Fun Busy Weekend

My SIL is pregnant (10 weeks). Yesterday she told Nataly. I said something about"shiny, new toy" which is what I've been calling the baby for eight weeks. Nataly finally asked "What's shiny, new toy?" so it all came out. Nataly was super excited, she told our server when he came by to see if we needed anything. Then later when we got to my house she got up in the recliner with her mom and put her head on Mandy's belly and started talking to the baby. She told it that she loves it. She also decided it is going to be a girl and her name will be Clarabelle.
Last night I was talking to my friend Chris about the movie Capt. America and he started "teaching" me about comic books. It was fun since I LOVE comic book movies, but comic books were banned in my house when I was growing up. He's going to loan me a few of his favorite comic books to read.
Today I had a lot of fun with a friend. I've been trying to make my time with friends be less focused on food and more focused on time with friends, but tonight we went to Panera for dinner. It was good, if slightly dramatic (the server lied to me about my dinner, twice). Afterwards we went for a nice walk and that was enjoyable.

Goodness Me, Where to Start?

So this past weekend was a little crazy, but it was so great I have to tell you about it. (Pictures to come when I'm home on my own computer)
Friday- I went to the Taste of Chicago. I go every year, but this year (like last) was a bit of a disappointment (2nd smallest on record). Since we were done early, my friend Leah and I decided to knock something off my Life List and go to the observation deck of Willis Tower. Yeah, we went on the ledges and I have the pictures to prove it (like I said, I'll post them next week!)
Saturday- almost time for Jamie's wedding!! Met some friends for brunch then got mani/pedis at this place at our mall. I'd never had one before, but I'll swear by them now! Seriously, the chair was a massage-y chair and the lady got my feet all skin colored and stuff! Plus- it was only $29 (which I was told was cheap, and it was totally worth it). Then I finally got to meet the groomsmen at the rehearsal dinner. I kind of loved the best man, he was awesome (don't get excited, he has a long-term girlfriend, whom I also loved).
Sunday- Wedding day!!! Pictures and longer post to come next week
Monday- Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, I love everything about it. Hope you enjoyed my patriotic videos and had a safe and awesome holiday!
Tuesday- It's my birthday! I turned 29, got my first massage (oh was that nice!), and got to go out with some of my best friends for tapas. Afterwards my friend J drove me home, and somehow I was concerned that we would have nothing to talk about (we've never spent any time alone, yet I count him among my closest friends!), but of course we had fun and found things to talk about.
Wednesday- BORING back to work
Thursday- Goodness! I went out for supper with Sarah, but the creperie we intended on going to was closed (sad!) and we had to go somewhere else. Which worked out in our favor when we got to sample free new muffins they won't really be releasing until next week. It pays to be a picky, regular customer apparently!

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".

30 Days of Song- Day One

So just so Sarah knows I didn’t steal this from her- Sarah, even though much of the idea of this is the same as what you wrote, I really feel this way, and I didn’t steal it, okay? Like Sarah, much of my life is about music. I love music. I sing almost everything. My small children at work literally hear music from the time I get there until I leave. I’m either playing a cd, or we’re singing a song, or I’m singing to them. Our group time is like 90% singing songs I made up to teach concepts. The thing I miss most about church is the singing. I miss being in college choir more than most of the college friends I don’t see anymore. I love music. So when Sarah blogged about doing this 30 Days of Song thing, I wanted to play too.

Day 1. Favorite song- Wow! This might actually be the hardest question on what I’ve seen of the list so far. The other items are all more specific. My favorite song changes based on my mood, and what I’m doing, and how I want to feel. One of my favorites is “Sweet N Sassy” by I5. I like it because it’s the overall message is that women can be strong without needing a man, but that they can be strong WITH men too. My favorite line, about a minute and half in is “I will be there for him, just as strong as he will be there for me. When I give myself, then it has got to be an equal thing.” I don’t like it when women act weak around men, and I don’t like t when women act like they can only be strong by making men weak. We can both be strong. Men and women are different, and we each have different strengths, but we make each other better.

