Buffina

back in the saddle again

2011-03-29T09:24:00.007-05:00

I learned a valuable lesson this morning.

It's been a long couple of weeks, with longish work days and not much time spent at home. Which, as you could expect if you know me at all, has manifested itself in the general clutteredness of the house. This morning I was sorting my laundry so I can take it to my parents' to wash tonight, as per usual on a Monday or Tuesday these days. I wanted to be at work early this morning, so I was running around quite early doing several things at once, gathering laundry, watching the weather, getting dressed, finding hangers, looking for clean socks. I got everything done, with enough time to spare for quick Starbucks run even (which turned out to be a good choice, because? FREE SAMPLES. Of coffee. French Roast, my favorite. Made my morning, anyway).

A few hours later, after a long department meeting, I had to make a quick LGR run. During which I discovered a good life lesson. Ready? Here goes: You should never sort your dirty clothes and get dressed at the same time, and NEVER before 6am. Because I'm pretty sure I wore this pair of underwear two days ago. Oops.

Miss me? :)

quick to change it up

2010-07-30T07:42:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday!

I have officially joined the fray, if only temporarily. So if you're in the mood to read a little more of me, go here to the peanut gallery. I'll be back here as my normal ridiculous self next week.

wordless wednesday: posing good-byes

2010-07-28T06:00:00.001-05:00

these streets will make you feel...

2010-07-25T22:45:00.006-05:00

I love this city.

I'm sitting here, alone, on a bench by Buckingham Fountain, feeling all nostalgic and pensive. I just spent at least an hour at my favorite yarn store in the south loop (I think... I always had a hard time figuring out how all the loopy stuff works. Probably because I have yet to take the El). Then I walked a bunch and ended up here.

Over the past three years, I have loved venturing down into the city. I usually take the train, usually alone (there was that one time with Corella, which involved us getting a bit lost in a semi-scary neighborhood. But we survived...). I've always enjoyed making the trip by myself, for purely selfish reasons. I love to walk, and it's typically a much faster pace than most people appreciate. It's a great way for me to get some serious exercise once a month or so. Also, I like the fact that I don't have to have a set plan or itinerary, so I can walk around as I please and then, whenever I start getting too tired, I start walking back toward the metra station.

These trips, for me, have an almost healing quality, not unlike my hiking adventures in the hills back home. I get to be a part of something larger than myself, to be among a whole lot of people that I never once have to talk to (not to mention the people-watching!), and to enjoy the sights and sounds and flavor of the city. And then, whenever I get good and ready, I leave it all behind and go home.

When and if the time comes that I leave northern Illinois, one of the things I will miss most are these random day-trips. I know I would want to visit again, and I hope Future Me would make it a priority. The pulse of this city has gotten into me, and it will forever be at least a small part of who I am.

you're never gonna get it

2010-07-22T21:40:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I've never phoned it in before. We'll see how this works for me. I beg your forgiveness for any and all punctuation errors...

This has been a ridiculous week. The second in a row, truth be told. I'm trying to keep things together, which has actually worked out better than expected. I'm now playing the waiting game, which renders me more patientless than I would like to admit. I should work on that.

I frequently take pictures with my camera that are totally intended to make it onto this blog. My computer seems to have different ideas, however, and never wants to actually upload these photographical wonders. Alas, that usually means that whatever blog post I've invented in my head at the time never makes it into the blogosphere. I'm terrible for that.

I've read quite a bit this year. One of these days I'll get to that too, most likely. Until then, well, I'll keep hoping that life slows down a bit and my muse makes itself a bit more known. And until then, I'll be around. Somewhere.

straight pimpin' my style

2010-07-08T10:46:00.002-05:00

For all you blog addicts out there, you really should check out this new blog: www.peanutgalleryspeaks.com. You'll love it, I promise.

(and keep watching, you never know, I just might show up there someday myself)

sit right back and you'll hear a tale

2010-06-28T15:19:00.004-05:00

Picture this:

Me. In the bathroom stall at work (okay, so don't actually picture this). Only one other person. Eerily quiet. Trying to keep any and all sounds to a minimum so as not to disturb whatever is going on over there.

Suddenly…
I accidentally pop a really loud bubble with my gum.

Oops.

I waited to leave until after they were done. I hope they knew that was gum……

Oh yeah, and then I broke the paper towel dispenser, and a huge stack of paper towels flooded the counter. True story.

This is exactly what you've waited 6 months for, isn't it?!

but here I am and here we go again

2010-01-29T22:59:00.002-06:00

So I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with my posting. We'll see how that works out for me.

Since January is pretty much over, I thought I'd take the time to recap a bit of 2009 for you. You know, before it becomes too ridiculously late in the new year (keep in mind that ridiculosity is relative). As far as my reading goal is concerned, I didn't quite make the 50 books (unless you count all the kids' books I read to my nieces, which for this purpose, I don't). I really only made it to 41, which compared to the 44 I finished the year before is a tad embarrassing. I was a little bummed about this late in the year, once I realized there was really no way I was going to make up the difference. But, then I got to thinking…. And I realized that with all the new things I took on in 2009, it's really not a bad thing at all. So I read a few less books. I also become much more involved in my church, made two backpacks for my nieces from scratch, spent a lot more time on the road between Chicago and Kentucky/Southern Illinois, hand-made some Christmas presents, and MOVED. All things considered, I think I came out of 2009 pretty well on the productive scale.

As far as actual books read, between Halloween & the end of the year I managed to read all but the last of the Harry Potter books. I also discovered Shannon Hale, a delightful YA author (my sincerest thanks, Corella), and made it through 3 of her stories. Some of my other favorites from the second half of the year were Gentlemen and Players (I adore Joanne Harris, although technically this was an audiobook), The 19th Wife, Beasts of No Nation, Foreign Bodies (this one amazed me. It truly did. But not until about half-way through.), The Angel's Game (definitely not as good as the first, but still worth the read) and The Book Thief, which was my final read of the year and a phenomenal book. The only books I really wish I hadn't spent the time to read were ones I just picked up off the shelves at the library - Having It and Eating It and I Just Want My Pants Back. If you're ever presented with either of these, trust me, don't bother.

So that's my wrap-up. As far as 2010 is concerned, I have decided to re-try last year's goal of 50. I'm doing pretty well so far, since we're still (barely) in January and I'm already a good way through my 5th book. My favorites so far have been How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls (if you ever saw the short-lived CW show Privileged, it's based on this book. Meaning I was never able to picture the twins as redheads nor Megan as anything but a size 2) and Big Stone Gap, which takes place in a rural Appalachian town in western Virginia. I recommend both. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up this pace.

Here's to a better year in 2010.

kiss the girl!

2010-01-26T22:36:00.005-06:00

Okay, since that last post was kinda uncharacteristically deep and introspective, if you've stopped by for something a little more light-hearted you may just want to skip it and watch the following, which is one of my favorite videos of my nieces.

(Please ignore my creepy whisper part-way through.)

Wherein Essie & Chloe describe a song from one of their favorite movies:

i'm rearrangin', hopefully i'm changin'

2010-01-26T18:00:00.000-06:00

I have a confession to make.

Granted, I realize that many of you avid readers out there could pretty much make a similar confession, but I'm going to make it anyway. Here goes: Many times, I use books as an escape mechanism. There is nothing (or, at least, little) better after a long, hard, overall bad day at work than coming home and wrapping oneself in a warm, cozy blanket with a cup of good coffee/tea and a good book that makes you smile and maybe even laugh and forget and let go of the stress of the day. Books are a way of escaping to another world, of putting yourself in another person's shoes and seeing the world through their eyes. Books are enlightening; they teach us about other peoples and other cultures and other life situations that we could never experience otherwise.

But there is more than just the other that makes some books magical. Often, it is the sameness that hits us over the head as we read. A truly good author knows how to write a character in such a way that you recognize a certain part of yourself in him or her. Maybe it's a characteristic you've always known was there. Maybe it's one you don't have, but wish secretly that you did, or at least that you were a little bit better at mastering. Maybe it's one you see in yourself that you don't like. And sometimes, sometimes you see something of yourself there in print that you had never realized was a part of you. It may even just be a phrase or two in a story that opens up a part of your soul that was either hiding from you, or that you were hiding from yourself without even knowing it.

This last one is a phenomenon I experienced with a book I've read in the last week or so. I'm not going to tell you what book; frankly, I'm not comfortable with baring that much personal vulnerability for all the internetted world to see. But it happened. I connected with a character in a way I hadn't before, concerning a part of me that I'm not really so good at opening up about with other people. And in a very small way, it's changed me. In the safety of my own room, I was able to wake up to these thoughts and ideas that subconsciously float around in my head and affect the way I deal with other people on a semi-regular basis. I don't have it all figured out, but because it was spelled out for me so well there in print, I'm now able to put certain feelings into words, to give them a name and to recognize them for what they are.

This isn't the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last. And to be honest, my experience is that movies can have the same effect on a person. One of my favorite movies is Runaway Bride, which I saw for the first time in a very long time over the weekend. (Incidentally, this movie was the first movie I ever watched in a theater, but that's neither here nor there as far as this conversation is concerned.) I don't think I picked up on this the first time I saw the movie (sometimes these revelations take awhile to really get), but I remember seeing this movie one of those first times and frankly being a little uncomfortable with parts of it, even as much as I loved the movie. I saw some of myself in the character, parts of me that at the time I didn't like. I related to Maggie's inability to know some things about herself (even as simple as how she liked her eggs) because I spent a lot of time taking the easy way and doing what everyone else wanted, never wanting to cause conflict or to ruffle anyone's feathers. I, too, was good at making myself into whatever my current company would prefer me to be. Through the movie, I was able to recognize this tendency in myself in a way I never had, and since I was then cognizant of these personal issues, I was able to work on them over the years. Frankly, living on my own for so long has been one of the best things that could have happened to me concerning this issue - I've had to learn what I want, how I want it, and what to do about it. I think I've pretty much mastered this one, but I think this is a perfect example of what I've been talking about. Books, stories, otherness, help us see the sameness, too.

Sometimes this can be uncomfortable. But it's life-changing, and almost always in a good way. I'll let you know in a few years how this one turns out.

good tidings

2009-12-23T13:48:00.003-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

ain't no high-class broad

2009-09-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

It’s official: my *relationship* with my former landlords is OVER, as of yesterday. Meaning, yesterday I finally received my security deposit, thus ending any necessary communication with said landlords. (Never mind that she promised she’d “put the check in the mail first thing in the morning” over two weeks ago. Postal date stamps don’t lie.) I was pretty happy to finally get the check, seeing as how it was for a not-so-insubstantial dollar figure. Even though she couldn’t be bothered to, you know, write in the cents when she was writing the amount. Apparently that’s too time-consuming. I can’t wait for the bank to get all anal-retentive over that one.

The thing that amazed me most, though (although deep inside, I know it shouldn’t), is the vessel she used to mail the deposit. You would think that a professional woman, with her own real estate “business,” could at least spring for a semi-professional envelope, maybe even (*gasp*!) of the security type. Apparently not. No, instead I received my hefty check in the return envelope from her latest bill from her insurance company. Of the window variety, meaning you could see my happy check hanging out inside, because she (naturally) couldn’t be bothered to accompany the check with even a short note of some kind, you know, “Nice doing business with you!” or even, “Have a good life!”

As I thought about it, the whole thing pretty much summed up my entire experience with the woman, the house, everything. It involved her taking the least amount of her time doing as little as possible for as cheaply as possible, to hoop with everyone else. Which makes me ever more glad that I am finally, finally done.

Nice doing business with you, Cornelia. Have a good life.

til exhausted close our eyelids

2009-09-11T18:00:00.002-05:00

One of these days I might take the time to sit down and reminisce about some of the crazy times that have gone on in the last month and a half: I went to a mini-family reunion in southern Illinois, I went to the Former Students’ Day reunion at my high school in Kentucky, I moved (!!!!), I went to Kentucky for Labor Day/my nieces’ 4th birthday, blah, blah, blah. It’s been busy, yo. That’s pretty much all I can say. The long and the short of it is that I’m living in someone else’s house, with a storage unit full of crap*, and that I have added a few thousand miles to my newly-tired, newly-aligned car, and that I have officially driven over every single curb between Algonquin, Holiday Hills and Lake in the Hills with a 24-foot moving truck.

But rather than take the time to write about all that, I’m going about this post the lazy way. Meaning I’m going to copy a bunch of stuff I’ve already written.

For context’s sake, I should first tell you that Corella & I keep each other awake from time to time at work with short, random emails. Here are a few snippets of said emails from me, all from this week. Frankly, you may want to just stop reading now.

•I'm only slightly worried about the yarn, since it's boucle and I'm not completely sure I'll be able to keep it even.

•I need this day to be over, like, now. If I don't leave a vomitous mess on my keyboard before the day is out, it will be a miracle.

•I should have known what this day was going to be like before I even left the house this morning. Like, when I couldn't figure out where my bra was, until I realized 30 seconds later that I'd already put it on. Yep, that kind of a day.

•Boys are stupid. Boy stalkers are just ridiculous.

•I want to hear details of the sobbing. Because I hate her.
(Stop judging. It’s reality tv.)

•I love that one of the pillars of the church uses the word *knockers* at choir practice.

•I just started counting in my head/on my fingers the number of months so far in the fiscal year, but instead of mentally saying "April, May, June, July, August" in my head as I extended each finger, my brain started saying, "Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers…"
I. Need. Help.

•When I get married, I'm going to have somebody play just the intro to Let's Get It On as we're running through the birdseed/bubbles/whatever to the car.

•Just remember, it's all about the tongue, baby.

I haven’t fallen asleep yet.

*So full, in fact, that the new roomie was worried when I was late coming home one night that I had stopped by the unit and a bunch of stuff fell on my head and knocked me out.

my dirty little secret

2009-08-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Shhh!! Get closer now, I’m not going to tell this to just anybody. (Thankfully, it appears that none of my coworkers has as yet found this little corner of blogdom.)

Are you ready? Closer!

Okay, here goes.

I am a Summer TV-Smut whore.

There, I said it. I know, I know, who would believe it, right? (*ahem*) Until recently, this sickness was limited to really only two embarrassing shows, at least for this summer: So You Think You Can Dance (go Jeanine!) and (*hangs head in shame*) The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Granted, I have watched Secret Life since its entangled inception, watching with rapt attention the metamorphosis of Amy from naïve good girl to hormonal pregnant teen to jealous teenage mother (and my personal favorite metamorphosis: Grace, from the quintessential *Jesus Barbie* to new med camp graduate, with a little “My dad’s plane crashed because I got laid” in between). I could go on about the little quirky things that make me so addicted, or the moments that actually make me laugh out loud (“GROIN INJURY!!!!!!”), but I won’t get into all that here. Honestly, I don’t think I would have even classified this show as “smut” until recently, especially since this is a show directed to the tween & teen stage-of-lifers. But a week or two ago, I watched the show with a friend of mine who had never seen it before. And honestly? Trying to explain who all the different characters were made me realize this is a teen version of a late-night drama, or at best (worst?), a teen soap opera.

