Inspired by our wonderful Jenny pics and my recent sappy moment, I’ve finally landed on a title and new look for my blog. (Thank you, David, for getting it up for me until I can learn enough HTML to do stuff like this myself!) I’ve wanted an actual title for a while, and I guess the answer was right in front of me all the time—I pretty much write about what’s right in front of me! I generally don’t write political commentary, my opinion of world events, or big ideas that will change society. I write about the little day-to-day things that bring blessings to my life. Hope you like it!

Comments(4)

We apparently have a family of bluebirds in the vicinity. This may not seem like a big deal, but we don’t see them very much where we live. And I’ve never seen a baby one. It was white and brown speckled; it didn’t look anything like an adult. It was perched on the fence fluttering its wings with its little mouth open, waiting for the daddy to bring it food. It was so sweet! The mama was flying around too, but we didn’t see her as much. Thank you, David, for taking these pics!

(more…)

Comments(4)

Well, I finally ran out of things to do, so I have a new diversion—jigsaw puzzles. I’ll just keep working jigsaw puzzles until Anna gets here. Unless, of course, my nesting instinct ever kicks in and I feel like scrubbing every nook and cranny of the house. But right now, that doesn’t sound like fun. And I’d rather do something fun.

We went out to Marketplace for dinner tonight, which we had planned to do; it turns out it fell on a good night because the torrential rains brought an infestation of ants into my kitchen. Ugh! I put out some ant baits, which usually take care of the problem in about 24 hours or so. The hard part is just letting the ants crawl around and not killing them. (So I guess I’ll have to take a break from puzzles and clean my kitchen in a day or two.)

Does anyone actually have a yard right now? I think we used to have one, but now we have a pond. This is going to be such a mess this spring. And something tells me we won’t have a lot of time to put into spring gardening. On the positive side, there shouldn’t be a water shortage this year.

David’s been getting all the pregnancy cravings. Now he’s craving bread pudding. (Perhaps the recent Irish holiday put it in his mind?) So we got the stuff to make it. Maybe if the ants go away tomorrow, we’ll have a tasty dessert for after dinner!

I went to Rhea Lana’s consignment sale and got Anna a few cute things. David and I both went on Friday night with my mom-to-be pass, and it was nuts. I had no idea there was a line to get in the store! It moved quickly, but it was still kind of crazy inside. I went back yesterday for the half-price sale. I’ve decided that in the future I’ll just wait until half-price day. It’s less crowded, you get much better deals, and I actually find more stuff if there’s less to sort through. So what if a lot of good stuff is already gone; I’ll never know what I’m missing! (I saw a couple of outfits with dogs, but they were marked way too high to begin with and they were not half price. Phooey.)

Comments(4)

I mailed our taxes today. Usually I get a “Certificate of Mailing,” which does not include proof of delivery, but is proof that I actually mailed the item. So if the IRS says we never mailed our taxes, we can prove we did. Or so I thought.

When I asked for it, the postal worker kindly informed me that the IRS doesn’t recognize a Certificate of Mailing as proof that it was mailed and strongly suggested the (pricier) Certified Mail, which includes delivery confirmation. “Why not?” I asked. She didn’t know. “But… it’s proof that I mailed it!” Nope, not to the IRS. They just, well, simply won’t accept it. She agreed that it made no sense. I think she sympathized with my need for a logical explanation but, alas, could offer none.

So apparently the Internal Revenue Service, paragon of virtue that it is, thinks the shady United States Postal Service is a bunch of liars and cannot be trusted.

Comments(9)

Ok, it seems like everybody has posted about their quirks but me, so here you go:

1. I don’t like chocolate. I’m not allergic to it, I just don’t like it. It tastes yucky to me for some reason. And yes, I try some every now and then just to see if I’ve grown out of it. I haven’t. The only exception to this is those packaged ice-cream sandwiches from the grocery store, because I don’t think the cookie part really tastes like chocolate.

2. I’m weird about my fingertips. I’d much rather have blood drawn out of a vein in my arm than have my finger pricked. In fact, when I have the baby, I’m kind of dreading that clippy thing they put on your finger in the hospital.

3. I have to re-tie my running shoes several times to make sure they’re the exact same tightness on each foot. If they’re not, it really bugs me.

4. I’m pregnant and I’m freezing. Aren’t pregnant women supposed to be hot all the time? I’ve always been cold-natured, and pregnancy doesn’t seem to have changed that one bit.

