today

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

    

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

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! :)

B-Ham

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.

to make it more worth your while ;)

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

The Month (?) In Pictures

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!

in lieu of iced tea

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...