Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

As always, if you want to play along, check out Lauren's blog! Here we go...

1.  The last thing I do before going to sleep is       kiss Mark goodnight     .

2.  When I can't sleep I      rub my feet on the fitted sheet - for some reason, I've always done this, even when I was little, and it helps me relax. Weird, I know.  .

3.  The first thing I do when I wake up is      pee. And check blogs.   .

4.  When I'm tired I       am not a happy person. Depending on how tired I am, sometimes I'll curl up wherever I am and just fall asleep, and then not want to move.   .

5.  My dream bedroom would be     huge, with our current bedframe (I love it!), only king-size and a blue/white/brown theme. The palest of blue walls, almost white. Lots of big windows. Dark brown dressers with fun knobs. Hardwood floors with a big white rug. Two walk-in closets (so Mark can have his own) with special shelves for my shoes and a little sitting area. A reading nook with a big comfy chair against its own window. A big bathroom with a claw-foot tub and a separate shower. Oh, if only...  .

6.  If I could wake up anywhere tomorrow morning it would be       on a farmstay in Italy, in a stucco bedroom looking out over vineyards and tomato plants. Please?   .

7.  The longest sleep I've ever had was      I honestly don't remember - it was either the time I had my wisdom teeth removed, or possibly when I had a really severe case of TMJ and they prescribed me a muscle relaxer. Either way, I was sedated. I'm not a big sleeper - 7 or 8 hours a night, and I'm good to go.       .

 

8.  I sleep on my     tummy. It's going to be bad when I get pregnant - I will NEVER be able to sleep  .

9.  When I sleep, I like to wear        t-shirts, and depending on how hot or cold I am, just underwear, shorts, capris, or flannel pjs. And in the winter, I've been known to sleep in a hoodie and sweatpants. I like to be warm when I sleep  .

10.  My bedtime is usually      around 10.  When I work, it's more like 9. Mark calls me a grandma       .

 

Also, a quick update..

 

Yesterday was a fun-filled day. I had a day-long battle with soap scum. I hate cleaning the bathtub more than anything in the whole world, because for some reason, it builds up soap scum like nobody's business. I don't know if it's the natural soap I use, or if it's whatever cheap material that the tub is made of, but I was literally scraping it off with a spatula yesterday. RIDICULOUS. And it really hasn't been that long since I cleaned it the last time. So today, I think I'm going to go and buy either some vinegar or some lemons (or lemon juice) and coat the bathtub in it and let it sit for a while, and then get a toothbrush or something and scrub scrub scrub. What sucks is that in a week or two, it'll be just as bad all over again. 

 

Anybody have any really good soap-scum prevention ideas?

 

Amid my intense fight with the soap scum, I also went to Samford and met Mark for lunch. It's always a little odd going back there ... every time I go, I feel older, and it feels like some imprint of a home that I've nearly forgotten. It's a very strange feeling. But it's not uncomfortable ... I still love that campus. I forget how hilly it is though - my calves always hurt after I go visit! (Maybe I should walk around campus all the time - and then my calves would look good instead of hurting!) 

 

We finished Season 4 of 24 ... and Mark wouldn't let me start watching season 5 last night, because he said he didn't want to watch another 4 hours :) Oops ... I get a little intense sometimes. :) I can't help it though - the cliffhangers are as bad as the ones on LOST, but you aren't quite as confused about WHAT THE HECK is happening.

 

Happy Friday! It's almost the weekend! 

A Tale of Four Seasons

First off, I have a confession to make. I am addicted to 24. You know, with Jack Bauer? Which is now off the air? Thank God for Netflix - they have the first 7 seasons on instant play mode. Mark and I have been watching it obsessively. It's so bad...

Now that I've gotten that off my chest...

It's official. I'm ready for fall. I've been trying so very hard to be patient with summer. But today, as I was getting in my car to meet Mark and Samford for lunch, my patience ran out. Momentarily, at least. Because it is so. fricking. hot.

