Failed Brakes

That is what I am thankful for today.

My husband called me when I had just pulled into work. Letting me know that tonight's plans would have to change. When he pulled into the driveway at his work, the brakes on his truck gave out.
My first question was if he was okay. 
Yes he is fine.
My next thought was to breath a grateful prayer.
Not only for his safety this morning, but for the safety this past weekend. We were at the cabin. In that truck.
Over the mountains
On hairpin turns
Two hours there,
Two hours home.
Turnpike, tons of cars, moderately heavy traffic.
And here we are safe & sound.
Tonight when he came home from work, I hugged him a little tighter, and once again breathed a prayer of thankfulness
For Safety
For failed brakes, that remind me that I serve a mighty God.

Hello, my name is Susie Housewife, & I'm a multi-tasker

You know those days when you feel pretty good about yourself? Well, today just might be one of them.
I slept in. (dont worry, that wasn't part of the multitasking)
The kind of sleeping in where you sleep solid. Not the listen-to-the-neighbor-mow-his-yard, or the-dog-barking-loudly, but I'm still sleeping, kind of sleep.
Then, I ate breakfast. A healthy bowl of Quaker oats with raw milk. And yes, the cereal was healthy, cause Bob Harper eats it.

Now, on to the Susie Housewife part. I would say Donna Reed, but what I had for lunch (cold pizza) puts me below her league. I'm pretty sure. Plus she would do it in heels & pearls instead of twisted up bed-head, and bare feet.

 

Marinara Sauce

Like I said. Susie Housewife. After breakfast I started Marinara Sauce to can. I also started the washer. I currently have my eye on the canner, wherein sits 20-some pints of sauce, with more next to it waiting to go in. plus, i was working on these little guys...

Eggplant headband

They are going to single-handedly (along with many other that look very much like them) get me & C to Ireland for an anniversary trip. Not saying which anniversary. Might be the 5th, or it might be the 50th. We're not sure yet. Regardless of if they sell or not., It is so good to be able to create.
I guess thats what canning is too. If you want to call it that.
Really though I think this is pretty too. And it will taste good later on. Pretty & functional & I'm all about that! ;)

Last weeks peaches.

Bedtime Prayers...

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I snore while my wife's awake.

 I pray the Lord, dont let my life be at stake.

This should be C's prayer tonight...

I'm not particularly mad or annoyed at him. At least I hadn't been. He has this thing he does. You know "I'm not even really tired" then head hits pillow & he's asleep before I even finish brushing my teeth. And belive me I am not the kind of  stand-in-front-of-the-sink-forever-brushing-your-teeth type of girl.
 I am however the type of girl that lays in bed thinking of ways she could wake up her husband.
I feel like I'm 12 again. I feel like i did every Sunday afternoon when my sister decided to take a nap & I didn't want to. I would whine & complain that this is the only time I get to hang out with her & try to put her on a guilt trip. (yeah I did that at 12)
That's how I feel.
If I cant sleep why should he.
So my list of ways to wake him....

• I'll start out subtle. Lay on my back with my knees bent & let them "fall over" on him in my sleep....

• Flail my arms, moan & groan, pretending I am having a nightmare till he wakes up & "wake's me" from my horrible dream.

• Use my cell phone to call the house phone. Answer the house phone & say "I think you have the wrong number"

• Scream at the top of my lungs, then try to convince him he was dreaming.

• Point the laser beam out the window at the dog pen to make Jack bark. Hop back in bed, & convince Curt to go out & see what his problem is. Turn off the laser before Curt gets out there.

• Change the time on the clock, make the alarm go off & try to convince him it really is morning, it's just dark cause there is a thunderstorm brewing

• Repeat number two, adding in some kicking & punching.

• Turn his pager up the whole way & call in an emotional problem at our address. Cause that's what is gonna happen if I cant sleep soon!

And tell me why is it when I finally roll the whole way around & finally get comfortable, that he feels the urge to interrupt his snoring, roll on his side & breath on me?


Disclaimer: I do not have homicidal tendencies,  am not in the practice of making crank 911 calls,, & I do love my husband dearly :)

Sometimes...

