It's a Blog. A Real Live Blog!

A-All Caught Up.

A good friend (found here) e-mailed me yesterday morning saying my blog has been neglected and that I should consider her the pre-Blog Protective Services intervention. I’ve had a blog in the works for a while, but after my intervention this morning I decided I should probably go with the all-encompassing A-Z list to get you all caught up. And to prove that I do love you, dear blog. And I’m unleashing that love with a vengeance.*

B--Bit of Pink.

Just because I can.

C--Club.

As in Book Club.

I began a book club in February. Joe wanted to join. I told him no. No boys allowed. It is a great book club. And I mean great. There are seven of us that meet on the second Wednesday of every month and we have the best time. I’ve loved getting to know all the different women in our little club better. Fellow book clubbers, we need a picture.

Tune in tomorrow for D, E, and F!

*Although the entire list is already written (complete with pictures) I decided to do it in installments. Like when Dickens would release his books to be published chapter by chapter in newspapers. It sounds pretentious of me. It's not. Well not quite as much as it seems. I just realize that if you don't blog for say, 3 months, that you lose some of your following. And I reason that some regular posting will help my poor neglected blog more than one mega post.

Another major factor is I figure I'll get more comments this way.

The Eternal Question

What’s for dinner?

(Successful Bruschetta)

With the idea that Joe and I would be married soon, one of my New Year’s Resolutions (actually made at the end of February) was to cook dinner at least four times a week. Though it hasn’t been perfect, I’ve made a pretty honest effort and Joe and I have worked together to make this resolution a reality in a few different ways:

1. I made a Google Document filled (and continually filling) with recipes to try.
2. Joe bought me a blank cookbook to record successful recipes.
3. Joe unloads the dishwasher so I can do the rest of the dishes. No one likes to cook in a dirty kitchen. And I hate unloading the dishwasher.
4. Paying attention. Like when you put something in the oven. On Broil.
5. I call my mom regularly to ask how to make gravy, what a good price for meat is, and how high do I cook this at again?
6. Many of you have helped too. I think of Viki each time I pull something out of the oven with my oven mitts or put a finished product on our beautiful green plates. I think of Sister Lybbert whenever I put on my apron. I think of Brenda when I use my orange bowls and again when I think of she and Shelly while using my pots and pans. I think of Donna when I make waffles. I think of Rachel when I use my cookie sheets. And I think of many more of you when I use something bought with gift cards or cash.
7. Praying. No joke. Prayers go something like this, “Oh! Please don’t let the chicken be burnt again…I’m trying really hard here, would Thou mind filling in the blanks...Even when the “blank” is leaving the stove on high and it’s my fault?”

Maybe you remember from your first attempts at cooking on a regular basis that it’s not always easy. Things take much longer than they should. For a few weeks Joe and I were eating supper at 10:00pm, even though I had started at 4:30pm…and it’s nothing but meat and potatoes with a 5-hour-old wilting salad on the side because you forgot you should maybe make the salad at the end, while things are cooking, not at the beginning when your meat is still frozen.

It’s discouraging and encouraging in alternating breaths. It’s hard work. It’s a job that needs repeating every. single. day. It takes pep-talks like, “This is kinda hard, but it will be rewarding. It will taste good. You’re not bad at this, you’re just learning. It’s always worth it at the end of the day. Always…except for that one time when you had to throw dinner out because it was inedible. That wasn’t worth it…But this will be!”

And it was while I was making dinner that I realized that dinner and marriage have a lot in common.

It takes Joe and me both working to make it successful. It takes planned effort sometimes. It takes paying close attention to wants and needs. It takes calling up my mom or friends to ask, “How do I do this?” one more time. It takes all of you who give advice and encouragement. It takes praying that after all of your hard work Heavenly Father will fill in the blanks. Even when you’ve left the heat on high and said nasty things to your husband, even when you really didn’t want to or mean to. It takes realizing that sometimes the marital equivalent of nachos and cold cereal is just as good as your 15-step recipes and that it all evens out and that both get you fed. It takes remembering that it is always worth it, even when it turns out still needing salt in the end. It takes work. Daily work. And it really is worth it.

It’s a question of eternity that always needs answering.

(Hard at Work)

*P.S. Does anyone have ideas of what I can make for dinner tonight?

If You Give a Bird Some Birdseed...

If you give a bird some birdseed he’ll probably really like it.

And when he really likes it he’ll probably come so often that you decide to name him “Puck.”*

And when you name him Puck, he’ll decide this new place for food is a good place to bring lots of friends.

