Wine & Canvas

Sometimes, you just need to go hang out with a friend. Last Friday, I grabbed a college pal, and we headed to Indy for a Wine & Canvas event, which is exactly what it sounds like. There's wine. There are canvases. You drink wine. You paint on the canvases. Whoever thought of this idea is really a genius. So much fun!!

The premise is that a bunch of adults (mostly female it turns out, not surprisingly) get together at a place that serves wine (or other drinks for that matter), and everyone (who follows directions) paints the same scene by following the instructor. So much fun just to sit and do something that had nothing to do with school, homework, cleaning, school, or homework. Crystal and I picked the event ahead of time that had the painting we wanted to do, which is an added bonus. Not surprisingly, neither of our paintings were particularly good though the techniques consisted of nothing more than slathering on the background color and then adding lines and circles. But, still fun!!

Crystal getting ready to paint. By the way, we shared an appetizer called shrimp cigars and they...were...divine. That alone made the drive to Indy worthwhile.

I say that everyone was supposed to have painted the same picture because of this. Notice the lady on the left. She sat directly to the right of me, and wouldn't stop talking about saving for retirement and for college while the instructor was trying to give directions. She worked ahead without waiting to find out what to do, decided she didn't like what she had done, covered over the whole thing with white, and then painted some random abstract grass/sky scene out of greens and yellows. I really took this picture just so I could get her canvas in the shot so that I had proof.

The lady to the left of Crystal was very nervous before we started painting. Her canvas turned out just fine, but I'm not sure she had that much fun. We did, though! When we got to the part doing the circles, I realized we had essentially stopped talking because we were both so engrossed in painting. Crystal is rinsing her paint brush in the water cup provided for that task. Before we started, we were warned about rinsing our brushes in our wine glasses. Being the goober that I am, I accidentally rinsed my paint brush in the small container of dip that came with the shrimp cigars. Still delicious.

This is my finished canvas. What do I do with it now?

the saga

What happens when you work full-time, have a baby, and try to finish your masters degree at the same time? Chaos. Mayhem. Actually, even without Abby both of these words apply. I'm in my fourth (!!!) year trying to finish up what would be a two-year degree if I were working on it, solely, full-time. I expected it to take three. But then it got pushed back to 3 1/2. And now it's four. Years. 36 educational months. Seriously, am I mental?

No, just incredibly stubborn. I don't need a masters in English literature to continue teaching. I could do a mail-order 18-month job or stay up-to-date one "class" at a time in the summer when 1-week classes are prevalent. I could...but really, that's simply not my thing. To me, that doesn't benefit me and especially not my students.

So the saga continues, the 40-hour work week as well as an average of 18-24 hours devoted to grad work as well as frantic grading whenever I can. And this doesn't even account for grading that I can't get done at school. For the first time ever, I was on the verge of tears at school because of the grading. Am I nutters?!? Who does this? On purpose??!??

But I'm almost done, and that thought alone is so wonderful and so disheartening. I'm almost done, and yet there's so much to do yet. So I extended the torture just a little longer in lieu of some amount of sanity now. Next spring, I promise, I'm graduating. What purpose this whole exercise in seeming futility will have served remains to be seen. Let's hope for good things.

I look forward to reading for fun, to not driving to campus anymore, and to doing nothing constructive on Sunday afternoons. How will I celebrate? Any suggestions? Anyone want to donate to my Amy-just-finished-her-Masters-degree-and-now-feels-that-a-vacation-to-Hawaii-is-completely-and-utterly-warranted fund???

I just really love sports. I just do.

I remember when Ben and I first hooked up, it was really important to me that he like, love, or tolerate sports cause I just loooove my sports. Thankfully, he does. This is vital as this is practically all that we watch on tv. It's always on. Neither of us watches any "normal" tv shows (with one exception), and my V-Day present a couple of years ago was a subscription to MLB Extra Innings. I just really really love sports. We scheduled a long layover in Atlanta on our honeymoon so that we could catch a game at Turner Field. When we go on vacation, we tour ballparks and check who is playing whom so that we can see our boys play. The first time we left Abby after she was born to do something by ourselves was to see the Colts. Serious love here.

It also irks me greatly when I have to prove my sports knowledge to any male, when my opinion is devalued simply because I'm a female. It happens, a lot. C'mon boys, let me play too.

But right now, the Braves are just breaking my heart. Someone hand me some tissues. My soul needs to be soothed.

Organic living, 3rd quarter

It's October. That means that the year-o-organic living has almost come to an end. But why not admit it first thing...this is a lifestyle for us now. I don't see us going back to the way we were anymore than I will ever eat a Snickers bar with no guilt ever again. (By the way, thanks to whomever stuck a Snickers in my mailbox today!) I know, crazy as it may seem, spending a touch more money doesn't really bother me if it means that I know I'm buying better food for my family. I'm convinced, organic food is worth it. But that's just me.

Here's what we've learned lately:

*It takes 2 trips to the grocery store each week to *save* money. Here's how that works. Much produce just doesn't last that well (regardless of whether it's organic or not, I might add) by the time it's journeyed to my grocery store and sat there until I buy it. I'm so tired of buying a snazzy little box of raspberries and then having them mold on me before Abby can eat them all (e.g. 2 days). These little gems always cost a good bit considering the amount you get, but they're so good for you and Abby eats them pretty well (hence, worth the cost to me). But if I can't use them, then they're worthless. So I buy less and with more purpose on my Sunday trip to the store and one of us, usually Ben since it's really not out of his way, stops on Thursday and picks up some more bananas or whatever. It's a good thing that bananas are cheap regardless or organic or not; they disappear in our house. And lest you shake your head disapprovingly, Ben is impervious to impulse shopping. It's uncanny. He really is. So it works out b-utifully for him to make a quick run in for x, y, and z items.

