Wachy's World

This time ...

2009-08-21T06:27:00.000-04:00

(I know I've been very MIA. But I couldn't break tradition today ...)

... five years ago, today, I was eating breakfast. yeah ... I know ... that doesn't seem like such a big deal ... I eat breakfast most days. However, this day five years ago breakfast was different. I stood in the kitchen at my mom's house with my mom, Deidra, Caryn, Amy, Laurie, Mandy, and Crystal ... rarely in my life have there been that many people in my mom's house at once, never have there been so many girls. So here's what was different ... this time, five years ago, I was eating my last breakfast as a Daniels woman ... for in just 7 short hours, Daniels wouldn't be my name anymore. I know it wasn't all that long ago ... but I still remember it like it was yesterday. (I hope in 50 years that it's still this clear.)

Happy Anniversary, my love! Here's to the first 5 and the next (at least) 50 to come!

MIA

2009-02-08T16:32:00.000-05:00

I know I've been MIA.

At first it was because I had nothing about which to write.

Now it's because I'm always tired and have too much to do and too little time.

Hang in there ... one of these days I'm sure that I'll be able to catch up on writing again ...

'Tis Better to Give

2008-12-16T10:06:00.002-05:00

A couple of weekends ago my mom took Tyler and me out shopping. Now I know that I've talked with many of you about her shopping bug and how, at times, it can be rather insatiable. It was just as insatiable as ever this time, but I don't know that we've had this much fun in a long time.

Mom armed each of us with $30 and the early bird morning ad for Toys 'R Us and off we went! I LOVE shopping for toys. And it was so much fun to pick out things for Toys For Tots. Thanks to the amazing sales, we left with TONS of stuff to give. My personal favorite was a set of twin baby dolls that came with a double stroller to push them around ... and it was only $12 thanks to the sale! Okay, maybe it was the stuffed plush set of doll doctor equipment. Or maybe it was the super cute teddy bear. Or the buy one get one free puppies. No, the two headed dragon. Or the Raggedy Ann. Or the matchbox cars. Or the football. Or something else super cool that I'm forgetting about ... Or maybe I'm a traditionalist and it was the magic baby bottles.

Then we had some Kohl's cash from Black Friday. So we headed over there to get more toys. I believe we left there with another stuffed animal, a super cool Play-Dough set, a Polly Pocket like doll, and I'm sure something else that I'm forgetting.

Totally fun way to spend a Saturday!

Hummable Humbug

2008-12-12T10:49:00.002-05:00

As I was reading the paper this morning and flipped over the Life section to skim what has quickly become one of my favorite pages - The Flip Side. I came across an article that made me LAUGH! So I thought I'd share. This is from today's Columbus Dispatch and was written by Nick Chordas:

Some folks worry that political correctness has gone too far where Christmas is concerned. The Flip Side, grammatically challenged since 2004, doesn't think it has gone far enough. Hence, we've identified six highly offensive carols that you might want to think twice about singing this holiday season. You're welcome, by the way.

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth
Most Offensive Lyric: "It seems so long since I could say / 'Sister Susie Sitting on a thistle!' / Gosh, oh, gee, how happy I'd be / If I could only whistle (th, th)."
Harmed Party: dentally challenged kids. Imagine the hurt when an already-self-conscious second-grader hears the song mercilessly poking fun at his or her temporary speech impediment. For shame, Donald Yetter Gardner, who wrote the unrepentant tune in 1944.

Winter Wonderland
Most Offensive Lyric: "In the meadow we can build a snowman / Then pretend that he is Parson Brown / He'll say, 'Are you married?' / We'll say, 'No, man / But you can do the job / When you're in town.'"
Harmed Party: marriage traditionalists. Can you imagine? An anthropomorphic stack of packed ice presiding over the sacred bond of marriage? What next? A real person grants divorces?

Christmas is Coming
Most Offensive Lyric: "Christmas is coming / The geese are getting fat / Please put a penny / In the old man's hat."
Harmed Party: overweight fowl and the elderly. We don't think that we should have to explain why "fat" would be considered an insulting adjective by our full-figured, feathered friends. Also, the implication that panhandlers must be of advanced years smacks of ageism.

Up on the Housetop
Most Offensive Lyric: "Next comes the stocking of little Will / Oh, just see what a glorious fill / Here is a hammer and lots of tacks / Also a ball and whip that cracks / Ho-ho-ho! Who wouldn't go?"
Harmed Party: child-safety enthusiasts. Nowhere does the song mention warning labels for little Will's holiday haul, which apparently includes a mallet, small nails (lots of them) and a lion tamer's lash. Disgraceful.

Merry Christmas, Darling
Most Offensive Lyric: "Merry Christmas, darling / We're apart, that's true / But I can dream / And in my dreams / I'm Christmas-ing with you."
Harmed Party: English teachers. Christmas is a lot of things to a lot of people - but it is never a verb. Keep your "Christmas-ing" to yourself, Carpenters. Some of us have proficiency tests to worry about.

The Twelve Days of Christmas
Most Offensive Lyric: "On the third day of Christmas / My true love sent to me: / Three French hens / Two turtle doves / And a partridge in a pear tree."
Harmed Party: patriotic Americans. French hens, huh? Seriously? They're called freedom hens. And, yes, we still think that joke is funny.

I'm thinking that my favorite is Merry Christmas, Darling. But it may very well be The Twelve Days of Christmas. Yours?

Also ...

2008-12-01T12:16:00.002-05:00

... a note to my fellow doorbusters.

I acknowledge that it was an early morning. I was up too. Earlier than some, probably not than most ... the point I have is this ...

Even though it was early, I took a few precious moments to ready myself for the day. No. I didn't shower. One bathroom and 4 people does not afford all that much time for luxuries on early mornings with very tight deadlines. In my opinion, 5:40 was plenty early to be up that morning. However, I did take time to wash my face, brush my teeth and hair, and put on both makeup AND deodorant. I did so not only for myself, but also as a common courtesy to those with whom I would be in contact through out the day.

Please, if you were one of the many people with whom I had contact during that day but did not take time to do something as simple as apply deodorant before leaving your home that morning, consider doing so should you head out to doorbust Black Friday 2009. Thank you.

That is all.

Dorkbusting

2008-12-01T10:40:00.002-05:00

When I was growing up, Black Friday shopping wasn't anything that was done in my family. Two years ago, Tyler found a really good deal on an mp3 player that he wanted to get me for Christmas. So out we went. However, we didn't go out till about 2. And I have to tell you, by that time of day all (read: most) of the crazy people were gone. This year, perusing bfads.com, Tyler discovered a sale that required our presence as doorbusters - at Half-Price Books. (Man am I a dork ... :P) The sale? The first 100 people through the doors would receive a free tote bag and a $5 coupon. Of those 100, someone would win a $100 gift card to Half-Price. Now ... I was sold at the $5 coupon. There are plenty of books at Half-Price that I could get for $5. So that was a FREE book! And seeing as I'm a dork ... free books are a great draw for me. I might also add that this sale was falling at a rather fortuitous time for me, as I just recently finished the book that I was reading. Doors were to open at 7 am.

So, we got up at 6. We (Tyler, his mom, my mom, and myself) left around 6:30. We got to Half-Price about 10 minutes later and there was already quite the line. Guesstimating, we figured there were about 50 people there already. I must admit, I was surprised by this. I didn't figure that there would be that many people in line to doorbust at Half-Price Books. I'm glad that we arrived when we did though, because the grew behind us rather quickly. They opened the doors about 10 minutes early and began to hand out tote bags and coupons. I headed straight back to the religious fiction in hopes of finding another totally mindless fluff read. Tyler checked graphic novels first then went to sci-fi, business, and finally came back to where I was. My mom headed for the clearance section (shock) and immediately began filling her bag with several books for her classroom (shock again). And I believe that Tyler's mom headed to the current publications looking for a specific book for someone for Christmas. She found a few things. Tyler found a couple of books. Mom filled her bag. And I was having some difficulty. There as a series that I was kind of interested in, but didn't want to spend the money on books 2 and 3 in the series and was afraid to risk them not being there at a later date. So I just set everything aside and figured I could use my coupon during a later trip to the store. Tyler's mom was no where to be found at this point in time so, we headed over to the music section towards the front of the store to look for a cd he's been wanting. (Please note, that at this point in time, we've been at Half-Price Books for about 40 minutes and there are probably close to 200 people in the small store with us. And I'm thinking, "Seriously? This many people got up early for Half-Price Books?" Regardless of my thoughts, I'm glad that we listened to Tyler and headed out early to wait in line. And here comes why ...) Tyler and I are busy digging through cds when his mom comes up behind us and says, "Hey you two! Get whatever you want today - I won!" Seriously. She won the $100 gift card. How fun! So I went back and picked up my series (and a couple of other books). Tyler grabbed a few books he'd set down and a couple of dvds. Basically, we went nuts. And we still have my coupon and about $50 left on the gift card. Oh yeah! Do you have any idea how much money $50 is at Half-Price Books? I'd bet that we get another 10-15 books out of it. Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about! And that's why I'm a dork ... God love my husband that he not only puts up with my bookworm-ness, but supports my habit. :)

So after a very successful hour and a pinch at Half-Price Books, we all headed out to breakfast at Panera. Mmmm ... Panera ... From there we hit Barnes and Noble (Yes. We did need to go to another book store.) and Dick's Sporting Goods before Tyler's mom headed for home. (She had like a 4 hour drive back to WV, and we didn't want to keep her too long.) The three of us proceeded to Kohl's. It's about 10:30 by now and while the store is still VERY full, it is also well stocked and staffed and we were only in line for 30 minutes or so. Some larger purchases were made at Kohl's and required a trip home to empty the car (and for food. It was getting close to lunch time by the time we got through the line.) So we had lunch and mom took a nap and we headed out again around 1.

This time, we went up to Tuttle Mall. Stops at Game Stop (both inside the mall and in the plaza across from the mall. Seriously, Buy 2 Get 1 FREE, that warrants stopping in to look.), Sears (had a coupon), New York and Company (coupon and Buy 1 Get 1 75% off), Macy's (coupon), Lane Bryant (Buy 1 Get 1 FREE, whole store, mix and match. Seriously.), Go! The Game Store, and Great American Cookie (mom needed a snack, so we all three split a brownie and pop).

Down to Grove City. Dinner at O'Charley's. Stops at Game Stop, Target, Best Buy, and somewhere else. But I can't remember where. Headed home around 10. So we left at 6 am, got home at 10 pm, and took 1 hour off for lunch at noon. Needless to say that after 15 hours of shopping, we were tired and our feet hurt. Throughout the day we (and I'm counting all 4 of us here) picked up:
new 10 pc pots and pans
Belgian waffle maker
at least 25 books
6 dvds
2 pairs of new tennis shoes
new holiday decor
a few new tops
a couple of pairs of pants
a few under things
new jewelry (including ring, pins, earrings, and bracelets)
hillbilly golf
new belt for my skinny husband who keeps needing new belts :)
... and I'm sure that I'm forgetting something ...

The craziest part of it all ... we went out again on Saturday ...

Never let it be said that we didn't contribute to righting the economy on Black Friday this year ...

LOL ... Out Loud

2008-11-24T11:56:00.003-05:00

So this was on the "vote to see if it'll show on the front page of Fail Blog" page ...

Hilarious!

In recognition of the festivities of the day ...

2008-11-22T13:27:00.002-05:00

... a joke.

What's the difference between sheep and a comeback?

M*ch*g*n players don't mount comebacks!

Go Buckeyes!

Dinner Anyone?

2008-11-13T17:46:00.003-05:00

Tonight's dinner ...

Pot Pie. Stuffed with ...

chicken, sausage, potatoes, broccoli (because broccoli makes everything better), onions and home-made gravy with just a dash of tarragon for good measure.

Tonight's dessert ...

apple pie.

Man ... I am SO glad that I got over that whole "fear of pie crusts" thing ...

What I need and what I believe ...

2008-11-11T11:21:00.002-05:00

... are worlds apart ... and I pray ...

I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow, it all adds up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high
And like Icarus, I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
To give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
More deeply than the oceans
More abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

(To love you) Take my world apart
(To need you) I am on my knees
(To love you) Take my world apart
(To need you) Broken, on my knees

All said and done, I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me
For all I am, for all you are
For what I need and what I believe, are worlds apart, and I pray

I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need You now
I owe You more each passing hour
Battles between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
And wash the feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
My sin-soaked heart, make it Yours
Take my world all apart
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words I can't deny
Watch the world I used to love
Fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
Wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nails that still remain
Steal my heart, take the pain
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
Take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
Take my world apart

Punkin'

2008-10-23T20:55:00.006-04:00

Last weekend my mom took Tyler and me down to Circleville for the 100th annual Pumpkin Festival. It was fun ... However, if I never eat another piece of pumpkin bread, donut, brownie, pretzel, funnel cake, fudge, elephant ear (and the list goes on and on :P), that would probably be okay with me ...

Anyways, on the way back up we stopped at a pumpkin patch that we spotted on the way down to Circleville. None of us had been to one in a long time. We had fun. We picked out pumpkins. We could have as many as one person could carry in his arms for $20. (Good thing that Tyler was with us!) We left with 6 pumpkins (3 of med/lg to large size and 3 that were too cute to leave behind - pic of smaller 3 below ... more to come on the larger 3).

They sat on the deck all lonely and sad looking ... and it made me sad to see them out there all alone and cold and neglected everyday. Not really fulfilling their purpose in life ...

Until tonight!

Aren't they fun? I personally LOVE the spider!!!! :) (And, they were actually rather easy to carve out ... much more so than I expected!)

And ... there are even pumpkin seeds soaking now so that they can be dried and baked in the morning! What a lovely and festive seasonal snack! (A slight contradiction to my earlier statement, I know.)

Adventures in the Kitchen

2008-10-17T23:17:00.001-04:00

I've had a bigger food budget to work with recently ... and significantly more time on my hands ...

