A new, great, exciting update...
or The reason I haven't been posting lately

I couldn't just keep blogging as usual, when things haven't been as usual. And I couldn't start blogging about things that were going on--that wasn't the right order of events. Am I being cryptic enough for you? Here we go... I found out on Friday, 9/17, that I'm pregnant. Yes! I had to tell family and close friends before I posted on here--I don't think my grandmother would have appreciated finding out about her next great grandchild by reading it on my blog. As of today, I am about 7 and a half weeks pregnant (baby is about the size of a raspberry!), and my first doctor's appointment is Monday (this doctor group waits until at least 8 weeks). I am so excited! This is something I have been looking forward to for years. My due date is somewhere around May 21, though I'm sure the doctor will give me a bit firmer date after my appointment.

Some of the reactions of my family members and friends:

~From my mother - an actual squeal (I don't think I've ever heard my mom do this) and lots of happiness
~From my dad - "Well shucks, how did that happen?"
~From my grandmother - "Well, Katie, isn't that just absolutely perfect?"
~From Lucy - a couple seconds of silence. Then, "You are? Yaaaaaaayyy!"
~From Greg - after I told him not to cry: "Too late."
~From Scott and Kim - We were with them in the mall parking lot while they put their kids in the car, and Jon said, "We're thinking we're going to have ourselves one of those [kids]." Scott replied, "Yeah, any time in this lifetime?" and I said, "Around May 21st, actually." Kim popped her head back out of the car and asked, "What?! Are you pregnant?" Lots of smiles, hugs, and questions ensued.
~From some of our other friends - Some happy tears! They know how much I've been looking forward to this.

As far as pregnancy symptoms and morning sickness, etc., I'm feeling pretty good. There were about 10 days to 2 weeks there where I was feeling queasy or nauseous all day every day, with it being especially bad in the mornings. That made being at work all day very difficult, especially since no one at work knows--try explaining why I'm so tired and haven't felt good for so long AND that I'm not contagious, all without telling I'm pregnant! I won't announce it at work for several more weeks probably--probably until I'm just showing. Anyway, ever since last Wednesday, I've been feeling much better. I've learned I must have food in my stomach or else I start feeling bad, so I'm eating a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack in addition to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That helps. It looks like I'll be feeling good when we go on our cruise next weekend (yes we're still going! Of course! Not like I would have really had that much alcohol anyway), and I'm hoping I still easily fit into the bridesmaid dress for Katrina's wedding 10/23--so far so good on that front.

So, that's the news! And, as long as work stays under control (it has been busier this week and last week), I'll be back to posting more regularly.
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I promise a new, great, exciting update within the next 48 hours. Well, don't hold me to the "great" or "exciting" parts--but I'll try.

For now, here are two (digital) pictures from our trip to Europe:

In front of the cathedral in Strasbourg, France:


Heidelberg cathedral:

The bridal shower went very well on Saturday. I only got a little bit lost on the way to the location... It was a very lovely house with a beautiful backyard perfect for the event. We did the games I had prepared, had a really good lunch (which I just helped prepare--didn't make any of it), and watched Katrina open a bunch of cool gifts. I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I drove home and sat on the couch for the rest of the day until Jon got home. :) I'm glad this year's shower season is over!

Other than the shower (or in addition to it), this weekend was nice. We went to Macaroni Grill on Friday for Colleen's birthday, and Janel (Jon's sister) and Seth (her 9-month-old son) came too--they're back in CA! Sunday was our normal Sunday: church (Jon did sound and I did my usual music stuff), fellowship and lunch with friends after church at the mall food court, naps at home, some editing work, and Jon's basketball game in the evening. And now it's back to another week of work!

Tomorrow is the bridal shower I'm hosting/helping to host for my college roommate. This is the last shower I'm doing for the year...thank goodness. I really have liked doing them, but this one has been stressful. It turned into a lot larger ordeal (and a lot larger guest list) than I had anticipated.

My to do list before tomorrow:

--print/bring gift list sheet
--finish wrapping present
--print & cut sheets for picture game
--get together all game stuff (poster, 2 sets of papers)
--buy a few packs of pens
--buy bread
--decide what to wear
--find & bring name tags

Finishing the list would be easier if today weren't my mother-in-law's birthday. We're doing dinner for her tonight.

Thankfully, the lady at whose house the shower is being held is doing most of the food. I'll arrive an hour or so early to help set up. Hope I feel OK. I've been feeling blah all week.

I'm still not feeling like blogging, but I'm doing it anyway. I should be gearing up for my 100th post, which I think occurs next post or the one after that (it seems blogger has been stuck at 97 for a couple of my posts).

Those two prospective flute students from last night will now become weekly students, which makes my total student list add up to... 3. Actually, ideally I'd like to stick to 3, max 4, while I work full-time and edit (and cook/clean, etc.).

I haven't been feeling very bloggy this past week. So I'm just checking in. Here I am. I have some editing to work on, and two new flute students are coming by the house for consultations tonight. Adios.

Back in the swing of things
This is my second day back at work, and things are going fine. I didn't experience much jet lag at all, which is nice.

I miss Ellie (Nate and Louise's daughter). She's quite cute. One of her favorite activities is to say, "Sase! Sase!" (chase) and run around one of their armchairs while someone chases her. When the adult feels it's time to stop (it's tiring!), she'll say, "Mo-wee," which means more.

Upon returning to work yesterday, I found out that I had the opportunity to switch desks with someone (the situation is too lengthy to describe, but it involves a whiny guy who doesn't want to move back to his old desk though he's being asked, so instead he asked me to move to his old place and he'd move to mine. Gosh, I guess that wasn't so lengthy). Though I like my current location (it's tucked away and has a window view, and no one can walk up behind me without my knowing--and the other location has none of these benefits), this move would move me away from annoying coworker. Hmm. Tempting. It's funny to me that whiny coworker would even want my desk, though, because I don't think he and annoying coworker get along at all. I guess he likes the people over at his old desk even less. But I don't think I'm going to give him the satisfaction. Moving both him and me makes absolutely no sense; it would probably even ruffle some feathers (even with a "directive" from boss, annoying coworker would probably realize this was something either whiny guy or I requested--this may hurt her feelings, which I don't want to do. She may also be "mad" at me for having agreed to a move that would put whiny guy next to her, since I know she doesn't like him). So, I don't think I'm going to do it, but I just find it interesting. The end.

We're back and the trip was great
We got in to LAX last night around 8:00 and back to the house at 10:00 CA time (after having traveled for 21 hours...yikes). I'll finish my little trip log...

On Thursday, Louise and I went for those massages... they were heavenly. I have only gotten one professional massage before, and I loved it. This was just as good. In fact, this was the first time I'd ever gotten a facial, and I especially loved that because they rubbed my feet. I almost fell asleep! We bought a quick lunch after the massages, and drove to the next town over to go to a discount pottery place. I bought 3 square Christmas plates with their famous design on them. Louise and I had a good time talking while we drove around that day. We watched "Sweet Home Alabama" that night to complete our girls' day!

On Friday, it was the guys' day. They rented a BMW and enjoyed driving fast to their main destination: golf. Jon said he hit 210 km/hr on the way home (around 130 mph). I think they had a good time playing golf, though I guess they were paired with a VERY slow other 2 guys for their foursome (they said there were conversations of over a half hour in between holes...).

On Saturday, Jon and I went by ourselves to Cologne (Köln), a city about 1.5 hours away from Wiesbaden that has the largest cathedral in Germany (it was huge!). We ate at McDonald's (hey, we were by ourselves and we know no German!) and took a guided tour of the cathedral. We also walked around the train station and paid 2 euros to use the restroom. By that time, it was time to head back to Wiesbaden (and hit 220 km/hr on the way!), since Nate, Louise, Jon, and I planned on going back to that good Italian restaurant (Casa Europa I think it's called) one last time. They have bruschetta to die for and really good soup (I got the cream of tomato both times we went, and Nate loves the cream of broccoli, cream being the key word!). We watched "The Saint" that evening, and Jon and I stayed up late packing.

Sunday was time to go home. Our flight out of Frankfurt was at 10:30 a.m. (though with delays and a "Folks, we'll be returning to the gate momentarily to have a faulty temperature gauge checked out" from the captain, we didn't take off 'til noon). I finished Angle of Repose on this first flight, though. We had a long layover in Charlotte and were very glad to get back to L.A. last night. I got a rush of "been up way too long" energy last night and ended up unpacking and putting everything away before we went to bed. :)

I have the day off work today to recover from jet lag (actually don't have any...yet!), get film developed, catch up on e-mail and editing, do some laundry, go grocery shopping, etc.

Trip log
We are having a great time! We got in on Saturday morning 7:00, after having gotten barely 2-3 hours sleep on the flights (there were kids sitting behind us with no parents on the flight, and it was hard to sleep anyway), but we made it through the whole day just fine with a 1-hour nap. I did sleep 12 hours that night, though (9 to 9). :) I think it was this day that we went to downtown Wiesbaden and walked around. Jon found a T-Mobile store ("T-Punkt") and was impressed with how big it was and all the phones they had that still hadn't made it to the states.

On Sunday, we went to chapel, and then we went out to a GOOD Italian restaurant for lunch. I'm blanking on what else we did this day... I think we just hung out, napped, etc., and had a good dinner at Nate & Louise's house.

