Vacation- Phase 1

Sign of a dork? You break down your vacation into phases...good thing I am not in denial huh?

So, anyways, phase 1 of my vacation is completed. I spent the last 5 days up in Boise, ID with my sister and her family. I have the cutest nephew ever. Don't even bother trying to argue with me. I don't feel like creating a photo album, so you'll have to scroll to see the pictures. I had a great time, lobster, nephew, shopping, nephew, BBQ, nephew, stomach bug, nephew, hockey game, nephew...that about sums up phase 1...

Me and John Michael


"Sissa, you're a dinosaur!"

"But I make a better dinosaur"



John and Monica making a lobster tail dinner. Yum!


Home pedicures (my sister painted the flowers!)

Feeding the ducks


Making faces...there are several more of these that may grace future blogs


This isn't his Easter basket...this one was left unattended


Awesome spinach-artichoke bites that Monica made for our pre-Easter BBQ


Hockey game! Boise Steelheads vs some Vancouver team


John Michael telling me about a picture he made for me

::cough, cough, gag, cough::

What's with the coughing and gagging? Oh that would be me trying to get my stomach out of my throat. I have no idea what on Earth motivates cars to honk at people who are running (ON the sidewalk, at least 3 feet from the road) but please, for-the-love-of-not-making-someone-die-of-a-coronary-as-they-are-finishing-the-last-leg-of-their-run, STOP IT. I don't particularly care for the Adam's-appleish look that a stomach-in-the-throat gives me.

Oh and as a side note, I WILL remember your license plate number to report you as I fall to the ground, convulsing.

Sweet

So twice this past week, a friend of mine popped into my head, very randomly...you know that whole "hey I've haven't talked with so-and-so in awhile, I wonder how she is doing?"...then on Wednesday, she popped into my head yet again and I got this feeling like "hmm, okay God, maybe you are trying to tell me something"...so I emailed her and asked her how I could be praying for her. I got a response pretty quickly. Turns out, she had prayed specifically twice this week for someone to pray FOR her, as she is going through a pretty rough patch. How cool is that? It's so neat when God uses us as tools in someone else's life...He blesses the person who requested the prayer, and He also blesses the person whom He uses...quite sweet. Lesson learned: think twice when someone "randomly" pops into my head...it may not be as random as I think :)

Really? No, no...I mean REALLY!?

Do you ever shock yourself with your dorkiness? Be honest (please, I am trying to console myself here; I need some friendly commiseration).

Here's what happened:

A co-worker came by my desk to high-five me for something. I returned the high-five...or rather, almost returned it. Somewhere between my desk (where my hand was resting) and his hand (which I was supposed to high five), my hand encountered an obstacle. My face. That's right, I somehow smacked myself in the face (and almost poked out my right eye). Kinda hard too... The look on my co-worker's face was priceless...roughly translated it was probably something like "who ARE you?". I vacillated between mortification over my own dorkiness and hysterical laughter for a split second...the hysterical laughter won out.

Really? Who DOES that!? I mean, seriously, how does one lose track of the distance between her face and her hand? I think I should be studied.

Oh yeah and to top it off...I got back from a run this evening and made a nice big salad with broccoli and zucchini, all healthy and stuff, and I went to pour dressing on it and guess what? The dressing bottle top was different than all our other dressing bottles and it was the completely open type. Yeah...I dumped almost an entire bottle of Italian dressing on my salad....while Claire stood there cracking up at me. I still ate most of the salad...and left about an inch and a half of dressing in the bottom of the bowl.

I think this day should be over now...

Blog facelift

So everyone seems to be giving their blog a facelift...so I caved to the trend and updated mine as well. What do you think?

Sporty Goals

So, as promised, I said that would blog about my athletic goals for this year. Now that the leg is healed, I feel like I can finally start actively pursuing these- there are really only two big goals, and a LOT of training that will need to happen in between!

1. Compete in the Clear Lake International Triathlon-Olympic distance (swim 1500m, bike 24.9 miles, run 6.2 miles)
2. Run in the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in November (13.1 miles)- (Lisa and I are both gunning for this one, since we missed out on the Houston Half)

I'm doing a sprint tri in May, I am hoping to find a short course (a distance between a sprint and Olympic- although I've only found one in Texas...I may have to hold my own practice short course tri if that's that case!) and the CL tri is towards the end of August. I'll probably thrown in another sprint tri or two before then as well...we'll see...

Anyways, there are my goals. Bring it on! :)

Recap

Ah, home sweet home.