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 :)

In response to Jeff

This past week, as I sat at dinner with a good friend, she said something to me that really struck a chord. Or rather, her husband gave her a message to give to me, that really struck a chord. Apparently the two were discussing me and he said that I believe more than I let myself believe (in regards to Christianity). I was going to come home and write a fun upbeat post about all the fun that I had with my friend at dinner, but then I wanted to meditate on what exactly it was that had been said, and what it meant, before I wrote about it. I like to take things seriously.
I think in some regards this is accurate. I know, especially during the “holy” holiday seasons (Advent and Lent/Christmas and Easter) I wish I believed. I really enjoy teaching those things to my students. I look forward to attending Christmas Eve and Easter morning services (the only two times I can be counted on to go to church all year). I’ve often said I would probably attend church (or would have given it up less readily) if there was a good, full Sunday morning service style service, but offered in the evening (maybe during the week- like a Thursday night would be good). Not the Bible study style service my old church offered for evening service or Wednesday night, but a real full on service. But do all those things mean that I believe?
I have a hard time thinking that someone who is powerful enough to CREATE the entire universe, would also care about the little dramas of MY life. Why would any all-powerful being want a relationship with me? Or really with any of us? If the Bible truly is the infallible word of God, then there are some ridiculous things that God went through just to have relationships with us. Even taken as the highest form of creation, as a species we are not all that amazing.
I have a hard time believing that there is a God who would give people the power to think, and who controls the laws of nature, who would then create a world where those very laws of nature can be used to make it hard to believe. What about all the evidence for evolution?
I have a hard time with any group that looks at what their God has called wrong (homosexuality), declares that God doesn’t make mistakes, therefore he didn’t make those people that way, but he did make babies that are so sick they never take a breath on their own.
All that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t believe or that I don’t believe, it just means that it’s hard for me to believe. So, is my friend’s husband right? Could I believe, if I’d let myself? Maybe. But I’m selfish, and I like my own little sins and I don’t want to give them up. Perhaps I’m giving up greater blessings by refusing to give up my secret sins, and perhaps as I mature and think more about this, I’ll change my mind. For now all I know is that I’m possibly open to persuasion. But, dear friend who started all this, don’t take that as an invitation to gang-witness to me. You’re better off approaching it as gently as if I were a wild deer, because although I’m thinking about it, I’m skittish about the whole subject!

Roasted Pepper Corn Chowder

First, some announcements. One, please note the Relay button on your right as you read this. This is a link to the Relay for Life website, if you would like to donate to my co-worker’s team. Second, I added a playlist with the songs I’ve talked about on this blog, but you have to hit play if you want to hear them. Now! On to my regularly scheduled posting :)
Yummy! One of my co-workers is taking a cooking class on “Soups and Stocks” this month. I would love to take this class, but since I’m trying to save money, I have the next best thing. Her class meets Tuesday night and on Wednesday she brings me a sample and the recipe. This week was Roasted Pepper Corn Chowder, which I made for me and Sarah tonight. Of course I didn’t follow the recipe, but…It turned out mighty good anyway! Here’s my recipe.
Roasted Pepper Corn Chowder
6 T unsalted butter
6 shallots, peeled and diced (or ½ a medium onion)
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic
3 T cornstarch
3 T sugar
2 bags of frozen super sweet corn (the steamable kind) (appx 6 cups of corn)
1 C half & half
2 (ish) C milk
2 roasted poblano peppers, peeled and diced*
1 ½ t flour (I used buckwheat, but any will work)
Salt to taste

Melt 3 T butter in a large stockpot, over medium-high heat. Add shallots and celery and sauté until soft. Remove from heat and grate garlic stirring with each garlic clove. Add cornstarch, sugar, 4 C corn and half & half. Mix well. Puree in a blender until thick and mostly uniform. Return to stock pot and add butter, salt and remaining corn. Heat over medium heat.
Place 1 C milk and poblano peppers in blender and blend until smooth. The poblano chunks will mostly rise to the top. Add them to the stock pot, reserving the green milk. In a bowl combine flour and a small amount of green milk and mix until the consistency of pancake batter. Add to stockpot. Heat five more minutes. Add remaining milk as needed to gain the desired consistency.
Eat.

