Catching Up with the Hippie

Before I give an update, I feel it is my duty to confess a secret. Yes, a secret.  I am one of those people. You know the kind. You might call them granola-loving. Or tree-hugging.  At least, to some degree I am.  Why am I confessing this now? Because I feel it's in your best interests to know that I make my own laundry detergent.

If this is is something you want to know how to do, too, head on over to the Thriving Home blog today, where I'm guest posting about my detergent-making skills. Then come on back over here and read the rest of this post. Or comment about how I'm a complete nerd. :)

Back to non-hippie life...

This having Monday off thing...I could get used to it. I guess I should, anyway:). I mean, after Kids Club ends it will be pretty routine for me. I feel like I get so much done. Do you know who is at Target on Monday at 10am? Or Hy-Vee? About 3 moms. That's it. It's a whole new world for me.  Last week I went to Old Navy on Monday with a good friend and her daughter and we had run of the store. We could run and throw balls everywhere and bounce bouncy balls down the aisle. Did I mention my friend has a two year old daughter? No? Well, it makes more sense now I bet. Or maybe you just thought I liked bouncy balls. You wouldn't be all wrong.

We had a busy weekend with family. My darling, way-too-young-to-graduate cousin graduated.  In darling red heels and a bedazzled cap, I should mention.  So we celebrated and enjoyed time with extended family. My grandma stayed with us for the festivities so we had a lovely Mother's Day brunch with my favorite octogenarian (lest you think I am playing favorites, she is my only living grandparent who qualifies as an octogenarian:)).  I also feel I should give a shout out to my mom, who I missed dearly on Mother's Day. No worries, though, my brother rode his motorcycle to visit her and give our love. And he only ran out of gas once:). I know they all had a great time, just like we did here, but it was bittersweet that we couldn't be together.

All that to say yesterday was a good day for rest. I did lunch with a friend. I did lunch. I am serious when I say life just didn't used to look like this. We ran a few errands to quiet stores and I caught up on some work emails. And then? I read a book. Outside. In the sunshine. Oh what a blessing.

Now here's the thing: I have a resolution to finish books this month. I've started about 8 books in the past 3 months and have only finished one. Well, I finished another one yesterday. But then I started another one, too, so there was no gain. Ugh. I don't know why I have such issues finishing books but I promise you I am going to finish books in the month of May. It's going to happen. But probably not today.

And so, I am off to work to try not to feel quite as overwhelmed as I do at the present and learn as much as possible before my predecessor says adieu. And tonight? I'm making more laundry detergent, of course:).

Height, Love, and Tricerotails

This week was the kind of week where each day passed faster than the next and E and I had enough time each evening to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, jump in a car, and head to the next event. We are romantics at heart, I tell ya. Despite the intensity of busy-ness, I've also thought it was a great week. Except for Wednesday when I had convinced myself it was Friday and had to realign my thoughts. Pretty much the worst thing that can happen on a Wednesday is when your mind convinces you it's Friday when it's actually only Wednesday.  Unless, of course, you go to work with your side zipper on your dress fully unzipped and don't notice for an hour that your entire body is hanging out. But that would never happen to anyone I know. *ahem*  Two more days of spreadsheets at work were not the awakening I had in mind on this Wednesday but they had to be done regardless. Lucky for me, the spreadsheets came home with me for the weekend too.

Anyway.

Wednesday we got back into the groove with our 4th grade friends and I mean it when I say I missed them. They are darling and their hearts just show me exactly why Jesus calls us to be like little children. But please don't tell them I called them little children. They will be, like, so offended. Gosh! We're back into the book of Mark and they really do listen and try to figure out this whole salvation thing. I feel really lucky to be a part of it because it's for sure the Holy Spirit working through everyday, normal, sinners. I know this because I am the everyday normal sinner trying to convey grace and the difficult concepts of salvation to nine and ten year old girls. Woah.

My favorite part of Wednesday, aside from the lesson when we spent half the time competing with the noise of the adults in classes (we need more space in our church and they moved my group THREE TIMES before we finally landed in the foyer--super loud and not conducive to actually studying the Bible), was the hang-out time we got. We put a beautiful puzzle together and they made me take a picture of them, shining and proud, next to the puzzle. I would show you this picture but I have a firm "no faces of others' children" on my blog. So you'll have to believe me when I say it was adorable how proud they were. They also got to talking about Valentine's Day. Here's how the conversation with me went.

