Resolute

I resolve to be a better blogger.
I resolve to read The Simarillion.
I resolve to continue on my way to a healthier me.
I resolve to remember, in all things, "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting.", and all the implications therein.
I resolve to remember also, "I would rather regret things I've done, than things I haven't." I also resolve to not let my 20s end without doing something to look back on, whether I regret that thing or not, is for time to tell- but I will do something.

Most of those resolutions are not "good" resolutions, in that they are vague without any supporting details to round them out and make them actually mean anything. I'll work out the details later this week, I just wanted to share the things I've been thinking about this week. This was my last New Year's Eve in my twenties. It was also the last of the child-free holidays in my group of friends since Jamie and Chris will have a teeny-tiny of their very own by mid-April. There are many changes in store for our little band of travelers* this year. Hopefully, some of them will be for me. It was thinking about all this, that led to the resolutions above.

*This is kind of a "my friend J-ism" but sometimes I think of my group of friends as a weird little fellowship, except without being stalked by orcs or the need to destroy the One Ring.

Well Hello There Stranger

So. I moved the day before Halloween. As you may recall I had two weeks notice that I was going to need to move, in which time I had to pack and find a place to live, while continuing to work my regular schedule, as well as trying to finish my bookclub book. Not good. But, I found a place to live- I live in a friend's basement bedroom, for rent that is totally affordable. I have fun with my friend almost every day, we go for walk/jogs once a week, we eat dinner together like civilized people, I like it a lot so far. Hopefully my friend does too.
But, do you know what it's like to try to pack up in fourteen days? Almost everything went to goodwill or the garbage or the curb so I wouldn't have to deal with it. I really only kept things I love. I purged almost no books, but plenty of other things.
I put my cat in her carrier for about the third time in her life. My friend was concerned that my cat and her cats and her dog would not get along well, so we made a plan to sequester Buffi for a while so they could acclimate to smell first. On the first day here I let Buffi out of her carrier after we secured the room. By the end of the second she had taught the dog how to unlock the door and come in my room. To bad she doesn't like dogs. Even tiny dogs that she is bigger than like Zoe. But she made herself free to roam the house where she encountered at least one other cat, and the cat we were concerned about. They made friends and agreed easily on who ruled which part of the nests (Buffi is in charge in the basement and Maddie rules upstairs).
About the time that we figured out a solution to the pet issue (Zoe can't be allowed free roam of my room because of the cat box), I got a mild infection in my tooth which led to a discoloration. Which meant I had to figure out if it was rotting, which would mean I might need to have it pulled. Except it's a front tooth, so it will also need replaced. So this week I have an appointment with the dentist, but now I'm concerned about what she'll say. Although the discoloration has faded and the infection seems mostly gone, I still have to go. And I think she's going to suggest thousands of dollars worth of dental care (wisdom tooth extraction, cavity filling, a few other extractions, possibly some other issues). Not pleased about that at all.
And that is why I haven't posted in weeks. I promise to do better now that things have settled down. Unless I'm kidding myself and life gets crazy again.

Real Tina?