*If you want to talk expensive, let's talk farmer's market. Worth it? It's uber fresh. And I really really dig having the ability to buy directly from the producer. As a surprise revelation for us this year, we've also taken an interest in buying as locally as possible, which means that I generally don't begrudge an extra buck for some super fresh broccoli.

*I've learned that the cheapest organic juice, bar none, is at Target. And, they also have cheaper organic snacks. But Abby seriously loves the organic cheesy ducks from Meijer, so there's a splurge once in a while.

*We've made up the investment cost of the gDiapers. From here on out...free. Kinda. And we're lucky; our babysitters have been great about working with us about these.

*The composter and recycling really reduces the amount of trash that we put out each week. It's not unusual for us to have no trash to put out on any given week. (By the way, did you know that there are trash bags made from recycled material? And compostable bags? And some made by corn products--biodegradable?? Yep. Also biodegradable/compostable muffin liners, which are much fun to be able to toss in the compost bin.) Recycling is super-duper fantastic in this city. The one thing I'll miss when we move on some day?

*I don't like Meijer brand natural/green detergent to clean cloth diapers...my only complaint with anything so far.

*We're oddballs in my family with this greener lifestyle.

That's about it right now. I think we've reached a plateau at which we're comfortable, but most importantly, we're always conscious of looking for better choices that we can make. We like it. So far, I guess that makes our New Year's resolution a success.

small luxuries

I'm the type of person who doesn't need flashy toys or expensive things to be happy. Earlier this semester, I had a class of juniors respond to a prompt for vocab practice about something that is seemingly insignificant but is rather vitally important. About 1/3 of them responded with---cell phones. Not me. I'm rather of the opinion that if I had a cool, flashy, does-everything-but-actually-make-the-brownies-for-me cell phone that I would get too caught up in it. Not that I'm against them, but it's just not where I want my chi to reside.

I'm all about the small luxuries. This is what I spend my fun money on--buying good, crunchy chocolate and soy based candles, sneaking away for a once-every-two years pedicure, and refilling my Starbucks card.

I didn't even drink coffee regularly until about 2 years ago. Other than the random super sweet mocha on special occasions, I rarely drank the black brew. And then I started grad school while working full-time, convincing myself that I would need to learn to drink the non-syrup laden stuff in order to stretch the hours in a day a little farther. (Really, I even bought myself a special watch with an alarm on it figuring that there would be many a night when I would need it to wake me up after I fell asleep out on the couch. For the record, not so much.) So I bought myself a coffee maker.

This was the perfect coffee maker for me. It made coffee quickly, one cup at a time, and it was on clearance so it was a relatively cheap investment of my fun money. But it broke, and I moved up to a french press.

But I still love my Starbucks card. There's just something super sinful to me about having the luxury to swing through my handily close Starbucks on the way to school, to walk in with a super gi-normous, trademark paper cup of hot goodness.

I love the weight of a full cup as it is handed to me. I love the smell of coffee and milk. I love the kinda hippy baristas and reiterate that this is one of my dream jobs. I love the laid back clientele who lounge with papers and chat with friends. I especially love the first few foamy sips.

It's not that I am solely in love with Starbucks. I mostly just love good coffee houses, and when in Kokomo, that means Starbucks--ubiquitous, iconic, and absolutely luxurious.

Higher Grounds, Coffee D'Vine, and Coffee Junkies--you all have a tender place in my latte-loving heart for introducing the varied joys of heavily sugared and flavored coffee.

loveys

My daughter is a bit strange in how she loves her loveys. Or, rather, what she chooses to be her loveys. And, likewise, how many she has. Really, she's a bit of a nutter when it comes to soft and cuddly things.

First, there's the famous (in our house) pink moo cow. This one, we actually have tried to get her attached to it because it's easy enough to take with us whenever we need her to sleep someplace strange. In actuality, this one she enjoys for brief moments of time but never really asks for it. We still force it on her. :-)

Abby carries around random articles of clothing for her preferred loveys...nutty. And almost embarrassing...think about dropping her off at the sitter and checking to make sure that she has her old shirt with her.

She dutifully obliged to show how much she loves it.

Sometimes (actually more often than not), she walks around double fisted. And this is the only way that I could get a picture of the pink onesie in her left hand as she would not let me wrest it from her grasp. That one is a size 24 mo. that I had on her shelf for next summer; how is she ever going to let me put it on her??

Another fav--a pair of leggings, size 3 mo. that I had set aside to put with other too small clothes to store. In fact, this was *the* lovey today. Since she has so many options, it varies day to day.

another piece thieved from the outgrown clothes pile

And she does love her cuddly animals, too. Like the super soft Harry the horse...

...and kitty, who oddly, doesn't have any name at all...

...and her Welsh sheep...

...and duckie...

...and Giggly the gorilla (Ben named it, don't mock *me*).

Then there is the first blankie (for when the other blankie is dirty, of course).


And BLANKIE!!! This one is a favorite every day.


Abby even loves her book about her lovey.

But, it's so wonderful to see her walking around with something soft and cuddly snuggled up under her chin. And then when she cuddles one (or four) of her loveys as we snuggle for a minute before bed or whatever, and she just lays her head on my shoulder and is so content with life, I feel all melty inside. And then it's okay that she fell in love with a tiny scrap of bright blue cloth because she's just happy with her little pants and we're just happy with her.

genius

I created such suspense with promise of a pictorial post soon to come, and then threw one of the key components in the dirty clothes basket. And I don't want to fish it out right now. It will be clean soon enough, and then the pictures will come as well.

On a funnier note, I flushed one of my favorite earrings down the toilet yesterday. That kind of summed up my day, too. Ah well.