2-zero-1-zero (Happy New Year)

Dear Friends and Family,

Imagine that the following letter came in the mail with those Christmas cards that I never sent out this year.

We hope that you are well and have enjoyed another flurry of holiday festivities that arrive each year in celebration of our Savior's birth. As we approach the end of both the festivities and another calendar year, here is a recap of 2010 as seen through the eyes of Finan Dandy.


Casey and Angela at a beautiful outdoor wedding (no, this is not our house!)


We continue to enjoy marital bliss, and though we don't (yet) have children to fill our home with love, laughter, and mess, we do have two important members of our family that currently fill the aforementioned roles: Zima and Trekker provide hours of cuddly-ness, entertainment, and clean-up.



Zima takes a cat nap in her pal Trek's bed

 Zima and Trekker get along very well; Zima often "borrows" Trekker's bed for a little nap. Casey's dream is for Trek and Zima to cuddle together; although that hasn't happened yet, they continue to become more and more comfortable with one another.

Casey and Trekker on the Current River

Trekker has loved his time in the water; he made it to the river on five different float trips this year, an all-time record for him. Once he's in the water, it is hard to get him out; and even after lugging him out of the water and into the canoe (that's a sight to see), he whines to get back in the water after only a few minutes.

Happy Birthday Adelaide!

Adelaide is getting ready to celebrate her 94th birthday. We treasure our Sunday afternoon visits with her, and when we get the chance, we celebrate her with a pizza party (and birthday hats)!



Angela, Jessica, Melissa, and Bekah

 My youngest sister, Jessica, also celebrated an important birthday this year--her 21st. The four of us, along with a few of Jess's friends, spent a fun evening together in St. Louis.



Happy 1st Anniversary!

Speaking of celebrations, on March 7th, Casey and I celebrated our first anniversary of being married. We didn't follow tradition by saving the top of our wedding cake (we ate in on our honeymoon), so instead we baked a new cake and enjoyed the unusually warm weather by hiking to a waterfall, setting out a blanket, and spending time with one another in beauty of the outdoors. 2010 marks our first full calendar year as married folk.

2010 was also a big year for our house. From bending metal and covering the fascia, to basement shelving (to hold all of our floating gear), to garden blooms, to grouting the kitchen, Casey and I love to spend time together working on our home.



We painted the basement floor and walls (goodbye musty stink) and then built shelves.

  

Casey cut down the dead tree in our backyard. He was excited to use his new chainsaw, purchased specifically for this purpose.Too bad the tree fell on the neighbor's fence (in Casey's defense, the tree not only rotten on the inside, but someone had filled it with cement, making it top-heavy so that it fell before Casey finished the appropriate tree-cutting technique).



And finally, a grouted kitchen back splash.

Our day to day lives haven't changed much. I am in my 5th year of teaching (freshmen English) and Casey is working as a carpenter for a construction company. We both have days where we enjoy our jobs and days where we want to pull out our hair. I guess that's pretty typical for most jobs.

New City has become our church home--Casey has become a team leader for the Work Day ministry and I sub about once a month for Sunday school--this past Sunday we had a birthday party. Happy birthday Jesus!
2011 promises to be just as exciting.  Bekah's wedding, a road trip out West...who knows what else is in store?

Peace,

Angela and Casey



If I sent out Christmas cards...

I haven't sent out Christmas cards for the past few years. I don't really have a good excuse, but I do tell myself that when we eventually have kids, I will start sending out cards again. I mean, come on. Everyone likes to get the cards with the cute little kids on them--those kids we haven't seen since summer, or maybe Easter, or perhaps, God forbid, not since LAST Christmas, when the card arrived with a much smaller version of Cute Kid and Cute Kid Jr.

And since I don't have Cute Kid or Cute Kid Jr.--yet ;), here is what my Christmas cards would look like... if I sent out Christmas cards.





Cute Kid on the left

Cute Kid Jr.

Merry Christmas with love from the Finans

All for one and one for all

I'll admit, I am not the best at keeping in contact with old friends; it was just about a year ago that I decided to create a facebook account so that I could see pictures of friends (and their kids) who are out of town. In that time, I have gained nearly a hundred friends! However, I am still not good at hunting down old friends, so it is nice when I get a friend request from someone I haven't talked to in years because most likely, it would take me decades to hunt them down.


A couple of weeks ago, I got a friend request from someone I knew in college; she hunted me down at the request of another friend who was looking for me to invite me to play in the Webster U. women's basketball alumni game.
 