So I've been playing with new recipes ...

Two nights ago we had:

Zuppa Toscana!

And it was de-lish!! :) One pot, less than one dozen ingredients, and just over one hour ... and voila! Olive Garden at home. It was good stuff too ... super secret recipe here.

I would also like to remind my readers that, despite my young age, I am a bit of an expert baker. (Perhaps the few too many pounds I carry are testament to that ... :P) However, one thing has always scared me ...

Pies. Why? Simple. While I've been known to take what I consider the easy way out (baking with a box mix) on more than one occasion, I prefer to bake from scratch. In my world, the best brownies come from bakers chocolate and sugar, not a Betty Crocker box and cookies ALWAYS start with butter, eggs, and sugar. But I do stand firm on the fact that I don't use an easy way out if I can't make a better version from scratch. Hense, pie crusts struck fear deep in my baker's soul ...

*Flashback* My Gammy (dad's mom) makes the most INCREDIBLE pies. As an engagement present she gave me the recipe to my most favorite of her creations ... and in 5 years I haven't even attempted it because I just knew that I could NEVER make a pie crust. *End Flashback*

Last night I had planned to make a Toll-House Pie for dessert. I had surrendered to using a pre-made crust, even though I knew I couldn't make my own. We had some frozen crusts that someone gave us quite a while ago ... it was supposed to be fast and convenient ... Anyway, I took the crusts out of the freezer and discovered that there was mold on them ... EWW! So, (after a frantic side trip into the world of cleaning and sanitizing everything in sight) I made a decision. The filling was already in process and I was NOT going to waste perfectly good cookie-esque pie filling. So, I gave in. I went looking for my Gammy's pie crust recipe. Silly me figured it was included in the recipe she gave me 5 years ago. Nope. The recipe says "Pour filling into pie crust." No mention of how to get that crust. Just that it magically appears. Great. Now what?

Ahh ... recipezaar. Enter search for "quick pie crust" ... and voila!

My pie crust was light and flaky, buttery but not greasy ... really good for my first ever pie crust. And now ... I feel almost unstopable in the kitchen ... well ... at least in baking. Cooking is more of Tyler's area of expertise ... but perhaps with more time on my hands these days I can claim back that one too ...

Lowest Common Denominator

2008-09-08T09:12:00.002-04:00

As long as I can remember, I've been a 'gotta watch the morning news' kinda gal. As I've grown, I've begun paying attention to different parts of the news ... and today a realization hit me ...

I've often been frustrated with The Today Show in the past. Mostly because I'm shocked at what they consider "newsworthy" items on which to report. Granted, they now have 4 hours to fill. (Another point of frustration for me. When I started watching, it was 2 hours long. I remember when they added the 9 0'clock hour and vividly recall thinking, "What in the world are they going to talk about for another hour?" ... and now ... they've added the 10 o'clock hour too. And in my opinion - they don't really have anything to talk about during it.) Today, I was shocked at the realization that they have to report to the lowest common denominator in their viewing audience ... and that makes me scared for the future ... Let me explain.

They've been running segments for the last couple of weeks about saving money and how to live more financially responsibly. Fine. Most of these segments have been relatively interesting and have brought up some decent points. I didn't see all of today's segment, but what I did see was about what costs one should and should not cut. The experts on today were adamant that you should cut out your cable bill before you cut out your health insurance. Umm ... yeah ... DUH!

Upon reflection, I have the following to say. I have realized that this is a loose-loose situation here. First, The Today Show honestly felt that their viewing audience would benefit from this report - meaning that there are people out there who needed to hear that one should cut expenses like cable before insurance. And on the other hand, I'm a loyal Today Show viewer. And while I did not need to hear this, a large enough portion of their viewing audience did. Which once again ... makes me scared for the future ...

Simple Gifts

2008-08-31T05:53:00.002-04:00

For those of you who do not know already, I grew up going to Catholic school. All 12 years. So, I went to Mass a lot. I've grown up and Tyler and moved away and found a church setting that we love. But every so often I miss going to Mass. I now appreciate the true beauty of what I took for granted all those many years. There is still something very comforting to me about the order and process of it all - the tradition of it all ...

Yesterday afternoon Tyler and I were at Half-Price Books with my mom. I was flipping through the section of the store that I go to first to find fluff reading these days and I opened a book that I had been considering getting for a while and began to read. The story began with an old Shaker hymn - Simple Gifts ...

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.
- Elder Joseph, c. 1848

I've had a tough week. I hurt. If I let myself, I'd crawl in a corner and wait for the world to go away. But I can't. Instead I choose to focus on the positives in my life. I've been truly blessed with amazing family and friends, my husband is a wonderful man. We have a great church and support system. We have a home and a place to lay our heads at night. Even though things have been incredibly difficult for us lately, we've been blessed.

Music has always been soothing for me. The sweet notes carry comfort and healing to my dry soul. In this painful time, I found a song that I grew up singing. And now, this will be with me as I grow again. Such a powerful reminder - 'tis a gift to be simple ...

In this time of turning and turning till I don't know which way is up ... I pray that I'll know when I've come round right ...

This time ...

2008-08-21T07:30:00.001-04:00

... four years ago, today, I was eating breakfast. yeah ... I know ... that doesn't seem like such a big deal ... I eat breakfast most days. However, this day four years ago breakfast was different. I stood in the kitchen at my mom's house with my mom, Deidra, Caryn, Amy, Laurie, Mandy, and Crystal ... rarely in my life have there been that many people in my mom's house at once, never have there been so many girls. So here's what was different ... this time, four years ago, I was eating my last breakfast as a Daniels woman ... for in just 7 short hours, Daniels wouldn't be my name anymore. I know it wasn't all that long ago ... but I still remember it like it was yesterday. (I hope in 50 years that it's still this clear.)

Happy Anniversary, my love! Here's to the first 4 and the next (at least) 50 to come!

The Big Read

2008-08-09T15:52:00.004-04:00

I saw this on SarahCool's blog and thought it was interesting, so I'm copying. :) :) While my mom wasn't an English teacher like Sarah's, my mom is a teacher, so my love of books began at a very early age.

I LOVE to read, and really didn't have a lot of time for it in college, then didn't really make it a priority. Now my life is different, my faithful readers know that it is a regular occurrence for me to devour a book in a weekend. Not only do Tyler and I head to the library regularly ... but I'm a Half-Price Books addict and we MUST go whenever we're visiting my mom.

I've read 40 of these... how about you? And I was surprised at some of their choices for the list. Bridget Jones' Diary? Really?

The Big Read says that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

*A notable favorite book of mine that is NOT on this list below, but IS featured on their website right now is Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I think that you should read it.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Underline the books you love. (I can't figure out how to underline today ... So I've noted my all-time favs with a *)
3) Italicize those you intend to read.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or for whatever reason loathe.

* And, like SarahCool, most of the books I haven't read, I have made a conscious decision NOT to, so I'm not bothering with 3 or 4.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee*
6 The Bible - GOD!
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles*
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger*
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald*

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery*

47 Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (and I wish I NEVER had ...)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

New Side Note

2008-08-08T18:13:00.002-04:00

As you may or may not know, things are going absolutely swimmingly at South Main Designs. In the last month we've added over 40 new Sales Consultants to our team. And, because it's something that I am very excited about (and think you should be too), I've added a new section to the side of my blog - the section in which I update my faithful readers as to the numbers by which we are growing.

I recently celebrated my 1-year anniversary working there. This time last year, we had only 35 Sales Consultants. Our 100th Sales Consultant came in March. It took us just over a year and a half to get to 100, and now only 5 months to add another 100 ...

A few years ago, Andrea Rogers went to a conference where she heard the founder of another Direct Sales jewelry company speak. And Andrea often tells us how this founder was recounting their initial years and said that it took what seemed like forever to reach their 100th consultant, but the growth from 100 to 1,000 happened so quickly that she couldn't remember it ...

We're in that now. We can all feel it around the office.

And I have to say, it's a really cool place to be.

Dandelions

2008-07-12T09:35:00.004-04:00

For some reason this song was in my head this morning ... I'm glad it was. It's been the kind of week where it doesn't hurt to be reminded that someone sees flowers ...

Enjoy ...

in a field of yellow flowers
underneath the sun
bluest eyes that spark with lightning
boy with shoes undone
he is young, so full of hope
reveling in tiny dreams
filling up his arms with flowers
right for giving any queen
running to her,beaming bright
while cradling his prize
a flickering of yellow light
within his mother's eyes
she holds them to her heart
keeping them where they'll be safe
clasped within her very marrow
dandelions in a vase

she sees love where anyone else would see weeds
all hope is found, here is everything he needs

fathomless Your endless mercy
weight i could not lift
where do i fit in this puzzle?
what good are these gifts?
not a martyr or a saint
scarcely can i struggle through
all that i have ever wanted
was to give my best to You

Lord search my heart
create in me something clean
...dandelions...
You see flowers in these weeds

gently lifting hands to heaven
softened by the sweetest hush
a Father sings over His children
loving them so very much
more than words could warrant
deeper than the darkest blue
more than sacrifice could merit
Lord, i give my heart to you

Lord search my heart
create in me something clean
...dandelions...
You see flowers in these weeds

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T13:29:00.003-04:00

I like fireworks. They've always seemed magical to me ... It's one of the main reasons that I love the 4th of July. We're going to the local fireworks tonight. Are you going to enjoy your local show this year?

While I love fireworks, I must admit that I'm also digging the whole paid holiday thing too ...

David Hasselhoff

2008-06-24T22:17:00.002-04:00

and his judging "abilities" make Randy Jackson seem coherent and insightful.

What does that say about America's Got Talent?

... not that we don't enjoy the show ... just saying ...

A woman of few words ...

2008-06-24T09:28:00.002-04:00

is what I currently am ...

Tyler was sick last week. He had no voice on Wednesday and very little voice on Thursday. He was so kind as to share his illness with me ...

I made it to noon yesterday at work. Tried to get up and get ready this morning - couldn't do it. No voice still ... fever ... coughing ...

Thank you darling for sharing your illness with me. You're so kind and considerate.

We've Decided

2008-06-04T20:18:00.002-04:00

that the world would be a "better" place if we had:

Zellner - the YouTube Channel

You know you would watch.

Also ...

2008-05-26T12:01:00.003-04:00

Is there anything this guy ...

... doesn't sell?

Seriously. I've seen him in ads for at least 20 different products - including OxiClean, Orange Clean, Orance Glo, The Awesome Auger, Kaboom!, Vidalia Slice-It/Chop Wizard, Mighty Putty, The Hercules Hook, and Samurai Shark Knife Sharpener - just to name a few ...

So I wonder, if South Main Designs were to ever do 2 am infomercials ...

"Would YOU like to start your home-based business for FREE! Find out how with South Main Designs!" ...

I've seen him wearing jewelry. And we do have a mens line ...

... nah ... he may not be the best fit after all ...

Betty White

2008-05-26T10:57:00.003-04:00

In the last month of watching Game Show Network on the preview channel, I've learned that if there's a game show, Betty White has been on it.

I have now seen her on Password, Password Plus, Super Password, The Match Game, What's My Line, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret and several generations of Pyramid.

And then last night, we were watching something on CBS and sure enough ... she's on another one coming this summer - Million Dollar Password.

Is there a game show that she hasn't done?

(And on a side note ... in searching for pictures of Betty to include here, I've discovered that she has ALWAYS looked like this ...)

This is bad ...

2008-05-03T21:41:00.002-04:00

... very very very bad ...

... is on DishNetwork's preview channel this month. Or at least that's what we think is going on. You see, I was out of town traveling for work again at the end of this week and Tyler was flipping channels ... and found it. Productivity has severely decreased in our household. Which, while normally wouldn't be okay with me, today it is. We needed the time together to just relax and hang today. Now tomorrow will have to be another story ... but for now we're deep into a heated match on Family Feud.

And I'm really enjoying the down time.

So for now, it's all good.

Money Money Money

2008-04-21T18:18:00.003-04:00

MO-NEY!

As many of you out there in Blogger-land know, Tyler and I have been in a situation of, umm ... shall we say, "money difficulties" for quite a while now. We had enough money when we first got out of college and were married, but we didn't manage well for the first year. Then I lost my job and Tyler was still on a grad student stipend. Then he finished school and I still hadn't found a steady job. Then neither of us could find a steady job that paid decently ... Then I found a job and Tyler started working on commission ... Are you catching the pattern here?

Yesterday we went to the store. We shopped off of both our "wants" and our "needs" lists. We left the store with a full cart. We unloaded at home and put away our groceries into our now very full cupboards. And everything we purchased yesterday we paid for in CASH! And man did it feel good! There's even money left in the bank account. We haven't had this feeling in FOREVER!!!!

Tyler and I were talking about it last night as we put away our groceries. It feels really liberating to just pay for something. It feels fantastic to not have to use a credit card just to get rice, milk, and bread in the house. We have been saying for quite a while now that we can see the light at the end of this tunnel of financial struggles. Last night I could feel the warm glow coming closer.

And it was good.

I will take the blame

2008-04-21T18:13:00.002-04:00

When it snows next week.

That's right. I spent time this weekend packing up all of our sweaters and turtlenecks and winter coats and putting them away in our under-bed-storage boxes.

And as I was doing so ... I caught myself thinking, "Great. Now that all of our winter clothes are clean and packed away all neatly, this means that it'll snow next week."

Have I lived in Ohio too long? Because I'm pretty sure that this is a thought that many of us who live in this climate have pretty regularly.

Did anyone else pack up their winter things this weekend? Will anyone else be to blame but me?

Salt

2008-03-17T21:30:00.003-04:00

I can't seem to get enough of it. For whatever reason right now ... my craving for it is insatiable right now.

Weird. When I do have cravings, it's usually for something sweet. Not so much salty.

