This past weekend, my husband and I went to Dallas to visit family. It was a load of fun. :) I got to see some of my cousins that I don't typically get to see, and we went by ourselves. In other words, we didn't take the dogs. It was a bit hard to leave them behind, but it was also nice to be able to focus on spending time with everyone without having to worry about the dogs. I only teared up a couple times, and both times were before we got to the boarding kennel. Yay for me! While in Dallas, we had an early birthday party for my cousin Jake (he's 8... almost!). At this lovely party, we got to swim since my aunt and uncle have a pool. Towards the end of swim time, my little three-year-old cousin, Chara, decided she was ready to swim by herself. Luckily, she decided to do this while I was very close by and able to catch her when needed. But she reminded me every minute or so that she didn't want me to catch her. Then she'd instruct me to go to the middle of the pool (while she held on to the side), and once I was far enough away, she'd let go and go under the water. She was actually a pretty good swimmer despite the fact that she doesn't know how to swim yet. She'd make a little big of progress towards me, not realizing, of course, that I was swiftly moving back towards her so I could pull her up. She wasn't the least bit scared, no matter how long she stayed under water. Brave little girl. :) She's also very funny. (When you're three, it's a lot easier to be funny because you're just so cute!) She kept singing (over and over again), "You don't know you're beautiful! Oh oh!" I had never heard this song before, but once she found out we could play songs from youtube, I got to hear it quite a few times. I spent a great deal of time with little Chara, but she wasn't so sure about my dear husband. Chara loved Travis whenever he would do the "monkey thing" with her and other fun tricks, but other times, not so much. At one point, Travis was in the hot tub area (that is not hot--no one wants to sit in a hot tub during a Texas summer) messing with something, when Chara came over to me and said, "Your boy broke it." And then on Sunday morning, in a noble attempt to convince me to ride with her to church after I told her I was riding with Travis, she said, "But he's gonna beat you up!" It's a work in progress.
This week has been busy it seems. We drove back home Monday morning, and I don't feel as though I've actually spent that much time at home. Today I went swimming (sort of) at a friend's house and found that even though I sprayed myself with about seventeen layers of sunscreen, I somehow missed my knees, and now they're...red. Very red. :( As I'm typing this, they're burning. I think it's some kind of requirement that every time I swim, I have to forget to put sunscreen somewhere. Except Saturday at the birthday party. Hm, perhaps my theory has a few holes. Anyway, I also went grocery shopping this morning. I have decided that no matter what, I will not get in line behind old(er) people. I have done it far too many times and every single time, something goes wrong. You know why? Because they insist on writing a check to pay for their groceries. Don't get me wrong, I use checks too. But not at a grocery store. Perhaps I'm being insensitive, but I just don't understand why a check is preferable to cash or a debit card. It always takes forever and something goes wrong and, quite frankly, you seem old when you use a check. Needless to say, I will no longer get in a line if there is an old(er) person in line. I'm horrible, I know.
The only problem with going out in the afternoon for a few hours is that Sabre and Tatum are stuck in their crates the whole time. So now, instead of dealing with two worn out puppies, I have Tatum who just wants to chase all the bugs, and Sabre who doesn't know what he wants to do, so he just barks. At me, at the door, at Tatum. It could be a long night. I'm very sleepy and ready to sleep in as much as I possibly can tomorrow. (If the puppies will also sleep in a bit tomorrow...) There were other things I had planned to share with you, but I have completely forgotten them. Perhaps next time I will have scintillating tales to share with, but until then, good night, dear friends.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
And God Created Puppies, And It Was Wonderful
So I'm reading a blog and I click on a post about Instagram. I read the post and scroll down to the comments section. I really shouldn't be allowed to read comments on anything. Articles, blog posts, semi-controversial facebook statuses... I read the comments and often times find myself battling it out with a myriad of emotions, most of them unpleasant. But nevertheless, I still end up reading the comments every single time. Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. Anyway, this particular post seemed harmless enough. What could people possibly say on a post about Instagram that would make me upset or sad or anything really? But do you know what someone said? She had the nerve to say that it's so annoying when people post endless pictures of their dogs! How rude! Apparently "dogs are not your kids" so, therefore, you have no right to love them as such. I read a whole paragraph (in the comments section!) on the horrors of puppy pictures. Little tears formed in the corners of my eyes and sadness overwhelmed me. OK, not really. Not at all, actually. But I felt indignant, even though it wasn't specifically directed towards me. I haven't actually posted many pictures of my puppies lately. When Travis and I were in job/home limbo, we posted videos on Facebook and pictures on Instagram very regularly because... well, we had nothing else to do. And those pictures and videos were of our beautiful little puppies. :) And here's the way I see it: you don't have to look at my pictures. It's true. You are under no obligation whatsoever to partake in my life. I love my puppies and whether it makes sense or not, they ARE my babies. I don't have children. I am home all day long. I don't have all that much to do. I cook, clean, do laundry, and take care of my puppies. I'm not saying they're as much work as a child. I'm not insane. Why do you think I opted for puppies instead of babies first? I can't put my child in a crate and go grocery shopping for a couple hours. But for this phase of my life, my puppies make staying home so much better. For example, last night I was feeling down. I'm having a harder time adjusting to Travis working nights than I thought I would and last night wasn't the best. I tried to convince my sister to talk to me on skype, but she was busy. And then suddenly, I sat down on the floor and just started crying. I don't exactly know why. I'm not sure years of study could figure out why I had a sudden emotional breakdown for no good reason. But little Tatum, my sweet girl, looked at me for a couple seconds (she did that head cocking thing that's just so cute) and then climbed into my lap and onto my chest and started licking the tears off my cheeks (and eyes and nose and entire face, really). She put so much effort into comforting me with doggie kisses, that I ended up on my back. Sabre must have thought we were having a good ol' time, so he came over and joined in the kisses. My face was completely covered with doggie kisses. Even after I finally sat up, Tatum still stayed on my lap. And even though some might think that doggie kisses are gross (I was once a part of that club), I felt so loved. I was laughing so much by the end of the "puppy therapy" session, the only way you knew it started in tears was because my eyes don't handle tears well. I just think it's really amazing how much a puppy (or two!) can love you. God created some very special animals when he created dogs. And I'm so glad I have these two little crazy, hyper, silly, frustrating, wonderful animals in my life.
And here are a couple pictures of my babies. ;)
While I made myself some breakfast a couple days ago, Sabre stole my spot on the couch.
He does this on purpose.
I was trying to make the guest bed and the puppies decided to hinder my progress.
She's a looker though, isn't she? :)
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Dirt, Dinner, and the Possibility of a Donut
I'm hoping that although we've only been up for about an hour, that my darling puppies are completely exhausted and ready for their morning nap. I let them out around eight this morning. Our backyard got flooded again Saturday night (very shortly after I wrote a post celebrating our dried up backyard), so yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day they could go out back again. However, Sabre gallops more than runs so he ends up with dirt (clay-like dirt, I might add) stuck in between his toes. A lot of it. So he would come to the door and try to jump through the closed window. That's his way of telling me that he's ready to come inside. However, one look at his feet and I knew I needed to go out and wipe them off. I got one, but then he ran back out into the yard and started sprinting around with Tatum again. And we continued in that pattern for a while. He'd come to the door, I'd go outside to wipe off his feet, he'd go play. It was like he'd only play if I was outside. I finally got them inside and into the bathroom where I wiped off his feet. Tatum was much easier. But either way, they both need a bath even though they'll be all dirty again as soon as the bath is over. Puppies.
My husband has finally switched over to his official 2nd shift. This means that instead of working from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, he now works from 3:30 pm to 2:30 am. It's pretty different. Definitely going to take some getting used to. Sabre's having a hard time with it as well. You see, since Travis doesn't get to bed until 3:00 (at the earliest), he sleeps till sometime between 10 and 11. And since the rest of us wake up before 8, Sabre gets antsy and starts jumping and barking at the bedroom door. We're working on fixing this rather annoying behavior. And by we, I mean I am. Travis is sleeping. He can't help.
I finally followed a recipe! Travis has been coming home for dinner during his shift, so on Monday night I made chili! I was very tempted as I was chopping six cloves of garlic to just...eliminate a couple. No big deal. But I reminded myself that it's a very good idea to follow the recipe as written. I'm sure they had a good reason for including six garlic cloves. AND, the best part of the whole thing, I chopped an onion! If you know me even a little bit, you know that I hate onions. I've learned over the last couple of years to eat very very cooked onions. But they have to be very cooked and very thin and, more or less, not taste like onions at all. Raw onions... yeah, I can't do raw onions. The smell, the watery eyes, the taste.. all bad. But this recipe called for an onion. I read up on how to cut an onion without crying and found that cold onions don't make you cry. I put the onion in the freezer for a few minutes. I just happened to be watching The Help while I was chopping garlic, and in the movie they say that putting a matchstick in between your teeth helps. So I did that too! And I didn't cry at all! I couldn't even smell the onion! (Which in my book is really really good!) And when Travis came home and tried the chili, he said that it was super delicious and better than any chili he's made. Pretty high compliment!
Pst, my puppies are falling asleep! Hip hip horray!! The only problem is, now I'm scared to move.
Oh yeah, and I think my sister is going to help me get ahold of a chocolate cake donut this weekend while I'm visiting! So excited! I mean, not just about the donut but also about visiting Dallas. I have to leave my puppies behind. (We're boarding them, not just leaving them in the house all weekend.) I'm probably going to look like a crazy person when I get all emotional about leaving my babies, but what can you do? I'm a naturally emotional person. I've tried to overcome this in my life, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. But I have improved quite a lot since high school. And I can promise you, everyone is grateful for that! ;) It'll be good for the puppies though. They've never spent the night away from us. I do worry that we'll be knocked over when we pick them up on Monday though. Considering how excited they are when we come back from the grocery store, it's going to be a sight to see.
