christmas recap

well, it's been a busy week at the LW/LH house. in the past week,

-we purchased a new washer and dryer. i am in love with this set and plan to devote an entire blog post to how cool these things really are. did you know that i can sanitize my clothes without using any hot water whatsoever? cool, huh? anyone want to know what the name of the paint color in our laundry room is so you can copy it? sorry, i don't have a clue what the technical name is, but i like to call it the flamenco room. it's flashy and it won't last long. since we got the white washer and dryer instead of the cool red pair, we are going to paint the laundry room red and spice things up a bit. as if flamingo pink wasn't spicy enough...


-we received our furniture and things. because we thought it would be fun to camp out in our condo and new house for as long as possible, just to see how well we could survive on so little, we had them pack up all of our stuff and keep it in storage for a few weeks. it's a good thing that the company that packed us up did such a great job packing and protecting everything, because this is the truck that brought everything out of storage. it's probably a good thing that i didn't visit our things in storage to see what the facility was like.


-my friend, i'll call her "mrs. d," brought over some amazing homemade fudge and peppermint bark. she reads my blog and knows how much i love peppermint bark... it's a good thing that mrs. d agrees to go running with me every once and awhile, because i gobbled down the fudge and peppermint bark faster than you can say "weight watchers."

-my brother did fly out to help us paint after he finished his finals. unfortunately, i was waffling on the paint color decisions and halted all painting efforts until i could learn to be more decisive. after all, i'm a military wife and am supposed to make decisions quickly, right? not quite.. i think i've finally decided what to do and am going to lowe's this morning to make everything right. thank you, LH for being so patient and enduring the existing paint colors for so long.

-i graciously offered to fly us all back to my parents for christmas. unfortunately, my brother wasn't so sure of my piloting skills, as you can see in this picture (LH risked his life to take this picture from the runway).


my brother finally loosened up a bit once he saw that i knew what i was doing (notice that LH took the picture from outside the plane. he is a very, very brave man).


-seriously, though... we drove back to my parents and bozeman was more than happy to have a friend in the back seat. in this picture, he is leaning on my brother so they could both watch a movie together. he stayed that way for a long time, even though i initially thought that he was just posing so i could take a picture of them together.


-on sunday, my brother, LH and i rode to church together and then we all had to do some last minute shopping. since some of the shopping was for LH, my brother and i dropped him off at barnes & noble while we drove around in the crazy christmas traffic. we almost ran out of gas, had some rather interesting experiences trying to park the big truck in crowded parking lots, and eventually went back to get LH, who was waiting for us with hot chocolate for everyone.

-we had a ton of fun spending time with family at christmas. unfortunately, i didn't take a picture of the dinner that LH and i made for everyone. we were a little non-traditional this year: i made a mustard-dill salmon and LH cooked his famous steaks on the grill. i did manage to get a picture of bozeman on christmas morning, although i refuse to share the picture of me in my glasses with some major flyaway hair.


-we also met our mailman. you laugh, but that is a big deal in these parts. he has been on the same route for 21 years, so he knows everyone. our neighbors are incredibly friendly and LH and i quiz each other on their names all the time. neither one of us has done very well at remembering their names, and rather than ask them for the third time what their names are, i'm going to resort to searching through the GIS tax maps and creating a chart that lists our neighbors names. most of them have lived here for the past 20+ years and their kids have all grown up together. it's kind of nice to live in a place where everyone is so established when we know that we'll be moving again in three years or so. gives us a sense of stability. i know more about our neighbors here than i ever knew about our previous neighbors. this is the kind of place where people stop and talk to you when you are checking the mail, walking the dog or taking out your trash.

-and the best one yet: we are going to watch some bull riding on new year's eve. at least, that's the plan. mr. and mrs. d are also having a party that we are looking forward to on the same night.

i hope you all had a very merry christmas and aren't kicking yourself too hard for indulging in all of the yummy foods. i hope you spent time with the people most important in your lives and also remembered why we even have a christmas to celebrate: that god sent his son here to save us.

the horse and his dog

bozeman has several stuffed animals: a duck, a goose, a pheasant, a horse and he used to have a cow that squeaked. a few weeks ago, we decided that the cow was just too stinky and dirty and beyond help and that he needed to be replaced. this was a tough decision for me, because bozeman had picked out the cow all on his own during LH's last deployment, but it had to be done. LH and i went to the pet store and perused the selection of dog toys, trying to find just the right toy to replace the stinky cow. finally, we both agreed on a horse with a squeaker in it. it seemed a little weird to let the dog chew on a horse, but we didn't get too worked up about it.

it turns out that bozeman has bonded very well with the horse. they do just about everything together. at first, i thought it was just cute and a coincidence that he was treating the horse like his little friend. that was, until LH and i caught him giving his toy duck a drink from his water bowl last night. now we have to rethink these pictures and wonder how smart bozeman really is.

this was at our condo before we moved. i snuck up behind bozeman and caught him sharing the view with his horse. i think they were secretly plotting how to catch some of the feral cats together.


uh oh, i've been found out! notice the innocent look on bozeman's face. the horse doesn't look so innocent, though. he looks rather mischievous, like he has been teaching bozeman the ways of catching wild cats. naughty horse.


here they are together last night in our new house. both were exhausted from a long day of exploring and playing. i covered them with the blanket, but bozeman did the posing. i think he knew i wanted to take his picture and put his arm around the horse for me.

bundle shmundle

i'm on the phone with our phone company right now, trying to bundle our home phone, long distance, internet and wireless plans. the customer service rep is checking to see if our existing wireless plan qualifies for a bundle discount and then she has to check to see if our home bundle qualifies to bundle with a wireless plan. who knew it could be this complicated? i have been researching the plans and talking to these people for 3 hours already today. i find it pretty amusing that it took me a total of 15 minutes online with the dmv to update both LH's and my drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations. i'm going to call the dmv and see if they want to be my cell phone and internet provider.

christmas cards

it's amazing how much you can get done in an empty house! life seems so much more simple and surprisingly, neither LH or i have gotten bored yet. bozeman may have a differing opinion if you happen to ask him. last week, we sent out our christmas cards. this seems to be quite a feat for our household. last year, we took the christmas picture, wrote the cards, and then never mailed any of them. we were determined to do it differently this year, and we succeeded! it feels so good to have that out of the way. the picture at the top is of all the cards that i attached to my clipboard to make addressing the envelopes easier.

now, i am just trying to finish up some christmas shopping. LH took awhile to give me his "list" and so i am just getting started on his presents. i can't buy everything on his list, so i need to narrow it down. will you suggest which things you think i should get for LH?
*chaco flip flops
*easton baseball bat
*baseball glove
*grill
*framed antique maps of the states where we have each lived
*a new baseball hat (bozeman ate about three of his favorite hats)
*tools (the tools that we have around the house now are so cheap, it's like the equivalent of me using an easy bake oven to cook a turkey)
*a manly tool belt
*casio pathfinder watch
i think that is just about covers it all. okay, i'm off to go finish changing our address and all the fun that goes along with that.

