Froliche Silvester! Sunshine Trip: Day2

Happy New Years my lovlies!
I'm so excited! While ending things sucks mega for me there's nothing quite as invigorating or exciting than something beginning. New Years is my favorite part of the holiday cycle. Thanksgiving and All Hallows Eve are, by far, my favorite holidays; they just don't fill me with the same kind of buzzing thrum of energy that New Years does.
It's a NEW Year! Perfect, shiny, and fresh with that clean 'out of the dryer' smell. A blank slate for you to scribble with every hope and dream. A new place to meet new people and do new things. Second Chances and rainbows and Unicorns. Hehehehe. Seriously though, it feels like cresting a mountain ridge to see a valley below in all it's glory.
Sure danger and pitfalls lurk below the swaying life of the canopy. That's just part of the adventure; the play of light and shadow that makes life Life. It doesn't really matter, because at the beginning of the new year we are able to really see that light part of life unhindered. I don't know why but it's the one time we really let our hopes fly and our hearts sing for joy at the prospect of the future. We see the possible good instead of the probable bad, and it's so nice.

~*~*~

Sunshine Trip: Day 2

I count the time in the Motel 6 as part of Day 2 because we checked in at something like 1:30 in the morning and didn't get to actually sleep till 3 or so.

We pulled up to the Motel 6, completely done. Jex ran in and got the room and we made a plan. Because when you're on an adventure plans are made, otherwise it's not a proper adventure now is it? We decided that Jex would drive first thing in the morning, Cait would get whatever extra sleep she could in the passenger seat and I'd be on baby duty, catnapping when they did. Cait would drive then finally me. It was a good plan, since we didn't think Jex would fit between the car seats.
We forgot that Motel 6's are all pet friendly. So, Jex was going to sleep in the truck with Nym. I helped Cait with the babies and deposited them in the room so that I could go back and get the overnight bags and diapers. Because Every Single Time we stopped they pooped. I'm not kidding, it was weird, it's like they planned it that way. About the same time as I was walking out the door Cait said something to the effect of : "Wait a minute. Nym can come in the room with us. Jex can sleep in a real bed tonight."
Yay!
I joyfully tell my man. And he gives me this look. I haven't been given this exact look before so I don't know what to call it. Maybe his 'yeah right' face? In any case he doesn't look convinced, but he says he'll try it. We leave the truck set up for sleeping though, as a plan B. Because this is a Grand Adventure, plan B's are necessary... actually it's probably because Jex is the king of planning. For any given circumstance he has at least 3 courses of action, and that's if the event takes him off guard.
Anyparanoia, we get back to the room and what do you know. Gwendol and Kitten are running full speed in circles like some kind of crazy miniature nascar race. Cait has rearranged the room so that they can't pull anything down on their little heads and looks bedraggled. As if in the space of 30 seconds she did all of the moving; which I wouldn't doubt honestly, those kids are quick.
I have no idea how they had so much energy, or where it came from, or why it had to come out. I just wanted to whine: "It's bed time." Curl up onto the bed, pillow, floor, didn't matter and pass out.
Instead I took a shower and tried to sleep. The lights turned off but the babies didn't.
Eventually Jex went out to the truck and slept. I think Cait and I slept, maybe the babies passed out at some point. I just remember being awakened by Gwendol cuddling up next to me and patting my face mostly nicely.
Cait wanted to shower and went to shower, guess what? The light wasn't working. Last night it had worked fine with I showered, when Jex got ready for bed, but now for some unknown reason it wasn't working. Cait however is undaunted by such paltry things as utter and complete darkness. She simply ground her teeth and used her cell phone like a flashlight and took a shower in the mostly dark.
We packed up and got on our way.

Here is where things get blurry for me. I don't quite know what fit into the second and third day, and the fourth day is more of a blur because we drove through the night and stuff. I'll try to recount it truly.

On the road again we made it to our next fill up station, and realized that the Horrific Swampworld roads had severed the ropes that held the tarps on over Cait's stuff... and there was a drill hanging from the back of the trailer. Thus I was pulled away from my Huddle House breakfast to help my frustrated man fix the issue. Huddle House isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. No really, I've eaten at Waffle Houses before and they are some shady, shady, places with some questionable food. Not this place, maybe it was the one great Huddle House in all the U.S. but it was actually really yummy. And I didn't feel sick afterwards like I do at Denny's.
At long last we made it to Texas. That would be the entirety of our trip that day, the Great Country of Texas.  We passed the big "Welcome to Texas, the Lone Star State" sign. We passed the huge flags flapping proudly from their massive flag poles. Then we passed this overlarge electronic marquis sign board that read: "Drive Safe. Deaths on Texas roads this year. 2795."
I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or the fact that the babies were actually being ok, but we just about died. "Welcome to Texas, DEATH!" "Hello! Don't Die Here!" We mad bad jokes and giggled and worried and chuckled and it was great. Until we got to Dallas and passed another one of the large electronic signs.
The number was updating itself.
We'd been driving for 3 hours; there were now 2798 deaths on Texas roads. A person an hour. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
You see, humor is a great way to keep your sanity. I don't know why but it's the same with anyone in the line of work that deals intimately with life and death. Whether a soldier, a paramedic, a fire fighter or an immediate family member we all have the same dark humor.
I laughed. I felt afraid and sad, but I laughed.

We saw another wreck that day with the Jaws of Life in use on an SUV. And that night we made it to Druid and Faeriman's home to sleep. Oh Precious Sleep.

The Light Heart Lives Long~

The Sunshine Trip: Day 1

I forgot to mention that on the way up to Sandland we discovered that the Explorer was infested with grey wolf spiders... and we had no turn signals on the trailer... but that's another story that involves the Department of Motor Vehicles, my Brother-in-Law Sir Will, and three of the nine rings of hell.

Any-descent-into-the-unknown, Jex got back from his mission the night before we are to take off toward Sunshine. In the morning it's a mad dash for things forgotten, baby stuff, and keeping Kitten and Gwendol from exploding while the grown-ups (ha!) get everything packed up. Construction Duck decided to continue in his usual conflustering of everything going on and turned on his 360 and play games while the rest of us worked. I'm not mad... I'm disappointed. Another dude would've come in handy when we realized that Cait and I had completely misspacked the trailer.
Yeah.
T-minus 5 minutes to take off and we discover that we didn't distribute the weight properly while we were playing tetris with all of Cait's worldly possessions. Luckily we're all badasses and had the trailer unloaded, reloaded, and secure in a little over one hour. That's 2,000 pounds of crap my friends.

At long last we backed up to the trailer, hooked the badboy on, and were off.

I don't know if you've ever embarked on such an adventure. If you have you'll understand what I'm about to say. Nothing, absolutely nothing, feels quite like pulling out of the driveway at the start of a journey you've never made before. Jex and I had been to the Sunshine State once before for my best buddy Kai's 21st birthday. But that time we left from Texas not the east coast, and we didn't have a 2 year old, a teething 1 year old, a dog, and their mommy with us.

We drove far enough for the world to start losing its color, but not its heat. It was december and I was pumping gas in a tank top. Then again I also lived in places that got, on average, 2-5 feet of snow in the winter.
Not but a few hours into the trip we saw the first of what would be many events. We saw our first wreck. These weren't little fender bender wrecks, no, these were people parts and cars turned into confetti wrecks.
The wreck we saw at this time was a delivery van, crunched like a coke can, the wind shield beside it and crumpled like a shiny sheet of paper. On the road in front of it was a MedEvac Helicopter. Beside it was a Semi with a dented fender. They were carrying a man that had been in the crushed van to the helicopter as we drove by. He was in one piece at least. Other wrecks would leave us wondering later on down the road. (haha! Down the road, hehe, oh shut up I know it was a bad pun)

Even with Kitten's teething screams, and Gwendol's cries of rage that she'd been in her car seat for entirely too long we made it into the night. We contemplated driving through the night. Not only were we nearly 4 hours behind schedule, but we hadn't counted on driving under 70, the trailer was at its weight limit and we were pushing it by going 60.