OK. I've said all I came to say. Which, as it turns out, isn't a lot of substance, but maybe next time I'll have more enlightening, exciting, wonderful things to share with you. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
My husband has finally switched over to his official 2nd shift. This means that instead of working from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, he now works from 3:30 pm to 2:30 am. It's pretty different. Definitely going to take some getting used to. Sabre's having a hard time with it as well. You see, since Travis doesn't get to bed until 3:00 (at the earliest), he sleeps till sometime between 10 and 11. And since the rest of us wake up before 8, Sabre gets antsy and starts jumping and barking at the bedroom door. We're working on fixing this rather annoying behavior. And by we, I mean I am. Travis is sleeping. He can't help.
I finally followed a recipe! Travis has been coming home for dinner during his shift, so on Monday night I made chili! I was very tempted as I was chopping six cloves of garlic to just...eliminate a couple. No big deal. But I reminded myself that it's a very good idea to follow the recipe as written. I'm sure they had a good reason for including six garlic cloves. AND, the best part of the whole thing, I chopped an onion! If you know me even a little bit, you know that I hate onions. I've learned over the last couple of years to eat very very cooked onions. But they have to be very cooked and very thin and, more or less, not taste like onions at all. Raw onions... yeah, I can't do raw onions. The smell, the watery eyes, the taste.. all bad. But this recipe called for an onion. I read up on how to cut an onion without crying and found that cold onions don't make you cry. I put the onion in the freezer for a few minutes. I just happened to be watching The Help while I was chopping garlic, and in the movie they say that putting a matchstick in between your teeth helps. So I did that too! And I didn't cry at all! I couldn't even smell the onion! (Which in my book is really really good!) And when Travis came home and tried the chili, he said that it was super delicious and better than any chili he's made. Pretty high compliment!
Pst, my puppies are falling asleep! Hip hip horray!! The only problem is, now I'm scared to move.
Oh yeah, and I think my sister is going to help me get ahold of a chocolate cake donut this weekend while I'm visiting! So excited! I mean, not just about the donut but also about visiting Dallas. I have to leave my puppies behind. (We're boarding them, not just leaving them in the house all weekend.) I'm probably going to look like a crazy person when I get all emotional about leaving my babies, but what can you do? I'm a naturally emotional person. I've tried to overcome this in my life, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. But I have improved quite a lot since high school. And I can promise you, everyone is grateful for that! ;) It'll be good for the puppies though. They've never spent the night away from us. I do worry that we'll be knocked over when we pick them up on Monday though. Considering how excited they are when we come back from the grocery store, it's going to be a sight to see.
OK. I've said all I came to say. Which, as it turns out, isn't a lot of substance, but maybe next time I'll have more enlightening, exciting, wonderful things to share with you. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Saturday, July 20, 2013
I Love Wearing White and Taking Naps
It always seems like I just wrote a post, and then I look at the date and see that it's been days and days. And here I thought this was going to be a long week. It went by surprisingly fast, considering today is the first day the puppies have been able to go in the backyard. Their paws get a little dirty, but you can't have everything.
When Travis got home yesterday, we loaded the puppies in the car and took them to Pet Smart and Lowe's. They needed to get out of the house. Pet Smart was good except we have further seen that Tatum has no doggie social skills. Anytime another dog is around her, the hair on her spine goes up, and she looks a bit scary. Not terrifying, mind you. She's still a baby puppy at 4.66 months (trying to be as accurate as possible), so I think there's still time for us to fix her antisocial tendencies. I sure hope so. Because one of the only things that redeems us in the eyes of so many people who don't like big dogs is that our big Sabre is a sweetheart. He loves to play with other dogs, he gets so excited when there are kids around (just ask the two kids that wanted to pet him at Pet Smart yesterday), and pretty much just loves everyone. This rather large female mastiff approached him yesterday, and he was thrilled! There's only so much you can do in a store, but he was definitely ready to play. Tatum, on the other hand, was overwhelmed and eventually bared her teeth. We gave her a correction on that one, since the sweet, albeit large, dog was doing her absolutely no harm. Tatum's also the first to bark at other dogs on our walks. Sabre wants to play, Tatum wants to "attack" but then runs away and tries to hide behind Travis or me as soon as she thinks the other dog might take her up on the offer. We're thinking of taking her to a puppy socialization/training class. There were many things I didn't like about living in a tiny one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, but one of the best things about it was the "at home dog park" right outside our door. As soon as we'd let Sabre out the door, he'd go to all his friends' doors and scratch on the door a bit. Or his friends would hear (or sense) him outside and just appear. Their owners always said, "Oh, so that's why she was whining at the door..." We'd say the same thing if it was one of the other dogs that went outside first. Sabre always sat at the window and waited for a friend to show up. And there were even times that some of the other dog owners would bring their dogs right in front of our door, knowing that we'd let Sabre outside since he'd start whining incessantly. Then they'd play for a while and get sufficiently worn out. His closest friends were a Chihuahua, a Pomeranian, a Schnauzer, a Terrier mix, a Pitbull mix, and a German Shepherd mix. Needless to say, he learned very quickly how to play with small(er) dogs. It was really the Chihuahua (Precious) that taught him. You see, she was his first friend when we brought him home. They were about the same size at first. Then, somewhere around 40 lbs or so, Precious decided they couldn't be friends. If he would approach her, she would bark viciously in his face and run away. Sabre tried for weeks and weeks and weeks to appease her. He would basically go as far down to the ground as he could and then crawl towards her. We think he was trying to make himself look smaller. Then, one day, Precious came outside while Sabre was playing with his Schnauzer friend (Bear), and when Sabre approached her, she stood there and let him lick her. And they were friends again. We think maybe Precious was trying to teach Sabre how to be a better friend to small dogs. I mean, it certainly worked. He stopped trying to paw them (since his paws are the same size as their whole bodies) and learned how not to hurt them when he nipped at them so they would chase him. It was a wonderful thing. But Tatum didn't get to play with them as long. We were only there a few weeks after Tatum came home, and the time away from other dogs has been bad for her. Sigh. The grass is always greener, huh? In this case, quite literally. We have no grass. Just dried mud. Wink, wink.
I tried to make corndogs yesterday. It didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped it would. Apparently corndogs require special cornbread batter in order to stay on the hotdog and stay yummy after frying. Hopefully I'll do better next time. Once I want corndogs again. At this point, the corndogs I had yesterday didn't endear them to me a whole lot. This is why I don't like cooking. I try something new and it fails. I have to admit, I tend to try things without a recipe or I change the recipe, so I guess it's more due to my lack of following directions (or getting directions), but I'm working on it. One of these days I'm going to follow a recipe exactly. You'll see.
I started watching Glee on Netflix this week. I couldn't say anything about it before I watched it (because it's really stupid for people to say horrible things about something they've never seen), but now, I feel I can officially comment on it. I love the show for the musical performances. They're the best part of the show. Actually, I have to be honest. They're the only good thing about the show. I have to keep reminding myself that this show is not meant to be realistic. If it were meant to be realistic, they failed miserably. I didn't go to public high school in the states, but I genuinely hope that real life teachers don't act like such idiots. I have yet to find a truly likable character, and find myself skipping over a lot of scenes. And in the end, I feel dumber for having watched it. But I love the ensemble music. I made it about halfway through the first season, and I think that's sufficient for me. I mean, teachers encouraging students to look up to Madonna and emulate her? Disgusting. After trying to explain to Travis what was happening in the show, he finally said, "If you hate the show so much, why do you keep watching it?" And so I took his very sage advice and stopped watching it. :) If I like the music as much as it seemed, I can always look at their soundtracks. No need to suffer through the show itself.
My dear husband and I have such different tastes in...everything. As I'm writing this, he's watching a documentary movie (something like that) and it sounds incredibly boring. I prefer TV shows to movies, and even then, I'm very picky. He likes to read magazines like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and National Geographic. I like to read nonfiction novels. He likes to work outside, I love air conditioning. (I'm much more willing to go outside when it's not 100 degrees outside. I burn. Badly.) He likes to camp and hike, I developed a strong hatred for both activities throughout my childhood. He likes broccoli, I tolerate it. He hates cheesy foods, I love them. He hates mashed potatoes, I could eat mashed potatoes as my main course. And I could really go on and on. But you know what? There are some ways that the differences are a good thing. I mean, if it weren't for Travis, I never would have tried skiing. I can't say it was my favorite thing, but I tried it. And Travis has listened to me read a couple novels to him and has actually enjoyed them. He wouldn't ever pick up a book and read it on his own, but he'll listen to one. :) And it hasn't happened yet, but someday I might go camping with him. You never know. Hiking? Not so much. It pushes both of us out of our comfort zones. For example, starting in about...upper elementary school, I hated dogs. Couldn't stand them. I had no interest in petting dogs or looking at dogs or being near dogs. Travis always had a dog growing up. He LOVES dogs. I knew when I married him that I'd have to figure out a way to tolerate dogs. And now? Now I love them! I mean, I don't necessarily love ALL dogs, but I'm much better now than I used to be. And I really truly love our dogs. A lot. Learning to adapt and grow together is a really wonderful thing.
