another september celebration

matt, my mom's husband and our step-dad, celebrates his birthday today. i have a great photo of him from our thanksgiving feast last year but i can't find it anywhere on our computer. luckily my mom has a framed copy of it, but it is driving me nuts that i can't blog with the photo of matt in his element in the kitchen.

he is a wonderful guy who serves people in quiet, thoughtful ways: cooking incredible gourmet feasts, washing dishes so my mom and i can catch up on the couch, taking care of harvey with a minutes notice, making refreshing beverages appear in your hand before you even knew you wanted one, and helping people re-roof their houses (so that isn't literally quiet, but he does things like this without expecting recognition).

he also makes my mom really happy, tells ridiculous and corny jokes that make us all cringe before we chuckle, loves his three dogs in a way that would make the "dog whisperer" proud, and looks out for the four of us kids (including brandon) in practical ways. he always responds to my cooking question texts immediately, knowing that i am in the midst of a kitchen crisis, and without fail says, "thanks for calling" at the end of each phone conversation, even when he is the one who calls.

being a step-dad is certainly not easy and rarely offers much recognition, but he does his primary job excellently: he loves our mom and we are so grateful for that. though we don't say it as often as we should, we love him too.

we hope you have the happiest of birthdays and know that you are appreciated in all little and big ways!

the culprit

here it is folks: the screw! if life could stop testing my mental capacity and strength in adversity while brandon is away, that would be great. haven't i passed that test already?

maybe all these things are just to make me miss brandon and the practical ways he shows me love. i do, i do!

regarding the pumpkin: now all the stores are out of real pumpkins too! i was going to go way above and beyond and boil/puree my own, but i can't even do that. guess psyllium husks are going to have to work! i am telling you, there is something shady going on with pumpkins, at least here in the square state of wyoming!

**4:05pm: here is what i found on the pumpkin shortage: bad weather means not enough ripe pumpkins for canning and libby's only cans once a year so they don't have enough quality gourds to work with at this time. some flimsy promises to see the pumpkin next week, but i'm not believing it.

canine companion

brandon is off counting fish and measuring gravel, so that leaves harvey boy and i to our own devices. we got home about 11:30pm on sunday from taking brandon to the airport and went straight to bed. we woke up the next morning to find: SNOW!

my brain did not register this and tried to think of alternative explanations, but sure enough, it was snow. in september. agh!

i realized after i woke up that i had to be at a meeting in 12 minutes so i flew out the door and peddled through the pelting snow to campus. i made it to the meeting on time and tried to catch my breath.

then i came home and immediately took harvey for a walk. he was acting a little weird, but he tends to be bizarre so i didn't think too much of it. when we got home i realized why he was worried: he had eaten the majority of the bathroom trash! the mess he left behind wasn't too big, but i can't imagine his gut feels good.

after that i was washing the dishes and dropped a glass--of course it shattered all over the kitchen floor! harvey left it alone (sensing, i am sure, that he was already on thin ice so he better listen to my "sit! stay!" commands.) i am so glad we don't have kids because i am still finding glass shards, even though i thoroughly cleaned.

(side-note: i haven't broken that many dishes, but the few times that i have have been when brandon is out of town. i kinda want to research that strange phenomenon!)

after that incident, i decided to brave the whirling snow flakes and set out to find some canned pumpkin, the magic doggie laxative. i went to three stores, finding empty shelves where the pumpkin should be, until finally i asked. according to the annoyed grocery store clerk at albertsons, no one in wyoming will have canned pumpkin. for who knows how long. they have "temporarily discontinued it". what? who discontinues canned pumpkin in september, with halloween parties, thanksgiving feasts, and even christmas dinner that all necessitate pumpkin pie coming soon? i am confused and sensing that there is something major brewing in terms of an e. coli pumpkin contamination scandal.

so it was an eventful monday. i am hoping that all the silly little slips are over with for the week, although i fear i may have to take harvey to the vet if he doesn't process some of this garbage soon. oh boy!

