Une Nouvelle Année.

It is, in fact, a new year in a few days.  While I'm not one to make tons of New Year's resolutions, I do look forward to a new start (in a sense) each year.  What will come in the next months that I don't even know about?  What surprises?  What hard times?  What good times?

The new year also means that this year is finally over.

I have to say that last year was probably the hardest year of marriage for us.  Our marriage was plagued by massive amounts of waiting: waiting to see if Russell could finish his prerequisite classes in time to apply for pharmacy school; waiting to see if he was accepted; waiting to know if we should put our house on the market; waiting for someone to show interest in our house; waiting on finding a new house; waiting to be accepted on our offer for that new house; waiting for closing day on BOTH houses and moving...again; waiting for pharmacy school to get started, etc.

All I can say is that having huge, major, big, giant events like these NOT in our control but in the control of others (house buyers/sellers, pharmacy school people, etc) took its toll.  We fought, we cried, we were stressed, we prayed, we waited, we worried.  It wasn't like these things were necessarily bad things.  They weren't.  They were mostly wonderful, actually.

It was the not knowing that wore us out.

Through this past year of major change and upheaval, we learned (the hard way...) to depend more on God and not so much on ourselves.  We learned to be patient (boo....) and wait on the Lord to reveal things when He knows we should know; finding a way to be still in the middle of chaos.

Most people didn't know what we went through in our marriage this past year.  We are private people, and we don't really broadcast every single thing to anyone with ears (or eyes to read a blog).  But there were a few who really helped us through this past year and the hard things we had to walk through.  And to those people: thank you.

I don't know why I felt compelled to write about this, but I just can't wait for another year.  What will God teach us this year?  And I'm thankful for the hard times.  Really.  It is my opinion that those who never have hard times, whose lives are always oogely-schmoogely, who don't feel compelled to survive with each other are not as solid as those that have to face those things...together.  Together is the key word here.

I am so thankful for 2008 and how it made our marriage more solid than it would have been without it.

But I'm glad it is over...

:)

Happy New Year...in a few days!  And I hope you enjoyed some pics from Christmas 2008.  :)

 

Stay Warm.

Where you may find Mabel at any given and/or chilly moment:

Take a lesson from my littlest pooch, and stay warm this Christmas season.

Until then, God bless.

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

Luke 2: 9-14

What I Wore to Work Today:

That's right.  Cheesy Christmas Sweater Day for the seniors.  And by 'seniors' I do mean the students in 12th grade...although the senior citizen faculty members have been regularly sporting their cheesiest sweaters as well.

Although I doubt they meant to participate......  ;)

My good-natured kiddos:

Gotta love the last day of school before the break!  :)

A Few of My Favorite Things.

EDIT:  As Katie helpfully noticed, my paperweight is not, in fact, an ampersand sign.  It is an "at" sign.  So sorry for the symbolic confusion.  ;)

My sister and I have an issue with the "all Christmas songs till Christmas" radio stations when they choose to play the classic Sound of Music tune, "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things."  Granted, Maria does mention sleigh bells, white winters and snowflakes, but, come on.  This is NOT a Christmas classic.  Let's hear more of Jessica Simpson's "Baby It's Cold Outside" or Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" or *NSYNC's "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays."

I kid.  

Sort of.  

Anyway, the sheer redundancy of the afore mentioned Christmas "classic" has unfortunately burrowed into my brain, inducing me to write a "My Favorite Things" post.  Bear with me people.  I've been out of work for three days (five, counting the weekend), my husband has been  hibernating in the study room for two weeks, and there are only so many Divine Design episodes that I can DVR before I want to punch Candace Olsen in the face while she forces me to listen to her ridiculous intro music..."splee dow, splee da splee dow, splee da da splee dow de dowwwww...."

Some of my favorites around here:

Ampersand paper weight.

This hard to find round, "tickless" clock.  Can't stand ticking.

SHOES.  (This is only half........)

Big, chunky rings.  Love these.

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day cleaning supplies.  Smell good.  Good for the earth.  Can't go wrong here.

Organization...even with the DVD categories.

Wall o' mirrors.

I love lamp.

This one, too.

I have a weird obsession with robes.  Fuzzy, sleek, long, short, cozy.  Love me a good robe.

And there you have it.  Some of my favorite things around the house.  Where I have been iced in for the past four days.  I must break free or I shall go insane whilst humming "The Hills Are Aliiiiive, with the Sound of Musiiiiiiiic".........

Also, I don't know why blogger forces the text under my pictures to be underlined.  How can I fix this?  Anyone?

The Slack.

While I type this, I am watching my handsome husband study his brains out.  This, you see, is his first finals week of doctoral school, and it is tough, my friends.  The stuff they are responsible for knowing is quite vast, and, while I am very glad these future pharmacists are put through intense training since they'll be responsible for dispensing medication, it is also overwhelming sometimes.

  

Thus, this week will be my turn to pick up the slack.  Laundry, dishes, cooking, dog duties, correspondence, trash, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, polishing the wood floors, servicing the car that needs an oil change, etc.  You get it.  I'm on my own this week.  Doesn't sound like an outstanding amount of work, and it isn't.  But, as a service to my studying husband, I want to make our home as peaceful and fully-functioning with one operator as possible.  His attention is needed elsewhere, so you better believe I've got a long DVR list at the ready!  ;)

I'm constantly learning that marriage is, indeed, about sacrifices and knowing how to read the needs of your spouse.  

This week, he needs me more than I need him...even if he doesn't know it...

;)

Emergency.

