Real Conversations I've Had with My Husband

Welcome to a new weekend section I'm calling Real Conversations I've Had With My Husband! I don't know if this will happen every weekend, but when I do post a "Real Conversation" I will always include it in a weekend update. Tonight, the ridiculous conversation that I could swear sounded like something from a poorly scripted fast-talking show was as follows:

Mr.: "I can't believe the next Fringe episode wasn't posted this week! How could they do this to me?" (slams fist on table).
Me: (contemplating) "Well, you see, the guy responsible went to a party and got really drunk, and had a three day long hangover and totally forgot he had to do it. By the time he was back to work he had so much other work to do that he didn't even realize it or even have time to do it."
Mr.: "Huh?"
Me: "Well, you wanted a reason, I gave you answer."
Mr.: "Don't lie."
Me: "It wasn't a lie. It was just a possibility."
Mr.: "You didn't say maybe the person got drunk."
Me: "Well, hypothetically. Ok, there."
Mr.: "I don't need your... hypothesizing."
Me: "Hypothecaries?"
Mr.: "That's different."

The conversation then drifted to another subject. Minutes later...

Mr.: "Apothecaries!"

Yes. That is the conversation as it actually happened. Nothing unusual here. I just can't help but wonder what it is that makes our brains work quite the way they do. It is truly incredible some of the connections we make... or, in some cases, miss.

On a side-note, last weekend I went out seeking a balance board, which I found at Target. I wanted one so I could do easy work-outs while watching TV (simply balancing on the board, getting a simple core work-out), or harder work-outs incorporating the board. It's quite the handy tool. I tell you this so you understand my next statement. While I was writing this post, my husband turned on the Wii the to play a video game, whilst standing on the balance board. Ingenuity, people!

Blog #16, done!

Being Flexible

Yesterday was supposed to be my last day at FH elementary, unless I got the job there. I felt a little anxious as a walked in the front doors, not knowing whether it was my last day there or not. On my way to lunch, I was stopped by the principal and told that I have done a wonderful job, and was strongly considered, but they had decided to hire someone with more teaching experience who is male. I expected that if someone with a teaching degree came along they would surely hire that person, and in a primarily female staff, more male figures are certainly necessary.

I am not bitter about their decision by any means. As I said before, what matters is they make the right choice. I have much enjoyed my time with them, and the experience. They have made learning how to substitute teach much easier than it probably would have been bouncing from school to school for the last three weeks. They were also all so thankful and encouraging, complimenting me on how flexible and positive I have been. Many of the other TA's told me with sadness in their faces that they wished I had gotten the job. I will miss the students and teachers I have gotten to know while there, but I know I will be back, and probably often. They already asked me to come in and fill a different position on Monday. I am very excited to see what life looks like day by day from here on out. I am also looking forward to having a flexible schedule! God always has a plan and a purpose, so although this didn't work out the way I wanted it to, I know this was the best way.

Today was a fabulous day in with my wonderful husband. I have lately taken to calling him Mr. Wonderful, and he says he, "thoroughly endorse[s] the use of that name." Haha. After saying goodbye to Doc this morning (it was the first time I had seen him all week with our work schedules... see, living with a father-in-law doesn't have to be so bad) we took some time to do our own thing. Around one o'clock I got some coffee and some laundry ready, threw in a load, and sat back to watch my favorite television show and enjoy a warm cup of peppermint mocha coffee. By the way, this favorite show of mine is amongst about three or four shows I enjoy immensely, but this is the only one my husband doesn't like watching with me. It's my "me time" show, and it's Life Unexpected. This show is well-scripted, has a gorgeous but very likeable cast, and the music for each scene is always perfectly matching for the mood. Overall, a very well done show, and I am addicted. I hope it makes it for a few more seasons for the sake of my enjoyment.