Kids: "Jess, who is your valentine?"
Me: "Well, (glance at Eric lovingly), Mr. Eric is my valentine."
Kids: (look at each other, give weird expressions, and look back at me, a little disgusted) "He CAN'T be your valentine! He's too tall!!"

Now, I don't know when height became a requirement for valentines but I couldn't stop laughing. Best we can figure, they equate height to age and so they think E is much older than me?? Your guess is as good as mine.

Last night we had quite the surprise when dear friends invited us to dinner. They're adopting, too, and it was so lovely to share the worries and frustrations and fun that goes with this calling. And yes, crazy as it may sound, I think it's a calling. To put up with the roller coaster, I think you have to feel called to it.  Anyway, the dinner was lovely and after dinner, their preschoolers decided my pony tail just wasn't jazzy enough for the occasion. So, fully dressed in leotards and tututs, they styled my hair. With three pony tails and a headband. We decided this style needed an official name so after several drafts, we're going with "tricerotails."  Yes? What do you think?

So we're up to today! I was sound asleep at 8:45 when I got two texts asking me if I wanted to go to The Big Game. Of the biggest rivalry west of the Mississippi. Um, how do you say no to that?? So, we are prepping and thanking God (and our friends) for this special blessing. Thanks, friend. You know who you are and you totally made our day:). For those of you who don't live around here, not only are these tickets hard to come by, they are re-selling for hundreds (and in some cases I've heard thousands! WHAT!?) of dollars. So to be offered a chance to go is just amazing. Seriously, ticket fairy, I am blessed.

So we are looking forward to a little bit of lazy and a lot of cheering. I've got my game day gold on. I'm off to clean my house so I won't feel guilty for our night out.

Have a great weekend. And Happy Big Game weekend. Tigers. Superbowl. There's a big game for everyone.

The State of My Weekend

I would love to tell you I am busy paying fervent attention to the State of the Union address. No, I wouldn't. I don't even want you to think I want to watch the SOTU. Because I don't. But guess what? I was blessed to not only marry a man who loves political debates and political speeches.  Even better--I married a man who loves those things but also doesn't believe in TV in the bedroom. So here I am. Watching him watch what I believe to be the best pat-on-the-back anyone can give themselves that actually makes zero impact on our country. OK, I may be a little cynical. So let's find something else to talk about instead, shall we? Why yes.

So let's talk about the weekend, shall we? Well, great!

First, I went to my first gymnastics meet on Friday in, oh, more than a decade. As a little girl, my mom used to take me once a year to watch the "big girls" compete at the Cat Classic. It was a big meet where  universities with cat mascots came and competed. One year Shannon Miller came and I got her autograph. The Cat Classic is long gone but the gymnastics team is still doing fun, gimmicky things to get people to go watch.

And oh do they go!

On Friday, it was "Pink Out" where $1 of each ticket price went to breast cancer charities. Plus, the first 500 people got free pink shirts. So my friend Ashley and I made the trek and left Eric at home to attend a missions meeting. More on that later because it's actually a story in and of itself.

We were two of more than 3000 people who went to cheer on Mizzou. Seriously!! The shirts were just empty shells of boxes by the time we got there.  It was delightful to see so many people cheer on our young women. And we won! And it was fun. There were tons of families there. Let me tell you, the MIZ-ZOU chant sounds a lot different when the average person in your audience is a 10 year old girl than it does at your average football game.  Adorable, I tell you. And only once did I have to ask the sweet child behind me to stop kicking my chair.

Because when you are scary, once is enough.

Here, the only semi-decent picture I got of the meet.

OK well I said I wasn't paying attention to the SOTU but the president just promised that if we, as colleges, couldn't cut costs our funding would be cut. Which makes me turn into one of those cartoon characters whose head turns bright red and smoke comes out of their ears. Yeah, that's me right now. This is why I can't watch these things. Because there is no opportunity for citizen rebuttal. UGH.

Back to my weekend.

We'll continue on the sports theme for just a moment. Mizzou had a big game on Saturday, WHICH WE WON, and to show my support, I dressed up my dog in a crushed velvet cape.

Yes, it is tied with a duck tape collar. You are welcome, tigers. I am sure Super Gabby was the good luck charm that took you to the top. After all, why else would you be #2 in the nation right now? What's that? You're a legitimately good basketball team?

Well there's that.

Seriously, I couldn't be prouder to be a tiger. It's been a fun run this winter and we're hoping it stays fun for a while. 