My best friend Kristin can be…domineering. She knows what she wants and she will speak up until she gets it. She will accept that I have wants and needs as well and she knows that she has control issues, so she usually will back down if I ask her to. And that’s fine. But our past affects our present, even in friendships. And my former best friend (let’s call her M) was also domineering but in a very different way.
If I had been in another kind of relationship with M people around me would probably have recognized abuse warning signs. Before I met M I was shy and I didn’t have many friends, although mainly by choice. Then I met M and she got past all my defense mechanisms and we became “best friends”. Then she began wearing me down. I retreated from my other friends, to the point where I wouldn’t even defend them when she said bad things about people I liked. She belittled any subject that I excelled at (social studies, English and art mainly) and raved about what a math and science genius she was and that she had much better job prospects than I would because I struggled in the “real” subjects. So I wound up feeling dumb. I was also a big girl, although now my ideal weight is exactly what I weighed in high school, so clearly not “to big” and she constantly brought that up, so I felt ugly. Dumb and ugly, yeah I was definitely not going to even try to make other friends, assuming they would make fun of me for the “flaws” that M was seemingly willing to overlook. I never dared defend myself or my opinions to her because she was my only friend and I didn’t want to make her angry with me. And she got angry with me a lot. Her preferred “punishment” was to be “busy” whenever I wanted to hang out or talk, making sure that we interacted just enough that I never went back to my other friends (who all had their own stuff going on anyway, this was high school!), but also making sure that my interpersonal needs weren’t met. I wound up constantly feeling alone and lonely. It was terrible. We went to different colleges and I finally managed to make some healthy friendships and eventually broke ties with M. But those years of psychological abuse left me unable to defend my opinions, even to my closest friends. I often find myself giving way, even when it’s important to me, just because I don’t want to make people angry.
I’ve been working on that a lot lately, and trying to remind myself that my needs and wants are just as important as other people’s. This is especially important because almost all of friends are strong personalities, and I feel a little like “real Tina” gets lost in the crowd. I especially noticed this when Kristin and I were planning Jamie’s bridal shower. She was the maid of honor, so it really was her shindig, but we agreed to throw it together (especially as the other bridesmaids were too far away to help anyway). But sometimes I felt a little like the only thing she wanted from me was my pocketbook, and not any of my opinions. Like I said though, she was the maid of honor, it’s her shindig, whatever, and so I didn’t say anything. But now she and I are throwing another party, with another friend of ours. I suggested throwing the party, I thought up what I thought we should do for the party, and I’m the main go between for the other two girls as I’m closer with both of them than they are with each other. So today I went to Hobby Lobby to get ideas for the invitations and I wound up all conflicted because I could not make up my mind about what to get because I know Kristin has a tentative idea in mind. The thing is I have a solid idea. I know exactly what I want to do. So I guess the question is, will I speak up tomorrow when we get together to work on the invitations? Or will I let her steamroll me without even realizing it? Have I grown enough in the 10 years since M and I started drifting apart, to stand up for my ideas and my vision?
***Clarification***
Please let me be clear here. Kristin is not anything like M. I could stand up for myself and she would probably applaud that. She is also the first truly healthy friendship I had recovering from the damage M did, and she’s a good part of the reason I don’t still call M “friend”. This is not an issue of her not wanting to hear my opinion, or making me feel like I can’t defend myself. This is all about my personal demons holding me back.

Question

I know this young man who I very much respect. He happens to be an EXTEMELY private guy. His family apparently assumes that I’m fascinated by a recent…issue (which I won’t go into detail about because he’s a very private guy), because I have now been privy to every detail his family has about it, including some rumor mongering by more extended family members. One member of his family talked about it at some length with me today, going into some detail wondering about the why's and how's of the situation, speculating on the consequences (complete with some suppositions and assumptions based on what time he gets home from work), and otherwise discussing with me information I don’t think he would want me to have. He and I are by no means close, really more like nodding acquaintances than anything else, but I love his family. So, how do I handle it when I know I’m receiving information he wouldn’t want me to have? Do I cut off his family (who again, I love), and just say “I don’t think he would want me to know this”? Do I walk away, even when I’m being spoken directly to? Do I try to change the subject and never share what they’ve just told me? Do I pull him aside one day and tell him that this is going on (which would be SUPER awkward)? Do I tell another family member that this is going on without sharing the details and let her tell him if she needs to (she would understand why I’m flummoxed by the situation and would probably not ask what the gossip is)? Do I send her a link to this blog so she can read my question and answer it for me (effectively the previous choice, but without having to see her face to face)? Do I just ignore it? Is there another choice I haven’t thought of? Seriously, what does one do when one wants to avoid hearing gossip about someone? Especially when you’re secretly interested?

In Honor of Kristin's 28th Birthday

I will continue my photo challenge. Challenge Two is "a photo of you with the person you've been closest with the longest". Obviously (since I'm doing it because of her birthday) my person is Kristin. We had a great time tonight. We went out to a pub (actually my favorite place to eat!) here in town, got supper, and participated in the Wednesday Night Pub Quiz. It was super awesome for several reasons. 1. It was Kristin's birthday, and both her brothers came out with up, which was nice because I know she's been wanting to spend more time with them. 2. The meal was fantastic. 3. I enjoy the group of people we were out with a great deal. 4. Out of 18 (we think) teams, we came in number FIVE!! So now we have to do it again so we can try to beat that. Go Team Meese!!!

