no more eggs at mepkin

most of you might've already heard this. i'm a little slower to blog than most. but i heard this morning on the radio and then read in the paper that mepkin abbey will no longer be producing and selling eggs. apparently peta had been pressuring them for some time and the monks felt like it was interrupting their ability to to live a peaceful and contemplative life. that's a shame because i really believe in locally produced food, and it was the main source of income for the monks. i'm no animal hater (i am a vegetarian, remember. as are the monks, i think.) but come on.

small hat tip

i've added a new link to the toolbar at the right. check out big gnome for all your pr and marketing needs!

busy work

i am on the phone with the tracfone company right now. my phone stopped working the other day* so i am trying to see if i can get a replacement. i was almost through with one very nice operator and i was just thinking "wow that was easy." and then we got cut off. so now i've had to go through it again.

"plug your phone in....does it work now?"

"no."

"take your battery out and put it back in....now does it work?"

"no."

etc.


*i haven't told them that it doesn't work because i spilt water in my bag and it got all wet. oopsy!

two turkeys

new windows!

our new windows came in today and they are all set to be installed on thursday! i can't wait. we'll have 5 new ones by mid-day.

now, i just have to find a way to swing home for 2 hours in the middle of a work day to wait as they do it..... if anyone knows someone who would like to sit at our house on thursday, i'm all ears.

the gift that keeps on giving

that's how i referred to david's life tonight when i was talking on the phone with chris. there was an article in the vicksburg post today about him. the editor of the paper was a friend and wrote a really nice editorial about him. fuzzy transcribed the write-up here.

the amazing cycle of life

congrats to my old-time friend maria and her husband, dave. they welcomed their new daughter phaedra ariana brown at 9:52am on wednesday, December 5. she weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz, 18” tall. no pictures have arrived in my inbox yet, but when i have them, i'll put a picture up here.

slow food turkey tasting

join the newly forming slow food columbia group sunday, december 16th at 4:30 PM for our first official event, a turkey tasting! we will be comparing an heirloom bird with a traditional bird. admission is free to this event, but guests should bring a side dish prepared with local ingredients. if you're interested in attending, post a comment below before 12/12 and i'll give you the details and location.

feed a cold, starve a fever

is that the old adage? i can't ever remember. whatever it is, i think they should add "feed the mourning" too.

there has been an unbelievable outpouring of love, support, phone calls, food, food, and more food to the reid household over the past 48 hours. it's like nothing i've ever experienced before. it has been totally great because the last thing we want to think about is what to eat. but it's just a really weird thing to experience. i've heard about the fact that people bring food over after a death, but i didn't really know it would be like this. so, yea, feed the mourning. good deal.

also, david's obituary was in the vicksburg post today:

G. David Reid


G. David Reid died Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, at his residence. He was 53.

Mr. Reid was born in Jackson and moved to Vicksburg when he was 1 month old. He was a 1972 graduate of Warren Central High School and attended Hinds Community College and Mississippi College. He was an electrical technician with various companies and, at the time of his death, was an employee of IGT. Mr. Reid loved his family, music, movies, animals and laughter. He was devoted to his faith.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia Bane Reid of Vicksburg; a daughter, Erica Reid Gerdes and her husband, Fuzzy, of Chicago; a son, Christopher Reid and his wife, Katie, of Columbia, S.C.; his mother, Norma Reid of Vicksburg; a sister, Susan Mahan of Vevay, Ind.; and two brothers, Carl Reid of Flowood and Kyle Reid of Hattiesburg.

He was preceded in death by his father, George L. Reid.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Riles Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Jimmy Biedenharn, pastor of the Byhalia United Methodist Church in Byhalia, officiating. Burial will be at Green Acres Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 5 until 7 p.m. Wednesday at Riles Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, Box 1193, Vicksburg, MS 39181.

David Reid

Chris's dad, David, passed away tonight at around 9:40. I feel honored and blessed to have been among his family as he passed. He is so well loved.

david

it's been a crazy week. but as some of you already might have read, we are approaching the end with david. so i'm off again this weekend to be with the family as we all go through this.

home again

i'm back home again. no need to write about the trip because tricia and fuzzy have great accounts on their blogs (and pictures).

thankfulness

chris and i made it to mississippi yesterday by noon. by all accounts yesterday was a good day. david was looking really good. he walked with a walker and even made it to the living room last night to watch a movie. it was a tear-jerker for the family, but the sentiments were nice.

we (chris and i, and the entire family) have had a wealth of emails, notes, cards, promises of prayers, packages, and gifts of all sorts from friends and family from all over. we are so appreciative to have such a wonderful family and great friends who support us and care so much about us and david's well-being. thank you.

slow columbia

tonight i went to the second official meeting of the columbia slow foods convivium. this is a group that is just starting up in columbia and apparently i am now one of the founding members! we met at gervais and vine and, over yummy wine and hors d'oeuvres, about 10 of us discussed the mission, some of our first projects, and our overall interest in this group. it was so fun! the purpose, for those who are not link-jumpers, is to increase knowledge about and interest in food that is of high quality and taste, environmentally sustainable, and manufactured and produced with social justice. most often this is seen in the form of local foods.

look for more information coming from me about this group in the future. our first event is going to be a turkey-tasting where we will pair a heritage, heirloom bird with a standard, grocery store bird and do blind tasting to see which is the best. even this vegetarian can tell you who the hands-down winner will be. the date of this event is yet to be determined.

sad news of the homefront

i see that some folks have already read tricia's latest news. so you may already know this. but david's prognosis has grown grim. thank God erica is already there and fuzzy will soon join them. chris and i head out next week. chris will be there for some time, but i'll have to come back and hold down the fort. your continued prayers for the family are so appreciated. and comments on tricia's blog mean a lot to her and us.

mrs. fix-it

this is something i wanted to post about a few days ago but didn't have time.

remember when i said our washing machine was leaking water out the side of the house? well, i fixed it this weekend!

