Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pilgrimage to the Steakhouse

September 30th, 2005
I was ready to go but waited by my 2nd floor dorm room window to watch him pass by instead of meeting him in the lobby. I wanted to see him first, on his way to pick me up. And did he ever look snazzy! I headed down to the lobby with my heart beating quickly and a smile on my face. He met me with an equally large smile and we walked out to his truck, which he had cleaned impeccably. He told me I looked nice and I returned the compliment, then asked where we were going for dinner. "It's a surprise," he answered. So we chatted as he drove and we ended up at Lake Brazos Steakhouse. We sat outside to eat and as we looked across the river we realized we were directly across from the part of Cameron Park where we first met. After our meal, we walked down to the paddle boat that was docked there, looked around, laughed at some ducks and commented on how cool it would be to ride on the boat.


September 30th, 2006
Out first year anniversary of dating. Little did I know, but Trent had gone that day and purchased an engagement ring for me. We dressed up and returned to "our steakhouse" for dinner and began an annual tradition.




September 30th, 2007
We returned to the steakhouse of course, along with Trent's parents and sister, who were in town. After we ate dinner, Trent and I walked down to the boat and climbed onto the front of it. Before I knew it, Trent had gotten down on one knee on the boat and there was a ring on my finger. I was SO happy!




May 17th, 2008
We had our rehearsal dinner at the steakhouse. But not just at the steakhouse...on our boat. Our entire wedding party and families had a dinner cruise on the river at sunset.



May 19th, 2008
As we landed in Chicago for our honeymoon, we started getting text messages from friends saying "Your boat sank!!" It was true. Due to a malfunction during maintenance, our boat was now at the bottom of the river. We were the last people to ride on it.

September 30th, 2008
Happily married for four months and 12 days, loving married life, eager to go back to the steakhouse as a married couple and eager to see if the boat had been repaired and returned to its place. It had not been, but we enjoyed dinner and sunshine out on the deck anyway. Yes, Trent wore the same shirt he wore when he proposed. Not intentionally.



September 30th, 2009
Went to dinner at the steakhouse as usual. I seem to have neglected to take a picture that time. By this time we had started calling this annual trip our "Pilgrimage to the Steakhouse."


September 30th, 2010
Today. Five years ago today I walked out of my dorm, stepped into a polished red pickup truck and was carried away on the beginning of the best adventure of my life. This evening, my husband and I went to "our" steakhouse, sat outside as usual and enjoyed good food, the pretty river and the beautiful sunset.

I love you Trent. Thanks for an amazing five years.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Snuffaluffagus

My friend Kim is currently on the top of my hero list.

First of all, some background of why I needed a hero this week. I have been about 62% sick with something since last Sunday. I stayed home Monday afternoon and slept, thinking I'd just take some time to rest and kick whatever this is and be done with it. But it lingered. Sleepy, can't breathe out of my nose, ears popping from the pressure in my head kind of junk that goes around this time of year. Meanwhile I went to work faithfully, went to meetings Tuesday night, went to Youth Wednesday night and then there was yesterday. By about 4:00 I was so fed up with sneezing and sniffling at work and could not for the life of me find where the Schedule C I was trying to reconcile was off, so I just went home. Kim and Caleb were there, watching tv with Trent. I was dismayed as usual for anyone to see the usual messy state of our house, so I hung back in the den for a bit to get some laundry going and try to ward off the onslaught of tears that had been threatening since I left my cube and headed to my car. I had woken up still feeling like crap but had tried to compensate by dressing up in a stylish Ann Taylor outfit and wearing my highest of heels. Turns out being 5'11" for the day doesn't really help you breathe better out of your nose. Anyway. Kim wandered back to the den and sprung into action...after commenting that I looked nice and "had I lost weight?" (Maybe the dressing up did work a bit)

Here is why Kim is my hero:
a) she helped me attack my messy house yesterday and get a lot cleaned. I don't mind them seeing our house messy that much because they are like family and have been there too. But my parents are coming in this weekend to help my brother move out of his apartment. They are going to put some of his stuff here in our "spare room" until he finds a new apartment back home. So our house needs to be presentable.

