Project: Pine Tree

Last weekend, I tried talking Drew and his dad into dropping the pine tree in our front yard. They weren't going for it; especially after spending all day on the lilac bushes. When I got off of work last night, I found out that Drew, his dad (Mark), and Mike had cut the tree down. Here is the tree. And by the way, people who plant pine trees in the front yard are stupid!!
And just because I'm sure you're all wondering just how cool my husband is, this video is proof that he is cool. Definitely cool!

"Cuttin' down a tree"!!!!! Hahaha!!!! I love it!


Timber!!!!!!!

This is what happens to anything that is burnable around our house! The true pyro in my husband has come out with home ownership. In fact, all of the paper and cardboard that we recycle never make it out to the curb because he confiscates it and burns it.

Of course, we couldn't just chopped down a tree and not replace it. Drew found a River Birch at a local nursery and practically stole it from them. Apparently it was mismarked.

I think that our next project is going to be the sidewalk. It is in such bad shape and I'm afraid someone is going to break an ankle trying to walk up to our house.

Wednesday's Word

Sagacious / suh-GAY-shus / adjective
Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness.

Edward's uncle, a sagacious scholar equally at home with Celtic myth and Eastern wisdom, declines his nephew's request to tell the story of Hamlet (it would come too close to home).
-- John Gross, New York Times, December 3, 1984

Others worked up sagacious-sounding comments about the French author that would serve until they could read some of his books themselves, or until the current interest fades.
-- Maureen Dowd, "Nobel Panel's Pick Keeps Cognoscenti Guessing", New York Times, October 18, 1985

Seven Months

We're more than half-way! Woo hoo!!!!

Project: Lilac Bushes

I've been telling Drew all week that I wanted to do something fun today. Our friends, Josh and Amanda, got us some hostas from her parents house last night, so we knew that we had to at least get those in the ground today. We talked to Drew's parents last night and they decided that they would be over bright and early so we could get the yard work done so Drew and I could go do something fun.

Today dawned and it was kinda miserable. It was cold and windy and threatening rain. Obviously my plan of doing something fun was quickly squashed. So, we decided to tackle a pretty big yard project. We have a set of three lilac bushes on the side of our house and a set of four lilac bushes in the front of our house. This is the set of trees in the front of house. Also, the before picture.
Drew's dad was adamant about cleaning them out. I was kinda skeptical when I saw this project getting started. All I saw were my beloved lilac bushes getting hacked to shreds. I am very pleased with the outcome though. Don't they look so much better? (This is the set of trees on the side of our house.)

This is the after picture of the set of trees in the front of our house. I'm not as crazy about these guys as I am with the ones on the side of the house.

Now that they've been cleaned up, I want to move the ones in the front of the house to the side of the house. Then, we'll have a nice line of lilac bushes to separate our house from our neighbor's house.

Do you see that big pine tree in the front of our house? That's coming down very soon!!

For The Record...

It isn't a good idea to stay up until 2:30 AM when you have to wake up at 6 AM for work, knowing that you're going to be short staffed at work and will have to run the drive thru by yourself for the most part. Just sayin'.....

I don't think that I have ever been so crabby driving to work this morning. Drew tried to give me a hug before I left and I think I saw his head spin around with the tongue lashing that I gave him. Oh, and it didn't help that the Internet wasn't working. I'm sorry, but when I want to check my email, I better be able to check my email. I pay A LOT of money every month to stupid Comcast; my Internet needs to work when I click on it.

Once I got to work, and ate something, I got in a better mood. I did come straight home after work and take a fantastic nap.

Wednesday's Word

Satiety / suh-TY-uh-tee / noun
The state of being full or gratified to or beyond the point of satisfaction.

Carbohydrates, especially the starchy ones like pasta and potatoes, provide a feeling of satiety, both physiologically and psychologically.
-- Marian Burros, "Eating Well", New York Times, October 19, 1988

Isidore of Seville, in interpreting the Psalms in the seventh century, seconded the idea that tears produce satiety. "Lamenting," he wrote, "is the food of souls."
-- Tom Lutz, Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears

She Said "No News Is Good News"

I had an appointment with an ob/gyn today. Actually, she was a nurse practicioner, if that really matters. Alicia was very sweet. She knew that I was nervous and really helped to calm my nerves. Drew has been slow at work, so he was able to take today off and come with me, which helped a lot too. She talked to him a little too, and I think she made him feel not quite so awkward.

She did an annual exam and we discussed putting me on a medicine schedule for my absolutely horrendous menstrual cycle. Can I just mention that I absolutely love that she didn't mention putting me on birth control once? We discussed NFP (Natural Family Planning) and from what I can gather from our conversation, she's very knowledgable about the subject and seems to be pro-life. That was definitely something that I was looking for in a doctor.

She told me that the only way to diagnose endometriosis is to do surgery. She said that the things that I've been complaining about sound like it could possibly be a slight case of endometriosis and then she told me that the best fix is pregnancy. Well, that's not going to happen right now, so we'll see how the medicine schedule works.

