Thank you notes

Our wedding thank you notes are done! Kevin finished his section of the list tonight and they are going in the mail tomorrow! I'm glad that chore is FINALLY off the list and we don't have to worry about it anymore. Yippeee!

Keith

I have a friend who is currently in a medical crisis. He had emergency surgery on his back for a crushed spine and dead nerves due to, apparently, a past work-related injury and some sort of genetic situation. The long and short of it is, he is 26 and most likely will not be able to walk again. His oldest sister is a former roommate of mine, his dad was the Branch President of the singles branch up in Humboldt (Eureka), and I absolutely adore this family. Keith is a friend of mine, as well. He and I went to some football games while I was in transition in Eureka. He is one of the gentlest souls I have ever known. My heart is broken for him and his situation. But everyone has faith that the Lord will make his will to be known, and Kevin and I are joining in on the prayers for a miracle. I am going up to Sacramento on Saturday and will be able to visit him. I want to take him some things to play with and do. If anyone has some books, magazines, or movies that they wish to "donate" to the cause, I am wanting to bring him some stuff. Used is totally cool. He is an outdoorsy guy who likes camping, hunting, fishing, and guns. And he likes to read mysteries, thrillers; things like that. He truly is a Humboldt County guy. If you don't want to/can't donate something, keeping Keith and his family in your prayers is appreciated.

I know the Lord has a plan for us, and will never give us more than we can handle. Hearing how upbeat Keith is actually being during this time fills me with amazement and inspires me to do better about my own challenges. Please, please, please pray for Keith and his family; that the miracle will be provided, and barring that, that the Lord's will will be known and that there will be peace and acceptance during this trial.

Texting

I love texting; it is one of my primary forms of contacting someone. But I hate the texting shortcuts that a number of people take when sending a message. How hard is it to type t-o instead of 2? Does it take that much longer to add the y and o instead of just the u? Why can't they use OK instead of just K? Texting is convenient, but that is no reason to be lazy about it. Pretty soon someone will turn in a paper that uses nothing but symbols and shortcuts as the content of the assignment and be truly confused when they get a bad grade and are told it isn't correct. Predictive text is available for a reason if you do not want to go through the bother of typing out the entire message. Come on people, use that wonderful grammer and spelling that we were all (supposedly) taught in elementary school!

Components

The drinking of hot chocolate is a delicate art. You need to wait for it to be cool enough to drink, but not so cool that it ceases to be hot chocolate. And then you need to savor the drink so it doesn't disappear too quickly. But you can't be too slow, or, again, it ceases to be a warm beverage. Who knew that hot chocolate had so many subtleties?

Enough is Enough

Oh, James Cameron. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Life with a Geek

Kevin sent me this blog post a few days ago. I had to laugh; this is totally our relationship. It's like this guy peeked into our lives and wrote about it. Hilarious.

Dangerous but Worth It

I found a recipe for Nutella stuffed french toast, and roped Vanessa into trying it out with me the other night. It was amazing. You have to find a good Nutella to bread ratio, but the results are very rich and very good. It stands better as a dessert than an actual breakfast. I don't think I could start my morning this way and expect to be very productive. But as a dessert...AMAZING.

Jewelry at the Grocery Store

Vanessa and I were hanging out tonight, and had to run to the store. The closest one was a Mexican market down the street. We walk in, and what is the first thing I see? A jewelry counter in the front. This is a market--food, produce, dairy, chips, crackers, etc. And there is a jewelry counter there; selling watches, necklaces, earrings, and other assorted accessories. Do all Mexican markets have this? Seriously. I was amazed. And fascinated. Do you go in for a gallon of milk and walk out with some new earrings and matching necklace? It seems like there should be a study on this.

The boys

When our whole family was out at my Grandma's last month, I was able to take some updated shots of my brothers. I love how their personalities shine, and when you get the three of them together, they just come alive and are parts of the whole. You can see their different personalities come out. I love each one for those various personality traits. I know I can always count on the boys to have my back and to be there when I need them. I'm a girl who loves her brothers; and I really miss them right now.

Welcome to my 200th blog post!

You've been through a lot with me. Thanks for reading and being my loyal fan base. Keep tuning in for more mundane events in my little life!

Weekend jaunt

This past weekend we took a little jaunt up to Sacramento to attend Kevin's brother's wedding. On a Thursday. Random, I know. But we went, saw the happy couple, and then stayed in Sac for another day to play around on Friday. We wound up going to Placerville. It was very cool, with great little downtown and some wonderful historic buildings. There were plenty of plaques to keep me entertained. After wandering Placerville for a while, we wound up going down to Sacramento for lunch. We had planned to go to the Squeeze Inn (so named because it was originally a ten-stool diner only. The new location is not much bigger), and it was worth the drive. One of the best cheeseburgers I've ever eaten, and some pretty delicious fries. It was amazing. Definitely worth the trip to Sacramento, and totally worth a repeat visit. The photo below is what came out of the kitchen. That is how they cook/serve the burgers. Amazing. I would totally love to go back to Placerville. But first we have to visit Bodie State Park. It will mean camping, but I'm willing to do it in order to see it. Anybody want to join us?


An old Placerville building

This is the "Squeeze-with-cheese.

Early Planning

I might already be planning my birthday. I believe in planning early and celebrating all month long. It's a birth month, not just a birth day. This year, I'm seriously contemplating a trip to Build-a-Bear with some of my nearest and dearest. Maybe just the girls. I love Kevin enough to spare him what I'm sure would be an eye-rolling ordeal for him. Katy, Lisa and Amy are already in. I'm pretty sure I can scare up some more. But I've wanted to go to Build-a-Bear for some time now; I just haven't done it or found the opportunity to do it. But this might be my year. I'm kind of ridiculously excited already.

Our new addition

It's a new year, so theoretically this blog post should have something about goals for the coming year, be upbeat, positive, etc., etc. But instead, I'm going to tell you about Kevin's car. It was a 2004 PT Cruiser. It has had a lot of problems in the past, and he's poured a lot of money into it. It stopped running last week, so it sat in the driveway until we took it into the dealership for a diagnostic. The result? About $4000.00 worth of repairs; the transmission, timing belt, and a whole host of other things. Getting it fixed was pretty pointless--I don't believe in throwing good money after bad. So, we spent New Years Eve shopping for a new car. We got one, a Jeep Liberty that can go off-roading for Kevin's camping fun. But it is nice and "zippy," as the salesman called it. We got in our new car to go to a party at Vanessa and Robb's that night and it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. It would not charge, and just clicked. I was so MAD! When we test drove it, it worked fine, we saw the paperwork that a full inspection had been run on the car fairly recently. We had a lemon battery. We took it back the next day, and the sales guy was falling all over himself with apologies and explanations. Basically he wrote out an IOU for us to take the car in on Monday morning to get a new battery at no charge, and we are also going to insist on a new diagnostic being run on the whole thing. I hate car shopping; I think it might be the only type of shopping I dislike. And this little episode only solidifies that dislike. But we have a new car. It will get us where we need to go and Maggie likes it. She's been for a couple of rides and is enjoying the space. It just needs to get fixed.