The high temp has been BELOW 90 for THREE DAYS out of the last 51!!!!! And out of those 49 above 90 days, 22 of those days have been 94 degrees or higher. It's getting ridiculous. We've had a couple reach 100. I know that there are parts of the US that are indeed hotter than Alabama - but not many. And combine the high temps with the high humidity levels and serious lack of breeze, and man, it gets scorching.

Don't get me wrong. I love summer. It's probably my favorite season, second to spring. But I'm dying over here. Luckily, I think God gave us different seasons to make us appreciate variety. I'm funny with seasons - my mood changes throughout the year based on the season and weather. If you graphed it, it would look something like this:

Actually ... that's not entirely true. Here's a more detailed, accurate graph:

So. There are my seasonal moods. I'll break it down for you:

January-beginning of March:
A fairly dreary time for me. I am OVER WINTER at this point. This is always the time, especially February, that I am the saddest/most depressed, because I feel that spring is NEVER GOING TO GET HERE. I get a little bit dramatic. This past February, I remember having a mini-nervous-breakdown, and when Mark asked me what was wrong, amid really dramatic sobs, I said something to the effect of "I feel like *sob* it's never going to *sob* be spring. I *sob* think it's going to *sob* be cold FOREVER *sob*." It is also very, very dark in January and February. Light has a lot to do with my moods, which is why I love summer. Winter is dark. And not very happy.

Mid March thru beginning of May:
The light at the end of the long, cold, dark tunnel is in sight! My graph should actually be sort of schizophrenic during this time, because the temperatures are always so up and down, but it starts getting warm and sunny, and I start getting happier. The end of March is also my birthday, so that makes things considerably better. I equate looking forward to my birthday with looking forward to spring. My heart gets lighter, and I get out of the extreme funk of January and February.

May-June:
BLISS. It is spring and warm and getting hotter by the day and happy and I love, love, love it. When the temps reach the mid-70's and the sun comes out for good, I just want to pull on a sundress and go frolic in a field somewhere with posies in my hair. My heart literally feels like it is going to burst out of my chest from sheer joy. I grin, and smile, and laugh, and want to go on all-day-dates with Mark and play and never ever go to work. I am SO HAPPY during spring.

July-mid-September:
By July, I'm pretty used to summer, and am over the OH MY GOSH IT'S WARM AGAIN elation-al period. But I still love it a lot. Summer veggies are my favorite, and even though it's fairly sweltering in Alabama, everything is green and lush and wonderful (even if I do sweat a bit.) I can handle heat a lot better than I can handle cold, as long as I don't have to do any intense outdoor activity. (Picking tomatoes or going for a walk doesn't count as intense unless the heat index is about 100 degrees.) I'm still definitely happy, and I still marvel at how gorgeous a blue sky with white puffy clouds can look against the mountains' silhouette. This is why I love the South so much. It's just too pretty for words.

Mid-September-mid-November:
Harvest time :) I used to not be much of a fall person. I didn't appreciate it like I do now. I calm down a lot in the fall. There's something about the stillness of it, the slow beginning stages of plant-death, the turning of the leaves. I slow down. I think. I get extremely nostalgic in the fall - I don't know if it's because I miss school so much, because I feel like I should be starting classes again but am not (I know it's been three years. I still miss it.) I don't know if it's because of all the time spent with family or the cooling down of the temperatures or what, but fall, for me, is a feeling unlike any other. It isn't a bad feeling, and it's not sad. It's just ... poignant. I feel poignant for like 3 months.

