Song of Solomon new and improved

overheard and printed with permission:

(Side note: Ladies, do you ever notice that goatee's tend to trap odd smells? Or maybe it's just the south... or maybe my overactive sense of smell... anyway)

R: (sniff, sniff) "Your goatee smells like dog food."
D: "Ahhhhh, straight out of Song of Solomon... My love arrives. He stands at the door. His is covered in nard and his goatee smells like dog food."


I hope it's still funny. I nearly died laughing. Literally cause I started choking. But maybe you had to be there.

Five Years

I'm sure the current rate of blogging won't continue very long, but here I am again. What I'd really like right now is to have this thoughtful and beautifully written tribute to my mom to share. But I don't feel like I have that at all. All I have is some random thoughts and emotions that have been buzzing around for awhile in my head. More like a messed up hodge podge of stuff. I can't believe it's been 5 years today since she went "home." I remember the details of that day better than if it was yesterday, but at the same time, in some ways it feels like 50 years since I've been able to sit and talk with Mom. Time does make some things feel better, but at the same time, it makes some things more difficult. The feeling that she's just getting farther and father away and at times that makes me miss her more and more. I think I've thought about her and missed her more in the past year because I've wanted her to be able to meet Dave and know who he is. I'd love to talk to her about marriage stuff and how the first year is going. So anyway, I feel sort of at a loss for eloquent words this time around. I feel like I should say something super spiritual about all the peace I have and how I'm glad she's in a better place. But that's not what feels sincere right now either. Today I just really miss her and wish she was here. I'm happy for all the great memories and sad for the ones I wish I could change. I treasure her prayers for me and how often she prayed with and for me growing up. Dave mentioned Mom's prayers for him on his blog and he's right. I know she prayed all the time for the person I would marry eventually. I truly was blessed to have her as my mom and daily I feel blessed that God answered her prayers and gave me Dave - the most caring and kind hubby around!

quick update....

Well, the weekend was .... interesting. Friday night I was wondering what I got myself into, but Saturday turned out to be profitable. And I definitely expanded my social circle. While I do want to get my wedding pics done by this summer, I have to keep telling myself not to worry about not setting any speed records. They are wedding pictures, after all! The main thing is to get organized and get the ball rolling. I also have to constantly tell myself that even though they are wedding pics, not every page has to be a frameable work of art for pete's sake! And not to stress about all the details like not all the reds matching right and bla bla bla. Anyway, with that all said, I think I did about 10 pages total in the wedding book. I'm not really worrying at this point about doing them in order either - the head cheese was helpful about that. She said to just start wherever and you can always rearrange them the way you want. The worst thing that would happen is you have one page to fill up if you get done one section before running into the next one that you already started. Filling one page can be done in a million ways. So that was freeing and I started with the most fun ones -the outside ones we took at the park. = ) Anyway, the ladies (and Dave) all gushed over them. I'm happy with some of them, and not as happy with others. ah well, my standards are just too high when it comes to certain things I guess. I'm maybe post some pics when the computer's healed.

Poor Dave just got over a nasty cold and last night was attacked by some odd stomach bug. He's been lying around and sleeping a lot and is quite warmish today.

Oh my, on Friday something happened that hit me so funny. I'm sure it's not nearly so funny anymore reading it and all, but I'll just tell you about it. I usually spend the last hour or 2 of the day as the only one in the office. Such was the case on Friday. You know that feeling (happens to me a lot) when you just know for sure that ever one else in the world just KNOWS this piece of info and somehow, flewf, it went flying right over your head? So I'm sitting in peace and quiet in the office when this bouncy bubbly lady popped her head in and asked, "GOT ANY IDEA IF THERE'S A FLAT DOLLY AROUND HERE I COULD BORROW?" um.. er... well... um.... check ... ummm... On the one hand I feel dumb because I have NO idea what on God's green earth a flat dolly is, but on the other hand it just struck me very very funny, because what sort of a name is that and um, bring me a dolly and I could think of several ways to flatten it for you. So I'm sorta staring at her and and trying to say that I have no idea what she's talking about and trying not to die laughing at the same time, and then she goes, AH HA! There it is!! Viola! A flat dolly! I had no idea! Sorta like a dumb waiter, only bigger, flatter, and on wheels.

having nothing to do at work has a few perks...

