Kapachino

Holiday Decorating

My roommates Amanda, Courtney, and I are hosting a game night at our apartment tonight, so we decided we wanted to decorate the place for Christmas first. We all love the holidays and are very excited about it. So this morning, before Courtney woke up, Amanda brought out her share of the decorations, which include these creations, which she hand-painted herself:

When Courtney woke up and emerged from her room, this was (more or less) the conversation that followed:

Courtney: (sarcastically) Ahh, the ceramics. I’ve missed them.
Amanda: I just don’t see how you don’t think they’re cute!
Courtney: Um, well, hmm…
Amanda: I mean do you see how much work I put into this? Look at the bricks on the house, you don’t just paint that one color. And the wood, look at the texture! And this bow on top…
Courtney: Yes, the BOW on top is lovely.
Amanda: OK, it’s not like I would go out and buy something like this already painted!
Courtney: Oh, well, that’s something, I mean, I AM glad to hear that. Because if it’s sentimental, if you painted it when you were a little kid–
Amanda: When I was 17.
Courtney: I’m gonna go with a little kid, trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here.

In the end the snowman, the house, and the Santa’s Express train got to stay. All the rest either have to go into Amanda’s room or back into the box.

I like my roommates because they’re funny, and they indulge my need for symmetry when it comes to decorating, which is extremely important.

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving Boyfriend David and I spent a good part of the day over at my parents’ house with my family. I helped my mom cook while he hung out with the boys. Then we ate a yummy meal and were satisfied:

After dinner we went out to visit his family at his aunt and uncle’s house. They live in the country and had this giant hay bale turkey set up, so we had some fun with it! Here we are with David’s brother Chris, Chris’s girlfriend Kim, and his dog Sydney. Sydney jumped up there all by herself, by the way!

To see the rest of my Thanksgiving pictures, visit my Flickr account here.

So Responsible

My youngest brother Barry is graduating from Texas Tech in December. He was at the game on Saturday when Tech beat Oklahoma. Afterwards he called my dad and said (roughly):

“Dad, you’ll be so proud of me. I didn’t rush the field right at first because the cops were arresting people and I didn’t want to get arrested right before I graduate. So I waited for the second wave of people to rush the field once the cops had been overwhelmed and were just letting everyone go!”

My roommate’s younger brother is Barry’s roommate, and when she asked him about rushing the field he said, “Nah, if I’m going to get arrested in Lubbock it’s going to be for something good.”

Our little brothers are so wise.

VIP Baby and Money Woes

Something kind of cool happened today. I was working in the newborn nursery, and there were a whole lot of babies in there. I didn’t have much to do right away, so I chose a baby that wasn’t getting any direct attention at the moment and I picked her up to calm her down because she was crying a little bit. Eventually the nurse and I began to assess her, and that’s when we realized that she was a VIP baby. She was adorable, and I took care of her all morning.

(If you haven’t figured it out yet, you need to click the link to see whose baby it was I took care of. I just feel weird about writing the name here. Apparently there was a guy hanging around outside the nursery last night, and when a nurse finally asked him what he was doing there he replied, “I hear you have a VIP here.” She replied, “All of my patients are VIPs.” Some people are creepy.)

In other news, I am really stressed about money right now, and I don’t like it one bit. Remember how I mentioned that I was trying to make extra money by filling out internet surveys? Well, it doesn’t work. I have tried, and it’s not worth it. This article explains why not. So I’m looking for other ways to earn money, but right now the only solution I can find is to work as much as possible and then just borrow money if I have to.

My situation is actually to the point where I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to pay my bills next month. Just one month more is all I need to make it, and then I’ll get another loan installment. I’d really like to make it without borrowing money, but things just aren’t lining up right now. I paid the hefty registration fee for our Texas Independence Relay team out of my own money, and I still haven’t been reimbursed from four people for that. I went way over on my cell phone minutes last month (aka the most stressful month of my life) and my bill is three times its normal amount. I checked the mail today to find a notice from a collection agency regarding a movie I rented and never returned, then spent the afternoon on the phone trying to figure that out, and then just kind of broke down. My wonderful boyfriend tells me that I have nothing to worry about as long as he’s working, but I just can’t help but get emotional and stress about it. I don’t mean to whine. It’s just constantly on my mind and I had to get it out.