This picture is from my birthday in 2009 (when I turned 27). I had just graduated AU and was unemployed (meaning I'd been out of work since the school year started September 2008), so I didn't have a lot of money. So for my birthday Kristin and I went to Jamie's apartment after the fireworks and spent the night with her. Then on my birthday we went to Krape Park and played there for awhile before Kristin made grilled pork and potatoes for my birthday dinner.

Livin' The Good Life

So I'm housesitting. I won't say where or give any details, because instead I'm going to show you some pictures of how the other half lives :)
This, is the house. Please note that I literally could not stand back far enough to get the entire house in the picture.

This is the kitchen. Again, I couldn't get the entire thing in a single picture- but this is the best one.

This is the master closet (there are several pictures because people literally don't believe me when I tell them about this).

Yeah, see that railing on the left? That's the stairway. To the second floor. Of the closet. Also, it's closet-y storage under the stairs and right next to where I had to stand to take this picture.

And that's the washer/dryer. In the closet.

See those little nook like spaces on the right? Each of those is another closet section as big as the average bathroom (the kind with a tub, not those tight little half baths).

The second kitchen. Again, I couldn't take a picture of the whole thing, but you get the idea.



And finally the view I wake up to every morning from my friend's basement. And yes, that is both a pool and a small lagoon. And also yes, I have an incredibly hard time going to work when I stay here! So I am clearly living the good life this week!

30 Days of Song- Day...Whatever I'm on now

Cause I'm not going to bother looking it up since I know the question.
Song I want played at my funeral- Kellie Pickler's "Going Out In Style"


So today I went to Jamie's wedding dress fitting. It was super fun, but the plan was to go to the fitting, then do some mother's day shopping (not me, I'm done, but Kristin wasn't), then lunch. After that I suggested going to see Jamie's new house (she's moving as part of getting married, they're renting in Winebago). The next thing any of us new, we were at her old apartment (in which much fun has been had) packing things up because she's moving in a week. After that Kristin and I plopped on her bed and made Jamie try on all her clothes so that we could make her get rid of stuff that didn't look good on her. Which was great because we made score cards (like in ice skating) and rated her clothes' performance!

Fun Times & Day 21

I got off work early today and went to pick up the menus for Jamie's shower. I had been told they would be ready tonight, so I drove 25 minutes to pick them up. Only to be told they weren't ready and I can go get them TOMORROW night. Uh...gas costs $4.39 (at best) in my town, I don't really want to be in my car for almost an extra hour. When I go back tomorrow, I'm going to try to convince the nice manager that he wants to comp me some corn chowder for the hassle.
After that, I met Sarah for supper at Panera and then a shopping trip to Michael's. Dinner was great, they have this new chicken chowder I really liked. I had fun shopping with Sarah too. I'm a terrible shopper, I like it so much that sometimes I forget that others might want to wrap it up, so I wondererd through the whole store at a snail's pace (we were in there an hour and a half!) picking out wedding stamps (to make cards for my friends). Plus somehow, buying things for my class and some stuff to make a necklace for Kristin's mom for mother's day. Yet, despite the fact that I had fun, I might have had more fun if we had done what we usually do (hang out at McDonald's) becuase then we just sit and talk, and it feels less like trying to run errands and "fit in" hanging out.
30 Days of Song- Day 21
A song that you play when you're happy- I am generally pretty happy if there's good music on, but one of my favorite not-angry songs is "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Buble. The music is so bubbly and happy, and even the message is a happy one. I don't know, I just really like it.

Can We Slow This Ride Down A Little?

