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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Saturday, April 29, 2006
Continued...
Paul has received orders for a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Ft. Riley, KS, for 3 years. The military will help us move. He will not be promoted to Captain until that time. He is to report August 31, 2006, which is before he is supposed to graduate from OBLC. We're confused. We have not yet received orders for his OBLC this summer. Maybe those will clear things up. Probably not.
The most important thing is that we can start looking for houses with these orders. YAY!! :-)
Friday, April 28, 2006
Impatience: Waiting in a hurry.
I checked the mail today (up at the office, where our PO Box is) when I got home from work, as I often do. Had some student loan stuff for Paul, a graduation announcement for his cousin, a graduation card from my grandparents, a notecard telling us Fabian's Seafood will be back in Ames May 4 (Red Snapper!!), and...Orders!
I got so excited that I ran back to the car and said, "he better be home....oh, I hope he's already home." He wasn't. And being patient was killing me, but he just got home!!
To be continued...
Monday, April 24, 2006
VEISHEA Success
Paul had never really been to VEISHEA. This year was my 21st VEISHEA. The only year I missed was 2004--and I'm a little glad as it caused there not to be a celebration last year. Paul had been in the parade with Vet Med (the "V" of VEISHEA) in 2003, but didn't really do anything more than that, so I had a lot of fun educating him on the celebration and what you "have to do." Cherry pies...ice cream....SCUM show.....SOV......sunburn....etc. :-)
The parade kind of put me in a sour mood to start--more specifically it was the annoying and undisciplined kids sitting near us. Or, more accurately, they were standing in front of us halfway out in the street begging for candy. That never would have flown in our families growing up. We kept wanting one of those big tractors to come along and run over a toe. We were rightfully on the curb and they just stood in front of us so that we couldn't see. And I about smacked one of the mothers who was encouraging her kid to "get up there, get up there, if you want to get candy!" I looked up at Paul at one point after I had shaken my head and put it on his shoulder and asked, "when did we get to be old fogies?"
But I digress. It was a fun, fun day. I'm glad VEISHEA is back and, perhaps, even better than before. I have never seen that many people on central campus at one time. It was great.
Now a little translation, for those that need it: VEISHEA stands for Veterinary, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics, and Agriculture. These were the original colleges at Iowa State University, and since 1922 the colleges at ISU have put on a spring celebration with open houses for the community and all sorts of fun activities. I grew up with it. SCUM: Society for Chemistry Undergraduate Majors (they blow stuff up and set things on fire :-)). SOV: Stars Over VEISHEA (a student production of a different musical each year).
Friday, April 21, 2006
"We'll have two coffees and a rant meal please. Extra cheese."
At times there are things I'm asked to do here that I wonder why I'm being asked to do them. Allow me to share some examples.
On Wednesday, Larry gave me a little "thank you" for the newsletter that he'd written up on behalf of someone here at the church and asked me to type it up and email it to the person to get their approval. It was one sentence. He asked me this morning if I'd heard back from said person and that was when I realized I had forgotten to do it. Then Larry said he'd emailed him and told him to look for it, so it needed to go out immediately. OK, here's my beef: if Larry was fully able to email this person since talking to me about it, and the darn thing is only one measly sentence long, why in the world did I have to send it to him?? Call me crazy, but that seems like a poor use of resources.
Then there's The New Yorker. Malcolm subscribed to The New Yorker magazine and had it sent here to the church. Since his death, we have kept receiving it. Apparently, Larry told Malcolm's wife almost a month ago that we would have them change the address to their home, but Larry forgot to tell anyone else or something. So he left me a voicemail saying we needed to get that changed, then got all ansy about it this morning when I told him that, in my experience, the person who subscribed was the one who had to send them a letter requesting the change. So I sent an email from the general church account pretending to be Malcolm's wife. I don't know if it's going to work, but whatever. And I still had to question why she couldn't do it. Yeah, it might be hard, but, I'm sorry, I'd do it myself if it had been my husband. It's really not that hard to find the fine print in the magazine (that I know she has copies of) and read how to change it yourself.
OK, I'll stop ranting for now.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
"Hello, ma'am, I see you're eyeing the new Whipomatic! Nice Choice! This baby's right off the truck! And let me tell you if you're looking for something to fulfill all your whipping needs, you've come to the right place, because as Devo says, "When trouble comes along you must whip it!" As long as you whip it with a Whipomatic."
