John has a cold.
Which meant that we had a quiet weekend and didn't really get anything done that we wanted to. I spent the weekend in the spare bedroom since I didn't want to get sick, which made my body ache. The bed is comfortable, but it's a twin, and Honey would rather join me and share the twin bed with me than John and the queen bed. She's heavy enough that I can't move her without some major effort when she's asleep and doesn't want to be moved, so I end up sleeping in the weirdest positions because she's pushed me out of her way.
She's so spoiled.
Now we've started another week. One bit of exciting news - I've been invited to be an Honorary Member of the Golden Key Honor Society. Only students can be members, and since I'm not a student I don't qualify. But I'm really excited about this - it's the first time this type of thing has happened to me!
John is enjoying his lab - he's so pleased at how much work he can get done in the lab. As sick as he was, he still got up and went in and did some work in the lab on Saturday. Seeing him so happy is wonderful.
Well, I'm hoping this is a slow week, but the only way that's going to happen is if I actually go get some work done.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Ready for the weekend
We were planning on doing so much this weekend.
Helping some friends move.
Driving to the next town over to shop at Aldi's.
Spend some time on the phone with John's school bill company and talk about finances.
That may all be changing, though. John's feeling poorly today, and will more than likely be out for the count with a bad cold all weekend. I'll spend the time trying not to get sick and nursing him back to health.
Still, it's been a super stressful week, and I'm so glad we're almost to the weekend!
Helping some friends move.
Driving to the next town over to shop at Aldi's.
Spend some time on the phone with John's school bill company and talk about finances.
That may all be changing, though. John's feeling poorly today, and will more than likely be out for the count with a bad cold all weekend. I'll spend the time trying not to get sick and nursing him back to health.
Still, it's been a super stressful week, and I'm so glad we're almost to the weekend!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Starting up the new year - and some movie reviews!
So, I've been back at work for a week now ... John started classes on Monday ... and we're picking up our normal lives again after a perfectly wonderful break!
Seriously, I think this was the best vacation I've ever had. We all (John, Honey, and I) went to John's parents house for Christmas. We visited family, ate amazing food, visited Ikea, opened presents, played games, and watched the birth of a baby cow. John's parents keep cows - and most of them were expecting babies while we were there. One of them came right up near the house, and we were able to watch her give birth from the window - it was amazing! Since then, they've had 12 baby cows born, and 8 more coming any day now.
We came back home the day after Christmas, and perhaps 2-3 hours after we got home a couple from church dropped their dog off at our house for us to take care of for the week. "Ice" was a small little white terrier dog (I don't know the actual breed), and she and Honey did not immediately care for each other. John and I spent the week just relaxing and doing things around the house, while the dogs kept each other occupied.
Honey was so stressed out - she hated having to share John and I. She didn't mind if Ice played with her toys or went in her bed, or anything. But if Ice got in our laps to be petted, Honey got upset and paced and whined and barked. Thankfully though, by the time it came for Ice to go home, the two of them were getting along much better. Of course, Honey was still over-the-moon happy when Ice went home. She was bouncing and happy and playful and on her very best behavior!
John got a lot of really good work done on the house over the break. He completely re-did my pantry! and it is totally amazing! I am so loving my pantry now. I'll have to get some pictures off my phone to put on here. He also painted most of the garage - with a stinky acylic paint that permeated the entire house with that awful paint smell. Still, the garage looks much better.
We also went to see both "The Hobbit" and "Les Miserables" in theaters. They were brilliant. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins was spot-on. My favorite parts of "The Hobbit"? When Smaug destroyed the city at the beginning, and when the dwarves were showing up at Bilbo's house. I also loved that they added scenes that were not necessarily from the book, but explained the back story. John did some research, and apparently Peter Jackson, the director, was given access to Tolkien's writings that were never published. My personal feeling is that Jackson and his crew have immersed themselves in Tolkien's world for almost 10 years now - I have every faith in them that if they do add something, it will be an enhancement, not a detractor from the world.
Unfortunately, "Les Miserables" did not live up to my expectations. I've seen the stage musical twice before on stage, and have been in love with the musical since high school. Anne Hathaway as Fantine was perfect. She was by far the best part of that movie. Overall, it was a good movie. I just had two problems with it: Hugh Jackman as Valjean, and the music.
