blips.

here are a random conglomeration of blips for your viewing enjoyment...
nick and his cohorts playing some bocci ball on a sunny day a few weeks ago...

sleeping samwise...

my bridesmaid dress (or should i say, 'matron of honor' dress...) for erica's wedding came in! it's pretty, me thinks. but me also wonders how i'm going to keep warm on december 28 in this little number. perhaps i'll be wearing a pair of uggs and a hand muff. with accompanying ear-flap hat.
here's maeby watching 'new kids on the block' (what were they thinking, coming back?!! stay in he 80's, boys!!). she has no sense of musical appreciation. she was equally enthralled by the kids as she was by pink, who i was surprisingly impressed with.
maeby sat, entranced, for at least 15 solid minutes of the AMA's.

aren't you sad i cut it short right at that melodic moment?
and let me take this opportunity to say, 'who do these people think they are?! i was working on a crafty project and i couldn't bring myself to watch football so the AMA's were the only entertainment option. i just have to say that the only impressive person was pink. everyone else came across in a very unimpressive way.

(the bathroom's ALMOST done!!!!)

joke of the day from one of my students...

Q: what do you get when a row of rabbits jumps backwards?

A: a receding hairline.


hahaha!

she tells me a new one every day. it's great.

i'm so curious about this person.

i was stopped behind this car at a stop light and just had to document it as the oddest group of bumper stickers i've ever seen.

what does a self-proclaimed pagan actually act like in every day situations? are they just your average joe? do they wear goth and chains and have multiple piercings? are they hippie nature lovers?
hmm.

contentment and couches

i journaled yesterday for the first time in about 5 months. i hadn't missed it until a couple days ago when i started feeling this vague little stirring in my thoughts, a sort of gentle nudge saying, 'hey... maybe you want to journal...?'
so since nick had to work until 10 p.m. at panera last night i took some supper over to him then just hung around on their cushy couch and journaled for a couple hours.
the biggest thing i realized is that i'm a pansy whiner. after about 5 pages of whining, i started getting a rather disturbing picture of how negative i've been lately. putting all my gripes down on paper made me see them clearly and realize how pointless it is to dwell on them.
there is so much i want right now that i just can't have.
after going on and on about it, i was almost sick of myself.
i found myself wanting more than all of the other wants just to be content.
as i thought about how to do that, how to go about being content, and after asking god to help me be more satisfied, i paused for a second then noticed that i actually was content right then. i was sitting in a warm place with cozy food smells, classical music playing, and the cutest guy ever just across the counter (i stopped to watch him frequently - he's so stinkin' adorable!)...
instead of needing to work up a sense of contentment, i found that i just was.
it felt good.
it's been a while.

these flower and berry pictures are from last week, right before the arctic wind and rain descended upon us.


on another note...

we found this couch at the thrift store a few weeks ago for a mere $25! nick was never big into the floral pattern of the previous furniture. i like more simple color palettes also. some may call it drab (along with my sense of fashion - today i'm wearing brown and navy - not too artsy, i know) but i just call it comfortable. i like comfortable colors that don't reach out and smack you. pretentious colors - blah.

we put the floral furniture over at the garage apartment (since erica wanted the couch that was there to go over to rob's house...) and brought the chair/ottoman from erica's... a case of musical furniture. someday we'd like to spot a different chair/ottoman at a thrift store or something - this set is not my favorite. i reupholstered it long ago but it looks a little too reupholstered for my taste.

next room to be photographed... the finished bathroom! we have to wait until tuesday before we can really finish (payday!) but it's coming, people, it's coming.

the saga of the bathroom... part 2

through this renovation process we've discovered a principle of life... whatever time you think something's going to take to accomplish, it will most assuredly take five times that long.

phase 1: tearing the subflooring out... 10 hours of two men (zack kuenzle is our new best friend - SO incredibly helpful!!) laboring extensively with crowbars.

phase 2: installing new subflooring and cement board to prepare for tiling... 8 hours.

phase 3: laying new tile... off and on for 3 days - nick mixing & cutting, me laying the mortar, tiles and spacers.

phase 4: tearing out beadboard, mudding, sanding, and scraping walls, then painting one small bathroom... 6 hours while nick's away at work.

of course none of these phases could happen consecutively what with our normal lives getting in the way. the tub, toilet & sink have been in the dining room for 8 days.

if it weren't so inconvenient it might be humorous...

today nick is doing phase 5: the grouting - so hopefully we'll be ready for phase 6: putting all the stuff back in, hooking up the pipes and finishing up last details this week!
that one sentence will most likely take another 10 hours to accomplish. especially since the 'finishing up last details' part means installing a chair rail and trim...
someday in the next month i'll post some pictures of the new and improved bathroom.

don't hold your breath.