Revelations

Sometimes I come to these great revelations about myself, but then I get the impression that everyone else already knew that about me, or that everyone else already knew that about themselves. Funny.

It's only Wednesday, but I'm ready for the weekend.

Friday night: Warren Miller film
Saturday afternoon: Climbing at Higher Ground
Saturday night: Christmas party for all the Alma kids, before exams suck their souls out
Sunday: Church, Venturing meeting with Matt Baleja

Time to decide who in my stack of files is going to be admitted to Alma! Y'know, it's really not that hard to get in here, but if you're smart you get a heck of a scholarship under their new financial aid packaging. Still, I better have about $200,000 per kid saved up if I want to put them through a private school someday.

Planet Rock Sucks

$45 to climb in ABS Regionals. What a crock of crap. It's their loss, though, that none of the Alma climbers can afford to compete! Screw you guys, we're going to High Ground to climb for fun (hopefully).

And I love the volcano hold. It's way better than the brain hold.

My Thanksgiving

As always, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Part of me doesn't want to be back at work and part of me is excited for all the stuff I have to do here. Some new stuff is happening on campus that I can fill some of my students in on and one of my schools is the Division 3 or 4 state football champions. I watched them play on Friday and I'm excited to get in touch with them.

I ate way too much this weekend. Wednesday night was deep-fried turkey dinner with the DeYoungs, Thursday night was regular turkey with the Eccles side, Friday night was spaghetti with Papa and Gramma Carol (mom's side), Saturday was Jillian and Chelsey's reception and last night was grilled up a slab of the most tender ribs ever. Mmmm. Besides eating, we also cut our Christmas tree with my family, did a little shopping (the only reason I braved the malls was because we were already out and about for Mitch's early MRI, which he didn't even get to have because we forgot his script) and celebrated our one year anniversary. That's right, we've been married a whole year! It's really flown by but at the same time I can't imagine life without my wonderful husband.

And now, it's time to turn my attention to the Christmas season. The decorations are up (minus the tree - Mom and Dad are bringing it up in about two weeks) and I'm dreaming of a white Christmas every moment of the day. I'm also looking forward to attending church for the next three Sundays! That's right, consecutive attendance! Amazing! The sermons for the next month will all use elements of The Chronicles of Narnia to illustrate different points, so it should be interesting.

We went to church yesterday, too. Side note: we finally figured out that the Community Church is Evangelical Presbyterian. Anyone who can tell me the difference between that and the straight-up Presbies is my hero. Anyway, the sermon was great. The minister asked one question that really got me thinking: what stands between me and my relationship with God? Though there are probably tons more, I came up with three things:

(1) A desire for control. I look at the future and rather than praying about what God's will may be for me and trying to figure that out, I make plans based on what I want.

(2) Materialism. I want nice things often for the sake of having nice things, giving in to our materialistic culture instead of valuing my relationship with God and all his people above all else.

(3) Selfishness. This ties into a desire for control, but it also applies to me wanting to do what I want to with my time rather than giving it up for God. Church on Sundays has not been a priority, though I'm working on it. Instead of doing a devotional with Mitch, I'd rather drop right off to sleep. Instead of setting aside a time to pray, I just do it when it's convenient. That's my selfishness.

I suppose the first step in moving these idols aside and trying to keep them from itnerfering with my relationship with God is to recognize them. So there they are. I'm hoping when they rear their heads today that I can see them for what they are and battle them back.

Team Sugar, 3-1

We played much better last night, though the game wasn't much of a challenge. The other team got away with a lot of carries just because we wanted to actually volley. Still, the games were closer than they should have been, because we made quite a few mistakes on our side of the net. Overall, though, I'd give us a silver star for improvement. Afterwards, we played a pick-up game: me, Sam and Pete vs. Mitch, Gabe and a new gal named Christina who is very good. Mitch took a monster spill...he went up for a hit and somehow his foot slipped out from underneath him and he landed flat on his back. Actually, he said his shoulder hit and then his butt, but he was smart enough not to try to catch himself with his hands and to tuck his head so he didn't crack that on the floor. Thank goodness for quick reflexes!

