Down with Boggle!

I have issues with games that test your speed/quickness at doing things. Speed is not my strong point. I do things deliberately and try to be detailed. I am a smart person but I feel so dumb when I play games that I have to act quickly in.

Dust's family loves to play Boggle. Dust, his sister, and his mom are very quick in writing down all the words that they can find in Boggle. My brain processes things slowly. It takes me awhile to get in the groove of the game. The timer is set and immediately all three of them are writing down word after word after word. I look at the letters and wonder how they are finding all those words they are writing down. We played Boggle with Dust's sister's boyfriend and he is excellent at Boggle also. They were scoring around 36 points per round!! My best was only 9 points per round!!

I try to be a good sport about the game. I have always played when they wanted to play. But I feel so inadequate and stupid in the process. I made a funny comment to Dust's dad about me being permanent time keeper. He replied back with a comment like, "Well what am I going to do then?" Dust's dad played one round with us and then went to do the dishes.

We played two other time related games with Dust's family. There were two puzzles of the same picture. Boys against girls on who could put together the puzzle the quickest. There were too many women around the girls puzzle and I couldn't get through to help with it. There were 22 people in a small living room and kitchen. Dust's mom yelled out the minutes that had gone by without either team completing it. The girls won.

The other game involved words that sounded like Christmas songs. (Example: nocturnal quiet, Silent Night). This game was also girls against boys. Dust's mom yelled out the words and whoever raised their hand first got to answer. Again, my brain processes things slowly and I never got a chance to raise my hand. I do better when I see the words written.

Needless to say, I hate timed games!!!!

my shopping spree

My Christmas money had been burning a hole in my pocket all week. I never had the chance to go to any stores by myself. I like to shop alone. It makes me nervous to have someone go along with me to shop for clothes. I feel bad that someone would have to wait on me.

I was so excited to go to Target! Target has been my favorite store for awhile now. Here is a list of what I bought for under $100. Fuchsia colored soft gloves with matching hat and scarf($9.98), cool looking black tennis shoes($11.48), black oxford type dress shoes(11.48), periwinkle blue purse with a colorful striped inside lining($3.74), black cloth purse ($3.74), 4 pack of colored socks ($3.99), maternity blue jeans ($27.99), lavender and light blue striped dress shirt ($16.99). (taxes $6.73) total of $96.12.

I debated on whether or not to buy the maternity blue jeans. They were my size and my size is hard to find. Also, all of my jeans are getting uncomfortably tight on me now. The jeans are too big in the waist to wear right now but I am sure that I will grow into them soon. I am really frustrated on what to do in the meantime.

I love getting Christmas money because I can be selfish with that money. I hardly ever buy myself anything throughout the year, so I can justify splurging this one time. I consider it free money that never existed to be applied to our budget.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & my 100th post!

I hope everybody has a good Christmas! And that you all get what you wanted under the tree. Even if you didn't, there is always those nice gift cards and you can buy what you wanted.

This is my 100th post! I think it is a good number to end the year. Most of you had your 100th post many months ago. Some of you joined us recently, and aren't quite there yet.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

See you all next year!

the heartbeat

Today I had a doctor appointment and Dust met me there. I wasn't sure if we would be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. I thought it might be a little early still. If not, I thought it was a good idea if Dust came just so he could see the office and meet my doctor.

Dust may have been a little uncomfortable. There was another man in the waiting room though. The nurse told me that there was a good chance that we would hear the heartbeat because I had a small build. Apparently it is easier to hear the heartbeat on smaller women. I was so excited and glad that Dust was there. Dust met my doctor and we talked a bit. She brought over the Doppler radio looking thing over and placed the device over my belly. I was worried for a little bit because she had a hard time finding the heartbeat. "There's the baby," she said. "It was moving around on me." The heartbeat sounded like a helicopter noise at a distant. Dust's coworker told him that it would sound like a helicopter and he was right. How cool!

That experience made my pregnancy seem more real now. I really do have a baby living inside of me!

"fear of rejection"

I bet the title "fear of rejection" may sound a bit weird because you immediately think of what a guy fears when he asks a girl out. I think the title can also be applied to what I am writing. It has to do with making new friends. I have a hard time asking someone to do something on the weekends with Dust and I because of a fear of rejection. Here is a story that happened to me that will illustrate my point.

A few years ago, a man Dust knew invited him to some event that he had tickets for. I thought it would be nice if I asked the woman relative of this man to do something. She said yes at first and I got excited to get to know her better. We were going to go to a movie. Later she asked if her sister could come. Of course I said yes. I did think it would be nice to get to know her too. A few days later, she asked if her best friend could come and also her sister's best friend. I couldn't really say no. I was hurt that they each wanted to bring their best friend. I thought the point of the whole night was to get to know each other better. I can't really get to know you if you have your best friend there.