And then it gets cold.
Mid-November - December:
I start to freeze. I start to get grumpy because of that, and because I hate wool and it makes me itch, but it's hard to find warm sweaters that AREN'T wool, so I'm either cold or itchy all the time. However, there are two FANTASTIC holidays during this period - I vascilate between which is my favorite, Thanksgiving or Christmas, every year. I love the time I spend with family. I love that the holidays keep me go-go-going so I don't have time yet to get sad about the cold weather. I love the sights and the smells and the Christmas lights. Around Thanksgiving, especially recently, I really do stop and think and thank God for all the blessings that I have - my family, my privilege, my country, for everything. And even more recently, I've come to realize that Thanksgiving is around harvest time for a reason, that people used to harvest their crops and give thanks for haivng something to see them through the winter. I understand that now more than I ever did before. And I believe wholeheartedly in the Christmas story of the Gospels, that Jesus came to Earth as a baby born to a virgin, the Christmas miracle. And that, above all, is my favorite part of Christmas. But I also love the gifts, the family time, the lights and decorations and the movies and stories and the magic of Christmas. It's a wonderful time of year, and while I'm still feeling quite nostalgic and poignant (and cold), there's an excitement in the air that only comes that one time per year.

And then it's January again, and I get sad.

I am so thankful that God gave us variety during our year, though, because no matter when it was, I'd get tired of the same-old-same-old I think. (Although, a constant 75 degrees might be acceptable. I might could find a way to live with that.) I know this has turned into a ridiculously long post, but it's nice to sit and think about what I have to look forward to while I'm melting away on this hot, hot day. (By the way - it's 94 degrees in Birmingham right now, and feels like 100. Yeesh.)

Update, and a blog award!

Good morning, and happy Hump Day to everybody!

I'm caught up on my blog-reading, and I've got 15 minutes before Mark's alarm goes off and I need to go downstairs and make breakfast. Plenty of time for a morning post :)

Update on yesterday's goals:
They were lofty. What I did get done was good - the kitchen is pretty spotless, our dining room area is much cleaner, I've transcribed recipes to index cards that will actually fit in my (once-again-bulging) recipe box. I did about 20 loads of laundry. (Okay, maybe more like 6.) I washed the sheets and made the bed. And put away all my shoes. (A big deal, if you've ever seen my house - they just wander out of my closet and place themselves all over the floor!)

Also some sad news - yesterday morning, I found a hole in our fitted sheet. We've had these sheets for the three years we've been married, and Mark loved them so much that we didn't switch them out much - I just washed them and put them back on the bed. (How do all of you do your sheets? Do you rotate, or wash and re-use?) The hole is where Mark's knees are, I think - we're both stomach sleepers - and it was one of those holes that was obviously just worn through. The fabric around the hole is also threadbare. We've worn our favorite sheets out!! Sadly, a replacement set would be $90 - and we aren't willing and also can't afford to do that. So, it's back to the good old (super soft) beech sheets for now.

OH, and I almost forgot - I got a blog award!

It's from Chloe at My New Life as a Housewife - she's super sweet, and she lives in Spain! Go check her out :)

The Rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award! I’m sure they’ll be thankful.

And the 7 things about myself:

1. I am developing a love for different vegetables that I never thought I would. We're trying to incorporate a lot of vegetarian meals into our diet (cheaper AND healthier), and I'm loving it so far!
2. I've also developed a really intense love for eggs and egg-based dishes in a very short amount of time. (Thanks, in part, to my BFF Elissa!)
3. I am learning patience in this particular season of my life. I love where we're at, and I love Mark and my job and I'm so, so thankful for my schedule... but I want to settle so bad it hurts. I want a house, and I want for Mark to find a job, and I want to stop moving all the time. But I'm trying to remember that it will come in time.
4. I love to listen to my husband laugh.
5. I haven't been shopping (for anything but food) in months. And I'm okay with that.
6. I am trying to decrease the amount of sugar in my diet. It is hard. You have no idea. But I've gone two days now without desserts! Yes, I am addicted to sugar.
7. I am, by nature, a whole bunch of contradictions. (Really lazy, but still type-A in some instances. Extremely passionate, but passive-aggressive. Passive-aggressive in and of itself. Messy, but calmer and happier when things are neat. The list goes on.) It causes me a fair amount of inner-turmoil. At 25, I'm still trying to learn how to deal with that.

