HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To the fabulous Kiki of Pinch Me.

Hope your day is FANTASTIC!  

Why is it?

...that working on my thesis is SO FREAKIN' hard?  I mean, this is what I LOVE and am interested in.  And apparently - according to my non-over-caffeinated-self - want to do with the rest of my life.  Part of it may be that I turned in my application for graduation yesterday and I'm trying not to FREAK out about not getting this all done.  But wouldn't that push me to work more???

...that I eat so much junk when I'm home during the day?  When I go into the city for work or school or meetings, I almost always pack a lunchbox full of yummy, healthy foods.  But when I'm home it's straight for the crackers and powerbars and processed foods alllllllll day.  Maybe I should pack my lunch even when I'm going to be home.

...when my dogs are behaved I love them SO much?  And when they are NOT (which happened more than once over the past week) I want to send them straight back to the animal shelter?  I mean, I still love them but really.  The number of shoes lost this week was crazy.   I'm thinking everything will be the same but instead of sending 2-legged pups back to an "animal shelter" they will go to "Grandma's."  Yes Mom?  :)

And....why  is it that I'm posting a blog when I should be doing 100 other things?  It's cathartic.  And I summarily forget other responsibilities, even if for just a brief moment when I blog.

Happy hump day to you all, especially those I know are out there reading: MV, VV, HG, LA, VK, JF, MFB, EC, LW, AR, JM, and ES.


xo!

Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life...

Um, I think this is stupid.  So stupid, in fact, that I'm not going to even think of some clever way to twist it and make it less stupid. 

Instead, you get...two interesting articles I've read recently (recently read?).

I laughed. I cried. I reviewed my spelling and grammar...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/13/AR2010091304476.html?hpid=features1&hpv=local

And (though it's a bit older, I re-read it):
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1940395,00.html

Day Eight: Three Turn Ons

1.  The smell of cookies.  Sugar cookies.  Vanilla.  Ginger molasses.  Orange crisps. 

2.  LIGHT cologne and fresh breath.

3.  A clean house.  It's ridiculous, but it's more like eliminating a turn-off than anything.

Because God Gave Me You...

OLD POST: Struggles, Take 2

So, I am cleaning out some things on my blog and changing a few other things.  Through this process, I've come across a few old posts that are super interesting to look back on.  Here's the first that I found that was originally drafted at the end of February 2010...

**********

Ugh.  I REALLY need to get my tookus in gear and finish this paper.
But I can't.
It's not like the "I can't because I'm so not interested" or the "Why is this 20 pages?"
Thing is, this isn't a long paper, nor is it difficult.  I know what I need to say and I'm actually looking forward to it.


But I'm distracted.


And excited.


And scared.


You see, we put in an offer on a house Friday night and it was accepted on Saturday evening.
It's so very GROWN UP.  But we've had a wonderful realtor who has explained everysinglething and has been oh-so-patient.  I'm excited for a new chapter in our lives.  But I'm also scared for the dumbest and most inexplicable reasons.  Like, where will I find a couch?  And what if Wren doesn't see his doggy best friends any more?  Or how about the more serious (though far-flung) ideas that race through my head: what if we have an intruder?  what if I get mugged walking Wren?  what if our neighbors are terrorists (like my BFF's run-in)?


And then I have to yell STOP! in my own head.  Because these ridiculous questions aren't things I'm scared of in a new place.  They are things I'm scared of everywhere.  But I refuse to live my life in fear of what may happen.


**********


And now, 7 months later, I'm still procrastinating.  Ha!  Though that's not surprising me in the least.  I've been a procrastinator since I was 12.

What HAS changed, however, is that being "grown up" isn't so scary.  The beginning of things are always nerve-wracking and the ends are usually sad.  But right now, being in the middle of home ownership and adulthood, things are mostly really good.  7 months ago I had NO idea that we'd have such amazing neighbors or that we'd have to replace part of a basement wall or that we'd have a 2nd pooch to fill our house with loooove.  And so far, no intruders (though there was an incident with a broom in the basement which scared the ba-jesus out of me!) or muggings or crazy neighbors.  :)

Big Guy sure does take care of us!

EXCITED!

I'd like to welcome one lovely Griffin, and her momma McV and pops to the fabulous world of familyhood.  I know McV and her hubs have been a family for awhile now, but really, adding a 4-legged kid to the mix is awesome.