Because my weekends are goingby in a whirlwind of crazy and have been for weeks, and will continue to do so for months to come. Yesterday for instance I had brunch with the Olsons (my favorite family), drove to Aurora for a stampin' party with Sarah (hosted by another high school friend), and worked on stuff for Jamie's wedding shower.
Today, my mom and I took Nick, Nataly, and Mandy to the zoo for Nick's second birthday. Wait, just in case you didn't catch that, let me say it again- NICK'S SECOND BIRTHDAY. Like, seriously? Because I'm pretty sure it's been about six months since I graduated from AU and he was two weeks old when that happened, so...somebody screwed up their math, and for once I don't think it was me! But we had a lot of fun at the zoo. We got to see the rhinos (Nick was scared of them), the okapi (Nick loved her), the bison, the lions (they were awake, which is rare), and a bunch of other things. Then I spend $37 on hot dogs for lunch for five people! Also, when we were looking at the camels, the tram went by and the guide said "Over here on the right we have Christina, a breeding female [camel]." I was standing on the right between the tram and the camels. Awesome. We also went to the farm zoo (which we'd never done before) and the kids and I petted some goats. Then Nataly said "I want to go back to the grown up zoo" so we left. I would show you pictures, but when I'm done with the song thing, I'm going to do a picture challenge, so you'll have to wait.
30 Days of Song (Days 17 & 18)
Umm...did I mention how busy I was this weekend? So I didn't post the yesterday. Sorry.
Day 17. A song I hear on the radio alot- I actually don't listen to the radio very much, because my commute is litteraly four blocks, and if I'm going anywhere else, I listen to my mp3 player, but I do feel I've heard Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" quite a bit lately, so I guess that's my answer.

Day 18. A song I wish I heard on the radio- Again, I don't listen to the radio much, but one song that I really enjoy that I wish I did hear on teh radio is Katy Perry's "One of the Boys".

Book Club (and 30 Days of Song)

Tonight was book club night, which was great because I really needed some time with my friends. And although, I define the word "friend" more strictly than most people, I do have some friends that I really only see at book club. I didn't finish the book, although I will by the end of tomorrow night. Next week I'm leading the discussion on "Mansfield Park" at my Jane Austen Fan Club (totally different than book club-honest) so I prioritized that over book club's Band of Brothers. It turned out okay. Although my book club has a strict policy of discussing the book during book club, it's not a great book for discussion. You can't really ask something like "Artillery fire on fox holes- for or against?" and the book was really focused on broad sweeps of factual information, no more detailed than a grade schooler's social studies text. Sad!
30 Days of Song
Day 12. A song by a band you hate- yeah, sorry to punk out on this one, but I don't listen to music I don't like, so I literally don't know anything to put here.

I Believe (Also 30 Days of Song)

A friend of mine wrote about what s/he believes (I’m under orders to protect identity in this case, so be aware of odd grammar in the next few sentences!). This person wrote that s/he hates his/her believes because s/he has been teased for them, but what this person wrote made me think about what I believe. We don’t have much in common when it comes to believes, this other person and I, but I appreciated the chance to think through what I believe.

• I believe that our culture has become far too casual. I believe that a certain amount of polite formality would help us as a group. That’s not to say that we should be formal with our friends, but I don’t believe that I’m friends with someone just because I know that person’s name. It shouldn’t be weird when I call the parents at my work by their titles (Mr. Parent, Mrs. Parent…).


• I believe it takes years to form a solid friendship, and that friendship (like any relationship) requires work on the part of both parties.


• I believe that friendly love (philo) is just as important as the other kinds (romantic and passionate).


• I believe, assuming the existence of a God who created us, and who loves us, He wants us to use the abilities He gave us. That includes being able to form reasonable conclusions about the world around us, whether those conclusions draw us closer to Him or not. That’s why we have free will, to make decisions based on all the evidence we can gather.


• I don’t believe in using credit for stupid things. Credit should be earned and used for big things that the general public couldn’t afford all at once (college education, cars, houses, etc). I do believe that people should use credit reasonably- if you have to use credit to buy a car, you probably don’t need the fanciest car you can find, you need one that satisfies your NEEDS not your WANTS.


• I believe most Americans do not know the difference between a need and a want. I don’t go so far as to say the only things you need are food, shelter and water, but I do think there’s a big difference between needing a car to get to work to provide those things and “needing” a Hummer to travel the perfectly travelable roads found in most of the country so that you aren’t uncomfortable in any way.


