haphazard musings

Well I finished

my first poem.

Well, technically my second, since we are obviously counting the one that was awarded $10 in 1991.

It was not as hard to write as I anticipated once I started. 

It was the getting started that was hard.  I sat for a long time wondering where to begin, and decided that I should begin at the beginning.

He said I am living water. 
Those who drink from this cup will never thirst again.
He said I am the source everlasting.

That's the first few lines.  I will share more after my class tears it apart on Wednesday.

It should be interesting.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and the tips and hints.

poetry...

this is what i think of when i hear the word poetry (read it aloud - it makes a difference - really it does, even if you don't understand what it's saying the words are still beautiful.).

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

That is Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare.

I love the way they read, the language is beautiful.  Its easy to understand why his work is still read everyday 418 years later.

This is not what we are studying in class.  The poems we are reading are dark and dreary - a lot about death.  They do not rhyme, they have no rhythm.

I can't understand why they are actually poems.  They don't seem like poems except that they do happen to be the shape of poems...oh well.  

I have to write one.  By Sunday.  

I need inspiration and concentration.  Where do you go to find those?

Suggestions?

 

Wish me luck.

 

Friday jumble...

and no that is not a quiz or a game, although perhaps some day that could be a fun blog game...hmmm...

Anyway, today I have many thoughts and I feel like sharing them out loud (well kinda).

Change - I am craving change...it happens every couple months, that I really begin to feel a tug for something different.

Sometimes it feels like this.

That's me...right there in the middle of those two arrows...feeling hemmed in.

I have lots of explanations for this, but for now I will just say..."change, is kinda like milk, it does a body good."

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My new semester of class started this week.  And as per usual, I think there is going to be one or two individuals that make me crazy.

There is one guy who seems very, shall we say interesting, who just talked incessantly throughout the entire 40 minutes we were there.  Even though there wasn't really an opportunity for class participation, he just made himself...umm...known.  I hate that.

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I also have a feeling I might be the dumb kid once again.  I am taking a Creative Writing Workshop.

Let's just say I have not written a "story" since I was in 3rd grade and we had to write a story and do all the illustrations for it.  

I am sure my mom must have a copy of that creation somewhere...

But then she may not, as I have definitely inherited her stance against clutter and against too much "sentimental stuff" - Thank goodness!  We always ask the question, "Will I ever use this again?" or the question "What is the purpose of saving this?"  It's been a life saver. 

I have, however, had two poems published in my life.  Which should serve me well right, considering I must write at least 3 poems this semester.

But once again the last time I wrote a poem was third grade.  I believe the winning poem (in my age category) was written by yours truly and it was called Halloween.

And if I remember correctly (which would be crazy since that was 20 years ago) it was most about candy and ended like this and I quote...

"tummies too fat."

Perhaps someday I will share that with you.  I know that the printed collection of winners exists in my "toy" closet at mom and dad's.

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Meet my friend Anne...

Thanks to her, I have been super duper motivated with working out since November!  She is my new running buddy.

I am super proud of my latest accomplishment - 4 miles all at once and 13 in one week!

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Not only that, for Christmas Anne gave me a fantastic gift...

Its a milk-frother!  Sounds lame right, but on no my friends, this is fantastic!

Yesterday I made my very own latte!  It cost like 50 cents.  

Here's the recipe.

One k-cup in my Kuerig coffee machine - medium size.

1 half cup skim milk - heated for one minute in the microwave - then frothed with the tool seen above for a few seconds.

1 squirt chocolate syrup - or more if you are feeling cheeky.

Pour frothed milk into coffee stir it all up and there you have a chocolate latte with a little foam!

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And the final thought for the day

source

Scotland...

source

Have you been there?  If you were going there, what would do or see?  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

And the winner is...

Sam!  She's the winner!!!

And she wins a gift card to Mojo's Coffee Shop here in Newton!  Hooray for her!

The points winner was Veda - with 56!  Way to go VEDA!!!!

And here are the answers.

1. RSVP - respondez sil vous plait

2. P.S. - post script

3. SCUBA - self contained underwater breathing apparatus

4. A.M. - Ante Meridiem

5. FDR - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

6. Sonar - Sound Navigation and Ranging

7. AD - Anno Domini

8. PC - personal computer or politically correct

9. NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

10. MLA - Modern Language Association

RSVP and other phrases - QUIZ!