And the 15 lovely bloggers I choose:

1. Alison @ A Pair of Aviators
2. Alfie @ Coffee and Stilettos
3. Ashley @ have heart
4. Lilly @ A Pre-Life Crisis
5. Becca @ Adorable Optimism
6. Emmy @ Emmy, In Progress
7. Kelly @ Kelly S.
8. Lacey @ mille baisers
9. Mrs. Hesson @ Meet the Hessons
10. Stephanie @ Marriage Tales
11. Caroline @ Simply Smithwick
12. Erica @ so very errie
13. Chelsea Rebecca @ TRIUMPHS and blunders of a KOOKY gal
14. Amy @ Just Add Walter
15. Sarah @ EatWell.LoveMuch.LaughOften.

So there you have it! Hope everybody has a fantastic rest of the week!

Tuesday!

Goals for today (before Mark gets home around 4:30):

-clean my house. the whole thing. i'm over the mess.
-choose pictures of the cruise to scrapbook. yes, i'm miserably behind.
-get an enormous amount of laundry done.
-finish my current roll of film, and take two rolls to be developed.

It's 9:30 now. And I still need to shower. I think these goals might be a tad bit lofty. We'll see.

Oh, the joys of part-time homemaking. But honestly - if we were rich, and I could just do this all the time, I would love it.

Pictures! (Or, I'm Back!!)

Finally! I'm posting pictures from like 3 weeks ago ... a few of these you may have already seen, but I can't remember what I've posted and what I haven't, so you'll just get to look at them again. Quick recap: Mark left on Saturday, Kelly came on Monday. Tuesday we went to Samford to take books back and make pictures. These are at Samford...

Then we came back to the house to make ice cream and start our ravioli adventure.

Ice cream! It was delish!

(obviously.)

Later that afternoon, we started making mushroom ravioli. It took 3 hours. It was a long process.

Kelly kneads the pasta dough...

Spooning the pasta onto the rolled dough...

The finished product. It was pretty freakin' good.

On Wednesday, we went to the Birmingham Museum of Art.

It was pretty fun, and we got some good pictures, but man it was FREEZING in that place.

So we escaped outside to the sculpture garden...

Where Kelly got eaten by a cloud. Sad day.

I snatched her back, and that night we got to see Colton. (Much to Kelly's delight.)

The next day, we went to Sno-Biz.

We love Sno-Biz.

That night we went out to eat with the amazing Laura Echerd at Firebird's. It was SO yummy.

We dressed up for the occasion. Because who doesn't love dressing up?

Friday was a busy day. We cooked up a storm that morning, and Kelly incinerated some bacon in my microwave. It was impressive. We were going to Colton's later that afternoon, so we made cookies for his family.

Peanut butter cup cookies, to be exact.

Oh, yum.

Then we went to this petting-zoo-type place at Oak Mtn. State Park.

The animals were very, very friendly.

And they had the cutest baby donkey in the whole wide world.

Honestly, don't you just want to lay down and cuddle with him?

Kelly made friends with this goat. And then he stepped on her foot. Oh well.

Then we went and saw Toy Story 3 with Colton. I can't say enough good things about that movie. It was wonderful, and I cried like a baby.

And then I had to work the weekend, which was sad. And on Monday, Kelly and I left early in the morning and I went to meet my hubby at the airport!

So, now you're all up to date on pictures. I will soon finish my current roll, and then you'll get to see life on Hannah's farm, and hopefully some adorable pictures of Kelly and Colton if I can get them to comply today.

Happy Monday, everybody! I'm off to freeze some tomatoes :)

I promise, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

I have been trying to post this blog for three days now. I either run out of time, or get tired, or have to go do something before I finish.

I have about 10 minutes before I have to leave for work this morning, so it's going to be a short one.

