Here We Go Go Go

2010-07-03T11:20:00.003-05:00

This morning my husband tried to fix our dogs retractable leash.

I figured out how to do black and white on my camera.

My dogs decided to jump for me.

Pose for me.

My second favorite photo of the day (my first favorite is the first one of my husband).

2010-06-27T08:35:00.002-05:00

This weekend I did lots of yard work. My garden was in a shambles! I needed to do something about it. My neighbor had recently renovated her outdoor space and I became inspired. One shovel, 15 bags of top soil later I did something about it!

Voila! I dug up all the crab grass that was growing behind this holly bush, laid down some bricks that I happened to dig up in the process, and covered with topsoil. Five little pumpkin plants are now in place with plenty of space to vine out!

My camera was super foggy this morning because of the humidity. Alabama! This tomato has grown all the way up to my flower pot! What do I do?! I guess let it keep growing.

This is a picture of a bean blossom. My beans have started loosing their leaves (I don't know if this is normal or not) but I didn't start to worry because I saw new little leaves coming in. Lo and behold, bean blossoms appeared this morning. I suppose it was just shedding an old skin? Ready for a July crop perhaps?! I hope so. I didn't get nearly enough beans the first time!

Mmmm a relatively good picture of my Okra! I've already harvested two of them but I'm waiting for this guy and another to get full before I cook with them. What are you going to do with only 2 Okra? I mean really.

My zucchini has been slacking off on me lately so I picked up one more plant while we were buying supplies for digging up the yard. Hopefully this guy will do something amazing since he's the first one planted in the ground! I think the others just didn't like being in containers.

Here's my front walk, a very foggy picture indeed. I dug up the grass on the right side as well which now matches my neighbors (and that looks really nice). The next step I suppose is to buy grass feed for the left side of the yard so I can have pretty grass instead of crappy grass :)

In other news, I bought a plane ticket to Phoenix for a very special wedding in October! There's no going back now and I'm super excited! Yay for imaginary friends.

2010-06-23T08:57:00.003-05:00

I'll entitle this one Wordless Wednesday. But I will give away some things. This is the project/quilt I've been working on FOREVER for my dear friend and college roommate, Lynnora, for her wedding. Wordless Wednesday follows!

2010-06-10T16:57:00.006-05:00

Lately I've been inspired by this blog ohsheglows. I visited it to find out more information about eating without processed foods and was fascinated by all the things she had written about. Her life, her bakery, her food journey, etc. Right up my alley. One of the things she did was called Whittle My Middle and I'm following that this summer, or for the next month. Weight lifting has died down for the summer since everyone's schedules is different. Let's face it, working out isn't very fun when you're alone (except running), so I needed something new to spice up my summer, a small goal to make things more enjoyable. We'll see what happens :) Who doesn't want some definition on their stomach? That's what I thought.

Another new thing, I bought a mattress and it has been heaven! HEAVEN. Jaime doesn't think so yet, but he'll get around to it. I also bought jersey sheets that he claims have given him carpet burn on his elbows and knees (just what does he do when he sleeps?). I know it's probably difficult to see in the pictures but the old mattress dipped in the middle (that's a difficult thing to photograph).

The new mattress is amazing and I have never felt better while sleeping. Ever. I'm so excited that I have it, and I'm sorry that Jaime doesn't like it yet but I'm sure he'll come around. If you haven't slept in two days then I would assume that eventually your body will take over and you'll fall asleep. When that happens I am sure he will wake up a rested and more well rounded individual. I'm sure.

Oh and with dinner tonight we're having some green beans from my garden. This will be my first time cooking and eating the beans we've grown :) Yippee!

2010-06-08T10:17:00.002-05:00

Jaime's been on my case about being a "real musician". He recently told me that he talked to my father about it and that they both agreed that I should spend more time learning songs by ear and working on "saloon style" playing. I really don't like this idea. I mean, I like the idea, I guess I just don't like the process. It's difficult for a classical pianist to just.. 'groove'. Maybe it's just me.

I had similar struggles with sight reading until I just sat down and made myself do it. I know that Dad and Jaime are right. I just am uncomfortable. It's like breaking in a pair of very stiff shoes. Playing without music is hard! It's so much easier to just get the music out and figure it out correctly the first time. If you mess up then it sounds bad and no one wants things to sound bad. But if you only sight read music then you'll never learn the chords. I'm a horizontal musician, I understand Bach, counterpoint. Brahms? Rachmaninoff? No. I don't know what's going on and memorizing them is even more difficult than sight reading them. Learning chords is not my cup of tea but it's good for me to grow as a musician.

Yesterday I made it through 2 songs.. almost. One I couldn't quite remember this morning so I don't know if it counts. And the other I played very well but when Jaime asked me what key it was in I couldn't tell him. I still can't. You start with a C chord (actually I think the song is in D but I wasn't listening to it when I figured it out so I started on C) and the melody line actually starts with E but then you play all the notes that are in the Eb scale. Tell me how that works out? I'm the music teacher and I don't even know. My only guess is that it modulates back and forth from C major to C minor. 4 years of college training and that's what you get.

Other news... how do you know when beans are done growing?

2010-06-03T08:55:00.014-05:00

This is my okra. I hear they can grow up to 4 feet high. Maybe I should transplant?

Being on vacation for over a week did wonders to my garden! They say that a watched pot never boils, well a watched garden never grows! Unless it's squash, they grow tons, and fast! In these pictures you will see just how fast and how much my garden has grown :)

Turnip Greens. The Mustard Green's sprouted and need to be composted.

Yesterday I went to the dentist and I bit the hygienist working on my teeth. I didn't even know it but I had clamped down on her hand while she was flossing my teeth and she had to tell me "you're biting me". I recently found out that you don't have to have some tests done at the doctor, like i could tell my doctor that I didn't need such and such regular whatever. I think next time I'm at the dentist I will ask them to not floss my teeth. I floss on a regular basis and it doesn't make me bleed. I do not think that bleeding is a sign of good flossing techniques and I will probably bite her again if she gets the floss out.

Look at that green bean!!

I've been reading Madeline L'Engle's The Irrational Season. I finished her first book in the series, The Circle of Quiet, while I was on vacation. This book is so perfect for me in so many ways. I wrote a while ago about my thinking through religion and God and all those fancy things. The Irrational Season seems to fit in right with what I'm going through and it is such a relief to read. I've never had a Christian influence question such questionable things before and I feel so much comfort knowing that it's ok to ask questions and as L'Engle says, it's ok to not have answers. I've decided that I would like to visit some Anglican churches and maybe some more Episcopalian churches too.

Yellow Squash growing faster than the speed of light!

The bees seem to be doing their job. I didn't hand pollinate this yellow squash yet here it is. I've also noticed that the cantaloupe has really encouraged the bees. I see them wandering around every morning while I'm getting my coffee ready. My kitchen window is just to the left of the railing that the cantaloupe is on and I'm really exited about having a pretty view while I'm cooking.

Cantaloupe vining up my railing!

Tomatoes

In case you're wondering I did have my Moe's Wednesday with Lauren but I made healthy choices (minus the cup of queso). I'm not sure what I'm going to have for dinner tonight, I'm still working on that whole "be creative" part of cooking. I am afraid that my creations won't turn out very tasty. It's a risk I'll just have to take!

Zucchini Flowering

Bell Peppers :)

This summer is already going by so quickly. I hope it slows down soon. I looked at our calendar and we've already got two weddings to go to. One is in Kansas! I can't wait to see all my college friends. Speaking of weddings.. Lynnora has a gift coming her way soon. I have to work on that this week and next week to get it all finished and ready to go. I'm so pleased with it so far though. So very pleased. Sewing must have taken off for me because I have several other projects I'm working on right now as well.

Basil and Cilantro

I'm starting to feel the relaxed feeling of summer, I'm starting to realize that I can do things in my free time and be just as productive if not more than I am at work. This free time is letting me work on the new blog with Mom and get sewing projects done. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Oh and one last tidbit. I just downloaded a new album on iTunes that I heard from this guys blog. I love it. Love it. Jaime hates it, but I don't very much like Scholomance so I guess we're even. The album that I downloaded is Go by Jonsi. Amazing :)

Lastly... The brussel sprouts have been attacked for weeks by worms. They come out of no where and no matter how long I spray them with organic bug killer or pick the bugs off myself they find their way back. I know brussel sprouts are yummy, that's why I planted them. I didn't know worms liked them just as much as I do. It's a pity. I might be able to save one plant but that's about all. The rest of them look like this little guy. Naked.

2010-06-01T20:50:00.003-05:00

As I promised my mother and I have started a food blog about Michael Pollan's rules in his In Defense of Food book. I'm looking at it as a variation on Clean Eating because that's basically what it is and it's way easier to type Clean Eating than it is that whole Michael Pollan blah blah in defense of food blah blah blah. You should check it out. We'll be posting our progress and recipes that we've tried so be patient as we fill it up with lots of good information :)

It's called MotherDaughterEatWell.blogspot.com

Go to it here.

Oh my.. you know it's late (even if it's only 9pm) when Charles Ives comes on your iTunes singing They are There..