 Saturday evening we got to do a little more trial parenting. God bless our friends who let us hang with their kids and donate to our adoption for doing it. It's totally a win.

Yes, that is my man being trampled by a herd of wild children. We listened to Slugs and Bugs and jumped on E. I can't think of a better Saturday night. Especially when we got to the part when the kids went to bed and E and I played Battleship.

Guess whose strategery managed to sink all her husband's battleships? Yes, ma'am! I won!!

And I'm not gloating at all.

And I am using strategery because of the SOTU. See? Something good has come out of this.

One final funny story about Saturday. The four year old, Little B, wanted me to double French braid her hair. I told her I would give it a try but there were no promises.

This is where you must know how very strong my left handedness is to understand the end of this story. Because after two attempts on the right side of sweet Little B's head, this is what we had:

Yes, my left handedness is strong. Sweet B has a little spunk in her and after gently feeling both sides of her hair, she looked right at me and said,

"Um, the left one is good but the right one is bad. Just take them out and give me pigtails."

And with wounded pride, that's exactly what I did.

And then I sent her to bed.

Good thing we're adopting a boy!

Happy Tuesday. May the State of the Union end soon.

The Week After

After a weekend like last weekend, this week was fairly uneventful. I make it a habit to take a week (or sometimes a month) off from training after a race. It allows me mental and physical recovery. And more sleep.  Which I never argue about.  Anyway. we sort of committed on race day that we'd do a full marathon this spring. We'd been kicking it around for months and the high of a personal victory on race day caused me to temporarily lose my sanity and officially agree to running 26.2 miles this April. Because I hate my life, I guess.  E is a great motivator but sometimes he gets a little overzealous. On the ride home all he wanted to talk about was our running plan for the week. In reality, the only running plan I had for this week was running to the grocery store to restock our fridge. With anything I wanted. So I placated him by letting him talk, having no intentions of actually running at all this week.

I did set my alarm on Monday. I even laid out clothes. But I whined and in the end I won. We slept in the extra hour. By Tuesday, I told him my evil plan: we weren't going to run this week. We were going to take a week off. He protested. He tried to motivate, encourage, complain. But I won. He didn't even attempt persuasion by Thursday.

He does have a calm persistence about him, though, which is one of the reasons I married him. That sounds bad. He only had to ask once, ladies, and three months later, we were husband and wife. So the quality is why I married him--not because he literally was persistent. Anywho, he convinced me today we'd go on a run. In his head, it was a 10 mile run. In my head, it was 7. His head won. Which explains why two hours later I was crouched over at Hobby Lobby begging the cashier to just hand me my receipt so my BFF and I could go get water and make my life seem worth living again. OK, that's a little dramatic. The run itself was not so bad. Good, in fact. It was the whole, "oh I will just jump in the shower and run to get some Christmas gifts without thinking about drinking any water" thing that really got me. But I have an understanding friend who did manage to get me water and didn't complain at all when I was all crouching Jess, hidden stomachache at Hobby Lobby. It worked out. I got two frames for grandparent presents at half off.

If you are wondering if I am seriously going to talk about running for this entire post and if you should just skip it because no one cares, I am officially done. Read on, Sister. The rest of the week's events could be summarized quickly: I worked a lot, some people hit my car (see two posts ago) during the first snow, and we did some fun things. Because I am all about words, I will spell out those fun things.

Wednesday night was Family Christmas Celebration night at our church. E and I have volunteered with it for the past three years and it is just a hoot. Our children's ministry staff is so very creative and knows exactly how to tap into the hearts and minds of kids. I can't wait until our little ones can attend these events because they have the amazing capacity to draw kids in, make them feel whimsical and fun, and still drive home the true meaning of Christmas (or Easter, when it's an Easter event obviously). This year was spy themed. So, of course, we dressed in all black. Luckily, we were given the easiest, best job ever: we managed the dessert tables. This meant two awesome things: 1. we got to greet all the families and see the adorable children and their excitement 2. we got first dibs on all the food. Kind of kidding on the second one. But seriously, tons of great desserts there. The kids learned that Jesus came as a spy in enemy territory to save the enemy (that's us folks). Such a cool way to put it and I had more than one family tell me how much their kids loved it and how it may have been their favorite event ever. I'd say that's a win for sure.

Thursday we spent in our favorite Thursday night position: parked in front of the couch to watch Thursday night TV. I made a pretty delicious dinner (if I do say so myself. Am I allowed to even say that?) and then we just chilled til bedtime. Wow. So needed.