I ate Blue Bell ice cream for breakfast :D. I love America.

Interesting flight back...we hit bad weather coming into Houston and were put into a holding pattern...for about 1.5hrs...lots o' people felt quite sick- thank God I took my Dramamine...we ended up running out of fuel and landing in New Orleans to get some more (my first time to the Big Easy...the airport tarmac is quite lovely). I made it home about 3.5hrs after I had planned to...but yay to a super great roomie who had Mexican food from Gringo's waiting! Yummm, enchiladas (I've heard of one Mexican food restaurant in Moscow called Pancho Villas...and I have heard that it is awful :) )

Oh yeah and the Moscow Book List? I got through 5 of them! Yay for reducing the stack.

Laundry time.

Last Day

Before my last shift, I headed over to the Fisher's for one last visit. Jude was in school, but Amy and Angus were ready to go with their HUGE imaginations! I spent a couple of hours being the servant who had to clean the entire palace and the mean step-mother...and then I got to be a fisherman who was pulling in my catch (Amy and Angus lying on a blanket in the dining room and me dragging them around (they were whales and dolphins...oh and a mermaid at one point...). In between the crazy make-believe, Emily and I had a chance to chat. A great start to my last day in Moscow!

Angus deep in though after showing me pictures of the Dolphinarium they went to


Amy, post ballerina costume, now a mermaid


Angus as Batman (who later became Prince Batman)



Me and Amy (who was being distract by Angus, but she still managed to put a winning smiling on her face :) )

Faster than a speeding bullet...

Okay, well maybe not a speeding bullet...but guess what (enter drumroll)... I just ran 3.2 miles! Yep, 5k distance. Wahoo!!!! I have not done that distance since my tibia decided to stress fracture back in October. I had planned to do the Lonestar Sprint Triathlon at the beginning of April, but after two brick workouts (bike then run), my leg was definitely protesting. So I decided April wasn't realistic and took it easy for a few more weeks. I still haven't done another brick workout since then....but the leg is feeling good after the 5k, so, I am aiming for the Silverlake Sprint Tri in May. Yay for triathloning...and I am looking forward to being able to run again with my running buddy Lisa! I do have some other pretty major athletic goals for this year, but that's better left for another post :).

Promoting Foreign Relations

Well, as the title says, yesterday Nik and I promoted foreign relations for NASA...which means getting to attend a small party held by our counterparts to celebrate the mission. Now, we still had three days left of the mission, but its hard to get everyone together. As always, they provide a huge spread of yummy goodies and selection of tea.

Twix and Milky Ways, compliments of the Americans

Alexander actually played his guitar for us over the weekend, but he did pull it out once or twice yesterday as well (not the greatest shot...he caught me taking a picture)

Alexander and his guitar

There was a new musical aspect to our party...they brought in a flute for me. Oh yeah (Molly I hope you are reading this). Back in the fall when our counterparts were in town, Molly and I got together and played a flute/piano duet for them (since they are always gracing us with a concert when we visit). Well...I got over here and the first question I was asked was: did you bring your flute.? I had completely forgotten...like honest-to-goodness forgotten. So they said they woudld track one down, despite my protesting that I had no music to read (I don't do improv). Thank goodness I took Moose and Erin's advice and printed some music off the internet, because we walked into their office...and out came the flute. Yay for free downloadable sheet music. I don't have any pictures, but there were several cameras out and I am sure (sarcastic face) I will be seeing those videos for years to come...just like the one of us singing "Yesterday" at the BBQ 4 years ago...

Nik is quite the artist and he was showing them some of his work

Good stuff

So for the past several months, I have been studying in the book of Isaiah. I'm up to chapter 45 and this was just so good that I had to share:
"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting'" or to a woman, 'With what are you in labor'"? (ESV, Isaiah 45:9-10).

This actually made me laugh! Because this is what I visualized when I read this...think about a time when you were making something, cooking something, doing SOMETHING where you KNEW what you were doing, but someone was standing there at your elbow (who has never done what you are doing) and watching you and giving you "helpful" advice. What was your reaction? Hehe, I can tell you that mine wasn't very nice...probably something along the lines of "leave me alone, I know what I am doing"...followed with an exasperated sigh and possibly an eye roll...