After our individual alone time, I finished up the one load of laundry (which was all I had enough quarters for today... who can't wait to live in a house and have her own washer and dryer? This girl!) and we did some straightening up, vacuuming, sweeping, and cleaned up sinks and counter-tops. Ah, clean houses are so nice to live in! When we were done making the apartment beautiful, we decided to go for a nice long walk. Before leaving, I thought I would put some chili on because it was supposed to be "steam cooked" for 2-3 hours. I mixed the ingredients, put it in the steam-bag (you know, the ones you put in the microwave) and, following very specific instructions which I read over at least three times thinking something didn't seem right, put the steam bag into the slow cooker. In the time it took for us to each eat a quick snack and put on our shoes, we heard crackling and smelled burned plastic. I ran to the kitchen, pulled off the lid, and grabbed some tongs to take out the bag. As I lifted the bag, the chili fell out the bottom, and I got a good look at burnt plastic around the bottom. Yikes. We took everything off heat but it took quite awhile to cool down before we could throw away the plastic without burning a hole in the garbage bag. I'm now praying that the plastic burned to the bottom of the bowl comes off. It is currently soaking in soap water. So, no more steam bags in anything but a microwave for this family! I'll just get chili that is made the normal way from now on.

Once that ordeal was over, we did go on a nice long walk and looked at all the beautiful houses in our neighborhood, and allowed ourselves to dream. With the whole wedding thing off the check-list, what we have to look forward to is children, careers, and a nice house we can be pleased with someday. It was a lot of fun, and we were out for an hour.

When we got home, to make up for my earlier failure in the kitchen, I made some delicious spaghetti using Giada's tomato basil sauce, which I added hamburger to. I also made a pan of brownies, for which I am using the cool-time to write this post. They have powdered sugar on top! I'm so excited and hope I can restrain myself from taking in too many chocolatey good carbs tonight. Though, I did go on that nice long walk...

Post #15, done! Wow, 15 already. Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Exhaustion

The one word that could describe my entire MEA break and return to work would be exhaustion. Not all bad, necessarily. Maybe a better way of putting would be sleep deprivation. Or irresponsible sleeping pattern, but neither of those are one word, so you see, they just wouldn't work for my purpose.

Thursday we got up early for a visit to Red Wing to see the... what would I call them?... grand-in-laws? That should get the point across, anyway. I know you're an intelligent person, I believe in your comprehension skills. Anyhow, Red Wing is a darling little city and G and I always love to visit there to see his grandparents. While there, we saw the world's largest boot at the Red Wing shoe store, wandered around a new furniture consignment shop, the name of which escapes me but I wish I remembered because it's a place worth visiting, and we took a peek into a confectionery that was started in somebody's home; it has now become an adorable little candy shop in which you can view local art and actually watch them make sweets through a window looking into the kitchen. We had a fabulous time.

Friday into Saturday I spent the night away from my darling husband for the first time since our move to enjoy some "girl time" with his mother, sister, aunts, and cousins. We trashed an aunt's house making adorable little flowers for headbands, hair clips, and pins, and ate a ton of junk food. I hardly ate for the rest of the weekend, which caused G some strife but I really just felt like a log as it was. It was worth it, though, because we all had such a wonderful time and I adore his cousins, and they are very expressive in their admiration of me. My husband got to spend some good quality time with one of his brothers while I was gone, but was very happy to have me home and clung to me like a toddler seeing his mommy for the first time in three weeks (which actually happened to him when he was three and his mother went to Europe, so I should be more sensitive toward his needs, but it was quite sweet!).

After a long weekend of late nights and early mornings, one would think that a woman with a new job would learn when to say enough's enough and catch up on sleep, but not this cookie. Oh no. Last night was my good friend's 21st birthday, and I hadn't seen her or really heard from her in several weeks. We were due for some catching up and of course I couldn't decline her invitation to go out with her fiance and friends, so I agreed to meet them last night. My plan was to be home by about 11:00, but I had to make alterations after receiving a call at ten that she wasn't out of her Bible study group yet. We ended up meeting around 10:30 and staying for quite some time due to slow service. I don't blame the waitress, it was late, and they were getting ready to close, so of course it was a little slow. However, when I got in the car to leave and saw 12:10 on the clock I about had a panic attack! It all would have been fine any normal day, I can handle it, but let's not forget what today was. The big job interview!