Which brings me to yesterday evening. I got off work just a tad bit early and E surprised me at the dry cleaner. That's an odd sentence but it is 100% true. From the dry cleaner, we went to Starbucks, had some coffee and bought my new favorite Christmas mug (which I plan to use all year) and checked movie times. And then we saw a movie I have been waiting to see for approximately a month.  I have been DYING to see it. I have asked every weekend. Take your guesses. Are you ready, people?

It was...

THE MUPPETS!

Seriously. I love me some Muppets. We carried in our favorite candies (rulebreakers--I know) and laughed our little heads off for the entire movie. It was adorable!! It was cheesy enough to know it was cheesy and it made fun of itself. Every character you can imagine made an appearance. Plus, there were tons of cameos. I laughed all the way through the credits (where they sang my FAVORITE) Muppet song. I am definitely going to have to buy it.

If you are wondering on the content, I would say it's fairly appropriate. There's some violence--punching to be specific--in a couple of scenes. They make reference at one point to a TV show called "Punch Teacher" and then show a kid punch a teacher. And there are some "fart shoes" which make farting noises in a couple of scenes. All in all though, I would say it's fairly child-appropriate. You might need to talk about why punching isn't a good choice.

So yes, if you had any question as to whether or not we were just big kids at heart, worry no longer. It was just the best date night ever! I would say I'm way past my word limit so I am going to rest up for E's work Christmas party. Enjoy your weekend. Go see the Muppets:).

What Happened Last Week?

  When we sent our paperwork off last week, we knew we would have most likely get the official "our paperwork is on a plane to Ethiopia" email on Friday. We could have sat all week pondering whether or not we would get the "all clear" email from our agency. But instead, we stayed super busy.  In these ways (yes this is a lame way of giving you a weekend recap):

Monday/ Tuesday were spent chillaxin (yes, I said that) at home. I have been perfecting the art of pressure cooker meals and we had some good ones this week.  If you haven't been on the Crockin Girls site, you are missing out. And if you have a good recipe for your slow cooker, tell me or I'm missing out. So far, we've tried sausage soups, bloody mary chicken, barbecue chicken sandwiches, beef stew and a delicious taco soup. Can you tell I've been in a soup mood? Tomorrow it's buffalo chicken soup. Mmmm. But seriously, got a good pressure cooker recipe? Send it my way or we're not friends.

Wednesday concluded our semester with the 4th graders.  It was bittersweet for sure. I've loved spending time with them, but God made sure they were all kinds of wound up so I would also remember that rest is good.  I have learned so much in this semester and I hope the kids have learned a little, too.  We trekked through the book of Mark, sure, but I also learned about how to keep things sane in a room of nine and ten year olds. I learned that letting them do popcorn prayer blesses me in a way I never imagined.  And I learned (or re-remembered) that being in fourth grade is hard, too.  All those things we deal with as adults? They deal with them, too. But they don't have our "seasoning" to make them calloused.  Cancer, war, divorce? We tackled all those subjects. I am not a pro on any of them but seeing their hearts impassioned for the kind of justice I, too, crave really made me remember how much we all have in common.

Thursday was all kinds of awesome. If you don't have yourself some good girl friends that can share life with you and make you laugh, sister, get on that STAT. Unless you are a boy. In which case, well, thanks for reading my blog. And find some guy friends, will ya? I digress. Anyway, I am blessed to have several groups of women who bless me in different ways. And on Thursday, I faked several of them out by convincing them I am crafty. Yes, I started two different crafts. Please do not ask me how many I completed. I am not able to share that privileged information. I will show you one in action though. Behold:

Yup, that's a wreath. And I started it. You are welcome for that knowledge. But really, the crafting was fun and inspiring but the conversation was about more than this weepy girl can handle. I laughed. I cried. I laughed til I cried. And when I think I had officially tired out the women (but not finished a single craft--whoops! I let it slip!) I headed back home to the adorbs hubs.

We were on pins and needles Friday because we were told this could be our "date." You know, the date that will define the rest of our adoption.  Our DTE date (dossier to Ethiopia).  I figured we would have to know around noon. So at one, I called to see if something was wrong with our dossier they just hadn't told us about.  The voice on the other end told me not to worry.  But then 4 came (that's 5 agency time--they are east coast) and we heard nothing.  I assumed the worst. Something was wrong and we weren't DTE like I thought we'd be.  Five passed. I was resigned it would be a week or two, depending on their Thanksgiving plans.  Then, at 6:30 we officially got the email: we are DTE. Our package will technically ship Tuesday because of the holiday, but our date is 11/18/11.  Fun times.  We then got to move forward with the fun we had planned for that evening: we went to the Missouri Contemporary Ballet! It was delightful and fascinating and for one second, I felt kind of grown up and proper. If you haven't been to a contemporary ballet production, take thyself. Or thy neighbor. It made me thankful for all the artistic talent in this smallish town.