moving isn't so bad after all

as you can see, bozeman travels well. in fact, he does some of his best sleeping in the car. so do i... good thing LH is such a wonderful husband and doesn't mind doing most of the driving. it's also a good thing that he is such a good driver so i don't get car sick when he drives. i could tell you some stories about me getting car sick... but you might be eating lunch while reading this and i don't want to spoil your appetite.

we just got back from spending a few days with wonderful friends in our new city. i call them wonderful because this is the second time that they have welcomed us into their house, dog and all, so we could go house hunting. this time, they even had a brand new german short-haired pointer puppy who became bozeman's best friend. hopefully, they will have some play-dates once we get settled so they can wear each other out! i know LH is hoping that they will have some play-dates just so he can play lego star wars on our friends' xbox 360. have you ever played that game? so. much. fun. i can't understand why LH would get upset when my character shot and killed him, though. whoever decided to create a video game with lego characters was a genius! no blood and guts and it's actually funny when c3po's arms get ripped off. and no, i'm not promoting violence.

so here is the good news: we signed a lease for the house and will be moving in as soon as the movers can get our things out of storage and into the house. i am thrilled. we looked at several other houses just to make sure we were getting the "right one," and i even told LH that i could live without stainless steel appliances (our realtor told me to think about what i was saying) but in the end, we ended up with my favorite house. of course, now that we have signed a lease, i'm expecting our condo to sell right away. well, expecting might be too strong of a word, maybe i should say hoping? praying? begging and pleading? at any rate, we have a place to live and i'm very excited about it. now, we just have to convince my brother to come visit after he finishes his finals so he can help us paint, paint, paint!

what's red and white and sometimes dark?

if you guessed peppermint bark, you are a woman or man after my own heart. the christmas season without peppermint bark is like a swimming pool without water: it just isn't right. while visiting my parents for thanksgiving, LH and i were relaxing (i was sleeping, he was watching a movie) on the couch after a long drive, when my mom handed me a box the size of a candy bar. it was, in fact, a candy bar, but not just any candy bar. it was a peppermint bark candy bar from trader joe's! oh man, even though i had been asleep and still was pretty out of it, i took a big bite of it and chewed very slowly. mmmm.... the dark chocolate mixed with the white chocolate to create a heavenly, chocolately flavor that was just crunchy enough from the pieces of peppermint bark. i didn't finish the bar right then, and set it down on the counter top to "save for later." later, funny enough, ended up being when LH woke me up to go to bed. i grabbed the candy bar as we started walking up the stairs and took another big bite. this time, i didn't mess around and i chewed much quicker. in fact, by the time LH had brushed his teeth and was all ready for bed, the candy bar was all gone and i had a big smile on my face. nothing like peppermint bark for a midnight snack during the holidays. or any other time of year. only, it's so hard to find it any other time of year. and why does peppermint bark have to be so expensive? i think i'm going to learn how to make it myself so i can eat it year round. anyone have any good peppermint bark recipes to share?

oh, christmas tree

moving woes

well, the movers emailed us today to say that all of our furniture and belongings have arrived in our next city and could be delivered today. the only problem is that we don't have a place for everything to be delivered to. you see, when we wrote the contract on the house, my husband wisely put in a contingency that we would not close until our condo sold. in a different housing market from today's, we would more than likely go ahead and close on the house and expect that our condo would sell soon. in this housing market, however, we are not taking any chances. the last thing we want is to be stuck trying to sell both the condo and the house a few years down the road when the military transfers us again. this has been especially difficult for me because i became so emotionally attached to the house. for awhile, i refused to accept any other options and only half-jokingly told my hubby that he could live in base housing and i would live with my parents until our condo sold and we could buy that house. unfortunately, either he talked to my parents, or my mom read my mind (which is more likely), because my mom told me that i couldn't move back in with them. darn. of course, i wouldn't really want to live separately from the hubby for any reason other than a deployment (and i've even considered stowing away for those occasions. did you know that they have signs at military airports telling you that it is a crime to stowaway or harbor a stowaway?).

i've taken solace in these verses right here: Matthew 6:25-34. these words tell me not to worry about tomorrow, because our heavenly father will provide for us. if he takes care of the little sparrows, how can i think that he would forget about us and our needs? he has it all under control, and even though things may not go according to my plans, God knows exactly what is planned for the hubby and me. i also trust my hubby in his decision making and his ability to find a replacement house for us if need be. when we got married, i agreed that he would be the head of the household and i'm doing my best to be supportive of him.

for now, the hubby, bozeman and i are living in our empty condo with a few outfits each, our mac computer and printer, one pot, one pan, a baking sheet, four dinner plates, four salad plates, four cereal bowls (which is not nearly enough when you eat as much cereal as we do), four spoons, four forks, four knives, one paring knife, one chef's knife, tongs, a basting brush (why did i feel it was necessary to keep this?), a pizza stone, several dish towels, no oven mitts (oops), and a pantry and refrigerator full of food. oh, i almost forgot our miniature, pre-lit christmas tree that is taking up residence in our empty living room (picture coming soon). if anyone wants to send us any care packages, we will gladly accept them!

p.s. we obviously still haven't decided on a nickname for my hubby. a few are in the works and i'll share as soon as there is a consensus.

life is like a bowl of...

pomegranate seeds? yup. my world is, anyhow. this was my dinner a few weeks ago. i had a huge craving for them and i couldn't eat them fast enough. i did, however, manage to stop myself in time to take a quick picture. i guess it's the color, and maybe the flavor, but pomegranate seeds make me feel very christmas-y. enjoy.



p.s. no husbands were injured in the taking of this picture or in the eating of this dinner. i provided a much more normal dinner for the hubby. i can't remember now, but i think i cooked hotdogs with toasted, cheesy buns for him.

hubby no more

my hubby needs a name. an alias, if you will. while browsing my blog and the other blogs that i like to read, my hubby asked why all the other husbands were called "hubby" as well. apparently, he doesn't like to be like everyone else. when we were engaged, i called him my fianceman (pronounced fee-AHNC-men) because fiance just sounded too girly for him.

so please, even if you've never commented on here, suggest some names that i can use for my hubby on this blog. i will give him total veto power on the suggestions and will announce a winner on monday. maybe we'll send you some packing tape and bubble wrap if you win. =)

here are a couple of pictures to help.

he's a good fisherman, even if i did catch more trout than he did on our honeymoon (this picture is not from our honeymoon).


he claims that he can't cook, but whenever he helps, dinner somehow turns out much better. here he is helping me cook fried rice in our very small and crowded kitchen. notice the time on the clock... late dinner + salty food = wifey in need of a workout


and here he is playing soccer with some kids. he has a big heart and even though he denies it, kids flock to him like he's the pied piper.


