This hat envy is not healthy and so I have decided to move on. But not before I vowed that our children would have lots of adorable ear-ed hats when they are still young enough to have little say on what I put on them. And if they are big-headed then they will just wear the adult hats.... And after my vow with one hand in the air and Tara burning behind me, Nathan just said "ok." He's so anti-climatic.
Nathan cooked last night. That man can order Papa Johns with the best of 'em.
I'm on my own tonight. He's got "game" so he'll be gone from 7-9:30ish... I might watch me some "Christy". Yeah, that's right, I said it! That old tv show/miniseries from the early 90's about a school teacher in Appalachia? I got it from Netflix. I know I'm a wild and crazy gal. Sooo basically if you've got any better ideas on things to do you should probably give me a call.
So has anyone actually had ginger water as described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in "The Long Winter"? Today is ridiculously hot out and it always makes me think of Laura tramping down the hay and Carrie bringing out the surprise ginger water that you can drink and drink without it making you sick. I'm both intrigued and grossed out by ginger water and I want to hear about someone who's had it and lived to tell the tale. Ginger water... those crazy pioneers!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
I measured
My head is 24 inches in circumference. The average size is about 22.4, though I saw one stat that said for women it was 21.4.... Nathan has a nice average sized head. He can wear hats. His is about 21.5. I envy his head size.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Lemon Bars Are Delicious.
The title of my post is dedicated to Sadie, who says I've made her crave lemon bar 4 times in 2 days. Here's to 6 times in 3!
Nathan got his first post-cancer haircut today. It's all shaped and looks like an actual haircut, rather than, "This is all I got."
We also got a letter in the mail today from the insurance that says they received our disputes and should have it resolved by September. On top of that Nathan called them and the lady he spoke to said it looked obvious to her that we should not have been charged so resolving everything should go smoothly. Collections has not called us since the last time a few weeks ago, and we want to keep it this way. Collection people sure do know how to ruin a good day, so if'n ya wouldn't mind praying that everything gets resolved easily, speedily, and without delay that would be great.
In other news, we have officially reserved hotel rooms for our mini-break. Jonny, Katie, Nathan and I are all headed to Memphis, TN on holiday. We were gonna do LA, but Nathan can't actually fly quite yet (Platelet count isn't high enough if he were to develop a nosebleed in high altitudes) and budget is always a consideration. But I think Memphis will be fun, and it will be cool to visit the "famous" one, rather than my home town. We'll see Graceland and the Peabody ducks and maybe even play some Laser Tag. Katie doesn't seem as jazzed about the Laser Tag, and I just don't get it.... it is one of the only kinds of exercise that is fun! Plus it's not messy and it doesn't hurt... I cannot see the flaws.
I'm still quite bitter about my head being ginormous, and therefore not being able to buy/wear the adorable owl hat I found at JC Penney's yesterday. "One Size" does not fit all!!! They need to make a Big Head Hat Store, and sell hats to those of us who can never buy normal people hats. It's just not fair, cause I *love* hats... Maybe I should start an online business.Or maybe you should and I will be a great customer... hmmmm maybe this already exists... Ok, I'm off to go search the internet.
Nathan got his first post-cancer haircut today. It's all shaped and looks like an actual haircut, rather than, "This is all I got."
We also got a letter in the mail today from the insurance that says they received our disputes and should have it resolved by September. On top of that Nathan called them and the lady he spoke to said it looked obvious to her that we should not have been charged so resolving everything should go smoothly. Collections has not called us since the last time a few weeks ago, and we want to keep it this way. Collection people sure do know how to ruin a good day, so if'n ya wouldn't mind praying that everything gets resolved easily, speedily, and without delay that would be great.
In other news, we have officially reserved hotel rooms for our mini-break. Jonny, Katie, Nathan and I are all headed to Memphis, TN on holiday. We were gonna do LA, but Nathan can't actually fly quite yet (Platelet count isn't high enough if he were to develop a nosebleed in high altitudes) and budget is always a consideration. But I think Memphis will be fun, and it will be cool to visit the "famous" one, rather than my home town. We'll see Graceland and the Peabody ducks and maybe even play some Laser Tag. Katie doesn't seem as jazzed about the Laser Tag, and I just don't get it.... it is one of the only kinds of exercise that is fun! Plus it's not messy and it doesn't hurt... I cannot see the flaws.
I'm still quite bitter about my head being ginormous, and therefore not being able to buy/wear the adorable owl hat I found at JC Penney's yesterday. "One Size" does not fit all!!! They need to make a Big Head Hat Store, and sell hats to those of us who can never buy normal people hats. It's just not fair, cause I *love* hats... Maybe I should start an online business.Or maybe you should and I will be a great customer... hmmmm maybe this already exists... Ok, I'm off to go search the internet.