That guy is dating the girl with the baby.
That’s the father of the baby, who is sleeping with the girl who broke up the Jesus Barbie and her boyfriend the first time around, but who really wants to be with his baby mama.
That woman is the mom of the girl with the baby, who is currently pregnant with her ex-husband’s baby, and who just broke off an engagement with some other dude and is now contemplating dating some old friend before she decides if she’ll let her ex-husband move back in. (granted, the “old friend” turned out to be the ex-husband.)
That’s the slut. She dated her brother for awhile.
That’s the dad of the guy dating the girl with the baby. He’s engaged to a woman he doesn’t know was an internet-order prostitute, who went on a date with the Down’s syndrome kid.
He’s the dad of the girl with the baby. He installed a urinal in the garage.

Um, yeah.

So anyway, until recently, Adrian, the Teenage Whore and SYTYCD were pretty much my only two “I’m ashamed I watch this” shows. And then, one night, I just happened to be flipping through a few channels, nothing much was on, and I randomly stopped on some good ol’ Fox reality fun. And I can’t stop watching. Like, I’m addicted. And I can’t figure out why. But honestly, More to Love has me sitting on my couch on Tuesday nights, eating frozen pizza and trying to figure out just how that larger woman is going to manage to belly dance. I don’t really know what else to say at this point, other than I probably lost more brain cells last night than I inhaled calories. The show has sucked me in, and although I’m super glad the loud-mouth witch went home last night, and I’m not really sad about the loss of the painfully shy girl who had never dated before, I can’t wait until next week to find out which two are going home next (and which four aren’t).

The fall season needs to hurry up and get here. I can’t take the loss of any more of the few brain cells I have left.

Should I have been weirded out?

2009-08-10T22:31:00.005-05:00

I think so too.

So I walk into the rest area on my most recent trip south, and they have put signs over each bathroom door. The women's restroom says "TEMPORARY MEN'S," while the men's says the opposite: "TEMPORARY WOMEN'S." Both bathrooms were open, usable. So I walk into the "temporary women's," and am slightly startled as I round the little corner, when there in front of me is a teenage guy scrubbing the urinal. Another person of the female persuasion has entered the washroom just before me, and asks, "Um, is this open?"

The kid responds, "Yeah! Go ahead."

So I hurry about my business, still kind of creeped out, and finish up and wash my hands. As I'm finally walking back out, I pass another woman starting to walk in the door. She sees the kid, who is about to start on the first stall, and the urinals along the wall, and stops dead with the deer-in-the-headlights look, then glances back to make sure she didn't walk in the wrong door. (I think it's that age-old childhood fear of accidentally walking into the wrong restroom at school.)

I laughed. (Is that wrong of me?!)

But, um, can anyone figure out WHY there would ever be a need to switch the men's bathroom & the women's bathroom? When both were completely usable? Weirdness.

that distraction inside of me, oh well

2009-07-31T19:07:00.004-05:00

(this post is for andrea)

And now, for the long-awaited project! (Which, honestly, is partly to blame for my lack of reading lately. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

I took on a project a few (read: many) months ago as a present for my (insert completely non-hyperbolic, totally awesome word that exudes the awesomest awesomeness here) nieces. And then, because I ~~suck~~ lack the proper motivation, it took me forever to finally finish the project. But it's finally done, and with the exception of a crookedly-sown-on arm, I'm pretty satisfied with the result. But you can judge for yourself:

Making the frog body

The finished products:

Ms. Bear:

Mr. Frog:

Kudos to Amy Gaines, whose adorable amigurumi pattern made these backpacks possible. They were incredibly easier than I ever imagined them to be, and if I decide to do another one sometime in the future, I have full confidence I could get it done fairly quickly and quite well, thanks to what I learned this first time around.

How did I fall so far behind?

2009-07-31T17:45:00.001-05:00

I am woefully behind on my reading list.

It was my goal this year to read 50 full books in 2009 - only a few more than what I read in '08. Shouldn't be too hard, right? It's not like I'm attempting Corella's 100. So far, though, I'm barely in my 20s (which, for me, is borderline embarrassing). Earlier today I was browsing through my goodreads, looking at all the wonderful books I read in 2008. Some of the bestest books I've read in my life, truly fantastic. A few not-so-fantastic, I'm sure, but all the same... I was reading. This year, my shelf is sorely lacking. Not just in quantity, but also in quality. Oh, there are a few really good books, and very few I wish I hadn't taken the time to read. But I have a lot of ground to make up. It's not like I have a lack of books to read; there are so many lying around at home I could easily reach my goal, not to mention the MUST-READs I have yet to get from the library. I better get crackin'. (But not your beautiful bindings, Coral - worry not!)

As for what I have read recently... the book that stands out the most is one that I won through a goodreads give-away, Valeria's Last Stand. I personally loved this book. I thought it charming, full of dry humor, and a very interesting portrayal of the life and desires of a stubborn older woman that nobody likes (and that returns the favor). That is, until the Potter. The book deals with the conflict of the old versus the new, the time-honored versus the newly advanced, old socialism versus new capitalism. It is quirky and almost playful, in an almost fairy-tale sort of old-fashioned Hungarian village set during present times. The characters are intriguing and unique, and their interactions with each other are clever and fascinating to me. I'm glad this was the first advanced copy I won, and I would totally recommend it. My only caution to future readers comes from a review I found: "The geriatric sex is unnerving." Nuff said.

can you touch your nose with your tongue?

2009-07-28T21:47:00.003-05:00

I'll update more later, but until then, this is one of my favorite moments from this past weekend:

wordless wednesday

2009-06-24T06:06:00.000-05:00

with your feet out, girl you lookin' good

2009-06-23T22:34:00.003-05:00

My toes are not “normal.”

I’m one of those people who have toes that freak some people out – my second toe is longer than my big toe. Now mind you, I don’t have a complex about this. I pretty much don’t care. But some people seem to. My friend Dom commented on this phenomenon a few weeks ago, when after seeing my cutely-sandaled feet, he mentioned that he has a longer 2^nd toe as well. Although, apparently his “abnormality” (I hate that word) goes a bit further – all three of his middle toes are the same length, all taller than the big one. Maybe his pinky toe as well, but I really don’t remember. We commiserated a bit about how our “specialness” causes some people to recoil in seeming horror with but a glance at our poor little piggies. (What? You don’t have random 10-minute toe conversations at social gatherings?!)

I’d pretty much forgotten about that conversation until this afternoon in the ladies’ restroom closest to my cube-home (read: cell). First of all, I have to say: Ladies (I assume this goes for gentlemen, too, although I’m less experienced in that area), if you walk into a public restroom and there are several stalls open, never take the empty stall right next to another occupied stall unless absolutely necessary. It’s called common courtesy. But anyway – I was sitting there, ~~taking care of~~ minding my business, when someone entered the stall next to mine. Mind you, our restrooms are pretty bland, everything the same yellowish color, quite boring and utilitarian. As I guess public restrooms should be. So, you know, eyes tend to wander, and I happened to glance at the feet of the person next to me. And her poor little toes. The first four of which were all the same pudgy length. I couldn’t even see the pinky toe, since it was (I hope!) hidden under her sandal.

What went through my mind in this moment?
Eww. That’s weird.

I’m a toe supremacist.

(When I have absolutely no right to be.)
(isn’t that the way it always is?!)

a perfect disaster

2009-06-18T19:45:00.005-05:00

I think I should create a weekly post called "Things You Should Never Say." This week's edition: Things Your Accounting Manager Should Never Say.

Are the letters on your shirt curved, or is that you? - K

Um, yeah. Nothing says uncomfortable like "Hey! I'm looking at your boobs!" If he wasn't so clueless, I'd be offended. He really didn't think anything of it at all. And if we weren't in an in-depth conversation about university logos (unfortunately situated on my shirt), it really would have been awkward. Good times at work.

In other news... My birthday was earlier this week. My very favoritest present? The phone call from my brother, in which my twin 3-year-old nieces sang Happy Birthday to me. Best. Present. Ever.

(So much better than the naked bike ride I *got* to witness in the city last weekend. Really? That is so not attractive.)

Okay. I'm going to go clean something now. Happy almost-weekend!

So you ask: What's new?...

2009-05-30T10:26:00.007-05:00

One of the good (bad?!) things about having a dentist who is Greek-American: When he starts shaking his head and mumbling under his breath, you have no idea what he's saying. (Frankly, I'm going with *good*. I think I'd really rather not know.)

This has been an interesting last couple of weeks. Full of waiting, and thinking, and deciding, and a little more waiting. In the meantime, I finally managed to finish Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. My thoughts? Don't read it. I'm glad I stuck with it enough to finish, because although the first two-thirds seemed like a waste of time, it turned into a half-way decent book in the last third. She finally lost the awkwardness of trying to mix old-fashioned colloquial language and modern colloquial, which was just that - awkward with a hint of trying too hard. Which actually is how I would describe the writing at the beginning of pretty much every chapter for the first two-thirds... After she got into the flow of a certain storyline, the writing was okay, but until then there was awkwardness and entirely too much detail that had no bearing on the story whatsoever. And, you know, if I was a little more caught up on my French (ha.), I would have gotten more out of it, but as it stands, I wasn't impressed. Or better, I was disappointed. I usually tend to enjoy your more gothic-style books. I think I should've paid attention when I asked the waitress from Chez Pierre what she thought about the book when she read it, and her response was, "Um, well... There was an interesting twist ending!" Yeah, there was. Which I figured out about 100 pages before I was supposed to. Disappointed.

After all that, I started reading a book I had picked up from the library and had been anxiously waiting to read (kind of my "prize" for finishing the other one) - Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea. I adored this book. Maybe because I was so happy to be done with the other one, but I don't think so. It is a fiction book, told in the setting of Saudi girl writing an email every week to a group of Internet subscribers. In the emails, she tells the stories of 4 of her friends, and their trials of life and love in the city of Riyadh (with a little Chicago, London and Khobar thrown in). I couldn't put this book down, especially the last night, which should have been two. While this story is told in the confines of what most would seem an incredibly restrictive society, there is an undercurrent to the story that is wholly universal - especially in regard to making life decisions because it's what is expected of us, rather than what is in our deepest heart of hearts.

Last weekend I was given the address for the website of the McHenry Conservation District, which basically has taken all the unused areas in the county and turned them into parks with trails and fishing and such. So last Friday, after leaving work just a tad early, I decided to stop by one not far removed from my way home. I really enjoyed it, save for the mosquitos that are now starting to make their appearance. I took a little "hike," around a lake and through the woods a bit. I was very appreciative that the trail was well-mown, because of course, I hadn't planned on walking through a park when I left for work and had not dressed my feet appropriately. Anyway, it was a nice little diversion, and I discovered something I don't think I'd seen before: purple honeysuckle. And lots of pink, with some wild sweet william thrown in along the way. I love this time of year.

If only I had known how very dangerous love was, I wouldn't have loved.
If only I had known how very deep the sea was, I wouldn't have set sail.
If only I had known my very own ending, I wouldn't have begun.
- Nizar Qabbani

when the baseball analogy goes too far...

2009-05-10T11:20:00.002-05:00

Things you should never hear from the pulpit at church:

"Come to church on Saturday and get to first base with the Pastor!"

these words are [now] my own

2009-05-04T19:39:00.006-05:00

One of the perks of working for a book company is the annual book sale. When we were still in Lex, I always made sure to go and get some awesome books. Last year, however, I managed to be out of town for the first big soirée since the transition. So, on Saturday I was able to attend my first insane book sale in the frozen north.

I totally should have taken a picture of the crazy-long line, but honestly, that probably would have seemed a tad creepy to my coworkers. I got there 45 minutes early, and by the time the sale was supposed to start, I was probably about halfway back from the beginning of the line. (I was told at lunch today that there were some people who were there at 5:30am. Um, yeah, even 25-cent books won't get me up that early on a Saturday.)

Anyway, I gave myself a limit - I only allowed myself 25 books. And 25 books I got. Here's my booty:

(There are actually 26 books here. I got the thesaurus as a "free gift" for buying books. Yay goodwill! [um, not the store...])

You cannot image the crowds of people in the back part of the warehouse I had to fight through to get these. There was no rhyme nor reason to the way the totes were arranged.... Everything was just kind of all thrown in together. All I can say is, I got these brand-new (although a couple obviously have been processed) for $6.25. Um, I would have paid more in library fines in order to read these same books.

This entire experience has led me to believe something....

I need more bookshelves.

(Also, my need for books is insatiable. Because 25 new books did not stop me from checking out a new one at the library. But hey - it was only one, right?!)

all I can do

2009-05-01T13:41:00.003-05:00

Hey!

Hey you!

Yeah, you, on the other side of the cube wall!

I have a message for you:
14 oz. of lotion? Is. NOT. the same. as. bathing.

(apparently breathing at work has become an amenity.)

pop!

2009-04-29T22:41:00.004-05:00

When I was home for Easter, I spent quite a bit of time with my beautiful nieces. One night while we were hanging out at Matt & Amy's, the girls had their first taste of suckers. In honor of the momentous occasion, Matt found the song Lollipop online, which the girls absolutely loved, as evidenced by Chloe's rendition below:

i can watch a sunset

2009-04-29T22:07:00.007-05:00

Friday night before last I decided to go run around downtown Chicago for a bit. I've missed non-subzero temperatures, so I've been taking advantage of the decent weather as much as the semi-constant rain will allow. Anyway, I ended up spending a good amount of time sitting by Buckingham Fountain, which I hadn't actually ever seen before when it was warm enough to be running. It was beautiful, and a perfect place to catch up on some journaling and such.

(I'm still learning how to use the settings on my camera, so hopefully the quality of such photos will improve in the near future.)

I've also been trying to take advantage of the nearby state park on a more regular basis now that it's warmer. There are some great secluded spots by the lake that are perfect for some nice afternoon reading with the poochie.

There really wasn't much point to this post. So, um... Thanks for reading anyway?

all out of language

2009-04-27T12:20:00.000-05:00

Here’s the deal. I know I haven’t been blogging at all lately. I have a lot of blogs in my head, though, so one day you’re going to come here and there will be a whole bunch of new ones or something. Or maybe I’ll just never get motivated and they’ll all stay in my head. Either way. But consider yourself warned, in case I ever do find my muse.

Things I’ve been reading lately… Not enough? On my last two drives to Kentucky, which were timed fairly close together, I started an audiobook that was actually very good, but that I only made it about two-thirds of the way through. Sometimes, when I’m driving for long stretches, listening to someone’s voice reading a story makes me sleepy and I have turn on noisy, fast music that I can sing really loud to in order to keep myself awake. But anyway, one day I’ll actually finish it, whether via the audiobook or the actual book, which is Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. She’s a fantastic writer, and I already have another of her books in the backseat of my car that I’ll probably forget to read before it’s due back at the library.

Another book I’ve read fairly recently is The Darkest Child – I forget who the author is. (Dorothy something? I’d look it up, but I kinda just don’t want to.) I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, although it’s kind of hard to use a word like “enjoy” for a book that’s so dark and disturbing on so many levels. I read a lot of reviews by people who talked about how much they hated Tangy Mae’s mother, because she was such a horrible person, but I mostly just felt sorry for her, I think. People who would treat their children the way she did in the book have severe mental issues, and it’s mostly a shame that there weren’t people in their part of the world/level of society that could recognize how much help she needed. I thought this book explored very well the truth that love and hate are not necessarily opposites – Tangy Mae, as well as the other children, both very deeply loved and hated their mother, both for good reason. The perspective that the author used to tell the story from Tangy’s eyes was very effective and insightful. As long as you can handle the darker parts of the story, I would recommend this book.