And when that happens you’ll really enjoy watching the birds outside of your kitchen window all day long.

And because the birds like your birdseed so much, they eat it pretty quickly.

And when they eat it pretty quickly, you’ll fill it up every couple of days.

And when you start replenishing the food so often the squirrels will begin to notice.

And when the squirrels first start coming you might think they are kind of cute and fun to watch.

But then the squirrels come so often they start scaring away the birds.

And then more squirrels come.

And then one day you might see a squirrel double-fisting your birdseed.

And this might make you angry. No one likes being taken advantage of by a greedy squirrel.

So you might start to bang on the windows to scare the squirrels away.

And when you bang on the windows the squirrels will probably just run a few feet away and “hide.”

And when the squirrels “hide” you might pretend you don’t see them while you casually walk outside and turn on the hose.

And when you turn on the hose…you might spray the squirrels.

And when you spray the squirrels enough times, well, they stop coming by.

So when you give a bird some birdseed…get a hose.

*1. Because my bird-friend and Noah Puckerman have matching mohawks.

*2. And because I like Puck from Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A Day I Hardly Have Words to Describe

"The day was beautiful and the way was beautiful."

(Lucy M. Montgomery--Anne of the Island)

"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place."

(E.L. Konigsburg--From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)

"And the English language dwindled to a single word, repeated over and over: "Congratulations!"

(Jerry Spinelli--Stargirl)

"The very essence of romance is uncertainty."

(Oscar Wilde--The Importance of Being Earnest)

"The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only."

(Victor Hugo--Les Miserables)

"To love would be an awfully big adventure."

(J.M. Barrie--Peter Pan)

"Lovers alone wear sunlight"

(ee cummings)

It really was a wonderful day. I had no idea it could be so wonderful. But it was. And it is.

Most of All I Like Liking You

When We Met

December 31, 2009—I show up an hour late to meet him. He mentions my blog within the first five minutes. I decide he is witty, interesting, and a gentleman. He decides I’m quirky, artsy, and enjoyable. He decides to ask for my number. I decide to give it to him as he’s dropping me off at 3:30am.

We both seem to independently and simultaneously decide to not play the waiting game.

January 1, 2010—Joe picks me up and takes me to a dueling-piano bar (coolest date ever). I order water and he chuckles. He mentions Duchamp and takes me to the Freemont Troll. He puts his hand on the small of my back while walking across the street. I decide I’m interested. For these and many reasons.

And the reasons just kept coming.

January—Joe and I exchange the first of over 500 e-mails. And Joe calls for the first time. We talk about eggplants while I’m at the grocery store. The phone became an integral part of our always-long-distance relationship.

February 13, 2010—Joe gives me an early Valentine’s gift, a vegetarian cookbook. I hate vegetables but Joe is supportive of my goal to eat and like vegetables. He’s shown again and again how much he supports whatever I’m interested in. I have a shiny new yellow yoga mat and seven hours of yoga instruction to prove it.

February 14, 2010—Joe gives me a real Valentine’s gift. I thought he would never kiss me. I realize I care a lot about Joe.

April 2010— Joe and I begin seeing each other on a regular basis as we start living in the same when we start living in the same state. He brings me the first of many bouquets of flowers. I’m more impressed when he brings my sister a bouquet. I send Joe weekly thank-you cards. I discover Joe is a phenomenal cook. Joe discovers I take pleasure in insignificant things. I learn Joe knows a lot about a lot of things. Joe learns I don’t play team sports but make great tortellini soup. I begin to learn what makes Joe tick. Joe begins to see what makes me come alive.

May 2010—We make a few pretty big moves.

June 2010—I discover six hours in a plane can be fun when shared with Joe.

July 2010—We discover being together is not optional. And take this really great picture.

September 2010—Joe and I take a nine-hour road trip and still love each other by the end. I find out Joe likes podcasts, jerky, and talking on road trips. I like those things too. But Joe aslo finds out I like sleeping on road trips. We find out we are good at making us both happy.

Day We Got Engaged

November 2010—Joe begins a series of big weekend surprises. 1) Visiting me at school for the weekend. 2) A six-hour drive for a visit of three. 3) Hiding behind a car when he’s supposed to be out of the country. 4) A ring more beautiful than I could ever imagine and a feeling of happiness and peace I didn’t know was possible when the realization sinks in that I get to marry my best friend.

Better than the real thing

Today Joe sent me a dozen flowers. They look like this:

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Total Surprise...and Yay!

To Be Continued...

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