(i can and will take credit for this, but in honesty it was a really simple solution. but still! i'm proud.)

prayers

i just wanted to request a few extra shout-outs to the big guy this week for those praying folks out there. chris's dad has not been doing too well lately and they could use all the extra thoughts and prayers anyone wants to give. tricia's (chris's mom) has been keeping a pretty good chronicle of what's been going on at her blog. you can check there to read the latest.

5th annual

we've set the date for the 5th annual reid christmas party. december 15th at 7:00 PM. i've sent my email invites out (chris's are still pending) so let me know if we've somehow accidentally left you off our list and you've not gotten one. we'd love to have you come!

i'm not sure if this was cool or scary

probably a little bit of both. but on the way home from work i drove next to a guy who was driving and playing the trumpet at the same time.

problem of the week

a few weeks ago when i was visiting my brother we had a discussion about how when you get older (especially, i'm finding, when you're a home-owner) every week there seems to be a problem. either it's car trouble, health problems, house issues, etc. so you get that problem fixed and think "yea, i'm glad that's done. now i don't have anything pressing to deal with this week." only then another problem pops up.

this week's problem was discovered while i was outside doing a little planting on sunday. i had thrown a load of laundry in the washer and headed outside to put some herbs in the ground. as i was making my plant bed next to the house, i heard the washer just on the other side of the wall switch into "draining mode." then, i saw water rushing out the side of the house, down the siding, and sudzing on the lawn right next to my newly planted rosemary bush. so now there's that. sigh.

children see. children do.

i was at a domestic voilence conference this past friday in charleston. this video was used as an opening to a presentation on the effects of DV on children. i thought it was so powerful not just in relation to violence. so i thought i'd share.

women and men in a "rape culture" event in november

here's an event announcement i ran across at work and thought i'd share here in case anyone in columbia is interested in attending.

WOMEN AND MEN IN A “RAPE CULTURE”

A Presentation by: Matt Ezzell

NOVEMBER 15, 6:30 PM

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP,

2701 HEYWARD STREETS (corner of Woodrow St)

Matt Ezzell has spoken internationally on issues related to men’s violence against women. As a graduate student in sociology and PHD candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill, his scholarship and teaching focus on race/class/gender inequality. He has over 10 years of experience in anti-rape and anti-violence advocacy.

Using frank and honest discussion, he will present a program addressing what it means to live in a “rape culture” and how media representations of men and women are involved. From mainstream ads to mainstream pornography, what messages about sex, sexuality and violence are being constructed, marketed, and sold to the public? And, what we can do about it?

The program is an effort to analyze these images and promote media literacy. It contains examples of media ranging from magazine ads to explicit pornography. Many people may find some images disturbing; therefore, due to explicit content, attendance is restricted to persons 18 and above.

The Greater Columbia Chapter of NOW, The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) and The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship are proud to sponsor this important discussion.

For further information contact the UU Fellowship office at 779-0845, email uufc@bigfoot.com, or call NOW at 782-7623.

not that kind of power company

last night i pulled myself from my homebody-ness and joined a friend for a taste of columbia's art scene. my friend is a member of columbia's new audience road show. for lack of better words, the CNARS is a "gimmick" to get people involved in the local art scene and it has an added bonus of increasing attendance at various art shows and exhibits.

for the past three weeks, my friend and her fellow "roadies" have been going backstage with the power company, a modern dance ensemble based out of columbia college. said friend invited me to join her last night for the one-night performance where the roadies would have a small part and share in the action onstage. i fell in love with CC a few weeks ago at a girl's empowerment conference which i attended for work so i don't know why i wasn't more sure that i would be just as equally impressed by the PC. the performance entitled "blaze! a shakti rodeo" was narrated by the ensembles director, martha brim, and a good number of the pieces were set to patsy cline, which was fun. the dance numbers were unique in my opinion and all the ladies were total powerhouses! all-in-all the show was totally awesome and it was fun to have someone i know play an active roll. plus, we got free appetizers and drinks with our admission. bonus!

i am ashamed to say that i had no idea that columbia had a modern dance company. and, honestly, if i knew we had, i probably wouldn't have had high hopes that their performances could have been that good. so thanks to my roady friend foo dragging me out. and if you're around for their next show, check out the power company. it's well worth it!

soon, friends

i'll soon post pictures of this past weekend's adventures. i've been so busy since i got back sunday night. i've been in trainings for work every night this week and will be there over the weekend too. they're interesting trainings so i don't mind, but i sure am tired and behind on all my personal business. until then...

home-ish for the weekend

i leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go sort of home. i'll be outside philly for my niece's confirmation. i've been honored to be her sponsor.