I also recently read Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. But if you want to read my review of that one, you’ll have to check out my goodreads, mostly because I don’t want to type it all out again. I started reading Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, but I’m already beginning to get bored with it, which isn’t a good sign. I’ll let you know if I actually make it through or not. I’ve also read a bit of pointless chicklit, but to avoid Coral’s positively encouraging comments about those, I won’t go into detail.

it's only finger-lengths that I see

2009-03-27T20:43:00.011-05:00

Last weekend, I managed to sneak home for a long weekend to meet and hang out with the new nieces. We had a ton of fun!

Playing with Play-Doh (yes, I look completely insane. I know.)

Essie, making monkey faces in the car. One of my favorite pics from the weekend.

Chloe is apparently following in the musical footsteps of the fam

Essie is all about the hat!

Getting some lovin' from Mommy

We had a fantastic time. My only complaint was that the weekend was so short! Even so, I also managed to make a super-quick trip to Knoxville to see Sonya and her new little one:

Sonya & Daniel Isaac

where the deer and the rattlesnake play

2009-03-19T15:26:00.002-05:00

I'm off to the homeland, back to the beautiful bluegrass state to meet the most beautiful little girls in the universe. And also a pretty darn cute little newborn boy, too. In my excitement, I'm wishing for copless roads and a wonderful weekend for you all. Cheers!

I scare children. Apparently.

2009-03-17T16:44:00.004-05:00

Since yesterday evening was such a nice evening to be outside, I took my *project* outside with me for awhile and sat in the yard and let the poochie play for a bit. The two most adorable neighbor kids in the world live next to me, and for awhile they were in their back yard as well, with another kid from somewhere on the block. Betwixt the random screams of "Look, BIRD POOP!" and the sound of young children sliding off the roof of their little playhouse, I suddenly heard the neighbor girl, the eldest of the three, explaining to their friend as they all peeped through the fence: "That's little Cheetoh! It's just a little puppy. Here, Cheetoh! Come here!" Chico sniffed their fingers for about two seconds before sauntering away in his aloof little way. They stared through the chain-link fence for about two more seconds, then went back to sliding off the roof.

These kids are both fascinated with and terrified by me, although I can't really figure out why for either. Any time I'm outside and they're somewhere nearby, they grin shyly at me until I make eye contact with them and smile - then they run away and hide behind something. The next second they think I'm not looking, they creep back up and stare at me, watching very intently whatever I'm doing, whether it be working in the flower beds or mowing or reading a book in the sun. Or crocheting, apparently. Part of this I'm sure has to do with their age - I would guess the boy to be about 3-4ish, the girl maybe 5-6. Sometimes the girl, in her little blond pigtails, manages to offer up a quick wave before getting embarrassed. Last night was the first time I've really seen them since the brutal winter, so maybe sometime soon I'll be able to draw them out of their shells a little without scaring them (or their parents, of whom I've met only their mom, once, for a 5-minute conversation).

Any ideas how to pull this off?

(You know, other than dressing up in a dinosaur suit and singing children's songs.)
(Although I'm pretty sure that would REALLY scare their parents.)
(And me.)

wait for me, it won't be long

2009-03-13T14:49:00.003-05:00

They're coming home, TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all.

...I'll see you at home.

oh, deerie me

2009-03-12T14:56:00.004-05:00

My friend, Chef Ryan, is now AWARD-WINNING Chef Ryan. You can check out the deets here. There's even a picture of him and everything! (#5) And if you are ever ever ever in the area, you should visit the restaurant where he's head chef. Because his food is AWESOME. And you will eat until you almost die from eating.

Congrats, my friend.

there's just one thing that's getting in the way

2009-03-11T14:06:00.003-05:00

I know, I know, I disappeared again. I won't regale you with stories of computer issues and crazy work schedules, because I'm sure no one really cares about all that anyway. I'm here now.

So I'm pretty sure most of you who read this already know about what's going on with my family, but I'll say it anyway... My brother and his wife are right now in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, getting ready to bring my two new beautiful nieces home!! Here's one pic - if you want to see more, you can go to their blog (or my facebook):

I'm working on a craft project for the girls, but I won't post it here until it's done and the gift has been given. Although I have to give mad props to Andrea for sending me on the right path to find the pattern, which is pretty much just awesome. Since I've spent a lot of time crocheting like mad, I haven't had much time to read lately. For some reason it's taking me forever to get through Jesse Stuart's Taps for Private Tussie, probably b/c I don't pic up the book very often with everything else going on. I'm also reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader on the side, but I'm sure you can imagine how that's going as well. I mostly picked it up b/c it was something easy to throw in my purse on my way to the dentist's office to get my root canal. Yes, boys and girls, while the last month has been relatively uneventful for me personally, the eventful things have been not so much on the fun side of things.

Overall, I'm mostly thrilled that we got out of the crazy cold month of January. Friday night was actually pretty warm, so I decided at the last minute to go run around downtown for a bit. I bought some adorable fleece sweatshirts for the girls at the Disney store, had a bird poop in my eye, got hit on by a homeless guy, and crocheted for 2+ hours on the train. It was a pretty productive trip.

Okay, that's all for now. Maybe I'll be better and post again soonish?! Here's hoping.

then later on, on the drive home

2009-02-04T22:08:00.004-06:00

You know what's not a great way to start the week? (yes, I'm behind in my blogging again)
Spilling coffee on your sweater, first thing in the morning.
You know what's an even worse way to start the week?
Poking yourself in the boob for 5 minutes with a tide-to-go stick.

While we're on the subject of ways to start the week, some of the McDonald's up here (albeit not the convenient, on-the-way-to-work one) have "free latte Mondays" or something like that, where they give free 8 oz lattes on Monday to encourage people to try their new McCafé line. I've had the mocha before, which ain't no Starbucks, but isn't too bad for cheapish espresso. So on Monday I decided I was going to go for the free latte, and actually get a true latte this time for something different. Following is my review of the experience.

First of all, I didn't really think about how small an 8 oz cup would be. I felt like I was drinking espresso from a sippy cup. Which, other than reminding me of a Charlie Waffles song, was not too impressive. But how did it actually taste, you ask? My first impression: This is what it would taste like to drink Lucky Charms.

In a nutshell? If you like to drink coffee-tinted sugary children's cereal out of a baby bottle, you should definitely try it.

(I actually did like it, it was just... different.....)

Hello, my name is _____, and I'm a teaholic.

2009-01-31T10:36:00.004-06:00

I think I might have a slight drinking problem.

For some reason I have been craving unbelievable amounts of liquid this week. Maybe it's because I can't chew gum until I figure out why pieces of my teeth keep falling out? I don't know. But it's reached the point of the ridiculous.

I got tired of spending way too much money buying drinks at work, so when I was at ~~Walgreen’s~~ a really cool store the other night, I bought 2 gallon jugs of Arizona green tea. I took one to work with me the next day. Thursday. By the time I left work last night (Friday!), it was empty. Somehow, in two work days, I managed to drink an entire gallon of tea. And even more shameful? That's not counting the 32 oz. of diet crap from Taco Bell, also consumed during work hours.

If anybody needs me, I'll probably be in the LGR.

how ugly are thy branches

2009-01-10T21:33:00.003-06:00

My Christmas tree is anorexic.

(Yes, my tree is still up. Whoever can guess what that little box is lying under the tree behind the slutty dog bed gets a prize. I don't know what, but I'm sure I'll think of something appropriate when(if!) the time comes.)

(The dog bed is slutty because its clothes are coming off. I've enrolled it in a 3-step program. Also known as "the washing machine.")

However, I'm mostly just happy my Christmas tree still has all its pieces and whatnot. I bought the thing at wally world my first Christmas in my first apartment. I think. If not then, definitely at the town house. But I'm pretty sure it resided at the mansion, in front of the window that our dear friend "rapist cop" parked next to. Anyhoo, I got it for about $15, the thought process being, This is my first apartment, so it deserves some cheap little tree, I'll get a better one next year once this one falls apart. But, strangely enough, this one has managed to hold itself together through 5 whole Christmases. It still has all its little branches, although I have yet to get a decent tree skirt for it. It really is kinda skimpy and pitiful these days, but I have learned that if you put enough lights on it, any tree can look half-okay. And totally not ghetto at all. (Mostly.) Anyway, when I finally take it down sometime this weekend (or next week... or something... gotta keep a little bit of the War Creek in me alive!), the smart thing to do would be to just get rid of it. Then, next year I'll have to get a new one.

But I won't. I've kinda grown attached to the pitiful little thing. It's been with me through all 4 residences, this one twice, since I've been "on my own." Maybe next year I'll just buy a few new ornaments and let it go at that.

But I really need to get a tree skirt. Nobody likes to be naked in the middle of winter in Chicago.

you can catch me

2009-01-09T23:55:00.004-06:00

In the last year, I have turned into quite the slacker-blogger. Maybe when I actually take the time to sit down and write a few New Year's Resolutions, changing that will be one of them. Knowing my penchant for all things procrastination, however, the resolution-writing seems unlikely. But I am determined to do better with the blogging, though. I amaze myself every time I get upset when one of my favorite bloggers hasn't updated for a bit, when it's usually been a month since I have bothered to do the same. Really, I'm not quite so hypocritical about the rest of life.

In the meantime, I just got back on Sunday from a fabulous two weeks in Kentucky.

I got to see my family and some of my wonderful friends, whom I miss with my soul. We also got some discouraging news about the adoption (read more about that here, if you wish). We would all appreciate your prayers.

Sadly enough, the month of December was just crazy enough that I didn't get the chance to do a lot of reading. I don't even remember what I've read lately... pitiful. I do remember reading Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella... I personally didn't find it quite as good as Undomestic Goddess, but it was still some good chicklit. Over Thanksgiving, I read Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution by T.J. English. Even though family holiday times made the reading a bit slow, I still really enjoyed this book. And now I've become slightly obsessed with Cuban history. Seriously, so fascinating. I'm currently reading The Meaning of Night: A Confession by Michael Cox, but it's been slow reading for this one, too. I'm having a hard time getting my mind into books lately, for some reason. I also read a couple short Evanovich books - she never ceases to amuse. Um... I think that's it. I'm hoping that now that the Christmas craziness has passed, I'll have more time and mental energy to devour some new good books again.

Okay, it's late, and this post has rambled on enough. Have a great weekend, everybody.

I have nothing important to say

2008-12-17T22:19:00.002-06:00

Again, it's been awhile. Not much has happened.

The overview:

Grandma's for Thanksgiving.
Sick on Thanksgiving.
Nearly died shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.
(Not really, but I almost wanted to for a minute there)
Finally got remote garage door opener, which will hopefully eliminate the locking-myself-out-of-the-house problem. Also, the waking-up-to-find-the-garage-door-open-to-the-world problem.
Working drains!
First big snowstorm of the year - almost died on the way to church practice.
Locked keys in the car on the way to breakfast with the ladies.
Swing Choir.
Put up the Christmas tree.
Dropped a floor lamp on my face, busted my lip.
Second big snowstorm of the year, almost ran out of gas.

Um, that's about it.

I know, I know, you wish you were me, what with my exciting life and all.

sun is in the sky

2008-11-04T12:16:00.002-06:00

I voted today.

I think I was more excited about voting today than I ever have been. Maybe I'm just getting old, but somehow my ability to vote and make myself heard means more to me now than it ever has. I'm sure part of this has to do with the intense speculation and talk that have surrounded this election, but I'm also just as sure that the intense apathy that I've seen in J. has affected me just as much. I'm tired of hearing, "My vote isn't going to count anyway, because there is no way the person I want to vote for will win in this state, so why do it?" Never mind that people do actually pay attention to the margins by which a candidate wins, no matter that people have given their lives for your ability to walk into that booth, no matter that we will not allow you to complain at the lunch table or anywhere else when we're around about the future leader if you don't vote, it's not important, because it "doesn't count." I don't care who you vote for, vote for Mickey Mouse if you want, but vote. Because even if you vote for Mickey Mouse, you're making a statement about your belief that there wasn't anyone else on the ballot you felt was worth your vote, and that in and of itself means something.

This annoys me. I guess I have too much of RC1 in me… But when I walked into the Village Hall this morning, when I put my ballot into the box, I felt proud to be an American. And very, very thankful for the ability to vote for the candidate(s) of my choice. And I will proudly wear my sticker :)

That being said, voting in my village is an interesting experience. I must say I greatly enjoyed not having to wait in line for an hour and a half as I had to in some of my Lexington locations. Rather, there were 5 booths set up, and 3 of them were open the entire time I was in there. Which brings me to another point… I have been surprised at the lack of technology involved in the vote in this fair state. There are no voting machines, nothing of that sort. You're handed a paper ballet, a black marker, and pointed to a booth where you fill in the little bubble next to your chosen candidate. I felt like I was taking the ACT all over again. The other thing that bothered me just a tad was the lack of identification I was asked for. I walked up to the table, the lady asked my name, I told her what it was and how to spell it, I signed my name on the line in the book, and that was it. I realize I live in a small community where the majority of people know each other and their family histories, but I didn't know this woman from Eve, and I doubt she knew who I was either. Really, you don't even want to see my license? Anyone could have come in here and signed my name in some similar version to my actual signature, and could have taken my vote?! Interesting.

I voted today. :)

very very merry

2008-10-26T20:48:00.002-05:00

Lately at work, I have been on the receiving end of jokes more than usual, and not for no good reason. At least that's what J. & M. think. J. calls me klutzy, and M. just laughs. A lot. At my expense.

Is all this ridicule warranted? You be the judge. In the last week, I have:

Dropped my little stress-reliever-thingey over the half-wall into M.'s cube, maybe somewhere around 8-10 times? Or some such.
At home before work one morning, I dropped the lid to my coffee cup, and my attempt to catch said lid (without falling) caused me to slosh hot coffee on my khakis, my sock, and my dog. (Fear not, it wasn't hot enough to burn him!)
The other day, I was leaning over the half-wall again, with a cup of ice (and a bit of water) that I was getting ready to go fill up, and apparently I was holding mostly onto the lid, which collapsed, causing the cup to drop to the floor (with me holding just the lid). Of course, this spilled ice and water all over the floor in M.'s cube. (Which, of course, he appreciated very much.)
Another day this week, after filling up my car before work, I went inside to grab some mini-muffins for breakfast. After my typically over-priced purchase, I walked back out to my car and tried to unlock it. I couldn't figure out why the key wouldn't fit into the door, until after about 10 seconds I realized it wasn't my car! I sheepishly started walking toward my own car, only to spot a guy who had just come out of the store giggling at me. (It should also be noted that other than the fact the car I tried to break into was the same color as my car, and was a 4-door, NOTHING about it was like my car. Which only makes it that much more embarrassing that it took me that long to figure it out.)
I have a little bag (intended for some sort of first aid something-or-other) that is the perfect size in which to keep my at-work change and random dollar bills for quick trips to the cafeteria for snacks. The other day I had taken it with me downstairs at lunchtime, and had put it in the back pocket of my jeans (happy Friday!). Later that afternoon, I went to use the LGR, and in the process managed to very nearly drop the bag into the toilet. In fact, it bounced off the edge of the seat onto the tile behind.

These are just the stories I actually remember from the last week... I'm sure there are a couple others. (I'm sure I tripped several times over nothing at all and run into a wall at least once, per the usual.)

So you tell me, are M. &. J. justified in their snickerings at my lack of grace? (Or, better yet, should I just stop telling them when I do stupid stuff?!)

my fingertips are holding on...