Think of that time, when someone was telling you what to do, even though they didn't know what the outcome was supposed to look like, and compare that to when we try and tell God when things are supposed to happen...interesting huh? We can't see the big picture, God can. We don't know how things are supposed to unfold, God does. So, how presumptuous is it that we try and tell God what to do and when to do it (and believe me, I do this A LOT)? And what a gracious God we have that He doesn't say "Oh my GOSH would you just shut up already!?"...instead He patiently teaches us to wait on Him, through lessons (easy and hard, sweet and painful). He may let us have our own way for awhile, until we see what a mess that is and come running back to Him or we may get a big fat, no-bones-about it "NO". It's a daily decision we believers have to make each day- giving God the control, yielding to His wisdom, letting Him take the reins we so desperately want to hold. Next time you find yourself aruging with God about His timing, think of yourself as a little clay pot saying "um, hello!? Where are my handles?" If that doesn't make you grin and take a step back from your presumptuousness...well let me know and I will pray for you ;-).

Addendum to Proof

Note to self: do not try and flush dead cockroaches down a Russian shower drain…the drains are much smaller than those in the states and the cockroach will not go down the drain. He will just sit there in the elbow of the drain with the dead antennae poking out- taunting you with his cockroachy deadness. I may be Smelly Melissa for the rest of this trip.

St. Patrick's Day

Last night (yes, I realize I am posting this at 4am...I need more sleep!)...I went to the young adult/singles/young married bible study that ICF has. IT is hosted at The Fisher's residence (ha! which I found thanks to google maps). They have three adorable children-for whom I managed to procure some space stuff earlier today at work. They were so cute when they saw it-and kept saying they are going to be astronauts (the oldest is 6). Aww kids and space.

The group usually does a big dinner (potluck style) together and then reads and discusses a passage in the bible. In honor of St. Patrick's Day- Rachel, the resident Irish woman, made stew, and soda bread (with Irish butter) and Irish cookies...and a green cake (not 'Irish'). Then we discussed Phillipians 2:5-11. What an awesome experience to discuss God's Word with peopel from all different countries and situations. (Thanks to Emily for these pictures).

Troi (not sure of the spelling), Reayla (this gal has a REALLY cool story- grew up in a village in the Ural Mountains), Tim, and Anna discussing

Chris, Natalie, Jason, Lauren, Anatoly, and Daniel

(Lauren was leaving to go back to the UK after a rotation-type stint over here as a lawyer).

Oh best comment of the night came from Anatoly: when I told him what I do, he said ::in a wondering tone of voice:: "but... you're a girl". I seriously had to bite my cheek to not bust out laughing. Unfortunately, that sort of humor just doesn't translate well across languages. :)

Group picture of everyone who wore green (let's see how I do with names)

Rachel, Emily, Katya, Joe, Elisabeth, me, no idea how to spell her name, but it means 'Snow Maiden', Tim, Ana, and Doug. Oh yeah- I got people to do the Charlie's Angels pose.

Proof

Not everything is bigger in Texas...some of it is the same size in Moscow...like...you guessed it...cockroaches...the one in my shower...which is currently dead under a pile of the powdered Tide detergent that the last room inhabitant left (God bless that person!) and my travel can of hairspray...those were the only chemical agents I could find in this room...(and believe me, the fire extinguisher WAS considered...).

Humor

So the ADCO on console today (Todd- see, there's your credit) made the following comment about me: "You should come with a warning".
In context, he was referring to my penchant to gesticulate wildly when I talk (something that several people over my lifetime have brought up). Taken out of context...I find this comment wicked hilarious. Of course, I told him this and in true Melissa fashion, proceeded to point out the other areas this statement could be applied to: my randomness, my dorkiness, my quirkiness (yes, I have learned to embrace all of these). Ha, I'm still giggling about it it..."you should come with a warning".

Ha! It didn't stick.

So my neat freak roommates who have guilted me into becoming a neater more tidier person?Yeah...it SO did not stick. :D...I had to pick up the other day because I was thinking, "wow, I think I would be embarrassed for housekeeping to come in here". Ah....untidiness... (hehe, I can hear many of you groaning right now...aww, she was sooo close!).

