Sadness.

Some things are just sad sometimes. Either that or I'm just a sad packrat (but hey, if I'm a packrat then Cody is too so we're in it together). So I'm on a mission - I am seriously going through every bit of our house (doing a quickish first run now so that we can do a second cull when we have some good time - i.e. Thanksgiving break) and every bit of our life and routine to make it more efficient. As you can probably tell, I finished my book "Find More Time - How to get things done at home, organize your life and feel great about it." So yeah, it's lame, but it was a good book and it got me motivated so I guess it served its purpose. Anyway I'm trying to get our life into a well-oiled machine. I really feel like we're like that with our relationship - we've known each other so long and can read each other so well we really do exist very well and very peacefully - like a well-oiled machine. Our life, not so much. We're hectic, busy, can't ever find anything (we determined that I probably waste over 48 hours a year just looking for my keys) and generally feel behind and discombobulated. So I'm working to get us organized and pare down the extranious.
The first part of that is to get rid stuff we don't need and organize what we do need. The problem is Cody and I think we "need" everything we own. Seriously, we can find an excuse to save anything - anything.
Anyway, so tonight part of my mission was to go through linens that we've moved from one place to another. We had 9 comforters/bedspreads. That's a bit excessive. Granted, these date back to at least when I was in the 4th grade - I have probably never gotten rid of one bedspread I've ever owned - but that's still insane for a house with TWO people. So in that pile of comforters that we were forced to viciously and cold-heartedly go through was one I got when I first moved to Fort Walton Beach in the 4th grade - it was a beach/sea shell print and a really warm, though light blanket. Then there was the two-sided flower pattern bedspread my dad and stepmom got me when I was probably in the 5th grade (one side was white flowers and the other side blue). There was the comforter my grandma bought me at Target when I moved to Gainesville (the first time) to live in the dorms - I'd always had a double bed and the dorms had singles so she bought me a cute single comforter - I'd saved it because it reminds me of her even though the stitching was coming out of the sides. There was one I bought in Law School - the first complete bed set I ever bought myself - comforter, sheets, pillow cases, shams, etc. - but it too had seen better days in terms of stiching - obviously if I bought it in law school I was poor and bought a cheap set - but it was still one I bought all by myself - thanks to Feceral Student Loans, of course - that I'm still paying on - I'm still paying interest on a comforter that I threw away - that's sad - kids, think before you buy anything with loans or credit! Then there was Cody's bedspread - it didn't fit on any bed we currently used but I couldn't get rid of it because he had that when we first met.
Anyway, in the end we managed to get rid of a few of them, save one for the "Kitty Condo" that we will one day build (we have a grand "Kitty Condo" building plan that we will get to one day) and save one for a light summer blanket if our down comforter gets too hot. Yeah, when we got married I finally splurged and got a down comforter - I'd wanted one my whole life and never had one so that was my treat to myself for making it through wedding planning. :)
So, yeah, it was sad to go through that stuff and get rid of some but I guess saving a comforter that has stiching coming undone to remind me of my grandma isn't the best way to think of her anyway - a picture in a frame would be more efficient and take up less space. We'd also decided to get rid of anythign that doesn't make us happy to own it - anything that has any negative memories (like the fuzzy blanket Cody got me for Valentine's Day 1998 or 1999 after he went to Daytona Beach for Valentine's weekend without telling me - fine blanket, bad memories) or just plain doesn't enrich our lives to own it.

Well, enough babbling - back to purging of old stuff before I lose my nerve and decide to keep everything. :)

Pure Good Times.

I had a bunch of things to post about tonight - I even wrote them all down so I wouldn't forget - and then I realized that Cody took my laptop to his group meeting for school. So no luck tonight. Hopefully tomorrow - though I'm on a house cleaning, task finishing, project progress spree lately. :) Anyway, yesterday a bunch of us got together and went to some of the Missouri wineries (you may laugh, but Missouri actually has some really good - and fun- wineries). It was PERFECT! Everyone was happy and had a good time, the trees were all turning colors so it was gorgeous and the weather was more then one could ever hope for in Missouri - about as perfect a day you could have. I'd kind of been grumpy lately and this totally cured me of that! Here's a few quick photos.

Everyone hanging out, drinking wine at Montelle. Cody wouldn't fit in the picture so he had to lie down on the bench.

More Montelle pictures.

Fabulous scenery at Montelle. You can't even get the full bredth of the colours just from a picture.

Everyone at Mount Pleasant Winery.

The fantabulous sunset. Still can't capture it in photos.

Photo Update.

In reverse chronological order (because I still can't figure out how to move photos around once they are uploaded onto Blogger and I don't see why they show up in the order you upload them from the bottom up):
This is tonight's vegetable harvest. We're getting a "hard freeze" tonight (apparently unlike the other times we've already been getting down past 32 degrees at night) so we went ahead and picked all the decent sized veggies in our garden just in case the freeze kills them all. Looks like we'll be eating a lot of green peppers for a while - the tomatoes will turn red by leaving them on the counter.

Last weekend we rode the motorcycle up to Ozzie's to watch the Gator game - one so we could ride the bike and it was nice and two because it's a great deterrent to drinking too many beers while watching the game (because when we do we don't get anything done for the rest of the day).

Pretty self explanatory - I hope. This is us all dressed up in our Halloween costumes. Since we were only going to a friend's party I just put on jeans with my pumpkin suit - usually I have black pants with black boots - it looks more official. Cody is a crazy Leprachan. Don't ask.

This is Wiggles all dressed up for Halloween. I'm sure you can see the pleasure on her face. This is Cody's favorite cat - or at least Cody is Wiggles' favorite person - we call her "Codependent Kitty" because she has this unnatural attachment to him - seriously she is obsessed with him. He thought it was degrading and might ruin her self-esteem if I posted this photo. I guess Wiggles should watch what she wears with all these people around with cameras these days.

And this is one of Wiggles looking stupid rolling around in the "sunshine." They lay upstairs and wait for the sun to come through these windows and then they fight each other for the sunshine space. Go figure. Who needs kids when you have cats this entertaining? :)

Boo.

Boo for the end of Daylight Savings Time. I LOVE DST!!! I can't find one good, credible reason why we can't be on DST all year long. I hate being back to normal time!!! It's now going to start getting dark around 4:30 !!! That's insane. You sit there at work just watching the sun go down and you can't even leave yet! We're all going to be Vitamin D deficient and insanely depressed!

Front Porch. Check.

We finally got (most of) the front porch painted!!!! Our goal was to finish this in June, then August, then before Cody's parents came to visit, then Halloween, but today we put everything else aside and painted painted painted until we got at least all the parts that face the neighbors and the street painted! The rest I guess I can work on as the time comes but it makes the house not look so bad. :) We got a ton done and I really just have ot paint the door, around the window and a bit here and there (some spots on the ceiling, etc.) - I'm quite excited that we actually got a project almost done!!!

Motorcycle.

One more thing we can thank my Bonus Parents for - Cody's motorcycle is working again. While at first I sort of had mixed emotions about this - while I like that he likes the bike, it scares the daylights out of me - I'm loving it again. Last weekend we took the bike up to Ozzie's to watch the UF game with all our Gator friends (like we do every Saturday - if it's Saturday and you're looking for us -that's where we'll be). It was amazing. At first I was scared like normal but Cody's mom told me to just sit still during turns/corners and to just look over the shoulder that we're turning towards - so I did that and it really made things better -for me and for Cody. It's so nice to ride along and look at all the trees and the scenery - when you're in the car you tend to ignore all that stuff. I'm still not a huge fan of going 85 on the interstate with zillions of cars merging in and out everywhere but I guess I trust Cody to watch out for what's going on. So I'm actually enjoying the fall in that it's great motorcycle weather.

More on Football.

A bit of football commentary here. This season is just WEIRD!! Seriously the strangest season ever. All sorts of crazy games - and crazy rankings. You have what should be top 10 teams unranked and teams that are never ranked in the top 10 (Quack Attack, anyone???). LSU loses to Kentucky who is the quintessential whipping boy of the SEC. FSU who can't seem to beat anyone beats #2 Boston College. USF was at some point ranked #2 (what where they thinking!!!). Colorado beats Oklahoma but can't win another game. Notre Dame is now 1-7 and lost to NAVY - who would have ever seen that coming (yeah, I bet on Notre Dame this week - one of my 8 losses). And it goes on and on and on. Strange strange season. The way it looks right now for the Gators, if Georgia and Tennessee lose another game we'll have a three loss team in the SEC Championship Game - everyone keeps beating up everyone else. Strange strange football year.

The bets are in.

