The First Rain

It rained all night long last night. The first of the season. I love falling asleep to the sound of raindrops gently falling outside. It's soothing and peaceful. It seemed to work its magic on the kids because they all slept remarkably well.

Marc had to be up super early to go to an out of town meeting with a client, and I half expected that either his movements would wake everyone else up or that I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep. Fortunately neither happened and the three kids and I all slept in an hour later than usual.

We snuggled up on the couch under a blanket to try to get warmed up before heading to the kitchen for breakfast. I offered to make their favorite whole wheat pancakes, but they insisted that it was a cereal day. I didn't protest since cereal is slightly less work.

With Marc gone with the car and with the raining pouring down outside, our morning started off comfortably slow. I didn't mind the pace one bit. The kids were busy ransacking the entire house - well, actually just their bedroom and our front room - while I was busy catching up on some emails and other to-dos that I'd been neglecting.

It was when Hugh came running out of his bedroom with a plastic bag over his head, laughing at his robot impersonation, that I realized my neglect had gone on long enough. First, I firmly explained the danger of plastic over the head and then I hurried and tidied up just enough to make the house less of a booby trap. Then, came the fun!

The boys had piled the couch pillows all together and then placed their lawn chairs around it in a circle. They explained they were going camping, so I suggested we should roast some marshmallows. It was clear they thought I was just joining in on their game of make believe, but I thought it'd be more fun to make it a little more real. I grabbed three kebab skewers and a bag of leftover Halloween marshmallows. The boys squealed with excitement and Lucy did her nervous, bouncy dance that she does when she wants whatever is about to come more that she knows how to express any other way.

They put the marshmallows on their skewers and "roasted" away. They had so much fun that they asked over and over again the rest of the day if they could roast some more marshmallows.

I was able to distract them by asking if they wanted roasted hot dogs for lunch. I happened to have some in the fridge, as well as one of those cans of Pillsbury roll dough (which I never have). We wrapped up some mummy dogs and threw them in the oven. While they watched them cook through the oven door, I made a batch of pumpkin bread to maximize the energy used to heat up the oven. Is it weird that I do that?

It was perfect timing that as everyone was finishing up their lunch, the mini pumpkin muffins were just coming out of the oven. Except that Hugh declared he didn't like them and Ben thought they were too hot.

I cleaned up the dishes quick, then I got Lucy down for a nap while the boys watched "The Brave Little Toaster" or whatever it's called exactly. I dozed off, snuggled between my boys and with Einstein curled up on top of me. With my favorite snuggle buddies and the rain's gentle lure, I could not fight the invite to give in. It was the perfect pause for the middle of a rainy day, stuck indoors.

As soon as naps were done, the chaos got more chaotic. The yelling, the crying, the fighting, the complaining... I was relieved it was time to go running. My parents come over every afternoon to play and hang out and when my neighbor mentioned wanting to run in the afternoons I realized during the winter that would be totally ideal, since I'm not a big fan of running in the cold or the dark.

I normally wouldn't be too thrilled about running in the rain, but today it was exactly what I needed to finish off the second half of the day. I let the rain wash away all of my worries. I let the cool breeze blow energy into my soul. I let my body move and release built up stress and tension. I let my mind wander and think. I let the moment seep deep into my heart, feeling so grateful for the craziness of my life and for the tiny break I get every afternoon to refill my bucket, hoping to have just enough to fill all my little buckets before sending them off to bed for another night, followed by another day of rain.

Some thoughts on politics

WARNING: This is the first (and very possibly the last) blog post regarding politics. I don't claim to be an expert nor am I a professional political commentator by any means. But, I do have a few thoughts I thought I'd share (which I might fully regret).

There are some who might be surprised to know I'm a total political junkie. I regularly check the top news sites and go straight to the political section. But, I rarely mention anything related to politics on here, and I rarely engage in conversations with friends about it either. Let's just say I value the relationships in my life more than getting into a heated debate over some political topic or figure out there.

You might be interested to know that Marc and I aren't registered with the same political party, and yet I feel most comfortable in my discussions with him about politics. We talk openly about our positions on different issues and there are times when we don't agree. But, we know how to be respectful of each others' opinions and I really appreciate that about our relationship. In fact, I think having us see things so differently has actually helped open my mind to consider other opinions than what I might normally consider on my own.