alright, guys, go to work: name my husband (and please, be nice)!

optional salt

i'm getting side-tracked from ironing and folding and stacking and boxing things for the movers that are coming tomorrow. unfortunately, it's really easy for me to get distracted. bozeman and i just went for a run because it is nice and cool outside and now i'm listening to drink up me hearties yo ho while trying to cool down and consider what to pack next. honestly, i can't use that excuse, because i made this nice, neat spreadsheet that lists everything that we are moving ourselves. my spreadsheet categorizes the item by room, whose responsibility it is to make sure the movers don't get it, and the tupperware box or suitcase in which it will be stored. so, no, i don't need to consider what to pack next, but i do need to tell you a funny story.

growing up in the midwest, you can't just eat cold cereal for breakfast in the winter. you have to eat something warm... like cream of wheat! at least, that's what i was brain washed to think, and to this day, i love eating a big bowl of cream of wheat. when i was little, my dad would normally make a pot of the cereal on the stove and we would share it early in the morning (we are both early birds). one morning, however, i beat him to the kitchen and decided to help get the cereal started. finding the box of cream of wheat was a cinch, and i was able to get the pot on the stove and measure the right amount of water. what i couldn't find, however was the "salt (optional)" as listed on the back of the box. stumped, i climbed up on the countertop and looked through all of my mom's spices until my dad entered the kitchen. when i told him that i was looking for the optional salt, it took him a few moments to compose himself and explain the definition of optional.

i have never made that mistake again, thank you very much. have any of you misunderstood directions like i have?

where do you buy YOUR toilet paper?

i just noticed this article in the ny times and i loved every single word. i am an admitted costco-a-holic. long before we were married and long before we even lived in the same city, the hubby and i took a big step in our relationship and joined costco together. that was three whole years ago, and now here we are as executive members, getting rewards back for the money that we spend at costco. it’s a good thing that we get those rewards, because whenever i go into costco for a bag of doggy bones or a three-pack of organic milk, i also end up getting a pack of apples, some sushi, a new paperback book, some snappy tupperware containers, and whatever other cool items costco has decided to put on display with the sole purpose of tempting me.

my most recent favorite purchase that i will talk about to anyone who will listen is this ecos brand laundry detergent. at first, i was hesitant to buy it because the scent was magnolia and lily. eww. nothing like a bunch of floral scented laundry detergent to ruin the hubby’s uniforms. i bought the detergent anyhow because i was curious and because it was environmentally friendly, and now i can’t stop smelling my laundry, no matter if it is in the form of fresh-from-the-dryer or worn-on-the-hubby.

when my hubby got his orders to the next duty station, my first order of business was to see if our new city had a costco. sadly, it does not. there is, however, a costco within a five and a half hour drive and we have decided to keep our membership so that we can stock up whenever we are within an hour drive time from the store. i actually got the idea when i was in the check-out line a few weeks ago and saw a woman with two full shopping carts. she spent over $700 on that trip! at first, it seemed crazy, but then, the idea seemed to make more sense to me as i realized that there are just some products at costco that i don’t want to live without. are we crazy?

now, i would be golden if i could just figure out how to transport a steady supply of costco’s yummy churros home for my hubby to eat on a regular basis.

another giveaway

but this time, i'm not the one doing the giving! check out amy's site for a new kind of giveaway. her idea has motivated me to think of some creative ways that i can give to those in need. patriot is also having a giveaway this week. check it out!

my hot date

saturday, in the midst of reading our books, the hubby took me out on a date. we went to a local putt-putt course and had a little competition. i don't know what i was thinking, but i brought my giant, red purse with me and it just doesn't help your aim when you have a bulging purse banging against your right arm. i finally resorted to setting the purse on the very dirty ground before i putted each time, and ended up getting a hole in one!! the hubby couldn't believe i actually got a hole in one with such a horrible putt (the ball was actually starting to roll back towards me, but then magically rolled the other way and into the hole). after that, i felt sorry for my dear hubby and started hitting the golf ball 4 or 5 times before i let it go in the hole. well, maybe i should be honest: i didn't do it on purpose and my game did get that bad, so the hubby won the game.

trying to recuperate from my losses, i mischievously led the hubby inside towards the air hockey tables. my mom had taught me well when i was little, and i knew that i could beat him at air hockey. the first game was a complete shut out in my favor, but the second was a huge win for the hubby. we decided to call it a day and went to the mall to do some christmas shopping.

we have two nieces and a brand new nephew that we bought pajamas for from gap kids and we also bought a santa sack for the hubby from pottery barn kids. we were hoping that we wouldn't run into anyone that we knew who might start a rumor if they saw us with a bunch of baby and kid store bags, so we decided to hide inside pottery barn. they had some really cool picture frames on sale and we bought a giant one, just so we could have a giant bag to hide our other purchases in.

all that shopping left us tired and starving, and we barely managed to make it to the sushi house before i fell asleep. there is nothing like a little wasabi to bring the wifey back to life, though. we shared hot tea, some soup, a california roll, and a shrimp tempura roll. all in all, i’d say it was a pretty good date night, wouldn’t you?

drum roll, please...

the winner is, "K" over at one crazy adventure! i wish i could give a copy of the book to everyone who submitted a comment, but maybe "K" will pass it on after she reads it. you could also pick it up at your library.
oh, two sites that i forgot to mention yesterday were the made by survivors store and nightlight designs. both offer some beautiful jewelry, clothing, purses and stationery. i think i'm going to try and buy at least two christmas presents this year from these sites since they are made by survivors of the sex trade and help support them in legitimate jobs.

books... and a giveaway

the hubby and i had our noses stuck in the books over the weekend. when we were visiting my family a couple of weekends ago, i borrowed their copy of the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. my dad had read the chronicles of narnia to me when i was little and i have such good memories of the books. little did i know, the hubby had not read any of the books. i was able to explain parts of the movie to him because i knew more about the characters from reading the books, and this sort of frustrated him. i casually mentioned that i actually had the entire series in our office and it didn't take long for him start reading the magician's nephew. i begged the hubby to read it out loud to me, and he amused me until i fell asleep =)

seeing as how it had been so long since i read the series (or rather, since my dad read it to me), i decided to start reading the books, too. i just finished the horse and his boy and it was so good! they are definitely children's books, but i would recommend the entire series to anyone.

i also just finished a very serious book, not for sale. it took me awhile to read through the entire book because it is pretty heavy. it follows the stories of several children and adults caught up in modern day slavery. did you know that children and women in america are actually sold on craig's list? i could go on and on about what i learned in this book, but instead, i'll point you to a few websites with plenty of information. also, i'm going to give away a brand new copy of the not for sale book. it had such an impact on me, that i want to pass it on for others to read. just leave a comment on this post and i'll have a drawing tomorrow morning.

bozeman... as in bozeman, montana

our dog doesn't have a very common name. in fact, i don't think i have ever heard of any animals that share his name. the hubby and i have a great love for all things montana, and that's why we named our dog after a city in the big sky state.