So I'm curious ... what do you crave? And if you ever get weird cravings, what are they for?

Aches and Pains and Sheer Exhaustion

2008-03-16T14:18:00.002-04:00

I feel kind of like her today.

Tyler and I have been crazy busy around here for the last day and a half.

You see ... we're hosting Easter this year. And, until yesterday, I still hadn't put away every last bit of the winter/Christmas stuff yet. (Can I just say that Easter this early is REALLY throwing me off ... How about you?) And on a scale of one to I'm a total looser, where would you rank the fact that I found a Creche on a shelf in our bedroom yesterday that I'm not 100% positive wasn't there still from last Christmas? But I digress ...

As I said, we're hosting Easter. No, we aren't having a ton of people over, but we are having family visit. And I was raised with the notion that you roll out the red carpet for everyone on holidays - family included. Tyler's dad, Al, is coming to stay with us on Saturday night. We only get to see him maybe twice a year ... even though he's only 2 and a half hours away in Cleveland. And Al's never been here. To Findlay. At all. So ... that kicks my need for a red carpet presentation into high gear ...

Which may not be all that much of a bad thing. I'll be the first to admit that I've been more lax than usual when it comes to housework lately. The basics still mostly get done, but some of the things that I prefer to see happen frequently (like mopping the floors) had been tossed to the way side some time ago. Cue the last 36 hours.

Tyler and I have whipped this house into shape in short order ... even to the extent of the oven, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, and cabinets all being wiped/cleaned out. This house is cleaner than it has been in quite some time. And, while the work isn't finished yet and I still feel like the woman in the picture up there ... It's looking good. And I'm super pleased with progress. It's even beginning to look more like spring around here (now that the winter decor has all been put away :P).

I have a feeling that I will continue to feel like her for a while yet. There's still one more load of laundry to do. I haven't gotten to the ironing yet. And Tyler still has to clean up the office quite a bit this week ... But I'll tell you what ... I'm glad that I feel like her today.

It's a wonderful exhaustion of accomplishment ... and a feeling that over the years, I've come to enjoy ...

To Whom It May Concern

2008-03-13T21:33:00.002-04:00

There is another blog that I have been know to author with Tyler.

It's back.

Thought you might like to know ...

An Unfair Question

2008-03-13T21:25:00.002-04:00

So we're sitting here and the Cavs are on TNT tonight ... which unfortunately means that Charles Barkley is on our tv tonight ... and Tyler asks me perhaps the most unfair question I've ever had to consider the answer to ...

If you had to (and I mean that your life, your spouse's life, your parents lives, your children's lives, and your dog's life depended on it) ...

If you had to download a podcast and MUST listen to it for 3 (that's THREE) hours straight ... would you choose:

Charles Barkley
John Madden
Steven A Smith
or
a drunk man with Tourettes syndrome

Which would you choose?

And I feel this is completely unfair. They're all equally AWFUL and torturous ... I suppose I would have to defer to where I was and if I had to play this podcast loud enough for other people to hear. I'm thinking that I would take the drunk man. But only if I didn't have to play it loud enough for others to hear. If someone else had to be subjected to it ...

Now that's a tough one ...

Left

2008-03-11T21:44:00.002-04:00

out. Have you ever felt left out of something that maybe you really wanted to be a part of?

Honestly, I've been feeling that way a lot lately. Some of the things I'm not a part of are by choice (though t'was not an easy choice to make), others are not. I don't intend this to be a "woe is me ... boo hoo hoo" blog entry. I just need a chance to let my feelings out on the issue at hand. While I can't talk about all of the situations I'm currently feeling left out of, I can discuss a couple (for use as example) ...

Tyler and I are a part of a wonderful small group. I truly cherish the time that we spend with them on Tuesday nights. I always look forward to going and it's really a highlight in my week. There are 11 people who come to our small group. (I think I'm counting that correctly. If I didn't ... sorry about that ...)

Now, we knew that we're busy people, and that would mean that we would miss out on some things that we may want to be a part of but just can't. There's a book discussion that's about to start up at church. We're the only couple in our small group that's not a part of that book discussion. They're meeting on 3 Saturdays and we happen to be out of town 2 of those 3 weeks and Tyler's hitting a really busy time with STE and well ... we're still living in the reality of we just can't afford to do stuff like this right now. (There's a whole other blog about that festering inside of me at this point ... maybe later.) And yes, the books are available for a "donation", but it's just not a good time for us right now. But I'm kind of bummed. I'm feeling a bit left out.

Also going on at church, there is going to be a Spiritual Disciplines retreat at the end of the month. Again, it's bad timing for us. And again ... that ugly lack of money to do things is back on this too. But once again, we're the only people in our small group who aren't going on this weekend retreat.

Now, I realize that what I'm about to say is childish. I realize that it's dumb. I realize that I need to grow up and move on. But I'm going to say it none-the-less, and hopefully saying it will kick me in the butt and move me right along ... I feel like the fat kid at school all over again. I'm really feeling sorry and bummed and all that poopy stuff about and for myself right now. I'm sitting on the outside of a group that I really want to be a part of ... but can't.

I know that most everyone in my small group reads my blog. So please, this isn't directed at you. It's not to make you feel bad. It's just where I am. And I've had difficulty taking ownership of where I've been standing lately. And so, I shall start by taking ownership of this because I know that you will love me where I am in spite of where I am. I feel left out. And it's cool. I know that I can't be a part of these things right now. I understand that. But I'm still bummed. And I know that living life together means talking about common experience when you're together. I don't want them to not talk about the book they're all reading or the weekend retreat they're all going on while we're at small group on Tuesdays ... It's just that those topics leave the Betts family out. And that's just a part of life.

A part I'm not crazy about right now ...

In My Opinion ... Updated

2008-03-11T21:38:00.002-04:00

Not only did I kill that book that afternoon ... Sunday, I killed another one. Aside from feeling like poo poo, the weekend was pretty awesome. I could sit and read forever. But alas, that allows too much escape and weekend necessities (like laundry) don't get done ... Tis a crying shame that I don't have time to read like that more often. Although part of me feels as though I appreciate it more when I do have time - or in the case of last weekend - make time.

Now what that means for me this week is that I will now spend nights after work and next weekend working at catching up to where I need to be.

But 1860 Texas was worth it ...

In My Opinion

2008-03-08T09:18:00.003-05:00

Heaven must look like this ...

I love to read. I'm sure that I've blogged about this before ... but I'm a bookworm. Last fall I had to hang shelves in our bedroom to hold more of our books. The two bookshelves in our office weren't big enough for our collection. Now we're running out of space on those shelves.

I had a dream last night that I rearranged our living room to make space for more bookshelves. The layout was wonderful when I was finished. I'd love to take what I dreamt about last night and use it for real in our living room. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that the living room in my dreams was about twice the size of the one we currently have. On the positive side, if we ever have a larger living room ... I have a very nice floor plan stored up in my brain ...

So, since we're snowbound today (see last post for feelings on that one) ... I think I'll read. I'm about 20 pages into my current bedtime book ... it's a good thing that I have a couple of books on my waiting list shelf right now ... it doesn't look like the snow is going to let up any time soon. And in that case ... it's a good thing that we're going to Columbus in a couple of weeks. By then I should be out of books and ready for another trip to Half Price Books!

Pretty ...

2008-03-08T08:51:00.004-05:00

... isn't it? Peaceful, calm, beautiful winter scene ...

And I'm tired of it. Which is a bummer. I usually love winter. But today, there's a blizzard. It snowed and snowed and snowed while we were sleeping and it's still snowing and will continue to snow for quite a while yet.

Normally, I would just enjoy being home and would sit and read a book or work on some longer-term project that I have going around the house ... maybe I'd clean. (Yes. I enjoy cleaning. It's relaxing and very gratifying for me.) But today, I did not want to be snowed in. Today, we were supposed to go to Cleveland. But I just checked and every county between here and there that we have to drive through is already under a Level 3. Ah well. I shall be bummed as we sit here stuck.

Such is life right now ...

Twenty-seven

2008-02-22T20:32:00.001-05:00

HA!

It was the kind of day where I was way more amused by this than I probably should have been ...

27

Mish Mash

2008-02-18T20:28:00.003-05:00

Well ... Georgia was good ... the weather was warm, Savannah was beautiful ... I loved getting the chance to meet all of the women. I will always treasure that opportunity. And Savannah is on the list of places to visit when I have time to sightsee.

I've been fighting a cold. It took me out last week and won on Wednesday. I ended up taking a sick day last week. I will not take another one this week. But my ears hurt. My nose/head is full ... I'm thinking that some sleep will help. I know it's early ... it's only 8:30 ... but I'm thinking about going to bed ... Tyler's already there ... he's tired today too ...

Speaking of Tyler ... Wow. I love my husband. He's a keeper. I love him for many reasons ... and once in a while he totally blows me away with what he can do while I'm at the office. I didn't do any laundry last week, I was gone and Tyler was sick. Then I was sick. There were a lot of dirty clothes ... then we went to Mom's over the weekend (total surprise there) and went shopping (as she usually does), so we had more clothing that needed washed. The laundry's done. I've only done a couple of the loads ... and it's done. The bathroom's clean too ... and I've got to be honest - I'm not proud of it ... but the tub was bad. I mean bad. Now it's not.

Wow ... I just realized that I don't have anything really to say. I'll stop now. Just one more thing ... I heart Law and Order. I also heart TNT on Monday holidays. 9 times out of 10, TNT runs Law and Order marathons. I'm watching one right now that I haven't seen before. That's a rarity. I learned something the other day - this current season is its 17th. I didn't realize it had been on that long. That's crazy.

And that's all folks ... bed ... I'm tired ... I think my writing here has reflected such ...

Early to bed ... early to rise ... must be up and moving tomorrow morning ... early appointment ...

Peachy-Keen

2008-02-06T07:23:00.001-05:00

Well ... I'm off to the land of peaches this weekend. South Main Designs is hitting the road and headed to Savannah, GA for a three-day Southern Women's Show. I'm really excited about getting there and meeting all of the women ... I can't wait to break that 100 mark!

What I'm not so excited about is that things are not as peachy-keen as I would have liked them to be before I left ... The laundry isn't quite finished. I'm not quite packed yet. The errands are quite all run. The house isn't quite picked/cleaned up. Tyler isn't quite healthy ... neither am I ...

Yes ... that's right folks ... there's a stomach bug going around and it moved into the Betts' House on Monday night. Tuesday at work I didn't feel so great ... but Tyler ... he's running a fever, he's hot, he's cold, he's in the bathroom, he's hungry, his head hurts, his body hurts ... well ... He started dealing last night with what I dealt with at work all day yesterday (and will continue to deal with as I travel this weekend) ...

And, adding insult to injury - the seal on our toilet is leaking onto the floor.

And so ... I shall leave all of this behind for now and move on to the land of peaches ... where I hope that all things are peachy-keen.

One Hundred

2008-01-30T18:21:00.000-05:00

Do you remember celebrating "100 day" when you were in school? Or was that just my teacher who did that?

I don't remember everything, but what I do remember was pretty awesome - at least to an 8 year old kid. We spent the whole week before gathering up 100s of things: straws, pop tabs, beans, Fruit Loops, pieces of paper, pennies, birthday candles ... Then on the 100th day of school, we celebrated.

You know ... I remember this being cool and a big deal. As I write about it ... doesn't seem so cool or awesome ...

Huh ...

Reflections

2008-01-04T07:10:00.001-05:00

It's been a year now. It doesn't seem like it. Some days I swear I just got off of the phone with JZ. Other days ... well ... lets just say that it feels like forever. I can still hear every word Carp said on the phone when he called to tell us. That was a lifetime ago. That was just yesterday. That was a year ago ...

I go back and forth a lot. It's very surreal sometimes. There are days where it just doesn't register with me. Then there are the days that are all too real. Those days aren't my favorite, but I know that I have to walk through them.

I had a realization the other day. I haven't been in the best of moods lately. To those whom I hurt or offended, I am truly sorry. I've just hit another rough patch. And I have to walk through it. I do appreciate those who offer patience and will wait for me on the other side. Thank you.

I can't say that I'm thrilled with this. As a matter of fact, I'm still pissed some times. I have to be honest with you - this is wrong. This is NOT how it was supposed to be. Mandy is not supposed to be a 20-something widow. The four of us are still supposed to be getting together to watch the draft, play Settlers, talk about nothing, and laugh till we cry. Our kids are supposed to grow up together and play. They're supposed to be friends and our boys are supposed to pledge STE together.

I can't say that I love where we are. I can't say that I'm happy about it. I can't say that it sits okay with me. I can't say ...

I can say that I'm still very sad some days. I can say that I miss Z like crazy most days. I can say that I still cry. I can say that it still hurts ... a lot. I can say ...

There have been a few moments during the past year that I can point to and say "some of the pain went away when _____". I know for a fact that when JT and Beth left a blank spot in the groomsmen for Z that some of the pain left with that acknowledgment. God I pray for more of those. There's still so much pain. Not a day goes by ...

However, I know Z wouldn't want a bunch of tears. He wasn't much for crying - unless you were doing so because you were laughing so hard that was all you could do. I really appreciated that about his memorial last year. I am truly glad that we were all able to share and laugh. I know that would have made him the happiest. I know it was good for Mandy.

Tyler and I had lunch with Mandy last weekend. Yeah. It's still weird. It's going to be weird. It's where we are. I do know this ... we can't just not talk about it. We can't just not acknowledge where we are and what's brought us here. That's just not healthy and it's just not right. With that being said, I like talking about Z. There's hardly a day that goes by that Tyler and I don't share something, some memory or thought or comment, about Z. It's like getting a tiny piece of him back - even if it is just for a moment.

With that said ... I'd like to share with you my JZ memory for the day ... (Disclaimer: I am aware that this is completely inappropriate. But so was Z.)