Then Gwendol woke up... as a Pterodactyl. I'm not kidding. The kid was done, absolutely and 100% finished with her car seat, the car, and everyone in the car.

So we decided that for the sake of life, limb, and sanity to pull into the Motel 6 that wasn't too far down the road. And that was an adventure in of it'self.

~*~     ~*~     ~*~     ~*~      ~*~

Happy Feast of the Birthday my lovely readers!
Tis the Season for all kinds of joy and shinies and all things not on the 'healthy diet' list.
The end of one year and the beginning of the next.

I'd like to know how you all are planning on spending this time.

Jex and I are running the Christmas Gauntlet with his family this year. Why is it a Gauntlet? 6 houses in 9 hours. That's why it's a Gauntlet. Jex's parents are divorced, his grandparents are divorced, and we have some of his step-dad's family to visit too. It's crazy.

Till next time.
~The light heart lives long

There and Back again or the Sunshine Trip: Day 0

The day before we were to drive Cait, Kitten, and Gwedel across our massive country to Sunshine we decided to try and get some stuff done. Test packing the Explorer and the Trailer seemed to be the most logical things to attend. We had two stupid car seats, a cooler for baby and grownup foods, and space for a cute plotthound lab mix to consider; not to mention the 3 awkward adults that had to cram between the car seats as we rotated drivers.

Don't know what a plotthound is? Look at this sweety.

This isn't Nymnym but it's close to what she looks like, she's got a more lab shaped head and I think her brindle is prettier.


Cait and I thought that we could get everything on the trailer. HA! And I say that in the nicest way that you can cough out that sound. Ha! There is a rule that I forgot, how I forgot this with all the times that I've picked up and moved on to the next adventure baffles me. It is simply this: your crap will expand.
Less simply put; all that stuff that fits neatly (or not so neatly) in your home will suddenly gain it's mass three times over when you pack it. That small stack of boxes sitting innocuously in the living room waiting to be sailed over the land and or sea will multiply like tribbles as you move them from the living room to the moving truck. You're shoes will have babies, your books will gain holiday weight, and your furniture will grow awkward edges and generally change shape.

I'm not kidding. It happens every time. Those few things ultimately take up far too much room somehow. Maybe it's our brains tricking us, or some bad divine joke as small penance for all those white lies we tell. It doesn't change the fact that it is and it's fracking annoying.

So while Cait and I are haranguing boxes and baby cribs and tables that are heavier than a Kaeber the Construction Duck decides it's a grand idea to throw a little going away party for Cait and the babies.
Oh right, Cait was living with the Construction Duck for a while till she could get out to her beloved.
Which means we have to split time between what we need to be doing and what we'd rather be doing (i.e. Drinking good Irish rum and chatting with the great people Cait's leaving in Sandland).

We ended up deciding to pack that night after everyone left. "That's a terrible Idea Ashes!" I can hear you all thinking. But I assure you that it was a great idea. Why? Because everyone else has babies that's why. When you have a 3 year old you're not hanging around for 4 hours or more very many places. There's bed time to keep.
We didn't count on the super rad chick Tasha being there, or at least I didn't. Then we underestimated the powers of distraction that gave the Construction Duck his name.  You see, the Construction Duck has Jew Magic of the most powerful kind. He can distract you from anything and everything and somehow does this most all the time. We don't know how he does it, he doesn't even know how he does it, but that's why he's the Construction Duck and we love him anyways.
Once every one took off to make it home for 'bedtime' we started to load things up. Then the Construction Duck pulled out Star Trek the newest motion picture with Chris Pine and the most attractive dude on screen... Karl Urban... dude's hot yo.
Anysmokingactorgoodness, he was deliberately working against us. I know that we got really tired trying to fight the magic. I'm not sure we prevailed. But at some point we got the trailer loaded, we thought, really really well.

Then it was bed time for us. For at Odark30 we would be up and going on the path to the other side of North America.

~The light heart lives long.

There and Back Again.

While walking back to our hotel room from the grocery store (you see I had forgotten my stockings for Jex's Unit Christmas Party and my make up) along a paved and curving jogging trail I heard the sound of skittering leaves. I glanced over my shoulder to see the little fallen leaves dancing and twirling lamely in my walking wake. So, of course, I had to stick my arms out and run as fast as I could while looking over my shoulder at the little wake I was leaving as the leaves that mostly covered the jogging trail jumped and flipped and sailed about.

I felt like a ninja.


The light heart lives long~ <3 p="p">


P.S. My lovlies!
Jex and I helped our beloved friend Cait and her babies move literally from Sandland on the East Coast to Sunshine on the West Coast. And we did it all in 4 days. Then we had to come back.
I will regale you all with the story, writing out one day at a time, soon. For now though I've got a speeding ticket to deal with, and we're not home yet, and a few other things that need my attention so my world doesn't absolutely explode (yay for christmas time...).

The Holiday Chronicles: Prologue

Tomorrow will be the beginning of a road trip of epic proportions. 6 hours from Sandland to Podunk Georgia to get the dog, then to Flatlands Texas, Thanksgiving and COYBOY CHURCH! I'll have to tell you all about cowboy church. I loveth it so much! Then back to Podunk to drop off the dog, back to Sandland for Jex's stupid job, and then to Cali with Cait and her two babies in tow. Did I mention that her baby boy is teething? After that we have to come back and on the way we'll visit some people we love and miss. Back home, back to Sandland, back home and on the day after we get home to stay for a few days before the Christmas gauntlet with Jex's family (hooray for multi-divorced families) he has written 'curl up and die'.
*deep breath* I think I might agree when all is said and done.
As a wonderful cherry on the top of this chaotic sundae my throat is still bothering me and I literally have almost zero time to go to the doctor. Maybe I'll luck out and have enough time to get to a free clinic in Sandland while Jex is gone working his face off.
I might be able to update, or I'll just have a really long post about the end of NaNoWrimo and the entirety of our Cross Country Chronicle.

Oh and I've gotten pretty far with my quilt. If I have a moment to breathe tomorrow I'll post a couple of super cute pictures. (^_^)

Wish us luck. We're going to need it.

~The light heart lives long.

Smiling Saturday

Well I'm starting to feel more like a human being again. I do have a word of warning though: apple cider vinegar will shoot you in the face if you gargle with a strep throat. No kidding. I had 800mg of Ibuprofen running laps in my veins and I still had to peel my face off the ceiling after that first gargle. However adding it to apple or orange juice and drinking it did help a good deal.
Honestly though I gave up on it after the first 12 hours and started taking Amoxicillin. I'm sure I can rebuild the healthy flora in my body after the worst has passed. It was the pain. I have a decent pain tolerance, I'm no wuss. I've taken softballs to the throat and kept playing and dug rocks and wood out of my own body. However, gargling with apple cider vinegar was too much for me. I stuck with it, gargling every hour, for about 6 hours before I started drinking it instead.
I'm still drinking the teas and only taking half doses of Amoxicillin (oh the doctors out there on the interwebs are doing to barbeque me for that one) and I feel 100% better after a single day.
My throat still looks like something from a horror movie though.