*How to Roast/Peel a poblano pepper
Remove grate from gas stove. Turn the heat as high as it will go. Grasp the pepper in a pair of metal tongs and hold it directly in the flame. It will snap and the skin will bubble and brown. Rotate until the skin is brown and peeling off of most of the pepper. Allow the pepper to cool and then grasp in a towel, rotating roughly. Most of the skin will come off, don’t worry about the remaining bits.
Also, when dicing the pepper, be sure to remove all the seeds, because they are the spiciest part of a pepper!!

An Epiphany

Wednesday evening I got to see Sarah and Jeff. I was so glad to be able to hang out with them and to see them laugh. They are very frank about their pain. Naomi IS their daughter, and they feel just as any parent would after losing a child. They are no longer hoping to become parents, they ARE parents. They are grieving parents who have lost their only child, but they are parents. It’s all gut-wrenching and leaves me not really sure what to say to them. I want to say I’m sorry, but when people said that to me when my dad died, it just made me mad. I want to act normal, but I know it’s hard for Sarah when people seem to be continuing their lives. I want to give hugs and try to make them feel better, but Sarah has blogged about how that just makes her more sad when people want to hug and comfort her. I only held that little girl for a few hours in Target, but she is so clearly a special girl, and I so very much wanted to see her grow up and become a special woman. Just holding her while she slept gave me a new perspective on my life and my drama and I was crushed when I learned what happened. I literally had my laptop on and Sarah’s blog up for the entire time, from when I learned this might happen until she was gone, grieving for my friends, for that little girl who may not get to know the two FANTASTIC parents she was supposed to have, praying and asking my Christian friends to pray. I hope there’s someone in the birth parents life, who is reminding them right now, of all the reasons why they gave Naomi up originally.
Last night I went to the wake for my SIL’s grandmother. There was some minor drama about whether I should go or not, because Mandy’s sister and I have some unresolved drama of our own. Years ago, she and I were best friends. I won’t go into everything that went down that resulting in our eventual separation, but suffice it to say I hadn’t even seen her in two plus years, and hadn’t really talked to her in at least five. Once, we were so close we joked that we would each be like aunt’s to the other’s kids. Now I saw her seven month old son for the first time last night, and I hadn’t seen her two year old daughter since she was just a few months old. You know, there was a time when my vision of my future was very clear. I would finish college, become a high school teacher, and at some appropriate point (preferably around my 25th birthday) I would marry a delightful man who loved history, then we would have a boatload of kids and settle down to living life. My future is no longer as “clear” as I once thought it was, but I’m glad. Back when I knew where I wanted to go, life was about the destination, getting from point A to point B with no concern for how I got there. Now, life is about the journey. I stop along the way to point B to pick wildflowers, I meander down unexplored paths to see if I really want to go to point B. And somewhere along the way, point B changed from “marriage and kids” to something else. I don’t know where I’m headed, I don’t know what I want. I’m not living the traditional life, but I’m living the life that makes me happy. Standing in the funeral home last night the distinction between who I was then, and who I am now was made remarkably clear to me. The person I was then wouldn’t have known Naomi, because that person let other people decide who should be her friends. Someone in my life got mad at Sarah for something stupid, and I didn’t talk to Sarah for years because of it. In the past I’ve talked to Sarah about how high school was rough for me, because some of the people we knew made fun of me, and that I don’t really want to reconnect with those girls. And I think that Sarah has taken some blame for that, which I never meant for her to do. I made the same mistakes, I just didn’t recognize them until this convergence of events. I’ve let Sarah take the blame for not standing up for me when her friends made fun of me, or whatever, but I didn’t stand up for her either. I don’t want to make that same mistake again. I can’t stand up for Sarah and Jeff to the people who hurt them, but I can stand by them and I can hope that Sarah can forgive me for being as much a punk as she ever was, maybe more.

Updates

Mandy's grandmother passed away today.
I have spent most of this evening feeling useless. A good friend is wounded in her very soul and there is nothing I can do for her. I can offer no comfort, there is nothing I can say or do to help.
I can't bring GiGi back. I can't convince the birth family to give Sarah back her daughter. I can only offer the smallest comfort; a hug, a reassuring word, a collection of pictures...
Neither loss is my own of course. I had no real connection to Naomi. Yet before she was a week old, she made me really think about my own life, the places I want to go, the things I want to accomplish. She made me reassess my emotional maturity, and emotional decisions I've been making for twenty years. I came home from my one evening out with her and wrote her a letter just like I write for Nick and Naty, she affected me as much as either one of them did.
I feel so bad for Sarah right now. I don't know what to do, or how to help. I just hope there's something someone can do, someway to help Sarah and Jeff heal from this.