On Monday, we all drove the 2.5 hours or so to Strasbourg, France. We saw the cool church (neat stained glass) and walked around the city, and we ate at a little French café (I even spoke a little French!). Then we took the 1+ hour boat guided tour of the city, which was really nice and pretty, though it got very hot towards the end. (Speaking of weather, it has been PERFECT so far every day!—mid 70s-ish and sunny and breezy.) We got some ice cream at another place, and I mistakenly ordered raspberry for everyone, not strawberry (oops… framboise=raspberry… I think fraise=strawberry). It was still really good. In the afternoon, we drove to Heidelberg and dropped off our things and Ellie with Louise’s mom at their house. Then we went out to dinner at Die Kartoffel (spelling? It means "The Potato" in German). It’s a fun tavern-like restaurant where they bring you your meat raw on a very hot stone, and you cook it yourself. It comes with 3 good sauces, a big potato, and salad. It was really good! We also walked around that city after dinner (Laderbrunen?); it’s the oldest city in Germany and has a Roman column from the year 2. That night we slept at Louise’s parents’ house in Heidelberg.

On Tuesday, we spent the day in Heidelberg. Jon and I climbed the steps to the top of the bell tower of the church (very cool views of the city) and took a guided tour of the castle ruins. The city is really neat. Pepperdine has a campus there, though we weren’t exactly sure where to find it. We had lunch at Nate and Louise’s favorite Thai place in Heidelberg—it was actually very good! That evening we drove back to Wiesbaden and had fondu for dinner and watched a movie here.

Today has been a relaxing/home day, because Louise had a doctor’s appointment (she’s pregnant, due in March) and Nate has youth group today. Tomorrow, Louise and I are going to get 2-hour massages, and on Friday, Jon’s renting a car to drive the autobahn. :o)

Toodloo!
I'm hoping to blog a bit while we're gone (the Johnsons have a computer, and Louise is pregnant and will probably want to nap and have "down time") to keep up on the different things we've done, but I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to. Don't want to be rude.

We have no trip itinerary since we're letting Nate and Louise lead the way, but I do think we'll go to Heidelberg one day and maybe Strasbourg. We're staying in Wiesbaden. Here's a map of Germany. :) I think Nate has youth group activities at least one of the nights, so we'll probably participate in that.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Updated updated to do list
-change sheets
-pack toiletries and carry-on bags

DONE:
-buy BBQ sauce for Nate and Louise from Wood Ranch
-laundry
-Coinstar our "rainy day" change
-cash? traveler's checks?
-buy new camera (it's awesome--at least I love it! A Canon Rebel--I think that's the right one)
-clean out fridge perishables
-found out about sleeping pills; might have them or might not
-buy & mail b-day card for Greg
-get out passports and other traveling docs
-pack (at least I packed. Jon, on the other hand....)
-stop worrying

Updated to do list
-change sheets if guests are staying at our house
-clean out fridge perishables
-buy sleeping pills for flight???
-buy & mail b-day card for Greg
-get out passports and other traveling docs
-pack
-stop worrying

DONE:
-buy BBQ sauce for Nate and Louise from Wood Ranch
-laundry
-Coinstar our "rainy day" change
-cash? traveler's checks?
-get camera from Ray? film? (nevermind on this one; we might get our own camera)

To do list before trip
-buy BBQ sauce for Nate and Louise from Wood Ranch
-laundry (and change sheets if guests are staying at our house)
-clean out fridge perishables
-get camera from Ray? film?
-buy sleeping pills for flight???
-Coinstar our "rainy day" change
-buy & mail b-day card for Greg
-cash? traveler's checks?
-get out passports and other traveling docs
-pack
-stop worrying

4 days 'til we leave for Germany! I think I'll feel frazzled until I actually get things packed (maybe I'll create a list today to help make myself feel better about not forgetting something). We've got some things to do before we go too, like stop by Wood Ranch to get a few bottles of BBQ sauce to bring to Nate and Louise (by special request). We're also going over to Scott and Kim's house tonight to hang out one last time before we go (we just can't get enough of baby Samuel!). Although it's a bit late now, I just realized that Scott's birthday is one of the days we'll be gone, so we should have gotten him a little something (maybe we'll get something in Europe). My brother's birthday is also a day we're gone, so I'm going to head online and get him an Amazon.com gift certif since I wouldn't know what to send him anyway (I always get him clothes, but I haven't seen him in a while and don't know what size he is now!). :)

This post has been a bit jumbled and unorganized (disorganized? unorganized? Are either of those words right?), but that's how I'm feeling now anyway!

Lucy has now been at college for one week (her classes started Monday though). But she isn't old enough for this! She's my little sister--keyword little. I talked to her on the phone for a few minutes on Friday and have e-mailed back and forth a couple of times. I think she's doing well. It's hard to tell with her; she's so laid back and easy going (apparently, I got enough female-ish emotions for both of us) that not much seems to phase her. I think I'll send her a little care package.

Don't know why the first picture is cut off, but here are some with the floors all done!

This week we've been watching a lot of the Olympics and enjoying having our house back to normal (with some beeeeautiful floors, of which I'll post pictures as soon as we get new batteries for the digital cam)! Jon did end up getting the dishwasher to work, so we didn't have to buy a new one.

Only 10 days until our Germany trip! I haven't really been thinking much about it lately since it has always seemed so far away, but now it's here! Jon says we may take a day trip into France at some point, and besides that I think we'll let Nate and Louise schedule our days. I'm really looking forward to the time off work... things are abnormally slow this month in the office (this is normally the "busy season"), and it's getting monotonous.

Ricci's baby shower went great today! Just 5 girls showed up in addition to Ricci and me, but it was perfect--we're all the same age and had fun talking and hearing from Ricci what it's like to be pregnant. There was just the right amount of food and, even better, no weird silences or awkwardness since we mostly all didn't know each other.

In preparation for the shower, we got all the house stuff back in place last night, including all the stuff on the bookshelf, dining room things, couches, pictures/sconces, etc. The only snag was the dishwasher: because the new floor in the kitchen is slightly higher than the floor was before, the dishwasher no longer fits. Jon made sure the washer feet were screwed in so the washer stood as low as possible, used his Dremmel tool to file down the screws and things that were highest, even sawed off some of the protruding wood underneath the counters--all to no avail. So we might have to get a new one (no big complaining here--the dishwasher is really old--but it worked just fine! We had actually been planning on getting a new stove/oven first, since it is electric and when we took it out we saw that there is actually also already a gas hookup there!).

We might go to Macaroni Grill tonight... I can't wait for an Insalata Rossa!

We went and saw Scott and Kim and baby Samuel last night. He is so cute and little! And he can already move his head around--just like Sierra could. Sierra came in with Glenn and Kathy after a while, and she sat on my lap and helped me hold "Baby Yam." She was cute--gentle mostly but kept wanting to point out where his eyes were (and thereby accidentally poking him in the eye). Kim had him with no medicine at all--she is awesome. I wonder if I will be able to do that (one day!)--I hope so. I don't know if I'm a wimp or not. Can't wait to see them again!

Oh, and the house is coming along. We have our fridge and stove back, and our couches, new rug, and coffee table. Tonight is the dishwasher, dining room things, and odds and ends like lamps. Phew! I had already gotten used to how things were, so this morning I actually walked out to the garage from the kitchen to get milk for my cereal, and then I remembered the fridge is in the kitchen.

UPDATE: the baby was born today at 11:58! Welcome, Samuel Glenn. 8 pounds, 14 ounces, 21 inches long, and baby and mom are doing well. Kim did in fact have a successful VBAC with no medicine (eek!). We're going to go visit tonight.

Peeves, of the pet variety
I was thinking today about the phrase "pet peeve" and how accurate the "pet" part of it really is. A pet is an animal one chooses to own, then nourish, love, and watch grow. We foster the continuation/growth of our peeves when we make them our pets. And when it comes down to it, they are choices. A pet peeve isn't "that there is evil in the world;" a pet peeve is "that some people always use apostrophes in the wrong places" or "that people drive so darn slow on the freeway." So yes, there are annoyances out there in the world, but it is my choice whether I take those peeves on as my pets. Do I foster the growth and continuation of my peeves, or do I allow a spirit of love and understanding to supercede?

Here are some of my pet peeves that I should throw away (or "take to a farm with lots of land where they can run free, play, eat, and sleep all day"):
-grammar/spelling in other people's writing (still may correct it when asked, but it is not something to be annoyed about)
-freeway driving: it's OK if someone is going slow in the left lane; I can pass on the right and avoid thinking anything mean about the other driver
-other people's chronic lack of punctuality (OK, this will be a hard one to throw away, but I know I can certainly improve my attitude toward these people and be understanding about whatever circumstance caused them to be late)

What about you? What pet peeves do you think you can "take to the farm"?

pet peeve
n. Informal
--Something about which one frequently complains; a particular personal vexation.
--A particular or recurring source of irritation, as in My pet peeve is that neighbor's cat running through my herb garden. [Early 1900s]
--n : an opportunity for complaint that is seldom missed; "grammatical mistakes are his pet peeve"

Still no baby! I'm praying for Kim. 10 days late has to be frustrating, since they have been looking forward to a certain date (8/8) for 9 months, and then it passed and... nothing. C'mon, baby Samuel!

