All kinds of catching up to do

This post will have to be an introduction to the many I still have coming out of my head. So let's see...In February I was crabby (gee, there's s shocker!). That comes and goes the like rising and falling of the tides. Sometimes I can handle the frustrating circumstances in which I find myself; other times, I think I put myself into those situations subconsciously because I either want to pout or need a good swift kick in the butt. Some parts of my world had become stagnant (and still are in some places). I think that's just par for the course. I've learned to deal, learned to manage and am learning to let go. Don't know why that last one is the hardest one to get, but surprise! It's now been a year since the GGs left us. I just found two unpublished posts about them. I'll still need to finish writing them and then proceed to the point of closure. Still not there in some ways. I do find it a bit ironic, that I return to those posts the week of my grandmother's estate sale. Tuesday I was a ball of tears in my office as I looked at the website that held her items, instantly linking memories to each picture (except for my mom's dollhouse we never knew was there), and being willing to give every last piece of her furniture away in exchange for another hug or word or smile. Heck, I'd even take another back-handed compliment or insult. Luckily, I saved a voicemail she left me on New Year's (in 2009, I think) that says, "Hi, it's Grandmother. I just wanted you to know I love you." I wonder if there's a way I can download it and save it forever. I'll have to ask Verizon. And, while I know it's set up to ask every 28 days or so, it always seems to pop up on a day where I really needed to hear her voice. Hmmm, cosmic perhaps? (okay, taking a break...crying again)
GG posts aside (or forthcoming), things at work were a bit tumultuous. Most of it was grant-related so I covered that on my "professional" blog. In short, we should have known in February what the outcome of our submission was. Instead, we were told we would find out in April...for a grant that ends in May. Many people chose the "glass-half-full" viewpoint while I just tried to keep my lunch down, or fight back a panic attack, anytime anyone discussed the delayed review. Then, in April, we were told our score was pretty bad and that we would have to rewrite. (Damn, that stinks.) But wait, it got worse...we had to have it done by June 1.That basically left a month to go through the reviewers responses, see what we can change and (for nearly every team) rewrite our proposals. The good news was that our bridging funds were/are being viewed positively in that there's a chance we'll be okay. (I'm still not completely certain since these were also the "glass-half-full" people)
In the midst of all of that, I attended a symposium in Greece (yet another post to write--just the fun stuff, not the work-stuff, which is already on the prof blog) and got to present not one, not two, but three different presentations. Each of which was invited to be published in a proceedings. I will probably submit one, but that may or may not happen due to potential drama associated with it...still waiting to find out.
But our grant is in, I may write a paper, and I have to prepare another talk and poster. In the mean time, the hubs is writing his dissertation....still...and hoping to finish this summer. The munchkin, well, she's just amazing. Smart. Funny. Caring. Polite. Golly, I love her!

I'm still paying it forward: I worked with my neighbor, Allison, to make bunnies to help fund her trip to Europe and also donated half of every sale. I think we raised about $200 (and if not I'm giving her at least that much). The hair is still long, but will be cut and donated. Oh, yes, it will.
My nephew arrived and brought with him a whole host of uncertainties, but he is now doing well. My cousin, Phil, is not. I was told yesterday he has been given 30 days. Days. I don't know what I would do if someone said I had a month to live. I'd probably make a bucket list like I've been told he is doing. I'll probably do something in his honor, as well. I'm still pondering that.
So prepare for a new flourish in writing (I hope). Lots going on and lots to say. Until then, blessings to you!

4 days to go...

I'm very excited to finally meet the munchkin that has been beating me from the inside-out, but I'm a little apprehensive about what is going to happen once s/he arrives. I really have enjoyed being pregnant. I don't have any real complaints about any of my experiences. Yes, some have been unpleasant at times, but they were so temporary. My greatest source of excitement, besides seeing what this little one looks like and who s/he resembles, is for Matt to get to hold this baby in his arms. I want to see the look on his face when he holds him/her for the first time.
I feel like I've been experiencing all the fun; interacting with kicks and pushes. So I can't wait to see what happens once he gets to interact, too.

This past weekend, we had a lot of fun. Matt's friend, Josh, was in town travelling from Chicago back to Arkansas. We had dinner with him two nights with the typical conversations (conversation was mostly trombone--okay, it was almost all trombone). Sunday my sweet, brilliant friend BB came into town, which was celebrated with a potluck and Beth & Drew's. It was a wonderful time with a house full of equally wonderful people.