I've had some moments in recent months when I've wished there were more civility and respect among different supporters of different candidates. I've read a lot about the different presidential candidates currently running and there is a lot of garbage out there that tries to support one candidate solely by trashing another. I really dislike that part of the political process, even though I know the arguments that claim to support its role in the overall game. I guess it's one thing for the candidates themselves to find the need to distinguish between themselves, but I wish more supporters would leave the trash-talking to the politicians.

Marc sent me a thought-provoking article written by someone a couple of years ago, who addressed this to a certain degree, quoting a well-respected leader of my Faith (from a few decades back). It's well-known that a large majority of the LDS population is Republican, but I am always grateful for the reminder that there is room for people of all backgrounds, all opinions, all political parties who are seeking to be one in following Christ, regardless of who we support for the office of President.

One of my favorite quotes from the article is this:

"Strive to develop a maturity of mind and emotion and a depth of spirit which will enable you to differ with others on matters of politics without calling into question the integrity of those with whom you differ. Allow within the bounds of your definition of religious orthodoxy variation of political belief. Do not have the temerity to dogmatize on issues where the Lord has seen fit to be silent. I’ve found by long experience that our two-party system is sound."

If you're interested in reading the article you can find it here. (Within the article itself there are links to other articles referenced that are also worth reading.)

And, if you're still reading at this point, head over to read what my friend Jessica wrote about her thoughts on Politics. I could have just re-posted her blog post and called it my own.

Another exciting walk

The weather has been so unseasonably warm this week. And, since I'm starting to feel better (before Monday night it had been two weeks since my last episode of vomiting), I've been getting myself and the boys out of the house as much as possible.

This morning I loaded them in the stroller and we walked the long way around to Ba-Pa and Gi-Gi's house (that's what they call Grandpa and Grandma). I even worked up to a light jog for part of it. Have I mentioned how I keep forgetting I'm pregnant?

The boys were so happy to be out in the sun, but not so happy to be strapped to the stroller side-by-side. I made sure they each had a book and a bus in each hand to keep them occupied. I never seem to anticipate what they can (and will) use as weapons.

I think we were all relieved when we finally arrived at my parents' and had some time and space to run around and create a little excitement in a new environment. We didn't stay too long because I knew it'd take some time and an undetermined number of stops along the way back home to beg the boys for mercy with goldfish crackers, before making it home in time for lunch and naps.

Well, little did I know we should have stayed five minutes longer.

Just as we were approaching the second to last turn of our walk home, I looked up and noticed a group of about 20 guys walking along the street I was just about to turn onto. My first thought, from their camo outfits was that it was some army guys out training together. Now, we don't live in a military town whatsoever, so I'm still not sure why that was my initial thought.

Within about a split second, they broke from their group and scattered into the yard that was facing my approaching intersection, which, mind you, is right on the corner of an elementary school. That was when I noticed the bullet-proof vests and guns drawn. I was still about 30 feet from the corner and suddenly felt very unsafe about moving another inch forward.

My heart was about to beat right out of my chest and with my shaking hand I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Marc. (I almost put it into camera mode to record whatever was about to go down, but fear of actually truly being in danger took over.) Poor Marc. I had to repeat myself... probably because I was talking too fast and whispering and panicking all at once. Once he understood what was going on, he said he'd come quickly.

All while I was trying to explain what I was witnessing, I was backing down the sidewalk away from the action. There was a policeman at the front door yelling, "Police! Open up!" probably about five times before he tried to bust the door in. Then he yelled for someone to check the side door. It was pretty intense for about five minutes. I swear I heard two gun shots at one point and decided it was not worth it to risk trying to approach the intersection yet.

As soon as I saw more policemen coming out to the front yard, looking a little more relaxed, I decided I was probably safe to finish our walk home. That was also about the time I caught eye of Marc coming toward us, ready to restore peace.

I'm not sure what the boys were thinking. I'm pretty sure they weren't even aware of what was going on. Luckily. Seriously, so freaky, though! How is it possibly that I always find so much drama is this tiny town when I'm out on my walks?!