2008-10-19T22:13:00.006-05:00

Just in case you were really worried, I do get out occasionally:

This is Lake Michigan, just a tad north of Navy Pier. You probably can't see it very well, but my favorite part of this picture is the guy playing with his dog in the water. They were fun to watch :) This is the day I got lost trying to find my way to Lincoln Park Zoo, but I still managed to watch a great UK game.

A few books I've read lately:
Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Very cute story, good chicklit.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Odd book, but it kept me interested.

In the Woods by Tana French. Not as good as The Likeness, and annoying lack of story resolution, but I love the way she writes. Good except for the annoying part.

Damsel Under Stress by Shanna Swendson. Probably not my favorite of the series, but still good chicklit. Light, fun, easy to read.

Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him by Patricia Marx. Funny, quick, easy read. Slightly disturbing, but is a perfect example of how we tend to rationalize things away.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. SUCH a good book! I loved it. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.

Last, but the opposite of the least, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Quite possibly the best novel I've read all year. It keeps you guessing the whole way through, is incredibly well-written, and to steal someone else's review, is "a book for book lovers." If you don't typically like books, this may not be the book for you, but for the rest of us it's fantastic. I'll leave you with the response to a question during an interview with the author, which has become one of my new favorite quotes:

"I know there are people who don't read fiction at all, and I find it hard to understand how they can bear to be in the same head all the time."

and not a drop to drink.

2008-10-07T19:54:00.002-05:00

This is a picture of my kitchen sink, taken not long after I came home from work today:

Don't know how well you can see it, but there is about 2" of water in each side of the sink.

Um, I hadn't run water since this morning, when I rinsed out my coffee pot. The darker muck on the right side of the sink would be the coffee, after having been watered down all day.

Mind you, I don't even have a plug that fits in either side of my sink. I won't show you a photo of the dishes that are not-so-patiently waiting to be washed in my non-draining sink.

Time to call the landlord, eh?

(again.)

you've only got yourself to blame

2008-10-03T14:22:00.002-05:00

1) Nice, big lunch of chinese food, thanks to ethnic-food-hating boss being out
2) Slightly warm in here, thanks to over-compensation for the cold outside
3) Not so good sleep lately, thanks to scratchy pooch
4) Not so much caffeine, thanks to not caring enough to make coffee this morning
= I canNOT for the life of me stay awake this afternoon.

I'm blaming my boss's absence for my lack of productivity :)

how I've missed thee, smells of autumn

2008-09-21T19:47:00.003-05:00

So lately I've been experimenting with cooking some dinner.... I won't talk about what happened yesterday, but today I made a soupy-type thing with corn, fresh tomoates from my garden, new potatoes and beef broth, as well as a few spices. It turned out fairly well, if I do say so myself. If anybody has any quick, easy recipes, feel free to share!

The freakiest thing I've seen all week? Murdoc on the Gilmore Girls episode I'm watching. Um, ew?

Happy Fall!!!!!!!

and the rains came down and the floods came up

2008-09-15T11:00:00.004-05:00

Whew, I really need to do better about updating. I'm still blaming my fickle laptop and unbelievably slow and dinosauric pc (although with any luck the laptop issue will be fixed in the next week or so. Yay!)

I could tell you all kinds of things about what has been happening in my life since I've last posted.. all the newsy things, such as my parents' visit in July, or my quick trip home at the beginning in August (which was absolutely wonderful!), or the new Bible study I just joined at church, or the happiness of finally walking into a church where the greeters greet me by name, or the relaxing Labor Day I spent in Madison where I got to play Christmas and open boxes of lots and lots of books... but I won't.

Or, I could also tell you the random things that have been going on in my life of late.... the wonderific experience of melting a piece of chicken in my microwave a week ago (seriously, chicken melts?!)... how to ReaLemon your pet... the experience of salting my carpet to kill flea eggs... the bug-bombing of my house this weekend as a desperate attempt to finally rid my poor doggy of his flea-riddenness, which resulted in my having to go down to the basement to shut off the gas valves to my drier & my stove (how handy am I?!), which resulted in my finding the several inches of water that had flooded my basement (despite the 2 sump pumps and back-up system, all running at full speed), which resulted in a visit from my landlord twice yesterday (with more to come), which resulted in my finding out that not only had all the water put out the pilot light in my hot water heater, but also had most likely screwed up the thermocouple, which resulted in my washing my hair for two days in the cold, cold water in my flooding sink (thanks to a water-logged sewer system) and heating water on the stove to give myself an Ingalls-style sponge bath so I don't get pneumonia. But, I'll spare you the really gory details. Although, finding something to do for 2 hours outside of your house with your doggy on the day that has seen the highest level of rainfall in the Chicago area since they've been keeping records? Very creative.

However, I will tell you about this. Last night was a very significant moment in my life. One I will cherish forever and always. (drum roll, please!) Last night, I made the best biscuits and gravy I've ever made! (you know, out of the 3 times I've attempted...) The sausage gravy was perfect. Not too thin & runny, not too thick, perfectly salted, perfect taste (as perfect as you can get with the sausage choices available up here). And on top of all that, the biscuits & the gravy were done at the exact same time. Um, that was a total accident. But hey, I'll take what I can get! This truly was a momentous occasion. I'd like to thank my dad, for all the Sunday mornings that he spent slaving over the stove when I was in high school to provide my family with such wonderful vittles to partake of, and also for teaching me how to actually do it without making a nasty sausage-flavored paste (that would be attempt #1). I'd like to thank my mom for dragging my butt out of bed all those Sunday mornings so that I could enjoy all the blessings biscuits and gravy bring to one's soul. And lastly, I'd like to thank my local Wal-Mart for providing all the ingredients.

A perfect ending to an eventful weekend.

"there'll be no butter in hell!"

2008-06-30T18:25:00.008-05:00

So yet again, it's been awhile.... I've been having issues with the power cord on my laptop, which is not condusive to frequent blogging, since it gets really old to try to type the same post 15 times before frustratedly throwing said laptop out the window (even if only in my mind).

I managed to take a week and steal away from work to go home for a bit.... absolutely wonderful. I really needed some time, just to get away and not think about work for a bit. And to see everybody!! Other than dodging the dive-bombing cicadas, and missing out on seeing a few people, it couldn't have been better... I just needed another few weeks :)

I have been reading ravenously lately.... Here is the stack of books that I have sitting on my coffee table at the moment:

Now granted, the 1st book (Cold Comfort Farm) I just finished the other day, and the bottom book (Such a Pretty Fat) I finished awhile ago. As for Cold Comfort, it was a fabulous book! I think it's the type of book I could read over and over again and laugh out loud every single time. Corella, your book choices for me are so perfect! I can't wait to read the other 4 :) Oh, and there is a book I don't have pictured here that's sitting on my floor waiting to be read - Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. My brother gave me The Historian for my birthday - I really can't wait to read it. And the other books here (Crichton, Hosseini) are ones that he got for me from the free table at the library. w00t! Anyway, I should have plenty to keep me busy reading for quite awhile. Which is pretty much perfect for me :)

Okay... I guess that's pretty much it. Nothing too exciting going on... other than my puppy being constantly freaked out by the teenage boys up the street and their incessant need to set off as many fireworks as is possible in an evening. Last night I couldn't convince him to step foot out the door until well after 10pm, and I think that was only because of desperation. There is some less interesting stuff going on, such as my finally getting tomato cages for my 3 little plants (grow, little tomato plants, grow!!) and the planting of all the lilies & japanese iris my dad gave me from his garden. It looks like some of them will do fine, but there are a couple that are still in the sketchy category. Here's keeping my fingers crossed....

things I've learned from my lawnmower

2008-05-10T15:30:00.003-05:00

(*slightly edited*)

In the last few weeks, my quest for having a backyard with grass shorter than my dog has led me to a few observations. I thought I'd share a few.

1. Someone, somewhere, has decided it would be hilarious to sneak into my backyard every night (or day, while I'm at work... who can tell?) and douse every dandelion, blade of grass, clover leaf, blade of CRAB grass, and any various and sundry other growing thing with Miracle-Gro. How do I know this? Why ELSE would my yard be the only one in the entire neighborhood that is completely out of control? I think today was the first time my next-door neighbor has mown all spring. Really, there is no other explanation.

2. The arm muscles used to shovel snow are not the same ones used to push a P.O.C. lawnmower in circles in my overgrown back yard. I finally had those fully developed; I have now moved on to a totally new form of ache.

3. I really should at some point think about investing in a trimmer. Before my neighbors have more reason to hate me. (the fence line? isn't it supposed to be all overgrown like that? this way, when my cranky-pants dog tries to pee through the fence at your cute little puppies, the golden stream [erm, drip] won't actually hit them!)

4. Not really something I've learned, but more of an observation: Why didn't God just make all of our hand-skin the consistency of a big honky callous? I'm sure there was a good reason, but seriously, think of all the pain I could avoid with no blisters! And if all our skin was like that, we wouldn't know any different or care in the winter when it gets all dry and fork over lots of money for lotion at Bath & Body Works. But I guess I should just leave that industry intact and just go find some ointment.

5. Cheddar cheese grits + frozen blueberry waffles do NOT equal good mowing food. Next time, I think I would do better to cook me up some good biscuits & sausage gravy, some bacon and maybe some eggs. It's all about the protein, y'all.

6. Short observation: When your grass is long enough to flutter in the wind like the oft-sung amber waves of grain, you should have cut it three days ago. Also, the day you should cut it, it will rain.

7. I used to love mowing. I really did. I loved to go spend some time outside, smelling the wonderful freshly-mown grass smell, get out some inner aggression (?!), and at the end of the evening, feel like I'd accomplished something I could SEE. This, however, was before:

a) my back decided to mutiny against the rest of my body and show its intense protest any time its muscles are used for ANY reason whatsoever.
b) my allergies decided to kick in, proving to the rest of my head their absolute power by refusing to let me breathe properly anytime I am around the afore-mentioned grass and "wonderful" new grass smell.
c) it became my full responsibility to do it. ALL the time. just me. no matter how tired I feel or how I'd much rather be curled up reading a great new book. there's no one to beg to do it for me, for whatever excuse (no matter how valid).

Ultimately, this is one more way in which I have to grow up, quit whining, and do it whether I like it or not. Much like the snow shoveling I would have much rather ignored.

Adulthood, meet me. Me, meet the lawnmower.

hope you're not squeamish....

2008-05-08T22:13:00.002-05:00

(if so, you may want to stop reading)

I was going to write a normal new post (well, *normal* being completely relative...).

But then my hand decided that it would be fun to stick my finger in my work bag and cut the entire end of said finger wide open.

I hope witty coworker guy isn't freaked out by the blood splattered on the work laptop screen.

(I think I got it all cleaned off.....)

(this should be fun tomorrow, not being able to type and all)
(good thing I'm going to be in 58 hours of meetings. Okay, so 4. Close enough.)

(oh, and if you're wondering on what evil and dangerous device I cut my finger? Not sure. My best guess, based on the bag's contents, is a manila folder. WIDE OPEN. yep, that's me.)

Bookin' It

2008-05-07T20:36:00.006-05:00

I am now the proud owner of this book:

Like, it's signed and everything. To me.

TOTALLY worth the bitter stares from my boss for leaving work early and the missing-my-exit-and-having-to-pull-a-"u"ey(SP?!)-in-the-middle-of-a-random-side-street-in-downtown-Chicago. (Fret not - this was AFTER the reading. I wasn't late. I was actually early. But I still had to stand up for 2 hours.)

And Jen*, the super-cute dress totally made up for the Russian-mobster's-girlfriend hair & makeup.
You. Rock.

*Yes, I realize the chance that Jen would ever stumble upon my blog and read this are slim to nil. She. Still. Rocks.

doo doo doo (read the text first)

2008-04-27T18:46:00.001-05:00

This afternoon, I decided to go to a piano concert at the church I've been going to the last couple weeks. And I was oh, so glad I did.... ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! Below is a short video about the person who performed, one Huntley Brown. I was blown away. It was an excellent concert, with just enough audience participation to keep things really interesting. I was just sad the entire world couldn't be there to experience it, and that it had to end. I told him afterwards that I could listen to him play all day, so it's probably a good thing I bought a CD :) (I just wish I was rich enough to buy every one. Seriously. He's THAT GOOD.)

So, without further ado, Mr. Huntley Brown.

TWSS

2008-04-26T11:46:00.003-05:00

My absolute favorite part of this entire week:
The little old italian lady sitting at the next table over in the cafeteria coming over and telling J, my manager, that if he & C. didn't knock it off, she was going to send the mafia after him to break his knees.
This was a few minutes after she proved him wrong - italians DO call it gravy.
I laughed so hard, I think I peed my pants a little.

Some days, I'm not sure how I ever make it through lunch.

in over my head, i wanna go

2008-04-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

I have recently updated/revised my book list. Here is a small list of some of the books I would like to read sometime in the semi-near future:
(Gotta love how I steal some of these from other people's lists! But I digress)

Diane Sutterfield - The Thirteenth Tale
Marisha Pessl - Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Jack Kerly - The Hundredth Man
Jesse Stuart - The Thread That Runs So True
Janet Evanovich - How I Write
Kate Mosse - Labyrinth
Sudhir Venkatesh - Gang Leader for a Day
Sidney Sheldon - If Tomorrow Comes (I miss you, Vicky!)
Khaled Hosseini - The Kite Runner
Mercy Mayer - The Little Critter Collection
Sheri Lynch - Hello, My Name Is Mommy
Donald Ray Pollock - Knockemstiff
Ann Pancake - Strange as This Weather Has Been
Larry Doyle - I Love You, Beth Cooper
Amanda Hessner - Cooking for Mr. Latte
Jen Lancaster - Such a Pretty Fat (2 weeks!)
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day

Yes, I realize it's a lot of books. And I do have to say, my local library doesn't have a lot of them, so if I'm actually going to read them I'm going to have to drive a little further. Or start investing. But anyway, that's my list. I'm off to dive into a book now.

The most recent bane of my existence:

2008-04-22T22:18:00.002-05:00

I'll be broke by my birthday.

the random trip downtown...

2008-04-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

One Saturday during the cold, cold month of March, I decided that it was time for me to get out of my hay-feverish house and do something fun. I decided to go downtown and run around a bit. So now, let's play a short game of "Good Idea, Bad Idea".

Good idea: Deciding to do something interesting and spend an afternoon walking around downtown in the big city.

Bad idea: Deciding to walk around downtown on a cloudy 38-degree afternoon with no winter coat with which to stop the frostbite.

(Hint: UK hoodie - NOT adequate insulation. Long underwear - Best. Idea. Ever. You'd think I could've put 2 & 2 together....)

Good idea: Walking along Lake Michigan on a sunny afternoon.

Bad idea: Walking along Lake Michigan on one of the windiest days in Chicago history.

(okay, so probably not the windiest, but it sure felt like it. As did the resulting wind burn.)

Good idea: Visiting the absolutely beautiful main branch of the Chicago Public Library on a wintery afternoon.

Bad Idea: Unwittingly piquing a security guard's attention while browsing through the Chicago Public Library.