Recap of the last ... well, while, fast-bullet style:

-Kelly left not this past Monday but the Monday before that.
-I drove to Griffin, met Mark at the airport. Surprise! Happy day.
-We stayed in Griffin until Thursday night, getting his car fixed.
-I honestly do not remember a thing I did on Friday.
-I worked the weekend, and while at work I found out that his air conditioner was broken. Again.
-Sunday he drove back to Griffin.
-Monday, I watched movies literally all day and felt lonely and sorry for myself. Mark came back that night.
-Tuesday, I went to visit my friend Hannah who is moving to Seattle next month. She lives on a farm. Pictures will come ... eventually.
-Wednesday night I got home.
-Thursday I hung out with Kelly and Colton. they can't seem to stay away from each other this summer :)
-And yesterday I worked.

Whew. My house is a disaster, groceries need to be bought (thank God for a husband who can cook though ...). I'm insanely behind on the laundry. I need a week at home.

but I'm supposed to go to Nashville on Tuesday and Wednesday this week - that trip might have to be postponed so I can get my life in order. Because the first week in August, we're going to Chattanooga for several days, and then my mommy is coming to visit me here (yay!! I'm so excited!!). Insane.

Also, I still haven't gotten my power cord for the mac, so I'm stuck using mark's mini-computer until that is purchased. Oh well.

Once again... I'm ready for my life to get back to normal.

Hope everybody has a fantastic weekend! I promise a post with some pictures is coming soon!

*sigh*

So it's been quite a week.

We were in Griffin 3 extra days, getting the car fixed.

We came home late Thursday night. Lissa came on Friday. We had sushi/Thai night with her and Andy and Suzie. I went to work. Mark texted me and said his car was broken again.

So now he's back in Griffin, trying to get the car fixed for good. (It's the air conditioner, if you're interested.)

Also, my power cord for the Mac broke for good. I'm going to have to go to the Apple store and buy a new one today.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Hannah's house to see her before she moves to Seattle. Kelly will be here at some point today.

And with all of that ... I'm just ready for life to get back to normal.

Home sweet home, and some sad news

Mark and I finally got home last night, and it is wonderful to be back in my bed with my husband. I'm still a bit tired from all the traveling, and I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow! I loved getting to see his parents and brother for that long, but it also threw me a little bit off-kilter, not having any time at home to get things back in order. Oh well.

I feel like this blog is going to be all over the place today. As happy as I am to be home with Mark, some very sad news that we got yesterday has cast a shadow over everything. Molly, one of the girls who used to go to Relevance with us back in Chattanooga, is about my sister's age. She was going to be married in a little less than three weeks. Matt, her fiancee, died the night before last in a really, really awful car accident. He was pronounced dead at the scene. I cannot imagine the heartache she is going through right now - she's a really sweet girl, and my heart is breaking for her, and for his and her family both. I didn't know Matt very well, but from everything I hear, he was a really wonderful and genuine guy. He was 20 years old. Molly is obviously just completely devastated right now, and I ask that you pray for her. Anytime something like this happens, it just reminds me again how short life is. How important it is not to take people for granted. How death and other horrible things can happen to anyone at any time, no matter their age or what they were planning.

Go give your husbands and children and friends and people you love an extra-long hug today. I know I'm thanking God even more that Mark got home to me safely.

I'm Back!!

I'm a pretty terrible blogger. I've not posted in forever, and I'm way behind on everybody else's blogs as well.

We're in Griffin right now. I decided on Saturday that I was going to go with Mark's family to pick him up from the airport, so I drove down on Monday morning (right after Kelly left.) I know I've got a lot to get caught up on with her visit, but I've just been enjoying my hubby's company the last few days. On Monday evening, in a terrible storm, his mom and I went to the airport, and I surprised him :) They almost got diverted to Birmingham because of the weather, which would have been funny but sort of terrible, but luckily they were just a little bit late. So we've been hanging out with his family and friends the last couple of days. It was good timing, because we've had some car issues, so we're getting them fixed while we're here and have a place to stay.