**10:15am: just now i went to the car to go run some errands and heard weird noises as soon as a i started driving. i turned off the radio and heater, but the noise persisted. oh yes people, i had a massively flat tire! we are talking driving on rims, so luckily i realized it before i drove more than 200 feet. i am just glad it didn't happen while i was along the freeway on sunday night.

ode to a great

tomorrow my brother officially closes the chapter on being a kid. 18 is a grey area, but 19, no that is clearly man status. and what a man he has become! 

when people ask me what i did with the last year i mostly reply with, "i shared life with my family." to be in central oregon was one of the best decisions we have made, especially because it meant we got to spend time with ross in his senior year.

i love this photo of the two of us. even when things are hard in his life, he still loves his big sister unconditionally.

we also got the chance to go bouldering with ross a few times, mostly last fall when harvey was little and adorable. it is so fun to see ross problem solve and work out his routes.

(the shoes that are in the background of this photo were a constant source of frustration that day, as harvey kept sneaking up the rock to nab them and would then take off running with his loot. oh harvey boy!)
i love the brotherly concern he has for brandon in this photo. what a guy!

quite appropriately he was named mr. congeniality in the mr. shs pagent. i was so glad the judges saw in him what all of us do: he is a compassionate person who wants to make sure that others are taken care of and happy.

this spring ross, his friend christian, harvey, and i went on a camping trip. (this was the trip harvey got really sick on.) it was crazy and not at all what any of us expected in terms of weather and camping locations, but we have many treasured stories and jokes. he was so patient with harvey and his incessant need to be near ross at all time and he was considerate of me not wanting to stand in the rain and fish. thank goodness for jordyn and her wonderful influence on his life.  :)

Happy Birthday Rossco! 

We love you!

reminder: 11 more days

today was my first day of full-on weekend classes. strange that we have "been in school" for three weeks and only now really starting? yes. strange that my schedule is exclusively on the weekends? also, yes. strange that i sit in the same basement classroom from 8am-5pm saturdays and sundays? again, yes.

it is, for lack of a better word, a strange program, set up for those who live outside of laramie and/or those who work full-time to be able to attend. and indeed, there are people who work full time and commute in for our weekends. i can barely handle working 10 hours a week for the university and living 7 blocks from campus, so i shake my head in disbelief at the reality the working commuter students face.

it was a draining day and i still have much reading to do before i pick up for another day tomorrow. but i really like my classmates, i know i am in the right field, and for the most part what we are studying is interesting.

however, i will fall asleep tonight with the glorious reminder that i only have 11 more days of these classes and this schedule this semester. that feels strange indeed!

(note: i am not wishing the days away, rather just reminding myself that i can handle this craziness.)

new friends in new places

this weekend we cancelled our plans to go to jackson because of the insanely long drive and the fact that i am going to have to drive 2/3 of the same drive this week. with a last minute call to our ft. collins friends doug and liz we had alternate plans and began packing for a camping trip in the colorado mountains. there were 10 people and 3 pooches total and all of us had a great time. we found a wonderful campsite and enjoyed running from the ever-shifting campfire smoke, eating fire-cooked meals, and swapping stories. doug and liz have superb friends so it was easy to have fun.

we went on one short hike on saturday afternoon, realizing about 1 mile in that we were started from the wrong trailhead and that we were a good 8 walking miles from the lakes we were hoping to reach. oh well, my legs and lungs were ok with the modified hike we took instead.

the next day we set out on an epic hike to "bag some 13ers" as the colorado folk put it. there is this strange drive to conquer mountains in this state and although 13ers (peaks that are =/> 13,000 ft) aren't as cool as 14ers, you still get some recognition for hiking those. i'm certain they are all a strain on my respiratory system! anyhow, foreboding rain clouds and burning lungs forced us to modify this hike as well, allowing us to let go of the need to stand on top of the surrounding peaks.

it was a gorgeous basin and we all got to a nice lake at about 12,500 ft where we enjoyed our picnics. half of us then decided to head down before the rains and thunderstorms caught us, the other half decided to press on to the saddle and see the view. i, being in the former half, enjoyed the conversations i had on the way down and then opted to check out aspen with one of the couples. we didn't fit in with our grubby hiking clothes and matted camping hair, but we had fun saying "aspen" in a snooty voice and laughing at the fur clothing we saw parading the streets. we also indulged in a little espresso, which happened to be the best espresso any of us have ever had. leave it to aspen to have that claim!

on the drive home today we went through steamboat springs, which is a town we really liked. i think we will end up going skiing there a few times this winter. they have a gluten-free pizza place so we indulged in that and checked out the whitewater kayak park.

we are home now and i must pry our new laptop (wohoo!) out of my hands and go take a shower. although there is much homework and reading that i have to finish tonight, a nap just might be my first order of business.

our little laramie abode

i finally got around to taking the pictures of our house.  it is very comfortable, but when i look at it the photos, i realize how much my design eye is lacking.  oh well, we are happy and cozy.

a little art to tie us to the northwest.  the artist is from whidbey island--i treasure her work!