He had a favorite joke. He wasn't allowed to tell it. Mandy hates it. So do I. Tyler likes it too. He's not allowed to tell it either ... Today, something is a little different ..

So a woman went into labor on April first ...

Nope. I can't do it. It's a bad joke. Tyler will tell you if you really want to hear it sometime ...

If there's one thing that I've really learned in the past year it is that you have to appreciate each moment you have with someone. Every time that you have the pleasure to laugh with someone or cry with them. When you get to share a joy or a smile. When you are blessed to have time to talk about something, anything, or nothing. Please take note. Please remember. Please acknowledge. Please appreciate the gift of that moment. You don't know that you'll get another moment to share a joy with that person that you love.

It's always been difficult for me to wish, hope, or dream for a new year. Part of me always feels selfish or self-centered for dreaming and hoping for things like a house, less debt, starting a family, etc. This year ... well ... it's a bit different. I wish that Tyler and I will be blessed with appreciation for and realization of the joy that surrounds us. I wish that we can truly live each moment and love each person. I wish for a few less tears of sorrow and pain and a few more of joy and laughter. And I wish for healing ...

Jammie Pants

2007-12-28T22:02:00.001-05:00

So for the last 3 Christmas Eves, I've made jammies for everyone who's here. That's usually me, Tyler, my mom, and (last year) Tyler's mom Donna.

I really enjoy sewing. It's relaxing for me. I love spending time at the stores shopping for fabric, figuring out what style we'll have, how the accents will work out and what can be done so that they're similar in style but everyone has his or her own distinct pjs that year and also so no one gets the same pjs from year to year.

So 3 years ago I bought a pattern for adult jammies. The pattern was sized XS-XL. I knew I was pushing it for the XL ... but that's the pattern I got so that I wouldn't have to get 2 patterns.

The first year the fabric was navy-ish blue and I had a really cute penguin fabric for accents. I cut pants that were bigger than the XL pattern for myself and Tyler. They were a little tight, but like I said, I was not going to buy two different patterns.

Last year the fabric was a beautiful Christmas toille in burgundy on a cream colored linen-look background with solid burgundy fabric and cream satin ribbon for accents. I cut the XL pattern for Tyler and myself, but this time I cut out the size for real. They were a little tight, but I knew that our penguins from the year before were getting big for us.

This year's fabric is dark green with 2 shades of green and gold snowflakes printed on it. The accents are gold ribbon and a kind of funky "South Main" green. I cut out the L pattern for Tyler and myself. They're really comfy.

Next year ... I have some ideas for the fabric. I won't share that though. I always keep that a secret and surprise until they're opened on Christmas Eve. I will share though that I want to cut out M jammies for myself. Either M or maternity ... either way, I have to loose about 20 pounds to do so. I'd really like to loose more than that. I still have about 40 pounds to loose off of my original goal of 100. And while jammies may seem like a silly motivator, they're working for me ... well ... jammie sizes and the hope for a healthy baby ... and a new pattern to get for kid pjs someday soon. (And no. We're not expecting yet. I'm just musing ...)

Office Space

2007-12-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

I am not ashamed to admit - there are just some days in life where you feel the undeniable urge to watch Office Space. There is something strangely panaceatic (yeah ... made up a word) about it.

And today, as I was taking the Office Space quiz that I was challenged to on Facebook, I learned something very sad to me. Tyler has never seen it. Not only has he never seen it, he has no desire to see it. That's sad. I believe there's something in Office Space for everyone. And Tyler doesn't know what it holds for him.

That's sad to me.

(On a completely different note - I was also going to blog about lunch today, but Tyler didn't have to work this afternoon and beat me to it ... so please go read his blog - as it is close to what I would have said.)

Good Eats

2007-12-20T23:38:00.000-05:00

So I was watching Good Eats tonight. And Alton Brown made marshmallows. I didn't know you could do that. I have to admit that I pretty much thought that they came from the magic marshmallow fairy.

Tyler came home during the episode. He agrees with me.

Did you know that it was possible to make marshmallows? I'm not talking about from the jars of marshmallow cream either ...

You learn something every day. Today I learned that there is no need for the magic marshmallow fairy because apparently, it is possible to make them. Huh ...

Season Finales

2007-12-20T22:18:00.000-05:00

I've noticed something lately. It's not the first time I've seen it but I've noticed it much more lately.

When I was in high school and Survivor was newer ... the season finale was an hour long, maybe an hour and a half. Last week - 2 hours.

The Dancing with the Stars finale (and even their reveal shows) has doubled in length.

WHY?

Why are they so much longer than they used to be? And why do they need to be?

They don't.

I can't wait for the writers strike to be over. Then we'll have our normal tv back and we won't have to watch so many long and pointlessly long reality show finales ...

The Writers Strike

2007-12-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

this time on my blog. Tyler posted a video on his ... go check it out - it's a good one with The Daily Show writers.

First, I'll begin with a short musical montage:

And now, an offering from the writers of The Colbert Report;

When Announcing Closings ...

2007-12-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

I do not think it necessary to list a place is closed and THEN list all activities at that place that have been canceled.

For Example:

AmVets Post 21 - Closed
AmVets Post 21 Sunday Night Bingo - Cancelled

Whatever Random Church of the Blah Blah Blah - All Sunday Services and Evening Events Canceled
Same Random Church of the Blah Blah Blah - Christmas Cantata Canceled

Perhaps more people could list there closings/cancellations as follows:

City of Fremont - Closed/Canceled. If it was going to happen here today, it is not.
City of Findlay - Stay home or wherever you are.
Etc.

That's just the general consensus from my little corner of the world.

Back to laundry. With all of these closings/cancellations (Journey Church included), I might just get every single load washed today ... Now, the ironing. That's another story ...

From the Department of Friggin Hippies

2007-12-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

The latest way that the environmentalist hippies have gone too far ...

In an effort to fight global warming, the green people are urging Jewish people to light one less candle during Hanukka this year.

Article here.

What the heck?!?!?!?!?!?!?! It's eight crazy nights - NOT seven! The oil in the lamp burned for eight nights. Jews are not just going to ignore history and tradition.

Sometimes I wonder if the environmentalist hippies have gone too far - this time I don't have to wonder.

2007-11-28T22:10:00.001-05:00

I know.

I've been MIA lately.

I don't have much to report.

Umm ...

Go Bucks! Sorry to hear that Lloyd Carr is retiring - that was one guaranteed win for Tressel and the men in scarlet ... ahh well. Perhaps the next coach will be very much like Carr - unable to beat OSU. :)

I've been posting a lot of forwards lately. Sorry about that too. I'm going to do it again. I really got a kick out of this one ...

One last Michigan joke - and I don't mean their football team ...

A recent graduate of Ohio State moved to Dearborn , Michigan after accepting a great job. After becoming a citizen of Michigan she felt almost as if she betrayed her Ohioan background and ancestry. She had an apartment with a Michigan address and she winced whenever she looked at her Michigan driver's license. When she registered her vehicle she had an idea.

When her personalized license plate arrived for her car she beamed while she affixed them to her car. She was so proud she sent an instant message to her father right away. He was a proud Ohio State alumnus as well.

She typed, "Daddy I get my new personalized plates for my Mini today.

They are University of Michigan plates!"

"WHAT?" he replied, "You have to be joking"

"Nope, I'm totally serious. Let me send you the image."

Her father couldn't stop laughing after he viewed the picture of her car.

Yeah ... I laughed too ... it's okay ...

perhaps I'll make some time to post more later ...

SMD Update

2007-11-14T18:35:00.000-05:00

So it's been about a week and a half since I posted. Sorry. I've been really busy.

Things are work are great. I have some new stuff that I'm working on and SMD is really buzzing.

Things with my personal SMD consulting business are cool too. Jenette signed on in my down line. (Yay! Welcome to the team ... I know - I'm late on this ... sorry) Her first party is this weekend and I'm going to head down to be there for it. I'm really looking forward to the coaching kind of stuff this coming weekend. I can't wait to be there to answer questions she may have and to watch her kick major butt! She's going to be awesome!

I hit all of my sales goals and earned my business kit! That means that I started my business for FREE!!!!! I'm way psyched. It's been a good week.

I have some other work that I need to do. I need to start lining up some other parties for the spring, then hopefully some of my soon-to-be-customers (from upcoming parties) will want to book parties of their own in the spring.

I'm thinking that's about it ...

On a completely different note before I go -
Poll question:
If you don't know what characters were a part of the Saved By The Bell summer special episodes where everyone worked at the beach club for the Corosis, are you really an original fan? Do you really love Saved By The Bell?

First Day

2007-11-05T21:13:00.000-05:00

First day was good.

I really love my job.

I'm really tired though ... maybe more later ...

Job Offer

2007-11-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

So I meant to put this up last night ... sorry for the delay ...

I was offered a job yesterday. I accepted.

Starts Monday.

I'm not strong enough ...

2007-10-21T23:22:00.000-04:00

to be around when Tyler's watching games ...

That fact won't change anything. I'll still watch sports and stuff with him. I'm just not strong enough.

I don't deal well with watching him on his roller coaster of emotion and I really don't deal well when he's "upset" at what's going on in the game ...

I need to improve this part of me ... I have several years yet of sports and Tyler.

But for now, I'm just not strong enough ...

Circular Talk

2007-10-15T19:33:00.001-04:00

Things at work are awesome! I know I've said this before, and I know I'll say it again ... but wow ... I am so blessed. I LOVE my job!

In other news ...

My mom's coming up here this weekend to celebrate Tyler's b-day. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be good, relaxing, stay-at-home time ... which I really need.

I have a party tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully it goes well ...

The Indians are on tonight. Tyler's over at Ryan and Andrea's watching. He took over his required meal ... so (theoretically) they'll win tonight.

We saw mom this past weekend. We went shopping. I got several new pieces. All of which I needed. The last time I shopped for anything "cold weather", I weighed almost 60 pounds more than I do now ... so I needed some sweaters and what not. The most important purchase of the weekend - trouser jeans. They're great! Now I just need to keep my eyes out for a cute pair of heels ... I don't want to hem the jeans. They're not that too long.

And finally ...

I'm sick. I don't usually whine about sick. But man I HATE the chills and the sweats and the achies that come with the flu. I do know this ... if I had sick days, I would have taken one today. I would have rather taken my fever and chills and gone to bed than to work. But it's all good ... because I LOVE my job! And even on a really rough bad sick day, I'm glad I was there ...

And the circle is complete ...

Okay. Another one that made me laugh so hard I cried.

2007-10-08T14:58:00.001-04:00

I'm taking a 30 second work break to share with you the joyous email I received from my mother. Fair warning - it's funny ... it's mostly clean ... it may make you laugh till it hurts ...

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish,the story below is for you.
Here's what happened:
Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was "something was wrong" with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room. "He's just lying there looking sick," he told me. "I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?" I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.
"Honey," I called, "come look at the lizard!"
"Oh, my gosh!" my wife exclaimed. "She's having babies."
"What???" my son demanded. "But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"
I was equally outraged. "Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce," I said accusingly to my wife.
"Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!).
"No, but you were supposed to get two boys!" I reminded her(in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).
"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.
"Well, it's just a little hard to TELL on some guys, you know," she informed me (again-- with the sarcasm...).
By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it. "Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience," Iannounced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."
"Oh, gross!" they shrieked.
"Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?" my wife wanted to know. We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.
"We don't appear to be making much progress," I noted.
"It's breech," my wife whispered, horrified.
"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.
"Okay, okay." Squeamishly,I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.
"Should I call 911?" my eldest daughter wanted to know. "Maybe they could talk us through the trauma..." (You see a pattern herewith the females in my house?)
"Let's get Ernie to the vet," I said grimly. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.
"Breathe, Ernie,breathe," he urged.
"I don't think lizards do Lamaze, dear" his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for goodness sake.).
The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.
"What do you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.
"Oh, very interesting," he murmured. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?" I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.
"Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.
"Oh, perfectly," the vet assured us. "This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen . . . Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they. . . um . . . um . . . 'play'. Just the way he did, lying on his back." He blushed, glancing at my wife. We were silent, absorbing this.
"So, Ernie's just ... just ... excited," my wife offered.
"Exactly," the vet replied, relieved that we understood.
More silence.
Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.
"What's so funny?" I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness. Tears were now running down her face.
"It's just that . . (and then with the fingers) I'm picturing you pulling on its . . its . . . teeny little ..." She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more!
"That's enough," I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car. He was glad everything was going to be okay.
"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad," he told me.
"Oh, you have NO~ idea, son." my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

Two lizards: $140.
One cage: $50.
Trip to the vet: $60.
Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie for therest of your LIFE: Priceless!

Moral of the story: Always pay attention in biology class. Lizards lay eggs.

Sharing

2007-09-28T06:49:00.000-04:00

I love that we have wonderful friends who share with us. I wouldn't trade it for the world ...

But I would like it if they wouldn't share their colds! :P

Wow ... my head is pounding. So hard it woke me up at 3 am. I took some tylenol. It's been 4 hours and now my head is back ...

Fantastic.

In other news - mom's sewing work is finally finished! And if I get down there tonight and she says one thing, even the tiniest peep, about me doing more for her - I think I'll scream. Her list: 2 roman shades, 6 curtains (maybe 8 ... those are the ones I'm worried about coming up tonight), 4 pillows recovered, one bench pad cover, and two decorative bed pillow shams all made from scratch. 3 sets of pre-made curtains hemmed. I think I put about 40 hours of work in on all her stuff. And don't get me wrong here - I'd do it again. I love sewing and the fabrics mom picked out were beautiful and (mostly) easy to work with. I'd just prefer to not have 2 other jobs going at the same time. I'm not a fan of large, long-term, tons of time projects when I can't take any time off from another job.

In other other news - I love my job! I really love it! Things are really rolling. We had a great tradeshow last weekend and signed on 13 new consultants. Woo hoo! We're going to another show next weekend and I bet we can double our sign on rate! (At least, that'd be awesome!) I finally feel like I'm not dazed, confused, or lost at work. I have a good grasp on what's going on ... and it only took me like 7 weeks. That's not so bad right?