The tile is finished. It looks really great. We had to let the grout dry overnight, and tonight we will put the sealant on it, but that's it. I started cleaning everything that was left out in the kitchen, since it's now all dusty from the tile and grout particles.

Having this minor disruption to our lives for the past 1.5 weeks has opened my eyes to the fact that doing a remodel/addition would be this experience times 100. If this was an inconvenience, then the addition would be like a 6- or 8-month ongoing disaster. But... I still want to do it. Financially, it's still wise, even though that's what is hanging Jon up: one of his buddies/coworkers who works in the construction industry said it would definitely cost more than what we've been informally quoted. In my mind, though, even if it cost twice what we've been quoted, it would be a good deal. But I have been thinking and rethinking everything because of this minor tile deal. Is this something we want to do? Is it worth it? Comments/advice? (By the way, I uploaded some digital pics I took of the proposed floor plans. They're big so I won't put them on here, but e-mail me or ask in the comments section if you want to see them; I'll give you the URL. I'm also not sure about "disclosure" or whatever and if it's OK with the architects for me to share the plans, so I'll share sparingly I guess.)

The tile guys are at the house today finishing. I am relieved and excited! Time to have my stove and fridge back! I hope the dishwasher will hook back up correctly (Jon and Chris had a lot of trouble removing it, and when it did come out, water spouted everywhere because the valve didn't close when shut off).

The baby shower I'm throwing for a friend is this Saturday, so I'll spend the next couple of evenings cleaning up and getting the food items ready. But I'm also supposed to go over to our pastor's house tomorrow evening to show him how to use PowerPoint, and then there's music rehearsal on Thursday night. And tonight is partially full because of a flute lesson... so that leaves Friday night to get everything ready! If worse comes to worst, we can do the shower in the yard.

The tile guys came on Saturday at 6:00 a.m. and worked their hinees (sp?) off until 5:00 or so, but they still didn't finish. They're supposed to come back tomorrow. It looks good though!

We saw "The Village" on Saturday. Because I had heard so many poor reviews of it, I was actually pleasantly surprised. I liked the overall themes, including man's inherent sinfulness (even when outside "evils" are eliminated).

Still no baby born for Scott and Kim! She was due August 8. Since she's trying for a VBAC, they were going to let her go no more than a week late and then induce her this past Saturday. But she went to the doc on Friday and was told everything still looks good, so they'll let her go and see if she can start labor naturally before the 20th. I really hope she can.

Frustration at work
A coworker has really been getting on my nerves. This isn't annoying salesperson--thank goodness (she's gone)--but it's someone who sits basically right next to me in our little "pod." At first, it was personality stuff, and now that I'm annoyed at those things, little mannerisms and "lower level" things are bugging me too. It's all going downhill.

Personality things:
-She is such a complainer. I now know I can't recommend any restaurants to her anymore, because she comes back to work after going to the restaurant whining about how much she hated it.
-She is overweight (probably "obese"--since it's over 30 pounds) but still goes to the vending machine several times a day and eats candy. Now that she's "on a diet," she complains nonstop about what she can't eat anymore. She has told us her goal is to lose 30 pounds by the middle of December, and if she does, her big "reward" is to go out for a big meal at Chili's. Hello!--that is not a "reward"--that's really a punishment since you'll be working against what you've been working toward for months.
-She'll turn around and start right in on some conversation she must have been having in her head and expect me to know what she's talking about. It's like she's rereading an e-mail I sent her yesterday or the day before or something, so she'll turn around and say something like, "Yeah, with that you're going to have to find out what the answer would be from Customer Service."
-She doesn't listen and always interrupts.
-She is annoyingly protective of and anxious about her 21-year-old son. She calls him all the time. She talks about how she can't go to sleep at night until he gets home, because she's so worried. She hears sirens on the street near her house and assumes it's because her son has been killed in an accident.
-The only change she is willing to go along with is one she suggests. I created a style guide for our department and did a reworking of all of our AutoText to update grammar, punctuation, etc. I also fixed consistency in spacing (some sentences had 2 spaces after periods, some had 1, some even had 3--I went with the Chicago Manual of Style, since that's what our company supposedly uses, and corrected everything to 1 space), and she is still complaining about that 9 months later.

Mannerisms:
-She talks weird. She halfway smiles whenever she talks (not bad I guess), so when she says her Ps (like in "park" or "apple"), her upper teeth touch her bottom lip to make the sound (instead of both lips coming together to form the sound).
-Whenever she gets up from her chair, she does this annoying little "grunt" thing. I know she has back pain, but jeez!

OK, and now it's time for me to do what would help me: begin praying for her. Anyone else have ideas?

No tile guys yesterday or today. And apparently, not tomorrow either. Bummer! The worst is having no stove, dishwasher, or kitchen counters. At least the fridge is hooked up in the garage.

Tile guys, won't you please come and finish what you started?

Weekend in review
What a busy weekend! We stayed up SO late on Friday night ripping up floors and baseboards. I'm glad Chris and Sabrina came to help--for hours. And we didn't even finish--by 1:30 a.m., we realized it wasn't worth it to try to get up the remaining flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms, so we left that and went to bed (good idea, since we had to get up at 5:00 a.m. for Jon's day).

Then Saturday was the racing day (see pictures in post below). We had to drive up separately (I had to wait at the house for the tile guys to show up so I could show them what we hadn't gotten done, where the tile was, etc.). I got to the speedway before anything really started, though, so I'm glad I didn't miss anything. First, they took the 7 men in Jon's class out in a 15-passenger van to ride the course and show them where to take the turns (Jon said they took the turns, in the van, at 100 mph!). Then, they got in the cars and drove 10 laps (or more?) behind a pace car to get a feel for the track. Next, they went into a classroom for a 45-minute to 1-hour session (not so exciting for me sitting outside in the hot!). After the class time, they had another driving session, this time with no pace car. They started out in a Nascar start formation and did a few pre-planned formation changes they must've talked about in the class. Then they had several "free-for-all" laps where they could drive at their own pace and pass each other if necessary (the instructor communicated with all drivers through the radio earpiece they all wore). Then it was time for another 1-hourish class session, and then one more 25-minute driving session. This is the session where I really saw Jon get comfortable in the car (at least that's what I could tell from how fast he was going). I know Jon had a really great time, and I loved watching him. His best lap (according to my wrist watch and out of the 6 or so laps I timed): 55 seconds (around the 2-mile oval course). :)

We got home around 2:15 on Saturday to see the progress on the tile: not as much as I had hoped, but it looks good and the guys did get up the floors in the kitchen and bathrooms. I rrreally hope they come tomorrow and can finish.




Saturday night we went to Scott and Kim's. Scott showed us the house addition/remodel plans he had drawn up. Oh my gosh, they are awesome. I mean just awesome. In addition to adding the second story, there would be a lot of reconfiguration on the first floor... which means a lot of disruption to our lives--for many months. We're still talking/praying about it, and Jon wants to see how much we'd get approved for (we'd do a HELOC--home equity line of credit), but after seeing those plans I am so gung-ho for this!

Pictures from Jon's racing day
First: Jon finding the certificate for the racing day in the shorts pocket: "Whaaaat?"

Learned a new (to me) word today, but I'm not very sure if I like it. I guess it's slang, but still....

Natch.

As in "natchurally"?

Jon and I went to Home Depot last night to pick out grout for the tile tomorrow. We got a good matching color. Since we aren’t going to be home tomorrow, the installer guy came over this morning at 7:00 to go over what needs to be done. We have our work cut out for us tonight though!!! We’re doing as much of the prep work as possible to reduce the time we’ll have to pay him for, so we’ve been ripping up the carpet and baseboards. But tonight we have to scrape up the floors (VCT) in the kitchen and both bathrooms; clear all the furniture; pry off all the baseboards, door casings, and wood on the floor that held the carpet; remove the stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher (going into the garage I guess for now); get up the rest of the carpet in the living room area; AND get to bed at a “reasonable” time since we have to get up very early tomorrow. We thought we might not have to scrape the kitchen and bathroom floors--we thought maybe they would lay tile over them--but the guy basically shot that idea down this morning. Oh, and it sounds like he won’t finish with everything tomorrow, but that’s OK. I think he would come Monday/Tuesday to finish, so we wouldn’t have to go too long with partial floors. At this point, I don’t care if it takes a week!!!--just give me my tile! :)

At some point, we hope to meet up with Scott and Kim for at least a little while tonight, because 1) Scott is done drawing up our house plans! and 2) Kim is due on Sunday so this’ll be one of their last restful Fridays for a little while.

Our house
I realize I'm going out of order, as I sort of already mentioned the "remodel/addition" below, but I don't think I ever wrote about it. I'm stealing the text below from an e-mail I just wrote to a dear friend (hi Nell!):

We’re thinking about adding on to our house. Currently, it’s a one-story, 2-bedroom, 2-bath place with a teeny kitchen. We’d be adding a second story with 2 bedrooms and a bath. That may include some restructuring of the downstairs to create a little bit larger kitchen and/or dining area, but I don’t know. Our friend Scott and his dad are architects, so Scott came over last week and took measurements of the house so he can draw up some plans. This would be a very smart move for us financially, as having a 4-bed, 3-bath house would mean we could stay/fit in the house a lot longer AND even if it cost us 5 times what we’re thinking our budget will be, it would still be smart because we’d still be paying way less per month than if we sold our house and moved to a 4-bed, 3-bath house in the same area. Home prices are astronomically high here, and though we felt we paid a lot when we bought ours, its value has gone up a lot since we bought it. So that’s our fun news, and I’m really excited about seeing the architectural plans. I do know, though, that doing a major remodel like this effectively takes over your life for 6 months, but now is the time to do it when we don’t have kids.