I like to share happy on Saturdays when I can. Because after friday when every one lets it fly (I was too busy balled up in a corner crying to fire off with everyone *sadface*) we feel light and optimistic almost. I like to feed that feeling so that it might be able to last into the week.

Today I'm going to share some viral images that made me giggle.

This cat's face gets me every time!

This might be a little too nerdy... but I couldn't stop laughing at the irony. 

Yes I've joined Imgur... your point?

And finally one full of adorableness. 

I wish you all a great start to a brand new week! 

~The light heart lives long <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

I Spy a Strep Throat

Well, I might not have a camera, but I just looked through some of my older pictures for this weeks prompt and found a few I think will do nicely.

This weeks Promt is Poles.
Since I'm using Jex's wondermus (absolutely retarded) Mac I won't be able to use the link system or comment on anyone else's awesometastic photos this week. (I hate you Mac)

Here is Sony looking at some bazaar clear piping, next to a flag pole!

Jex made these counters from a simple wooden pole to help us keep track of status effects on our tabletop characters.

This is me being eaten by a skeletal T-Rex head on a pole

My Choice

 This is our first family photo, puppy and all, a really nice old couple took this for us in SandLand.

We'll have to take a new one soon since we've added a cat to the mix.

Oh yes, I have strep. For the second time ever. Apparently once you get it the damned thing comes back annually for a while. I'm going to try the Apple Cider Vinegar route for a couple of days before going to Antibiotics.
Why? Because I'm not a raving hippy... I'm only a hemp wearing tree hugger on the weekends. lol
Nah, I'm all about being natural as much as one can be in our era of bio and chemical manufacturing. If I could I'd manage a homestead with a few good friends. However, I'm also acutely aware that our advances have garnered some really great things. Like freaking cough drops, penicillin, birth control and the like. I just think that we forget that rosemary is great for more than just chicken, there's such a thing as good bacteria, and not everything good come from a bottle or a can.

Alright, so to document my attempt at homeopathic remedies. Today I'm going to gargle with apple cider vinegar cut 1/3 with warm water. I'm also putting a table spoon of apple cider vinegar in with my Traditional Medicinal's Throat Coat tea with raw local honey (I bought the honey to help speed up the adjustment phase of my immune system to the new area. Honest to God it works, cuts my damned first year allergies in half.)
Wish me luck!
The light heart lives long~

Supernatural and a bad idea

For NaNoWriMo I decided to go for an old idea I never completely fleshed out.
It's a horror/supernatural story that I'm pretty sure a lot of people of varying faiths will want to hang me for writing. The undertone isn't as under as far as 'tones' go. It's pretty much calling out human beings for being blinded by whatever. Various characters will be frustratingly stuck in their own views. Why? Because that's how it is in real life and to my eyes it looks like it's only getting worse.
You probably don't have to think very hard or very far back to remember some one who couldn't come out of themselves enough to treat you like fellow sentient creature. I don't care how much some one personally offends me, scowling at them isn't going to help anything. They won't see from my point of view that way, I can't see well at all squinting that hard so it'd be impossible to try their point of view in that state.

Along with this, just as near and dear to my heart, is the fact that I believe in the Supernatural. There is a veil, a parallel dimension, a life after death, whatever it is and however it works it's there and it screws with humanity. Not everyone is on the same spiritual dial and this leads to more of the sentiment in the paragraph above this one.
But what if everyone could see it? What if the more malicious beings tore through the separation between spiritual and physical to wreak unholy havoc?

That is the premise of my story this year. A few of the characters are VERY much clones of people who had some great conversations with me about the spiritual, whether for or against. Paladin and Sony are key players because Paladin's vibrant passion impressed on me enough for him to have the nick name Paladin on my blog.
I hope it doesn't come across wrong, and I hope it can be enjoyed as a slightly freaky story about seeing beyond the self. Not that anyone will be reading it any time soon. (^_^)

Oh, the bad idea! What was it?
... I joined Imgur... *shifty eyes*


The light heart lives long~

It's NOVEMBER!!!!

And there are no pumpkins within 100 miles of me. Apparently after All Hallows Eve pumpkins turn into princesses and waltz out of the grocery stores. Now I can't make the best pumpkin pie ever that Cait showed me. *poutyface*

Anybleedingfingers, it's November which means hairy man chins and writing like a maniac. This year I'm going to be doing two stories... oh yeah... not really. Jex wants me to chronicle our Dungeons and Dragons game because it's getting really crazy. Honestly it's really amazing the story we've been able to weave between the three of us. This is on top of the rewrite of an idea I had about 5 years ago when Paladin was ranting about some interesting spiritualitic ideas as usual.
I'm forced to call it by a different name because "This Present Darkness" has been taken for some time. Good book by the way if you're into supernatural type stories. So I decided to call it "Principalities: Kingdom of the Air" because who knows, maybe I'll finish the novel this year and decide to write another story of the same universe next year. Either way I thought it sounded cool. It might be a little misleading though; I can see someone expecting some kind of elemental magic type book and being really disappointed that it's a spiritual horror/adventure type story.

I'm really excited about hooping too! I can now hoola hoop around my knees and one leg. Still having issues with the shoulder hooping though. Apparently my arms are nowhere near as coordinated as the rest of me.

In this most blessed season I wish you all the best.
~The light heart lives long.

the Sandland Diaries 1: Produce Peculiarities

I like titles, unfortunately I'm bad at them unless it's the first thing that comes to mind. In the past few days I've also discovered that I like to categorize things, put things in little boxes of like items so they don't mix in the drawer and so on. Quilting has only made it worse.
Jex and I are back in Sandland for a two week stay. All the fun and not so fun of the forever beach in the fall has hit us the last week, and we've one more to go. Also, I've decided that I'm going to punch Jex's C.O. in the face if I ever see her again... I might not actually do it; the military fear of higher ranking officers and what they can do to your man is too ingrained in me, but I will imagine it while being as civil as is required to not be aggressively hostile. So many faces that need to be punched, too much social and legal backlash that could result. *sigh*

Anyhoop, I've discovered more than just my odd need to categorize odds and ends. And my phone decided to take some nice pictures (it knew both the camera's are dead and decided to be nice to me I guess).

Hooping!
You don't know what this is do you? Yes it has to do with hoola hoops. ON FIRE!!!! Or with LED lights! WAH! I'm going to jump into this because I haven't found a decently priced belly dance class near by, and I dearly miss it. It kinda feels like an upgrade because belly dancing you get to play with swords, but hooping involves flame! *maniacal laughter*

Ah, video for you. My friend Cait, who spins poi (their fire balls on strings invented by the Mauri (sp?) of New Zealand, she hasn't graduated to fire yet but she has some really fun LED poi now) found this and showed it to me.

Ima do this! *haha*
The first step however is to make a regular hoop. Which I'm going to try and do with Cait today. I'd love to be able to afford the fancy tapes and stuff, but I'm cheap so it'll probably be ducktape. Then, when I stop hitting myself in the face/head/eyeball all the time I'll probably beg Jex for an LED hoop... followed by a fire hoop. *evil grin* I can't wait!
We'll ee if I'm this excited about it after my first black eye. Because you know it's going to happen.

Oh! Another super rad discovery I made was on my first trip to a Trader Joe's.
Do you know what a brusslesprout plant looks like? No?
It looks like THIS!

Coolest discovery this month so far. And it was really heavy. This stock weighed close to 9lbs on it's own. I bought one just to show Jex, and it wasn't that pricey either. Two big hearty russian meals came from this bad boy, and it was fun too. Apparently you can just throw this whole thing in the oven and bake it and dip the sprouts in stuff like a fondue pot of butter and heaven. I popped them off the stalk and cooked them in ways I'm more familiar with because it wasn't my nor Cait's kitchen we were using. 

