The Mushroom Planet Books

I just finished (well, not just... like, yesterday...) reading the first book in the Mushroom Planet series, it's called The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. It's a kids' series, it was one of the very first sci-fi books written for children, in the from 1954 onward. The author is Eleanor Cameron, this is the cover of the first book:

I read the whole series for the first time when I was in 6th grade, and I've probably read it three or four times. I JUST found the second book on Amazon, along with a few of the other books. Luckily, the second book I found was a hardcover in good used condition for 12.99. Some sellers wanted upwards of 50.00 for them! And one even wanted freaking 600.00!!!! WTF?!? What book is worth that much money??? Anyways. It's a really fun series, and I'm enjoying reading it again from a more mature perspective :)

Tuesday is the day off :)

That's right, today is my day off... from everything! Exercise, work... all of that :) I slept in until 11:00 today, when I was woken by my wonderful husband, who told me he'd made me breakfast! How did I get blessed with such a wonderful man? Not only is it NOT his day off, he had to be up at 4:30 a.m. to go run sound for a 6:00 a.m. men's prayer service, he came back and napped, then got up and made me breakfast before he left to go to work all day today! I don't know when I did something so nice for him last, I'm ashamed to say. I'll have to get cracking on spoiling him rotten this week :)

So we ate together, then he finished getting ready and left for work. I laid in bed for a little while longer, then I got up and went to the store. I got back a little while ago, mixed up a big pot of chili, and now I'm sitting in front of the tv watching Seven Pounds and writing about what I'm doing! Not a bad day at all so far :) There's even flurries of snow falling outside. It feels a little bit like Christmas Break, and I'm feeling all warm and snuggly :) haha.

I just need to finish my laundry from yesterday and make sure the chili doesn't burn. haha.

Maybe I'll update again a little while later, if there's anything worth writing about :)

OH I almost forgot! New Music!

Larry got a new CD from our friend Brad (who is an EXCELLENT photographer, you should look at his work, it's INCREDIBLE!), and I'm in love with it!!

They are called Needtobreathe, and this is the first song off their latest, Outsiders. It's called Outsiders. lol. It's the song that pulls up on my playlist right now, but just in case I change it, here it is:




I'm discovering that I love bluegrass/folk style music. I'm partial to music that has open chords, banjo or mandolin (or both!), handclaps/foot stomps/snapping, and basically everything else that would make bluegrass/folk music what it is. It just adds a uniquely and refreshingly human element to the music, it just makes it more... real? I guess? Pure music, is what it is. It's not the canned stuff on the radio. Not processed to perfection. You can hear that he oversings a little, that pitch isn't always exactly perfect (not autotuned...). But that's what makes it so enjoyable and unique. The imperfection makes it feel familiar, like home.

Not that there's anything wrong with what's on the radio, it has its place for sure, and I have my days where I just need a little Britney to get me through, lol. This is just one of those albums I could listen to over and over again for weeks on end and not get bored.

These guys are great, you should definitely listen to their other stuff. The whole Outsiders album is great, if you're into that sort of thing. ;)

Anyways, I love it and I'm happy to recommend them. I can't wait to get ahold of their earlier albums and check them out!

February 22, 2010

Me and the Winston at work :)

So I decided that, instead of titling all of my posts "UPDATE" or "Update" or "Update... Finally," I would start dating them, because that makes more sense. haha. Because, technically, they're all updates. And I can't for the life of me seem to remember to write even just a little something every day, so they're kind of spaced out. 

Let's see... I guess there's actually kind of a lot to update about! So I'll try to condense it :)

1) I got Larry to read a book. AN ACTUAL BOOK!

Not that there's really anything technically wrong with NOT reading for pleasure, but we end up watching a LOT of TV in the time that we have together, which is usually really late at night. Watching TV or movies after like, 11:00 at night always keys me up and I have a hard time sleeping. I've always liked to read before bed, it relaxes me and kind of helps me wind down. Larry doesn't sleep very well, and he's kind of a night owl, so I thought maybe if we turned the TV off earlier, and got into bed and we both read for a little bit or just talked or something, it would help us both sleep. I mean, we already moved the TV out of our room, and that made a HUGE difference, so maybe if we tried winding down a little bit before we hit the hay we'd sleep even better? It was just a theory, but I think it's actually working really well. We're both falling asleep quicker, sleeping longer and having better quality of sleep, so that's good. 

Reading also improves vocabulary and language, and cognitive function, so I think it's definitely a good thing all around. I just had to find things that he would like to read, and I think I kind of hit the nail on the head with the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. He LOVES sci-fi stuff, and he devoured the first book, so we'll see how the rest of the series goes.

2) I started working out.

Yes, I know. We all thought it was impossible, but I just decided that it wouldn't be that hard to take better care of myself. I don't think that I'm fat, I don't think I'm unhealthy or a slob or anything like that, I just think that I could look and feel better and just feel better about myself. I'm doing abs Wed/Fri/Sun and legs Thurs/Sat/Mon. I'm resting on Tuesdays because Tuesdays are my day off and I want it to be my for real day off. haha. I'm going to walk/jog with Winston at some point, either in the mornings or at night, I haven't decided yet. But he needs to lose some poundage too. I'm going to start with that for the first couple of weeks, and then I'll figure in an arm/shoulder/back workout somewhere. I wanted to start with abs/legs because they need the most work :) I've been going for two days straight (which is a record for me... hahahaha) and I'm really sore, so I'm looking forward to not getting up early tomorrow morning!

3) I made fish, and Larry ate it!

