In Search of Somewhere

climbing panda

2009-07-05T08:31:00.012-05:00

lighting the "climbing panda"

stepping back from said panda...

jumping back from panda...

happy little panda, through all the smoke it produced.
target audience: most likely 5 year old girls.
verdict: maybe my favorite firework. :)
oh well, what can I say?

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T22:43:00.004-05:00

Today I held my first Roman Candle, threw my first (successful) bottle rocket and wrote my name with a sparkler. By far, my favorite firework of the night, however, was the "growing panda" which looked deceptively cute. The innocent anime creature sits on a stick that's supposed to shoot up after lighting the fuse. We put him on top of the fencepost I reached up high and lit my choice firework. I stepped away just in time as he began to hiss and spin violently, colored flames radiating in a circle and raining down. Next shot out a fire ball just off to my right. I don't think I'm the only one who gasped. I doubt Jon or Walt would admit to it. Maybe Pam will. It was quite a shock! A green fireball shot out and then the panda shot up... all at once. The surprise was worth it all.

Today we grilled out, bought a sprinkler, took Atlas to the farmers market and on a walk at Tom Lee Park (whose monument calls him a "very worthy negro" for heroically saving 32 lives on the Mississippi one night), hung out with friends, watched the Memphis fireworks from Arkansas's flood plain (maybe a 15 minute show with no recognizable finale... but fireworks nonetheless) and enjoyed an overcast day in the midst of summer heat.

It was a great holiday. I think it's finally time for bed. (yay!) :)

Done!

2009-07-01T08:10:00.002-05:00

I took my test! Oh what a relief to be done. Although I won't find out officially for 4 - 5 weeks I feel alright about it too. This, for the record, does not mean I'll get credit for the class... with only 1 week of studying my standards may be a little low for this test. I'm just not really sure. Regardless, I am so thankful that my father in law postponed the tree job he'd hired Walter for so that he could drive me to my test. I used the time to study some more and learned (short term, I'm sure) a whole HEAP of info that was directly on the test. Praise God!

After stopping by Costco, Lowes, and Chic-fil-A (for a great salad) we headed home. I vowed not to celebrate with food (the salad doesn't count... even if I didn't make it myself) but instead to go swimming. This was my first real time in the pool (all in) this summer and it was SO wonderful. The last time I peaked my toes in the water was frigid. This time: bath water (as a note, bathwater is cooler than air so it is absolutely perfect). I even did a few decent dives and one or two really bad ones. I have to re-learn every year but gradually it is sticking.

Once we got home and had dinner I had the sneaking suspicion that there was something I definitely should be doing. How irresponsible was it for me to sit around leafing through pattern books, dreaming about which one should be done when. Then it hit me that I didn't HAVE to do anything that night. No responsibilities. How wonderful!

So I fixed a curtain. I got out my sewing machine and made a reinforcement for the area the dogs keep dislodging when they squeeze thru for a better view of the neighbor kids. Walter helped me install my masterpiece and TADA a working window cover yet again. :) I bought three sewing books just before I found out about this test. So once amazon delivered them I only allowed myself a glancing look before hiding them away to study. Now I get to pull them out in earnest and begin tinkering with my new sewing machine. It is a beauty!

I have other good news too. We're getting a camera! It should come in the mail tomorrow or the next day. Soon my posts won't be quite so bland looking. Won't that be the day? ;)

Falafel Friday!

2009-06-27T15:56:00.003-05:00

I remember visiting a friend's house one Friday after school and first encountering Pizza Friday. They had pizza delivered, rented a movie, and the whole family gathered round to hang out in the living room for hours. I thought it was great. Movie and pizza? Every week? Heck yah!

Awhile back I talked to Walter about creating our own incarnation of Pizza Friday. We decided it was a great idea but needed a little tweaking. Out went the pizza (at least for most weeks) and in came the falafels. Home made falafels are great fun but quite a bit of work and even more clean up (it's Walter's job to clean out the fryer). This put a damper on the event... on starting up the event, I should say. We talked about Falafel Fridays off and on but never seemed to implement them. Then came Costco. They have some pre-made falafels that are perty good. They're not homemade good and CERTAINLY not fresh from the streetcorner of Bethlehem good... but good nevertheless. Kinda like having pizza delivered when you could go gourmet. Which, looking back, is kind of the point of pizza fridays: fast and easy food traded for time and fun with family. Plus, both delivered pizza and pre-made falafels are slightly guilty pleasures (tho falafel's not too guilty) so I think we've fit the bill.

Today is Falafel Friday (woohoo!) even tho' it is Saturday (shhh). But we weren't home yesterday and I desperately need the break and we sold our Civic today and it seems like cause enough for celebration. :)

and wait

2009-06-25T21:21:00.003-05:00

Was it really March last time I checked this? It's hard to believe it's almost July! We've moved on from Spring Break (in Nashville... storms pummeled the gulf coast and what good is beach if you're stuck inside the motel? the hotel in nashville, for the record, was delightful.) to Summer Vacation where, until last week, we'd settled into a nice quiet rhythm.

I've been getting up early to give the dogs the walks they need, making a good breakfast and then eating it back in bed with Wally. After breakfast we'd go our separate ways: Wally grinding out tree stumps or installing cabinets or welding giant pieces of metal or whatever job came his way that day, and I'd either go to the Haps to help out my mother-in-law with whatever needed to be done there or to the Wilsons to babysit the kids. We'd come home, work out, eat dinner, and hang out for a few hours before bed and doing it all over again. It's been really pleasant.

Then last week I got the news that the Psychology class I'd planned on testing out of... in the fall... had to be tested out of by July 1st (oh my.). So scratch me going anywhere and working with anyone. Now I get up, walk the dogs, eat my breakfast, and study... small break to water the flowers... and I study... small break to turn off the soaker hose and empty the dishwasher... and I study... break for lunch... study... sweep the floor... study... prep supper (yay for crockpots!)... and study... work out with Wally, get really stinky, take a shower... and SUPPER... then study some more before calling it quits. I have one week to learn this entire class. It's just a little crazy. Not too bad really. I look forward to our workout and to dinner.

Walter and I have starting doing P90X. It's an intense 3 month workout program and we've just finished week 3. Woo! I'm not sure I've ever looked fwd to a workout before. Doing this, I have so much more energy and my body just feels better. I'm absolutely loving it. I'm embarassed to admit it but it may be the highlight of my day (oh my), and that's not to say I'm miserable the rest of the day either (tho' I know my description sounded riveting... hehe). It really is very satisfying.

So that's life right now, working outside in the heat (yard work and heavy lifting for both of us), spending some time with family before they move (the Wilsons to Chatanooga soon), studying for nursing tests, working out, reading Desiring God with our community group, and filling up the weekend with cookouts (Friday a goodbye/birthday party for the Wilsons/Chris, Saturday a bbq with church celebrating that we have a building to move into in August) and meeting up with ppl (a "playdate" for Phoebe with a prospective new family on Saturday and catching up with an out of town friend Sunday) between bouts of studying (now this does make me a little nervous).

I wish I had pictures to make this post a little bit more engaging but we're camera-less. It was sent thru the washer in Walt's pants pocket. We hoped it would dry out and revive but alas... It was not to be. I want to show you the tile we've chosen for our kitchen backsplash and the kitchen counters now that they're in place and the new chair for the living room and the craftroom that's soon to be... but they will have to wait... until I find, borrow, or purchase a new camera. Until then you'll just have to be patient... and wait.

today

2009-03-20T13:44:00.003-05:00

Done! Test 3 of 3 is complete and 2 out of 3 went fantastically well (can't complain too hard about that, now can I?). I walked out of Statistics today feeling so free. Now I feel like I'm on Spring Break (for those of you who don't know... I had SB from my morning classes two weeks ago, one week of both sets of classes- and all tests- and then this week I have SB from my evening classes). So next weekend (the tail end of break... only missing one, maybe two, classes) Walt & I are heading off somewhere exotic for vacation. We're not sure where yet. Maybe Florida, maybe the Gulf Coast, maybe a cruise to the Bahamas... just depends on the amazingness of the deals and our timely decisions (yeah, we're not so good at that last one. but we'll get there). Yay! Spring Break!!

The weather here has been BEAUTIFUL. It feels like a warm spring at last (at last... hehe). After my math test Wednesday, however, I wasn't quite appreciating it. I'd just bombed it (or, I think...) and decided to buy some new jeans before heading home (not really to make myself feel better but really to prevent problems in the near future). I drove to the mall and talked on the phone in the parking lot for awhile. Finally , I got out and marched right in to JCPenny. I was on a mission. I had a purpose. This was going to be quick. I would not spend the majority of my day at the mall. I paused momentarily to glance at the store map as I entered and then zoomed off. Not three steps in I heard an abrupt (almost challenging), 'Can I help you?' Still in super efficient mode, I swung back around just as abruptly. I think it caught her off guard. 'Oh... uh...' I don't know what else came out of her mouth and I'm not sure what I was thinking because I turned back around and hurried on my way towards the rest of the mall. It was very slowly that I actually started to take in my surroundings: It was awfully empty and quiet (no music only a few people in sight). As I walked down the center of the store I realized that to my right the lights were on but to my left it was still pretty dark. Uh oh. I started to realize that JCPenny's hadn't opened yet. I kept going and kept looking purposeful (no one questions someone with purpose). That's when I saw it: a glass wall between me and the rest of the mall. Definitely confirmed. All doors were closed and locked and suddenly I had to turn around and look purposeful the entire way back out of the store towards the parking lot. When I got back to my entrance it was slightly harder to be nonchalant. Apparently I walked in through the only unlocked door on my first try. Heading out, it took four tries to get it right (much to the confusion of an entering employee). But I made it out without even a reprimand, walked around the outside to a different entrance and then hung out in the food court with the old people (eating breakfast after their morning walks) and the mall cops gliding past on the segues. I thought it was pretty amusing.

Anyway, I found pants.

It was pretty quick. And, the majority of my day was not spent at the mall. All in all, a success.

Now it's spring break (kinda) and it feels good. My kitchen is half clean (that half is really really nice). The other half is waiting for a clean dishwasher so that new dishes can be loaded in and it too will be spotless (yay!). I have ingredients for wonderful salads and scrumptious dinners and an odd desire to knit again (since when has knitting been a spring thing?).

This pin cushion really wet my appetite, I think.

And then I remembered all the cute patterns in the free issue of Interweave Crochet I've yet to try out. The latter are a little bit too wintery for me right now but that just makes me anxious for the next issue to arrive. :) I can't wait.

So today I'm celebrating spring (is today the equinox?), taking a long walk with the dogs, cleaning the kitchen, cooking up a storm, cleaning up again (yay, i have a clean kitchen!), going out to see Slumdog Millionaire, and maybe taking up my knitting or reading a book... because today I'm on vacation. :D

A&P

2009-03-04T19:15:00.002-06:00

I've been studying Anatomy & Physiology (A&P) and writing up flashcards like mad. (with my final only two weeks away- what else is there to do?) Fairly often I find myself distracted watching myself write or thinking about breathing or any number of mostly unconscious actions my body usually keeps up with. It's while I'm writing about how my brain sends signals to my muscles to contract that I think, 'wow, my brain just did that.' Then I find myself trying to make unconscious actions conscious... and my body gets very confused. Am I thinking 'move!' or am I sending the signal 'move!'? Today I was writing a flashcard about saddle joints and got distracted by my thumb holding the pen. 'Look, a saddle joint... doing it's thing... holding my pen.' (oh my)

Does anyone else get distracted like this? Or am I the only insane one?