Weekend

It was actually a pretty quiet weekend- I know, I know, disappointing to all you folks who told me to go here or there...but it is cold here and I don't do well with long periods in the cold...
On Friday night a group of us went to this great Indian resturant here...I'm the only woman out here right now from work, so its been an adjustment back to "hanging with the guys". But we had a good time...excellent Indian food.
On Saturday I slept in and then hit Ismalova with my co-worker Nik. He had never been and I had a few things to pick up as well. And then I was coordinating a rendezvous (ha, I almost wrote that "rndz"...you work people will find that funny) spot with a friend of Dustin and Megan's (my caregroup leaders) to go to church with today. Unfortunately both the places he mentioned I couldn't picture in my head, so I trekked out to find them. Plus, I had no feel for how long it would take to get there...but I found the big plastic cow we were supposed to meet at :)
I got to go to church for the first time ever while being in Moscow today. The church is called International Christian Fellowship. I met up with Jason and we headed over there. It is such a cool experience to worship with believers from all over the world. Today was pretty neat because it was Children's Day...so the junior and senior high school aged youth ran the service. They have a bible study that meets on Tuesday nights and I am planning on going to that as well. And Sunday was topped off by dinner with a group of guys at the "Raxat Lukum" Uzbek restaurant that I really really REALLY like. Yummy hachipuri (amazing cheesy bread) and shashlikh (shish-kebab).
Here's to launching tonight! Go Discovery!

Love this

"Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone;

Thou must save, and Thou alone"

From Toplady's "Rock of Ages"

Snow!

Russian snow that is...I think that makes it more exotic...(yeah, warning, I'm running on little sleep, so this blog may be excessively quirky)...
Actually, I changed my seats on the flight from ATL to Moscow and got three seats to myself! Can you say "holy lay-down-across-all-three-and-actually-get-some-solid-sleep Batman!"? That was of course, until Russian-guy-who-was-sipping-from-his-duty-free-beverage-bottle got sloshed and proceeded to talk REALLY LOUDLY about politics. Actually, I have no idea if he was talking about politics, I just said that because it sounds very Russian...he was probably telling the babushka sitting next to him that he didn't like her hair color or something... (shrug)...anyways, he got carted away (I am still wondering where they stored him...he didn't surface again until customs)...and I was awake again. But I highly recommend the three seat thing...
There is so much snow here! And it is really cold. My co-worker, Nik, and I headed to Red Square after checking into the hotel (unexpected blessing- I DO have a wired room! Yay for a computer being close by!). Of course, my camera battery died after the first picture (I charged it yesterday, but then I realized that I think this is the battery that I meant to throw away because it wouldn't hold a charge any more)...so I will head back tomorrow to get some more snow pictures...but here's what I got...

Moscow Book List

As most of you know, I am an avid reader. I've been quite the slacker as of late, due to other projects, priorities, etc. I'm hoping to make a decent dent in my "to read" stack of books while in Moscow (helping that fact is that I am in an unwired room- ie no computer, most likely no AFN, coupled with cold weather- makes for a nice recipe for reading). Here's the stack I have compiled (subject to change between now and when I actually get on the plane :) )-

Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron- a travel journalist's take on China
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (nope, I haven't watched it either)
Kingfisher by Gerald Seymour- it was on sale and looked interesting-spy/thriller
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro- one of my favorite authors
The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin- given my background with Mars stuff, I figured I'm a bit overdue for reading this :)
My Grandfather's Son, A Memoir by Clarence Thomas. The Supreme Court Justice's memoir- I've heard good things
Knowing God by JI Packer- I'm about halfway done reading this one...its slow going cause there's so much application on every page!

We'll see how far I get...

Whomp! Thwack!...Whoa....

That's the sound of a song smacking me upside the head...what? you've never experienced that before? You're sitting in your car and a song comes on and you're like "OH MY GOSH! That is TOTALLY what I've been feeling/thinking/wanting to say but can't find the words etc etc? You have, trust me ;-). The past few weeks have been filled with a plethora of whomp-thwack-whoa moments for me. My friend Megan gave me some lyrics to a song (maybe I will post it someday :) ) that she heard and then thought of me...and I finally looked up the words to another song she had mentioned and yep, you guessed it: whomp, thwack whoa. I think it is amazing that God has gifted people in the area of songwriting- to put words to thought and feelings that we sometimes have trouble clearly expressing, or even putting our finger on. Today in church, we sang this song for the first time and well, I think the word "waterworks" sums it up :). Yay for whomp-thwack-whoa moments.

Abba, Father

Abba, Father, you have loved me
With a love like I have never known
Abba, Father you have saved me
From the depths that I’ll never know

What a great Father you are
What a great Father you are

You have loved me with arms open wide
You have held me through it all
You are faithful to the broken
Lord you hear me when I call

Thank you Lord for all that you’ve done
Thank you Lord for giving your Son
When I was lost you came after me
When I deserved such great penalty

You have loved me with arms open wide
You have held me through it all
You are faithful to the broken
Lord you hear me when I call

My Birthday :)

I had a wonderful birthday today. It actually started yesterday with Irma giving me a birthday muffin and flowers (Sarah and Katherine made me cookies and a beautiful card) and then continued today with Pam making me scones (YUMMY) this morning, thoughtful gifts from the roomies, a half-day at work (a side trip to the doc's to get exsanguinated again- as much as that isn't fun, I did get to use my favorite word on my birthday :) and I got happy shots, so that is a very good thing!), a facial at the spa, and dinner (RIBS!) with some good friends. Thanks for spending time with me on my birthday guys, it was fun! I'm excited to see what will happen over this next year and I pray that I will walk with Him every step of the way.

