I feel really bad about never updating this blog. I have a list of blogs that I follow regularly, and it drives me up a freaking wall when people don't update. One person hasn't updated her blog in 18 months! Why even have a blog?! Now, I'm one of those people who never updates!
It's been really hard coming to terms with the fact that pregnancy isn't all sunshine and roses for everyone. I assumed that since I wanted it so badly, and waited so long, that I would automatically love it. I've watched people get pregnant and have no idea what loss feels like; I've watched them take it all for granted and complain until the world looked level. I swore every which way that I would never, EVER be one of those people. An Infertile just knows not to take it for granted, and I generally consider myself to be of the Infertile frame of mind, even though I've never participated in the (huge) blogosphere there is for infertility. I knew that when it was finally my turn (this is yet something else that I still feel guilty about, but that's an entirely separate post), I would enjoy every second and it would be perfect and I would be different.
It's not. I feel like I'm just like the average pregnant woman, taking everything for granted (nothing like compounding the guilt, eh?) because I just want to scream that pregnancy sucks! My nausea not only didn't go away in the 2nd trimester (which has sometimes been referred to as the 'honeymoon' trimester--I'm assuming by some academic somewhere who's never experienced this before), but it's gotten worse!! I am nauseous all the freaking time!! I've vomited more in the last 5 weeks than I did in the entire first 13! It's supposed to be going the other direction! :( Food aversions are a touchy subject. The kitchen is the ground zero of WWIII every single day, when--no matter how full of food it may be--there is nothing that sounds good and I don't know what to eat. My stomach has felt like I've been doing crunches and sit-ups indefinitely for four weeks now and I can't even feel chicken nugget moving around in there to boot!
There is more, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that I am not turning out to be one of those women who just loves every second of pregnancy, and this has been a huge shock to my super naive system. I now know that while they still may take everything for granted, all those women who complained before have been way more justified than I ever imagined and I really need to cut them some slack. I am grateful, I really am. I've just been having such a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that this is for real that I don't know how to feel it or express it and it's been easier not to write anything than to be even more whiny than I already am.
I've heard that your pregnancy will be similar to your mother's, and my mom told me she didn't feel any relief until her 5th month, so if mine is similar in that regard, relief should be on the horizon. They said the 2nd trimester would be better, so I held out. Now I'm holding out for the next few weeks to see if I'm like my mom or if it seems that this will be how it is until May. I just don't know how anything is going to go and I don't like the limbo. If I can think of anything intelligent to say and save enough energy to actually post it, I might start posting more again, but that's just another wait and see situation.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
It's a Boy
So by now most everyone knows it's a boy.
Because I'm a nerd I chose to reveal it to our friends and family in the form of a cake. Naturally, instead of just writing it out plain and simple like normal people would do with frosting, I wanted to do something easier; so I added a heaping gob of blue food coloring to the cake mix. It seemed appropriately silly at the time. Overall, I must admit to being pleased with how it turned out. Everyone was either appropriately surprised or at least had the decency to act surprised. If you would like to see pictures of the cakes we made, you'll just have to wait until Jax gets around to posting them. Sadly, we did not get a picture of the blue guts of the cakes. But rest assured, they were blue.
Until this point we've been a bit indecisive about whether or not to reveal the name we're sort of serious about using for the boy when he gets here in May. Being mean-spirited I was leaning toward not telling anyone until after the birth. Jax thought I was worried that people wouldn't like the name we picked, which may have persuaded her to not tell anyone. But after a brief discussion the other day about her simply going along with what she perceived my wishes to be and me revealing my true reasons, we have decided to start telling people the name we are semi-serious about using for the boy when he gets here in May. So, with just a bit more ado (after all, there are certain conventions that must be followed), here is the name:
Julian Leslie Pearce
We are keen on using Jax's initials, just because. We are also using Leslie, which is Jax's older sister's name. Jax's older sister has been quite keen to have a child named after herself for quite some time. It also works out nicely as a boy's name due to folks like Leslie Nielsen and Gerald Ford (birth name Leslie). As for Julian, well, we just like it. There happen to be a few Julian's in the international motorbike racing community, but it's not like we were watching races trying to pick out names. As for Pearce, well, we're just being a bit traditional with that one. It's a family name. Like Leslie.
Surprise!
Because I'm a nerd I chose to reveal it to our friends and family in the form of a cake. Naturally, instead of just writing it out plain and simple like normal people would do with frosting, I wanted to do something easier; so I added a heaping gob of blue food coloring to the cake mix. It seemed appropriately silly at the time. Overall, I must admit to being pleased with how it turned out. Everyone was either appropriately surprised or at least had the decency to act surprised. If you would like to see pictures of the cakes we made, you'll just have to wait until Jax gets around to posting them. Sadly, we did not get a picture of the blue guts of the cakes. But rest assured, they were blue.
Until this point we've been a bit indecisive about whether or not to reveal the name we're sort of serious about using for the boy when he gets here in May. Being mean-spirited I was leaning toward not telling anyone until after the birth. Jax thought I was worried that people wouldn't like the name we picked, which may have persuaded her to not tell anyone. But after a brief discussion the other day about her simply going along with what she perceived my wishes to be and me revealing my true reasons, we have decided to start telling people the name we are semi-serious about using for the boy when he gets here in May. So, with just a bit more ado (after all, there are certain conventions that must be followed), here is the name:
Julian Leslie Pearce
We are keen on using Jax's initials, just because. We are also using Leslie, which is Jax's older sister's name. Jax's older sister has been quite keen to have a child named after herself for quite some time. It also works out nicely as a boy's name due to folks like Leslie Nielsen and Gerald Ford (birth name Leslie). As for Julian, well, we just like it. There happen to be a few Julian's in the international motorbike racing community, but it's not like we were watching races trying to pick out names. As for Pearce, well, we're just being a bit traditional with that one. It's a family name. Like Leslie.
Surprise!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Adam's Turn
My goodness me!
It has been a long time since I've posted anything, and I certainly don't have anything nearly as cook as what Jax posted about, but I suppose I can post something every once in a while to make sure I'm still alive.
Jax posted about us moving back to Conway, so I get to post about the benefits we've discovered and started to enjoy since the big move.
First up is the commute. My commute to work since buying the new bike was taking about an hour each way. It didn't take as long with the sportbike because that bike didn't feel like it was about to blow up and spew engine parts all over me while riding at interstate speeds. The 250 was more comfortable on the scenic route. I did take it on the interstate a few times, but not very often. Anyway, my commute to work has shrunk from 60 minutes each way to about 6 minutes each way. Instead of putting 1,500 miles on the bike each month I am now putting closer to 1,500 miles per year on it.
Next up is related to the commute but different. Gasoline. Our fuel budget for each month has been cut down dramatically. We were filling the bike up twice a week and the car roughly once a week for most of the time that we lived in Little Rock. Now I put gas in the bike on the 1st of each month. I don't fill it up because it's empty, though; I fill it just to put in some fresh gas. We are still filling the car twice a month, but we're mostly using it for longer trips and less around-town-type driving now as Jax doesn't much want to work on account of her "condition." Something about not wanting to throw up on anyone...
Our vehicle insurance has also come down quite a bit since we're not commuting anymore. Hooray! Vehicle maintenance isn't really any better, but that's because we'll be "timing out" on things like oil changes instead of "miling out" as we have been in the past. Oh well.
Our utility bills have also come down a fair bit. In Conway the utilities are provided by a city-owned company, so water, electricity, cable tv, cable internet and wastewater are all on one bill. This makes it easier to remember to pay all of them if you have all of them. It also ends up being less expensive than all of the bills were separately in Little Rock. Hooray for lower bills!
There's more, but if you really want to know about the joys of living in Conway, you'll just have to move here for yourself.
It has been a long time since I've posted anything, and I certainly don't have anything nearly as cook as what Jax posted about, but I suppose I can post something every once in a while to make sure I'm still alive.
Jax posted about us moving back to Conway, so I get to post about the benefits we've discovered and started to enjoy since the big move.
First up is the commute. My commute to work since buying the new bike was taking about an hour each way. It didn't take as long with the sportbike because that bike didn't feel like it was about to blow up and spew engine parts all over me while riding at interstate speeds. The 250 was more comfortable on the scenic route. I did take it on the interstate a few times, but not very often. Anyway, my commute to work has shrunk from 60 minutes each way to about 6 minutes each way. Instead of putting 1,500 miles on the bike each month I am now putting closer to 1,500 miles per year on it.
Next up is related to the commute but different. Gasoline. Our fuel budget for each month has been cut down dramatically. We were filling the bike up twice a week and the car roughly once a week for most of the time that we lived in Little Rock. Now I put gas in the bike on the 1st of each month. I don't fill it up because it's empty, though; I fill it just to put in some fresh gas. We are still filling the car twice a month, but we're mostly using it for longer trips and less around-town-type driving now as Jax doesn't much want to work on account of her "condition." Something about not wanting to throw up on anyone...
Our vehicle insurance has also come down quite a bit since we're not commuting anymore. Hooray! Vehicle maintenance isn't really any better, but that's because we'll be "timing out" on things like oil changes instead of "miling out" as we have been in the past. Oh well.
Our utility bills have also come down a fair bit. In Conway the utilities are provided by a city-owned company, so water, electricity, cable tv, cable internet and wastewater are all on one bill. This makes it easier to remember to pay all of them if you have all of them. It also ends up being less expensive than all of the bills were separately in Little Rock. Hooray for lower bills!
There's more, but if you really want to know about the joys of living in Conway, you'll just have to move here for yourself.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Coming in 2011--The Grand Reveal
Wow, I didn't realize that I didn't make a single post in October! Poor October--usually it's one of my favorite months, but I'm guessing surely most of you have figured out the reason for the blogging hiatus.
If you didn't, here's a clue:
If that doesn't help, maybe this will:)
To say we were caught off guard is in the running for the understatement of the year. It's kind of hard to get pregnant if you don't ovulate, and ovulation has never been a specialty of mine. Not to mention that I haven't taken thyroid medication since April (until August! I am taking it now!) I was on all my medication perfectly the last time this happened and tater tot never even had a heartbeat, so to say I was pessimistic about this going anywhere is also in the running for the year's understatement.
Right now, everything is swirling. I can think of about a bajillion women I think deserve this more than me and I'm struggling with the obnoxious fact that life is indeed not fair. It's not fair that they have to wait for their baby when I thought I was going to have to wait much longer than I actually did. Why can't it happen for them the same way it happened for me? My hormones are all over the map and Adam has been a champ about it all. He takes such wonderful care of me that I can't complain for a second! He should be in the running for the husband of the year! :)
So, now that the secret is out, hopefully the end of the year will see some more regular blogging again! I kind of miss it!
If you didn't, here's a clue:
If that doesn't help, maybe this will:)
To say we were caught off guard is in the running for the understatement of the year. It's kind of hard to get pregnant if you don't ovulate, and ovulation has never been a specialty of mine. Not to mention that I haven't taken thyroid medication since April (until August! I am taking it now!) I was on all my medication perfectly the last time this happened and tater tot never even had a heartbeat, so to say I was pessimistic about this going anywhere is also in the running for the year's understatement.Right now, everything is swirling. I can think of about a bajillion women I think deserve this more than me and I'm struggling with the obnoxious fact that life is indeed not fair. It's not fair that they have to wait for their baby when I thought I was going to have to wait much longer than I actually did. Why can't it happen for them the same way it happened for me? My hormones are all over the map and Adam has been a champ about it all. He takes such wonderful care of me that I can't complain for a second! He should be in the running for the husband of the year! :)
So, now that the secret is out, hopefully the end of the year will see some more regular blogging again! I kind of miss it!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Hello Conway!
Adam and I set the last week of September as the big moving date. Labor Day weekend was spent in White Hall goofing off; the 2nd weekend was dedicated to the Emergency Preparedness Fair (that I can't even remember why we didn't go now...). The 3rd weekend was dedicated to the practice run for the Primary Program, so that left us the weekend of the 25th.
I will never be able to express the deepest levels of gratitude to my mother-in-law for coming and helping us pack and clean last Friday. My thyroid, among other various organs, is completely out of whack and I am not up speed. It's unbelievably embarrassing, but I'm pretty useless right now. There isn't a dimension or universe in the world where I could have gotten everything accomplished in the stated time and she came to my rescue. She did my job and I owe her big!!
My parents came down from Alma Friday night and got a hotel in Conway. Three people from the Little Rock ward showed up to help us load everything up (one guy brought some of his kids and I think they helped too). Adam's Dad came up Saturday morning as well. The LR crowd couldn't come help unload in Conway, so it was just my parents, Adam's Dad and Adam since I am functionally out of commission right now. We can't tell you how grateful we are for everyone who helped us! We are SO lucky to have the wonderful family that we do!
Now everything is stacked like crazy in the new (bigger) apartment. It's begging to be unpacked and organized. There's just not much I can do right now. I hope I'm not getting the flu too. :( This is part of the life getting ahead of us and it's just so overwhelming right now. Tomorrow we'll finish cleaning out the old apartment and hand the keys back over, which is exciting, but it doesn't solve the mess in the new place. If I were you, I wouldn't expect much more in the way of posting, despite my love of rambling incessantly and the fact that stuff that should be updated is not in short supply! There just isn't enough time or energy in the world for me to do everything I wish I could and it sucks coming to terms with that. Right now I need to go finish folding the laundry, so it's not in the way anymore. I'll update you when there's more to know.
I will never be able to express the deepest levels of gratitude to my mother-in-law for coming and helping us pack and clean last Friday. My thyroid, among other various organs, is completely out of whack and I am not up speed. It's unbelievably embarrassing, but I'm pretty useless right now. There isn't a dimension or universe in the world where I could have gotten everything accomplished in the stated time and she came to my rescue. She did my job and I owe her big!!
My parents came down from Alma Friday night and got a hotel in Conway. Three people from the Little Rock ward showed up to help us load everything up (one guy brought some of his kids and I think they helped too). Adam's Dad came up Saturday morning as well. The LR crowd couldn't come help unload in Conway, so it was just my parents, Adam's Dad and Adam since I am functionally out of commission right now. We can't tell you how grateful we are for everyone who helped us! We are SO lucky to have the wonderful family that we do!