Aaaand, this is what Jex does when I turn my back on him for 10 seconds. I dubbed it the "Great Pyramid of Gala" because 'granny' didn't quite fit the pun. 

~The light heart lives long. <3 p="p">

Zombeeez and Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

My friend Doorf just told me yesterday about the Zombie walk in SandLand! And as luck would have it we'll be around there at the same time!!!!!! I'm so EXCITED!!!!
I've already figured out what I'm going to do this year. Year before last... was it? Oooh it was... I went as an attacked-while-fleeing-in-the-middle-of-the-night zombie. I wore a white dress that looked a lot like a night gown, some easy to throw on leggings and unlaced boots that one would likely find by the front door. I wasn't as bloody as a lot of other zombies but I felt the more subtle look is way more fun because some people don't realize you're a zombie till they get too close. *evil laugh*

This year I think I'm going to be a little more overt, aaaaand I'm going to use liquid latex. Not for anything super rad, I'm nowhere near that high leveled in the makeup arts (hell I can barely put on mascara without loosing half my vision) but I'm damned good at painting and that's basically what I'm going to do. On top of all the excitement for myself is that JEX SAID HE'D DO IT WITH ME!!!! He's going to be at my mercy! I'm going to make him the most awesome zombie EVAR!

Except for one thing.....
We have a NerdKingdom appointment that night. I'm totally fine with showing up late, and zombified, to the shindig. Count Beowulf of the Sands might not be so ok with us being late. However, I'm not giving up! I'm going to cling to and ride this excitement into the ground. Dammit.

The Cherry on the Sundae of Reckless Joy is that National Novel Writing Month (aka: NaNoWriMo) is coming up and THIS TIME I've got a handle on it.
You see, up till now I've spent the first 3 days or so running around like a dying chipmunk trying to get an idea and simple plot thrown together. Supposedly you're supposed to be thinking of all that stuff through October, getting characters polished, smoothing out idea wrinkles, and the like. No one tells you this. Hell the first time I heard about it (three years ago) it was the middle of the month already and I just jumped in head first with some craziness about zombie dragons and atlantis. Last year I was a little more on my game. This year, not only will I make the 60k or whatever word count, I'll actually finish a story. I know, I know, it's a sign of the apocalypse, but it's going to happen! It might not, but I'll try my hardest to make it so!

I've already pared down my ideas to one light and fluffy story about princesses saving themselves, a fully narrated mythos type back story to an island I created in the NerdKingdom, and a rewrite of a dark kinda spiritual story idea I kicked around in my only year of college.

I like having things to look forward to. It makes me feel like I can fly.

The light heart lives long~

Liquefied Organs and A Quote Book

Hi! Wonder where I've been?
On Vacation in the Mountains, maybe traveling the globe, or perhaps away on some grand adventure.
I wish.
Actually, I was in bed with a 'light' case of food poisoning. I don't know if you've ever had food poisoning... but calling it 'light' just makes you more horrified.
"You mean it can get WORSE?!"
I really could not believe it could get worse at the time. Sure it only lasts 36 hours max, but those hours are some of the longest hours in your life; second only to waiting for your birthday when you're 4 1/2.  For 5 hours (according to the traitorous clock it was only 15 min) I sat on the toilet with a trashcan in my lap regretting every single bite of food I had eaten that day. It was after that that my organs liquefied and crawled around my insides before oozing out my eye balls. I lived next to the bathroom, chilled even wrapped in the fluffiest most thermal blanket in the house, and tried not to move. I think my heart had gotten stuck in my brain when the rest of my organs oozed out of my pores.
And some how it could have been worse. 
The bad part is, I accidentally did it to myself.
No I didn't eat anything bad, or slightly off smelling, I made dinner. No big deal, just some chicken and rice. But when I was done scooping delicious cream of awesome soup over the whole ensemble I licked the spoon. The spoon that I was sure had not come into contact with any of the raw chicken. The spoon covered in delicious cream of awesome. The spoon that was a gateway to pain and suffering.

But as always the phrase 'the shadow proves the sunshine' comes to mind when I'm in these stupidly unhappy predicaments. While laying in bed Jex was all sweetness and care. He even remembered that he was supposed to start keeping a quote journal of things we say to eachother that we keep bringing up to the other's chagrin.
The most recent example was me feeling like crap. I announced something like. "No, I don't want any skin contact!" When Jex was rubbing my back, when seconds before this he'd had his hand resting on the skin of my forearm. Upon reminding me of that I shot back. "Well forearm skin doesn't count! It's not intimate skin. NOTHING can be done to a forearm that would make anyone feel anything. Same thing with hands... wait... nevermind."

Oh we also got Jex's camera back from the Wedding we lost it at. It's broken... the 'take a picture' button is gone and there's no way I can figure to jerry rig it. Which in one way is ok because we were planning on buying a new camera anyway... but in another way it sucks because I was supposed to inherit the new camera. *sadface*
Bis spater dan.

The light heart lives long~

Jex watching

Jex forgets that I know how to work the Nexus camera pretty well. This  is only one of the sights I  get to witness on a regular basis. He was grumbling to himself the entire time. Haha!

And after much pressing, ironing and other crap I finally started cutting squares! Only I messed up pretty hardcore twice and nearly broke into tears. Oh, Judy, I'm working on a pattern Jex worked out for me after seeing a picture of it on Google. And I would love if you shared the staggered strip quilt pattern, it sounds super rad and less stressful.

Here are the colors I'm working with. It'll be a Christmas gift for my friend's 1 year old Izzy. I'm going to make his sister an owl plushie if the quilt doesn't kill me first.

The Light Heart Lives Long Δ π±℅°°°°°¡¡¡¿¿¿ hahaha, sometimes the tablet is fun.

Quilty quilty... crap

Blogs are less fun to post since I don't have a camera anymore... birthday present! Birthday present! lol

I went to the 2nd ever Quilting Group Meeting at the church Jex and I found randomly. They're a good group of ladies, all of whom could be my mother. It was actually quite funny the first time I showed up they kept staring at me. I think they were wondering if I even knew what a sewing machine was. Maybe they were taking bets on how much I actually knew about quilting. hehehe. Whatever it was they got over it today. Everyone was talking about what patterns they were trying and color schemes and the best way to apply fun artsy touches.
I found out a lot of stuff that I didn't know. From the beginning I was going to wing it, now I'm still probably going to wing it. With as much as everything costs (damn you JoAnn Fabrics!) I really hope I don't suck at this. Sure I made a quilt like... oh my god.... that was 14 years ago..........
.......
well shit.
Anyways. Today I'm making a space for my quilt project and having Jex help me with the pattern since the one I want to make isn't a free pattern... and there's no way in hell I'm going to spend $15 on paper I have to do all the work on.
I'm also going to start working on a stuffed Owl doll. Both of these are going to be for my friend's babies next Christmas. I'm sure Cait will probably love them just as much if not more. In any case it'll be worth all the money I've dumped into it. And it gives me something to do while I try to figure out Job-ish things. It's hard to be a one car family. It really is sometimes.
Stupid America and it's lack of decent public transportation. STUUUUPID.

Oh and I rented Cabin in the Woods!
I'm a chicken when it comes to horror type movies. But I'm so excited! It really looks more like a scifi movie than a horror. And Jex can't complain that I'll be mooning over the dude who played Thor (what's his name google? Ah that would be Chris Hemsworth. Thank you google) because no doubt I will be squealing into his lap and clinging to him like a koala through some if not most of the movie.

The light heart lives long~

Fracking Friday!!!