This semester I've started a bad habit... caffeine each and every morning. MWF I have to leave my house at 6:30 so it's become kind of a necessity. Today, however, I forgot it. I remembered the entire way in the car. I planned to stop at Starbucks and get a hot Apple Chai Infusion. I decided it didn't matter if I had to be a few minutes late. I was determined. Well, I forgot. Apparently I was too tired to remember to drive one block past my normal turn off and get something to wake myself up. So sad. Class is so much more interesting when I'm awake for it.

There was one moment towards the end that made me chuckle, however. My soft-spoken little Indian professor told us he was "fixing to" get something ready for the test. It was just fun to hear such a southern phrase come out of his mouth. Very cute. :)

The first time I heard fixin' was in Greek class. My professor had just moved from Texas to Ohio and when he told us that _blank_ word meant fixin' (it's horrible but I don't remember anymore) we all just stared at him, faces completely void. It took us a moment to translate "fixin' to" into "going to." This is the same professor who allowed us to write y'all for the second person plural (tho' I'm pretty sure we started that, not him).

Anyway, I should go back to studying... Test tomorrow. Spring break is ALMOST here!

ethics in the real world

2009-02-16T10:20:00.002-06:00

Last night Walter dropped me off at the local grocery store (small store, high prices, limited variety, but close to home... you know the one.) and went to fill up the car with gas. I bounded in to get eggs for breakfast. As I abruptly turned the corner into the dairy aisle I saw something I'd never personally seen before (at least not so clearly). A large(-ish) woman picked something up from the cart she was pushing and shoved it hastily into her bra. Her chest looked lumpy and disproportionate. I doubt it was the first thing she'd placed in there that trip. I quickly looked away, pretending I hadn't seen.

I think two things played into that. 1) I didn't know what to do. 2)I was a little intimidated. Aside from the lady being large, the man with her was a bit intimidating. So i quickly examined an egg carton and headed toward the check-out. As I turned my back to the shop-lifting family I saw something fall from their cart to the floor. Walking away I heard an argument ensue: "No, you pick it up. You know I can't bend over!" Yeah,I thought, I know WHY you can't bend over. (and I hate that you can't hear the accent behind this... imagine Tyler Perry's Madea saying this, with lots of attitude)

Now, I feel pretty good about not confronting the shoplifters themselves. No ethical dilemma there. The real question is, should I have told the manager? I know there'd be nothing wrong in telling him. But did I do wrong NOT telling him? I feel like maybe it would have been a good thing to do. But I don't know. I'm not sure I'd feel great about it either way.

What do you think?

& sundry

2009-02-12T09:18:00.002-06:00

So I'm pretty sure that I've done none of my resolutions thus far... but I have been SICK for almost the last month now (& I'm finally starting to feel better, yay!)

My house is still cluttered (but the bathrooms are clean).

I have emails waiting and waiting to be written (so sorry, Emily. honestly, your emails have meant the world to me. they encouraged me a lot. I'll write you back this weekend).

I purged my computer desk yesterday. No trash on it now. Maybe I can claim just one of my resolutions upheld. :)

Here's what I have been doing instead. School, homework, sleep. Seriously being sick is like a full time job! At least it's almost gone (I think).

Yesterday I got to class a few minutes before the room was unlocked. There were maybe 6 or so of us waiting. I glanced across the hall at the guy standing there and to my shock saw that he was wearing monogrammed jeans. No biggie right? The monogram was on his crotch! Right there, in a dull brown-orange, was the letter 'P'. Now I can only imagine what the P stood for. But really... not only was it a little crass it looked a little silly. It made me laugh (tho' not out loud and definitely not right then). I wish I could have taken a picture of it but I didn't think I could really ask for a picture of his crotch. It didn't seem quite right.

Also, I've come to the conclusion that there are three final bastions of smoking left in these great United States: Community Colleges, Pool Halls, & Hospitals (not inside them, oh no! outside, in the 'smokers shack').

Off to study for the 4 tests I have coming up before I head out to class...

Resolved

2009-01-25T16:25:00.002-06:00

I've never been one to make New Years Resolutions. I guess that can explain why I'm so late to jump on the band wagon this year. But three came to me today. They're good and they're achievable. I had better write them down. :)

I resolve to start fewer emails with the words: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond. Instead I'll respond to them more quickly.
I will throw away my trash. I don't understand the scraps of paper cluttering up my computer desk. It isn't that hard.
I will spend at least 20 minutes a day purging my house of STUFF. It's just the two of us. We should be able to fit into a one bedroom apt w/o any problem. It'll just take some doing.

spacious

2009-01-17T23:12:00.003-06:00

It's too late to write again but I was just marveling at how large and clean my living room looks again, now that the Christmas tree is gone. It always amazes me. I do miss the nativity scene tho'. It was absolutely beautiful... the muted colors against the green wall behind it. I hope I took a picture. That scene may not happen again. Today I went apartment shopping. No real news on that front yet. But it may be coming soon. Good night. :)

p.s.

2009-01-15T22:58:00.002-06:00

Oh and I'll have to tell you what I did for my birthday! It involved fulfilling a decade old wish, dressing up, delicious food, lots of driving, and very little sleep. :) But I'm off to bed. gotta be out the door in less than 8 hours. g'nite!

Re-entry

2009-01-15T22:42:00.002-06:00

The past two days have thrown me back into academia... or at least seen the majority of my time in a school. Let's see... from admissions to transcript evaluation and then home. Next was a long line of phone calls to and from COD figuring out how to get a 'transcript' from someone who doesn't do unofficial transcripts _at all_. Back to Southwest... transcript evaluation, advisors office, admissions, meeting room c, waiver forms, cashiers' office, and distance learning. By this point it's 3:30 (I got there sometime in the morning) and I decided to eat lunch before buying text books. That's saved for tomorrow. It's my first day of class.

After dinner I started to realize that I should prepare myself for the day. What do I need for classes? I thought about taking a shower tonight (class is at 7:30am!!), picking out my clothes, having a bag ready for supplies... oh wait. supplies. I asked Walter if he had a notebook or something I could write in. No luck. Neither of us have any type of notebook. We do have tons of pencils tho'. And I made sure to have snacks in case I just couldn't make it home after class without succumbing to temptation and pulling over at a Wendy's. I bought so many yummy snacks at whole foods today. But did I think about basic school supplies? Not a chance.

So if school is about navigating red tape and staying mentally alert I think I'm ready for anything. If I actually have to take notes I may be in a bit of trouble. It all just made me realize how far removed from school I've really become. All soon to change, however. Tomorrow I'll go to Statistics and then next week I add Gen Chem and A&P (I and II). I guess I'll have to buy some notebooks. I think it should be fun. :)

Birthday Bonanza

2008-12-13T20:26:00.002-06:00

December is chock full of birthdays for me: friends, family, Jesus... and me.

Every year birthdays have been kind of a big deal for me. I mean, I've always really been excited to be able to honestly say that I'm a year older than I could have the day before. And I always spent about 6 months almost slipping out that I was older than actually was the case. Not so with 26. Somehow this one is different. I think I'd rather stay 25 for now... at least until I feel like I understand myself a bit more, have my life squared away a bit better, and have accomplished one or two of my life goals. You think it could just hold off? :)

Anyway, I've always held fast to the rule that (at least when I had any say in the matter) I would not travel on my birthday. We always travel this time of year. As a kid I traveled from Chicago to Dayton, 6 hours in the car. Now I make the trek from Memphis to somewhere 10 hours away (be it Chicago or Dayton) and I've always held fastidiously to my rule: no traveling on my birthday. so there. This year I'm thinking about breaking it. (haven't talked to walter about it yet... we'll see). somehow the date just doesn't feel as important, car rides can be relaxing, and it does seem like the right timing to head up to the family. I don't know.

Regardless, I want to celebrate my birthday while still here in Memphis. I'm thinking the 22nd. And that's as far as I've thought. I mean, I just don't know what to do. Any ideas?

Looking back over this post it seems weird that I'd spend time telling you that this birthday doesn't feel as important or maybe that I'm not looking forward to it as much (I don't know, is that what I'm saying?) and then go on to ask for party ideas. The odd thing is that the party wasn't ever that big of a deal to me when adding a year to my age was. But again, this year feels different. Maybe I'm trying to compensate for the change. Maybe I'm just bored. :)

Either way, I would LOVE to heard your suggestions. I want to do something fun! (thanks)

Homemaking 'Meme'

2008-12-02T10:24:00.008-06:00

I know that questionnaires get old really fast but when I saw this one I couldn't resist. One that is different from all the rest I've personally seen. I hope you enjoy it too.

(In case you're like me & had never heard the word meme before: This link's for you)

Aprons – Y/N? If Y, what does your favorite look like?
YES! I love aprons. I have two and they are both favorites. One was given to me at my wedding (from anthropologie!) and the other my grandma bought while visiting us in Austria. Soon I'll sew a third.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake
I think pie. Or anything that's heavy with spices. I love my home to smell like nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice. And I love to bake something new. I don't have an old stand-by yet. There are so many fun things I haven't yet baked.

Clothesline – Y/N?
No. But I desperately would love one. I think they can be beautiful tho' all the ones I see around here look a little hick-trashy. I suppose it takes a little work to make it look like art.

Donuts – Have you ever made them?
Once. Wally & I bought a fryer specifically for beignets. They were wonderful.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day
Make the bed. tho' Walter sometimes does this for me now (yay!) so I also wipe down the sink to keep it shiny. :)

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze?
nope. it would be handy. it takes skill to close my freezer currently.

Garbage Disposal – Y/N?
Yes. Prefer to compost when it's not raining.

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Umm, probably Flylady.net and the little "speed cleaning" booklet that came with a Real Simple magazine once.

Ironing – Love it or hate it? Or hate it but love the results?
I just bought an iron (my first non-travel sized) and it makes ironing much more enjoyable. :D but i only iron when sewing.

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it?
Yeah, top (half) drawer in chest of drawers and middle drawer of the island. I'm ashamed I have more than one. :/

Kitchen – Color and decorating scheme
My walls are green and my backsplash used to be wall paper covered in some plastic type sheet. Soon it will be subway tile and the floor and counter will be replaced. Wally's building a counter top this week! :)

Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking?
Making my home smell good. I love sitting down in a clean room with warm candles and being able to relax. Relaxing just doesn't happen if I'm staring at a mess. The candles are just bonus. But seriously, I seem to be on a mission to figure out the best way to make a home with two 80 lbs dogs smell like a home w/o. As long as they haven't just run in the rain I'm usually pretty good.

Mop – Y/N?
Twice a week. (i live at the end of a dirt road with two dogs who dig, roll, and run back inside before we can clean them off) Walt is so sweet and he vacuums and I follow behind with the mop. We could do it daily but we ignore it 5 of 7 days. :)

Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Are you supposed to hand wash them? I hand wash practically nothing.

Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check?
Door. My door doesn't have a window. Very sad.