I had coffee this morning. I ate breakfast. I got a ride to work instead of walking. I tried to do what I could to gain or save energy. I was bleary eyed and my response time was not so sharp. But I think the interview went fairly well. The closing remarks sounded promising and they expect to have a decision by early next week. Keep praying, guys! I know that if I don't get this job it's just because somebody better suited for it was chosen, which would be the best thing. It really is a big job, with a lot of responsibility, and the mental and educational well-being of children are at stake, so what is really important is not that I get the job, as much as I've enjoyed my time there, but that the right person is chosen.

Dinner tonight: Italian baked chicken and spaghetti with tomato basil sauce. Mmmm...

Blog #14, done! Pray!

City Life

Yay! I finally feel like a Twinian. Or whatever you call people who live in the Twin Cities. After some research, we found a bank near our home and set up an account there, about two weeks ago. They told us it would be a week to ten days for us to get our bank cards. We waited and waited, and finally today they came. Now we can close our account with our old bank and transfer all our payment accounts for loans, car, etc to our new account. Life will be easier to keep track of. We didn't want to close our old account before getting the cards so that we could still access our money easily. This feels like a new strange sort of freedom.

More good news from today: I was called for another job interview! I applied for the position that I've been filling the last two weeks, and now I may be able to keep it for the school year. It would be such a blessing to have a job within walking distance, and with set hours each day, and a bonus that I have already had time to develop a relationship with the students and teachers I have been working with. I'll be doing little jigs for days, I'm sure.

On Sunday my husband, Doc, and I ended up helping a lady whose car had a flat tire get to work. She didn't have money to fix the tire, so we scrounged up some cash and change and gave her whatever we had. Hopefully her day got better, because ours sure did after that! On our way home we found a string of antique stores, many of which were having sales. We stopped to check them out because we needed new chairs for the dining room. We didn't purchase any chairs, because a quick call to my mother-in-law revealed there free chairs waiting for us elsewhere (yay, free!). However, we were able to find a nightstand for the Doc, which is something he had been looking for.

The nightstand wasn't so significant, though. As we were shopping the antique stores we smelled something delicious and stumbled upon this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called The Blue Door... presumably because the door to the building is blue. Their main item is the blucy, which is a burger with cheese inside rather than on top of the beef. Very good stuff! We ordered cajun fries on the side and they were totally worth it. It was a fairly inexpensive place to eat, had friendly service, and good food. It is rather cramped, but it's a pub. The only thing I would warn would be to make sure to order burgers well-done, because they tend to be pretty red in the middle. Don't let that deter you, though. If you're ever in the St. Paul area, go find it! It's worth it.

Dinner tonight: leftovers that need to be eaten! Then a little "clean the fridge" party after dinner, and we should have more room in there (and tupperware). Sorry for the short synopses of life. Maybe I'll write again tomorrow if I'm not feeling so brain dead. I was sick yesterday, after all.

Blog #13, done!

First Lesson

Well, I have to say, I have not worried about choosing the wrong job. Being a substitute teaching assistant is challenging, especially when nobody really knows where you're supposed to be at any given time, the classes and students you're working with aren't there for the whole or part of a day, and you're being stretched between four different classes. Yesterday I forgot to bring my paper schedule to work and I think I did alright without it, except for I forgot to go check on one of my students later in the day. It didn't seem to matter, though, because at the time I was supposed to be with him it turned out another TA was with him anyway. I am in no way complaining, I have it fairly easy. Heck, at least I'm just a TA substitute, and not an actual teaching substitute. Then again, I am the one who always did (and still does) say she would never teach. We'll see where God takes me.