I work news, I just got back from a long meeting about church relations. I'm excited to be working on this new project and I'm also excited that I'm now going to be in charge of keeping the admissions page on the website updated. Yay!

And it's SNOWING! I'm sure the roads won't be as bad as last year, when everyone from up in the Alma area missed our wedding rehearsal because they were stuck in traffic, so I'll just give thanks for snow and pray for safe travels for all my family and friends.

Yes, we're coming up on the one-year mark! I can't believe we've already been married a year. It's been the best year of my life - at times it's been one of the most challenging but it was Mitch who brought me through tough times and I'm so very, very thankful for my Favorite.

Evaluation

I just had my final evaluation with my boss, who is leaving for a new job after tomorrow. She said I had great potential and could make a great director some day if I stuck with admissions. Not that admissions is really in my long-term plans but it's a nice little boost.

In other news, love is when he puts toothpaste on my toothbrush while I'm in the shower.

Bronner's and Bucks

Actually, Mitch got a doe this weekend, not a buck, but "doe" would have eliminated the alliteration in my blog title. Maybe the buck will come next weekend.

Mitch got his deer on Sunday evening and I went out with his dad to pick it up. I don't really think I could kill anything like that. And I wouldn't want Mitch to, either, if we weren't going to eat it. When he didn't get one Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning, I told his mom it was a good thing we didn't have to rely on Mitch's hunting to put food on the table...otherwise, we'd probably have to go live with Dave and Mariah (he's gotten a few deer between bow and rifle season) since Dave apparently knows how to hunt. Haha, now we'll have food for the winter. :)

While Mitch was out toting his gun around, I took my first-ever trip to Bronner's, the world's largest CHRISTmas store. It was overwhelming - if I hadn't gone in there with somewhat of a mission, I would've been lost. As it turns out, I bought ornaments for Jillian and Chelsey's wedding gift, some glass icicles for our tree and some fun lights to break up all the white lights we have for our tree. Being there definitely made me even more excited for Christmas, if that's even possible. My grandma is giving me one of her Christmas villages to put up and I have some beautiful nativity scenes to put up. The Precious Moments one is my favorite because my mom has one and Bobby and I used to set it up together every year. We'd even alternate who got to set up Baby Jesus every year.

One thing for which I am thankful: a short work week! The group visit on Saturday ended up going fine and I got to air my frustrations with Deedee this morning. She didn't know the crazy one was probably applying for the director's position, but I got a little inside info from another coworker and I noticed Crazy is not on the search committee though she was initially listed. Deedee quickly pointed out that after oneof our other reps leaves in early December, she will have the most seniority of any rep, other than the co-directors. She'll be pretty vocal during the search process, she assured me.

Well, it's now late enough for me to call Mitch's orthopedic surgeon and get a pre-authorization for his MRI, which is scheduled for Friday at 6:40 am in Royal Oak. That's going to be an early morning!

She's crazy

She's driving me absolutely crazy! I'm at work, getting ready for a group presentation that I have to do with one of my least favorite coworkers and she's driving me up the wall. She doesn't explain herself clearly and has a tendency to say things that border on insults...but then she plays them off as if she wasn't really saying what you think she's saying. I think she's also applying for our recently-vacated director position. Please, oh please, not that.

Team Sugar, 2-1

We didn't really deserve the win last night. It was jungle ball to the max. At least my serving is back on the ball.

Work has been busy, as evidenced by the fact that I started this blog entry at 1 pm and it's now after 4 pm. I would be all excited that it's Friday, but I have to work tomorrow. I'll only be here 'til noonish, but I'd still rather stay cuddled in my warm bed rather than being forced out of bed by an alarm clock too early.

What I appreciate most today: Band-Aids specially designed for knuckles. I scraped the knuckles on my right hand pretty hard on Tuesday and they were still sore today. I tried ointment and regular bandages but those seemed to make my hand hurt worse. Eventually, I got fed up, braved the cold and trekked through the cold to Evan's (I didn't want to lose my parking spot by driving) where I found the answer to my prayers. Thank you, Band-Aid.