Pizza – What do you put on yours?
Mmmm, if it were for me I'd stick basil, chicken, tomatoes, spinach, feta, olive oil oh i don't even know. There are so many great options. If Walter were here half would be sausage. He'd do anything for a sausage pizza. :)

Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Light a candle and drink some tea on the couch.

Recipe card box – Y/N? What does it look like?
I do. The box is ugly rubbermade but the cards themselves are beautiful.

Style of house – What style is your house?
Small ranch style house with a huge deck in the front and a brick patio in the back. It was your typical 1980's closed off and dark home when we moved in but now it is bright and open. We've added a sunroom, window, light bamboo floors. It's not even the same place!

Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N?
For holidays. Lately I've been tempted to buy some fun fabric and make a tablecloth so we may be using one more often soon.

Under the kitchen sink – Organized or toxic wasteland?
Organized, as of last week.

Vacuum – How many times per week?
Twice. But sweeping gets done every day.. except Tuesday.

Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
Never enough.

X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
I have a list of things I'm supposed to do every day but I never cross them off. I usually do them tho'.

Yard – Y/N? Who does what?
Yep! We have 3 acres of land. I water the flowers and bushes and yell at the dogs when they try to dig them up (the bushes, we don't plant flowers in the back yard anymore). Walter mows and helps me with the heavy labor of gardening. I'm learning to garden... not very accomplished at it yet.

Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?
Put the dogs in their beds, give them a treat for going w/o making me shove their 80lbs into their crates, lock the doors, turn out the lights, unplug the Christmas tree & hop into bed!

Just HAD to Share

2008-11-19T09:54:00.004-06:00

My bookmarks folder is full of fun things I've found online. I thought it was time to start sharing them. They're much more fun to enjoy with people rather than all alone.

GurglePot Koi Pitcher... browse thru the pictures. i'm in love!
Index Chopping Boards... for those of you (like me) on a quest to organize a small kitchen
Delight... a new favorite online store
Midsummer Light... we've found where to buy the materials but the cutting looks like it'd be worth the cost. once i have th money.
Making Memory Candles... and now for crafts.
Inspiration Board... for tight spaces
Tape Transfers... like the candles
Shoulder Bag Tutorial... simple enough
Storage Basket... again, questing for organization
Playing Card Box Tutorial... for anyone with a short deck, much better than throwing it out. :)

Which candidate could see Russia from their house?

2008-11-18T08:44:00.004-06:00

I thought this was interesting. Funny too. I would even have been fooled by one or two of these.

Now,friends who supported Obama, please don't get mad at me. The media just didn't give us the whole story (and when do they?). I think this is an indictment of the media's election coverage rather than any statement about the candidates themselves.

And for you non-Obama supporters here's a reminder I think we all could need:

Be subject to every human institutionfor the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme or to governors as those he commissionsto punish wrongdoers and praisethose who do good. For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. Liveas free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves.Honor all people, love the family of believers,fear God, honor the king. (1 Peter 2:13-17)

registration

2008-11-12T21:58:00.003-06:00

Today I drove all the way to Germantown (which I hadn't realized was so far away) to register for A&P. After 3 back tracks, and a lengthy call to Walter involving me telling him exactly which streets I was passing and some quick tracking on google maps, I made it to my meeting. I walked in, said hi, signed a paper, signed a check, and walked out. 5 minutes tops. An hour each way.

lotus

2008-11-09T13:48:00.002-06:00

today i stayed home from church sick. i was scheduled for sunday school and instead of infecting 13 kids with a week long illness i watched 3 foreign films and found blogs from old college friends.

the films left me wondering: if the world is really such a horrid place, what can we do about it? and why is it still so beautiful? so intoxicating?

the blogs made me wish for college and a chance to do that over. but since we don't get do overs it made me ache for close, thoughtful friendships in the here and now.

one quote from my morning: learn to live like the lotus flower, untouched by the murky water in which it grows.

Happy 4th!

2008-11-04T09:12:00.003-06:00

I'm excited about Election Day! I voted early and now it's time to just sit back and enjoy the show. This is the first election I've participated in. Last time I was in Israel (which added a whole different, exciting, and important feel to the election but...). Postage from Israel is expensive. Illinois didn't provide the postage for my absentee ballot and I failed to plan (plus, they don't count absentee ballots... hardly ever). So this is a first. Very exciting.

Wally & I will be heading to Chris & Dorothy's for dinner and some games (actually, i'm headed there to babysit and THEN election day fun). On our way I'm going to be sure that we stop at Starbucks for free coffee!! (whether you vote or not, apparently) :) yay!

The Front Fell Off

2008-11-01T15:52:00.004-05:00

This just made Walter laugh and laugh.
Thought you might enjoy it too.
(note: walter has kinda a dry, quirky sense of humor)
((also, i laughed at it too))

Sense of Smell

2008-10-29T08:22:00.004-05:00

You know those silly surveys you get thru email? Well I had a realization last night:

I love the smell of the laundry vent from outside.

You know when someone is washing clothes and you walk out and can smell the dryer sheets and soap in the warm air escaping out the back? This is one of my favorite smells. I never remember this smell when I'm asked in surveys. It's one that I typically only remember in the moment. That moment was last night as I walked out of Dorothy's home. I had to stop and just breath it in.

They say that the sense of smell is attached most strongly to memory. I'm not sure if there's a specific memory attached to this one but there definitely is something psychological going on here. I can walk outside body tense and mind stressed and immediately it slips away. It's almost an involuntary action that I seem to relax my shoulders and smile. Last night I almost raised my arms to help me breath in more deeply. I don't think I can explain just how much I love (and how surprised I am-each time- by) this smell. But I just wanted to put that out there.

What are some of your favorite smells and do you have a memory attached? Tell me about them. (please) :)

FALL!

2008-10-23T15:36:00.004-05:00

i don't have much time to say hi to y'all like i should. today is now grocery day (i set up a weekly schedule courtesy of fly lady) and i need to get a move on. but here are two quick and happy thoughts:

1. My dogs are home!! they've been boarding at the vet for 3 weeks now (oh my!) to get treated for heartworms. it's so nice to have them home. when i first saw them they looked odd to me. out of proportion almost. they have such broad shoulders and muscle-y butts. they are beasts! such sweeties tho'.

2. I'm getting supplies for a cute craft. And by supplies i mean construction paper. But really, this is a cute one. I'm excited to put some together this evening and see how they turn out.

& here's where i found it.

oh and 3 (i said two... but who will really complain?): Wally's building an airplane even as we speak. it's a little remote control one. he's pulled out the parts on a ready to fly version and is making his own "flying wing" version. i'll have to take pictures of the process.

OH! (4:) And today is a wonderfully fall-like day. It's rainy outside and cool. I can look out our living room to our deck (for which walter just built a railing yesterday), aunt janet's hanging impatien plant, and the soy bean and rice fields. while walter and i cleaned we watched dead poet's society. i got to sit down with some hot spiced cider and watch the end in peace in a clean cozy room! you can't ask for much more. :)

r.e.a.d.i.n.g.

2008-08-16T08:29:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time.

But long posts aren't really my thing. Emily recently mentioned to me that she'd read an article about how the internet is changing our thought processes and attention span and how she found this to be true with her ability to read long books. And I can relate! Not only do I rarely devour books anymore but I tend to read them bits and pieces and many multiples at once (rarely finishing even one). Also (and more to my point here), I don't even have an attention span enough for parts of the internet anymore... when blogs get long my eyes glaze over and I scroll down hoping for pictures to satisfy my hunger for a quick fix. A sad but true fact.

I've always thought that I just wasn't good at reading on the computer. It wasn't as interesting. I'd rather be holding the written word in my hands. This is why I buy newspapers and haven't bought a kindle (tho' that really is more of the cost... it seems like an absolutely wonderful idea for the airport). But recently my inability to read has spilled over from the computer screen and onto real life. It's a sad sad day.

Walter & I went to Birmingham to help Mike renovate his new condo. I brought 3 books and one magazine in preparation for the times when I believed I might be in the way of some truly skilled labor. And although I had time to at least crack them open... nope, didn't crack a single book. I did manage (and this is a feat!) to read some of my magazine. This is the third issue of Biblical Archaeology Review I've received since renewing and it's the first issue I've begun to read. How sad! And that's something I'm really interested in.

So today we're heading up to Ohio. We're going to visit friends and family and meet little Zechariah Emerson Vest. Walter may get some scouting work done (no details as of yet) and I will bring (yet again) my books. We'll see how it goes this time. The 9 hour car ride can't hurt my chances! :)

MFM Find

2008-07-26T11:35:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to post for a few days but couldn't get my computer to link up and find this picture. Last week I bought some purple beans at the farmers market. They're beautiful and, I was told, sweeter than their green counterparts. I'm not so sure about the sweeter business but they are definitely a lot of fun! Here's the stirfry I made with them. Did you know that they turn green when they're done? I'd heard this but doubted I'd want them cooked long enough to turn (I'm not into mushy veggies). It was so fun to watch them change color. It's as if they have a built in timer to show you when it's time to serve. So Fun! I missed the Farmers Market today but will go to an estate/moving sale and maybe swimming with my nieces and nephews instead. Tomorrow Walter & I are grilling amazing shish kabobs (one of our favorite recipes ever) and (hopefully) hosting a pool party. Gotta get summer in while it's still blazing. :)

a short night, or was it long?

2008-07-19T08:45:00.002-05:00

in a strange turn of events... i'm up, and in time to head to the farmers market at an only slightly picked over hour. i'd specifically planned not to be.

you see, yesterday walter & i decided to see The Dark Knight on opening night. At our theater the 7,7:30, & 10:15 were all sold out. We ended up buying tickets for the 10:45 showing at about 7pm and then exploring Memphis in between. We ate Cajun (-ish?) food at the Bayou Bar & Grill walked all around the pretty cute neighborhood our favorite theater is in, explored the city by car, took another walk and then enjoyed the in theater coffee shop before hopping in the (now long) line forming outside. the movie started 20 minutes late (as usual) thanks to the advent of car and tv commercials set within the listed showing time (does this annoy anyone else?) and we got out at 1:30.

i don't really want to say anything much about the movie but i am interested to hear what other people think. maybe it was the late hour , maybe it was just that good, but it was darker than i had hoped it would be (i know, what was i thinking? the Dark knight). when we got home i decided to watch the final episode of Dr. Horrible to lighten the mood a bit. By the time we finally reached our bed it was almost 3 o'clock (it has been a long time since college and a very long time since such late nights).

on that note, i decided not to go to the weekly farmers market (a sad decision) and to sleep in instead. unfortunately the dogs slept while we were in the theater. instead of asking for breakfast or to go outside they simply decided to try to serve themselves. their stealth needs a little work and here i am. alas. at least there's room in the day for a nap. i'm pretty sure i'll be needing it.

so now it's time for a quick shower and off i go. plus, my fabric came in on thursday and i can finally begin my roman shades for the living room! i can't wait to see how it looks.

Here's to fun fabric and privacy! I'll have to show you them when they're done.

Again!

2008-07-16T19:47:00.009-05:00

Today is our anniversary. (hi, btw, it's been awhile...) 3 glorious years! :) Well, obviously not every moment has been glorious (mostly my fault, I'm very sure) but I am very happy to be married and very happy that it's to Walter. (yay!)

