A Resolution

Because once a year is simply not enough time to pack in all the resolutions that need made in my life, my August resolution is: Will stop diagnosing myself based on internet articles and/or chat rooms. This can only lead to embarrassment during an actual doctor's appointment.

Loving my CSA

6 ounces of chocolate + friends = a good thing

Two of my dear friends from ACU came down (and up) this weekend. We had a girl's weekend that was very, well, girl-y - in a feminist sort of way. It was awesome! Here are just a few reasons why I loved having them around:

-It was an excuse to make chocolate swirl cheesecake. This particular recipe had 6 ounces of baker's chocolate and a quarter cup of cocoa. I think I'll leave it at that.

-I was able to go see a chick flick and not feel guilty for dragging BJ to it.

-They already know all (or at least most) of my flaws, so I don't have to cover it up when I'm searching for my purse, shoes, keys, and cell phone all at the same time only to find them in four separate locations.

-They don't mind sleeping in the same bed, so they only dirty one set of sheets (score!).

-They help me get to know myself better. As it turns out, I'm a drama queen. Now I'm aware of that fact.

-When they get sleepy, they suddenly get worse at Scattagories, so I'm able to pull out one late night victory.

I could go one, but you get the point. They are awesome, and we had a lot of fun.

(To our Fat Tuesday friends, we really missed you all. Erin, we talked about how cute your new apartment is and how happy we are you found a good job. Carolyn, we talked about how great Josh seems to be and how you seem to be making a great couple. And Em, we talked about the baby, of course. We can't wait to meet her. Love you all!)

Whizzing with Gus

I few weeks ago, we stained our deck. During the 24 hour span that it took for the deck to dry, the dogs had to do their business in the front yard. That morning, I woke up early for work and let Gus out, only to be surprised in my very groggy state when Gus immediately ran to our monkey grass, straddled it, and peed. I found this hilarious. The next morning, I was curious if he would do the same thing if I took him to the front with my camera. As you can see below, he did:

Finding this odd behavior hilarious, I embarked on a weeklong morning ritual/photoshoot of letting Gus out in the front yard and seeing what he did. Here's what happened:

(that's a visiting dog in the background)

This particular blogpost is probably a pretty good indicator that I should get a life. I promise that if I ever have children, I will not subject you to any blogpost of this sort. I promise. But this is a dog, so who cares.

Family in Kentucky

I have gone way longer than is usual without posting, but I have a really good excuse. Mom, Dad, and Bro have been in town, and we have been packing a year's worth of activity into one week. It's been fun, but as always, it went way too fast. Mom and Dad drove off yesterday morning leaving me crying in front of a donut shop where we had preemptively drowned our sorrows in a breakfast of glazed goodness. Thankfully, Bro is staying on for another week.

This is by far the longest time Bro has ever spent in Kentucky. For the most part, he is enjoying the beautiful scenery and plethora of local jellies, but yesterday brought him face to face with a side of Kentucky culture that doesn't exactly mesh with our family. He was looking for a Time or Newsweek magazine in Mayfield, the closest town to Farmington. We went to Walmart where he thought he could surely find one. Instead, he found 18 different varieties of magazines on guns and one on knives, but no Time or Newsweek. For my pacifist-liberal-Democrat brother, this was disappointing to say the least. Thankfully, we do have the internet and it's wide range of non-gun realted news journals, so I think he'll make it one more week.