Hopefully I'll be able to finish catching up on all of Kelly's and my fun soon, but for right now, I'm just happy to be with Mark again :)

Adventures in film

First things first: I got a blog award!!! From sweet Becca, at Adorable Optimism!

Along with this award, I'm supposed to tell 5 things about myself. Here we go:

1. If I could have lunch/befriend anyone famous, it would be Barbara Kingsolver. We would become besties instantly, and I would grill her for farming tips and recipes. It would be amazing.
2. I think my sister's boyfriend is stinkin' awesome. He came over and hung out with us last night, and he's a really, really amazing guy. I'm glad she found him :) 
3. When I was little, I told Kelly that Whoopie Goldberg was a guardian angel. She believed me up until she was way too old to believe something like that. 
4. When I was in middle school, my mom went as a chaperon on a field trip that we went on. She definitely fell off the bus when we got to the Riverpark, where we were eating lunch. She'd just gotten new bifocals that week, and she wasn't used to the new depth perception, and missed a step and fell right off. Onto her face. Her glasses broke, and the little invisible wire around the bottom stabbed into her face. One of my friends came and got me, and said "Hey! Your mom fell off the bus!!" I was like "No way, you're kidding." But she wasn't. And I was fairly mortified. My poor mother.
5. Also when I was little, Kelly and I would play this game where she would put a sheet or blanket over her head and I would tell her where to walk. (Yes, I know, this sounds terribly abusive.) So one time, we were playing this game, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I just left. (Give me some credit, I was probably like 7 or 8.) And so poor Kelly's just walking straight, because I'd told her to, and can't see where she's going. And she definitely ran straight into the tv stand, fell, and her forehead hit the "on" button, and turned the tv on, which scared both of us pretty badly. And I learned not to walk away from my sister when she has a blanket on her head.

And now... pictures!
Because Mark took the digital camera with him to Belize, I was left with the film SLR for this week with Kelly. Since she's a really fantastic photographer (self-taught, too!), and I've been wanting to get into film, I took it as a great learning opportuntity.

Best idea ever. I may never be able to go back. Some pictures from our photoshoot at Samford (my alma mater) yesterday:

This one is pretty cool, I thought ... it was in the greenhouse, and I thought Kelly's reflection would make for a cool way to frame the photo... I like how it turned out.

I'm pretty proud of this one, but I wish I'd been holding the camera a bit straighter. But the light ... oh, the light. It's gorgeous.

My sister is lovely.

This is Mr. Beeson, Samford's major benefactor. Kelly's giving him bunny ears.

I love this :)

Samford is a beautiful place :)

And Kelly took some pretty awesome pictures as well. Her camera is really cool (it's my dad's old Canon) and I want one like it, where you can adjust the shutter speed and aperture and all that fun stuff. She's a pretty amazing photographer.

This is yesterday morning, on my bed.

Pretty framing

I love love love this picture :)

And this one.

This was a really cool double-exposure of the sky and me sitting on the grass. It looks like I'm under water.

Action shot! I kind of love this :)

Seriously. I don't know, after these, if I can ever take digital pictures with a point and shoot again. I love film.

Happy morning :)

Instead of being by myself in the bed this morning, I am joined by my sister!!

She is a Godsend :)

It is nice to have company in my house. Mark thankfully got to Belize safe and sound yesterday, so that made me feel better, and having Kelly here is wonderful. We grocery shopped and watched a movie and made bruschetta, and last night, we had a sister-dance-party. It was wonderful. It's nice to have someone you can be completely crazy with, and you know they don't care (cause they're being crazy too.)

Today, we've got to go to Samford and drop some books off for Mark, and maybe we'll take some pictures. We're also going to try our hand at homemade ice cream! The plan is for chocolate, with pieces of frozen strawberries and toasted sliced almonds thrown in ... yummmmm. I'll let you know how it goes.

