on life, and settling in.

it's the most interesting feeling, having your own place.
if i must be honest, i love it.
it's fun. the details. the mundane. the every day.
they're our towels.

it's our kitchen sink.
our laundry to do.
(two loads desperately need to be done right now.)
our coffee maker that brewed fresh, hot, yummy coffee this morning.
our front porch.
(it could use a rocking chair or love seat of some kind...maybe craigslist will let something out of the woodwork again. hah.)

our couch.

our entertainment center that we put hard work and concentration and teamwork into, one night from 10:30pm to 2:30am.
our budget to sketch out and write up.
our rent to be paid (and what a great deal do we have!! so blessed.).
our dresser.

our mirrors and awesome leather chair that i found while rummaging with lady friends back in wisconsin. :)

our coffee mugs. (great gifts from awesome friends, used all the time, if you would believe that. ;))

our milk glass bud vase from my grammy who passed on in june 2011.

our at-home date nights late on sunday nights with a movie and caesar salad kit from wally's.
(p.s. i love you is one of those films that i watch 2 or 3 times a year and it gives me a whole new appreciation for life and loved ones. just because. these humans are so precious to me.)

friday and saturday night, while justin worked, i had rachel over for one night, and anna for the other night.

we talked and talked and watched a movie before sleep. the next morning, i made them coffee in my kitchen. poured them coffee into my collected (or gift-given) mugs. 
it's pretty fantastic to be able to have sisters over for a night of quality time and coffee in the morning.
i like it a lot. ;)

after-dinner walks out here in southern illinois are amazing.
no doubt about it.
i used to live in a small town, about 10k. i could see sunsets, but not like this. 
friday night i think it was, justin and i took a walk alone on the country road. all the way up to the stop sign like we always did over the past almost-2-years. we stopped and stared at the sunset. hugged and talked about how we couldn't remember the last time we'd done this together. the past how many months were too busy to randomly take a walk.
i believe after-dinner walks are some of the best things to have in your life. it's pondering time, whether you have good, lovely things to think and talk about, or hard, frustrating things.

and i can't believe,  that I'm your man,
and i get to kiss you baby just because i can.
whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through...
[michael buble]

all in all, we're loving the challenge and joy that is marriage.
i'm just so glad we're in this crazy life journey together.
♥

today's writing of life.

 peach bellini candle? mmmm.

 watch over me.

today had so much rain in the first half of the time, i was longing for a pair of wellies, a cute raincoat, and an umbrella.

i skim-read a christa parrish book [watch over me] because i've read it before but i was hankering for a random quick read in the quiet later-morning early-afternoon.
tonight, anna and i went to bible study; we finished up 1 peter and 2 peter, and next week we're starting on philippians. should be good. :)
that was today.
now, it's 11:53pm, i'm tired, and my laundry still needs to finish in the drier. then: sleep. i can't wait.

imagine...

(I promise I'll never be a shrink, but let's go along with this;)

Imagine a quiet place. Well, mostly quiet.
Some of you are mothers and therefore probably don’t really know or remember quiet, much less know the word except for it may be in your vocabulary for yelling for some quiet.

Well, that’s just me.
Anyways.
There’s this quiet place. Sun coming through the window, making the house glow.
Oh yes—and the house is nice and clean, organized, etc.
And a pretty, plain-blue mug filled with French caramel cream (Berres Brothers) coffee with a bit of milk warms your hands. Because, you know, it’s not quite fully spring. It’s still chilly. So it’s beautiful. And the blue in the sky isn’t the clear, intense shade that comes in the winter all the time with the crazy-cold days.
It’s quiet. You have your favorite drink in hand.
And the sun is shining.
Did I mention it’s quiet, and you did all the important things yesterday?
Yeah.
There’s nothing pressing that needs done today, besides the un-stressful normal stuff.
Well. This place? If you’ve momentarily imagined yourself there . . .

I’m not.
Not.
Really, I’m not.

Don’t laugh.

Danny’s still screaming from his tantrum in the car on the way here, I still need to do my laundry for this weekend, still need to finish folders, still need to pack, still need to make a big batch of bread --braided challah-- for the Shabbat meal we do on Saturday night . . . (yeah, yeah, don’t laugh! i may or may not be more accustomed to handling chaos that i am responsible for...)
Ha! You guessed right. I’ve had quite a bit of coffee today. Had to. Anna woke me up before she left for babysitting next door, 6:45am. I’m not a morning person, not really. I’m a night owl; don’t judge. And I really regretted staying up till 12 reading more of Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove. Grrrrr. I longed for sleep the first hour I was awake, but I quickly got over it after a breakfast of yogurt-berries-granola-pecans. You really should try it sometime. It’s filling, kind of on the healthy side, and quick to throw together.