When Travis got home yesterday, we loaded the puppies in the car and took them to Pet Smart and Lowe's. They needed to get out of the house. Pet Smart was good except we have further seen that Tatum has no doggie social skills. Anytime another dog is around her, the hair on her spine goes up, and she looks a bit scary. Not terrifying, mind you. She's still a baby puppy at 4.66 months (trying to be as accurate as possible), so I think there's still time for us to fix her antisocial tendencies. I sure hope so. Because one of the only things that redeems us in the eyes of so many people who don't like big dogs is that our big Sabre is a sweetheart. He loves to play with other dogs, he gets so excited when there are kids around (just ask the two kids that wanted to pet him at Pet Smart yesterday), and pretty much just loves everyone. This rather large female mastiff approached him yesterday, and he was thrilled! There's only so much you can do in a store, but he was definitely ready to play. Tatum, on the other hand, was overwhelmed and eventually bared her teeth. We gave her a correction on that one, since the sweet, albeit large, dog was doing her absolutely no harm. Tatum's also the first to bark at other dogs on our walks. Sabre wants to play, Tatum wants to "attack" but then runs away and tries to hide behind Travis or me as soon as she thinks the other dog might take her up on the offer. We're thinking of taking her to a puppy socialization/training class. There were many things I didn't like about living in a tiny one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, but one of the best things about it was the "at home dog park" right outside our door. As soon as we'd let Sabre out the door, he'd go to all his friends' doors and scratch on the door a bit. Or his friends would hear (or sense) him outside and just appear. Their owners always said, "Oh, so that's why she was whining at the door..." We'd say the same thing if it was one of the other dogs that went outside first. Sabre always sat at the window and waited for a friend to show up. And there were even times that some of the other dog owners would bring their dogs right in front of our door, knowing that we'd let Sabre outside since he'd start whining incessantly. Then they'd play for a while and get sufficiently worn out. His closest friends were a Chihuahua, a Pomeranian, a Schnauzer, a Terrier mix, a Pitbull mix, and a German Shepherd mix. Needless to say, he learned very quickly how to play with small(er) dogs. It was really the Chihuahua (Precious) that taught him. You see, she was his first friend when we brought him home. They were about the same size at first. Then, somewhere around 40 lbs or so, Precious decided they couldn't be friends. If he would approach her, she would bark viciously in his face and run away. Sabre tried for weeks and weeks and weeks to appease her. He would basically go as far down to the ground as he could and then crawl towards her. We think he was trying to make himself look smaller. Then, one day, Precious came outside while Sabre was playing with his Schnauzer friend (Bear), and when Sabre approached her, she stood there and let him lick her. And they were friends again. We think maybe Precious was trying to teach Sabre how to be a better friend to small dogs. I mean, it certainly worked. He stopped trying to paw them (since his paws are the same size as their whole bodies) and learned how not to hurt them when he nipped at them so they would chase him. It was a wonderful thing. But Tatum didn't get to play with them as long. We were only there a few weeks after Tatum came home, and the time away from other dogs has been bad for her. Sigh. The grass is always greener, huh? In this case, quite literally. We have no grass. Just dried mud. Wink, wink.
I tried to make corndogs yesterday. It didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped it would. Apparently corndogs require special cornbread batter in order to stay on the hotdog and stay yummy after frying. Hopefully I'll do better next time. Once I want corndogs again. At this point, the corndogs I had yesterday didn't endear them to me a whole lot. This is why I don't like cooking. I try something new and it fails. I have to admit, I tend to try things without a recipe or I change the recipe, so I guess it's more due to my lack of following directions (or getting directions), but I'm working on it. One of these days I'm going to follow a recipe exactly. You'll see.
I started watching Glee on Netflix this week. I couldn't say anything about it before I watched it (because it's really stupid for people to say horrible things about something they've never seen), but now, I feel I can officially comment on it. I love the show for the musical performances. They're the best part of the show. Actually, I have to be honest. They're the only good thing about the show. I have to keep reminding myself that this show is not meant to be realistic. If it were meant to be realistic, they failed miserably. I didn't go to public high school in the states, but I genuinely hope that real life teachers don't act like such idiots. I have yet to find a truly likable character, and find myself skipping over a lot of scenes. And in the end, I feel dumber for having watched it. But I love the ensemble music. I made it about halfway through the first season, and I think that's sufficient for me. I mean, teachers encouraging students to look up to Madonna and emulate her? Disgusting. After trying to explain to Travis what was happening in the show, he finally said, "If you hate the show so much, why do you keep watching it?" And so I took his very sage advice and stopped watching it. :) If I like the music as much as it seemed, I can always look at their soundtracks. No need to suffer through the show itself.
My dear husband and I have such different tastes in...everything. As I'm writing this, he's watching a documentary movie (something like that) and it sounds incredibly boring. I prefer TV shows to movies, and even then, I'm very picky. He likes to read magazines like Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and National Geographic. I like to read nonfiction novels. He likes to work outside, I love air conditioning. (I'm much more willing to go outside when it's not 100 degrees outside. I burn. Badly.) He likes to camp and hike, I developed a strong hatred for both activities throughout my childhood. He likes broccoli, I tolerate it. He hates cheesy foods, I love them. He hates mashed potatoes, I could eat mashed potatoes as my main course. And I could really go on and on. But you know what? There are some ways that the differences are a good thing. I mean, if it weren't for Travis, I never would have tried skiing. I can't say it was my favorite thing, but I tried it. And Travis has listened to me read a couple novels to him and has actually enjoyed them. He wouldn't ever pick up a book and read it on his own, but he'll listen to one. :) And it hasn't happened yet, but someday I might go camping with him. You never know. Hiking? Not so much. It pushes both of us out of our comfort zones. For example, starting in about...upper elementary school, I hated dogs. Couldn't stand them. I had no interest in petting dogs or looking at dogs or being near dogs. Travis always had a dog growing up. He LOVES dogs. I knew when I married him that I'd have to figure out a way to tolerate dogs. And now? Now I love them! I mean, I don't necessarily love ALL dogs, but I'm much better now than I used to be. And I really truly love our dogs. A lot. Learning to adapt and grow together is a really wonderful thing.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
It's Raining in July in Texas, and I Don't Know How I Feel About It
Sometime between 9:15 and 10:30 on Sunday morning (I don't know the exact time because we were at church), it started raining. Yesterday (Monday) around 4:00 pm, it stopped. The reason I'm telling you this is because when it rains for over 24 hours straight and you own two puppies, a very strong, very real, distaste for the rain begins to form. I'll admit, I don't know for sure that it rained all night Sunday night. But I do know that it was raining when I went to sleep, it was raining when I woke up, and our backyard is a muddy swamp. It's no joke. The backyard is flooded. The puppies sit at the back door, whining to be let out. They just don't understand. And the truth is, they would LOVE to play in that swampy mess. It would be a blast for them. But alas, I'm a mean puppy mommy and have opted not to let them play in the mud. However, they still have to go outside to do their business, so I have to take them out front where the yard did not flood. I have officially tried taking Sabre outside twice without a leash. (Tatum usually stays right by me, so she doesn't need the leash...unless Sabre is off-leash, it turns out.) The first time I had the bright idea, yesterday, he sprinted out the door and began following a guy on a skateboard. Tatum, of course, followed close behind. I was a bit panicked because, let's be honest, no one wants to be chased down by two dogs. It's not a pleasant experience. But the guy was very nice and understanding and didn't seem scared in the least. Then, today, I tried again. I believe this is when you can invoke the whole "trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is called stupidity" thing at me, because things didn't go much better today. Sabre walked outside and started walking through our yard.. then a neighbor's yard...then another neighbor's yard... all the while I'm trying to calmly but forcefully call him back to me. He just kept trotting along. Once again, panic. I had no idea when or if he was going to stop. He eventually came to me after I also walked across all the wet yards, and I dragged him back to the house. He has definitely lost his off-leash privileges. But it's so sad! He gets no play time because of this stupid rain! They play in the house. They run around the couches. But they broke my laptop power cord. So I had to push the couch against the wall and eliminate the couch running. Sigh. It's been a long two days. Even if it doesn't rain again today or tomorrow or the next day, it's going to take some serious heat to dry up our backyard.
Tatum is growing more and more attached to me. She's always followed me into the bathroom, but now she also follows me everywhere else. Both these dogs have crazy hearing (as would be expected of two German Shepherds), so I am physically incapable of being quiet enough so as not to wake them up. I can tiptoe, walk at the pace of a snail, it doesn't matter. Sabre's eyes pop open like a Jack-in-the-Box, and Tatum's head springs up so fast you'd think I dropped a pan on the non-carpeted floor. (The "non-carpeted" clarification in that sentence is very important, because when you drop a pan on a carpeted floor, it's not nearly as loud as the alternative.) Tatum has also decided that I'm her official protector. When she and Sabre are playing (and by playing I mean biting each other in ways that look extremely painful but result in no bloodshed or injuries of any kind), Tatum eventually gets overwhelmed or annoyed at all the biting, that she takes a running start and leaps onto me on the couch. I get scratched every time. But then she curls up in my lap or rolls over onto her back so I can scratch her belly, and I become a softy and protect her from Sabre's giant teeth. In the end it's probably good practice to have a puppy see me as the sun and the moon, so that when I have children one day, I won't be so shocked by the attention. I've worked daycare/nursery/school/etc. enough to know that children frequently want their mommies and frequently throw fits when mommy doesn't appear as they scream loudly enough for people outside the room to assume they're being tortured. I've held many children that take one look at me and seem to say, "Yeah, I didn't want you to hold me," and proceed to reach back for their mothers. But Tatum's preparing me for it, even if it's a less private (the bathroom), more painful (the scratches) experience than I would especially like.
I checked to see if there's a Dunkin' Donuts here in town, but there's not. I'm craving one of those chocolate-glazed cake donuts they make. But apparently Shipley's has the donut monopoly here in Waco, so I'm out of luck. Shipley's has cake donuts, but not chocolate ones. The only place I remember getting these chocolate cake donuts was in Thailand. Dunkin' Donuts in Indonesia didn't have them. For all I know they don't even exist here in the states. I mean, maybe Dunkin' Donuts is better in Thailand just like KFC is better in Indonesia. (And that's for REAL, folks. Indonesian KFC is super awesome amazing spectacular out-of-this-world delicious! I could eat there everyday... and in fact, when I've gone back to visit my family, I basically do.) But hey, Pizza Hut is definitely better here. They have better crust options. Indonesia took the pizza creations a bit too far, for my taste. I mean, some people love the idea of corn or mayonnaise or potatoes or tuna on their pizza, I'm just not one of the enthusiasts. I do love their American Favorite pizza though, which, oddly enough, doesn't exist here in America. Oh the irony.
