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  • Burning Questions

    Y’all have been there for me in the past, so answer me these questions!

    1. I need some new music. Suggestions?

    I like acoustic guitar and piano-based stuff, but not exclusively. Over the Rhine has become my all-time favorite band, but some of my other favorites are Nickel Creek and Sandra McCracken. Recently I’m really enjoying Katie Herzig. I need some new Christmas songs too, just not the cheesy ones that they play on the radio.

    2. What are your favorite kitchen tools and gadgets?

    I’m still working on my Christmas list (even though it is super long already) and I want to know what I can’t live without.

    3. What are your favorite iPhone apps?

    I’m especially looking for the best Twitter app, the best camera app, and some good games, but anything useful is appreciated!

    And go!

  • Friday Mash-Up

    Some randomness for your reading pleasure:

    ***

    One of my very best friends, Megan, is somewhat new to blogging. Well, the truth is that she blogged sporadically for awhile, and then stopped updating. So I took her off my list of links, which apparently offended motivated her. After some hearty encouragement on my part, she took it up again. She has assured me that she will be updating frequently, and she is a woman of her word. Basically what I’m trying to say is that YOU SHOULD BE READING IT. I don’t encourage just anyone to blog. Megan is a better writer than I’ll ever be; at once witty, inspiring, thought-provoking, and hilarious. She and her husband are currently living in Scotland for the year, and they are recounting their adventures here. Megan also has a travel blog, where she is retroactively writing about her journeys across the world.

    mandp

    ***

    You may or may not know that my youngest brother works stage crew for the Alley Theatre, which is one of Houston’s premier theatres. This is awesome because it means that we get to see most of the plays for free, and the others at a discounted price. I feel very cultured. Anyway, this week we saw the world premiere of Gruesome Playground Injuries with Brad Fleischer and Selma Blair (you may recognize her from Legally Blonde, the Hellboy movies, or Cruel Intentions). Both David and I liked it a lot, which is actually rare. I even heard David laughing several times. Afterwards we got to meet the cast, which was fun because the most famous person I have ever met up until now was Derek Webb (and I was too nervous to even say anything to him).

    gpiprodpage

    ***

    One of my coworkers introduced me to the website mygrocerydeals.com. It basically has all of your local grocery store sale flyers in one place, and it will e-mail you when a new one is available. You can browse by store or by category, create a shopping list, and print it or e-mail it to yourself. I love it and it has already revolutionized the way I shop.

    mgd-logo

    ***

    I got the H1N1 vaccine today. I did it because I am a direct caregiver to many people who are at high risk for contracting the virus; people who, if they got it, would get very very sick and perhaps not make it through. So the vaccine is more to protect them than to protect myself, because I know that my body could handle any kind of flu. I have to say though, I was nervous. For some reason my old fear of needles came back to me, and I was not feeling up to getting stuck. I think it’s because I’ve given two intramuscular injections this week, and both times I’ve seen the muscle quiver. It kind of gave me the shivers. Anyway, I looked away and barely felt the needlestick, although my arm is quite sore now.

    vacc

    ***

    I wrote most of this post early in the day, then forgot to finish it until now. I almost went to bed without posting it, and now I’m barely squeezing it in. I’m super tired. Good night!

  • Goals Update Redux

    Goals I have accomplished recently…

    #5. Make David’s lunch three times a week for a month – This is something that helps us save money and makes it easier for David to eat healthy. It’s just not going to get done unless I do it, and that’s fine with me because I like taking care of my man. I’m not always consistent with this, but the goal did get completed.

    #23. Transfer my old 401k – This should have been as easy as a conference call, but turned out it was no simple matter, friends. It was actually a YEAR-LONG PROCESS. I am not exaggerating. My financial adviser said that he has never encountered such a difficult transfer. When I got the checks in the mail I rejoiced. I worked for this one.

    #27. Sell something on eBay – I sold a book on Half.com. I’m totally counting it.

    #32. Take the preceptor class – I am officially “qualified” to precept new nurses, so says my hospital. The class was boring, the end.

    #68. Obtain a vacuum cleaner – We got SO lucky on this one. A coworker of David’s recently got married and ended up with two vacuums. She just GAVE us one. We’ve had it for a few months now, and it is my favorite chore. I don’t know how we lived so long without it.

    #83. Start using reusable shopping bags – I have been doing this for awhile now, just haven’t written about it. I hang them on a hook by the back door, so they are easy to grab when I’m on my way out to the store.

    #84. Send Mary, the child we sponsor in Uganda, a picture of us – mailed a picture from our wedding to her in my last letter. She’s only 4, but hopefully she’ll like it!

    Goals I’m actively working on…

    #20. Pay off my credit card bill –

    #21. Put at least $1000 in my IRA – We have $100 a month automatically going toward that. Eventually we’d like to increase that amount, but we’ve got to get ahead on our finances first.

    #24. Implement a system for David and I to save our change – A system involving a hollow ceramic shell on our mantel has begun, but before I call this one complete I want to follow it through until we cash the money in. Somehow, the change seems to disappear again once it makes its way into the shell.

    #40. Read all the books I own but haven’t read – Finished a couple lately. The problem is, I keep buying more books. Must stop this.

    #74. Get pregnant – No comment.

    #75. Send 10 “just because” cards – I sent one, and it was so much fun to do. This is something I plan to work on soon.

