Hooters for Neuters

Frustrated with one of my classes, I took a break and logged on to check my e-mail and browse the internet for a bit. I stumbled across one of the funniest msn articles that I have read yet. Apparently, the city of L.A. is having some controversy over a "Hooters for Neuters" bikini contest that was supposed to raise money for the city's animal services. And who says only their wings are good? Obviously, they have hearts of gold.

Angry Brain

Do you know that feeling where your brain is just angry? Like when you're in a meeting and the speaker has gone way over his time and just won't shut up, even though he's saying nothing even remotely important, but you can't get up and leave because that would be rude, so instead you sit there, about ready to jump out of your seat, clenching your teeth and eagerly awaiting the minute when he finally shuts up and dismisses? That is the feeling that I keep getting each time I open up my GeekSpeak books. I am having a really hard time with these classes. Not necessarily because they are hard, but beacuse my brain gets so angry reading about this stuff. I don't know why. Maybe because I have to read the same page five times before it soaks into my head, because after the second sentence, I am reading the words, but my brain is thinking something totally different like "Hm. Ice cream sounds good. Remember Carmelcopia at Baskin Robbins? They discontinued it. That's too bad. That was so good in a waffle cone." Then when I get to the bottom of the page, I realize I read every word, but I don't have a clue what I just read. So I start over, and if I'm lucky, my brain pays attention to the third sentence and this vicious cycle repeats itself, and by the time my brain actually pays attention to the entire page, it is very angry. Needless to say, I am taking a break before my brain starts yelling at me.

I don't have much to say. Tomorrow Jesse and I are going to the Rivermarket, which I am very excited about. Maybe I will find some exceptionally fine produce...maybe even a personal watermelon. Mmmmm....

The Sign

So we have this big thermostat in our kitchen in a really bad spot on the wall. I debated about what to do as far as decorating around it. Jesse even offered to move it, but that would involve more holes in the wall, patching up stuff and painting over it again. And frankly, most patch jobs don't look all that great. So, I finally decided that the best thing to do would be to incorporate it into our decoration. We had planned to do a "Farmer's Market" theme in the kitchen, with stuff like old road side fruit stand signs and things like that. Well, it sort of evolved into a French farmer's market, and now all the old signs are in French. Anyway, so a week ago, Jesse and I began working on the big sign that will go with the thermostat. We got it all ready to go, but were waiting to hang it until we got our new thermostat, (which Jesse explained on his blog). Anyway, so we got the new thermostat yesterday and today was sign hanging day. This sign is made of MDF, so it's pretty heavy. In the photo below, it looks like Jesse is putting it up with ease. But, if you would have seen the spectacle going on about five minutes before I took this photo, you would have gotten some good laughs. We probably looked like a slap stick comedy routine. Jesse and I were both hanging on to it, to the tune of Jesse cursing in the background while we tried to get at least one or two screws in before we dropped it or ripped the thermostat off the wall since the sign goes all around it. In the course of all this, I dropped the drill onto the kitchen table and made a big mark in the middle of it, Jesse dropped the level on my head and made a good bump on it, and the level also dropped onto the chair rail and made a good mark into it. I guess the whole "distressed farmer's market" now continues through more than anticipated. Oh well, we finally got it hung up, and the thermostat blends in pretty well. If anyone knows French, please do not make fun of my poor translation. Actually, there is also a bit of Hawaiian on there as well, so it really probably makes no sense at all when translated. I am just banking on the fact that we have very few bilingual acquaintances.

Broken

So I was outside doing some yardwork, and when I got to the back door to come inside, Jesse is standing there....looking just like this: I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seems like life hits you all at once sometimes. Thankfully, he has an extra pair of "back up" glasses that he is able to use until we can get him some new ones. The thing is, he didn't even do anything to break them. They just broke. He just touched them on the side barely, and out popped the lens, in a "non-fixable" fashion. Life gets you like that sometimes. One of Jesse's cameras broke earlier this week, which he can't go without, because he has a wedding to shoot this weekend, so he ended up having to book a rental. We will obviously need to get the camera fixed as well. Oh well, I am at least very very very thankful that his camera didn't break during a wedding. Looks like we will be glasses shopping tomorrow.

The Hose

Our lawn is starting to turn brown because it's not getting enough water. We finally decided to invest in a sprinkler a week or so ago. Last night, Jesse went to hook it up, but the sprayer attachment that we have on the end of the hose is stuck on there. He tried a wrench and everything. So, we decided to water the grass by hand and will deal with what to do about the hose later. Anyway, as soon as Horton sees one of us going toward the nozzle to turn on the water, he gets really excited. Then, as soon as the water starts coming out he starts jumping up into it and chasing it all around. You can't really get anything done except spray him. We figured we might as well let him play for a while and the yard would get watered at the same time. Abe saw this happening, and started to get worried that it might be bath time. He hates getting wet, so unlike Horton, the minute he sees one of us going to turn on the hose, he heads in the opposite direction and tries to hide. Last night, he was trying to back himself into the space between the deck and a/c unit.