Now everything is stacked like crazy in the new (bigger) apartment. It's begging to be unpacked and organized. There's just not much I can do right now. I hope I'm not getting the flu too. :( This is part of the life getting ahead of us and it's just so overwhelming right now. Tomorrow we'll finish cleaning out the old apartment and hand the keys back over, which is exciting, but it doesn't solve the mess in the new place. If I were you, I wouldn't expect much more in the way of posting, despite my love of rambling incessantly and the fact that stuff that should be updated is not in short supply! There just isn't enough time or energy in the world for me to do everything I wish I could and it sucks coming to terms with that. Right now I need to go finish folding the laundry, so it's not in the way anymore. I'll update you when there's more to know.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Stay Tuned
Right now life is happening faster than I can keep up with, and this blog is always one of the first things to slide. I really should get the rest of my trip to Utah typed up, before I forget, but it may be too late. I also finally got my camera back from my friend, so somewhere in here I'll load pictures too.
The move is catching up with us. It should be happening at the end of the month, but it may or may not happen sooner. Every weekend in September is booked, so it's not looking good.
Eventually I'll let you all in on everything that's going on, but there just isn't time right now.
Sorry guys.
The move is catching up with us. It should be happening at the end of the month, but it may or may not happen sooner. Every weekend in September is booked, so it's not looking good.
Eventually I'll let you all in on everything that's going on, but there just isn't time right now.
Sorry guys.
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Great Trek Out West--Part 1
It's time I finally updated the blog with my recent trip to Utah and back. I am super lucky I got to go and SO very grateful!
My brother got his mission call back in May and for whatever reason, wasn't called to go into the MTC until August. It very unfortunately fell on the day before the first day of school, which is inconvenient, given that my Mom is a teacher and my Dad is a school bus driver. I tried to convince them Mark and I could drive out ourselves and that I'd be okay on my way back through, but they weren't having it. We ended up compromising on Dad missing the first two days of school and the 3 of us going together.
Mark scheduled his farewell a week ago Sunday, the 15th and we scheduled ourselves to leave bright and early Monday morning, the 16th. Everybody had a blast and a half at his "wild" farewell party and he hugged every Mormon girl in Crawford county, I'm pretty sure. I would be uploading the photographic evidence, except I unfortunately left my camera at my friend's house in SLC and she's mailing it back to me, so no pictures now :'( SAD DAY!
We got up at 6:00, since Mom had to for teacher in-service stuff anyway. In true Neely fashion, we were running about an hour late by the time we frantically got on the road. We had planned on taking my Mom's Focus, but she heard some funny sounds on Friday afternoon, and by Sunday afternoon, we decided to take the F-150 instead. SAD DAY AGAIN! I'm familiar with the Focus and it's of a similar size as Frances, but the F-150 is NOT! That pretty much stunk, because I was crazy nervous about driving that gigantic behemoth! :( Dad drove through Tulsa and somewhere in between Tulsa and Witchita, Mark took over and drove through Witchita and then some. Out in the sticks of Kansas, I took over and drove through the rest of Kansas and some of Nebraska. I can't tell you how much I love the out-in-the-sticks-USA! I have sworn I will never drive in a city bigger than Little Rock, and this trip totall reaffirmed that. Dealing with that dumb truck was enough; throwing in traffic would have been system overload for me. Mark and Dad split the rest of the driving. Our goal was to make it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, which would put us about 6 hours from SLC, which seemed perfect to me. The day had been completely (wonderfully) uneventful thus far, but when we got to Cheyenne, we discovered that every.single.hotel. in the freaking city was booked. Every.last.one.of.them. Lovely. We ended up driving another 45 miles to Laramie and squeaked into one of the last open hotels, an hour later and MUCH more tired than we planned on.
Tuesday morning, we got up and hit the road as early as possible and still ended up being half an hour later than we wanted to be. Mark drove out and I drooled over the scenery (even though I've since been told there's nothing there) I am TOTALLY in love with the Cheyenne/Laramie area now! Rawlins is not quite the half way point through Wyoming, so I took over there and drove all the way into Lyman, with the farther I got the worse the drive got. I had to deal with construction zones AND a few cities with traffic enough to make me nervous. I was FRAZZLED by the end and Mark was NOT helping at all. The day got progressively worse for me, starting with the driving in western Wyoming. We stopped at Lyman in particular, because that is the very first teaching job my Mom got, waaaaaayyy back in 1983! We ate at Taco Time, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so all told Mom about it when we got to talk to her after school. She ate there herself, back in the day, which I thought was pretty cool. I also never realized what a hole in the wall Lyman was; for some reason I thought it was much bigger than it really is. Mark drove from Lyman all the way into SLC; looking back on it, he really should have given in to Dad just before we got into town, but oh well! Too late now! Mark didn't know how the streets work in SLC and we were looking for this clothing place one of his friends went to a few months ago. I had no idea they didn't know where the place even was! We ended up driving in circles around Temple Square for the large part of an hour until we accidentally found the place. My nerves were shot by this point. I was SO over the construction and traffic of Temple Square and SLC in general and ready to leave just about as soon as we'd gotten into town. I called my friend, frazzled, tried desperately to get her to where we were, which was its own adventure. Finally, she found us and I tried to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. I had made plans previously, but they were shattered into smithereens, when (in Kansas) I realized I forgot my temple bag, which contained...my temple recommend (I contemplated not telling you, because seriously...I am probably the only Arkansasan Mormon moron who goes all the way out to Utah without a temple recommend; at least I can say I've eaten my humble pie for the day...). I thought the plan had been to go visit our aunt who lives in Riverton Tuesday afternoon/evening, but by the time we got Mark and Dad a hotel (another detail I thought had been worked out, which hadn't...) we made plans to go out to eat and then try to magically get me into the SLC temple and do a session. Then my friend's husband pointed out we wouldn't have time to do both, so Mark and Dad chose to go on and do the session. I chose to go out to eat with my friends (I thought they would go to the temple with us, but forgot to ask beforehand, which adds ANOTHER detail I thought was worked out, but wasn't; this one was my own fault too! Oooops!) Mark guilted me about not going to the temple with him and I cried, but still went out to eat, since I was too embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten my recommend. I discovered In N Out Burgers are a small slice of fast food heaven.What I wouldn't give to have had one of those for dinner tonight. I also discovered the large slice of heaven that is named IKEA; my only complaint is that there isn't enough time in the day to explore it all.
Everything in Utah is...so...Mormon. I know this comes as shock to most of you, but even trying to prepare myself for the Mormonness, I was still shocked. The entire trip, I felt like country mouse in the big city....very slow and southern. I got a huge kick out of seeing a guy sitting down at In N Out and his garment band showing over the top of his khakis; that's not a sight you'll see in Arkansas anytime soon! It drives me up a wall that Draper, Oquirrh Mountain and Jordan River temples can all be seen from the interstate (we just want one! Why is that so much to ask!?!) Utah drivers have rightfully earned the title of "Utard" because they are the worst drivers I've ever seen. I know I haven't seen it all, but that just makes me more afraid to see any drivers worse than the Utards.
I think I will leave Wednesday and beyond for a second post after all. I hadn't planned on doing so, but it looks like I really should have!
My brother got his mission call back in May and for whatever reason, wasn't called to go into the MTC until August. It very unfortunately fell on the day before the first day of school, which is inconvenient, given that my Mom is a teacher and my Dad is a school bus driver. I tried to convince them Mark and I could drive out ourselves and that I'd be okay on my way back through, but they weren't having it. We ended up compromising on Dad missing the first two days of school and the 3 of us going together.
Mark scheduled his farewell a week ago Sunday, the 15th and we scheduled ourselves to leave bright and early Monday morning, the 16th. Everybody had a blast and a half at his "wild" farewell party and he hugged every Mormon girl in Crawford county, I'm pretty sure. I would be uploading the photographic evidence, except I unfortunately left my camera at my friend's house in SLC and she's mailing it back to me, so no pictures now :'( SAD DAY!
We got up at 6:00, since Mom had to for teacher in-service stuff anyway. In true Neely fashion, we were running about an hour late by the time we frantically got on the road. We had planned on taking my Mom's Focus, but she heard some funny sounds on Friday afternoon, and by Sunday afternoon, we decided to take the F-150 instead. SAD DAY AGAIN! I'm familiar with the Focus and it's of a similar size as Frances, but the F-150 is NOT! That pretty much stunk, because I was crazy nervous about driving that gigantic behemoth! :( Dad drove through Tulsa and somewhere in between Tulsa and Witchita, Mark took over and drove through Witchita and then some. Out in the sticks of Kansas, I took over and drove through the rest of Kansas and some of Nebraska. I can't tell you how much I love the out-in-the-sticks-USA! I have sworn I will never drive in a city bigger than Little Rock, and this trip totall reaffirmed that. Dealing with that dumb truck was enough; throwing in traffic would have been system overload for me. Mark and Dad split the rest of the driving. Our goal was to make it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, which would put us about 6 hours from SLC, which seemed perfect to me. The day had been completely (wonderfully) uneventful thus far, but when we got to Cheyenne, we discovered that every.single.hotel. in the freaking city was booked. Every.last.one.of.them. Lovely. We ended up driving another 45 miles to Laramie and squeaked into one of the last open hotels, an hour later and MUCH more tired than we planned on.
Tuesday morning, we got up and hit the road as early as possible and still ended up being half an hour later than we wanted to be. Mark drove out and I drooled over the scenery (even though I've since been told there's nothing there) I am TOTALLY in love with the Cheyenne/Laramie area now! Rawlins is not quite the half way point through Wyoming, so I took over there and drove all the way into Lyman, with the farther I got the worse the drive got. I had to deal with construction zones AND a few cities with traffic enough to make me nervous. I was FRAZZLED by the end and Mark was NOT helping at all. The day got progressively worse for me, starting with the driving in western Wyoming. We stopped at Lyman in particular, because that is the very first teaching job my Mom got, waaaaaayyy back in 1983! We ate at Taco Time, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so all told Mom about it when we got to talk to her after school. She ate there herself, back in the day, which I thought was pretty cool. I also never realized what a hole in the wall Lyman was; for some reason I thought it was much bigger than it really is. Mark drove from Lyman all the way into SLC; looking back on it, he really should have given in to Dad just before we got into town, but oh well! Too late now! Mark didn't know how the streets work in SLC and we were looking for this clothing place one of his friends went to a few months ago. I had no idea they didn't know where the place even was! We ended up driving in circles around Temple Square for the large part of an hour until we accidentally found the place. My nerves were shot by this point. I was SO over the construction and traffic of Temple Square and SLC in general and ready to leave just about as soon as we'd gotten into town. I called my friend, frazzled, tried desperately to get her to where we were, which was its own adventure. Finally, she found us and I tried to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. I had made plans previously, but they were shattered into smithereens, when (in Kansas) I realized I forgot my temple bag, which contained...my temple recommend (I contemplated not telling you, because seriously...I am probably the only Arkansasan Mormon moron who goes all the way out to Utah without a temple recommend; at least I can say I've eaten my humble pie for the day...). I thought the plan had been to go visit our aunt who lives in Riverton Tuesday afternoon/evening, but by the time we got Mark and Dad a hotel (another detail I thought had been worked out, which hadn't...) we made plans to go out to eat and then try to magically get me into the SLC temple and do a session. Then my friend's husband pointed out we wouldn't have time to do both, so Mark and Dad chose to go on and do the session. I chose to go out to eat with my friends (I thought they would go to the temple with us, but forgot to ask beforehand, which adds ANOTHER detail I thought was worked out, but wasn't; this one was my own fault too! Oooops!) Mark guilted me about not going to the temple with him and I cried, but still went out to eat, since I was too embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten my recommend. I discovered In N Out Burgers are a small slice of fast food heaven.What I wouldn't give to have had one of those for dinner tonight. I also discovered the large slice of heaven that is named IKEA; my only complaint is that there isn't enough time in the day to explore it all.
Everything in Utah is...so...Mormon. I know this comes as shock to most of you, but even trying to prepare myself for the Mormonness, I was still shocked. The entire trip, I felt like country mouse in the big city....very slow and southern. I got a huge kick out of seeing a guy sitting down at In N Out and his garment band showing over the top of his khakis; that's not a sight you'll see in Arkansas anytime soon! It drives me up a wall that Draper, Oquirrh Mountain and Jordan River temples can all be seen from the interstate (we just want one! Why is that so much to ask!?!) Utah drivers have rightfully earned the title of "Utard" because they are the worst drivers I've ever seen. I know I haven't seen it all, but that just makes me more afraid to see any drivers worse than the Utards.
I think I will leave Wednesday and beyond for a second post after all. I hadn't planned on doing so, but it looks like I really should have!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Happy Birthday Adam!! :)
I started this post at 6:45 this morning in Salt Lake City, UT and it's now 12:49 in Hays, KS. Poor Adam didn't even get to see his wife on his birthday, but he said it was still a good birthday the last time I talked to him. My cute husband its 32 years OLD hahaha! :)
My Dad and I will be back to Alma tomorrow afternoon, right about the time my Mom gets out of school. We don't know when we'll hear from Elder Neely, but we all figure he's having the time of his life and hasn't had time to miss us yet. I am both thoroughly excited and sad to be home already. I will tell you more about the trip later when we're home and rested some.
I love you, birthday boy!
Good night!!
My Dad and I will be back to Alma tomorrow afternoon, right about the time my Mom gets out of school. We don't know when we'll hear from Elder Neely, but we all figure he's having the time of his life and hasn't had time to miss us yet. I am both thoroughly excited and sad to be home already. I will tell you more about the trip later when we're home and rested some.
I love you, birthday boy!
Good night!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Happy Belated Anniversary Mom and Dad Pearce
Happy belated anniversary Mom and Dad Pearce! Sorry I missed you yesterday! I meant to call you until I forgot I was in mountain time already and it was probably too late! We didn't find an open hotel until midnight because of freakish forces of nature that filled up EVERY SINGLE hotel in Cheyenne, and by the time we got to Laramie we were EXHAUSTED and I fell over on the bed. I should really save my traveling post for later.