In spite of it being the middle of basketball season (coaching), finals week, and the holidays, I decided to take a few hours to catch up with some old friends from my basketball years at Webster.

The game was today, so I spent my afternoon back on Gorlok turf.

Before arriving, I naturally assumed that we would NOT play an entire basketball game--I mean, come on. Two 20-minute halves? Seriously. YEP, that's exactly what we did. A bunch of old-timers out there huffing and puffing up and down the court. After the first 5 minutes of the game, both teams went to a zone defense. Good decision.

We had one player on our team who just graduated last year, so my team played a 1-3-1 zone for a while and she chased the guards all over the court. I played down low and got in on couple of traps.

Aside from my pulled hammy, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Casey told me that if I tore or broke anything, don't bother coming home until it's fixed. But the bum knee held up, even after all the time I've spent on the freshmen girls' tile practice court at Lindbergh this season.

After the game, the current coach got a photo of all 23 alumni together. And I started humming the locker room song from "A League of Their Own": "We're all for one and we're one for all." :)

A Walk in the Cemetery

Today we took Trek on a walk in the cemetery. THE cemetery. Cemeteries have a long-standing place close to our hearts; correction: they have a long-standing place in my husband's heart. He introduced the beauty of cemeteries to me on our first date and I immediately fell in love (with both him AND the cemetery).

When we first met, Casey lived on a street that was bordered on two sides by an old cemetery in South St. Louis. Prior to meeting Casey, I had always viewed cemeteries as creepy and morbid and had therefore stepped foot in them only when absolutely necessary (most of the time at funerals--no wonder my impression of them wasn't in a positive light). On our first date, after a drive, dinner, and a visit to a bookstore, he invited me to take a walk with him and his dog.

Walking through the cemetery with Casey taught me to have a different perspective. The cemetery became a place of thoughts, peaceful silence, and most intriguingly, stories. Lots of stories of lots of people. People who had lived and died, some for many years, some for very few. A young woman born on the exact date my husband was born, but whose life ended after only twenty-some years. A young man, a boy really, whose life was taken in war, less than twenty years after it began. A couple who had two children, both of whom died the same years as their respective births. Others who out-lived a century. Casey recently found a woman who lived to be one hundred and six, the oldest he has yet found.  Headstones  that have been worn away to illegibility. Headstones with pictures (I still find this disturbing). Headstones of simply a name and two dates. Graves marked with flowers, signs of grief and remembrance of those still living. A simple reminder that these silent stones hold stories, lives lived and loved.

Today as we walked through the cemetery, we crunched acorns under our feet and were thankful to do so with acorns not in our front yard (we have plenty, thanks). We looked at the giant trees of brilliant color under a sky of radiant blue. We reminisced about our story, of those first walks we took in the cemetery together.

 The first question Casey asked me in the cemetery was "What do you want?" (I think my answer was a house, but I was really thinking that I wanted HIM for the rest of my life---looks like I got both, lucky me).

Even now, when we pass a cemetery, I am filled with a sense of longing, of wonder, and of beauty. What a lovely place to spend time "until the morn of His return" as our cemetery (I secretly think of it as ours) entrance so aptly expresses.

Twin Day

One of life's grand pleasures is continuing to take part in high school activities, even as an adult. The kids get a kick out of it, and we teachers secretly enjoy it as much, if not more than they do. As part of Homecoming 2010, this year's Spirit Week includes days like College Wear, Pajama Day, Green and Gold (of course), and my personal favorite, Twin Day. I know it's hard to tell which one is me when I am standing next to my twin, (I'm on the left), but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to dress alike. Note the exact same shoes (Coach), the matching jewelry (Tiffany and Co.), sweater vests (teachers to the T), and best of all, the matching dreds. All in a day's work!

Gone floatin'!

It's gonna be a good weekend!

As far as we have known

As far as we have known each other, we have been married longer than we have not. You are my best friend, my one and only love.

I love you. For. Ever. (and ever). Always.

Is it just me?

Alright, I need some assistance here. Notice how my very last picture in the previous blog is not centered, but instead is left-aligned?

Is blogger just finicky or is there something I can do to fix this?

Usually, when I insert a picture, a little blue box will pop up and have size options, alignment options, and even the option of adding a caption.