And I made more cookies :) They are under my MP list of foods I can eat. AND! My amazing and wonderful aunt in Indiana mailed me my quilt back all quilted perfectly and beautifully. What a treat it is to see what she does to my creations. Well.. she makes them way better that's for sure. I'm SO thankful for her. I can't wait for Lynnora to see it :)

2010-05-30T15:26:00.013-05:00

We got back from our beach vacation late last night. It seems to be a theme with Jaime and me to drive to places late in the evening. It was much better in the long run, to drive late last night than to drive in today. It meant that we got an entire day to catch up on things, do all our laundry, and Jaime can connect back with his video games.

If I tried to retell the past week's events we would be here for a very long time. Basically we went to the beach. Edisto Beach in South Carolina. A vacation spot that I've been to a few times as a little girl (we actually found the beach house we stayed in almost 20 years ago). I think this will be one of those vacations that is better the more I look back on it. It didn't seem to really sink in while we were there. It could have been that Jaime didn't like the beach so I never got to lay out in the sun with him, but I didn't want to put him in misery.

We all rode bikes. Took the dogs to the beach. Churchill got to swim. Played a mean game of Axis and Allies, turned some tricks in Spades. Jaime and I spent an evening in Charleston. I found out that I like crab but still don't like shrimp. We ate at a local dive called Whaleys and had drinks at the Pavillion listening to a live band with a very effeminate lead guitarist/biker who's only dance move was to shimmy... We went crabbing, Jaime almost got hooked by a fisherman with little control over his pole. We ate at the local fireman's fish fry.

There were lots of things that we did but the best part was simply being with my family. The hardest thing of all is driving away from my mother and father as we head back home. I cry almost every time we leave (not in front of them, but quietly on our way out of town. It's such an intense part of the trip for me and I hate having it come so soon. But it's a good thing I cry isn't it? It's good because it means that my parents are that important to me.

We got home and I had yellow squash and zucchini waiting for me. My first squashes yet! We're going to eat them tonight.. there might be too much :)

My Mom and I are talking about getting into cleaner eating. She was reading the book In Defense of Food, and I thought it might be a good idea to eat less processed stuff so we might start a project this summer, or part of it. I mean, what am I going to do without mac and cheese? Candy? I'll go into more detail as I research it. I think this week will be devoted to researching and getting ideas. Food food food. Food!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMIFtdeOSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBFfTUW1df4

Those are some videos of Churchill swimming in the ocean and Huxley eating some crab legs.

2010-05-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

Jaime and I drove into Anderson around midnight on Friday night. The dogs and I were exhausted and went to bed by 1am. Jaime, on a recent stunt to drink caffeine again, stayed up later with Mom and talked. Speaking of talking, it's been a more fulfilling joy than expected to hear Jaime stay up and talk with my Mother, also to hear him relating stories to my family of his point of view on some joint family memory. I never thought that I would take pleasure in those things, never thought they would mean so much to me but they do. Jaime is beginning the long process of becoming as much my family in memory as my own family I grew up with.

The dogs woke me up at 7:15 this morning and they are still wide awake. I went to bed last night with a migraine and dreamed of ways to get rid of it including drinking water that my dogs poured for me in these long tall glasses. I just woke up and took some medicine which I'm sure is what my dream intended for me to do.

Last night I went on a walk with Dad around the new neighborhood. Floods of homesickness came rushing back to me only this time it wasn't for people or places or even things. It was for how Anderson "feels". We walked around and talked about houses and Dad told me who lived where etc. I suddenly realized that walking around Birmingham would have been sitfling in the humidity. Walking around Anderson, however, was like walking in a dream. I'm not even kidding here so don't laugh! It was the perfect temperature outside, plus!, there were like.. NO bugs. It was my favorite time of the day, when the sun gets ready to go down but it's not quite dark yet. Everything glows in that light you know. Everything is surrounded by a halo, a southern halo. In that moment I really missed what Anderson offered me my entire childhood. I began to remember running through my old neighborhood playing with friends. We stopped to talk to some friends and a grandfather said to his grandson, "Tonight I'm gonna build a big fire and we're gonna sit up and watch for fireflies". I forgot all about that, but as I walked around outside with my Dad I remembered. I don't wish I could move back to Anderson, I've really and truly begun to enjoy Birmingham, but I miss those summer nights in the upstate. Not to throw back to Grease or anything but I do miss them.

So today we're packing up and getting ready to drive down to Charleston. I wish I could say that the forecast looks better today than it did yesterday but that wouldn't be true either. I really REALLY hope that it doesn't rain every day that we're there. And that if it does it would at least give us a few hours of sunshine. It's not a lot to ask. It really isn't, I mean, we are sacrificing hours of saved vacation time here to the vacation gods (so to speak, no this has nothing to do with my "faith" talks) the least they could do is give us some quality sunshine by which we can go crabbing. That's all I'm asking for really.

Oh and I forgot to tell you, I found my bikini at Target after all and no I don't look like a whore, I look like a respectable fashionable hot person.

2010-05-21T11:26:00.003-05:00

We're leaving this evening for Anderson. Sometimes it seems like such a long difficult thing to go home and other times it feels like we could just hop in the car and be there in no time. Today it feels like the no time time. There are so many things that need to get done before we leave and I'm thankful that I have at least 3 hours between when I get off work and when Jaime gets off work to do them by myself. I work harder when I'm home alone. When my husband is around I get easily distracted for better or worse. Cleaning is one of the things I really look forward to if I ever get a chance to stay at home and raise a child. On my Wednesday's off I've been able to clean almost the entire house and I've found such pleasure in doing so. I want to vacuum every day. Dusting.. maybe that one is not my favorite thing to do but don't you feel so much better when your bed is made and there are those straight vacuum lines in the carpet? Dogs don't help it stay that way. Every evening around 8-9 they start their final run down where they chase each other around the house until they are exhausted and finally ready to go to bed. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we didn't crate Huxley during the day time. Would they have a similar romp before the great afternoon nap?

The weather forecast for the beach looks sad but not quite grim. What exactly does 30% chance of rain mean when you're at the beach? I'm starting to think that my family vacations are always rainy. Last year's wasn't too rainy but now that I think about it, it did start raining while we were in a boat on the lake. That wasn't very nice at all. Nothing quite beats getting rained out of your tent in the middle of the night though. This time we'll be in a house, not a tent so I guess it couldn't be too bad. As long as we get to try and catch some crabs that's all I care about. And my dogs, I want them to do the whole beach thing. I've been trying to get them psyched up about it but I'm not sure how much they understand so far. We have been practicing walking on a doubler on the leash, you know, where one leash splits and holds two dogs. It's a lot more difficult than the dog whisperer would have you believe.

I think that my parents are concerned that I haven't been going to church on Sundays for the past year. I decided to take a break after being a church pianist for the better part of this decade. Despite participating in mass twice a week (I don't take communion but that's another story) my parents still feel that I need to be part of a congregation. To fellowship with believers. I feel like I've been tiptoeing around this for a while now so I figured I might as well write about it because that helps me "release". I feel confidant saying that I have grown more spiritually this past year apart from church than I ever have in my entire Christian life. There was that time in middle school and high school where I was learning all the great theology of John Calvin, but this beats that.. not by much, but it still beats it. I've been absolutely amazed and inspired by the things I've come to question and understand deeper through this break from church. I am in no way advocating "not going to church". I think that this is a season that I'm going through and I'm going through it for a very good reason.

This past year I've been trying to focus on very very basic beliefs. Perhaps it's that I'm living in Alabama which I believe is more stereotypically "Christian" than South Carolina and perhaps that has a small reason why I'm thinking through the things I'm thinking through. I've just noticed a lot more people are doing and believing things simply because someone else told them to, or because it's just what you do, going to church on Sunday mornings, it's just what you do. I know lots of people are angry with the "church" because there are a lot of Christians out there who don't really act like Christ. That's not my beef at all. In fact, I don't really have a beef. I just don't want to become someone who only believes what she believes because Mom and Dad believe it. I think my church upbringing has been wonderful and I wouldn't change it for the world. I think my parents are loving parents and that the congregation that they belong to, which helped raise me, is a beautiful group of people (minus the strange lady with one glove and the funny hat). Lately, however, I've found myself wanting more. I think it's probably one of those "growing up" things that you have to go through. I could go to a church and sing on Sunday and take notes during the sermon. I could have debates with my husband over theology and I could attend Bible Studies where I discuss my prayer requests. Or I could stay at home and think really really hard about how if I were born in Eastern Europe would I truly believe that Jesus Christ died for my sins, and despite what my upbringing might have me believe, He is the only way to Heaven, that I'll go to Hell because I'd never heard of Him. I know some Christians believe that they were just not "chosen" and that in some strange way it glorifies God to chose some and not others. Heaven, which is it's whole lifetime of discussion. I've spent time pretending I'm an atheist just so I'll know what it would feel like to have no hope of Heaven. To die and simply not exist anymore. Some people believe this just as much as I believe there is a Creator of the universe.
I've thought through a lot of different things and I know I'm not nearly done thinking or making my mind up about any of it yet. I don't understand why gay people can't get married. I really honestly truly don't understand why they can't. As liberal as that might sound, I still think that abortion is killing a baby. It's the issue with homosexuals that has really stirred my religious questions because it seems to me that the Bible says that's wrong. But I don't understand why it's wrong, and I know other Christians can wiggle their way around the Bible and pick and choose what they want out of it. Which then (rabbit trail) led me to think about what I personally wiggle around in the Bible, and what lots of people wiggle around. I just don't know what to do with all this wiggling.
There is an Islamic center just down the road from my house and they put up quotations from Muhammad or the Qur'an. They seem pretty decent. So do the people who believe in the Qur'an rather than our Bible.. are they the ones that are wrong? And what about the Catholics and their other books? They must be wrong because MY Bible doesn't have what theirs does. But do they think that I'm the crazy one? I doubt that my brain would have had the free time to question these things had I been learning about the same things I've been learning about since I was a small girl. (not that there aren't plenty of things to learn about in Christianity, I just want to know more about the things around it)

So many questions! So many things to worry and wonder about.