A not-so-ordinary day... Continued

... I'm really sorry about keeping anyone in suspense. It honestly wasn't my intention. It just got late and I was too tired to finish and that seemed like a good place to stop. And, even though I know how the story ends, all day today I found myself wondering where some of you might have guessed where the story was going to go. You might have thought it had something to do with the little old lady... well, that is a really good guess... but not even close.

When we were about half a block away from her house, we crossed an intersecting street where I noticed a strong smell of burnt rubber or something, but didn't think much of it and kept on going. We arrived at the lady's house and I rang her doorbell once, but when no one came and I was a little worried that she might have been resting, so we turned and went back in the direction we'd come.

As we approached that intersection we'd come from, I noticed some thick smoke and that burnt smell was much stronger. There were a few people rushing around and that was when I saw that a car parked in front of the house on the corner was on fire. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 9-1-1, but right away a man called out, "they're already on their way." So, I just stood there, stunned. I was pretty sure I was far enough away to not be in any danger, but just in case we backed up some.

I had to go down that particular street to pick something up from my parents' house, so I decided we'd wait until it was safe. Plus, with how much both boys love trucks, I knew they'd probably enjoy seeing the fire trucks so close. It's crazy, though, how when you're at the scene of an emergency how slowly time ticks by. I know it must have been less than five minutes, but it felt like so much longer.

We had backed up enough that we didn't have a direct view of the car, but close enough to hear two very loud bangs about a minute apart. That might have been the two front tires, not sure though. But with each bang I started to wonder if the whole car was about to explode and debated about whether or not I really wanted to be around for that.

Once the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulance all arrived, the fire was out and things were under control within a few minutes. Ben was so excited, trying to wiggle his way out of the stroller to get in on the action. He happened to be wearing his favorite jacket with a firetruck on the front - surely that was license enough to lend a hand, right? Hugh screamed in terror, not wanting to have anything to do with it. Funny how different their reactions were.

*here's the car, a day later

So, that was my not-so-ordinary day. And, really, what a relief! If I learned anything at all it was that I could not handle a job that would require me to be cool, calm, and collected in intense situations. And, just as I type that I fully recognize that having two boys could very much become such a job... haha! But, it did make me so much more grateful for all those who do have those kinds of jobs and fulfill them with such courage and expertise.

Here's to more just plain, ol' good ordinary days... like today! Except for the snake part. (Don't worry, nothing happened with the snake. It just scared me as it almost slithered across my bare toes while out on our walk this afternoon. Maybe I should stop going on walks.... haha!)

A not-so-ordinary day

After a bit of a long night, with both boys awake and crying a couple of different times, morning came with a terrible lack of enthusiasm. I had planned out my morning very precisely before going to bed, reviewed it with Marc so he would be on board with my plans, and felt sure it would all go smooth as buttah.

While I was grinding my wheat (to make a batch of whole wheat bread), I decided to grind a little extra to make some whole wheat pancakes for my boys. So, I got the pancakes mixed up while waiting for the yeast to get all frothy like it's supposed to, then had Marc step in to finish flipping the pancakes while I added in a few more ingredients to the bread dough. Then, Marc and the boys had breakfast while I headed out the door on my morning run, which I was actually pretty excited about since the skies above were clear of clouds and rain, leaving the air clean and fresh.

I had anticipated rain this morning, so being out without the rain had me on cloud nine. I was making great time, running at about an 8-minute pace. I went on my favorite four-mile loop that starts off taking me through the neighborhoods at the foot of the west hills that leads me passed old Victorian-style homes and quiet streets, then I wind down toward the center of downtown and passed this local bakery that tricks me into thinking I'm back in Modena and craving those darn bombolas (a doughnut of sorts that is filled with Nutella or Creme) that we'd eat after teaching English class. Then, I eventually wind back up to the second main drag in my small town and back home.

Well, just as I was passing mile three, there was an older woman out on her morning walk up ahead of me, coming toward me. I was running in the bike lane and when she saw me, she went to move up to the sidewalk. Everything happened so fast that I'm not sure exactly what happened, but all of sudden she was down on the sidewalk, hitting her head hard enough that one of the lenses of her sunglasses was knocked right out of the frames.

