i wanna go home!!!

THERE IS A GECKO IN MY APARTMENT!!! i am FREAKING out!!! as i sit here thinking of ways to trap it and prevent any others from EVER thinking about entering my apartment, my skin is crawling!!!

lucy goes to the door this afternoon...her way of saying she has to potty...i reach for the leash and as i'm about to put it around her neck is see movement...a little brownish-greenish gecko goes for cover in my laundry closet. insert BLOOD-CURDLING scream here. what must the neighbors think?!! side note: i had just put a load of laundry in the washer...no idea how i'm going to get it in the dryer because i am NOT going anywhere near that closet.

but that's not the immediate problem...

guess where the laundry closet is located?!! yep, right by the front door...how the heck am i supposed to get lucy outside before she piddles all over the floor?!!

so after SEVERAL minutes of cowering on the couch...after SEVERAL pitiful and longing looks from lucy...i get brave, put the leash around her neck, and practically drag her out the front door. insert exceptionally LOUD door slam here. note to self: must apologize to neighbors...

i'm outside, lucy does her thing, and thank goodness...i remembered to grab my cell phone...because i really had no intention of going back into the apartment until matt could get home to find it and remove it. i call him and...no surprise here...he finds the story highly amusing and is completely unsympathetic...he says he can't come home until his regular time...he rode into work with a friend...doesn't have a way to get here anyway. i offer to come get him...and he thinks i'm kidding...i really wasn't. his advice: go to walmart and look for gecko traps...

it's 2:30 in the afternoon...matt won't be home until 6:30 or later...so i decide to get brave...AGAIN...throw the front door open, drag lucy across the apartment, and assume the cowering position on the couch. insert ANOTHER exceptionally LOUD door slam here.

that was MANY hours ago...i've been encouraging lucy to "get the gecko"...she brings me her ball.

not only will the laundry not get done, dinner will not be prepared...the kitchen is next to the front door which is next to the laundry closet which is harboring the aforementioned, unwelcomed gecko...i'm prisoner on the couch until matt gets home.

did you know that there are geckos that FLY?!!

what if they crawl on me while i'm sleeping?!!

what if they get in my cupboards?!!

what if they get in the laundry and i wash and dry one?!!

I WANNA GO HOME!!!

almost lakefront property

our view from the back patio...you sorta feel like you're living on a lake...okay, not really...i'm just trying to find something positive about living on the third floor.

there's a golf course directly below the back patio and the golfers are driving lucy crazy...she's obsessed with their every move.

and just to make all of you northerners jealous...it's 80 degrees outside...nothing but blue skies...beautiful, gorgeous, wish you were here!!!

best pumpkin ever

i know that halloween is SOOOO last year...but how cute is she?!!

it's the least i can do...

http://www.freerice.com/

my cousin, cindy, brought this website to my attention. for every vocabulary word definition you get right, this site will donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations. doesn't sound like much...but...yesterday, over 140 million grains of rice were donated...wonder how many bowls of rice that is... i've personally contributed over 5,000 grains of rice today...it's addicting!!! can't believe all of those greek and latin root words are still in my head...thanks, mrs. stahley (high school english teacher).

upside-down frown

i feel like pouting and complaining, so i guess i should do the opposite and find things to be happy about today.

1. janelle had her baby early this morning...elijah william...SOOO happy for her and SOOO impressed with her 50 hour labor...sorry nelle, i know it's probably not something you're ready to be happy about...the 50 hour labor...but i am seriously impressed and so thankful that you had a safe delivery! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

2. grandpa is going home today...if the snowy roads improve between indianapolis and elkhart...if not today, monday...they don't transport by ambulance on the weekends. he'll go to a rehab facility for a few weeks until he's able to move about without assistance and eat a proper meal...no more pb & j, grandpa. grandpa has been in the hospital since christmas...he had a tumor removed from his pancreas...as well as many other "things". his doctors are considering this surgery very successful at this point...and i am thanking God for SOOO many answered prayers!!!