Right now I'm going to worry about these things. Get your laundry done, clean the kitchen, pack your bags, walk the dogs, feed your husband, get us all in the car, drive home to Mom and Dad (the favorite part of my day, that and when Jaime comes home from work).

2010-05-18T11:31:00.002-05:00

It turns out that my yellow squash was not pollinated well enough. I guess that's what I get for being a rookie at squash growing. We have a lack of bees, back porch or front porch, so I've been pollinating by hand. I've googled some videos about it and feel much more prepared this time around. I'm learning so much about veggies though. It's really amazing. I mean, who knew that female squash actually look like a substantial veggie BEFORE they are even pollinated? Who knew? And who knew that bell peppers don't need that? Or do they? Oh my oh my. Tomatoes.. apparently they are pollinated much easier than squash.
I'm making myself crazy here. However, I learn by doing.

I'm reading Madeline L'Engle's book A Circle of Quiet and it's so inspirational. This book is by far better than any devotional book I've ever read. I was reading through Streams in the Desert devotional and it got to the point where I felt like it was pushing an agenda on me. God is bigger than agendas. He is bigger than all things except himself :) Madeline L'Engle is such a balanced person and I find myself understanding more about my personal ideas and opinions as well as the world around me than I ever have by simply reading her books. She is also making me really want to have an old house in the country. My vegetables are also making me want an old house in the country as well.

Last night Huxley and Churchill (though I expect mostly Huxley) ate an entire bowl full of little biscuits. I thought they were up to no good and when I called them Churchill simply looked adolescent while Huxley had an entire biscuit in his mouth. We leave for the beach in a few days and I couldn't be more excited to see what the puppies do with the ocean and the sand. I have a feeling that they will enjoy running around on softer things than hard ground but will not enjoy the water. I will have to take lots of pictures. Lots of pictures. And I will also have to bake cookies, lots of cookies! And eat fish :) Seafood! I don't even like seafood and I'm excited. Maybe it's just time for lunch!

2010-05-14T12:35:00.002-05:00

I have an hour and a half left of work to do for the week. I still have one and a half cups of broccoli left that I should eat and a cup full of runts sitting beside me. I do it to myself really. My husband hates it when there is candy in the house and probably hates me eating it but as long as I'm not around him when I do the blow is softer. Yesterday I was at Party City buying supplies for goodie bags for my piano students. How I've never been inside a Party City is beyond me but I feel like if I were a millionaire I would throw parties for every occasion and I would furnish them all with things from that store. I was pleased to find pencils for 23 cents instead of the 55 cents they cost where I work (how does that figure?) and I bought several marble maze games for the boys. I also happened to pick up this plastic jug of runts and brought them home with me. It's been a long week I deserved them.. yeah right. My love of sweets is probably the closest I'll ever feel to that tug an addict feels. That's embarrassing to type now isn't it! Let me go heat up my broccoli and then I'll finish this post. Maybe that will save some face.

I think that I get this sweet tooth from my mother. Now that I look back on it she seems to have had plenty of sweet snacks around her. One Easter she confessed to me that she almost ate an entire bag of those sweet tart chicks ducks and bunnies. On road trips to Northern Illinois she would hide Twizzlers in the glove compartment of our Volvo. So I'm going to blame this on her. Not entirely.. but partly. You hear that Mom? I'm blaming you for something! What a horrible mother! The only thing I can think of that you did wrong was introduce your addict child to candy. Gah. Well.. you also introduced me to broccoli and it is doing wonderful things for my insides I'm sure; making me grow strong and healthy. I do try to eat healthy (ish) so don't think that I'm totally ruining my life. I eat vegetables every day. I pretty much only drink water (throw some coke zero and black coffee in there every once in a while.. ok the coffee is everyday) and I workout on a regular basis. Pretty good. I brush my teeth with vigor and I floss regularly. At my last dentist visit I had no cavities. I don't smoke cigarettes (anymore) and I enjoy taking my dogs for long walks. :) Look how wonderful and healthy I am!

At my piano lessons if the students are good and do what I ask them to I will give them candy. A small piece. The other day one of my students was looking through my bag of candy and commented that she couldn't find Butterfingers. I have to confess that it's possible I contributed to the lack of Butterfingers (yes I eat my children's candy) but I know for a fact that I did not eat the last one. I told my student that they were my favorites as well and I was sorry that they were all gone (it really was a travesty). Last night after the recital I received several presents from some of the families I teach, I'm particularly interested to see how far I can make my target gift card go! This child had given me an entire bag of Butterfingers. When I opened it at home I stood there holding the bag and laughing and laughing. It was the perfect ending to the evening. I also had Moe's again last night so that didn't hurt the perfect evening either.

I have really great students. I was so pleased with their work at the recital and more than anything I actually enjoyed telling them each how well they had done. I usually get nervous about the whole, talking to parents ordeal, but the more years I have under my belt the more comfortable I get. This year I really enjoyed telling the parents how pleased I was with their children. I can honestly say that not one of the students in my recital were a pain to teach. I can't think of a more eloquent way to put that right now so I'll leave it at that. Usually when you teach a big group of students you find a few that really frustrate you. You find some that make you think that there is absolutely no hope.. or you teach the ones that do things like... lick their hands and rub them all over your keyboard. That happened to me once. I wanted to kill myself. I can say for the first time in forever I think that I really cared deeply about each one of my students. I cared that they did well, I cared that they knew I thought they did well, and I cared that they had a desire to continue learning. I also want each and everyone of them to not only keep taking with me for their entire lives but to never grow up. Especially my little four year old that began my students recital. I never want him to grow up. Well.. I only want him to grow up to play hands together but that's about it.

I'm amazed at how quickly the year has gone by. It's summer break already. I looked at the calendar this morning and realized that a week from tomorrow we'll be packing up and leaving for SC and then to the beach. A week long vacation at the beach. Wow. Already? Where is my summer going? Not just where is my summer going but.. I don't have a swimsuit. *groan* I know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Is it possible that all swimsuit manufacturers want you to look skanky instead of sexy? I would very much appreciate a swimsuit that covers more than the lingerie that I received at my bachelorette party while still allowing for minimal tan lines. It's really not too much to ask. Lets go for sexy-classy not sexy-slut.

Interesting things are happening and will happen. My townhouse neighborhood is having a garden contest. I know I won't win. I don't have a garden. I have VEGETABLES. But my front yard is a mass of weeds and I don't have the energy to dig them all out and plant something else. I have thought of spraying the entire yard down with round up but then I realized that it might kill whatever I planted after the weeds died. It could be interesting though. Either way the community is going to be beautiful this week and I really look forward to seeing who will win.

My mother is coming into town on Wednesday (which happens to be my coveted day off!) and I'll get to visit and have lunch with her and some of her lady friends :) I'm so excited about this. I used to get really really homesick when we first got married, however, I'm gradually adjusting to calling Birmingham home which I think is an ok thing to adjust to. BUT I leap at any opportunity to visit my parents. They did such a good job raising me that I just can't stay away! It's crazy! Crazy awesome!

The dogs got table scraps of pork chops and mashed potatoes (and garden salad from MY GARDEN). Huxtables stole off with a pork bone and hid under our bed with it. He thinks under our bed is his den. Churchill never was much of a den animal, he spends most of his time sleeping on the couch, but since Huxley has been crate trained I think he prefers dark quiet.. "under" places. Jaime and I got on the floor and watched him defend his bone from us which really was adorable. He does this really cute thing where he'll army crawl towards you and roll over and put his paws on your face. Anyway. Dogs should never be fed pork chops. Ever. The next day I found several small piles of vomit that didn't look like vomit more like a pile of little pieces of bone (that must have felt nice coming up). Yesterday while I was eating my runts and packing little baggies of goodies I experienced the gas that comes with puppies who eat pork. Then later. The pork came out the other end. Poor little baby. Huxley was covered in it. I thought about blogging about this yesterday. I spent a good deal of time thinking about it actually. I finally decided that the only way to describe what happened in Huxley's crate is to simply call it shit. It was shit. I know I don't really cuss on this blog because who knows who's reading it. But there is no other way I can put this. It was worse than anything I've ever seen. It was.. a big deal. It wasn't just like.. the four letter word that people say in surprise or something like oh shit! It was the four letter word that people say when they are disgusted. I looked over at Jaime and said.. babies are going to be so much easier, so much easier. I know those of you who have had babies want to interject here and say something like, Carrie, you're totally wrong, you don't even know what you have coming your way. Well this is me laughing in your face. You feed your baby porkchops and lock them in a cage without a diaper on.