I hope you had a wonderful day! Happy anniversary!
I hope you had a wonderful day! Happy anniversary!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
5 Quirky Things About Me
I've been thinking about making this post all day long, but wasn't sure I could come up with 5 really quirky things about me. I'm darn close though.
1. I have a thing about checking out your license plate--to see where you're from and if your tags are current. Adam says this is weird, but you'd be surprised how many people drive around on expired tags. Temporary tags are my favorites.
2. I don't think I can type this without it sounding wrong, but I'll give it a shot. I find it extremely attractive when a man wears his wedding band. Not the man himself; just the fact that he wears a wedding band. Adam says this is weird too, but I always look. I LOVE looking at the different types of bands different men wear. It's fascinating!
3. Whenever I get change, I always check the dates the coins were minted. My parents taught me to look for wheat pennies when I was a kid. I love love love old coins of all kinds though! I finally set my cutoff date of 1970--I keep any coins minted before 1970 separate now. Just tonight, I finally remembered to go through my tootsie roll to look for old coins again (I do it every so often); I found a 1907 nickel in the mix!! According to wiki-answers, my nickel is worth three bucks!! Dude yeah--old coins rock!!
4. Speaking of money, I'm Type-A when it comes to money facing the right direction; this has been particularly trying since starting work at Subway, when I have to count the drawer down at night. I'm usually behind where I'd like to be, and thus don't have the time to make all the bills face the right direction, but that's never stopped me from trying. I'm pretty sure nobody else has noticed, though I point it out to the manager all the time when she's doing the deposit. Maybe it's not so quirky in the rest of the world, but 10 minutes at Subway and they'd have you thinking I'm a freak (not just about that either) :-p
5. When driving and there's only one turn lane, but multiple lanes on the street onto which you are turning, it drives me batty when people turn into the wrong lane. Seriously! Actually, there are a lot of things about driving that make me batty, but I don't think they're as quirky (like not using a turn signal and tailgating).
Maybe none of it is quirky, but I sure feel quirky. Maybe I'm just too Type-A. Quirky or not, now you know 5 more things about me than you ever thought you would!
You're welcome!
1. I have a thing about checking out your license plate--to see where you're from and if your tags are current. Adam says this is weird, but you'd be surprised how many people drive around on expired tags. Temporary tags are my favorites.
2. I don't think I can type this without it sounding wrong, but I'll give it a shot. I find it extremely attractive when a man wears his wedding band. Not the man himself; just the fact that he wears a wedding band. Adam says this is weird too, but I always look. I LOVE looking at the different types of bands different men wear. It's fascinating!
3. Whenever I get change, I always check the dates the coins were minted. My parents taught me to look for wheat pennies when I was a kid. I love love love old coins of all kinds though! I finally set my cutoff date of 1970--I keep any coins minted before 1970 separate now. Just tonight, I finally remembered to go through my tootsie roll to look for old coins again (I do it every so often); I found a 1907 nickel in the mix!! According to wiki-answers, my nickel is worth three bucks!! Dude yeah--old coins rock!!
4. Speaking of money, I'm Type-A when it comes to money facing the right direction; this has been particularly trying since starting work at Subway, when I have to count the drawer down at night. I'm usually behind where I'd like to be, and thus don't have the time to make all the bills face the right direction, but that's never stopped me from trying. I'm pretty sure nobody else has noticed, though I point it out to the manager all the time when she's doing the deposit. Maybe it's not so quirky in the rest of the world, but 10 minutes at Subway and they'd have you thinking I'm a freak (not just about that either) :-p
5. When driving and there's only one turn lane, but multiple lanes on the street onto which you are turning, it drives me batty when people turn into the wrong lane. Seriously! Actually, there are a lot of things about driving that make me batty, but I don't think they're as quirky (like not using a turn signal and tailgating).
Maybe none of it is quirky, but I sure feel quirky. Maybe I'm just too Type-A. Quirky or not, now you know 5 more things about me than you ever thought you would!
You're welcome!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Happy Birthday Grandma Jones
Happy 85th! If you were still around, we would have had a huge celebration, though you probably still would have made your own cake. I love you and I miss you, Grandmda!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad Neely
This is not just any anniversary either! It's their SILVER anniversary! Twenty five long (hopefully happy) years of marriage. I really wish I had a digital copy of their wedding picture. They were SO beautiful! (My Dad even still had brown hair!!)
My parents started dating in May. Toward the end of July they were talking about getting married. I think the story goes that my mom was working a temporary job at a hotel in the middle of nowhere in the desert. It was a Wednesday and my Dad called the Los Angeles temple to find out that it would be closed for most of the month of August; that Saturday was the last available day. He called the gas station next to the hotel and had someone go find my mom. He told her what he found out and said "So do you want to get married Saturday?" to which my mom replied "Oh, I guess so!" (SO romantic!) My mom's friend made her wedding dress in two days (it's beautiful!) My grandparents lived in San Diego and they drove up to L.A. Friday night, where they met my Dad for the first time. My Mom said their wedding was super early Saturday morning and afterwords they went to lunch with my grandparents.
I love my parents so much! They have been the best two parents anyone could ask for! :)
Happy silver anniversary Mom and Dad!
My parents started dating in May. Toward the end of July they were talking about getting married. I think the story goes that my mom was working a temporary job at a hotel in the middle of nowhere in the desert. It was a Wednesday and my Dad called the Los Angeles temple to find out that it would be closed for most of the month of August; that Saturday was the last available day. He called the gas station next to the hotel and had someone go find my mom. He told her what he found out and said "So do you want to get married Saturday?" to which my mom replied "Oh, I guess so!" (SO romantic!) My mom's friend made her wedding dress in two days (it's beautiful!) My grandparents lived in San Diego and they drove up to L.A. Friday night, where they met my Dad for the first time. My Mom said their wedding was super early Saturday morning and afterwords they went to lunch with my grandparents.
I love my parents so much! They have been the best two parents anyone could ask for! :)
Happy silver anniversary Mom and Dad!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Hello August
It's August now! Can you believe that? I both can and can't. It's not quite the October I was looking for, but it's hard to believe it's already been six months since the $5 footlong insanity (I don't think I ever told you about ALL the craziness)
August should be a really fun month! Lots of birthdays (including Adam's!!) a few anniversaries (both of our parents), and my last day of work. Mark is leaving for the MTC and I get to go with him! I am so excited! I haven't been to Utah since I was 12; there is a LOT I remember but I there is even more that will be completely different as an adult now. Mark will be gone--for good (two good years, anyway :-p ) It's both crazy and exciting.
Adam and I began August perfectly. We were almost late for church, but made fabulous time. Primary was pretty good for both of us (probably better for me than him, but I have 5 year olds and 4 of them at that. No such luck for Adam) After church, we came home, watched a race and took a three hour nap! I didn't mean for it to be three straight hours, but I definitely enjoyed every one of them. After the nap, we got up and cleaned frantically* before one of our home teachers and his wife came over to bring us cookies (thanks guys!) After they left, we cleaned for real** and then Adam fixed mac and cheese. This is fairly ordinary in itself, but we ate dinner at our new table and chairs (oh yeah--we found a full set and it's beautiful. That should have been in m y photo update, but I just realized I don't have any pictures yet). I cannot tell you how blissful it was to be normal and eat dinner at the table, just the two of us. I could totally get used to this. After dinner, we sat on the couch, where I proceeded to knit and Adam started a game on the Wii. I could totally get used to this! It really has been a fabulous day for us!
I keep joking that with all the heat and humidity, I vote that we go straight to October and stay there for a while, but so far it hasn't happened yet. I can't wait until everything is settled and we are making more progress. Less heat and humidity will just be a bonus.
I can't wait to see what you have in store for us, August!
*frantically cleaning--throwing everything on our bed and shutting the door
**cleaning for real--trying to figure out where it all goes
August should be a really fun month! Lots of birthdays (including Adam's!!) a few anniversaries (both of our parents), and my last day of work. Mark is leaving for the MTC and I get to go with him! I am so excited! I haven't been to Utah since I was 12; there is a LOT I remember but I there is even more that will be completely different as an adult now. Mark will be gone--for good (two good years, anyway :-p ) It's both crazy and exciting.
Adam and I began August perfectly. We were almost late for church, but made fabulous time. Primary was pretty good for both of us (probably better for me than him, but I have 5 year olds and 4 of them at that. No such luck for Adam) After church, we came home, watched a race and took a three hour nap! I didn't mean for it to be three straight hours, but I definitely enjoyed every one of them. After the nap, we got up and cleaned frantically* before one of our home teachers and his wife came over to bring us cookies (thanks guys!) After they left, we cleaned for real** and then Adam fixed mac and cheese. This is fairly ordinary in itself, but we ate dinner at our new table and chairs (oh yeah--we found a full set and it's beautiful. That should have been in m y photo update, but I just realized I don't have any pictures yet). I cannot tell you how blissful it was to be normal and eat dinner at the table, just the two of us. I could totally get used to this. After dinner, we sat on the couch, where I proceeded to knit and Adam started a game on the Wii. I could totally get used to this! It really has been a fabulous day for us!
I keep joking that with all the heat and humidity, I vote that we go straight to October and stay there for a while, but so far it hasn't happened yet. I can't wait until everything is settled and we are making more progress. Less heat and humidity will just be a bonus.
I can't wait to see what you have in store for us, August!
*frantically cleaning--throwing everything on our bed and shutting the door
**cleaning for real--trying to figure out where it all goes
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
An Update in Photos
I've been meaning to make this post for FOREVER! I have a ton of pictures that should have been up ages ago! Oh well!
I had to get up and turn on the light one night and this is how I caught the birdies. Can you say SUUUUUPER CUTEEE!!! They weren't so happy about it, but I got a cool picture, so I am! :)
Meet Frances's new cousin, Viggo (or V.Go if you want to be all J.Lo about it! Hah!)
One hundred bonus points to whoever figures out what this is!! Seriously!!
This little dog will NEVER forgive me for taking this picture. He HATES cameras!!
Check out the cutest little Chihuahua in all the world. I love it when I finally get him looking at the camera!
My very first crocheted blanket. It's not as cute as I would like (only if you know where to look, though) but I'm darn proud of it. I figure it will wait for my own possible future children, since it's not nice enough to give away. Crocheting is pretty fun, but for now I think I prefer knitting. Either way, I'll be making a LOT more stuff that I'll have to get pictures of!
This is really an unusual sight. Ranger doesn't generally get in Dad's lap as much as Choppers does. I can't remember if this was taken during a storm or not, but I think it was. Big, tough, Manly Man dog that he is, he becomes a total baby when it comes to thunderstorms. SO cute! Not to mention, the darn camera again. Poor guy; he just can't help that he's so cute!
Now for the grand finale!
July 9, 2010 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma! I can't believe we can go through the temple as a complete family now! It was beyond amazing seeing my little brother in there. I'm hoping I get to go through a couple more times with him before he's gone for good.
He's so grown up looking. I'm often told that I look like I'm about 17, when I'm ...well...not. I think he looks older than he really is. He also got the skinny genes. Little twerp.
He specifically requested this pose, but now I don't remember why. Silly missionary-to-be!
Adam let the big secret out of the bag. I'll ruminate on that later. I also thought I had more pictures, but I can't find them now. So there may be a part deux.
Au revoir for now though!
I had to get up and turn on the light one night and this is how I caught the birdies. Can you say SUUUUUPER CUTEEE!!! They weren't so happy about it, but I got a cool picture, so I am! :)
Meet Frances's new cousin, Viggo (or V.Go if you want to be all J.Lo about it! Hah!)
One hundred bonus points to whoever figures out what this is!! Seriously!!
This little dog will NEVER forgive me for taking this picture. He HATES cameras!!
Check out the cutest little Chihuahua in all the world. I love it when I finally get him looking at the camera!
My very first crocheted blanket. It's not as cute as I would like (only if you know where to look, though) but I'm darn proud of it. I figure it will wait for my own possible future children, since it's not nice enough to give away. Crocheting is pretty fun, but for now I think I prefer knitting. Either way, I'll be making a LOT more stuff that I'll have to get pictures of!
This is really an unusual sight. Ranger doesn't generally get in Dad's lap as much as Choppers does. I can't remember if this was taken during a storm or not, but I think it was. Big, tough, Manly Man dog that he is, he becomes a total baby when it comes to thunderstorms. SO cute! Not to mention, the darn camera again. Poor guy; he just can't help that he's so cute!
Now for the grand finale!
July 9, 2010 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma! I can't believe we can go through the temple as a complete family now! It was beyond amazing seeing my little brother in there. I'm hoping I get to go through a couple more times with him before he's gone for good.
He's so grown up looking. I'm often told that I look like I'm about 17, when I'm ...well...not. I think he looks older than he really is. He also got the skinny genes. Little twerp.
He specifically requested this pose, but now I don't remember why. Silly missionary-to-be!
Adam let the big secret out of the bag. I'll ruminate on that later. I also thought I had more pictures, but I can't find them now. So there may be a part deux.
Au revoir for now though!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fine, Fine
Since folks have been asking us what our big little secret is, and we've pretty much told most of the people who are most directly affected by it, I guess we can finally tell everyone else who reads our little blog.
We are moving back to Conway at the end of September. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, I am strongly considering going to grad school in the Spring at UCA; and second, I am tired of commuting 70 miles per day for work. It will also be a good opportunity to start riding my bicycle again, which I haven't been able to do nearly as much since moving to Little Rock. In Conway I can ride it to work most of the time since the commute is something like 3 miles instead of 35 miles each way.
This also means that Jax will have to find a job up in Conway since commuting 35 miles each way for minimum wage makes even less sense than me commuting for more than minimum wage... She will miss working for her current employers, and we hope she can find a similar situation where she knows and likes the owners of the company. She doesn't much like working as an anonymous drone for a huge corporation.
Anyway, I'm sure she will have something to add in the near future.
We are moving back to Conway at the end of September. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, I am strongly considering going to grad school in the Spring at UCA; and second, I am tired of commuting 70 miles per day for work. It will also be a good opportunity to start riding my bicycle again, which I haven't been able to do nearly as much since moving to Little Rock. In Conway I can ride it to work most of the time since the commute is something like 3 miles instead of 35 miles each way.