In other other other news - I have my first larger scale party this weekend. My hostess says she has 5 orders waiting for me and 4 definite rsvps. She also says that several women really want to come, they just have to remember to ... I know how that goes. All in all, I'm betting there will be probably 8-10 women there. That will make for a wonderful afternoon!

In other other other other news - I slept in again today. So I REALLY have to go. I'm supposed to leave for work in only 28 mins and I'm still sitting here typing in my pjs. Oh no! Only 27 mins now ... what to wear ... what to wear ...

I lauged so hard I cried ... and at work none-the-less!

2007-09-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

Men - THIS is what takes us so long (and why we don't go alone)... so just hush already :P

When you have to visit a public bathroom, you usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you checkfor feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.
Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall.
You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty.
You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume " The Stance."
In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold "The Stance.")
To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!" Your thighs shake more.You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail.
Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet.
"Occupied!" you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, "You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get."
By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.
At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.
You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.
You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe.
(Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this."
As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?"

It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

Henne's Mysterious Injury

2007-09-08T19:00:00.000-04:00

Amazing how the Michigan trainers and locker room are so cryptic when talking about Henne's "injury" today.

I have a theory ... he's hiding in the locker room because he hurt his ovaries.

I'm 99.9% sure that's the real injury.

Go Oregon!

0-2 and on the road to 0-12 ...

Ahh ... true joy for a Buckeye to bask in ...

:)

Fin

2007-09-04T12:49:00.000-04:00

The curtains are finished.

Woo Hoo!

I am however, exhausted. I didn't finish till almost 9:30 last night. Which, wouldn't be an issue normally ... but the last curtains were finished in Columbus and the very last one I HAD to be at mom's to do because I didn't want to string the Roman shade without it hanging in the window. So ... it was almost 10 when we left Columbus. And therefore, was midnight before we got home. Yeah. All that got done last night was unloading the car.

I did a small load of laundry at 6 am this morning so that I could have something to wear to work today. I thought I was okay on clothes ... I was wrong ...

I'm really rambling right now ...

I'm really tired. It's almost 1 ... that means just 4 more hours of work. But I'm having issues hitting the correct keys on my keyboard to make this say what I'm going for ...

hmm ...

I have a TON of work to do once I get home ... And I really just want to sleep.

Oh well ...

I'm overwhelmed right now. There's such a big part of me that just wants everything to go away. But I know that's just because I'm tired from this past weekend.

West Virginia was good. It was nice to see people. I'm bummed we couldn't stay longer ... but I know it's best that we went there and back on Sunday. It was a long day ... but better for us that way. Donna (Tyler's mom) is having a catalog party for me over the next couple of weeks. I hope it goes well.

Okay ...

I turned the lights off in here while I was "at lunch" ... I should turn them back on ... I have an appointment coming in at 1:30 ...

Rollin' on a River

2007-08-22T06:51:00.000-04:00

Rollin' ... Rollin' ... Rollin' ... Rollin' on a river ...

Did you know that song was written about the Blanchard River?

People we tell that to don't usually believe us. We usually laugh about it. We don't see the Blanchard as well ... that ... majestic ...

However, today - I'd believe it. It's raining again. The Blanchard has yet to crest. It's still rising. We're above 17 feet. They're thinking it'll crest sometime this morning around 18.5 feet.

This is crazy.

Seriously.

Crazy.

Water Water Everywhere

2007-08-21T23:15:00.000-04:00

This morning was the scariest drive I've ever made ... going anywhere. Our street was flooded all the way down. Normally it floods about 2-3 inches deep in parts where it's lower. This morning, that was the shallow water. And there wasn't much of it. Most of the water was WAY deeper than I expected and there were no breaks. I was seriously freaked out.

Hancock county is under a Level 3 Emergency. That means that all non-essential emergency vehicles can be ticketed for being on the roads. We have been under this for some time. Earlier today it pertained to all streets south of the intersection of SR15 and CR313 (Lima Ave.). That basically knocks out the southern bit of town and some small stuff between here and Ada (which is in a different county). We live south of there. Actually, we live at the intersection of 15 and 313. So I was at work when I discovered this. I still managed to get home. Logan Ave. was drier than this morning. I could see our street this afternoon.

Hancock county's emergency now extends to everything south of CR99. For those of you who don't live in or know Findlay very well ... that covers ... umm ...

ALL OF FINDLAY!

Seriously. That's the last exit you can get off at and still be in Findlay heading north on 75. (Which, coincidentally just reopened about 5 hours ago. It too was flooded.)

So yeah. We're dry. We know friends who aren't. We know friends who weren't but are now. We know friends who weren't but do live on the flood plain.

The Blanchard River has yet to crest. It's expected to do so in the next hour or so. As it stands, it's at about 15 feet. They're expecting the crest to be around 17 feet. Flood stage is 10 feet.

There's water in Findlay. More than any of us need ...

This time ...

2007-08-21T07:26:00.000-04:00

... three years ago, today, I was eating breakfast. yeah ... I know ... that doesn't seem like such a big deal ... I eat breakfast most days. However, this day three years ago breakfast was different. I stood in the kitchen at my mom's house with my mom, Deidra, Caryn, Amy, Laurie, Mandy, and Crystal ... rarely in my life have there been that many people in my mom's house at once, never have there been so many girls. So here's what was different ... this time, three years ago, I was eating my last breakfast as a Daniels woman ... for in just 7 short hours, Daniels wouldn't be my name anymore. I know it wasn't all that long ago ... but I still remember it like it was yesterday. (I hope in 50 years that it's still this clear.)

Happy Anniversary, my love! Here's to the first 3 and the next (at least) 50 to come!

Shark Attack

2007-08-03T00:57:00.000-04:00

Below is a quote from the ever-so-eloquent Gilbert Arenas. I just had to share. I do hope that you giggle as much as I did as I sat and pondered his deep thoughts on life and shark attacks ...

"There are these things called shark attacks, but there is no such thing as a shark attack. I have never seen a real shark attack. I know you’re making a weird face as you’re reading this. OK people, a shark attack is not what we see on TV and what people portray it as.

We’re humans. We live on land.

Sharks live in water.

So if you’re swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that’s called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack. A shark attack is if you’re chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that’s a shark attack. Now, if you’re chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space. So I have never heard of a shark attack.

When I see on the news where it’s like, “There have been 10 shark attacks,” I’m like, “Hey, for real?! They’re just running around? Sharks are walking now, huh! We live on the land, we don’t live underwater.”

Sewing World

2007-08-02T11:04:00.000-04:00

Okay. Sewing needed to complete the present for this weekend finished. Sewing needed for the fraternity this weekend ... well ... we'll not focus on that yet. Sewing project for mom ... well ... we'll not focus on that yet either. I do however have that laid out and ready to roll once the STE stuff is finished. I also have something for Andrea to do ... I wanted to take that over when I ran over this afternoon. That may still happen. (But I wouldn't suggest holding your breath on that one.) I also need to hem 2 of my own pairs of pants. Those are getting higher on the list now because I'll need one of those to wear to work Monday.

I need to lay out all of the clothing needed for this weekend. I'm pretty sure that means that I'll need to do a small load of laundry (and consequently ironing) tonight. And then I'll need to do laundry again on Sunday night when we get home ... because I have to be at work on Monday morning! :)

I am looking forward to going down to Cincy this weekend. I need the time away, but I think I'll end up working most of it. I hope that my weekend "hotel hosts" (you know - the people who's house you sleep at but aren't necessary around all the time) don't mind too much. Maybe I'll take my sewing machine down and work on my pants there. That's not a bad idea if I do say so myself ... I'll just have to be focused on making sure it gets done.

Okay. Lunch break. Then STE work. That has the closest deadline right now.

Jobs ... (Take DONE!)

2007-07-30T22:16:00.000-04:00

I start Monday morning.

40 hours a week. Monday - Friday. 8-5.

I am SO pumped.

I'm the newest Consultant Care Specialist for South Main Designs.

YAY!

Okay. I'm exhausted and have one heck of a week to get everything done around here and ready for me to be gone full-time next week. Have a good night.

Jobs ... (Take Three)

2007-07-30T14:16:00.001-04:00

Okay. I've been to 4 interviews and 1 second interview in the last week. I hope something comes through ...

If not - I do have an offer on the table from the place that second interviewed me. It's not anywhere near ideal, but it would be income.

I should know whatever it'll be by the end of the week.

Jars

2007-07-26T02:07:00.000-04:00

"It seems too easy to call you Savior,
Not close enough to call you God."

Line from Jars' song "Love Song for a Savior". Tyler and I were talking about it tonight. Is that the statement that best describes the American Church today? Everyone looking for and willing to have a Savior, but unable to make the commitment to having a God ... What's the difference in committing to a Savior and committing to a God?

Just things I've been pondering. Discuss amongst yourselves now. Share please ...

Baby

2007-07-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

So Tyler and I were chatting about baby names earlier today. He suggested (as he says) "the completely Biblically based name" Gomer Dorcitha for our little girl. Yeah. That's his vote for the baby.

ahh well ...

I still have some time to talk him out of that ...

Jobs ... (Take Two)

2007-07-24T16:24:00.000-04:00

Well that went okay this morning. She said that she thinks I'd be great. She also said, with a tish of surprise, that I did "really well" on the grammar and editing test. Umm ... yeah ... I speak the English good and occasionally I can spell two. :P Yeah - I know - it's not everyone's forte ... but I've had so many grammar books and vocab classes in my life. I had at least three books for every English class I had all the way up through high school: grammar, vocab, and the "literature" book that went with that grade. 99% of the time I had novels too. Okay. That was a nice little tangent. Sorry about that. Thanks for sticking with me this far. Moving on.

So she thinks she'll be calling me back in the next couple of days to schedule a second round interview for sometime maybe next week. We'll see. I could work there.

Many thanks to Andrea for letting me borrow the necklace this morning. I'll bring it back to you tonight at Bible discussion. Thanks also for your compliment on my attire. :) I really attribute the wonderfulness of the look to the necklace. (PS I also agree that honesty is the best policy too. But we'll see how the situations present themselves tomorrow night.) Now ... umm ... can I borrow a different necklace for tomorrow? ... :D ... How can you ignore that cheesy grin? ... especially when I already know which one I'd like to borrow ... :D

Okay. So one down. Two to go. Here's still hoping that tomorrow night is fantastically rocktacular! (I like that word ... I think I'll keep it.)

Jobs ...

2007-07-24T09:19:00.000-04:00

Okay. So I have a couple of busy days ahead. I have an interview today at 1, tomorrow at 10:30, and a meet-and-greet kind of party thing tomorrow night at 6. Hopefully I'll come out with something. (Secretly though I'm hoping the one tomorrow night goes the best:P)

Other jobs ... I have about 7 hours worth of sewing work for my mom. I'm making her new curtains for her family room and downstairs bathroom. I'm also recovering a pad for her window seat in her bedroom. I already did the pillows for that window seat. I think I'll also end up with her upstairs bathroom and bedroom curtains because I'd bet that she just won't get to them and then will be tired of not having them finished ... ahh well. I like doing the work for her - the only part that's weird is figuring out how much my time is worth. It's strange for me to charge family and friends for some things ...

I worked my tooshie off yesterday. I did 8 loads of laundry. Ironed everything. Put it all away. Cleaned the entire house. (Okay. So I need to vacuum today ... I was too tired to do it after FPU last night.) I was cleaning the bathroom yesterday and noticed that the baseboards in the bathroom were dirtier than I have ever let them get. So I started to look around and realized that I couldn't remember the last time I dusted the baseboards, corners, ceilings, and woodwork. Hmm ... let's just say that it had been awhile - a while too long. So I did that too. And the bathtub is all sparkley clean. It's a good day around here.

Okay. I need to vacuum before I get ready for the el interview today. Wish me luck over the next two days.

Trivia

2007-07-18T17:23:00.000-04:00

So Jenette posted a new trivia game on her blog. I tried today. Now, granted my head hurts and I can't really read all that well right now - but I am truly ashamed of how poorly I did. Grr. I really thought I knew my music trivia better. Also, I should know better than to accidentally skip a question. (That painful lesson I learned at ONU, when I skipped a question and therefore set my bubble answer sheet off by one. The B I got in that class because of that test cost me my honor cords ... but I'm not still bitter or anything. :P) Also, I need to stop second guessing myself.

Ahh well. Perhaps I will do better tomorrow.

Back to my oh-so-difficult decision of what to watch on tv - the 100 Best Songs of the 80s on VH1 or the Law and Order mini-marathon on TNT.

I think I'll flip back and forth. In the meantime - I need to lie down again, my head is starting to pound harder.

Job Fair

2007-07-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

So I went to a job fair this morning. It was just a single company holding a fair to fill some positions within their various departments. Now, call me crazy ... but if I were running a large corporation and was holding a job fair, I think I would have more than FOUR job openings available. I must have seen 150 people there applying, and I wasn't there the whole time this morning. They're having another session of this fair tonight too. I'm not saying that I'm not holding out hope ... but with the way my luck has been lately, I wouldn't be surprised if there were four people for three jobs and I didn't get a job. (Tyler agrees with me on this one too :P).

Yesterday did hold some uplifting job news possibilities though. I found out from two different friends that both of their offices are hiring right now. They're both supposed to be checking on that for me today. Hopefully I'll get some good news back from them.

Okay ... I'm going to go lie back down. My head is pounding and I'm running a little fever. I guess I can forget about all that cleaning that I wanted to get done today.

A bit of not much

2007-07-10T21:25:00.000-04:00

I'm mad at my Pennsylvania Dutch. I REALLY am not happy with how the last book ended. I was so angry that I was crying as I read the end. However, I'm willing to look past that to find out how the series continues to unfold. (It's a 5 book series revolving around the same family. I've just finished the 2nd book.) I need to move on from there for a while.

