Happy Fall!

Don't lose heart, readers! I graduate with my masters in December and I will blog with more regularity then, I just know it! In the meantime, happy autumn!

Our Version of Rebellion

Jason and I are both feeling somewhat irresponsible after this weekend. It's not your typical version of irresponsibility though. We didn't make a major unplanned purchase. We didn't pack up and drive until we ran out of gas. We didn't sign up to star in a reality TV show. Our version of irresponsibility consisted of good friends, food, games, and absolutely no school work. And it was glorious! Typically, we go out once or twice on the weekends, and then spend the rest of our time on housework and grad school. This weekend, we had dinner with friends on Friday, and then played spades until late. Jason got up and rode his bike Saturday morning while I cleaned our house and made a grocery list (this is the only productive thing that occurred on Saturday). When he got home, we headed out for pizza and Nerts with the same friends plus a few more. Another late night, then up for church the next morning. We ate lunch at Chili's with friends, stopped at Walmart for some groceries (this is the only productive thing that occurred on Sunday), went home and put the groceries away, then went back to church. Of course we had to stay for the homemade ice cream potluck, and then help clean up the potluck (it was during this potluck that I sprayed cherry Dr. Pepper all over myself and several others; on the bright side, it may be a while before anyone asks me to help pour drinks at an event). When the church kitchen was clean and the lights off, good students would have headed home to try to do a little work. We rebeled by going to a friends house so that Jason could play Halo (a video game involving lots of chasing and killing) and I could, once again, play Nerts and Spades. We got home at 11:30 and crashed, and just now the panic has set in that we both have to buckle down and get busy on our classes. Of course this is hard to do when I know that some very important guests will be arriving exactly 48 hours from now (Hurry Mom and Dad!)! All this being said, I will leave you with a few pictures of the massive spider web we discovered built over our back door:

This covered almost the entire outside of our back door.

233rd Birthday

We spent the 4th of July in Jonesboro with my brother, sis-in-law, and nieces. I just thought I'd share a few pictures from our fun day.

This picture is very similar to a picture of me when I was little.

Making Ice Cream.

Watching amateur fireworks.

Caroline is SO CUTE!

All three of my nieces.

Watching professional fireworks.

I realize this is a poor quality picture, but Lo was singing "Happy Birthday" to America and it was SO cute!!!

City Lights

There are times I think perhaps we should move to town. I was having these thoughts just yesterday. A friend of mine is out of town, and she asked me to water her garden while she was away. Her home is in the middle of town, and as I was watering, I was thinking about how convenient living in town might be. I imagined how lovely it would be to be able to walk to the drugstore to buy milk or medicine, the way she can. I imagined how quickly I could get to my work from her home. I then began to reminisce about the house we lived in two years ago, a little white rental house smack in the middle of town. We only lived there a year, and there was much to dislike about this house. It was old, and falling apart, and located at an accident-prone intersection. I couldn’t wait to move out; I distinctly remember telling Jason that I wouldn’t miss a thing about that house. And it’s true that I don’t miss the house~ I miss the little conveniences of living in that house. We used to walk Bailey (she was just a puppy!) over to Harding and let her play in the fountain. I could run home on my conference period to put dinner in the crock pot, or to change my shirt after a coffee spill. Just like the apartment we lived in the first two years we were married, that house is the source of some very happy memories, and a few not-so-happy ones too. Eventually we decided to buy a home, and after living at such a busy intersection, we were excited about the house in the country.

As much as I wonder about living in town, I think just as often about living in California. Not that we plan to move back home (we don’t), but there are things about California that I took for granted growing up. Some of my favorite memories are of sitting in the driveway with my parents, watching the sunset, and then just sitting outside under the stars. Say what you will about Apple Valley, those sunsets and starry nights are second to none. I was disappointed when I moved to Arkansas, and couldn’t see the sunset or the stars very well. Furthermore, sitting outside and trying to enjoy the evening was made difficult by the pigeon-sized mosquitoes that one must constantly slap away. I missed terribly the simple pleasure of sitting outside and enjoying the evening.