Naomi and GiGi

I have decided against posting my pics of Naomi as a way to respect her privacy. Her birth family has decided they want to raise her themselves and thus are picking her up from Sarah and her husband tomorrow morning.
On top of this situation, I have spent the last several days watching my niece and nephew while my SIL spends her time at the hospital. GiGi is what Nick and Naty call Mandy's grandmother, and she is very sick. Several times this weekend, Mandy has been told that GiGi probably won't make it another few hours.
In short, this has been a terrible weekend.

Prayer request

I don't know how many readers are also "pray-ers", but if there are any of you who read and pray, read on.
As you know my friend has been trying to adopt for many months now, and was recently picked. She and her husband brought Naomi home just over a week ago, and they love her. Sarah told me that Jeff's first day back at work, when he got home he came right to Naomi and took her right away because he had missed her. Sarah will be, without a doubt, one of the best mom's I know. However, there have been some issues with the adoption. The birth parents still haven't signed all of the papers, I don't really know which ones and what all is going on. What I do know, is that Sarah and Jeff met with the birth parents tonight, and now have reason to believe that the birth parents may be changing their minds about giving Naomi up. Obviously this is hard on Sarah and Jeff, and frankly is hard on Naomi. So, if you pray, please pray for my friends. Pray for Naomi. Also, pray for the birth family. Pray for wisdom on the part of all those involved and pray that Sarah and Jeff will stay strong no matter what happens.

Fun With Plumbing

Earlier this week I was awakened at the unbearable hour of 4:30 after only making it to bed at about 2:30. What could possible wake someone at 4:30, you might ask. After all it the hour from 4-5 that is the one hour that both morning people and night owls are generally asleep, who could possibly be awake to wake you up? And, dear reader, I would laugh at you for thinking it might be a person. Indeed, no, it was my sump pump. See I live about 20 feet from the blasted thing, and the “wall” between me and it is really just a series of cabinets, open at the top, and with a hole for a “door”. It is, therefore, not exactly sound deadening, and the sump pump was making the loudest grinding noise EVER. My basement leaks with uncomfortable regularity, so I was afraid to unplug it as the weather has been warming and we just had a fairly major blizzard. Also, it was 4:30AM, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight. I went back to bed and put a pillow over my head, trying to get some sleep before I had to go to work in the morning. At 7:10 my mom came downstairs and unplugged it, and I finally fell back asleep (for the less than an hour before my alarm went off anyway). My mom was going to rinse it out, and hope for the best (this has worked in the past, we get a lot of silt that clogs up the sump pump). That was five days ago. She finally rinsed it out today, but alas, nothing happened. Actually, something did happen, the ground fault just turned off. So we headed out to Home Depot to buy a new one, and also to see my SIL. An hour and a half later, our new sump pump is installed and it’s super quiet. Except it might not work. See, it runs, it’s clearly TRYING to work, but the bit of water remaining in the nasty basement hole merely appears to be stirring, not sucked up into the pipe and sent away from the house. One of three things is happening (we hope). Either there is ice stuck in the piping which will need to be removed, but which we can fix; or there is not enough water in the hole for the sump pump to suck anything up, but there is enough for it to think it should work, which we can fix; or the darned thing is not installed correctly/broken, which since my mom has installed a new sump pump every year since my dad died, I think means it’s broken. Fudge!
Also, in case you read my blog, but not Sarah’s, she has a shiny new baby girl named Naomi, whom I have not yet met in person, but looks adorable in pictures. You should probably go check those out on her blog.

