Beautifully Entangled

Dear Valentine,

For 11 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days we have been inseparable.

Through thick and thin, good and bad...

And beautifully entangled for 4 years, 3 months, 1 week, and 3 days.

My love, my friend, my flesh, my bread and my wine.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Thunder in January

Last night, Alex and I went to a Wichita Thunder Hockey game. Initally we got our tickets for free from our real estate lady but decided to upgrade our tickets for a mere $5. It was SO worth it. Did I mention that it was our first professional hockey experience ever?

There were over 4,000 people at the game, most of which were packed into the upper balcony (i.e. the free seats). The Thunder played against the Laredo, Texas Bucks and totally kicked their butts! Our seats were only 5 rows behind the goal so we got to see tons of action. Of course, there were fights- 2 almost fights and one big one that happened right in front of us. Both the Thunder and the Laredos had to sit in the penalty box for the last 2 minutes of the game for that one. Some of the coolest moments were when the refs actually leaped over the puck to keep the puck in play and when some of the locals decided to show off their colorful art of the spoken language. A "lady" (and I use that term lightly) named Cindy constantly reminded the Laredo goally name Jung that he indeed "SUCKED" the entire game, which he did to our benefit. And how could I forget! We even got to witness a "Hat trick". So you haven't got a clue as to what that is? No problem. Neither did I. It's when the same player makes 3 points in one game. It rarely happens unless you're Wayne Gretsky. In honor of the players accomplishment, fans throw their hats onto the ice as a sign of respect. I'm not sure what they do with the hats afterwards, but it was neat to see. In the end we won 6-3.

School is back in session once again. The break didn't seem nearly as long as I wanted it to be. As always, the first week of class is always the easiest. For the most part the classes are shorter and most of the time you discuss the next 16 weeks of homework assignments. I'm excited that the overall work load this semester doesn't seem to be as heavy as in the past and what makes me the most excited is that there is very little busy work. I hate busy work.

The down side is that I have a 30 page research paper due at the end of the semester on ANY historical topic that I chose. It could be a theme, and event, a time period, a person. So far I'm leaning toward the history of Migrant Workers focusing mainly on the Bracero Movement. My second choice is the inner workings of households in the 1870s. And my third choice is Advertising in the 1940s (pre WW2). I have to have at least 5 primary sources and at least 10 secondary sources. In the end I'll have double that. As overwhelming as it seems at this point, I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm always up for some great ideas as to what to write about. What historical topic would you chose?

Happy New Year!

2011.

That can't be right, can it? It must be a typo.

So since the last time I wrote, I have finished up another semester of school. Here are my final grades:

     EDUC 3003 (Special Ed):                                        A

     EDUC 3152 (Middles School Methods):               A

     PSN 1003 (American Government):                      A

     SOC 3073 (Criminology):                                        B

     HIST 4781 (Portfolio Review):                               A

I made the Dean's List again. I was invited to join another Leadership Honor Society but I declined because of the fee's involved. I'm set to graduate December 2011 which means I have only 2 more semesters to go.

I finished re-transcribing one of my journals for the second time. The dog nibbled on one of the corners and my OCD refuses to allow me to have a tarnished journal sitting on the shelf so I engaged in the tedious task of re-writing each entry word for word for most of the parts a third time. After that, I started to transfer the daily notes  I wrote myself from a day planner way back in 1998. That was painful. My spelling was atrocious and my thought process was in desperate need of a dose of maturity.

I also finished reading two more books: Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen. Strange fantasy-like books about a courtesan who has an incredibly high tolerance for pain and is also a spy. I like them enough to read the third book but not enough to recommend to just anybody. 

I also turned the first year (2008) of this blog into a scrapbook. I finished that project up a few days ago. In the end, 2008 filled 26 pages front and back. I added a sidebar of random facts about us, other pictures, and favorite scriptures. I'm thinking of doing the same for 2009 but this time I will work in chronological order instead of backwards from December to May, or seasonally. I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out.

Christmas was very quiet for us this year. It was the first year that we spent all by ourselves. We did something a tad different for presents. I bought my own presents, Alex bought his own presents, and then we wrapped them up and traded to see what we "bought" for each other. Apparently this year, I felt Alex needed a new belt, a new pair of jeans, and 2 more DVDs. I have to commend Alex for being so observant when he picked out 2 pairs of pajama's that I've been eying for a while, a commentary/bible study on the book of Romans that goes with the series I've been using, a beautiful pad of Christmas card stock, and the fourth book to a series I've been reading.

We didn't do anything for New Years. Alex worked until 1:30 am and I spent the night at home with an eye infection. I spent a good part of the morning on January 1st looking for an eye doctor that was open. The last number I dialed happened to be the home phone number of a doctor. He quickly agreed to see me. I drove down to his office, the visit lasted about 5 minutes, he gave me some antibiotic for free and didn't charge me a single penny for the office visit. I asked him if he was an Angel. He just laughed and asked to see me again on Tuesday.

I usually don't make "resolutions" but I do have a few goals for 2011 (There it is again. I'm still not convinced that's the right date.). First, I'd like to finally learn a second language and since my husband is a horrible language teacher, I think I'm going to buy the Rosetta Stone program and teach myself. Part of me wants to buy Gaelic so when I'm around my in-laws and Alex is being a tushy I can talk to him about it right then and there. But the other part of me wants to be practical and learn something I might actually use on a regular basis, like Spanish. I'd choose Serbo-Croatian but Rosetta Stone doesn't make a program for Serbian. 

