Currently

loving: lazy mornings on the couch

reading: I just got done with "Pride and Prejudice". It took a little bit, but I really got into it. I'm watching a Youtube miniseries based on the book, which is really why I read the book, it's SO interesting to see how they modernized the story. I'm excited to watch it unfold, especially now that I know what's going to happen. If you want to watch it too, check out the Lizzie Bennet diaries.

waiting for: K-State Football to start!! #35days from today!

excited about: ummm.....the above! I love football, but I'm also excited just to see all of our friends -since college we really only see a lot of those guys at tailgating, so it's always great to get together. Plus tailgate food!

missing: Mt. Dew this morning - I've been so good for a long time, and I hardly ever crave it anymore...but for whatever reason I am this morning.

trying to: get motivated

working on: cleaning out that room in the back of the house that just becomes a magnet for junk

enjoying: the Olympics! Such a fun time of the year

using: my DVR so I can watch the end of the Opening Ceremonies - it got too late to watch it all last night, since I started about 3 hours late as it was

wearing: umm...it's Saturday and I'm not doing anything but staying at home - still have my pajamas on!

planning: me? plan? I only like to try to plan 5 years out - I'm not good at planning the stuff right in front of me. Like I want to figure out exactly how we're going to build a new house, where at, and where we'll live while we're building, if we should sale our house in Clay first - and do you think that any of this is anywhere near happening? no, not at all.

singing: I don't do that.....it's best for everyone.

needing: to brush my teeth, yuk! I really have done nothing other than move from the bed to the couch!

learning: I've been learning all kinds of stuff, I'm an Internet/twitter addict - that means I've read articles on almost anything but understand nothing

listening: The Civil Wars - I am so obsessed with them. I love their stuff, I love their covers - oh goodness please listen to their cover of Billie Jean, Disarm, Sour Times, and you must listen to their version of the Star Spangled Banner - gorgeous.

wishing: I was a better housekeeper and more organized

doing: nothing yet! But soon, I will do the dishes and put away the clean laundry and venture into that room that's supposed to be a spare bedroom - not an extended version of the junk drawer.

praying for: confidence and growing stronger in my faith

dreaming of: taking another vacation this year - I told Mark there's just so many places I want to see, from Coney Island to Savannah, Georgia (to England and Germany and New Zealand, etc.) that we need to start now!

{this currently post idea is borrowed from Emily at Jones Design Company. Gorgeous inspiration. You should read her blog.}

Remember when it was cool to NOT be on Facebook?

Everybody's on Facebook. Every business, nationwide or local, every charity, everybody's dog is on Facebook. It's interesting to see what it has become and the info you can find there. But, also the connections are amazing. You used to play the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, well now it's about Three Degrees of Facebook. The other day I was on hotels.com taking a look at some hotel rooms for a vacation that Mark and I may or may not be taking…and of course the website told me to Like them on Facebook. Well, ok, that's fine. I did. But I'm really starting to worry about the state of our world when I took a look at their FB page ….. and found that hotels.com had "Liked" Vanilla Ice. I mean really, what is Facebook coming to!?

A List for you to read

1. I have attended four showers in the past 8 days. I have decided that I love sherbet punch and I suck at fill in the blank nursery rhymes.
   
2. While on my way to the aforementioned baby shower, I realized I had not yet signed the card. There's construction on the road at a bridge, and so they have the stoplights in the middle of nowhere so you can go one lane at a time. I was stopped at the light with a car in front of me, so I decided to sign the card real quick. I pulled it out to on top of my wheel and began signing with my usual flourish – but when I pushed too hard on the pen….I honked the horn. I honked the horn, while behind another car – at a red light! I waved my hands frantically and shook my head no – "Sorry Sorry Sorry!!" I doubt they heard me though.
   
3. I had a garage sale yesterday. I forgot how serious some people are. I had a guy here 30 minutes before the advertised start time, just jamming out in his car right in front of my house. I had about 5 or 6 cars total all watching me put out my stuff and come running at about 6:55. My wonderful, sweet, awesome, badass of a husband helped me out all day. I love him. And yes, I might be trying to suck up a bit after all he did.
   
4. Mark also tilled up a garden for me. We got some green beans, peas, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, green onions, maybe some other stuff. We'll be getting some tomatoes that have already been started. Basically Mark and I have decided that we don't have enough things to argue about, nor do I have enough stuff to kill. And it will only be slightly annoying when our nice tilled up rectangle remains empty…..on our corner lot that everyone drives past. I kinda feel like a farmer who has their land on the highway.
   