Tatum is growing more and more attached to me. She's always followed me into the bathroom, but now she also follows me everywhere else. Both these dogs have crazy hearing (as would be expected of two German Shepherds), so I am physically incapable of being quiet enough so as not to wake them up. I can tiptoe, walk at the pace of a snail, it doesn't matter. Sabre's eyes pop open like a Jack-in-the-Box, and Tatum's head springs up so fast you'd think I dropped a pan on the non-carpeted floor. (The "non-carpeted" clarification in that sentence is very important, because when you drop a pan on a carpeted floor, it's not nearly as loud as the alternative.) Tatum has also decided that I'm her official protector. When she and Sabre are playing (and by playing I mean biting each other in ways that look extremely painful but result in no bloodshed or injuries of any kind), Tatum eventually gets overwhelmed or annoyed at all the biting, that she takes a running start and leaps onto me on the couch. I get scratched every time. But then she curls up in my lap or rolls over onto her back so I can scratch her belly, and I become a softy and protect her from Sabre's giant teeth. In the end it's probably good practice to have a puppy see me as the sun and the moon, so that when I have children one day, I won't be so shocked by the attention. I've worked daycare/nursery/school/etc. enough to know that children frequently want their mommies and frequently throw fits when mommy doesn't appear as they scream loudly enough for people outside the room to assume they're being tortured. I've held many children that take one look at me and seem to say, "Yeah, I didn't want you to hold me," and proceed to reach back for their mothers. But Tatum's preparing me for it, even if it's a less private (the bathroom), more painful (the scratches) experience than I would especially like.
I checked to see if there's a Dunkin' Donuts here in town, but there's not. I'm craving one of those chocolate-glazed cake donuts they make. But apparently Shipley's has the donut monopoly here in Waco, so I'm out of luck. Shipley's has cake donuts, but not chocolate ones. The only place I remember getting these chocolate cake donuts was in Thailand. Dunkin' Donuts in Indonesia didn't have them. For all I know they don't even exist here in the states. I mean, maybe Dunkin' Donuts is better in Thailand just like KFC is better in Indonesia. (And that's for REAL, folks. Indonesian KFC is super awesome amazing spectacular out-of-this-world delicious! I could eat there everyday... and in fact, when I've gone back to visit my family, I basically do.) But hey, Pizza Hut is definitely better here. They have better crust options. Indonesia took the pizza creations a bit too far, for my taste. I mean, some people love the idea of corn or mayonnaise or potatoes or tuna on their pizza, I'm just not one of the enthusiasts. I do love their American Favorite pizza though, which, oddly enough, doesn't exist here in America. Oh the irony.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Gray Spots and Free Chicken
Here's what has happened since my last post:
- My sisters showed up here yesterday. (But I knew they were coming.)
- We ate lasagna for dinner. My silly sisters thought I was going to slave away in the kitchen making a homemade lasagna. I had a good laugh. I bought a frozen lasagna. And cooked it. And it was good.
- We went to BJs and shared some yummy dessert last night. And a really adorable little 11 month old baby watched us the whole time. Apparently we're very fascinating.
- We went grocery shopping after dessert. The sisters want fried chicken. I spent weeks... no, months, perfecting my fried chicken recipe. Because I love fried chicken, and it seemed convenient to be able to make my own delicious chicken at home. And to date, it's the only thing I cook. Except for frozen lasagnas.
- While the husband worked today, we made tacos for lunch and then went shopping. And we learned that Kristina has a long way to go before she's Americanized. Kristina's been so confused, she started to question that the mops she's always seen/used in Indonesia were in fact what we here in America also refer to as mops. Poor thing.
- We dressed up as cows and went to Chick-fil-A for free food. I love free food. And free food from Chick-fil-A is pretty much the best. I taped spots on my shirt. Brit and Kris wore headbands with cow ears taped to them. And Travis taped a cow nose to his face with a sign taped to his chest that said "Eat Mor Chikin." Travis didn't get to pick what he wore because he came home late from work. You snooze, you lose. Or, in this case, you work really hard and support your family, you lose. ;) But he was a trooper!
- I got a milkshake while the rest of the family got frozen yogurt. (That's right, I'm a rebel.) Then we went to Pet Smart and met a really cute, friendly puppy.
And now we're home.
The hubs is playing with the puppies outside while the rest of us avoid interaction with each other on our separate laptops. What a sad world we live in. I feel it's my duty to convince my sisters that Big Bang Theory is awesome, so I'm going to make them watch one of my favorite episodes. Sabre thinks Brittany is the coolest person on the planet. He jumps and leaps and does everything he can to lick her face to death. The main problem with that is he also tends to scratch and sometimes even nip her a little because he's too excited. And Tatum has not switched her allegiance to anyone. She loves me best. She's my cute little shadow, and I love her. I still want to learn to sew. I haven't forgotten about it. I really want to sew a quilt, but my husband says that since I don't know the first thing about sewing, I'm aiming a bit too high. I'll keep you posted. (Hah! My husband will appreciate that one!)
- My sisters showed up here yesterday. (But I knew they were coming.)
- We ate lasagna for dinner. My silly sisters thought I was going to slave away in the kitchen making a homemade lasagna. I had a good laugh. I bought a frozen lasagna. And cooked it. And it was good.
- We went to BJs and shared some yummy dessert last night. And a really adorable little 11 month old baby watched us the whole time. Apparently we're very fascinating.
- We went grocery shopping after dessert. The sisters want fried chicken. I spent weeks... no, months, perfecting my fried chicken recipe. Because I love fried chicken, and it seemed convenient to be able to make my own delicious chicken at home. And to date, it's the only thing I cook. Except for frozen lasagnas.
- While the husband worked today, we made tacos for lunch and then went shopping. And we learned that Kristina has a long way to go before she's Americanized. Kristina's been so confused, she started to question that the mops she's always seen/used in Indonesia were in fact what we here in America also refer to as mops. Poor thing.
- We dressed up as cows and went to Chick-fil-A for free food. I love free food. And free food from Chick-fil-A is pretty much the best. I taped spots on my shirt. Brit and Kris wore headbands with cow ears taped to them. And Travis taped a cow nose to his face with a sign taped to his chest that said "Eat Mor Chikin." Travis didn't get to pick what he wore because he came home late from work. You snooze, you lose. Or, in this case, you work really hard and support your family, you lose. ;) But he was a trooper!
- I got a milkshake while the rest of the family got frozen yogurt. (That's right, I'm a rebel.) Then we went to Pet Smart and met a really cute, friendly puppy.
And now we're home.
The hubs is playing with the puppies outside while the rest of us avoid interaction with each other on our separate laptops. What a sad world we live in. I feel it's my duty to convince my sisters that Big Bang Theory is awesome, so I'm going to make them watch one of my favorite episodes. Sabre thinks Brittany is the coolest person on the planet. He jumps and leaps and does everything he can to lick her face to death. The main problem with that is he also tends to scratch and sometimes even nip her a little because he's too excited. And Tatum has not switched her allegiance to anyone. She loves me best. She's my cute little shadow, and I love her. I still want to learn to sew. I haven't forgotten about it. I really want to sew a quilt, but my husband says that since I don't know the first thing about sewing, I'm aiming a bit too high. I'll keep you posted. (Hah! My husband will appreciate that one!)
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
When Opposites Attract...You Get Married!
Two years ago today, I married a truly wonderful, amazing man. I can honestly say that two years of marriage went by much faster than two years of long distance dating. When we were dating and talking about getting married, and when we were engaged and planning our wedding, we got a lot of mixed reactions. A lot of people felt this overwhelming need to inform me that we were too young to get married. Others felt it didn't make sense for us to get married while Travis was still in college. Then there were a few who supported us and trusted that we had, first and foremost, sought God in our decision. And now that we've been married for two years, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. And over the last two years, I have learned a myriad of things about marriage, my husband, and myself. And I thought I'd share those with you.
1. When it comes to cleaning, it's all or nothing.
My husband doesn't know how to clean one room. If I decide the kitchen is a mess and it needs to be cleaned up, my husband decides that we might as well clean the whole house while we're at it.
2. Puppies help prepare you for children.
Puppies play loudly, spill food and water everywhere, run around the house, wake up in the middle of the night, follow you everywhere, have to be potty trained, tease each other, cost money, want to play with you all the time, take lots of naps, and the list goes on and on.
3. 80% of fights/arguments/disagreements/etc. are over silly, petty things.
Just about a week ago, Travis and I got into a long, long, long fight (or whatever you'd like to call it) about me not putting the scissors back in their spot. Travis didn't see anything wrong with asking me to put the scissors back where they go, and I took great offense at the request. Does it make sense to get so upset at something like that? No. Does it happen more often than any legitimate argument? Yep! One of my favorite silly "fights" was just a couple weeks after we got married. We checked our phone bill and saw that we had a $5 late fee because we hadn't paid our bill in time. I insisted that Travis told me he paid the bill. He claimed he never said that. I insisted that I had asked him and he said he paid it. This went back and forth for a couple minutes before my dear cousin said, "Oh my gosh, I'll give you guys the $5!" We all had a good laugh.
4. Long distance dating makes marriage seem a bit easier. :)
This one may not be true for everyone, but for us, after enduring nearly three years of long-distance dating, the whole "living in the same house, being married" thing didn't seem quite so challenging. We fought a lot more when we lived 600 to 10,000 miles apart than we have since being married. Yes, we have those silly petty disagreements, but those are (thankfully!) few and far between. Perhaps it's just that you know what it's like to be apart, so now that you're together, things seem so much better.
5. It's a good thing I married a laid-back man.
When I get unnecessarily upset about something, it's a very good thing that my husband has the patience to stay calm. He doesn't join in the insanity, he just waits for me to calm down and realize how ridiculous I sound.
6. When your husband likes to cuddle, you get to cuddle at random times all throughout the day.
I blame my mother-in-law. She told me that she prayed for a cuddle-er. Apparently God answer her prayer abundantly. And then some. Travis has tried to share his cuddly-ness with our puppies, but they don't seem to handle being smothered in hugs as well as I do. So I still get most of it. But it's how he says "I love you," so why would I want it to go away?