Wednesday's Word

Abnegate / AB-nih-gayt / transitive verb
1. To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce.
2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish.

An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves.
-- Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men" review of Heroes: Saviors Traitors and Supermen by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Independent, October 19, 2004

Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will.
-- Evan Thomas, "Look Ma! No hands!", Time, December 23, 1985

Feed no more bloosoms
to the wind, abnegate the constellations,
negate the sea and what is left
of your world? What is left then?
-- Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication", American Poetry Review, July/August 2003

Oooooh, I Want.....

The other day, I was perusing the Chicago board on The Knot and a girl was showing off her engagement photos. Her photographer is Jeremy Lawson.
Seriously?? How freaking incredible is that picture??? I want pictures like that!!! I want, I want, I want.

So talented!

I'll Be President of the Fan Club!

Monday nights have been my tv night for quite a while now. I first started off watching "The Bachelor". Once "The Bachelor" finished up, I picked up "Dancing With the Stars". No duh that I love "Dancing With the Stars" because of my love for dance. Every week that I watch the show makes me want to start dancing again. I always want to pick up the phone and find the closest place that offers classes in the cool couples dances that are featured on the show. How fun would it be to learn how to quick step, waltz, paso, samba, and all the others?

There is no doubt that my favorite is Melissa. I was a fan of her from the moment I first saw her on "The Bachelor". I watched her when she was on Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders too. Every week, I was ecstatic when she got a rose and went further and further. Jason is quite the d-bag for dumping her the way he did. I think she handled that situation with incredible poise. I seriously should start a fan club and be the president with how much I love Melissa and "Dancing With the Stars".

What am I going to do when she's not on Monday nights anymore?

To My Mama

Happy Mother's Day!!
Drew and I decided to have our mom's (and other family members) over for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day. We (and by we, I mean mostly Drew) cooked pot roast and ham. We figured that cooking a nice dinner for our moms would be one of the best presents we could give them. We were right, everybody loved the meal! And Darrell came over. Impressed? So am I. It was the first time I had seen him since this meeting. Yes, that's right, more than six months ago.

But, this isn't about him, it's about our moms! I love my Mama! And now that I'm married, I have another "mom" to love too. Debbie is a great mother-in-law. When she calls me, she always says, "Hi, it's Mom". It makes me giggle everytime!!

Happy Mother's Day to my moms and to all the other moms out there!!

Wednesday's Word

Lugubrious / lu-GOO-bree-us / adjective
Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner.

Oh yes, he says, and his lugubrious expression suggests that the loss afflicts him still.
-- Mary Riddell, New Statesman, September 19, 1997

His patriarchy often seemed lugubrious; he would often have tears in his eyes when elucidating all my failings.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs

Previous visits hadn't yielded this art-after-death aura, which had everything to do with two installations on display, work so lugubrious it cast a pall over . . . well, just over me, but dark clouds hovered above the city, and the gloomy weather might as well have emanated from the art.
-- Bernard Cooper, "The Uses of the Ghoulish", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

Hopefully It's Nothing

About six months ago, I blogged here about experiencing some intense, sharp stomach pains. This past weekend, I experienced the same type of pain. A common factor is that they both happened during the beginning of my period. I decided to go to the doctor today because I am still feeling very run down.

I'm happy to report I'm not pregnant, I don't have acid reflux, and she suggested that I eat more. (Thanks a lot, doc. How many years did you go to school for that?) Then, she told me that it sounds like the pains could be associated with endometriosis. I had heard of that term but wasn't quite sure what it was. She basically said that what happens is that cells from my uterus attach to other organs. I did a little researching when I got home, and it sounds like endometriosis can be pretty serious. Some of the symptoms that are listed are what I was experiencing.

My next step is to schedule an appointment with an ob/gyn. I haven't had a pelvic exam in 8 years. Yeah, I know, pretty irresponsible. I had a bad experience the first time, and that kind of scared me away. It's time that I get over it and just go. It's not that horrible, right? Right?? I plan on making an appointment in the next few days for next week if I can. Hopefully it's nothing too serious and whatever is wrong with me can be easily fixed.

Our "Tenants"

A couple of posts ago I mentioned our new "tenants". And you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about, who these people are, and how they came to live with us.

As I explained here, they are Mike, Becca, Andy, Johnny, Toby, and Mercury. Mike works with Drew, just in a different area. A couple of weeks after we moved in, they came over to come hang out and see our house. We were showing them the basement and I told them that I would love to rent it out to somebody. Drew jokingly said that they could rent it for $300. ("Jokingly" would be the operative word there.) Apparently, Mike and Becca went home and had a serious conversation about it and decided that they wanted to actually do it. They were living in a small apartment not far from our house. The neighborhood is kinda sketchy I guess.