5. We've had some ups and downs as a family the past few months. Health problems, job changes, and big decisions. Through it all though, I have seen the hand of God present in our lives more than ever.
   
6. I'm going to see the Civil Wars this weekend with a co-worker and some other good music devotees. I am terribly excited, and you should be jealous. If you're saying, "The Civil Wars? Who's that? I thought that was just a time in our nation's history." And to that I say, please check them out. Your ears and your soul deserve it.
   
7. We bought a king sized bed a couple months ago. Mark and I really like it! And Cody loves it. Sometimes, he's harder to get out of bed than I am.
   
8. Yes, my dog is spoiled.
   
9. There's no nine.
   
10. Or ten, sorry….apparently I am out of words for the evening. Or just the energy to type them out and make them into complete sentences, specifically sentences that make sense and are interesting.

Life Lessons

I have 25 wonderful years under me. I am a married woman, I drive a stick shift and have a college degree. And yet….. I still have no idea how to paint my toenails. I am just in general nail painting incapable. Why is it such a difficult task? I'd get them done professionally more, but it never lasts that long, and it costs too much – it costs about the same as getting a full body hour long massage here in town. So ya, the nails are not quite worth the $40 price tag to me. But then again, considering the amount of talent and skill they must have (and that I lack) I can kinda understand it.

And while we're on the subject of things that are ridiculously hard for me….have you ever noticed that the side of the Kraft Mac and Cheese box says "To Open Push Here"? There is no way that you can actually open the box by pushing there. No way, I promise. And yes, I realize the irony of talking about my maturity level and Kraft Mac and Cheese in the same blog post….whatever.

And yet I do have one redeeming factoid (factoid? Really?) to actually prove that I am a functioning adult capable of ……..well adult-type things--- when you use cling wrap or aluminum foil or something along those lines – on the sides push in the little triangle things-they will hold the roll in the box, as you pull out the cling wrap.

You are welcome.

Exposure

I love blogging. It exposes me to so much. There are so many things that in my quiet, quaint little world I would never see. I am inspired by other's stories, passions, homes, and music. I am that dork that constantly says to my husband, "The other day on this blog I was reading...."

But in the Middle of Nowhere, Kansas how else would I connect with a mother of four in Southern California, and watch as she puts out some of the most honest thoughts of motherhood and dealing with life and money and baking cakes?

How would I see how literally hundreds of people decorate their homes with the kind of style that I can only copy?

How would I meet a woman who has adopted through foster care three different, beautiful children and be inspired by her patience and dedication?

And how would I have found this?

True Fan

Yesterday a lady came into work, and after seeing all of the KSU purple around, and a little bit of that KU stuff, she remarked that her initials were actually K S U. And so now I'm mad that I didn't marry a man with the last inital of U so that all of my babies could have their initials be KSU!!!

Sorry honey, but you know it's the truth. I guess we'll just have to just give our kids two middle names. I'll have to start thinking on the U part.

Kathy Sue Uma?
Kevin Scott Ulysses?

We'll work on it, we've got time.

I hate making up titles

Today my husband got a phone call from a "recruiter" asking if he would be interested in a position with an elevator in Kentucky. Not exactly a job offer, but just one of those things. He jokingly asked me if I would want to move. But the thing is, my heart jumped and I wished that we could just pick up and go. Just leave and live there and experience that. But see there's the whole we own a farm and a house and this is the place that we were meant to settle down at, kinda thing. This area, this location, this lifestyle, it's what we always wanted. But still, for an instance, I wished we could just go.

When we got married, we moved to Oklahoma. We were excited to get away from home for awhile, just be the two of us-figuring out this whole grownup life, marriage thing together-away from the everyday proximity of family and old friends. Not that we ever would forget them, but we just wanted to try something different. And so we ended up in Oklahoma, with promises from his then-company that we would be relocated after 6-12 months, and then again in 12-18months. But instead, we spent every weekend back here in Kansas, and moved back "home" on our 6 month wedding anniversary.

.......So much for the interesting traveling newlyweds that only made it home for the holidays before having to rush off again to a new place, to see and live those things that the newlyweds would never again see or live. That newlywed couple never had a chance.

