Monthly Archive

I’m still here. I haven’t abandoned this lovely little piece of the internet. I just got sucked in by the holidays. I got pummeled by chaos and uncertainty at work. I’ve been enjoying my husband’s company before the Spring semester starts up and I lose him to nerd-dom again. Today was going to be my day to catch up. I was going to post lovely pictures I took with my new camera. I was going to learn how to use the photo editing program I got for Christmas. I was going to brag about the perfect (and the not so perfect) gifts, spill the silly family stories, write a thought filled post. But…I’m pooped. I did laundry. I organized my CD’s. I bought 2 new bras thanks to VS’s lovely post-holiday sale!

I had plans for the day…but something important came up. My father-in-law has been having chest pains. He had an abnormal EKG, has a strong history of heart attacks/disease in the family and is spending the night in the hospital. He did not, thank God, have a heart attack today, but they’re doing a test in the morning to check for blockages and heart disease. He wasn’t in much pain when we left the hospital today and was in good spirits, watching football. There’s no eminent danger, but it takes a toll on you to get a phone call that someone might have had a heart attack. We threw on something other than the comfy clothes we were wearing and were out the door and at the hospital in less than 20 minutes. We’re not overly-worried, but we’re concerned. B’s paternal grandfather had 2 heart attacks by age 60. We hope tomorrow’s news will be that the Drs caught something before it caused a heart attack. Please keep my F-I-L in your thoughts tomorrow. Our fingers are crossed for good news. We were joking at dinner that it’s been a rough year for Brian’s family and perhaps this happened 2 days before the new year so my F-I-L’s body could be done with it and enjoy 2008!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday brimming with warm fuzzy feelings, comfort food, fabulous presents, and even better company. I wish you a prosperous new year where you never have more on your plate than you can deal with. A year you’ll look back on with fond memories and a full heart.

And those New Year’s Resolutions you made…

Rex is watching to make sure you stick to them!

Have I really not posted in 8 days?  Yikes.  Sorry guys.  I still love you, I promise.  I think I got so used to posting photos in my posts that I had a hard time coming up with something worth reading without a picture to insert…and I haven’t felt like taking any pictures.  I’m holding out until Christmas when B’s generous parents bestow upon us a lovely Canon camera with 8 (count them, 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8!) whole megapixels, as apposed to the piece of poo 2 megapixel camera I’ve had for the last half a decade.  I’m so excited I can barely contain myself.  The camera even has manual settings for when I’m feeling artsy fartsy and want to pretend I have photography skillz!  I plan on learning how to use it’s every function.  Can you see my heart jumping out of my chest at the thought of a new camera?  Because it is.  Soo. very. excited!  Wee!

As a result of my lack of inspiration, I am afraid I’m going to have to subject you to some verbal diarrhea.  Then again, I don’t think you come around here to read beautiful words I have artfully strung together, because I am so not a writer.  On with the verbal diarrhea…

Things have been on the busy side ’round here.  B is studying his cute little hiney off for his finals (2 down, 2 to go) with a horrid crick in his neck that makes his head look crooked.  Poor thing.  He’s in pain, but he studies like a champ none-the-less!  In other news, I traveled to Newport News, VA to visit family this weekend, and didn’t get lost on the way.  Score!  See True Confession (day after) Tuesday below to discover why this is such a treat.  My cousins and I lounged, watched a movie, slept late, ate lots of food, went to see Colbie Callait at the Norva, and visited the Bier Garden in Portsmouth where I savored a Floris Apple Ale.  I MUST find this beverage in the everyday world.  Someone must sell it - well, someone other than the Bier Garden that has something like a 10 page beer menu (front and back my dears!) sorted by country.  I know not from whence the Floris Apple came, but I am in love!  So tasty!  So fruity!  So un-Ale-like!  Yum!

Anywho, I had loads of fun, met some new folks, and learned that bringing cookies to the nursing home makes you lots of friends - but if you don’t wanna feel like a meanie, bring sugar-free cookies so all the elderly may partake, including those with diabetes.  Fortunately I was in the locked ward of the nursing home where the residents don’t have enough of a memory to hold a grudge for their lack of treats…but I will definitely bring something everyone can enjoy next time.  I would love to have brought something more meaningful to my grandmother.  Something, perhaps, to brighten up the drab, hospital-like rooms of the facililty…but she’d forget it was there, or it would get stolen.  Also, she won’t let pictures stay on the walls - my aunt says she takes them down and tries to pack them because she says she’s leaving.  She thinks she hasn’t been there long, and she’s anxious to make a speedy exit.  She asked to come home with me on several occasions.  She can’t remember that I’m married and almost 28 years old, but she knows she hates the nursing home, and I can’t blame her!  I did my best though.  I showed up, came bearing a Family Circle magazine and some Pinwheel marshmallow cookies she loved when I was a kid.  I was pleased to see her up and about with her walker, as I’ve been told she spends most of her time sleeping.  Isn’t this a bright cheery subject.  So sorry.  Didn’t mean to land on this one…shall we choose another?

