Struggling

Does someone out there know how to succesfully be a wife, take care of finances, cooking, and cleaning, go to grad school part time AND work 40 hours a week? Oh, yeah, and I still have to get a couple of REM cycles in each night.

Right.

I Love Jesus...and french fries

So Kev gave this really great talk yesterday at the Flipside...we're currently on the section of Matthew that has been dubbed "The Politically Incorrect Jesus" sermons. We covered Jairus' daughter and the woman with uncontrollable bleeding, etc. Essentially, faith. Maybe I'll figure out how to explain my feelings about it later, but for now...wow. Just wow.

Oh...and we have posters up around the stage with various slogans and "controversial" religious stuff on them...my favorite is "I Love Jesus and french fries." Hilarious! I need that t-shirt.

And we covered an Avril Lavigne song. A few weeks ago it was Linkin Park. Good times.

Michael and I also made it to IKEA on Saturday for a bit. We picked up hanging tins for an herb garden. Yay! And we priced a bunch of other stuff (bookshelves, dresser, table, the usual). Also hit a nice used bookstore for a little bit of fun.

Sunday, we did church, then hopped over to Redlands looking for a new kitty at the Petco. We would've come home with one except it turned out to be a girl. Boo! So the adoption people are looking for more siamese-like kitties for us. Then we went to our first-date BJ's location for a late lunch...then the grocery store, nursery, and Trader Joe's for groceries and herbs. Oh, and we ran into Fr. Josiah at Trader Joe's. He's one of my favorite adjuncts and the priest over at St. Andrew's Orthodox Church. Great guy.

And six loads of laundry, grading, and some housework later, it was Monday. I'm still getting over my cold (sniffling and sneezing, the usual), but I'm on my way towards well. I think I regressed; I felt a lot better Sunday.

Can't Stop...IKEA. Not related. Sort of.

Can't sleep either. I'd tell you why, but it's really disgusting (i.e. drowning in mucus). Oh, wait, just told you. Sorry. Hope you weren't enjoying a tasty treat while reading this (tapioca).

Hehe. Junior high sense of humor fulfilled.

Seriously, though, have you ever seen the music video for the Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Can't Stop?" GENIUS. If everything else they ever did was crap, they would still earn my respect for emulating Erwin Wurm in a music video.

If you don't know who Erwin Wurm is, you really have to google him. His art (one-minute sculptures, mostly dealing with people and various objects) is just utterly random...but I have to appreciate how he sees the world. My personal favorite is a girl sitting perfectly straight on a sidewalk in a major city, titled something like "Sitting on the sidewalk and thinking about Spinoza." There's a sort of timelessness about the photo that's just...well...genius. I don't know, I just feel it. Some of his odder stuff with bananas I really don't get, but hey, one or two items of art that really speak to you are better than nothing.

Anyway, check out the video. My personal favorite moments are the guitar solo in packing peanuts, Anthony Ketis' apparent allergy to shirts (although we've known that for years), but his ability to wear a gigantic plastic dress, the room full of lamps, and Flea in a purple Barney head. If that doesn't pique your interest, nothing will.

Like I said... GENIUS.

I'm really hoping to be not grossly ill enough to wander through IKEA tomorrow. Mike will be getting a big paycheck soon (he's been teaching for a month but we have seen almost no money so far...dang it), and we have several things that desperately need replacing (our hazardous to your health in an earthquake, mismatching older than dirt bookcases...that we don't have enough of anyway), our desk that doesn't fit Michael's ancient computer (and my laptop's screen is broken...boo), the hand-me down table that has served us well (but I hate mid-80's country style kitchen stuff...which is exactly what it looks like. I feel like I should have a rooster or geese decorations on it), and the even worse chairs...some of which I keep a stack of books on so we don't use them. I'm a little concerned about their stability. So I want to window shop.

Don't get me wrong; we were so outrageously and totally blessed in getting all of the wonderful hand-me-down stuff we did. But now that we live in a household with two decent incomes, I'm dying to do some of the "nesting" that I didn't get to do in the first eight months of our marriage.

We also have a young couple that live a few apartments down that have absolutely nothing at all. We've seen into their apartment a couple of times: two folding chairs and a card table. Literally all the furniture they have in the front room. Mike and I figure we'll offer them our stuff as we replace it.

Aahh, well. My body has to stop draining at some point. Maybe then I'll get some sleep. Grrrr.

2:00 a.m.

2:00 am.

Think I'm getting sick. Can't sleep. Need to turn a paper in tomorrow. I mean today. I think I can smell cat in the living room, which means he had an accident (I'm really paranoid about our apartment smelling like kitty), so I really want to hunt it down but I keep sneezing and having to blow my nose. And Michael is a little sick too, so he's snoring away like someone's giving away a prize for the loudest and stuffiest category in the morning. Sorry honey. The life of a teacher.

Oh, and Turk "the Destroyer" pooped on our bed last night... I mean tonight. The litter box was actually fairly clean; I think he wants all of the litter changed. He lets us know he's unhappy by pooping on our bed. We finally figured it out after the first two weeks of incontinence when we got him. He hated the "pine" litter. Although, honestly, the first three times I thought he hated me (he pooped on my nightgown and my side of the bed twice). When I caught him pooping on Michael's side of the bed and on the mat in the downstairs bathroom I was almost excited.