Frustration

I have this need to grab a project by the horns and run with it. I like being in charge and I really think I can get things done. I know I need to prove myself around here but it sucks when I have to take a back seat on projects that excite me and for which I'm truly qualified to lead. Don't tell me how valuable I am and then sit silent when I ask what my responsibilities should be.

TGIS!

Thank goodness it's snowing! When the sun started to come up, I looked out the window and couldn't help smiling at the sight of a little snow on the ground. Now it's nice and sunny, flakes are drifting down and I'm happy to see winter is really here.

No climbing or working out last night...I was pretty beat and since we're going to be at the rec late tonight for my volleyball game, we decided to stay home. Gabe came over to do a hangboard with Mitch and show me a little bit of HTML. I also got my plans set for Sunday, when my mother-in-law and I will be taking a trip to Bronner's and meeting my mom there. I've never been there before, but who can resist the world's largest Christmas store forever?

Not the winner

Last night Mitch, Gabe and I stopped at a gas station and bought two Lotto tickets for the big game. We were a riot in the store - none of us had ever bought Lotto tickets before, so we didn't know how to do it. But we figured it out and I made a deal with Gabe: I would buy him a ticket, but if he won we had to split the winnings. Let me tell you, we had lots of fun on the way home talking about what we'd do with that much money - something to the tune of $315 million. There was a lot of house-building going on in our imaginations (for ourselves and our parents) along with lots of fun trips for family and friends and some charity work, too.

But we didn't win. Alas, the Access Fund will have to convince the new winners to donate big, since we can't.

Team Sugar, 1-1

We had our first real IM game last night (last week the other team didn't show up) and it did not go well. First, you can tell that none of us are used to playing together. We don't know how to move as a team to cover the court and we make silly mistakes like sending the setter and a hitter up for a block on a short girl who's just going to tip over their heads where no one is covering because they're both blocking. Argh. The one positive thing I can say is that our serving (mine in particluar) vastly improved from last week's pick-up game and we had some good volleys. Still, there's no reason we should have lost to this team. Hopefully tomorrow's game, though we'll be short-handed, will go better.

I also got to do a bit of climbing yesterday, but the wall attacked my knuckles and not I have two sore scrapes on the first and second knuckles of my right hand. Ouch. I think we're going back down to the wall tonight and hopefully there will be some vball going on so I can keep my skills from getting any more rusty than they already are. I wouldn't mind a nice weight workout, either.

Happy Opening Day!

I swear traffic was lighter going in to work this morning, and I'll chalk it up to so many people being out in the woods with their rifles. Mitch, unfortuately, won't get to hunt until Saturday afternoon, but I hope he has more luck this year than he's had since I met him. I really like venison and would love to see our freezer stocked with meat for the rest of the winter.

This weekend was nice and long. Mitch had Friday off because it was Veteran's Day so I took the day off, too. We spent the morning putting up shelves and unpacking our china and crystal, running errands and finishing off Tim's new workout regime. Then we had Gabe and Andrea over for a spaghetti dinner (yes, we used the china and crystal!) before heading down to Alma for the dance show. I loved seeing Jen, Michaela and Caleb onstage, but I hated the first act. The anti-war message made no sense at all. I've heard some very good anti-war arguments, so I'm not saying this just because I do happen to believe we should currently be in Iraq, but when you're going to put your opinions in a public forum like a dance show, they should really have more substance than simply showing battle footage and having your students chant something about the poor children of Iraq (who, by the way, will now not have to grow up under Saddam's oppressive and dangerous regime). Oh, and there was barely any dancing! Even if the message confounded me, I could still enjoy true artistic impression, but there was just a lot of walking around on stage and setting up chairs. The second and third acts, though, were great. Jen made a super Swanilda, Michaela was so graceful and Caleb was a stud in his tuxedo, never dropping Jen or tripping anyone. If any of you guys are reading this, congrats on a great performance!

On Saturday we headed down to Grand Rapids for an ABS climbing comp. Joe and his little brother, Tyler, met us there and I was very impressed by Tyler's climbing. He's only been a few times, but he was keeping up with the guys pretty well. The point values on the routes went from 1,000 to over 50,000, and I was climbing mostly in the teens and low twenties. One route was very frustrating. It was worth 21,000 and I should have been able to climb it no problem, but I didn't start working on it 'til the end of the afternoon and after three tries, I simply could not hold on any more. Grrr. But I got second in the beginner category. Joe got second or third in men's beginner and Mitch got bumped up to intermediate. I think you can check out how Mitch and I are doing in the standings by visiting www.rockcomps.com. The stats from Saturdya may not be up yet, though.