PAUSE. I just got stung on the toe by a bee/wasp/evil stinging thing! Why is there a bee/wasp/evil stinging thing in our home office???? And now that our house is so clean I had to limp the entire length of it back to our bedroom where shoes belong to get a shoe to squish it. Stinging thing is now squished and flushed and I have ice on my toe. Except we are out of ziploc baggies so I made one out of siran wrap. I hope this sting doesn't turn into three days of swelling like my last bee sting did. UNPAUSE.

So Kim is my hero because she helped me clean my house. She is some kind of weirdo who likes doing things like that and this is not the first occasion she has done chores with me at my house for no reward. Eesh, eternal gratitude is oozing.
b) she took me back to her house with my crafting basket in tow and made me spagetti for dinner. Spagetti is a comfort food to me, one that I grew up loving every time mom made it, which was often, but I don't make it very much now because Trent doesn't really like it. So I gobbled that stuff up. She also made rice krispy treats. I might have eaten about half a 9 x 13 pyrex worth... Yumm.

c) she sat and knitted while I sat and knitted and vented about being worn out and sick and frazzled and we discussed plans for our craft market booths and Etsy accounts.

d) she sent me home with a ziploc baggie of Zyrtec, in case my current snuffaluffagus tendencies are due to allergies and advised me to invest in a bottle.

Trent picked me up on his way back from the Robinson junior high football game and I went to sleep still not able to breathe, but somehow refreshed.

This morning I stared at myself in the mirror for a good five minutes debating whether I should even go to work. I did, because that's what I do. I made it to about 10:00 am. Went back home, knew I should just sleep but had to finish cleaning the house. Did that, ate macaroni (another comfort food) then laid down feeling like I had overdone it. After a bit I literally didn't want to move. Trent brought me water and chapstick (having mouth breathing as one's only option for a week dries out one's lips) then I fell asleep for several hours. I was awakened by the sound of a jackhammer cutting a hole in the pavement right outside our bedroom and I had a bittersweet moment of realizing my slumber was no longer possible but that the pothole by our driveway would soon be fixed.

I am feeling much better now, though still tired. I am currently breathing out of my nose with only a sniffle here and there, which is much more than can be said for the rest of this week.

This has turned into a long sob story post and that is not my intention. I guess my point is that I am grateful for friends like Kim who are willing to pitch in to help me out and attempt to nurse me back to health and also that I need to remember to take time to take care of me. Meetings could have gone on without me, youth group could have gone on without me, my work will be there waiting for me the next day if I need to stay home sick. Earth to Anna, it is ok to take a whole sick day, that's what they are given to you for. Sometimes I run myself ragged trying to tag all the bases and be at all the places or even just achieve status quo. I don't have to do that all the time. I need to just chill sometimes. I made myself do that today (with the exception of finishing the housework). I slept, I knitted, I have blogged, and now I am going to go read.

P.S. My toe is ok I think.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Purposeless

I wish my blog had a purpose............

Kristin has a food blog and a blog to keep memories of her kids. Katy has a travel blog about her time in the Dominican Republic. Angela has a scrapbooking blog. Gretchen has a blog about finding something beautiful every day. Mary Katherine has a blog about religion.

What exactly is the point of my blog? I don't really know. There's not really a sense of continuity or theme. I guess it is just what the title says: a slice of my life. My life is a hodge podge of a lot of different stuff and things and people and thoughts and experiences. I did start a blog for my hats that I make, but it's not really operational yet. I guess that counts as purposeful. Hey, I could start a blog of tax tips and accounting advice! Yeah riiiiiiiiiight, like anyone wants to read that. (But, by the way, if you have a corporation, partnership, or trust, your tax return is due on extension tomorrow!)

Anyway, just some thoughts. I don't really know what my blog is supposed to accomplish or contribute. But that's ok I suppose.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Wonderwoman

This post is sort of in response to Kristin's post "Superwoman? Wonderwoman? Crazywoman? Mom". Except I guess cut out the Mom part for me.