(Let me clarify: piquing an ARMED security guard's attention)

I could go on, but honestly, that would just be painful for all of us. Meanwhile, I realized a few things on this little trip of mine... First of all, I am not yet, nor do I ever think I really will be, a "city person." I guess I was just raised with too many manners NOT to hold the door open for people at the 7-eleven or smile as I pass someone on the sidewalk. I actually tried to act all non-chalant and stuff, but let's face it, I'm a Kentucky girl at heart. I have to be pretty preoccupied to completely ignore the fact that you are STANDING IN MY PERSONAL SPACE as we wait for the blasted light to change. No matter that it's not really a crowded corner, and there is plenty of room for you to stand OVER THERE to wait... Also, I think I am just too fascinated by people. I'd much rather watch everybody and everything and look at all the pretty buildings and the people walking in flip-flops in 38-degree weather on the nasty city streets and just take it all in. But I guess that's just me. Oh yeah, and I am also slightly freaked out and honestly saddened that there has to BE armed security guards standing at every corner in the public library. I come from a place where the town drunk used to spend his weekends sleeping off his hangover in the public library, and nobody cared.

Anyway, I spent the day being awed by the library, going to see Buckingham fountain (which, let me tell you, did a lot of good in the winter when there wasn't any water running), walking along the Lake for awhile, walking back up Michigan Avenue, wandering around a little looking at stores, going into a 7-eleven and buying a Moon Pie (for the sheer personal irony... I'll always think of RC1 when I see one. Which later Chico found on my chair at home and completely smooshed trying to break into the package), and going to my favorite little Greek Walgreens. At which I heard all about the cashier's upcoming back surgery. Every. Little. Detail. Tell me, why is it that people don't get the fact that the polite smiling and nodding going on are not invitations to hear MORE about why you are mad that you were called in to pull an extra shift even though your back hurts and you're scared about an upcoming surgery that I now know WAY too many details about? But anyway, I purchased my over-priced postcards and a small bag of easter candy and left as soon as her painstakingly-slow cashier skills would allow. I walked (read: limped) back to the train station and picked up some dinner and read while I waited for the train home. Which was totally and completely packed, thanks to the Blackhawks game that had just let out a few blocks over (which my boss & coworker had attended, unbeknownst to me). I think the Blackhawks fan sitting next to me was a little weirded out by my laughing at the Evanovich book I was reading, but you know, sometimes you can't help the out-loud part.

So that was the gist of my day. I leave you with a slightly scary picture of me (hey! I was completely numb at this point) next to the still-green river (it being the day before St. Patty's and all).

it's been awhile....

2008-04-20T20:24:00.004-05:00

I have been quite lax in my blogging of late. Although I seem to be addicted to reading everybody's elses lately, I haven't actually managed to sit myself down and do any blogging of my own. Hopefully there'll be a few posts in the next few days to talk a bit about what I've been up to and such.

One thing I have been doing a lot of lately is reading.... I just finished reading The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro. I have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with it. I've heard/read her highly recommended by a few people, so I thought I'd try it... I'll admit, there were several times that I laughed out loud, but I have to say, I'm really not that "into" a bunch of short stories about drinking-induced stupidity. And sometimes, really, there's only so much exaggeration that works. Too much and it's pointless. But the super-short chapters were nice for a quick pick-up-and-read. And the story of her grandpa filling the back seat of her car with free day-old bread from SafeWay was awesome, but only because of the very close resemblance of her grandfather to certain people I know who shall remain unnamed.

I also recently finished Jim Cramer's Mad Money. I must say, he's freaking awesome. The show is great, and the book made me understand much better what goes on in his head, which I learned is a very educational albeit very scary place. But he makes the stock market interesting, fascinating even. Not that I'll be investing anytime soon (he suggests you have $10,000 of disposable investment income before you become a serious investor... um, yeah. not me.), but it's still very interesting to learn about.

A couple other books I've read: Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Harris - excellent book. Freakonomics - outstanding. I do not necessarily agree with everything Levitt & Dubner put forth as the obvious answer to whichever topic they're writing about, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and finding new ways to look at the world. And it's so well-written and non-academic, I was hooked from the beginning. And now I have at least 2 new books to add to my list, and another blog to read every day (see Freaky link to the right). I've read some more Evanovich chicklit, never as good as the Stephanie Plum books but still light and easy to read and funny as ever. Confessions of a Shopoholic, Sophie Kinsella - all I can say is, I can't wait for the movie! There's also the latest Jen Lancaster memoir... what can I say, she makes me laugh. And I like her a lot better now that she's not quite as narcissistic as she was back when she was all that in the dot.com world.

Okay. I think that's it for now. It's almost Monday.... I'm going to go now and enjoy the next 12 hours as thoroughly as possible.

and the laptop stayed in its case all weekend...

2008-02-24T23:21:00.000-06:00

**Here is the aforementioned post**

I have been lax in my blogging of late. So, I will now let the world in on what's new in my life:

Um...

Hmm.

Yeah, can't really think of much.

Pretty much all that has been going on here lately is snow and work. It's too cold to go out and do anything... Wind chill advisories are not my idea of a good time. The other day as I was filling up my gas tank, I honestly thought my face was going to completely freeze off, leaving just a wisp of the beauty that used to be.... And such a tragedy that would be.

I finally got a library card for the McH Public Library - w00t! And I learned something... Libraries in Illinois are pathetic. At least that one is. Seriously, with some new carpet and a couple coats of paint, maybe some new shelving, that place could be transformed. Right now it reminds me of a room I grew up knowing every so fondly of as *the Mission Barrel*. Although maybe a little more out of date. Um, yeah. Now, I realize that I shouldn't base every public library in the state of Illinois on the one that I've managed to step foot in, but honestly, it has left me jaded. And after discussing the antiquated, pathetic excuse for a wonderful public service to the children and adults of our community with my partner-in-crime (ahem, coworker), it sounds like there isn't anything much better around. Maybe a little newer, but his take on the situation is that libraries just aren't very important to the local governments in this area.

Quite interesting, and rather ironic, since I work for a company that deals directly and primarily with public libraries. Now my interest is piqued... I'm interested in visiting other libraries in the area, just to see what they are like. I don't think they can be any worse than what I've seen.... Seriously, I wouldn't want to take any children to the library I visited; I'd be too worried they'd pick up hepatitis or some other isolated, communicable disease of a plague-like nature.

The transition to a completely new area continues....

That said, I picked up a myriad of books. Everything from Freakonomics, yet another Ted Dekker book, Jim Cramer's Mad Money, some Janet Evanovich chicklet, and a few more (like maybe 5 or 6). So far, I've read 2 this weekend and started finishing a 3rd, which I had actually started reading over the Christmas holiday - Map of Bones, yet another Catholic-esque mystery involving yet another ancient secret faction that's lasted throughout the centuries only to suddenly and misguidedly decide to wreak havoc on the world. It also has some scientific twists, a little far-fetched in my mind (but what do I know?!) and mostly over my head (you can only completely understand this if you could fully grasp my lack of intellectual ability for the subject of science). My mental capacity for the intricacies of m-state metals is apparently less than null. But for the most part, Rollins still manages to tell a decent story.

I have made two lists of late. The first is a list of all the things I would like to do in the next year or so, while I'm still in the area (because as I've learned in the last 12 months, my life can change in an instant). Maybe I'll post this later for your enjoyment. It includes all sorts of random things, a restaurant or two I'd like to visit, parks and historic places and random city-things that are of interest to me. So if anyone wants to do something in a random in the city some weekend, I have a whole list of things to do!

The second list is of all the books I would like to read in the near future. This list will be ever-changing, I'm sure. If anyone has any ideas for any other books I should read, please let me know! A few authors from my current list: jen lancaster, james patterson (thanks, Jess!), laurie notaro, diane sutterfield (I think I stole this from Corella) :), jesse stuart, janet evanovich (how i write), kate mosse. That's about 1/2 of my list.

So that's a few pieces of my life of late. If you need me, I'll probably just have my nose stuck in a book...

OO RAH

2008-02-19T22:53:00.008-06:00

This is not the post I started writing last night. I wrote the beginning of a post last night, and then my computer miraculously shut off. I was going to finish it tonight, but considering the entire thing was mostly pointless, and the thing I am going to be posting tonight is anything BUT, you'll have to come back later if you really care to read about the lastest random happenings in my life.

This post is about the lastest happenings in someone else's life.

But first let me ask you, what do you say in a phone conversation that you know will be the last you'll have with the other individual for at a minimum several (i.e. seven) months? How do you say goodbye, and express all the feelings in your heart and mind, especially without making it harder for said individual?

JR called me tonight. He's shipping out tomorrow. To Iraq. For several months, possibly 7.

I'll miss him. We've had some crazy times together... Maybe I'm just choosing to forget, but somehow this time seems a little harder than the last time he shipped out. Even though I've been hundreds of miles away and haven't seen him for months... He's a great friend.

So I ask you... if you think about it, if you happen to run across this blog in the middle of your busy day, offer up a prayer for him. For his safety, for his loneliness... And for his wife, too. Barely a year they've been married... I covet your prayers for them, and I'm sure they would as well.

Marine JR

JR & his beautiful wife

We miss you!!

...Let it be stagnation of the mind.

2008-01-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

I have come to the conclusion that certain parts of my life could very easily be made into a sitcom or comedic movie of some sort. I mean, really, who couldn't envision Grace Adler resorting to climbing on her 50-something landlord's back and using a crowbar to break into her own house? Or Rachel Green getting finger nail polish spots on the nice wood floors (right before Monica comes home from work)? Or Bridget Jones forgetting her gloves at home and having to clean the snow and ice off her car in negative-degree weather without them and therefore coming down with a mild case of frostbite and/or hypothermia? And we will not even begin to talk about how my work life is so crazy-more hilarious than any episode of the office ever dreamed of being... (I'll withhold the details about that one to protect the not-so-innocent.) And that's only the beginning of the circus that is my life.... Although there are also many aspects that aren't quite so *glamorous*... Meredith Grey never seems to have to worry about dry skin or snow shoveling or dish-washing or a cranky old dog. But I guess that such is the reality that we call life....

So what else is going on my life of late, you ask? (Or maybe you don't, either way I'm going to tell you a little. Provided you continue to read on...)

Mostly, work. The crazy hours I've put in lately have left little time and energy for much else. They keep telling me that it will get better, that once all this gets into some semblence of regular order things will get back to normal. And most of the time I believe them. Mostly because I see the ratio of the craziness to normalcy almost directly correlated to the unknowns that are still being found throughout this process. And it is getting better... I actually had a chance to work on things this week that I've been supposed to have been working on since I started, but have not as yet really been able to, thanks yet again to the craziness. And I found that I enjoyed it... Another realization that has been flowing through my mind again lately (maybe a re-realization?!) is that, I am sure due primarily to the environment in which I was raised, I have to always be learning. When I get to the point in a job or endeavor in my life when I am not learning anymore, I get bored. And unhappy. I would much rather take the craziness and with it constant learning and increased understanding than a steady and stable but un-mentally-stimulating and tired monotony. I have to keep learning, growing, stretching myself. Maybe it is just the point in my life where I am, but somehow I doubt it. Learning has always been a part of my life, and I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Now I'm about to go learn about what a cold whopper tastes like. Have a wonderful weekend.

If there is one thing to dread, let it not be death.....

2007-12-14T22:20:00.000-06:00

The week is over, as far as work is concerned... that makes me happy :) one more week until the REAL break comes.... an entire week off, plus two days! YAY! Hopefully I'll have plenty of chances to rest up, since the week after will be absolutely crazy. But for the time being... KENTUCKY HERE I COME! w00t!

I don't really have a lot to say today. I guess I'm just here to babble a little... speaking of babbling, I started a new book the other day - Gods of Aberdeen by Micah Nathan. I'm only a few chapters into it, but it could shape up to be an interesting book. It's a little obvious that this is the author's first book... a few places it's almost been like he's trying too hard. But there are some places that are just really good - almost more poetic than narrative. I'll leave you with a small section that just really struck me for whatever random reason:

I had told Nicole a little about my mother's death, one of those late-night confessionals the intimacy of dorm life seems to demand. But I didn't want her to think about me within the context of my loss; pity has a very short shelf life, especially for those on the receiving end. The irony of such tragic events is that you don't want people always taking into consideration what has happened to you, and you resent knowing they harbor the illusion of you living within the confines of bad memories, unable to escape. But you do live within those confines, shackled to them, some with longer chains than others. Every new tragedy puts another manacle around your wrist, and demands you build up the calluses to bear it.

oh cool, let's eat bambi!

2007-12-12T22:20:00.000-06:00

i'm tired.
possibly because it's 10:21pm, and i haven't been sleeping too well the last few nights.
or maybe because work has been kicking my tail the last week and a half.
very possibly a combination of both.

i really like my job, most days.... but it can be frustrating. especially for a semi-perfectionist like me who has a problem with the job i've been doing lately. the poopy part is, unless things change soon for the better so that my time can be more focused on what it needs to be focused on, that's not going to change - in fact, it's about to get much, much worse. i just have to keep telling myself that i'm only human, and that someone else new walking in would be even further behind than i am. that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

i finally finished wicked, which seems like it took absolutely forever, so now hopefully i can get on with the books i managed to get from the library at home. i'm just kinda proud of myself that i managed to tough it out and finish it... the beginning is so slow and dry. it just seemed to take much longer than it should have. but it's done, and i have one more to put on the shelf. i have to admit it was well-written, even if it did seem to get bogged down in places. it's fascinating how he can take a place as captivating as oz and create an entire world, with the same political and social issues that it seems every civilization has dealt with at one point or another. even if it was slightly over-political.

my christmas tree is now up. i still hold to the idea that if you have enough lights, it doesn't matter how crappy your christmas tree is (in my case, a $14.88 tree from wal-mart that's screaking through its 4th christmas). although i have noticed that if you have too many on the inner parts of the branches, it illuminates the insides and shows how scriggly it is. oh well. my christmas tree has 411 lights on it, and i'm quite proud. and my peppermint candle really adds to the ambience. too bad the rest of my living room doesn't :) i guess i tend to gravitate toward the eclectic.

i'm going to leave you with one of my new favorite quotes:
"the price of healthy gums is eternal vigilance."

where no one stands alone.

2007-12-06T16:23:00.000-06:00

Click here and pray.
Help us bring them home.

I'm up and doing circles...

2007-12-01T17:53:00.000-06:00

...I collapse...
It's been awhile yet again... Somehow I haven't been as verbally creative lately. Perhaps my muse has been hiding? Who knows.
I'm watching a football game right now. Of my own will. And it's not Kentucky. Mostly because I would REALLY like Tennessee to lose. I still think it's a little random... and yet I can't seem to stop...
It's snowing outside. Actually, I think right now it's more like sleeting. On top of the snow. I'm just glad I got some salt and a snow shovel this week. Actually, two snow shovels - a small one to leave in my car. One of things you buy hoping you'll never actually need it, but too scared not to buy it... When the poochie went outside earlier, I felt sorry for him... he was walking on top of the ice (on top of the snow), but half the time the layer of ice would break and he would sink way down, but half the time it wouldn't, so he was walking VERY funny. He wasn't too happy by the time he got back in the house... And he had a layer of ice on his back. Poor little guy :(
They just had a commercial for chick-fil-a... I miss that place. MMM!!! Waffle fries....
Yesterday, BWI-Lexington shut down forever; the doors closed for the final time. Sadness.
On a MUCH happier note, there is news afoot! For which I covet your prayers with all my heart....
But first, I'm going to show you some pretty awesome pictures:

The first is of my niece, Rosa and my sister-in-law, Amy. The second is Rosa's little brother, Carlos and my brother, Matt.
In my heart, they are family. However, the courts may take a little more persuasion to convince. Hence why I covet your prayers - I don't understand the whole process, and there are a lot of details I don't want to go into, but there are a lot of things that have to be worked out both legally and financially. Please, please pray that everything that happens is in the best interests of these beautiful children, so that they can come home soon! If you want more info, click on the link to Matt & Amy's blog on the right.
I cannot imagine what it must be like not to have a mommy and a daddy to love you and kiss your boo-boos and hold you when you're hurt or scared and to chase away the monsters under your bed. I thank God for the wonderful family I was given, and I pray that you would help us bring the newest members of my family home.
That's all.