Cody's a gamling man. I am not. I think casinos and gambling in general is dumb. I don't want to put my money on anything that I don't know for a fact will get me something - and a slot machine doesn't fulfill that requirement. Not that they're not fun once in a while - blow $20 on the penny slots, get some cheap drinks, hang out with friends - but it's just not my scene normally. For the Florida folks - casinos are legal here as long as they're on a body of water - since we're sandwiched between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers that means lots of casinos for our gambling enjoyment (with that comes all the annoying casino commercials and the "gamble smart" commercials - not sure which is worse). Anyway, Cody likes to play poker - but since we've been so busy he doesn't ever get to go out there. Such is life.
Then there's football. We watch A LOT of football - only college - we sort of gave up on NFL - not really our thing much anymore. Maybe that's where all our time goes - football. Anyway, so each week we always talk about the games and who thought who was going to win and all that. So three weeks ago we decided to combine the gambling and the football. Cody figured it out that if we won 53% of our bets we could quit our jobs and move to Vegas (yeah, right) - the 53% is because the house takes a rake from every bet. So each Tuesday we print out the lines on all the college football games and we each pick 10 to "bet" on (we don't put any money on these -only bragging rights).
Anyway, the first week I was 8-2 (pretty good for girl, huh?) and Cody was 5-5. The next week I was 7-3 and Cody went 5-4-1 (he "pushed" on one because he bet the line and the team won by the line exactly). So as of last Friday I was 15-5 and Cody was 10-9-1. We were doing pretty good. Until this week. This week I bombed - totally. I went 1-8-1 and Cody went 4-5-1. We would be eating Ramen Noodles in Vegas this week if we had money on these games. I won only ONE game (thanks U Conn for making the spread against Rutgers) and lost (or pushed) on the rest! What a rough week for our betting. Oh well. At least we don't have money on them. :)

Ketchup.

So, it's been a while since the last blog. It's one of those times when it seems there is so much going on - we're crazy busy and barely getting enough sleep. But then you go to write about what is going on and you're at a loss. What is it that we're doing to take up all of our time?

So this led me to check out a book from the library (I've started using the correct terminology with the library book process - "checking out: books instead of "renting" them) - it's "Find More Time - How to get things done at home, organize your life and feel great about it." Because I really feel like we have the time - if we could just find it and use it wisely. Not that we have a lot of time - we're not ozzing time here but we have a little and I think the little we have can be better managed to make us more productive and less harried. For instance, every morning I rush around for 30 minutes doing what I should be able to do in five minutes, but for my lack of planning and disorganization it takes me way too long - find the keys, make breakfast, find the shoes, find keys since I put them down after I found them the first time when I went to make breakfast, find socks, then find shoes again since I put them down while looking for socks, find my purse - opps, wrong purse, change purses, find cell phone - where is that darn cell phone - "Cody can you call my phone I can't find it? Never mind, I found it," put phone in purse, what did I do with those keys, make it to the car - opps forgot the breakfast in the microwave - you see where I'm coming from. That's every day. So I'm on a mission to get things more organized and RELAXED. Yeah, I'm always on some mission. At least I'm focused?!?
Anyway, that's really the big update - but I've got some other random thoughts that I've been throwing around so I'll see how many of them I get through.

Missing the Florida

Sometimes I miss Florida. While we no longer refer to Florida as "home" (Missouri has taken over that role since we've bought a house and lived here over three years), it's still "home" in a different way. Today an old friend, her husband, their adorable kid (who calls Cody and I "MisthyCody" like we're one word) and her parents (who I've known since I was two years old) stopped by to say hi. It was a short visit but it was still wonderful to see them. And it made me miss all the other people we're missing in Florida. Even though they left a while ago and were only here a week, there is still a feeling of emptiness since my Bonus Parents left - I keep thinking of things to go downstairs and tell them and they're not there anymore. One of our nieces turned six on Friday (which because I am a horrible horrible aunt I STILL haven't mailed her birthday card) and all I could think about all day was the party I'm sure she was having and us missing it. It's the same way when her sister was born - her sister is almost six months old and we've yet to meet her - she was just a little bitty thing back then and I'm sure she's already sitting up, crawling and eating real food by now. We've got two more nieces and a nephew that we miss birthdays, holidays (Halloween I especially miss their adorable costumes) and other random family gatherings. I guess it's actually the kids growing up that I miss the most. I was really really close with my extended family growing up and I hate that we're not there for them the way my aunts and uncle where there for me. Maybe one of these days we'll be closer and can drive over for the birthday parties and events. I can't wait until they can all read and write and we can send postcards and letters back and forth. When I was little I had an aunt in California and I will always remember writing back and forth with her so when she did visit it seemed like there was no time lost. I hope to at least have that with them - assuming they're willing of course (and if they're not I'll just chase them around until they are). :)
Hopefully we'll figure out this whole holiday thing here soon and we can start looking forward to seeing everyone.
p.s. I miss the grown-ups too but their just not half as cute as those kids. :)

Brrrrrr....

Where in God's Green Earth did summer go? Just yesterday I swear it was here and then I wake up this morning and it's forty-something outside and the high is 60! What is going on here? I guess winter has finally reared its ugly head and we are now going to just go steadly down until we hit two weeks of the highs in the 20s. We're quickly running out of time to wrap up all of those half finished outdoor projects - finishing the backyard fence, finishing painting the front porch, harvesting the last of the vegetables and putting in the fall ones (garlic, green onion), and mulching everything until spring. Unfortunately the one good thing about the cold weather skipped us this year - the leaves changing. Usually we get a spectacular display of reds, yellows, oranges and purples this time of year but apparently there was a late freeze, not enough summer rain, and too many late warm nights so the leaves are expected to just turn brown and fall off. Shucks.
The first snow is always fun - its come on November 30th three years in a row now - we'll see how that holds up this year. Every snow after the first sucks.
I'm lovin' the late change from Daylight Savings Time. I'm still not really sure why we ever go OFF Daylight Savings Time. It's a fantastic institution and I hate to see it go (though loving the few extra weeks we get from now on). Right now our sun is setting around 6pm - that means as of Nov. 4th it will be setting around 5pm - that's just sad. It's depressing to watch the sun set while you're still at work. I want to walk home in the sunshine and have a little bit left to run in (assuming I could run which I still can't - have ANOTHER doctor appointment for this on Friday) when I get home. But I walk to the garage in the dark, only to be sad and depressed when I'm home in the dark with no light to speak of. I guess I still have spring to look forward to. :) And Christmas - I love Christmas. :)

405 posts

Opps, I missed the 400 post mark, so I'll commemorate the 405 mark. :) I really can't believe I've ever had 405 posts worth of stuff to say. Most of it is babble and tantrums and thoughts and events, but it's good for me I think. I enjoy the time to focus - my life consists of constantly focusing on 100 things at once, so it's nice to sit down and type and focus on only one thing for a little while. I think this is an important exercise for me as I continually strive to slow down, focus and be a little less "keyed-up." Even when I'm on the internet, I can do 100 things at once with the whole "tabs" on IE and having the ability to have 100 applications open at once (back in the olden days if you had too many applications open at once it would slow the computer down too much). I do 100 things at once at work and at home - so this gives me a chance to focus, and think. Too often I go through a day doing this and that and taking no time to actually pause and think. Plus sometimes I guess people actually read this stuff - and that's sort of nifty too.

Too Old For This.

I used to think that life was boring if we didn't go out at least twice every weekend. What good was life if not for being fun? The word "bored" never crossed our lips. To be insanely and sickenly cliche, we worked hard and played harder. We used to think that anyone who sat at home for the weekend was just boring and old.
I guess I'm getting boring and old then. This weekend was a typical weekend for us for so many years - Friday night it was work happy hours, then party at a bar for friends moving to Chicago (the longer we live here the more friends move away). I drank a lot of wheat beer, which I absolutely love but it makes my sinuses hurt like crazy the next day. We somehow drank $89 worth of beer on Friday night and the only food on that tab was some $3 pretzels - either we drank too much or the beers were too expensive. So we drank probably too much, got home late and had to wake up decently early on Saturday (decently early means before noon). Saturday we stumbled out of bed, found some food and had to hit up Target for laundry sundries - I was all out of soap - regular soap, dark clothes soap and my favorite, Clorox 2 (I can thank my aunt for turning me onto Clorox 2). Then it was time to jump back on the wagon and head to Ozzie's for the Gator game - and more drinkin'. The Gators finally won a game, though at times it looked like they were trying to lose. The worse the Gators play the more we drink.
Then it was back home to put together some costumes for a Halloween party. I was . . . . drum roll please. . . . a pumpkin (the same costume I've used for 10 years). Cody was a _____ Leprachan. Fill in the blank - drunk, green, funny, silly, unlucky - pick any descriptor for "Leprachan" and that's what he was. So we went to the party, stayed out too late (though there used to never be a "too late"), probably drank more then we should and found our way home. Then we got out of bed at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon - not kidding. We woke up around noon, ate something for a few minutes and then went back to bed.
So, what did we really accomplish this weekend? The answer - not much of anything except a lot of beers and some wicked hang-overs. So as we went on our walk this evening, we really discovered that we're getting too old for this. I can't "hang" like I used to - I do not do well with no sleep and lots of beers for days in a row. For the first time (and this is probably the hang-over talking) I almost thought that having kids and hanging out at home this weekend would have been nice. I used to dread the thought of kids because they would inhibit weekends like this - now I think that might not be such a bad idea sometimes. I can see how people eventually grow out of the all-weekend parties. I don't think we'll ever grow out of it completly - we're both pretty social people - but I can see why the all night Friday, and all day and night Saturday stuff can begin to wear on you. We used to bounce back so much easier. Now it seems that I need more and more sleep and rest to bounce back. God, this getting older thing is really really complicated. On one hand you resist it like crazy because you don't want to get "old" and "uncool" and on the other you just get too damn tired to resist it anymore. So now we've had a day of sleep, the grocery store and laundry. You would think this incredibly boring, but it's been actually nice. :)

Took Long Enough.