Saturday morning, my buddy Brian took some pictures of me and Matt at the park. I wanted a few "belly pictures" (covered with clothing, though). The pictures turned out really well, even though I didn't like my puffy face in a few. Still, there are some real winners and I fully intend to have them framed in my house.

I have good friends. :-)

1 month to go...

Granted, as of today, it's the month of February (not on a leap year). I can't believe it's gone this quickly and, somewhat surprisingly, I'm in no hurry for it to end any time soon. Yes, I am excited to meet BabyD and learn about him/her but right now Matt is in California for a Brass Workshop--or I have been calling it: band camp. He has been gone since Monday night and will not return until next Sunday (for a total of 12 days), which has been a cause for a little anxiety for both of us. Of course, I do get tickled when he asks me how the baby's doing every time he calls. In my head I'm thinking, "wiggling around, right where you left him/her." I still enjoy knowing that my baby is tucked safely away and I really don't feel that greedy about keeping all that kicking, turning and wiggling to myself...at least not yet.

Sydne is doing better. Her knee is healing really well and the fur is starting to grow back, but the shaved leg is still quite obvious. We are still having to limit her activities, so she's been trapped in the "den" of our house, especially since she believes herself to be back to full capacity. As a result, Matt and I have been sleeping downstairs. In the past week, I have been alternating between the floor and the couch (depending on thunderstorms) so that she won't try to venture up the stairs and so she doesn't have to sleep in her crate.

Today I am having a surprise wedding shower for two of our friends who are getting married in Hawaii. Casey, Matt's buddy, and I are collaborating on it. He's in charge of the grill and I'm doing everything else, which is perfectly fine with me. Of course, I'm not currently on schedule because I only did the grocery shopping yesterday and didn't clean anything in the house that I wanted to. Instead, I spent several hours trying to convince myself that I wanted to cook, clean, shop, etc. And, of course, now I'm writing rather than doing any of those things. Still, I have about 4-5 hours, so I should be fine. The house isn't a complete mess and the things I have to do won't take that long.

IC is slowly coming back following the flood. The clean-up is obvious everywhere but no one is sure which businesses will be coming back and which have been close indefinitely. The School of Music is closed for the year, the Art Museum is going to move to a new location, and the entire arts campus will be spread across the whole of the city: arts studios at the old Menards, music classes in every church in the city, and lessons in professors' homes. It will definitely be an interesting year.

oh my, to catch up...

So many things have happened and I have so much to share...
I am now up to week 33, which is pretty darn good and, yes, I'm getting big. As the floating baby (which totally freaks Megs out--teehee) shows, I have less than 50 days to go until the kiddo gets here and I keep getting bigger. This is probably one of the few times in my life in which I won't complain about an expanding waistline.

Two weeks ago, IC was hit with horrible, horrible rain and flooding. As a result, I spent that Monday moving musical instruments from the MT "closet" to the offices of Drs. A & G. The ironic part of it is that we were told it would most likely not be necessary to do only to be notified 3 days later that everything in the music building needed to be moved due to fear of 4.5 feet of water on the first floor, 4.5 FEET! So it was another time in my life that I'm glad I didn't listen to someone who was in charge because they would have been very wrong and it would have been a very expensive "learning experience" (as Dr A calls them). So we moved almost every single musical instrument out of that closet (except a few plastic things that would not be affected by water and could be cleaned with clorox) on a giant percussion cart, in about 5 loads via the freight elevator. We did sacrifice one guitar to the River Gods, but only because it was really broken and needed lots of work.

Thursday of that week I trekked down to Charleston, SC for a girls' weekend we had planned for months. The timing was just amazing. I left Thursday (they closed the interstate on Friday) and got to spend some great quality time with Bev and Amy. Friday we slept late, ate at IHOP, got massages and facials (oh, the happy memory), went on a Ghost Tour of the Charleston jail on Friday, the 13th mind you and ate yummy, yummy food. Saturday we went to see Sex and the City: The Movie. Though I never watched the show, I did enjoy the movie. Of course, it could have partly been the hormones, but I kinda wept through the second half of the movie. This is where the plans changed...