How are you guys doing on your Christmas shopping?  I thought I was kicking ass and taking names back in November when I had half my list knocked out thanks to having a jewelry party and getting loads of free jewelry.  Nothing like pretty, quality Christmas presents for FREE!  Yeehaw!  But…I have so many more presents to buy, and I’ve done so very little!  Oh, and I ruined the one surprise Christmas present I’d come up with for B.  What’s worse is that I had to ruin the oh so romantic surprise because he thought I was starting a fight about him borrowing a suitable pillow from elsewhere in the house.  He said he was gonna find one and I said “but…” and left it lingering.  Everyone knows the lingering but…stems from noticing you shouldn’t be saying something after it’s already started flowing from your mouth.  Then I had to go and explain that I wasn’t not saying what I wanted to say because it was ugly, but rather because it would ruin a surprise and I was being a sweet wife with her poor husband’s gimpy neck in mind.  Really, you should see the lumpy POS pillow he’s been sleeping on.  Pillows aren’t the most romantic gift, but considering the neck crick and the current state of affairs, a decent pillow it is.  I told him to act surprised.  Perhaps I’ll have photographic evidence of his surprise taken by my spiffy new camera!

Oh…hey, anyone know what I want for Christmas?  I have to give B a suggestion and I’m drawing a blank.  How is this possible?  What are you ladies dying for this year?

True confession (day after) Tuesday:  I can’t find my way out of a paper bag.  I’m the child of a man who can find a specific local in any city he’s traveled in by memory (be it 4 months or 15 years since he’s been back), but I can’t tell you how to get to a friend’s house I’ve been to 40 gazillion times.  I am the perfect candidate for in-car navigation.  I blame it on my mother - she’s directionally challenged as well.  We’re pro’s at going around our asses to get to our elblows cuz it’s the only route we know.  And while I didn’t get lost going to VA, I followed the wrong route coming home and found myself in Selma, teary-eyed and on the phone with my dad after suddenly realizinhg I didn’t know where the hell I was or how to get home.  God bless my dad and his infinite patience…and his roads and maps computer program.  I got home safe and sound.  Too bad a nav system is out of the xmas gift budge this year!  (well, for me anyway, mom got one for her car though!  now I’ll be stuck in the paper bag all by my lonesome!)

I found the poem below at Chez Roz via a link on She Likes Purple and couldn’t resist the chance to fill in the blanks and travel down memory lane. It was a lovely journey…

I am from freshly scented dryer sheets, from Jiffy corn muffins and Yardley English Lavendar soap.

I am from the the brick house on Clear Springs road I drew when I was 4, where I climbed my first tree and played dress up with some of the most amazing women in my life while thunderstorms rolled in from the beach and darkened the skies.

I am from the gardenias in our side yard, the weeping willow planted for the joy of my birth.

I am from Christmas Even dinner in mom’s dining room with the fancy china and loving generosity, from Ellen and McKay and Brown.

I am from being stubborn and proud and loving with my whole heart.

From “do unto others” and “I don’t like you right now, but I will always love you.”

I am from worshiping on the days it seems to matter. And blessing everyone I can think of before drifting off to sleep.

I’m from Virginia Beach, somewhere lovely in Scotland, chicken vegetable stew and mom’s perfect spaghetti sauce.

From losing my saintly patient and sweet as pie grandmother, the innocent age that couldn’t comprehend just how great my loss, and the blessing of having 2 fathers to love and watch over me.

I am from the warmth of my mother’s bedroom, the most prominent spot in my father’s wallet, and the coveted refrigerator front in the Edwards household and how every photo, hand made magnet or birthday card reminds me of where I came from and just how much those people love me.

True Confession Tuesday:

I cannot stand to sleep on sheet wrinkles. I also detest lopsided and/or loose covers. The last thing I do before getting into bed (much to B’s dismay) is tug the bottom sheet taught and straighten the top sheet/comforter combo. If I slide between the sheets and feel a cursed wrinkle under me, I wriggle it away or get up to repeat the process. If B’s awake, this could become a grand production. The same goes for loose sheets at my feet. Cannot. Take. It! Hotel beds are the worst - they use flat sheets for top and bottom! They come loose with one gentle tug! B has taunted me in the past by attempting to shove sheet wrinkles my way with his toes. That means war!