helllooo red?

not real sure what possessed me.....
given that i have to go to P's reunion in 2 weeks i'm thinking this was poor timing to lose my mind
i do feel a bit feistier...
wanna box?
i'll blame the amoxicillin that i'm taking for the plague that i've had for 2 weeks. stupid fall. stupid bronchitis.
perhaps i'll start speaking in an irish accent today.... me hair suggests it...

I WON SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!

NO FREAKING WAY!!!!!!! I WON SOMETHING!
I <3 THE COTTON WIFE
I <3 the pioneer woman!!!

I am so excited!!! By sharing a story of a family member who dresses in innapropriate garments, I have won...wait for it...WAIIIIIIIIIT FOR IT. A coveted copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks

I do not think that if you have not visited Pioneer Woman's blog that you can begin to understand how thrilling this is. The woman, can seriously cook. And her cookbook has STEP BY STEP PICTURES. STEP...BY STEP!

Do you know what this means to me??? This means that I will KNOW what the recipe means when it says "stir eggs til thick" (this apparently means til they are consistently yellow) and what "stiff peaks" mean when making meringue!! OHHHHH it is a culinary guide for the gourmet inside all who have less than stellar kitchen techniques and need STRUCTURE and GUIDELINES to make the meal look the way it's supposed to.

On top of that Pioneer Woman is a fabulous photographer and I am learning to properly use my camera thanks to her.

The Cotton Wife is also a fantabulous photographer and has the most beauifulest blog ever. I envy her farm life and really mostly the farm house...Ohhhh to live in a beautiful farm house... I bet it's shower wouldn't be leaking incessantly despite repeated attempts to fix it. Why do I say that? Because a farm house is my dream house and despite its age, a dream house wouldn't leak. It would know better.


If you would like to visit these women's blogs, I highly recommend. In the meantime, I'm off to count my blessings...

3 blessings:
the Pig will be visiting me in t minus 6 days
my dad is turning 72 on the 18th and is still doing fantastically 2 years post heart surgery
my aunt from England is coming to visit on the 14th!

100 Blessings

It's my 100th Blog! Thus, 100 blessings that I'm grateful for.