Just When I Have It All Figured Out....

So just when I have my life all figured out, my sociology instructor has to go and blow things for me. I am taking sociology this semester (obviously) and it's really interesting. Almost...dare I say, more interesting than psychology. I think they may be neck and neck right now. To be honest, it's tempting me to stray from my psychology degree into sociology. But, what can you do with a sociology degree in real life? I'll sit on it for now, and see if the rest of this class proves to be as interesting as the beginning has been.

A New Class

I need a wake-up break. I have decided that two of my classes are falsely advertised in the course catalog. The names should be "GeekSpeak 101: World's Driest Reading" and "GeekSpeak102: Let's Debate Operating Systems". (Sorry to all you computer writing program, HTML, techno lovers.) Actually, I am quite thankful that some people in the world find this stuff interesting. I sure do love to use the end results, like e-mail and blogger for instance. But, man, I have to honestly say, I sure don't really give a rip how it works. What is that old saying...no one wants to hear about the labor, they just want to see the baby...well, that sure describes my feelings when it comes to computers and math. Guess that's one reason Jesse and I work well together. He gets all this techno stuff and he is really good at it (and he's definitely NOT geeky!!) and I get the other things in life. Cover each other's weaknesses and enhance each other's strengths, that's what makes up good relationships, right? Hey, lookie there...maybe I am learning something in GeekSpeak after all.

Deal of the Day

I am pretty excited about this. Walgreens was having a sale on the deodorant that Jesse uses for 99 cents. I also had a coupon, for 1.50 off his deodorant. I had two of the coupons actually. So we bought 2 deodorants, and technically, at the end Walgreens owed us money. Their system wouldn't let them give us money back, but we got the deodorant for free. Now if only I can find other deals like this...

Today

So I wrote a few weeks back about this new season of "faith tests" that Jesse and I have been starting out in. It seems to be the hardest one yet in terms of having faith, yet I find myself learning to view life in a new way and it's kind of exciting, (even though I doubt I will be all that sad when this season ends)! After beginning to balance our checkbook earlier this week, I have really been reconsidering taking a job. I tell myself it's not just money. I really don't leave the house much since all of my classes are online. In fact, the only time I have left the house in the last 10 days or so was to go grocery shopping at Target. That's not healthy, I tell myself. A job would at least get me out and about more often. But then I really think about it, and unless something perfect just falls into my lap, I don't really feel right about taking one still. And Jesse feels the same way, so it seems that if both agree that the simplest solution of me getting a job is not the right one, surely we are heading in the right direction at least a little. In any case, each time I start to worry and ask God again if I can just take a job, or how or where money will come from, I keep getting the same reply. Today, are your needs met? And each time, I have to answer Him, "Yes, today I have everything I need." And that promptly ends the conversation, with me walking away like a puppy with my tail between my legs, feeling ashamed that I ever even questioned. I feel like this is not going to be the same old faith tests that we had in the past with money, but a new level of testing. It's really day by day. And all of my "fall backs" that I had before are gone this time. I realized that even before when we struggled with money, in the back of my mind, I always thought "well, worse case scenario, I know that we can get money from such and such place." There is no "such and such place" this time. And there is no foreshadowing of future income this time. And this time, with me being in school, we are actually taking out loans. In the past, I could at least say "well, I'm not rich, but at least I don't owe anyone money!" Now I do, and all my fall backs have fallen away. This time, it's only God and there is only the question that lingers on my mind, puts me at ease, and makes me remember just who I am - Today, are your needs met? And looking around me tonight, I think "yes they are, and they are met in abundance."

Company Picnic

Jesse's "company picnic" is today. I think Jesse wants to go after he gets home from work. Although, he says he only wants to go for free food. There is a slight chance of rain today, which I no doubt knew after Abe woke us up every couple hours last night. A warning of the things to come I guess. Anyway, hopefully we don't get rained out. It's in this park that has a nice path by the river, so we plan to take Horton and Abe and let them practice their social mingling. They get better all the time (at least I tell myself). Although, we did have our BBBS home visit last Wednesday, and I think Abe scared the guy pretty good. He started to walk in the door, and Abe sort of ran toward him, barking. Of course, Jesse and I know that all Abe wants to do is give him a good sniff, and then as long as Jesse and I seem alright with him, Abe will lay down and take a nap. But, I guess things look different when you're the one he's barking at. Anyway, I guess the home visit went well. Lots of questions that I didn't know how to answer, and a quick tour of the house. We are supposed to get a letter in the mail by next week telling us whether or not we are accepted. I assume we would be, but guess you never know. I get nervous thinking about actually doing it. It is a decent sized commitment. One that I think will be very fun and rewarding, but none the less, a big commitment. I guess I mainly just don't want to let the "Little" down. Our lives have been so "ever-changing" the last few years, and I want to be able to be something in the "Little's" life that can actually be counted on. Guess we will see. There may not be any matches for a while anyway! Although I hope there are.