• I believe in being kind to everyone. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice, and honestly it makes you feel better.


• I believe in education. It bothers me when people are willfully ignorant on important matters, especially the things that affect us all on a daily basis.


• I believe that we can and must all respect each other, whether we agree about our believes or not. I’m not saying we have to pretend to agree, I’m saying that as long as one person’s belief is not endangering another person, we need to be able to RESPECTFULLY disagree.


• I believe…some other stuff that I can’t think of right now, so I can’t write it down.

30 Days of Song!!

Day 5. Song that reminds you of someone- I don’t just love music, I love musicals. I’ve blogged before about what the song “For Good” means to me. When I saw this item on the list, this is the only song I could think about- it makes me think of both my good friends now (especially Kristin) and in the past (especially Marissa). I’m not going to post the video again here, but if you want to see it, you can follow the link!

A Great Weekend

You know on Friday night when I was sitting in the car waiting for Kristin to come out of her workshop, I wrote about my regrets, the things I wish I could change. But I didn’t write about what a great weekend I had, or all the amazing things I wouldn’t change. Friday was super fun, because I had the day off work and so I got to sleep in a little. Then I had lunch with my friend Sarah, and that was great! She cooked for me, which was super nice because I am usually cooking for someone else, rarely does anyone cook for me. And it was great! She made one of my favorite meals (completely on accident even!)- chicken with fried zucchini and pasta salad. And she made me some soup to take home, which was extremely delicious when I ate it today. After I left Sarah’s I drove up to Wisconsin (Whitewater), which is where the college is located. That was also pretty nice, since I was alone I got to listen to only the music I wanted, as loud as I wanted. Thank goodness for my mp3 player! Saturday I was hoping to meet up with some family, but they weren’t available :( Instead I did a little antiquing and then I went to look at some Indian Mounds. Here’s what I know- I followed the signs that said Indian Mounds --> I was on “Indian Mound Dr” passing roads like “Turtle Mound Ct” but it was completely flat. I ran out of signs pointing me towards mounds, and I never saw anything that could have been a mound. I think they paved them over to build the subdivision I was driving through. Which- would you live in one of those houses? Because I’ve seen Poltergeist, and no, no I would not. (Actually I wouldn’t for the sheer fact that they paved over history for yet another subdivision, not for fear of being haunted.) I also did some shopping at the conference vendors and bought some jumbo dice that are super fun in my class. We roll them and then practice counting the dots. On the way home, I had Kristin with me and we listened to her new CD. It’s a CD for teachers, but not really for classroom use, with songs like “I’m A Teacher, Not A Babysitter” and “Use Your Words”. And we concocted a plan for a girls’ weekend in a few weeks. We asked a bunch of our friends to go with us to St. Joseph, MI for some wine tasting, swimming in Lake Michigan, and pizza at the best pizza place I know of. Even Sunday was fun, because I went out for brunch with my friend Leah. We went to one of my favorite brunch places and had mimosas with brunch, while we talked about boys, books, and other necessities of life. Overall, despite my regret-filled post from Friday night, I had a great weekend! Just thought you might like to know that :)

Whirlwind

Yesterday was the day Kristin finally got to actually use her Christmas present. If you don’t know, a bunch of her family and I split the cost of a “Wild Encounter” at the zoo. This is basically a chance to be a zoo keeper for a few hours and help care for your favorite animal. Kristin’s is the penguin, so that’s what we got her. Her mom, Grandma and I were going to the zoo also, to take pictures of the five minutes in the public eye portion of the program, and also to have fun at the zoo, but since she had to be there before the zoo even opened, we left at 7:30. On a Saturday morning. When I was sick.
Then we left the zoo at 3:30 so we could be back at my house in time to change and leave to see a play. Kristin and I LOVE the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which is a group of 3 guys who put on these “reduced” plays. They started with “The Complete William Shakespeare, Abridged” where they go through all of Shakespeare’s plays in just under 2 hours. The one we saw last night was “The Complete History of Sports, Abridged” every sport ever played in just under 2 hours. It was awesome. After the show I made fun of Kristin for spelling her name out when the guys were autographing our playbills, so the guy spelled mine wrong (Teena) to show me how it feels. Ha! That’s exactly what I wanted!!
Today we went English Country dancing again. That was also a ton of fun, but now I’m exhausted. My throat is on fire from talking and laughing and coughing all weekend (plus being out in the cool breeze yesterday), and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Thank goodness for next weekend, when I take a day off work to go stay in a hotel in Wisconsin for no good reason at all, except I want a break!