1. my husband who loves me more than i could ever imagine being loved by anyone
2. my mom, she brings p and i soup and dinners so we dont have to cook when they come to visit. she is extraordinarily generous to both of us
3. my dad, he walks me through unclogging sinks on the phone, and still says a prayer with me before i go to bed when i stay at their house
4. my sister, my shining star, who never fails to make me laugh
5. mojomom, she challenges me to grow personally, professionally and spiritually and also for our "am i being a good wife?" checks...
6. llama, her sense of humor
7. chuck, she's just always been there for me
8. cornelia marie, everyone needs a friend with whom they can drink in excess and then pretend to be a crab boat on the bering sea with. at age 29.
9. that i got to rekindle my friendship with my childhood best friend and that she is on her way to becoming a mom after years of trying and i get to be a part of that now. i would have missed it had we not decided to be friends again...
10. that my family, friends and i all appear to enjoy good health despite my worrying that disaster will strike.
11. that i 100% without feeling like i'm "supposed" to say it because that's how marriage is supposed to be can say that i married my best friend.
12. that Colors, while expensive, is still alive at age 23
13. Sonford Q. McSquigglebottoms. Best.Dog.Ever. yours will not win this argument.
14. That i have a job that i love
15. That i work with people i like
16. That i feel like personally, i am where i'm supposed to be at age 31
17. that even though i wish we made more $$, p and i can live well on what we have
18. finding my grandmothers recipes, handwritten on scraps of paper, and framing them
19. that i'm slowly learning to eat healthier and lose weight
20. that its currently football season, i love the festivities and school spirit
21. that the students i work with genuinely love their school and i get to help them have the best possible experience they can
22. red.wine.
23. dark chocolate.
24. that my father in law and his wife make me feel like part of their family.
25. that my family has passed on to me a love for cooking and that i can successfully make recipes that i remember my grandmother cooking
26. i get to see my sister in 2 weeks
27. through the wonders of the internet i can talk to my cousins in England and 'befriend them' as adults.
28. picking pumpkins out with my husband and playing football with him in a park on our annual 'fall date'.
29. the monday night football chimes... buh buh buh buh BUH BUH BUH!
30. books. any kind of book. well,except for sleazy romance...
31. shared memories with people i love
32. all my internet bloggy friends who i've met through blogger
33. for having lived in athens, oh for three years...i think i became a better person there.
34. for people who are allies
35. for the lonely trees that you see from the highway. they're out there all alone , but they're beautiful
36. for the way the leaves change colors in the fall
37. for the way that the air feels from october to december
38. mountains, even though i hadn't seen a "real" one until my honeymoon.
39. for this place
40. salmon.
41. for pine tree scented candles
42. christmas trees in general
43. the traditional family christmas that we always have, complete with reading Twas the Night Before Christmas before bed on Christmas Eve, waking up and going downstairs to find presents, christmas breakfast, christmas dinner and reading the christmas story in the Bible that night.
44. the noises my parents make at night and in the morning when i'm laying in bed. no matter what house it is, they're always the same...cupboard doors closing, checking the locks, winding the grandfather clock...they are ingrained in my memory.
41. comfortable underwear
42. joy in simple things, like when you slice cheese and find out that you have exactly the right amount to go on the crackers you grabbed out of the bag or finding out that a coworker already made the coffee when you really need some
43. starry nights
44. dick francis horse racing mysteries
45. my education. i never had to fight for it...and i always took the access i had for granted until i got to college and met people who werent as lucky as i.
46. for that matter, all of the priveleges that i have been granted my whole life...
47. for the awareness that they are priveleges...and that not everyone has them, and for people who try to lessen the gap.
48. Ye Olde Trail Tavern in Yellow Springs, OH- best juke box ever
49. how blue and green our world is
50. roses and poppies my two favorite flowers in the world
51. bed knobs and broom sticks
52. M*A*S*H- something that my sister, my dad and i all can share
53. beatrix potter and enid blyton- they helped me learn to imagine
54. the way the horse barn smells
55. sports stadiums
56. ohio state football
57. stadium hotdogs with stadium mustard
58. firepits
59. that P has introduced me to so many things that I may never have experienced without him, massillon football, hobo pies, camping
60. that fundamentally, p and i work well together and share values and beliefs.
61. that my parents tried to bring me up to love God and to have faith, but that I had to learn on my own what that really meant.
62. for that day in the horsebarn where i pleaded with God to send me a sign that he was listening and cared about my family and suddenly at the end of my prayer all the horses went from standing still to galloping across the field kicking their heels up in sheer joy of being alive.
63. that signs exist if you pay attention to them.
64. that many things in the world are spoken in whispers which makes them all the more special when you hear them
65. being comfortable being alone
66. honestly being able to say at 31 that i like who i am
67. how when you lay on your back sometimes the sky looks curved. i used to think that it was entirely possible that we were a 'snow globe' for someone out there
68. bad keanu reeves movies
69. hybrid cars
70. that people are still trying to scientifically prove the existance of aliens and bigfoot. i appreciate a world that refuses to let go of Possibility.
71. that i have gotten to travel to 8 different countries already in my life
72. my family crest is an oak tree and the phrase on it says "Stand Sure" which is something that i feel is an integral part of my life...
73. bagel sandwiches
74. nutella
75. that my little sister is much 'healthier' than i ever was at her age, mind body and soul.
76. for my parents 35 years of marriage
77. for our third year of marriage 11.11.09
78. for people who openly show their feelings, they make the world a more interesting place. think about what our lives would be like if there were a "no celebration rule" on life.
79. optimists- those of you in my life keep me hopeful
80. realists- those of you in my life keep me grounded
81. that no matter what happens, i know that i will always have Hope.
82. my grandparents...the good and bad memories, they're all part of life.
83. making stone soup with my Amma
84. my moms soup recipes and how making a bowl of her chilli instantly takes me back to being about 8 years old
85. that i am so very incredibly loved by such wonderful people
86. that i have so many people that I can love in my life
87. the smell of tomatoes in the garden
88. my grandmothers ring that i wear every day
89. never ever having had to have braces
90. the roof over my head and the home that p and i have created
91. being healthier now than i was at this point last year
92. that my friends in the military have so far, all come home safely
93. that my anxiety has pretty much gone away...or that i've learned to manage it to the point that it seems to not bother me anymore
94. that i can send my sister random nonesense that very few people would understand and she knows exactly what i'm talking about and will respond. For exmaple: "if mom's hyacinth and i'm daisy, does that make you rose or violet?" "definitely violet" (our last text messages) bonus points to the person who knows what we're talking about.
95. my husbands green eyes
96. that he loves me no matter what weight i am and thinks i'm beautiful no matter what.
97. random acts of kindness, doing them, seeing them, experiencing them
98. being able to take pretty pictures of people's lives...it makes me smile to show them how i see them.
99. knowing without a doubt that i am blessed
100. that my life is amazing

phew...i could go on...but 100 i think is enough for now. it was actaully harder than i thought to list 100 because so many of them seem silly...but it's true, they are blessings no matter how small.

what are some of yours? top 10 anybody?

proof that God has a sense of humor

So Today, I have had just an epic fail kind of day. Nothing major, just little annoyances of which the culmination was my microwaveable soup practically doing a back flip 2 minutes in to its heating time and exploding in the microwave in a tomatoey alphabetty tsunami.

as i sat down with my now hot but slightly less than full alphabet soup, i sighed and said to myself, "somebody thinks my life is funny today".