Instead of coming back to IC on Sunday and spending Saturday afternoon at the beach, I was stuck in the South for a bit longer. (Now, that's not such a bad thing and AirTran was super-fantastic about helping me get my tickets rearranged.) Because of the flooding, the interstate from the airport to IC was closed, which meant that I could either fly home on Sunday at my designated time and spend who knows how many days in a hotel until the road was opened or change my ticket. So after explaining the situation to the airline associate and stating I'd have to charter a boat to get home from the airport the same day as my arrival, my flight was changed to the following Saturday and I had to figure out what to do for the next 6 or so days. Luckily, Amy still lives in our hometown so after the movie, and a bit of shopping, we hopped in the car and headed to her in-laws home in Holden Beach to meet up with her cutie-patootie husband and little boy. We headed out of Holden at 3 a.m. for the drive home and 5 hours later rolled into town with a very unhappy 13-month old (he was ready to be out of the car). From there on, it was a week of quality time with Mom, Dad & Jo, Marc, Challen and Maddox, and other friends from home I have missed dearly.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, the flooding continuously got worse. My beloved IC and C'ville strip became a river, destroying many businesses that may not come back and university buildings that will needs months to be repaired. The pictures I was able to find online paled in comparison to the reality my friends back here were experiencing. I know that I will never truly understand how completely horrific it was because I was in NC and only had the "virtual" experience. In addition, my sweet, sweet Sydne tore her doggie ACL and had to have surgery to repair the damage, which sent pangs of guilt through my heart because I was so far away and unable, once again, to do anything.

This past Saturday, I finally got home. It has been surreal to see all the various businesses closed and muddied, to try to traverse the roads to work, to get everything else caught up, and take care of my husband and puppy. Syd-dog is slowly getting better. She has more energy, which means we have to encourage her to lay down and stay calm. Ice cream has been a good incentive. Dad and Jo are coming in for a baby shower this weekend so they'll get to see some of the remnants first-hand. It should be a good time especially when they haven't been here since 2006.

We also started our MT sessions with the kiddos at the Speech and Hearing Center today, which was fantastic! I love working with them and seeing all the progress they make over the course of 6 weeks working with us and the SLP students. It's a busy, busy time and I'm loving every minute.

When Momma C comes to visit...

Things get done! In a hurry!

Mom came to visit last Thursday, our first visit since she game in Dec '06. It was the first time she got the see the house and first time she'd seen us since Christmas. Needless to say, there were some slight changes in my figure and other fun things.
Mom got here Thursday night when we joined miss Molly on her 25th birthday. We had an excellent dinner of yummy Japanese food followed by chill time for Mom and me and then some emptying of the nursery, which more closely resembled a room struck by a tornado. Friday, the three of us (or four, if you count BabyD) went for my doctor's visit and then went out to lunch. When we got home, our changing table had arrived (woohoo!) and then a trip to Lowe's to pick out paint and all the necessities. When we got home from Lowe's, the crib and mattress had arrived, making it a wonderful present day. That created even more urgency for me to have the nursery set up. The taping and painting began, which resulted in my prompt removal from the room. At the end of day one (Friday), it looked like this:

Saturday morning, we went to the Oto baby shower. Mom got to meet the great ladies I work with, which was a wonderful time for both of us. I got wonderful gifts from my coworkers and friends. Mom displayed yet another talent and excitement about the new BabyD with another display of her knitting prowess. It was too cute.

After the shower, it was back to work. I grabbed a blade and started taking the extra paint off the baseboards; Mom grabbed a paint brush. After dinner, it was crib assembly time, then off to bed.

Sunday we took Mom out for breakfast and then came home to give the room it's finishing touches. By Sunday afternoon, the nursery was finished, at least as much as we have right now.

As Matt put it when talking to one of our friends, she "cracked the whip." I love it when she does that. :-)

Can't believe there's only 80 days (or so) to go until BabyD gets here! I feel like I have so much more to write, but the cold I caught has decreased my verbal skills, at least for now.

peace, love, happiness!

(insert witty title here)

So apparently, Spring does not want to come to the Midwest in any sort of speedy fashion. We got yet more snow last night with a little more predicted on Sunday (and freezing rain tomorrow morning, oh joy). As a result things in our house are pretty much the status quo. I have started to get more energy. I'm cleaning more often, which amazing Matt undoes in record time. I spent 2 hours at the mall on Sunday and didn't need a nap when I got home, which is a huge accomplishment (and a rather sad commentary on my current level of endurance). Of course, this morning, while in the shower, I felt the need to encourage the sweet hubby to purchase toilet wands because I obviously feel the need to clean the bathrooms this weekend, top to bottom.

On a funny note, one day this week one of the ladies I work with was chatting with me, when she made an excited statement about the fact that not only is my belly getting larger, but apparently my "endowment fund" has also increased (she actually said they had gotten huge). It made me a little self-conscious for the moment, but then when I looked at a picture Matt took of me last week, I think she might be right. I look like I'm just busting out all over, not that I mind. It's just a new development--no pun intended. Of course, Matt isn't going to complain. What man would?