This also means that Jax will have to find a job up in Conway since commuting 35 miles each way for minimum wage makes even less sense than me commuting for more than minimum wage... She will miss working for her current employers, and we hope she can find a similar situation where she knows and likes the owners of the company. She doesn't much like working as an anonymous drone for a huge corporation.
Anyway, I'm sure she will have something to add in the near future.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Just a Little Longer Now
Just a little longer now and Jax will be able to tell everyone her little secret. We have a couple of things to take care of first, but there is a chance that the metaphorical beans will be spilled tomorrow. Luckily the secret doesn't involve any real beans being spilled as that would take forever to clean up...
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I Have a Secret
It's driving people up a wall on Facebook, so I thought I would share the love.
We have a great, big secret.
And no, don't even comment if you're going to ask if I'm pregnant. Not this decade.
The secret is going to be revealed quite soon and I'm both excited and terrified. It means big changes. I don't know if I'm as ready as I want to be.
We have a great, big secret.
And no, don't even comment if you're going to ask if I'm pregnant. Not this decade.
The secret is going to be revealed quite soon and I'm both excited and terrified. It means big changes. I don't know if I'm as ready as I want to be.
Friday, July 16, 2010
How Boring Can You Be?
Seriously. How uneventful can a night be? Tonight Jax has to work in England, AR, and due to mechanical problems at IP I am staying home today. Jax also worked her regularly scheduled hours this morning, so even though I've had all day off from work, she has worked all day and won't be home until probably about 11:00 tonight. It's just kind of sad that the day she gets to pick up a few extra hours at work happens to be the day that IP has a massive hole in one of the "life support" systems for my machine, rendering it inoperable.
So what do I do now? It's been so long since I've had a full day off when I wasn't sick that I'm kind of stumped for what to do. And with Jax gone, you could say that I am entirely free to do whatever I want to do tonight. But I am honestly stumped. We went to see Toy Story 3 last weekend, and The A-Team hasn't hit the dollar theater yet, so there aren't any movies I really want to watch badly enough to pay for full price tickets. On top of that I still don't like the idea of leaving the motorbike in the parking lot at the movie theater for a couple of hours at night due to a couple of bad experiences I've had that ended in me not having a motorbike anymore...
So what do people my age do when they have a free night without their spouse at home?
So what do I do now? It's been so long since I've had a full day off when I wasn't sick that I'm kind of stumped for what to do. And with Jax gone, you could say that I am entirely free to do whatever I want to do tonight. But I am honestly stumped. We went to see Toy Story 3 last weekend, and The A-Team hasn't hit the dollar theater yet, so there aren't any movies I really want to watch badly enough to pay for full price tickets. On top of that I still don't like the idea of leaving the motorbike in the parking lot at the movie theater for a couple of hours at night due to a couple of bad experiences I've had that ended in me not having a motorbike anymore...
So what do people my age do when they have a free night without their spouse at home?
Monday, June 21, 2010
Jax's Take on Things
So Adam told you all of our wild and exciting day yesterday. I'll fill in some details.
The house was CUTE!! In a neighborhood I didn't even know existed, let alone considered before. It was also way cool to talk to his high school friend. She was totally awesome; we will be going to more of her open houses :)
Driving around anywhere between May and October around here is ridiculously hot. I've laxed WAY down on my fuel mileage obsession and I'm trying desperately not to get too tolerant to the A/C (what do you do when the highest setting is not enough!?!). Doug forgetting his medicine was a bummer, but it extended Pearce Brother Bantering which is always entertaining. I also called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. He had to travel for the high council, but mom made him his favorite meal, so he was happy.
We goofed off and ate for the rest of the evening. Poor Mom Pearce has a rash or something that is making her itch, so we (Grandma and I; everyone else ate too much turkey and crashed on various couches and recliners) tried to distract her. It took me an hour to get Adam up, but eventually he did. For whatever reason he wandered outside and came back in. Not three minutes after that Katy burst upon the scene yelling quite loudly "GOTTA PEEEEEEEE!!!!!" which scared the dickens out of me because I was thoroughly confused (I thought it was somehow Adam coming back in, which would have been weird and physically impossible.) After that we were swept up in her whirlwind, when lo and behold, the phone rang and it was none other than Sylvia! The Pearce family house phone is really hard to hear on, and I have bad hearing anyway, and Katy was excitedly recounting her trip of too much caffeine and no rest stops, so things got really exciting with everyone yelling at the phone and each other. Sylvia called to wish her own father a Happy Father's Day and while he was on the phone with her, Katy got out his present that she brought from her Mexican cruise. It was this rockin' awesome sombrero.
Not too long after that, we decided we needed to head home, which is where the unexpected fun began. If you've ever read any of Dave Ramsey's books, he mentions that women (and women only) have a hidden security gland that is baffling to men; this is usually in reference to emergency funds, but given my history of car trouble, it's perfectly applicable to my automotive world. I'm therefore understandably paranoid about anything happening to Frances. It bugs me to no end that I wouldn't have noticed the weird noise at all; only because Grandma said something while Adam was looking for a place to pull over. I was ridiculously useless during the tire change, even cranky. Adam said something about nails in the tire and Grandma asked me what I'd been driving though. Anyway, the tire was changed and we booked it home because it was LATE at this point! This morning, Adam got up before I did and looked at the tire (and also finished fixing my blinker--I can legally turn left again! :-p ) He brought it in for me and this is what I found:
Whoa! You can see it's not pretty in this picture. But then, upon further examination (which consisted of Adam pulling the hole open while I took a picture) it looks even worse!
Holy Humongous Hole, Batman! How did that get there?!?! Needless to say, when we took it to a local discount tire shop (on Doug's recommendation) the guy looked at it for about 3 seconds before he said there was no way on Earth it was reparable. Le sigh. I have a new tire, but Frances is healthy again. She looked so crippled with the doughnut on! :(
Adam and I may be a socially awkward couple and work waaaaaay too much, but we have seriously got to find cheaper, less stressful forms of entertainment :-p
The house was CUTE!! In a neighborhood I didn't even know existed, let alone considered before. It was also way cool to talk to his high school friend. She was totally awesome; we will be going to more of her open houses :)
Driving around anywhere between May and October around here is ridiculously hot. I've laxed WAY down on my fuel mileage obsession and I'm trying desperately not to get too tolerant to the A/C (what do you do when the highest setting is not enough!?!). Doug forgetting his medicine was a bummer, but it extended Pearce Brother Bantering which is always entertaining. I also called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. He had to travel for the high council, but mom made him his favorite meal, so he was happy.
We goofed off and ate for the rest of the evening. Poor Mom Pearce has a rash or something that is making her itch, so we (Grandma and I; everyone else ate too much turkey and crashed on various couches and recliners) tried to distract her. It took me an hour to get Adam up, but eventually he did. For whatever reason he wandered outside and came back in. Not three minutes after that Katy burst upon the scene yelling quite loudly "GOTTA PEEEEEEEE!!!!!" which scared the dickens out of me because I was thoroughly confused (I thought it was somehow Adam coming back in, which would have been weird and physically impossible.) After that we were swept up in her whirlwind, when lo and behold, the phone rang and it was none other than Sylvia! The Pearce family house phone is really hard to hear on, and I have bad hearing anyway, and Katy was excitedly recounting her trip of too much caffeine and no rest stops, so things got really exciting with everyone yelling at the phone and each other. Sylvia called to wish her own father a Happy Father's Day and while he was on the phone with her, Katy got out his present that she brought from her Mexican cruise. It was this rockin' awesome sombrero.
Not too long after that, we decided we needed to head home, which is where the unexpected fun began. If you've ever read any of Dave Ramsey's books, he mentions that women (and women only) have a hidden security gland that is baffling to men; this is usually in reference to emergency funds, but given my history of car trouble, it's perfectly applicable to my automotive world. I'm therefore understandably paranoid about anything happening to Frances. It bugs me to no end that I wouldn't have noticed the weird noise at all; only because Grandma said something while Adam was looking for a place to pull over. I was ridiculously useless during the tire change, even cranky. Adam said something about nails in the tire and Grandma asked me what I'd been driving though. Anyway, the tire was changed and we booked it home because it was LATE at this point! This morning, Adam got up before I did and looked at the tire (and also finished fixing my blinker--I can legally turn left again! :-p ) He brought it in for me and this is what I found:
Whoa! You can see it's not pretty in this picture. But then, upon further examination (which consisted of Adam pulling the hole open while I took a picture) it looks even worse!
Holy Humongous Hole, Batman! How did that get there?!?! Needless to say, when we took it to a local discount tire shop (on Doug's recommendation) the guy looked at it for about 3 seconds before he said there was no way on Earth it was reparable. Le sigh. I have a new tire, but Frances is healthy again. She looked so crippled with the doughnut on! :(
Adam and I may be a socially awkward couple and work waaaaaay too much, but we have seriously got to find cheaper, less stressful forms of entertainment :-p
How to Have Fun on a Sunday Night in Arkansas
Yesterday after church Jax and I managed to have more fun than should be legally allowed. Most of it was planned, but some of it just sort of happened on its own.
First up, after dropping Grandma off from church we went home and changed clothes. I know, the excitement just built up to such a crescendo that you can barely contain your enthusiasm... We changed so we could go to an open house and wander around getting a realtor's hopes up. It just so happened that this particular open house was being put on by someone I went to high school with, so aside from looking and learning about features we will want in our future house, but I actually got to catch up with someone I hadn't seen in about 14 years. Granted, Laura didn't like it when we realized that we hadn't seen each other in 14 years, but mostly that was because it made us both feel old...
Anyway, next up was picking up Dougy and Granny and chauffeuring them down to White Hall for dinner. Except for one small, teensy detail. Dougy sort of left his meds at home, so we had to turn around and go get his meds so he wouldn't end up unconscious on the ground. Fortunately he realized his mistake while we were still in Little Rock, so we didn't have to go too far back, but it did cut into our gas reserves.
After making it down to White Hall we all had a good time celebrating Father's Day in our traditional manner: with meat and potatoes heaped upon our plates. After dinner I fell asleep on the couch for a while, which is also traditional. After a while the youngest Pearce showed up and swept us all up in her own personal whirlwind. Sadly we all had to return to Little Rock shortly after she appeared.
When we left, at first we didn't notice anything in particular. While we were still on the small roads in White Hall I thought I heard an odd sound but wasn't particularly worried about it. However, when I got the car sideways* pulling onto the "big" road, the odd sound got louder and didn't go away. I didn't notice the car handling weird or anything, so I applied the traditional fix of ignoring it until it went away. When the stubborn sounds wouldn't go away, I pulled off the road to check the tires only to find that the driver's side rear tire was completely flat. So I had the chance to change a tire on the side of the road, which I haven't had to do in several years. I've had more engines fail than tires in the last five (5) years, which perhaps tells you more than you want to know about the sort of cars I've been driving...
Anyway, Dougy was also helpful in the tire-changing process, making it go by much quicker than the last time I changed one. When we finished and got back into the car with it's miraculous air conditioning, the temperature gauge on the dash said it was about 86 degrees. At 10:15pm. I felt like I could have used a spoon to scoop up some extra air and stuff it back into the tire...
Sadly, since we have never needed our doughnut spare tire before, it was also a bit low on air, so we stopped a couple of miles up the road for air and gas, due to our fuel reserves being depleted with the extra trip into Little Rock earlier in the day. When I got out of the car at the gas station, the windows had fogged up to the point that I couldn't see out of mine at all, and most of the others had pretty well become useless as well. Daggum heat.
After getting gas and air, we finally returned to Little Rock, only an hour later than we had planned. Hooray! Then today we went and got a new tire. Jax will surely make a post about the tire itself, including the pictures we took this morning when we discovered how bad the hole was, but I don't have the camera or memory card with me, so I can't.
*By "sideways" I mean that I gently pulled out onto the road. However, I do have a reputation to maintain...
First up, after dropping Grandma off from church we went home and changed clothes. I know, the excitement just built up to such a crescendo that you can barely contain your enthusiasm... We changed so we could go to an open house and wander around getting a realtor's hopes up. It just so happened that this particular open house was being put on by someone I went to high school with, so aside from looking and learning about features we will want in our future house, but I actually got to catch up with someone I hadn't seen in about 14 years. Granted, Laura didn't like it when we realized that we hadn't seen each other in 14 years, but mostly that was because it made us both feel old...
Anyway, next up was picking up Dougy and Granny and chauffeuring them down to White Hall for dinner. Except for one small, teensy detail. Dougy sort of left his meds at home, so we had to turn around and go get his meds so he wouldn't end up unconscious on the ground. Fortunately he realized his mistake while we were still in Little Rock, so we didn't have to go too far back, but it did cut into our gas reserves.
After making it down to White Hall we all had a good time celebrating Father's Day in our traditional manner: with meat and potatoes heaped upon our plates. After dinner I fell asleep on the couch for a while, which is also traditional. After a while the youngest Pearce showed up and swept us all up in her own personal whirlwind. Sadly we all had to return to Little Rock shortly after she appeared.
When we left, at first we didn't notice anything in particular. While we were still on the small roads in White Hall I thought I heard an odd sound but wasn't particularly worried about it. However, when I got the car sideways* pulling onto the "big" road, the odd sound got louder and didn't go away. I didn't notice the car handling weird or anything, so I applied the traditional fix of ignoring it until it went away. When the stubborn sounds wouldn't go away, I pulled off the road to check the tires only to find that the driver's side rear tire was completely flat. So I had the chance to change a tire on the side of the road, which I haven't had to do in several years. I've had more engines fail than tires in the last five (5) years, which perhaps tells you more than you want to know about the sort of cars I've been driving...
Anyway, Dougy was also helpful in the tire-changing process, making it go by much quicker than the last time I changed one. When we finished and got back into the car with it's miraculous air conditioning, the temperature gauge on the dash said it was about 86 degrees. At 10:15pm. I felt like I could have used a spoon to scoop up some extra air and stuff it back into the tire...