I spooned out a mouthful and looked down to see that my soup spelled

"HA"

wish i'd had a camera. this for real happened.

3 blessings:
that i have soup
that i have a job
that i have friends

98 blogs of text on the wall...98 bottles of text....

Write one more and put it up next and there will be 99 blogs of text on the walll....

ahahahahahahahahaha I am hilarious.

Actually, not. This week has blown goats, let me tell you. Yes, that's right. I said it, blown.goats. We have been super busy at work which is...fine, but abnormal for this time of year. We usually do not see students SO much before the quarter starts. I don't know if it's because we're a little short staffed since we have 2 new people who are not quite yet seeing students full time or what, it just seems like 8-5 goes by in a blink and I barely have time to breathe. I usually don't mind the busyness as I really love meeting with the students, but this week I have just had some doozies. I'm kind of unraveled from listening to their complicated issues. It boggles my mind how an 18 year old can have SO MUCH going ON. In addition to the craziness, one of my favorite colleagues left to go to another university...today was her last day and it was just kind of sad. She was the person in the office who was always willing to just shoot the breeze and take a 5 minute break with me to just be...goofy, y'know? Look at other people's wedding pictures or look at bridal magazines since she's HOPEFULLY getting engaged soon. I'll miss her and a little bit of the 'glitter and sparkle' left the office when she closed her office door that one last time. We werent really friends outside of work, I'm not really friends with anyone outside of work...it's just not how life works out with me really. But we were friends AT work. *Sigh* Life goes on, and I know we'll keep in touch, she's moving up by P's hometown so when P and I go up I'll give her a call. It's just...I don't like change and our little office has had quite enough of it. We need a couple months of sedentary life to regroup.

On the other hand, my absolute favorite time of year is fast approaching. On Monday the students will officially be on campus. They will have moved into their new residence halls and apartments and will be starting a new year at Ohio State. For many, fall signifies the beginning of the end...end of summer, end of life. For me, it's always been the rebirth. The new freshmen come in, people are energized and ready for the next step in their lives. They've had summer break and reconnected with their families and their high school friends and they're ready to come back and see everyone from their "other life" that they missed. Football season is in session and people are decked out in scarlet and grey no matter what day of the week it is. The air is crisp and cool and the leaves start to change. Campus is gorgeous in the fall. It's vibrant and just so alive. It's easily the BEST thing about working on campus.

I have hopes for this year...I hope that the swine flu pandemic doesn't affect us too much because outbreaks on campus are frightening no matter whether it's a bed bug or a bacteria. These are people's babies and they are trusting us to keep them safe and healthy. It's frightening when you think how fragile the 'ecosystem' of a college campus is. I hope that we go another year without any on campus tragedies, we have been lucky. I hope that the new freshmen love the university as much as I do and that they find their true calling while they are in our program and that I can help them find their way there. I hope that I can maintain my enthusiasm and love for my job so that I can serve the students to the best of my abilities. They are young, and though they are bright and independent, they need advisors and personnel on campus that love their jobs and are dedicated to doing their jobs 100%. They may drive me crazy on a regular basis...but they still need help.

3 blessings:
my friend llama is starting to heal after the tragic loss of her grandmother
my friend chuckface is strong beyond her own knowledge and she will be okay when her husband deploys for the middle east, i know her strength even if she's unsure
my husband who continually supports me and cheers me on every single day no matter how grumpy i am and how down i get, he is truly my heart and soul.

i am a slow blogger

so it's my 97th post today...i really thought that i'd perhaps be past 100 by now, I think that i probably would be but there are times that i'll write a post and 'crumple it up into a ball and toss it in the trash' or as we do in the internet world...hit delete.

i'm thinking of doing a give away for my 100th post like everyone else does...but i might wait til my 113th since 13 is really my lucky number.

i have been working out with a personal trainer in the attempt to lose some of the millions of pounds that i gained over the course of the last 2 years. i have lost inches...but not much weight which is depressing. i know it's only been a month, but i kind of want it to magically fall off in one giant lump.i do enjoy that i am stronger and that the things that i could barely do when i started, i can now do much more easily.


i am looking forward to the OSU v USC game on saturday, but i'll be honest, i'm not rael hopeful. i just wish that i could wipe the smarmy smirk off pete carroll's face. ugh. he just irks me. i'm sure that he's in actuality a very nice man...but seriously dude....your quasi-richard gere look bothers me.


i really wish that i did not have to be at work today on this gorgeous gorgeous ohio day...so i'm just going to write some random fun stuff about myself for your viewing enjoyment