We also got to hear bambino's heartbeat again this week. It was a "perfect" 159 according to our midwife. And, in my normal preparatory manner, I asked what to expect for our next visit and when I'd get to see the smiling face of the miniDrisc. So next visit, March 24, we get to have a sonagram to check out the development and see the bambino in black and white. What a fun time that will be!

The Spoils of Baby-dom

I am so excited about Bambino Drisc! And that was before I started getting fun goodies. This weekend sweet, sweet Molly and Rachel gave us a Diaper Champ. Matt was so excited he joked about trying it out. Today, I got my diaper bag, made with love by Mary (our departmental quilting guru). I was so excited I ran around the department to show it off. And tonight, it got the "wag" of approval from my puppy. I have such good friends!

Catchin' up

In the last few weeks, I've been up to a million things and loving them all.


After Momma D was discharged we got to spend a few more days together before they flew home and I headed to the AMTA national conference in Louisville.
Time there was fun, but I worked harder than I have in a long time. Each day was 6 a.m.-ish until well after midnight. The University was well-represented with alums and current students. Still, despite the work, Meganne and I found ways to have fun and coffee, with our last night spent in an embroiled
battle of scrabble.


Plus, while I was in Lu-ih-vul my prediction came true. My beautiful nephew arrived...dimples and all (though I haven't seen the dimples yet). Welcome, Maddox Joseph!

The drive home was uneventful, that is until I got to town and encountered not one, but three, accidents within a mile of each other at my exit to get home.


Thursday brought fun in the form of friends and lots of food, but with the price of a damn early start (and a white Thanksgiving). Matt wanted to smoke the turkey using his fancy-shmancy grill. That required a 5:30 a.m. start; a start on which I was not planning as the thought of sleeping until 9 was firmly cemented in my head. Instead, I woke up and helped him make the brine, wash the bird and get the grill going.
At 6:30, the bird was on the grill and, being filled with coffee, I could no longer return to bed. Instead, I made the rest of the food I hadn't prepped the day before. The result of all the cooking and food from friends equalled one hell of a spread.

This was followed by a good nap, playing with a beautiful baby, and a heated game of Cranium, which we won. Then we sent home left-overs for all to enjoy. We did, however, end up with all of the desserts. Wonder how that happened...

I'm over myself now...regular non-pouting life resumed

The past week was wonderful; busy, but wonderful. One of my favorite BFFs from middle school, Bev, came to visit. While I don't have any photographic evidence we did manage to chill, have good food with good friends, and catch up on old and new times. Dad and Jo were supposed to come last weekend but, again, the airline gods were not in their favor and instead they trekked from home, to the airport, back home. All-in-all, it was probably a good thing because I was dead on Saturday after Bev's 5:30 a.m. flight requiring us to wake up at 3 a.m. (Yes, there is a 3 a.m.; it's dark).
Work has been better. I'm working on an abstract for an International conference. The results of this part will be my second paper submitted for publication and hopefully published. We've been pretty busy since our last conference and it looks like we'll have 5 studies to submit for posters or presentations.
Other than the normal stuff, I've been channeling my OCD into cross stitch. I've finished my dad's Christmas present (need to get it framed) and am working on 1 of 3 projects I have in the works. It's been a lot of fun to see the evolution of a piece of thread on a cloth. I'll post pictures as I finish the projects (I'll have to wait until after Christmas in case Dad happens to read this).
I am also very excited about Halloween coming up. I can't wait to see how the kids in this neighborhood do Halloween. I doubt it will be quite the same as 2 years ago (last year I hid in the basement with the lights out--sad, yes, I know). I also have a presentation that day for prenatal & postnatal women who are in the lower-income areas. I am supposed to talk about Music Therapy and the use of music for bonding between mother and baby. I'm a little nervous and excited about the same time. Plus the In-laws are coming next weekend. Can't wait to see Momma D with hair and no medi-port!
Until then, planning, planning, planning.
Enjoy your day!