bozeman is sort of my baby. okay, he is really my baby. the hubby got him for me so i would have a companion while he was deployed, and boy was he a good investment. i've been told that i have "girlified" our dog, but i'm pretty sure bozeman is secure enough in his doggy-masculinity to handle the teasing. how has he been girlified? one example is what he does after we come back inside from walking in the rain or after he has had a bath: he follows me around the house until i get out the blow dryer and blow him dry. cute, huh?

on the way to meet our puppy, i talked to the breeder on the phone about the personalities of the puppies that she had available. as soon as she mentioned the one who was a little bit ornery, i was sold. it didn't hurt that when i met him, he came straight over to me and rested his head on my leg. everyone together now: "awwwww!"

here he is in all of his ornery glory:


here he is showing his athletic side:


and here he is trying to catch a lizard for me. once he catches one, he usually carries into a grassy spot where he can roll around on top of him. my favorite is when he army crawls across the lizard. i'll have to get a video of that and share it.


i think bozeman is much smarter than all other dogs. he even has a sense of humor, as you can see here:


one day, the hubby and i will have kids. until then, this little puppy is getting spoiled rotten...

i love the usps

someone quoted tom hanks on their blog this month, “i would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if i knew your name and address.” i love that quote, because who wouldn’t love a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils? or colored gel pens? or a fun stack of paper? or for that matter, a new book of stamps?
this afternoon, i had to go to the post office to send a package. i don’t go to the post office very often because, well, i typically just use email (although i did visit quite a bit while the hubby was deployed). as soon as i walked through the door, the familiar smell of the post office, which i can’t quite put my finger on, washed over me and a dozen memories from my childhood went running through my mind. once upon a time, people used to visit the post office all the time. now you can do it all online in the comfort of your own home. i think more people should visit the post office in person, though. those postal workers are very friendly and willing to help. you don’t get customer service like that just anywhere, you know.
since i was sending the package by way of registered mail, the postal worker behind the counter informed me that i would have to wrap all of the edges and corners in a special brown tape. she handed me the roll of tape, a water bottle with a sponge at the top and some scissors. why the water bottle? because the tape wasn’t actually sticky until you wet it down. she even carved out a little space on her countertop just for me. i felt almost as excited to be working at her counter as i do whenever i go to kinkos to make copies. i could honestly spend hours in there, playing with the colored paper, paperclips and giant paper cutters. after i had sufficiently taped up the box, the lady asked if i needed anything else. absolutely, yes! i needed christmas stamps for our christmas cards. those “holiday knit stamps” were so cute and fuzzy that rather than split up a book of 20, i told her to go ahead and give me three whole books of stamps, because i would use them this season. will i? we are sending out 50 christmas cards, so that leaves me with 10 extra christmas stamps. my challenge for the christmas season is to use up those extra 10 stamps that i bought. surely it can’t be that difficult to sit down and write an actual letter on genuine paper. can it? as much as i love paper and pens and pencils and crafts, i should be able to meet my self-imposed challenge with gusto. look out friends and family: mail is coming your way and it isn’t the electronic kind!
do any of you share my love of paper, pens, pencils and stamps? and what exactly does a post office smell like anyhow?

steaks, spikes and birthday cake

this weekend, the hubby, bozeman and i traveled to my parents’ house to see my brother compete in the state cross country meet. let me just say that i am SO proud of my brother. he ran a 5k on an extremely hilly course in 16:57. that boy can run. he isn’t even built for cross country, since he towers over everyone else and is very muscular, but he has overcome his physical disadvantages and runs with the best of them.
on the way back from the cross country meet, the hubby and i stopped by sara’s house to help celebrate anna’s third birthday. it’s amazing how fast kids grow up! anna shared some of her yummy little mermaid cupcake-birthday cake with us and it was pretty darn yummy. i have to say that sara was looking very bride-y this weekend!
saturday night, while the parentals and my brother were at various parties, the hubby and i decided to get a sushi appetizer and grill some steak. if i never make steak again, i will the happiest woman alive. we didn’t get to the grocery store until about 7:30 and as we hungrily browsed the meat selection, we decided to go all out and get a pound of filet. we also picked up some old-fashioned bottled coke and a pack of miso sushi rolls. once we were back at my parents’ house, i put our blockbuster movie in the dvd player and sunk down into the comfy couch with a down blanket on top of me. oh man, was it cozy and boy, did i get drowsy fast. observing my sleepy circumstances, my wonderful hubby took over and started the grill. about 15-20 minutes later, the hubby walked past me with the plate of steak and told me to come sit down at the table to eat. i was pretty sleepy, but i was more than curious about the steak, so i abandoned the warm couch and down blanket for my hubby at the table. fork and steak knife in hand, the hubby explained that this piece over here was medium-rare and that one over there was medium. i asked for the medium-rare piece, which he put on my plate, and quickly cut into it. i took a bite and suddenly forgot that i was sleepy and no longer nice and warm. this had to be the best steak i had eaten in my entire life. seriously. at first, the hubby thought that i was just saying that to make him feel good, but the speed at which i was eating the hunk of meat confirmed that i was telling the truth. honestly, i hope that i never have to cook a steak again, because my husband is by far the best steak griller in the world, and it would just be silly to waste his talents. maybe he’ll grill some steak again this week. i’m hoping that he does, because my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it.

man of my dreams

on the night that i learned i would not be graduating on time, i crawled into my tiny, twin bed with a puffy face and sore throat from all of the crying that i had done that day. my mom came in to talk to me before i drifted off to sleep, and while she was in there, my aunt (her oldest sister) called me on my cell phone. i was not in the mood to talk, even though i knew that she was calling to try and console me, and i let her go to voice mail.
later on that night, i had a dream that i was at some sort of family celebration and was holding a baby that belonged to a friend. while talking to the baby and watching the family members around me, a man came up to me and put his arm around me. i couldn’t see his face (don’t you hate how that happens in dreams?), but the feeling that i had when he was standing next to me was very distinct. i felt peaceful, complete, beautiful and very happy. this man then turned to whisper these very words into my ear, “this is us three years from now.” when i woke up, i remembered every detail of the dream, but didn’t give it much thought other than to think that it gave me a nice feeling.
after church, i remembered my aunt’s voice mail that was awaiting me. listening to her animated voice made me smile, but then her parting words just about made me choke on the atlanta bread company sandwich that i was eating. her words were, “and i have a feeling, [wifey], that we are going to be just as proud of you three years from now as we are today.” what? my dream from the night before was still fresh in my mind and i wondered about the significance of it all. little did i know that 3 years, 2 months and 12 days later, i would be marrying the man of my dreams who made me feel exactly like that man did in my dream the night of my non-graduation. i have no doubt that God gave me that dream and put those words in my aunt’s mouth to provide a flicker of hope for my future as i worked hard to graduate college.