Sadly, since we have never needed our doughnut spare tire before, it was also a bit low on air, so we stopped a couple of miles up the road for air and gas, due to our fuel reserves being depleted with the extra trip into Little Rock earlier in the day. When I got out of the car at the gas station, the windows had fogged up to the point that I couldn't see out of mine at all, and most of the others had pretty well become useless as well. Daggum heat.
After getting gas and air, we finally returned to Little Rock, only an hour later than we had planned. Hooray! Then today we went and got a new tire. Jax will surely make a post about the tire itself, including the pictures we took this morning when we discovered how bad the hole was, but I don't have the camera or memory card with me, so I can't.
*By "sideways" I mean that I gently pulled out onto the road. However, I do have a reputation to maintain...
Monday, June 14, 2010
The Curious Case of "I'll Be Happy When"
Lately I've gained a greater appreciation for all those around me who manage to be content with what they have. It seems to me that a great many problems could be avoided if we could all be a little more content with what we have instead of focusing on what we want all the time.
I see it in all aspects of life: "I'll be happy when I have a new car." "I'll be happy when I get married." "I'll be happy when I have a six-figure income at a job that allows me to sit on my bum in an air conditioned office." "I'll be happy when the weekend finally gets here." "I'll be happy when we get a puppy." "I'll be happy when my boss recognizes what an incredibly awesome and invaluable asset I am to the company." "I'll be happy when summer gets here to warm things up." "I'll be happy when autumn arrives to cool things off." "I'll be happy when winter comes along with a blanket of snow so I won't have to go to work." "I'll be happy when spring finally comes and the flowers start to bloom." I'll be happy when summer gets here so some of the pollen will go away."
I see absolutely no problem with seeking a more comfortable life/job/whatever. In fact, I think it is good and even healthy to desire a better way of life for yourself and your family. Money in and of itself is not evil. Air conditioning is not poisonous to your soul. Enjoyable work is not a bad thing. It would be swell if we all had careers we loved that allowed us to live however we saw fit. Seeking opportunities to achieve self fulfillment is a great thing.
However, when you take it too far you end up losing the contentedness that allows you to make it through the day without becoming hopelessly miserable. When you are always looking to some future point when you will be happy, you can't be happy now. The worst part I see for those who "will be happy when" is that when they achieve the thing that they think will make them happy, within a couple of days, maybe weeks, they realize that they aren't actually happy with it, and the cycle starts all over again.
Let's all try to be content with what we have. Even if it's not much, it's better than being miserable about what we don't have.
I see it in all aspects of life: "I'll be happy when I have a new car." "I'll be happy when I get married." "I'll be happy when I have a six-figure income at a job that allows me to sit on my bum in an air conditioned office." "I'll be happy when the weekend finally gets here." "I'll be happy when we get a puppy." "I'll be happy when my boss recognizes what an incredibly awesome and invaluable asset I am to the company." "I'll be happy when summer gets here to warm things up." "I'll be happy when autumn arrives to cool things off." "I'll be happy when winter comes along with a blanket of snow so I won't have to go to work." "I'll be happy when spring finally comes and the flowers start to bloom." I'll be happy when summer gets here so some of the pollen will go away."
I see absolutely no problem with seeking a more comfortable life/job/whatever. In fact, I think it is good and even healthy to desire a better way of life for yourself and your family. Money in and of itself is not evil. Air conditioning is not poisonous to your soul. Enjoyable work is not a bad thing. It would be swell if we all had careers we loved that allowed us to live however we saw fit. Seeking opportunities to achieve self fulfillment is a great thing.
However, when you take it too far you end up losing the contentedness that allows you to make it through the day without becoming hopelessly miserable. When you are always looking to some future point when you will be happy, you can't be happy now. The worst part I see for those who "will be happy when" is that when they achieve the thing that they think will make them happy, within a couple of days, maybe weeks, they realize that they aren't actually happy with it, and the cycle starts all over again.
Let's all try to be content with what we have. Even if it's not much, it's better than being miserable about what we don't have.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
5 Things That Make Me Happy
The inspiration for the post came to me a few weeks ago, but I'm only now getting around to it. I was thinking back on the last time I made the blog into a wordle, and how most of it was sad. I decided I would have to make a lot of posts with a happy theme in order to get the whole wordle to change, so this is one step.
5 Things That Make me Happy (in no particular order):
1. Frances Marie--my baby is such a wonderful car. I am grateful for her every single day. She is the cutest, most functional thing I own.
2. Scriptures--I printed off a chart and I'm keeping up with reading the entire Standard Works. I hope to have read the entire Bible by the end of the year (we'll see!)
3. The internet--I'm horribly addicted :( I love finding new information and quirky cute websites
4. My phone--It's my lifeline. I don't use it for the internet (though I technically can) but it connects me to everyone. When we switched to pre-paid, I tried going with the 1k minutes, messages and MB plan first, just to see if I could do it. I didn't use any of the internet and I was even within the 1k messages, but I blew through one thousand minutes in about two weeks. I am undeniably my Irish father's daughter.
5. The radio-- I can't live without music in some form or fashion. Losing my hearing is going to suck!
In the unpredictable future, I will do variations on the theme. It should be a nice little change :)
5 Things That Make me Happy (in no particular order):
1. Frances Marie--my baby is such a wonderful car. I am grateful for her every single day. She is the cutest, most functional thing I own.
2. Scriptures--I printed off a chart and I'm keeping up with reading the entire Standard Works. I hope to have read the entire Bible by the end of the year (we'll see!)
3. The internet--I'm horribly addicted :( I love finding new information and quirky cute websites
4. My phone--It's my lifeline. I don't use it for the internet (though I technically can) but it connects me to everyone. When we switched to pre-paid, I tried going with the 1k minutes, messages and MB plan first, just to see if I could do it. I didn't use any of the internet and I was even within the 1k messages, but I blew through one thousand minutes in about two weeks. I am undeniably my Irish father's daughter.
5. The radio-- I can't live without music in some form or fashion. Losing my hearing is going to suck!
In the unpredictable future, I will do variations on the theme. It should be a nice little change :)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Alma, D-Day and Other Thoughts
Hello blogger world! Long time no see!
I owe my Dad a belated birthday wish. His birthday was exactly one week ago today. I don't think of my Dad as old; he did celebrate his 30th annual 39th.
Remember my post about waiting? I guess I should update you with the good news :)
1. Mark is going to Mesa, Arizona--SPANISH speaking!!
2. Adam's OT has mostly gone away, which has curtailed debt payoff. We're behind, but still making a little progress
3. My body is still a hormonal mess. I might be losing some weight though...
4. My Mom's surgery was Friday. She is in pain right now and her bloodsugar has rollercoasted a few times, but she's on the road to recovery.
5. My sister is almost to the one year mark of her diagnosis.
Today is the 66th anniversary of D-Day. My Dad was watching a tribute on the military channel earlier, which is what actually inspired this post. It was amazing what they went through and the amount of detail the show went into. My Dad was just a little boy. If he'd been a member of the church, he would have been a sunbeam. That's a lot to fathom.
I will be in Alma until Thursday taking care of my mom and cleaning what I can. Hopefully June will bring more posts :)
I owe my Dad a belated birthday wish. His birthday was exactly one week ago today. I don't think of my Dad as old; he did celebrate his 30th annual 39th.
Remember my post about waiting? I guess I should update you with the good news :)
1. Mark is going to Mesa, Arizona--SPANISH speaking!!
2. Adam's OT has mostly gone away, which has curtailed debt payoff. We're behind, but still making a little progress
3. My body is still a hormonal mess. I might be losing some weight though...
4. My Mom's surgery was Friday. She is in pain right now and her bloodsugar has rollercoasted a few times, but she's on the road to recovery.
5. My sister is almost to the one year mark of her diagnosis.
Today is the 66th anniversary of D-Day. My Dad was watching a tribute on the military channel earlier, which is what actually inspired this post. It was amazing what they went through and the amount of detail the show went into. My Dad was just a little boy. If he'd been a member of the church, he would have been a sunbeam. That's a lot to fathom.
I will be in Alma until Thursday taking care of my mom and cleaning what I can. Hopefully June will bring more posts :)
Friday, May 21, 2010
Choices
I am still feeling down. Ugh. It's nothing specific, life is just blah right now. Bah. I shouldn't complain.
Has anyone else ever made plans only to change them at the last minute?? I have been planning on going to my friend's wedding for months now. I haven't seen her since I moved away at the end of 7th grade. She was my BEST friend EVER. We took piano lessons from the same teacher. I conned her into starting quiz bowl with me. We planned everything together. Then my family moved away and I didn't hear from her for YEARS until I randomly found her on Facebook (go Facebook!). I was so excited to hear she got engaged last year and we wrote back and forth a few times; in the last message, she promised a wedding invitation and I've set the date aside ever since.
This morning, however, a friend from church called and asked if I was up for babysitting her kids. I L-O-V-E her kids and jump at the chance to watch them whenever I can. Queue indecisiveness here! Adam and I are in the middle of a little tiff (which probably explains while I'm still feeling down). I am truly excited for my friend, but I am in no mood to go to a wedding. When we DO ever get to see each other again, I expect there will be lots of picture taking and I am NOT in the mood for picture taking. I am bloated and pimply (tangent: I think the Slimfast is working. ONE pound!) and feeling reeeeeallllly ugly right now. It is stupid, but I feel like I'd uglify her wedding. The reason the friend from church asked me to watch her kids is because her husband is going to the temple, with or without her. I know he's in sales and does a lot of traveling and has a pretty hectic schedule, so I got the impression that him going to the temple is a big deal. (Well, let's face it, we're in Arkansas; ANYONE going to the temple is a big deal because it's such an event to get everything aligned) Me watching her kids is enabling her to go with him and I know she's excited about that.
The whole point of this post is to ramble about my feelings of complete and utter indecisiveness. The plan was originally the wedding, but I just don't see me going. Right this minute, I don't see me doing ANYTHING though. Have you ever visualized your plans? That is not working for me. Maybe it's a stupor of thought or something. Both events are a big deal. So why has it been so hard to pick one over the other? I am glad to help one friend; I hope I don't disappoint the other.
I guess we will see how tomorrow goes?
Has anyone else ever made plans only to change them at the last minute?? I have been planning on going to my friend's wedding for months now. I haven't seen her since I moved away at the end of 7th grade. She was my BEST friend EVER. We took piano lessons from the same teacher. I conned her into starting quiz bowl with me. We planned everything together. Then my family moved away and I didn't hear from her for YEARS until I randomly found her on Facebook (go Facebook!). I was so excited to hear she got engaged last year and we wrote back and forth a few times; in the last message, she promised a wedding invitation and I've set the date aside ever since.
This morning, however, a friend from church called and asked if I was up for babysitting her kids. I L-O-V-E her kids and jump at the chance to watch them whenever I can. Queue indecisiveness here! Adam and I are in the middle of a little tiff (which probably explains while I'm still feeling down). I am truly excited for my friend, but I am in no mood to go to a wedding. When we DO ever get to see each other again, I expect there will be lots of picture taking and I am NOT in the mood for picture taking. I am bloated and pimply (tangent: I think the Slimfast is working. ONE pound!) and feeling reeeeeallllly ugly right now. It is stupid, but I feel like I'd uglify her wedding. The reason the friend from church asked me to watch her kids is because her husband is going to the temple, with or without her. I know he's in sales and does a lot of traveling and has a pretty hectic schedule, so I got the impression that him going to the temple is a big deal. (Well, let's face it, we're in Arkansas; ANYONE going to the temple is a big deal because it's such an event to get everything aligned) Me watching her kids is enabling her to go with him and I know she's excited about that.
The whole point of this post is to ramble about my feelings of complete and utter indecisiveness. The plan was originally the wedding, but I just don't see me going. Right this minute, I don't see me doing ANYTHING though. Have you ever visualized your plans? That is not working for me. Maybe it's a stupor of thought or something. Both events are a big deal. So why has it been so hard to pick one over the other? I am glad to help one friend; I hope I don't disappoint the other.
I guess we will see how tomorrow goes?
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Feeling Down
I had the realization a few days ago that I only ever feel the urge to post when I'm feeling depressed. No wonder nobody reads this blog! I wouldn't read this blog! :-p
I am feeling down now, thus the post. I thought I had friends who would be there for me, and I've recently discovered that they're not. It's not a pleasant feeling to find that you're not needed or missed. I'm feeling awfully isolated right now.
Adam and I had the chance to go to the temple with my parents last week, and we even decided to drag along his mom, which was nice. It was SO nice to FINALLY go. I don't know when we would have gotten to go this year, if it hadn't been for them. I was a little let down when I didn't get any specific direction for some problems on my mind. It feels like I've been placed on a spiritual hold. I guess that just means I'll have to go back again :)
And in exciting news, my parents loaned me their Wii for the next several months. My mom is hoping it will help me lose some weight, which was why I asked for it in the first place :) I'm also trying Slimfast. I figure it's worth a shot, and it will be beyond exciting to say that I've lost weight (any weight at all). A pound a week is the surest way to keep weight off, so that gives me until our 4th anniversary to lose a large chunk of the weight I've always wanted to lose. If Slimfast doesn't get me all the way there, maybe it will get me started on the path.
Also in the exciting news section is the completion of Financial Peace University. It is by far the best $100 we have ever invested. We paid off a little under $7500 during the 13 week course. My only complaint is that there isn't another class starting for quite some time. I had dreamed of being able to turn right back around and stay in a class, to keep the motivation and group accountability. We've tossed around the idea of starting our own class at our ward, but I don't know if anyone would attend. I mentioned it to the bishop, but only in passing. So, we shall see. With Adam's overtime (finally) going away, we're contemplating the multiple jobs route. The original goal was to have Frances paid off for Christmas, but we've adjusted that a bit with the acquisition of Daisy May. This time next year though, we should have nothing but Daisy May's payment and the student loans. At the end of next year, the student loans will be nearly gone. That thought is what keeps me going. It often seems impossible to fathom and other times it's so real I can taste it.
I hope this post hasn't been a complete downer, but maybe this blog should be repurposed to be an outlet for sad feelings. Maybe I'll get a new one, who knows. But, now you know why I haven't been posting as much.
I am feeling down now, thus the post. I thought I had friends who would be there for me, and I've recently discovered that they're not. It's not a pleasant feeling to find that you're not needed or missed. I'm feeling awfully isolated right now.