Now, it was clear that Hugh Jackman put all he had into this role - he worked at it, and his acting was stellar. My only complaint with his is that he doesn't have the voice to carry that role. Valjean is the backbone of the entire musical - he has multiple solos and dramatic pieces to sing. Honestly, I probably would have been happy if they had dubbed over Jackman's voice. He's not a bad singer - not at all. But he didn't have the authority in his voice to carry that particular role. (Side note - I've heard very similar arguments about Russell Crowe, who played Javert. Yes, you can say exactly the same thing about him - stellar acting, not as good singing voice - but this didn't bother me so much, because Javert does not sing as much as Valjean.)
My next criticism is with whoever did the soundtrack for the film. Because that's what it is - a soundtrack. When you see the play in person, the music is a powerful, driving force that envelopes you. In the movie, the music is toned down to background music - an aside. By doing they, they lost the impact that the music gave.
Anyway, it was a wonderful break, and John and I enjoyed it so very much. We're (maybe) ready for this next semester? We certainly jumped into it feet-first!
Seriously, I think this was the best vacation I've ever had. We all (John, Honey, and I) went to John's parents house for Christmas. We visited family, ate amazing food, visited Ikea, opened presents, played games, and watched the birth of a baby cow. John's parents keep cows - and most of them were expecting babies while we were there. One of them came right up near the house, and we were able to watch her give birth from the window - it was amazing! Since then, they've had 12 baby cows born, and 8 more coming any day now.
We came back home the day after Christmas, and perhaps 2-3 hours after we got home a couple from church dropped their dog off at our house for us to take care of for the week. "Ice" was a small little white terrier dog (I don't know the actual breed), and she and Honey did not immediately care for each other. John and I spent the week just relaxing and doing things around the house, while the dogs kept each other occupied.
Honey was so stressed out - she hated having to share John and I. She didn't mind if Ice played with her toys or went in her bed, or anything. But if Ice got in our laps to be petted, Honey got upset and paced and whined and barked. Thankfully though, by the time it came for Ice to go home, the two of them were getting along much better. Of course, Honey was still over-the-moon happy when Ice went home. She was bouncing and happy and playful and on her very best behavior!
John got a lot of really good work done on the house over the break. He completely re-did my pantry! and it is totally amazing! I am so loving my pantry now. I'll have to get some pictures off my phone to put on here. He also painted most of the garage - with a stinky acylic paint that permeated the entire house with that awful paint smell. Still, the garage looks much better.
We also went to see both "The Hobbit" and "Les Miserables" in theaters. They were brilliant. Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins was spot-on. My favorite parts of "The Hobbit"? When Smaug destroyed the city at the beginning, and when the dwarves were showing up at Bilbo's house. I also loved that they added scenes that were not necessarily from the book, but explained the back story. John did some research, and apparently Peter Jackson, the director, was given access to Tolkien's writings that were never published. My personal feeling is that Jackson and his crew have immersed themselves in Tolkien's world for almost 10 years now - I have every faith in them that if they do add something, it will be an enhancement, not a detractor from the world.
Unfortunately, "Les Miserables" did not live up to my expectations. I've seen the stage musical twice before on stage, and have been in love with the musical since high school. Anne Hathaway as Fantine was perfect. She was by far the best part of that movie. Overall, it was a good movie. I just had two problems with it: Hugh Jackman as Valjean, and the music.
Now, it was clear that Hugh Jackman put all he had into this role - he worked at it, and his acting was stellar. My only complaint with his is that he doesn't have the voice to carry that role. Valjean is the backbone of the entire musical - he has multiple solos and dramatic pieces to sing. Honestly, I probably would have been happy if they had dubbed over Jackman's voice. He's not a bad singer - not at all. But he didn't have the authority in his voice to carry that particular role. (Side note - I've heard very similar arguments about Russell Crowe, who played Javert. Yes, you can say exactly the same thing about him - stellar acting, not as good singing voice - but this didn't bother me so much, because Javert does not sing as much as Valjean.)
My next criticism is with whoever did the soundtrack for the film. Because that's what it is - a soundtrack. When you see the play in person, the music is a powerful, driving force that envelopes you. In the movie, the music is toned down to background music - an aside. By doing they, they lost the impact that the music gave.
Anyway, it was a wonderful break, and John and I enjoyed it so very much. We're (maybe) ready for this next semester? We certainly jumped into it feet-first!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Holiday Update
It's the Thursday before Christmas ... and life has been hectic!
John's been on break from school, so he's been looking for projects to complete around the house. Meanwhile, I'm still working and then I volunteered us to dog-sit over my vacation break, so I invited that family over for dinner tonight so that their dog can meet Honey and get used to us before actually being left here for several days.
So, John decided yesterday afternoon was the perfect time to rip out the pantry and re-do it.