Anyway, school for me, work for Jesse, and that is our life for now!

School Stress and a New Pitcher!

Well, my classes started on Monday and I really hope that I didn't bite off more than I can chew. Honestly, I thought it would be a piece of cake this semester since I'm not working, and I'm really only taking 3 hours more than I took last semester when I was working. Well, guess pride goes before a fall, because I feel so overwhelmed with school right now. One of my classes in particular is, in my opinion, ridiculous. The teacher even logged how much time we spent in the classroom the week before classes started!! He posted it for everyone to see and then encouraged us to get more involved. Now, why would we spend time in the classroom before classes have even started!?! I get a ton of e-mails from him everyday, of which I wade through trying to make sense of. And he's e-mailing me telling me to "hurry up" and get things done. Not exactly helping my stress level. But, all in all, he seems to be a nice guy that is just really excited about teaching. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, on a happier note, Jesse surprised me today with a beautiful glass pitcher. I had mentioned a while back that I have always wanted one. Now I can hardly wait to buy some lemons and cut them up into a pitcher full of lemonade. I love those simple things.

We have gotten a decent amount of rain here lately and some of my smaller peppers have rotted. Thankfully though, the ones that are a bit bigger are still doing well. I like the rain, but if it came just once a week and gave me an inch or two, that would really be perfect. I think it has drowned my raspberry bush. It's in critical condition. Anyway, I'm going to post some pictures of some of the plants in our yard, and if anyone knows anything about them...advice on how to care for them...please let me know!

Gardens and Garage Sales

I feel like I am finally getting the hang of how to care for most of the plants in the yard. My grandma came over a few days ago while my grandad was having some surgery done in a nearby hospital and she told me what most of the plants are, as well as when to prune them, where to cut off spent blooms, and other handy little tips. Pruning seems very severe. I have some plants that are as tall as me, but apparently I am supposed to hack them back to just a few inches this fall. That seems really intense, but I guess it is the thing to do. Learning about plants has helped me understand a lot more Christian analogies that I have heard over the years. I've heard analogies about us being grafted into Christ and of course the classic "God will prune you" talks, all those type of things, but now that I understand plants a bit, the analogies make a bit more sense. Not total sense, but a bit more.

We had a garage sale yesterday at my mom's house. Every year, her town does a "city wide" sale, so it draws more people than just one person or two having a sale. Thankfully, we got rid of a lot of our junk and made some extra cash. Jesse was working a double yesterday, so it was just my mom and I at the sale. After noon or so, things were slowing down, so we moved everything that was left (minus a few things that actually had some value) to the end of the driveway and put up a big sign that said "everything is free". It's really funny what people do when you give them free stuff. They almost feel indebted or something. Everyone who took something from the free pile, asked to double check that it was free, many asked "are you sure you don't want something for this at least?", some would walk bashfully with their "free" find, and mutter a silly little, but very grateful "thank you", and one guy tried to give us a dollar.....which I thought was really funny, because that's pretty much free anyway. Then I realized, that for people, it's not what they give or how much they give, but they just feel "more even" if they have at least given something, even if it's a small something. It's hard for people to accept things with no strings attached, be it free stuff at a sale or gifts for no reason. I've realized this a lot over the last few months. I wonder if that is a hindrance when it comes to Christ.

Anyway, Jesse is working a double again today and tomorrow. I tried to instate a "no more than 2 doubles back-to-back and no more than 3 a week, and even that should be seldom" rule, but I guess he didn't listen to my rule very well this week. I am afraid he will be exhausted when his "weekend" rolls around, especially working in the heat here. Even Horton agrees. When Jesse is at work, every time Horton hears a car door outside, he runs to the window to see if it's Jesse. When it's not, he lets out a little whine and lays back down in disappointment. Sigh....I know the feeling.....

We're Online!

Alright, we finally got our internet set up today. Yay!!! Now I can finally waste hours of my day again. Life is good. Actually, it's a good thing we got it set up because my next round of classes starts on Monday. Anyway, we still have more boxes to unpack, stuff that needs to be hung on the walls, and the garage still isn't cleared out enough to fit a car into it, but I have hope that it will be soon. Horton and Abe got new beds at Costco yesterday, which they are very pleased with. Abe likes to lay across both of them and take up as much space as possible. The beds are cedar filled and the smell is rubbing off on the dogs. Now when I pet them, they smell like little hamsters to me....guess that is better than dog farts. Anyway, here are some photos of our progress....