A post in which I gush about the greatest kitty ever

I've been trying really hard to talk about other things lately (in real life, not just on my blog), but I think it's time everyone knows that I have the sweetest kitten ever. Skywalker loves to cuddle and purr and sleep on people (not on laps, he prefers it if you recline a little so that he can lay close to your face). When I leave my bedroom in the morning, he is almost always curled up next to the door, waiting for someone to love him. He licks our fingers when he thinks they're dirty. When he's done playing, but not ready to sleep, he comes up to us and pushes his nose against our faces. Greatest kitty ever.

Before we brought Skywalker home, he was an outdoor kitty. Growing up, my family took in a few outdoor kitties. Two of them ran away (they were indoor/outdoor kitties). When we got the third kitty (Skippy), we decided that she would be inside only. For the 10 + years that Skippy lived with us, we constantly told her that she was a "happy, well-adjusted, indoor kitty." She did not believe us. I was prepared for the same to be true of Skywalker, but it's not. He loves being an indoor kitty. When it was snowing this weekend, Luke took him outside because Skywalker kept meowing at the snow. He wanted back in immediately. In the month we've had him, he's only run out once and that was in the first week. Since then he hasn't even bothered to try. Greatest kitty ever.

Skywalker also came to our house with lots of outdoor kitty problems. He had fleas, ear mites, and intestinal worms. Poor kitty. The vet had us give him ear drops for the mites and he hated them. Luke took Skywalker back to the vet yesterday to get another round of Revolution for the fleas and the vet said that he now has an ear infection, so we have new ear drops to give him. These ear drops are more of a gel and have a pokier nozzle that goes into his ear. I put them in last night when he was calming down after a big round of playing. He was snuggled on my lap. I figured that he would probably jump off my lap, shake his head, and climb back up. Nope. He went and sat on the television stand and glared at me. Then he proceeded to clean himself and take a nap.

This was huge. If Skywalker has the option, he always takes his naps on people. And he didn't. Don't get me wrong, I want my kitten to be independent, but this first show of independence broke my heart a little.

About half an hour later, he got up to stretch and came and laid with me. Greatest kitty ever.

This week's menu

Luke just made our menu for the week.

Monday-Egg McShimeks
Tuesday-Biscuits and gravy
Wednesday-Waffles
Thursday-Eggs & Bacon
Friday- Pancakes
Saturday-Muffins

Don't get me wrong--I love brinner--but I think I might go into carbohydrates overload this week.

MIA

So, I've been a little MIA around these parts for a few months. Lots of things have changed in our lives, some good, some really, really hard.

Since September, I have worked three different jobs. I am currently only working one (praise God!). Here are the jobs I've recently done:

• Borders associate: I sold coffee and books (mostly coffee) at the Borders in Bloomington. I worked there all summer and my last day of work was the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The store is going out of business the first week of January and I didn't feel it necessary to work through the holidays for a severance check that probably would have been about $20 (since October, I only worked at Borders once a week).
• The Center for Survey Research electronic materials processing assistant: I was a "seasonal" employee here. There are many, many things I could say about the CSR, but I'll refrain. I will miss my co-workers there, with whom I could be very snarky and laugh about very mundane things. I worked at the CSR during the 09-10 school year and went back in October because Luke and I couldn't live off of my less-than-full-time/barely-above-minimum-wage job at Borders.
• Economics Department office services assistant: I am now employed full-time by Indiana University! I'm basically the receptionist for the Econ Department, which means I get to see Luke during the day! Today is my first full day (I have a bit of free time with which to blog), which also means I am now eligible for IU benefits. I feel like a grown-up again: I dress up for work, have good health insurance, and don't feel the need to be constantly looking for a new job.

We have a kitten! Meet Skywalker:

Bringing Skywalker to his new home.

He's about three months old right now, loves to cuddle and play, and has almost completely stopped climbing up our legs.

My husband reads this

Luke wants entertainment from my blog, so I must satisfy his desire by posting about something besides crafting.

I've been working at a bookstore this summer (and will most likely continue this venture through the school year) and it's been interesting study of people. I remember when I first moved to St. Louis and was subbing, I worked at a grocery store in the evenings and on weekends. I had to stop because after dealing with kids' issues all day, I'd spend my evenings dealing with those same issues manifest in adults and it made me sad for humanity. Bookstore life isn't that bad because it's definitely a more focused demographic that shops for books.