Jon's birthday
It went pretty well last night! Ray, Colleen, and Jennifer came over around 6:30 and we barbecued some of the albacore and yellowtail Jon caught deep sea fishing a couple of weeks ago, and I fixed corn, vegetables, and French bread. We had Colleen’s poppy seed cake and coffee afterward, and then Jon opened his presents. He got clothes from his family, a Home Depot gift card from my parents, and earlier in the day Scott gave him a new tape measure and utility knife (boys!!!!). Then he opened my gift... 3 Old Navy shirts and a pair of shorts (he really loved the shorts). After he finished, he said, "Thanks everyone!" because he thought that was it. I said, “Check the shorts,” since he hadn’t noticed the little car that was in the pocket. He found the car and said, “Oh wow, what is this, a little GTO?” It was cute--I think he was confused but trying to sound excited because maybe that was my gift to him--a little Hot Wheels car. I said, “Look in the other pocket.” He reached in and pulled out the certificate for the racing school, which I had paper clipped to a brochure about it. He opened it, looked at it for a second, and asked, “What is this?!?” I told him he will be spending this Saturday driving stock cars in a racing school at the California Speedway. “Whaaat?” he asked. “This Saturday? But what about the tile?” So that was the only downer--that he was concerned about the tile. I think it’ll work out though. Even if we need to postpone the installation one week to 8/14, that day would still work. I took a couple of pictures last night and will post them once Jon can fix the USB port thing on the computer so I can upload the pictures.

We had a good, busy weekend. On Friday, we went down to where Jon's family is staying and had pizza and cake for Jennifer’s 14th birthday (we got her a necklace and cute little pad of paper in the shape of a purse when we went to Solvang and also a little photo album). We left around 9:15 and met up with Neil and Casey to see “The Manchurian Candidate” with Denzel Washington. I found it entertaining but a little “out there” (the events seemed plausible through most of the movie, and then things started getting weird and too unlikely). I also thought the whole political agenda was very obvious and overdone. I am interested in seeing the original movie though (with Frank Sinatra). Then on Saturday, I went and got my hair done while Jon helped our friends Dustin and Lissa move into their new townhome. We got some work done in the yard/house after that (Jon started ripping up our carpet and baseboards in preparation for the new tile that is being installed this Saturday, and he spent a while getting up that ugly wood floor at our entryway), and then that night we went out to dinner at Wood Ranch with newly engaged Steve and Chelsea. We went to Steve’s place afterwards and played a very fun game called Hoopla (an offshoot of Cranium). Then on Sunday, we went to church and then straight to the Angels game with Rob and Kristen and their daughter Skyler. It was rrrrreally hot until our seats were finally covered in the shade after maybe an hour and a half. The Angels won and we went home and rested before leaving for Jon’s basketball game at 5:30. We arrived to find out that his game was really at 5:00, so Scott and Kim came over to our house, and we had dinner out on the patio (and Sierra watched the humming birds--it was so cute). Then Scott and Jon took measurements of the house so Scott can draw up plans for the remodel/addition! Yesss!!! And that was our weekend.

Countdowns
Jon's 27th birthday: 1 day
Baby shower I'm throwing for Ricci: 19 days
Trip to Germany: 32 days
Bridal shower I'm throwing for Katrina: 54 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 74 days
Katrina's wedding: 82 days

I'm so boring.

We're going to the place my in-laws are staying tonight for Jennifer's 14th birthday. And tomorrow Jon's helping our friends move from their apartment to the new townhouse (I say Jon's helping because, though I will be there too, I doubt I'll be much help with the heavy lifting). Sunday we're going to an Angels game with Rob and Kristen. Our weekend is full, which is nice, but it means we won't get the things done around the house we need to.

Oh! And finally--the date is scheduled for our floor tile to be installed (in the whole house except bedrooms). It's next Saturday, 8/7. This has been almost a year in the making (since buying the tile in November and having to wait until June to get it).

Jon went to lunch with our friend Steve this morning and got asked to be a groomsman in Steve and Chelsea's wedding in May '05. He's also a groomsman in Jeremy and Jennaya's wedding in December '04. I think Jon has probably been in at least 10 weddings. People just love him (including me). He is just such a great guy friend. I'm very glad he has so many guy friends, too (and not any girl friends). :)

Our dear friends' daughter finally said my name. I know she has said it before when I'm not around, but I've never heard it. It came out "Deedee" and was so cute. I love her. Her little brother is due 2 weeks from yesterday!

We've gotten a lot of yard work done so far this weekend, and I'm proud of Jon for making our grass look so nice. With this last round of grass seed he put down in some patches yesterday, it'll be looking wonderful. We also got a new fern and potted it, and Jon bought some of the drip irrigation materials to put in some more places. Some of it requires taking up the brick in our patio, laying the tubing, then putting the brick back, so I'm very thankful he's willing to do that work since I'm not good at remembering to water all of our plants. The drip system is excellent for me (just turn on the faucet, let the system do its job, and remember to turn it off in 5 or 10 minutes. Saves water too). We're slowly but surely learning how to garden! Next on my list is transplanting our bougainvillea from where it is in the backyard to behind the fence in the alley by the garage. I think it looks messy where it is, and the plants in the alley were just annuals that died (white alyssum). This will be an interesting task, though, because I don't think bougainvillea takes kindly to being moved. We'll see.

Countdowns etc.
Jon's 27th birthday: 12 days
Baby shower I'm throwing for Ricci: 30 days
Trip to Germany: 43 days
Bridal shower I'm throwing for Katrina: 65 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 85 days
Katrina's wedding: 93 days

Mood: thoughtful, "listy" (want to make lists)
Music: City on a Hill (I think this is the original one)

A good friend asked me yesterday how I'm doing. Not as a wife/employee/friend, etc., but personally. How I'm doing personally. How am I doing personally? I realized that I really do define how I'm doing by external things ("How are you doing, Katie?" "Great! Jon and I are doing really well, my job's exciting and wonderful, and I'm having a good time working on the house"). I also realized that that is completely backwards. Ashley put it well when she said basically we should be focusing first on our walk with/faith in God, reading His Word and spending time praying, etc., and then use that as a lens through which to look at the rest of our lives.

I've felt far away from God in the past months (feelings aren't all important, I know, but I just remember much more of a closeness that isn't there now because I'm not spending time reading and praying). It's like everything's going fine and great in my life... I like my life. But how much better would my life be if I were in the Word daily and looking at things through the lens of my faith in Jesus Christ?

We had a fun, nice, busy weekend, which included dinner out with Jeremy and his new fiancee, lunch and new condo viewing with Katrina (my college roommate) and (her fiance) Phil, a surprise 30th birthday party for Rob, a terrific church service including a message from 1 Samuel, and normal things around the house including completion of a 5-hour editing job.
 
Oh, and I'd like to echo Lori's comments: I hate the new "user-friendly" blogger setup.

I'm trying to create one of those borders across the top of this page (to the left of the "archive" stuff), but I am HTML impaired. Can anyone help? I tried it, but it wouldn't stay at the right size or would change places if the window minimized. I don't know how to do tables or anything.
 

 

Oh well, no big deal if it doesn't work.

Our friend, Jon's former roommate, Jeremy, is engaged (finally)! When Jon told me Jeremy was engaged and that he had talked to him on the phone, I asked, “Who’s he engaged to?”
Jon said, “Oh, I didn’t think to ask.”
I asked, “How long have they been dating?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“When’s the wedding?”
“I have no idea.”
Ha! Do guys even talk? We're going out to dinner with them tonight. I don't think we know the fiancee, but I'm looking forward to meeting her.

OK, this is rather juvenile of me, but I just read these in the archives of someone else's blog and found them so hilarious!

WOULD YOU RATHER...
eat a shot glass full of live wasps OR eat a shot glass?
shave your mom's bikini line OR your dad's butt?
be ruled exculsively by your heart OR exclusively by your mind?
only be able to tell lies OR have to scream out every true thought that crosses your mind?
take back one thing you said or did OR say one thing you never said or did?
have a small butt on your forehead OR two little feet dangling beneath your chin?
walk around all day with a dead mouse in your butt OR a dead frog in your mouth?

We went to Inka Mama's today for a coworker's birthday, and it was really good (Peruvian food)! I got the Salpicon de Pollo, a delicious salad with chicken. I can't believe I've never been to this place before. I counted the salad as 8 WW points, but it might have been even fewer--excellent!

The shower on Saturday for Kim went well. I think 18 people were there, and I realized that that is about the maximum seating capacity in our house (including bringing in extra chairs). 15 would have been a little better, but we all knew each other so sitting close was OK. Kim got some really cute things for little Samuel. Oh, and I liked the cucumber sandwiches I made but decided I'll make them on Ritz or Wheat Thin crackers next time instead of the cocktail rye bread. And I don't need to make quite as much.

