Thursday, September 29, 2011

Yes, it's been a long time.

Eight days since I've blogged. Where have I been?

Editing a book. And a website. Running and training and doing Pitaiyo and Pilates. Cooking and doing laundry, but unfortunately for my house, no sweeping up of dog hair. Arranging doctor visits for the daughter who gets bronchitis EVERY fall at Liberty University. And making plans for my visit and race with Leah, which is exactly one month from today. Every time I think about it, I dread that mile-long hill. *shudder*

This weekend Man-squared and I will be visiting Abbie at school to see the university's production of Oklahoma! (That exclamation point is not the end punctuation of my sentence, although I AM happy to be going to the musical. It's actually part of the title of the play. That's why it's italicized. If it weren't italicized, you'd know it was the end punctuation of the sentence. Just wanted to clear that up.) There are big doings in the works down there that I can't tell you about yet because some of her friends read this, but I'll come home with pictures.

Be thankful ~

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

"A friend loveth at all times . . . " Prov. 17:17

Remember last week when I went to Georgetown to see an old friend and I said I wasn't going to put the dorky picture up here?

I lied.

I actually just got the dorky picture yesterday and now I feel that in the interest of full disclosure, it must be made public.

Picture the two Karens at their eighth-grade graduation in this very pose, and you'll understand our level of dorkiness:


Does the fact that we're still posing like this at the age of 50 tell you anything about the kind of friends we were (are)?

Karen was the person I told EVERYTHING, including the fact that I wanted to be the president of Chase Manhattan Bank someday. That little tidbit slipped my mind while I was spending 21 years homeschooling five kids, but she reminded me. It's not looking like that goal will ever be realized, and at this point, I'm okay with it.

Karen was also the one whose house I spent many a night at, hiding behind the false wall in the basement smoking cigarettes (my mother will kill me), and who lived right down the street from the water tower that we climbed (my daddy will help). Yes, we were partners in more crime than I should admit in a public forum. Thank God for the statute of limitations.

And now that we're 50, the second-least-athletic girl in school is training for a marathon and kicking the least-athletic one in the butt while I try to run a 5K.

Do you have an old buddy you haven't seen in 27 years? Don't put it off any longer. Life is short; celebrate friends.


Be thankful ~

Friday, September 16, 2011

I made it there and back. And gained five pounds in the process.

Yesterday I drove up to Georgetown to see an old friend. Well, she's not old, she's just a friend from a long time ago. We figured it had been about 27 years since we'd seen each other, and a lot changes in that length of time. People get married, babies are born, careers are started, families move, but some things never change, and we picked up right where we left off, except that I'm running 5Ks and she's running marathons. Show-off.

Karen and I were best friends in middle school and have the dorky pictures to prove it, although I'm not going to share them here. We tried to re-create one of them yesterday, but it's on someone else's camera. That's probably for the best—it would be just as dorky as the original.

The first thing we did was head out into the cold drizzle to get some dinner. I had read reviews of The Tombs and it sounded good, so that's where we went. 


I wondered why it was called The Tombs until we got there. It's in the basement of a very old building. All the walls and columns are old brick, floors are ancient-looking, worn wood—it's like the dungeon of a castle. But it was dry and warm and the food was fantastic. One of those quirky college-town restaurants.


When we emerged from the depths an hour or so later, the drizzle had stopped and we decided to go walking. We were told the nicest part of the city was along M Street, so we headed in that direction.

The streets are made of this uneven cobbling which is lovely to look at but not so fun to walk on.


I loved the old row houses


and the steep streets.


We were enjoying just walking along, looking in the shops and talking, when we stumbled upon this:


Yes, that's the one and only Georgetown Cupcake, where the show DC Cupcakes is filmed. And you KNOW we had to have one just to see if they're as good as people say. Lucky for us there was only a short line. I really intended to get just one, but when I started looking at the flavors, I knew I was in trouble and figured I'd better take some home for the men.