The second goal is a simple one: to graduate. I feel like I can pretty much check that one right off the list to begin with. It's almost cheating to put it on the list.

And finally, I would also like to pay off two more bills and be that much closer to being debt free. Alex enrolled in his company's 401K last week so we're starting to put away for the future again. 

Well, here's to a new year! May the next decade be more amazing than the last!

Mr. Lobster and Shrimp

My brother Tom and his son came for a week long visit on the 14th of November. We met them at the airport with a sign that read: Mr. Lobster and Shrimp. It was Alex's idea so I made him hold the sign. We got some weird looks while waiting but it made for a really good laugh when Tom showed up. 'Tommy the Lobster' is the nickname Alex gave Tom awhile back given his natural inability to tan and since TJ is just like his Daddy, well, it seemed to fit. Oh! And I really wanted to have a picture of the boys with the sign but Alex left the camera at home. I was totally bummed out about that one.

We were a little concerned that the dog may be a little much for TJ so we brought out the kennel again. Turns out that TJ enjoyed playing in the cage more than anything. He would climb in and out every few minutes returning with another item that was necessary for cozy living. In the end he had 2 pillows, a blanket, a stuffed animal, and eventually some snacks. He would lock himself in and pretend he was safe from the "dragon". Of course, he wanted everyone else to join him too. Here were are: Aunt Mandy, TJ, and David snuggly hanging out in the kennel.

Apparently eating breakfast (and an occasional snack) in a dog kennel is the coolest thing.

David keeping watch. Interestingly enough, Davey never ate any of TJ's food, no matter how long it was hanging out unattended.

Story time! Stories are so much fun! I get to practice on Alex every so often when I come across another kids book he's never heard of like Where the Wild Things Are or The Velveteen Rabbit. If I remember correctly, this is Dr. Suess' Oh the Places You'll Go!. My favorite of the night was Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown.

By the second day, Davey had become TJ's protector. He followed him around everywhere probably because he was waiting for some kind of scrap of food but mostly out of curiosity. One night when TJ and I were reading some books, Tom suddenly appeared in the doorway. In a flash of light, Davey was standing on top of the bed between us and the door growling at the sudden stranger. We all started laughing and Davey calmed down when he realized it was Tom. I think Davey liked having a "pet" in which to share his bed.

So we're all sitting around watching "The Last Airbender" at like 11 o'clock at night and Tommy starts taking pictures of the two of us. I'm sure it was a cute moment but TJ and I were less than amused. Not to mention that the kid was super tired to begin with.

There was lots of coloring of Dora, most of which we sent to Grandma Harris. Davey developed a particular "taste" for Crayola crayons which subsequently lead to an endless supply of new crayons and frequent dog scolding and carpet vacuuming.

Tommy and TJ waiting for everyone else to finish getting ready.

For my birthday we went to the Sedgwick County Zoo. We got really lucky that the weather was nice. I was pretty impressed with the zoo. There were all kinds of things to see like penguins that float around like ducks, Bengal Tigers that are as tall as me! (truly amazing!), buffalo, elephants, giraffes, black swans, lots of gorillas, and so much more. Here we are at the black bear area. It seemed like a good place for a family picture.

After the zoo we headed to the East side of town for dinner at P.F. Chang's and then for two games of bowling. Did you know that Alex and I have NEVER been bowling together. We're both so bad at it that we've never wanted to go, I guess. My first score was like 76 and Alex's was 51. Yikes! TJ did better than we did. The second game was much better. I almost broke 100 and had 3 strikes total while Alex suddenly looked like a Pro-Bowler. TJ held out as long as he could for so much activity without a nap. At one point he was making Bowling Angels with the little girl next to us. The angels picture didn't turn out but this is one of my favorites. 

It was so cute watching TJ learn how to bowl with his Daddy.

As soon as he'd throw the ball he'd run away and crouch down to see how many pins the ball would knock over. He'd always get a high-five, of course!

Well, that about wraps it all up. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and is looking forward to Christmas and New Year's.

Regatta on the Arkansas River

My overly-buff brother-in-law, Z, was down from Creighton for the weekend for a Regatta competition against WSU, KU, K-State, and a few other states. I've never seen a regatta race before so it was really nice to head down to the Riverside Park to watch individual, two-team, four-team and and eight-team races. Both the men and the women teams raced. We were lucky to have really great weather too. Here's the brothers after the first 4 man race. All I can say is Holy Biceps Batman!

It's not the clearest of pictures but Z is the first man in the boat facing you. The person with her back to us is the one who calls out all the motivating words of encouragement. I forget what her official title is but that's the kind of job I want. It pretty much sounds like this: "ALRIGHT! YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE ME A HARD 10 ON 3! (they stroke), 2! (the stoke), 1! ( strong stroke) MOVE IT! (stroke) HARDER! (stroke) QUIT BE A SISSY! (stroke) YOU HEARD ME! (stroke) 5 MORE TO GO! (stroke) COME ON! (stroke) THE DUCKS ARE PASSING US! (stroke, stroke, stroke)" or something like that. 

I'm not sure if they placed or not because the races are based on times. I guess I thought that they lined up on the river and raced back up it and whoever crossed the mark first won. They do race against other people but they all have different start times. I enjoyed it all the same and I'm looking forward to going next year if Z plans on competing again.