I ran right to her and helped her to a sitting position. She was clearly in shock and feeling a little embarrassed. As I tried to reassure her and assess the situation, blood started trickling down the left side of her face, where she had fallen. I don't do so well with blood or emergency-like situations. Just ask Marc. On the few somewhat serious situations we've been in with the boys and their accidents, I am quite the sight. I can't help but laugh out loud at the replays I do in my mind of those moments, watching myself go into full panic mode... nearly hyperventilating at the slightest hint of blood.

There I am wiping her dripping blood with my hands, trying to figure out what I can use to stop the cut on her temple from bleeding. I didn't have anything. I almost stripped off my shirt. That was (thankfully) when I saw an older gentleman just about to go into a doctor's office right in front of us. I called to him, "Can you grab us some tissues?" He sort of nodded, a little confused, and continued with his cute old man meander. Remember, I'm in panic mode and just about jumped up and sprinted passed him in my anxious state of trying to clearly save this poor woman's life. That was about when I noticed more blood is now coming from a cut on the bridge of her nose.

In the meantime, my new friend remembered she had a kleenex in her jacket pocket. But, turns out she couldn't unzip it because of how she fell on her wrist, so I helped her with the zipper and we finally got the bleeding under control, when a nurse and a doctor come out from their office. After a brief conversation with them, the sweet little lady decided she just needs to walk back home and then find a way to the hospital to get her wrist checked out. She never did accept my offer to walk with her, insisting she was "just fine and not dizzy at all."

There was no way I was going to let her walk, what turned out to be, almost a mile back to her house. I was going in that direction anyway, so we walked arm-in-arm making small talk the whole way, talking about her grown children and grandchildren, her husband who passed away last year, and a mutual friend of us both who had a similar fall on the same street while out on her morning walk not too long ago. Crazy small world. And, apparently some crazy dangerous sidewalk on that street.

In the end, I got her safely to her house with a plan in place to call her daughter for a ride to the hospital. Upon returning home I had forgotten about my rising bread dough that Marc had appropriately (at my instruction) beaten down (twice) when it had gotten too big, which for some reason made my bread loaves very deflated and ugly-looking. I just have to remind myself when I see it sitting all ugly on my countertop that it still tastes good and that having ugly-looking bread isn't the worst thing to deal with. (or is it? I'm still trying to convince myself... )

Later in the afternoon, when there was a break in the storm, I took the boys out on a walk and decided to drop by the lady's house to check in on her. That was when our day got even more exciting....

When I see you smile

(Note: I wrote most of this post yesterday about my day yesterday, but didn't quite have it finished before going to bed last night. Not that any of you care about a detail like that, except that today's weather was so much different than yesterday's, which would have drastically changed this entire post. Just so you know... and just in case any locals wonder how I got the sun to shine on me alone while the rain poured down on everyone else. Ha!)

I'm not really sure why, but this week has felt a little more overwhelming than usual. Just a lot on my mind, I guess. When this morning started off with a bit of a bang, I knew I needed to do something to find calm.

After the morning naps, I loaded my boys in the stroller and off we went. First stop: their favorite fountain. It's been a while since we've paid it a visit and I knew they'd be happy to see the water shooting up into the air, like it does. And, happy they were! I'll do anything to see smiles like that from them.

We paused for a few minutes, but then continued on our way. We ended up heading toward the cemetery. The promise that the twins' resting place would provide peace and perspective has continued to be the case and on a day like today I felt like it was exactly what I needed. Even just on our way there, I found my overwhelming thoughts to be pointless and insignificant.

It was the perfect day for a purging. The air was crisp, but the sun was warm. Blossoms were everywhere and the birds' songs accompanied us the entire way. At one point I looked down at my boys and saw that they were holding hands - not the usual ouch-you're-hurting-me hold. This time it was clearly more affectionate and gentle. It was so cute that I tried to get a picture with my phone, but as luck would have it I wasn't fast enough.