I also have a tiny baby bell pepper and I'm super excited about that. I'm also ready to start vining the cantaloupe up the railing on my front porch :) What a nice welcome. Welcome to my house, check out the cantaloupe!

2010-05-12T15:23:00.012-05:00

I always seem to have lots of pictures of my plants. I'm usually really bad about taking pictures and posting them to facebook or blogspot. I'm usually really bad about taking pictures period. But plants don't really go anywhere and they aren't an event that I forgot to take my camera to. So I suppose that it's easiest for me to take pictures of them instead of people or places. Besides, most of these guys I started from seed so they're my big project (besides quilting) that I'm working on this summer.
This one up here is supposed to be Okra. I'm not sure if that's what Okra looks like in it's beginner stages or not but I planted Okra seeds and this is what came up. I've had an infestation of aphids and worms lately and the Okra has suffered a bit. I'm hoping that it won't stunt their growth. Lauren came by and lent me some of her organic bug spray for veggies. So I'm pretty sure that they are all dead (I checked today and yeah, they're gone) I just hope that it doesn't slow them down at all.

Some people are supposed to come by this week to power wash the back porches where all my veggies are. I got nervous and moved half of them to my front steps. These are my four pots of Cantaloupe. I don't need four pots of the stuff but when you buy the little baby plants at the store they come in sets of like.. nine! So I planted these and gave the rest away to a friend. They are supposed to vine up so I'm thinking that I'll leave them here if they're happy and they can climb the railing.

This monster has grown double over night. It is really really amazing how quickly it grows. Now if it will only give me some beans that I can eat! I don't quite know what to do with it now that it's grown over the top of my teepee. I'm hoping that it will double back down? Or just hang out? I'm not sure.
The car in the background is the car of our new neighbors. It's scary to me that they have an identical sunflower wreath on their door. I don't know if Austin and Sarah left theirs or our neighbors are just.. twins of theirs.. And even if they left it behind. It's strange to see it up there. Also the new guys are from TN and on their plate it tells the county. Campbell county. No joke. Some people have different ways of coping with loss. Mine is spying.

Someday soon I hope to have Zinnias. Whatever those blue flowers are they took over the red pot. I'm fine with that I just wanted some color up near our door. And some strawberries but that was just a shot in the dark. No strawberries just lots and lots of leaves. Leaves wilting in the day time heat. Alabama heat.

This little guy was a really pretty flower like these guys below. I'm hoping that underneath those petals is a tiny baby bell pepper.

Thanks to Lindsey I have Basil in a Boot. It was from the Dirty Santa party we had, Black Christmas. I put water in it this past winter and it slowly emerged. Now it's finally getting big enough for me to actually consider putting it into a legitimate pot. Not that the Christmas boot isn't cute. It's just that it's May. Can you believe we're almost half way to another Christmas? Time really does go by faster when you get older.

We're going to be feasting on Yellow Squash soon! I can't wait! I check this guy out every single day. Sometimes three or four times a day. I make Jaime come outside and look at him too. I have the dogs come by and check him out. I'm so excited that I have a largish edible thing growing on my back porch.

This is I think the biggest "Zucchini" that I have right now. Not looking too hot. I don't know if Zucchini take longer to develop than the Yellow Squash but it doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get here. Too bad squash is one of my favorite veggies. Too bad.

Worms ate through lots of my Brussels. Thanks to Laurodauro they are all dead. I just don't' know if my Brussels can make it through. All the holes in their leaves.

Tomatoes! And yes I am using pipe cleaner to hold the tomato to the steak. I'm a genius.

Today I'm trying to get things done but I've been totally wiped out due to a migraine. Why migraines come on your day off I'm not exactly sure but I think it's just more proof that evil exists. It's gone due to Rx and Moe's. Moe's should probably be a prescription in and of itself. So now that it's almost 4:00 and my husband will be home soon I'm ready to get started on some general cleaning up. Laundry most importantly!

Ciao!

2010-05-10T10:27:00.003-05:00

This weekend I was a visitor at a church. I had a mix of feelings about it. When they took up the offering they talked about who they would donate it to (unless the check was marked as tithe). I've never been to a church where the money was directly donated to an organization or relief aide or something. I think there are so many churches in Birmingham who don't need all the fancy things they have and here is one that is giving money away instead of building a room full of PS3s or something.

Jaime and I were driving to Nauvoo this weekend and as we drove through some of the poorest parts of the state we past countless churches. BIG churches! Fancy signs and large parking lots. Even in parts of Birmingham where things aren't quite so poor looking the churches are huge. I know of not one but two churches in Birmingham that have large yellow slides inside them for the children to go down on their way to Sunday School. Why do people spend so much money on things that don't really matter when other people are obviously suffering?

Giving money to help people in Chile after the earth quake. That seems like a pretty good thing to do. You don't need a slide. You don't need a game room with tv's and pool tables and video game systems.

I was so pleased with the giving and the donations that would be made to a cause I thought was worthy. And then the sermon. I had such a difficult time during the sermon. So did a lot of people, he went over by about 45 minutes. It was uncomfortable to sit for so long and listen to someone who was very very passionate but perhaps not very knowledgeable. His entire sermon was about the rapture. I'm not very sure where I am on the topic of the rapture which is why I think I was uncomfortable. I'm still working my way through lots of different ideas and rapture just wasn't up there on my list this weekend. The man who was preaching, who was a visiting preacher not at all the regular pastor of this church (we can give them some grace for this unfortunate choice), was very insistent upon us not wasting our lives in sin and filth but living for God. He was sure that most Christians felt like they could sin away their lives and then at the last minute ask God for forgiveness (before the rapture) and then everything would be ok. His reason for why the Bible says that Jesus will come within the disciples lifetime was because he knows that God's people are procrastinators.

I'm not sure where his logic came from but what I deduced from listening to him was this. I'm struggling with things on a religious level. (which I think is important) I'm questioning things about God about Jesus and about the Bible. Deep things. If Jesus were to rapture us all right this minute and I was called up to stand before God I doubt very much that I would feel like I've wasted my life. I do not think that I would be ashamed for having doubt (another thing I've heard "Christians" aren't supposed to do). Because of this I felt a large disconnect about what the pastor was talking about. Why would I want to go out and sin my life away just because I have the time. It seems to me that people who want to go out and sin their lives away aren't really believers in the first place.

I could be wrong. But then it also brought up lots of different questions. The Devil left Heaven and took with him angels. Lots of angels. What must God be like if these angels left his presence? In all my days of learning TULIP I never once heard that angels had free will. I always heard that angels were jealous of us for having free will. Then how did these angels "fall away". I know the answer to this is probably very clear and obvious and possibly dangling in front of my face but for right now I just don't get it. It's probably something like "it pleased God to have them leave His presence" or something like that. The man that was speaking at this church obviously meant for us to think... wow that devil must be a very good deceiver because he even got angels to follow him. He must have meant for us to be afraid that the devil was going to trick us somehow. But instead all I could think was.. how come the angles wanted to leave God's presence? Am I the only one that thinks things like this? After the sermon was over I went home and laid out in the sun (I'm working on that base tan for the beach trip later this month) and I wondered about what I believe and how listening to the sermon today made me think of the Bible as a lot more like Greek and Roman mythology than what I've always thought it to be. And is it that different? Would it be more interesting? More exciting?

Jaime said that the way the Bible actually explains the end of the Earth is that there is a great war between good and evil. I like that idea much much more. He also says that I should read Issac Asimov's Guide to the Bible, which I should. And that I should have taken his BP class at Samford, which is probably true as well. I figured I should write Samford a letter and say that the BP class I took was horrible, I learned nothing, and I remember nothing. So can I audit another class for free?

The good news is that my Madeleine L'Engle books arrived on Friday and I'm about to start A Circle of Quiet.

2010-05-03T08:05:00.014-05:00

This is one of my Bell Pepper plants. Green or Yellow, I'm not sure which. But it's sprouting some tiny baby flowers which will probably become peppers.. or maybe peppers don't even flower. What do I know.

Every one of my squash plants has blooms like this one. I have four large pots each one with two to three squashes in them. I thought about transplanting but they look so happy that I figure we're doing alright. I also have a few yellow squashes coming out :) I was really excited about that. They are so small and fuzzy. Which I guess means that the phallic symbol I found from last weeks post really is a zucchini :) I can't wait until I have actual female flowers and not just males. I'm ready for some veggies!

My favorite picture so far. My beans :) I don't even know how I'm going to cook them or what they will taste like. I'm just so excited that they wound up the little tee pee I made for them.

Isn't it amazing how they do that? They started winding up the supports within hours of my putting them there.
Jaime and I were having a conversation about God the other day. I have decided that no matter where I grew up or what religion or lack of religion I was raised in, that I would believe there is a Creator. There has to be. I can't look at these beans and not think that it's amazing that they grow like that, and that they had to have been created. Designed for a purpose. To wind up my little tee pee.