Hmmm. But you won’t see me on here this weekend.
At least I don’t think so.
98% says you won’t.
Busy, busy.

(this is grammy and me--last summer at my graduation party. she's quite the social butterfly. and she was quite independent when she was younger...:)

Grammy is thinking she needs to go get some groceries—juice, milk, bread.

I appealed to her on a different subject: Grammy, can you stay for a little while longer? If you leave, I’ll be here all alone.

Yes, it’s finally quiet. We're the only ones home because the rest are at the retreat place getting stuff set up.

But now I’ve got to persuade her not to go. (come on, tell me: have fun! my reply: i'll try to. it shouldn't be that hard.)

So, off to make bread I go—and find something to interest Grammy. That picture book on Orcas didn’t last long. She’s got more pressing responsibilities to attend to. ;) I don't normally lie, but today I'm going to have to bend the truth to settle her down. She's quite ambitious right now. You don't know what I'm talking about, you don't understand until you have lived with a person in this stage...

If she says she needs to get home, because there are people/family waiting, what else am I supposed to do but say that they called me and said they would be elsewhere/not home tonight?? (yeah, sarah, my calming voice is not important or helping too much tonight...must think fast to occupy her interest more than the duty so strong in her mind!!) All I can say is, at times like these I'm kind of glad she can't walk by herself. She needs help. But that opinion's just from one angle . . .

Hope y’all have a lovely weekend. I’m bringing my coffeemaker to the retreat place. Oh, yeah. And we’re going to have coffee parties. (aren’t we, heather and steph? ;) and daddy. and…) I've heard that there are a few coming who like coffee; hence the title "coffee party." Might be a lofty idea, but let's hope. ;) You'll hear about it later...like Monday. I don't know.

I'm just slightly bummed that I won't have my lovely Bolivian Blend from Trader Joe's...but that really can't be helped. I'm not about to pay 10+ bucks for overnight shipping from dear Sarah and Justin...besides, it's not the worst thing in the world, going without a certain kind of coffee on a weekend you'll be sharing said brew a lot with lovely people. ;)

Anyways, I am so going to write about said party when next I write, because it probably…might…maybe…promise to be amusing.

:) Hmmm. I read this interesting post earlier, by a friend....

P.S. --^^random picture.....me and Reese, one of the two children Anna is a nanny to. (what a funny word.)

oatmeal and thoughts of a cast list...and very good friends. :)

11:30am

Mmm, I love oatmeal. With a spoonful of turbinado sugar, and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. That was breakfast, and randomly I've been thinking I need to post a "cast-list" of sorts... Just so ya'll know who's who when I relay funny stories and such.
So...sometime I have to get that up.

Thank God, stuffy noses are nearly all cleared out in our house, including mine. {And the left ear clogged/muffled all of yesterday was remedied by prayer and garlic potions downed. Haha.} Today, I'm doing a heck of a lot better. Wow. God is so good.

Last night Anna made cauliflower soup. It may sound a bit . . . interesting, but it was so good, once I got over the fear of my ear problem getting worse from the milk in the soup. :) Goodness, it was yummy. Basically, make a white/bechamel sauce, adding chicken broth to that so it's not straight-up-creamy-white-sauce. Steam the cauliflower like normal, but till it's very very mushy. Then you blend half of that with white sauce, and stir all the stuff together. That's the basics, sorry if it's not enough . . . oh, wait. Also, sautee sliced mushrooms, and add those to it, also. Goodness, our family loves mushrooms. :)

I'm very excited for this weekend.
Sisters Jen and PJ, friends of mine and Anna's, are coming in on the tram on Friday. They'll be staying until Tuesday, and we're going to be doing a lot of talking, laughing, taking pictures, drinking coffee, drinking tea, cooking in the kitchen, scrapbooking (no, not me), playing music (me and Jen on our acoustic guitars), going to the library, and lastly, because it'll be sort of the least of all the things we do, watching movies. Like Emma, like Bright Star...I can't remember the other ones we'll do.
The thing is, we haven't seen them since 2007. Wow. So, we have a lot of catching up to do, even though we obviously keep contact by phone and Facebook. Ah, I can't wait! Heck, I'm barely constraining myself from typing smiley-faces at every corner and turn and sentence.

Well, well, well. Laundry needs to be done, because my gosh has it gotten to mountainous heights again after 1 1/2 weeks since I myself have been down there with the sole intent and purpose of doing something about it . . . heh heh.

Last night I read more of Tea With Hezbollah, and yes, it's a very good book. It just took me pushing through the first 20 pages, and then I was hooked. Definitely read it. And have a good Wednesday, because I'm getting off here, going to make myself a nice big coffee mug of green tea and a drizzle of honey.

That, my friend, is one of the things I love. When I'm not in the mood for drinking coffee. :)
There! I posted a smiley-face! hahaha