It was in that moment that I could almost feel the unimportant things on my mind flying away with the wind. There wasn't anything more important than the happiness of these two boys and as long as I was doing my best to provide that for them, everything else could take its proper place of priority.

Benjamin fell asleep before we reached the cemetery and as soon as we started back home, Hugh started looking up and back at me, as if to ask "are we there yet?" and did it about every two minutes, just like you would expect. When we finally returned home it was clear that satisfying hunger was the top priority. Marc helped by feeding the boys their appetizer of applesauce while I threw together the main course - french bread pizza.

And, right in the middle of making my boys their pizza lunch, a song came on the (internet) radio that was the perfect song for today.

Seriously, so true. When I see my little boys smile, I really do feel like I can do anything. Well, not anything... but anything that is important and necessary for their growth and well-being.

Here are just a few of their smiles from this week:

When I see you smile
I see a ray of light, oh oh,
I see it shining right through the rain
When I see you smile
Oh yeah, baby when I see you smile at me

A birthday, a baptism and double the brownies

Highlights of this week (minus the photos because of some technical difficulties we're having):

Monday - My sister's birthday. Since she lives nearly a thousand miles away, we decided to celebrate by making ourselves a pan of Nutella Brownies. THE brownie of all brownies. I don't know if I'll ever eat regular brownies ever again. Happy Birthday, Dawnie!

Tuesday - Snuggled up all day and stayed away from the rainy weather outside. Hugh was hating life because of a terrible rash that just kept getting worse, no matter what I tried. Late that night I watched part of Mansfield Park with my man. I just love Jane Austen.

Wednesday - After putting the boys to bed, Marc had some meetings and I had the house to myself. All day I dreamt up different ways I could spend that precious alone time. I ended up cleaning, like the kind where you get groovin' and movin' and can't stop. Not even close to what I had in mind, but it felt good to have everything so clean. My whole perspective of housework has totally transformed after a discussion I was part of last Sunday... a post of its own for another day, I suppose.

Thursday - This should be a post of its own, too... Hugh had his 9 month appointment. He's now 30 inches (he's grown nine inches in nine months!) and weighs 20 pounds 10 ounces (that's 12 pounds in nine months). He's in the 90th percentile for height, 25th percentile for weight, and 95th percentile for his head size (47 inches). Made the most delicious enchiladas, with extra for leftovers on Friday.

Friday - It snowed! Yes, real, falling snow in our little valley. To celebrate, we took a family photo toward the end of one of the flurries. My friend, Kelly, came to visit with her youngest two, which the boys totally loved - and, I did, too! Also, I made Nutella Brownies. Again. (This time for a baptism... but, I still put some aside for us for later. Oh, I'm so bad!)

Saturday - Hugh decided not to go down for his morning nap. Watched BYU work their magic against San Diego. Hugh decided he didn't want to sleep in the afternoon either. Well, he actually woke up because of some noisy neighbors and I was unable to coax him back into dreamland. Got some super happy news from a friend, while chatting over a cup of hot cocoa together. Also, it was a big day for our dear Tracey, sending her lots of love and happy thoughts. fFinished watching Mansfield Park. It was just alright. I'm not sure if anything could beat Pride and Prejudice.

Sunday - Ben fell asleep in my arms during the second hymn at church - I Stand All Amazed. Just before that sweet moment, he was on the verge of becoming a little mini-hulk, it seemed. Once his body was completely limp, I laid him down on the comfy pew, using my sweater as a pillow/ear muffs (to keep the noise to a minimum), and thought back to my own childhood memories of waking up in similar situations in that same chapel on practically the same pew. Took a bunch of photos of the boys playing in their white Sunday shirts and khakis, with the afternoon sun shining on us (wishing I could access the photos on my camera to share with you... soon, soon, I promise!).

Another fantastic week come and gone. Another week is here to enjoy! The big question - how many times will I make Nutella brownies this week?

Finding my voice

For most of the last six months I haven't had much free time. When I have had free time, like when the boys are down for naps, I've been so exhausted that I've napped with them. And I've discovered that two naps a day is my kind of lifestyle!