Anyone who knows Larry knows what a huge feat that is. haha. I just got tilapia, which has a VERY mild flavor, and marinated it in crushed garlic, onions, white wine and olive oil. Then I baked it for half an hour at 350 with salt, pepper, paprika and tomatoes. It turned out really good, and Larry ate all of it and even said he didn't mind it. haha. I guess that's as good a compliment as I'm going to get for making him eat fish, so I'll take it. :) I'm proud of him, anyways, he's been making a HUGE effort to eat things outside his comfort zone, because he knows I like a lot of different kinds of food, and he wants to be able to enjoy it all with me :) Such a sweetie!

4) SPEAKING OF FOOD. We went to Tillman's Roadhouse for Valentine's Day.

Tillman's Roadhouse Website

 

  

 

It was food sex. That is all. So so so so so good. I highly recommend it to ANYONE who enjoys eating. Pricey, but you definitely wouldn't have to spend what we did, we just kind of went all out, since it was a special occasion and we don't do that very often. It was a wonderful experience, and we can't wait to go back! And take everyone we know to eat there...

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Aaaaaaaaaaand... I think that's about all for now. I'm hoping to get Amber on here so she can at least see my blog, since we don't get to talk very often. I think she'd enjoy it, but we'll see :)

Peace and love,

xoxo

First Post of the New Year!

So it's been just a little while since my last post... ok more than just a little while :) But I've been busy! No really!

Let's see.. Christmas was fun... really busy. But fun. Between Larry and I working so much and not really seeing each other, it honestly didn't feel like Christmas at all until Christmas day, and then it was just kind of... over. But it snowed Christmas eve like CRAZY, so that helped it to feel a little more Christmas-y. :)

Mel and Chris came in town, and we got to see them a couple of times together before he left to go back home. I got to spend a WHOLE DAY with Mel in Dallas, we had a pretty good time :) I love that girl more than she knows! I enjoy so much just getting to go shop around with her and get coffee and just sit and talk and be ourselves. It's comfortable, just being together and talking about whatever comes up. I'm so blessed to have her around, even if she's not technically "around' very much! Fortunately, Skype is free and we get to talk fairly often. Though I haven't had the chance to really talk to her since she's been gone. Hopefully we'll get to catch up soon, though!

Beyond that... we've both just been working and I've picked up a couple of gigs playing oboe around the area... The most recent was for a production of "Little Women: The Musical" at North Crowley High School. Fun times. I don't really have anything to say about it except it was really cold and I still haven't been paid. haha. The kids did a really great job, they're all super-talented and the play went really well.

Larry is getting ready to go back to school. He wants to do the A&P program at TCC (aeronautics mechanic and technician... I think), then head to flight school so he can be a pilot for a major company. It must seem really random to pretty much anyone but me and his family, but he's actually wanted to be a pilot since he was really little. I guess he just never looked into it because it just didn't seem like an attainable reality. I was a little surprised when he told me, but I'm just glad he's found something he will want to do for the rest of his life that he will both enjoy and be paid well. He's doing all the research and has started the application process, so hopefully he'll be able to start this summer and get going with all of it.

I'm so happy that he's picked something that he's excited about and will enjoy. I really am. I'm glad it's only a 2-year program, and that financial aid stuff seems to be in our favor so far. I'm excited that he's come to the realization that sound engineering can only get you so far, and that he's pretty much already hit the glass ceiling as far as salary is concerned in that field. I'm even more excited about the fact that I didn't have to tell him as much, I just don't think it would've been conducive to our relationship for me to have said something along those lines to him.

It's a great program, he's already had interviews with several flight instructors at different schools and companies, and everything we're hearing is that it's a great field with pretty much limitless employment opportunities. I just want to go into it with both eyes wide open. I want to know everything about it and I want to know exactly what to expect, when to expect it, with what and how.

I'm excited for us to kind of "get a move on," so to speak, with our life. I'm so glad we're headed in a direction that actually seems to have a light at the end of the tunnel. It's just... not going to happen tomorrow. Or in a month. Or in six months. Or in a year. It's not going to get better immediately. You know? There's just no immediate benefit. And I guess I'm just having a hard time with it.

Some days are better than others... There's plenty of days, most days, actually, that I can really deal with all of it, and I feel like I'm adjusting, and I feel like I can actually handle all of it. I feel that I'm managing the overwhelming pressure of living in our current situation for another two years. I'm dealing with it, and pretty well, at that. Then there's other days that simply aren't that way. That I just get swallowed up by grief, by frustration and sorrow and anger and sadness. And doubt. I wonder on these days how I'm going to make it another two years. I wondered just yesterday how it was possible to face another day knowing it wasn't even a small dent in the next 730 days I'll be stuck in the same situation.

Luckily those days are few and far between. I don't want anyone's pity, or advice, or counsel, or understanding. I just can't say it to anyone out loud, because it makes it real. It's just easier to get it out there to an anonymous white screen and to type it in the dark and quiet than it is to speak it into being. I just needed to air it out. That's all.

Besides, today is a new day. It's a new year, there's a new blanket of snow outside in the yard, and I have a new free day off work. I also have a new load of laundry to do and new messes to clean up, so it really doesn't make much sense to sit here and piss and moan about it. Whether or not I like the situation or think I can even handle it anymore, it's going to happen. So why am I sitting around whining about it? Yeah, I don't know either.

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and get up and just make the best of today, it's the best I can do.

Peace and love,
and if I figure out how to post the videos of us playing in the snow yesterday, I will.