However, once I select these options, or if I click on something before selecting them, the box goes away and I can never get it back. I try clicking on the picture, double-clicking, right clicking. Sometimes it will appear for an instant, and then disappear as soon as I release the button or move my cursor.

Sometimes my pictures even move from where my cursor was when I clicked insert picture. Help!

Green Thumb

Admittedly, the garage needs some repair, but I'm pretty satisfied with how well my first garden is looking, particularly so post-rain and lawn mowing.

Sept. 7, 2010

It's been a fun summer. Some victories, some defeats. Trekker has probably been the biggest force of evil against which my poor plants have had to battle this season. Not drought, not bugs, just Trekker, and his leathal claws.

First planted --the same garden--April 2010

Just this past Saturday, I wandered out to the back deck while Trekker was doing his morning rounds around the yard, looked over the rail, and noticed one of my beautiful azaelas tilted at a funny-looking angle. Upon further inspection, the entire plant had been beheaded, right at ground level, by what appears to be none other than Trekker's back paw as he marked that very spot (the whole plant smelled of urine).

Before

We started with eight azaelas across the back of the deck. One died of mysterious causes---just up and turned brown and all the leaves fell off. None of the plants around it were affected. Just that one. Now we've lost another to a territorial pest...I mean, pet! :) And then there were six.

After

Even so, I feel I've made some good strides in learning about plants and gardens, and more importantly, I've had lots of fun doing it. I haven't had the time since school started back up, but then again, I think gardening could be a good hobby for that very reason. A great way to fill my summer hours with a relaxing, satisfying activity.

One of my beautiful lilies

Pretty Purple Petunias





A look at the front yard too!



Eats, Shoots, and Leaves...and other errors

You wouldn't know it from my (lack of) posting, but my school year is off to a great start. Finally, in my fifth year of teaching, I actually sort of feel like I know what I'm doing. Knock on wood. I keep waiting for the ceiling to fall in on me. Nonetheless, it is a great feeling. I am enjoying the beginning of the school year more than I ever have.

Today, however, I handed out a paper to my first hour class, only to realize that it had a mechanical error in the first line. For those of you grammar freaks out there, beware. This might make you sick: I used an apostrophe in the word students (student's), but it wasn't possessive. I keep trying to find excuses: maybe I had written it one way and then changed the wording but forgot to take out the apostrophe? I know, lame. It's just inexcusable.

I can live with a typo here and there (although I do try to be careful to proofread my work before making copies--it comes with the territory of teaching English), but I am not a fan AT ALL of misplaced and overused apostrophes. Especially when the mistake is mine and I have already made 130 copies to hand out to every single one of my students in every single one of my classes. It's one of those papers that I pray they won't take home to show their parents.

But, as I told my students, I hate wasting paper more than I hate grammar and mechanical errors, so I will not give in to my urge to correct the error and print off another 130 copies. Instead, I made it into a teachable moment. I asked all my classes look for the errors on the paper and correct them. It took awhile, and a few hints, but a kid in each class finally found it. I told them that it's a good reminder that even English teachers make mistakes---however rare it may be ;)

Oh, and by the way, the title of this entry is a reference to a book (Eats, Shoots, and Leaves) that is very entertaining, for all you linguistically obsessive folks. I would highly recommend it and even have a copy you can borrow if you are interested! The book's title comes from a real live dictionary definition of a panda who "eats, shoots, and leaves" rather than one who "eats shoots and leaves." Ah the power of a comma!

School Rules

My first thought on what to post about my first two days of school was ruled out when I realized I can't actually use students' real names on this blog (you have all heard of the fantastic names parents continue to come up with--some don't translate nearly as well when you read them instead of hearing them first--Orangejello and Lemonjello are a couple popular ones that come up in these conversations; Abcde (pronounced Ab-su-dee) is another one]. But alas, I can't share with you the priceless names of my new little energetic chicklets. I think I'm already walking a fine line by having a blog at all. I suppose that danger is inherent in most jobs with the ever-increasing public access to formerly private information on the beautiful and glorious world wide web; yet I still feel that I am particularly vulnerable as an educator. Call me paranoid, call me egocentric,  but that's how I feel.

Today in class, we did a new activity that I think worked fairly well: Students worked in pairs to come up with rules that they thought would be appropriate for this year and would help everyone have the best opportunity to learn. They then wrote these rules on post-its and placed them in different areas around the room. With post-its covering the walls, they walked around the room to see all the rules that we had come up with and proceeded to vote for their favorites by putting check-marks on those post-its.