The next day, Drew came home and asked me what I thought of it. I was shocked at first. First, that they actually wanted to considering the size of their family and the size of the basement. (Granted, our basement is pretty big.) Secondly, $300 seemed pretty cheap. (Granted, it is a basement, but we aren't charging them anything for utilities.)

We have to share the kitchen, but it's big also, so it's not that big of a deal. Strike that.....

It's becoming a HUGE deal. They've been drinking our water, pop, milk, using our condiments, eating our food. We've been cooking dinner for all of us on a regular basis, and you would think that they would have the courtesy to clean up the kitchen. Or at least put away the stuff that only they use.

And don't even get me started on their parenting skills. Or lack thereof.

Thank God I have Drew to vent to about things, and he has me to vent to. We probably would have snapped by now. Remember when I blogged about MTV? Betcha they didn't see this drama? This is not exactly how I expected to spend our first year as newlyweds. We both try really hard not to fight with each other about it. Some days are better than others. It's getting to the point where we're going to say something to them. It's only a matter of finding the right time.

1001 Day Project Update

I'm pretty stoked that I was able to cross off a few more things. Completed items are in red.

1. Take Drew to Arizona
2. Read the Bible
3. Visit the Daughtry’s in North Carolina
4. Visit the Landgren’s in Colorado
5. Make dinner every night for a week
6. Go to church at least one Sunday a month
7. Take a dance class
8. Move out of our apartment
9. Buy a house
10. Start our family
11. Pay off all credit cards (0/4)
12. Go to a Cubs game with Drew (Here and Here)
13. Watch at least 5 Cubs games each season with Drew (and not complain about it) 0/15
14. Learn sign language
15. Learn to play the piano
16. Go on a spontaneous overnight trip
17. Go snowboarding or skiing
18. Don’t drink pop for an entire week
19. Go to Florida
20. Read 5 books that have turned into movies (1/5) (Twilight)
21. Watch the movies too (0/5)
22. Do a drastically different hairstyle
23. Get braces
24. Read the Twilight series (3/4)
25. Organize the closets
26. Host Christmas Eve for my side of the family
27. Go to bed before 10PM at least 60 times (0/60)
28. Go on a second honeymoon
29. Organize address book
30. Find 4 new recipes to cook for dinner (1/4)
31. Start a family tradition with Drew and me
32. Find a family doctor
33. Have 8 girls’ night (0/8)
34. Take a yoga class
35. Get a massage
36. Go to Starlight Theatre three times (0/3)
37. Clean out Drew’s clothes
38. Pick and print out wedding pictures for frame
39. Go to the movie theatre with Drew
40. Try 5 new restaurants (1/5) (Granite City)
41. Stay off the computer after work for one week
42. Get a job in my field
43. Take a cooking class
44. Put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean
45. Put my feet in the Pacific Ocean
46. Go golfing
47. Make a new friend
48. Teach someone something
49. Play hookie with Drew one day
50. Play a video game with Drew
51. Pick apples from the apple orchard
52. Plan a big surprise for Drew
53. Make dinner for my family
54. Make dinner for Drew’s family
55. Spend a day with my brother
56. Let Drew teach me something new
57. Learn one new word a week and blog about it (17/143)
58. Put at least $20 into my savings account every two weeks (9/71)
59. Eat dinner at the Signature Room again
60. Volunteer anywhere
61. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Museum of Science and Industry
62. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Shedd Aquarium
63. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Field Museum
64. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to the Hancock Observatory
65. Be a Chicago “tourist” – Go to Adler Planetarium
66. Go to Navy Pier
67. Stay at a Bed and Breakfast
68. Go to Brookfield Zoo
69. Go on a picnic
70. Go camping
71. Read “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” when I become pregnant
72. Take a photography class
73. Cross stitch a picture
74. Set up a 401k
75. Get a physical once a year (0/3)
76. Pay off bills as soon as they come in rather than waiting until they’re due
77. Host Thanksgiving
78. Throw a surprise party for someone
79. Send out birthday cards every month for a year (0/12)
80. Completely clean bathrooms every week for a month (0/4)
81. Recycle
82. Completely clean the tables off every night for a month (0/30)
83. Vacuum and dust every week for a month (0/4)
84. Don’t swear for a week
85. Go skydiving
86. Become known for making or doing something
87. Take a ballroom dancing class
88. Take an acting class
89. Research getting an MBA
90. Drink only water for a week
91. Splurge on a spa day for me
92. Splurge on a spa day for me and a friend
93. Encourage at least one other person to make a list like this one
94. Purchase a china cabinet
95. Purchase 5 new pieces of clothing and DON’T feel guilty about it (2/5)
96. Host a game night with our friends
97. Clean and organize garage
98. Do something I don’t want to that will make someone else happy
99. Preserve my wedding gown
100. Donate $5 to a charity for any uncompleted items on this list101. Make a new list at the end of 1001 days and include any items I didn’t complete on this list