i can't believe she's in the 6th grade already and going through this sacrament. before we know it she'll be driving and leaving for college!

fall fun

now that we live only blocks from the state fairgrounds, we took the opportunity last weekend to partake in the festivities.



we invited some friends with their 2 adorable children to join us and we had a great time looking at the farm animals, watching pig racing contests, and being awed by the spectacles.



chris and i couldn't let the day go by without partaking in some juuuuunk food.

there aren't enough hours in the day

that seems to be my mantra these days. i have so many things i want to/intend to do in the house and it feels like i never get everything done. but the house is slowly coming along. we now have about 6 pictures on the walls. we've unloaded most of the boxes. we finally relocated the fridge to a spot i've been wanting it. we've purchased all our curtains, though have not put them up yet. so we're chipping away at it.

work has been great too. last week i had 3 presentations. one was at a college in newberry (about a 45 minutes drive from columbia). one was at a battered woman's shelter. one was in a prison. this week i have all-day presentations for 3 days of the week. monday and tuesday i'll be at the local catholic high school. i love the diversity of people to whom i'm speaking. it's just so fun and every audience makes it so lively. everyone always has good things to add and i feel like i learn so much. it's just been great!

befores and afters

i've finally unpacked enough to locate the camera and the adapters so i thought i'd post these pictures of the new place. as you can see, we've still got a long way to go. no pictures hung yet or curtains. heck, most of our furniture is still not in place. but it'll give you an idea...

kitchen:

before


after


so far we've built a half wall to help close up the kitchen and add more wall space. we still need to repaint, add an island or more cabinets along the wall, get a new stove....

living room:

before


after


we painted in here and love the color (despite some early apprehension). we're still working on the furniture. right now we don't have room for all the chairs in other rooms so they're hanging out in here until we can make space. we also need to hang curtains and blinds.

dining room:

before


after


we painted this room a green color similar to the color of the wallpaper on this blog. the color doesn't really show in this picture. we plan to paint the kitchen this color as well.

front bedroom:

before


after


the room's a little messy and the pictures are taken from opposite angles. but you get the idea.

we're in and still alive

the husband and i have been absent from the blogosphere because we've been packing boxes, painting rooms, moving stuff, and all sorts of other things. but as of yesterday, we're officially living in only one house and all of our stuff is inside it. now all we have to do is unpack and put things away. but at least we can do that on our own pace. so things will, hopefully, slow down now.

thanks to a great group of friends who spent a good portion of their sunday to help us transport and move all our junk. michele even took some pictures, which she's posted here. we'll post more pictures of our place once we take some. oh, and after we find the cords and adapters to download the pictures to a computer. that may take some time...

homeownership 101

well, we're homeowners now. the settlement was this past friday and it went off pretty much without a hitch. the only hitch, if you can call it that, is that the seller had surgery that morning so she was all drugged up. but i guess the deal's still legal...

anyways, since pretty much the moment we bought the place we've been putting work into it. we spent all day yesterday buying stuff (washer and dryer, paint, tools, lumber) then spent today painting and fixing other things. we didn't even get done 1/2 of what we thought we would. and i'm wondering why we decided to do this again.

no, not really. it's going to look so cute when we're done with it. but it is (and will continue to be) a lot of work.

* special shout out to mom and jim for helping to shop yesterday and fix up today. and to margaret and angela who helped out today. you guys are the best! thanks for helping to make our new house a home.

excitement is mounting

in one week my parents will be here. chris and i will be homeowners. and (hopefully) we'll have a good portion of the house painted.

in two weeks we'll be moved in to our new house.

yipee!

right now, the apartment is almost packed. we've got a few paint color ideas picked out. the attorney has been secured. things are moving along.

in the meantime, if you know of anyone who wants to help paint the interior of a house next weekend, or help move the following weekend, you know where to post a comment!

i ate meat tonight

well, it sure felt and tasted like meat anyway. chris suggested we venture out of our comfort zone of the few familiar restaurants we always eat at and try the lamb's bread on hampton street. we had passed the one on north main many times and always wondered what the deal was. then chris discovered another location and was up for the adventure.

i'll tell you what, that food was darn good (except the vegan mac and cheese. it tasted like feet)! this place is a vegan and vegetarian restaurant (one of the only ones in columbia), for those who don't know, and i would post a link here but it seems they don't have a website. this is not really a surprise when you see the join. it screams of hippie and pot, jamaica and a hint of africa. it's all laid back and cool though. they offered a large plate and a small plate both with a protein, 2 veggies, cornbread and a drink. the guy said there really was only enough food left for 2 small plates so we got that. but it ended up being a good amount of food. chris and i both opted for the "mock" bbq chicken. holy crap it was so good! it was like a good ol' leg o' meat, only instead of bone it was on a stick. but it had the same consistency and taste as meat. i enjoyed it because it satisfied that constant craving i have for chicken (despite being a vegetarian for 9 years i still have cravings), but i couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't meat. it was so "realistic" that i keep thinking that my stomach hurts from eating meat. and then i realize, no that's just the feeling of being full.

circle completed

as an updated to the previous post, the sellers agreed to work with us to fix the roof. so we're still moving forward with the purchase and in 11 days we'll be homeowners. yikes!

going 'round in circles

just like mom on this circus ride, seems like we've been getting nowhere lately. we've been going back and forth with the sellers of the house we want to buy. after the inspection last week we found out that the roof is in a whole lot worse shape than we anticipated. so we're trying to haggle that out. we think they should pitch in to help with paying for a new one. they do not. i'd like to think that we won't lose the house over a matter of like a couple hundred bucks. but we just might. hopefully we'll know more before the weekend is over. but in the meantime, we're still packing so that's a sign of our positivity that this will all work out in the end.

some sunday evangelizin' for ya

on friday night chris and i went out to eat in five points. when we came back to our car we found this note on our windshield.