After the comp, we satisfied our craving for McDonald's fries and went to Dave and Mariah's for dinner. It was so fun to hang out with them...we haven't seem them since the summer, when we stayed with them at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. After pizza, we played five games of Sequence (boys won 3, girls won 2) and three more games of Euchre (girls won 2, boys won 1). Mariah promised to teach me how to play poker next time. Apparently, even though she can't bluff in Euchre, she's a pretty darn good poker player.

We left Dave and Mariah's around 9 pm and were supposed to meet up with Adrienne and Lindsay, but it was too late for us to drive into Rochester, or wherever they were. We crashed hard at my parents' house...they were out in Rhode Island watching our old neighbor, Jamie, play his last home football game for Brown University. Sometime in the middle of the night, there was a big crash downstairs and it scared the living daylights out of me! In my half-asleep stupor, I was sure someone was breaking into our house, but it was just one of my mom's wreaths falling off the door. I think watching so many episodes of Rescue 911 as a kid must have scarred me a bit.

Sunday was a nice day of rest, mostly. We straightened out a mistake with some of our wedding crystal at Marshall Fields, did our laundry (the dryers are STILL broken in our apartment complex!) and played Scrabble. I love Scrabble. If anyone ever wants to play, I'm all for it. We also made dinner so that when my family got home, they could just relax and enjoy some awesome ribs. Mmm, ribs.

We stayed with my parents again on Sunday night so we could be in Southfield for Mitch's 7:15 am appointment with a new orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Anderson. The basic consensus is that Mitch needs to get an MRI so Dr. Anderson can see whether or not the microfracture performed in Mitch's last operation has been successful. He would also like to determine if there is anything structurally that can be fixed with surgery or if there is another way to help Mitch. For the moment, he has Mitch taking glucosamine chondriton (I think I spelled that wrong), which is supposed to help promote cartilage growth and "promote healthy joints."

I took the whole day off on Monday, which was nice because after the appointment, we drove back to Mt. Pleasant and I actually got to relax instead of rushing back to work like Mitch. I did some grocery shopping and picked up a few other things, worked on my scrapbook and spent some quality time with my kitty-cat. That evening, Mitch and I were both studying - he for a work-related exam he's taking this morning and me for the GMAT, which I hope to take this winter.

So now it's back to work. I've had a great morning so far...the student who visited me was great and had just as many questions as when I met her at her high school. Now it's time for lunch...it's tomato and fresh mozzerella (did I spell that wrong, too?) day!

SOLD!

"...to the lady in the second row,
She's an eight, she's a nine, she's a ten I know,
She's got ruby red lips, blond hair, blue eyes,
And I'm about to bid my heart goodbye..."

Silly country song.

I SOLD MY CAR! Finally! A family from Mitch's church bought it last night, so after today we'll be done with loan payments. Granted, we have to pick up just over a thousand bucks to pay off the loan, but with not having to make car or insurance payments, we can put that money back in our savings accounts in almost no time! We celebrated with a trip to the wall, a shoulder/chest workout and a steak dinner this evening. Mmm.

On the radio this morning...

...they said the "s" word. That's right: s...s...snow! Not much, maybe just mixed in with some of this rain later on tonight. I apologize to everyone who keeps saying how great this warm weather is, but YES! I want a cold, snowy winter that begins this month!

I was going to post a link to redeem Victoria's Secret, because I found some very pretty, feminine, non-scandalous underwear at their Midland store, but the photo on the website makes them look less cute. Instead, anyone who knows anything about quickdraws can feel free to tell me what he/she thinks about these:

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/product.asp?s%5Fid=0&dept%5Fid=10228&pf%5Fid=10019337

Also, for Mr. Timothy Slade, here's a link to help you get started in your search for a lead rope. REI's Outlet site doesn't have any ropes on there right now, but you should keep checking.

http://www.rei.com/outlet/learn/climb/chropes.html?vcat=OUTLET_SSHP_CLIMBING_LD

Finally, I've got news to make you drool, Tim. I'm playing IM volleyball this semester! John Jruse, Sam Sugar, Kohn, Pete and some others invited me to join them, and I'm pumped for our first game tomorrow. Nervous, too, though. I haven't played since the summer so I hope I don't screw up too many times.