1. when i was a kid i would frequently pretend to be a horse with my friend elizabeth. we were always really cool horses that could talk and solve crime. my name was frequently Black Gem because we would play this game while swimming and I had a black swimsuit with little gems on it. Yes. we were horses and we lived in the water.
2. in 9th grade i had really bad allergies and they made me really cranky. the boy who had his locker next to me used to make fun of me and my allergies. one day in a fit of allergy induced rage, i waited til he bent over and then i moved the top locker door directly over his head. he stood up and nearly gave himself a concussion. i pretended like i didn't have any idea what happened. i've secretly felt guilty about this since then.
3. the same boy tried to cheat off me in health class when we were taking a quiz in which we had to label all the parts of the male reproductive system. i purposely labelled all of them wrong and waited til he turned in his paper to switch them to the right answers. i have never felt guilty about this as it's ridiculous that a BOY would have to cheat off my 9th grade blushing virgin self for the answers.
4. my personal trainer is beginning to think i'm 'special'. i have no muscle memory or coordination. he demonstrates something while facing me and it takes me at least 40 seconds to figure out how to reverse the mirror image and do it myself.
5. i have lists of words i dont like. i seriously have to restrain myself from telling people not to use some of them. or from curling my lip and saying 'ew'.
6. i could eat rice every day of the week. my favorite ways to eat rice are to saute tomatos and dump it on top of rice w/soy sauce or to steam broccoli and put it on rice with a little butter and parmesan.
7. similarly, i could eat bread with tomatos and salt every day of the week and be perfectly happy.
8. 6&7 are why i need #4.
9. my husband has 2 webbed toes on each foot and i think it's really fun to stick things in between them. blades of grass. pennies. whatever i can find.
10. i rarely, if ever, feel overwhelmed. even when i have a trillion things going on. i do not think this is healthy because i'm pretty sure it leaks out in other ways. perhaps in my obsession w/bread and rice.
11. my friend mojo mom could probably add at least 10 more weird things that i do to this list...perhaps she will leave an anonymous comment.
:-)

3 blessings:
webbed toes
gorgeous weather
my mom sent me home w/chicken salad so i wouldn't have to pack my lunch this week.

greetings dahlings

'Twas the best of times....'Twas the worst of times.

Well, perhaps I should say 'twas the okay-est of times was the grossest of times...
The last couple weeks have been kind of "meh". P and i have been driving to Dayton on a weekendly basis to paint my parents' deck and sand my parents' deck and spray wasps and kill them on my parents' deck and run screaming from the wasps and make my brave strong husband kill them on my parents' deck...not necessarily in that order.

The screaming might have been first.

The parents remain in England though they are returning on Monday. The Pig is back at school where she turned 21 but due to her sororities rules about RUSH she is not allowed to drink legally or illegally until September. So, it was really kind of an 'un'birthday for her.

She had the first day of her biology class today...the professor let them out early so he could go home to tend the pig he was smoking for his bbq this weekend.

Have I mentioned that she goes to school in Kentucky?

Due to the deck painting I have had aches and pains and bruises and scrapes like a 5 year old learning to rollerblade. coincidentally the Weather Gods decided to inflict a plague of ragweed on us the like of which has scarce been seen before. I take prescription drugs for this people...and yesterday, yesterday, it was like I hadn't taken anything at all. I was one constant leaky faucet of crystal clear pollen laden snot.

That's right. crystal.clear.pollen.laden.snot.

*shudder* I'm surprised it was not draining out of my ears as well.

Today, thanks to the glorious,soaking,drenching,beautiful rain that we had last night. I am back in the land of the dry and only slightly itchy. I'm hoping the drugs keep working so that I can get out to the horsebarn to see Colors...poor thing hasn't seen me for weeks.

Part of the absence from the horsebarn has been allergies, and then the other part has been because 2 nights of every week have been reserved for my new Personal Trainer. I hate him. Well, I love to hate him. I love that I'm actually seeing weight loss (5lbs in 1 month and a total of 7 inches have disappeared from various parts of my anatomy and NO i will not tell you how many inches from what parts). However, I'm pleased with this progress. I feel good about it. This is good. Also, though I loathe, despise and want to kick him in the g'nads sometimes...Personal Trainer clearly knows what he's doing and as much as I hate stepping up onto his stupid foot tall stool and kneeing a punching bag 10 times....ON EACH LEG....I guess I'm okay with the loss of inches.

Has anyone ever noticed how very very slowly Fridays go? I swear I have been here for 10 hours already. I would pay THEM to let me leave right now.

On a side note, I wrote this for a friend of mine who should know who she is when she reads this...

To have hope...
even the smallest grain of it
means that you have something
so when you feel that you have nothing
remember Hope.

To have faith
even the faintest whisper of it
means that He loves you
so when you feel that you are unloveable
remember Faith

To have friends
even far far away
means that you have someone
so when you feel that you are alone
remember me.


3 blessings:
for all the kiddies going back to school and our neighborhood being quiet in the evenings
for sunsets on the lake
for movie night with P tonight...love him.