He is Risen

Happy Easter, everybody! I've been silent on the blog this week for holy week. hope it was a blessed one for everyone.

we had a great easter weekend. friends from out of town came back into town for a little visit. we spent saturday eating good food, hanging out on our porch, dying eggs, and having a hunt. here are some pictures.









for the past few weeks i have been working hard to get our yard in order. the owner before us apparently dumped truckloads of pine straw all over the yard. in addition to it being too much pine straw, it had just sat there accumulating leaves and debris. it was a mess! so anyways, i've spent a lot of time raking the front yard and cleaning everything up. now instead of a pine straw yard, we have a completely dirt yard. but i honestly think that looks a million times better. besides, we're hoping we can get something to grow where the pine straw as. this picture doesn't really show the yard, but you can see the azaleas in bloom.

girl-full weekend and other rambling

i am late on a bunch of blog posts. so i'm doing them all in one right here.

birthdays: happy birthday on wednesday of last week to lindsay. happy birthday on friday of last week to melissa. this is the time of year for some fantastic birthdays!

question: how do you know it's spring? is it a) flowers are blooming, b) the time change last week, c) pollen in the air, or d) waldie has poison ivy.

answer: the one tried and true way to know that sping is in the air is for me to have poison ivy. all the other ways work too, but this way seems to happen more regularly than any other method i've found thus far. where is my pi?, you may want to know. on my face, of course. how lovely.

this weekend: i had a very women-friendly weekend. on friday i attended a fantastic ladies-only dinner party. that was a hoot, i'll tell ya! great food, great drinks, great company and great music.

then, on saturday chris and i headed up to greenville for this one's baby shower.



again, great food, great friends, great games, and a good time.

cutie and cutie

i just think this picture is so sweet.


that's my hubs and my niece, if you didn't already know.

taunting!

the LAST episode of project runway arrived in the mail yesterday (thanks one last time, f & e!). the thing is, i gave up tv on the weekdays. so it'll just sit on our dining room table taunting me until this weekend when i allow myself to watch it. yikes! who's it going to be?? (please don't tell me, i like the suspense/surprise!)

spring break

the only reason i wish i were still in school is so that i could have a spring break. i don't want the homework though. so i guess it's a toss-up.

i sort of vicariously get a spring break because chris is on a quasi-spring break*, so i get to have my husband back at least a little bit this week. woohoo!

this weekend we had a weekend full of fun! we shopped around for inexpensive bookshelves, cleaned out and organized our back room, and then raked our front yard. boy, we're adults huh? that this is our idea of fun! we really just enjoyed each other's company, which was grrrrrrreat!

the kids had fun too!


(notice mokey skulking in the background, wishing that she weren't so fat so she could fit in the new toy too!)

*chris's spring break is only "quasi" because he's still doing his ga and internship, just no classes.

new curls

i finally went for it and cut most of my curls off. it was about this time 7 years ago that i did the same thing. that just so happens to be right at the beginning of when i started dating my husband. so maybe there's some sort of significance there, i don't know. but what i do know was i was ready for a change. so here it is:



other things of note: i drove all the way out to here (1 hr 15 minutes drive) for 45 minutes of the worst presentation i've ever given at a conference which was so disorganized; then i got back in the car for another drive home. yea, that was a waste of a beautiful saturday. though, i have to say, the campus is pretty, the drive was nice and i got to listen to some good radio programs. and when i got home i decided to salvage what was left of the day and do some yard work. so it turned out okay.

tandem couple plus one

congratulations to tandem couple on the birth of their first child, a daughter named indigo aurora. she was born february 9 at 8:08 Am, 20.5", 9lb 3 oz. she's a biggie and what a cutie! special prayers for this little bundle would be appreciated. it seems she was born with some birth defects in her ankle and leg which will require ongoing attention and surgeries. however, from what i can tell, everyone seems to be adjusting well! you can check out their progress here. yea, babies!

