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!

4 years

happy anniversary, sweety!

a nod to chris

here's a little article from today's metro section of the state newspaper about chris's somali initiative.

week 4

4 weeks in and my garden's not looking too bad.



the colder weather is doing good things for these spring plants. the broccoli is just starting to bud out from the broccoli plants and the spinach is no longer turning yellow. they have a few more weeks to go until they'll be ready for harvest. then i'll plant our summer crops (tomatoes, okra, probably squash)!

also, barbara kinsolver put up a website for the book i was talking about. it's got recipes, info and links to resources about eating and growing locally.

winners and wieners

it's appropriate that at their goodbye party, brian would finally win connect four against chris. (from the picture, you can tell that chris wasn't too happy about it.)

i (along with lots of others) helped brian and nicole pack up (all!) their stuff today into the truck. they're on their way to their new home in charleston right now. best of luck guys! you'll be missed in good ol' cola town.

not-so-bad news

thanks for all the well wishes and prayers over the last few days. to use a word from my brother-in-law (?*), it's been a rollercoaster. but here's the latest on david from chris's mom's blog. it's in no way a cure, but the news was a whole heck of a lot better than we were expecting.

(*i'm not sure if "brother-in-law" is the right word for my husband's sister's husband, but it seems right.)

post easter post

we had a nice trip to mississippi, albeit short and subdued. but all sickness aside, it was a really great trip.



this picture was taken by chris just before tricia and i set out on our easter egg hunt. apparently i was a deprived child because i never did easter egg hunts at my house growing up. i didn't even realize that people did them in their homes (i thought it was only a public event) until my brother and his wife started doing them when they had kids. anyways, the reid clan hides the real eggs (the ones you dye, not the plastic ones). so david and chris hid our 10 eggs (tricia and i both ate one) and we had to find it. even though the weather was chilly (yes, CHILLY! as seen by tricia's hat), we all had a great time and we were successful in finding all the eggs with only a few hints.

other highlights of the weekend included an awesome lunch buffet at horizon. good times at the coffee shop. lots of stevie ray vaughn. and watching some funny videos of chris and erica (and other family members of course) from 1990-1991.

now the down side. read tricia's latest post to hear what's up with david. i won't really say too much but prayers are appreciated for the whole family.

pre-easter post

it's been a crazy, hectic week, which is always how short work-weeks seem. it's like you have to make up for the day off* by working extra hard the other days. yesterday we had a big fun day with the kids, which ended with them being able to throw pies in the faces of the staff members. needless-to-say, it was a crazy day; but the kids had fun so it was worth it. (that will explain why my hair was sticky and i smelled distinctly like whipped cream at mass last night).

as soon as chris gets home from work today we're going to head out to mississippi to spend a few days with his parents. for those of you who have been reading tricia's blog you'll have seen that david's not been doing too well. so we decided to take advantage of having an extra day off by going to visit them. we're both looking forward to it.

so i hope everyone has a very happy and blessed easter.

*i didn't really have a day off today because i spent the morning at the computer doing work.

summer weather

seems like the weather has gone straight from winter and right into summer here. the 60/70 degree spring has disappeared. mokey is enjoying it now that we can open windows and she can purch to look out. but my spring veggies in the garden are slowly wilting (and will probably die when we're in v-burg over easter). and tonight when chris and i took a walk in the cooler evening weather we got ate up by the first misquitoes. darn!

no foolin'

thanks for all the well-wishes and greetings on sunday. my birthday was a good one! here's to a great year!

wedded bliss

this is a little delayed...but better late than never.

congrats to tricia and adam for getting hitched this past saturday in hull, ma. wish we could've been there, but for various reasons the trip was not in the cards. i hope you guys had a blast!

on a related note, chris and i celebrated our 6th year of dating on that very same day, st. patty's day. we had a lovely dinner out to mark the event.