It's official

I'm truly, truly done with travel season now. Yesterday I took my final high school recruiting trip, driving to Elk Rapids and then to Gaylord. I finished up my day with a trip to Alma's Hallmark store, which is closing. While talking to the owner, I learned fifteen Hallmark stores in Michigan are going out of business at this very moment because Hallmark brand merchandise is now sold in stores like the ever-evil Wal-Mart. Hallmark stores are always run by independent owners - usually sweet women in a local community - who can't make any money when customers can go elsewhere and get Hallmark products for cheaper. It makes me sad, because my mom and I have always gotten certain items at Hallmark stores and soon there won't be any left to visit. But I did find good deals on a frame for another wedding photo I just ordered, a small album to give Mitch's grandpa for Christmas, holiday wrapping paper and maybe a little gift for someone special. :)

The weekend was wonderful, as usual. Mitch and Gabe went golfing on Saturday while I hit up the Midland mall for some new khaki pants (I shrunk mine while doing laundry last week) and a bit of Christmas shopping. Victoria's Secret may be a little weird right now - they're using a little pink dog as a marketing tool - but there are still some very pretty things there! On Sunday we went to the Mt. Pleasant Commnunity Church. We hope to begin regular attendance so we can learn more about the church and hopefully, finally, find a real church home. Then we took Gabe out to Mitch's parents' house where we cleared Mitch's shooting lanes in preparation for hunting season. It was a pretty relaxing Sunday...just what I needed to gear up for the week. Not that this week is going to be very tough: Mitch and I both have Friday off! Yay for bank holidays like Veteran's Day and for the crazy amount of vacation days I receive!

For Gabe

Today I looked at that quiz I placed in my blog and thought, "I wonder if they do that with tables." I may have opted out on HTML lessons in favor of sleeping on your couch last night, but I do listen to what you say. I even used bracket-things to make do bold right there. Proud?

November?!?

OK, it should not be 70 degrees in November! This is just crazy. I was getting ready this morning, comtemplating what cute winter hat to wear to work, when it turns out I barely even need a jacket. Yesterday the two ladies who walk by my window every morning were wearing earmuffs...today I don't even think they had jackets on. Don't get me wrong, I love these beautiful, sunny days, but it's NOVEMBER! We can have sun and forty degree temps at the same time and still enjoy ourselves.

Last night Mitch and I went over to Gabe and Andrea's to start making a dent in our mounds of laundry. The guys played video games and since Andrea was out, I pretty much read my book, folded laundry and slept on the couch (or the floor, at one point). I was exhausted and I have no idea why. Then I kept waking up during the middle of the night, once because Chip was doing his whiny meow-type thing. Cute, but not appropriate for 2 am. Now I'm at work, kind of bored, and hoping the day goes pretty quickly...because I'm getting my hair cut this evening! I just made the appointment and I hope I can actually come away with a cut I like this time.

The Life Quiz

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	9
Mind:	7.8
Body:	8.9
Spirit:	8.8
Friends/Family:	7.9
Love:	9.1
Finance:	8.4
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Well, I really don't know what this means. But Ryan took it, and Tim took it, and they both posted their results, so I thought I should go along with it.

I have smart friends.

Last night at the climbing wall, we discussed the following topics:

(1) The aerodynamic-ness of males as opposed to females, with a focus on the shape of their sexual organs

(2) The process by which one could determine the alcohol content of Caleb's home-brewed beer in the chemistry lab

(3) How to write HTML code, without the aid of actually writing it

(4) Caleb's sensitive nipples

As you can see, our Alma education pays off every day.

When I was eighteen...

...I got my belly button pierced with one of my friends. It hurt. A lot. For a long time. Last night I decided I was too old for a belly button ring and I took it out.