seven random things about the wifey

yesterday, i was tagged by the caffienated cowgirl over at just this side of normal for a meme. i have to state 7 random things about me and then tag 3 people to do the same. here they are in no particular order:
1) i hate eating out at restaurants. the servings are always too big, yet i have a hard time stopping when full, and i know that i could cook a healthier, cheaper version that would taste just as good at home.
2) my feet are huge. i wear a size 11 shoe and my mom always taught me to buy two pairs of the same shoe when i find one that i like, because my size sells out so quickly.
3) my brother was born when i was 9 1/2 years old, which means that i was an only child for that long. i'm not sure what that says about my personality. we have a very close relationship, even though we are so far apart in age.
4) when my mom used to make my lunches, she would put a frozen juice box on top of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. by the time i got around to eating my lunch, the sandwich was cold and squished, but it tasted SO good. now, i can't eat a PBJ sandwich without squishing it first. it just doesn't taste right with fluffy bread.
5) i studied the russian language for three years in high school and one year in college. after spending 5 weeks in russia, i got really good at speaking the language. it's been a few years since i've had a chance to really practice it, so i'm rusty, but i want to get better. anyone want to practice with me?
6) i'm addicted to playing solitaire on my cell phone before i go to bed. somehow, i think that i have to win a game before i can fall asleep. this started while my hubby was deployed and i couldn't fall asleep at night... now i'm trying to break the habit =)
7) hamburgers are disgusting. i don't eat them and haven't eaten one since i was about 5 years old when my baby sitter would take me to mcdonald's for lunch and get hamburgers for me while she ate taco bell.

so that's about it. there are many more random things about me, but you'll have to stick around to discover them. now, i am tagging felicia, sara and chas. if you don't do the meme on your blog, then you'll have seven years of bad comments. just kidding =) do the meme if you want or don't do the meme if you don't feel like it. let me know if you do this meme on your blog so that i can read it!

giving thanks

this morning, as i was peeling and slicing apples for my husband’s lunch, it suddenly hit me that thanksgiving is just around the corner. that realization hit a switch somewhere in the back of my blonde brain and it finally started to feel like fall. i’m not sure what season i was stuck in before now, but somehow the nearness of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin and pecan pies made me feel like getting all of my warm and wooly sweaters down from the top shelf of our closet. soon, we’ll be hitting the road to go visit my family and my mom will be brining a turkey PW style while the hubby, my dad, my brother and i all play frisbee in the back yard. thinking about all of these things makes me thankful for the blessed life that i have. my mom has this tradition at thanksgiving that I used to consider very silly, but now i look forward to it. she has everyone go around the table and tell one thing that they are thankful for before we can begin to eat. i think i’ll get a head start on her tradition via the blog world today.
i’m thankful that my wonderfully brave hubby made it back safely from his second deployment and that he will be here for all of the holidays this year.
i’m thankful that i have a great job and a nice home, husband and dog to come home to.
i’m thankful for all of the soldiers, sailors and other military men and women who make sacrifices every day to protect our country and our country’s interests.
i’m thankful that we are free to worship and express our beliefs in this country.
i’m thankful that both my parents and the hubby’s parents are alive and happily married.
i’m thankful that three years ago today, i was able to be there with sara when anna was born.
i’m thankful for wonderful in-laws.
i’m thankful that the hubby didn’t laugh at me last night when i wanted to make smores with the oven broiler and that he roasted my marshmallows for me so i wouldn’t burn my hands.
i’m thankful that i am healthy enough to go running and burn some of the calories gained from eating those smores.
i’m thankful that you are still reading this long list. i could go on and on, but i will stop here for now. what are some things that you are especially thankful for this year?

the road to the last day of college... part 2

after transferring to a state school for my junior year and then returning to the women’s college so i could finish where i had started, i entered my fifth year of college as a senior.
days before graduation, my senior seminar professor invited our class over to her house to celebrate the end of our time together. she was as nice to me as everyone else and not once during the entire night did she pull me aside to tell my of my impending doom. you see, she had given me a failing grade for her class (which i definitely deserved).
on the day of graduation, i was woken up by my mom with the phone in her hand. it was the dean of the college and she wanted to speak to me! i cleared my throat, expecting her to ask me to do something special for her at graduation because i was just an exceptional person. instead, she quietly informed me that i would not be getting my degree that day. I had failed my senior seminar class and that grade had been enough to pull the gpa of my major below a 2.0. she said that i could still walk at graduation if i wanted to, but i would not be able to go on stage to shake the president’s hand or get my diploma. i didn’t know what to think, but i did know that there was no way that i was going to that graduation ceremony. i quickly thanked her and hung up the phone.
i was mad. i was mad at my senior seminar professor for not pulling me aside at her house that day, i was mad at myself for letting my grades get so bad that one class could ruin it all for me. i was humiliated that i would have to tell anyone what had happened. then the floodgates opened and i couldn’t stop crying. my parents came into my room and i somehow managed to tell them what the dean had said. i think they were honestly shocked. they let me cry for a few hours and then asked what i wanted to do about the party that they were having that night. i was too prideful to let them tell anyone the truth, so we actually had the party and just danced around the subject when any of the guests (other than family) asked how the graduation ceremony had been that morning. it was painful and i ended up going up to my room early and crying some more.
that weekend, my parents and i discussed my options. i could just give up, leave the college without a degree and become a real estate agent; i could go to another college and finish there; or i could go back to the women’s college and do what needed to be done to graduate. i decided on the latter choice and that monday, my mom and i met with one of the deans of the college to strategize. the dean told me that i had demonstrated great character in coming back to finish and she knew that i had what it took to graduate. she suggested two classes to take during fall semester and told me that i needed to make an A and a B in order to graduate. that dean was the first person in college who had ever taken any academic interest in me and i revered her for it.
it was excruciating for me to show back up that fall semester and have everyone ask why i was there. i told a few the truth, but others i just jokingly told that i couldn’t get enough of the place. terrified that i would wind up without a college degree, i worked very hard in both classes. i read the homework ahead of time, contributed in class and worked on my papers and essays in advance so that i could turn in real, finished products. classmates asked me questions when they didn’t understand our readings and i wondered why i hadn’t taken the time to care before now. rather than just hope that my grades were okay, i would follow up with my professors and talk to them about my papers while i was writing them. i discovered that i truly enjoyed school. i made two A’s that semester and ended up with two professors who were genuinely proud of me! i was proud of myself, too, and that semester will forever be a memory that i turn to for inspiration and motivation. it was an awfully painful semester for my pride, but i will be forever thankful that God let me get to that failing point so i would have to work hard at achieving something. he didn’t just let me glide through school, because he loved (loves) me and didn’t want me making the same mistakes in more important areas of my life later on down the road.

oh, caulk!