Adam and I had the chance to go to the temple with my parents last week, and we even decided to drag along his mom, which was nice. It was SO nice to FINALLY go. I don't know when we would have gotten to go this year, if it hadn't been for them. I was a little let down when I didn't get any specific direction for some problems on my mind. It feels like I've been placed on a spiritual hold. I guess that just means I'll have to go back again :)
And in exciting news, my parents loaned me their Wii for the next several months. My mom is hoping it will help me lose some weight, which was why I asked for it in the first place :) I'm also trying Slimfast. I figure it's worth a shot, and it will be beyond exciting to say that I've lost weight (any weight at all). A pound a week is the surest way to keep weight off, so that gives me until our 4th anniversary to lose a large chunk of the weight I've always wanted to lose. If Slimfast doesn't get me all the way there, maybe it will get me started on the path.
Also in the exciting news section is the completion of Financial Peace University. It is by far the best $100 we have ever invested. We paid off a little under $7500 during the 13 week course. My only complaint is that there isn't another class starting for quite some time. I had dreamed of being able to turn right back around and stay in a class, to keep the motivation and group accountability. We've tossed around the idea of starting our own class at our ward, but I don't know if anyone would attend. I mentioned it to the bishop, but only in passing. So, we shall see. With Adam's overtime (finally) going away, we're contemplating the multiple jobs route. The original goal was to have Frances paid off for Christmas, but we've adjusted that a bit with the acquisition of Daisy May. This time next year though, we should have nothing but Daisy May's payment and the student loans. At the end of next year, the student loans will be nearly gone. That thought is what keeps me going. It often seems impossible to fathom and other times it's so real I can taste it.
I hope this post hasn't been a complete downer, but maybe this blog should be repurposed to be an outlet for sad feelings. Maybe I'll get a new one, who knows. But, now you know why I haven't been posting as much.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Daisy May
I'm pretty sure Jax has already mentioned that we are calling the TU250X "Daisy May" instead of referring to it as "The TU" or "The Bike." She is fond of naming our vehicles as it sort of gives them a bit of personality above and beyond their engineered traits. Daisy has been pretty good to us so far. In the two weeks we've had her I have gone through four (4) full tanks of gas and one oil change.
On the very first full tank of gas, which we spent probably a third of the gas bimbling around our neighborhood (lots of hills) two-up (never good for gas mileage, especially when starting off on hills) we got 70 miles per gallon of gas. On the next one I got 75 miles per gallon of refined dead dinosaur. The third tank yielded 77 miles per gallon of black gold. The third tank also included the first oil change. It just so happens that I have a few liters (~quarts) of Repsol fully synthetic four-stroke racing oil left over from the R6, so I went ahead and put some of the best motorbike oil in the world into Daisy May. While it seemed a bit silly at first, it really smoothed out the shifting a lot more than I expected, due to the fact that most motorbikes use the motor oil to lubricate the transmission and clutch as well as the motor. I hesitate to refer to the shifting prior to the oil change as "clunky" or "agricultural," but it is smooth as butter now.
Anyway, on to the most recent tank of gas! This one is a little misleading since at least one of the miles on the odometer was accumulated by me pushing Daisy May. Yeah. I ran out of gas. Again. You might think I would start paying attention to the shiny, yellow light on the dash that indicates the fact that I am nearly out of gas. In my defense, it came on during the day, and it is very hard to see in direct sunlight, so I didn't know when it came on. At night I can barely read the trip odometer because it is so bright, but during the day the light just looks like a bit more glare unless you are looking at it specifically to check it. On the plus side, Daisy May is a lot easier to push along the road than the R6 ever could be. On the even bigger plus side, pushing Daisy May up a hill really isn't that hard since she weighs something like 100 pounds less than the R6. On the minus side, a lot of the gas stations in Little Rock close before midnight. I counted 6 closed gas stations before I found one that was still open.
Eventually Daisy May restarted and I was able to ride the last couple of miles to the open station, but it was still not much fun. And to top it all off, I only got 71 miles per gallon again, which I attribute to me leaving late and having to take the interstate a few times on this tank. Daisy can get up to interstate speeds, but it's pretty close to her absolute top speed. If I don't have someone to follow/draft behind then Daisy has to be her own wind-break, which doesn't work terribly well at 70 miles per hour. I guess I'll just have to get out of bed on time from now on... Dang it!
On the very first full tank of gas, which we spent probably a third of the gas bimbling around our neighborhood (lots of hills) two-up (never good for gas mileage, especially when starting off on hills) we got 70 miles per gallon of gas. On the next one I got 75 miles per gallon of refined dead dinosaur. The third tank yielded 77 miles per gallon of black gold. The third tank also included the first oil change. It just so happens that I have a few liters (~quarts) of Repsol fully synthetic four-stroke racing oil left over from the R6, so I went ahead and put some of the best motorbike oil in the world into Daisy May. While it seemed a bit silly at first, it really smoothed out the shifting a lot more than I expected, due to the fact that most motorbikes use the motor oil to lubricate the transmission and clutch as well as the motor. I hesitate to refer to the shifting prior to the oil change as "clunky" or "agricultural," but it is smooth as butter now.
Anyway, on to the most recent tank of gas! This one is a little misleading since at least one of the miles on the odometer was accumulated by me pushing Daisy May. Yeah. I ran out of gas. Again. You might think I would start paying attention to the shiny, yellow light on the dash that indicates the fact that I am nearly out of gas. In my defense, it came on during the day, and it is very hard to see in direct sunlight, so I didn't know when it came on. At night I can barely read the trip odometer because it is so bright, but during the day the light just looks like a bit more glare unless you are looking at it specifically to check it. On the plus side, Daisy May is a lot easier to push along the road than the R6 ever could be. On the even bigger plus side, pushing Daisy May up a hill really isn't that hard since she weighs something like 100 pounds less than the R6. On the minus side, a lot of the gas stations in Little Rock close before midnight. I counted 6 closed gas stations before I found one that was still open.
Eventually Daisy May restarted and I was able to ride the last couple of miles to the open station, but it was still not much fun. And to top it all off, I only got 71 miles per gallon again, which I attribute to me leaving late and having to take the interstate a few times on this tank. Daisy can get up to interstate speeds, but it's pretty close to her absolute top speed. If I don't have someone to follow/draft behind then Daisy has to be her own wind-break, which doesn't work terribly well at 70 miles per hour. I guess I'll just have to get out of bed on time from now on... Dang it!
Now You Wait Here
I am not a patient person. Never have been; probably won't be for at least the foreseeable future. So, it goes without saying that I am struggling right now.
1. My brother--my baby brother who's all grown up now-- is waiting for his mission call.
2. Adam is waiting to find out what's going on at work and what it means for us.
3. I am waiting to find out what's going on (wrong) with my body and what I can do about it.
4. My Mom is waiting for her shoulder surgery, so she can live without constant pain.
5. My sister is waiting for the one year mark of the beginning of her breast cancer adventure.
Waiting, waiting, waiting (and probably more; if I missed your particular situation, I'm sorry)
I am far too much like my Dad--"Just do something, even if it's wrong" so this waiting is particularly trying for me. I'm sure Adam isn't enjoying it, but he's more of the let's-wait-and-see (oh ironic world) so he has that envious ability to go with the flow. I am really trying to not wait-away my life. My impatience ebbs and flows and right now it is definitely flowing.
Patience is a virtue; it was a virtue when I was three and my grandfather tried to teach it to me. It will still be a virtue when I finally catch on and grab some for myself.
1. My brother--my baby brother who's all grown up now-- is waiting for his mission call.
2. Adam is waiting to find out what's going on at work and what it means for us.
3. I am waiting to find out what's going on (wrong) with my body and what I can do about it.
4. My Mom is waiting for her shoulder surgery, so she can live without constant pain.
5. My sister is waiting for the one year mark of the beginning of her breast cancer adventure.
Waiting, waiting, waiting (and probably more; if I missed your particular situation, I'm sorry)
I am far too much like my Dad--"Just do something, even if it's wrong" so this waiting is particularly trying for me. I'm sure Adam isn't enjoying it, but he's more of the let's-wait-and-see (oh ironic world) so he has that envious ability to go with the flow. I am really trying to not wait-away my life. My impatience ebbs and flows and right now it is definitely flowing.
Patience is a virtue; it was a virtue when I was three and my grandfather tried to teach it to me. It will still be a virtue when I finally catch on and grab some for myself.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
o hai
Hello forgotten blog!! I kind of miss you; kind of a lot. I miss telling you what's going on, and what I'm thinking.
Then it all just started slipping. I never told you about my first OR second trips to Alma. Not a word about the hypnosis. Not a word about $5 footlongs (consider yourself lucky there). Not a word about the birdies (or the doggies). Not a word about flowers or spring or weather or Frances or ...ANYTHING!
Adam managed to tell you about Daisy May, at least. Suffice it to say (because I don't have all night to write about her) that she is wonderful!! Our first full tank she only got 70 miles to the gallon. How will we ever live?!? :-p
Last week, one of the day crew people quit and the manager mentioned if anyone wanted some of his hours, they were free for the taking. Tuesday I found out the other one is quitting (it's generally just the 3 of them) next week, so now those hours are DEFINITELY for the taking. I'd been looking around for a day job anyway, so voila! I have the special pleasure of splits! And honestly, it's really not as bad as it sounds. At least it wasn't the first time around, anyway. The manager let me go home and take a long nap and then I went back in and it was like I hadn't been there at all that morning. I think I could do this 3 days a week and it would effectively double my hours, which translates into double my paycheck which translates into double the debt payoff...NOW we're talking :)
But then I look around at my house and Frances and sigh. NOTHING has gotten done at all. I've got to find my groove and fast. It doesn't help that Adam is working 50-60 hours a week himself. Good thing nobody ever comes over huh?? :-p
It's all going to be worth it in the end...it's all going to be worth it in the end...it's all going to be worth it...
Then it all just started slipping. I never told you about my first OR second trips to Alma. Not a word about the hypnosis. Not a word about $5 footlongs (consider yourself lucky there). Not a word about the birdies (or the doggies). Not a word about flowers or spring or weather or Frances or ...ANYTHING!
Adam managed to tell you about Daisy May, at least. Suffice it to say (because I don't have all night to write about her) that she is wonderful!! Our first full tank she only got 70 miles to the gallon. How will we ever live?!? :-p
Last week, one of the day crew people quit and the manager mentioned if anyone wanted some of his hours, they were free for the taking. Tuesday I found out the other one is quitting (it's generally just the 3 of them) next week, so now those hours are DEFINITELY for the taking. I'd been looking around for a day job anyway, so voila! I have the special pleasure of splits! And honestly, it's really not as bad as it sounds. At least it wasn't the first time around, anyway. The manager let me go home and take a long nap and then I went back in and it was like I hadn't been there at all that morning. I think I could do this 3 days a week and it would effectively double my hours, which translates into double my paycheck which translates into double the debt payoff...NOW we're talking :)
But then I look around at my house and Frances and sigh. NOTHING has gotten done at all. I've got to find my groove and fast. It doesn't help that Adam is working 50-60 hours a week himself. Good thing nobody ever comes over huh?? :-p
It's all going to be worth it in the end...it's all going to be worth it in the end...it's all going to be worth it...
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Spring Cleaning
It's that time of year again. Time to clean out the garage (or patio) and get rid of some junk you don't need or want anymore. As Jax and I have been trying to de-junk for a couple of years now, we don't have quite as much to get rid of this year as we have had in the past, but we still seem to find plenty of junk lying around that we don't need or want. It's always nice when we run across something we haven't seen in over 6 months too, because we can almost always toss it immediately into the piles that are going away in one way or another.
Last week (24 Mar 2010) I accidentally sold the truck. On Tuesday the apartment maintenance guys were repainting the parking spot lines. I usually parked the truck over one of the lines because there is a power pole in the spot next to it, rendering that spot useless to anyone with a vehicle more than about 10 feet long or 4 feet wide. Anyway, they asked me to move the truck and I made some sort of snide remark about just pushing it over the hill. The younger guy asked if we were thinking of selling it, and I told him we were probably going to try to sell it in a month or two. He then told me he would give me $800 for it the next day. Now, $800 is what I paid for it back in August. Since then I have spent a fair chunk of change on things like tires, exhaust manifold leaks, and minor electrical fires. But, he had cash in hand, and I had learned to hate the truck with a burning, fiery passion, so I told him to come back the next morning. Sure enough, he came back the next morning and bought the heap. Hooray!
Yesterday (31 Mar 2010) we hauled off something that we've been meaning to get rid of for a couple of months:
Yes, I finally managed to let go of my ego and get rid of the sportbike. I'm not going to a trackday this year, so there is really no need for me to put up with all of the hassles of riding a trackday bike on the street. As it happens, the promotional interest rate on the Yamaha ended last month, and the new payment was a bit ludicrous as well. Aside from all that, the bike just didn't "sing to me," as it were. I didn't dream about the Yamaha at night. When running laps at the track in my mind, I wasn't riding the Yamaha. It was a great bike. I can understand perfectly why so many people like their R6s. It just didn't tickle my fancy the way it needed to.
Before anyone starts thinking "Who is this guy and what has he done with Adam, and how can we keep him around?" don't worry, we got a different bike to replace the R6.
The new bike is just a bit different than the R6 in just a couple of ways. First off I guess I will state the obvious: it is a Suzuki instead of a Yamaha and it is red instead of blue. It also makes roughly 15 horsepower at the back tire instead of the Yamaha's 100 or so horsepower. Also obvious from the picture is that the new bike has 18-inch wheels instead of the 17-inchers on the old bike. Yeah, I'm just being silly with that last one...
As for the not-so-obvious, it is a little gem of a bike based on the early 1970s Suzuki T250 street bikes. It's official name on the website is the Suzuki TU250X. It is a 250, which is most of why it only has 15 horsepower instead of 100. The engine itself is a fairly old engine in the Suzuki family which has been in use since roughly the Jurassic Period. However, on this bike Suzuki replaced the kick starter with an electric starter button and the carburetor with electronic fuel injection so all we have to do is hit the button and ride away, no messing with a choke or anything, for those of you who even remember what a choke was...