Names are so weird. Some people love theirs. Others hate theirs. I've pretty much always been indifferent on mine. Melissa was the number 1 or 2 name in the year I was born, so I was never the only one - good if there are rumors or you're in trouble (no one knows which Melissa it is) or bad if you just get lots in the crowd of them. Speaking of "Melissa confusion," one of the funniest stories ever was in high school. Cody was sort of "hanging out" with another girl named Melissa. They weren't officially dating but they hung out. He took her to Homecoming, etc. - I was, of course, insanely jealous but it wasn't really my thing to butt it at that time. Well, I guess she wanted to date but he told her he was too busy with work and school and soccer and didn't want a girlfriend. Of course about a month later we started dating but it was pretty hush-hush. Turns out another Melissa (that makes three in this twisted tale) found out that him and I were dating and told everyone in school that "Cody was dating Melissa." Since the vast majority of the people I knew called me Missy and everyone had known Cody had been hanging out with the other Melissa, everyone assumed that Cody was dating the first Melissa. She heard that rumor and really thought they were dating (here's where I find her insanely dumb - who hears a rumor that they're dating someone and believes it without talking to that person!!!) so it turned into this whole drama thing because I, of course, heard that she thought she was dating my boyfriend. It eventually got worked out obviously because I have his last name and she doesn't. :)
So, back to the point of this blog - my last name. Before we got married I was all about changing my name. I couldn't wait. Before we got married I was Melissa Elizabeth-Ann - the Elizabeth got added in high school - a long story. Anyway, after the wedding I went through some serious name changing identity crisis. I had always been - my entire schooling and career - all my "connections" and friends - everyone knew me by that name. If I had been married at 19 it would have been different - but I'd had this name for a long time. To add to that, no matter what job I have my email will always have my last name in it- right now it's mflynn. My clients, co-workers and other people I encounter for work can all deal with that. They could not handle mraffensperger. I'm not discounting their intelligence, but I know when I have to email people with long last names, I always have to look up their addresses so they will be spelled right (it took me months to be able to email my friend Melanie from home because her email didn't pop up automatically on my home computer and her last name is 11 letters long). So I bounced back and forth. Hypenation? Keep my maiden name (which it's strange that all of a sudden the name I have had for years is now referred to as my "maiden name")? Drop the last name? Luckily I have smart friends and I talked with my friend Meghan and she said that she just added her new last name when she got married. No two middle names or two last names - just four names. GENIUS!
So, Friday I went and finally got myself a Missouri drivers license (I tried to get the social security card first but they required I get my license first). I am now legal to drive in Missouri - 3.5 years after moving here. :) And my new name is . I dropped the Elizabeth, not out of choice per se, but because it wouldn't fit in the space they have. :) I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it on my social security card or not. But I like the way this looks - I'm getting used to it. Now I can legally keep my maiden name for work - my kids won't be saddled with whatever I do with my career and my clients won't have to learn to spell Raffensperger. And Raffensperger will go on everything else - credit cards, bank accounts, etc. I really like the solution as it works for me. It's not for everyone - as already people are saying I'm insane - but it works for me. I do now, however, have more letters in my name then the entire alphabet. :)
So now I'm officially a Raffensperger - though I've considered myself one for quite a while. Now I can officially call Cody and I the "Raffensperger Part of Two" (this is an inside joke with me and Cody's sister). :)

Makin' Deals with the Devil

One of the joys of owning animals (or kids if you have those) are the annual visits to the vet. Since I adopted the cats from a shelter in Florida and I'm generally relatively lazy about finding new places, I've been taking the cats to the vet for the annual shots every time we visit for Christmas. But I didn't get around to it last year because we just got plain too busy. So I decided I needed to find them a vet here - I made that decision in December. I just now got around to calling them, making an appointment and actually taking them in. A friend adopted a dog from the Humane Society here, they are right up the street from our house and I generally prefer to support those types of places when I can so I made an appointment with them. I made it for Thursday at 5pm because I figured Cody could go with me before school. But it turns out he "forgot" some school meeting he had to go to at 5:15. So it was me and three cats to the vet. He later admitted he didn't want to go because he thought the cats would hate him if he took them to get shots and he would rather them hate me and let me be the "bad guy." So he made a deal with the Devil - I'll take the cats to the vet to get their shots and they can hate me and he won't have to worry about them clawing his eyes out while he sleeps, but in return when we have kids he promised that he would take them to the doctor for shots and let me be the good guy. :) Yeah, I think I got the better end of this deal. :)

Anyway, the visit was relatively uneventful, other then the sheer acrobatics involved with me trying to carry three cat carriers into the vet, in the rain, by myself. When I checked in all the ladies commented that "Oh, you're the one with the girl cat named Mr. Pickles" (when I made the appointment I gave them the cats' information) Yes, yes. That is me. Then when I saw the vet tech - she asked if the front desk people messed up because they put that Mr. Pickles was a girl. No, no. Not a mistake. Mr. Pickles is a girl. Then the vet came in - again, more comments on poor Mr. Pickles. The moral of this story - never, ever let your husband name your cats.

They were all healthy. Wiggles and Mr. Pickles were about 8.5 pounds and Bumpis/Tubby/Fatty weighed in at an astounding 11.5 - they asked if she lets the others eat. Yes she does - there are three food bowls, she can't eat out of them all at one time. Wiggles, the "lap kitty," otherwise known in our house as "co-dependent kitty" tends to "over-groom" her belly so she is missing a lot of hair there but that is nothing to worry about - she just gets nervous when Cody isn't around and does it out of nervous habit (she hates me and could care less if I left - she'd probably like it since then she could have Cody to herself).

So that was all for Kitty Vet Adventure Thursday. :)

Been a while.

Yeah, I know. It's been a while. At least I can say I've been having fun (for the most part). Plenty of more details to come (dead tired and cranky right now), but to briefly summarize, the Bonus Parents were in town last week. It was absolutely fabulous to have them here. It's so cool to get to spend time with just the two of them and have them come and see our home and show them around STL (yes, that was three "and"s in that last sentence). I really love having them here - I feel like I can really relax and be myself around them which is fantastic because that's a tough thing to do around family that you weren't raised with sometimes. They are absolutely wonderful people and I still cry like a baby when they leave. I'm getting slightly better, but not much. When we leave Tally I used to cry practically until we got out of Florida, but at least until we got to I-10, now I really only bawl until we hit Thomasville Road and then again when we exit Florida. When they leave here I bawl for a while but then Cody usually occupies me with sometime (this weekend it was we had to get ready for a party)- but then when I go to clean the house I miss them - like when I go to put up two of the placemats on the dining room table because now we're back down to two people. I miss them like crazy but am happy that the holidays are coming and we can see them again.
A brief rundown of the events since the last post. Thursday I worked on cleaning the house - since it was my one day after wasting a day working on Cody's car. Friday was my friend Melanie's Going Away Happy Hour because she got a new (and much better) job so that was a long night. Saturday we cleaned as fast as we could and then before we knew it the 'rents were here! We all went to Ozzie's to watch the Gator game - though they lost - again. Boo on the Gators- though yeah for being the highest ranked 2 loss team (plus I won $20 on the game because I bet the spread). Sunday we hung out and went for a tour/walk of the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Monday Cody made us a great dinner of pork chops after his dad figured out how to fix our grill. Tuesday Cody had class so his mom made Cody's favorite meal while me and his dad carved my fake pumpkin (it was really hard to carve because it wasn't as hard as a real pumpkin so his dad was a great help!) - I'll have to post photos of the pumpkin. Wednesday we took them to the Season Opener for the St. Louis Blues (hockey team) and they actually WON (this is huge here). Thursday we took them to my favorite - the ZOO! Unfortunately the baby elephant wasn't out while we were there but they all humored me while I excitedly gave them the grand tour of the greatest Zoo ever! Friday we hung out (mostly dealing with my car) and went to the Science Center. And Saturday we hung out while I tried to keep myself from crying all day.
The greatest thing (besides just spending time with them) is that they come and FIX things!!! Things they fixed: piece of siding on the roof that was letting water into the roof (to do this they had to put a ladder on our porch roof - good thing I wasn't here to see it or I would have died), Cody's motorcyle (they had to rebuild the brakes and some other random stuff - but it works now!), my car - yes, my car was finally diagnosed by Cody's dad - all he had to do was mess with it for 20 minutes and he figured it out - next time the car breaks, forget taking it to the dealer, I'm going to just pay to fly his dad up here and look at it, the leaky toilet, the salt and pepper shaker (apparently Cody and I didn't even know the salt and pepper shaker had a salt part and we had the pepper grinder part upside down - we just thought it was cheap and the whole time we had it on wrong!), and . . . . the sewer. Yes, in the worst timing ever, our sewer backed up into our basement (love/hate basements!) on Saturday as they were getting ready to leave. I went down to get a movie to loan them and yelled "CODY!" about as loud as I could - everyone came running and I put him and his dad to work. His mom was in charge of keeping me semi-calm and keeping me from freaking out. Having them there for this "crisis" really made me miss them even more - they kept me calm - gave me a sense of being able to control the situation and basically just provided much needed support. So we called the plumber, he drilled out the pipes that run to the house (while our 100 year old house has been rehabbed and has all plastic pipes inside, the pipes going to the sewer are all clay tile - clay tile likes to grow roots) and got all the roots out and now things are perfect. So they were nice enough to stay for that ordeal.
Then they left and I was a basket case until I realized we had to get ready NOW to make it to a party on time.
We had a great time with them and can't wait to have them back again. Maybe if we hurry up and have kids we can talk them into visiting more often (and then we can con them into babysitting). :)