SIMPLE- Proven Perfectly- By MASTER'S LOVE.

***THEY SEEK US--DAILY!!!

***COME ON NOW.....WEARY SOUL AND HE MAY FORGIVE YOU, IF, WE SIMPLY & SURELY NOW DRAW NEAR, ACCURATELY, TO HIM!!! Churchianity, various other greco-roman, american, etc. ways...are at best only temporary!!! NOT AT ALL MEANT...TO BE OUR MASTER, OUR GREATEST DESIRE, LOVE AND GLORRY!!! ***CAN YOU STILL HEAR HIS HOLY BIBLE SCRIPTURAL AND PURE CALL DEAR SOUL?? ONLY OUR MASTER YAHSHUA CAN SET AN SOUL TRULY FREE & NEVER LOOK BACK!!!***HIS PURE ONES SPEAK CLEARLY & IN MORE & MORE SCRIPTURALLY COMMANDED REWARDFULL OBEDIANCE-PERFECT LOVE & ALL TRUE, LASTING...OF ALL PERFECT DESIRE...FOUND ALONG...IN THE ONE WAY YAHSHUA OUR MESSIAH!!! SAY NO NOW

TO ALL imitations & come in now!


so there you go. in case you wanted to know. my favorite part, of course, is the word "churchianity."

long overdue

my apologies go out to brian and the general public for not posting this link many, many months ago. i have no excuse.

but readers who like their beers as i do should check out brian's blog with reviews of beers available to the general public and commentaries on his experiences as a novice home brewer.

i'll be posting the link in the toolbar to the right of this page as well.

progress

home inspection scheduled (for this thursday).

mortgage applied for and letter sent to realtor.

we're taking steps forward.

the 5th annual reid chrismas party...

will be held in a different location this year, as chris and i have just put an offer in on a house. those of you who know us (which is pretty much anyone who reads this blog) will probably be thinking, what the ...! buying a house. but yes, folks, that's true. and here she is.



it's been a rather quick decision on our part. but we found an excellent deal and just couldn't turn it down. plus, because chris is in school we qualify for a low-income loan, so we're getting a really good deal.

the house is in olympia, which promises to be an up and coming community. so we're hoping it'll be a wise investment which might fund us to africa in a few year's time. but until then, it's a real cutie. 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, bath, kitchen, and screened-in side porch. plus a pretty big back yard. it'll need a little bit of aesthetic repairs but otherwise, it seems to be in good shape. so anyone who has tools and wants to practice some minor home repair, please let us know. we'll be making settlement (if all goes well) september 21. yikes!

superbad and supergood

this friday chris and i went to see the opening night of the much-anticipated superbad movie. i didn't realize that it was opening night when i agreed to go see this, otherwise i might've opted for another night. but we had to head up to the mall to get my haircut earlier that night, so we decided to shoot over for a later movie afterwards.

despite the massive crowd and a totally packed theater, it was a great movie. actually, the crowd made it fun, too. though, everyone was laughing so hard at some parts we couldn't hear the dialogue following. but it was very well written and the boys were lovable and hilarious. both chris and i thoroughly enjoyed it.

having said that, i just have to comment on the state of society that we go to movies and are (highly) entertained by watching teenagers participate in underage drinking and unscrupulous sex. i mean, i was a teenager myself once and i have continued to work with teenagers so i know how life is. i've done my fair share of misbehaving. and i am not surprised or shocked by this kind of behavior. but during the movie i could not help but feel slightly uncomfortable that by watching the movie i (and the tons of other folks in the theater) was somehow advocating this kind of life for these young men (and women) and cheering on their poor decisions when the nerdy guy got some action. and the scenes during which he was getting said "action," well they were so young. is watching that somehow advocating child pornography or something? i doubt it, but i felt weird none-the-less.

i will give it to apatow and the whole gang. as with the 40 year-old virgin and knocked up, they always end up having a relatively healthy outlook on controversial issues such as premarital sex, unwed pregnancy, underage drinking, etc. so i guess that's good. but somehow, it still doesn't take away the fact that millions of people are watching this and many are probably missing that message and just remembering the teen partying part. and that instead of being upset by all this, we find it uproariously funny. of course, that could have something to do with the fact that the movies really are uproariously funny. but still.

day 2 at new job

some things i like about my job so far:

my office is awesome. i have huge windows from floor to ceiling on one wall. i also have "adult furniture" and a real computer. in my last job i didn't have an office and i did have a real computer, but it was shared. the job before that i had offices but they didn't really have nice furniture and the computers were old and didn't work that well. and, since you're wondering, "adult furniture" is like a real desk made of fake wood and file cabinets that look like dressers and stuff. real classy-like.