*** update***

here's a picture i just got of the newlyweds.

eat locally

i have been reading a new (well, actually, yet-to-be-released) book by barbara kingsolver. i would put a link, but i couldn't really find much info on the web other than where to pre-order it. anyways, the book is about how she and her family took on the adventure of eating only locally produced food for a whole year. it's fairly interesting and has gotten me thinking a lot about what we eat and where it comes from. i won't get on that whole tangent here, except to say, next time you go to the grocery store start looking at where your food comes from. it's easy to see how we spend more fossil fuels on transporting food than we do driving our cars.

so anyways, this book along with the really nice weather this weekend got me and chris out to start our very own garden. this is something that we've been wanting to do for years but up to this point we've not had the ability. so in hopes of having just a few little snippets from our own side yard this spring and summer, and just because we find working in the yard fun, we spent our sunday working on this:




i know; it doesn't look like much now. that's because we don't have anything planted in the bed. we'll do some planting next weekend. we're thinking tomatoes (of course), okra, beans, herbs, and summer squash. but we'll see what we can find at the farmer's market next weekend. even though chris thinks the design of the garden is "ugly", i think it's beautiful and can't wait to see things start peaking out of the soil!

we must be on the right track because after creating the garden i went to the grocery store tonight and saw last week's cover story for time magazine.

alpine bliss

it cracks me up when a cat behaves so typically...well...cat-like. mokey has been slowly clawing her way through various pieces of furniture in our house (our bedframe, a comfy chair). so i decided to try this cosmic catnip alpine scratcher. i was hoping it might distract her away from the people furniture. i opted for the $3 more expensive alpine scratcher because it had a little hole in its base with a mouse-like-thingy hanging in there. sure enough, mokey loved it.



so far she's not really spent much time scratching, but she sure loves the mouse.

still going after all these years

yesterday was my 2 year anniversary. i can't believe i've had something to say for 2 years + one day. ask my husband, i usually don't talk this much.

***update. i guess this message was kind of cryptic. that's what i get for trying to type it out before work this morning. but when i got a "happy wedding anniversary" phone call today i realized that perhaps i should've been more clear here. it's my 2 year BLOG anniversary. sorry for the confusion. happy blogging.***

good and bad

for those of you who know us well, you may know that chris and i have not had television since 2002 when we moved to nj. to be clear, we've had a TV, but have not had cable nor any reception. and we do not particularly care to have it so we never bought rabbit ears or anything. we keep the tv unplugged until we want to watch a movie and then roll it over to the couch.

so anyways, last night chris was going to the laundromat and i decided to go too so i could watch the oscars. (i know, i know. it's not really like me to want to watch the oscars. but i found myself wanting to see it this year). we got 1/2 way through the show by the time our landry was done.i wanted to watch the rest so i decided to try and see if we could get some reception at home. for the first time since moving to our apartment this past may, i plugged the cable outlet into the tv. and what do ya know? we've got tv. a lot of tv. apparently we have some sort of free tv cable service (whether intentionally free or not, i do not know) along with our cable internet.

i still really don't want to watch tv. and we still plan to leave the television unplugged. but now i guess we can't say we don't have tv. we'll have to say something along the lines of "we choose not to watch it," which i guess is more accurate anyway.

does this look funny to you?

our home mac computer recently died and for the past few weeks chris and i have been using this pc laptop. i realized that on this laptop my blog's appearance is not quite right. the toolbar and profile and links that are supposed to be immediately to the right of my last post are all the way down to the bottom of the page. is it like that for anyone else? and for those bloggers out there, does anyone know how to fix this?

bleh

this has pretty much been me and chris for the past several weeks. i came down with a bug last sunday night and am still trying to get my voice back. now i've passed it along to the hubs and he's been down for the count for the past few days. hopefully we'll be up and running again soon. i can't believe i'm saying this, but we kind of miss the real world.

mom's birthday surprise

today is my mom's 60th birthday for realz. but we all got together this weekend in cape may for a surprise birthday party. my siblings, ben and rachel, and my step dad, jim, and i have all been planning this for a few months now. and i think it was a pretty good success. here's the blog about the event. (it's been weird having another blog and not being able to mention it here. i felt almost like i was having an affair. so it's good to get it all out in the open now.)

effing pia

i feel like doo and we leave for nj (the coldest state on the planet*) tomorrow and now blogger has made me change my profile over to google. it's supposed to make my life easier, they said. bull doo! it's turned into a royal pia. thanks, blogger.