Another story. Dust and I invited a couple to go out to eat with us. We paid for their meal as a gesture of kindness. We seemed to get along great. The conversation seemed to flow naturally. A few weeks later, I invited them over to our house. We played some games and talked. Since I had initiated two outings, I decided to wait for them to ask us to do something. That call or invite never came. I was really hurt. I don't know what happened.

I was thinking about all of this today because of some thoughts I had after Sunday School. We talked about the two conversations that happen when you are talking to someone.

the surface: whatever it is that our mouths are saying.
the heart: does it communicate that you like or dislike the person?

I realized that if I dislike someone, it does show up in the way that I communicate with that person. When I talked with the people in the above stories after the events happened, I communicated to them that I did not like them. I feel so bad about that now. They probably had no clue why I wasn't being that friendly with them. They probably think that I am stuck up. Maybe the moral of this story should be: if someone hurts you, let them know about it. I have a hard time telling someone that I was hurt by something that they did or did not do.

crazy weekends

Drew's sister graduates college tomorrow with her MBA. We will be going to the ceremony. Drew's parents will also be there, so it will be nice to see them also. We will have to miss Crazy and Jimbabwe's party. How sad. Hope everyone has a good time!

We are going to try to make church on Sunday. I need to turn in my Christmas cards! Hopefully we can rest that afternoon. The following weekend will be busy also with Christmas! We are attempting again to spend time with both sets of family. We will be the traveling fools.

Pride & Prejudice

I saw the new movie of Pride & Prejudice last night and I loved it! The previews looked good and I am always up for a romantic movie. I went into the movie knowing nothing about the characters or the plot. Can you believe that I have never read the book or even seen a different movie version of it?

I thought about what the book Blue Like Jazz said about Pride & Prejudice. "You will know the heart of a woman if you read Pride & Prejudice." I thought about how Elizabeth fell in love with Mr. Darcy. She had some major grieviences with him and some things he did. Because Mr. Darcy loved Elizabeth so much he corrected the wrongs that he made. He brought Mr. Bingley and her sister Jane back together. He also saved Elizabeth's family from shame by finding Lydia who had run off with that soldier guy. Mr. Darcy even paid for their quick wedding. After doing all of that, how can Elizabeth not love Mr. Darcy? Actions definitely speak louder than words.

I'm losing it!

I just went to make me some Ramen noodles. Yes, I really do like eating Ramen for a snack at night. I put the noodles in the bowl but forgot one important part--the water. I walked away from the microwave and went to check my email. Dust asked me what was that smell? I opened the microwave door to stir my noodles and noticed that it had no water. I laughed and added the water. The water got all brown and I thought, "I haven't put the seasoning in yet." I burned the noodles! The bowl reaked of the burn smell. I was so mad! Dust said that it wasn't a big deal because I only wasted 15 cents.

My second attempt at Ramen is now in the microwave. I should go check on it. My lack of sleep is really messing me up.

Busy weekend

Friday night we went to Buca's on the Plaza to eat with the young married's group at our church. We met at the church and carpooled. Our reservation was at 8:30 pm, so we walked around the Plaza first. We went into Gap and Barnes & Noble. Our waiter at Buca's was really energetic and made it fun. I was amazed at how long the hallways went back in the restaurant. I actually got lost on the way back from the restroom. I had the chicken parmegiano (sp?) and it was really good. Dust and I had the leftovers on Saturday.

On Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart to buy some mouse traps. I didn't mention this earlier, but my cat Autum did catch a mouse and ate it whole. I was so grossed out! Our cat has been prowling around the stove and our living room couch. So, we think there has to be more mice. We caught up on our tv shows Lost and Martha Stewart Apprentice. I also put up our Christmas tree and decorated it. After that we watched, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." It was the original "Rat Race" movie. It was too long and I got bored with it.

Sunday, we went to Sunday School and church. After lunch, I made an appetizer and a dessert for our home group party. My mini cheese balls turned out ok. My dessert was Oreo Rocky Road bars. I was worried that they wouldn't turn out. Everyone seemed to like them at the party though. We sat around and ate. After eating, we played the game Outburst with boys against the girls. Unfortunately the boys won, but not by much.

"the napper"

My brother is just one of those types of people that love to take naps. He will take a nap anywhere. As you can see, he found a spot between a table and the couch at my great-aunt's house on Thanksgiving. And he doesn't just take cat naps. They are usually several hours long.

When my brother was elementary school age, he thought it would be fun to take a nap behind the Christmas tree. My mother couldn't find him and got scared and started yelling around the house. My brother didn't hear her. I finally found him up against the wall hidden behind the Christmas tree upstairs.

I don't know where his fascination with odd napping places came from. I guess it is just his adventurous spirit oozing out into sleeping. If I feel like napping somewhere different, I just go to the guest bedroom.

