to work on.

my eye looks like that of a druggie. no i'm not a druggie. my contacts are old and i've been using different cleaning solution than normal. i'll be glad when that clears up!

well. i think i should go. i've got to make sure i know the next step in extracting the dna from cranberry leaves. :)

i think that just labels me as a nerd.

random fact of the day:
The US has about 9 billion chickens. China has more than 13 billion.
well that's a lot of chickens!

today was the first day i slept in to 9!! crazy! that never happens. ever. i think it has something to do with the fact that my room is super dark. one thing i love about summer is that i can go to bed whenever i want. i've been getting my much needed 8 hrs of sleep (as opposed to the 5 i had for the past three months) and it is glorious!

i had to be at work today at 12 to help out with a cranberry outreach dealio. it is part of the science expeditions at the university. so i drove my butt to work and helped little kids and crazy hippie ladies plant cranberries and make mothers day cards with cranberry stamps.

i knew i still had to run  my 18 miles and was not exactly looking forward to it so i got some coffee (black of course) and went to walgreens to by mi madre a mothers day card. its fun and sassy just like me :) i started my run at 4:30 and the first 11 were great. the last 7 were rough. now my feet hurt like the dickens. running on the back roads of central wisconsin and the glacial drumlin trail ensures many animal sightings. about 30 chipmunks, a hawk, multiple geese, 2 deer, 1 butt ugly possum, a rabbit, and many people riding their bikes. props to those who were a lil  bit on the larger side getting out doing exercise!

oh! i have decided that i am going to start my own greenhouse. this is because too many people ask me what i am going to do with and environmental science degree. i can start my own business and grow plants in the winter. perfect. :) and i can have fresh vegetables all year long.

well this is an ode to an uneventful day. hopefully my days get more interesting or anyone who reads this will be incredibly bored. blah blah blah. okay. goodnight.

Mrs Ready went home to be with Jesus last Sunday. She was my volleyball coach in highschool  and a great friend. I will most definitely miss her.

KAREN M. (MOORE) READY

VERONA ISLAND - Karen M. (Moore) Ready, 57, went to the arms of her Lord and Savior Sunday, May 6, 2012, with her loving family by her side at her home. She was born June 9, 1954, in Lewiston, the daughter of Maureen (Martin) Moore. Karen served our country in the Army Reserves. She was known for her strong work ethic and immense love of family. Karen enjoyed children, she was not happy with a quiet house, she enjoyed laughter and noise. She enjoyed her time in the outdoors; fishing, camping with family at Duck Lake, and working around the home both inside and out. Karen found a great comfort in playing, coaching and umpiring softball and was a lifelong Red Sox fan. She is survived by her beloved husband, John W. Ready Jr.; her mother, Maureen Moore; three children, Jennifer Ready, Kara (Ready) Staples and husband, Brian, and their children, her grandchildren, Kristin "Princess" Staples and Jenna "Bean" Staples, and her son, Austin Patrick Ready; and one son-in-law, Patrick Lessard. She is also survived by her siblings; Kevin Moore and wife, Brenda, Cecil Moore, Angus "Andy" Moore and significant other, Tisha Smith, Eric Moore and wife, Corinne, Kelly Moore and significant other, Rickey St. Louis, and Morgan Moore and wife, Renee; brothers-in-law, Ronald Ready and wife, Sheila, Daniel Ready and wife, Wendy; sister-in-law, Roberta (Ready) Bubar and husband, Donald; as well as many beloved aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and friends. Karen was predeceased by one daughter, Kristin (Ready) Lessard; mother-in-law and father-in-law, John W. Ready Sr. and Adeline (Braley) Ready; and two close friends, Lori LeClerc and Maddy Cole. Family and friends will gather for visitation 2 p.m. until the time of service 3 p.m. Saturday, May 12, at Evangel Baptist Church, 16 Central St., Bucksport, with Pastor Michael Donato officiating. Committal will be after the service at Silver Lake Cemetery. A reception will be held at the church after the service and committal. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Karen's memory may be made to Susan G. Komen for the Cure , attention: Donor Services, P.O. Box 650309, Dallas, TX 75265-0309. Arrangements are under the direction of Mitchell-Tweedie Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 28 Elm St., Bucksport.
Taken from the Bangor Daily News

Mrs. Cedarholm and Sho Baraka

Well I’ve started work back up again. Today I extracted DNA from cranberry leaves. Tomorrow I’m in the greenhouse!

I think I have found my new favorite artist. Lecrae. If I can marry a man with his views on life and God, that will be amazing! :) Also I found what should be my school’s (maranatha) new theme song. Mrs. Cedarholm would be doing back flips in her grave if she heard this one! 

Here are the lyrics to the real school song—

Maranatha”, He cometh! Behold in the sky,
A SHOUT! a VOICE, the TRUMP OF GOD! Our Lord is drawing nigh!
Believe Him, receive Him, look up and thou shalt be
TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY with Him eternally!

And here are the lyrics to the song Maranatha by Sho Baraka (you have to rap it to get the right effect)

“We await the return of the rock, the world will get rocked/
Pray you see this ain’t a game stop passing the rock/
He holds the top stop but he's still getting mocked/
When he cracks the sky all that mocking gon' stop/
This is just some theme music like rock n' roll-a little something, something when he rocks the globe/
You think your on top he'll rock your role- he aint Lee Jerkins but he'll rock ya soul/
Yeah he took many lashes and took the blows-wore the crown of thorns and rocked the robe/
Even took the cross and struck a pose- he knew on the third day he'll roll the stone/
Then I saw something I never saw before-high and exalted I saw the LORD/
Then I wrote a song about how I saw the LORD tried to tell everybody that I saw the LORD/
Look to the heavens it's a bird in the sky-look a little closer it's the LORD on high/
Lord and King on his robe and thigh-get your passport cuz the LORD's so fly/
Whether it's the Rapture or second flood-think about this for a second cuz/
Think about this for a second cuz-you sure you want to square up with the LORD above/
No cuz we see the end , no we gon' win trying not to sin live off his word and oxygen/
Until he comes back we're building up the church for him/

All my people on the left, all my people on the right
From the front to the back shout it loud all night
Maranatha (Come and get me) 

To all my people on the right, all my people on the left
From the back to the front, shout it loud to your death
Maranatha (Come and get me)”

I heard this song at work today and I had to laugh! 

Well I need to go to bed so I can get up and run 5 miles before work. I've got a 20 miler on Saturday!! Thankfully Holly's biking it with me. Thanks Holly!  

Good Night All!!!  

stuck brakes and 49 cent tacos

big haps in the life of helen:

i hate creamer in my coffee. i love it black.

also my car is a mess right now. i have an eggplant purple ford taurus whose name is ivan. his right front brake gets stuck and smells like burnt rubber. this causes me to get very bad gas mileage which is bad for me because my gas gauge does not work. i ran out of gas the other night; thankfully i have an extra two gallon gas tank in my trunk. no chance of being raped by someone who says they'll get me gas! :) thanks to my dad for thinking about that!

right now i'm chillin with my bestie, holly in a coffee shop in h2o-town. she is my hippie friend. we're going to get 49 cent tacos and go on a picnic. 

the alpha, which would be the first post by helen renee.

hi! this is my first blog and i'm kinda excited about it :) for my first post i'll just give you a lil bit about myself.

 we obviously are an outdoorsy kind of family.

i have a family of 4 brothers, 1 sister, and of course a mom and dad. it is never dull in my house. 


i have lived in maine my entire life. so mountains, the ocean, and moose are all very dear to my heart. three years ago when i first came to wisconsin i thought i would never like it. ever. it was so flat and there were not enough trees. well, God obviously wants me out here because he has changed how i view wisconsin. it is a very beautiful state. farms, fields, and good ol' ghetto milwaukee.

schoodic point looking towards cadillac mt. in acadia national park. pretty much  maine in a nutshell.

i turn the big 21 this summer and i'm on my own, as in i don't live with my family anymore. i was blessed to get a job at the university of wisconsin-madison on a research team for cranberries. yeah i know you're probably like, "cranberries?! what....?" well i am studying environmental science at maranatha baptist bible college and i thought it would be a good opportunity and look great on a resume. i also will be nannying three awesome kids. between these two jobs (60 hrs a week) i will be kept very busy. that's okay, i won't have time to get homesick or get in trouble.
june 16th is my first marathon. grandma's marathon in duluth, minnesota. let me tell you, it's going to be nice to be done with 18 mile long runs!

in july i plan on going on a missions trip with my church to el paso, texas and a navajo indian reservation in new mexico. i can't wait! it will be my first missions trip ever. hopefully not my last.


 i love my Savior, Jesus Christ. when i was ten i accepted Him into my heart. got baptized at twelve. at seventeen i was really doubting my salvation and then realized that Christ did everything for me on the cross of calvary; i didn't have to worry if i said the wrong words, God knew my heart. since Christ died for me, i only have one option and that is to live for him. i believe that God has a plan for me. i'm not quite sure what that is for the reset of my life, but right now i'm content with the job and life that he has given me and until he tells me to go somewhere else--here i am to stay :) i attend an amazing church, Grace Baptist Church, in madison, wisconsin; i play the piano for the spanish church--and absolutely love it!

i love to run, snowboard, crochet, flea market shop, chacos, dreads, and black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt. someday i will go to nepal.