the people are actually nice and they seem professional. a group of women (with the exception of 1 male, i work with all women) asked me to join them for lunch yesterday and today, and they really seemed to mean it.

there's a wealth of information about topics that really interest me. i've spent the past 2 days just going through material in my office and i've not even scratched the surface yet. there's just so much out there about sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, relationships, etc. and everything i have read so far is so interesting.

the office is only like 5 miles from home. so i can leave less than 20 minutes before work and get there early and i leave a little after 5:00 and get home before 5:30.

browncoating it

when chris visits his parents' house they have a common practice of showing him various tv shows and movies that they really like. this past time when chris went home his parents showed him, among other things, the tv series firefly and its subsequent movie counterpart serenity. i don't know if chris had much hope of it being anything he would be interested in. but it turned out he really liked it, so much so that he brought the dvds home to show me.

now i'm not much one for science fiction (though i think that's changing slowly as i get older). although i have grown up with star wars, i've never watched star trek or aliens or most of the really science-fictiony stuff. but i figured i'd give firefly a chance since chris said it was so good.

boy was i surprised! i loved it. in fact, there were 14 episodes (including a 2 hour pilot) plus the movie and we watched it in less than a week. it was that good. and now that it's over i've been missing the characters and thinking about them a lot. that doesn't happen often with me and if it does, it's usually about book characters i'd just read. i think that's attributed to the great writing and acting in this series, and really fun stories too.

the deal with firefly is that it played on fox and the network pretty much screwed them over in various ways and then ended up cancelling the show half way through its first season. well, the show already had such a strong fan-base and the creator/writer/director, joss whedon (a la buffy the vampire slayer and angel), along with others, pushed really hard and were able to sign a movie deal with universal to finish up some of the story lines. so that's where the movie serenity comes in. it definitely would have been better to have the show continue, but since that wasn't going to happen, the movie did a good job of giving some closure to the whole deal.

in any event, if you've not yet seen this series, check it out. i think you'll turn into a browncoat too.

employment

thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes over the past 2 months as i have been going through the process of seeking new employment. the search is now over!

yesterday i was officially offered and accepted the position of community education program coordinator at sexual trauma services of the midlands. the subject matter will be something completely different to me. but the type of work is pretty close to what i have done before. i have always heard really good things about the organization and i really clicked with the executive director. so hopefully this will be a good match. a bonus for me was that this is a job which will give me some great experiences that will come in handy for when we're in africa*.

*i was going to put a link here leading to information about sexual assault and rape in africa. but, honestly, there's just too much information to put just one link. let's just say, it's an issue all over the continent.

foraging

we're not yet at the point where we have to forage for nuts and berries in order for us to eat. things have not gotten that bad yet. however, i have realized that we have muscadines growing in our back yard! so i went out there the other day to pick the first batch. i am so excited! there were still a lot of unripe grapes so i'll go back out again in another week or so to get more. they are delicious, though, and i think i might try to make something out of them if i get enough the next time around.

little

our little kitty has arrived and he's tiny.



you really can't tell from this picture. even though his name is doozer, chris and i have taken to calling him "little." and mokey, the older cat, we're calling "big" because well, yea, mokey is big and doozer is small. brilliant.

anyways, he's a real cutie. oh, and he has worms. it totally freaks me out and we're giving them medicines to get rid of it. but i've told chris that if i get worms i'm going to be really mad. worms, gross. good thing he's cute, otherwise he'd be out the door.

impress these apes season 2

i'm totally psyched that impress these apes is doing a second run of their 8 week improve competition. and it's even cooler that fuzzy, my brother-in-law, is one of the contestants.

chris and i got hooked on the show during the first run when chris's sister, erica was on it. because the show is based in chicago, we couldn't see it in person, but chris and i would go to the computer every week to watch erica's performances, and often the performances of the other contestants. the show was totally fun and made me realize how talented these folks are (not that i didn't know that about erica already).

so i'm looking forward to another round of hilarity. be sure to check it out and good luck to fuzzy!

i'm stealing

i am stealing this picture from chris's post because i think it's just the sweetest. chris will be home in an estimated 2 1/2 hours and i cannot wait!

it's not been an unbearable 6 weeks, but i have missed my hubs. now if i could just get a job all would be right in my world.

the end is here

the end of my summer travels, that is.

i've just returned from my last big travels of the summer. and this is about how i feel...a little haggard.

on thursday night of last week i drove to asheville, nc to meet my cousin's to leave my car at her place. from there we drove to boone, nc to her parent's house. we spent the night in boone in my uncle and aunt's really cool, old (and slightly ill-repaired) house and then on friday morning, after a slight detour, seven persons and two dogs set off to grandmom and grandad's house in western pennsylvania. those traveling were my mom's brother, my asheville cousin, izzy and aila the dogs, the boys and their respective girlfriends.

we made it to pennsylvania in relatively good time and proceeded to spend friday thru tuesday at grandmom's house. if we thought the car ride was cramped, that was nothing compared to gradmom's. all seven of us (and the two dogs) were joined by my mother, grandmom and grandad and their various animals, and my brother, his wife, and their 2 kids. luckily my brother and his family stayed in a hotel. good choice on their parts.