I'm posting this sort of preemptively because tomorrow I'll be driving all day Friday and then hurriedly getting together with friends who are about to move to the other side of the Fracking Country and leaving me alone in the possibly God Forsaken South.
So exit now, you're going to Frackville.

I don't know about you but animals in Heat really really suck. Not kidding you, I really don't like hurting animals; even the ones that try and tear your face off or have your arm clamped between their teeth. All I wanted to do to Kq!b' was kick her while she was in heat. She was glued to my ankles, I was constantly tripping over her, she would not stop whining and yowling and licking me and trying to break through the glass panes every time she saw another dog through the window. And God WHY did you have to make it smell so bad?! Dog in Heat is honestly one of the more disgusting things I've smelled in my lifetime and I've been around dead things, backed up septic tanks, and barnyards. It was in my house.
I have a bit of a pet peeve about bad smells in my house. I swear I've used more Fabreeze and Bleach this week than I have in the entirety of my life before the dog went into heat. Ugh!!! UUUUGGGGHHHH!

Frack being a woman... today it's just not worth it. *eats more motrine*

And Frack driving for 6 hours!!!! I don't like it! Not to mention it usually coincides with the one week I'm not entirely up to driving for 6 hours. Be it that I'm getting sick, or bleeding, or have a broken foot or whatthehellever.

I also would like to take this moment to complain about dishes, not being used to having the internet at my fingertips and therefore poorly misusing my day/life, the red clay that is under my house, plumbing, the master bathroom toilet, my husband, my husbands wire brush mustache, my old broken computer, and the price of fabric!
Is that it? maybe? Well I feel a little lighter now.

Till next time, may your heart be light.

My marriage is weird....

So Jex stubs his toe on my first gen Playstation2.

Looks like this.

And comes over telling me to fix it.
With a sigh I look over to see that his pinky toe has been sliced across the top. What are the corners of the PS2 made of, blades?! After fixing him up I give him a hug. Then a kiss and another hug.

Jex: Did the blood make you horny?
Me: What? No.
Jex: You sure are lovey.
Me: *shrugs*
Jex: So it makes you horny; you're just hiding it.
Me: No!
Jex:*cups my boob* You're horny!
Me: My boobs can't tell you that I'm horny, you weirdo.
Jex: You're boobs tell me lots of things... like when you're asleep.
Me: You touch my boobs when I'm sleeping?!
Jex: Well yeah, you can't tell me to stop then.
Me: Gah! I'm done talking to you.... and I'm putting this on Scenes from a Marriage!
Jex: Ok, but put the whole thing on.

For the record I am not a vampire. My husband however is a bonafied creeper. Though vampire chicks are always super gorgeous... maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

The Light Heart Lives Long

Man, typing a post is sooooo much easier with a key board.

I'm actually 7 on the inside

Carousel Life

Up and down, round and round, but at least it's flashy and full of sound.
The Carousel we call Life.

I'm back to the swing of things after all the fun and excitement of the U.K. and all the explosions that accosted my face shortly after coming back to the U.S.
My craft room is shaping up nicely and as soon as I get a new camera (a 2 year old busted mine... it's ok I was stupid enough to let her hold it while looking at pictures of herself.) I'm going to get back to I Spy. I've missed I Spy.

I don't know if it makes me lame, nerdy, intelligent, or anti-social (I'll probably go with Nerdy because that seems to fit most often) but I'm actually really excited about getting back into reading. I just started Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series on top of gobbling up every Codex of Alera book Jim Butcher has penned so fantasmically.
I have a special love for books. It's right next to my love for fun hats (I got a new one while in the U.K!!! I'll have to post a picture of it as my first 'new camera' post); only a little bit deeper. Why? Because I was a home schooler for a large chunk of my life.
What difference does that make? Actually quite a large one. After gradeschool a lot of people tend to send their kids off into the 'real' world, full of awkwardness and educational stagnation, completely unprepared; all the while praying that their children will adapt and be well rounded people instead of completely socially blind. I wasn't one of those kids. I got to go through middle school completely without peers; with the exception of the kids in the youth group at our church (cliche!). Guess what I did instead of gush over boy bands, or whatever it is middle school girls are supposed to do? You guessed it I read.
I read everything. Goosebumps, Chronicles of Narnia, G.A. Henti's historical fiction for boys, DK books on anything, cook books, mystery novels, and the gateway to all Dorkdom; Fantasy and SciFi.
I may not be the worlds most socially graceful individual, but damnit if I don't know a thing or two about fictional science and dragons. (^_^) hehehe.
I have a book that I read when I'm sad. I've read it nearly 20 times in my life.
I have a book that I dig into if I've had a good day. I have a book that I read if I want to draw but have no inspiration. I've got a book for almost everything.
And a favorite book of all.

So, tell me my two loyal readers and you too random passer by: "What's your favorite book and why?" Don't have a favorite book or just detest reading? Tell me about that too. (^_^)

Till the next time remember, The Light Heart Lives Long.

Oh and yes Daddio and Witchy are real people. My father in law and his girlfriend. They're fun.

Happy Crumbs/ and a fracking friday

There's something strangely elating about being stopped in the middle of Wal-Mart by a professional looking young man and being told that you're a beautiful woman. Makes you grin like an idiot all day.

Where have I been you ask? In the pit of Despaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair *cough*
Not really. I've been fine, unpacking and reorganizing the house and trying to pare down my wardrobe to something more manageable without getting rid of a single Kimono. (Ha!) It's my friend's lives that have been exploding left and right.

And here is where I will yell about all of it.
Exit now!



Frack you Douchbags, who will remain anonymous, who sold the house that Sony and Paladin were living in without telling them!!! You were supposed to be their friends! You suck. Telling Sony that you'd been thinking about it for months soothes NOTHING. Then giving her an ultimatum to get rid of her animals so that the house will sell. Just in case no one has told you, the world doesn't revolve around the two of you.

Frack You Pneumonia! Putting both my friend's grandpa and baby brother in the ICU. Now Cait's mom might have to lose a son and a father at the same time. Oh and to the heartless, unrelenting, retarded people on that side of Cait's family; DO SOMETHING HELPFUL! Arguing about who get's what before the man has even stopped breathing and being ugly to one another at a time like this is stupid. I think you've lost your hearts, better go find them before your souls run away too. Because of you shit heads Cait has to pack up her babies, in the middle of a move, and drive her happy ass up there to deal with you people instead of seeing to her own life. Shameful idiots.

Frack "OMG I might have an STD" phone calls! Who the hell knows what to say when the most 'chaste' of your friends confesses that they probably have an STD and then talks about taking the person to court for knowingly exposing them. What do you say to that?! Is there anything to say? "I'm sorry" doesn't cut it. "Why are you talking to me? Go to the doctor!" is just a bit heartless. I opted for "What?! How?! When did you get a significant other?" Probably not much better. But it got the conversation going enough to get things pointed in more or less the right direction... which is the doctor. I didn't even know you could take someone to court for giving you an STD. I'm kinda weirded out about that still.

FRACK YOU TRAVEL AGENCIES!!!! If it didn't cost an arm, a leg, an eye, and my first born I'd be able to be there for my friends. Some one please invent a teleporter! Then gas prices would go down enough for me to be able to DO something. *sigh*

I hate you front yard. You have too many hills. Mowing you is impossible.