7. Money stresses me out.
My husband is a bit more of a spender than I am. When it comes to excess spending (things that aren't necessary), I can easily and willingly spend money on eating out. Cooking makes a mess. And takes a long time. Eating out is so easy. But that's pretty much it. My husband, on the other hand, loves to buy expensive things. So far it's been a rather pricey bicycle and some pricey (albeit useful) power tools. However, I still completely trust Travis with everything related to money. I don't want to know anything about our money situation. Why? Because it stresses me out! For no apparent reason. Even in college (when I had to manage my own money), I hated looking at my bank account. I was so silly. If I ever had less than $700 in my account, I went into an almost panic mode. I had friends who would say that they had $20 in their bank account.. and they seemed oddly relaxed about that. My room and board were covered by the school (as was my tuition). The only expenses I had were phone bill, car insurance, and fuel. Not a whole lot to worry about. Needless to say, I don't do money.
8. Tithing is so very important.
Our first year of marriage was tight financially. We knew it would be. Travis was still going to Baylor and only able to work about 10 hours per week. I was working as an aide at an elementary school, putting my hard-earned degree to absolutely no use. ;) And anytime I added up our monthly bills (just bills!) and calculated how much money we were bringing in each month, we always had more bills than money. And yet somehow, we never ever paid our bills late or ran out of money. Ever. We were even able to eat out sometimes! The only way I can explain it is to look to what the Bible says about tithing. God asks that we give ten percent of our income to Him. And when we do, He'll bless us for it. And He did. We didn't have a whole lot of extra money, but we always had enough.
9. My husband has a strange sentimental attachment to his car.
Travis bought a '94 Honda Accord when he started college. He paid about $2000 for it. For the first three years he had it, it was a pretty decent car. I mean, as long as you overlooked the fact that the power windows didn't work, it flooded anytime it rained, and in the winter, the windows frosted on the inside of the car. (A nice thick layer of ice, I might add.) And then, one day when I started the drive back home after work, I realized that the air blowing on my face was extremely hot. I mean, fire hot. As I was shifting gears and trying to pay attention to the road, I was also trying to figure out why the air wasn't cooling. After a few minutes, I turned the air off all together because the hot air was melting my skin. (You think I'm being dramatic, but this is Texas. It was hot.) I tried to roll down the windows, but oh that's right! They don't work. That particular drive home seemed like it took two hours. (It was only about 15 minutes.) I'm not sure I've ever stepped into 102 degree Texas heat and thought, "Ah... so much better!" until that day. I called my dear husband to tell him that the AC wasn't working. It was broken. He didn't believe me. When he got home, he went out to look at the car. When he came back I said, "Well?" He says, "The AC's broken." You don't say? :) It was going to cost $1500 to fix the car. We ended up getting another car later that summer. But did we get rid of the car that bakes you alive? Of course not. Travis ordered the parts to fix the windows, and still drives that car to work everyday. In the heat. Sigh.
10. I love being married.
It's true. I love it. It's been an absolutely wonderful two years.
1. When it comes to cleaning, it's all or nothing.
My husband doesn't know how to clean one room. If I decide the kitchen is a mess and it needs to be cleaned up, my husband decides that we might as well clean the whole house while we're at it.
2. Puppies help prepare you for children.
Puppies play loudly, spill food and water everywhere, run around the house, wake up in the middle of the night, follow you everywhere, have to be potty trained, tease each other, cost money, want to play with you all the time, take lots of naps, and the list goes on and on.
3. 80% of fights/arguments/disagreements/etc. are over silly, petty things.
Just about a week ago, Travis and I got into a long, long, long fight (or whatever you'd like to call it) about me not putting the scissors back in their spot. Travis didn't see anything wrong with asking me to put the scissors back where they go, and I took great offense at the request. Does it make sense to get so upset at something like that? No. Does it happen more often than any legitimate argument? Yep! One of my favorite silly "fights" was just a couple weeks after we got married. We checked our phone bill and saw that we had a $5 late fee because we hadn't paid our bill in time. I insisted that Travis told me he paid the bill. He claimed he never said that. I insisted that I had asked him and he said he paid it. This went back and forth for a couple minutes before my dear cousin said, "Oh my gosh, I'll give you guys the $5!" We all had a good laugh.
4. Long distance dating makes marriage seem a bit easier. :)
This one may not be true for everyone, but for us, after enduring nearly three years of long-distance dating, the whole "living in the same house, being married" thing didn't seem quite so challenging. We fought a lot more when we lived 600 to 10,000 miles apart than we have since being married. Yes, we have those silly petty disagreements, but those are (thankfully!) few and far between. Perhaps it's just that you know what it's like to be apart, so now that you're together, things seem so much better.
5. It's a good thing I married a laid-back man.
When I get unnecessarily upset about something, it's a very good thing that my husband has the patience to stay calm. He doesn't join in the insanity, he just waits for me to calm down and realize how ridiculous I sound.
6. When your husband likes to cuddle, you get to cuddle at random times all throughout the day.
I blame my mother-in-law. She told me that she prayed for a cuddle-er. Apparently God answer her prayer abundantly. And then some. Travis has tried to share his cuddly-ness with our puppies, but they don't seem to handle being smothered in hugs as well as I do. So I still get most of it. But it's how he says "I love you," so why would I want it to go away?
7. Money stresses me out.
My husband is a bit more of a spender than I am. When it comes to excess spending (things that aren't necessary), I can easily and willingly spend money on eating out. Cooking makes a mess. And takes a long time. Eating out is so easy. But that's pretty much it. My husband, on the other hand, loves to buy expensive things. So far it's been a rather pricey bicycle and some pricey (albeit useful) power tools. However, I still completely trust Travis with everything related to money. I don't want to know anything about our money situation. Why? Because it stresses me out! For no apparent reason. Even in college (when I had to manage my own money), I hated looking at my bank account. I was so silly. If I ever had less than $700 in my account, I went into an almost panic mode. I had friends who would say that they had $20 in their bank account.. and they seemed oddly relaxed about that. My room and board were covered by the school (as was my tuition). The only expenses I had were phone bill, car insurance, and fuel. Not a whole lot to worry about. Needless to say, I don't do money.
8. Tithing is so very important.
Our first year of marriage was tight financially. We knew it would be. Travis was still going to Baylor and only able to work about 10 hours per week. I was working as an aide at an elementary school, putting my hard-earned degree to absolutely no use. ;) And anytime I added up our monthly bills (just bills!) and calculated how much money we were bringing in each month, we always had more bills than money. And yet somehow, we never ever paid our bills late or ran out of money. Ever. We were even able to eat out sometimes! The only way I can explain it is to look to what the Bible says about tithing. God asks that we give ten percent of our income to Him. And when we do, He'll bless us for it. And He did. We didn't have a whole lot of extra money, but we always had enough.
9. My husband has a strange sentimental attachment to his car.
Travis bought a '94 Honda Accord when he started college. He paid about $2000 for it. For the first three years he had it, it was a pretty decent car. I mean, as long as you overlooked the fact that the power windows didn't work, it flooded anytime it rained, and in the winter, the windows frosted on the inside of the car. (A nice thick layer of ice, I might add.) And then, one day when I started the drive back home after work, I realized that the air blowing on my face was extremely hot. I mean, fire hot. As I was shifting gears and trying to pay attention to the road, I was also trying to figure out why the air wasn't cooling. After a few minutes, I turned the air off all together because the hot air was melting my skin. (You think I'm being dramatic, but this is Texas. It was hot.) I tried to roll down the windows, but oh that's right! They don't work. That particular drive home seemed like it took two hours. (It was only about 15 minutes.) I'm not sure I've ever stepped into 102 degree Texas heat and thought, "Ah... so much better!" until that day. I called my dear husband to tell him that the AC wasn't working. It was broken. He didn't believe me. When he got home, he went out to look at the car. When he came back I said, "Well?" He says, "The AC's broken." You don't say? :) It was going to cost $1500 to fix the car. We ended up getting another car later that summer. But did we get rid of the car that bakes you alive? Of course not. Travis ordered the parts to fix the windows, and still drives that car to work everyday. In the heat. Sigh.
10. I love being married.
It's true. I love it. It's been an absolutely wonderful two years.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
My True Inner Nerd Revealed
Disclaimer: If you do not like or have any interest in Superman, skip this post. It's all I talk about for paragraph after paragraph. :) However, if you do like him, you're awesome! And please enjoy my thoughts!
You know that feeling when you're really exhausted, but you just can't seem to fall asleep? Sundays are always my "definitely napping" days, yet so far, no luck. And honestly, I think it's because I haven't gotten all my thoughts and feelings about Superman out in the open. You see, I watched "Man of Steel" last night and really need to get my reaction to the movie (and perhaps years of other Superman notions) out of my system. Are you guys sure you're ready for this? Here it goes!
My earliest memory of watching Superman (though the memory is a bit hazy) was when we lived in Thailand when I was between the ages of two and six. It was one of the Christopher Reeve movies. The only scene I can really remember was where Superman asked to have his powers taken away (or something to that effect) and then, shortly after losing said powers, gets beaten up at a restaurant. I don't know why this scene is the only scene I can remember from the entire movie, and I don't even know which movie that one was. And for all I know, since I was only about five years old when I saw it, I'm remembering the scene horribly wrong. Anyway, after that one encounter with the wildly popular Superman movies, my real obsession with Superman began when I was introduced to the TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" from the early 90's. I loved that show! There were only four seasons (and I could kind of see where the show started going downhill), but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it! But you see, in this series, Clark Kent was the main character. I mean, Superman was too (obviously!), but Superman was not who he was. Clark Kent was who he was, Superman was his job. And I really think that makes so much more sense! I mean, supposedly Clark doesn't become Superman until he's in his thirties. So why does it make sense that now Clark is his "cover" identity when it was his only identity up until that point? This has always bothered me with what I've heard and seen in the Superman movies from the 70s/80s. Clark was just a boring, plain nothing character. But in Lois & Clark, Dean Cain played Clark Kent as a normal, likable guy. He and Lois were friends, a writing team, and you enjoyed seeing them together. They joked, they teased, and you didn't feel like Lois was a shallow jerk. Yes, she still had a crush on Superman but not on Clark (initially), but she still liked Clark. In the movies, Lois seems to treat Clark like he's completely invisible. How lame is that?