So ...

I really enjoyed Bible discussion group tonight. (See other blog for a highlight.) I needed to laugh like that. On a similar note, it's really good to have the Clements family back from vacation. I really like them. (Hola guys. I know you read my blog. :)) It was nice to have their input back in the discussion. It was also nice to have their senses of humor back in the discussion. It's been a while since we've had the majority of our regulars at discussion ... and tonight we did. (Lori we missed you!) It was nice.

I guess that's all I have to say. A whole lot of nothing ... ahh well ... seems to be a running theme lately.

This is a story all about how ...

2007-07-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

There is something strangely comforting about the fact that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is on at just about any hour of the day or night (mostly night ... Nick at Nite marathons ...)

And yet at the same time - it's strangely bothersome to me that it's on Nick at Nite. Wasn't that for old shows? ... Seriously. It was mostly black and white Donna Reeds and Dick Van Dyke shows when I was younger. Interesting ...

Ahh well ... off to bed ...

huh ...

2007-07-08T14:16:00.000-04:00

I guess it's been a while since I've posted.

I've been busy ... just nothing really blog-worthy I guess.

Funny thing about that - I always make a mental note that something was funny or fun or blog-worthy ... but I never remember to come home and type about it.

Laundry is about half done right now. I'm taking a break to run the dishwasher.

Tyler's reading and listening to the Indians game on the radio right now. He's been really busy getting ready for the next STE officer meeting (in just about 3 weeks). I've been helping him work on some stuff for that ... but nothing of note really. I'm still reading a lot. I've had to take a bit of a break from the 1950s Pennsylvania Dutch to read Sex God. It's okay. I like Rob Bell's writing style ... but for some reason the book doesn't really resonate with me. Maybe it'll be better when I'm further in ... I'm only about 1/3 of the way through right now.

I've been busy working on Chrysalis stuff too. I think I have too many jobs with Chrysalis. Don't get me wrong ... I like working for them ... I enjoy serving the community that way - I'm just ... I don't know. Perhaps it's this complacency that's bothering me and not really the colossal amount of work I need to do.

I need to get my hairs cut again. They're getting too long.

...

I believe that concludes today's rambling. Thank you for joining me for that ...

I do believe I'll go iron some more now.

Gosh darnit if I didn't do it again.

2007-06-25T23:11:00.000-04:00

But this time it was 1849 San Francisco. I haven't found an author in a long time who's writing I can get lost in so easily. It was a good day though. I worked. I did laundry. I went to Curves. I went to FPU. We had dinner with my mom while she was in town tonight. It's not like ALL I did today was read. I just did a lot of it.

Ahh ... sweet decadence of reading. What a wonderful past time.

And what a wonderful husband I have to allow me that guilty pleasure in life ...

(speaking of my wonderful husband - go read his blog from today. I laughed out loud. And I cried a little. It was sweet. And I swear I had no intention of "training" him ... there are just certain things that should be done during your daily routine ... but that's another blog all together. Off to make the bed with our freshly laundered sheets.)

I don't usually do this ... but how could I resist ...

2007-06-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

an 80s Survey!!!!!!! (Okay ... I really don't do this ... like ever. But I just got such a kick out of reading it on another friend's blog, I felt the irrepressible desire to fill it out for myself.) So some of this pushes into the early 90s I think. But that's okay by me ... it was all that fabulous period of my life ... ahh ... memory lane ...

Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
I had a pillow case with their faces on it ... I wore it thread bare ...

Did you ever own a slap bracelet?
Yes. Until my school outlawed them because we spent class time throwing them at each other and watching them snap and fly up into the air. It was great.

The Baby Sitter's Club or Sweet Valley High?
Baby Sitter's Club. I wanted to be Kristy.

Salute Your Shorts or Hey Dude?
Hey Dude. Hands down.

Kids Incorporated or The Mickey Mouse Club?
I remember watching both. But I think I preferred MMC

Did you want Dylan to end up w/ Brenda or Kelly?
So was not allowed to watch 90210.

Who was ALF?
Furry brown alien dude.

Do you remember the show Dinosaurs?
"I'm the baby. Gotta love me. Big purple eyes and I'm so cuddly!" I know I watched it. I can't remember any specifics though ...

Do/did you know the words to the Fresh Prince theme song?
"Iiiiiiiiinnnn west Philadelphia born and raised. On the playground was where I spent most of my days. Chillin out nights and relaxin all cool ..."
That would be a yes.

Kimmie Gibbler or Urkel?
Kimmie kind of annoyed me. I remember when both were on TGIF on ABC though. I think I'll go with Urkel.

Blossom or Clarissa Explains It All?
Clarissa. I tried so hard to convince my mom that I needed a baby pool with an alligator in it in my room. But I LOVED my Blossom hat. (Self made I might note. According to mom, I ruined a perfectly good church hat by pinning one side up with a sunflower pin I had.)

Did you have a crush on JTT?
Yeah.

Bobby Brown or Tevin Campbell?
neither

Step By Step or Full House?
Both. Though Full House has stood the test of time for me. Thank heavens for daytime reruns.

Did you listen to Milli Vanilli?
Sadly, yes I did. But I think it was because I was fascinated with a man's ability to sing like that.

Mr. Rogers or Reading Rainbow?
I watched both way longer than I should have. But I LOVED Reading Rainbow. "Butterfly in the sky. I can go twice as high. Take a look. It's in a book. A reading rainbow."

Did you own a Glo Worm?
I think I got my cousin's when she was done with it. I don't remember having one of my own though.

Paula Abdul: better now or then?
Then. How can you beat Scat Cat? Seriously.

Wild 'n' Crazy Kids or Double Dare?
Double Dare. I wanted to be on Family Double Dare so bad ... but there were only three people in my family, and my mom refused to get dirty ... :(

Remember Legends of the Hidden Temple?
I forgot about it until just now… I loved that show. Awesome.

The Mighty Ducks or The Little Giants?
Mighty Ducks. I had a crush on Emilio ... a major crush.

Did you watch Saved By The Bell?
Still do. And I'm not to proud to admit it.

Who was hotter: Zach or Slater
I'm a sucker for dimples ... but it was still Zach.

Camp Nowhere or House Arrest?
neither

Did you own a pair of Reebok Pumps?
oh yeah. The laces were pink and orange.

Care Bears or Smurfs?
I watched both of their cartoons. I loved the Care Bears' Movie, the one where they saved the boy who was a magician's assistant and his younger sister. Also, I had the most AWESOME Care-A-Lot playset.

Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
Strawberry Shortcake. Although, I had a couple of Rainbow Brite dolls that got their fair share of play time.

Did you watch Miami Vice?
no ... I feel like I missed out on something there ...

Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
They were pink. Fuchsia really.

Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
Duh. Until we weren't allowed to have them at school because they took up too much space in the coat hook area. That was about the time they outlawed those backpacks that were on wheels.

Atari or Nintendo?
I've never owned a game system. Tyler has some, but I never have. My step-sisters and cousins had Nintendos. I enjoyed my fair share of Tetris and Duck Hunt. But that's about it.

So? It sparked memories for you too. I know it did. Share if you like ... :)

'Twas Sinfully Glorious

2007-06-20T00:34:00.000-04:00

I got a new book this past weekend. We were in Columbus servicing my mom's computer. (She had an "emergency" and so felt the need to call in PC Geek - thing Geek Squad but slightly cheaper - instead of calling her daughter, and perhaps more importantly, her son-in-law. So we took off rather quickly to save her from those worthless charges.) Anywhoo ... as I've stated more than once, my mom likes to shop. And this weekend we added the bookstore to our list. More often than not, we go to Half Priced Books (ahh ... Heaven really must be a book store ... I'm sure of that.) but this time we were at Barnes & Noble. How wonderful book stores smell. How wonderful the colors and type on the covers of all the volumes. How wonderful the diversity of material. (Yes ... this truly must be Heaven ...)

I've grown up around books. I've always enjoyed reading. Even when I was sick and tired of reading for school, I always enjoyed my pleasure reading. I so enjoy the escape to another world that a well-written book provides. That being said, I also fear that, at least at some times, it can be sinfully glorious. Today was sinfully glorious.

I got a new book. It was a good book. I opened it this morning. It is finished. I did other work today, but none of it really mattered. I needed the escape. I needed the down time. I have done this once before in my life. I still remember that glorious, wonderful feeling of having lost an entire day to another world that is not my own. It is quite the rush for me. I was thinking about that first book ... and realized that this latest book is somewhat of a "grown up" version of that first book. Amazing how I haven't really changed all that much in the last 12 or so years.

At times I've wondered if I was born at the wrong point in history. Now, for all practical purposes I know I'm wrong. I enjoy my a/c, running water, indoor plumbing, and all of the 21st century conveniences. However, the hopeless romantic in me so easily gets lost in the majesty and mystery presented in tales of times gone by. I'm a junkie for historical fiction. It's just such a beautiful and carefree existence in the stories. I know better. But that doesn't change the little pangs in my gut for the simpler times portrayed in the books I truly enjoy.

And so, once I quiet my mind and return to today, to here and now, I'll go to bed and crawl in next to my peacefully sleeping husband. He went to bed several hours ago ... but I just couldn't put the book down. There was too much crucial action going on. And tomorrow, the "sinful" will sneak in on my glorious day. For tomorrow all the work that could have been accomplished today will still be there, piled on the work to be accomplished tomorrow. And I will have to function in reality, once again subject to the 21st century. But tonight I will just remember the glorious feeling. Tonight I will go to sleep with that cradling me. Tonight I will be in the 17th century. Tonight I will be on a Virginia tobacco farm. Tonight I will stay wrapped in the warmth of the love story I just finished reading.

Tomorrow I will iron ...

oops

2007-06-12T17:47:00.000-04:00

I guess I let my blog go too long without an update. Sorry about that ...

We've been crazy busy. I went down in the middle of last week to see my mom. I needed the mommy time. I didn't realize it, but Tyler did and told me to go. I am super glad that he realized what was going on and that I needed to see mom. He's a good one ... definately a keeper. :)

We went to JT and Beth's wedding last weekend. It was really pretty. They had their reception at the Packard museum ... I was totally in love with the cars. I dig classics. It was beautiful there. Ahh ... cars ...

Sunday we went to the Columbus Arts Festival with mom. (We stayed with her on Saturday night after the wedding.) It was fun. She bought us a couple of really pretty Celtic harp cds. Good stuff. She also bought Tyler a painting of the Jake in Cleveland. It's really nice. I'm looking forward to finding a frame for it and getting it up on the wall.

I'm with Sophie 18 hours a week now. That's three 6 hour days. Today was good. we went to Curves, the bank, the library, the mall to spend some of her birthday gift cards, the post office ... I'm sure we went somewhere else. We were very productive. I'm there again on Thursday, she's with her dad tomorrow.

Okay ... time to down some dinner before Bible discussion group. Tyler cooked. It smells really good. Yeah ... he's definately a keeper. :P

babette ate oatmeal

2007-06-03T20:12:00.000-04:00

(yes. I'm a Gilmore junkie. I admit it.)

So there's something that really frustrates me about Christianity and the Church. (Actually, there are a lot of things that frustrate me, but this post is only about one ... so on with the rant ...) There seems to be this line of thought or belief or theme or something that states when one prays, "God, use me." that God's use of you will be monumental. People say that they're scared to use that prayer because they're afraid of what will be asked of them. Why is it that the feeling is that being used by God means that He'll ask you to sell all of your belongings and move to a tiki hut in the middle of Africa to preach to the aborigines who only speak African clicking languages? Why must everything be newsworthy? Why do we assume that we'll be there to see and know that what we did was huge and a major impact in someone's life? Doesn't the Bible tell us that we're not always there to see the fruits of our labor? Why can't God using you look like you smiling at the cashier at Wal-Mart? Why can't it be feeding a friend dinner one night? Why can't it be sending an email or calling someone you're thinking about right then? How do we know that our small, seemingly insignificant actions don't mean the world to someone?

And so - this begs yet another question. Why must everything newsworthy be huge? We're the one's who define "newsworthy", so why not redefine it? I know that Tyler and I have been monumentally blessed and gifted by friends who thought they were doing nothing more than feeding us dinner. It was mundane to them - but monumental to us. We felt it was newsworthy. But did they ever realize that? Were they ever meant to? I don't know the answers to those questions. But, what I do know is that we too often overlook the mundane because it doesn't seem monumental to us. Perhaps we should shift our focus? Maybe that's the idea. Maybe the idea is to not be afraid of moving to Africa ...

God, use me.

Floods of Emotion

2007-05-31T21:31:00.001-04:00

I am mad.

I am sad.

It is NOT fair.

And yet ... it's the cycle of life. I suppose that, at least for the foreseeable future it will be this way. My grief comes and goes ... that's to be expected. Yet, must it come on so ridiculously strong when it comes? Please don't read me wrong here - there's not a single day that I don't think about JZ. However, I really thought that I was to a point in time that most of the thoughts would be happy ones. I was enjoying thinking about him. Not so much anymore.

Perhaps that's what's going on ... perhaps not ...

Truth be told, I am happy to remember Z. I enjoy sharing those memories with friends. I believe I have moved on to mourning for Mandy. There isn't a single day that I don't think about her at least four times. I cry. I cry because Tyler waits on me to brush my teeth with him before we go to bed at night. I cry because Mandy goes to bed alone. I cry because I come home from work to find Tyler making dinner. I cry because Mandy comes home to no one making her dinner. I cry because I get frustrated with having to pick up Tyler's laundry that doesn't make it into the hamper, but instead lands on the floor beside the hamper. I cry because Mandy doesn't have anyone to pick up after but herself. I cry because I take Tyler for granted. I cry because Mandy doesn't have that luxury.

I cry because I am mad.

I cry because I am sad.

I cry because it is NOT fair.