Puppy play date soon???  :)

p.s. Wren (Wrendog, Bubba) and Sammy (Sam, Sammer, Smammy) can't wait to meet Griffin (and have their mother make up ridiculous nicknames for her too)!

Day Seven: Four turn offs

1. Olives.  Olive-flavored breath.  Olive chunks.  But not olive oil.  Love that stuff.

2. Brett Favre.  And I used to LOVE him.  I'm sorry, but anyone who goes on television and cries about how they are retiring and how much their career has meant to them but how it's time to be a family-man (or woman) and then NOT retire is not cool.  Anyone who does this five bajillion times is REALLY not cool.

3. Dirt under fingernails.  It even grosses me out when it's my own nails and I think "eeeeew, I hope no one sees!!"

4. Cursing.  Again, I do this too much.  It's good (but maybe bad too) that two of the four things on this list are turn-offs for me and yet I do (have?) them.  Should work on that...

Day Six: Five People Who Mean A Lot

*Post-edit:  I clearly meant day six, and not day four again.

Well, because I can't pick five people from my personal life (it would be too hard!), I'll pick five people from elsewhere:

1. Jon Stewart.  A (kind of bitter) W&M Alum, leading the Rally to Restore Sanity on October 30.  I'm going.

2. Natty Boh.  Not really a person, per se, but an icon.  And oh how I miss him winking his coy little wink at me every night.  Plus, he was part of the cutest advertisement I've ever seen:

(That's Natty Boh proposing to the Utz girl, for all of you non-Baltimore-fanatics out there.)

3. Sally Duff, who tortured me in grad school experience numero uno at Hopkins, but also happened to develop truly seminal standards for science education.  She's like a AAAS goddess.  I hope she's still out there torturing young teachers into submission and science prowess.

4. The person who invented stain-repellent fabric for furniture.  Because with two hairy-messy beastchildren, it's really really important.  Thank you, sir (or madame).

5. Scott Crabbs at the W&M Alumni House.  Because he gave us not one, but two engraved bricks.  Well, it was all a mix-up actually, but it meant that one was put in the patio at W&M and we have one sitting in our living room.  It reminds me of Hubster, our wedding day and our wonderful alma mater on a daily basis.


Maybe I also should have mentioned some of the people who have written the peer-reviewed articles I will be looking at for the next umpteen hours while I work on thesis goodness.  They do mean a lot to me right now.  I just don't like them all that much...

No announcer lady, that's not my bag!

McV shared this recently and I luuuuuuuve it.  I ride the metro almost daily and it makes me crazy.  Daily.  Yesterday, I was stuck on a train for 25 minutes sitting between Silver Spring and Takoma thanks to a trash fire on the red line.  Stooooopid red line.

Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done

Hmmm...this one is harder than the first few days.  

1.  Walked away from Mrs. W (my boss in Bmore) the day she made the comment about how I should be wearing pantyhose.  I should have told her that I might take her advice the day she actually knew my name and didn't get me mixed up with all of the other young, white, female teachers.  She was a GEM!

2.    Said hello to that guy (not the one you are thinking of).  What a headache that turned out to be!

3.  Stressed about wedding stuff.  That was just silly, because at the end of the day the objective was met and I got the best Hubster. :) 

4. Lost my wallet.  I hate losing things!

5. Walked into my freshman "dorm" room and the first thing out of my mouth was "I'm Sarah, are you Mary?"  My roommate's name was Liz.  I felt stoooooopid.  

6. Um...I seriously struggled to think of any of these.  That's all I've got.    Trying to live life with few regrets!

Day Four: Seven things that cross my mind a lot

1.    Food

2. I'd like to be playing/running/rolling on the floor with my pups   

3.    Spanish words I need to learn (though one great blog on my Google Reader is helping with that)

4. Thank you Lord for...Lord give me strength for...God help me to not...

5. COFFEEEEEEEEE (that's how it sounds in my brain)

6. Can I add a few more hours in the day?  I'd REALLY love to see my husband (or friends or other family or even just the inside of my own eyelids) a bit more.

7. UGH.  Schoolwork 

And #7 has the cake for the night.  Off to do about a billion things for school.

Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.

Most of these go for both romantic and platonic relationships.

1. Say thank you.  Or I appreciate you because…

2. Cook me dinner.  Or do the dishes.  Or both!

3. Do something nice for my family (wash Mom’s dog, work on a house project with Brub, visit DOU with me)…someone is GREAT at that.