So what did we do? Well first off, Walter did NOT go to the court house bc he was excused from the current jury duty case (hooray). He got called up this month. Instead, we slept in, ate a delicious breakfast of homemade biscuits and real pork sausage (we normally go for the healthier turkey alternative), and made the decision to join the hordes of people "geocacheing". I have no idea, hordes may be an overstatement. But if you check it out there are tons of little geocaches out there. All over the place. It's like a random little treasure hunt that could send you anywhere in the world. It's supposed to be a great way to get off the beaten path and explore with a purpose. I'm not sure about that yet.

We tried to find 3 that are supposed to be right here in town. To no avail. One street had been re-done, presumably removing the cache. A parking lot was being repaved (or something). And the one we are absolutely certain we were exactly where it should be just wasn't there. Probably an over zealous gardener found the item and disposed of it promptly. Alas. A slightly less than stellar begining but at least we figured out the website and got ourselves a user name. There's no stopping us now. ;) It's pretty geeky but we had fun travelling around and exploring fields, gazebos, etc. Very nice.

After our geocaching adventure we headed over to Memphis to pick up Walter's present. We don't normally do big deal presents but this was just perfect so I made an exception. :) We scouted out a few music stores and headed home with a bass guitar, amp, headphones, stand, and two instructional dvds. I've been promised a serenade for our next anniversary. Although I bought this with Walter completely in mind I have to say that I'm not entirely bummed to have an instrument in the house. I've already had him teach me a little of what he's had a chance to learn. I'm going to have to remember that it is HIS present, not mine. :)

Walter took me out for my absolute favorite coconut shrimp (Joe's Crab Shack) and even let me steal one of his hush puppies (an old favorite from the days of Long John Silvers... oh my). All in all, a wonderful day so far. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughs. And the night is yet young.

So on a different note:
I've got some fun online finds I really think you should check out.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog This one you gotta move fast on! It's a free internet tv show that is only free until 20th. And Act I is great! Especially if you're a big Nathan Fillion fan (like me).
xkcd A fun comic Walter introduced me to (he even made me a super cute anniversary card with one of the strips). This is where my new header came from. I can't vouche for all of it but I have enjoyed what I've read so far. It does come with a warning. Check it out at the bottom of the page. Made me chuckle.

Quick! Totally worth it.

Midnight Cravings

2008-05-16T00:55:00.004-05:00

I found this idea from an eatingwell.com newsletter i get emailed to me. and even tho' the picture next to the recipe looked... less than tasty... to me i still had to try it. they're Amazing! here's what you've got to try: graham cracker spread with ricotta cheese and jelly (mine was marion berry). it's your own super quick cheese cake. i had 5 or 6. so addictive. so wonderful!

The real culinary props, however, go to Walter. He strained and strained raspberry seeds out of the puree in order to make this ridiculously tasty sorbet (so sorry the pic turned itself sideways... too late to figure out why just now). It's the first recipe we've tried in my new Baking with Agave Nectar cookbook. So far 100% success. I think next we're trying watermelon sorbet bc it takes less agave nectar than the raspberry one.

B-Ham

2008-05-10T23:03:00.004-05:00

today: drinking tea and cognac in birmingham. both are pleasant and unexpected discoveries. also, basmati rice with homemade humus. my stomach is content.

yesterday: fast-food on the road to birmingham and appetizers at olive garden with mike. we had fried calamari, pepperoni pizza, and bruschetta. yum yum.

yesterday: a walk around the apartments trailing 10 kids.

today: a walk thru the botanical garden's hydrangea sale and around the lake.

today: mariokart on the wii and too many sudoku puzzles on the ds.

yesterday: napping and singing in the car.

tomorrow: church and Iron Man perhaps.

it's good to visit friends.

Come Hell or High Water...

2008-05-03T12:59:00.005-05:00

and i can promise you the high water's coming first.

we made it to and from the beale street music festival last night in one piece! we mingled around between the stages, saw Flyleaf, Joan Jett, and some really fun bands over at the blues shack. we did a lot of people watching, ate some amazing crepes, listened to the 18 year old in front of us brag about how even cops were ok with her having alcohol when they looked at her id and then watched her get denied that frozen daquari bc they just weren't sure that the picture was of her, dodged pelting rain while waiting for ben folds and then gave up (totally soaked) and headed home. it was a lot of fun! we're heading back later today for Simple Plan, Seether, Disturbed, Matisyahu, Santana and maybe even Duman (a band from Turkey that I've yet to hear). Plus, we're going to get some funnel cake now that it's not raining. :) What are you doing with your weekend? Leave me a comment and let me know!

...

2008-04-28T11:07:00.003-05:00

here's a quick glimpse at spring life here. It's involved lots of plant sales, planting, cleaning, building, home improvements, running the dogs in and out whenever the rain dictates, knitting, reading, planning... we've got 30 boxes of solid bamboo flooring sitting in our living room. soon to be covering the concrete and replacing the worn out old carpet! today i'll build (i hope) a home for the dogs (more or less) and plant into my windowboxes (the ones walter built and my mom and i stained... they're still in the garage). today's walter's last day of the semester. his final final is done and he's just pulled in the garage! (i know, you all care very much :/)

Happy Spring everybody!

flood pics

2008-04-05T12:00:00.005-05:00

here are a couple of pics I took of the flood. for your enjoyment...

(the access road beside the highway)

(on the access road, ppl pull their mobil homes and rv's to higher ground hoping not to float away)

(sign in front of access road)

(one part of access road)

(cows grazing on the levee)

MISS-ISS-IPP-I

2008-04-03T10:23:00.006-05:00

I don't know if y'all watch weather channel or if it's news anywhere else but I do know that my mom's interested if no one else is. :)

The Mighty Mississippi has been at flood stage for almost two weeks now and I took a movie to a) show you just how far it's stretched passed its usual banks and b) to reassure my momma that the levee will indeed hold ;). Here ya go:

and that's all I have time for now... I just found a gardening book from the library that I'd left outside in the rain so I'm off to blow dry about 350 pages and hope that I don't get a big fat fine. :/ At least my garden is bursting with green!

p.s. i wrote this post two days ago but couldn't publish it until i found a way to reduce the size of the video. i'm happy to report that the book looks pretty good thanks to my blowdryer and a day or so of smooshing by two bricks. yay! (4.05.08)

crafting, chicken broth, and coffee

2008-03-19T10:48:00.003-05:00

I'm sick today which means I'm perusing the internet to find craft ideas I would plunge into if only I didn't have to go to the store for supplies. The current list: a 20-36 cc syringe & rubber bands. I went out last night to buy the lace but forgot the rubber bands. so sad. I'll figure something out.
Anyway, I think it's time to turn the left-overs of our rotisserie chicken from dinner into a chicken broth for lunch. I've vowed to give us lots of wonderful clear liquids today in hopes of a miraculous recovery. (yay!)
Here's what I'll leave you with: a picture from Yellow Springs, OH *(yay, again!) that I found through my craftzine search. I miss that wonderful little city and the coffee shop at the back right of the pic. What a beautiful place!

Once was Lost. Now is Found...

2008-03-07T14:55:00.009-06:00

This picture shows two very momentous events in my Arkansas history:

1. The first snow of the year! (tho a week or so ago we had some flurries and even collected a flurry drift in our doorway... so even tho' this is the second time I've seen snow fall from the sky it's the only time the ground has begun to turn white) They predicted 3-5 inches! For all of you mid-westerners who are sick to death of snow, humor me. It's super exciting! :)

2. Marion got a Starbucks! I'm drinking a chai tea latte from only 5 minutes away instead of 25 or 35 or 45 (those are the three Starbucks in Memphis that I know of). The line for the drive thru was out of the parking lot and on to the street. I knew it would be a hit. Now if only a target would move in next door (there's a movie theater slated for the area too) I know it would be a hit.

SO also the picture shows that we found our camera. It was hiding on our bookshelf under a big dark drop cloth in the living room. Also, the whole ground is white now. I should have waited to take the picture till it looked like a good-ish amount of snow... but why risk it? It might melt or I might get busy and forget to document this once in a year experience. YAY FOR SNOW!

Here's some more proof that our camera is back safe and sound. ;)

This is our yard on Wednesday after a big rain storm. This lake ate up almost a third of our yard and a third of the street as well.
Maybe I should have made this picture bigger. This abandoned house is a few roads away from ours. I absolutely love it.
This is Bell Road, driving up to our house. :) Isn't it lovely?

Here's the first day of ceiling sanding and the cats enjoying the ladder in the new addition to the living room.

This is Walter after a few minutes on the job (the dust you see is in the air. I thought it was on the lens. Nope, it's just that dusty) and a larger view of the room a few days ago. Now all that's left is to sand the kitchen and paint the room. Can't wait! (oh and flooring... but that's next)

Three Cheers...

2008-03-03T17:22:00.006-06:00

...for Emily, Momma, and Deborah! they are apparently my only true friends in the world ;) I thought about replying to you in a post but I've decided to comment after your comments (on my last post) instead. hope that isn't too confusing. you're all smart. i think you can handle it. :)

Here are some things you may not know about my recent life:

1. I made a key fob! Have you ever heard of that? I hadn't! I saw what I thought was just the cutest key chain on etsy.com and decided to make myself one. Later I found out what it was and that it was made that way so you could hold your keys hands free. How great! Another great thing about my key fop is that the fabric was free. (oOo!) I bought 11 yards of canvas duck cloth for roman shades and found a ridiculously small remnant of ribbon that the fabric counter lady refused to measure. She tacked it on to my bolt of fabric and off I went. It is a very cute key-fob.

2. I made the first cut on the fabric for my roman shades! i'm not good at cutting. i'm not good at cutting 58" in a perfect straight line when my cutting mat is only 24" at its longest. i'm open for suggestions on this one.

3. When the fabric lady scanned the bar code and went to print up my receipt (she was not the usual fabric lady) she let out a little gasp and looked at me to tell me that when i saw the price I would probably rather just buy pre-made curtains. The total was probably about the cost of two sets of walmart curtains. Little did she know that I was going to make the equivalent of approx. 7 standard windows. Not just one or two. Oh well. I got a free key-fob.

4.I don't know where my camera is. Otherwise I'd show you our larger smoother ceilinged great room (it'll be very smooth by the end of this week-- spring break -- walt's promised me), the famous key fob and the strawberry plant that has at least 4 blooms on it already.

5. While I went out to run errands Walter spent the first day of his spring break building me a vegetable garden box. Our soil is too dense for easy gardening and this seems to be the best solution. Did you know that you can feed one person from a 4x4 square of garden for an entire year (using your freezer of course)? We're starting with one square until the septic tank guy comes and tells us where he's putting in the new one. Then we'll add a second!

After my running and going this morning and my cleaning and cooking of the early afternoon I'm just inexcusably exhausted (ridiculously). I've been spacing out on the bed for almost 2 hours now, almost like it took too much energy to fall asleep. But I smell the chicken tortilla soup that's been cooking in the crock pot and I think it's not going to make it to the longer side of the recipe's instructions (isn't it great that crock pot recipes give you an hour or more leeway? i'm too hungry for this soup to make it 4 hours tonight.) I can't wait to turn off the music and eat soup and salad while listening to the rain and intermittent thunderstorms. This is something I missed in PA. We didn't have good storms. You have to come back into the plains/prairies for that one. That's one thing I'm grateful for. It's a definite perk of tornado alley. ;)

2008-02-26T21:35:00.003-06:00

Bc I'm laying here on our newly put together bed (our mattress and boxspring have been sitting on the floor in front of our headboard since august) and it feels wonderful and bc I feel the need to post something but feel too tired to think and bc i crave comments on my blog but won't get any (i know) unless I say anything first.