the occassion was the 60th furgiuele family reunion which was held on sunday. my grandfather is the seventh son of italian immigrants and i think there were another three or four after him. my grandad (who turned 89 in november), his younger sister and older brother are the only ones still alive.



despite the deaths and relocation of numerous relatives, family members and offspring of the original siblings came from all over the country for this year's reunion. we had a great turn-out.



more photos can be viewed at my flickr page.

other highlights of the weekend included me winning bingo for the first year ever and me sort of winning texas hold 'em . i guess unemployment brought me good karma or something.

chuck-town

great weekend with friends in charleston. turns out i don't have a picture with all four friends, so i chose this one which equally represents both sides of the friend contingent.

having hastily checked the morning job listings i now must get changed so i can go to the library to pick up my harry potter book. i may be absent from functioning life for a few days until i get this book read! and if it gets spoiled before i finish reading i'll be so pissed.

who is buried in grant's tomb?

finally, the answer to the age-old question.



answer: grant and his wife, julia.


this (dark) picture was taken when i visited grant's tomb during my trip to nyc last weekend. i lived in ny for 5 years and never even knew it was up at riverside park. how horrible is that?

great long weekend

got back late from new york last night. actually i got back this morning, at a little after 2:00 am. my flight was late leaving laguardia, of course. and then i had to drive the 90 miles from charlotte back to columbia.

but all-in-all, it was a fabulous weekend. here are a few choice shots.

on sunday, mom and jim came in to jersey city and we hung out for a few hours. we had a great brunch at this awesome little cafe. they made a mean frittata!


monday night we had a little mini newman club reunion for a few folks who were around the city. it was really great to see everyone. and it was cool to take a walk through some of my old haunts, like the restaurant we ate at, dojo's.


after dinner on monday a few of us headed down to the mercury lounge because my cousins' band, gringo star, was in town and playing. they're always fun to see play, and i enjoyed hanging out for a minute. i will see more of them in the coming weeks.


more pictures at my flickr set.

jet-setting

so i'm out of town again. i guess i mentioned previously that i got a last-minute deal to nyc. so i'm sitting in my sister's beautiful apartment to quickly type a few words.

arrived saturday evening and was picked up at the airport by my good friend, melissa, and her husband. went to an old haunt to meet friends for dinner and drinks. yesterday was a family day. mom and jim came up and we had a great day just hanging out and catching up.

i still have another 2 days to go and most of that will be spent again with melissa. we may pop in tonight for a quick view of gringo star, my cousin's band. anyone in the new york area tonight, or in the south east later this week, checkout their website for tour dates and times.

on a side note, anyone who has not been to chris's blog. there was a good report on his dad. read here for more.

change is in the air

i have had this blog for like 2 1/2 years and i can't remember if i have ever changed the format. so i spent some time tinkering today.

i'm not 100% i like it and that i'll keep it this way. there are definitely some things i know i want to add, i just have to find the right picture or phrase or whatever.

but any comments or suggestions on format and style related to the new design of the blog are welcome.

ouchies

i guess i'm more out of shape than i thought. well, that's not really true because i knew i was out of shape but i've been trying to pretend that i'm not really that out of shape.

but i got off my butt yesterday morning and tried to kick my own abs* by doing a total body fitness video. it was pretty good and i got most of the way through it. but today my stomach, arms and legs are not happy. i know i need to do it more than once, but we'll see if i can motivate to do it again tomorrow...



*kick my abs! get it? that was a really lame joke they use in the video and it totally bothers me.

i'm probably crazy

i just booked a flight to nyc for the weekend.

arrive saturday at 5:40 PM. leave tuesday at 7:30 PM.

i know i shouldn't have. but i'm home alone and i am bored and lonely. i found an esaver and couldn't resist*. it's been 2 years so it's about time for a visit anyway.

nyc, here i come!


*i actually found an esaver but by the time i got to it they were sold out. darn continental! so i had a mini heart attack and then found another one, which i booked immediately.

vacation

i've been away from blogging for the past week or so because i was on vacation with some of the waldie side of the family. flew out from columbia last saturday morning but had a horrible time getting to phoenix. finally did arrive, 16 plus hours later and extremely happy to finally be there. my horrible flying experience, however, was nothing in comparison to my brother's family. it took them 2 days to get there so i didn't complain too much.

we all hung out on sunday and "rested" our road-weary bodies. "resting" meaning we went swimming at dad's and at the community pool.



we all had a great time and we even managed to get dad and lizzie to go down the water slides.



monday and tuesday were spent in the grand canyon.



despite severe temperatures and hordes of crowds, we saw some beautiful sights and even managed a short hike into a part of the canyon.

wednesday i came down with an awful cold so i missed out on visiting rawhide, a western town, and seeing holiday fireworks with the rest of the family. instead i stayed home-side for a much cooler and low-key 4th as i watched tv all day and slept.

thursday i was back in the groove again and went with the family to visit sedona. this was my first trip to this town. it was definitely a tourist destination but it had a beautiful backdrop. we took a pink jeep tour to see some of the mountains and natural beauty of the area. it really was a beautiful place and we all enjoyed bumping around on the rocks as we "off-roaded it."



friday i headed back home again and, luckily, my flights were all normal and everything went off, for the most part, without a hitch.

i am back now to the hum-drum of looking for a job and the normal everyday stuff so you'll probably start hearing about the farm again, since that's pretty much all i do of note these days;).