Then I got into Smallville. Smallville had a bit of an advantage because Clark Kent is the only character. (That may sound confusing, but just go with me on this.) He's in high school and doesn't even have Superman on his radar. Therefore, he's a normal, likable guy who's trying to figure out who he is and what's going on with all these crazy powers that keep showing up. I'll admit that I pretty much lost interest right around season...seven? Something around there, but I love the earlier seasons. Then came "Superman Returns." I looked forward to this movie for months and months and months. Probably over a year. And you know what happened? It was pitiful. Clark was, once again, a lame, ignored character. And from what I can remember, even though Clark and Superman are the same guy, I'm pretty sure between the two of them, they only said about ten words throughout the whole movie. Lois came off like a shallow jerk (again!) and the movie itself was just boring. PLUS, I really think Hollywood has plenty of very attractive actors to choose from. I mean, I know they do. And yet, for some reason, when choosing to cast for the role of Superman (Superman!) they chose someone that I'm not sure I'd look twice at if I saw him walking down the street. Just sayin'...
And then came the news that there would be another Superman movie and THANK GOODNESS, it was going to have nothing to do with Superman Returns. A fresh start. A different actor! And, hopefully, a much better storyline. Since the movie came out a few weeks ago, I had already seen a bunch of Facebook statuses telling me that it was really very horrible. I mean, some people hated this movie so much, I started to feel real concern about their well-being. (Not really...) But I do think it helped me to lower my expectations a bit. So what did I think of Man of Steel? To be perfectly honest, I liked it! I mean, I didn't love it. But 98% of the movie was violence and gore and fighting and crazy commotion so the fact that I liked it at all is pretty incredible. I'm not a crazy "fight scene" fanatic. I like for there to be calm, character-building, plot-driving scenes dispersed throughout the fighting, but here's my take on this particular movie. Superman is, for all intensive purposes, invincible. No human can actually challenge him to a fist fight and think they have any chance of even hurting him, much less winning. But if you bring in another Kyrptonian with the same strength and abilities as Superman, you've got yourself quite the battle. And the directors decided to take advantage of this. I mean, when Superman takes on Lex Luthor, they're not going to brawl it out. At least, not like that. So really, unless the director decides that only other alien enemies should be brought in to take on Superman, I wouldn't think the next movie (hopefully!) would be nearly as battle-crazed. I could be wrong, but I hope not.
I felt that the backstory they told about Krypton and Clark's journey to becoming Superman made a lot of sense. It makes sense that the world would recognize him as Superman without the glasses first, so now he needs to disguise Clark. He would have had no reason to wear glasses growing up. Who randomly decides to wear glasses for no reason? It's not as if he could anticipate that one day he might need a disguise so, therefore, he should go ahead and prepare for that day. The way they set it up here made sense! And I liked that. I also much preferred his relationship with Lois in this movie. They were friends! (What a notion!) The two didn't get to interact all that much, but considering how much of the movie was one big, never-ending battle, I was surprised how often they were onscreen together. And I liked Clark's relationship with his mother. And, to just get it out there, I liked Henry Cavill as Clark/Superman. Aside from the fact that he's very gorgeous (my husband knows I think this and doesn't feel threatened in the least, haha!), I liked his portrayal of Clark/Superman much better than both Brandon Routh and (don't kill me!) Christopher Reeve. I don't feel that Tom Welling can count since he never really played Superman, and the superhero he did play became so brooding and emotional. And Dean Cain is still my favorite! Hah. I might be completely in the minority on that one, but I don't care. If you do happen to watch Lois & Clark at some point, I'm going to go ahead and warn you that the special effects are not really all that special. But it was a TV show in the early 90s, so you need to cut them some slack. ;)
Ah. I think that finally does it. I'm sure none of you made it to this point because I bored you to tears. But to those of you that did make it to the end, I hope you enjoyed learning about the true source of my inner nerd. I've never denied being a nerd, but I haven't always admitted to being a Superman nerd. I don't think I would be accepted in the true "Superman Nerd Club" (if such a thing exists) because I neither read the comics nor like the old(er) movies. But that's OK. I'll be in my own category. :) I tried to avoid any spoilers (in case there are those that still want to be surprised when they watch it), so hopefully I succeeded. Much love to you all! And lastly, Superman is awesome. The End.
You know that feeling when you're really exhausted, but you just can't seem to fall asleep? Sundays are always my "definitely napping" days, yet so far, no luck. And honestly, I think it's because I haven't gotten all my thoughts and feelings about Superman out in the open. You see, I watched "Man of Steel" last night and really need to get my reaction to the movie (and perhaps years of other Superman notions) out of my system. Are you guys sure you're ready for this? Here it goes!
My earliest memory of watching Superman (though the memory is a bit hazy) was when we lived in Thailand when I was between the ages of two and six. It was one of the Christopher Reeve movies. The only scene I can really remember was where Superman asked to have his powers taken away (or something to that effect) and then, shortly after losing said powers, gets beaten up at a restaurant. I don't know why this scene is the only scene I can remember from the entire movie, and I don't even know which movie that one was. And for all I know, since I was only about five years old when I saw it, I'm remembering the scene horribly wrong. Anyway, after that one encounter with the wildly popular Superman movies, my real obsession with Superman began when I was introduced to the TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" from the early 90's. I loved that show! There were only four seasons (and I could kind of see where the show started going downhill), but I thoroughly enjoyed watching it! But you see, in this series, Clark Kent was the main character. I mean, Superman was too (obviously!), but Superman was not who he was. Clark Kent was who he was, Superman was his job. And I really think that makes so much more sense! I mean, supposedly Clark doesn't become Superman until he's in his thirties. So why does it make sense that now Clark is his "cover" identity when it was his only identity up until that point? This has always bothered me with what I've heard and seen in the Superman movies from the 70s/80s. Clark was just a boring, plain nothing character. But in Lois & Clark, Dean Cain played Clark Kent as a normal, likable guy. He and Lois were friends, a writing team, and you enjoyed seeing them together. They joked, they teased, and you didn't feel like Lois was a shallow jerk. Yes, she still had a crush on Superman but not on Clark (initially), but she still liked Clark. In the movies, Lois seems to treat Clark like he's completely invisible. How lame is that?
Then I got into Smallville. Smallville had a bit of an advantage because Clark Kent is the only character. (That may sound confusing, but just go with me on this.) He's in high school and doesn't even have Superman on his radar. Therefore, he's a normal, likable guy who's trying to figure out who he is and what's going on with all these crazy powers that keep showing up. I'll admit that I pretty much lost interest right around season...seven? Something around there, but I love the earlier seasons. Then came "Superman Returns." I looked forward to this movie for months and months and months. Probably over a year. And you know what happened? It was pitiful. Clark was, once again, a lame, ignored character. And from what I can remember, even though Clark and Superman are the same guy, I'm pretty sure between the two of them, they only said about ten words throughout the whole movie. Lois came off like a shallow jerk (again!) and the movie itself was just boring. PLUS, I really think Hollywood has plenty of very attractive actors to choose from. I mean, I know they do. And yet, for some reason, when choosing to cast for the role of Superman (Superman!) they chose someone that I'm not sure I'd look twice at if I saw him walking down the street. Just sayin'...
And then came the news that there would be another Superman movie and THANK GOODNESS, it was going to have nothing to do with Superman Returns. A fresh start. A different actor! And, hopefully, a much better storyline. Since the movie came out a few weeks ago, I had already seen a bunch of Facebook statuses telling me that it was really very horrible. I mean, some people hated this movie so much, I started to feel real concern about their well-being. (Not really...) But I do think it helped me to lower my expectations a bit. So what did I think of Man of Steel? To be perfectly honest, I liked it! I mean, I didn't love it. But 98% of the movie was violence and gore and fighting and crazy commotion so the fact that I liked it at all is pretty incredible. I'm not a crazy "fight scene" fanatic. I like for there to be calm, character-building, plot-driving scenes dispersed throughout the fighting, but here's my take on this particular movie. Superman is, for all intensive purposes, invincible. No human can actually challenge him to a fist fight and think they have any chance of even hurting him, much less winning. But if you bring in another Kyrptonian with the same strength and abilities as Superman, you've got yourself quite the battle. And the directors decided to take advantage of this. I mean, when Superman takes on Lex Luthor, they're not going to brawl it out. At least, not like that. So really, unless the director decides that only other alien enemies should be brought in to take on Superman, I wouldn't think the next movie (hopefully!) would be nearly as battle-crazed. I could be wrong, but I hope not.
I felt that the backstory they told about Krypton and Clark's journey to becoming Superman made a lot of sense. It makes sense that the world would recognize him as Superman without the glasses first, so now he needs to disguise Clark. He would have had no reason to wear glasses growing up. Who randomly decides to wear glasses for no reason? It's not as if he could anticipate that one day he might need a disguise so, therefore, he should go ahead and prepare for that day. The way they set it up here made sense! And I liked that. I also much preferred his relationship with Lois in this movie. They were friends! (What a notion!) The two didn't get to interact all that much, but considering how much of the movie was one big, never-ending battle, I was surprised how often they were onscreen together. And I liked Clark's relationship with his mother. And, to just get it out there, I liked Henry Cavill as Clark/Superman. Aside from the fact that he's very gorgeous (my husband knows I think this and doesn't feel threatened in the least, haha!), I liked his portrayal of Clark/Superman much better than both Brandon Routh and (don't kill me!) Christopher Reeve. I don't feel that Tom Welling can count since he never really played Superman, and the superhero he did play became so brooding and emotional. And Dean Cain is still my favorite! Hah. I might be completely in the minority on that one, but I don't care. If you do happen to watch Lois & Clark at some point, I'm going to go ahead and warn you that the special effects are not really all that special. But it was a TV show in the early 90s, so you need to cut them some slack. ;)
Ah. I think that finally does it. I'm sure none of you made it to this point because I bored you to tears. But to those of you that did make it to the end, I hope you enjoyed learning about the true source of my inner nerd. I've never denied being a nerd, but I haven't always admitted to being a Superman nerd. I don't think I would be accepted in the true "Superman Nerd Club" (if such a thing exists) because I neither read the comics nor like the old(er) movies. But that's OK. I'll be in my own category. :) I tried to avoid any spoilers (in case there are those that still want to be surprised when they watch it), so hopefully I succeeded. Much love to you all! And lastly, Superman is awesome. The End.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Now You Know What My Facebook Statuses Would Look Like If I Had No Self-Control
See here's the thing. Every time something fun or exciting or frustrating or anything worth telling people about happened, I wanted to write a really long Facebook status to tell the story. But here's the thing. People don't typically want to read an endlessly long status. A status is, for the most part, supposed to be just a few lines long. A little snippet of a story. But see, those little snippets were never enough for me. It was just too much work to take all the things I wanted to say and condense them into two or three sentences. In the end, I'd write nothing. And that, my dear friends, is why I started a blog. Because whether people read it or not, I get my stories and thoughts out so they can no longer run through my head like a never ending version of "It's A Small World."