Mark took the digital camera with him to Belize, so there will be pictures of this week, but in film form, so you're just going to have to be patient (and I am too.) We shall see. I'm practicing on my manual focus skills, and I really really wish I had a camera like Kelly's, where you can adjust the shutter speed and stuff. Oh well. Maybe in a couple months.

Hope everybody has a lovely week - I know I will! (Even though I miss my hubby terribly.)

So excited to spend my week with this crazy, silly, wonderful lady!!

Yuck.

I feel pretty icky this morning.

Probably a combination of the 2 BBQ sandwiches I ate at our 4th of July lunch yesterday (I haven't eaten that much fatty meat in a long time) and the fact that I once again woke up at 4:45 AM (thanks to Mrs. Norris, this time.) And I'm nervous.

I read blogs for a while this morning, and then tried to call Mark. It went straight to voicemail. So of course my immediate thought train was less-than-logical: he's forgotten to call/he's forgotten about me/he let his phone die/something bad happened. Let's try none of the above. I waited a while, called again, still went to voicemail. And then I semi-freaked and called his dad, who said that he'd just dropped the group off at the airport and they were checking in. And that I should try Thomas (Mark's brother). Oh. Right.

So I call Thomas, and Mark answers, and says "Hey, we're checking in at the airport - I was planning to call you while we're waiting to board." Oh. Right.
"But your phone is dead!!!" I say.
"No, I just turned it off because I didn't WANT it to die," says my logical-thinking husband.

Come on, April. Your husband isn't going to forget to call you right before he leaves on a week-long trip seriously lacking in the communication-services department. He's also not going to call you at 5am and not wake you up before he leaves his parents' house. He's going to do the intelligent thing, and call you while he has an hour or two of downtime.

*Sigh* I am such a worrier. It is so silly of me. I have no reason to be nervous this morning. Flying is a safe way to travel. Much safer than driving. But all I can think of is plane crashes.

I need to be busy. I have a to-do list, and there are plenty of things on it. I want my house looking lovely when Kelly gets here. But between feeling icky and worrying of all the potential ways that Mark could die (yes, I know, a bit extreme ... but nurses tend to think in worst-case-scenarios... or this one does, at least...), "WASH THE DISHES!!!," even in electric fuschia, is not terribly motivating.

I will feel better when Mark calls me back. And I will feel even BETTER at 11, when Kelly gets here.

Oh dear. My washing machine sounds like it's about to spin-cycle all the way into space. I should probably go make sure it doesn't....

April night!

So instead of being all mopey/miss-my-husband/poor pathetic me tonight... I'm going to be nice to me :)

It was a really good day, the kind where you're busy and you like it and it's a great kind of busy to be. Unfortunately, that kind of busy doesn't go so great with cramping and you-know-when, and my back is KILLING me. (Does anybody else get these strange back cramp things? My lower back just aches, and it's totally a hormonal ache. How obnoxious.)

Anyway, tonight, I'm gonna sit here with my beloved Mac in my very most comfy pajamas, a heating pad on my lumbar area, my last donut, and some movies, lay back, put my feet up, and have some good quality April time. I'm going to watch movies that Mark never wants to watch but I always do (nothing scary or suspenseful, cause then I'll NEVER be able to sleep).

I should be doing dishes, cleaning my horribly dirty kitchen, tidying the house, and making a grocery list for tomorrow. But my back hurts. So I'm not doing any of those things. I'm taking it easy.

 I love my bed!!!!

And I'm totally, totally psyched about it.

I'm sort of pathetic.

See, Mark's only been at his parents' house for, what now, not even 12 hours. He's been gone for like 14, maybe. And I'm already dying without him.