Monday, August 9, 2010
I forgot to title this post
So I wrote this long post about my biggest pet peeve, and now I have taken it away and saved it in my e-mail. Why, you ask? Cause the very subject of pet peeves dwells a lot more in the negative than I really want to. Suffice it to say this: Can't we all just get along? I don't like combativeness. I don't enjoy an argument for the sake of an argument and I'd rather view everyone in the world as my friend rather than someone I need to defend against. There ya go... a complete paraphrasing of my late post.
For those of you concerned I think I did very badly at not being shy. I felt like a socially awkward mumbling fool. Nathan says I am paranoid and he thought I handled myself well, and he was proud of me... What a difference it makes being inside my skin!
I bought a lemon bar mix from the store. I plan on making it, but adding lemon extract to make it more lemon-y....I've made them before and my only complaint is that they are a little too sweet... I like a kick! I have no idea why, but this summer I have developed a *deep* and apparently abiding love for lemon bars. Not lemon anything else. You can keep the ade, cake, muffins, icing, whatever, just give me all the lemon bars and we will be fine. The thing I love about the box mix of lemon bars is that it is small. Diabetics don't really need a lot of baked goods lying about, so this way there isn't a 9x13 pan of brownies that have to get eaten up before they get stale/crunchy. Sometimes I quite miss living with my father, aka the baked good vacuum. Though I suppose even before this foray into diabetes land Nathan never could eat 4/5 of a pan of brownies in a day and a half like Daddy. Oh well, he has other good points. ;)
Seriously I hate the word vacuum. It's just wrong that there are 2 u's in it. It goes against every phonetical tenet there is. Plus we always called it a "sweeper" growing up, so I have a latent distrust of the word anyway.
For those of you concerned I think I did very badly at not being shy. I felt like a socially awkward mumbling fool. Nathan says I am paranoid and he thought I handled myself well, and he was proud of me... What a difference it makes being inside my skin!
I bought a lemon bar mix from the store. I plan on making it, but adding lemon extract to make it more lemon-y....I've made them before and my only complaint is that they are a little too sweet... I like a kick! I have no idea why, but this summer I have developed a *deep* and apparently abiding love for lemon bars. Not lemon anything else. You can keep the ade, cake, muffins, icing, whatever, just give me all the lemon bars and we will be fine. The thing I love about the box mix of lemon bars is that it is small. Diabetics don't really need a lot of baked goods lying about, so this way there isn't a 9x13 pan of brownies that have to get eaten up before they get stale/crunchy. Sometimes I quite miss living with my father, aka the baked good vacuum. Though I suppose even before this foray into diabetes land Nathan never could eat 4/5 of a pan of brownies in a day and a half like Daddy. Oh well, he has other good points. ;)
Seriously I hate the word vacuum. It's just wrong that there are 2 u's in it. It goes against every phonetical tenet there is. Plus we always called it a "sweeper" growing up, so I have a latent distrust of the word anyway.
Friday, August 6, 2010
A tale of two loves...mainly pop.
The problem with having a "blogging dashboard" is that you click on all the blogs that you follow, and read them and then the 40 minutes that you had to write your own blog turns into 20 minutes and you think to yourself, is that even enough time to write anything, and then you think awwww suck it up and start writing and you will find out.
So we are in the land of Arkansas this morning- about to go get some kind of pizza named Geno's and eat it, with some of Nathan's friends from childhood/high school. (I'm not sure how far back they go, actually.) My role in all of this will be to eat Geno's pizza- which by the way I will never understand my husband's love of... it's ok at best, but he loves it with the abiding love of a 25 year marriage to the stuff, and it surpasses my understanding. My other job will be to attempt to be friendly and not my normal completely shy and self-concious self. I don't know how well I will do, but maybe I will check back in with you later and let you know. Then we will go somewheres and do some stuff. Not sure where or what but I have a feeling that the purchase of full sugar soda will be a part of the plan. Nathan's parents don't drink full sugar pop and this is a source of much sadness for me. Let me tell you a story about it:
Last night I opened their pantry and spied on the very top shelf a 2 liter of Coke. It was like showing a dehydrated man a cold Gatorade. However, the Coke bottle had a Santa Claus on the outside of it... This could mean two things. One: Christmas was the last time they bought full sugar soda... or two, this is a very special Coke bottle, that is being saved. This was my fear. Especially because there was a lot of other Christmas type things around it. I had Nathan come look too, and he cried out, "Why are there Christmas things in the pantry?!?" I, too, had wondered. Alas his parents had been in bed for a long time and I just couldn't wake them up to feed my soda addiction, so there the Santa Coke bottle remains, unsullied by human hands... but not desire.