What Friendship Means

One of my favorite musicals is Wicked. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the untold story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy dropped in. In this tale Glinda and Elphaba (the wicked witch) go to school together and become friends. The two girls separate when Glinda chooses power and Elphaba chooses right (in Wicked Elphaba is the “good guy” framed by circumstance and choice). Eventually, in one emotional climax of the show, they have a tearful goodbye, explain what they’ve meant to each other over the years. The song is called For Good and it has meant a lot to me. It reminds me to cherish my friends, and I once used it as the basis of a note ending a decade long friendship that was no longer healthy for either of us. Now, it is the ringtone that plays whenever any of my good friends call me (if I have to have your number in my phone, and I don’t like you- it plays No One Mourns the Wicked from the same show). The song goes like this…



I wish I could post this with full video instead, but it doesn't exist easy to hear and with picture, so you'll have to make do with this much.

Missing Oscar Night?

Miss Tina, Word has reached my ears that my fiancee entreated you to extend an invitation to my. I'm touched, but far too swamped to have time. I'm quite the fan (and I daresay, expert) on all things Oscar, and missing them this year pains me greatly. Alos, my computer has been most broken, so I cannot communicate through it. It seems a thing one should tell people when it happens, in case emails and such go unanswered. Enjoy tonight.
Always, [My Friend J]

I'm sure we will have fun, but perhaps a smidge less than if you were able to join us. See you tomorrow, and have a nice night.

[Then I found out he was blowing us off to finish our bookclub book and write questions and wrote him again]
Dude! skip the book & come play! We won't mind if you don't have questions. Or come when you finish.

I know. I totally miss you guys :( But such is my fate, that I must study and prepare alone.

Then, almost all of bookclub was tangential at best, completely off topic the rest of the time. Guess he could have skipped writing questions and come to Oscar night. Dork!

Oscar Night

Last night I had an Oscar party, which is not something I’ve ever done before. Nonetheless, it was TONS of fun. I invited a few of my bookclub friends to bring a snack, enjoy the show and the company, and hang out. The party was exactly the kind of party I like, just a few good friends who all know each other so I don’t spend all night introducing people and getting people talking, I just get to hang out and enjoy the party. Did you watch the Oscars? Were you happy with the winners? For once I had actually seen almost all the nominated movies (you know, except things like “Foreign Language Film” and “Live Action Short” because, puh). As a fan of movies, I of course had my favorites, although my fav was a long shot at best. I liked The Fighter. I told you about the afternoon I saw it over New Year’s. Perhaps it’s because it was the first of a series of Oscar bait that I saw, but even now, months later, it’s still my favorite. I loved the cinematography (not even nominated), the acting (won best supporting actor and actress, but Mark Wahlberg wasn’t even nominated), the directing (nominated, but lost to The King’s Speech), and the screenplay (nominated but lost to The King’s Speech).
I enjoy Anne Hathaway’s movies and I had a great time last night. But I lay my enjoyment completely at the feet of my friends, because Anne and James were terrible Oscar hosts! I sort of hated that intro video of Anne and Hathaway inceptioning their way through the Best Picture nominees, I didn’t think they were funny or even truly interesting, and I don’t think they did the job of hipping up the Oscars. Jon Stewart did a better job. Super fun night anyway. Also, I’m so excited that my bookclub is going to go see The King’s Speech.