So the point here is to say hi. Please leave a me a note saying you were here. :) anyone can comment. you don't have to sign up for anything. Just click: Anonymous (and then sign you name bc you love me) :). gracias.

(this survey is from melissa's blog)

1. What time did you get up this morning? The dogs forgot to wake me up on time (they've been sleeping in and i need to staqrt setting my alarm again) 8:30 and out the door by 9:10

2. Diamonds or Pearls? i think pearls. i'm not sure tho'

3. What is the last film that you saw at the Cinema? Vantage Point or Persepolis depending on what you consider a cinema. Persepolis was at a much classier place than Vantage Point (which was at the mall)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Pushing Daisies! Wonderful whimsical show. Also I like Battle Star Gallactica and Terminator: THe Sara Connor Chronicles tho' I find

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Usually cereal. tho' if we're out of milk i have soy bacon instead.

6. What is your middle name? Cathleen (lewis).

7. What food do you dislike? mushrooms

8. What is your favorite CD? haven't had money for a cd in a long time but i did just get my ipod running again and i'm loving hi-ho mozart. :)

9. What kind of car do you drive? Honda Accord

10. Favorite sandwich? somethign toasted and warm a with pears.

11. What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance

12. Favorite item of clothing? comfy pants and my nightgown

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I want to go EVERYWHERE in the world! Just give me the chance! :)

14. What color is your bathroom? ugh. a dirty sandy type color maybe a soft brown... i dont like it. i havent chosen what to paint it yet tho. so there it stands.

15. Favorite brand of clothing?Anthropologie or H&M

16. Where would you retire to? i dont want to think about retiring. i want to have something to retire from.

17. What was your most memorable birthday? Probably the birthday I shared with Alex at McDOnalds in the arch of the elevated trains of Vienna, complete with throne, crowns, magic show, my favorite doll, and friends. how great!

18. Favorite sport to watch? on tv? i'd rather watch a sport in person and I'd like to know someone who's playing... or i guess it should be the cubs or buckeyes.... i guess.

19. Favorite saying:

20. When is your birthday? 12/23

21. Are you a morning or night person? Do you get to claim either when you go to bed at 11 and get up at 7?

22. What is your shoe size? 6 or so... tho i foudn i coulde fit into the largest girls size as well... whatever number that is.

23. Pets? 4 of them. 2 dogs and 2 cats.

24. What did you want to be when you were little? An Indian Princess (as in iNDIA not Americans)

25. How are you today? Accomplished. Chiropractor, helped out family, sanded ceiling until just couldnt anymore, cleaned and cleaned, only sat while driving, now quite tired.

26. What is your favorite candy? ALmond Joy

27. What is your favorite flower? phlox

28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? I'm not sure... the true start of spring and consistent warm weather.

29. What are you listening to right now? Mozart

30. What was the last thing you ate? chicken pot pie

31. Do you wish on stars? Yes. Sometimes.

32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Ceyleon.

33. How is the weather right now? Cold and cold. Spitting little precipitation (some claim it might be snow buti've yet to see it). it'll be high fifties again before a week has gone by...

34. Favorite soft drink? Almdudler or cream soda

35. Favorite restaurant? Pei Wei or McAlister's.

36. Siblings? Yes, one "little" brother

37. Favorite day of the year? Thanksgiving, St Patrick's Day, My Aniverrsary

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hmm, not sure. I had a favorite doll that looked like Laura from LIttle House on the Prairie.

39. Summer or winter? summer but you gotta have a good winter too. or its just sad.

40. Hugs or Kisses? Hugs!

41. Coffee or tea? mostly tea. i just found a new favorite Cinnamon Cardamom from Republic of Tea. Go try it!

42. Chocolate or vanilla? vanilla! i could go for a vanilla steamer right now!

43. When was the last time you cried? Ummm... I don't know. Ask my husband.

44. What is under your bed? Probably my cat: Calvin.

45. Who is the friend that you have had the longest? Karla.

46. What did you do last night? Baked Kaiserschmarren (im learning austrian cuisine finally) watched Sara Connor Chronicles, looked at apts online and talked about our garden with walt.

47. Favorite smell? cinnamon, lebkuchen, aldi, and citrus

48. What are you afraid of? being alone

49. Salty or sweet? I like both... together.

50. How many keys are on your ring? I'm not sure... 2 for cars, 3 for the house, and a key chain. i think that's it.

51. How many years at your current job? Less than a year.

52. Favorite day of the week? Thursday

53. How many towns have you lived in (as an adult)? Three.

54. Do you make friends easily? Yes, I think so... tho' not if you mean effortlessly. i'm friendly but not naturally outgoing. so it takes some work but not such horrible work if you know what i mean.

TO RECAP:
So the point here is to say hi. Please leave a me a note saying you were here. :) anyone can comment. you don't have to sign up for anything. Just click: Anonymous (and then sign you name bc you love me) :).

my thought

2008-02-11T08:18:00.000-06:00

We went to see The Great Debators the other night. Let me rephrase that. It sounds too easy. We drove 35 miles, changed our route three times and drove fairly quickly in order to avoid 3 different trains, accidentally ended up on a different highway than we'd planned, and STILL made it on time to the only movie theater within 25 miles (acc. to movies.com) still showing the film. And I think it was worth it. It's an incredible film. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, seek it out.

Here's my thought, if there's only one reason for us living in the South it may just be this: to become racially aware, to learn what Christ would have us do with it in our broken world, and then to act.

All of our interactions with friends, family and southern culture push us towards dissatisfaction with racial relations as they are. Places like our church are helping us to think through these issues more constructively, helping me realize that this isn't simply a southern thing, racism didn't disappear when laws finally made it illegal and the playing field wasn't magically made level. This breaks Christ's heart and it ought to break ours as well.

These thoughts are still swirling around within me. Nothing conclusive or doctrinal yet. ;) Tho' I suppose that may not be what's needed.

a lengthy link

2008-02-09T18:19:00.002-06:00

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts. Also, I'm so sorry that this one may end up only being a link. But since the wall with our tv cable was knocked down Wednesday and I haven't watched the news since I just found out today that Romney dropped out of the presidential race. (I was quite in shock! Not even NPR mentioned it on Friday for the good hour that I listened. Oh well.) So of course I had to go rooting around the internet for the all the information I could find. I came across this article on Huckabee. I enjoyed reading an article written not by political pundits or evangelical Christians. It's good to hear from another voice. If you can make it through I'd love to hear your thoughts.

As for me, I'm excited about this candidate. He seems to be a man of grace who sincerely cares for the poor. I read once (in response to the death of Jerry Falwell and his looming legacy) that Christians are standing up to say that there is a new christian activism that must take place. While we still do care for the unborn children we can't stop caring once they exit the womb. We can't fight to keep them in this world then deny them adequate healthcare, education, food or shelter. And while I don't agree with absolutely everything Huckabee stands for I do think that he is a candidate that understands this. I don't think he should be counted out of the race just quite yet. (for an interesting--at least to me-- commentary on why so much of the news seems to have counted him out already check out the article above.)

Sooo, sorry for the lengthy link. I'll have to post pictures and updates soon. We've added space to our living and dining rooms, began sanding off the popcorn ceiling in the original living room area (lotsa dirty dusty pictures there!) and began major work for a vegetable garden that my gardening magazine told me I should plant already (woah! the southern growing season really is something. grass is already turning green and bulbs are popping and then growing fast out of the ground. I hadn't even dared to think of spring and it seems to have arrived. definitely surprised). Anyway, I'm off to make dinner, shower off the ceiling dust from my body and wash my clothes so that I'll have something to wear tomorrow.

Good night and shabbat shalom!

a year in review

2008-01-13T08:07:00.001-06:00

every year seems to be punctuated by a new move, home, daily life. I don't know yet if this coming year will be any different. But as of yet, (drum roll please) there are no concrete plans to continue the pattern. There are, however, also no plans to live in the delta for the rest (or even a considerable amount of the rest) of our lives. The jobs just don't pan out for either of us. Sad, but true.

So here we are: renovating a house, spending time with family, helping dorothy out with the kids and her cleaning (she's going to a hire a maid, deborah! soon i will only help her with her kids, jk), and living the basic day to day.

Today's church. I love our church! Sundays are wonderful like that. I get to be a part of a vibrant & diverse (something you don't see much of in memphis) congregation and listen to the word of God delved deeply into in a church where the pastor has not forgotten that the point of Scripture is to impact lives. This church doesn't want you to stop at simply hearing the word, learning great systems and doctrines, but knows that you can study the word directly and God has something to show you... right there in that very passage. I feel so blessed to have found a happy medium. It's like I can breath again. No silly proof-texting. No heady intellectualism. For awhile I settled for the latter. At least then we were hearing the Word of God instead of cute stories with a verse thrown in here or there. But praise God for showing us Fellowship (and thank you, mom, for insisting that we try it out). I can't wait to get more involved! The next step is on the 27th when we go to the discovery dinner and learn more about the church personally. We'll see what follows that.

Tomorrow begins the new semester at University of Memphis. It took quite a bit of finagling to get walter squared away for classes but we did it and tomorrow walter starts three undergrad classes that qualify him for grad courses in the fall.
1. mechanics of materials
2. mechanics of fluids (i think...)
3. heat transfer (again, think i'm remembering this correctly)
basically it's the weeding out class from sophomore, junior, and senior years of mechanical engineering... then he's qualified to be a grad student! :) So yeah, it'll be a trying semester but I'm confident that he can do it (now just to convince him ;) ) It only took faxing records from Cedarville & Wheaton, meeting with the head of the engineering department, signing up for undergrad classes as a grad student, getting another MMR shot, and lots of calls to the help desk. All this while sending out resumes to every company that excites walter. It's been a busy couple of days. But it's done! (hooray!)

On Monday we're going to figure out if we (ourselves) will push the wall back into our garage giving us room for a laundry room and a larger kitchen and living room or if a contractor will do it for us within the next few weeks. This all while we wait for the windows to come in... the windows home depot promised us two weeks ago. Alas, the shell for our sun room looks beautiful. I absolutely can't wait for all the light that's going to shine into our home and the plants I'll be able to grow.

I'm sorting through things (both physically and mentally), figuring out the best next move (not to a new state or anything... I know, with us, this statement could be confusing), and honing some skills. More on that to come, I think.

But for now it's time to get on with today. My goals for this year (as of right now) are to develop a daily routine and to stick to it and to do the exercises that my chiropractor's assigned. Should be doable. We'll see how it goes.

to make it more worth your while ;)

2007-12-28T23:49:00.002-06:00

My body doesn't know what time zone I'm in so I'll have to make this short.

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! :)

Walter and I (and the dogs) had a grand time in Ohio visiting with friends and family, celebrating birthdays and holidays, reveling in snow flurries on my birthday, and remembering the life of my grandma lewis. deborah's cats were not quite so thrilled but were still cuddly when we came upstairs into their terrain. deborah was also very forgiving. ;)

We trekked on up to Chicago on Thursday. We did so by way of Lafayette, yummy tea, conversation, and dinner with friends (yay, Dawn and Travis!) and drove into Wheaton to Christmas lights and green grass... sadly, that's what we left in Arkansas. I was hoping for snow. Luckily, it didn't stay that way for long.