I was pretty impressed with what the kids came up with. All of the rules are centered around our character education program. Now it's just a matter of consolidating them. And time will tell if they will follow them!

Wired, but Tired

I made it through Link Crew Orientation 2010. Somehow, looking back on the last week, it doesn't seem like it should have been as stressful as it felt. Everything went better than it ever has gone before. This is my third year co-leading the Link Crew program, and I am proud of the strides we've made in improving the program each year.

Now, however, I find that my caffeinated brain can't slow down enough to rest. Not that I shouldn't know this about myself. I found out in college that my body is not able to handle caffeine. Before college, I was not a caffeine drinker. My mom was careful to always buy caffeine-free sodas when I was growing up, and I never drank coffee, or really anything besides milk and water, until I got to college. Even in college, I was still pretty much a milk drinker, until I started working at Subway, where I had access to unlimited free Starbucks next door.

It took me a few weeks during my semester of student teaching AND working at Subway before I finally figured out that the reason I couldn't sleep at night even though my student teaching and Subway job left me exhausted at the end of each day, was because I was drinking WAAAAY more caffeine than my body was used to and capable of processing---for basically the first time in my life.

Since then, I have tried to limit my caffeine intake. I find that having one cup of coffee in the morning can make it difficult to fall asleep, even up to 12 hours after I've had the coffee. And with two cups of coffee in one day, well, I basically become ADHD. I can't focus on anything, and sometimes my hands literally shake when I hold them out in front of me. It's crazy.

It is therefore a VERY, VERY rare ocassion that I indulge myself and consume caffeine. It's almost not worth the side effects. Today was one of those days, and now that it's over, I am even regretting the caffeine I had at 5:30 a.m.

Alas, I find myself posting a pointless blog entry rather than taking a much-needed nap!

Back to School with Link Crew

Last week marked the end of my summer vacation. Though I spent a good 20 hours at school last week preparing for the new year, it was still considered summer because it was on my time schedule. I got up late, went to school around 11 am and worked until 5 or so. Aside from not eating lunch every day last week because I was so intent on my work that I totally forgot about it, it was a good schedule.

This week, however, is a different story. Not only do I begin my offical days back at school on Thursday and Friday, I am also one of the coordinators of the freshmen transition program (a fancy way of saying freshmen orientation). We do a cool program at called Link Crew, where we train upperclassmen to run small group sessions with freshmen to help them get to know other freshmen, upperclassmen, and of course, the whole high school. It is a high energy program, which I really enjoy, except for the fact that it saps me of all my energy.

The gauntlet: Link Leaders make a tunnel for freshmen through which freshmen enter for orientation!

The most stressful part of the entire program is where I act as facilitator of a whole group assembly (in front of 500 freshmen and 100 link leaders) for almost TWO HOURS. Among other things during this time, we play a giant game of simon says, I hold a balloon popping competition, give several "message moment" speeches (in one I compare time to money and rip up a dollar bill to emphasize the importance of spending your time wisely; then I threaten to rip a $20 bill), and worst of all, I have to sing "Quadiliacha," a silly camp song. I don't mind getting up in front of people, I do it every day as a teacher. But this is beyond even my comfort zone. Not that I have any right to complain. I did volunteer for the job.

600 plus students for TWO hours (and a microphone that echoes)!

This will be my third year doing the assembly, and while I am getting more comfortable with it, comfort can be a double-edged sword. The first year I did it, I practiced like crazy. I said my lines over and over and over, and read my notes, and even made Casey and Trekker be my audience and do all the silly activities with me. Last year, I practiced, but not as much, partially because I took over more responsibility in the training and preparation for orientation, so I didn't have as much time.

Partner lines after moving to the gym floor

This year, I have yet to look at my notes, the assembly is at 8 am tomorrow (but I have to be at the gym at 5:30 am for set-up), and here I am blogging my way into the evening. I may just have to wing it tomorrow--for two hours straight!

On the plus side, doing freshmen orientation in the weeks leading up to the beginning of the school year makes the first day of school seem like a piece of cake.

Contemplating the Stars

The Finans on the river.