And I wonder, I wonder what things would have been like. If Mark and I had made different decisions, where would we be? Would we be happy, would we be happier?

With the recent TV show, Buried Life, where 4 guys make their "Bucket List" or whatever you call it, where you write down exactly what you want to do before you die-it's had me considering those questions of importance and life and living. And I thought about it, if I knew that I only had two weeks to live-what would I do? I wouldn't fly to Paris, I wouldn't jump out of an airplane-but instead I would surround myself with my loved ones-my husband, my siblings, my family and great friends. I would love on them, and let them know exactly what I hoped for each of them. We would talk and laugh and remember and create new memories. And the beautiful thing is that's what we're doing now, just without the constant reminder that life can be short. So maybe I should worry more about the moments I am in, as opposed to where I could have been.

And don't worry I still want to fly to Paris and get a tattoo and live my life, but it will still always center around those I love. And that's how I know that we made the best decision for us.

I should put it in a fortune cookie

"At the end of the day, if it was a mistake-at least we'll have learned from it."

~Sounds so meaningful, yet spoken about a $10 mirror and a $35 antique trunk.

I will update this thing soon with all of my Treasures from my weekend excursion along Highway 36. Be prepared to be amazed.

I'm working on my stem-tying ability

I like Sonic's Cherry Limeades. I almost exclusively order that specific drink when at Sonic. But, I realized something, the only reason I do this is to eat the maraschino cherry at the end. The only reason. I am so annoyed when they don't put that tiny little, fake colored, flavor pumped in cherry that I have seriously considered driving back to the offending Sonic location and demanding they bring me out a cherry.

In fact, they should make it two cherries.

You know you're a redneck when...

I've never felt like such a hick as when I had to get out of the trailer park to take cover from a tornado, and so I hid out in Wal-Mart. I mean seriously, how awesome is that!

Hold Me Closer Tony Danza

Our bank has some of the worst music ever. It will go from Mariah Carey to Elton John to some old 50s song I've never heard of. But if we complain too much, they'll just change it to the elevator music that is truly horrendous. So, we make the best of it, and quite often you'll find us singing along to the worst of them all.


Well recently every morning Elton John has been on. I knew the words couldn't be "hold me close young Tony Danza." But it's a much better song that way. I think I choose to continue singing it the way it was intended to sound. Forget that tiny dancer stuff, that's just crazy.

When Pigs Fly

It's not Swine Flu-It's H1N1 Influenza A. Now say that in a singsong Kindergarten kind of way.

"H-1-N-1, Influenza A"

Keep singing!

"H-1-N-1, Influenza A"

Kinda has a ring to it, doesn't it?

Fun, huh?

Not that I don't worry enough about my bathroom breaks

How awkward is small talk in bathrooms while you're washing your hands? Do you ever find yourself just kind of hanging out in the stall-waiting until you know the other person has left? I hate it. I mean seriously other than, "Watch out-it gets hot pretty fast," nothing is really needed to be said in that situation. The worst thing though is when its someone you know or even someone at work. Because what if the conversation takes longer than washing your hands? Do you stand around to finish talking? Other people may be trying to get to the sink. Do you walk outside the bathroom and stand there, in the hallway or whatever?

I've never claimed to be good at small talk, and I can be very socially uncomfortable in situations in which I do not know the proper protocol. Believe me, ask my husband, I freak out when I have to go into a store or place I'm not familiar with. I never know where to park, or who I'm supposed to talk to, or what I'm supposed to say-and I know that everyone else does know what's going on, so there's this huge finger pointing at me from the sky saying this girl doesn't know what's going on! Laugh and point at her! Not that I need to lay out all of my craziness for you to see, but its true right? Bathrooms are just awkward.

Thinking

So, if I did some work out in the yard yesterday-did I weedate? or did I weed eated? or did I just do some weedwhackin'!

Thinking

Nothing works as better motivation for cleaning my house than getting a little (or a lot) perturbed with the husband.

Thinking

Rob Lowe sounds exactly like Patrick Dempsey. And looks like him too. Now that's a Miranda sandwich I could get excited about.

Thinking

Has it really been one whole amazing year since I've been married to this guy?

Thinking

It's probably a pretty bad sign for my walk if I can only muster up the energy to put on my shorts and sports bra and to find my shoes before taking a break on the couch to catch up with the Internet.