So far this week, I have learned a lot, just from the little kiddies in the school. The school's emphasis is on accepting diversity, and they happen to have one of the best anti-bullying campaigns I have seen so far in my life. Better than the schools back home, I tell ya. It really makes a difference when the rules are strictly enforced and not just suggested by motivational speakers during a yearly assembly, and when the good students who make one small bad decision aren't the ones the teachers make an example of (which happened a lot in my high school, and is still happening today, last I heard).

In my first three days of subbing, I have seen students in sixth grade and younger help mentally and physically handicapped students be understood by their peers and teachers, I have seen them assist these students in tasks, and give them their undivided attention to play and converse as well. I have seen boys high-five girls whose speech is hard to understand and who live in wheelchairs. I have seen sweet little blond girls invite the girls wearing head-coverings and dresses that cover their ankles to stand with them in line, complimenting them without anyone saying anything about the way they are dressed. I have seen kindergarteners have compassion on the boy who lashes out when he doesn't understand, and forgive him instantly if he's hurt them once he calms down. If children can do this, why can't we? Why can't we, as adults, as the role-models of these very children who we are bringing up to be accepting, compassionate, and forgiving, be those things in our own lives, and not just tell our youth to be that way?

It's time for us to stop trying to bring forth change by changing the views of the next generation, and work on these changes in our own. Not instead of guiding the next generation, but alongside them. It's time for us to learn what we've been teaching.

With that thought, I will leave you. Blog #12, done.

On Loving Life

After what seemed like a long weekend and a lot of thinking that mostly caused my head to hurt, I made a decision on my job situation. Today I called the youth worker employer back and thanked her for her time and the offer, but that I was going to take the other job. I hope I made the right decision. It really just came down to both of them being equally beneficial to me in very similar ways and the sub job just fits G's and my schedules better. This way we can still share the car instead of one of us riding the bus every day... even in a Minnesota winter, which neither of us were looking forward to. I'm very relieved to have a job, and an answer, and to have all of this sorted out.

I also went looking for an orchestra to play this weekend (online, not literally going out on a search). I found two that G and I really liked so we sent contact info to them. One of them is actually led by the director of the Austin Symphony we played with for a short time back home, and he got back to us right away. The other one is closer, so we're hoping to hear from them, but it ultimately depends on their rehearsal schedules. We can't play in an orchestra we can never rehearse with!

Yesterday was senior picture day with my baby sis! She's the third and youngest of us girls, and it's unbelievable that she's already a Senior. My parents will be empty-nesters in a year (good luck, Mom!). The Lord was gracious, and though there was rain in the forecast for the entire weekend, we had a beautiful, dry, sunny fall day. Here are my favorites from Suzy-Q's photo session!

And yes, we did go to Como Park. We also used the campus of Northwestern College for a few. But this is just a sneak peak! I got thirty-nine good photos of her this session. They're all beautiful. I'm very excited for her to see them. We have another session planned this winter because she wanted some taken out in the snow. My wedding was last winter and everyone thought we were insane. I guess she didn't mind the outdoor photo session before the wedding, even though it was -15 with the windchill. The wind was pretty calm for the most part, it gusted every once in awhile and froze us all out. The pictures, though, turned out beautifully. I plan to post a few more some day.

Blog #11, done! How are you?

10-mile Mark

So, this week I have been offered two jobs, neither of which I have started. The out-of-school time youth worker position was just offered to me, and two days ago I went to orientation for the substitute TA job and got my I.D. I told the youth worker employer I would call her back. Now it's time to think think think. I wish I had a straight answer so I knew which job to take.

Obviously, this decision would be much easier if I had experience in at least one of the jobs. I do still have employment for the next two weeks so I figure I'll go through with that either way, and hopefully by then I'll have  a clearer grasp of which job suites me. Prayer is always helpful, guys. Please pray for clarity in this decision for me.