green tomatoes

my tomatoes are coming in nicely. i have about 6 in all so far but they're not yet ripe. too bad, because i leave on saturday for a week-long trip and i'll probably miss them. i would make fried green tomatoes or something but i have so many veggies i'm trying to eat up what i have in my fridge before i pick any more. my neighbors will be watering the little guys and i told them that they can eat any ripe veggies (fruits) while i'm gone. hopefully this won't be the last i see of little green tomatoes popping up.

i know you're all probably tired of reading about the farm. but i like to catalog what i've been doing there for my own record more than because i think anyone else is enthralled with the details. i worked on wednesday for about 6 hours again. i helped again in this week's harvest: green beans (will they ever stop producing!), okra, a few squash, potatoes, sweet onions, and basil. then i helped ben in the afternoon once harvest was completed. i helped make soil blocks so we could plant cucumber seeds. i will head out there tomorrow to put in a few hours as well. i won't be around next week, so i have to get my fill in.

thanks for the visit

my sister's visit went really fast but we had a great time. took a quick trip to greenville on saturday. i thought it might be a nice place to stroll around and eat a bite of lunch. we chilled out in the park for a minute or two. rachel and i thought we could just sit and relax with our feet in the water, which we did only long enough to get comfortable. then we were chased away by some kids with their wet dogs. i did get a chance to cuddle with one before we walked away, only slightly wet.



we also had a great time at the farm day this weekend. some friends joined us for good food, home-played music, and hanging out under the stars.

sista' sista'!

my sister is coming in tonight for a weekend visit. yippee!

more about the farm

one phone interview yesterday and i worked on the farm again today. i'm getting a little rammy* at home so i'm trying to go up there as often as i can without wearing out my welcome. here's a new blog about the farm, posted by the usc volunteers.

today i helped to harvest green beans and the last of the carrots. also in our shares today are red russian kale, basil (!), and broccoli. and because i'm an extra special person, i got an eggplant. at this point i have so much veggies in my fridge i'm running out of things to do with them. i'm the kind of person who can't throw anything away, even if it will help my compost. so i'm frantically looking up recipes for carrot greens and such. of course, it occurred to me today (duh) that i could freeze some of this stuff, which i guess i'll do, especially once chris is gone (on monday).

after the harvest, i took a lunch break with the farm family and helped ben to rewire a trellis-system for the tomatoes. it started to pour rain, though, and the "system" wasn't really working as planned anyway, so we called it a day and i got home by 1:30.

i plan to head up there again tomorrow. they've got a lot of work they want done before their farm day on saturday, so i offered my services.

*"rammy," for those who don't know, mean fidgety.

pascal's wager

in honor of the environmental job that i interviewed for this morning, i thought i'd share this video. it's been passed over email so some of you may have already seen this.



Interesting Argument About Global Warming - Watch more free videos

under construction

yesterday i was making some changes to my blog and some of my old posts. those you get this blog through rss feed may have noticed some strangeness or notices that i posted like 12 times or something. sorry about that. i'm done now so all is good.

live country, not act country

there's a distinction. though, i was telling chris the other day that where i come from, the phrase "being country" or "acting country" doesn't really mean anything. but that's neither here nor there.

yesterday i worked on the farm again. this time chris came along and we joined some volunteers from usc. it wasn't much "farm" work, per sey. i helped uproot spontaneously-growing flowers from the garden and planted them in a bed out by the road. chris helped mulch stray limbs and "junk" around the property. we were with a fun group of people who are trained in permaculture and are really dedicated to living their lives with minimal impact and giving back to the earth. makes me want to work harder to live that way too.

last night chris and i went to see lyle lovett and his large band at the township auditorium. what a fun show! when they say "large band" they really mean large. He had 18 folks up on stage with him: 4 horns, a mandolin, a bass, cello, guitar, violin, steel guitar, 2 drummers, piano, and 4 kick-ass backup singers. what fun. definitely glad we spent the money on that*.

*that was money spent before i left that job, for those who think i'm crazy.

name dropping

in honor of his 1 year blog anniversary, i have put a link to paul's blog in the link section to the right. i guess i knew he had a blog, but i didn't really know he had a blog. but now that the link is attached to my own page, i'll remember to visit his site regularly.

catholic summer reading

i just finished rereading the 6th in the harry potter series in anticipation of the coming movie and book. (well, in truth, i just finished reading books 1-6.) and in typical waldie's world fashion i'm immediately on the hunt for a new read.

i've dug an old favorite off the shelf, which we aquired somewhat recently from a friends of the library book sale at a rediculously low price. at a future date i may post some ramblings with exerpts from this book of essays because it's really bringing me back to my roots.

but for the long term i think i'm going to try out this summer reading club. now that i've got time on my hands i have been surfing around blogs, including some old and new haunts. knowing that she'll post information on books she's reading, i went to amy welborn's blog yesterday to see if i could find book recommendations. little did i know i'd find a whole book club. so i've requested this book from the library and i'll start making my way through a few on the list. knowing me, i probably won't contribute to any of the conversations online. but i always like lurking in the background and hearing what others have to say. i've put the tag in the toolbar to the right for those who might want to go to the site at a later date.

happy birthday, dad!

