You know it's going to be a special sort of day when, upon exiting one's vehicle, a Japanese beetle flies into one's hair and stays until one finds it an hour later at one's desk.
I can hear it trying to crawl out of the trash can scratch, scratch, scratch.
How did it not strangle to death on my nappy hair?
30 June 2009
28 June 2009
A Summertime Treat
Tomorrow, June 29th, is Leslie's birthday. She began celebrating with her first b'day card on Friday afternoon, continued through Saturday evening dining with the Indiana Gottschalk Crowd (where Phoenix was dearly missed), and carried over even to today, when I baked her a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb-Crust Pie. Oh dear, was it delish.
I began searching last week for a recipe and discovered this gem on allrecipes.com. Great site! I spent at least an hour reading over the cooks' reviews and thus made many of their adjustments to the recipe. So, I'm including below the delight in which we partook this afternoon, complete with vanilla bean ice cream and the film Australia. (Great flick, by the way.)
Ingredients:
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tb. flour
1 Tb. corn starch (for thickening)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 lb. fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pint fresh strawberries, halved
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (I used a deep dish one, worked well.)
Topping:
3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. quick-cooking or rolled oats
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
6 Tb. butter (or slightly less)
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour and vanilla. Gently fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into pastry shell.
2. For topping, combine flour, brown sugar,spices, and oats in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes (if very soupy, do extra 5 minutes). Reduce heat to 350 and back for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Cool on wire rack.
Hope you all enjoy it!
I began searching last week for a recipe and discovered this gem on allrecipes.com. Great site! I spent at least an hour reading over the cooks' reviews and thus made many of their adjustments to the recipe. So, I'm including below the delight in which we partook this afternoon, complete with vanilla bean ice cream and the film Australia. (Great flick, by the way.)
Ingredients:
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tb. flour
1 Tb. corn starch (for thickening)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 lb. fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pint fresh strawberries, halved
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (I used a deep dish one, worked well.)
Topping:
3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. quick-cooking or rolled oats
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
6 Tb. butter (or slightly less)
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, flour and vanilla. Gently fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into pastry shell.
2. For topping, combine flour, brown sugar,spices, and oats in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes (if very soupy, do extra 5 minutes). Reduce heat to 350 and back for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Cool on wire rack.
Hope you all enjoy it!
22 June 2009
A barrage of thoughts...
I've been trying, for days, to develop a good post. I want to entertain, to educate, to encourage with my words here. But it's been a dry spell--creativity is far from me.
My mind is constantly churning thoughts, what-ifs, and scenarios about today, tomorrow, next month, and the next few years. I hate not knowing where I'm going, or what road I'm really even on, and that's precisely how I feel these days. Lost. Wandering...aimlessly.
I know our plans for the next year, even next few years. I know that I'm starting school again a year from now, that it'll take me three years to finish, unless I can bully my way through by cramming my days and nights with classes (like I did with Master's degree #1). I know that we won't be out of debt until the end of next summer, but that this summer's salary will pay for next summer's schooling, so we can make that fly. I know that in doing school this way, I'll be partially reimbursed, and that will remain during my entire 3-year part-time student, full-time employee status. I know that if we move, if we relocate so Kyle's days aren't as exhausting and long, all of this could change. That if we bought a house somewhere--here, there, anywhere--it would or could or may change all these plans. I also know how much can change in a year.
I became engaged a year ago. Now I've been married for 9 months. How'd that happen? Where did the time go?
I was reading over the archives of a friend's blog, someone I haven't contacted since college, but who writes well and, at least in college, shared many appreciations with me, for literature, music, and art. She and her husband had made plans to move to a country in Africa, and as the time neared for them to leave, the organization with which they were going switched their destination. She was lamenting not returning to a nation she loves, and yet remained excited for the simple fact that they were still moving to Africa. A week or so later, the organization actually cut them off. For whatever reason, they were no longer going. Her posts were so full of life, vitality--anger, disappointment, anticipation, almost grief at times. Yet they were so trusting, retaining their desire and ability to trust God would understand their hearts, their wishes to be abroad. I believe they are now somewhere in Southeast Asia. Their path had to change in order to get them to where they needed to be, a different country--a different continent, actually. And it's not like their journey is finished, is it? They might end up back in Africa, the exact country they wished to land in the first time around. Maybe the timing wasn't right on the first pass. Maybe it will be later on. Or maybe they'll love SE Asia more.
I contemplate these things constantly. Where am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing? This? Am I to be here, to be librarianing? Is my restlessness legitimate, or is it just my nature to live unsettled, to long for something different, something better, something fresh? The possibilities are pretty much endless, and I could spend many sleepless nights mulling over what we should or could be doing or going or being. But that's not productive, is it?