Frack no one telling me about how to be an adult. I feel so stupid half the time because I don't know how to do half the things that are second nature to civilians. Like the fact that you sign the front of the checks. No one told me this! I had the pleasure of the tax office sending back my check telling me that it wasn't signed and I needed to sign it and send it back. I didn't know where the Frack to sign it. Surely not the back because I know that's what's done when the check is being cashed. After about a minute of staring at the check to figure out where to apply my John Hancock I gave up and decided to see Daddiyo and Witchy and ask for their help. Now I feel really really dumb. *sigh*

Fracking Weddings!!

Time to air out the dirty laundry I've gathered in the United Kingdom.

Frack you Delta!!! FRACK YOU ALL THE WAY TO HIDDEN VALLY RANCH!!! No airsick bags when I was thinking about wether or not to hurl on the nice scottish dude on my left or the weird man of unknown asian/indian decent to my right. Nothing worked when you sent me that stupid email to check in online. And why the flying Fish Balls would you give me an early morning flight?! WHY do you do these things to me?! I HATE YOUR FACE!!! and your food sux mega.

Dear Miss Wedding CoOrdinator, You ma'am need to find a new profession. Not only was NOTHING ready on time, you were never there when we needed something. I'm sure you could find a good job that has to do with looking the professional part. That grey suit was smashing on you with your severe bun and all that. However, when the bride is fretting over where to go before the ceremony so that the groom doesn't see her and jinx the whole bit because SOMEONE didn't set up hardly ANYTHING it's time to take that grey suit and walk it some where else... maybe the front desk or some cubical in some office building somewhere.

FRACK YOU BRIDES MAID DRESS!!!! As cute and purple and princessy as you are you have no right to cause friction burns on the sides of my boobs. Also, tripping me while going up the stairs holding my sister's train, not cool dude.

Frack you person who will remain anonymous for the sake of peace and tranquility. You know who you are. The wedding was not about you. Really it wasn't, and the way you tried to jump in the lime light really really pissed me off. Elff and BigBen will only get this day. If you could get your head out of your ass and take other people into account, not just put on that pretty mask your mommy helped you paint, and actually give a frack about them then maybe you could find room in your heart and have your own special day. As it is your heart is too full of you for anyone else, and I pray that you wake up before it's too late. Till you do, don't you fracking steal my sister's thunder or try and take BigBen's attention away from her. 'Cause if you do I don't have a problem slapping the stupid right off your face, and your sister's, and your mother's, as well as whoever else you charm to your side. Hell hath no fury, and sister I've been deeper into hell than you ever have, you have a snowball's chance.

Dad... I love you... your driving fracking scares me... thank you for not killing us. Really, thank you for not killing us.

Dear United Kingdom, I understand that you're having issues with debt and economy enfeeblement... but so is the rest of the Gaia Smacking world!!! There is no reason, NO FRACKING REASON that you should expect me to pay 7 POUNDS, not 7 dollars nooooo, 7 pounds which is nearly 13 dollars, for a bloody keychain with one of those cute little phone booths on it.
Want a hat? No problem that'll be your left arm. Ohhhh, you want something to commemorate the fact that you were here during the diamond jubilee for the queen, the Olympics, aaaand your sisters fairytail flogging wedding? That'll be you're first born son and you're husbands thumbs... no we don't take american express.

Frack you Timing. I want to punch you in the face. Our relationship will be forever one of hatred with little spots of love/gratitude. You're going to have to lighten up on me here soon or I think I'll have to shave father time's head in retaliation. And that's just weird.

Frack you brain. It's 4 o-clock in the morning, you can work just a little bit quicker. This is probably the last blog post I can manage for a while since my internet time and my life is transient at best when I'm in the states.

Frack you High Heels, I'm tossing you into the Hidden Vally with all of Delta. Whoever invented you was a sadist. Marilyn Monroe was wrong, or also a sadist. It's been nearly 48 hours and my feet are still crying. Ugh, why didn't I just wear flats?

Finally, Frack You USAF!!!!!!!!!!!! You're going to the Vally too! I want to see Jex sometimes. As it is I'm lucky to see him once every two weeks. You get him all the damned time! I just survived a Wedding! I deserve some hubby time damnit! I also survived my aunt for a few days, my squabbling brothers, and all the aforementioned fracktastic crap, on top of a super shitty exchange rate. Oh and did you know that I've put in enough time as a military dependent to get some leave? Yup, I'm cashing that in for Jex time, so hand him the frack over!
(note: Some units allow their members to cash in their leave/vacation time for pay instead. Hence my comment. Just in case you didn't know.)

The Light Heart Lives Long.... and mine is now considerably lighter.

I no Spy

I wanted to join in on the pictury fun this week.
.... but I haven't seen a single creepy crawly in England...
Not a single one! I've heard stories about them, even in the news here recently they were talking about the sudden boom in the insect population. Oh wait I take it back, I saw a honey bee and a fly today when in BigBen's Parent's garden (that's what they call the back yard).

Sooo My Choice?

Ah whatever, Here are some England pictures.

 We had tea/lunch at a little place inside a woman's clothing store. Not kidding it was like having a bistro in the middle of a JCPenny's Misses section

 And this was in the middle of a place called Kingslyn there was this church. I love Circles and the window was full of them so I had to take a picture

When I saw these signs my mind played havoc with me. Apparently my brain doesn't care to read in straight lines. My brain decided that the signs should read: "Keep mad as a Rock and Carry a Hatter"

 

Why Yes I am... If Scrummy is a good thing...

 This is right up there with Moss Burger in Japan. Wimpy burgers for everyone!

The light heart lives long.... and carries a hatter.

12

Warning: Super Emotional Content

Soft Hearted, Emotional, Crazy, Empathic... call it what you will. I cried when I heard about the Aurora Dark Knight shooting. Then I shoved it all down, said a prayer, and  moved on with the wedding stuff with my sister. After all, I'm in the U.K. my tears won't help their friends or families deal with their loss or get passed the shock of the sudden void in their lives.

Then Elff and Rocker start talking about when they are going to go see Dark Knight Rises. BigBen chimes up and says in his very brittish accent: "Well I'm not sure I want to go, not with all that what happened in Colorado."
My mom assured him that it's not likely, that Aurora is a very shady place to begin with.

Well... I followed some links on Facebook some of my friends posted. Apparently some things that were said by others, namely of the 'Christian' persuasion, really ripped at the soul of a particular blogger. I felt for her, but as is my curse I have a tendency to see from both sides of the fence, there were a few of the quotes that I thought she was maybe  missing the point of (namely the "where are the brave people" quote near the end, I didn't think it was blaming the victims I think it might have been a call for people to see beyond themselves and try to 'save everyone' at the cost of their own safety... but hey I could be reading into it too much myself). I was flustered so I tried to find happier things. How does one respond when one can't give a hug? Or a smile or anything really? I'm a stranger. Sure my family is from Colorado, I have friends there who I love dearly and worry for every time I heard anything about the wild fires (and you too Dazee, but I don't think you're in Colorado). What can I do/say that would mean anything?

Then I found pictures. I'm visual. Images last a lot longer than any other form of input for me. They stir my heart and soul. Maybe you could even say that they make things real.
And I cried again, even though it's been days and these people are complete strangers to me. I'm actually still kinda crying. Because these people will never get to share a laugh again, burn their tongue on coffee or what have you, kiss, hug, get frustrated with traffic. The shooter took away everything the had and everything they would have had (Unforgiven 1992, just in case you're wondering why it sounds kind of familiar).
So I have to say something, even if none of the people effected ever read it, even if Veracity never sees this. Even if it doesn't really matter in the end.