Dancing, Adoption and Soup

So, I guess there was some big game today? I don’t really know, all I know is Kristin and I went out for dinner after English Country Dancing (yes again!) and while the bar was PACKED, the dining room was completely empty. Whatever I had a lot of fun dancing, it’s way more fun to exercise surrounded by people laughing and having fun, not even realizing I’m exercising, than to go outside in three feet of snow to take a walk, and workout videos in my house aren’t really an option. I can’t wait until next month!
On another note, I went out with my friend Sarah on Thursday and she told me all about the birth-parents that picked her and Jeff this week! If all goes according to plan, they’ll have a tiny little one keeping her up all night by this time next month!! She is going to be a great mom! Also, I gave her some low-sodium split pea soup which she said was amazing (and which I really like to). The recipe is out of the cookbook I wrote several years ago for another friend who was getting married, and I decided to share it with you here.
Split Pea Soup

1/2 large onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, grated (or the equivalent of jarred minced garlic or dried garlic, but if it's dry add with the peas, not the onion)
1 bag baby carrots, chopped into 1/4 inch carrots
1 C smoked pork chop (you can get them at Super Target or the Fresh Market by my house), fully cooked*
2 C dried peas sorted and rinsed
8 C water
seasoning to taste (I used Ms. Dash original and Ms. Dash stead seasoning along with some pepper)

Sautee onion, garlic, and carrots until onion is soft (about five minutes). Add peas and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Allow to cook until the peas are soft (about an hour) stirring as needed. Add pork chop and heat through.

*I bought my pork chop already fully cooked and just had to cut into bite size pieces. If yours isn’t', I would suggest cutting and then sautéing before you do the onions so you can cook the onion in the pork fat.

1 serving = 1 cup of soup (150 mgs of sodium, which is all I kept track of nutritionally speaking)

English Country Dancing

So you know how a few days ago I blogged about how I love proposal stories? Well I have one more to share with you. On Sunday the Jane Austen Fan Club I attend hosted an English Country Dance. Some people from Fermilab who do those dances demonstrated and then they taught us a few. I had just seen Jessica and J (who have been dating for a few years now) on Saturday (which I’ll tell you about later)- Jessica was ring free. When we got up to dance, pretty much the first thing I noticed was her shiny new ring. Later she told us her story.
On their first date she and J had walked to a local landmark known as “the castle”. Yesterday J made her go for another walk to the castle, which she didn’t really want to do, because it was cold, but she did because after all she does love him. When they got there she was looking at the castle and he was standing behind her. He tapped her on the shoulder and got down on one knee and asked “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Of course she said yes, and the rest is romantic history (or future depending on what you’re talking about).
She apparently knew it was coming soon-ish because they had picked out her ring together, but she says she was still surprised, and of course my JAFC and I are happy for them. Congratulations guys!
Also, English Country Dancing is fun. If you don’t really know what I’m talking about, watch any Jane Austen movie, the dancing they do at the ball is English Country Dancing. Alternatively, you could just check out my pics.
First the demonstrators:

Next a group of people learning the dances:
Here are the participants, participating:
Jessica and my friend J (he recently told me that "like many people a part of him wishes he could be blurry in all photos" therefore, I think he turned his head on purpose):
Kristin learning to dance straight from one of the fermilab men (I danced with him later, he was very nice and very good at what he does)

The Sweetest Stories

You know I don’t particularly want one of my own, but I do like to collect proposal stories. The ways in which men, that wonderful gender not known for the ability to express themselves, choose to express love fascinates me. Some of course are better than others. For instance take my little brother. He found out my SIL was pregnant and pretty much said “So we should get married, huh?” It’s not really a great story. But then there are the good ones…

• A young man whose girlfriend’s friend told him his girlfriend’s “dream” proposal (it involved a long walk in Chicago and a visit to a small church garden). So he took her for that walk, but it was raining and she had a cold and she just wanted to go home. Then they got to the church garden and as they stood at the banister he told her loved (for the first time) and proposed.
• A friend who proposed to his girlfriend on HIS birthday, because she was all the gift he could ever want.
• A young man who wrote a poem, proposing to his girlfriend, split it into stanzas and wrote a clue to the next stanza on the back of each piece, and then hid them all savenger hunt style, with the last clue leading to him, on one knee, ring in hand.
• A young man who slipped the ring on his girlfriend’s hand during the fireworks and waited for her to notice so he could say it. Only to realize she hadn’t noticed at all because the fireworks completely distracted her.
• A friend who went on his evening constitutional with his girlfriend, a walk they had taken many times before, only to fake a loose shoelace in front of a bench. She sat down to wait for him, he knelt to tie his shoe and proposed instead.