Why God Doesn't Hate Me

Weekends - though I could do with a few more of them.

Why I Think God Hates Me

Aside from the obvious - curly hair, living where it snows, ridiculous allergies (including to cats, of which I have 3), an inability to decide what I want to do when I "grow up," etc. - I have new reasons to belive God hates me - today is one of those reasons.
I had great plans today. Of course, with me, as always, the greatest plans never turn out - never. For instance when I was younger I thought I would be engaged at 23, married at 25 and have kids by 28, later I thought I would be living in LA or NY, I thought we'd only live in STL for 2-5 years, etc.- obviously my life has not gone according to "plan" but it turned out good nonetheless. Cody and I joke that we're not planning to have kids until he's done with school but that as soon as we make that our official "plan" then sure enough the next week I'd turn up pregnant - not cool.
Anyway, today I had plans. Wake up at 6:30, get Cody to work by 7:30 (we only have one car since mine wasn't starting yesterday), me to work by 8:00, in court by 8:30 for a settlement, leave work by 9:00, make it to Columbia around 11:00, leave work Columbia around 2:00, go to the chiropractor around 3:45-4:00, get Cody's oil changed, get home and clean clean clean before my Bonus Parents get here this weekend, then pick up Cody from work and while he's working on his final (due tomorrow), I'd do some more cleaning and working on crocheting him golf club covers (yes, I'm a total dork and my husband is cheap - so rather then buy $45 Gator golf club covers from UF, he asked me to knit/chrochet him some - so they are orange and blue stripes, look hideous (there are no patterns out there for crocheting golf club covers), but I suppose the clubs won't get banged up). Naturally, not one of those things happened the way I "planned."
Here's how today really turned out: Wake up at 8:00, yell "Holy Shit get up NOW" to Cody. Rush to get ready. Take him to work with me by 8:30, pick up my files, run to court by 8:40 to have the settlement approved, rush out of downtown, get him to work and get to Columbia on time. While this was hectic and we slept in, I still got the settlement approved and made it to Columbia - not so bad. Then I managed to leave on time, get to the chiropractor where he mashed the hell out of my poor knee for 30 minutes, all in the name of "medicine." Then on to take Cody's car to get the oil changed. See, he didn't even know I was going to do this - it was going to be a surprise from his super nice wife because I know he's been complaining that he needs to get it done but he's been so busy. So the first place I go was packed and wasn't taking more customers. So then I drive to Wal-Mart (this is my downfall here - as I have sworn never to return to Wal-Mart - especially the Maplewood one). I park the car in the oil change line and go sign up for an oil change. I go back to move the car and nothing - the thing won't start. So we think it might be the battery so we try to jump it - still no go. Then the car starts smoking - never a good sign. So I call Cody, freaking out, and he informs me that the starter has been going bad for a while and that must be it. WHAT!?!?!? Now we have ZERO working cars and I'm stuck at Wal-Mart and he's stuck at work! This is why it (sometimes) sucks to not live near family - if only this had happened in three day we could have called Cody's folks and had them come pick us up - but no - we gotta figure this crap out. Thankfully we live in a city with mass transit. So I walk from Wal-Mart to the Metro station about a mile (after my chiropractor said to go home, ice and elevate the knee and stay off it for 24 hours), ride the metro to the stop close to home and then walk home. THANKFULLY after crazy manipulation with my fuse box, I got my car started after about 10 tries (obviously this means my starter will be bad next) and then picked Cody up. Of course as soon as I pick him up, my insanely compassionate and caring husband, immediatly tries to find a way to blame the starter dying on ME (apparently he was convinced I tried to start it too many times - it was already DYING when I got the car - it's just my dumb luck I was driving when it happened!). Anyway, we went to Wal-Mart and putzed with the car long enough that we finally removed the starter. Then we took it to Autozone to get a new one - all this time every time we go to start my car it takes more tries to crank. So we went from 2 cars, to 1.5 cars (when mine was 50/50) to 1 1/3 cars (when mine barely worked) to 1/3 car (with his broken and mine barely working). Thankfully we got the new starter and eventually got it in - in the dark - in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It sucked a lot worse then it sounds on paper. I was not a happy camper. Needless to say, we came home totally greasy, hungry and having not gotten anything on the to-do list done - including his final. It's a good thing we are used to little sleep. :)
So, yeah, for today at least, I'm convinced God hates me.

I'm a dumb geek.

I was in math club in high school. And Latin club. And if I thought hard enough I could probably think of some other embarrassingly geeky thing. But with all that geek, I could at least claim I was somewhat not-so-stupid. Not so anymore.
As a family of relative geeks, we get a catalog from Think Geek. If you've never checked out their website and you're remotely smart/geeky, then it's worth a few minutes - pretty funny/cool stuff. Anyway, as I was flipping through the catalog there were quite a few of the things I didn't "get." Again, boy has technology passed me by. I was one of the first people in Tallahassee to have an email address - mflynn@tfn.net. But don't try to email me there because I don't remember the password and I believe tfn (Tallahassee Free-Net) has since gone under and no longer exists. Back then I was all on top of this emerging World Wide Web thing - I thought it was great. And then it just passed me by - along with anything past Windows 3.1 (once we got Windows my brother ceased allowing me anywhere near the computer anymore as he was on it 24/7 - if only I was bigger then him and could beat him up and make him let me use it then I would have learned more and I would be the computer genius and he would be the disenfranchised corporate sell-out).
Anyway, I'm not even a good geek anymore. For instance I had to ask Cody, who apparently was bigger then his sister and didn't let her play on it while he sat learning crazy computer things all day, what the t-shirt that says "There's no place like 127.0.0.1" means - apparently the number thingy is the "home" thingy for your computer - he explained it but I already forgot. There are several others I didn't "get" but I won't embarass myself anymore by going into those.
For the record: I was NOT in the chess club (I suck at chess - Cody has beat me in less then 10 moves every time we have played when he was not drunk) or the band. :)

What I'm Lovin' Now

I love yogurt. It's a yummy food. And because I'm a self-proclaimed health nut, I try to substitute yogurt for an ice cream craving as much as I can possibly stand. But it's about 140-180 calories per little cup, so naturally I eat "light" yogurt. But "light" yogurt is runny and sort of mushy and not all that appealing or tasty. So I buy "light" yogurt, eat it because you're "supposed to" and go with life. Until now. Yoplait (who while they pat themselves on the back for donating 5 cents for each pink lid you mail them doesn't realize that it costs me 41 cents to mail the lids, so even if I mail them 8 of them at a time, there is net loss of one cent - why can't I just enter some lid code online and they'll donate money and then I won't have to give the USPS 41 cents only to have 40 cents donated) has now come out with "Thick and Creamy" yogurt - FABULOUS! It's about 100 calories, so slightly more then "regular" light yogurt at 60-90 calories, but delicious. It's totally, well, thick and creamy (go figure). I have no idea, nor do I want to know, what it is they finally found to make light yogurt thick, but it's wonderful and yummy. I'm sure I'm going to die 10 years earlier from eating whatever substance it is that makes it thick, but it will be worth it. At least I'm getting some calcium to go with my funky odd chemicals. :)

Places I Have Found Cody's Socks.