One of the things about growing up in a different country than the one I'm technically "from" is that when America's Independence Day rolls around, I don't really know how to celebrate all that well. You see, in Indonesia, I knew the traditions of "Hari Kemerdekaan" (Independence Day): the greased poll that people tried to climb all day to reach the basket of goodies at the top; the krupuk (Indonesian fried...snacks? I don't know what to tell you...) eating contest where they hang the krupuk from a string and you have to eat it with your hands behind your back; tying a nail to a string and then tying the string around your waist and then trying to get the nail into an empty bottle of soda; and a myriad of other Independence Day activities. We even had a nasi goreng (fried rice) competition one year. I always knew to expect those. But here in the states, I just don't know what they do. I mean, I know they do fireworks and grill out burgers and hotdogs but... is that it? I just really, truly don't know. Anyway, because of my lack of American Independence Day knowledge (I also learned that they pretty consistently just refer to it as "the fourth of July" around here), we didn't do anything much to celebrate. We did, however, take the puppies to Baylor campus and they went for a swim in the river. And a fountain. And chased the balls around all the pretty green fields. And I thought they'd sleep the rest of the day. But I was wrong. What a shocker. They finished off the milk in my cereal bowl. I put the bowl on the little side table next to the couch (for some reason I thought it was safe there), and then realized that they were lapping up all the leftover milk. Sigh. What's a girl to do? They were out with us for two hours! How can they possibly still have energy?
We bought a circular saw, wood, wood stain, brushes, screws, and a bunch of other woodworking items so my husband can build the rest of our furniture. You see, I really want bedside tables for our bedroom and the guest room, a coffee table for the living room, a dresser, an entertainment center (once we get a TV), and I'm sure I could come up with other things. Because you see, after having bought all the supplies, I sincerely hope my husband loves building furniture as much as he's saying he does. He used to work at Habitat for Humanity helping to build houses and loved it, so I'm sure I have nothing to worry about! And my hope is that we'll end up with a lot of awesome furniture for way less money than if we'd bought it all pre-built. :) And maybe he'll even let me help do something. I worked in the Theatre Department in college (on and off, I'll admit) and learned a bit about using power tools and such. I remember during Intro to Theatre, my professor said we were going to head to the shop and start adding coffin locks to platforms. I very naively said, "Oh...I don't do power tools." He smiled at me and said, "You do now." And in the end, I really quite enjoyed myself! I had to learn not to jump every time I used a staple gun, but in the end, I felt pretty comfortable in the workshop. And after just a couple weeks, I was quite the expert at putting in coffin locks. I couldn't tell you how to though, because I'm really bad at remembering names of tools. I can show you exactly which tools I used, but I don't have a clue what they're called. I'm getting better at it though. My man is helping me out. Anyway, my point is, I know (somewhat) what I'm doing and think it'd be a blast to help build furniture for our house. (I sure do take a long time to say really simple things..)
My sisters are, as we speak, on an airplane to Taipei. Then they'll head on to LA for a pretty quick layover, and then on to Dallas. They will arrive late late tomorrow night. Just thought I'd mention this as a prayer request. Just pray that they'll have safe travels throughout, and that they'll make all their connecting flights. Short layovers can be a bit disconcerting.
I want to learn to sew. Hopefully I'll have an update for you on that topic next time. Until then, much love to you all. And just remember, if you're ever feeling down, play with a puppy. I'm pretty sure God created puppies specifically to bring silliness into the world. :)
One of the things about growing up in a different country than the one I'm technically "from" is that when America's Independence Day rolls around, I don't really know how to celebrate all that well. You see, in Indonesia, I knew the traditions of "Hari Kemerdekaan" (Independence Day): the greased poll that people tried to climb all day to reach the basket of goodies at the top; the krupuk (Indonesian fried...snacks? I don't know what to tell you...) eating contest where they hang the krupuk from a string and you have to eat it with your hands behind your back; tying a nail to a string and then tying the string around your waist and then trying to get the nail into an empty bottle of soda; and a myriad of other Independence Day activities. We even had a nasi goreng (fried rice) competition one year. I always knew to expect those. But here in the states, I just don't know what they do. I mean, I know they do fireworks and grill out burgers and hotdogs but... is that it? I just really, truly don't know. Anyway, because of my lack of American Independence Day knowledge (I also learned that they pretty consistently just refer to it as "the fourth of July" around here), we didn't do anything much to celebrate. We did, however, take the puppies to Baylor campus and they went for a swim in the river. And a fountain. And chased the balls around all the pretty green fields. And I thought they'd sleep the rest of the day. But I was wrong. What a shocker. They finished off the milk in my cereal bowl. I put the bowl on the little side table next to the couch (for some reason I thought it was safe there), and then realized that they were lapping up all the leftover milk. Sigh. What's a girl to do? They were out with us for two hours! How can they possibly still have energy?
We bought a circular saw, wood, wood stain, brushes, screws, and a bunch of other woodworking items so my husband can build the rest of our furniture. You see, I really want bedside tables for our bedroom and the guest room, a coffee table for the living room, a dresser, an entertainment center (once we get a TV), and I'm sure I could come up with other things. Because you see, after having bought all the supplies, I sincerely hope my husband loves building furniture as much as he's saying he does. He used to work at Habitat for Humanity helping to build houses and loved it, so I'm sure I have nothing to worry about! And my hope is that we'll end up with a lot of awesome furniture for way less money than if we'd bought it all pre-built. :) And maybe he'll even let me help do something. I worked in the Theatre Department in college (on and off, I'll admit) and learned a bit about using power tools and such. I remember during Intro to Theatre, my professor said we were going to head to the shop and start adding coffin locks to platforms. I very naively said, "Oh...I don't do power tools." He smiled at me and said, "You do now." And in the end, I really quite enjoyed myself! I had to learn not to jump every time I used a staple gun, but in the end, I felt pretty comfortable in the workshop. And after just a couple weeks, I was quite the expert at putting in coffin locks. I couldn't tell you how to though, because I'm really bad at remembering names of tools. I can show you exactly which tools I used, but I don't have a clue what they're called. I'm getting better at it though. My man is helping me out. Anyway, my point is, I know (somewhat) what I'm doing and think it'd be a blast to help build furniture for our house. (I sure do take a long time to say really simple things..)
My sisters are, as we speak, on an airplane to Taipei. Then they'll head on to LA for a pretty quick layover, and then on to Dallas. They will arrive late late tomorrow night. Just thought I'd mention this as a prayer request. Just pray that they'll have safe travels throughout, and that they'll make all their connecting flights. Short layovers can be a bit disconcerting.
I want to learn to sew. Hopefully I'll have an update for you on that topic next time. Until then, much love to you all. And just remember, if you're ever feeling down, play with a puppy. I'm pretty sure God created puppies specifically to bring silliness into the world. :)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
I Would Do Two Loads of Laundry, but I've Gotta Save Something for Tomorrow
Now that my husband is back at work and my in-laws continued on in their journey and headed up north, I'm back to being a sleepy housewife. I don't know what's up with this whole sleepy thing. I just really love taking naps. If I don't get a nap in, it's as if my world is out of whack. My work schedule used to be from 7:15 to 3:45. By the time I got home between 4:00 and 4:15, it was too late to take a nap, AND I had a crazy puppy to let out of his crate. So I'm not sure when this desperate need for naps began. I still indulge myself either way. Every day.
Sabre is sniffing under the front closet door at the moment. It's where we keep his toys. I'm not sure what he thinks sniffing under the door accomplishes, but he does it pretty consistently throughout the day. And adds a little whine periodically. At some point, I should probably go out and play with him. Tatum just likes to bark at him while he focuses on chasing the ball. They're quite the duo.
Today I'm going to share with all of you a few things I've learned about life over the past few weeks of moving into my first "home."
First of all, I've learned that my skills do not lie in interior decorating. I mean, I am very good at walking into my home and saying, "This doesn't look good," but I really have no idea how to make it look better. Which is very frustrating. I really want to be able to make my house look all pinterest-y and beautiful, but I neither have the skills nor the money to waste on buying stuff that doesn't actually look that great. One of these days, I'll track down a friend or family member that's amazingly skilled and just has "the eye" to help me get my house looking people friendly while still remaining 80+ pound dog friendly. Sounds fun, huh?