Here's one of the things I got for Kim (it's a hoodie robe & washcloth set):


The rest of the weekend went by really quickly. Jon had a work event he had to attend for most of Sunday, so we didn't have our usual church-lunch-relax day. But we did go out to dinner with Scott and Kim on Saturday night, which was good since we hadn't seen them in almost a month (they were on vacation for most of that).

I don't like stirring up controversy. And I'm no (academic) theologian. But some Christian doctrines/theologies get me so upset and frustrated and flustered, especially when I think about how many people believe them. It makes my heart ache. And I don't get upset because the beliefs "sound wrong." No, I've read and researched (the Bible and various commentaries by authors on different sides) and prayed, and I know what the beliefs are. I hate arguing about it--no one I've talked to about it has ever changed his/her mind (plus I get flustered and know in my heart what to say but it doesn't come out clearly. Jon's much better at this--keeping a clear head in any situation). I just hate the idea that these beliefs are perpetuated in schools and churches and evangelism.

Countdowns etc.
Baby shower I'm throwing for Kim: 3 days
Jon's 27th birthday: 27 days
Baby shower I'm throwing for Ricci: 45 days
Trip to Germany: 58 days
Bridal shower I'm throwing for Katrina: 80 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 100 days
Katrina's wedding: 108 days

Mood: content
Music: Next Door Savior ("A Collection of Hymns") I really like Fernando Ortega and especially love "How Deep the Father's Love."

Having such a nice weekend makes it difficult to come back to work! We had a great 3 days. My boss let everyone go home 2 hours early on Friday, so I ran errands and got a bunch done before Jon got home. On Saturday, we went to breakfast at Ruby's and then mostly did work around the house and waited for my lovely washer and dryer to be delivered. We also went to Ellie Vreeland's 2nd birthday party. (Will we invite a whole bunch of adults to our children's birthdays? I'll have to think about that one.) On Sunday, we left the house at 9:00 a.m. to get down to Lantern Bay Amphitheater in Dana Point, where Coast Bible held its 4th of July church service. The service was excellent. It was followed by a great church picnic. We left the picnic around 2:00 and went to a few stores to find the right hook-ups for the washer/dryer (we had some already, but they weren't long enough to do what I wanted to do, which was make the washer go on the left and the dryer on the right. Our house was built for it to be opposite, but that would mean the washer and dryer doors would open toward each other, instead of away from each other). Then we went to the Rileys' house for another 4th of July picnic at 3:00 and stayed until 8:00! By 8:00, I was getting anxious to try out my new machines, so Jon took me home, hooked everything up, and I had fun. By Monday, I was searching around the house for things to wash. :) On Monday, we also went out to brunch at Denny's, and we got the house nice and tidy for our mid-day visitors: Al and Janet Richer. Al and Janet are missionaries stationed at the Bible school Jon went to in Wisconsin. They were out in Scottsdale, AZ, visiting their son and decided to "swing by"! They'd never been anywhere in California besides LAX, so we took them to Laguna Beach and walked around, then we ate at BJ's. I'd met them once before. It was fun watching Jon reminisce. They ended up staying the night on our air mattress--we were glad to have them (and help them save motel money!)!

Introvert/Extrovert
Something I've known about myself for a long time but only recently was able to put into words is the fact that I need to be alone to re-energize. I guess that means I'm an introvert, but I don't know if I understood all of the implications of that word until recently, when some people we know were having a rough time and had to live with us for a while. I'm accustomed to getting home from work around 5:30 and having at least an hour--often more--to myself to veg, read, watch TV, clean, and start thinking about what to make for dinner before Jon gets home. I didn't realize how much I need that, and it took me a little while with these people living with us to realize why I was so down/depressed and tired--no alone time meant no rejuvenation!

Jon is an extrovert and almost always would rather spend time around other people, not alone. I think he tries to understand me in this area, but it must be hard for him since he really can't relate. Thankfully, being with Jon is just the same for me energy-wise as being by myself. I guess that's because I don't feel like I have to constantly make an effort to fill up silences or entertain him or even to put on a happy face if I'm not happy. Thank goodness for my husband.

We're going to see Spider-Man 2 tonight. Sam on channel 5 said good things about it, so I'm looking forward to it.

Ricci should be here any minute to have lunch with me. I hope she's "showing" (5 months pregnant)!

Overwhelmed
I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I took down my wall calendar here at work to write in what's going on in July, August, September, October, and things are already too full for my liking. Most of the things are fun things, but I get overwhelmed thinking about all the planning I have to do for them.

July:
3-attending birthday party for friends' 2-year-old (no planning)
3-staying around the house until the new washer/dryer are delivered
10-throwing baby shower for a friend (still need to organize/plan for food, furniture rearrangement and getting more chairs)
sometime-need to coordinate with tile guys (when installing? Do we need to buy the grout and stuff ourselves? What about the baseboards and carpet--will they take those up or do we need to?)

August:
7-doing things for Jon's birthday (August 3) (everything's set)
21-throwing baby shower for a friend (still need guest list from her; will buy materials and make invitations and need to plan the rest of the stuff. Thankfully, all the guests will be different from the July shower, so I can do the same foods and decorations; will probably even make the same invitations since her baby is also a boy)

September:
3-12-going on trip to Germany (packing and getting ready for trips like this sometimes make me anxious. Will need to get a little something to bring to our friends)
25-throwing large bridal shower for a friend (have started planning this one but am frustrated with the lady who offered to help and offered her backyard/garden as location. Respond to my e-mails, lady! I will do invitations, games, vases for flowers, one food dish, coordination of other helpers, more?)

October:
15-18-going on cruise (this doesn't make me as anxious as the Germany trip because it isn't as long, but it is the weekend before this next thing)
23-bridesmaiding in wedding (need to decide if dress fits OK or if I should get it altered...it's borderline and looks OK if I stand up super straight, which I never do. Need to find out which days I'm going to have to take off work for pre-wedding activities. Gift? Shoes? This day is also Lucy's 18th birthday)

Random thoughts
So things are actually setting in that annoying salesperson Kate is actually gone. Her last day was about 2 weeks ago. I'm loving this. I'm no longer wondering if I really want to answer my phone when it rings. My heart no longer drops when I receive a new request and wonder who the salesperson is. This is great!

Our floor tile finally came in. We bought 700 square feet of the stuff back in November (that's right, 7 months ago) and were told it was out of stock but would be in by January. Obviously, January came and went, and so did February, March, April, May... In May we went in and picked a new tile that was more expensive (but we didn't pay anything). That one was out of stock too, but it just came in this past week. They're delivering it for free today... I'm not too impressed with their customer service. But pretty soon we'll be able to get rid of our 1977 brown carpet. Yay!

I still can't wait to do laundry. The washer and dryer are being delivered on Saturday.

My husband is working so hard. It's definitely wearing on him that the company isn't doing much better. He's putting in all this work without a whole lot of "return on investment." :( I made some of his favorite food (my meatloaf, which I never had growing up but which isn't too bad, and my mom's potato casserole, and salad too) last night because I see how hard he is working and I love him.

Lucy
I just found out that Lucy did get into the school she wanted to go to! She applied last year to James Madison University (JMU) and George Mason University (GMU), but George Mason was just because she felt like she had to apply to more than one; she really wanted to go to JMU. All of her close friends also applied early decision to JMU and got in; Lucy got deferred/put on the waiting list. :( So she applied at the regular application time and again got put on the waiting list. If you know Lucy, you know that she doesn't get very emotional or too attached to anything; she's so easy-going. But she really wanted this. Only last month did they find out that her high school was reporting her GPA incorrectly (some of her honors classes in California didn't transfer over correctly to Virginia), so the high school did contact JMU to let them know of her higher GPA, but still nothing. Housing applications were due to the school for Fall '04 students last week, so when that date came and went, I think Lucy just resigned herself to being happy about GMU.

Then today, she got a phone call: she's in! JMU, here she comes! I'm so excited for her. She's going to major in Political Science, thanks to an amazing teacher this year at her school.

Well we did it... we bought way above what we were planning for the washer and dryer, but I am so excited. I love them. And we got 12 months 0% financing plus free delivery and $250 in (possible) energy rebates (possible because they're first come, first served).

Whirlpool Washer:

Whirlpool Dryer:


I can't wait to do laundry!

I'm sitting here during my favorite time of week! Friday late afternoons are the best... just an hour left of work (um, and blogging counts as work), plans for a relaxing weekend, sleeping in on Saturday.

I bought a print of "America the Beautiful" by Wendy Wegner last week, and I got a frame for it this week. It has all of the colors I like (reds, blues, and greens), but this is the first "folk" kind of art I've gotten. I'm going to have to get used to it! I got a very simple dark wood frame for it and hung it above the couch in the living room (took down all the other stuff that was there except for a plate).

Countdowns
Baby shower I'm throwing for Kim: 15 days
Jon's 27th birthday: 39 days
Trip to Germany: 70 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 112 days

So, we need a new washer and dryer. My parents gave us their old ones when we bought our house, because they were moving across the country and wanted new ones themselves. So these 20-year-old machines have been working just fine (though only one cycle--out of four--on the washer works, and only two work on the dryer). I think the machines crossed the line, though, when the dryer door broke, and now we are using a cardboard tube to hold the door closed while clothes dry. It's kind of ghetto but funny. Sears has a 12-month, 0% financing deal going on right now (and free delivery), so I think we're going to head over there this week to check out our options.