I got home from work yesterday and the entire contents of my pantry were strewn all over my kitchen cabinets (John reassured me that we'd get a pizza so I didn't have to try and cook). He'd torn out all the shelves in the pantry and did some dry-wall repair in there.
Tip: Did you know that Lowe's will cut your wood for you? Seriously - John bought this long strip of wood to use for shelves in our new pantry, and Lowe's cut that long strip down to the exact sizes we needed for the shelves. Normally it costs $0.25 per cut, but they didn't charge us for it. So much easier than trying to do it outselves!
So ... last night we went to Lowes and wandered around a bit, then picked up our pizza. After dinner, John started sanding the dry wall down and then painted the first coat of white in the pantry. I started going through all the food from the pantry and getting rid of stuff that was either expired or I knew that we'd never use (most likely because we'd had it for over a year).
Biggest surprise of the night? Finding 10 cans of black beans - an ingredient I only use in 1 recipe that I make maybe 2-3 times a year.
Grossest surprise of the night? Finding an unopened container of balsamic vinaigrette dressing that looked like things were growing in it. Surprisingly, it was not past the expiration date. We threw it out anyway.
So now John is painting a second coat in the pantry and trying to install the shelves before we have company tonight. I'm making a lamb roast with steamed vegetables and rolls. My guests are bringing dessert and a tiny dog that will probably get into a fight or something with Honey.
Yay!
John's been on break from school, so he's been looking for projects to complete around the house. Meanwhile, I'm still working and then I volunteered us to dog-sit over my vacation break, so I invited that family over for dinner tonight so that their dog can meet Honey and get used to us before actually being left here for several days.
So, John decided yesterday afternoon was the perfect time to rip out the pantry and re-do it.
I got home from work yesterday and the entire contents of my pantry were strewn all over my kitchen cabinets (John reassured me that we'd get a pizza so I didn't have to try and cook). He'd torn out all the shelves in the pantry and did some dry-wall repair in there.
Tip: Did you know that Lowe's will cut your wood for you? Seriously - John bought this long strip of wood to use for shelves in our new pantry, and Lowe's cut that long strip down to the exact sizes we needed for the shelves. Normally it costs $0.25 per cut, but they didn't charge us for it. So much easier than trying to do it outselves!
So ... last night we went to Lowes and wandered around a bit, then picked up our pizza. After dinner, John started sanding the dry wall down and then painted the first coat of white in the pantry. I started going through all the food from the pantry and getting rid of stuff that was either expired or I knew that we'd never use (most likely because we'd had it for over a year).
Biggest surprise of the night? Finding 10 cans of black beans - an ingredient I only use in 1 recipe that I make maybe 2-3 times a year.
Grossest surprise of the night? Finding an unopened container of balsamic vinaigrette dressing that looked like things were growing in it. Surprisingly, it was not past the expiration date. We threw it out anyway.
So now John is painting a second coat in the pantry and trying to install the shelves before we have company tonight. I'm making a lamb roast with steamed vegetables and rolls. My guests are bringing dessert and a tiny dog that will probably get into a fight or something with Honey.
Yay!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Tragedy and Mental Illness
If you've been anywhere in the US the past few days, you've heard about the school shooting in Sandy Hook, CT. We don't really have a tv, so the majority of my information about the shooting comes from facebook posts and online articles. I just wanted to share a few thoughts about it.
For future reference ... or for those who haven't heard about the shooting ... on Friday, December 14th, a man entered a Sandy Hook Elementary school classroom and shot and killed 20 first graders and 6 adults. This is an unspeakable tragedy - honestly no words come to me. I cannot even fathom the pain and the loss that the families and friends of everyone involved must be feeling.
Within hours of the shooting, people started debating whether we should be allowed to carry guns or not. Some people argue that the shooting would not have happened or been nearly as bad is someone within the school had been armed. Others argue for stricter gun laws that may have prevented the shooter from getting a gun in the first place.
By the next day, people were pointing fingers - saying that these things only happen because God was taken out of schools and there's no prayer in the classrooms. They are saying that if we still prayed to God and taught the Bible in public schools then maybe this shooter wouldn't have done this.
(Of course, there's also the radical groups such as Westboro Baptist Church who claim that this whole tragedy is God's judgement on this nation, and they are planning on picketing the children's funerals.)
My reaction to all these? Shame. Frustration. Even a bit of anger.
Over two dozen people died needlessly - most of them young children - and you're using their deaths to get on your soapbox and promote your own belief system? How incredibly callous and unfeeling.
Now is a time for mourning - for grieving and for supporting the families and friends of the victims. Not for politics or religious battles or grand-standing.