Thanks for participating in the other phrases quiz.  I love quizzes and tests of all kinds really.  

(I think its because I like to succeed, and test are a way of measuring that.)

This quiz will test your knowledge of common and uncommon abbreviations.  Isn't that exciting?

Keep track of your points and let me know your totals in the comments section - just because I am curious.  

(These are points like in Harry Potter, picture a big jar on the wall, with little balls each worth one point that keeps track for your whole life and at the end you get a tally of all the times you were right...wouldn't that be awesome?!?  There's no prize, for being right, you just get to know that you got that many points.)

And because I will draw a winner from the comments section (entries will end at 6 pm Monday, Jan. 17) and you will get a little piece of excitement in the mail - actual prize to be announced at the time of the answers!

There are 77 points possible.

Ready! Set! Go!

1.  Do you know what RSVP stands for?  I am sure you know that it means let me know if you are coming or not.  But do you know what the letters actually stand for?

     10 points to you if you do.  

 2.  How about PS.  Do you know what the words are for that one?

      5 more points if you do.

3.  Scuba.  Did you know that is an acronym as well?

      You get 20 points for this one.

4.  How about A.M.?

     9 points.

5.  FDR?

     2 points

6. Sonar?

    10 points

7. What about AD?

     3 points.

8.  PC?

     2 points

9.  NATO?  
     This one should be easy if you paid attention in history in high school....

      5 points

10.  MLA? 

      11 points.  
      This one is common but harder.  Think back to your paper writing days.

"How did you get back here?"

Facebook status of a good friend: can someone please explain to me how a smoke detector with no battery can still go off?

Made me think of this episode of friends.  

Its the one with Phoebe and the fire alarm..Seriously, its hilarious.  (sorry you have to click to youtube.com  for some reason the embed feature is disabled on all the links to this video.)

Thanks Sam for reminding me of this one!

 

Love It...Hate It...vol. 5

New Year's Resolution makers...I have a love/hate relationship with them.

I love that people are working on getting healthy this year!  I know that for me it is hard to go to the workout facility.  So I am proud that others are getting there.  For some reason it makes me want to go too.  

However, I hate that its hard to find a treadmill or elliptical once I have convinced myself to get to the gym.   The whole time I am waiting, I am thinking to myself,

"I have never seen that lady or that guy before, what makes them think its ok to come and steal my machine.  They are just here because they made a resolution.  I was running 3 or 4 times a week before Jan. 1 so I should get first dibs...jeez louize."  

I think the gym should look like this when I arrive.

Look at all those empty treadmills, your personal tv...man it doesn't get any better than that, not to mention what looks like a wonderful view.

Oh I have also discovered something else about the gym that I hate - channel flippers.  Seriously, this guy last night must have changed the channel on the tv "in front" of him like 15 times during the course of his workout.  How he got put in charge of the remote, I shall never know, but I should have taken a closer look at him to make sure that the power of the remote doesn't tempt him again.

Each time I was just beginning to get into reading the subtitles (I need an ipod with a tuner please, so if anyone needs a tax write off...you could donate one to me:) ) of whatever program he was on, he changed the channel.  We watched a basketball game for a while, it was close and almost over, then he changed it to Turner Classic Movies...seriously.  

I was thinking, back away from the remote buddy and no one will get hurt.  I think he was at the gym for the free cable.  

I might go so I can watch House Hunters on HGTV, but that's not the only reason...

And with that, I will conclude vol. 5 of Love It...Hate It...

 

Memoir Monday - Happy Anniversary!

NOTE: So this Memoir Monday is a new thing for me and it didn't work so well this week.  :(  I didn't post my post.  I had it all written and everything.  Oh well, thanks to Angela over at Ruby Red Slippers for sharing and starting this one.  So happy Memoir Monday on Wednesday.

No.37 - Done.

Ryan and I have now been married for 4 years.  Pretty crazy to think about.

Sometimes it makes me feel old - like when I realize that means I graduated from high school 9 years ago.  

Other times it makes me feel young - many of our friends have 4 or 5 year-olds!  :)

Two days after our actual anniversary we got to go out and celebrate together.  

We went on a date.  We don't do that very often.