I know this is getting long. This is what happens when I don't blog for a week.  I will do my best to give you pictures of the rest.  Final game at home. Sad game with no coach. I don't want to talk about it. It's over. And we won!!  Here is my brother, being one part cowboy, one part fan.

And then there's this guy.  He's growing a beard. Again, ladies, he's all mine. You are welcome for the reminder.

I will post about our Sunday adventure at another juncture. It's Christmas related so I may postpone it.

Happy Monday! I hope you are as excited as I am for this short week:).

Deer, Driving, and Delicious Desserts

*Alternately titled "how I spent my weekend"

Hubs and I both happened to have the 4th of July off.  We knew we needed to clean our home for the home study visit on Saturday (more about that later) but we really wanted to get away.  This desire to get away came mainly from knowing we won't have a "true" vacation this summer.  Between my new job and saving for the IC (that's Imaginary Child--the name for the yet-to-be-known little addition) we just really need to spend this summer at home.  So, our major vacay happened this weekend.  By major vacay, I mean we spent Friday night at the Muny with my parents and then spent the rest of the weekend in their Small Town.

Friday, the Muny was, well, warm.  Yes, really warm.  My parents have season tickets and it just happened to be my dad's birthday, so we joined them for a delightful picnic and the warmest version of Kiss Me Kate I've ever seen.  To be fair, I'd never seen Kiss Me Kate.  So it could have been 14 degrees and it would have been the warmest I've ever seen.  But it really was warm.  My parents are picnic connoisseurs and my dad's birthday picnic included ribs, two kinds of potato salad, three kinds of chips, two kinds of wine, fruit, yogurt, and things I am sure I'm forgetting.  We could have fed half of the Muny patrons.  But we didn't.  We ate and ate and ate just the four of us.  I gave my dad an appropriately cheesy singing birthday card.  And after we finished our time at the Muny, we drove.

Straight into a deer.

Well, actually, the deer drove straight into us.  Yes, we were turning a dark and scary curve at super-low speeds when, out of the woods, Bambi popped up.  She was not deterred by seeing three cars in a row.  So, brave soul that she was, she ran directly into our car.  Her little face was right in our driver's side window and we heard her "thunk" into the door.  Now, it's midnight in the middle of nowhere, and we're following my parents and have no cell service and no shoulder on the road.  So do we stop?  No, no we do not.  But we slowed down enough for my parents to wonder.  When we all got cell service, they called to check up on us. After hearing our story, they stopped at a side road to check the damage.  Would you believe we only had a golfball-sized dent where her sweet hoof hit our door?  Believe it, friends.  There was definitely dirt smudged away where she landed.  I am going to assume, for my own benefit, that she lived happily ever after.

Saturday will be described in the best, shortest way possible: private lake. Friends. Rest. Sun. Great food.  Cake pops.

What's that you say? Cake pops? Yes!!

Because I've had so many people ask me (and despite the length of this post) I'm going to share my secret recipe.  You caught me, it's not a secret at all.  You can go to Bakerella, MckMama, and I'm sure a billion other people who have cake pop recipes.  But here's mine.

Step 1: Bake a cake.  Any cake will do.  Like white cake? Great.  Want to make it from scratch? You're crazy, but ok.  I happened to make a box of white cake from the store.  Exactly as the directions asked.  Except for me, I baked it in two pans: half the mix, I dyed blue.  The other half red.  Because, what says America more than red, white, and blue fatty goodness?  Nothing.  Except maybe deer.

Step 2: Crumble cake into tiny little pieces.  Wait for cake to cool or it will burn like the fire of a thousand suns on your fingers.  Not that I know from experience. Wait. Yes, I do.

Step 3: Mix icing (I am into the store-bought variety right now) into your cake balls.  Know that it does not matter what kind.  Whatever kind you like to eat, make that kind.  I made white and then added food coloring.  You want to mix the cake and icing completely (you might need to use your hands) until it's just one mush blob.

Step 4: Form into small(ish) balls, lay on wax paper, and freeze for about an hour or until they are hard and very cold and very tightly congealed.