Lately, though, we've finally had some success with the boys' sleeping habits (hallelujah!) and I'm starting to feel like I don't need my two naps as much as before. So, in those little pockets of time when I'm not running around trying to stay ahead of my little guys, I feel my writing bug itching to find release. The problem is that I'm struggling lately to find my voice.

For whatever reason words just seem to come flowing out when I'm in the middle of a crisis. Tragedy seems to be my best genre. Now that we're living in happier times, I almost feel like moving out of that valley of sorrow I somehow lost my voice along the way. Well, maybe it isn't that I've lost my voice so much as my voice has added a new octave and I'm trying to learn how to use it and feel comfortable with it. 

My head feels backed up with thoughts that have been sitting and waiting for their escape. Hopefully my voice, in all its newness and oldness, will find a way to release all that has been building up. 

So much to do, so little time

First, I really want to thank those who left comments on my last post... I thoroughly enjoyed reading what some of your responses would be if you were placed in a similar situation. And, Brent (if you're reading this), I was especially entertained by your comebacks. I really love the small community of individuals who stop by here... you all are wonderful beyond words!

I feel terrible about my lack of blogging lately... I've missed it, too. Time is just flying and I don't know how to make it slow down. Our little Ben is going to be four months old in just a couple of weeks and his little brother should arrive a couple of short weeks after that. Both have kept me good and busy. I'm a little curious to see how my busy-ness will change once the other has joined us in this outside world. Will it be harder or easier? Time will tell, and I'll be sure to let you know.

The last month has been full of appointments, birthing classes, naps, feedings, diaper changes, church responsibilities, and making plans for the days ahead. Mixed in there, I got sick again a couple of weeks ago. That's four times in the span of this pregnancy... only this time, at such a late point in my pregnancy, it was much more taxing.

There is so much I need to update - at the top of the list is the final post about our adoption placement day. It's started, but not nearly close to being finished. But, it's definitely a priority.

For now, it's feeding time again and Ben makes sure I know that's at the top of my priorities.

And just because I love you and I love sharing photos of my little boy, I'll leave you with a few photos for your enjoyment.

Progress and Balance

I've been aware lately of others who have recently experienced devastating loss. My heart seems to break all over again every time I hear of another story. I can't help but relive some of my own heartache and devastation. In mourning with them, though, I've also started to recognize how far we've come in our own journey. 

After we first lost our girls, I remember keeping track of the cycle of grief in those first weeks... it used to be 2 days of feeling okay (or in other words, numb), followed by 3 days of uncontrollable tears. Then it gradually went to 3 days of feeling numb to 2 days of constant tears... and so on. If I had to say where we are now, it'd probably be something like a month of feeling generally happy (notice, not numb) to maybe half a day of aching for my girls. That's definitely progress. A year ago I never would have imagined coming this far - between the numbness and the tears of those early weeks, it quite literally seemed impossible.

Overall, I've become much more comfortable with living a paralleled life with my girls. I know they're in a better place, I've known that all along. I guess time, the great healer, has swayed my heart into motions and patterns, making necessary adjustments to living with our girls on another sort of plane. They are not gone far. Whenever I go into our backyard, I like to think of them on the other side of the fence. 

I've had a lot on my mind. I've recently become more aware of my need to just sit in quiet and let certain feelings and experiences soak in. I find joy in pausing to appreciate small moments that are given to me as evidence that God is very much aware of my life. I've come to value these precious moments in life that are meant to be enjoyed privately, to keep them sacred within the walls of my own soul. 

With so many social internet sites out there these days (blogger, facebook, twitter, etc.), I've found myself learning things about others that maybe aren't appropriate details for me to know. (Do you know what I'm talking about?) And, it has made me feel much more guarded in what I share and how I choose to share. I've often questioned where to draw that line here, on my blog. I never intended to share so much here... it just sort of happened as life happened. The only reason we started this blog was to help us with our hope to adopt. Little did we know the crazy turns life would take, making this window into our life reveal so much more than we ever intended.  

I still don't have the answer of where to draw the line, but I am more aware of wanting to find the balance of sharing pieces of our journey that might help another along the way, while still holding sacred the details that should be guarded a little more carefully. Hopefully I can find that balance quickly and get back to posting a little more frequently.  