    #81. Donate blood once a quarter – I think I am actually going more often than this, because every time Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center calls me I schedule an appointment. Sometimes my hematocrit isn’t high enough to donate, but so far I’ve gone 3 times total.

    #87. Complete NaBloPoMo – Obviously.

    #92. Memorize Philippians 3 – So far I have my favorite verses memorized, verses 7-12, which our church used to use as a corporate benediction every Sunday.

    #96. Complete a Beth Moore Bible study with homework – I have been working through Beloved Disciple on my own, and I have the CD’s to go along with it.

    #99. Become a true fan of the Texans by watching every game and discussing with David – Two weeks I had to settle for listening to the game on the radio when we were out of town, but I have watched every single other game, even if I had to DVR it and watch after work. It’s actually been really fun, except when they pull something like last week.

    Goals that I’m beginning to think may be impossible to complete…

    #13. Spend an entire day at the spa – I think I might have been dreaming here. Unless someone wants to give me a bunch of money, I don’t see us being able to afford such a luxury.

    #26. Learn CSS/HTML/PHP well enough to design and run my website independently – I just don’t know if I’ll ever have the time it takes to learn this. I’m still hoping, though.

    #42. Learn conversational Spanish – This isn’t exactly something you can just pick up easily. It will take a lot of time and work. Not sure if it’ll happen in this time period.

    #54. Drive down the California coast – Another one I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford. Maybe in a couple of years.

    #67. Build a pretty and well-organized home office – This one worries me because the office is not my top priority on rooms to fix up, and again there’s the money thing.

    I’d say it’s coming along nicely!

  • Wishing

    Today is not a good day for blogging. So here, look at some things on my Christmas wish list!

    rosetta-stone-spanish-big
    Rosetta Stone Spanish

    Pricey, but I hear it’s effective. Learning conversational Spanish is on my list of goals, plus it will help me a lot at work.

    1
    A Million Miles In A Thousand Years

    Love me some Donald Miller.

    pettag
    New tags for my dogs

    Cleo lost her tag in the backyard somewhere. And these are just adorable.

    mug
    Coffee travel mug

    Gotta stop those spills.

    headphones
    Sports headphones

    My little earbuds aren’t working too well anymore. They’re always falling out when I run.

    cookbook
    The Pioneer Woman Cooks

    Gotta be honest, I don’t read her blog. But I’ve heard a lot about the cookbook, and I think I’d like it.

    pinkAndWhiteMiaMED
    Clarisonic Mia skin care system

    It’s like giving yourself a facial!

    anthropologie-apron
    A cute apron

    The one I use now is plain white. Or, plain white with some stains on it. Either way, not cute.

    See you tomorrow, folks. Maybe I’ll have something to say.

  • Fantasy, Science Fiction, Edward Cullen, and Why I Love Them

    Last night David was browsing the Internet, and he (don’t ask me how) ended up on a YouTube video about the best Sith Lords. Don’t bother watching it though, because it’s just a few pictures of Dark Nihilus and Dark Revan set to four minutes of music, asking you to comment with your favorite Siths. (And we’re talking Star Wars here, just to be clear.)

    David was fascinated. He started reading the comments and quoting them to me. Example:

    Nihilus hands down. Revan had powerful control of the Force but he also had a massive military at his side for his conquests. Vader is a pawn of the Emperor and has no real control but is still strong. The rest have real strengths and positive features but Nihilus has absolute power of the force so much that he doesn’t need a large army for defense. Also he can kill all life on a planet without any real effort, something I’ve never seen another Sith Lord do. Death Star doesn’t count.

    He couldn’t believe how people devote themselves to a world that isn’t real, in his opinion “throwing their lives away.” He went on and on about how ridiculous it is. My response?

    It makes me want to watch Star Wars again.

    David stared at me open-mouthed. Finally he ran his hands through his hair and said, “I don’t know how we ended up married.”

    Of course he was kidding about that last comment, but the point is that we are very different in many ways, and this is one of them. David has no tolerance for fantasy and science fiction, and I consider them two of my favorite genres. He doesn’t understand that just because I enjoy losing myself in another world it doesn’t mean that I’m dissatisfied with my own real life. I love my life.

    But fantasy gets me dreaming. It gets me longing for something more. I believe in God, in heaven, and in everything that comes with that, and I think C.S. Lewis described it best in my favorite sermon of all time when he said “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Additionally, so many themes in fantasy and sci-fi echo the ultimate struggle between good and evil, and look forward to the day when everything will be made right.

    My pastor and I recently got into a discussion about the Twilight series, which I am proud to say I let him borrow my copies of, and he gave me his take on why the books are so popular. He said that usually when he reads anything having to do with romance, he naturally relates to the man, being himself a man. But in this case, he found himself relating to Bella, the awkward and flawed girl. (Hopefully he’s okay with me writing this, and if not…eh.) Edward is supernatural, he is powerful, beautiful, almost too good to be true, he is fiercely protective and loves unconditionally. He is not meant to be a symbol of God, and some would vehemently argue against this, but I think the reason the books are so popular (because come on, they’re not that well-written) is because we humans were created first and foremost to be loved by God, and Edward displays many of the characteristics that we long for.

    You won’t find me at any Star Wars conventions in the near future (because I, too, believe there is a line that probably shouldn’t be crossed), but you will certainly see me at a showing of New Moon. And now you know why.