Arrgh. I have to be at work in five hours. And I have to finish my paragraph on Rationalism v. Empiricism for my paper. That I have to mail in because my instructor is allergic to email.

Grrrrrrrrrrr..............

Shiver Me Timbers!

Happy talk like a pirate day, me maties! I've been trying to get pirate speak to catch on all day, but no one wants to play with me for more than a sentence or two. Yarrr.

And in other news, Aristophanes Turkish Lake "The Destroyer" (the full title of our adorable russian blue kitty who is currently sprawled across my keyboard) will be receiving a little brother in the semi-near future. Name to be determined. Since Turkish was named after philosopher and Snatch character, we're thinking we have to follow the trend. Current working title is Friedrich Bullet-Tooth Tony. Note I said working title. The other option is just to use Jason Stratham characters, which means we're considering Handsome Rob.

We shall see.

Pepitas

I am currently sitting at my desk (I normally go home for the lunch but ol'Concord had to have a few belts replaced and is chilling at the auto repair guru's dojo. We found a really great mechanic; ask if you need one) enjoying my Provider Cajun Chicken Ceaser Salad lunch.

Now, don't get me wrong. I heart CBU salads. Mostly because all boxed salads come with a cookie. It's sort of my reward for the "ho-hum, I'm eating rabbit food for lunch" complex. Here's my issue, though.

Flashback 2003. Wanda's is still in the basement of James. Salads are still coming in these itsy bitsy little containers that all full to the brim, so when you open them they explode on everything. No cookies. Nope. Not for us. I like to call this the "dark ages" of CBU food service.
The age when everything was covered in pepitas.

For those of you who don't know, pepitas are roasted pumpkin seeds. I do not heart roasted pumpkin seeds. Seeds should be planted in the ground to grow delicious things that I then scoop the seeds out of before I consume them. Seeds are not food. That should be a t-shirt, or at least the motto of a semi-serious human rights campaign. But I digress...

Anyway, cajun chicken ceasar salads used to be covered in pepitas. Oodles of pepitas. I could've saved them from the bottom of my salad (where I did my best to leave them) and started my own pumpkin patch PLUS a black-market pepita business on the side. I exaggerate very, VERY little. I actually stopped eating the salads and moved to the turkey and cheese sandwiches...partly for the pepitas, and partly for the cookies that came with the sandwiches. You have to know where the loyalty lies, people.

Now, jump ahead to 2005, wherein I return to the salads upon viewing the included cookie and whole-grain roll. I carefully examined my salad for pepitas. Nothing. I thought I just got really, really lucky and tried again the next day. Still no pepitas. Two years later: no pepitas, even though they are listed as ingredients to the salad on the label. (Also listed on the label as an ingredient: cherry tomato. Literally, a single cherry tomato. Every time. But no pepitas. Not even one).

Oh well. Chocolate chip cookie, anyone?

The Simpson's & French Food: My Cultural Saturday

So, I had my first American French food experience last night (I say that because I've been to France and therefore, by default, have eaten French food. But not in the United States. Honestly, things feel a lot more authentic when you're eating them from another country. Case in point: my crepe lunch in London and awesome pasta in Germany).

It was good. We got mostly the whole family and some friends (the Lake side) together for Alan's bday at Gerard's. More than I would usually want to spend on meals out (of course), but it was good. The french onion soup was KILLER. And my wild mushroom ravioli with sage cream sauce (Yes! I ate ravioli at a French restraunt! Shut up.) was also way yummy. Afterwards we all packed up and headed for Alan & Melissa's for cake and ice cream. Good times.

Michael and I have also been working our way through the 6th season of the Simpson's. We lie in wait for them to go on sale at Target for $20 and then snatch them up before other undeserving customers can purchase them. Because we are far more special than the average people. If you know us, you also know this is true.

Well, off I go to be a productive member of society. Good weekend, all!

Nature & I are homies

When I got to work this morning, the building was warmer inside than it was outside. I put my air on "high" at 7 a.m., which means that I am now partially deaf.

My phone receiver was hot. What the heck?

I can't wait for Autumn. I pleaded and Bambi-eyed my way into convincing Michael we absolutely HAD to spend $4.50 on an "Autumn's Greetings" sign for the front door on Sunday. When I opened the door this morning, there was an oak leaf on the front porch that looked JUST LIKE the leaves on the sign.

Nature's got my back.

Heat Advisory

I have weatherbug on my computer.

I think it's really cool when we have severe weather, because it chirps like a cricket every ten minutes or so, letting me know that advisories have been posted. Like today: severe heat.

I never said the warnings were relevatory, just well-audioed.

Anyway, Michael has his school papers spread out all over the place, we made a morning run to Starbucks (their carmelized apple pecan coffee cake is really good...EAT IT) before our little jaunt over to Office Depot and the ever-popular Albertsons.

I should either A: read for grad school or B: clean the bathroom. But I have this overwhelming urge to either laze about or go get some ice cream. We can only guess which tendency will win out.

Oh, and I did overcook the chicken the other night and scrubbed my hands raw. On the other hand, I totally screwed over any hopes the salmonella might have had. Way to stick it to the man.