Thursday, January 15, 2009
a little Christmas craft...
So, this year when my family was hanging out at Stormer Lake, Jenni had the idea to do this little thing that she saw on some ladies blog (who had too much time on her hands, possibly?). Anyway, all it was was ripping stuff out of magazines and putting it in a notebook to use as you wish. Sounds corny, but it happens to be rather addictive. Especially when one has little to do but sit on a couch! So a bunch of us started them at Stormer and I've been working a lot on mine the last few days. It's been therapeutic, it's free, they're fun, and I can hardly even look at a magazine anymore without having the urge to rip it to shreds. Such fun. So because my former roommate wanted pictures and I spent all the time downsizing these, I thought I'd throw a few in here as well - bug Jenni and Rhonda if you want to see theirs. They have some really neeto pages! Here's us doing them at Stormer and then a bunch of my random pages. 
Friday, January 09, 2009
DRAT!
So, today I was still unable to walk with any ease at all so I went in for x-rays. Yep, broken foot. And I did it all by myself while walking across the room. The most annoying part is that the doctor told me not to walk on it at all (I could get by hobbling on the inside of that foot) and they gave me crutches. I struggle to be graceful and stay on 2 feet under ideal circumstances. Now I'm afraid I'm going to break the other foot trying to walk with the things. I have an appointment on Wednesday with the Orthopedic doc and he will decide whether or not to put a cast on at that point. On the way home from the doctor, Dave ran into the grocery store to buy a few things and came out with flowers and said "Happy 5 month anniversary." This was the first one I forgot. Anyway, you can pray that we don't murder each other in the next couple weeks. In spite of newly wedded bliss, loosing independence and having to ask for every little thing is a huge pain for both of us. This is not at all how I planned on spending the next little while. Yeah, I'm rather grouchy today. And the mess from our trip is still everywhere. Getting it all sorted and put away will be a true test of marital stability I'm sure. I would so much rather just do it myself than try to explain where everything goes and such. Alright, this cheery post is drawing to a close. Happy '09 everyone!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
In case anyone is still checking...
HELLO and HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all! Hopefully this is the season where long blogging absences are excused. While traveling, I preferred to actually talk face to face with my friends and family, rather than blogging about how wonderful it is to talk to them face to face. Or maybe I was just lazy too. At any rate, I barely know where to begin. Seems like a year since I last posted and a lot of fun stuff was crammed into that time. I'll start off with a word to the wise... okay, I'm probably the only one um... ridiculous enough to come up with such creative ways of injuring myself, but can I just say that sitting on one foot while spending time on the computer might be hazardous to your health! I almost always sit on one foot while I'm online and frequently I don't realize how asleep I've let my foot get, until I stand up, and oh my. Such was the case this morning. I had determined to not blog until we were all unpacked. That planned has changed since... well, I'll just tell you the story. So this morning I was online for awhile and when I got up from the chair, my foot was very soundly sleeping. So I was trying to hobble out of the computer room, when I'm not even sure what happened exactly. I think I must have stepped on it sideways with a lot of force. I screamed out in pain, as I have not felt pain like that in some time. As the foot became more and more awake, it only hurt more and more. There's now sort of a bulge on the side and it hurts to walk on it, but I can hobble around - not exactly practical when one is wanting to unpack and run around all day. ahhh well, so here I sit at the computer - with both feet on the floor.
Let's see, Dave and I left about 3.5 weeks ago and had a great trip seeing a lot of friends and family. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of the details I was going to bore you with. We headed up to Iowa the first night and were going to head to Minnesota the next day, but were delayed due to some nasty weather they were having. So we spent a nice day relaxing there. Dave mom introduced me to their neighborhood Goodwill and I became a die hard fan - you can get amazing stuff for very cheap. Goodwills definitely vary in quality, organization, and such, but this one is a real winner! So, the next day Dave and I drove to International Falls and then the next day we made our way up to Red Lake, stopping to explore the scenic ditches and by ways ... yeah, it was a long trip. We went in the ditch right after we got off the 502 (for the Canadians out there), with a truck driving right towards us and us definitely in his lane. We was able to swerve around us and we sailed nicely into the deep snow of the ditch. We then proceeded to have tea and crumpets with the sweetest lady which we waited (and waited and waited and waited) for the tow truck to arrive. I think she really enjoyed the company, actually. I was disappointed about getting to Red Lake later than planned, but it all was okay in the end. We were able to see Archchch..thur and Iris and their kids that evening, some good friends from Red Lake who I have not seen for years. Time in Red Lake always seems to fly by so fast. It was wonderful seeing all my family and friends there. My family had a get together at Stormer Lake since we have outgrown any of the houses that people have in Red Lake. When we were driving home from Stormer, we saw the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in ages. I've seen really nice ones here as well, but this one with all the snow and tall trees - it was magnificent. And sadly, my camera was elsewhere. Some highlights of Red Lake were the Christmas Eve service, Stormer Lake and getting together with family, seeing friends that I haven't seen in awhile and going from house to house visiting folks. I could easily deal without the frigid temperatures though. As I sit today in the 70 degrees and sunshine. The south has to have a few redeeming qualities, right? Anyway, from Red Lake we headed to International Falls and avoided all ditches. Dave however, the poor guy, got to experience me chocking to the point that I could barely breathe and was very loudly gagging and gasping for breath. This happens every once in a while and it's very terrifying. It's even more fun when it happens in the middle of nowhere on bad roads. Poor guy didn't know what to do with me, but it ended without any loss of oxygen to the brain. We spent 2 nights with my brother Sheldon and his family. We had a lot of fun playing games and Darla and I got to go for coffee while the guys did things like watch football. Then we headed to Iowa to spend almost a week with Dave's family. That was so nice and relaxing. So many differences pop up when visiting our respective families with one of us the oldest child and the other the youngest. For instance, staying with my sister and her family - we have 4 handy dandy little alarm clocks to wake us up every morning. At Dave's place, oh my, it was SO quiet. = ) Yes, we slept in way too late on several occasions. It was fun to relax, play games, play with their new Wii, etc. = ) There are 2 games in which I can soundly beat Dave - the rest, I'm pretty bad. One is bowling and the other is a mindless, brainless, shoot anything that moves type game. I hope there's not a deeper meaning there. I don't think so. Anyhoo, from Iowa, we headed to Warsaw for a couple days. Again, it did not seem long enough and I felt like I could spend a couple weeks there. It was SO good to be back there and reconnect with some friends. Dave had a couple good math books and some videos so he was fine with me playing with my friends as much as I wanted and it was so wonderful. Yesterday we left Warsaw and spent an obscene number of hours in a VERY overstuffed car. Oh my - we had been accumulating stuff everywhere we went and by the end of the trip, we were quite loaded down. We got in last night around 10 and yeah, back "home." Although driving into Warsaw felt a lot like driving home as well. And then there's Red Lake which will always be home. So I'm confused. The house was okay except for a dead cockroach and some really odd, very tiny, tad pole like things swimming in one of the toilets. I was thoroughly disgusted but once I flushed it and sprayed bug spray, the problem has seemed to be solved. I shouldn't admit that to anyone planning on coming to see us any time soon. Alrighty, well, I should hobble out to the living room and see about sorting through a bunch of our stuff. Happy New Year once again.