As you may already know, some of the best times of Casey's and my life together have happened on the river. The Current River, to be more specific. Casey and I met on a float trip, got engaged on a float trip, and make float trips a part of our monthly endeavors whenever the weather allows. So allow me to give you some sense, an admittedly inadequate substitute for the authentic experience, of what floating is like and why we love it so much. This past weekend, Casey and I did our annual float trip for Casey's birthday, which is coming up on August 7th. This is a float trip that Casey's dad started with him when he was about 10 years old, so it's something he has been doing for over 20 years (yes, his dad was a bit jealous when Casey started taking me on his birthday float trips instead of his father, but don't worry, they still get their float trips in, just the two of them. This year, they have one scheduled for October. Brrr!).

First rule of float trips: We generally try to avoid Saturdays on the river, because of all the crowds. After all, the whole point of a float trip is to get away from everyone, right?

This past weekend, we did a Sunday-Monday float. We float the Current River, which is about two and a half hours away from St. Louis. For the first time since we have been floating together, Casey and I actually got our stuff packed up and ready to go the night before we left, giving us the opportunity to get an early start. However, even leaving before 8 am, we still don't get on the river until after 11, between stopping for the traditional Hardees breakfast, getting gas, packing up the bus to shuttle us to the river...you get the picture.

So bright and early at the crack of 11:30, we are on the river, just the two...err...three of us. Did I mention that Trekker LOVES to swim? He is working on his 7th float trip---more than I've been on with Casey! The greatest part is that he swims by the canoe the entire trip. Well, until we get ahead of him and he starts whining like he's about to drown. Don't believe him though! The minute Casey pulls him into the canoe, he's whining to get back out.

Second rule of float trips: Just because you are out in nature, doesn't mean you have to pack light.

Trek is in the boat, but not for long.

As you can see, we don't skimp on luxuries just because we are sleeping under the stars. We have packing down to an art. Everything has its place in the canoe. We usually find a spot on the river bank around 3 or 4 o'clock, at the latest. Generally, a good camping spot has a sand bar (mostly rocks), a good swimming hole, some fire wood, and if you are lucky, some bluffs to jump off of. We picked a new spot this time around, and it had all that and more...

A cozy sandbar with just enough room for our tent, chairs, and fire.

A beaver dam just down the river with plenty of firewood.

And bluffs across the river for a beautiful view and a fun jumping spot.

Wood collecting comes next. We have to gather plenty for a big fire. After more play, some swimming, and sunbathing, it is time for dinner. We always grill steaks on the river. Yum, yum, food never tastes as good as it does on the river.

Chef Casey prepping the steaks.

Once it gets dark, we use our wood for a great big fire. Then, it’s all about sitting around the fire and just drifting. One of the greatest things about the river is that all of life’s cares and concerns just kinda fade away. Instead of talking about what we have to do tomorrow or how work is going, we talk about the beauty of the stars and our amazement that God knows the history of all the rocks on the beach. We just soak up the glory of God in his creation!

Third rule of the river: Don’t sleep on the ground.

It’s hard! Casey and I got an air mattress as a wedding gift, but unfortunately, it sprung a leak after one of its first uses. For a while, the leak was small enough that when we woke up in the middle of the night on a sinking mattress, we could just pump some air back into it and go to sleep. Not so this time. Casey woke up in the wee hours of the a.m. to the SOUND of air leaking. The leak had never been THAT big! Sure enough, we found the source---the hole turned into a tear…the diameter of my pinky finger. We resigned ourselves to letting the air out completely and found out exactly how hard the rocky ground really is. I woke up with a huge kink in my neck.

Thankfully, spring-fed river water is a great ice-bath in the morning for any aches and pains!

Morning breakfast is another tasty treat: Casey’s special scrambled eggs, complete with green pepper, onion, and sausage. Then we hang around camp for more of the playing, swimming, and sunbathing before it’s time to pack up camp and head down the river.

Sometimes Trekker likes to get in the canoe up front with me, and by the end of the trip, he is tuckered out for at least a couple of days after! And so are we. Life is good on the river. I look forward to many more trips together.

A tuckered out pup!

Blessed

I have been blessed to grow up in a family of four girls--yep, I have three younger sisters. We are all two years apart. Right now, our ages are 27, 25, 23, and 21. I sometimes get an inkling of how stressful that must have been on my parents' hearts--good thing two of my sisters are getting equipped to handle any future medical issues that may result from said stress.

My sisters and I have had our ups and downs, but I think it's safe to say that we have always gotten along eerily well, especially for growing up together in a three bedroom, two bathroom house with no basement. Essentially, the thing I now know to be privacy did not exist at my house. I always shared a bedroom. And a bathroom (which was by far the more difficult). Not that it was a bad thing, in hindsight. I love my family and realize now how much we learned and how close a relationship was bonded through my time under the same roof as them.