Me and my FULL rack of ribs that I have been looking forward to ALL week

I was much more lady-like in my excitement over the ribs than Josh was...

Stephanie, Shelly, me, and Stacy (sorry, Sara :(, you got cut out of the picture...)

Todd, Stacy

Josh and Lisa

part of Pam :), Claire, Lynn, Christina, and Paul laughing as the TR people yee-haw me

Lisa made me a birthday cake (oh yeah, and thanks Josh! ;-) ). It was super yummy!

A best thing...

So on the list of best things ever? A child's unconditional love. Such a blessing. Over the past couple of weeks, my sister has told me the following stories about my nephew:

He was sitting on the bed looking at the family album and saw my picture and started talking about how he loved Sissa and Sissa got him "this" (he was wearing the wicked cool sweatshirt I got him for Christmas :) )

Yesterday, he was eating breakfast and looked up at my sis and said "Sissa is a girl. I love Sissa". Later that day, they went for a walk and walked over some chalk pictures some kids had drawn on the sidewalk. JM stopped walking and looked down and then got all excited, telling Monica "I DID THIS!!! I did this with Sissa!". Which we totally had, back in September when he and Monica came to visit, he and I let her take a nap and we went outside and drew chalk pictures for an hour. :D. How sweet that he remembers me. Definitely a blessing from God, since I only get to see the tyke about twice a year. Awwww, happy face.

Hospitality Event #2

So in keeping with our tradition of having one hospitality event a month, we had the Yohe family, the Sinclair family, and my friend Lynn over for some lasagna eats today. Good times, good times...

More on Hope...

Remember little Hope? Well, the good news is it is not cancer (yay!), the bad news is that she is still very sick and just miserable. They are admitting her to Johns Hopkins Hospital tomorrow. Anyone know how to make a little 6 year old girl NOT afraid of needles? And please, keep praying for her!

Houston Auto Show 2009

As per tradition, I rounded up a group of co-workers and we headed to the Houston Auto Show. No, I'm not looking for a new car right now...I just like to drool over the pretty cars. I was convinced of several cars that I thought I liked that I now know I will never purchase (like the 2009 Honda Accord- not a fan of the body style) or a Saab- I've decided it has a duckbill platypus-dinosaur beak type of front end. Not very pretty. Here are some pics:

1968 GT 500
Beautiful car. I am a HUGE classic car fan (my parents even got me the 2009 Classic Mustang calendar this year :) yeah, there's a '65 'Stang in the background :grin: )



2009 Dodge Challenger. I didn't like the Charger. I saw the Challenger as a concept car and I think they did a very good job of maintaining the lines from the classic style. Plus, it's orange :)


I was not impressed with the field of view however...sweet, just saved myself $45k!


Why won't they let you sit in the really cool cars? This is the 2009 Nissan GTR- it won Motor Trend Car of the Year. Awesome car.


Lisa, me, and Lynn checking out the Volkswagon sound system


Totally can't remember who designed this concept car, but the windows were boggling our minds


Lynn, Josh, and Mike, marveling over the price tag of Lisa's wish-car- BMW 500 series

Hope

This is an excerpt from my friend Shari's blog (you can see the whole post by clicking on the "The Schiels" in the list of blogs on the right hand side ->). The Schiel family is in Marlyland while Darrel (Shari's husband) attends Pastor's College and will come back to our church in May. Their 6 year old daughter Hope has been very sick and they are having a hard time figuring out what is going on. If you have a moment when you read this, please say a little prayer for Hope and her family- for continued strength and encouragement and wise doctors (and of course, HEALING). Thanks!