Let's see, Dave and I left about 3.5 weeks ago and had a great trip seeing a lot of friends and family. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of the details I was going to bore you with. We headed up to Iowa the first night and were going to head to Minnesota the next day, but were delayed due to some nasty weather they were having. So we spent a nice day relaxing there. Dave mom introduced me to their neighborhood Goodwill and I became a die hard fan - you can get amazing stuff for very cheap. Goodwills definitely vary in quality, organization, and such, but this one is a real winner! So, the next day Dave and I drove to International Falls and then the next day we made our way up to Red Lake, stopping to explore the scenic ditches and by ways ... yeah, it was a long trip. We went in the ditch right after we got off the 502 (for the Canadians out there), with a truck driving right towards us and us definitely in his lane. We was able to swerve around us and we sailed nicely into the deep snow of the ditch. We then proceeded to have tea and crumpets with the sweetest lady which we waited (and waited and waited and waited) for the tow truck to arrive. I think she really enjoyed the company, actually. I was disappointed about getting to Red Lake later than planned, but it all was okay in the end. We were able to see Archchch..thur and Iris and their kids that evening, some good friends from Red Lake who I have not seen for years. Time in Red Lake always seems to fly by so fast. It was wonderful seeing all my family and friends there. My family had a get together at Stormer Lake since we have outgrown any of the houses that people have in Red Lake. When we were driving home from Stormer, we saw the most gorgeous sunset I've seen in ages. I've seen really nice ones here as well, but this one with all the snow and tall trees - it was magnificent. And sadly, my camera was elsewhere. Some highlights of Red Lake were the Christmas Eve service, Stormer Lake and getting together with family, seeing friends that I haven't seen in awhile and going from house to house visiting folks. I could easily deal without the frigid temperatures though. As I sit today in the 70 degrees and sunshine. The south has to have a few redeeming qualities, right? Anyway, from Red Lake we headed to International Falls and avoided all ditches. Dave however, the poor guy, got to experience me chocking to the point that I could barely breathe and was very loudly gagging and gasping for breath. This happens every once in a while and it's very terrifying. It's even more fun when it happens in the middle of nowhere on bad roads. Poor guy didn't know what to do with me, but it ended without any loss of oxygen to the brain. We spent 2 nights with my brother Sheldon and his family. We had a lot of fun playing games and Darla and I got to go for coffee while the guys did things like watch football. Then we headed to Iowa to spend almost a week with Dave's family. That was so nice and relaxing. So many differences pop up when visiting our respective families with one of us the oldest child and the other the youngest. For instance, staying with my sister and her family - we have 4 handy dandy little alarm clocks to wake us up every morning. At Dave's place, oh my, it was SO quiet. = ) Yes, we slept in way too late on several occasions. It was fun to relax, play games, play with their new Wii, etc. = ) There are 2 games in which I can soundly beat Dave - the rest, I'm pretty bad. One is bowling and the other is a mindless, brainless, shoot anything that moves type game. I hope there's not a deeper meaning there. I don't think so. Anyhoo, from Iowa, we headed to Warsaw for a couple days. Again, it did not seem long enough and I felt like I could spend a couple weeks there. It was SO good to be back there and reconnect with some friends. Dave had a couple good math books and some videos so he was fine with me playing with my friends as much as I wanted and it was so wonderful. Yesterday we left Warsaw and spent an obscene number of hours in a VERY overstuffed car. Oh my - we had been accumulating stuff everywhere we went and by the end of the trip, we were quite loaded down. We got in last night around 10 and yeah, back "home." Although driving into Warsaw felt a lot like driving home as well. And then there's Red Lake which will always be home. So I'm confused. The house was okay except for a dead cockroach and some really odd, very tiny, tad pole like things swimming in one of the toilets. I was thoroughly disgusted but once I flushed it and sprayed bug spray, the problem has seemed to be solved. I shouldn't admit that to anyone planning on coming to see us any time soon. Alrighty, well, I should hobble out to the living room and see about sorting through a bunch of our stuff. Happy New Year once again.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Misquitos in December...
I'm getting rather tired of them. They are the size of helicopters and fly around the apartment seeking whom they may devour. So, my intention was to post some pictures, but our computer is on the fritz and that feature is currently unavailable. I know, I can hear the mourning and wailing from here. So I guess I'll just have to tell you a bit of what's going on around here. Truthfully, I made out a plan for the week with what I wanted to get done every day until we leave and blogging was on Tuesday. I guess it's 18 minutes into Wednesday now, but anyway, this is why I blog. Yesterday I was behind on the list after the first day, but today I'm caught up, which is a fun feeling. I thought I was going to even be able to work ahead quite a bit - I did some but not in astronomical proportions. So anyway, what I really wanted to do was put pics on here. That not being possible.... ummmmm... we are leaving hopefully Sunday from Baton Rouge and hope to be way up north by Tuesday. I can't wait. Oh my. I can wait for the car trip, but I'm trying not to think about that. What else is going on here? I know I had some posts running around in my head, but they are all gone now. I mean way way gone. I can't even find traces of them. Hate it when that happens. Today I finished writing thank you notes for the wedding. I'm very excited about that. I still need a few addresses, but other than that, we're good to go. 4 months to the day later... Yesterday I attended to my toes. They had become quite ghastly. Way too long and jagged with nasty, old, polish. So I finally took care of that and I was SO excited when I was done. So excited in fact, that I wore flip flops to go running around downtown. Just because I can. We actually used the air conditioner on the way home from church a couple days ago and tonight we did not wear pants when we went up town. What's the difference between going up town and down town. Does anyone know? Anyway, I write all this to say that it's crazy warm here right now, but I hear rumors of intense cold in other parts of the country. Well, since clearly I don't have much to say, I'll leave you know. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season so far. I haven't scheduled blogging for any other day this week, so I don't know if you'll hear from me for awhile. But I'll see a lot of you soon! yeay!
Friday, December 05, 2008
I apolagize in advance for the ranting and raving that shall commence
It's been a fun filled few days. Oh yes, the joys if living in a city, of living in a luxury condo, of shopping online for Christmas presents, of scary people on the loose, of neighbors having dogs....