We picked out a nice little place we had never been before in Old Town called Uptown Bistro.

The food was fantastic!

Ryan started out with mussels.  I have never had mussels...but he loved them.  They were a little weird - oddly chewy...really not into chewy unless its like a Sour Patch Kid or a Starburst...

I had a lovely cup of soup with chorizo sausage and white beans.  Which just happens to be a recipe in my new Sunday Soup cookbook!  Thanks Cindy.

Then I had this pork chop with a honey glaze, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. 

Sidebar - I don't understand why restaurants must serve such large portions.  Please keep one pork chop and charge me half price.  Oh well, I guess now I have really expensive leftovers. :)

It was super tasty.

Then like every really in love and celebrating couple, we went to Target.  Apparently no trip to Wichita isn't complete without Target.

We even saw another couple at Target that were waiting for their movie to start and were at Target on babysitter time!  See people do go on dates to Target!

We concluded our trip into town with a stop at the latest trend - Orange Leaf.

My friend Jess and her sister Anne were telling us about their trip there the day before.  You can read more about there trip here.

I love ice cream (but this was as Jess explained froyo and thus better for you!), and was a perfect cap to the night.

Here we are quite happy and full.

So Happy 4th Anniversary to us!  We've had a pretty exciting four years, so here's to 40 more!

 

Christmas Dinner

on the Frasier side is always an interesting experience. : )

We do the traditional Swedish meal.  It is served in several courses and takes a long time. 

I think its fun to watch the three year-old to see how she does in a 2 hour dinner.

But this year, I thought I would document what we were eating in pictures.  So here you go!

Step 1.  Cookie decorating. 

Meet Katie.  She ate all the sprinkles before we could use them on the cookies. : )

I made a horse with a star on it.

Step 2.  Salad.  These banana salads represent the candles that used to be used at each place setting in the old days.  The cherry on top is the light.

 

Step 3.  Pickled and creamed herring.  I won't eat the pickled kind it smells nasty, but the creamed kind really isn't too bad.

 

Step 4. Caraway cheese served by the cheese mouse.

Step 5.  Lutefisk (re-hydrated white fish) on potatoes in a creamy gravy.  This time was better than the first.  Mark made the gravy, this time it had yummy flavor that kind of drowned out the fishy taste. :)

Step 6.  Brown beans with molasses and other goodness, pot roast, potato sausage and brocolli.  I liked everything in this round!

Step 7.  Otsakaka.  It means cheese cake-like dessert topped with lingonberries.  For some reason I didn't take a picture of that...maybe because I don't eat it.  I am a texture eater and ostakaka is kind of like bread pudding and I can't eat that either.  I think its the wet bready texture.  Can't handle it. : )

And there you go.  A traditional Swedish dinner.  Some parts are so yummy.  Some parts are not exactly yummy, but a neat tradition nonetheless.  Thanks Grams for putting it all together.

On Chistmas Day we get to do one of my favorite things!  Fondu!  I look forward to that everytime we go out to Colorado!

 

So, note to self

In the future, I must schedule posts to appear over the holidays.  Not sure what all happened over the last two weeks, but as I sit here on the couch watching the bachelor (possibly the biggest waste of time ever), I am noticing that the things that did happen do not include housework...nevertheless, here I remain, me, my cup of hot chocolate, and 30 dumb women duking it out over a dude.

Oh well.  I must have been having fun for the last two weeks.

So here is some of the fun.

I love giving gifts.  Apparently its one of my love languages.

So I will no document some of the best gift opening moments.

I know she looks upset, but Grams really was excited about a Dala horse cake pan.  She made this funny little squealing sound.  

FYI if you are ever looking for one of those, there is only once place - IKEA!!!

Guess who loves Fancy Nancy - Katie!  That was her reaction to a brand new book.  Yea!

Saddly, we already gave her that one.  But luckily she had no idea.  So a little quick trip to Barnes & Noble and she will have a brand new Fancy Nancy. :)

Its glove man.  According to Pioneer Woman, these are the best gloves in the world.  So here's hoping they are all they are cracked up to be. : )

Ryan's thoughts "Oh no you didn't."

Ryan's next thought, "Holy crap.  She did."  

Best gift reaction ever.  

Thank you men from small group and Richard who helped make this moment possible!