I was so giddy today to get out of work, because this was one of the rare days that my husband and I get to carpool to work together.  He'll drop me off at the school and then come back and pick me up by 2:45.  We usually run errands together afterwards, followed by a co-effort towards a yummy dinner.  I love these days.

Welllllll, today didn't go as planned.

We were done with our errands and heading home.  The radio was blasting Christmas tunes and thIngs were going great until we drove up a hill to see a car plow off the side of the road into a concrete ditch!  It was nuts!  One guy had pulled over to run and see if the people were okay down in the car, but we thought we should stop as well.  Russell (in his tie and white coat) ran down the street and jumped into the ditch to see what happened.  

He shouted up that there was a little baby in the back seat.

Apparently, the seedy looking "parents" were loaded on one drug or another, and the "father" had a "seizure" while driving, causing him to plow into the concrete ditch.  The car was totalled, and the man had urinated all over himself while drooling and flailing about.  Russell yelled at the mom to get the baby, and this poor little boy didn't even have proper warm clothes on.  Russell got a blanket and had the mom cover up the baby, now being held out in the freezing wind.  The man and woman (who couldn't have been older than 18) finally started talking about what happened, mentioning mixing Zanax pills with seizure medication, all with his cigarette still in tact in his hand.

Little did they know they were talking to a student learning about drug interaction.  Russell could tell this guy had NOT mixed any medication (would have had major side-effects), but he suspects the moron had taken at least 4 Zanax all at once--very illegal and very stupid.  We finally got the police and ambulance out there, and then we had to wait...and wait...and wait to give a statement.

They put the man into the cop car for awhile, but when it was time to question him, he asked if he could run into the little wooded area nearby and use the bathroom.  The cop said yes.  WHAT!?!??!?!  He could be dumping drugs, and I would put a lot of money on it that he did just that.  He fit the bill of a drug addict perfectly, not to mention he was so cracked that he didn't even CHECK on his kid.  Makes me SICK that people like this can produce children, but some of the sweetest people in my life aren't able to do so.  I hate that.

Anyway, here are a few shots of the madness I was able to snap on my phone:

The men looking down into the ditch as Russell helped the baby--you can't see him since he is down in the ditch.  (One of these guys was a volunteer firefighter...who just STOOD there.  Good grief!)

Ambulance and cops...finally.

Anyway, it was a NUTS afternoon, but I was so very proud of my husband.  He just took control of the crazy situation and got everyone in line.  He made sure the people were okay, got the helpers organized and made sure the cops got his full statement before leaving.  

My husband, the hero!  ;)

(But, boy, was he fuming when he got back into the car.  As we edge closer and closer to wanting to start a family, it just really burned him up that people as irresponsible and messed up as these would have a baby.  It was sweet to see him so worked up about that little boy....awww.)

Primp.

I don't know about you, but I have found that I voluntarily spend way too much time in front of the mirror "getting ready" each day.  The only reason I have realized this fact is due to my non-morning-person-ness.  You see, I have morphed into this woman who absolutely can not function in the mornings unless I absolutely HAVE to.  I have devised so many new ways of sleeping in just a liiiiittle bit longer each day...thus, I've had to give up something.

Primping.

I will admit that I love primping.  I like to find new ways to part and style my hair, play up my eyes with eyeshadow in new ways, use Crest White Strips, obsessively pluck my eyebrows to make them arch just right, test out different lotions and perfumes, make sure my nails are painted with no chips, try to "shop" outfits from my closet, dig around in my jewelry box for cool new accessory combos, etc.

See.  I told you.  I find this fun.

Don't judge.

Anywho, due to my desire to sleep in just a tad longer each morning, I have been forced to cut back on my primping routine.  After a few weeks (months...) of being about 5 minutes late to work on a daily basis, I realized I need to make a choice: get up earlier or sacrifice the primping.

And, sadly, I now have a routine down pat that only takes me a mere 30 minutes to get ready each day.  Boring, I know.  Gone are the days of trying out new eyeshadow color combos to accentuate my outfit.  I've said goodbye to retouching my nail polish each morning.  A fond farewell has been given to trying on multiple outfits before skipping out the door.  

However, my husband is quite proud of me these days for a.) being able to quickly get ready...instead of making him wait and wait and wait....oops, and b.) being on time to work even when no one is looking...!  ;)

What is the point of this post, you ask?  I have no idea.  But, am I alone out here?  Any other "grown up" women forced to sacrifice the freedom to primp in order to eek out a few more precious minutes of sleep each morning?

No?

Just me?

Any tips to save the primping while not sacrificing the snooze???

;)

'Tis the Season.

After two straight days of unloading Christmas decor from the attic, we are done decorating as of last week!  It sort of feels like Christmas threw up in our house, but I have to remember that we have enough decorations to fill up the two living rooms from our previous house.  It was tough to pick and choose what to put out in the house, but we did it!  As Katie pointed out, I am one of those with a matchy-matchy tree...I love it to all "go" with my house.  Maybe someday we'll do the ornaments that are attached to memories, but, for now, I will stick with my theme of soft blues, white and silver.  I feel like our house is inside a snowflake at Christmas!  Some pics--(bear with me as I attempt to improve my picture taking skills.  I am not good, but I want my memories to be photographed just a bit better....):  

The tree.

Wreath making and the outcome.

Nativity.

The fireplace.

Table decor.

One of my favorite things is to sit with most of the lights off in the house, seeing only the glow cast off the tree and fireplace lights, and realizing how blessed my life really is.  I love this time of year, and I love my home.  I'm a lucky girl.