(**slightly edited for accuracy**)

Introspective and Deep. (A rarity for me?!)

2007-11-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm back again. I have been such a slacker-blogger. Oh well. I'm not quite so sure about the vast readership this blog has anyway, so I doubt anyone is pining for my words. But today I've decided to put down a few, anyway.

Work lately has been making my head hurt. Not bad, just... confusing. Mind-boggling. Too many loose ends to tie up that apparently haven't really been thought about before. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

One of the advantages of living by yourself is that you can wear sweats as late as you want on a Saturday. Especially when you've been headachy and not feeling so good. And you can lay around and read strange books and listen to odd music and look at random places on the internet for as long as you please. No one cares, and the dog sleeps all day anyway. Although I did do some cleaning and a little laundry, but there really is a lot more to be done. Some days you really just need to take a break from hecticness. Today seems to be one of those days. Although one thing that has managed to be accomplished (not really because of me, other than my wondrous ability to open the door when there is knocking on the other side) is that I now have a handle on my refrigerator door. That should make life a little easier :) Although still no garage door opener or storm door. BUT, the doorway was measured, so that should happen soon. YAY! I wonder what my landlord's husband thought about the random Lena and Sinatra and Ella and Judy and Rosemary and such emanating from my television.... And really, sir, Ale8 is ginger ale, not beer! I promise. Really, I do.

Last week I went home. For pretty much an entire week. I soooooooo needed that... It was good to be home, to see people, and places, and be in a church (two!) that loves me and knows me. It was a little weird, though, once I was driving back home and thinking about it... I managed to spend time at each of the 3 places that I feel were different stages of my life. I was able to go home, really home for awhile... and be a part of the place that made me who I am for a few short hours on Sunday (I don't count Monday, because I don't feel that the hours before 7am are really a part of time I consider reality). So I consider that to be the first stage of my life... the place (and people, apart from my parents) who helped shape my thoughts and ideas and worldviews. Even if I don't always agree with everything that stage of my life consisted of, I can readily recognize its vast impact on my life. I will always call it home in some place of my heart. I also spent quite a bit of time at Asbury, seeing people and places and going to chapel and such. I feel like Asbury was the place that really prepared me to face the world. It was there I began to learn about what would be my vocation in life, and learned to think on deeper and higher levels, and I started to come out of myself. There are more people I wish I had had the chance to see (specifically Dr. Gray, and Prof. Fellows! I miss them...), but it was still good to be back for a minute. And then, my dear Lexington, the third stage in my life... Where I began my career, where I made mistakes and did good things and probably some not-so-good things, where I learned what it really means to make decisions and to live and to take care of myself and to be more independent and to pay bills and to buy my own toilet paper and to plan and to enjoy my friends and to deal with poopy car people and to cook my own dinner each and every night and to find my niche in life and in my church and at work and in the world... It was in Lexington I learned what it means to be an adult - both the good parts and the not-so-good parts and the annoying parts. It was a critical part in the development of who I am. I love Lexington - it's a great town.

One of the hardest things about moving at the time in my life when I did was that I felt like I finally had my life where I wanted it for the time being - I had a good job and a great church and family and friends nearby, and I finally felt settled and that Lexington was home. I had found my place in that part of my life, and I was enjoying it thoroughly. Life wasn't always easy, and I had more things to learn and to do, but it was good. Now I feel like I'm starting all over again, and it can be frustrating some days. But one revelation I had on my very long drive back to cold north was that a few years ago, I felt the same way about Lexington. Things take time. I will admit that I think it was harder to get in my car and drive away this time than it was when I actually moved. I haven't figured out my life here yet - what it should look like, where I'll be spending my time (outside of my sometimes-crazy work hours)... It wasn't hard to leave to come back to my new home because here is bad; on the contrary, for the most part I've greatly enjoyed living where I live. It's just that there was so good. But I also know that here could be just as good... it just needs time and adjustment. I know, I know, that this is where I'm supposed to be. That was settled; I don't question that in my head. My heart, on the other hand, sometimes takes a little more convincing. But I'm getting there :) I'm also learning that having a whole house to myself takes a bit more to keep up, even than my former duplex of roughly the same size. But I'm getting there, too :) If I could just finish unpacking, it would be much easier :) *sigh*... it's like the boxes never end.... Oh well. I'm getting there. One day, one box at a time. This new stage is just beginning; who knows where it will lead or what I will learn?!

Okay, so the poochie wants to go outside for a bit. This has been a much longer post than I expected. And I've bared my feelings a little more than I was planning as well. But that's a good thing? I hope. Maybe next time I'll get to tell about my infamous and crazy trip to the driver's license place. Grrrr. Some things about this state annoy me.

Okay Chico, I'm coming.

the little things, together they add up.

2007-10-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

I've decided to move around some furniture this evening... For those of you who know or care, my blue chair is now in my bedroom. I'm going to be moving my big white bookcase into the living room where the chair was, whenever I decide to be motivated again.

Today it was cold. On Monday, the temperature here was 87 degrees. Today, the high was supposed to be 53. I think it hit that about noon... by the time I went to walk w/ the accounting peoples in the afternoon, it was absolutely frigid. and windy and spitting rain. I was wearing a relatively thick sweater and a jacket, and my teeth were chattering the whole way around the building. I don't think my body is liking the 45-degree temperature change in 3 days... I'm not feeling too good tonight. Maybe I just caught J's ickyness. Either way, I just wanna sleep. I think I'm just exhausted.

Maybe tomorrow I won't be at work through all the daylight hours. My back yard is going to turn into a massive jungle if I don't mow it again soon... But somehow I don't think the rain tomorrow is going to help. Or the working 11 hours.

I'm going to eat ice cream now.

So it's been awhile....

2007-10-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

....but I'm back!

So this been not only a crazy last couple of months, but a crazy year. I was just reading through some of my xanga posts (and unprotecting a few...), and it's amazing what I've made it through in the last year. It's amazing to me sometimes... God is so good. It's been an absolutely great year, but also a very frustrating and stressful one.
Here are a few pics that highlight my life of late:

(the new job)

Movin' on uuppppp.... to the.... west? side...........

2007-07-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

Tuesday is the big day!
Sooooooo much to do......
Hope to see some of you few dear readers soon?!
woot!

One of these days....

2007-07-19T14:10:00.001-05:00

AH!!! I'm so excited!!

But so much to do before next week!

Like the Budget. So I'll get on that now.
Later....

Walk Like an Egyptian

2007-07-13T14:17:00.000-05:00

Apparently I've become a Friday post-er. Or whatnot.
Crazy weekend to come...
I just found out Heidi is coming to visit tonight (Hi Heidi!). YAY! Girls' nights are fun :)
Tomorrow I will HOPEFULLY get the *other room* figured out and organized at some point.... although that may have to wait until Sunday or some such.
Tomorrow night... CHOIR PARTY!! WOOT! Partially for me, partly for the newest little Losch, who isn't very many weeks old. Good times :)
I need to go to WalMart at some point in the near future. I'm on my last roll of tp (I'm sure you wanted to know that), and thank you cards are a must at this point. And Ale8... LOTS of Ale8!!
Sunday is church, my last time to hear Pastor Steve preach :( At least for quite awhile. Sadness.
Hmm...... that's all I'm going to say now. Have a fabulous weekend!!!!!!
Loveness and all.

2007-07-06T14:07:00.000-05:00

it's been a long, long day.....................
it's a good thing it's friday. i don't think i could make it through another day like this.

TOMORROW:
Wilmore City-wide Yard Sale! Woohoo! Maybe I can get rid of my table & chairs, once and for all?!
Nancy is a nice lady. She's giving me a lot of prospects. Which is a good thing, b/c I was about to lose it this morning.
Singing in church on Sunday with Orville, Bob, Charlie, and Kim. And my daddy on the piano :) YAY! Kim is already trying to find a way to get him on the piano bench permanently. hehe... my daddy is so cool sometimes.

Okay, that's all for today. Leaving work soon... with boxes! woot!

Tomatoes. And PJs. And Contracts. Oh my!

2007-07-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

Today I learned: Me + Contracts = Not a good idea. At least not without help.

I did absolutely nothing of consequence over the 4th... I probably should've been more proactive and worked out plans to be with people, but... yeah, that didn't happen. I realized that yesterday was the first day in a very long time and mostly likely the last day for an even longer time that I could take the whole day to myself, and just relax and enjoy myself. So I did :) Rather than doing the bazillion things I should have been doing (and honestly felt quite guilty about), I had a me-day. I don't even think I changed out of my pajamas until around 6 or so? something like that. My leaving the house consisted of going out to check on my garden in the back yard. It was a good day :) I even took a short nap... So now it's back to double-time to get everything done. Woohoo.

So... we had a big storm last night. According to the news-guys, there were 60 mi/hr winds. Which I would believe, due to the trees I saw down on my way to work this morning and the fact that my power went out sometime in the middle of the night. When a storm is loud enough to wake ME up, you know it's bad... And I laid there in bed and watched my computer monitor blink off as everything went dark (I think I had left the bathroom light on, too). The poor little poochie was scared out of his mind :( He doesn't do well with thunder, especially thunder loud enough to reawaken John & Charlie.

I say all that to say... when I woke up this morning, and looked out the window after I stepped out of a not-so-quick shower, I saw the carnage that used to be my vegetable garden :( It was so sad-looking... I hurriedly dressed, and put on my nikes (even though they don't look so good with my black dress pants) and ran out to inspect. Now mind you, it was still raining at this point, so that was an adventure in and of itself. I was able to pick the tomato cages back up and stick them far enough back into the ground that they were upright again, but with as saturated as the ground was I'm not so sure they'll still be upright when I get home. My beans looked like they had been blown over by a hurricane, but I'm hoping they'll still be okay. I picked two this morning, my first real harvest from my garden. YAY!! :) There are several more which could probably be picked, but at that point I was sinking pretty far into the mud (still in my dress pants, still raining) so I decided to hold off until later. Hopefully everything will be okay with a little sun... I love my garden :)

Some exciting things are in the works... involving a 13-page fax I sent this morning. But if you want to know about that, you'll have to ask. I'm slightly scared out of my mind, but exhilerated at the same time.... So many changes, so fast, so little time. I realized this morning that this is my last monthly close here at work - bittersweet. But I'm moving on, hopefully to bigger and better things.

YAY!!

A little unwell...

2007-06-22T14:15:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! It's Friday! :)

This has been one of the longest weeks I've endured in awhile. Possibly b/c last Friday I took off the whole day, and the week before that I took of half a day on Friday.

NAAAHHHHHH!! That can't be the reason :)

I feel like I have a bazillion things to do and places to be in the next little while, but I keep forgetting when I need to be places and what things I have to do. And then after thinking about it, I realized I don't really have anything I have to do this weekend, or any plans set in stone. (well, other than Wilmore Camp Meeting on Sunday night...) Kinda nice :)

But then the CRAZINESS hits... Monday night I have VBS at church, and Tuesday morning I fly out at an ungodly hour up to Chicago. Brian & I are going to be in McHenry going over some integration-type things for all of Tuesday, and Wednesday we have a Finance Conference-thingey for all of the Follett divisions. Yay for us. And then I come back on Thursday... Friday night is more VBS (I think), Saturday morning is practicing w/ Orville, Roberta & Tammy, and the madness continues from there....

I need a nap. Or perhaps an ice skating? Or chocolate. Or something.

About the deeper platitudes of life... I have no thoughts today. Maybe I should, but right now I don't. I watched a few minutes of the first Deuce Bigalow last night on USA or some crazy station like that... that was disturbing. I had chinese for lunch.. .YAY for Kung Pao! Or was it something else? I don't remember. But it was good.

My friend L from work just told me that I'm so creative, I'll be a tough zombie someday. Should that bother me?

Ramble

R a m b l e

Want to know what creativeness inspired her insights into my future zombie-ness? She is leaving work an hour before me today, and she was commenting on how she only had 30 more minutes before she got to go home (while I still had an hour).

I leave you with my response:

To this I fervently aspire...

2007-06-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

Urrrggghh....
I'm totally not wanting to do all the things I need to do to get myself ready to do what I need to do. I really need to get over this procrastinator thing. Yeah, I don't think it'll happen either. Oh well.
Company lunch today.... to thank us for all our hard work. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to jump-start the good eating habits again. Because tonight I'm totally going to have some more birthday cake.
Okay, I think that's all I wanna say. Not much going through my head right now... other than coldness. Lots of coldness. I feel like I've been standing in the big frigerator in the basement of the dining hall for about 15 minutes... yeah, it's THAT cold in my office. I'm just glad I remembered my jacket today :)
Bye now.

Will U. Waite, Mate?

2007-06-06T14:07:00.000-05:00

I absolutely LOVE the new *Books* and *iRead* applications on facebook. I think I like the *Books* one better, mostly b/c you can rate it, put your comments and actually tell when you read it. Although at my level of mental stability, sometimes it's hard to remember such things as what months I've read what books. I'm having a hard time remembering what books I've read in the last 2 months, let alone ones older. I like the *iRead* app mostly b/c on it, I can just add and add and add books quite easily and not have to worry about typing anything. (Needless to say the list is already cumbersome) Between the two of them, I could spend hours looking up books and such.

Speaking of, I went into the library the other day to renew my overdue books (I think the library has made enough money off of me to open up another wing, if not a whole new branch). Although! quick note... I wasn't as overdue this month, b/c there is a wonderful thing called library elf that emails you BEFORE your books are due, rather than after they've already switched their status to *overdue* and you owe them lots of money, as the library websites do. It's a wonderful thing. But I digress... I went to renew a couple books (including dear old GMAT, whom I've had for several months now) and maybe pick out another one or two. Did I only get 1 or 2? NO. I now have 12. TWELVE. Although since then I found one book that I've been looking for the last month or so, which is a good thing. Now, this was on Saturday... I've already finished 2 books (granted, they were small - the 1st two Narnia books, which I am ashamed to say I'd never read before), and am almost through with the 3rd (yes, Coral, it was another Lori Wick). I'm also excited to read the 11th stephanie plum book... I've been waiting for awhile to read it. I know it's been out for a long time, but I hate reading a book when I know I can't read the one that comes after it b/c it hasn't been written yet, or at least published. So now that JE is onto the 13th, I think I'm ready for the 11th :-) Yes, I know I'm weird. I'm also excited to read Till We Have Faces. So it is happily sitting in the stack. I have another book which I finally checked out so I can FINALLY finish the series, even though I haven't really liked it that much. It's the kind of book I would have read and liked in high school, but its lack of literary beauty is just annoying now. I also have another Grisham and a book that I've never heard of before by an author I've never heard of before, Elif Shafak. We'll see how those go.

Enough of my Corella-inspired book talk. There are other things I'd like to discuss, but this isn't the venue. But exciting things are afoot...