I know this year is bound to be tumultuous. And, truth be told, we've adjusted to married life rather well, but that's not the issue anymore for me. Kyle is as much a part of my life now as I am. He's that central to my existence. But I feel imbalanced in myself. Internally. I can't pinpoint it, but I do know that it's there. The scales are tipped, but I don't know which way, or why, or how to fix it. Frustrating, as you can imagine.
I haven't been running as consistently as is needed these days, and I'm wondering if my mental imbalance isn't just a way of telling me to hit the pavement again -- every day -- to do something healthy for my body, which incidentally brings my mind to a better state of being. But what if it's not?
See what I mean? Always questions...never resting. I need to get away from here.
My mind is constantly churning thoughts, what-ifs, and scenarios about today, tomorrow, next month, and the next few years. I hate not knowing where I'm going, or what road I'm really even on, and that's precisely how I feel these days. Lost. Wandering...aimlessly.
I know our plans for the next year, even next few years. I know that I'm starting school again a year from now, that it'll take me three years to finish, unless I can bully my way through by cramming my days and nights with classes (like I did with Master's degree #1). I know that we won't be out of debt until the end of next summer, but that this summer's salary will pay for next summer's schooling, so we can make that fly. I know that in doing school this way, I'll be partially reimbursed, and that will remain during my entire 3-year part-time student, full-time employee status. I know that if we move, if we relocate so Kyle's days aren't as exhausting and long, all of this could change. That if we bought a house somewhere--here, there, anywhere--it would or could or may change all these plans. I also know how much can change in a year.
I became engaged a year ago. Now I've been married for 9 months. How'd that happen? Where did the time go?
I was reading over the archives of a friend's blog, someone I haven't contacted since college, but who writes well and, at least in college, shared many appreciations with me, for literature, music, and art. She and her husband had made plans to move to a country in Africa, and as the time neared for them to leave, the organization with which they were going switched their destination. She was lamenting not returning to a nation she loves, and yet remained excited for the simple fact that they were still moving to Africa. A week or so later, the organization actually cut them off. For whatever reason, they were no longer going. Her posts were so full of life, vitality--anger, disappointment, anticipation, almost grief at times. Yet they were so trusting, retaining their desire and ability to trust God would understand their hearts, their wishes to be abroad. I believe they are now somewhere in Southeast Asia. Their path had to change in order to get them to where they needed to be, a different country--a different continent, actually. And it's not like their journey is finished, is it? They might end up back in Africa, the exact country they wished to land in the first time around. Maybe the timing wasn't right on the first pass. Maybe it will be later on. Or maybe they'll love SE Asia more.
I contemplate these things constantly. Where am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing? This? Am I to be here, to be librarianing? Is my restlessness legitimate, or is it just my nature to live unsettled, to long for something different, something better, something fresh? The possibilities are pretty much endless, and I could spend many sleepless nights mulling over what we should or could be doing or going or being. But that's not productive, is it?
I know this year is bound to be tumultuous. And, truth be told, we've adjusted to married life rather well, but that's not the issue anymore for me. Kyle is as much a part of my life now as I am. He's that central to my existence. But I feel imbalanced in myself. Internally. I can't pinpoint it, but I do know that it's there. The scales are tipped, but I don't know which way, or why, or how to fix it. Frustrating, as you can imagine.
I haven't been running as consistently as is needed these days, and I'm wondering if my mental imbalance isn't just a way of telling me to hit the pavement again -- every day -- to do something healthy for my body, which incidentally brings my mind to a better state of being. But what if it's not?
See what I mean? Always questions...never resting. I need to get away from here.
14 June 2009
Weekend Recap
I kind of feel like my weekend isn't over yet, which rocks because it started on Thursday night, not the typical Friday. I began my Summer Fridays Off schedule this past week and, let's face it, I love it.
Kyle and I took the opportunity to head to Rochester to return his dad's van, which helped us get our new couch & stereo. We had lunch with my mom and I picked up a few things I had in storage in my old bedroom closet at her house, and then we spent the afternoon with the Wilsons and Bartons -- relaxing in the sun, watching the girls with their huge turtle in a kiddie pool, Hal cleaning fish (which stank up the place...nast!), and chit-chatting the day away.
We got home that evening in time to wrap up Season 1 of Alias and begin Season 2. We love this show. We had to turn in early because of Kyle's morning CPAT test in Indy (that stands for Certified Physical Agility Test and is step #1 for being a firefighter in any capacity).
He had to be there at 8am, and I did not wake up until then (I'm so supportive, as you can see). It went well, and he passed. He's excited to begin pursuing this more concretely.
I used my morning well doing dishes, laundry, and walking to our local thrift store, where I found two awesome 50-cent shirts. Across the street they were setting up our Strawberry Fest (our version of the RBF), so I bought 4-quarts of strawberries while the pickin's were good! I spent the rest of my morning cleaning, air-drying, and topping all of the strawberries. TIME CONSUMING. But delicious because we made them into strawberry shortcake today with Leslie and her awesome from-memory short-cake recipe.