This morning we woke up to the sound tiny snow flakes hitting the sky light and when it finally began to really come down I convinced mom to take the dogs on a walk with me. They were wonderful. Didn't complain about the cold or snow at all. :) They were just too busy smelling every tree, newspaper, and mailbox. They're such country dogs! Alas, we're going to have to work harder on socializing them. Some other time. They found a bunny and tried to make friends with some dogs. They pulled us along on the slippery sidewalks and then made it home in one piece. (phew!) So we took them into the back yard to let them run and jump and play in the snow, got some cute pictures and then brought them in for nap time (they're so cute when they're exhausted). Such sweet puppies!

This afternoon I spent time with Karla and Ian (can't believe how much he's grown!), Walter enjoyed his Christmas presents, and mom took a nap. We're enjoying movies, hot chocolate, toasted/spiced pecans, and warm meals in one of my favorite cities in the US. How wonderful to have the chance to spend time with family. :) Hooray for Christmas!

Also, just as a side thought, when we come home we should almost have a sun room on our house. Soon we'll have windows just off the dining room! That will be very exciting. :D

post

2007-12-19T20:30:00.000-06:00

walter has my sewing machine in pieces (just a few) and our house smells of homemade coconut shrimp, donuts, and peppermint. walter promises that i'll get to use my sewing machine again. just thought you needed an update. :)

amigurumi

2007-12-13T11:37:00.001-06:00

So I'm in my pajamas and hungry for lunch but I just had to say a quick 'hello!' :)

I haven't done a whole lot lately: gone to Dorothy's to help out there and hold babies (yay!), go to the chiropractor (today will be the 4th day in a row, i think my back is starting to feel better), a little Christmas shopping and baking (i am all about baking), and a whole lot of knitting. Yay knitting!

I've made some ornaments, most of a twirly ribbon scarf (I need another circular needle to finish it off), one super silky present (did you know you could buy silk yarn?!), and three attempts at one super cool scarf. The first time I ripped it out I hadn't gone too far. No sweat. This last time I was quite a ways in before I realized that the mistake I'd corrected showed more than I'd thought. I want this scarf to be gift worthy. I may gift it only to myself but I'd like to be able to give it and that just wouldn't happen with the bulge I most recently discovered. Alas. At least this is a fun and soothing project. I don't really mind doing it again and again. Also, Walter went out and bought me a set of bamboo needles for this project and I love how smooth and soft they feel. All in all, it's great.

I was perusing the internet ... oh an hour or so ago... when I accidentally rediscovered AMIGURUMI. i love these things! Amigurumi is Japanese for crocheted doll, I think. And I can't wait to get started on this next project! Just simple little dolls with millions of millions of possibilities. Seriously, you should check out this flickr group. They've posted pictures of tons of completely diff. amigurumi all made with the same exact pattern. lots of fun. anyway, i'd better get on with the day.

friday(s) adventures

2007-11-19T19:59:00.000-06:00

Friday (11/19/07):
-10:00 AM, went to Chris & Dorothy's to help with the kids where they proceeded to do most everything known to get babies born as fast as possible
-12:30 PM, Chris & Dorothy return from walk (and Starbucks) to get hospital bag and head on over. I drop off kids at Mandie's by 1:00 and begin my search for a yarn store I'd found online
-1:45 PM, finally find the store buy the nicest and most expensive yarn i've ever seen in my life, begin my trek home
-2:30 PM, while talking on the phone with my mom I notice a loud rumbling noise behind me. I check my mirrors thinking it might be a rude truck driver trying to intimidate me but can't find a likely suspect. I quickly get off the phone and pull off to the nearest gas station just in case. the noise changes depending on my speed... not good.

Completely shredded! I called Walter, he came over with a new tire, I turned down multiple offers for help (for which I am so glad! If I'd been just a little bit farther from home they would have been my only sanity), called my mom back and assured her of my safety (after she heard me turn down one of my good Samaritans), learned how to change a tire. :)
-11:59 PM, Tobias Graham Wilson was born (6 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches long). He was followed quickly (tho' not enough to get the same birthday) by Tyler Pierce Wilson at 12:28 AM Saturday (6 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long). They are beautiful boys and Dorothy is happy to no longer be pregnant! :) She hardly even minds the sleepless nights in comparison.

We were able to visit on Sunday before they headed home from the hospital:

(Top R: Grandma Wilson, Uncle Josh holding Tobias and Aunt Julia holding Tyler, Top L: Tobias, Bottom R: Tobias (again), Bottom L: Uncle Walter holding Tyler)

This last friday I got to see my old roommate and her now husband! Yay! Melissa and Dave are back in the States (which is great for me bc I get to see her... at least every once in awhile). We ate, laughed, talked, and took even took a commemorative picture :) on dave's camera. It's good to have a change to catch up and tie up loose ends with friends. I'm so glad they could come! (so is walter... but that's not the point)

This coming friday we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving on the Stokes side. Never a dull moment. :) Anyway, it's off to a scrabble date with my husband...

Expelled

2007-11-19T19:49:00.000-06:00

Short note to let everyone know about a movie produced by Ben Stein (actually, produced by Logan Croft, but starring Ben Stein) called "Expelled."

This is a a Micheal Moore style movie featuring a brilliant man that is firmly on the other side of the political fence. Instead of exposing government conspiracies or inadequacies, "Expelled" focus on the world of academia and the understated attacks made against intelligent people for questioning the accepted norms of science. Check it out at www.expelledthemovie.com

Short enough, right?

The Month (?) In Pictures

2007-11-08T17:01:00.000-06:00

Here's some of what you missed during our internet hiatus:

we got dogs,
(atlas is grey and white and phoebe is the one not facing the camera)

we went to Ohio for Grandpa's 80th birthday and babies galore (it's a double baby shower for Chabree and Ashlee!)

(First is Erica's Baby Dawn with Mystery, Second is Seth with my momma: Mara, and third is Aliya with her mom Courtney. In the background is Dorothy and a glimpse of grandpa)

(and here are the two mother's to be: Chabree, with Aunt Kim in the background, and Ashlee, with helper Logan and hostess Deborah in the background)

also we got to see friends and family and explore the great american corn maize (of which it was too dark to take pictures) Yay for Ohio!

The next weekend we visited Mike (and Kelsey!) in Alabama (congrats to Mike for his acceptance into the doctorate program and job in cancer research!)

(where we saw the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D!!, explored a beautiful botanical garden, got a drive by tour of Birmingham on our way to the Vulcan, listened to Kelsey master a southern accent for her next performance and enjoyed the beginnings of fall in the south).

(we've spent the last two weekends home in Arkansas planting flowers, the mums are courtesy of deborah, pulling up and replanting all of our bushes and hostas to prepare for the deck, birthday parties for saja, in the first bday party pic saja and kora are blowing out her candles with Dot beside, the next is the serving of the cake with boo, chris, dot, saja, kora, and mimi in the picture, david had fun with the balloons, kora is a goof and loves the camera, and our puppies are the cutest things in the world.)

There ya go, the month in pictures. With as much work as that was, I think I'll try to stay more up to date on here for awhile. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of two beautiful nephews before the week is out!

sweeping update

2007-11-08T16:19:00.000-06:00

So fall finally has arrived... and it took it's precious time. But oak trees are finally turning and there are beautiful yellows (and even some reds!) all around! We're planting bulbs and going tree shopping (we just planted a maple today and I'm hoping to procure a redbud and buy an ash in the very near future). Walter and I planted probably a hundred bulbs this afternoon. This made my hands rough and feel sticky when I try to knit. The hope of truly cold weather has rekindled my love for knitting and crocheting... so I'm honing my knitting skills this season. I'm so very excited! :)!

Just yesterday or the day before I thought to myself that I really needed to update this blog (you poor people who just have no idea what's going on in my life! hehe). But I nothing would come. It's not that words wouldn't come for what was going on in my life but I couldn't find anything to put words to. And now, even tho' I don't have adequate words life seems fuller and less dry. So I'll write. Thanks for checking back here after such a long silence.

Anyway, it's been warm... 80's even! But two weekends ago the temp shot down into the 50's (which felt almost like winter with it being so abrupt). Immediately I set about to celebrate fall. We rented Dead Poet's, I made spiced cider (alas, I'm the only one who drinks it) and apple crisp (let me tell you, Martha Stewart has nothing on my mom. I used Martha's recipe when I couldn't find my mom's... and my mom's is better. alas, live and learn). We actually watched Meet the Robinsons but DPS came the next night and it still felt like fall so that was alright. :) Of course the weather didn't last and instead I opened up the windows in the evenings to let cool air in and I picked up my knitting in hopes of cooler days. I'm learning all about different stitches and yarns and about understanding patterns... also about re-rolling yarn after my dogs get a hold of it...

Walter finished the fence. It's beautiful. We got dogs! Big wonderful dogs (as Walter called them) :). Alas, they're diggers. Now we need to go around the entire fence and reinforce the ground level so that they don't continuously romp in the sunflowers or play with the neighbor's dogs (both super cute but not the most convenient for calling them home or good neighbor relations). The cats don't love the dogs yet but they're beginning to feel free to walk within eye sight of them and that is a very good step. Walter's on to his next home project: building a deck and pergola top. It is going to be spectacular! Right now we just have a lot of mud and twine set up for the perfect prank... Walter's sick and hasn't been able to work on it for almost a week. Hopefully he'll be better soon... back to classes, his deck building, and ready to be an uncle again. The thought is that Dorothy will have her twins this week! Tomorrow, even (maybe, hopefully)! We can't wait to meet our little nephews (just imagine how dorothy must feel)!

Anyway, it's time to put this entry aside and whip up some chicken noodle soup, grilled cheese, and hot chocolate for my ailing husband. :) Hot chocolate may not be the best sick-remedy but I found some instant Mexican style hot chocolate at Walmart the other day and I can't stop drinking it. Amazing! Finally hot chocolate from a bag that i like. I just can't resist.

Worthy

2007-10-01T22:17:00.000-05:00

We're getting dogs. Big wonderful dogs... The reason I bring this up (other than the fact that I'm really, really excited about it) is that I can't get them until I finish building our fence. I've been building this fence for a week now, and it's almost done but it's killing me. It really makes the back yard look a lot better than I expected it to and the construction quality is something that I can be proud of. But it's taken me a week! A solid week of work! This experience has shown me something.
When I was young, my parents tried to teach me the value of a dollar. I still don't know the value of a dollar, but what I'm learning is the value of my work. I so value having a dog that I sit here with cuts, bruises, blisters, and every muscle in my body is sore... I've experienced so much pain and discomfort over this fence... I've woken up before sunrise to work on it. I've been eaten alive by mosquitoes working on it after dark. And for what? For dependent animals that will require training and feeding and cleaning and chasing and constant attention. I'm feeling a little closer to God right now.
My life is only a shallow reflection (if that) of the Divine, but every now and then I reach a point when I feel like I understand the nature of God a little better... Working, giving, hurting, bleeding, all for little critters that don't even know I exist.

third time's the charm

2007-09-22T19:58:00.000-05:00

today has been a good day to spend with my nieces and nephew (and their mom and her mom too). i woke up incredibly tired after a late night watching The Lives of Others. Good movie! Recommended by Emily months and months ago (as a side note- I'm jealous that foreign films come to Vancouver before they're anywhere I've seen in the U.S.). Blockbuster finally decided to buy a couple of copies for me to rent. I snatched it right up!