Cody and I are not neat-freaks - very far from it. We don't pick up after ourselves at all - not to say we don't try - we always are thinking of new ways to "try" to be neater - so far none of them have worked. Good thing neither of us really mind - it's just embarrasing when others see your house. :) His worst habbit is leaving clothes lying around everywhere and mine is leaving food/dishes around everywhere. So he always jokes about the "Guess where I found a plate today?" game - this morning he found a plate on his dresser upstairs (no where near the kitchen or dining room - typical places to have plates) - but it was because I was eating my egg and broccoli omlett thing and I was eating it while getting dressed and I finished it while I was near his dresser so I put the plate there - makes sense, right?
So now I'm playing the "Guess where I found your socks?" game. Recent sock finds: dining room table (makes sense right? who doesn't take their socks off and throw them on the table?), living room couch, boy bathroom, upstairs bathroom (I can understand the bathrooms though), the kitchen counter (why not the floor? why the counter?), boy room futon, boy room coffee table, and staircase. Not that I'm complaining, because I've likely left food containers in all of those places. :) So my "job" is to gather laundry from the hidden crevices of the house and his is to gather dishes - since both of us obviously loath the other chore (I hate cleaning up dishes - hate dishes - hate dishes - hate dishes - and trash).
Ahhh the joys of marriage . . . .

What a day.

Some days I think I'm cursed. Yesterday I was dead tired -so tired I feel asleep reading "In Cold Blood" (after watching "Capote," yes, I had to go rent the book from the library). I was getting fantastic sleep - I'd done my Pilates yesterday and I always sleep well after Pilates. Until about 5 am when Mr. Pickles decided she wanted to hang out with me. First she tried to do this weird thing with my hair - like nursing or "kneading" - which was really really annoying since her claws kept getting tangled in my hair because it's curly and when you put things in curly hair they get tangled. Then she wanted to sit on my chest with her mouth on my ear/eye/nose/mouth. This would be fine except I am crazy allergic to cats (yes, go figure) so when they touch my face I seriously swell up - my lips will swell, I'll get a swollen mark on my face, or my eyes will honestly swell shut. So her sitting that close to my face was not a good idea - so I pushed her onto my stomach - and then she was back at my face - and we went in this cycle for a while until I just threw her off the bed (of course, then we had to go through that cycle a few times until she got the hint). So then I was awake - I tried laying there to go back to sleep but wasn't having any luck. I picked up a book thinking that would help - still no luck. So finally I got up at 6am (this is insane for me - my goal in life is to wake up at 8 am and get to work by 8:30) and just worked around the house.
Then I was all ready to get to work early, went to my car and of course, it wouldn't start. But this time no amount of fidgetting with the fuse box would help (this is the cure-all to my car problems). So Cody had to take me to work. Except when we went to leave the garage, the garage door opener/closer wouldn't close the door - it kept acting like there was something in the way of the laser thing. So that was a pain. Then Cody got stuck in traffic and then his air broke at work so he cooked all day - this happened to me yesterday - we have "air handlers" and they are either on or off and in October usually they blow hot air so they turned them off since yesterday was warm - well then it was 146 degrees in our offices so they found a way to turn the fans on with no cooling, but at least it got air moving.
Then I had to sit in a two hour "Management Seminar" at work on how to evaluate people for end-of-the-year evaluations. They have a problem with everyone giving their secretaries a 10/10 on everything - but they don't understand that if we don't give them 10s (which means they get a good raise) then they "lose" our work or are just plain horrible to deal with. So that was useless as we will all stay with the crappy status quo and continue giving obnoxiously high marks for no real performance to not rock the boat.
So, hopefully tomorrow will prove more rewarding.

MIA

We have two computers in our house - my laptop that I'm shamelessly in love with, and Cody's "Linux Box" that I still can't figure out how to properly work the internet. I hate to admit to being a slave to the Devil/Microsoft, but you have to give it to them for creating a user friendly set-up, even if it does only work 50% of the time. Years ago I would have described myself as pretty computer and technology savy - not these days - the tech world has just passed me by. I used to be good with computers, but then I got older and dumber and just do the basics these days. I still suck at text messaging on cell phones and our last "game console" is the Playstation One. But I guess I'm okay with that.
ANYWAY, back on track and off the random babbling - we have two computers - mine moves, his does not. Mine is downstairs (where, since we own an ancient house, it is cooler) and his is upstairs in what we fondly refer to as "The Oven." So Cody has two final papers due this week - one today and one on Thursday - and has been using my computer - pretty much 24/7 - so I haven't had a chance to steal a moment to blog. All that writing - just to say that. Wow I can be long-winded. :) So that's why I've been lost lately. On to an update:
As I briefly mentioned before we were in Memphis a few weekends ago to hang out/see the town and then drive down to the illustrious town of Oxford, Mississippi for the UF v. Ole Miss game. Oxford, Mississippi is not a place you want to spend a great deal of time in - the campus is absolutely gorgeous, but the rest of the city. . . well, I don't think there is a rest of the city. If you think Alabama is bad, you haven't been to Mississippi. So we barely beat a crappy Ole Miss team (for heaven's sake, Missouri beat them - we should have killed them!) and hung out in Memphis. We spent two nights just hanging out on Beale Street, people watching, drinking our "Big Ass Beers" (that's what they call them), and enjoying the atmosphere. It's like a wannabe New Orleans - and you can't replicate New Orleans. They give it a valiant effort but in the end, it's not New Orleans (they even have a Pat O'Brian's). On Sunday, Cody and I toured the rest of the city - mostly a to-scale model of the Lower Mississippi River - I'll post pictures but it was really awesome. It's literally a concrete, five-block long, to-scale model of the Mississippi - complete with water level changes and running water - and of course at the end was a big pond for the Gulf of Mexico (though Lake Pontchartrain was almost as big at the Gulf in the model). Anyway, that was fun.
Since, I've been working dilligently on the house in preparation for a visit from Cody's folks. I'm quite excited - they haven't been up for a year so it will be good to hang out with them, catch up (we haven't seen them for 6 months), and show them what we've done with the house (which isn't half what I thought we'd have done by now). I've been trying to finish painting the porch - got a lot done on Saturday but then I got tired of going up and down on the 20 ft. extension ladder - so now only half the front of hte house is painted - classy, huh? There is a house for sale in our little neighborhood so we need it to sell as high as possible so it will make our house value go up. Other then that I spent all last night cleaning and reorganzing the basement. We have one of those old, creapy basements so I tried to make it a bit less creapy. :)
Last weeked, of course, we watched the Gators dismal loss to Auburn. I still don't think it's set in that we actually lost - it happens so rarely that it's a hard pill to swallow. Even Kentucky is ranked above us now (though we are still confortably ahead of Missouri - always a bragging point)! The good news is, even if we lose to LSU, they're in the West so we'll still be in control of our own destiny in the East - though we'd rather beat the snot out of LSU.
Sunday we got a group of friends together, and their adorable children, and went apple picking. Over in Illinois they have a pick-your-own farm and this time of year is apples - so we gathered the troups and picked some great apples. It was good to hang out since we so rarely get to see our friends with kids since you really can't say "Hey, you free? Want to hang out at the bar in 30 minutes?" - that would just be mean. :) They are in the same boat we would be if we had kids - (though now with Cody in school this is not a viable option anytime soon) - in STL with kids, without family, so they don't get a lot of breaks or time to themselves so we try to help out though I'm sure we could do a better job. If we had kids, I'm sure I'd be begging for our friends to take them even for 30 minutes just so we could have a break! :)
So that's pretty much the update. Same old.

Two Years.

It's been two years and a few days since I started this blog. I started on the inspiration of my friend who had a blog to keep in touch with her family in Florida and I thought it would be great for me to do the same. At the time we had just "set up" our living room and got a new rug (love Target!) and I really wanted to show Cody's parents the pictures so I created a blog so the whole family could see what we were up to without the unsolicited and unnecessary emailing of random living room pictures to all our family. And so it goes from there.

Since then the two years were some of fastest to pass at times and slowest to pass at others. A few months after the inception of the blog, Cody and I were (finally) engaged. I can still remember almost every second of that day - it was one of the best ever - I'd probably rank it above the wedding - though the wedding was the day we "actually" committed, the engagement was the start of all that. After that was the whirlwind of wedding planning (fondly referred to as "Hell Year"). Luckily there was a great break in the madness/wedding planning and we got to go to Germany for the World Cup for a few weeks. It was fantastic to really get to travel with Cody (somewhere besides Panama City Beach) and see his extended family - they were, of course, awesome. Upon our return, it was back to wedding planning and then finally that was all over in the blink of an eye. Just a blink for all that time and stress. Since it's been life as usual - busy but fun. Cody's now back in school, working hard on his studies but enjoying it at least. We've been trying to enjoy more of what St. Louis has to offer so we've been hanging out at the State Parks, historical sites, museums, etc. - saw a lot of things we wouldn't have otherwise. So, just like that two years has come and gone.

