Grateful Fridays

Just a few more days till we leave for Italy, and we've got a lot to do before we go! It's going to be a busy, laundry-filled, house-cleaning, bag-packing weekend. But we're both looking forward to, and needing, a vacation. It will be a busy one, from here to there to the next place, but that's life in the fast lane! :o)

Here's what I'm thankful for this week:
1. H&M: there's a new H&M in Guildford. It's fashion that I can buy! (well, most of it!) Like: (a) I can afford it, (b) they've got some cute things, and (c) their clothes actually fit me! And, bonus, Madonna is now designing for H&M, so if I really really wanted, I could buy something to wear that she designed! It's not Madonna's, but I bought a yummy wrap dress today...never mind that I had to try it on over my long johns...

2. Jobs Done: I've been working on a new scrapbook project, and got Stage 1 mailed off this week. I'll explain it more some other time, but the short version is this: Dave and I sponsor 2 kids in Ecuador through Compassion International, and rather than sending them random letters and pictures, I decided to send them scrapbook pages. Once I finish, I put the pages in plastic page protectors for safe-keeping. I got the first 2 pages (1 protector) done this week, and sent them off. I plan to send 2 pages a month. It's not a scrapbook in the sense that most of us think, but for them, it will be a wonderful thing, and by sending it page-by-page, it will pass through the Customs inspections, which a proper scrapbook would not. I've still got a lot of work to do, but it feels good that Stage 1 is on the way. (photos of one page below)

3. Nice People: Like Enriqué, for translating the English to Spanish for the Ecuador book.

4. Friday Night Lights: I know I've said it before, but we like this TV show. Dave really gets into it!

5. Fancy Plans: I've got a date set for a chance to wear the lovely dress I found in January. I've got a weekend planned with the Girlies in August. Now I just need to find the right pair of "peep-toes".

Well, have a good weekend!

Scrapings

I have to say that I love love love my dentist in Colorado (Dr. Steven Enea). If he said "Melissa, I need to cut your foot off." I would say "Which one?" When we went back to the States last summer, I made a purposeful trip to see him for a filling. Who flies across the world to see their dentist? Me!! He's a good man, Charlie Brown.
Aaaannnddd, here I am in England. Where, sorry, people are not known for their good dental hygeine. And I did try to find a local dentist, but that's not very easy to do. So, I have to go to a dentist up on the AF base and I have to schedule the appointment about 2 months in advance, and hope against hope that the other pieces all fall together so I don't have to cancel (again!). (which might explain why it is easier to get an appt with Dr Enea 5000 miles away!)
So, today I went to the dentist up north for a normal cleaning. Here's a recap of the conversation that could be heard over the scraping:
I have an M-O on 19, and not much B-U considering that it's been a year since my last C-U. They gave me a lecture about how much I don't floss B-M-T. It could be the start of G-D...which could lead to P-D if I'm not careful. And I have to come back to have an A-F on 19.
:o) Dentists R Fun!

Anti-Gym Vibes

I fully intended to go to the gym yesterday after work.
But then I got in the car and realized that I forgot the earphones to my beloved iPod.
I knew it was a sign.
That I wasn't supposed to work out.
Darn.

This Is A Real Friday

Hey everyone,

For this Friday's account of what I am grateful for, I'm going to deviate just a smidge. Well, okay, 180° is more than a smidge, but who's measuring?

It's been a dreary, cold, snow-threatened, multiple-layers week here and I think the weather has permeated my mood! So, my deviation is going to be a list of all the things I miss about living in the US. (basically...I'm not doing a very good job being "content" with what I've been given!)

So, what do I miss? (in no particular order, barring No. 1, of course!)

1. Target

2. Being warm (deep in the core of my being...not just my face or my feet)

3. Sweet Daisy Doo (the sweetest, most joy-giving, goofy-loving fluffer-nutter of all time!)

4. Being able to crochet or knit without it hurting

5. Retail Therapy at any time of day or night (because most stores (except grocery stores) close at 5:30 here). (Refer back to No. 1 if you are confused)

6. Blending in

7. Being able to buy what I want when I want where I want instead of not having a clue. You'd think that after 2.5 years I'd have a better understanding of where to buy things (see No. 1)

8. Christian radio in the car

9. My automatic transmission car (traffic is often long and drawn-out and stupid here!)

10. Garbage disposals

This is my favorite Daisy photo...well, till I see the next one, of course!

As Queen Ant said in Bug's Life "...that's our lot in life, it's not a lot, but it's our life." That's what I'm gonna work on this next week. Contentment. I got a whole lot of dis- and not enough of the rest.

Have a great weekend!

Little Collection

I'm very excited about a new addition to my little collection (thanks, Marion)!

The newest littlest one in front is a Blue Willow cream jug. The others are supposedly milk jugs. I don't really know the difference yet, but I'm sure I'll learn over time. I bought 2 in the US last summer, but they were made in England. The other 2 were bought here (antique store and thrift/charity store).