Let's start with 2 days ago. Wednesday night, all I really wanted out of life was to go to Kohls. They were having a big sale ending that night and I wanted to go. Don't know why because this season, it seems whenever I actually enter a real store to try to Christmas shop, I wonder around overwhelmed at all the choices that are just not quite right, and then leave empty handed. I have really struggled this year folks. I don't know what my problem is, because I tend to be a gifty person - I love buying gifts. But when they don't come easily... arg. Then I start to feel guilty. Like I love buying stuff when there's that one thing or 2 that you know the person would just love and you find it. That feels great. But when you have someone to buy for and just can't decide, it's like you're randomly walking around trying to find something that the person might possibly find a little fun. When I could just use that same money to buy goats for World Vision and give children milk and families income... so I thought about buying a goat every time I just can't decide and then when Christmas rolls around, telling everyone that they have a goat in their name in Africa. I'm partly serious. And then I wondered how I would feel about having a flock of goats in Africa as my Christmas gifts and really, while receiving gifts is also very fun, that would seem quite noble and logical when you think about. Anyway, I got totally sidetracked there. Back to Wed. So I wanted to go Kohls but it was dark outside and I'm still a big chicken at times when it comes to city driving and it's worse when it's dark. I just need to get over it. I'm still recovering from picking Bethany up at the airport. I didn't really know of anyone who might want to go shopping on a wed. night... I started longing for Warsaw with it's closeness together of things, it's ease of getting where you want to go in less than 5 minutes... and I felt trapped in my city apartment, trapped and cranky. And I tried to tell myself that I don't have it so bad - think of all my friends and relations in Madagascar and Northern Canada who can only go to Kohls once a year maybe or something like that. Poor Dave. He had tons of school work to do so I wasn't even asking if would go. But anyway, he eventually said let's go and he'll do math in the car while I shop. I know, husband of the year award. It took me forever and I didn't find what I wanted to find. Although I did find shorts for Dave (not underwear, the kind that come to your knees) for $3.60. That's right - they were 90 percent off. It's the best deal I've seen in awhile. That was Wednesday night. Yesterday I got up early for Bible Study with some ladies (after staying up till around 3 the night before - big mistake). As I was walking to my car - huge pile of dog doo doo which isn't uncommon around here, but this time, it was in the middle of our sidewalk. That's right, the one we have to walk on to get to our cars. I muttered annoyed ramblings at least in my head, and went on my way. After Bible study, feeling emotionally unstable (one of the ladies started sharing about some complications with her pregnancy and I started crying and couldn't stop. I need to get more sleep before I hang out with a bunch of women), I left to do some shopping, alone, in the big city. Just me and trusty little Lucy. Soon after leaving, I pulled into a gas station to use the facilities and buy a little smackerel. As I pulled up, this old man came and stood by my car. odd. He was just standing there hanging out. I got out of the car and he, to make a long story short, asked me to give him a ride to his house a couple miles away. Well now I'm in a conundrum. I hate saying no - just hate it. And I mean, I help people, right? - that's what social workers are supposed to do. I asked him how he got here and he said he ran. And his wife was supposed to meet him here after Christmas shopping but she wasn't there. Part of that seemed really believable (like the wife taking longer than expected to Christmas shop - but why meet at a gas station 2 miles from home?) and some of it odd. I himmed and hawed around saying I didn't know where I was going because I just listen to Lucy and she tells me where to go. It wasn't the driving of the 2 miles that I minded. But visions of being alone in a car with an old man who pulls a gun on me and demands a ride to Mexico were dancing in my head. Also visions of Dave never letting me leave the house again, should I live to see Dave again were also very real and present. So I tried to graciously decline. Feeling just terrible about it all. What if he's an old man with Alzheimer's? What if he dies alone at that gas station, trying to find a ride home? ack. So I continued to shop and not find what I wanted and waste lots of time, with frustrations mounting over how crazy long it takes to get ANYWHERE. Came home and told Dave that were was a group of ladies going out for supper that night, and even though I was crazy tired, it would be kind of fun to go. He thought I should definitely go. Possibly he needed a break from me as well.... no, he was just being really nice. = ) Anyway, I went by myself driving in the dark, and without incident. Of my own anyway, but when I got to the parking lot, there had been a little car accident and a guy and girl were QUITE yelling mad at each other. Oh my. Drama drama drama. We're talking in your face yelling and shouting. And then the guy was calling the police as I went in the restaurant. So I went inside and had a wonderful time. Came home, still dodging dog poop on the side walk. That was last night. Woke up this morning. We have no water. Dave calls the leasing office. They are rude and obnoxious as usual. He also asks them about our broken window that was reported 3 months ago. And they again said they would look into it. Anyway, about the water, they told him to call another office. So he did. And THEY told him to call the water company. Oh, and get this. She said, if you get a hold of the water company, could you call me back? Where do you people come from??? So, now I'm again trapped in my house, because there is no one alive who would particularly enjoy interacting with me at this point (more due to the physical nature of life than the mental or emotional). So I go to get the mail and in the box is a package that was sent media mail. It's pretty rough looking - a bit torn, and it's EMPTY! I fume to myself thinking that I just flushed money down the drain for a Christmas present I didn't even end up receiving. ARG. The dog poop looks even more vile now. I want to go to some stores, but you know what? It's Friday afternoon and that means it would take 3 hours to get anywhere. And also, as previously noted - no shower, no toothbrush... yeah. I go online and find what it was that was sent to me and arrived empty. ARG!!! I send her a message but have no hope of getting it back. And now it's too late to order another one because we only have one more week of checking the mail before we leave. ONE more thing to rant and rave about, and then I shall leave you in peace. It seems I am incapable of keeping this place looking decent. How does it happen? I don't understand. This week, I spent a good portion of Sunday (I know it wasn't the restful, sabbathy thing to do) cleaning the house. It was beautiful. Felt so nice to have that done. Then I don't know what happened, but I spent a good portion of Tuesday doing the same thing. Now it's Friday, and oh my, if you could see this place. Time to start all over again. And there's just the 2 of us. What in the world? What do all those people with 10 kids do? Even a couple kids? I must be missing something obvious to the rest of the world. On that cheery note, I think we now have our water, without Dave calling the water company and then reporting the problem back to the people to which we give half our income. Oh wait, I guess it was the people that those people said we should call. And it's not quite half. ANYWAY, now I have options! I can clean the house OR take a shower. Yippeeee!
Totally unrelated, I think Elise asked when we're arriving up north - probably the 17th, possibly the 16th. Can't WAIT to see everyone! We are so looking forward to this trip. I'll be there, goats and empty packages in hand.
Let's start with 2 days ago. Wednesday night, all I really wanted out of life was to go to Kohls. They were having a big sale ending that night and I wanted to go. Don't know why because this season, it seems whenever I actually enter a real store to try to Christmas shop, I wonder around overwhelmed at all the choices that are just not quite right, and then leave empty handed. I have really struggled this year folks. I don't know what my problem is, because I tend to be a gifty person - I love buying gifts. But when they don't come easily... arg. Then I start to feel guilty. Like I love buying stuff when there's that one thing or 2 that you know the person would just love and you find it. That feels great. But when you have someone to buy for and just can't decide, it's like you're randomly walking around trying to find something that the person might possibly find a little fun. When I could just use that same money to buy goats for World Vision and give children milk and families income... so I thought about buying a goat every time I just can't decide and then when Christmas rolls around, telling everyone that they have a goat in their name in Africa. I'm partly serious. And then I wondered how I would feel about having a flock of goats in Africa as my Christmas gifts and really, while receiving gifts is also very fun, that would seem quite noble and logical when you think about. Anyway, I got totally sidetracked there. Back to Wed. So I wanted to go Kohls but it was dark outside and I'm still a big chicken at times when it comes to city driving and it's worse when it's dark. I just need to get over it. I'm still recovering from picking Bethany up at the airport. I didn't really know of anyone who might want to go shopping on a wed. night... I started longing for Warsaw with it's closeness together of things, it's ease of getting where you want to go in less than 5 minutes... and I felt trapped