second marriage

while we visited my family in nj this weekend we went to our local church for mass. apparently the state of nj designated last sunday as a day to give special prayers to married couples to strengthen their marriage bond and preserve their vocation. (i personally, think it might've been more appropriate to do this the weekend before since february 10th was technically world marriage day, but whatever.) in any event, chris and i (along with a couple dozen other couples) got to renew our wedding vows. it was actually really sweet and my husband looked me in the eyes this time as he said his vows. so i guess we're on our second marriage now. cool.

happy birthday mom!

it has been a busy week. we left friday a for a weekend trip to see family in nj for mom's birthday. her actual birthday is tomorrow, so happy birthday, mom!


most of the family came down and we just had a good time eating, walking on the beach, visiting, eating more, and playing around the house.

a new addition

it always takes me ages to add anyone to my friends and family toolbar on the right. so my apologies to city yogan for the delayed addition.

as an aside, she lent me becoming who you are by james martin (who happens to come from my original neck of the woods). i've read about 1/2 of it so far and am really enjoying it. very simple messages with lots of things to think about. thanks, cy!

they arrived!

the seeds are in!



the pictures on the packages look so good, you almost think they're real. i am hoping to plant them tomorrow if i can sneak it in after work and before sunset.

i've not posted about this weekend so i'll say a few words here. i was so productive!

on saturday i visited the all-local farmers market and picked up some fresh goodies. then, it was such a beautiful day, i headed home and dug up our yard. i made a 12' x 8' plot for the garden. our soil is so good (as far as i can tell). there were lots of happy bugs (well, they were temporarily unhappy because i dug them up), and there were very little rocks and the soil just looked dark and healthy! it's so cute, even as just a patch of tilled earth.

sunday the productivity continued. i finally got around to touching up the paint around the new windows which were installed in december. it didn't take too long but it was something that had been nagging me for months. woohoo!

thanks to me, chris has been sick for the past few days, so he's been laying low, reading and just chilling. of course, there's always time for cuddling even if you're sick.

page 123- 3 sentences meme

i was tagged.

* Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
* Find Page 123.
* Find the first 5 sentences.
* Post the next 3 sentences.
* Tag 5 people.

the book: mick martin and marsha porter's dvd & video 2004 guide.

the quote: "blue crush:***three maui surfer girls support themselves as hotel maids as they prepare for the big competition at the pipeline, while one (kate bosworth) is romanced by a visiting nfl quarterback (matthew davis). the film is lightweight but entertaining, with an appealing cast, colorful locations, and excellent surfing scenes. rated pg-13 for sexual content and brief profanity."


tagged: i'm not a big fan of tagging. never played the game when i was a kid because i didn't like people chasing after me. so if you want to play, feel free to post in the comments section.

i never have seen this movie, by the way. chris and i were both surprised it got 3 stars. this book, however, is the most cited reference book in the house.

happy birthdays

happy birthday today to tricia and yesterday to fuzzy. february birthdays kids! sorry we're not there to celebrate in person with you guys. of course, i have my annual february cold. so nobody would really want me around.

i've mostly been lying around since wednesday. but yesterday we headed down to south georgia to see my grandparents. i pretty much laid around there too. but i did get a chance to play with their new puppy.


she was a real cutie!

getting ready for spring

i'm a little obsessive compulsive. i just spent almost $60 on seeds. yup, seeds!

you may remember that i made my first attempt at gardening last year and it worked out ok. now that we have a new house with a big-to-us yard, chris and i have been talking expansion. a full-blown garden. so in a few days (hopefully) we'll have our first shipment of seeds. not all of it, of course, will be put in the ground right now. most will have to wait a few months. but we're hoping to get outside next weekend to prepare the ground for some of the winter and early spring crops.

when i told chris i wanted to spend $60 on seeds he said, "well, you work hard. you earn the right to spend money on something that you like to do."

of course, time will tell if i spent a ridiculous amount of money on something that will totally eat up my time for no benefit or if i spent money on something that will be totally fun and will yield great results in our gastronomical lives. i'm hoping for the latter.