Is it weird that I've had lots of people spending the night with me lately? Hsin and Chris; Jay and Amber + family, Mary.... And then there was the Memorial Day partay and the spontaneous movie night on Saturday.... Is there some reason for the sudden interest in my life and house, or do people really just like me? Or, morely likely yet, is it b/c it's summertime and I'm a stopping point in people's journeys to other places, like Italy and Taiwan and Wilmore? Hmm, things to ponder...

Anyway, I'm going to go now. I hope you all have a happy day.

MEMORIAL DAY! (yay)

2007-05-30T14:06:00.000-05:00

I feel like I have been neglectful in my postings of late. Probably b/c these days I seem to be spending my breaks at work looking at other-type things that will be useful to me in the next 60 days. So close, and yet so far away....

Monday was fabulous. I LOVE DAYS OFF!!! Actually, the whole weekend was pretty cool. Friday I took the afternoon off and went to Wilmore. Helped my dad rearrange his office, talked to a few good people... then went back to lex and had dinner with my parents. But apparently I'm having a mental block as to where. Oh yeah! Joe Bologna's. Good food, WAY too many calories. And then I sat with Amanda and didn't do much else. But we talked. And looked at her herb garden. Coolness :-) Saturday... I don't remember that either. hmm... oh yeah! Spinning at 9am. Pretty much killed myself. Then Amanda & I went to Panera for breakfast to reward all our hard work. Then I took a long nap........................ And then babysat all night. I'll miss my kids :-( We had a good time. Sunday was craziness at church, and then the 'rents came over for dinner. MMMM!!!! Grilled bbq pork steak!! and other foodly goodnesses. They hung out for awhile. Did some massive grocery shopping... all to prepare for..... MONDAY!

Got up early, had breakfast with the parents (I did a lot with them this weekend...) at McDonald's :-) Then a bit more quick-shopping and then went home to prepare and cook... Ryan & Amanda come over around 10:30, and he started doing his awesome chef thing. And Amanda helped me do my dessert thing. JR & Bethany came over sometime around noon, which called for good times. For our little cook-out party, Ryan fixed: grilled hamburgers, grilled bratwurst, grilled corn on the cob with southwest butter, potato salad, cole slaw, homemade salsa (what am I saying?! it was ALL homemade), grilled spinach and portabella mushrooms... and I think something else, but I don't remember. It was SOOOO fabulously good. And then I made blueberry torte and homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert... We sat around and talked and ate all day long. We had a really good time :-) YAY!!

And then the boys ran off to go places, and we girls went shopping. I bought a quilt that will actually fit my bed (YAY!) but I have to see if I can find some sheets to go with it, or else I'm gonna have to take it back :( I like it, though. YAY!

Okay. Enough about my fun weekend. Gotta run... duties call....

Day... by Day... by Day... by Day...

2007-05-22T14:06:00.000-05:00

So much to do, so little time.........

Recap of the last week:
Last Tuesday: Wisler family stayed the night at my house. Fun, good times, but tiring.
Wednesday: Church/Choir
Thursday: Praise Band Practice (sound things)
Friday: Uh, don't remember. Felt dead. Watched 2nd Pirates Movie :-)
Saturday: Slept in, took naps, stayed up till 1:30 baking and cooking and whatnot.
Sunday: Church, lunch at parents, stuff outside......
Monday: Ad Council meeting at church
Tuesday: TBD (but I voted! :) )
Wednesday: Church/Choir/Hsin & Chris come to stay the night
Thursday: Get up in order to leave for airport at 4:45. Yes, me. You'll be proud when I actually do it, huh?! Work, Praise Band Practice (if I don't bail to do something with amanda. or to take a nap...)
Friday: Work, take Bethany to the airport.
HOLIDAY WEEKEND!! WOOHOO!!!
Which will most likely be spent doing things I don't wanna do..... like cleaning and such. and getting ready....
The big question is, do I take off half a day on Friday? JUST BECAUSE I CAN!?

I know you probably don't care about my weekly itinerary. But I told you anyway. And if you read this far, you obviously cared enough to finish the post. So ha. Oh yeah, and I love you!
:-)

the Eclectic Beaver

2007-05-14T14:05:00.000-05:00

THINGS I'VE LEARNED TODAY:

Never run all the reports until you check to make sure the numbers work.
How to tell if I'm having a heart attack. (Women's symptoms are different than men's... it's all about jaw pain)
Snickers ice cream bars have 300 calories. And knowing that makes them taste that much better.
There is always a but. Sometimes it's big. Sometimes it's felt. (I didn't really get that one)
Edie the Lightening Bug throws well, but my aim isn't as good as it used to be.
Warm Diet Dr. Pepper = yuck.
Pact plans are necessary.
Pop can + MP3 player with FM Stereo = good antenna
Some days should have a fast forward button.

And now something interesting to leave you with:

I Wake to Sleep

2007-05-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

So I took a little trip back home this weekend... I got to see lots of peoples :-) YAY for me! I had expected to see Hsinny and Chris, but I was ever so pleasantly surprised to see Leah & her hubby, too! And Freddy and Cassie's little guy is so adorable.... looks just like Freddy, bless his heart :) And Jay & Amber's kids are soooo cute... Good times, good talks, lots of memories. It was also great to see some of the *older folks*, like Neihofs and Cundiffs and Miss Leach and Aunt Ruby and all. I started thinking about how much each of these people have helped mold me into the person I am today... and then I started to get teary-eyed and stopped thinking :-) There would never be enough words to say how much these dear people mean to me, and how much they have been a part of making me who I am. I love each of them like family, and thank God for their presence in my life at an age where I needed that kind of support and love and even challenge.

Okay, that's enough sappyness for today.

It's such a tasty sight...

2007-05-02T09:19:00.000-05:00

Sleepy today. I would like a nap. Or a week off from work. Or better yet, a lifetime. That's how I feel today.

Amanda & I have been very good at exercising and eating healthily and all. There have been only a few small setbacks, but overall we're both doing quite well. YAY for us! Since it's been so beautiful outside, we've been taking advantage of the Arboretum a lot. Once it starts to really get hot and summerish, I'm sure we'll start hitting the gym again, but until then, the weather has been just too wonderful to ignore :-) And besides, you see a lot more interesting people (and animals) at the Arboretum. Like, the albino great dane and the *fattest dog I've ever seen* (that's his new name).

Bethany came walking with us last night... I don't think she was quite prepared for our walkingness. By the second lap we had slowed down enough that she was okay again, and we could carry on normal conversations :-) I learned some things last night, about trees and such, but I won't go into that right now. Just be proud I learned something.

Anyway, I'm proud of myself and of Amanda for our success so far. Hopefully we can keep it up just a few more months.....

Watch out for those three-legged plants....

2007-04-25T14:13:00.000-05:00

Not a lot to say.

Brain hurts.

Head hurts.

Poison ivy itches.

Need nap.

Or a frappuccino.

Mmm.... Coffee.........

which goes even better with

MMM.... Donuts!!!!

But I can't eat those today. :(

I have 10 weeks.

Do you think it'll happen?!?!?

Maybe.

I just need to be dedicated.

(fyi) Nothing in this post whatsoever is work-related.

Other than causes/effects/reasons why.

I still have no idea when.

I'm going away now.

Just seeing this makes me cringe:

2007-04-18T14:09:00.000-05:00

It's just been a rough day.
Since the moment I walked inthe door this morning, things have gone wrong.
I'm sooo tired.
I've actually thought about skipping church tonight.....
but knowing me I won't.
I just need sleep... or something.
Even gum isn't helping.
(Maybe I should follow Donna's advice after all.)
Rough day.

Chip, I'm gonna come at you like a..... what was that again?

2007-04-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

I got a crazy amount of sleep this weekend. Yesterday was the first day I've actually felt *rested* in I can't even remember how long. Like, the kind that even if I wanted to take a nap, I couldn't. Cause I was all sleeped out.

Then last night happened...

I received a text message from a certain marine-someone at 2am. Now, if this had been an important message, one that would be necessary for me to know at 2 o'clock in the morning, I wouldn't mind so much.

It was a sound byte from the Ballad of Ricky Bobby -

you know, the spider monkey one.

I do not consider that important enough to wake me up from a deep, dreamful sleep. So, then, I was at least a little awake (since the text message noise on my phone is similar to my alarm clock noise, and it nearly freaked the poopy out of me), and I had to pee (I'm sure you wanted to know that. I know, You're welcome). I finally climbed back in bed...

....And could not sleep.

At all.

Buffy was not a very happy camper at 2am.

Now, I am exhausted. Grrrrr. So much for being rested. Which is making me ever so slightly cranky.

That, and the Slim-Fast.

But on a happier note, Healthy Choice dinners are on sale 1/2 price at Meijer this week. So I actually went grocery shopping before my ever-long church meeting last night, and there is

ACTUALLY FOOD IN MY FRIDGE. (well, freezer)

YAY for me.

(bye now)

Aren't they ADORABLE?!?!

2007-04-13T14:07:00.000-05:00

You should be proud of me. I was actually at work at 6:30 this morning. Okay, so maybe it was more like 6:38, but I still think that's good :-)

Going out with the girls (+JR) tonight. Watch a movie, eat ice cream :) I am sssooooooo incredibly happy it's Friday. I need a night to just relax and not think about things for awhile.

On another note, this is a link to a blog site for a couple who are in the process of adopting from the same orphanage that Matt & Amy are adopting from. This couple is over there right now. Anyway, it tells a little more about the orphanage, & there are even pictures :-) It's very strange (but so exciting!!) to think that maybe, just maybe one of these children is my little nephew, just waiting to come home.

Okay, before I start crying, I'm going to go. Everybody have a great weekend!

Whenever you call me... I'll be around. (maybe, hopefully, if I have a moment to breathe)

2007-04-11T14:09:00.000-05:00

So seriously... What's up with all this posting of mine? I hardly know what to do with myself. Very odd.
How are y'all? I feel like I have been terribly bad at keeping up with my peeps. It's horrific, I know. Evan, if you ever read this (which I kinda doubt you do), I'm really not ignoring you. I'll try to call you back. Really I will. Oh yeah, and Hsin too.
Part of my trouble is that I'm always out doing stuff. I'm at church or exercising or at church or with Amanda or at church or at Bethany & JRs. Or maybe at church. Then by the time I get home and remember somebody called, I either a) realize it's too late to be calling any normal working human being or b) am so exhausted I'm not in the mood for having a decent conversation or being nice at all, really.
So if you are my friend, and you haven't heard from me in awhile, I still love you. I'm trying to keep up with the whirlwind that is my life right now and everybody else, too, but I've been slacking lately.
Please forgive me, I'll try to do better.
And if there is seriously something serious going on in your life, leave me an urgent-sounding voicemail. Because I still love you and want to be there for you if you need me.
And if you need to call me tonight to tell me something important... leave me a voicemail. I'll be at church. But I'll do my best to call you back.
I love you all.
Have a fabulous day.

Being drawn in further over my head...........

2007-04-10T14:16:00.000-05:00

This has been the absolute longest week ever. Haven't I worked at least five days this week already?!? grrr.
Tried to talk Amanda into spinning tonight... don't think that's gonna happen. But walking will be good :) Maybe the arboretum again?! Just as long as I don't have to be seen in public in my bicycle shorts...... But studying MUST begin happening again. ABSOLUTELY MUST. Because even if I don't go back to school right away, I need to go ahead and get the GMAT done and over with. grrrrrrrrrrr. ¡No me gusta los exámenes!
I'm in the mood for some good fried mexican food. Which will NOT help the diet in any way, shape, or form... mmm, grease!
So Lynette and I have taken to counting down the minutes for the last hour of work. I'm not sure it helps, but I like to pretend it does.
Okay, I really should go now. It's taken me nearly an hour to type this with all the interruptions... (geez, you'd think I was at work or something!!!)
Later, y'all.

My new name is Slappy, Slappy the Squirrel

2007-04-09T14:08:00.000-05:00

I feel overwhelmingly dead today.
To the point that I splurged for starbucks this morning, and even the extra shot DIDN'T HELP.
Nor did the fast food for lunch (as if it should).
I feel like 98% of my blood has been drained out of my body leaving me with nothing. Maybe a vampire visited me in my sleep. Although I didn't see any teeth marks this morning.... Hmmm. Oh well.
I have so many, many things to do this evening... I need to put my house back together, keep going through things in the *other room*, PAY BILLS, balance my checkbook, and work off the aforementioned lunch. oh yeah, and go to the store and buy food.
But at the rate I'm going, I think I'll take Amanda's way out and lie lifelessly on my sofa until 10pm, at which point I will go to bed (or not... maybe I'll just sleep on the sofa) and lie lifelessly until tomorrow. Doesn't that sound like a much better idea??
Oh yeah, and Easter was great. As was spending hours at Bethany & JR's on Saturday night learning *new games*. As was going out Friday night after the cantata and sitting at applebee's for too many hours. Yay for girl talk! (although at least a little bit of it was slightly disturbing.....)
Okay. Break's over now. I'm going away. I hope one of you out there is having a good day.

... easy like Sunday mornin'........

2007-04-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

I really should post here more often. Oh well.

I totally missed out on the fact that choir practice was canceled last night. Newsflash: Standing in front of your church trying to get into 10 different locked doors can be embarassing. Okay, so it was more like 7. I'm just glad nobody was around. I think............

Yesterday was the longest day ever. I kept thinking it was time for work to be OVER, but then I'd look at the clock and realize I still had another hour and a half. ERRGHTK. I hate those days. And then I kept dropping things

HOWEVER, I greatly enjoyed the vegetarian sandwich-thingey at Jimmy John's last night. This was my first adventure into Jimmy John's world. I think I shall return.

Not much of consequence to say today... Still waiting to hear back from *the people*. Or rather, *the man*. My future hangs in the balance......

*Lenten* cantata is Friday night... if you're in the area, come. Should be a good time. Especially with the harp. Gotta love the harp.

Oh crap... I just got an email. I could find out sooner than I thought.

I'll keep you all posted.... I know I've said this a lot lately, but please keep praying.

then there's always tomorrow......

2007-03-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

dang it. I just typed a post. and lost it. doh.

to borrow amanda's terminology, I'm having brain death today. at least it feels dead to me. lots of craziness... but I think I'll leave that for a protected xanga post. there are some things that some people just don't need to know. mostly because then they will bug me about it. and I don't really want to talk to them in the first place. if you're related to me and reading this, I don't mean you.

I feel like I'm finally getting back into the groove of life. after a couple weeks of sabbatical, it's pretty nice. I went to the gym last night for the first time in I don't care to remember how long. We were supposed to go spinning, but due to an accident involving the trunk of my car, we (meaning Jess & I) worked out on the elliptical instead. I'm hoping that's how you spell that. Since we were actually prepared for spinning, we didn't have any earphones or anything with us, so we went to the *cardio cinema*... I don't like the machines in there. they are entirely too needy. first of all, you can't see anything to enter your *info*, so it took me like 10 minutes to get everything in there. not to mention that it's DARK (that would be the cinema part), so I didn't even know at first that there was a guy in the floor next to me doing some kind of weird stretchy-things. so I got to see the last few minutes of some football movie with mark wahlburg. and then the first couple minutes. I was all about bad timing yesterday, apparently.

I've been in meetings all week. *insert appropriate word of consternation in here* maybe tomorrow things will look brighter? no, probably not until at least monday. grrr.