Tim Tebow

Quick post. Lots going on but it will have to wait since I am BEAT from the weekend in Memphis. We went down to Memphis on Friday, partied on Beale, then to the Gator game in Oxford, Mississippi against Ole Miss (we try to see one Gator game a year and this one was close), almost cried when we almost lost, back to Beale on Saturday night, toured Memphis today and back to St. Louis. The moral of the weekend: Tim Tebow is God - or at least his 2nd child. I found these funny Tebow sayings online and I thought I would share:

Life doesn't give Tim Tebow lemons. Life asks him which fruit he wants.

Tim Tebow doesn't bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint.

Tim Tebow can eat just one Lay's Potato Chip. Don't tell Tim what he can't do.

Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas.

There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Tim Tebow lives in Florida.

God wanted to create the world in 10 days, Tim Tebow gave him 6.

What color is Tim Tebow's blood? Trick question. Tim Tebow does not bleed.

It takes Tim Tebow 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

Bo knows football. Bo knows baseball. Bo does not know Tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow's tears can cure cancer ... but he's never cried. Ever.

Tim Tebow is so fast, he can run around the Earth and stiff-arm himself in the back.

The primary ingredient in Red Bull is Tim Tebow's sweat.

'Icy-Hot' is too weak for Tim Tebow. After a game, Tim Tebow rubs his muscles down with liquid-hot magma.

On a hot day, you can find Tim Tebow swimming in Lake Alice and biting the alligators.

When Tim Tebow does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down.

If at first you don't succeed, you're not Tim Tebow.

Superman's weakness is Kryptonite. Tim Tebow laughs at Superman for having a weakness.

As for us, the quote of the trip was driving from Memphis to Oxford on Saturday morning: Cody says "This place is a Crap Hole, everyone has a broken down old pick-up in their front yard. Oh, wait, that one has a broken down bus."

Fun trip - more on it later. :)

Why I Hate/Love Our Old House

We live in an old house -very old. Like older then Cody's 98 year old Great-Grandma (that still amazes me every time I think about it). For those not from STL a quick lesson: St. Louis City is not part of The County (it's not part of any county), it's called an "Independent City" - then there is St. Louis County made up of a zillion little municipalities - "The County" is where urban sprawl hell happened - these people have larger yards, larger (and cheaper) homes, better schools and an hour drive to work. When we went to buy a house we thought about buying a "new" or "newer" house in "The County" - we looked at a lot - they were nice - in nice, safe neighborhoods - with nice, safe schools - and generally nice, new or newer stuff. Then we looked at the city. It's gritty (about to be named - again - one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in the country - I can't believe I'm not dead yet!), it's a mess at times, the schools suck (good thing we don't have kids and won't any time soon with Cody in school now), and the houses are old. Very old - like ours. But we loved it. My drive to work is about five minutes. Our house has all these cool old quirks that you can't get with a new house.
First, we swear there are dead bodies buried in our backyard since we hit stuff when we dig and we are close to "The Hill" where all the Italians live - and we assume if you're Italian, you're in the mob and if you're in the mob you kill people and need places to bury them - hense my backyard (don't mean to offend all my Italian readers - hell, everyone thinks I'm German now and asks me how much I drink). Then there is the statute of Mary that is seriously cemented in the ground at least two feet. Someone, likely 100 years ago thought they would go to Hell if their statute of Mary fell over in a tornado so they put at least three bases of concrete to hold her in at least two feet underground - add that to the rebar that runs through her- she's never moving.
So there are things I love and things I hate about our old house:
1. I hate that our walls all took two coats of paint when we painted them. But I love that they are different then new house walls.
2. I hate that our wood floors look like they're 100 years old. But I love that they're 100 years old.
3. I hate the heavy pocket door between the living room and hall way. But I love the pocket door.
4. I hate that when Cody runs on the treadmill upstairs it shakes the chandelier in the dining room below. But I love that our dining room has the really old ceilings they had before electricitiy and they hung lamps.
5. I hate the way you can hear the water running in the entire house if there is anywhere there is water running. But I love that they even figured out how to get running water in this old of a house.
6. I hate that the upstairs is always hotter then downstairs and the insulation sucks. But I love that we have central heat and air.
7. I hate that the porch is taking two coats of paint to repaint (trying to finish at least one of my 30 projects before Cody's parents visit so they don't totally think all I do is start and never finish projects). But I love that the wood that is drinking my paint is a zillion years old.
8. I hate the way our house looks like a barn (it's barn shaped). But I love the way they don't even make houses this shape anymore.
9. I hate the way the circuit blows if you try to run the microwave, refrigerator and toaster on the same circuit at the same time. But I love laughing at those "quirks."
10. I hate the floors that squeak (our kids will NEVER be able to sneak out undetected). But I love that the house is held up by wood and brick older then anyone I know.

Basically for everything I complain about this old house, I love something else about it even more. One day I'm sure we'll have kids in live in suburbia (or maybe not), but for now we're really digging our funky old house in the city. It's got character - and spunk. And while at some point there may have been others just like it - with the same floor plan and stuff - at this point they've all be rehabbed so many times that I doubt there's even one left with our exact floorplan - so it's unique too. :)

....plus it's actually made with real brick so in the event of tornado hopefully we'll still be standing - or at least hiding in our creapy basement (yeah, since the house is old, we have a basement, but it can't be finished - limestone walls and 6 foot ceilings - so it's creapy - but still cool for someone from Florida not used to basements)

Day Three

I've made it a whole three days (almost - officially Day Three ends when I go to sleep)! I'm an addict - nothing easy to kick like crack (just a joke - I don't personally know about how hard it is to kick crack) - sugar. I have seriously had sugar every day since the wedding. And that's not unusual. Not a boat load daily - but something. I usually like a little chocolate after lunch so I keep Dove dark chocolate squares in a co-worker's office (I can't keep them in my office or the whole bag would be gone by noon) and I like to eat one (or two or three) after lunch - around 2pm I get the craving. Or sometimes I just like something sweet at home - Gummy Snacks (100% of your daily Vitamin C requirements!), Skinny Cow ice cream bars (probably not real sugar in these but it tastes like it), or something of the sort - I've given up huge ice cream sundaes, or even ice cream in general (I do get an occassional Ted Drewes custard - mini size - when we're that way) and I try to stay on the healthier (aka less calorie) side of sugar but I still can't make it a day without it. Years ago I could eat all the sugar I wanted and nothing happened - not these days - gotta watch that whole calories in v. calories out - a sick part of life but necessary so I can live to be 98 (like Cody's Great-Grandma who turned 98 last weekend - what a woman!!!).
So I realized that I really need to at least make a feable attempt to kick this habit or at least get it in check. So on Tuesday I decided no sugar. I made it - as long as you don't count the sugar in wine since I had a glass of wine to get me through my "withdrawal." Wednesday I made it - without the wine - though I did eat a yogurt (natural sugar) and grapes (more natural sugar) to kill the craving. Today I'm back to wine. So I guess I'm really just giving up "added" sugar or "refined" sugar - at least making an attempt to cut back on the damn stuff - can't avoid all the natural sugars.
Anyway, that's a lot of babble to say I'm working to cut back on my sugar consumption - that should tell you how big this is for me. I seriously love sugar. I gave up fried food years ago, I can avoid salty stuff (chips and stuff), but that sugar gets me every day. So it's been a hard fought few days but hopefully it will get easier. :)

Sunday - aka Fun with Photos

These are in reverse chronological order because I'm a moron an can't figure out how to move then around once they are already in the blog editor thing. Oh well. :)
This picture makes me want to have kids. She had such a wonderful time just staring at the monkey/ape/gorilla/orangutan - it was adorable. I really hope our future children have this much curiousity and awe for new things.
This one was called "Facination with Penguins." She loved those penguins (and elephants and mongooses (which she just called "gooses" and which we could not figure out if they were properly termed "mongeese" or "mongooses" - turns out the latter is correct) and bears and ants and rocks and leaves and water and just about everything). It was really really cool to see.

Yes, I am still obsessed with the baby elephants. You can see she is getting bigger now! One of them actually went swimming - the first time I saw an elephant swim (and it was chilly out). Anyway, can't say enough about baby elephants.

This was a smily face built in concrete in the ground at the Sculpture Park. Each facial orafice was a bench too so you could sit in it (see Cody sitting in the mouth). Very cool.

Here is Cody climbing on "Lawsuit Waiting to Happen." Apparently it's made out of discarded oil drums or something - pretty cool.

We named this one "Lawsuit Waiting to Happen." Then Cody had to, of course, go climb on it. Go figure. Pretty cool though - reminded us sort of the "French Fries" in G'ville (those from UF will get this). :)

Weekend Fun.