So after a late start I headed to "Mimi" & "Poppi's". Where we ate lunch, played with acorns and balls, and climbed on most everything in sight. When everyone crashed into beds for naps I made my way home to crash in bed with my kittens and look up puppies on petfinder.com. I found quite a few and even filled out an application to foster two adorable little puppies. We're putting up a fence to make that dream more possible.

Soon I will be helping Dorothy out on a regular basis: on Tuesdays, (maybe) Wednesdays, and Fridays. Soon I will have nephewS and nieces and that will be exciting.

Other things we're looking into right now is starting construction on our deck and sunroom and taking Krav Maga (probably here). Krav Maga is the Israeli invented martial arts form that's supposed to be both doable by the vast majority of people and also ridiculously effective. And it's being taught right here in Memphis! Very cool.

Anyway, Walter and I came back to his parents' house and played with the kids and grilled up some hamburgers and now I'm off out see if we're going to take a field trip to our house to see the kitties. Their mom comes back at 9:00 to take them home so I think we better get a move on it.

new eyes

2007-09-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

The worst thing about getting better after being sick has to be waking up to th mess that's grown up around you in such a short amount of time. The empty kleenex boxes, the used kleenexes in bed (i must be able to blow my nose in my sleep!), the plastic bags my cats thought were toys, the exploding basket of unfolded clothes and towels and the shower that needs a good scrubbing. A house shouldn't decay so quickly; and you shouldn't be able to notice it until you have the energy to fix it. Oh well, I'll begin my campaign to reclaim the space today. This weekend Holly gets married and I'm glad I'm starting to feel healthy again. I can't wait to see my friend again! It's about time.

dodge the bullet

2007-09-04T23:25:00.000-05:00

My last full day in Chicago included:

painting the trim and closet doors of my mom's room (the finishing touch to her brand new room)
holding, rocking, and sponge bathing Ian (Karla is a beautiful mother. Ian is a beautiful baby.)
mopping Karla's kitchen after Buster's 5th (I believe) "accident" of the day (I am NOT convinced that the last one was an accident)
taking Buster for a walk in a very cute little Wheaton neighborhood
eating too much at El Famous Burrito (aww yah for horchata!)
laying with my stomach on the floor until I didn't feel like I would explode anymore
talking with Walter on the phone :)
a rousing 5 rounds of Pass the Pigs (all of which I lost, miserably)
gathering all of my items from around the house into one ridiculous pile
promising myself I'll be able to get up in time to pack my suitcase then... tomorrow I'm heading home to Memphis.

thanks to walter

2007-09-03T23:43:00.000-05:00

wally was absolutely wonderful to me and took time with mike to take pictures of our house to show my mom (i ran out of time while packing up for the flight). here's what he sent me:

here's the view from our living room into our kitchen and dining rooms. notice the brand new dryer through the open door. it came while i've been in chicago and i can't wait to get a chance to try it out! the other door leads to a small porch, our back yard, and a field of (once) sunflowers (their season is officially over in AR). the small porch is attached to a decently sized storage room that we're going to open our house into, put in grand windows and make a sun room/breakfast nook. hooray for beautiful views and sunny skies! Oh, and there are many plans on how to fix up our kitchen. The only constant one is to remove that wallpaper (and fast).

Here's the view from our dining room into the living room (complete with Sputnik).

Here is our office, so far. I spent a good part of the day clearing out boxes and organizing books so that this room could finally be walkable. We're planning to do some renovating so it's hard to know always how much to unpack and how much to leave for a short ways (we hope) down the road. it's a balancing act. our desk, on the other hand, is super cool. ;) that's something i do hope to fix before too long.

Here's Walter's work out room. He's been super dedicated lately! You really can tell. He's losing weight and gaining muscle and looking super hot. i don't mind one bit. :)

Here's our bedroom (again, with Sputnik... but no Calvin, wonder where he's hiding). We're still working on getting our bed completely put together. A few pieces of hardware got lost in the move and we haven't replaced them yet. I love laying on the bed and looking out in to the hall where the walls are a beautiful green. The yellow of the bedroom walls and the green of the hallway seem peaceful and restful to me. They make me happy. We also have half bath attached to our bedroom.

This is the full bath down the hall. It's a work in progress as well. I found some fabric I'd like to make a shower curtain out of today. I'm pretty excited about it!

This, my friends, is a testimony to my geekiness. I needed a place to store my pictures until I found permanent wall space for them. I shoved them in this basket and then shoved it into the bathroom. I glanced at it later and realized that it was a "basket of flowers" and decided it must be meant to be. Walter (or Mike) rearranged this so more of the flowers are visible. I'm very happy with our house. It's by no means decorated yet but it is visibly lived in and becoming wonderfully cozy. I love seeing things begin to take shape and I'm ecstatic that it's stayed as clean as it has. I'm building in good habits. It's definitely an up hill battle. Not having a car or job to take me away from my house has been a big help, however. It's a good time to in grain some habits. :)

Hope you enjoyed the tour. I'm off to bed so that tomorrow I can finish painting my mom's room, spend lotsa time with Karla, finish making our flower (my rose, her cana) craft together, buy some quick essentials I haven't found in Memphis yet, and repack to head home the day after. Tomorrow will definitely come quickly (and speed by, I'm sure)!

In Absolute Awe

2007-09-01T23:11:00.001-05:00

If you've ever wished that shadow puppets could be considered an art you just have to see this. It's absolutely incredible!

VW Phaeton Shadow Plays
Uploaded by traianbasescu

in lieu of iced tea

2007-09-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

i'm in chicago!

the night before last alex picked me up from O'Hare. We stopped to get a slice of pizza that was (no joke) as large as my torso... well as long, my torso is (much to the media's dismay) considerably larger than 3/4 of an inch. my mom and i split a slice and alex amazed us with his eating ability. apparently it's a learned talent. he wasn't able to eat an entire slice the first time he visited Bacci.

The next morning my mom and i went on a morning walk chose our favorite neighborhood McMansion and then drove off to Qdoba for lunch. I had a mango salad (yum yum!) and my mom had a naked burrito. we picked up some burrito for karla and her mom and made our way to karla's house. Mom had never been there which made me the navigator. (Not a good sign) we pulled in to the driveway and were amazed that we didn't see any cars there. By my calculation there should have been two: karla's and her mom's. nevertheless we trekked to the door and rang the bell. No answer. I called k.'s phone but couldn't get my phone to connect to the network (darn AT&T and darn my nice little phone). we snooped around the house. looked in through the side door. explored the backyard. and then decided to leave. we went to JC Lichtto pick up some paint and then finally (just as an employee was walking us to our car) got a call from Karla amazed that we had been there. she'd been there all day.
"are you sure that you were at the right house? "
it looked like her house. exactly like it.
"did it have a stork in the yard?"
umm. i could have sworn it was karla's house.
we dropped off the paint, picked up the burritos. and ran over to karla's. this time we pulled into the correct driveway and were met at the door by a most doting grandma and her beautiful grandson (only 5 days old!) he has the cutest little nose that i think he got from karla and LOOONG skinny fingers. they're beautiful. we held her sleeping baby. visited. and walked the dog (buster, the puppy they've had for maybe 3 weeks).
when my mom and i came home we began work on the bedroom, ripping off the wallpaper border (NOT put on correctly... VERY hard to get off) and washing off glue. we breaked for chicago style pizza (YUM!) and High School Musical. Hehehe, I never thought i'd like that one but it was fun. It's exactly what i would have loved in HS. we finished the bedroom and dropped into bed around 12:15AM. (Happy Birthday MOM!)

Today we've removed a little more wallpaper (it was behind a dresser we hadn't moved yet), removed all the furniture, and painted the ceiling. Now it's on to the walls. I'll be sure to post pictures of the incredible results. ;) Back to work...

2007-08-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

My recent life:

no internet... most of the time. our neighbors do have cable that i can leach off of if i think it's of ultimate importance.
we've added a second car in our life again. this time it's a black, two door, stick shift honda civic. 1998. walter is thrilled. i had no idea he wanted a civic. praise God he's given us a second car. praise God for wonderful in-laws whose generosity made it possible.
walter has a job picking up a ridiculously expensive car in houston, tx tomorrow. i don't remember the make but i do know that you can find wallpaper for your desktop of them. they're that pretty.
i'm in love with animals. i want dogs and chickens and goats. i half exhaust myself looking and learning online... but since my online time is in such chunks (mostly sundays and i suppose tonight) i don't over do it too often.
walter plans to call comcast tomorrow and then we can have internet at home too (and we can watch battlestart when it returns in january! i'm so excited. you have no idea).
wally was asked (by MSCC) to give his resume to MSCC (community college) and may (God willing) get hired on as an adjunct professor.
no rain. everything is very dry and dusty. tho' it's killed off all our mosquitoes and i don't mind that one bit.
KARLA HAD HER BABY!!! (i'm not quite sure how my thought process went from one point to the other... oh well) it's a beautiful baby boy (or so i'm told) whose name i've yet to learn. that's ok bc
I'm going to Chicago on Thursday! I get to see Karla and little baby Gerbitz in person. AND! I get to hang out with my mom on her birthday. We're heading into Chicago... we tried to do that when we visited over the summer but only made it as far as Cantigny which was also beautiful. I had a great time.

There's more and better things to tell, I'm sure. But that's all I can think of now. I'm slowly trying to catch up on emails. I got one down today. I hope to do at least one more tomorrow. Sometimes the internet makes me very sleepy. I think that it's time for bed.

filling our 3 acres

2007-08-22T14:28:00.002-05:00

the weather is still hot... tho' only up to 98 degrees today. somehow 98 seems hotter in the delta than it did in chicago. we haven't had any rain yet either... which led me to a new discovery:

driving on dirt (powdery dirt that hasn't seen rain in who knows how long) is just like driving on snow. you have to be careful not to over correct in very much the same way. (i discovered this in my "QUICK! We have to return the dvd to blockbuster!" moment. tho' i am a very good snow driver and did not have any problems ;) )

yesterday walter and i went to Angeletti Animal Acres to learn a little more about pygmy goats and maybe buy a few. we didn't really learn much but we did meet the sweetest every LaMancha goat that followed us around the entire time. :) I fell in love with that earless little goat! so sweet. (the picture is not of the LaMancha I met... i'll have to remember to bring my camera next time we look for goats.)

Today we may visit another man with goats and see what advice he has to give. We may also head back to the animal shelter to visit some of the dogs that were out at the vet last time we visited. we were there earlier today while they were installing an air conditioning unit. those poor dogs were toasty! thank God someone decided to donate an air conditioner. Those poor animals need it!

good day sunshine

2007-08-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

we're officially in our house! everything we own is officially not there yet... but it's moving over in small batches. life seems a bit more manageable that way, i believe.

we began moving our furniture in on Thursday, added just a little bit on Friday, more on Saturday and church and family on Sunday. Monday we finally set up the bedroom and brought the cats to stay.