I hate that my hands are tied. I am such an action person. I want to make it better. I know there's nothing I can do to make this any better. That doesn't matter to me. I feel worthless in this. I hate that. I pray. I think. I hope for the best. Yet I can't see the best. I can't even see good right now in this. I hate that. I am usually an optimist. Now I am not. I hate that.

I hate that I am mad.

I hate that I am sad.

I hate that it is NOT fair.

I LOVE Kids

2007-05-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

So Sunday night after jOURney I went to the restroom. When I opened the door, I found two of our lovely little girls standing in their bare feet in the middle of the bathroom staring at the floor. Their both 4, but the older of the two (We'll call her E.) looked up at me and said that her shoes were soggy so she couldn't wear them.
Okay. Not a problem.

Me: "E, why are your shoes soggy?"
E: "I had to go to the bathroom but she (The other little girl, C.), was in there and I just couldn't wait anymore."
(It is important to note here that I knew the answer before I asked. I felt something wet on my toes as I walked into the bathroom ... and somehow I just knew.)
Me: "Okay E. That happens. C, are you finished here? Did you get to tinkle all that you had to?"
C: shakes her head
Me: "Okay. I'm going to pick you up and lift you out of the bathroom so that you don't accidentally step in anything on your way out. Go on and play with the boys ... E will be out soon." So I picked her up and got Tyler's attention from across the room. "I need E's mom to come here"
E's Mom: "What's up?"
Me: "She needed to tinkle but it was busy and she couldn't wait anymore." (We only have one toilet in the bathroom. It's small.) "So we need to clean up a little bit."
E's Mom: (to E) "You know that you can't wait that long. You need to go to the bathroom when you first have to go. You know that you can't hold it that long."
E: "I didn't think I had to go that bad. I'm sorry."

So we proceed to help E change. The bathroom isn't really big enough for three people to be in there at once - but yet, there we are. E is very concerned that she'll now have to wear her skirt without any panties. Her skirt is really a skort - but she's still very concerned that everyone will know that she's not wearing any panties. She's concerned about not having panties on - but she dropped her skirt with and panties to the floor without closing the bathroom door. The bathroom opens to directly to our worship and gathering space - which is also not huge. So we explain that if she doesn't tell anyone, no one will know and it will be our little secret. E's okay with that - after some coaxing. So by the time that E's mom and I have cleaned up the bathroom floor, and I've used the restroom, E has completely recovered and is running around like a banshee again - just as she usually is.

Man - I love kids ... I can't wait to have them around more often ... :)

Cincy in a Whirlwind

2007-05-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

So we were in Cincy this past weekend - for less than 24 hours. I really enjoy traveling ... but I HATE having to do it in such a whirlwind. We really have too much on our plates ...

Tyler and I both had a good time, but thanks to the super shortness of the visit, most of our social time with friends had to be super late into the evening. I'm pretty sure that Tyler was out till 1 am or so on Sunday morning. Crazy. Shout out to the Aldridges. Thanks for letting us crash at your house. (On a side note here ... I hate descending on a house and using it just to sleep. Am I the only person who feels guilty for that, or does anyone else out there share my feelings?) Sunday morning we stayed long enough to go to Kara's dedication at church. It was nice. I like their church - it would have been nice to hear a sermon ... but it was also Graduates' Sunday. So the youth leader lady took over the microphone for what was supposed to be a short "Thanks for being you ... Good luck in the future ... etc ...", so 45 minutes later she stopped talking. So there wasn't a sermon.

jOURney, on the other hand was fantastic Sunday night. I'm going to sound like I'm stealing from Ryan here, but I too really felt like we were all on the same page and something bigger than us was going on there ... it was cool! :)

So - upcoming weekends:
June 2 - August 11 ... somewhere for something at least one of the days ...
August 18 - ? ... are we done with the marathon weekends? ... wow ... that would be FANTASTIC!!!!!! (On the downside - I thought that we were half way through our marathon - and it appears that we're not ... oh well ...

New Blog

2007-05-27T23:01:00.001-04:00

Tyler and I have decided to record and publish for our entertainment and yours all of those thoughts and conversations that could cause us to be smited. We hope you enjoy reading ...

The Way, The Truth, and The Smite

Warning: It may not be for the faint of heart, the full of bladder, or those who can't laugh at themselves and their belief systems.

(There's also a link on the side of my blog)

Lack of Wisdom

2007-05-25T00:07:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I just don't understand.

God, please help me to understand and to see your ways and your workings in our lives. Amen.

In the Heat of the Day

2007-05-23T15:18:00.000-04:00

We have one. It's in the wall in the living room and does a lovely job cooling our entire home. But for some reason I'm stubborn. There's a part of me that feels like we shouldn't have to turn it on in May - especially since it's supposed to be back in the 70s Saturday AND weather.com says it'll stay in the 70s through next weekend. However, my stubbornness is affecting my work getting done around here ...
It's too hot right now to sew. There's a breeze in the living room, but not in the kitchen where I have to set up the sewing machine. I have a fan going in the bedroom and one in the living room, as well as the central fan - but it's still 88 degrees in here. And neither myself nor my wonderful husband are lacking in the "extra body padding" area - we're overweight ... it makes the heat that much hotter ...

Oh to turn on the air or leave it off? ... Thoughts?

***UPDATE***
At 9 pm last night it was still 87 degrees in our front room (where there are windows on two sides and the fan/ac. We decided that we'd turn it on just long enough to cool the house so that we'd sleep. It was nice. It was off again this morning and I had the windows all open. If only we had ceiling fans - then perhaps it would still be off ... but alas - it's back on. Oh well ... it'll be nice next week and we can have fresh air once again.

72/775

2007-05-23T14:49:00.001-04:00

That's hours and miles ...

So last weekend was yet another in our marathon of spring/summer weekends. We started out Friday evening stopping in Ada for Kappa Phi's Degree of the Rose. Then we headed to Marion, IN to hang out with Dave and Abby Burden. Marion is about forty minutes or so south-west of Fort Wayne. Tyler had fraternity business with Dave, who took over Tyler's job in the fraternity (secretary) at the last Conclave. Abby and I had a really nice time visiting too. They've been working on remodeling their house and, while they feel like they still have so much to do, it looks great and their hard work is evident. We slept in Marion on Friday night.

Saturday afternoon we took off for New Philadelphia, OH, 5 hours from Marion. We stayed with Garry and Deidra Lute that night. I felt so bad that we got there so late ... but it was good to see them. We hadn't seen them since last August at their wedding. We stayed up and chatted for a while. Deidra gave us the grand tour of their new house - which they are also remodeling. She bought it sight unseen by Garry just a couple of weeks before their wedding. They've finished ripping out the lathe and plaster walls in the entry and have re-drywalled and are waiting to paint. They still have a lot of work to do - but their house will be beautiful when they finish. The old woodwork alone is gorgeous.

Sunday morning we went to church in Urichsville with Deidra and her family. It was really good to see Mom and Dad Dudgeon again, as well as her little sister Diana. We then took off and headed for Wintersville/Steubenville, OH - an hour further east than New Philly. My step-mom's mom died on Thursday night and we wanted to go out for the showing at the funeral home. I know it meant a lot to Dad, Syl, and my siblings to see us there. Dad was shocked ... but, like we said, there's nowhere that's too far to travel for family. It was good that we went. I just wish that we could have stayed for the funeral on Monday - but that wasn't practical, we needed to work on Monday. So we left the funeral home around 3 and headed towards Columbus. Why?, you ask. Because at that point in the weekend, we'd rather make the 3 hour drive to my mom's house than the 5 hour drive back to ours. And it was Mother's Day ... couldn't hurt to see as many of our moms as we could. So we had dinner in Columbus with mom and stayed there Sunday night.

Monday morning we went to mom's school and Tyler taught her fifth graders some cool things about math. We started that tradition while he was in grad school and we've just kept it going. Mom usually takes the math enrichment kids, so they just eat up everything that Tyler talks about. She had a bright group again this year ... I was impressed with the way they followed and asked intelligent questions. I also haven't missed a year of my life without getting to mom's room at least once a school-year. The visual on her kids just makes her stories so much better! We left around noon and headed straight to school to pick up Sophie. So, by the time we got home from our Monday evening church meeting, we'd been not home for 72 hours and put 775 miles on the car. While it was a good weekend - I certainly wouldn't recommend that much travel in three days time. :P

Chocolate Chips

2007-05-15T10:02:00.000-04:00

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day! How exciting! Celebrate today with cookies ... or just eat them by the handful ...

What a yummy day!

A Mish Mash of Info ...

2007-05-08T10:26:00.000-04:00

- 38. That's the total number of pounds I've lost in the last year. Woo Hoo! :) That's major progress towards my 100 pounds lost goal. And, I'm right on track. I figured that it would take me about 2 and a half years to really make the life changes necessary to keep up with this forever.

- JESUS! Oh so much to say ... So the video in the previous post is short, sweet, to the point, and HILARIOUS!!!!!! It was a total accidental find. And a laugh we totally needed. Tyler and I were reading some things online about this movement. Intrigued to find several holes in his "platform" ... we searched on YouTube. And found this ...

Wow ... holy cow dude ... people can really twist stuff huh? I won't post it here, but the piece that's done by the Today Show was informative too. And Tyler and I sat and watched in amazement. Slowly, we realized that there's a reason God isn't smiting US. He's too busy watching out for the real loonies out there ... So I'm really interested to hear what you may or may not have to say about the Growing in Grace movement/religion ...

- So we're 1 week into a 7 week crazy land. Yes, that statement was confusing ... allow me to clarify. Last weekend was the first of the out-of-town crazy booked weekends. Tyler had an Aflac state meeting in Dayton on Friday. His meeting went well. While he was busy meeting the new state coordinator, I spent the afternoon with Jenette and her two lovely children. Poor Ethan was still not 100%, but he's still a good kid. Little Kara (11 weeks old now :)), is soooooooooo adorable. She's such a sweet little baby! So Tyler's meeting only went 4 hours instead of 5, whew! I went back up to Dayton to pick him up and we returned to Jenette and Aaron's house. (As a side note here, they live in a subdivision. Not one of the newer ones where every home looks exactly the same, but a subdivision none-the-less. I did not get lost going in and out of their neighborhood different ways than the directions that Google gave me. I also didn't have trouble following the directions in the first place - except for not being able to find the street that Jenette forgot to mention was necessary to get to her house in the first place :P. Haha! Tyler gets lost in there every time. YES! I am better at not getting lost!) They ordered a pizza for dindin ... killer pizza ... Fox's. It was yummy. Having time to hang out was fun. Saturday, we went to a baby shower. It was way cool. Josh and Ann had their shower at a park and did a cook out. It was a family affair too. Everyone just kind of mingled and played with each other's kids, it was super nice. Tyler and I talked on the way home, and it was exactly the kind of shower we'd like to have someday. We were planning on coming home Saturday afternoon, but we were totally exhausted. So we stayed another night. Jenette and Aaron left to run some errands and left us with the kids. Tyler played with Ethan on his Star Wars game. I think they had fun ... Ethan sure seemed to. I sat with Kara while she slept. Then she woke up and the little stinker was starving but refused to take her bottle. Oh well ... the fight that she put up refusing the bottle just gave me more quiet time while she was eating. She's such a happy baby! Tyler was really sweet to take some time with her too. He's really good with kids. He'll be a good dad someday. Aaron made enchiladas for dinner and margaritas. They were killer good. We mostly just hung out. But truth be told, we needed that relaxed social time. We don't often get that. We left Sunday morning around 9. Which was great because it gave me time to crash before I left at 2:30 for a bridal shower in Ada. It was really good to see the girls that were there. Yay for weddings! Tyler and I are really looking forward to this one. One of many this summer ... Then last night I had a jewelry party to attend. Another fun one. I needed that social time too.

- Upcoming events: Trip to Marion this coming weekend. STE business. Then another jewelry meeting Monday, and a new group starting up at church. Next weekend my mom is coming up. We're going to take Gramma out for lunch for mother's day ... yeah ... late, but the only time we could fit in in. The weekend after that is Memorial day weekend and we have a family function. Then, the first two weekends in June we have weddings. I keep thinking that we already have plans for the third weekend in June, but I can't remember what ... oh well ...

- So this was way longer than I expected. I need to get moving again on laundry. Today is rug washing day. I also need to find some lunch ... and I have to pick up Sophie at 3 today. Later ...

JESUS!

2007-05-07T11:35:00.001-04:00

3:30 Brain

2007-05-01T03:20:00.000-04:00

Yeah ... I've been bad ... sorry about that. Truth be told, I've been going through some stuff and just haven't felt like posting about it ... However, my lack of motivation leaves my loyal reader (Is there more than one of you? :P) with nothing to read. Bummer for you ...

So it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm up. This is the second night in a row for this awful sleep pattern. Last night I was up sick at this time ... tonight ... well - let's just say that not only am I up sick, I had quite the dream that I just couldn't shake.

So ... what's going on? ... Well ... We're working on getting the office in order for what Tyler thinks will work best for him and Aflac. It's an absolute mess right now ... but it will get there. What is done and where it will be is nice. And we've both been really good about just getting rid of stuff we don't need and/or use. I've been on a real kick of "get rid of what we don't need/use ... get it out of our house" recently ... I must say that I know this isn't completely unfounded ... I just don't know the full extent of what's causing it yet.