"I’ll try making this short. We took Hope to the pediatric endocrinologist today and after spending about 1/2 an hour examining Hope, discussing past history, blood test results, MRI, etc., she is leaning toward the feeling that there is some type of malignancy in Hope that has not been found. We went directly to the lab to have more blood drawn for more tests which include checking for all forms of Heptatitis along with re-checking some things we’ve already had tested, esp. the things that point to her thinking malignancy. We are also doing a 24 hour urinalysis over the next 2 days. I am going to have to bring Hope back to have more blood drawn in the morning because I got a call after we got home that they didn’t draw enough for a particular test. The lady said to tell Hope she’s very sorry but to a 6 year old I’m afraid that won’t go over well. I am continually trying to encourage Hope in the Lord, speaking of what He has done for her, praying for and with her, asking her questions about what she believes about God. It is surely a time of and for growth but at this very moment my heart is discouraged. I tend to get this way when I am tired, of which I am. Last night Hope was running a 103.4 temp and slept very poorly. I slept next to her in Danielle’s bed in order to make it easier to give her drinks through the night and more med’s when necssary. Her legs hurt so badly today she didn’t want to walk. We discovered another lump on her left leg today during the exam. A surprise to everyone in the room.

Ok, I said short and it isn’t. More information when it comes in…we will be scheduling an appointment asap with an oncologist, not a bone (orthopedic) one this time. She will also have an abdominal ultrasound next Monday due to stomach pain the last few months (she’s often saying her pants are too tight and pulling them away from her lower abdomen). Even through tired mind, eyes, body and heart I know God is in control and we are fully trusting in His goodness and love."

Hospitality Event #1

So one of our goals as a "household" is to have one hospitality event per month. Invite people over for a meal and get to know them better. Today was our first event. grilled for the FIRST TIME EVER! (Shish kebab (or shash-lik for you folks who speak Russian)). Besides a few over-grilled shrimp, I think it was a success!

Yum!



The Crews, Axelsons, and Bennetts- thanks for coming!

Christina's Tree Huggers- Round Two

Christina's Tree Huggers Team

For the second time, Christina convinced us to get up early on a Saturday morning and attempt to make Houston more green by planting trees for Arbor Day. The last time we went (two years ago) it was raining and muddy (really muddy- I had to be pulled out of the mud at one point because I was stuck). Today the weather was much better- a bit chilly, but dry. We figure we planted around 250 trees...not bad for 10 people and 2.5hrs...

Our fearless leader thinking "Melissa put the camera away and dig"


Once again, "Melissa put the camera away and dig" :) ( I won't point out that neither Paul nor Brandon is digging at this point...maybe Paul is thinking "you really want a picture of me blowing my nose?")


Moose ready for work


I really like my gloves...they were super grippy.


Yup, Brandon broke his shovel


Greg diggin' in


Sandy delivering water


Laura grinning, despite the fact she was having major sinus issues...

Random bits

1. I like having roommates. It means I actually get to have stuff for dinner. We decided that each of us would make a meal each week. And let me tell you, they can cook :). This week was homemade mac and cheese with ham (I think it is better than Tarik's!), this fabulous chicken curry soup that Pam just made up out of her head, and I made my quinoa and black bean enchiladas. Ahh, full belly=good times.

2. My roommates are neat freaks. This is bad. I am not. I am being guilted into cleaning by their tidy and efficient actions. Bummer. (;-) ).

3. I am a dork. I just bought something for a friend and put it on the dresser for safe keeping. Five minutes later, I knocked it off the dresser and broke it. Note to self: leave it in the box.

Finally, orange wall pictures!

Sorry it took so long to post these, but my room is finally looking presentable and I finished the dresser today. What do you think?

The room and dresser pre-paint


Dresser post paint and paper



See, orange and purple DO go together :)



Ahh...so colorful. It makes me smile.

My Pretend Half-Marathon Experience

So obviously with me just about to get off the injured list, I wasn't able to run the Houston Half-Marathon this morning as I had planned. My running buddy Lisa, who was supposed to run it too, was struck with the flu at the end of this week and wasn't able to run either :(. So we went downtown (at 5am!) to cheer on her husband and several of our friends who were running the 5K, Half-Marathon, and marathon distances. It was fun watching the race from the spectator perspective, although, admittedly, I much prefer being a participant. :D

This is as close as we got...sporting our bibs...

.
Melissa, Josh, and Kevin- getting ready to run the 5K!

Last post from the apartment...

Okay, I'm going to be a bit sentimental here...while simultaneously making fun of myself for being sentimental over an apartment :)...I'm sitting in my empty living room, eating leftover Chinese food, praying for this migraine to go away before packing up the cats and some odds and ends and heading to my new place. Most of my stuff is now over at Pam's, thanks to the McFerrens and the Van Wrights help today- I've got a couple of weeks left of the lease to clean and get those last items transferred- but I'm done living here.