in my city apartment, trapped and cranky. And I tried to tell myself that I don't have it so bad - think of all my friends and relations in Madagascar and Northern Canada who can only go to Kohls once a year maybe or something like that. Poor Dave. He had tons of school work to do so I wasn't even asking if would go. But anyway, he eventually said let's go and he'll do math in the car while I shop. I know, husband of the year award. It took me forever and I didn't find what I wanted to find. Although I did find shorts for Dave (not underwear, the kind that come to your knees) for $3.60. That's right - they were 90 percent off. It's the best deal I've seen in awhile. That was Wednesday night. Yesterday I got up early for Bible Study with some ladies (after staying up till around 3 the night before - big mistake). As I was walking to my car - huge pile of dog doo doo which isn't uncommon around here, but this time, it was in the middle of our sidewalk. That's right, the one we have to walk on to get to our cars. I muttered annoyed ramblings at least in my head, and went on my way. After Bible study, feeling emotionally unstable (one of the ladies started sharing about some complications with her pregnancy and I started crying and couldn't stop. I need to get more sleep before I hang out with a bunch of women), I left to do some shopping, alone, in the big city. Just me and trusty little Lucy. Soon after leaving, I pulled into a gas station to use the facilities and buy a little smackerel. As I pulled up, this old man came and stood by my car. odd. He was just standing there hanging out. I got out of the car and he, to make a long story short, asked me to give him a ride to his house a couple miles away. Well now I'm in a conundrum. I hate saying no - just hate it. And I mean, I help people, right? - that's what social workers are supposed to do. I asked him how he got here and he said he ran. And his wife was supposed to meet him here after Christmas shopping but she wasn't there. Part of that seemed really believable (like the wife taking longer than expected to Christmas shop - but why meet at a gas station 2 miles from home?) and some of it odd. I himmed and hawed around saying I didn't know where I was going because I just listen to Lucy and she tells me where to go. It wasn't the driving of the 2 miles that I minded. But visions of being alone in a car with an old man who pulls a gun on me and demands a ride to Mexico were dancing in my head. Also visions of Dave never letting me leave the house again, should I live to see Dave again were also very real and present. So I tried to graciously decline. Feeling just terrible about it all. What if he's an old man with Alzheimer's? What if he dies alone at that gas station, trying to find a ride home? ack. So I continued to shop and not find what I wanted and waste lots of time, with frustrations mounting over how crazy long it takes to get ANYWHERE. Came home and told Dave that were was a group of ladies going out for supper that night, and even though I was crazy tired, it would be kind of fun to go. He thought I should definitely go. Possibly he needed a break from me as well.... no, he was just being really nice. = ) Anyway, I went by myself driving in the dark, and without incident. Of my own anyway, but when I got to the parking lot, there had been a little car accident and a guy and girl were QUITE yelling mad at each other. Oh my. Drama drama drama. We're talking in your face yelling and shouting. And then the guy was calling the police as I went in the restaurant. So I went inside and had a wonderful time. Came home, still dodging dog poop on the side walk. That was last night. Woke up this morning. We have no water. Dave calls the leasing office. They are rude and obnoxious as usual. He also asks them about our broken window that was reported 3 months ago. And they again said they would look into it. Anyway, about the water, they told him to call another office. So he did. And THEY told him to call the water company. Oh, and get this. She said, if you get a hold of the water company, could you call me back? Where do you people come from??? So, now I'm again trapped in my house, because there is no one alive who would particularly enjoy interacting with me at this point (more due to the physical nature of life than the mental or emotional). So I go to get the mail and in the box is a package that was sent media mail. It's pretty rough looking - a bit torn, and it's EMPTY! I fume to myself thinking that I just flushed money down the drain for a Christmas present I didn't even end up receiving. ARG. The dog poop looks even more vile now. I want to go to some stores, but you know what? It's Friday afternoon and that means it would take 3 hours to get anywhere. And also, as previously noted - no shower, no toothbrush... yeah. I go online and find what it was that was sent to me and arrived empty. ARG!!! I send her a message but have no hope of getting it back. And now it's too late to order another one because we only have one more week of checking the mail before we leave. ONE more thing to rant and rave about, and then I shall leave you in peace. It seems I am incapable of keeping this place looking decent. How does it happen? I don't understand. This week, I spent a good portion of Sunday (I know it wasn't the restful, sabbathy thing to do) cleaning the house. It was beautiful. Felt so nice to have that done. Then I don't know what happened, but I spent a good portion of Tuesday doing the same thing. Now it's Friday, and oh my, if you could see this place. Time to start all over again. And there's just the 2 of us. What in the world? What do all those people with 10 kids do? Even a couple kids? I must be missing something obvious to the rest of the world. On that cheery note, I think we now have our water, without Dave calling the water company and then reporting the problem back to the people to which we give half our income. Oh wait, I guess it was the people that those people said we should call. And it's not quite half. ANYWAY, now I have options! I can clean the house OR take a shower. Yippeeee!
Totally unrelated, I think Elise asked when we're arriving up north - probably the 17th, possibly the 16th. Can't WAIT to see everyone! We are so looking forward to this trip. I'll be there, goats and empty packages in hand.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Life here in the south...
Hello all -- thought I should update you all on what's going on here. Not too much of great excitement at the moment. I just posted a pile of pictures that should appear below if all goes according to plan. So, our life, in heading form:
COMPANY!!: Bethany was here from Friday through Tuesday. We had a blast and now I feel like I need to recuperate! = ) We crammed a lot of stuff in the time she was here, but it was really fun to get out and see what this place has to offer. Dave was busy with school part of the time, so I'm looking forward to doing some of the things with him that Bethany and I did.
THANKSGIVING: That would be today, for the Americans. So, Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Dave and I ended up going to a family's place from church. I didn't know them yet, but it was fun to visit get to know them. Dave said on the way home and I quote, "Tomorrow would be a good day to see the fountain, except for the mobs of people slaughtering each other to buy tickle-me-elmos." Maybe it's not funny anymore, but it hit me funny at the time. I was picturing it all, very vividly in my mind. I have done the black Friday thing before, but there's NO way we're going to attempt anything like that here. I can't even imagine the traffic tomorrow when on a normal day it's insane. Dave has off for almost a week which is wonderful. He's been working his brains out with school, got a cold last week, so the poor guy needs a break. As for myself, well, I've been just swamped with um... feeding him... and um... running around sight seeing with my guest. So, we're very happy for the break. = P On the way home today, we thought we would stop and get a movie at this cheap, not Blockbuster place. The old releases are cheap. So, I'm ashamed to admit it, but when we went to check out, he told us that we could get THREE more for a dollar cheaper! They have a 5 movies for 5 bucks deal! And you can keep them for a week. Yikes! I don't know if we'll get all of them watched. Dave is pretty excited about Citizen Cane though. = ) And I guess we're trapped in the house anyway, with the mobs of people slaughtering each other in the streets outside...
HAIRCUTS: This will be a boring story. I have been Dave's sole hair dresser since our sacred nuptials back in the summer. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel that I generally do just as good a job as the ones he pays for. And I can cut it just like I like it. Well, in theory anyway. And I'm hoping with all the money we save by me cutting his hair, I'll be able to actually get my hair cut one of these days. I have also not had one since our sacred nuptials, many a fortnight ago. Anyway, so lately I've been getting more and more daring with the actual clippers and not just using scissors. The only problem I have with using the clippers is the dreaded ledge! If there are women out there who cut their husbands hair with clippers, they should know exactly what I mean, by the ledge. It looks so nice and neat to use clippers along the sides and back, but the top should be longer, so how do you blend it nicely together without having this obvious line/ledge thingy? So this morning I cut Dave's hair and I used a smaller clippers than I had used last time. Which made the ledge even more pronounced. At first I was freaking out thinking I had made it look terrible. Oddly though, I did exactly the same thing on both sides, and one side had a huge bumpy ledge, while the other side blended perfectly. I declared it a problem with his head rather than my haircutting ability. (hmmmm... good thing I don't do this for money) Anyway, I played with it long enough that I think with enough gel in it, the final product looks quite smashing. So there really is no point to this story.