Sometimes I wish I could go back...
*To the days when my friends & I could entertain ourselves for several hours at walmart & leave without buying anything but gum.
*To the days when we bought cakes to celebrate Friday nights off.
*To the days where we tried to see how many girls fit in a bus bathroom...and a telephone booth.
*To the days where the setting summer sun only marked the beginning of a wonderful time.
*To the days of driving to roxburry listening to Rogers & Hammerstein soundtrack of Sound of Music, & pretending our stuffed animals were being stalked
*To the days of CD Players & large headphones with lots of splitters so we could all listen to the music together.
*To the days we (mostly me) would stand defiantly with my face in the wind. (I vaguely think this had something to do with lyrics from a song...maybe from Paul Overstreet or Midsouth?)
*To the days of corny inside jokes that sent us into gales of laughter. Inside jokes that don't even mean anything anymore.
*To the days when we passed Cd's around like prized possessions - cause they were.
*To the days of 6 girls sleeping sideways on a bed just so we could room together at the cabin.
*To the days where we talked & laughed till we cried...
*To the days where the best thing was a new roll of film & time with my friends.

Sometimes I wish I could go back...But only sometimes.

*Disclaimer: This post has a judgement free zone wrapped around it....I realize one or more of these memories may display things that are no longer a part of my character :)

Not only is it Monday...

You would think that the fact that it is Monday would be enough. Sometimes I feel bad for Monday because I think it gets an undeserving bad rap, but not this Monday. No this Monday is totally deserving!
So anyone that has known me for any amount of time, knows that since the day I understood what sleeping in meant, - I love it. So these mornings in the dark season of winter are not my best friend.
But this particular morning, I awoke to my husband being a particularly extreme brand of funny. Not that I was all that amused in my half-wakened state, but that is neither here nor there. I crawled out of bed, glowered at the not so early morning darkness, & prepared to take on the day. I ate a semi-healthy breakfast, packed my lunch, got dressed of course, and headed to work. That is when it all started downhill. Which would be fine if I lived uphill from work........ I dont.
The first thing was the fact that the streetlights were still on. Streetlights = Darkness, Darkness= Night, Night = should not be on the way to work! Even after that though, I was still okay.
Then I reached the local high school.
Two minutes away from work, with 2 minutes to spare.
A little man in a reflective yellow jacket. (Little as in short, not in character I'm sure, but then again I do question it after his actions.)
His job title is crossing guard. He walked out into the middle of the road. He's allowed to do that.
The problem this morning as has happened several other mornings, is that he stops traffic (traffic that is on their way to work) to allow all 150 buses to pull out & go on their merry way. I sat in my car & said "this is so stupid! stupid! stupid! stupid!" until the word stupid itself sounded stupid. (it's looking a little stupid now too) Not only is it annoying because I'm still trying to get to work while their work is done (for the moment) but the school also has an entrance/exit that leads to a road that leads to a traffic light that intersects with the road that they are pulling out onto! (follow all that)
Anyway, nothing to wake you up on a Monday morning, than to get you blood bubbling! (it wasn't quite a rolling boil)

Of Pillows & Such

I was laying in bed in the early hours of the morning today, unable to sleep cause I got too warm.
Go figure, we're in the middle of a cold spell, & I'm suddenly warm?
As I struggled to bunch & roll my pillow in order to get comfortable, I was once again reminded that I am in desperate need of a new pillow.
I dont know how it goes in your house, but here's how it works in mine.
I have 1 pillow.
It's my favorite pillow (perhaps cause its my only?)
I've had it for as long as I can remember.
& I've got a pretty good memory so that's pretty long.
I distinctly remember the day the tag (do not remove under federal law tag) finaly fell to shreds. That end always went in the pillowcase first, cause I don't like feeling crinkly tags while I sleep.
Now that I think about it, I think it was one of my Christmas presents from back in the day, & I think my older sister got one the same time. I should ask her if she still has hers.
At sleepovers friends would "freak out" over my pillow. ( Like we didnt have enough freaking out to do over the cute boys!) It was all lumpy and bumpy. I liked it that way tho, cause there was always somewhere to stick my bob when i was laying on my back :)
Time goes on, and I now find myself in that place of having to find a pillow. The lumps & bumps got smaller, & the pillow got overall thinner. Guess old age can have that affect.  I hate the thought of a new pillow. They have so many kinds. Firm, Medim Firm, Super Firm, Contoured, Down Filled....The list goes on & on! I have no idea what I like! They dont have a catagory for lumpy & bumpy. Every time I go to Walmart, or Target I look at them, but in overwhelmed exasperation I decide I'll figure it out "next time".
Eventually I'll have no pillow, and anything will be better than nothing I guess.
Speaking of pillows, C uses two. Yep, Two. Stacked one on top of the other. When we got married two came along with him. One was very heavy, very thin. Think cardboard (ok, a little exageration there) The other pleasantly plump. He decided to replace the thin one with a down one. He now sleeps with his head at a 90 degree angle from his body. Tell me, Is this normal?
The other frustrating point is that sheet sets come with 2 pillowcases, so there is always one pillow with a different case. Guess I have to start buying them individually.