Dream sets below!

Noooooooooo!

Which "Saved By The Bell" Character Are You?
I never wanted to be Jessie! And I've never been addicted to caffeine pills. :)

Thanks to Lori for finding this quiz.

We saw "Shrek 2" this weekend and really enjoyed it. I think the first one was better overall, and I don't remember as much adult humor being in the first one (Pinnochio: "I'm wearing women's underwear." [nose doesn't grow] Gingerbread Man: "You really are wearing women's underwear!" Pinnochio: "No I'm not!" [nose grows] Gingerbread Man: "It's a thong!"), but it has been a while since I've seen it.

Including the movie, we had a good weekend. I met with Katrina (college roommate; soon to be wed friend) for lunch on Saturday. And we went to Scott and Kim's for a Father's Day barbecue.

No appreciation
That's what our department gets. The CEO sent out a company-wide e-mail today to thank some people for the success we had at a trade show this week. Now I personally didn't do anything for the show, but 3 of our department members did weeks' worth of work on it, developing custom collaterals, presentations, tabletops, etc. But because some other people in our company, whose position titles and department titles have changed to be internal (no longer Marketing!--their department is now Employee Development), have held onto the task of actually attending the trade shows because it's fun and they didn't want to give it up, they get the thanks. The CEO didn't even mention our department, let alone the 3 girls who did so much work. "THANKS again to [employee #1 who didn't do anything] and [employee #2 who didn't do anything] for handling the AHIP exhibit preparations," he writes. Grr! Yeah, folks, our department is relatively small (17 of us), but we do a lot and no one even notices?!

Countdowns
Next haircut: 2 days
Baby shower I'm throwing for Kim: 23 days
Jon's 27th birthday: 47 days
Trip to Germany: 78 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 120 days

Current mood
Bored but worried about work I'm avoiding

Listening to
Bebo Norman, "Myself When I Am Real"

VA trip
Our trip was short but fun, relaxing, and good. We got in late on Thursday (plane got in around 9:30 p.m. and we rented the car and drove 3 hours to Lynchburg). On Friday, we tried (unsuccessfully) to get up early to adjust to the VA time and then spent the day helping with last-minute preparations for the party that night (80th birthday party for both of my grandparents). The party was good and was much better once the thunderstorm came along and cooled things down (it was so humid...made me appreciate CA). All of Nannie and Pop's kids and grandkids (I guess meaning those hosting the party) had nametags so the guests could know how we were connected to Nannie and Pop. I was "Meg's Katie" and Jon was "Meg's Katie's Jon."


On Saturday, we slept too late again and got up in time to have an early lunch and go to Lucy's high school graduation. All I have to say is "bless you" to my parents for sitting through three of those things! The ceremony was in a big auditorium, and people clapped politely when their child's name was called. Then Lucy's name was called, and Greg let out a big holler. It was quite funny. Jon, Greg, and I went to Dairy Queen after the ceremony and then headed back to my parents' house to pack up our things, because we were going to spend the rest of our visit out at Hanshill (the house in the country). We did have Lucy's graduation dinner at the house first, and that was one of the nicest times--out on my parents' screen porch, with good food and candelight. My parents gave Lucy a computer for graduation; Greg gave her a custom-made necklace (with a diamond from a great-grandmother's piece of jewelry); Jon and I gave her a computer videocam, a new Bible (with red and oragne suede), and a devotional book. Congratulations, Lucy!

On Sunday, Greg, Lucy, and I played tennis at Hanshill (Greg beat Lucy and me 6-2, 6-4, despite his tendency to do double-hitties). Then the guys shot guns (shotgun, .357, and a pellet gun). Nannie and Pop came out for dinner. It was a fun day, mostly spent relaxing and talking. We stayed up to watch the Lakers-Pistons game, but I went to bed at halftime (Jon came down to the cabin with me, though, to kill all of the camel crickets I could find, and then he went back up to the house to watch the rest of the game).

On Monday, it still wasn't hot enough to go swimming in the pond or clear enough to go for a good drive, but we had a good time relaxing around Hanshill. Mama, Lucy, and I paddled around the pond in the boat (well, they paddled while I kept my eye out for spiders, because I'm a wimpy city girl). Jack (the dog) tramped through the woods and kept up with us; he scared a huge frog into the pond. Jon waited on the dock with a gun, hoping to see something to shoot (a dove, a beaver) but with no luck. We had Silver Pig barbecue for dinner, and that was very fun. We laughed pretty hard at Greg's impression of what he would do if he went into Daily Bread, the place Mama volunteers at that serves lunch to the homeless, to try to get a free lunch. "I carry boards..." (I guess you had to be there.) He also gave a good impression of the ladies at the hamburger place that stays open 24 hours: "Cheesy, all the way, going!" That night, Jon again humored me and came down to the cabin to kill all the new camel crickets. I am so glad I married a husband who not only isn't scared of all those bugs, but also who doesn't get annoyed that I meticulously search a room and point out all the bugs for him to kill!

Here's a picture of a camel cricket (they are so gross):


On Tuesday, we left Hanshill at 6:15 a.m. to make it to Dulles in time for our 11:15 flight. We made it with plenty of time to spare. Our flight got in to LAX a little early (around 1:00), and we got home right at 3:00 to a clean, empty house!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I unpacked, did 3 loads of laundry (after Jon fashioned a little thing to keep the broken dryer door closed), went by Sears to pick up our finished 2nd anniversary pictures (and bought a new skirt and shirt while I was there!), did the week's grocery shopping, cleaned the windows in the 2nd bedroom and put up the original curtains (the toile ones--I had made some darker denim ones to put in there for the past 9 weeks), and had dinner with Jon (he did hamburgers on the grill and I did the fixings and some fruit for fruit salad). We ate while we watched the Lakers lose the last game of the finals! It felt great to get that all done, and we went to bed easily at 9:45 or so. I feel completely back on CA time--I woke up once at 4:30 this morning, but then slept until the alarm went off and got up at 7:00.

Bored at work with random thoughts
The last couple of weeks were so busy at work that this week is dragging! Yesterday, I got a lot of things done that had been put on the backburner (oh how I hate that cliché, but, well, there it is in my writing). But I also did some Internet surfing, which I do all the time at work but I know is so stupid since my employer has access to my computer over the network and knows everything I do on it! I remember someone saying that the president of our company joked last year that the most visited website of 2002 was Monster.com (job website)... which is funny since our company is really great and I think we have above average employee retention/tenure rates.

I wish this weekend's trip to VA were a little bit longer. After the parties/graduation festivities, there will really only be 2 days of regular visiting. But I guess that's better than nothing. I realized this past weekend that I only talk to my dad once every few months. That isn't good. My mom and I talk most every day over e-mail (though only every couple weeks on the phone). And I don't really talk to Greg and Lucy very often either. The problem is that we aren't phone people. None of us really likes talking on the phone (I passed that phase in junior high).

I have been having pangs of wanting to be pregnant. I guess it's because it's happening all around me with our friends (many on their second child already!--Scott and Kim's 2nd is due August 8; Rob & Kristen's 2nd is due in October or November; Fred and Susan's 2nd is due September 15; Ricci and Joe's 1st is due November 1). But then I do remember how much I enjoy all the time Jon and I get together, and all the fun little trips we're taking this year and the things we get to do on the spur of the moment. And all the Saturdays I get to sleep in. So I can wait.

Mood: Antsy
Music: Chris Rice, "Run the Earth, Watch the Sky"

Leaving
Our trip to Virginia is the day after tomorrow. We'll be gone June 10-15. My grandparents' 80th birthday party (combined party for both Nannie and Pop) is on Friday, and Lucy graduates from high school on Saturday. I wish we could stay longer, but missing 4 days of work is a lot for Jon! I'm really looking forward to going out there though... too bad we'll miss corn on the cob (too early)!

I'm leaving after work today for our church's weekend Women's Retreat. It's up at Forest Home this year like it was last year. Last year, we had a neat set of 3 nice-ish cabins, but I don't think we got those this year...so bunk beds, here we come! I’m not expecting too much out of this weekend, really. The one last year was OK, but the most fun part about it was that my good friend C went, and she and I got to know each other really well. She was supposed to go this year but dropped out a few weeks ago, but Amy and Lissa (the only other 2 marrieds without kids besides C and me at church) are going. The 3 of us are driving up together this evening after work. But the retreat itself was just OK last year--the girl who led the music was all about making sure we heard how pretty her voice is (she brought a microphone even though there were only about 20 of us there) and the teaching was very shallow (more just a lot of stories and no meat). We’ll see if it’s better this time.

Wonderful news!
Annoying salesperson took me aside yesterday "to talk." I thought, "OK, she's either going to lay out all the things I did wrong on her last proposal, or she's going to talk about one of my coworkers and didn't want them to hear it." But no! She told me that she has submitted her 2 weeks' notice! What?! Yes! I said, "But you're doing so well here!" (and she is--she's the #3 salesperson in the company). But, apparently, this new "opportunity" was too good to pass up. I had to make a conscious effort to stop smiling and act disappointed. This will make my working life a lot nicer. :) :) :)

Our trip
We had a great weekend!