JOB SEARCH: I did a job interview yesterday. sigh. I'm not sure what to think. The interviewer said he would call me on Monday and I'm hoping to buy some more time after that, if he does offer me the job. I would sort of like to do some more interviews first. Anyway, the job is being a coordinator for mentally handicapped people of all ages - babies through elderly - making sure they have the services they need. Here's the pros and cons of the job that I know of at this point:
pros -- After a probationary period, you can set your own hours and work from home. The money is okay, not great, not terrible.
cons -- This is not the population that I'm most comfortable with or have much experience with. I prefer to work with kids or teenagers. Which leads me to the next drawback - in this job, you barely see the clients anyway - it's so much paperwork and behind the scenes work, with a little interaction here and there with the clients. It's a huge caseload and a lot to juggle.
And, this is both a con and a pro. At my 3 month job as a case manager that I had before I took my last job, we had to bill medicaid for services. It's sorta a long story how it works, but I HATED it! We were suppose to bill 5.75 hours PER DAY and everything was written down on notes, some in 15 minute increments. So we would run around like chickens all day and then at the end of the day, you had to be able to come up with all your "billable" services and write them all down. I could never get up to that many hours, even though I was busy all the time. It was just a huge pain. This job requires that you bill medicaid as well, but it's only 2 hours per day rather than almost 6 which would be much more doable.
Anyway, I have no clue what will happen and what I'll decide. Okay, I think that's all for now. I have to go watch a movie with my hubby. = P Or we could watch 2 and then go shopping...
COMPANY!!: Bethany was here from Friday through Tuesday. We had a blast and now I feel like I need to recuperate! = ) We crammed a lot of stuff in the time she was here, but it was really fun to get out and see what this place has to offer. Dave was busy with school part of the time, so I'm looking forward to doing some of the things with him that Bethany and I did.
THANKSGIVING: That would be today, for the Americans. So, Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. Dave and I ended up going to a family's place from church. I didn't know them yet, but it was fun to visit get to know them. Dave said on the way home and I quote, "Tomorrow would be a good day to see the fountain, except for the mobs of people slaughtering each other to buy tickle-me-elmos." Maybe it's not funny anymore, but it hit me funny at the time. I was picturing it all, very vividly in my mind. I have done the black Friday thing before, but there's NO way we're going to attempt anything like that here. I can't even imagine the traffic tomorrow when on a normal day it's insane. Dave has off for almost a week which is wonderful. He's been working his brains out with school, got a cold last week, so the poor guy needs a break. As for myself, well, I've been just swamped with um... feeding him... and um... running around sight seeing with my guest. So, we're very happy for the break. = P On the way home today, we thought we would stop and get a movie at this cheap, not Blockbuster place. The old releases are cheap. So, I'm ashamed to admit it, but when we went to check out, he told us that we could get THREE more for a dollar cheaper! They have a 5 movies for 5 bucks deal! And you can keep them for a week. Yikes! I don't know if we'll get all of them watched. Dave is pretty excited about Citizen Cane though. = ) And I guess we're trapped in the house anyway, with the mobs of people slaughtering each other in the streets outside...
HAIRCUTS: This will be a boring story. I have been Dave's sole hair dresser since our sacred nuptials back in the summer. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel that I generally do just as good a job as the ones he pays for. And I can cut it just like I like it. Well, in theory anyway. And I'm hoping with all the money we save by me cutting his hair, I'll be able to actually get my hair cut one of these days. I have also not had one since our sacred nuptials, many a fortnight ago. Anyway, so lately I've been getting more and more daring with the actual clippers and not just using scissors. The only problem I have with using the clippers is the dreaded ledge! If there are women out there who cut their husbands hair with clippers, they should know exactly what I mean, by the ledge. It looks so nice and neat to use clippers along the sides and back, but the top should be longer, so how do you blend it nicely together without having this obvious line/ledge thingy? So this morning I cut Dave's hair and I used a smaller clippers than I had used last time. Which made the ledge even more pronounced. At first I was freaking out thinking I had made it look terrible. Oddly though, I did exactly the same thing on both sides, and one side had a huge bumpy ledge, while the other side blended perfectly. I declared it a problem with his head rather than my haircutting ability. (hmmmm... good thing I don't do this for money) Anyway, I played with it long enough that I think with enough gel in it, the final product looks quite smashing. So there really is no point to this story.
JOB SEARCH: I did a job interview yesterday. sigh. I'm not sure what to think. The interviewer said he would call me on Monday and I'm hoping to buy some more time after that, if he does offer me the job. I would sort of like to do some more interviews first. Anyway, the job is being a coordinator for mentally handicapped people of all ages - babies through elderly - making sure they have the services they need. Here's the pros and cons of the job that I know of at this point:
pros -- After a probationary period, you can set your own hours and work from home. The money is okay, not great, not terrible.
cons -- This is not the population that I'm most comfortable with or have much experience with. I prefer to work with kids or teenagers. Which leads me to the next drawback - in this job, you barely see the clients anyway - it's so much paperwork and behind the scenes work, with a little interaction here and there with the clients. It's a huge caseload and a lot to juggle.
And, this is both a con and a pro. At my 3 month job as a case manager that I had before I took my last job, we had to bill medicaid for services. It's sorta a long story how it works, but I HATED it! We were suppose to bill 5.75 hours PER DAY and everything was written down on notes, some in 15 minute increments. So we would run around like chickens all day and then at the end of the day, you had to be able to come up with all your "billable" services and write them all down. I could never get up to that many hours, even though I was busy all the time. It was just a huge pain. This job requires that you bill medicaid as well, but it's only 2 hours per day rather than almost 6 which would be much more doable.
Anyway, I have no clue what will happen and what I'll decide. Okay, I think that's all for now. I have to go watch a movie with my hubby. = P Or we could watch 2 and then go shopping...
When it comes to posting pics on my blog, I just don't know when to quit
So, here you have it. A pictorial tour of our very busy and fun weekend. These pictures are also intended to lure folks to come see us. Look at what the south has to offer! It was so much fun having company! And, miracle of miracles, I think these are mostly in chronological order. So, here we go... Bethany flew into Baton Rouge last Friday. I arrived at the airport rather weak and shaky - didn't expect that traffic to be that bad at 1o:30. And I'm a wuss in the big city. Anyway, united, once again. = ) (oh, some of these pics are mine and some are hers) 
You will see many pics of the Miss. river with the Baton Rouge bridge. I apologize. But here's the first. Beth took this pic. Friday night we went to Tsunami's Sushi restaurant and this pic was taken from the amazing view right outside the restaurant. And we spent about 10 bucks between the 3 of us there. = P It's rather upscale and we're well, not. Mostly we came for the view. We took a bunch of pics from up there - most of them turned out pretty bad. The ones with people in them anyway... 
Saturday we went to New Orleans. It was fun, but we probably had just as much fun in Baton Rouge. Anyway - here is the famous cafe du monde, right by the Miss. river. I LOVED this place! You know why? There's only one thing to order! Now that's my kind of place! Sorta minimizes the trouble of decision making. 3 french donuts for 1 something - perfect. And free water. = ) 
More of New Orleans. 
A living statue - saw these all over the place. 
I thought this was a really neat picture - Bethany was trying to take it on the drive home and this is the result of the night setting on her camera. 
Back in little ole Baton Rouge. Sunday afternoon we went to see Mike the Tiger at LSU. This is one of about 37 pictures that Bethany took of him, trying to get his head and not his rear. 