I am always on the prowl for the next milk jug to fit into my collection. I don't really care if they are brand new or proper antiques (although the Blue Willow is a proper antique!)

What doesn't make sense to me is that I don't take milk in my tea or coffee...so why would I want to collect something like that?! Oh, well, there are worse things to collect! (like locks of celebrity hair, or naval fluff, or tissue box covers! )

Monkey Butt!

I love my cats, I really do. They bring us much joy. They bring us much laughter.


Alley has always loved food. Her (rural Georgia) vet (when she was about a year old) said "She don't miss much groceries, do she?" To which I said something like "No, sir, she don't." :o)


We had no idea how much her belly would bring us laughter till we moved to England. Alley had never lived in a house with stairs before, so this was a totally new experience for her! She was very confused the first few days -- boldly going up the flight of stairs but then she didn't know how to get down, so she'd cry for help! Hee hee! About 4-5 months after we moved we realized that she was starting to lose hair on her belly, and that there were little sores on it. This concerned me, of course! So one night I watched her very closely. Her belly doesn't drag the ground (she's not that fat!), and it didn't graze the corner of the steps going up, but it did graze the corner as she would come down the steps! Slowly, but surely, Alley's belly was going bald because it rubs against the carpet of the steps! How crazy is that?!


Now that we've been here 2 1/2 years, she's had lots of belly-grazing opportunities, and the bald-spot has just grown and grown. It doesn't stop her from eating, no, no. She just accepts it as one of the sacrifices English cats must all make.


Lately, I've realized how much of a monkey butt her belly really is! You know how monkey's butts tend to be, well, bald? She's got a monkey butt belly! It's bald, has dimples and even a crack down the middle!!


Oh, we love Alley Phat. She's so graceful and sits so lady-like.

Fab Friday

What's been great this week? Loads!

1. I got a proper iPod. I had a generic MP3 player, but I didn't like the features it had. Last weekend I saw an iPod that I liked, I had a $30 off coupon, and I pounced! Carpe iPod! I mean, $30 off AND music and pictures? Wanna know the best part? That little collar thingy that I can scootch up to the top of the earbuds so they don't get tangled! Suwheet!

2. Thai Pork Patties. Young (of Young's Chinese on campus) makes the absolute best Thai Pork Patties I've ever had. She gives me lots of salad, and a ladle of ginger-lime sauce and one or two of the patties. Them's good stuff, Maynard!

3. Giving Gifts. I ate lunch on Thursday (Young's) with Melaine. She's wacky! I got to give her 2 birthday presents. One from last year, and one for this year. For last year's gift, I gave her a hand-knit pink fluffy scarf. I knew she'd like it 'cuz it's pink, but she's a nice person, too, so she liked it 'cuz I made it for her. She was happy. Then I gave her this year's gift, and she loved it!! I knew she would! She loves a cleanly mopped floor. She liked the hand-knit scarf that I slaved over, but she really loved the Swiffer WetJet! I've got cool friends!

Have a great weekend!

Dancing Queen

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life, ooooo, see that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen.

Dancing Queen, by Abba, is a really popular birthday song here in the UK, and I just don't remember it being that way when I was turning 17 (or any age after that, frankly!). But here, it's popular till you can't dance any more, I guess!

This morning I woke up at Stupid:30 when Dave's alarm went off. Normally, thankfully, I sleep right through it, but not today! Today I was in a moderate dream state when the alarm went off, and the music just brought me right out of it. Which is a good thing, 'cuz it was a strange dream! Our fat cat, Alley, was laying on my back at the time, and she was part of my dream. The dream was that Alley and I were dancers in a club! Yup! But not a showing-lots-of-skin club, it was a club where I was dancing in khaki's and a t-shirt! And Alley and I were discussing the fact (as one does with a cat, of course) that we were going to have to move to a different club, in Arkansas, I think, because of her belly. The club owner just didn't appreciate the moves and the magic that she can do with her belly! Narrow-minded club owner! :o)

So when I awoke from this dream, I couldn't figure out the derivative of it, but I just couldn't let it go! And then I pieced it together...last night Dave and I cleaned house, and I was listening to Abba on my iPod...and I think that must be it! I must have been dancing as I was cleaning (as one does with Abba in your ears), and that just carried over to my sub-conscious! Hee hee! I'm not sure, though, how Alley Phat and her belly figured into all of that!

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen. Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life, ooooo, see that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen.

Diggin' this Dancing Queen!

You know you are...

This weekend, I saw an ad for Cosmo Cricket (beautiful papers) in a magazine and it really struck me.

It said:
You know you're an artist if:
You go through a glue stick faster than a lipstick.
Other indicators: you buy more paper than shoes, you dream about projects rather than Mr. Right, or you haven't watched a soap opera in weeks. You're an artist. Admit it.

Hee hee...I totally relate to the ones about glue sticks and paper! Now, if they said "You buy more paper than purses"...I'd have to think about it!

What about you? Any "artists" out there?