one of the final details that we have been doing in our remodeling project is caulking. the hubby and i scraped and removed the old caulk around the crown molding before we painted and then removed the old caulk from both bathtubs over the weekend. the hubby had a pretty frustrating time trying to caulk below the crown molding in the dining room, but he ended up doing a great job. after seeing how annoyed he was with the caulk gun, i decided that i would do him a favor and do the rest of the caulking myself. besides, he had more important projects that needed his attention (like installing cool, new toilet paper holders and hanging a few pictures). do you know how maddening it is when you finish up a caulk line and the caulk doesn’t stop coming out of the tube? it just keep squirting out, even if you put a cap on it!
i was crouched inside the guest bathtub caulking, and the hubby was using the level to measure for the toilet paper holder right next to me when this conversation took place:
wifey: “you know, caulk could be a bad word in our family's vocabulary after this experience. you could say the word and no one would know that you were sort of cussing.”
hubby: “except that it already sounds like a bad word.”
wifey, not quite grasping what the hubby meant: “wouldn’t it be great? you could say something like, ‘oh, caulk!’” pause… “um, yeah, i see what you mean. scratch that idea.”

to football or not to football

that is the question. i work with some serious football fans. before now, i've never paid much attention to bcs ratings or who needs to beat who this weekend or who is the best quarterback for this week's fantasy game. but now, i don't have much of a choice because i hear about it all day long at work. i even managed to be the high school drum major for three whole years without understanding what a first, second, third or fourth down had to do with winning a football game. i barely knew when a touchdown was happening. usually, i would watch the fans or the band director for a cue when to tell the band to play a fight song. sad, i know. yesterday, the hubby was particularly interested in a certain navy/notre dame football game. i actually watched it with him and enjoyed it. he even explained what all the downs were and why they had to happen, etc. sara has tried to explain these things to me before, but i guess it didn't stick with me. now, however, i think i might understand. maybe. i still don't see what all the hype is about and can't quite understand why someone would spend their entire weekend on the couch watching football games, but maybe i'll try a little bit harder now to enjoy a game every now and then. what harm can it do?

it's a jacket! it's a coat! it's a blazer! it's a cardigan! it's a trench coat!

when i bought this coat, i didn't fully realize just how versatile it would be. you see, one of the perks to working in an all-male office (except for me, of course) is that the guys don't pay attention to your wardrobe. i can wear the same outfit two or three times a week (i try to limit it to two times, don't worry) and they'll have no clue! this jacket has been added to so many outfits, you wouldn't believe it. i've already worn it twice this week as part of two separate ensembles. it's great and i'm totally getting my moneys worth out of it. when i was in high school, i didn't really have the luxury of wearing outfits twice in one week. my mom would notice that i liked a shirt or pair of pants a little too much and then would hide them from me. perhaps she was trying to save me from a social disaster, but it just plain frustrated me. my husband on the other hand, would never think of hiding clothes from me just to prevent my wearing them multiple times. in fact, i think he would encourage it because that would mean less shopping on my part. or not. =)

location. location. location.

well, after countless hours spent painting, cleaning and rearranging, i'm ready to show you a few pictures of our condo that we hoping to sell very quickly. we showed it to a couple last night and are going to list it with our realtor this weekend if that couple doesn't make an offer by then. the bathrooms were totally redone and the pergo floors throughout the condo are all new as well. what do you think?

under contract!!

help!

i keep a notebook in my purse at all times so i can be ready to write an idea down whenever it strikes me. the notebook that i'm using right now has a list of the duty stations that we were considering before my husband got his orders, a list of things to do with my hubby when he came home from deployment, topics to write about on this blog, and most recently, a list of ideas for Christmas presents. i wrote everything down for everyone except for my hubby. the list that i created for him was in a code that i hoped he wouldn't break if he happened to see it. the problem is, now i can't figure it out either... what i did was write the first and last letter of each word and put a dot between those letters. this is the present that i'm having trouble deciphering: c.o p.r w.h so this one item has three words and who knows how many letters between those first and last letters. anyone want to help me out and take a guess at what it means? here it is again:
c.o p.r w.h

the road to the last day of college... part 1

five and a half years of college. and that was just for a bachelor’s degree. simultaneously getting rid of the ex-boyfriend and moving out of my parents’ house for the first time gave me a huge burst of freedom and i lived it up to the umpteenth degree. i suddenly realized that guys actually liked me, contrary to what the ex had drilled into my head, and my friends and i would go wild four nights a week at local fraternity and house parties. our busy weekends concluded with sunday night swing dancing and then it was back to classes for the week. i was asked to join our school’s social council and had a hand in planning every social event that year. what more could i want?
my story probably sounds very similar to most college students’ experiences, except for the whole studying part. graduating high school with honors had been a breeze for me, but this college thing was a whole new ballgame. most of my friends spent their non-partying hours in the library, buried in the books, but i was busy working 20-30 hours a week for an engineering firm and then taking five dance classes a week. when was i supposed to fit in library time? unfortunately, i didn’t try and didn’t think that i needed to. i would occasionally meet a friend at the library to study for a class together, but my study skills were extremely underdeveloped.
at the end of the first semester of my sophomore year, i completely stopped partying. i had started going to this church thing on tuesday nights and one night, it totally changed my life. in an instant, i knew that the partying and drinking had to stop and that i had to make some changes or else my life was going to take some really bad turns. those changes were astonishingly easy for me to make, but sadly, i had already created some horrible study habits (rather, non-study habits) and i didn’t know how to fix them. i continued working 30+ hours a week for the engineering firm and taking numerous dance classes. those were my priorities, and i figured that since the people around me loved me and i was very good at my job, i would quickly and successfully finish college and get on with my career. riiiight. i was obviously very ignorant and reality was coming at me like a freight train.

the last day of college

i've already told you about my first day of college, so maybe i should fill you in on my last day of college. it was equally as interesting and didn't take place until 1739 days after that first day. that's right, for those of you that are looking at that number in disbelief, it took me five and a half years to graduate college (i finished in december, but we didn't have the graduation ceremony until may). college was just so much fun and so much money ($40,000+ a year) that i didn't want to leave until i was absolutely ready. seriously though, i just got my priorities a little mixed up and had to learn a difficult lesson the hard way. curious? i'm sure you are... more details coming soon =)

bad samaritan?

i just passed a man on the side of the road with jumper cables in his hand as he stood helplessly next to his broken-down conversion van. maybe i've heard one too many abduction stories, because i drove right past the guy without even thinking about stopping to help. in a college self defense course, we read the gift of fear and learned to listen to our sense of fear (great book, by the way). had i stopped to help this man, i'm sure i could have used some of my karate moves on him if he had tried to harm me, but what if he had a gun? am i just paranoid?
the good samaritan story always comes to mind in instances like these. we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves, but how do we do that in today's world? the world was a dangerous place in the samaritan's day, but he still stopped and put his life on the line to help someone.
there has to be a balance. i want to help, but i don't want to end up on the evening news. maybe that is my problem and i'm just like the levite and the priest from the good samaritan story. does anyone else struggle with this or have some advice?