4. Rub my feet. 

5. Let me tell you about my crazy family and crazy friends and crazy dogs and still want to spend time with me.

6. Write me a love letter.

7. Surprise me with flowers, or dinner (see #2), or a love letter (#6), or just give me a hug.

8. Play with my puppies. 

Day Two: Nine Things about ME!

1. I love mac and cheese, with ketchup.  And my SiL once gave me a giant box of mac and cheese for Christmas.  That was glorious, remember Seeeester?

2. I drive (on occasion) a white car that is named Violet.

3. Both of my dogs are named after people from my alma mater.  Tribe Pride!

4. I'm equally excited and terrified to have kids.  Six months ago I was more on the terrified side, but I feel the balance slowly (SLOWLY!) tipping.

5. I love my family.  And my friends.  And I am so thankful that God is both family and friend to me.

6. I wish the weather were always amenable to wearing shorts and long-sleeved t-shirts (or W&M hoodies).  Reason #352 we should move to Southern Cali some day... um, hello Mr. Military Placement Man?

7. I still carry the backpack I received before high school.  I keep it because it's great and big and still kicking, but also because it was the last thing my grandmother gave me before she passed away.

8. My mind wanders when I read for school so much that I almost always have to re-read.  But when I read a book for pleasure, I can become so engrossed I will stay up until 3:30 am just to know a little bit more.  I sometimes wish I could read all day (in my living room, at a coffee shop, on a park bench) instead of doing "real" things.

9. I can't wait to see Hubster tonight.  :)  This crazy man I've known for 8 years, loved for over 7, been married to for 2.  But you all probably knew #9.

Happy Thursday!

Oh, and we are heading to NC tomorrow.  CAN'T WAIT.  See #5.  :)

Day One: Ten Things to Say

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now (most are anonymous).

1.    When I’m this frustrated about what you HAVEN’T said, maybe we’re not meant to stay friends.  I've felt used for a long time and I want out.  

2.    I keep telling myself that I will be happy when this is all over because I’ve learned so much.  But you may drive me loooong crazy before then, so I’ll probably never know.

3.    You’re a rockstar!  Um, and I love your dog.  I’m ridiculously glad we’re friends. 

4.    I’m sorry I was so short and upset on the phone with you today.  I was late to class and now will miss work tomorrow.  It’s not your fault but at least say “I’m sorry.”  Really.

5.  I think you should live here for always!

6.  Holy cow Batman!  Babies!  Aaaah!  We are NOT old enough for this.  I'm terrified and excited and anxious and it's not even happening to me (yet).  

7.  To 7 others:  Mendoza?  New Year's 2012?  Just say YES!

8.  You aren't perfect, but neither am I.  You inspire me and push me and make me think in ways that I would NEVER do without you.  God sure knows what he's doing.

9.   Will you make meatloaf this weekend?  I love your meatloaf.

10.  Life’s short.  Be nice (to everyone).  Or if you can’t, get that person out of your life.  

Actually, eleven...

11.  I FREAKIN' LOVE YOU!  All of you.  And all of us.  And really, anything else I would say to you, you already know.  :)

Happy Wednesday!

A little kick-start

So, C-diddy did this and I'm joining the band-wagon for kick-starting some blog posts

Are you in a blogging slump? Here is a fun blogging activity to help you hit "publish post" again!

Over the next 10 days, blog about the items on this list:

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn offs.
Day Eight: Three turn ons.
Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.
Day Ten: One confession

Chances are I will write these while in class tonight.  With my fave prof.  Really, one day I will get over her.  

Day One will be posted later today.  :)

You Know What?

This thesis (I'm just calling my culminating experience a "thesis" now because, well, it IS.  But also, who the heck knows what a CE is??) may kill me.

These classes - or more honestly these professors - may drive me batty.

Juggling 2 pups, Hubster's ridiculous schedule, reading, laundry and two (which is two-to-many) part-time jobs may do me in.

But by GOSH I'm good with Excel.  Really.  So, if this whole public health/wife/mother to 4-leggeds/being sane and normal doesn't work out, I can always make graphs and charts for the rest of my life.  Yes?  Yes??????????



Will post more, coherent thoughts later...I've got a few things I'd love to share!  Sooooo probably during my class this evening I will write.  Ha!