We finally put a "For Sale" sign up in front of our house several weeks ago on a Saturday afternoon. Paul worked in-house at the large animal hospital that night and the sign was still in our front yard when he walked home around 11:30 p.m. It had disappeared by the time we got up for church Sunday morning. Puzzled, we looked around the rest of the trailer park and everyone else still had their signs, including the trailer two doors down from us. We tried to come up with good reasons for the sign disappearing--someone needed it for the phone number, someone was trying to limit competition, drunk people took it to put in their own yard (it would have the wrong phone number, though), etc.
We speculated all morning and through Sunday brunch, not able to come up with a good reason other than someone just taking it to be "funny." As we pulled up Orange Avenue to get started again on more cleaning and acquiring a new sign, we couldn't believe our eyes: Our "For Sale" sign was back exactly as it was the day before. We still replaced the old sign with a better quality one and an "InfoTube" that we have put brochures in for people to take. It's a mystery.
The same weekend, we moved the Dodge Dynasty out to the "car selling spot" along South 16th Street.
It's the little spot that goes no where between the two trailer parks. People park their cars there all the time with for sale signs. We got a lot of calls on it while it was out there, then Paul noticed a note under the windshield, so we stopped to check what the note was. It was a ticket! We got ticketed for: "Vehicle for sale on street." My questions are: 1) how in the world is that a street? 2) what about all the people who drive around with "for sale" on their cars? Do they get tickets, too, when they park on a street to run in somewhere?
And some stupid Ames speed limit notes: Why is South 4th 25 mph by Iowa State Center? I know it's "because it's going into a residential area," but the dang thing is 4 lanes with fairly little traffic, entrances, and pedestrians. I don't get it. And Hyland Avenue should be 35 mph. You can get up to 40 with no effort, so why should we be forced to ride our brakes down the hills? There aren't many houses on it and what houses there are, are only on one side of the street! Silly Ames.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Now I'm just avoiding work
You Are 88% Happy
It's unlikely that you know anyone happier than you.
You know how to be happy, no matter what life throws at you.
I disagree with that--Paul is at least as happy, if not happier than I am. Not excessively right now because he doesn't like the rotation he's on and wants to be done with school, but overall. :-)
Your Ideal Relationship is Marriage
You've dated enough to know what you want.
And that's marriage - with the right person.
You're serious about settling down some time soon.
Even if you haven't met the person you want to get hitched to!
SHOCKING! hehe.
You Should Weigh 125
If you weigh less than this, you either have a fast metabolism or are about to gain weight.
If you weigh more than this, you may be losing a few pounds soon!
I actually used to weigh about 120. That's my goal, which means dropping the 10 pounds that Old Chicago (and this job) really helped me put on.
You Are Barney
You could have been an intellectual leader...
Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer
You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps
Your life philosophy: "There's nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem."
I'd like to know how in the world I got to be Barney with the answers I gave! None of my answers were the ones related to beer. That's just goofy.
You Passed the US Citizenship Test
Congratulations - you got 8 out of 10 correct!
I wanna know which two I got wrong!
The Keys to Your Heart
You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.
In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.
You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy.
You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.
Your ideal relationship is traditional. Without saying anything, both of you communicate with your hearts.
Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.
You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.
In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now.
um....almost. They were doin' pretty good until the marrige and love thing. Those are more along the lines of my never breaking a commitment.
You Are Kermit
Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!
OK, I should work or something. It's 10:30 now. OK, I admit that I have done a few things in between those test thingies--but it hasn't been much. ;-)
Another stolen something
This time from Miss Almond Joy
I'm particularly fond of what my "N" stands for, Mandy. ;-)
KARLEEN K is for Keen A is for Abstract R is for Relaxing L is for Lovable E is for Enchanting E is for Energetic N is for Naughty
And it apparently still holds true on a second try...
KARLEEN K is for Kind A is for Active R is for Revolutionary L is for Lively E is for Extreme E is for Enjoyable N is for Naughty
Monday, April 17, 2006
Just to annoy people...
...that's why I was posting to two places. No, I'll stop. I like both Blogger and Xanga for different reasons, but I promise from now on to double-post. In other words, what I post here, I will post there. With the possible exception of explaining background and profile pictures on Xanga, unless I start doing that here, too.
So I'm sitting here at my desks on a Monday morning yet again. I think we should have gotten today off for Easter. I work in a church for goodness sake! Oh well. Paul's sick of vet school, and I'm sick of this office. We're also both a little sick of this town, probably because we're stuck here until things start happening with the military again. I've been here for almost 24 years with only 2 school years living elsewhere. I love Ames. It has great parks and woods, a wonderful church family, and some of the best restaurants we've ever found, but we are so looking forward to October when we're somewhere new with new places to explore and new scenery.