3. i get to see matt in a week...he's already in FL working on his project. we've been apart for 3 weeks...i miss him...lucy misses him...so ready to be together again!!!

4. my car will be fixed next week...working with an adjuster to get all of the details straightened out...found out they'll provide a rental car while mine's being fixed...PTL!!! while i was in IN, my cousin lisa accidentally backed into the front bumper of my car when leaving to take medicine to her son at school. is it funny or ironic that just the day before this happened i said, "i wish i'd just get the first ding...then maybe i wouldn't worry about something happening to the car anymore"??? thank you God for an answered prayer???

5. when i got home from IN on wednesday, i discovered/remembered that i still had some of my favorite coffee creamer left. it's a flavor that you can only get at christmas...peppermint mocha...YUM!!! the little things...

6. before leaving for IN i decided to pack up for FL...so glad i did that because now i can use this week to tie up loose ends...maybe get a haircut...a pedicure. i can enjoy my final days in my house before being separated from it for more than a year...is it weird that i'm feeling separation anxiety...from a house???

7. i found a teaching job online that starts on march 1...how perfect would that be?!! i sent my resume and a cover letter yesterday and am praying that i'll hear from the principal...soon.

in the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider-God has made the one as well as the other...ecclesiastes 7:14.

i saw this good movie ONCE...

i watched a movie yesterday that i think i sooo super brilliant. it's called ONCE and the acting is so natural and the writing is so sparse and simple and the music...the music is amazing!!! there's no neked-ness, no sex, no violence...the occasional "f" bomb, but if you can get past that...SUCH a goooood movie!!!

NOTE: not everyone will appreciate this movie...there's a saying in my family, "that's an 'amy' movie." apparently my cinematic taste is questionable. i like to think it's eclectic and open-minded.

the funny thing about being infertile...it's not funny

okay, another infertility book report...the last one, i promise...

i'm at the library and i see this book called a few good eggs written by two women who've personally experienced infertility...they promote their book as a "funny/witty girlfriend's guide to infertility"...my girlfriends make me laugh...maybe this book will make me laugh. i'm looking for a laugh...i NEED to laugh about being infertile...SOMETHING has to be funny about being infertile...if i can laugh about it, it'll be easier to deal...right???

i check it out and immediately begin reading it when i get home...thirty minutes later...i'm sobbing and i decide that there's NOTHING funny about being infertile...NOTHING. they tried to make it funny, but it just wasn't.

the whole book is about how women waste their "fertile" years by getting an education and establishing their careers and then when they're ready to get pregnant...they can't. it was the MOST depressing infertility book i've ever read...i do not recommend it...AT ALL...it was even worse than the "happy crack" book i wrote about many blogs ago.

a few things to note at this point:

1. i am already painfully aware of most of the information found in this book...the statistics, the probabilities, the problems and procedures. it did not help to hear all of that depressing stuff...AGAIN!

2. the authors of this book do not claim to be looking at this issue from a God-centered point of view...therefore, the book was depressing...therefore, the book was hopeless...hope-less!!! i just so happen to love a God of wonder and miracles...and better yet, HE loves ME! so the statistics, probabilities, problems and procedures mean NOTHING to Him...and therefore, they mean nothing to me.

the funny thing about being infertile...is that it's not funny...and that's okay. i think what i was really looking for was comfort and i think i'll look for that in the BIBLE!