Fridays Fridays

Here we are again, huh? At the end of this first full week in March, here are the things for which I am grateful:

~The Feel of Relaxing: I love my yoga pants. Am I wierd because I love my yoga pants? Are you wierd because you don't love your yoga pants? Hmmm?

~The Smell of Spring: I smelled it Wednesday. You just can't bottle that! It's just a lovely mix of fresh, and damp, and life, and green, and yellow, and pink, and new...all stirred up, it smells like spring!

~The Taste of Home: Taco Bell. Considering the Mexican food I have at my fingertips in Guildford (none!), Taco Bell is pretty good stuff! Not as good as Chipotle, no. Definitely not as good as Mission Bell. No way! Mmm...guacamole...ah...happy thoughts. Anyhoo...so today I am where there is a Taco Bell. I prefer Mission Bell's chalupas and guacamole, but since I'm 5000 miles away, I just have to close my eyes and pretend...

~The Sound of Freedom: Today we are where I have heard it. The rumble before the visual. Feeling the power, the awesome power of The Sound. And then every cell in your body, and every hair on your head is responding and expanding and getting excited and the adrenaline starts to rush, and the tears start to well. And you see the jet. Quickly. Very quickly. And you can't help but watch. And before you know it, you can't see it anymore. But you can still hear it, and feel it. Long after the visual is gone, you still hear it. The Sound of Freedom. There is nothing like it on Earth. In a simplistic way that's kinda what being a Christian is about -- resting in God's assurance even when we can't see it. Even when we don't deserve it. Believing His promises.

Freedom. Freedom to choose - right or wrong. Freedom to screw up and be loved unconditionally regardless of whether I've fixed it or not. Freedom to know beyond a shadow of a doubt where I will spend eternity...and it's not because I'm a good person...

We take it all for granted. I guess we are free to do that, too...

Shish-free Kabobs

Wednesday nights Dave cooks. This week, the plan was beef kabobs. We had the beef in the freezer, so we just had to get the veg! Tesco (our local grocery store) supplied some yummy and sweet red peppers, fresh mushrooms, and some nice baby toms. I went home satisfied that we would be eating some grilled yummies.
The beef cubes were marinating, the vegetables were chunked, and we started the search for the bamboo skewars we own. They weren't in the pantry. Or the utensil drawer. Or the other utensil drawer. Or the cupboards. Or the junk drawer. Not even the top of the fridge! How can we have shish-kabobs without the skewars? Dejected, I got into the car and drove back to Tesco. I went to the aisle with rice and other kabob-like supplies, but no skewars. I decided to brave the inevitable Look and ask for help. I got The Look (like I'm crazy!), and found out that they don't carry skewars. Like, ever??? How do you not have skewars? How am I supposed to make shish-kabobs? Meat is marinated. Veggies are chopped. How?
Well, we went shish-free and just put the kabob stuff on the grill-pan in the oven, and baked them all.
In the end you just take the stuff off the skewer anyways, so why not start them off ... off? It worked for us! We got our dinner, and it tasted pretty good!

Whadya Think?

Whew! I have spent mind-boggling, eye-ball-gouging, fingernail-biting hours trying to change the background of my blog. What do you think? It's just a template that I downloaded, but I think it's warm and tropical and dreamy and whimsy and fun and happy...and all the things I don't have or feel right now!
It's kinda like how girls like to change their purses...no real good reason...just 'cuz I wanted to.
I'm not sure how to get the side pictures back up, but I'll keep looking. I'm going to go and surgically remove my contacts from my eyes now. G'nite!

Grateful Fridays

Once again, we're on the other side of a week! And this time we got to flip over to a new page on the calendar, too!

I kinda went overboard this year with the calendars. I have 9. 2 page-a-days, 1 mouse-pad, 4 hang-on-the-walls, 1 planner-on-the-wall, and 1 engagement calendar. And then there's my PDA (but that doesn't count 'cuz I already had that).

I usually make a calendar for the family filled with photos of places we've been the previous year. It helps the fam feel like they're a part of what it's like to live on the other side of the planet. Next year's calendar will be the best ever! Italy, Greece, Moving vans. Best ever.

So, what's been great this week?

~Dave got me a fun camera ("fish-eye"). It's 35 mm, so it's not as instant as digital, but it's got a 170° lens, so all the photos look like you're on the inside of a bubble (kinda like a fish's eye). I took a fun shot of my neighbor's dog, Millie. She's a hoot!

~I worked out every day this week (except today, but we just ate Italian, so I'm gonna pass for tonight!)

~Dave got his PhD thingy to work backwards! Yay!

~Dave got a couple of conference papers submitted. Yay!

Have a great weekend!

Celebrity Impersonation

Kelly finds all the fun websites!
Sorry, Mike, Uma didn't appear in my look-alike list...however, Russell Crowe did (83%)! :o)
As a blonde, I looked almost as much like Christie Brinkley (53%) as I looked like Mark Harmon (58%)! Nice, huh?