Scratch that one off of the list

I have a sort of list that I wrote one night when I was trying to calm my mind or something before I went to bed. Sometimes I have to do that. On this list are about 30 things that I want to do someday. It feels good to scratch things off of lists, you know?

Thanks to Ben, I can will be able to scratch one item off...we're going to see a Colts game in August. Granted, it's a pre-season game. But still. Seriously. Who cares? It's going to be in the Luke (hehe), and the tickets were free! For once Ben was lucky and won a drawing. I guess ninety-eight times a charm, eh?

"A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck." James A. Garfield

Monopoly post script

P.S. I FINALLY beat Ben at Monopoly after trying for a week. Unfortunately for our marriage, this whoopin' (for Monopoly, which tends to take a relatively long time, the entire game last about an hour) was sandwiched between 2 veritable decimations playing Scrabble. Ben finally declared a 7 day moratorium on playing games with me. I know that he's hit his breaking point when he keeps muttering, "It's not your birthday...it's not your birthday!!"

Monopoly

Ben pulled Monopoly out of the closet-o-games a few days ago for whatever reason. It had been so long since either of us had played it that both of us needed a refresher course on the rules. It's really more complex than I remember it being. So we've "played" 3 games now...and I have been wholloped 3 times now. I haven't just been beaten, I have been beaten to a bloody pulp while cheating so that I would stay alive. That's just kicking a corpse while it's dead.

Inevitably, it ends the same way: I declare that I quit and Ben is left to play for both sides and then just trounce "me" with no remorse.

The last time that I played this, I'm sure it was when I played it with my older brother before either of us had summer jobs. I remember being bored enough that playing with each other was at least somewhat appealing. Those games always ended with the one of us being unhappy with losing and quitting unceremoniously (deja vu). My Monopoly skills have obvously not improved with age.

By the way...as I type this, Ben is currently playing himself times 4, i.e. there are 4 players in this game and he is controlling them all. Will he get mad at himself if he beats himself?

"There are always survivors at a massacre. Among the victors, if nowhere else." Lois McMaster Bujold

Underwear Poll

I have been thinking of what I should write for my next blog; lo and behold, Ben gives me a topic. Thanks, Ben (just in case he reads this for once).

We have, for 3 years now, had differing opinions on how to fold underwear. He inists that it is more space effective to just lay every pair flat upon each other. Granted, his is all the same color and he doesn't have to shuffle through them in case he prefers to have a white day versus a blue day, for example. I prefer to fold my underwear. I always have and see no reason not to do so. Apparantly, this is about the wierdest thing to do; "Who cares if it has wrinkles? No one will see it?" What kind of an argument is that about whether I should fold my underwear or not?!? Furthermore, whenever Ben folds laundry and any of my offending pairs of undergarments happen to be in the load (which is basically always), Ben does either one of two options. Not so surprisingly, neither of those options is actually just folding it the way that I do it. Option A: fold it up into the tiniest, eency-weency little square possible. Option B: leave it all wadded up in a pile whereupon I have to fold it later. When we fold laundry together, mine and his both go flying in the air at the other person as neither of us wants to give in and fold them or not fold them as the other wants. As I read that last sentence, I imagine that there might be some sort of interesting mental picture conjured up from it (and of course the thought, "who flings underwear at their spouse?" tee hee).

So the poll: Do you or do you not fold your underwear?

I hope that since this is my blog with my kind of people reading it, that I'll get some support (bah-dum ching!). :-) Because of that last zinger and because I seriously doubt that my quote source has any quotes on underwear...I shall go commando on the quotes tonight. (I'm making myself giggle.)

This weekend wasn't what I thought it would be!

Ben and I just returned from a mini vacation that tried really really hard to not work out. It started out as a group of 7 sharing a great cabin for a week in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. It changed to 4 people maybe going to TN. But oh wait, $4/gallon of gas and other factors—lets do 4 days in Brown County, IN. Wait wait, Amy made a big mistake…it can only be 3 days, a long weekend, in Brown County. Whoa—lots of rain! LOTS. In fact scary, massive flooding and all of the interstates and highways coming down from Indy are closed, more rain in the forecast, non emergency travel is a big no-no. No more Brown County as of mid-afternoon the day of. Wait, we can go north…it’s drier up there. Despite everything, we had a terrific weekend with wonderful friends and only 5 minutes of rain (talk about a pop up shower) in a virtually deserted campground and a tolerable temperature. I took a personal day on the first day of summer school so that I could go on this camping trip; good thing it was worth it!

I’m reading Tony Dungy’s memoir Quiet Strength (even though I’m only 2/3 of the way through, I highly recommend this!), and the message of this book seemed to really fit with the weekend. Blessings, especially in disguise, are abundant. Two specific examples: friends and Ben’s random knowledge.

I have found that since graduation, it seems like my friends are always doing bigger, better and cooler things than I am. They have awesome jobs & school experiences or else are buying much nicer houses & cars. I greatly dislike the jealousy that I feel at times. However, I really realized lately and this weekend that I gain so much from these people that it far outweighs whatever I am “lacking.” It was so nice to be able to spend a couple of days with a couple with similar beliefs and values, who obviously love each other and better yet love talking with each other. You can tell that they’re not just married but that they are truly friends. What a blessing to have this influence in our lives so that we can learn from them.

I sprayed insect repellent directly into my right eye on accident yesterday when I was trying to spray my shoulder. I thought that I had the nozzle turned but apparently did not. It really hurt, but as anyone should not do, I began freaking out without any idea how to help myself. All I kept thinking of is how I was going to have permanent damage because I was in the middle of a campground. Where & how was I going to wash my eye out? The label on the bottle said to pour water into my eye for 15-20 minutes. How in the world could I do this?? But then Ben came back, and never have I felt so humbly grateful for him…not just oh my gosh, I love him but how do I deserve this individual who takes care of my so patiently gently. Apparently, he had some sort of similar situation years ago at camp and helped me rig an eyewash with a cup full of water. What would I/we have done if he had not been in a situation before where he was around someone who knew what to do and thus taught him? It may have been painful for him earlier and it was certainly painful or me now, but who knows that maybe someday I’ll save someone else’s eyes from damage in the future because now I know what to do. Blessings can be painful too! May we all not only be thankful for unexpected blessings but become aware of them.

"You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it." Albert Camus

My new little pretend garden

It's amazing to me how much I enjoy doing things now that I really rather disliked when I was growing up. My mom has quite a sizeable garden, and I wasn't always the biggest fan of going out and helping work in it. This isn't to say that I really worked all that hard in it a lot as it was. I did like walking in the dug up dirt during planting.

But growing flowers and veggies is actually fun! This realization led to 4 boards, a dug out area in a clay and lava rock patch and 20 bags of dirt. Now, I have quite a lovely little raised bed complete with various veggies that I used to not like but am now more often begrudgingly admittinging to be good. Fortunately, the upkeep isn't going to be all that much work, so I shouldn't come to dislike it. It's a little step but a worthwhile one.

"Part of the secret to life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."
Mark Twain