50 seconds worth of blogging

things have been busy and i haven't had too much time to update the blog. but here's a quick rundown of what's been going on.

i'm sitting here typing on our new-to-us computer. thanks to e&f for the computer. thanks to adam for the ginormous monitor. and thanks to bo for the keyboard. it takes a village to give the reids a computer, apparently.

mom came in last night for what was supposed to be about 12 hours of visiting (including sleep). from what i hear, she spent an extra 5 or 6 hours in town getting tires fixed. too bad i was at work the whole time. luckily i'll get to see her more next weekend when we take our yearly trip to south georgia.

we said goodbye to another father-figure this weekend. our priest of 4 1/2 years (10 years at our parish) has been transferred to another parish. there is a lot of sadness and of course, wondering what will come next. i'm becoming more aware of the cyclical nature of life every day. all things must pass, as a wise one once said. the only thing that''s inevitable in life is change.

my new addiction

i don't think i've mentioned it yet, but i have to give a shout-out to my new favorite thing in life, project runway. i first started watching in mississippi this december with erica and fuzzy. i have sort of a love/hate relationship with reality tv shows, so i'm not surprised that i was drawn into this show so easily. what's cool about it, though, is that these people really have talent!

so since december e&f have been feeding my addiction by recording the weekly programs and sending them to me. i have to say, it really is so fun to get the dvds of the episodes in the mail each week. i usually end up going right in and watching it. in fact, in the last shipment which i received tuesday night, there were 2 weeks worth of shows! i watched one show on tuesday night. i was half way through my day at work on wednesday and was so cheered when i remembered i had the second episode to watch that evening. it's like crack!

flotsam and jetsam

one of the good things to take so long to post is that some people have already done it.



thanks to melissa for coming down from nyc this weekend and bringing the cold with you. 'preciate that. come back again (but leave the weather from whence you came).

momma mia

mom on beach, late 1970's

baptism of the Lord and of katie

the catholic church celebrates the baptism of the lord today, thus marking the end of the advent and christmas season. it was fitting, then, that i took down the christmas decorations yesterday. the house is almost empty and a lot less cosy without the tree. :(

it was also fitting to celebrate the feast of the baptism of the Lord today because yesterday i had a sort of "baptism" myself. here's the story:

you may remember that i have been fighting a few battles with the house. after my defeat from the toilet and the washing machine last weekend, i vowed i would be more successful this weekend. i decided i couldn't yet win the washing machine battle, but i could "cut it off at the knees" and temporarily solve the problem. so we severed the outside pipe, thus not really fixing the problem, but at least allowing us to do laundry without getting water all over the floor. the real fix will come when we have the funds to call a professional.

and then there was the toilet. i went to the local hardware store and bought all the inside pieces to replace everything in the innards of the toilet. it took me a while, but after carefully reading the directions, i managed to actually take everything out and put all the new stuff in. the good news was that the toilet was functioning after my repairs and the leaking was less, but i could still see the water line dropping a little bit. so i knew there was still a leak somewhere. i went the hardware store again but had little success there. however, after coming home again i soon realized that there was water leaking on the outside of the basin around the nut where the water line comes in from the wall. so now i was really mad, but still determined to win this one. i called my stepdad and bitched to him for a minute and he gave me the brilliant suggestion of ensuring that i screwed the nut in completely (the directions told me not to screw it in too tight because it could brake the tank).

so, i went back to the toilet. i took the lid off but decided not to turn the water back off because all i was doing was tightening a nut. as i proceeded to turn the nut, i realized i was going in the wrong direction. so, of course, water started running out of the bottom of the tank. i was like, "oh no, wrong way." quickly turn, turn, turn the other direction. and then, splash! a fountain of water was coming up from inside the toilet and shooting all over me and the bathroom.

apparently, i had not really secured the water filter system inside the toilet and the thingy* wasn't really secured to the other thingy*. the water shot up so hard that the first thingy* flew in the air, out of the basin and thus causing said fountain of water. i let out a satisfying girl-like squeal but was able to turn everything off relatively quickly.

in the end, i won out against the toilet. the leak is pretty much all but gone and i'm satisfied enough to say i've the victor. for being my first initiation into plumbing i think it was only appropriate that i got initiated through water.

plumber

question for anyone living in the area. anyone know a good plumber?