Jaime and I purchased this iron thingy that we put up on the wall. We had candles on it before all the rain came and it was very very pretty. Very relaxing. I'm trying to find ways to make the porch a comforting place to be and spend time. Not just a vegetable garden, but a place to calm down. You can grow veggies and relax at the same time right?

Over the weekend we had some storms and Monday morning I went out to walk the dogs and found this right outside our door! The dogs were curious of course. People were outside in no time taking it down limb by limb so it was cleared in a few hours. Then the dogs were really freaked out. The smells! The random pieces of wood lying around. They barked at the stump that was pulled out of the ground. The poor red bridge will never quite be the same again and I'm still not sure if it's safe to walk on.

We bought a rug from an Antique Gallery in town. Jaime said it's always been his dream to play guitar on a rug like on the stages at rock concerts and jam sessions. I was excited because I love old rugs like this and have always wanted one. Win win for us! The dogs are thrilled because it's so much fun to roll around on it. Just one more place for them to battle out their dominance. I think Churchill always wins but lately I've found him on his back with Huxley at his throat. Maybe he's just getting older. I do worry about Huxley a little bit, sometimes he's just too excited. We don't walk them enough. Yesterday he was so excited saying hello to Jaime that he bit his lip. He does that. Not bite, but he has his mouth open a lot and things happen. He also like to "hold" you with his mouth.. like.. your fingers or your wrist. Strange dog. But sweet and precious as well.. and as of today, the Beta doggie.

Jaime's trying to teach me how to drink whiskey. It's vile. It really is. I don't know how people enjoy it. But I want to be one of those people. I want to drink with the boys. I want to order something impressive at a bar and not look like I'm going to gag when I drink it. Drinking whiskey in my mind is sophisticated. Something every well learned person should learn to do. Besides you can't keep drinking Smirnoff Ice for the rest of your life can you? So on Monday night I had a shot of Drambuie, but I sipped it. I have to savor the taste. I learned that if you breath out after you swallow it gets the vapors out of your mouth. Gahh.. get the vapors out of your mouth. Can you imagine? Horrible. Last night I had Johnny Walker Red.. it was way worse. Jaime only gave me a few sips of it. Thank goodness!

We watched Julie and Julia last night. We were both disappointed. What a boring movie. The Julia Child part was interesting and I thought that it was done pretty well but still.. boring. It was like there was no arch to the story. Sure Julie's husband leaves her for a night but I didn't feel to bad for her. And sure it took Julia a long time to publish her book but.. really it wasn't suspenseful or captivating in anyway. It did however make me want to live in France. For four years at least :)

Jaime started his new job with mice so has no need for the stuffed monkeys that he had at his office. Huxley has found one to cuddle with. The other I haven't gotten a picture of, but he likes to drag that one around with Churchill. What a sweet little doggie he is. Did I tell you that he's sleeping under the covers with us? Well he did last night at least and on my side where Churchill usually sleeps. Churchill ended up between us which is just as nice. I have always heard people say that it's not good for your dogs to sleep in the bed with you, especially if you're a couple.. it's bad for sex or something. I think those people are bogus.

2010-04-27T08:39:00.010-05:00

I know that I have lots to update :) But you'll be happy to see that I've taken lots of pictures this morning and even had time to upload them nice and fresh for you to see. Jaime and I recently bought patio furniture for our HUGE patio. It rained this morning so there are leaves and pollen splotches all over it but despite that I love it. It's so nice to have breakfast outside, to wake up with the world you know? I'm finding myself more and more eager to grill out. I love the idea of cooking your meat outside and eating it while the sun goes down. I love the nice weather and everything about being out in it. Like eating all my meals outside :)

Our good friends Austin and Sarah will be moving this week. We've had the pleasure of living next door to them (well.. two doors down but who's counting) this past year and are sad to see them leave. Really sad. They have been the hosts of numerous parties and I'm starting to realize that Jaime and I may soon be the host of the next outside party. Which makes me think of our patio. And makes me think of how different it will be without our neighbors there. I realized it when I was thinking about watching the Alabama games this coming fall. We hosted a lot of those and had several friends come to watch at our place. Without Sarah and Austin our party might be a bit small. That's when it hit me. We'll be saying goodbye to them this week which is harder, I think, for my husband than it is for me. We're secretly hoping that graduate school in Oklahoma fails horribly and by sheer luck they'll be forced to move back here, back to our street to be our neighbors once again. Actually we don't hope that graduate school fails miserably at all. I wouldn't hope anything bad for them. But we do hope that they come back. At least for Black Christmas right guys?

I don't know if you remember the last picture I put up of my entire garden. "Entire garden" minus the few potted flowers and strawberries on the front porch. Well you might want to scroll down to make a comparison because this jungle is completely different looking from the pictures taken just 20 days ago. I'm not only amazed at how huge my garden has gotten but at how well my camera worked this morning. Perhaps it's a morning person like me. I know that this plot doesn't look like 30 pots full of plants but you'd be surprised what I have tucked away back there. I obviously need to do some rearranging so that everything can get adequate sunlight.

My greens are growing in nicely and I'm so happy that they are thickening and getting sturdier. I think these are the Turnip Greens since they aren't all ruffly on the edges. These and the Mustard Greens will need to be transplanted so that half remain in these troughs and half in a new set of troughs. I didn't want to move them before they were sturdy because I was fearful that I would tear them apart. It's amazing how something so delicate can turn into something so different. It's amazing how things change over time. All the sudden, in my own life, I see myself as a different person. Older, more mature, and capable of so many more things that I imagined myself doing when I was in college. After I graduated college my biggest ambition was to live in my own apartment and to have a dog. That was it! Quite a lofty goal.

Look at these! Cantaloupes! I don't know if I'm supposed to put more soil around the necks of these plants or not. I know they grow as a vine and I intend to lead them up some sort of trellis when they get a bit bigger.

I suppose part of the reason I see myself in a different light is that my life is settling. This summer Jaime and I will have been married 3 years and all the sudden I feel like it's gone by so quickly. At the same time I'm so glad that those years are behind us because they were difficult. Learning to live with your husband is one of the trickiest things I've ever had to learn and I'm so thankful that we've made it this far and that things are looking bright. Jaime started a new job this week. Still research, still science, more work, more hours, but I think, more fulfillment. I think this has also affected me since he is part of me. This job doesn't end when the grant is over, it appears to be endless as of right now and I think that gives us a sense of permanence.

The dogs were not pleased that I shut them inside while I took pictures. They want to be with me all the time. ALL the time. They stood at the sliding glass door and barked like someone was trying to break in. Only really.. they wanted to break out! Huxley (the darker) is learning to cuddle and sleep under the covers with us. This is such a relief since before he would find the most uncomfortable places to fall asleep and would be almost impossible to move around after he found them. This past weekend we spent a wonderful time with my parents in South Carolina. A very quick and short trip but a very nice one. They are doing some renovations on their 1920's home and at the moment the only usable bathroom is in the new 3rd bedroom upstairs in what was (as of Christmas 2009) the attic. Jaime and I slept up in this nest on an inflatable mattress with the dogs. One morning my father snuck by us towards the bathroom and for the first time ever the dogs simply looked up at him, growled just a tiny bit, and then fell back asleep.
Churchill will be 4 this summer, Hux only 1. But since we've had the dogs they have barked at every unknown sound. They bark at strangers, they bark at my parents when they see them in the morning, they bark at the door knocking, me pouring cereal in the morning, a car driving up to the driveway. They bark whenever they feel like they need to say something which is almost all of the time. That is why it's such an amazing thing that they didn't bark at hearing my father come upstairs, or watching him walk right by us. Let's hope that this is a recurring amazement.

I know that this close up of a phallic symbol is odd to put in a blog. But, is it just me, or does that look like it might be, maybe, a little baby zucchini? I'm really hopeful. I've been looking over my plants every morning and every evening it seems for signs of fruit (or veggies). This weekend while we were gone it rained. I wasn't here but I hear that it was more than just rain. My plants must have been ecstatic because I found this little guy hanging out and several others that looked a lot like him. I could be totally wrong. He could just be part of the plant and not a zucchini. But I have high hopes.

Speaking of high hopes. My friend Lauren can attest that when we began our garden experiment almost all of our swiss chard decided to kick the bucket. Out of 12 plants that had sprouted only 2 remain. When I came back from the weekend I was so shocked to find this very healthy almost double the size swiss chard waiting for me. Look how thick the stems are now! And so brightly colored. This one is Lauren's and is hard proof that she does not, in fact, kill everything she touches. Hanging out behind and to the right of that pot is my pot of string beans... or snap peas? I can't remember what I planted. It's some sort of vine that produces peas/beans. I have to stake them tomorrow so they have somewhere to go. Right now they are in dire need of direction. Maybe these guys will really be like Jack and the Bean Stalk. Maybe they will really grow super fast. I mean, they went from seed to over a foot high in 20 days. What will they do now? Tomorrow can't come soon enough :)

I'm leaving you with the most beautiful thing I've taken a picture of in a long time. I feel like this needs to hang on someones wall or something. This is what happens when you stop watching your garden and simply let it grow. This is what I came home to from South Carolina. Zucchini is about ready to start producing. I hope that the bees do their jobs and if they don't believe me, I'll be out there with my q-tip pollinating this sucker on my own. I've heard that Okra flowers are beautiful. I'll have to wait a while for that. For right now though, this Zucchini flower has made my day.