Back home and recovering

So, it took us a while to get caught up from our trip to Australia, but we finally have some more photos added and have gone back and added in some explanations of what the photos are of.

We have both been sick all week, with no relief in sight. We just barely got our suitcases unpacked two days ago, which means we finally got some laundry done. We've been living on soup and apple juice for most of the last week... and hoping they do their job in making us better really soon.

I can't wait until we're feeling 100% back to normal and I can get back to my regular scheduled blog-surfing and catching up on everyone else's lives. I hope life is happy and well for everyone. Thanks for letting us share our trip to Australia with you! It was even better than what you will see here on this blog.

Exhaustion

This is our kitten, Watson. (Isn't he just the cutest kitty ever?!)

This is how I've felt for the last couple of weeks.

Everything from school, to work, to Church, to family, to daily chores, to enjoying the beauty of Springtime... life has been full of so many good things lately. And, every time I think about catching up on the blog, I feel overwhelmed because there is just too much to catch up on. And, actually I don't even have time right now to catch you up on what's been going on, but I did want to let you know, at least, that we are alive and happy and doing really well. And, stay tuned for some catch up posts in the next few days... and hopefully I can deliver on that! :)

Chocolate and Ice Cream

One of our favorite things about this time of year is looking forward to combining two of our favorite things:

This:


And, this:


We just finished off the last of our peppermint ice cream and I'm 99% sure we won't find any in the stores at this point. I guess we'll have to settle for Mint Chocolate Chip in its place. There's nothing like a good cup of hot cocoa to wind down at the end of a long day. Love it, love it, love it!

O Christmas Tree

So, we like to buy our Christmas tree about a week before Christmas... hoping that the pine needles will stay on the tree until after Christmas is over, rather than having a bare, needleless tree on Christmas morning.

Well, it has always worked fine for us to find a tree the week before... except for this year. We went to the place we've gotten our tree the last two years and they were out. Okay, no big deal, right? We'll just find one somewhere else. Well, in all our searching we couldn't find any place that still had trees to sell.

At one point we had half-jokingly talked about buying a potted tree. And, it turns out that is exactly what we've done! At the last place we'd gone to check for a Christmas tree, we looked at their potted tree section and finally decided on buying an orange tree. (The choice was actually really easy as that was the only tree they had in stock.)

So, we have an Orange Christmas tree... well, it's actually green, but produces oranges instead of pine cones, but I guess you probably figured that out. :)


Here's Einstein checking it out:


And, Watson also gives his approval:


The best thing about having this as our Christmas tree? We'll plant it next to the apple tree in the Spring, and hopefully have some of our own home-grown oranges for Christmas next year. How cool will that be? Yes, we are feeling rather self-sufficient and environmentally friendly with this little adventure!

As we were driving home from the store after having bought the tree, we were laughing at our situation and how crazy it was that we were using an orange tree as our Christmas tree. That was about when Marc said, "Procrastinate now, get oranges later."

So, there you have it. We have gone against tradition and it's actually been kind of fun. Although, I think I'm going through withdrawals of "pine-scentedness" right now. I'll have to find some pine branch somewhere. Or a candle.

Writer's Block

Okay, so I've had writer's block the last couple of days. It happens every once in a while, but never before have I felt the pressure so intense. And, for our faithful blog readers, who also happen to be very observant, you probably already know why.

I know, I know... it's such a silly thing to take so seriously. It isn't like it's that big of a deal. But, no matter how much my head tells my fingers that, it just doesn't work. My poor fingers just can't handle the pressure of writing...
.
.
.
.
.
.

our 100th blog post!

Yes, my friend, THIS post that you are reading is number ONE HUNDRED! And, I still don't know what to write about!

So, I asked our blog what it would like for its "100th post party"... and it has decided that it would like to receive comments from as many people as possible.

(We never realized we had such a needy blog. I guess we won't ask it that again.)

You can write whatever you'd like to write in the comment box; we encourage creativity and random thoughts. Haikus are good, too.

If you don't know what to write in the comment box, we'll give you a few options:

What is your preference between the following items?

Jif or Skippy?

Breyers or Dreyers?

Hidden Valley or Kraft?