Um, here's us and a statue. You never would have guessed... 
Sunday Bethany and I walked on the levee as it was getting dark and she got this picture. 
A really pretty fountain down town with the old governor's mansion in the background. (former, not old governor) 
Monday Bethany and I went back to the levee and did a couple boat tour thingys. This is the USS Kidd - a real army ship from sometime long ago. It was really interesting looking around in all the rooms inside. I was trying to capture the sleeping quarters. This actually looks quite roomy compared to some - can you imagine? 
The USS Kidd 
This was a smaller boat that apparently sails all over and was docked in Baton Rouge for a couple weeks. We got to go and look around. And here is Bethany with Jack Sparrow. = P It was sort of creepy - the resemblance. This was the USS Bounty. But the Canadian in me kept wanting to say the USS Mountie. Duh. 
Once again, the river, bridge, levee... 
Along the levee - this is where we walked to get on the Bounty. 
Can you read this?
The old governor's mansion. Below - we went to the capital building and it was really neat. Dave and I had been there once before. There is a lookout over the city on the 27th floor. When Dave and I were there back in January, it was closed. When Bethany and I were there on Monday, it had started to rain, so we could go up to that floor, but we couldn't go outside. = ( Below is a picture of a bullet hole in one of the columns in a hallway at the capital building. A long time ago, one of the governor's was shot there. Apparently he was the one who had the building made and did a lot of good, but was somewhat of a dictator and people were freaked out about him running for president. 
All the names of the states are on the steps up to the building, along with the year they became a state. 
The house of representatives side - the dandy little voting desks. 
The much more plush and beautiful senate. It was decorated for Christmas and was quite amazing. 
Monday Bethany and I went to a swamp to hopefully see some alligators and such. It turned out that we didn't see so much as a toad, when it came to wildlife. = ( It was a nice walk though. 
There was a nature center inside and there were lots of snakes and other reptillians. 
The end. We left the reptiles and headed to the airport.
You will see many pics of the Miss. river with the Baton Rouge bridge. I apologize. But here's the first. Beth took this pic. Friday night we went to Tsunami's Sushi restaurant and this pic was taken from the amazing view right outside the restaurant. And we spent about 10 bucks between the 3 of us there. = P It's rather upscale and we're well, not. Mostly we came for the view. We took a bunch of pics from up there - most of them turned out pretty bad. The ones with people in them anyway... 
Saturday we went to New Orleans. It was fun, but we probably had just as much fun in Baton Rouge. Anyway - here is the famous cafe du monde, right by the Miss. river. I LOVED this place! You know why? There's only one thing to order! Now that's my kind of place! Sorta minimizes the trouble of decision making. 3 french donuts for 1 something - perfect. And free water. = ) 
More of New Orleans. 
A living statue - saw these all over the place. 
I thought this was a really neat picture - Bethany was trying to take it on the drive home and this is the result of the night setting on her camera. 
Back in little ole Baton Rouge. Sunday afternoon we went to see Mike the Tiger at LSU. This is one of about 37 pictures that Bethany took of him, trying to get his head and not his rear. 
Um, here's us and a statue. You never would have guessed... 
Sunday Bethany and I walked on the levee as it was getting dark and she got this picture. 
A really pretty fountain down town with the old governor's mansion in the background. (former, not old governor) 
Monday Bethany and I went back to the levee and did a couple boat tour thingys. This is the USS Kidd - a real army ship from sometime long ago. It was really interesting looking around in all the rooms inside. I was trying to capture the sleeping quarters. This actually looks quite roomy compared to some - can you imagine? 
The USS Kidd 
This was a smaller boat that apparently sails all over and was docked in Baton Rouge for a couple weeks. We got to go and look around. And here is Bethany with Jack Sparrow. = P It was sort of creepy - the resemblance. This was the USS Bounty. But the Canadian in me kept wanting to say the USS Mountie. Duh. 
Once again, the river, bridge, levee... 
Along the levee - this is where we walked to get on the Bounty. 
Can you read this?
The old governor's mansion. Below - we went to the capital building and it was really neat. Dave and I had been there once before. There is a lookout over the city on the 27th floor. When Dave and I were there back in January, it was closed. When Bethany and I were there on Monday, it had started to rain, so we could go up to that floor, but we couldn't go outside. = ( Below is a picture of a bullet hole in one of the columns in a hallway at the capital building. A long time ago, one of the governor's was shot there. Apparently he was the one who had the building made and did a lot of good, but was somewhat of a dictator and people were freaked out about him running for president. 
All the names of the states are on the steps up to the building, along with the year they became a state. 
The house of representatives side - the dandy little voting desks. 
The much more plush and beautiful senate. It was decorated for Christmas and was quite amazing. 
Monday Bethany and I went to a swamp to hopefully see some alligators and such. It turned out that we didn't see so much as a toad, when it came to wildlife. = ( It was a nice walk though. 
There was a nature center inside and there were lots of snakes and other reptillians. 
The end. We left the reptiles and headed to the airport.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Is it a happy story, is it a sad story... you tell me.
I have to share about our Saturday. Dave and I frequently talk about wanting to go to a football game, but not being able to afford tickets. This past Saturday we had to go to campus for something anyway, so we decided to just get in on some of the game day madness with out actually going to the game. So we were walking around (gee, it feels a bit chilly out here for the south) and making our way to where the band would be marching down the hill and into the stadium. We kept seeing people with tickets for sale and we'd go back and forth... should we just ask... should we not... then we'll want to buy them... then they won't leave us alone... we really should use our money to buy things we need like um... paying bills and curtains for the guest room. Anyway, we made our way to where the band would pass by and were standing there and then you know you start to get all into the hype and we did really want to go to the game... so this guy walked passed with tickets and Dave looks at me and we thought, ah well, might as well ask. So he asks the guy and he says 20 bucks a ticket. A steal of a deal really, but still, is it responsible for us to spend 40 bucks right now on tickets? So we're standing there debating and I'm thinking about the curtains and grocery bill... and then this other guy standing right beside us in the crown says, "How many tickets do you need? I got 6 tickets for free." OH MY! I said, oh, we only need 2... (we're so nice you can keep the other 4). So 40 dollar ticket man walked off and we got 2 free tickets in the lower deck. Oh my. FREE I tell you... FREE!!!! We were so excited. I mean, how much better could it have worked out? We walked passed so many people selling tickets and didn't stop, but the first one we asked - ahhh, such perfect timing. So anyway, it was very fun seeing the band and I was starting to follow football a little more than usual (which doesn't take much) although I'd still prefer hockey. Anyway, the only problem was that it was COLD and WINDY. And we did not dress for attending the game at all - we were not wearing warm clothes and were just sitting there freezing like mad. So we were talking about what to do... The score at half time was 23-other team 3-LSU. It was looking pretty bleak for them anyway. We decided to leave after the half time show, although we really did want to stay, it was just the freezing factor that motivated us to leave. I kept saying I would like to see at least one LSU touchdown, but it was not to be. So we went to the grocery store on the way home, got back in the car, and would you believe it, the score was 33 LSU/ 31 other team. I guess the score at one point was 31-3 for the other team, but LSU ended up scoring 37 points straight for what their biggest come back game ever. Dave was literally ill. We were THERE! We could have seen it ALL! Anyway, that is my happy-sad story for the evening.
On a completely different note: overheard from someone, somewhere, in a far away land...