2010-04-05T11:59:00.007-05:00

It's already summer in Alabama. The only thing that says it's still spring is the pollen and the different colors of green in the trees. Pretty soon everything will be that same lush color and the pollen will be gone but the heat will stay. At least all the plants love it.

You can see things in this picture like Squash, Zucchini, Brussel Sprouts, Tomatoes, and Peppers. The empty pots should soon show us some Spinach, Snap Peas, and Okra. Hopefully. And some flowers, but you know my luck with flowers. It's much easier to get a large Squash plant than a few Zinnias for some reason.

I'm also uploading two youtube videos for you to check out :) Hope you like them. Of course all they show are our dogs, because we love them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0kyfMvz21k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WXqARAG9Jw

We found out that Huxley will retrieve playing cards if you throw them. He's very gentle and doesn't bend the cards. Churchill ruins playing cards, but Huxamux loves them. The second video shows us trying to get Huxley to growl. He has this really cute low growl that he lets out, it's kinda like a roooooo but different. I filmed him like five different times before he finally let one out. I think it's because Jaime was singing Lady GaGa that finally sent him over the edge. Anyway, we bought a new toy for him and he was really really excited about it (still is) and he was growling at us while pacing back and forth. It just took five takes to get this on video. So wait until the very end and then you'll hear him roooooo!

2010-03-27T09:21:00.002-05:00

So I'm reading Catcher in the Rye and no I haven't finished it because I love lingering in the last few chapters of books. It makes them feel more important to me. Something that Holden said in the book really hit home with me though. He was talking about a speech class he had to take at one of his schools and if the speech giver ever started to rabbit trail the rest of the class had to shout out at him that he was going off topic. The thing that stuck out at me was when Holden said sometimes you have to go off track to find out what's really worth talking about. I am that person all together. I often feel like I have to get my mouth or fingers going before I can talk or type about what my mind is really wanting to say. I wonder what it must be like to be one of those people who can just say the right thing in one go. My husband is one of those people I think. This may be because he's my husband and because he's a guy but those kind of people aren't really the best conversationalists. Sometimes I just want to talk it out, sometimes I just want a conversation that is going around in circles because I enjoy talking so much.
My Dad is like Jaime. Not a big conversationalist. Again, he is a man. Maybe it is a man thing. My mother and I can spend hours on the phone talking and we probably go in circles at least ten times in each conversation but I love that. Not that talking to my father is boring because it isn't a conversation, it's wonderful in it's own way. He's wonderful because he is physically there. And it's his presence that is comforting where my mother has presence but it's her words that show her affection.
Sure I could have this all backwards but I'm pretty sure I got a few things right. I used to get frustrated with this blog because I never felt like I could really get out what I was trying to. I could never really exactly say what I was wanting to say.. I felt like I never even knew what I was trying to say. But I love the process. I love writing what I'm thinking and even though it may be boring and uneventful and it doesn't' update anyone on anything going on in our lives in particularly.. it makes me feel a little more sorted out. A little more organized.

I'm dipping out on half marathon training. I got to my long run of 6 miles and did a great job with it. And then I realized that I always get to this point where I don't really see any change in the way I look (not that I expected it but still) or the way I feel. This week I've started weight lifting again with some friends at my gym. Now that I can feel. And I know deep down that I was really supposed to be doing this in the first place. Running isn't my thing. Well.. long distance running isn't my thing. I think I'd like to keep my weekly runs at 3-4 miles maybe longer if I wanted to. But pushing beyond that only makes me feel more accomplished in something that doesn't' even matter to me. There are plenty of other things that are more important to me, piano, sewing, gardening. Those are things that I can put my energy into and see them develop. Swimming upstream against the 8 mile run that was supposed to happen tomorrow is pointless for me. Sure 8 miles sounds impressive but wouldn't I feel more fulfilled doing something that I love? Wouldn't I feel better when I get a crop of zucchini? (which by the way is looking super peppy and healthy) I've also always felt so much better about my body when I was lifting weights. I felt stronger and more capable. A "I can take on the world" feeling. I never got that while running for more than an hour.
Two weight lifting sessions later I'm sore as can be. My armpits hurt! Who's armpits hurt? But it was so fun while I was doing it and I know that as I continue the pain will go away.

UPDATES: Jaime got his job offer and accepted it. Next month he'll be moving into a new (very fancy) building to work with mice instead of monkeys. He couldn't be more happy. I'm very proud of him and very excited to see where this job will take him. He gets to keep his title of Research Assistant and will be the new lab's manager. I think he is looking forward to being the go-to guy in the lab. The one with all the answers because let's face it.. Jaime has always had all the answers. He's a freaking genius!
I have a solo tomorrow morning at EWTN it will be the Palm Sunday morning mass 7am Easter Time. I'm pretty nervous because it's my first by myself solo, not a duet with someone else. I'm also nervous because he has me singing an alto solo and I'm not an alto. It goes just low enough for me to feel like all I'm doing is breathing out 'deeply'. I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of other alto's in our choir who could sing it just as well as I can but at the same time, I'm thankful that he picked me to do it. I really do love singing. All of this has spurred deep discussions to myself lately of if I did the right thing majoring in Piano in college. All the sudden this one choir director thinks I sing really well and when I tell him that I never had voice lessons I feel inside that maybe.. what if.. what if I did have voice lessons? Would I be a better vocalist than a pianist? Oh choices. Singing may feel very natural and I may feel very beautiful when I do it, but piano is my passion. It may not be as natural and as Jaime once said "you don't KNOW the piano" like some musical geniuses, I can say that I LOVE the piano. And even more than I love the piano I love watching my students learn to love it.
I've had a lot of friends write about their purpose and what they could have been in their blogs. I've read it countless times. And I, myself, feel the same way. If I could tell you how many peers I had at SCGSAH that made it big time. My old roommate who's playing the lead in Sister Act in London, my ex boyfriend who graduated from Eastman. Sometimes I sit back and think.. if I had focused just a little bit harder I could have been where they were. If I practiced a little bit more or if I was more serious about my work I could have been something amazing! This is where my parents would tell me to speak the truth. The truth is that growing up my brother stayed at home to study and while he studied I was out with friends. The truth is that I did very well at Governor's School but I also enjoyed keeping a balance between my social life and my school work. My brother went to the Ivy League and I went to a Southern Baptist College. Speaking the truth would be saying that I was proud of my brother but I was never envious of him. Ivy League is up north and who wants cold weather all the time? Birmingham was green and lush and beautiful and I could picture myself here much more than anywhere else. (Because that's what all parents want to hear, that their daughter picked a school because it was pretty not because of what it offered) I'm sure it offered all the right things, a great piano teacher, a great campus, and my parents said I could have a car my sophomore year.
Speaking the truth would be to say that I never had any intention of going to Eastman or to Rice or Carnegie Mellon. But I have always had every intention of enjoying the life I have. I went into college knowing what I could have been, but also knowing what I wanted to be. I knew that I wanted to teach. I'll never be the world's next Glenn Gould but I would like to appreciate him more. (boy this is turning into quite the rant now isn't it?)
Speaking the truth would also tell you that I'm perfectly happy at EWTN and I'm thrilled to be asked to sing solos because I love singing but I'm not going to let it get to my head and get pipe dreams about what could have been. I'm growing plants outside, and all my turnip greens and mustard greens LOVE me, you can just tell. One of my best friends Lynnora is going to get a fabulous quilt for her wedding in June and it has been one of my greatest joys making it for her. My favorite band at the moment, Muse, played a song.. I think it's United States of Eurasia, and at the end of it is a Chopin piece and you know what? I found it in one of my books and I can play it and it's beautiful. Last night in weight lifting we did a lumber jack move that made me feel so powerful and graceful all in one. Those are the things I love about me. And if going to Governor's School and getting a degree in Piano Performance from Samford were what it took to get here. Then I think I've done pretty well for myself.
My old roommate Lindsay would tell me "Quit your bitchin'" whenever I started complaining about something. I tell myself that often. Who cares what could have been. I care about what's going to be. Namely very large very juicy tomatoes from my garden :)

2010-03-23T09:31:00.002-05:00

I woke up early this morning. At first I was going to go to the gym but like many mornings I talked myself out of it. Who wants to get up at 6am when they don't HAVE to. By the time 7:30 rolled around I had hit snooze about a million times and Huxley had found his favorite wake up spot nestled near my chin and licking my face every time he sees my eyes open. Sometimes I can fake him out by squinting to see if he's awake but if I ever get my eyes fully open, just for a second, I get kisses. I love his morning kisses but they also mean that there is no chance of getting back to sleep. So instead of waiting until 8am to roll out of bed I got up at 7:30 and took the dogs on a walk around our townhouse complex.
I noticed a few things about our dogs while I was walking them. Specifically about how they go to the bathroom. I don't know why I hadn't noticed before, maybe this morning I was extra awake and attentive. Churchill loves to mark every tree, rock, pile of mulch, you name it. It's his. Huxley is a much more private and long lasting marker. More like, he finds a place that's kinda hidden away and he won't let his leg down until it's all gone. It takes a surprisingly long time for such a little dog. I also realized it was the same way with the poops! Huxley hid behind a building and if I hadn't watched him I wouldn't have realized what he was doing (with our dogs you have to watch them and make sure they go or else they'll make messes inside.. it happened yesterday). Churchill on the other hand will find the most open and most public place to make his poops. He'll also make sure the he makes his poops when cars drive by, or neighbors are walking around. It's almost embarrassing. I also saw Churchill almost pee on Huxley's face. He's very inconsiderate.
Here I am talking about my dogs pee and poo like you really want to know about it. But I thought it was interesting this morning, before I had my coffee. Oh and I realized that everything that Churchill does, Huxley has to do. I watched Huxley approach a neighbor getting out of their car. He was so sweet and curious and the neighbor smiled. Then Churchill realized what was going on and erupted in a series of loud barks that Huxley immediately copied. The neighbor quit smiling. Why!? Why do they do that. They are like car alarms that go off at the most inopportune time and you're stuck fumbling your keys trying to figure out how to make it stop! But I do love them. I really do.