After that ... then we can figure out how to prevent this from happening again. Not because of this shooting, but because it should never have happened at all.
***********
Now I'm going to go against what many of the people in my circles believe. I grew up hearing the belief that there was no such thing as a "mental illness". That anything that was wrong in the brain was either demon possession or the results of a sinful life; the only cure was God.
There were some grey areas - mental disabilities such as Down Syndrome or Autism were regarded as sympathetic. But illnesses such as depression, asbergers, bi-polar, etc. did not exist.
And that is something that I disagree with. Every other part of our bodies can get sick or fail us - why should our brain be any different? All it takes is an imbalance in chemicals and hormones to mess us up horribly in the head.
Thankfully, this is not something I've had to experience; neither John nor I suffer from any of this. But I've read up on a lot of it. And while there is help out there (once you get past the sometimes-crushing stigma of having a mental illness), that help is often only available for people with "normal" mental illnesses. And often can only be available if people want help - which many people who are not well think they don't need.
Article: "I am Adam Lanza's Mother" by Liza Long
Currently, in the US, there are no real options available for people whose mental health may cause them to injure themselves or others. The way things are now, we have to wait until they "snap" so that we can put them in jail. At which point it may be too late.
I hardly think that that's a good policy. For anyone.
************
You might think I'm being a bit hypocritical - condemning others for using this tragedy, and then speaking up myself. And maybe I am.
Nothing can justify the taking of lives. I mourn for each of the people who died ... and I mourn that someone felt that there was no other way to ease his own pain than to cause so much pain for others.
Article: "Tragic Violence and Empathy" Nurshable blog
But surely, if we wanted to prevent things like this happening in the future - shouldn't we spend our energy trying to help people so they never get this desperate? That we see that they get the help that they need?
For future reference ... or for those who haven't heard about the shooting ... on Friday, December 14th, a man entered a Sandy Hook Elementary school classroom and shot and killed 20 first graders and 6 adults. This is an unspeakable tragedy - honestly no words come to me. I cannot even fathom the pain and the loss that the families and friends of everyone involved must be feeling.
Within hours of the shooting, people started debating whether we should be allowed to carry guns or not. Some people argue that the shooting would not have happened or been nearly as bad is someone within the school had been armed. Others argue for stricter gun laws that may have prevented the shooter from getting a gun in the first place.
By the next day, people were pointing fingers - saying that these things only happen because God was taken out of schools and there's no prayer in the classrooms. They are saying that if we still prayed to God and taught the Bible in public schools then maybe this shooter wouldn't have done this.
(Of course, there's also the radical groups such as Westboro Baptist Church who claim that this whole tragedy is God's judgement on this nation, and they are planning on picketing the children's funerals.)
My reaction to all these? Shame. Frustration. Even a bit of anger.
Over two dozen people died needlessly - most of them young children - and you're using their deaths to get on your soapbox and promote your own belief system? How incredibly callous and unfeeling.
Now is a time for mourning - for grieving and for supporting the families and friends of the victims. Not for politics or religious battles or grand-standing.
After that ... then we can figure out how to prevent this from happening again. Not because of this shooting, but because it should never have happened at all.
***********
Now I'm going to go against what many of the people in my circles believe. I grew up hearing the belief that there was no such thing as a "mental illness". That anything that was wrong in the brain was either demon possession or the results of a sinful life; the only cure was God.
There were some grey areas - mental disabilities such as Down Syndrome or Autism were regarded as sympathetic. But illnesses such as depression, asbergers, bi-polar, etc. did not exist.
And that is something that I disagree with. Every other part of our bodies can get sick or fail us - why should our brain be any different? All it takes is an imbalance in chemicals and hormones to mess us up horribly in the head.
Thankfully, this is not something I've had to experience; neither John nor I suffer from any of this. But I've read up on a lot of it. And while there is help out there (once you get past the sometimes-crushing stigma of having a mental illness), that help is often only available for people with "normal" mental illnesses. And often can only be available if people want help - which many people who are not well think they don't need.
Article: "I am Adam Lanza's Mother" by Liza Long
Currently, in the US, there are no real options available for people whose mental health may cause them to injure themselves or others. The way things are now, we have to wait until they "snap" so that we can put them in jail. At which point it may be too late.
I hardly think that that's a good policy. For anyone.
************
You might think I'm being a bit hypocritical - condemning others for using this tragedy, and then speaking up myself. And maybe I am.
Nothing can justify the taking of lives. I mourn for each of the people who died ... and I mourn that someone felt that there was no other way to ease his own pain than to cause so much pain for others.