One of the things the retailer I work for does for the community is hold book drives. We have one going on now for the public school district in our community. A couple of issues with this idea:
1.) A lot of our "guests" do not live in the school district, or they have no connection to it (this is, after all, a college town),
2.) It's very political, as 43 positions were cut within the district this year, plus major funding cuts to all extra-curricular activities, including sports and music, and the libraries (some of the teachers have been called back to other positions now, but there are still a bunch that won't be with the district this year).

Part of my job as a cashier is to ask people if they'd like to purchase a book to donate to the schools' libraries. Here are a few of the stand out responses I've received:

-My taxes are high enough that it should cover the cost of libraries.
-The public library is always saying they don't have any money and look at all the remodeling they're doing! (This continued on for about two more minutes, all about public libraries, missing the point about school libraries completely)
-I'm buying books for my kids and they go to the schools, so I am donating to them.
-(Chuckle, chuckle) I donate all the books I buy after I read them.

And my personal favorite:

-I donate to the schools in a roundabout way.

All this to say, if you're asked to donate to any cause at any retail establishment and you just don't want to or have the means to, the cashier doesn't need to hear your excuse. Please, just politely decline. Telling the cashier your excuse won't win you favor in their eyes or make you look like a better person. We won't judge you if you just say, "Not today, thank you."

This has been a public service announcement from Cashiers Everywhere.

Pay it forward (with homemade craftiness)

I've been in craft mode recently and want to love on some people through my craftiness (the homemade kind, not the "I'm out to get you" kind). A new blogging buddy, Cortney, has gotten me into this and I hope others will join me!

Here's the way it's going down:

1.) Cortney will be sending me and 2 of her other readers a handmade gift,
2.) in return the 3 of us will post about it on our blog and host our own PIF (Pay it Forward) for 3 of our own readers,
3.) then those people will continue the PIF from their blog.

Here are the official "rules" of the PIF:

1. The first 3 people to visit my blog & leave a comment here on this post saying they want to participate will receive a homemade gift from me. You are allowed 1 year (according to the rules) in which to send out the gift.

2. You must have a blog of your own to participate in the PIF.

3. You must post about the PIF on your blog & you must offer the challenge of a PIF.

By accepting my PIF, YOU agree to host a PIF on your blog, you will agree to send a homemade gift (within 1 year) to the first 3 people who sign up on your blog to participate in your PIF & so it continues.

Happy crafting!

Easiness

Do you ever look at other people's lives and think how easy they must have it? I do. I do a lot. And then you start getting to know them, like really getting to know them, and you realize their life is not so easy.

I feel like I had two of those moments this week. And (this makes me feel a little guilty) it made me feel better about my life. Also, though, it made me feel closer to those two people, because we could share in the uneasiness of life together, and relate to each other, and grow closer. It made me feel like these are close friends instead of just "Bloomington friends" (which is how I've categorized them in my mind for the past year).

It's really easy (I'm sure for everyone, but especially when you live in a college town) to say, this is not my real life, it's just on hold until x happens. For me, x=graduate school being over for me and Luke. I'm guilty of doing this a lot, especially this summer. I'm trying to get over it. I'm trying not to bring up what I think of as my real life (i.e. being a teacher, living in a city) as much as I want to, because my real life is happening right now.

Overall, though, I'm thankful that I'm getting to the place where I have people again. People that are part of my everyday life, and I'm a part of theirs. It feels good.

Bummed out in Indiana

Dear Wedding Etiquette Guru,

My husband and I were married a year ago today and, like many couples, we saved the top tier of our wedding cake. We dutifully wrapped it in plastic and stuffed it into our freezer (after a week and a half in Ben and Emy's freezer since we honeymooned at their "resort").

I have been looking forward to eating this cake for 365 days. It was good cake. So this morning, Luke pulled it out of the back of the freezer and we let it thaw while we went about our day. As it thawed, the middle of it started to sink, and the sides of frosting started bulging outwards. We came home from dinner and decided to dig in to the cake. First question: Why didn't anyone tell us about all of the pieces of plastic that hold the cake up that are inside of the cake? Second question: Was our cake undercooked? Because it was really doughy with an after-texture (is that even possible) of chalky.