Yeah, that's it. For the men.


I walked out with a half dozen, only because I couldn't afford any more than that. This is what $15 worth of cupcakes looks like in Georgetown:


Clockwise from top-left: apple caramel, pumpkin spice, red velvet with cream cheese frosting, chocolate squared, chocolate peanut butter swirl, and happy birthday milk chocolate.

Be still, my heart. These women speak my love language.

The cupcakes are every bit as amazing as all the hype makes them out to be. I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back.

Armed with enough sugar to keep me high for the next six weeks, we continued walking toward the waterfront so my friend (and her friend) could find the Crescent Trail where they would be running 13 miles this morning. (Where does dedication like that come from? Certainly not Georgetown Cupcake.)


I got this shot of the Key Bridge in the sunset. See the traffic sitting still on the bridge? It was like that three hours earlier when I crossed it. Some things never change.


On our walk back to the hotel, I spotted the RHINO headquarters right there on M Street and had to have photographic proof for Leah.


And to cap off a perfect evening, we turned around and saw this beautiful rainbow. When we first spotted it, it looked like it was coming out of the smokestack on the lower right. I really wanted to get that perfect shot, but people wouldn't stop honking their horns at me in the middle of the intersection. (Just kidding, dear.)


Have you ever been to the Georgetown University campus? It has some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. No wonder they pay so much to go there. I could just walk around looking at the architecture all day.


Obviously, I did make it out of the city just fine. Once I crossed the Key Bridge, I kept my eye on the Pentagon, knowing 395 was just on the other side of it, and it turned out to be easier getting out than getting in.

Great day with great company. Here's hoping it's not another 27 years until I see Karen again.

Be thankful ~

Thursday, September 15, 2011

And there was no long line!

I made it out of Georgetown. But not before I was sucked in by this place. Do you recognize it?


More on this tomorrow after I get punished in the gym for my lack of sleep.

Be thankful ~

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Grammar Lesson of the Day: Pronouns and Their Antecedents.

When I was homeschooling my children, I made them learn and chant the subjective case pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) and the objective case pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) and learn when to use which ones. I bet they can all still do it. (Bonus points to the child who can also chant all the helping verbs.) You use the subjective case ones when the pronoun is a subject or a predicate nominative, and the objective case ones when the pronoun is an object (either direct, indirect, or the object of a preposition).

Everyone knows what a pronoun is. It's a word that takes the place of a noun, so you don't have to sound ridiculous like this:

          Bob rode Bob's bike five miles to Bob's house.

Instead, you can sound intelligent and say:

          Bob rode his bike five miles to his house.

In the second sentence, his is the pronoun, and Bob is what we call the antecedent, or the noun to which the pronoun refers. I think Bob needs a car, but that's another story for another day.

The funny thing about pronouns and antecedents, though, is that they must match in number. Singular antecedent, singular pronoun. Plural antecedent, plural pronoun.

You wouldn't say:

          Bob rode their bike five miles to their house.

would you? It doesn't even sound right. Yet I see this error all. the. time.

Take the letter I got from Liberty University (the school I am currently paying $25,000 a year to educate my daughter) today. Here's how it begins:

          Dear Parent/Guardian,
          Over the years, you have invested in the life of your child. As the time comes for you to guide them . . .

Wait, what? THEM? I thought we were talking about my CHILD (singular). Why would we use a plural pronoun?

The $25,000 answer is: we wouldn't. We would use one of the singular pronouns, her or him. Since this is obviously a form letter, we would say, As the time comes for you to guide him/her . . .

Unless you are the parent of twins, in which case you would be out of your mind sending them to Liberty anyway. That would be $50,000 a year.

Go forth and speak correctly.

Be thankful ~

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Randomness.

Blogging four days in a row one week has no bearing on what will happen the following week. Just so we're all clear on that.