Today is Sunday. Here was my day. We went to Sunday School and church, I came home, changed clothes, grabbed lunch, scraped my shin on the door of Trent's truck, went to the office for a few hours to get some more work done for the tax deadline this Wednesday, went to Kim's house and finished a hat, went to Michael's with her and spent a whole $35 on random stuff I don't really need but loved picking out, laid on her sofa while she finished a scarf, helped Caleb push a car up onto ramps, came home, cleaned out my car, picked up the living room, tripped over the dog, fed the dog, did dishes, swept the kitchen, decided not to mop the kitchen because the floor will just look the same again in a few hours, took out the trash, made a grocery list, contemplated running but realized it was already dark, realized I'm exhausted.....sat down here at the computer.

That sounds like I accomplished a lot today, doesn't it? Then why is it that all I can think about it what I did not accomplish today and this weekend? We went to get my new purse Friday night (more about that later), I worked yesterday and see above for today. So I didn't have time to do weekend chores. Trent did some yesterday and I did some today but it's still not done. I didn't get groceries. I didn't go running. The house is not clean. I feel like it never is. Reasons:

> it is a big house. 2100 square feet.
> we are busy
> I am not wonderwoman

I am not wonderwoman. I am not wonderwoman. I am not wonderwoman.

I need to beat that into my own head. Our house is a lived in home, occupied by a male, a female, a cat and a dog. There are going to be messes. We are going to run out of groceries. The dog is going to track dirt onto the kitchen's stupid white floor. The dirty clothes will not always make it into the hamper. Dinner will sometimes be from a box. It happens. It's called life. If I had time to keep my house clean, I guess that means I would have a boring life otherwise. It's ok for the vacuum to sit out in the den for a while after it's used. It's not the end of the world if the dog gets hold of a toilet paper roll and goes to town on it...all over the house. If I want to sit and knit instead of cleaning the kitchen, by golly, I should.

Yeah right. Who am I kidding? I want a clean, nice house. I want people to be able to stop by if they want to and me not be worried or ashamed of the way the place looks.

I am not wonderwoman. I am not wonderwoman. I am not wonderwoman.

I try to be, I want to be. But I'm not. And I don't think I ever can be. I had a small fit of anguish yesterday when I came home after working 6:00 am to 4:00 pm. I picked up my cat, of whom Trent had texted me several adorable photos throughout the day. Now, for those that don't know, my cat is my baby. I love her sooooo much. Well, yesterday as I was petting her on my shoulder, and she was rubbing against my neck, I started crying a little bit and said "I miss my cat. I feel like I'm never home." Granted this was coming off an exhausting day in the midst of other overtime days right before a tax deadline. But if I am so busy that I miss my cat, then that's a sure sign I don't have time to be wonderwoman.

So, in conclusion, I don't know what my conclusion is. Except maybe I need to try harder to feel like I don't need to try so hard?

I just realized I forgot to eat dinner.....

Monday, September 6, 2010

Zzzzzz


I'm exhausted this evening. And it's only 7:45ish. Ugh. I thought walking/running in the mornings was supposed to give me MORE energy! Maybe I'm tired because I got up early to do that, maybe because I worked today when my brain was in holiday mode, maybe I have allergies, or maybe because I just stared at yarn for several hours at Kim's house. I made twelve flowers and about half a hat.
I know this only shows ten flowers. I made too more pink ones after I took the picture. The brown and green one is spoken for (thanks MK!) So anyway, that is probably most of why my head is in a fog and I want to go to sleep but I've kind of felt that way all day. I can just chalk it up to being Anna I suppose. I am always some level of sleepy.

I just facebook chatted with my sister Katy, the adventurous one. She is in the Dominican Republic until Christmas, living, learning, fulfilling her dreams and reaching her goals. If anyone has an interest in life in the DR, you can follow her blog here. It is muy interesante.

Ok I'm going to bed. Yes, at 8:00 pm. Sleeping is my superpower. Steph says so.

G'night.