During the purchasing process, we repeatedly heard "He wants a what?" from various people. The salesman at the dealership (who I bought my 2 previous Suzukis from), the parts guy at the dealership (from whom I have bought parts for my 3 previous Suzukis), and even the finance guy at the dealership said it when he found out what I was trading in.
We took delivery at about 12:45 in the afternoon, then we rode it to lunch at a Chinese buffet there in Conway, then back to the dealership so Jax could pick up the Vibe to get back to Little Rock while I went to work. Riding it home to Little Rock last night was it's first "road trip" longer than 3 miles, and I must say it is a hoot to ride. I've often heard the saying "it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow" and I thought I understood it, which was why I got such a kick out of passing bigger bikes at the track with my 600. But having ridden the 250 home last night really made it sink in. Bimbling down the interstate at 70 mph on a bike that is easily capable of going 160 was just not that much fun. Tearing down the highway (not the interstate) at 55 on a bike that will barely get over 75 with my fat booty on it is much more fun.
Just to clarify, due to certain coincidences that happen to come into play today, which coincidentally happens to be the day after we bought the new bike which is a complete departure from the status quo of Adam's motorbikes, no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke. We really did sell the truck and get rid of the sportbike.
Last week (24 Mar 2010) I accidentally sold the truck. On Tuesday the apartment maintenance guys were repainting the parking spot lines. I usually parked the truck over one of the lines because there is a power pole in the spot next to it, rendering that spot useless to anyone with a vehicle more than about 10 feet long or 4 feet wide. Anyway, they asked me to move the truck and I made some sort of snide remark about just pushing it over the hill. The younger guy asked if we were thinking of selling it, and I told him we were probably going to try to sell it in a month or two. He then told me he would give me $800 for it the next day. Now, $800 is what I paid for it back in August. Since then I have spent a fair chunk of change on things like tires, exhaust manifold leaks, and minor electrical fires. But, he had cash in hand, and I had learned to hate the truck with a burning, fiery passion, so I told him to come back the next morning. Sure enough, he came back the next morning and bought the heap. Hooray!
Yesterday (31 Mar 2010) we hauled off something that we've been meaning to get rid of for a couple of months:
Yes, I finally managed to let go of my ego and get rid of the sportbike. I'm not going to a trackday this year, so there is really no need for me to put up with all of the hassles of riding a trackday bike on the street. As it happens, the promotional interest rate on the Yamaha ended last month, and the new payment was a bit ludicrous as well. Aside from all that, the bike just didn't "sing to me," as it were. I didn't dream about the Yamaha at night. When running laps at the track in my mind, I wasn't riding the Yamaha. It was a great bike. I can understand perfectly why so many people like their R6s. It just didn't tickle my fancy the way it needed to.Before anyone starts thinking "Who is this guy and what has he done with Adam, and how can we keep him around?" don't worry, we got a different bike to replace the R6.
The new bike is just a bit different than the R6 in just a couple of ways. First off I guess I will state the obvious: it is a Suzuki instead of a Yamaha and it is red instead of blue. It also makes roughly 15 horsepower at the back tire instead of the Yamaha's 100 or so horsepower. Also obvious from the picture is that the new bike has 18-inch wheels instead of the 17-inchers on the old bike. Yeah, I'm just being silly with that last one...
As for the not-so-obvious, it is a little gem of a bike based on the early 1970s Suzuki T250 street bikes. It's official name on the website is the Suzuki TU250X. It is a 250, which is most of why it only has 15 horsepower instead of 100. The engine itself is a fairly old engine in the Suzuki family which has been in use since roughly the Jurassic Period. However, on this bike Suzuki replaced the kick starter with an electric starter button and the carburetor with electronic fuel injection so all we have to do is hit the button and ride away, no messing with a choke or anything, for those of you who even remember what a choke was...
During the purchasing process, we repeatedly heard "He wants a what?" from various people. The salesman at the dealership (who I bought my 2 previous Suzukis from), the parts guy at the dealership (from whom I have bought parts for my 3 previous Suzukis), and even the finance guy at the dealership said it when he found out what I was trading in.
We took delivery at about 12:45 in the afternoon, then we rode it to lunch at a Chinese buffet there in Conway, then back to the dealership so Jax could pick up the Vibe to get back to Little Rock while I went to work. Riding it home to Little Rock last night was it's first "road trip" longer than 3 miles, and I must say it is a hoot to ride. I've often heard the saying "it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow" and I thought I understood it, which was why I got such a kick out of passing bigger bikes at the track with my 600. But having ridden the 250 home last night really made it sink in. Bimbling down the interstate at 70 mph on a bike that is easily capable of going 160 was just not that much fun. Tearing down the highway (not the interstate) at 55 on a bike that will barely get over 75 with my fat booty on it is much more fun.
Just to clarify, due to certain coincidences that happen to come into play today, which coincidentally happens to be the day after we bought the new bike which is a complete departure from the status quo of Adam's motorbikes, no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke. We really did sell the truck and get rid of the sportbike.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Luck O' The Irish
I think I mentioned that I've been on a family history kick lately, but if I haven't, then, yeah, I'm on a family history kick :)
My Dad and I ordered the death certificates of my great-grandparents on the off chance their parents names were listed. My family doesn't know hardly squat about either of them, so this seemed a good place to start. We ordered them a week ago Saturday and they finally came in the mail today. And guess what?
Both certificates have the names and birthplaces of each of their parents!! Whoooooooo-hoooooooo!! :) I'm STOKED!! And that's not all! At least for my great-grandfather, it lists the actual city (village?) in Ireland where he was born, which my mom had guessed at, but now we know for sure! Totally exciting! :) We've found out more about them in one day than anyone has since they died. I wonder what they were like. I wonder what Ireland was like when he left. I think someday I'm going over there to see the little village now.
My Dad and I ordered the death certificates of my great-grandparents on the off chance their parents names were listed. My family doesn't know hardly squat about either of them, so this seemed a good place to start. We ordered them a week ago Saturday and they finally came in the mail today. And guess what?
Both certificates have the names and birthplaces of each of their parents!! Whoooooooo-hoooooooo!! :) I'm STOKED!! And that's not all! At least for my great-grandfather, it lists the actual city (village?) in Ireland where he was born, which my mom had guessed at, but now we know for sure! Totally exciting! :) We've found out more about them in one day than anyone has since they died. I wonder what they were like. I wonder what Ireland was like when he left. I think someday I'm going over there to see the little village now.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wordle
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
So Which Is It?
Adam and I have some weighty matters to decide upon. He is not working this weekend (the 3rd such occurrence this year) so we have a chance to go to the temple. But, the Ladies Clothing Swap at Fletcher Library is this weekend at 10:00.
I can't do both. I desperately need some answers. And free clothes (I already donated a huge stack.) So which is it? Want to know what's going through my head right now?
AHHHHHAAAAARRRRRRRRAAAAUUGGGGGGHHHHH!!
Maybe we could do the temple next weekend. There's always the possibility.
Also, I wanted to say that today is my Grandfather Jones' 88th birthday. He died when I was 4, but I often wonder how different my life would be if he were still around.
I can't do both. I desperately need some answers. And free clothes (I already donated a huge stack.) So which is it? Want to know what's going through my head right now?
AHHHHHAAAAARRRRRRRRAAAAUUGGGGGGHHHHH!!
Maybe we could do the temple next weekend. There's always the possibility.
Also, I wanted to say that today is my Grandfather Jones' 88th birthday. He died when I was 4, but I often wonder how different my life would be if he were still around.
Friday, March 5, 2010
A Room With A View...
...is really one of the saddest movies I've seen in a long time. In fact, I think it is #2. The number one saddest movie I've ever seen is The Painted Veil. I still get goosebumps just thinking about that movie.
The reason I mention all this is that I checked out the title movie from the library earlier this week and sat down and watched it last night, just before Adam got home from work. I was totally unprepared for the ridiculously sad ending and I was so shocked, it took 20 minutes for me to start bawling my eyes out. I never used to cry at movies and now I do it all the time. It's almost embarrassing. Some are worse than others. I still tear up at Roman Holiday but it's NOTHING like A Painted Veil or A Room With A View.
When Adam walked in and I was still sniffling over it all, I had the realization of why it is I cry so much, at least with these two movies. I can't handle movies where the spouse and/or lover dies (sorry if you're going to watch them, but at least you're more forewarned than I was). I have this morbid fear of Adam dying young and trying to imagine life without him is beyond my ability. I'd like to think I'm independent enough that I'd survive if the worst ever happened, but it doesn't seem to be that way. I don't want you to think that I think about Adam dying all the time. 99% of the time, it never crosses my mind and I'm fine. It's just when I watch movies like that & I try to put myself in the movie and I end up in a blubbering mess.
I'm also reading Stop Whining, Start Living by Dr. Laura and in it, she talks about not taking loved ones for granted, so it's already fresh on my mind. Suffice it to say, I am definitely not taking Adam for granted. Even when we argue about money. Or motorbikes.
I think, though, that I had really better find something HAPPY to post about soon. Tomorrow is our primary activity. I think primary kids should do the trick :)
The reason I mention all this is that I checked out the title movie from the library earlier this week and sat down and watched it last night, just before Adam got home from work. I was totally unprepared for the ridiculously sad ending and I was so shocked, it took 20 minutes for me to start bawling my eyes out. I never used to cry at movies and now I do it all the time. It's almost embarrassing. Some are worse than others. I still tear up at Roman Holiday but it's NOTHING like A Painted Veil or A Room With A View.
When Adam walked in and I was still sniffling over it all, I had the realization of why it is I cry so much, at least with these two movies. I can't handle movies where the spouse and/or lover dies (sorry if you're going to watch them, but at least you're more forewarned than I was). I have this morbid fear of Adam dying young and trying to imagine life without him is beyond my ability. I'd like to think I'm independent enough that I'd survive if the worst ever happened, but it doesn't seem to be that way. I don't want you to think that I think about Adam dying all the time. 99% of the time, it never crosses my mind and I'm fine. It's just when I watch movies like that & I try to put myself in the movie and I end up in a blubbering mess.
I'm also reading Stop Whining, Start Living by Dr. Laura and in it, she talks about not taking loved ones for granted, so it's already fresh on my mind. Suffice it to say, I am definitely not taking Adam for granted. Even when we argue about money. Or motorbikes.
I think, though, that I had really better find something HAPPY to post about soon. Tomorrow is our primary activity. I think primary kids should do the trick :)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My Mood
Today has been less than stellar. Adam and I are having what you might call a Visa Fight about the budget hairiness. It's been overcast and cloudy all day, which is reflective of my mood. The nurse from the doctor's office called (heh, that's something else I never got around to telling all of you). Long story short, a certain hormone level (that affects my mental and emotional capacity, for what it's worth) that should be in the .5-3.5 range measured around 31 yesterday. No wonder my life is a mess! Granted, it's my own fault it got there, so I can't complain. (For the record, I got it measured because I'm finally doing what I'm supposed to, so this should change within the next 6 weeks.)
This song describes what I'm feeling perfectly right now. Agh! It's from the most depressing movie I've ever seen! So, for whatever reason, I thought I would share. I guess I'm sweet like that. I'm going to curl up on the couch. Yesterday and today are the first times this winter I've been incurably cold. I wish I could hibernate. Nobody would be mad at me for doing nothing that way and I would probably be warm to boot.
Happiness will (hopefully) resume in the near future. Carry on.
March 1st
When I clicked 'New Post' it was still March 1st.
I am excited about March because March means our tax refund is coming, which will completely eliminate one debt & shave the next one nearly in half.
March means the weather is going to get continually warmer. In my school days, March means Spring Break, which doesn't technically apply this semester, but it's still the spirit.
March is said to either come in like a lion and go out like a lamb or come in like a lamb and go out like a lion. It was cloudy today, but I wouldn't say it was very lion-y, so I can't wait to see what the rest of the month is like :)
I am excited about March because March means our tax refund is coming, which will completely eliminate one debt & shave the next one nearly in half.
March means the weather is going to get continually warmer. In my school days, March means Spring Break, which doesn't technically apply this semester, but it's still the spirit.
March is said to either come in like a lion and go out like a lamb or come in like a lamb and go out like a lion. It was cloudy today, but I wouldn't say it was very lion-y, so I can't wait to see what the rest of the month is like :)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Was Gonna
I tried to pull some pictures off my memory card, but my computer keeps freezing. I don't think it's been shut down in quite some time, so it's probably getting frustrated with me. So no pictures for you.
But I do have a request. Adam and I are discussing some weighty matters in our life and it's quite confusing and frustrating. And extremely personal. If you wouldn't mind, pray for us. I think we could use some extra prayers right now till we have things figured out.
Anyway, hopefully you'll have some pictures and a more exciting post tomorrow. Hopefully.
But I do have a request. Adam and I are discussing some weighty matters in our life and it's quite confusing and frustrating. And extremely personal. If you wouldn't mind, pray for us. I think we could use some extra prayers right now till we have things figured out.
Anyway, hopefully you'll have some pictures and a more exciting post tomorrow. Hopefully.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Stressful Day
A stressful day--I just had it! Holy business batman!
I tried to stay positive as long as possible--I really did! Bad days are what keep your good days good though, and by the end of it, I wasn't positive anymore. I just wanted to go home. I feel a tremendous sense of guilt about everything I didn't get done and the mess it might have made.
This morning was great. I've kind of gotten on this family history kick. While I was in Alma last weekend (I still have to make that post) I got a hold of my Dad's dad's old family bible. My grandmother wrote in the names and birthdates of my paternal great-grandparents, but that's all anybody knows about them. They have always been a huge question mark. The idea hit me to copy the info & take it to Grandma, my local family history expert :) So, Tuesday afternoon, after the grocery shopping was done, instead of getting anything done around anybody's house, Grandma and I spent all afternoon looking for Richard Neely and Mary Reed. Eventually, we found them on the 1930 census and decided to call it a day. This morning, I took her out to the family history library, so we could work on it some more. Eventually after quite a bit of digging, we found the year Richard immigrated to the US and the year they got married (I'm about 85% certain the dates are right). I got a phone call from my boss asking if I wouldn't mind coming in to work for a few hours, until the night person showed up. I took off, since Grandma had a ride home other than me, and headed in to work.