Nothing special

The last week hasn't been very remarkable. Work was busy and, while there was a point where a coworker told the Big Boss that he owed me a six-pack, very little else was as challenging.
This weekend was fun and productive, though. Friday night, Matt took me to dinner at a new restaurant. It was pretty good, but I felt guilty about cheating on Devotay--my favorite tappas place in town. The food was good, not as good as Devotay, but Verde (the new place) had a blood orange cheesecake that was delicious and would compete with my tappas love. Another exciting bit (plus a large reason for my productivity) one of my wonderful friends, and former coworkers, came into town and we got a chance to visit for a little while. She had both of her adorable daughters with her. I'd only met one of them when they moved and had a newborn picture of the second, who just turned 1. They were definitely a handful, but it was still a good time and Sydne was a very good puppy. As a result, our house got a thorough cleaning, boxes put away, things thrown out and pictures hung on the wall. Finally, ornamental objects hanging from the walls!!

Ah, good friends

It's about time for me to write a post that's not grumpy or unhappy in any way. Dinner last night was much fun.

good people+ good food+good drinks=happy fun times

Last night we definitely had all 3. Matt and I met up with some great Oto people. One of my favorite former-Oto people has come to town for a visit, which necessitates an excellent meal full of witicisms and laughter. Mission accomplished. Despite my tendency to wither around 10 o'clock, I was not ready to stop the fun of the evening, especially since mint mojitos were $2.50 after 9. Unfortunately some of the attendees could not stay after the meal, which left me and Matt, Molly and my buddy BTK (who showed up later) to do the damage. Down we headed to the basement/bar area. We enjoyed many fruity beverages and mocked some of the screaming drunk dudes. Now I know that 3 mint mojitos takes me to a higher level of "happiness" that I haven't experienced in quite a while. Yet, by midnight, I was ready to turn into a pumpkin...actually more like a jack-o-lantern by virtue of the perpetual smile, which stayed with me most of the day even when my intellect did not. I forgot how much fun chilling with friends while drinking alcohol can be. Maybe it's because there were equal numbers of men and women and excellent conversation.
Cheers!

Hey, you! Get out of my bubble!

I think I have a target on me this week. There must be something in the air that says, "Hey, I don't mind you invading my space. C'mon over!" It's not just one day; one day I can handle, but every single day this week (and it's only Wednesday). Monday and Tuesday's invasions were Cambus edition, as is usually the case when you put large quantities of people into a small, moving space. Yet, there are precautions I like to take to keep people out of my bubble, when possible. Monday morning was the worst, so far, with a trifecta of bubble invasion (physical, auditory and olfactory).
There is a woman who rides the bus to work every morning at the same time I do. Somehow she always manages to have her cell phone glued to her head. These conversations are usually regarding horses or tack. While I do my darndest to avoid listening, at that volume, it's hard to miss.
Anyway, back to Monday. It was another day of cell phone glue. With my luck, horselady was on my bus and ended up sitting right beside me. Actually, she sat on part of me and I moved. Then once we were both spacially separated (by an inch), she began bouncing her legs fevershly, shaking my seat. Of course, the cell phone conversation continued. But the third invasion of my bubble, and definitely the worst, is that she smelled like vomit and she was on her way to work. Ewwww. So as soon as that bus stopped, I bolted for the door and could still hear her talking 25 feet behind me.
Tuesday was another bus day. Only this one was partially my fault. I got on the bus that indicated it was going my way. What I failed to notice was that once I got on, the sign was changed and I ended up riding the nearly empty bus the entire opposite route until it looped back to its original position chocked full of International students. While I respect other cultures, the only thing I wish other cultures would respect about America is the use of deodorant on a regular basis. Worse yet, the guy who forced himself into the now very small space between me and another person, forced open his book to read in the now significantly smaller space, smelled of cigarettes. It wasn't recent smoke; no, it was the dingy I've smoked for 30 years scent.
Today's space did not take place on the bus, but in another small, cramped space--the elevator. After a super-fun lunch with BTK and Molly-fabulous, we hopped onto the elevator to head back to work. The next floor we hit caused an influx of about 8 very loud women, followed by a stop on a floor where housekeeping was waiting, but did not get on. One of the VL women made a comment about a lot of mops which resulted in, as BTK put it, a sonic boom of laughter from one particularly loud lady--twice. The next floor, a woman and what I perceived to be her husband carrying a flower. One of the VL ladies commented on the flower; I looked and may have made a polite smile because the man began talking to the other ladies, but reached up and touched my arm. Dude! Do not touch me uninvited! EVER!! Especially if you haven't known me for less than 15 seconds, if you don't know my name, and if I don't initiate any sort of interaction that would prompt you to touch me. NEVER! I freaked out (internally) and waited until we could make our exit. Once I got over the heeby-jeebies, 15 minutes later, rinsed my arms and hands with antibacterial goop, I moved on. But geez, people, stay out of my bubble!