Article: "Tragic Violence and Empathy" Nurshable blog
But surely, if we wanted to prevent things like this happening in the future - shouldn't we spend our energy trying to help people so they never get this desperate? That we see that they get the help that they need?
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Feeling better ... Honest! *Cough Cough*
Sorry for being MIA the past several days ... I'm blaming the flu. I've been sick with the flu for exactly a week now - my house is a mess and I'm back at work even though I keep coughing and sniffling and sneezing.
But I'm better! Honest!
And my new favorite medicine (whenever I'm actually able to *swallow* the horse pills) is Robitussin Nightime Cold and Flu. It's like the exact same thing as Nyquil, but cheaper. I'm all for cheaper.
The nicest thing about getting better is the possibility of moving back into the bedroom. I've been avoiding the bedroom completely, since the last thing I want to do is get John sick - he's had finals for the past week! My MIL said that doing that was very sweet of me, but I told her it was a completely selfish decision. I can hardly bear to get off the couch ... the very last thing I wanted was to have to take care of a sick John too!
Still, some rather major things came up while I was sick. John took his finals ... he doesn't think he did as well on his first two finals - even though he didn't get sick, I think he was fighting something off. Plus, they scheduled the tests horribly. He then studied all weekend for his final exam on Monday - which he thinks went really well.
After the exam, he emailed the course director about some of his classmates cheating. Two or three of his classmates have been cheating periodically throughout the semester, and during the final they were blatant enough that - when the teacher stepped out of the room - they started talking to each other and passing papers back and forth between them. John found it all very distracting, which helped him to decide to turn them in. It's also incredibly frustrating when John and his other classmates work so hard to have a handful decide they shouldn't have to work as much.
As for me ... I've got big news possibly coming up. But I don't want to jinx it, so I think it can wait for a few weeks (and before anyone asks, no, I'm not pregnant. I wish that were it!).
And finally, I want to link to one of my favorite blogs: Filing Jointly ... finally. Lauren has the talent to keep her blog both real and hilarious! I think her recent post The Day Santa Claus Came to Town did more to put me in the holiday spirit than anything else this season!
But I'm better! Honest!
And my new favorite medicine (whenever I'm actually able to *swallow* the horse pills) is Robitussin Nightime Cold and Flu. It's like the exact same thing as Nyquil, but cheaper. I'm all for cheaper.
The nicest thing about getting better is the possibility of moving back into the bedroom. I've been avoiding the bedroom completely, since the last thing I want to do is get John sick - he's had finals for the past week! My MIL said that doing that was very sweet of me, but I told her it was a completely selfish decision. I can hardly bear to get off the couch ... the very last thing I wanted was to have to take care of a sick John too!
Still, some rather major things came up while I was sick. John took his finals ... he doesn't think he did as well on his first two finals - even though he didn't get sick, I think he was fighting something off. Plus, they scheduled the tests horribly. He then studied all weekend for his final exam on Monday - which he thinks went really well.
After the exam, he emailed the course director about some of his classmates cheating. Two or three of his classmates have been cheating periodically throughout the semester, and during the final they were blatant enough that - when the teacher stepped out of the room - they started talking to each other and passing papers back and forth between them. John found it all very distracting, which helped him to decide to turn them in. It's also incredibly frustrating when John and his other classmates work so hard to have a handful decide they shouldn't have to work as much.
As for me ... I've got big news possibly coming up. But I don't want to jinx it, so I think it can wait for a few weeks (and before anyone asks, no, I'm not pregnant. I wish that were it!).
And finally, I want to link to one of my favorite blogs: Filing Jointly ... finally. Lauren has the talent to keep her blog both real and hilarious! I think her recent post The Day Santa Claus Came to Town did more to put me in the holiday spirit than anything else this season!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
cute cat pictures cure everything, don't they?
About all I can say is that I'm here.
John's taking tests this week. He had one yesterday afternoon from about 3:00 pm until 5:30 pm ... and then one this morning from 8:30 am until .... well, it's still going, so I don't know how long it will be.
I probably should have stayed home another day.
At least I don't have the flu! I think.
And because I can't think of anything else ... and because this is kinda a downer post ...
here's something to make you smile!
Enjoy!
John's taking tests this week. He had one yesterday afternoon from about 3:00 pm until 5:30 pm ... and then one this morning from 8:30 am until .... well, it's still going, so I don't know how long it will be.
I probably should have stayed home another day.
At least I don't have the flu! I think.
And because I can't think of anything else ... and because this is kinda a downer post ...
here's something to make you smile!
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