*update*
if you read the comments, you'll see a very amazing response to my post. also, i just got back from a run with bozeman and while we were out there, it started pouring rain. i didn't mind it, and the dog loved it, but someone apparently thought that we were in need. a lady pulled off of the very busy road that we were running next to, rolled her window down in the pouring rain, and tried to give me her umbrella. what a sweetheart. i thanked her for her kindness and told her that we were enjoying ourselves.

pictures of the house

has a house ever made you cry?

before this past weekend, i would have answered “no” to that question. but now, my friend, i have cried because of a house. the hubby and i went house hunting this weekend, hoping to find our next home in just one day with our realtor. it sounds like a lofty goal, but we had both prayed about it ahead of time and asked God to give us wisdom in choosing the right part of town and the right house.
after endless hours of research on the internet, there was one house in particular that the hubby and i were looking forward to seeing. it was older, 27 years old to be exact, but looked solid. our realtor showed us some rather interesting houses, some really nice ones, and some houses that belonged to families that we felt sorry for because we knew that they needed to sell. finally, we visited the house that we had both talked about ahead of time. as we pulled into the driveway, we saw the homeowner walking out the back door with a basket of something, heading to her next door neighbor’s house to wait while we perused her home. i liked her immediately, although i’m still not sure why. i fell in love with the house as soon as we peeked in through the front door. there were plenty of windows and there was so much sunshine streaming in through them. the hardwood floors ran throughout the entire house and they were beautifully polished; this was a big selling point for both the hubby and me. as we walked through the house, i could envision us living and entertaining in it.
it wasn’t until we walked around the exterior of the house, though, that i started to get teary eyed. when we rounded the corner into the backyard, my eyes started to sting and water. i didn’t know what was wrong with me! the hubby and i were looking at the roof and then at the bushes along the property line that i hoped were blackberry bushes and it hit me that this was the house for us. i’m not an emotional girl, but something just made me tear up, something told me that we had to buy this house. i even thought that the homeowner was sitting in her next door neighbor’s kitchen, watching us walk around the house, and praying for us. i felt it. at the end of the tour, i told my hubby that this was the house; none of the others were even contenders in my mind. i also told him that i couldn’t be analytical about it and he had to be the one to make sure that this was the right choice. we talked about it with each other on the drive home and then we talked to both sets of parents and now we are getting ready to make an offer! woo hoo!

an angel in the darkness

in high school, i had a great boyfriend. no really, he was awesome. he liked to put me down, yell at me, threaten me, drop me off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere if we got into a fight, and sometimes he would even hit me. yeah, he was so great that i stayed in that relationship for four whole years. don’t ask me what i was thinking, lord knows my entire family and nearly all of my friends (and some of his friends) did everything they could to show me that i would be so much better without the dude. it wasn’t until i went away to a women’s college that i finally got the guts to break up with him for good.
the day my parents helped me move into my dorm was life changing. i met my roommate and all the girls on the hall and we went to dinner as one group. i had never had so many girl friends before. the upper classwomen were so independent and brilliant and out to save the world and were there to encourage the new “first-years” on campus.. in just that first day at the school, i regained so much confidence in myself that my boyfriend had worked hard to destroy over the past four years. that night, well past the time that all good girls should be in bed, my boyfriend called to say that he was sitting outside in the parking lot. lovely. i went outside to meet him and we walked around the campus together. we quickly got into a useless argument and stopped to talk it out on the steps of our school’s old, outdoor amphitheater. i was quickly falling back into the submissive role of the stupid girlfriend, and all i wanted to do was walk away from him and go back to my safe dorm with all of my new friends. tears started welling up in my eyes as i listened to him rant and rave about what an idiot i was. he got mad at me for being quiet and crying and he pushed me. i fell down a couple of the concrete steps of the amphitheater and scraped up my arm and side pretty good. i got up and looked at him in disbelief, and he started apologizing, trying to comfort me for the pain that he had just caused me. at this point, i knew that he had to go, but i had no idea how to get him to leave. we were alone, in the dark, in the middle of a very empty field and most everyone else on campus was in their dorm rooms. i did the only thing that i could think of: i prayed. it wasn’t even a good prayer; i pretty much just said “help” to God. i looked at the soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, not sure how God was going to help, only sure that He would. my eyes wandered past the boyfriend to a tree about 50 yards away and i saw a form. a very tall, dark figure was leaning against a tree near the student center and seeing that figure gave me one of the most peaceful feelings that i have ever felt in my entire life. i knew that that had to be an angel that God had sent to help me get through the next few minutes, because without seeing that figure against the tree, i couldn’t have pushed past my boyfriend and walked confidently to my dorm, ignoring his requests for me to stop and just talk. i walked right to my dorm building, with him on my heels, unlocked the door with the key that i had and he didn’t, and closed the door in his face. my heart was racing as i watched him through the glass, yelling and pleading for me not to call the cops. of course i wasn’t going to call the cops. i was going to get on my knees and thank God that he had rescued me.

stowaway

i have a stowaway with me in the office today... bozeman! the contractor is still working on our condo and i think bozeman was bitten by a spider, so i couldn't send him to doggy day care to play today. he's a good dog, laying on the other side of my desk with his head near my feet. too bad i can't bring him every day!

bookworm

i love, love, love to read. there is a picture of me from when i was 8 years old where i am sitting at the kitchen counter with a book in one hand, bowl of cereal in front of me and my deaf, white cat leaning over my shoulder. not much has changed in 19 years. you can still find me (standing, not sitting) at the kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal, a good book and the dog at my feet.
i recently finished a really good book, the will of wisteria. although it seemed a little predictable at times, i found it impossible to put the book down until i finished it. i read the savannah series that this author wrote with the same fervor. next, i’m working on reading through not for sale. it’s a sad, but a necessary eye-opener. i’ll have to blog about that one after i finish it… i can’t believe i had no idea how prevalent slavery was in the world today.

it sounded like a good idea...