Step 5: Heat the stuff you plan to cover it with.  Options include almond bark, Hersheys white chocolate candies, and my new favorite, something called Candi Quick.  Don't heat it too much or it will get dry.  If you heat it too much, add oil.  Do not add water, do not add milk, only add oil.  Trust me on this one.  Also, if you plan to add food coloring, only add oil based.  Trust me on this one.  Water based will make you sad.  Once it's heated, put a stick in your cake ball (now it's officially a cake pop) and dip in Candi Quick.  Tap all the excess off.  Add sprinkles if you want.  Dry sitting up and don't let them touch. I've found a shallow vase to work, but if you have styrofoam that would be the best, I imagine.

Step 6: Share with your friends and show them how cool and crafty you are.

If your cake balls stop sticking to the sticks or start falling into the Candi Quick, put them back in the freezer til they get colder.

The final result? A big hit at the lake with the kiddos.

























Delish.  I've spent too much time on the weekend and we're not even to Sunday. So I'm off.  Talk soon!

Things That Go Bump in the Mid-Morning

We were fortunate to be part of the hottest wedding I have ever seen this weekend. I don't mean hot like P-Ditty was there (though, that might have been fun). I mean hot, like--it's 100 degrees in the STL Botanical Gardens and so let's postpone the wedding for 40 minutes while the groomsmen meander in from getting ready--hot. Yes, it was so hot, the groomsmen actually sweat through all three layers of their tuxes. In fact, it was so hot, the other wedding at the garden that day moved their ceremony inside because of the heat advisory. Now if you know my charming male companion, you know that he's a bit of forehead sweater. On this day, who could blame him. Poor thing was soaked. The heat didn't stop it from being a charming wedding. Check it out:

Hot Groomsmen

Hot Husband

Hot Bridal Party

Not-So-Hot Hair on a Hot Couple

Yes, it was lovely. And most importantly, Evan and Dorina ended the occasion as husband and wife.

To celebrate the next day, Hubby and I got coffee and took some time driving through K-Wood. And then, bam! We got hit on our driver's side. No one was injured but our darling truck (to the tune of hundreds of dollars). Luckily, I have amazing parents. On their 29th wedding anniversary, they picked us up and left us a vehicle. We will be picking up Trixie the Tacoma later in the week after she gets some work done.

Thank goodness for great parents. I promised them that for their 39th anniversary, they could spend it not helping their children. No guranatees:-).

Here's to marriage!

Keeps Gettin Better

What a wondeful weekend! How was yours? I got to spend time doing the things I want to do. No commitments--it was fantastic. My little brother, Mark, came back into town and we enjoyed some lovely time together. Mark always challenges my menu planning skills, as he has become a vegetarian. We had sweet potato bisque, Chickpea soup, and Spring veggie pasta stir-fry. They were all pretty great. I like the challenge of coming up with meals that Mark will eat but Pete (my carnivore brother) will tolerate. It is a challenge.

Mark and I also got to spend some time just reading and chatting. It is a favorite passtime of mine. Eric and I did a little bit of it this weekend, too. Here is Mark, at the coffee shop, pondering the meaning of life.

Well, actually, he was on the phone. But I am sure he DID ponder the meaning of life while we were there. Mark leaves for Greece in a week, so we are trying to get all the time we can with him.

If you were wondering, I did practice my knitting skills this weekend. When my knitting begins to look more like a "something" and less like a blob, I will post again with pictures.

After a great Sunday of teaching Sunday school (a first for Eric) and enjoying time with our small group, I had a great day off on Monday. Most importantly, I got a hair cut! Before I reveal the results, here is what my hair looked like just a few months ago...

And here I am now... (drumroll please)...

Eric says this is the first time he's seen a haircut make hair actually look longer. I'm diggin it!

So really, 2009 DOES keep getting better. And, my parents added a new addition to their home on Satruday. I will post pictures of Baby Mo the yorkie when I get some.

On a serious not, today is an exciting and anticipatory day for our country. Although I am sick of watching the historical, unprecidented updates, I do think it is very important for each of us to pray for the state of our nation. Obama, like all presidents, has a big task at hand. He needs all the support he can get. Please pray for God's hand to be upon him and his family, and for our country. I am looking forward to Miss Michelle's dress. Yes, I am girly.

My update is getting long, but I will say that the Bachelor is getting pretty good! I will have to update on it after next week's episode.

Here's to great haircuts, new presidents, and Tuesdays that feel like Mondays!