Ach 11:37. I's gotta go. Do you understand my love of the full sugar pop? Do you understand Nathan's love of the Geno's??
So we are in the land of Arkansas this morning- about to go get some kind of pizza named Geno's and eat it, with some of Nathan's friends from childhood/high school. (I'm not sure how far back they go, actually.) My role in all of this will be to eat Geno's pizza- which by the way I will never understand my husband's love of... it's ok at best, but he loves it with the abiding love of a 25 year marriage to the stuff, and it surpasses my understanding. My other job will be to attempt to be friendly and not my normal completely shy and self-concious self. I don't know how well I will do, but maybe I will check back in with you later and let you know. Then we will go somewheres and do some stuff. Not sure where or what but I have a feeling that the purchase of full sugar soda will be a part of the plan. Nathan's parents don't drink full sugar pop and this is a source of much sadness for me. Let me tell you a story about it:
Last night I opened their pantry and spied on the very top shelf a 2 liter of Coke. It was like showing a dehydrated man a cold Gatorade. However, the Coke bottle had a Santa Claus on the outside of it... This could mean two things. One: Christmas was the last time they bought full sugar soda... or two, this is a very special Coke bottle, that is being saved. This was my fear. Especially because there was a lot of other Christmas type things around it. I had Nathan come look too, and he cried out, "Why are there Christmas things in the pantry?!?" I, too, had wondered. Alas his parents had been in bed for a long time and I just couldn't wake them up to feed my soda addiction, so there the Santa Coke bottle remains, unsullied by human hands... but not desire.
Ach 11:37. I's gotta go. Do you understand my love of the full sugar pop? Do you understand Nathan's love of the Geno's??
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Make-a a blog-a post-a
Today we leave to go to Arkansas for the weekend. Between my birthday and not finding out for sure we were leaving on Thursday till Wednesday, I'm woefully unprepared for this trip. This means I have not planned or packed and that I'm in go-mode because of it. However, go-mode is actually a good place to be when you gotta get stuff done cause even when you are forced to sit around and wait for something you still can't just do nothing and so (in bad Italian accent) I make-a a blog-a post-a.
Unfortunately today has been a day from... as the Ancient Greeks would say, Hades. Ok, I know they wouldn't say it like that but hey it's cool to take Greek mythology and bring it into the current day. See the Percy Jackson book series. Anyway it's been a crappy day and so I think a run to the Cupcakery before leaving town is in order. Red Velvet, I hear your siren call... you sound a lot like Alannah Myles... or is that Black Velvet?
The internet was broken this morning at work, but fortunately I've learned the "turn it off and wait 30 sec" method of fixing problems and luckily it worked today. I'm a genius... or at least I like to pretend like I am.
Ok so I ordered some new cute crocs for me and some cool, hip crocs for Nathan (not to be confused with the classic ugly crocs) from the internet like 2 weeks ago.... and the post office has had them since July 31st. All the while saying that they would give them to me in one to two days-- it is August 5th so even if you don't count Sunday they are 3 days holding on to my crocs. I think they opened the package and were amazed that crocs is starting to make cute shoes and now there are people at the post office wearing my shoes! Give me back my shoes, you Hooligans!
So.... go-mode makes for some random train of thought blog posts... ohs wells. Catch ya on the flip.
Unfortunately today has been a day from... as the Ancient Greeks would say, Hades. Ok, I know they wouldn't say it like that but hey it's cool to take Greek mythology and bring it into the current day. See the Percy Jackson book series. Anyway it's been a crappy day and so I think a run to the Cupcakery before leaving town is in order. Red Velvet, I hear your siren call... you sound a lot like Alannah Myles... or is that Black Velvet?
The internet was broken this morning at work, but fortunately I've learned the "turn it off and wait 30 sec" method of fixing problems and luckily it worked today. I'm a genius... or at least I like to pretend like I am.
Ok so I ordered some new cute crocs for me and some cool, hip crocs for Nathan (not to be confused with the classic ugly crocs) from the internet like 2 weeks ago.... and the post office has had them since July 31st. All the while saying that they would give them to me in one to two days-- it is August 5th so even if you don't count Sunday they are 3 days holding on to my crocs. I think they opened the package and were amazed that crocs is starting to make cute shoes and now there are people at the post office wearing my shoes! Give me back my shoes, you Hooligans!