So the birthday/new job celebration was grand. We had our free pie and went and ate our favorites at Olive Garden, and also grew up a bit and ordered dessert for the first time. We had never tried an Olive Garden dessert, though we always wanted to, but since we were feeling less poor than usual we went ahead and picked something to share. We ordered the zeppoli (little Italian donuts, like an Italian version of the French beignets, unless you don't know what that is, then I can't help you), it came with chocolate sauce, it was delicious.

While we were dating, I would give G the little notebook I always keep in my purse for his birthday. Literally just days before we met, I had been at Target with a great friend of mine (this was my senior year in high school) and she told me, jokingly, that if I was good she would by me a treat. I think she needed something from the school supplies section, which would be how the tiny notebooks caught my eye, but I remember picking up a little one that said  "notes" on the cover and falling in love. She bought it for me as my treat.

I kept it in my purse as a place to put any little thoughts that came to mind when I wasn't near a computer. Days later I met G at an orchestra festival and we stayed up all night talking. The week after that I started writing at least once a day in that notebook. When his birthday rolled around over half a year later I realized the notebook was almost completely filled with thoughts and poems about him, so I wrapped it with his gift and gave it to him. I replaced it with a new little notebook, and the next year gave him that one as well. He got me a slightly bigger notebook for my birthday the following year, one that didn't fit in my purse, and it has taken longer to fill. However, for his birthday last year I wrote him a poem about his proposal and gave that to him. He loved it.

Nearly a year ago I was in a graphic design class for which the final project was to create and publish three books of our own. You can see them above. Since I already had all this poetry and other writings, I used it. I gave it to G as a wedding gift, and they now reside by our bed. We open them up and read them every now and then, and he still has the notebooks along with all the random torn out pages of other notebooks that I gave him once upon a time. So, here's a little treat for you, a poem from that very first notebook:

Eskimo Kisses

Our faces have been
This close so many times
But all that ever touch
Are our foreheads and noses.
I love the way
You hold me, and
I can't help but wonder
If your kisses would feel
The same as I always imagine.

Blog #10, done! Milestone today!

Divine Providence

Whoever says there is not a sovereign God is wrong. And I can tell you, He has a sense of humor. I have a job. As a substitute teaching assistant. The girl who has always told everyone she doesn't want to be a teacher now has a job doing what? Working in the classroom, with teachers. And already I have a full-time position in an elementary school that's practically in my back yard for my first two weeks of work. How wonderful.

 That's me, wearing my i.d. badge =)

On that note, happy birthday to my hunny! What could be a better birthday present than your spouse getting freaking job? Well, a vacation, maybe. But without gainful employment vacation would not be wise. This calls for celebration! The birthday boy loves pie, and loves Baker's Square, and the pie selection at Baker's Square, and they just happen to offer free pies with the purchase of a meal there on Wednesdays. And what is today? Wednesday! So where better to go than Baker's Square restaurant for FREE pie on my pie-loving husband's birthday?

A few months ago my father-in-law, the doc, gave us a gift card to Olive Garden, which is my favorite restaurant. So where will we be eating tonight to celebrate my new job? You guessed it. And I am going to order the same thing I always order when we go there, the Parmesan chicken, because it's sooooooo good. Now, my rule for myself is normally to order something different every time I go out somewhere, but I don't care that I've only tried one other entree besides that one and haven't ordered anything else there since. I will order it for the rest of my life as long as they serve it; it's my favorite meal, period.

I'll just say it now, with all this food I plan to consume today, I'm going to feel fat tomorrow. Roll me out of the restaurant tonight, don't expect me to eat at all tomorrow, and don't make me move for any reason. Just let me glory in the deliciousness of today without any worry or care. The time for regret is later. I choose not to look too far ahead. Definitely not past tonight's dinner.
Note: we are so full from tasty food and delicious pie, that we decided to move our Olive Garden dinner-date to lunchtime tomorrow. Another motivating factor was the thawed chicken in the fridge that needs to be cooked and eaten. Planning oops.