sometimes, i have some really great ideas that turn out to be not so great ideas. my plan to mega-multi-task while at work and get in some exercises in our warehouse has turned into a major pain. i love doing lunges and squats and regularly do them around our condo in the midst of doing laundry or cooking dinner. so of course, when i came up with the brilliant idea of doing lunges between my desk and the bathroom in the back of our office warehouse, it sounded like the perfect plan (don't worry, no one could see me!). i could feel the burn at the end of the day and felt a little less guilty if i didn't make it to the gym... until my knee started to hurt. and it hurt a lot. remember that little backpacking trip where sara thought that the bear was attacking her? during that same trip, i managed to slip and slide on the icey trails enough that all the little knee injuries from years of ballet combined to form one big knee injury. that same knee just started acting up again thanks to my brilliant idea to do lunges at work. oh, did i mention that those lunges were performed while wearing black pumps? that's probably the reason my idea went so awry. a few ice packs and some husband-enforced time off from running have left me walking without much pain, so it thankfully wasn’t a serious injury this time.
oh, another brilliant idea of mine has left my hubby a tad frustrated. while planning out our remodeling with the contractor, he asked if he could throw the remodeling trash in our condo dumpster. knowing that this was a serious offense with our property manager, i told our contractor not to worry about it and that the hubby and i would take care of the disposal of those old toilets, tile, carpet and vanity. oops. what was i thinking? that stuff is heavy! and we live on the third floor! and the dump is very far away from our neighborhood! so what do i do now? should i ask the contractor to haul it all away and just have him charge us? do i call one of those places like 1_8OO_g0t_junk? any suggestions would be appreciated =)

r-e-s-p-e-c-t

i just have to brag about my husband for a minute. this past month has been incredibly stressful for us. we've been working on the condo to get it ready to put on the market, looking for a house to buy in a city that we haven't seen for 3 years (we're going house-hunting in person soon), and just dealing with daily life. although i work really well under stress in the office, i don't think i deal with it so well at home. sometimes, the hubby will find me cleaning the toilets at 11:00 at night just because i suddenly find it more important than going to bed at a decent hour. or, in the midst of trying to de-clutter and move things to storage, i'll start baking cookies because cookies are safe and make me feel like the home is in order even when it is not (ever seen disney's "the kid" with bruce willis? i love his line, "safety in sandwich... safety in sandwich"). thankfully, i have a husband who can sort through all of the stress and create some sort of order for us both. he wrote out a detailed plan and schedule for getting everything completed on time and has even given me tasks to do every day. that might sound pretty old school to you guys, the husband giving his wife "chores," but i asked him for it because i knew that we needed to be on the same page and i really needed him to be in charge and take the lead. i am a very driven, type-a person and the last thing we need right now is for me to take over and start giving my husband orders. and that's just what i would do if he hadn't done it himself. i have a renewed respect for my husband after these past couple of weeks and i just get so excited about it and want him to realize how amazing he is.
here's a more direct example of how amazing he is: the living and dining room have been in disarray because we had to pile all of the furniture in the middle of the rooms and cover them with drop cloths while painting the walls around them. yesterday, the hubby didn't have to go into work until late in the afternoon. do you know what he did all day long? he cleared the kitchen countertop, cleaned up all of the paint supplies, put all of the furniture back in place and even rearranged it in a better layout than before that makes our living room look so much bigger and emphasizes our really cool screened in porch. i got home from work and it was such a relief to have everything back in its place and in order. whew. he even waited for me to get home from work before he left, just so we could sit down and relax together for a few minutes. what a guy...

the talking donkey

bozeman and i take long walks together every morning. it is still dark outside when we walk, but i feel pretty safe in our neighborhood (having a big dog by my side doesn't hurt). sometimes, i just let bozeman sniff every spot on the grass or the trunk of someone's car. other times, he is in a hunting mood and we have to chase every cat or bug that crosses our path. still other times, i just want to go for a nice run with my dog. there have been two early mornings in the past month that i've tried to go for a run with bozeman and he has simply resisted me at the very beginning of our run. he actually stops running, turns in the opposite direction, and either sits down or tries to run back home. rather than yank the leash and force him to keep running with me, i usually turn around with him and we just run around the condo or chase cats together (am i losing my mind admitting that i chase cats with my dog?) and the reason is because i keep thinking of the talking donkey from the bible. anyone know the talking donkey story? all i can think of when my dog decides that he doesn't want to run with me is what he can see ahead of us on the path that i can't see. it may sound silly, but when it is dark and there aren't many people around, i'm going to trust my dog's instincts over my own... and i will continue to chase those cats.

flip this condo!

a few posts back, i very briefly mentioned that the hubby and i were trying to paint every single interior wall in our condo. that was only part of the story. no, we couldn't stop at just painting! we are also getting new toilets and shower/tub faucets for the bathrooms, getting a whole new sink cabinet for the guest bath, new lighting fixtures in the bathrooms, new tile in the guest bathroom and new pergo flooring in the foyer, hallway, dining room and living room. don't worry, we have a contractor helping us. lowe's really loves us right now. a few hundred bucks here, a few hundred there... poor hubby. we are doing all of this work in hopes that it will make our condo stand out from all of the other condos on the market and that it will sell quickly. as soon as all of the work is complete, i'll post some pictures... maybe even some before and after pictures!
and completely off the topic, sara and i may be getting together soon in atlanta. the hubby and i have a wedding to go to and sara just happens to have some plans in the same part of town at the same time.

grown-up vacation

the hubby and i traveled 2 plane rides away this past weekend to go to the wedding of a guy that he knew in college. i loved meeting the guys who had spent four years with my husband and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing the stories that they couldn't wait to tell me about him. our entire weekend was so enjoyable; the city was great for walking and exploring, the food was incredible, and we just had a great time being a married couple on a little vacation together. it was actually our first "married" trip other than our honeymoon if you don't count the times that we have visited family. sure, we went to monterey and carmel on our anniversary, but that was more like a side trip during a family visit and it doesn't really count. i've decided that we need to follow the example of a good friend of mine and take a couple trips together year, even if they are just day trips, and spend time just being us.
and, to follow up with some topics that i discussed in some previous posts, i've included a picture of the dress that i wore to the wedding along with the coat that i ended up buying from banana republic. sara talked some sense into me, reminding me that i didn't really need a coat as heavy as the one that i tried to win on ebay. i love the mini-trench that i got on sale at banana. unfortunately, i didn't get any pictures of me in the dress without the coat. hmm, i must really like that coat! i also ended up soaking my fingernails in acetone to finally get rid of any remaining acrylic nails, and then painted on several layers of natural nail strengthener. please, if i ever talk about getting fake nails again, somebody please knock some sense into me!

fall tv line-up

everyone has their fall tv line-ups posted on their blogs right now and so i thought i'd jump in the mix. except for one problem: i don't have one! that's because we don't have cable in our house. and it's by choice. you probably think the hubby and i are really weird now that i've said that. neither one of us had cable before we got married and we didn't feel that we needed to add it to our already crazy-busy lives after we got married. we rent movies all the time, so it isn't like we are totally against having a tv. it's just that, well, it would be too easy to get sucked into watching a tv show (or two or three) every night if we let ourselves, and we have so many other things that we never seem to have time to do anyhow. right now, for instance, we are painting every single wall on the inside of our condo, trying to decide what to replace our carpet with, looking for a piece of tile to match the cracked one in the guest bath, and looking for houses in the city where we'll be moving in just a few short months. and even if we weren't doing all of that, we have soooo many books that we bought but haven't had time to read, recipes to make, piano to practice, books to write, a dog to play with, etc. the list is always going to be there and i just feel that for us, personally, it would only hurt us to add several tv shows to our current schedule. i'm not trying to be holier than thou, i'm just telling you what works for us at our house. are there any other strange people out there without a fall tv line-up?