This is the only place I've lived since moving to Texas- moving in as a wet-behind the ears college grad. It's amazing to think how much I've learned and grown over the past 4.75 years. I've been both blessed and challenged during my time here, laughed and cried, been content and been angry. Amazing how much can happen in such a short amount of time, and through it all He has been faithful to remind me of my need of Him and His faithfulness in my life.

I'm excited to move in with Pam and Claire- it's clearly God moving in all three of our lives to bring us together as roommates and I can't wait to see what He has planned for us.

So here's to another chapter...

Possessed Dresser Saga

I wrote this blog in my head while it was happening..does anyone else ever do that?

So, as part of moving in with Pam and Claire, I am using an old dresser of Pam's, which was painted with psychedelically brightly colored daisies (Pam and Claire, I will forgive for saying it looked like "me"...I am not eight years old, thank you ;-) ). So I decided to repaint it.

Two of my walls are orange. What goes well with orange? Red of course! So I started painting over the trippy daisies...briefly thinking "should I sand this first? Maybe primer it? Nah...". So the first coat of red goes on. It's more magenta than red...too close to pink. I'm not liking it. Coats 2 and 3 go on and the daisies are still making their presence know. Okay, forget this. I will sand it. So the next day I borrow a sander from some friends and start sanding...first sandpaper- too fine. I find a paper that will probably gouge the wood, but hey, these daisies are quite determined to stay put.

The sanding commences...the paint melting into globs under the friction from the sander follows. Okay, forget all of this! Bring on the paint stripper. So the next day (oh yeah, there is a reason the title of this blog has the word "saga" in it), I bring over my paint stripping items (yeah I have those handy :))...EXCEPT... the stripper is about two years old and is quite glutinous in consistency and about doubly potent fume-wise. Oh well, I'll try it anyways. An hour later, I am on the road to Home Depot to buy more NEW paint stripper :).

Application of the strongest paint stripper know to man commences. Massive scraping action and falling globs of paint follows. At this point, I really do think the fumes were affecting me (I did have the garage door open, thank you very much)...I couldn't stop giggling...I kept stepping in the gooey paint globs and sticking to the garage floor and the paper I had laid down to keep the globs from getting on the garage floor, my gloves were sticking to the dresser, various spots on my arms were burning from the spattered stripper... seriously, if someone could see me now...

I doused the possessed dresser (I'd decided that it liked its paint and was laughing at my attempts to depaint it...either that or someone anodized the stupid thing) with the turpentine based after wash...more fumes...more giggliness. Enter roommate Claire who listened wide-eyed as I proceed to berate this "free" dresser at about a million words per second (it was the fumes talking, really, even I can't normally talk that fast!). The dresser won last night's battle.

So today, I proceed back over to the house to once and for all conquer the dresser. Using a paint scraper, I decently rid the dresser of its rad-hard coating...meanwhile breathing in some dust...I notice just how many layers of paint I am taking off...I start wondering how old this dresser is...lead paint...what are symptoms of lead poisoning again? All I can remember is that if you strike a knife against a bone that belonged to a human with lead poisoning, it will spark (thank you MacGyver for cluttering up those 3 brain cells with that knowledge). I'm not volunteering any of my bones...

Ha, told you this was a long one! So anyways, paint is mostly removed and any paint bumps remaining will give the dresser character. I put coat one of paint on. Oh, I decided to go with bright purple instead of red. It's looking awesome and will go well with the orange. Promise. And it will look like a grown-up's room too :D. Pictures will follow this weekend.

Oh and I think I only killed about 4 million brain cells in the process...

Know-it-all Status

So, I'm in chapter M of the Know-it-all book. I was a tad annoyed with the guy for awhile, him being all bumptious and stuff, and he saddened me with what he gleaned from the Britannica description of Ecclesiastes, but I've moved on and have a few great tidbits to share...

First off, it seems that I am retaining some of his knowledge from Britannica. For instance, the other day, I friend likened me to Professor Frink from the Simpsons (hush- no comments please)- and as I am completely unfamiliar with the Simpsons, he sent me a list of quotes from Frink. One of quotes mentioned monkeys going berserk...and my brain gave a little "ding" there: I learned from the Know-it-All in the B chapter that Berserkers were Nordic soldiers who went into battle naked, so to really be "beserk", you have to be naked. I just find it funny that it was a quote from the Simpsons that made my brain ding. (Tangent: never EVER thought a blog of mine would mention the Simpsons).