"STOP calling me LORD!!! That's an ORDER!!!" (I was just trying to be Biblical, sheesh!)
person 1: "I don't care how PRACTICAL it is if it looks stupid!!
person 2: "I don't care how stupid it looks, if it's PRACTICAL!! It's form versus function!!
person 1: "FORM! I'll take form please!!
"I need to head to campus... and as a man, that's a very powerful thing..." (It's along story, but let me just tell you that adding that to the end of every sentence can be quite fun and entertaining...)
(adoringly)... "you're the best thing to ever happen to you." (huh?)
"We were out of ice cream so I had a bowl of cole slaw." haha. refer to previous post. oh, and gag. yeah, it's still hanging around.
On a completely different note: overheard from someone, somewhere, in a far away land...
"STOP calling me LORD!!! That's an ORDER!!!" (I was just trying to be Biblical, sheesh!)
person 1: "I don't care how PRACTICAL it is if it looks stupid!!
person 2: "I don't care how stupid it looks, if it's PRACTICAL!! It's form versus function!!
person 1: "FORM! I'll take form please!!
"I need to head to campus... and as a man, that's a very powerful thing..." (It's along story, but let me just tell you that adding that to the end of every sentence can be quite fun and entertaining...)
(adoringly)... "you're the best thing to ever happen to you." (huh?)
"We were out of ice cream so I had a bowl of cole slaw." haha. refer to previous post. oh, and gag. yeah, it's still hanging around.
Friday, November 14, 2008
For Sabrina and LaRonda (I spose the rest of you could read as well if you want)
For Sabrina -- I thought I'd add a mouse story of my own since I've been so entertained by yours lately and can so identify with the terror of sharing living quarters with lice infested, demon-possessed vermin. I'm shuddering at reliving the memories. Sadly, there are many tales to tell... It seems that a couple of my older siblings are involved in a diabolical "let's-see-if-Rachel-really-will-have-an-early-heart-attack" scheme. Since they're all older and there's so many of them, hopefully I won't incriminate anyone. haha. Here's one story. And let me tell you, there are MANY similar stories from BOTH of these folks. One night I lay on the couch in older siblings house, trying to sleep. It was the night time. Everyone in the house was fast asleep. I believe I had slept a little while when suddenly, I awoke, with the sinking feeling in my stomach that indeed, I was not alone in that room. You know when you wake up just knowing? My heart is pounding out of my chest, I'm trying so hard to tell myself it's all in my head. And then I heard it. Scurrying. The pitter patter of tiny feet running around, sounded like it was across the room. I wanted to SCREAM. I'm now slightly raised on couch, waiting for the attack, wondering what to do, when, I kid you not, the little vermin came out from behind the entertainment center and started running RIGHT TOWARDS ME! I thought I might pass out. He ran under the couch. There was no way in blue blazes I was staying on that couch. So when I mustered the courage, I DASHED for the kitchen, barely touching the floor, and on my tip toes the whole time. It somehow seems more safe, the less of your body that touches the same floor that the rat is on. So, now what do I do? I'm in the kitchen, the rat is in the living room, where to go? So I sat on the chair in the kitchen for awhile. Pretty soon, oh terror of terrors, the wretched creature shows up AGAIN - he comes right to the edge of the kitchen and stares at me with his beady, evil little eyes. NOOOOOOO!!! What was I to do now? In case the little beast decides to try to charge me in the kitchen and crawl in my ear and eat my brains, or worse, lay eggs in my head so... anyway... I do what any respectable woman would do, and jumped up on the chair. So it's in the middle of the night, I'm standing on a chair in the kitchen, covering my mouth so as not to scream... praying for the rapture, and knowing I'm in for a very long night. I did indeed spend the rest of that night on the chair in the kitchen, alternating between standing on, sitting on, standing on, sitting on, depending on where the little demon was and how intently he was staring at me, plotting to make his move. When FINALLY, someone in the house awoke, I sputtered out the whole sordid tale, and he (brother or brother in law, so as not to incriminate anyone) so casually said, oh yeah, him, he's been around here for awhile... AHHHHHHHH!!!!! Such a casual attitude to the great deal of mental and emotional anguish I endured that night. The end. Thank God, the END! But like I said, there's more. One time, I was actually wearing this heart monitor thing because long ago the doc said I had a heart murmur and wanted it checked out. (It turned out to be nothing but a slight murmur, in case you're wondering) So I'm sound asleep late in the night, when what sounded like a stampede of vermin came charging into my room. I FLEW out of bed, forgetting of course, that I was full of stickers and wires. My heart was thumping as though it would burst. stickers and wires are dangling about me... what do I do now? ugh. I think found somewhere else to sleep, although I don't think I got a lot more. Okay, I'm going to stop now with the mice stories, not that my skin is crawling and I'm jumping at every noise... If anyone has an appetite anymore, LaRonda wanted these cookies, so here they are:
(ooo, I've never done this before... I feel all hilda-the-houswifey)
1 cup butter, melted (yeah, they're not exactly low fat = ( )
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup ww flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking soda
mix wet ingredients, add the dry ones (I added choc. chips to some of them and that was fabulous), mix until smooth, bake 15ish min. at 350. You might be able to add a bit more flour or oats to this - they were pretty soft, but tasty. Oh, and if you care, the original recipe called for 1.25 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat bran (which they apparently don't sell in the south) and .75 cup rolled oats.
(ooo, I've never done this before... I feel all hilda-the-houswifey)
1 cup butter, melted (yeah, they're not exactly low fat = ( )
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup ww flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking soda
mix wet ingredients, add the dry ones (I added choc. chips to some of them and that was fabulous), mix until smooth, bake 15ish min. at 350. You might be able to add a bit more flour or oats to this - they were pretty soft, but tasty. Oh, and if you care, the original recipe called for 1.25 cups white flour, 1 cup wheat bran (which they apparently don't sell in the south) and .75 cup rolled oats.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
More sorting fun
Please! Buy us PENS for Christmas!! Oh my word! Again, I don't feel as though the picture really does it justice. There were SO many. 
And now may I proudly present (Clockwise from upper left) pens for the living room, pens for the bedroom, pens for the computer room, pens for Dave to take to school, pens for Goodwill, and pens for the trash.
Together at last... Dave and I discovered that we have had matching staplers for who knows how long. All they have really wanted all these years was to be together. Isn't it just a tear jerker?
And now may I proudly present (Clockwise from upper left) pens for the living room, pens for the bedroom, pens for the computer room, pens for Dave to take to school, pens for Goodwill, and pens for the trash.
Together at last... Dave and I discovered that we have had matching staplers for who knows how long. All they have really wanted all these years was to be together. Isn't it just a tear jerker? Tuesday, November 11, 2008
random and disturbing pics
The ensuing mess from the cooking described above or below depending on the order in which blogger chooses to post my posts. (I give up trying to outsmart it) Oh, and the mess is pretty terrible and I don't think the pics really do it justice. In real life, it was amazing.
The amazing cookies I mentioned above or below.
A little treasure Dave found while going through his junk... I mean treasured possesions. Note the expiration date. Also note that this is NOT the PB I used in above cookies. These pictures just make me gag. 