Once we moved to our current home, I was excited to find that sunsets and evening skies became far more pronounced when removed from the lights of town. We discovered that on the evenings when humidity had not wrapped itself around our home like an afghan, sitting outside was quite pleasant. The best time is May, when the fireflies are out in droves. It’s amazing to see~ thousands of twinkles, deep in the grass and high in the trees. I had never seen anything like it, and I kept telling Jason, “It looks like Disneyland out there!” Lightning shows are pretty, but a lightning bug show is one of God’s best-kept secrets. Our schedules do not allow us to do this often, but lately we have been making an effort to go outside about 8:30 or so and just enjoy the evening. It is such a lovely time of day, and since we live away from the streams and rivers in the county, we don’t even have mosquitoes to tolerate.

When I got home yesterday, I continued to think about living in town. This is not a new topic of consideration. Jason and I frequently talk about the pros and cons of living where we do. But he was in class last night, and I was left to consider these thoughts alone. Even though he wasn’t home, I still stopped what I was doing and went outside at 8:30. I sat on the porch and admired the clouds, and listened to the frogs and cicadas and the children playing two doors down. And I decided that I didn’t mind so much that I couldn’t walk to the store to buy milk. It seemed not to matter anymore that I have to leave a littler earlier for work. I have a porch, and a sunset, and a husband who stops and picks up ice cream on his way home. Country or town, Arkansas or California… it doesn’t matter. I have all I need.

Wicked, again

In December, I went to Los Angeles with my mom to see Wicked. We didn't really know what to expect, and once the whole thing started, it was so amazingly overwhelming that it was difficult to take everything in. We LOVED it~ as soon as it was over, I wanted to see it again. So when I found out that the Wicked Tour was going to be in Memphis, I informed my two friends that we would be going. I didn't ask, I told. And this past weekend, we went. Shannon and Jaime are also English teachers at the high school, and I was really excited for them to see the show. We also took Shannon's daughter Kristen. I tried to describe the show a little on the drive there, but I just couldn't do it justice. We parked at the Peabody in Memphis and walked to the Rendezvous to have lunch~ it was delicious! Then we walked to the show, and sat in our amazing seats, and watched a wonderful show! I also got to see my old friend Lydia (Hi, Lydia!), which was very exciting for me (only we get didn't a picture together, which I really meant to do). It was a fun day, and I got so caught up in the fun that I failed to take many pictures. The pictures I did take are kind of goofy (I do that sometimes). This is all I can offer for now; Jaime may send me more later.

I thought this was funny.

The theater

Shannon's daughter took this picture of us.

This old man had a teddy bear waterbottle purse. I thought it was hilarious.

There's a song about Memphis. It has Union Ave in the lyrics. Hence:

I was desperate for pictures that I could caption "Walking in Memphis".

Walking in Memphis

A bad picture of the great view from our amazing seats. I am holding my phone in my lap to take the picture~ that bar was way below my eye level.

Lists

Things I dislike:

* the no-slip coating on the bottom of our bathtub that makes cleaning the tub INCREDIBLY labor-intensive
* June heat waves that do not help certain people want to leave their drier, cooler climate and move here ASAP
* Wal-Mart trips
* Sunburns

Things I like very much:

* my new Land's End swimsuit (best swimsuit EVER) They were having a sale when I bought this suit (Monday) and I only paid $44 and got free shipping to boot! Yay!
* Dave Ramsey and his financial workshop
* air-conditioning
* I only have 11th grade next year, instead of 10th and 11th!

Things to look forward to:

* a haircut next Thursday
* game night next Friday
* Rendezvous and Wicked next Saturday!!!
* Mom and Dad's visit
* Our trip to Charleston
* the end my grad school
* the end of Jason's grad school

A Funny

I am currently helping with the toddler class at church. I've taught the class before, and I don't mind it at all. There's little to no preparation, and little to no diaper changing. Score! This past Sunday, I hoisted the giant plastic ark onto the kidney-shaped table and pulled Noah and all of the animals out of it (Biblical accuracy is what we strive for). I held him up and said, "Does anybody remember who this is?" One bright-eyed little girl gasped and said, "SANTA!!!!!" just as if the man himself had walked in and given everybody a pony. Of course Stacey (the other teacher) and I collapsed into laughter. This Noah wears a brown jumpsuit thing with a white vest, and he is approximately four inches high. No red suit, no belly, no bag of toys, although he does have a hard plastic bubble beard. I guess I can see the resemblance, but it was still so funny. After we calmed our laughter, I asked again who it was, and the same little girl said, very sadly, "Noah?", in this tone that implied that Noah was okay, but Santa would have been more of a crowd-pleaser.

As much laughing as Stacey and I have been doing, this may turn into a weekly post. And I thought I wouldn't have any teaching stories to share this summer! :)