My husband and I work late during most days of the week. We love teaching. LOVE teaching. But when 7:30 or 8pm comes around.. it's dinner time. In a big way. Last night I got home before Jaime so I started on dinner. We got a new kind of Hamburger Helper, Sloppy Joe, and that is what was on the menu for Monday. I was excited because Hamburger Helper is comfort food for me. And what's not to love after a long Monday at 8pm when you're more than just hungry, you're starving? The only problem was that it smelled bad. Like ketchup soup. It looked funny and all the sudden I began to miss Cheeseburger Macaroni so much my stomach hurt. Jaime came home and we taste tested and found out that it really did taste as badly as it smelled. I ran around to see what else we could make. Shoot! We ran out of milk. How could we run out of milk? I couldn't make anything filling or decent that didn't include milk (I don't know why that was, probably because I was delirious with hunger). So we set out to decide where we want to eat. I said, we don't have any money in our eating out budget. Jaime says, I'm hungry and I'm not going to wait to eat. I said.. you're right. I'm hungry too.

We went through the list of where we wanted to eat, Habaneros, Moes, Sol Azteca (what we aren't in the mood for Mexican, what's wrong with us?), Burger King, McDonalds, Purple Onion, Mandarin House... it was 8:15 by this time. Chic-fil-a.. yes! YES! That is indeed where we want to eat, no, wait, Saigon Noodle House. Jaime pressures me into going on an "adventure". I consent. He's rarely if ever in the mood to do something spontaneous. Saigon Noodle House it is. I'm not in the mood for soup so I'm hoping they have some rice. It's an Asian restaurant, they've got to have rice. And they did, with a really healthy dinner of stir fried veggies and chicken. Jaime fed me a jalapeno that I thought was a green bell pepper (seeds and all) and because of that he owed me a milk shake.

What an amazing night. Because the Hamburger Helper was bad I got a great dinner, ate a jalapeno that tasted exactly like burning, and a milkshake. I also got to watch Jaime eat cow's stomach and that also went into my reasoning that he owed me a milkshake. Tripe, who on earth thought that up. Oh I'll cut open this cow's stomach and cook it, yum. Gross. We ended up shutting down the Saigon Noodle House as we were the last customers to leave. We went across the street to Chi-fil-a for the milkshake and got a loud "Congratulations Mr. Black, you're our last customer of the day". When do you shut down two restaurants in the same night?! What adventurers we are!

Tonight is an equally long night for both of us. I have to teach until late and then I get to go to the New Moon DVD release party at Laurens. I have to be honest and say that I could care less about seeing New Moon for the 4th time. It is an enjoyable movie, it indulges all of the parts of me that are a woman, especially the part of me that just wants to relax and watch a movie without thinking. Plus there will be Baker's Pizza, arguably the best pizza on earth, and I'll get to spend quality time with my friends. Jaime however has a much more stressful day. He's been going through lots of interviews for a new job lately. No he's not laid off. The research grant he's been working with is ending (it was only due to last four years and now those years are over) and Jaime's been looking around at other research positions. He thinks he's found the job he wants to do and is going to meet the rest of the research team today over lunch. I know he's nervous but I also know that he'll do a fantastic job. After all that nerve racking stuff with lunches out with the team (be impressive!) and then meeting with the doctor that is running the whole operation to discuss the 'details' he has to go to traffic school until 10pm. While I'm watching Edward almost get eaten alive by the Volturi Jaime will be listening to why it's good to use your blinker and stop and stop signs. We all mess up. I had to go to traffic school last year for a ticket. I just hope that he will have had really really good news before he leaves to learn about how to drive like a human. I'm sure he will, he's amazing.

Tomorrow is going to be my second ever Wednesday to myself. Oh boy am I excited. I have lofty plans of running intervals over 3 miles to help with my speed and breathing. Finishing the boarder on the quilt I'm working on (which honestly could end me at JoAnns getting more fabric) and just laying around and being amazing all day long. Taking a long bath, talking to my little plants (half of which are dead and half of which are FANTASTIC.. we can't all be winners you know). I'm sure I'll end up cleaning something. Last time I had Wednesday to myself I cleaned my bedroom and my was it nice to sit in there are sew. SO nice! Sew nice :)

Whew it's time to get back to work, or to reading Catcher in the Rye. I'm not finished with it yet so don't spoil anything but besides the language and the fact that serial killers liked the book I'm not sure what's so controversial about it. I guess I'll find out when I finish it. Maybe he's insane? Maybe he's dying? Maybe he ends up killing someone? Oh boy I can't wait to read it.

2010-03-19T15:16:00.003-05:00

You know how you don't like someone but you can't exactly explain why you don't like them? Most people say that there's just "something about them" that makes them un-likable. Some people either like people or hate them, there are no in betweens. Me, I have lots of in betweens, but yesterday I came across someone I just don't care for. I can't think of any reason in particular why I don't like them. I just don't. I think it's because they come across as really pretentious, kinda like, they want to make sure you know that they are important, that they have money, that they are doing charitable things.
He kept talking about this school he does a lot of volunteer work for and how he is the only person who cares about these children. He kept talking about all the books they need, and all the software that they need and how he has such a busy schedule but he guesses that no one else will help them so he will. That type of person. I tried really hard to not look him in the eyes in case he thought I wanted to listen in to what a saint he was when the most amazing thing happened. There is this other guy I know. Annoying like nobody's business. But he's not on my unlike list because he kinda can't help it. He was recently diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome so there are somethings that he just can't help. One of those is talking to people about nothing in particular.. just talking.. the only thing is he won't stop talking.
Well he walked up to the guy on my not so likable list and started talking about nothing in particular and kept talking. He followed him out to the front of the store and kept talking. Finally the man just walked away from him, all the way out the door. Somehow it felt so good to me to watch that happen. I could think of no better ending to a perfect day than to have that haughty man rushed out the door by this well wishing stranger who just couldn't keep his mouth shut. It's like justice. A tiny little dose of it.

2010-03-11T21:23:00.002-06:00

Tonight Jaime and I walked around our Townhouse complex. Twice. It's usually next to impossible to get him to go on a walk with me but tonight after a small amount of nagging he gave in. I had planned on taking the dogs on a long walk Wednesday but that's when we had that small flood. They were restless from being cooped up all week long and were making not so nice barking noises at each other. You know the sounds, when the fun frolic baking turns into something more carnal.. a little bit more like, I'm going to rip your insides out.
I'm typing this while sitting on the couch. Jaime's playing Final Fantasy 13 and both the dogs are fast fast asleep. So I guess the walk worked for all of us. I had fast food today and was feeling the urge to get out and be active and now that I have done so I feel complete and content. I don't have to ask Jaime to know that he's happy having me down here with him while he plays FF. I'm sorry that girl character is annoying, she really does sound pretty ditsy. "I hope she runs off a cliff" Me too, Jaime, me too.

The veggies are doing well with the exception of my swiss chard. I think mine is dying. The greens we're growing are really taking off. Jaime's convinced me to water them more often and in more quantity so I think that's what's done it. He's almost always right.
I finished the quilt top I'm making for my friend's wedding and all I have to do is the boarder. I sewed together part of what I thought would make a great boarder only to have it look very distracting when put up next to the quilt. Jaime said it looked like a circus tent. I take it that's not a positive. So now I'm back to the drawing board. And I thought I had done all the difficult work! I do have a few ideas up my sleeves that I'm going to test out.

My big toenail on my left foot stopped growing recently. I don't know what that's all about but I'm really weirded out about it. I mean, why would your toe nail stop growing? So I googled it and the only thing that came up was an ingrown toenail. It's not ingrown but the cuticle is missing and it almost looks like it is growing in the wrong direction. Weird!

I wonder if people enjoy walks as much as I do. Something about being out in the open air, using your body, doing something so simple but so healthy. I mean, it's not like running or eating a whole bunch of spinach or something, but it's just so basic. I love that. I love how basic is it. It's so simple and it makes me so happy. Jaime asked me, do you really love it that much? Yes, I love it that much. I would do it every night if I could. Especially if it stays in the 60's at night like it is right now.