I always appreciate my husband. I love the way he loves me and makes me laugh and cares for me. But I forget how much I love his company until he's gone. The thing is, I can't remember a time when he left to go somewhere without me. Sure, I've left HIM to go visit friends or family ... but I can't remember the last time I've been by myself at night. It was probably back when he worked night shift. And even then, I knew he was coming home soon.

This time, it's different. It could be because I'm tired, or because I'm cramping like whoa, or because it was a long day. Or because it's 9 PM and  I'm still waiting for my cornbread to cool off (would you hurry UP already??) so I can construct this layered salad thing to take with me tomorrow. Or because I have a hole in my foot that hurts. Or a hole in my mouth where I bit it when I was eating a donut. (Yes, I know they're terrible. Do I care? Um, not tonight.)

But whatever the reason, I'm really missing Mark tonight. I can't wait for Kelly to come. It'll be better when the house doesn't feel quite so empty.

An early-morning request...

This morning, would you guys please pray for my sweet hubby? He's leaving for his parents' house this morning before he goes on his mission trip.

Pray for traveling mercies, both to and from Griffin and to and from Belize, because I want him to come home to me safe and sound.
Pray for him as a chaperon ... it's his first time being in a "leader" position with teenagers, and he wants to do a good job.
Pray for the work they're doing, that no one gets hurt.
Pray for the people they're ministering to.

And pray that he has a really, really great time!!

I will miss this man so much.

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

 It's time for filling in blanks again, but first, a quick update, bullet-style!

• My house is cleaner than it has been in a while. Or, tidier at least. I got in one of those MOODS yesterday, you know the kind, where you want to purge everything unnecessary from your life and make things neat and organized again. Well, I did that with our wine cart (which has become a catch all for STUFF), our downstairs storage closet, the sink under the downstairs bathroom, and my kitchen cabinet with our pretty serving platters. And I did a gazillion loads of laundry, and cleaned the bathrooms and our bedroom. And the kitchen. Go me.
• I am not ready for Mark to be gone for 11 days. 
• But I am SO EXCITED about Kelly coming to visit!!
• I got out Mark's old film SLR yesterday, and played with the manual focus mode a bit. My sister only shoots film, and I'm kind of inspired by that. Film really IS prettier, I've noticed. Once I get good, I might buy a cheap older SLR model, where you can adjust the shutter speed and stuff. (You can't on Mark's.)

• I still need to see Toy Story 3. According to Kelly's boyfriend, need is a severe understatement.

 

And now, onto the blankety-blanks! As always, if you want to play along, go visit Lauren at the little things we do !

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

 

1.  This weekend for The 4th of July I'll be        at work. and husbandless. and familyless. what a way to spend a holiday weekend...   .

2.  Fireworks are       loud. But the really pretty ones are fun. I like the Disney fireworks the best! .

3.  Nothing says summer like       strawberry lemonade, (actually, let's be honest, strawberry EVERYTHING), sundresses, tomatoes, green (everything's green in the summer! Grass, trees, leaves ... I love it!) and flip flops. I love summer.  .

4.  My favorite summer memory is        There are so many! Going to the lake with Mark's family every year... Centrifuge and World Changers trips way back when with my high school youth group... But honestly, my favorite SUMMER was the summer before Mark and I got engaged. I was living with Elissa (who was sick, but wonderful), and Mark and I got to go to New York together, and I was nannying some amazing kids... it was perfect .

5.  My favorite thing about sumer is    all the amazing food - fresh fruit and veggies, all the time - eating outside on the patio, the SUN. Oh, how I love the sun, vacationing, and the giddy, fill-your-heart-up happy feeling that just fills my chest up on warm (or even hot) sunny days  .

6.  Summer in a word is       bliss  .

7.  If I could choose to have summer or winter year round I'd pick        SUMMER!! I do not like winter. At all. I love spring, I love summer, and I love fall in a different, sort of nostalgic way ... but winter makes me grumpy. I don't do cold very well. I'd rather have 80-90 degree weather than 30-40 any day of the week.    .