Luke 6:20 - “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Right now I’m hoping Jesus meant this literally.

The Art of Journaling

I know I haven’t been updating as regularly lately, and I do regret that. Because other than using this website to stay connected to friends and family, make new friends, hopefully entertain someone who reads it, and have a place to express myself, I also want this website to contain a record of these years of my life. I want to be able to go back later, read it, and remember what was going on in my life at that time. So at least for that reason, I wish I had written more lately even if it’s just to report on what my day was like.

That is exactly the kind of writing I used to do. I kept a journal for a lot of my life. Not always consistently, but I have a whole box full of them. I thought it would be fun to pull them out and share with you. So today we go back in time to 1990, when I was 8 years old. This is from the first journal that I ever received. I didn’t write in it all that often, but it is still so nostalgic to remember how simple my life was then. I’ll try to type it exactly as I wrote it:

March 3, 1990
I was given this book

March 15, 1990
My Brother and I PLAYED TOGETHER ALL DAY!

March 16, 1990
I went to ADVENT SCHOOL.

March 24, 1990
Barry Buged us.
Barry and I played.

April 29, 1990
Today I played Don’t let the Grown-ups see you with my brothers.

Ah, life as an 8-year-old. I can’t wait till we get to my junior high years. That’s where the real entertainment is!

Friends In High Places

The other day I showed up to my indoor soccer game and was waiting for the previous game to end. A few minutes before the game my dad showed up, gave me a hug, and sat down by me. He had a sneaky little smile on his face, and the first thing he said was, “Did you get my e-mail?” I hadn’t. What was it about? I wanted to know. “I need Courtney to hook me up,” he said, smile widening. He proceeded to tell me the details of his proposition.

Courtney is my roommate and one of my best friends in Houston. What is it that my dad so desperately wanted from her? A book. Courtney works for the Harris County Public Library. My dad’s e-mail went like this:

I just reserved the new James Lee Burke novel Tin Roof Blowdown, but I’m 69th in line. Can Courtney hook me up in a better position? It’s nice to have friends in high places.

The funny thing is that I have totally used Courtney for this purpose before, and my dad was so excited when he found out about it. This is the kind of thing my family gets excited about being “hooked up” with. But seriously, the library is awesome. Since living with Courtney my world has been broadened. I use it for movies, music, audiobooks, and, of course, books. And I’m sure Courtney could tell me a slew of other resources the library offers.

Gosh, I am such a NERD.

I’m Not That Crazy

So I heard on the radio the other day about this guy who ran 63 marathons in 63 days to raise awareness for a rare childhood disease. My first thought was, “That is insane.” My second thought was, “This makes my training for the Texas Independence Relay look so weak.” But then my next thought was, “That is insane.” And I feel perfectly fine about my running aspirations.

My Return To Normal Life

So I’ve been out of town the past three weekends, and this past week I was house-sitting for half the week. In the meantime life went on, including work and school, and all of it put together left me quite frazzled. No more, my friends! I am back home and settled. Here are the things that I am most excited about right now, approximately in order:

1. Being able to spend more time with my wonderful boyfriend.
2. Getting to see my family and my boyfriend’s family regularly again.
3. Spending more time with my dog Cleo and taking care of her again.
4. The full apartment deep clean that my roommate Amanda and I did yesterday.
5. The $100 worth of groceries (MOST of which are fairly healthy) that I bought today.
6. Getting back to a normal life schedule.
7. Being able to return to church next week.
8. Running again, and our relay team coming together.
9. The manicure/pedicure I scheduled for tomorrow.
10. The fact that my checkbook is balanced.
11. At this point I have school somewhat under control.
12. Starting to ride the bus again tomorrow (and thus save money on gas, tolls, and parking).

Sometimes small things make me happy. Right now I’m just glad to be home!