So, we threw the cake away. Sorry, Mom, I know you wanted me to save a piece for you.

What did we do wrong?

Sincerely,
Newlywed No More

We're all in this together

I feel like I owe something to all of you who listened to my moaning about the high school reunion. To be perfectly honest, it was fairly anti-climatic.

Here are some things that have changed since high school:

• alcohol is now legal for us to drink.
  
• one guy who was about 5'8" in high school is now about 6'2". His fiancee, who also is class of '00, couldn't stop talking about how tall he is now compared to high school.
• the guy who streaked across the football field our senior year brought his infant to the reunion...most conversations about this went "______ and a baby?" This was perhaps the most surreal part of the reunion.

Here are some things that haven't changed since high school:

• most of my classmates are still big drinkers. The keg was finished off an hour and a half into the night (I chose to abstain from drinking [also hasn't changed since high school] and drink too much vodka and limeade with my mom the next afternoon).
• my inability to look my high school crush in his eyes.
• my inability to talk to people outside of my own social circle (somehow, this has changed outside of my high school reunion).
• the girl who was emotional in high school, still emotional now.
• it's still fun to hear all the juicy details about high school classmates.
  

I'm glad that I went...I'm not sure I want to go to my 15, 20, or 25 year reunions. Maybe if we had the anti-reunion, where it's all of the people who were over high school before it ended and we don't still hang out with each other every weekend...That might be something I'd go to.

OMG! I AM still a teenager

So, the past couple of days I've found myself (internally [mostly (not counting the venting to my mom and Luke)]) freaking out about my high school reunion...again. Not that I'm going to get crap dumped on me, but more that it's going to be like high school.

I've been freaking out because I've seen classmates on facebook who are buying new dresses and my reaction (in order) is:

1. To wonder if this really is a high school dance and roll my eyes at their teen-like ways.
2. Feel sorry for myself because I don't have the money to go buy a new dress, make sure Luke has a coordinating tie, and order a boutonniere from Hy-Vee. And my old prom dress definitely won't fit (thank you, college years, for giving me boobs).

Both Luke and Mom have reminded me that no one will know if I'm wearing a repeat outfit or not. And honestly, I don't really have the desire to go buy a new outfit. But it's just the idea of all of it ("it" being the stress of finding the perfect outfit) feels way too much like high school.

Really, this is where 10 years of "adulthood" gets me!? Still freaking out about who I'll talk to and what I'll wear and whether or not my hair will behave itself...gah.

For some reason, Brittany Murphy's line from clueless just popped into my head..."You're a virgin who can't drive." Well, guess what, stupid high school Jill, you AREN'T a virgin and you CAN drive! So there!

My husband is as cool as me now

For those of you who have been around for awhile, you may remember this. Luke had a similar moment tonight that he wanted me to blog about. Here's his story...

We've been watching The Guild the past couple of nights. Tonight we ended on an episode where someone goes in for a high five and misses, and the other high-fiver says "Watch the elbow, Dude." According to Luke, he came up with that and he's really excited that his idea has made it onto The Guild. Then he said, "You need to blog about this."

Now, I'm pretty sure that I heard "watch the elbow" before I met Luke. Has anyone else heard this advice before? Or has Luke's idea made it big time (of course, not as big time as mine; mine was on network tv after all)?

Peeling fingers

Luke and I have both been experiencing dry, peeling fingers recently. We've come up with a few hypotheses as to why this is happening:

-sitting in a/c air constantly
-the change in season
-(and my personal favorite, from my husband) touching the hot steering wheel.

The day I learned the purpose of the parking brake

It was a nice spring day in the early 90s, I know that much for (almost) sure. Joe and I were spending the weekend, or maybe just the day, with our dad and he'd taken us to the Village of East Davenport, where he was playing baseball (or more likely catch) with our uncle at Lindsay Park. We'd gotten bored and asked if we could go sit in Dad's pick up.

We were both pretty young; Joe was probably only 5 or 6, making me only 9 or 10. Dad had a red S10 pickup from the mid-80s. It had a long vinyl bench seat and behind the seat was at least two years worth of Dad's garbage; mainly empty packages of chocolate covered peanuts and Diet Mountain Dew bottles. He's a carpenter so everything had a thin layer of dirt. It was a clutch and the way I remember it, Joe started playing with stick shift (maybe it was me, I don't really remember this part).

