Special K and Coffee
I don't really know why you'd be here. I mean, I know I'm the single most interesting person, but don't you people have lives? Really, it's quite sad.
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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
You know you're in a college town that loves their basketball when...
You receive the following email.
The proposed change of date for the Annual Meeting is a result of finding
that the February 5 date was in direct conflict with an ISU basketball game
for which many of our congregation had tickets. The staff and the
moderators of the most-affected committees and other boards have been
consulted, and the predominant response is that the later date would be
better, in that it would not cause members to miss the start of the game or
tempt members to skip the fellowship of the lunch and the meeting to attend
the game. January 31 was considered, but the staff advised that it would
be difficult to have all materials prepared in time for advance
distribution, and it was also found that this date was in conflict with an
ISU Women's basketball game.
What a wonderful town. :-D
P.S. Pictures of me in my [wrinkled] dress to be hidden sometime in the near future.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
"Jesus was a PETA member?"
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
"Jesus saved deer?"
[This from listening to the "Sounds of the Season" channel on digital cable...I love my fiance. He cracks me up. :-)]
Friday, November 18, 2005
The Ultimate Compatibility Test
A couple of weeks ago Paul got the list of open assignments for 2006 class of Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) veterinary students. From that list he had to rank his preferences for placement from 1-21. Since this majorly affects both of us, he gave the list to me and told me to do a little research and come up with a ranking of my own without his influence then we would compare and discuss the final rankings he would send to the colonel. I got as far as three piles and didn't think I could easily rank farther than that: like, would be OK with, and dislike. There were five bases in my "like" pile, so Paul read those off while looking at his list: I had picked his top five choices exactly--not a single one differed.
So where might we be living in a year? In one of these 21 locations (in the order given to us):
Ft. Belvoir, VA
Carlisle, PA
Great Lakes NTC, IL (Chicago)
Norfolk, VA
Camp Lejeune, NC
Tyndall AFB, FL
Ft. Benning, GA
Kirtland AFB, NM
Luke AFB, AZ
Ft. Leonardwood, MO
Yuma PFG, AZ
Ft. Meade, MD
Ft. Knox, KY
Ft. Riley, KS
Port Hueneme, CA
29 Palms CA
Ft. Lewis, WA (Rainier Br.)
Pensacola, FL
Ft. Bliss, TX
Ft. Sill, OK
Ft. Bragg, NC (Ft. Bragg Br.)
Monday, November 14, 2005
Once you get offering envelopes there ain't no turning back!
This Sunday they had our 2006 offering envelopes out to pick up in the narthex of the church. I went and looked for mine and found only "Weitzel, Norm & Linda," so I picked theirs up to take the box to them thinking it a bit odd that Jeanne hadn't given me a box for 2006. So then Paul went to look for his and I helped him. That's when I spotted the label:
Hester, Paul & Karleen
213 Orange Ave.
How entertaining is that? It made our day.
In other news, I got to hear about my coworker Jennie's fun drive home to Boone from the mall in Ames on Saturday evening...through the tornadoes. It really is amazing she and her son made it in one piece without even ending up in a ditch or something worse. Tornadoes in the middle of November and snow two days later. I love Iowa.
Finally, my fun link for the day: Paul showed me this
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Oh, the things you find when you wander
That would be a great title for some of the random interesting places Paul and I have found in our wanderings around the midwest and Texas, wouldn't it? I really don't have the time for that, though. I technically don't have the time for this either, but I'm easily distracted.
I went to blogger.com to login to post something, I don't remember what anymore, and I caught the blog title "Sick of Media Agaist Dads" or something like that as being one that was just updated. Well, by the time I saw it and thought, "I might be interested to see what that says," it was gone. So I've been looking around for that blog with no luck so far, but I have found some interesting titles (and topics), such as (in the order in which I find them):
Stuff I Think About In The Shower
Frost Hits the Rhubarb
Feminism is Evil (one of my pet peeves--feminism, not people against feminism)
Pajama Journal
The Home of Uncommon Sense
World O'Crap
Eat At Joes
wasp jerky
Silly Seattle
Into the Whirlwind
Pumpkin Dreams
Dog Snot Diaries
And somehow, now when I search for "media against dads" the blog I was looking for is the first thing that comes up! I swear it did not do that before. So finally:
Tired of Media against dads
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
What a difference a year makes
I would say that a year ago today was when it all started, but that's not really true. A year ago today was when two people acted on our individual decisions to give each other a chance. So in plain English: Today is Paul's and my one year anniversary.
A year ago I was still somewhat hurting and confused and lonely and sad and trying not to be discouraged by the job searching thing and I was overall just not a terribly happy person when it came right down to it, though I tried to be. But I was starting to work on the growth thing and being open to a relationship or at least having fun in a dating-type situation. And that's what I agreed to in my mind and heart: "I'll have fun with Paul and it probably won't go anywhere especially since I'm very actively looking and interviewing for jobs away from Ames and want a change from living here." Lord knows I didn't expect to end up married a year and two months later! (And still living in Ames--and soon to be living in a trailer park in Ames!)
I do want to thank Eric, though I didn't want to at the time. You have been such a good friend to me over the past several years, even when I know that it was probably not always very comfortable for you to be. But I would do it all again because I learned so much about myself in that year and a half leading up to being ready for a relationship with Paul. It was because of something you said about me sitting on the sidelines that made me more willing to try new things, start learning how to swim, etc. I'm still working on those things, but it sure lit a fire under me--a fire that Paul will tell you he's very grateful for. So thank you for helping me be the person I am today and for all the talks and phone calls and, most of all, just for putting up with me. I am so grateful that I can still call you a friend and I pray that soon you'll find that person out there for you to spend the rest of your life with because you deserve someone really special. [Oh, and thanks for agreeing to DJ the reception...we really need to hit that list of songs you sent us and give you any songs you don't have that we'd want.]
It is really amazing to sit back and think about all of this because I was really looking forward to that whole Northwest Iowa thing and spending more time with everyone up there that I know. And I do still love that area and occasionally wonder how things would be if I had gotten a job and moved up there. But that never lasts more than about a second because this is just so much better for me and I wouldn't trade marrying Paul for the whole world. God had a plan and knew exactly what both of us needed. And it really is when you give up and stop looking for the next person to be "the one" or the previous person to be "the one" when "the one" sneaks up behind you and plops himself in your lap and you're left going, "but...I...um...didn't plan...and...when did...uh...how did that...woooooow...God's awesome!" And then said person stops by and surprises you with roses so that now you can no longer say that you've never gotten flowers for a special occasion and you get a lot of crap at work for "young love."
This past year has been so much fun and such a wonderful experience involving both the good and the bad and I know the next 70 years and wherever the military and Paul's crazy random ambitions take us is going to be even more fun and more wonderful than either of us could ever dream.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
mmmm....pretty....
I was just informed that a very pretty dress was just unpacked at an extremely pink barn near Atkins, IA. It's very exciting.
I also will finally be ordering bridesmaid dresses at high noon. And I have a veil and a tiara and a hair appointment and we're meeting with our organist on Saturday and we hopefully figured out a cake and a rehearsal dinner location (if available) and should be booking a photographer soon and we're counting down the days. 60 of them. *grin*