DOC called. My second pair of glasses is in. I can't go down there to get them this week. I can't go this weekend. I can't go next week. I can't go next weekend. You know what? ... I pretty much can't get away from Findlay (except for all of the stuff that's already booked) for quite a while. So mom's going to pick them up and mail them to me. I have been blessed ... truly. Mom is an absolutely incredible woman. She's more than I could have ever wished for or imagined a mom should/could be. Don't get me wrong ... she's not on a pedestal or anything ... we've had our rough times. But we're where we are now in our relationship because of the way she's been willing to redefine it over time. We most certainly don't look like what I think most mother/daughter teams look like. And I think that we're closer than most ... which can be a problem at times (for everyone ... sorry sweetie ... I know). Mom and I are more friends than parent and child. But I know I can still call and talk to my mommy if I need/want to. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

We're going to be crazy busy for a while. We have a baby shower and a bridal shower this weekend. I'm skipping small group on Thursday to have dinner with my Big Sis (who hasn't been in state since our wedding almost 3 years ago). Usually I wouldn't skip ... but it's been 3 years since I've had a chance to spend time with her. And she graduated a year before I did ... so it's really been almost 4 years since we've had good quality time together. Next week I have a meeting every night. We're headed to another STE meeting next weekend. Then we start in on the wedding marathon of the summer. I know I'm looking forward to it. It's just harder when we have to go go go ...

I do have some more to say ... but I'm tired. I've finally cooled down and finished my water. Hopefully I've seen enough HGTV to clear my head tonight. Sorry about the long time between and then the length of the post. I'll try to be better ...

Changes

2007-04-10T10:10:00.000-04:00

So Mom came up last week. She was here Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I must admit that the visit was nice. We all went to a Sedar meal on Thursday night. I miss regularly attending. It was nice. Friday, Mom wanted to buy some new pants for school. So we hauled up to Toledo to a mall. It was nice to spend the day with Mom and Tyler. She found some great pants and a couple of skirts to wear to school. She's still on the hunt for shoes though. I found a really flattering sun dress. The zipper was broken though. So we got it for a big discount. I have already changed the zipper out for a new one ... I just need to sew the hook and eye back on the top. I was hoping to wear it this coming weekend ... but we'll see. Maybe Friday night. Tyler got a couple of dress shirts and a new tie. All three of us found new spring jackets ... like nicer than a windbreaker ones. I really dig mine.

Thursday wasn't a fabulous day for me. My new job laid me off. Grr. Just until business picks up though. I think that the boss thinks that's going to be a lot sooner than I think it is. Oh well. I am still nannying after school. I do really enjoy that.

Tyler had a couple of really great productive meetings on Thursday. Things are really starting to move for him. That's so encouraging to see.

This coming weekend is Conclave. We went down to Ada last night for Brotherhood so that Tyler could answer any questions or concerns they might have. I was surprised that they had almost 2 hours worth of business that involved us being there ... and they kept going after we left. It was really good that we went though. I know Tyler feels that way. I know that it was good that he was there to field some of the questions and concerns that the brothers had.

So we're in Indy this weekend. We still don't know what time we'll get there. I know we were both hoping for sooner rather than later ... but it looks like he might have to go to some Aflac training thing in Delphos in the afternoon. We're both really looking forward to the weekend. We're having dinner with JT on Friday night. He and Tyler were in the same pledge class. He's the alumni delegate for E. It will be good. I'm sure there'll be plenty more changes for me to share after Conclave ...

In the meantime ... I have a TON of work to do and errands to run before Friday morning.

Heels and Hopes ... Both High

2007-04-03T07:36:00.000-04:00

So I wear heels to work now. That's pretty different than the tennis shoes I wore to school to work, to clean to work, and to nanny to work. My feet hurt today. They don't want me to put them back in heels ... but yet ... heels I must.
Yep. You read that right. I have a professional job. I'm back to working bridals. There's a really well established business in Tiffin that just expanded to Findlay. They took over the old I DO! building out by Olive garden. The owner is super nice. I really enjoy working with her and for her. She did a wonderful job remodeling the space too. It looks like how I think a bridal shop should look too. There's only one downside that I've spotted ... For now, until she can justify hiring more people, it's just going to be the two of us working. She doesn't want to be left alone in the evenings. So for a while ... I'll be late to our evening activities. Bummer ... but Tyler and I talked about it. I don't want to give up the shot at a full-time job because I have no short-term flexibility with my schedule. I am so tired of having to split myself 2, 3, even 4 or 5 ways just to make not enough money to even make a dent in helping with the bills. Yesterday, I made more money than I do in a full week of nannying. I just don't want to loose that earning potential - especially while Tyler's still getting his feet under him.
So ... the long and short of it ... I'm happy about the job. I'm not thrilled about the hours - but I know that they're just short-term. So this is a good thing. Okay ... I have to leave for work in about 2 hours. I should get busy around here. I find that I'm just not motivated to do housework when I don't get home till 8:30. Imagine that. :P

Second Chances ...

2007-03-30T10:38:00.000-04:00

Okay ... so I have an interview tonight at 5. I'll post more about it afterwards ... I'm still kinda superstitious about sharing too soon. Let's just say that this could be a very good thing.

In the meantime I'm washing windows and doors, cleaning the bathroom, and cleaning up my mess in the kitchen from sewing world.

Now ... what to wear ... hmm ...

Switchfoot and Switch Plates

2007-03-22T08:10:00.000-04:00

I find myself in a bit of a reflective mood today. And here is what I find myself reflecting upon (it's by Switchfoot) ...

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
Yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over

This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, are you who you want to be
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life are you who you want to be
This is your life are you who you want to be, yeah

This is your life, are you who you want to be, who you want to be yeah
This is your life, are you who you want to be (who you want to be)
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed it would be
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

And you had everything to lose

For those who aren't Switchfoot fans it's called This is Your Life. I loved this song. Mandy played it at JZ's funeral. I couldn't listen to it for a while. I can again ... and that makes me happy ... but that is beside the point and neither here nor there. The real reason I've been thinking about it lies here: Am I living like I want to live? For the most part - yes. I am happily married. I love taking care of my husband and our home. I enjoy one of my jobs ... I tolerate the other one :P. Tyler and I have wonderful friends. We enjoy our jOURney church. We are blessed. And yet there's a part of me wondering what it is that's not quite right. I find quite the call here to really live like today is it. I wonder how our lives and world would change if everyone honored today for what it is truly worth. Hmm ...

(And now, because I'm not so sure that deep reflection is working for me today ...)

On to the switch plates part of the title. It's spring. That means spring cleaning. I LOVE this time of year. I LOVE that I have the luxury of spending a large chunk of time cleaning our home and making it sparkle. Don't get me wrong. I do clean on a regular (read "weekly") basis. There's just something different about this time of year. The kitchen is gorgeous. I am so thrilled to have the inside of our appliances clean. (Yeah ... I know ... it's the simple - well dorky - things that please me.) The cupboards are clean ... inside and out. The bathroom is just as clean. Today's mission is: you guessed it - switch plates. No one ever thinks to clean where our dirty little fingers leave marks. Also on the list today - the insides of our washer and dryer need washed out, the furniture needs vacuumed, and the shower needs scrubbed down again (Tyler ran mop water for the floors in the bathtub after I cleaned it the first time ... oh well ... today's cleaning should be easier.), and I'm thinking that will probably be it in the time I have for today. Tomorrow I'll have more time.

And on a bit of a side note here: I don't understand why people freak out at the thought of sending your child to a friend's house when that friend has the chicken pox. That's what mom did to me ... I survived. Seriously - better to expose your child and get it out of the way when he's between like 4 and 9 than have him in college and ridiculously sick. Seriously people.

Okay ... on to switch plates ... :P

2007-03-13T09:27:00.000-04:00

Yes. In my last post I promised that I would comment on the whole Jesus tomb thing on Discovery. And I will ... I haven't had time to re-watch the show so that I'm not just making smart comments and laughing here ... and so be patient. It will come.

In the meantime - jOURney discussion was really good this past week. We talked about the Good Samaritan and Mary and Martha. So here's what I got ... (yes, I shared some of this - but not all on Sunday) Sometimes we want to do it all. We want to be the Samaritan. But sometimes we can't do it all. No matter what we want ... so what we can do is something. And we shouldn't belittle what we can do. At times we need to sit at Jesus' feet, because that is what is most crucial at that time. We don't have to have a perfect home or a seven course meal prepared for our guests ... we just need to sit with them - and be. Here's the real lesson for me. I far too often get caught up in my to-do lists and forget to just be with the people in my life. I am blessed that the people in my life are still there when I remember to look up from the chore list. And I realize that. But where does the balance lie? The chores need to be done. I'm only able to do those chores and other things on my lists at certain times of the day. I still need to be able to sleep at night. So where is the balance? Where is the time that it's permissible for me to work on checking off the things on those lists? I don't know that answer yet. The times that I think it's okay ... well ...

So speaking of my lists ... I have made serious progress recently. The ironing was all finished before I went to bed last night. The laundry is finished. I need to wash the rugs in the house. I'll do that while I'm washing the floors this afternoon. I'm behind on Chrysalis work. I know that I am. But Tyler's been really busy with work and fraternity stuff on the computer. I always feel bad when I need to be on the computer and he's busy. But I need a serious chunck of time ... and I'm just not home that much when he's gone. I must say that I miss my laptop. I miss the days when it was still working. Ahh well ...

Okay ... off to school. Hopefully there won't be any petty cat fights between the monitors today. (You'd think that adults could conduct themselves as such, but apparently not.) Then quick hour home for lunch, washing floors and rugs, and paying bills. Pick up Sophie, run her to dance, stop at Curves for half an hour, dinner, and Bible discussion group. Wow ... it sure looks like I'll be busy today ... oh well. That's how I like it.

(Andrea or Ryan - I'm almost finished with your alterations. I need to stop and pick up some thread for your dressy pants - I didn't have anything that would work. Hopefully I can bring your clothing back to you tonight. :))

Thoughts and a Song

2007-03-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

The thoughts shall follow at a later date and time. Tyler and I watched the Jesus tomb documentary on Discovery last night ... I would like to comment on that ... but my brain is just not there right now. In the meantime I'd like to share with you the lyrics to a song that is playing in my head right now - My Savior My God:

I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

Yes living dying let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring
That He who lives to be my king
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

My Savior loves my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is,
My God He's always gonna be...

Crazy

2007-02-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

So that last post was kinda cryptic. Sorry about that. I really have been going crazy around here though.

So I've recently started a new medication ... and my body isn't crazy about it. It's been a whole week since I've been to work. I hadn't been to work all that consistantly before that either (still getting over that grr flu). Last Friday was the last day that I really felt okay. Not great ... but okay. I have been trapped in the house and on the couch since Sunday afternoon. I am however making progress. While I'm not working today (a large part of that being that I NEED to be at the Chrysalis board meeting tonight), I am capable of sitting up. That's progress. Even last night, I couldn't sit up for more than 5 minutes. Today, I've been sitting up for a good hour now.

And now on to other topics.

Holy cow the fog was nuts yesterday. There was a good chunk of the morning that you couldn't see my car parked in the driveway from our kitchen window ... which is no more than 20 feet away. CRAZY! They tried to run schools on a 2-hour delay yesterday, but then ended up cancelling all together. I can't blame them. It was near impossible to see down to the end of our street (about a half of a mile) until afternoon ... even then, the fog didn't really clear till 2 ish and then was back in full force around 6. Major crazy. Tyler kept me posted on the state of the fog every time I spoke with him yesterday.

More in the crazy weather realm ... today's wind is nuts! I seriously just felt the house move. Seriously.

So Tyler's in Cincy today. This is his last training down there for a while. I know he's tired of driving down there all the time. I'm sure tired of him driving like this. He'll be home tonight. That's a good thing. At least it's not an all day deal this time ... just an afternoon.

And now I will go lay down ... I have reached my limit of sitting up time. Just one more thing ...

Welcome to the world Kara Diane Aldridge! Congrats Jenette and Aaron!

And Now ... A Song ...

2007-02-14T17:15:00.000-05:00

I am slowly going crazy ...
1 ...
2 ...
3 ...
4 ...
5 ...
6 ...
Switch!
Crazy going slowly am I ...
6 ...
5 ...
4 ...
3 ...
2 ...
1 ...
Switch!

I hate when I don't know what's going on ... and I'm not talking about in the world ... I'm talking about in myself. This whole emotional crap is stupid. I don't understand what my problem is. Grr ...
And the worst part of it all ... It's upsetting my relationship with Tyler. We're fine. But thanks to stupid head ol' me things are tense and rough. And it's all because I can't answer what the heck my probem is ...

stupid ...

It's a B-E-A-U-Tiful Day

2007-02-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

And not because of the blizzard-esque conditions outside of my window ... and not just because there's a snow day and I still get paid for working today ... but the real reason ....

It's officially baseball season!

And that makes me a VERY happy girl. Pitchers and catchers report today ... ahh ... as of noon today ... it's a beautiful thing. And at noon tomorrow they report to the Cubs training camps ... ahh ... then my team will officially be in season ... The Indians report later this week ...

It's the most wonderful time ... of the year ...

The "S"s of my Life

2007-02-01T09:47:00.000-05:00

... and there are three ...

1. It's SNOWING. It's pretty. I'm a sucker for snow. Although there's a part of me that admits I'm only enjoying it as much as I am because I don't have to go out in it. Why you ask? Don't you have jobs to go to today? ... why yes ... but ...

2. I'm SICK. I was sick like this at the start of the year. Twice in January. Seriously ... what's up with me? ... Fevers twice in the same month? I'm feeling a little better right now, but I was up almost all night ... grr ... I hate when I'm up all night. Do you realize how much NOTHING is on in the middle of the night? Seriously - from 3-5 am I had nothing to watch. And I just wasn't in the infomercial mood last night. Being up all night leads to ...

3. I'm SLEEPY. But I can't sleep. I hate that restlessness that comes with sickness and the inability to sleep ... ahh well ... this can't last too much longer. I don't have time to be sleepy or sick. And so I shall will my healing processes into hyperspeed and I'll be able to work tomorrow. I can just tell it. I shall will myself better and then will be able to go to Cincy on Saturday for STEBowl. I just know it.

(okay ... I might have more to say - but I'm too tired to try and figure out how to word them with "S"s and I don't really want to break away from my theme right now. I'm out ... )