That was where it all fell apart. By the time I clocked out, I was crying in front of customers until the other two girls told me to go home. My nerves are shot. So are my feet and my back. The good news is that I'm gonna live. And maybe even learn from it. I always joke that I get effort points. I hope effort pays off in the end.
The rest of my night's efforts are going to be spent on a long hot shower and finishing a small knitting project and reading. I will be fine tomorrow. :)
I tried to stay positive as long as possible--I really did! Bad days are what keep your good days good though, and by the end of it, I wasn't positive anymore. I just wanted to go home. I feel a tremendous sense of guilt about everything I didn't get done and the mess it might have made.
This morning was great. I've kind of gotten on this family history kick. While I was in Alma last weekend (I still have to make that post) I got a hold of my Dad's dad's old family bible. My grandmother wrote in the names and birthdates of my paternal great-grandparents, but that's all anybody knows about them. They have always been a huge question mark. The idea hit me to copy the info & take it to Grandma, my local family history expert :) So, Tuesday afternoon, after the grocery shopping was done, instead of getting anything done around anybody's house, Grandma and I spent all afternoon looking for Richard Neely and Mary Reed. Eventually, we found them on the 1930 census and decided to call it a day. This morning, I took her out to the family history library, so we could work on it some more. Eventually after quite a bit of digging, we found the year Richard immigrated to the US and the year they got married (I'm about 85% certain the dates are right). I got a phone call from my boss asking if I wouldn't mind coming in to work for a few hours, until the night person showed up. I took off, since Grandma had a ride home other than me, and headed in to work.
That was where it all fell apart. By the time I clocked out, I was crying in front of customers until the other two girls told me to go home. My nerves are shot. So are my feet and my back. The good news is that I'm gonna live. And maybe even learn from it. I always joke that I get effort points. I hope effort pays off in the end.
The rest of my night's efforts are going to be spent on a long hot shower and finishing a small knitting project and reading. I will be fine tomorrow. :)
Monday, February 15, 2010
New Background--An Explanation
Well, the obvious answer is that the next big holiday is St. Patrick's Day, but I am talking to my friend who showed me a link to the blog backgrounds she chooses from & I mentioned that I'd like a St. Patrick Day theme with orange in it and she asked why. So I thought I would share my reply with you guys too.
When I was a kid, my Dad told me that his family, even though from South Ireland, are protestants, and that Irish Protestants wear orange, not green. Irish Catholics wear green--it makes sense; Ireland is predominately Catholic, so that's why the color green is associated with St. Patrick's Day. When I was a kid, my Dad always made sure that I had some orange on somewhere and I've continued the trend.
I googled Ireland and green to see if it were true and this is what I found. It turns out my Dad was right after all. So now you know why I wear orange on St. Patrick's Day. :)
http://tinyurl.com/yjjx9d8
When I was a kid, my Dad told me that his family, even though from South Ireland, are protestants, and that Irish Protestants wear orange, not green. Irish Catholics wear green--it makes sense; Ireland is predominately Catholic, so that's why the color green is associated with St. Patrick's Day. When I was a kid, my Dad always made sure that I had some orange on somewhere and I've continued the trend.
I googled Ireland and green to see if it were true and this is what I found. It turns out my Dad was right after all. So now you know why I wear orange on St. Patrick's Day. :)
http://tinyurl.com/yjjx9d8
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Recipes
I have two recipes that I deemed worth sharing. I've made them and love them!
Mascarpone Cream
1/2 a cup of fresh Mascarpone (I originally bought it to substitute Ricotta in another recipe)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
In the spirit of my MIL, when I made it, I sorta threw everything in there. I was afraid the Mascarpone was gonna go bad, since I decided not to try that other recipe, so I dumped the whole tub in. I layered the cream with blueberries and it was divine. Oh goodness, was it ever divine. I tried pineapples and Adam like that mixture, but I didn't like it as much as the blueberries.
Snow Ice Cream
1 gallon of snow
1 cup white sugar
2 cups of milk
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
A friend from church posted this from allrecipes.com and I finally got outside to grab some snow. I ran out of vanilla extract, and apparently I grabbed more than 1 gallon of snow (3 handfuls off the hood of the truck) so I added extra sugar and tried almond extract. It's currently re-freezing. We will see how it comes out.
Maybe you guys can try them and tell me what I did right (and/or wrong). I'm not cool like my friends, so I'm not going to post pictures of me cooking them, but maybe in the future?
Mascarpone Cream
1/2 a cup of fresh Mascarpone (I originally bought it to substitute Ricotta in another recipe)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
In the spirit of my MIL, when I made it, I sorta threw everything in there. I was afraid the Mascarpone was gonna go bad, since I decided not to try that other recipe, so I dumped the whole tub in. I layered the cream with blueberries and it was divine. Oh goodness, was it ever divine. I tried pineapples and Adam like that mixture, but I didn't like it as much as the blueberries.
Snow Ice Cream
1 gallon of snow
1 cup white sugar
2 cups of milk
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
A friend from church posted this from allrecipes.com and I finally got outside to grab some snow. I ran out of vanilla extract, and apparently I grabbed more than 1 gallon of snow (3 handfuls off the hood of the truck) so I added extra sugar and tried almond extract. It's currently re-freezing. We will see how it comes out.
Maybe you guys can try them and tell me what I did right (and/or wrong). I'm not cool like my friends, so I'm not going to post pictures of me cooking them, but maybe in the future?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Mental Overload
Mental Overload is where it's at, yo! Last week, I amazingly landed myself a temp job (have I told any of yall that?) for which I started training Monday.
I like the job well enough. It's probably just through Valentine's Day, but there is a chance I could become permanent. I am definitely falling in love with flowers, but I'm still kind of leery of the phone parts. This week the training has been intense; I'm still not entirely sure exactly how much of it I'll be using between now and Val (what they call it there). I have a wonderful new friend, who is telling me about her other job & how they're hiring & how she wants me to apply there after this is over. Can you say divine intervention? I never would have met her otherwise and she may even help me find a permanent job! :)
So anyway, I have nothing else important to say. I am going to recoup and study for my "final" tomorrow. :)
I like the job well enough. It's probably just through Valentine's Day, but there is a chance I could become permanent. I am definitely falling in love with flowers, but I'm still kind of leery of the phone parts. This week the training has been intense; I'm still not entirely sure exactly how much of it I'll be using between now and Val (what they call it there). I have a wonderful new friend, who is telling me about her other job & how they're hiring & how she wants me to apply there after this is over. Can you say divine intervention? I never would have met her otherwise and she may even help me find a permanent job! :)
So anyway, I have nothing else important to say. I am going to recoup and study for my "final" tomorrow. :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Groundhog's Day
I think Grandma said he saw his shadow, but I don't really remember.
What I really remember about Groundhog's Day was 2nd grade in Mrs. Croom's class, having a spelling test, with the bonus word being 'Pennsylvania.' I thought it would be a breeze and I was so confident I'd gotten it right, simply because my Dad is from Pennsylvania that I was shocked when I was wrong. I was upset & I remember dreading telling him that I'd misspelled Pennsylvania.
It's not like he thought of me as a lesser daughter, then, and when I mentioned it to him tonight, he didn't even remember it. He laughed at how long ago that was; I laughed because of how long it's stuck with me. I've never misspelled 'Pennsylvania' since that spelling lesson.
Happy Groundhog's Day (or Happy Spell-Pennsylvania-Correctly-Day :)
What I really remember about Groundhog's Day was 2nd grade in Mrs. Croom's class, having a spelling test, with the bonus word being 'Pennsylvania.' I thought it would be a breeze and I was so confident I'd gotten it right, simply because my Dad is from Pennsylvania that I was shocked when I was wrong. I was upset & I remember dreading telling him that I'd misspelled Pennsylvania.
It's not like he thought of me as a lesser daughter, then, and when I mentioned it to him tonight, he didn't even remember it. He laughed at how long ago that was; I laughed because of how long it's stuck with me. I've never misspelled 'Pennsylvania' since that spelling lesson.
Happy Groundhog's Day (or Happy Spell-Pennsylvania-Correctly-Day :)
Monday, February 1, 2010
Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Jones
Today would have been my grandparents' 64th wedding anniversary. My grandfather died 19 years ago next month, and my grandmother is in a nursing home in Batesville with a mysterious brain disease. The diamond from my engagement ring was the main stone in her original wedding set.
I linked my title to my post about them last year. I never really knew my grandfather; I vaguely remember his funeral. I really, really miss my grandmother though. In the same breath, I wish that she could go ahead and pass on. She's in a lot of pain, but can't take hardly anything for it. She passes for an Alzheimer's patient, so she doesn't recognize anybody. It's a sad situation. At least 64 years ago they were happy and I know they'll be happy again someday.
I linked my title to my post about them last year. I never really knew my grandfather; I vaguely remember his funeral. I really, really miss my grandmother though. In the same breath, I wish that she could go ahead and pass on. She's in a lot of pain, but can't take hardly anything for it. She passes for an Alzheimer's patient, so she doesn't recognize anybody. It's a sad situation. At least 64 years ago they were happy and I know they'll be happy again someday.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Let It Snow
Or ice. Whichever you prefer, I think we've gotten both within the last 24 hours.
The weather people have been talking about it all week and I thought it was another fake-out. Weather people are experts at fake-outs, so I tend not to take them very seriously. I called their bluff, and figured if anything happened, it would only happen in Fayetteville (they always get the weather!) The weather people pwn'd me, or got lucky, or both, because boy was I wrong!
Little Rock is under a solid sheet of ice now. We went out to play in it, but we're not going anywhere else for a while!
This is the view looking up our parking lot at the entrance.
This was Markham and University at 4:30ish.
This is the ice hanging off a neighbor's Ford in a really cool way.
The weather people have been talking about it all week and I thought it was another fake-out. Weather people are experts at fake-outs, so I tend not to take them very seriously. I called their bluff, and figured if anything happened, it would only happen in Fayetteville (they always get the weather!) The weather people pwn'd me, or got lucky, or both, because boy was I wrong!
Little Rock is under a solid sheet of ice now. We went out to play in it, but we're not going anywhere else for a while!
This is the view looking up our parking lot at the entrance.
This was Markham and University at 4:30ish.
This is the ice hanging off a neighbor's Ford in a really cool way.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Happy Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Culwell!!
SIXTY years ago today, Grandma and Grandpa Culwell got married in the county courthouse in Van Buren. Tonight, she told me she was wearing a gray skirt and a black sweater and that they spent their wedding night in a hotel in Russellville. She crossed the country with him (without telling her family what she was doing!) and Arkansas just happened to be the first place they stopped where they didn't have to wait to get a marriage license (it probably helped that he's from around here too...)
Three kids, fourteen grandkids and 11 (eventually) great grandkids later, Grandma and Grandpa have had a far greater impact than they will ever know (I'm personally indebted to them, as without them, my life would be completely different). The best part, is that even though Grandpa is gone, Grandma is gonna get him back and they'll get to do it all again for eternity. :)
We love you Grandma! Happy Anniversary!
Three kids, fourteen grandkids and 11 (eventually) great grandkids later, Grandma and Grandpa have had a far greater impact than they will ever know (I'm personally indebted to them, as without them, my life would be completely different). The best part, is that even though Grandpa is gone, Grandma is gonna get him back and they'll get to do it all again for eternity. :)
We love you Grandma! Happy Anniversary!
Monday, January 25, 2010
My New Favorite Day of the Week Is...
...Sunday!!
For some reason, I was in an extremely good mood yesterday--being at church was the best thing ever, even though nothing special in particular happened. I was just really, really happy to be there for a change. Primary is total chaos; it's a miracle. I love it--I don't know why, but I totally love it. 5 year olds are my new favorite crowd--don't get me wrong, I still miss my two year olds, but now I don't know why I was ever so panicky about teaching the 5 year old crowd. I even had my little solid ball of energy (seriously, he looks and sounds like every other child, but instead of bones and skin and normal bits, I think he's made of pure energy) and he didn't even stop my mood. Now, if I could just get better about preparing the lesson before Saturday night I'd be set...
As if church weren't good enough, Financial Peace University finally started last night. I've been itching to start for a month and it was AWESOME!! We signed up for a class at a Baptist church in Bryant, since it was the only class close enough at a time we can both make. The people there were quite welcoming to us, even though they all seemed to know each other already, which made it a bit awkward. The thing that surprised us the most was how young the class hosts are. We found out during the class that Jake (who is probably close to my age), the host, just started the whole program about a year ago and he and his new wife, Haley, got married in April, so they're still newlyweds. Wow! Adam told me after the class was over that he was expecting an older, established couple--not a couple my age who are still working the program themselves. I think it's going to be a fantastic next 13 weeks! I can't wait :)))
For some reason, I was in an extremely good mood yesterday--being at church was the best thing ever, even though nothing special in particular happened. I was just really, really happy to be there for a change. Primary is total chaos; it's a miracle. I love it--I don't know why, but I totally love it. 5 year olds are my new favorite crowd--don't get me wrong, I still miss my two year olds, but now I don't know why I was ever so panicky about teaching the 5 year old crowd. I even had my little solid ball of energy (seriously, he looks and sounds like every other child, but instead of bones and skin and normal bits, I think he's made of pure energy) and he didn't even stop my mood. Now, if I could just get better about preparing the lesson before Saturday night I'd be set...
As if church weren't good enough, Financial Peace University finally started last night. I've been itching to start for a month and it was AWESOME!! We signed up for a class at a Baptist church in Bryant, since it was the only class close enough at a time we can both make. The people there were quite welcoming to us, even though they all seemed to know each other already, which made it a bit awkward. The thing that surprised us the most was how young the class hosts are. We found out during the class that Jake (who is probably close to my age), the host, just started the whole program about a year ago and he and his new wife, Haley, got married in April, so they're still newlyweds. Wow! Adam told me after the class was over that he was expecting an older, established couple--not a couple my age who are still working the program themselves. I think it's going to be a fantastic next 13 weeks! I can't wait :)))
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