Abbie came home last weekend and Noelle (of the beautiful brown eyes) was here, so of course we ate too much and had a baking marathon, but that's what we do when we're together.

Abbie spent time listening to Ben tell stories, which he is famous for, and I forgot how to focus my camera.


We started our Saturday by rolling three very large logs up onto the trailer. I wanted to get pictures of the event, but something about 800 pounds of oak rolling back over my family kept me pushing. What, you don't keep stacks of logs in your front yard waiting to go to the sawmill? We do, along with the Y from a large tree (hickory, maybe?) standing in the middle of the driveway. It's like a sculpture. Our neighbors love us.

Anyway, after the log rolling, we went to the gym, then came home and made the brilliant decision to cancel out all our hard work by baking The Pumpkin Bread. With chocolate chips. And two batches of Deb's Granola. And a pork roast, mashed potatoes, and asparagus for dinner. And then after dinner we made a second batch of pumpkin bread because we believe in overdoing everything food related.

Sunday morning I woke up with a food hangover, and what better way to fix that than having a football-sized burrito from Chipotle for lunch after church? Then Abbie left for Lynchburg, Noelle left for wherever it is she's living for the next four months, and Man-squared and I came home to sleep it off. But first I had more pumpkin bread just to see how much I could cram into my stomach at one time. Then I slept it off.

Which brings us to this week.

Monday was just a normal day of gym, work, laundry, make dinner. (Are you still here?)

Tuesday I made up my mind I was going to run 3 miles, since I haven't done that yet and the 5K in South Carolina is just six weeks away. So I went to the gym, got on the treadmill, and actually did it in 31:55. Yay, me!

This afternoon I was sitting at my desk when Man-squared came tip-toeing through my room, quietly unlocked the French doors, and went out on the deck with his gun.


It's a constant war with groundhogs here, and Pete is all but useless now that he's gotten a taste of chasing deer out of the tomatoes. He doesn't even look for the small animals anymore.

Now you're probably wondering why you stuck around for all that, and I can't say I blame you. But Thursday I'm driving up to Georgetown to meet a friend for dinner, so that should be good for some stories if I live to tell them.

Be thankful ~

Friday, September 9, 2011

I look like who?

Wednesday night at church a guy told me he thought the girl sitting with me Sunday night was my sister. He said we looked exactly alike. While he was talking I was trying desperately to remember who was sitting next to me, and finally figured out it was Noelle, she of the beautiful brown eyes. She's the one on the right.


And I went, "Huh?" If at 50 years old I looked just like Noelle, I could make a lot of money. But I'll take the compliment anyway.

Be thankful ~

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I really tried to teach them to behave.

Also unearthed in my photo searching the other day were these from Boo's wedding last June, which Leah, Abbie, and Man-squared were all a part of.

I love the look on Man-squared's face.





Be thankful ~

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Bean and his cookie discovery.

While I was searching through photos yesterday, I also came across these from last December when Bean & Button brought their parents to our house. Of course we had the requisite cookie-baking marathon, which included rugelach, these little Jewish pastry things filled with crushed walnuts that are so good we only make them once a year lest we all wind up the size of a Mac truck. We made tray after tray after tray of them.


Look at that flaky, powdered-sugar-crusted goodness all wrapped around the warm, oozing walnut-and-honey-and-cinnamon filling. Mmmmmmmm . . .


Sorry. Where was I? Oh yes, at the time of these pictures, Bean had never had a cookie. Yes, you read that right.

But now we're at Grammy's house, and special things happen there. Mama lets us have cookies!


 And you know what happens when Mama gives us a bite of warm-out-of-the-oven rugelach? That's right . . . we want more.






Oh, the pleading. The begging. The puppy-dog eyes.



It's a good thing Grammy's not in charge here. He would have gotten the whole tray.

Be thankful ~

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Stuff.