Kyle and I spent our Saturday in a superbly lazy way. We took a walk, watched more Alias, watched two movies, and did some computer trouble shooting (my desktop crashed on Monday).
At this point, the house is picked up, we've fully recovered, and we're still off for a good time this week.
Tomorrow we head to Chicago after work to see off Kyle's sister and her family to Ghana for their year in the mission field over there. We'll be staying with the family in a hotel on Michigan Ave, and have all of Tuesday to tool around the big city before seeing them off. It will be so fun.
That means, in all, I'll have had 5 days off of work in a row. Lovely idea. You should all try it.
See you on the flip side!
Kyle and I took the opportunity to head to Rochester to return his dad's van, which helped us get our new couch & stereo. We had lunch with my mom and I picked up a few things I had in storage in my old bedroom closet at her house, and then we spent the afternoon with the Wilsons and Bartons -- relaxing in the sun, watching the girls with their huge turtle in a kiddie pool, Hal cleaning fish (which stank up the place...nast!), and chit-chatting the day away.
We got home that evening in time to wrap up Season 1 of Alias and begin Season 2. We love this show. We had to turn in early because of Kyle's morning CPAT test in Indy (that stands for Certified Physical Agility Test and is step #1 for being a firefighter in any capacity).
He had to be there at 8am, and I did not wake up until then (I'm so supportive, as you can see). It went well, and he passed. He's excited to begin pursuing this more concretely.
I used my morning well doing dishes, laundry, and walking to our local thrift store, where I found two awesome 50-cent shirts. Across the street they were setting up our Strawberry Fest (our version of the RBF), so I bought 4-quarts of strawberries while the pickin's were good! I spent the rest of my morning cleaning, air-drying, and topping all of the strawberries. TIME CONSUMING. But delicious because we made them into strawberry shortcake today with Leslie and her awesome from-memory short-cake recipe.
Kyle and I spent our Saturday in a superbly lazy way. We took a walk, watched more Alias, watched two movies, and did some computer trouble shooting (my desktop crashed on Monday).
At this point, the house is picked up, we've fully recovered, and we're still off for a good time this week.
Tomorrow we head to Chicago after work to see off Kyle's sister and her family to Ghana for their year in the mission field over there. We'll be staying with the family in a hotel on Michigan Ave, and have all of Tuesday to tool around the big city before seeing them off. It will be so fun.
That means, in all, I'll have had 5 days off of work in a row. Lovely idea. You should all try it.
See you on the flip side!
09 June 2009
A Lame Blogger
I realize that I've done poorly in getting back into blogging. Life is a whirlwind right now.
For a quick recap:
Add to that the fact that my hands are shot from lifting, shifting, and moving around about 4000 Reference (= heavy, huge, and awkward) books in the last 10 days, and you'll see that I'm a complete wreck. There you will also find your answer as to why I haven't called.
Our weekends are filling up, which is both fun and tiring to think about. We're trying to fit in a couple of Indianapolis Indians games, game nights with friends, cook outs and bonfires with family, as well as keeping time for us to hang out on weekends, since we barely see each other during the week (like tonight -- Kyle got home at 8pm, was in bed by 9pm).
We're heading to Chicago this coming Monday night to meet up with the Wilsons and send off the Ghana crew. 1 year...really? Seems so long. But they are SO ready to be going and we can't wait to hear what God is doing in Accra.
If you want to hang out this summer, give us a call or drop a line and we'll make if official.
For a quick recap:
- Dinner with Amy and Allen at the end of May
- Indy visit the next weekend--I got to see Kate!!!, and Kyle was able to spend hours at a car show with friends
- We gave away our living room furniture (couch, loveseat, & end table) and watched movies on a sheet and blanket with pillows in the front room for about 5 days
- We got mom & dad's blue couch and my favorite stereo of all time (it has an 8-track player and record player all in one giant piece of furniture--we're still awaiting a recliner from them, which will come our way once they get their new furniture)
- Kyle continues to find out more information about being a volunteer firefighter in the area, and has a very important and EARLY test in Indy this Saturday
Add to that the fact that my hands are shot from lifting, shifting, and moving around about 4000 Reference (= heavy, huge, and awkward) books in the last 10 days, and you'll see that I'm a complete wreck. There you will also find your answer as to why I haven't called.
Our weekends are filling up, which is both fun and tiring to think about. We're trying to fit in a couple of Indianapolis Indians games, game nights with friends, cook outs and bonfires with family, as well as keeping time for us to hang out on weekends, since we barely see each other during the week (like tonight -- Kyle got home at 8pm, was in bed by 9pm).
We're heading to Chicago this coming Monday night to meet up with the Wilsons and send off the Ghana crew. 1 year...really? Seems so long. But they are SO ready to be going and we can't wait to hear what God is doing in Accra.
If you want to hang out this summer, give us a call or drop a line and we'll make if official.
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