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)

Christmas

I had meant to participate in one of those “25 Days of Christmas” things with post questions for each day from December 1 until Christmas. But instead…I didn’t. No, instead I just spent a lot of time enjoying Christmas with my friends. I told you I went to the Holiday Magic light display at the zoo I’m a member of, and it was awesome. It was below freezing both days, and yet I had a total blast. I didn’t take the kids either day, instead I went with Kristin on Saturday and Sarah on Sunday. Saturday Kristin drove. She was quite pleased with herself because she got to play with a penguin. She put her finger on the glass and started moving it near a penguin, who followed her finger. After a few minutes he decided he wanted to lead and swam away a little bit, but Kristin thought he was done playing. Then he came back and gave her just the most exasperated look ever and swam away again until she started trailing him with her finger. It was very cute, and very funny. That was three weekends ago (!) I totally meant to tell you about it sooner, and also show you these pics.










Last weekend my best friend and I got together with our friends who are getting married and exchanged presents, then we went looking at Christmas lights. I haven’t just driven around looking at lights in forever (like since it was my gas that was being spent, or that of my equally poor friends?), but there’s a neighborhood not far from where we were that I had heard about online and from Sarah (Juniper Lane, South Elgin if you want to go). It was amazing!








Tomorrow I’m going to Chicago to check out the Macy’s windows (Kristin has always gone with her family but they didn’t go this year, I have never gone but always wanted to, so it works out well for both of us). Saturday I’ll spend the day with Kristin’s family and Monday is my family’s Christmas. It will be a pretty busy weekend, but I’m going to love every second of it!

**Update from Below**

Wow! I got my first annonymous comment today, and people are mean! I deleted it, because such things don't need to jumble up MY space. But I will clarify what I meant when I wrote before...
I'm not a lesbian. I don't HATE male companionship, in fact I do enjoy men. Men think so differently than I do that's it's always interesting to be around them. I enjoy the perspective they can offer. I've always had fun hanging around with my male friends or my friends boyfriends/husbands. I even seek it out sometimes when that slightly different perspective can help me solve a problem. However, I don't crave it as the be all, end all of my existence. I date. Sometimes. I've been in fairly long relationships (you know afew months or whatever). I just don't spend all my time seeking one out. If I was attracted to a man that it was practical to pursue, I probably would. But most of the men I know are dating or married to my friends, or they are the brothers of my friends, or they're in relationships of their own. Therefore, it would be STUPID to let any interest on my part show.
Also-no crush boy (thanks for the term Sarah!) is not currently dating/married to one of my friends. I would NEVER even look twice at a man in a relationship. Not in that way.
Finally- Sarah, you don't know crush boy, but I'll tell you all about him tomorrow at the zoo.

This week I...

This week, I…
…wanted to call in sick to work almost every day, but decided not to because I don’t get sick pay until I’ve been full time for a consecutive year. Which means that since I wasn’t full time from the September 3 to September 27 I have to wait until September, even though I was full time from June 4 to September 3.
…STILL did not buy a car. But only because I was waiting to hear about the car I really wanted. Which I finally did, and I might be buying that car on Monday. Otherwise I’ll buy a different car on Tuesday. Either way, I guess we know what I’ll be blogging about early next week!
…had to blow off my best friend for a trip to the zoo (and Christmas shopping), a party with high school friends, and a work party so I could babysit for my SIL while my brother slept (he works nights). Then when I got there, he went out.
…informed my SIL that I will be unavailable for ANY babysitting the weekend of Thanksgiving, most of January, and from May 30 through July 6. This is only partly related to the above item, and partly to things like my friend’s wedding.
…argued in favor of a guy taking a child bride. To be fair, it was in an historical novel in which a girl was married to her husband when she was twelve, but in a time (1940s) and place (rural India) where that was the norm.
Next week I’m looking forward to hanging out with my friend Sarah and reading my next book club book which is about Cholera and death-woo-hoo but at least no children will be getting married!