5. I like to do laundry. I hear people talk about laundry piling up and how overwhelming it is, but I don’t seem to have this “laundry problem” that’s plaguing the rest of the nation. (I know it will be harder with a baby, but I still don’t see myself getting buried in it.) I find laundry to be one of the easier household chores—they make these machines that do it for you! Doing laundry gives me a sense of accomplishment without my having done any real work.

6. I just can’t jump on the flip-flop bandwagon. Cheap plastic flip-flops are for the beach or the pool or around the house. I just can’t wear them out in public—they’re not real shoes. I can wear sandals without a back on them, but they need to be made out of leather, or some material other than plastic, and come in a shoe box.

Comments(4)

Ok, I admit David’s sign tops mine, but I still had to capture this:

So how is this a rollback, exactly? I guess they’re just hoping you won’t notice.

Comments(0)

WARNING: This post might give you the heebie-jeebies.

8:00 P.M.: David and I are sitting on the couch, watching some stupid TV show, both so sleepy for some reason we can barely keep our eyes open.

8:45 P.M.: I see something dark moving around inside the kitchen light fixture. As much as I hate bugs, I really hope it’s just a big bug. No, David says, that would be a mouse. Adrenaline rush follows; sleepiness disappears.

8:46 P.M.: I make the wise decision that this event definitely needs to be documented on camera.

9:15 P.M.: Still formulating a plan, after dismissing several ideas. The only way to get the little sucker out of there is to take the cover off the light, which runs the risk of the mouse jumping out and getting who-knows-where in the house. That definitely won’t work. After all, we’d like to go to bed at some point tonight. Maybe.

9:30 P.M.: Plan formulated; mouse-catching contraption begins to be erected:

9:45 P.M.: We give Sasha a rawhide chew and shut her in the bedroom, just in case this doesn’t work. She’s now oblivious to what’s going on.

9:47 P.M.: We both get up on a stepladder at each end of the light fixture. We take the cover off (through the plastic bags), tilt it down towards David’s end (isn’t he gallant?) and the mouse slides into the trash bags. Good job, David!

9:48 P.M. David twists up the trash bag and is about to cut it off with scissors; I say, “Don’t you want a twist-tie first?”

9:55 P.M.: David rolls the big green trash can (with mouse inside) out to the curb a day early. He’s not about to take any chances.

10:55 P.M.: I’m almost ready to go to bed; David is still sitting on the couch, occasionally letting out involuntary shudders.

11:37 P.M. (I think): David finally comes to bed.

A final interesting note: It just so happens that today is the Chinese New Year, and it is the year of the rat. Coincidence? I think not.

Comments(11)

A couple of questions I was left pondering after my Wal-Mart trip tonight:

What’s up with the price of eggs? It seems like not too terribly long ago, they were 78 cents a dozen or something like that. The price must have crept up slowly without my noticing (I guess I just breeze by and grab a carton of eggs when they’re on my list), then all of a sudden around Christmas time I realized, “Whoa! Over 2 dollars a dozen?” Was there some chicken catastrophe I didn’t hear about? Or is it our whole “everything’s tied to corn” economy? Yeah, I know, inflation and all that—but this seems like more than just ordinary inflation.

And why is Wal-Mart out of bananas every other time I go now? I don’t mean there are a few speckled picked-over ones left, I mean there are NO bananas whatsoever. The banana display is totally empty. I guess no one can afford eggs anymore, so everyone’s eating bananas for breakfast?

Comments(4)

It was a balmy 73 degrees on a Sunday afternoon as David and I caught up on some gardening. A gentle breeze was blowing, and the chimes of the ice cream truck could be heard as it made its way down the street. As the afternoon drew to a close, I relaxed at the patio table, surrounded by pots of blooming pansies, enjoying our neat and tidy yard while watching the clouds in the western sky turn pink as the sun went down.

Oh yeah—and it’s January, for crying out loud.

I love winter in Arkansas!

Comments(3)

I decided to get out and do a little shopping this morning around 9:30. I thought since it was New Year’s Day and people were off work/school but stores were still open, it would be really busy. Boy, was I wrong. Conway was like a ghost town. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it that empty. Very eerie, really. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I sat at the Harkrider/Oak intersection by myself—and I mean that literally no one else was there—where yesterday it took me three cycles to get turned left at that light. Was everyone just out partying until the wee small hours? I pulled into the Conway Commons parking lot, a place usually bustling with activity, and found it almost empty, making me wonder at first if the stores were even open.

I finally commented about it to a clerk, who informed me that everybody was probably watching football. Apparently Arkansas was playing in some big bowl game? Huh.

Well, I really enjoyed my morning of quiet, stress-free, crowd-free shopping. It was wonderful! Maybe there is a reason I should follow football more closely.

Comments(1)