Secondly, the Know-it-All tells a cockroach story. He squashed one with the K volume of the Britannica. I for one can appreciate a good cockroach story.

Thirdly, I learned a new dorky word fact. I like words a lot, and how they are used. I even earmarked the page because when I read it I thought "I'm going to blog about this". So here it is: A captionym is a word who's meaning changes when it is capitalized. Such as Herb and herb or Polish and polish. Isn't that cool?

And fourthly, although somewhat inappropriate, I find the following tremendously funny and give props to this guy's wife for still loving him.

He sent her flowers (after the mentioned she was becoming an encyclopedia widow (due to his exorbitant amount of time spent with his nose in the books) with a card that read "These flowers are bisexual, but I am straight and I love you". (humor explanation: most flowers are male and female (i.e angiosperms). Chuckle...chuckle.

I've come a long way baby...

It was a moment that made me stop and think "wow, I have grown up so much". It happened last night.

It happened when I picked up some clothes off the bathroom floor and discovered a two-inch long wriggling cockroach on its back.

I didn't scream, I didn't jump (I started- starting and jumping ARE different). I reached OVER the cockroach to open the bathroom cabinet to get the Raid. It wasn't there. I calmly walked to the kitchen (meanwhile yelling at the cats to leave it alone- I was afraid they would flip it over- and yeah, like the cats could understand me...) and got the Raid, walked back and killed the nasty. Using two dustpans (without a broom attached to the end of them and without plastic bags wrapped over my hands) I calmly scooped it up and flushed it.

I've come a long way. A long way from trapping a cockroach under a cup and then calling Christina and Paul and Paul coming over and disposing of it.

Aww....

Hilarious

So, I just started reading this book that I was very excited to start reading. It's outside of what I normally read. It has the phrase "National Bestseller" on the cover. Gasp! No, pigs aren't flying...yes, I don't normally read bestsellers because, well, for the most part, they are very disappointing.

This particular book may be the exception. The title? "The Know-it-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World" by AJ Jacobs. It's an autobiographical tale of the author's quest to read the entire Britannica encyclopedia. He breaks down the chapters into letters. I just finished C. It's an awesome mixture of facts and extremely dry (my favorite!) humor and the goings on of his every day life.

My favorite excerpt so far that had me snorting with laughter for a full three minutes? (not including right now as I am remembering it)

" Brain:
The Britannica's brain-related highlights so far: the Greeks believed that it produced mucus, which gives new meaning to blowing your brains out"

hahahahahahahahahahaha...

Belated New Year's Post

Yeah, yeah I realize that it's now January 3rd, but I unexpectedly had to work console the past couple of days and now I am sick yet again. Grrr...doesn't sickness realize that I have a TON of stuff to do (like packing and moving and quilting?)

Anyways, down to business. So, something that has become a New Years Day tradition for me is to read back over the prayer journal I keep throughout the year. I tend to fall asleep while praying (oops!), so I found that writing my prayers out helps me to focus. I also use it for my Bible studies and as your standard-run-of-the-mill journal as well. I highly recommend keeping one. It's always so awesome, despite whatever bad/challenging stuff has been going on, to read through and see the amazing work that God has been doing in my life and in lives of the people around me. It's easy to forget the good things when in the midst of struggles, and by reflecting on His work, I am reminded of how much I depend on Him, or need to depend on Him. It's also a good reminder to see that His timing is perfect. I may have prayed about something at the beginning of the year, and didn't see results (and the results are not always what I prayed for...they are always BETTER) until months later...some things even take years...( ha! so that's where 'patience is a virtue' came from...hehe).

It's also interesting to see how I have changed over the year( and no, not just the red hair!)- things that I was anxious about a year ago, I'm not anymore. Things I was afraid of, God has given me peace. My perspective has changed in a lot of ways. Now, of course, there's a whole slew of new paranoias/flaws that He and I will need to deal with this coming year :), but that's what growing is all about right?

I also make new year's goals. I made 13 last year and met 12 of them! They range from all sorts of topics: financial, personal, spiritual. For instance, I wanted to keep track of how many books I read...27!

For this year? Hmm...run a half-marathon, read 30 books ;-), save X amount of dollars...well, that's all I am willing to share in a public forum at least...

So, I challenge you to sit down, if you haven't already, and reflect over your last year. If you don't keep a journal, ask your friends to remind you of things you were concerned about or struggled with over the year, goals you might have mentioned, and take a moment to praise Him- because whether you believe in Him or not, He is moving in your life. Try to see it. Happy New Year!