Now let me share a pondering with you. Like all these plans today, I had a lot of plans this last weekend. And after all of it was winding down, I realized something: we look so forward to doing things that excite us like having visitors, going to our favorite places, new places, seeing the people we love, and tasty meals... and they always end far too soon. As I was thinking of this I realized that every single thing we look forward to in life comes to an end, and it's just over. There's an unavoidable feeling of sadness at that point. I pondered this and it dawned on me that there is one thing in life some of us get to look forward to that will not let us down in the end. That one thing is the promise to believer's of Christ of going to be with our Creator someday. And that isn't going to end. The excitement and anticipation we feel now isn't going to climax when we make it there and then come to an end, but we get to enjoy it forever after our time here on earth. Isn't that wonderful? I think it's pretty remarkable. So whenever you're feeling a sense of loss at a good time having to end, just remember that there is something to look forward to beyond that, something so much better, that will never end. I'm pretty excited.

Blog #9, done! Toodles.

Autumn Amusement

It is nearly noon and I am still waiting to feel fully awake. I took sleeping pills last night, which work quite well, but if I take them too late it's extremely hard to get up in the morning. My mind feels foggy, my eyes want to close, I can't hold my head up independently so I'm forced to slouch against the back of the chair. Ah... some day I'll learn to take them with dinner. Or maybe even lunch.

Maybe more sleep is what I need after the weekend I had, but it's not like I didn't get enough sleep. We just managed to pack a lot of activity into it. In fact, it wasn't until coming home and sitting on the couch for 20 minutes yesterday afternoon before making dinner that I realized I was tired. It was just such a good weekend, there wasn't time to feel tired. The in-laws visited and we celebrated two birthdays. My sister-in-law, turned fifteen last week and my husband will be twenty on Wednesday. Yup, he is about a year younger than I am, and it makes for some awkward introductions every now and then, but we're over it, and have been for over three years. Yes, we are very young to be married, but you know, we'll get older. We're just learning a little early. It's probably a good thing that we both had less time to get set in our ways.

So anyway, on Saturday when the in-laws arrived, we took the birthday girl out for a day of fun. The three of us (the hubby, Mad, and I) went to Como Park yet again, and took more pictures. It was another beautiful day, and we had a blast. I used her camera for some pictures, but she took a couple with my camera as well. Here are the best:

You almost can't tell that we are both full-blooded Minnesotans who don't like having their pictures taken. There was one very good one of me, but of course, my guy's eyes were closed. The sun was so bright! I hope it's this beautiful next weekend for my sister's Senior photos. The trees will be in their fall-color prime by then. I'm so looking forward to photographing my sister, and promise to post pictures from that day, and hopefully some of her if she'll let me.

After some shopping and an excursion to Como, we came home for some pizza and cake, but we didn't go cheap. We ordered Sarpino's pizza, which may be the only pizza I'll ever eat again because it's absolutely perfect, and got a cake from the Roseville Bakery. Needless to say everyone had very satisfied taste-buds. It just occurred to me I should have taken some pictures of the pretty chocolate cake and fall flowers I decorated the apartment with, but it's too late now. Sorry!

We ended the weekend with a beautiful church service and taking the in-laws out to the pet shop so Mad could beg for... I mean look at... a puppy. It was hard to leave without one, but the final answer was no. Had the answer been yes, it would have been equally hard to choose just one, they were all so cute and friendly. Those pups really know how to sell themselves! Heck, I even tried to convince the hubby to get one, knowing that we don't have the money for $600 dog and the cost of supplies. Someday, though, we will have a dog. I will not be denied forever. Besides, I know the guy likes dogs, and is very susceptible to cuteness... he can't always say no. He'll cave someday.

Blog #8, done! Check out my last post to see how dinner looked!