Last night was our first night in our new home!

We had Josh and Jon and Pam over to watch Tombstone, eat popcorn and enjoy the quiet surroundings together. This morning I got out of bed and glanced out the window and was amazed at the beauty of it all: the blue sky, large yard, and field of sunflowers just behind... all that framed by gauzy white curtains in my very own bedroom. what a great start to the day!

I made my way to the door to go for a short jog but opened the door to too much heat and absolutely no shade. I'm going to have to get up earlier in the morning to take advantage of our long private road. that's the goal for tomorrow.

August has been blistering. 5 people have died so far in Memphis due to the heat. We're in a drought and it's easy to tell which fields are watered and which fields rely on rain. Thank God our fields are doing all right. On August 2nd the temperature hit 102 and it hasn't dipped below 100 since. It's been prime swimming weather if you can just stay inside until evening (tho' the water almost gets too warm). Today I spent the entire day inside cleaning my kitchen and bathrooms and unpacking boxes. Tomorrow I'll make a point to leave my home and take a dip in the pool.

a cue from melissa...

2007-07-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

bc i love blogger more than xanga i'm promising to try to keep this one up. you should only have to come here to read about my life (tho' occasionally i might slip). that's why i'm copying this post from my xanga. here ya go:
-------------------------

(i'm stealing this format from melissa):

Wonderful...walter and i have a house

Not wonderful... we have to wait (a full) eleven days to move into it (oh my!) and my stress level is rising. (in other words, please pray. i am serious. quite.)

Wonderful... my cousin, deborah, was kept safe even in a minor car accident and came to visit me anyway!

Wonderful... we repeat visited a church this morning and every time I attend I enjoy it more and more. the service was followed by a fun lunch with fun friends (yay, the webbs!).

Not wonderful... I was stressed to tears much of the rest of the day.

Most wonderful... I'm married to a wonderful man who (in his own words) puts up with me better than anyone else could (and he's right). He holds me and loves me and comforts me and buys me new plums after a hard day culminated by the cats eating my prize plums bought just that afternoon. What a wonderful guy.

Thanks, Melissa for letting me borrow your brilliance. I'm too drained to come up with any of my own.

It's time to jump in bed. Tomorrow morning Deborah and I are driving Walter and Josh 5 hours away for their canoe trip down the Buffalo River. After dropping them off the two of us are heading to Rocky Ridge Farm to visit the longtime home of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Missouri. We're leaving at 7 am and hope to be home by 10 pm. I'm going to be tired but I think a trip is exactly what I need.

poised and ready

2007-07-21T22:50:00.000-05:00

we put money down on a house!!

as walter put it, we are no longer homeless. hip hip hooray!

we did not choose either of the houses i'd last talked about. an offer on the house i'd asked for prayer concerning never materialized. However, i think that God used the time we spent waiting in limbo to prepare us and give us clarity to make our decision our own. i couldn't be more thankful for how he worked that out. He is good.

We chose to live in and renovate the small house on 3 acres that we'd looked at and considered buying sight unseen from PA! How funny is that? We could have bought it 3 months ago and ended up with the same exact location... but not the same exact experience. I'm sure I wouldn't have known it was the exact right thing for us to do. And for that assurance, I'm glad God stalled our plans for a bit.

I'm happy to go into why this is such a perfect fit for us... as long as it's not tonight. It's been a long day and i am dang tired. I got up and went swimming, did laundry, made lunch, went out to explore the outsides of our new home, ate sunflower seeds fresh from the sunflower (soon to be OUR sunflowers!! :) ), ran around in the hot sun, drove around in the hot sun exploring our farm land, came home, talked to mom before heading out to east memphis to buy a cardigan (i also got a dress. now i have two outfits for sundays. yay i'm going to church!) and then on to dorothy's for a cookout. Nothing was too stressful but being outside can take it out of you and we didn't get home until 10:40 at least. So I am done. Plus, I need to be in a good mood so church can be a positive experience.

I am really excited about living in that house and growing a lush garden and hanging up clothes to dry and and building and fixing up our house. I just can't at all portray it in the tired state that i'm in. you'll just have to take my word for it. :)

WE GOT A HOUSE! HOORAY!!!

(oh, and the current home owners left for vacation this morning so we have to wait until august 8th to close and move in. it'll be soon!)

waiting (copied from my xanga)

2007-07-18T10:29:00.001-05:00

We put an offer on a house (a beautiful house) that will soon go up for auction due to foreclosure. The "owner" approved the offer but we are waiting on the bank (since "owner" is probably not the best term for someone sitting on foreclosure). We gave them until Friday at 5 to give us some sort of answer (yes, no, counter offer, something...). They called us and said they needed one extra business day and we gave it. Monday came and went and our realtor called them to find out what was up. They told her they'd call her with news the next day at 1:00. Yesterday at 4:00 we told them they need to get back to us finally. They have until today.

Please pray that we have some sort of answer here today and that we do not need to remove our offer from the table.

We know that God has a house for us and that it may not be this one. I'm ok with that. I would like to hear the word, however. Even if they come back with a no that at least is an answer.

Thanks

(ps. the movers came!! everything we owned was in there!! Praise God! we've got our filing cabinet full of important documents again.)

In Search of Church

2007-07-15T16:37:00.000-05:00

I hate (HATE) church shopping. Hate it.
I hate sticking out bc I dont know how to fit in.
I hate clothes shopping for a look I can't define.
I hate my period (hate, hate).

Who wants to take my clothes shopping for cheap deals on quality clothes to wear to church in my new home? I need clothes I can wear to "casual" churches and to formal ones... they're probably not all that different. They're definitely more dressy than any of the churches I grew up attending. I need some all purpose "visiting churches" outfits. I probably just need a few days to get my mind and emotions back in order as well.

Here's to waiting...

A Full Endorsement

2007-07-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

Last night Walter and I finally baked the peaches we'd bought Friday. My goodness were they good! I wish I'd thought to take a picture so that you would all be motivated to make them yourselves but alas... we ate them too fast. The thought never even occurred to me.

Hopefully my endorsement will be enough. Try the Gingered Peach Gratin. It's delicious! We served them with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. (yum, yum!) :)

a place for hammocks

2007-07-11T10:07:00.001-05:00

We put an offer on a house. It isn't absolutely everything we wanted but I don't feel as though I'm settling. The floor plan is open, spacious, and airy. There are millions of windows to let in the sunlight! There's a fireplace, little ledges on which to place things, a bay window in the front, and a room above the large attic. The lot is small but situated beside the community's lake/common area giving it a larger feel and space enough for a larger dog. Out the backdoor is a small gravely type porch that we want to build a pergola on top of.

We would grow morning glories and grape vines up the posts and over top for shade. It would be serene, especially with the lake immediately to our left.

Only time will tell. Our offer is good until Friday. How very exciting and very scary. :) I am quite pleased.

M F M

2007-07-09T08:24:00.000-05:00

i bought peaches at the memphis farmers market and hope to make something similar to emily's apricot creation. i'm not sure of her exact recipe but i intend to fill the peach with crumbled ginger snaps and glaze the tops with a ginger syrup. it's going to be heavenly. i have to act quickly tho'. the peaches are disappearing. they're amazingly sweet as is and need very little improvement.

the MFM was beautiful. it's set at a large outdoor trolley station. stands line each side and live music played in the middle. i bought a fresh bouquet with the most beautiful sunflowers i've ever seen, discovered the art of tarts (i can finally work on my pie skills again without the fear of wasted pie or gluttony), shared a pear tart with my mother, weighed down my bag with peaches, and sipped mango tea.

i can't wait to return after i have my own yard! i'm going to buy flowers and herbs to plant. i'm already planning it out. they have rosemary. you can't even imagine how much i love rosemary! :) after my attempt to grow rosemary (and basil, and oregano, and forget-me-nots, and avocado) from seed i've decided to increase my chances of success by visiting a nursery instead of the grocery store. we'll see how it works.

"There is no remainder in the mathematics of infinity."

2007-06-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

This cracks me up.
(thank you, holly, for showing it to me.)

Also, in some ways I kind of hope that Huckabee gets to run for president. If only so i can wear a shirt with this logo:

I thought that he probably wouldn't understand the shirt but apparently he's seen the movie...

Arkansas Governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee did not care for the movie, stating "It was as if somebody forgot to give the actors a script and said, for the next two hours, just go out there and do something."
(acc. to IMDB Trivia)

Personally, I thought it was pretty funny.

Vivian:
Have you ever transcended space and time?

Albert:
Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about.

(ok, i guess that's one you have to hear. still, dang funny.)

in need of constant reminders

2007-06-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.

For it's only in Your will that I am free,
For it's only in Your will that I am free,

Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.

labeled

2007-06-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

Everything in this room with me is labeled. "Do NOT take." "MAYBE don't take." "Probably Don't Take." Except for this computer.

It made it through the move because Walter told the movers not to take anything that was plugged in... that or maybe he'd hidden it in the closet with the boxes of items for the salvation army. I didn't actually check. I was busy unpacking our dresser, throwing clothes into garbage bags and, in turn, throwing those bags into our final remaining wardrobe box.

The moving company didn't tell us they wouldn't move our dresser with clothes in them. They didn't tell us a lot of things, in fact. Like an accurate estimate of our space needs, or the amount of warning they would give us before coming to pick up our things, or the time of the movers arrival even. As Walter put it, it was a day of expensive surprises. It would seem that God has plans for our summer that do not include a traditional vacation.

Regardless, the movers came, padded our furniture, took our boxes, and drove away. Now Walter and I are living in an almost empty home. We're lucky enough to have a borrowed air mattress and have use of a brand new refrigerator (our previous one stopped cooling on about Friday). I've missed our tv a little. We wanted to have friends over to play on the Wii but didn't stop to consider that we'd already shipped off the tv. I am really enjoying the silence that life without a tv can bring. We watch outside instead.

Our curtain rods are on their way to Arkansas and two beautiful storms have rolled through. This is the third thunderstorm I've seen in PA. Every rumble of thunder makes me smile. I love seeing the leaves turn up and the rain blow by. Another storm just started now. It's time to open the windows. What's the use of rain if you can't hear it?

This week is full of lasts. It's my last week working at HCS, my last in this house, last meeting with my small group, and last living in Pennsylvania. Normally I wouldn't be thinking much about the lasts. I'd be thinking about my new house, the new friends to come, the new jobs I can have and the new church with which I will get involved. But there is no new house yet and I don't seem to have a foundation on which to build my daydreams. Maybe this way is better. Maybe it will allow me to live in the moment and be more involved with my surroundings. Maybe the unknowns are a gift from God instead of just a denial of the house we'd hoped to have waiting for us upon arrival.

They say that God always answers prayer... sometimes he just says no instead of yes. I prefer to think that he isn't saying 'no' he's telling us something entirely different instead.
me: "God, please allow us to buy this house."
God:"I've got something far better to give you. Here, try this instead."
I've never thought of 'unanswered' prayers this way; but I'm learning to see that God is big. He's big enough for creating worlds, sustaining miracles, and saving whole people groups. On top of that he is also big enough to take care of me! I'm learning (a little, I truly hope) to trust him to act on my behalf. When I pray for myself or my husband or my friends I can be just as sure that he will act as when I pray for something that seems to me to be far more important. God is still big. He can handle little me.