Nothing like a ridiculously long post about oversized marshmallows!

Technology: defined by me

I have recently become annoyed. Actually not so recent, unless you call the last year recent. (Which in the grand scheme of things actually may be considered recent) So yes, I am an annoyed person. And what has caused this annoyance? Technology. They (I'm not sure who they are) say that when we die we have only used a very small percentage of our brains. We could have learned so much more, we could have created, we could have invented. We could have advanced technology. For some reason tho, it seems that every advancement in technology has a very serious repercussion. At least the technology that I use. Maybe it is just me and the fact that I allow it to overtake me. I'm not sure, but let me be more specific.

• Cell Phones. - I think this one has been the longest in the "annoy me" running. We only recently got a house phone. Before that, the only way to reach us was our cell phones. I believe it was last summer when it really started to get on my nerves. I was never unreachable. I'm eating dinner, the cell phone rings. I'm with my family, the cell phone rings. I go for a walk with my husband, the cell phone rings. I remember the day that I had had it. I wanted to let my phone at home, and go somewhere to be alone, but that starts a whole new panic line of "She's not at home, she doesn't pick up her cell phone, do you think I should call a search party?" (ok so not talking of any one person, just generalization) So after the yearning to put my cell phone through the garbage disposal, there came an epiphany. I don't have to let my cell phone annoy me! When I go to visit someone, it can stay in the car, or silent in my purse. They can leave me a message. If a life threatening situation arises I most likely cant help them anyway, and can do just as much then as I could do two hours from now when my visit is over. Next problem with cell phones is texting. Yes I text. No I do not hold full conversations through texting. No I do not rite lyke thys wen i txt. That Is My Pet Peeve. I believe text language is going to be the breakdown of intelligence in America and it is SAD!
• Facebook - this has been for a while as well. I started out on xanga way back in Feb of 05. I've had the arguments with people who think it is a waste of time or weird but then spend hours reading my posts. I've had the argument that it's not safe and some stalker is going to come kill me in my sleep. With xanga or any blog I see the danger of fakeness. Blogging gives opportunity to be any person that you want to be. And that bugs me. I resolve to be real! I've since had myspace facebook, and now this blog. Yes, technology allows me to do this, the fallback to all of these comes in the form of fakeness. Myspace - my myspace was short lived. After several random people wanted to be my friend, and several lewd comments, I decided that yes, myspace just might be pedophile heaven. Next I became one of the millions to join facebook. Now don't get me wrong, I still use facebook, but it has come withing milliseconds of it's lifespan on more than one occasion. I very quickly learned that facebook is all about friends. Sometimes I wonder if I am going to get a friend request from the cashier at the local grocery store. Cause everyone you've ever met eyes with is on there. And your neighbor just brushed his teeth and is heading to bed. Like I said I still use facebook, but my thing is more about writing, which other than one sentence updates doesn't seem to be the aim of facebook.
• Camera's - I know your probably thinking wow she is majorly messed up. She thinks cameras are evil too? No, in fact I love photography. Photography can be a beautiful expression of art. I'd love to travel the world and take pictures of everything! Throughout High School, I was know to always have my camera in hand. On field trips I would go through two films. On Chorus tour I could double that. It's all well and good. Maybe a bit excessive. I've recently begun wondering how many memories I missed making, because I was watching memories being made. I want to remember things not because I took a picture of them, but because I participated in them. Sometimes you can do both, but when I cant, I hope I set the camera down, and join in.
• Internet, Movies, Mp3's even books. I guess what I've realized even more so recently is that life is short. Live it with others, don't seclude yourself with technology. Sit around a campfire & sing songs with friends. Don't look up a campfire clip on YouTube.

When I was younger I used to peruse the obituaries for people my age that had died. I wanted to read about their lives, and imagine what they could have done if they lived. I know, morbid right? It's a practice I've pretty much given up. Instead when I flip through the pages, and see the obituaries, I think of things that I can add to my list of "40 things to do before I'm 40", I think of ways that I want to live my life.

Moral of the story. If you cant reach me on my cell phone, I might be visiting with a dear friend that I did NOT meet on facebook.