In happy news, I get to hang out with wonderful people tonight for some excellent food (and beverages).

Big Hair

I must admit, the hair in most of the pictures doesn't look too big and there aren't any of me, go figure, but I do have a few. Enjoy!

weddin' update

What can I say about Oklahoma except that it was one long drive? I really liked the University though I think ours has more "stuff" immediately around it both for students and the community. Their campus, while equally beautiful, left many fewer options to explore, but the surrounding areas had many more options, especially from chain restaurants and stores.
Thursday night we rolled into town around 6:30, dropped of Megan at a friends house and headed over to a location that causes me to have queasy memories from childhood, Chuck E Cheese. We got to meet some of the other bmaids and Matt had a super time playing skeeball. He finished off the night at 550 tickets (well, between the 2 of us, I shared) and used them to get toys for everyone in the wedding party. The toy, which he selected before beginning his quest for tickets, was a small ring version of mits used to catch velcro-covered tennis balls and actually turned out to be harder than the larger version.
Friday, we went shopping and found outfits for the rehearsal dinner and all around fun stuff. Matt even bumped into TC at the CVS pharmacy when he went to get me a curling iron. The rehearsal was long, longer than anyone (including the bride) expected. Basically, the preacher went through the entire set of vows and had Lucas and Erin repeat them, which meant that basically they were married because they even kissed at the end. The only missing part was the rings and, since they're technically a symbol and they did that vows part anyway, they were married before the night was over. The rehearsal dinner was barbecue, but it was attached to a gas station. It made the statement of "Eat Here, Get Gas" have a whole new meaning. So because of Matt's encounter earlier in the evening, we got a chance to hang out with TC and her husband for a little while, which was awesome since I hadn't seen her smiling face in several months. Good times...
Saturday, oh Saturday can be summed up in 2 words: Big Hair. My hair appointment was the first of the day, 8:30 am. I arrived early, per my usual habits, and began the hairspray, back combing, more hairspray followed by hairpins and other methods of torture by hairstyling. When it was finished, I felt very "Steel Magnolias," but with my sunglasses I was Katherine Hepburn circa 1960...At least mine wasn't the biggest of everyone's and a little better than the "prom hair" some of the girls wore. All in all, the wedding was beautiful and long. Lothar gave a toast at the second reception that was very good, actually better than I expected from him. Then we hung out with Lucas's fam for a few hours and shared stories about him. All was good save Lucas's dad in pajama pants and no shirt (not the prettiest sight I've ever seen).
Now there's only one wedding left to go, Friday night, then I'm hoping our life will return to normal, well, as normal as they can be.



UPDATE: You ask for it, you get it. BIG HAIR!
More pics to come

On the road again...

Tomorrow we head out to Oklahoma, which causes the theme song to the musical "Oklahoma" to run through my head with visions of Steve Martin running around with an eye-patch banging on a pot while screaming "Oklahoma" over and over again (If you're clueless, you must watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.) This trip will be for wedding #5, bridesmaids dress #3. I am a little excited to get out of town. Even though 2bit's wedding was just a little over a month ago, it feels like forever. I'm hoping the trip to OK will be enough of a break for me. At least I know my only task is to bring something "borrowed" so i've packed 2 pairs of earrings, a necklace and my tussymussy. I'll probably bring other things just in case, but I'm pretty sure one of the pairs of earrings will be the winner. Oh, and this wedding will be HUGE. By huge I mean there are 7 attendants for the bride and 7 for the groom, it's being held in one of the largest churches in OK, and the whole church was invited. Not to mention, Lucas has the boys doing a tbone quartet and when I asked if they would be playing from the balcony (as they did for mine), he said "no, they'll be seating people there, too." HOLY CRAP!
We're also going to have a fellow wedding attendant riding down with us. I think it'll be a good time. I've not spent too much time in conversation with her; mostly our interaction has been that of cordial conversation. I'm just hoping we have stuff to talk about without the uncomfortable silence for 10 hours. Yikes! At least we'll have Mad Libs and snacks, that should cover about 20 minutes or so. Oh, and Matt's going to install his XM radio in my car. That's right, MY car. Teehee! He's got the CD changer in his, it's only right my car gets some extra attention.
Oh well, enough mindless ramblings. I'm off to Oklahoma, OK-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklaho-ma!