Saturday - We left around 10:30 from our house. Because we hit some traffic, we stopped in downtown Ventura for lunch at the Busy Bee Cafe. Then, we continued our trek up the coast and made it to Buellton (where we stayed) by 4:00. We unpacked and relaxed a bit, and then we headed into downtown Solvang (a 5-minute drive from our hotel). We walked in and out of the gift shops and enjoyed the nice weather. We went back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner reservation at Mattei's Tavern, a really neat restaurant with delicious food. We decided to take the long way to the restaurant since we had extra time, and it was worth it!


This dinner was our all-out anniversary celebration, so got all we wanted: good glasses of wine, a delicious baby greens/poached pear/candied walnut salad for an appetizer, fantastic entrees (I got the 6-ounce filet and potatoes au gratin with caramelized onions; Jon got the Copper River salmon with rice pilaf and tomatillo salsa), rich desserts (warm, rich chocolate souffle cake for me; strawberry shortcake for Jon), and coffee.


Sunday - After sleeping in, we went to Solvang and ate at the Belgian Cafe so Jon could have strawberry crepes. I had a great omelette. Then it was on to more window shopping. In one of my favorite stores, I got a pair of little stud earrings (cheap!) and a cute Americana wall hanging to put on our front door for the summer (it says "Let Freedom Ring" and has a little bell on the side). Next, we drove the long way to Gainey Vineyard and made it just in time for the 1:00 tour of the winery. We also bought some swiss cheese and did the wine tasting after the tour--a fun first for both of us.


After finishing at Gainey, we decided to explore the main road, so we drove for a half hour or so and ended up stopping at the La Purisima Mission. Although I wasn't dressed appropriately (I had on newish sandals that got really dirty since there were no paved paths), the mission was very interesting. I especially liked seeing the different living quarters--the guest room was by far the nicest, and, surprisingly, the priests'/fathers' rooms were among the most sparce (or the sparcest?). After the mission, we continued driving to see what Lompoc was like. It wasn't much. So we kept driving and hit the ocean. We took a nice walk on the sand and decided we were exhausted! We drove back to the hotel and rested. We chose to go to dinner at the nearby sushi place, and we were pleasantly surprised by how good it was (one giveaway was that there were mostly locals there). I'll definitely get the Volcano again if we are ever back in Buellton. After dinner, we did more exploring; Jon enjoyed racing around some corners on the back country roads, where we passed no more than 2 cars. To close out the night, we went to Andersen's Pea Soup for coffee and dessert. What a fun day!


Monday - We got up a little earlier this day to pack and check out, and then we went to the Greenhouse Cafe at Petersen Village (in Solvang) for breakfast--yum! We got in the car to head south by 10:30, and we missed all the traffic! We even made a pit stop in Ventura to visit Jon's grandpa Ray for an hour or so. We made it home by 3:00.

We had such a great trip! Thank you for planning it, Jon. :)

Our trip is here! Our trip is here! I'm really looking forward to this weekend away with my husband. I got him a couple of little things for our anniversary, and I know he'll enjoy them.

We leave tomorrow morning and will be home Monday afternoonish. Yay!

OK, so I did go with the Orange County thing. I couldn't help it--the only decent shirt I had that was clean was red, and it matched Jon's Hawaiian shirt so nicely.....


I look like I'm growing out of his back. Where's the rest of my body? :)



I got a 5x7 of this one to put in our wedding album for our 2nd anniversary.

Last night was lovely. My flute student cancelled her lesson (last-minute, which means I still get paid), and Jon had a work event to attend, so I had a free night. I went to the Spectrum, bought a nonfat mocha, and went into Barnes & Noble. I found White Oleander, one of the books I'd been hoping to read, and sat in a comfy couch and read the first 40 or 50 pages. (It was really great.) I really needed some alone time like that; I went home feeling refreshed and relaxed, and woke up feeling the same way this morning! Thank goodness for books.

So my friend C is having "personal problems," but I don't know what they are. I'm not sure how that makes me feel. I mean, she's one of my best friends and I'm one of hers. It isn't that I have anything to do with her problems (and if I did, I think she'd tell me)... I think it has something to do with people at church (which people? I don't know) and so she doesn't want to get me involved in whatever issues there are. She says she's working through them. But... what are they? I just feel like, if we had been hanging out as often as we used to before she got the new job and became so busy, I would know what these things are that are going on, because we'd be talking daily like we used to. Well, whatever the issues are, I do not need to know specifics in order to be praying for her and the others involved. I just wish things could go back like they were with us.

In other news, this week was busier than I had even thought it would be, but it's wrapping up nicely today. I'm looking forward to our pictures on Sunday and want to think about something Orange County-ish for us to wear (you know, matching shirts and jeans, or Hawaiian something or other with surfboards)--not. But I do think we should match better than we did for last year's pictures.

What am I doing not posting for a week?! Wait, I know... I'm busy. One of the other proposal writers is on vacation this week, and I'm her backup, which means I have basically double the workload. I'm plowing through it and getting it done, but it doesn't leave much time for meandering around the internet.

As long as we don't get super sunburned on our day trip outing with friends on Saturday, Jon and I are getting our Sears pictures taken on Sunday after church (a new tradition I started last year--pictures at each wedding anniversary to be put into the album I made). And then next weekend (May 29) is our anniversary trip! Woo hoo!

This site predicts your ideal job from your name. Ha.

Katherine Page Varela, your ideal job is an Insurance Fraudster.

Jonathan Shane Varela, your ideal job is a Human Shield.

Books
I love making lists. And today's list is going to be about books...

Books I've recently read and liked--in order of favorites
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. Liked this one so much I'm leaning toward reading it again.
City of Light by Lauren Belfer. Set in Buffalo, NY in the early 1900s. Industrialization vs. nature.
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod. I want to re-read this one too. It's my most recent read, so still sinking in.
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. Intriguing; about a bus accident and our need to place blame...
Midnight Champagne by A. Manette Ansay. Didn't like this one as much, but I think I would still like to read another by this author.

Books I want to get and/or read
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. I've never read this author, but the description intrigued me. I'm very into reading new authors right now.
All by Ursula Hegi, including The Vision of Emma Blau, Floating in My Mother's Palm, and Salt Dancers.
White Oleander by Janet Fitch. Didn't see the movie but have heard good things about the novel.

2nd-anniversary trip: 19 days
2nd anniversary: 22 days
1 year of employment at current job: 23 days
Trip to Virginia: 33 days
Jon's birthday: 85 days
Trip to Germany: 116 days
3-day cruise to Baja: 158 days

My husband is so cute.
It's 4:30 and my work phone just rang. "Beech Street. This is Katie," I said. "You have a nice flag outside of your work," he said. I turned to look out the window, and there was my sweet husband in the car, just coming by to say hi. He never gets the chance to do that--he works way more than I do and none of his stores or his office is close by. He's only been to my office once. So there he is, still sitting there, waiting for me to be done with work in 20 minutes or so. I love him.

We're probably going to go out to dinner tonight with Scott and Kim, and I'm looking forward to that. They are our closest friends.

What a busy week this has been. I mean, well, I guess it hasn't been that busy, but yesterday it was and so is today. Since I was doing OK workload-wise yesterday, I offered to help another proposal writer by taking over one of his proposals since he has a bunch right now. I maybe should have kept my mouth shut, because I came in this morning to find two new short turnaround requests for me from my own salespeople. So instead of working on the big project I have to have finished in 2 weeks, I have to work on these little things due Monday. It's frustrating that the big work has to be pushed aside for the littler work that someone somewhere along the line just "forgot" to send on time. At least it's mostly enjoyable work. And it's always satisfying to send that finished project out the door.

Weekend recap
Friday - My dear husband took me to California Pizza Kitchen, my favorite lower-cost sit-down restaurant. We went over to Chris and Sabrina's house after that and watched Cheaper by the Dozen (very cute).
Saturday - I attended the annual Women's Luncheon for church. It was scorchingly hot, so I'm very glad they had umbrellas over the tables. I wasn't really in the mood to go to the luncheon, but I did get to wear one of my favorite dresses that I haven't worn in a very long time because 1) it's for warm weather and too fancy/cute for church and 2) at the last appropriate function for it, I was too fat. But Saturday it fit me like the day I bought it (probably in 1999 or 2000). Later that day, Jon and I used our remaining free movie tickets to see Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30. I really enjoyed it and liked seeing her in a completely different acting format. We also went to dinner and coffee that night with Neil and Casey.
Sunday - We heard a good message on discipleship and "running the race." I sang backup for the special music selection. A bunch of us went to lunch at the mall food court, and then Jon wanted to get home to catch the rest of the Laker's game. I took that opportunity to go to Robinsons May to find some shoes on sale! I had been needing some shoes to wear to work, and I found some great stuff. I should probably get rid of a couple pairs now, since I am a shoe fiend and have too many for our closet. At 6:00, we drove back down to church for a "young families" meeting with the pastor. We made it home just in time for our favorite show, Alias. Jon says the ratings are bad on the show, though, so it probably won't make it after next season.