"I will never be the same again"

This is the praise/worship song that ran through my head a few weeks ago. "I will never be the same again, I can never return, I've closed the door." I had confirmed what I suspected--I am pregnant. Two lines appeared on the pregnancy test. Dust and I are thrilled!

We just told our families over Thanksgiving. My parents and brother were totally shocked. I had lead them to believe that it might be awhile before we had kids. I was able to tell my grandparents that they will now be great-grandparents. This is the first grandchild on both sides of our families. This baby will be spoiled!

I am starting my seventh week of pregnancy. I haven't had any morning sickness so far. The baby is due July 15th. We will know whether it is a boy or a girl in January.

So, did I surprise or shock anyone?

non-accommodating individuals

I have been thinking about some of the things that we discussed in Sunday School. We talked about how single people can fall into the trap of being self absorbed and non-accomodating to other people's schedules. Parents have to cater their schedules to take care of their children. Having children takes the focus off of you and onto your child. What got me thinking was some married couples that I know that seem very non-accomodating. Usually in marriage one learns that there is give and take in the relationship. If you love your spouse, you will let them plan an evening to do what they enjoy doing.

I have noticed a pattern in the life of one of my relatives. He hardly ever agrees to something that his spouse wants to do. I can't imagine being that way. If Dust was excited about going someplace, I would make sure that we would be able to do it. When they went on a vacation, the wife told the husband all the places that she wanted to stop at. She wanted him to find them on the map and make sure that they stopped. He didn't even try to locate the places and kept on driving because he wanted to make good time. She was very dissappointed. So, it is possible to be a selfish individual and be married with kids. Maybe the wife needs to do a better job at making her husband realize how selfish he is.

Both of the spouses I am talking about tend to be on the complaining side. They hardly ever have anything nice to say about any meal that you fix for them. If you put grits in front of him, he will say I hate grits. They complain if they don't get to eat at exactly noon for lunch and around five-o-clock for dinner. If the majority of the family wants to watch a tv show and she wants to sit and visit, the family will try to accommodate her.

One of my biggest pet peaves is selfish acting people. If I am around someone being totally selfish, I get so disgusted that I want to puke. I would love to tell them to grow up because they are acting like a child.

another mouse??

Today I noticed my cat sitting outside the door leading into the garage. She never sits in that spot. It got me thinking that she must be smelling a mouse on the other side. I decided to open the door and let her go out into the garage. She started pacing around the trash bags. There was obviously something behind there. Dust moved the bags around to make room for Autum to get behind them. She guarded the trash bags. Maybe the mouse was actually inside the garbage bag like last time. I kept checking on her hoping to find a dead mouse. Nothing.

I decided to turn off the light in the garage. I thought that a mouse would be more likely to come out in the dark. I checked on Autum again and no dead mouse in sight.

I think that I am going to start a ritual. I am going to encourage Autum to go out in the garage on week nights and hunt for varmin. I am always going to make sure that she comes out of the garage though. I had a cat die once when it climbed up and hid underneath/inside our family car. We started the car and left for church. The cat couldn't hold on from wherever she was underneath the car and we ran over her. We had only driven down the street from our house. Very sad.

the little varmint

This morning was trash pick-up day. I always put the garbage out in the garage until pick-up day so it doesn't stink the house up. Also, because Dust has a sensitive nose and I will hear complaining if I don't. I picked the sack up and took it through the living room because I had decided to go out the front door. I should have just pushed the garage door open and gone through that way. I placed the sack on the linoleum entryway and went to get my coat. I thought I heard the trash move and just figured it was settling. I picked up the sack and opened the front door! Aack! There was a mouse! I screamed and opened the screen door and it bolted out the door. It all happened so fast! I can only assume that the mouse came from the garbage sack. It must have ate a hole out of the sack somewhere or climbed through the top hole.

I put the sack at the end of my drive-way. When I was going back into the house, I saw the mouse outside. It was drowning in our sea of leaves trying to make it to the surface. It pressed up against the outside wall of the house. It wanted back in! No way! I was worried when I opened the garage door to leave for work. I thought the mouse might try to run back in. There might be other mice in our garage!

How funny that gigi is having a mouse experience also.

Thanksgiving and Macy's parade

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week! After the snow today, though, I am getting in the mood for the holidays. My favorite part of Thanksgiving as a child, and also now, is the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.