Well the plants go out tomorrow morning, I can't wait to see how they do in the sunlight. I've been hardening them off all week (except the day of the FLOOD lulz) so tomorrow will be good for them. Friday. Tomorrow is Friday and it's just like my Monday. Nothing like a 12 hour day to finish off your week for you eh? It's a good thing I love what I do. I'd better get to bed, I've got mass in the morning, music store after that, and then teaching until 6pm.

2010-03-09T20:03:00.006-06:00

I thought you could use an update on the plants! They are a growin'!

First we have the newbies, Chinese Lanterns (I was warned that these grow a bit slower than the rest and FINALLY we have some very green, very small sprouts!)

Next our greens! Mustard Greens and Turnip Greens!

Finally we have the Bell Peppers!! I think these are doing quite well so far.

Now for some progress on our Zucchini.. they are huge! Well in comparison to what they were a few weeks ago! Everything about them has thickened up, the leaves, the stems, everything. They look super sturdy. I can't wait for them to get even bigger!

Next the Yellow Squash. Not as hardy as the Zucchini looks but still doing well. I thought Zucchini was the vine but these seem to want to crawl around a whole lot more.

Now onto our Tomatoes.. I didn't plant these from seed but they have perked up quite a bit since I bought them. I'm hoping to train the stems over the edges of the planter to make for my own 'hanging tomato garden'. We'll see how that works out. I know the pictures are a little fuzzy, I do what I can.

Pretty amazing huh? The Swiss Chard hasn't changed much so I won't update right now. Plus it's pizza night and Jaime's calling me! Tomorrow begins my first Wednesday by myself, no work at all. I just don't know what to do with myself!

2010-03-08T09:22:00.002-06:00

The veggies are growing at such a fast rate. I'm so excited! There is something so fulfilling about growing things from the ground. This morning my husband came down to the kitchen and said "You have more sprouts! The whole left side is growing!". I keep them in the study where they get a fair amount of direct sunlight but are still protected.
This weekend my friend Lauren came over and helped me transplant the Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Swiss Chard. They are such little plants in such big containers! Since we don't have much of a yard but a huge back porch I've decided to grow the veggies in containers, don't worry I won't cram them. I'll prune back when I see which ones are going to be the strongest. I am nervous for the Swiss Chard, it looks so frail in the pots but it isn't dying so I guess it's just doing what it needs to do. I'm also hoping that we planted the squashes deep enough. I might go back and add some more soil on top to protect those tender little stems! Those are outside while I'm at work today in a sunny location. It's going to be 70 outside can you believe it?! Those plants are going to love it. Oh and I figured I'd buy some tomatoes so I got two starters at the store and put them in hanging baskets, I'm hoping that they will learn to hang down instead of growing straight up. I'm not sure how to do that yet..
I've also planted an Azalea bush in front of our townhouse, it's really small still but is in the perfect spot in front of a very large bush/tree of some sort. When it gets bigger it will look really nice. A few months ago they had to replace some wood on the front of our townhouse and when they did that they put this big machine in our yard space which left a nasty tire print. This weekend I also filled that in with dirt from planting the Azalea. I planted some flowers in a pot in front of our door and the ivy that made it through the winter (flourished actually) is in another pot with some Zinnia sprouts. Those dang Zinnia sprouts caused me a lot of heartache! When they were growing they got moldy and I had to throw many of them away. So if they can't make it through this week I'm not too sorry for them, I'll plant something else with the ivy.

So that's a lot of planting :) Upstairs we have sprouts for Bell Peppers (lots of sprouts) a few sprouts of Turnip Greens, some sort of flower that hasn't sprouted yet, the Mustard Greens haven't sprouted yet either... and Chinese Lanterns which are sprouting. In a few weeks I'll be able to start Green Beans, Okra and some others that I can't remember off the top of my head. I'm really hoping that I can keep the green thumb going that I seem to have right now. Jaime doesn't think I have much of a green thumb because I killed the philodendron that I had in the hanging baskets.. but that was because I left them out when it froze over night. I had heard that they were hearty and you could never kill them so I figured.. stay outside what do I care. They died. But other than that I've had a really good track record! I mean look at all my little seedlings :) I should take more pictures for you to see soon before things change too much. I hope we have enough veggies to give away!

Spring seems to be on it's way in Alabama. This whole week isn't supposed to get lower than the mid fifties (at least during the day time that is). I can't wait to see what next week will have for us. Next week is our Spring Break from teaching. I'm not sure how much of a Spring Break it will be since it looks like I'll be working full time at the music store but it will be relaxing.. I suppose. I've been trying to get a trip going to visit my cousins but I'm not too sure how that's going to pan out. So if we don't go up to Tennessee then I guess we'll have to think of something fun to do to celebrate not teaching for a week. Hiking? Camping? Grilling out? I can just see Jaime's face when he reads this, he's going to be like.. Camping? No. Way.

My quilting projects are moving right along. I've finally decided more details about the next endeavor and that has helped me relax about it a whole lot more. I've really got to start sewing together the boarder for the large quilt I'm doing right now. When will I find the time to do this!?

Since the Academy Awards were last night it looks like Jaime and I need to rent the Hurt Locker.

2010-03-02T13:52:00.004-06:00

I'm growing some veggies! Here are pictures of my Zinnias (those are just flowers, I'm not going to eat them), Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Swiss Chard sprouts!

2010-03-01T11:55:00.002-06:00

This past weekend was long and wonderful. I ate the biggest pizza I've ever seen with Jaime and Lauren while watching Clean House Messiest House in America. I had seen that particular show already but it really doesn't matter. I could watch it a million times.
Jaime and I went to see MUSE with some friends of ours, well, some friends, and then some random people Jaime sold tickets to. I've never really been to a rock concert before. I mean, I went and saw D.C. Talk when I was younger but that's totally different. I saw Mutemath before they got big at Workplay as well as The White Oaks (which are apparently no longer a band). I had never been in an arena, sold out and packed to capacity, listening to a band play loud music to which you know all the words.

I've tried to explain to my mother why I like Muse so much. I still don't know if I got it across. My mother and I are both long winded and sometimes when talking to each other I think we get a little lost in our own words. But then again I think no matter if you are long winded or not, trying to describe to someone what you are passionate about can be difficult. I think that Muse came along to me at just the right moment. Jaime and Austin had heard of them years ago, and two years ago I heard the first song, Knights of Cydonia. I remember that I was offended by the line "I'll show you how god falls asleep on the job". I guess that's why I didn't pay much attention to them after that. Jaime came home one day with all their albums that a friend let him borrow and the rest is history.
I think that they came around at the right time because I'm more open now than I ever have been before to lots of things. Particularly politics but also simply life in general. Muse is very politically fueled and lots of their songs reflect that. Listening to their music makes me think a lot about the system we have in place for our lives. Things that we think are normal and common place. Isn't it funny how as humans we set all these little fences around ourselves and before we know it we are no longer free? We put up all these rules. Owning land, paying taxes, you name it. All of it is our own creation. I know it sounds rather communist but sometimes that sounds more natural. I was thinking about life this morning and how we work so hard to pay for things so that we can enjoy something. But we spend most of our time working. We have all these things to pay for and why do they cost money?

So I guess some of this is because I recently started a vegetable garden. The prospect of growing my own food is so exciting and liberating. You mean I can just eat my own bell peppers instead of buying them? And I can have my own bouquet of flowers without paying for them? Well.. technically the seeds cost a dollar. A friend that went to the concert with us is thinking about buying land and starting a farm to be self sufficient. Wouldn't that be amazing? You could come up with ways to create your own energy, have a well for water, there are lots of things you can do. You don't have to rely on what so many other people rely on. I like flushing toilets as much as the next person but you don't really HAVE to have it. What if you never had to pay a power bill? What if you had trees that bore fruit for you?

All of this somehow relates to how much I like Muse. It's not making much sense when I write it out but at least I'm trying :) Plus when I read up on Matthew Belamy's policital view on wikipedia he had this huge quote about how 9-11 was an inside job. And that in and of it's self makes me want to fist pump at their concert all over again. I guess what it boils down to is asking questions. Most importantly asking why. Sometimes I think that the world would be in a much different place if we just asked why. You could ask why we are at war with a country that didn't attack us... wasn't it Afghanistan that attacked us? "Attacked us". Why are we in Iraq? You could ask "Why do I believe in God?" at church. You could ask "Why am I paying too much for bananas?" at the grocery store. There is something to be said about people who are continually striving to find out "why". I have a friend who was asking "why" questions and one of her rather religious friends told her that a good Christian would never ask why because that shows lack of faith. On the contrary, I think it shows amazing amounts of faith. It shows someone who cares enough to find out exactly what's going on, someone who isn't going to believe simply because it's what they grew up believing. I would think that the person who didn't ask why would be more dangerous because they have no firm basis for their belief. "Because someone told me so" seems a lot more sandy than "Because it was proven to me".

Muse, I like to think, has the kind of music that provokes me to ask why. There is something very powerful about being in an arena with thousands of people all singing along "They will not force us, they will stop degrading us, they will not control us, we will be victorious". Something very powerful indeed.

I'm sure that I'll have more to talk about later but that's as much as I can force out without some lunch. Boy I'm hungry! I'll also need to post some pictures of the veggie garden soon :)