I'm also looking forward to not having half of our belongings just sitting in storage--most of them mine. I didn't ever fully unpack in my apartment, partly because we were engaged just a few months after I moved in and knew I'd be moving out in the not-too-distant-future. So I've forgotten half the stuff I own. Some of those boxes have been packed up since I moved out of Tenney Hall in May 2004. This August/September is going to be like Christmas!
It's all gonna be here before we know it. Last week we started talking about when to advertise and do interviews for a new secretary here. I get to train this new secretary, which should be interesting as I've never really trained anyone before. The military kind of makes this difficult, though. Larry was asking me for a timeline and we haven't even gotten orders yet, so we're not entirely sure. There also is the factor of selling the trailer and what the close dates would be for both the trailer and our house down in (we've been told) Kansas. That's where trusting God comes in and knowing that Paul's report date in October will come no matter what and everything will be fine.
I was thinking last night about my job at the soil lab. It didn't pay as well as this does, but it sure was fun and I actually got to be active. Some days it was a pain in the rear because we took on a TON of samples, which made for early starts and late ends, but it really was fun. Not that this job isn't fun it its own way, but I'm tired of sitting. That's one reason I'm biking when I can. I had forgotten how good it felt to be that active. Before I had a car/license and this job, I was a whole lot more active than I have been in the past year. I walked and bused everywhere. It was great.
Also, before I had a Paul, I would go for walks every afternoon/evening. The great thing about my Paul, though, is that he likes being even more active than I do and is forced to be by the Army. So this weekend we got bike helmets (yes, we didn't have those yet because we're bad), a lifejacket for him (I have one already cuz I don't swim so good :-P), new telescoping paddles for our inflatable boat (the ones that came with it were crappy), and a kickboard for me for this summer (there's a pool in the trailer park). We've also recently invested in good hiking boots for me because my old pair was no longer comfortable. Outside playing here we come! :-D
And I've got my Paul back for the most part until June because he took Boards last week, so we can do things together instead of him having to study! Yay Spring! :-)
Friday, April 14, 2006
Happy Good Friday!
This is probably my favorite set of holidays. The contrast from Good Friday to Easter Morning is just awesome--as well it should be! My home church does a wonderful job of providing that contrast and this will probably be the last year I get to experience it in a while.
Anyway, driving around today I'm just amazed at all the green and blooms around town! I swear the trees didn't look like this yesterday.
Funny story from yesterday evening: It was so nice out that we ate supper on our front porch/deck. I made a comment when we first sat down that it looked a little stormy to the north, then it started fading and we were sitting under partly cloudy skies. Through the screen door I heard the "beep, beep, beep" of a National Weather Service bulletin on the TV, so I stepped inside to see if I was right. As I read the scroll, I yelled out to Paul, "hey guess what--we're under a severe thunderstorm warning!" Then I re-joined him on the porch and we finished eating supper in the beautiful, sunny weather--after, of course, I confirmed that it was NE of us and not something headed our direction.
Not-so-funny story from yesterday evening: Iowa City and the University of Iowa sustained some pretty major damage from the storms last night. I didn't realize anything like that when on in Iowa last night until I turned on The Weather Channel this morning to confirm my clothing choice. They came back from my "local on the 8s" talking about the destruction of tornados that swept through Iowa last night destroying parts of the University of Iowa and downtown Iowa City, causing classes to be cancelled. For more info:
Iowa City Press-Citizen
The Daily Iowan--they had some good footage shown on tv stations.
KCCI NewsChannel 8--good pictures of damage
WHO-TV Channel 13
Crazy. More storms expected this weekend and next week. And it's basically summer here already. Instanity.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
I'm pathetic
So for any of my friends on Xanga (and whoever else), I actually posted something to mine. And I've been playing with the pictures. It inspires me to change the look of this one, if I can figure out how to do the fun stuff like the background picture. :-) I also think it's fun to see what people are listening to or reading or watching or whatever. I don't know that I'll do anything about either of those things here, but I have some good intentions. Fun stuff.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Stealing things from fellow alums
OK, so I am a member of Xanga because some of those blog links over on that side thingy are to Xanga members, so this way I can post comments on their blogs and fun stuff like that. Well, I decided yesterday to join a couple of "blogrings" just for the fun of it: Greenville College and Greenville Alums. I hit the random link on Greenville Alums today just to see who would show up. That's really where this post came from. I stole it from Tova (Fisher) Rivera, who I didn't really know, but whose husband I was in a group with for our final project in Speech Communication my very first semester. So anyway, I thought this sounded fun. I'm adding my own twist to it, though. I will also post the first picture that more accurately pertains to me and its position on Google Image Search, if it applies. :-)
"go to google, and search images and then post the first pic from the following topics."