i just checked out palmetto biz buzz, which i just heard about on sc business review this morning. but there were so many choices, i though it might be good to get some personal opinions as well.

thanks for donating

when you're going to donate an item (any item) to a charity (any charity), please be sure that all the pieces and parts of said item are present with the donation. there's nothing like getting something and then realizing that it's missing half the pieces and you can't put it all together, thus rendering this item completely useless. on the same token, if you're donating something, make sure the item is in relatively good condition. as in, "sure these socks have a hole in the toe but if you have no socks, holey socks are better than none." i guess that's true. but come on, people, everyone deserves and wants un-holey socks. no matter how needy you are. so please folks, when you give to charity give something that would actually work.

thank you.

house 3 - team reid 0

this sunday chris and i attempted to embark on several home-improvement projects.

1) fix a leaky toilet

2) put a wheel on our heavy fence gate

these seemed like manageable goals for a sunday afternoon.

so both chris and i spent a good portion of our day attempting to remedy these 2 seemingly easy problems. but, alas, it was not our good fortune to be so successful this time. unfortunately, the thing i thought was wrong with the toilet was, apparently, not the thing that needed fixing because by the end of the day it was still running. and after chris spent many an hour and lots of *choice* words, the poorly-constructed gate broke where the wheel was attached leaving us with not only a still-heavy gate, but a still-heavy gate with a big chunk of wood missing from the bottom.

we should've just walked away 2 and 0, but we rounded the day off by trying to do some laundry. in this house, that almost always leads to disaster. the problem that i thought i'd fixed weeks ago really wasn't a fix and now it's only getting worse.

so sunday night was not a happy night in the reid household. urghh. but we'll get you, house. team reid will win in the end.

a few new pictures

here's some holiday cuteness...


we're leaving the decorations up so we can enjoy them a few more days. we usually don't take things down until around the epiphany anyway. i never understand how someone could kick a christmas tree to the curb on the 26th anyway.

also...


doozer's fur really fluffed up while we were away. i even commented to chris that what if he's the wrong cat. (there are like 3 other long-haired black cats on the street and i wondered if grabbed the wrong one when doozer got loose a few weeks ago.) but then i remembered that only doozer will scratch at his litter box for like (no exaggeration) 15 minutes when he's done his business. he has to be ours.

also, not cuteness, but sweetness. look what my husband did for me today while i was at work. he turned this:


this picture was taken right when we moved in. add to this, more of an accumulation of junk piled to the ceiling and you'd get a better mental image.

into this:



good hubby!

family props

man, i've got some crazy-smart family.

chris's sister erica is featured in victor skrebneski's new book. i'd show a picture or post a link to buy the book, but apparently it's not available yet online. but go to your local bookstores and request it! of course, you'll have to pay the $125 for it, but it'll be worth it to see erica's 4 page layout! she's beautiful!

also, my brother put out his newest book.



it just arrived in the mail yesterday at our house (thanks ben!). this book is substantially smaller than the skrebneski book mentioned above (that book, i've heard, is a coffee table books and weighs a billion pounds). but it was a ton of labor on my big bro's part. great job, ben! if you're a mac person, go out and buy it!

happynewyear!

i thought i'd start the new year off right with a blog post since i've not done that in a while. we're back in the swing of things again at home and settling in again.

2007 was a good year for us, but it was also filled with a lot of not-so-good stuff and some of the most toughest times we've faced yet. so we're looking forward to 2008 being the best year yet!

last night was a good start to the new year. we had a fun and enjoyable team-reid-prepared dinner in our new house. then we went to a good friend's house for a new year's gathering. once the ball dropped and we rang in the new year, we headed home where we picked up a hitch-hiker (at 1:00 in the AM)! we were a little nervous but we've promised to be better people this year. and the hitch-hiker was a woman and she looked legitimately in need. so we took her a few blocks to a friend's home with no problems on our end. this morning we slept in ( really, really slept in. i won't give you the time we woke up!). we're about to head to church and then hopefully spend an enjoyable day playing and resting. all-in-all it promises to be a great start to 2008.

i hope you all had a happy and peaceful new years and i wish you all the best for this new year.

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.