The weekend is here!
Thank goodness. I had a semi-annoying day with semi-annoying salesperson (I say semi because things have been better since we had our little "talk"), but it's now coming to a close. And my favorite time of week is here--Friday evening, with 2 days full of possibility ahead of me. And the promise of a good message on Sunday to reenergize me for the next week.

I was reading the blog of a friend of a friend of a friend, and one of the authors (bloggers? posters?) posted how annoying it is that people think they're cool when they link to "other i-want-to-be-cool-and-emerging-altenative-christian bloggers that they have never met or had any kind of ongoing conversation with." And, well, I don't link to other blogs, but I have been reading these people's blog for the past couple of weeks even though I have no idea who they are. I don't know...they just interest me. But I wouldn't say I know them. And anyway, this blog (mine) is not meant to be a forum to show how cool I am. I mean, sometimes I wish no one had the URL to my blog because it's just for me to keep an account of what's been going on, how I've been feeling. A place to rant if needed. (And well, I might as well say it, I think you're the only one who reads this blog, Ashley, but I don't mind that you do at all. Heck, I created it because you asked.) So I guess I'm saying that I don't think I'm one of those i-want-to-be-cool-and-emerging-alternative-christian bloggers. I think I'm one of those i-hope-you're-only-reading-my-blog-if-you-know-me-but-don't-judge-me-by-this-because-I-don't-write-anything-philosophical bloggers.

Things I'm looking forward to: (Things to which I'm looking forward...)

2nd-anniversary trip: 32 days
1 year of employment at current job: 36 days
Trip to Virginia: 46 days
Jon's birthday: 98 days
Katrina's bridal shower: 116 days
Trip to Germany: 129 days
3-day cruise: 171 days

I read this post today on a blog belonging to someone I don't know. It has put a whole new perspective on things going on in my life and how I treat those close to me. It also makes me miss my family, though they're only a phone call away. But even more immediate, it has made me think about how I'm thinking about (not even talking to or treating--that stuff on the outside has been OK) the people I see every day (morning and night) right now. I would have to live with a lot of guilt if something happened to one of them and I had to remember the bad things I thought about them. I love them, but do I show them that? Or do I just show them the absolute minimum amount of courtesy that is necessary for the situation? I could definitely be doing better at being Christ-like right now!

We had a nice weekend here full of glorious weather! The weather prompted me to get some plants at Home Depot on Sunday (though I went to the Silvercreek Nursery close to our house first; it was the second time I've been there and the second time they've had cruddy customer service, so I left). I spent a couple of hours pulling out some old, overgrown stuff in the bed at our back patio (up against the house, in between the sliding glass door and the door into the garage) and planting the new cyclamen and begonia. It all looks so pretty now! I'm no green thumb, but it was still fun.

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent hanging out with Scott and Kim. Kim and Sierra had been gone for over a month (to Ohio to visit Kim's sister, who had her first baby). Overall, it was a nice, relaxing weekend.

Oh, and Jon told me what we're doing for our 2-year anniversary! On Saturday, May 30, we'll drive up to Solvang and stay there Saturday night and Sunday night (I have Monday off work since it's Memorial Day). It's going to be so wonderful--I'm really looking forward to spending the whole weekend together.

Which Strong Bad Character Are You? Strong Bad You are so....Strong Bad-ish.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

OK so I've been reading through other blogs of random people I don't know (linked from blogs belonging to friends of friends, etc.), and I'm noticing how dull I am! At least how many dull things I have to say...nothing witty, nothing enlightening. No cool title of my blog. But, well, nothing out of the ordinary or exciting really happens in my life (I'm not in college or Scotland or living on my own or having poop fill up my garage). Well, that's it for today. ~K

Which poem are you? Sonnet 17 by Pablo Neruda Aw, you're a romantic. You believe in true love and all that sort of stuff. How cute are you? To you, love is incredible and amazing.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Well, things have calmed down at work, and I have much more time now to post. And I have a personal/work victory to report: last week, I scheduled a meeting with annoying salesperson Kate for this past Monday. In the meeting request, I wrote that we should meet to discuss "some ways we can improve how we work together"--so she expected something. I wrote out the 3 main issues I needed to discuss (I have to write these things out or else I become flustered and usually start crying), and off I went on Monday morning! Things went VERY well! Here's what I came away with (these are the notes I brought over to Kate's office but now with post-meeting additions; Kate asked that I send her a copy of this so that she could remember):

Multiple drafts
▪ Sending multiple proposal drafts back and forth is not the most efficient use of our time. When you send me a draft that is not as updated as the one I’m working on, I have to go back and forth between documents and try to update from one to the other.
▪ Solution: one draft. That is, we have an initial meeting to go over what needs to be done on the proposal, including reports to request, people in other departments to go to, etc. (I will schedule this meeting on our calendars within 1-2 days of receipt of the proposal.) Then I work on the proposal (with input from you as necessary question-by-question) and send you my final draft when I’m done—with plenty of lead time for you. Then you work on your input/changes and get your final draft, including executive summary, cover letter, etc. to me at least one day before the proposal needs to be mailed. No more changes should be made after this. This will give me time to make edits, ensure that the proposal follows our department style guide, add in formatting and page breaks, and print and bind the proposal.
- The edits are very important to me. Proposal writers get audited each month on at least one RFP each, and the last RFP of mine that got audited was one you and I did together; because of all the typos and small errors (which, for the most part, were entered last minute), I got docked enough points that my proposal fell below the department standard. This reflects poorly on both of us.
- We will consider our “due date” of the proposal one day before mailing, so that we can work with that as our deadline.

Telephone & time management
▪ It’s a waste of both your time and mine for you to be typing on your computer/doing other things while I’m on the phone with you.
- I could be working on things I still need to get done for you or other salespeople.
▪ It is not necessary to call immediately after you send me an e-mail. I will read the e-mail immediately. Say anything you need to tell me in the text of the e-mail. Calling me just wastes more time.
- You are concerned that I will make assumptions or inferences. Solution: I will always reply to those e-mails and reword what it is I think you want me to do. If I’m wrong, then we should talk on the phone.

Duties that are not the proposal writer’s
▪ Making copies, printing non-proposal documents, training on computer programs
- While I am happy to help, the proposal writer is not the one who should be doing these things. It wastes my time and takes time away from proposals for other salespeople or from your own proposals.
- Solution: Tiffany. From now on, I will copy Tiff on the proposal files we send out, so that she can keep the files on her computer. I will help her if necessary when she needs to print/bind extra copies of things.

Things I (Katie Varela) will keep in mind and work on:
▪ Not making assumptions
- I will think outside the box and not assume that, just because we don’t have data “available,” I can’t get it somewhere. I will identify data that doesn’t seem to “fit” exactly what we want and either find out if we can get the right data or get a good explanation about why we can’t.
▪ Being proactive
- I will be more proactive at the beginning of the proposal process about going to outside departments and subject matter experts (SMEs) to get data reports and answers to other questions.


So I will report back here on whatever progress is made! :)

Sorry for the no blogs this last week. LOTS has been happening! This was a busy week at work and home too. But we're doing well!

Easter is here already! I don't even know what we're doing on Sunday. Everything is kind of in disarray as far as family goes... Ray and Colleen will be basically homeless 2 days after Easter, so they're packing like mad and definitely won't be having Easter dinner at their place. It looks like it will fall on us, which I would be excited about if I had had time to plan. I'm sure we'll just do something easy, but "easy" means not very Easter-y. I've heard the Costco hams are good.

BUT, regardless, the real reason for Easter is what is important, and no matter where (or if) we eat, we will all be rejoicing in Christ's resurrection.

This weekend was uneventful but nice. I'm here at work with a frustrating keyboard--the space bar keeps sticking, and I have to backspace and fix it at least once a sentence! I won't fix it anymore. We'll just have a continuousstreamofonewordfortherestofthispost. Just kidding.

Jon had to work late on Friday, so we missed our Bible study, but it was nice to relax at home anyway. Scott came over and we watched Open Range, which I bought for Jon on DVD as a surprise with a Costco coupon.

On Saturday, Jon also had to work (his company and the one that owns it just moved into the new building, and Jon and one other guy did all the computers and networking), so I did things around the house like laundry and cleaning. But that night we went to Macaroni Grill (the insalata rossa is my favorite!!!! And the bread there is to die for) and to a movie. We saw Tom Hanks' Ladykillers and were a bit disappointed. The 100+ times that the f-word was said were absolutely unnecessary, and that alone ruined the movie for me. Hanks' character is funny and interesting, but not enough to redeem the film. We hadn't realized it was by the Coen brothers... Anyway, we won't be buying this DVD. ;)

On Sunday, we went to church and heard another great message from Arch and went to the food court for lunch with friends. Then it was off to the big sale at Old Navy! I got 2 new shirts, and Jon got about 8 or 10 new shirts--all for $10 each or less. After we headed home with our booty, we helped Jon's parents pack and move for a little while before Jon had his basketball game. Despite their efforts to prosecute their landlord for not reimbursing them for the $8,000+ they have put into their rented house, Ray and Colleen (and Jennifer) have been ordered to move from their house by April 12. This couldn't have come at a worse time!--Janel is coming for a week with baby Seth to visit April 13. I'm not sure what's going to happen with that, but even more important in everyone's mind is where the Varelas are going to move to. I think someone at church has already offered an "extra place," so we'll see.