Last week was long. Very long. But, alas, Friday finally came as it always seems to do - fancy that. So we decided that since Cody was (almost) caught up on school work we were going to enjoy the weekend the best we could.

Friday we walked over to Balloon Glow - for those not in STL, every year there is a massive hot air balloon race where all these balloons "chase" the Energizer Bunny balloon on Saturday. Well, the Friday before they set up all the balloons, along with all sorts of fair type events in Forest Park and let you wander around and check out the balloons - since it's at night they call it "Balloon Glow" since the balloons glow when they turn on the flame stuff to make them big. Anyway, we walked over there (because we rock and can walk to Forest Park) and had a good time checking out the balloons.

Saturday was the first big Gator game. Since we all miss G'ville (or at least Florida, since face it, after you hit 22, you're "old" in G'ville), the Gator Club (of which Cody is VP and I have somehow become Treasurer - and I don't even balance my own bank account) does a tailgate before the Tennessee game each year - food and beers and friends and fun. It was a little chilly this year (I've used the heater in my car four times already in the last week) but still fun. The game was supposed to be a good one - a hard fought win - not so much. We kicked some Volunteer butt. Not too much of a game but fun to hang out with the Gator crowd. We even have two new, appointed members of the Gator Club - Steve and Melanie - they're our recruits and they rock as Gators even though they've never been to G'ville!

Sunday was Fun Outside. We started at Laumeier Sculpture Park - very cool place to wander, explore and hang out. We had a great time hiking around the fields and the woods checking out the art stuff - much cooler then I thought it would be. Then we went to the Zoo (one of my favorite places in STL) with our friends Meghan and Danny and their adorable almost-two year-old! She was so damn cute at the zoo - she would wave at the animals and then put her hands on the glass and stare at them - there are some great pictures (see next blog). We had a fabulous time hanging out with them. Then Sunday evening I made dinner - a small modern miracle. I've actually been trying to cook more lately since Cody is in school and I was spending over $45 a week on buying lunch so I'm trying to make dinners that we can just the left-overs for lunch. Last week I made Cajun Corn Chowder which wasn't bad and then Garlic Shrimp Pasta that surprisingly Cody liked okay but I thought it was crap. Then Sunday I made Lasagna Roll-Ups - it's a healthier and easier version of lasagna and it actually turned out pretty good. My pizza and mac and cheese boy has actually turned into quite the health food conisour which makes my life a whole lot easier. So I'm trying to learn to cook - but it's a slow process. :)

Today after work we went to the Cardinals game - had a great time though when we left they were losing pretty bad. Not that we particularly cared - we drank beer, ate pretzels and talked the whole time.

So life is supremely good right now.

Why I Practice Law

Almost every day I wake up, typically "too early" for my liking. And every day I get ready for work and while driving to work I wonder why in the world I practice law. Every day I wonder if this is what I should be doing. After reading this, the answer is yes. The day I cease finding this funny, I will cease my practice of law. Here's the link, but in case you don't feel like clicking on it, I've copied the good parts. If you're a lawyer and don't laugh at this, maybe it's time to get out. :)

Chambers says senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He says his main objection is the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all. Chambers said, "Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody - even God."

Chambers said he decided to file this lawsuit after a suit was filed in early September in federal court against Lancaster County Judge Jeffre Cheuvront. He's the judge who was hearing a sexual assault case, where the woman wants to use the words "rape and victim" during her testimony.

Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.
The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is “Omnipresent”.

In the lawsuit Chambers says he’s tried to contact God numerous times, “Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out, wherever you are”) has been unable to do so.”

The suit also requests that the court given the “peculiar circumstances” of this case waive personal service. It says being Omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.

The lawsuit accuses God “of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent.”
It says God has caused, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.”

The suit also says God has caused, “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.”
Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant “will laugh” when calamity comes.

Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as “expeditiously” as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.

Now that we can sue God, I'd like to also sue my cat, Mr. Pickles.

Photo Blog

Last weekend, again because we wanted to walk and get outside, we went to Castlewood State Park. They have a great trail/hike up to the top of this cool bluff that overlooks the Meramec River (the brown watery thing in the picture). The river was really muddy because of all the rain recently but it was still a great hike and a lot of fun. Always good to get outside and breathe- especially when the fall is breathing down your neck (today's high was less then 70 degrees - brrrr).

Since Labor Day weekend is the official end of everything cool here (opps, I mean summer) that means that The Zoo starts closing at 5pm again instead of 7pm. So we took our last opportunity to go to Zoo Nights and check out the animals after work. Of course, Cody loves the goats. Apparently The Zoo goats aren't as great as the Grant's Farm goats though. We got to watch the hippos swim around, pet the goats, see the baby cheetas (which aren't so babyish anymore) and catch all the normal faves.

A few weekends ago we wanted to get outside for a nice walk (we're into walking now since I can run) so we drove out to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Apparently this is pretty historic and stuff and was part of the old Route 66 back in the day. The bridge no longer carries traffic and has been turned into a historic site/park where you can bike/ride over it and check out the Mississipppi - great scenery if you have the time.

Knee Update.

Yes, I still hate my knee and am anxiously awaiting the WebMD article about the newest and bestest Bionic Knees that last forever and that are better then normal knees. But until then:
I had the MRI on Thursday - no torn meniscus but the IT band and a thing called the Poplilus (sp?) tendon have "bright spots." I suppose that's doctor speak for inflammation. So back to Square One (anyone old enough to remember that show - only if you were told PBS was the only station we got (which was almost true) by your parents and therefor actually watched PBS). I started seeing the chiropractor yesterday (contrary to Cody's insistence they do more then crack bones) - he "released" the tendons so damn hard (deep tissue massage I think he called it) that I have a bruise bigger then my hand on the side of my leg/knee. But allegedly it should break up the scar tissue that's tightening/injuring/hurting my tendons. Today I started back to physical therapy - more butt/leg strengthening. You'd think with a butt as big as mine (I look nothing like my mom's side of the family - except that I have the "Booth Butt" as they call it (the family name is "Booth") - thanks guys for the extra large butt - I couldn't get the green eyes or something cool - but the large butt!) that it would have to be pretty strong- wrong assumption. Apparently a weak butt leads to weak hips which while you may have the strongest quads known to women, leads to legs/knees that turn inward, thus putting strain on said knees and tendons. Too complicated - just fix my damn knee already! Anyway, back to physical therapy some more to see if we can get this thing working like normal. I swear this is really wearing on me - it's so frustrating to love to do something and not be able to do it.

Five months.

So I've been married five whole months now (and 4 days)! That makes me 1/5 a bigger expert on marriage then I was last month. :) A few notes/things I've learned about our married lives:

1. There are some tough decisions in life where there are no right or wrong answers. Actually there are decisions where there are no answers at all and you still have to figure out what to do. Being married makes these decisions easier - or if nothing else, at least when you make the wrong one you always have someone to blame.

2. Boys, especially boy engineers, are different. For instance, what do you call the things that stay in each person's car that you snap a baby's car seat into? I swear to you that 99 out of 100 people would say "base." Because it's the base for the car seat. Not an engineer - it's a "docking station." For some reason I think that is fan-didly-tastic hilarious.

3. There will never be enough time in the world to spend with the people you love. Cody and I could live to be 400 and it still wouldn't be enough time. My greatest fear in life is the day he dies (morbid, yes, but chances are, barring any disaster, he, as a male and tall, will die before me) and I have to go at it alone.

4. Our kids will most definitely: a) Go to UF (or Ivy League), b) love and/or be good at math, c) have thick, brown, curly hair, d) have enough energy to fill an ocean (we both move non-stop - case in point: Cody, while talking to his parents Sunday night, proceeded to stir (non-stop) my soup that instructed me to "stir ocassionally" - that was one mixed up soup), e) probably love their beer a bit too much, f) like sports/moving around/sweating/athletics, g) hate TV (or at least not love it since they will have very limited access to it, given our now one television), h) be eons behind technology (we have ancient cell phones, a PlayStation One, and a 25 inch TV), i) love their health food - either that or they won't eat :) . I'm sure there's more but I can't think of them now.

5. Cody's thing he's learned since getting married: That officially getting married changed nothing. It was the committement we made before getting married that was important. The decision to spend the rest of our lives together was much more important then the wedding and/or marriage, except that it made insurance and taxes easier. The big deicsion/change for him was proposing and making that leap. The actually marriage wasn't that big.

6. That you just have to work things out. Whether it be money or school or work or chores or friends or the cats, you just have to work it out - and nicely - because you'll presumably be together forever and there are no do-overs and things you say can have life-long impacts, so choose those words very carefully and if you aren't in a position to chose words carefully then just walk away.

7. That still, after five months, it's so much easier (and more fun and relaxing) then I ever thought possible.

Happy Five Months - and counting!

Dilly Beans.