Hello all. I've been meaning to blog for quite some time, but it never seems to get done in the evening. So, where to start? Life is looking pretty good right now. Maybe that's because it's Friday. My job continues to me a little, um... low key, shall we say? I made my first contact with a client this morning, after working for 3 weeks. Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won't bore you. They are paying me, so it could be much worse. AND... drum roll please... I HAVE BUSINESS CARDS! I don't have anyone to give them to, but I have business cards! WHOOO HOOOO!!! That was really the only reason I went to college - the dream of someday working at a job where I would have business cards. Come to think of it, it would have been a lot cheaper and a lot less work to just print some off the Internet. ah well, hindsight's 20/20, so they say. Last week I went to Wendy's for lunch. As I was walking away from the counter with my tray, my large water and small frosty lept off the tray and went crashing to the floor. Thankfully, the frosty was fine, but the water and ice made a big mess all over the floor. I walked on and felt bad. Then I was eating my salad and the fork broke. That's right. That's never happened to me before. As I sat eating my salad with a very mini pitchfork (it probably looked to others like I was using my hands - the thing was so small) and watching the workers clean up my mess, I sighed inwardly... at least I have business cards.

A week ago tonight Dave and I had a little date night. You might think people without no kids have no use for those, but it's not true. He was so busy all that week with homework that it seemed as though we had no time to talk at all. So it was lovely - Fridays are the best thing ever. We went to an Indian restaurant with money sent to us from Neilsons TV ratings. haha. They sent us this survey awhile ago with 2 bucks and asked us to fill it out and send it in. Easy enough. So eventually I got the thing sent in, and THEN, they sent us a diary to keep track of our TV viewing for a week, AND 30 bucks! Dave was all over that one, writing each thing down very meticulously - we're hoping $100 falls out of the next envelope. But anyway, so we went to this Indian restaurant which was SO good, but spicy and I'm a big chicken when it comes to spicy. But the best naan ever. If I was as amazing as Robyn, I'd make my own. Anyhoo... I was again amused by some of our differences. I cannot filter out external stimuli. I just cannot do it. It drives me nuts at times and other times, it just makes me feel very informed, because I always know what's going on around me, or nearly always anyway. As much as I am like that, Dave is extreme at the other end of the spectrum. If he is focusing on something, like school work for instance, there are times I'm pretty sure I could burst into flames and he wouldn't notice. So we're trying to have a nice dinner together and all I'm hearing is this loud (slightly obnoxious) girl at the next table! I told Dave that she has her masters degree in English and lost 3 pounds last week without even exercising, and he wasn't even aware that a loud girl existed. There was also talk about thesis topics and something I believe having to do with religious freedom in 19th century Chile. I'm pretty sure that's what it was, but then you'd never know if I was wrong anyway. So that was Friday night. It was fun.

This week we have been somewhat successful at keeping the house clean as we go along, rather than letting everything pile up and having to spend hours cleaning on the weekend, which is what happened the last 2 weeks. Today, I'm happy to report that the house looks lived in, but not trashed. Which makes me excited because.... another drum roll please... I'm going scrapbooking this weekend!!! I'm so excited! It's sort of a boring story how it all came about. I've never met anyone that I'll be scrapbooking with, which is a tad unnerving for me, but I'm so ready to get going on our wedding pictures and really need a jump start. I have been getting e-mails from a Creative Memories consultant (from several of them actually) since I wrote and asked her about a book. Wednesday I got this e-mail about is fun filled scrapbooking weekend she was having this weekend at a hotel near by. I had skimmed it and thought wow, looks like fun, but it'd never work. But then yesterday I read it in more detail and was practically drooling. But I still thought, no, it's not a practical thing to do right now and my buttercup wouldn't want me to leave him and we shouldn't spend money on that... bla bla bla. I just casually mentioned it to Dave last night and he really thought I should go!? huh? He's ready for me to start on the wedding pics. And maybe he wants some video game time too? But seriously, how sweet is that? He's happy for me to have some time to hang out with females (unless it's a male scrapbooking club, but I would be a bit suspicious of such a thing). So anyway, I printed off some pictures (which took an hour longer than it should have at CVS - very annoying!) and started getting my stuff together just in case it worked out to go. I sent the lady an e-mail and she didn't answer till this morning. So I talked to her on the phone this morning and she said that they moved it to her place since there weren't many people, so that makes it even better! Less people, still all the "free" stuff and being fed and such. And it's cheaper! whoooo hoooo!! She sounded super nice on the phone. Hopefully it's not a dark and freaky cult waiting to lure me into their web of deceit and wickedness upon my arrival. probably not. So I'm going right after work and then spending all day tomorrow there as well. yeay!

I've been wanting to post pics as well, but our computer has been having so many issues that my flash drive even got a virus. So for now I don't want to be putting picture containing devices in the computer. It is going to be worked on shortly I believe. I guess that's all for now. Hope you all are well and have a fabulous weekend!

Salutations and ramblings

There are 3 kinds of people in the world, those cut out for kitchen work, and those who aren't. Oh, and those who tend to bleed excessively in the kitchen. Saturday in the course of making muffins I managed to:
cut my thumb
cut my finger
cut my thumb again (you try grating baby carrots! I ran out of the big ones, a sad fate indeed)
burned my knee (one should wear knee pads when baking with our oven. The door doesn't stay open so you have to hold it open with a knee while getting stuff out, which often proves to be quite painful)
spilled applesauce down the front of me, the bottom of me, and the floor
spilled black pepper all over the inside of the cupboard (it's still there. I hope it doesn't attract mice or anything)

I often feel domestically impaired and this weekend was no exception. I was feeling quite domestic though and made molasses cookies after the muffin fiasco. Both turned out fabulously despite all the annoyances.

In case you were wondering, we did get the house cleaned, by around 9 or so on Friday night.

I'm glad Monday is over. I try to just enjoy work before it picks up too much and is stressful, but oh my - I just have NOTHING to do. I'm going in later this week which is really nice. Today I surfed the Internet, went to Dollar General to browse thinking I didn't really need anything, but came out with paper plates and toilet bowl cleaner, so turns out I did need something. I think I'm saving the Catholic art and gift store for another fun outing another day.

Today is our 7 monthiversary. We had a nice evening - ate pizza and then went to the levee. It was the first time I was there since before Christmas and I just love it there. It was a beautiful night, the sky was gorgeous, there was a huge barge thingy to watch... it was fun to be there again. I didn't have my camera, but you can refer back to the other 900 levee pictures if you want. = P Then Dave worked on Math and I chatted on the phone with a friend which ended up being a long conversation and now I'm very sleepy. And that last sentence was very boring. I need to go to bed. Gotta rest up for the big day of mentally challenging employment coming up.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak...

Thank God it's Friday! I haven't had that feeling in a long time. I got home from work early this afternoon - no better way to kick off a weekend! I left the conference to go to the doctor, and then the conf. was over by the time I was done and my nice supervisor didn't make me contend with the Friday afternoon traffic, just to drive in to the office for a little while. So I came home. So nice. So I know that the smart thing to do would be to clean the house right now. It really needs it and I love having everything all clean going into the weekend. And not having to do it on Saturday. But I'm so tired and can't make myself do it. I just want it be magically be done. sigh. Maybe we should be foster parents to a 10 year old who could do all the cooking and cleaning for us. haha. I'm totally kidding. I would never be a foster parents for such selfish reasons! But I hear my sister tell her kids - go mop! go vacuum! And I think, wow, wouldn't that be nice. So I say it - GO MOP! But nothing happens. sigh. Anyhoo... It's also an absolutely gorgeous day here and supposed to be all weekend. Dave and I sort of want to go sit at a park and soak up the rays and enjoy the sunshine till the sun goes down. But sitting in the sun would be so much nicer if I knew the homestead was all clean. For me anyway. I shall not comment on Dave's thoughts on the matter. So as you probably noticed, I don't have a lot to say. I could tell you about the conference I've been at, but that would either be really boring or really depressing. I could tell you that I won a million bucks, but that would be a lie. I could tell you I pierced my naval, amputated my arm, shaved my head, which might be interesting, but again, not entirely true. But telling you that I need to clean my house and the weather is gorgeous just seems really boring. I'm sorry! Truly sorry!

sleepy...

I've had a few posts rolling around in my head and now I don't much remember them. So, let's see. I did in fact start a new job. I guess I didn't really go into detail about it in the last post. The job is for a program called Parents as Teachers and it's similar to what I was doing in Indiana. This job is home visiting plus spending a lot of time in the high schools (I'm assigned to one HS) and talking to the girls. I had some of the training I needed because we used the Parents as Teachers information when I worked for Healthy Families. I started yesterday and had been dreading getting up early and also the crazy interstate driving to the HS. Pretty pathetic, I know. So to compound the problem of having to get up early, I've also resorted to my tried and true method of dealing with any type of life changes at all - insomnia. The combination is not good. I've also been having wicked headaches and feeling in general like I was hit by a mack truck. But, back to happy things - the job. It's only been 2 days and so far, quite boring. I have no case load yet and I'm not really doing formal training. Today my supervisor was gone all day - so I helped the receptionist cut out number cards for some conference, wrote in my journal, did stuff online, went for a long lunch break with Dave - there's literally nothing for me to do! So that part is sort of obnoxious because the time goes rather slowly. I'm sure things will pick up soon. Tomorrow I'm going to a conference with them all day and I'm THRILLED that I don't have to be there till 9:30. And I'm taking drugs tonight. Because this is ridiculous. And can I just say... I don't know why people like cities. I really don't. City traffic has got to be one of the MOST OBNOXIOUS things known to mankind! Seriously! It took me a solid half hour to get to the school this morning. (about 12 miles) But coming home from work today was the real joy. As I left, I noticed, thanks to Lucy, that I had gone .3 miles in about 11 minutes. It took me almost 50 minutes to get home and I came straight home, other than stopping for a quick re-fuel. SERIOUSLY!!! It's so annoying. But I'll stop ranting and raving about it now. It's just that if I would have wanted to spend half my day in the car, I would have become a taxi driver! Oh, and it's 5.3 miles to work. That's right. I could bike faster if there were places to do so. Or I could have 3 years ago. Anyway... um... let's see.... Rhonda asked about my foot - I'm going to the doc on Friday and hopefully that will be it. I've been driving (sorry Debbie!) and everything and it's fine. Driving is really not a big deal, it just gets sore pretty easy when I'm on it a lot, but that seems logical to me. I think the doctor would like me to sit on the couch until there's no twinge of discomfort, but that's just not reality. I gotta make me some money to pay me doctor bills! I'm trying to think if there's anything else interesting going on here and I can't come up with anything. So, I guess I'll sign off for now. I want to post pictures, but we need to watch supper and make American Idol and I've got my priorities straight! Oh, I forgot to mention the best thing about this job - the office is closed for one week over Thanksgiving and TWO WEEKS over Christmas! You do have to use some of your own vacation for some of it, but they give you I think it's 7 paid days over Christmas, in addition to your normal paid holidays. So I'm pretty happy about that. I was dreading Dave having a month off and me getting one day. This way we can maybe even go somewhere or something.