Having my in-laws here for a few days, I got to hear a bit more about my husband as a small child. Now, I genuinely love my husband. He's pretty amazing. And I know that part of the reason he's so amazing to me is because he is nothing like me. And quite honestly, when I think about having children with this wonderful man, I can honestly say that I would MUCH rather they end up laid back and easy-going like my husband. None of my ridiculous high-maintenance drama. But then I hear about what a little terror he was as a child. I hear about all the injuries he brought upon himself and his apparent inability to sit still. I find out that he never seemed to tire (or at least, he never realized he was tired until he was absolutely made to sit still for a couple minutes). The best way to entertain this crazy kid was to let him do other supervised crazy things. Like crush cans with a can crusher of sorts. Or use a drill press to drill holes into a random piece of wood (at probably about 2 or 3 years old, no less!). Yet he'd still find non-approved activities to partake in. He'd destroy all of his sisters' toys because he needed to see how they worked. Or he'd destroy his own toys for much the same reason. And as I hear more and more, I start to panic at the idea of having a son like my husband. I have no brothers. Most of what I know about boys I have learned in the last [almost] two years of being married. My sisters and I never destroyed toys. We played outside, sure, but I don't recall that we got hurt a whole lot. At least, I didn't. I was over-the-top cautious. I have never once gotten stitches or had a broken bone. I've never had to stay in the hospital or even really go to the hospital for an injury. If I have a child like my husband, it will be because, contrary to outward appearances, my heavenly Father truly believes that it will make me a better Christian, a better wife, and a better mother. That's the only way I know to look at it. :)
Throughout this move, between my husband graduating without a job with no idea where to find a place to live, to getting a job and finding a great house, I've seen that no matter what, God is always good. He's good even when we aren't. When I'm telling Him that He's taking too long to provide a job or a place to live, He's still good. When I'm not consistently spending time with Him because I'm frustrated, He's still good. I'm not saying that He rewards those who try to tell Him what to do or avoid coming into His presence, but He doesn't turn His back either. He's already said that His timing is perfect, so He waits for that very timing. And all the while, He listens to griping and whining and endless refrains of "why are You doing this to me?!" and still stays true. He still loves. He still provides. And He simply waits for us to realize that He always knows best. And while it's been an extremely slow learning process for me to give up control each and every day and truly trust that God has it all in HIS hands, it's a wonderful process where I get to experience life with the Almighty Creator of the universe in charge, instead of my flawed human self.
The puppies are eating ice. And when Sabre steps on my feet it hurts quite a lot. And ice seems to give these pups endless crazy energy, and I'm considering ending the "ice snack" in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure Tatum just knocked over every food/water bowl, and I'm afraid to go check.
Sabre is sniffing under the front closet door at the moment. It's where we keep his toys. I'm not sure what he thinks sniffing under the door accomplishes, but he does it pretty consistently throughout the day. And adds a little whine periodically. At some point, I should probably go out and play with him. Tatum just likes to bark at him while he focuses on chasing the ball. They're quite the duo.
Today I'm going to share with all of you a few things I've learned about life over the past few weeks of moving into my first "home."
First of all, I've learned that my skills do not lie in interior decorating. I mean, I am very good at walking into my home and saying, "This doesn't look good," but I really have no idea how to make it look better. Which is very frustrating. I really want to be able to make my house look all pinterest-y and beautiful, but I neither have the skills nor the money to waste on buying stuff that doesn't actually look that great. One of these days, I'll track down a friend or family member that's amazingly skilled and just has "the eye" to help me get my house looking people friendly while still remaining 80+ pound dog friendly. Sounds fun, huh?
Having my in-laws here for a few days, I got to hear a bit more about my husband as a small child. Now, I genuinely love my husband. He's pretty amazing. And I know that part of the reason he's so amazing to me is because he is nothing like me. And quite honestly, when I think about having children with this wonderful man, I can honestly say that I would MUCH rather they end up laid back and easy-going like my husband. None of my ridiculous high-maintenance drama. But then I hear about what a little terror he was as a child. I hear about all the injuries he brought upon himself and his apparent inability to sit still. I find out that he never seemed to tire (or at least, he never realized he was tired until he was absolutely made to sit still for a couple minutes). The best way to entertain this crazy kid was to let him do other supervised crazy things. Like crush cans with a can crusher of sorts. Or use a drill press to drill holes into a random piece of wood (at probably about 2 or 3 years old, no less!). Yet he'd still find non-approved activities to partake in. He'd destroy all of his sisters' toys because he needed to see how they worked. Or he'd destroy his own toys for much the same reason. And as I hear more and more, I start to panic at the idea of having a son like my husband. I have no brothers. Most of what I know about boys I have learned in the last [almost] two years of being married. My sisters and I never destroyed toys. We played outside, sure, but I don't recall that we got hurt a whole lot. At least, I didn't. I was over-the-top cautious. I have never once gotten stitches or had a broken bone. I've never had to stay in the hospital or even really go to the hospital for an injury. If I have a child like my husband, it will be because, contrary to outward appearances, my heavenly Father truly believes that it will make me a better Christian, a better wife, and a better mother. That's the only way I know to look at it. :)
Throughout this move, between my husband graduating without a job with no idea where to find a place to live, to getting a job and finding a great house, I've seen that no matter what, God is always good. He's good even when we aren't. When I'm telling Him that He's taking too long to provide a job or a place to live, He's still good. When I'm not consistently spending time with Him because I'm frustrated, He's still good. I'm not saying that He rewards those who try to tell Him what to do or avoid coming into His presence, but He doesn't turn His back either. He's already said that His timing is perfect, so He waits for that very timing. And all the while, He listens to griping and whining and endless refrains of "why are You doing this to me?!" and still stays true. He still loves. He still provides. And He simply waits for us to realize that He always knows best. And while it's been an extremely slow learning process for me to give up control each and every day and truly trust that God has it all in HIS hands, it's a wonderful process where I get to experience life with the Almighty Creator of the universe in charge, instead of my flawed human self.
The puppies are eating ice. And when Sabre steps on my feet it hurts quite a lot. And ice seems to give these pups endless crazy energy, and I'm considering ending the "ice snack" in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure Tatum just knocked over every food/water bowl, and I'm afraid to go check.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Favorites of Life
The husband is playing his guitar. The in-laws are on the computers. The puppies are being surprisingly calm. OK, never mind. Tatum has something to chew on and Sabre now wants it. Not because he actually wants it, but because she wants it. He's such a little brat. Some people might say I've humanized my puppies a bit, but I'm telling you, Sabre displays all the characteristics of a pesky older brother trying to steal little sister's toys just to (1) aggravate her or (2) to get her to chase him. He knows just how to be super obnoxious. But I still love him. Most of the time. ;)
So my sisters are arriving back in the states on Friday night (basically Saturday morning). I'm pretty excited about this. I'm trying to figure out how to go to Dallas on Saturday to see them, go to a wedding Saturday night, and then drive back to Waco on Sunday morning. But the puppies are complicating things just a tad because, well, they're not humans and thus, are not welcome everywhere we go. One way or another we'll figure something out. Needless to say, one of my favorite things in life is getting to see my lovely sisters. I haven't seen Kris since January 2011! I think she's changed a bit since then. Like she now has short hair. And she's graduated from high school. And she's like a million inches tall...which I guess isn't all that new, but still. I haven't seen Brit since May, so she's not as important. Kidding kidding. I love her. And she's bringing me back Indomie (Indonesian noodles), which always earns a person big big points in my book. It's a quick way to get a place in the "favorites" category of my life.
You know what else I love? Schmaltz Sandwiches! They are really quite heavenly. If you're ever in Waco, you absolutely MUST go to Schmaltz before you leave. Even if you're only passing through for two minutes, stop at Schmaltz! They make their own amazingly delicious bread. They melt two types of cheese on their sandwiches... and somehow, they just make sandwiches rise to a whole new level of amazingness. I used to call Trav on a regular basis while I was at work to plead with him to allow me to, once again, get Schmaltz for lunch. His only complaint was that he didn't get any. Deliciousness defined. For real.
I also discovered something really very fascinating! I love Dr. Pepper IF (and ONLY if!) it's prepared the old fashioned soda shoppe kind of way. They put the syrup in the cup then mix it with water and...soda water? I don't really know. But somehow, the drink ends up being very tolerably carbonated. I don't like carbonation. It's just too fizzy and makes my chest feel weird. And overall, it's just a very unpleasant experience. The only problem with liking less carbonated Dr. Pepper is that it's not exactly readily available. I guess I just need to let the Dr. Pepper company know that they need to offer less carbonated Dr. Pepper in more frequented locations, and everything will be OK. Except then I'll start drinking less healthy beverages and probably end up never sleeping again due to the caffeine that, as we have all learned, my body does not handle well.
Alright, I've rambled on about a bunch of random and rather pointless things for long enough. So now I'm done.
So my sisters are arriving back in the states on Friday night (basically Saturday morning). I'm pretty excited about this. I'm trying to figure out how to go to Dallas on Saturday to see them, go to a wedding Saturday night, and then drive back to Waco on Sunday morning. But the puppies are complicating things just a tad because, well, they're not humans and thus, are not welcome everywhere we go. One way or another we'll figure something out. Needless to say, one of my favorite things in life is getting to see my lovely sisters. I haven't seen Kris since January 2011! I think she's changed a bit since then. Like she now has short hair. And she's graduated from high school. And she's like a million inches tall...which I guess isn't all that new, but still. I haven't seen Brit since May, so she's not as important. Kidding kidding. I love her. And she's bringing me back Indomie (Indonesian noodles), which always earns a person big big points in my book. It's a quick way to get a place in the "favorites" category of my life.
You know what else I love? Schmaltz Sandwiches! They are really quite heavenly. If you're ever in Waco, you absolutely MUST go to Schmaltz before you leave. Even if you're only passing through for two minutes, stop at Schmaltz! They make their own amazingly delicious bread. They melt two types of cheese on their sandwiches... and somehow, they just make sandwiches rise to a whole new level of amazingness. I used to call Trav on a regular basis while I was at work to plead with him to allow me to, once again, get Schmaltz for lunch. His only complaint was that he didn't get any. Deliciousness defined. For real.
I also discovered something really very fascinating! I love Dr. Pepper IF (and ONLY if!) it's prepared the old fashioned soda shoppe kind of way. They put the syrup in the cup then mix it with water and...soda water? I don't really know. But somehow, the drink ends up being very tolerably carbonated. I don't like carbonation. It's just too fizzy and makes my chest feel weird. And overall, it's just a very unpleasant experience. The only problem with liking less carbonated Dr. Pepper is that it's not exactly readily available. I guess I just need to let the Dr. Pepper company know that they need to offer less carbonated Dr. Pepper in more frequented locations, and everything will be OK. Except then I'll start drinking less healthy beverages and probably end up never sleeping again due to the caffeine that, as we have all learned, my body does not handle well.
Alright, I've rambled on about a bunch of random and rather pointless things for long enough. So now I'm done.
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