I'm going now. I'm sleepy. This no-caffeine-in-the-mornings thing is about to kill me. I guess I'll have to start drinking black coffee.

yelrckk.

Ya soshla s uma

2007-03-06T14:06:00.000-06:00

****thoughts running around in my head****

should I? shouldn't I??
should I wait and see?
maybe.
but that might be too late.
can I afford it? probably not.
but maybe I should try it anyway.
(I can always get somebody to loan me the money, right?)
so many opportunities could be opened up...
and it ONLY TAKES 11 MONTHS.
I hate making major decisions in a hurry.
but sometimes it's easier that way...... less time to think about it.
hhhmmmmmm.......
I think I shall.
have I decided?
for sure?
no.
but I think so.
I wish they would email me back.
I think this must be what I'm supposed to do.
I'm glad Kelly agrees..... I think.....
maybe the timing will be perfect.
maybe not...
we can always hope.
oh yeah, and there's that prayer thing, too. :-)
I should keep on that.

pray for me? but I think I know.

(PS~~if you understand the title, you get a cookie. or maybe an ale8 or 6. but here's the original spelling: Я сошла с ума)

Aunt Sandy is da bomb!

2007-03-02T14:13:00.000-06:00

Rather than post yet another *announcement* (news story, etc... that seems to be my modus operandi lately) I thought I would make this one a little more personal.

I have been crazy-excited all day. Well, I guess not all day. Sleeping through my alarm clock this morning wasn't really the highlight of my week (although I still made it to work an hour early! I know, I know, be amazed). It really started around 9:30 when I got an email from my mom. This email (which greatly alluded to her excitement on the same subject) was the bearer of the incredibly happy and wonderful news that as of July 1st, 2007, Dr. Sandra Gray (aka Aunt Sandy) will be the President of Asbury College. I actually squealed at my desk. Which my coworkers appreciated, I'm sure... although they've rather gotten used to some of the strange sounds that come out of my mouth when I'm working/concentrating.

I cannot think of a better person, male or female, to take on this position than Dr. Gray. I'm not sure such a person exists. She is an absolutely fabulous person. She has all the charisma, poise, business skills, personality, COMMON SENSE, public speaking presence, intelligence, and leadership qualities that you could ever ask for (AND THEN SOME!). Her personal faith is humbling, something at this point I can only pray to be ever be able to reach. She is a true role model in every sense. I can only dream of aspiring to be either the businesswoman or woman of God that she demonstrates every day. Every person I have talked to/emailed with about this announcement has reiterated what I have already said-there is no one better for this job. (My favorite was, *It's about time*.

I thank God for her influence on my life, and for the blessings of being able to sit in her classroom and her home, and to spend an entire week in New York with her, to learn from her and to get to know her. I do have to say I learned more about her that week than from any of her classes, and it was a privilege. I even got to see some of the humorous side, which was fun :-)

Thank you, Dr. Gray, for all that you have given each of us students who have had the privilege to sit in your class and learn from you. Thank you for being true to the will of God for your life. Thank you for modeling in front of us what a true businessperson as well as a faithful Christian looks like. We are indebted to you. And we celebrate with you today, because we truly believe you are the best for this job and the person God has hand-selected to lead Asbury College ahead in the years to come. Asbury College will become a better place on July 1, 2007. We will be praying for you, for wisdom and His guidance.

We love you!

and summer faded into fall....

2007-02-22T14:02:00.000-06:00

I've been slightly disappointed with myself for the lack of posting that's been going on lately. maybe I should be more disappointed with the lack of [interesting] things going on in my life. I'm mostly just keeping busy.... Mostly church. And working out. And stuff. They're not having Praise Band practice tonight at church, which means I get to go to spinning again tonight (I think that's a good thing?!)

Went to the LSU game Tuesday night with Heidi... that was fun :-) It was an exciting game to be a part of (even if it was the VERY TOP row.....) We had some good conversation, which is a good thing too. although getting to sleep at 1am probably wasn't the best thing I could do for myself this week. oh well.

I don't really feel like there's a lot else to say. life's still going on, my heart's still ticking, I'm not about to die from hypothermia (or already dead?! and seeing a blown-up guy?!?!) or anything, so I guess that's a good thing. although it's been so cold in our office this week that I feel like a little hypothermia isn't too far off... darn conference room.

bye.

I was walking with a ghost

2007-02-15T14:05:00.000-06:00

I figured it's been awhile so I should find something to post about again.... but I really can't think of anything exciting. work is still somewhat slightly depressing, but it's gotten a lot more normal I think now that people are realizing work still has to be done, and for quite awhile yet. church was canceled yet again last night, which was nice :-) I don't often get to have normal, relaxing evenings where I don't have to be anywhere or do anything in particular. I rather enjoyed it. I even had time to watch my tape of tuesday night's gilmore girls (which I had missed due to the sadness that was the UK/UT game).

Like I said, not a lot to say. I just realized that my desk calendar still says wednesday, but that's not really noteworthy. the snow has been refreshing, although not being able to get the key to turn in my car-lock wasn't fun yesterday. I now carry a lock de-icer thingey in my purse. I wonder if that would could also double for mace? (a question for the chemistry-minded of you out there...)

Okay. That's all for today.

what do you say - it's up for grabs?

2007-02-06T14:14:00.000-06:00

this past weekend was quite the busy experience. apparently this week is following suit, which explains why it's taken me until tuesday afternoon to type about the weekend. *sigh* (will I ever get a break? cuz I could really use one right about now. I feel like I'm at home about as much {or less!} than I was in my room my senior year of college. yeah. it's like that.)

let's see... Friday night was dinner with Bethany & JR and Ryan & Amanda at Logan's. hmmm.... brought back so many memories... of things like trying to convince Phillip not to steal the buckets of peanuts, throwing peanut shells down Coral's shirt, Coral tipping the table over on herself and making the cute waiter laugh... good times. Anyway, it was fun. JR can be about as ADD as Phillip, so sometimes we have to try to keep him calmed down too. After dinner I went mega-grocery shopping, which was a VERY good thing. I actually have food in my house. FO' REALZ! I have at least 2 cabinets that are COMPLETELY full. Which is a nice feeling. Being hungry is not all it's cracked up to be. So that was Friday.

Saturday started with Spinning Class at the gym @ 9ish (aren't you impressed?!?! me, at the gym, EARLY on saturday morning?!?!! seriously!). After the workout, Amanda and I went to breakfast (erm... brunch.......) at Panera :-) We were both procrastinating from going home for pretty much the same reason, so it was a nice, relaxing time. Yay for us.

I then went home and cleaned my house. (well, at least the downstairs. and the upstairs bathroom. we won't discuss the bedrooms.) I cleaned out Chico's living area, hand-mopped the floor in the downstairs bathroom, cleaned the sink/mirror/toilet/etc., mopped the kitchen/dining room floor, did all the dishes (even hand-washing some!!!), vaccuumed my living room floor, dusted, cleaned the upstairs bathroom, cleaned out/arranged the downstairs coat closet.... I'm telling you, this work-out stuff is good for my motivation. At least I'll pretend that's what it is.

Mary, Anna, Hsin, and Mary's 2 little girls came for a visit. We hung out at the house, then went to dinner at ChikFilA. mmmm! then we stopped by Amanda & Ryan's (w/ Bethany & JR) for a chat, and then they went back home to the hills. I stayed there and watched a chick flick with Amanda and Bethany while the boys watched some kind of boy movie in the other room. All I know is there was a bunch of loud yelling and gunshot sounds coming from in there. Found out some disturbing news, but don't yet feel at liberty to divulge at the moment. Just pray. Please. Pray.

Sunday morning was church, although the choir didn't sing at 8:30 again (w00t for sleeping in!!). Lunch at the 'rents, at which I received a check for $3,200. Don't worry, it's not mine to keep. But it was a nice feeling nonetheless :-).

Sunday afternoon, did a little more shopping for party foods and the like, then went home and made guacamole and got ready for the partay. YAY! Amanda, Ryan, & JR came over (I still can't call him Gary. too weird.....). The boys actually watched the game, while Amanda and I mostly ate food, talked, and ran in to watch the commercials. But we watched the end, so that should count for something, right?!?! Good times, WAY too much junk food, got to find a way to get the dog to stop humping the company. Rather embarrassing for all involved.

Dude, this has been a long post. So I guess I'll go now. And work. Since I'm supposed to be working. Since break's over now. Okay. Bye.

why you should never let your coworkers know when you're turning 40....

2007-02-01T09:35:00.000-06:00

My coworker Yvette is 40 today. I shall explain pictorially why you should never let people like me or my boss know when such an event is about to occur. Vette leaves at 4:30 each afternoon, while most of us don't leave until 5. Here is what transpired after 4:30 last night:

Then, after she got here this morning, some other *friends* within the company decided they wanted in on the decorating, so they helped out by doing this:

(that's yvette in the pictures... my favorite is the big *40* pin she has to wear all day. we couldn't get her to wear the crown, though)

good times. the bonus being my boss (vicky) also brought in doughnuts (YUM!), the other ladies brought in a birthday cake, and I've heard rumors that evelyn brought in her homemade enchiladas for lunch.

sweetness.

I really shouldn't complain, but...

2007-01-31T09:35:00.000-06:00

apparently spinning makes my knee hurt. go figure. I'm actually less sore than I thought I would be.... I'm just proud of myself for making it through all 45 minutes. although amanda is the real hero, cuz she actually did the standing up part (erm... jogging) for as long as she was supposed to, all five times. I don't think I ever made it for more than a minute and a half at a time. but it was a great workout :-) YAY FOR ME!

there's a guy whose office is down the way who sneezes JUST like my dad. kinda freaks me out. it's not even so much of a sneeze as a combination cough-yell-whinny. gosh, I haven't typed that word in years. but anyway, yeah, it's weird.

I think a bath in alcohol (the RUBBING kind, duh!) is in order for this evening. work out some of this knee soreness.

I'm thinking about having some kind of wannabe superbowl party this weekend. funny how nobody who reads this is in my area code (or very few, anyway) but I think it would be fun. the girls who don't care about football (um, that would be all of us) can hang out in the kitchen after the first 5 minutes and talk and eat food. while the boysnesses can watch the game, undisturbed by us chicas and our incessant questions and talking.

we'll see.

:( & :)

2007-01-29T14:09:00.000-06:00

sadness.

on a happy note: NEW CAR!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! I'll post a picture later. I think I'm going to name this car. any suggestions? I've never really named a car before.... at least, I don't think *the gay-mobile* counts. I think my last car should've been named *the crapmobile*. or *paul miller sucks*. either one would have been appropriate. but everything is done and taken care of, no more worries for me!! (at least on that end of things....)

amanda & I went to a *spinning* orientation class at the gym yesterday. I now have what I believed the lady (aka crazy work-out biotch) called *saddle-soreness*. all I know is that things (people, animals, what have you) with pelvic bones should not attempt what we attempted without a cushioned seat.

and yet I'm going back tomorrow to do it all over again. glutton for punishment, you say? hopefully someday it will all be worth it. in the mean time I'll just be popping ibuprofen, thank you very much.

that's about it. had our joint service w/ the korean congregation at church yesterday (read: lots of interpreting I didn't understand, good food, and kimchi. notice I do not classify kimchi as good food). Yoonie was there... YAY!!! made me think of the good old days.

I tend to forget to title my posts.

2007-01-26T14:10:00.000-06:00

So the car is officially dead, the back officially will not let me fix it, farm bureau and central bank are officially tied for #1 on my blacklist. followed quickly by ms. alexis herself. grrrrrrrrrrrr.

anybody wanna go to a midnight hockey game tonight?!?!?!?! :-D it's been awhile. sounds like fun. YAY! who needs milk and bread?! I'll spend my $5 watching guys beat each other up!!!

in other news, check out kraz's xanga. or not. but it's got interesting info on Macky-G himself, and a link to a guy whose head was in a mountain lion's mouth. with teeth marks and everything. cool.

I've learned that it can be difficult to simultaneously work out (either treadmill or elliptical) and watch grey's anatomy. cuz when big bombshells drop out of people's mouths, it's difficult not to fall off the machine. but apparently not as difficult as when trying to show jessica how to turn on the little fan-thingey. but hey, I made the older guy on the other side of me laugh, so what's a sore knee? MORAL OF THE STORY: don't fall off the treadmill.

later, peoples. good times, good food tonight. YAY!!

woman weak and woman mortal....

2007-01-23T14:15:00.000-06:00

tired...

legs UBER-sore.....

so much to do

so little time

but I'm working out tonight. YAY!

can't figure out an outline for tomorrow night's class at church?

aaarrgghh!

(i wish it would snow)

let's talk.

2007-01-19T14:11:00.000-06:00

wow.... two posts in one week. you should be proud. not to be confused with the TWO different posts on my xanga! wow. I'm becoming such a blogger. although those of you who post every day make me feel like a slacker. mostly I post when nobody else has written anything exciting and I still have time left on my break and I'm bored. (my secret's out......)

I feel like there aren't any good discussions on blogger anymore. hence, I am going to type up a few items that may (or may not) be of interest.... feel free to comment as you wish. and no, this isn't really a plea for people to leave comments on my blog to make me feel better about myself... I've finally been able to separate my self-worth from blog comments. this is just to make something interesting to read. because we all need a little mental stimulation every once in awhile. (bad coral - I know where thine thoughts leadest thou) these are a little random, some tvish, some politicsish, some just plain weird. pick one.

discussion topics:

if you were to become a millionaire, what would be the very first thing you would do?

will preston and christina ever talk to each other again?

should we go to a national sales tax rather than federal income tax?

which is better: mountain dew or ale81?

was simon wrong to say that guy with the big eyes looked like a lemur? (aka bush baby)

do you think lindsay lohan should go to jail for documented cases of underage drinking and drug use?

if you could choose a famous person to be president, who would it be and why?

what of lorelai and luke?

should I shave my head?

okay. that's enough for today. bye.

as the elevator music plays softly in my head....

2007-01-16T15:08:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting on hold. waiting for ups. because they're slow. yay for me.

interesting weekend, I guess you could say.... Friday night was dinner & a movie at JR & Bethany's. good times, *the illusionist* is a great movie, great talks.... it's amazing how much we could have to talk about. it seems like we've been sitting around talking for 15, maybe 30 minutes, and then I'll look at the clock and realize it's been more like 3 hours. it's amazing what growing up does to you.

I was talking to amanda last night, and I really don't remember much of what happened on saturday. but she didn't remember what she did either, so that makes me feel better. I know I slept in, and I did a few things around the house, but not a heck of a lot. that's really all I remember. oh wait......... now that I think about it, dinner and a movie might have been saturday night instead of friday night. yeah, that's it. gosh, my memory is bad. I'm so used to us getting together on Friday that I forgot... oh well.

ANYHEW... on Sunday was church, as always... although I must say that our choir rocked this week. when the 8:30 traditional service actually gives applause for the choral anthem, you know it must have been good. dinner with the fam, including the elusive matt & amy back from their trek to northern ireland. I think it's so cool to say my brother went to the UK to make an actual record. If all goes well, he should have some copies available for distribution sometime in march. YAY!

I'm such a sucker... it really is sad. I am now officially a member of gold's gym (at a discounted rate, mind you... I'm not a complete i-dot). so now I'm going to be working out quite a bit, if only to make myself not feel so guilty for joining. but amanda & ryan are members, so she & I have already started setting up a schedule to work out together. and