1. Your First Name
#76 and apparently from Steve's Blog.
2. Your middle name
It won't have a correct picture of me for that.
3. Your Last Name
maiden:
#185, and I think we all know where that one came from. #188 was the same picture and reference as my first name.
married:
None for us other than cows. Here's a question: is there any way to keep viewing ALL the results. I can't figure it out if there is.
4. Age On Next B-Day
There won't be one more relevant.
5. Favorite Color
#6, that's just more the shade I like. :-)
6. Place where you want to live
7. Place where you actually live
Well, that hit it dead-on. :-)
8. A habit that I have
#2, and I have just always loved that demotivational poster since Beth had it up in her room at college.
9. Favorite Food
That's pretty general, really. OK, here we go, I guess...
Which is a pretty good match, but here's one with more selection at #8:
10. Favorite Animal
A real picture, of the kind I'd like to own (a.k.a. not sea turtles) is found at #8:
11. Religion
Denomination: (just for fun)
12. Dream Job--goes two ways for me and can happen simultaneously
Ok, enough boring all of you and I probably should at least act like I'm working, if not actually get something done. :-)
Monday, April 10, 2006
A History of Bicycles
The very first bike I ever owned was this pathetic tiny red thing that didn't even have brakes. I was so excited to have a bike, though. Then we had a red banana seat bike and a light mauve banana seat bike, both of which only had pedal brakes. Then there was the blue "big kid bike" with handle bar brakes (at least I think it had handle bar brakes--Beth may remember better than I). Pretty much all of those bikes were shared among the three of us kids and were at least second-hand.
When I got to be college-age, I purchased myself a bike from Goodwill. It was a 10-speed road bike for $10. It was a good size for me, and served me well in Ames and in Greenville. While in Greenville it was flipped while in the bike rack outside my dorm, which bent the rim of the back wheel. It kept getting worse and I didn't want to haul it back to Iowa, so we left it by the dumpster, and it was gone by the time we left town.
Later that year when the secretary at church moved to Colorado, she offered me her 10-speed road bike for free, so I took her up on it. It was a little big for me, but not so much I couldn't ride it. Paul and I went on several bike rides together and I have gotten some very good use out of it.
Saturday morning, Paul and I rode downtown to go to breakfast, then were headed off to somewhere else when I told him he really should get his rear tire fixed because it was making his bike wobble so badly. So we turned around and went to BikeWorld, which was about 3 blocks away. While we were there, I commented that I really wanted a new bike and Paul said, "I'll bet one of these guys would be happy to sell you one." And I said, "I didn't mean necessarily today, just sometime I want a new bike." To make a long story short, I now own my first ever brand new bike that was picked out especially for my purpose and size.
A Trek 7100 Hybrid is what I will begin riding to work most days, which will not only save us a little in gas money, but it will help get me in shape.
The old bike? I left it at BikeWorld. I guess they have a donation program where I assume they take your old bike, give it a little tune-up, and give it to someone who needs it. I rode the new one home. It's pretty. I also rode it yesterday. And I'm planning to ride it tonight when I get home, then in the morning to work.
This is what Paul wants to get for us in about a year or so. I like the idea. :-)
Friday, April 07, 2006
Good news seems to come when we're driving on the interstate in Kansas in March
Last year it was a job offer and finding out that the Virginia Prinses were expecting--due in October. And this year we find out that the Wisconsin Prinses are expecting and that we are going to be an aunt and uncle in October. A first for both me and Paul.
And I realized this morning that I might actually be able to spend a little time in Wisconsin this summer after I'm done with this job and Paul's still in Texas. I'm good for painting and helping get things ready. :-) But what's kinda funny and definitely a sign that we need to visit Belleville, WI, is that whenever I've pictured my sister in her not feeling well state at home, and using the laptop for internet, I've been picturing their home in Racine. The only time we've seen their new house is when it was full of unopened boxes. We're also almost out of New Glarus brews. ;-)
So, Beth, I don't think that you'll probably be helping me with the whole new house thing this summer, eh? ;-)
Thursday, April 06, 2006
You don't realize just how linty the world is until you get contacts
I had been toying with the idea of getting contacts since shortly before I graduated from college, but first I couldn't talk myself into sticking something in my eyes every single day, and then I didn't have insurance or enough money coming in to afford it.