As a person who has owned a stick for most of my car-owning life, I've tried to figure out what happened next several times.

Dad had parked the car on a hill. It was facing downhill. I guess the truck was in gear when Dad had parked it, and Joe (or me, again, I don't really remember who was the instigator) must have put the car into neutral and we started moving down the hill (coming down into the river valley, so it was a fairly steep hill for Iowa). I remember being incredibly terrified and trying to figure out how we'd explain this to our Mom later in the day (I'm not sure she ever found out). I remember having no idea what was going on or how to stop it, except for trying to move the stick shift around some more.

And then I remember our uncle running from the ball field, across the street, and opening the drivers' side door of the truck and slamming on the parking brake.

I filed "parking brake" away for all future emergencies. And I decided not to wait in cars with my brother when I was bored.

I'm going to write

I'm going to write because I've been saying that I want to write for a long time. I think I might be good at it, and I have loads of free time. I don't know who I'm writing for, I don't know what I'm going to write. Well, that last part is kind of a lie. I've decided that this summer I'm finally going to write what I said I would about five years ago: a book about substitute teaching. (Think Baby-Sitters Club meets The Nanny Diaries.)

So, to pump myself up about this, I've been reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. As I was reading this morning, I was struck by one of the things she has to say about plot:

I say don't worry about plot. Worry about the characters. Let what they say or do reveal who they are, and be involved in their lives, and keep asking yourself, Now what happens? The development of relationship creates plot.

I think that so much about this is true not only in writing, but in life. As I struggle to figure out what I am doing, how am I investing in relationship? How will these relationships I'm building now affect tomorrow? And as these relationships are built, how will that change the "plot" I'm on?

Maybe this writing thing will end up being more about figuring out who I am than anything else.

(I realize that this is somewhat cheesy. You don't have to tell me. I know. It's kind of who I am. Look at all of this self-realization already!)

High School Reunion

There's this episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon goes to her high school reunion even though she doesn't want to go because she was a nerd in high school. She characterizes herself as a "lonely nerd." Her boss, Jack Donaghy, convinces her to go to her reunion because, along with a great career, she has "found a hairstyle that works" for her "as long as it's not too humid."

Minus the great career, I feel a little bit like Liz Lemon when I think about my own high school reunion. It's this summer, in July actually. I wouldn't characterize my high school years as lonely and nerdy, but I definitely did not feel like I fit in with any particular group of people and look back at pictures of myself from high school and grimace because I was so incredibly awkward. (my brother got away with having about 6 months of awkwardness...I had about 6 years of awkwardness). If it wasn't for facebook, I doubt that I would be in contact with anyone from my high school. So, like Liz Lemon, I have found myself thinking, "I wouldn't have fun. I'm not going." Plus, I don't have a great career (although I have found a hairstyle that works for me as long as it's not too humid).

Liz and I both decided to go to our reunions. Now I'm a little worried that mine might turn out like Liz's. It turns out Liz wasn't a lonely nerd in high school. In fact, she was so much of a bully that people, including the Homecoming Queen, called her the White Haven Witch. I'm worried that I'm remembering my awkward teen years incorrectly, and instead of coming across as somewhat shy and nerdy, I was (possibly still am) aloof and judgmental.

Anyway, Luke and I have decided to go. At first we figured it would at least be a good chance to see my mom, but it turns out she might not even be around that weekend. So, I guess that weekend may be all about my awkward teenage years, since I tend to regress when I'm stressed out and I think this reunion is already stressing me out. Hopefully they don't try to dump crap on my head.

To all two people who read this (including my husband)

Life has been not-so-fun lately. Instead of depressing you (and myself) here are some good things that have happened recently:

1. I got a free ride back to Iowa last weekend. Emy was going up to see her family in the Quad-Cities and I got to hitch a ride with her.

2. Luke finished Mass Effect 2 last night, which means I probably have a full 24 more hours before he finds a new video game to be obsessed with.

3. There is green (and not weeds!) in my container garden. The spinach and lettuce is peaking out and in less time than the package said (I noticed at 6 days and it said 7-10)!