So.... go-mode makes for some random train of thought blog posts... ohs wells. Catch ya on the flip.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Birthday Surprise
So, Tuesday is the day of my birth, when I turn the ripe old age of 27. It doesn't sound that old when I say it out loud, or look that old when I write it down, but I've been feeling very old lately. I think that is something dealing with cancer does to you, unfortunately... I sometimes wonder if my eyes have changed or if all that "you can see the life she has lived" stuff you read in books is just poetic license for extra wrinkles. It feels like they have changed... but as I've mentioned before I am a romantic. (Romantic is kinda like emo, I think, but not quite the same.)
I digress.
Anyway, tonight (Sunday night) I had plans to go to the Carter's house for supper and the Goeke's were going to come, too. And honestly, I wasn't all that jazzed about it. I haven't been feeling exactly thrilled about my birthday this year. -Sidenote: This is not normal at all for me. I love my birthday. I am inordinately proud that I was born on 8-3-83 (as if I had any actual say in that!)- I love coming up with a fun idea of something to do, hanging out with friends, and using the whole "it's my birthday" power... (Hey, there are some boys out there who would never have known that "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" is actually kinda funny, if not for me! ...Sorry, guys.) Basically I just love feeling like there is something special about the day. But this year has been different... I couldn't come up with a plan, I couldn't figure out how to make the day special, and I couldn't muster up any will to care. In fact several times I said that I would rather it just be a day--that we go out to eat but just treat it like a normal day. So Katie IM's me and asks if I want to come over on Sunday to have dinner with them and Kara and Josh to celebrate my birthday and I'm like, "... uh... I guess so." And then the poor girl had to listen/read as I explained how I just wasn't into my birthday. I couldn't figure it out.
Then last night as I was driving home with Nathan I realized what it really was- I've always viewed birthdays as a chance to celebrate the past year of your life. I mean, yes there is the whole "pinch to grow an inch" but in my mind it's mainly a celebration of how much you have grown over the past year. A "look at how big you've gotten!" kind of mentality, and this year is not one that I will ever look back on fondly. It was just a little while after my birthday last year that Nathan first started experiencing the joint pain (aka the first symptoms of the leukemia). No wonder my birthday was not a time I wanted to celebrate... it's like the one time of year I introspect at all, and there has been a whole lot of pain and fear in my last year. The entire time I've been telling Nathan, "next year at this time...." and "in a year from now...." and talking about how we've just put our life "on pause" for a year.... And here we stand on the threshold of that year and while I'm incredibly grateful that it has only been a year of our lives that has been taken I couldn't help but think about being a year older and the "only" thing I have managed to accomplish in a list full of hopes for the coming year is just simply hanging in there. I know that is a big deal, and not at all an "only," but when your life has been paused and everyone around you has a life going at normal speed it doesn't really feel like it. My last birthday I fully expected that by this year I would have (or be expecting) a baby and own a home (or be close to it.) It all just made me sad and bummed out. (You know, like you are probably feeling right now, reading my flipping depressing post!)
But that's not where the story ends, because my husband, while supportive, was not going to let me back out of my birthday dinner, and I really didn't want to hurt Katie's feelings (I know, I'm such a martyr!), and Kara assured me that I would not have to wear one of those horrible cone party hats. So I had myself a little birthday pity party last night and pouted about the apartment for a while. This morning I felt better about it, and by the time we went over to Katie and Jonny's I was feeling, if not thrilled, at least generally happy. And then we walked in the door and about 20 people yelled "Surprise!" and walked out of the hallway singing "Happy Birthday" with big grins on their faces and twinkling eyes (ok I know it's cliche, but I totally saw twinkles!) And while I'm not really one to get emotional in the midst of the moment I can tell you that I'm remembering it now with tears coming to my eyes. Cause while this year has been (let's face it) one of the absolute suckiest on record for me, I have some truly wonderful people in my life, who have done all they could/knew how to make it clear that they love and support me and to let me know that I am not alone. They also reminded me of something I'd forgotten. This year I've learned how to rely on a strength that is not my own and to trust in God's plans when my own come crumbling down around me, and I think that's pretty huge.
I had a wonderful time at my party and I think everyone who came did, too. I laughed so much and talked so loudly that I'm probably gonna be hoarse in the morning. But, ya know what? From the moment that everyone started flooding out of the hallway it came back. I'm excited for my birthday on Tuesday. That (expletive) disease isn't gonna keep me down. For those of you that came, those of you that couldn't, but sent wishes through Kara, those of you who are reading my blog because you care about me and those of you who are just reading my blog because you are mildly interested in me, *thank you.* You have no idea how special you have made me feel.... a life on pause has given my relationships time to marinate- to grow stronger and develop new richness and complexity, in a really incredible way... even the ones I haven't been able to spend any time on.