One day we're going to be farmers. Farmers with a lot of school debt and too many college degrees.
First we got the garden. It's a tiny little garden but really wonderful. We truly enjoy our little plot of earth. It takes a good bit of work at times and almost daily walk-throughs to make sure everything is okay, to pick the ripe stuff, pick of anything bad, check water levels, and inspect for bugs, but it's all worth it because when we pick something particually cool looking we look at each other and say "We made this!"
Then we started in on the salsa. We love making this salsa that we sort of created. We try to grow as many of the ingredients as possible but still have to buy the black beans and corn (contrary to popular belief, just because we live in Missouri, we do not have corn nor cows). It's another labor of love. We sit around and chop for what seems like hours and then dig in. We tweek it each time to see what we like and what we don't.
So we'd decided when we get old and retire we're going to be that couple at the Farmer's Market that sells peppers (all sorts - we're great at growing peppers - if you like Banana Peppers, we have dozens- we'll bring you some), other veggies we grow and salsa.
Well, now we have another ware to peddle. Dilly Beans. I had never heard of these things in my life (and I grew up in the SOUTH!) until we went to Wisconsin and visited Uncle Bob (the same Uncle Bob that is trying to convince me to let Cody get a giant pig shaped grill/roasting thing - it shoots the steam out of its pig nose). Uncle Bob had made these pickled green beans with some sort of crazy hot pepper (Cody is obsessed with the hottest peppers he can find) and Cody was in love. So last month we tried our first batch. I can't personally attest to their quality as a) I'm not big on pickled things (except Mr. Pickles, of course) and b) I hate hot stuff about as much as Cody loves it, but Cody was impressed enough to do 8 more jars. So we went to the grocery store, basically bought them out of green beans (sorry if you tried to go to the Hampton Schnucks and buy green beans - we have them all) - over 7 pounds of beans - and came home and set up a big pickleing assembly line. We made 8 large mason jars full and tested them today to make sure they were properly sealed (I've had to teach Cody all about sealing/freezing/canning foods) and sure enough we were 8 for 8 - they all sealed perfectly! So now they are hiding in the basement to do whatever chemical stuff goes on. Added to the 2 jars we did before that gives Cody a jar a month until green beans come back in season.
Oh, yes, we do plan to plant as many green beans as our yard will fit next year. We're going to have the biggest City garden ever (our lot isn't measured in acres or fractions thereof - too small - I think our yard dementions are actually expressed in feet)!!!!

My Family

Wow this sure is a loaded topic. :) My family has changed and grown a lot over the past year. First, Cody and I were (finally) married. My family effectively doubled, though since I already have divorced parents, I already had 3 families (mom, dad, step-mom families) and Cody only had two, so I guess my family only grew by 2/3, instead of a whole 100%. Anyway, I couldn't be happier with my in-laws. There is serioulsy not one of them I don't like - they are fabulous! They treat me just like I have always been family and are just fabulous. Our family continues to grow on his side - Cody's cousin just had twins and two more cousins are due with babies in the next few months!
In May the family grew again. David and Kim had another baby girl! They are two of the greatest parents I've ever seen. The now have three gorgeous girls (and I'm not just biased because they're my nieces - they are seriously gorgeous - super model gorgeous) and they love them more then you can imagine. Their patience is mind-boggling.
Then sometime in either June or July my mom got married. I'm not sure of the exact date because a) I wasn't told of the event until some time later, b) I wasn't invited and c) I haven't bothered to ask because I suppose if I'm not invited to a wedding I don't have to send a gift or anniversary card. To be fair, they didn't tell any of the family - not just me. I doubt I'll ever understand that but then again, it's not mine to understand. That was their choice and I've just got to deal. Anyway, I now have another step-family. I can't really comment on them because I haven't met them. I know I have two step-sisters but I don't really know much about them. I have met my step-father twice, but that's it there. So I guess my family grew again!
But then this weekend we had even more excitement! Our family grew again - but no babies or marriages. We actually found out we had another member we just didn't know about. You see, my grandma's sister, had a kid when she was younger (and unmarried). These days that's really no big deal at all. I bet we can all name at least five people who have gotten pregnant/had babies without being married or even keeping in touch the guy, but not back then. Back then it was not really heard of. Apparently the guy was in the military and as my grandma put it, when a guy got a girl "in trouble" (her words) his choices were to marry her or be transferred out of that base. Guess this dude didn't want either so he hurried up and married his long-term fiancee (real cool fella, huh?) and she gave the baby up - and then returned home as if nothing had happened. Again, these days that is pretty unheard of but back then it was just the way they did things - heck, they didn't even have internet! :) Anyway, no one in my family knew (except my great-grandma) and life went on. Well, at some point my grandma figured it out but never told anyone. Until this weekend.
On Saturday a lady and her friend showed up on my grandma's doorstep wanting to "investigate geneoglogy." Sucks for those two because my mom and grandma are geneology nuts - seriously. So they talked these ladies heads off about geneology when it finally came up that . . . (drum roll please) . . . the lady was my grandma's niece!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!! So they all yelled "Oh my God!" a lot and hugged and I'm sure some crying went on. Then they called my grandma's other niece (my "aunt" - in the south everyone older then you in an "aunt" or "uncle" and everyone your age is a "cousin" - so even though she's technically some kid of cousin, she's still my "aunt"), who found out she had a new half-sister that she never knew about - so of course she drove over and more hugging ensued. They then called my aunt's two brothers and let them on the "oh, by the way, I'm talking to your sister - nope, not that one - the one you never knew about - OH MY GOD! AHHH!" Then of course the entire family was called in turn and we all yelled "Ahhh.... OH my GOD!!" and thought how cool it is.
So, yup I have even more family then I ever knew!! How fun!!! The only sad thing is that she lives near Tampa (about four hours away) so they can't all hang out more and get to know each other. I think we might try to do a big family Thanksgiving so we can all hang out and meet our newest additions! Anyway, I think this is totally cool and find it so neat to find family we have never met! WELCOME NEW AUNT RITA!!!

Catch Up (not Ketchup).

First, I swear I was something like 25 before I learned the proper spelling of "ketchup" - it's actually a pretty tough one. Now "convenience" - that is one that I still cannot spell without spell check - and even then it still takes me 5 minutes just to get close enough for spell check to figure out what I'm talking about. One day when we have kids, bless their little brains because they will be the worst spellers ever - between Cody and I we can barely spell our names most days. :) But damn will they ROCK at math!

In other, no as random news, here's our life lately. Friday I had a orthopedic appointment for my knee - still hurts - now he's confused as to what is wrong so I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (of course the week of waiting was torture) to see if we can figure it out and fix it once and for all. I keep telling him I just want some kind of new age Bionic Knee replacement but no such luck because it doesn't exist yet. :(
So after getting into work late (since we only have one car, Cody came to my appointment and then I took him to work) we left early (what a great Friday) and went to The Zoo! As most of you know, I LOVE the Zoo! In the summer (in the north that is strictly defined as Memorial Day to Labor Day no matter what the astronomers/weather people say about Solstices and Equinoxes) the zoo is open until 7pm instead of 5pm, which is wonderful because then I can ride my bike or run (back when I could run) up there whenever I want and watch/stalk the baby elephants (by far my favorite right now). So Cody gave in and we went to the Zoo - it was actually pretty fun and we got to see the last Friday Night Concert Series at the Zoo so that was cool. The animals were all very cool as usual. Then we went out to eat (a rare treat lately) at a cheap/wonderful Greek place to relax. Then we sat up most of the night (until well past midnight) working on my Illinois Bar Application - what a jammin' fun time that was.

Saturday we woke up too darn early to get my Application notarized and get it mailed off in time. Then we just barely made kickoff for the Florida game at Ozzie's (we watch the game at Ozzie's because 1) we dont' have cable, 2) these early games are only on satelite, and 3) we get to hang out with our rockin' Gator friends). The game was great and we had a good time. Plus Notre Dame lost and Michigan lost to freakin' Appalacian State (they are a IIA team)! So a fun first week of football. The rest of Saturday we slept -no kidding - we slept a good 8 hours when we got home, woke up and ate and then slept some more.

Sunday Cody met with his school group to write a paper, I babysat for a friend's almost-two-year-old (adorable and TONS of fun!!) and we went to a friend's party - good times.

Monday was more group work for Cody for school and I went into work. So much for Labor Day and a three day weekend, huh? But I got a lot done on my brief, which I finally finished last night. Usually briefs aren't that big of a deal - they take a long time to write but they're fairly straightforward. This one needed to be 25 pages and mine was 36 so the hardest part was just getting it down. Finally managed to do that last night.

Well, Cody needs the computer so he can do more school work so that's it for today.

p.s. David - thanks for the google links (docs and calendar) - they are AWESOME!!!

Forget it.

I have a list of posts here to write. But seeing that I just got done with work (finally finished my brief!!) and it took me over 30 minutes to get on internet and pull up this page, I'm done for the night. Maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck.