kapachino

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  • Currently In February

    Current Book(s): Just finished my book club book a few days ago and the next meeting isn’t until next week, so I picked up The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl off my “unread” shelf. My husband also got me The Wonder Spot by Michelle Bank to listen to while I drive. I like it so far, although it’s read by the author which I don’t think is a good idea. Her voice really annoys me.

    wonderspot

    Current Playlist: I finally went through all of my recovered files from when my hard drive crashed, and it’s like I have a whole new music library now. I discovered some classics that I forgot I had such as Ace of Base, ‘N Sync, and Queen’s greatest hits.

    Current Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure: Every season I tell myself that I’m not going to watch The Bachelor again, but every season I find myself watching it. Ah, well.

    Current Drink: I think this is the most boring category for me since not only am I a teetotaler (I think that’s a fun way of putting it) but I also dislike most sodas. Pretty much the only things I ever find myself drinking are water and coffee. If that changes I’ll let you know.

    Current Food: After an unplanned break from cooking during the holidays, I’m back on it. This week I’ve made PW’s chicken spaghetti and this ham & potato soup. Both are amazing, and I have tons of leftovers!

    soup

    Current Favorite Show: Not The Bachelor. Definitely not that.

    Current Wishlist: I moved my wishlist to Wishpot. Among the things I’d like the most are: sport headphones, a tea kettle, a Kindle, Over the Rhine’s Live From Nowhere Vol. 4, a custom made address stamp, and new pet tags for my dogs.

    Current Needs: New running shoes since I’ve had mine for over two years. A case for my iPhone since I seem to drop it all the time. My wisdom teeth removed. A NEW CAR, preferably this one, which is still my dream:

    ToyotaPriusSuperWhite

    Current Triumphs: I’m proud that I got our cash budget going again this month. I’m proud that I made a meal plan at the beginning of this week and I’m sticking to it. And I’m proud that my meals have turned out delicious so far.

    Current Bane(s) of my Existence: I think I’ve whined quite enough about the annoyances of my truck, but I don’t care. Unless you have experienced it yourself, you have no idea how difficult it is to drive a vehicle without power steering. I approach parking lots now with the fear and trembling that should only be reserved for The Lord. Thankfully, my husband has finally convinced me that it’s time to put Bubba to rest and purchase a new/used car for me. It may or may not be happening this weekend.

    Current Celebrity Crush: My crushes don’t change as often as every month. I’m still on the Robert Downey, Jr. kick, and of course Derek Webb is always my #1 crush.

    Current Indulgence: Too many to count. Birthday week, remember?

    Current Blessing(s): My God, my husband, my family, my friends, my dogs, my job, my house, my church–I’ve got it pretty good, I’d say.

    Current Outfit: As I’m writing this (Tuesday afternoon) I’m wearing a sweater, jeans, and slippers. I wish I would have taken a picture on Sunday when I looked cute, but you’ll have to settle for this, my boring sweater:

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    Current Excitement: My birthday, the prospect of getting a new car, and that my blog is being redesigned and should hopefully be ready to launch soon. All three things make me so happy.

    Current Mood: Apart from the random pangs of sadness I get due to situations beyond my control, I am feeling very, very, content. And full.

    Current Link: AllRecipes is the best website for recipes. If you haven’t checked it out, you need to.

    Happy February!

  • Ten On Tuesday: Some God Talk

    rr10tuesday1. What is your favorite travel destination spot?
    Beaches, fun activities, and history are what gets me. My favorite vacation ever was to Kauai, Hawaii for our honeymoon, but the fact that it was my honeymoon probably elevates it to that level. A close second would be to Athens, Greece and the islands.

    2. Cats vs. Dogs.
    Dogs by far, although I do like cats and wish we could get one. Unfortunately Cleo would probably eat it. But I think I really only like cats that cuddle and have personality like dogs do, and that kind of cat is rare.

    3. Do you believe in fate?
    No. See question 9.

    4. Do you believe in karma?
    No again. See question 9.

    5. Everyone has a unique laugh. Do you like yours?
    I’ve never thought about it before. I think my laugh is fairly normal. I don’t laugh whenever I think something is funny, though. Sometimes I just smile a little and say, “That’s funny.” And I mean it.

    6. Is love really all you need?
    What everyone really needs is God, whether they realize it or not. His love is all you need. It’s the only thing that brings a true, lasting hope, and what is life without hope?

    7. What’s your take on the whole 2012 scare?
    Never heard of it. Is that what that one movie is about?

    8. If you won a million dollars and had to give it all away, who would you give it to? (Family and friends not included.)
    Partly to the organization Compassion, through which we sponsor two children, and partly to the organization Merge Ministries, which is a team of missionaries from our church’s denomination (Evangelical Covenant) who I have done several trips with. Both stand for what I believe in, do excellent work, and put as much of their resources as possible into actually achieving that work.

    9. Do you believe in God/religion/the power of prayer?
    I consider my primary identity to be a Christian and daughter of God. It’s more important to me than being a wife, a nurse, or any of my other roles. So if you know one thing about me, know that. I won’t say that I believe in “religion,” because what I have isn’t that; it’s a relationship with a living God, and yes I believe that He hears my prayers. I don’t always understand how prayer works or what it does, but it’s the way that I commune with God and it changes me. As for fate and karma, I don’t think they are compatible with God, who is all-powerful and thoroughly good. I believe that He is working out everything according to a perfect plan, and I trust Him implicitly.

    10. What New Year’s Resolution do you always make but never keep?
    I usually keep my resolutions, and I never make the same one each year. Go me.