To the wounded in body, mind, and heart,
To the ones robbed of the most precious people,
Even if you don't believe in my God (and I understand completely if you're pissed at him, and I think he does too) I pray for you. My wishes are for you, to find peace, to find freedom from hatred for the man who took so much away, and to live with your memories as treasures instead of chains.
Losing a person is one of the hardest things that gets thrown at us in life; and when you come over this horrific hurdle I hope you will be stronger for it. Not broken but remade.
My tears are for you all who knew the 12 who were taken from this place and into the next. If I could I would also give you a hug, but that would probably creep you out.
All my love, prayers, and hope for you all,
Ashes

Hen Party Emergency!

It's July and I saw my breath today. The ladies from my family's church all got together and ate at Pizza Hut and went shopping at a store called Range. Range is like the bastard child of Ikea and Michaels.
The sky was grey and it drizzled; it didn't stop us from having a good time.
While in Range I bought some ceramic paint for the party favors we're going to give out for my sister's Hen Party. The idea was to use the paint with some Alice in Wonderland stamps to make the tea cups I brought with me all themed like the party.

I'm sitting on my mother's mac talking to my buddies from high school when my mom hands me the phone. On the other end is the Maid of Honor, JP. JP is half asian, I don't know if you know what this means; if you have asian friends then ignore the next bit. This means that JP is very excitable. I don't know what it is but EVERY one of my asian friends has been spring loaded in a way that friends of a different genetic background aren't (unless they've lived in an asian culture for a goodly chunk of their lives.... stop looking at me!). So, she's all like: "Ashes! Oh no! I have an Emergency!"
Being the kind little heart I am I think: why are you talking to me? isn't my sister your best friend? before I say "What is it?"
"The paints and the stamps, they don't work!" She says. "I tried them and all I get is a blob!"
I tell her I'll be right over and take a look at the situation.
She's right they don't work. The stamps are made for paper and are therefore very linear, the cups are very convex, and the paint is very stupidly slick. I tried a few times with my steady as a rock artist's hand (ha! I wish) and realized it was going to be a pain even if we did find the trick to it.
Luckily I am a little bit crafty. Since we can't use stamps I can make stencils, on contact paper. You see I can make what's known as a Graphite Transfer Sheet (thank you Mr. Atkins, you're the greatest art teacher ever!) once the contact paper is on the cups smoothly I can transfer the patterns I printed out onto the outside of the paper and use an exacto knife to cut the shapes out. From there we can just paint over it then remove the stencil bits! Yay!
We haven't actually tried this; as awesome as the idea sounds it may not work the way I think it will work. I hope it will though. *fingers crossed*

Other than this we've got everything taken care of.
Should I give you the juicy details?
Maybe?


Yes I think I will.

The Hen Party will be in two parts.
First, a Mad Hatter Tea; where I will be the Games Mistress.
We're making cake pops, cherry cupcakes, irish car bomb cupcakes, and maybe lemon elderflower cupcakes, tea sandwiches that are going to be filled with awesomeness like bacon and cream cheese. We'll drink tea and giggle and have silly hats and outfits.

Second, zur Disco. We're going dancing, which loosely translates as clubbing into American vernacular but not really. We're honestly just going out to get buzzed and dance till our arms go numb while giggling like little schoolgirls.
I was going to wear my Mad Hatter outfit when we went to the Disco, but everyone else has a dancing outfit and I felt a little out of place. Luckily I thought this might happen so I brought some stuff that can be turned into a rockin' dancing outfit. Yay!
Then we have a few days to recover before we dance down the aisle. Really, we're dancing down the aisle in purple princess dresses. To the song Dynamite, google it, my mom's mac hates anything that uses flash. Hee hee.
Purple Princess Dresses and techno music. Makes me giggle.

The Light Heart Lives Long. <3

Dear...

Dear Mr and Mrs Feet, I'm sorry I made you run around in high heels two days in a row. That was stupid of me considering you're usual posh accommodations. So please please PLEASE stop swelling! 

A few small differences

Being in the U.K. is fun!
However sometimes it can be a little hard on the brain. Truly the U.S. and the U.K. are separated by a common language. I'd like to share some of the silly small differences that make the world so confusing sometimes.

Petrol = Gasoline
Boot = Trunk
They pronounce 'Garage' weird.
There is no such word as 'Thrift' in the Queen's English, it simply doesn't exist. You should've seen the look on my sister's fiance's face when I told him we had been out 'Thrifting'.
As you can imagine from the above statement Thrift Stores are called Charity Shops.

And I took a few pictures... and a dorky video...

Celery Root

Turnips (though my mom says that they taste different and BigBen said he thought the American word for these was Rutabaga)

And of course Eggplant

Wedding Showers Bring... fake flowers?

The longer I watch/help my sister with her wedding the more thankful I am to have completely omitted this bit of life. Knowing me I would have turned into a proverbial dragon and eaten everyone before all was said and done. Between guest lists, seating arrangements, RSVPs, things to print and buy and set up and colors to pick and songs to choose, I don't know how Elff hasn't just up and exploded. Which is saying a lot for my very... um, passionate... yeah passionate sister.

Today was the wedding shower, hosted by Lady Uppercrust II. No really her house and garden and demeanor just radiated privilege. We got to watch my sister open super cool kitcheny gifts for upwards of two hours and then everyone took a handful of hershey's kisses and put them in Elff's hand while wishing something over her.
You wouldn't believe how many people reiterated "Don't go to bed angry."
Then we got to D; who is having issues of epic proportions poor lady, and she wished for Elff and BigBen to have no shortage of forgiveness in their marriage that there would be no nights with some one on the couch. It was sweet and heartfelt and I just wanted to hug the crap out of her.
I wished for Elff and BigBen to be best friends, to be able to have fun with one another just as much or more than they were serious with one another.
My mom wished for them to put God first. A lady I can't remember her name wished for them to have a date night once a week (with a jamaican accent added: "To keep things fresh.").

It was sweet. There were lots of womanly tears shed. I felt really out of place; these things are not for me.

Ah and I said I was going to upload some pictures of the adventures I've been having. So, as promised here are a few.


The first thing I saw when mom and dad took me from London-Heathrow to Methwold
Le~Stalker Service Truck!

Here we have BigBen trying to climb a ruined flint manor wall, while Rocker plays with his jackett and Elff turns her face away from the camera without realizing it. 

 A Pub sign that made me happy.

 The cereal section in the U.K. isn't very much different than our own. With the exception of this interesting little gem.

 My sister did T-man's 11th birthday cake. He wanted a Modern Warfare 3 cake and Elff rose to the occasion with a nifty little number.

 This is a church. Most all of them are pretty like this.

 A little corner store cafe my mom and sister took me to. It served a really nice cheddar and ham panini (pinini? penini? ponini? ugh stupid spell check what is the right way to spell it?!), and of course Tea.

 And the best for last.
Mom and Elff nomming on some freaking phenomenal belgian style 'chips' / pommes/ french fries.
Oh were they ever so good. (^_^)

How Time Doth FLY

I've been in the U.K for a week. A WEEK!
What the crap? I feel like I just staggered off the plane yesterday.

Not so.

Today was dress fitting day. *Le~GASP!*
Since the whole moving back to Jex's home state adventure I haven't kept up with my physical conditioning. Somehow over the course of a month and a half I gained back the inch I fought so hard to lose; and I had given my sister my measurements for the bride's maid dress when my exercise plan was in full swing. I was afraid the dress wouldn't fit.
Thank God for weird size differences.
I fit! I fit i fit ifit I FIT! *happy swirly princess twirl*
The top had to be adjusted a little to fit over the top of my boobage properly and the skirt had to be hemmed a little because I guessed the height of the shoes I was going to wear when I gave the measurements.
I'm so happy I fit into it!