I might be the worst grandmother ever. Button is 3 1/2 months old and I still don't have a picture of him in my sidebar! I figured that out while I was getting rid of the dingy background and trying to decide what other changes I want to make, which turns out to be not many because I just don't have it in me tonight.

Anyway, I'll put this photo in the sidebar even though it's 3 months old because it's the only decent one I have. Ahem. This is in no way intended to be a hint to Button's mother who just recently bought a really nice new Canon camera.


While I was going through what few photos I have of the grandbabies (they never write, they never call), I also found this one of Bean. Playing in the sink was his favorite activity when he was here last. I think he would be willing to drive the 12 hours again just spend his days in the kitchen with Grammy.


I just love that look of concentration.

Then I came across this really cool photo. I don't know who took it, but I feel sure it was shot with my super-awesome 35mm f1.8 lens that now resides in Lynchburg, Virginia.


I love how it looks like the flower is floating. Honestly, if somebody's going to use that lens, it might as well be the person with photography talent.

So there, Leah. I blogged and it hasn't even been 3.4 days.

Be thankful ~

Monday, September 5, 2011

That's what friends are for.

Yesterday afternoon we had a bunch of people here for dinner, one of whom is Abbie's friend Noelle, she of the beautiful brown eyes.



At some point I thought it would be funny to text Abbie and let her know some of her favorite people were here, so I did and we had our little joke. Then I asked her what she was up to and she sent me this message:

At the front desk wrapping Ryan in tape.

To which I replied:

Do I want to know why?

She answered that it was for her sculpture project, and a little while later sent me this photo:


It might have been just a little disconcerting to find out that I'm paying $25,000 a year for her to wrap her friend in tape, but I guess that's what art school is nowadays. Her sculpture will be on display later this month. It will be interesting to see this very expensive work of art. And also, isn't Ryan an amazing friend? I mean, when was the last time you let someone wrap you in tape and then cut it off? I only have one question for you, Ryan: Didn't the tape stick to the hair on your legs?

Be thankful ~

Saturday, September 3, 2011

I'm always playing catch-up.

So I haven't blogged in a while. I'm not sure how long it's been, but Leah can tell you to the tenth of a day (she reminded me a few days ago that it had been 3.4 days). Up to and including Wednesday, I was acting like a workaholic and just couldn't squeeze out the words. Thursday I went to the gym and then took the rest of the day off to go shopping. Sounds like fun, right? No. I hate shopping. The clothes are ugly and I have no idea what size I am anymore. I end up taking three sizes of everything in the fitting room and then hating them all anyway. Maybe in my next life I should be a designer.

Anyway, I did find a few things including a new cheesecake pan (priorities), so it was a semi-successful, albeit exhausting, day. Then Friday I went to the gym, cleaned my house, and made coconut custard pies—one for Tony, who had asked me earlier in the week to make them. That was day two of no working.

Today (Saturday) I made the monthly trip to the commissary, came home and put it all away, paid the bills, and went to the gym. By the time I got back I decided to spray the walkways and ditch with Roundup, then had to shower, and really, who can start work at 3:30 pm? So I managed to blow off three full days of work, for which I will surely pay tomorrow. I'm justifying it with the fact that I worked 13 days straight before that.

The latest news is that Abbie is now the reigning wall-sit champ, clocking in with an amazing five minutes. In case you don't know what a wall-sit is, stand with your back against a wall, walk your feet out, and slide down until you're in a sitting position, knees and hips at 90° angles. Keep the weight in your heels, not your toes, and no resting your hands on your legs. Hold as long as you can. When we first started doing these, one minute was a challenge. My best is 4:20 and that included a lot of moaning and screaming.

In other news, Virginia is still enjoying aftershocks. The last one I felt was Thursday morning and it was strong enough to wake me up. At least when the hurricane's gone, you know it's not coming back. This earthquake stuff is getting old.

So now you're caught up and I have at least 3.4 days until I get reminded that it's time to blog again. Ciao!

Be thankful ~