Getting Together

So my friend and I used to hang out every other week. Then I started working full time, and ever since it’s been chaos. We haven’t seen each other in weeks (weeks I tell you!) because I have to work all day, and she has commitments all night. Here are some highlights from our emails the last few days trying to arrange something (S-T is her to me and T-S is me to her)…
S-T: we NEED to hang out. seriously. we have gone far too long... lol... evenings, right? i am unavailable EVERY evening this week. bummer.
T-S: yeah, now it has to be evenings, so i guess i'll see you saturday and maybe we can do an evening next week or something. (she’s having a tastefully simple party)
S-T: Are you ever free on weekends? Evenings are usually pretty hard for me
T-S: weekends depend on my brother's schedule. . if he's off i'm free, if he works, i watch my niece and nephew, but there's still some free time in there, or we could take them to the library or something.
S-T: Well, let's see... I could probably do a Monday evening here or there. What time works best for you?
T-S: ha ha!!! you managed to pick my busiest night! I'm free the first and third mondays of the month (and the fifth if there is one). Which actually means i'm free this coming monday if you are
S-T: i'm sorry. that's actually our date night, but it's the only time i'm around!!! tuesday is bible study. wednesday is awana. thursday is usually choir (except not tomorrow, but i have megan... however, most 3rd thursdays of the month i'd be free!), and friday/saturday/sunday are usually crazy with family or social events...
T-S: lol, it's chaos! here are the choices as i see them...
a. hang out on the 3rd thursday of the month
b. hang out on monday nights that you don't have date night AND i don't have bookclub
c. hang out during my break time from 1-2 on workdays
d. something neither of us has figured out yet
Anyway, the point of telling you all this is to ask…any ideas other than the four I outlined above?

McDonald's Man

Yesterday I went for frappes and fries with a friend from high school.  We were hanging out talking about…umm I don’t really even remember what when this man spoke up. We had been discussing controversial topics (religion and politics) because the only person in the area was a man with headphones on, so I assumed he wasn’t listening. Then, just as it was getting time that she needed to leave, the man took out his headphones and began talking to us. He told us that women aren’t leaders because God made man first and it’s God’s plan for women to be second. He also told us that child support is unbiblical. Not everything he said was troublesome to me (he did say that relationships are about the hard times, but then he made it seem like he thought “his woman” should put up with him being homeless and jobless and not doing anything about it, so…). He ended (at the point that both of us had to leave) by telling us that men have it harder than women in life. We just said that we had to go, and we walked out, but…
Later my friend emailed me that she was sorry about what that guy said. I replied…
Whatever friend, you didn't tell the weird guy to come to McDonald's today at six and put in his headphones, but not play any music and then listen to what we were talking about and pipe up with some random stuff about I don't even know what and yell at me that men have it harder than women and that child support is unbiblical. Whoa, I think I just wrote my next blog entry!
Anyway, she thought that I was “T.O.ed” about it and even posted on her blog that she thought I might have something interesting to say about it. Here’s what I have to say about it…Hey at least stuff happens to me. Sometimes I feel like people often challenge my opinions about politics or religion in this manner and it reinforces to me that I need to really pay attention to what’s going on in the world around me. I can’t just say random senseless stuff, because at any moment I might be called upon to back up my opinion and I can either have facts at my disposal, or I can sound ignorant. All of which goes back to the religious discussion that she and I had, which in part was about Christians witnessing to an atheist friend of ours and the friend witnessing back in his own way. As long as everyone is respectful and you have facts at your disposal, it’s fun. All that said, it’s better when it’s among friends, not a stranger telling me things that I just want to laugh at.

Nappy time

Last night I went to bed at about four thirty this morning. At eight fifty this morning, my phone rang. As I was still very much asleep, I did not look at my caller ID and so I think I answered it thusly, “Ehhugh”. It was my boss. Head, meet wall. Repeatedly. I am clearly a moron. So she asks me if I want to come in early. Since I have never said no to extra hours, I said “Sure, how early?” “How soon can you get here?” she asks me. I wanted to say that I could get there at one forty five and not a second earlier, but that’s not real helpful for her. So up I got. I punched in at nine twenty three. By ten I desperately wanted a nap. Thank goodness I stupidly assumed it would be as nice today as it was yesterday when I was hot in a long skirt and tank top. I wore a knee length dress with shorts beneath for modesty. I live in the Midwest. I should have worn full length jeans, it was freezing. But at least I stayed awake right? Long story short in the next two weeks I will be working sixty three and a half hours when I normally work forty in two weeks. I guess its good practice for summer break when I double my hours. I just realized that it’s like five weeks away.
And Sarah? Yes you are that friend!