Happy fourth o' July

What a wonderful day! I have to admit I did absolutely nothing today, maybe even less than nothing. First, I slept 2 hours longer than my normal waking time (ahhhh), then I helped Matt put together our new patio furniture. Okay, so maybe I was a little bit productive. I also installed the bracket for our flag. I've always wanted to have a flag on my house. I wanted one when we lived in the ghetto, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't stay there very long. The rest of the day was spent doing something I have missed terribly--reading for the fun of it. Granted, it was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but it had nothing to do with anything I can apply in my daily life so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also spent about an hour or more playing with Carter, the 3-year-old who lives behind us. He had a very cool plastic swimming pool and slide and loved showing me how it worked.
Matt took off early for his gig in CR, which I found out after he left would be choreographed to fireworks in the area. Unfortunately for me, I decided sitting on the back porch a little longer was a good idea. I enjoy being able to sit outside without hearing vulgarities and thumping. Tammy and Brad even invited me down to the park with them to watch the fireworks, but I declined because of sweet Sydne and her fear of things that go "boom."
I only made it back in the house at 10 'til 9, turned on CBS and realized they were televising the whole concert. Man! But, I got to see the last piece, Stars and Stripes Forever. It's one of my favorite marches, but the piccolo solo (or should I say piccolos solo--there were 5) was horribly out of tune...horribly. I am going to blame that on the heat and timing. After all, pitch changes dramatically in varying temperatures and over time, so let's hope they tried to adjust the pitch, but went in the wrong direction. The best part occurred closer to the beginning of the piece, when a camera came into focus right on the Tbone section, with my sweet honey's face in the middle of the screen. It was awesome to see him playing, which made me feel guilty I'd miss the earlier pieces. Almost immediately the phone rang; it was Ken asking me if I was watching. He and Lisa had just turned it on about the same time I had and they wanted to make sure I didn't miss it. We preceded to laugh together and then hopped off the phone to enjoy the rest of the piece and watch fervently in hopes of seeing him play again. Alas, it did not happen, but I'm glad I got that shot.
Tomorrow is back to the grind, but I get to play with the kiddos again. I am determined to get my paper in better form, too. Afterall, the plan was to have it our before Memorial Day. Yes, I realize that was over a month ago, but that's what happens when you keep adding analyses of the data. Have I mentioned research rules?

Ahhhhhhhh

That's the sound of freedom, folks. Freedom from evil, crooked landlords who believe they have the right to do what they want; landlords who don't hold up their end of the bargain but fully expect their tenants to do theirs.

Tomorrow is a happy day. First, it's Friday. Second, it is the day before the birthday of one of our ladies at work, one of our wonderful ladies at work, which means lots of yummy treats will descend upon her. I just ordered a dozen of the most delicious muffins to take in. I feel bad for not cooking, but I just got home (and it's 9:35 pm) after getting the couch out of the ghetto. That ended up being more of a feat than I ever thought it would. Funny how the phrase "taking the door off the hinges" means something entirely different to Matt than it does to me. In my mind, it means taking the pins out of the hinges; to Matt it means unscrewing the hinges from the frame of the door. Guess which one takes longer... :) It was a bonus because Meganne's Matt and E-flat came to help. Meganne's Matt helped me rehang the door and E-flat helped get the ole' couch out of the basement.
I have to admit that E-flat is a loyal friend. He's the type of person that drops whatever he's doing to lend his truck, muscles and insights into moving furniture. His only flaw is that he can be a "hellicopter friend." (a phrase I got from Molly) That means, he tends to hover frequently. In our case, he calls to see if Matt will play Texas Hold'em, Risk, Basketball, and other obscure games. At times, it's super-fun, but most times he calls on days where we want to lay low and hang out together. So Matt's off to hang out with E-flat and the gang; his payment for the assistance in moving. I have several acts of contrition to do for Meganne's Matt. Word to the wise, it's not a good idea to swear in front of a pastor (current or future), especially in German, when he's Lutheran. Ooops, double-oops, and triple-oops.
I'm betting I'll sleep well tonight. :)
-peace, love and health