*it really is the coldest state on the planet. no need for any fancy links. just trust me.

sexy valentine's day plans

i've been sick for the past 4 days so i'll just get it out of the way and say straight out that i have no sexy valentine's plans, not that we usually do anything for valentine's anyway. but i guess this time i have an excuse?

started to feel sick on sunday night with fever, shivers and sweats. took monday off to recuperate. went to work on tuesday and ended up worse for it. tuesday night i slept a total of probably 2 hours. tried to sleep. couldn't. got up and read in the living room. tried to sleep. couldn't. woke chris up with my restlessness and coughing. read until 5:00 AM and then slept until the alarm woke us up. had to get up because we needed to go and get the car from the shop. so i stayed home today and did battle over the phone with doctors to get a few prescriptions.

so now i'm feeling better enough to be bored and want my husband to come home before i start to feel sick again. i guess this means i'll probably be at work tomorrow. that's fine, though, because that would make it a 2 day work-week because i took friday off to go home. yipee!

a counting

yesterday i did our taxes. it's the second or third year that i've done them. this time i'm really proud because i think there are no mistakes. of course, i thought that last year and they were sent back like 2 times. but this time, i'm even more certain. it brings some kind of arcane satisfaction to know that i can do our taxes. it's like i've mastered one part of my life where you usually have to hire an expert.

tomorrow i have to bring our car into the shop because it broke down on my way home from work yesterday. perhaps my next realm of self-sufficiency should be car mechanics.

david update

chris's dad had another CT scan yesterday. tricia, sums up the latest at her blog.

the short of it for those who don't want to follow the link: disappointing but not discouraging. he'll go on a new round of cemo on monday.

all gussied up

i had a work function i had to attend last night, a gala held at the columbia metropolitan convention center (located directly next to the colonial center which was simultaneously having a monster truck rally). chris was kind enough to join me at the gala, 'cause he's sweet like that. so got all fancy, me in a gown and and chris in a suit. our camera was out of batteries, though, so we don't have a picture of us. but trust me, we looked goooood.

babies!

we have 2 friends (well, 4 friends if you count their husbands) who both had babies in the past few weeks.

angela and ger had a healthy baby girl, piper mclene, yesterday. she wasn't due for another three weeks. but she came early, much to the surprise of her parents, i'm sure, because we were talking with them on sunday and angela didn't even look big!

chris and carrie had baby jonah edward on the 18th. he was pretty much right on schedule and, as i'm sure carrie was sick of hearing, she was VERY big.

so congrats to parents and their families!

laundry services

my husband is out doing our laundry. that's right, our laundry. i was always one to keep our cloths-washing-duties seperate. but he recently offered to start doing my laundry and, probably much to his surprise, i accepted. i guess it kind of evens out our house duties. and i hate going to the laundry mat to wash cloths! so here's to having a new home delivered laundry service!

brings a smile to your day

i was away in myrtle beach this weekend for a work conference. it wasn't too bad. i think it was good for my staff to get some training in and it boosted morale a bit, so it was worth it.

bad timing, though, because fuzzy and erica were in charleston for a comedy festival. so i missed their much-acclaimed don't spit the water performances. we did get to hang out a bit on sunday in columbia, though. so that was fun. wish it could've been longer, but erica had to get back for her dance competition in impress these apes. you should check out all the contestants becuase they're all great! and erica is now in the lead. go girl!

a weekend of eating in review

this was a great long weekend. seems like chris and i spent most of our time eating out. and you know i love eating, so it was all good.



on friday night we went to the olive garden. we usually only go there like once a year when we have gift cards because 1) it's all the way on the other side of town and 2) it seems like there are a whole bunch of really good local restaurants right in our neighborhood. last year i remember thinking that the food really wasn't worth the long wait for a table. this time we again waited what seemed like an astronomical amount of time (okay, it really was just over 45 minutes) but the meal was surprisingly good and fairly reasonably priced. the bruschetta was awesome! i had an adequate glass of wine to complement the portobello mushroom ravioli which was delish! chris had 4 cheese ravioli and though i didn't taste it he said it was quite good.