As I'm sure some of you have noticed, I finally broke down and got contacts a couple of months before the wedding. I could finally afford the appointment and cost of new eyewear and it seemed like a perfect time--plus, Paul and I both really didn't want me wearing glasses in our wedding pictures. In fact, I've gotten so used to not having glasses now that I can hardly stand to look at pictures of me wearing my glasses. Must truly be love if he fell in love with me, glasses and all, right? ;-)
Anyway, the contacts that I really wanted to get in the first place were Night & Day, which is what Paul has. Being a first time contact lens wearer, I couldn't just start with those, I had to get daily wears to get me more accustomed to putting them in, taking them out, etc. I finally had my last pair of those lenses in so I called my doctor at Pearle Vision up at the mall. Because someone had just cancelled, I got in right away for a quick check and a new lens prescription.
I slept in contact lenses for the first time last night--how weird is that? In fact, when I woke up this morning at about 5:30 from a downpour beating down on the trailer and I didn't have any trouble seeing the time on Paul's side of the bed, I didn't remember that I had contacts in until I got up to use the bathroom. It's kinda weird, but wonderful all at the same time. :-)
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Peanut Butter Toast and Coffee
There is just about no better combination. Maybe coffee and donuts. Or beer and pizza. Beer and chocolate chip cookies. ;-)
By far, I think PB toast and coffee are the healthiest combination. :-)
Now how 'bout a HUGE congratulations to Brenda Frese!!! Wahoo!! I'm so glad I stayed up to watch that game.
Also a huge congrats to Mike Falk--I'm gonna try to remember to put a tape in over lunch for today's Jeopardy!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Basketball Championships
Maryland vs. Duke, Women's: GO MARYLAND! (And, especially, GO BRENDA!)
Florida vs. UCLA, Men's: Who the heck cares?
I certainly was not good enough
Several years ago, Paul adopted two cats to keep him company in his trailer: Trixie (mother) and Spuds (son). Spuds has had separation anxiety issues (a.k.a. peeing in corners) when Paul has been gone--even for just a weekend and I've still been around, so he went to live in Illinois for a bit while we attempt to sell the trailer. Trixie, however, has stayed with us the whole time. Even for her I know that I am not a good enough substitute for Paul. I could tell this when Paul was gone those 5 weeks from 1) looks she gave me asking where Paul was, especially when I'd come back from a weekend trip. And 2) never seeming to be satisfied no matter how much attention she got.
Over the past few weeks since Paul has been back, she has had some very entertaining behaviors--at least I think they are. After Paul and I got back from Colorado, I was finally doing all his laundry from Texas while Paul was working. I had the basket of his clothes sitting on the floor as I was sorting through some things and I noticed that Trixie had joined me there in the bathroom/laundry room. She started showing a great deal of interest in the laundry basket--petting herself against it, sniffing really deep, grabbing at the clothes, etc.--so I grabbed the camera:
I told Paul and our friend Jon about it later saying that I thought she was reacting to the scent of Paul. They, however, both thought that she was smelling other animals from his work clothes and was marking them as "hers." That was also a logical explanation seeing as Paul did work with other animals wearing some of those clothes.
A few days later, however, I sorted out Paul's PT uniforms from his ACUs and undershirts (a.k.a. his everyday work clothes) and had both piles sitting on the floor because there isn't much room in there for sorting any other way. Trixie showed zero interest in the ACUs, which would have had other animal scents on them. She was completely taken with Paul's PT uniforms:
It was downright hilarious to watch. She was practically pulling the clothes on top of herself. Proof that I was right--she smelled Paul.
Then yesterday she cracked me up again. Paul was on the phone when he was walking home and so he just stayed outside to finish the call. I was getting some food ready for supper and I heard Trixie meow a couple of times. You have to know Trixie--she doesn't meow unless she has a toy in her mouth. So I peeked around the sink into the living room and she didn't have a toy near her. Then she jumped up on the back of the recliner by the window and looked out at Paul. So I opened the door and held her up to wave at Paul. She stayed right by the storm door, meowing a couple of times and, at one point, I think trying to see if she could fit underneath the door to get to him, until Paul finished his call and came in. Then she basically ignored him once he was in the house.
Such entertainment. Cats are wonderful.
What a life.