Carried away

The last two days have been pretty quiet. Work at the hospital and some time for friends. Last night I joined Megs, Max, Matt and John at B-dub's for yummy dinner and trivia. Megs, John and I all won one game and then consumed yummy chocolate cake. I only ate a little being completely stuff with wings and onion rings. Afterwards, I got to go shopping, which doesn't seem that bad except I got to shop with the hospital's procurement card (i.e., shopping with other people's money). I bought a ton of toys for the kids in our program. Amazing what you can find at Target for $4.99! MP3 players, Transformers, Polly Pockets, stamp and stickers boxes, the list goes on and on. I filled an entire cart (only one, I did restrain myself that much) with lots of toys, but I have to admit that I did get a little carried away. From what I calculated, I bought approximately 50 toys. The check-out lady was really impressed with my shopping skills.
This morning, I got to unload my haul. I felt like a kid myself and wanted to play with all the toys. I got the seal of approval from the ladies I work with, except Maura who said I sucked because my team had better toys than hers, but I still take that as a compliment. Well, normally, we keep all those toys in a Rubbermaid bin, a 20 gallon or so (?). Well, let's just say my excitement got to the point that the bin was full as well as the cabinet in front of the bin. Yay for toys! There will be some happy children coming to visit us in the next year or so!

Tee-hee

What a fun day! This morning was our first music therapy group with kiddos at the speech and hearing center. I didn't actually participate today because Dr G was absent. Still, it was fun to watch the other part of our gang play. We have a 20-month-old boy, a 2 year old girl and a 3 year old boy; all have either a CI or a hearing aid. They are sooooo cute. I was a little jealous that I didn't get to play, but I got to make fun comments with the SLPs in the observation room. It makes me smile to think about that 30 minutes of today.
This afternoon was sooo slow. Alyssa and I ate lunch outside and soaked up some Vitamin E as well as split-pea soup, my first time trying it, which I'm guessing had other yummy vitamins. Afterwards, though, it was really hard to get anything done, mostly because we were so productive this morning that there was little else needing attention. So we looked at Alyssa's pictures from her Appalachian trail hike last week and my pictures of 2bit's wedding. An hour later, we tried again to be productive, but to no avail. We then imbibed in cookies (if you can imbibe in cookies) to celebrate the last day of one of the students...mmmm, cookies. The funniest part of the day came when I went to mail my orientation evaluation. It was a rather interesting survey; one in which I included the need for either treats earlier in the morning (not 10:30) and/or a better breakfast (i.e., a full, yummy one like everyone else mentioned before my orientation).
Anyway, on the way back to my office, I bumped into a girl one of my friends has been quasi-interested in for some time. (He and I eat lunch together almost daily because we seem to be hungry at about the same time and haven't really fit into another lunch group in our department.) We call her "Beetlejuice" because every time we talk about her (or mention her name 3 times), she calls him. While trying to make polite chit-chat with Beetlejuice, she pointed out what I thought was my "Financial education" pamphlet I had just received in my campus box saying "oh, is that new?". Only it wasn't the pamphlet, she was pointing out my wedding and engagement rings. Almost immediately, I could see the wheels turning and I knew what she was thinking. So I proceeded to tell her that I have been married for almost three years. She followed with "huh, I never noticed." So I tried to give her an excuse like, "well, I don't always wear my engagement ring because the stone isn't set right. "Yeah, maybe that's it" she replied and very quickly indicated that she had to go. Thus, the end of our conversation...
Needless to say, I speed-walked back to my office and emailed this dear friend, letting him know what had transpired. My last sentence was "I think she thought I was making a play for you." He returned the timely notice by coming over to my office IMMEDIATELY and we both did our evil, you-gotta-be-kidding-me laughs and then went home...what a day. Betcha he gets a call tonight.
peace & love

up to my eyes in....boxes

I have had a great weekend. There wasn't one particular thing that made it great; it was just a good combination of things. Friday night, we got to go downtown for dinner with some friends. They were setting up the tents for Art Fest so I didn't get to see any work, but the buzz of people around and the music in the air was awesome. (The bottle of wine didn't hurt, either). Saturday was spent mostly packing boxes, happily packing boxes, and hanging out with friends from work. That basically consisted of going to their house, setting up for the cookout, watching all the testosterone leave to pick up the new kiddos' playhouse and running inside when it started *pouring*. About 45-minutes to an hour later, the men returned and were thoroughly saturated (I think we could have wrung them out, not just their clothes). Still, I had fun hanging with Linda and grilling. That was one way I felt like I was being productive. Today, packing, packing and more packing. I've gone through 4 rolls of bubble wrap and filled many a box with fragile items as well as books. I haven't even reached the "damnit" box yet, which makes me very happy because I was sure I would already be there by now. Still have a long way to go, which proves I have too much crap, but that's the fun of moving. As George Carlin said (to paraphrase), you buy a house, fill it with junk so you buy a bigger house to fill with more junk. I look forward to that possibility.