we spent most of sunday in the mall. we shopped right up until dinner time so we ended up going out to dinner again. plus, we figured we hadn't spent any of our money on friday night's dinner, so we could afford another night of eating out. this time we went for mexican along our route home. veggie fajitas for me and bean burrittos/cheese quesadillas for chris. however, the pleasant meal was marked part way through by the unmistakable sound of the locking and unlocking of a revolver. that would be the high school student behind the check out counter playing with apparently what was the restaurant's (hopefully) unloaded gun. it was really strange, not so much that he was playing with a gun while the rest of us went along with eating our meal. it was more the ease with which he played with the gun that really struck me.

today the weather was spectacular in columbia so chris and i took a long walk along the riverwalk. and then we rewarded ourselves with a little rosewood dairy bar. i had a strawberry milkshake and chris had their famous (to us) apple turnover, which we got to enjoy while sitting outside.

tonight we met up for a yacs event to brainstorm ideas for meetings in 2007. we also partook in mellow mushroom pizza (kosmic karma and veggie) which is always delicious, as was the company.

we're composting!

this morning, with the help of my wonderful husband, i was able to finally construct a little enclosure for a compost bin. i've wanted to compost for a long time but didn't really think our landlords would be too happy with that. then i just decided to go for it! why wouldn't a landlord be happy to have enriched soil and less junk in the landfill? horay for composting!

thanks, friends.

i just wanted to take a moment to thank all those who donated this holiday season to my fundraising goal for heifer international. (see the toolbar to the right of this page for more information.) i've been reading a lot of really interesting books this holiday season which has inspired me to do something a little more meaningful by send my holiday money to charities. i wanted to spread the word as well and see if anyone else would be interested in joining me. so thanks to all who joined in my cause and donated money. it means so much to me to have such supportive friends and family, folks who care about the world as much as i do. you guys are the best!

as of today we have made 79%* of my goal so i am going to leave the toolbar up in hopes that we can make it to 100% or over throughout the coarse of the year.

*i actually should have a higher percentage, but i donated to heifer in the name of family members and had to do it without it going toward my goal. oh well, the cause is the same.

bringing in the new year with a bang

or a crack/pop, really.



this was the result of my first attempt to cook in the new year. this casserole totally exploded when i (gently) placed it on the table. maybe it's an omen that i should stay away from the stove this year. or maybe it just means i should pay more attention when cooking so i don't put a dish down on a burner that is accidentally turned on. oh well. there went a perfectly good meal and one of my favorite dishes.

cooking (or trying to cook) was not really how we rang in the new year. chris and i went with sean and cheryl to tybee island, ga.



we rented this little place and spent 2 1/2 days, exploring, eating and having a good time. our hosts, paul and annie (and their dog, sandie) were very hospitable. they took us on a boat ride to daufuskie island, a small island off the coast of hilton head, sc (but very accessible by boat from tybee). daufuskie's only access is via boat and it has about 150 year round residents. it also was the setting for pat conroy's novel, the water is wide, which is based loosely on his experiences teaching here during a vista year. in any event, we had a great time visiting tybee, daufuskie, and savannah.

also, i feel remiss if i do not wish a belated happy birthday to my husband.



even though i am posting this late, we did indeed celebrate his birthday on the actual day of his birth, december 22nd. we went out to eat with chris's parents and his 2 somali friends, which was really a great time. the celebrations continued the next day when we had a joint celebration for chris and bo, my step dad. that's when the above picture was taken. from the looks of it you really coudn't tell these guys are supposed to be adults! click here to see all the photos from cape may.

holiday fun

great time in nj. we spent christmas with just mom, jim, my sister and chris's parents. but on the 26th the whole family came down to exchange gifts and celebrate grandmom's 80th birthday. everyone was in good spirits and it was a lot of fun. i still can't get over how old my nieces are getting!

vacation! oh yea, baby!

the club-wide holiday pot-lucks are over. we've taken all the kids roller skating (which was really fun, i might add). we've relocated our office. i've handed in my reports. had our evaluation. everything is pretty much done. now it's vacation time and i can't be more excited.

the in-laws come in tonight. we'll go out to eat for chris's 30th! birthday. then tomorrow we're off (in the dark, wee hours of the night) to my parents' house. i'm just so excited to not have anything really pressing to do today. pack a little, a few errands, but other than that i'd like to read for as much of the day as i can. vacation is loverly.