So.... what do you think? Romantic different than emo, or pretty much the same thing?
I digress.
Anyway, tonight (Sunday night) I had plans to go to the Carter's house for supper and the Goeke's were going to come, too. And honestly, I wasn't all that jazzed about it. I haven't been feeling exactly thrilled about my birthday this year. -Sidenote: This is not normal at all for me. I love my birthday. I am inordinately proud that I was born on 8-3-83 (as if I had any actual say in that!)- I love coming up with a fun idea of something to do, hanging out with friends, and using the whole "it's my birthday" power... (Hey, there are some boys out there who would never have known that "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" is actually kinda funny, if not for me! ...Sorry, guys.) Basically I just love feeling like there is something special about the day. But this year has been different... I couldn't come up with a plan, I couldn't figure out how to make the day special, and I couldn't muster up any will to care. In fact several times I said that I would rather it just be a day--that we go out to eat but just treat it like a normal day. So Katie IM's me and asks if I want to come over on Sunday to have dinner with them and Kara and Josh to celebrate my birthday and I'm like, "... uh... I guess so." And then the poor girl had to listen/read as I explained how I just wasn't into my birthday. I couldn't figure it out.
Then last night as I was driving home with Nathan I realized what it really was- I've always viewed birthdays as a chance to celebrate the past year of your life. I mean, yes there is the whole "pinch to grow an inch" but in my mind it's mainly a celebration of how much you have grown over the past year. A "look at how big you've gotten!" kind of mentality, and this year is not one that I will ever look back on fondly. It was just a little while after my birthday last year that Nathan first started experiencing the joint pain (aka the first symptoms of the leukemia). No wonder my birthday was not a time I wanted to celebrate... it's like the one time of year I introspect at all, and there has been a whole lot of pain and fear in my last year. The entire time I've been telling Nathan, "next year at this time...." and "in a year from now...." and talking about how we've just put our life "on pause" for a year.... And here we stand on the threshold of that year and while I'm incredibly grateful that it has only been a year of our lives that has been taken I couldn't help but think about being a year older and the "only" thing I have managed to accomplish in a list full of hopes for the coming year is just simply hanging in there. I know that is a big deal, and not at all an "only," but when your life has been paused and everyone around you has a life going at normal speed it doesn't really feel like it. My last birthday I fully expected that by this year I would have (or be expecting) a baby and own a home (or be close to it.) It all just made me sad and bummed out. (You know, like you are probably feeling right now, reading my flipping depressing post!)
But that's not where the story ends, because my husband, while supportive, was not going to let me back out of my birthday dinner, and I really didn't want to hurt Katie's feelings (I know, I'm such a martyr!), and Kara assured me that I would not have to wear one of those horrible cone party hats. So I had myself a little birthday pity party last night and pouted about the apartment for a while. This morning I felt better about it, and by the time we went over to Katie and Jonny's I was feeling, if not thrilled, at least generally happy. And then we walked in the door and about 20 people yelled "Surprise!" and walked out of the hallway singing "Happy Birthday" with big grins on their faces and twinkling eyes (ok I know it's cliche, but I totally saw twinkles!) And while I'm not really one to get emotional in the midst of the moment I can tell you that I'm remembering it now with tears coming to my eyes. Cause while this year has been (let's face it) one of the absolute suckiest on record for me, I have some truly wonderful people in my life, who have done all they could/knew how to make it clear that they love and support me and to let me know that I am not alone. They also reminded me of something I'd forgotten. This year I've learned how to rely on a strength that is not my own and to trust in God's plans when my own come crumbling down around me, and I think that's pretty huge.
I had a wonderful time at my party and I think everyone who came did, too. I laughed so much and talked so loudly that I'm probably gonna be hoarse in the morning. But, ya know what? From the moment that everyone started flooding out of the hallway it came back. I'm excited for my birthday on Tuesday. That (expletive) disease isn't gonna keep me down. For those of you that came, those of you that couldn't, but sent wishes through Kara, those of you who are reading my blog because you care about me and those of you who are just reading my blog because you are mildly interested in me, *thank you.* You have no idea how special you have made me feel.... a life on pause has given my relationships time to marinate- to grow stronger and develop new richness and complexity, in a really incredible way... even the ones I haven't been able to spend any time on.
So.... what do you think? Romantic different than emo, or pretty much the same thing?
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