If you don't happen to have a preference for any of the above, maybe you ought to have some serious blind-folded taste-testing this weekend. That's our favorite back-up Friday night date activity. Although, I think Marc's getting tired of being the blind-folded one.

.

.

Here are some quick instructions of how to leave comments:
1. Click the "comment" link at the bottom of this post.
2. Write your comment in the comment box.
3. Fill in the "word verification" code.
4. Choose your identity, which can be "anonymous" if you prefer that.
5. Publish your comment.

Feelin' Groovy

This week has been crazy... and I haven't had time to keep the blog updated. I had a big presentation for one of my classes last night. I was really nervous all week while preparing for it. It went well, though, and I was so relieved to just have it out of the way. I came home last night and the exhaustion hit me bard. Imagine fighting sleep at 7:30pm. Yeah, I was sleepy. In my half-sleep state I was able to enjoy some escapism while watching Survivor and The Office, then stumbled my way to bed.

So, today I took it easy. Organized my desk area, cleaned the house, took a cat nap with Watson, ran some errands with Marc, went to dinner with some friends, and watched a movie afterwards with Marc. It was a nice way to end a busy week, and the perfect way to start the weekend. Hooray for weekends!

I was trying to figure out how to describe my day today and the thing that seems to best represent my day is this fantastic song by Simon and Garfunkel:



This song would have been on my "playlist" in high school. Only, since we didn't have playlists, it was on many of my "Mix" tapes. You know, cassette tapes that you record all your favorite songs to and listen to over and over until the tape dies? Yeah, I think I finally understand how people older than me felt when they talked about 8-tracks. And, it makes me wonder what we'll have in 10 years from now that will make playlists outdated....

I love songs like this that make me want to sit back, take a deep breath and just live in the moment. I feel like I spend way too much time worrying about the past or fearing what the future holds (or doesn't hold)... and today (with some conscious effort) I was able to just enjoy today. Which, reminds me of a book my Mom used to read to us when we were growing up... I'll have to tell you about that tomorrow, though, because Marc is already at the intermittent snoring stage of his sleeping. He told me he was just going to stretch out on the bed for a minute. ;)

So, sit back, slow down, enjoy the moment you're in.

Life, I love you. All is groovy.

Let the rain come down

Today is Monday. M O N D A Y. What more is there to say? I thought about posting a music video of Manic Monday, but didn't find one that I liked. Instead, I figured it would be a good day to promote one of my favorite songs, Into the Ocean, by Blue October. It is October, after all, so it works. Not that I wouldn't be able to post a song by Blue October in May if I wanted to... but, I was really stretching to think of something to post for today and since "Monday" didn't result in finding anything good, I went with the next thing that came to mind - October.



So, I really love this song. I love its catchy music... but, I really love the lyrics. I might be interpreting the song wrong, but the message that jumps out at me is "bring it on!" (Of course, until the end of the song, when it starts to sound like the poor guy has given up. Oh well, don't listen to the end if you don't want to.)

Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion... yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now...come down
Let the rain come down
Let the rain come down

I remember getting stuck in the rain on my bike once while I was on my mission. It was at the end of a really awful day. So many bad things had happened that we stopped counting. Then, we came out of our last appointment at about 9:00pm. It was dark, cold, and when we stepped outside it literally felt like buckets of water were being dumped on our heads. And, we were about a 20 minute bike ride from our apartment. What can you do? Really? So, we hopped on our bikes and started riding home... and the entire time I was thinking, "bring it on!" The worst had already happened... this was nothing after all we'd been through.

The photo isn't too flattering, but what do you expect after a 20 minute bike ride in the rain? Oh, and, don't you just love my bike?! It had a bell on the right side of the handle bars, it had saddle bags hanging over the back tire, and it had a light on the front of the bike that was powered by the movement of the front tire. So, when I would go "lightning" fast, the light would practically blind everyone in my way. ;)

So, anyway, if any of you out there are feeling like your Monday was rotten and the world around you is falling apart, look into the eye of the storm and with determination in your eye, say, "bring it on." (And, hopefully, that'll be enough to scare the storm away... but if not, then at least you'll be facing things head on instead of letting the storm get the best of you.)