Even though I'm happy I fit into the purple princess dress that is my sister's choice for her bride's maids I still want to re-lose that stupid inch. Not to mention I want to be smoking hot for when Jex get's back from his mini-deployment. Thus some things have got to happen.
V is over on her blog beating my pants off at being healthy already (good job by the way). That's ok though she got an early start. I was that girl who ate 6 doughnuts and 4 slices of pizza before polishing off a 2 ltr of some fizzy soda drink that has enough dye to kill a tank of goldfish (cheerwine anyone?). While this pattern of (delicious) eating isn't something I do (often) anymore I find that my body is changing. (O.o)!
What? You think I'm a 13 year old girl?! Nope, I just have the LONGEST PUBERTY EVER.
No really, after I got married (and after 21 years of virginity, not a lie. YOU read the S.T.D portion of a pathophysiology text book and tell me that sex is still worth the risk. *shudders*) I grew hips and stuff. I also now (so depressingly) have to exercise or I put on a little pudge.
I'm a gamer. I have the tan of a vampire and the most imposing muscles on me surround my thumbs. Till my body decided to transform I was also in the category of "I will never be any bigger than the middle finger you wave in my direction as I eat that super fattening, and magically delicious, food you just can't bring yourself to enjoy" metabolisms.
Damnit.

The plan is: Do the power 90 thing with my mom every day she does it. Every day but busy wedding planning/fixing/burning days that doesn't have a work out I run for 20-30 minutes. Which, since I'm in the wettest place on EARTH, means I get drenched at least twice a week.
So far I've stuck to eating fruit every morning, and I really don't like fruit.
Naturally I have a Paleo type diet. I eat meat and veggies... with gravy and sometimes really good cheeses. That's about it. Jex teases that if left to my own devices I would live off of meat, meat, and more meat, with a dash of broccoli. So cutting out the soda, sugar, and generally not so good for the waistline foods probably won't be a daunting as it looks right now.

For the record I will count the 4 hours I spent walking around Norwich (pronounced Norrich) in heels today (I don't wear heels!) as my work out.

Hopefully I can get some of the pictures I took over the week on here come Monday. Unless some one else wants to take me to some place whose name I can't pronounce. I swear British people swallow the majority of their consonants. Swallow them alive!

Where We Stand

There is an article that has recently come to my attention.

Why Women Still Can't Have it All ~ by Anne-Marie Slaughter

I only read the first page and will probably wait to read the others tomorrow after wedding prep stuff for Elff is finished. (today we burned the edges of the programs, they look pretty cool)

It's a really thought provoking piece for me so far because of my experiences early in life and the reactions my elders had to them. You see, I've only ever wanted to be a GOOD wife and a GOOD mother; along with learning every language in the world and being a botanist that specialized in healing plants. Honest and truly being the pillar for my family to be built around I saw as a challenging and rewarding goal.
 Dear God. One would think that I had just told some one that I longed to start my own cute baby animal drowning service. Even the men who had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up were horrified: "That's all? Surely a smart girl like you would want to be more than that." And this is one of the more mild reactions. One woman outright yelled at me as if I had broken something sacred.
Well, yeah I also want to learn languages and become a botanist, but those were secondary dreams. I figured I could chase them and wait for the right guy to drop into my lap. Language school turned out to be too pricey, and I still haven't found a botany degree that meets what I'm really interested in (as least in the U.S. we like to deny that the natural world can be any real good without first being refined and genetically altered). Good thing I found my man. (^_^)

I understand that my maternal predecessors had to bite and claw and fight with all they had to get any rights to anything other than: Teacher, Nurse, Housekeeper, Cook, Wifeywife. I get it, you want me to rise to the heights that are available now. However, it's an option that has been made available to me that I have honestly considered. I get how my choice to stay within the traditional gender role can be disappointing to that generation of women.
Is my admiration not enough?

Sometimes I still find myself cornered and, well, chastised by other women and men even for not going all out and trying to take the professional career path, or rather invade it like one would if one were a conquering army, AND have a family on the side. One the side, like salad dressing.
It makes me think of the move Mona Lisa Smile. It was really hard to sit through at first but one scene gave me hope. It's near the end when one of the girls decides to get married and not go to law school and the whole conversation is awesome. I tried to find it on YouTube, apparently no one else thought it was worth cutting out and posting. The only clip I found cut off right as the conversation got really good and I couldn't find the continuation. But here's the bit I could find. Clicky?

One blogger Garalog, an older and super rad gentleman, had some really great thoughts on the whole 'woman: family vs career' thing. I really really enjoyed reading his insights; not to mention his writing style was like really good chocolate to my brain.

As much as some people tell me that I'm wasting myself being at home I don't think I'll ever regret my decision. I know me, and when I come to the end of the road sitting on the porch with hands that are well worn and soft over old photos I won't regret a thing. Because I will have been the heart of my home, the strength and love that kept my man and children going in the face of the monstrous world that looms over us.

The Light Heart Lives Long~ Ladies. <3

P.S. Let me know what you think if you read either the piece or Garalog's thoughts on the piece. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Hooka

I've always wanted to try Hookah. Ever since my German 3 teacher Frau Nicholson forgot that American 17 year olds weren't legal smokers and told us all about the great Hookah bar in downtown Bitburg. Smoking in Japan was nice because I could buy vanilla cigarettes and other tasty options. If it doesn't taste good I don't want it. This goes for food, liqueur, and everything else. Frau Nicholson described Hooka as: "breathing a strawberry cloud." Now THAT sounds pretty flipping awesome.

Lucky for me my little brother has a Hookah and some mint tobacco. Rocker set up his Hookah for us last night in the garage. It was awesome! He and his friend Jake had smoked all the "good" flavors the few days before I got here and all he had left was Mint. I like mint.
You know what? Frau Nicholson was right. I got to breathe a delicious mint cloud.
Rocker showed me some tricks with the smoke. I can't get a grasp of the smoke ring but I can do the waterfall now. He says it makes me look like a pro. I think he's just getting a giggle out of his big sister who doesn't know what the heck she's doing.
Oh and you know how Helium makes you're voice super high pitched and silly? Well, Hooka smoke makes you're voice all low pitched and strange. It weirded me out at first, but then I was goofing off and talking like some one had hit the 'slow mo' button. It was so much fun!

Now he has me seriously thinking about getting a little water pipe, or maybe just a regular pipe. I don't know if one gets the same smooth, nonsmokey, smoke from a traditional pipe or if one can even smoke the same tar and nicotine free tobacco. Hmmmmm.

Well, time to go stretch, working out with my mom the past three mornings has awakened some very angry muscles.

Till tomorrow,
The light heart lives long. <3

The Land of the Eng's

Yesterday I landed in London Heathrow Airport; and promptly threw up the banana that they served us for breakfast on the plane. My sister's wedding is at the end of the month and I'm here for the little tiddly bits that need to be polished. In the mean time I'm sure to have a lot of fun adventures.

Today I tried on the Bride's Maid's dress and was ecstatic that the inch I put on didn't make the dress too small for me. Yaaaaay! I did the power 90 work out thing with my mother. My littlest brother, T man, took me on a walk to see the: "Church that is for sale because everyone died." then the sky opened up and bawled on us. And I got my butt handed to me playing Mortal Kombat with Rocker.

Think my Jet Lag might be kicking me in the face, because today has felt more like three. The best part of it all is the fact that it's in the 60's here versus the 107 degree weather I came from. I like it! And there's the most delicious chocolate ever here. Mmmm, Turkish Delight, Cadbury, Bounty... *sigh*
I just have to move further north. Maybe Alaska or close to the Canadian border somewhere.

The Light Heart Lives Long.