4. Curtains have been hung in both bedrooms and our living room.

5. I took our recycling to the recycling center today. That's right. On Earth Day.

6. I'm finally finishing books that I started last summer. Actually, I've finished both books that I started last summer. I started two more books, which I'm hoping to finish by this summer.

Tea & Ink

Since January, I've been part of a writing group that meets every other Sunday. We usually have a short "lesson" on a different aspect of writing and a short time to write and share in small groups. It's through my church, so the topics tend to be spiritual. I feel pretty good about what I wrote yesterday (which says something about some of my works from previous weeks), so I thought I'd share it here.

A little background on the writing: the topic was humor, as in using humor to write about serious topics; we were given a piece of paper with a topic and verse as our starting point.

Topic: Oneness
Verse: Philippians 2:2 Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Wine or grape juice
Sprinkle or full-immersion
Armenian or Calvinist

I can label myself and you. We can put each other into boxes. And even though we claim the same Savior, we do not act as One. But it's okay, because I'm One with the others in my box, aren't I? Oh, wait, I just found out that one person who I thought was in my box has read all of Tim LaHaye's books...and liked them.

What is Oneness, then? If it is not having the same preferences, theological leanings, and beliefs about how to school our children, what is Oneness? How could I possibly consider myself One with a person who believes it is okay to ordain a homosexual woman? Since I don't know them or their faith personally, can I write them off as a non-believer? What if I know the person? And like them? What if I know the person, like them, and believe they are a Christian, and yet they still have these beliefs? Can we still be One?

Or maybe it's not a question of "Can we be One?" at all. Maybe it's that God has already made us One. And as much as we may want to deny it, we are One with Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson and Donald Miller. Even if we think his books are overhyped and only vaguely spiritual. Because actually, if I was only One with the people I agree with on absolutely everything, I would only be One with myself.

I'll give you zucchini if you can help me

I want to start a garden. Here are my two biggest problems in doing this.

1. I live in a townhouse and don't technically "own" any land. I have a westward facing covered front porch and an eastward facing uncovered patio.

2. I don't know how to grow plants and the thought of starting a bunch of plants at once is a little overwhelming.

My solution for (1) is to grow a container garden. This brings on a couple of new problems. Namely, I don't have any containers and I don't know how big the containers should be in order to produce enough produce (ha) to make this venture financially responsible. I'm a little worried that I'm going to spend more getting started than I'll save in not buying produce at the store or farmer's market.

My solution for (2) is to read. Unfortunately, I get distracted when I start to read things. I checked out some books from the library, but I'll probably forget most of the stuff I've learned from them. I did learn (and remember) that the best place to position the containers is in a southern facing position. The south side of my house is attached to another house.

I do know that I want to grow tomatoes upside-down, using one of these: https://www.topsytree.com/flare/next?tag=ossmmn

If anyone has any knowledge of growing anything, but especially lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers, let me know!

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
-C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory

So, I haven't actually read Weight of Glory (although it is on our "library"). I came across this quote, or at least this reference, about two years ago while reading Revelations of a Single Woman by Connally Gilliam. As I am wandering about in this struggle to "do" something with my life, I wonder, what is the holiday at the sea that I am missing out on? How often do I neglect pursuing relationship with God in order to spend time on trivial matters, like television, internet surfing, etc (mud pies)?

I'm even refiguring what my desires are at this point in my life. What has God gifted me in so that I may be a blessing to others? What is the strong (or perhaps weak) desire of my soul?

I believe that my desire to know God is far too weak, so to begin/continue this journey I first must recognize that. And hopefully the more I recognize that, the more I'll spend time trying to change that.

Maybe I'm the trainwreck

According to Luke, I enjoy a good trainwreck. I guess, in some ways, this is true. Sometimes, I just can't help myself.

This is most true when I read articles on cnn.com and (formerly quite frequently and now only sporadically) on stltoday.com. I will read the article (or just parts of it, to get the main idea) and then scroll down to the "Comments" area. Never have I posted my own comment, but I always form what I would respond to the often ignorant people who post. I get so upset by what they have to say, as many come across as uneducated or just plain idiotic. My ire towards these anonymous commentors settles into my stomach and I slowly (internally) grow more enraged as the day progresses. Finally, I spill my ire to Luke and he says, "Why do you even read those. People are dumb." So the next day, I just don't tell him about my ire.