This might be boring....
but I'm going to do it anyway. In the face of sagging comments and a seeming lack of interest and enthusiasm from the blogging community (hint hint), I'll forge ahead, undaunted by the task ahead. Where to begin? I've had a few blog posts running around in my head the last while. They like wide open spaces so they stay up there for a long time on occasion. Sunday marked our tin (?) anniversary and we celebrated by... um, well, not too much, but it was a nice day. We watched the movie "Wild Hearts can't be Broken" and Dave actually liked it. I hope it's okay with him that I broadcast that. Anyway, we also ate some Qdobas which is a close friend of ours. We are in the stage of being shocked at how much it costs to grocery shop and cook, but at this fabulous Mexican place, we can split our favorite (chicken nachos) for 6 bucks. Not bad at all. So, we do that on occasion. Anyway, that's that. Okay, if there's any guys reading this, it's going to be really boring. This next stuff is all about food. With some of my neuroses mixed in. Okay, so last Friday, I was in charge of taking a meal to a family from church who had just had a baby, or I should say, a family in which the matriarchal figure had just had a baby. I volunteered for this task, thinking if anyone is without excuse, it would surely be me. Besides, I like these people and wanted to take them food. Wait a second. The fact that I like them should make me think 2ce about taking them food. Anyway, back to the story. I freely admit, I'm not well. I felt sort of out of my league here. And I obsessed over it for days, weeks...? As long as I knew I was going to do it. It's like I have this sickness that tells me, it's not okay to just take food, you have to come up with the best whatever it is on the planet. It has to make them drool with delight and exclaim on and on over how wonderful it is. Mediocre will never do. For some reason, it HAS to be phenomenal. Dave says, "huh, that's silly." Another family member points out that it's probably pride in my life. Both are true to some extent I'm sure. So after obsessing hours over what to take and conferencing with a couple friends, this is what I came up with: the maple BBQ chicken recipe that Vicky posted on Robyn's blog ages ago, the corn casserole that Karla posted on their food blog, cole slaw, chips, brownies. Oh, and buns for the chicken BBQ. After receiving sufficient approval for my plan, I set out to the store to purchase needed ingredients. In addition to the pride insists on beyond excellence, I'm also stricken with indecision of greganchuous proportions. Oh, last Thursday was a dark day. I'm sorry my story is taking so long, but you're all used to that by now, right? So I go to the store and one thing I wanted to get was disposable cooking containers, so said family would not have to worry about tracking me down to return dishes. So I stand in the aisle for what seemed like hours and could NOT decide what to get! What size? It was as though the size I wanted didn't exist. 8 x 8 seemed to small and chinsy, 9 x 13 looked HUGE. What to do? I left it and went on to other shopping. The rest went okay, save for the bun buying fiasco. I wanted something nice, not just plain looking buns with writing on the bag. So I frequented the bakery section. There was something wrong with each and every one (too hard, too soft, too few, too many, looks nice and feels soft, but what if they don't like oniony buns... on and on!!) and it was a painstaking and agonizing decision. FINALLY, I settled on basic, boring, whole wheat buns, of which the feel I was not 100% satisfied with. It turns out that's probably because the brain child didn't check the expiration date, and they were moldy the next day! ARG! I know this because I bought some for us. I should say that ours were moldy the next day, so I can only assume that theirs were as well. sigh. I tried so hard. = ( Why would they be selling nearly moldy buns in the first place? I shoulda checked. Okay, so then I went back to the dreaded disposable cooking receptacle aisle and finally settled on 2 of each size and I would decide what goes in what later. The following day, what commenced was a flurry of beating and mixing and blending and pouring and whisking and boiling and slow cookering that transformed my (teeny tiny) kitchen into an utter disaster area. And of course, I thought I was giving myself plenty of time, but ended up scurrying around last minute, flying in 20 different directions, cringing at the thought of taking food to the dear people LATE of all things, thus utterly destroying my phenomenal plan. Well, in the end, here's the final verdict - it became apparent soon after making an exorbitant amount of cole slaw, that it was not worthy of feeding to a, um, well, I would feed it to a pet I guess, considering that Dave and I are trying to choke it all down... but I did not have an ounce of peace about feeding it to nice family, particularly a mother who has recently giving birth. not a nice thing to do at all. I was bitterly disappointed, as I had found what looked to be a fabulous recipe. But in the end, it tasted overwhelmingly bland and way too strong of onion. I added sugar which made it edible, but not giftable. So Dave ran to the store and bought salad. We dashed out the door leaving the kitchen in utter disarray and when we arrived, they graciously offered that we stay and eat with them. Which was SO nice, but I was nearly breaking out in hives, thinking about the possibility that something tasted terrible and I would be present during the discovery of thus. But in the end, we had a very nice time and other than the cole slaw flop, things were quite yummy, actually, very yummy. That is the story of food, pride, mediocrity, and phenomenality.
One more thing on food. A while back I made these cookies and oh my. I wanted something that could be considered a bit healthy and needed to use up some peanut butter. I'm happy to say that I changed the recipe and they turned out amazing. Usually I don't mess with recipes too much, because I have a hard enough time with things coming out edible when I follow it to a tee. But these, ohhhhh my - I don't think I've ever posted a recipe on here, but if anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I can. They had wheat germ, oatmeal, and WW flour, but didn't taste healthy at all. Probably because of all the sugar and butter and such.
What else? I'm in the process of trying to apply for jobs and it's been a rather discouraging and depressing process. I'm trying to fill out an application for some government jobs and the whole thing is just SO tedious and has so many questions that I don't have the answers to - try going back 10 years to a job you had for a few months or weeks, and try to come up with dates, names who can verify employment, etc. It's just a royal pain in the neck.
We did have a productive weekend. On Saturday, we got our computer/guest room all shoveled out! That was a hapy occasion. It was sort of the last of the unpacking and sorting. Everything we didn't know what to do with or didn't feel like dealing with was pilied in this room. Saturday morning the floor was covered and by Saturday evening, the floor was very visible. It looks SO nice. Everything is taken care of, other than pictures that could be hung on the walls at some point and are sitting on the floor. I think I'll post some pics now. I hope I haven't bored you to tears. I wish I had some super exciting things to write about, but at the moment, they don't exit. I like my hubby. He's really sweet. That's about all.
One more thing on food. A while back I made these cookies and oh my. I wanted something that could be considered a bit healthy and needed to use up some peanut butter. I'm happy to say that I changed the recipe and they turned out amazing. Usually I don't mess with recipes too much, because I have a hard enough time with things coming out edible when I follow it to a tee. But these, ohhhhh my - I don't think I've ever posted a recipe on here, but if anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I can. They had wheat germ, oatmeal, and WW flour, but didn't taste healthy at all. Probably because of all the sugar and butter and such.
What else? I'm in the process of trying to apply for jobs and it's been a rather discouraging and depressing process. I'm trying to fill out an application for some government jobs and the whole thing is just SO tedious and has so many questions that I don't have the answers to - try going back 10 years to a job you had for a few months or weeks, and try to come up with dates, names who can verify employment, etc. It's just a royal pain in the neck.
We did have a productive weekend. On Saturday, we got our computer/guest room all shoveled out! That was a hapy occasion. It was sort of the last of the unpacking and sorting. Everything we didn't know what to do with or didn't feel like dealing with was pilied in this room. Saturday morning the floor was covered and by Saturday evening, the floor was very visible. It looks SO nice. Everything is taken care of, other than pictures that could be hung on the walls at some point and are sitting on the floor. I think I'll post some pics now. I hope I haven't bored you to tears. I wish I had some super exciting things to write about, but at the moment, they don't exit. I like my hubby. He's really sweet. That's about all.
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