Things I Adore

You missed these segments, didn't you.

(;) I'm sure no one even noticed they were missing.)

Today, I'm here to tell you about some serious fabulosity.
In fact, two pieces of fabulosity.


Here's the first:

(that would be the hubs)

and here is the second:
(not this exact one, but just go with it)

When you add these two things together, plus a determined wife and a ladder, you get SERIOUS TREE LIMB CARNAGE. Which made me the happiest person ever yesterday.

As a side note, if you are ever thinking about planting trees on your lot, and you already have 10-12 trees planted, even if they are small, and you think to yourself: "Man, I need some more shade! How nice would it be to have a few more trees out here?"

DO.NOT.DO.IT.

Thanks so someone(s) who thought that a good 5-40 years ago, I am in tree hell. I say "I" because the hubs doesn't mind them so much, but I would be happy if we took a massive chainsaw to all of them and had a 3-4 tree lot. But I digress...

THANK YOU BABE!!!!! You have a much happier wife who is impressed with your feats of masculinity and ability to wield a chainsaw.

Husband rating: A+ (I mean really, is that even a surprise?)
Chainsaw rating: A. It did it's work.
Tree rating: F. I hate those mo'fo's
Yard post-tree-trimming: Fantabulous.

for my momma

Hi.

Yep, I'm back. :) It's been a little busy lately. And I love blogging, but the crap-ass laptop I currently have makes it take a good hour and a half to post. And when I get to use J's desktop (technically it's "ours"), I have pressing things to accomplish before he steals it back. Something about "papers" and "grading papers" and "doing well in school," or something like that. The nerve. ;) (really, he offers it up all the time, but I don't want to keep him from that stuff.)

All 2 of you can thank my mother for saying at Thanksgiving: "Why don't you update your blog anymore? I keep going to read it and there's nothing. I really liked reading it!" Leave it to good old mom-guilt. ;)

So, here's the bullet rundown of our life since, oh, like September or so (save the one election post):

• lots of school. J's doing great-- presented at a couple of conferences this fall, and we have REALLY REALLY exciting conferences to go to next year. THRILLED.
  
• still loving my new(er) job. (It's been 6 months, so not so new anymore.) a little scared about the economy, but my company has never had layoffs before. let's pray now isn't when they decide to start. for now, all is very very well.
• Rosie gets in trouble every 5 minutes, but we love her and couldn't imagine life without her. She recently got spayed and scared the crap out of all of us when she ate a starfish. She's doing okay now, though, so no harm no foul. That girl sure knows how to get into trouble, but she's equally good at being a sweet little lump of love. It's hard to stay mad at her for long.
• Bailey is great, loving having a sister, still getting lots of love without her jumping in his face. He's such a sweetie.
• I traveled all over in October and November: the lake to shop with mom + sis, Chicago for J's conference and spend time with the sibs, Chicago for an IKEA run! with the ine/ene/eens, to the west coast for work, to OH-IO for turkey day weekend (after actual turkey day with my family). That was a whole lot of running.
• J turned 29. pictures will follow. he hates that I like to remind him he's in his 30th year. :)
• tree is up, lights going up this weekend, planning an all-day shopping blitz to start/finish our shopping tomorrow.
  
• Thrilled about all-day shopping tomorrow b/c after the lake + downtown Chicago shopping + IKEA... well. Any of you that know me can guess that was a bit much. So I've been shopping free for about a month. I'm ready to go all-out tomorrow, all for other people. :) SO FUN!!!

That's all I've got for now... I'll try to do a big picture post soon to catch up...
J

running a bit behind...

I kept meaning to post for the 4th of July... and it didn't happen. :) Better late than never, right?

We had a great long weekend. I had a half day on Thursday, so J and I went shopping and out to dinner. Friday was wonderful-- we got up early and caught up on some yardwork (and I ended up on the roof :)). We worked very very hard, and made a small dent in the long list of things that need to be done, as evidenced by my husband's "dirt leggings" in the cell phone picture below. (You're a good man, honey!)
After thorough showers and a nap, we went to my parents' house for BBQ, washers, puppy playtime and fireworks at the local mall parking lot :) An odd place to watch fireworks, I know, (especially for what is known as a more upscale suburb) but a lot easier than trying to go downtown. It was nice to be able to relax in camp chairs with the cooler and just enjoy... (again, crap-tastic cell phone picture)

Saturday we ran errands and did more work around the house, and Sunday... well, we can't remember what we did Sunday, which means that 1) I need to blog sooner and 2)it must not have been too memorable. :) It was SO nice to get so much done, and also have time to relax for once!! Hope everyone else had a great 4th!