"i love the Lord because He hears my voice and my supplications. because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore i shall call upon Him as long as i live." psalm 116:1-2, 7

where has it all gone?!!

sad news today...our motherboard died. i just left the computer repair store...the man tells me..."it doesn't look good. i'll recover what i can." i cannot express to you the panic i am feeling at this moment. i had valuable, precious information on that computer...not to mention pictures...ALL of my pictures that i had yet to print out. i am trying to remain calm...trying to remember that they're just pictures/music/word documents/excel documents. in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. merely an inconvenience...an inconvenience that sucks!!!

a few weeks ago when we first noticed that motherboard was not long for this world, we bought a portable hard drive and we backed up most of our things...but i'll still lose many of the things listed above...including my address book...so, please send me your home addresses and phone numbers.

i am blogging from the public library...and for a semi-germaphobe, it's difficult to know that i'm touching countless runny nose/flu infested/who-knows-what-else fingers. i'll just not think about that right now. i'll just be thankful that i can still be connected to the "world"...my little internet "world". i KNEW years ago that it was a mistake to become dependent on technology.

stupid computers...

too much fun...

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

pretty in pink...

this is for aunt katie...can you see the pink collar???

for the love of...my tennis shoes...

these are my most favorite tennis shoes EVER...i've had them for 6 years...bought them when i first started teaching and wore them almost everyday...they're falling apart, give me blisters, but i will NOT throw them away...cannot find a similar pair to replace them...so...

i've found another ingenious use for duct tape...

no good will ever come of it...

here's my latest baking attempt...not baking exactly...they're supposed to be "no-bake" cookies...they just sort of melded into one big, nasty-looking blob of chocolatey/oatmealy/sugary goodness...

they sort of look like the buffalo chips from a few blogs ago...taste great...nothing like a buffalo chip...but look AWFUL!!!

no, i've never acutally tasted a buffalo chip...

no good will ever come of me entering my kitchen...i think i'll quit going in there...

i feel so green!!!

out with the old...

in with the new...

posse 07

picnic on the potomac...

janelle's very own battle of the bulge...

so tired...

me...at the president's house...

until next time...

in a pit with a lion on a snowy day...

if ya'll haven't read this book, you should. the guy who wrote it seems like a brainiac...i didn't understand half of the "smart person" stuff he wrote about...but, bottom line, he's so right on about so many things. read the book and i guarantee you'll be ready to go look for your lion and kick its booty!!!

my lion has been after me for about two years...and as a normal, right-minded person, i've been laying low just waiting for it to get tired of chasing me...alas, it has unending amounts of energy. but after reading this book, i didn't want it to stop chasing me...i was ready...dare i say excited...to chase my lion, for a change, and tie a knot in its tail!!!

for the first time in two years, i don't feel like asking God for a baby. i feel like asking God to give me new perspective and strength to face this lion. i feel like asking God to use me, to provide opportunities to use my pain for another's benefit. i want to face this lion named "infertility" and defeat it, obliterate it...i want the "W". so, i've decided...

to lock eyes with this lion...the jealousy and discontent...and put it in its place...
to be happy NOW...
to reframe my perspective...to explain my circumstances to myself in a different way...
to persevere...and dream bigger and different things..."God" things...
to truly worship...forgetting what's wrong with me and remembering what's right with God...

this reads like a book report, huh??? remember reading rainbow? the part of the show where the kids talk about books they've read...and they end by saying, "...but don't take my word for it." anyway, read it...it's by mark batterson...

bridge over troubled water...troubled bridge over water...

thanks to all who were concerned for us...we love you!!!

where the buffalo and prairie dogs play...

pictures from our trip to the badlands and the black hills in south dakota...

lucy's first vacation...

the badlands...

matt on jackalope...

custer state park...

matt's family plays this game when they travel...when you see a wild animal, you make the animal's noise and you are awarded points according to how difficult it is to find said animal in the wild. i SUCKED at this game...the only "things" i seemed to spot were piles of buffalo poo...

lucy enjoying the view...

crazy horse...

mt. rushmore...

wind cave...great cave as caves go...but VERY boring tour!!!

buffalo walking down the middle of the road...