My brother and I loved getting up and watching the parade. I got excited when the Garfield balloon came on the tv screen and I ran and got my Garfield stuffed animals. Other balloons that I liked were Underdog, Snoopy, and most recently SpongeBob. There was a float that had a turkey with eyes that blinked that I always liked. They always highlighted a musical and the performance was boring for a child. During the commercials we would turn the oven light on and watch the turkey. It seems like every year there is a group of kids with white pants and colored gloves that do hand movements. Maybe they were in the happy hands club? : )

Once Santa ended the parade, I knew it was close to time to eat the turkey! It also meant that the Lions football game would be on. My brother would put his Lions jersey and blow-up helmet on and the screaming would begin.

the elderly

I have been thinking about something that I have known for a long time. Elderly people seem to love to talk to me. I have been in buffet lines at restaurants and an elderly person in front of me will turn around and say something to me. Dust has the same thing happen to him. Maybe we have nonassuming friendly faces. Another thing is that I have no problem talking to elderly people. I can usually have a conversation with them and not have any awkward silent moments. I have known some people my age and younger that just don't like or want to talk to people their grandparents' age.

My parents conduct some of the church services at a retirement home that is associated with my church denomination. My brother leads the song service and my father and brother both play trumpet specials. My mother plays the piano. When I was in high school and college I would go and help greet the elderly as they come in the chapel. Again the elderly women and men loved to talk to me and I loved talking to them also. They all had great stories. Occasionally, some of the women wanted me to sit with them. The chapel was connected at the end of the hall of the retirement building. I would sometimes help push them back to their room in their wheelchair.

I almost connect better with people that are older than me. I always have made friends with people that are older than me. Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong decade. Maybe I should just realize that God created my personality and that I can minister to the elderly.

feeling old

On Wednesday night, the adult classes were combined with the youth revival service. Our Pastor was joking with us about our age, but he told us that we needed to sit near the back so the youth could have the front pews. The lights were turned out which is a very youth type of thing to do. It did help in focusing your worship though because there was no being distracted by watching people around you. Throughout the service, I just kept feeling old. I have been out of youth group for a long time now. The two people leading worship had to be younger than me. The speaker for the night had to be younger than me also. That is when you know you are old--if the minister for the evening is younger than you. My age group and younger is now the responsible adults in charge of things! That is scary! I know I have been responsible with my life, but that is somehow different than being the "role model in charge."

loser!

Has anyone else typed in the wrong letters for the word verification? I don't know what my problem is! Dust was posting comments just a while ago, and he missed two of the word verifications. The q, p, i, and t are hard for me to pick out. If an r and n are close together it almost looks like an m. I feel like such a loser when I got those wrong. Why do they swirl the letters real close together? Is that really necessary? The point of the whole thing is for a person to manually enter letters to keep spam away. Why make it so difficult for the person? Maybe I need to go back to Kindergarten. Or get better glasses.

hotdogs

For lunch on Saturday, Dust and I tried out the new hotdog place next to the guy's coffee house. It had a cute mom and pop type restaurant feel to it. Besides the huge cutting edge flat screen tv hung on the wall. The vienna beef hotdogs were quality tasting. I did think it was a little overpriced-$3.25 for an average sized hot dog with chili on it. Chips did come with it and drinks were $1.29 extra. I was still hungry after I left the restaurant. I am glad that we tried it out though.

Being at the hotdog restaurant reminded me of my first job. It was at a German hotdog restaurant-the brats were actually imported from Germany. You definately got your money's worth there. The toppings and chili were loaded on heavily that you definately had to eat it with a fork. I worked there with my best friend and we had a blast. On Saturday late afternoons we ran the whole place and locked up by ourselves! Scary! I ran the cash register and took orders and my best friend cooked and made the dogs. We had the same guy customer every Saturday afternoon. He would come in and stare at the menu for ten minutes or longer. We tried not to burst out laughing because he always ordered the same thing! A Heineken beer and a corn dog of all things!

heaters and dirt

Today we had maintenance done on our heater. I was available to be home to let the repairman inside. The repairman came to the door and asked me if Dust was home yet. I told him it was easier for me to be home than Dust. Dust had previously planned on leaving work. He probably thought oh, great I have to explain all of this to a woman. I tried to listen real carefully to everything he told me. He wasn't condescending or anything and didn't make me feel stupid. I got the impression that he wanted me to watch what he was doing. It's hard to know whether standing by a repairman makes them nervous or annoyed. I went back upstairs when he ran the vacuum through the heater. I wrote down everything he told me on a piece of paper so I wouldn't forget to tell Dust.

While we were watching for the heater to kick on, he started cleaning the unit with a rag. I was so embarrassed with how dirty it was. I made a comment about how I needed to clean it better. He said it is hard because the washer and dryer is so close to it. The lint that you find in the lint trap will blow out and cling to the heater. There was a sticker on the unit that was about to fall off and he asked if he could tear it off. Another embarrassing moment. He had to check some numbers or cables or something outside the house and when he came back in he said he didn't want to get the carpet dirty because he had stepped outside. I really didn't care. He stayed on the linoleum entryway and gave me the paperwork. I picked up on the fact that he was a neat freak. I usually don't worry about how clean the house is because I generally think that men, especially repairmen, don't mind dirt. Guess I was wrong this time.