free falling

some of you know this already, but many do not, so i thought i'd just put it out in cyberspace that i am offically unemployed. i won't go into the details here, but be it known that i quit yesterday and am now a free agent for anyone who wants to pay big bucks for my skills. just don't ask me what skills i possess, because i'm not really sure. but, shhhh, don't tell the prospective employers that.

i must say i'm enjoying being at home. this feeling will wear off in a few weeks, i'm sure. but i was so busy at my job before i left that i felt like i'd had my head in the sand for ages. so thus far i'm really enjoying the time i have at home to read blogs, play online, and (this morning) work on the farm.

congratulations

to the new barnettes.



it was a fun wedding and i hope they have a fabulous honeymoon this week!

chris and i had a really enjoyable weekend in all. we took a sort of mini vacation, which was much needed. we had a great time visiting with friends, eating out at good restaurants, and just enjoying greenville. we finished the weekend off by attending regular sunday mass at st. mary's (the church in which cheryl and sean were married). it was a long mass (1 hour 40 minutes), but the ceremony was so enjoyable and the homily excellent. i told chris on the ride home that it's too bad furman doesn't have an MSW program, because i'd be all for moving there.

happy day-before-the wedding

to sean and cheryl.



chris and i are headed to greenville in an hour or so to start the festivities for the cendrowski-barnette wedding. should be a weekend o' fun. and how could it not be? i've taken today off work and handed in my keys and cell phone and i'm free for the next 3 days!

woohoo!

vindication

he who must not be named (and NOT this one) is finally getting his comeuppance. i really can't say more on this subject but let's just say i hope he gets the worst. when karma works in your favor it is sweet.

things i did while my husband was gone

most of you know that chris was out of town for the past week. he went to his parents' house to help out for a little while. it sounds like david is doing worlds better, though he's still got a long way to go to be back to his normal, lively self, and erica is now in town too. chris will head back to columbia tomorrow. thanks to everyone who were saying prayers and sent thoughtful emails and such. we really do appreciate everyone's support and kindness.

i thought i would have a lot of time on my hands with chris being gone, which i guess i did; but i certainly didn't have much time spent staring at the wall or being lonely. this weekend i managed to:

-go out to sushi and drinks with a bunch of friends
-get my hair cut
-go to a graduation party
-clean the house
-plant 4 tomato plants and 4 basil plants in the garden
-go to church
-get a dress altered
-go out to dinner with 12 pre-teens
-see a south carolina miss black teen usa pageant
-finish a book
-grocery shop

i am sure there are other things that i did. but those are the big things. i feel accomplished.

insomnia

my husband is out of town and i can't sleep. i probably can't sleep, not because my husband is out of town and my bed is empty, but because i had 2 cups of chai and one (big) glass of orange soda at 8:30, 8:45 and 9:00 respectively. ah, somalis.

i've eaten some cheese and a piece of bread with mustard on it to settle my stomach because of all the sugar in said-drinks. so now i guess i'll go back to my bed and resume re-reading harry potter 4 and hope to slip off to la la land. (if i don't read, i'll just lay there thinking of work, of the meeting i have tomorrow, and of why i can't sleep.)

g'night (hopefully).

fresh weekend

this was a jam-packed weekend for me and chris. i had to work saturday morning for the 4th annual rubber duck race benefiting boys & girls clubs of the midlands. even though it was work, i had a good time. we released 250,000 rubber ducks into the river to race about 1 mile (i think). i worked a booth giving out sun glasses and potato chips to kids. since i forgot my camera i have no pictures of this.

following the rubber duck race i cashed in on one of my birthday presents and got an awesome hot stone massage at urban nirvana. it was bliss but the massage was over too quickly. luckily i have more on the gift card so i can go back again for more.

then saturday night chris and i went out for our 4th anniversary (by the way, thanks everyone for all the well-wishes). we had dinner and dessert at terra. this restaurant tries to get ingredients from local sources and buys its vegetables daily from a farmers market. despite lack of vegetarian items, the meal was wonderful and our waiter was really good. to start, chris and i both had delicious salads (chris's had a home-made goat cheese ball deep fried!). i had a wonderful veggie plate for an entree and chris had a pear and escarole pizza. then we both had dessert (espresso cheese cake and pistachio creme brulle (sp?)). it was all so good but we definitely overate!

sunday we had our first harvest from the garden.



i wasn't sure how to tell that the broccoli was ready for picking, because it was not very large (this picture is of 3 heads combined). but i read up a few links on the web and discovered that if i didn't pick them now it'd be too late. so i picked this broccoli and an onion (just to see if it was done--it was) and we had them in a salad for dinner on sunday.

sunday afternoon chris and i picked up our little somali friends, kadijah, ikra and mohammud and took them strawberry picking.



there were so many good strawberries, we couldn't get the kids to stop eating and picking them. we filled out 2 buckets in like 15 minutes and then spent the rest of the time catching up with mohammud, who had filled his t-shirt with about 1/2 bucket's worth of strawberries.

since the kids weren't ready to go home, we decided to take them to congaree national park, which was just a few miles down the road.
we took about a 1 mile walk to weston lake where we looked at turtles and fish in the water. then we raced back through the forest as chris and mohammud raced me, ikra, and kadijah. it was such a good time and the kids were so well-behaved!