20+10

i will be 20+10 on sunday...forever after known as "black sunday". horror of horrors...i'm already that "old" person i never thought i'd be. remember when thirty seemed ancient?!! i'll paraphrase a quote from the movie "pretty in pink"...we should start old and grow young...you never appreciate what you have when you have it...and my youth is gone and now i'm old. nothing left for me to do but rot and die. a bit dramatic, i realize...

so, a list of things i want to do before i actually accomplish the rotting and dying:
1. i want to write a book...nothing ambitious like the great american novel...just a book...maybe a pamphlet...a brochure. nothing successful...i hate people paying me attention.
2. i want to be on jeopardy and actually be smart enough to win...maybe just that "cash cab" show...i usually know most of those answers.
3. i want to do the iron man triathalon...well, maybe just a marathon...i could do the biking and running part of the triathalon, but the swimming part...i hate getting water in my ears. so, a marathon...or a half-marathon...yeah, that's more likely.
4. i want to knit a sweater or sew something easy...like curtains. i'd like to be just a tiny bit crafty someday.
5. i want to be a mom.

my brother has this weird age thing...let's say he's 35...when people ask him how old he is he says he's about 40...might as well be, right??? so, now that i'm 20+10 i might as well be 20+15...and 20+15 is half-way to 70 which is death...so with that logic i conclude that half of my life is over. DE-PRESS-ING!!! as i see it, any birthday past 18 is quite unnecessary.

moving...destination unknown

this has been our happy, little home for the past 12+ months...and we will happily be leaving it very soon!!! i (heart) minnesota...but i (heart) south carolina even more!!!

what i will miss about minnesota:

1. the snow...so beautiful!!!

2. the mall of america...could shopping get any better??? i submit that it could not!

3. ikea...who knew cheap, scandinavian furniture could be so addictive???

4. fried cheese curds...don't knock 'em til you try 'em.

5. the walking trails...there are miles and miles of trails throughout the city of faribault...great for exercise and walking/chasing the dog.

6. water aerobics with the little old ladies at the community center...not too much little or old about those ladies...a bunch of sweet, tough girls!

7. a TARGET about every five miles...it has been super great having my happy place so easily accessible!!!

8. our church...wonderful pastor, wonderful worship!

9. matt's 5-10 minute commute...compared to the 40+ minutes it took him to get to and from work in charlotte...

10. the great people matt works with...our almost weekly dinners were always highly enjoyable...

what i will NOT miss about minnesota:

1. the snow...after the first two feet, it's not so much fun...and digging my car out...don't even get me started...

2. the butt cold temperatures...it's bad when you're watching the weather channel and you get excited when the temperatures leave the single digits..."it's going to be 15 degrees out today!"

3. the trains...in the picture above, you see matt and lucy...just behind them...20-30 yards...there's a train track...so annoying, so loud!!!

4. the mean northerners...can't wait to get back to the south where you cannot get through the grocery store without having some sort of conversation with a complete stranger...and this is coming from one of the most introverted people ever!

5. lugging groceries up to the third floor...

6. taking lucy out to do her business...down the stairs, across the parking lot, pick up the poo while stepping on other dogs' poo because their owners didn't pick it up, back up the stairs...

7. the mean dog lady down the hallway...

8. the mean apartment manager...

9. our neighbors upstairs...they play the same song over and over...steve miller band's "the joker"...they drop books or weights on the floor...and sunday afternoons, i won't tell you what we hear...let me just say..."ewwww, gross!!!"

10. the apartment quality appliances...i miss my flat-top stove and microwave and my washer and dryer...

i'm so excited to get back to our house and our stuff...i miss our yard and our garage and our ceiling fans and my pink bathroom...i cannot wait to go home!!!

i (heart) minnesota...part 5...the last one, i promise

the view from honeymoon bluff...

katie at honeymoon bluff...in my sweatshirt...wink, wink, little sister...

outside of world's best donuts...one word...yum!

the moose...one of two that we saw...i'm not too good at night time photography with my digital camera...

the spring...best and coldest water ever!