I didn't realize then how close we were or were becoming. Which is funny, particularly because we didn't fight as much as you might think. Definitely not the screaming, hair pulling, door slamming kind of fighting. I mean, I'm sure that must have happened on rare occassions, but what I remember more of is the playing outside together; or playing "house" (for some reason I have this image of my youngest sister Jessica panting while playing her traditional role of "pet dog." I don't know if this was traditional for her or if she just played it once and my memory remembers differently); or making calendars for my parents (a tradition that started upwards of twelve years ago and is still going--watch out, Energizer bunny); or going hiking in Colorado, or a million other things we did growing up.

The best part is that all of the growing up wasn't the best part. Each year of my life, I continue to grow closer and closer to my sisters, despite the increasing physical distance between our houses. They have become my best friends.

Today was a reminder of just how much I love my sisters and how grateful I am to have them in my life. Last year, at about this time, Melissa, my 25 year old sister, became a Christian. Despite growing up in a Christian home, she struggled to accept the idea of Christianity for years and years. Through many prayers from myself, my family, and others, and most of all through God's continual pursuit of her heart, Melissa accepted Jesus as her personal Savior on August 25, 2009.

What joy! I have been brought to tears time and again since I first read her letter to us, where her humility and awe and desire to follow Christ were so evident that I could do nothing but praise our mighty, mighty God for his good work. I still haven't quite found the words to express this experience, but on some level, I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son. I can almost taste the joy of the father as his son returns home.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I admire and respect my sister. Her faith is astounding. I love to hear her talk about Jesus so intimately, and to know that now we all share this common ground together.

I wept again today, tears of joy, as Melissa was baptized into her new faith. With family and friends as witnesses, she publicly proclaimed her love for the Lord and her new found purpose in glorifying Him. It was wonderful to celebrate, knowing that the angels in heaven are joining with us.

Another Day

Since I started this blog almost a month ago, at various times of the day, I will think to myself, Oh, I should write in my blog. But usually the thought that follows is something along the lines of, but what will I write about? I have rarely encountered writer's block, especially when writing in a journal, which is mostly how I associate blogging. But while journaling, I've never had an audience other than myself. I never accounted for how different that would make the concept of writing. All of a sudden I find myself worrying way more about whether or not others will find my blog interesting than about what I have to say. Yes, I know, I need to get over myself.

And then I remember that the reason I started a blog in the first place is because I so much enjoy following the day-to-day lives of my far away friends, and I thought I would give them the same opportunity. Nothing like cyberspace to make you feel closer to people than you are in reality. Although I say that somewhat sarcastically, and I often feel that the internet, especially social networks like Facebook and Twitter, will be the death of authentic relationships, it finally occurred to me that maybe online relationships are not always superficial or lazy (thoughts, I confess, I have had in the past). Thus, I began my own blog, in hopes that my friends afar will be able to connect to my daily world, be it eventful, or just another day. After all, it's not as though all the conversations I have with the friends I do see are terribly deep and enlightening. Most of the time, well, we just talk about our days.

So here's today---another day.

I'm off to Lindbergh for a Link Crew presentation. After that, I have an appointment to get new front tires. Probably something I would have kept putting off indefinitely, if my wonderful husband hadn't pointed out the flat tire on my car this morning. In an of itself, probably not a reason to get new tires, but they have been looking quite bald (I finally did the Lincoln's head test this morning--it's time!), and on Sunday, I mentioned to Casey that my tire was looking low. Apparently, it was low, and I should have taken the time to put some air in it then, rather than waiting until it went completely flat, then causing my husband to be late to work because he had to get out his compressor and fill it up for me.

I love my husband.

Happy Rainy Tuesday.

Plum Tuckered Out

Over the weekend, Casey and I began the arduous process of bending metal around the fascia of our house. We figured that this weekend was a good time because Casey had Monday off for the 4th of July. He also planned to take off on Friday the 2nd, giving us a four day stretch to complete the project (that didn't work out, so we ended up having to cram the project into 3 days). It is one of the biggest projects still left on the house, and one we were much looking forward to finishing for more than one reason. Aside from the fact that having metal around the fasia will keep us from having to paint the fascia over and over again, it will also allow us to finally get new gutters. Our current/former gutters had a a leak---right over our front steps!