  • Birthday Week Begins

    Much to my husband’s chagrin, I insist on celebrating my birthday for an entire week every year. The first couple of times he thought it was cute, but when I reminded him of it this year he said, “You’re still doing that??” Yes, yes I am. And it started yesterday. The boy’s not stupid though; he presented me with these first thing this morning:

    IMG_0162

    Pretty flowers make me happy.

    So the basics of birthday week are that I get to indulge in whatever I want all week long without feeling guilty, and I get to choose whatever activities I want for the week and David must comply. Genius, right? I know I’ll probably gain about ten pounds, but it’s so worth it. My actual birthday is on Friday, and there will be a wild party at my parents’ house. A wild party that will end by 9 p.m. and involves only my family and zero alcohol, but wild nonetheless.

    Happy Monday, and happy birthday week to me. :)

  • A Plan Of Sorts

    Last Monday I sat down on my couch, in my PJ’s, to watch The Bachelor with my computer on my lap. Ten miles away, my brother was at his desk at work, staying late just for me. Through the miracle of technology, I was able to view his screen on my screen as my new blog design took shape right before my very eyes. I was able to offer him my vague ideas and opinions, all while watching Jake make this the shortest season of Bachelor history.

    Yes, the web design of my dreams is within reach, and all I have to do to get in a better mood now is look at the preview of what we have so far. The unfortunate side effect is that now I can hardly stand to look at my current design, but on the other hand I am full of ideas and plans for the future.

    Because of this my blogging enthusiasm is running high, and in an effort to keep myself on some sort of posting schedule, I’ve come up with a plan. Whether or not I stick to it is a different matter, and of course it all depends on how I feel that day or if I’m working for 12 hours. But the point is to be a more regular presence here, which I hope I can achieve.

    Monday, I will enthrall you with my weekend antics, unless I have been utterly boring that weekend and done nothing but work, and then I will enthrall you with some other sort of life tidbit.

    Tuesday, I will attempt to answer Chelsea’s Ten on Tuesday questions, unless I don’t have any good answers.

    Wednesday, I will write about whatever I want. You’re welcome.

    Thursday, I will discuss things of a literary nature, since apart from blogging reading is my #1 hobby.

    Friday, I will offer up my weekly letters, which I said were going to become a regular feature last week, yet I’ve already skipped a week of them.

    Weekends, I will post if I have something burning inside of me that just can’t be held in any longer. Such as this.

    Are you on the edge of your seat? I’m not, I’m lounging back in my husband’s armchair that I commandeered while he went to run an errand and now I don’t think I’ll ever give up. (It may be ugly, but it is comfortable.) But mentally, I’m totally excited, and I hope you are too.

  • Playing House: 2010 To Do List

    On my quest to ultra domesticity, I must eventually have a perfectly decorated house. Right? Right. Although I wish that could have happened the week after we moved in, it is going to be a long process for us. Mainly because we didn’t have any furniture to start out with, and we’re not rolling in money. But at this point only a couple of rooms are actually presentable, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves.

    So! I’ve come up with a realistic list of things I think we can accomplish on the house this year. Here they are.

    1. Fix the back door lock.

    Remember this?

    DSCF2668

    Well, it’s still there. I’m ready to use our back door again, and I have an idea for a super cheap way to fix this. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

    2. Speaking of locks, cut down on the number of keys we have.

    There are four doors to our house, and each one has a separate key. Not only is that quite annoying, but I think it might be a fire hazard. I want them to all open with one key, and I don’t want to have to use a key to open the doors from the inside.

    3. Finish up the living room.

    DSCF2672

    I want to get a rug to pull this space together. Who knew rugs could be so expensive?

    DSCF2670

    I want to add a couple of cute, comfortable, and functional bar stools to this space.

    4. Set up an actual dining room.

    This needs to be the next room we work on, because right now we can only have a few people over for meals. We have a lot to do here, as it looks like this right now:

    DSCF2669

    Really terrible. I kind of block this room out of my memory for the most part. Fixing up this room will mean procuring some sort of table and chairs (for cheap – I can just use a table cloth until we can afford something nice), changing up that chandelier, getting rid of those awful window treatments, possibly hanging some shelving, and of course painting. I can’t handle the red.

    5. Finish painting all the rooms in the house.

    While we’re on the subject of painting, it’s a fairly cheap way to make a big difference in appearance. I’d like to finish painting the entire house this year. In the front part of our house, the trim has all been converted to white, which I love. But in the back, it is all a creamy off-white, which I think looks dirty.

    DSCF2675

    This is our back hall. Yes we left one of our dresser drawers open, and I didn’t close it before taking this picture. Yes it is bothering me. Yes I am too lazy to retake the picture. But isn’t Cleo cute poking her head out like that? Let’s focus on that.

    6. Start on the “office.”

    One of my 101 goals is to build a pretty and well-organized home office. This goal probably won’t get completed in 2010, but I need to at least start. I am embarrassed to show you what that room looks like right now, but I’m going to anyway.

    DSCF2673

    There’s a pile of balled up newspaper on the ground because I unpacked a box of breakables about a month ago. Eddie likes to use it as a doggy bed, so I haven’t picked it up yet. Actually, it just isn’t a priority and that makes a convenient excuse.

    7. Get the carpet cleaned.

    We’ve only been here a year and already the dogs have ruined our carpet, at least in a few places. Why is it that when they feel the need to puke, they can’t do it on the tile or the hardwood? But before we jump to getting new carpet, we want to at least give cleaning it a shot.

    So that’s my list for the year. If you are willing to lend me some time and muscle strength we have a LOT of painting to do, and in exchange I will feed you. Isn’t that a tempting offer? I thought so.

    Tips? Thoughts? Suggestions? Love notes? Send them my way!