I like these stories. You don’t need a lot of details. You don’t need to know what the people in the stories wore, or the exact words that were exchanged. All you need to know, is that here is a couple of people so in love that they’ve decided to spend the rest of their lives together. Maybe it’s because I can’t even imagine loving someone THAT much, that I don’t feel any need to ever have my own story, but it’s nice to know that people do still love each other. Every single one of the marriages that came about from those proposal stories has lasted to this day. With two exceptions- the first one is the story of a dear friend of mine who passed away a few years ago, married to the man who loved her enough to make her take a long, rainy walk when she had a cold, and the last one, the story of my friends who are getting married this summer. That last story, by the way, was shared with me not by my friend the bride-to-be, but by her husband-to-be as he and I walked by that very bench.
If you read this, and you have a story to share, I’d love it if you left your proposal story in my comments for my “collection”.

New Year's Eve

This weekend Jamie gathered a great group (of which I obviously a part!) of people. First it was bride’s maids and their significant others to pick out our dresses for her wedding. So we went to David’s only to find that the color she had picked mere weeks earlier and had been carting a sample of to florists and such, has been discontinued so she has to pick a new shade. At first the David’s lady tried to sell us as a group on this shade of pink

But the maid of honor is Kristin. Who you may know has skin approximately this color.

She would have looked naked. And based on the dress we wound up picking, she would have looked like she has a weird shoulder growth. Instead Jamie picked this shade (which I like significantly more than the original actually).

After that minor drama, we stood around a picture of the dresses David’s offers telling the lady which ones we like and she just keeps saying “No, that one doesn’t come in the color you picked.” Jamie had pre-selected three dresses for us and only one came in the color she picked. We wound up trying on the one she picked and two others and unanimously agreeing to the final dress we tried on. It looked the best on the most people and everyone looked great. The one I tried on even fit me correctly, although the sizing chart said I should be wearing (depending on the body part) one-two sizes larger, I ordered the one that fit.

After dinner, we went back to Jamie’s apartment for the rest of the holiday weekend. Actually one bride’s maid and her husband went home and the rest of us went back to Jamie’s, but that’s okay because the next day other friend’s joined us, and sleeping arrangements were already tight. Games were played in which we split into groups like “White Sox and Cubs” (those wearing white socks and those wearing a color) and “Techies and Luddites” (those who own a Nook and those who do not).

Friday we split up to see a movie. Team Awesome (the boys plus me) went to see The Fighter, which was A-MAZE-ING! Except for the part where I kept having to shove my fist in my mouth to refrain from yelling at the screen for Mickey to, a-hem, beat someone up (because of course I was not in fact so into the movie that I was swearing at the screen. Honest.) Team Lady-parts saw Tangled, but I don’t know if that was any good because I didn’t see it.
And then, finally, what I’m sure you really wanted to know about, the New Year’s Eve celebration began. And it was awesome. Something awesoemly ridiculous was said at one point, and I said I was going to use it as the title of this post and then only include ridiculous pics and no words for the rest of it. Alas, I cannot remember what was said, so instead I included all of the above words. But I shall include the following pics as well...
Jenna and Justin
This is all of us playing a game (I think Finish Lines) and that is, of course, mearly juice in the Martini glass.
At some point we took a group picture, which turned out nice since I had never used the self picture option on my camera before (good job Chris!)

John brought peppermint schanpps and chocolate syrup so we could take a shot and then have chocolate syrup squeezed down our throats. Somehow, this was far messier than it sounds :)

But, it was also delicious (I hear, I of course have never taken a shot nor drunk even one drop of alcohol!)

John really could not understand why I was taking pictures.

But he seemed to finally get into the spirit of just being weird and enjoying it. I'm not really sure how he'll feel about the appearance of these on my blog actually.

Aww...aren't Jessica and John adorable?