Countdown to Operation Full House

The real countdown starts today--one week until my wonderful in-laws will be here! One will until we meet them at the airport, instead of us having to go out there.  I don't think there is a better feeling than walking off of a plane, through the doors and seeing people that love you standing there waiting for you.  Oh it warms my heart to think about it!!  They always do it for us, and I can't wait to do it for them.  Plus, they'll feel like it is much earlier so we can keep them up late.

The guest bed is almost ready.  We picked up a box spring last night, tied it to the top of the SUV and drove the two miles home...slowly.  My husband tied all the doors shut (with me in) and then did a HILARIOUS contortionist act to get in.  Crap, he's going to cause me grievous injury me for mentioning this. (love you baby!!) Hubs was trying his hardest to get the slats made, but mother nature decided that hail was more important than my guest bed.  It will get done, along with a shower curtain and then we will be a go.  My husband might be slow to get stuff done, but since I started stressing about having the guest room done a month ago, he has been great at getting stuff done.

My mom comes in on Saturday.  If it seems that I'm not as excited about seeing her, it is because she isn't too far away and I get to see her frequently whereas I get to see my in-laws 1-2 times per year.  I am excited at seeing her, and while my in-laws go visit some other friends for a couple of days I hope to take her to the zoo. I have been promising for far too long and it's time I go back!  I'm also really psyched that my dad will get to come spend some time out here, as he still hasn't seen our house and I think the last time he saw Newton he was a teeny widdle kitten.  The day we got Newton we left the house where we picked him up, and went to meet my dad to direct him to our new house.  Newton purred the entire time, like he knew he was going to a good home.  Of course, the next time the poor thing was in the cat carrier he umm..had his manly bits removed, so he isn't exactly fond of it anymore. How did I get from dad to kitten?  Anyways, I'm excited to have all these awesome people coming to share my abode...plus now instead of just me wanting to cook there will be 4 people wanting to cook (my dad is an amazing BBQ'ing god). Food...yum.

This weekend is also going to be awesome since our friends from WV decided to come out to visit.  They only gave me 48 hrs notice, so I don't have enough time (or inclination) to stress about it.  They won't care if my house is a little messy, as long as the toddler can't pull something down and conk himself on the head.  Actually I'm pretty sure he will do this at least once, but as long as we watch, he should escape too much injury.  If he tries riding my cat though, all bets are off.  I have to go to orientation for school on Saturday morning, but hopefully we can get some fun stuff in this weekend and my husband can get some video games in with his friend.

Oh food porn--I made spiced quinoa for dinner but I made a few changes to my own past recipe. First, I went back to Roni's original recipe and added a pear instead of apple. I realized that if you get the pear before it is overripe, they aren't gritty. I can dig that.  It was a little harder than perhaps optimal, but it was still sweet and the texture was like a firm apple.  I also added some raspberries that I picked up today.  Delish. I needed to up my fruit intake and I think that this dinner did it.  I think I ate it all...well...whatever didn't burn to the bottom of the pot because I opened the lid of the quinoa and that always makes it overcook.  Note to readers: when cooking quinoa, don't open the lid...no joke, it makes it burn to the bottom. I think I might want to cut the time from 12 to 11 minutes, but I'm pretty convinced that opening the lid to check on it damned me.  If you check the link up there out, you'll see that I said this same thing months ago when I wrote the original post.  I shall never learn.

I'm sure I will be back soon with lots of pictures of adorable drooling children. I anticipate lots of snuggles, and mess.  I also anticipate Henry hiding under our bed looking terrified (which is how he normally looks).

Historians, New Years and Blogging

Time for the traditional Happy New Year post. I do hope that everyone had a wonderful time last night, but more even more I hope that everyone has a wonderful upcoming year.  May this year have less drama, less upheaval, less pain and suffering that any before. I have high hopes for this year. I have hopes that my husband will not be unemployed again and we won't have to move!  I have hopes that my parent's marriage will grow stronger. I have hopes that a war will end, so my brother and someone else's brother won't be sent to Afghanistan. Maybe a war will end and another won't start. Maybe a new generation of leaders will see that diplomacy, not guns is the way that we need to learn to communicate. I have hope that a new generation of children will go to school and help lift their families out of generations of poverty.  I have hope because without hope...what do we have?

This last year has, personally been one of great joy, and sadness.  I have a hard time sitting here and thinking back because it all seems to run together into that which makes up life. I think that is the most important reason for me to blog. I have a hard time remembering individual moments and this is a record that I can look back to.  It is the historian in me that loves blogging, loves the idea of the written word (okay, typed) put down for not only myself but others to read, to recognize their own pain and struggles and to engage in a relationship and discussion where we can learn from one another.  

I don't want to write to and for myself though. If this were the case, I would be continuing those countless journal entries that most of us started when we were overly emotional teenagers that desperately needed an outlet.  I wrote in the first 20-50 pages of hundreds of journals and notebooks.  I wrote the same things over and over again, about how sad and depressed I was, and how I suffered from my past and self doubt.  Some of that was being a teenager, but most of it was my constant battle with depression.  It wasn't until I was able to be open about my battle, not only with my friends and a therapist, but frankly--with myself; that I was able to start making positive changes in my life.  

So this is my hope in blogging--that a year from now I can go back and read this entry and every entry that comes after it, and learn something about myself.  Learn about how I handle myself in my marriage, in my friendships, in my job and see how I have changed, and haven't. 

Where will I be in a year? Will I be working? Will I be a mother? Who will my friends be? Will the surgery have made for a healthier me? This last year was wrought with illness that never seemed to go away.  

Will my marriage be a stronger one? Will I be less annoying (please say yes!)? Will I finally learn to crochet a granny square and make something other than a scarf?  

What questions do you want to ask yourself in the next year? 

New Years Resolutions....

I currently don't have any...I shall think on it, and get back with you, however I constantly wonder if these resolutions ever make a real difference.