 

we love the light in the living room!

 

 

the intricacy of old houses makes me happy.  gotta dig having a place to put treasured pictures and precious rocks!

 

our sanctuary of a bedroom.

our kooky little kitchen.  surprisingly, i find having the fridge up on this shelf thing is very helpful!  i am using things in the crisper drawer way more often, which means we are actually eating our vegetables before they go bad!

we have the rest of the photos up in our picassa album, which you can link to here.

stolen entertainment

my friend paula (who writes about things that made her smile today) had some of the following on her blog. i feel compelled to give her credit, even though the list is really just open on the web for anyone to find. anyhow, these things not only made me smile, they made me chuckle out loud.  a few even made me laugh out loud. without further building up of said list: 

Random Thoughts from People Age 25-35

★ More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

★ Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

★ Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

★ There is a great need for sarcasm font.

★ Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

★ I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

★ The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

★ I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

★ Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

★ Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.

★ How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

★ I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

★ Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in… (10 second lapse)… ummm… Goonies.”

★ MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

★ I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

★ Bad decisions make good stories.

★ Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem…

★ Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

★ There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

★ I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

★ I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

★ I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

★ I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

★ I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

★ Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

★ I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

★ Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

★ It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

★ I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit?

please share in the comments section the ones that made you chuckle as well because you caught yourself doing or thinking the very same thing!

last few lazy days

we've been enjoying a week of settling in, which means a lot of stir-crazy feelings for me.  i am so used to working, studying, or at the very least doing something every day!  once the house was in order though, there wasn't a whole lot on the agenda for the week.  we managed to fill it with a hike, two mountain bike adventures (to two different riding areas, no less), and a camping trip.  we are loving laramie and quite happy to be here, although our lungs are adjusting a little slowly.  :)

harvey had a little adjusting to do also, as we were accustomed to just letting him outside when we was getting rambunctious or otherwise annoying us.  however, for most of last week we didn't have the freedom to let him out without running the risk of having a pancake for a dog. brandon built a much needed fenced area for locking harvey up.  or for providing him with adequate grounds for romping around in. whichever way you prefer to look at it...  our attitude about it changes frequently.

he also went camping with us in the medicine bow national forest and we chose a nice dispersed campsite away from all other signs of civilization where he could run and jump and chase critters.  he was quite content and so were we.  the picture above is now one of my favorite of harvey and that i have taken yet.  it is out of focus and not perfect, but it captures that moment well.

this lake was so peaceful and seemed like the perfect swimming hole for harvey.  instead it was a quicksand trap along the banks.  with each step he took on what looked like solid, albeit muddy, ground resulted in a thrashing panicked attempt to prevent being sucked in.  i mostly stood by and laughed until i realized i was going to have to share a tent with the muddy mongrel.  oh yeah, that.

this last picture is entirely for kemi.  she bought me that snazzy backpack (which incidentally matches my favorite sandals perfectly). today was the first day of school so i had to get a commemorative photo. it was a good day, although this week i am in one class for 6 hours each day, 5 days in a row.  then the class is over.  whew! talk about a whirlwind and heaps of reading.  i feel content and happy with the program and the route i am taking though.

i'll try to get pictures of our little house up soon.  i have been waiting for the sink to be free of dishes and all of a certain spouses' piles to be put away, but that isn't too realistic.

now that i don't work around food every day i am enjoying being in the kitchen again.  the kitchen aid mixer has actually been utilized every day so let that be an indication of my cooking and baking zealous.  the elevation has made a few of my culinary endeavors less than perfect, but these high plains and i will learn to work together soon.

books, how i love, wait... loathe, thee.

generally i love books.  i love the excitement of opening a new book.  i love relishing in the pride that comes from finishing an especially great one.  i love to have shelves full of books.  

currently, i loathe the mounds of paper and words that now adorn my bookcase and are in route via ups.  $743.22 worth of books i had to buy for the term.  major ouch.  

i had to purchase a DSM (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders)--which makes me equally giddy and anxious.  this it the holy word of both social work and psychology, to be revered as sacred and only read by those qualified enough to apply the diagnosis.  having it as required reading suggests that i am on the path to being in the fold of those who are permitted to do so.