We began with a 10 hour day on Saturday that included removing the gutters and rotting front fascia boards.

Casey removed several years worth of bird's nests from one corner of the house, and multiple bee and wasp nests throughout. I can't say I'm disappointed that we won't be providing housing for wildlife in the future.

It was quite a warm day for such a project. I had to wear sunglasses, not because of the brightness of the sun, but because the coil stock was so bright, the glare hurt my eyes.

Newly covered fascia, still no gutters.

After 10 hours on Saturday, we continued bending metal on Sunday afternoon, not as early as we'd have liked, but still hoping to finish by Monday. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we had to quit early. On the bright side, we cleaned up and had dinner at Olive Garden instead.

Monday, we finished bending all the metal and returned the break. Or rather, Casey finished.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the yard. I trimmed our out-of-control-bush.

And weeded my flower garden.

We still have lots of work left to finish it, but we are well on our way. And after three days of hot work, Casey and I both spent most of today in bed. He came home early from work with a fever. And I didn't feel much better. Still, we had a nice weekend of working together at home, something we both enjoy. Here's looking forward to new gutters and cooler weather, both of which are just around the corner---hopefully!

Trying to figure out blogger

Mostly, I am playing on picasa right now, and I wanted to figure out the process of posting pictures in my blog. I always appreciate those who include visual aids in their blogs. The selected picture is one of Casey and me drinking the some good ol' Boone's Farm (of the blue hawaiian variety). It's quite tasty and will remind any partakers of a fizzy kool-aid. Not any sort of kool-aid I drank growing up. But it's a fun summer treat for an evening with your husband (and goes quite well with a game of Settlers of Catan, in case you are looking for a nice complement to your board game night).

a finan dandy day to begin a blog

This blog is a long time coming (or is the saying, "this has been a long time coming"*?).

Either way, welcome to my blog. which I have wanted to begin for a long time.

I am decorating my house today. (Decorating is one of my summer to-dos. Blogging is another one. Look at that---two goals, one day). Ever since Casey and I moved in to Miami over a year and a half ago, I've had that crazy desire to decorate and make this place feel like home, that whole nesting concept, I guess.

Today, I am filling an empty frame that has been hanging by our front door for almost a year. Last summer, I got about halfway through the nesting process before summer ended, and thus, all my free time.

Last week, I finally found the inspiration I needed.

First, some background: Becuase we both love to read, Casey and I used a book theme at our wedding. We chose quotes from many of our favorite books and put one at each table. I have wanted to incorporate those quotes, or at least some of them, into the decor of our home. So far, the only quote hanging in our house is in the bathroom, and is about a hat that smells like urine. While funny--and appropriately placed, given its location--it feels awkward without other quotes throughout the house to create unity in theme.

So here's the quote that will go in the frame by our front door. It's about home, or lack thereof. Pretty apropos, if you ask me. Oh, and it's from Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.

I had often called myself an optimist, to avoid the too
evident blasphemy of pessimism. But all the optimism of the age had been false and disheartening for this reason, that it had always been trying to prove that we fit in to the world. The Christian optimism is based on the fact that we
do not fit in to the world. I had tried to be happy by telling myself that man is an animal, like any other which sought its meat from God. But now I was really was happy, for I had learnt that man is a monstrosity. I had been right in feeling all things odd, for I myself was at once worse and better than all things. The optimist’s pleasure was
prosaic, for it dwelt on the naturalness of everything; the Christian pleasure was poetic, for it dwelt on the unnaturalness of everything in the light of the supernatural. The modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I had still felt depressed even in acquiescence. But I had heard that I was in the wrong place, and my soul sang for joy, like a bird in spring. The knowledge found out and illuminated forgotten chambers in the dark house of infancy. I knew now why grass had always seemed to me as queer as the green beard of a giant, and why I could feel homesick at home.

The best part? I'm trying to make this house feel like home by hanging up pictures and quotes and pieces of me and Casey. But we aren't home. Yet.

*So I looked up this phrase online and found a post usingenglish.com. here is the answer: What does the phrase "long time coming" mean? I mean the connotation? Does that mean something has been in the process of coming for a long time and finally it has come, or not come yet, but it will come eventually, or it will not come.
Depends on the tense of the verb that precedes it:He finally apologized. It's been/was a long time coming.John: He's going to apologize.Mary: It's a long time coming. that is, he hasn't as yet, and the apology is long overdue.